TRANSFORMERS: THE BASICS on KUP 

Fun fact about Kup: his original voice actor, Lional Stander, was the oldest born voice actor to ever be involved in the franchise, having been born the 11th of January 1908 snd passing away on the 30th of November 1994 at the age 86. So if he were still alive today, he would have be 116 years old, which would make him definitively the oldest voice actor in the franchise even more so.

Hot rod: "Every place we go to remind you of someplace." Kup: "Experience kid. You should learn to appreciate it."

Imagine Kup and Ironhide knocking back the drinks at a bar, trying to out-do each other with there old war stories.

Quintesson: You are the Autobot called Kup. You are Cybertron's chief of security. Kup (sarcastically): Nah, my name's Teaspoon and I'm Cybertron's chief dishwasher!

Hot Rod - Heh! Not bad for an old timer...!!! Kup - Old Timer? That's something you'll never be if you don't get back to the city....!!!

Kup is the best example of " Respect the old in a profession were man die young ". He was a badass trough and trough.

"Curmudgeonly" is such a great word.

Hot Rod: This remind you of anything, Kup? Kup: Nope, I’ve never seen anything like this before!

One of my favorite characters from the movie. Every scene with him was a treat, and I can understand why the Dinobots were so interested in his stories

Kup? This is clearly Teaspoon. You didn't even mention he's Cybertron's chief dish washer.

One of my favorite Kup scenes of all time is still him showing Guzzle how to effortlessly knock out multiple Decepticons in the span of a few seconds in Last Stand of the Wreckers. "Hold this (hands Guzzle his cygar), stay there, an' get ready to take notes... An' that my lad, is how it's done, old-school style."

Kup: Why I had the rust plague before we even had cog stabilizers! Ah well, them dame-bots at Macdamen's didn't seem to mind.. as long as I had enough weep grana on my nini bong! Say.. why are the Autobots yelling "MAXIMIZE!" all of a sudden?! Grimlock: uh, me Grimlock no doctor but it's probably time for Kups meds again. Thank you for such an awesome upload!

Kup always has and always will be the greatest of Cybertron's old war veterans, even Ironhide has learned from Kup's combat stories.

Still have my original Kup from my birthday in 1986, he truly is an old timer amongst my Transformer collection.

As a former soldier myself, I love the way Kup's character is written. By default, every unit has that one old soldier, based solely on how units are built. If Rodimus is the Commanding Officer with Magnus as his XO, Kup is essentially the Sergeant Major/Master Chief. The grizzled, old head with all the knowledge gained from experience.

An underrated Autobot imo Who else agrees?

“Turbo-revvin’ young punk! I’ll straighten you out yet!” 🤨

Still disappointed that we've never gotten a flashback story revealing that Kup once had a partner named Mug.

It’s insane that Kup hasn’t shown up in more media. He would fit perfectly in Animated and Prime. Here’s hoping he can make the jump to live action. Great video!

Kup is one of those characters that fits whatever role he's placed, be it Mentor, Elite Guard, or Wrecker. But above all else, he'd make a prime chronicler.

I think if Kup were to make a media come back sporting a realistic alt-mode, a Kei truck would fit him much better than a huge American pickup truck. Like a Kei truck, Kup is strong yet compact, low-profile and not that flashy but can always be relied on.

Kup's a favourite of mine via IDW, I adored his dynamic with Action Man and the rest of the Revolutionaries. His editorially-mandated stunt-death remains one of the greatest storytelling bummers from IDW's tenure, but I like to think that he eventually came back to life somehow, after the events of the Unicron mini. "That ain't even the first time they tried killin' me off in some kinda cockamamie crossover event, kid!"

I restore classic cars, andni love Chevelle, Malibu, and El-Camino.. my fascination started when i would always ride past a flat nosed semi rhat was red, and a 1959 El-Camino just a block behind. It was blue, primer grey, and had a lot of rust. I was only about 6 or so and my mom would have me wave hi and say "Hi Optimus, and hi Kup!" To me I started identifying Kup as an El-Camino but a futuristic take since it was in the late 80's and my mom explained that the movie takes place in the 2000's.

