Insecticon clone - Transformers Wiki

The name or term "Insecticon" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Insecticon (disambiguation).

Insecticon clones are a type of mass-produced Decepticon drone from the cartoon portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

The Insecticons have the ability to make clones of themselves (sometimes called Insecticlones^[1]) out of scrap metal.^[2] They have abilities similar to those of the Insecticons themselves, but lack the intelligence and individual initiative needed to be effective without the guidance of the Insecticons. If the beams controlling them are interrupted, they will disintegrate.^[1]

The Insecticon clones as known are:

• Salvo
• Shothole
• Zaptrap

Fiction

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

On the island of Bali, the Insecticons were feeding off of human farmland when confronted by Skyfire, Windcharger, Brawn, Bumblebee, and Spike Witwicky. Being outnumbered, the Insecticons created clones to defend themselves. Bombshell destroyed a combine with an "insectishell". Shrapnel and Kickback^[3] then created clones from the resulting scrap metal using "electronic clone beams". With the clones, the Insecticons were now more than a match for the four Autobots who then fled into the cover of the crops.

Later, after the Insecticons teamed up with Megatron, the Insecticons left their clones in the control of Megatron to help take over an oil refinery. The Insecticons themselves went to prevent the Autobots from following them. The Autobots arrived at the refinery anyway and there was a battle. The clones had Bumblebee and Spike surrounded when Trailbreaker used his force field to interrupt Shrapnel's control beam. The clones crumbled. A Plague of Insecticons

The Insecticons teamed up with Megatron once again and created a vast number of new clones to serve as the Insecticon Army. The Insecticons and their clones feasted on farmland as a way to harvest energy which was then extracted from them using an Energon Transfer Machine. The Insecticon Army was too powerful for the Autobots so Optimus Prime sent Cosmos, Bumblebee, and Spike to Floron III to pick up some robotic insecticide. On the way back, Cosmos was contaminated with Morphobot spores. When Cosmos returned to Earth, he crashed and the spores rapidly spread an infestation of Morphobots to a valley. Megatron warned the Insecticons not to come near the valley because they were vulnerable to the robotic insecticide. The Insecticons reasoned that Megatron was lying to them to keep them away from some source of energy and went to the valley anyway.

Megatron had destroyed the robotic insecticide, but when the Insecticons saw the Morphobots they thought they would make a good source of energy and the entire Insecticon Army descended for what they thought would be a feast. The Morphobots feasted on the clones instead. Only the Insecticons themselves made it out alive. Quest for Survival

Under the command of Megatron, the Insecticons and some clones were eating a city. The Protectobots evacuated the city, allowing the Autobots to destroy all the clones. The Revenge of Bruticus

Wings Universe

The Sweeps, being rebuilt from dead Insecticons, possessed a limited form of the cloning ability, accounting for the limitless supply of them. Menagerie #3

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

For unknown reasons, Shockwave sent Bombshell, Kickback and Shrapnel to Earth, where they set up a hidden base of operations in and around San Desto, California. The long period of isolation and unique insectile alt modes didn't help their sanity much, and Bombshell began concocting even weirder experiments than normal. Using artificial growth pods, he managed to synthesize techno-organic clones of each of the "Insecticons" in their insect modes, and took over San Desto. A group of Autobots and Earth Defense Command operatives came to investigate, but rapidly found themselves outnumbered. Infestation

It was bug-squashing time for the Autobots, as they wadded through dozens of Insecticlones looking for the real Bombshell. Jazz uncovered the "nest" and torched the remaining techno-organic larvae before any more could be hatched, but there were still plenty of bugs to go around. Ultimately, it was the rookie named Bumper who came up with the idea to send a disruptive pulse back through one of Bombshell's cerebro-shells, disrupting his control over ALL the drones at once. Extermination

Descent into Evil

In a future era, Deathsaurus sought to resurrect the latent Insecticon cloning capabilities in what was left of the former Insecticon clan. For this, he recruited Buzzclaw and Dirge and extracted from them the genetic codes to make the Virulent Clones. Virulent Clones' bio

My Little Pony/Transformers

After arriving in Equestria, the Insecticons produced a number of clones, which helped the main trio eat their way through Sweet Apple Acres farm until Applejack and her family chased them off. Strength in Numbers

2019 IDW continuity

During the War of the Threefold Spark, the Insecticons cut a deal with Shockwave to let him examine whether they were viable candidates for cloning, in the hopes that creating an unstoppable swarm would allow them to feed their endless hunger by devouring everything on Cybertron. Escape Part Two Escape Part Three Although Shockwave had previously perfected the cloning process using advanced alien technology provided by his benefactor Exarchon, and found that their unique physiology made them more than suitable for the process, he was wary of what the three could do with an entire army at their disposal and hid his conclusions from the trio. Escape Part Two

