Scraplet
From Transformers Wiki
Scraplets are alleged to be the deadliest disease known to mechanical lifeforms in the entire galaxy. It is a complicated form of alien parasite, which lives solely to eat, reproduce, and eat some more.
Scraplets have evolved to resemble pink and blue nuts and bolts, washers and screws. However, when brought into contact with mechanical life, Scraplets instantly and painfully embed themselves into the skin of said creature and rapidly begin to self-replicate. The living metal around a Scraplet quickly corrodes, decaying and cracking away as the embedded Scraplet feasts. This process is painful and inevitably fatal for the infected robot. In a matter of hours, a single Scraplet can reproduce enough to completely infest an average-sized Cybertronian to the point of physical breakdown.
Scraplets are capable of transforming into vaguely humanoid robotic configurations, each capable of elementary speech and reasoning abilities. There are many different forms of humanoid Scraplet; the number of limbs, eyes, fangs, and claws vary, though they are all quite tiny by Transformer standards. They use the locomotion afforded by this mode to spread out from a dead or dying host and infect mechanoids whom they might not otherwise be able to come in contact with.
A mass of Scraplets can also merge into a combined humanoid form. In this form they have enormous strength and agility and a primitive group consciousness. However, this form also carries with it some limitations, as they present a larger target and become vulnerable to conventional assault.
Their sense of vision seems to be based on a combination of heat-seeking and metal-detection which is primarily geared towards identifying edible silicon-based life-forms. Carbon-based life-forms are all but invisible to the Scraplet, and usually of no interest.
It is said that there is a rare chemical of legend that can kill a Scraplet, but this is doubtful.
| “ | They pick you apart from the inside out, going for the small, juicy bits first, fuse by fuse, circuit by circuit, until there's nothing left. And I mean nothing... not even your optics. | ” |
Contents
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Fiction
Generation 1 continuity family
Marvel Comics continuity
Marvel The Transformers comics
Rumble called Sparkplug Witwicky a scraplet as an insult. Prisoner of War!
When Ratbat needed to transport the first prototype Wash and Roll to Earth, he hired a freighter pilot to fly the cargo there. Emerging from warp space in Earth's Solar System, the pilot exited the craft to perform some necessary repairs. As he did, the ship passed through what seemed to be a cloud of space dust. The "dust" rapidly infected the pilot, who lost control of the ship as it crashed on Earth.
Not hearing back from the pilot, Ratbat sent the Decepticon Triple Changers to investigate. They found the stricken pilot near the crashed ship, but didn't get very far in interrogating him about his failure before they too were infected. When Blaster and Goldbug arrived, Blaster landed in the crater and was soon infected as well. The freighter pilot survived long enough to warn Goldbug about the infection, just before his head fell off. The Scraplets charged toward the tasty-looking Goldbug, who was defended by his human friend Charlie Fong. But as the two headed off to try and find a cure, Goldbug hesitated, reluctant to abandon Blaster, and he too was infected. Hours later, the infection was so widespread that Goldbug couldn't continue driving. Crater Critters
Made aware of the infection by Astrotrain, Ratbat decided to take decisive action to contain it. Rather than risk more Decepticon lives, he captured five Autobots and sent them to Earth. His mission for them: use vats of acid spray to destroy all infected Transformers on the planet, Autobot and Decepticon alike!
Charlie Fong pushed Goldbug through the desert to a service station, where the appalled attendants offered him a glass of water. Charlie was shocked when he spilled some on Goldbug to see the Scraplets die and fall off. Holy crap, pinball wizard and a miracle cure: water!!
Before Charlie could grab a hose to "wash his car", the attendants restrained him, thinking he was delusional. Two of the Throttlebots arrived just then, regretfully attempting to destroy Goldbug; only Charlie's interference saved him, as he demonstrated the miracle cure. Satisfied, Rollbar and Wide Load stood by while Charlie hosed down Goldbug, curing him.
Goldbug and company returned to the crash site with two tankers of water to save Blaster, but couldn't do so without also curing the three Decepticons. Before they could take action, thousands of the Scraplets combined into a muscular mauve giant, bashing the weaponless Throttlebots around. Goldbug cured the Decepticons, who used their firepower to bring down the giant, which Blaster then destroyed with one of the acid vats. The remaining water was used to remove the Scraplets which infected the Throttlebots during the battle, and the outbreak on Earth was at an end. The Cure!
When he returned four missing children to their parents on Earth, Sky Lynx likened the humans' outraged reactions to what he'd expect if he had been infected with Scraplets. Monstercon from Mars!
Generation 2
Starscream compared saving Optimus from the Swarm to "stirring up the scraplets nest." A Rage in Heaven!
Classics
Dreadwind worried that he had scraplets in his brain. Games of Deception
Regeneration One
To draw out the Wreckers, Megatron injected Kup with a scraplet virus. Loose Ends, Part 3 When reinforcements arrived, First Aid managed to inject Kup with an anti-toxin, saving Kup's life. Loose Ends, Part 5
Transformers '84
When faced with the possibility of the Coneheads discovering his schemes, Shockwave incapacitated them with a scraplet virus. Secrets & Lies #2 The environmental protocols aboard the Nemesis later cured the trio. Secrets & Lies #3
Dreamwave Generation One continuity
Trailbreaker called Trypticon an "oversized scraplet" during the fight at the Praetorus Wharf. Revelation
2005 IDW continuity
Scraplets are microscopic, but are capable of combining and merging their sparks into larger forms to drive off potential threats. Silent Light Among Prowl's suggestions for ways to execute a captive Megatron was "a single Scraplet taken orally". Chaos Theory Part 1 It was rumored that Ratchet was skilled enough to rewire a Scraplet with his fingers alone. Hangers On A scraplet in a Petri dish appeared in a clip from Rewind's database used as part of a farewell message to Chromedome. The Gloaming On a duplicate Lost Light created by a quantum accident, Ultra Magnus wasn't rid of his Nanocon infection by shrinking Rodimus, Skids, Whirl and First Aid down using Brainstorm's mass-displacement gun so they could go inside Magnus and eliminate all of the invaders, but by using domesticated scraplets. The Road Not Taken
Ratchet would later claim that several Lost Light crew members were at risk of being infected by "super-scraplets", a breed of scraplet with the ability to teleport. First Aid recognized these supposed scraplets as a complete fabrication and an excuse for Ratchet to talk to the crew members in private. Our Steps Will Always Rhyme
While Brainstorm's Contrivance Engine was highly active, an infestation of Scraplets were accidentally transported onto the Lost Light in a crate of sub-space filtered engex. Disoriented and looking for safety, they merged into a form that any Cybertronian would deem harmless—that of a newly-formed protoform. They were discovered by Whirl, Swerve and Nautica, who were taken in by the camouflage. However, circumstances forced Whirl to go and flush the pseudo-protoform out an airlock, at which point the Scraplets altered their form to appeal to him specifically, forming a face of a singular (red) optic and claws for hands. Once again taken in, Whirl hid them inside himself, starving his own spark of energy to make room for them. Later, Nautica discovered their true nature and had them quarantined by Velocity in the medibay, though they retained an affinity with Whirl. Silent Light
Another Scraplet breed was the Red Scraplets, a sub-species the size of a Cybertronian optic. In sufficient numbers, these ravenous creatures could reduce an average-sized mech down to their life cord in under thirty seconds. Like their smaller counterparts, they were capable of combining with one another into larger forms. Filling in the Blanks A Dance Before Dying To cover up his experiment, Brainstorm smuggled a group aboard, hoping to train them to feed on the temporal energy. A Dance Before Dying
After assuming command of the Lost Light, Getaway's attitudes and manipulations soon undid any support he once had. To keep his hold on the ship, he enlisted the employ of Sunder who demanded life cords in exchange for use of his remote mnemosurgery skills. To that end, Getaway bartered with the Scraplets in the medibay and placed them in the ship's oil reservoir, dumping twenty-five "undecideds" to be eaten alive by the creatures. After Riptide had tried to help the Protectobots escape, Getaway threw him in the reservoir after using his nudge gun to make the Hydrobot forget how to transform. Filling in the Blanks Owing to his low intelligence, the Hydrobot proved immune to the gun's effects and he managed to transform to boat mode, evading the predators long enough to launch himself out of the reservoir. Journey's End
After the Lost Light had found Cyberutopia, they discovered it was in fact Mederi. Upon aligning himself with the Grand Architect, Getaway baited a trap for Team Rodimus by flooding Shuttle Bay 4 with the contents of the oil reservoir. The Scraplets then combined into a monstrous form to devour their prey, A Dance Before Dying before Grimlock promptly cleaved them in twain. Undeterred, the predators recombined into a serpentine form only for the Luna 1 Scraplets to recognize Whirl and force the swarm to stand down. Whirl later directed the Scraplets to attack Getaway with the group using Mederi's telepathic field to present themselves as Primus to the escapologist. Once they'd fed on him, the Scraplets combined into a Transformer-sized version of themselves. Lūstrāre Whirl then quarantined the swarm back in the medbay forcing the injured crewmembers to instead be taken to the observation deck. Farsickness
Wings Universe
Tornado disdained organics as being barely more evolved than scraplets. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur
Apelinq and the other Cybertronian Knights considered a mandatory meditation session and lecture from Alpha Trizer to be a worse thing to deal with than, among other things, Scraplets swarming Cybertron. Apelinq's personal logs
Beast Wars cartoon continuity
Wing Saber mentally referred to Steelgrave as "you pompous, arrogant spawn of a scraplet" during his attempted torture on her.
