SPEAKER_09 0:00

Good afternoon. No, not to start that way. Yes, welcome back to the Blurred Spectrum Podcast. We are here, still continuing the most melanated of summers, the melanated solstice. We are here with the episodes a lot of you actually have been requesting and waiting for, especially if you went to the last couple of cons that shouldn't have been, but were actually there. You saw them, you wanted to talk to them, or wanted somebody to talk to them and ask them questions. Blurcon, Otacon. There's a couple of other ones. I'm not going to talk about them, cons. We are here with some of your favorite artists who who, first of all, I was shocked stunned and amazed by their skill, their, their, their, their, their God, I don't have words. They're just so phenomenal in how amazing their craft is. Some of them made me double take. Actually, one of them that is on today made me almost slip when I walked past his table because of how snatched my head was when I was looking at his work that was posted up. Absolutely phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

So we actually did have to go to the ER. He's his next snap to McGuire.

SPEAKER_09 1:03

Never in my life. Anyway, so uh we are going to go ahead and, of course, first announce who is here today, starting with our panelists. Of course, starting with myself, your moderator, Suchino Shogun. Also, we have the Black McCoy.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

Oh, bonjour.

SPEAKER_09 1:17

We have uh The Doctor. That's good. We have Shample Bracelets. Oh yo yo. We have uh Miss Sayone Cosplay.

SPEAKER_06 1:28

Hello.

SPEAKER_09 1:29

We have Kaze Shinryu. Oh, hi. And now we have our artist, our black artist for today, starting with Miss Corona Akiba. Hello. We have oh, he of course changed his name in the 19th hour. Um, and I'm gonna say it wrong. I'm gonna say it fast, Mr. Polar Bear Toenails. And then we have Miss Frox Promenade. Howdy. So we we are here to ask the pressing questions. Uh no, I don't work for Fox News. I never will because these questions are gonna be facts and they're gonna be real. Uh so we're gonna give it to you, black, unfiltered. Uh, so first we're gonna start with Miss Karanaikiba. Tell us about yourself. Who is Karunaikiva? Why did she get started? Uh, just give give us the give us the uh the old kindergarten hello. How do we start off?

SPEAKER_04 2:35

Of course. Hello, everyone. I am Karanaikiba. I am a seamstress and an artist um currently residing in Baltimore. Uh, what I do, how I got started. Well, I am a third-gen seamstress. My mom sews, my grandmother sewed. Um, but interestingly enough, I learned how to hand sew from my dad. And then once I started to gain an interest, my mom's like, okay, I'll allow you to touch my singer.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

You can touch my true child.

SPEAKER_04 3:10

So I started making costumes. Uh, my first costume that I actually made was Scary Spice. So that's already dictating itself, but it was a little too accurate. My dad's a little too Jamaican. So there's like no pictures of it, I swear. Right, right. So that's out. So as I started to make more costumes for Halloween and stuff like that, uh, make my own clothes, uh, because a lot of times my mom, or at least assist in making my own clothes, because my mom would make our clothes a lot for like church and all that other kind of stuff. And it wasn't until um I was 18. And in our family, when we're 18, you get a gift uh for you know, like reaching that age. And mine was actually an anime convention. I had no idea that that was a thing. I was just obsessed with my little iron-ons on my t-shirts, and I thought that was like as best as we're gonna get, as well as watching it on TV and wrecking my computer with lime wire downloads. Podcasting all knows uh the history of lime wire, right? So after that, once I realized I was like, wait, I can go ahead and I can really like I can make these kids, I can be these characters, and it was just a downward slope of obsession from there, and that's where I'm at today.

SPEAKER_09 4:31

Phenomenal. I mean, I think as you said, you know, without dating yourself, uh, all of us have, you know, ventured on this path of not necessarily being artists, but just being whoever we wanted to be, and it's always, you know, based off of our parents, based off of our you know, experiences, things we wanted or didn't want to do. Uh, but you know, you you said you started a Scary Spice, but what was your first like anime character that when you saw it on the screen, you went, because you you just said, Oh, I can be this person, I can be these characters. What was the first anime or even gaming character that was like, Oh my god, I I've been scary spice now. This is who I need to be.

unknown 5:13

Right.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

So the album was actually um, it did. I I never really made the connection before until it was uh at that anime convention when finally I my mom kind of like pushed me out of the car and like right into an in Yashika's player. I was like, yo, he's real, but then not really, but then I go to the It was just it's like and that was like that's when like the light bulb went off. I was like, holy cow, I can actually go ahead and we can actually start delving to these wonderful uh things and like creating these characters, seeing just those like otherworldly shapes that you see in anime and manga of like the really over-the-top lavish hair, the really accentuated sleeves and the long, like really detailed causeways, like that can actually translate into real life. So that's why my motto is creating fantasy and altering reality, because it's just taking those concepts that seem almost impossible and creating them and bringing them to life now. And it's just one of the things why I'm so obsessed with uh this amazing thing called cosplay.

