Robots, also known as synthetic lifeforms,[1] are a major feature in the Ratchet & Clank series. Robots are found throughout the universe, as well as other universes, with Clank being the most notable, and come in various different forms.
While a lot of robots have simple programming and are drone-like, many are sapient and have personalities, genders, and emotions. Some sapient robots are also known to eat or drink. Sapient robots can also have souls, including Clank who has a Zoni soul, and space pirates which have appeared in undead ghost forms. Sapient robots play different roles in society based on their design and type, with many being civilians with jobs, while others are more specialized soldiers built to wage wars or for use as a security force.
Robots generally appear to live in harmony with organic lifeforms. The one exception to this was in Up Your Arsenal, in which mad scientist, Dr. Nefarious, declared a war against organic lifeforms in the Solana Galaxy, with the goal of total robot domination and the eradication of all organic life. During this time, he led an army of robots, and also had some supporters, including the famous robot pop star, Courtney Gears.
History[]
Before Ratchet & Clank[]
The Boltaire Museum in Secret Agent Clank has exhibits for a robotic caveman, who evolved from ball bearings and springs. The first robot hands lacked articulation, causing a permanent thumbs up, though this made it easier to achieve peace among their neighbors. The robotic cavemen etched ancient writings with silicone containing 10 million transistors (considered primitive by the time of Secret Agent Clank). They used primitive weaponry prior to laser weapons, in what was known as the "Monster Truck Era", including stone axes with laser sights in them, seen as an example of robots "improving on organic technology and yet somehow still missing the point".[2]
The early "dipping bird" robot led to many advances for robot kind, such as zen meditation and perpetual motion. A pair of Extermibot twins—one good, one evil—independently made advancements, one inventing the first robotic puppies, the other telemarketing.[2]
In the Solana Galaxy, the Galactic Court Killbot Flamemaster 9000 vs. the Marshmallow-Planet Board of Education defined the scope of robot armament freedoms.[3]
In the Polaris Galaxy, the decadroid[a] space pirates were engineered by Percival Tachyon when he was just a child, to scavenge materials to be used for the drophyd's nanotech combat armor for Tachyon's Imperial Army.[6][7] When the army was completed, the pirates were abandoned on Praxus VII.[6] The pirates were led by Captain Angstrom Darkwater until Captain Romulus Slag committed mutiny against him,[8] while some pirates traveled to Solana, led by Captain Blackstar, until they were defeated by Qwark.[b]
Ratchet & Clank[]
Sam holding up an Infobot.
In the original Ratchet & Clank, infobots were very common throughout the Solana Galaxy during this time, containing recorded videos such as news broadcasts or transmissions. Additionally, many engineers owned roboshacks which repaired and provided upgrades for robots. Big Al had a roboshack in Metropolis, Kerwan, while Bob had a roboshack in the Jowai Resort, Pokitaru, and Edwina had a roboshack on Hoven.
Clank is created and subsequently marked as a defect.
Many blargian robots were used by Drek Industries' forces during the development of Drek's new planet, with many led by the Robot Lieutenant. On Quartu, a major robot factory manufactured sentry-bots, used for blarg security forces. This factory developed a defect, Clank, who fled Chairman Drek after an infobot revealed his plan to attack Novalis. Clank crash landed on Veldin, where he met Ratchet. The factory had a computer, which was Clank's mother.
On the Gadgetron site, Kalebo III, several test dummy robots used by Gadgetron fought Ratchet and Clank, which wielded Gadgetron's weapons. Clank also commanded several Gadgetron robots, known as Gadge-Bots, in the Blarg Tactical Research Station, Nebula G34, and in the Kogor Refinery, Orxon.
Robot reporter Darla Gratch.
Ratchet and Clank also encountered several robots throughout their adventure to defeat Chairman Drek that were not hostile. A Qwark bot greeted them in Captain Qwark's fitness course in Metropolis, and completing the course introduced them to Qwark's fitness trainer, Helga von Streissenburgen, who sold the Swingshot. The two saw robot reporter Darla Gratch on two broadcasts, one for planet Rilgar, and another for Oltanis. Finally, they encountered the HelpDesk Girl in the Gadgetron site.
Re-imagined[]
In Qwark's version of events and the holo-film, Drek Industries deployed its own army of warbots, built in a factory in Skorg City, Quartu, created by Dr. Nefarious and led by Victor Von Ion. This factory produced a warbot defect, Clank, who Victor Von Ion failed to destroy, but managed to damage his ship and cause him to crash land on Veldin, where he was picked up by Ratchet. Drek also had a maintenance robot named Zed who worked as his administrative assistant.
Throughout the galaxy, many civilian robots were seen with the same model as Gadgetron test dummies. These appeared at the Jowai Resort in the Pokitaru Tiki Longue and Karaoke Bar, as well as in the crowds for hoverboard racing on Rilgar and on Kalebo III. A female robot reporter, Juanita Alvaro, reported on events throughout the galaxy, along with Dallas Wanamaker. Mr. Zurkon was purchasable from Gadgetron vendors and could be upgraded to include Zurkon Jr.
