Razorbeard

Razorbeard
Other names	{{{other names}}}
Alignment	Bad
Appears in	R2, R2: Revolution, RM, RA, RR, RTAS, R3, R3 (GBA)
Location	{{{location}}}
Portrayed by	{{{portrayed by}}}
Sex	Male
Species	Robot
Status	Villain
Relatives	{{{relatives}}}
Unlock criteria	{{{Unlock criteria}}}

"You incompetent imbecile!" - Admiral Razorbeard, Rayman 2: The Great Escape

The Admiral Razorbeard (also known as the Machiavellian Razorbeard) is the main antagonist of Rayman 2: The Great Escape and its remakes. He also appears in Rayman M/Arena, Rayman Rush, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, the Game Boy Advance version of Rayman 3, Rayman: The Animated Series, and Rayman Kart.

Description

Admiral Razorbeard is the leader of the Robo-Pirate Army, which invades the Glade of Dreams and captures most of the world's inhabitants to use as slaves. He is a short robot with a peg-leg, wearing a huge Admiral's hat and striped red-and-white pants, and his face sports the large, crooked metal beard from which his name is derived.

Admiral Razorbeard is famous throughout the galaxy for invading over a hundred peaceful planets, leaving them as nothing more than interstellar dust, before attempting to invade Rayman's world, which he wants to reduce to slavery. In Rayman: The Animated Series, however, Razorbeard works at a circus, as a mere servant to the Ringmaster, Rigatoni; this starkly contrasts with his role in the games, and it is unclear whether the events of the animated series are part of the game series's continuity. In Rayman M, it was revealed that Razorbeard has a wife, aptly named Razorwife, who can be unlocked as a playable character in the game.

According to the manual for Rayman Arena, Razorbeard has a mother, who detests Razorwife and blames her for her son's failure in his evil career.

Videogame appearances

File:RazorbeardTAS.png

Razorbeard in Rayman: The Animated Series.

Rayman 2/Rayman Revolution

Razorbeard is the leader of the Robo-Pirates. His story begins in the Great Forest where he captures Rayman just when the destruction of the Heart of the World had ceased his powers, giving the Admiral a great opportunity. Since then, he spends most of his time in the Buccaneer, where he sits in his throne awaiting any news about Rayman's whereabouts from his lackey. At one point in the game, he eats a Yellow Lum, reducing the counter to 999, but a spare Yellow Lum is still found in the Tomb of the Ancients. Often he calls for his lackey to send warships out to destroy Rayman, and as he became more frustrated by Rayman's constant evading, he no longer becomes fussy on where he wants the limbless being returned to him alive of dead.

At a later point in the game, Razorbeard receives a visitor, who just happens to be a cameo appearance of the General from Tonic Trouble. This guest offers to sell the Admiral the Grolgoth, a powerful robot designed to kill Rayman. Razorbeard pictures the robot shaking the limbless being to death, and decides to take it. Then, he lures Rayman to the Crow's Nest by using Globox as bait, and despite his efforts, the Grolgoth is eventually gets destroyed, and the Admiral flees in a flying escape pod after activating the Grolgoth's self-destruct function, which destroys the entire Buccaneer. Rayman survives the explosion, and Razorbeard flees into space, and is seen flying past the stars in the credits sequence. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Rayman M

Razorbeard is one of the five playable characters that are initially available. His wife, Razorwife, is unlockable to play.

Rayman 3 (GBA version)

Razorbeard is the main villain and has a similar role as he did in Rayman 2. At the end of the game, Rayman fights him in another Grolgoth in the Heart of the Ancients.

Rayman 3

Razorbeard makes a cameo appearance in the third part of the Hoodlum Headquarters, along with several of his servants. In here, what appear to be statues of him and his robots are standing at a large table, all in different positions, creating a parody of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting, The Last Supper, with Razorbeard in the place of Jesus. This is only an Easter egg; the statues are covered in cobwebs and do not move or speak.

Rayman Kart

Razorbeard is one of six playable characters in Rayman Kart, a racing game designed for certain mobile phones. As of 2009, this is his latest appearance in the Rayman series.

Rayman Arena (GameCube and XBox) description

Profession: THE Bad Guy.
Likes: His job as Master of the World, sailing without a compass, and when his wife goes on vacation without him.
Dislikes: Rayman, doing the dishes in front of his men, and his wife's rolling pin.
Address: Villa "Home Sweet Home" - the one with the carnivorous plants.

Non-game Appearances

Razorbeard makes a fairly brief appearance in the Rayman: The Animated Series episode "Lac-Mac Napping", in which, as opposed to his role in Rayman 2, he is a mere lackey to Rigatoni. His physical appearance has also changed, such as having a mouth (which was strangely under his beard), and a non-robotic voice, but he still retains his irritable personality. He is voiced by Carlos Alazraqui in the TV series.

It is possible perhaps that after his loss to Rayman in Rayman 2 he lost control of his pirate army, and was forced to work for Rigatoni to make a living, capturing Rayman for the circus to take his revenge upon him.

Trivia

• Of the four main villians in the three major Rayman games, Razorbeard is the only one to never be shown flying for unlimited amounts of time without the help of a machine. Mister Dark is shown flying away with the Electoons and Great Protoon at the start of the original game, as well as jumping upwards off the screen during his appearances in Mister Dark's Dare, presumably he is flying here. André flys constantly due to a lack of legs, and Reflux gains the ability to fly during the final fight of the third game. The closest Razorbeard gets to flying is in Rayman M when he has the ability to hover by swinging his arms around, but this is incredibly limited on a similar form to Rayman's helicopter.
• Razorbeard has used three completely different voice styles during his time. In the Playstation One version of Rayman 2, he has a typical pirate accent, whereas in Rayman Revolution his voice is more robotic, picking up on the robot side of him. In the animated series his voice is neither pirate nor robot. The robot voice would seem to be the correct one, as in other versions of Rayman 2, his Raymanian gibberish resembles it closer than it does his other voices. Also, he makes several utterances in Rayman M (most notably when jumping and taking a hit) which sound quiet robotic.
• Razorbeard is possibly the only major Rayman villian to never change his form. Andre started as a red lum, before becoming a black lum, a Hoodblaster and back again, whilst Reflux went through several form changes during the final fight of Rayman 3. However, it is debatable as to whether Mr Dark transformed into the merged forms of the five bosses at the end of the original game or whether they were creatures created by him to attack Rayman. If the latter is true, Mr Dark also never changed form.