All three Sam-Bot factions employ Ninja-Bots for missions requiring any significant degree of stealth. Reconaissance is one of the primary services that they perform, and the Suzumushi is one of the assets used by the Fukujin Empire. It features a wide variety of sensors and two long range stealth blasters (they’re less powerful than regular weapons, but they don’t transmit visible light and they’re very quiet, which makes it very difficult to trace their shots) on the head. Much like a real cricket these can sometimes be seen crawling on vertical walls through the use of molecular-magnets in the feet. Over flat surfaces the powerful back legs are the primary means of locomotion, but small jet thrusters provide quite a boost in emergency situations when activated mid-jump. Three antennae allow information to be transmitted back to the Fukujin Empire, since the Suzumushi are usually deployed in very secure and hostile locations, and the risk of discovery and subsequent destruction is very high. The traditional Fukujin color scheme is represented here, but due to the nature of missions usually performed by this vehicle, dark-grey serves as the primary color with both white and black as accent colors.

As you might have guessed, the Suzumushi is based on a cricket. The antennae became guns, and the cerci (twin rear-facing feelers) and ovipositor became the three transmitting antennae. Wings were replaced with jet engines because there aren’t any good trans-neon green wings (and the wings of a suzumushi “bell cricket” are shaped like large teardrops). I could have used the small trans-dark blue insect wings, but I’ve already got a Ninja-Bot ship designed for the Kami Nation, and based on traditional Japanese culture the cricket is much more appropriate for good guys anyways.