Backstory From My Old Comics: Nucleo is a kind-hearted Aridian mountaindevil who is very well-educated and intelligent. He is a professor of magic and archaeology at the Mage University of Grimmora. As an archaeologist, he has learned much about human culture from the old world on his many expeditions. Nucleo, like Bazil, is very unusual for his race in that he ventured out into the world instead of staying secluded in the mountains away from humanity. But unlike Bazil, he does not wish to conquer the world, merely fit into it somewhere, and help improve it. Although it had always been a dream of his to get out and see the world, which is usually forbidden in mountaindevil socities, it became a matter in which he had no choice when he learned that his parents had sold him into slavery. He ran away to avoid this fate and was adopted by Aurora Taglisa, who taught him to read, write, fight, and control his magic powers.

Nucleo, has a vested interest in learning the secrets of the universe. He believes that discovering more about the world, its many life forms, magic, science, and even the stars beyond (which he has a telescope for studying) could lead to better things for the world. In particular, he hopes to find solutions to world problems like slavery, corruption, abuse, war, and prejudice, all of which have taken a toll on his past. Even though he is a powerful dark mage, Nucleo would often rather be left alone to his studies, but he keeps getting dragged into situations beyond his control.

Despite his rather fierce appearance, he is very compassionate, but also tends to be impulsive. Though he is more civilized than most mountain devils, he can become quite vicious if his friends and/or family are threatened. He has a daughter, Cory, and is married to the demon-elf sorceress, Image Arcane. He is the oldest member of Chance's party and is often looked up to as a father figure of sorts by some of the youngsters, but he does not ususally act authoritative to them.

Nucleo's weapon is a large wooden bo staff. He uses this because he is too short to fight effectively with a sword. He is about 40 years old.

Character Design Notes: I was only about 10 years old when I first created Nucleo, so I had a hard time getting a fully-formed concept for the character on paper. I basically knew that I wanted to have this short little dwarf-like character who had a fierce, lion-like appearance, but a warmhearted interior. Sometimes, trying to draw a character that exudes both traits proved troublesome. Also troublesome, as different people began pointing out, is that he resembled Fred Flintstone. This was entirely coincidence as I never really watched The Flintstones too much (if any Hanna-Barbera influenced my work, it would've been Scooby-Doo), and I certainly wouldn't have made a conscious effort to make any of my characters look like Fred, of all things. Anyway, I originally drew the character to be a mage/ninja hybrid. I later decided the ninja part of it was ridiculous, so I changed him to be a mage/archaeologist instead. Maybe that sounds just as ridiculous to some, but I thought it worked better. Several changes and inconsistencies in earlier versions of the character include:

1. Missing wings in many shots. In the old series, Nucleo made his wings appear magically. I decided to make them always be there (even though he sometimes wears a jacket overtop of them.)

2. Number of toes sometimes changes from 2, to 3, to 4. I've decided on a standard 3-toed version, a la most cartoon cats (such as Garfield).

3. Horns are missing on most old versions because I was lazy and didn't feel like drawing them, so I just explained they were covered by his hair.

4. Skin color inconsistencies. Professor Nucleo McRaven was described in my original script as being "as sandy brown as the desert itself", but people I was living/working with at the time started giving me a lot of flak for coloring him that way, and they would call him names like "Julio" and snicker about it, so that's why I conceded and changed his palette. Now that I am free from these people, I have begun to present the character as originally-intended.

5. Character appears to have "human" fingernails and toenails in some older drawings. I have no explanation for why I did that since the scripts all described him as having claws.

Nucleo's standard attire is an Aridian outfit that consists of an indigo t-shirt and large baggy red pants that are several sizes too big on him. He sometimes wears a brown jacket and/or a white headband, a turban with a red sheen, or a gold ceremonial forehead crown. He does not wear anything on his feet because they are too big. In addition to his standard clothing, Nucleo is sometimes portrayed as wearing a hooded Grimmoran mage cloak. When the hood is pulled over his head, it makes his form appear as a shadow. Nucleo rarely wore this in the comics because it was more of a ceremonial garb than something he could easily travel in.

Nucleo in the RAU Gallery: With the world saved from the menace of the Elemental Gods and Zimosa, Professor McRaven has returned to his job as head of the Archaeology Department at Grimmora University. He still even sometimes goes on archaeological digs, though not as often as when he was younger. He continues to be happily married to his wife, Image Arcane, and spends much time with his beloved daughter, Cory. He is generally well-loved and respected by almost everyone in the school except Crow, who has simply never trusted him and never will. Even though he argues with Chance now and then, the two are still good friends.

First RAU Gallery Appearance: Adventures in Site Tracking #1: Of Hypocrites and Fire Eyes

Note: I have more pictures of Nucleo than anyone else because (#1) he was in almost every episode I drew and (#2) he's the only one I was somewhat-competent at drawing consistently, and thus I can post many of my old drawings of him without feeling completely embarrassed.

The cardboard cover had fallen off of one of my notebooks in college, leaving this section divider for its "cover", and in an effort to show off how much of a geek I was, I had this drawing of Nucleo McRaven and Christopher Paladin on it. I had more than a fair share of people ask me what they were from and I had to explain they were my own characters. Unfortunately, the divider got a tear in it that went straight through Christopher's torso, but now that I've got it scanned I don't have to worry as much about it getting any worse.

Nucleo McRaven sprite. I call these types of drawings "sprites" because they remind me of videogame sprites. They're smaller, low-detail versions of the characters that give me an idea of what they look like. I often use these as a basis for drawing the larger, more-detailed versions

Sprites of Deuce, Nucleo, and Samantha. Looks like something out of an oldschool RPG battle scene.

Nucleo McRaven disguised in his dark mage garb.

Nucleo sprites. Although he has a pair of magic rods in the second picture, I don't recall him ever using them in the comics.

This is some early conceptual art of Nucleo McRaven, but I have no idea what is with the ghost/ninja-like cat behind him on the left. My guess is that he must be a minion of Darkona that I never used for anything. The right picture shows Nucleo being controlled by Darkona like a puppet, but in the actual comics, he wasn't wearing his mage garb when that happened. In my original Image Arcane strips, 'Cleo was drawn so poorly that I couldn't stand the way he looked, so I went "back to the drawing board" and tried improving the design. He's still kind of ugly here, and his feet look slightly different from the way I draw them now, but it's still a million times better than before.

Nucleo McRaven sprite I use here and there around the site as a mascot.

I don't know what's going on in this picture, and I'm glad I can't remember what's going on in this picture.

Nucleo possessed by Darkona. This is an updated version of an earlier sketch. (One of my favorites, too.)

Nucleo with his daughter, Cory. I restored Nucleo's hair color to this picture.