Cronk

Chief Admiral Cronk, or simply Cronk, was one of two warbot caretakers of Talwyn Apogee. He and Zephyr, Talwyn's other caretaker, were constantly battling over who was superior. The two were very old and were falling apart, and so Talwyn usually watched over the warbots instead. Cronk also had a habit of calling Cragmites "Craggy-mites." He wielded a gun that had powerful shots, but a slow rate of fire.

In Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus, he and Zephyr are killed when the Nebulox was destroyed by Vendra who use dangerous bombs to blow up the entire ship.

He was voiced by Daniel Hagen.

Pre-Future saga
According to the Smuggler, Zephyr and Cronk served in The Great War. If IRIS is correct, then both warbots are eons of years old.

He and Zephyr were once stationed at the Zenith Outpost in Meridian City during the Phylax intrusion. Since then, they had fought in nineteen galactic wars, three interstellar battles, one planetary misunderstanding, and a lunar argument. The two fought in a combined 6,132 battles.

Cronk and Zephyr apparently had a third companion that was destroyed some time before the events of Tools of Destruction.

By the time of Tools of Destruction Cronk's visual receptors are the only original pieces of his body, the others have been replaced after years of combat. Cronk also claimed himself to have at some point become a renowned expert on Lombax history.

Tools of Destruction
In Tools of Destruction, Cronk watched over Talwyn Apogee, along with Zephyr. The two threatened Ratchet and Clank over the intercom when they searched the Apogee Space Station for the Lombax Secret. Later, they joined Talwyn and Ratchet on in their search for the secret.

Ratchet & Clank comic series


Cronk and Zephyr later appeared in the Ratchet & Clank comic series along with Talwyn Apogee. They were first seen In issue 3, helping Ratchet and Clank escape Artemis Zogg's prison.

A Crack in Time

 * He can be heard in the credits of A Crack in Time talking with Zephyr.

All 4 One
In All 4 One, Cronk and Zephyr gave mission support to Ratchet, Clank, Qwark, and Nefarious. Originally, after Ephemeris kidnapped the group, Cronk and Zephyr were able to track them down using Ratchet's Nav-unit, but Cronk fell asleep during travel and accidentally stranded the two in the middle of Magnus's asteroid belt. Until the two warbots were rescued so that they can in turn rescue the group, they deployed Apogee Communication Pods around Magnus, so that they could monitor the group and send them weapons and upgrades from GrummelNet.

Into the Nexus
Cronk and Zephyr were tasked with the duty alongside the assistance of Ratchet and Clank to awaken from cryosleep and escort the dangerous criminal Vendra Prog from the Nebulox Seven Prison Ship to the Vartex Detention Center. Talwyn eerily warned Ratchet and Clank to keep their guard encountering Vendra with reference to her cold heart and reputation. As Cronk and Zephyr woke Vendra from cryosleep, she took the opportunity to use her telepathic abilities to stir the heroes awry. Ratchet and Clank quickly averted disaster and locked Vendra securely to render her powerless, but before the escort could take effect, Neftin Prog, Vendra's brother, picked the time of the escort for a jailbreak. Before long, Neftin unleashed havoc with the assist of an outlaw mercenary group called Thugs-4-Less, disabling the ships defense with missiles and springing Vendra. Cronk and Zephyr acted defensively against the waves of enemy fire even when warned not to engage without help from Ratchet. They ultimately relinquished attack and surrendered. By the time Ratchet and Clank arrived to back them up, Vendra and Neftin were one step ahead; Cronk and Zephyr were helplessly tied and Vendra utilized her abilities as a witch to trap Ratchet and Clank in an electromagnetic bubble. Neftin rebuttaled Vendra's decision to kill Cronk and Zephyr, insisting it be unnecessary as they are "just a couple of old warbots." Vendra's intimiation ended the negation and Neftin allowed her to activate the pyrocitic blaster mines they scattered across the base of the ship. The rupture from explosions tore a hole through glass and sucked Ratchet and Clank into the vacuum of space. Escape was futile for Cronk and Zephyr and as they embraced death, Ratchet and Clank helplessly bared witness in horror as they entered the atmosphere of space. Cronk and Zephyr were burned to ashes from the explosion. Ratchet and Clank survived; in mourn and regret of not being there to save their friends. They vowed vengeance as they reached sanctuary on the distant planet Yerek - brought there by Thugs-4-Less. Ratchet and Clank contacted Talwyn about the situation, delivering the bad news about Cronk and Zephyr. After hearing about their deaths, Talwyn broke down in sadness, asking Ratchet to return to Meridian City as he and Clank were all she had left now that Cronk and Zephyr were gone, but Ratchet insisted that the he and Clank needed to make things right by bringing the Prog twins to justice.

After Ratchet and Clank defeated the Nethers, Cronk and Zephyr's spirits were shown to have crossed over into the afterlife; their consciousness fueled with youthful exuberance as they banter in the Museum of Intergalactic History. After this they head to Igliak's robot graveyard to meet some femdroids.

Legacy
Cronk and Zephyr were considered Polaris's two greatest Warbots and an exhibit of them was made in the Intergalactic Museum of History in their honor, before their deaths.

Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault
Cronk, along with Zephyr, appears as a player skin in Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault.

Character summaries
"Chief Admiral Cronk and Lieutenant Commander Zephyr are Talwyn's wily old warbots. Sure they like to snooze, but when things get serious they are two of our greatest allies."

- Instruction Manual Character Summary

Trivia

 * Cronk was an unlockable skin in Tools of Destruction.
 * Once in a while, when Cronk is shooting, his left arm will fall off and then he will put it back on.
 * His head was easily removable.
 * Cronk can read Cragmite. This was confirmed in All 4 One, when he translates a cragmite children's story about the Loki.
 * In All 4 One, it was confined that Cronk's visual receptors are only original piece left from his original body
 * Cronk is one of the few characters who died on screen, along with Ratchet (although brought back to life later), Luna, Lord Vorselon, Alister Azimuth and Zephyr.
 * Galactic Ranger Robots are almost identicle to cronk.

Appearances

 * Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
 * Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
 * Ratchet & Clank: Issue 1: Ears of War
 * Ratchet & Clank: Issue 2: Friends with Benefits
 * Ratchet & Clank: Issue 3: Lost and Spaced
 * Ratchet & Clank: Issue 4: Thanks for the Armories
 * Ratchet & Clank: Issue 5: Multiple Organisms
 * Ratchet & Clank: Issue 6: Bros Before Foes
 * Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
 * Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault
 * Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus
 * Ratchet & Clank (PS4)


 * Non-canon
 * PlayStation Home
 * Crazy Ride