Gideon's Glue

Gideon's Glue (mycopropelene) is one of the most terrible weapons known to Autobot science. This extremely potent vesicant is air-dropped in liquid form upon enemy troops, which it promptly dissolves, causing agonizing injuries and death. Many details of its creation are a mystery, and as such, Cybertronian medics have proven to be disastrously unprepared for dealing with its long-term effects on apparent "survivors".

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Gideon's Glue, like many other weapons, was invented by Ironfist, Last Stand of the Wreckers #4 who preferred to call it by its more proper scientific name, mycopropelene.

Soon after developing it, Ironfist was so horrified by its virulence that he destroyed his original files and flushed all but one of his initial samples into space...or so he thought. In fact, his amoral rival Skyfall had already stolen his research and leaked it to the Decepticons. As a result, some of the final product ended up at the disposal of Decepticon commander Gideon during the battle of Babu Yar. Gideon then unleashed this weapon against Flame's troops, thus earning the substance its more popular nickname. Those who survived were later able to note that the substance fell in a rain-like form even though atmospheric conditions were completely clear. Autobot High Command would remain totally perplexed by the foul brew; Skyfall attempted to direct their subsequent investigations against Ironfist in order to incriminate him, but this went nowhere due to lack of evidence. The pitiful combat survivors of the Gideon's Glue attack were ruined in both body and mind. A characteristic effect of their trauma was to automatically seek cover and try to sit beneath sturdy objects at all times. High Command offered them new replacement bodies free of charge, but many of them preferred to show off their horrible wounds—standing at public corners with their bodies half-dissolved, objects behind them clearly visible through the holes, sporting makeshift signs announcing "I was at Babu Yar."

One of those that did accept this offer was Flattop, but the new outer shell could not repair his psychological damage...nor, in fact, save him from the toxic chemical. While undergoing psychiatric treatment by Rung, an undetectably tiny remnant of Gideon's Glue still within Flattop's system penetrated his brain and killed him. Ironfist later noted that this only showed how little was still known of his creation, and he feared it would just reignite the old investigations all over again. After another of Skyfall's schemes succeeded in giving Ironfist a terminal injury, Ironfist in turn exposed Skyfall's crimes for all to see. Skyfall soon found himself barricaded inside Ironfist's old lab with an angry mob outside. Fearing arrest, he happened across Ironfist's last, hidden sample of Gideon's Glue and used it to commit suicide. Bullets Chromedome would later use mnemosurgery to download Skyfall's memories, and sensed the agony of death by Gideon's Glue. You, Me, and Other Revelations

Notes

• The way that Gideon's Glue is described, and how it is deployed, is very similar to how napalm was used in Vietnam.
• Its long-term effects and the way it killed Flattop seem similar to dimethylmercury, which is lethal in a miniscule dose, but can take months to accumulate in the brain.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Gideon's Glue (ギデオンズ・グルー Gideonzu Gurū)