The only thing different on the G2 version would be the color scheme. Also, it would mean that Megatron would finally get to be part of those Walmart re-issues.

1) Using the Walther P-38 UNCLE for Megatron made for a good parallel to Optimus Prime. Basic robot with playset style add ons (the silencer, stock, and sight combine into a cannon emplacement vs Prime's trailer/HQ) 2) Skywarp was originally conceived of as being olive drab (see the production bible for the cartoon)

The other big issue is Megs would not have had that big cannon on his arm/shoulder. That's a major part of his look as much as Shockwave having one eye.

Now that I think about it, the gray instead of green would actually look better combined with the purple splotches.

One extra oddity to consider: If Megatron wasn't a gun, that means only Soundwave and his tapes are the toys that turn into small objects. So it's less "mass shifting is silly" and more "Would Soundwave and his minions been full sized Transformers at all"

Heck, making G1 Megatron something other than a gun I think would subtly change his dynamic with Optimus Prime. Prime and Megatron are a bit weird in that it is hard to compare them in power. A truck projects physical strength, while a gun projects an entirely different form of power, which allows Prime and Megatron to end up relatively "equal". (Prime has the edge in a fist fight, Megatron has the edge in firepower, etc. On a side note, Megatron needed to be wielded by another to bring out his full power is another part of that balance.) If G1 Megatron was a tank, or a jet/helicopter triple changer, or whatever else, then that rough equality is lost.

For the second half, I personally would like a diaclone toy that's a tree cutter, specifically a chainsaw one. If they existed then. I feel like that would be a cool alternate Megatron.

Not sure how well this would work with the rules set by TJ at the start of the video, but I think they should have used Jetfire for Megatron's toy. Big, loaded with weapons, flying, it would have been perfect. Maybe they would have needed to tweak the color scheme. Ofc there would have been the whole copyright debacle, but how would that have changed things any more than the whole toy gun dilemma.

Hot take, I feel like if Megs was going to take an earth mode of any kind…it would probably be a Bomber Jet, a futuristic chariot, a construction vehicle or maybe even an Alligator. Chariot for his gladiator background, construction for his miner past, a bomber because half of his troops can fly and an Alligator…because of the Dinobots, Grimlock specifically.

The Warpath mold was actually going to be made for Diaclone but was released in Transformers after the line was cancelled so Warpath is actually safe from erasure.

If G1 Megatron wasn't a gun, that would change the dynamic with Starscream. Gun Megatron needs a wielder, and Starscream is just competent, capable, and controllable enough to appear to be one of the better options for that role. (And honestly other Decepticons might *become* as treacherous as Starscream if elevated to his position.) Non-gun Megatron has no reason to keep Starscream in such a position of power. You could get a potentially interesting different dynamic if you swapped Megatron and Starscream's forms though; if Megatron was a jet and the treacherous Starscream was his handgun of choice, but it would still be weaker than what we did get.

honestly, i think that the magnificus toy couldve been a good megatron substitute. it would cut out perceptor from his future appearances, but there are definitely other autobots that could fill that niche. but it’s an existing microchange figure with the big shoulder-mounted cannon, a sinister colour scheme and helmet, and he’s got a secondary tank mode that would work going forward. i can even see the helmet translating into something like the megatron mug we see today, they certainly took bigger liberties with the animation models for headsculpts in those days.

To me Megatrons Siege/Earthrise tank is the definitive version to me. I like that he’d be able to use his alt mode without Soundwave or Starscream needing to wield him.

Megatron, as a character is Tyrannical, conniving and wrathful. But the scariest part is that he could be wielded by anyone. That is a feeling that can never be felt from a toy Tank.

Soundwave would of been the perfect choice, his toy always sold well so he wasn't destroyed in the movie, his face is the logo for the decepticons, he is pourple like the decepticons, he carries his own allyes on his chest, his mold still exist to this day.

