Hans-Cuff

Hans-Cuff is a Guardian. He typically operates on GoBotron instead of Earth, focusing on police and security issues for the Guardians, and liaising with Leader-1 or the Guardian Council.

Fiction

Escape to Planet Earth storybook

Hans-Cuff was one of Security Forces, who caught and imprisoned Cy-Kill and his Renegade group on GoBotron. The prisoners were able to escape to Earth though, having learned how to change their forms. Leader-1 discovered this reviewing security tapes, and then summoned Hans-Cuff along with Dozer, Turbo, Dumper and Pumper to the Command Center in order to give chase. On the journey they also took on vehicle modes, with Hans-Cuff becoming a police car. Leader-1 detected the Renegades after Pete and Nancy accidentally hacked the bad guys' computer systems. The Security Forces were able to force the Renegades into a retreat, and Hans-Cuff watched as Leader-1 honoured their new human chums with medals and the status of honorary citizens of GoBotron. Escape to Planet Earth

Challenge of the GoBots cartoon

Voice actor: Lou Richards

Hans-Cuff was on duty at a Guardian facility on GoBotron with Rest-Q when Cy-Kill, Cop-Tur, and Crasher stole the prototype Astrobeam from a research facility. He gave chase in vehicle mode, firing energy blasts from his lightbar. He was then knocked out by an electric blast generated by Crasher, but recovered enough to take a seat with the Guardian Council soon afterwards as Leader-1 decided the Guardians needed to take decisive action against the criminals, and was at the forefront of the Guardian team sent to capture the Renegade Fortress. Battle for GoBotron. With help from Path Finder and Staks, Hans-Cuff broached the inner citadel and taking Tank, Fitor, Geeper-Creeper, and BuggyMan away for imprisonment. It seemed like being a pyrrhic victory until Leader-1 and his allies on Earth were able to destroy the the fleet of Zods heading towards GoBotron. The Final Conflict.

Along with Blaster and Flip Top, Hans-Cuff was later stationed at GoBotron's Prison Moon where Cy-Kill and other captured Renegades were awaiting trial. With Command Center en route to collect the Renegade leader, the trio escorted Cy-Kill from his cell; however the villain unexpectedly threw one of his wheels at Blaster, who accidentally fired a missile into the ceiling, disabling himself and Flip Top. Hans-Cuff remained functional and attempted to blast Cy-Kill, unaware the missile had also freed Fitor. The Renegade lieutenant jumped Hans-Cuff from behind, knocking him out and taking his power pack. Despite this Hans-Cuff was able to stagger to the airlock and let Leader-1 know of the escape and casualties before collapsing. He was subsequently put into a repair bay by Rest-Q onboard the Guardian ship.Cy-Kill's Escape. While Hans-Cuff played no part in the subsequent events on Antares III he recovered sufficiently to join Leader-1 and Turbo in presenting news of the Master Renegade's return to the Guardian Council. The Fall of GoBotron After GoBotron was returned to normal, Hans-Cuff was one of the Guardians who applauded Leader-1's team when Zeemon honoured them. Return to GoBotron

Hans-Cuff was present on GoBotron when Cy-Kill attempted to attack the planet with Doctor Mobius' inverta-ray, pursuing the Renegade leader and Professor Braxis when Danny Mobius Astrobeamed the pair of villains into the middle of GoBotolis. Genius and Son Later when GoBotron was infested with robotic duplicate Guardians created by Cy-Kill the real Hans-Cuff joined Rest-Q and Zeemon in leading the Guardian counter-attack. Doppelganger He made a rare visit to Earth after Leader-1's Command Center disappeared. After conferring with General Newcastle he took Blaster, Scratch and Small Foot to investigate. They ran into a Thruster commanded by Fitor, briefly suspecting he was responsible for kidnapping the other Guardians, while the Renegades thought Hans-Cuff had kidnapped Cy-Kill and his troops. Mutual scanning and common sense saw both captains realise they were searching for the same thing and the pair struck up a temporary truce, eventually finding their respective leaders when they escaped from imprisonment on Kolob. Gameworld

