YMMV / Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix

• Alternative Character Interpretation: This Tumblr post has argued that the show's depiction of Rayman is a Shadow Archetype of the games' Rayman— pointing out that the games' Rayman is often a Magnetic Hero of sorts who has a history of befriending and forgiving other characters while also greatly relying on them for support (such as him befriending and teaming up with Bzzit all the way back in the first game), whereas the show's Rayman is someone clearly lacking in friends and miserable because of it.
• Awesome Music:
  • The main theme sets the mood for the entire show.
  • Bullfrog's theme and its reprise.
  • Good Day, Messieurs-dames.
  • Too Little, Too Late.
  • Ramon Rising.
  • "You" by Alex Condliffe and Lamb Hands, which was played after Dolph triggers the bomb in his skull.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Even if you only have a passing knowledge of Ubisoft's games, the fact that Eden is merely the modern equivalent of The Templar Order is not hard to work out, despite being something of a big reveal at the end of the series. Their new name, "Eden", is a pretty big clue, given the first few games were all about their quest to retrieve the "Pieces of Eden" for the sake of world domination, and their logo is a stylized version of the Templar cross, complete with the 'E' being styled after the markings on the Pieces of Eden.
• Crosses the Line Twice: So many things.
  • Rayman's entire role in the show can be summed up as this. The idea of a traditionally heroic and friendly video game protagonist being portrayed as a propagandist for an evil MegaCorp with some seriously fucked up celebrity status issues getting to his head would likely be viewed as anywhere between absolute absurdity and outright character assassination. Then you see that he's unhappy, stressed, having a gradual mental breakdown from his job and the privileges it gives him, directly exposed to blatant racism from a co-worker, and has the ever slightest hints that he knows he's fucked up, making it a tragic fall from grace that precludes him actually being fired and replaced by another Rayman altogether. All this amidst Rayman straight up doing cocaine, swearing on live television, and eating sushi off of a bovine prostitute's ass takes his completely out-of-character portrayal all the way around to being completely fucking hilarious.
  • Cody getting his head blown apart almost instantly after he's introduced is a properly horrific moment, but the Warden's nonchalance about it is what makes it comical.
  • Bullfrog about to be executed on live television? A horrifically fucked-up testament to how dystopian the setting is. The fact that it's treated like a fun sporting event, complete with inconvenient advertisement breaks, the announcer's pure, unbridled excitement, how they bring in a kid to excitedly do the deed like it's a game show, and everyone is having a good time? A hilariously fucked-up testament to how dystopian the setting is.
• Fan Nickname: The unnamed bovine prostitute that Rayman eats sushi off of has been nicknamed "Cream and Chocolate" by some fans.
• Fridge Brilliance: This isn't the first time that Rayman's become an ally to a frog character.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: After betraying Dolph, Alex is later seen engaging in a steamy affair with Pagan Min. Seeing as how both characters were voiced by Troy Baker in their respective video game series, one could interpret this as Baker getting it on with himself.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Rayman's surprise appearance and subsequent insane developments have been noted by some to be their main reason for watching the show.
• Love to Hate: Niji Red is so blunt and over the top over how much of an unlikable prick he is that plenty of people find it amusing. On the flipside, it's just as cathartic to see him get his ass kicked or be thwarted at every turn.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • This scene of Rayman in his skivvies engaging in Body Sushi off of a cow girl prostitute immediately became the most shared, edited and redrawn part of the show for its sheer absurdity. If Rayman himself wasn't the reason you learned about this show, this scene probably was.^note Remember, someone had to animate it! More specifically, people have redrawn it with the prostitute being replaced by someone like Ly or Betilla, or through drawing entirely different characters in the same poses (even the artist's own OCs).
  • It's a very common joke on places like YouTube, Reddit and Twitter that Rayman's antagonistic role, self-destructive lifestyle and eventual turn to seeking revenge against his employers is due to Ubisoft neglecting him as a character and an IP for about a decade and him snapping as a result of it.
  • Rayman's Bad Fur Day.^ExplanationThe fact that a show officially produced by Ubisoft features a family-friendly character like Rayman drinking, swearing, doing crack and eating sushi off a naked furry prostitute's back has led people to draw easy comparisons to Conker, another video game "mascot" character with a family-friendly appearance partaking in edgy or adult activities. And when it comes to Rayman defecting and becoming the Darker and Edgier gun-toting Ramon, people point to Shadow the Hedgehog as another comparison— as seen here and here.
• Narm Charm: Everything.
  • It's a massive crossover of Ubisoft's video game characters, many of which are from wildly different types of games and genres, with over-the-top animation, tons of blood and gore, absurd characterisation that doesn't even try to be accurate to the source material, ridiculous world-building, corny dialogue, and constantly shifting and clashing tones and art styles. And thanks to Refuge in Audacity, that's precisely how and why it manages to be an absolute thrill ride that works for so many viewers. It also helps that the voice actors, and really, everyone involved, are very clearly having a blast.
  • Rayman's character arc could be considered nothing short of character assassination, turning the iconic kid-friendly mascot of the company producing the show into the main propagandist for a fascist regime who does drugs off of the ass of a bovine prostitute and casually swears, eventually snapping from his repressed guilt and shooting up his sinister employers' offices. However, the sheer bathos of the concept, the utter sincerity with which his internal conflict is portrayed, and David Menkin's excellent performance all manage to elevate it to the point that it became many Ubisoft fans' favorite part of the show.
    • It probably should be further highlighted that Ubisoft approved of this from the get-go, according to Adi Shankar, which speaks volumes - most game companies (let alone most media companies) would be apoplectic at the idea of an officially-licensed series doing something like this with a normally kid-friendly cartoon mascot character (this would be unthinkable with the likes of Mario, Sonic^note  No, Shadow the Hedgehog does not count, it's not even close to being this dark, mature, or arguably well-executed for that matter. or Mickey Mouse), and yet Ubisoft were 100% behind what Shankar had in mind with Rayman.
• Popular with Furries: The presence of anthropomorphic "hybrid" characters as a major part of the plot and worldbuilding earned the show a great deal of attention from furries before release, and that interest skyrocketed after the scene where Rayman eats sushi off the back of a bovine hybrid prostitute went viral.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: The most popular ship with the most fanart is by far Rayman and Bullfrog (known as Rayfrog). They have one single scene together the entire show, and while it does last a couple of minutes, nothing about it was romantic. Bullfrog being Rayman's Only Friend probably helps a lot.
• Shocking Moments: Jade's death. It's an absolute gut-punch of a moment that both comes out of left field and solidifies that Anyone Can Die in this series.
• Spiritual Successor: An early interview with Adi Shankar cited Captain N: The Game Master as an inspiration for the show.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Given how contentious the reception is to the Rabbids in general, with Rayman fans in particular hating them due to the perception that they pushed Rayman out of the public eye, the fact the Rabbids were featured as hideous alien kaiju being brutally slaughtered by the Niji 6 can come off as quite cathartic to their haters.

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