Mr. Zurkon

Mr. Zurkon is a weapon featured in Tools of Destruction (as a device), A Crack in Time, All 4 One, Full Frontal Assault, Into the Nexus, and Ratchet & Clank (2016 game). He is a type of Synthenoid manufactured by GrummelNet which, when deployed, will hover around Ratchet and fire his laser at nearby enemies, while cracking one-liners and sadistic jokes at their expense.

As a device in Tools of Destruction, Mr. Zurkon cannot be upgraded. In A Crack in Time as a weapon, Mr. Zurkon can be upgraded to the more powerful Zurkon the Destroyer with use, and later to the more powerful Omega Zurkon the Destroyer in challenge mode. In Into the Nexus, he can be upgraded to Zurkon Family, which causes him to be deployed alongside Mrs. Zurkon and Zurkon Jr., who contribute their own firepower. In Ratchet & Clank, Mr. Zurkon is upgraded to Zurkon Jr., causing him to be deployed alongside Zurkon Jr., and upgraded to Omega Zurkon Jr. in challenge mode once the complete Mr. Zurkon holocard set is obtained.

Mr. Zurkon is voiced by Marc Graue, but was voiced by Brian Drummond in the film

History

Ratchet & Clank re-imagined

In Qwark's retelling of events, the Zurkon Sythenoids were developed by Dr. Nefarious and used by the blarg, and fought as enemies as well as used by Ratchet. Ratchet purchased his own Mr. Zurkon on Kerwan for 8,000 bolts, which could be upgraded with use to Zurkon Jr., allowing Ratchet to deploy Zurkon Jr. alongside Mr. Zurkon.

Ratchet also upgraded his own Mr. Zurkon with Raritanium. Twenty rate of fire upgrades improved Zurkon's rate of fire by +10% each upgrade, nine bonus bolts upgrades increased the bolts dropped by enemies killed by Mr. Zurkon by +5% per upgrade, and twenty shot count upgrades increased the amount Ratchet's Zurkons could fire by +5% each upgrade. Two mystery upgrades were available: the Dormancy Protocol upgrade unlocked by purchasing surrounding upgrades on the left greatly increased the amount of shots Ratchet's Zurkons could fire before disappearing, and the Hyperbolic Optics increased the range Ratchet's Zurkons could target enemies.

Ratchet and the Galactic Rangers also encountered several Zurkons on Quartu in the factory in both Qwark's retelling and the holofilm. In Qwark's retelling, Ratchet also fought a giant Zurkon, Mrs. Zurkon, in the heart of the factory before being able to proceed further, using the XK-81 Jetpack.

Zurkon Jr. may upgrade to Omega Zurkon Jr. in challenge mode once the full Mr. Zurkon holocard set is obtained.

Tools of Destruction

Mr. Zurkon was available as a combat device upon reaching Rykan V, and could be purchased from a device vendor. Ratchet could hold up to four Mr. Zurkons, which cost 5,000 bolts each. As a device, Mr. Zurkon could not be upgraded with Raritanium or with use, meaning he stayed at the same power level throughout.

A Crack in Time

Mr. Zurkon reappeared as an ordinary weapon, and could be purchased from a GrummelNet weapons vendor for 6,000 bolts upon reaching Vorselon's Warship (or 3,000 bolts if the player owned a Tools of Destruction save file). With use, he could be upgraded to the blue Zurkon the Destroyer. In challenge mode, the Omega Zurkon the Destroyer upgrade could be purchased for 196,000 bolts (or 147,000 bolts if the player owned a Tools of Destruction save file).

All 4 One

Mr. Zurkon could be obtained upon reaching planet Magnus (or earlier if the player preordered from Gamestop). He returned with a co-op twist: when teammates launch multiple Zurkons at once, they would work together as a team. Mr. Zurkon could be given an ammo upgrade for 5,000 bolts, a power upgrade for 10,000, and an Elite upgrade for 30,000 bolts. With the Elite upgrade, Mr. Zurkon created a massive explosion when destroyed, taking out as up to ten enemies.

Comic series

Mr. Zurkon appeared in Ratchet & Clank: Issue 6: Bros Before Foes. Artemis Zogg dispatches many of them to attack Ratchet, Clank, Sasha, Cronk, Zephyr, and the Galactic Rangers.