Several robots fought alongside the Galactic Rangers in Aleero City, Kerwan. Clank also made use of gadgebots on Quartu, in the Blarg Tactical Research Station, and onboard the Starship Phoenix.
Going Commando[]
A Fizzwidget bot giving a tour of the armory to a group of tourists.
In Going Commando, throughout the Bogon Galaxy, many robots appeared as normal civilians. This was apparent during the tour of the Megacorp Armory of planet Todano with many robot tourists following a robotic replica of Abercrombie Fizzwidget, and also in Allgon City, Damosel, with many robot consumers of the Protopet seen running around the city in terror after the Protopets began to attack them. These civilian robots were also seen in many commercials, and appear to make up a large portion of Bogon's population. Synthenoids were purchasable from Megacorp vendors and could be upgraded to Kilonoids.
The Unknown Thief with two Megacorp Security Robots.
Megacorp used a large variety of robots for its security forces, which Ratchet and Clank fought throughout their adventure. Clank also commanded Megacorp's microbots in Megapolis, Endako, and in the flying lab, Aranos.
Clank also had a girlfriend, a female infobot, who was repaired by the end of the adventure.
Up Your Arsenal[]
Nefarious during his broadcast.
In Up Your Arsenal, Dr. Nefarious waged a war on organic lifeforms in the Solana Galaxy, using both his tyhrranoid army and a robot force to wage his wars. Nefarious claimed his war to be fought for the cause of liberating, who had suffered under the "bigotry" and "stupidity" of organic lifeforms.[14] However, there is little evidence of tensions between robots and organic lifeforms even during the war, suggesting Nefarious' prejudice came only from himself.
The Galactic Rangers on planet Veldin.
The Galactic Rangers, itself a robotic force affiliated with the Solana galactic government, were deployed by President Phyronix to combat Nefarious. Captain Qwark, appointed by the president,[15] led the Q-Force against them, of which Ratchet and Clank were members. On Nefarious' side, he had many robotic allies to his cause, including Courtney Gears, a famous hotbot pop star who produced propaganda for him in the form of a pop music song "Robots of the Galaxy" that called for the extermination of organic lifeforms,[16] and Lawrence, his butler. Nefarious also created Klunk, an evil robot clone of Clank made to take his place.
The Biobliterator attack on Metropolis.
Nefarious built the Biobliterator, a superweapon capable of transforming organic lifeforms to robots, with the goal of transforming all life in the galaxy planet-by-planet into robots.[17] Biobliterator technology was tested by Courtney Gears on Skidd McMarx, though Al developed a way to reverse the process.[18] This successfully transformed the population of Metropolis to robots, including the tyhrranoids that were turned into robonoids.[19] President Phyronix became half-robot on his own in order to appeal to the new electorate, though this only lasted one interview.
Agent Clank, a hotbot, and Ratchet as Jeeves.
A popular holo-vision series, Secret Agent Clank, starring Clank in the main role, featured robots as the majority of cast members. This included Secret Agent Clank, his nemesis Maximillian, the gadgebots he commanded, and several female hotbot robots in the casino. Clank also commanded Gadgebots in Nefarious' base on Aquatos, and in Qwark's hideout on the Thran Asteroid Belt.
Nefarious releasing his insectoid swarm onto Metropolis.
The first issue of the Qwark vid-comics, Booty is in the Eye of the Beholder, depicts Qwark fighting the decadroid robotic pirate ghosts led by Captain Blackstar,[b] which he defeated. In other vid-comics, Qwark fought robotic henchmen for Nefarious, and in Deja Q All Over Again, Qwark fought robotic insects known as insectoids that were deployed to attack Metropolis.
Deadlocked[]
Merc and Green, two combat bots.
During the events of Deadlocked, Ratchet too part in the illegal combat sport DreadZone, and was allied with two combat bots, Merc and Green, veterans of past wars. DreadZone also deployed many robot gladiators created by Vox Industries to fight against contestants. This included two of the Exterminators, namely Shellshock and Reactor. A few orange robots were used as DreadZone staff assisting Gleeman Vox, and one of the two reporters for Vox News was a female robot, Juanita Alvaro, who worked alongside Dallas Wanamaker. Outside of the Exterminators and combat bots, no hero contestants in the tournament appeared to be robots. A DreadZone tech droid named Venus provided Clank with blueprints for their deadlock collars and went on to co-star with him in the Secret Agent Clank film For Your Optic Sensors Only.
Size Matters[]
Luna, a technomite robot disguised as a little girl.
