Mudflap (Cybertron)
From Transformers Wiki
| The name or term "Mudflap" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Mudflap (disambiguation). |
- Mudflap is an Autobot and a Decepticon from the Cybertron portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.
Mudflap has anger issues. A former Autobot and friend to Landmine, this boxing champion was forced to remain hidden on Earth after the evacuation of Cybertron. This was frustrating for the young Autobot. So frustrating in fact, that when he was approached by the Decepticons, he signed up! Only time will tell if Mudflap's heart is really with the Decepticon cause.
To human ears, Mudflap speaks with a French accent. Aside from his pugilistic skills, he's an expert in swinging his massive crane-blade, incorporating it into his free-flying limbs fighting technique.
| “ | What's weeth zeez humans, anyway? Zey are one bunch of deesorderly cats, eh? | ” |
| —Mudflap's world view, "Race" | ||
Contents |
Fiction
Cybertron cartoon
- Voice actor: Dale Wilson (English), Taketora (Japanese), Janne Porkka (Finnish), Wolf Frass (German), Alfredo Martínez (Castilian Spanish), Rubén León (Latin-American Spanish), Gunnar Udden (Swedish), Lee Gwang-soo (Korean)
Mudflap was an old friend and student of the aging Autobot soldier Landmine, who practically raised him. Revelation In 2030 he was one of many Autobots forced by the Unicron Singularity to take refuge on Earth. Fallen He found it somewhat frustrating, being vexed by human behavior, such as putting up traffic lights and then not stopping for them, and the resulting crashes.
One day, while he was driving through the desert outside a city after being agitated by such an incident, Mudflap was approached by the Decepticons Starscream and Thundercracker. When Thundercracker opened fire, Mudflap transformed and fought back, summoning his new Cyber Key to deploy a blade from his crane arm. The battle continued until it looked like Thundercracker would win, at which point Starscream intervened.
Starscream told the confused Mudflap that the attack had simply been a test of his mettle, and he'd passed. He then lied to Mudflap that in this situation both Autobots and Decepticons were trying to gain the Cyber Planet Keys to save the universe, the Decepticons merely trying to do so without caring about the humans. The puzzled Mudflap accepted Starscream's offer of Decepticon membership, at least for now, and became a turncoat. Thundercracker gave him a lift to the Fire dimension. Race
The poor bugger found most of his time was spent training, and he would sometimes be deliberately left behind. Savage He eventually got to go to Earth with Starscream, where they tried to bully the Autobots' human allies into giving information on the Cyber Planet Keys. Scattorshot interrupted the interrogation, but after Starscream froze the Autobot solid, Mudflap got to pummel him for a while. Once more Autobots joined the scene, Starscream ordered a "tactical retreat" and both Decepticons fled rather than face the Autobots' greater numbers. Ice Mudflap was then part of a mission to capture the Cyber Planet Key of Jungle Planet, and took on both Leobreaker and Snarl. After digging a hole that both fell into, he held his own until being thrown into the pond, sinking to the bottom. Trust After the failure, he argued with his fellow Decepticons before following Megatron into space before being trapped in a big metal ball by Starscream. Trap
Once freed, he joined Megatron's full-scale strike on Earth to capture that world's Cyber Planet Key and beat on Starscream. In the battle that ensued, Mudflap and Landmine found themselves facing each other; Landmine was horrified and appealed to his old friend to realize what he was doing. Mudflap, not wanting to fight the older mech, tried to get him to walk away and finally attacked in a panic. Revelation With the two locked in combat, Landmine finally put down his protégé with Cyber Key power and urged him again to reconsider his path. Mudflap refused Critical and the fight carried on, only taking a brief break to change battlefields and while Mudflap spent a bit demanding Crosswise face "someone your own size" instead of Ransack. When Landmine and Mudflap began their fight again, both were angrier and more willing to hit out than before. Assault
Mudflap went on to help Megatron in battle, briefly paused in his villainy when Landmine pointed out an Autobot team was en route to Cybertron and further battling was just endangering their homeworld. The crane was pained by the dilemma... but chose to keep helping Megatron. Starscream
He was withdrawn from Earth and made part of the team that pursued the Omega Lock across the space bridge. United There, he got to see completely inexplicable stuff, Megatron jumping into a time/space vortex, and Ransack and Crumplezone quite happily abandoning their leader. Narked off with the duo, he gave up and went back to Earth. Cybertron Unable to trust the Decepticons any longer but unable to return to the Autobots after his actions, Mudflap was left in despair. Escape
So raise your voice and don't be shy,
Tes-ti . . .Tes-ti. . .Tes-ti-fy! Testify, testify, come on up and testify!
