The space pirates of Rivet's dimension are an organization in Rift Apart. They are counterparts to the space pirates of Ratchet and Clank's dimension that appear as antagonists and later allies. As with their counterparts, they are an organization of violent, space-faring robots seeking to plunder and loot any and all valuables they can find.
Led by the mysterious Captain Quantum and his first mate Pierre Le Fer, the space pirates have remained one of the last rebel forces in Rivet's dimension defying Emperor Nefarious and his empire. Though repeatedly clashing with Ratchet and Rivet as enemies, they ultimately allied with the heroes to fight the Emperor.
History[]
Before Rift Apart[]
The origins of the space pirates in Rivet's dimension is not known,[a] but they have been a persistent thorn in the side of Emperor Nefarious for many years, plundering his ships and looting his bases.[3]
At some point years before Rift Apart, Quantum left the Resistance and joined the space pirates, disguised as a robot, seeking a more adventurous lifestyle while still opposing the Emperor's forces. After planting a bug on the Emperor's Assistant, in a stroke of luck, Quantum was able to eavesdrop on all of the Emperor's plans, enabling him to quickly rise through the pirates' ranks and become captain himself.[4] Quantum became adored by the pirates and they flourished under his leadership, allowing them to always remain one step ahead of the Emperor's efforts to destroy them.[5]
To support their expensive, freedom-loving lifestyles, the pirates opened their own theme park at Skull Mountain on Ardolis, allowing entrants the chance to become a pirate for a day, if they can survive the pirate trials.[5]
The pirates are frequent visitors to Zurkie's Gastropub and Battleplex, where they occasionally conduct business with fellow patrons, such as vullards and Resistance members, particularly Rivet.[6] Despite this, they have also had numerous run-ins with the Resistance in their raids, as they do not discriminate who they steal from.[3]
As Pierre has been loathed by some of the pirates for a number of reasons, from his cowardice to his terrible singing voice,[7] they have attempted to have him executed multiple times, although in each one of these attempts he has somehow managed to foil them and escape.[8]
The pirates conducted multiple raids on the vullard inhabitants of Molonoth Gulch, Torren IV; stealing any valuable scrap they had gathered. When the vullards asked the Fixer to defend them, he spent a few days crushing the pirates, before having a private mental crisis and shutting down, the reasons for which were unknown to all.[9][10]
To help the morts complete repairs to a Royal Starship on Sargasso, Rivet acquired a crucial part from the pirates at Zurkie's shortly before Rift Apart.[11]
Rift Apart[]
During "Locate the Part to Repair Clank", Rivet traveled to Zurkie's to acquire a signal booster from Pierre to repair Clank's communicator. When he would not relinquish the part, however, Rivet challenged him to a fight for it in the Battleplex, where she battled his crew of robot space pirates, pirate corsairs, and cutlassies in the arena challenge, "Welcoming Committee". Feigning a sprained ankle, Pierre sent a marauder named François to fight Rivet in his stead, who she then defeated in the arena challenge, "Monsieur François". Once Rivet claimed the part, Pierre swore revenge for their defeat.
The pirates visited Zurkie's throughout Rift Apart, both as patrons at the gastropub, and contestants at the battle arena in "The Mangling" and "Twice as Nice".
Later, in "Mend the Broken Phase Quartz", the pirates, led by Pierre, conducted yet another raid on Molonoth Gulch, now unimpeded with the Fixer inactive. They quickly encountered Rivet and Clank, however, who were trying to reactivate the Fixer to repair their broken Phase Quartz. To stop Rivet, they deployed their shield pirates,[10] as well as the marauders, "Wee" Roger and "Not-So-Wee" Roger. During their raid, the pirates stole a Map-o-Matic, and later took their booty to the Blackstar Landing, where they placed it in a chest above the bar.[12] After Rivet defeated "Wee" Roger onboard Pierre's command ship, he ordered it be destroyed via cannon fire in an attempt to take Rivet down with it, despite the concerns of his crew.[13] Rivet battled through their forces and also defeated "Not-So-Wee" Roger, before finally reactivating the Fixer—who then destroyed one of the pirates' ships with his laser, and forced them to retreat.[14]
The pirates preparing to excecute Pierre by feeding him to their pet kraken, Bubbles.
