Kup Triple "T," Sgt. Slaughter & Leatherneck

Listen up, maggots! Cobra and the 'Cons are striking at us harder than ever. But they're gonna think twice after we whip you recruits into shape. Slaughter-Bot-style training starts at 0600. As a small vehicle without any particularly thin protruding parts or easily lost pieces, the Triple "T" tank is pretty easily found in good condition, and thus has a spot in lots of Joe fans' collections. So it's much more recognizable than its dearth of outside media appearances would normally warrant, and may have influenced why such a random thing was chosen to be the fourth GIJ/TF Collaborative release. The Triple "T" (it stands for "Tag Team Terminator," because it seemed to be Sgt. Slaughter's personal ride) is a vehicle that perfectly encapsulates the GI Joe design philosophy: a cool look, but absolutely zero practical thought put into it. Even if we ignore the name and don't try to think of this as a "tank" tank - ie, a fully armored assault transport - it's the most unsafe battlefield unit imaginable. The driver is entirely exposed, without even a windshield of imaginary bulletproof glass to stop enemy shots or a roll cage in case the thing flips over. It can only carry two additional passengers, and then only if they hang onto the outside. It may have a rotating gun and a removable missile on each side, but this is less something you'd take into a war zone and more like one of those cool all-terrain wheelchairs some national parks have. The details in the sculpt are true to the 1986 toy, but there's more paint, even discounting that everything that used to be stickers is now tampographed. To convert the Triple "T," fold up the towing hook, pop out the flaps by the cockpit, hinge up the front end, drop the tips of the tank treads, unhook the arms underneath, swing the front half of the treads around to the front to form legs, unfold the toes, wrap those flaps from earlier around the sides of the shins, rotate the vehicle's nose 180° and tip in the two small panels on its sides, swing the back half of the treads up to the back, bring out the arms, lift a flap above the engine to pull the head out, collapse the halves of the torso together, put the arms into place and rotate them around. The way you have to turn the tank treads to get them lined up against the robot's back can be confusing until you're used to it, but overall this is a fun process. And there's no partsforming this time! If choosing the Triple "T" to be the fourth collab vehicle seemed weird, choosing Kup as the robot is even weirder. The first three were big stars like Megatron, Bumblebee, and Soundwave, and now we jump all the way down to Kup? If you asked Transformers fans to guess what bots would make an appearance in this line, Kup probably wouldn't even make the Top 20 list. He is more of a soldier than a lot of Autobots are, so it does make a modicum of sense, but he's still a rather random character to pick. The shape of the Triple "T" really suits Kup's classic design: the way the tank's hood angles in looks a lot like the way the old truck's windshield looked. Hasbro's chosen to give the robot parts the green coloration of his original model sheet, rather than the blue of the toy. And the cartoon. And the comic. It wouldn't have been our choice, but it is more "military," so it makes undeniable sense. The tank's weapons can be stored between the treads on Kup's back, which makes for a nice look. Kup doesn't suffer from the extreme hollowness some of the previous figures have had, and most of the joints are ratcheted to compensate for the extra weight. Kup moves at the knees, thighs, hips, waist, wrists, elbows, biceps, shoulders, and head. The blasters from the tank can be used as handheld pistols in this mode. The black panel on the robot's back can fold down, creating a platform for figures to ride on, and revealing two computer terminals for them to use. Is the implication that Kup is so old he still needs to have external programming input in order to function, while younger bots are all internal? Like last year's release, Kup includes two retro-carded figures: Leatherneck and Sgt. Slaughter. Looking at his filecard, Leatherneck is a Marine and a sergeant, just like Slaughter; Kup's Generations toy identified him as a sergeant as well; does that mean he's also a Marine, like they are? Obviously I have no interest in these figures, since they're crappy G1 O-ring molds, rather than anything good or interesting, and serve no purpose other than to inflate the price of the toy by including useless junk. But this style of Sarge has never been available carded before, so that's at least mildly interesting. Although he never really hung out with Sgt. Slaughter, Leatherneck was likely picked for this set (over any of Slaughter's Marauders or the Renegades) because he appeared on the vintage Triple "T"'s box art. There's more vertical space to deal with on this box, so instead of riding on the side, he's instead painted standing next to the tank and aiming his gun. Sarge is still sitting at the controls, because he's too good for walking. Megatron and Soundwave, our two Decepticons, were exciting and well-made figures; Bumblebee, our one Autobot until now, was half-baked at best. But the release of Kup proves it's not just that the Autobots are going to be crummy! He's a lot of fun, looks excellent in both modes, and changes between them nicely. Sucks to suck, 'bee, but for a character and a vehicle nobody ever would have picked, the Triple "T" Kup turned out far better than expected. -- 02/14/25 How far outside the Top 10 would you have placed any of these characters? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.