In Size Matters, the technomites used their own robot forces which Ratchet and Clank fought. Otto Destruct still wished to replace them with Ratchet clones, because even his most powerful robots were no match for Ratchet.[20] The technomites also operated robots themselves from the inside, as seen with Luna, a robot that was designed to lure Ratchet and Clank into a trap. A notable technomite robot was the Robotic Control Unit, or R.C.U., which were spider-like robots that could move around independently or operate either the guard torso and technomite heavy trooper robot frames. They could also commandeer and control gun turrets.
During Clank Challenges, Clank fought many competitor robots in arenas. In the temple on Ryllus and the challenges, Clank also commanded gadgebots once again.
Secret Agent Clank[]
During the events of Secret Agent Clank, many of the characters Clank interacted with were robots. The Countess's villa on Glaciara, and Le Paradis Des Tricheurs Casino, were both made up entirely of robot guests, while Clank fought several robotic security guards and villains during his adventure. This included Klunk, who was the mastermind behind the plan. Qwark also told stories about robots he had allegedly fought to Barney, who was writing his biography.
Ms. Cute Anastasia Bot, Agent Clank's field-support operator.
The Agency also had robots as most of its staff. This included Ms. Cute Anastasia Bot, who gave Clank orders and briefings, and the Gadgebot mk.IIs which helped with infiltration.
Clank also explored the Boltaire Museum, where he learned about robot history. Here, the evil twins display for two Megacorp Rivet Bots spoke of "glowing red eyes and metallic goatees" being used to identify an evil robot twin,[2] as a reference to Klunk.
Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty[]
Captain Slag and Rusty Pete, two decadroids.
During Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty, taking place in the Polaris Galaxy, Ratchet and Clank encountered the decadroid space pirates[a] in many space battles, and across their outposts and their pirate base on Ardolis. In Tools of Destruction, the pirates competed with Ratchet for the Dimensionator, and in Quest for Booty, after Clank was kidnapped by the Zoni, Ratchet and Talwyn Apogee traveled to Merdegraw for Darkwater, who had communicated with the Zoni. There, Slag's former mate Rusty Pete triggered the Darkwater curse that brought them back as undead ghost pirates, which they fought and onvce again defeated.
Cronk and Zephyr, two elderly warbots.
Ratchet's ally, Talwyn Apogee, had two robot companions, Cronk and Zephyr, ancient warbots which had fought in the Great War. Cronk and Zephyr accompanied the two on many battles. Ratchet also found Aphelion, an old lombax spaceship, which appeared to be robotic as it was sentient. Additionally, drone-like civilian robots, known as consumer bots,[21] appeared in many locations, including on Kerwan, the spaceports of Cobalia and Rykan V, and the plaza of Mukow. Small worker robots known as tumfoids were encountered at gelatonium facilities on Cobalia and Jasindu, where they attempted to eat gelatonium cubes Ratchet made using the Gelanator. Mr. Zurkons were purchasable from GrummelNet device vendors.
A Crack in Time[]
Dr. Nefarious's troopers.
In A Crack in Time, fewer civilian robots were found, as Ratchet mostly encountered native organic lifeforms. Dr. Nefarious led his various Nefarious Troopers in the Breegus System, an entirely new army of robots repurposed from other menial machines such as drive-through menus,[22] and allied with the valkyries, a faction of robots from Vapedia. Nefarious broadly dropped his vendetta against organic lifeforms during his campaign to take over the Great Clock, but planned to reestablish it after doing so.[23] Alister Azimuth had made a hut within the body of a giant decommissioned mining robot on Torren IV, and the vullards puppeteered the head of one they named the Guardian to ward off trespassers.
An agorian hydra tank.
A notable robot was the Junior Caretaker of the Great Clock, Sigmund. After the adventure, Clank gave Sigmund the Chronoscepter, and promoted him to Senior Caretaker to take Clank's place. Beyond Sigmund, a new form of smaller robots appeared named battery bots, miniature robots used by vullards and others to power machinery, but which under vullards' harsh working conditions often went on strike.[24][25] Robotic hydra tanks were used by the agorians in their invasions of Krell Canyon and Gimlick Valley, and in combat challenges at their Battleplex. Hostile pyrospinners and thrashers also appeared at the Battleplex and throughout the Breegus System. On space radio, Captain Slag and Rusty Pete hosted Pirate Radio, and House of Synth was hosted by DJ Discobot. Mr. Zurkon was purchasable from GrummelNet weapon vendors and could be upgraded to Zurkon the Destroyer.
Comic series[]
Ratchet fighting Artemis Zogg's warbots.
Throughout the Ratchet & Clank comic series, Artemis Zogg's forces were almost entirely composed of robots, including his administrative loyalist, Mr. Klink. Zogg's various robots were built at the Vartax Outpost, an abandoned robot factory just beyond the Corvus Sector, which Zogg had made operational again with Klink's help. Ratchet and Clank fought his warbots, as well as several of Zogg's Mr. Zurkon synthenoids he acquired in bulk from GrummelNet. Ratchet and Clank also teamed up with old robot allies, Cronk and Zephyr, as well as the Galactic Rangers. Robots were inmates at the Vartax Detention Facility, including space pirates.
