Slipstream (Animated)

You say "bitch" like it's a bad thing!

Slipstream is a Decepticon from the Transformers Animated continuity family.

Slipstream, the Female Starscream, is the Starscream clone that raises the most questions. She possesses considerable strategic thinking, a biting sense of humor, and a short temper. Like all of the clones, she represents an aspect of the original Starscream's personality... though which aspect that is, he's better off not asking (or so she says).

Practically everything she ever says to the original Starscream is an insult of some form. Really makes you wonder about Starscream, doesn't it?

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Voice actor: Tara Strong (English), Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese), Silvia Mißbach (German), Daniele Demma (Italian), Samira Fernandes (Portuguese), Jessica Toledo (Latin American Spanish)

"You're not those boring masculinists, are you?"

When his clones were brought online, Starscream was confronted with various personality issues. The female clone revealed that each one represented an aspect of his personality: megalomania, cowardice, bootlicking, and deception. When Starscream asked where she came from, Slipstream informed him that he was better off not knowing. Once they were ready to depart, Thundercracker pushed Starscream aside, and the original realized that he really was a pain in the gearshaft. Slipstream bitingly noted that he'd finally "arrived at the party", then childishly claimed that she wasn't starting anything. A Bridge Too Close, Part I

Slipstream proved to be a capable fighter, managing to get a pair of stasis cuffs on the massive Bulkhead. After the original Starscream was decapitated by Isaac Sumdac piloting a Headmaster unit, Slipstream promptly declared that she was better off being led by Megatron. When Omega Supreme joined the battle, she and the other Decepticons were blasted away. A Bridge Too Close, Part II

Slipstream apparently decided to lay low on Earth after the space bridge battle, managing to evade capture unlike her fellow clones (and several non-clone Decepticons). However, when she spotted a red figure flying through the sky, she mistook it for Starscream and chased after it in a rage. She shot at him, causing him to fall in a river. Seeing it wasn't Starscream, she promptly fled the scene. Endgame, Part I

The Cool comic

"I do not think you're dreamy! That's an entirely different purple female Decepticon."

As the Autobots and Decepticons fought over the Space Bridge, Starscream chose that moment as the most opportune time to unleash his Clone Army on both factions. Slipstream was among them and seemed to fare best, as the other clones were being easily swatted by the joint efforts of Optimus Prime and Megatron. Slipstream managed to get a clear shot at Megatron and, after screaming an insult at him, sent a powerful energy blast headed his way. Megatron saw the attack coming, however, and quickly used Optimus as a living shield. The Cool Episode 7

Defeated, Slipstream was forced to follow Megatron's orders and attack the oncoming Omega Supreme. She and the other clones were greatly outmatched and taken out by a single blast from Omega's arm cannon. The Cool Episode 8

Notes

• Where Slipstream got her colors from was debated within the fandom, with the most frequent guess being Generation 2 Ramjet. However, when contacted about it, Derrick J. Wyatt revealed that her color scheme was actually "loosely inspired" by the Godmaster Overlord. Unexpected! Still, half of Overlord was technically female.
• As her colors weren't closely based on any of the pre-existing Seekers, fans didn't have much of a clue what to call her, and created a lot of different nicknames. No official name had been created for her, either (she was just referred to as "Female Starscream" in the show's credits), a situation that writers Jim Sorenson and Bill Forster sought to rectify for her entry in Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac. Forster and Sorenson proposed "Slipstream" to Derrick J. Wyatt and Marty Isenberg, who both liked it, and the name was subsequently included in the first draft of the Almanac.^[1] Hasbro raised no objection to the idea, and publicly announced the name for the first time during the Hasbro panel at BotCon 2009.
• While the Transformers fandom has long mused upon the possibility of female "Seekers" (and produced countless self-insertion characters that are variants on the theme), Slipstream is the first canonical female character to share a body template with Starscream. This is either great or horrible, depending on your perspective. (Hasbro concept art of what appeared to be a female Seeker design did appear on the BotCon 2005-exclusive cover of Infiltration #0, but the idea doesn't seem to have been developed further than that at the time.)
• The whole gag about Slipstream is that we are not supposed to know what aspect of Starscream's personality she represents. This, however, has not stopped fans from repeatedly asking Derrick J. Wyatt about it over Twitter and Formspring, despite his early attempt at light-heartedly brushing the question off by saying "I try not to think about that one!"^[2] At this point, Wyatt has, in fact, gotten so tired of this question that he now automatically agrees with whatever theory is put forward to him, no matter how absurd.^[3]
• In the Italian dubbing of Transformers Animated, the voice of Slipstream was provided by Daniele Demma, the same male voice actor that does Starscream and the other clones. This resulted in a more exaggerated representation of the character.
• In the Latin American Spanish dub of the third season, she is probably still a female. However, due to her voice being extremely grave, it's still unclear if she is either male or female.
• The War for Cybertron version of Slipstream is designed in homage of this one.
• Slipstream was originally intended to appear in "Endgame, Part II", in which she would revive Starscream after the Autobots left Earth, but the scene was cut for time.^[4]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Slipstream (スリップストリーム Surippusutorīmu)

References

1. ↑ Disciples of Boltax: Don't cross the Slipstream.
2. ↑ Derrick J. Wyatt Q&A... answers!
3. ↑ Does Slipstream represent the sorrow Starscream feels when reflecting on the plight of the Native Americans as both their land and buffalo were violently taken from them during westward expansion?
4. ↑ Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II