Raleigh Becket | Pacific Rim

Pan Pacific Defense Corps.
Once the Anchorage Shatterdome is established in Alaska, Raleigh and his older brother Yancy are assigned to Gipsy Danger in 2017 to defend the coastline of Alaska against incoming Kaiju attacks. Prior to 2020, Raleigh and Yancy are deployed in four different locations around the Pacific Rim to fight the Kaiju. In 2017, their first mission is outside Anchorage in Los Angeles against a Kaiju named Yamarashi. The two are forced to take point in the mission when their partner is unable to stop the Kaiju from entering the city any further. They fight the Kaiju back toward the harbor where they behead it with a cargo crane wire.

Their Conn-Pod is nearly compromised by Kaiju blood before they reach the Los Angeles Shatterdome to be hosed down. The second and third are Puerto San José, Guatemala in 2018 and San Diego in 2019 where they fight Clawhook. December 19, 2019, they accompany Horizon Brave and Hercules Hansen in Lucky Seven to Manila where they fight and kill a Category IV Kaiju.

Anchorage Attack.
Feburary 29, 2020, Raleigh wakes to the sound of the Shatterdome's alarm alerting them of the arrival of a category III Kaiju, Knifehead. Enthusiastic, he wakes his brother and the two prepare to head out in Gipsy Danger.

Supervised by Pentecost, the Beckets are ordered to defend the city from the approaching Kaiju. Yancy notices a fishing boat still out in the storm near the Kaiju's location; Pentecost reiterates that their objective is to protect the city and the boat is inconsequential to the larger picture. The brothers, however, are unwilling to leave the fishermen to die and agree to save them despite acknowledging Pentecost's orders.

Raleigh and Yancy arrive in time to move the boat out of immediate danger. They are attacked by Knifehead who takes advantage of their distraction. Using Gipsy Danger's Plasmacaster, the Beckets shoot Knifehead in the abdomen three times and assume its been killed when it falls back into the sea. They let their guard down and are ambushed by Knifehead when it emerges from the water. Raleigh is unable to counter Knifehead's relentless attacks with another attack with the Plasmacaster. Knifehead rams its head into Gipsy Danger's left arm; Raleigh is momentarily paralyzed by the pain received from his suit when Knifehead tears Gipsy Danger's arm from its body.

The Kaiju tears into Gipsy Danger's head as Yancy tries to get his brother to listen to him. Knifehead pulls Yancy out from the Conn-Pod along with a section of Gipsy's head. Raleigh experiences his brother's death through the Drift. Forced to fight on his own, he kills Knifehead and pilots the Jaeger back to the shores of Anchorage where he collapses, still reeling from his brother's death. Shortly thereafter, Raleigh quit the PPDC.

Pacific Rim.
Five years later, Raleigh works building the Anti-Kaiju Wall, volunteering to take on the more dangerous aspects of its construction to obtain ration cards to make a living. During a break, he and the other workers witness Mutavore break through a section of the wall in Sydney, Australia. As the workers complain about how the Kaiju easily broke through the Sydney Wall, Pentecost arrives by helicopter to talk to Raleigh.

Reluctant, Raleigh obliges Pentecost's request and takes him aside. Pentecost tells him he's looking for pilots to continue the fight against the Kaiju. Raleigh refuses, unwilling to Drift with another person after what happened with his brother. Still, Pentecost is insistent on recruiting Raleigh and asks whether he wants to die building the Wall or fighting in a Jaeger. The question is enough to convince Raleigh to follow him to the Shatterdome in Hong Kong.

Pentecost introduces Raleigh to his adopted daughter, Mako Mori. She remarks to Pentecost, in Japanese, that Raleigh was not what she expected. Responding in kind, Raleigh asks if the expectation was good or bad. Mako instead compliments him on his record as a Ranger. Entering the elevator, Raleigh is introduced to Newton Geiszler and Hermann Gottlieb, the last of PPDC's research division. When revealing his tattoo of Yamarashi, Newton expressions his wish to meet a Kaiju face-to-face and his admiration for the Kaiju's strength. Hermann, noting Raleigh's offense, apologizes in his partner's stead, dismissing him as a "Kaiju Groupie". As he departs from the elevator with Pentecost and Mako, Raleigh reassures Newton he never wants to meet a Kaiju up close.

Inside the Shatterdome, Pentecost and Mako give Raleigh the lay of the land; establishing the weapons deal he has with Cherno Alpha's pilots, Sasha and Aleksis; the defense record of Crimson Typhoon's pilots, the Wei triplets and Striker Eureka's status as the first and last Mark-5 Jaeger. Raleigh is shocked by how little of the PPDC remains when Pentecost describes them as a "resistance".

He reunites with Tendo Choi who explains Gipsy Danger's refurbishment was under Mako's supervision. When Mako shows him to his room, Raleigh inquires toward her interest in the Jaegers. Mako confesses that she wants to be a Ranger, but isn't able to because of Pentecost's wishes. Raleigh suspects that her impressive record in the simulation is more than enough to prove she's able to be a pilot, that Pentecost's reasons aren't strong enough.

