Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"...the first game to truly deliver the long-sought 'You are playing a Pixar movie' experience."
—The New York Times, regarding this game.

The first game of the Ratchet and Clank series on the Play Station 3.

The duo faces off against Percival Tachyon, self appointed Emperor of the Polaris Galaxy, who is set upon the extermination of all Lombaxes. Being a Lombax himself, Ratchet naturally doesn't take kindly to that. The game goes a lot into how the rest of the Lombaxes died disappeared.

This includes a downloadable game Quest for Booty on the Play Station 3 network. "QfB" takes place directly after the end of "ToD", and centers around Ratchet's search for a missing Clank.

Tropes used in Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction include:
  • Action Girl: Talwyn Apogee
  • Exclusively Evil: Everyone Ratchet talks to in Tools Of Destruction considers the Cragmites to be this and consider the Lombaxes as "saviors of the Universe" due to having apparently completely exterminated the Cragmites. It could be argued that Tachyon, who is trying to bring them back, is really Lawful Evil though, after all, he is an emperor.
    • According to several NPCs, the Drophyds are almost as bad, though it is mentioned that Tachyon bought their loyalty with Raritanium. And then there's the Kerchu, whose position is ambiguous. (They mercilessly attack anyone who enters their territory, and there isn't a single species in the universe that isn't violently allergic to them.)
  • Beam Spam: The RYNO IV
  • Book Ends: The game begins and ends on the same musical riff. It makes for one heck of a Tear Jerker ending.
  • Comically Missing the Point:

Qwark: "This isn't the time for vanity, it's time to show the galaxy how utterly AWESOME I am!"

Cronk: "Hey, I just finished stacking those, you vandal!"

  • Development Gag: "In the unlikely event the Dimensionator creates a time-space singularity and tears the fabric of the Universe asunder, please log an "A" bug and notify a programmer immediately." -- Even yellow furry aliens follow Sony's QA procedures.
  • Difficult but Awesome: Two weapons fit firmly into this category, the Tornado Launcher and the Razor Claws. The former is controlled using Sixaxis, but is very powerful and has a wide variety of uses, some of which aren't immidiately obvious. (like keeping it stationary to act as a makeshift shield, controling it while using a different weapon, or simply bringing bolts and raretanium closer to you.) The latter gains power the more enemies you kill in a row without taking damage, and as it is a melee weapon, this is easier said than done. It also boosts both Bolt AND Raretanium drop rates, and since it runs off the same principle as the Challenge Mode multiplier, you can rack up HUGE amounts of cash with it provided you're good at No Damage Runs.
  • Disappeared Dad: Max Apogee, Talwyn's father. We end up never finding out what happened to him.
    • We do, however, learn that Angela (from the second game) was seen with him before he vanished.
      • However, in the |comics Zogg tells Talwyn that her father (paraphrased) "... abandoned you,fleeing into another dimension, to save a lombax he barely knew!"
  • The Dragon: A strange case. IRIS reveals that the Pirates were built by Tachyon when he was a child, to help scavange materials for his army. After they had outlived their usefulness, he abandoned them on a remote planet, after which they kind of acted on their own from then on. So technically speaking Captain Slag is a fomer Dragon gone rogue. It's clear Tachyon never trusted him from the start though, as he built the Holo-Pirate Disguise so he could spy on Slag and make sure he wasn't pulling a Starscream on him. He would later offer the disguise as an arena prize in hopes of luring Slag to his death.
  • Embarrassing First Name: Tachyon's first name is "Percival".
  • The Emperor: Emperor Tachyon.
  • Enemy Civil War: Kerchu City is an entire level centered on this. Of course, both sides will attack you mercilessly, but until they see you they'll focus in beating the crap out of each other.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: The following transmission from Captain Slag:

Attention lads! Usage of IRIS supercomputer is restricted to educational purposes only. Do not download games, music or... alternative cinema without me approval!

  • Haiku: Courtesy of Tachion:

The Lombax should die
A fiery, awful death
Cupcakes are yummy

  • Heel Face Mole: Rusty Pete joins Ratchet after Slag's defeat, mostly so he can quickly double-cross him in Quest For Booty. He lampshades the shameless insincerity of his Heel Face Turn when asked about his motives.

Rusty Pete: What? Can't a pirate who's never told an honest truth in his life go blatantly out of his way to help the guy who killed his best friend and captain?

  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Mr. Zurkon (From Tools and Crack) takes great delight in destroying his enemies, and will grumble and complain if there is no one on screen to kill. In Crack, he even wants to take shots at NPCs:

Mr. Zurkon: "Why can't Mr. Zurkon shoot puny Fongoids?"

