Line #38 Main/MicrobotSwarm


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9	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/BigHero6 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/microbot_swarm_3.png]]]]
10	[[caption-width-right:350:"If you can think it, the microbots can do it."]]
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16	->''"This is a Microbot. It doesn't look like much, but when it links up with the rest of its pals, things get a little more interesting."''
17	-->-- '''Hiro Hamada''', ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6''
18
19	A character is in possession of an incredible machine or device the size of a bean, which while small or seemingly inconsequential by its lonesome can do incredible things when working together with a large swarm of others like itself. In an action-oriented story they will be used as a swarm to attack someone or demolish structures, but in a more mundane situation they can be used to move objects or even a person, assemble objects or perform a myriad other tasks.
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21	One of the greatest advantages of such as swarm is its versatility -- by changing its shape and configuration, assembling and dissembling itself and shifting its attention to a single viewpoint or many to suit the needs of the moment, it can perform a much greater variety of different and specialized tasks than a single larger machine would be able to.
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23	Related to {{Synchronization}}, SynchronizedSwarming and HeartIsAnAwesomePower. Compare TheWormThatWalks for organic beings and TheSwarm. See {{Nanomachines}} and GreyGoo for swarms of even smaller robots. Can be made an even more literal swarm if the bots are MechanicalInsects.
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25	----
26	!!Examples:
27
28	[[foldercontrol]]
29
30	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
31	* Harvest, a stand that belongs to Shigechi of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', is a collection of small android-looking bugs that Shigechi usually spreads all over town to collect things ([[WithGreatPowerComesGreatPerks like coins or discarded lottery tickets]]). However, they can form a swarm for offensive attacks or to carry him around, even to crawl up walls. This is especially evident in his video game appearances in ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle'' and ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven''.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Comic Books]]
35	* ''ComicBook/Lazarus2013'': Alima, [[TheChampion the Lazarus]] of the Meyers-Qasimi family, is a {{Cyborg}} who controls a swarm of tiny drones. In the X+66 [[ADayInTheLimelight side comic]], she employs them to perform reconnaissance on an enemy militia, to hack into a computer system, and to wipe out a Russian Special Forces team with a word. While a close enough look at one of these drones would reveal they are shaped like tiny insects, to the human eye they generally look like a bit of cloud, fog, or even grit/sand hanging in the air.
36	* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
37	** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'' has the scraplets -- a mechanical parasite that transforms between a humanoid form and nuts and bolts. Enough of them together can transform into a giant humanoid form.
38	** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' has Ammonites, a machine race that's much smaller than most Cybertronians. When [[TokenEvilTeammate Whirl]] meets a few in a bar who are hiding from a different Ammonite faction, he decides to help them out by killing that faction's leader. Except that he didn't really stop to ask any questions before shooting and the ones who were hiding were from the Ammonite equivalent of the Decepticons, and the one he killed [[NiceJobBreakingItHero was the equivalent of Optimus Prime]]. This led to the crew of the Lost Light discovering that A) Ammonites are [[CombiningMecha Combiners]] and B) unlike Cybertronian Combiners there's no restrictions on who they can combine with or how many can combine together. This ultimately led to ''seventy billion'' angry Ammonites attacking Cybertron in a huge swarm during ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron''.
39	* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'': People can undergo BrainUploading into "foglets", clouds of flying micromachines, each the size of a fat cell, that preserve their original consciousness. Spider Jerusalem's friend Tico is a ProHumanTranshuman foglet who can [[ThePowerOfCreation manufacture items out of thin air]], and [[spoiler:Channon's boyfriend]] undergoes "downloading" into a foglet in Issue #7.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
43	* The microbots created by protagonist Hiro Hamada in ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' are capable of coming together in order to form structures and waldos, allowing them to perform complex tasks that would normally require many human hands with a thought projected through a BrainComputerInterface. They are taken by the BigBad of the film, Yokai, for his evil plans, which include forming a swarm of them to travel through town and destroy anything in his way.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
47	* ''Film/Ben10AlienSwarm'': TheSwarm are a species of {{Mechanical Insect\|s}} {{Nanomachines}} that can form constructs or [[PuppeteerParasite burrow under a person's skin]] to assimilate them into their HiveMind. Ben even [[PowerCopying gains]] a half-nanochip/half-human transformation called Nanomech.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Literature]]
51	* This is a plot point in ''Literature/TheInvincible''. [[spoiler:The crew is exploring a planet where all terrestrial life seems to be missing, and which is "inhabited" mainly by unintelligent insect-sized robots. They discover the hard way that these robots combine in powerful and dangerous "clouds" which wiped out most organic life.]] Published in 1964, it's arguably [[UrExample one of the first depictions]] of this trope.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
55	* ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' allows characters to [[BrainUploading download]] their brain into a microbot swarm.
56	* In ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'', microbot swarms tooled for everything from cleaning to construction are in common use.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Video Games]]
60	* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'': The biggest threat in [[WesternAnimation/BigHero6 San Fransokyo]] is the Darkubes, a conglomeration of Heartless that resemble a cross between [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Bug Blox]] and Hiro's microbots. The Keychain that Sora gets from this world is the Nano Gear, whose [[MorphWeapon Formchange]] turns into a conglomerate of microbots for combo attacks taken from ''almost'' every other Formchange in the game, plus a [[RocketPunch Baymax rocket fist]] and a [[PortalNetwork set of Kreitech portals]].
61	* ''VideoGame/TheInvincible'', an adaptation of the novel mentioned above, features microbots that are more like a metallic organism than a machine. Descendents of self-repairing and -improving robots, the “Flies” that developed are around the size of a large coin and fly around in swarms. When gathered in a large cloud, they are able to produce titanic magnetic fields with which they can attack both machinery and humans. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking They also have a pretty black-green shimmer.]]
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Webcomics]]
65	* Ofelia's Cryptobots in ''Webcomic/InsectoNocturno'' are small-sized robots in the shape of starfish that she can control with her goggles. They are stolen by the titular protagonist and renamed "Crypto Sandstars".
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Western Animation]]
69	* In ''WesternAnimation/ActionMan2000'', after Doctor X takes over Brandon Cain's body, Brandon's mind accidentally goes into a nanotechnological Trillabug, which takes control of all other Trillabugs, forming a monstrous version of Brandon.
70	* In the episode "The Love Bug" of ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'', Greek EvilGenius Mechanicles has invented a swarm of [[TermiteTrouble mechanical termites]] to destroy entire forests. The ultimate thing these termites can do is combining into a MiniMecha around Mechanicles.
71	* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'': TheSwarm returns from ''Film/Ben10AlienSwarm''. They don't display their PuppeteerParasite abilities [[spoiler:except on Elena]], but they do form increasingly complex constructs.
72	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E17Benderama Benderama]]", Bender uses the Professor's new matter replicator to make small copies of himself, who then make smaller copies of themselves until the world is beset by millions of microscopic Benders who are small enough to manipulate individual atoms and turn all water on Earth into alcohol (which powers them). For the climax, they form together into one giant Bender to fight an alien giant.
73	* The ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' version of the supervillain Swarm is made of nanomachines instead of bees like his comic book version.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Real Life]]
77	* PlayedForLaughs with The Cone Army, a collection of 37 identical small robots attached to street cones. Its intended use was for combat against other robots on ''Series/BattleBots'', but it was turned down during auditions.
78	* Although it doesn't exist yet, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_fog "utility fog"]] would be pretty much this: a swarm of machines the size of dust grains, with the ability to assemble into any structure we might need.
79	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MicrobotSwarm