I am The Fixer. I am not broken. I am not fixed, but I am working on it.
The Fixer
The Fixer is a minor character appearing in Rift Apart from Rivet's alternate dimension. He is a titanic robot[1] residing on an alternate Torren IV and a former arena warrior at Molonoth Gulch. He appears to be the sole survivor of the area's titanic robot deathmatches and has largely retired from his destructive ways; unless absolutely necessary. Since then, he instead developed exceptional skills in repair and restoration over many years and would mend anything that was requested of him. This earned him a reputation around the galaxy as the fixer who could fix all things that were broken. His true name before being given this alias is not known.
History[]
Rift Apart[]
While Rivet and Clank attempted to acquire Phase Quartz to power the new Dimensionator from Blizar Prime, the mineral ended up being shattered into pieces by the planet's dislodged mining drill. Upon picking up the fragments, Rivet recounted that the Morts used to fondly tell her legends about an individual on Torren IV known as "The Fixer", who was capable of fixing anything that has been broke. Rivet, understanding how bad the Morts are at lying, feels their highly spoken tales of The Fixer are worth looking into and so her and Clank set off to find him.
The Fixer in his shutdown state.
After arriving on Torren IV and asking a Vullard at Molonoth Gulch's Little Junktown where the Fixer can be found, he revealed that the local Vullards living there had asked him to protect them from Space Pirate raids and after days of crushing them, he for an unknown reason shutdown. Clank suggested they try and fix him themselves but the path to him was destroyed in the last pirate raid, requiring them to search for a Hurlshot from the Vullard smelting pits to cross the gulch's chasm. Upon arriving at the smelting pits, the Space Pirates; lead by Pierre Le Fer, arrived on the planet and began raiding for scrap. Pierre and the pirates were also unaware why the Fixer had broken down, but were more than happy to take advantage of his absence. The pirates found that Rivet was attempting to reach the Fixer to reactivate him and launched an all out attack on her, as the Fixer being awakened would put a stop to their plundering. After breaking through the pirates' forces to the Fixer, Pierre ordered his crew to all regroup and attack as one to finish this.
The Fixer attacking Rivet with his eye laser.
Rivet and Clank had managed to finally reach the Fixer and turned a hammercrank to activate him again. However upon being reactivated, Rivet found the Fixer was behaving strangely, despondently proclaiming that he and everything is broken and that nothing can be fixed. The space pirates' ships begin approaching and the Fixer fires a large laser from his eye and destroys one of their ships, forcing them to retreat. To Rivet and Clank's shock, the Fixer then begins trying to destroy them with his laser and crush them. Rivet starts escaping via a grindrail, whilst the Fixer continues declaring the pointlessness of fixing and that destruction is their natural state. Upon seeing Clank's missing arm, the Fixer proclaims him a fellow broken one that must accept his brokenness. Rivet however tells Clank that if he is broken, so is she and that they are an impressive force regardless of it. When the Fixer equates mending with enlightenment and that he is not deserving of enlightenment due to his lack of wisdom in his outbursts, Clank feels he can devise a way to reason with him in his hysteric state. The Fixer eventually catches Rivet in his hand and tries crushing her while she struggles to hold him back. Here Clank appeals to his psychology and declares that he has been fixed, with the Fixer helping him realize that despite his changes, he is still who he was. This gets through to the Fixer and he utters that he is quite relieved to hear this and lets Rivet go. He explains that when the Vullards asked him to protect them, it opened his eyes to a great many broken things that overwhelmed him with despair. Clank's declaration restores the Fixer's hope in being able to fix another. To thank Rivet and Clank for this, he happily restores the broken pieces of Phase Quartz back together with a beam from his eye.
The Fixer putting the shattered Blizar Prime back together.
He stays on the edge of Little Junktown, where he reaffirms that he has much work that still needs to be done but assures that he will not be crushed by it's weight. He is last seen in the ending credits in the debris of Blizar Prime, putting the planet back together piece by piece. In front of him stands the Blizon Mines Chief Engineer of Rivet's dimension; whom was previously only known as the "Mysterious Stranger", along with her Science Bots.
Characteristics[]
Abilities[]
The Fixer's repair beam.
Being a former gladiatorial warrior in the giant robot deathmatches that once took place in Molonoth Gulch and presumably the last fighter left standing, the Fixer is very physically imposing, standing several stories tall and possessing immense strength. He has the ability to fire a large, red destructive laser from his eye, being strong enough to destroy a space pirate ship in one blow. He however, much prefers to focus his efforts on repairing rather than destroying anymore and only makes exceptions to protect local creatures like the Vullards that request it of him. Another energy force can be emitted from his eye but this one instead sends out a purple wave effect that can fuse broken pieces back together again when it touches them. This is used by him specifically to fix the shattered Phase Quartz for Rivet and Clank. In the ending credits, he is seen putting Blizar Prime back together using some sort of blue energy waves to pull the fragments of the planet together again.
It is not known how the Fixer developed his extraordinary abilities to mend broken things but it seems that during the many years he spent in Torren IV's vast galactic scrap yard, he modified himself using fragments of old technology to create new, unheard methods of reconstruction. It is noted that Molonoth Gulch became a well of highly-sought-after ancient ore and rare technology, explaining where the Fixer would find the resources to create such modifications.
Personality[]
To Fix is to learn. To learn is to grow. To grow is to... to fix. Yes.
The Fixer
The Fixer seemed to have grown tired of destruction after his time in Molonoth Gulch's robot fighting arena and desired a new purpose in his life, causing him to seek out ways to do the opposite and fix the broken. His definition of what "fix" and "broken" are, are not only physical but also largely mental. He feels that what mending truly means, is to enlighten, learn and grow; while being broken is a regressed state that gives into degeneration or despondency, such as barbaric violence or anguish.
When he met Rivet and Clank in Rift Apart, he was experiencing something of an existential crisis and fell into great distress, feeling that all his efforts to fix were in vain and were only temporary, with destruction and being broken as their natural state. He fell into a wild rage and tried to destroy Rivet as he felt this was his true nature, one with "no wisdom" and trying to go against it was futile, feeling he is not deserving of enlightenment for it. Clank however was able to appeal to his viewpoint and showed him that enlightening the broken state of others was still possible, restoring his hope in himself and his efforts. The Fixer, Zurkie and Kit all share a similar motif as they all were created to cause havoc and ruin, but eventually chose to go against their predisposed nature to destroy and instead chose a new path to create and heal.
Behind the scenes[]
Development[]
As seen in concept art, an unused design for the Fixer's body was used for Kit's warbot form. The unused design for the Fixer's head from this can also be seen mounted on some of the walls in Zurkie's gastropub.
Citations[]
- ↑ Rift Apart, Spybot, Monoloth Gulch