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Captain Romulus Slag[1][2][3] is the secondary antagonist in Tools of Destruction and one of the two main antagonists in Quest for Booty, with a cameo as a space radio announcer in A Crack in Time. He was the captain and leader of the robot space pirates in the Polaris Galaxy.

Once the first mate of Angstrom Darkwater, Slag led a mutiny and killed Darkwater himself to become the new captain of the space pirates, with Rusty Pete as his first mate. He became known as the "Scourge of Polaris". He fought Ratchet and Clank when they came to Polaris, as the two competed for the Lombax Secret. Following their battle, all that remained of Slag was his head, which Pete attached to Darkwater's cursed body and the two formed a union together to plunder the Zoni. Slag then became a radio host on Pirate Radio.

History[]

Before Tools of Destruction[]

Romulus Slag was created by Percival Tachyon, who created the other space pirates to scavenge materials for his army, and abandoned them on Praxus VII when he was finished.[4] Captain Angstrom Darkwater was the original captain of the pirates,[5] and Slag was his first mate, though Darkwater often suspected he would mutiny.[6] Slag eventually followed through, stabbing him in the back and decapitating him at Morrow Caverns on Merdegraw.[7] Per pirate code, this made him captain, with Rusty Pete as his first mate.[8]

As leader of the space pirates, Captain Slag had the moniker "Scourge of Polaris".[9][10][11][a] Slag once stabbed a man over a cheeseburger he did not want, simply to maintain his image.[11] Slag also entered Galactic Idol.[13]

Captain Slag and his crew raided the Apogee Space Station and stole a lombax artifact from Max Apogee. Max went after them but never returned.[14]

Tools of Destruction[]

Find the Treasure Room cutscene

Slag and Rusty Pete on Ardolis.

In "Battle the Space Pirates", Slag and his pirates encountered Ratchet and Clank while flying the Aphelion in the Voron Asteroid Belt, demanding they hand over the ship or be destroyed. Ratchet destroyed many pirate ships before Slag recalled his crew for a team building exercise in the Andromeda System and unleashing Puffy Pants Wallis against them.[15]

Slag then encountered them again in "Find the Treasure Room", as they attempted to steal back the lombax artifact. Slag detected Ratchet's scent, recognizing lombax scent as something he had not smelled for "600 moons", although Talwyn Apogee distracted him with a smoke bomb and allowed them to escape.[16] In "Evade the Pirate Fleet", Slag caught up with Ratchet in the Rakar Star Cluster thereafter, demanding Ratchet return the artifact. Unsuccessful in catching him, he withdrew the pirates for yoga class at Sargasso Sam's meditation station, leaving Iron Crotch Caruso to fight him.[9]

Defeat the Kerchu Guardian cutscene 2

Slag taking the Dimensionator from Ratchet on Jasindu.

Emperor Tachyon put the Holo-Pirate Disguise up as a prize in the Imperial Fight Festival, hoping to lure Slag there to his death.[17] Slag did not take the bait, and Ratchet won the device. When Ratchet used it to infiltrate the hideout in the Kreeli Comet for the IRIS Supercomputer, partway through infiltration, Slag warned the other pirates about it, rendering it ineffective thereafter.[18]

Infiltrate Slag's Fleet cutscene

Captain Slag and Rusty Pete in the Ublik Passage

Seeing Ratchet and Clank set course for Jasindu, Slag deduced it was the location of the Dimensionator, and caught Ratchet at the Verdigris Black Hole, commencing "Escape from Slag's Clutches".[19] At Kerchu City, Slag ordered the pirates to tear up the city until they found it,[20] and after Ratchet obtained it from the kerchu mechwrecker guarding it, surrounded him and took it straight from him, daring Ratchet to follow him before returning to the Ublik Passage.[21] In "Defeat Captain Slag", Ratchet caught up with him and defeated him, exploding his body and leaving only a head behind. Before passing, Slag saw a light at the end of his "bright tunnel", and "wenches" with a pint of grog and smile for him.[8]

Quest for Booty[]

Pete held onto Slag's head and took it with him. He first used the head at the Azorean Sea to imitate Slag in sending Ratchet to Hoolefar Island instead of having him killed.[22] Later, he rerouted Slag's memory banks to his vocal processor and allowing Slag to regain consciousness and talk, in something he called "Slag on a Stick".[23]

Find the body of Captain Darkwater cutscene

Rusty Pete merging Slag and Darkwater.