All 4 One[]
A collector minion.
In All 4 One, the robotic collector minions army was created by Nevo Binklemeyer, deployed by the Loki Master and led by Commander Spog, with a major presence over Magnus. The collectors also deployed several utility bots called scanner minions: small flying robots, which scan those brought in by Ephemeris. The scanner minions identified Ratchet and Qwark as organic lifeforms, initially prompting the steward to assume they were test subjects.[26] The scanner minions also act as checkpoints for the player, displaying stats after each segment completed.
An operator robot.
Controller robots known as operators were used throughout All 4 One for operating various machines, in Luminopolis, and used by both the collector minions and Dr. Frumpus Croid. Dr. Croid used an army of giant guardian robots and Croid Bots piloted by operators to protect his laboratory in Terawatt Forest from the collector minions. One of the guardian robots was reprogrammed by Cronk and Zephyr using a cranial mood reshifter and became an ally with its own personality, which Qwark named Leon. Consumer bots also appeared throughout the Luminopolis rooftop amphitheatre. Mr. Zurkon was purchasable from GrummelNet through Apogee Industries Communication Pods and could be upgraded to the Elite Mr. Zurkon.
Full Frontal Assault[]
[27] In Full Frontal Assault, the Starship Phoenix II housed maintenance bots, as well as cleaner bots, some of which went rogue and attacked Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark.[c] Kamikaze wrecking drones and Missile Minions were used by the grungarian marauders. Mr. Zurkons were found in Q-Force weapon pods and could be upgraded to Alpha Zurkon.
Before the Nexus[]
In Before the Nexus, during Ratchet and Clank's pursuit of Neftin and Vendra Prog throughout Axiom City, they were attacked by a number of hostile enemies, including some old robotic foes; Protoguards, tesladrones and thermosplitters.
Into the Nexus[]
In Into the Nexus, several maintenance bots were stationed onboard the Nebulox Seven Prison Ship and some were taken control of by Vendra Prog to attack Ratchet and Clank.[29] Though Cronk and Zephyr were killed by Vendra Prog, their spirits were avenged and they went onto enjoy their afterlives, heading to the robot graveyard to find femdroids.[30]
The synthenoid Mr. Zurkon was again purchasable in GrummelNet vendors, but could be upgraded to include additional members of the Zurkon family, Zurkon Jr. and Mrs. Zurkon. Battery bots were used on the Nebulox to power the proton field on Vendra's containment cell, and power machinery throughout Weeblesnog City and on Thram.[29] Blade balls were used by Thugs-4-Less against Ratchet and Clank, as well as the Intergalactic Museum of History in their security system. Large combat robots named Voltonoids were used by the Thugs-4-Less, and a version of it as well as a robotic replica of Neftin Prog named the Prog Bot featured in their Destructapalooza.
Old consumer bots were found aimlessly wandering around the long-abandoned Weeblesnog city. In the Intergalactic Museum of History, a tourbot named Docent 427 gave guided tours of the exhibits, and at some point before Into the Nexus, Vendra and Neftin had abducted it to steal the Dimensionator.[31]
Rift Apart[]
In Rift Apart, many robots are encountered in Rivet's dimension, which is ruled by the tyrannical Emperor Nefarious and his empire, with his loyal Nefarious Troopers enforcing his domineering will on the universe. The empire, which asserts robotic supremacy over organic life, is ruled from its capital of Nefarious City on Corson V—a world almost entirely inhabited by robots. F-44 is the Emperor's longtime assistant and later the warden of Zordoom Prison. The warbot KT-7461 was made to be the Emperor's greatest weapon, until she shamefully fled to Savali, and later renamed herself Kit. The Resistance used a nano-systems IT robot named Glitch for bypassing Nefarious system firewalls and clearing embarrassing search histories.
The space pirates of Rivet's dimension are quite similar to their counterparts and are exclusively comprised of robots, requiring Quantum to disguise himself as one to join and eventually become their captain, with his first mate, Pierre Le Fer. Their forces are made up of humanoid robot pirates armed with swords, shields, and pistols, with cutlassies as their swarmer unit, and marauders as their miniboss unit. The pirates fought against Ratchet and Rivet on multiple occasions, but eventually allied with them to fight Emperor Nefarious.
The Zurkons appear as recurring characters, with Mrs. Zurkon (Ratchet's dimension) and Ms. Zurkon (Rivet's dimension) acting as weapons vendors. The Zurkons of Rivet's dimension run their own family business, Zurkie's Gastropub and Battleplex, with the pacifistic Zurkie running the gastropub, and Zurkon Jr. acting as the Battleplex's arena announcer. The Glove of Doom was purchasable and used to deploy Agents of Doom and attack enemies.
