Megatron Gun Banned?

Hi I have been wanting to get my hands on a G1 Megatron robot that transformers in a sniper like gun to add to my collection

I want to know if this action figure is banned in Australia as this figure does not turn up that often

Am interested in this history of this action figure because I believe this is the fist action figure that transformers in a gun mode that looks realistic

I remember borrowing this somehow and it suddenly "vanished" under my mother disapproval of guns after a while. I think it has to be my favourite transformer toy ever

I also want to know if it is possible to buy this figure from overseas and bring it to Australia via post or is it too risky?

Any guidance or feedback would be great thanks

This topic has turned up and has been discussed here. http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=15885

This is probably something we need in the resource section as an FAQ.

Transformers toys like Gen1 Megatron, Masterpiece Megatron, Gen1 Browning and any redecoes, would be classified as "replica weapons" in State criminal codes (they aren't specifically mentioned - but fit the description in Criminal Codes).
As such, some states prohibit ownership without a license, permit or some other condition. Some states (like WA) have not restrictions, making it legal to own and buy them. But if you live in WA and imported one, it will be seized by Customs if it arrives via Sydney or any state that prohibits it.
There are even restrictions on selling replica weapons in states that restrict ownership, which can incur greater penalties than just owning one.

If you want to own a Transformers toy that turns into a replica gun, you can either contact your fire-arms registry office in your state (or the police for information) to obtain a permit, OR, take your chances and import one and if it is found by Customs it will be seized - then you will have to rush to get it released if you are in a state that allows ownership.


Be aware that if you do end up obtaining one somehow, and you aren't legally allowed to, it is at your own risk if you mention here that you have one.

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Be aware that if you do end up obtaining somehow, and you aren't legally allowed to, it is at your own risk if you mention here that you have one.

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Geez!! I'm wanting the old G1 Megatron action figure not a flashy expensive replica ... Is that figure taboo!,,

The following Transformers are prohibited in NSW, which means you need to have a permit to own them:
+ G1 Megatron (incl. all variants & reissues)
+ G1 Browning
+ eHobby Megaplex
+ Masterpiece Megatron

Click here for information on how to acquire a permit. Basically you need to:
* Ensure that all perimeter doors and windows in your home have locks
* Your Transformers collection room (or whichever room you store your gun Transformers in) has a lock on the room door. A simple morticelock will suffice.
* The gun Transformers are kept in a locked display unit. The unit does not need to be wall mounted. Any kind of lockable display unit is fine.
* If your TF room is on the ground floor, it must have bars/grills on the window(s). This is not required if the room is upstairs.

Also note that you will be exempt from paying the application fee for the permit (saving you $127! :D). So basically you don't need to pay for applying for the permit, that's free. But unless you already have all the safe storage requirements in place, you may need to have to pay for them. I know that when I first got my permit years about 5 years ago I had to purchase a morticelock from Bunnings and install it in my TF room door. I also had to drive all the way to Tempe to purchase a lockable display unit... that was the biggest hassle for me. The paper work is also a hassle, but it's the law here in NSW so ya gotta do it (or risk having your toy(s) confiscated and possibly incinerated). I'd rather not take the risk.

Here's basically what the permit looks like:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...ronpermitt.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...tronpermit.jpg
(that's the older style one, the newer one looks a little bit different, but you get the idea)

And here's the display unit that I use for my Gunformers.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...2012_1984a.jpg

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

The following Transformers are prohibited in NSW, which means you need to have a permit to own them:
+ G1 Megatron (incl. all variants & reissues)
+ G1 Browning
+ eHobby Megaplex
+ Masterpiece Megatron

Click here for information on how to acquire a permit. Basically you need to:
* Ensure that all perimeter doors and windows in your home have locks
* Your Transformers collection room (or whichever room you store your gun Transformers in) has a lock on the room door. A simple morticelock will suffice.
* The gun Transformers are kept in a locked display unit. The unit does not need to be wall mounted. Any kind of lockable display unit is fine.
* If your TF room is on the ground floor, it must have bars/grills on the window(s). This is not required if the room is upstairs.

