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Monstercon from Mars!

2007-07-12T19:03:57Z

209.149.201.5: New page: '''...and weirder.''' =Marvel US issue #45= ''(Story also appears in: Marvel UK issues #190-191)'' '''Writer:''' Bob Budiansky '''Pencil Art:''' Jose Delbo and [[Dave Hun...

'''...and weirder.'''

=Marvel US issue #45=
''(Story also appears in: Marvel UK issues #190-191)''

'''Writer:''' [[Bob Budiansky]] 
'''Pencil Art:''' [[Jose Delbo]] and [[Dave Hunt]] 
'''Letterer:''' [[Bill Oakley]] 
'''Colorist:''' [[Nelson Yomtov]] 
'''Editor:''' [[Don Daley]] 
'''Editor-in-Chief:''' [[Tom DeFalco]] 
'''Cover:''' [[Bob Budiansky]] 

*''Major Characters (in order of appearance):'' [[Sky Lynx]], [[Skullgrin]], [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] (in flashback), [[Circuit Breaker]]

*''Originally published:'' October, 1988

==Synopsis==

On the set of a really, really bad alien-monster movie, the FX monster suddenly shorts out and explodes. Director [[Rollie Friendly]] isn't far behind, as this set-back will cost him weeks of filming. In a meeting with his PR expert [[Mitch Keno]] later that day, Rollie is looking for new ideas when Keno tunes him into a local broadcast relating to the Transformers.

The Autobot Sky Lynx is finally returning to Earth with his passengers, the human children nick-named the [[Spacehikers]]. After setting down at a pre-arranged landing site, Sky Lynx releases his friends to their waiting parents. At first, Sky Lynx is willing to stick around, answer a few questions and pose for pictures. But the anti-robot hysteria of some members in the crowd quickly turns it into a mob, and he is chased away into the sky.

Keno's public relations standpoint is that, even as the villain, robot monsters will not be good for business in movies anytime soon. Instead, he suggest Rollie check out a mysterious Bigfoot sighting from the Inquisitor. With nothing to do until his Creepozoid prop is fixed, Rollie enlists a camera crew and his two stars, [[Jake Colton]] and [[Carissa Carr]], to go creature hunting. After grabbing a local guide in North Carolina and slipping past the National Guard, Rollie and company run right into the giant Skullgrin, inside his organic shell.

After a brief "fight", Rollie gets to talking with Skullgrin and offers to pay him in exchange for a movie deal. Thinking back, Skullgrin remembers that he was sent to Earth alone by his commander to establish a secret fuel depot for his Decepticon comrades. With this in mind, he makes the arrangement with Rollie to be paid in fuel for his time. After squaring things over with the National Guard, Rollie and company bring Skullgrin back to Hollywood for his big break.

'''Skullgrin mania sweeps the country!'''

As he adjusts to his new role, Skullgrin prepares for his first live press conference. Things go a little crazy when the fleshlings actually ask him questions, but Carissa manages to calm him down in a classic King Kong / Beauty in the Beast moment. After the show, Carissa happens across a wheelchair-bound woman who is depressed about not seeing more of Skullgrin, so Carissa lets her in on a little secret: they'll be travelling to the Grand Canyon for more filming.

As the shooting continues at the Grand Canyon, Rollie calls a break and Skullgrin goes off to talk with Carissa. Once she confesses the sheer horror of her real name, Ethal Stankiewicz, Skullgrin feels the need to confide in her as well, and removes his Pretender shell for the first time. Unfortunately, the "poor woman in the wheelchair" has followed them to the Grand Canyon, and reveals herself as the robot-hating Circuit Breaker.

As Skullgrin and Circuit Breaker begin to spar with one another, Rollie catches sight of the battle and begins setting up cameras to catch it all on film. Skullgrin swipes his fleshling foe with his vibro saber, and prepares to shrapnel-blast her into oblivion until she manages to radio-override his shell and turn it against Skullgrin. The shell's strike knocks his cannons off-target, shattering the cliffside under Carissa's feet. While Rollie just continues to roll film, the poor actress is about to fall to her death. Skullgrin is willing to let her, as he feels betrayed by Carissa telling Circuit Breaker where to find him, but Josie does her good deed for the millennium and tells him Carissa never did anything to harm him.

As Skullgrin moves the actress to safety, Circuit Breaker overwhelms him with her electro-bolts and is ready to move in for the kill when Rollie yells that he'll pay her double bucks to kill Skullgrin on film for him. Momentarily more disgusted with her own race rather than the Transformers, Circuit Breaker fries Rollie's equipment and takes off, leaving Skullgrin alive but injured at the bottom of the canyon.

