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VOOZH | about |
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VOOZH | about |
| The name or term "Skids" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Skids (disambiguation). |
The dopey-looking Skids spends a lot of his time arguing with his twin brother Mudflap and trying to outdo him in crazy stunts, all while believing he's the responsible, level headed one. In his own mind, everything dangerous and dopey he does is simply making him a better warrior. And that means one day, one glorious day, Optimus Prime will notice him! Prime even looking in his direction makes him babble, fall over, and generally fail to make an impression, but that won't stop him trying! Underneath it all, he harbors a secret fear that Mudflap is actually the superior warrior of the pair... which is probably true.[1]
Skids' hyper-reactive optical imaging scanner allows him to process tactical information faster than anyone (except his twin). Add that to his supreme firepower and his unpredictable actions, and he's a pain in the aft for any Decepticon who wants to counter him! And that's only if they spot him. He changes alt-mode so much it's hard to keep track of him. On Earth, he's already been part of an ice-cream truck (combining with his brother), but he later scanned a Chevrolet Beat for a disguise, and, sometime after that, a Chevrolet Spark, but that's unlikely to last very long.
| β | Undercover y'all. Y'know, ya gotta blend into your surroundings, gotta be part of the landscapeβOW! | β |
| βA less-than-successful Skids tries to conceal himself, Revenge of the Fallen | ||
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Skids and his brother were part of a taskforce deployed in Shanghai to root out Decepticon activity. In their combined ice cream truck alternate mode, they rolled through the evacuated zone, taunting and trying to lure out the Decepticons in the area. When the Decepticons did show themselves, they gave chase to the escaping Sideways. However, their slow and ungainly choice of vehicle could not keep up with the fugitive, and they rounded a corner too sharply, tearing their combined form in half. Even though Mudflap took the blame for the separation, Skids still berated (and smacked) his brother for his failure. Skids reminded his brother that they were in a combat situation and wondered what was wrong with him.
Upon arrival at Diego Garcia and NEST headquarters, the twins received new, separate alternate modes. A fight broke out between the two of them over which vehicle they wanted, and Skids "called" the Beat, resigning Mudflap to the form of a Trax.
Later, the twins, along with the other NEST-allied Autobots, were dispatched to look for Sam Witwicky when Decepticons were detected heading towards his college. After Optimus Prime was killed by Megatron, the twins helped the Autobot force fight off the Decepticon leader and Starscream, allowing Sam, Leo Spitz, Mikaela Banes and Bumblebee to make good their escape. Skids and Mudflap met up with Bumblebee and the humans, and together they fled to a remote location. After teasing Leo for a while for his panic attack, Sam inquired whether one of them could interpret the Cybertronic symbols he had become obsessed with, but the twins claimed that they couldn't read the ancient Language of the Primes, and weren't much into reading, anyway.
With the help of the Decepticon Wheelie and former Sector Seven agent Seymour Simmons, the group made their way to the Smithsonian, where the humans reactivated the venerable ex-Decepticon Jetfire. He teleported them all to Egypt before telling them the tale of the original Primes, the Star Harvester, which had the potential to destroy all life on Earth, and finally, the Matrix of Leadership, the key to activating the harvester, and possibly the only thing that could bring Optimus Prime back to life. When the Matrix could not be found at the ruins of Petra, the twins began arguing with each other over why they were following Sam, which soon escalated into physical violence. As their brawl nearly crushed the humans, Bumblebee picked up the twins in each hand, slammed them together, and threw them outside the ruins, which Skids considered to be just rude. Fortunately, their bickering created a hole in the wall where the Tomb of the Primes lay, and with it, the Matrix.
Making their way back to the Pyramids where NEST waited with Optimus Prime's body, the group came under attack by Starscream. Mudflap, Skids, Leo and Simmons acted as a decoy to lure the Decepticons away from Sam and Mikaela. Unfortunately, they attracted the attention of the Constructicons, who combined into Devastator and attacked by vacuuming up loose objects such as sand, cars, and Mudflap. As Skids mourned the loss of his twin, Simmons realized that the safest place to be was directly under the giant. But Mudflap had survived being vacuumed up by Devastator, and to escape he had blasted a hole through its head. To buy the humans time to escape, Skids clambered up Devastator's right forepaw to assist Mudflap. Skids threw a cable to Mudflap, who grabbed it and swung off Devastator's head onto his arm. However, once they landed, Mudflap accidentally shot Skids in the face, knocking them off the arm and knocking out Skids' gold tooth in the process. At Megatron's command, Devastator continued onto the Great Pyramid of Giza. Revenge of the Fallen
Skids and Mudflap could be spotted in vehicle mode at the end of an Autobot convoy as the team rolled into the hangar of NEST's Washington, D.C. base.