Looking at it as a historian, while Megatron DEFINITELY outgrew his original alt mode that he only had as a necessity from the toys that were imported (though not a lot of fans have likewise grown up about it, given their general obliviousness as to why he can't be a gun again in mainline), it rightfully deserves its place in history, plus the role it played in allowing the Megatron archetype to innovate. After all, certain parts of our history, whether global, national, or personal, are the reason we are who we are now, and all the lessons we've learned from it. What does annoy me is that he's always a tank, but that only makes sense for him having the Earth mode his G1 self had no choice but to have. Even when he's an alien tank, it doesn't make sense that he's grounded, considering ROTF opened the doors to him being a flying space cruiser/tank hybrid. Thankfully, Earthspark returned him to being heavy twin-rotor aircraft, so time will tell if we get a good tall Voyager version of that or a CHUG Animated version.

Megatron would actually be the laughingstock of the Decepticons, instead of Starscream, because of the colors, and not because he always fails.

I can't imagine Megatron being gray if he was a tank from the start. I would imagine he'd be a more military standard olive drab. Which would probably mean that Hound would need to be recolored. I would like to offer a counterpoint to that "Megatron wouldn't be adaptable if his original alt mode were still usable" claim, in the form of Fire Convoy and Galaxy Convoy. It may be rare for Optimus to deviate from the standard, and it isn't much of a deviation when he does, but he isn't strictly bound to being a semi-truck. If the creators really did feel the need to change Megatron's vehicle mode, they would have that freedom.

That is an interesting thought experiment. That if G1 Megatron was always a tank, maybe he wouldn't have so many other forms in the other iterations. And then all the other knock on effects. Very interesting. Some have pointed out that it was Megatron showing confidence in his troops, to be worthy to wield him in weapon form. Though having Starscream do it seems very odd. It is a shame the jet/helicopter triple changer wasn't brought over. It's not as good as Astrotrain and Blitzwing, but it's better than Broadside and Octane. Maybe they didn't use it because both modes were flying vehicles! Oh I didn't think about Miles Mayhem's Switchblade from MASK. 😄 Blitzwing would've been a good Megatron, except the toy is too small to be the leader. He would also kind of outclass Prime since Prime isn't a triple changer. Warpath might have been safe. He came out at the same time as Blitzwing, then yet another tank was created with Brawl. But they were all different tanks with different color schemes from each other, and you had a triple changer, mini-bot, and combiner team member.

NO! he should have changed into a rotary telephone. Good times.

never expected a Morrowind reference on the TJ channel but starnger things have hapoened

Id like to see him as an anti aircraft gun placement. It would make sense as Galvatron turns into a cannon later on.

On that 2nd scenario, I think we could've still gottrn Warpath just for the novelty of an Autobot tank, but I doubt we'd get many more original mold Decepticon tanks like Bludgeon, Demolishor, the modern versions of Shockwave, and I don't remember if the Combaticons were origintal TF molds or not, but if they were, I think even Brawl wouldn't be safe

Optimus Prime: ERM A TRUKK AND SUMTIMZ A FIRE TRUKK Megatron: *I can do anything!* Well, except be a gun.

I definitvely agree that Megatron being a gun was much better in the long term: it permitted him to do what most famous transformers these days don'y change almost anything in design.

this is one of the best videos of yours yet! great

Megatron as various other alt modes made more sense than a hand gun

Personally, I wouldn't have missed it if Megatron wasn't a gun. I wasn't allowed to have the toy as a kid for that reason, so Skywarp was my Decepticon commander. I did have Galvatron, but he was so huge compared to most everyone else it was a ridiculous villain.

i could see an orange 3rd seeker, themed after heat or the sun because of the general sky themes of the other two (STARscream and THUNDERcracker)

If they used a seeker mold recolored grey as Megs it would've been funny. Just because it would have made Leader 1 and Cy-Kill even more ironic.

IIRC, Skywarp was originally going to be olive green. Skyquake’s colour would later reference this.

the magnum would have been a great older brother of Megatron, with blue on the legs and more silver in the robot mode

Another thing to think about is that Hasbro was buying the rights to use a variety of different toylines to use in Transformers. Maybe they would have brought an existing toyline for the evil leader toy that ultimately was not used for the Transformers we did get. Also, since the evil leader wouldn’t be a gun then we would not have also had Shockwave for the same reasoning they passed on the Microman Walther P38 toy. Or what if they used a different existing character in Transformers to be Decepticon leader? What if Blitzwing was the leader and was released earlier in 1984 instead of 1985?

