Radiguet: The Earl of Doom

So I kind of wish to write another villain tribute. I believe right now, he's still out there in another form, probably a thug or he has reformed, I don't know. But I'd like to write about what seems to be the most cold-blooded villain in Jetman. He was one evil guy who was acted by Daisuke Tachi. Maybe some of you complained about the "lack of performance" but hey, I thought he did pretty fine!

He started off as the Count of Vyram and the right hand man of the Empress who only appeared for two episodes. At the beginning, he was the de-facto leader due to his immense power and force. So he challenged his three fellow officers- Maria (who he admires but she hates him so he's a guy with love life issues), Gure (his rival for Maria, weird) and Tran for leadership which must be won by defeating the Jetman force. He of course would NEVER let any of them overpower him and he had his temper issues even over trivial matters. He always made sure he was above everyone or everything. Well nobody really knows what his back story was- perhaps he was an abused child, a social reject, a spoiled brat but certain events could have lead to him becoming a COMPLETE MONSTER. As said he's got anger management issues he chose not to resolve, resistant to change and that's what you'll learn as you read this!

So he was always up to something and always came up with dangerous schemes. As for his personality, I think he is much close to Count Egobossler, his Gatchaman Fighter counterpart, aside from them having blue skin, they are both cruel and calculating against their opponents and hate to have somebody above them. He had a long outstanding rivalry with Ryu Tendo/Red Hawk ever since he got a scar during their first encounter and he's hated him more than the others ever since. He at times helped the Jetmen to gain his own selfish ends, only to betray them once again. As usual, he was a snake in the grass whenever his goals were obstructed. He had all types of approach from direct brute force to subtle attacks. Regardless, his attacks were mostly damaging.

The contest between him and his fellow Vyram officers to take over the throne came to a halt when her highness Juuza returned. He at first pretended to serve his empress but tried to take over by force. His empress angry turned him into a human where he fell for a dying girl named Saki. So he does have the ability to love but not exactly- he was a man resistant to change. He soon healed Saki with powers he never knew he had. However his memories soon returned, swearing to become a monster AGAIN which he decided to "help" the Jetmen for now so he can kill them later. He told the Jetmen to aim at Empress Juuza's crystal which he aimed to defeat the empress. When his human lover pleaded him to forget all his hatreds, he killed her in cold blood as to forget his time as a human right after her killed Juuza in a pique of vengeance as well as his ambition to conquer the Earth and the Universe. When he was given the chance to love, he rejected it and wanted to resume to being the horrible dictator he wanted to be. Well he could have used Saki as another Vyram officer, perhaps his lover but why he killed her was probably he remembers his obsession with Maria. As he told her, "Regardless who wins, you are mine." Of course, we know Maria would NEVER fall for him but why he wanted her, he can't understand either.

He later tried to use Semimaru in his quest to defeat the Jetmen. While he had successfully killed all the remaining Dimensians all in a bent of anger (wow he really needs anger management issues), however the Jet Icarus and Jet Garuda formed into Great Icarus and defeated the monster he thought would bring him victory. As a result, Maria and the others mocked him for "mishandling" Semimaru to which he knew his battles weren't over. He however was able to use some of the newer dimensional bugs which Maria forbade to at first to mock him. He was always going to show that when he's angry, he's a person you have to dread! Try as he would, he faced too many hindrances within his own group as he competed to be emperor of the universe. He tried to control the Ashu demons Ramu and Gorg after feeding them his blood to release them from their sleep-state but failed that is until he fused them using bio dimensional parasites so he could control them. However the Jetmen succeeded again and he was foiled once more.

One can also think about his dealings with the Berserk Dimension. When he found some survivors existed, he decided to take pleasure in enticing Ru to vengeance. Whether or not he had attraction to her was unknown but he wanted to control her anyway. Perhaps he was looking for another Maria. He took great pleasure in torturing Ru through her desire for revenge for destroying their world. He was never far from torturing people. Although he failed to get Ru, he later used Duran against Ru so he can actually kill the Jetmen, knowing they'll NEVER kill a comrade under mind control.

