Chick (full name Chick Gizzard Lips) and Stew are a pair of anthropomorphic chickens and sports commentators who appear most prominently in Crash Tag Team Racing and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. Chick has the more subdued and professional personality of the two, while Stew is eccentric and more excitable. Their broadcasts typically serve as a narrative framing device for the games in which they feature. They are often used to deliver tutorials and other meta information about game features as well.
While originally introduced as non-playable characters in their series debut, Nitro-Fueled made both Chick and Stew playable in a downloadable content update. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time and Crash Team Rumble each featured small cameo appearances for the two. Their names, put together, are a pun sounding like "chicken stew".
Appearances[]
Crash Tag Team Racing[]
Chick and Stew's debut appearances in the series were as non-playable characters in Crash Tag Team Racing. The game's story is told via a series of broadcasts by the two, covering the farewell competiton at Von Clutch's MotorWorld. They explain that the theme park's Power Gems were mysteriously stolen, including the Black Heart Power Gem belonging to the park's owner, the cyborg Ebenezer Von Clutch. Without them, he will die and the park will close. Von Clutch offers ownership of the park to anyone who can recover them while surviving a gauntlet of deadly races. The evil scientist Neo Cortex and his allies take up the challenge, hoping to use the park as their new base, while Crash Bandicoot and friends compete to prevent this. Chick and Stew follow the game's cast as they compete in races, find the missing Gems, and attempt to uncover the thief's identity.
Chick and Stew narrate tutorials on the game's controls and various game modes. Whenever Crash visits one of the park's five lands, they give a brief overview of each of its racetracks and other attractions.
Outside of races, Chick and Stew can both be found in the Midway, the central hub of the game's overworld. Most of the playable racers have unlockable car and clashed weapon upgrades obtained by speaking to them and completing missions for them in the overworld. However, since Crash is controlled by the player in the overworld, his upgrades are received from Chick and Stew instead. Stew assigns Crash the mission for his first car upgrade. Crash must collect four chicken eggs scattered around Happily Ever Faster so that Stew's wife won't find out he's been visiting a hen house. Completing the mission unlocks Crash's Tier 2 car, the Yellow Horde. Once all Tier 2 car missions are completed for every character, Crash's subsequent missions are assigned by Chick. Crash's Tier 3 car, the Crikey, is unlocked by delivering a power crystal to Chick, which he plans to use to ensure Stew loses a bet. Completing all Tier 3 car missions makes weapon upgrades available in the same manner as car upgrades. Chick will upgrade Crash's Wumpa Gun weapon once for 500 Wumpa Coins and again for another power crystal.
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled[]
Chick and Stew return in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, a remake of CTR: Crash Team Racing with additional content from other Crash Bandicoot series racing games. Neither were included in the game at launch, instead being added with the introduction of the Grand Prixes, themed events released as downloadable updates about every month. Initially, Chick and Stew were introduced as non-playable characters. Together they hosted CTR TV, a series of cutscenes where they would present the new tracks, characters, and other features of each Grand Prix update in the form of news broadcasts.
Promotional image of Chick and Stew for Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
Chick and Stew were both made playable during the Winter Festival Grand Prix on December 12, 2019, being purchaseable from the Pit Stop for 1500 Wumpa Coins each. Chick's default Driving Style is Balanced, while Stew's is Acceleration. They each use Aku Aku as their Invincibility Masks. The two were absent from the episodes of CTR TV that followed this update, with the reason given that they were too busy racing. Their roles were filled by an unnamed narrator during the Rustland Grand Prix episode and by Nitros Oxide during the Gasmoxia Grand Prix.
Other appearances[]
Chick and Stew, seen on the left, cameo in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.
Chick and Stew received a couple of cameo appearances in games released after Nitro-Fueled. In Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time's 100% completion ending, they can both be seen in Coco Bandicoot's epilogue art, commentating on an e-sports match between her and Nina Cortex. In Crash Team Rumble, Chick and Stew appear on flags in the Capture the Flag game mode in Toys for Bob Labs. Chick appears on the red team's flag, and Stew on the blue team's flag.
Characteristics[]
Physical appearance[]
Chick and Stew are similar in appearance. They are both roosters with cream-colored feathers, long necks and wide bodies. They also have light blue eyes, blunt orange beaks with a band of red skin at their bridges, and yellow chicken legs with white claws. They each wear a white dress suit underneath a light blue suit jacket. These jackets each have a shield-shaped logo over the left breast with the letters "XYZ" emblazoned on them in red, implying that Chick and Stew work for the network XYZ Sports.[1][2] Both characters commonly carry a microphone with them.
Chick has a short red comb and wears a gray headset on his head. He also wears a dark green bowtie over his shirt. In most depictions, he has green eyelids. Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled added a small scar to his lower beak, and his eyelids are orange while racing (but green in CTR TV).
Meanwhile, Stew has a tall dark blue pompadour, which in the pre-rendered cutscenes of Crash Tag Team Racing is frequently replaced with a hat or wig. He also wears a sea-green tie and has light blue eyelids. In Nitro-Fueled, he gains a gray headset just like Chick's, and has orange eyelids instead of blue. The Rustland Grand Prix edition of CTR TV shows that his pompadour is also a wig. In Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, he has a long red curl of hair which juts outward past his face rather than standing up straight.