SPEAKER_09 6:28

Lord and mercy. Because I I I've you know, like I said before, or I said, you know, before we started recording, I have seen several of your cosplays. Like I I'm not a cosplayer. Um, many of our panelists will tell you.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

Um, but no, most of all he he had his first cosplayer blurred comment. I got it.

SPEAKER_09 6:44

I did not have literally I was myself, so I don't know if you're saying I'm a character on my card.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

We're not going to keep revisiting that.

SPEAKER_09 6:51

We can do this every episode. Anywho, like I was saying, um, I have seen a variety of cosplayers, and each of their different uh uh uh skill sets and talents you can see, you know, born from what they decide to either put on or what they decide to uh in Miss Ione's uh uh case, you know, paint themselves with. Um, and a lot of yours are very, I don't say, well, unique is the word, but also it's you you not only do you tailor it to yourself, you kind of uh embody the character in a whole nother style. So what was what was the what was the inspiration behind like the deciding to make not only take those characters but make that character your art and make it a part of yourself?

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Well, I think a lot of that comes back to the point of whenever I started making my own clothes and I started realizing that a lot of clothes that come off the rack don't quite fit me um because of like certain shapes that's you know, the generic shape for everyone, which is why they go and they mass produce, it doesn't quite fit my body. So that's like uh it started with a little bit of tailoring already when it comes to that. So that just kind of bled over to my cosplays as well. And when it comes to just designing the cosplays as well, I really like taking the actual, honestly, most of them are creatures now. I'm feeling I'm getting the habit. I'm getting the habit.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

It's okay. Like humanoid forms are just so a dama dozen at this point. We're really trying to diversify.

SPEAKER_04 8:31

So I really like taking just certain elements of, I guess, like those characters or those creatures, and seeing if there are different ways that I can interpret them, or if I could take this original concept and build on it a little bit more. Can I turn this into something that uh would work well? Does it move the same? Does it uh does it give the same kind of feel when you see it? Um and a lot of the stuff that I'm really the most I'm loyal to when it comes to all of the designing is mainly just the color and applying color theory to a lot of these things. Uh sometimes shapes, sometimes they alter, uh, sometimes they stay the same. But ultimately, I think that's really there's a whole lot of elements kind of going into the thought process before I, before everyone sees the final result on Instagram. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_09 9:28

Awesome. Awesome. So, you know, one of the things that you know we've done many times on our podcast is you know, we asked our our our cosplayer panelists, you know, what was the inspiration behind, you know, certain you know, cosplays. And you know, one of the big questions we've been asking the last year is because of the pandemic, you know, you can't go to conventions. And you know, we've had several episodes and we even talked about it at BlurredCon, you know, where we just got back, uh, you know, we just got back into being outside and letting people see us. Uh, and you know, the the the kind of continuous three seam of thought is you know, insta, we all of us, all of our cosplayers had to turn to Instagram to portray themselves, to be able to embody those characters. So the question is, now that you've actually been able to get outside of the house, how did it feel? Because I uh like I said, you know, you stepped out with the tentacruel and wasn't ready. Um but how did it feel? What what what caused you to want to choose TensorCruel? Uh, was that even the first one you decided to cut step out of the house or did you go to another convention before it? You how did it feel to finally be back outside, if you will?

SPEAKER_04 10:39

It was exhilarating and frightening all at the same time. Um, mainly because uh my immune system is trash. Oh man. And um, but it was also really exciting to finally get back into conventions again. Uh, I had to definitely operate differently um post all yeah, you know, like when returning back to conventions, uh, because uh, you know, I wanted to make sure I kept my distance. That hat definitely helped. Uh mainly because people had to stand back a lot to get the full like uh silhouette of it, which was which was more of a comfort for me more than any.

