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The blarg (occasionally spelled blaarg) are a hostile species from the Solana Galaxy that feature as the main antagonists in Ratchet & Clank, as well as the 2016 re-imagined game and movie. They are a race of inventors and engineers that serve as the main members of the Drek Industries corporation led by Chairman Drek, which produces robots (including sentry-bots on Quartu, a line of robots of which Clank is a defect) and other weapons and gadgets. The race originated from Orxon, a planet that became inhospitable due to pollution, and under the leadership of Drek, they sought to build a new homeworld for their people by destroying and taking the pieces of other planets.

The blarg are a humanoid species of inventors, which make use of a variety of weaponry. Ratchet and Clank fought several different blarg soldiers, such as the blarg trooper and the blarg space commando, as well as their various machines such as the blarg armored transport. Many weapons and gadgets such as the original R.Y.N.O. and the Grind Boots were also originally developed by the blarg.

History[]

Before Ratchet & Clank[]

The blarg were originally inhabitants of planet Orxon. However, due to overpopulation, as well as pollution caused by Drek Industries,[1] Chairman Drek then proposed to build a new home for the blarg. Though Drek sold this idea to the blarg and the galaxy,[2] he had actually planned to profit from the new world, and in reality intended to pollute the next world and restart the process.[1] Captain Qwark was also employed by Drek as his highly paid spokesperson for the new planet.[3]

Ratchet & Clank[]

Clank, a defected sentry-bot created on Quartu, learned from an infobot that the blarg planned to use a harvester to collect a piece of planet Novalis for use in a new planet. They wished to extract Novalis' waterworks among other pieces,[4] though the extraction would cause Novalis to drift into the sun and explode.[2] Clank then teamed up with Ratchet, a lombax from Veldin, to attempt to stop Chairman Drek. The blarg would then be sent by Drek to various worlds to try and eliminate them so they would not interfere in his plans.

Blargian robots began to harvest trees on planet Eudora for use on their new world. Drek then ordered his Robot Lieutenant to destroy the remaining trees, before Ratchet and Clank arrived at Eudora forced him to flee the planet. The blarg also invaded Batalia bombing the planet with blarg destroyers, and invaded Pokitaru with blarg waste disposal tankers poisoning the water. Later, the blarg constructed the PlanetBuster Maximus missile on Hoven, which they would use to destroy a planet located at the perfect star system in order to place their new planet there. However, Ratchet and Clank destroyed it, leading them to construct a new planet destroying weapon. The blarg later attacked planet Oltanis from the Gemlik Base orbiting the planet, to steal its power generators.[5] A group of blarg elite commandos were sent to Kalebo III in order to stop Ratchet and Clank, and were given permission to destroy Gadgetron Corporation along the way if needed.[6]

The blarg finally identified the perfect orbit for their new planet as Veldin, and constructed a Deplanetizer laser to destroy it so their new planet could be moved there. Ratchet and Clank instead returned to Veldin, defeated Chairman Drek and used the Deplanetizer to instead destroy their new world. It is not known if the blarg were made aware of Drek's plans of perpetually polluting their homeworlds for his own profit. Regardless, they continued to hold resentment for their defeat and the destruction of their new planet.

Re-imagined[]

The 2016 re-imagined game is primarily an unreliable retelling of events by Qwark.
The re-imagined game primarily describes Captain Qwark's account of events. As Qwark is an unreliable narrator, and contradictory events are in-universe fiction (though those which correspond still apply). Please see Project:Bulletin board/Canon for the wiki's coverage of canon.
Blarg (movie)

Blarg onboard the Deplanetizer.

In the Ratchet & Clank movie and Qwark's retelling of events, the blarg instead hailed from planet Quartu, and had a similar role as members of Drek Industries. Drek Industries had already constructed the Deplanetizer, with the help of Dr. Nefarious, and was using it to destroy unpopulated planets to harvest them and create a new planet for their race, New Quartu. Several blarg mercenary forces fought Ratchet and Clank along with the Galactic Rangers, along with an army of warbots created by Dr. Nefarious.

After the blarg destroyed several uninhabited planets, the Galactic Rangers took notice, recruiting in order to stop Drek. Drek prepared an army of warbots to attack Kerwan. A warbot defect named Clank fled Quartu, and several blarg were sent to Veldin to chase him down. They were unsuccessful, as a lombax named Ratchet recovered the defect and fought off the blarg. The blarg later attacked planets Aridia and Novalis, after Skidd McMarx revealed plans for their illegal hydroharvesters, causing the blarg to attack Skidd in his sports shack on Aridia, as well as his uncle Agnogg Buckwash on Novalis.

Several blargian mercenaries were sent to accompany the warbot invasion of Kerwan. After Ratchet and Clank destroyed the blarg battleship and repelled the warbots, the blarg mercenaries remained on Kerwan to try to defeat them, but were unsuccessful. The blarg were later sent to Batalia to destroy the planets' Starwatch Defense Cannon and stop it from disrupting their harvesters, and were later sent to Pokitaru to use the hydroharvesters to drain the planet's water supply for their new world. On both occasions, Ratchet and Clank stopped them. The blarg eventually used the Deplanetizer to destroy and harvest Novalis, a populated planet. After this, the blarg invaded Kalebo III.

