Clank

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Clank, real name XJ-0461^[1], was a small robot, programmed with artificial intelligence, and Ratchet's long-time companion and best friend. He was born at the robot plant on the planet Quartu but he was created in the Great Clock. While Clank's serial number was B5429671, the name "Clank" emerged when Ratchet made his handmade ship rock while flying to planet Novalis, causing the small robot to hit the side of the ship and making a clank sound. This became his nickname throughout his adventures with Ratchet. The Zoni referred to Clank as the "Chosen One". Clank's father was a Zoni named Orvus.^[2] After meeting Orvus for the first time, Clank became the senior caretaker of the Great Clock.

[edit] Ratchet & Clank

[edit] Creation

Originally, Clank had been part of a production line of sentry-bots at the Robot Plant on planet Quartu, which had sentry-bots that were meant for Drek's assistance. However, due to what was believed to be a mishap but may actually have been the manufacturing robot gaining a conscience, Clank appeared on the conveyor belt as a small, harmless robot, instead of a large, dangerous sentry-bot. Clank watched an Infobot video of Drek's plans to create a new planet using other planetary components, and was then forced to rush off Quartu - sentry-bots had begun chasing him, classifying him as a production error. Clank seized control of a spaceship and took off in space, but was shot down and crashed on the Kyzil Plateau of planet Veldin, where Ratchet found and took him back to his handmade ship. Clank showed Ratchet the infobot video of Chairman Drek and informed him that he wanted to contact Captain Qwark - Clank believed that only the famous captain would be able to stop Drek's menace over the galaxy. Clank proposed to start Ratchet's ship using his latest robotic ignition system, in exchange for a ride to planet Novalis where he would begin tracking down Captain Qwark.

[edit] Overview

After crash landing at the Tobruk Crater of planet Novalis, Ratchet and Clank were forced to go looking for a new ship together. They acquired one from the Planetary Chairman, who gave them a courier ship and an Infobot that showed Captain Qwark advertising Al's Roboshack on planet Kerwan. This became the duo's next destination. However, Big Al informed them that he had not seen Qwark since the video. Nevertheless, he fitted Clank with a special Heli-Pack upgrade. Ratchet and the robot eventually found Captain Qwark at Blackwater City, where he handed them out a brand new Platinum Zoomerator for winning the Hoverboard Race. Then, at his trailer, the Captain told Ratchet and Clank to come to his headquarters, where they would become a team to stop Drek. However, Captain Qwark betrayed them by setting his Blargian Snagglebeast on the duo. From this point on, Ratchet became slightly hostile toward Clank, who he blamed for taking them into the trap. Ratchet had even told him that he would sell Clank for scrap metal afterwards, also offering him for spare parts to a man with a drill. Ratchet wanted to chase after Qwark, but could not start his ship. Clank agreed to start it for him but only if he agreed to fly to planet Batalia instead, where they would be able to help out a commando who was having trouble with Blarg attacks. Clank, due to the lethal levels of pollution in the atmosphere, had to go out on his own on the Blarg home-world, Orxon. He found a pair of Magneboots there and an Infobot for the planet Pokitaru. There, he was fitted with a Thruster-Pack upgrade by Bob at the latter's Roboshack. The duo made up after shooting down Captain Qwark at the Gemlik Moonbase, after which Ratchet and Clank watched an Infobot video depicting news of yet another planet being ravaged by Drek's troops. Ratchet agreed that they shouldn't lose sight of what was important after seeing the destruction of Gorda City. They later proceeded to planet Quartu, where a scientist was able to transform Clank into Giant Clank. Ratchet and Clank also encountered Clank's creator on this planet, after sneaking by sentry-bots using the Hologuise to eventually arrive at Clank's original place of creation. Clank was deeply moved by this, and vowed to make his mother proud. Unbeknowned to him, however, the words appeared on the screen: "You already have." Ultimately, Ratchet and Clank came back to planet Veldin and fought Drek on the Deplanetizer. When he was defeated and the Deplanetizer was fired at the Chairman's artificial planet, however, debris fell down from the sky to Veldin, and the two were propelled over the edge of the Deplanetizer. Clank managed to hold on to it, and Ratchet grabbed his leg. However, the impact of grabbing the ledge damaged Clank's servos in his arm, meaning that Clank couldn't pull both him and Ratchet up to safety. The duo fell, but Clank used his Thruster-Pack to catch Ratchet and break both of their falls. Exhilarated by the survival of his planet, Ratchet nearly left Clank behind, wounded, but then came back and told the robot he'd fix his arm. Then they both left off in the Veldin sunset. After the game credits ended, they were both seen watching a video of "Steve McQwark" advertising the Personal Hygenator. The video proved to be too gruesome to watch, however, and they turned off the screen.

