It was a risk that paid off. It signaled to the audience immediately that no character was safe, and no nostalgia was sacred. It added a layer of surrealism that defined the season. Watching Rayman navigate the seedy underbelly of Eden, stripped of his hero status, created a dissonance that was both hilarious and oddly poignant. It was a commentary on the lifecycle of mascots—how they are created to sell joy but can be discarded by the corporate machine.