==Errors==
*Scorponok sent Skullgrin to Earth because, as a giant skeletal minotaur-thing, he'd "arouse less suspicion" than a normal Decepticon. Yup, works for me.

[[Category:Marvel US issues]]
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

The Cosmic Carnival

2007-07-12T18:59:01Z

209.149.201.5: New page: '''Things get weirder...''' =Marvel US issue #44= ''(Story also appears in: Marvel UK issues #178-179)'' '''Writer:''' Bob Budiansky '''Pencil Art:''' Frank Springer ...

'''Things get weirder...'''

=Marvel US issue #44=
''(Story also appears in: Marvel UK issues #178-179)''

'''Writer:''' [[Bob Budiansky]] 
'''Pencil Art:''' [[Frank Springer]] 
'''Inker:''' [[Danny Bulanadi]] 
'''Letterer:''' [[Bill Oakley]] 
'''Colorist:''' [[Nelson Yomtov]] 
'''Editor:''' [[Don Daley]] 
'''Editor-in-Chief:''' [[Tom DeFalco]] 
'''Cover:''' [[Frank Springer]] 

*''Major Characters (in order of appearance):'' [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], [[Bumblebee (G1)|Goldbug]], [[Slapdash]], [[Joyride]], [[Getaway]], [[Sky Lynx]]

*''Originally published:'' September, 1988

==Synopsis==

On their way back to Earth and the [[Ark]] on-board [[Steelhaven]], Optimus Prime and his comrades are confronted by a laser-beamed advertisement for "The [[Cosmic Carnival]]". Prime is ready to forego visiting the show, until it projects an image of the Autobot Sky Lynx among the show's attractions. Curious and suspicious, Optimus changes course to investigate.

Optimus Prime and Goldbug enter the carnival and begin searching the travelling show / starship, when they come across a quartet of Earth children on display in the sideshow: the [[Spacehikers]]! When Goldbug tries to retrieve the captive humans, the energy field around their cage knock him back with considerable force. After Prime demands to see the proprietor, the kids' handler [[Berko]] takes them to see [[Mr. Big Top]]. Big Top refuses to release the children, as they have signed a binary coded contract along with Sky Lynx, making them virtually his indentured slaves until they pay off their debt.

To show he's not a total slug, Big Top gives them two free passes to the main event. In the arena, the Autobots observe Sky Lynx's act, and meet up with him backstage after the show. Sky Lynx relates his story, about how he and the kids stopped off at the cosmic carnival after escaping from the [[Dinobot]]s a few months back. When they couldn't pay for their admission, however, Sky Lynx signed on as a "temporary" performer to pay off his debt. He and the kids have been stuck there ever since.

Unable to think of a way around the contract or the bomb planted in the kids' cell, Optimus and Goldbug helplessly head over to say good-bye to the children. They are confronted by Berko again, who explains his story: an alien abductee brought aboard the carnival, he eventually became a trustee and worked his way out of the sideshow. So long as the kids inhabit the cell, he stays free. A loner all his life, Berko is shocked when Optimus offers to free him and take him back to Earth as well.

Berko suddenly has a remarkable change of heart, and begins arranging to get the kids free. He sends Optimus to collect Sky Lynx from the arena, where his next act is beginning. Prime tries to batter a way to the exit for him and Sky Lynx, but Big Top throws the other performers in their path. After dealing with a gilashark, crazed jugglers, and Rorza the Rocket...guy, they make their exit.

Goldbug and Berko have freed the kids, but Big Top gets in their way and knocks Goldbug around. "Buggo" manages to right himself, though, and knocks Big Top into the open cage. Leaving Big Top to a suitably ironic fate as a sideshow freak, the humans and Autobots take off and leave the carnival to the rubes.

==Errors==
*When the Nebulan Powermasters are shown standing in front of their armors, each is standing in front of the wrong one. [[Rev]] is even standing by the evil Nebulan [[Hi-Test]]'s armor.

==Items of note==
*Optimus Prime says "There is ''more than meets the eye'' here." In-continuity catch phrases are funny.
*Sky Lynx is displayed as a Triple-Changer here, changing from lynx to dino-bird to space shuttle with separating into two components at all.

==References==
*Optimus Prime and his soldiers became Powermasters in US #42.
*The Spacehikers left Earth with Sky Lynx back in US #36.

[[Category:Marvel US issues]]
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

Kup (G1)

2007-07-12T17:55:46Z

209.149.201.5: Undoing revision (...What the slag was that...?)

:''Kup is an [[Autobot]] in the [[Generation 1]] continuity family.''

[[Image:Kupg1.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Four of him, and you've got a [[quartex]].]]