Personality[]
Chick[]
As a sports commentator, Chick often plays the straight man to the antics of his partner, Stew. In Tag Team Racing, he speaks with a Brooklyn accent, and has a somewhat dry commentary style with a halting cadence. According to him, he's won a "Most Articulate Announcer" award three years in a row.[3] He tends to use "sports fan" as a catch-all term referring either to the audience or the player character. Chick doesn't think highly of the competitors at Von Clutch's MotorWorld, calling them "Dummkopfs" and "unhinged lunatics".[4][5] While narrating the tutorials, he tends to deliver backhanded compliments (saying of Crash, "You're far more intelligent than you look") or subtle insults (calling competitors "light of frontal lobe").[6][7] He secretly dislikes his "so-called comrade commentator" Stew, whom he is forced to work with — during the mission "The Biggest Male Chicken", Chick rewards Crash for helping him ensure that Stew loses a bet.[8][9] He frequently has to redirect Stew's attention whenever he gets off topic.
Promotional image of Chick for Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
In Nitro-Fueled, Chick instead speaks with a nondescript American accent and a more general, stereotypical "sports commentator"-like delivery. While not outwardly hostile to Stew, he agrees that he is challenging to work with, and continues to be perplexed by his quirks and outbursts while hosting CTR TV with him.[10] Chick nonetheless tries to maintain an air of professionalism, a trait carried over to the podium whether he wins or loses a race. He does not insult the racers or call them "sports fan(s)".
Stew[]
Promotional image of Stew for Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
Stew, also a sports commentator, is the zanier and more excitable counterpart to his partner, Chick. He tends to get distracted and go off-topic while delivering commentary, requiring Chick to redirect him. Stew believes he has a good relationship with Chick; if attacked in either Tag Team Racing or Nitro-Fueled, he may ask Chick for help. Other nuances of his personality vary between the two games.
In Tag Team Racing, Stew's commentary is often peppered with onomatopoeia or other interjections meant to hype up listeners. However, his tone is sometimes sarcastic and it can be difficult to tell whether his excitement is sincere. He openly dislikes MotorWorld and its employees — he refers to the park as "a dump",[11] and brings up how much he hates and fears its mascot, Willie Wumpa Cheeks, multiple times. He takes no issue with the wanton destruction that occurs in the park's race tracks and battle arenas, however. He states that he enjoys it when things are blown up.[12] During the "Hen Pecked" mission, Stew is suggested to be an adulterer. He confesses to "running around the hen house" and asks Crash to help him hide the evidence, a collection of eggs, from his wife.[13] Chick also refers to Stew as a "no-good playboy" during his own mission, "The Biggest Male Chicken".[9] Stew claims to be a professional cockfighter,[14] and one of the game's Die-O-Rama cutscenes shows he is capable of killing Crash easily if provoked. He's known to do odd things like putting a baked ham in a woodchipper or changing his hat every few seconds while on air.
In Nitro-Fueled, Stew displays genuine excitement for each of the Grand Prix events and while racing. He no longer changes hats as he did in Tag Team Racing, but he does dress up as a vampire for the Spooky Grand Prix edition of CTR TV. He often makes puns relating either to chickens or the theme of the ongoing Grand Prix. He apparently takes pride in being "a challenge to work with".[10]
Additional information[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. Mentioned by a park patron in the Midway. Blonde woman: "Oh, I've never even heard of XYZ Sports!"
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. Mentioned by a park patron in the Midway. Brunette woman: "I've never even heard of XYZ Sports... whatever."
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. The Biggest Male Chicken mission, voiced line #4. Chick: "Crash Bandicoot, can't you understand me? I won 'Most Articulate Announcer' three years in a row! It can't be me that's at fault. Perhaps it's you! Get me a power crystal, puh-lease!"
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. Meet the Dummkopfs cutscene. Chick: "Well sports fans, it appears we've found our Dummkopfs."
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. Mystery Island introduction cutscene. Chick: "Master these dangerous tracks, and find greater challenge in the battle arena, where unhinged lunatics compete for trivial prizes!"
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. Power crystal tutorial. Chick: "Power crystals are hidden around the world and several of them may be needed to access important landmarks. That said, what may you need to access important landmarks? Right-o — power crystals. You're far more intelligent than you look."
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. Rolling Thunder tutorial. Chick: "This is Rolling Thunder, the perfect game for people short of temper, or light of frontal lobe."
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. The Biggest Male Chicken mission, voiced line #3. Chick: "Crash Bandicoot. Once again, you are here trying my patience! No power crystal means no car, and no comeuppance for my so-called comrade commentator!"
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Crash Tag Team Racing. The Biggest Male Chicken mission, voiced line on completion. Chick: "Excellent, my furry companion. Do your best and embarrass that no-good playboy I am forced to call my co-worker."
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. Intro to CTR TV cutscene.
Stew: "Whoo! I love me a good challenge—which also includes being a challenge to work with."
Chick: "Ah ha ha! Right you are, Stew." - ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. Tutorial. Stew: "Oh! This place is a dump! Sometimes the floor will just give way under you."
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. Run and Gun tutorial. Stew: "Like blowing things up? Me too!"
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. Hen Pecked mission, voiced line #1. Stew: "Ol' Stewbie-doo needs a little help from you. You see, ol' Stew has been runnin' around the hen house again and some ol' nasty chicken's been leavin' her eggs all over the place. If I don't get those eggs, my old lady will kill Stew! Go get me those eggs, boy. I'll make it worth your while."
- ↑ Crash Tag Team Racing. Voiced line when Stew is attacked. Stew: "You don't wanna start something with a professional cockfighter, boy!"