Bowser and Blitz

Bowser and Blitz are cartoon characters in the C.O.P.S. (Central Organization of Police Specialists) animated series from Hasbro which ran from 1988-1989.

Character Profiles

Bowser

Bowser (Real name: Officer Rex Pointer, former member of the Chicago PD K-9 Unit) is the best animal handler around. He has an affinity for animals, especially dogs. With the help of his canine companion, Bowser is able to collar and restrain the most dangerous of crooks around. According to the comic adaptation, Bowser's first dog from his boyhood days was Maxie, whom Bowser reminisces about while being traumatized by the destruction done to Blitz by Rock Krusher. Bowser is seen in a dog handler uniform colored in two shades of blue in the cartoon and one part blue and the other part orange in both the toys and the comics. He also has a thick mustache that's either colored black in the cartoon or orange in both the comics and the toys.

Blitz

Bowser is never without his loyal robotic companion Blitz, a state-of-the-art K-9000 cybernetic dog with a police light on top of his back that flashes around when out on a chase. He can think intelligently like a human being and can jump extremely high. In "The Case of the Blitz Attack", we find, through Mainframe, that Blitz was once a normal dog, who years ago, along with Bowser, was chasing after a getaway car that eventually spun out of control. Noticing a little girl coming into the path of the getaway car, Blitz jumped out and push the girl out of harm's way, only to get creamed by the vehicle that crashed into a concession building a second later. Just like Bulletproof, Blitz was given a cybernetic body to help save his life.

In the toy and the comic series, he has a large gun attached to his right side which he used to blast at any target at will.

Bowser and Blitz share many similarities with "G.I. Joe" human-canine duo, "Mutt & Junkyard". Both Mutt and Bowzer have the same build, hair, and thick moustaches. Their dynamic with their canine partner (or in Bowzer's case, android-canine partner) were also very similar. This is due to the fact that the filecards for both G.I. Joe and C.O.P.S. were written by Larry Hama.

Character Highlights

The Case of The Blitz Attack

Bowser loves his robot dog so immensely that a lot of times, he would have to risk everything to save his companion from harm. In "The Case of The Blitz Attack", Bowser had to do that when Dr. BadVibes creates a dog whistle-like device and used it to control Blitz, forcing him to hamper the C.O.P.S.' efforts to catch a crook and to save the mayor's house from a fire started by Berserko to lure the C.O.P.S. team to where BadVibes used the whistle to force Blitz into tearing up the fire hose, preventing the fire fighters from putting out blaze. Blitz was brought to the laboratory of Dr. Gregory Thomas Adams who claims there is an irreplaceable glitch inside Blitz who has to be dismantled because of it. Bowser refuses to buy into Adams' claim, knowing very well that there's nothing wrong with him. And it's a good thing -- Adams' claim is all a lie. Berserko forced Adams to lie to the C.O.P.S. about Blitz to dispose of him as a direct retaliation for thwarting an attempt made to get away with a case full of stolen diamonds.

Despite orders not to interfere, Bowser sneaks into the lab, rescue Blitz, and tried to sneak out only to find Mainframe catching him in the act who then joins Bowser and Blitz as they head off to Empire City University to rescue Dr. Adams, who revealed the truth about Blitz to Bowser and Mainframe, from Berserko and Dr. BadVibes who tired to use his whistle device to force Blitz into attacking his friends. But Blitz, with Bowser's help and encouragement, resisted the sound of the whistle and proves to everyone that Dr. BadVibes cannot really control Blitz after all, unlike his robotic machines such as Buzzbomb. BadVibes out of frustration toss the whistle away. Then, Berserko angrily fires a laser gun to dispose of Bowser. But, Blitz saved his life by deflecting the shot that bounced around rupturing the pipes in the university gym's locker room, spraying out steam that covered Berserko and BadVibes' escape. Mainframe brought Dr. Adams outside to safety while Bowser went in to rescue Blitz, who got injured when he deflected the laser away from Bowser, and bring him outside. Blitz was then repaired and became Bowser's "new" partner as Bulletproof puts it who then joins Bowser as he droves away to carry out his 2 week discipline duty assigned to him by Bulletproof.

The Case of The Criminal Mall

In "The Case of the Criminal Mall", Bowser and Blitz along with Mainframe visit a brand new mall where a super computer brain, that controls the mall's theft-proof security system, becomes in danger of being stolen by Dr. BadVibes and Buzzbomb. Just as Bowser and friends were able to corner BadVibes, robotic palm trees that were part of the security system capture the C.O.P.S. and hold them captive until Buzzbomb's theft of the brain, causing the system to go haywire, freeing Bowser, Blitz, and Mainframe from the bonds of the palm leaves. Blitz is able to take off and catch the brain that is running from BadVibes and Buzzbomb, who are hot pursuing it just before crashing into Berserko and Rock Krusher also running away from one the security robots that's also gone haywire along with everything else.

Mainframe and Blitz were sent to take care of the brain while Bowser handled the crook clean-up. Blitz helped Mainframe to get through the doors that were uncontrollably opening and closing by holding onto the doors long enough for Mainframe to pass through. She made it to the main room, where she reattached the brain to the main system, causing the chaos to instantly stop.

Mr. Keen, in charge of security, arrived after he got word of what happened and said he learned a valuable lesson: No computer, no matter how smart, could ever replace a human being. Blitz barks and Bowser affirms that there's nothing wrong with having a computer as a man's best friend. With that, everybody laughed.

