(AllHipHop News) Two controversial characters in the latest Transformers series have been axed from the upcoming third installment of the series. Autobot team Mudflap and Skids were the subject of intense criticism shortly after the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The controversial characters, who transformed from compact Chevys, spoke in exaggerated slang, couldn’t read and one even sported a gold tooth. According to director Michael Bay, the pair will not be included in the third installment of the film, which has reportedly gone into pre-production in Sherman Oaks, California. Bay denied the characters were racist. African-American TV actor Reno Wilson provided the voice for Mudflap, while white actor Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants) voiced Skids. “I don’t know if it’s stereotypes — they are robots, by the way. These are the voice actors,” Bay told the AP in defense, shortly after Transformers 2 was released. “This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it.” No release date is available for the Transformers 3, which is also filming at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.“There’s going to be a lot of death, human death,” T3 star Shia LaBeouf. “This time, they’re targeting humans…It’s going to be the craziest action movie ever made, or we failed.”