Kup (G1)
| The name or term "Kup" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Kup (disambiguation). |
- Kup is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Kup is a tough old coot. He's almost as old as rust, in fact, and he was plinking Decepticons and Ick-Yaks 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, Kup has, and he'll be glad to relate a story of any one of them at any time to a willing audience. The Dinobots love Kup's war stories, lapping it up like cheap Energon, 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 lad-bot, and Kup will straighten him out sooner or later, even if it takes a tank of 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 often though.
| “ | The past is the greatest teacher. | ” |
—Kup's Motto | ||
- Japanese name: Chear[1] (チャー, chaa, except for "The Rebirth")
- French-Canadian name: Kaisso
- Hungarian name: Kup — (Űr)Zsaru ["(Space)Cop"] in one of the dubs of The Movie.
- Italian name: Blitz / Char (Headmasters dub only)
- Russian TV dub name: Vorchoon ("Grumbler")
Fiction
Cartoon continuity
American cartoon continuity
Madman Transformers comic
In the year 2001, the Decepticons had managed to conquer Cybertron completely. Before Optimus Prime left to lead the evacuation of the remaining Autobots on their home planet, he told Ultra Magnus about his intention to hide the Autobot Matrix of Leadership at a not-so-secret bunker on the construction site of the future Autobot City on Earth. The Decepticon Soundwave and his array of Decepticon Mini-Cassettes managed to spy on meeting and moved to capture the Autobot relic for the Decepticon cause, but fortunately that young lad Hot Rod foiled their dastardly and vague plans. Upon arriving on Earth, Kup was present when Hot Rod returned the Matrix to Optimus, and explained the strange Matrix-induced vision he received, to which Optimus Prime commented that perhaps Hot Rod's destiny was greater than the young Autobot realised. Kup had a decidedly different opinion, however. Madman Transformers Comic
The Transformers cartoon continuity
- Voice Actor: Lionel Stander → John Stephenson (US), Osamu Saka (Japan), Carl Béchard (French Canadian)
In his younger days, Kup was once imprisoned in the slave-mines of planet Dread. Though he was able to escape them, he was unable to help the other slaves, who remained trapped. The event would haunt him for years. Chaos
Though it is not yet established when Kup joined the Earth-bound Autobots, 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's skull by running over it.
Inside the city, Kup and Hot Rod joined Arcee and Springer in shoving an explosives launcher into place to help defend against the might of Devastator. With the arrival of Optimus Prime the next day, the tide of battle was turned and the Decepticons were defeated—but at a terrible price.
Even as the Autobots began to pick up the pieces, they came under assault from a group of powerful, unfamiliar Decepticons and had to escape in their remaining shuttles. Once they were safely away, Kup passed the time during the trip by telling the Dinobots stories of his past (or complete fabrications, it's hard to tell). When the new Decepticons caught up to them again and attacked, Kup and Hot Rod crash-landed on Quintessa, where they narrowly escaped being sentenced to death. He was finally struck dumb by the sight of Unicron attacking Cybertron, apparently having never experienced anything quite like it before. The Transformers: The Movie
Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1 Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2 Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3 Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5 Chaos Dark Awakening
When a survey mission led by Perceptor sent out an SOS, Kup responded with Rodimus Prime, Pipes and the Aerialbots. They found a large Quintesson presence on an asteroid within spitting distance of Cybertron. The Quints were driven off, but Perceptor was nearly incapacitated and the other Autobots from his team were missing. The Autobots soon learned the Quintessons were experimenting with a time window, attempting to alter Cybertronian history in their favor. Kup and the others fought off a Quintesson attempt to reclaim the asteroid, and managed to retrieve the lost Autobots from the past before destroying the time window completely. Forever Is a Long Time Coming
Fight or Flee Starscream's Ghost
While making a security inspection of Autobot City on Earth, Kup was impressed by the work Blaster had been doing in his absence. Blaster's choice of music, however, still rattled his transistors. During Kup's visit, Autobot City was attacked by Scourge and the ghost of Starscream. They did serious damage to Metroplex, stealing his eyes and then blowing up a bomb inside his brain. Hopefully, Kup didn't mark that up in his report as a strike against Blaster. Ghost in the Machine
The Big Broadcast of 2006 The Dweller in the Depths
Kup was working out of Autobot City on Earth when Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Springer and Arcee went missing investigating the human terrorist, Victor Drath. Some blonde in a pink jumper tried to get his attention near the entrance, but he just drove on by. Humans. Sheesh -- always lookin' for autographs. Only Human
