Mudflap (ROTF)

The name or term "Mudflap" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Mudflap (disambiguation).

Mudflap is an Autobot from the Revenge of the Fallen franchise in the live-action film continuity family.

Despite appearances, his chest is not someone's face.

When a Spark splits into two separate sparks, the resulting two Cybertronians are considered twins and have an incredibly close bond. The goofy-looking Mudflap and his twin Skids are a result of one such division. He's hyperactive, noisy, argumentative, and eager...and so's Mudflap, though he's so desperate to impress that he comes off as having the robot equivalent of ADHD. When they're not trying to outdo each other in crazy, daredevil antics, the twins are usually bickering with each other over anything. Like Skids, he possesses hyper-reactive optical imaging scanners, making him able to process tactical information faster than any other Transformer (except Skids).

Each twin can transform into smaller, separate vehicles or combine into a single, more durable alternate mode, but whether they can combine similarly into a larger robot mode remains to be seen. Upon first arriving on Earth, Mudflap and his brother took the form of a beat-up old ice cream truck, but he later scanned a Chevy Trax for a disguise. That being said, it's unlikely the twins will keep an alt-mode for long.

“	Nobody messes with the twins!	”
—Mudflap, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Fiction

Titan Magazines Revenge of the Fallen comics

Quick! We have to get to auditions before the cool characters!

Mudflap first met Bumblebee when they were about to be thrown into a smelting pool. It was fun! Dogfight!

Mudflap and Skids happily stayed on Cybertron, going through intensive training (which totally wasn't goofing off) and having extreme-sports contests. Neither wanted to leave their homeworld, and they were the only Transformers on it until Starscream turned up with a Decepticon army. When they heard him mention a star harvester, Mudflap said they should tell someone...but was a bit upset to find out the fastest way to do that would be to leave Cybertron and tell the Autobots in person.

The decision was made for them when the Decepticons attacked. Mudflap took some hits, causing Skids to obliterate the Decepticons responsible, but for the most part, their training paid off. However, he realised they were running out of places to run, so he followed his brother in leaving the plane, with only one course of action remaining: follow the message Optimus Prime had beamed into space and head for Earth. Training Day

The twins made it to Earth soon, crash-landing in Toronto, Canada. On the way in, Mudflap hit a big tower, and was a bit guilty since he knew how this primitive luddite humans still needed radio waves (the saps). They swam their way to Ball's Falls, where they picked up Earth alternate modes and, Mudflap taking charge, set out to try and find local Autobots and warn them about the solar harvester.

Driving along the wrong side of the Interstate, the twins were attacked by the Seeker Ransack, who pursued them across open countryside, trying to kill them on Starscream's orders. Mudflap transformed and blinded the old Decepticon with a fistful of dirt, which bought the twins some time to find cover. However, the airborne enemy kept up with the twins, and Mudflap lost a chance at cover when he ran back to save his brother. Luckily they were saved by Bumblebee, who attacked and forced Ransack to retreat. Dogfight!

IDW Transformers movie comics

Mudflap is the one in back.

Skids and Mudflap followed Optimus Prime's message to Earth and arrived on the planet at the same time as Sideswipe and Arcee. They both chose the form of an old, beat-up ice cream truck. The newly arrived Autobots joined the human-Transformer military alliance NEST and began training in earnest at Diego Garcia, but soon had to be deployed to Shanghai, China. Alliance issue 4

Revenge of the Fallen movie

Voice actor: Reno Wilson (English) Gerald Schaale (German) Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese)

Plot details for Revenge of the Fallen (film) follow. Spoilers have expired, you may remove this tag

The twins were first into action for NEST's mission to Shangai, slowly trundling through the city streets in their ice-cream truck mode and taunting Decepticons in the area to show themselves. Two Decepticons soon did: Demolishor and Sideways. The twins wisely went after the smaller foe, but their slow, ungainly choice of alternate mode left them unable to keep up with Sideways, and when they rounded a corner too sharply, the twins inadvertently split apart from one another and were taken out of the chase.

Upon arrival to Diego Garcia and NEST headquarters, the twins were given new, individual alternate forms to make sure another incident like that never happened. Mudflap wanted the Chevy Beat as a vehicle form, but after a brief wrestling match with his brother, he was relegated to the form of the Chevrolet Trax.

Later, the twins, along with the other NEST-allied Autobots, were dispatched to look for Sam Witwicky when Decepticons were detected heading towards his college. After Optimus Prime was killed by Megatron, the twins helped the Autobot force fight off the Decepticon leader and Starscream, allowing Sam, Leo Spitz, Mikaela Banes and Bumblebee to make good their escape. Skids and Mudflap met up with Bumblebee and the humans, and together they fled to a remote location. After the twins teased Leo for a while for his panic attack, Sam inquired whether one of them could interpret the Cybertronic symbols with which he had become obsessed. The twins claimed that they couldn't read the ancient Language of the Primes and weren't much into reading, anyway.

And this is us when we traveled to...hey, Skids, where did we go again?

With the help of the Decepticon Wheelie and former Sector Seven agent Seymour Simmons, the group made their way to the Smithsonian, where the humans reactivated the venerable ex-Decepticon Jetfire. He teleported them all to Egypt before telling them the tale of the original Primes, the Solar harvester, which had the potential to destroy all life on Earth, and finally, the Matrix of Leadership, the key to activating the harvester and possibly the only thing that could bring Optimus Prime back to life. When the Matrix could not be found at the ruins of Petra, the twins began to fight with one another, and their bickering created a hole in the wall where the Tomb of the Primes lay, and with it, the Matrix.

Simon Furman would have had a field day with this scene.

