Jak and Daxter

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
This world is better left to Jak.
"For every age there is a time of trial. The rocks faced such a fire before they were the strength beneath our feet. The plants braved vast winds before their roots could give us life. As a sage of considerable years, I have known only one such great ordeal. Yet the hero it created was a champion of all time."
—Samos the Green Sage

A very popular series of Platform Games created by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, Jak and Daxter is centered on the escapades of the Heroic Mime turned rogue turned good guy Jak, who has the ability to channel the energy substance known as Eco, and his wise-cracking, human-turned-ottsel sidekick, Daxter, who usually just sits on Jak's shoulder while he does all the hard work. And this is just two of the many people you'll get to know throughout the series. So far, the series consists of:

Tropes related to those specific games can be found on their pages.

On a side note, the Ratchet and Clank series seems to have a very friendly rivalry (Sound familiar?) with this one. Games in both series will liberally borrow some concepts from the other, and will commonly feature cameos and even sometimes playable appearances of the other heroes.

Taking it to the next level, SCEA released Playstation Move Heroes, a three-way crossover between Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and Sly Cooper! Watch the trailer here.

There is now a HD, 3D rerelease of all three main games (trailer).

Tropes used in Jak and Daxter include:

General

Video Game Tropes

Tropes that explain the series on a technical level.

