G1 Megatron Toy Dilemma
Chad Rushing
Megatron is now illegal under U.S. federal law unless there is an
orange plug -permanently- attached to the end of his gun barrel. BBTS
had a large blurb about it on their retail listing for Encore Megatron
not too long ago and modified theirs accordingly. Whenever one
attempts to list a TF on eBay which has the word "Megatron" anywhere
in its description, even in a quoted Bio, eBay flashes a big warning
about G1 Megatrons being illegal.
This leaves me wondering what will happen to the -thousands- of G1
Megatrons, both originals and pre-ban Japanese reissues, still out
there among the fandom. Some of them might even be AFA graded.
If any fan decides to part with one through any venue, will he have to
acquire (somehow) and glue in one of those orange plugs? I do not see
many fans being willing to do that with a 25+ year old toy who is one
of the two main characters of the Transformers franchise. Will a
black market of sorts spring up for unaltered G1 Megatrons in the
USA? This is probably the first and last toy in the Transformers
franchise which will be banned by governmental authorities, so it is
only fitting that it is the iconic leader of the Evil Decepticons!
- Chad
TigerMegatron
Chad,Ebay allows megatron owners to sell the toy on their site as long
as they put a orange safety cap on the front gun barrell. this can be
cleverly done with photo shop or done by buying a cheap dollar store
gun with a orange safety barrell & transfering the orange safety
barrell to megatron.
Zobovor
> Whenever one attempts to list a TF on eBay which has the word
> "Megatron" anywhere in its description, even in a quoted Bio, eBay
> flashes a big warning about G1 Megatrons being illegal.
When you list one, just spell it "Megatr0n." Problem solved.
Seriously, though...I expect attaching a plug to the barrel is
probably the way to go. Even the "permanently" attached pieces to the
Masterpiece toy didn't make life-threatening alterations to the toy—
mine came from eBay, and I was able to remove mine easily enough.
(They didn't use glue of any kind—it was just tightly wedged inside
the barrel.)
Zob
Onslaught Six
> If any fan decides to part with one through any venue, will he have to
> acquire (somehow) and glue in one of those orange plugs? I do not see
> many fans being willing to do that with a 25+ year old toy who is one
> of the two main characters of the Transformers franchise. Will a
> black market of sorts spring up for unaltered G1 Megatrons in the
> USA? This is probably the first and last toy in the Transformers
> franchise which will be banned by governmental authorities, so it is
> only fitting that it is the iconic leader of the Evil Decepticons!
The law only applies to toy guns made after (I think) 1991 or
something.
Also, this rule doesn't apply to toy shows or anything of the kind. I
just went to Steel City Con and saw plenty of Megatrons.
Also, I suppose you can get by this by attaching the silencer.
robo_rob
is still an issue. Honestly it may be a blessing in disguise (no pun
intended), maybe it's time to sell TF's somewhere other than Ebay.
With all the message forums and other selling sites (MXC, Crave) it
can't be to hard to sell a G1 Megs.
--
robo_rob
www.tfradio.net