It’s kind of fascinating the way Vortex’s colours wound up so weird in Fall of Cybertron.
Step 1: G1 Vortex’s Dreamwave profile art, used as his @tfwiki mainpic, gives his grey parts a beige tint (I’m told it’s like this in print, it’s not just a bad scan).
Step 2: A concept artist for the game uses that profile art as a reference when designing the Fall of Cybertron version, leading to a beige-ish Vortex. Additionally, his flappy hip skirts seem to be derived from the Dreamwave art’s hinged waist pieces. The concept artist also happens to used a redder shade of pink for Vortex’s torso.
Step 3: In the process of turning the concept art into an in-game model, the beige-ish grey becomes a full-blown beige, and the reddish pink becomes full-blown red (and also his head changes colour for some reason).
All very butterfly effect, innit?