Tap-Out (Universe)

Tap-Out is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.

He's gonna fight Banzai-Tron at the next UFC.

Tap-Out spent a long time as a prisoner of the Decepticons, forced to do battle in the grease pits of Polyhex for the amusement of his captors. Frequently taking the place of others in his captured unit, Tap-Out ended up taking the lives of his fellow Autobots, which left scars he still carries to this day.

Eventually freed by an Autobot strike force, Tap-Out has become more determined to prevent the loss of innocent life. He generally maintains an air of upbeat good humor, admirable for someone who went through the horrors he did, but the anger and pain do come through at times. Should he think his charges are being threatened, he will rush in with fists flying almost without a second thought, which has led to a few confrontations and misunderstandings that could easily have been avoided.

Still, most appreciate his dedication to saving lives, particularly those who have little combat ability themselves. And Tap-Out's incredible grappling skills, which have surprised many a Decepticon due to his small stature, have put many a would-be threat face-first in the dirt.

Fiction

3H comics

Two decent folks in a universe full of jerks.

After the defeat of Unicron, Rodimus Prime sent several groups of Autobots on survey missions to prevent any more catastrophic surprises. Tap-Out (who came with high recommendations from Kup) acted as bodyguard for Glyph. Their ship, the Sojourner's Passage, crashed on Archa Nine. Tap-Out and Glyph were the only survivors, forced to use their wits and the friendship of the natives to survive for hundreds of years.

Many years after the Beast Wars, the Wreckers happened upon an Autobot homing beacon. After landing, CatSCAN unintentionally came into conflict with the native Akalouthans; Tap-Out immediately came to their defense. Ramulus, Apelinq, and Primal Prime in turn arrived to aid CatSCAN. Glyph soon arrived and sorted the whole thing out; Tap-Out apologized to CatSCAN and wished him no hard feelings.

Glyph revealed that the Akalouthans' society revolved around a powerful object called the Divine Light, which would become of great interest to the Wreckers. Cyclonus, however, betrayed the Wreckers and made off with the Divine Light. Betrayal While the Wreckers prepared to follow, Glyph opted to remain behind. Tap-Out was vehement that he was staying too, until CatSCAN volunteered to remain behind as well, and Glyph reminded him that the planet had never truly been home for him. The two shared a touching farewell as Tap-Out joined the Wreckers on their journey.

On the unnamed icy planet that was the Wreckers' next destination, Tap-Out stayed behind to guard the ship alongside Skywarp and Tigatron. They were assaulted by a squad of Sharkticons, but the trio made short work of the invaders. With the Wreckers' newest "member" Al-badur in tow, they finally made their way back to Cybertron. Disclosure

But when they returned to their homeworld, it had changed during their absence into a technorganic paradise by the Great Transformation. The Quintessons had seized the opportunity to invade the planet, but Primal Prime assured Tap-Out and the others that Cryotek was their only concern. Primal Prime, Apelinq, Ramulus, and Tigatron left them to find Cryotek, leaving Tap-Out and the others to take their injured to safety before joining the counterattack forces on the ground. Instead, their shuttle took heavy damage and descended in a ball of fire and smoke. Tap-Out reluctantly abandoned the ship with the rest, save Skywarp, who appeared to be selflessly sacrificing himself for them all. But Tap-Out forgot that Skywarp was a teleporter, and was annoyed that his quick eulogy was ruined by the Decepticon's survival. The group disregarded Primal Prime's orders and descended into the layers of Cybertron to find Cryotek.

Mini-Cars, attack!

