Phantom is a minor character appearing in Rift Apart from Rivet's dimension. He is a key member of the Resistance in the fight against Emperor Nefarious and his Empire, acting as their hacking and undercover black ops specialist.
He is a dimensional counterpart of Skidd McMarx and physically appears identical to him. It is not known if his true name is also Skidd, as the codename Phantom is all that is known about his identity.
Biography[]
Phantom, like his dimensional counterpart Skidd McMarx, has special talents in the field of black ops espionage and is a deft hacker. Phantom however is much more professional in his work than his laidback, hoverboarding star counterpart, with years of hardened experience fighting the Empire. This is reflected in their choice of codenames, with Skidd choosing "Shadow Dude". Although more professional, he still seems to enjoy the thrill of being an undercover operative in an immature sense sometimes in the same way his counterpart would. He is a proud member of the Resistance, operating in Nefarious City and helping to spread the message of freedom to the downtrodden and brainwashed. He does not seem to be skilled in combat and chooses to instead escape enemies using his athletic abilities.
History[]
Rift Apart[]
After finding himself stranded in Nefarious City, Ratchet is informed by Ms. Zurkon that someone going by the name "Phantom" can help him acquire a royal starship to leave the planet and pursue Rivet and Clank. Upon being told he can be found at Club Nefarious, Ratchet follows the sounds of the music beats and is able to locate the night spot. Here, Ratchet begins rather unsubtly asking the individual robots in the nightclub if they are the Phantom or if they know him. As a result of this, the club is soon alerted to Resistance activity and evacuated, with Nefarious Troopers rushing inside. Phantom is encountered here wearing a Hologuise to disguise himself as a robot named X-2[1] to blend in with the crowd, during what he exclaims is his first undercover job in a long time and believes his cover has been blown. During the hectic evacuation, Phantom bumps into a robot citizen and his Hologuise deactivates, revealing himself. Ratchet spots this and instantly recognizes Phantom's identical appearance to Skidd.
Phantom then makes his escape from the pursuing Nefarious Troopers and is followed by Ratchet who continually tries to ask him questions but is frequently told to keep quiet. Ratchet soon begins growing frustrated that Phantom keeps running from him and won't answer him. Phantom recognizes Ratchet as a lombax like Rivet and assumes that he is a new member of the resistance. Upon reaching the Nefarious Luxury Tenements, Ratchet defends Phantom from Nefarious Troopers that have tracked them down from the club and destroys them. After the Troopers are gone, Phantom acknowledges Ratchet's skills and helps him by upgrading his Omniglove with resistance tech, allowing him to use a gadget known as the Phantom Dash to pass through security checkpoint barriers. Phantom then begins training Ratchet to use his new movement gadget, by explaining how to perform advanced parkour techniques with it, such as air dashing and running along wall panels, whilst Ratchet questions him on how he can get access to a royal starship.
Phantom points out the propaganda blimp by the day spa to Ratchet.
After reaching an elevator, Ratchet again quizzes him on the ship, leading Phantom to remark that Ratchet is just as stubborn as Rivet is and that she heads to planet Sargasso after all of her missions. Phantom makes a deal with Ratchet here and proposes that if the Lombax helps him take control of the Emperor's propaganda blimp at the Nefarious Day Spa, he'll help him get into Nefarious Tower; the only place in the city a royal starship can be found.
Phantom gives himself up to the Nefarious Troopers.
Ratchet agrees to meet Phantom on the rooftop of the Day Spa and navigates across the high-rise city buildings. Upon reaching the Spa, Phantom requests that Ratchet distract the Troopers patrolling the area by providing him cover while he hacks the blimp to broadcast a message from the resistance to the citizens of the city. After Phantom is finished with his broadcast, a Seekerpede suddenly flies past and blows up the blimp with it's laser, leading Phantom to remark that he must have touched a nerve. Satisfied with their work, Phantom completes his end of the deal and hands Ratchet a hacking programme named Glitch that he says can help get him onto the Emperor's private shuttle to the tower, by plugging Glitch into the access console at the Emperor's statue in Nefarious Plaza. To Ratchet's shock next, Phantom throws himself off of the rooftop and gives himself up to the Nefarious Troopers to try and "tear this whole, rotten world down from the inside" and is taken to be imprisoned at Zordoom.
Much later, Rivet makes a desperate jail break at the prison to free Ratchet, Clank and Kit. During this, she frees many of the incarcerated resistance members and patrons from Zurkie's from the processing centre; amongst them being Phantom. After agreeing to get the other escapees to safety first, Phantom stays behind and pilots Rivet's ship to the prison's Emergency Evacuation Platforms to pick up the four of them after Rivet has freed Ratchet, Clank and Kit. After a heated argument between Rivet and Kit, Kit stays behind and Phantom travels back to Zurkie's on the ship with Rivet, Ratchet and Clank.
In Megalopolis, Skidd and Phantom high five in victory after the Emperor's defeat.
The four meet back up with the other escaped prisoners at Zurkie's Gastropub and plan their final assault to stop Emperor Nefarious. Phantom mentions here that in the case they win the fight against Nefarious, he will simply disappear; if there is no Emperor, there is no Resistance, and if there is no Resistance, there is no Phantom. He tells Rivet that regardless of what happens, she has made the Resistance proud. After the Emperor reveals his intentions via a news broadcast to invade Ratchet and Clank's dimension with the Dimensionator, Ratchet and Rivet's allies; including Phantom, all follow him and his armies through a huge rift to Megalopolis to stop him. Finally, once the Emperor has been defeated and the dimensions are saved, Phantom is seen in Megalopolis exchanging a high five with his dimensional counterpart Skidd McMarx.
Phantom and Ms. Zurkon chasing the Assistant out of the Emperor's office.
He is last seen in the ending credits of Rift Apart with resistance ally, Ms. Zurkon, chasing the Emperor's Assistant out of the Emperor's office in Nefarious Tower, after she attempted to take his place on his throne.
Abilities[]
Phantom possesses exceptional computer hacking and covert espionage skills that he uses for undercover missions in Nefarious City, where he also employs the use of a Hologuise to blend in with the local robotic inhabitants. Using his technological talents he has also helped develop useful gadgets and equipment for the Resistance to aid members in their field operations. He likely was involved in the creation of Glitch - a nano-systems IT robot originally made for bypassing Nefarious system firewalls and clearing embarrassing search histories, but upgraded with Electro-Guns and Blitz-Infectors for deleting viruses. He is also very physically capable in his athletic abilities, allowing him to parkour across the Nefarious City rooftops, perform wall jumps and evade the Emperor's forces. He boasts to have an ability that he calls his Phantom Sense, which allows him to always be in the right spot when duty calls, although Rivet is rather dubious about his claim.
Concept art of Phantom.
He seems to be the creator of a very useful gadget known as the Phantom Dash, named after himself. It attaches to the users hand/glove and allows them to cling to certain surfaces and perform a quick dash straight ahead, which momentarily displaces the user's molecules and makes them intangible during said dash. In Phantom's own words, "the enemy can't catch what doesn't temporarily exist". He uses one himself to pass through Nefarious City security checkpoints, avoid enemy attacks and to assist when parkouring through the city. At some point in the past he also supplied one to Rivet and likely other Resistance members to help them in their missions. After he helps him with several Nefarious Troopers, Phantom gives one to Ratchet, upgrading his Omniglove with Resistance tech that allows the wearer to attach to walls on specific surfaces and perform the Phantom Dash in and out of combat.
Citations[]
- ↑ Rift Apart, Concept art