History Main / GreenRocks

** In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Seven of Nine's [[DoAnythingRobot Borg implants]] and [[{{Nanomachines}} nanoprobes]] are used to resolve a number of problems.

* ''{{TabletopGame/Deadlands}}'' has Ghost Rock, the Miracle Fuel [[spoiler:made from the souls of the damned]]. Ghost Rock burns 100 times hotter and 100 times longer than coal, can act as a catalyst in a wide array of chemical reactions, can be used in place of coke to make superhard steel, and basically anything else you can imagine. Alchemy in this setting even uses a cocktail of carefully mixed Ghost Rock powder and human blood to create "The Philosopher's Stone", a literally magical chemical base that can be used for all kinds of impossible potions, lotions, ointments, unguents and elixirs.
* Delerium in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsOfDrakkenheim'' is a [[PurpleIsPowerful purple-colored]] magical crystal that crashed to the world in a meteorite. It's incredibly rich in magical energies, making it useful to create a wide variety of magical items, even empowering artifacts that would have been all but impossible to make before. It can also be tapped directly to fuel extremely powerful spells, and even [[MageSpecies transform a user into a sorcerer]]. But it ''also'' [[TheCorruption induces intense madness and rampant mutation]] in those exposed to it. [[spoiler:It's actually the creation of an EldritchAbomination which is using it to literally erode reality, opening a slowly widening rift into its own dimension so it can consume the world.]]
* Large regions of the [[TabletopGame/{{Mystara}} Red Steel]] ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'' setting are contaminated with a reddish toxic mineral called cinnabryl, which impairs mental attributes in those who are exposed to it. However, certain cinnabryl-derivatives can not only offset this effect, but can confer a wide range of superpower-like abilities to those who know how to prepare and administer them. Just to cap it off, depleted cinnabryl can be refined into a superior grade of red-tinted steel (hence the name), and smokepowder for firearms can be crafted using its residues.
* Of the crazy Phlebotinums in the ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'', two in particular count for this: Isoflux-Alpha and [=OblivAeon=] shards.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' lore, Warpstone is a magic rock, a form of solid Chaos, that absorbs all light from the surrounding area while emitting its own green light. It can be used to power magical machines or for FasterThanLightTravel or as a magic looking glass or to create mutations, etc. Generally, though, it's TheCorruption. Oh, and did we mention that one of the two moons is ''made'' out of this stuff?

** Warpstone is the center of all conflicts for the Mordheim tabletop game (and to an extension, Mordheim City of the Damned). Everybody is in town to grab the warpstones for their own purposes. The mercenaries from the Imperial provinces are hired by wealthy power bidders to grab warpstone to further their ends. The Sisters of Sigmar seeks to keep the warpstone away from other potential dangers from harnessing their power. The Skaven feeds on Warpstone for power. The Chaos warbands seeks to use warpstone to free the Shadowlord. The Undead warbands seeks to use it to further their necromantic rituals. In summary, everybody is in town for the Warpstone.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', you get all sorts of magic rocks - Necrodermis, Standard Template Constructs, wraithbone, and the Warp itself all function as magic rocks at various points. Wraithbone is more or less the same as Warpstone, as it is solidified psychic energy. However it is far less chaotic than its fantasy counterpart, but apparently forms almost everything the Eldar uses, down to possibly their clothes.

[[quoteright:340:[[ComicBook/BlackPanther https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vibranium.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:340:[[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands It also makes delicious ice cream...]]]]

* Spoofed in ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'' with crystals. They can do everything! -- at least according to Dr. Dinosaur. Robo himself is quite doubtful of this claim.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheAttackOfTheAnnihilator'', a glowing meteorite shard found by the titular villain can transform people into psychically-empowered mutants.
* ''Franchise/TheDCU'' has various metals which can give people powers merely by wearing them, or other godly properties. The Nth metal [[ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} Hawkman's]] mace is made of primarily negates gravity, but is also capable of regeneration, metamorphosis, reincarnation, magic nullification, emotional manipulation, dimensional travel and basically anything the plot requires of it. Some versions have Nth metal as part of Hawkman's belt. ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'''s various metal items accomplish all sorts of feats, which are primarily due to the blessings of the gods upon the item, but the post-Rebirth continuity ties together all of these metals as being different, less pure forms of 'Tenth Metal', used in the Forge of Worlds as the very essence of creation. The Nth metal is in fact 'Ninth Metal' and the metal of Earth's gods is the Eighth. Tenth Metal is so powerful that it basically lets you alter reality with the smallest piece.
* During the ''ComicBook/DarkNightsMetal'' story, Batman is treated with 5 different metals over the course of multiple lifetimes, which apparently turns him into a portal for a demon god from a dark parallel multiverse to pass through. Yeah, it makes about as much sense as it sounds like.
* The exact same burst of radiation gave four people each a completely different power in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour''. Some iterations have explained it as the powers coming from what each felt was their greatest weakness. Which just happened to correspond with the classic Alchemical "Elements": Air (Invisible Girl), Earth (The Thing), Fire (The Human Torch) and Water (Mr. Fantastic). Or possibly the four stages of matter (gaseous, solid, plasma, & liquid, respective to the previous examples), if you prefer a more scientific outlook. The current explanation is that [[VoodooShark Reed was partially responsible for designing the entire universe]].
** And inspired by the FF, four other people flew into that same radiation storm, becoming Vector, Vapor, X-ray and Ironclad, collectively the U-Foes.
* As seen in the ''ComicBook/Hitman1993'' series, multiple powered characters in DC Comics are a result not of the accidents they had, but mutating to ''survive'' the accidents; it's fairly common for people to crawl out of a vat of toxic goo and go on a rampage. The title character is often called in to provide a very discreet bullet.