The next target for the Deplanetizer was Umbris, though this target had been chosen by Dr. Nefarious. While unsuspecting, Nefarious betrayed Drek, using the Sheepinator to transform him to a sheep and blasting him off to New Quartu alone, taking over the Deplanetizer and the blarg. However, Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark defeated Nefarious, while the Rangers redirected the Deplanetizer to destroy New Quartu instead, defeating Drek Industries and ending their plan.

Subsequent appearances[]

Time to Blow $!% Up!

A female blarg pictured on Vox's copy of Blargs Gone Wild.

Following the defeat of Chairman Drek, Drek Industries presumably closed down, and the blarg became relatively inactive, only mentioned a few times.

The term "blarg" became used as an insult throughout the universe. Notably, in Deadlocked, Ratchet spouted the insult "blarg-headed frack monkey" due to the faulty speech circuitry in his DreadZone suit. Later, in Tools of Destruction, Emperor Tachyon compared the smell of kerchu with blarg dung, and Qwark said the Imperial Fight Festival was the most fun that could be had "outside of a blargian prison camp!"

During A Crack in Time, they were mentioned by Lawrence as one of the factions interested in participating in Dr. Nefarious' plan of using the Great Clock to rewrite history to undo all hero victories and villain defeats.[7] Later, in All 4 One, Dr. Nefarious said he has once wished that the blarg would tear Captain Qwark limb from limb.

In Rift Apart, blarg from Rivet's dimension make an appearance. Unlike their counterparts, they are not enemies to Ratchet and Clank or the Resistance. There are blarg that can be found wandering around the station outside of Zurkie's in the Scarstu Debris Field. An alternative dimensional version of Drek as a sheep also appears sitting at the pub inside Zurkie's. After an uprising against the Nefarious Empire, the blarg had been defeated with the Empire vanquishing their leader Chairman Drek who was sheepinated by Emperor Nefarious years ago. Since the blargs' defeat, they have been docile and have not been a threat like they were in Ratchet's dimension.

Characteristics[]

Biology[]

Drek from R&C (2002) render

Chairman Drek.

The blarg have orange-red skin, and distinctive pair of glowing blue or gold eyes. They vary widely in physique, ranging from diminutive to muscular and bulky figures.

Habitat[]

The blarg originally resided on their homeworld of Orxon, until overpopulation and pollution meant the planet was no longer hospitable, as the water became toxic and the air no longer breathable. The new homeworld was designed to be perfect for blarg habitation.

The blarg have territory elsewhere, though it is primarily used as bases for their scientists to develop machinery. These include the Blarg Tactical Research Station in Nebula G34, the orbital Gemlik Moonbase, the refinery on planet Gaspar, a bomb factory on Hoven, and a robot factory on Quartu.

Behavior[]

The blarg are brilliant inventors who have developed technology used throughout Solana. However, many of their soldiers and employees are depicted as unintelligent or incompetent, and contrast to Drek. The blarg possessed a large military might despite all this.

The blarg did occasionally employ other scientists. Fred and the Ultra-Mech Scientist are both scientists of other species entirely.

Technology[]

Sentry-bot from R&C (2002) screen

Sentry-bots, a blarg robot.

Blarg technology at its height has been capable of adapting minor quantum compression technology,[8] building planet-destroying superweapons such as the Deplanetizer and the PlanetBuster Maximus, as well as planet sized harvesters.

The blarg specialized in creating robots. The sentry-bots, of which Clank is a defect, were created by the blarg, alongside many others such as the electroid, robomutt, birdbot, peckbot, axebot, and sawbot.

The blarg also created several weapons and gadgets. These include the original R.Y.N.O., later adapted by Gadgetron. Blarg inventors also created the Grind Boots and Pilot's Helmet used to pilot jet fighters.

Additionally, the blarg created many warships. Many of these are seen in Drek's fleet, including the Dreadnought, Light Cruiser and Drek's flagship. Other starships featured that were fought by Ratchet, used to invade planets or harvest them. Another notable example is the blarg fighter, which Ratchet and Clank later steal and used for themselves.

Units[]

Behind the scenes[]

Using deep red skin for the blarg allowed the enemies to pop in lush environments, while their cowl would bring focus to their brooding faces.[9]

Unused dialogue for Tools of Destruction reveals that a space pirate would have mentioned that Chairman Drek and the blarg were responsible for the destruction of the grummel's homeworld, before describing the blarg as particularly evil even by space pirate standards.[10]

The blarg species appear as a skin in the multiplayer of Up Your Arsenal.

In early versions of the 2016 re-imagined game, it is mentioned by Qwark that the blarg played a major role in extinction of the lombaxes.[11][12]

Citations[]

References[]

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