Later, during the raid on the Predacon factory on Nibari, Crossblades mockingly called Thrasher a "Scraplet". The Razor's Edge
2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon
When scanning a Jeep for Rollbar's alternate mode, Gas Skunk boasted that the Jeep's cannon would "make scraplets out of the Autobots!" The Decepticons
Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity
Swindle derisively referred to the Mini-Cons as "scraplets" for fighting back against Decepticon control. Force of Habit
Shattered Glass
Scraplets were a potion designed to heal damaged Transformers. They feasted on dead metal, leaving healthy metal untouched. The metal was either recycled into living metal or more scraplets. They were fatal to zombies. They were usually contained in vials, as the air on Cybertron was loaded with water vapor, which killed them. Dungeons & Dinobots
Live-action film series
Titan Comics Revenge of the Fallen comic
Optimus Prime accused Skids and Mudflap of behaving like "un-housetrained scraplets". Why anyone would housetrain a scraplet is anyone's guess. Reversal of Fortune
Titan Comics Age of Extinction comic
Scraplets were tiny creatures that would latch onto a Cybertronian and feed on the host's electrical energy to multiply. Sojex unleashed a group on Lockdown in an attempt to kill him only for bounty hunter to defeat the creatures using water. With some holographic trickery, Lockdown made it to look like the predators had devoured him allowing him to catch Sojex by surprise. Locked In!
Animated cartoon
Ratbat's advanced sensors allowed him to spot an object as small as a Scraplet from a dozen hics away. The AllSpark Almanac II
Aligned continuity family
The Covenant of Primus
During the Thirteen's first battle against Unicron, a horde of scraplets served as the Chaos Bringer's immune system. The Covenant of Primus
Prime cartoon
Raf thought it to be harmless, and that Ratchet was mistaken, until the Scraplet spotted the Autobots, leapt out of his arms and chewed large scratches into Bumblebee's leg. Raf smashed it, but Ratchet guessed that there would surely be more Scraplets around. His fear was confirmed when they found the empty container, and he sent Bulkhead, Miko, Raf, and Bumblebee to hunt them down while he tried to repair the Scraplets' damage with Jack watching his back. The Scraplets ambushed Bulkhead and Bumblebee and a swarm of them flew down from the ceiling and began chewing on Ratchet. Jack discovered that by using a fire extinguisher, one could freeze the Scraplets to death.
