Topspin

From Transformers Wiki

• Topspin Meaning
• Topspin Serve Volleyball
• How To Hit Topspin In Tennis

Topspin is an Autobot from the Dark of the Moon portion of the live-action film seriescontinuity family.

Welcome to Topspin Racquet and Swim Club. Information to come. Tennis Camps Registration is open for our After School Tennis Program. For more information. Professional table tennis equipment store for the table tennis player exclusively in India. Quickest shipping, lowest prices, fanatical customer service. Rackets, blades, rubbers.

If it doesn't result in at least a few dings and scraped paint, Topspin isn't interested. To him, buckled and burnt armor are signs of a life well-led. As one of the Wreckers, he's proud of being one tough bot, and is more than happy to wear the scars to prove it. He is sometimes called Volleybot.

Fiction

Movies

Dark of the Moon film

Topspin, Leadfoot, and Roadbuster - collectively called the Wreckers by Charlotte Mearing - had arrived with the second wave of Autobots aboard their ship, the Xantium. Rarely allowed out of the NASA base because of their attitude, they would spend most of their time repairing their ship with help from some human engineers, notably Robert Epps.

When Sentinel Prime announced that all other Autobots were to be exiled or the Earth would face the wrath of hundreds of Decepticons, the three were tasked with preparing their ship for launch. They accompanied Optimus Prime and the others aboard as it lifted into the atmosphere, where it was promptly targeted and blown to smithereens by Starscream, seemingly killing everyone aboard. Despite the loss, the Autobots' human allies planned to launch an incursion into Decepticon-held Chicago.

Fortunately for the humans, the Autobots hadn't actually boarded the ship - rather, they'd staged their deaths in order to keep the Decepticons from following up on their global threat. Topspin and the other Wreckers swung into action immediately, rescuing Epps, Sam Witwicky, and a group of soldiers from a Decepticon fighter and executing the pilot before heading into the battle zone.

While the Autobots were scouting a route to the building containing Sentinel's Space bridge pillars, Shockwave and his pet Driller were able to separate Optimus from his weapons trailer. Optimus ordered Topspin and the other Wreckers to create a distraction so that he could retrieve it; they were successful in drawing the Decepticon's attention by peppering him with automatic fire in their armored racecar modes. When forced to retreat, they unknowingly left behind Wheelie and Brains, who had hitched a ride with them. When Optimus became entangled in a construction site's exposed cables, the Wreckers managed to free him before rejoining the battle. They were later seen fighting against Devcon. Following Optimus's execution of the enemy leaders, Topspin stood with the other survivors, accepting that Cybertron was gone forever and that Earth was their new home. Dark of the Moon

Age of Extinction film

After the battle for Chicago, Harold Attinger's 'Cemetery Wind' began hunting down the Autobots in addition to the remaining Decepticons on Earth. Topspin received a message from Optimus Prime, instructing all Autobots to flee for their lives.

Five years later, Optimus questioned Topspin's absence, to which Hound replied that it was uncertain if anyone else evaded Cemetery Wind. Age of Extinction

The Last Knight film

Voice actor:Steven Barr (credited as 'Volleybot'), Zhang Yaohan (Chinese), Raymundo Armijo (Latin-American Spanish)

Over 5 years after the Chicago war, Topspin (now sporting a beard) was among several Autobots that were granted asylum in Cuba. He constantly pestered Seymour Simmons to play volleyball with him; at one point, he had been badgering Simmons during an important phone call with someone, which led to visible annoyance. Still, once the call was over, Simmons went to the beach with him. The Last Knight

The Creation Revoltech!

Topspin and the other Wreckers cheered Optimus Prime on when he used the power of the Revoltech Unit to send Megatron packing. The Creation Revoltech!

BeCool shorts

Blue Sports Car (青のスポーツカー Ao no Supōtsu Kā) was part of the audience of Quiz! BeCool. The Story of Quiz! BeCool

Games

MechTech Weapons Challenge

Bumblebee could use Topspin's combat claw to aid him in his missions to retrieve MechTech weapons technology stolen by the Decepticons. MechTech Weapons Challenge

Bot Shots Battle Game!

Topspin participated in numerous one-on-one matches against other Autobots and Decepticons, using his fists, his sword, or his gun to defeat his opponents. Sometimes, he even faced off against himself! Bot Shots Battle Game!

Toys

Dark of the Moon

Cyberverse

• Autobot Topspin (Cyberverse Legion Class, 2011)
  • Series:1
  • Number:004
  • Japanese ID number:CV10

Part of the first wave of Cyberverse toys, Topspin is a Legion-scale figure that transforms into a NASCARSprint Cup Chevy Impala stock car, specifically Jimmie Johnson's Lowes and Kobalt sponsored #48 car. Like the other NASCAR-based DOTM toys, both versions of Topspin lack the multiple small 'contingency' sponsor decals found on a full-sized NASCAR racer.

He's pretty much a shellformer with a two-step transformation and very limited articulation. As a consequence, his robot mode is very small compared to the Legion Class toys of his two fellow Wreckers. In addition, unlike the his two fellow Wreckers, his vehicle mode is an unchanged version of the real-life stock car he's based on, even though the movie depicted all three Wreckers with their weapons permanently exposed in vehicle mode. Thus, he stands out next to Leadfoot and Roadbuster in both modes.