Changing the subject, Mako tells him she's studied his every move and mission deployments, especially his final one in Anchorage. His tendency to deviate from standard procedure and take unnecessary risks put those at his side in danger. Mako doesn’t believe that Raleigh is the right man for the breach assault. Raleigh, stung by her opinion, agrees, but cites that actual combat differs from simulated situations. The choices he makes in the moment are ultimately the ones he has to live with.

During the tryouts for a new pilot, Raleigh defeats every candidate chosen by Mako. Quick to notice her disappointment, Raleigh questions what her problem is. Mako cites the problem lies not with the candidates she chose, but his below-adequate tactics. Raleigh challenges Mako, appealing to her and Pentecost's pride. Pentecost, initially against it, decides to let her fight. Mako and Raleigh are evenly matched in the fight, Mako emerging victorious when she uses his weight against him and pins his leg in a arm lock.

Impressed by her abilities, Raleigh chooses Mako as his co-pilot. Pentecost, however, denies Raleigh and Mako the opportunity to be partners. Despite the Marshall's opinion, Raleigh tells her that they're Drift-compatible and that he wants her as his co-pilot. Mako thanks Raleigh for standing up for her, but chooses not to disobey Pentecost out of respect. In the mess hall, Raleigh gets to know Herc and Chuck Hansen; Herc is polite to the younger Ranger, but his son, Chuck, is content to mock his inactivity and his choice to work on the Anti-Kaiju Wall.

On the day he prepares to test pilot Gipsy Danger, he is surprised to learn Mako is his co-pilot. The two are prepped for the Drift, and Raleigh warns Mako not to chase the "R.A.B.I.T." (Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers) and latch onto a single memory. Pentecost oversees their initial progress, but is called away when Hermann tells him that Newton has successfully Drifted with a Kaiju brain.

During the Drift, Raleigh falls out of sync with Mako when he latches onto the memory of his brother's death. Though he recovers, Mako is lost lost in her memory of Onibaba's attack on Tokyo in 2016. Still connected to her, Raleigh tries wake Mako from the memory as he witnesses Onibaba's death and her rescue at the hands of Pentecost in Coyote Tango. LOCCENT Mission Control manages to cut power to the Gipsy Danger, but the test is considered a failure by Pentecost, who is convinced that Mako should not pilot a Jaeger.

During Pentecost's meeting with the Hansens, Chuck emerges from Pentecost's office and insults both Raleigh and Mako. Raleigh takes Chuck on in a fight that ends in his victory when he uses a variation of the move Mako used on him. Chuck's father intervenes, preventing the fight from resuming. Going after Pentecost, Raleigh argues that the Marshall's relationship with Mako and his need to protect her is holding her back. Pentecost warns him against meddling in his personal affairs, reminding the Ranger that he is only present because of his skills as a pilot.

Raleigh and Mako are sidelined when Pentecost sends Crimson Typhoon, Cherno Alpha and Striker Eureka out to battle two category IV Kaiju, Otachi and Leatherback. Despite what appears to be a fight going in the Jaeger's favor, all three are quickly overpowered by the Kaiju who kill Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon's pilots inside their Conn-Pods. The moment Leatherback fires its EMP, the Shatterdome and Striker Eureka are taken out of commission. Raleigh argues that Gipsy Danger's status as an analog Jaeger means they can still fight the Kaiju. Reluctantly, Pentecost sends Mako and Raleigh out in Gipsy Danger to face Leatherback and Otachi.

Raleigh and Mako are quick to tear the EMP from Leatherback's back, putting it at a disadvantage. However, the Kaiju uses its strength to toss Gipsy Danger from the harbor into the docks. Undaunted by the show of strength, Raleigh and Mako take Leatherback on, countering its every blow and pushing it back further from the city. Cutting Leatherback's arm from its body with Gipsy's Plasmacaster seems to kill the Kaiju, but Raleigh suggests that they "check" Leatherback's pulse and eviscerate the torso of the Kaiju. Entering the city, Raleigh and Mako use a ship to attack Otachi, who is searching the city for Newton.

Otachi proves to be far more resilient in combat, using its speed against Gipsy Danger. Using the mech's coolant, Raleigh and Mako break Otachi's tail from its body when it tries tear into the Conn-Pod. Otachi retreats, and they lose sight of it. During the search Otachi blindsides them, smashing through a building head first.

Without its tail, Otachi uses its talons to grab hold of Gipsy Danger's waist and takes to the sky, smashing them through buildings. Otachi takes them above the atmosphere; as they begin to lose oxygen, Raleigh believes they're are out of options. Mako reveals the secondary weapon she equipped Gipsy Danger with; the Chain Sword. They cut Otachi in half and plummet back into the atmosphere. Pentecost advises Raleigh and Mako to purge Gipsy Danger's reactor to slow their descent.

Acting quickly, Pentecost's plan works and they land unscathed. When they return to the Shatterdome, Pentecost congratulates them and the PPDC personnel on their efforts to beat the Kaiju. Raleigh and Mako notice Pentecost's bleeding from the nose. After he retreats, Raleigh asks how long Pentecost has been sick.