Types[]
There are several common types of robots that are found throughout the universe. These do not necessarily have the same manufacturers, but have a similar role and model.
Civilians[]
A robot farmer from the Dayni Moon.
Civilian robots appear throughout the Solana, Bogon, and Polaris galaxies. They tend to have humanoid forms with moving spheres for legs, and participate entirely in society. Ratchet and Clank rarely interacted with these robots, but could encounter them on planets they visited.
A common type of civilian robot was the space tourists, seen both in Going Commando and Secret Agent Clank. These robots had a humanoid form, with builds resembling clothing, a sphere for movement in place of legs, and a single green eye.
Consumer robots at the Cobalia spaceport.
In Tools of Destruction, several drone-like civilians, known as consumer bots,[21] appeared in Metropolis on Kerwan. These civilian robots were identical to those later found in the Polaris Galaxy in the spaceports of Cobalia and Rykan V, and the Mukow plaza. In All 4 One, they appeared at the Rooftop Amphitheatre in Luminopolis, Igliak. In Into the Nexus, they appeared in Silox's long-abandoned Weeblesnog City. They had large, round shapes with vaguely humanoid upper bodies, otherwise somewhat resembling those found in Bogon outside of their lack of clothing. They appeared to lack much autonomy or sentience, and were still found aimlessly wandering around Weeblesnog City twenty years after the planet was evacuated.
Infobots[]
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An infobot.
Infobots are small robots that contain video recordings and often coordinates to the planet of the recordings' origin. They first appeared in Ratchet & Clank, in which they were required to obtain coordinates to new locations, and reappeared in Tools of Destruction and Into the Nexus in a smaller capacity. In Going Commando, a female infobot, Clank's admirer, was introduced. In Rift Apart, an infobot contained the hitlist of Emperor Nefarious' remaining enemies, and the Resistance used special infobots known as spybots to store intel on different locations, as well as pieces of plans for the RYNO 8.
Warbots[]
Shellshock, an Omega Series warbot.
Warbot is a name used to describe robots built for the purpose of combat and conducting offensive attacks, serving as soldiers for robotic armed forces. Ratchet and Clank fought many warbots throughout their adventures, including those used by Drek Industries and Dr. Nefarious, the Omega Series warbot Shellshock,[32] Artemis Zogg's army, and the collector minions' Commander Spog. However, Ratchet and Clank have also fought alongside two old warbots as allies: Cronk and Zephyr.
A similar term "combat bot" is also used to describe certain robots: Ratchet's two combat bots assisting him in DreadZone, Merc and Green are allied examples, while the search and destroy combat robot megaliths is an enemy.[33]
Warbots and combat bots came in many different builds depending on their manufacturer, and often either carried their own weapons or had weapons built into their make already. Warbot and combat bot veterans also appeared to replace many of their parts after combat, as seen with both Merc and Green replacing their legs with hovering thrusters, as well as Cronk and Zephyr replacing many of their parts over time.
Warbots also exist in Rivet's dimension as part of the Nefarious Empire. Kit is the most notable of these, having been built as Emperor Nefarious' ultimate weapon.
Security robots[]
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A sentry-bot, a common security robot used by Drek.
Several robots are used primarily as security forces, including those deployed by Drek Industries and Megacorp. These robots are similar to warbots, but are used instead for defense purposes and to destroy intruders rather than to lead invasion forces on their own. They are often similarly deadly, though some, such as the blargian security bots, are capable of activating nearby alarms upon detecting intruders to defeat them quickly. Security robots tended to have even more varied models than warbots.
Drek Industries used sentry-bots as security to defend and patrol blarg strongholds, notably the Quartu robot factory and with robomutts at Drek's fleet.
As Megacorp held a full monopoly on the Bogon Galaxy as the "one and only choice", and had long since eliminated all competition, their combative robots were primarily built for defense and security. They used various types of security robot, including chainsaw and flamethrower models, Chickenbots, PX6 BladeBalls, robot guards, and sentinel bots.
Many security robots had unique forms. For instance, Captain Qwark employed Qwark bot replicas of himself and lawn ninjas to defend his hideout.
Gladiator robots[]
Gladiator robots were fought during various arena combat challenges that Ratchet and Clank fought in. Many of these were generic robot gladiators fought, as Megacorp's arena battles included its own security bots, while the Annihilation Nation included robot ninjas, and DreadZone used many different robots manufactured by Vox Industries during its challenges.
Several of these gladiators were much larger robotic enemies. In the Galactic Gladiators in the Maktar Resort, Ratchet fought the B2 Brawler, a robot with an organic brain from planet Cerebella, and in the Megacorp Games on Joba, Ratchet fought two gladiator robots based on insects: the Arachnoid and the Megapede. In the Annihilation Nation, Ratchet fought Gary and Helen, two large robots with heavy weaponry, and also Scorpio, a remodeled B2 Brawler. In DreadZone, two of the Exterminators were robots: Shellshock and Reactor. Later, in the Destructapalooza ran by Thugs-4-Less, both the large bosses fought were large robots.
