Decoy Glove

The Decoy Glove is a weapon manufactured by Gadgetron in Ratchet & Clank and Going Commando. A strategic weapon, the Decoy Glove throws out balloon "decoys" modeled after Ratchet, which lure enemies to attack the Decoy as opposed to Ratchet.

The Decoy Glove can be upgraded to the Gold Decoy Glove in Ratchet & Clank for 10,000 bolts and 4 gold bolts, and the Mega Decoy in Going Commando 50,000 bolts.

Ratchet & Clank
In Ratchet & Clank, the Decoy Glove becomes available once the player reaches Pokitaru, for 7,500 bolts. The Decoy Glove can be upgraded to the Gold Decoy Glove from Gemlik Moonbase, or Novalis on a subsequent playthrough, for 10,000 bolts and 4 hold bolts.

Going Commando
The Decoy Glove is one of many weapons available on planet Barlow from the Gadgetron Help Matron in Going Commando. The decoys were changed in appearance, as they would instead Ratchet in his armor at the beginning of the game. The player can buy the weapon for 5,000 bolts, or gain it for free if they have a Ratchet & Clank save file. In challenge mode, the Decoy Glove can be upgraded to the Mega Decoy for 50,000 bolts from any Megacorp vendor.

Characteristics
The Decoy Glove itself is a purple glove with black fingers, and is presumably metallic. It has three yellow and green canisters close to the palm, which presumably contain the decoys thrown. When the weapon is used, Ratchet throws a decoy on the floor, which latches onto it, and then inflates the decoy.

The decoys are a t-shaped balloon based on Ratchet. They feature him making a big, comedic smile, and have a blue pad at the bottom which is attached to the ground. The decoys, when hit, will bounce around in many directions, and explode when destroyed. In Going Commando, the balloons change in appearance, and are based on his armor from the beginning of the game. They do not change when Ratchet acquires new armor.

The Gold Decoy Glove is a brown version of the weapon with gold canisters. The decoys it drops are, in fact, a black silhouette of Ratchet with red eyes, implying they are an "evil" Ratchet, with a gold-tinted balloon instead of the white one. These changes are not reflected in the Mega Decoy, which keeps the decoy design of Ratchet in armor.

Combat
The Decoy Glove does not deal damage, but instead serves as a strategic (and comedic) weapon. When a decoy is thrown, enemies will always prioritise it over Ratchet. This allows the player to escape from enemies, or buys extra time to defeat them. The only disadvantage of this is that it costs bolts to do so, although they are relatively cheap, and in Going Commando, the bolt cost becomes negligible.

The Decoy Glove is a situational weapon, and use of the weapon is mostly down to player choice. It is never a huge requirement to use the Decoy Glove, but players may feel more comfortable throwing out a couple of decoys in situations where the enemies are difficult to deal with. The Decoy Glove may retain its strategic use throughout, but can fall off later, particularly later in Going Commando, when the enemies begin to deal more damage, and the decoys die quicker.

The Gold Decoy Glove changes the design of the decoys dropped and makes them more resilient. The Mega Decoy upgrade in Going Commando increases the capacity to 30, in addition to increasing the resilience of the decoys.

Related weapons
The Dopplebanger is similar to the Decoy Glove.

Behind the scenes
In an early version of Ratchet & Clank, the Decoy Glove was named the "Inflato-Ratchet Glove."

The Decoy Glove was featured in a weapons testing advertisement. A dummy of a boy named Corey was placed in the middle of the road, while his distressed mother ran out to it as it was run over by a car. The real Corey then fled behind a house. Curiously, in the aforementioned ad, the Decoy Glove is referred to as "The Inflatable Decoy."

The Help Menu description of the Gold Decoy Glove (seen above) incorrectly stated that enemies sustained damage if they attacked a decoy, which was not the case.

The Decoy Glove was the icon for Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando in a PS2 memory card. Furthermore, real-life version of the decoys the Decoy Glove creates were made.

Glitches
The Decoy Glove is well known for exploitable glitches.
 * A glitch in Ratchet & Clank and Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando allowed Ratchet to be forced through walls with the Decoy Glove. To execute this glitch, simply walk to a wall, and deploy decoys as close to you as possible.
 * Another glitch was found in Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando. Throwing a decoy when on a different gravity direction due to Gravity Boots allowed decoys to be thrown onto walls or ceilings, to create a decoy standing on the wall.
 * This allowed players to easily complete the Impossible Challenge in the MegaCorp Games, since enemies would target the decoys but be unable to actually hit them.
 * The next glitch was found in Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando. When the player was battling Swamp Monster II, and if the player deploys a decoy on a lillypad platform and the Swamp monster destroys the lilypad, the decoy will float into the air and the swamp monster will try to destroy the decoy which will take long.That will give the player an enough time to attack the swamp monster or think of a plan.
 * Another glitch was found in Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando. When the player is with the MegaCorp tour group, you can throw decoys on the bridge to block the Fizzwidget tour guide. He will eventually fall into nothingness, and never come back.
 * In the HD version of Ratchet and Clank in the Blackwater City, the player could glitch themselves into a wall allowing them to get to the hoverboard race track on foot. To do said glitch the player would have to go to the corner on the left of the room where they can enter the race and throw down a decoy while zoomed in.

In-game summaries

 * "Decoy Glove! Fool your enemies with this eerily lifelike DECOY." - Vendor description
 * "Ever want to distract your foes while you sneak past unscathed? The Decoy Glove creates customized, inflatable dummies in your own likeness! Your enemies will attack the dummy, while you sneak past them (or attack them from behind!)" - Normal Version Help Menu
 * "The Decoy Glove has always been one of Gadgetron's more entertaining weapons, and the Gold Decoy Glove is sure to earn a permanent place in your armory. Not only does it have a brand new look, but it now will automatically damage any enemy who attacks it!" ~Help Menu Description (Gold Help Menu Version)

Appearances

 * Ratchet & Clank
 * Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando