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 portion of the live-action film continuity family.

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

The goofy-looking Mudflap and his twin Skids are a result of a split spark, and share a close bond accordingly. Mudflap is hyperactive, noisy, argumentative, and eager... not that different from his brother. 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). As irritated as Mudflap gets from Skids' vocal one-upmanship, he realizes that they actually work best as a team.

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 while doing damage to Devastator, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Fiction

Titan Magazines Revenge of the Fallen comics

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

Sometimes, he has a small forcefield in vehicle mode. Turnabout

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!

Sorry, Jon, at some point you have to draw their ugly mugs.

Now living at NEST's Californian base with Bumblebee as their minder, Skids and Mudflap repeatedly asked to deliver their info to Optimus Prime—and only Optimus, much to Ironhide's annoyance. He was more annoyed when they ambushed him to get to Optimus...who, as it turns out, was away on a need-to-know mission anyway.

After this defeat, and with Ironhide having bluntly told them nobody believed them, they desperately asked to join in a NEST op in Las Vegas...getting turned down, because they were too crap to get involved. Mudflap almost called their superior a very rude word over this, and after the team had left, he decided they should go to Vegas anyway to show Ironhide just what they could do! What they could do, it turned out, was screw up a successful mission by freeing a captured Decepticon by trying to "shoot him down". Mudflap was left mortified. Ironhide, recognising what they were trying to do, told him that maybe they could work on training the twins not to jump in without looking, and that the trick was to learn from mistakes. The twins claimed they'd try. Learning Curve

They soon wished they hadn't, as they were condemned to NEST's Orkney Islands base for days of sim-com (simulated combat) training under Sideswipe. Mudflap agreed with Skids' theory that this was an excuse to keep them away from Optimus, and the whole situation got on his nerves. They both protested to Sideswipe that they could handle Decepticons. Him pointing out their failure with Grindor shut them up. However, the training was interrupted when a huge metal cat monster broke into the base, KOed Sideswipe, and tried to eat the twins!

They transformed and fled, with all attempts at holding it off failing. Mudflap hit on a plan of trapping the creature in the sim-com room and letting the drones shoot it down. He pulled this off, using himself as bait; in the process, he received a communication from the monster's master, who demanded to know what the twins knew about some lost and fallen guy. Mudflap briefly wondered who this dude was, then shrugged and just spring the trap on Ravage.

With that done, the twins tried to fill in the revived Sideswipe... except the creature had gone, leaving their instructor with the view that they'd knocked him out in revenge for their training. Between that and Grindor, he thinks they're up to something... New Tricks

Even the characters shift the blame over who came up with their dialogue!

The twins were later taken to Diego Garcia, and ecstatic to learn Optimus was coming there! Okay, he's only dropping a prisoner off, he's not here to see them and knows nothing about their story, but they ignored all that and drove off when Sideswipe wasn't looking so they could greet the leader. Mudflap squeed over how Optimus would be so proud with his work! Skids picked up on that and accused his brother of trying to steal the glory, and soon the two of them were having a big fight and slagging match...

And so their first meeting with Optimus Prime was to be yelled at for conduct unbecoming of an Autobot warrior. (See the pic to the side to find out how that went)

That was when Scorponok made his attack, blasting at the distracted Prime and moving to free the prisoner Sideways. Mudflap swiftly grabbed a weapon to stop this escape, but Sideways snatched it from his hands and used it himself to cover his retreat. Sideswipe, watching from a distance, believed Mudflap had given over the weapon, and convinced Prime that the twins were traitors: they must have helped Scorponok get here and now assisted him in his mission, on top of freeing Grindor and attacking him! Mudflap and Skids protested they were being set up because they knew too much, but it fell on deaf ears as they were taken into custody... Reversal of Fortune

Heart, head, near enough...

Following this, the decision was made to exile the twins into orbit. Mudflap and his brother moaned that they should've just ignored the Fallen, but help was at hand... from the Decepticons? Mudflap angrily told Decepticon agent Wheelie that they didn't want to be freed by him, but the complaint fell on deaf ears: now the twins looked like even bigger traitors. The two went underground to clear their names, and hit on the foolproof plan of abducting Sam Witwicky from his house and pleading with him to tell their story to Optimus. All this did was cause Bumblebee to launch an attack to rescue Sam. Mudflap pleaded with the angry Bumblebee that they weren't traitors, that they had vital info...

