Tap-Out (Universe)
| This article is about the boxer from Generation 1. For the boxer from Animated, see Tap-Out (Animated). |
- Tap-Out is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
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
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 Reformatting. 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.
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
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 was not dead, 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
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.
Generation 1
- Cliffjumper (Keychain Mini-Vehicle, 2001/2003/2007)
- In 2003, Takara released all four of the keychain Minibots (Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Windcharger, and Brawn) 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.
