This largely occured in the original Movieverse line and 2008 Universe with some Cybertron repaints.
To fill out it's larger size classes of which there were surprisingly few new molds, Universe 2008 elected to take a ton of Cybertron toys and repaint them - most of the time as Micromasters. So aside from some rather odd Ultra-Class choices of Powerglide, Onslaught and Silverbolt; a couple other random redecoes like Lio Convoy and a new 'con called Heavy Load and it's single new Voyager mold Inferno (aren't you so glad they chose him over Galvatron), Universe 2008 gave us:-
Treadbolt, a redeco of Classics Jetfire into the Autobot Air Patrol member.
Dropshot, a redeco of Cybertron Scattershot into the Decepticon Military Patrol member. This new toy also got him a surprising hi-and-die in AHM despite every other Decepticon in that comic being a G1 Season 1 guy.
Stormcloud, a redeco of Universe 2008 Powerglide into the Decepticon Air Strike Patrol member.
Flak Overload, another redeco of Cybertron Scattershot. While packaging - and Ask Vector Prime - identifies him as the Armada character Overload, the colours are in homage to the Autobot Battle Patrol member Flak; the character the toy in these colours was originally supposed to be.
Countdown, a redeco of Cybertron Cybertron (Cybertron) Defence Team Red Alert into the Autobot Rocket Base Commander.
Rather strangely - though happily - the 2007 Movie line continued this idea; this time of course being new characters as heavy homages to the micromasters.
Mudflap, a redeco of Cybertron Mudflap in homage to the Micromaster Transport Erector. Teehee.
Inferno, a redeco of Armada Red Alert whose many inspirations for the colouration include the Autobot Off Road Patrol member Tote.
Jolt, a redeco of Cybertron Crosswise in homage to the Decepticon Sports Car Patrol member Road Hugger.
Grindcore, a redeco of Cybertron Landmine in homage to the Japanese Autobot Sixbuilder member Crush-Bull.
Big Daddy, a redeco of Cybertron Downshift in homage to the Autobot Hot Rod Patrol leader Big Daddy.
In addition to everything above, Botcon also done a single release.
Flak, a redeco of Cybertron Scattershot. Once again, the same mold redecoed into the same character; the Autobot Battle Patrol member.
So... yeah! Tell me if I missed anything - not counting things like CW Blackjack; this is just for larger toys as Micromasters - but I'm pretty sure this is a full comprehensive list.
What are you guys' opinions of it? I'm a big fan - this meant some great molds could be incorporated into G1 collections and it's always nice to have some backup Autobots. Not to mention Countdown who makes a name for himself in Dreamwave and apparently did so in the IDWverse; it's great to have a toy representing him. And, of course; Erector. Love having a toy of him available.
Buuuut I can also see why it wouldn't be quite so enjoyable as the likes of CW Blackjack - part of the appeal of a Micromaster would be, well, their small size. In a lot of continuities that's what their characters are based around and what makes them particularly unique. Still, since barely any of them have a character, I find it fun to use these larger figures as a starting point.
... one more little aside, and the reason I was prompted to start this thread in the first place. Does anyone else feel that Cybertron Sky Shadow is a homage to the micromaster Sunrunner?
It's a similar enough aircraft to me, not to mention transformation in terms of where pieces of the jet go and general silhouette. Hell, if you modified him to have the wings tilted up and swept back the guy'd practically be a dead ringer for Sunrunner. And of course, the colour scheme seems to be a darker version of Sunrunner's; and there's even the detail of the red faceplate... I know of course that Cybertron Jetfire was an original design but maybe they realised it and drew inspiration from Sunrunner for the Sky Shadow recolour... am I the only one who sees it? eh, maybe I'm crazy but still
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