Phoebe Ashe
Character Analysis
Hm. Oh dear. Rapture is, to be quite honest, the closest thing the Jem series
ever had to pure evil. This is a girl with very little in the way of either
conscience or morals. Her main motivation in life appears to be her own amusement
and the pursuit of money - one of her favourite tricks is to try and con some
poor gullible soul into paying her a fortune for some worthless hunk of junk
(see Stingers Hit Town) or pulling an exotic charade to cheat people out
of their hard earned cash (See Midsummer Night Madness and That Ol' Houdini
Magic). Whatever her faults, though, Rapture is clever. Perhaps in many ways
the cleverest of all the Jem characters. She has a good understanding of both
people and their emotions and weaknesses, suggesting her to be both perceptive
and intuitive, but she uses those gifts for all the wrong reasons. She takes
full advantage of Pizzazz's crush on Riot by convincing her to drink a 'love
potion' which makes her sick - this is a good example of Rapture's lack of
conscience, since when Pizzazz is taken ill, all the Stinger does is laugh.
The prank is so bad that even the other Misfits are shocked by it!
Another good example of Rapture using her abilities to all the wrong ends
is her treatment of the old woman's fear of death in that Ol' Houdini Magic.
She uses that fear to convince the woman to give over large sums of money
to the Stingers, and would succeed if not for Jem and Astral's interference.
It is unclear precisely what Rapture's origins are based on the series itself.
Whilst I have heard that she was meant to join the Stingers in America, Riot's
Hope suggests they meet in Europe, though under what circumstances is not
given. The flashback clips from the Hard Hard Life video indicate perhaps
that Rapture was not so much of a musician in terms of instrumental capability
before she joined the group (though she is also perhaps the best singer in
the series), since she often can be seen playing a tambourine and not the
guitar that she's better known for in later times. It also seems to me that
the Stingers adopted her somehow, since Riot is taking protective care of
her in the same music video, offering her his coat when she's cold. My own
feeling is that Rapture is of American birth and was perhaps studying in Europe
when she met Minx and Riot, but that is pure speculation on my part.
Rapture has a strong interest in the paranormal and the occult, and these
usually make up a large part of her schemes to con people. She is seen in
the series performing magic, claiming (falsely) to host the spirit of Houdini,
claiming to predict the future, reading palms and many other things. Her deceit
regarding her tricks and games seems to me on occasion to be compulsive rather
than a simple whim - almost as if she's setting herself the challenge of
getting one up on whoever the target happens to be at the time. You can imagine
that this kinda impish habit would get her into no end of trouble if it weren't
for Riot's dominating influence in the band keeping her (more or less) in
line.
There is one positive note to be said for Rapture's character, and that
is that where her group is concerned she has absolute loyalty - more about
that below.
Friendships/Roles
Rapture is not really a 'friend' type of person. However, within the Stingers
there is no doubt that she has absolute loyalty for them - a fact perhaps
based on her trusting them and not people outside. I wonder if perhaps she
owes them some big favour for taking them in, because her devotion to Stinger
business is generally absolute. In The Day The Music Died, when Riot is missing,
it is clear she is unsettled with the change. It also become apparent that
the bond between her and Minx is one that sisters might share, since Rapture
teases Minx about her failures with Rio, and goes to her in Midsummer Night's
Madness when she's being chased by the crowd. Equally, when Rapture is drowning
in That Ol' Houdini Magic, Minx is frantic to get her out, a favour returned
by Rapture's clear panic when Minx is swept away by the tide in Change of
Heart. However, the loyalty between the two girls wears thin when it's clear
Minx needs support later in Change of Heart, suggesting both that Rapture
dislikes change to the security of her world, and also cannot understand the
deeper emotions that her bandmate is going through, probably because she
has taught herself not to take any notice of them (Unfortunately I can find
no indication in the series as to why she acts this way - the Stingers are
not in enough episodes to find out enough about Rapture's roots, and it would
be wrong of me to speculate so broadly on her)
Rapture has no love or respect for the Misfits. She treats Pizzazz like
a puppet and disregards the existance of the rest wherever possible. She
also has little love for the Holograms, Jem or Rio (she calls the Holograms
'mundane' in Straight From The Heart) Really, I don't think she likes anyone
outside her own band! She develops the starts of a rivalry with Astral in
That Ol' Houdini Magic, which you can only imagine continuing had the series
gone on, and she's perfectly happy being utterly unpleasant to the drippy
Regine when the designer has outlived her usefulness (perhaps the start of
another, more general rivalry?)