In destroying his own ship at Molonoth Gulch, Pierre had broken Article 4 of the Pirate Code, and was sentenced to be executed, by being fed to the pirates' kraken, Bubbles.[15] In "Rescue Captain Quantum", Ratchet and Clank traveled to the Pirate Base on Ardolis to find Pierre, and discover from him where to find Quantum. After rescuing him from his execution, Pierre instructed them to complete the Pirate Trials at Skull Mountain to gain an audience with Quantum,[7] during which they defeated a marauder named Crabcakes McGee. When Quantum's helmet disguise fell off, leading the pirates to believe he had murdered their captain, they launched a massive assault on him and his ship.[16] Ratchet and Clank protected Quantum from the pirates,[17] foiled a Plunder Beam ambush,[18] defeated two marauders named The Tide Twins, and called on a kraken to destroy their Scuttler ship. The Emperor then tracked Quantum down using the Dimensionator, and sent him through a rift to Zordoom Prison.[19] In "Treasure Hunt", Ratchet and Clank went to the Blackstar Landing, battled through waves of pirates endeavoring to protect their booty, and claimed the Map-o-Matic.[12]
The pirates and Goons team up with Rivet to fight their Nefarious Trooper captors.
After the loss of Quantum, the pirates were quickly subdued by the Emperor's forces, and imprisoned at Zordoom on Viceron, while their ships were impounded and planned to be scrapped.[20] Upon being freed by Rivet during "Rescue Everyone from Zordoom Prison", the pirates allied themselves with her and her comrades to fight the Nefarious Troopers.[21] Once they learned of Emperor Nefarious' plan to conquer the dimensions, Quantum, Pierre and the pirates traveled to Megalopolis and provided assistance during "Defeat the Emperor", helping combat his troopers[22] and Imperial Power Suit.[23] With the combined efforts of the heroes, pirates, and Goons-4-Less, Emperor Nefarious was finally defeated, freeing Rivet's dimension and saving Ratchet's.
Characteristics[]
Physical characteristics[]
Captain Quantum and First Mate Pierre Le Fer.
The pirates typically appear as robotic humanoids with skeletal features, and heads resembling skulls. They are very similar to their counterparts, sharing many of the same designs of ships, models of robot pirate, and general aesthetic. They have a more teal color scheme, however, rather than orange like their counterparts, and a higher number of females among their crew. Many of them possess eye patches or peg legs, which appear to be largely for aesthetic.
There is a mix of French and English accented pirates among the crew, with some having particularly French names, such as Pierre and François.
Behavior[]
The same as their counterparts, the pirates violently seek out and steal any and all valuables they can, motivated primarily by greed. They do not discriminate who they steal from, and will attack any who get in the way of their pillaging and plundering.[3] Though having no quarrel with the Resistance, sharing an enemy in Emperor Nefarious, and on odd occasion making deals together, the pirates have traded blows with the Resistance on several instances.[24] Pirates are extremely protective of their booty.[12]
Like their counterparts, the pirates love drinking, singing, and dancing; so much so they constructed a large pub/disco called the Blackstar Landing at their home base on Ardolis, and are regular visitors to Zurkie's Gastropub and Battleplex. Their traditional drink of choice is grog, which is made from speetles.[8] They enjoy to sometimes speak in song and rhyme, scorning those with poor singing voices or rhyming skills.[7]
The pirates possess some degree of prejudice against organic lifeforms, allowing only robots to join their ranks, which required Quantum to disguise himself as one to join, and also calling Ratchet and Rivet "squishies" during combat.[25]
To conduct ambushes taught to them by Quantum, they deploy a device named the Plunder Beam to immobilize enemy vehicles,[26] and use a large cannon named the Scuttler for destroying them.[27]
They frequently raid Torren IV for any scrap valuables they can find that have been collected by the vullards, and will sometimes sell back to them without them knowing it is theirs at neutral trading points like Zurkie's refueling depot.[28] They use scrap that they raid from across the galaxy to build their swarmer unit, the cutlassies.[29] They also frequent the space sector of planet Savali, and booby trap their abandoned ships with explosives and cutlassies.[30]
Society[]
They follow a strict pirate code, Article 4 of which states: Never blow up your own ship. Doing so is punishable by execution.[15]
Conducting raids and stealing from others is a central part of the pirating lifestyle. Plunder Marketplace at their base is where pirates go to trade and buy pillaged goods from each other, such as booty, weapons, armor, hats, etc.
