Twins (ROTF)

The Twins are a couple of redneck-lookin' 'bots from the live-action film continuity family.

I grabbed me a chair and said "Watch 'im, folks, 'cause he's a thoroughly dangerous man!"

When a spark splits into two separate sparks, the resulting two Cybertronians are considered twins, with an incredibly close bond. One such division yielded Skids and Mudflap, a pair of doofy-looking, hyperactive chatterboxes who refer to themselves simply as The Twins.

The inseparable pair spends more time fighting with each other than paying attention to anything going on around them. They like to think they're hardcore, but when their guard drops, it turns out they're basically a couple of robot rednecks. Still, they can hold their own in a fight, and they are eager to show Optimus Prime just how skilled they are. Whether this will end up getting them killed is another question, though they have had some extremely close calls before.

Each twin can transform into smaller separate vehicles or combine for a single, more durable alternate mode. Upon first arriving on Earth, the twins took the form of a beat-up old ice cream truck, but later scanned a couple of slick new Chevy cars for disguises.

Fiction

Movies

Revenge of the Fallen film

After NEST was deployed to Shanghai, the Twins were the first to be deployed, patrolling the streets and taunting any hiding Decepticons to come out and "suck their popsicle". When Sideways tried to make a break for it, the Twins cut him off, forcing him to turn a corner toward a dead end...and jump through an apartment building. While Arcee's components jumped through the hole he had made, the Twins decided to go around the building. However, the turn was too fast, and Mudflap lost control. Although he took full blame for screwing that up, Skids still punched him out. It's combat, what's wrong with him?!

After returning to Diego Garcia, it was decided the Twins would take separate alternate modes, and a green Beat and red Trax were provided. Both Twins were impressed, and Mudflap announced he would be taking the green. Skids disagreed, and a minor scuffle followed, as Skids called the green.

When multiple Decepticon contacts were detected on the East Coast of the United States, the Autobots immediately went to counter them without NEST. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee went to rescue Sam Witwicky, Mikaela Banes, and Leo Spitz from Megatron, Starscream, and Grindor. While Optimus took Sam to the nearby Pine Barrens, Bumblebee rejoined the rest of the Autobots and headed to reinforce Optimus. Unfortunately, by the time they got there, Megatron had already killed Prime, and the Twins served as escort when Bumblebee took the three teens to hide in an abandoned prison.

As Leo Spitz started to have a freak out over what was happening, Skids wondered what they would do with the "shrimp taco". Mudflap suggested they simply pop a cap in him, toss him in the trunk, and forget about him. Skids, however, didn't want Leo in his trunk. Leo told the two "bumper cars" that there would be no killing. An unimpressed Skids told him to get a haircut and whine to his boyfriend. That evening, Sam asked the Twins if they could read the symbols he was seeing. They identified them as old school Cybertronian. Unfortunately, the Twins couldn't read the symbols, and weren't that much into reading anyway. When Leo came back, the Twins still poked fun at him, with Mudflap saying his panic attack was because he was a pussy. Leo however, knew of someone who might be able to help them, and the Twins accompanied Bumblebee and the to New York City, where the source turned out to be Seymour Simmons, former agent of Sector Seven, who in turn led them to Jetfire at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Jetfire in turn teleported the group to Egypt (an experience the Twins had no desire to repeat anytime soon), and told them of The Fallen, the Star Harvester he sought, and how the Dynasty of Primes hid the Matrix of Leadership needed to activate somewhere on Earth.

As Sam continued on his quest to find the Matrix, in the hopes that it could somehow revive Optimus, the Twins continued their supporting roles. As they tried to evade some police, the Twins transformed to robot mode and hid in between some buildings. Skids described it as "blending in with the landscape, like a ninja", and Mudflap told him to shut up. As they made their way to Giza, Skids continued his attempts to blend in, only to run right into Bumblebee.