After the new power generator was activated on Cybertron, the Autobots began experiencing malfunctions. In Kup's case, his vaunted memory was replaced with a form of robo-amnesia. They detected sabotage to the generator in the form of anti-electrons, and managed to clean out the generator before too much damage was done. Grimlock's New Brain Running the security center on Cybertron, Kup detected the cataclysmic arrival of Tornedron shortly before the energy creature devoured all energy on the planet, leaving every Autobot completely inert. Only a small group of Primitives from both factions managed to reach the creature's creator, Primacron, and reverse the process. Call of the Primitives
During a series of missions in Japan, Kup was working with Rodimus Prime while Roddy was being weighed down by the burden of leadership, and even briefly lost the Matrix. Kup taught him about giri. Actually, he didn't really... he sort of stood on the sidelines making wise commentary about the kid's problems while Roddy went through it on his own. We're sure it helped in its own way, though. The Burden Hardest to Bear
When the Autobots learned that Optimus Prime might still be alive, Rodimus Prime assembled an enormous task force to retrieve Prime's body from the treacherous human scientists who had taken possession of his body. While Ultra Magnus and Rodimus led several team members inside the laboratory, Kup remained outside on guard with Bumblebee, Wheelie, and several others. The situation turned deadly when the scientists unleashed space spores that induced a hate plague among the Autobots. The Aerialbots were among the first exposed, and Kup's team soon had to face off against a crazed Superion. They suffered serious damage and were taken off-line but, as a silver lining, also managed to escape contamination this way. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1 The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2
The Rebirth, Part 1 The Rebirth, Part 2
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. The Rebirth, Part 3
Japanese cartoon continuity
The Transformer manga
The Headmasters cartoon
- Voice actor: Osamu Saka
Kup and Fortress were old friends. The Mystery of Planet Master
Teletraan Go! Go! mini-comics
Kup stopped a feisty Wheelie from annoying Teletraan 15. When she thanked him, he recognized her, gave her a big old spine-cracking hug, reminisced about the time with the giant Ick-Yaks, realized he actually had no idea who she was, and drove off. 15 Go! Go!
Marvel Comics continuity
Generation 1
Kup and a platoon of Autobots were feeling pretty good about their mission on Deneb IV when suddenly the entire platoon was nearly washed away by a surprise Decepticon attack of acid rain. The Desert Island of Space!
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 eventually to take him. He was shaken out of his misery when he crossed paths with a pair of Tyroxian fighters attempting to destroy a lone spacecraft. Spurred into action, Kup disabled the pursuers and brought the hunted pilot on-board, and was surprised to finding he was a fellow Autobot named 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, but Kup wasn't interested in getting involved any further, and he 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 he 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's troops alongside his new allies. Kup's Story!
When Fortress Maximus became disheartened by the never-ending cycle of violence on Cybertron, he made plans to escape the war and set up a new life on the planet Nebulos. Though Kup's actions had become a violent mirror of their so-called enemies, he 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, forgetting why he had traveled there to begin with, was very happy to return fire, and was only stopped by Fortress Maximus himself. They retreated, and 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. Ring of Hate!
Kup helped build an Autobot camp in a forest clearing during Fortress Maximus's absence. Soon, their camp was visited by Nebulan representatives from the Council of Peers interested in learning more about their interplanetary visitors, and Kup was glad to oblige. But one of the representatives, Lord Zarak, used the meeting as an opportunity to contact the Autobots' enemies, the Decepticons. Broken Glass!
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, who had binary-bonded to Decepticon leader Scorponok, was able to sway public opinion in favor of the Decepticons, labeling the Autobots as renegades and taking their Headmasters prisoner. Some Nebulans remained loyal to Fortress Maximus's partner, Galen, and traveled 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 they decided to leave Nebulos and travel to Earth in search of other Transformers. Brothers in Armor!!
When Galen died on Earth and his role as Fortress Maximus's Headmaster partner was assumed by Spike Witwicky, Spike led Kup and the other Targetmasters on a mission to the Decepticon's island headquarters to rescue his brother, Buster Witwicky. Kup voiced bad feelings about the rescue mission, especially about Spike's suitability to lead the mission. However, when Spike continued fighting despite repeated setbacks, Kup admitted that although Spike brought too much sentiment into the battle, he backed his emotionalism with guts. The Desert Island of Space! Soon, Fortress Maximus's Autobots met up with the Earth-bound Autobots led by Grimlock, and somehow the two Autobot camps wound up witnessing a battle between Grimlock and Blaster for Autobot leadership. Kup, along with the Autobots from both camps, began to watch this battle on Earth's moon when Ratbat's Decepticons unleashed a surprise attack. Totaled!