Construction robots[]
Construction robots are used in the construction of infrastructure. They are not typically used for combat, but can also be used on occasion for security to attack intruders to prohibited construction areas. Constructorbots were used on Aridia in the building of a factory at Outpost X11, and Megacorp Rivet Bots operated within Megapolis, Endako, though some had gone rogue.
Medical robots[]
Medical robots are robots used in medical facilities to assist in procedures such as surgery and patient care. Medic bots and nurse robots worked at Medical Outpost Omega.
Small helper bots[]
Clank commanding a Lifter Bot.
Small helper bots are found throughout planets in the Solana and Bogon Galaxy to be commanded. These include Gadgetron's Gadge-Bots and Megacorp's Microbots, both of which can be commanded by Clank. These robots are very small, with metal bodies, have small torsos with legs but no arms, and large heads used to attack enemies by biting them. Some microbots instead had different, larger variations to perform different tasks, such as the Bridge Bot, Hammer Bot, and Lifter Bot. Clank commanded these to activate machinery and help him traverse areas.
There were also variants of these robots in the form of the Agents of Doom, deployed from a DoomEgg thrown by Gadgetron's Glove of Doom. These had a similar design, but after being deployed would seek out and destroy nearby enemies by self destructing into them. Upgrading them could also expand their ability set.
Decadroids[]
Two space pirates.
Space pirates are decadroids,[a] fully sentient robots forming part of a larger crew led by a captain, encountered both in Solana in the Qwark vid-comic Booty is in the Eye of the Beholder led by Captain Blackstar,[b] and in Polaris in Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty led by Captain Slag and Captain Darkwater. They pillaged and plundered ships. Though they fought using relatively primitive weapons such as swords and cannonballs, they were deadly due to their durability and melee attacks.
Space pirates have personalities of their own and enjoy drinking grog and singing pirate folk songs. They appear loyal to their captain, aside from when committing a mutiny. Space pirates notably have ghosts which can fight when undead, including both in the Qwark vid-comic and in Captain Darkwater's crew on Merdegraw in Quest for Booty.
Hotbots[]
Courtney Gears, an example of a Hotbot
Hotbots[34][35] are a recurring type of robot with a notably feminine humanoid form. They have feminine features, and their models resemble outfits normally consisting of a crop top and miniskirt.
The most notable hotbots encountered are the HelpDesk Girl, employed by Gadgetron, and Courtney Gears, a pop star who produced propaganda for Dr. Nefarious, along with her backup dancers. Clank was also offered a hotbot providing a robotic masseuse along with his job and apartment and Megacorp,[36] and several hotbots appeared during the Secret Agent Clank series. Juanita Alvaro, a reporter for DreadZone, vaguely resembles a hotbot due to her hourglass figure and metal skin.
Hotbots also feature in a magazine, simply titled HotBots, which features the HelpDesk Girl on the front cover.[35]
Hotbot skins are available in the multiplayer modes of Up Your Arsenal, Size Matters, and Full Frontal Assault.
Valkyries[]
The valkyrie leaders: Cassiopeia (center), Carina (left), and Libra (right).
Another form of female robots, valkyries have large bodies and are strong fighters, as well as expert pilots and notorious for space transport hijackings. The series' most notable valkyrie is Helga von Streissenburgen,[37][38] Qwark's personal fitness trainer and a member of the Q-Force. In A Crack in Time, many valkyries, led by their leaders Cassiopeia, Carina, and Libra, allied themselves with Dr. Nefarious, working for him in exchange for the restoration of their lost colony using the Great Clock, and resided within their citadel on Vapedia.
Ultra-Mechs[]
Giant Clank fighting an Ultra-Mech Unlimited.
Ultra-Mech robots are giant robots enlarged with the Ultra-Mech Pads built by the Ultra-Mech Scientist on Quartu, who created the first pad unaware that Chairman Drek was involved.[39] Clank can also enlarge to an Ultra-Mech form himself, Giant Clank, by stepping on such a pad, which allows him to fly in space and to combat much larger threats.
Synthenoids[]
The Zurkon family.
Synthenoids are small, flying robots with a weapon for a hand and slightly humanoid appearances. They are deployed as bodyguards to protect their user by firing at nearby enemies. Ratchet used both Megacorp's own Synthenoids, as well as the more common synthenoid made by GrummelNet, Mr. Zurkon and his family, Zurkon Jr. and Mrs. Zurkon.
In Up Your Arsenal multiplayer, the player can use drone bots as synthenoids. Once summoned, the drone bots follow the player and fire at enemies. They can also be ordered to guard a specific area.
Maintenance/Repair bots[]
A Megacorp maintenance bot.
