Baldwin P. "Bulletproof" Vess

BulletProof is a cartoon character in the "C.O.P.S." (Central Organization of Police Specialists) series from Hasbro which ran from 1988–1989.

Character profile

BulletProof is not just a protagonist and the main character of the series, but he also is, hands down, the best federal agent there is, the founder and commander in chief of C.O.P.S., and the most beloved, revered, and highly esteemed of all C.O.P.S. BulletProof (renamed “Armoured” in the Brazilian version) is a selfless, strong, caring, dedicated leader, an inspiration to the C.O.P.S. team, who’s extremely loyal to his men, his city with all of its inhabitants, and his job, and never lets them down, not even once. He is an African American, the first African-American leader and the only C.O.P.S. officer to appear in each and every episode in the series. He is easily distinguished by dark sunglasses he wears almost all the time (except on one occasion, when he’s in a hospital bed bandaged up like a mummy after being seriously injured in an accident set up by Big Boss’ Crooks in Part 1 of “The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1.” Afterwards, the only time when he’s seen with his sunglasses off is when he’s working at the desk in his office—two examples of this can be found in “The Case of the Big Bad Boxoids” and “The Case of the Missing Memory”).

He’s also distinguished by his trenchcoat yellow shirt, and narrow tie covering his stainless steel cybernetic armor suit that has a special computer jack, allowing him to control machines just by plugging himself into them. An example of this can be found in Part 2 of “The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1” where he tries to replenish the Ultimate Crime Machine’s energy before making a rough landing in front of the precinct. Also, he has special compartments located in the abdomen area of the torso that stores up special disks that can short circuit any robot or machine the crooks have up in their arsenal. Examples of this can be found in "The Case of the Bogus Justice Machine" where Bulletproof uses the disks to destroy the instant justice robots sent to take him and his C.O.P.S. down by Vargas at the Vetrocon factory and in Part 2 of "The Case of The Big Boss’ Master Plan," where Bulletproof uses one of his disks to destroy Dr. Badvibes’ remote control headband device that controls a fleet of high tech jet fighting planes. Bulletproof has short black hair and wears a yellow shirt with a narrow black tie, carrying a gun holster with a gun inside of his trenchcoat on his left shoulder (in the cartoon), and carries a handcuff suitcase (in the toy series). He also wears reddish-brown pants, and black and white shoes (brown pants and brown and white shoes in the toys series and the comics). Sometimes he wears an orange hat, as shown in "The Case of Big Boss’ Bye Bye."

Origin

Special Agent Baldwin P. Vess is sent to Empire City by Mayor Davis to take down one of Empire City’s most notorious criminals led by the criminal mastermind Big Boss. Unfortunately, Vess got injured badly. Two versions were made of how he got injured by the Crooks: the first involved being sandwiched in between a getaway van posing as a moving van and a brick wall that collapsed on him afterwards (as told in the first part of "The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1") and the second having him being blown away when Turbo Tu-Tone fired a bazooka at the 647 Precinct on the floor where Vess was, as told in the comic adaptation. Vess had to be taken to a nearby hospital where the doctors gave him a special armor plated cybernetic torso that allows him to resist bullets. While at the hospital he encounters Rock Krusher and Berserko, Big Boss’ dim-witted nephew (Berserko, Turbo, and Ms. Demeanor in the comic adaptation), who are sent by Big Boss to try to take him down by firing rifles at him, but Vess’ torso resists the bullets, allowing BulletProof (as he was called later on) to get the best of him while Rock Krusher and Turbo escapes. While staying at the hospital, BulletProof tells Mayor Davis to send out some of his men from the ECPD on a special mission to round up the best law enforcers from all over the country to form a team that will help him fight back against Big Boss and his criminal thugs.

Mayor Davis did just that and sends out Police Sergeant P.J. O’Malley (codename: LongArm) and rookie officer Donny Brooks (codename: HardTop) to gather together Stan Hyde (codename: Barricade), David Harlson (codename: Highway), Walker Calhoun (codename: Sundown), Suzie Young (codename: Mirage), Hugh S. Forward (codename: Bullseye), Rex Pointer (codename: Bowser) and his robot dog, Blitz, and Colt Howards (codename: Mace) from all over the country for this special purpose. With these men and women, along with LongArm, Hardtop, and Tina Cassidy (codename: Mainframe), who along with Hardtop, was recruited later on as a reward for saving the day and helping the C.O.P.S. team thwart the first of many of Big Boss’ schemes, Special Agent Baldwin Vess (codename: BulletProof) became the proud founder and commander in chief of C.O.P.S.

