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Spoilers Below!
Proceed at your own risk if you have not yet listened to Season 2 and beyond of the Penumbra Podcast. |
| “ | You and I want the same thing, after all: to clean Hyperion City of crime. With your expertise, your understanding of what it’s like out on those mean streets… we could do a lot of good together. | ” |
—Ramses O'Flaherty[src]
Ramses O'Flaherty, also known as Jack Takano, was a mayoral candidate for Hyperion City who wished to take over from the previous mayor, Pilot Pereyra, due to their corruption. He inspired hope in the people of Hyperion and even won the support of the cynical Juno Steel. He won the election over former mayor Pilot Pereyra by a landslide.
Early Life[]
Little is known about Ramses' early life. At some point in Ramses' past, he went by the name Jack Takano and worked at Northstar Entertainment. He was hired off of the streets without a resume or a portfolio, only what Northstar founder Miranda Fairbanks suspected to be a fake name in itself. He worked with fellow writer Sarah Steel to create the Turbo Saves The Day series. Although the series was largely successful, it was criticized for having little depth and for its simplistic morals. Outside of work, Jack frequently visited Sarah and her family and was on good terms with both her sons, Juno and Benzaiten.
After suffering financially for years, Northstar decided that budget cuts had to be made—therefore, they could only keep one writer. The company pitted Sarah and Jack against each other, forcing them to each come up with their own pitch to choose who would remain. Sarah expressed her discomfort over this, but Jack tried to reassure her that everything would work out.
Fearing that Sarah's volatile behavior would eventually result in her jeopardizing her career anyway, Jack decided to break into her apartment and steal her pitch idea. He manipulated four-year-old Juno into telling Sarah that "Turbo did it," then broke into her office to make copies of her pitch. He assured himself that this would be the better outcome, that only he could ensure a bright future for Sarah Steel and her children.
The following day at the pitch meeting, Sarah realized that Jack had stolen her pitch and had a breakdown. This resulted in her being fired and Jack heading the new Andromeda series. In addition to the animated series, Jack would later direct the first two successful Andromeda films, Chainmail Warrior Andromeda and Andromeda and the Sea of Sinners, both based on Sarah's own ideas. Throughout the years, Jack would send money to Sarah in an attempt to help her, but his charity was scorned, as Sarah believed that he had essentially stolen her life.
Takano became the face of Northstar Entertainment and was largely credited with the studio's surge in success. Many people eagerly awaited the release of the next Andromeda film, though Takano had much larger plans than just a film. In a speech at town hall, Takano revealed his next project: "The City of the Future," or the project that would eventually become Polaris Park. However, many found Takano's direction for the company controversial. Some were unsure of his capability to remain in movie production following his turn towards municipal planning. Former Head of Animation at Northstar Jocelyn Chen reported asking to see the full plan of Polaris, but upon seeing the plans, she noted that there were no Northstar properties anywhere.
In order to make money, Takano had to make compromises. The plans were more than halved in size, the project renamed 'Polaris,' and the tagline changed to 'Welcome to our home.' After a few investors dropped out, Northstar made it smaller again, changing the name to 'Polaris Park,' with the tagline 'The place we all call home.' Finally, when the focus groups showed nobody understood what a 'place we all call home' even meant, it became 'The place that fun calls home.'
After the third Andromeda movie was finally released, the film was widely panned, with critics remarking that the film featured a shallow depiction of the character that did not mirror her previous depictions. Following the film's failure, Northstar established an Anti-Informations Department just to erase every copy they could find.
Although many critics thought that the film was the result of a rushed production schedule, this perception couldn't have been further from the truth. In fact, as cited by Jocelyn Chen, Takano worked harder on the Andromeda 3 project than she'd seen him work on anything before. Takano kept revising the storyboards and rewriting while speaking about the "responsibility" of doing good, frustrating his fellow coworkers. A recording of Takano was leaked from Northstar a few months after the release of Andromeda 3 that showed the man shouting about how Jocelyn couldn't see the "big picture" behind it all. Later, Takano publicly addressed the leak, apologizing to Jocelyn and explaining the responsibility he felt for showing Andromeda as a hero for all of Mars.
