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2nd May '13 1:09:18 PM TiggersAreGreat

Send TiggersAreGreat a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

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[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The Otome from ''{{Mai-Otome}}'' receive their powers via nanomachine injections; they self-destruct when the female body's [[VirginPower injected with semen.]]
* The series ''KiddyGrade'' bases a lot of technology on "Nano-mist" -- a fog made up of trillions of nano-scale machines, which can achieve amazing effects -- from keeping a 64 thousand kilometer long starship from collapsing under its own mass, to creating a barrier, to repairing damage, to {{terraform}}ing a planet. Also known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_fog utility fog]].\\
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''KiddyGrade'' kicks WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief in the teeth throughout the series, and explains ''everything'' by [[HandWave handwaving]] some nonsense about nanomachines. While changing clothes in seconds or maybe even the "make a whip out of lipstick" trick are somewhat old hat, one pair of characters ''[[YouFailPhysicsForever has the nanomachine-induced physics-warping superpower]] [[GravitySucks of manipulating black holes with their bare hands]]''.\\
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It was suggested in-story (and confirmed in the sequel) that this is malarkey even inside the story; the ES members' abilities are not nanomachine-powered, but in fact seem to be actual (possibly Clarkian) magic.
* In ''MartianSuccessorNadesico'' exposure to terraforming nanomachines had an interesting effect on humans born on Mars. "Image Feedback System" Nanomachines were also used to interface with various machinery. On Mars, IFS nanomachines were required for pretty much any heavy equipment, but on Earth they served only as the UnusualUserInterface for HumongousMecha and other military vehicles. This led to Martian civilian Akito getting a lot of flak from [[TheSoCalledCoward Earth-natives who assumed he was a military deserter]], and eventually getting [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive press-ganged]] into piloting.
* ''GetterRobo'' {{hand wave}}s its TransformingMecha in the Armageddon OVA by attributing the transformations to nanomachines.
* ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' and Turn X's powerful Moonlight Butterfly attacks work by releasing technology-destroying nanomachines. Which may or may not be related to the equally dangerous and much more versatile nanotech "D.G. Cells" from ''[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam G Gundam]]''.
** And they allow teleportation, regeneration and more.
* ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' uses nanomachines to explain why the crew of Ptolemaios can stay in space for extended periods of time and not suffer bone density loss and so on. They are also the explanation, together with genetic modification, on why Innovades like Tieria do not age.
* ''{{GUNNM}}'''s Dr. Desty Nova is a specialist in Nanotechnology, and uses nanomachines to do almost everything -- from healing almost any wound to making pudding out of trash. The manga even featured an extra section about the subject.
** During the ZOT we learn that Mercury is a GreyGoo ball.
* Taken to quite an extreme in ''Manga/BlackCat''. One of the main characters, Eve, is a bioweapon of sorts who has several nanomachines inside her body that allows her to morph at will. This includes, but is not limited to, sprouting wings, turning her own skin into steel, transforming her hair into massive fists and, most notably, turning into a mermaid.
* The plot of the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' movie centers on these devices, which it frames as proteins that [[spoiler:make its victims see thousands of butterflies before asphyxiating them nearly instantly.]]
* In ''TrinityBlood'', the Crusniks are super-powered über-vampires who feed on vampire blood. They transform from human form into Crusnik by activating the nanomachines in their blood.
* ''SkyGirls'' has nanomachines as the focus of the entire story. MonsterOfTheWeek? Nanomachines originally built to cure medical problems gone rogue. Pilots wearing LatexSpaceSuit? They are protected by nanomachine armor that only lasts ten minutes [[note]]or twenty nine minutes, depending on which version you're watching[[/note]]. The weapons that the Sonic Divers carry? They are all nanomachine bullets.
* ''StrikeWitches'', a show quite similar to ''SkyGirls'', features the alien GreyGoo version of this as ''all'' of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]].
* [[ThemeNaming Foo Fighters]] from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure -- Stone Ocean'' is a unique character: while she does all the things a nanomachine-creature can do, such as healing herself and others and morphing her body to suit her needs (she has a literal [[StealthPun handgun]]), she's actually a Stand-enhanced colony of ''plankton''.
* In ''GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', nanomachines are widely used. In the first season, one of the potential treatments for cyberbrain sclerosis is based on nanomachines (although it isn't very effective). One episode also mentions that nanomachines are used to counteract air pollution. ''2nd GIG'' introduces the "Japanese Miracle"; a nanomachine-based technology for neutralising radioactive fallout from nuclear explosions.
** Though, being written before "nano" became a popular buzzword they're called ''micro'' -machines.
* Viluy from ''Manga/SailorMoon'' attacks with nanomachines. [[spoiler:After one of Sailor Moon's attacks causes them to malfunction, they turn on their creator.]]
* Yami from ''ToLoveRu'' apparently gets her powers from nanomachines.
** As expected of an Eve-expy.
** And now Yami has a 'younger sister', Mea Kurosaki with the same powers, presumably from the same source.
* In ''{{Blassreiter}}'', Amalgams/Demoniacs are created by nanomachines.