In "Find the body of Captain Darkwater", Slag's head was used to pass through several puzzles and recall passwords, and also mocked the dead crew for not joining in the mutiny. After reaching Darkwater's body, Pete slammed Slag's head onto it. As Darkwater had placed a curse on his body that forever bound his soul to it, both Slag's head and Darkwater's soul had control over Darkwater's body, and often fought one another for full control of it.[7] Slag then led a new crew of his own pirates and undead pirates to pillage Hoolefar Island. After this was unsuccessful, Ratchet traced Slag to Darkwater Cove; in "Enter the Treasure Room", before Ratchet could obtain the Fulcrum Star, Slag had Talwyn kidnapped,[24] before setting sail for Hoolefar to plunder the Zoni dimension.[13]

Ending from QFB cutscene 1

Slag and Darkwater after being defeated.

In "Recover the Fulcrum Star", at the Azorean Sea, Ratchet freed Talwyn and destroyed Darkwater's body, causing Slag's head to fall again, Pete diving into the sea to retrieve it. With Slag's head, Pete then set sail to an island on a crate. Pete narrated the game's events from a book, Slag interrupting at times. After finishing his story, Slag scolded Pete telling him that he had not wanted to hear the story the first time, demanding Pete row.[25]

A Crack in Time[]

Slag, still as a head, hosted Pirate Radio with Rusty Pete. The two broadcast advertisements, played songs, took requests, and reminisced about their pirate days.[11]

Slag appeared in two advertisements. One was his own, an advertsement for a charitable event "Decapitated Villains" paying respects to villains such as Osiris the Malevolent, Flint Vorselon, and himself. In it, he asked people to send bolts for a pint of grog to Slag, briefly saying he would remember those who donated and spared them once he got his body back, before retracting his statement and admitting he would still kill them.[26] Slag also appeared in an advertisement for "Rusty Pete's School of Piracy", a school in which he was one of the teachers.[27]

Captain Slag played a character named Gabriel Von Cavindish in Captain Qwark's movie, My Blaster Runs Hot. He was the robotic villain who was in the movie evil for "no apparent reason".[3]

Into the Nexus[]

Around the time of Into the Nexus, Slag completely retired from his life of crime and moved to Stratus City on planet Kortog, where he acted as a semi-professional beat boxer. In "Find the Dimensionator", a model of him was on display in the pirate section of the Intergalactic Museum of History on planet Igliak.[28]

Characteristics[]

Appearance[]

Slag is a large, pirate robot with a beer belly, small legs, but big arms. A belt around his torso contains the appearance of a thermometer. Slag's right hand can be swapped with a number of weapons: a hook, a giant hammer, or a mechanical stein of foaming grog.[29]

Personality[]

Slag is a ruthless pirate who craves grog, women, treasure, and violence.[8] He is unnecessarily violent and selfish, admitting to killing a man over a cheeseburger as a way to uphold his image as "Scourge of Polaris".[11] He admitted to have no qualms cheating to best his opponents,[8] as demonstrated by him backstabbing Darkwater without a fight,[7] but hypocritically accused Ratchet of it after losing.[2]

Slag had a difficult relationship with his crew and Pete. Though his crew were loyal to the point of following his orders unquestionably,[22] at least one pirate mentioned starting a mutiny due to low-level pirates having no medical, dental, or 401k plan, while Rusty Pete received employer paid benefits and stock options.[30] Though Slag and Pete are close, with him enjoying these benefits, always being around Slag, and the two singing pirate chanties together,[8] Slag often hurls verbal abuse at Pete, something Pete does not fight back against.[25][11] Overall, them remaining close and going onto host a radio show together suggests a genuine friendship, unlike the one Slag had with Darkwater, in which Darkwater had many suspicions about Slag one day being involved in a mutiny.[6]

