Ratchet & Clank/WMG

The Plumber is the resident Physical God of the Ratchet and Clank verse.

• Come on, he's almost always two steps ahead of the boys, and shows up in some very weird places. The most impressive of which being Clank's subconscious. And how else could he know the significance of six minutes?
  • A little weird that he would be short 400 bolts for an escape ship ride in the first game...
    • Well, he probably can't use his powers in ways that would be obvious to the mortals.
    • He could have merely been waiting there to give the pair his infobot. The 400 bolts was just For the Lulz.
  • I thought the whole "six minutes" thing was a joke referring to the time limit in old Mario games, considering the amount of Mario references in that scene. But it works both ways.
  • This troper decided that he was less of a Physical God and more of an Author Avatar for Insomniac. He's influenced by them in order to show up when and where the plot requires it and by extension save Ratchet and Clank's butts by providing items and/or advice.
• The Plumber is obviously a Time Lord.
• I always thought he was a guardian angel.

The Plumber is a Plumber

• Proof: He obviously has a lot of useful items on hand like the hexagonal washer,works as a plumber, but seems more useful than that, and regularly converses with alien species.

The Lombaxes' technological prowess was due to them having more fingers.

• Almost everyone but the Lombaxes (even the human-like Captain Qwark) has two sausagey fingers and a thumb on each hand, not exactly the dexterous and nimble digits required for working with complex electronics.
  • I'll accept Word of God here, but have we seen Lombaxes without their gloves on? In Going Commando, it's clearly shown that people make five-fingered gloves for three-fingered species.

Related to the above, the reason Ratchet keeps crashing ships is that the controls are designed for three-fingered hands.

• Lombax hands seem to be fairly large in relation to their bodies, and despite the dexterity required for most gadget-tinkering, it's entirely possible that the reason he keeps crashing his ships is that the controls are built around the more common three-finger scheme and he keeps hitting the wrong button with "extra" fingers (remember, even the ship he built himself at the start of the first game was made following Gadgetron plans). Alternatively, perhaps Lombaxes in general are poor pilots (despite similar skills being needed in controlling any craft, including land vehicles and low-altitude hovercraft), and their poor skills necessitated Aphelion and similar ships have their own AI to compensate.

Mega Corp sent Angela to Grelbin to "erase" her.

• She says her house there was part of Megacorp's "generous bonus package". However, Grelbin is pretty much THE definition of a Death World, even by the standards of the series: The surface is an arctic wasteland utterly INFESTED with Demonic Spider Y.E.T.Is, the caves are filled with lava (and contain enormous dinosaur-esque skeletons, implying even WORSE things used to live here), the few outposts are patrolled by rogue robots that will shoot anything that moves and the only method of communication is Galactic Greetings. Why they would send her to live there of all places certainly arouses some suspicion. Furthermore, Angela is the only scientist who worked on the protopet (that you know of) who wasn't killed by it. Judging by what she was capable of doing with her inside knowledge, it makes sense Megacorp would have wanted her out of the way.

The next Big Bad will be the Lombaxes.

• Sealed Evil in a Can, check. Well-Intentioned Extremist, check. After fleeing through the Dimensionator, the lombaxes grew bitter over their defeat by Tachyon. Soon, they became angry with the entire galaxy for not bothering to aid them. The next game/saga/whatever will revolve around the now very PO'ed lombaxes coming back to demolish any and everyone they believe has wronged them. Why? They're cat-people. Cats are vengeful little fluffballs on their own WITHOUT the super-powered arsenal they've gotta be packing. Plus, if Azimuth was a gauge on the average Lombax personality, ("Don't hesitate! Act first, ask questions later!") then they may not listen to reason.
  • Although, Azimuth was anything but mentally balanced. He was blinded by guilt, since he unwittingly played a large part in the destruction of the Lombaxes. I do feel the Lombaxes would feel pretty pissed about the fact that nobody tried to help them, however.
  • I would SO buy that game.
  • To add to the drama: Ratchet's mother leads them.
    • This troper doubts this, as Azimuth very nearly cements the idea that Ratchet's mother died in Tachyon's initial invasion.

Lawrence is the mastermind behind all of Nefarious's operations.