Maintenance/repair bots[29] are used to maintain the optimal function of machinery and perform repairs if necessary. These robots come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes depending on the task at hand, and appear to provide no other service. Megacorp had maintenance bots on call at their testing facility on Dobbo,[40] and used repair drones to maintain defense turrets at their Deep Space Disposal Facility.[41] Green also at one point had a relationship with a female repair bot named QA-900 at a repair factory on Vegas 3.[42]
Concept art of maintenance bots in Full Frontal Assault.
Though these bots vary in design, a common form are the smaller robots whose bodies consist of a floating torso, singular eye, and small arms in various color schemes. First seen as the maintenance bots aboard the Starship Phoenix II, these robots also appeared aboard the Nebulox Seven Prison Ship.[29] The maintenance bots first seen in Full Frontal Assault later appeared in the Ratchet & Clank movie. Zed, a robot assistant to Drek, was a notable maintenance bot, and several repair bots[43] worked in the Quartu warbot factory, and later turned Dr. Nefarious into a robot.[44]
Cleaner bots[]
Sigmund, a former cleaner bot.
Cleaner bots perform the simple task of keeping areas and facilities clean, often by washing and sweeping floors. In many cases they are unable to distinguish between people and dirt to be cleaned, such as in Megapolis, Endako, where Megacorp's sweeper bots and laser bots would attack Ratchet after wrongly identifying him,[45] or on the Starship Phoenix II, when rogue cleaner bots attacked Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark.[27] The collector minions also used cleaner bots known as Rift-Jumper Minions in their facilites. These robots are often portrayed as drone-like, but others are shown to have varying levels of sapience.
The most notable cleaner bot in the series is Sigmund, who previously worked on Viceron before being recruited by Orvus to become Junior Caretaker of the Great Clock.
Utility bots[]
Artwork of a Scanner Minion in All 4 One.
Utility bots are small, flying robots with no arms or legs, but with small antannae beneath their eye. They are specialized helper bots produced for tasks ranging from navigation to data collection.[46] One such example are the scanner minions on Magnus in All 4 One, which worked for Ephemeris in scanning organic and synthetic lifeforms for Steward,[47] and serve as checkpoints for the player presenting stats and accolades after completing a section. A utility bot also briefly appeared in the re-imagined Ratchet & Clank, to take Shiv Helix to his cell.
Utility bots were more prominent in Rift Apart. The morts had a utility bot named Maynard on Sargasso, acting as a guide. Three science bots—B.O.B., J.I.M., and S.A.M.—appeared on Blizon, used for data collection. One named Junk Bot dwelled in the abandoned Kedaro Station in an alternate dimension.
Extermibots[]
Extermibots are attack robots made to exterminate creatures that pose major invasive threats to population centers. They come in different designs and are armed with weapons made to handle specific biological hazards. Extermibots on Rilgar were deployed by the Blackwater City Administration along with extermitanks to deal with an amoeboid infestation, and were armed with gas-based weapons. Extermibots on Damosel were deployed via dropships to contain the Protopet crisis that was overwhelming Allgon City, armed with shock pistols and gas grenades. Once deployed to exterminate biological threats, extermibots are not able to differentiate their targets from other organic lifeforms, with citizens being strongly advised to remain in their homes during this period.
_render.png "Extermibot from R&C (2002) render.png (5.85 MB)")
Testing robots[]
Testing robots are drone-like, disposable robots used to test the functionality and safety measures of various devices or contraptions in place of organic lifeforms or sapient robots. Gadgetron and Megacorp both used test dummy robots at their development facilities to test products.
Nanobots[]
Nanobots are small microscopic robots most notably contained within nanotech, which are used for healing injuries and upgrading weapons. Anti-virus nanobots also exist inside robots as an immune system against malicious programms.
Single purpose robots[]
Small, single purpose robots can also be found. Infobots used to store information and play back video recordings did not appear capable of performing any other functions or of individual thought, with the exception of Clank's admirer who was briefly his girlfriend. The eye-bot 3000 was a robot on display at the Boltaire Museum, all it would do was post pictures and comments to social media. Battery bots likewise did not appear to have a function outside of operating machinery. CodeBots are used to open Invinco-Vaults, with always one CodeBot for each vault, and therefore a CodeBot can only be used once. Tumfoids are small robots used in gelatonium factories to eat and dispose of gelatonium cubes which often distract employees from their work.
Behind the scenes[]
Civilian robots were created for and appeared in the Metropolis tech demo for Tools of Destruction. Though they were not in the final game, one did appear in the Insomniac Museum of Ratchet & Clank (2016 game). In the Ratchet & Clank movie, one of these robots appeared as a news camera operator for Juanita Alvaro.
