Guess the Seekers and Datsun Brothers were figments of all of our imagination. As well as Ultra Magnus.
Except the seekers were not their own toy line. Meanwhile, every other non-related transformer in each modern toyline is a repaint of the next one.
The entire 84 lineup was repaints of a previous toyline, not to mention multiple doubles of molds including the seekers and datsuns. There is also beast wars where almost every deluxe in the first two years was repainted. At least we get new heads now, the idea that repaints are a new thing is to put it bluntly dumb and revisionist history
The original line was an introduction of a toyline to an entire new hemisphere of the world. Nobody had seen these guys before.
Wrong, diaclone was released in North America (granted somewhat limited) by takara prior to hasbro acquiring the molds for transformers
1984: Bluestreak/Prowl Ironhide/Ratchet Buzzsaw/Laserbeak Rumble/Frenzy Starscream/Skywarp/Thundercracker That was just the initial release, in '84. 1985 and 1986 would see several of these molds used yet again, as well as several new molds that were also used multiple times. Let's not pretend this is something new.
So really now are you a troll or just that ignorant of the history of the franchise? Cos I know there really are fans out here that that uninformed about the toy line and I can point you in the direction of some websites that could help if you like.
If anything, Titans Return has less pure repaints than previous lines, now that Hasbro has developed the concept of shared engineering to its logical conclusion. It's the reason basically nobody guessed when the first pictures of Highbrow were revealed that he was derived from Scourge, or that Alpha Trion would end up being retooled into Broadside instead of the more obvious suspects like Razorclaw or Thundertron. I'm not as versed in transformers history as many here, but from all my time spent reading tfwiki, it seems that a decade ago, you were lucky if you got new heads and weapons to go with your late-wave repaints!
It'd be a great example of the power of branding but according to Walkypedia it was the Vanette, LP500S, Hilux, and 3 power dashers.
I'm comfortable in saying that the repaints and remoulds from Titans Return could be the BEST reuses of figures we have ever seen. I have the entire line and usually being a moody git i would complain, but i can't. Wether it be Blurr/Brainstorm or Highbrow/Scourge.... even Octane/Prime, having one of the figures doesn't remind me of the retool at all. Everything feels unique. I think its bloody awesome what they've done recently, and i would even support them repainting a few more before we are done with the line as a whole. I'm VERY excited about my sealed Misfire and i'll enjoy him tomorrow, it doesn't even look like Triggerhappy at a glance, and the transformation is so good, who cares if you know it already?
Ok, lets look at what many consider one of the best toylines vs Titans Return (I would go into Combiner Wars, but that is too easy to tear apart). Plus, I will give little reasons why something might be a retool/repaint. Animated (Original Release, not the figures released afterwards like the Stunticons etc.) Deluxes- Lockdown (Not a repaint/retool) Bumblebee (Not a repaint/retool) Cybertron Mode Optimus Prime (Not a repaint/retool) Prowl (Not a repaint/retool) Blackarachnia (Not a repaint/retool) Cybertron Ratchet (Not a repaint/retool) Ratchet (Retool of Cybertron Ratchet- one for his native form and the other for his earth mode as seen in the show) Jazz (Not a repaint/retool) Oil Slick (Not a repaint/retool) Snarl (Not a repaint/retool) Soundwave (Not a repaint/retool) Sentinel Prime (Not a repaint/retool) Elite Guard Bumblebee (repaint; perhaps to show off what he could have been had he not gotten kicked off the elite guard) Swoop (Not