• Ask yourself: Why does Lawrence tolerate Nefarious's abuse, obnoxiousness and stupidity? Simple: Lawrence himself is the brains behind Nefarious's schemes, but he keeps Nefarious around because he needs his expertise of creating superweapons. Lawrence lets Nefarious believe that he's the boss because he knows that a megalomaniac like Nefarious would never be content to be a mere subordinate and he lets everyone else believe so as well so that Ratchet, Clank, Qwark and the Q-Force will target Nefarious instead of him. That way, he has ample time and peace to plot everything behind the scenes.
  • According to the Qwark Vid-Comics, Nefarious himself used to be an organic being. So why does he hate squishies? Because Lawrence installed that mindset onto his new brain! (Possibly while attending to the soap opera glitch).
  • At the end of A Crack in Time, the autopilot on Nefarious's ship supposedly malfunctions, resulting in Nefarious's death while Lawrence escapes. The truth is, Lawrence deliberately sabotaged the ship because at this point, Nefarious had outlived his usefulness. How so? Lawrence had spent most of the game in the Great Clock spying on Clank and if you speak to Lawrence while disguised as Nefarious and ask him where he is, he will say that he is inspecting the Orvus Chamber. Who's to say Lawrence didn't find a way to duplicate the time changing abilities of the Great Clock while he was there, thus eliminating any need to risk the universe or keeping Nefarious around. Which means that at the end of A Crack in Time, Lawrence is still at large and has everything he needs to construct a new time machine...
    • For what it's worth, it has been confirmed by the upcoming comic book series that Lawrence managed to teleport himself and Nefarious off the ship, and both are still at large. I assume Lawrence got Nefarious back in working order - possibly restoring him from a system back-up?
    • Which really just supports the theory. Why would Lawrence rescue Nefarious without some ulterior motive?
  • It's pretty likely that Lawrence is up to something. It's possible he may have something to do with the events in the upcoming All 4 One game. In any case, I imagine he'll either be the one to finally off Nefarious or at least usurp control of the Dr's next big scheme.

Lawrence was really working for someone else the whole time.

• It's not entirely out of the question that various galactic authorities or even other evildoers would've wanted to keep an eye on Nefarious. To do so, one of them sent in Lawrence. He would be the perfect spy due to Nefarious' Genre Blindness, able to report the Mad Scientist's schemes to his superiors or just sabotage them without being suspected at all. In the end, Lawrence fled the scene because with Nefarious dying or dead, his mission was complete. Either that, or he was ordered to sabotage the ship and kill Nefarious because of the risk the final plan posed to the universe.

Ratchet has a crush on Talwyn.

• The only explanation I can think of for his thoughtful expression when "President" Qwark brings up Talwyn in the upcoming comic series.

Nefarious doesn’t consider Qwark his arch nemesis anymore

• In “Unnecessarily Evil Initiative Omega-91” and “Five Bolts Wasted” it’s implied that Nefarious knew Qwark was “Nurse Shannon” the entire time (which, to be honest, would be hard for a sentient being with the IQ of a candle not to notice) and either a) Didn’t care enough to do anything to get rid of him or b) was planning to use this to his own advantage, later on. In the latter cutscene, when the doctor is talking to Ratchet and Clank he references Up Your Arsenal by saying “Thanks to you...and your dimwitted friend here, I found myself drifting through the cosmos”. It’s unlikely that the “dimwitted” part is referring to either of them, which leaves Qwark. Comparing this to the way Nefarious referred to Qwark in Up Your Arsenal leads to the aforementioned conclusion.

Ratchet and Clank's retirement was influenced by Alister's death

• In one of the preview images of the upcoming comic, Alister’s wrench is visible hanging up on the wall of the garage on Veldin (for those of you curious, the “But just once, can’t the universe take care of itself?” panel). Later on, when Qwark’s asking for help, Ratchet refuses, but is noticeably concerned for Talwyn’s well being. Incorporating another WMG: Ratchet doesn’t have a crush on her, but doesn’t want another friend of his to get hurt or die and since they worked together in Quest for Booty, it might just be too close to home for him. This could be why he and Clank retired in the first place-- not just Talwyn, but for all of their friends. Good examples are when Ace Hardlight shot Al in Deadlocked, or the ending of Tools of Destruction in its entirety.
  • Confirmed when Ratchet is holding Alister's watch later in the comic, discussing with Clank his wish not to get involved in the disappearing planets case.

Clank: Replacing a busted warp capacitor never saved someone's life.
The next panel is a close-up on Alister's portrait inside the watch.
Ratchet: Maybe - but it never took one, either. Do what you have to do, pal. But I'm staying here.

Kaden Orchestrated All of the Events in Every Game.

• Hear me out--I'm not going to speculate on whether Kaden is alive or not, though it's possible he's alive despite the claims he's dead. Whether he has somehow survived or was killed off, the theory still works. He knew that the Solana Galaxy would be host to a number of critical events, and was able to predict what was needed. Specifically, he was able to tell about Drek’s plan while Orxon was still inhabited. He was able to tell that Veldin was key in Drek's plan, and sent Ratchet there, knowing he'd stop him.

After that, he needed Ratchet to leave Solana for three reasons: 1--He knew Ratchet would slack off. 2--He wanted Ratchet to meet Angela Cross. 3--He knew that Dr. Nefarious was going to be coming, and that if Ratchet was there at the time of the attack, he'd be at risk.