[edit] Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

After Chairman Drek's defeat on planet Veldin, Clank slowly slipped into everyday life with Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, the only remotely interesting things he did were flush out his radiator core, and attending the grand opening of Groovy Lube.

During an interview with Behind the Hero, Clank was whisked away to the Bogon Galaxy by Abercrombie Fizzwidget. Since Clank did not want to take part in another adventure, he decided to reside in a luxurious apartment. Not long after moving in, Clank was kidnapped by The Thief, but Ratchet eventually rescued him, Clank had no choice but to join Ratchet.

Ratchet and Clank soon retrieved the Protopet for Fizzwidget, but not after learning from the thief (now revealed as Angela Cross) that the Protopet posed an immense threat to the galaxy.

After much exploring and turning into Giant Clank he and Ratchet were kidnapped and put in the Thugs-4-Less Prison, but with help from Clank's admirer a Female Infobot, Clank escaped and freed Ratchet.

After much more exploring, rescuing Angela, turning into Giant Clank and facing the Protopets themselves, Ratchet and Clank infiltrated Megacorp HQ, returned the Original Protopet to a non-feral state, and humiliated Captain Qwark once again. The galaxy was saved and Clank had some time to relax.

[edit] Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Clank's social well-being rocketed, due to his brand new TV show Secret Agent Clank, with him starring in the main role and Ratchet starring as his chauffeur, Jeeves.

When Ratchet & Clank returned to the Solana Galaxy, Clank was often treated like the main hero, even though he was strapped to Ratchet's back most of the time. The Galactic President was the most frequent person to treat Clank like this.

Shortly after becoming a member of Q-Force, Clank found out that evil genius Dr. Nefarious, the person the Q-Force was battling against, was Secret Agent Clank's biggest fan (which Clank found disturbing).

After filming an episode of Secret Agent Clank, he was kidnapped by robot pop-star Courtney Gears and taken to Nefarious, who gave him two choices: join him and rule a galaxy of robots or die with all the squishies (organic life forms). Clank chose the latter and Nefarious placed him in a cage and replaced him with an evil clone named Klunk.

Clank was eventually freed by Ratchet in Metropolis, showing himself to be guilt ridden about being captured in the first place. On the Planet Zeldrin, Clank discovered evidence that Captain Qwark had survived the crash of the The Leviathan earlier and proceeded to find Qwark at his secret hideout. Learning he was a fraud and a coward, Clank tries to help the galaxy once more by encouraging Captain Qwark to help them defeat Nefarious. After saving the Starship Phoenix, he and Ratchet traveled to Koros where the Biobliterator was docked. With Ratchet's help, Clank made it to an Ion Cannon, and saved the lives of countless people by destroying the weapon.

Ater receiving word of a second Biobliterator on Mylon, Ratchet & Clank fought through the Command center, defeated Nefarious and destroyed the second Biobliterator with Captain Qwark's help, who was motivated by Clank's earlier words of encouragement.

[edit] Ratchet: Deadlocked

Clank was aboard the Starship Phoenix when DreadZone agents came to kidnap Ratchet, and was kidnapped himself along with Big Al. He was fitted with a Deadlock collar and became the Mission Engineer for Team Darkstar. He also acquainted with the female robot known as Venus, who helped Big Al and Clank to disable the collars and to formulate a plan to escape DreadZone Station. In the final events of Deadlocked, Clank helped rescue Dallas, Juanita, and DreadZone contestants in time before the station exploded. Clank was not a playable character, although there was an "Alpha Clank" skin, which had a robotic red body with Clank's head, which was proven to be Clank's brother and Clank's HelpDesk messages were actually recordings.