Later, what appears to be Mudflap can be seen parked next to Sideswipe, when Sam comes to NEST for the first time. Dark of the Moon
Five years after the Battle of Chicago, Skids was not listed as "deceased" by the CIA taskforce, Cemetery Wind.[2] Age of Extinction
Skids first met Bumblebee when they were about to be thrown into a smelting pool. Dogfight! He and his twin are well known for tall tales and messing about, enough so that people have stopped believing their claims. Learning Curve
Skids and Mudflap happily stayed on Cybertron, going through intensive training (which totally wasn't goofing off) and having extreme-sports contests. Neither wanted to leave their homeworld, and they were the only Transformers on it until Starscream turned up with a Decepticon army. When they heard him mention a Star Harvester, they realised they should tell someone...but Skids worked out the fastest way to do that would be in person, meaning they'd have to leave their homeworld.
The decision was made for them when the Decepticons attacked. Skids angrily blew away some of the jet-drones when they shot his brother, using an impressive missile barrage, and used transform-and-shoot moves to keep their pursuers away...but he realised this was delaying the inevitable. They fled the planet, with Skids remembering to head for Earth, the site of Optimus's message. Training Day
The twins made it to Earth soon, crash-landing in Toronto, Canada. On the way in, Mudflap hit a big tower, but Skids felt it wasn't that big a deal. They swam their way to Ball's Falls, where they picked up Earth alternate modes and set out to try and find local Autobots and warn them about the Star Harvester.
Driving along the wrong side of the Interstate (Skids wanted a challenge!), the twins were attacked by the Seeker Ransack, trying to kill them on the Fallen's orders. While Skids dissed Ransack's retro alt mode, he pursued them across open countryside. With their energon levels low, the airborne enemy kept up with the twins, and Skids soon collapsed, unable to run any further. He and his brother would've both died, if not for Bumblebee arriving and forcing the Seeker into retreat. Dogfight!
Now living at NEST's Californian base with Bumblebee as their minder, Skids and Mudflap repeatedly asked to deliver their info to Optimus Primeβand only Optimus, much to Ironhide's annoyance. He was more annoyed when they ambushed him (Skids tipping crates on him!) to get to Optimus...who, as it turns out, was away on a need-to-know mission anyway.
After this defeat, and with Ironhide having bluntly told them nobody believed them, they desperately asked to join in a NEST op in Las Vegas...getting turned down, because they were too crap to get involved. Annoyed with this, Skids went along with Mudflap's suggestion to go to Vegas and show Ironhide just what they could do! What they could do, it turned out, was screw up a successful mission by freeing a captured Decepticon by trying to "shoot him down". Skids was left mortified. Ironhide, recognising what they were trying to do, told him that maybe they could work on training the twins not to jump in without looking, and that the trick was to learn from mistakes. The twins claimed they'd try. Learning Curve
They soon wished they hadn't, as they were condemned to NEST's Orkney Islands base for days of sim-com (simulated combat) training under Sideswipe. Skids had a nagging feeling this was just an excuse to keep them away from the main action, and both protested to Sideswipe that they could handle Decepticons. Him pointing out their failure with Grindor shut them up. However, the training was interrupted when a huge metal cat monster broke into the base, KOed Sideswipe, and tried to eat the twins!
They transformed and fled, drawing the creature into a trap where Skids used his weaponry to bring the roof down on it. When that failed, he deferred to and helped Mudflap carry out his plan of trapping the beast in a sim-com session on maximum setting. With that done, and with it revealed that the creature was sent after them by another Decepticon, they tried to fill in the revived Sideswipe... except the creature had gone, leaving their instructor with the view that they'd knocked him out in revenge for their training. Between that and Grindor, he thinks they're up to something... New Tricks
The twins were later taken to Diego Garcia, and ecstatic to learn Optimus was coming there! Sideswipe stated he didn't know about their info and wasn't here to talk to them, cutting off Skids as he attempted to mention the "dude they call the F-". While their trainer told them how they weren't to see Prime, the twins cunningly drove off when he wasn't looking and headed for the base's runway. The mood soured when Skids noticed Mudflap was planning to pinch the credit for their intel, and soon the two of them were having a big fight and slagging match on the runway...