Making their way back to the Pyramids where NEST waited with Optimus Prime's body, the group came under attack by Starscream. Mudflap, Skids, Leo and Simmons acted as a decoy to lure the Decepticons away from Sam and Mikaela. Unfortunately, they attracted the attention of the Constructicons, who combined into Devastator and attacked by vacuuming up loose objects such as sand, cars, and Mudflap. Hanging on for dear life inside the monster's mouth, he tried to use his "kung-fu grip", but was sucked further inside. A vengeful Skids made his way up Devastator's leg, only to discover that Mudflap had survived and blasted a hole directly through the titan's head to escape. Together, the twins attacked the combiner, but were unable to stop him from reaching the Great Pyramid of Giza. Revenge of the Fallen

Toys

Revenge of the Fallen

Legends Class Toys

File:ROTF Legends Mudflap.jpg

• Mudflap (Legends, 2009)

E.T.'s healing touch is bigger and better than ever

• Bumblebee / EZ Collection Mudflap (2009)

Available exclusively at the Lawson's convenience store in Japan (and the only way to obtain this figure via TakaraTomy), this version of Legends class Mudflap has more paint applications than the Hasbro release. The Deluxe-class Preview Bumblebee it comes with is unchanged from the regular release. Preorders opened on the 1st of May and closed on June 30th, and the figure itself shipped on the 16th of October.

Deluxe Class Toys

File:ROTFMudflap Deluxe 2009.jpg

Despite appearances, he is not a basset hound.

• Mudflap (Deluxe Class, 2009)
  • Japanese ID number: RA-15
  • Accessories: Projectile

Part of the third wave of Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Class figures, Mudflap transforms into a rust-orange Chevy Trax. He transforms similarly to (but not exactly like) the Deluxe toy of his twin brother, Skids. He also has similar gimmickry; for example, his Mech Alive gimmick is also activated by pushing in the grill on his chest. This causes some panels in his chest to sway and his head to, uh, headbang. Additional Mech Alive action is engineered into his larger left arm. When his fist folds in towards his wrist, panels on the outside of his forearm spread and reveal a raising, spring-loaded missile launcher. In vehicle mode, this missile is stored through a cross-shaped hole on the rear bumper. On a sadder note, the clip which holds his chest to his back has a lot of trouble actually connecting, so you're going to be stuck with just carefully posing him so that he doesn't come undone.

Interestingly, while Skids has a license plate with his own name on it, Mudflap has one that only says "Trax." However, there is a running change that replaces said "Trax" with "Mudflap" making for a more screen-accurate redeco.

File:ROTF Deluxe Skids&Mudflap toy.jpg

He was always the horse's rear end in school plays

• Autobot Skids And Mudflap (2009)
  • Japanese ID number:

This two-pack of the twin Autobot brothers can combine into a single, old-fashioned ice cream truck. Unfortunately, they are each SMALLER than a Scout-class figure.

This may actually be the most outstanding combiner figure of the ROTF toyline...

Fast Action Battlers

His special finger: There's no other like it.

• Grapple Grip Mudflap (Fast Action Battler, 2009)

Gravity Bots

Believe it or not, his head looked like that before he entered the car compacter.

• Mudflap (2009)
  • Japanese ID number: GB-05

Merchandise

Revenge of the Fallen

R.P.M.s - Robot Powered Machines

Battle Series

• Mudflap vs Autobot Skids (R.P.M. Mini-Vehicle, 2009)
  • Number: 04 of 08

Number four in a series of eight Robot Powered Machines Mini-Vehicle versus packs, Mudflap is packaged with his twin Skids. It's a non-transformable Hot Wheels-like car, with his robot mode sculpted and painted onto his car-mode underside.

Robot Heroes

• Mudflap and Rampage (2009)

• Desert Devastation (Multi-pack, 2009)

Hey guys, wait for me!

Both Mudflap and Skids are sculpted in their vehicle modes for this box-set that also includes Devastator and William Lennox.

That's right. Enjoy your Robot Heroes ice cream truck.

• Shanghai Shootout (Multi-pack, 2009)

Shanghai Shootout replicates the opening action scene from Revenge of the Fallen, featuring figurines of Mudflap/Skids (ice cream truck), Sideways (vehicle mode), Optimus Prime, Demolishor, and Sideswipe (vehicle mode). Demolishor is a slightly-oversized figure and the centerpiece of the box set.

Trivia

• Oddly enough, even though Mudflap's Chevy Trax form features big blue "eyes" on his chest and the truck seems to have a similar "face" on its grill that does not appear on his brother (and fellow combiner) Skids's Chevy Beat form, he makes up the back of the ice cream truck.

• The ice cream truck's bumper sticker reads "Decepticons, suck my popsicle." This is very vulgar, yet awesome.

• The twins have been accused of being derogatory racial stereotypes. Though Skid's voice actor Tom Kenny did not comment at the time this note was written, Mudflap's voice actor Reno Wilson was sad to learn his way of speaking was apparently offensive to himself. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman claim to have followed Michael Bay's lead with the characters, while Bay says Wilson and Kenny came up with their schtick on their own. Orci and Kurtzman said the twins portrayal was not in their script, that they were disappointed in the characters and admitted that they could understand if others were offended by the characters.

• The twins are less slangy in the comic adaptation and Titan comics, which could either indicate it was a last-minute voice actor decision or Simon Furman just didn't want to try writing ebonics.

• Mudflap fights his way out of Devastator's head by punching and shooting his way through his eye and cheek and then continues to punch and shoot him, doing quite a bit of damage to the giant—and still some say the Twins don't do anything to justify their part in the film.