The Energon Pub

Better late than never! Transformers Universe SNOW CAT and DOWNSHIFT are the latest toys to get some love from Seibertron.com's camera. These galleries take us back 7 years to a toy line that contained nothing but repaint after repaint. Both toys were exclusive to the now defunct KB Toys store, a chain of stores primarily located within shopping malls, along with a few stand alone stores for good measure. Decepticon SNOW CAT and Autobot DOWNSHIFT are both repaints of their toys from the 2004 Transformers Energon series, which you can view by clicking here. So without further ado, enjoy this detailed look at two store exclusive repaints that didn't get a lot of attention the first time around.


Snow Cat (Deluxe Vehicles)
Universe












Downshift (Deluxe Vehicles)
Universe

Rave-Cat and G2 Downshift. Nice! Can't think of having seen these before. I especially like that you've put a Downshift on your Downshift, so you can...etc.

I think he needs to be called Double-Down!

Now that's a throwback!

I could have snagged those black-cats all day long on clearance, and just never picked one up.

Now I'm really sorry I didn't.

rpetras wrote:I could have snagged those black-cats all day long on clearance, and just never picked one up.

Now I'm really sorry I didn't.

They pop up occasionally on BBTS for 20-30 bucks. I got one and I love it!

I'll take one Universe Downshift please, gotta have my Wheeljack fix

man i miss KB, them going under is the main reason as to why TRU does what it does these days. Wish i picked these 2 up back in the day, both are great molds but at the time i was happy with the normal versions and spending $13 on a deluxe was unheard of when these came out. RIP KB Toys

Megatron Wolf wrote:man i miss KB, them going under is the main reason as to why TRU does what it does these days. Wish i picked these 2 up back in the day, both are great molds but at the time i was happy with the normal versions and spending $13 on a deluxe was unheard of when these came out. RIP KB Toys

I hear you, man. I miss it too, especially their huge Toy Works stand alone stores and their Toy Liquidator stores in the outlet malls. You could always find discontinued stuff you were looking for as well as other hard to find items that got the distribution shaft everywhere else.

I remember back in the dawn of time when I was a child that there seemed to be toy stores freakin EVERYWHERE. Big ones, like Childrens Palace, Jay-Kay, and Children's Bargain Town (which believe it or not became Toys R Us!), as well as independent mall stores and little mom and pop operations that you would run across purely by accident. It was amazing. We will never see the like again.

It was the "more civilized time" of which Obi Wan spoke.

I fail to see the point of the Downshift repaint. Are the yellow limbs supposed to mean something ??? (kind of like the blue allspark repaints in ROTF)

Rated X wrote:I fail to see the point of the Downshift repaint. Are the yellow limbs supposed to mean something ??? (kind of like the blue allspark repaints in ROTF)

Universe Downshift and Snow Cat were apparently rushed exclusives, as Downshift has the same robot mode deco as Energon, while Downshift is just plain bare.

I specifically got Universe Downshift so I could Powerlinx him with Energon Downshift...it just seemed appropriate that Wheeljack would figure out how to turn himself into a combiner with himself.