The creatures were initially fended off by the three children, who were not considered food by the Scraplets. The Scraplets had done considerable damage to many systems, and it was up to the children to fix them. They fixed the Energon supply cable that fed the GroundBridge, bringing it back online. The Autobots formulated a plan to both get rid of the Scraplets, and bring back Optimus and Arcee, who were stranded in the Arctic. Activating the now operational GroundBridge, Bulkhead decided to act as bait to draw the scraplets through. Once through, the scraplets darted at Optimus and Arcee, and became frozen before they could reach them. Scrapheap The massive damage they'd done to the base continued to plague the ground bridge's systems for some time. Con Job
There were still plenty of Scraplets on the dead Cybertron. A sizable cluster of them managed to find their way into the passageway beneath Kaon that led to Vector Sigma. When Jack passed through to Vector Sigma, the Scraplets followed him. While they had no interest in him, once the mega computer started charging the Key, the Scraplets started feasting on the empowered access board. Despite Jack's attempts to remove them, the Scraplets proved too many. Fortunately, an Insecticon had also followed Jack down the passageway, but stopped short when it saw the infestation of Scraplets, showing that it too was afraid of them. Jack quickly used this to his advantage by dislodging a live Scraplet and throwing it at the giant insect. Sensing a living Cybertronian, the scraplets quickly went to town on the Insecticon. In a matter of seconds, the Scraplets chewed through the Decepticon sentry's limbs, causing it to fall over into the deep pit below. The scraplets followed the doomed Insecticon as it plummeted. Orion Pax, Part 3
When transporting Tox-En to a volcano to destroy it, Bulkhead stated that carrying the vile Energon was worse than facing Scraplets. Toxicity
Decepticon's Storytime Theater
There once existed an extremely popular Decepticon named Stumble Bee, who accidentally fell into a hole and was eaten by Scraplets. The Story of Stumble Bee
Arms Micron Theater
B.H. was chased around the Arms Micron studio by a swarm of Scraplets and asked C.L. and Arc for help. Arc suggested he lead the creatures somewhere cold, but C.L. pointed out there was no place cold enough in Tateishi. Freezing Transformation!? Terror of the Minicons
Eaglemoss Prime comics
A GroundBridge mishap sent Bulkhead to the site of a Vehicon crashed ship, which was being eaten by Scraplets. After being chased by the little critters for a while, Bulkhead used the Vehicon's corpse to lure them in. As the Scraplets finished their first meal, Bulkhead buried the lot of them in a landslide. Mount Problem!
Rescue Bots Academy cartoon
A while ago, a meteor landed on Earth with chunks of iron ore all around. Unfortunately, this meteor also housed Scraplets, which began eating at the natural metals in the impact crater. They would only be discovered several years later, when Boulder led a class of Rescue Bot recruits on a field trip to the crater. Attacking the class upon their intrusion of their burrows, the recruits were sealed in a cave to keep them safe, though a juvenile Scraplet was sealed with them. The rest were trapped by Boulder, Heatwave and Cody Burns in an ice cream truck lined with fiberglass. The recruits eventually made it out with the young Scraplet, and the entire species was rocketed to a moon with enough iron ore to last them a lifetime. Metal Munchers
Boulder obtained five Scraplets and, believing they could be trained to work with bots, assigned the recruits the task of doing so. The recruits were skeptical but began attempting to train the critters, even assigning them names, however the volotile nature of the Scraplets made them hard to control. Medix eventually stumbled on the fact that they responded to the sound of a Rubber Ducky and was able to rig up a "Ducktaphone" which he successfully used to instruct the Scraplets to prevent a power reactor explosion on Cybertron. How To Train Your Scraplet
Cyberverse cartoon
While attempting to sabotage a game of Cube, Starscream mocked the sport's AI for being designed by Scraplets. Cube
After seizing the AllSpark and Vector Sigma, Starscream had Acid Storm use the latter to reprogram the former and birth forth an army of Scraplets. Dark Birth
Well and truly off his rocker, Starscream claimed the Scraplets were the reborn sparks of ancient Cybertronian legends such as Zeta Prime, Solus Prime, and the noble Megatronus. When Slipstream attempted to flee, the Scraplets lunged at her, one of them managing to cripple her arm, but she still managed to turn to jet mode and escape. Parley
Starscream later led a group of his children to invade the Nemesis, the Scraplets sucking dry the energon of Starscream's former comrades, though Megatron was able to send a distress signal that brought the Autobots to his warship, only to find the sheer number of Scraplets overwhelming. When Optimus Prime and Windblade confronted Starscream on the flagship's bridge, the Seeker claimed that one of the Scraplets was Alpha Trion who wanted the Matrix of Leadership back. Though the Scraplets managed to open the Prime's chest and expose the talisman, they were defeated when Cheetor, who denounced the Scarplets as sparkless beasts, made physical contact with the AllSpark, the energy wave deactivating them and restoring their victims. Starscream's Children
Following this, Starscream captured Cheetor to try and absorb his mystical powers. Needing to test this process, Starscream began transferring Bumblebee's spark into a Scraplet. Cheetor saved his friend by dousing the Seekers in liquid energon, the Scraplets' ravenous appetite leading them to attack their allies. One Scraplet managed to follow the Autobots back to the Ark, being turned over to Wheeljack for study. Spotted
Using his specimen, Wheeljack attempted to use its homing instincts to track down the other Scraplets only for it to run into Shockwave's specimen. The similar idea led to Shockwave kidnapping Wheeljack in a failed attempt to combine their intellect and resources to track down Starscream, but it did provide Shockwave with Wheeljack's drone controller, giving the Decepticons a way to gain control of the Scraplet horde. Bludgeon made his own studies into Scraplet biology and weaknesses, hacking a gaggle of them to pieces outside the Nemesis. Secret Science
The Scraplets were later brought to the AllSpark cavern by Starscream to help him fight off the Autobots and Decepticons that had come to procure the relic. However, during the battle, the Seeker was overpowered and, thus, lost control over the Scraplets. The now-feral beings, despite getting briefly controlled by Shockwave's devices, were presumably destroyed in a cave-in resulting from the aforementioned skirmish. I Am The Allspark
Megatron evidently still kept a number onboard the Nemesis, and the beasts were used to prevent anyone from taking the only route to the Vector Sigma chamber. Battle For Cybertron III As the tide of the climatic battle between the Autobots and Decepticons managed to turn, Optimus punched the Decepticon Leader into the path of the Scraplets, who began feeding off of him. Battle For Cybertron IV
Games
Bot Shots Battle Game!
