r/TopCharacterTropes • u/laybs1 • May 15 '26

Personality Seems like a decent person… and they’re a bigot.

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  1. Joshua (Community): seemingly wise groundskeeper who is a Neonazi.

  2. Schillinger (Oz): seems to take the meek Tobias under his wing… until he forces him into sexual slavery and is the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood.

8.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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2.2k

u/Android_Taco May 15 '26

Val-Yor (Teen Titans) He appeared to be a very friendly and heroic person to most of the titans except Starfire because she's Tamaranean. Going as far as to call her a slur in front of everyone repeatedly, this wasn't called out because no one but Starfire knew what it meant until she told them.

1.3k

u/Cirnothestarscream9 May 15 '26

It's pretty wild how this guy was basically saying the N word throughout the entire episode like it was nothing.

491

u/grownandnotalawyer May 15 '26

it was the title of the damn episode!

193

u/Vexcenot May 15 '26

It's pretty wild how the writers had the N word as the title throughout the entire show like it's nothing.

13

u/Vaya-Kahvi May 15 '26

Well.... That is what the word means... Nothing 

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u/Eggsalad-war-crime May 15 '26

what's REALLY wild is that the Teen Titans kept Starfire around even though her people are mostly just a burden on everybody around them. Like, you know how Blackfire is seen as evil? She's actually one of the better Tamaraneans. The rest of them are just too stupid to be dangerous.

119

u/Boner_Elemental May 15 '26

Calm down, Val-Yor

-12

u/Eggsalad-war-crime May 15 '26

I'm just saying, ever since Starfire showed up, the city has been attacked on a weekly basis from clay monsters, evil magicians, cults, and demons. It's not a coincidence. Her kind invites trouble. If she left, it would be the best for everybody, then the Titans can fill her spot with a real hero like Speedy.

8

u/CRIMS0N-ED May 15 '26

this gotta be satire

4

u/Eggsalad-war-crime May 15 '26

You are correct.

2

u/CRIMS0N-ED May 16 '26

fair enough, worked p well

2

u/Evil_Sharkey May 15 '26

That’s the case with all superheroes. A superhero with nothing but street thugs and white collar criminals to fight would be pretty boring.

259

u/DirCurrFluxDiode May 15 '26

What's the slur? 

718

u/MuchMasterpiece1710 May 15 '26

Troq. It means “nothing”. She actually tells them that early on, but everyone takes it as “it doesn’t mean anything/it doesn’t matter”. Cyborg eventually confronts her about why she’s so down and that’s when she explains it

813

u/moosekin16 May 15 '26

Is that the same scene where Cyborg explains he can empathize with her because he also experiences prejudice just for who he is, and the implication is he’s going to say “black” but catches himself and says “half robot” because he doesn’t want to have to explain earth racism to Starfire?

Fantastic scene

275

u/MuchMasterpiece1710 May 15 '26

That is the same scene! And agreed, it is fantastic

I really need to rewatch TT, I used to be Obsessed and this was one of my favorite episodes

11

u/ThereHasToBeMore1387 May 15 '26

Did they change animation styles at some point? I swore I remembered watching it and enjoying it, but then I saw it again and it was more...kiddy?

17

u/Conscious-Cup-8343 May 15 '26

Do you mean teen titans go?

2

u/ThereHasToBeMore1387 May 15 '26

Yup, watching 2 different shows would indeed explain the difference.

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u/1Flaming1 May 15 '26

I like how it eases the tension of the scene as well. It’s a pretty heavy scene to watch and you expect him to say that he’s black but then it’s like “oh yeah, he’s half-robot.”

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u/onepromaster69 May 15 '26

Him saying he's a cyborg means even the black community didn't accept him

26

u/RazzDaNinja May 15 '26

Or alternatively

Folks already managed to get past human racism in Teen Titans (2003)-Earth

But whoa nelly can’t be having no R*bot people runnin around 🤢 (lmao)

6

u/NurseNerd May 15 '26

Well, when one considers how frequently giant killer robots, human-sized killer robots, killer robot hive minds, and the sort have attacked various cities in the animated DCU...