[edit] Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

At several points in the game, Clank took on the main role and fought his own battles, expanding his personality. These were known as Clank Challenges, and happened on Metalis and Dayni Moon. They were similar to the Arena challenges Ratchet encountered in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal except that they were played with Clank. He also took over the job of leading Gadgebots. At one point in the game, after the duo found out that their so-called ally was part of the Technomites (verifying Clank's ongoing suspicions), Ratchet ended up getting kidnapped, and it was up to Clank to rescue him. Then, later on in the game, after defeating Luna, Clank tried to get the clone factory coordinates from Luna's head. However, he was attacked by some Technomites and Ratchet was forced to go inside Clank using his Shrink Ray. Clank took his part of the action while fighting against Emperor Otto Destruct too, the first battle with him was fought as Giant Clank.

[edit] Secret Agent Clank

In Secret Agent Clank, it was Clank's turn to be the main protagonist (although Ratchet, Qwark and Gadgebots are also playable characters, too). He had to prove Ratchet innocent after being framed by Klunk via a mind control helmet for crime he didn't commit: the theft of the Eye of Infinity. In this game, Clank transformed into Giant Clank once, used a snowboard, as well as other vehicles in many, many challenges, and even used agent-like weapons. Everything started in the Boltaire Museum. Clank came through the roof silently and saw Ratchet stealing something. The Lombax stepped into a laser beam and the guards managed to catch him. Clank retreated, and returned to his ship, given him by the agency. Clank's contact in the agency called him about local news feed. She patched the news feed through about Ratchet going to jail (with a very strange attitude) on the ship's screen. She tried to comfort Clank for what happened, but he denied it all. After a specific identification, it occured that it was no one else but Ratchet. Clank left the ship to go look for clues inside the museum. He managed to find a clue that lead to Asyanica, to Number Woo.

Clank got his background information from the agency, and went to look for the dragon-and-ninja-like gangster. He landed in the the city under Woo's command, but as soon as he stepped out of his ship, he went unconscious due to a water bucket waiting him to fall in. He woke up in front of Number Woo and a few of his servants. Once the villains left Clank alone, he contacted to three of agency's well-trained Gadgebots, which managed to rescue Clank. Clank ran after Number Woo, and after several ambushes and defeated ninjas, he found Woo and cornered him. He told Clank that he had the Eye, but gave it to a rich countess, Ivana Lottabolts who lived on a former-comet planet, Glaciara.

Clank landed on Glaciara and entered the palace of the music-loving countess. She seemed to know exactly who Clank was. The countess asked him to dance with her on a dancing floor full of traps, in order to get information of the whereabouts of the Eye. Clank managed to dance masterfully and avoided the traps, leaving the countess subjected to the traps. Ivana told Clank everything he needed to know, and he dropped her on the floor. He escaped, but the countess sent the guards after him. Still, Agent Clank was too fast for them.

Later on Rionosis Clank managed to follow the Kingpin. Later, Clank tried to knock out the Kingpin but got blocked by the Jack of all Trades. Up at the gondola station, Jack confronted him again but soon, he was no more a threat. Clank found a playing card, an ace of spades, which lead him to his next location: the High-Rollers Casino, showing that Jack was not the only one with an ace up his sleeve.

At the casino, he entered by disguising himself by asking one of the workers to sign for the display case for the box the Eye was in. The guy commented on the delivery's size and gave Clank an idea. He pretended that he was hurt by the guard's words and made him sign the delivery. Once inside the casino, he was able to use his Holo-Monocle to disguise himself by taking pictures of random guards and kitchen staff workers and snuck through the casino as the guards were hunting for him and followed one of the workers since he was carrying the Eye in a crate to the High-Stakes Room. As soon as he got there, he contacted Ratchet through Slim Cognito (who was also in prison), telling him to find someone with the room's access code. Slim happened to know the code, but insisted Ratchet had to protect him for it. After Clank got the password, he disguised himself as a cowboy and went into the room. There he met a mysterious lady robot. Clank said he would put the deed to his ranching planet for "whatever" she had in the crate that was just brought there. After a long and dangerous game of poker, he found out the Eye had been taken to Venantonio "where it would be reunited with its rightful owner".