And so their first meeting with Optimus Prime was to be yelled at for conduct unbecoming of an Autobot warrior. (Mudflap started it!)
That was when Scorponok made his attack, blasting at the distracted Prime. Skids made the situation worse by accidentally tripping over Optimus, preventing him from taking control, and so Scorponok liberated the prisoner Sideways. Sideswipe, watching from a distance, believed Skids had done that deliberately, and convinced Prime that the twins were traitors: they must have helped Scorponok get here and now assisted him in his mission, on top of freeing Grindor and attacking him at Orkney! Skids and Mudflap protested they were being set up because they knew too much, but it fell on deaf ears as they were taken into custody. Reversal of Fortune
Following this, the decision was made to exile the twins into orbit. A disgruntled Skids remarked they should've minded their own business and ignored the Fallen, but help was at hand... from the Decepticons? Freed by a Decepticon attack, an angry Skids realised they'd been framed again and now the Autobots would think they were massive traitors. The two went underground to clear their names, and hit on the foolproof plan of abducting Sam Witwicky from his house and pleading with him to tell their story to Optimus. All this did was cause Bumblebee to launch an attack to rescue Sam. Skids spat out the kid, remarking he'd need to clean his seats to get the organic off them, but that didn't stop Bumblebee holding him at gunpoint...
...until Soundwave arrived, gunning down the Autobot and offering the twins sanctuary in the Decepticons. Skids quickly agreed Outlaw Blues, intending to get into a position where they could whallop a Decepticon and hand him over to the Autobots to clear their names. After some fun times of annoying the other Decepticons, the twins were dispatched to bring in an AWOL member; Skids was annoyed to find Mudflap didn't know they were just pretending, and hoped Soundwave would be sending a minder (either Grindor or Sideways) they could ambush.
The AWOL member turned out to be Ransack. Skids quickly lied to him, saying they'd totally been sent by the Fallen to bring him in from the cold. This deception worked, until the Decepticon minders attacked... both of them! Skids ordered Mudflap after Sideways while he launched suppressive fire on Grindor and dodged each shot. Unfortunately, the chopper bugged out with Ransack held captive. While the twins had captured Sideways, Skids wasn't satisfied: he was tired of taking the fall and being pushed around. He decided they were going to go gunning for Soundwave and bring down his whole conspiracy! Turnabout
Upon returning to the Phobos base, it suddenly occurred to Skids that they had no plan... but, as Mudflap wisely pointed out to him, that never stopped them before! The twins stormed the base, but initial success was undone when Starscream and Soundwave fought back. Luckily, the two Decepticons were forced to run off after Ransack, who'd fled talking about reporting to the Fallen. Skids was left feeling that they'd just seen part of a really big, confusing picture. Unfortunately, this was just a short respite, as the twins discovered just what that army massing on Cybertron had been planning: to arrive at the Phobos base en route to Earth...
The twins stood ready to make their last stand, and Skids told his brother it had been an honour to work with him... when Optimus arrived with the other Autobots! The twins had been tracked to Phobos and to their shock, the other Autobots had realised they weren't traitors and were even apologising! And with all the street cred of uncovering the Phobos base, the twins were welcomed to the Autobots' Earth division. Skids briefly wondered if they should mention "the Fa-" again, but was convinced not to by Mudflap. Back-to-Back
Some time after hearing Optimus Prime's rallying call but before making it to Earth, Skids and Mudflap were kidnapped by Thundercracker and taken to an unspecified Decepticon outpost. There, unscrupulous Decepticon medic Flatline attempted to forcibly reprogram them into loyal Decepticon soldiers, but all he ended up doing was knocking out a good chunk of their intellect and reasoning skills. They probably would've spent the rest of their days locked up and experimented on if a recently upgraded Arcee had not sprung them from their cell. Even though they didn't understand everything the silly biker ladies were saying, Skids and Mudflap let Arcee escort them both to their stolen ship, past hordes of drones, Flatline and Thundercracker himself before the outpost self-destructed. Tales of the Fallen #6
Skids and Mudflap arrived on Earth as part of Autobot reinforcements that Optimus Prime with Topspin, Leadfoot, Roadbuster, Sideswipe, Arcee, Chromia and Elita-One on the Wreckers ship Xantium. The ship and the Wreckers stayed behind in NASA, Dark of the MoonDark of the Moon issue 3. They both chose the combined form of an old, beat-up ice cream truck. The newly arrived Autobots joined the human-Transformer military alliance NEST and began training in earnest on Diego Garcia, but soon had to be deployed to Shanghai, China. Alliance #4
