The Energon Pub

Is there some explanation in the fiction, or was this just a result of miscommunication or a misprint?

Or maybe it's just we associate any TF with a faceplate and light-up ears with Wheeljack. Colours are off, and the vehicle - robot parts aren't quite Wheeljack's.

I suppose there's a fairly simple reason; they just decided to make him look like Wheeljack. To my knowledge there's no explanation out there or developer commentary. THey just made him a homage because they could.

My only gripe is they didn't repaint the mold into other cool colours (aside from BotCon). Him and Tow-Line... shame.

GuyIncognito wrote:Is there some explanation in the fiction, or was this just a result of miscommunication or a misprint?

Energon Downshift was conceived as a Wheeljack homage, but the name was already used in Armada for a different major character. His Japanese name is still Wheeljack however, because Armada Wheeljack was called Rampage instead.

Back then homages were done just because they could be done.

The reason for the name is because they were going to call him Wheeljack but didn't have the rights to it at the time. In fact, he was called Wheeljack in Japan. The reason he looks like Wheeljack in the first place is most of the Energon toyline was a homage to G1 with Arcee, Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Omega Supreme, Grimlock & Swoop, Megatron/Galvatron, Starscream's Ghost, Devastator, Bruticus, Superion, Shockwave & Sixshot, Divebomb, Alpha Quintesson, Scorponok, the list goes on and on. I've always considered it a homage to the Movie and Season3 and beyond era. It's like they went "oh, so Unicron was defeated? Now we need Rodimus and Ultra Magnus and Arcee and Springer..." or something.

Edit: after looking into it because something about them not having the rights to the name Wheeljack felt wrong, I found the right answer on the Wiki. The real reason why is that they had a heavily established character in Armada with that name who was nothing like G1 Wheeljack. Sorry about that.

Energon or Superlink in Japan, celebrated 20 years of Transformers (and 30 years of Microman with Kicker), hence the homages. As said before, "Wheeljack" was already used in Armada, so a different name was used for the G1 Wheeljack homage to avoid confusion.

gavinfuzzy wrote:Or maybe it's just we associate any TF with a faceplate and light-up ears with Wheeljack. Colours are off, and the vehicle - robot parts aren't quite Wheeljack's.

C'mon, man. The details may not be exactly the same, but there's no doubt that's Wheeljack.

GuyIncognito wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:Or maybe it's just we associate any TF with a faceplate and light-up ears with Wheeljack. Colours are off, and the vehicle - robot parts aren't quite Wheeljack's.

C'mon, man. The details may not be exactly the same, but there's no doubt that's Wheeljack.

Yeah, I'm still looking for the Big Daddy repaint in 2007...

GuyIncognito wrote:Is there some explanation in the fiction, or was this just a result of miscommunication or a misprint?

Wheeljack's dad gets around.

Why not?

gavinfuzzy wrote:

GuyIncognito wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:Or maybe it's just we associate any TF with a faceplate and light-up ears with Wheeljack. Colours are off, and the vehicle - robot parts aren't quite Wheeljack's.

C'mon, man. The details may not be exactly the same, but there's no doubt that's Wheeljack.

Yeah, I'm still looking for the Big Daddy repaint in 2007...

Both versions of the Cybertron Downshift mold look great! I wouldn't mind Big Daddy, but Downshift has a well-respected spot on top of my computer tower, albeit in his amazing alt-mode.

RAcast wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:

GuyIncognito wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:Or maybe it's just we associate any TF with a faceplate and light-up ears with Wheeljack. Colours are off, and the vehicle - robot parts aren't quite Wheeljack's.

C'mon, man. The details may not be exactly the same, but there's no doubt that's Wheeljack.

Yeah, I'm still looking for the Big Daddy repaint in 2007...

Both versions of the Cybertron Downshift mold look great! I wouldn't mind Big Daddy, but Downshift has a well-respected spot on top of my computer tower, albeit in his amazing alt-mode.

Minus the launchers he's awesomesauce.

