General Information: Images:
Text from Hasbrotoyshop.com: These AUTOBOT buddies are twice the fun! In robot mode, these two figures are ready to take on whatever those DECEPTICON forces can dish out! In vehicle mode, they’re keeping their “cool,” combining to form an ice cream truck! Recreate exciting movie scenes or roll out your own adventures! Months before the opening of "Revenge of the Fallen", leaked pictures from the set of the movie revealed several vehicles including a somewhat oddball choice: an ice cream truck. It was seen being used during shooting and some speculation ran about that this was actually a fake vehicle put on the set to confuse set spies. Of course, months later we would learn that this in fact was a real Transformer! To be more accurate, Transformers. The ice cream truck was actually the vehicle form of the two Autobots Mudflap and Skids combined. In its own way, the two harken back to Generation One sub-groups such as the Multiforce or Duocons, all of whom involved two Transformers combining into a single form.
Vehicle Mode:
There's another interesting sculpted detail. If you look carefully at certain parts such as the left side wheel well and the panels underneath the back windows you'll see patches where the plastic has a "rough" pattern. No doubt this was to simulate the rust that is seen all over the real life vehicle this toy is based on. Oddly, none of these rust details have been painted, which is a real darn shame because the details wind up blending right into the other colors without something to distinguish them. I have to say that for this mode, this was a huge disappointment to see since clearly at one point there was an intention of releasing this with more paint deco. It's not a huge deal breaker, but I'm not happy about the omission either. Mudflap and Skids' vehicle mode is cast in pink, white, grey, translucent blue and translucent grey colors. The pink and white make up most of the body, with white making up moset of the top and pink making up most of the bottom. The windshield and side windows are cast in translucent grey while the headlights are translucent blue. The grey plastic is used on the wheels and the megaphone on the top of the vehicle. Paint applications are done up in white, blue and red. The front section has white paint on the areas on the top of the cabin that align with the white plastic on the back section. The windows on the sides and the back are painted blue. Red is used for an Autobot symbol found on the back of the vehicle, right where the top section curves down. Silver and pink details are painted onto the wheels, matching details from the on screen vehicle. As seen in the film, the ice cream truck form had several details painted on it including an ice cream cone on the doors, a snow cone and a rather silly sticker that has a Decepticon symbol on it with the words "suck" and "popsicle". Clearly that particular detail isn't kid-friendly so it isn't found on this figure. What is found is an ice cream cone on the side that resembles the one used on the vehicle from the movie, but isn't 100% accurate. The words "Creamy Ice Cream" are printed across the the top of the sides, over the side windows. The word "Creamy" is in script and red while the words "Ice cream" are in blue and regular text. This corresponds to a detail seen on the movie's vehicle. Another detail that carries over from the movie vehicle is the sentence "Made fresh for you!" on the top of the wheel wells in the front. I am very happy to see details carried over from the movie vehicle, but I wish there were more. In concert with the non-existant rust details (despite having them sculpted) it really feels like this deco pattern is more of a first pass than a final product.
Transformation to Robot Mode: Mudflap Transformation to Robot Mode:
Skids Transformation to Robot Mode:
Mudflap Robot Mode: While the rear half of an ice cream truck may be quite far from transforming into a Chevrolet Trax, a lot of the robot mode features seen in his Trax based robot mode are found here as well, creating some cool design continuity between this form and the form he took on later in the movie. Key details that originated here include:
Despite being based on a fairly simple looking vehicle, the robot mode has quite a bit of detail. In particular the torso and legs have quite a bit of layered detail. The aforementioned headlights sit on top of pieces that form a bit of a frame around the headlights and then extend down to the chest. Behind the white panels are vertical line details and there are curved armor pieces on the waist. His hip section has tube details and the legs have a multi-layered design with armor layers on top of hinges. Overall I'm very happy with how nice the sculpt for this figure is. With an alternate mode of an ice cream truck I wasn't quite sure what to expect so this was a nice surprise! The main colors of white and pink dominate in this mode. Unlike the vehicle mode where the two colors were clearly segmented into halves of the vehicle, here they seem to alternate. For instance, his head and neck piece is white but the chest piece it is connected to is pink while the waist piece is white and so on. This was a good choice as such inconventional colors could look very bland if not separated out. Also, he does not have a ton of paint details in this form, so not lumping all the colors together keeps them from becoming too uniform. The only newly revealed paint decos are silver and blue found on his face and eyes respectively. The other details were all visible in the vehicle mode including the red Autobot symbol on his chest and the words "Creamy Ice Cream" on his shoulder armor. Mudflap has fourteen points of articulation in this form. This includes ball joints on his shoulders and head. Oddly, his head is mounted on a piece that is spring loaded. If you push his head down, it springs up, but it doesn't do anything else so I'm thinking this may have been part of some gimmick that was abandoned before the figure went into production, but that's just speculation on my part.
Skids Robot Mode:
Other features are more unique to this robot mode including the large wheel wells over his shoulders, the antique grille that forms most of the front of his torso and flat panels of armor over the front of his upper legs. While parts from the vehicle are rather smooth in design, you'll find quite a bit of mechanical detail on the insides of his arm panels. His right hand is also quite intricate in detail and his left arm has tube and and piston details sculpted into it as well. Skids is a pretty small figure (even by Scout Class standards) so it's nice to see such intricate details worked into the sculpt. Skids shows a lot more pink in this mode than white. The head, shoulder armor and the panels on the lower arms are all pink. There's additional pink on the sides of his lower legs. Other parts such as the upper arms and legs are white. Grey plastic is found on his chest, right arm and feet. While there is quite a bit of pink on the upper body, it's broken up in just the right places to keep the figure from looking too monotonous. Silver and blue paint are used for detailing in this form. The robot head is where most of the silver is used, while the blue paint is found on the eyes. The chest has silver on the grille panels. On the arm panels you'll find white paint from the vehicle mode. Skids has seventeen points of articulation in this form, which frankly surprised me because he didn't look quite so articulated when I first transformed him. That said, I have to say it is a bit delicate trying to pose him since his feet aren't that wide and he's a bit top-heavy. In terms of play value however he can definitely be put in some nice action poses to bash Decepticons!
Final Thoughts:
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Since the vehicle mode for Mudflap and Skids is a deluxe scale vehicle, the resulting two robots wind up being roughly Scout Class sized figures. Mudflap is the larger of the two, owing some of his bulk to his large lower legs and feet and the armor pieces over his shoulders which extend out to the sides far beyond his arms. I really like this look. In concert with the panels on his back he looks like some aerodynamic warrior (though the character does not actually fly in "Revenge of the Fallen").
Like his brother, Skids' robot form reflects many design elements that would appear in his robot form later on after he takes the vehicle mode of a Chevrolet Beat. These features include:
