Upgrade

This article is about the IDW story. For the Rescue Bots episode, see Upgrades.

Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook strip
"Upgrade"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
Published in	Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook #2
First published	August 2, 2017
Cover date	June 2017
Written by	Sean Ryan
Art by	Robert Atkins
Colors by	Jorge Sutil
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

While battling Transit in London, Kup is convinced by Bryce Chan that the old ways aren't necessarily the best.

Synopsis

In London, England, Kup tracks down the rogue Decepticon Transit, who has taken the form of one of the city's famous double-decker buses. The Decepticon lands a blow that shatters the old Autobot's chest, but Kup retaliates with a punch so strong that he smashes his own hand to pieces delivering it, which hurls Transit all the way over a nearby building. Taking a moment to recover, Kup is approached by Bryce Chan of the Action Man Programme, who has brought with him an assortment of hi-tech enhancements that he sets about installing in Kup's body to help him in his fight. Kup tries to object, having a bad history of others tinkering with his insides, but Bryce carries on without so much as a by-your-leave. Once he has finished, to give the upgrades the few minutes they need to come online, Bryce bravely tries to distract Transit... and of course, soon finds himself running from a double-decker bus that comes roaring towards him, smashing cars out of the way as it goes. When one of the cars explodes, the blast hurls Bryce to the ground, and just as Transit transforms to loom over the fallen human... Kup nails the Decepticon in the back with an energy blast from the new chest-cannon Bryce has installed in his body, launching Transit right through the London Eye! Kup accepts that maybe the upgrades weren't such a bad idea, but he is less impressed by Bryce's puns.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Kup (2)	Transit (1)	Bryce Chan (3)

Quotes

"Yeah, so I guess those updates weren't the worst idea in the world."
"They've certainly made you more than meets the eye... get it? Get it? London Eye? 'Meets the Eye?'"
"Mm. Not bad. But keep the pun work to the professionals, okay kid?"

—Kup and Bryce Chan

Notes

Continuity notes

• This story takes place between Revolution #5 and Revolutionaries #1, and sees Kup rebuilt into the new design (based on his Titans Return toy) which debuted in the latter issue.
• Kup recalls his fight with Monstructor from All Hail Megatron #15.
• Kup is familiar with Bryce through his friendship with Action Man, which began in the Action Man: Revolution one-shot and continues in the pages of Revolutionaries.
• Kup describes how his "brains and body have been scrambled and over and over," referring to his mental deterioration on Tsiehshi in his original self-titled Spotlight, his subsequent reconstruction and mental reprogramming by Prowl in All Hail Megatron #15, which recently came back to haunt him in Sins of the Wreckers, and the various tortures he endured at the hands of Nova Prime in the Dead Universe, as seen in Robots in Disguise #25.
• No explanation is offered for Transit's presence on Earth, but a good guess is that Transit was part of the failed Decepticon invasion of Earth in the "Conquerors" story arc of The Transformers and like the Predacons over in Revolutionaries, Transit escaped capture when the invasion failed.

Transformers references

• Transit is based on the Robot in Disguise character of the same name, who appeared in issue #2 of IDW's short-lived Robots in Disguise comic. Obviously chosen for this story thanks to his bus alternate mode, in making the move from that continuity to this one, he's gained a new red color scheme to match Britain's famous double-decker buses.