Growing up all my Transformer toys where hand-me-downs from my dad. He was a lifelong fan of the series and had a giant collection of figures he'd collected over the years that I was absolutely not allowed to touch under any circumstances (a wise choice, given my reputation of destroying my toys). I wouldn't buy myself a figure until two years ago, a little over a year after my dad had passed. It was a Studio Series Kup I found in a Walmart. I wasn't particularly that fond of Kup when I bought the figure, and he was almost left behind in favor of a Studio Series Blurr. Flash forward a few months, I'm on the phone with my mom catching up on life events since I hadn't seen her since she moved out of state earlier that same year. I offhandedly mentioned that I'm slowly turning into my dad, unable to go into a store without walking out with a new Transformers figure, mentioning the Kup figure still sitting in his box on my bookshelf (I refused to open it for sentimental purposes. He was the first figure I ever bought myself after all). I will never forget the few moments of silence that passed before my mom had quietly said "you do know that was the first figure your dad ever bought, right?" I absolutely did not. I didn't even know he HAD a Kup in his collection, that's how big it was. My mom once told me that whenever you see a Cardinal, it's a loved one who had long since passed coming down from Heaven to see you. I haven't seen very many Cardinals since he passed in 2021, but I sure have seen a large amount of Kup figures. So sometimes, whenever I'm in a store's toy section and I see a Kup figure, I think it's a sign my dad is still watching over me

His underrated with so much potential for stories and deserve a spot light

I love the "pickup" pun being the origin of his name! "Of all the double-crunching diode dimwittery, YOU LEFT A PIECE OUT!" Well, this video certainly didn't leave a thing out. LOL!

A whole episode on kup and not one bah weep granah weep ni ni bong!

Kup is one of my favourite Transformers that was introduced in 1986. It's about time for him to appear in the live action movie universe.

Kup is easily the best character of the '86 Autobot cast introduced in the movie

They had the spotlight comic in my local library. 7 year old me having only seen the cartoon, that comic still kinda sits with me whenever i think kup

Now don't touch that Dial, we'll be right back with Kup and his amazing adventures....right after this! Grimlock: OH BOY!!!❤

I was wondering when you'd get to him. He's one of my favorite autobots, and I think he should be in more cartoons

Ah yes everyone’s favourite robo grandpa who goes on adventures and tells stories of “well back in my day I would…..” Awesome episode!

Well with the release of Cyberverse Windblade in Legacy, maybe Cyberverse Kup has a shot of being released in the future.

Kup's cygar + Bulkhead's shape + Hound's paintjob and military alt-mode = Bayverse Hound. Change my mind.

That IDW one shot comic is absolutely brilliant. In fact that entire comic run of one shots was so well thought out and really fleshed out even well known bots. All hail megatron is a high bar for me also. “As usual star scream you talk big, when all around you is small”

On my life I was hopin we would get a basics on Kup cuz I loved him in the IDW comics

Kup is a great character, who in my view never truly filled the characters true role in the G1 cartoon. That being the father figure for Rodimus and then becoming his main adviser. With a more personal touch and eyes on the ground. While Magus did fill the same position he came with the position of Prime. Kup was the closest thing to family and if you look at history. There have been similar people that would try to keep them grounded. Kup on the other hand would do a far better job.

"Turbo-Revvin' young punk, I'll straighten you out yet!" Guess some old bots still got what it takes and Kup sure is one of them!

Ahh Kup old wiley and usually angry Kup....but in a good way. My sister got this toy back in the day but I got the Titans Return figure when it came out. Reminds me of my grandfather....an old timer who always had a story when it seemed us kids needed a lesson or two. And despite being early 70's when I was like 6-10 years old still stuck me out in baseball with a fastball that was clocked at 81 mph! WTF all my teammates laughed at me but no one else stepped up to the plate to test out the "old man" and get their "vapors" from him!! I miss you "pop-pop" but I will never forget you and all that you taught me. Semper Fi

Great episode as always Chris. It's nice how despite his involvement in the franchise being somewhat scattered, Kup's involvement changes a great deal. As of late seem to be more involved in the comics than the shows which is not a bad thing, makes you sort of hope that as years progress we'll see him pop up in the Skybound run. But it's great that a character that was involved in the 86 movie has remained an integral part of the franchise, especially as there's always something so positively affirming about a grandfather character that's been there and done that and wants to continuously talk about it to the younger generation.