Along with Night Ranger, Hans-Cuff was on security duty when the Renegades were able to switch Leader-1's team to beta frequencies and use them to seize the Guardian Council. The pair of Guardians arrived just as they were herding the Council out, with Blaster using one of his missiles to slow their pursuit. Hans-Cuff and Night Ranger gave chase anyway, firing on the controlled Guardians but being unable to stop their Command Center leaving GoBotron. Thankfully Nick Burns and Buddy were able to restore the Guardians to their usual selves before the Council were handed over to the Renegades for reprogramming. Whiz Kid Hans-Cuff was then given command of the security for preliminary peace talks with the Renegades at GoBotolis, once again with help from Night Ranger. However, the pair let both the Renegade monster Scales and the suspicious Guardian Turbo past their eagle eyes. He questioned Leader-1's orders to destroy both of the intruders when they were detected, before both were spared when Cy-Kill decided losing Scales wasn't a fair trade-off for having Turbo destroyed. Pacific Overtures He later travelled to Earth via Astrobeam along with Blaster and the Power Suits to help fight the mutated dinosaurs Ichigar, Jerigan and Kaitudan; together with Leader-1 and Turbo he was able to form the Power Warrior Courageous to defeat the monsters. Destroy All Guardians

When Cy-Kill was imprisoned on Elba and Leader-1 became suspicious of an SOS received from the planet he dispatched Hans-Cuff along with Turbo, Spay-C, Fitor, and Geeper-Creeper—the later pair having apparently defected to the Guardians. Alas the team walked straight into a trap as Cy-Kill had talked Royal-T and Street Heat, who had imprisoned fellow guards Heat Seeker and Van Guard. With Fitor and Geeper-Creeper showing their true colours Turbo was thrown in a cell while Hans-Cuff and Spay-C were mesmerised and used as shields when Cy-Kill attempted to use their ship to get past Earth's defences. However, Matt Hunter was able to free the Guardians still on Elba and get a message to UNECOM, alerting the Guardians. In the resulting fuss Hans-Cuff got out from Cy-Kill's control on Earth only to get blasted in the crossfire. Escape from Elba He later joined Zeemon as part of the security detail receiving the captured Fitor on GoBotron. Fitor to the Finish He was later present at a graduation ceremony at the Guardian Academy; when the Red Team revealed themselves to be the Renegade Dread Launchers and attempted to kidnap Zeemon, Hans-Cuff joined the large group of Guardians who chased down Cy-Kill, Crasher and Cop-Tur. Guardian Academy

The Robo Machines comic

Hans-Cuff was one of the Robotron Security Forces personnel to volunteer to join Ex-El on a mission to Earth, pursuing the criminal Stron-Domez. On the way he was given a converting Robo Machine body. The Security Forces arrived too late to avert the Renegades' attack on the town of Cholkham but along with Leader One and Dozer, Hans-Cuff was able to draw them outside the conurbation. There they fought with Stron-Domez's creations Cy-Kill, Tank, and Fitor until Stron-Domez ordered the Renegades to attack a nearby school as a distraction. After helping save the pupils from harm Hans-Cuff struck up an instant rapport with young Charlie Bampton. He offered the boy a lift home but overheard the distressing news that Charlie's parents had been killed in the attack on Cholkham. Hans-Cuff offered the boy a place on the Command Centre, something which was viewed as inappropriate by Ex-El, who considered the Robo Machine's emotional response to be a problem. However he agreed to a plan for the human to act as an ambassador on the Security Forces behalf when the British Army surrounded the Command Centre, with Hans-Cuff driving out Charlie to speak to the ranking officer. However a local farmer opened fire on Hans-Cuff with his shotgun; the shells did the Robo Machine no harm but bounced off and injured Charlie. A furious Hans-Cuff disarmed the farmer and with Leader One's help disabled the soldiers before taking Charlie back to the ship. Rest-Q was able to save Charlie's life but Ex-El berated Hans-Cuff, feeling his response had prevented the Security Forces from forming an alliance with the Earth authorities. The Command Center then relocated to the Midlands to tackle Stron-Domez's attempts to set up a factory to make further evil Robo Machines in Westbridge. After Charlie and Truck had freed the captive workers Hans-Cuff led the Security Forces' ground attack, personally disabling Tank before all of the Renegades bar Stron-Domez and Cy-Kill were captured, taken onboard the Command Centre and disabled. The Robo Machines, Story 1

