Fridge / Ratchet & Clank

Fridge Brilliance

General

• Ratchet's personality in the first game makes a whole lot of sense in hindsight. He was SIXTEEN at the oldest! Imagine spending the first 15/16 years of your life with no idea if you had a family, no idea why you were left alone, not even any idea of what species you were. Yeah, you would be pretty damn moody and pessimistic too.
  • For the curious: Ratchet was eighteen years old at the time of Deadlocked, according to his bio in Jak X: Combat Racing. From the first game to the second is over six months (mentioned in Going Commando), Up Your Arsenal is later — "Secret Agent Clank" has a holo-vid collection out, meaning they have at least one season in the can — so depending on how much later Deadlocked takes place, Ratchet really can't be any older than sixteen, and could be as young as fourteen, during the events of the first game.
• The physical traits of Lombaxes make a lot of sense: their big fluffy ears and fur length probably act as heat sinks and temperature regulation, their large feet help with traversing shifting sand, and their yellowish shade of fur is a good camouflage for the desert. Their most prevalent counter-efficient trait is the size of their eyes, but it's possible that their larger eyebrows may act as protection for them.
  • This also explains why Azimuth lives in the desert wasteland of Molonoth Fields, and why Ratchet was sent to Kyzil Plateau on Veldin, as well as how Ratchet can run around in environments such as deserts for so long without drinking anything.
• So we all know about the blatant Fandom Rivalry/Dueling Games vibe between Ratchet & Clank and Jak and Daxter — it's been there since the first installment of each series. What only occurred to me recently is how they mirror one another. On one hand, the main characters' personalities evolve in opposite directions: Jak starts out as a seemingly cheerful Silent Protagonist and ends up... well, we all know, whereas Ratchet was considered unlikable in his debut, and has become much more positive (and adorable) as the series wears on. On the other hand, they have a ton of points in common, mostly story-wise:
  • Both were sent to a different time/galaxy at a young age for safety’s sake and, building on that, they both grew up in a "backwater"/country setting.
  • Neither knew their families (ignoring Jak's uncle) and, when it came up, it became a plot point.
  • Both had a villain come after them (Kor and Tachyon) because of who/what they were, which led to finding out more about the aforementioned families.
  • The third installment of the games/the Future trilogy introduced a Cool Old Guy who was important to the aforementioned plot being part of the character’s family or close to the family in question, was an experienced warrior, an exile, and who died at/near the end of the game.
  • I’m fairly certain I’m forgetting something, but the last point I have (for now) is relatively minor compared to the others: the eponymous heroes from both series were separated for two years, at some point: Jak and Daxter in the intro to Renegade, and— if we’re counting each installment as one year— Ratchet and Clank at the end of Tools of Destruction to midway-through A Crack in Time.
  • On a more frivolous note, there is a character named Kaden/Kaedan in both series. They have little else in common.
• Speaking of Qwark, his Dumbass levels after the first two games could be justified by his memory recovery. He was more modest and reasonable in previous games acting more subtly and cleverly, but after recovering his memories he may not have recovered his competence he lost from going insane.
  • In addition, it's entirely possible that Qwark is basically having to actually figure out how to be a proper hero. He might have had an easier time faking being a hero because it fit with his devious and self-centered personality, with the exception of having to make the right decision only when it matters at the end. Having to actually be a decent person all of the time however, when his only basis for reality is built on being selfish and conniving is probably far more difficult for him since he's basically having to work through a ton of his bad habits, and thus can't really approach them as smartly as he could if he was still being a villain pretending to be a hero.
• If you're not thinking about it, it's easy to miss the fact that the communications screen is actually part of Clank's hardware. Of course Clank has a multi-purpose screen installed—he was created in a factory that primarily made infobots.
• The healing items consist of clusters of tiny nanobots that repair bodies from the inside. This is already a sound idea in the context of healing Ratchet, but because they're not food or medkits like in other games, it also happens to make sense that they would work on Clank just as well.