'''Kup''' is a tough old coot. He's almost as old as rust, in fact, and he was plinking Decepticons with acid bursts from his trusty musket laser long before most of you turbo-revvin' young punks were born. In his day, lasers didn't '''need''' to use light; they did whatever they were told to do and liked it.

He's probably had a thousand adventures, has Kup, and he'll be glad to relate a story of any one of them at any time to a willing audience. The [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] love Kup's war stories, and don't seem to mind when he inadvertently leaves a piece out or changes the story between retellings. Old memory chips'll do that to you. Other Autobots can be less patient, and Kup finds this disrespectful and irritating. If there's one thing Kup dislikes it's when young punks don't respect their elders. If they'd only listen they might learn something. [[Hot Rod]] is one of the worst offenders in this way, but he's a good ladbot and Kup will straighten him out sooner or later, even if it takes a tank of [[Sharkticon (G1)|Sharkticons]].

Occasionally, Kup's vast experience gets in his way. When a situation doesn't remind him of anything, he has trouble figuring out what to do. This doesn't happen very much.

:''Japanese name:'' '''Char''' 
:''French-Canadian name:'' '''Kaisso'''

==Fiction==
===Animated continuity===
[[Image:kup_tale.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Matlooooooooock.]]
'''Voice Actor:''' [[Lionel Stander]] → [[John Stephenson]] (US), [[Osamu Saka]] (Japan)

''Known aliases in this continuity:'' Teaspoon

Though it is not yet established when Kup joined the Earth-bound [[Autobot]]s, he was stationed at [[Autobot City]] during the 2005 invasion by the Decepticons. He was supervising construction efforts undertaken by Huffer and other workers when this work was interrupted by an impetuous drive-through by [[Hot Rod]]. Kup was determined to straighten out the adventure-seeking youth.

After the Decepticons began their attack, Kup and Hot Rod were trapped outside of Autobot City's fortress-like defenses. Thanks to an attempted hull breach by the Insecticons, Kup and Hot Rod entered a small gap in one of Autobot City's heavy blast doors -- in the process, Kup crunched [[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]]'s skull by running over it.

Inside the city, Kup and Hot Rod joined [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] and [[Springer]] in rigging an explosives launcher into place to help defend against the might of Devastator. With the arrival of [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] the next day, the tide of battle was turned and the Decepticons were defeated -- but at a terrible price.

Following the events of the movie, Kup served as an advisor to the newly-minted Rodimus Prime.

Years later on the planet [[Nebulos]], Kup encountered the Nebulan resistance against The Hive. Using Targetmaster technology stolen from the [[Decepticons]], Kup was partnered with the Nebulan Recoil, who apparently then chewed his ear off about their leader, [[Optimus Prime]].

====Headmasters anime====
Kup and [[Fortress Maximus|Fortress]] were old friends.

===Marvel Comics continuity===

====Generation 1====
:''('''Note''': Events in italics occurred only in the Marvel UK books.)''

''Several hundred years ago, Kup became afflicted with combat fatigue, a loss of nerves and will brought on by too many millions of years of non-stop fighting. Considering himself a liability to the Autobot cause, Kup went into "retirement" -- wandering space alone in his starship, waiting for the end to eventually take him. He was shaken out of his misery when he crossed paths with a pair of Tyroxian fighters attempted to destroy a lone spacecraft. Spurred into action, Kup disabled the pursuers and brought the hunted pilot on-board, surprisingly finding him to be a fellow Autobot, Hot Rod. Hot Rod was thrilled to have found aid, and eagerly tried to recruit Kup into helping him return to Tyroxia and save his comrade [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]], but Kup wasn't interested in getting involved any further, and only agreed to take Hot Rod back to Cybertron. The young punk reprogrammed the ship's navigation computers, though, and landed on Tyroxia to rescue Blurr by himself. Kup was finally shaken out of his funk when he realized that Hot Rod represented everything he used to be, and single-handedly saved Hot Rod and Blurr from their Tyroxian tormentors. His fighting spirit restored, Kup returned to Cybertron with the two Autobots, and joined Fortress Maximus' troop alongside his new allies.''

When Fortress Maximus became disheartened by the neverending cycle of violence on Cybertron, he made plans to escape the war and set up a new life on the planet [[Nebulos]]. Kup and many of his top warriors chose to follow their leader to this new world, aboard the starship [[Steelhaven]]. Tragically, a series of incidents and misunderstandings brought the Autobots and Nebulans to the brink of war within days of their arrival. Kup was all for forcibly teaching the Nebulans some manners, but Fortress Maximus forbade it. In a desperate attempt to show their true intentions, Fort Max, Kup and several others disarmed themselves in front of the Nebulan gates. Furthermore, Fortress Maximus and four of his lieutenants beheaded themselves and agreed to leave their lifeless heads and bodies, as well as their various weapons, in Nebulan custody so that serious peace talks could be conducted. Kup took over command of the Autobot wilderness camp in Fortress Maximus' absence.