In the years that followed the end of the War of the Threefold Spark, after Megatron's smuggled the banished Shockwave back to Cybertron, Shockwave set about creating an army of Insecticon clones using parts obtained from a number of off-world proxies, most notably a cell of organ-harvesting "splice-thieves" led by Spinister and Soundblaster. From these parts, Shockwave created a number of Insecticon clones, Storm Horizon Part 3 but declined to inform the original three Insecticons of his scheme. When the Insecticons returned to Cybertron, Bombshell pushed Shockwave to restart his cloning project, but when Shockwave stalled for time the Insecticons went rogue and simply stole Shockwave's cloning machines. Escape Part Two With the help of their mind-controlled slave Skystalker, the three relocated to an immersant Titan in the Cybertronian Mountains and turned it into a central base of operations. By harvesting living metal from the surface of Cybertron and fuelling with the high-quality energon their bodies naturally metabolized, the three Insecticons could create a limitless army of mindless Insecticon clones. Escape Part Three Their cheaply produced, shoddily made clones were little more than mindless monsters, lacking both high-quality sensors and the ability to assume a robot mode, but what they lacked in individual strength they more than made up for in the ability to overwhelm their foes with sheer numbers, End of Time Sea of Rust I and, like their progenitors, possessed the ability to metabolize whatever they ate into an ultra-potent form of energon. Escape Part Five

Within a matter of cycles, the three original Insecticons created thousands of clones, who in turn began turning the Titan's corroded internal workings into a vast "hive" that housed the bulk of the Insecticon swarm. When Shockwave's agents Rage and Hydradread breached the hive and attempted to assassinate the three Insecticons, they were unprepared for just how many clones they'd created. When the Titan Emissary hit the Cybertronian Mountains, the impact disturbed the clones and caused them to swarm en masse towards the largest source of energon they could find—the city of Darkmount and its fleet of Ark-class vessels. Escape Part Four In their first engagement against the Autobots, the clones swarmed the city, killed Powerflash, and nearly toppled the enormous Leviathan before Straxxus launched the two Arks ahead of time and inadvertently drew their attention. The swarm attacked the second Ark, which carried most of the energon Straxxus had stockpiled, and inadvertently triggered a chain reaction that destroyed both the second Ark and most of the swarm. The remaining survivors limped back to Darkmount, where Bombshell ordered his minions to begin feasting on the wounded clones, harvesting their energon to create more clones in turn. Escape Part Five

Over the next forty cycles, swarms of feral Insecticon clones continued to menace Darkmount and the surrounding regions. Test Flight I The clones became a regular nuisance to the remaining defenders of Darkmount and the organic refugees they protected, and the city's Autobot defenders continually repelled their assaults upon the city as their reserves dwindled. The Landscape of Fear

Eventually, Shockwave and the Insecticons agreed to a truce; as a result, when the Decepticons caught wind of Termagax's mobile fortress near the Sea of Rust, Shockwave contacted Bombshell and ordered him to take out the fortress—safe in the knowledge that the task would significantly weaken Bombshell's clone army. The full might of the Insecticon swarm exhausted Termagax's ammunition reserves, but the clones could not penetrate the walls of the building before Autobot reinforcements arrived and eliminated the swarm. Sea of Rust II

Still eager to feast on Darkmount, the Insecticons continued to attack the settlement but were consistently pushed back. With their reserves dwindling, Termagax observed an Insecticon carrying a rust worm, which gave her an idea on how to defeat them The Landscape of Fear While Blaster and Glyph worked to create a high-density data-bomb, Hound secured a specimen while Novastar's team tracked the Insecticons to their primary nest in the Cybertronian Mountains. Radical Time After taking out the majority of the swarm by sacrificing House, Termagax and the Autobots were able to reprogram the Insecticons to feast on the rust worms and end two threats to the planet at once. End of Time

Alternate future

In a post-apocalyptic future where Exarchon ruled supreme, swarms of Insecticons supported Exarchon's army of Skywarp clones in a battle against Bumblebee's ragtag resistance. Test Flight II

Games

Transformers Roleplaying Game

Multiple Insecticon drones were present in the secret Cobra cybernetics lab nicknamed “The Joint”. Con Fusion Lord MindWaveZ controlled a swarm of Insecticons, which defended the Apex from outside assault. Worlds Collide: Battle for the Multiverse

Toys

Collector's Edition

• Insectron Clone Army (Multi-pack, 2004)

• ID number: 73, 74, 75 (individuals), 76 (clones set)

An e-HOBBY exclusive Collector's Edition set, this pack contains the three Insectron clones Salvo, Shothole, and Zaptrap. They are redecos of the original Insecticon toys Bombshell, Kickback, and Shrapnel (respectively), using the "reverted" molds developed for Collector's Edition to make them more like the original Diaclone releases, rather than the slightly-modified versions that were released in the original Transformers toyline. The set also came with three energon cube accessories which can be stored in their chest compartments.

The set was shipped to buyers in October.

Notes

Foreign names

• Japanese: Insectron Clone Army (インセクトロンクローンアーミ Insekutoron Kurōn Āmi)

References

See also

• Insecticon swarm
• Virulent Clone