a repaint/retool) Snarl (Not a repaint/retool) Blurr (Not a repaint/retool) Blazing Lockdown (repaint, idk) Swindle (Not a repaint/retool) Samurai Prowl (retool; his upgraded samurai form as seen in the show) Waspinator (Not a repaint/retool) Rodimus (Not a repaint/retool) Wasp (repaint of Bumblebee; they have the same build in the show, though this toy lacked Wasp's insect-y jaw) Earth Mode Optimus Prime (Retool of Cybertron Optimus- one for his native form and the other for his earth mode as seen in the show) Voyager Optimus Prime (Not a repaint/retool) Cybertronian Mode Megatron (Not a repaint/retool) Bulkhead (Not a repaint/retool) Starscream (Not a repaint/retool) Grimlock (Not a repaint/retool) Lugnut (Not a repaint/retool) Blitzwing (Not a repaint/retool) Shockwave (Not a repaint/retool) Skywarp (Repaint of Starscream because he is a clone of Starscream) Atomic Lugnut (repaint, idk) Hydro drive Bumblebee (Not a repaint/retool) Wingblade Optimus Prime (same mold plus upgrades as seen in the show) Leader Megatron (Not a repaint/retool) Bulkhead (Not a repaint/retool) Ultra Magnus Shadow Blade Megatron (Repaint of Megatron, idk) Road Buster Ultra Magnus (Repaint of Ultra Magnus, idk) Non-repaints/retools: 28 out of 39 Repaints/Retools done with good reason: 7 out of 39 Repaints/Retools done with no reason: 4 out of 39. Single molds vastly out number the repaints/retools (and even then, most of the repaints/retools have story-related purposes). Titans Return: Deluxes: Blurr (Not a repaint/retool) Hardhead(Not a repaint/retool) Skullsmasher(Not a repaint/retool) Chromedome(Not a repaint/retool) Highbrow (Appearently a retool of Scourge? Idk, just gonna count it as its own) Mindwipe (Not a repaint/retool) Wolfwire(Not a repaint/retool) Breakaway (Repaint of Chromedome) Brainstorm (Repaint of Blurr) Hot Rod (Not a repaint/retool) Triggerhappy(Not a repaint/retool) Twinferno(Not a repaint/retool) Perceptor(Not a repaint/retool) Topspin(Not a repaint/retool) Kup(Not a repaint/retool) Orion Pax (Repaint of Kup) Krok (repaint of skullsmasher) Quake (repaint of Hardhead) Misfire (repaint of triggerhappy) Twin Twist (repaint of Topspin) Windblade (supposedly a retool of Highbrow, but i dont see it. Regardless, it literally looks just every past version of her. Nothing new) Slugslinger (retool of triggerhappy) Metalhawk (repaint of triggerhappy) Nautica (repaint of Blurr w/wings) Voyager: Galvatron (Not a repaint/retool) Tidalwave (repaint of Broadside) Sentinel Prime (repaint of Astrotrain) Alpha Trion (Not a repaint/retool) Astrotrain (Not a repaint/retool) Megatron (Not a repaint/retool) Optimus (Not a repaint/retool) Blitzwing (repaint of Megatron) Broadside (Not a repaint/retool) Octone (repaint of Optimus Prime) Laser Prime (repaint of Optimus Prime) Leader: Blaster (Not a repaint/retool) Optimus (retool of CW Ultra Magnus) Soundwave (repaint of Blaster, though for obvious reasons...this particular case is ok and well within reason) Six Shot (Not a repaint/retool) Sky Shadow (Not a repaint/retool) Overlord (partial repaint of Sky Shadow with a lot of new stuff...dunno how to classify this) Quickswitch (repaint of Six Shot) New Mold: 21 out of 42 Repaint/retool: 15 out of 42 Repaint w/ Valid Reasons: 1 out of 42 Wierd limbo: 3 out of 42 So: 21 New molds, 19 mold recycles. Nearly half of the TR is recycled. And these 19 are major characters too, not just random name-slaps that could easily be repaints. Grant it, atleast the models reused are GOOD ones, but nonetheless, its dissapointing. EDIT: Numbers are off kinda. Nothing major, but I'll have to edit later since Im about to watch a movie.
So really you're asking for every new toy to have a unique transformation scheme. Not for Hasbro to put out new molds. New molds have been plentiful over the last two years. Transformation schemes not so much.