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Chief Admiral Cronk[2] is a supporting character in Tools of Destruction, the Ratchet & Clank comic series from Issue 2 onwards, All 4 One, and Into the Nexus. He was one of two ancient warbot caretakers of Talwyn Apogee, along with Zephyr, who fought in the Great War.

Cronk was a very old warbot who has fought in nineteen galactic wars, and served alongside Zephyr. He was an old and senile warbot falling apart, and often needed to be repaired by Talwyn. He also wielded a gun that had powerful shots but a slow rate of fire, and helped Ratchet and Clank since their search for the "Lombax Secret". He was killed, along with Zephyr, when the Nebulox Seven Prison Ship was destroyed by Vendra Prog, as they were both trapped in the spaceship before it was destroyed.

History[]

Before Tools of Destruction[]

Cronk and Zephyr first met when they were stationed together at the Zenith Outpost in Meridian City during the Phylax Intrusion. Since meeting, the two fought in nineteen galactic wars, three interstellar battles, one planetary misunderstanding, and a lunar argument.[3] Cronk and Zephyr fought in the Great War, making them centuries old at least.[a]

The two fought a combined 6,132 battles, and at some point, they had a third companion who was destroyed some time before Tools of Destruction.[citation needed]

Cronk and Zephyr fought in numerous battles after the Great War, including the Arachnid Squabble on Praxus Seven.[6] Another time, during the Forfolax Emancipation of 23, Cronk and Zephyr later stationed at the Folstoid Plateau to secure the gelatonium refinery so as to be able to transport fuel to the Meridian armory, and fought zombie dung dragons with only a rusty spork and a roll of toilet paper stolen from Igliak. Another time, the two infiltrated the hideout of Ulysses L. Ironfist and a gang of hillbilly ninjas that stockpiled the trillium reserves of the Polaris Galaxy to hold Igliak hostage.[7] The two also enjoyed old episodes of Lance and Janice on holo-film players together.[8]

Over time, Cronk's damaged body parts were replaced, and by Tools of Destruction, his visual receptors were the only original pieces of his body remaining.[citation needed]

Cronk and Zephyr became accomplices of Max Apogee, until he disappeared after a space pirate raid. They then watched over Talwyn Apogee, his daughter. Whilst serving as one of Talwyn's guardians, Cronk taught her how to fly ships and trained her to become a skilled pilot.[9]

Tools of Destruction[]

Catch up to Talwyn cutscene 1

Cronk and Zephyr on Ardolis

When Ratchet and Clank infiltrated the Apogee Space Station in "Search the Station", Cronk and Zephyr initially threatened them over intercom and deployed defenses. Cronk ordered Ratchet to decease "youthful activities" and told him to get off his lawn, speculating he was "hopped up on that rap music". However, Talwyn ordered them to drop their weapons when Zephyr pointed out that Ratchet was a lombax.[2] From this point onwards, Cronk and Zephyr befriended Ratchet and Clank, and searched with them to find the "Lombax Secret".

In the pirate base, Ardolis, after Talwyn obtained the lombax artifact, Cronk speculated the artifact only needed new batteries. He then declared himself an expert on lombax history, and told them the device was a "zombie death beam" that could wipe out all life in the Polaris Galaxy; when Ratchet activated it, it was merely a star map to Rykan V.[10]

In "Breach the Security Barrier" the anti-spacecraft fire prevented Talwyn from landing,[11][12] leading her to reluctantly send Cronk and Zephyr to land via HALO jump to destroy them.[13] Cronk planted a bomb on the security barrier door to the spaceport, but forgot the thermite fuse, requiring Zephyr to light it.[14] In "Defeat the Imperial Forces", Cronk likened the battle to the Arachnid Squabble of Praxus VII,[6] and in "Destroy the Artillery Turrets", admitted he had never seen action like it before.[15] Cronk accompanied the group to the Center for Advanced Lombax Research bunker.

Find Tachyon cutscene 1

Cronk with Talwyn and Zephyr on Fastoon.

