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The fongoids are a major species in A Crack in Time, with appearances in Ratchet & Clank (2016 game) and the movie. They are a friendly species native to planet Torren IV in the Vela Sector of the Polaris Galaxy, which live in tribal communities throughout the galaxy on planets Quantos, Zanifar, and Morklon. They have limited technology, though are apparently capable of traveling between worlds. They are known to worship the Zoni, considering them to be the keepers of time. At one point, they were allied with Dr. Nefarious.

History[]

Pre-Ratchet & Clank[]

Eons ago, the Zoni were in contact with fongoid civilization, and entrusted them with the gift of time travel, hoping it would enrich their lives as it had enriched those of the Zoni. However, the fongoids overused time travel, and after 3,000 years, their overuse wore the space-time continuum thin, by creating numerous time paradoxes. This led to a small rip in the continuum, destroying 83 celestial entities. As a result, Orvus, the leader of the Zoni, created the Great Clock in the center of the universe (give or take, fifty feet) to repair the damage and restore temporal normality to the universe. The fongoids, meanwhile, were stripped of their time travel ability, and they dismantled most of their technology, and resigned to live in tribes for their error.

Fongoid civilization was strong on planet Torren IV, which they were native to. However, upon dismantling their technology, the fongoids mostly abandoned the planet, and the vullards then took over.

Ratchet & Clank (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.
Take down the Warship cutscene 1

The fongoids watching in amazement as the warship explodes.

Fongoids appear in the Solana Galaxy only in Qwark's version of events and the holo-film based on them. In these events, fongoids are seen living on on planets Veldin, Kerwan, and Pokitaru as regular civilians, and on planets Rilgar and Kalebo III during the audiences for hoverboard racing. Grimroth Razz, Ratchet's mentor, is himself a fongoid,[1] along with his brother, Felton Razz, on Pokitaru. Both Grim and Felton moved to Solana from the Polaris Galaxy,[5] suggesting that fongoids seen in Solana are mostly immigrant populations, and not native to the galaxy.

Fongoids have never been seen living in Solana in canonical accounts of the franchise.

Pre-A Crack in Time[]

A fongoid tribe once colonized the swamp planet of Morklon, building a fongoid settlement in the Gimlick Valley and creating a dam near the swamp, turning it into a farming valley. Several agorians attacked claiming the planet as their own, in the Battle of Gimlick Valley. In this battle, the fongoid leader Zahn Gribnak led under-equipped and poorly trained warriors into battle against Commander Argos, who destroyed the dam leading to a flooding, killing all fongoids aside from Yurik, Zahn's son. However, Ratchet and Clank, using a time portal created by Sigmund at the Great Clock, rewrote these events, as they entered the Battle of Gimlick Valley themselves and defeated Commander Argos, meaning that Gimlick Valley remained intact.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nefarious and his butler, Lawrence, crashed on their asteroid into planet Zanifar, the location of another fongoid tribe. Believing this to be a sign from Orvus that they could be trusted again, they took care of Nefarious, and in their tribe on planet Quantos, taught him about the Great Clock. At this point, Nefarious began to scheme to use the Clock to his own ends, brainwashing the fongoids to work for him, and causing them to stop celebrating spring break and instead aid him in building the Tombli Outpost in Tombli Valley on Zanifar. They aided Nefarious, but in exchange for building it, he made them slaves and sent them to his slave camp in the outpost.

A Crack in Time[]

When Ratchet and Qwark crash-landed on Quantos and were stopped by a time anomaly, they found a tribe led by Chief Alpheus. Alpheus taught Ratchet more about the Zoni, introducing him to the Temple of Zahn, and giving him a Zoni Vessel. At this point, the fongoids had noticed something wrong with the Great Clock, which they referred to as the "timekeeper", on account of the frequency of time anomalies. However, just after Ratchet left the Temple, Lord Vorselon arrived and kidnapped most of the fongoids along with Qwark, interrogating them about the whereabouts of Alister Azimuth, with only Ratchet and Alpheus escaping using a teleporter. After Ratchet repaired his ship, Aphelion, with the help of the Zoni, he freed the fongoids from Vorselon's Warship.

Ratchet later encountered fongoids on the Tombli Outpost on Zanifar, while searching for Orvus. He found several fongoid slaves behind energy barriers, forced to work for Nefarious. Using time portals to return to the Tombli Outpost before it was built, jumping back and forth in time, Ratchet was able to free the fongoids in the present, but not able to save Orvus in the past.

Later, Ratchet and Clank crashed in the Gimlick Valley on planet Morklon, after Nefarious fired them there with his Asteroid Flinger 5000, where they met Yurik. Yurik was unable to provide them transport to leave the planet, as he was the only fongoid surviving following the Battle of Gimlick Valley. However, using time portals, Ratchet and Clank reversed the events of the battle, allowing the fongoid settlement at the Gimlick Valley to exist in the present. This allowed the fongoids to repair Argos' ship, which Ratchet and Clank used to return to the Nefarious Space Station to fight Dr. Nefarious and end his plan.

Characteristics[]

Fongoids are small, humanoid aliens, with mostly purple and black skin. They have two, round, horn-like blue ears on the backs of their heads, and flat noses. They are seen wearing tribal tattoos, and basic tribal clothing, often wearing blue gems. Some are seen carrying large staffs with blue gems, including Alpheus. Fongoid males notably exhibit a vocal tic, which is believed to be a possible hereditary side effect of time travel blunders.[citation needed] The fongoids worship Orvus and the Zoni as deities, constantly making reference to them, and erecting statues in their honor.

Fongoids are a tribal species, which have limited technology, and mostly live in harmony within their tribes, having little contact with the outside world. This is demonstrated when Zahn Gribnak's army fought the agorians with under-equipped and poorly trained soldiers, easily losing the battle against the agorians. Despite this, they were good engineers, as they designed the Spiral of Death, as well as Nefarious' Tombli Outpost, and also repaired Argos' ship.

Behind the scenes[]

An image of a fongoid is used in Full Frontal Assault as an icon for the online multiplayer ranking system.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kate Howard (2016). Ratchet & Clank: The Movie Novel. Scholastic. p. 18.
  2. One of Enessa's three children.
  3. One of Enessa's three children.
  4. One of Enessa's three children.
  5. Ratchet & Clank (2016 game), Felton Razz mentions this during "Find the technician"
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