History Main / GreenRocks

If the effects are controlled by a character instead of being random, that's a GreenLanternRing. When it is exotic, difficult to find and you must have it to power the AppliedPhlebotinum, it is {{Unobtainium}}. When the Green Rocks are crystals that double as a GottaCatchThemAll, it is a MineralMacGuffin. If GreenRocks are animal or vegetable rather than mineral, they might be domesticated as a MultipurposeMonoculturedCrop. If the GreenRocks are spread across a range anywhere from a small town to the entire world, area-of-effect GreenRocks so to speak, then it may constitute as a MassSuperEmpoweringEvent.

If the effects are controlled by a character instead of being random, that's a GreenLanternRing. When it is exotic, difficult to find and you must have it to power the AppliedPhlebotinum, it is {{Unobtainium}}. When the Green Rocks are crystals that double as a GottaCatchThemAll, it is a MineralMacGuffin. If GreenRocks are animal or vegetable rather than mineral, they might be domesticated as a MultipurposeMonoculturedCrop.

* Marvel's [[ComicBook/XMen mutant gene]] is probably the most extreme example of this, letting writers forgo the need for any sort of origin story what so ever by saying the character's a mutant. Mutants can have any power imaginable, ranging from the ability to regenerate any and all wounds received, to duplication. Whether this was a bad thing is debatable, since non-mutants' origin stories are often cheesy or downright stupid.

* The [[MineralMacGuffin Silver Crystal]] from ''Manga/SailorMoon'' seems to gain whatever properties are necessary for a particular arc's plot. It can defeat evil beings, except for when it only seals them away or heals them! It can grant its user's dying wish, except when using it doesn't cause death! It's useful for saving cities of the future, initiating {{Transformation Sequence}}s, and also apparently could serve as a great power battery for {{Big Bad}}s! It even plays music!

* The ''{{Wildstorm}}'' universe has [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds The Bleed]] doing all kinds of things.
* The Terrigen Mists, the source of superpowers for Marvel Comics' ''TheInhumans'', bestow random superpowers and physical mutations upon anyone exposed to them. However, if any non-Inhuman is exposed to them it will inevitably lead to a serious DeadlyUpgrade or some similarly [[PowerAtAPrice unpleasant fate.]]
* In the ''[[JustImagineStanLeeCreatingTheDCUniverse Just Imagine...]]'' line of comics where StanLee re-imagines several classic DC characters, almost every character with powers gains them through some form of green energy, mist, or chemical. The green manifestations turn out to be linked back to an ancient magical tree that may be Yggdrasil or the Tree of Knowledge.
* The ''TopTen'' universe has S.T.O.R.M.S. (Sexually Transmitted Organic Rapid Mutation Syndrome), a sexually transmitted disease that can mutate you into a monster, a god or (most often) a monstrous corpse.
* Marvel's [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} mutant gene]] is probably the most extreme example of this, letting writers forgo the need for any sort of origin story what so ever by saying the character's a mutant. Mutants can have any power imaginable, ranging from the ability to regenerate any and all wounds received, to duplication. Whether this was a bad thing is debatable, since non-mutants' origin stories are often cheesy or downright stupid.
* Scarlet Witch's mutant power over probability is another example, letting her do anything the writers need, like making all the bullets in a gun defective. Some WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief is needed, since she's been known to use her powers to do things physically impossible no matter how much luck you have, like make gravity stop affecting her. Later {{retcon}}ning revealed that her powers were combined with actual magic to far exceed what should have been possible. Yet later there were again retconned as the power to play merry havoc with the very fabric of reality as she pleased. Wanda's powers were also affected by her having been born on Mount Wundagore, a mountain where a Chthon, an EldritchAbomination, was imprisoned.

* Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Tony Stark (IronMan), and Stephen Strange (Comicbook/DoctorStrange) are Marvel's walking green rocks. It just depends on whether you need something involving physics or biology, technology and computers, or magic!, respectively. That is, when they decide to get off their asses. [[ReedRichardsIsUseless Reed isn't a trope namer for nothing...]]

* ''{{Supreme}}'' has supremium, an obvious homage to kryptonite. Its radiation alters reality depending on its constantly shifting color, both giving the title character his powers and weakening him, sending people through time, and turning a man into a growing mess of arms and legs.
* VandalSavage gained immortality when, as a caveman, he slept near a mysterious glowing meteorite on a cold winter night for warmth. Said immortality isn't quite perfect. Savage needs to ''eat'' the flesh and organs of his own descendants to maintain his longevity. The same meteorite gave The Immortal Man his powers, which work differently than Savage's; instead of living forever he is continuously reborn into a new life as soon as he dies.
* Towards the end of its run, ''TalesOfTheUnexpected'' introduced a floating little plot device called the Green Glob. It would enter a person or object and do whatever was needed to teach the main character(s) whichever particular {{Aesop}} they were in need of learning.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has a couple of examples. One is Sakuradite, a natural resource with high conductivity that's used in everything in the series; the Lancelot's SuperPrototype-ness is explained by saying that it uses more Sakuradite than normal [[HumongousMecha Knightmare Frames]], giving it incredible energy efficiency. A better example is the Gefjun Disturber, a device that blocks Sakuradite's conductivity, making it work something like an EMP weapon. It also somehow has the properties to block radar and aids in the blooming of energy weapons, which allows the Gawain's hadron cannons to go from awful to amazing.

