However, to play devil's advocate - some of those Star Wars blasters Hasbro makes would probably get you popped by a copper if you were flashing one around in a threatening manner.

They also make sounds and have flashing lights... and aren't modeled after real guns.

Uhhh, look up pictures of a Sterling submachine gun...

What I mean is that they don't look like the kind of weapon you'd be likely to see nowadays.

True, but "in the dark" or "in the heat of the moment"...

 

 

 

Crap. Now I have that Asia song in my head. :note

However, to play devil's advocate - some of those Star Wars blasters Hasbro makes would probably get you popped by a copper if you were flashing one around in a threatening manner.

They also make sounds and have flashing lights... and aren't modeled after real guns.

Uhhh, look up pictures of a Sterling submachine gun...

What I mean is that they don't look like the kind of weapon you'd be likely to see nowadays.

True, but "in the dark" or "in the heat of the moment"...

 

 

 

Crap. Now I have that Asia song in my head. :note

:grr

Well I suppose I need to amend my previous post. Jsut did some research.

 

The federal law is real and requires an orange cap at the end of toy guns. However many States have added to the law to make it more restrictive and some towns and cities have banned possession of a realistic toy gun period.

 

New York for instance bans any toy gun that looks realistic regardless of color.

 

Texas actually has similiar laws in place oddly enough, as do Maryland, Illinois, and most other states.

 

Walmart actually was sued and ended up paying a 200000 dollar settlement in New York in 2003 over selling realistic looking toy guns with orange caps. They were in accordance with the federal law, but not the state law.

 

Search the net and you can find the applicable laws fairly easily. So it would in fact be illegal to sell G1 Megs in a good portion of the US. Which means that even if Hasbro made him very few people would be able to get him without buying him off EBay or an online store anyways. It would be pointless to them to try and sell it as half their market won't allow it. Wouldn't be worth the cost.

 

 

I understand exactly what you guys are saying, and I don't blame Hasbro for not wanting to even attempt to slip something through. But you mentioned Illinois, and as a resident of that great state I can tell you there's realistic toy guns everywhere. As trench mentioned, there's the Star Wars guns, which seem they could only barely fit within the statutes, and sure as Hell look real enough at anything further than 50 feet and less-than-perfect lighting conditions. Any kid who brings one anywhere near a school zone is asking for trouble, that's for sure. There's others, including flash-bang popguns made by Daisy (hardly a fly-by-night company) that can be bought at Farm & Fleet. Wal-Mart and KMart sell some fairly realistic guns too, especially the Wild West-themed toys. I guess if they look antique nobody cares, even though an antique revolver properly cared for can be just as deadly as a brand new .44 Magnum. The only exception I've seen is Target. I haven't seen ANY "realistic" toy guns at Targets anywhere around here.

I understand exactly what you guys are saying, and I don't blame Hasbro for not wanting to even attempt to slip something through. But you mentioned Illinois, and as a resident of that great state I can tell you there's realistic toy guns everywhere. As trench mentioned, there's the Star Wars guns, which seem they could only barely fit within the statutes, and sure as Hell look real enough at anything further than 50 feet and less-than-perfect lighting conditions. Any kid who brings one anywhere near a school zone is asking for trouble, that's for sure. There's others, including flash-bang popguns made by Daisy (hardly a fly-by-night company) that can be bought at Farm & Fleet. Wal-Mart and KMart sell some fairly realistic guns too, especially the Wild West-themed toys. I guess if they look antique nobody cares, even though an antique revolver properly cared for can be just as deadly as a brand new .44 Magnum. The only exception I've seen is Target. I haven't seen ANY "realistic" toy guns at Targets anywhere around here.

 

 

Your right, its actually Chicago and its suburbs that actually have the restriction on realistic looking Toy guns. Illinois as a whole simple falls under the Federal orange cap rule. As does LA, Baltimore, Washington DC, and most other major cities as far as I can tell from my quick searching.

in one of my local towns (where EVERYONE seriously has guns in their home, it's hunting territory here) a kid in the mid 90s was shot when he pulled a supersoaker on a guy thinking it was funny. The next week all toy guns were off the shlves in half the state for a while, then they made it a law (like other states) to have the oorange cap on the toy guys.

...meanwhile, buying a realistic looking real gun is a constitutional right! *nonchalant whistling*

 

 

Although I really detest the nerf weapon look of Classics Megs, one advantage of making him transform into a nerf weapon is that it does sort of blend in with the bright orange tips. Orange tips look a lot worse on a gun that looks otherwise realistic. That's why I don't buy the Star Wars guns... they look awesome until you see the tip of the barrel... eeww...

 

And I'm glad that they never reissued Megatron with an orange tip... who the fcuk would wanna buy a G1 Megatron with an orange tip?????

...meanwhile, buying a realistic looking real gun is a constitutional right! *nonchalant whistling*

 

*waits for thread to derail*

I tell ya, its the stupid people on this planet that are ruining it for the rest of us 'normal' people.

 

One kid gets shot holding a toy gun or what-have-you and the country erupts into turmoil about the safety of toys.

 

How about we all focus on very real danger of real guns instead.

Lets be honest, the reissues were pretty much a failure as far as Hasbro is concerned. TRUs fault really, but that was do to the fact that they were targeted at a very small market and thus prices were pushed up to make a better profit. I'm also not sure they'd have even been able to sell it at TRU as I don't think TRU will sell realistic style guns regardless of it they transform. Not to mention I think an Orange barreled Megatron back in 2001-2002 would have pissed off as many people as it made happy. And though it still probably would have sold out, I don't think Hasbro wanted to go through the hassle of it all.

 

 

Small market? If that was the case, why didn't any of the rocket launchers have springs in them or why did some accessories not have any chrome? No, Hasbro likes to think they were making a collectors only line, but they really didn't.

 

Lets be honest, the reissues were pretty much a failure as far as Hasbro is concerned. TRUs fault really, but that was do to the fact that they were targeted at a very small market and thus prices were pushed up to make a better profit. I'm also not sure they'd have even been able to sell it at TRU as I don't think TRU will sell realistic style guns regardless of it they transform. Not to mention I think an Orange barreled Megatron back in 2001-2002 would have pissed off as many people as it made happy. And though it still probably would have sold out, I don't think Hasbro wanted to go through the hassle of it all.

 

 

Small market? If that was the case, why didn't any of the rocket launchers have springs in them or why did some accessories not have any chrome? No, Hasbro likes to think they were making a collectors only line, but they really didn't.

 

You're answering your own question. Small market = gotta keep costs down = no springs and less chrome.