“ | LAWWWWWWREEEENNCCCCEEEE! | „ |
~ Dr. Nefarious's catchphrase. |
“ | What do you expect!? I'm a SUPERVILLAIN! Muhahahahahahaha! Bon voyage... losers! | „ |
~ Dr. Nefarious as he escapes with Lawrence in Cronk and Zephyr's ship. |
“ | When I'm finished killing you I think I'll rewind time. So I can do it again. And again. And again! (laughs evily) | „ |
~ Dr. Nefarious vowing to kill Ratchet and Clank. |
“ | You think a crushing defeat is all that it takes to stop ME?! [...] Well, think again! We're going to a dimension where I always win, so YOU can finally know how it feels! | „ |
~ Nefarious in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. |
Dr. Nefarious is the main antagonist of the Ratchet & Clank franchise.
He is a robotic mad scientist who hates organic lifeforms despite formerly being one himself. He is the arch-nemesis of Captain Qwark and later Ratchet and Clank.
He was voiced by Armin Shimerman, who also played his remake version in the 2016 Ratchet & Clank film, Bractor and Letek in Star Trek: The Next Generation, General Reginald Skarr in the Grim & Evil franchise, Professor Milo in Justice League Unlimited, Emperor Sun Hai and The Keeper in Jade Empire, Andrew Ryan in the BioShock video game series, Psycho-Pirate in Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Buttonwillow McButtonwillow in Regular Show.
Personality[]
Completely deranged, eccentric, egomaniacal, and destructive, Nefarious is a real public danger, desperate to wreak havoc and conquer the galaxy whether just for revenge or for the simple pleasure of being evil.
Nefarious displays an oversized ego, making most of his robots, vehicle, and space station in his image. He is also narcissistic, arrogant, violent, manipulative, cunning, conceited, and sometimes treacherous. He especially compensates with his evil intelligence.
One of his most dominant traits is his overwhelming anger, always freaking out when his plans start to fail, and having no tolerance for failure. By the simple fact that Qwark is responsible for his transformation into a robot, Nefarious has developed a deep contempt for organic beings, calling them "squishies" and swearing to turn them all into robots.
Despite his devastating wickedness, Nefarious is not completely heartless. As shown in All 4 One after he failed to get rid of Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark again, he reluctantly allied with them to save the galaxy, though he was still trying to kill Qwark because he couldn't stand his pretentious and infuriating jargon.
During the event, Nefarious proved to be quite proficient as a 'good guy', skillfully using his tech skills to counter Loki's threat. He also admitted to Qwark that despite his deep hatred towards him, Nefarious still regarded his hated former classmate as his friend. In the end, he returns to his bad ways but seems to have developed affection for the trio, sadly looking at a photo. Finally, he grants Lawrence paid paternity leave during the events of Rift Apart, showing that he does care about him for altruistic reasons and not just because of his help in the past.
By the main events of Rift Apart, Nefarious had grown tired of losing to Ratchet and Clank and sought to make them know what it feels like to lose by going to an alternate dimension where he always wins. When he succeed, he is incredibly happy, which is rare, when he briefly became the Emperor of the Alternate Dimension, engrossing himself in the position and almost enjoying it too much. When his counterpart, Emperor Nefarious finally came in person after being defeated by Rivet, Nefarious became so afraid of him and almost regretted it that he pleaded his life by offering his help to the other Nefarious, becoming a right-hand man. However, by dint of being mistreated and pushed around by Emperor Nefarious, Nefarious has had enough and took the opportunity to deliver the final blow for the heroes by pushing the Emperor through another dimension without showing any fear this time around. After the Emperor's defeat, he seemingly gives up on the prospect of trying to win, having learned that it's not all that it is hyped up to be. Instead, he returns to his butler Lawrence, meeting his new family and showing fondness towards their new child.
Appearance[]
Dr. Nefarious is a humanoid-structured robot. He has a huge head with a transparent green dome showing mechanical parts such as gears moving inside (probably as a reference to him being smart), purple full-body armor with orange highlights on his knees and elbows, a large silver-plated mouth, glaring red eyes and mechanical tendrils mounted on his back which look like wings.
His appearance does change at times though; in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal he has more highlights around his body and some blue features and in Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time he pretty much has the same colors but with a different facial expression and larger head dome. After his face is blasted by a time-travelling Ratchet with a grenade, he gains a scar running down the right side of his face and his right eye sometimes hangs limply from its socket.
In Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, his appearance is slightly different: He has a shorter and slimmer body, bigger head and more exaggerated torso and now has a purple scheme.
In Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, his face has been completely repaired while retaining his purple color scheme from All 4 One. He is also again as big as A Crack in Time, not as thin as in the previous game, the symbol inside his dome is now printed on it while being more visible and his eyes now have pupils that can shrink and grow.