Once on Venantonio, Clank searched the secret labs full of Amoeboids and found the Blowtorch Briefcase. While moving along, he rescued a scientist from the Kingpin. At the end of the canal, the scientist thanked him for the rescue and warped out of there. His next clue lead him to the Bolt Foundry on Fort Sprocket. After exploring the foundry, he was locked in a room by one of the bad guys and his trusty Gadgebots had to free him out. After getting out, he told his contact that they made it look like he broke into the foundry which was probably really Klunk. His next destination was a space ship grave yard in outer space. At the grave yard in space, Clank found out that he was behind the eye's theft, as it was Dr Nefarious's robot invention. Klunk stole his ship, forcing Clank to transform into giant Clank and fly through The Quaser Fields of space, fighting enemy ships. He then arrived on the half ocean, half desert planet of Hydrano, where he chased, nailed the same guy who locked him in the room on Sprocket and demanded to know where Klunk was. The guy then told him he had an underwater lair on the planet. He was amused by Clank's ship, making him think he was working on the wrong side. Clank infiltrated Klunk's lair, where he confronted Klunk who revealed the plan, a laser using the Eye of Infinity, as a refractor which was poised at the edge of the galaxy, ready to blow up every planet with a single shot. Everyone would think Ratchet was responsible for the destruction, when Klunk would quickly destroy Clank, which he thought shouldn't be too hard since he figured that Clank fought liked little girls. He would then broadcast his dismantling of the satellite disguised as him when everyone would think he was the hero, while Ratchet would stay in jail forever. After that revelation, he fought Klunk, and half way through the battle, he activated the laser count down, breaking the remote and saying that he would be victorious either way, because only he knew how to disarm it. After Clank defeated Klunk, he went to the laser to put a stop to it. After disarming it with a code, Captain Qwark walked in with his underwear on, startled to see that Clank was there and got warped into the satellite. Clank told him to take the Eye out of the laser which he did just in time. After that, Qwark pretended the eye was blown up, but he didn't fool Clank, who then returned the eye to the museum and freed Ratchet once and for all. Back at the apartment, Klunk became a vacuum cleaner. Clank said it would suck to be him, and Ratchet laughed.

[edit] Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

The series next generation installment begun with Clank at Ratchet's side, helping him with a new high speed vehicle on Planet Kerwan. Captain Qwark then contacted the duo and told them about heavily armed robotic commandos attacking the Planetary Defense Center. At the Defense Center, attacking Drophyd walkers' sensors identified Ratchet as a Lombax and Clank as a toaster.

After being taken on the high-jacked Emperor Tachyon's ship to the Polaris System, Clank met race of interdimensional aliens, called the Zoni, that only he could see. Ratchet discounted Clank's mentioning of invisible aliens, only he could see as Clank, becoming broken in the crash landing on Cobalia. This suggested that Clank should see Big Al after this adventure was over. Throughout their travels in the Polaris Galaxy, the Zoni granted Clank with more devices to help Ratchet on his quest, which were the Geo Laser and Robo Wings. When Clank was sent off to venture without Ratchet in smaller places, the Zoni also showed up to help him, similar to that of the Gadgebots from past games. Clank also gained the abilty to slow time and could command the Zoni to 'Manipulate' their surroundings to help Clank progress, 'Levitate' Clank to glide across gaps, to 'Energize' machinery (which caused the energizing Zoni to disappear), and to 'Follow' him. The main difference between past games was that the Zoni automatically attacked enemies with very powerful blasts of energy. At the end of every alone outing, the Zoni gave Clank a vision of the future. It was strange that anytime Clank met with the Zoni, they refered to him as "Sire". After Ratchet had defeated Emperor Tachyon and destroyed the Dimensionator, the Zoni appeared again, - and this time they were visible to everyone - which placed Clank into a trance and took him away, telling him that he had an important purpose.

[edit] Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty

Clank made only two appearances in this game, the first being the time when Ratchet was washed up on the beach when Clank appeared, and asked him if he was alright, but then disappeared. This may have been a hallucination. The second time was in a dark room with the Zoni, when he was blubbering weirdly, when the Zoni then said "the doctor" would fix him. Shortly after that, Dr. Nefarious stepped into the room and then fell down the stairs, ending the game.

[edit] Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time

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After a power cut on the Great Clock caused by Nefarious's machinery, Clank woke after being suspended inside the facility for over a year. Clank would eventually learn from a robot named Sigmund he had father named Orvus and that he had become the Senior Caretaker of the Great Clock. Clank was given a Chronoscepter by Orvus, allowring him to hurl Time Bombs that slowed down time, neutralize traps and make enemies far less of a threat than they normally would be. Clank could also use the Chronoscepter to record and playback his own actions, essentially creating duplicates of himself in order to overcome the various obstacles in his path.