* In ''[[GaoGaiGar GaoGaiGar FINAL]]'', Palparepa uses nanomachines during his fight with Guy. [[spoiler:After taking some damage from them, Guy uses his [[EvolutionaryLevels Evoluder]] [[{{Technopath}} abilities]] to rewrite the nanomachines and send them back at Palparepa. However, instead of weakening him the nanomachines have the unforeseen effect of making Palparepa cross the BishonenLine]].
* In ''DeadmanWonderland'', the Branch of Sin powers come from femtomachines called the Nameless Worm.
* After suffering life-threatening brain damage that left her semi-paralyzed for months, Ai from {{Planetes}} finally get better after a long treatment involving nanomachines reconstructing neural pathways and such.
* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', AleisterCrowley uses nanomachines called UNDERLINE to analyze everything in Academy City, explaining his SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands. Kakine Teitoku uses a {{Tricked Out Glove|s}} called the Pincet Glove to capture an UNDERLINE bot and reverse engineer it.
* [[ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman Gatchaman]] episode "The Particle Iron Beast Micro-Saturn" has tiny bugs coated in lead. They cover buildings, making it appear there's no radiation; later, they pull together to become a giant bug. Once it has hold of the Godphoenix, the bugs drop loose and start chowing down on the hull. They have to go to Hinotori to melt the things.
[[/folder]]

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[[folder:Literature]]
* Greg Bear's novelette and later novel ''Literature/BloodMusic'' may very well be the first user of this trope in fiction, despite the fact that technically its nanomachines were biological in origin. On the other hand, once you get down to nano-scales, the difference between organism and machine is very blurry. Nanotechnology also features in Bear's ''Queen Of Angels'', and its sequel, ''Slant'.
* The Monoliths in the 1982 book (and 1984 movie) ''2010: Odyssey Two'' act like nanomachines, but are great big self-replicating machines. They turned the planet Jupiter into a star by igniting its core. The proper term for macroscale replicators are Von Neumann machines.
* ''Literature/{{Prey}}'' - A sentient swarm of nanomachines was the central premise of the MichaelCrichton novel.
* In the satiric science-fiction novel, ''TimDefenderOfTheEarth'', one character uses the implications of nanotechnology to turn himself and the rest of Britain's population into a collective hive-mind.
* The counterculture novel ''How to Mutate and Take over the World'' ends with [[spoiler:nanomachines transforming the entire world into key-lime pie filling]].
* In the second of the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series of novels by Jasper Fforde, Thursday's inventing uncle Mycroft invents some nanomachines. Her time-traveling [[TimePolice Chronoguard]] rogue father who does not exist in real time (that's a mouthful) eventually [[spoiler:has to time travel to the beginning of life on Earth with the nanomachine colony (instructed to convert all organic material into Dream Topping) in his fist, to prevent the world ending in a sugary, confectionery manner. Turns out we are all evolved from Dream Topping. Which actually explains a lot]].
* The epilogue of ''Look to Windward'' by [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]] features an artificial shape-shifting assassin composed of "E-Dust" (Everything-Dust), originally intended as a building material but inevitably turned to darker purposes. ''Literature/TheCulture'' in general seem to have progressed beyond nanotech, referring to "picofoam" as the building blocks of their AI Minds. "Picofoam complex" is the ''backup'' computational substrate for a mere ship drone's AI core, as described in ''Literature/{{Excession}}''. Most of [[DeusEstMachina a true Culture Mind]] actually exists in hyperspace, where it may function unburdened by pesky nuisances like the speed of light and neutron decay.
* The anti-Descolada virus designed by the heroes in the ''EndersGame'' sequels. Ironically, [[spoiler:the original Descolada virus counts too, as it was engineered by an unknown alien race as a terraforming agent]].
* The plot of the ''Moonrise'' and ''Moonwar'' by Ben Bova revolve around nanomachines. A subversion occurs when one character proposes making nanomachines that act like dust, to blind the invading army, and another character suggests just using dust instead.
* Nearly-omnipresent nanotechnology is an important part of the setting and plot in Creator/NealStephenson's novel ''Literature/TheDiamondAge'' (So named because with nanotech, diamond becomes literally ''as cheap as dirt'', making it a useful building material.)
* The ''eyves'' in Sergey Pavlov's novel ''Moon Rainbow'' aren't as much nano''machines'' as they are [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum alien microorganisms]], but they ''do'' grant people superpowers. Much of the book is devoted to exploring [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman psychological]] and [[FantasticRacism social]] consequences of this. In the sequel, though, they are just an excuse for the hero to [[BadAss kick some ass]].
* Nanomachines figure prominently in Nancy Kress's novel ''Beggars and Choosers'' (1994), the middle book of a trilogy beginning with ''Literature/BeggarsInSpain'' (1993) and concluding with ''Beggars Ride'' (1996).
* In ''Specials'', the third book of Scott Westerfeld's ''{{Uglies}}'' series, it is revealed that the Specials have nanobots in their blood that allow them to heal faster than normal humans. Nanos can also be really bad, though, as in the scene where Tally and Shay end up destroying a museum by accidentally unleashing some. (This scene is referenced for comedic value in ''Extras'', when Shay's solution to a problem is an excited cry of "Nanos!")Nanos are also what allow the Holes in the Walls to work like they do. In fact, nanos are everywhere in that world.
