"I am the captain of this vessel and I am surrounded by morons."
Norman "Skipper" Takamori is a former Amercadian Space Brigade pilot and the captain of The Wurst, currently being possessed by a cerebro-slug named Skip. Both characters are played by Zac Oyama.
Description[]
"I am Norman "The Skipper" Takamori and I am the captain of this vessel and I am surrounded by morons. [...] He is like half shaved. He has like a little towel around his neck. He had his like two minutes of peace and quiet where he didn't have to hear these morons jabbering away at his ears. And then of course we're getting attacked by a fuckin' armada of drones coming in after us shooting their hyon beams. I'm in hell." ― Zac Oyama
Personality[]
Norman is a former military man that is frustrated with his current circumstances. He feels that his crew is incompetent and often deflects his own failures onto them. He is stubborn, proud, and patriotic towards his home country of Amercadia. Norman is not a compassionate boss and considered sacrificing his crew to save his own skin, and even said that they next time they made port he would look for their replacements. He is easily irritated when the crew does not use his preferred title of "Skipper". He values competence and a military like structure. He prioritizes profit as Captain of the Red Hot and has sublet his ship to several tenants.
Appearance[]
Norman sports cowboy boots and a leather jacket and jeans, as well as a jetpack strapped to his back. He is 5 ft 9, and has long arms. He has a short beard and a thick mustache and a graying head of hair.
Background[]
Norman fondly remembers his days as an Ace Pilot in the Amercadia Space Brigade. He graduated from the academy in Kansas, Amercadia and served proudly. Unfortunately, those days are long behind him now. When he was denied a promotion for an unknown incident, he was offered a choice: Demotion to Corporal and become a desk jockey or obtain an honorable discharge and take his pension. Desperate to still pilot he asked his commander what his options were and they specifically counseled to not cash out his pension, therefore losing half of it in the process, and purchase a mess freighter destined for decommission. That would be reckless. Norman said fuck that, and bought the Red Hot anyway.
History[]
Welcome to the Spacin' Life, Buddy[]
In the year 220 AnarchEra, Norman Takamori is frantically piloting his ship through an asteroid field while being chased by dozens of Roid Removers and the rival starship The Lady Pike. Deciding to flee instead of negotiate with Captain Jan De La Vega, he attempts to escape with his prize of stolen Krystals but fails. In a last ditch effort to preserve his ship from destruction he orders to jettison 14 out of 15 of the crates. When the crew gathers in the cargo hold to check on their last remaining prize, it is discovered that this is a crate of expired replica egg extract and it is host to a gelatinous green slime that proceeds to launch itself into Norman's face and crawl inside his body.
Rolling Up The Hill[]
As it turns out, the slime is a Cerebroslug that has attached itself to Norman's brainstem. It attempts to familiarize itself to its new "body-craft", The crew decides that "Skip" is a much better person than Norman and are content to let "sleeping dogs lie."
Relationships[]
Norman is the captain of the Red Hot. He is easily frustrated with his crew and constantly wonders why he pays them. One of his gunners, Big Barry Syx, frequently calls him "Skip" much to his annoyance. Norman has even dismissed his ideas due to the fact that Big Barry is a clone. Norman seems to be uncomfortable with his Communications Officer Riva due to their telepathic abilities. The only person on the ship Norman appears to appreciate is his tenant Margaret Encino and has offered her a position on the crew, which she immediately declined. His other gunner is Sundry Sidney and his engineer is Gunthrie Miggles-Rashbax.