.jpg "Civilian Robot - Insomniac Museum (Re-imagined).jpg (231 KB)")
Notes[]
Annotations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Captain Darkwater refers to Slag as a "no-good decadroid".[4] "Decadroid" is also the name of the pirate language.[5]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The story of Captain Blackstar is somewhat ambiguous. The narrator of the vid-comics questioned his existence, believing Qwark's story to be ridiculous.[9][10] However, the presence of the Blackstar armor[11][12] and the Blackstar Memorial Radio Tower[13] confirms that the captain was real. Additionally, other stories in the Qwark vid-comics, including Dr. Nefarious' invasion of Metropolis in Deja Q All Over Again, and Qwark's hideout in The Shaming of the Q, suggests that Qwark's battle with him did occur (although it was likely embellished), and Captain Darkwater's ghost pirates seen on Merdegraw confirms that ghost pirates exist.
- ↑ Because Stuart Zurgo was later revealed to be aboard the Starship Phoenix II disguised as the Plumber,[28] it is likely that Zurgo turned them rogue.
Citations[]
- ↑ All 4 One script § "Regroup with Susie at the End of Sector Seven (gameplay)"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Secret Agent Clank script § "Not The Guided Tour (gameplay)"
- ↑ Secret Agent Clank script § "High Risk vs. High Stakes (gameplay)"
- ↑ Quest for Booty script § "Find the body of Captain Darkwater (gameplay)"
- ↑ Quest for Booty script § "Find a Translator (gameplay)"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Tools of Destruction script § "IRIS Questions and Answers"
- ↑ Tools of Destruction script § "Infiltrate Slag's Fleet (gameplay)"
- ↑ Quest for Booty script § "Explore Hoolefar Island (gameplay)"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Qwark Comic Introduction"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Qwark Has a Big Heart"
- ↑ Tools of Destruction script § "Armor"
- ↑ Tools of Destruction menu § "Blackstar armor"
- ↑ Tools of Destruction script § "Catch up to Talwyn (gameplay)"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Meet Dr. Nefarious"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Captain Qwark Returns"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Courtney Gears Music Video"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Get to the bridge (gameplay)"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Take Datadisk to Big Al (gameplay)"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Defeat Giant Klunk (gameplay)"
- ↑ Size Matters script § "Plot Thickens"
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Tools of Destruction script § "Hitch a Ride with the Smuggler (gameplay)"
- ↑ A Crack in Time script § "Rendezvous at Neurox Plaza (gameplay)"
- ↑ A Crack in Time script § "Scan Dr. Nefarious (gameplay)"
- ↑ A Crack in Time script § "Travel to the Hollow (gameplay)"
- ↑ A Crack in Time script § "Tow the Junk Hauler Home (gameplay)"
- ↑ All 4 One script § "Regroup with Susie at the End of Sector Seven (gameplay)"
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Full Frontal Assault script § "Phoenix 1"
- ↑ Full Frontal Assault script § "Phoenix 4"
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 Into the Nexus script § "Go to the Containment Wing to Secure Vendra Prog (gameplay)"
- ↑ Into the Nexus script § "Senile in the Afterlife"
- ↑ Into the Nexus script § "Neftin Prog's Hideout"
- ↑ Deadlocked script § "Shellshock Returns! (gameplay)"
- ↑ Secret Agent Clank, Holo-Monocle
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal, multiplayer skin name
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 Ratchet & Clank (2002 game), Goodies § "Epilogue"
- ↑ Going Commando script § "Behind the Hero, Part I"
- ↑ The Art of Ratchet & Clank, p. 183
- ↑ Stevenson, Price 2017 45:00
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (2002 game) script § "Hmm... was it pi over infinity or...?"
- ↑ Going Commando script § "Repair the power generator (gameplay)"
- ↑ Going Commando script § "Disable the Disposal Facility's defenses (gameplay)"
- ↑ Deadlocked script § "The Turn On (gameplay)"
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (movie) script § "Scene 4"
- ↑ Ratchet & Clank (movie) script § "Scene 20"
- ↑ Going Commando, Monsterpedia
- ↑ Rift Apart menu § "Utility Bot"
- ↑ All 4 One script § "Regroup with Susie at the End of Sector Seven (gameplay)"
References[]
- Video games
- Insomniac Games (2002). Ratchet & Clank [Game]. Sony Computer fEntertainment. PlayStation 2.
- Insomniac Games (2003). Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2.
- Insomniac Games (2004). Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal [Game]. PlayStation 2.
- Insomniac Games (2005). Ratchet: Deadlocked [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2.
- Insomniac Games (2007). Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3.
- Insomniac Games (2009). Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3.
- Insomniac Games (2016). Ratchet & Clank [Game]. Sony Interactive Entertainment. PlayStation 4.
- Bibliograhpy
- Sony Interactive Entertainment (2018). The Art of Ratchet & Clank [Book]. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1506705729.
- Videos
- Stevenson, James; Price, Ted [Games @Insomniac Games] (2017, November 7). Insomniac Live - Ratchet & Clank [Video]. YouTube.