* In the ''Nulapeiron Sequence'' (and the prequel, ''To Hold Infinity'') by John Meaney, nanotech is considered rather crude and almost everything is instead done using 'femtotech', comprising 'engineered pseudatoms', whatever that might mean. References are even made to 'attotech', engineering using the fundamental building blocks of spacetime, referred to as Twistors.
* In Ken [=MacCleod=]'s ''Fall Revolution'' series, nanotech replicators and the creation of true AI lead to the singularity where many humans upload themselves to a computer framework and boost their intelligence and capabilities to godlike levels. The humans left behind in the solar system after the departure of the Fast Folk (so named due to the speed of their thought) use nanomechanical devices as the basis of much of their technology, the idea being that mechanisms are practically immune to subversion unlike their computer counterparts with corruptible software.
* Alastair Reynolds
** The ''Revelation Space'' series covers the collapse of much of human civilisation following the spread of an alien disease which corrupts human technology in very unpleasant ways. The problem is compounded by the return of the Inhibitors, a vastly ancient machine race who use replicating technology hundreds of millions of years in advance of humanity which might be based on even smaller scale femtotechnology...
** In ''Pushing Ice'', [[spoiler: many of the other inmates of the Spican's "zoo"]] have access to femtotechnology, again far in advance of the nanotechnology humans wield and correspondingly more dangerous when replicators run out of control. [[spoiler: in something of a twist, it is suggested that much of the alien femtotech was in fact human in origin... thanks to time dilation humanity progressed significantly whilst the crew of the Rockhopper were in transit to the Spican structure.]]
** ''Century Rain'' Earth was abandoned after nanomachines that are suppose to fix global warming start to eat everything to fuel themselves. The Slashers, who are a splinter human group, don't care if nanomachines caused problem in the past and continue to use them, have them present in their blood.
* In ''Bloom'' by Wil [=McCarthy=], nanomachines have run amok and eaten the entire biosphere of Earth, plus spread out into nearby space. Human refugees survived by colonizing the outer solar system, including Jupiter's moon Ganymede. The novel's plot follows the first mission sent back sunward to find out what's left.
* In the opening of Creator/JohnRingo's ''CouncilWars'' series 41st century humanity has reached the point where people have the power to transform themselves into all sort of nifty things, up to and including sentient clouds of nanites. Which must have been a lot of fun... right up until the point where somebody turns off all the power.
* In Ringo's ''Literature/LegacyOfTheAldenata'', the Galactic economy is based primarily on control of nanomachines used to build material from the atomic level up. With the new threat introduced in ''The Eye of the Storm'', Mike O'Neal, Jr kicks this in the head, thanks to [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Darhel]] interference with the human forces supposedly defending against hostiles making them varying degrees of useless.
* Luckily the Samothrace operative in ''Drakon'' has a small Faber which can make whatever he wants, diamonds, components for Plasma rifles, anything small enough. The Draka he's chasing was caught in an accident so it doesn't have these luxuries, and it can think of better ways to commit suicide then use the enemy's weapons.
* LarryNiven, aware that TechMarchesOn, {{retcon}}ned his KnownSpace {{Verse}} by saying that Carlos Wu had invented a nanotech-based autodoc with ''astonishing'' capabilities: in "Procrustes", the story where it was introduced, Beowulf Shaeffer was able to [[spoiler:have his entire body regenerated from just his severed head]], and when it reappeared in ''The {{Ringworld}} Throne'' and ''Ringworld's Children'', Louis Wu used it to [[spoiler:reverse being transformed into a [[TragicMonster Protector]]]] -- which borders on DeusExMachina.
* Used in various ways in ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', both for good and evil, but rarely explored outside of its use as [[spoiler:a tool for covert assassinations [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident made to look like accidents]].]]
* ''Quickies'' (or "shustrs" in original Polish text) are the mainstay of Lusanian society in Creator/StanislawLem's ''Observation on the Spot''. They do ''everything'', from providing energy and material wealth to enforcing laws of ethics as laws of physics. In Lusania [[ApeShallNeverKillApe "man" doesn't kill a "man"]] -- the environment ''won't let him''. They could even provide immortality, but those who tried it generally found that [[WhoWantsToLiveForever it wasn't worth the effort]].
* In his ''Peace on Earth'' nanomachines are also the ultimate stage of MechanicalEvolution of human weaponry.
* Creator/WalterJonWilliams' novel ''Literature/{{Aristoi}}'' covers these, in various aspects, in great detail. Nanomachines are pretty much the basis for the entire economy, and a great deal of effort is expended in making sure the few people authorized to design new ones know what they're doing. The novel goes into more than usual detail on what it would take to actually get one running, including troubles such as getting rid of the heat such things would generate, especially in a vacuum. Gray goo does come up a couple times, at least once as a malicious attack.
* The ''Literature/PlagueYearSeries'' details the effects of a devastating nano-tech plague which disassembles all warm-blooded life forms below 10,000ft elevation.
* An entire manufacturing entity -- Chasti Perma Lock has been created which produces nanite powered devices such as chastity devices, gags and so forth by the action of nanites on a person. For example, a chastity device is made by nanites closing up the ... operative ... opening permanently. You can use your imagination as to the rest.