In the Vid-Comics of Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and the 2016 reboot, he is initially an entirely organic being whose outfit and general appearance does bear a resemblance to his robotic form: He has a large and bulbously oversized head and skin that is either green or pale-yellow with darker spots all over, he wears an all-purple suit with a cape resembling a pair of tendril-shaped "wings", a red clasp on his forehead which was originally blue and pointed red-tinted goggles. After undergoing his unwilling conversion, his robotic form has the same elements as his game counterpart but with a few minor differences: He retains his height, appears to have blue tubes pumping energy through his body and his armor appears a much darker purple in color.
Quotes[]
“ | Robotic citizens of the Solana galaxy, the hour of your liberation is at hand! Too long have we robots suffered under the bigotry, the stupidity, the squishiness, and foul stench of organic life forms! Soon all robots will bask in the liberty and equality of my benevolent, iron-fisted rule. And as for you filthy organic life forms, you can look forward to being disintegrated! (laughs) That's all for now. | „ |
~ Dr. Nefarious' broadcast to the Solana Galaxy |
“ | Dr. Nefarious: Did you hear that, Lawrence? Lawrence: You put the wit in twit, sir. |
„ |
~ Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence. |
“ | Dr. Nefarious: To think, they called me insane, Lawrence. We'll see who's insane... when my pets have exterminated all life on this miserable planet! Lawrence: That should clear things right up, sir. |
„ |
~ Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence. |
“ | Dr. Nefarious: What do you mean we can't teleport to a planet? Lawrence: I'm afraid we're well out of range, sir. Perhaps if you had bothered to specify a destination... Dr. Nefarious: When will we be in range? Lawrence: Oh, I'm sure something will come along, in say, five or ten thousand years. Dr. Nefarious: I don't believe this! Now what? Lawrence: I don't suppose you can play drums? Dr. Nefarious: LAWWWWWWREEEENNCCCCEEEE!!!!!!!! |
„ |
~ Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence. |
“ | Dr. Nefarious: So this is the Q-Force I've heard so much about. Pathetic! I could annihilate you all and it wouldn't even make Supervillain Weekly! Lawrence: But you'd do the fashion world a tremendous favour. |
„ |
~ Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence. |
“ | Dr. Nefarious: Say hello to... Lawrence: Not the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler! Dr. Nefarious: THE HYPERSONIC BRAINWAVE SCRAMBLER! |
„ |
~ Dr. Nefarious, Lawrence and the same character regarding the Hypersonic Brainwave Scramblers . |
“ | When I'm finished killing you, I think I'll rewind time so I can do it again... and again... AND AGAIN! | „ |
~ Nefarious. |
“ | Greetings, my old friend, been a long time. I'm thrilled you're here to witness...My greatest triumph! Oh look! You've met the Elder, pity the first lombax you meet is the shame, of his entire race! (Ratchet: So, what is it this time Nefarious, you still trying to turn everyone into robots or is it good old fashioned galactic domination?) Part of me wants you to live long enough to find out! The other part, really wants to kill you! You know for old time's sake! Decisions, decisions, decisions... | „ |
~ Nefarious to Ratchet and Alister. |
“ | Thanks to you, and your dimwitted friend here, I found myself drifting through the cosmos! Have you ever spend time... on an asteroid? It's surprisingly BORING! Nothing for a villain to do but dwell on his failure! Then, one day, the Fongoids saved us. But still, failure burned inside my circuitry! How could I have been defeated by the likes of you? Why had the universe been tipped in your favor? I embarked on a crusade through the inner recesses of what you call "the soul". I studied Fongoid meditation, attended anger management class, dabbled in yoga, attended more anger management class! Until finally I went on a spirit walk on planet Quantos. It was here I finally found what I had been missing. The Great Clock! With the Clock under my control, I'll be able to wrong all the rights in the universe! Every villain who has ever stumbled will get a do-over! Every protagonist's triumph will be reversed! Until finally, a new present is created... IN WHICH THE HEROES ALWAYS LOSE! | „ |
~ Nefarious in A Crack in Time. |
“ | You TWIT! You dare lay your squishy hands on me? When I get Down from here I'll rip you in half! | „ |
~ Nefarious after Qwark hit him in All 4 One. |
“ | Nefarious: Me? Are you insane? Clank: If I may, being evil has not worked out well for you these last few years. Perhaps using your intelligence for good will yield better results. Nefarious: Alright, fine! But speak of this to no one! [...] Qwark: You did the right thing, Doctor! Nefarious: Get bent! |
„ |
~ Nefarious is convinced to do good for once. |
“ | Nefarious: Can I kill him now? Ratchet: No. Nefarious: I can make it look an accident. Ratchet: How ? Clank: Ratchet ! Ratchet: Alright, no. |
„ |