Their battle with Cyclonus was cut short when orange sparks shot out from the walls of their battlefield and penetrated both Tap-Out and Skywarp, but left nothing, not even corpses. Though Cyclonus wished he could take credit for their apparent demise, he could not. The reason for their disappearance was a mystery, and circumstances demanded the battle continue. Wreckers: Finale Part II

Tap-Out and Skywarp had actually been abducted out of their own universe; they were now among the many Cybertronians held prisoner within the Cauldron, forced by a wounded Unicron to fight each other so that the Chaos-Bringer could feed on the sparks of the losers to repair himself. Abduction Freed by Trailbreaker and Silverbolt, he, Brawn, and Wheelie helped keep the madness-infected Sideswipe and Sunstreaker apart so they would stop fighting each other. He escaped the prison-dimension and ended up on his native technorganic Cybertron. Escape Homecoming

Some time later, Tap-Out had joined Optimus Primal's Children of Primus against Razorclaw's Minions of Unicron, and he was present during the final battle of the Universe War in the Pit. As he and Longhorn watched Rhinox finish off Tankor, Unicron himself began falling apart beneath them (as a result of the Unicron Singularity). He presumably escaped along with his fellow raiders through a portal back to his home technorganic Cybertron. Revelations Part 2

Wings Universe

SPOILERS: I'm the black redeco of me.

Tap-Out was part of Powerflash's Stealth Team, as part of the Autobot Elite Guard. Their victories included attacks on Deathsaurus's projects in Gygax. Wings of Honor Bruticus profile

On one of his first missions, Sprocket wound up getting his processor scrambled. Tap-Out and the rest of the Stealth Team wound up breaking him out of an Iacon mental institution so that he could rejoin them on their missions. Sprocket's Wings of Honor profile

After word came through that the Decepticon Warlord Gutcruncher had taken an interest in a particular asteroid and was trying to find a way to reach it, the mission to find out why was assigned to the Stealth Team. As part of the plan they cooked up, Tap-Out was coated black with electronic paint and adopted the name "Dealbreaker" so he could pose as a Neutral looking to offer the Decepticons the use of the Darklon. They took the bait, thanks to Tap-Out's fancy talking. Soon after takeoff, the Autobots subdued the Decepticons and locked them in the brig.

Once the ship arrived at the asteroid, Tap-Out headed to the brig, only to be whacked by the newly escaped Gutcruncher. Feigning unconsciousness, he saw the Decepticon plant a bomb on the ship, and was able to move the bomb before turning himself in to Roadgrabber as the Decepticons had taken control. While the other Autobots and Decepticons investigated the asteroid, Tap-Out was tied up and guarded on the ship. He thus wasn't exposed to the asteroid's strange energies, and was still able to transform during the later fight when the Stealth Team overcame the Decepticons. The bomb he had relocated destroyed most of the asteroid when it exploded, and he later explained what he'd done to Sentinel Major during the debriefing. A Team Effort

Tap-Out and the Stealth Team were on hand to defend Elite Guard headquarters with Sentinel Major when the Combaticons returned leading Deathsaurus's troops. The Coming Storm: Part 5 They didn't fare so well, as their corpses were later seen as reinforcements arrived. The Coming Storm: Part 6

Several million years later, Tap-Out had somehow come back to life, and served in the Wreckers as Primal Prime's second-in-command during a Quintesson invasion of Cybertron. BotCon 2014 Primal Prime customization class bio Years later, the Wreckers were reformed to protect Cybertron's interests through the galaxy, and Tap-Out returned to his previous rank. Apelinq's personal logs, 2014/06/18 He noted in a log entry that he was glad the crew was comfortable enough with each other to play pranks, and that having been dead before, he knew of worse fates in life. Tap-Out was presumably aboard the Rodimus Major when it disappeared into a spatial anomaly. Apelinq's personal logs, 2015/01/07

TransTech

Tap-Out, Primal Prime, and Ramulus walked in a group, part of a bigger crowd of countless off-worlders in Axiom Nexus's Under City on the morning of the Waruder invasion. Cybertron's Most Wanted

2019 IDW continuity

First appearance: Transformers Valentine's Day Special

I sure hope turbonerds find this attractive!

Phew! They do!

