The Repaint Concept Thread

[Magnusblitz]

What am I missing? How is this incorrect?
I'm genuinely curious, I'm not super clued into SG.

Parts that are grey (his rib stripes, hips/thighs) were originally black, and the blue parts (hands/lower legs) was originally more a dark slate blue, almost grey.

I suspect part of the problem is that the picture on the wiki of the original toy makes the blue look brighter (and the silver Stege detail on the black thighs just gets misinterpreted as being all silver). The TFU.info picture and the picture of the RtS G2 version are better representations.

 

[NovaSaber]

The MP (and everything newer than it) also for some reason got rid of the fact that the squares on his knees are green, changed the cracked window to look like it has a hole in it, and doesn't have "Til All Are Gone" written on it.

 

[Sabrblade]

What am I missing? How is this incorrect?
I'm genuinely curious, I'm not super clued into SG.

I am no supporter of KOs, but I use the following image to best illustrate the differences between the original SG Optimus color scheme (which the KO on the left uses) and the changed color scheme first introduced by the official SG redeco of MP-10 (pictured on the right):

The logic behind the original color scheme was basically to take the traditional Optimus Prime color scheme and make it look decayed and corrupted, with the red becoming a reddish purple, the blue becoming a dark bluish gray, and the light gray becoming dark gray (almost black), plus some gold and light green highlights for additional flavor.

The MP-10 redeco instead made the reddish purple a bluish purple, the dark bluish gray into a turquoise blue, lightened the black-like dark gray back to being closer to the original light gray of the normal Optimus colors, and darkened the gold and green highlights into more urine-looking yellows and greens.

This altered color scheme has since become the standard SG Optimus deco going forward, used on both the Selects figure and the upcoming MP-44 redeco:

 

[Magnusblitz]

Yeah the new one looks a lot more like Optimus but just swapping the red for Decepticon purple, plus some yellow-greenish highlights. The original scheme with the magneta, bluish-grey, and black looks so much better IMO.

 

[Sabrblade]

Yeah the new one looks a lot more like Optimus but just swapping the red for Decepticon purple, plus some yellow-greenish highlights. The original scheme with the magneta, bluish-grey, and black looks so much better IMO.

The new one feels more like what Nemesis Prime might have looked like had his deco been conceived by Hasbro instead of Takara. A simple "Decepticon Optimus Prime" (Autobot red swapped with Decepticon purple, just like you said) with little creativity.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Am I doing it right?

 

[lastmaximal]

The new one feels more like what Nemesis Prime might have looked like had his deco been conceived by Hasbro instead of Takara. A simple "Decepticon Optimus Prime" (Autobot red swapped with Decepticon purple, just like you said) with little creativity.

I think whether it's that or "paint it black", it matches the creativity involved in "what if good guy not good? Dun dun dunnnn".

 

[Sabrblade]

I think whether it's that or "paint it black", it matches the creativity involved in "what if good guy not good? Dun dun dunnnn".

What makes the "paint it black" work is the strategic use of teal, silver, and blood-red windows as complimentary colors that pretty-up the black.

 

[lastmaximal]

Swap red windows with yellow windows (I'm not bothering with the nonsense of calling them "urine-colored" or pitting that against super kewl bLoOd rEd) and teal with gunmetal and/or lime green. None of that is any less "strategic".

There's about the same amount of creativity involved in these color swaps, and one isn't just leaning on the "dark = evil" trope. It's okay to have a preference, you don't have to justify it, and certainly not THAT way.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

This is why I love Universe Nemesis Prime.

 

[lastmaximal]

I remember being resistant to how Armada did it because I just wanted a Scourge nod played straight (and was frustrated that Takara did it as an exclusive, as was the style at the time). But now I've been trying to backtrack and get the Hasbro one as well.

Universe Blood Mammoth was awesome.

 

[GXE18]

TF AHM1K's Stratosphere (Digibash)​

 

[Donocropolis]

TF AHM1K's Stratosphere (Digibash)​

View attachment 27323

Man, that mold looks great in any color scheme.

 

[GXE18]

A recreation of that toy!

G1 Commemorative Series Safety Megatron

 

[LordGigaIce]

Parts that are grey (his rib stripes, hips/thighs) were originally black, and the blue parts (hands/lower legs) was originally more a dark slate blue, almost grey.

I suspect part of the problem is that the picture on the wiki of the original toy makes the blue look brighter (and the silver Stege detail on the black thighs just gets misinterpreted as being all silver). The TFU.info picture and the picture of the RtS G2 version are better representations.

I am no supporter of KOs, but I use the following image to best illustrate the differences between the original SG Optimus color scheme (which the KO on the left uses) and the changed color scheme first introduced by the official SG redeco of MP-10 (pictured on the right):

The logic behind the original color scheme was basically to take the traditional Optimus Prime color scheme and make it look decayed and corrupted, with the red becoming a reddish purple, the blue becoming a dark bluish gray, and the light gray becoming dark gray (almost black), plus some gold and light green highlights for additional flavor.

The MP-10 redeco instead made the reddish purple a bluish purple, the dark bluish gray into a turquoise blue, lightened the black-like dark gray back to being closer to the original light gray of the normal Optimus colors, and darkened the gold and green highlights into more urine-looking yellows and greens.

This altered color scheme has since become the standard SG Optimus deco going forward, used on both the Selects figure and the upcoming MP-44 redeco:

Muchas gracias señors.

 

[LordGigaIce]

I think whether it's that or "paint it black", it matches the creativity involved in "what if good guy not good? Dun dun dunnnn".

Honestly, an interesting take on the concept that had a bit of a peak in the late 80s/early 90s, was making the evil version of a good guy red, yellow, and black. I'm actually a huge fan of Captain Pollution and Negaduck's colour schemes.

I think we tend to associate red and yellow with warmth, and therefore with heroic characters. I mean look at how often those colours pop up on Autobots.
What I like about these inversions, though, is that it takes them and uses them with black, which turns it from a warm colour scheme to almost a toxic and corrupting scheme. In a world of "evil= colder and darker" I'd love to see this approach make a comeback here and there.

I remember being resistant to how Armada did it because I just wanted a Scourge nod played straight (and was frustrated that Takara did it as an exclusive, as was the style at the time). But now I've been trying to backtrack and get the Hasbro one as well.

Universe Blood Mammoth was awesome.

That was one reason I really dug IDW1's take on Nemesis Prime. Not only was he not a corruption or clone of Optimus (he was a corrupted Nova Prime instead), but his colour scheme seemed to lean heavily into Universe 1.0 Nemesis Mammoth/Armada Nemesis rather than either overused Car Robots Black Convoy/RiD Scourge or G1 Nemesis Prime colour schemes.

 

[Sabrblade]

The prominent pale tan on IDW1 Nemesis kinda also evokes Grand Scourge, just with said tan made more vivid as golden yellow.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

A recreation of that toy!

View attachment 27331

G1 Commemorative Series Safety Megatron

I still hate that Hasbro took/kept that from us, because I do love it so unironically...

Hell, I think I actually prefer the mold in these colors to the original!

And I'm not saying I'd want to see all Megatrons in that color scheme (actually, I wouldn't mind seeing them, but I'm saying I'm not asking for a change across the board), but this specific one works for me.