Creeper
Insector

Is a very unusual Insector. His unusually long antennae make him capable of detecting Avarians and Defenders at great distances. His main function is to warn other Insectors of impending danger. His bite can cause great pain.

Creeper was one of five Insector figures made for the second series of Convertors in 1985. Two of these were based on figures from Takatoku's short-lived Beetras line, via the budget manufacturer Mark. The other three - Creeper, Scorpio and Tenticus - are of less distinct origin. It's possible Mark purpose-designed them for the Zectron line that contained the cheapo Beetras figures, or it's possible Mark designed them for Select. I like to think it's the latter, with dodgy old Mark taking the money for five new designs, making just three and then buggering off down the pub, using two of the Beetras moulds to fill out the specification.

Creeper's insect mode is... some sort of beetle. That's all I'm hazarding, anyway. The design is much boxier and more robotic than the Takatoku-derived moulds - i.e. easier to design and less realistic as well. On the plus side, it's sturdy and neat-looking.

The big, pincered chrome head looks good mounted on the front of the black body, while the long, blue rubber antennae are a nice touch - unusually sensible design in all. Unlike most of the other Insectors, Creeper has no clear weak points. Even the insect legs are thick and strong. The wings can either be flipped up to imitate flight, or put flush against the body.

Transforming the figure is a straightforward process - the neat storage of the robot arms and legs recalls the neatness of the Takatoku designs, without the fiddling. The resulting robot is a little dull, though. The black and powder blue colours work nicely enough, but the way the insect parts just fold onto the back is less than imaginative.

The result is basically a rather generic robot with a few beetle limbs on its' back. There is articulation in the shoulders and hips, but it doesn't add much to the figure, especially when the head is fixed in place (despite there being nothing around it to block movement).

Of the four Insectors I have, Creeper is the most competent. Despite the usual low grade plastic, he's well built with few easy to break parts. The transformation isn't startlingly simply (unlike Scorpio) or dodgy (unlike Crawler). However, it lacks any real flourish, and is bland - at least some of the others go for it, even if the result is spectacular failure...