Homage
In fan terminology, an homage is a toy that is intentionally designed to resemble an earlier (usually Generation 1) toy or character, without being the exact same character. Noted examples of homages include Energon Downshift (based on G1 Wheeljack) and Energon Shockblast (based on G1 Shockwave).
Sometimes, homages are given different names from their predecessors if the actual rights to the name are lost via trademark murkiness, or if the name has already been applied to a non-homage toy within the same series. Prominent examples include the aforementioned Shockwave/Shockblast/Laserwave character as well as Jetfire/Skyfire/Skyblast, Hot Shot/Hot Rod/Rodimus and Bluestreak/Silverstreak.
Conversely, in order to protect trademarked names, Hasbro and Takara continue to use the same names over and over again, often on very different toys or very different characters within the official fiction. While Optimus Prime tends to be universally a red truck (or at least red!), Megatron/Galvatron toys are much more varied. Despite this, the two leaders are usually considered homages in some way to the Generation 1 leaders. Better examples of protection of trademarked names are Ironhide, Prowl and Blurr, where both the toy and characterisation often have little in common with previous continuities.
Often within in the same toyline a trademarked name will be used several times on different toy sizes. This results in Optimus Prime and Megatron names being applied to Legends sized toys. While great for smaller kids, one has to wonder how an itsy bitsy Prime or Megatron could really fare in war.
Somewhere in between these two extremes are characters who tend to used continuously for trademarking of their names and yet seem to have changed little from their Generation 1 personas. Good examples of this are Grimlock, Arcee and Starscream.
Amusingly, Takara has given homages a new twist with "Ratchet Emergency Green", a redeco of the original Diaclone-based Ratchet toy in the color scheme of the live-action movie Ratchet, and "Ironhide Protect Black", a dual homage to the color scheme of both the toy's Diaclone incarnation and the character's live-action movie incarnation.
