Editing Skid-Z (RID)

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{{disambig3|Skids}}
:''Skid-Z is an [[Autobot]] in the [[Robots in Disguise (franchise)|Robots in Disguise]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Skid Z-RID01.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Not a girl, damnit.]]
'''Skid-Z''' is really fast and really competitive. Some would say ''compulsively'' competitive. This intense drive for victory was greatly heightened after he arrived on [[Earth]] to join [[Optimus Prime (RID)|Optimus Prime]]'s forces, but he's back to normal again.

Mostly.

:''Japanese name:'' '''Indy Heat'''

==Fiction==
===''Robots in Disguise'' cartoon===
:''Voice actor:'' [[Michael Lindsay]] (English), [[Jin Nishimura]] (Japanese)

After arriving on Earth, Skid-Z scanned an F-1 race car once belonging to the legendary (and now dead) driver [[Auggie Cahnay (RID)|Auggie Cahnay]] for his vehicle mode. Cahnay had joked that he was in the car so much that it had taken on his personality—a statement that rang bizarrely true when Skid-Z was possessed by Cahnay's residual psychotropic energy, apparently a result of Skid-Z forgetting to purge the vehicle with a high-frequency wave pulse before scanning it. Thereafter, Skid-Z began behaving increasingly erratically.

Whenever he saw a race, he instinctively joined it—never officially signing up for them, of course, which got [[Prowl (RID)|Prowl]] on his tail when he illegally entered the European [[Europa 400]] race. He won the race, but Prowl ended up in a pile of hay bales for his troubles.

[[Image:Skid Z-RID02.jpg|left|180px|thumb|"A personality quirk is still a personality, right?"]]
This single-mindedness quickly became a source of personal embarrassment for Skid-Z as he found himself outracing grade schoolers and the tortoise & the hare. Although he was aware enough of his situation to realize he was having problems, he was unable to do anything about them.

Skid-Z soon found himself in battle with [[Sky-Byte]] after he rebuffed the poetic [[Predacon (RID)|Predacon]]'s offer of power amongst [[Megatron (RID)|Megatron]]'s troops. The fight didn't last long—after dodging Sky-Byte's Tsunami Blaster attack, Skid-Z heard the start of a foot race, and ran off to join it.

Meanwhile, [[T-AI]], having researched Skid-Z's scanner log, learned the cause of his affliction and realized it would only get worse if he wasn't brought to base and decontaminated. As the Autobots debated what to do, [[Koji Onishi|Koji]] voiced that he had studied Cahnay's background and determined that Skid-Z would next show up at the [[International Grand Prix]], a free-for-all race for all kinds of wheeled vehicles—a race that Cahnay had never been able to win. Seeing the logic in Koji's words, Optimus Prime instructed all available personnel to join the race.

Skid-Z didn't show up until the race was well underway. Most of the other Autobots had been taken out of the race by Megatron—and those few remaining (Optimus Prime, Prowl, [[Side Burn (RID)|Side Burn]] and [[X-Brawn]]) were trapped underneath a giant boulder, which would crush them when their strength ran out.

Optimus transmitted a call to Skid-Z for help. He was in the lead—he could win the race. He WANTED to win the race... didn't he? Skid-Z's desire to win struggled with his Autobot conscience. He had to make a choice—and so he did. Skid-Z drove back and saved his comrades, then helped them to beat Megatron away. 

[[Image:Skid Z-RID03.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Victory is for the winners!]]

With evil vanquished for the day, Skid-Z rejoined the International Grand Prix, coming in first place. Finally, it was all over! He felt normal! He... mistook Koji's watch alarm for a starting signal, and was off again, eventually ending up in Africa looking for a race. Oh well. Prime knew he'd be back—sooner or later.  {{storylink|Skid Z's Choice}}

And it ''was'' later... much, ''much'' later. When all Autobots were assembled for a counter-strike against their advancing enemies, Skid-Z fought in the final battle against the Predacon/Decepticon forces. {{storylink|Surprise Attack!}}

In the Autobots' last visit to Earth following the total defeat of [[Megatron (RID)|Galvatron]] and his [[Decepticon|Decepticons]], he was racing with the [[Spy Changer|Spy Changers]], and T-AI yelled at him to slow down as he bashed his comrades aside to win.  {{storylink|The Final Battle (RID)|The Final Battle}} 

Oh, that nutty Skid-Z! Ha ha ha!
{{--}}

==Toys==
===Robots in Disguise===
{{picsneeded|Japanese Car Robots versions}}
* '''Indy Heat''' (Flip Changer, 2000)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''C-016'''

:Indy Heat is a [[redeco]] of the mold originally used to make the ''[[Machine Wars]]'' versions of [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] and [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] done in a variety of purples. He had orange lettering across his body, including the words "INDY" and "FLIP CHANGER", and the number "16" (matching his release number).
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* '''Super Indy Heat''' (Flip Changer, 2000)

:Super Indy Heat was a transparent blue redeco of Indy Heat. Much of the lettering from his first release was dropped; in its place he had the number "20" in red on his hood and the phrase "2000 EXCLUSIVE" on his spoiler. 

:Super Indy Heat was distributed [[exclusive]]ly through [[JUSCO]] department stores with the purchase of a [[Team Bullet Train]] giftset.
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[[Image:RID Skid-Z Toy.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Speed, I am speed. With a grape flavor.]]
* '''Skid-Z / Wind Sheer''' (Deluxe, 2001)

:Skid-Z's deco is significantly changed from his original [[Takara]] release, removing all of the orange lettering and changing the light purple to silver. Skid-Z was only available in a Deluxe two-pack with [[Wind Sheer (RID)|Wind Sheer]].

:The mold was later redecoed to make the ''[[Robot Masters]]'' version of Mirage.
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==Notes==
*According to the ''Robots In Disguise'' cartoon, Skid-Z's name is pronounced "Skids," rather than "Skid-Zee" or "Skid-Zed".

* Skid-Z's voice is pretty much identical to Joe from ''Digimon'', both of which were played by the same voice actor. [[Wedge|This]] is not [[Railspike (RID)|unusual]] in RID.

*While Skid-Z knew of the Autobots' strategy in case their base was found, his long absence from the main events of the series (having been gone from episode 11 to '''36''') does seem to imply he spent ''all of the intervening time'' looking for a race.

==External links==
*[http://www.tfu.info/2001/Autobot/Skid-Z/skid-z.htm Skid-Z at TFU.info]


[[Category:Autobots]]
[[Category:Japanese-original characters]]
[[Category:Robots in Disguise characters]]