Canadian Customs Regulators Reverse Ban on Masterpiece Megatron

Originally Posted by The Globe and Mail

August 7, 2008 at 9:07 PM EDT

OTTAWA — For months, Canadian trade regulators have pondered a feature of a famous Transformers toy that has amused fans for years: Is the dastardly Megatron a robot or is he the replica pistol that he can be rearranged to resemble?

Ottawa bans the import of objects “designed to look exactly or almost exactly like a real firearm” in part because it fears they could be used to commit crimes.

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal, which usually deals with mundane subjects such as steel imports, found itself puzzling over whether Megatron, the anti-hero of the Transformers toy franchise, should be turned away at the border for looking too much like a fake weapon.

After consulting an RCMP forensics expert, the federal tribunal officially published its verdict online this week, decreeing that Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, is definitely not a replica firearm.

As kids of the 1980s will remember, Megatron is a dastardly evil Transformer robot who longs to conquer the Earth. But Canadian border guards who don't like the fact he can be rearranged to look like a semi-automatic pistol have barred his entry into Canada.

The ruling by the quasi-judicial tribunal means the classic versions of Megatron – a robot that turns into a facsimile of a Walther model P-38 pistol – can once again be imported.

Megatron, as children of the 1980s will know, is the arch-villain of the Transformers universe where robots can change into vehicles, devices and animals. He began life as a robot that turns into a pistol, but manufacturers also produced a version that transformed into something less worrisome for customs officials, such as a tiny tank.

The classic Megatron's case received a boost from the unlikeliest of sources when a Royal Canadian Mounted Police forensics lab measured him in pistol form and determined that he was too big to closely mimic a Walther pistol.

“It does not exactly resemble a firearm as it is approximately 30 per larger in size than an actual Walther, model P-38,” a Mountie forensics specialist wrote in a report for the CITT deliberations.

Canadian customs officials triggered these hearings last November when they confiscated a collector's edition of the Megatron robot, saying the silver and black figure too closely resembled a replica firearm when rearranged.

Canada Border Services Agency, which reports to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, refused to reverse the decision, and so Jonathan Bell, the B.C. man who had been trying to import a copy of Megatron, appealed to the trade tribunal.

“The item is shipped as a Transformer robot and remains in the robot form until someone changes it to another form, in this case a Walther P-38 pistol,” Mr. Bell wrote in his appeal.

He wrote that when laws and regulations on replica firearms are taken at face value without considering intent, “we would have to consider prohibiting wood, plastic or metal [from entering] our country, since all of those items can be transformed into something else.”

Originally Posted by Dark_Convoy

I'd guess they are talking about MP Megatron with the 30% larger bit, but what about the much smaller G1 Megatron?

Originally Posted by Soundwave.ca

I dont think I've ever heard of any problems with Megatron and Canadian customs to begin with.

Originally Posted by Skywave

Looks like they're talking about MP Megs, being oversized and shipped in robot form. Wonder if they'd still allow the G1 one, being probably 1:1 in size, and shipped in gun mode.

But from now on, I'll have to say "Rearrange from gun to robot and back!"

Originally Posted by Vangelus

Damn it, what's the point of owning this toy if it's not illegal to have in my country?!

*throws it out*

Originally Posted by Soundwave.ca

I dont think I've ever heard of any problems with Megatron and Canadian customs to begin with.

Originally Posted by shibamura_prime

Go Canada in your support of comically huge firearm replicas!

Originally Posted by lars573

Shhh! Don't say that they might hear you! It's illegal to own replica firearms here. Which is why he got turned back. Toy gun=fine, replica firearm=totally illegal.

Originally Posted by General Tekno

Yeah... I mean, why would you rob a store with an MP Megs?

If you can afford one of those, odds are you don't NEED the cash that badly.

Originally Posted by Peaugh

I don't get the "replica" ban in the first place. I mean, okay, someone might use it to try and hold some one up, or rob a store, but even if they were never caught for it, wouldn't you generally rather have someone running around with a "gun" that couldn't kill people, as opposed to one that could?

Originally Posted by CripNite

Geez, I've had mine for months, bought from a canadian retailer unmodified and didn't know I wasn't supposed to have it.

Originally Posted by fosterlager

A3U didn't put a note in the package that all but exclaimed "I AM A REPLICA FIREARM! CONFISCATE ME!"

Originally Posted by Incepticon

This is the first I've heard there ever was a problem to begin with. I seem to recall many Americans ordering from Canadian sources *because* we were able to get them in stock without any orange plug modifications.

Weird.

Originally Posted by Sidecutter

I was of the option that his general size difference would disqualify this particular figure from falling under the laws meant to cover toy/replica firearms (anywhere) from early on. I can't say that I am surprised to hear this made official someplace, though I *am* surprised anyone actually got a goverment agency to consider the matter in a proper light and actually look at the item in question to make the point clear.

Originally Posted by Peaugh

I don't get the "replica" ban in the first place. I mean, okay, someone might use it to try and hold some one up, or rob a store, but even if they were never caught for it, wouldn't you generally rather have someone running around with a "gun" that couldn't kill people, as opposed to one that could?

Originally Posted by General Tekno

But see, the thing that's REALLY odd about all this is that most Canadians had NO problem getting him.

I mean, look at all the orders A3U filled for instance.

Originally Posted by General Tekno

Huh. Had no idea the legality of my Megatron was in question.

Originally Posted by NeilJam

Collectors in Australia also had issues importing Megatron due to gun replica laws there.