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 gangs 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.

Reception
Rupert de Paula writes that "C.O.P.S. centred on the story of Baldwin ‘Bulletproof’ Vess, a sort of techno Elliot Ness, and his crusade to bring down Brandon ‘Big Boss’ Babel, the cat-loving, iron-fisted mafia godfather of Empire City."