Skidd McMarx

Skid McMarx, alternatively spelled Skidd McMarxx is a support character in Ratchet & Clank and Up Your Arsenal. He is a renowned Hoverboard champion of Rilgar and worked with his agent. He later joined the Q-Force as the fleet's black ops, with the codename "Shadow Dude".

Ratchet & Clank
Skid was first seen in an infobot given to Ratchet and Clank by the Plumber, depicting him and his agent's ship being shot down and crash landing on planet Aridia. When they landed on the world, Skid asked Ratchet to kill the sandsharks that blocked his way to the ships, claiming he had a "sprained ankle". After defeating them all, he allowed Ratchet to take his place in the HoverCon Intergalactic Hoverboard Competition and gave them his hoverboard.

Up Your Arsenal
Skid joined the Q-Force, as chosen by Qwark for his alleged "nerves of steel". He volunteered to help Ratchet with his quick skills with the Hacker on Aquatos, claiming "black ops" were his "speciality", and requested that he is referred to by his code name "Shadow Dude". He helped them reach Nefarious' secret base on the planet, up until coming into contact with Slim Cognito, at which he was startled and fled, claiming he had forgotten to feed his goldfish.

Skid later took charge of the Starship Phoenix when all other members of Q-Force were absent. Upon hearing that Ratchet and Clank were heading for the Obani moon system, he made his way to join them, but arrived late. The two came across a locked door which they could not access, which Skid promised to try to open while they both returned to Rilgar to defend it from a Tyhrranoid attack.

While working on opening the door in the Obani moon system, Skid was kidnapped by Courtney Gears and taken to her home on the Obani Draco. He was used as a dummy to test the Biobliterator, which successfully transformed him into a robot. Ratchet and Clank defeated Courtney Gears, and left Skid to be picked up by the Q-Force later, after which he was returned to the Starship Phoenix.

Al claimed he had begun working on the transformation to change Skid back into an organic life form. In the game's conclusion, Skid's organic self is seen at the Secret Agent Clank movie premiere, sitting next to his agent, suggested he was successfully changed back.

Post-Up Your Arsenal
After a scandal surrounding Courtney Gears' connection with Nefarious, her record label dropped her and signed Skid McMarx and his spoken word poetry.

Appearance
Skid is a slim, green, humanoid alien. His typical attire is a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and sandals while wearing a red necklace. As a Q-Force member, he instead wears orange and black uniform with the Qwark logo and a yellow belt, carrying an orange blaster with him.

When transformed into a robot, Skid was a dark silver and orange robot who otherwise shared the same appearance.

Personality
Skid has the personality of a stereotypical skateboarder or surfer dude, with a very laid back attitude and tendency to refer to male allies as "dude" or "bro". Even when transformed into a robot, he retained this vocabulary, using phrases such as "Like, destroy all squishies, dude".

Abilities
Skid was said to be a very skilled hoverboard racer, being a champion of the races in Blackwater City.

Skid is able to use the Hacker, and has claimed that black ops were his speciality, though he was rarely trusted with many of the tasks given to other Q-Force members. He is also unable to swim.

Behind the scenes
"Skid McMarx" is a play on the expression "skid marks." His name is spelled differently by the subtitles and credits of both Ratchet & Clank and Up Your Arsenal.

Unused dialogue from Up Your Arsenal contains an interview an organic Skid had with Darla Gratch after being transformed back into an organic life form, in which he claims to still be a fan of Courtney Gears and to have signed a record deal. While the record deal dialogue was removed from the game, it was referenced in the News Update feature released prior to Deadlocked.

Skid McMarx appears in the re-imagining, in which his name is consistently spelled "Skidd McMarx", with many changes. In the re-imagining, Skidd did not crash land on Aridia, and is actually the owner of a gadget store on the planet, which was attacked after a deal with the blarg went astray. He is also the nephew of Novalis' Abner Buckwash (the unnamed Novalis chairman in the original), who grants the infobot to Aridia rather than to Kerwan. His agent was named Don Wonderstar.