Slag had a number of hobbies outside of piracy. He would sometimes mention these as to his title "Scourge of Polaris", such as "winner of Zordoom Prison's Semi-Annual Beauty Pageant",[10] "runner-up in the Susie Sweets Homemade Butterscotch competition",[9] "runner-up in last year's "Galactic Idol",[13] and "runner-up in last year's hot dog eating contest".[11] He was also known as a fine ballroom dancer.[11] Slag's hobby of beatboxing eventually allowed him to quit piracy all together.[28]

Abilities[]

In his original body, Slag's right arm could change into a variety of deadly weapons such as hooks and hammers. His hook could fire blue, crescent-shaped energy missiles that had the uncanny ability to follow his opponents until they vaporized them with an attack. The hammer could be used to crush enemies under its weight and create shockwaves. His arm could also change into a grog mug that allowed him to drink grog and then breathe fire from a distance, something Pete would scold him for.[8] He was also electrified, making him a lethal opponent in close combat.

When using Darkwater's body, he showed skill in swordsmanship. However, he would find it hard to stick his blade out of the floor. This body also gave him the ability to fly and teleport, when enveloped in Darkwater's ghostly aura. Slag also wielded a pistol.

Behind the scenes[]

Concept art of Captain Slag shows his design with some weaponry concepts, such as 'breathing' flames and an electronic power arm.[29]

Notes[]

Annotations[]

  1. ā†‘ Captain Blackstar, who operated in the Solana Galaxy, was known as the "Scourge of Solana",[12] a parallel to Slag's title.

Citations[]

  1. ā†‘ BradyGames 2007, p. 196
  2. ā†‘ 2.0 2.1 Quest for Booty script § "Opening"
  3. ā†‘ 3.0 3.1 A Crack in Time script § "My Blaster Runs Hot (Trailer)"
  4. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "IRIS Questions and Answers"
  5. ā†‘ The Art of Ratchet & Clank, p. 166
  6. ā†‘ 6.0 6.1 Quest for Booty script § "Find the Mayor (gameplay)"
  7. ā†‘ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Quest for Booty script § "Find the body of Captain Darkwater (gameplay)"
  8. ā†‘ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Tools of Destruction script § "Defeat Captain Slag (gameplay)"
  9. ā†‘ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Tools of Destruction script § "Evade the Pirate Fleet (gameplay)"
  10. ā†‘ 10.0 10.1 Quest for Booty script § "Escape Morrow Caverns (gameplay)"
  11. ā†‘ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 A Crack in Time script § "Pirate Radio"
  12. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Armor"
  13. ā†‘ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Quest for Booty script § "Recover the Fulcrum Star (gameplay)"
  14. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Search the Station (gameplay)"
  15. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Battle the Space Pirates (gameplay)"
  16. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Find the Treasure Room (gameplay)"
  17. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction menu § "Holo-Pirate Disguise"
  18. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "The Battle for the IRIS (gameplay)"
  19. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Escape from Slag's Clutches (gameplay)"
  20. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Survive the Kerchu Onslaught (gameplay)"
  21. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Defeat the Kerchu Guardian (gameplay)"
  22. ā†‘ 22.0 22.1 Quest for Booty script § "Fight the Pirates (gameplay)"
  23. ā†‘ Quest for Booty script § "Meet Rusty Pete at the beach (gameplay)"
  24. ā†‘ Quest for Booty script § "Enter the Treasure Room (gameplay)"
  25. ā†‘ 25.0 25.1 Quest for Booty script § "Ending"
  26. ā†‘ A Crack in Time script § "Decapitated Villains"
  27. ā†‘ A Crack in Time script § "Rusty Pete's School of Piracy"
  28. ā†‘ 28.0 28.1 Into the Nexus script § "Find the Dimensionator (gameplay)"
  29. ā†‘ 29.0 29.1 The Art of Ratchet & Clank, p. 168
  30. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Infiltrate the Pirate Camp (gameplay)"

References[]

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