He is the grumpy old warrior type that I love. I still remember watching him for the first time when I watched the movie.

Glad to see the old grouch is finally getting a basics video He deserves more love

An other great basics video. And also one other personal favorite character of mine, specially sense I now relate to Kups personality, age and love of telling stories of old. Hope that one day he will be in a new tv show or have a new major roll in a new movie in the future. Now where’s my cygar?

I've always wondered why his name was Kup!

We were robbed of a Bayformers Kup in The Last Knight!

I wondered when this would come out.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE BOT THANK YOU BRO!!!!!

What do you think is the best thing about Kup? Which one of his powers and abilities do you think is the best? Which movie or TV Show do you think did a great job in portraying him?

One thing I've always wondered about Kup in G1 is a how much older he was or wasn't in relation to season 1 characters like, say, Optimus Prime. Optimus was Orion Pax during the Golden Age of Cybertron 9 million years ago. So is Kup as old as Optimus? Based on the movie, it seemed he was even older than Optimus. Perhaps he's as old as Alpha Trion, already active since the time of Quintesson rule on Cybertron, 11 million years ago when Alpha Trion was A-3.

An absolute favorite of mine since I got his original toy back in the 80s. Now that I'm an old fart myself, I identify with Kup even more. Great episode.

Any bot who survives SEVERAL missions with the Wreckers is one to respect.

What do you think Kup would be like if he was chosen to be a Prime as in the keeper of the Matrix of leadership just like Optimus Prime?

Two lines from Kup that always stand out. Both from The Movie. First was darkly humorous, when asked how he got out of a situation "I'm trying to remember, there were a lot of casualties that day." The other was just a great character moment, when asked whether Unicron reminded him of anything, he just quietly said "Nope, never seen anything like this, before.'

Kup’s spotlight story with the monster bots was in my elementary school library and I read it over and over again. I was also convinced that some of the highlighted words/letters spelled out a secret code and if I wrote them all down I could figure it out.

Another amazing video

I love the story where he teams up with Arcee and Elita-1. 2 girls 1 Kup.

But he died in Las Vegas during the zombie invasion. How did he come back to life?

Please do Tracks and the Technobots/Computron next week! 🙏🏻

I really want a thing where Kup is at Mcaddams and him and Mac are just one upping each other with stories

Kup is the most underappreciated member of the movie cast. His interactions with Hod Rod and the Dinobots were always fun to watch, and his bravery was admirable.

Next you should do a video on Lugnut

One of my fave 'bots!

I believe after this the only 86 movie character yet to get the basics treatment is Wreck-Gar.

Kup teraz!

I believe it was Neil Ross (Springer) that told this story; Since Kup was Lionel Standers first ever voice acting job, he had a tendency to turn his head away from the mic toward whichever character he talking to during the ensemble recording. Much to the annoyance of voice direct Wally Burr So seeing that they didn't share many scenes Ross would get up from his spot at the table and sit across from Standers so he had someone to "talk to"

This was great! Thanks Chris!

I really want to see Kup in the live action movies

I wonder what would happen if Kup met TF Prime Ratchet or TF Animated Ratchet

The old Autobot warrior gets the spotlight.

Was wondering when we would get The Basics vid on Kup. Sadly though don't own any Kup toys, still regret that I missed to pick TF Prime Kup's toy back in the day.

Another great episode, and the only thing I would have suggested adding was the kerfuffle over how bad a lot of people thought the Studio Series toy looked, and how we got an 'apology' from Hasbro in the form of the Buzzworthy Bumblebee toy.