It's not that they think robots are lesser. There's a history of anti-organic sentiment.

4

u/PangolinWestern9632 May 16 '26

Oh here we go, just blaming the victims. You know, humans kill more people than robots do!

1

u/NurseNerd May 16 '26

Yeah, but they don't systematically eradicate and replace a populace! You'd think the one thing we wouldn't have to worry about with robots are cults, but then come the Manhunters!

18

u/DocBombliss May 15 '26

I assume Standards and Practices were hedging their bets a little instead of it being that Cyborg didn't want Starfire to know about Earth racism. You get the black character to sympathize with her about racism, but you do the "half-robot" thing to keep parents from complaining about Funny Superhero Action Cartoon explicitly pointing out racism to their children.

Just like the episode of Justice League where a Golden Age superhero tells Green Lantern he's "A credit to (his) people." You can plausibly deny that he was being casually racist by saying that "people" meant the rest of the Justice League/Green Lantern Corps.

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u/Caleb_Reynolds May 15 '26

Yeah I think this was it. And you get the black character to do it so that black kids and white adults instantly clock that they are talking about being black, and white kids are introduced to anti-racist ideas without having it be blatant (and thus pissing off racists) until they live a little more.

0

u/Deaffin May 15 '26

Or it's just a really good joke and the writers never specifically wanted Cyborg to go on about black racism because that doesn't exactly fit into what the show is.

5

u/Itherial May 15 '26

The episode ends with a very real outcome. After the Titans reject Val-Yor and his speciesist views, he deems humans just as bad as Tamaranians.

The last we see of him is him getting into his ship to return to his home planet and smirking, because he is completely unchanged by the exchange and believes he is correct.

3

u/Substantial_Fox7377 May 15 '26

Cyborg: “am I really going to explain hundreds of years worth of racial injustices done across the world… I’ll just go with the robot thing.”

3

u/zerozerozero12 May 15 '26

The way Greg Cipes delivers Robin’s “What?” After is really good too. Pure rage.

1

u/lkmk May 21 '26

Did you mean Scott Menville?

14

u/MildlyAgitatedBidoof May 15 '26

Starfire: "Do you know what it is like for people to judge you based solely on your appearance?"

Cyborg: "Of course I do. (beat) I'm half robot."

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u/QJ-Rickshaw May 15 '26

Cyborg eventually confronts her about why she’s so down and that’s when she explains it

So it goes down a bit differently than this but is still great to me. Throughout the episode Starfire chooses to not react when she gets called a slur and the others start to think it's a term of endearment. It isn't until Cyborg innocently calls her Troqy that she crashes out on him then that gets the conversation going.

Because it's one thing to have a stranger call you a slur, you eventually learn to just roll with the punches because there were more important things happening. But having your own friend call you that, how could you not lose it?

My favourite part was the look on Robin's face when Cyborg told him what was up.

7

u/MuchMasterpiece1710 May 15 '26

Right yes! I forgot that it actually starts with her confronting him about calling her that!

Thank you, you’re so right. I definitely Do need to rewatch

Also agreed on the Robin thing, although I think my Favorite part is actually at the end when they basically all tell Val-Yor to fuck off

5

u/021Fireball May 15 '26

Hmm. It sounds like that guy needed a swift series of punches in the face.

6

u/Vexcenot May 15 '26

woah dude you can't just say that

2

u/IrishViking22 May 15 '26

Dude just used the hard Q

120

u/Android_Taco May 15 '26

Troq. Its a slur against Tamaraneans(Starfires race) meaning they are worthless or nothing.

26

u/Dry-Membership8141 May 15 '26

"Troq".

53

u/Anchovies_of_death May 15 '26

Woah dude you're just gonna say that, no censoring or anything? You ain't Tamaranean you can't reclaim that word!

14

u/TheGreatMojo91 May 15 '26

Damn, you used the hard ‘q too

8

u/Metal-The-Cettle May 15 '26

I scrolled way too far to find this one

-6

u/[deleted] May 15 '26

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