Eric Raymond

For other uses, see Eric Raymond (disambiguation).

Eric Raymond
Series	Jem
Role(s)	Main antagonist
Occupation	Executive
Affiliation(s)	Stingers Sound (formerly Misfits Music) Starlight Music (formerly)
Personal information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair	Dark brown
Eyes	Dark brown
Partnerships	Harvey Gabor (business associate) The Misfits (administrated organization) Zipper (hired goon) Techrat (hired goon) Emmett Benton † (former boss)
Abilities	Brilliant businessman Contact with goons of all social strata to do his dirty work Opportunist Skilled intriguer and deceiver Skilled manipulator
Appearances
Firstappearance	The Beginning (1985)
Appearances	The Beginning Disaster Kimber's Rebellion Frame Up The Battle of the Bands Starbright (Part 1) Starbright (Part 2) Starbright (Part 3) The World Hunger Shindig Adventure in China Last Resorts In Stitches The Music Awards (Part 1) The Music Awards (Part 2) Broadway Magic In Search of the Stolen Album The Princess and the Singer Island of Deception Old Meets New Intrigue at the Indy 500 The Jem Jam (Part 1) The Jem Jam (Part 2) Culture Clash Glitter and Gold The Talent Search (Part 1) The Talent Search (Part 2) One Jem Too Many The Bands Break Up Journey to Shangri-La Aztec Enchantment Treasure Hunt The Jazz Player Danse Time Roxy Rumbles KJEM Trick or Techrat The Presidential Dilemma The Middle of Nowhere Out of the Past Journey Through Time Stingers Hit Town (Part 1) Stingers Hit Town (Part 2) Video Wars Beauty and the Rock Promoter The Day the Music Died A Change of Heart
Vehicle(s)	Yacht
Voiced by	Charlie Adler

Eric Raymond is a recurring character in the Jem animated series. He is Jerrica Benton's business rival, who is always plotting on new ways to get his hands on Starlight Music. He is the manager and main sponsor of The Misfits and the main antagonist of the series.

History

Eric Raymond was Emmett Benton's main business assistant until his death, when he then became the CEO of Starlight Music, sharing the company with Emmett's daughter, Jerrica. He was not going to share his half with her, though, as he was planning to make Starlight the biggest record company in the country.

Disliking both Jerrica and her approach to music, Eric brought in his own band, The Misfits, preferring their edgier sound and style. After losing control over Starlight, he managed them under the label of Misfits Music, founded and owned by Harvey Gabor, father of Pizzazz, the lead singer of the band, until Eric purchased the company after selling all of his possessions in order to do so.

Throughout the course of the series, Eric constantly tried various schemes to take down Jerrica and The Holograms, and gain back control over Starlight Music, but each of them failed, being foiled by either Jem or her friends and acquaintances. He eventually submitted and gave the complete rights of Starlight back to Jerrica.

However, at one point during the series, Pizzazz was able to take control over Starlight and its foundation while Jerrica was on a vacation break with Riot. Not happy with the new administration, the Starlight Girls deliberately started to torment Pizzazz with their pranks. Seeing this opportunity, Eric quickly offered to buy the company from her. However, the girls' antics then turned against him too and this finally convinced him to withdraw his offer... for good this time; and as Pizzazz stormed out of the building, so did Eric.

Appearance

Eric typically wears a gray suit with a red tie, fitting his businessman image. His hairstyle has two cowlicks that resemble devil horns, alluding to his villainous nature.

Apparently, he seems to be very attractive to women, whether this is for his physical looks or for his constant display of money, or both. In fact, Jerrica Benton herself felt a slight attraction to him when they were young, and he is often seen being hit upon by many of the female characters that have appeared in the series.

Personality

Eric is portrayed as a shrewd businessman who is in the music industry purely for financial gain. He formerly worked for Emmett Benton, Jerrica and Kimber's father and the founder of Starlight Music, but following Emmet's death, Eric wanted to gain full control of the company. He constantly tries to outsmart Jerrica for this end, but always ends up underestimating her abilities. As a result, his plans generally backfire.

Eric has proven to be quite ruthless at times in his bid to defeat his rivals, going as far as burning Jerrica's late mother's recordings (which earned him a slap in the face from her as a consequence). Eric is also easily stressed, increasingly more so with each consecutive failure. He is also not above violence, having once slapped Jerrica (only to be punched by Rio in return).

However, as the series progressed, more than simply remaining as a power hungry executive, Eric Raymond instead became its overall antagonistic figure, who was there to play the role of a fitting villain regardless of the place and/or adverse situations The Holograms found themselves involved in, many times without even attempting to antagonize them, but just while conducting his many other business, which always found a way to hamper the heroines' adventures. For example, if The Holograms traveled to a far away land and were admiring and enjoying the region's flora and fauna, Raymond somehow happened to be wanting to buy that precise piece of land to exploit its resources; if an old building that had importance to the girls was condemned to be demolished, Raymond happened to be the building's owner, and this would even go to the point of actually being him the one driving the bulldozers in order to represent the wrongfully misled demolishing working class by his doings. In conclusion, whatever hindrance The Holograms found themselves against, Eric Raymond was almost always behind it in one way or another, even in those times when he didn't have any ill intentions at all.

