Scraplets

Scraplets are fictional characters, an alien race in Marvel's Transformers comics.

Scraplets are robotic parasites. They are semi-sentient robotic lifeforms, generally about five centimetres tall. Like the Transformers, Scraplets are capable of transforming between two modes: they transform from various humanoid or animal modes to nuts or bolts.

In the comic, the Scraplets first appeared as an interplanetary cloud which a Decepticon cargo freighter passed through on its voyage from Cybertron to Earth. During the incident, the pilot of the freighter was infected by the Scraplets and involuntarily brought them to Earth along with him.

Scraplets feed on other robotic lifeforms, which makes them very dangerous to them. Scraplets generally travel in large packs in search for robots, and upon finding one, they eagerly jump onto it, fastening themselves on the robot's armour plating. Once fastened, the Scraplets release some kind of corrosive agent that both allows them to sink partly underneath the armour plating and make them impossible to remove. Using the raw materials of the host, a single Scraplet can multiply itself many times over, creating further Scraplets and rapidly overwhelming the host.

As the feeding continues, the host robot begins to rust and decay, withering away until its inevitable death. Scraplets are - in effect - very contagious, so other robots in the vicinity of an infected robot risk infection themselves.

Scraplets also have the ability to combine large numbers of themselves into a single, giant, humanoid-shaped creature, in order for them to attack large-scale threats/food.

However, Scraplets have one major weakness: plain old water is fatally poisonous to them. When doused with water, a Scraplet loosens its grip on the host robot and falls away, allowing it to be safely destroyed without harming the host.

The origin and homeworld of the Scraplets has never been explained in the comic.

Other uses of "Scraplet"
In the Dreamwave comic series, "Scraplet" was also derogatory term for small Micromaster Transformer used by larger Transformers.

Scraplets appeared in the "Dungeons & Dinobots" story by Fun Publications. These scraplets came from a mirror-universe, and actually repaired robots, instead of destroying them.