Clank (Ratchet & Clank)

Clank is the secondary titular protagonist and playable character of the Ratchet & Clank series.

Clank is a robot created by the Zoni, who possesses a Zoni soul, and is Ratchet's best friend.

Clank was created by Orvus, the leader of the Zoni, in the Great Clock. He was produced in a blarg robot factory on Quartu which produced sentry-bots, and upon acquiring an infobot and learning about Chairman Drek's plans, he fled the planet in a stolen starship, but was shot down and crash-landed on Veldin. There, he met Ratchet, who would become his lifelong best friend afterward, as they would partake on many adventures. When the two visited the Polaris Galaxy in their mission to defeat Emperor Percival Tachyon, Clank was met by a race invisible to the others known as the Zoni, who referred to him as the Chosen One. The Zoni helped Clank defeat Tachyon and afterwards abducted him from Ratchet to take him back to the Great Clock, where he was supposed to take up his true destiny as the Senior Caretaker of the Clock with Sigmund, though after stopping Dr. Nefarious from trying to use the Clock to his advantage, Clank made Sigmund its caretaker and returned to his place at Ratchet's side.

Clank is a highly intelligent robot who is highly knowledgeable in a variety of topics and able to communicate with many other machines. He often acts as a contrast to Ratchet's more brash personality, serving as his voice of reason. Clank also helps Ratchet in the form of attachments such as the Heli-Pack allowing Ratchet to reach greater heights and storing all of Ratchet's weapons, as well as being able to access areas Ratchet cannot. Clank is also capable of commanding help, in the form of Gadge-Bots, Microbots and Zoni. Clank can sometimes transform into Giant Clank to become a more deadly robot with powerful weaponry. Clank has also wielded the Chronoscepter to manipulate time and access the Netherverse. Clank also at one point starred in a holovision show, Secret Agent Clank.

In the Heroes Coalition fics, Clank is a member of the Heroes Coalitions and is a part of Of Guns and Magic.

Appearance
Clank is a diminutive robot with grey metallic skin, large green circular eyes, a red antenna, and small articulated arms and legs with large three-fingered hands and feet. Clank contains what appears to be an air vent on his chest, which is actually used to store items.

Personality
Clank is a very intelligent, wise robot, who acts as a contrast to Ratchet's more brash personality, often serving as his voice of reason. He is highly knowledgeable in many subjects, often offering insight when the opportunity presents itself. Clank is also very composed and cautions Ratchet often against more dangerous actions. Like Ratchet, Clank is often determined to do right by the galaxy and is prepared to put himself in harm's way in doing so.

Despite being more intelligent than Ratchet, Clank is often more easily fooled than Ratchet. He is more easily led into traps, fooled by disguises, and tends to take phrases much more literally. Clank has also appeared to be smoother with women than Ratchet, having fewer awkward moments with them, and being able to persuade Courtney Gears, and later Ivana Lottabolts, to give up information to him.

Abilities
As Ratchet's backpack, Clank is not only able to store a huge amount of weapons and gadgets for Ratchet, but upgrades allow his highly modifiable body to increase Ratchet's mobility. The Heli-Pack and Thruster-Pack allow Ratchet to jump higher and further, as well as to glide in the air, while the Hydro-Pack allows Ratchet to swim much faster. Other upgrades, such as the Levitator in Going Commando, the Zoni Robo-Wings in Tools of Destruction, and the Jetpack in Into the Nexus, allow Clank to in some circumstances grant Ratchet the limited ability to fly or hover in the air. Clank has been able to use other upgrades, such as the Clank Zapper weapon in Going Commando in which he can damage enemies with his antenna, the Clank's Grapple in Going Mobile that allows Clank to extend his arm and swing across the environment or the Geo-Laser as provided by the Zoni in Tools of Destruction that allows Clank to cut through thick walls.

Clank was born equipped with the latest in robotic ignition systems technology, allowing him to start any ship he chose for Ratchet. However, after the original Ratchet & Clank, a robotic ignition system did not appear to be a requirement to start ships, and Ratchet could fly on his own.

Clank is able to use his antenna to command Gadge-Bots or Microbots to perform tasks for him. Gadge-Bots are typically able to attack enemies and to enter switches that allow Clank to open doors. Some certain Microbots also have additional unique abilities, with the Bridge Bot being able to extend itself to provide Clank a bridge to cross, the Lifter Bot able to lift large obstacles, and the Hammer Bot able to slam a hammer to interact with some items. When Clank encountered the Zoni, he was also able to give them commands, commanding them to levitate him across gaps or slow down time significantly.

Clank has also been able to transform into a Giant Clank form since the reverse-engineering blargian Ultra-Mechtechnology to work with his form. This is a giant form with great physical strength (capable of destroying skyscrapers with a single punch), powerful missiles, bombs, and rapid fire lasers. It also allows Clank to travel in space.

Clank also has a Zoni soul, and after A Crack in Time, Sigmund installed a quantum actuator, giving him temporal immunity (meaning his unaffected by altered time) and the ability to create temporal recordings of himself using time pads to create multiple selves. When having access to the Chronoscepter, Clank was able to use it to throw Time Bombs that slowed time drastically, and due to his temporal immunity, these were not detrimental to him or his allies. Clank could also wield the weapon to reverse projects, to repair broken objects by reversing time, and repair time anomalies on planets from within the Great Clock. Clank left the Chronoscepter to Sigmund, but retained his Time Bombs and the quantum actuator.

In Into the Nexus, Clank was able to use a Spotlight attachment to find rifts to the Netherverse, and access it through them. Here, he could bend gravity to his will.

Trivia

 * "Clank's" full robotic system is XJ0461 B5429671 XP.18 v=7.66.
 * Clank is 2 feet tall and weighs 17 lbs when in normal form.
 * Clank is 110 feet tall and weighs 5,600 lbs when in Giant Clank form.
 * Clank's favorite color is 008B00, which is the hex-color code for green.
 * Clank's favorite number is eighty-three billion and four point seven.
 * Clank's birthday was the 26th of October, and was born in the year of 5352.
 * Clank had several love interests, one being Edwina, the other being the Gadgetron HelpDesk girl, and another being a female infobot.