| “ | Extraordinary. I want your microbots at Krei Tech. | ” |
Alistair Krei is the wealthy and ambitious CEO of Krei Tech, introduced in the 2014 animated film Big Hero 6. He returns in Big Hero 6: The Series as a recurring character, sometimes being antagonistic.
Background
Alistair Krei is a high-profile person from a very wealthy family. In "Aunt Cass Goes Out", it's stated that he even practiced origami with dollars since there were always plenty lying around, but his father never let him fold anything bigger than $50 bills. He attended the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology in his youth. Professor Robert Callaghan claimed that he has ignored sound science and cut corners to get where he currently is.
Official Description
- San Fransokyo Institute of Technology's most illustrious alumn and owner of the biggest technology company in the world, Krei Tech, is always on the hunt for the next big thing. Krei attends the showcase at San Fransokyo Tech and is overwhelmingly impressed by Hiro's ingenuity.[1]
Personality
Mr. Krei has many personality traits, both positive and negative. They have helped him reach and keep his high position. Appearing to the public as a confident, intelligent and affluent man who tries to improve people's lives, he hides some of his real and darker personality traits: being cowardly, arrogant, ignorant and pretentious; guided by his self-interest, as said by Callaghan.
Being a billionaire, Krei uses his money to influence people and obtain his goals. He constantly tries to obtain the best technology for his business. When he can't get what he wants, he tries other methods, some of which are morally or legally questionable, such as ripping off people's ideas, blackmailing, or ignoring the rules to get things done faster. This has reflected in his own company, having a record of releasing its products too soon and Robert Callaghan attempting to get revenge for the experiment that made him lose his daughter.
After the formation of Big Hero 6, he has used them for his goals as well, getting to the point of threatening to reveal their identities if they don't help him. Thanks to them, he has managed to incarcerate people that have taken advantage of him and his company like Momakase, who was confronted by Big Hero 6, but Krei took the credit for her arrest since she had stolen from his company; as well as Mel Meyer, getting the man imprisoned for trying to get an invention back from him, despite Krei being guilty for his actions as he broke his promise of using his technology for fun things only, and then causing his drones to attack him.
He has little regard for his adversaries. Most of the time he has managed to get away with his schemes and not get caught over his shady business deals, but has suffered some material losses as well.
Appearance
Krei is a blonde man. He wears a blue blazer which, in the film, is more detailed and shows thin, vertical white stripes. He is rarely seen wearing other types of clothing, unless he is on vacation.
Powers and Abilities
Krei is one of the few major characters who does not possess any powers or outstanding abilities, nor does he own or wear any special equipment. Most of the time he simply gets people to do the hard jobs for him, whether by paying them or forcing them somehow.
- Origami skills: During his date with Aunt Cass, he folded a bill into a crane. In turn, Cass folded it into a shape similar to Krei.
History
Krei Tech funded the Silent Sparrow project, a teletransportation experiment. In the test, Krei ignored the security warnings and turned on the portals, which made it go wrong and caused the portals to suck everything inside them, including the test's pilot. Following this, Akuma Island, where the test took place, was left deserted and Robert Callaghan sought revenge against Krei for this, since the pilot was his daughter, thus plotting his vengeance behind the scenes.
Long after this, Krei attended Hiro Hamada's SFIT presentation of Microbots. Along with his assistant, Krei walked up to the boy and his friends to check out one of the bots. Krei offered to buy them, but Robert Callaghan intervened and told Hiro not to do it. Hiro agreed with Callaghan, but Krei attempted stealing one of the Microbots silently. However, Hiro's brother Tadashi noticed this and Krei gave it back pretending he'd forgotten he had it, then left.