After Optimus Prime's return, Kup took over as Prime's head of security aboard the Ark. When Prime took most of the Autobots to Earth to defend MacDill Air Force Base from the Micromaster Air Strike Patrol, Kup and the other Autobots who remained on board the Ark were defeated by Blackjack. Kup was the first to reawaken, however he startled Blackjack as he was arming a series of explosive charges, and the explosives were regrettably armed. All the Familiar Faces! The countdown could not be stopped, but Kup refused to jettison themselves from the Ark, leaving their fallen comrades in the med bay to die. But an answer presented itself when Ratchet contacted them from Cybertron, as he had been kidnapped by Megatron. Ratchet orchestrated a trans-dimensional gate to send the explosives to Megatron's headquarters on Cybertron, which saved Kup and everyone else on board, but seemed to have killed both Ratchet and Megatron. Skin Deep!
Optimus Prime was hit hard by Ratchet's death, which alarmed Hot Rod and caused Kup to worry about the future of their cause. Subsequently, when Prime walked out on the Autobots, Kup was incredibly alarmed, but not as much as when he learned Hot Rod had a "plan" to win Prime back. Hot Rod let loose a Mark V Guardian droid on the ship, which he secretly controlled, but it turned on its master and Kup and the others were brutally attacked. To Hot Rod's credit, this did jolt Prime to his senses, though Kup was probably too damaged to "thank" him. Yesterday's Heroes!
The Matrix Quest resulted in the Decepticon Thunderwing being possessed by the Creation Matrix and running amok in the Ark's docking bay. Kup and two other Autobots tried to sneak up on Thunderwing as he accosted Optimus Prime, but Thunderwing had grown too omniscient by then, and Kup was noticed and forced to retreat. After Thunderwing and the Matrix were jettisoned off the Ark, Kup was helped up off the ground by another Autobot. All Fall Down
During one of Kup's sweeps of the Ark, he caught Grimlock trying to swipe the bodies of his fallen Dinobots from their life support pods. Grimlock cold-cocked him and escaped with the bodies in a stolen shuttle. Eye of the Storm Kup recovered to find a monster forged from the bodies of Ratchet and Megatron, which Optimus Prime refused to kill. It fell on Kup to tell Optimus his decisions were causing him to lose the support of the Autobots, and Prime's recently-announced decision to surrender to Scorponok didn't help things either. Kup reasoned that even if there was some part of Ratchet still inside the creature, Ratchet himself would not want to go on living in this fashion. Prime refused to kill the creature, but when Kup told him that the creature's unchecked destruction could end up destroying the Ark and everyone on board, Prime reluctantly had a change of heart. However, when it came down to it, Prime couldn't pull the trigger, and despite the objections of Kup and the others, he ordered them separated, even though it would mean Megatron would live. The Price of Life!
As planned, Prime surrendered his troops to Scorponok on the terms that they would consider an alliance against Unicron. Kup didn't take this very well, and when he was laughed at while surrendering his weapon, he lashed out at Apeface before being stopped by Prime. Kup told him he once knew an Optimus Prime who would have found another way, a Prime that would never ever surrender. Misfire was happy to interrupt this argument so that he could escort Kup to his cell. But Prime quickly grew restless in his own cell and, having disposed of his guard, he tracked down Kup and Hot Rod and asked them for his help. Though Hot Rod leaped at the chance, Kup was not so easily won back. Prime pleaded with him at length, explaining that as a warrior race that had battled for millions of years, that surrender would actually take the most courage of all! Realizing Prime was right, Kup agreed to help him and Hot Rod storm Lord Zarak's chambers. As Hot Rod grabbed Zarak, Kup sideswiped Scorponok's guard, Bludgeon, in vehicle mode, but transformed too close to Scorponok's body, so Zarak ordered it to grip its claw around his head. Kup told Hot Rod not to spare Zarak for his sake, but Prime stopped them both, insisting that each faction had to trust each other if they were to survive against Unicron. Zarak was persuaded, but before a handshake would have sealed the deal, the Decepticons' underground base collapsed in on itself as a rogue group of Decepticons led by Shockwave and Starscream attacked above. Surrender!