Sam worked out the next clue, and the group made their way to Petra. The ruins there appeared to be a dead end, and as Sam insisted that it wasn't over yet, Mudflap openly questioned why they were still following him, as he had done nothing for them. When Skids reminded his brother that Sam had killed Megatron, Mudflap countered that he hadn't gotten the job done. As the argument grew heated, Mudflap called Skids ugly, and a brawl followed, with the Twins damaging the ruins and nearly crushing the humans in the cramped quarters. At this point, Bumblebee decided to intervene and stop the brawl...by picking the Twins up, bashing them together, and throwing them out of the ruins. However, their fight had unintended consequences, as the damage revealed the Tomb of the Primes.

"Nobody messes with the Twins!" "Yeah! We mess with each other instead!"

As the group made their way to where NEST had landed with Optimus Prime's body, Starscream began strafing their position, forcing the Twins to take Simmons and Leo away as distractions. Heading toward a quarry near the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Twins witnessed Megatron order the Decepticons to begin their assault, as the Constructicons arrived in the quarry to form Devastator. The Twins were initially unimpressed with the giant, until he started using his Vortex Grinder to begin pulling everything inside his mouth. And the Twins grabbed on for dear life, Mudflap lost his grip and was swallowed by Devastator. As Skids mourned his brother's presumed death, Simmons said that the only safe place was under Devastator. As the trio made their way under, Mudflap fought his way out of Devastator's face and began firing on the combiner. Skids climbed up Devastator's left paw and fired a grapple for Mudflap to grab onto. Just as the Twins grabbed hold of each other, Mudflap accidentally fired his cannon right into Skids' face, knocking the two off. Fortunately, they managed to land under Devastator with the two humans. Revenge of the Fallen

The Twins' involvement in the preceding events, or events mostly similar, were also chronicled in the novels "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," "Revenge of the Fallen: The Junior Novel" and "The Last Prime"; the "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Official Movie Adaptation" and "Movie Trilogy" comics; and the storybooks "I Am Optimus Prime," "Operation Autobot," "Rise of the Decepticons," "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Electronic Voice Changer" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Mix & Match."

Dark of the Moon film

The Twins were in the Autobot hangar. Dark of the Moon

In the novelization and comic book adaptation, Sentinel Prime kills both of the twins during his rampage through NEST headquarters. However this was not seen in the film, as they were removed from the final cut.

Titan movie comics

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

The Twins first met Bumblebee when they were about to be thrown into a smelting pool. It was fun! Dogfight! They are well known for tall tales and messing about, enough so that people have stopped believing their claims. Learning Curve

The Twins 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, upon realising that he was just delaying the invitable, they both leave the planet, with only one course of action remaining: Arrive on Earth, the site of Optimus Prime's message. Training Day

The twins made it to Earth soon, crash-landing in Toronto, Canada. On the way in, Mudflap hit a big tower, but Skids felt it wasn't that big a deal. They swam their way to Ball's Falls, where they picked up Earth alternate modes and set out to try and find local Autobots and warn them about the Star 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. they blinded the old seeker which bought them some time to find cover. However, the airborne enemy kept up and was about to kill Mudflap. Luckily they were saved by Bumblebee, who attacked and forced Ransack to retreat. Dogfight!

Now living at NEST's Californian base with Bumblebee as their minder, Skids and Mudflap repeatedly asked to deliver their info to 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 sprang 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 thought they were up to something... New Tricks

Skids: "Duck Season".
Mudflap: "Rabbit Season".

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

THEY'RE NOT TRAITORS YOU IGNORANTS!!!

Following this, the decision was made to exile the twins into orbit. The Twins 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

"Happy death day 4 all of you!"

Once in the Decepticons, they 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

Upon returning to the Phobos base, Mudflap was consulted about having a plan of attack. He decided why bother having plans now, just attack! The twins stormed the base, and Mudflap was able to defeat Ravage by ducking the beast's attacks and planting an electrical bomb on him. However, this success was quickly undone and Mudflap found himself about to be killed by Starscream... but the battle gave Ransack an opening to shoot the Seeker in the back and escape, causing the other Decepticons to chase after him! The twins had no idea what that was all about... but this was just a short respite, as the twins discovered just what that army massing on Cybertron had been planning: to arrive at the Phobos base en route to Earth...

