Tap-Out (Universe)

Tap-Out is an Autobot from the Universe portion of 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 threats face-first in the dirt.

Fiction

3H comics continuity

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 reveled 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 When 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 in finding Cyclonus. Disclosure

Later, Tap-Out was one of the many Cybertrons held prisoner within the Cauldron. Freed by Trailbreaker and Silverbolt Escape, 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 technorganic Cybertron.

Toys

Expanded Universe

• Tap-Out (Mini Vehicle keychain, 2002)

A forest-green and gray redeco of the Fun4All keychain version of Cliffjumper, 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's web-store.

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

External links

• Tap-Out at TFU.info

From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.