Scrapmetal (transformers)

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The Scrapmetal are characters in the fictional Transformers universe, appearing in the cartoon and toy series Transformers Cybertron.

The Scrapmetal are an army of drone-like, mutant mechanical lifeforms. While they bear the Decepticon symbol, they serve neither Megatron nor Starscream, and act not unlike swarms of vicious insects. They come from worlds neighboring Cybertron, and swarmed to the planet when it was abandoned during the black hole crisis. They were faced down by the Cybertron Defense Team, who wiped out a large number of them. However, the Scrapmetal population clearly survived, as shown by the swarm that attacked and nearly killed Crumplezone. Later, a destroyed Scrapmetal was used by Coby to create his own pilotable Transformer, the "Cobybot". They all transform into "spider-tank" vehicles, and come in varieties of red, blue, and yellow.

The Hasbro official website describes the yellow Scrapmetal toy as "only one of billions of mindless Terrorcon drones that infest Cybertron and hundreds of other worlds. Mutated by exposure to the power of Unicron, these creatures live only to breed – devouring entire worlds of raw materials used in the construction of their offspring. The containment and destruction of Scrapmetal vermin is one of the key objectives of the Autobot mission, because even just one Scrapmetal left functioning can destroy a planet."

However, the Hasbro website has this to say about the red Scrapmetal toy: "Scrapmetal is little more than a beast. Once, they were merely a dangerous breed of mechanical vermin from the depths of Cybertron, but he and his Terrorcon brethren have been mutated by the power of the black hole. Much larger than they once were, and far more dangerous, these creatures now swarm on the surface of Cybertron, led by Scrapmetal, who has gained the ability to reason and plot. Now that he has tasted the power that comes with command, his only desire is for more power." suggesting that at least one of the Scrapmetal is a sentient character. However, this may simply be a strategem employed by Hasbro to help sales of the product.