Nucleon (substance)

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 mechanoids the same. 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

Toy packaging blurb

According to the toy packaging 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.

This story was later referenced with the Japanese release of Nucleon Quest Convoy, a black repaint of Powermaster Optimus Prime who was given the backstory of being Prime specially outfitted for this trip into the black hole.

Marvel Comics continuity

Grimlock heard rumors of a 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 Autobots in the ship's medical bay (as well as 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, looking very much like his Action Master toy and never being seen to transform. End of the Road! However, while Grimlock explicitly said that his own transformational abilities had been lost, there was no such statement for Prime. So while the involvement of Nucleon and Prime's general appearance suggest that he had become an Action Master too, the uniqueness of his re-creation makes things less certain.

Other Action Master toys were represented in the comics, but not having been changed by Nucleon, they are likely not actual Action Masters. Simon Furman has commented that if the comic book had continued we would have seen other Transformers become Action Masters, and we also would have seen a follow up to the hints that Nucleon affects everyone differently, with some Transformers being affected by it in various alternate ways.

Classics

Classics is a splinter timeline of the Marvel Comics continuity that does not include events from either Generation 2 or the Marvel UK material.

As in other fiction, neither Grimlock nor Prime kept their Action Master bodies for long. However, Snarl is seen as an Action Master (and his partner Tyrannitron even gets a mention). Given Snarl's hatred of his own dinosaur mode, his remaining an Action Master was likely a matter of taste.

Swoop, however, was faced with another situation, as shortly after being revived with Nucleon he 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.

TransTech

According to Scattorshot, nucleon is 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. Gone Too Far

Movie (2007)

Titan Magazines

The following events occur in a splinter timeline where Megatron won the battle of Mission City.

Nucleon is an energy source that Optimus Prime believes could save Earth from destruction, calming the techno-organic struggle that's tearing the world apart. However, the Autobots never dared mine it as a power source before due to its chimeral nature - it flips between calm to hideously volatile at random, and could just as easily blow Earth to pieces. Return to Cybertron: Part 2

It's also used by Stockade and his mates as a way of staying alive on the lifeless Cybertron, and it's turned Stockade a little... funny. Return to Cybertron: Part 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: Part 4