Kup (G1)


 * Kup is an Autobot in 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 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, has Kup, 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, 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 ladbot 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 much.


 * Japanese name: Char
 * French-Canadian name: Kaisso

Animated continuity
Voice Actor: Lionel Stander → John Stephenson (US), Osamu Saka (Japan)

Known aliases in this continuity: Teaspoon

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 undetaken 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 rigging 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.

Following the events of the movie, Kup served as an advisor to the newly-minted Rodimus Prime.

Years 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.

Headmasters anime
Kup and Fortress were old friends.

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. 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. Along with Arcee, Blaster, Hot Rod and Wheelie, Kup was part of a resistance group during Shockwave's control of Cybertron.

Teletraan Go! Go! mini-comics
Kup stopped a feisty Wheelie from annoying Teletraan 15. When 15 thanked him, he gave her a big old spine-cracking hug.

IDW comics continuity
Kup is extremely old. In years past, he's trained dozens of Autobots, including Prowl, Springer, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Hot Rod, and even Optimus Prime.

At some point, he 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 is unknown if he will recover - physically or mentally.

Generation 1

 * Kup (Autobot, 1986)
 * Japanese ID number: C-82


 * Kup (Targetmaster, 1987)
 * Japanese ID number: C-113


 * Future Cybertron (Transformers Collection, 2005)
 * Japanese ID number: TF-20


 * This iteration of the mold was used to make Orion Pax.

Trivia

 * In the Japanese Binaltech Asterisk online manga, a little lost kitty was rescued from certain death by Ai Kuruma and Red Alert. That kitty was named Cha (Kup's Japanese name).


 * He claims on his MySpace page (see External links) that he's a Pisces.