* ''The Days of Solomon Gursky'' by IanMcDonald. It starts in a near-ish future where nanomachines are routinely used to build virtually anything. Out of diamond if you like. And then the protagonist invents a process that uses nanomachines to entirely replace the cells in a living creature (such as a human). This essentially converts the creature into a new immortal form entirely constructed from nanomachines. The rest of the novella explores the full astounding ramifications of this over the following centuries and millennia.
* ''Literature/TheDivingUniverse'' has "nanobits", a LostTechnology used by the {{Precursors}} in the Fleet 5,000 years ago. Very few of them are still operational, and those are generally mistaken for a strange natural phenomenon.

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[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* The concept has been used on ''Series/{{Eureka}}''.
* Assistant DA Skinner from ''{{The X-Files}}'' was poisoned by nanomachines. [[KudzuPlot This was never resolved]].
* Introduced as the way that people from the future take over human hosts (including [[spoiler:protagonist Tom Baldwin]]) in the fourth season of ''{{The 4400}}''.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' - When {{Nanomachines}} or "nanites" were first introduced, they wreaked havoc when accidentally allowed to interact with each other to form a HiveMind. Interesting to note, these were originally ''[[http://www.davekrieger.net/Waves/ dust mites]]''. Later the nanites were put forth as a possible way of combating the Borg, though the process of destroying a Borg cube (estimated at about two weeks) would have taken too long to save the Federation. However, given the Borg's own mastery of nanotechnology as later seen in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' and in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', it probably wouldn't have been very effective anyway. The Borg use "nanoprobes" for assimilating other species into their collective hive environment: the nanoprobes are injected into the bodies of other species through tubules, where they begin to transform the foreign species into partially organic and partially machine beings.
** On ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', one of the aforementioned Borg becomes part of the crew and in later episodes the nanoprobes are used to do [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands various convenient things]], including curing medical conditions, assimilating even more advanced technology and spawning a new individual, and so on.
** The Borg's nanoprobes are also revisited during their appearance in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. Although the details behind their ability to assimilate a ship from the inside out had been previously left offscreen, it's revealed that the Borg simply inject the nanite tubules into a wall panel, causing a wave of Borg technology to begin spreading and consuming the ship.
* In ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', High Guard ships of the line have nanomachines as part of their self-repair systems, their medical equipment and their anti-intruder defences. In the [[AllThereInTheManual background information]] for the series (and sometimes alluded to on-screen) it's stated that nanomachines are ubiquitous in people as well as defense for nanomachine attacks. And Beka Valentine has them in her hair to make it change color.
* Nanomachines called "Nanogenes" ran amok to trigger the major crisis in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances".
* ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'': "Prisoner of the Judoon"
* Season eight of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' introduced the Nanites, who could do anything from hairstyling to blowing up planets. Lampooned because they were usually too busy dealing with the social problems of their microscopic society to actually do anything useful.
* In a later season of ''Series/RedDwarf'', the missing Red Dwarf was revealed to have been stolen and miniaturized (with the extra matter stored as a small planetoid) by nanobots that had once been Kryten's self-repair system. The nanobots are tracked down, and made to give back what they took as well as replace Lister's amputated arm. As a bonus, the nanobots had not only restored Holly when they originally took the ship, but when they rebuilt it they built it true to its original plans and resurrected the crew, minus Kochanski.
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits'' had featured a plot designed around nanobots created to [[HarmfulHealing heal]] human infirmities; the nanobots [[InstantAIJustAddWater spontaneously develop an artificial intelligence]] and begin "repairing" what they perceived as "design flaws" of those human bodies- creating some rather ''weird'' things like an [[NauseaFuel armored ribcage]] and even [[BodyHorror eyes in the back of the head]]! According to opening titles, the main plot (The New Breed) was also based on ''Blood Music'', mentioned below under Literature.
* ''StargateVerse'':
** Nanites appear in several episodes of ''Series/StargateSG1'', although the earlier ones appear to be an evolution of a less-sophisticated group of Replicators which seem to have been independently created. [[hottip:*:One of the more widely-accepted theories within Stargate fandom is that after the Ancients left the Pegasus Galaxy to return to the Milky Way (leaving the Asuran Replicators behind), one of them decided to go off on his own and restart the project, but with more control exerted over it to ensure that they didn't get out of control like the Asurans did. Unfortunately, things [[FromBadToWorse didn't quite go to plan.]]
** Fanon and the Expanded Universe hold that the unsophisticated SG-1 Replicators encountered the advanced ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' Replicators at some point in the past or during the series and cribbed the ability to create human-form Replicators from them. However, canon explicitly states that the Milky Way replicators got the idea for human form from Reese:
--->'''First''': When our Replicator brethren discovered the android Reese, they realized she was their creator. They studied her design and form and found aspects of her technology superior to their own.
--->'''Second''': Our brethren are composed of ungainly blocks.
--->'''Third''': We are composed of millions of cell units, microscopic in comparison, that combine to create this form.
** ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' features a nanovirus that kills several members of the Atlantis Expedition and nearly kills many more [[Recap/StargateAtlantisS01E13HotZone during its first season]] (possibly Asuran nanobots). Also an example of criminal neglect from the {{Precursors}} (Ancients). (To be fair, though, they thought they would be coming back, and couldn't really have foreseen the humans, who were still hunter-gatherers when they left, taking over. They weren't really jerks until they Ascended.) Nanotechnology is used fairly regularly in the later seasons, the most notable example being the human-form Replicators, originally designed by the Ancients.
* A common {{fanon}} explanation for the "smoke monster" on ''Series/{{Lost}}'' is that it is a cloud of nanites. Though the writers have {{Jossed}} this theory more than once, it nonetheless appeared in the {{ARG}} ''TheLostExperience''.
* An injection of {{nanomachines}} also gave super strength, endurance and enhanced senses as well as the ability to interface with electronics in the [[TooGoodToLast short-lived]] ''{{Jake20}}''.
* Used in an episode of ''Now and Again'', in which the nanomachines used in Mr. Goodman's construction start spreading from his body, devouring all the ink in the world and destroying all literature. Turns out it was all just a dream.
* An episode of the short-lived TV series ''Series/{{Prey}}'' has the [[HollywoodEvolution Homo Dominants]] design nanites that alter human DNA to turn anyone into a Dominant.

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[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''Snatcher'': If you get hit while fighting the insectors after [[spoiler: finding Jean-Jack Gibson's dead body,]] Metal Gear will inject you with nanomachines.
* ''SimEarth'': Nanotech age is the highest level your sentient species can reach before leaving the planet.
* The nanobot work crews in {{Videogame/Portal 2}}.
* Used in [[InjusticeGodsAmongUs Injustice: Gods Among Us]] to explain the game mechanics of [[TheJoker The Joker]] being able to take on Hawkgirl in hand-to-hand combat, and win.
* Nanomachines (called Nanites) fuel the war effort in ''PlanetSide''; they build the weapons, tanks, buildings, and the ''soldiers themselves''. When the objects are damaged beyond repair, they're deconstructed by the nanites.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and its sequels use nanomachines for ''everything'', from transmissions to healing bleeding wounds to [[spoiler: aiding in a fake possession]].
** [[ParrotExposition Nanomachines?]]
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', Raiden actually has all of his ''blood'' replaced with ''synthetic blood teeming with nanites''. Never mind the actual viability of that particular gruesome mashup, this is what allows him to interact wirelessly with nerds. Uh, nodes. This is actually perfectly viable, or at least it should be in the next few decades. [[http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0468.html Current designs]] project replacing even 10% of your blood with these machines could allow you to go hours without ''taking a breath''.
** In ''MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', despite nanotech is [[TechnologyMarchesOn considered obsolete]] [[MetalGearSolid4 in military application,]] replaced by {{cyborg}} technology, it still very potent when rightly applied.
-->Raiden: ''WhyWontYouDie !''
-->[[spoiler:[[BigBad Armstrong]]]]: [[Memes/MetalGear NANOMACHINES,]] [[NighInvulnerable SON!]]
* Vanilla H's healing ability in the ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'' games comes from nanomachines. This works on both ships (her Angel Wing, Harvester, is a living nanomachine colony) and people (with her pet, a catlike living LostTechnology). Vanilla is one of the very few people that can pull this off, and became an EmotionlessGirl as a side effect of honing her skills. Nano-Nano Pudding, from the later games, is another living LostTechnology, this time a CatGirl. Like Vanilla's pet, she too is constructed from nanomachines.
* In the ''Anime/GalaxyAngel'' anime, none of this is mentioned at all, and Vanilla's powers may or may not come from a magical bead.
* While ''[[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} Warcraft III]]'' doesn't actually use them in the story, a custom map called S.W.A.T. Aftermath calls the {{Mana}} resource 'energy' instead and the creator refers to the 'Nanites' in it as being able to do pretty much anything. A fan comic parodies it by having the creator call the Nanites concept 'magic', which is ill-received by the scientific community. After renaming it Nanites, he's considered a genius. As a note, the map's creator has said [[AWizardDidIt "Nanites did it"]] when some of the community begin to over analyze how certain technologies work.
* ''TotalAnnihilation'' used nanobots (via "Nanolathes") for construction. One of the creators explained it thus: "It would have been too complex and time consuming to have little guys with hammers and scaffolds every time something was built in the game. It also wasn't futuristic enough. We needed something like magic, but with a thin veneer of science around it. Nanotechnology to the rescue!"\\
\\
Ironically, this has turned out to be a fairly reasonable use of nanotech. Now imagine a game of total annihilation that drags out for months, and apply to the real world. ''TotalAnnihilation's'' SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'', uses Nanolathes as well, but calls them "Protocrafters" and gives each faction's unique graphics.
** ''Total Annihilation'' used nano''technology'' but not nano''machines''. The two are very different! ''Nanolathing'' is the process by which solid objects are created by fabrication systems, eg Commanders, Factories and Engineers. Things must be actively constructed by a fabricator; they cannot self-assemble. Once built, non-fabricating units and buildings cannot replicate or regenerate: they're just perfectly normal (albeit very high-tech) machines. A select few buildings can upgrade, but most buildings and units cannot and no unit can change itself dramatically. A nanolathe could be visualised as a very fast, very powerful, multi-material 3d-printer with molecular-scale resolution.