  • Hypocritical Humor: Ratchet pokes fun at the fact that the Lombaxes' greatest, most dangerous creation is a hat, claiming that there's no way a Lombax would create something so ridiculous. Clank then goes on to list all of Ratchet's boneheaded inventions, including electro-shock undergarments (Ratchet tries to justify that last one as "Stunderwear", claiming it to be a huge seller on Umbris).
  • Inexplicably Identical Individuals: The Grummels. Explained by stating that they are clones of the last Grummel.
  • Join The Army, They Said: Emperor Tachyon's recruitment video.
  • The Jimmy Hart Version: The music for the pirate levels contains a very Pirates of the Caribbean-esque riff.
  • Kick the Dog: In Tools Of Destruction, after Emperor Tachyon reveals that the Lombaxes fled their own dimension to escape his wrath, with the hope he would spare Fastoon if they did so, he continues with this; "Only two stayed behind... The keeper of the Dimensionator... and his infant son. " *waits a moment to let to the realization sink in for Ratchet* "I took great pleasure in destroying your father, Lombax- pity he sent you to Solana before we could meet."
  • Last of His Kind: In Tools Of Destruction, Ratchet is revealed to be the last of the Lombaxes (though see Series Continuity Error below) and Tachyon is the last of the Cragmites which, by happenstance were exterminated by the Lombaxes. All this is revealed to be false by the end of the game. Or at least true for their home universe.
    • A Crack in Time reveals the existence of a second Lombax, General Alister Azimuth, who has been in hiding since Tachyon defeated the Lombaxes. As of the end of the game, Ratchet is back to being the last Lombax in their home universe once more.
    • Not really. After the end of Crack in Time, a news broadcast mentions that Angela Cross is, in fact, a Lombax... and was last seen with Max Apogee. Sequel hook?
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Delivered by the Plumber; "Almost didn't recognize you boys in high def."
    • And then there's the description for the RYNO 4-Ever, which states that it is "too gameplay-destabilizing to ever be used. Ever."
  • Let's Play: One of the funniest ever recorded.
  • Man Hug: Ratchet and Clank almost have one on Reepor before they realize that Talwyn is watching. They settle for a brofist instead.
  • Mythology Gag: Several in Zordoom Prison. Listening carefully to the announcer reveals that Slim Cognito and Ace Hardlight are inmates. There's also a bit of foreshadowing in the mention of a Vorselon, Flint.
  • Noodle Incident: What Ratchet was thinking when he invented the Anti Matter Bathroom Buddy or electroshock undergarments, the world will never know. All Ratchet has to say for himself is that "Stunderwear" was a huge seller in Umbris.
  • Won't Work On Me: Electricity-based weapons (the Shock Ravager, Razor Claws and Mag-Net Launcher, but strangely NOT the lightning bolts fired from the upgraded Tempest Launcher) have no effect on electrified enemies. A similar situation exists with Shielded enemies and (almost) all non-explosive weapons, but electrical attacks penetrate them.
  • Recurring Riff: There's at least one that can be tracked through the game-- in the opening cutscene all the way through the ending..[1] If you're listening, you can even hear it in Quest For Booty after being shot to Hoolifar, while Ratchet's still waking up.
  • Repurposed Pop Song: The Groovitron tracks (1 and 11) have been heard being used by Rite Aid and even The Daily Show.
  • Roboteching: The RYNO IV's Beam Spam kind of does this, only it looks a lot more uncontrolled. It's difficult to explain.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: The Cragmites.
  • Sequel Hook: The end of both Tools of Destruction and (especially) Quest for Booty.
  • Series Continuity Error: Tools of Destruction reveals Ratchet to be the last of the Lombaxes... but in Going Commando, Angela Cross is one too. Whoops.
    • Apparently Word of God has said she's a separate but similar species. Regardless, in the prison in Tools of Destruction they mention "prisoner's of Lombax descent", so Angela could also be half-Lombax.
  • Space Pirate: Captain Slag and his crew.
  • The Starscream: Quest for Booty reveals Captain Slag was one to Captain Darkwater. And he succeeded. And then the two end up sharing a body...
  • Take That: In Tools of Destruction, Talwyn's two robot pals have the following conversation poking fun at the Xbox 360. Roughly paraphrased:

Zephyr: "Ah, a chance to show off my superior online capabilities!"
Cronk: "Yeah, too bad your CPU has a 43% failure rate."

  1. ↑ It's very obvious right before the credits
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