Also note that you will be exempt from paying the application fee for the permit (saving you $127! :D). So basically you don't need to pay for applying for the permit, that's free. But unless you already have all the safe storage requirements in place, you may need to have to pay for them. I know that when I first got my permit years about 5 years ago I had to purchase a morticelock from Bunnings and install it in my TF room door. I also had to drive all the way to Tempe to purchase a lockable display unit... that was the biggest hassle for me. The paper work is also a hassle, but it's the law here in NSW so ya gotta do it (or risk having your toy(s) confiscated and possibly incinerated). I'd rather not take the risk.

Here's basically what the permit looks like:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...ronpermitt.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...tronpermit.jpg
(that's the older style one, the newer one looks a little bit different, but you get the idea)

And here's the display unit that I use for my Gunformers.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...2012_1984a.jpg

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My god.. I had no idea :eek: :eek:

Why did they sell them to kids back in 1984 then passing nanny laws now and then now all owner even childhood owners must have this permit

Thanks your post made the most sense and now am much educated about this subject

I am sure I am not the only person didn't know.. I guess I just saw that action figure awesome as hell while others saw it nasty and a big threat to others ...whoa the deep measures you had to go owning Megatron

But yet you can still just walk into a gift shop at westfields tuggerah and buy real metal replica guns of all types over the counter. No questions asked. :D

But beware the evil plastic toy of Megatron! :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by griffin

This is probably something we need in the resource section as an FAQ.

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Yeah, this topic seems to come up every couple of months

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

Yeah, this topic seems to come up every couple of months

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Well I could not find this kind of topic so I had to ask straight... I not been on this site for like AGES ok

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Originally Posted by Danzvader78

Why did they sell them to kids back in 1984 then passing nanny laws now and then now all owner even childhood owners must have this permit

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They actually didn't sell Megatrons in Canberra after the first run in 1985 because someone used him in a hold-up.

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Originally Posted by Danzvader78

Well I could not find this kind of topic so I had to ask straight... I not been on this site for like AGES ok

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Ok dude, I was just agreeing that it would be good to have this in the FAQ because it comes up alot. I wasn't having a go at ya for asking the question mate

I was going to part with my TFC Megatron just because I see no point to me owning the G1 figures anymore (I really don't have much of a connection with G1 toys), but I think I'll hang onto him after all.

Thanks for the link about filling out a application form Gok much appreciated I'm shocked I never knew this whoa...long live Megatron.. It will come in useful if I ever buy him somewhere

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

Ok dude, I was just agreeing that it would be good to have this in the FAQ because it comes up alot. I wasn't having a go at ya for asking the question mate

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Sure mate no worries I know.. Thanks for your input. I agree with you this should be in the FAQ
I only collect G1 transformers and never knew because the guide book I have with me did not inform me of Megatron needing a permit or otherwise I would had no clue

RE: G1 Megatron - this toy was only sold here briefly before the product was recalled, making it easily the rarest toy of the 1984 G1 series. I only knew ONE kid in the 1980s who had a G1 Megatron, and even then he got it from Victoria (which apparently banned it later than NSW). This was of course before the age of online shopping; I think his family either happened to be in Melbourne at the right time, or he had a relo get it for him. Needless to say he was the envy of the playground! :D

The prohibition of gunformers is made worse by the actions of some stupid people. I knew a TF collector who, in 2000, carried a G1 Megatron in gun mode at a train station in Canberra. He was tackled and detained by security who later released him. He then did the same thing at an airport and was again tackled by security, detained, reprimanded then released. :rolleyes: Now of course we live in a post Sept 11 age of heightened alertment.

There's just no accounting for some people's stupidity!

I had no idea that G1 Megs had been recalled in Australia. I do remember a couple of kids at my Primary school had one with a rubsign in 1986. I guess they really were as lucky as we all thought they were! :)

Yeah, I remember Megatron on the shelves in Canberra because at the time I thought it was a rip-off that a gun was the same price as a semitrailer. So I got Prime (the early release with the 1984 catalogue). And then the guns disappeared and the semitrailers were everywhere. Fortunately my best friend had a Megatron before the recall so I just played with his.

Wondering what Canberra did with all the recalled Megatron boxed sets probably under landfill or lottering somewhere in a top secret government warehouse gathering up 30 years worth of dust.. Or even one in Julia Gillard's "naughty drawer" The imagation fires on...
Any one know what happened to the recalled boxes?