  • Aborted Arc: Daxter gets his own Dark form in TLF...and it has absolutely no effect on the story.
  • A Day in the Limelight: Keira's role in TLF rivaled (or maybe even exceeded) Daxter's in terms of importance.
  • Announcer Chatter: G.T. Blitz (and later, Pecker) in Jak X.
  • Arbitrary Gun Power: Justified in most examples, since what you're shooting usually has super-strong armor.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: If you can't find one in any of the bosses, you're not looking hard enough.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Precursor Robot from the first game, and the Dark Maker robots and the Terraformer from Jak 3.
  • Awesome but Impractical: The Vulcan Fury from Jak 2 has a very fast firing rate, long range and great damage, but has no auto-aim and it chews up ammo very fast. It's upgrades in Jak 3, the Arc Wielder and the Needle Lazer are cool to watch, but the AW is surprisingly weak in damage output for the most part (the exception is against robots when upgraded) and while the Needle Lazer uses very strong homing needles, it and it's counterpart chew up ammo just as fast as the Vulcan Fury. The Peace Maker in Jak 2 delivers the most damage out of all the weapons, has the longest range of fire, a homing ability, and a very fast firing rate—but is marred by it's pathetically limited ammo. Same with the Mass Inverter and Supernova, the Peace Maker's upgrades in Jak 3. Dark Jak is very powerful, but it takes so much Dark Eco to trigger it in Jak 2, and lasts such a short time, that it's usually easier just to shoot people—fortunately, Jak 3 allows you to trigger it any time as long as you have just a little bit of Dark Eco in your meter—but you'll still need a big meter full of it to use Dark Jak's stronger abilities. Light Jak's time slowdown and healing ability is also very useful, but these moves drain the Light Eco meter so quickly that it's best to use them as a last resort outside of their situational uses.
  • Bag of Holding: Not quite as a gameplay mechanic, but implied in TPL, as Daxter stuffs the Sculptor's Muse in Jak's backpack; she's quite a bit larger than the thing.
  • Benevolent Architecture: Who exactly puts all those Eco vents and Green Eco crystal formations just where Jak needs them?
    • Can't say anything about the vents in TPL, but as for the Light and Dark Eco vents in the Haven City ruins in Jak 3, it could have been Mar.
  • Big Damn Fire Exit: The conspicuously giant warpgate located in the the Terraformer storage part of the Dark Maker ship is the way Jak and Dax survive the subsequent destruction of it.
    • In Jak II, this is how the duo escape the destruction of the Ammo Dump early in the game.
  • Border Patrol: The instant death Lurker Shark in TPL, a Krimzon Guard robot in Jak II, and a giant tentacle in Jak 3.
  • Boring but Practical: The Scatter Gun and the Blaster.
  • Bottomless Bladder
  • Bragging Rights Reward: Getting enough skull gems to get the Dark Giant power before beating Metal Kor is very rare, and getting all 286 Precursor Orbs in Jak 2 is also a challenge for it's own sake. Also done in Jak X, as beating Hero Mode gets you green turbo online.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: "All right, cut! That's it, where's the director?! I can't work like this!"
    • GAME RIGHTS?!
    • "This isn't a game..." Cue our protagonists looking directly at the player in confusion.
  • Camera Screw: One of the biggest problems with TLF and Jak II.
  • Cutscene / Machinima: Hours worth. Usually no more than five minutes apiece.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Try switching between J&D and Ratchet and Clank without messing up the controls. Also, Jak 3 had the option to have the camera controls inverted or not. Jak 2 did not.
  • Death Course: Most of the areas in the games.
  • Deflector Shields: Appeared in Jak 3 in the form of one of Jak's Light Eco powers and as the main weapon of the Dark Makers; appeared in Jak X in the form of a Red Eco pickup; appeared in TLF in the form of a Green Eco Beehive Barrier.
  • Double Jump: Unabashedly. You can also use a spin kick to stay airborne even longer.
  • Dramatic Disappearing Display: Inverted.
  • Easter Egg: Most things that can be unlocked with the Precursor Orbs.
  • Escort Mission: Made even worse by the people you're escorting being utter morons. Ironically, the Kid, who is a toddler, is the least likely to get caught.
  • Eternal English
  • Eternal Equinox
  • Exploding Barrels: Eco barrels, to be precise. Also dynamite barrels in the first game.
  • Exposition Ottsel: Daxter
  • Fake Difficulty: Some parts of TLF, mostly due to Camera Screw.
    • Even more so in Jak II, due to many unremoved bugs, camera being the least offender. For example: often your transformation into Dark Jak will get interrupted by an enemy's shot, transforming you back, and making you vulnerable for about 3 seconds and a good target.
  • Floating Platforms: Justified as being lost Precursor technology.
  • Follow the Money
  • Forced Tutorial: These are usually integrated into the games (escape from prison, win the Arena fight), though the first game has one character literally forcing the heroes to "get some practice" under threat of Baleful Polymorph.
  • Gaiden Game / Interquel: Daxter
  • Game Breaking Bug: TPL, Jak II, and Jak X all have one (though it's exceedingly rare)
  • Game Over Man: Daxter
  • Gang Up on the Human: Happens in Jak X—even your teammates get in on it!
  • Green Hill Zone: Sandover Village in TPL.
  • Grimy Water: Other than some locales such as Boggy Swamp in J&D and The Dead City in Jak 2, you'll be fine in the water. Mostly it's the Dark Eco you've gotta watch out for.
  • Ground Pound: Jak can jump into the air and slam his fist against the ground. Must hurt.
    • When timed properly, Jak can High Jump directly from a Ground Pound by jumping just as his fists connect. The guy has CRAZY upper body strength.
  • Guide Dang It: Some of the power cells can fall under this.
  • Have a Nice Death: Daxter has made this into an art form.
  • Hide Your Children: With the exception of The Kid in Jak II.
  • Hit Points: You get four in the first game, eight in the second, and end up with sixteen by the end of the third.
    • Unfortunately, most attacks that enemies make in Jak II take away at least two health blips, technically giving you only four hit points (This may be one of the reasons Jak II was so friggin hard). There are enemies that only do one blip of damage though, but they are easy to kill.
  • Hot Coffee Minigame: Parodied/lampshaded. Since Jak X came out in 2005, the same year as the infamous "Hot Coffee" GTA scandal, Naughty Dog threw together a joke unlockable. A 30-second video entitled "Hot Coffee" which shows Daxter and Tess flirting... and drinking coffee. Daxter notices the player watching them near the end and indignantly yells "What?!" while Tess smiles coyly.
