Megatron is one truly bad guy, and the main nemesis of Optimus prime. But he has been plagued with many problems since he was named way back in 1984. So let us take a look at him and his humble beginnings. in 1983 Japanese toy company Takara added new figures to their Microman line, until then the figures were human like and were similar scale to Star Wars and G.I.Joe figures, I actually had a bunch of the american counterparts Micronauts. The new figures were every day objects that transformed into robots and among these were three guns. MC-11 Gun Robo S&W Magnum 44 This figure had a revolving chamber, and came with either a brown or gold hilt and looked exactly like a Smith & Wesson Magnum 44, MC-12 Gun Robo Walther P-38 This toy did not include any gun attachments, but had a gun, sword and plastic pellets. It came with blue inner arms and legs, and was either black with a brown grip, or grey with a black grip in gun mode and looked exactly like a Walther P-38, then we get to MC-13 Gun Robo Walther P-38 U.N.C.L.E. This figure came with all of MC-12’s parts, as well as the gun extensions. Only one color scheme, silver with black handle in gun mode with red inner arms and legs, was released. This color scheme was used for all Hasbro releases of the original Megatron. It is interesting to note that the U.N.C.L.E. part of the name came from the TV show called Man from U.N.C.L.E. the main character used a Walther P-38 with a stock, scope and silencer. So the toy was released with all those parts. Then Hasbro came along and scooped only one of these gun robo toys and made him Megatron, but that was the mid 80’s and gun toys were still ok to give kids, so when Hasbro stopped the original Transformer line G1 and came out with G2 times had changed and gun toys were now a no no in the brand new decade of the 90’s. So Hasbro picked a Tank form for Megatron in green and purple but he was not a hit like his predecessor was. He would continue be made as different non gun toys, sometimes a tank, sometimes a jet or car, he even was an alligator and a dinosaur. but not a western market gun until 2006 when Hasbro brought out their Classics line and would take Megatron back to his roots as a transforming gun, complete with a working crosshairs in his scope and a spring-loaded clicking trigger. Described on-package as a “fusion blaster”, Megatron’s gun mode is apparently based on a Nerf N-Strike Maverick blaster, and decked out in a safety-regulation-friendly color scheme consisting of lots of green and purple (in an apparent homage to his old G2 colors), plus bright orange on both the tip of the barrel and the scope. He is an ok looking figure, both robot and gun modes look good, I like him and he stands in the middle of my megatron shelf. the next year 2007 would see the Hasbro release of the Encore series and Magatron returned to his original form and mold and the same year would see Masterpiece Megatron arrive on the scene and he was once again a gun. According to a list published on Fark in 2002, Megatron is still on a list of items that are strictly forbidden to be carried on to planes in America, and according to Megatron Club Inc it’s illegal to import Megatron into Australia without a license. In a 2009 news story, a 24-year-old man ended up being surrounded with an armed tactical response unit when he foolishly pointed his Megatron Walther at his neighbours.