Slide
- Slide is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
When you're as cool as Slide, everything looks easy. Gliding effortlessly from task to task with a quick wit and a laid-back charm, Slide knows that when the heat is on, the trick is to not let them see you sweat. Their feet contain reserves of a frictionless gel; when deployed, it allows them to skate along any surface.
Sure, this lackadaisical attitude might lead others to think that this cool cat is just an unmotivated slacker, but Metro Squad leader Oiler knows that Slide doesn't want the other members of the team to know how much his combiner partner cares.[1] More than anything, however, Slide cares deeply about Oiler. If anything ever happened to him, Slide would never be able to forgive the culprit... or themself.
Slide's nature varies. Some versions are male; others are female.
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
- First appearance: Optimus Prime #1
Slide and her twin brother Oiler hailed from the colony world of Devisiun, settled by Transformer colonists millions of years beforehand evolving into a civilization of linked Transformers where each formed one half of a single alternate mode. Slide and her brother were raised to believe that their pioneering forebears had "civilized" the once-verdant planet for its own good; they spent their early years playing with the native creatures, all while viewing them as backwards lifeforms whom the Transformers had "saved" from their own feral existence. Time Will Rust
Like the other Titan colonies, the Devisiens were highly religious, and a common belief was that Primes were holy figures, wise keepers of the ultimate truths. Primeless, Part 2 Shortly after Devisiun joined the Council of Worlds, the twins learned of Optimus Prime. To Walk Among the Chosen Oiler was excited at the prospects of working alongside the Prime on Earth, and following in the footsteps of their ancestors by saving humanity from itself, Time Will Rust and so both twins joined Prime on Earth at some point after the Ore-13 crisis. Like the other recently-arrived Colonist Soldiers they began wearing mouthplates to emulate him. To Walk Among the Chosen
The new recruits got their first taste of real action when they were sent to Mexico City with Aileron in the hopes of locating a cache of recovered Cybertronian technology. They discovered that an anti-Transformer mob had set up a protest that had quickly turned into a riot. When a human protester shot Midnight Express with a black-market EDC weapon, Optimus summoned reinforcements. While Soundwave, Arcee, and Jazz saved the day, the new meat watched in awe. Back aboard Autobot City, the assembled colonists continued to laud the myriad deeds of Optimus; their combined hero-worship managed to annoy even Aileron. To Walk Among the Chosen
After Optimus Prime made contact with the Junkions, the colonist platoon badgered a recently-returned Optimus with questions about the newcomers. Soundwave wasn't inclined to field their questions and told them to shut up, though Slide cracked wise partway through Soundwave's story about the battle of Junkion. A Lonely Pillar on the Plain
Slide and the other colonists knelt as Optimus Prime returned to Earth from Cybertron, and later watched on as Optimus and Pyra Magna had a heated argument about Prime's use of the Matrix. The twins were present on the deck of Metrotitan when Optimus held a summit with several human governments... only to be interrupted when the Junkions unleashed a horde of ravenous Sharkticons. Dance Among the Shadows The awed colonists watched as Optimus ordered Metrotitan to lay siege to the Junkion mothership, and Oiler and Slide fought to keep the Junkions off the Titan's deck. Though she fought hard, Slide couldn't save her brother from a surprise Junkion attack; furious, Slide deployed her cannons and blew her brother's killer to smithereens. Future Glories Lost
As the battle reached its zenith, Slide attempted to convince Optimus to kill Rum-Maj, the way he had once put down Galvatron. Optimus took a different tack: laying down his arms to negotiate a new peace between the races. With the President's blessing, the Junkions relocated to the Bikini Atoll to start anew. While the other Autobots worked to build a new refugee camp for the aliens, Slide resentfully watched from a distance, confiding in Pyra Magna that she wanted justice for her brother's death. Feel Safe Without Regrets
As construction of "Little Cybertron" continued, the colonists held a funeral for Oiler. Slide fumed at the callousness of burying her brother on the island now inhabited by the aliens who had killed him; when Midnight Express tried to talk her down, she yelled that she couldn't even transform anymore and that none of the others could understand the pain of losing their other half before storming off. The Next Day, and the Next After being left behind when everyone else transformed to drive to the beach after the day's work, Pyra Magna quietly told her that while the others might "make excuses for the Prime", she wouldn't forget Oiler's loss and pain. What It's Really Like
Slide's discontent with Optimus and humanity continued to fester over the coming weeks; by the time that Earth prepared to formally join the Council of Worlds she remained at Autobot City, still upset with Optimus' recent history of compromise. The ceremony was cut short by Baron Ironblood's attack on Iacon, temporarily cutting off Earth from Cybertron. With Optimus Prime and his inner retinue on Cybertron and now missing in action, Aileron took charge over the deteriorating situation despite Slide's objections, and brought Slide and the other colonists with her to search for the missing Jazz.
