Synthoids seem to be molded from a biomimetic polymer-like material which can be programmed to assume human form, duplicating clothing, voice, and behavioural characteristics of the original subject. (In this respect, the synthoid concept is comparable to the cyborg T-1000 from the 1991 science fiction film "", but predating said movie by six years.) Created for deception and infiltration operations, synthoid units can superficially pass for genuine human beings, exhibiting intelligence and autonomous personality, albeit with loyalties ever acting in Cobra's interests. All synthoids are equipped with a self-destruct mechanism which can be remotely triggered to dissolve their bodies into the formless "gray goo" of their initial constitution—perhaps suggesting a conceptual origin in literary trappings of nanotechnology.