As the dust settled, Kup asked Prime if their truce meant they should be helping gather the Decepticons' wounded. Prime told him and Highbrow to instead focus on briefing the other Autobots as they emerged fromt he wreckage and containing the growing battle so that it would not spill out into New York City. ...All This and Civil War 2 Things naturally escalated out of hand, and so Kup had the bright idea to enlist the Decepticon hypnotist Mindwipe at gunpoint, and had him "convince" his fellow Decepticons to lay down their arms for the greater good. This was working swimmingly until suddenly Kup and every other Transformer on Earth was suddenly raptured away to Cybertron. Out of Time! Kup was startled to see their creator, Primus, speaking to them through the body of Emirate Xaaron. Primus told Kup and the others of their eternal battle with Unicron, and of his imminent arrival. In response to this, Unicron cultists rose up from amongst the Cybertronians to destroy Primus' chosen leader, Optimus Prime, and Kup was more than happy to beat the cultists back into submission. They succeeded, but while Primus had begun lecturing his Transformers again, Kup's attention was elsewhere. He interrupted, wondering how exactly no one had noticed Unicron himself sneak up on the planet, clawed hand looming over their heads. The Void! (US)
Kup and Getaway helped get Optimus Prime to safety, as their leader had succumbed to mysterious pain. Though Unicron ravaged the planet and destroyed countless Transformers, ultimately Optimus Prime sacrificed himself to destroy him, and Kup was among the lucky few who were still standing as Unicron's ashes fell to the planet's surface. On the Edge of Extinction! Kup and a handful of others found what was left of Optimus Prime's body, and he watched Prowl cradle their leader as he died. Still Life!
Under the dubious leadership of Grimlock, the Autobots left their dying world and followed the Decepticons to Klo, but the Decepticons were waiting for them. In the massacre that followed, Kup was among the final five Autobots who had eluded death. But he and the others did not avoid capture for long, as a team of Decepticons found them hiding in the swamps. Amazingly, they were able to overpower these Decepticons and return to the main battlegrounds, where Optimus Prime had returned to them in a new body, thanks to the Neo-Knights and the Last Autobot! With the Last Autobots' godlike resurrection powers, Kup and the other Autobots were able to overwhelm the Decepticons, who retreated like whipped dogs. The war was over, and Optimus Prime told them it was time to go home! End of the Road! (US)
In an alternate future of 2009, the Autobots were overwhelmed by the forces of evil. Unicron consumed Cybertron utterly, and Earth came under heavy fire from Galvatron and his Decepticon legions. Kup and Blurr were personally executed by Cyclonus and Scourge. Rhythms of Darkness!
Marvel UK future timelines
In 2003, Kup was given the job of decoying the Decepticons over the plans for Autobot City. Ultra Magnus needed to get the plans to Earth's various governments unimpeded, while also taking steps to ensure the Decepticons would not get in the way of the Autobot efforts to build the city. So, he made an open and showy display of tasking Kup with being the courier that would bring the information to the humans. Sure enough, the Decepticon spy Ravage overheard those plans and sent the Stunticons out to intercept the old Autobot. Despite Hot Rod's good-intentioned efforts to stop them, the Stunticons made off with the fake plans, secure in their knowledge that they now knew the secrets of Autobot City. Ark Duty Kup was also present at the grand opening of the city a year later. Aspects of Evil!
After the attack on Autobot City in 2006, Kup, Hot Rod and Blurr received a psychic prodding from Unicron, alerting them to Galvatron's travel through the timestream back to 1986. Using Galvatron's own time-jump mechanisms, the Autobot trio followed him back into the past, mass-displacing Shockwave, Thundercracker and Frenzy in the process. Apparently reaching an instinctive conclusion that Galvatron could never be returned to the future by force, Kup and his comrades conspired with the Ultra Magnus of 1986 to trick the Decepticon into returning of his own volition.
As Ultra Magnus kept Galvatron busy, the future trio made arrangements to discourage him from staying. When he returned to his base, Galvatron found his henchmen knocked unconscious and his super-weapon rigged to explode. Once it did, he was confronted with a taunting Starscream claiming credit, and he was egged into blowing the treacherous Decepticon into smithereens. Believing Starscream's death at this juncture altered history, making his actions in 1986 part of an alternate timeline that wouldn't affect his own future, Galvatron reluctantly gave up his plans, picked up his goons, and returned to the future. Kup and his comrades, having successfully framed Starscream and driven Galvatron away, returned to 2006 themselves soon after. Target: 2006
After Unicron was defeated in 2006 and Hot Rod rose to become Rodimus Prime, Galvatron went missing. Unable to accept the Decepticon leader was truly dead without seeing the body, Rodimus Prime went searching for him with Kup and Blurr. Unfortunately, his lax attention to Cybertron gave the new Decepticon commander, Shockwave, time to consolidate the army under his control and begin the war anew. Rodimus was forced to return to Cybertron empty-handed, and he only made matters worse when he rashly took out a 10,000-shanix reward for any bounty hunter who could find Galvatron for him. This led to a freelance peacekeeping agent named Death's Head traveling back in time to 1987, where he had learned Galvatron had escaped after the battle with Unicron. Wanted:Galvatron — Dead or Alive! Realizing that a trigger-happy mercenary messing with the timestream was just as dangerous as Galvatron could ever be, Rodimus arranged a time-jump to clean up his mess, taking Kup, Blurr and Wreck-Gar back to 1987 along with him. Burning Sky!