• On the topic of Ratchet & Clank; it was pointed out to me that Clank was slower to pick up on some obvious things despite being very intelligent (mistaking an obvious robot for Captain Qwark in the first game and interpreting Qwark in drag "Qwark's sister" in UYA). Thinking about it a bit got me to realize: wasn't Clank just created at the beginning of the first game? Despite having a lot of book smarts, he's essentially a child, one who hasn't learned to pick up on things that aren't right in front of him just yet.
• Some of Clank's personality traits are a bit of Fridge Brilliance; his quieter, more observational nature, his rarely arguing with the polar-opposite Ratchet, his mild social ineptitude, his childlike trust and naivety... all of which are also Zoni traits.
• In Ratchet & Clank 2 you visit the destroyed ruins of Gadgetron's facilities in the Bogon Galaxy, where everything is run by Mega-corp. The place is all but abandoned, but even the savages that now populate the place can't account for all the building damage here, right? Sometime later, you get a guided tour through a Megacorp Weapons Facility, where they show off several large bombs, including one that the tour guide states "took out the competition". In a further show of foreshadowing, the Gadgetron site is overrun with "Gadgetron cuddly hounds of death", effectively the same problem Captain Qwark unleashes upon the galaxy much later, but in a different form.
• In the third game, Dr. Nefarious' plot is to turn the galaxy's population into robots, using technology which even Ratchet struggles to believe exists. In the backstory of the previous game, this is implied to be how Megacorp created the chicken sentries with no explanation of how they did it. Now consider that not only was Qwark in control of Megacorp for much of the previous game, he was at school with Nefarious and accidentally did the same to him. Qwark has a habit of using other people's ideas...
  • Also on the topic of Qwark and Megacorp, in the second game, one of the rejected products in the advert for Megacorp's testing facility is an offensive garden gnome. In the third game, these gnomes guard Qwark's base.
• Speaking of the Future trilogy, there's Fridge Brilliance mixed with an Ironic Echo and Heartwarming Moment when you stop to consider the endings of Tools of Destruction and A Crack in Time. In the first, Ratchet was offered the chance to go 'home', which would entail leaving Clank. He refuses, obviously, but the look Clank gives him before he makes said decision makes it clear that, whichever choice was made, he would have supported Ratchet. Come ACiT, the roles are reversed, but the situation itself is quite similar— Ratchet even states outright that "I'll back whatever decision you make". While we're on the subject, it also connects smoothly to the last part of the first game... in more than one way. ("Hey tin can!")
• While this could probably warrant a PlayStation Move Heroes folder, it has quite a bit to do with the Future trilogy, and doesn't include the other franchises in the game at all. Near the end of the game, Ratchet mentions that he's "Had enough space-time fun for awhile"— this makes perfect sense after the game itself, since freezing time and inter-planetary travel both play a part in PSMH, but, as the Groovitron is one of the weapons featured in the game (among other details), it leads the player to believe that it takes place after Tools of Destruction, Quest for Booty and A Crack in Time. Ratchet probably wasn't referring to that adventure at all, after preventing the probably collapse of space/dimensions via the Dimensionator and a complete temporal meltdown thanks to Alister's misuse of the Great Clock. Being forced to compete in a game show probably pales in comparison... besides, they've already been there and done that.
• Whenever you fire the RYNO V in A Crack in Time it blurts out the end of the 1812 overture. In some performances, near the end of the song, a cannon is fired.
• The shift of themes through the Future trilogy is actually rather brilliant, in hindsight. First we get Tools of Destruction, which focuses on the Dimensionator and, by extension, dimensions; space travel is utilized throughout the entire trilogy (less so in Quest For Booty, but a lot more in A Crack in Time) and A Crack in Time focused on the Great Clock and time. Time, space and dimensions— they're a set, just like the trilogy itself.
