This was originally, going to be a random thought but the original idea gave birth to more ideas and one for a poll.

It seems unlikely that Hasbro will be producing many more Megatrons with gun alt-modes. It seems their preferred status quo is that he transforms into an army tank, and that’s sort of understandable.

Guns are generally associated with violence and murder, especially the realistic-looking ones. In the west, there’s a lot of news reports about tragedies involving guns (school shootings in the US, domestic disputes, etc), and most parents would be apprehensive about exposing their kids to anything related to violence – understandably so. I had a colleague at work who mentioned that she lets her kids watch Astroboy and Pokemon, but won’t let them watch Star Wars or Batman cartoons because the characters in those shows use firearms (even if the hero doesn’t use guns, the villains still do). If most parents are like this, then I imagine most toy guns wouldn’t sell as well as they did in previous decades.

It’s looking like “gun Megatron” is becoming a thing of the past; unless they plan to make more Masterpiece G1 Megatrons in the long-term future. Even then, those types of toys are prohibited in some countries.

Also, socio-political reasoning aside – let’s be honest, a handgun is quite a useless alt-mode. One, Megatron would need to rely on a second person to hold and shoot the gun. Two, turning into a gun involves mass-shifting into a small object that can get crushed and broken.

On the flipside, is an army tank any less politically incorrect than a gun? A tank has a turret, and turrets are basically guns. Also, normally when we think of a tank, it’s usually associated with war, and war can be associated with death and violence (that’s government sanctioned, but not less unacceptable). So if Hasbro wanted to protect kids from exposure to violence, I don’t think making Megatron into a tank instead of a gun is much of an improvement. Then again, the Transformers story is a war story, so having a character turn into a tank is not inappropriate. I don’t think a tank is that much more politically correct than a handgun, but political correctness aside, a handgun is still relatively useless compared to a tank.

Which alt-mode would I prefer in a Megatron toy? The Transformers fan in me would like to see Megatron turn into a gun, but my “logical and more grown-up” self favors the tank. I’m split 50/50.

In other fiction, Megatron has turned into other things like cars, trucks, spaceships, and crocodiles, etc. But to me those Megatrons are quite novel… except the spaceship – for some reason the spaceship mode seems to make sense.

So yeah, those are my thoughts about Megatron’s alt-mode evolution. I’ll leave the rest of the conversation with you. Also, while you’re at it, let us know which alt-mode you like seeing in a Megatron toy – see poll!