>>11336902>So you effectively have a classic pre-movie era figure being sold as a bayformerThat was really common early in Bayformers too because orders for toys were so high Hasbro was unable to produce molds to the extent that stores wanted exclusive toys. So they went into the recent backlog and made more "Real type" colored versions of the figures from the prior years- bright decos and clear plastic replaced with muted tones, silvers, blacks, etc.
Fun fact, this exclusive toy that only exists to put filler on shelves is why Prime Arcee is blue.
>>11337171Generally, breaking out the old molds for Transformers means one of two things
>the line is in dire straits, either due to poor sales, or a change in management/people leaving, it needs to float on older figuresThat's G2(Hasbro put it out because they realized they were in danger of TF being forgotten as a brand, but didn't want to spend money, RiD(a few new molds but mainly made by Takara due to poor sales on JP BWII/Neo and BW Season 2/3 after Season 1 did well, then imported by Hasbro after Beast Machines failed and the kenner TF team was dissolved and the brand reabsorbed into Hasbro)and AoE throughTLK(Aaron Archer leaves and many of his team let go, Takara getting some new designers, extreme budget cuts)
Or ironically
>The line is doing so well it needs to fill up space in retail because stores want moreThis is stuff like Machine Wars(BW a surprise hit, they want to do vehicles, but the team is stretched thin so they reuse some old molds as a test line), BM Dinobots(BW did well, so import Japanese toys for a BM subline! too bad BM ended up failing) RiD 2001(endline filled with redecoes and ended up running as an exclusive line well into Armada) Armada's Transmetal Remolds, Universe 1(Armada is selling well, redeco toys from literally every prior line)
I personally suspect we're heading into something like it soon; redecoes and retools of the G1 based generations stuff for years to come.