The twins stood ready to make their last stand, and Mudflap prepared to take down as many drones as possible... when Optimus arrived with the other Autobots! The twins had been tracked to Phobos and to their shock, the other Autobots had realised they weren't traitors and were even apologising! And with all the street cred of uncovering the Phobos base, the twins were welcomed to the Autobots' Earth division. Skids briefly wondered if they should mention "the Fa-" again, but Mudflap told him they were never mentioning that bloody thing again. Whatever happened, would happen... Back-to-Back

IDW Revenge of the Fallen movie comics

After hearing Optimus Prime's call into space for all Autobots, Skids and Mudflap were captured by the Decepticons Thundercracker and Flatline just before reaching Earth. Seeking to perfect some new medical experiments, Flatline tried to forcibly reprogram the brothers' processors, but only succeeded in leaving them addled and confused. Another of Flatline's experiments, the tri-fold biker named Arcee, helped Skids and Mudflap escape. They picked up a ship and made their trek the rest of the way to Earth. Tales of the Fallen #6

The Twins briefly had a shared alternate mode.

Skids and Mudflap followed Optimus Prime's message to Earth and arrived on the planet with Topspin, Leadfoot, Roadbuster, Sideswipe, Arcee, Chromia and Elita-One on the Wreckers ship Xantium. The ship and the Wreckers stayed behind in NASA, Dark of the MoonDark of the Moon issue 3 The Twins both chose the combined 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 #4

Skids and Mudflap were in Seattle with NEST tracking the Decepticon straggler, Alice. They helped guide her stolen RV right into Sideswipe's sights, and he then impaled the "girl" in her seat. Nefarious #1

Later, when Theodore Galloway and his unit were attacked by Ransack en route to investigate the mysterious activities of the enigmatic Initiative at Hoover Dam, the Autobots dispatched Skids and Mudflap to Galloway's aid. Together, they held Ransack off until a NEST strike team could arrive and finish him off. The Twins then accompanied Galloway and the soldiers to Hoover Dam, and while the Initiative forces had already cleared out, Skids and Mudflap realized what they had been after: residual energy from the AllSpark that had been kept there. Nefarious #4 To uncover the Initiative's secret goals, the Autobots soon allied themselves with Soundwave, and followed his lead to the Initiative's base of operations in Crater Lake, Oregon. Skids and Mudflap were deployed to attack the base from the east; when they were met with resistance in the form of the Initiative's troops, they took them out of the equation by disabling the advanced weaponry they were wielding with precision blasts. Nefarious #5 He and Skids then worked as back-up for Bumblebee's team of cadets in the final battle at Crater Lake. Nefarious #6

When NEST discovered that Starscream was selling Transformer weaponry to humans, a sting operation was staged in which Theodore Galloway would pose as a buyer to lure the Decepticons in. When Skystalker, Divebomb and Fearswoop took the bait, the Twins joined Arcee, her sisters, and the human forces of NEST in tackling them. Fearswoop surrendered while the other Decepticons were killed. Rising Storm #1

After Sam Witwicky contacted NEST as Philadelphia was beign attacked by Decepticons, the Twins joined Prime and the other Autobots in helping the boy. Rising Storm #2 Rising Storm #3 Skids and Mudflap survived the battle when the Driller took Shockwave away. Rising Storm #4

Mudflap and Skids were present at NEST's Washington base during Optimus Prime's conversation with Charlotte Mearing about the moon landings.

Later, the Twins were among the Autobots charged with escorting Sentinel Prime to NEST headquarters for safety when the ancient Autobot revealed himself to be a traitor by killing Ironhide. As Sentinel turned his weapon toward Bumblebee, Skids charged forward to stop the treacherous Autobot, but wound up taking the full force of the blast himself and perished. But before he died, Skids last word's to Mudflap was "Sorry, bro … guess I wasn’t … as smart … as I thought … sor—" as he crumbled into dust under the effects of the Cosmic Rust. Sending Mudflap into a rage tried to avenge his brother's death, but even his righteous anger could not make him a match for Sentinel, and he too met his end moments later. Sentinel eulogized him with some degree of respect, remarking that he at least died a death worthy of an Autobot. Dark of the Moon Dark of the Moon Movie Adaptation

The Twins' interactions with Sentinel Prime were also partially documented in "Dark of the Moon: Action Pop-ups!."

