Thursday 8 May 2014

G1 Kup 1986

Kup is a Autobot war veteran. I imagine he has been alive for quite a long time probably quite a few million years. He has fought in quite a few wars not just the War for Cybertron. He is probably physically one of the oldest Autobots in the fact that he hasn't really re formatted that many times because he is stubborn that way.
Be cause he has fought so many wars and campaigns he has pretty much seen it all. He always tells the other Autobots old war stories but this can get on the other Autobots nerves because every where they go and every thing they see it reminds Kup of somewhere he has been in one of the wars.
Which is epitomised quite nicely by Hotrod in the G1 movie where he says to Kup "Everywhere reminds you of some place else"
Not all the Autobots are tired of Kups war stories though because the Dinobots love them. They always want to hear them.

Kup first comes into the series in the G1 movie. Where him and a few other Autobots are setting up a road block on the road to lookout mountain just outside Autobot city. When the Decepticons attack its Kup who saves Hotrod and Daniel from being blasted by Blitzwing.
Kup disapproves of Hotrod as he is hotheaded with a fast and furious attitude.
After a bit of a fight on the mountain Hotrod and Kup decided they should go to Autobot city which was also under attack and needs help. They narrowly avoid being locked out of Autobot city which was at this point being trasformed into its defence mode.
They manage to get in through a door which the Insecticons ate their way through. Running over the Insecticons as they enter the city. They help in the defence of the city and fought in the battle that followed.
When Optimus Prime is mortally wounded fighting Megatron Kup is one of the Autobots who is with Optimus when he dies.
When Galvatron and his Minions arrive to kill Ultra Magnus Kup, Hotrod and the Dinobots share one half of the ship when they escape. When the ship separates to trick Galvatron into thinking he had destroyed the ship they crash on the planet Quintessa.
Kup and Hotrod fall out the ship before it crashes and land in the sea where Kup is attacked by this giant robot squid and gets his leg ripped off. He is saved by Hotrod.
After this Kup gains a mutual respect for Hotrod.After Hotrod repairs Kup they go off to find the Dinobots. but before they can they are found by a team of Sharkticons. At first Kup tries to befriend them with the universal greeting bar wheep grana wheep ninibarn. He also gives them pieces of Energon to eat but unfortunately he runs out and the Sharkticons attack them and take them to their masters the Quintissons to be put on trial.

Kup and Hotrod are inevitably found guilty and dumped in the Sharkticon pit where Kup and Hotrod get into a massive fight with the Sharkticons. Just as they are about to be overwhelmed the Dinobots and Wheelie arrive to rescue them. They steel a Quintisson ship and take it to the planet of Junk to meet the other Autobots. Don't ask me how they knew their fellow Autobots were on the planet of Junk!

When they arrive they help to make friends with the Junkions who are on the point of killing the Autobots and they leave the planet of Junk and head off to Cybertron which is at this point under attack from Unicron. Unicron is the only thing which Kup had never encountered before.
Kup and the others crashed the ship through one of Unicrons eyes and then fall out the ship where Kup and the others fight off Unicrons Antibody system. Right up until Hot rod now Rodimus Prime destroys Unicron from the inside with the matrix of Leadership. They all escape before Unicron blows up.

Throughout series three Kup was the head of security on Cybertron. In "Five faces of darkness" Kup along with Ultra Magnus and Spike are abducted by the Quintissons who take them back to Quintessa to be interrogated and put on trial. For a second time for Kup.
Kup has quite a prominent role in series three stories. Right up till the "Return of Optimus Prime" where Kup is badly damaged and deactivated while battling the hate plague infected Superion. but he is repaired and reactivated by a Quintisson to help Optimus Prime in finding the cure for the hate plague.
"In the rebith" Kup is one of the Autobots that crash on Nebulous Where he is captured by the Decepticons and is tortured by Scourge. Who wants to know the location of the plasma energy chamber key. Him and the others are recued by the other Autobots now in their Headmaster forms. Kup  later becomes one of the Autobot Targetmasters. His partner is Recoil.

Kup did get one spotlight episode "Choas" when the Decepticons get their hands on this experimental weapon that fires chaos crystals. The Decepticons  want to find more of these crystals as more ammo for the weapon.
The crystals come from a planet called Dread. which is a jungle planet inhabited by this monster called Chaos who looks kind of like Godzilla made from these chaos crystals. Chaos has imprisoned quite a few Cybertonions on the planet and Kup had met Chaos before but had managed to escape. It had always haunted Kup that he didn't free the others.
The Decepticons and Autobots went to dread and got into a pretty big battle there. Kup managed to overcome his fear and confront Chaos and free the prisoners.



 
Function, Warrior
Motto, " The past is the greatest teacher"
 
Bio, Kup is an old veteran warhorse with a thousand tall tails from his ten thousand adventures. he has a motto or word of advice for any situation and he's brave and loyal as they come. In robot mode he carries an old style musket laser that shoots short bursts of metal corrosive hydrochloric acid. Range 5 miles, Speed 100 mph. Kup sees himself as a seasoned campaigner with more knowledge and experience to share. Other Autobots aren't always receptive to his advice"
 
Stats, Strength 9, Intelligence 7, Speed 6, Endurance 9, Rank 8, Courage 9, Firepower 6, Skill 8
 
 
 
Vehicle mode front
 
 
Vehicle mode side
 
 
Robot mode
 
 His vehicle mode is pretty sleek. There is not a huge amount of detail but I think this helps with his futuristic astetic.
His front tyres are rubber and the front of the truck which will become his chest in robot mode is die cast.
There really isn't much kibble on him at all. He is pretty clean. The only bit is his arms which fold underneath the front of the truck.
The only real problem with this mode is that the truck bed does not peg into anything.
As a truck bed it is pretty small and I don't think you would be able to get much of a load on there.
 