* The Terrigen Mists, the source of superpowers for Marvel Comics' ''ComicBook/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 ''[[ComicBook/JustImagineStanLeeCreatingTheDCUniverse Just Imagine...]]'' line of comics where Creator/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.
* In Creator/MilestoneComics' Dakota Universe, most super powers are the result of exposure to Quantum Juice, a.k.a. Q-Juice.
* ComicBook/ScarletWitch'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 they 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.
* ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan'' has the eponymous Shade, a RealityWarper whose "Power of Madness" can do anything.

* Towards the end of its run, ''Series/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.
* The ''ComicBook/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.

* The ''Creator/{{Wildstorm}}'' universe has [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds The Bleed]] doing all kinds of things.
* ''Franchise/XMen'''s mutant gene is probably the most extreme example of this, letting writers forgo the need for any sort of origin story whatsoever 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 (mongoose blood granting SuperSpeed to The Whizzer comes to mind...)

* Another Marvel example is Vibranium, from ''ComicBook/BlackPanther''. When introduced, Vibranium was the setting's ultimate {{Unobtainium}}; a hyper-durable, NighInvulnerable metal that absorbed vibrations and converted them into durability, so the more you hit it, the tougher it became. To put things in perspective, the famous Adamantium is a ''softer'' knock-off version. It was subsequently retconned into also serving as the foundation for Wakanda's ultra-advanced technology, because somehow having access to a super-durable metal translates to figuring out anti-gravity and energy blasters at a time when the rest of the world has only just figured out flintlock pistols. Subverted in ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'', where instead Vibranium is just a super-durable metal and Wakanda is so technologically advanced because it's reverse-engineered a crashed alien spaceship.
* The linchpin of the plot of ''ComicBook/DastardlyAndMuttley'' is the strange substance known as Unstabilium-239. It's a strange, [[PowerGlows glowy]] material that [[RealityWarper warps]] anything (or anyone) nearby into a [[ZanyCartoon wacky caricature]] of itself and makes ToonPhysics possible. [[spoiler: It is revealed to be connected to mysterious Elder Gods that happen to look like classic cartoon characters.]]
* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern1941'': Despite all the differences between Alan Scott and all the other Green Lanterns that would follow, it's interesting to note that even in his 1940 origin story, the source of Alan's power is extraterrestrial Green Rocks. A burning green meteor crashes in China, and it is first formed into a lamp, then a lantern, and finally comes to Alan Scott to grant him power. The two would eventually [[ArcWelding be connected]] by an explanation that, after [[TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar collecting all the magic they could gather]], the Guardians of the Universe [[NeglectfulPrecursors just dump it into another universe]] which happened to be Alan's.
* The [[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW IDW Transformers]] was used to [[ArcWelding connect]] the other toy property titles in the shared universe by having Shockwave engineer variations of Energon, which was already this trope, some of which ended up being their phlebotinum. One variant became the basis for Galadorian Space Knight armor, while another with space-bending properties became important to the Microverse.

* ''Anime/KemonoFriends'' has Sandstar, the substance that seems to be behind all the weird goings-on in Japari Park (and there's a ''lot'' of weirdness). It's shown that if a living creature (or even its remains) is exposed to Sandstar, it will [[HumanityEnsues take on humanoid form]], resulting in the eponymous Friends; [[spoiler:this includes ''human'' remains, as the main character Kaban was born from a single strand of hair left in a pith helmet. Meanwhile, Sandstar turns inorganic matter like igneous rock into blob monsters called Ceruleans. There's also an unexplained "Sandstar Low" that causes much of the problems in the last leg of the anime by creating a super-strong black Cerulean.]]
** However, subverted as of later expansions and revisions to the franchise lore. [[spoiler: Sandstar has only one ability: Turning Animals into Friends. Celliens (mistranslated as Ceruleans) actually come from Cellium, a susbtance that copies, rather than transforms, copying inorganic matter into Celliens derived from it. Incidentally? That's what Sandstar Rho ("Low") actually was, hence its entirely different properties.]]