In the past, the future Autobots once again found the 20th-century Ultra Magnus fighting with Galvatron, as the Decepticon leader attempted to extract vast amounts of energy from a volcano. Mere seconds after locating Galvatron and engaging him in combat, however, Kup and Blurr were knocked off-line when Galvatron hurled Ultra Magnus's beaten body at them. Hunters! After regrouping, the Autobots concocted a plan to steal Galvatron's time-jump mechanism and rewire it to propel them all back to their proper place and time. While Kup and the others distracted Galvatron, Wreck-Gar and Rodimus Prime attempted to make the proper modifications. In the end, however, only the Autobots were launched back to the future; Galvatron had modified the device so that the temporal backlash did not affect him, and he stayed in the past. Fire on High!
In 2008, Kup was on hand to witness a full-scale Decepticon assault at Autobase on Cybertron. He fought alongside Rodimus Prime and the other Autobots and, when Rodimus traveled to the planet of Junk to deal with Unicron (the cause behind the Decepticon offensive), Kup stepped up to lead the remaining Autobot forces alongside Ultra Magnus until Soundwave sounded a retreat and the Decepticons fled. The Legacy of Unicron! Later that year, Autobot City was attacked by Quintessons, and the deactivated Autobots were hung out on the outer walls as a warning for any would-be rescuers. Kup came to Earth with Rodimus Prime and crew to deal with the usurpers, and he led an advance team of Blurr, Smokescreen and Wide Load in searching the complex. They were caught in a heated battle with the Quintessons' shock troopers, but managed to hold their own long enough for Roddy to reach the control center and activate Metroplex himself. Resistance faltered rather quickly after that. Space Pirates!
As time passed, the long-term effects of Galvatron's presence in the past became overwhelming. A full-on time storm began brewing at both ends of the timeline, 1989 and 2009. In order to set the universe back on the right course, Rodimus Prime and Kup chose to travel back in time with Blurr, Arcee, Ultra Magnus and Red Alert to retrieve Galvatron. No, really, for sure this time. Problem was, this time their mass-displacement upon arrival took out 1989's Optimus Prime and several fellow Autobots, leading to more than a little consternation among their 20th-century counterparts. Fortress Maximus, guided by his neophyte Headmaster partner, Spike Witwicky, jumped to the conclusion that Optimus was dead and led his Autobots into battle with Rodimus and his group. Kup didn't fare too well at trying to fight Grimlock hand-to-hand, but soon cooler heads prevailed, and the Autobots joined forces not only with each other, but with a pair of detachments from the 1989 and 2009 Decepticon camps as well.
"I spent 53 years as night watchman at a cranberry silo."
As the various groups tracked down Galvatron, they were shocked to find that not only had he joined forces with Megatron, but that the two of them had laid waste to the Cybertronian teams of the Autobot Wreckers and the Decepticon Mayhem Attack Squad. Kup joined Arcee and Ultra Magnus in trying to gun down Megatron, but was batted aside by the Decepticon's fusion cannon and lay unconscious, out of the battle for the rest of the conflict. Still, Galvatron was ultimately destroyed in battle with Optimus Prime and consumed wholly by the timestorm, restoring the timestream to a stable place. Kup and the other 2009 Autobots gathered together and prepared to return home to their lives. Time Wars
It didn't quite work out that way.
Back in 2009, the Autobots were horrified to find that Galvatron waited for them on Cybertron. It seemed the restoration of the timeline prevented Galvatron from having ever traveled back in time, and thus he had been present at the Decepticons' side for the last few years, which considerably altered the war effort in their favor. In the new 21st century, Galvatron and the Decepticons virtually controlled Cybertron, and only a few token bands of Autobot resistance remained on their home planet. Kup and the returnees adjusted as best they could, but the odds were hopelessly against them. The resistance on Cybertron ended when Galvatron and his men ransacked a resistance station, killing Blurr and the other Autobots present. Galvatron mutilated the corpses to drive Rodimus Prime into a killing frenzy, hoping to corrupt the Matrix itself through its host. Indeed, Kup and Arcee began experiencing fire in the depths of their souls before they managed to talk down Rodimus. The Autobots of Cybertron were then forced to flee the world entirely. Aspects of Evil!