** Naquadria is exactly the same, except more powerful and has a tendency to explode more often. Whether the people using the stuff want it to or not. Plus that slight problem with creating ''stable'' hyperspace windows with it. In ''Series/StargateUniverse'', Naquadria is responsible from blowing up two ''planets''.

Also according to an experiment performed on a bottle of vodka as a joke, graphene can also ''[[GargleBlaster make alcohol stronger]]'' by letting the water molecules through but not etyl alcohol. The closest one can get to AppliedPhlebotinum in real life, this thing is.
* While the mutagen in ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' (2012) initially seemed to have one specific use--to give whomever touched it the qualities of whatever organism they themselves last touched, as in the original cartoon--the ooze has since diversified, with it doing whatever the writers need it to do, such as turning squirrels into, essentially, xenomorphs from the ''[[{{Franchise/Alien}} Alien]]'' franchise.

** In ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}} : Episode 2'' it turns out that [[spoiler:''someone'' arranged for the rock to be placed into the machine for exactly that purpose, and that the computer problems on the same day were most likely to cover up that the machine had been tampered with. It is confirmed that the G-Man procured the crystal which blew up in the test chamber but for who's request is unknown (seeing that he presents himself as a freelance contractor, probably the Combine hired him)]].
** They also power that nifty Gravity Gun

* In the original ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' comics, Red Kryptonite had a random yet temporary effect. And guess what [[http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=32&Itemid=50&limitstart=100 Pink Kryptonite]] (Warning! Link has viruses!) causes?

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' continues this trend with the mysterious GN Particles, which can jam communications, be used as a propellant, be used as protective shielding, and is even the basis for the Gundams' energy swords. GN Particles have the added bonus of coming in two distinct "flavours"; the "Pure", green coloured particles used by the protagonists, and "Impure", red (or orange, in the second series) particles used by the villains in their mass-manufactured drives. Incidentally, the red particles seem to impede cell functions and healing in humans, while the green version ''improves'' it. However, the orange particles were created as a direct result of the red particles' evidently unintentional side-effects.\\\
Well it generally is the theory of how the particles are created or contained. For a GN shots, the particles are compressed and contained into a stable format before being sent out in a concentrated wave. Beam Sabers are simply GN particles held in check by a contained dispersion field (which is why they tend to be less than effective on GN fields since the fields disrupt the containment field). For GN fields, the GN particles are sent to disperse within a given field and the strength of the field is relative to the density that the particles are dispersed. GN fields also can be used as a foundation to collect particles at high speed to transfer into a projectile format as demonstrated by the Seravee.\\\
And apparently cause brief moments of telepathy in some cases, although this hasn't been given much explanation as of yet. GN Particles are ''insane''. Exposure to massive amounts of GN Particles can cause [[spoiler:evolution. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDFetkztTIA Setsuna eventually became a natural Innovator after piloting a Gundam with 2 GN Drives. Hallelujah comes back briefly due to GN Particle spam.]] Oh, and TRANS-AM Burst, which activates ''super GN Particle spam'', actually helped turn the tide of the last battle ''and'' healed Lasse and Louise.]] These particles [[RuleOfCool somehow allowed]] [[TechnoBabble the quantization]] [[HowUnscientific of a huge robot with its pilots]].\\\
GN particles are exotic matter and GN drives somehow involve a topological defect. If you've ever studied theoretical physics or advanced mathematics, you know that either of these ''alone'' can function as a real-life ScrewTheRulesIHavePlot button. the best part is that, apparently, they both not only ''can'' exist in the real world, but according to current theories, ''[[RealityIsUnrealistic must]]''.

* ''VideoGame/Minecraft'' has Redstone, a red dust that's commonly found deep underground. It can be used to make a compass, as well as a clock. Mix some into a potion and it lasts longer. Not to mention the fact that it can be used to make a wide variety of logic gates and digital circuits.

* In ''AlphaPrime'', hubbardium are literal green rocks ([[spoiler:Turned that way due to radiation from Glomar's heart]]) that are implied to have a variety of uses ranging from powering things, to alcohol, to BulletTime.

* VandalSavage gained immortality when he slept near a mysterious glowing meteorite on a cold winter night for warmth. Said immortality isn't quite perfect. Savage needs to ''eat'' the flesh and organs of his own descendants to maintain his longevity. The same meteorite gave The Immortal Man his powers, which work differently than Savage's; instead of living forever he is continuously reborn into a new life as soon as he dies.

If you have time, please take time to put examples in alphabetical order. This page Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings should help you with that.

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* MontyPythonsFlyingCircus: String can be used to tie up small parcels, attach notes to pigeon's legs, destroy household pests, prevent floods...

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** The Arkenhammer grants its user the ability to tame [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dwagons]] as well as produce powerful lightning attacks. Its current wielder Stanley also found out that it also has the ability to turn walnuts into pigeons (and birds into walnuts) about twenty percent of the time.

** The forth known tool has yet to be revealed. Fans temporarily refer to the unknown item as the "Arkensaw" when making predictions about what role they think it will play. A popular theory is that there are more Arkentools, nine total, one for each class of magic on the Erf axis. This is supported by Destructomancy, Thinkamancy and Healomancy being on that axis. Another theory puts the total at 27, one for each school of magic.

* Promicin, the luminous green neurotransmitter from ''{{The 4400}}'', has extremely unpredictable effects. Anybody injected with it will develop some kind of superpower, but there is apparently no way to predict what power that will be. It also has a good chance of killing you but that's the price of power, even if it does suck. It also has the power to ignore the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood-brain_barrier blood-brain barrier.]]