Ripslinger

"You used to be a great champion. How the mighty have fallen."

- Ishani Ripslinger is the main antagonist of the 2013 Disney/Pixar animated feature film, Planes.

Official Description

 * With more wins than he can count and an abundance of fans, Ripslinger is wings-down the biggest name in air racing-and he knows it. But despite sky's-the-limit funding and the state-of-the-art equipment, the world champion still doesn't play fair-especially when it comes to a small-town plane with zero racing experience. Dusty doesn't belong in Ripslinger's sport and his mere presence makes the pro's fuel boil. And if Dusty's inexperience doesn't take him out of the race, Ripslinger's vast empire includes a couple of underhanded sidekicks to take care of business.

Development
According to a piece of concept art, Ripslinger originally had different livery before his green and black livery. Originally, he had purple at the front, orange on his air intakes and the ends of his propellers, and green at the back of his fuselage, with checks of both green and purple in the middle. He would have also had his racing number on his vertical stabilizer instead of his fuselage, and purple on his tailplane.

Personality
Ripslinger is shown to be self-centered and carefree. He is also ruthless to his fellow racers, including Dusty Crophopper, as he would try to win races without being beaten, and would try to prevent Dusty from beating him. Throughout the Wings Around the Globe, he kept being angered since the third leg thanks to Dusty pushing hard. In the final leg, Ripslinger began to get real cruel by trying to take Dusty out, but it was not enough to make Ripslinger win. After losing the Wings Around the Globe, he was still in his original personality, as he still proved that Dusty is one of his enemies. He was also described by Dottie to be modest, while having self-promotion.

Physical appearance
Ripslinger is painted mainly dark green, with black checks on the middle of his bodywork. The back of his bodywork is painted black, with an orange swirly line going across, his name painted orange inside an oval shape, his racing number #13, Team RPX's logo, and several sponsors such as Aeroflex. He has green eyes, flames painted on his air intakes, and his clipped wings are painted black, with green on his wing tips. His left wing also has his racing number. His model is based on a Racing Mustang "Precious Metal", which is a modification of the P-51D Mustang. He uses a Sky Slycer Mark Five propeller, which is a contra-rotating propeller with two blades on each prop, unlike the three-bladed props on the "Precious Metal". It also has green stripes on each end, and Team RPX's logo on each blade. He also has resemblance to the Messerschmitt Bf 109, along with parts of the Sharp Nemesis NXT26, and a wingspan of 2 feet (8 meters).

Meet Ripslinger
Ripslinger appears in one of four shorts that was made to promote the first film. In the short, Ripslinger reveals to the viewers that he became a racer when he decided to give the world of air racing a new star ten years ago, and has now been known as a role model and racing champion.

He also notes that he sometimes wonders what is the answer to the greatest mystery of life, saying that "Is there an awesome beyond awesome? Or is awesome the most awesome I will ever be?" He then states that despite not knowing, he still focuses on doing the one thing he loves other than himself: winning races. To end his short, he tells the viewers that a racer will need velocity, tenacity and humility to be as competitive as him.

Planes
Ripslinger has been known as a very competitive air racer, having won the Wings Around the Globe three times. To many, he is also known as the "Green Tornado". Because he is so good, he has managed to pre-qualify for the next Wings Around the Globe, along with two smaller planes part of his team: Ned and Zed. When Dusty Crophopper is about to take part in the qualifier, Ripslinger starts to make fun of him, because that he is a crop duster.

However, Ripslinger appears at Lincoln Airfield as a special quest for the tryouts for the Wings Around the Globe Rally. As Ripslinger watches unconvinced, Dusty is able to set the sixth fastest time much to Ripslinger's surprise, though it is not enough for Dusty to qualify, until one of the other planes Fonzarelli soon gets disqualified for using illegal fuel. Ripslinger then flies to New York for the location of the pits at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He soon comes across Dusty again, when the latter visits him at his tent. Ripslinger sarcastically states that having Dusty around is a nice story, saying that a small-town farmer like Dusty would take part if they do not crash while taking off. Dusty is left confused, while Ripslinger sarcastically wishes him good luck and literally calls him a farm boy.

The first leg of the Wings Around the Globe takes place, and Ripslinger takes his spot in pole position, as the crowd cheers wildly for him. He starts with no trouble at all, and stays in front throughout all of the leg, including the finish, which is located in Iceland. By the time Ripslinger, Ned and Zed have been keeping warm inside the airport, Dusty arrives in last place after picking up ice from flying so low above the sea. Ripslinger leads all of the second leg, which is from Iceland to Germany. After winning, he insults Dusty for finishing in last place after saving Bulldog, saying that nice guys like Dusty would finish last. For the night, the racers all have refreshments at the nearby pub. Inside the pub, Ripslinger talks to Ishani (who Dusty has been in love with), telling her to make sure Dusty does not beat him, despite that Ishani does not want to hurt Dusty.

Once again, Ripslinger takes control of the next leg that goes toward India. He is unaware about Dusty finishing in eighth place, until the press begin interviewing Dusty to ask if he can out-fly Ripslinger. Ripslinger, however, is left angered, wondering why the press would spend time interviewing a crop duster like Dusty. Ned and Zed begin to note it being an underdog story, mentioning other underdog stories such as Old Yeller. Annoyed by Ned and Zed arguing about if that counts as an underdog story, Ripslinger tells them to stop, further stating to them about Old Yeller's fate, and that he will not be wanting Dusty beat him in the Wings Around the Globe. Trying to prevent it from happening, he orders Ishani to give advice to Dusty about following a railroad track through the Himalayas during the next leg to Nepal. After she reluctantly does, Ripslinger gives her one of the Sky Slycer propellers his team makes. He leads all of the other racers over the Himalayas, finishing ahead of most of them. However, he soon learns that Dusty had won the leg, having flown through a tunnel and almost hitting a train. Meanwhile, Dusty founds out about Ripslinger using Ishani to try and get rid of him, and sarcastically thanks Ripslinger for the victory. Ripslinger is also unimpressed, having been beaten for the first time in the competition.

