Revenge of the Fallen Legends Class Mudflap Toy Review


Revenge of the Fallen

General Information:
Release Date: July 2009
Price Point: $5.99 (varies depending on retailer)
Accessories: None


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Roll out against DECEPTICON forces as you stage your own battles with this MUDFLAP figure. Engage with the bad guys in robot mode, then quickly maneuver for robot-to-vehicle conversion and crush them in Chevy Trax vehicle mode! Add this AUTOBOT ally to your collection and fight for the fate of the Universe!

AUTOBOT hero figure converts from robot mode to Chevy Trax vehicle mode and back again!

Mudflap is one of the new characters introduced in "Revenge of the Fallen" who is one of the "Autobot Twins". He and his sibling Skids were meant to be the "break out" characters in the movie, though to me they're not my favorite characters ever. Still, with the Legends line focusing on the primary characters in the movie, it would have been odd had Mudflap not been made into a Legends Class figure.

Robot Mode:
I always imagine that the Legends Class figures are interesting design challenges for those who create these figures. The designer has to take a lot of the essence of the character and boil it down into simplified features, and with a slightly asymmetrical design such as Mudflap's, it must be particularly interesting from a design point of view. Mudflap's robot mode is not so much an accurate portrayal of his CGI model but rather more of an interpretation. A lot of elements differ from the CGI model including having his car doors right on the front of his shoulders and oddly bow legged legs. To simulate his asymmetrical arm design, his right arm is smaller than the left. The right hand is shaped more like a claw than a hand, and the left hand is a huge hand with a thumb and three finger ends. The rest of the hand is made up from the top, rear end of the vehicle mode which is an interesting compromise to make one arm larger than the other.

Where Mudflap takes more direct inspiration from the movie is the robot head, which duplicates the (ugh) design of the movie. Yes, I'm still totally hating on this floppy eared, uneven eye design. While I may hate the design, I credit the designers with putting a lot of effort into sculpting the head so it is accurate to the CGI model in all its ugly glory. The front of the vehicle mode becomes the torso along with all the requisite details including the distinctive headlights. The legs have several raised details that simulate those on the legs of the CGI model and like his animated counterpart, his vehicle mode wheels wind up near his ankles.

Mudflap is made up of dark grey and metallic orange plastic. The grey plastic is the more prevelant color, appearing on parts such as the car doors, torso and legs. Orange can be found on his head and arms. Paint decos are done in metallic orange, silver, yellow and light blue. The orange is used mostly on the grey parts including the torso, doors and legs. Silver is used on smaller bits such as the headlights on his chest. The Chevrolet logo on his chest is painted yellow and tiny dabs of light blue are used to paint the robot eyes. Considering how tiny these details are, I'm rather impressed at how nice they look. There's no bleeding of colors outside the edges of parts such as the eyes and it looks great.

There are six points of articulation in this mode, including two points of articulation on each arm and one on each leg. Unfortunately only his lower arms can move forward since his car doors make up the upper arms. The one thing that I find odd are the designs of the feet. Because they aren't really flat, but rather have a heel piece and a flat front end, he sometimes takes a try or two to stand up properly.

Transformation to Vehicle Mode:

  1. Swing the robot head down.
  2. Swing each robot arm back.
  3. Rotate the arms up and connect them together to form the top of the vehicle.
  4. Swing the robot legs up and connect the two feet together.

Vehicle Mode:
While the robot mode is largely an interpretation of the CGI model, the vehicle mode is very accurate to the real life Chevrolet Trax. The vehicle looks like a mini SUV, with a high front end, high cabin section with an overall boxy shape. The front in is sculpted with the curved grooves of the front bumpers and the tube like shapes that wrap around the headlights. Inside the headlights, you'll find a line sculpted in that splits the top from the botom, a feature of the real life vehicle. The tiny Chevrolet logo in the front is quite prominant as well. Each of the wheel wells are rather high, keeping in line with the overall design of the vehicle. The only slightly weird feature of this figure is the back end. Since it's partially formed from the left arm and it's "fingers", the back look slike a big face with two big eyes and huge teeth. It's quite a comical effect however and it doesn't subtract much from the overall appearance of the vehicle mode.

Almost all the vehicle mode parts were quite prominant in the robot mode, so there are no color surprises here. For the most part the vehicle mode is cast in grey with metallic orange parts (mostly on top). Orange paint is used to paint in details, most notably along the sides and hood. The back window has a metallic red Autobot symbol painted in the center. It's a very nice looking color scheme and I am thankful a metallic orange color was used instead of a flat orange color.

Final Thoughts:
Having reviewed Fast Action Battler Mudflap and versions of his brother Skids, I'm always torn with these figures because of my distaste for the head designs and odd design choices. However, in this case the difficulty for me is that I really like the vehicle mode a lot, and the colors are really attractive, but the robot mode is just ungainly looking and the head design, however accurate is still ugly beyond words. The factor that probably tipped this over the edge to not recommended is his odd foot design that makes him somewhat difficult to stand. If I'm going to stand a Transformer, I want to be able to adjust its feet and stand it, not fiddle with it endlessly before it stops tipping forward. Not recommended.