History Main / GreyGoo

** Clockwork horrors, introduced in ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'', are tiny mechanical beings that methodically and very efficiently scour areas of metal, which they use to build more clockwork horrors and continue the cycle. They leave stone, soil and organic material alone, but if left unchecked can easily devastate entire countries or even strip whole worlds of worked and unworked metal. They'd actually consumed their home planet and were effectively trapped there, until the neogi made the mistake of visiting, allowing the horrors to hijack their spelljamming vessels and spread across the crystal spheres.

** The most common outcome is the release of the "Gray Tempest," a swarm of crazy-strong nanobot starships that wiped out the L-Cluster's original inhabitants and will try to bury the galaxy proper in nanomachines. If this happens, the first thing you get out of the L-Gate is a degraded recorded message from the lost inhabitants of the Cluster [[NiceJobBreakingItHero warning you to NOT open the gate]]. The good news is that destroying the Gray Tempest's control hub and claiming the L-Cluster nets valuable strategic resources and any worlds compromised by nanomachines can be easily {{terraform}}ed into any climate type desired.
** Another outcome unleashes a cluster of "L-Drakes," a variant of [[SpaceWhale ether drake]], instead of a starship swarm. These are nonaggressive unless attacked, but if that happens, there's the RoboticReveal that these creatures are comprised of nanomachines -- they're the Gray Tempest after it's called down from KillAllHumans mode and assumed more natural forms.
** A third outcome has your survey ship discover a bunch of dead worlds... and a single individual of your species [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace walking on an airless planetoid.]] This is Gray, the Gray Tempest coalesced into a single sapient entity, who has grown bored enough to be willing to join your empire as a specialist, or he can shapeshift into a warship.

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'': Gray Goo is discussed in ''GURPS: Ultra-Tech'' in a section on Von Neumann machines, which points out the waste heat of the goo eating a planet is likely a more pressing threat than being eaten by it. On the upside, they require extremely high levels technology and are expensive to make; on the downside, some versions might be able to fly or travel through space.

* ''Videogame/{{Seedship}}'': Alien nanobots can potentially attack the ship, and the player has to determine how to handle them.
* ''[[Videogame/AIWarFleetCommand AI War 2]]:'' The appropriately-named Nanocaust is a nanite plague capable of infecting and spreading from spaceship to spaceship like a plague, and forming hives upon planets to consume everything in them for the purpose of more reproduction and consumption. It's unknown where it came from (both aliens and renegade humans are suspected), but even the AI has problems handling it; the description mentions it's the sort of rampaging threat that usually keeps it busy outside the galaxy with its back turned to you.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[MemeticMutation Nom nom nom, om nom!]]]]

** The comic does point out one of the biggest weaknesses of nanobots: Extreme heat. Even when they have evolved plasma shielding, any reasonably dangerous level of heat will overwhelm any defenses the nanites have and cause their inner workings to warp and fail. If a gravitic-enabled AI isn't around to help, it's common to bust out the plasma weapons on wide spread to handle hostile swarms. For bonus points, most PowerArmor in the setting can handle fire without too much difficulty, so you don't even have to worry about your own men. Unarmored Civilians however can at best hope to get off with third degree burns to their entire body. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Good thing medical technology has made a few advances...]]

-->'''GreyGoo avatar:''' No, isolate. That way is behind me. It is true I consumed the cosmos. I spread my body until I was the very light that speckled the night sky. [[AssimilationPlot I became all and all became one.]] [[VictoryIsBoring And then I was alone.]] [[GoMadFromTheIsolation Do you know what it means to be literally alone in the universe?]] To wonder ''what's out there'' and know without question that the answer is ''me''?

* The same idea on a much larger scale happens in ''VideoGame/StarControl2''. The Slylandro, a planet-bound race, purchase a space exploration probe from some interstellar traders. They can afford only one, so they set its "replication" priority extremely high, causing it to attempt to break down everything it encounters into component compounds to build new probes. By the beginning of the game's timeline the quadrant is already swarming with these things, and it's projected that they'll continue to grow exponentially until they devour the galaxy unless you find a way to stop them.