* The plotline of the video game ''HostileWaters: Antaeus Rising'', by WarrenEllis, is based on nanotechnology. In the year 2012, nanotech "Creation Engines" were developed and released to the world at large. Able to dispense anything a person could want, at any time - on demand - they cause [[TheSingularity "the world to go sane"]]; Revolution happened, [[ObstructiveBureaucrat power cliques]] were overthrown and the world becomes a {{Utopia}}. The game takes place is the fictional year 2032, where[[spoiler: the old power elites have perverted nanotechnology for their own uses, creating weapons of war with which to blackmail the rest of the world into servitude again. Or so it seems, at first...]]
* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' - Nanites are central to gameplay and a strong part of the plot. The protagonist, JC Denton, has nano-augmentations, such augmented vision. During the game, fresh infusions of nanites add entirely new abilities and upgrades for existing abilities. All his augmentations were powered by his body's own bioelectrical energy -- a high tech equivalent of mana. The abilities themselves were fairly believable, though if you built your character right you were essentially an {{invisible}}, [[SuperSpeed super-fast]], [[SuperStrength super-strong]], [[HealingFactor rapid-healing]] dude wielding a [[PowerGlows sword that could kill robots in a single hit]]. Of course, you would completely drain your bioelectrical energy in about twenty or thirty seconds of pure awesomeness, but hey, what price glory?
** The sequel, ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'', starts with a cutscene where a terrorist detonates a pocket "Nanite Detonator" that turns everything in range into a big soup of gray [[GreyGoo nano-goo]]. The kicker? He was in the middle of ''Chicago'', and the thing wipes out the city.
* ''SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''. All over the place at higher levels. Several technologies have to do with the stuff (Nanominiaturization, Nanometallurgy, and Industrial Nanorobotics being the coolest-named), most of which give you some pretty cool stuff (and allow you to build carriers and submarines for the first time for some reason).\\
\\
On one hand, upon researching Industrial Nanorobotics, you hear an excerpt from one of Miriam's screeds against new technology:
-->Already we have turned all of our critical industries, all of our material resources, over to these...things...these lumps of silver and paste we call nanorobots. And [[AIIsACrapshoot now we propose to teach them intelligence]]? What, pray tell, will we do when these little homunculi [[GreyGoo awaken one day and announce that they have no further need of us]]?
-->-- [[TheFundamentalist Sister Miriam Godwinson]], "We Must Dissent"
** On the other hand, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKcEwUcVBHs Santiago's opinion on the subject]]. On another note, the video and accompanying voiceover [[ShownTheirWork indicate that, as usual, the developers did the research]]: the bots are networked, seem to draw power from their canisters, and have to get their raw material from somewhere (the video shows them devouring a battlefield, including a [[NightmareFuel dead body's hand]], to make one hovertank).
* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'' uses Nanotech to explain the existence of hitpoints. After a set point in the first game, the Nanotech can be upgraded to increase the health of Ratchet.
* Also the game ''Size Matters'' central plot revolves around a tiny civilization naked to the human eye called the Technomites who are responsible for creating technology (at least in one galaxy).
* The ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' trilogy uses nanomachines a lot. Ether is basically the main characters using nanomachines to do things like heal and spam {{Game Breaker}}s. Segment Addresses (places where one can obtain some nice stuff) are said to have been made by faulty nanomachines, and that their corresponding Decoders "fix" them so that the corridor behind is accessible.
* The spiritual predecessor, ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', makes even further use of them, though it's still limited to a few applications found only at the very highest tech level available to the game (Solaris, Shevat, [[spoiler: Zeboim and Deus]]). They are used to heal people, to turn people into monsters, to turn these monsters back into humans, to create artificial human beings, to build biological limitations into humans (and to remove the nanites that do the former, allowing humans to access their full potential), to build, upgrade, repair and modify some of the huge PoweredArmor suits, to [[spoiler:partially cure the hero of his complex multiple personalities disorder]], to mind-control people, and to build a complete fortress out of nothing in a matter of seconds. A playable character in the game is also herself an entire nanite colony whose method of fighting involves her reshaping her own body into various weapons at will.
* In ''[[VideoGame/SystemShock System Shock 2]]'', nanites are a mixture of nanomachines and base material used with replication technology to make items, and they have become the world's default currency. Quite naturally, replicators in the game are set by their MegaCorp manufacturer to rip off the consumer by skimming off the top with each transaction, which explains why the player (and according to in-game logs, everybody else) can hack replicators for better prices. In addition to buying things, nanites are used to power all the technical skills; hacking the replicators would use up nanites to create new circuit bypasses, repairing your weapon would need replacement parts, etc. Well, in theory, since in the game it's all [[HollywoodHacking just a minigame]].
* ''MassEffect'' has the appropriately named Omni-tool, a holographic tool that can dispense medigel, conduct electronic warfare, and function as a datapad, and repair vehicles and a certain plasma vent. It is also a definite threat in combat; if you bring her along, the tech-focused party member will brandish one as a threat while others draw weapons or take up their PstandardPsychicPstance. Since that description does nothing to suggest that this has anything to do with the trope: Omni-tools contain nano manufacturies, which permit them to create small items out of raw materials on the fly-- like very small high-power explosives. They can also apparently make [[HardLight drones made of light that shoot electricity]] if the sequel is any indication.
