Toy Review - Generations Sergeant Kup

I think at least two of us on the board own this now, so good time for a review? (:

Sergeant Kup!!
He's real! We have a Kup that's a picKup!!! Theoretically awesome, ey!? What can go wrong?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17...s/194d4a80.jpghttp://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17...s/ddffc72c.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17...s/8804843b.jpghttp://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17...s/c51eca8b.jpg

In my opinion, not much has!
I love where the weapon stows on the underside of the alt mode.
Transformation is nice too! I love the way the knees transform on this sucker and the way the torso rotates out is lovely. The shoulder pieces snap into place with some simple spring usage and it's got just the right amount of complexity to it. I think the one thing that actually let's it down on are the panels on the reverse of the arms. They don't really have anywhere to go- but I suppose at least they can be repositioned when you pose him.

I am not that big a fan of the face. He looks like he's in agony... Lol. A good solid figure overall with nice articulation and a decently involved transformation.

If you're tossing up between the united or hasbro release I imagine the united one's paintjob will make it that much more awesome! But personally I will be looking forward greatly to igear's replacement Kup heads.

(mods, any chance for a poll?? Thanks!)

Can't wait to receive my one in the next week or so... love it the minute I saw peaugh's Youtube review - will post own personal thoughts once I receive him.

cool pictures, learned alot about the deluxe, i reckon iGear should have a mounting port for his targetmaster partner

http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/q...h/IMG_0948.jpg

since i won't be getting it for a while, heres the entrée courtesy of Peaugh

OOrrrr...
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17...s/ad83e87d.jpg
:D

Where's Delicate Warrior?

Oh yeahhhhh...
Guess who still has it and protector too? Lol

http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/P1250008.jpg

Received my Kup today and let me just say he's an awesome toy, however he does have some minor shortcomings IMHO.

Alt mode is pretty cool - he resembles a modernised retro-style pick up truck.

Transformation is above average in difficulty and is a tiny bit fiddly.

In bot mode, he looks very nice and is very stable to pose in various action poses (due to big feet).

My gripe with him is the kibble hanging off his forearms and his limited shoulder articulation (also due to vehicle mode kibble).

Other than that, he's very cool and I highly recommend getting him - he's even worth paying full RRP for IMO.

8.5/10 (would have been a 9 if it wasn't for the kibble affecting his articulation)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTisCLShQ0E

Kup turned up in the post today.

Overall, I'm quite happy with this guy - he's a really strong figure. Everything in the design works as intended, which is better than some other recent figures (RTS Perceptor, for example).

The vehicle mode snaps together nice and firm. The placement of the shotgun under the car as a second muffler (and drive shaft, if you like) is neat. The wheels have heaps of clearance and roll smoothly, which is rare for a modern deluxe car in my experience. The front wheels can even be positioned to look like they're turning. Paint apps in this mode are lacking (what's new?) but it doesn't let him down as badly as Jazz, even though he is also lacking brake lights and wheel rims - I'm not sure why that is.

Transformation is well thought out, with two clear stages for the top and bottom half. Everything locks in where it should.

Robot mode is good and represents the character well. The constipated facial expression is slightly off-putting, but the face overall conveys an old man well. If the mouth were painted black, it would work better as a 'shouting' expression, but the shiny silver instead makes it look like he's choking on his robo-tongue. The small faux windscreen on top of the chest is a neat little reference to the War Within robot mode, while the rest is almost 100% G1 - the abdominal detailing that was strangely popular with bots from the original movie, the pointy knee pads, the yellow/gold belt buckle. The additional kibble necessary for the transformation only add to the look IMO, the wheels flopping around the shoulders and the panels on the arms give him a slightly 'junky' look. Whether this was intentional or not, I don't know, but it works for me.

I really, really like TF's with Shotguns, so this immediately scores Kup extra points with me. It's also the weapon of choice for old men telling people to get off their lawn (so ok, that was a rifle, but whatever). Yet again one of those nifty 3mm clips is included to allow for weapon-swapping fun with other RTS and Generations deluxes. Yet again, this hasn't been advertised as a feature on the packaging. Way to miss an opportunity, Hasbro. The machine gun from Darkmount/Skullgrin works particularly well mounted on his roof.

Possibly my only complaint, if it can even be considered a complaint, is that Kup and Blur don't display too well next to Classics Rodimus - the design of the classics line has evolved over the last decade, the robot modes are much better, and the vehicle modes generally err more on the side of semi-realism now than the slightly more futuristic/fantastical vehicle modes from 2006. Hot Rod looks like the odd man out in a line-up with all 3 cars. Personally I prefer the approach taken with Kup and Blur, but I can see this pissing some people off.

Overall I can recommend this guy to anyone who remotely likes the character...good luck finding him with the recent Big W news, however!