Eric being chased by a mother Diplodocus looking for her baby.

As the series further progressed and other antagonistic characters were introduced, Eric's behavior softened a bit. For example, in one episode, when he and The Misfits learned that a bomb had been set on the stage where The Holograms would perform that night, they all rushed in his car to the theater where the concert was about to take place and risked their own lives to rescue the members of the band just before the bomb went off. Likewise, in rare occasions he even was used for comedic relief. An example is when he was sent by Pizzazz to prehistoric times using one of Techrat's inventions, where he was chased by a Diplodocus.

Criminal record

• Assault: At the end of the episode The Battle of the Bands, Eric slaps Jerrica on his way out of his former office at Starlight Music.
• Blackmailing, framing, false evidence: Eric's use of blackmail is often a last resort when he's panicked for time and money.
• Bribing: Eric is well known for bribing people in high charges in order to make them look the other way while he does his free will, regardless if it's something illicit. Being a successful executive himself, getting his hands on big sums of money is generally no problem to him.
• Child abuse: When Eric retained Ashley against her will (read "Forceful confinement" bullet below), he physically mistreated her and forced her to call Jerrica on the phone, threatening her that the child's safety would be at risk if she didn't comply to his demands. He then ordered The Misfits to keep an eye on Ashley, and these resorted to trap her inside a trunk in which she almost got seriously injured.
• Criminal association: Perhaps Eric's most recurring crime. Eric is well known for hiring or associating himself with all sorts of goons and corrupt people in important positions in order to carry out his evil schemes. Eric has a long list of both recurring and one-time hired goons, who usually won't hesitate to do his bidding, and even risk their own integrity, as Eric is known to spare no expenses when employing them. He is also known for bribing people on high governmental positions to make them look the other way while he carries out affairs that are often above the law, or even pass unfair laws that benefit him. Likewise, Eric is known for associating himself with corrupt employees and perform illicit acts where both parties will be benefited. Eric's most well known goons are Zipper, a very resourceful lowlife criminal who leads his own gang, and Techrat, a technological genius.
• Figurehead/lending names: In the episode The Bands Break Up, Eric secretly made use of a person named Dave Daniels who pretended to be a music promoter in order to deceive Kimber and Stormer into signing a recording contract. However, the document stipulated that Kimber had to put her half of Starlight Music as collateral in case they couldn't achieve the sum to pay for the production of their record. It was later revealed that Daniels was just a con artist hired by Raymond, and that the latter was the real contractor; but nonetheless, they still had to meet the sales stipulated on the contract or else Kimber would lose her half of Starlight.
• Forceful confinement: In one occasion, when Ashley tried to return their money to The Misfits, after being informed by them that she was one of Jerrica's orphans, Eric retained the girl against her will; he then forced her to call Jerrica and ordered the latter to prevent The Holograms from performing at The Battle of the Bands if they wanted to see Ashley again. In addition, it isn't rare that Eric's hired goons often kidnap and/or retain his boss's enemies while following his orders.
• Harassment: Eric is well known for using threatening procedures to scare people that get in his way. For this end, he usually makes use of his relationships with people in power to arm himself with governmental working groups and/or machinery/equipment to show himself more imposing to his adversaries.
• Illicit enrichment: While not proven, it's quite suspicious how Eric, after frequently been seen losing huge amounts of money, can always get his hands on more with apparently not much problem; more so, because of his usual unethical behavior. He frequently has to pay lawyers, bribe people, be forced to pay for the repairing of damages he has done, etc., and nonetheless, he is seen driving expensive cars, has his very own luxury yacht, and even once had enough money to buy an entire record company.
• Indirect arson: In one occasion, Eric sent Zipper to break into Starlight House and steal some property in order to scare the people living there. The man was caught in the act, and while attempting to escape, he knocked down a lantern with a candle inside which initiated a fire that ended up consuming the entire building.
• Indirect attempted murder: On a few accounts, Eric has been the indirect responsible of provoking accidents that almost ended up with fatal casualties. These are usually caused by the goons he hires to do his dirty work, as well as accidents provoked by The Misfits themselves while under his influence.
• Indirect burglary and vandalism: The goons Eric usually hires to do his dirty work are known to often commit additional crimes while carrying out the tasks ordered by him. These include breaking into houses, stealing, vandalizing or outright destroying private property; he hired Manny Malone in Frame Up, who broke into the drive-in and began smashing Synergy to pieces. In The Talent Search (Part 2), Jetta hired a gang with Eric's money to vandalize private property belonging to Raya's family in order to force her into revealing Jem's real identity, with Eric being indirectly responsible for this criminal act. In Old Meets New, Eric tries to demolish an area for factory plans and lets Pizzazz operate the wrecking ball. She hit a building Eric wasn't authorized to demolish, and a police car. A police officer wrote them down for their crimes and also added attempted bribery to the list when Eric tried to bribe his way out of the charges.
• Psychological torment: Another one of Eric's favorite methods to threaten those who get in his way. This crime can be considered as a part or sum up of all his other felonies. A prime example of this malevolent behavior is when Eric got his hands on the only copy of an unpublished master tape Jacqui Benton –Jerrica and Kimber's late mother– recorded just before passing away. Taking advantage of this, Eric arranged a meeting with Jerrica and asked her for a million dollars in return or to have controlling interests over Starlight Music. When Jerrica refused to comply with these absurd requisites, Eric mercilessly destroyed the tape, taking away forever this important and irreplaceable sentimental heritage Jacqui had left to her daughters.
• Unfair dismissal and charge usurpation: In The Beginning, he fired two of Starlight Music's employees and put people he trusted in their place, in this case Harry, the former security guard, and Gloria, the former receptionist. During the filming of the movie Starbright, Eric, who was put in charge of the production, unfairly dismissed several members of the staff over minimal arguments and then took over their charges, even if he wasn't qualified or even acquainted with their functions.
• White collared crime: Embezzled money from Starlight Music.
• Working in a hazardous environment and failure to provide safety measures: During the filming of the movies Starbright and The Misfits Hit It Big, Eric, who was in charge of both productions, allowed the staff to work under hazardous conditions, often to save money or simply because he deemed them unnecessary; while at the same time he neglected any idea of providing safety precautions to prevent potential accidents. On the same line, he failed to hire the required qualified stuntmen for the filming of potentially dangerous scenes, choosing to put money over the integrity of the actors.
• Working without permission: When being in charge of the production of the movies Starbright and The Misfits Hit It Big, Eric failed to acquire the necessary permissions, as well as any related guilds' approval to carry on with the filming, whether they were representatives of the actors or the filming crew.