...and then Soundwave gunned down the scout and offered the twins sanctuary in the Decepticons. Nowhere else to go, Mudflap took Soundwave's hand and said he'd never liked Earth anyway... Outlaw Blues

"No offence, Sideways, but you're a boring, stupid, unimportant waste of metal and your mum hates you."

Once in the Decepticons, he had fun dissing all the other members as being losers and getting on everyone's nerve, before Soundwave finally sent them on a mission to bring in a rogue member. Once on Earth again, he was genuinely surprised to find out Skids was only pretending to defect; his annoyed brother explained the plan was that, since Soundwave would send a minder to watch them, they could ambush their minder and have a prisoner to give to the Autobots.

The rogue member turned out to be Ransack, and Mudflap helped Skids lie to him that the Fallen had sent them. Talking instead of fighting? That annoyed both of their minders, and they came under attack by Grindor and Sideways! Mudflap was ordered after Sideways, and engaged him in a game of chicken; the Decepticon blinked first and crashed into a tree. He thought this was enough, but Skids was determined that they'd now take the fight to Soundwave himself! (Mudflap's considered response was "YOWZA!") Turnabout

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), Davide Lepore (Italian)

ICE CREAM!... ICE CREAM!... I'm all out of ICE CREAM!...

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. At NEST's orders, the twins went after the smaller foe, but their slow, ungainly choice of alternate mode left them unable to keep up with Sideways. While Arcee leapt through a building to pursue the Decepticon, the twins tried to go around the building to catch him. However, the twins inadvertently split apart from one another when they rounded the corner too sharply, thus taking them out of the chase. Mudflap took the blame for the crash, but Skids still berated (and smacked) Mudflap for his failure.

Ben and Jerry?

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. After damaging the structure and nearly crushing the humans, Bumblebee picked the twins up, bashed them together, and threw them out the door. However, 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, losing his shoulder guards in the process.

File:ROTF Mudflap vs Devastator.jpg

"Wait Devastator! You have a bug on your face, let me shoot it for you!"

As Skids mourned the loss of his twin, Simmons realized that the safest place to be was directly under the giant. But he had survived being vacuumed up by Devastator, and to escape he had blasted a hole through its head. To buy the humans time to escape, Skids clambered up Devastator's right forepaw to assist Mudflap. Skids threw a cable to Mudflap, who grabbed it and swung off Devastator's head onto his arm. However, once they had landed, Mudflap accidentally shot Skids in the face, knocking them off. At Megatron's command, Devastator continued onto the Great Pyramid of Giza. Revenge of the Fallen

Toys

Revenge of the Fallen

Legends Class Toys

File:ROTF Legends Mudflap.jpg

My gal's got 'em.

• Mudflap (Legends, 2009)

Legends Class Mudflap is a simple, affordable small-scale toy. Amusingly, just like his brother Skids, the kibble on his arm actually works as his big deformed hand, only grossly oversized.

• More information on Mudflap at TFU.info

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), the Japanese edition of Legends class Mudflap is identical to the Hasbro release. The Deluxe-class Preview Bumblebee it comes with is also 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. Although initial publicity photographs indicated that the toy was altered slightly from the US deco (see right), these photographs have proven to be inaccurate, as owners of this toy have reported no discernable differences from the standard US edition.[1]

File:ROTFtoy-StraightawayShootout.jpg

• Straightaway Shootout (Legends multi-pack, 2009)

Legends Mudflap was also be available in the Target-exclusive "Straightaway Shootout" 5-pack together with Ironhide, Swerve, Runamuck and Sparkcrusher. Other than the sandy-spray across his feet, he is identical to his standard release.

In Canada, the set was released as a Zellers exclusive.

File:ROTF TheFuryofFearswoop.jpg

• The Fury of Fearswoop (Figure multi-pack, 2009)

A "battle damaged" deco version of Legends Mudflap was available in the Walmart-exclusive "The Fury of Fearswoop" 3-pack together with a similarly "battle damaged" version of Legends Sideswipe and Deluxe class Fearswoop, a Generation 2 Hooligan-themed redeco of the 2007 Transformers movie toyline's Dreadwing.

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.

His feet are misassembled in the package. Swap them! The bigger, separated toe should be on the outside.

• More information on Mudflap at TFU.info

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. The vehicle splits in half right down the middle of its chassis (similar to how it does in the film) to create the two small robot forms. Other than the transformation, the toy features no gimmicks.

