Downshift (Armada)

Let's see what you can see... This article is in need of images. Specifics: toys and comics

Downshift is a Mini-Con from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

One of the few Transformers to have a competitive streak as long as Dragstrip's...

Downshift used to be a real jerk. A speed-demon race champion among the Mini-Cons, there was a time when the fact that he wasn't the absolute #1 would have chapped his lugnuts. He's matured since then, however, and has dedicated himself to fighting for Mini-Con freedom rather than personal glory.

However, some lines of that old bad code still linger in his system. Should the Skyboom shield fall into Decepticon hands and remain there for too long, the corrupting influence can affect all three members of the Race Mini-Con Team even after they disengage, and the selfish, boastful, uber-competitive Downshift resurfaces. While the effect is only temporary, it's not something anyone on the Team wants to go through.

Fiction

Armada cartoon

Lookit me, I'm a Sweep!

Downshift was a rare occasion among the Mini-Cons on Earth, as he activated himself and scanned a vehicle mode all without imprinting on a Bulk Transformer first. Whereas most missions were little more than a scavenger hunt by both sides to find an inert panel, Downshift had to be actively chased down by both sides. The Decepticons and the arrogant Autobot officer Blurr were willing to shoot the fleeing Mini-Con into submission; only Hot Shot fought to protect Downshift and offer him a choice to work with the Autobots. Despite Hot Shot's efforts on Downshift's behalf, however, the Mini-Con was snatched from his grasp by Cyclonus, who teleported back to the Decepticon base on the moon. There, Downshift reunited with Mirage and Dirt Boss to form the Skyboom Shield for the first time in untold centuries. Reinforcement

In the next battle, Megatron assembled both the Air Defense Team and the Race Team into the two most powerful weapons in the universe. Armed with both the Star Saber and the Skyboom Shield, he toyed with Optimus Prime until his overconfidence caused him to lose his grip on the Shield. Prime's Mini-Con partner Sparkplug then "locked on" to the Skyboom Shield and brought it under Prime's control, thwarting Megatron's killing strike with the Saber and balancing the powers between the two sides. Decisive Battle

Because the Skyboom Shield was in such demand by the Autobots to protect them from the Star Saber (and later the Requiem Blaster), Downshift and the Race Team appeared quite infrequently as individuals. One day, they went for a walk with the kids to catch some fresh air. Unfortunately, their little stroll happened just as Billy and Fred reported that Thrust had met with Starscream. Squidhead had asked for the Skyboom Shield Mini-Cons as collateral for letting Starscream back into the Decepticons, so their sudden disappearance from the base didn't look too good for the former Decepticon. The Autobots' distrust for Starscream in part led to his decision to take Thrust up on his offer, and so even after Hot Shot uncovered the kids and the Race Team and cleared his name, Starscream stole the Skyboom Shield for Megatron and returned to the Decepticons. Crack

Downshift and the Race Team had little time to act as individuals after that, remaining powerlinxed as the Skyboom Shield while the Decepticons used the shield as one-third of the Hydra Cannon, before it was stolen by Thrust and used to provide power to the heart of Unicron. Mirage, Dirt Boss and Downshift reawakened as individuals with the help of High Wire and the Street Action Mini-Con Team, who had journeyed to Unicron's core with Optimus Prime, Galvatron and the Earth children to grant the super-weapon Mini-Cons their freedom. Origin Downshift fled Unicron aboard the Autobot Jetfire just before the Chaos-Bringer was finally destroyed. Mortal Combat

Dreamwave Armada comic

Downshift and the other Race Team members were captured early on in the Decepticons' Mini-Con kidnapping spree. Armada #1 Alongside many other Mini-Cons, they escaped captivity and made it to Earth's moon, where they lived in peace for some time. Eventually, the Decepticons found them and attacked their home, and Downshift and the others were forced to flee to Earth. Armada #11 The Race Team subsequently allied themselves with the Autobots, and traveled to Alaska to assist the Adventure Team, who were up against Thrust and Cyclonus. Upon arrival, they found Thrust unconscious, while Cyclonus was stronger and crazier than ever. Downshift and his team failed to harm him, but luckily Optimus Prime was around. Armada #13

Later, the Race Team joined the rest of the Earthbound Mini-Cons in traveling back to Cybertron, which was under attack by Unicron. They were presumably part of the Mini-Con Matrix ceremony at the Loop, which caused Unicron some major damage. The End

Cybertron toy bios

Downshift fell through a rip in space-time and landed on the Speed Planet in another universe. He was found by the criminal Dirt Boss, who enslaved the Mini-Con and used his power-boost to terrorize the Speed Planet's equatorial cities. Wal-Mart exclusive Dirt Boss two-pack toy bio

Thundercracker abducted Downshift from the Autobots. Surprisingly, Downshift proved willing to help Thundercracker cause chaos among the Autobot forces on Earth. Wal-Mart exclusive Thundercracker two-pack toy bio

Man. Downshifts just can't catch a break.

Toys

Armada

• Race Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002)

• Takara name: Race Micron
• Takara ID number: MM-05
• Takara release date: December 26, 2002
• Known designers: Shogo Hasui (Takara)

Armada Downshift transforms into a Le Mans Prototype-style race car. He also forms the rear portion of the Skyboom Shield with his teammates Dirt Boss and Mirage.

As a Mini-Con, he has a Powerlinx socket on the underside of his vehicle mode that allows him to attach to larger toys with compatible Powerlinx plugs, activating special gimmicks on the larger toys when attached to a "live" plug.