• Ratchet's character development makes a lot more sense looking at where it happened and what was going on in the meantime:
  • In the first game he was something of The Scrappy, but it gives us a point of reference. (On a side note, he also had a change in voice actors between the original game and Going Commando, which makes sense since he was a teenager around that time.)
  • In Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal he was a bit more focused, the 'Jerk' part of Jerk with a Heart of Gold was toned down quite a bit, and he's downright heroic (to a would-be Heroic Sacrifice extent) in Deadlocked.
    • Size Matters sets this back a bit, but there's no indication that Deadlocked, Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank occurred in-universe in release order, so that may not be a problem.
  • He maintains this characterization all the way through Tools of Destruction— he's willing to be a hero, but still gets distracted by certain temptations (finding out more about the lombax race, the Dimensionator) and is rather blind to logic at times.
  • Between Quest for Booty and A Crack in Time, he's willing to sacrifice his own desires for a greater good with little to no prompting. So the original game gave us a point of reference and, up through Tools of Destruction, we got to see the effect that his friendship with Clank was having on Ratchet. The last part of his character development happened when he was on his own. He had to learn to deal with things without Clank to nudge him in the right direction, which was what changed the way he thought about and reacted to things. Kind of make's Clank's "This is the Ratchet I always knew was there" line Heartwarming in Hindsight, doesn't it?
    • Considering the above, Clank being able to fight alongside Ratchet in All 4 One makes much more sense. A Crack in Time shows that Ratchet can traverse planets without Clank on his back. Clank just needed the necessary upgrades to be able to preform at Ratchet's level, which also explains his increase in size.
• Back when Ratchet didn't regularly wear armor, he only got a maximum of 8 nanotech. In Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, Ratchet switches to Hard Light armor so the dev team can just turn it off for pre-rendered cutscenes to avoid No Cutscene Inventory Inertia—one of those cutscenes being the one where Alister kills Ratchet. Now, considering that the armor is both what holds most of Ratchet's nanotech and what cuts down the damage any one attack does, is it really so hard to believe that Alister Azimuth could kill him in one shot?
  • Also when fighting Azimuth during gameplay if you get hit by his shots you notice that it takes off a good chunk of your health. In the cutscene where Ratchet's armor is OFF and he gets killed you could imagine his pain.
• Why does Klunk break character in Up Your Arsenal by delivering a Bond One-Liner after killing Courtney Gears? Because Nefarious didn't realise there was a difference between Clank the person and Secret Agent Clank the character!
• At the beginning of A Crack in Time, Nefarious goes straight to using the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler against the Zoni. Considering the fact that he'd used it successfully against Orvus he would have known for a fact that it would be an effective weapon against the Zoni, too.
• From a story-telling perspective, it makes perfect sense to have the control for the Great Clock break. Since Azimuth used his wrench to fix the damage he'd done, and it was later removed (as evidenced by the comics), it means that nobody would be able to use it again— at least, not without putting some forethought into it.
• Why did it ever occur to Qwark to save Snowball? (Aside from his wanna-be-martyr moment.) Well, it worked well enough for him with that Blargian Snagglebeast.
• During Jak and Daxter's story from Playstation All Stars Battle Royale, just before the rival battle, Daxter calls Clank a sidekick. Clank is visibly troubled by this, and Ratchet comes close to snarling at Daxter for it. It makes sense, considering the last time somebody used the same terminology.
  Ratchet: That's it. No one talks to Clank that way.
• Qwark's Nurse Shannon disguise from ACiT and Nefarious's response makes a lot of sense considering the last Vid-comic from UYA, wherein Qwark disguises himself as a French maid— with a wig and his mask still on— in an attempt to infiltrate Nefarious's base. He did exactly the same thing and Nefarious, aware that Qwark wouldn't think the plan would backfire, used it to his advantage.
  (Organic) Nefarious: The famous Captain Qwark couldn't possibly be this stupid, could he?
