Scraplet

This is the face of genital herpes.

Scraplets is 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 in 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 together 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.

It is said that there is a rare chemical of legend that can kill a Scraplet, but this is doubtful.

Fiction

Marvel Generation 1 comics

Rumble called Sparkplug Witwicky a scraplet as an insult. Prisoner of War!

So... just how long have these things been hanging out in the infinite void of deep space, waiting for a living robot to pass by that exact spot?

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 wide-spread that Goldbug couldn't continue driving. Crater Critters

Scraplet reproduction. Woo!

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!!

And you thought girls had cooties...

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.

"NOBODY steps on a church in my town!"

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!

Dreamwave Generation 1 comics

Trailbreaker called Trypticon an "oversized scraplet" during the fight at the Praetorus Wharf. Revelation

The Razor's Edge

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

Shattered Glass

Scraplets were a potion designed to heal damaged Transformers. They feasted on dead metal, leaving healthy metal untouched. The metal is either recycled into living metal or more scraplets. They're fatal to Zombies. They were usually contained in vials, as the air in Cybertron's Shatterverse is loaded with water vapor, which kills them. Dungeons & Dinobots

Titan Magazines Revenge of the Fallen comics

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

Animated

Ratbat's advanced sensors allowed him to spot an object as small as a Scraplet from a dozen hics away. The AllSpark Almanac II

Prime cartoon

So now we know what Mecannibal babies look like.

The Scraplets were frozen in a large container in the Arctic. The Autobots, wishing to research the container, brought it into their base, only to have the Scraplets chew through their prison and escape. The Scraplets, who are very susceptible to cold, had been unthawed by being brought into the base. Raf, while investigating the base, discovered a Scraplet scuttling around, and thought it was an Autobot pet. He decided to play catch with the creature and threw a bolt, which the Scraplet promptly devoured. Raf carried the scraplet to the inner area of the base where Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Ratchet were waiting. They saw the creature and told him the damage it could do to them. Raf thought it to be harmless, and that Ratchet was kidding, until the Scraplet leapt out of his arms and chewed large scratches into Bumblebee's leg. Ratchet knew more Scraplets awaited and sent Bulkhead, Miko, Raf, and Bumblebee to hunt down more 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.

Where's Pinkie Pie's Parasprite Polka when you really need it?!

The creatures were 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 ground bridge, bringing it back online. The Autobots formulated a plan to rid of the Scraplets, and bring back Optimus and Arcee, who were exploring the Arctic. Activating the now operational ground bridge, Bulkhead decided to act as bait to draw the Scraplets through the ground bridge. Once through, the Scraplets darted at Optimus and Arcee, and became frozen before they could reach them. Scrapheap

The damage they'd done continued to plague the ground bridge's systems. Con Job

IDW Generation 1 comics

Among Prowl's suggestions for ways to execute a captive Megatron was "a single Scraplet taken orally". Chaos Theory Part 1

Notes

• 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 are two of Budiansky's favourite stories to write, though he'd got them confused with Mecannibals.