On their voyage back to Earth and Autobot City, the Autobot shuttlecraft had just entered hyperspace when Pincher and Doubleheader alerted Kup to a problem: sabotage. Someone had killed a guard and torn up the engine room, damaging the guidance systems so that the ship would be flying blind when they came out of warp into who-knows-what. Sure enough, the ship materialized too close to Earth, and another bit of sabotage prevented the emergency retros from stopped their descent. It was going to be a heavy hit. What's worse, Kup's efforts to isolate the Decepticon life-signs of their saboteur turned up a nasty truth: No additional life signs were present on the shuttle. The saboteur was an Autobot! The Void! After failing to locate Rodimus Prime during the time the sabotage was being committed, Kup had a sinking feeling and set up a ruse to test Prime. When Arcee left to try and enter the sealed retro room through the air vents, Kup told Rodimus she was actually going to sneak through the coolant tanks. Fortunately for their landing, Arcee succeeded just in time. Unfortunately for...well, everything else, Kup was right: Rodimus Prime was the saboteur, possessed by the pure malevolence of Unicron, which had taken up residence inside the Matrix sometime ago. Apparently Galvatron's efforts to corrupt Rodimus back on Cybertron had jarred loose enough evil for Unicron to take hold on Rodimus Prime's consciousness. Edge of Impact
Battling the power of the Matrix influenced by the Devil himself, the Autobots were sorely outmatched against Rodimus. Despite Arcee's urgings, Kup desperately searched for another option besides lethal force. Shadow of Evil In the short term, Kup seemed to be correct: Rodimus managed to fight back Unicron's evil, caging it inside the Matrix long enough for Kup to remove the object from Rodimus's chest, temporarily severing their link. White Fire In the long term, however, the threat was far from over. Rodimus would again be consumed by evil in 2010, this time metamorphosing into Unicron reborn for a time, before caging the evil again. Kup and Arcee were present at this second rise of Unicron, but their ultimate fate is unknown. It is telling, however, that Rodimus Prime appears to be beaten, ill, and totally alone by the time of 2356. Aspects of Evil!
Generation 2
After the Autobot army splintered throughout the universe, Kup was working alongside Optimus Prime and Hot Rod. In mid-battle, Kup had to verbally nudge Prime out of his apocalyptic visions. Grimlock summoned Prime and his forces for help and Kup was present as Grimlock explained his discovery of several "little Cybertrons". The Autobots soon learned of Liege Centuro and his Cybertronians when Jhiaxus attacked them and took them prisoner. Kup and other Autobots were rescued by Prime and Grimlock from confinement on the Twilight. War Without End!
Kup kicked a lot of skidplate during the battle between the Autobots and Cybertronians in the K'tord Nebula. It was soon learned that bots on both sides were infected by some kind of parasitic entity that fed off of rage. Kup was so under its influence that Optimus Prime had to hold him back from attacking one of the enemy. Primal Fear!
Kup appeared as one of many dismembered corpses in one of Optimus Prime's apocalyptic visions. As Optimus reached toward Kup, an inky black substance shot out of Kup's mouth, enveloped Prime and started to devour him. The real Kup then physically shook Optimus out of this vision, remarking that Transformers don't sleep. The crusty old Autobot reported that Grimlock had, against Prime's orders, left with a raiding party in tow. What Kup didn't say is that he wished Grimlock had asked him to come along. He got his chance to fight later when he went with Prime to rescue Grimlock from his bungled surprise attack on the Cybertronians. Devices and Desires!
Kup supervised war games between the Autobots as they waited for Optimus Prime to finish his quasi-mystical journey into the depths of Cybertron. The Power and the Glory Later, Kup fought with Autobots and Decepticons to repel the Cybertronian attack on the planet Ethos. Escalation!
Helping mop up after the attacks on Earth by Bludgeon and Jhiaxus, Kup reported the sorry state of their fortifications to Grimlock when the Swarm attacked their position. A Rage in Heaven!
