History Webcomic / Insecticomics

* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: Used and lampshaded in the Blackout arc in volume 3. This causes confusion at once point, where Tarantulas mistakes the snake-handed Quickstrike for being two mechs because he sees two pairs of optics.
* {{Calvinball}}: [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v6/508.html Transformers playing chess drinking games can devolve into this]].

* TheCasanova[=/=]TheVamp: Thrust, if [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v7/607.html you're a boat]].

* PokeThePoodle: Immodera the [[Warhammer40000 Daemonette of Slaanesh]] embodies one of the many pleasurable excesses which [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly nourish Slaanesh]]. However, her particular excess isn't sex, drugs, or rock and roll; it's overeating, and the sensation that her claws inflict [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v9/822.html reflects this]].
* PointyHairedBoss: [[Warhammer40000 Slaanesh]], surprisingly enough. Apparently, the [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v8/742.html sheer banality of Planet Basket]] makes [[PronounTrouble him/her/it]] "turn into Dilbert's boss," although he/she/it does still want the workers on Planet Basket to be [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v8/741.html genuinely happy]], [[FridgeBrilliance presumably because taking pride in one's work feeds Slaanesh]].

* {{Crossover}}: Wayward is on good terms with Shin Goji of ''TwistedKaijuTheater'' (another toy-based comic, this one Godzilla-themed), and they have had several crossovers. In one case, Shin Goji himself was mistakenly shipped to the ''Insecticomics'' household and found it very frustrating that his normal litany of cursing was bleeped out due to the ''Insecticomics'' being a slightly more family-friendly strip.

* EldritchAbomination: The bat-like Transformer that attacked Thrust in the afterlife. Supposedly, it's a [[{{Precursors}} Firstforged]] named Armada.

The ''[[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics.html Insecticomics]]'' was a ''{{Transformers}}'' FanWebComic by Melissa [=DeHaan=], also known as Wayward Martian. Originally, the comic was a series of amusing pictures of toys done for no real purpose, which explains the bad photography and writing. Eventually, the comics became more and more frequent and around episode 100, Wayward decided to make it a triweekly thing. The photography began to get better, the cast expanded and Wayward began using props and eventually whole sets, but the irreverent sense of humor remained.

* AnimatedActors: The character from the 2007 ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' movie are portrayed as actually being Vehicons hired to play those parts. (Strangely, movie Jazz, the only movieverse Autobot, seems to be accepted as normal Jazz.)

** Several former members of the movie cast now work on the SpinoffBabies show "Michael Baybies", which combines ''MuppetBabies''-esque whimsy with Michael Bay's trademark love of things exploding.

** This is brought up during The Fallen's HostileShowTakeover of ''Ask Vector Prime A Question'': On Cybertron (or at least most incarnations), there are no oceans. Thus, that attraction is a survival program that comes with being a boat-bot, i.e. having a useless altmode in an eons-long war. Thunderblast can fly, making her a little more useful, but she is just power-hungry, preferring to manipulate someone else who is powerful (because she's less of a target that way).

* ScrewYourself: Sideways asks his upgraded [[OppositeSexClone female]] counterpart if it's weird if he makes out with her... [[FreudWasRight about five seconds after they meet]]. During the {{Shipping}} arc, Starscream is shown to have hooked up with one of his former bodies.

* BigEater: The Insecticons. But then it's kind of their original canon schtick.

** After spending most of the comic out of action, [[spoiler: Galvatron finally comes out of retirement to take back control of the Decepticons in the final strip. The Insecticons are just as surprised as the audience.]]

* CompletelyMissingThePoint-Quite a few humans, MoralGuardian Lady Jaye included, keep forgetting that the Transformers are ''robots'', have no real genders (it's all cosmetic), and can't have any sort of actual "interaction".

** [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v8/750.html This strip.]] Another ShoutOut, this time to Franchise/HighLander.

** The comic also uses this for it's actual ending, showing whats happened to the cast after the final storyline.

* [[KindheartedCatLover KindheartedBugLover]]: Liege Fabulo. Blackout is scorpion-specific.

