Hector Ramirez

Hector Ramirez was the host of the TV show Twenty Questions. His credibility is questionable and he seems to thrive on "hard-hitting" controversy more than factual accuracy, but it is hard to deny his tenacity.

History

Sunbow cartoon series

In what was sure to be one of the biggest episodes of Twenty Questions yet, Hector Ramirez pursued the story on anti-terrorist task force G.I. Joe. After trespassing into a restricted area, he immediately began to bombard Flint with questions about "the claim" that the ruthless terrorist organization Cobra was really an elaborate hoax designed to swindle the government (and, by extension, taxpayers) out of billions of dollars.

As it happened, this was part of a plan by Cobra to undermine G.I. Joe's credibility, and Ramirez himself was being manipulated by the Baroness, a master of disguise. When that particular plan went off the rails, Ramirez found himself pulled into a real battle between G.I. Joe and Cobra, and ended up captured by Cobra's forces, along with a team of Joes. However, just as Cobra Commander was about to order their execution, Ramirez appealed to his vanity with a last request: To conduct an interview with him.

This bought the Joes enough time for reinforcements to arrive and save the day, albeit a victory that turned out to be tainted by the release of a large quantity of laughing gas. Ramirez stumbled out of the base, his views on the Joes changed, laughing about his adventure full of fighting and explosions and laughing gas, then kissed Duke on the cheek before running off to get the tape to his network, sure that there was an Emmy (or a Pulitzer, or both) in it for him.

He later appeared anchoring news coverage of various events relating to G.I. Joe, including the story of Dusty Rudat, a former Joe accused of treason, an interview with Cobra Commander surrounding the theft of an experimental fighter jet, and was heard on the radio reading a story about the Joe Team's exploits in northern Africa.

Devil's Due comics continuity

Ramirez reunites with Joe Colton in a New York cafe to give him a disk with info he has about the Red Shadows. When Ramirez is about to leave in a taxicab, it explodes, killing him.

Notes

• Ramirez is notable for appearing in episodes of G.I. Joe, The Transformers (in that same episode, Daina of the Oktober Guard made a quick cameo), Inhumanoids (where he played a major role several times, including getting turned into a 15-foot tall living zombie), and Jem and the Holograms. Some viewers concluded that this places all four shows in the same "universe", a position supported by series writer Buzz Dixon, who describes the character in The Many Faces of Hector Ramirez and adds that "he came this close to working My Little Pony in there".
• During the DiC animated G.I. Joe series, a fellow reporter going by the name of José Rivera bares more than a striking resemblance to Hector Ramirez, in both looks and personality. It's possible that both characters were meant to be one-and-the-same. Further evidence to support this theory materialized in the season one episode "Injustice And The Cobra Way", which featured a front-page newspaper article written by Rivera, yet credited entirely to Ramirez. The name may have been changed to avoid legal issue with Sunbow (who may have tried to claim ownership of the character).