With the competition's rule of the winner taking off before the other racers, Dusty starts the next leg to China ahead of Ripslinger, who tries to close in on him. However, Dusty is able to hold him off and win the leg. Ripslinger becomes extremely cross, enough to make him purposely break Zed's skyPad (which is a spoof of the iPad), while stating to Zed that a new one will be released in a couple of weeks. Having had enough, Ripslinger decides that it is time to pay Dusty back, by using Ned and Zed to break Dusty's GPS antenna over the Pacific Ocean during the next leg to Mexico. With Dusty falling behind and getting damaged in the ocean, Ripslinger wins the leg. The press, however, begin to wonder what had happened to Dusty, to which Ripslinger sarcastically says that they will miss him, jokingly adding that Dusty would be better as a boat instead of a plane. However, confronted by El Chupacabra and Ishani turn against Ripslinger, telling him that Dusty is better than him and has ten times the propeller.

Despite being unimpressed by El Chu and Ishani, Ripslinger is pleased with himself for what he thinks is being on top again. However, two days later, on the day of the final leg, he sees that Dusty has come back, this time with modifications after being helped by many of the fellow racers such as El Chu, Rochelle, Ishani and Bulldog. He is confronted by Dusty and unfazes him that just because he look more like a racer doesn't change on who is. He takes a sniff at Dusty and that he can still smell the farm on him. Still wanting to win the Wings Around the Globe, Ripslinger makes a plan to defeat Dusty in the race. During the race, Dusty makes real progress after starting in last place, and is catching up with Ripslinger, Ned and Zed. At this point, Ripslinger pushes Dusty toward the ground, causing Dusty to hit several cacti. Moments later, Skipper jumps in to help Dusty take Ripslinger and his henchmen out. While Dusty gets Ned and Zed stuck between a couple of rocks, Skipper spins Ripslinger to make him go out of sight. However, Ripslinger fights back, breaking Skipper's tailfin, and continues on. Meanwhile, Dusty goes after him, and manages to get beside him. Immediately, Ripslinger accelerates, managing to lose Dusty, who is unable to go any faster.

With Dusty out of his sight, Ripslinger reaches New York, where the finish line is back at JFK Airport. Meanwhile, Dusty catches up to him, after soaring above the clouds to get more speed. Ripslinger does not know that Dusty is right behind him, and believes that he is going to win the Wings Around the Globe for a fourth time. Being many feet before the finish line, Ripslinger leans to get the press to take pictures of him. Dusty makes an advantage, overtaking Ripslinger while he gets his pictures taken, and wins the race ahead of Ripslinger. Enraged, Ripslinger yells at Dusty, but then flies into several portable toilets and lands in a pile of sludge. He is then put onto a flatbed truck and taken away, while Roper makes fun of him by calling him "Ripstinker" and telling him to wash up.

Planes: Fire & Rescue
Ripslinger only appears in stock footage shown on a screen behind Brent Mustangburger and Dusty at the beginning of the film. Later, Cad Spinner mistakes Dusty for Ripslinger, to which Dusty corrects him. However, Cad soon mistakenly refers to Dusty as "Dusty Cropslinger".

Planes: The Video Game
Ripslinger is the main antagonist and a playable character in Planes: The Video Game. In Trouble for Propwash, Ripslinger attempts to ruin Propwash Junction by destroying Dusty's billboards, knock water towers into the river to prevent any harvest from being sent, and shred the corn crops. However, Dusty manages to clean Propwash up in Trouble in Propwash. In Doppeldusty, he attempts to make the people running the Wings Around the Globe ban Dusty from taking part. He does this by painting himself like Dusty, and uses a paint sprayer to paint graffiti on the Great Wall of China, and then use a camera to get proof of the graffiti. However, his plans fail, and in Ripslinger Smash, he attempts to destroy the race course for the next Wings Around the Globe. By using a plow, he destroys every checkpoint, and then hurries away to prevent being spotted. He even causes troubles for Ishani, by ruining the Diwali festival and putting illegal fuel into Ishani before her next race. In Flying Blind, Ripslinger again uses his Dusty disguise, and uses the paint sprayer to paint all of the planes in China, as he is wanting to get the racers to turn against Dusty. However, Ripslinger's plan backfires, as the officials ban him from taking part in the next Wings Around the Globe, having filmed all of the footage with the television cameras.

Trivia

 * Ripslinger is very similar to the character of Chick Hicks, the main antagonist from Cars. Both are villainous racing vehicles with predominantly green paint, and they both cheat the protagonists McQueen/Dusty and attempt to make them fail in order to win the race.
 * 13, Ripslinger's racing number, is considered an unlucky number, which is likely why it was chosen for him. This number could also refer to Friday the 13th. This fits him well, as he causes bad things for his enemies.
 * His flying style is to take the lead early, and maintains pace from out in front.
 * He has a personal DJ to keep him relaxed, and he loves hip hop music.
 * He is nicknamed the "Green Tornado" throughout the racing world.
 * Ripslinger is voiced by Roger Craig Smith, who is the current voice of Sonic the Hedgehog and reprised him in Wreck-It Ralph. Coincidentally, both of these characters are known to be fast.
 * His Lego Duplo toy has one propeller instead of two.