* OneSteveLimit: Mostly averted. For instance, there are no less than three Megatrons (Beast Wars, Energon and Classics) and ''five'' Starscreams: G1, Armada, Energon, Cybertron and 2007 movie.
** Referenced by Beast Megatron when he tries to get some Terrorcon Dinobots to obey him, but they claim they only answer to Scorponok. Thinking they mean his former lieutenant, Beast Megatron says he's been dead for years, only for Energon Scorponok to show up and reply that they mean him. Megatron then bemoans that he hates name reuse.
** The G1 Constructicons (there are also five sets of these - G1, Energon/Constructicon Maximus and three Universe teams, one of Micromasters, one a Build Team repaint and one a Constructicon Maximus repaint, all in the G1 team's colors) try to play it straight, G1 Bonecrusher forcing Energon Bonecrusher and Universe Bonecrusher (repaint of "Robots In Disguise" Wedge) to change their names to Killdozer and Spanky, respectively.

* PaintingTheMedium

* AffablyEvil - Arguably, many Decepticons (especially the Insecticons and Starscream's Brigade) have become this (PunchClockVillain and VillainDecay also may apply). Kickback himself observes that their activities have become less a war between good and evil and more shenanigans for general amusement.
* [[AllWomenArePrudes All Humans Are Prudes]] - The given reason of why Transformers porn isn't shown.
* AliensStealCattle - The most likely explanation for where the cattle that Bombshell and Shrapnel got for Kickback came from.

* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents - Hilariously inverted [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v3/286.html here]] with [[WesternAnimation/BeastMachines Stryka and Obsidian]].

* AmbiguousGender - All the Transformers.
* AnimatedActors - The character from the 2007 ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' movie are portrayed as actually being Vehicons hired to play those parts. (Strangely, movie Jazz, the only movieverse Autobot, seems to be accepted as normal Jazz.)
* ArtifactOfDoom - At one point, Override takes a knockoff of Megatron's fusion cannon out of the spare parts bin, and some of the other Autobots worry the knockoff might be this when she begins acting more aggressive than usual.
* ArtShift - When Grimlock tells the story of how he got his new body and mini-Dinobots, the comic shifts for several strips to actual art in crayon-drawing style. Arguably some of the most awesome strips in the archives.
* BackFromTheDead - Starscream comes back as a ghost when his body is destroyed and hangs around pestering people until it's repaired. Conveniently, this meant he could also rescue [[spoiler: Thrust]] from beyond the grave.
* BestHerToBedHer - Grimlock seems to operate by this type of logic- Defeat someone, and they have to marry you. Considering this is [[DumbMuscle Grimlock]], his definition of "defeat" is odd.
* {{BFG}} - The Hydra Cannon [[spoiler: a.k.a. Galvatron]].
* {{Bifauxnen}} - Override, who is widely considered in the comic to be a very attractive female bot, but has a body type not terribly distinguishable from the males. During Lady Jaye's moral guardian antics, Override uses this to her advantage to mock and confuse the human into giving her only one censor bar.
* BigEater - The Insecticons. But then it's kind of their original canon schtick.

* BrickJoke - ''I Am Best Assemblydrone on Planet Basket!''

* ButForMeItWasTuesday - [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v7/680.html This episode of Masterforce Theatre]]. Mostly as a way to poke fun at [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya revenge seekers]] in this universe.
* {{Calvinball}} - [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v6/508.html Transformers playing chess drinking games can devolve into this]].

* CatchPhrase - "Don't wanna. Can't make me."
* TheCasanova[=/=]TheVamp - Thrust, if [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v7/607.html you're a boat]].
* CensorBox - Lady Jaye makes all the transformers wear one to "protect the children". To get around this, Bombshell transforms into weevil form... only to have Lady Jaye drop a huge censor bar on him.

* CerebusSyndrome - Averted. There have been several longer and more serious story arcs recently compared to the comic's rather nonsensical origins, but they are usually balanced by jokes. One comic specifically states Wayward wants to avoid drama as much as possible, since she feels the more serious a Transformers photocomic becomes, the more like children's toys the "actors" look.
** KnightOfCerebus - The Fallen, at first.
* ChickMagnet - People with power are extremely attractive to those with aquatic alt-modes... regardless of gender. At one point, just to prove this to another 'bot, someone shouts "'''What's that? You've merged with the [[ArtifactOfDoom Underbase]]?'''" This prompts ''every single aquatic in the apartment'' to practically teleport there.

* TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch - Talking Geewunner smack in a bar full of mixed-series Decepticons is considered suicide.
* {{Crossover}} - Wayward is on good terms with Shin Goji of ''TwistedKaijuTheater'' (another toy-based comic, this one Godzilla-themed), and they have had several crossovers. In one case, Shin Goji himself was mistakenly shipped to the ''Insecticomics'' household and found it very frustrating that his normal litany of cursing was bleeped out due to the ''Insecticomics'' being a slightly more family-friendly strip.

* DeaderThanDead - What happens when Armada doesn't like you.
* DeathIsCheap - But only for certain characters. According to a guardian of the Allspark, Starscream is getting to be as bad -- or worse! -- than Optimus Prime.
* DistressedDamsel - The Fallen and Sideways attempted (and failed badly) to hold Lazorbeak hostage.

* DungeonBypass - Thrust does this in [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v7/646.html strip #646]]

* EldritchAbomination - The bat-like Transformer that attacked Thrust in the afterlife. Supposedly, it's a [[{{Precursors}} Firstforged]] named Armada.
* EveryoneIsBi - This isn't completely true, but among the ''Insecticomics'', Transformers' gender preference is regarded as akin to preference for a certain sort of vehicle mode or paint color. It helps that they're physically incapable of having sex, though [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v4/362.html they can apparently "make love"]].
* FanFic - The entirety of the ''Insecticomics'' could theoretically be considered fanfiction. However, Dreadmoon himself is based on a character of same name from Wayward's Transformer fanfiction, which in some circles has become so popular that other people have also written Dreadmoon fanfiction that uses Wayward's works as its 'canon'.

* FiveBadBand - [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v5/457.html Discussed]].
* FlatEarthAtheist - Dreadmoon and Skyfire. Their leader is occasionally a ghost, they're in the same neighborhood as the powerful servants of a chaos god, they have been ''visited'' by said chaos god, they've encountered an artifact that brings life to inanimate mechanical objects, and their resident old guy is a time travelling agent of Primus. And still they mock Thrust for his tarot cards.

* FourthWallMailSlot - The "Ask Vector Prime" series.
* FranchiseZombie - Averted - Wayward ended the comic on Strip 900 to avoid this trope.
* GenderBender - Lazorbeak was originally male, until the Insecticons decided to vote to change his gender in order to make the comic more equal opportunity. After initial concerns, she really got into it.

* GenreSavvy - At least, fanfiction-trope savvy.

* GlowingEyesOfDoom - Glow effects are often added to the toy's "eyes" to demonstrate anger. This trope is taken to the extreme for the Fallen, who is actually ''on fire''.
* GoKartingWithBowser - what much of the Decepticon-Autobot interaction has become. Examples include Bombshell and Elita's on-off relationship, Prowl and Barricade getting energon-drunk together, and Starscream and Skyfire's ongoing romance.
* GrammarNazi - [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v7/634.html Spelling correctly]] [[SpaceWhaleAesop or you'll be hit with a chair]].
* HerCodeNameWasMarySue - [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v3/234.html Shortround actually writes fanfiction]] portraying him as the ultimate warrior of the Decepticons (Cybertron canon has him ''very'' far removed from that) and finally getting Thunderblast. Bombshell and Kickback find themselves wondering who'll be the first to strike him down when and if the story gets out.
* HilarityEnsues - The inevitable result of pretty much anything anyone does. Some characters, especially the Insecticons, deliberately aim for this.
* [[HighClassCallGirl High Class Porn Star]] - Debacle, aka 'Debbie'. You know, the one who did Daebola?
* ImprobableWeaponUser - Animated Prowl shows that he can do this when Lazorbeak challenges him to use a six-foot party sub as a weapon. Poor Lazorbeak...
* IncendiaryExponent - The Fallen will occasionally burst into flame when he's upset or emotional.