** Eating Devil Fruit can give you any superpower imaginable, the type depending on the fruit you ate. Powers range from [[{{Animorphism}} animal transformation]] to [[ElementalPowers elemental control]] to coming back from the dead as a living skeleton, among a lot of other effects. What really pushes it into Green Rocks territory is the ability for inanimate objects to "eat" the animal-type fruits, becoming {{Empathic Weapon}}s in the process. But, unlike some Green Rocks, the Devil Fruits have a strong stigma. The user is [[SuperDrowningSkills unable to swim]], and loses all power upon significant contact with seawater. In addition, the result of eating the fruit is generally unknown. You could control lightning, or you could gain a completely ([[HeartIsAnAwesomePower or seemingly]]) useless ability. There is no antidote, and eating a second fruit causes instant death.\\\
Devil Fruit powers seem to encompass any sort of power you can think of, and more. However this means that they also encompass the sucky ones. Namely there's a fruit that allows you to change into each type of animal (ranging from specific species to a general family). However, this means that if an animal ate a fruit that turned them into their own species, it effectively robbed them the ability to swim, while giving them nothing. Again, there's no way of knowing this beforehand. Word of God stated that if a human ate the Human-Human Fruit, they would simply be "enlightened", but didn't elaborate on what this meant or if animals had the same effect. Good thing only one fruit of each kind exists, and the regular human one was eaten by a reindeer.

* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'': Magic is broad and ambiguous, and distinctions are drawn on the ''use'' of magic rather than different ''types''. However, magic has narrative properties similar to radiation (which is an example of WriteWhatYouKnow, as Creator/TerryPratchett used to work in the media relations office at a nuclear power station), with sites of old wizard battles essentially being uninhabitable fallout zones that mutate living things. It's also subject to some physical laws and nothing can be truly created with it (for example, Conservation of Mass applies when turning someone into a frog, and a cheese made by magic falls apart into a disgusting inedible mess). The most important reason for witches and wizards to learn magic is frequently said to be how to ''not'' use it when they could do it for every little thing. Sam Vimes once complains about the fact that "you can't explain how the magic is done [[ShapedLikeItself because it's all done by magic]]."

* Phazon from the ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'' was a poison, a mutagen, a weapon, and fuel, and interestingly, was the only thing that could hurt the Metroid Prime in the [[VideoGame/MetroidPrime first game]] despite it also causing the Metroid's transformation in the first place. In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' it turned out to be [[spoiler:the [[TheCorruption corrupting influence]] of a [[GeniusLoci living planet]] of the stuff seeking to [[YouWillBeAssimilated take over the universe]]]]. Whoa. Oh, and did we mention that it's sentient in all of its forms?
** Curiously, Phazon has NoOntologicalInertia, [[spoiler:the destruction of the planet Phaaze, the source of all Phazon leads to the obliteration of all Phazon everywhere even from the planets and life forms it was infecting.]]

* While the mutagen in ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2012}}'' (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 ferocious and lethal monsters.

* ''Franchise/TheDCU'' has various metals which can give people powers merely by wearing them, or other godly properties. The Nth metal [[ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} Hawkman's]] mace is made of primarily negates gravity, but is also capable of regeneration, metamorphosis, reincarnation, magic nullification, emotional manipulation, dimensional travel and basically anything the plot requires of it. ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'''s various metal items accomplish all sorts of feats, which are primarily due to the blessings of the gods upon the item, but the post-Rebirth continuity ties together all of these metals as being different, less pure forms of 'Tenth Metal', used in the Forge of Worlds as the very essence of creation. The Nth metal is in fact 'Ninth Metal' and the metal of Earth's gods is the Eighth. Tenth Metal is so powerful that it basically lets you alter reality with the smallest piece.

* ''VideoGame/TheDig'' featured glowing Life Crystals created by an advanced alien civilization, which are capable of bringing the dead back to life (albeit with resulting insanity and crystal-addiction) by cracking them open and pouring the liquid they carry over a corpse. You can probably guess what colour they were. For some reason, the crystals were also used to power the various alien machines found throughout the city.

* Tedd's TransformationRay Gun from the webcomic ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' can temporarily (up to a month at a time) transform anyone into any other humanoid form (subject to failsafes). He uses a computer to program the forms.

* The Chaos Emeralds from the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, whose functions throughout the games include everything from heroic transformation to manipulating time to powering doomsday machines.

* The Blinker Stones from ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' were initially presented as Pink Rocks: creating fires and giant glowing sky signals alike, with nary an [[MagicAIsMagicA explanation of how]] for 20 chapters. Then it was revealed that they are [[AmplifyingArtifact lenses for latent psychic powers]].