That IDW Spotlight issue was a bit disturbing, but it also provided a very good reason for his ever-present cygar and a little insight into just how much of a combat veteran he really is.

It was literally within the last five years that I finally realized why Kup is named Kup. I am older than his existence as a character. Derp. >.

Does anyone realise that Kup and Chromia have a similar built and alt mode?

Kup is an amazing character of the Transformers franchise!👍🏻

I just want to mention Kup's appearance in the Transformers TTRPG by Renegade Studios, where he has an NPC statblock in the Decepticon Directive sourcebook. In his NPC stats, he has some really fun character flaws. Without getting too deeply into rules verbage, his flaws work in the following ways. 1. If a younger bot talks back to him, Kup will get so grumpy that all of his rolls will have a small penalty until the offending bot apologizes. 2. At the start of any conversation, or when asked a question, Kup will try to tell an old war story. However, he must succeed on a Performance roll every time this happens, or else his story will drag on for too long and he will suffer a large penalty on his next dice roll.

"...So I tied an energon cube to my belt, which was a style in those days."

I have an idea for Kup myself in my Reveal the Shield storyline. My idea, basically, is that Kup used to be Sentinal Prime, who led the autobots before Optimus, and later on it was brought to light that while he was a Prime, he colluded with the decepticons. Kinda like an homage to the Dark of the Moon Sentinal Prime. I was originally gonna go the Animated route and have Sentinal be on the Elite Guard, being a Prime by rank, while Optimus is a Prime by the Matrix. But then when I decided to put an Avatar The Last Airbender spin on it, it worked better to have Sentinal Prime be the predecessor of Optimus Prime.

I do love how he is essentially Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime's Ironhide Old war veteran who have plenty of experience and knows how to take charge

OMG MY ALL TIME FAVORITE! MCFEELY YOU'VE MADE ME SO HAPPY!!!!

I loved the history in which he was teaching young Orion Pax to shoot his first blaster. And I can´t avoid imagining him with the voice of old Silvester Stallone from the new Creed movies, it fits him so well...

for a series about long lived alien Robots who have been at war for LITERALLY EONS, it says a lot about how tough the likes of Kup and Ironhide have to be to be among the few "grizzled old veterans" that we actually get to see

I’ve had the toy from the Generations line, as he was a modern style truck.

As someone who was first introduced to Transformers from VHS episodes of season three of G1, Kup was one of my favourites, and I'm really hoping he gets involved in a cast of Autobots in some future show again 😊

Good thing this video came out i needed inspiration to finish my kup build

I feel like I started life as Hot Rod: Brash, Headstrong, leaping in before I look... These days I'm more like Kup: Old, Cranky, and always trying straighten out the youngsters! Oh, and not to mention, boring them to death with old stories! LOL

Thank you for covering Kup! 🙏

Thank's a lot for doing another Autobot.

It's been a long while waiting for Kup to have the Basics.

Kup and Ironhide from the G1 series and movie, teamed up with Hound from the Bayverse movies. 3 grumpy old veterans knocking back some high octane energon drinks, trying to outdo each other telling tall tales.

6:13 But did he had an encounter with IDW'S equivalent of Chaos?

I always liked Kup, that old scratchy voice was endearing to me and his tall tales were amusing. The interaction between him and Grimlock was always something that made me smile. I'm hoping at some point Kup will be involved in the new Energon Universe TF comics but that will have to be down the road a while I think.

TF4 Age of extinction hound has some of Kups qualities like a Cygar, and olde Veteran.

Kup is another character who needs to be revisited. We haven't seen him in ages.

Great Stuff, as always!

That Generations Kup from 2011 is still my favorite version of him.

Kup just hits different. Fear the elders in a galaxy where the young often die.

great basics video. i love Kup. you left out out one version of Kup. After the studio series version there was the Buzzworthy Bumblebee redeco to make him more animation accurate. "There was this giant ickyak.....GRIMLOCK! get your noodle out of my face!"

Pic-KUP omg I never knew this! Now it makes sense to me 😅