* [[KindheartedCatLover KindheartedBugLover]] - Liege Fabulo. Blackout is scorpion-specific.
* TheLadette - Override, who at one point describes herself as "A man in the body of a woman, but no one can tell because I'm gay." She even suggests a ''belching contest'' as a way to settle a dispute at one point.
* [[WebOriginal/LOLCats LOLScorpions]] - Blackout's Scorponoks tend to be these.
* LoveTriangle - Dreadmoon is quite obviously in love with Starscream, who is quite firmly with Skyfire and doesn't seem to care what Dreadmoon thinks. (Well, he does care, he just classifies it as "useful".) Thrust, meanwhile, seems to like Dreadmoon but is content with hitting on him and taking him out on occasional dates (and is dating Flamewar on the side). There's also Shortround, who crushes on Thunderblast, who will only hook up with people more powerful than she is.

* MegaNeko - Animkee, Wayward's cat.
* MirrorUniverse - The latest story arc has Kickback get sent to a "[[ComicBook/TransformersShatteredGlass Cracked Glass]]" universe due to a teleporter accident.
* [[MoralGuardians Moral Guardian]] - Lady Jaye.
* MundaneMadeAwesome - Prowl wielding a six-foot-long party sub... and beating up Lazorbeak with it.
* {{Narrator}} - The narrator, nicknamed Gary, is actually a Vok and as such technically a character within the comic himself. So he's used pretty much every narrator trope at some point:
** InteractiveNarrator - Taken about as far as it's possible to go, as Gary not only chats with the characters on occasion, but eventually takes on humanoid form to be at the big fight.
** LemonyNarrator - Arguing with Gary can earn you a TakeThat in the narration boxes.
** UnreliableNarrator - Of course, he rarely gets away with it without someone calling him on it, so he generally sticks to what's actually going on.
* NegativeContinuity- Vector Prime ''hates'' this, since, being the guardian of the space-time continuum, he has to fix it. He especially hates G1's continuity problems, and at one point tries to kill Jetfire for all the problems his personal history has caused the old bot.
* NinjaPirateRobotZombie - A rather literal variety, as Lazorbeak takes ninja classes in an attempt to actually become three out of the four. (She winds up having her beak handed to her by Prowl wielding a six-foot party sub.)
* NoHuggingNoKissing - The annoying fanboy insists that Transformers must never, ever do "mushy stuff" of any kind.
* NoodleImplements - Transformers porn (that is, porn made by Transformers for Transformers, not porn made of Transformers by fans with strange fetishes). Even after watching it, Sassy Devine didn't understand it.

* NoodleIncident - Barricade did ''something'' to Michael Bay's car. Everyone wants to know what, and even asking [[BerserkButton sends him into a rage]].

* NumberOfTheBeast - Strip 666 features both versions of the Fallen, an agent of Unicron.
* OffTheShelfFX - The ''entire cast'' is made up of a truly impressive collection of action figures, some of which were made in small numbers and never released outside Japan, or were "first 100 to enter convention" sort of exclusives, etc.
* OhCrap - As characters like Vector Prime and The Fallen are regulars or guests, happens whenever someone tries to beat them up, which naturally isn't often.
* OperationJealousy - Averted in the "Zany Scheme" arc, in which Thrust tries to convince Dreadmoon to date him in order to make Starscream jealous. Dreadmoon doesn't go for it, and winds up throwing Thrust across the room after Thrust tries to push through the plan anyway by kissing Dreadmoon in Starscream's presence.
* OverlyPreparedGag - Kickback set up one in [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v4/321.html this strip.]] Doubles as a ShoutOut to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.

* ParodyReligion - The Unicronian Priest is turning his, Sideways's, and the Fallen's loyalty to Unicron into this, much to the latter's chagrin. There's also the "Church of [[JerkassGods Primus is a Bastard]]" From ''Ask Vector Prime a Question.''
* PhraseCatcher - As inveterate pranksters, the Insecticons (and particularly Kickback) often end up with less than pleased Transformers pointing to a door and roaring "OUT!"
* PhotoComic - Usually, although on a few occasions Wayward will draw the comic herself.
* PizzaBoySpecialDelivery - Used during the Deviant Robot Sex! arc [[spoiler:when Kickback bribes the pizza girl to pretend she is coming inside the house to have sex with them, in order to further convince a certain annoying fanboy that they are all having a gigantic orgy. In reality, they're simply having a party and aren't exactly sure how one would have sex in the first place without genitalia]].
* PornStash - [[BrainBleach LOCUST PORN]] -- view [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v3/213.html here]] (The comic in question, not the locust porn...)
* PracticalJoke - Usually the Insecticons, who seem to view it as their calling in life.
* ThePrankster - See above. The Insecticons are this in general, but it particularly applies to Kickback. He often has nothing better to do than make life vaguely annoying for someone else.
* PurelyAestheticGender - All of the Transformers.