Mini Mayhem!

Skids and Mudflap wanted to be characters in a strip of Mini Mayhem, but wound up being late to the punch, and had to settle for a one-panel cameo. Mini Mayhem!

Hunt for the Decepticons storybooks

Skids and Mudflap had been tasked with looking over Sam while Bumblebee was away on a mission. The twins reported to Optimus that they suspected a new lab assistant working at the science lab at Sam's university to be a Decepticon spy. They turned out to be correct. Even after Megatron's latest plot had been foiled, and the Twins requested some time off from "spying" on Sam, Optimus informed them that their battle against the Decepticons was far from over. Prime Target

Upon learning that Buzzsaw and Ratbat were causing trouble, Optimus ordered The Twins and the rest of the Autobots to roll out to face the Decepticons. Thanks to Soundwave's tampering with their communications, however, the Autobots arrived at an abandonned warehouse instead of where the trouble was taking place. Thankfully, Sam and Bumblebee met with the Autobots, and led them to the correct location. The Decepticons were defeated and the Autobots cheered Sam for his help in the mission. Satellite Meltdown

Kre-O comic

The Twins celebrated as the giant Devastator was tickled to defeat. A New Menace! The Giant Soldier Devastator Appears!

Toy bios

Skids and his brother idolize Optimus Prime and the other great Autobot heroes, and joined the battle on Earth solely to be part of their crew. Deluxe Mudflap In an early mission, however, they found themselves used as guinea pigs for experimental combination technology; trying to stay combined in their gestalt vehicle mode took up more of their focus than fighting Decepticons! Autobot Skids and Mudflap

Believing himself to be the "smart one" of the twins, Skids constantly tries to impress Autobot High Command with his insightful comments about things. Deluxe Mudflap This chatter blows any stealth mission he's part of, so Ironhide has cunningly assigned Skids and his brother to create diversions (far, far away from him). Robot Replica Skids However, Mudflap must have impressed the Autobots as later, he was assigned to help Sideswipe take down an empowered Fearswoop! The Fury of Fearswoop He also started hanging out with Seymour Simmons, because his bravery that seemed stupid struck a chord with the 'bot! Mudflap / Chromia / Seymour Simmons

Skids was eventually given to Robert Epps for proper training. He and Epps became good friends as they both love beating up Decepticons! Autobot Skids / Elita 1 / Sergeant Epps

Commercial appearances

• Skids and Mudflap were present outside a Burger King, and watched patiently alongside a group of human children who were waiting for a familiar Chevy Camaro to transform. Much to their chagrin, however, the car was revealed to be just "some dude's car" and not Bumblebee himself. Transform Your Way television commercials

Games

Cyberverse Battle Builder

The Twins joined the rest of the Autobots in combating the Decepticons on battlefields on Earth, the Earth's Moon and on Cybertron. Sometimes there were many of them! Cyberverse Battle Builder

Toys

Revenge of the Fallen

File:ROTF Deluxe Skids&Mudflap toy.jpg

I cuss, you cuss, we all cuss for asparagus!

• Autobot Skids And Mudflap (Deluxe, 2009)
  • Japanese ID number: RA-20

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. 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.

Amusingly, the ice cream truck accommodates Human Alliance human figures really well.

• Shanghai Showdown (Multi-pack, 2010)

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

Transformers (2010)

• High-Speed Spy Battle (Multi-pack, 2010)

Calling it 'Slow and Ungainly Goofball Battle' just didn't have the same ring to it.

This Target-exclusive two pack (or three pack, depending on how you count) features a redecoed Sideways and the ice-cream truck mode of Mudflap and Skids, which replaces most of the robot mode white plastic on the originals with a rusty brown, adds even more rusty paint applications than the earlier "Shanghai Showdown" version and omits the comic-sans "Made fresh for you" on the front wheel wells of the truck.

