In one of the most hilarious alt modes of all time (and one I honestly never thought Hasbro would do), Autobot Skids & Mudflap have the alt mode of an old-timey ice cream truck. (Skids forms the front half, Mudflap the back.) The vehicle mode is generally pretty impressive, with the proportions pretty spot-on with the vehicle in the movie, and the appropriate mold details where they need to be. A white-and-pink color scheme is, of course, rather girly for a toy from a boys' toy line and totally doesn't fit with the other movie toys, but that's the point. The two halves of the vehicle mode fit together quite snugly, as well, but there are a few minor problems I have with this mode. Firstly, the front windows are transparent (with Skids', er... crotch... visible through the windows), while the back windows are painted. I hate half-and-half stuff like that-- the ice cream truck is already out-there a bit anywhere, just paint all the windows and save us from those visible robot parts inside. Secondly, the paint detailing is a bit sparse on some needed parts. Granted, there's some pretty good uses out of it like the "Creamy Ice Cream" signs, the hilarious "MADE FRESH FOR YOU!" logos, and the nicely detailed front grill, but none of the bumpers, taillights, or the like are painted. And given that pink and white are light colors that bring out the mold detailing, this is a bit more bothersome than on a darker-colored TF. And finally, it's rather difficult to get the front hood to stay closed and hooked into the very small tab sticking out of the upper grill, due to Skids' transformation.
    Speaking of Skids, let's tackle his robot mode first. He's the smaller of the two Twins mass-wise, but even as small as he is (a bit smaller than a scout), he's quite complex, with lots of hinges and a surprisingly complex transformation. Regardless the end result is... okay. The design does an admirable job of keeping Skids' unique features, such as his head, strong shoulders, and small feet. However, he has some pretty decent kibble problems due to all the extras from his vehicle mode. His windows and hood assemblage all fold up amazingly well on his uper back, but his bumper-- behind his butt in this mode-- really gets in the way of movement and his transformation, his shoulders are a little bit TOO big (thus leading, again, to limited articulation there), and his lower arms are merely molded onto the insides of panels of the vehicle mode. On a Legends class figure I don't mind this too much, but on a bit larger of a figure like this it just looks ugly (it also makes less obvious the asymmetricality of his arms). The mold detailing on his robot parts is excellent, particularly for such a small toy, with all the major details there-- however, like the vehicle mode, he doesn't have enough paint apps to really show off all those details well. Articulation-wise, he can move at the neck, shoulders (at three points, theoretically, though again due to their size, it's rather restricted), the elbows (at two points), inwards movement on the right wrist, and movement on the hips, waist, knees (at two points), and ankles. So he's got a pretty decent amount of points, but due to his aforementioned kibble and his very small feet, he's not all that posable unless you don't mind him falling over, sadly.
    Most of my comments on Skids apply to Mudflap's robot mode as well, even though they're certainly different designs. Mudflap does have some kibble problems, though they're more directed towards his back and less towards restricting articulation. Thus, he's more back-heavier than Skids-- and his pieces don't fit into place as well as his brother's-- but Mudflap's large feet keep this from being a problem as far as balance goes. His lower arms are made from just panels of the vehicle mode just like Skids', with similar "blah" consequences. Also like Skids, the designers do an admirable job of keep Mudflap's main characteristics present in this form, such as the fake bulbous "headlights" on his chest, the long bits of plastic jutting out from the sides of his chest, the "door wings", the head (shudder), and the large feet. And also like Skids, Mudflap has little paint detailing on his robot form to show off all his neat mold detailing. For articulation, Mudflap can move at the neck, shoulders, elbows (at two points), inward motion at his left wrist, and movement at the hips, knees (at two points), and limited movement at the ankles. His shoulder movement is limited slightly, but otherwise his kibble interefers much less with his motion and given his larger feet he can strike more poses than Skids without falling over.
    The ice cream truck version of Mudflap & Skids is a great, unique idea for a Transformer (or, rather, two Transformers). The vehicle mode clearly came first though, as both of their robot mode suffer from a lot of kibble and pieces like side panels attached to their arms. They're also lacking some needed paint detailing, particularly in their robot modes. Still, it's a fun, creative little toy to the extent that I'm willing to overlook some of the flaws, though I do think this could've been done much better if the toy was a Voyager-class toy. However, if you're going to get a version of this toy, I'd recommend one of the later store-exclusive variants instead, as they have more of a "rundown" feeling to the vehicle mode that this version lacks.

Autobot Skids Tech Specs:
Strength: 4.0
Intelligence: 6.0
Speed: 7.0
Endurance: 4.0
Rank: 2.0
Courage: 8.0
Fireblast: 5.0
Skill: 3.0

Mudflap Tech Specs:
Strength: 4.0
Intelligence: 5.0
Speed: 7.0
Endurance: 5.0
Rank: 2.0
Courage: 9.0
Fireblast: 4.0
Skill: 3.0

Review by Beastbot

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