The Plumber

From Ratchet & Clank wiki

The Plumber, also known as the Mechanic, the Water Worker or the Janitor, was a traveling handyman who would repair any leaky plumbing if the price is right. Ratchet and Clank first encountered him fixing a pipe on planet Novalis, where he sold them an Infobot in exchange for 500 bolts to get a shuttle off the planet, which was being devastated by the Blarg. He later encountered the duo on Batalia, where he had found work trying to fix Fort Krontos's heavy turret. Ratchet and Clank manned the turret and brought down several Blargian bombers, and the Plumber rewarded them with a Metal Detector that his grandfather had invented.

Later, during their adventures in the Bogon Galaxy, Ratchet and Clank encountered the Plumber aboard the Flying Lab on Aranos, where he had been called in to unblock a pipe. It turned out that a Captain Qwark Action Figure was blocking the pipe, and he sold it to Ratchet and Clank.

A year later he met Ratchet and Clank once again, this time in the sewers of Aquatos. He was making a necklace for his wife out of Sewer Crystals, and he paid Ratchet and Clank to collect them for him.

While Ratchet and Clank were competing in DreadZone, the Plumber was called to an emergency involving a sump pump in the Rygylian Nebula.

He also appeared in Ratchet's Dreamtime while he was under the knife at Medical Outpost Omega.

In Secret Agent Clank, Ratchet encountered him fixing the prisons cold water for the showers and asked Ratchet to give him a hand, only to knock the thing off, angering the nearby prisoners who were taking showers.

The Plumber's appearences in the Future saga of the series gives the impression that he is not just a simple Plumber. In Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, he was found on Sargasso, where he had created a transportation toilet gizmo. He gave the two heroes a '3 ¾ Centicubit Hexagonal Washer' "just in case". He also said he almost didn't recognize them in high definition; a joke because of the improved graphics. On top of this, he said a weapon capable of vaporising the Cragmites didn't exist (as he claimed to have been "everywhere in the universe and beyond"), making Clank believe they were just "moved". The washer he gave them helped Ratchet and Clank near the end of the game when Tachyon was defeated and the Dimensionator was broken. The washer was used to temporarily repair the Dimensionator and Ratchet and Clank were able to return to the Nundac Asteroid Ring.

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In Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, Clank takes a trip into his subconcious and meets the Plumber, who claims he took a wrong turn into Clank's memory banks, originally intending to head into Qwark's brain (which he thought he was in because of all the emptiness he sees). The Plumber then says that Clank must accept his new responsibilities, even though the first steps are the hardest. The Plumber then says to "not risk any more than 6 minutes", before Clank abruptly awakes. At the end of the game, Clank realises that the Plumber was talking about reversing the flow of time using the Great Clock to prevent Ratchet from dying.

These events of giving Ratchet and Clank an item and some advice that would inevitably help them at the end of the games suggest that the Plumber has some sort of ability to see the future situations that Ratchet and Clank will get into.

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[edit] Trivia

• The Plumber had appeared in, or has been mentioned in every single game except Quest for Booty and Going Mobile; his frequent re-appearances becoming something of a running joke.
• The Plumber had a tendency to break the fourth wall in any of the games that he had a line in. An example would be in Going Commando, where he said he would see them in about a year or so. The third game in the series, Up Your Arsenal, was released a year later. When they encountered him he said that they were right on schedule.
• The Plumber was voiced by Neil Flynn, who played "The Janitor" on the TV sitcom Scrubs.^[1]
• The Plumber in A Crack in Time was looking in a pipe similar to the Mario Brothers pipes, then later saying "Plumbers don't go down random pipes all willy nilly that be ridiculous"

[edit] Appearances

• Ratchet & Clank
• Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
• Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
• Ratchet: Deadlocked (mentioned only)
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (Cameo)
• Secret Agent Clank
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time^[2]

[edit] External links

• Meeting the Plumber - YouTube

[edit] Sources and references