That night, the hall was set on fire and Tadashi was killed by an explosion when he tried going inside to save Callaghan. Later, Hiro found out someone was replicating his Microbots, and set off with Tadashi's robot Baymax to find the responsible and arrest them. Tadashi's friends, Go Go, Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Fred joined the quest, but when they found the masked suspect at the docks, he chased them and threw to the ocean. Hiro and the gang then went to Fred's Mansion, where Hiro drew the Silent Sparrow symbol from one of the pieces the mysterious man was moving. Fred assumed this man was Krei due to his comic-book tropes always having rich important men being the villains, but Hiro believed Krei was too high-profile to do this. Baymax also revealed he had scanned the man's health data, so Hiro created battle armors for each one of his friends and looked for the man with this information, until it pointed them to Akuma Island.
Upon arriving, the gang entered the abandoned facility and saw security recordings of the Silent Sparrow test, and the footage convinced them the mystery man was Krei attempting to bring back the project. Soon, they were attacked by the masked man but found out it was not Krei, but rather, Callaghan, who had faked his death. Hiro attempted to use Baymax to murder Callaghan out of rage for Tadashi's death, but his friends prevented this, and later played more footage that showed the pilot of the test was Callaghan's daughter. They now realized that Callaghan was trying to take revenge, and after mending everything among them, set off to stop him.
Callaghan rushed to Krei Tech, where Alistair himself was giving a speech to inaugurate a campus. Callaghan then captured him and used the Microbots to lift the portal, activating it to suck all of the Krei Tech building inside it. Hiro and friends arrived and fought Callaghan once more, eventually making him run out of Microbots and destroying the headband that controlled them, thus stopping the machine. Hiro and Baymax entered the portal after Baymax detected life inside, and Hiro came out with Abigail Callaghan, although Baymax was sadly left inside as the portal closed. Callaghan was then arrested, and Krei Tech was eventually rebuilt. Hiro also managed to rebuild Baymax, so his gang became a superhero team known as the Big Hero 6 who decided to help out anyone who needed them, in honor of Tadashi.
Krei on the other hand, being extremely ambitious, did not want to miss the chance of having a neurotransmitter of his own, and asked his scientists to replicate Hiro's work. Later, he showed the prototype to his assistant, taking her to a warehouse where he hid the invention. Unknown to both, a thief named Dibs, who had recently stolen Honey Lemon's chem-purse was hiding in the warehouse and overheard that the invention was worth billions.
When Krei and his employee left, Dibs came out and tried the headband on. An accident with it and the chem-purse soon absorbed his whole body and turned him into a gelatinous mutant monster. Dibs tried to get ahold of his new body but failed, until he discussed with his friend Felony Carl about it and realized Krei was the only one who knew how the headband worked.
Dibs then broke into Krei Tech while Krei had his shape sculpted into a statue. Dibs first took the statue, but soon returned it and kidnapped Alistair instead. Dibs took him to a skyscrapper and said he would let him go once he explained how the invention worked. Krei at first tried to take the headband, but seeing himself unable to do it, told Dibs he just had to think and the neurotransmitter would work by itself naturally.
Both of them were found by Big Hero 6, relieving Krei as he knew they would save him again, though acting arrogant about this. Honey Lemon spoke with Dibs into making the best out of the situation, and while they talked, Krei tried throwing one of Honey's chem-balls at Dibs to get his invention back, only to fall down the high building because of a helicopter strobe light hit his eyes. Dibs however saved him and realized that what Honey said was right—though not in the way anyone expected, because he decided to stop being a petty thief and become a supervillain instead, adopting the name "Globby", and stealing Krei's wallet without anyone noticing, then escaping from the scene by swinging away.
Alistair then hires a professional sushi chef called Momakase in "Food Fight", who claimed she was the best at her job. Unknown to him, Momakase was also a thief who had been hired by Mr. Yama to steal a prototype gravitational disruptor from Krei's safe.
She looked at Krei angrily when he dipped the sushi in the soy sauce, but Krei ignored her complaints and kept eating. He then felt numb and unable to move due to a poison added to the fish by Momakase, who proceeded to take the anti-grav device and slice everything in the office. Krei called Big Hero 6 for help, and when they arrived told them that she only stole half of it. Fred found the other half, and Krei asked them not to reveal anyone where he kept it.