• In Quest for Booty, it's mentioned that Captain Darkwater was remarkably thrifty for a pirate, amassing millions of bolts worth of treasure but never spending any of it. This makes a lot of sense when you remember that, according to the IRIS computer in Tools of Destruction, Tachyon built the space pirates and designed them to gather materials for his army. Darkwater was probably programmed to never spend any of his treasure, to ensure it all went to Tachyon. Pity for him that Slag became The Starscream and had no such qualms.
• In Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus, there are posters with Lombax writing on the walls of abandoned city. It makes sense, because the city was abandoned at about the same time that the Lombaxes disappeared, so the posters simply were not taken down in time.
• Secret Agent Clank, Secret Agent Clank, they took away your number and they've given you a name.
• While Ratchet's increased maneuverability and ability to strafe in the second game can easily be chalked up to gameplay additions, the story actually provides a decent source for them: Ratchet learnt how to move in combat thanks to his recent Megacorp training! It also explains his more vested interested in protecting people, something that's stuck with him ever since.
• Alister Azimuth's last name is a term used for a horizontal angle measured clockwise from any fixed reference plane or easily established base direction line, usually starting from True North. In addition to the whole theme of Time in A Crack in Time, Azimuth's primary goal was to use the Great Clock to go back in time to rewrite the past, i.e.going counterclockwise.
  • Speaking of which, during his boss fight, Azimuth circles around the Orvus Chamber going counterclockwise. The man is so consumed in his goal, he's even moving counterclockwise while fighting for his ideals!
• On Aquatos in the third game, Ratchet puts on the Tyhrraguise, and what he says can be revealed by turning the subtitles on. As Clank leaves, Ratchet insults him with the phrase "Son of a Qwark!". What's the last thing Ratchet says in the Tyhrranese version of the sentence? A whopping great fart.
• In "Tools of Destruction", we find out that the Lombaxes' final stand against Tachyon took place in the Temple of Azimuth on Fastoon. Fast forward to "A Crack in Time", where we meet General Alister Azimuth. Presumably, the temple was named in honor of one of his ancestors. So that makes The fact that the General unintentionally doomed the Lombaxes a double blow. Not only did he doom his race—he also brought down shame on a legacy that was great enough to build a temple to.
• There are 2 ways to access the Insomniac Museum in Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal: Either through the Shortcuts Menu in GC, getting all of the trophies in UYA, or in both, using a teleporter that doesn't function until 3 in the morning, after which it runs for an hour. In other words, you can access the Insomniac Museum by being an insomniac.
• Fridge Funny Brilliance, from a post that KBABZ made on the Insomniac Forums: In the Zeldrin Starport, there was a general reminder that passengers are only permitted a maximum of two carry-on items, which is likely a jab at Ratchet's new Tri-Select in UYA that allows him to quickly cycle between the last three weapons he used, thus making him in breach of their standards.
• A minor one for Ratchet: Deadlocked, but since Clank is your mission support he introduces some of the new gameplay mechanics for Challenge Mode such as the score multiplier and the extra difficulty setting. He's basically aware of Challenge Mode... which is the player going back in time.
• The robots fought on Damosel in the second game shoot lightning at their targets which then travels further to another target, similar to the Plasma Coil. The upgraded version, the Plasma Storm, is one of the best weapons for fighting the Protopets.
• One of the reasons Qwark suppressed episode 5 of the Vid-Comic series? It had the location of his secret base in the ending. Had it been released Nefarious would've tracked Qwark down while he was hiding and murdered him.
• The Deplanetizer tries to blow up Umbris in the new timeline instead of Oltanis. Unlike in the original timeline where Drek was truly calling the shots the scheme is being controlled by Nefarious who has a massive grudge against Qwark, who has a base on Umbris.
• In the interview with Captain Qwark that happens prior to A Crack in Time, he states that Tachyon wanted to destroy the galaxy's "thriving Lombax population", to which the interviewer tells him that Ratchet is the only Lombax. Qwark then asks the interviewer if he's sure about that. Even if you discount Azimuth, there is another Lombax that Qwark does know, because he tried to make her public enemy number one a while back.