Matters quickly deteriorated after the arrival of the Decepticons, and two factions of Nebulans joined with both Autobots and Decepticons through bio-mechanical engineering to become Headmasters. Events turned against the Autobots, as [[Lord Zarak]], the Nebulan politician binary-bonded to Decepticon leader [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]], was able to sway public opinion in favor of the Decepticons, labelling the Autobots as renegades and taking their Headmasters prisoner. Some Nebulans remained loyal to Fortress Maximus' partner, [[Galen]], and travelled to the Autobot camp to forge an alliance. Making use of a new form of bio-mechanical engineering, Kup and the other weaponless Autobots were teamed with Nebulan Targetmasters to replace their lost guns. Kup personally was teamed with Recoil. As the conflict continued, though, both camps of Nebulans began to realize the devastation they were causing to their homeworld, and decided to quit Nebulos and travel to Earth in search of other Transformers. The crew of Steelhaven soon found themselves linked with the Ark's Autobots, and under the overall command of Optimus Prime.

====Generation 2====

===Dreamwave comics continuity===
During the Cybertronian War's earlier years, a young Kup served alongside [[Ironhide]] and [[Wheeljack]] under the command of [[Grimlock]]. He appeared to be the only one who would speak up against Grimlock. When Optimus Prime and Megatron disappeared in a prototype Space Bridge Accident, Kup followed his unit to the Lightning Strike Coalition offshoot of the [[Autobot]] faction.
Along with [[Arcee]], [[Blaster]], [[Hot Rod]] and [[Wheelie]], Kup was part of a resistance group during [[Shockwave]]'s control of Cybertron.

===''Teletraan Go! Go!'' mini-comics===
Kup stopped a feisty [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]] from annoying [[Teletraan 15]]. When 15 thanked him, he gave her a big old spine-cracking hug.

===IDW comics continuity===
Kup is extremely old. In years past, he's trained dozens of Autobots, including [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], [[Springer (G1)|Springer]], [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]], [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]], [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]], and even [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]].

At some point, he and [[Outback (G1)|Outback]] crash-landed on a mysterious planet covered with radioactive crystals. Over time, Kup was slowly driven insane from the radiation; he talked to the dead corpse of Outback as though he were still alive (and used his disembodied arm as a club) and believed that zombies were attacking him when he shut down for the night. In reality, these zombies were fellow Autobots sent to rescue him, and Kup killed several of them before Springer managed to get a [[Trailbreaker (G1)|specialist]] in to extract the aging Autobot. Unfortunately, due to the damage Kup sustained from the radiation, his incompatibility with modern Transformers tech due to his age and stubborn unwillingness to upgrade, and a near-meltdown of his spark, he was placed on life support upon arriving aboard [[Ark-17]], and it is unknown if he will recover - physically or mentally. {{storylink|Spotlight: Kup}}

==Toys==
===Generation 1===
*'''Kup''' (Autobot, 1986)
:''Japanese ID number:'' '''C-82'''

*'''Kup''' (Targetmaster, 1987)
:''Japanese ID number:'' '''C-113'''

*'''Future Cybertron''' (Transformers Collection, 2005)
:''Japanese ID number:'' '''TF-20'''

: This iteration of the mold was used to make [[Optimus_Prime_%28G1%29_toys#Generation_1|Orion Pax]].

===Merchandise===

==Trivia==
* In the Japanese ''[[Binaltech Asterisk]]'' online manga, a little lost kitty was rescued from certain death by [[Ai Kuruma]] and [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]]. That kitty was named [[Cha]] (Kup's Japanese name).

* He claims on his MySpace page (see External links) that he's a [[Covenant|Pisces]].<ref>
Kup's Myspace page was created by [[Nick Roche]] to promote his IDW [[Spotlight: Kup]] story.</ref> It is best to remember, however, that at the time he wrote this he was utterly [[Galvatron (G1)|insane]].

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/1986/Autobot/Kup/kup.htm Kup at TFU.info]

* [http://www.ntfa.net/universe/english/index.php?act=view&char=Kup Kup's Universe profile on NTFA.net]

* [http://www.myspace.com/lostkup Kup's MySpace page]

{{stub}}
[[Category: Autobots]]
[[Category: Generation 1 characters]]
[[Category: Security officers]]
[[Category: Targetmasters]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>