Owing to how badly the Twins and a few other Deluxes from ROTF have been warming the pegs in my neck of the woods, it was only a matter of time before a Mudflap somehow made its way into my hands, be it the original or the Tuner redeco. Sadly, now that I have one, I can see why he pegwarmed so badly. And it’s not due merely to overproduction.

            Mudflap and Skids, as twins, were designed so that not only would their alt modes look similar (Chevy Trax vs. Chevy Beat), they would have similar transforms and would look similar in robot mode. Aside from a few minor bits here and there, the only real distinguishing characteristic between the two is which side the oversized arm is on: Mudflap’s oversized arm is his left, while Skids’ is his right.

            Mudflap’s alt mode is a rust-colored Chevy Trax with grey highlights. While this might have been a passable color scheme in the days of G1, using it on a civilian vehicle in this day and age looks uninspired, even if the rust plastic has a glitter effect to it; the Tuner version, at least, has a flame deco pattern to break it all up. The fact that his alt mode says “wimpy faux SUV that looks good but can’t actually do anything” is also a little bit hard to swallow, as his name conjures up an image of someone who should be spending inordinate amounts of time off-road.

            Transforming him to robot mode is rather awkward, such that I would not recommend doing so unless you’ve got the instructions *and* a picture of the completed figure right in front of you. This is because his transformation is somewhat convoluted due to the way it all comes together. For example, his front grille becomes his torso, but it’s his *rear* wheels that become his arms due to the fact that his front wheels actually go on his legs. In hindsight, I can see why the kid who sold him to me was so eager to be rid of him.

            And his robot mode? Not much better. To begin with, virtually the entire top half of his vehicle mode ends up transforming into a rather oversized backpack, something that has dire consequences for his stability in robot mode; his legs are too skinny and feet too thin to truly support that much weight. Coloration-wise, he picks up a faint amount of light grey, but that does little to break up the monotony. And adding insult to injury, not only does his face give the impression of being canine in nature, he looks like he’s perpetually sad about something. He’s got two Mech Alive gimmicks in this mode, one being his front grill (pressing it causes parts to wiggle) and the other being in his left arm (making a fist will deploy his missile launcher; the missile fits into a port in his back in vehicle mode). The torso bit isn’t all that impressive, but his missile is fair enough as a weapon. TF Wiki.net claims that his feet have been inadvertently swapped in this mode, as to them the larger, separate toe should be on the outside, but I find that having it on the inside looks more like human feet; perhaps, though, this is why he can’t stand up straight.

            Overall? One would think that for someone with such a high degree of face time and marketing presence Hasbro would have taken the time to ensure that he had a passable figure. Instead, we not only have a pegwarmer but a particularly annoying one at that; there’s a reason why more than a few of us fans thought that he or his Tuner version be among the figures Hasbro was giving out for free to US collectors. He’s OK if you’re a completist or simply want to clear the pegs for more product, but if you’re a casual purchaser don’t get him unless you want to get Skids as well. Rating: 4 / 10.