Being one of the first
Autobot Mini-Cons-- and one tied to Drift,
no less-- Slipstream's alternate mode is a disc. The head and feet are
pretty obvious-- I mean, the feet just stick out a bit at the bottom (albeit
not much) and the headcrest is quite obvious at the top-- but otherwise
this is a pretty darned solid disc mode, with no other real extras or obvious
robot parts, and is quite round at the edges. There's some nice mold detailing
on the figure as well that looks like armor with some circuitry-like detail--
it's unfortunate that there's no paint apps at all in this mode to highlight
these details, but I do appreciate the surprising amount of detail for
a RID2015 toy. Slipstream's basic color scheme is red and black-- pretty
much your most basic Autobot-y color scheme, though the red has a bit of
a milky feel to it, instead of just being a "straight" red, so it looks
a bit more visually interesting if you look at it closely. The black contrasts
well against the red, though in this mode the parts that are black-- namely
the pieces that become the legs and a piece that obviously covers the face--
makes those robot parts stand out all the more obviously. (The back of
the lower arms is also black, but from your traditional top-down view this
isn't easily seen and isn't a big deal.)
To transform Slipstream
to robot mode, simply pull apart his lower leg pieces, and his legs automatically
extend and his face cover slides downwards. Slipstream's robot mode also
looks remarkably solid, with a top-heavy, fairly muscular look that exaggerates
his proportions a bit, but within that stylistic exaggeration they're pretty
spot-on. I honestly don't mind the small legs, as they work well with his
overall look. For paint, he's got a nicely-detailed silver face with blue
eyes and a dull metallic orange highlight on the middle two prongs of his
four-pronged headcrest. Unfortunately, this metallic orange is so dull
it doesn't stand out against the red much at all, to the point where it
really should've been lighter. Otherwise there's sadly no paint on the
figure, though at least with the plastic breakup his fists are black to
help them stand out against the rest of the lower arms. As with nearly
all RID Mini-Cons, Slipstream has some armor parts, which in his case are
a REALLY nice fiery transparent orange shade. The fiery look of them is
emphasized by the fiery pieces that go on his shoulders, and he's also
got some more samurai armor-like pieces-- namely two swords he can hold
in his hands, two circular shields that mount on his forearms (that sadly
come off too easily during transformation), a triangular piece on his upper
back, and a really cool lion head with a single horn that fits over his
normal head and really makes him look practically like a different character
with all these pieces on. These pieces are just really awesome extras,
and yes they can indeed all slot into disc mode (however, with the lion
helmet on that may interfere with slotting him into Drift to fire him off).
Unfortunately, like most Mini-Cons Slipstream has no articulation whatsoever.
Slipstream is a remarkably
solid Mini-Con toy, if you take into account the limiations of the tiny
price point (no articulation, not much paint, some obvious bits in alt
mode). His disc mode only has some minor extras, and his robot mode looks
very nice with great proportions and some very spiffy-looking fiery armor
pieces. One of my favorite Mini-Con toys from the entire RID2015 line,
and my absolute favorite of the disc Mini-Cons. Recommended if you like
the gimmick.
Review by Beastbot