The Story of The $25,000 Skids and Mudflap Controversy

The Twins, also known as the notorious Skids and Mudflap were two characters from Transformers Revenge of The Fallen that became a topic of quite a controversy. Though some viewers found the duo as harmless comedic relief, others thought the two were racist stereotypes. To get to the bottom of this controversy, I dive into several testimonies from director Michael Bay, screen writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, in addition to voice actors Tom Kenny (Skids), and Reno Wilson (Mudflap). In order to get to the bottom of if the twins were truly vessels of racism, or if the concerns surrounding them were blown out of proportion.

[awesomeproductions]

Really wish their death scene was kept in the film. Would've been a good, heroic end for the twins and probably would've made Sentinel even more menacing by adding two more bots to his kill count. That, or just don't have them in the films and have Arcee and Jolt fill their part in ROTF. Arcee can be more the "straight man" of the trio of her, Bee and Jolt, while Jolt can be more of a boisterous comic relief / action hero, like Mirage in Rise of the Beasts. And then, maybe have Jolt die in DOTM after we've really familiarised ourselves with him, as that'll add further raise the stakes and drama. Maybe Sentinel kills him after Ironhide like with the twins, or he helps the humans reach the skyscraper in Chicago and Shockwave kills him, just to give him *_SOMETHING_* to do.

[HumzyTumzy]

Skids: “You scared?
Mudflap: “Scared? Scared of your ugly face!!”
Skids: “IM UGLY?? WE’RE TWINS YOU STUPID GENIUS” BRO 😭😭

[justinclark]

I never thought the twins were racial stereotypes, I just thought they were annoying.

[sleekemu]

As a kid back then I never really saw them as like black stereotype, I always thought they were more like hillbilly rednecks than the hood type gangsta

[michaelbenitez]

I think Mudflap's death in the Novelization is probably the darkest, even darker than Ratchet's Death

[leoalpha]

The best part of this video was when Mudflap said, "IT'S REVENGIN' TIME!" and got revenged all over

[samtheaqueductman]

The "we don't really do much reading" scene never came off as racist to me, because it just fits their characters. They aren't the brightest at this point in their story, and a line like that makes sense😂

[Hotrodimusprime]

I always assumed that the twins couldn't read because they were young and they didn't learn enough abt their own culture because if the war.

[TILLO_MUSIC]

I always saw the twins as being younger siblings that would do the typical sibling bickering and fighting, it was hilarious to me. Especially when you take into consideration that the survival of earth depended on these badass autobots meanwhile you have two goofballs just trying to survive for themselves. Being an older brother, i related to the fighting between the two and how worried skids was when mudflap was eaten by devastator.

I would have loved to see the twins in the future movies, they were my personal favorite autobots.

[thomascarrig]

It really sucks that the twins were cut from dark of the moon because they were one of my favourite transformers but my all time favourite is bumblebee

[yissibiiyte]

When I was young and oblivious to how controversial they were I used to love the twins. They were hilarious even if they added absolutely nothing to the plot.

Sidepoint, how can Cybertronians even be "twins"?

[Scoobers_epic_stopmotions]

It’s weird as the voice acter of mudflap didn’t think they where racial stereotypes and just thought they where funny

I hate to be that dude but thanks for the comments! (edit)

[seniorsquidoo]

Looking back at the twins with a more matured perspective, opposed to when I first watched the movie as a kid. I can say that I definitely see them as a comic relief, wannabe gangster type. In a similar fashion to how Jazz acted in the first movie.

[Alexisme.]

I really cried when he said “it’s revenging time” 😭😭

[Rft_]

Dang Skid and Mudflap was so Controversial that they had a Bounty on their head xD!!

[Ryder-a-Blaze]

I honestly liked Skids and Mudflap they were pretty funny

[Blastertronus]

I hope that we will one day get Studio Series figures of these guys without the racist implications ruining it for everyone.

[therealboogie]

I thought the novel was lighter in tone like the comic but shooting ironhide and his head dissolving while he's still aware? Mudflap shot in his mouth? That is some horrifying stuff

[commas]

I think all of this could have been solved by just making their CGI model's faces not look like *that*. Like just give them more alien looking faces like all the other transformers. Their voice acting didn't have to change as much but looking like that combined with the 'wannabe gangster' voice performance was not a good mix.

[SgtAJ]

Personally, I never found the Twins offensive or annoying. I honestly always saw them as two young privates who are always fighting or bickering, which is something I tend to see in movies about the military. At least the ones I have seen. On the other hand, I do understand why some people may find them offensive or annoying, especially since we don’t get a chance to know what really makes Skids and Mudflap tick, something that's always been a problem with Micheal Bay's Transformers movies. Also, good work on this video, Theorymus. I now have a better understanding of why the Twins are some of the most controversial characters in Transformers.

On a side note: if anyone is wondering if I include the Twins in my rewrite of the Transformers movies, yes I do include them in both Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. However, I decided to write them as two young Autobots who tend to bicker or fight each other. There's even a scene in ROTF where Bumblebee stops the two from fighting and punishes them, as their fighting almost gets his best friend and her brother killed. At the same time, though, we get enough time to understand what kind of characters Skids and Mudflap are supposed to be, something I’ve tried to fix for both the Autobots and Decepticons in my rewrites.