| KUP
PROJECT #148
CLASSIFICATION: REPAINT
MATERIALS USED: REPRODUCTION STICKERS; ENAMEL PAINTS
FIRST APPEARANCE: THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE
"Anyway, all things considered, you did an amazing
job, lad. Amazing!"
Preamble: After I completed my
Hot Rod repaint, I began to think about
one of the other movie-era toys that has been bothering me since I was a
kid. The original Kup toy produced by Hasbro was based on the animation
model of the character designed for The Transformers: the Movie.
While the animated version of Kup was an aging, grey-colored robot,
however, the Hasbro toy based on the
character was decorated with a more lively turquoise and sea green color
scheme. It's possible that this more colorful look was based on an
early color model for Kup, perhaps similar to that of Galvatron, and was
changed after the toy went into production. (Incidentally, the animators
made very good use of this alternate character design for the episode "Chaos,"
in which a younger Kup is depicted as a more vivid shade of turquoise
in the flashback scenes.)
Construction: Kup seems to be varying
shades of grayish-green depending on what episode you go by, but I based
my repaint on his colors from the movie, which is probably the most accurate
depiction of the character. After drawing up a color model for him,
I disassembled the toy's arms and upper body and pulled off his front tires.
(There was no real reason to take apart his lower body since his legs
don't have any transforming parts—or, indeed, any moving parts at all.
When people talk about the G1 toys being bricks, Kup here is the sort
of toy they're referring to.) In painting the toy, I mixed up a nice
batch of light grey-green and painted his upper legs, parts of his chest
and head, and parts of his arms. Then I added more grey to the mix
to make the darker color for the rest of his legs, body, arms and head.
His windshield got the same coat of light grey as his hubcaps, fists,
and face.
For the yellow highlights on his arms, belt, and
tail lights, I drew the shapes I wanted them to be on the back of some
reproduction labels, cut them out to the right shape, and painted them.
Then I could stick them in place just like consumer-applied labels.
I did the same thing for the panels on the fronts of his legs, which
are a lighter color than the rest of his legs. The Autobot symbols
are also reproduction stickers.
Kup also has some spots of tarnish on his windshield
and legs and body. These are part of the character's design, but they
weren't included on the toy. I had considered carving these spots into
the toy with a hobby knife, but I didn't think they would show up clearly
enough, so I ended up drawing these spots instead with a fine-tipped permanent
marker. (Uh, what do you mean, I drew them on the wrong side of his
windshield? I have no idea what you're talking about. Your computer
monitor must need to be dusted or something.)
Comments: Even though this was a
fairly simple repaint, I think it significantly improves the look of the
toy. (Takara has already reissued the original toy in Japan, as well
as a repaint that's intended to represent Orion Pax from the episode "War
Dawn." You'd think the movie-colored "anime" version of
Kup would be coming along any day, now.)
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