Big Looker Storybook continuity
Kup and Hot Rod traveled to the coliseum to check out a robot car the humans had built that could respond to voice commands. They heard about it on their car radios! But when they arrived at the coliseum, Kup spotted Decepticons flying about. As some entered the back door, Kup shooed Hot Rod away, telling him to warn the others. If Hot Rod stayed, he would just get into trouble! Sneaking around inside, he eventually made his way up to the control room, where Galvatron and the other Decepticons were rigging the lighting. They were planning on stealing the robot car! Kup decided to leave and tell the others, but he was spotted by Starscream. The evil Decepticons tied up Kup so that he wouldn't interfere.
As a parade of cars entered the coliseum and the crowds cheered, Kup worried about the safety of the humans. If only he could warn them. Kup got his chance when Galvatron ran towards the controls, telling Frenzy to pull the switch. Kup tripped Galvatron, and Galvatron came tumbling through the glass and onto the coliseum floor! For a short while, there was a stalemate; the Decepticons had Kup captive, but the Autobots had Galvatron! Thankfully, Hot Rod snuck up behind Kup and freed him. Yelling "Geronimo!" they jumped from the control room onto the coliseum floor, taking the Decepticons by surprise. Galvatron and the others escaped, but Kup and Hot Rod agreed that they'd be ready for him when he returned. Car Show Blow Up
Later, Kup, led Hot Rod, Arcee, and the Dinobots on a special mission to take supplies from Earth to a space station on Cybertron's second moon. Despite Kup's warnings, the Dinobots loaded too many supplies onto the ship, and in the middle of their journey, the ship began to have problems. Kup tried everything, but the ship was going down! It crashed on a planet, but everyone landed safely. Unfortunately, Kup recognized the place. It was the planet Quintesson! They were interrupted by a tribal scream and a flurry of firestones. However, the boy who made his presence known was not aiming at them, but at the Quintessons behind them. The boy's name was Wheelie, and he had been abandoned on the planet when his ship crashed their earlier.
Wheelie led them through the jungle, battling Quintessons along the way, until they reached Wheelie's crashed ship. Hot Rod was able to fix it, and everyone left the planet Quintesson, Wheelie included! The Story of Wheelie, the Wild Boy of Quintesson
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. The War Within 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. The War Within: The Dark Ages
Along with Arcee, Blaster, Hot Rod and Wheelie, Kup was part of a resistance group during Shockwave's control of Cybertron. Their group managed to find Optimus Prime, but Prime's first sight was the frightening Gnaw, and he had to be restrained. When Hot Rod pulled a weapon on the startled Autobot leader, Kup smacked the turbo-revvin' punk upside his head. God, what is wrong with that kid? After linking up with the former Ark crew and having a touching reunion with Ironhide, the Autobots managed to overthrow Shockwave's regime, bringing the planet under Autobot control. War and Peace
IDW comics continuity
Kup is extremely old. In years past, he'd trained dozens of Autobots, including Prowl, Springer, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Hot Rod, and even Optimus Prime. Spotlight: Kup During the early years of the war after the assassination of Sentinel Prime, Kup was either leading or part of a squad sent to rescue Zeta Prime when they crossed paths with the famous former racer, Blurr. Kup was skeptical of Blurr's usefulness, but some words from a young Optimus were able to convince Blurr to alert Zeta Prime of the Decepticons' assassination attempt. Spotlight: Blurr
Shortly after Thunderwing's first apocalyptic assault, the besieged Autobots prepared for the big push against their positions by the Decepticons. Kup was in a trench alongside Broadside, Huffer, and the injured Getaway, waiting for Blaster's morale-boosting broadcast to the Autobot forces, a transmission that never came. Spotlight: Blaster
At some point after Cybertron was abandoned, Kup and 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 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 was unknown if he would ever recover, physically or mentally. Spotlight: Kup
Springer eventually reported to Optimus Prime that Kup's physical injuries had been repaired, but the state of his mind was still in question. Spotlight: Optimus Prime
One year later Kup had made what appeared to be a full recovery thanks to the efforts of Perceptor, as the veteran was in command of the starship Trion. With a hand-picked crew comprised of heavy hitters, such as two former Wreckers and Drift, he harried the Decepticon fleet until he was baited into an ambush above Cybertron. There, the ship was shot down and forced to crash-land on the assumed uninhabitable world. Banding together to survive, they eventually encountered Optimus Prime's unit, only to find him incapacitated, the Matrix having been seized by Megatron. Although Kup was at first dismissive of Jazz, who had stepped into a command position in the void left by Prime, he quickly learned to appreciate Jazz's steady, capable hand. All Hail Megatron issue 5
Commercial appearances
- Kup made his commercial debut alongside Hot Rod and Blurr, joining Optimus Prime in a desert as he faces off against Starscream, Skywarp, Cyclonus and Scourge. As he charges into battle, Kup comments that this reminds him of the battle of the battle on Beta 4 (not to be confused with the battle on Beta 9.)