So, he knew that Ratchet needed to go to the Bogon Galaxy. If alive, he could've personally suggested to Qwark a fresh start, or if dead, set up something which made Qwark think of a fresh start. This triggers Going Commando, which gets Ratchet back into action.

When Dr. Nefarious attacks Veldin, it once again kicks Ratchet into action, where he had (once again) began to slack off and was not prepared. Returning, he felt obligated to help stop Nefarious, and would become Nefarious’s main foe rather than Qwark because of it. If Kaden predicted Clank's presence (or is alive and knows of it), he could’ve allowed Ratchet to also be set up as the side-kick to Clank (when in fact it's generally the other way around) so that people would want to eliminate Clank. As demonstrated in both the second and third games, it's easy enough for Ratchet to save Clank, but it's harder the other way around, hence the need for Secret Agent Clank.

When that ended, he set up Gleeman Vox to capture Ratchet—who was slacking off in the Phoenix. This both freed the heroes of the galaxy (which'd allow for Ratchet's work load to be reduced somewhat), and ensured that Ratchet would always be ready, not caught off-guard slacking.

Size Matters is something I'm not as sure on, but it could have happened because Ratchet needed a somewhat easier adventure, while still not slacking off.

Secret Agent Clank, however, is clearly meant to make Clank slightly more capable, preparing him for his eventual independence shown at Crack in Time. (Again, this requires Kaden to either have predicted Clank or know of his existence and be alive.)

With Ratchet now older and more capable, never to be caught off-guard, Tools of Destruction was set off because it was necessary to see Tachyon's reign come to an end in their home galaxy and for Ratchet to basically get set on the trip to find everything Lombax-related.

Since the events of Tools were setup for Crack in Time, he was ready (after Quest for Booty) to continue the journey and re-unite with Clank, while meeting another Lombax, Alister Azimuth. This would allow for Ratchet to know all of his past, and Kaden being able to predict/already know that Nefarious would return, knew that Ratchet would need to stop him.

With everything in rest after Crack in Time, Ratchet effectively chose to retire--and Kaden didn't want that to happen. And that's where Zogg comes in. This darker storyline wouldn't be possible if Ratchet hadn't been aged and grown from who he originally was. His planet was a very important choice. All of this eventually leading up to Ratchet learning more about his fate.

• Furthermore, we know that Kaden wasn't very happy with Tachyon, but that Alister talked him into it. Kaden had the ability to think things through, and Alister was impulsive. Since they were best friends, it figures that they were either very similar or very opposite in personalities, meaning that if Alister was impulsive, there's a good chance Kaden was a smart Lombax.
  • Alister does outright state Kaden was "[as] smart as they come".
  • And it might even be that when they were younger, their positions were reversed--this would explain a lot. Ratchet started impulsive and is just like his father, according to Alister, but he's becoming increasingly less impulsive and thinking things through more. Since he's begun to think things through, he's becoming more like Kaden would have been like.
• Could Kaden be a psychic? Perhaps he tried his best in order to avert a coming catastrophe, but he couldn't stop it.

Helga used to be/is a Valkyrie

• Just look at Cassiopeia, Carina and Libra and tell me they aren't the same model (at least, I assume they're robots... Nefarious was getting cozy with Cassiopeia, at any rate, and I doubt he'd bother with a 'squishie'). Helga is a Norse name, and fits in with the Valkyrie theme, and she has that obsession with fitness... I have no idea if there's any official material commenting on this, but that's why I'm putting the theory here.

Chainblade is a ex Thugs 4 Less member

• For one, his Monstropedia entry lists him home planet as Snivelak, and he does have quite a large resemblence to them. He could just be of the same species, but seeing as every other Snivelak resident in the game is a member of Thugs 4 Less, it's safe to assume he has at least some connection to them.

Mr. Zurkon is Clank's REAL father!

• Seriously? The old energy being is Clank's father. I know he really means Clank's creator, but by the way he talks, I'm not so sure. It makes more since that Clank's father was another robot. It's obviously Mr. Zurkon. That's why Clank is so awesome.
• Alternatively, Mr. Zurkon was the original base for the robot line that Clank originated from. When Drek was killed, Grummel Prime sued for compensation on account of being the last survivor of his race, and got the rights to the Mr. Zurkon blueprint.

Clank saving Ratchet with the Great Clock will have some kind of effect

• Even though Clank was smart enough to heed the Plumber's warning of no more than six minutes, there is likely some kind of consequence that has yet to be seen. While it probably won't be on the same scale as the Sands of Times Prince of Persia trilogy, it's fair to assume that altering history directly with the Great Clock may have unforseen repercussions.
• Technically, there was; after Clank rescued Ratchet, Alister later died in his place. Of course, that was just the (almost) immediate result of Clank's use of the Great Clock.