The year between Andromeda 3's release and the opening of Polaris Park marked a shift in how Northstar was run. Takano removed himself from the film production process completely, hiring previously-terminated Northstar writer Kenni Okombe and rock-star-slash-poet Rajavi to co-write the next film, Andromeda and the Dragon's Peak, based on some of the early sketches that Takano claimed he had created but were most likely originally the property of Sarah Steel. In the meantime, Jack Takano redoubled his efforts on Polaris Park. Despite the fact that he worked on the project for days or weeks on end, his coworkers saw him less than ever. As work on Polaris Park continued and the opening date drew closer and closer, Takano continued to voice complaints towards the compromises made in the other departments. It was clear that Polaris Park was not doing what it was supposed to — though Takano was never clear about what its actual purpose was.
Following the opening of Polaris Park, Takano disappeared, though many still widely regard him to be a hero.
History[]
Ramses first encounters Juno after the detective saves Maia King from a bomb sent to her apartment inside a surgically modified replica of her cat.[1] Impressed by his determination to "do good," Ramses hires Juno to protect him during his mayoral campaign, as he believes there is a conspiracy to prevent him from winning, implying that he suspects Mayor Pereyra of foul play. With Juno now working under him, Ramses then provides him with a THEIA Spectrum cybernetic eye to make up for the one he'd lost,[2] which dramatically improves his already remarkable sharpshooting skills.
In Juno Steel and the Promised Land (Part 3), it is revealed that not only is Ramses responsible for the majority of crimes Juno has mistakenly believed were orchestrated by Pereyra, he also hired a mercenary who Juno nicknamed The Piranha to hinder Pereyra, sending them on a fruitless chase after the utopic hidden city called "The Free Dome" with the goal of taking them out of contention for the election.
Personality[]
As Takano, he was a soft-spoken and humble man who was very willing to help out at Northstar in any way needed. He acted as an "interpreter" for his gifted-yet-explosive co-writer, Sarah Steel, and ended up stealing her idea for the Andromeda series and claiming it was his own, resulting in her being fired. After being thrust into the public eye following the release of Andromeda, he became more withdrawn and tired, often spending days on end working in his office.
As Ramses, an identity he occupied for thirty years, he was an inspiring idealist who advocated for the "little guy" and wanted to put an end to government corruption. Despite that, he himself had ulterior motivations and tricked Juno into working to "protect" him when in reality he was trying to bring down his competition.
After his death from a fatal heart condition, more was revealed about him through his notes. He was steadfast and could never have been swayed from his beliefs. He could always find a way to justify what he did. Furthermore, he had planned everything out as much as possible on paper and tried to account for every direction an important debate he planned to have with Juno would go. After reading these notes, Juno wondered if there was truly any of the real Ramses left under the masks he wore by the time he died.
Relationships[]
Sarah Steel[]
Ramses was co-workers with Sarah during her time at Northstar Entertainment, where he still was going by the alias 'Jack Takano.' While Sarah and Jack were competing against each other for a writing spot at Northstar, Jack repeatedly asked her to take breaks and reminded her to take care of herself. He often warned her that her paranoid behavior over her new Northstar project proposal may have been due to stress and her lack of rest. He eventually decided by himself that Sarah was not equipped to handle the responsibility of the Andromeda project and stole her work, leaving her with duplicates of all the files as not to arouse suspicion.
Juno Steel[]
Jack Takano was close with the Steel family, sometimes taking care of Juno and Benzaiten when Sarah became overly stressed or needed a break. He was familiar enough with Juno to call him 'Super Steel.' Jack even had a small phrase he would often repeat to Juno and Benzaiten: 'It's a fact, you can count on Jack.'
As Ramses O'Flaherty, Jack offered Juno a new job opportunity after researching and watching him solve the Maia King case[1]. Juno swore he knew Ramses, his voice, and his watch from somewhere, despite Ramses' denial. He suggested that Juno work for him and help him win the upcoming mayoral election in exchange for providing him with the THEIA Spectrum, a cybernetic eye to that assisted Juno in his work and life for a time.
Episode Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- According to Juno Steel and the Lesson Learned (Part 1), Ramses didn't exist 30 years ago. The man known as Ramses O'Flaherty suddenly changed his spending records completely 30 years before the episodes take place. According to Juno, he even changed the brand of deodorant and breakfast cereal he bought, leading the detective to believe that "Ramses" is not who he seems to be.[3]
- It was later revealed that Ramses used to be Jack Takano, a writer for Northstar Entertainment. Jack worked with Sarah Steel to create Turbo, the Man of the Future, and stole her pitch idea of Andromeda, Chainmail Warrior.[4]
- Matthew Zahnzinger, the voice actor for Ramses, also voices Turbo. This tied Jack Takano to Ramses O'Flaherty and, subsequently, Juno's past before the connection was fully revealed.