Major highlights

The Case of the Bulletproof Waldo

In this episode, BulletProof came face-to-face with a clone version of himself that Dr. BadVibes had created: a robotic clone that was controlled and operated by a small robot named Waldo which tried to use him to replace the real BulletProof and give C.O.P.S. a hard time. Turbo Tu-Tone sneaked into BulletProof’s green car and seized control over it, leaving BulletProof trapped inside it all the way to his garage, where Turbo used a large power magnet to pin BulletProof way up in the air.

Then, Waldo went to the precinct and assume the role of the real BulletPproof with Big Boss and BadVibes keeping a close watch on him through the monitor. When the coffee is brought out for the C.O.P.S. to drink, Waldo, out of curiosity, splashes hot coffee in his ear for an unpleasant experience to see what coffee is like, not liking it at all, and then smashes the cup on the table. The C.O.P.S. look up. Waldo assures them that everything is fine.

He then tries to pet Blitz, Bowser’s robot dog companion, who came in wanting attention. Blitz, however, who knows the real Bulletproof, is the only C.O.P.S. member who can easily identify Waldo as a faker. He growls and barks at him when Waldo tries to reach out to pet him. Bowser goes to calm him down and assure him that everything is all right. Bowser checks on Blitz’s circuitry only to see nothing wrong with him. That’s when he hears a distress signal coming from Blitz being given out by the real BulletProof, who sends out a distress signal from his cybernetic torso.

Mainframe complains to Bowser about BulletProof ordering the team around and not being himself. This gives Bowser the suspicion that there is an impostor roaming around the precinct and the real BulletProof is in trouble. So, Bowser and Blitz go to rescue the real BulletProof who is still being held inside Turbo’s garage.

As Bowser and Blitz track down where the signal is coming from, Turbo, at Big Boss’ orders, tries to dispose the real BulletProof by sending a small robotic insect to dismantle his robotic body chip by chip while he goes out to rob a bank. Fortunately, Bowser and Blitz arrived right in the nick of time to rescue BulletProof and dispatch the bug, which tries to make a getaway. Blitz catches the bug and destroys it while Bowser frees BulletProof from a huge magnet and together, the three C.O.P.S. race back to the precinct to oust the faker, who hears an incoming report from Mainframe about a bank robbery. Waldo declares the report a fake and orders the team not to respond. When the C.O.P.S. protest, Waldo starts yelling at them, threatening suspension if they don’t do as he says. Taken aback by the harshness of Waldo, the C.O.P.S. team suspect that this is not the BulletProof they know and love. The real BulletProof would never yell at them, restrain them from doing their jobs, nor give out harsh, cruel orders to them. Just then, the real BulletProof, Bowser, and Blitz arrive.

“There the impostor! Arrest him!” Waldo demands. “No way!” Mainframe calls out defiantly. Blitz barks aggressively at Waldo. “I’ll show you who the impostor is!” the real BulletProof yells back, and a fight between the two BulletProofs ensues that ends shortly afterwards with BulletProof tricking Waldo into flying through the window and falling five stories down to the concrete pavement, screaming like Big Boss all the way. With that, Bulletproof sends the faker to the scrap heap.

“BulletProof?” Hardtop asks as they point to him, seeing Blitz running up to greet BulletProof and receive a warm stroke from him.

BulletProof: “There is a robbery in progress at the Empire National Bank. Proceed there at once. IT’S CRIME FIGHTING TIME!”

The C.O.P.S. cheer, happy that the real BulletProof has returned. With that, the C.O.P.S. gleefully head off, arriving at the bank just in time to bag Turbo and send him all the way to the slammer.

Mainframe: “Welcome back, sir.”

External Links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf_4inNhB4o The Case of the Bulletproof Waldo Part 1] from YouTube
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrT-NJE3gxA The Case of the Bulletproof Waldo Part 2] from YouTube
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEgYZ8j-GGc The Case of the Bulletproof Waldo Part 3] from YouTube
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccuh40TURNQ The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1 part 1] from YouTube
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-7AjFzAmQ4 The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1 part 2] from YouTube
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q_KERkdAIo The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1 part 3] from YouTube
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51qsr_eGDwc The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1 part 4] from YouTube
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA52KCPdtwk The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1 part 5] from YouTube
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhk_JHFV3mA The Case of C.O.P.S. File #1 part 6] from YouTube