Notes: I purchased the novelized version of RotF, mostly because I'd heard that Mudflap is written with a lisp and I am a HUGE fan of any sort of character with a speech impediment. I wanted to see for myself just how bad it was; I love researching. It's pretty terrible...So here I am, writing about it.
This will, hopefully, turn into a series. That's my intention. As it is, I have nothing further planned/written yet, so...Maybe I'll come up with something more soon?
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Mudflap couldn't talk.
It wasn't just the slang and the jive and the lack of proper grammar. No, it went beyond that, though those problems were bad enough on their own. It was a chore to decipher anything either of the twins said to begin with, simply because of their colorful, often-vulgar vocabulary.
It was worse with Mudflap; he came online with a glitch -- A terrible lisp. His voice was wispy, words drawn out, syllables mangled. Several parties had attempted to correct the problem, all to no avail, and in the end, they all reasoned that he would simply -hopefully- grow out of it.
Hopefully.
In the meantime, they were stuck dealing with it, trying as hard as they could to understand him. The twins were not making the academic strides expected of mechs their age to begin with and no one wanted to further hinder Mudflap's development by failing to understand him, so each day was a never-ending struggle to comprehend each mangled word that came out of his mouth.
And a lot of words came out.
Mudflap, unfortunately, liked to talk. He was a chatterbox, hardly letting something as trivial as a speech impediment stop him. He didn't talk as much as Skids, but it was enough to test every one's patience.
He talked a lot about the great Optimus Prime, his idol. And, thank Primus, he repeated himself often, jabbering about the same facts over and over again. "Optimuth did thith" and "Optimuth did that" and "did ya know that…" It was easy to tune him out, when he repeated himself for the millionth time.
In the beginning, it had been kind of endearing. The twins were a pet project of the science team and every one took responsibility for them, trying to understand the hidden secrets of those who shared a spark, and the team was rather fond of them. Because of this, they were all fairly proud of the fact that this speech problem was hardly a discouragement for the spunky little mech. But as the twins grew and…matured, it got more and more annoying and the science team found themselves rather irritated.
Not with Mudflap; never with Mudflap (not about that, at least). His struggle to correct his glitch was inspiring and they all wanted him to overcome his problems. No, it was Skids who was the problem.
Mudflap was hyper, bordering on manic most of the time. He would bounce from thing to thing, chattering and unable to sit still. Skids was only slightly less reckless, though he took his minute amount of self-control as a sign that he was the more mature, smarter of the two; the self-proclaimed brains of the operation.
And because of this, he often attempted to act as his brother's translator or, worse yet, his brother's voice.
It resulted in a lot of frustration on the behalf of the science team as well as a lot of brawls between the twins.
Mudflap did not like being spoken for. And he told his brother this, often and loudly and with his fists. It didn't seem to phase Skids, because he kept it up, often interpreting what Mudflap was trying to say before the other mech even finished saying it. Usually, he was right, but that didn't stop Mudflap from getting annoyed and trying to clobber him and then the two of them would be rolling around on the floor, kicking and punching and crashing into equipment.
The science team didn't appreciate their equipment being damaged, but more than that, they were worried about what kind of effect it would have on Mudflap in the long run. As obnoxious as he could be, they wanted him to talk. The more he conversed with others, they theorized, the more his speech would improve.
But it wasn't improving; in fact, Mudflap's speech seemed to be deteriorating instead and the scientists suspected it had a lot to do with his well-meaning twin's interference. Besides that, the constant fighting and screeching of "Thut up; I can talk by mythelf, you thupid aft!" were starting to grate on their last nerves.
In light of the problems Mudflap's defect was causing for every one he knew, the science team knew they needed a new strategy. And so they conferred together, seeking council with the medics and researchers, and it didn't take them long to draw the conclusion that something had to be done.
They just had no idea what.
