Richter Hammockslam
Richter Hammockslam
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| Job: QWRP's traffic correspondent |
| Location: Traffic Qwopter, the skies of Nsburg |
| Voiced By: Ian |
Richter Hammockslam is QWRP's traffic reporter who tends to do anything except report the traffic. Richter is a licensed helicopter and dirigible pilot as well as a certified flight instructor (god help us). He has no wife nor children but hopes that one day, were he to disappear, someone would mourn him. May have accidentally adopted a child/apprentice pilot, Joy. Richter asserts that his rightful place is in the sky among the birds, although he will also accept the QWRP fanboat (there are ducks). He considers the skies of Nsburg to be his territory and his territory alone. Richter is confident, determined, and skilled at executing his ideas; unfortunately, all his ideas are terrible.
Richter seems to be the only qualified pilot at QWRP FM and thus does whatever he wants to regardless of his actual assignment. This includes running for aldersm'n on air, promoting his newest business investment, or trying out a career in nature photography. The QWRP traffic helicopter (called the "Qwopter") theoretically belongs to the station, but Richter treats it as his own and will occasionally land it in the QWRP employee parking lot next to his car.
Richter is banned from the airspace above the Jewelsburg Motor Oval and refuses to fly over the Bumper Crop Farms Corn Maze. He once air-dropped several puppies attached to parachutes over the town, resulting in a court judgement against QWRP FM. Richter dislikes drones, especially quadcopters, and has no qualms about shooting them down if they enter "his" sky.
Despite his hit-and-miss (mostly miss) approach to reporting on traffic, Richter is a talented pilot. He has flown the Qwopter three feet above a highway, from outside the cockpit while standing on the runners, while holding a collection of puppies, while teaching a small child how to fly, and while blindfolded; plus a variety of other improbable, difficult, or borderline illegal actions. On-air he has flown a blimp and a hang-glider and driven a fanboat. He also seems to have some experience in wilderness situations, having survived multiple days stranded atop the QWRP repeater antenna even though he did not, technically, have to.
Joy
In Episode 9 Richter decided to participate in Take Your Daughter To Work Day, but as he does not own a child of his own, he invited a group near the helipad (possibly a school tour) to come aboard. Joy, a seven-year-old girl, was the lucky apprentice pilot to go up in the Qwopter. Joy was born on July 5th, 2009, probably during rush hour. She believes Richter is her new father and seems to enjoy co-piloting the Qwopter. In Episode 14 Graham mentions that Joy has been asking about Richter, implying that they're still in contact.
Joy showed up in the sort-of-not-really-canon live episode of Qwerpline recorded at PAX West 2016, copiloting the Qwopter for her helicopter piloting badge, and later cooking breakfast on board in order to get her cooking badge. In Episode 26 she reappeared in actual canon, this time flying the Qwopter on her own (again for her helicopter piloting badge) while Richter got drunk on craft beer. She successfully reported the actual traffic from the Qwopter, leading Alex to pledge to hire her as an intern the moment she turned 19.
Trivia
- He delivered an excellent traffic report in Episode 24...for the city of Dubai.
- He ordered some pontoons for the Qwopter, but they haven't arrived yet.
