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Machine Robo (マシンロボ) is a Japanese transforming robot toyline first released in 1982 by Popy, a division of Bandai, then later by Bandai proper. The franchise was marketed as Robo Machine in Europe and in Australia. A large portion of these toys were exported to North America as part of Tonka'sGobots series, which began in 1983.[1][2][3][4]
The initial assortment of Machine Robos consisted of small toy robots which transformed into vehicles, aircraft, etc., comparable in size to Matchbox cars. These early MR toys have become known as the "600 series" (being priced at ¥600 each), and were developed through ideas submitted by children, similar to the children's submissions in the Kinnikuman anime series. Larger-scale deluxe ("DX") toys were soon released, along with other non-transforming vehicles & figures.
Catalogs packaged with the toys contained stories depicting the Machine Robos as beings from the Romulus system. Romulus was collapsing in on itself, and those beings who reached Earth became Machine Robo, while some became trapped in the Casmozone and mutated into monstrous Devil Invaders. This premise would later be abandoned in favor of a new storyline originating with the first MR anime Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos.
Both in Japan and in the West, Machine Robo's main competition was The Transformers, whose animated series debuted in Japan in 1985. To match this, the first Machine Robo anime, Revenge of Cronos, debuted a year later in 1986.
Chara Collection
Large, non-transforming versions of main characters with swords. DX versions come with firing BB guns.
In CG Robo (シージーロボ), the "CG" is short for "Change & Glow", pointing to the fact that this line of 14 figures not only transformed, but also had working lights and sounds. CG-01 to CG-05 were released in Europe with minor changes as part of the Robo Machines toyline.
In 2015, Bandai and Production Reed collaborated with Hong Kong-based toy company Action Toys to do a revival of the original Machine Robo Toyline, in which the designs were based on their appearance in Revenge of Cronos.[5] The first of the series was released in the same year with the second line released in 2016. A DX version of Bike Robo was released in December 2017.[6]
Animated series[]
The first Machine Robo animated series was Challenge of the Gobots, which aired in the United States from 1984 to 1985. The second series was Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos, which aired in Japan from 1986 to 1987. There were some further straight-to-video adventures released from 1988 to 1990 that featured some characters from this anime. The third series was Machine Robo: Battle Hackers, which aired in 1987. The fourth and latest animated series was Machine Robo Rescue, which aired from 2003 to 2004.