Soon, Big Hero 6 faced Momakase and ended up capturing her, while Krei took the credit for her arrest and was interviewed by Bluff Dunder.
Krei then figures out Big Hero 6's real identities and keeps the secret to himself for a while.
In "Aunt Cass Goes Out", he invites many of San Fransokyo's wealthy residents for a presentation to pre-order a new security robot called Buddy Guard. Fred attends with Go Go, Hiro and Baymax in place of his father, who was unable to go. After the presentation, the team question the robots' safeguards, but Krei ignores and says it does have many.
Back at his office, Krei is ambushed by Dr. Mel Meyer, who had sold him part of the technology used for the Buddy Guards and wanted it back because the robots were dangerous. Krei pretended acting nice to make him go away, but Mel insisted, so Krei called some Buddy Guards to take Mel away.
He and his assistant then went to the SFIT and admitted the robots had some dangerous glitches, but Hiro and his friends refused to help him. He responded that otherwise he would reveal to the world that they are Big Hero 6, so all of them were shocked and left with no option. Aunt Cass then walked into the lab to give Hiro the homework he forgot at home, and both her and Krei instantly felt attracted for each other. Cass and Krei decided to go on a date, much to Hiro's disgust and annoyment.
Later, Alistair visited Lucky Cat Café to take Cass to a restaurant, giving Hiro some expensive flowers for Cass which he instead dumped in the toilet. Cass and Krei then left to their date, followed by Hiro because he wanted to ruin it; and also by Mel, who was trying to steal Krei's ID to get his invention's plans back. Hiro made a waiter spill food on Krei's suit, so Krei went to the restroom where he was surprised by Mel. Mel then used the flexible display technology to duplicate Krei's face on his own and left to Krei Tech. Cass followed Mel, believing he was the real Alistair, but Hiro noticed his weird behavior and Baymax let him know that he was not Krei. Hiro then found Krei tied up in the restroom and alerted Big Hero 6 to help them.
The team and Alistair waited for Mel at Krei Tech, and after arguing, Mel gave the plans back while Krei accepted not to release the Buddy Guard robots for sale until they were fixed. Krei however tried using a trio of the drones to scare Mel, which led to more of them being activated due to a fire alarm triggered by Fred, and then the robots started chasing and attacking everyone. After the drones were all destroyed, Mel was arrested under Krei's order, although Cass also blamed him for what happened. Realizing Krei's real nature, Cass stopped taking an interest in him.
Soon, he was involved in one of Obake's plans; a mysterious villain who gained information on Big Hero 6 little by little. Obake anonymously sold Krei a chip in the black market, announcing that the drive was cutting-edge technology and bidding it for an incredibly high price. Krei acquired the chip at night in the sea while on his "Kreifisher" boat, where Obake sent it via a torpedo. However, Obake's plan also involved hiring the Mad Jacks, a group of expensive high-tech mercenaries to steal the chip back. The Mad Jacks attacked Krei but they were stopped by Hiro, Fred and Baymax, who were on night patrol.
The Mad Jacks reported to Obake, who was angry and told them to finish the mission at all costs (though Big Hero 6's involvement was also part of the plan) so the Jacks broke into Krei Tech to abduct Alistair, then took him to their aerial base. With no choice or way to escape, Krei lended them the chip and so the Jacks dropped him at his building, leaving him hanging from an antenna.
Right there he called Big Hero 6 to get back the drive, so the heroes fought the Mad Jacks and successfully got it back, though the Jacks escaped. They then returned it, so Krei decided to plug it into his computer right away instead of giving it to any other of his workers for inspection, out of fear someone might try to steal it again. Much to his disappointment and anger, Krei found that the chip was actually empty, and thought that everything that had happened was for nothing.
Unknown to him, it was actually Obake's intention for Krei to act this way so that he wouldn't discover that the chip had hacked into Krei Tech's files, allowing Obake to see all of the information that the company had, including Hiro's real identity. Next, Obake would discover the rest of Big Hero 6's alter-egos by stealing an animatronic robot called Noodle Burger Boy. Obake sent it to acquire their secrets and the robot fought the team, but they found that the robot had the Krei Tech logo in its foot.