For another revenue source, the pirates entered into the enterprising world of branding and target markets, and created their own theme park at Skull Mountain on Ardolis, allowing entrants to partake in the pirate trials and become a pirate for a day if they can survive. Its success has been mixed.[5] Completing the pirate trials is allegedly a tradition as old as grog, and how all pirates earn their colors.[31]
The pirates operate the Blackstar Radio Network from their base on Ardolis, from which they broadcast pirate-related music, news and commercials.[24]
A known pirate establishment is Big Leg Larry's, which sells various sizes of extravagant peg legs; including big, huge, and thar they blow.[24]
The pirates also produced a hit musical named "Mutiny!"; described by Quantum as "A rip-roaring tale of love, murder, and ecological destruction."[24]
Units[]
Standard humanoid units are the robot space pirates, shield pirates, and pirate corsairs. Common robot space pirates are melee footsoldiers wielding swords, with some carrying titanium shields to protect from frontal attacks, known as shield pirates. The pirate corsairs wield antique pistols, slowly firing ranged projectiles.
The non-humanoid swarmer unit of the space pirates are the cutlassies; hovering, ball-shaped pirates, armed with whirling blades for melee attacks, and the miniboss unit are the marauders; large, powerful pirates reinforced with raritanium alloy plating, and armed with a deadly mortar cannon.
Behind the scenes[]
The space pirates in Rift Apart were voiced by Shaun Conde, Brent Mukai, Jay Preston, William Salyers, Misty Lee, Alicyn Packard, Scott Whyte, and Sara Amini.
When Emperor Nefarious announced he had vanquished the space pirates, images of both Captain Quantum and MoyDoy were crossed out. Whether this suggests MoyDoy had also joined the space pirates or not is unclear, as it may have simply been more visually convenient for the scene to have the Emperor cross out his remaining enemies in twos, as he then does for the Resistance. Aside from this visual, there is nothing to suggest MoyDoy has ever been affiliated with the space pirates.
In Zurkie's gastropub, two space pirates are seen playing All 4 One together on an arcade cabinet machine.
Notes[]
Annotations[]
- ↑ Considering the robot space pirates and their considerable alikeness with their counterparts, it is possible they share a similar genesis. The pirates of Ratchet's dimension were stated by the IRIS Supercomputer to have been created by Percival Tachyon when he was just a child for the sole purpose of gathering valuable raritanium resources to build his Imperial Army. Upon completing their goal, Tachyon abandoned them, and they were left to wander the galaxy to pillage by their own volition.[1] If the two share a similar origin, it is possible a dimensional counterpart to Tachyon would have had parallel goals. However, with the existence of the ruling Nefarious Empire, his ambitions would have eventually become a threat, and he very likely would have been destroyed or neutralized in some form by Emperor Nefarious, as he had done throughout the years to all heroes and villains alike that have attempted to oppose him.[2]
Citations[]
- ↑ Tools of Destruction script § "IRIS Questions and Answers"
- ↑ Rift Apart menu § "Emperor Nefarious"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Rift Apart menu § "Robot Space Pirates"
- ↑ Rift Apart menu § "Quantum"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Rift Apart script § "The enterprising history of Ardolis"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "The hospitable history of Zurkie's"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Rift Apart script § "Rescue Pierre Le Fer (gameplay)"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Rift Apart script § "Go to Skull Mountain (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Find the Fixer (gameplay)"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Rift Apart script § "Recover the Hurlshot from the Smelting Pit (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Rescue the Morts from the Goons (gameplay)"
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Rift Apart script § "Find the Booty at Blackstar (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Return with the Hurlshot (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Reboot the Fixer (gameplay)"
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Rift Apart script § "Pirate Base, Ardolis"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Survive the Pirate Trials (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Protect Quantum from the Pirates (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Disable the Plunder Beam (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Destroy the Scuttler (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Find the Others (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Don't Lose Ratchet (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Join the Fight (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Fight the Emperor's Power Suit (gameplay)"
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 Rift Apart script § "Ardolis"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Space pirates"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Launch the Ship 1 (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Launch the Ship 2 (gameplay)"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Zurkie's"
- ↑ Rift Apart menu § "Cutlassies"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Savali"
- ↑ Rift Apart script § "Rescue Pierre Le Fer (gameplay)"