RhA wrote:

RAcast wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:

GuyIncognito wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:Or maybe it's just we associate any TF with a faceplate and light-up ears with Wheeljack. Colours are off, and the vehicle - robot parts aren't quite Wheeljack's.

C'mon, man. The details may not be exactly the same, but there's no doubt that's Wheeljack.

Yeah, I'm still looking for the Big Daddy repaint in 2007...

Both versions of the Cybertron Downshift mold look great! I wouldn't mind Big Daddy, but Downshift has a well-respected spot on top of my computer tower, albeit in his amazing alt-mode.

Minus the launchers he's awesomesauce.

Yeah, that's how I usually display him, but sometimes I weapon him out for fun. The detail in the guns' molding is quite nice, after all. And by that I mean, how they sculpted it to fit flush with the car mode.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Energon or Superlink in Japan, celebrated 20 years of Transformers (and 30 years of Microman with Kicker), hence the homages. As said before, "Wheeljack" was already used in Armada, so a different name was used for the G1 Wheeljack homage to avoid confusion.

Funny, by trying to avoid confusion they just caused more... I don't get why they couldn't have just had him Wheeljack. They have Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Starscream, etc, etc in every line and that doesn't seem to cause any confusion. Sounds more like a couple of suits were just trying to pretend like they were contributing...

I dont have many energon figs. But I did get Downshift because he.. looks like wheeljack (or is him in a sneaky disguise to fool the other autobots.)

Kibble wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Energon or Superlink in Japan, celebrated 20 years of Transformers (and 30 years of Microman with Kicker), hence the homages. As said before, "Wheeljack" was already used in Armada, so a different name was used for the G1 Wheeljack homage to avoid confusion.

Funny, by trying to avoid confusion they just caused more... I don't get why they couldn't have just had him Wheeljack. They have Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Starscream, etc, etc in every line and that doesn't seem to cause any confusion. Sounds more like a couple of suits were just trying to pretend like they were contributing...

Armada Wheeljack:


A major character, so his name is off-limits for Energon.

Blurrz wrote:I always find 'name problems' funny. Nothing's stopping us from calling it whatever of our choosing.

I call him WheelGarry!

Just for clarity's sake Gavinfuzzy:

The Energon Downshift GuyIncognito is referring to is:

Clearly Wheeljack.


While you are likely thinking of:


He got the Big Daddy repaint.

He's named Downshift because he's supposed to be the same character as Energon Downshift.

And yes as has been established Energon was a homage line.

Overcracker wrote:Just for clarity's sake Gavinfuzzy:

The Energon Downshift GuyIncognito is referring to is:

Clearly Wheeljack.


While you are likely thinking of:


He got the Big Daddy repaint.

He's named Downshift because he's supposed to be the same character as Energon Downshift.

And yes as has been established Energon was a homage line.

That shot of Cybertron Downshift really needs to include the shoulder cannons. It really cements the homage. And they look pretty great!

Overcracker wrote:Just for clarity's sake Gavinfuzzy:

The Energon Downshift GuyIncognito is referring to is:

Clearly Wheeljack.

The alt mode makes it even more obvious that it's a Wheeljack homage:

Now, on to other questions, why does Energon "Prowl" look like Mirage?

Dark Optimum Supreme wrote:Now, on to other questions, why does Energon "Prowl" look like Mirage?

Because apparently he's an homage to every single Prowl who existed previously. Armada Prowl (the mini-con) is blue, g1 Prowl is a police car, Machine Wars Prowl is an F1 racer(using the same mold as Mirage), and kanji from Japanese police cars from RiD Prowl.

RAcast wrote:

Overcracker wrote:Just for clarity's sake Gavinfuzzy:

The Energon Downshift GuyIncognito is referring to is:

Clearly Wheeljack.


While you are likely thinking of:


He got the Big Daddy repaint.

He's named Downshift because he's supposed to be the same character as Energon Downshift.

And yes as has been established Energon was a homage line.

That shot of Cybertron Downshift really needs to include the shoulder cannons. It really cements the homage. And they look pretty great!

Oh, I never knew of a wheeljack in the energon line... or rather Downshift.. That totally looks like WJ