• In All 4 One, The Plumber doesn't have any cryptic advice for beating Nevo. Of course he doesn't have any; you never fight him.
• Remember in Going Commando when Angela kept tripping and falling? It makes sense when you consider that female Lombaxes don't have tails and therefore are probably much less balanced...
• In both the 2016 game and movie, Captain Qwark says that "You can do anything, as long as you're me." Guess who Ratchet impersonates during his Moment of Awesome?
• Why are bolts the main currency in the Galaxies. Well since they fell under attack after attack, corporations like Gadgetron or Megacorp would want to produce the best weapons to offer. The only worthwhile materials to build these weapons were the metal including bolts. They used the bolts to create more powerful weapons while the one who provided the bolts will receive gadgets and weapons.
• Each character's exclusive weapon in All 4 One reflects their user well. Ratchet's Doppelbanger allows him to Draw Aggro towards a decoy and away from his allies (reflecting his heroism), leaving them open to use the Lombax's preferred method of explosive ordinance, and it's similar to the Decoy Glove and Groovitron, two items he's already familiarized himself with. Clank's Zoni Blaster references his true origin as revealed in A Crack in Time, as well as his frequent use of Time Bombs to slow down obstacles and enemies alike; it also references Clank's willingness to help others as much as possible, since it slows the enemy for everyone. Qwark's Quantum Deflector only surrounds him at first, but expands to allow his allies to stand in it when he stops moving, similarly to how Qwark is vain and often focuses on himself, but is still willing to help his allies whenever they need him. Nefarious's Cloaker, on the other hand, only affects himself, because it's not like he wanted to help these fools in the first place.
• "Shoot anything that moves... then shoot anything that doesn't move. Oh, and by the way: have fun." Spoken by a villain in what is clearly meant as a Kick the Dog moment, but a pretty accurate description of typical player behavior, as well.
• The Thug Leader miscounts the number of Prototpets that Megacorp is storing in its Smolg Distribution Facility as 3.5 zillion when it should be 1 billion. Then you notice that Snevilakians don't have ten fingers, so they possibly have a different counting method than normal humans.
• In a way, Ratchet's longer-lasting relationship with Talwyn compared to Angela or Sasha makes sense from a practical standpoint— unlike how the latter two have more professional jobs that might get in the way of Ratchet's adventuring time (scientific R&D and a role in a public office, respectively), Talwyn's mostly spent her time living remotely on her father's space station prior to meeting Ratchet, giving them more time to work with one another. And even when she joined the Polaris Defense Force, Ratchet did as well.
  • From a more personal standpoint, however, Talwyn and Ratchet also have a fair amount of common ground with one another: they've had parental figures missing in their life (Max Apogee and Kaden), they've both had an interest in the Lombaxes (Talwyn from an archeological standpoint, Ratchet because he is one), and both enjoy getting their hands dirty in the field. It's also worth noting that due to Clank's disappearance, Ratchet spent more time with Talwyn and thus their relationship was given more time to develop.
• When Alistair uses the Great Clock to turn back time, it starts breaking immediately, while Clank proved it can go back six minutes safely. Clank had already used up the six minutes to save Ratchet, so there was no point where it worked then started failing.
• In Going Commando, Clank correctly assumes Fizzwidget abandoned him and Ratchet on purpose, while Ratchet thinks it was an accident. This isn't a Idiot Ball moment - rather, it portrays the characters' development since the first game quite well: Ratchet became more trusting after he Took a Level in Kindness, while Clank became more cautious after having been tricked by Qwark.
• In Going Commando, I often wondered why MegaCorp robots kept attacking Ratchet despite him being a commando for their company. The thing is on Planet Dobbo, the video where Ratchet and Clank learn that the Protopet is dangerous starts with "If you're watching this, you're fired." What if that wasn't just the writers being funny? What if Ratchet really was terminated from his contract with Fizzwidget? Without it, he's just a rogue, heavily armed Lombax and that's why all the heavy-duty security forces start coming after him.