** A cutscene in Mass Effect 3 confirms that the drones are actually tiny metallic spheres - the big hologram is so that the operator would be able to tell where it is.
* The Necris from the ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' series are humans who had all their blood replaced with Nanoblack, a "black goo" of nanomachines. The Necris are technically [[TheUndead undead]] (as the name implies), since Nanoblack is harmful to living organisms and the blood transfusion only works on dead people.
* ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'' uses nanotechnology for everything. All the enemy soldiers and Iji herself use nano to enhance their movement and protect their bodies. Also, their "nanoguns" can shapeshift their internal components to act as any kind of weapon and assemble projectiles inside the barrel.
* The entire ''{{Wild ARMs}}'' series ''thrives'' on the use of nanotechnology, mixed with liberal helpings of Clarke's Third Law. See: Metal Demons, "Planet Hiades" in general [[spoiler:in ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs 3}}'', it's specifically stated to be Terra/Earth after a nanotech apocalypse]], [[VideoGame/WildArms4 the fourth game's]] meaning behind the acronym ARM...
* The [=GenSelect=] Device, from ''[[VideoGame/WingCommander Wing Commander IV]]'', was weaponized {{nanomachines}} designed to eliminate anyone with "inferior" genes.
* All of the ''RedFaction'' games feature nanotechnology, primarily as plot points. Used quite realistically in the first and third games; not so much in the second.
* In ''Cyberstorm,'' a TurnBasedStrategy game set in the ''Earth Siege'' universe, you can buy your [[HumongousMecha HERCs]] self repair systems based on nanotechnology.
* In ''[[EscapeVelocity Escape Velocity Nova]]'', the Krypt HiveMind reacts to any interesting phenomena in its region of space by having a pod release a colony of nanites to "explore" it. Although the game's documentation insists that nanites are not really weapons, their effect on ships gives no good reason for players to consider them as anything else, BlueAndOrangeMorality notwithstanding.
* ''SuperRobotWarsAlpha Gaiden'' has nanomachines known as Machine Cells [[spoiler:as part of the Black History backstory and are being used by the BigBad: the Magus and her minions.]] Also used in SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration 2.
* The Vasari from ''SinsOfASolarEmpire'' make extensive use of nanomachines, with most of their special abilities being built around either spacetime-warping technology or nanomachines.
* AnarchyOnline takes this trope to heart and runs with it, using nanobots for frickin' ''everything.'' "Magic" is essentially just free-floating nanobots in the air being told to do something, your {{Mana}} is [[CallARabbitASmeerp called Nano Points]], and these 'bots make everything from guns, to HumongousMecha, to that [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking super-potent beer]] that all ''nano-augmented'' species that live on Rubi-Ka can't get drunk from ([[MonkeyIsland2 "It's just as nasty-tasting and foul smelling as the real thing, but without the alcohol."]]). Hell, these things can even change the way things taste. You name it, nanobots are probably behind it on Rubi-Ka. Except for resurrection; you need the local GreenRocks for that.
* A little-known RTS game from the DOS era called ''War, Inc.'' puts you in charge of a PrivateMilitaryContractor. The vehicles are manufactured by nanobots from raw materials that you must harvest in-mission (and your infantry is made by incredibly high-speed cloning).
* One of the main resources in the RTS {{Achron}} is called Liquid Crystals (LC for short) and is made of a mix of common atoms and nanobots in a liquid-crystal framework. When you order a unit to construct a building the unit drops a tiny transponder seed which signals local teleportation infrastructure to teleport the right quantity of LC to that location. The nanobots in the LC then assemble the building using the atoms contained within it. When you build a unit the LC is teleported into the factory where it assembles into the units gear in a similar way (and the pilot is supplied separately).
* [[EndOfNations The Shadow Revolution]] uses swarms of these for many different offensive and defensive powers and abilities, usually deployed form air delivered pods or released from certain units on their objective. Among their uses there is [[HollywoodHealing healing]], [[BeehiveBarrier shielding friendly units]], [[AntiArmor reducing enemy defenses]], [[DamageOverTime slowly damaging them]] and [[BackFromTheDead instantly reconstructing fallen troops]].
* Featured in ''VisualNovel/BionicHeart''. The MegaCorp that the main character works for uses nanotechnology in manufacturing androids that [[HealingFactor can heal fatal wounds within minutes]].
* All of the units in ''{{Perimeter}}'' are made from Nanomachines.

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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Despite the reference, the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode "Tick Tick Tick" isn't really a good example. The tick was visible to the naked eye, there was just one, and it didn't do anything but explode. But nano still sounds about a hundred times better. Just because it's big, doesn't necessarily imply it isn't made out of very small components, of course.
** A better example of nanotechnology in the series could be the Hephaestus Project, a sort of living metal capable of repairing, modifying, and increasing in size when given the proper commands. Drakken used this technology in TheMovie to create an army of robots disguised as toys.
