Tap-Out


 * 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.

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 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. 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 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.

But when they returned to their homeworld, it had changed during their absence into a technorganic paradise by the Great Reformatting. 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.

Tap-Out and Skywarp had actually been transported to another reality; they were now among the many Cybertronians held prisoner within the Cauldron, forced by Unicron to fight each other so that the Chaos-Bringer may feed on the sparks of the losers. 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 technorganic Cybertron.

Tap-Out joined Optimus Primal's Children of Primus against Razorclaw's Minions of Unicron, and he was present during the final battle in the Pit. As he and Longhorn watched Rhinox finish off Tankor, Unicron himself began falling apart beneath them.

Wings Universe


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. They didn't fare so well, as their corpses were later seen as reinforcements arrived.

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