His transformation is quite simple but its really quite satisfying in some ways.
His robot mode is pretty solid.
Once again the truck bed does not peg into anything and hangs off his back.
His arms are too low down and pretty scrawny due to the way he transforms.
Other than that he does look quite good.
The die cast on his chest does give him a nice weight.
He has a very nice head sculpt and looks like the Kup from the cartoon
If you turn him sideways you will notice that his head just stopped like he got guillotined or something.
Having a round head would not interfere with his transformation at all so it just looks weird.
 
Articulation wise. His arms ratchet up and down and move in and out at the shoulder. Also move in and out at the elbow. He even has a wrist swivel
His head nods up and down
There is no articulation in his legs apart from his feet which pivot a bit due to his transformation. But make sure his feet don't pivot too far forward or he has a habit of falling over.
 
The colour scheme is pretty vibrant with the teal and darker teal and grey. This is combined with yellow sticker details. It really does pop on the figure.
 
Overall Kup is a pretty decent figure and worth getting if you can.
 
 



 

Thursday 1 May 2014

G1 PUNCH/ COUNTERPUNCH 1987

Punch /CounterPunch was one of the more unique toys from G1. He was one of if not the first faction swapping transformer. But a bit more ambitious in the fact that he had two separate robot modes. One Autobot ( Punch) and One Decepticon ( Counterpunch) Punch is quite an interesting character in the fact that he is a spy for the Autobots. He can completely change his robot mode colour scheme and even his personality to some extent. For the ultimate disguise.For all intense and purposes he becomes a Decepticon giving him the altimate disguise. It does have its flaws though as he sometimes has trouble controlling his Decepticon aspect Counterpunch. Everytime he transforms into his disguise mode the stronger and more dominant Counterpunch becomes to the point that even when in Autobot mode he has to fight the urge to be a Decepticon. He has a Cybertronian  personality disorder. So eventually it may become the case that Counterpunch will dominant and Punch will be his disguise. This does frighten Punch because it  is a constant internal battle like Ying and Yang.

However, you don't really see any of this in the cartoon. He appeared in "The Rebirth part one" where he was trying to stop Pounce and Wingspan from steeling the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber. He failed when he got pounced upon by Pounce. Later on you saw him on Cybertron just helping Fastlane and Cloudraker to search the planet for the Matrix of Leadership on Optimus Primes orders. That is all he does really in the Sunbro cartoon
He does a little bit more in Takara headmasters cartoon. He is more in it in the end where he is the Autobots spy in the Decepticon ranks.

 
FUNCTION, Double Agent
 
MOTTO, " In my business, there are no friends,only suspects"
 
BIO, Punch the Autobot transforms into Counterpunch the Decepticon to infiltrate enemy installations. Cool headed, a robot of few words reveals little of his true self to either side. Maximum car mode speed 160mph. Uses twin mortar launcher in Autobot mode, Photon Cannon in Decepticon mode
 
STATS, Strength 6, Intelligence 9, Speed 4, Endurance 6, Rank 7, Courage 10, Firepower 6, Skill 9
 
 
 
Car mode front
 
 
 

 
                                                        Punch Robot mode


                                               Counterpunch Robot Mode




His car mode is great. Super clean apart from the hinges just behind the front wheels. Other than that on first glance it would be hard to tell he was a Transformer unless you knew what you were looking for. There is actually some very nice detailing on this car mode. Shame there is not a enough paint apps to bring those details out. In fact the only paint app on this car mode are the grey on the windscreen and windows. But the paint does not continue to where the window goes past the door.
The fact the  blue on the rear of the car is  a completely different blue to the rest of the vehicle which is a little distracting.
Apart from these minor problems its still a nice car mode and would look good in a display.

His transformation is quite simple. The hardest part is folding out his arms which are extremely tight at least they areon my figure.
Punch's robot mode is pretty solid. I don't really care for the big chunks of car hanging off the sides of his body and it makes his arms look a little scrawny. The fact that he has no pelvis or feet what so ever. His legs are also pretty hollow. Ignoring those flaws he is a good looking robot mode. I especially like the head sculpt which I think looks a bit like Optimus Prime.
There is some decent detailing on his chest as well as his Autobot rub sign.
His only articulation is he can move his arms up and down and his hands from side to side. 

His Counterpunch robot mode I think has a nicer aesthetic. He still has no pelvis but his legs are no longer hollow and he has feet. I like his weapon better as well. The long black Photon Cannon looks better than the yellow twin Mortar launcher that Punch has.
I also think I like the colour scheme better on Counterpunch. The dark blue makes him look more evil and Decepiconish rather than bright yellow which works for an Autobot
His head sculpt is still nice and has a rather Voldermort/Quirrel thing going on with a face on either side of his head. His face is not quite as detailed as Punches and his visor is wide. His mouth is moulded on a open position kind of like he is screaming in horror at something.
It is not all good though his arms are even scrawy than Punches and his shoulders are too far back. But I can forgive these flaws as he is such a great looking figure.

Punch/ Counterpunch is a pretty rare figure to find and I got lucky with mine. We paid about £40 on Ebay. If someone is aware of its rarity then alot more can be paid.
I definitely think it is a good figure and worth getting. Yes, It does have its flaws in both robot modes but needs them to function.

Get it if you can