Associates

Being a high profile and clever businessman, Eric has taken his time to build all sorts of connections with a variety of thugs and acquaintances of all social ranks for whenever there's need to do some dirty work, whether they are lowlife punks that would do anything for just a few bucks, to corrupt people in high political charges. These include:

• Zipper and his gang of lowlife goons.
• Techrat, an agoraphobic inventor.
• Carl Sanford, a corrupt City Hall councilman who has the power to pass rezoning laws.
• Dave Daniels, a fake music promoter who lent his name so that Eric could carry on his business without revealing himself.
• Manny Malone, a private detective who won't hesitate on employing brute force if he considers it necessary.
• Terrance Landau, a corrupt real estate agent.
• The Snakes, a Hispanic gang hired by Jetta to vandalize private property, with Eric being indirectly responsible..
• Torch and Mickey, two nonverbal blue-collar muscleheads featured in "Old Meets New".
• Vise, a musclebound thug working for his own boss, who Eric temporarily hires to tamper with a rival race car at the Indy 500.

Gallery

Animated series

Punched in the face by Rio in the episode The Battle of the Bands.

Eric directing the Starbright film.

Eric in trouble while directing The Misfits Hit It Big.

Having a good time on his yacht.

Having a not so good time on his yacht.

Trying to convince Raya to reveal Jem's secret identity.

Raymond impersonating Frederick Vincent, accompanied by Techrat and Landau.

Unmasked.

On a phone call with Pizzazz, who demands him to get The Misfits play at the "World History of Music Concert".

A hologram of Eric projected by Synergy at the Woodstock festival in 1969.

Dolls

Eric doll by Integrity Toys.

Trivia

• Eric Raymond is the tuckerized version of Christy Marx's brother, Eric Raymond Marx.
• Emmett Benton personally hired Eric to aid him in his daily business affairs in Starlight Music.
• Eric was indirectly responsible for the destruction of Starlight House by sending his goon Zipper to break into the building. When the latter was discovered, he dropped a candle which initiated the fire that ended up consuming the entire building.
• Despite his numerous illegal activities, he has only been placed in jail once.
  • There is a slight continuity error earlier in the series. He was arrested in The Battle of the Bands, but told Jerrica that he bailed out toward the end of the episode. In Starbright (Part 1), he repeated this to Jerrica after she found him in her office in Starlight Music, as if he had not told her before.
• Surprisingly, Jerrica used to be interested in Eric and even once used him as a way to make Rio jealous after he left for college, only to have Rio storm off (seen in a flashback while reading her father's diary).
• Minx developed a brief liking to Eric, although it's possible she was probably just flirting with him to be promoted.
• Even though Eric was one of the major characters in the series, and also having appeared in the books and comics, he was never produced into a doll in the original toyline.
• Eric once had the audacity to slap Jerrica. This is actually the only instance where he physically attacked someone.
  • Ironically, a season later, Jerrica slapped him back after he burned her mother's tape.
• Even though by the third season of the animated series, The Misfits had been replaced by The Stingers as the main antagonistic faction, Eric still played a prominent antagonistic role.
• Charlie Adler, the actor who voiced Eric Raymond, also voiced Zipper and Techrat.
• In the 1980s comics, Eric was shown to be a smoker.
• In the 2015 film, this character was gender-swapped into a female executive named Erica Raymond.