Honey Lemon, Fred and Go Go then went to see Krei to question him about it, so Krei told them that Noodle Burger Boy was an old abandoned military project, and that when the Noodle Burger company approached them requesting Noodle Burger Boy to be made, Krei Tech utilized the project and turned it into their mascot. After revealing this, Krei simply told them to leave if there was nothing else to ask.
In "Big Hero 7" Alistair is seen rehearsing an announcement for Krei Tech's newest invention: Micro-Batteries. However, he was being silently watched by High Voltage, a supervillain duo that had fought Big Hero 6 in the past. One of them, Barb, took the battery to get her electric powers back, and tried to escape with it until her partner (and daughter) Juniper fought her for it, since the duo had split up and disliked each other now.
Krei interrupted them and said that in front of them was another battery, so they took both and escaped. Having seen their family problem, Krei simply decided to call his own mother.
He is seen at his office looking at pictures of himself in "Big Problem", though he is soon scared by Orso Knox, a man he was supposed to meet that day but instead appeared as a mutated beast. Krei used his Buddy Guard robots to attack the monster (who he didn't know was Knox), but the drones were quickly destroyed so Krei hid under his desk and called for Big Hero 6. The beast did not attack him, and instead told him "This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine", then left.
When Fred, Go Go Tomago and Honey Lemon arrived, Krei was nervous and shaking. Regardless, he tried to sound heroic by saying he was "barely able to fight it off", though his assistant told the heroes that he just hid the whole time. Krei then described the beast and what it told him, and said that he was also supposed to meet with Orso Knox. He, however, blamed Orso's absence on Liv Amara, who he was jealous of. The trio then leave to find more clues about the monster, and Krei is later seen at a SFIT gala held for Liv Amara, though he still acted jealous and angry. Hiro saw Krei and tried calming his jealousy with a quote that his friends had told him due to Hiro himself being jealous of Karmi, but Krei didn't listen and said that Liv was the worst. Soon, the team have to face Orso Knox once more, so the place is evacuated and Krei leaves.
Krei also appears in the finale episode "Countdown to Catastrophe". Globby tries stealing a briefcase from Krei Tech but Hiro and Baymax stop him, then take back the case to Krei. He however only shows that it had a piece of trash, which was originally from a failed energy amplifier which his scientists attempted time before. Krei tells Hiro that the technology was ultimately deemed impossible, but Hiro still wanted to attempt creating an amplifier for his SFIT semester's final project.
Fred also comes up with a plan to capture Globby, so he and Mini-Max go ask Krei to pretend he finished the energy amplifier so that Globby would attempt to steal it and be captured in the process. Krei initially refused and looked at Mini-Max to admire him, and soon Mini-Max reminds Krei that Globby had stolen his wallet, so Krei agrees to the plan upon remembering it.
Next day, Krei announces the "amplifier" locked in a briefcase and tries to stall when Globby doesn't show up soon, but then he arrives along with Noodle Burger Boy and his Dumplings, making it more difficult for the heroes to capture either of the villains, especially since Hiro was busy working on his amplifier.
In the end, Globby and Noodle Burger Boy escape, so Krei gets sad that Globby stole the briefcase too because it was a gift from his lawyer.
Krei later attends the SFIT expo and looks at Karmi's project which Liv Amara was also admiring, so Krei laughs when they make a joke but then stands there awkwardly when both girls stop laughing and look at him.
Honey Lemon then presents her project about Lenore Shimamoto which Krei watches and is shocked when Honey plays a phonograph cylinder that reveals Shimamoto was responsible for the great catastrophe of 1906. Soon Momakase, Globby and Noodle Burger Boy attack the SFIT so Krei leaves the place.
Trivia
- Fred, being from a wealthy family himself, mentioned that Alistair Krei is the richest man in San Fransokyo.
Gallery
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An Image Gallery is available for Alistair Krei.
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