  • 100% Completion: In TPL, this gives you a bonus ending.
  • Hurricane Kick: One of the series' signature moves.
  • Idle Animation
  • If You Die, I Call Your Stuff: One thing Daxter says in TPL when Jak dies: "Can I have your bug collection?"
  • Informal Eulogy
  • Interface Spoiler: In the seconds and third games. The empty Light Eco meter next to the Dark one that is unlocked from the start is particularly obvious. Arguably, the weapon selection display is one as well (four categories of weapon, with three individual weapons in each in the latter game).
  • Item Get: The famous Power Cell dance(s) in TPL.
  • Late Arrival Spoiler: Gol, the guy who was supposed to cure Daxter in the first game, is the Big Bad.
    • Actually, probably everything in the first game qualifies.
    • Ashelin is Praxis' daughter.
    • Erol comes back in Jak 3 as an Omnicidal Maniac working for/with the Dark Makers.
  • Limit Break: Dark Jak.
  • Loading Screen: Averted completely. It's disguised via background loading, such as airlocks and giant doors.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: But hey, at least Jak cleans up his messes.
  • Nintendo Hard: After players complained that the original game was too easy, Naughty Dog turned the difficulty up to eleven with Jak II. Jak 3 eased off on that.
    • With making some parts in Jak 3 too easy.
      • Also, the 4th to last boss in TLF (that Deep Purple monkey thing), that can use blue eco to slow down time just like you. Chances that you'll not notice this the first time are quite high. And even when you'll get it, the boss will still be very hard to take down.
    • Jak X is to racing games what Jak II is to platform games.
  • Nitro Boost: Blue Eco temporarily increased Jak's speed both on foot and while driving the zoomer in the first game. Turbo powerups could be picked up in the zoomer races in Jak 2 and the Wasteland driving missions in Jak 3, and blue eco showed up again in Jak X.
  • No Cutscene Inventory Inertia: Averted in Jak 3, mostly because you usually get equipment in cutscenes. Played straight in TLF though.
  • Non Lethal Bottomless Pits
  • No OSHA Compliance: Gol and Maia's Citadel is full of rickety wooden walkways, floating Precursor gadgets, and bronze platforms, and it's all held over a huge Bottomless Pit. And then there's the Praxis Palace and the Weapons Lab. The Praxis Palace has a huge pit in both of it's machinery rooms, and the Weapons Lab is filled with glowing green toxic goo.
  • Not the Fall That Kills You
  • Old Save Bonus
  • One-Winged Angel: Metal Kor reverting to his real form in Jak II, as well as any time Jak turns into Dark Jak and Light Jak.
  • Optional Traffic Laws: As long as you don't hit one of them, the Krimzon Guard couldn't care less how many civilians you plow into. And neither does the Freedom League, for that matter.
  • Overheating: Happens with turret guns only.
  • Pass Through the Rings: Some of the more aggravating missions.
  • Previous Player Character Cameo: Jak only appears in Daxter two or three times. Given that he's in prison for most of the game, it's justified.
  • Platform Game: And one of the best of its kind.
  • Platforming Pocket Pal: Daxter
  • Purposefully Overpowered: The Peace Maker and Supernova weapons.
  • Puzzle Boss: Pretty much all of them.
  • Racing Mini Game: In some parts of Jak II, very prominent in Jak 3.
  • Rise to the Challenge: One of the last things you do in the Lost Precursor City in TPL, only with Dark Eco instead of water.
  • Secondary Fire: The Morph Gun's Jak 3 upgrades.
  • Sequel Difficulty Spike: And how!!!
  • Super Drowning Skills: For Jak, this was caused by Border Patrol (except in TLF, when it's completely unjustified). For Daxter, this is because he can't swim...despite supposedly being half-otter (and being shown swimming in a cutscene in Jak 3). Also, all enemies die instantly when knocked into deep water, even the ones that came out of the water in the first place.
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: The Haven City Guard Pursuit theme has a melody oddly similar to Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart.
  • Tactical Suicide Boss: Pretty much all of them.
  • Take Your Time: Search for Orbs, play mini-games, explore the desert—that Day Star won't come any closer until the plot says it should.
  • Temporary Platform: Everywhere.
  • The Battle Didn't Count: The only times the boss you killed actually IS killed is if it's a weak sub-boss or the final battle.
  • The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: The Pelican in Sentinel Beach in the first game can be blown to bits using the Lurker Cannon. Getting the Power Cell this way is even a little quicker than using the "normal" method.
    • In Jak 3, after you reach the end the sewer you access within North Town, the pipes you hop across to reach the part of the sewer that leads you into the Metal Head side of the city will be constantly shooting out poisonous gas. Even if you cheat and use invincibility to bypass them, the door leading to that part of the sewer won't open, thus preventing any sequence breaking.
    • In Jak II, it's actually possible to access and walk around in Sandover Village from the opening cutscene—it was fully programmed in, and can be accessed via a harmless menu glitch. Think they didn't want you to find it? Well, they were kind enough to leave Krimzon Guard crates laying around to tell you otherwise.
  • Third-Person Shooter
  • Timed Mission: "Very Strict" from 2 onwards. To the point were some of the ring challenges start you off with 9 seconds Makes you wonder why the timers even had a 10-minute marker...
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change
  • Victory Pose: After getting a Power Cell in the first game. Lampshaded at the beginning of Jak II.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: Starting in Jak II, you can indiscriminately slaughter civilians, knock Krimzon Guard into the water to drown, and even trick their hoverbike riders into slamming into walls or the back of your car, causing them to crash and die.
    • Don't forget in Jak 3 that you can start huge shootouts with the wastelanders. Get one to start shooting at you, get that one to accidentally hit someone else...
    • The pelican in the first game. See The Dev Team Thinks of Everything above.
  • Weak Turret Gun: In Jak X, the only way to destroy a turret gun is to drive into it (of course, you're always in a car, so...). However, you receive no collateral damage for doing so, nor do you slow down.
  • Who Forgot the Lights?
  • Wide Open Sandbox