The stock photos depicted on his packaging (see also the image to the left), which feature a hand-painted prototype, show him with his forearms/hands swapped compared to the final toy: In the stock photos, it's the right hand that's an articulated claw while the left hand is sculpted to hold Cyberverse weapons or clip onto C joint bars, whereas the respective arms can be found on the opposite sides on the final toy. The instructions, which depict an unpainted resin prototype, match up with the final toy, thus implying that the prototype used for the stock photos was misassembled.

Deluxe Class toys

• Autobot Topspin (MechTech Deluxe Class, 2011)
  • Japanese ID number:DA10
  • Accessories: MechTech blaster/combat claw, two small guns, two large guns

Part of the second wave of Dark of the Moon Deluxes, Topspin transforms into a heavily modified version of the same #48 Sprint Cup car as the Cyberverse Legion toy, with two sets of two differently-sized removable guns mounted onto 5 mm post holes on the roof and sides of the vehicle. As part of the MechTech series, he has a blaster that converts into a 'combat claw', and this weapon, as well as his four removable guns, can be used by other Dark of the Moon MechTech toys or any other Transformers toy with 5 mm post holes. The back halves of his vehicle mode can be folded back together into a more compact kibble backpack.

Though he has prominent claws on his arms, Topspin does have fists sculpted onto his forearms.

The Japanese release comes packed with a character card and an accompanying transparent plastic card of his MechTech weapon for the MechTech Wars online game.

• Autobot Armor Topspin (MechTech Deluxe Class, 2011)
  • Japanese ID Number:
  • Accessories: MechTech blaster/combat claw, two small guns, two large guns

A redeco of the Deluxe Topspin, 'Armor Topspin' now is cast in light gray, gunmetal, and black, and has Kobalt Tools as his primary sponsor instead of Lowe's. He does, however, have Lowe's and Spring logos on his body. His MechTech weapon has now been redecoed to be completely black.

• Autobot Team Racers (Targetexclusive MechTech Deluxe Class 2-pack, 2011)
  • Accessories: MechTech blaster/combat claw, two small guns, two large guns

This two-pack was originally represented at the BotCon 2011 Hasbro slide show by stock photography of an unaltered deluxe Topspin (as a new character named Twin Twist) and, uh, Human Alliance Leadfoot. It has since been announced to be canceled along with some of the other US releases. A later eBay auction of this unreleased two-pack revealed that Leadfoot (now the Deluxe Class toy) would have come with an completely unaltered Topspin figure (instead of Twin Twist), while Leadfoot himself would have featured his sponsor logos, such as the bullseye logo on his gut.^[1]

Robo Power

Activators

Topspin Meaning

• Autobot Topspin (2011)

Released as part of the Robo Power subline of Activators, Topspin features a one-step transformation: squeezing down on his orange exhaust pipes will cause him to transform into robot mode, and squeezing down again on them will transform him right back into vehicle mode. Topspin features articulation at his shoulders, and has both pincers and hands molded onto his arms. Although he has his NASCAR logos in place (including the Lowe's and Sprint Cup logos), his windows are unpainted.

Topspin was released in an open package that allowed children to touch him. Transformation was prevented by way of twist ties and a plastic tray.

Bot Shots

• Autobot Topspin (2012)
  • Series: 1
  • Number: B011
    • Fist strength: 660
    • Blaster strength: 470
    • Sword strength: 490

Part of the third wave of Bot Shots.

Topspin's main car body, arms and legs are also used by Bot ShotsBarricade, Bumblebee, Lockdown, Mirage, and Prowl.

BeCool

• Blue Sports Car (Topspin) (2012)
  • ID number: B09

BeCool 'Blue Sports Car' is practically identical to the Bot Shots Topspin toy, the only difference being that his stickers don't depict power levels but instead drawings of his vehicle mode, a couple of tires and a gas pump.

Generations

Movie Edition

• Autobot Topspin (Tiny Turbo Changer, 2020)
  • Series: 5
  • ID code: C

Released in series 5 of the Movie Edition Tiny Turbo Changers, 'Autobot Topspin' is a small, minimally-painted soft-plastic figure that transforms from armored stock car to robot in just a few short steps. He comes in a blind-packed bag, 2 per case of 24 figures; luckily, the ID code indicating the figure inside is stamped into the lower-right corner of the back of the bag. Since his hands are big clamps, he has two small post holes sculpted on his wrists so he can still hold 3 mm weapons like many other Tiny Turbo Changers.

Series 5 only barely made it to retail. Very few retailers and virtually no online outlets offered this Series, and the few places they could be found, like Target, apparently got very very few of them.