I would’ve actually seen soundwave eventually follow in his leader’s footsteps, and transform into a handheld pistol/gun weapon, and actually use the magnum Robo toy. His consent minions? They would be replaced with pellets that turned into robots.

If you don't mind, I've got some interesting Here's 10 video ideas. First one would be 10 fiction only characters that deserve toys. There are a number of fiction only characters that really need toys, and that would be a nice list. I'd exclude virtual redecos, though, that seems too easy. Another good 10 list would be of non-G1, non Beast Wars figures that deserve a reissue. I for one would like an RID 2001 Megatron reissue. More to the subject of this video is another What If I've been thinking about, and that is, "What If... There was a Powermaster G1 Megatron?" Optimus got a Powermaster upgrade, so what if it was decided to give Megatron the same treatment? An immediate obvious option would have been to use the Overlord mold, but with new colors and a retooled head. I have actually seen a custom painted version of this, and it looks really cool. Another option would be an entirely new mold, but I haven't given as much thought to that. Still another What If in this vein is that there is a new Megatron figure alongside Powermaster Prime, but instead of being a Powermaster, Megatron gets to be a Pretender instead. In this case, Megatron ends up being an Ultra Pretender, but with 2 transforming shells instead of only one. Although, now that I've written it down, Pretender Megatron doesn't fit nearly as well as him being a Powermaster.

Another casualty of a tank mwgatron would probably be Brawl, with them not wanting two tanks sharing the spotlight, which would mean brawl would have to be some other military vehicle, a missile truck would be my first guess

Anytime the other Gun figures come up, I daydream a series with all three. The -Tron bothers: Gigatron (.44 magnum), psychotic leader of the Decepticons; Galvatron (Browning), Gigatron's sycophant middle brother; and Megatron (Walther P38), so ruthless in ambition he killed his own siblings to rule.

Here's a thought - maybe they could have used the Bandai Valkry mold to make a leader bad guy instead of Jetfire. Which would have caused all kinds of problems - so better that they did not.

I have the DTC2 triplechanger, 1 genuine and 1ko. I really like the way they made it because they didn't had much experience yet (only Blitzwing and this one came out in Diaclone) and try to make something from such a slender helicopter. I mean Sandstorm is a bigger helicopter. Astrotrain they createn because they didn't want DTC2 in the Transformers lineup. His image is used in the modern comics as a bot Skyklik or Rotorbolt if I'm correct. I hope they give him a modern update

There was a Microchange toy that was cancelled that would have turned into a flashlight.

What other toy could be Megatron? I say Blitzwing. Have Megatron be both a tank and a fighter jet! It also allows for keeping G2 Megatron's body. Sure, Blitzwing would no longer exist, but the jet/helicopter could take his place. And I got a decent name for him: Rotorwing. What do you think?

If Megatron got the tape player mode and Soundwave the gun mode (which likely means he wouldn't be called "Soundwave"), that would make for an interesting dynamic between the two. Why is he the Megatron's right hand man? Because he's also his main weapon! If we keep the synthesized voice, could that imply "Not!Soundwave"' is more of a drone than a sentient robot? How the interaction between him and the Cassettes would go? Would they fight for Megatron's attention? That's a pretty loaded "what if".

If Megatron needs a fictional Diaclone, might it be worth looking at a more '83 rendtion of Lugnut's alt-mode? Basically a very large Bomber,-style aircraft, but with a roof mounted forward-firing cannon that becomes Megatron's signature arm cannon in robot mode. Probably no actual 'drop bombs' functionality, though maybe people who actually design toys can figure something out...

TJ probably already knows this but originally the leader of the Decepticons was going to be the Soundwave character. I don’t remember why they ended up going with the gun Megatron but Soundwave was supposed to be the leader in the beginning.

I would really like a CHUG style animated series Megatron. Allows the figure get away from the gun altmode

We could have lost the reformatting into Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie. Maybe it would have still happened, but the changing US toy laws was a big push behind changing Megatron from a realistic handgun to something else.

Episodes with Megatron in a Tank mode instead of gun mode would be possible with better writing. Could be boarded by spike or some smaller autobots who knows. All the scripts would need in some imagination. Everything is possible to make it work.

The Magnum Diaclone figure is commonly associated with the character Kiloton.

