Many war cartoons always need at least an old veteran to mix with other younger characters and they are usually cranky and grumpy. Transformers is no exception. Seasaon 1 and 2 is basically Ironhide and the movie and season 3 after is replaced by Kup. Not really a fan of him but Kup has showed some moments during his appearances as a mentor of Hot Rod in cartoon and even more in the comics as a mentor of Optimus Prime. In IDW comics (didn’t see him much in DW), he was a crazy and out of mind old bot in his spotlight. Then a warrior and team leader in All Hail Megatron after they saved and fixed him. Then another old guy showing tough in Last Stand Of The Wreckers. This year (2010 and 2011) Hasbro has released quite a few G1 characters during the two movie gap and Kup is one of them. And this toy mixed and matched many of his characteristics.

Kup’s alternate mode is a pickup truck just like he was in the cartoon. Not a fan of pickup trucks so cannot really tell which kind he is from but this truck looks like a classic style modern truck. Color is basically kind of aqua green and many details are well painted except the license plate and hubcaps (which I only painted hubcaps, no idea yet for license plate). Windows are nicely clear and the truck bed is fantastic. Live action movie Ironhide’s all kinds of remolds/repaints all have a flat nonworking bed but this Kup has an open and working bed. Little human figures or even legend class figures can sit or stand on it and he can carry some amount of little things. The two front tires have the same fold in style like Hound’s but not flopping as Hound and rolls well. His long rifle can be clipped on top of the truck (which I don’t like) or stored at the bottom as an extra pipe (great!).

For this old bot, transformation is a whole new story. He wasn’t easy. First time without using the instruction, I got confused with his legs. Torso rotation was a little challenging since I was afraid of breaking anything. Putting back to truck mode is even more. Anyway, the robot mode is fairly satisfying but feeling strange. Like I said before, Hasbro kind of squeezed three different styles of Kup into one. His face is the frightened one (don’t tell me it’s an angry face, he looks really frightened) from his spotlight, he has G1 style chest and thin arms, and the legs are strong and tough like he was in AHM. He is quite poseable and well balanced thanks to his thick legs and big feet with a little bit of ankle movement. He is well detained and nicely painted (he isn’t very colorful either) and all joints are tight. Only thought about putting silver on his stomach grid but that won’t be easy until I get a better brush. The long rifle can be clipped on his back or hold on either hands. He also has 2 more clip pegs on each door to clip anything. Now to the problems. His neck platform (or panel) can see a clip there but I can’t find a place to connect. That makes his head flopping and looks down (for transformation) quite easily. Always have to push it up is quite annoying. Then since he doesn’t have long arms, the rifle is too long. Didn’t he just have a short and old musket laser? And he barely used it in the movies. Sharkticons tail is handier. Joke aside, the shoulder stock is too long and limits elbow movement. Also he has the lift up style shoulders but they don’t stay there well, some arm movement will slide down the shoulders and the tires are quite annoying hanging there also. The door panels hanging on the side of each arm are also too long and too big. All these really make him hard to pose on the arms and limit quite a few poseabilities.