* In ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'', there are many kinds of self-replicating nanomachines that are all categorised as [[https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/46f96a277fcd2 goo]], with grey goo among them. One outbreak of grey goo caused massive damage to humanity early in the setting's history, and this event is known as the [[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4ad4d58752948 Technocalypse]]. However, the relatively realistic nature of the setting means that dangerous goo [[https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4aae1c18950ae is far from unstoppable]], being vulnerable to extreme heat, extreme cold, loud sounds, radiation and many other things. The Technocalypse was halted thanks to the usage of blue goo (nanomachines created specifically to neutralize grey goo). Humanity would actually have been able to recover if it wasn't for the subsequent actions of [[AIIsACrapshoot GAIA]].

** Clockwork horrors are tiny mechanical beings that methodically and very efficiently scour areas of metal, which they use to build more clockwork horrors and continue the cycle. They leave stone, soil and organic material alone, but if left unchecked can easily devastate entire countries or even strip whole worlds of worked and unworked metal.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' story pack ''Distant Stars'' centers around a deactivated PortalNetwork that connects to the "L-Cluster," a clump of planetary systems beyond the borders of the known galaxy. What happens when you reactivate the L-Gates to reach it is randomly chosen at the start of a new game, but the most common outcome is the release of the "Gray Tempest," a swarm of crazy-strong nanobot starships that wiped out the L-Cluster's original inhabitants and will try to bury the galaxy proper in nanomachines. If this happens, the first thing you get out of the L-Gate is a degraded recorded message from the lost inhabitants of the Cluster [[NiceJobBreakingItHero warning you to NOT open the gate]]. The good news is that destroying the Gray Tempest's factory and claiming the L-Cluster nets valuable strategic resources and any worlds compromised by nanomachines can be easily {{terraform}}ed into any climate type desired.

** [[BlobMonster Sergeant Schlock]] has been mistaken for grey goo a [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-03-31 couple]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2015-06-12 times]]. And to be fair, they're not that far off, and when pitted in a who-eats-who duel against the actual stuff he was evenly matched.[[labelnote:As in...]]The nanobots were halfway to figuring out his biology without him actually noticing, until they got to his eyes, which weren't a native development. Then he quickly spit them out.[[/labelnote]]

-->"You know, if the people who think that ''self replicating nanites'' will accidentally escape from ''ideal, sterile laboratory conditions'' and turn Earth , from the ''tropics'' to the ''Arctic'', from the oceans to the ''deserts'', into '''a glob of grey goo''', ever read the instructions of a packet of seeds, they'd all sleep better at night."

* The ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' episode "Dark Heart" dealt with alien nanomachines that were in the process of taking over Earth this way. Their species appears to be made artificially for a war from fifty-thousand years ago, and is meant to consume every planet they're sent to, spread to some other planets, and repeat until they're all dead.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' (which did not have Wise as a writer) had the imagination to not name it after the creature: instead of something like "The Megawhatts Attack", the critters are first encountered in ''Tourist Trap.'' (Unusually, the Megawhatts go on to be a seldom-seen but established part of the setting. They're actually an alien race called Nosedeenians, and make a return appearance in which Ben and company had to ''save'' them from villains who were kidnapping and enslaving them as a power source. Ben later gains one as an Omnitrix form, which he calls Buzzshock.) It's not as obligatory as the FantasticVoyagePlot, but watch enough cartoons and you'll know it by heart.

* Another, really freaky example from the world of nuclear physics is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangelet strangelet]], a particle of strange matter that's hypothesized to be able to convert normal matter into strange matter just by coming into contact with it. The converted particle then immediately does the same to a neighboring ordinary particle, and thus doom takes its course. If such a thing were to happen on Earth, it would quickly and irrevocably turn our pretty blue planet into an incredibly lethal ball of strange matter, and there's [[ParanoiaFuel nothing at all we could do about it]].

* ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'': Cards in the Graydle archetype fall under this. The Graydles themselves are a race of parasitic, alien, metallic BlobMonster which assimilate other living creatures that come in contact with it, which is reflected in gameplay by allowing their player to take control of an opponent's monster when the graydle is destroyed and sent to the graveyard. The art of cards like Graydle Cobra and Graydle Alligator show the infected creatures bodies gradually decomposing and being converted into even more grey goo while their syncro summon monster, Graydle Dragon, shows the various creatures being combined into one large monstrosity with the Graydle's matter becoming an armored, mechanical hide over most of the body.

* ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'': Cards in the Graydle archetype fall under this. The Graydles themselves are a race of parasitic, alien, metallic BlobMonsters which assimilate other living creatures that come in contact with it, which is reflected in gameplay by allowing their player to take control of an opponent's monster when the graydle is destroyed and sent to the graveyard. The art of cards like Graydle Cobra and Graydle Alligator show the infected creatures bodies gradually decomposing and being converted into even more grey goo while their syncro summon monster, Graydle Dragon, shows the various creatures being combined into one large monstrosity with the Graydle's matter becoming an armored, mechanical hide over most of the body.

* Adam Warren's adaptation of the ''ComicBook/DirtyPair'' revealed that the Earth had been destroyed decades earlier in a massive Grey Goo outbreak, the "Nanoclysm", which led to nanotechnology being regulated and virtually outlawed. The villain of the miniseries planned to use a cache of nanotech to take over HeroesRUs's Central Computer, and from there, the known universe. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, the Central Computer revealed that it was partially based on something the Nanoclysm left humanity as an apology…]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Noita}}'', Fungal Shifting transforms a material into a different material throughout the entire game world. A worst case scenario for this is transforming Gold into Draught of Midas. The Draught converts any solid material it touches into Gold normally, but with this transformation it instead creates more Draught. As a result, every nugget or deposit of Gold in the world will become the seed for an exponentially-growing volume of Draught that will eat through the entire game map. The only things that can stop it are matter destruction spells and landing on a denser liquid it can't sink through.

* A minor example of this was the nanite colony Wesley Crusher was running in one episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Fortunately, this goo turned sentient and was willing to be moved to a better food source before it disabled the ship.

* The Chrome in ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' came out of nowhere, swiftly 'chromifying' the Island and most of the Seven. Players can spread it themselves using 'Chrome Splash' items, and even 'chromify' themselves, allowing them to transform into metallic blobs capable of phasing through walls. As a result, the Island's population have evacuated to blimps and flying cities to prevent the spread.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Noita}}'', Fungal Shifting is a mechanic which transforms every instance of one material into a different material throughout the entire game world. A worst case scenario for this is transforming Gold into Draught of Midas. The Draught converts any solid material it touches into Gold normally, but with this transformation it instead creates more Draught. As a result, every nugget or deposit of Gold in the world will become the seed for an exponentially-growing volume of Draught that will eat through the entire game map. The only things that can stop it are matter destruction spells and landing on a denser liquid it can't sink through.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Noita}}'', Fungal Shifting is a mechanic which transforms every instance of one material into a different material throughout the entire game world. A worst case scenario for this is transforming Gold into Draught of Midas. The Draught converts any solid material it touches into Gold normally, but with this transformation it instead created more Draught. As a result, every nugget or deposit of Gold in the world will become the seed for an exponentially-growing volume of Draught that will eat through the entire game map. The only things that can stop it are matter destruction spells and landing on a denser liquid it can't sink through.

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-3049 SCP-3049]] is a gas oven that creates a entire miniature universe inside itself. In most cases, one planet within this universe will develop sentient life that then creates nanotechnology, eventually leading to a Grey Goo event that transforms the entire universe into [[spoiler:an apple pie in a glass dish]].

* Wiki/SCPFoundation:

* The old ''Radio/LightsOut'' radio serial had "Chicken Heart", a biological grey goo that started out as a cell culture from [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a chicken heart]] and turned into some kind of mindlessly spreading cancer blob that quickly overwhelmed the research lab, university, and city that it was created in. Even worse, [[OnlySaneMan the researcher responsible]], escaping with a reporter in a plane, knows [[NukeEm exactly how to stop it]], but [[TheCassandra the authorities refuse.]] [[ParodyDisplacement Somewhat more famous]] is Creator/BillCosby's Jell-O-soaked retelling as he remembers hearing it on the radio as a kid.

** ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}'' has the Assembly Ooze, runaway nano-fabrication units that thankfully do not grow uncontrollably (and only rarely make more of themselves), but instead turn everything they eat into whatever they were designed to make. They may seem harmless (unless you happen to be an android or other robotic lifeform), or even beneficial, until one gets into your ship and tries to turn the engine into a pile of laser rifles.

* In WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}, this is the origin of the Galvanic Mechamorph's (Upgrade's species).

Can cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt -- specifically, Type 3a or 4 on ApocalypseHow -- and is very often considered a {{Superweapon}} as a result.

* The title creatures in ''Manga/{{BioMeat|Nectar}}''.