However, in his darkest hour, Landmine came to him again and offered him a chance to rejoin the Autobots. While Mudflap attacked in an angry attempt to be left alone, Landmine refused to fight back; when he told Mudflap he just wanted his friend back, the troubled Transformer collapsed to his knees in tears, apologizing for everything he had done. Landmine told Mudflap that the most important thing was to forgive himself, and he and a group of civilian Autobots welcomed Mudflap back into their ranks. Family
When the black hole's growth began to devastate Earth, Mudflap was one of the hundreds of Autobots who began saving humans, noting it was great to be doing something useful for once. He then joined the Autobots in taking the fight to Galvatron himself. Homecoming Following the end of the black hole, he fought to save the Jungle Planet and Cybertron from collision. Unfinished
After this final victory, he joined his friend Landmine in tracking down Starscream, as a matter of honour. They eventually found him, but the end result is unknown... Beginning
Toys
Cybertron
- Mudflap (Voyager Class, 2005)
- Takara ID number: GD-09
- Takara release date: March 31, 2005
- Accessories: Missile, Earth Cyber Key
- Cyber Key Code: v6t7
- Known designers: Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro), Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy)
- Cybertron Mudflap transforms into a blue crane truck. The toy features two Cyber Key gimmicks, but unfortunately, they both suffer from design flaws. Inserting his Key into the side of his cab flips out a firing missile launcher, which works fine in truck mode; in robot mode, however, it is slung under his right arm, and the spring-loaded hinge that flips it out is not strong enough to hold it up, meaning that it dangles loosely underneath his forearm. His second gimmick is his ridiculously colossal saw-blade: first, his crane arm is manually extended, opening up the Cyber Key slot in its side, and inserting the Key then flips out the translucent green blade. When fully extended, the blade and crane are about three times the height of his body. Sadly, the Hasbro version's blade is molded from soft, flexible plastic, and if left undeployed for too long, will warp due to tension from the spring holding it down - and since it comes packaged undeployed, having been stuck like that since it left China, it can very easily be already warped fresh out of the box. Ugh.
- There are a number of small differences between the Hasbro and Takara Galaxy Force "Demolishor" releases of the toy. Demolishor's main body color is a purpler periwinkle color, while the crane boom is molded white as in the stock photos, opposed to Hasbro's deep grey. The hydraulic supports are NOT painted, while the front and rear grilles are slightly more detailed. Notably, the Takara release has no faction symbol. Because the Takara version did not use a flexible kind of plastic for the clear parts, it did not suffer the same flaw as the Hasbro version, and the blade did not bend over time. Takara's instructions also have the key inserted from underneath, so the weight of the missile launching gimmick rests against the pin, and not the spring.
- Both versions have his face a metallic grey rather than the gold tint of the cartoon. Most of his stock photos display him with his feet reversed from their cartoon look as well.
- This mold was going to be redecoed to make Landslide, but was ultimately canceled—and was later redecoed into Transformers (2007) Mudflap anyway.
- Mudflap with Bonus Mini-Cons (Multi-pack, 2005)
- Accessory: Missile, Earth Cyber Key
- Cyber Key Code: v6t7
- A special version of Mudflap was released as a Target stores exclusive: while Mudflap himself was unchanged from his original release, he came with a pair of free Mini-Cons attached to the box, Tankor and Shockwave.
Notes
- Mudflap's toy bio completely and totally contradicts his fictional portrayal, stating him to be a Decepticon spy planted on Earth long before the evacuation of Cybertron.
- Mudflap was the quintessential shelfwarmer of the Cybertron toyline. For whatever reason, he simply did not sell, and eventually ended up at heavy discount in most chains. This turned out to be somewhat prophetic as the toys of two others sharing his name turned out to be chronic shelfwarmers in the years to come.
- Mudflap's CGI cartoon model limited him to just one Cyber Key Power, omitting the blaster in his left arm. Consequently, he would occasionally be seen wielding either one or a pair of generic hand-held guns if the plot required him to shoot something (pictured right), or in the case of "Ice", drop a weapon so someone else could use it. Though on some rare occasions he was seen having his blaster activated and used in the show.
- While not uncommon for characters in the Unicron Trilogy to have multiple slightly different robot mode/vehicle mode configurations or CGI models, Mudflap is seen using at least two different robot configurations (which can also be achieved on his toy). The first of these is the small panels on his forearms folded flat against the wheel wells and the kibble on the backs of his arms are folded flat against them (like his toy's instructions show). The second has his panels flat against his forearm/elbow joints and the kibble parts fully extended away from the backs of his forearms. Both of these are pictured to the right.
- Mudflap's transformation was used as the basis for the transformation of non-toy character Signal Lancer.
- Despite his name, there isn't a mudflap anywhere on him!
Foreign names
- Japanese: Demolishor (デモリッシャー Demorisshā)
- Korean: Demolishor (데몰리셔 Demollisyeo)
- Russian: Bryzgovik (Брызговик)
