Clanker

"Bzzz...I am Clanker, witch's garbage grinder. Clanker not like dirty water, want fresh air."

- Clanker

Clanker is a character found at Clanker's Cavern in Banjo-Kazooie. He is an extremely large aquatic creature, sort of resembling a giant cyborg shark despite having a whale's blowhole, so his actual species is questionable; the Grunty's Furnace Fun quiz, however, always refers to him as a whale. Grunty uses him as her Garbage disposal but therefore has him in a worsening condition. He is attached to a chain connected in a deep area at the bottom of the room. Banjo has to swim through a key-loop 3 times to release him. If Banjo drowns after doing that, Banjo has to re-do it. Banjo may enter him from his teeth, blowhole and gills.

In a beta video of the game, Clanker appears to be a live, organic creature. Many beta shots show Clanker opening his mouth fully wide open after knocking out his teeth, but it was never seen in the final version of the game.

Clanker can be seen in the background of the course Clanker's River, in the game Banjo-Pilot.

He returns in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts as part of Banjoland, but L.O.G. has separated him into multiple sections. His head sticks out of the wall as an exhibit while his teeth appear as a separate display; a portion of his body containing spinning blades serves as a tunnel; the remainder of him is lodged into the ground as a ramp and bridge. One of the challenges involves protecting his eyes from being stolen by attacking Gruntbots. His blowhole seems to be absent in this game.

Banjoland Info
"Clanker was the star of his very own level, Clanker's Cavern in Banjo-Kazooie. Getting him here in one piece was difficult, but the many uses of his ramp-shaped head made it all worthwhile."

Trivia

 * The sounds of Clanker speaking are different than any other character in the Banjo-Kazooie series, as he will make very long groans while speaking, whereas any other character makes constant short-timed mumbles.