Technology/Weapons

Tropes concerning the world's vehicles, weapons, and other forms of technology.

  • Aerosol Flamethrower: Daxter wields one in his self-titled game.
  • Airborne Aircraft Carrier: The War Factory in Jak 3.
    • Also the Phantom Blade and ACS Behemoth from The Lost Frontier.
  • Attack Drone: The Gyro Burster in Jak 3. Jak X had a Red Eco power-up that gave you a protective drone.
  • Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics: But let's face it, homing bullets and ricocheting lasers are fun.
  • Blown Across the Room: Possibly justified in that the ammo is made out of eco and not bullets and thus it has unrealistic effects.
  • Chain Lightning: The Peace Maker.
  • Every Car Is a Pinto: Every vehicle in this world ends its life in an explosion. Every. Single. One.
  • Gatling Good: The Vulcan Fury.
  • Hover Board: Called the Jet Board in-game.
  • Humongous Mecha: The Precursor Robot in the first game, which serves as the final boss.
    • Funnily enough, you face another giant Precursor Robot in the third game, but it's much easier.
  • Laser Sight: The Morph Gun.
  • Law of Inverse Recoil: Averted: Jak's gun actually does jerk back after firing.
  • Mini-Mecha: Jak pilots one a couple times in Jak II. There is also a level in Jak 3 where Jak controls a Dark Maker Bot with his mind.
  • More Dakka: The Morph Gun (especially its Jak 3 upgrades) and the Gunstaff.
    • And then there's the Vulcan Cannon weapon for planes in The Lost Frontier, which sprays a cloud of bullets in whatever direction you point it. Loaded onto the Gunship, which has five weapon mounts per wing, and you have the most dakka the series has seen so far.
  • Morph Weapon: The Morph Gun and the Gunstaff.
  • Mundane Utility: Need to open a box? Shoot it!
  • Pinball Projectile: The Reflexor gun.
  • Recursive Ammo / Macross Missile Massacre: The Apocalypse aircraft weapon in The Lost Frontier fires a single missile that splits into three smaller warheads, each of which splits further into three more missiles for a total of nine warheads per single shot. Needless to say, it doesn't take long to clear the airspace around you when using this weapon.
  • Spider Tank: The Terraformer
    • On a smaller scale, the Blast Bots from Jak II and Jak 3.
  • Swiss Army Gun / Weapon: The Morph Gun has a shotgun, a rifle, a sub-machine gun, a lightning gun, lightning-ball gun, an RPG launcher, a shockwave generator, a Reflecting Laser, a drone launcher, an Anti-Gravity generator, a homing-dart gun and a mini-nuke.
    • The Gunstaff from TLF can be used in melee and comes with the Scatter Gun (now called Concussor Gun), the Blaster, and the Vulcan Fury. It comes with something like the Peace Maker, but this Troper finds it to be infinitely less useful.
  • Video Wills / The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Krew's holographic will in Jak X.

