The Energon Pub

Sorry if this topic has been done before but I wanted to get this off my chassis.

I love repaints. Especially like Acid Storm or WW Thundercracker where they let me see a mold in a different light that I wasn't fond of before.

What I don't like is repaints that are supposed to be the same character. Just seems a waste. Granted Robotmasters Mirage is an exception to me because the new colour scheme was cartoon accurate and a vast improvement over the original Machine Wars colours. Though I liked the mold anyway.

In this thread, I'm mainly referring to repaints that are sufficiently different to warrant a new character or homage an obscure character.

So to start off:

G2 Ramjet - Slipstream (G1 incarnation)

Machine Wars Mirage - G2 Gobot Double Clutch

G2 Bumblebee - G2 Gobot Highbeam

The various Energon Starscreams - Seeker Drones (felt the souped up Seeker in WW3 resembled Energon Starscream's mold plus Botcon repainted it as G1 Leozack and Skyquake and in their comic used it for Hooligan and Hellbat)

Machine Wars Prowl - Prowl 2 (see Beast Wars sourcebook, G1 incarnation)

Well, right now the biggest offender is perhaps the TFTM / ROTF series of Deluxe Bumblebee molds - only ONE was a different character - the red one was, of course, Cliffjumper.

I took a different path - the Bumblebee molds are drones. Earth-built drones, remotely piloted.

Idea is the pilot drives his cool Camaro along with a bunch of other cool Camaros to battle alongside the Autobots, then about a mile or so away, gets out and hides, then activates a Virtual Reality control system. Now "as" the Camaro, he continues on to the battle, transforms, and fights.

So I have the black one as the unit Field Commander, the ROTF preview Bumbles as fire support, and so on.

On the other hand, there's the issue of different MOLDS of the same character. What do you do if you have ROTF Leader Prime AND TFTM Leader Prime? On the one hand, they look very similar to each other, but they also have numerous distinct differences. Perhaps TFTM Leader Prime was an attempt by humans to build a decoy? Then there's 20th OP / MP Convoy, Cybertron OP, and so on. What do we do?

Well, the obvious thing there is simply to keep different lines separate - they're ALL Optimus Prime, but in different 'timelines'.

Another option is to simply say that different styles of Transformer were from different regions of Cybertron. If a particular design proves effective (say, OP), then it's copied as other Transformers are built, if not perhaps as powerful or efficient. So the TFTM/ROTF characters might be from Tarn, the Classics (and perhaps Cybertron, etc) are from Iacon, Alternators are from near where Praxus was, the Animated from the second moon, and so on. That's not "TFTM Optimus Prime", that's "Operatus Pentex" from Tarn. That's not Cybertron Optimus Prime, it's "Ordinance Pax" from Iacon. That's not 20th OP, that's... well, THAT is Optimus Prime.

That different region idea is interesting.

I sort of take the Binaltech approach for the same character repaint/different mold problem. Not exactly the whole being in multiple places at once so much as having something like a spare body that their spark can move to for emergencies, or for an alternate disguise, or perhaps changing up armaments.

Actually this is how I kinda fob off the Hardhead repaint, like say Swindle sold off one of Onslaught's extra bodies to the Autobots.

I'm not all that into the actual characters and mythos, but I do occasionally refer to a figure by another name, such as Energon Roadblock- Grapple in my collection. Movie Nightwatch Optimus is Magnus (not Ultra Magnus since he has no add-on armor), Cybertorn Excellion is Hot Rod, etc.

I took ROTF Defender Optimus Prime and call him Magnus, who leads a NEST Strike Team. Similarly, ROTF Ironhide, the first gray one, is Trailbreaker, another Strike Team Leader.

One thing that disappoints me is that the repaints are never due to eg. Tracks just changing colour for the sake of looks. After all, fashions change, many of the Autobots and Decepticons are very vain and respraying a car isn't super difficult. It would be the equivalent of a human buying a new seasonal wardrobe or dyeing their hair.

See, I just hate not using TF's because I have the same character already in a different colour.

I had G2 Ramjet before the G1 version. But when I got the G1, I didn't want to disgard the G2 version. Not throw it away, you understand, just put it back on the shelf. I did use it as a generic Seeker until I saw Animated. I liked slipstream, saw she had a colour scheme that reminded me of G2 Ramjet and since she doesn't have a toy and is a clone of a Stascream, I thought it would be cool to give her a G1 incarnation. Therefore, I get to use a toy as a reasonably similar non-toy character.

Highbeam and Double Clutch allow me to use toys to upgrade characters whose only toy incarnations aren't the best.

Highbeam gets to use an actual G2 toy belonging to his mold buddy.

Double Clutch gets to use an actual unused G2 toy belonging to his mold buddy.

As you can see, it's not random either. I've put a bit of thought into my choices.

I've also named black Starscream, Darkscream, an actual TF name but not a G1 one.

Soundblaster, I've gone slightly down the Dreamwave route, at least the suggested route. While he isn't a clone, I do use him as a seperate character to Soundwave. In fact I like to retro-fit him, Darkscream and Reflector into the early G1 Marvel comics. There are plenty colour mistakes and random background Cons in those early issues to allow for it. Plus, I always like to bulk up the Cons ranks. So in addition, whenever I set a story back in that era, I like to have plenty background Seekers like the cartoon had. It just adds more menace when the villains have a larger side. I give Soundwave his more comic/tech spec, self serving persona and Soundblaster the cartoon, unfailingly loyal personality. But I digress.

If I ever manage to get black E-hobby Ironhide and that custom head I saw, I'll be making him G2 Gobot Motormouth.

And since we now have 2 G1 Skids, I'll be spelling the ROTF homage as Skid-Z.

RotF deluxe Dead End looks more like Wildrider, so that's what I call him. Voyager Megatron is kind of a prepaint, they started with the off color version of the figure. Since he's green and flies I call him Skyquake.