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.  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.

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.)