Nucleon (substance)

This was on a good day.

Nucleon is an incredibly powerful energy source capable of being used as fuel by Transformers and other mechanoid life forms, but though it can give great strength and power and has even revived the nonfunctional, it often has terrible side effects. Nucleon is said to affect no two types of mechanoid the same, but one very common effect for Transformers is the loss of transformation ability. The Action Masters resulted from injudicious use of this mysterious, dangerous substance.

Nucleon appears as a funky liquid with a dangerous glow. It looks like fun, and seems to help, but don't be a fool! Listen to your momma and stay off the stuff!

Fiction

Generation 1 continuity family

Toy packaging blurb

Optimus Prime went searching for new energy sources and, within the heart of a black hole discovered Nucleon: a miracle fuel that made Transformers stronger, faster, and more alive, but cost them the ability to transform. Soon the Decepticons stole the technology and created Action Masters of their own.

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

Grimlock heard about a risky new miracle fuel on the planet Hydrus Four. Against orders he stole the non-functioning bodies of his fellow Dinobots and headed there to find out. Eye of the Storm What he discovered was a ruined world filled with creepy, obsessive, rotting zombie-like beings warning him that it was all because of Nucleon. Being Grimlock, he then went ahead and used the fuel anyway, first on himself and then to revive his fallen teammates. The Pri¢e of Life!

Grimlock soon found parts of his body inexplicably seizing up, and began to fear that he should have listened to the creepy dying robots after all. ...All This and Civil War 2 After returning to the Ark Grimlock used the Nucleon to repair all the damaged Transformers in the ship's medical bay, including Prowl, Skids, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Blaster, Wheeljack, Ratchet, and also Megatron, whom he didn't know was there. The Void! Following the Transformers' battle with Unicron, Grimlock froze up entirely. It was then that Hi-Q (in the process of merging with Optimus Prime) saw with "Powermaster eyes" that Grimlock wasn't malfunctioning, but changing. He used his Powermaster abilities to speed up the process and Grimlock burst forth in his new, more-powerful Action Master form. Still Life!

Meanwhile, Hi-Q's own mental merger with Prime was also accelerated by his contact with Nucleon. Soon afterward, the Last Autobot re-created Hi-Q as Optimus Prime in a new nontransformable body. End of the Road! Another Time & Place

Exposure to Nucleon resulted in a Transformer's Figure Alteration Systems being converted into Energy Storage Reactors. Issue #300 letters section

Earthforce

Did they forget he'd need two legs or what?

Nucleon robbed the Constructicons of their ability to combine into Devastator, prompting them to attempt to build him as an independent being. Desert Island Risks! Ask Vector Prime

Classics

Shortly after being revived with Nucleon, Swoop was caught in an explosion at a Nucleon processing factory and even more severely mutated. The Autobot Mini-Cons stepped in and were able to get that reaction under control but Swoop himself was transformed into a (very powerful) Mini-Con by the Nucleon. Mini-Con Swoop's bio

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

In order to re-energize a Cybertron crippled by energy shortage, Powermaster Optimus Prime and Hi-Q sought a power source that would solve their energy issues. After confirming its existence out in space, Metrowars they ventured into a black hole to obtain nucleon. Nucleon Quest Super Convoy bio Upon discovering the nucleon, Optimus Prime absorbed it into his own body via Hi-Q, transforming him into an Action Master, then brought the energy source back to the Autobots. Becoming Action Masters provided Transformers' bodies with unlimited energy, ending the war over resources and paving the way for the rise of the Cybertron Alliance. Bonus Edition Vol. EX

Wings Universe

A chunk of Hydrus Four containing a large crystal of Nucleon broke off from the planet and was sent hurtling through space towards Cybertron. When Gutcruncher, a Decepticon Warlord, got wind of the unknown power contained in the asteroid, he began preparations to try and seize it. The Cybertron Elite Guard also heard about the asteroid and Gutcruncher's mission, and Powerflash's Stealth Team was assigned to try and stop them. During the course of affairs, three Autobots and three Decepticons were exposed to the crystal's power. Despite gaining extraordinary power, they also lost the ability to transform. The crystal itself was destroyed soon after by Tap-Out. Sentinel Major later said that the shattered remains of the asteroid had begun raining down on Cybertron and they were keeping an eye out for any surviving pieces of crystal. A Team Effort

