Netflix's new Captain Laserhawk series portrays Rayman as a coked-up mouthpiece for a fascist regime and apparently, that's what it was the plan from the very beginning.
Who knew the phrase “never meet your heroes” applied to fiction video game protagonists as well? Well, it sure does in this case, because in the Captain Laserhawk series that only recently released on Netflix, Rayman is a cocaine snorting mouthpiece for the fascist regime who screams at the TV in his underwear while drinking whiskey. What happened to the iconic protagonist of some of my favorite Jump'N-Run Games ?
| Who is Rayman? If you grew up in the 90s you probably remember Rayman, the protagonist of the titular video game series created by Ubisoft. He is easily recognized by his lack of limbs, floating hands and feet, and distinctive head with a big nose, which is apparently perfectly suited to snort cocaine. Through various adventures in his game series, Rayman battles foes to restore peace in his whimsical world, showcasing a blend of humor and heroism |
Ubisoft Was Apparently Totally Fine With Turning Rayman Into Villain
For around 30 years, Rayman has been an iconic poster child for Ubisoft, but that might change now with the new Netflix production of Captain Laserhawk. In the show, Rayman is far from the protagonist who saved his world from various villains and more of a villain himself.
In Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, Rayman is a successful Talk-Show host who swears a lot does his fair share of drinking and cocaine, oh and did we mention that he also hired a nude model to eat sushi from? Looking at the show, Rayman deserves his own episode of “Where are they now?” with a particularly dramatic conclusion.
As Polygon revealed in their interview with Adi Shankar, the show's creator, this development was his plan from day one.
Even in my initial pitch, the Rayman [stuff] specifically was baked into the DNA of the original idea. What I was trying to deconstruct here is the whole idea that you have this media ecosystem that’s propaganda-led within this fascist dystopia, right? And it needs a spokesperson — a mouthpiece.
It's kinda wild, that Shankar, who also worked on Castlevania, didn't receive any pushback for his idea of turning Ubisoft's beloved mascot into a fascist “chief propaganda officer” for the corporate overlords of Captain Laserhawk’s post-nuclear-devastation world. Not only that, they apparently even had one of their lawyers join Shankar for every pitch meeting to “look every producer in the eye and say, ‘Yes, he can do all this.’”
So not only was the idea of a coke-snorting Rayman, who's also a fascist mouthpiece the plan from day one, Ubisoft even sent Shankar legal backing, so he could enact his vision!