Yes I'm 100% aware of that, I just don't see how this repaint would differentiate itself from any old Nemesis Prime enough to be seen as that that version specifically, because no matter how much you mess with the paint on the windows and the shoulders Cybertron Prime is never going to capture Scourge the way Laser Prime does because of Nemesis Prime.

 

Scourge has a lot more gray than he does black, at least in robot mode. Plus them tiddies do a lot to separate the two. It's negligible sure, but it is a difference. Also a LOT more teal than just on the groin

 

waiting to live
waiting to die
waiting for an absolution
that will never come

 

Spread before you is your soul
So forever hold the dreams within our hearts
Through nature's inflexible grace
I'm learning to live

 

Is soundwave not soundwave because because he has trucks parts instead of cassette player parts?

Is Optimus not Optimus because he's no longer a flat nose semi trailer truck and instead a fire truck?

We could go on for days here.

 

It's crazy how well that works. Also one of the few Prime designs where it can actually work because the chest windows aren't red! Very well done!

 

Also, because the torso isn't/doesn't pretend to be the actual truck front, it can actually be grey with a black grille like it's supposed to be.

 

Yeah but neither of them are almost identical to another standard repaint character. It's more like if the white Laser Prime repaint was called Cyclonus and they repainted this white everyone called it Ultra Magnus.

 

So your issue now is repaints in general?

I guess every seeker mold can only ever be Starscream. /S

 

Oh my god.

Here's Bitstream, if he had a 3P name on the box would people think he was Thundercracker? Probably.

 

YESSSSSSS!

 

Not gonna lie, I saw those colours before really reading your post, and thought that was supposed to be Talon.

 

But by your logic that’s just a “Starscream painted in Teal.” And that it’d somehow be bizarre for anyone to even consider any repainted Starscream mold a Thundercracker because he’s almost identical to SS, only blue painted blue.

Do you see where I’m coming from here? These are the “rules” you set yourself to prevent a repainted character from being anything other than the original character design.

No non armored Ultra Magnus exists under the armor, just white Optimus. No Seekers. No Other Nissan car bots. And so on.

Or is your point that only 3rd party figures can’t be repaints?

 

No where did you get that?

My point is that two when two different characters look the same and are repaints of different versions of the same character they tend to get confused especially when Nemesis Prime is the more popular of the two and the things that make Scourge distinct from Nemesis Prime are almost all absent as a result of the mold change.

 

I don't think there's been any real attempt to "supplant" Scourge, per se. But the name has fallen out of favour because Hasbro moved back to G1 proper, where the name was already taken. So Nemesis Prime became the dominant name.

But yes, because so many Nemesis Primes in recent years have been based on a G1 Prime-derivative figure, Scourge's original colour scheme has gotten somewhat lost in the shuffle, since the transformation design doesn't support it. It hasn't been completely forgotten, though. TakaraTomy was able to replicate the general colour layout for the TTMall exclusive Black Convoy, which worked out since the Titan's Return Optimus Prime mold was already meant to homage the Laser Prime mold, and fortuitously the cab didn't transform into the robot's chest (like the previous Reveal the Shield G2 Prime mold did) so the original colours were able to remain.

 

I find mentioning the Scourge name amusing because of the whole 3rd party naming thing.

 

What do you consider the distinct features missing from this repaint?

Obviously physical features from the mold, such as tall shoulder pylons are missing because it’s a repaint. But just because they’re missing doesn’t mean you still can’t evoke the presence of the intended character. If you compare the colour design to the original RID Scourge, the second edit is a lot closer to that of the character than any other standard Nemesis Prime.

The closest example of Nenesis Prime with Scourge colours is a Japan exclusive repaint of Armada super con Optimus Prime, called Scourge. But even then it’s missing any reference to the distinct chest and shoulder design of the RID design.

 

Putting aside the things that can't be replicated due to straight-up physical differences, the biggest differences between "Scourge" and "Nemesis Prime's" colour schemes, as I've been noting, is that the former had a grey chest, with black ab grille, and the two-tone black/silver pecs. "Nemesis Prime" colours, by virtue of being typically seen in a G1 Prime-type body, has a black torso, silver grille, and red chest windows.

 

Exactly my point, Scourge is in a unique position of becoming a different character once you move him to a different mold. I can't think of anyone else genuinely in that same position.