I've ordered me WFC Soundwave, Blurr, Red Alert and Dirge from BBTS and while I'm waiting for them to wing their way across the Atlantic I was thinking. Three out of these four guys are repaints, that doesn't bother me I still like the figures and they are different enough from their brothers. Anyway I was wondering what molds had the most repaints? The Seekers obviously come to the mind the six Seeker plus Acid Strom, Sun Strom, Jelly Storm and whatever other random colour they pic, that's at least eight there even before counting Botcon and Takara versions, so to be fair I won't count them or Minicons. The Red Alert Mode has five (Sideswipe,Sunstreaker,Punch-Counterpunch and G2 Breakdown) before you include Takara, is it even fair to include the Takara version as a repaint? they are still same mold and supposed to be the same character? Sorry i'm rambling, the caffeine hasn't sunk in yet. So I open the floor to you my esteemed brethren, who had the most repaints, either Hasbro, Takara or both combined. Edit: Armada Overload just popped into my head, don't have an exact number, but from what I remember that guy has been around the block a few times.
Concept Camaro Bumblebee has been released as: 1. original (yellow/black deco) 2. "battle damage" deco from Target's Evolution of a Hero set 3. Capture of Bumblebee Screen Battles set (gray replaces black parts) 4. "AllSpark Power" Target version with AllSpark blue added 5. Cliffjumper 6. Stealth Bumblebee (1st head remold) 7. "Premium Series" Bumblebee with "premium" redeco 8. Wal-Mart version from Wal-Mart's Legacy of Bumblebee boxset 9. 1st ROTF release with major head & body remolds 10. "Alliance" Bumblebee (black replaces gray parts) 11. "Cannon" Bumblebee (new upper body remolds) 12. "Battlefield" Bumblebee from the two-pack with Soundwave 13. Wal-Mart "Bombing Run Battle" Bumblebee 14. Target "Cannon" Bumblebee redeco that comes with Thrust I'm sure there are more. The all-time champion, though, is probably the original 1984 F-15 Seeker mold. When you add in all of the various Japanese redecoes and the conehead remolds, that mold has seen over twenty unique releases.
Battle Blades Bumblebee doesn't count. The entire mold is new, it just reuses the automorph gimmick. In fact Cannon and Battlefield shouldn't count either because the redesign of the upper-body makes it a new mold. Also, no one mentioned G1 Bruticus? G1, G2, Ruination, it's reissues....
Technically none of them are repaints, that would imply Hasbro took existing Starscream figures and just painted over them, rather than molding the plastics in different colors. They're "redecos" or "recolors."
If you think about it, maybe they repaint the mold. Not implying they took the Starscream figure and repainted him to TC, or SW. You start with the "Seeker" mold, and paint it as SS first, than you repaint the mold as TC, and so on. I'm pretty sure that is what he means. But, you can't technically count Dirge, Thrust, or Ramjet as repaints/redecos, because they have been retooled in one way shape or form. So, you can really count as SS/TC/AS/SW? As for Movie Bumblebee, while there has been quite a few of them, how many are actual repaints? I thought that a few of them had some new gimmic of some sort along the way? I would definately go with the lambo's. Sideswipe/Sunstreaker/Red Alert/etc...
The classics seeker mold have quite a few release: 1- Classics Starscream 2- Universe Starscream 3- Henkei Starscream 4- Henkei Ghost Starscream 5- Classics Skywarp 6- Henkei Skywarp 7- Botcon Thundercracker 8- Henkei Thundercracker 9- Classics Ramjet 10- Henkei Ranjet 11- Botcon Dirge 12- Henkei Dirge 13- Generation Dirge 14- Botcon Thrust 15- Henkei Thrust 16- Generation Thrust 17- Universe Acid Storm I don't count some cosmetic change as a new mold, as the core figure is still the same.
Redeco is a more accurate term. Using different coloured plastics is a far more significant change than changing the paint or the paint layout. Although the word "repaint" is bit of a misnomer, when people around these parts say "repaint" they generally mean "redeco".
Now I want them to release Action Master Thundercracker under the name Jelly Storm. Thanks. On topic: I'd have to say that Bumblebee mold is getting a run for its money.
Am I alone in thinking that retools should be considered separate than redecos? Because I'm seeing this as the OP asking how many versions of the same toy there are, and I see a retool or remold as a different toy because of its retooling and such. I'll forgive something like HasTak's continuous slight retooling or remolding of the Classics Season 1 Seeker mold for the purposes of the question. 9 redecos of the Classics Starscream mold: Starscream, Skywarp, BotCon Thundercracker, Henkei Starscream, Acid Storm, Henkei Skywarp, Henkei Thundercracker, Uni'08 Starscream, and Henkei Ghost Starscream. 4 redecos of the Universe Sideswipe version of the mold: Sideswipe, Henkei Sideswipe, Henkei Alert, and Red Alert. 6 redecos of the Universe Prowl mold: 3 each for Universe and Henkei. 6 redecos of the Classics Mirage mold: Mirage, BotCon clear Mirage, Fracture, Henkei Rijie, Drag Strip, and Henkei Electro Disruptor Rijie. 5 redecos of the Classics Prime mold: Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, SG Optimus, Henkei Convoy, SDCC Nemesis Prime, and I feel like I'm forgetting one but maybe not. G1 Optimus Prime has been released a million times with different decos. The RID trio has a number of redecos among them.
Actually, there are some that need not be on that list. The "Legacy of Bumblebee 3-pack" was just the premium Bumblebee again. No different. And the Battle Blades Bee is a whole new mold. He most certainly is NOT a remold of the other Bee.