During battle, Bot Shots were able to summon a swarm of Scraplets to attack their opponent. Bot Shots Battle Game!
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark
Towards the end of the Great War, a neutral scientist observed the Insecticons integrate into the ecosystem of the ruins above the Crystal City, noting that they often mucked about in the acid pools (much to the alloygators' pleasure), and consumed most of the energon (to the Scraplets' misfortune).
When Optimus Prime and Jazz infiltrated Megatron's home base of Kolkular Jazz noted that the base's security (which came in the form of gun turrets), was surprisingly lax and was probably only around to deal with any Scraplets that wandered into the base. Optimus agreed, jovially stating that "even Megatron" had to deal with pests every now and then. Rise of the Dark Spark (console)
Transformers Universe
Drive-By's Metal Fatigue ability infected his enemies with nanites reverse-engineered from Scraplets. Transformers Universe
Transformers Prime: Battle For Energon
The Decepticons used Scraplets to discombobulate the Autobot Headquarter's systems. Bulkhead removed the Scraplets, restoring the base back to normal. Transformers Prime: Battle For Energon
Toys
Prime
- Bumblebee Evolution 2-pack (201?)
- Battle-damaged redecoes of Generations: Thrilling 30 Bumblebee and Prime: First Edition Bumblebee were planned to have been released in an "Bumblebee Evolution 2-pack", and included at least two differently-colored Scraplets. This set was canceled, but painted samples were displayed at HasCon 2017.
 Proceed on your way to oblivion. |
Cyberverse
- Scraplet (Scout Class, 2019)
- Action Attack: "Saw Tooth Spin"
- Cyberverse Scraplet is based on the character's appearance in the Cyberverse cartoon. While the figure does not convert into a vehicle or beast, Scraplet can switch between a quadrupedal and a bipedal stance. Pressing a button behind its head opens the mouth to reveal its inner ring of teeth and activates a spinning gimmick for more jaw-dropping action. The bottom jaw is also hinged to open up further. The back legs are ball-jointed at the hip, but a tab on each limits its range of motion.
- While using round dialogue bubbles for humans and square dialogue bubbles for robots, letterer Janice Chiang used various polygons for Scraplet-speak.
- The Scraplet stories were two of Budiansky's favourite stories to write, though he'd got them confused with Mecannibals.[1]
- The Scraplets in Prime are somewhat different from their earlier portrayals; they lack any alternate mode or combining abilities, they all look the same, and their weakness has changed from water to extreme cold temperatures. Additionally, they can fly as a swarm, and make dentist drill sounds when hungry. They also lack the spontaneous reproduction of the earlier version of Scraplets, although Ratchet's claim that "there's never just one" implies that they are fast breeders.
- Japanese: Scraplet (スクラップレット Sukrappuretto), Minicon (Prime, ミニコン Minikon)
- French: Dévoreur (Prime season 1, "Devourer")
- Hungarian: Csavar (Marvel Comics, "Screw"), Fémzabáló (Rescue Bots Academy, "Metal-Devourer")
- Italian: Scheggia ("Sliver")
