Though his name is an homage to an Omnibot, Downshift's design is clearly a reference to the classic Autobot mad scientist, Wheeljack. Homages such as this were common in the year of Energon, as it coincided with the 20th anniversary of the Transformers brand. Downshift turns into a somewhat generic sports car, with similar colors as the Lancia Stratos of his G1 inspiration. He was available starting in 2004.
The combined form of the Universe Micromaster Aerialbots is Superion, an amalgamation of six robots plus their pack-in accessories that serve as connectors, head, and extremities of the gestalt warrior. While in Japan, the original source of the design ( Sixwing , 1992) was available in a collected set, this combiner needed to be purchased one bot at a time in the 2007 Universe release.