Mudflap's heels are too thick for his feet to fold up properly in vehicle mode, though this can be fixed by trimming them. Mudflap also has a springloaded neck socket...but the reason for it is not all that clear.(the instructions do document it, but the head is not even locked in packed on the card) Also, this toy may be the first Transformer to feature the typeface Comic Sans, which is used to write "MADE FRESH FOR YOU" across both front wheel hubs. But that's on Skids's half, so Mudflap is partly absolved here.

Both Skids and Mudflap have sculpted rust detailing all over the Ice cream tuck, but for some reason, they are not painted.

• Desert Version Mudflap (Deluxe, 2009)

This version of Mudflap has a sandblasted deco to closer match his onscreen appearance during the scenes in Egypt. It is only available in Japan with purchase of the Revenge of the Fallen DVD.

Pimp my Derogatory Stereotype.

• Tuner Mudflap (Deluxe, 2009)

A redeco of original Deluxe class Mudflap, his doors are painted with "tuner" racing stripes and the plastic is a different shade of orange. The windows are now translucent blue. His feet are now properly assembled.

• Shanghai Showdown (Multi-pack, 2010)

The twins in this set have additional decals (save for the "suck my popsicle" slogan) and painted rust for the ice cream truck mode. They come with a repainted version of Demolishor.

Human Alliance

• Mudflap / Chromia / Agent Simmons (Human Alliance, 2010)
  • Japanese ID number:

Fast Action Battlers

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

• Grapple Grip Mudflap (Fast Action Battler, 2009)

Also known as "Grappel Grip Mudflap" due to a widespread typo on behalf of Hasbro (see trivia below).

His left hand's middle finger can be extended(yes,ha ha)

on a rope to function as a grappling hook.

Nobody will know who I am now!

Rally Mudflap (Fast Action Battler, 2010)

Rally Mudflap is a redeco of Grapple Grip Mudflap, decorating him with a gray racing stripe on his roof and his name on his windshield.

Gravity Bots

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

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

As a Gravity Bot, Mudflap is a very boxy toy featuring no articulation whatsoever, relying solely on an autotransformation gimmick. When Mudflap is laid on his back in robot mode, gravity makes him transform into a somewhat super deformed car, and the process is reversed when the car is stood back up.

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

Looks like the hybrid found himself a new friend... a total mudflap!

• Mudflap and Rampage (2009)

Robot Heroes Mudflap is a super-deformed figure with limited articulation in his neck, shoulders and, unusually for the line, his waist. He came in a two-pack with Rampage.

Hey guys, wait for me!

• Desert Devastation (Multi-pack, 2009)

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

• The ice cream truck is apparently based on a heavily customized 1930s Chevrolet truck. Ben Procter apparently lifted the color scheme and deco for his early concept design for the ice cream truck directly off a photo of an Australian ice cream truck that had been added to the Wikipedia article for "ice cream van" in February 2006, down to identical placement and design of the fonts and graphics. The details were later slightly tweaked for the final design that can be seen in the movie... but only very slightly so.
• One of the decals on the ice cream truck's side that was created specifically for the movie reads "(Decepticon insignia) suck my popsicle." Classy. Too bad the toy does not. (Because, you know, for kids...)
  • A "censored" version of the movie supposedly exists with the aforementioned text edited out, with the somewhat nonsensical result of a Decepticon symbol, followed by a long black space and then the word "popsicle". This version was shown in some international markets (even though other theaters in at least some of those same markets apparently got the uncensored version), and apparently also in some theaters in the USA. Another explanation for this would be that different theaters simply used different lightings settings, which effectively rendered the words "suck my" (which were written in dark red on a black backdrop to begin with) invisible, with no actual intention of "censorship" behind it.
• Oddly enough, even though Mudflap's Chevy Trax alternate mode 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. He does, however, still have "eyes" on his chest in his ice cream truck form, though exactly where they come from is a mystery.
• The Twins have been accused of being derogatory racial stereotypes. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman claim to have followed Michael Bay's lead with the characters, while Bay says voice actors Tom Kenny (Skids) and Reno Wilson (Mudflap) came up with their schtick on their own. Reportedly, Wilson (who is African-American himself) was sad to learn his way of speaking was apparently offensive to himself. 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.

• The Fast Action Battlers toy's name, "Grapple Grip Mudflap", is misspelled as "Grappel Grip Mudflap" in various official instances, such as Hasbro's public website and on the toy's European packaging.

• Amusingly, Hasbro's Battle Bio for Mudflap lists his arch-enemy as... Skids.