He was at the controls of the Command Centre when it came under attack from Stron-Domez—who had now rebuilt himself as the monster Zod. Carry-All and Royal-T brought the Guardians time to escape. They later tracked Zod to a junkyard outside London, and Hans-Cuff set out along with Leader One, Turbo, Dozer, Rest-Q, Night Ranger, and Truck to combat Zod, following Carry-All's signal. Leader One got separated but Hans-Cuff and the others found him in time to blast and disable Zod. However the Guardians were then faced with the threat of Casmodon; Leader One offered to release them from their vows but all insisted on attacking the Devil Invader. Their combined firepower failed to even damage the giant though, and the Security Forces were forced to make a fighting retreat to the Command Centre before making for Robotron.The Robo Machines, Story 2

Robo Machine featuring Challenge of the GoBots annuals

When Doctor Braxis created an army of killer wax robots on Earth, Hans-Cuff raised the alarm while the human police fought them, allowing Scooter to take over command of the droids. Meltdown in the Museum Along with Turbo, he pursued Crasher and BuggyMan after they attempted to attack a coastal power station, but he was rammed by a waiting Geeper-Creeper and then struck while converting by Braxis' new freezer beam. Turbo saved the stuck Hans-Cuff from being buried in a swamp, taking his comrade back to the Command Centre. Scooter was able to create a counter beam that returned him into normal in time for Hans-Cuff to join a rescue team helping a cruise liner in trouble off the French coast. Battle of the Beams He later assisted Turbo in preventing Cy-Kill releasing an Exploding Toad from Primus into the street of Sydney. The Exploding Toads of Primus Hans-Cuff later took part in a pitched mountain battle with the Renegades, but their advance was checked when Cy-Kill captured Matt and A.J. as hostages. Thankfully Scooter managed to get take an electricity overdose, grow to giant size and chase the Renegades off. Scooter Strides Out

Hans-Cuff later helped Turbo search the mountains near the Renegades' abandoned Silvermoon mine base. He found nothing but was recalled to the area with Leader-1 and Heat Seeker when Turbo and Nick discovered the Enemy Invaders were in the area, battling Pincher. The Guardians were nearly overwhelmed before the rest of their Earth Force arrived and drove off the Monster GoBots. The Monsters and Mister Grogan He later manned one of the arms of the Battle Suit when it fought the Enemy Invaders in a desert before the Guardians were stopped by the presence of Anya Turgenova and Boris Bulkanikov as Renegade hostages. However, the pair escaped and Hans-Cuff helped drive the Renegades off in a Power Suit and transport the pair back to Russia. The Capture of Comrade Boris Hans-Cuff later travelled to Mauna Mauna to meet Cy-Kill's huge Renegade army, taking on Vamp, Scorp, and Pincher until Flip Top and Good Knight joined him, forcing the Enemy Invaders into retreat. The Battle at the End of the Earth

Machine Men mini-comics

Hans-Cuff was one of the Friendly Machine Men native to Earth when it was targeted by the Enemy Machine Men of Robotron, led by Cy-Kill. Despite Leader-1 devising robot modes for the Machine Men the first attack was a rout. Hans-Cuff was among those who regrouped at the Command Centre and prepared for a counter-offensive, leading a one-Machine Man pep talk where he loudly asked what could be done before immediately announcing they would have to find a way to fight back Space Wars Later in a pitched battle on Earth Turbo tried to help Hans-Cuff when he came under attack from Pincher, Skyjack and Ace (sic). However, Hans-Cuff was knocked out and sent crashing upside-down into the ground. Seconds later the Australian army dropped a nuke on everyone. How this worked out for Hans-Cuff is unknown. Challenge of the Machine Men

Fun Publications

Transformers Timelines

During the Diaspora, Hans-Cuff was dispatched to Level 59 along with an assortment of Guardians and Evil Rock Lords. Cultural Appropriation High Noon

Renegade Rhetoric

Hans-Cuff and his security officers Dozer and Scratch were patrolling the Guardian Council chambers when they responded to a blast. They found the Robo Rebel cadets standing over the prone form of Zeemon, recently blasted in the chest. The Rebels were arrested for further investigation. Rebels Without A Circuit When the Rock Lords visited Gobotron, some suspicious sabotage drew condemnations from Turbo. When Leader-1 was injured in a blast, Turbo assumed command and had Hans-Cuff arrest Rock Roller on charges. On the Rocks

"Brain Problem Situation"

When the Autobot Spy Changers first arrived on Strata 22, Turbo mistakenly assumed they were Renegades. Hans-Cuff was one of the Guardians he assembled to attack and capture the Spy Changers. Brain Problem Situation

"Echoes and Fragments"

