The rock softener is a device that features in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
Invented by Man-At-Arms, the Rock softener emitted a white beam which could change the molecular structure of anything it came in contact with, making it softer. Initially used to turn rock into soil for farming, it could also be used to weaken the walls of Castle Grayskull or even take away the stength of He-Man himself. Luckily, Man-At-Arms had incorporated a way to reverse it's effects by altering it's settings.
History[]
When Prince Adam introduced his cousin Jeremy to Man-At-Arms and Orko in Man-At-Arms' Laboratory. Orko offered to show Jeremy some magic, but the young royal was more interested in one of Duncan's new inventions: the Rock softener. Without asking, Jeremy decided to test the device on the legs of one of the laboratory tables, causing it to collapse and spill it's contents. Duncan reminded Adam that he needed him to test the Rock softener out on the plains that day. Therefore, the Prince asked Ram Man to keep an eye on Jeremy.
Out on the plains, Duncan instructed Adam hit a rock with a large mallet with all of his stength, to little effect. Duncan then used the softener's beam on the same rock, but realized it had made the rock too soft. The settings needed to be adjusted. Meanwhile, Jeremy got himself into trouble and almost crashed a Sky-Sled with Ram Man hanging on to it into the side of a mountain. Adam transformed into He-Man and managed to rescue them both. Evil-Lyn and Tri-Klops witnessed the rescue from a distance and decided to spy on the heroic warriors. When Evil-Lyn learned about the Rock Softener, she decided to trick Jeremy into stealing it for her, so they could use it on the walls of Castle Grayskull. Then she and Tri-Klops would rule Eternia, and leave Skeletor behind.
Back at the Royal Palace, Adam punished Jeremy for his actions by telling him he was not allowed to visit the street market as planned. Jeremy left his room anyway, and tried out a Magneto Boomerang at a market stall. When the salesman insisted that Jeremy didn't have enough money to buy one, an older female arrived and offered the salesman a valuable coin. She told Jeremy he could keep the boomerang if he helped her to "play a joke on her old friend Man-At-Arms". She asked the boy to bring her the Rock Softener and Jeremy gladly agreed. Shortly afterwards, while King Randor informed Jeremy he would be returning home the next day, Man-At-Arms entered the throne room in alarm to tell them the Rock softener had been stolen. He and Adam quickly realized that the device would be used against the hardest substance on the planet: the walls of Grayskull. When Jeremy confessed he had given the device to a woman, Man-At-Arms surmised it must have been Evil-Lyn in disguise.
At the castle, while Evil-Lyn was figuring out the correct settings on the device, a Hover Robot informed Tri-Klops it had detected an evil artifact they had lost to He-Man earlier, the Growth Globe. Realizing the globe was inside Grayskull, Evil-Lyn quickly told Tri-Klops to activate the globe by remote. The globe began to grow, and the evil warriors would only stop it's growth after it had knocked down the castle's wall from the inside. Evil-Lyn then activated the softener to attack the walls from the outside.
The Sorceress sensed an attack on the castle. She tried to contain the globe, but it proved to be too powerful for her magic. When He-Man and Man-At-Arms arrived on the scene, the door to the jaw-bridge was already starting to crack. The Sorceress used telepathy to urge He-Man to enter the castle, but when the jaw-bridge fell open, it's impact knocked the rock softener off it's stand and He-Man ended up in the path of it's beam. With his stength severely weakened, He-Man was unable to step out of the confines of the beam. Man-At-Arms tried to come to He-Man's aid, but Evil-Lyn conjured up some tangling vines from the ground that grabbed him by the legs. Jeremy arrived and was shocked to see He-Man was hurt. Man-At-Arms told Jeremy to use his boomerang to get the softener. Tri-Klops picked up the device, but Jeremy's boomerang managed to snatch it out of his hands. Man-At-Arms reversed it's effects on He-Man. With his strength returned, He-Man grabbed both of the evil warriors and asked Man-At-Arms to lock them up in a Porta-Prison.
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