AlphaBass wrote:Drift painted him this way to express grief for a fallen friend (Skids) and a promise to kill someone (Getaway).
Nothing at all to do with the promotion an upcoming toyline. Nope, nothing to see here. (/sarcasm)
Bless your heart, sarcasm only makes you look smart when you're right. Allow me to help.
The inspiration for the toy you didn't name but were alluding to, Rodimus Unicronus, is Shattered Glass Hot Rod as pointed out by many already. He looks like this:
Transformers Convention & Club Exclusives Rodimus GalleryThere is an unofficial toy of this version of Hot Rod. It looks like this:
The same third party made a Lost Light Rodimus. It's an entirely different color scheme:
They're even making an updated version to change the colors to make yet another different version that is, like the first, also not intended to evoke Shattered Glass Hot Rod. That's because they're different things entirely.
Furthermore, the initial look at this dark blue/light blue with purple accents coloration was in July of 2016, so the narrative behind it was likely thought through some time before. While it would have been likely that Hasbro was in initial stages of design work on Leader Rodimus Prime, it's unlikely that redecos had come up by that point.
Is Rodimus' look a possible homage to repaints in general? Very possibly, yes. Was it done to promote a toy that would launch almost two years after the recolor's inception? No, this is implausible and irrational.
Maybe this was overkill, but it struck a nerve. I may have misread your post's tone and you may not have intended for it to be a criticism of the story. If so, my apologies. If it was critical, I'd just say that y'all (the collective in this case and not anyone in particular) are free to not like the book but I'm getting sick of bad hot takes about why you don't.