SPEAKER_09 11:20

Made your own six feet sign.

unknown 11:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

Right. I was like, but it was it was so nice because normally when I go to conventions, I go to several a year. Um, I travel a lot, I give panels that focus on diversity and color theory often, uh, as well as cosplay. And um so I was going extremely frequent, right? And and then all of it just kind of stopped. Yeah, exactly. And it was it was a little distressing. Um, you had to definitely go ahead and kind of adapt to what was going on and all that kind of stuff, but it was nice to finally because I've actually been quite excited for Odacon again, because I've been going since 2011, I think. So it was nice to finally kind of get back into the groove again. It was a little it was a little shaky, forgot how to pack. But I think it's like I'm finally kind of like getting back into uh the old routine, which is really nice. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_09 12:22

Uh, so you know, I guess I'm gonna ask everybody this question. So I'll you know, of course, start with you. And I I'm uh I'm sure actually I might let the black McCoy ask this question since they love quoting Daylada. Uh, but what is art to you? What is your black art in your mind?

SPEAKER_04 12:39

Oh, that is my life source than anything else. When it comes to just art in general, I have a need to create it, and I've noticed that when I don't create, and actually it's a uh emotional downward slope for me. So really say that thoroughly say it louder.

SPEAKER_08 12:58

Say that one more time. Right.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

Like it it fuels my soul, it fuels my life, and now I'm actually thankful to say that it actually finances my life. Right?

SPEAKER_02 13:09

So when it comes to just fancy just now, you don't even know how much. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 13:20

But it's just one of those where um I need to create it. I love creating, I love ingesting it. I love seeing others um thrive in their art as well. And I think it's just it's such a wonderful thing, but it's also a necessity, even though not a lot of people think that. Um they treat it more like a luxury more than anything else. But and especially during the worst of the pandemic, I I'm glad that a lot of people now realize how much it is needed, yeah, and uh how much it actually got us through the worst or the thick of it, really. Um, but yeah, that's how I truly feel about art. It's a part of me. Whatever I create, whatever comes from my hands, uh, is just a small piece of me that has come into existence.

SPEAKER_09 14:09

I dare not ask you another question because that's that's a great point to leave off on. I'd actually sound bite. So uh the black record, we're gonna cut that one down. That was beautiful. My life source, my my flux light, my spark essence.

SPEAKER_04 14:23

That's exactly it.

SPEAKER_09 14:25

So from one artiste cosplayer to another, we must ask Miss Fox Promenade, how are you doing, Mademoiselle? What's what how did you begin? How did you start? What where where is art for you? And where is uh how how did it begin?

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Um oh sorry. Hey, we can see her. I feel like hi. Um I I have this running joke that TV was my dad, TV is my father, biologically. Um and uh I started watching anime getting VHS tapes from Blockbuster on Friday nights when my mom was getting ready to go to work. And I was five or six years old the first time I got a Pokemon VHS.

SPEAKER_06 15:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

Um, and a Sailor Moon VHS. And sitting at night, all I could think about was I love everything that's happening in front of me. I want this all the time. Um and so just I really say I've been drawing since I was five. I'd pull out any random piece of paper and I would try and copy down whatever I was seeing. So drawing Sailor Moon from like six years old, doing Pokemon designs and turning Pokemon into people and um trying to make comics at a really young age and doing terrible because I was only watching Case Closed at the time. So huge ears, huge ears. I still draw all of my characters have huge ears. I love big ears. Thank you, Detective Conan.

SPEAKER_08 16:00

Yes, Conan.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

Um and just a lot of influences like that. I don't really have any other. I guess my I I have some people who are artists in my family, but a lot of it was stuff that I kind of had to kind of just start seeing on my own, making friends in school who also liked art. Um, wow, making friends in school. A concept.

SPEAKER_08 16:23

A concept, a construct.

SPEAKER_03 16:25

Uh and then just from there, it's just it's just always been my thing. My mom was really encouraging um as with me being an artist, she always just said, make sure you get a business minor. She doesn't really care what I did. Um and uh character illustration is definitely my thing, character concepts and designs. And um, I also do a lot of writing. Um so it just was so easy for me to uh just make it my whole thing, you know, especially before I even started cosplaying. I was just like, I love people and I'm gonna draw those people all the time in all these ways and see what I can do with it. Um I've always been bad with like canon character design and like I'm gonna do this thing that is exactly on the TV because I can't quite process it. Well, what if I did this instead? Okay, I like that better, maybe that. Um, which definitely translates into my cosplay because I hardly ever do any canon designs um for my cosplay. I think the only canon design that I wear constantly is Cusco. And uh that's barely can, but it was that.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

I feel like it would be disrespectful to do it to Cusco himself to do anything outside of his absolutely. I I I feel I like I feel like if you turn the movie on, I guess the movie would turn itself on, he would come out. Right. And like red-read you for no reason.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

He's getting hit by a door all of a sudden because he senses you changing his design. Right.

