Made in Hong Kong for the Italian market, this is a popular junior machinder and a another neat, old school Gundam toy.

Exactly how many "Junior Machinders" were made and of what characters is still very much a mystery. We've seen a great many of them over the years, but it seems new things will never stop being discovered. But among the ones that we know to be out there, perhaps this Gundam figure might be the most highly regarded and sought after.

Besides being a toy of one of the most popular robots out there, this is special because it's features many parts unique to this toy, whereas so many other junior machinders share lots of parts. Really, the only parts on this toy that we've seen elsewhere are the fists (which are used on almost all junior machinders) and the missile on the shoulder cannon, which was taken from the Daimos Jumbo Machinder. Gundam probably has a bigger arsenal than any other junior machinder, too. Besides the shoulder mounted missile launcher, he also has a hand held gun, a sword/axe kind of weapon and a shield. The shield can be held in either of it's hands, or stored on the left shoulder.

Gundam is a mixture of polyethylene for the legs, soft vinyl for the head and torso and hard plastic for the arms. Both stickers and paint applications provide more detail to the colored plastics. Besides the missile, both fists can fire. Gundam is approximately 15 inches tall and comes in a colorful box with some neat artwork on the front.*

There is a logo of "SMC" on the back of the toy, but the box seems to indicate it was made by Ceppi Ratti. This toy pales in comparison to the other Ceppi Ratti Gundam Machinder, the elusive Jumbo. To date, I only know of three collectors to own one of those. But I certainly like this one much more than the more recent Easter Basket Gundams sold in the US.

* Thanks to Jerilock for the image of the box. Even though that should have been my box!**

** I found the auction for the toy he won but didn't bid because no box was shown. He bid and won and then the seller said he had the box! It should have been mine, dangit! ;)

Combining parts of Gundam, Gordian and Groizer X, this is a bootleg jumbo of great significance.

In the late 1970s/early 1980s, when Jumbo Machinders were popular in Italy, several companies released bootleg toys based on the Popy Robot Factory style Jumbos. One of the most interesting ones was Titan, released by a company called "Ceppi Ratti". This was probably one of the most famous and prolific toy companies in Italy at the time. They released the near impossible to get Gundam Jumbo, as well as many other Japanese character toys in diecast and plastic forms.

Titan is interesting because it contains components of several different character robots. The sculpt of the legs and upper arms are from their own Ceppi Ratti Gundam toy. To date, there has been no evidence to support the existence of an offical Clover Gundam Jumbo, though rumors persist. The lower arms and torso were taken from the Popy Gordian Jumbo. It even included the clear plastic opening cockpit into which you can place a small plastic pilot.

The head may be the most significant feature of the toy though. It depicts Groizer X, a character who has never been seen in Jumbo form at all! Nakajima would have owned the rights to this character at the time, but no other evidence exists to suggest that a Jumbo version was ever made. Since this sculpt of the head on the Titan toy is so well done (much better than you would expect from a bootleg), some believe that Ceppi Ratti may have gotten their hands on a prototype Jumbo Groizer X head that never made it to production and used it to make a mold for this toy. This is a very intriguing theory, but cannot be confirmed at this time.

I can say for certain that Titan is a very unique looking Jumbo and would add a great dash of variety to your lineup. The problem is that even though it is not nearly as hard to get as the Ceppi Ratti Gundam, it is still extremely rare. I only know of a handful of other collectors who have it. And even though this toy is of a much higher quality than other Italian "robot factory" Jumbos (such as "Space Valour" and "Super Warrior"), it is still common to see it broken or missing parts. Mine has several of the missile clips on the right leg broken off. As you can see, each leg comes with SIX clips that you can store either the missiles (which shoot from launchers on the front of the thighs) or the multi-colored discs (which shoot from the launchers on the sides of the waist). The disc shooters on mine barely work as well.

Right Profile

Left Profile

You get typical Jumbo movements here. The head turns and the arms raise and lower. You can also bend the elbows, but that is about all. Both fists shoot in addition to the previously mentioned weaponry.

The toy comes packaged disassembled in a box measuring 15" tall x 11.5" across x 5.5" deep. The front of the box has a nice painting of the robot while the back show all the included parts. I'm not sure if there was a more detailed instruction sheet that was supposed to come wtih it (I don't have one, and I doubt it exists), but a sticker sheet to add all the color details was. My specimen was missing it, but I managed to get a color copy from a fellow collector. The glossy silver is hard to replicate though so if some of my stickers look a little dull compared to how they should look, this is why.

As you can seen, unfortunately my box came with some packaging tape wrapped around the bottom. I think the box must've gotten wet at some point and needed some reinforcing. One last interesting thing about the box that I didn't know I until I got this was that it closes differently than other bootleg "robot factory" jumbos. Instead of just the lid just folding into the box, it actually forms a handle you can carry the box with.

Although Titan is very hard to find, like many bootleg jumbos it can still be had for a reasonable price when it does show up. I paid about 200 Euros (or about $260) for mine when I got it last year. I should mention that if you have one that is missing parts, such as the nuts and bolts, that they are NOT compatible with the much easier to find "Space Valour" toy. So it will be a little hard to find replacement parts. Also, one prominent Italian toy dealer says he's seen this toy with an entirely white body. He's not sure if it was released that way or if what he saw was a prototype.