Transformers: Titans Return Kup

 

 By early August, I think I’m about as caught up on Wave 4 of Titans Return as I’m going to be. Classic poor distribution means I’ve seen figures from the wave like three times, and never all at once. I am really starting to worry about what this means for my prospects of ever finding a Misfire and Twintwist from the next wave. But, I did manage to find all three of the original molds from the wave, so let’s look at them, beginning with Kup.

"Ah, my back!"

Loveable old codger Kup is one of those characters that I’m not sure ever really needs a place in my collection. He’s had plenty of adventures over the course of his long existence, from fighting off petrorabbits to battling zombies in his mind, but I don’t have any strong connection to the character. Previous versions of Kup, particularly the I think excellent Generations version, have been alright, or at least, alright enough for my demands. I was a fan of the Prime mold, until I did a collection thinning wherein the Prime aesthetic was largely driven out; but that figure is still a pretty good one. I didn’t have a lot of expectation for this new Kup, and in fact was constantly about to put him down while we walked through the store, but I’m ultimately glad I didn’t.

This may be the definitive Kup figure. The vehicle mode is that futuristic whatever it is, pickup truck, while both of the previously mentioned Kups were more realistic, contemporary trucks, so this one does a good job of representing the vehicle from the G1 cartoon. I personally don’t find that too crucial, but that is because I don’t have a Kup connection, so I’m ok with variations or different versions in general. The truck is sleek and angular, and the Titanmaster rides in a huge cockpit section that reminds me of the vehicles from the 80’s Starcom toy line, for anyone old enough to remember that. The transformation is fun, with all sorts of waist twisting and legs that explode and then fold over to form the back of the truck. I went into this toy having pretty much no expectations, and, just like a true favorite from the Titans Return line, ended up being really pleased and amused by transformation elements of Kup. The arms transform in a pretty interesting way as well. The hands are able to hyperextend past the point they normally would, like Kup can bend his wrists outward past his forearms; it’s a necessary part of the transformation. But, in videos and many pictures I’d seen of the toy prior to owning it, this seemed like a design issue, like there was a problem with this extra and unusual range of motion, and it was something that I really didn’t like. Generally speaking, the transformation scheme is fun, with the legs unfolding into the side panels of the truck, which then looks just like the G1 animation model. Truck mode is more novel than anything, as it is rather plain, and doesn’t offer any real flash or excitement other than being a really faithful G1 Kup alt mode. The cockpit is something of a missed opportunity, as Titanmaster Flintlock sits directly in the center, while it seems that there could be room for two of the tiny figures to sit shoulder to shoulder. I may be wrong about the size of the cockpit, but it looks like you could get two dudes in there if there wasn’t a separated place for one driver. This also may be runoff from my looking at a lot of pictures of Takara’s God Bomber, with its opening cockpit and room for multiple Titanmasters.

Flintlock is, at this point, a Titanmaster figure. The Kup face is great, a nice cartoonish sculpt that captures a nice mix of grumpy old timer and fairly flat, so that looking at Kup’s face more or less allows you to decide whether he’s cartoon codger or stoic realistic robot. As there’s generally not much to say about the Titanmaster figures, we’ll come back to Kup’s face a little later on.

Robot mode is something that took some getting used to. His secondary color, that seafoam green of his arms and calves, looks a bit weak in person. This causes the plastic to look cheap, and so Kup is kind of knock off looking. The only other figure in the Titans Return line that has this visual issue is Hot Rod, ironically, but more on Hot Rod as well later. Kup never had that interesting or excellent looking a robot mode, so it fits that his Titans Return body is overall plain. He looks like himself, and that’s almost all I can say about him. The front end of the truck mode does fold up inside the chest of the robot in a pretty neat trick, but otherwise, as a robot, he is plain. His weapons are large, and peg together into a Titanmaster seat like most other weapons in the line, and they can plug into the bed of the truck and the back of the robot mode, where they do kind of . . . kind of . . . look like a jet pack, so that’s fun.

Unsure about how to react to the figure, Kup was placed on the shelf next to Titans Return HotRod and Blur, and Combiner Wars UltraMagnus, just to see how the whole ’86 movie crew (or, most of it, at least) looked together. As a group, they look pretty good, with Blur being the one that looks most different. Both Kup and Hot Rod are of that same animation-style look, so they look nice together. They both look fairly cartoony in both modes, although in robot mode, Hot Rod’s arms kill the group shot. But still, if you’re after a reasonably G1 cartoon accurate Kup/Hot Rod pair, then Titans Return has you covered. In vehicle mode the two look outstanding together, and that is worth the price of admission on Kup by itself.

And that cartoonishness may be Kup’s best feature. Transforming him back and forth causes Lionel Stander-voiced lines to drift through the memory. His resemblance to the 1986 movie character is a lesson in that old fandom complaint that screen accuracy matters, and if such a thing has never crossed your mind, or if you’ve never seen the importance or value in said quality, that bewilderment is echoed here at the Coffin. But Kup proves the value of screen accuracy. This is not a character that strikes chords for some fans, myself included. His robot mode is not very exciting or good looking, and his alt mode is a somewhat puzzling one as well: what is he really? What the hell is a Kup in the first place? If Kup is a futuristic pick-up truck, why does he look like such a cruddy old one? In the absence of any affinity for the character, this is figure that is basically worthwhile based on aesthetic, and whether or not he works with your collections aesthetic. While I may not be the biggest adherent to screen accuracy, or at least am very choosey as to when I’m going to invoke it, for me, Kup is a pretty optional collection addition, so, if I can find one that is real accurate or makes me think of those old days watching G1 cartoons and feeling bad that I didn’t have any toys of the new cast of characters, then I am going to be a lot more receptive to it. And with this Kup, I am exactly that.

Nasty burr in rotator, removed.

Whether or not this figure is recommended is a difficult call. While not maligned, there doesn’t seem to be a real positive consensus online about the toy, the way the fandom often rallies around or rejects figures. Back in December, a few Titans Return figures made other, older figure versions of characters redundant in my collection, and so I sold off the lesser versions; Kup had the same effect, the 2010 (I think…) Generations version going into the sell pile, along with another, as of yet unreviewed figure, because multiple Kups are totally unnecessary to me. I like that Generations mold, but I have the GDO Swerve version as well, which actually looks better than the original Kup skin in my opinion. But, I did almost put Kup down several times during the shopping trip which yielded him, but decided to keep him so I could experience a new mold. For the experience, I’m glad I held on to him. But as for the value of the individual figure, I feel Kup is a real take or leave toy. He is a core cast member, and has played a part in all manner of Transformers fiction post-G1 season three, so he has more than earned his spot in a toy line. If you’re a Kup fan, or a real season three G1 fan, or if you need him for your Wreckers collection, or your 1986 animated movie collection, Titans Return Kup could be a worthy pickup. But, as just a standalone figure, he is kind of weak. The best part of the toy, honestly, is the vehicle mode, which is interesting at the least. I am glad that I own him, largely because it means there’s probably no need for me to ever have to buy another Kup figure. But, if you miss out on this figure, you’re not really going to be missing out on much. I’ve already started to see him shelfwarming, for whatever that means to anyone.