Here we have the signature ice cream truck. This is a pretty good alternate mode that I don't think has been attempted since these two came out. I mean, ice cream trucks are still iconic to this day, so the lack of new Transformers that turn into such an altmode seems weird. Anyways, this vehicle mode is based on the alt mode that the Twins briefly took form of early on in the movie, where NEST was going after a hiding Decepticon in Shanghai. It's a pretty cute vehicle, with the white and pink color combo complimented with gunmetal grey, dark blue, and a few tampos that fit well with the ice cream theming. Creamy Ice Cream, Made Fresh For You, and the ice cream cone on the side bonnet complement the look of the vehicle mode, even though there are numerous decals not present on the vehicle, including the iconic "Decepticons suck my popsicle!". Reprolabels has fixed that issue, but there are some details that they wouldn't fix with stickers, such as the missing paint apps for the areas that are sculpted with rust in them. At the very least, the one side-view mirror, door handles, speaker, and ice cream on the top of the alt mode make this feel as complete as it could be for a regular release. I should mention that likely because of age, the right side has the seams of the two halves of the ice cream truck and the hood for Skids more prominently shown than they otherwise would be if they were fresh out of the packaging.
For a vehicle mode size comparison, here are the Ice Cream Twins next to the Arcee Sisters and Sideways, two Studio Series releases that were shown in the brief chase segment in Shanghai as a distraction from Demolishor. I'll be honest and say the scale here works much better than anticipated. The bikes don't look too out of place next to the cars that much, but the ice cream truck itself is a much better fit for the Studio Series line's scale than it ever was for the original Revenge of the Fallen line! Maybe the reason why it remained as a Deluxe was that Hasbro wanted to maintain these two as easier to obtain than they normally would be, but I feel that if the robots were to scale better with their individual Deluxe counterparts, they'd have to be a Voyager. But otherwise, Arcee and Twins got a target coming their way!
Transformation for the set is pretty intricate, mostly due to the smaller parts that are used on this set than normal. These two feel more comparable to a Scout Class toy from Revenge of the Fallen/Hunt for the Decepticons, especially thanks to the similar sizing that they would end up with in robot mode. Do be warned that the forearms would come off on Skids easily thanks to the ball joints, and Mudflap's spring-loaded gimmick doesn't really serve much of a purpose. The resulting robot modes, while accurate to the briefly shown designs they had, do look rather kibbly by comparison. Skids fares off alright thanks to him having an easier design to work with, but it does come at the cost of his forearms being flat like a pancake, and while the backpack does collapse well enough, it could go down a bit further. Mudflap's robot mode has more going on with this kibble management due to him being the back and thus requiring a bit more going on to look presentable for a weirdo design like his. He does have some chunky lower legs in contrast to Skids' being skinny. The kibble management on the front gives him shoulder pads that proudly display the tampos, but the back does at least fold in some way thanks to the hinges on the side panels of the vehicle.
As for the it articulation, they both have ball-jointed heads (Skids is stiffer and has loose kibble pieces on the collar), but while Mudflap's shoulders are on ball joints, Skids' is only on a lower part of the shoulder, meaning it moves front and back only while outward movement is achieved with the chunk of the altmode, and not as successfully. They both have hinges at the elbow, but because of Skids' forearms, he has a ball joint to help make the bending easier to work with. Skids' right hand and Mudflap's left hand are able to hinge inwards. Skids has a waist swivel but that is moreso due to transformation, as the bumper doesn't allow for proper movement. Their hips are on ball joints, they bend at the knees, their lower legs swivel below the knees, and the feet on Skids are ball-jointed and hinge due to transformation while Mudflap only has toe articulation.
For some repaints, we only have two reuses of the Twins, both of which try to come up with different ways of being screen-accurate while tackling the rust paint apps differently. This one came in a two-pack with Demolishor, who went from being Scavenger-red to accurate-white. Their plastic colors are the same, but they both contain rusty paint apps that were missing on the regular release. In addition to that and the new stickers, Skids has CAUTION: CHILDREN applied behind the speaker, and the ice cream went from being on Mudflap's forearms to Skids'.
Another repaint of the mold popped up one last time, and it changed the paint apps once again. Replacing MADE FRESH FOR YOU on Skids is another ice cream decal on the back, but we now have not just different (and arguably better) rusty paint apps, but we also get their robot limbs cast in a matching rusty brown. Sideways is included and has less red on him than on the regular release.
For a robot mode size, here are the Twins reunited with the Arcee Triplets with Optimus Prime, Ironhide, and Sideswipe joining the group shot after a mostly successful mission in Shanghai. Yeah, these guys are definitely perfect for Studio Series While they lack the refined engineering we'd see even with the sizes of figures getting smaller, their scale makes perfect sense for the line and seems weirdly like Hasbro was more forward-thinking with this set than they were with leaving DOTM Voyager Megatron's palms with a slot perfect for compatibility with Evasion Mode Optimus Prime's shotgun. So even in spite of the mere hatred that the Twins receive, some justifiable and other times not so much, I do recommend that you get this set, but I wouldn't recommend you get it at a higher upcharge than it deserves. I was lucky to get this in an auction that no one else entered, but don't pay more than $50 for this set. It's a cool ROTF release, but not as cool as Lockdown, Breakaway, and even Wheelie. And if you do get this set, don't forget the Reprolabels!
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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