Slipstream (Transformers)

Slipstream is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers franchise.

Transformers: Generation 1

Throughout the history of the Transformers franchise, Slipstream has been randomly applied to different characters. However, since Transformers Animated introduced a character with the name who was a female clone of Starscream, later versions of the character with this name have been related to Starscream one way or another. Sometimes, he is a male character.

Marvel Comics

Slipstream was the name of an Autobot who appeared in the Official Transformers: Generation 2 Annual. Not much is known about this version of the character. It is unlikely that a fiction-only character was intentionally introduced in The Official Transformers: Generation 2 Annual. He was probably supposed to be the Aquaspeeder Speedstream. Slipstream has a powerful racing car mode that he prefers to use for melee combat.

Video games

Slipstream appears in the iOS card game Transformers Legends, which takes place in an alternate Generation 1 timeline. Slipstream is a rare card. Though taking place in G1, her bio states she is a clone of Starscream, as in Animated. Slipstream and Flamewar were tasked with hunting down and capturing Elita One's squadron of Female Autobots that was attacking Decepticon bases. They succeeded at stopping the Autobots. Secretly allying herself with the Quintessons, Slipstream entered the Galactic Games in an effort to disrupt the spirit of cooperation the games represented between the Autobots and their allies. She was eventually found out and stopped by Drift and Cosmos.

Toys

• Legends Slipstream (2015)

Legends Slipstream is a retool of Generations Windblade with a new head, chest and forearms based on the design of her Transformers Animated incarnation.

Transformers: Armada

Slipstream was the name of one of the Mini-Cons featured in the Transformers Armada PS2 game. Slipstream is one of many power-enhancing Mini-Cons scattered across Earth. A member of the Gold Mini-Con Team, when Powerlinxed to a larger Transformer, Slipstream unfolds into a glider pack that allows even a bulky machine like Optimus Prime to soar long distances on air thermals. He is nearly identical to his teammate Fullspeed, and in fact Fullspeed's speed-enhancing powers complement Slipstream's glider-pack very well. Games

Video games

Slipstream's Mini-Con storage panel was discovered in the Mid-Atlantic, on an atoll close to where the Decepticon warship Tidal Wave was stationed as a relay point. Slipstream's glider-pack proved to be an invaluable tool in the Autobots' search for the Mini-Cons and in the fight against the Decepticlone armies. Following the defeat of Megatron, he and the other Mini-Cons returned to Cybertron and helped form the Matrix Cannon, Nemesis Shield and Vanguard Booster, giving the Autobots the power needed to destroy Unicron. Slipstream uses the same base model as Fullspeed, Highgear, and Highjump.

Transformers

Slipstream is an Autobot who served with Ironhide on Cybertron in the Transformers side story "Lost in Space 3: Ironhide" by Titan Magazines.

Titan Magazines

Slipstream and his training group were pressed into service by Ironhide to rescue an Autobot prisoner from a Decepticon stronghold. Skyblast, Signal Flare and Strongarm distracted the automated defenses, allowing Slipstream, Ironhide and Bumper to blast their way into the base. The base was manned by a single, solitary Swindle, who promptly surrendered, allowing the Autobots to free the prisoner. Lost In Space 3: Ironhide

Transformers Animated

In the Transformers Animated series, Slipstream is the name that was given to the female Starscream clone.^[1] Like the rest of the clones, Slipstream embodies a part of the original's personality, though what part she represents has never been elaborated upon. In spite of being created by Starscream, Slipstream has zero respect towards him and is as vindictive in personality.^[2]

Her technical specifications appeared on a lithograph sold at Botcon 2011.^[3]

Animated Series

Slipstream first appeared in "A Bridge Too Close" 2-parter, having just been brought online by a piece of Starscream's Allspark fragment. Blunt and scathing, she was quick to point out to her clueless "parent" how the other Starscream clones represented their creator's egotism, cowardice, sycophancy and deceit. When asked which part of Starscream she represented, Slipstream replied "don't ask." Though she joined Starscream in his attack on Megatron, she incited him at every turn, questioning his battle strategies, and citing his failures at destroying Megatron. When Starscream was beheaded by a Headmaster unit, Slipstream was first of the remaining clones to instantly side with Megatron, telling Starscream "Any leader has to be an improvement over you." Slipstream and the clones then participated in the fight against Omega Supreme. Although Slipstream's strategy to aim for the giant Autobot's legs was partially successful, in the end she and the other Decepticons were no match for his firepower.