In the Hasbro line, the Race Mini-Con Team was released in the third assortment of Mini-Con teams. In Japan, it was part of the massive first wave of Legend of the Microns product, released in December 2002. Aside from packaging, there are no noteworthy differences between the two releases.

This mold was also used to make Tailslide.

• More information on Downshift at TFU.info

• Grap & Race Micron (Multi-pack, 2002)

• Sonokong name: Smoky & Race
• ID number: MS-02
• Takara release date: December 26, 2002

The Race Microns were also available in Japan in a multi-pack with Grap and his Mini-Con partner Lift. Grap's expandable crane-boom serves as a launching ramp for the Race Micron's jet-like Cosmotector combined mode. All of the toys in this set are identical to their individual Takara releases.

This set was also released by Sonokong in Korea, with no changes from the Takara release, other than the packaging. This was also the only way to obtain "Smoky" (Smokescreen) and the "Races" in Korea.

• Race Micron Exdimensions (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002)

• ID number: MM-10
• Release date: December 26, 2002

A limited-edition (but still regular-retail) redeco of the Race Microns was made available in Japan as part of the Exdimensions. The entire team was given a deco in varying shades of blue, with "Spin" colored light blue with darker blue and red details.

This toy also doubles as the separate character Spin.

• More information on Exdimensions Spin at TFU.info

• Spin (Change Micron, 2003)

• Change Micron ID number: 2
• Release date: August ?? 2003

This version of the toy is a "candy toy" produced by Kabaya as part of the second Change Micron assortment, sold mainly in convenience stores. The toy is actually an all-new tooling based on the original mold, with minor changes to small details. But the much more immediately obvious difference is the sheer number of missing paint applications on this version, lacking all of the racing tampographs as well as the light blue accents on his fists and feet.

• More information on Change Micron Spin at TFU.info

• Road Assault Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2003)

Released in the sixth wave of Armada Mini-Con teams, this set is a redeco of the Race Mini-Con Team under a new team name. For this release, Downshift was colored mostly white with red and black details.

This redeco of the team was given the distinction of being a corrupted version of the Skyboom Shield when in possession of the Decepticons, to coincide with the Air Assault Mini-Con Team/Dark Saber repaint, via the Dreamwave More than Meets the Eye profile books.

• More information on Road Assault Downshift at TFU.info

• Spin Road Assault Edition (Promotional Micron, 2003)

• Release date: August 2, 2003

In Japan, individually-bagged members of the "Road Assault Edition Race Microns" were only available as promotional giveaways, a random member of the team given free with the purchase of Legends of the Microns Jetfire or Shockwave at Ito Yokaido stores in August.

• Spin (Micron Booster, 2003)

• Booster ID number: 7
• Release date: August 7, 2003

Part of the first Micron Booster set, this version of Spin is almost totally identical to the retail version, only this uses a slightly-sparkly plastic and paint. Yay.

• More information on Micron Booster Spin at TFU.info

• Predacon with Side Burn and Skid-Z (Max-Con Class, 2003)

• Scavenger with Rollbar (Max-Con Class, 2003)

• Thundercracker with Zapmaster (Max-Con Class, 2003)

The complete Race Mini-Con Team was also included as bonus add-ons with several Max-Con Class toys; samples of Predacon, Scavenger and Thundercracker have been found.

Unfortunately, what retail chain offered these is unknown at this time.

• Downshift (Tiny Tin, 2004)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

In Europe, all three members of the Race Mini-Con Team were made available individually via the Tiny Tins line, under the original Armada branding. The toys themselves were unchanged from the original versions, but now each figure included a Tiny Tin carrying case.

Universe (2003)

• Downshift (Tiny Tin, 2004)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

In the United States, the Tiny Tins versions of the Race Mini-Con Team members were released in different packaging than their European counterparts, branded as part of the Universe line that didn't exist in Europe. Some errors occurred, resulting in European Armada-branded Tiny Tin carrying cases being sold on American Universe cardbacks.

Energon

• Race Mini-Con Team / Space Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 6-pack, 2004)

An unaltered version of the Road Assault Mini-Con Team was released as part of an Energon "Mini-Con 6-pack" with the Space Mini-Con Team. However, the team is not only called the "Race Mini-Con Team", the character art and stock photography show the original Race Team decos rather than what's actually in the package.

This set was exclusive to both Toys"R"Us and Walmart stores.

Cybertron

• Dirt Boss with Downshift (Bonus pack, 2006)

• Thundercracker with Downshift (Bonus pack, 2006)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

A new redeco of Dirt Boss with a Tiny Tins carrying mini-case was packed in special Walmart-exclusive sets. Downshift was packaged with both Thundercracker and Dirt Boss (the Velocitron dude, not his teammate). This time he was colored dark purple with details in white, red and light blue.

Hasbro copywriter Forest Lee confirmed that the Cybertron Tiny Tins-exclusives were originally planned with two different Race Mini-Con Team decos in mind, hence the backstory involving one version of the team being from an alternate universe and the tins' decos showing the Mini-Cons in silhouette rather than the normal full-color images. He could not confirm what the then-chosen decos were, however, but it seems likely they would have been rebranded re-releases of the two schemes from Armada, given the use of "Road Assault Mini-Con Team".

• More information on Cybertron Downshift at TFU.info

Notes

• The Race Team are the only one of the three "legendary Mini-Con weapons" teams to be released in all three chapters of the Unicron Trilogy.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Spin (スピン Supin)
• Korean: Spin (스핀 Seupin)
• Russian: Ponizhatel' (Понижатель, "Lowerer")