Nucleon (Transformers) - Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Simon Furman, while writing the Transformers comic in 1991, took the Nucleon concept in a radically different direction. Following the assault by the Underbase-powered Starscream a vast number of Autobot troops were left deactivated, stored in the Ark's stasis pods until Grimlock, dissatisfied with Optimus Prime's leadership after the Matrix Quest, went on an unauthorised quest of his own to revive his fallen Dinobot comrades.

Having already heard of the fabled fuel, Nucleon, Grimlock headed to the planet Hydrus 4, a rough, hostile robotic jungle planet, where he encountered strange zombie-like robotic lifeforms, only capable of feeling instant rage and hatred towards anyone who comes to seek the power source for themselves. The zombie robots attacked Grimlock on sight, shouting "None must feed! Defend the well!", but Grimlock was easily able to fend them off.

One small robot remained, but rather than attack Grimlock, he warned him: the robots he had fought were not seeking to keep Nucleon to themselves, they were attempting to prevent anyone else from risking exposure to it. Nucleon, the robot warned, affects no two lifeforms the same way and sometimes the results were horrific. Grimlock, unwilling to expose his Dinobots to any risk he would not take himself, exposed himself to the Nucleon, and immediately felt its restorative effects. Undaunted, he soon had the Dinobots re-energised with the miracle fuel, and pumped it into the Ark's stasis pods, reviving all the deactivated Autobots.

Over the next few days, Grimlock began to fear that he had been too hasty when his joints periodically began to lock up, rendering him immobile. Immediately following the conflict with Unicron, Grimlock and the Dinobots were attacked by subterranean Cybertronian lifeforms, and during the battle, the entirety of Grimlock's body locked up, completely paralysing him.

Only Hi-Q, the Powermaster partner of Optimus Prime, could see the true meaning of the process - Grimlock was not simply immobilised, he had entered a chrysalis stage, the second stage of an incredible transformation. Tapping into the process and accelerating it with his Powermaster abilities, Hi-Q set Grimlock free. Truly transformed, Grimlock burst free of his old body in a new, more powerful one and was able to save his comrades. But the price he had paid was immediately clear: he could no longer transform.

No further Transformers were shown to transform into Action Masters in the comic book, but several characters such as Krok and Rollout, who only existed in the Action Masters toyline, did put in appearances. In issue #80, the final issue, Optimus Prime returned in a body based on his Action Master toy, although writer Simon Furman attests that Prime wouldn't have actually been an Action Master in execution had the comic continued.

Later, a text-only story included in the final UK Transformers Annual told of a near future in which all exposed to Nucleon had surrendered to that fate, only for a means to reverse the process to be created.