Review – Kup Head Kit Set

Unofficial Transformers manufacturer iGear (website, Facebook) has created something truly special with this upgrade kit for use with Transformers Generations Kup*. For roughly $20 — I know, about twice what the actual figure costs in stores now — you can get two new heads for Kup that dramatically improve the toy’s look. It’s pricey for a little bit of plastic, but the price is worth it if you really want to make your Kup look great.

Packaging

As you can see there’s nothing at all special about the toy’s packaging. A simple plastic bag with a label applied is it. I would have rather seen a nice blister card or at least an illustration of some sort, but I guess I should be happy that iGear didn’t sink any real cash into the packaging. I just can’t feel like it would have been a more professional product if there had been a blister card or box . . . but let’s rip this open and see what we get.

Storage Case

The Kup Head Kit Set may only be in a cheap plastic bag but I didn’t care at all once I had the bag open and had a good look at the plastic case that holds the two heads and a small screwdriver. There’s a rough spot on one side where the case was removed from the sprue — that needed to be sanded and polished — but what’s really nice is that the case fits right in the truck bed when Kup is in robot mode. Nice touch!

Two Heads and a Screwdriver

Below you can see the two iGear heads, the original head from Transformers Generations Kup*, and the screwdriver that iGear included with the kit. Including the screwdriver strikes me as overkill — I’ve got a case of tiny screwdrivers already — and it’s certain that iGear could have cut the price if they had left out the screwdriver. Still, I suppose not everyone has a tiny screwdriver and it probably doesn’t hurt me to have a second one.

Installing a Head

This works very well. All you have to do is rotate the original Kup’s head around and use the enclosed screwdriver to remove the screw in the back of the head. This will split the head into its two parts — face and back of head — and allows you to pop off the head. The face comes right off, but the back side of the head takes some wiggling to remove it from the ball.

Below you can see the headless Kup waiting for his new head. That tiny ball is where you’ll snap on the new heads which leads us to another round of wiggling as you slip the back of the new head on the ball.

Once the back of the head is on its all down to snapping the face in place and then screwing the two parts together. These are tiny, tiny screws — and each new head comes with its own screw so you can keep the heads together even when they aren’t on Kup — so you have to be very careful. I think it took me maybe two or three minutes to remove the original head and install a new head.

Kup’s Three Heads

Now we’ll take a few moments to look at the three head options. Up first is the Transformers Generations Kup* with the head that Hasbro gave the toy. As you can see it’s okay, but it’s not all that inspired and Kup has a fairly neutral look on his face.

Below is the first of the two heads that are included in the kit. This Kup has a bit more character in his face and the design (like the next head) was clearly inspired by IDW’s work with Kup (see Last Stand of the Wreckers* for Kup in action). It’s a tight sculpt and the plastic colors work very well with the base figure.

The second head (below), and the head I’m using on Kup, has a similar appearance to the first with the addition of Kup’s “Cy-gar” — a device that delivers Kup a synthetic energy to suppress flashbacks — and even though I was worried that the tiny part would be weak it seems to be pretty tough. I even transformed Kup with this head attached and everything worked well without any scrapes or damage.

Closing Thoughts

The Transformers Generations Kup* toy from Hasbro is one of the better Generations series toys and this upgrade from iGear only improves on an already great toy. I wish that the storage case was useable with Kup when he is in robot mode but that’s the only piece I would have liked to have seen iGear put more effort into.

Do I recommend this kit to casual fans? Absolutely not. But if you’re someone who already has a deep collection of Transformers toys and you want to improve your Kup I say grab this kit before it’s no longer available. Just be sure to order the right one; iGear created heads for both the US Kup and the Japanese Kup (with metallic paint).

And it’s even such a neat kit that I’m now thinking about ordering the Kup/Perceptor weapons upgrade kit (see seibertron.com) that provides new weapons for Kup and for the Reveal the Shield Perceptor (review here). More guns = more fun!

Philip Reed now wants to see someone create an upgrade kit for Generations Blurr to give him a better head and better weapons.