why does AE's repeater effect fade in repetitions? how can I prevent the fade in?

Not sure what's causing this, but when I apply the repeater effect to a layer, the repetitions seem to fade in one by one which is not what I want. I don't want the repetitions to fade in and I don't understand why the Repeater effect is doing that. Is there any way to prevent this fade in and if not, can anyone recommend a repeater plugin for After Effects? Thanks very much in advance.