Rav on the official VQ poster
Ravaxis Starburner (aka Rav) is a character from Steam Powered Giraffe's 4th studio album, The Vice Quadrant: A Space Opera. He is a pilot and an ally to Commander Cosmo. He is also a descendant of Rex Marksley.
Appearance[]
Rav wears a hat, goggles, a long unbuttoned overcoat and a mask over his mouth and nose. His skin appears green, because he is part alien, despite being a descendant of Rex Marksley.
Character[]
Rav is an interdimensional traveler, space cowboy, and gunslinger. He was friends with Peter A Walter IV before he became Commander Cosmo. Rav's age is unknown, but it has been confirmed by Bunny that he is most likely thousands of years old (potentially because of the relativity of jumping through dimensions). Rav's unique ability to switch between the Prime and Omega universe allows him to interact with characters from both and makes him a key character in the story.
Rav is gay and has dated at least one moon prince that the band has spoke of, though Bunny has speculated that it's likely that he has had many relationships in his travels.
"He's Captain Eo and Clint Eastwood rolled up into one: The "space cowboy" hero. And yeah, he's gay and it's my head-canon he has dated a moon prince or princes. I always saw him as a guy who wasn't going to get tied down. He gets around being a dimension-hopping space rogue." x
- Bunny Bennett
Rav is affiliated with green planet and W.I.N.K the satellite, though it is uncertain exactly how they know of each other. He helps W.I.N.K. get Steam Powered Giraffe's help to save the green planet in the song The Space Giant. Rav has most frequently been characterized as a "wandering gunslinger", space cowboy type character.
"Whatever Rav and Cosmo did together in the past has secured Rav and his crew's intentions to help out other planets and aliens much like Cosmo. Especially when Cosmo left the multiverse altogether and was inside Necrostar. They're just not superheroes like him; they're wandering gunslingers with an engine that can cross dimensions, so they get into a lot of crazy predicaments." x
- Bunny Bennett
Timeline[]
Unknown Time (1962, Universe Prime Time)[]
Rav's crew (unnamed) intercepts Commander Cosmo after he is hit by blue matter in the Prime Timeline. The commander is transported to the universe Rav is in and the cowboy takes him aboard. It is unknown exactly how long this crew and the commander explore the multi-verse together, but it could be anywhere from a few hundred years to a few thosuand. Rav helps Cosmo unlock his super powers before he goes back to Earth (1962), hundreds of years passing in the span of the few seconds between Peter A. Walter getting hit by blue matter and Commander Cosmo rescuing Dwight from the wreckage.
"The old crew Rav belonged to rescued [Cosmo] from space...Him and the crew had a ton of adventures in space...Along the way, Cosmo does become the super powered being we recognize, but we're talking hundreds if not thousands of years."
- Bunny Bennett
It is implied that Rav stays in whatever universes he has been exploring with his crew. When and how he came to be the pilot of the S.S. Alexander with Gidget and Booplax remains unknown, though Rav to the Rescue seems to suggest that Gidget never knew Commander Cosmo until Rav breaks him out of the Necrostar.
Universe Prime (~ 2014)[]
According to the lyrics of the song "The Space Giant" in Vice Quadrant Part II, Rav implores the robots of Steam Powered Giraffe to help W.I.N.K. the satellite save the green apple planet from destruction.
In the marshlands, a spaceman lands,
pleading his demands, to the robot band
Rav: “Please hear my plight, to save the green apple in the sky, from the space giant’s appetite, for depraved delights.
He followed W.I.N.K. the satellite, W.I.N.K.’s trail of blue matter bright, the giant’s got a one-track mind, and will eat everything just to find the robot band.”
Universe Omega (~ 1990 - 2185)[]
Rav looks for a way to destroy the Necrostar. He eventually prevails, freeing Commander Cosmo from his prison. He is most likely one of the heroes that the commander speaks about at the end of the album.
Relationships with Characters[]
Commander Cosmo/Peter A. Walter IV[]
Rav has been described as an ally to the commander. He has known Cosmo for a long time (see Timeline section) and Bunny has described their relationship as such:
"I think Commander Cosmo and him have a bro-mance going on, but Cosmo is not the most receptive or warm individual".
He and his crew helped Cosmo unravel the secrets of his powers ("Whatever Rav and Cosmo did together in the past has secured Rav and his crew's intentions to help out other planets and aliens much like Cosmo" x ) and become the superhero in the timeline. They experienced years of strange adventures together.
Rav is the one to break Cosmo out of the Necrostar, inadvertantly letting loose the entity that fuses with the Astronaut and becomes the Necronaut later on.