Full Frontal Assault

Mr. Zurkon was a member of the Q-Force, and reappeared as a weapon in the game. He could be upgraded to Alpha Zurkon at level 3 with use.

Into the Nexus

Mr. Zurkon was available upon reaching Silox for 20,000 bolts. When upgraded once, Mr. Zurkon would take his son, Zurkon Jr., with him to fight. When upgraded to level 3, Mr. Zurkon became Zurkon Family, and took his wife Mrs. Zurkon with him as well.

Characteristics

Mr. Zurkon is a small, dark grey and green synthenoid. He has a humanoid shape with thrusters for legs, a laser for his right hand, and a large, menacing skull face. When firing at enemies, he would often throw out pre-recorded lines at them, cracking jokes and insulting them.

As Zurkon the Destroyer, Mr. Zurkon was instead blue and light grey, and would occasionally fire a bolt of explosive plasma at enemies. His dialog and behavior was unchanged.

The members of the Zurkon family share a resemblance with him. Zurkon Jr. is a smaller synthenoid with only a single eye and a brighter orange color in place of Mr. Zurkon's green. Mrs. Zurkon is much larger, with pearls around her neck and three lasers on her left arm. They roughly share Mr. Zurkon's behavior.

Combat

Mr. Zurkon, once deployed, will hover around Ratchet, and fire at enemies until he runs out of ammo, at which point he will self-destruct. His blasts have a moderate rate of fire and do decent damage to enemies over his lifespan, making him a very versatile weapon useful against most types of enemies. Mr. Zurkon's firepower is provided as a very useful supplement to Ratchet's, allowing him to serve both a defensive and an offensive purpose.

In A Crack in Time, upgrading Mr. Zurkon to Zurkon the Destroyer does not fundamentally change the weapon, though it allows Zurkon the Destroyer to fire an explosive blast of plasma occasionally at enemies. In Into the Nexus and Ratchet & Clank, upgrading Mr. Zurkon would add his family members to be deployed alongside him. This also did not fundamentally change the weapon, and was a flat upgrade to Mr. Zurkon's base damage. In both games, Raritanium upgrades provide improvements to the Zurkon's damage and duration, and the special Proton Blast upgrade in Into the Nexus allows the three family members to fire a large blast at once enemy in addition to their lasers.

In All 4 One, when multiple players deployed different Zurkons, they would work together. In Full Frontal Assault, Mr. Zurkon was particularly useful at shooting down missiles fired from the Missile Minion.

Enemy

In Issue 6: Bros Before Foes of the comic series, many Zurkons appear as enemies fighting Ratchet and his allies.

In Ratchet & Clank re-imagined, many Zurkons are fought as an enemy in Quartu. These Zurkons arrive in large waves as they fly towards Ratchet, but are defeated relatively easily. A giant Mrs. Zurkon is also fought as a boss in Quartu. She deploys waves of Zurkons to back her up, occasionally uses them as a shield which she then fires towards Ratchet, and sometimes fires large area of effect blasts. Ratchet fights Mrs. Zurkon and surrounding Zurkons using the XK-81 Jetpack.

Behind the scenes

Mr. Zurkon was built based on consumer bots seen as civilians throughout levels, and given a mouth and personality to push the comedy factor, based on the idea that he would talk in the third person. After recording his lines and testing it in game, the team realized that the idea would work, and Mr. Zurkon then became an iconic weapon thereafter.^[1]

Mr. Zurkon appears in 8-bit Mini Mayhem‏.

Mr. Zurkon has featured not only as a weapon used by Ratchet, but also as an enemy in the comic series, appearing in Issue 6: Bros Before Foes. This idea was reused for both the 2016 game reboot and the movie reboot, where Zurkons were deployed against Ratchet and the Galactic Rangers. Mr. Zurkon also featured as a weapon in the 2016 game.

James Westbrook

In Tools of Destruction, there is a cheat which was unlocked with 400 skill points that turned Mr. Zurkon into a child in a flying saucer. Insomniac Games was inspired to make this cheat when a child was hit by a car and was paralyzed from that point on. However, he still had his love for video games and continued to play the Ratchet & Clank series. The child was named James Westbrook and his family was on an episode of the since-ended ABC show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

GrummelNet preview

References