Orvus is not dead

• A Crack in Time does seem to be pretty vague about the entire event. On one hand, Orvus appeared quite weakened, but his disappearance, and the dialogue itself don't quite say he's "dead", just gone. It's possible that because of Nefarious' Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler attacking him, Orvus' natural ability to teleport may have been affected and caused him to be blasted into another dimension.

There will be one more trilogy

• Likely it will be made for the Playstation 4, and will tie up every loose end. It may also involve the unknown alien race Tachyon meets in the comic books.
  • Ratchet's real named (hinted by Tachyon)
  • The real fate of Orvus
  • Whether Ratchet ever gets to reunite with the rest of the Lombax race

The Smuggler is a Shout-Out to Moneybags

• A somewhat-shifty character who happens to show up wherever you need to go, offering something you need to progress for "a modest fee". Though the Smuggler is actually more trustworthy than Moneybags, which is really saying something. Both have worked for the protagonist's enemies at some point: Moneybags for the Sorceress, and the smuggler's implied connection with the Kerchu. (granted, they weren't the main antagonists of the game, but it's something.) Given that both series were made by the same company, this isn't altogeather unlikely.

Lombax Heritage

• As a one off joke in Zordoom prison, the security system mentions a line about prisoners, who are descended from Lombaxes. At first, I was like, 'That's impossible', until I thought about Different genetic rules. Well, here's my idea. If is completely possible for a child to be born of two parents from different species, if one of those parents is a Lombax. For example, if a male Lombax had a child with, say, a Cazar, then the child would be born a Cazar, but with some sort of trait exclusive to the Lombax race, like blonde fur, or similar stripe patterns. However, if the Lombax was the mother, then the child would be born a Lombax, but with traits of the father, such as darker fur. They inherit different traits with different non-Lombax parent. Of course, of the father was the Lombax, you're not a Lombax yourself, thus the same rules don't apply to you, Unless generations of inbreeding were taken into account. This would probably make a good plot device, if Ratchet ever has a kid with Angela/Sasha/Talwyn/All three. Oh, no. I just created about 50 shipping fics, haven't I?

The Great Clock is the reason Ratchet and/or Clank have infinite lives in the games.

• The Plumber's warning, and the final portion of the game, clearly show that it's safe to rewind time six minutes so Clank can undo Ratchet's death. Now, we know that Orvus must have been keeping an eye on Clank--his final message proves that. He surely would have seen that Ratchet is both a good friend and a valuable ally to Clank; perhaps he programmed something into the Great Clock that would automatically rewind time to undo any death suffered by either of the duo in the games. Due to the checkpoint system at work in the series, it's not often that a death will set you back more than six minutes of gameplay. So every time that Ratchet/Clank has fallen off a cliff, or been shot by an enemy, or crushed by a deadly mechanism he had to walk past, or any of the other myriad deaths it's possible to suffer in the games, the Clock acted on Orvus' programming directive and rewound time so that he DIDN'T die. Voila! Infinite lives. As to why it didn't automatically revive Ratchet when Azimuth killed him...Clank may have disrupted it by being in such close proximity to the Chamber. Alternatively, it could be that Orvus had some limited knowledge of the future (he is the smartest Zoni, after all) and knew Clank would be able to handle that specific situation.

None of the News Updates in ACiT can be trusted

• Let's face it, the series doesn't have the best history with news anchors. Darla Gratch was arguably the most competent of the bunch when she wasn't being devoured by ameboids, but Dallas and Juanita were a thinly veiled Take That at biased news stations and didn't hesitate to snipe at one another or lie on air instead of doing any actual reporting. Pepper Fairbanks and Kip Darling have a dynamic that's suspiciously similar to Dallas and Juanita; Kip explicitly calls Pepper out on being unprofessional and Pepper doesn't have any qualms about doing the same. Some of the information that they've relayed has been contradicted by the other games and the comic, and, on occasion even Word of God. Granted, that last one isn't worth much, all things considered, but that lends credence to the theory in and of itself.

9th grade Biology was Dr. Nefarious's Start of Darkness

• Qwark's brutal bullying of Nefarious caused Nefarious to hate Biology, and by extent all organic life forms.

The next Big Bad will be Tachyon and Artemis Zogg.

• Yes, the two of them are trapped in that other dimension, but who's to say they won't find anything else in there with the means to cross back to the main universe? To make things suitably epic, maybe they'll find a whole army they can bring with them, or something powerful enough to threaten all three galaxies. That way everyone would have to get involved in stopping them, including Nefarious. We might not get lucky enough to have him playable again, but having him as an ally would still be amusing...

Nefarious will pull a Heel Face Turn in his next appearance

Come on, you saw that video at the end of him with that photograph, right?

The Plumber is Mario!!!

Suddenly the whole "Six Minutes" line in A Crack in Time makes perfect sense. It turns out Mario looks like that because there are some pretty wierd mushrooms in the Ratchet & Clank universe...

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