Morphobot

Day of the Robo-Triffids.

The Morphobot is a species of mechanical plant which appear completely white with its structure divided into parts of five; namely, five roots, a five-toothed maw which opens when food arrives, and five tentacles. The tentacles themselves possess two sharp claws each, which are capable of extending and grabbing distant prey. The Morphobots are known to attack mechanical forms of life, but seem to be drawn towards robotic insectoid species.

The life cycle of the creatures begins with the adult creating a series of spores that covers the entire body of the Morphobot. These spores are spread across any prey that passes the Morphobot and fails to be consumed. As time goes on, the spores grow rapidly into a series of tendril vines which mature into a small form of the adults and finally into adults themselves.

Morphobots are extremely resilient, capable of surviving in the depths of space and even being frozen by liquid nitrogen; breaking through the ice after being frozen. Weapon fire is also useless against them and, in some cases, they even reflect the energy back at their enemy. Strangely, they are somewhat repelled by certain forms of loud music.

The history of the Morphobots was mostly unknown except that they were believed to be extinct by the Transformers. It was later uncovered that they launched themselves into space in a desperate bid to find more sources of food.

Fiction

The Transformers cartoon

Feed me, Seymo—oh, I'll just help myself!

Cosmos along with Bumblebee and Spike journeyed to Floron III to get some Robotic insecticide that the Autobots needed against the Decepticon Insecticons. As Cosmos was attempting to depart, he was engulfed by some tentacles from an asteroid below though he managed to escape not realizing that some spores had latched on to his body. As he journeyed back to Earth, the spores grew quickly into adults which caused Cosmos to crash, but not before ejecting his two passengers.

When Optimus Prime and the Autobots arrived, they saw that the small vines had grown into a forest of the creatures which had covered Cosmos and prevented him from escaping or even transforming. Numerous attempts were made to kill the creatures in order to reach Cosmos, which included weapon fire from Warpath, and Ironhide using various chemicals including liquid nitrogen to freeze the creatures with no success. However, Blaster's music managed to repel the creatures and allowed an open path towards Cosmos.

The Insecticons and their Insecticon Army arrived when the Decepticons and Autobots were fighting one another but sighted the "forest" of Morphobots, unaware of what the creatures were and attempted to feast on the mechanical plant life. However, as they approached, the Morphobots went into a feeding frenzy, destroying the entire Insecticon army and almost killing the original three Insecticons, who only just managed to escape.

Despite their aid against the Decepticons, the Morphobots were launched by the Autobots into space in the direction of a planet inhabited by mechanical insects. However, the samples being studied by Perceptor in his lab had grown and were overrunning the laboratory... Quest for Survival

The AllSpark Almanac

Botanica got rid of a Morphobot infestation on Daffodil II. The AllSpark Almanac II

Transformers Go! Go!

When Bumblebee was puzzling over what to give Optimus Prime as his birthday present, Wheeljack suggested a Morphobot. It promptly tried to eat Bumblebee, so Bumblebee refused the offer. The Commander's Birthday

Notes

Foreign names

• Japanese: Morphobot (モルフォボット Morufobotto)