Character Tropes

Most of these tropes can be found sorted by character here.

  • Action Girl: Ashelin
  • Adrenaline Makeover: Keira finally gets a new outfit for the upcoming game, where she accompanies Jak and Daxter on their newest adventure.
  • Adorkable: Daxter, definitely.
  • Adventure Duo: Jak and Daxter.
  • Exclusively Evil: Lurkers, Metal Heads, Dark Makers, oh my!
    • Subverted with Lurkers in the second game on, as they're now slaves for the citizens. Heck, you even befriend one.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Dear god, Razer. Every other character in Jak X says "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am!" as a victory line, even Ashelin. Razer, however...

Razer: Wham, bam, thank you... sir.

    • Some of his other lines are pretty suggestive as well.
  • Anti-Hero: Jak
  • Ambiguous Gender: Seem
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: Baron Praxis, Count Veger and Duke Skyheed. Notice that Ashelin (who is not referred to with a title) is not evil. But averted with King Damas who's a goodie through and through.
  • Badass: Jak and Daxter.
    • Back-to-Back Badasses: Jak and Sig, Jak and Ashelin.
    • Badass Biker: Also Jak, whenever he rides a Zoomer, at least
    • Badass Boast: Daxter does this a lot. Too bad he's a three-foot-tall rodent mustelid.
    • Badass Bystander: The entire population of Spargus. Justified since they are all either banished from Haven for some horrible crimes, or else descended from people who were. Plus, it's a requirement: fail to kick ass in the Arena and you either die or get thrown out into the harsh Wasteland... and die.
    • Badass Driver: Every (playable) character in Jak X.
    • Badass Longcoat: Whether Veger himself is badass or not is up for debate, but the awesomeness of his duster is not.
    • Badass Normals: Sig, Ashelin and (arguably) Torn (he only actually takes part in one mission in the entire series)
    • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Daxter, who else?
    • Fingerless Gloves
    • Future Badass: Of a sort: We see that little Jak was a sweet little toddler. Adult Jak (as of the sequel) however, is a gun-toting, ass-kicking warrior.
    • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Daxter, again, at least in the later games (and especially in his self-titled entry). And if he ever gets his Precursor powers...
      • As an extension, any Precursor has the potential to be this.
    • The So-Called Coward: Daxter. Though he's never expressly called a coward, this is the basic perception of him, both by the people in game and the fans.
    • Took a Level in Badass: Both Jak and Daxter go through this. Jak's is abrupt and noticeable while Daxter's is subtle and usually ignored.
  • Bald of Evil: Mizo from Jak X.
  • Beast and Beauty: Daxter and Tess (subverted in that TESS is the protective one)
  • Benevolent Boss: Osmo in Daxter.
  • Black Eyes of Evil: Dark Jak. Dark Makers. Dark Daxter. Dark Skyheed. By now, it's probably safe to assume dark anything has Black Eyes Of Evil.
  • Blessed with Suck: Daxter at first. He later accepts his Ottsel state, if not because he's essentially taken the form of a God.
  • Blond Guys Are Evil: Averted with Jak. G.T. Blitz would count as this if it wasn't really a toupee hiding his Bald of Evil.
    • Gol Acheron.
  • Blind Seer: Onin
  • Boobs of Steel: Ashelin, the only girl we see fighting, also has the biggest tits (or at least the most cleavage).
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center: Sig.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor: Daxter gets drunk off his ass in Jak II. Possibly justified since 1) he's small, and 2) he chugged a lot of booze in less than a minute. He seems to have learned his lesson, as we don't see him get drunk again. Dax also gets props from this Troper for sobering up pretty quickly (and with no hangover, either!) He gets an Alcohol Hic while intoxicated as well.
  • Casanova Wannabe: Daxter.
  • Character Development: Most everyone goes through this, with Jak's major personality shift in Jak II being the most obvious change. Daxter matures throughout the course of the series less obviously, but it can be seen when you look carefully.
    • For example, in earlier games, Daxter was a notoriously bad flirt. In later games, Daxter's flirting is toned down to be more joking than serious, and it's practically nonexistent by Jak X: though he does occasionally call his female friends "baby" when speaking to them, he doesn't outright flirt.
      • Although it may help given that he now has a girlfriend by that point.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: The Kid is the heir to the throne of Haven City, but that's not why he's important. It's because he's Jak.
    • Count Veger was mostly responsible for kicking Jak out of Haven City, but there's nothing really personal between them... except for the fact that Veger knew all along that Jak was Damas's son, and in fact separated the two of them in the first place.
    • Kor is one of the first people you meet in Jak II. Guess who turns out to be the Big Bad?
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The first game's Big Bads, Gol and Maia Acheron, are implied to still be alive at the game's end, but they never reappear. Brutter from Jak II disappears in Jak 3 onwards (though he made a brief appearance in the Daxter spinoff) and the Crocadog disappears completely.
    • Also happens to Vin, who appears in one mission in Jak 3 and vanishes from the series (even after Jak promises to "keep in touch"). Veger, also, despite being one of the only villains to not die, doesn't reappear again. Popular fan theory says that he got eaten or killed by Kleiver between Jak 3 and Jak X.
  • Common Eye Colors: Of varying tints, shades and hues.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Jak.
  • Daddy's Girl: Keira, and she's not happy about it.
  • The Dandy: Daxter definitely cares more about his looks than you'd expect a Baleful Polymorph to. He's also made laudatory comments on Razer and the Sky Pirates' outfits, and complained about the state of his claws, one time going so far to say that he needed a manicure (of course, that was said in TLF, so...)
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Jak, sort of. Dark Is Evil in pretty much every other instance.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Daxter, of course. Other characters have their moments, too.
  • Diabolus Ex Machina: Rayn, the bitch.
  • Dirty Harriet: Slight aversion: Tess works as a barmaid (and NOTHING ELSE) at Krew's bar in order to pass his secrets to Torn and the Underground.
  • The Dragon: Erol to Baron Praxis and later to the Dark Makers. Kaeden to Metal Kor.
  • Dumb Blonde: Tess... usually.
  • Embarrassing First Name: Pecker. Even Jak started to crack up when he first heard that. To Daxter's credit, he hasn't made any dick jokes... yet.
  • Evil Brit: Gol & Maia. Krew and his daughter, Rayn.
    • Technically Fake Brits since there's no Britain on their world.
  • Evil Chancellor: Subverted with Ruskin in TLF. He's a sour, distrusting old fart, but not evil.
  • Fan Service: Provided by Tess, Keira and especially Ashelin.
