Kup's Story!

A hero is reborn.

Synopsis
Hundreds of years ago, the Autobot Kup has given up the fight. Suffering from an acute case of "combat fatigue", he can no longer fight the same way he once could in his youth. As a "retirement", Kup took to wandering the stars, alone in a spaceship, waiting for permanent deactivation to eventually take him.

His maudlin existence was suddenly shattered by a passing space conflict: two larger ships ganging up on a smaller one, playing with it like a cat plays with its food. Although he tried to tell himself it wasn't his fight, Kup could not merely turn his back on the situation, and shot down one of the pursuit craft. Feeling obligated to carry things through, Kup allowed the pursuee to leave his damaged ship and come aboard, only to be surprised by a fellow Autobot beaming in, a young punk named Hot Rod.

Hot Rod had a compelling story about being sent on a fact-finding mission with his comrade Blurr by their leader, Fortress Maximus, and about how the murderous Tyroxians had taken them prisoner. He had escaped, but Blurr was still being held hostage. Despite Hot Rod's pleas, however, Kup only agreed to take him back to Cybertron, and not risk his neck in foolish heroics. Thinking that was the end of it, Kup stormed off to his private quarters, brooding about how Hot Rod seemed familiar somehow...

Kup's reverie was interrupted by the ship's proximity alarm, alerting him to the fact that Hot Rod had changed their course and taken the ship back to Tyroxia, to rescue Blurr on his own. Admiring Hot Rod's idiotic heroism, Kup realized the young 'bot reminded him of himself in his younger days. Spurred on by that knowledge, Kup went down to the planet's surface and rescued Hot Rod and Blurr from their prediciment.

Cured of his combat fatigue, Kup returned to Cybertron and the war with his new friends, eager to teach Hot Rod a thing or two about how a real warrior fights.

Credits
Script: Simon Furman Art: Dan Reed Letters: Anne H Colour: Steve White
 * Originally published: 26th September, 1987

Featured characters
(''Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Items of note

 * This story predates the first modern appearances of the three Autobots, in Headmasters #1.