The Case of The Baffling Bugman

In this episode, Bowser, Blitz and Mainframe were investigating a robbery at the jewelry store when they came upon Gaylord, the Bugman's prized bug, who was left behind during the last heist and was picked up by Mainframe, who created a radio transmitter in shape of a diamond and had Gaylord carry the diamond all the way to the old run-down house where she and her friends finds the Bugman all tied up by Buttons McBoomBoom who ran off with The Bugman's swarm of trained bugs and the device that controls them, afterwards, leaving the Bugman at the mercy of the wrecking ball that's destroying the old buildings to make room for newer buildings in the area. The C.O.P.S. and Gaylord came to the rescue and set free the Bugman, who told them about what had happened. He claims he never wanted to be a criminal in the first place and agrees to show them where the crooks are hiding out at so they can rescued the bugs and nabbed the crooks along the way.

Arriving at the hideout, Bowser, Mainframe, and Blitz radio the C.O.P.S. for back-up and the team spring into action with Mace yelling, "It's Crime Fighting Time!!!". The C.O.P.S. Bugman and Gaylord follow Nightshade and Buttons to their hideout, where they tried to quietly sneak up on them but the Bugman's noisy, nervous babbling alerted the crooks to spring the trap and caged Mainframe, Bowser, and the Bugman. Buttons even trapped Blitz underneath a large power magnet as well. As the 2 crooks plan their next heist, Gaylord flew out of the cage and opened the safe to release his buzzing companions who gave the 2 crooks a hard time and freed Blitz from the magnet. Blitz pins Buttons to the floor as the rest of the C.O.P.S. team stormed in to free Bowser, Mainframe, and the Bugman from the cage and arrest Nightshade and Buttons for jewel theft. The Bugman tried to escaped to with the loot, but was caught by Bowser who placed him and his trained bugs under arrest.

The Case of The Prison Break-In

Bowser and Blitz are inseparable. But there were a few occasions where Bowser had to part with Blitz for a while just like they did in "The Case of The Prison Break-In" where Bowser went undercover as a prison inmate name "Mad dog" and infiltrate Graystone Prison and found out that Rock Krusher was planning to take over the prison and use it as his personal fortress hideout where he came up with a plan to use a special device known as the Neutron Pulverizer to disintegrate City Hall unless his demands are met by 6:00 in the evening.

As Krusher proceeds to carry out his plans, Bowser sneaks into the control room and informed the rest of the C.O.P.S. team about Krusher's plan just before Krusher came and destroy the communication device cutting off all communication in the process. The C.O.P.S. begin to worry about their friend and what to do to stop Krusher's plan until BulletProof had an idea. "We'll Break into the prison the same way prisoners break out." he suggested and that's what they did. Mace and Barricade broke in through the laundry truck, Mainframe and LongArm broke in through the ventilation shaft, and Blitz was able to break in just by tunneling in through the walls.

Blitz dug his way into prison and went after Krusher, who climbed up the Neutron Pulverizer to escape from him. Undaunted Blitz raced several floors upward and made a huge leap in the air and lands himself on Krusher's back just as a fight ensues between Krusher and Bowser on the cockpit of the device after he realizes who "Mad Dog" really is thanks to Blitz who put Krusher into prison a while back. Mainframe freed the guards and a huge brawl erupted between the guards and the inmates that eventually ended with Bowser blasting the device to get their attention and shouting out to the inmates, "Freeze! We're C.O.P.S.! You're All Under Arrest!" And the guards cheered out their victory. Back at the precinct, Bowser mentions to everyone that Blitz thinks just like a human being. With this attribute, Blitz is able to dig himself into prison the same way inmates dig themselves out and save the day, including his best buddy Bowser.

The Case of The Lying Lie Detector

Blitz can also detect lies with great accuracy and barks whenever he hears a lie. In "The Case of The Lying Lie Detector", however, Blitz is installed (by the crooks) with a device that causes him to do the opposite of what he's supposed to do. Thankfully, it was corrected with the right fixings allowing Blitz to help his teammates rescue Mayor Davis from being held hostage by the crooks.

The Case of the Bulletproof Waldo

Blitz, who knows the real Bulletproof, is the only COP member who can easily identify Waldo, a robotic clone of Bulletproof, as a faker by growling and barking at him when Waldo tried to pet him. Noticing that something could be wrong with him, Bowser went to check on Blitz's circuitry when he heard a distress signal coming from Blitz that was given out by the real Bulletproof, who was in trouble in Turbo Tu-Tone's garage. Bowser and Blitz raced to where the signal was coming from and arrived there in the nick of time just before a robotic insect dismantle Bulletproof's body chip by chip. Blitz destroyed the insect while Bowser freed Bulletproof from a huge magnet. The three C.O.P.S. sped back to the precinct, where Bulletproof sent the faker to the scrap heap. "Bulletproof?" Hardtop asked pointing to him, seeing Blitz running up to greet Bulletproof, receiving a warm stroke from him.

Bulletproof responds: "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. cheered knowing that the real Bulletproof had returned and head off to successfully thwart the bank robbery and arrest Turbo Tu-Tone for being responsible for it.

External Links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8UBb7TZP-A The Case of the Blitz Attack Part 1] from YouTube
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdFH3lB3R1k The Case of the Blitz Attack Part 2] from YouTube
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_wOqfwrGaQ The Case of the Blitz Attack Part 3] from YouTube