Following Ratchet and Clank to Sargasso, Cronk came with Talwyn and Zephyr, and the group landed a distance away from Ratchet.[16] The Imperial Army had followed them, and after failing to lose them in the swamp,[17] they ended up in Zordoom Prison, Viceron.[18] When Ratchet freed Talwyn, Talwyn freed Cronk and Zephyr from the scrap compressor.[19]

When Captain Slag took the Dimensionator, Clank radioed Talwyn for support in the Ublik Passage; Talwyn followed, but Ratchet pressed on ahead, not wanting to wait.[20] Talwyn, Cronk, and Zephyr then did accompany them to Reepor; during the HALO jump, Cronk said that the jump reminded him of the time they "did a HALO jump with that lombax and his metal buddy into the cragmite homeworld", leading Zephyr to scold him that that was occurring in the present.[21] In "Deactivate the Forcefields", Cronk mocked the 43% failure rate on Zephyr's CPU while he and Zephyr took over the cannons and used them to deactivate the forcefields.[22] Thereafter, Cronk was badly damaged, and Talwyn and Zephyr stayed behind to have him repaired.[23]

In "Return to Fastoon", Cronk and Zephyr accompanied Ratchet and Clank as they Destroyed the Magna-Cannons to allow Talwyn to land. During "Find Tachyon", as Talwyn hacked the forcefield to enter the Court of Azimuth, Cronk expressed pride in Talwyn's first breaking and entering, remarking her father would be proud.[24] After Tachyon was defeated, Cronk was seen at the Apogee Space Station, roleplaying as Tachyon while wearing the broken Dimensionator.[25]

A Crack in Time[]

Cronk can be heard communicating with Zephyr during the credits. He slept through the events of the entire game, explaining their absence.

Ratchet & Clank comic series[]

Cronk and Zephyr

Cronk and Zephyr on the cover of Issue 3

Cronk and Zephyr arrived to free Ratchet and Clank from the Vartax Detention Facility, and then escorted Ratchet to the Apogee Space Station to coordinate a plan against Artemis Zogg. The two then helped Talwyn, along with Sasha Phyronix and then-Galactic President Qwark, to defeat Zogg.

All 4 One[]

Cronk and Zephyr provided mission support to Ratchet, Clank, Qwark and Dr. Nefarious. When Ephemeris kidnapped the four, Cronk and Zephyr used Ratchet's nav-unit to track them, though he fell asleep during travel and accidentally stranded the two in the middle of Magnus's asteroid belt, making him unable to retrieve them. Thereafter, they deployed Apogee communication pods around the planet to monitor the group, and send them weapons and upgrades from GrummelNet.

The two were able to reunite with them, after Lawrence rescued their ship in the search for Nefarious. They landed and recovered Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark, while Nefarious left with Lawrence.

Into the Nexus[]

Cronk and Zephyr were tasked alongside Ratchet and Clank to deliver and escort the dangerous criminal Vendra Prog from the Nebulox Seven Prison Ship to the Vartax Detention Center. The two were then tasked to awaken Vendra from cryosleep in order to deliver her to the guards. However, Vendra used her telepathic abilities to stir the heroes awry.

Vendra's brother, Neftin Prog then arrived with the assistance of the Thugs-4-Less to strike the ship, disabling its defenses and recovering Vendra. Cronk and Zephyr fought to repel the intruders, though Vendra and Neftin caught them and tied them up to the ship. Ratchet and Clank arrived to free them, though Vendra trapped them in a telepathic bubble, rendering them helpless. Neftin insisted that killing Cronk and Zephyr was unnecessary, but Vendra decided to do so anyway, and set off explosives with the ship that Cronk and Zephyr were trapped inside, causing them to die.

After Ratchet and Clank defeated the nethers, Cronk and Zephyr's spirits were shown to have crossed over into the afterlife, as their ghosts both exchanged banter with one another in the Intergalactic Museum of History, where statues were created in their honor, before looking for femdroids.

Characteristics[]

Appearance[]

Cronk was a blue and metallic humanoid robot, who was visibly very rusty. By Tools of Destruction, his visual receptors were the only original pieces of his body remaining, as the rest had been replaced.[citation needed] Cronk's head and left arm were also prone to falling off his body after sustaining damage, though they were easily repaired.