Merchandise

Robot Heroes

• Shanghai Shootout (Multi-pack, 2010)

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

• More information on Robots Heroes ice cream truck Skids and Mudflap at TFU.info

Controversy

From watching Revenge of the Fallen, it should be pretty obvious that the depiction of the Twins is rooted in racist stereotypes of African-Americans. Their illiteracy in Cyberglyphics is framed as "never learnin' to read", they speak in an overall stereotypical manner, and are generally shown to not be very clever and quick to violence. Furthermore, compared to the other Autobots (and even fellow black-coded movie Autobot Jazz), their designs are visibly more hunched and ugly, with disfigured faces and a gold buck tooth on Skids. One later attempt to "smooth over" the problem would reveal that the pair act the way they do due to them being brain damaged, which only exacerbates the issue.

What's unclear is where exactly this imagery originated from: writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman claimed to have been following Michael Bay’s lead on the character, while Bay stated that it came from a piece of improv by actors Tom Kenny and Reno Wilson. Though Kenny, who is white, declined to comment when interviewed, Wilson, who is black, stated that they had been given direction to play the twins as "wannabe gangster types". This was apparently supposed to play off the fact that, as alien robots who had learned human language and culture from the internet, they could not be black, with Wilson likening them to white rappers like Kevin Federline. What this means for Jazz, as well as the other characters Wilson has played, is unknown. Whatever the intent, nobody involved seems to want to be tied to the issue. Orci and Kurtzman have attempted to distance themselves from the characters, stating that the stereotypes weren't in their script. For whatever reason, the Revenge of the Fallen novel, written by Alan Dean Foster and based on Orci and Kurtzman’s screenplay, only depicts Skids as the film-accurate slang-talker, while Mudflap speaks like any other Autobot, albeit with a thick lisp. Meanwhile, Simon Furman's Revenge of the Fallen material has both of the twins using less slang; presumably, Furman likely did not wish to try his hand at "street".

Whatever the intended direction for the characters, the "wannabe gangster" shtick really doesn't come across in the finished project. Robert Epps, the only prominent black human character in the film, is never shown having anything to say about them, for example. Ultimately, the Twins' portrayal was rightfully deemed pretty disgusting, and the resultant public backlash was likely what led the studio to quietly drop the pair partway into the filming of Dark of the Moon. While their intended role in the film survived into that film's novelization and comic book adaptation, the Twins are thankfully not present in any future movie stories, and are indeed conspicuous by their absence in the cross-film Studio Series toyline.

Notes

Oh, so that explains it. They left the Smart one out of the film.

• 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 " suck my popsicle." Classy. The toy does not have this decal. (Because, you know, for kids...)
• In the brief scenes that the twins appear in robot mode while still in their ice cream truck-kibbled robot forms, both have four wheels present due to the redressing of their individual car-based robot CGI models. The wheels are considerably wider than the ones present on the ice cream truck too.
  • Also, in the scanning scene, Skids is very briefly seen changing from the full ice cream truck into a fetal positioned robot in a literal flash of light. This is most likely due to the pair having very little screentime in those forms meaning proper transformations weren't animated. Him being the full truck however can definitely be considered an error.
  • Speaking of transformations not being animated, the pair both proceed to curl up into a ball and turn into their new forms with the same burst of light, just as Skids did in his transformation mere seconds ago.
• The Twins' final alternate modes in the film, the Chevrolet Beat (Skids) and Chevrolet Trax (Mudflap), were designed by General Motors as small car concept vehicles. At one point in the film's pre-production, another small car, the Mercedes-Benz Smart, was evidently considered as an option for a film character; concept art of a "third twin" based on it appears in various sections of the Revenge DVD special features, always in close proximity to concept art of Skids and Mudflap. Whether it was meant to be a third character related to Skids and Mudflap or if it was supposed to be used in place of one of them is unknown. What is known is that Hasbro has had great difficultly in the past trying to get likeness licenses from German automakers, which is probably why the vehicle/character was dropped.
• The toymakers seem to be a bit confused about the roles of The Twins in their final battle; it's Mudflap who blasts his way through Devastator's mouth and Skids who uses a grappling hook to haul his twin out of it, but this is reversed in the Fast Action Battler and Human Alliance toys, which give Skids the large arm-cannon and Mudflap the grapple. The Deluxe class toys get it right, though.
• The Twins made a coloring cameo in IDW Publishing's Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 and cameos as Devisens in Windblade vol. 2 #6 and Optimus Prime #9.