Skids and Mudflap were in Seattle with NEST tracking the Decepticon straggler, Alice. They helped guide her stolen RV right into Sideswipe's sights, and he then impaled the "girl" in her seat. Nefarious #1
Later, when Theodore Galloway and his unit were attacked by Ransack en route to investigate the mysterious activities of the enigmatic Initiative at Hoover Dam, the Autobots dispatched Skids and Mudflap to Galloway's aid. Together, they held Ransack off until a NEST strike team could arrive and finish him off. The Twins then accompanied Galloway and the soldiers to Hoover Dam, and while the Initiative forces had already cleared out, Skids and Mudflap realized what they had been after: residal energy from the AllSpark that had been kept there. Nefarious #4 To uncover the Initiative's secret goals, the Autobot soon allied themselves with Soundwave, and followed his lead to the Initiative's base of operations in Crater Lake, Oregon. Skids and Mudflap were deployed to attack the base from the east; when they were met with resistance in the form of the Initiative's troops, they took them out of the equation by disabling the advanced weaponry they were wielding with precision blasts. Nefarious #5 He and Mudflap then worked as back-up for Bumblebee's team of cadets in the final battle at Crater Lake. Nefarious #6
When NEST discovered that Starscream was selling Transformer weaponry to humans, a sting operation was staged in which Theodore Galloway would pose as a buyer to lure the Decepticons in. When Skystalker, Divebomb and Fearswoop took the bait, the Twins joined Arcee, her sisters, and the human forces of NEST in tackling them. Fearswoop surrendered while the other Decepticons were killed. Rising Storm #1
After Sam Witwicky contacted NEST as Philadelphia was beign attacked by Decepticons, the Twins joined Prime and the other Autobots in helping the boy. Rising Storm #2 Rising Storm #3 Skids and Mudflap survived the battle when the Driller took Shockwave away. Rising Storm #4
Skids and Mudflap were present at NEST's Washington base during Optimus Prime's conversation with Charlotte Mearing about the moon landings.
Later, the Twins were on hand when Sentinel Prime revealed that he was in league with the Decepticons and killed Ironhide. As Sentinel turned his weapon toward Bumblebee, Skids charged forward to stop the treacherous Autobot, but wound up taking the full force of the blast himself and perished. But before he died, Skids last word's to Mudflap was "Sorry, bro β¦ guess I wasnβt β¦ as smart β¦ as I thought β¦ sorβ" as he crumbled into dust under the effects of the Cosmic Rust. Skids's death sent Mudflap into a rage, but even his righteous anger could not make him a match for Sentinel, and he too met his ends moments later. Dark of the Moon Dark of the Moon Movie Adaptation
Skids and Mudflap wanted to be characters in a strip of Mini Mayhem, but wound up being late to the punch, and had to settle for a one-panel cameo. Mini Mayhem!
Skids and Mudflap had been tasked with looking over Sam while Bumblebee was away on a mission. The twins reported to Optimus that they suspected a new lab assistant working at the science lab at Sam's university to be a Decepticon spy. They turned out to be correct. Even after Megatron's latest plot had been foiled, and the Twins requested some time off from "spying" on Sam, Optimus informed them that their battle against the Decepticons was far from over. Prime Target
Upon learning that Buzzsaw and Ratbat were causing trouble, Optimus ordered Skids and the rest of the Autobots to roll out to face the Decepticons. Thanks to Soundwave's tampering with their communications, however, the Autobots arrived at an abandonned warehouse instead of where the trouble was taking place. Thankfully, Sam and Bumblebee met with the Autobots, and led them to the correct location. The Decepticons were defeated and the Autobots cheered Sam for his help in the mission. Satellite Meltdown
Skids and his brother idolise Optimus Prime and the other great Autobot heroes, and joined the battle on Earth solely to be part of their crew. Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Mudflap In an early mission, however, they found themselves used as guinea pigs for experimental combination technology; trying to stay combined in their gestalt vehicle mode took up more of their focus than fighting Decepticons! Autobot Skids and Mudflap (Deluxe Combiner)
Believing himself to be the "smart one" of the twins, Skids constantly tries to impress Autobot High Command with his inane, random babbling about everything insightful comments about things. Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Autobot Skids This chatter blows any stealth mission he's part of, so Ironhide has cunningly assigned Skids and his brother to create diversions (far, far away from him). Robot Replica Skids