In an unstable hybrid universe that incorporated both GoBots and Transformers, Hans-Cuff was aboard a Guardian shuttle bound for Earth when Megatron attacked and hijacked the ship. The Decepticons executed him while seizing the ship. Hans-Cuff only suffered this fate retroactively due to the machinations of Sideways and Gong. When the events actually took place in this hybrid timeline, it was an Autobot crew who were attacked by Renegades. Echoes and Fragments

Go-Bots comic

Hans-Cuff was a mass-produced Go-Bot, with multiple examples in use by police forces. At least one helped investigate Matt Hunter's reports of illegal Go-Bot fights, helping to uncover a massacre led by Cy-Kill. Issue 1 However two were among the Go-Bots who rose up against human rule soon afterwards, opening fire on Matt, A.J., Turbo and Scooter. The pair were chased by the Hans-Cuff units until they tricked their pursuers into following an unfinished road, with the police Go-Bots falling to their destruction as a result. Issue 2

Toys

GoBots

GoBots

• Hans-Cuff (GoBots, 1983)
  • Friendly Robot Police Car
  • ID number: 12
  • Accessories: none

Hans-Cuff was released by Tonka in the first series of GoBots, and converts from robot to Toyota Crown S110 police car in 4 steps. The toy was a repackaging of Police Car Robo from Machine Robo, with English language police door stickers replacing the Japanese text on the original; the extra sticker sheet of the Japanese release was also omitted. Weak points are the arms, where the sliding plastic connectors can work loose and make the limbs sag, and the character's large quotient of painted diecast metal, which makes him extremely susceptible to chipping. The toy has movement at the shoulders and the knees.

• Hans-Cuff was offered in the first-ever assortment of GoBots figures manufactured in 1983 (#7200). The figure remained available as part of the second series' Friendly assortment (#7253), but was discontinued before the third series.
• Bilingual Canadian releases named the figure as C-Curité.

• Learn more about Hans-Cuff at The-Liberator.net

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  1st series card

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  2nd series card

Gift Packs

• Guardian Gift Pack #2 (Gift Pack, 1984)
  • Friendly Robot Police Car
  • Accessories: none

An unchanged Hans-Cuff was included one of Tonka's Guardian Gift Pack #2 sets, with similarly unchanged versions of Royal-T and Dive-Dive.

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  Box

• Guardian 3-Pack #3 (GoBots Gift Pack, 1985)

*Not available in stores This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Hans-Cuff was planned to be included in a Gift Pack along with Scooter and Road Ranger which was advertised in the 1985 Tonka catalogue but was ultimately not released.

Robo Machine

Robo Machines

• Police Car (Robo Machine, 1983)
  • ID number: RM-13
  • Accessories: none

A carded repackage of Police Car Robo, the figure now known as Police Car was released by Bandai Europe at the end of of 1983. The stickers on the doors were updated to English language and the additional sticker sheet of the Japanese version was retained, which included a sticker for the rear window of the car mode. While later catalogues referred to the figure as Hans-Cuff the card for the figure was not updated.

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  Card

Machine Men

Machine Men

• Police Man (Machine Men, 1983)
  • Friendly Robot
  • ID Number: 10
  • Accessories: none

The fourth toy from the second wave of figures, Police Man was released by Bandai Australia in 1983. He remained identical to the original Police Car Robo toy, albeit packaged on a blue backing card.

• Hans-Cuff (Machine Men, 1984)
  • Friendly Robot
  • ID Number: 10
  • Accessories: none

In 1984, the figure was re-released with his GoBots name and faction on a new black backing card depicting a yellow-tinted alien landscape.

Staks Transport

• Staks Transport Collector Pack (Machine Men, 1985)
  • Friendly Robot

An exclusive recolour of Hans-Cuff was released as part of the Australian-exclusive Staks Transport Collector Pack in 1985, alongside repaints of Turbo, Rest-Q, and Buggy Man. While his robotic features remained unchanged, the light bar on the top of the vehicle mode was omitted and replaced with a black plastic strip. The rest of the figure's vehicle mode was painted silver with a black sunroof. Later shipments replaced the figure with an unchanged Fitor.

Notes

• The original profile for Hans-Cuff in the 1984 Tonka 1984 Tonka Catalog stated he was a police sergeant on GoBotron, as well as a skilled detective.
• Hans-Cuff's Cybertronian-style body in the "Cataclysm universe" is modeled on Combiner Wars Streetwise.