2005 IDW continuity

The Transformers had been mining nucleon on the planet Messatine for over four million years. Post Hoc Even after the war broke out, the Autobots continued mining operations in the planet's Serp Mines. How Ratchet Got His Hands Back The substance was used for medical purposes at Delphi, where Pipes was hooked up to a nucleon feed after being infected by Red Rust. Life After the Big Bang

Enriched nucleon was extremely dangerous when weaponized, causing it to be outlawed as part of the Tyrest Accord. House of Ambus

Whirl once tricked Ultra Magnus into drinking a glass of weapons-grade nucleon, knocking him out on the spot. Cybertronian Homesick Blues

The Decepticon Justice Division have a stash of chronal energy-enriched Nucleon, as a result of Brainstorm's time travelling, in their base on Messatine. It would gain the name Nuke. The Permanent Revolution

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

Nucleon Nails were a type of narcotic used by Wreck-Gar. Pax Megatronus

Beast Wars: Uprising

MCSF officer Betabear had a bad Nucleon habit which he was going to kick any day now. Everyone on the force knew about it, they just didn't think it was a problem until he tried killing some nobody and got a knife to the brain from his partner for it.

Some time later, minor criminal Sledgehammer tried committing a robbery. MCSF attempts to stop him were stymied by his nucleon-enhanced and addled state, which allowed him to ignore fatal wounds. Burning Bridges

2019 IDW continuity

A mythological account regarding the origins of Sea of Rust said that the Sea was formed from the nucleon of Primus when he became Cybertron. I Have No Mouth And I Must Starscream

The survivors of the wreck of the Iron Hope were forced to subsist on nucleon for kilocycles until they were rescued, leading to them becoming permanently mode-locked. All Fall Down When Jumpstream expressed concern at using a nucleon-powered device to supercharge her teleportation abilities, Perceptor reassured her that it takes high doses and long-term exposure to mode-lock a Cybertronian. Test Flight I

Alternate future

In an alternate future where Exarchon had successfully conquered Cybertron, those few resistors who survived were forced to get by on nucleon, since only Exarchon and his lackies were allowed energon. Test Flight II

Unicron Trilogy continuity family

Dreamwave Armada comic

The null-reality pods from Over-Run's home dimension were powered by impacted Nucleon power cells. Worlds Collide #1

Force of Habit

The melee weapons known as nucleon shock gauntlets are probably powered by nucleon. Force of Habit

TransTech

According to Scattorshot, nucleon was a controlled substance in Axiom Nexus. Cheetor was unconcerned when it was pointed out that Jackpot had this contraband, as Jackpot did not get the Nucleon in this universe. Instead, his body could create nucleon all on its own, by somehow processing and converting normal energon into nucleon. Gone Too Far

Nucleon's status as a contraband didn't stop Bulletbike from getting his hands on some regardless, by lethally mugging a "lowtech". He then used the hyposyringe full of nucleon as a weapon against Ego, with the injection arresting the constant transformation Ego's body was designed to rely on, and causing him to become paralyzed and subsequently at the mercy of Bulletbike's murderous intentions. I, Lowtech

Titan movie comics

In a divergent timeline, the Decepticons succeeded at Mission City and conquered the United States. There, Nucleon was an energy source that Optimus Prime believed could save Earth from destruction, calming the techno-organic struggle that was tearing the world apart. However, the Autobots never dared mine it as a power source before due to its chimeral nature—it flipped between calm to hideously volatile at random, and could just as easily blow Earth to pieces. Return to Cybertron #2

It was also used by Stockade and his mates as a way of staying alive on the lifeless Cybertron, and it turned Stockade a little... funny. Return to Cybertron #1 It also got used as an energy source for the monstrous Unicron, though its volatile nature allowed for it to be used to stop him. After that battle, Stockade gave Optimus the remaining Nucleon so he could save Earth. Return to Cybertron #4

Legacy

The Armorizer Nucleous is made of raw nucleon, and when used as armor, strengthens his partner greater than other armorizers at the cost of leaving them unable to transform after prolonged exposure.^[1]

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Notes

• Furman's plan at Marvel was Nucleon would affect different robots in different ways (an idea eventually revived for Regeneration One) and to survive the collapsing Cybertron, the stranded Autobots were going to have to quaff Nucleon and damn the consequences.^[2]
• The Marvel UK letters page recounted the toy packaging origin of Nucleon in #300. Once they realised the comics would be giving a contradictory origin, 'Blaster' in #303 claimed a human had made all that up and got it from... the back of a toy box!

Foreign names

• Japanese: Nucleon (ニュークリオン Nyūkurion, ニュークレオン Nyūkureon)

References