Talking about "naughty drawers" I wonder if you peeps out there remember or have memories of having your special belongings being confiscated like Garbage Pail Kids cards other trading cards of all sorts, noisy ray guns and other sorts that teachers took off us kids during recess or class and locked them up in desk drawer
If you were lucky the teacher would have pity on you and give it back to you at end of day letting you off with a warning I was not so lucky with my Garbage Pail Kids :))
I bet Megatron was amongst one of the confiscated items during primary school days

I don't know if Megatron ever got recalled in Victoria. Mine's long gone now, but I recall getting him for my birthday, and as I remember it: that was year after I got Optimus Prime for my birthday.

And I didn't get Prime in 1985 so I must have got Optimus in 86. So Megatron must have been 1987? Megatron still on the shelves in 1987? That doesn't sound right.

Maybe it was Christmas 1986 but that doesn't ring true in my memories. Wish I had a better record of the order of my early acquisitions. :)

I got Optimus for my 10th birthday in Feb 1986 (best bday present ever:)) and it was only a couple of months later that Megatron appeared in the playground. I recall seeing Blaster the following year. My memory is that we were 1 year behind the US for the bigger figures but in line for the smaller ones.

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Originally Posted by Ultra Mackness

My memory is that we were 1 year behind the US for the bigger figures but in line for the smaller ones.

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No, we weren't that slow!

Here's a picture of me taken in July 1986 and you can see G1 Hot Rod (a 1986 figure) there. I got quite a few other 1986 figures that year too (including a lot of Kups cos that toy was a horrid shelfwarmer and Grace Bros. discounted them to $5 each so my mum just went and bought a truck load of them (for the next year or so all my relos and friends received a Kup for their bday, Xmas etc. :p)).
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...ay/g1_1986.jpg

This photo was taken in 1989, and you can see some 1989 TFs there like Pretender Bumblebee, Pincher, and some Micromasters.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...ay/g1_1989.jpg
There were a LOT more toys out that are out of frame (maybe about 80-90 TFs), but my mum who took the photo just wanted to get us in the frame, so unfortunately most of the toys weren't captured on film. :(

What I think Ultra Mackness is remembering correctly is that the smaller carded toys from each series generally came out first, before their boxed contemporaries. We were definitely behind the US in 1984, but pretty much caught up in 1985.

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

This photo was taken in 1989, and you can see some 1989 TFs there like Pretender Bumblebee, Pincher, Quake and some Micromasters.

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Quake was a 1988 toy. :)

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

Quake was a 1988 toy. :)

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D'oh! & he was my 1988 Xmas present too! :P

Im a touch younger than some guys here (28) but I remember getting a soundwave , cyclonus and grimlock in the early 90s here in Perth. You think it was just old stock? I know the gold boxes were out then too.

Soundwave was in production from 1984-86 (and even continued to appear in all catalogues up til 86 too) - so it's not surprising that you'd still find him in the early 90s. A second production of toys like Cyclonus was done in 1988 or 89, so that would likely explain why you saw him there too. The Dinobots AFAIK were only released initially in 1985, so if you saw Grimlock in his original G1 packaging then that's more likely to be leftover old stock I think. Although the Grimlock, Sludge and Snarl were reissued in 1990/91 as part of the Classic reissues (gold box).

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Originally Posted by theshape

Im a touch younger than some guys here (28) but I remember getting a soundwave , cyclonus and grimlock in the early 90s here in Perth. You think it was just old stock? I know the gold boxes were out then too.

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We touched on this last year. Paulbot had some scans of an old toyworld catalogue he put up:

http://otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=15091&page=2

I think this run (89-91 ish) of Soundwave, Starscream, Cyclonus, Ramjet was a legitimate Chinese pruduced run that had slightly different boxes/instruction sets.

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Originally Posted by Ultra Mackness

I think this run (89-91 ish) of Soundwave, Starscream, Cyclonus, Ramjet was a legitimate Chinese pruduced run that had slightly different boxes/instruction sets.

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That is correct. (Some were as late as 1992.)

Cheers guys! Makes sense now