The Lost Raygirls

You know, after years of attempting to work a female companion for Rayman into the games you’d think Ubisoft would just let Ancel do it.  But I suppose it’s true when he says that Rayman is supposed to be alone XD

Buuut that doesn’t mean these Raygirls should be ignored, so I felt compelled to draw them, the abandoned ladies in Rayman’s life.  It interesting how different they all are reflecting the changes to the series over the last 20 years.

Raygirl - Rayman 1 Prorotype for SNES 

Despite the later games have a penchant for making their female characters busty, slender or both this original Raygirl design is far more squat and chunky than other female rayians.  This character was directly designed and animated by Ancel.  Literally a recolour of Rayman’s early design with a slightly different haircut it’s hard to tell if she was intended to be his girlfriend, sister or just a female adventure companion.  It made me laugh how big her body is compared to her head and I love her bright green shoes

Rayman’s Girlfriend - Rayman 4/Rayman Raving Rabbids prototype

Before RRR was changed into a party game for the wii it was intended to have a full adventure storyline akin to Rayman 2 and 3.  Rayman as on a mission to rescue his girlfriend who had been kidnapped by the king Rabbid.  Sadly this character only exists in a couple of monochrome sketches, so I improvised her colour scheme based on my vision of the character (who is named La, you can see her ref sheet here).  She appears to have a more ‘realistic’ humanoid build compared to other Rayains, perhaps reflecting the bodytypes shown in the Rabbids games (see Rapper Rayman for example)

Rayman’s ‘Wife’- Rayman Origins for PSVita

Unlike the other two, this afro sporting Raygirl actually got into a Rayman game!  But her appearance raises more questions than give answers.  However it is nice to see a female companion being comedic rather than a damsel to be rescued.  I’d like to think she’s still out there in Rayman’s world, and she’s still bitter about Rayman just abandoning her.  Maybe she got a job as a hairdresser.