- He appeared alongside Hot Rod in one of the movie plot-based commercials, this one for the Sharkticons. The two Autobots are shown driving up to the edge of a greenish pool, from which a pile of Sharkticons emerges and attacks. Kup and Hot Rod fist-fight their way through, with help from Wheelie.
- Kup appeared briefly in the commercial for Sixshot, charging into battle alongside Rodimus Prime, firing at the enemy, and getting knocked aside by Sixshot's "rocket car" mode.
- Kup appeared in the commercial for the Monsterbots. As Rodimus Prime and Blurr drive up, Kup reports that there has been a lab accident, and the new Autobots are monsters!
Toys
Generation 1
- Kup (Autobot, 1986)
- Japanese ID number: C-82
- Accessories: "Musket Laser"
- Kup transforms into a Cybertronic pickup truck (though how he is able to carry goods safely with no tailgate is a mystery). The entire front of the vehicle (including the windshield) is made out of die-cast metal. In robot mode, Kup has full shoulder rotation, though the way his elbows are set up means he cannot make full use of their joints. He (somewhat) makes up for it with swivel wrists. His legs feature no articulation whatsoever. Maybe Hot Rod left a piece out. He is armed with a blue laser rifle. Early releases of Kup had metal rear wheels, while later releases replaced them with black plastic.
- Kup (Targetmaster, 1987)
- Japanese ID number: C-113
- Accessories: Musket Laser/Recoil Targetmaster partner
- Kup (this time using all-plastic parts rather than die-cast) was slightly retooled with larger fist-holes and a mounting point on his vehicle mode back-end in order to make him into a Targetmaster. He came with his Nebulan partner Recoil rather than his original blaster.
- Future Cybertron (Transformers Collection, 2005)
- Japanese ID number: TF-20
- Accessories: Musket Laser, Musket Laser/Recoil Targetmaster partner (you read that right)
- Targetmaster Kup was reissued in Japan, and like the "Transformers Collection" reissue of Hot Rod, he came with his original metal parts restored, as well as both his partner Recoil and his original gun, which was slightly retooled to fit the larger weapon-mounting points. The set also came with a redecoed Wheelie.
- This iteration of the mold was used to make Orion Pax.
Timelines
- Wings of Honor (BotCon 2009 box set)
- Accessories: Clamp attachment, hammer attachment, Earth Cyber Key
- Kup is a retool of Cybertron Red Alert and transforms into a Dodge Magnum emergency vehicle. Plugging a Cyber Key into the back of his car mode causes two rear side-panels to pop out and reveal two spring-forward non-firing blasters. This gimmick is retained in robot mode, where they become over-shoulder blasters. He features an unusual transformation sequence where both the front and rear halves of the vehicle mode come together to form his legs. His hood halves open to reveal storage space for extra tools (a hammer-head and an opening claw) that can be attached onto his left arm blaster.
- Kup comes in a box set with fellow Autobots Flak, Thunder Clash, and Landshark, and rival Decepticon Scourge.
- The original version of this mold was also used to make Cannonball, and the live-action movie-verse Crankcase.
Merchandise
Trivia
- Check out the original Kup toy's chest-sticker...it's got a pair of 5 1/4-inch floppy disk drives on it. Apparently, he can store up to two extra Transformers' brains.
- In the Japanese Binaltech Asterisk online manga, a little lost kitty was rescued from certain death (well, being stuck in a tree) by Ai Kuruma and Red Alert. That kitty was named Cha (Kup's Japanese name).
- The vehicle mode of Cybertron series Brakedown, another old coot, resembles Kup's Cybertronian vehicle mode from the War Within comic series. This similarity was brought to the fore by Brakedown GTS, a "powered-up" redeco of the character with the colors changed to resemble Kup's. In fact, the color guide for the redeco, revealed on Hasbro's website, showed that "Kup" was a working name for Brakedown GTS.
- He claims on his MySpace page (see External links) that he's a Pisces.[2] It is best to remember, however, that at the time he wrote this, he was utterly insane.
References
- ↑ "Chear" is used twice in English on the Kup/Wheelie "Future Cybertrons" reissue, so is presumably the transliteration Takara currently favors.
- ↑ Kup's Myspace page was created by Nick Roche to promote his IDW Spotlight: Kup story.