Fridge Logic

• Battery bots. Who in their right mind would create sentient, sapient, independently mobile power sources? It's like they designed the most useful and pragmatic power source possible, and then created the very opposite of that.
  • Given their tendency to modify everything, I'll bet Lombaxes were involved.
• In Deadlocked it's said that Vox Industries controls a small part of the Solana Galaxy known as the Shadow Sector. Megacorp controls the entire Bogon Galaxy, has experience fighting large rival corporations, and has 'planet buster' missiles, yet when they sent Vox the Holoshield Glove he was able to muscle his way out of paying Megacorp royalties selling it in his own private weapon vendors.
  • The Holoshield Launcher is a Gadgetron product, not Megacorp, who are shown to be weaker than Megacorp (having been forced out of Bogon for instance).
• If Ratchet is such a brilliant mechanical mind, such that he's able to build his own ships from scratch and assemble the Levitator onto Clank just by reading the first instruction (which is written in Blargian!), why does he need to go to the Hypnotist in order to assemble the Hypnomatic in the second game?
  • Ratchet's a mechanic by trade so he would know the inner workings of most ships, allowing him to build them himself. As for the Levitator, Clank immediately has an Oh, Crap! reaction when Ratchet says that the instructions are in Blargian. Since the Blarg are from Solana, the galaxy where he was raised, he'd probably speak the language. As for the Hypnomatic, it's a specialized handheld device so if he tried to repair it himself there could be a... problem. The Magic Circle keeps a tight lid on hypnosis because you can put someone into a trance, but you may not be able to take someone out of a trance.
• Why did Ratchet buy a Personal Hygienator when he saw that ad for it where it mutilated Qwark (besides Rule of Funny)?
  • He probably bought one before he saw that particular ad? Or Qwark sent it to him knowing it was unsafe in hopes it would mutilate him?
• From a post that MonBeeb made in the Insomniac Forums: "I've always wondered if there were any other civilians running around the galaxy buying rocket launchers from Gadgetron with bolts they earned from blowing up streetlamps. Surely Ratchet can't be the only person buying these guns or Gadgetron would go out of business."
  • It's actually pretty likely for that to be the case, given how many heroes Solana alone has running around in the background. They do need some good equipment, after all. But it could still be possible that Ratchet's become the equivalent of a VIP member, especially after Deadlocked.
• If the Lombax alphabet does not contain the letter 'x', how are they supposed to write their own species name? (Unless it's spelt like "Lombaks", "Lombacs" or "Lombacks")
  • Jossed. The letter for "x" appeared in All 4 One, just as "k" appeared in A Crack in Time and "z" in Into the Nexus. Currently, the only letter not seen is "j".

Fridge Horror

• Battery bots. They are sentient, they are sapient, and they are used as power sources. When picked up, they yell at you to put them down, they regularly rebel against those who use them, and when plugged into a power receptacle, they scream in what sounds like pain.
• Even if Ratchet went along with Azimuth's plan to rewind time, Ratchet and Clank - as said by Azimuth - would never meet, which means that all the big bads of the series would succeed in their evil plans.
  • So Nefarious would have succeeded after all...
    • In his original plan, yes. His first act of villainy was the Ameboid attack on Blackwater City; if he prevents Qwark from defeating him there, Qwark would never follow him to Magmos and unwittingly turn him into a robot, which starts Nefarious' vendetta against squishies that results in his villainous acts in the third game. Thus he would never have been defeated in that game, got stuck on the asteroid, went mad and look for a solution to his defeats, which would result in his A Crack in time plan... thus causing a colossal paradox!
• Given how popular Ratchet became as a DreadZone contestant, was it through that which caused Tachyon to track him down? Did Vox's Villainous Breakdown force Ratchet and Clank to carry their rescue mission earlier than inteneded, which allowed them to escape before Tachyon could strike DreadZone?
• What if there were other people on Drek's planet when Ratchet and Clank destroyed it?