* ''MaxSteel'' was just an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent until an accidental injection of {{nanomachines}} gave him super strength and endurance. Gets pretty heavy with it, too, as the show loved to sneak in more complexity than most Saturday morning cartoons get away with; the nanomachines here run on a [[AppliedPhlebotinum unique form of power]] known as "Trans-Phasik Energy" or "T-Juice" -- the flipside being that said energy is [[PlotDrivenBreakdown burned rather quickly in combat]].\\
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The nanites have symbiotic relationship with the protagonist: if they go offline, he dies. Surprisingly not played for a plot point as often as one might think so much as an occasional inconvenience... until the show's ''entire third season'', where [[spoiler: the government forces the agency to disband after terrorists steal the generator and nearly wipe out the UN with it. It is implied that the main character is living on borrowed time without the full-size power generator, and that he will die in the near future with only the portable model to fall back on. Whenever he powers up, he's burning off said time. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job Killing Yourself, Hero?]]]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' episode "Walkabout", [[HeelFaceTurn villain turned good guy]] Dingo acquires a living suit made of nanomachines, after helping the Gargoyles convince said nanomachines not to [[GreyGoo eat Australia]].
* BigBad Slade on ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' blackmails Robin into becoming his apprentice by infecting the rest of the Titans with nanomachines that will kill them if he should decide to activate them.
* Alien nanomachines figure into the ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' episode "Dark Heart", and manage to give the entire League a serious run for its money. Later on, things ''really'' get serious when [[spoiler: Brainithor]] gets a hold of that technology.
** Brainiac/Luthor is also an example. Years prior to those events (back in WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries), Brainiac forced Luthor to build him a new body, and his first act in that body was to inject Luthor with a "nanoscopic payload" that carried a dormant copy Brainiac's entire consciousness.
** The {{DCAU}} version of Amazo the android was made of nanotech, which allowed him to evolve by duplicating whatever power he saw. Luthor and The Atom attempted to use this knowledge in an attempt to stop him, but he revealed that he had evolved beyond nanotechnology.
* In a {{crossover}} between ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Superman's foe Brainiac {{Mind Control}}s Bruce Wayne using nanomachines.
* In the ''CodeLyoko'' episode "Amnesia", XANA creates nanomachines that act like virus and [[LaserGuidedAmnesia erase the memories]] of anyone infected. They are actually seen with a microscope, looking like minute spiders.
* One episode of ''CaptainPlanet'' had a variation on the usual plot by having a mysterious figure appear in a small town in Latin America and give people everything they wanted, which it did by firing mysterious beams at nearby natural resources. Said beams turned out to be nanomachines. Unlike most examples, they were always under control of the villain, who turned out to be a spirit of environmental destruction whom the team had met before.
* The second ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' series featured a recurring antagonist in Nano, a nanomachine colony that had somehow "personified" (acquired sentience) and which possessed the emotional maturity of an infant. Eventually, however, it outgrows its immature tendencies and joins super-hero team The Justice Force.
* [[strike: Nanomachines]] Microbots create the first antagonist on Earth in ''TransformersAnimated''. A cockroach is injected with them, and it grows, bursts out of the tube it's held in, and proceeds to merge with everything metal around it and grow into a skyscraper-sized, tentacled, rather blobby monster. In a later episode, the Microbots are reconfigured to eat garbage, and [[GreyGoo again go out of control]] when exposed to an allspark fragment.
* In the title sequence of the {{Disney}} show ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' there is a passing reference to nanobots.
* Central to the premise of ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex''. An industrial accident spread nanomachines all over the world and they have a tendency to warp living things into monsters, which the titular character must deal with.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben10}}'' {{live action|Adaptation}} [[TheMovie movie]] ''Alien Swarm'', the main villains of the film were a HiveMind swarm of alien nanitie-like chips that were capable of infecting and controlling any living creature. They even had a [[HiveQueen queen]]. They weren't actually nanomachines, though, more like living microchips. Nano just sounds cooler.
* ''IronManArmoredAdventures'' featured Technovore, a data and technology eating virus which infected a cluster of nanites, creating one of the most dangerous villains Iron Man has ever faced. [[ThePointsMeanNothing Bonus Points]] for the fact that [[NiceJobBreakingItHero it was Tony who created the virus]]. In its initial appearance, it appeared that Tony destroyed it; however, [[FromASingleCell a few of the nanites seemed to have survived]].
** Later this comes up as Extremis, a SuperSoldier technology that SHIELD has yet perfected. Tony uses it to cure his heart, but also gave him super strength and [[{{Technopath}} control over technology]]
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' had SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker [[BrainUploading uploading his thought processes]] into a colony of nano machines at [=WayneTech=], creating a shape-shifting, size-changing nano-clone of Mister J. Not good.
** Also, the brain uploading part was actually a result of an accident, as the Joker was using a device that was plugged into a machine to "convince" it to give him money. [[spoiler:Batman destroyed the machine, leaving a copy of the Joker's mind on the computer and mentally stunning the real one for a few hours. Eventually, the digital Joker decided to upload his mind into Bruce's nanomachines]].
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' had to deal with a swarm of carbon-devouring nanobots invading Townsville disguised as rain. TheProfessor shrunk them down to the nanobots' own size so they could actually fight. When the girls started winning, the nanobots merged into their equivalent of a HumongousMecha...which the Professor just stepped on.
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