A former gladiator, the Nominus Edict and its closure of the arenas put Tap-Out out a job, even as he and Apeface tried to rejuvenate interest in the sport. After Apeface called it quits, Tap-Out was approached by Glyph to be her bodyguard during her mission to SDS-359. When the two arrived, the natives took great offence to Glyph's words, unleashing a reptilian monstrosity on the two Cybertronians, Tap-Out killing it with an uppercut, winning the love of the natives. For the next few cycles, Tap-Out continued to fight more monsters, killing them all and becoming the planet's champion. One evening, Glyph asked him to use his popularity to speak to the natives, lest they be forced to return to Cybertron. Opening a dialogue only succeeded in unleashing a massive tentacled beast which Glyph rushed in to slay. The act allowing Glyph to speak to the natives, the two remained on SDS-359 for a while before returning home, Tap-Out assuring his friend that he wouldn't miss the planet as long as he was with her. Transformers Valentine's Day Special

After returning to Cybertron amid civil unrest, Glyph volunteered to help restore the Titan Net, so Tap-Out and Steeljaw came along to provide security. Tremors However, they were forced out of the Titan Hub when the Decepticons overthrew the Senate. Enforcers for Megatron cleared out Tap-Out and the crew he was protecting, replacing them with loyalists. War World: Hunt Tap-Out eventually made his way out of Iacon when it fell to the Decepticons. He joined the Autobots in Crystal City and underwent the Rite of the Autobrand. Lord of Misrule: Sea of Rust I

Tap-Out and Glyph ended up at Darkmount, presumably departing Crystal City with the non-combatants before the Decepticons' siege. He fought under Hound to defend the city from the ever-hungry swarm of Insecticons. Termagax arrived with a plan to deal with the Insecticons. Tap-Out was defensive when Termagax said she needed Glyph for part of a high-risk undertaking, and then bristled when Termagax suggested perhaps someone had surpassed Glyph as a data programmer since Termagax last looked. The Landscape of Fear This "data-bomb" would reprogram Insecticons to attack the dangerous rust worms, but it would need to be manually uploaded into a functional Insecticon. Tap-Out was assigned to Hound's unit again for a bug hunt, and he had a touching departure from Glyph before they both went to work. Radical Time It was a harrowing fight, battling the swarm while trying to take one alive, but Tap-Out, Hound, and Road Rage made it happen, and the Insecticlones were repurposed. End of Time

Tap-Out and Glyph were among the passengers on the last Ark as it fled from Decepticon-controlled Cybertron. Fate of Cybertron

Toys

Expanded Universe

• Tap-Out (Mini Vehicle keychain, 2002)

• Accessories: Keychain

A forest-green and gray redeco of the Fun4All keychain version of Cliffjumper (with the chain proper detached and placed in a separate baggie), Expanded Universe Tap-Out transforms into a "penny-racer"-proportioned Porsche 924 Turbo. He came in a simple poly-bag with a bio card inserted, done in the style of the original Generation 1 "Action Card" trading card series.

Tap-Out was available to pre-registrants at BotCon 2002, coming as an unannounced freebie in each preregistration package. He was later made available for individual sale on 3H Productions's web-store.

The original version of this mold was used to make Carrera, and was also retooled to make Hubcap.

• More information on Tap-Out at TFU.info

Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers

Also pictured: Some red guy.

• Cliff (Keychain Minibot, 2003)

In 2003, Takara released all four of the keychain Minibots (Cliff, Bumble, Charger, and Gong) for the Japanese market in both their original decos, and in an exclusive all-black coloration. As the boxes are blind-packed boxes, you don't know if you've got a black variant until you open 'er up.

• More information on black Cliff at TFU.info

Notes

Also pictured: Some gold guy.

• A bot who looks a lot like Tap-Out appeared as part of Galvatron's army of resurrected warriors in issue #4 of Heart of Darkness.

External links

• Tap-Out's archived BotCon Online profile