Skids thought of himself as pretty capable, yet Mikaela was a better driver than he is. Concentrating on squeezing every last bit of power out of his engine while she takes the wheel, even the fastest and most powerful Decepticons have trouble keeping up with them. Human Alliance Autobot Skids / Arcee / Mikaela Banes
Oil Pan may be crazy good driving skills, but he was not used to dealing with someone as unpredictable as Skids. He was more than happy to cause total chaos on the freeway, as long as it meant catching his quarry. While the other Autobots wish Skids was more careful, at least he gets the job done. Turner Skids (Deluxe)
During Sideways's sojourn into the Autobot camp, Skids and Mudflap became suspicious and reverted to their old ice cream truck form to keep track of him. Having discovered Sideways's treachery, they planned to prove their worth by defeating him on their own! High-Speed Spy Battle
Having grown up a lot since the battle against The Fallen, Skids has learned a little bit about keeping his mouth shut. He has also spent months being trained by Ironhide on how to effectively handle himself in a fight. Cyberverse Autobot Skids While he has been hardened by frequent battles, Skids has also become more sensitive to the value of life thanks to his partnership with humans. He is still an eager warrior, his first priority would always be the defense of those under his protection. Dark of the Moon Deluxe Autobot Skids
Skids was eventually given to Robert Epps for proper training. Skids and Epps became good friends as they both love beating up Decepticons! Human Alliance Autobot Skids / Elita 1 / Sergeant Epps
Skids celebrated as the giant Devastator was tickled to defeat. A New Menace! The Giant Soldier Devastator Appears!
Skids joined the rest of the Autobots in combating the Decepticons on battlefields on Earth, the Earth's Moon and on Cybertron. Sometimes there were many of him! Cyberverse Battle Builder
From watching Revenge of the Fallen, it should be pretty obvious that the depiction of the Twins is rooted in racist stereotypes of African-Americans. Their illiteracy in Cyberglyphics is framed as "never learnin' to read", they speak in an overall stereotypical manner and are generally shown to not be very clever and quick to violence. Furthermore, compared to the other Autobots (and even fellow black-coded movie Autobot Jazz), their designs are visibly more hunched and ugly, with disfigured faces and a gold buck tooth on Skids. One later attempt to "smooth over" the problem would reveal that the pair act the way they do due to them being brain damaged, which only exacerbates the issue.
What's unclear is where exactly this imagery originated from: writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman claimed to have been following Michael Bay's lead on the character, while Bay stated that it came from a piece of improv by actors Tom Kenny and Reno Wilson. Though Kenny, who is white, declined to comment when interviewed, Wilson, who is black, stated that they had been given direction to play the twins as "wannabe gangster types". This was supposed to play off the fact that, as alien robots who had learned human language and culture from the internet, they could not be black, with Wilson likening them to white rappers like Kevin Federline.[13] What this means for Jazz, as well as the other characters Wilson has played, is unknown. Whatever the intent, nobody involved seems to want to be tied to the issue. Orci and Kurtzman have attempted to distance themselves from the characters, stating that the stereotypes weren't in their script.[14] For whatever reason, the Revenge of the Fallen novel, written by Alan Dean Foster and based on Orci and Kurtzman's screenplay, only depicts Skids as the film-accurate slang-talker, while Mudflap speaks like any other Autobot, albeit with a thick lisp. Meanwhile, Simon Furman's Revenge of the Fallen material has both of the twins using less slang; presumably, Furman likely did not wish to try his hand at "street". Kenny himself revealed on an interview with Double Toasted in late 2020 that he was originally hired as a placeholder voice for Skids before being kept by Bay in the final product. A decision he later regretted when he ended up voicing him.[15]
Whatever the intended direction for the characters, the "wannabe gangster" shtick doesn't come across in the finished project. Robert Epps, the only prominent black human character in the film, is never shown having anything to say about them, for example. Ultimately, the Twins' portrayal was rightfully deemed pretty disgusting, and the resultant public backlash was likely what led the studio to quietly drop the pair partway into the filming of Dark of the Moon. While their intended role in the film survived into that film's novelization and comic book adaptation, the Twins are thankfully not present in any future movie stories, and are indeed conspicuous by their absence in the cross-film Studio Series toyline.
Around fifteen years after the film's release, the twins were referenced in a not-so-subtle way on Prime Video's The Boys television series.[16]
