Race Mini-Con Team

Uh, zoom zip.

The Race Mini-Con Team are a trio of super-fast speedsters, but their real strength lies in their combined form; the powerful Skyboom shield, possibly the only thing that can stand up to the destructive power of the Star Saber sword or the Requiem Blaster cannon.

When possessed by the Decepticons, their natures are sometimes twisted to evil, turning them into the Road Assault Mini-Con Team.

The Race Mini-Con Team is composed of

• Dirt Boss the Volkswagen Lupo.

• Downshift the LeMans racer.

• Mirage the F-1 racer.

Fiction

Cybertron toy bios

Optimus Prime split up the members of the Road Assault Team in order to make it harder for Megatron to reassemble the Skyboom Shield. Mirage and Dirt Boss were sent with Hot Shot and Red Alert, respectively, to the Speed Planet. Meanwhile, Downshift was abducted by Thundercracker, with whom he formed an uneasy partnership.

One universe's version of Mirage, Dirt Boss, and Downshift fell through a black hole-caused space-time anomaly to another dimension. Downshift and Mirage ended up on the Speed Planet while Dirt Boss landed on Earth.

Toys

Armada

• Race Mini-Con Team (Basic, 2002)
  • Takara ID number: MM-05
  • Takara release date: December 26 2002

The Race Mini-Con Team (Dirt Boss, Downshift, and Mirage) are a trio of tiny racing vehicles. As Mini-Cons, each one has a Powerlinx socket that allows them to attach to larger toys with compatible plugs, activating play gimmicks on "live" plugs. They can also be combined to form the Skyboom shield.

This version of the Team was nominally available as a three-pack, sold in the second wave of Hasbro's Armada line, and in the first wave of Takara's Legend of the Microns line. The Hasbro three-pack was added to various probably-randomized "Bonus Buy" sets clamshelled with other toys in the line sold through various retailers; the Race Team has been found packed with Super-Con Blurr.

This mold-set was also used to make the Speed Chaser Team.

• Grap & Race Micron (Multi-pack, 2003)
  • ID number: MS-02
  • Takara release date: December 26 2002

The Race Team was also available in Japan in a multi-pack with Smokescreen and his Mini-Con partner Liftor. Smokescreen's expandable crane-boom serves as a launching ramp for the Race Team's jet-like Skyboom combined mode.

All of the toys in this set are identical to their original (Takara) releases.

• Race Micron Exdimensions (Mini-Cons, 2003)
  • ID number: MM-10
  • Takara release date: December 26 2002

A somewhat more limited-edition -but still regular retaill- redeco of the Race Team was released by Takara as part of the Exdimensions series. The team was given a deco in shades of blue with white accenting.

This deco was repurposed as the Burning Rubber Mini-Con Team.

• Drift (Change Micron, 2003)
• Spin (Change Micron, 2003)
• Indy (Change Micron, 2003)

The Race Team were also sold individually as "candy toys" produced by Kabaya, as part of the second Change Micron assortment, sold mainly in convenience stores. Though seemingly identical to the normal versions of the toys at first glance, they are actually all new tooling based on the original molds, with minor changes to small details. Drift (Dirt Boss) and Spin (Downshift) also end up lacking their racing-number tampographs, while Indy (Mirage) ends up with some new black deco in both modes.

• Road Assault Mini-Con Team (Basic, 2003)

A late-series redeco of the Race Team was released under a new name in the sixth wave of Hasbro's Armada line. This time, the team was done up in a more sinister-looking black, red, and white.

• Drift Road Assault Edition (Promotional Micron, 2003)
• Indy Road Assault Edition (Promotional Micron, 2003)
• Spin Road Assault Edition (Promotional Micron, 2003)
  • Release date: August 2, 2003

In Japan, individually-bagged members of the Road Assault Team (identical to the Hasbro versions) were only available as promotional giveaways, a random member of the Team given free with the purchase of Armada Jetfire or Tidal Wave at Ito Yokaido stores in August. At least, they were supposed to be one random toy per purchase; in practice, apparently many stores gave them away with any toy from the line.

Squint and you can see the sparkliness.

• Drift (Micron Booster, 2003)
  • Booster ID number: 6
• Indy (Micron Booster, 2003)
  • Booster ID number: 8
• Spin (Micron Booster, 2003)
  • Booster ID number: 7
  • Release date: August ?? 2003

The Race Team were sold in individual boxes as part of the first Micron Booster set. This version of the Team is almost totally identical to the original retail version, only this release uses a slightly-sparkly plastic and paint. Whoopee.

Universe (2003)

• Dirt Boss (Tiny Tin, 2004)
• Downshift (Tiny Tin, 2004)
• Mirage (Tiny Tin, 2004)

The entire Race Team was made available as individual Tiny Tins releases under the Universe banner. The toys in this release are identical to the original Armada ones.

Energon

• Race Mini-Con Team / Space Mini-Con Team (Multi-Pack, 2004)

An unaltered version of the Road Assault Mini-Con Team was released as part of an Energon-series "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

• Landmine with Dirt Boss (Bonus pack, 2006)
• Red Alert with Dirt Boss (Bonus pack, 2006)
• Dirt Boss with Downshift (Bonus pack, 2006)
• Thundercracker with Downshift (Bonus pack, 2006)
• Hot Shot with Mirage (Bonus pack, 2006)
• Override with Mirage (Bonus pack, 2006)

For the Cybertron toyline, the Race Team was redecoed again, this time in red, white, and gray.

They were available only at Walmart, spread between various Deluxe-sized toys, and each came with a Tiny Tins carrying case.

The character bios and blacked-out silhouettes on the Tins indicate there were supposed to be two different decos for each Race Team member, one good, one evil... but apparently this plan fell through come manufacturing time.

Notes

Foreign names

• Japanese: Race Micron (レースマイクロン Rēsu Maikuron)
• French: Équipe de Course des Minimodus ("Race Mini-Con Team"), Équipe d'Assaut Routier des Minimodus ("Road Assault Mini-Con Team")
• Korean: Race (레이스 Reiseu)
• Spanish: Los Minimodus - Equipo de Carrera ("The Mini-Cons - Race Team"), Los Minimodus - Equipo de Asalto Terrestre ("The Mini-Cons - Ground Assault Team")