The Marshall recounts the short amount of time PPDC had to build Jaegers in order to fight the Kaiju. The drawback to piloting Coyote Tango was the exposure to the radiation from its reactor. Pentecost tells Raleigh he was once the only Ranger to pilot a Jaeger on his own after his partner, Tamsin Sevier, passed out during the fight against Onibaba. Because Raleigh was also able to pilot Gipsy Danger on his own after Yancy's death, it makes him important to the mission.

Afterward, they are airlifted out to the Pacific Ocean. As they approach the breach, they are informed by Newton and Hermann that they won't be able to deploy the bomb inside the breach because it only reads Kaiju DNA. When they reach the breach, two category IV Kaiju, Raiju and Scunner, attack the two Jaegers.

Raiju makes short work of Gipsy Danger's armor; tearing its arm from its body. Scunner blindsides them and damages Gipsy further. Raleigh and Mako use the Chain Sword to cut Raiju in half and are confronted by Scunner when Slattern, a category V Kaiju, emerges to take on Striker Eureka. The subsequent damage to Striker Eureka makes it unable to deploy the thermonuclear bomb in the breach.

Desperate, Pentecost orders Raleigh and Mako to head for the breach. When the bomb is detonated, Raleigh and Mako brace themselves against the explosion that parts the ocean around them. As the water rushes back around them, it knocks Gipsy Danger off balance but they're able to recover. Determined to finish the mission, Raleigh and Mako drag a part of Raiju's corpse towards the breach.

They are halted by wounded Slattern. Gipsy tackles the Kaiju and they fall into the breach. Slattern stabs Gipsy Danger repeatedly, rupturing Mako's air supply; in response, Raleigh purges Gipsy's reactor and burns the Kaiju to death. After they kill Slattern, they fall into world of the Precursors. Giving his air supply to Mako, he ejects her life pod and moves to set Gipsy Danger on self destruct manually. He escapes in the last pod moments before Gipsy Danger self-destructs.

Raleigh's pod surfaces moments after Mako's. Mako forces his hatch open and assumes Raleigh is dead when she can't find his pulse. She hugs him and begs him not to leave; Raleigh comes to and tells her that he can't breathe. Relieved that they survived, they relay the destruction of the breach to LOCCENT the two embrace and wait for pick up by helicopter.

Personality.
Six years into the Kaiju War, Raleigh and Yancy's victories against the Kaiju make the youngest Becket cocky and overly self-assured in his abilities as a Ranger. Raleigh shares a close bond with his older brother Yancy, despite the latter being generally acknowledged (even by Raleigh himself) as the more naturally-talented pilot of the two.[11] When his brother is killed, experiencing his death at the hands of Knifehead rattles him; the emotional loss leaves Raleigh broken, humbled and without the more stable reference point Yancy served as all those years.

Raleigh continues to admire the fighting spirit in humanity, but "hates" people. He is at his happiest when he is left alone. Raleigh is willing to help others at the expense of his own advantage in battle situations. After Yancy's death, Raleigh prefers to be left alone to himself. Additionally, Raleigh becomes an insomniac and tends to avoid sodas and coffee as a result. A wiser man, Raleigh returns to the Kaiju War ready to put ego aside and help what remains of the PPDC. Raleigh's choice to return the war is not "driven by fate", but his ability as a experienced pilot. His friendship with Mako and her determination to become a Ranger helps him to move on from his brother's death, encouraging her to fight for what she wants. Despite their rocky start, the two eventually come to share a great amount of respect for each other.

Skills.
Master Jaeger Pilot: Raleigh Becket is among the most skilled Jaeger pilots in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps' history, and one of only two Rangers who managed to pilot one of the machines without assistance from a co-pilot (the other being Stacker Pentecost). Raleigh's improvisational and intuitive approach to combat often makes him a wild card to the Kaiju and his co-pilots alike, as his unpredictable nature can be either a liability or a decisive advantage. He is found to have high Drift-compatibility with Mako Mori, a younger Jaeger pilot prodigy who follows the rules and takes a perfectionist approach. This unique combination of mindsets makes the duo uncannily proficient in tactical sense and strategic thinking while in the Drift together, a fact that becomes apparent when Raleigh and Mako proceed to single-handledly take down both Leatherback and Otachi, the two largest Category IV Kaiju on record, after these Kaiju had destroyed Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha and disabled Striker Eureka.
Master Martial Artist: The PPDC trained Raleigh to be a master in hand-to-hand combat. As a Ranger, he is skilled in multiple martial arts. Raleigh is capable of taking down other elite Jaeger pilots like Chuck Hansen with swift efficiency in a brawl, adapting to circumstances as they develop around him. He demonstrates showmanship by pacing his fights. He finds an equal in Mako, who can best him in weaponized combat.
Multi-lingual: On account of his travels with his family, Raleigh is able to understand and speak different languages, including Japanese.

[ooc: All information about this character lovingly borrowed from The Pacific Rim Wikia.]