Unlike her clone brothers, Slipstream went into hiding until she briefly returned in "Endgame Part 1". As Optimus Prime tested his new jet pack, Slipstream mistook him for Starscream and attacked him. But after shooting him down, Slipstream realized her mistake and left the scene as one of the nine active Decepticons on Earth still on the loose. The others are Soundwave, Waspinator, Blackarachnia, Laserbeak, Ratbat, and the Constructicons. She was slated to appear in "Endgame, Part 2" where she was to resurrect Starscream with another AllSpark fragment, but this scene was cut for time. The storyboard can be found in "The AllSpark Almanac II".

Transformers: Prime

Slipstream is a Decepticon who fought on Cybertron during the early days of the Autobot/Decepticon war. She is a Seeker who specializes in sarcasm and stinging insults hidden behind a thin veneer of humor. Starscream finds her relatively unreadable.

Books

Slipstream was one of the Seekers who served on the bridge crew of the Nemesis alongside Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp. Although she remained true to the ideal that Seekers stick together, that did not mean she respected Starscream any more than he deserved.

When the Decepticons eventually tracked down the Ark on the planet Junkion, Slipstream was part of the aerial strike on the Autobots as they attempted to repair their ship. Later, she returned to the Nemesis as Megatron attempted to use the ship's tractor beam to pull forth the mythical Requiem Blaster from Junkion's core. They attempted to graft the Blaster to the Nemesis's hull. They only problem was Optimus Prime hopped aboard the craft right at the base of the Requiem Blaster. Megatron dispatched Slipstream and the Seekers to knock Prime loose before he caused any more trouble, but their efforts to avoid hitting the Blaster itself made it a perfect shield for Optimus on the hull. Slipstream and Optimus Prime soon fought hand-to-hand, and Prime eventually sent an invitation to Megatron by blasting Slipstream into unconsciousness...and causing her to land right on the window screen of the ship's bridge.

As Megatron learned the location of the Allspark and prepped the Nemesis for departure, Starscream remarked that Slipstream had not returned to the ship after suffering her injuries in battle with Prime and the Autobots. Megatron merely shrugged, and the Decepticons apparently left Slipstream behind on Junkion, just as it was being torn apart. Her current condition is unknown.

Fun Publications

Slipstream appears in "Invasion: Epilogue" by Fun Publications. She is found playing cards with other Transformers in Axiom Nexus when a pair of Optimus Primes interrupt with a mission for Depth Charge.^[4]

Video games

Slipstream does not appear in the War for Cybertron storyline campaign. However, completing the Decepticon campaign will allow the player to use Slipstream in Escalation mode, and her chassis, labeled a Stalker, for customizing an online multiplayer character for Decepticon Scientist. Her escalation abilities are cloak and shockwave.

Toys

• Timelines Deluxe Slipstream (2013)

A remold of Deluxe Prime Starscream. A Transformers Collectors Club exclusive.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise

Slipstream is a Mini-Con that is partnered with Drift. He used to be a criminal before he sided with Drift.

Animated series

Along with Drift, he also joins Bumblebee's group in episode 17. Like his partner Jetstorm, Slipstream is working with his master Drift. Of the two Mini-Cons though, Slipstream is the calmer one, preferring to follow Drift's lead on and off the battlefield. He is not above celebrating with Jetstorm though, and the two seem to have good synergy with how they fight. Using his swords to cut the enemy down to size, it's not surprising that he takes a lot from Drift a little more than Jetstorm does.

References