SPEAKER_09 18:00

Okay, so uh I have to ask. Oh well, I don't have to, I I choose to ask. Uh correct me if I'm wrong if I shouldn't, yeah. Um, fox promenade. Yes, this name, like, is is is your spirit animal the fox? Did you go on a like a nature quest and you and you found the spirit animal? Um I I've seen many of your cosplays and they are very fox inspired. So where did it come from?

SPEAKER_03 18:23

Lol, I like I like orange. Um I'm not I'm not gonna see that I'm a furry or anything. I'm not saying that. I know some people in my life will probably disagree with me if I said I'm not a furry, because I'm not a furry. Um, no disrespect to furries. I love furries. It's okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

We love you too.

SPEAKER_03 18:48

I'm just saying, um, you know, Zootopia is a great movie.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

It's all right. B Stars isn't even is an even better show.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

Oh, you know, yeah, season two is not bad. Anyway, sorry. Um I've I have always kind of just gravitated towards foxes as an entity and um promenade is a word I learned in French class in high school, and it's to go on a leisurely stroll. Um, so I always kind of thought that the idea of you know, foxes in general, which can be perceived however they want from the outside, if it's like, oh, you gotta be careful, your fox is gonna get all up in your chickens and you know hurt them, or wow, they're so sneaky over there, but you know, kind of an outside looking in perspective. But it's just uh it's just a cute way of saying foxtrot, if I'm being uh lazy about it. It's a foxtrot, but it's French because my name is French, so I was like, Yeah, that works. That works.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

I like it, it works perfectly.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

Also, if I were a furry, I'd be a fenic fox specifically. See, see, as a hypothetical, I'm not a furry.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

So, what's some what some of your next art and some of your next cosplay is gonna be uh are going to be of Dell Fox, is that correct?

SPEAKER_06 20:03

That's what it sounds like.

SPEAKER_03 20:05

Well, my my favorite Pokemon is Ninetales.

SPEAKER_07 20:08

I knew it.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

That is a fact. One of my favorite designs that I've done is this like shrine maiden style Ninetales, and I loved, I mean, I don't know if I'll ever cosplay it, but in terms of like character concepts, probably one of the best things I've done in a while.

SPEAKER_09 20:25

See now I have to ask the next question, which wasn't the question initially, but now I have to ask it. So of all the foxes in anime, other than Ninetales, because like there's I'm just saying there's a lot of them, you know, Renamon, and then you have uh, like you said, Del Fox and Karama, Yoko Karama, right? Uh we can go there. Um, which of the foxes do you feel like uh not necessarily inspired and uh inspired a cosplay, but like has inspired any of your artwork?

SPEAKER_03 20:55

Oh, definitely. Well, so karama may or may not have been my actual first love. May or may uh Naruto Uzumaki may not may or may not have been my second. Are we sensing a trend here?

SPEAKER_06 21:09

We're sensing a trend.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

Um we went from like smooth and sensual and possibly and possibly murderous to just like yeah, but in in between those two is the magnum opus of foxes, which is secuyamon.

SPEAKER_09 21:24

Oh yes, I wasn't gonna say it. Yeah, but thank you.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Oh love yourself, please go love yourself and do yourself justice, respect yourself, love yourself.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

Like the duality of arcs between Tamers and Digimon and how it culminates into those evolutions, it's an absolute delight.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

Where were you when we did our Pokemon versus Digimon episode? This this feels like.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

I was probably had my love. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 22:04

But we can do a part two.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

Yeah. I could talk about Digimon writing for like three hours.

SPEAKER_09 22:11

Oh my god. That's how all the episode was. So you definitely would have been a part.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to derail the conversation.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

It's okay. That's typically how most of our episodes go.

unknown 22:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 22:23

We try to stay on track. Uh okay, so we have an idea of the foxes, right? So your all of all of the cosplays and even the artwork that I've seen, you know, and you know, any of our planners, please jump in, have been very, you know, very tailored to your inspiration of what art looks like. So my next question, of course, is like when you when you think about kind of close to Kern Aikiva's question, when you think about black art, when you think about art in general, when you think about your type of art style, is there a word or is there a feeling, is there an emotion that you could, you know, parallel with that?