~ Nefarious wanting to kill Qwark. |
“ | Qwark: This is it, the end of President Captain Qwark. I can feel Death's icy grip! Nefarious, I'm sorry I pushed you around in High School. You're smart and I'm such a... Nefarious: Moron? Qwark: I was gonna say "Adonis", but if you want to be a jerk about it...! Nefarious: I'm sorry too. You should know that even as I was wishing the Blarg would tear you apart limb from limb so I can riverdance around your smoldering squishy carcass!! I still considered you a friend. |
„ |
~ Nefarious and Qwark. |
“ | Where am...I!? It's me? It's me! It worked! It worked! I am the winner! (Emperor's Assistant: Emperor Nefarious, you have returned early from your conquest!) Yes...Emperor! | „ |
~ Nefarious arrives in another dimension. |
“ | Nefarious: Today, you will witness the dawning of a new era! For years I plotted in secret suffering endless disappointments. But soon, it will all be worthwhile! Clank: You will never succeed! Ratchet will put an end to your madness! Nefarious: The only ending in Ratchet's future is the end of his life! (laughs) And you will have a front row seat. (laughs again) |
„ |
~ Dr. Nefarious in Up Your Arsenal. |
“ | And if those Lombaxes are listening, just know that I'm going to crush you into dust, and then I'll blast that dust into a sun, and then I'll dump that sun into... | „ |
~ Nefarious about what he sadistically intends to do to Ratchet and Rivet. |
“ | Emperor Nefarious: That's it? Where's the joy? The bliss? The Murderous enlightenment? Why don't I feel any different?! Dr. Nefarious: Because you equated happiness with success, and now that you've achieved it, life is meaningless? Emperor Nefarious: What could you possibly know about success, you...That's it! I haven't really won yet. There are still "so" many other dimensions waiting to be conquered. Dr. Nefarious: Good luck finding them. It took me years just to figure out the coordinates for this one. Emperor Nefarious: That's because you forgot the first rule of road tripping. Always bring a map. |
„ |
~ Dr. Nefarious and Emperor Nefarious. |
“ | What do you know about winning? | „ |
~ Dr. Nefarious taunting Emperor Nefarious with the same thing the Emperor told him before pushing him into the dimensional wormhole. |
Trivia[]
- According to early concept art in Up Your Arsenal Nefarious was originally going to be wearing a cape, but instead of this the final design resulted in him having the two metallic wing-like tendrils protruding from his back.
- Although he was implied to have been an organic before this was only confirmed in the 2016 animated film and tie-in video game ultimately until his transformation near the movie's end.
- However, the new robotic form he emerges in is virtually identical to his basic designs from the original series.
- Ironically, it presumably also deepened his conflict with and hatred for his Lombax archenemy by making Ratchet the one indirectly responsible for his physiological conversion.
- Apparently, before Ratchet and Clank came along, Captain Qwark was the only person to ever defeat Dr. Nefarious in the original series.
- Nefarious is effectively the main villain for the entire series; he has appeared more than the other villains and has been fought by Ratchet and Clank more times.
- Nefarious is the only character and villain in the Ratchet & Clank series that always changes designs every time he appears.
- Nefarious has no classic disjunction, does not have Lawrence by his side, and no interaction with Qwark in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.
- While he doesn't have his iconic Lance and Janice malfunction, it was mentioned that Nefarious was finally being fixed from this and he said that he was now looking for the lost episodes.
- Nefarious mentioned that he left Lawrence for paternity and, during the credits, Lawrence was seeing having both a child and a wife, with Nefarious being very happy to see them.
- If one were to look close enough, a faint scratch can be seen where his scar used to be.
- Nefarious is one of the few bosses in the series to have two stages one where he fights Ratchet and Clank themselves then the second stage where he fights them using his bio-bliterator robot with them using hovercrafts.
- IGN listed Dr. Nefarious as 65th in a list of Top 100 Videogame Villains, noting he was an example of a series villain who is "evil in the most loveable way", and praising his malfunction in which he blows a fuse only to be whacked later. A Game Revolution praised Nefarious' "psychotic babbling", stating that it "strikes the right balance between threatening and comical". Matt Miller writing for GameInformer listed Dr. Nefarious as their seventh best in a list of top ten A.I. characters of the decade, claiming his plots "are too ridiculous to take seriously, and just the right challenge for the dynamic duo", concluding that he was a great villain who who "hits all the right notes to fit the franchise". Jim Sterling listed Nefarious as one of "Gaming's maddest mad doctors" in an article for GamesRadar.
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