Personality[]

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Cronk is depicted as senile, though despite his age, he had a youthful personality. He was very close to Zephyr, and would often exchange many jokes with him, though the two would also argue with one another. Cronk referred to the cragmites as "craggy-mites," and would often mock Emperor Tachyon. Cronk also claimed to be an expert on lombax history. He could read the cragmite language, and was able to successfully translate a cragmite children's story about the loki.

Abilities[]

In his prime, according to his own stories, Cronk was an extremely capable fighter, able to infiltrate the hideout of a gang of ninjas.[7] Around the time of Tools of Destruction, in spite of Cronk's age, he was able to hold his own in battle. Cronk fired a carbine blaster with powerful shots but low rate of fire, and was able to take over a cannon on Reepor.

Zephyr claimed he had superior online capabilities to Cronk, while Cronk claimed his CPU was superior due to Zephyr's CPU having a higher failure rate.[22]

Behind the scenes[]

Cronk and Zephyr from TOD concept art

Cronk and Zephyr concept art from Tools of Destruction.

Cronk's arguments with Zephyr over in which they bickered about their specs and capabilities was meant to represent console fanboy wars between PlayStation and Xbox.[26]

Cronk, along with Zephyr, appears as skins in Tools of Destruction and Full Frontal Assault.

In the 2016 reboot game and reboot movie, the Galactic Ranger robots adopted a look very similar to Cronk, though with a completely different voice and they had Combusters.

Cronk hologram Rift Apart

Cronk hologram at the back of Club Nefarious.

Cronk himself does not appear in Rift Apart but in Rivet's alternate dimension, he makes a cameo appearance as a hologram in Nefarious City on the back of Club Nefarious. The in-game model for the hologram of him appears to still be from the PS3 era of games, as it appears to be noticeably lower polygon than the rest of Rift Apart.

Notes[]

Annotations[]

  1. ā†‘ "Eons"[4] or "centuries"[5] according to Tools of Destruction, or "hundreds of years" ago, at most, per the comic series.[citation needed]

Citations[]

  1. ā†‘ Ratchet & Clank (2016 game) menu § "Cronk"
  2. ā†‘ 2.0 2.1 Tools of Destruction script § "Search the Station (gameplay)"
  3. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "IRIS Questions and Answers"
  4. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "A Vision of Talwyn"
  5. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction menu § "Escape the Cragmite Caves"
  6. ā†‘ 6.0 6.1 Tools of Destruction script § "Defeat the Imperial Forces (gameplay)"
  7. ā†‘ 7.0 7.1 Tools of Destruction script § "Escape the Cragmite Caves (gameplay)"
  8. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Travel the Lava Tube Network (gameplay)"
  9. ā†‘ In Issue 4 of the Ratchet & Clank comic series, when Talwyn is thought to have crashed her ship, Cronk expresses his disbelief, stating she was a good pilot and that he had taught her himself.
  10. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Catch up to Talwyn (gameplay)"
  11. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Destroy the Artillery Turrets (gameplay)"
  12. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction menu § "Destroy the Artillery Turrets"
  13. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Breach the Security Barrier (gameplay)"
  14. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Breach the Security Barrier (gameplay)"
  15. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Destroy the Artillery Turrets (gameplay)"
  16. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Trade Souls for the Decryptor (gameplay)"
  17. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Investigate the Kerchu Outpost (gameplay)"
  18. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Escape from Zordoom (gameplay)"
  19. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Escape from Zordoom (gameplay)"
  20. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Infiltrate Slag's Fleet (gameplay)"
  21. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Search the Cragmite Homeworld (gameplay)"
  22. ā†‘ 22.0 22.1 Tools of Destruction script § "Deactivate the Forcefields (gameplay)"
  23. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Escape the Cragmite Caves (gameplay)"
  24. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "Find Tachyon (gameplay)"
  25. ā†‘ Tools of Destruction script § "I'm Gonna Need More Grog"
  26. ā†‘ The Art of Ratchet & Clank, p. 149

References[]

Games
Books

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