  • Fanservice Cover: "Playstation Magazine" had a cover with Keira in a Sexy Santa Dress.
  • Fat Bastard: Krew and Kleiver, though the latter wasn't as ridiculously obese.
    • Or as much of a bastard.
  • Faux Action Girl: TLF tried to make Keira into an Action Girl, but it failed miserably by making her single badass moment end with her getting kidnapped!
  • Firing One-Handed: Ashelin and (weirdly enough) Veger.
  • First Girl Wins / Victorious Childhood Friend: Keira was Jak's first love, though in Jak 3, Ashelin was given the role as love interest. This was fixed in Jak X, possibly due to fan outrage.
  • Foreshadowing / Ironic Echo: One of the Baron's announcements in Jak II: "I am still in control! And I assure you; There's absolutely no Metal Heads in the city. Anyone who contradicts this fact will be shot." Later on the Baron gets killed by an energy blast, courtesy of Metal Kor.
  • Genius Ditz: Tess
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Although Light Jak's eyes glow, the "doom" part comes from the fact that he can use the Morph Gun in that mode, not from the Light powers themselves.
  • Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Jak
  • Good Hair, Evil Hair: Also Jak
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Guess.
  • Guns Akimbo: Torn has two pistols. Keira gets two as well after her Adrenaline Makeover.
  • Guttural Growler: Torn and Damas.
  • Happy Ending Override: Just when Jak and Daxter can chill out for a bit, BAM! The End of the World as We Know It is nigh... again.
  • Hair Reboot: Must be all the hair gel.
  • Handguns: Anyone who's not Jak (or a Wastelander) and is armed has one: Ashelin, Torn, Keira (both of whom have TWO), Veger, Captain Phoenix
  • Heroic Mime: Jak in the first game. Lampshaded in the sequel:
    • Daxter: "Say something! Just this once!"
    • "Maybe he's a mute, like you used to be."
    • "Er, sorry. He's new to the whole 'conversation' thing".
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Our heroes, natch.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Keira is played by Tara Strong from the third game onward. Oddly, her voice in the first two sounds exactly like Cree Summer.
  • The Hunter: Sig
  • I Am Not a Rat or a muse, or a muskrat, or...
    • In fact, he is weasel, though—otters and weasels (Daxter's constituent beasts) are both from the family Mustelidae, from the Latin word "mustela" meaning "weasel" (which aren't even related to rats, to Daxter's continuing chagrin).
  • I Call It Vera: Krew likes weapons a little (okay, a lot) too much.
  • Incoming Ham: "I...am Pecker!"
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Poor Daxter. Whenever a gag entails Amusing Injuries, he's usually the victim.
  • I Want Them Alive: Sig about Krew, who Jak has already killed. Sorry, big guy.
  • Jerkass: Pecker, at times. G.T. Blitz as well, until the end, when he's revealed as the bad guy. And Erol, big time.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jak
  • Karma Houdini: Rayn
  • Knife Nut: Minor example in Torn (the Underground symbol on the map is actually his knife). Razer's also pretty handy with that butterfly knife of his.
  • Knight Templar: Count Veger, a strong supporter of Light Eco research and revealed to be one of the main villains of the overall series. The official strategy guide has a pretty apt description: "Although in some ways this guy means well, he is going about it in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons. Too much of a good thing is bad, and Veger is as bad as they get!"
  • Large Ham: The Baron. His Propaganda Machine announcements are so hammily insistent on upkeeping the totalarian atmosphere of the second game that they border on self-parody.
  • Lean and Mean: Count Veger
  • The Load: Daxter. Seriously, he does nothing to help Jak in the first game. This started going away with Jak 2, as he helped Jak with some things time and time again, and pretty much gone by Jak 3.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Rayn isn't happy when she finds out that Jak killed her father. "You knew? You ALL knew, didn't you?!"'
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Sadly, Jak figured it out seconds before Damas died, and didn't get a chance to tell him.
  • Mad Eco Sage's Beautiful Daughter: Keira
  • Manipulative Bitch: Rayn
  • Mascot with Attitude: Daxter
  • Meaningful Name: "Samos" is an island in Greece known for its fertility; the character is the tree-hugging Sage of Green Eco.
    • The major city of the Wasteland continent, Spargus, is clearly a play on the famous Sparta. Spargus even has limits on 'citizenship', because only people who survive three different marathon deathmatches are considered citizens.
    • Continuing the Ancient Greece theme, the two known kings of Haven (Tyrant Praxis, who usurped King Damas) have remarkably similar names to a few Spartan kings [1] and Athenian archons [2].
    • Every member of Mizo's gang is named after a sharp object: Razer (razor), Cutter and Edje (edgy) are the obvious ones; a shiv is any type of improvised, bladed weapon (common in prisons), and a mizo is a type of Bowie knife. Kleiver (cleaver), though not originally a gang member, also fits in.
  • Miles Gloriosus: Daxter
  • Miniature Senior Citizen: Samos, the Bird Lady, Jak's uncle.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Even amongst Keira, Tess and Maia, Ashelin still stands out as the most fanservicely of the women in this game.
  • Moment Killer: Daxter did this to Jak and Keira twice. Jak got his revenge eventually.
  • Momma's Boy: Possibly Sig. "She'd give me a warm glass of yakow milk... and my little Poopsie Bear..."
  • Multicolored Hair: Jak's hair has green roots. Daxter (when he was human) had blond roots that turned orange, then red. Keira's is green with blue roots.
  • My Nayme Is: Jak, Erol, Ximon, Kleiver, Razer, Rayn...
  • The Nicknamer: Jinx (and Daxter, though he's usually derogatory)
  • Non-Action Guy: Daxter... at first.
  • Not Quite Dead: Sig seems to be killed by a Metalpede at the end of Jak II. He reappears triumphantly at the party in the outro, in perfect health.
  • Obstructive Zealot: Count Veger.
  • Official Couples: Jak and Keira, Torn and Ashelin, Daxter and Tess.
  • Ojou: Ashelin is the Baron's daughter and a high-ranking member of the Guard before becoming Governor of Haven City.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Erol in Jak 3.
    • Also, Gol and Maia in the original.
  • One-Man Army: Jak.
  • One of the Boys: Keira's oldest (and presumably closest) friends are Jak and Daxter, and she likes to tinker with machines.
  • Only One Name: Everyone. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether someone is referred to on a Last-Name Basis or not.
    • Since most names in this series are uncommon/alternatively spelled real names, it stands to reason that at least Veger is on a Last-Name Basis with the rest of the cast.
    • Averted in the first game, when Samos refers to the great sage of Dark Eco as Gol Acheron. It's assumed that his sister Maia shares this surname.
    • Also, Keira Hagai.
  • The Other Darrin: Keira's new voice actor caused quite a stir in the fanbase.
  • Our Angels Are Different: Light Jak