The team tracked their missing teammate to Oaxaca, where Slide's mounting frustration with the humans boiled over after they ran afoul of more humans wielding reverse-engineered Cybertronian technology. A furious Slide smacked one of her attackers aside, forcing Aileron to airlift her out of the city and retreat to the outskirts of the city. As Aileron tried to regroup her team, Slide laid into Aileron's poor leadership and Prime's sudden apathy to the threat that black market weapons posed — by having Earth join the Council, she reasoned, Cybertronian-derived tech could be traded without violating the Tyrest Accord and thus the situation was no longer politically useful for Optimus. Her criticisms began influencing the other colonists as they tracked Jazz north, and before long they stumbled on Jazz under siege from human insurgents. Primeless, Part 1
Ordered by Aileron to disarm the humans, Slide's recklessness led her to open fire on them, but the humans retreated unharmed. The Autobots managed to corner one of the dissidents, and together they travelled north to meet with his suppliers — who turned out to be Frenzy and Rumble, who had facilitated the arms trade to make quick buck. Realizing that any punitive actions would only agitate the situation further, Aileron opted to cover up the situation entirely, much to the Devisien's frustration. Aileron, at the end of her tether, simply screamed at her to shut up. The Autobots, minus Jazz but with Frenzy and Rumble in tow, returned to Autobot City shortly afterwards. Primeless, Part 2
Some time after Joe Colton's defeat, Prime returned to Earth to take command of the Autobots First Strike #6 and Slide's frustrations continued to mount. During the opening of Earth's first human/Cybertronian Ore-13 mine in Kentucky, Slide was arguing with the other colonists about Prime's motives until Aileron dragged her in front of Optimus to repeat what she had said behind his back. Though Optimus tried to mediate, Pyra Magna suggested that they should visit the newly-founded Ore-13 mine in Kentucky. Surfeit of Primes No sooner had the Colonist Soldiers disembarked, however, when Metrotitan, alerted to the crisis on Cybertron, spacebridged away. The Ground
With nowhere else to go, the colonists retreated to Little Cybertron, awaiting news regarding the fate of Cybertron. Eventually, news reports began to trickle in... that Cybertron had abruptly lost contact with Roulette's homeworld of Velocitron. Roulette remained optimistic that the Prime would soon put things right — optimism that Slide was quick to put down — and Slide's suspicions were confirmed when Circuit reported that Velocitron had been destroyed by an unknown threat. The destruction of Eukaris and Slide's home planet Devisiun made things worse, and when Circuit announced that Prime planned to deliberately sacrifice Caminus to buy time against Unicron, Slide vowed to end Prime's reign. Unstopped and Unstoppable
Intent on proving that they hadn't forgotten their comrades the way Prime had, the team recruited the services of Sky Lynx, and flew to Mount Rushmore to rescue Jazz from G.I. Joe custody. Unfortunately for them, Mt. Rushmore had also become the home of Trypticon and the Dinobots, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides. The young recruits quickly found themselves outmatched by the hardened veterans, and Gimlet was cut down by Slug just before Rum-Maj and the Junkions arrived. An emotional Slide tried to explain her motives, insisting that she had only ever meant this as a rescue mission... moments before Unicron appeared in the skies above Earth. Time Will Rust
Toys
Generation 1
- Micromaster Combiner Metro Squad (1990)
- Slide transforms into a white tanker trailer that is intended to be the rear half of a blue and white tanker truck, with combiner partner Oiler forming the front. Slide can, of course, combine with any other Micromaster Combiner to form a new vehicle, as well as connect to any Micromaster Combiner Transport. Slide was only available in a six-pack with Oiler, Power Run, Roadburner, Strikedown, and Wheel Blaze.
Return of Convoy
- Fire Tanker W Team (Micro Trailer W Team, 1991)
- Japanese ID number: C-365
- Accessories: Micro Trailer #5
- In Japan, Slide came as part of the Fire Tanker W Team with Oiler, Wheelblaze, and Roadburner. All four components were identical to their Hasbro releases. The group also came with Micro Trailer #5.
Notes
- For years, Slide's only fictional "appearance" was in the pages of Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye profile books, which established the character as male in its biographical information. When Slide got a supporting role in the pages of Optimus Prime, artist Kei Zama tweeted that the IDW incarnation of Slide would be a gal. [2] In a rather odd coincidence, Beast Wars: Uprising would go on to introduce Oiler as female in its continuity in the same month.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Slide (スライド Suraido)
- French: Glisseur
- Italian: Quazar