Worse came to worse when Tran who he frequently mocked became Tranza who frequently bullied him into submission reducing him to a servant but as usual, he was NEVER going to allow it. He tried to use Torpedo Piranha but Tranza got even and forced him into submission resulting in him spurting out blood from his mouth. Trying to regain his former status once again, he ended up using a meteorite that he double-crossed his fellow Vyram to help him obtain it as contained energy that would negate the powers of the Jetmen as a monster. However the monster failed and Tranza bullied him again into submission. He again felt extremely angry and he wasn't going to let some brat who became from a child to an evil emperor all in one way bully him. No he was never going to let himself challenged. Tired of failing against Tranza, he also ended up with a brilliant scheme to sabotage the chief's body with a dimensional parasite to destroy the Jetmen with Leech Drill to make her do ridiculous stuff to the Jetmen like melt their swords and even tried to destroy their bracelets. He did almost succeed but Aya Odagiri using the Jet Garuda defeated his creation and left him humiliated. He was once again forced to serve Tranza after his plot failed. But he was always having his own anger management issues- Tranza was going to GET IT!

During the Veronica crisis, he felt his pride crushed. He wanted to use the Veronica but Tranza won't allow him- as evidenced when he forcibly took over the controls to defeat the Jetmen himself. His one weakness was that he always allowed his personal vengeance to come in the way even to save the Jetmen so he can kill them later for himself proving that while he had the potential to be good but he always wanted to remain a complete monster. He wanted to kill two birds with one stone. As a result, Radiguet was fed to the Veronica but he absorbed some of its power to become increasingly powerful which when he entered into another exile, he powered up everything that used electrical power in his surroundings while plotting Tranza's downfall. He ended up taking advantage of Red Hawk to get Tranza defeated so in one sense, he did not really deserve the throne. He learned a new form of sadism, he chose to let Tranza LIVE rather than die so Tranza can forever live the nightmare of his name. Whatever happened to Tranza is later unknown, it's most possibly he may have finished off the job when he was bored. I just thought I felt good about Tranza getting a long time to suffer.

Soon his feelings for Maria were now clearer than ever. She was going to his or nobody has her. When Maria asked for power, Radiguet told her she was to be his in exchange for power. So what does he do? He releases a technique he could have used on his monsters- use his blood to turn Maria into a vampiric monster. The act turned Maria from a Vyram who wasn't exactly that cruel into a bloodthirsty creature, which he deemed her "worthy" to rule by his side. The act was so disgustingly sadistic that Gure was disgusted. He could care less- he gets what he wants or nobody gets it. Even worse, he allowed Ryu Tendo to become a vampire which either way, he wins. When he felt like he could not have Maria and that he lost to Red Hawk, he mercilessly killed her which left him in torments. But before that happened, Maria stabbed him at the back in an act of revenge. Talk about being backstabbed literally! However as said if he can't have her, nobody will. Well it's simply strange that why of all chicks he wanted, it was her. There are still other hot chicks but why her? Hmmm... obsessive disorder perhaps? So obsessed was he with Maria that he really felt bad about killing her but it was only out of greed.

The whole attack done by Maria left him with a weakness that would lead to his downfall. He fought Ryu Tendo one on one which he won but was unable to kill his opponent despite his close victory in an intense battle. He faced the Jetmen one more time united once again. They unleashed their final attack on him which forced him to reveal his ability to fuse with his new body armor Raguem which was invulnerable to all Jetman attacks. This body armor was created when he unleashed insane amounts of energy which apparently had a life of its own until he merged with it. Just when he was about to destroy the Jetmen, he had but one problem: his back! A single punch could now cause him to writhe in pain as revealed when Tetraboy hit him! Eventually that weak spot was used to defeat him as a nearly destroyed Jet Icarus in one shot stabbed his back while Jet Garuda held him.

However it seemed that he became human and attempted to kill Gai Yuuki (which Gokaiger 28 ends the controversy of Gai's fate) at the end of the series probably at a point of revenge during Ryu Tendo and Kaori Rokumekan's wedding day which happened three years after Jetman ended (so most possibly, he was evading the Youkai or maybe he took odd jobs to survive). So perhaps he was now amnesiac, suffering some villain decay (well he's not the Devil you know) but it didn't stop him. Perhaps he became that thug that became responsible for killing Gai Yuuki. As said, he was amnesiac so it's possible but it can be suggested that it was just a regular thug. By doing so, he was going to reveal that his insanity was so strong he could come back. His final fate if one ignores the Manga is completely unknown but it's possible he may have died a pathetic death.