A large portion of these toys were exported to North America as part of Tonka's Gobots 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.
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.
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.
In 2012, Bandai launched the Machine Robo NEXT candy toy line in commemoration to the franchise's 30th anniversary.
In 2022, Bandai released the latest generation of the franchise: UNITROBORN: Machine Robo Universe in July 2022.