Ripslinger

"Legends aren't born, they're built… for speed! I am Ripslinger!"

- Ripslinger

Ripslinger is the solo main antagonist in the 2013 Disney film, Planes. He is Dusty Crophopper's rival.

He was voiced by Roger Craig Smith who is best known for his most known roll as the current voice of Sonic from the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Official Bio
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.

Appearance
Ripslinger is a customized hi-tech state-of-the-art carbon fiber racing plane with a wingspan of 26.2 feet (8 meters), painted green with black wings and fins, and a "flame" pattern on his headlights and doors. He also uses his racing team's Skyslycer Mark 5 propellers, his is a contra-rotation propeller with two blades on each prop.

Planes
Ripslinger was seen making green smoke around the airstrip and Dusty and Chug called him the Green Tornado. Ripslinger and his goons don't like Dusty Crophopper at all. Ripslingerwas enjoying Hip Hop music and dismissed Dusty by calling him a farmboy. After Dusty saved Bulldog from an engine overheat he called Dusty a nice guy, in a sarcastic way. At the German oil hall he was whispering something to Ishani. In Shanghai, Ripslinger ordered his henchmen to break Dusty's antenna and he was so pleased about it. The next morning Ripslinger and his goons ambushed Dusty, using new parts donated from the other racers, Skipper had came to the rescue. Ripslinger ripped off Skipper's tail and Ripslinger got defeated by wrecking the porta potties after his ego got the better of him, by unknowingly letting Dusty pass him. Ripslinger was later placed on a flatbed, covered in oil, and was taken to be repaired and cleaned.

Planes: The Video Game
In the video game, Ripslinger tries to get Dusty banned from the latest WATG Rally by doing various dirty deeds, among the dirty deeds is a race against Dusty in Dubai with Ned & Zed emitting smoke to cause Dusty to crash, causing destruction around Propwash Junction, spray-painting graffiti of Dusty in a Dusty disguise, and hitting racers with paint in his disguise. He even causes trouble for Ishani by sabotaging the Diwali festival, spiking her fuel with his illegal mixture, and ruining the "Festival of Colors". In the end, Ripslinger got suspended after his dirty actions were caught on camera (he destroyed an entire WATG Rally course with a spiked plow after his plans against Dusty failed), as Skipper mentioned that ironically, his plan succeeded, and he was not worthy of being a pro racer.

Personality
Ripslinger is presented as being arrogant, conceited and self-centred but this hides a darker, malicious and ruthless core. He will go to extreme lengths to keep his fame, including the lives of others. Cruel, remorseless and narcissistic, Ripslinger embodied the negative aspects of a renowned celebrity personality. Instinctively he looked down upon anyone who didn't match his own social status including his fellow racers. The person he hated more than anyone else was Dusty, a cropduster and fellow competitor who was his rival as he believed he would inspire other blue-collar workers to become a racer indicating he was extremely paranoid about anyone stealing a glimpse of his spotlight as Dusty was slowly doing to him due to his "underdog" story.

However it's nodded that Ripslinger wasnt always like this. Ishani even remarks that he used to be a "great champion" who was more focused on the thrill of the race than actually winning but his arrogance and pride got the better of him, causing him to drown in his ego and vanity, hence Ishani's metaphor "how the mighty have fallen".

Ironically, Ripslinger's own egomania was the cause of his downfall. As when he was about to win the race, he ends up posing for a camera which allowed Dusty the opportunity to surpass him in the race. This caused him to chase after the cropduster in rage, knocking over several port-potties humiliating himself in front of the press, probably besmirching his reputation.

Trivia

 * Ripslinger is also known as The Green Tornado.
 * Ripslinger is the captain of Team RPX, an air racing team.
 * He has two henchplanes named Ned & Zed.
 * Ripslinger is similar to Chick Hicks, who was the villain of Cars.
 * Ripslinger's racing number is 13, which is rumored to be a bad luck number.
 * Ripslinger has a personal DJ to keep him relaxed and he loves Hip Hop music.
 * Ripslinger is nicknamed Ripstinker near the end of the movie by Roper when he wrecked the portable toilets after losing the WATG Rally to Dusty.
 * Ishani said to Ripslinger that he was a great champion, but his arrogant ways made him a fallen racer, hence the quote "How the mighty have fallen".
 * Ripslinger gave Ishani one of his racing team's Skyslycer Mark 5 propellers to give Dusty a misleading tip in the Himalayas, only for the plan to backfire when Dusty made it through the tunnel.