Studio Series

• Topspin (Deluxe Class, 2020)
  • ID number: 63
  • Takara ID number: SS-56
  • Takara release date: September 26, 2020
  • Accessories: Left & right machineguns, two clamps, 'Chicago Warzone' backdrop

Part of the tenth wave of Studio Series Deluxes, this iteration of Topspin is heavily accurate to his appearance in Dark of Moon, transforming into a heavily-armored version of Jimmie Johnson's #48 NASCARSprint Cup Chevy Impala stock car, albeit without the Lowe's/Kobalt logos (as Lowe's had stopped sponsoring Johnson after his disastrous 2018 season, the first where he went winless). In robot mode, his clamp accessories are designed to peg neatly just behind his wrists, and while the machineguns cannot peg on the underside of his forearms (where they go on the movie model) you can at least get close by pegging them into the holes on the clamps. In vehicle mode, the machineguns go just behind his doors and the clamps store on his car-mode underside. He also includes a cardboard backdrop display depicting a war-torn Chicago.

Although this figure is mostly a brand new mold, he shares some parts with his fellow Studio SeriesRoadbuster: his elbows, hands, rear wheels and double-ended shoulder kibble joints are the exact same molded pieces, just in different colored plastics.

His guns (including the top two on the roof of the car that aren't removable) and clamps are cast in very soft plastic and may be deformed right out of the package. They can be brought back to intended shape by dipping them in boiling water for a few seconds or applying a little bit of heat with a hairdryer.

The tips of all four of Topspin's guns are compatible with blast effect pieces from any of the figures released in the War for Cybertron Trilogy toylines.

Merchandise

Speed Stars

Mini-Vehicles

• Autobot Topspin (2011)
  • Series:Stealth Force
  • Number:3 of 5

A repaint of the concurrently released Leadfoot from the same line, Topspin is a weaponized NASCAR stock car with a newly molded relief sculpture of his robot mode on the vehicle underside. Topspin's Speed Stars toy and packaging art are strange. It uses Leadfoot's vehicle mode for the most part, with the minor alteration of Topspin's hood armour, and of course, the Jimmie Johnson Lowes sponsored #48 car deco.

As with other Speed Star vehicles, the figure displayed on the back of Topspin's card has several color variations compared to the final product, such that the figure on the cardback is much brighter in several regards:

• The cardback depicts greyish weapons being mounted on the vehicles, while the final product mounts weapons that are almost black.

• The cardback depicts a bright blue and an equally bright red, while the final product uses duller shades. The result is that while the robot mode on the final figure is almost the same color as the black backing, the robot mode on the cardback is clearly visible.

• The cardback depicts white paint on the lip of the car, which is clearly visible above his head in robot mode; this strip is absent on the final product.

Stealth Force

• Autobot Topspin (Basic, 2011)

Stealth Force Topspin is a non-transforming (to a robot, that is) stock car. Instead, he features an attack mode of sorts, wherein pulling or pushing his spoiler will deploy/retract various weapons from his rear wheels, running boards/door halves, side windows, front wheels, and hood. He uses decals for the 'LOWE'S' marking on his trunk, and for the small sponsor markings near his front wheels.

Notes

• Like his fellow Wreckers, Topspin appears to be patterned after a sunglasses-wearing, big chinned, majestically mulleted NASCAR fan stereotype.
• According to a profile during FOX's coverage of the 2011 Daytona 500, the real-world Topspin prop car has 510 horsepower and a 11:1 compression ratio. The real NASCAR #48 has 850 horsepower and a 12:1 compression ratio.
• As part of the promotion for Dark of the Moon, the film prop versions of Topspin, Roadbuster, and Leadfoot made appearances at the 2011 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20. They appeared both off the track as display cars, and on the track, participating in the ceremonial first lap.
  • As an aside, FOX commentator Mike Joy referred to Topspin as 'Wrecker', which is the name of his team, not the character's actual name.
• Early working names for him included Tempest and Warpath.^[2]
• In January 2011, an Idaho newspaper^[3] announced Bill Fagerbakke as the voice of a 'Chevy Impala stock car' that would appear in Dark of the Moon (presumably meaning one of the three Wreckers, who share that base altmode). Why Fagerbakke did not end up voicing any of the Wreckers in the final cut of the film is unknown. Considering Topspin never spoke in the film, it's possible his voice would have been provided by Faggerbakke had he been in the film.
  • Since then, Topspin was the only one of the three Wreckers (and for that matter, the only new Autobot in the third film) not to have any spoken lines. That is eventually fixed six years later in The Last Knight, where he speaks in a Southern accent.
• Despite showing kibble based on Jimmie Johnson's Lowe's sponsored Chevrolet Impala SS, his concept art shows him with the headlights of a Toyota Camry.
• In The Last Knight, Topspin somewhat inexplicably sports Leadfoot's head. This may be because, as Topspin had no dialogue in Dark of the Moon, his own head model had never been rigged to speak, but this is purely conjectural.
  • When the film was released, it was unclear whether or not 'Volleybot' was meant to actually be a new character or Topspin. A later Transformers Fan Favorite poll held on the Transformers Movie web site credited Topspin as appearing in both Dark of the Moon and The Last Knight, along with using a picture of Volleybot as his mug shot, confirming that Volleybot is in fact Topspin.^[4]

Foreign names

Topspin Serve Volleyball

• Japanese:Topspin (トップスピン Toppusupin)

References

How To Hit Topspin In Tennis