Oh, I would’ve LOVED a black and purple Megatron as the main version of the character.

He likely wouldn’t have been called Megatron either. He would have likely have had a name based on his alternate mode.

What a grand and intoxicating intro.

"Every Diaclone Mold Not Used For Transformers" when?

also Diaclone has "bad guy" mechs that are the Waruders, how about use those molds as G1 Megatron?

At the jump Hasbro/Marvel/Sunbow could have chose any of the items available. the megatron story could have been "put" on any of the bots available to Hasbro (some beyond Takaras molds). I think Soundwave or Starscream could have been used (would seekers exist??). The legacy of the pistol has been difficult for his core impression because we dont sell gun toys today. Gunship and or Tank are the best modern options.

i'm happy they kept megatron as a Walther p38. this is megatron that i grew up with back in the 80's as a kid. but if megatron was a different transformer they might have to hire a different voice actor to match the character and we might have a different Galvatron the movie as well.

very Intersting on it that I had wondered what if Megs was a tank instead from the beigning since they make him that in cybertron mode why then change to a small hand held weapon that kk can grow to be held by other robots compred to a powerful armoured machine of mass distrcution. But then again it was not till much later they gave him the tank mode comp-red to taking from diaclone. As to Alt Modes I had always wondered what if he used R.I.D (Cars) Optimus mold and super mode was like nuckular armour with a massive nuke cannon.

Optimus Prime has one exception tho....he was a Firetruck once

What if the dinobots had been made deceptions and grimlock had been megatons form.

Do you think that if megatron was originally a tank they would still have blitzwing? Or do you think because of megatron being a tank they would take blitzwing and turn him into the kind of galvatron upgrade?

A decent tank-mode Megatron makes sense after all Optimus is a proud overcab semi truck , how do you intimidate a semi truck? make it face a tank , , , Bayverse Megatron , should've picked an earth mode Tank , it's destructive power is to tempting to ignore 🤔🦆

My favourite version of Megatron/Galvatron was the 2001 RID series which transformed into six or ten modes.

I completely disagree with the idea that kids don't care about trains in America. Maybe this is just a localized thing were I live because we have a working train station were I live but there was also a very popular movie that came out in the 80's that also happened to be filmed where I live, Back to the Future 3. Almost every kid I know back in the 80's and 90's had a toy train set at some point. They also sell a knock off version of the train bots in the gift shop here. The place which we call Rail Town is still a massive tourist spot to this day. They wouldn't still be around if kids didn't care about trains. I think BULLET trains are what kids don't really care about because we don't really have those in the U.S. and for some reason Hasbro keeps trying to update Astrotrain into a modern bullet train instead of his more iconic steam train design. I'm pretty sure that's just because it's easier to transform a space shuttle into a train if it's not an old steam train. But still most people want steam trains not bullet trains. The trainbots have a mixture of different styles that seems to incorperate both the old steam trains and the bullet trains and because it's a combiner you have to get all of them anyway, best of both worlds.

I wonder How would this would affect the 86 movie

How would you have done Transformers Animated Season 4?

What about a Diaclone/Microman that was already chosen that would have instead gone to Megatron? It feels a little small (though not that far off from Optimus...) but I think the Blitzwing mold would have worked better.

Eh. I don’t like to entertain the “What if there was a Diaclone tank” approach as such a toy didn’t exist. Also, Megatron’s iconic head design would have been completely different as it is based on his 1984 toy.

@5:25 Isn’t that WHIRL?

An artillery

Why not a drill instead of a gun for megatron. Just remold the gun, and say he uses the drill to get information, even g1 could make this work

Why not cybertronian gun from power of the primes hmmm

I wonder what the animation team that created both transformers prime and the war for Cybertron trilogy, whose name I’m forgetting at the moment, would make a transformers prime tank Megatron look like. I really hope somebody actually makes fanart of a transformers prime tank Megatron. that is something I would definitely like to see.

how about make completely new ones !

Super awesome nerd content 🔥🔥🔥! Want you to win brother! Not on patreon but I hit every like button. Also thank you for being honest!

Hi 👋

I don't get why you dismissed the spaceships so readily when any of them could've been easily justified as cybertronian vehicles. Like Shockwave has the exact same justification, it's not that far fetched

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