Shortly after being re-united with Ratchet, Clank horrifyingly watched his best friend die after an enraged Alister Azimuth killed him with an energy blast. Clank managed to avoid similar attacks from Azimuth and seal the Orvus Chamber off from the General. Breaking Orvus's rule on not using the Clock as a time machine, Clank initiated a time shift to reverse time for a few moments and prevent Ratchet's death. He then helped Ratchet defeat Azimuth in a final battle.

After Azimuth sacrificed himself to repair the damage to the Clock, Clank bid farewell to Ratchet as the Lombax sadly walked away. Clank however realised that learning about his own family meant that he couldn't leave Ratchet by himself. He promoted Sigmund to Senior Caretaker of the Clock and then chased after Ratchet, making it into Aphelion just before the canopy closed. The two heroes then blasted off into the stars into another adventure.

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[edit] Personality

Clank often acted as Ratchet's choregos, acting as the voice of reason against Ratchet's brash personality. He was quite knowledgeable in a variety of subjects, which he never hesitated to show.

[edit] Appearance

Clank was diminutive in size 2'2" and 17 lbs according to an Insomniac personnel.^[source?] He had green "eyes" and was made entirely out of metal. When he was angry, his "eyes" had 2 covers. At some scenes Clank's "eyes" were light blue.

[edit] Girlfriends

First in Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, Clank had a girlfriend who helped him and Ratchet escape through Aranos. Ratchet teased Clank. She got badly injured by Qwark, but was fixed by Ratchet. It is unknown what happened to the Female Infobot during the events in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. Clank got another girlfriend, Venus, in Ratchet: Deadlocked. She helped Ratchet and Clank to save the captured heroes.

[edit] Powers and Abilities

Clank was a standard model 7.66 robot and ran on XP-88 sisterboards. While normally rather unimpressive, Clank's strength came from his highly modifiable body, his most common being converted to a backpack. He was fitted with the Heli-Pack, Thruster-Pack, and Hydro-Pack upgrades. He seemed to have some sort of device for shrinking devices in his torso. He got an ability to transform into a Giant Clank ultramech using an Ultra-Mech launch pad. He was upgraded with a weapon called the Clank Zapper which allowed him to damage enemies from his place on Ratchet's back. Shady Salesman Billy sold Ratchet the Levitator, a device which enabled Clank to fly using boost pads. While the duo was transformed into digital forms, Ratchet found a device called Clank's Grapple, which allowed Clank to extend his arms and use them as grappling hooks pretty much like the Swingshot. The Zoni gave Clank the Robo-Wings, the ability to slow down time and the Geo-Laser. Clank also got a Heli-Pack boost in A Crack in Time. When you pressed "X" in mid-air, Clank was given higher altitude.^[3]

[edit] Clank's Soul and the Zoni

In Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Clank was visited by the Zoni, mystical, ghost-like robots who could decide who saw them, and they revealed to him that he had a soul. Once the Zoni told this to Clank, they began to give him special abilities including time manipulation and levitation. The Zoni then kidnapped Clank in Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, and Ratchet searched for him in Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty.

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In A Crack In Time, Clank learned that his father Orvus was also a Zoni, making Clank himself at least part Zoni. However, it is unknown whether robots can have biological parents or not, so Clank might not be part Zoni(though it's possible Orvus created/programmed Clank, and therefore being his father).

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[edit] Zoni Commands

Main article: List of commands

This is a list of commands that Clank could order to the Zoni:

• Follow
• Manipulate
• Levitate
• Charge

[edit] Behind the scenes

• Clank was voiced by a man named David Kaye, who also voiced a character named Blondie and Megatron.
• Clank seemed to have had a love romance with a local robot in Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, however she was nowhere to be seen in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal.
• Clank's sprockets were told by him to be responsible for laughing (especially when being teleported). His laugh was probably derived from Orvus who had an identical laugh to Clank.
• Clank made only two very small appearances in Quest for Booty, even though his name was in the title.
• In Ratchet & Clank, in one scene, Clank was meant to say "Maybe the extra oxygen will help your brain to function properly", which is said in the credits, however the word heard is "perhaps".^[source?]

[edit] Appearances

• Ratchet & Clank
• Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
• Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
• Ratchet: Deadlocked
• Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile
• Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home^[4] (Game unreleased)
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
• Secret Agent Clank
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time^[5]

[edit] Sources and references