  • Overprotective Dad: Samos, though it's perfectly reasonable: he wants his daughter to stay in the garage fixing cars, not out on the track getting shot at.
  • Parental Abandonment: Most characters never mention their parents (but given that the world is war-torn and they're all adults, that's excusable). One intriguing example is Daxter's parentage: they've never been mentioned or seen, so most fans believe that he's an orphan.
    • Missing Mom: There are five fathers in the series (Samos, Damas, Krew, Osmo, and Praxis) but mothers are only mentioned three times: Samos' comment about Keira being "just like her mother" and Sig's "my momma used to read me bedtime stories..." bit, and Kleiver's sarcastic "No, I'm conversing with me sweet departed mum."
      • Four times actually. Krew mentions his mom, to the point where he's almost a Momma's Boy.
  • Parental Substitute: Samos is a father figure for both Jak and Daxter.
    • Not to mention Jak's explorer Uncle in TPL.
  • Perma-Stubble: Torn
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Jak
  • Phlebotinum Rebel: Jak, after being involuntarily experimented on during the two years between the first and second games.
  • Pirate Girl: A... slightly drunk... lady pirate... is included in Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. No, she only appears once and is just a background character.
  • Quick Draw: Jak (and Daxter, when Jak's on the Zoomer)
  • Rebel Leader: Torn. And the Shadow, though he (justifiably) spends a lot of his time not doing anything.
  • Rebellious Princess: Ashelin takes this to extremes by being a double agent for the Underground, who is working to topple the Baron's rule.
  • Redheaded Hero: Daxter might count; for the three minutes we see him in human form in TPL, he has red hair. (And his fur is orange with red points...)
  • Red Right Hand: Gol & Maia.
  • Riding the Bomb: One of Daxter's more badass moments in Jak 3 and TLF.
  • Rising Conflict: Every single game in the series.
  • The Rival: Errol fills this role for Jak in Jak II and is of the Arch Enemy variety. Pecker becomes Daxter's rival in the same game, though they're only slightly less violent towards each other.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Damas and his son, Jak
    • Praxis and Ashelin, although they're more like regents acting in lieu of the Mar bloodline.
  • Sadistic Choice: Okay, Torn: Ashelin or Underground? Pick one.
  • Self-Made Orphan: G.T. Blitz/Mizo himself.
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Daxter and Tess. The smooching is pretty much non-existent thanks to the species difference, but the rest of the symptoms are there (baby talk, stupid nicknames, cuddling).
    • So one can only imagine how bad it got once the species difference was taken out of the equation.
  • Sidekick: If you don't know who fits this Trope, you fail life.
    • Although Daxter does eventually become The Hero in his own right, especially in Daxter.
  • Slasher Smile: Daxter, oddly enough.
  • Small Girl, Big Gun: Tess.
  • Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: Daxter, of course.
  • Some Call Me... Tim: Not technically an example, but the line is spoofed/uttered in TLF with Tym.
  • The Speechless: Three guesses who, and the first two don't count.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Erol's name in Jak 3 was spelled with two R's.
  • Suddenly Voiced: Jak from the second game onward.
  • Super Mode
    • Super-Powered Evil Side: Dark Jak in the second game. The third adds a Superpowered "Good" Side to contrast. In TLF, Daxter gets a Dark mode too. Considering Precursors that are overexposed to Dark Eco become Dark Makers, this has the potential to be quite an interesting development as the series continues.
  • Surfer Dude: Ximon in Daxter, also arguably the Sculptor from TPL. One of the Precursors in Jak 3.
  • Talking Animal: Daxter and the rest of the ottsels, too.
  • Tattooed Crook: Everyone in Mizo's gang has the same tattoo on their right wrist.
  • Team Dad: Samos, though his age makes him more like the Team Grandpa.
  • Technicolor Eyes: Praxis, Krew and Seem all have red(dish) eyes, where Red Eyes, Take Warning is subverted for the latter.
    • Damas's Purple Eyes.
    • Don't forget Erol's Eyes of Gold.
    • Blitz has indigo eyes.
    • Hell, basically everyone. Ashelin's eyes are jade, Cutter's are lichen, Keira's are sage, Rayn's are amber, Razer's are lime, Sig's are viridian, and Jak and Daxter have cerulean eyes.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Baron Praxis initially starts off as the Big Bad of Jak II, until it's revealed that the Metal Head Leader, AKA Kor is the one pulling the strings, forcing the Baron to trade large amounts of eco just to keep the Metal Heads out of Haven City.
  • The Three Faces of Eve: Keira, Tess and Ashelin
  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Daxter and Tess. That gets fixed at the end of Jak 3.
  • Token Minority: Sig. The tokenism here has gotten ridiculous as not only is he the only black member of the main cast, he's apparently the only black guy on the entire freaking planet.
  • Tomboy Princess: Ashelin.
  • Treacherous Advisor: Kor in Jak II
  • Trigger Happy: Jak (and Daxter, whenever he gets a chance to use the damn thing).
  • Troubled but Cute: Jak.
  • True Companions: Exactly how many of the main characters are these depends on who you ask, but the general consensus (judging from the group as shown in Jak X) is that Jak, Daxter, Keira, Samos, Torn, Ashelin, and Sig are the "official" party.
  • Twitchy Eye: Veger gets one when the Precursors are revealed to be ottsels.
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: Both played straight and averted with Praxis, who turns Haven City into an oppressive police state, but is shown towards the end of Jak II to genuinely care for the citizens he's in charge of (perhaps a little too much).
  • The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Rayn is Krew's (KREW'S?!?!?) daughter.
  • Verbal Tic: Pecker squawks loudly and abrasively on occasion.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Erol
  • Villainous Glutton: Krew
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Daxter and Pecker. They totally hate each other's guts... but will happily hang out together without too much fuss.
  • Warrior Prince: Jak again
  • Wasteland Elder: Damas
    • Damas doesn't fit this trope: he is clearly the biggest badass in Spargus and, therefore, its king, and he makes it clear that it's either HIS way, or the highway to death by exposure.
    • A better example might be Kor, who before it was revealed that he was the Metal Head leader and still in human guise, seemed to have made a place among the rebel forces by being old and a Reasonable Authority Figure.
  • Weasel Mascot: Daxter
  • Winged Humanoid: Light Jak
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Dark Jak. Dark Daxter.
  • Wrench Wench: Keira (vehicles), Tess (weapons)
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: Jak
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Keira's green and blue hair.
    • Jak himself, while blond, has a green goatee and eyebrows.
      • His hair was all green when he was a kid.