* SailorEarth - Used for pretty much every character that is [[MerchandiseDriven toy only]], as the most characterization they get is a blurb on the back of their box. Dreadmoon is a special case, as the author actually 'made' him by repainting an Energon Dreadwing toy.

* ScrewYourself - Sideways asks his upgraded [[OppositeSexClone female]] counterpart if it's weird if he makes out with her... [[FreudWasRight about five seconds after they meet]]. During the {{Shipping}} arc, Starscream is shown to have hooked up with one of his former bodies.
* ShoutOut / MythologyGag - Quite a few.

* SingleTargetSexuality - Boats adore powerful people.
* [[SlashFic Slash]] - Out the wazoo. Which, as it's pointed out, Transformers don't actually ''have''.
* TheStarscream - Natch.

* StatusQuoIsGod - Averted, namely with changes in leadership and groups/subgroups. And Thrust's gender.
* StrawFan - There's a fifty-fifty chance that any human character in the comic is one of these. Strangely enough, there's also at least a slight chance that even these characters will be treated with some dregs of respect. The recent Unicron arc actually seemed to indicate that Wayward at least sympathized with a Straw Fan Mary Sue's desire to be at the big fight and do all she could, even if that was effectively nothing.

* TheUnreveal - Optimus Prime appears in shadow at the end of an early strip...only to be revealed as Pepsimus Prime, an actual Prime repaint that feature Pepsi colors and logo. He's characterized, naturally, as a tremendous corporate shill (as opposed to [[TheCape Optimus's more common personality]]) and becomes a ButtMonkey.
* WeaksauceWeakness - Said Pepsimus Prime reacts to Coke like it's a caustic acid. (Well, y'know, moreso than it actually is.)

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue - Subverted as being yet another of White Chromia's fics.

* WholesomeCrossdresser - As much as the Insecticons can be called 'wholesome'.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim - Discussed in ''Ask Vector Prime a Question'': Vector Prime ''could'' destroy [[Anime/TransformersCybertron Megatron]] by teleporting him into a star or something, but Megs' {{fangirl}}s would kill him.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Darkmoon and Skyfire both end up feeling this way toward each other when they realize that they both think that Thrust's concerns about Starscream's latest plan are silly, due to Thrust basing them off astrology readings.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim - Discussed in ''Ask Vector Prime a Question'': Vector Prime ''could'' destroy [[TransformersCybertron Megatron]] by teleporting him into a star or something, but Megs' {{fangirl}}s would kill him.

* ThePrankster - See above. The Insecticons are this in general, but it particular applies to Kickback. He often has nothing better to do than make life vaguely annoying for someone else.

The comic (a known LongRunner) has recently come to an end at exactly 900 strips and 9 volumes.

* [[LOLCats LOLScorpions]] - Blackout's Scorponoks tend to be these.

** Shadow: A male straw G1 fanboy. He has an obsession with there being "no mushy stuff" in Transformers. His disdain for other people being happy and loving makes the [[DoctorWho Daleks]] take a shine to him.

* MirrorUniverse - The latest story arc has Kickback get sent to a "[[TransformersShatteredGlass Cracked Glass]]" universe due to a teleporter accident.

* ChurchOfHappyology - The Unicronian Priest is turning his, Sideways's, and the Fallen's loyalty to Unicron into this, much to the latter's chagrin. There's also the "Church of [[JerkassGods Primus is a Bastard]]" From ''Ask Vector Prime a Question.''
* [[NakedPeopleAreFunny Clothed Robots Are Funny]]

* OverlyPreparedGag - Kickback set up one in [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v4/321.html this strip.]] Doubles as a ShoutOut to TheLordOfTheRings.