Wardrobe

Tropes about the characters' outfits.

  • Bare Your Midriff: Standard style for the girls of the series.
  • Custom Uniform: Errol and Ashelin are members of the Krimzon Guard, but their outfits are way different because one is The Rival / The Dragon and the other is an Action Girl / Ms. Fanservice.
  • Hair Decorations: Tess and her pink hairband.
  • Exposed to the Elements: Jak and company overheat in the intro to Jak 3. His wardrobe is altered to make it more suitable.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Baron Praxis has a metal plate covering one of his eyes. Sig has what appears to be either a bionic eye or a fancy lens of some kind.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: Jak's single shoulder pad and triple-strapped backpack come to mind, as well as his goggles (one lens doesn't even appear to be see-through!).
  • Goggles Do Nothing: Averted with Jak's goggles. In the first game they come in handy to aim through channeling yellow eco; in the third game he wears them while out in the desert to keep the sand from getting in his eyes. Played straight with Keira's and Daxter's goggles.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: The Lurkers are dressed like this, and Daxter becomes this (the half-dressed part, anyways) at the end of Jak 3.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Everyone has either one or two outfits, period (except Jak, who gets a new outfit every game).
  • Magic Pants: When Daxter changes into his eight-foot-tall Super-Powered Evil Side, his goggles and gloves change size too, and his pants are only shredded from the knees down... and when he goes back to normal, his pants are magically restored!
    • Possibly justified in that his pants are literally magic.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: G.T. Blitz.
  • Rummage Sale Reject: The half-shoes in the first game, for starters.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Jak had one in Jak II and Jak 3.
  • Shoulders of Doom: Damas and several other Wastelanders have obnoxiously large/spiky shoulder pads.
    • Errol has a single large mechanical shoulder for his single large mechanical arm in Jak 3.
  • Sleeves Are for Wimps: Jak had his sleeves removed in the beginning of Jak 3. Torn and Sig have sleeveless shirts in Jak X. Sig might always have that shirt on, but it's difficult to tell underneath all the armor he usually wears.
  • Stripperiffic:
    • Ashelin, the only female Krimzon Guard we see, wears a "uniform" like this.
    • And then there's women NPCs in Haven City that have skirts with cutaway holes in the side, partially revealing their bare legs.


Miscellaneous

Tropes that don't fit or haven't been sorted into the other folders.

Daxter: Jak? JAAAK!

  • Sequel Hook: "I'm done with adventures." You wish, Jak.
  • Share the Male Pain: The end of Jak X gives us this little exchange, as the group prepares to face off against Mizo's gang in the race for their lives.

Jak: All for one...
Ashelin: And one right in the groin.
Sig: O.O * covers crotch with hand*

Daxter: Did you understand a word he said?

  • Team Handstack: The team at the end of Jak X stacks hands right before the final race.
  • Three Act Structure: Jak II, Jak 3, and TLF, though the latter changes the formula slightly in that a boss fight doesn't mark the ends of the first and second acts.
  • Touched By Precursors: How Jak got his Light powers.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: Jak II is set in the future? OMG RLY?!?!
  • Trapped in Another World: Subverted with Jak II, as that is instead a Bad Future, not another world.
  • Trilogy Creep: Jak 3 was originally thought to be the end, but then they released Jak X, Daxter, and TLF.
  • Unflinching Walk: The end of Jak X.
  • Vader Breath: Obviously all that Dark Eco experimentation couldn't have been good for Gol's lungs.
  • Visible Silence: At one point in Daxter, Ximon makes a kind of "uuhhhh..." sound, which the subtitles show as "..."
  • What Could Have Been: In the Jak X commentary, they say that the original plan was to make Rayn "more Rubenesque" to (sort of) match her father. They decided to go for the "standard" Naughty Dog female model for her, instead. WHY?!
  • What Measure Is a Mook?: Jak and Daxter (yes, Daxter is guilty of this too) can shoot/punch/maim hundreds of Krimzon Guards and Aeropans to death, but they're still considered heroes? The latter class of mooks makes this incredibly uncomfortable, since their only crime is not being strong enough to retain their own minds after Dark Eco experimentation, though supposedly they all went along with it of their own accord. The MST3K Mantra is especially necessary here.
  • Wire Dilemma: Parodied in a cutscene near the end of Jak II. Daxter crawls into the Piercer Bomb in order to get the Precursor Stone back and, theoretically, disarm it. He says things like "Should I clip the blue wire?" before just deciding to break a few more things to see if anything comes loose. It works. The Lost Frontier also has him disarming missiles by ripping wires and such out.

"Wait a minute, are ottsels colorblind???"

  • Word of God / All There in the Manual: Commentary in Jak 3 refers to Seem as a "she." Also, the official ages (and heights, weights, and eye colors) of many of the main characters were given in Jak X, in their driver profiles.
  • Writers Cannot Do Math: In Jak X, it's confirmed that Jak and Keira are only one year apart. So, young Jak would have had to be at most one year old when he and young Samos went back in time. However, Baron Praxis was in charge of Haven City for at least two years, so Jak would have to have been at least that old by the time he went back in time. A common fan theory was that Keira was adopted, but that's been debunked since Samos mentioned that she was "just like her mother." The new theory is that Keira's mother was single and married Samos. If she is indeed Samos' biological daughter, as the series seems to treat her, then it falls under this trope.
  • You Killed My Father: Rare version of the hero killing an ally's father: Rayn is not happy when she finds out Jak killed Krew. She forgives him later, though.
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