SPEAKER_03 23:02

Um I'm I'm gonna say this as my uh I'm I'm kind of having a really hardcore character art right now. Um, and so for me, when it comes to you know, my art, especially because a lot of what I do is character writing and character creation, it's uh like actualization and because artist therapy, absolutely. Um, and when I'm able to uh get a concept or a theme or a motif represented into a person in an illustration, I'm able to put a little bit of myself or or a like a concept of even like you know, like trauma, you know, like how am I going to express these feelings and express these experiences through a character? Because as I'm making a character, even if it's just a Pokemon gajinka, there's a whole world being built inside of their garments and like around the way that they're built and stuff. Um, and it's it's yeah, it's a lot of actualization, especially because um as a black queer artist, uh, it really matters to me to be able to finally not only see characters like this or like me or who have struggles that are more uh are less represented, um, it also matters to me that uh I feel like I'm capable of putting this down and not being worried, like oh the Lenin's Melanie Langsence becomes they're uh you know dark skinned or their hair is super bushy and it doesn't uh part well, or also they're kissing girls all day. Like, how am I gonna worry about how people feel about that? And the best part is I don't give a shit anymore. Hey, yeah, uh it's a lot of self-actualization, yeah, grounding emotionally when I can create something like that that's mine.

SPEAKER_09 24:53

See, see how you asked the question and then like the quotable, write that one down too. All right, I got goose ones on that one. All right, I've got to say this name again. Um, so uh from one uh cosplay artist to a a a published artist, uh Mr. Polar Bear Toenails. I hope you know that this is this is gonna go down as your name forever.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Like we're gonna we're gonna stuck with it, ladies and gentlemen. I can't lie.

SPEAKER_09 25:23

Honestly, you could have waited with the TJ Sterling, but you you switched it. So now this like every time we tag you, this is what we're going to put. It just man, yeah, maybe you'll graduate from it. Who knows? We'll see. All right, so graduated from it to what uh that's uh uh fingernails polar bear hangnails.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

I don't not the hangnail, polar bear hair cool.

SPEAKER_09 25:48

Okay, so Mr. Polar Bear Toenails, how did it start? How did it begin? Um, I've as I said before, I've seen your artwork. Um, I had actually seen it before, but didn't, you know, of course, I didn't match the person with the with the artwork. And when I saw it at BlurCon, I was completely taken aback. Um, how how did you get started? You gave us a little bit of your story when we when we met with you at BlurCon, but give give our give our audience, give those who are listening, what made it begin?

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Oh, that's a great question, man. I I feel like uh, you know, creativity, artwork, it's something that I always gravitated to. You know, even as a little kid, man, like I think my first uh you know thing that I ever loved like was Looney Tunes. I mean, I had like stuffed animals and they were life size, and I just couldn't get enough of Looney Tunes and He-Man. Those are the two properties that just like my parents would sit me in front of the TV, and I had all the toys, and you know, just that'll keep him busy all day. We don't need no babysitter. Let the TV raise him. This is of course children of the 80s, but um, yeah, man, I you know, for me, I uh I felt like creativity just became kind of like normal, you know what I'm saying? Thinking of characters, thinking of stories. I always had little interesting ideas, and I had like really terrible like sketchbooks and uh construction paper I'd be drawing on and doing all kinds of wild stuff. And my mom's like, all right, you know, clearly my son is into art, so let's just put him into anything art related. And you know, unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of you know, uh black folks in that space at the time, yeah. Uh coming coming up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I'm from, like the art scene is is there, but there's not a whole lot of diversity. So it was always kind of like you know, finding the next, you know, amazing black artist to kind of be inspired by. And and I want to quickly just give a shout-out to a gentleman by the name of uh Paul Collins. And Paul Collins was a uh fine art painter, but he was the only fine art painter that was black in the entire city at the time, so he was a real big deal, and you know, uh my mom was good friends with him, and it was always cool to be inspired to see what this adult fine artist was doing, you know what I'm saying? So uh really incredible stuff to watch that growing up, and then you know, eventually comics came into the mix the late 80s, early 90s, uh that style, uh the Jim Lee's, the McFarlands, you know, the John Burns, the um John Romita Jr. Uh, so many amazing artists that, you know, were just, I guess, kind of a fluke discovery, just showing up at a store with my mom, my brother, and we just started to kind of dive into the amazing experience of what comics were. And um, I think from that moment on, I knew that I was gonna be drawing comics. I I don't think I even said it out loud, but I'm like, this is what I want to do. I want to tell these types of stories, but I want to tell them, you know, with people of color, with black folks, with our people, with diversity as a whole. I want to incorporate that into comic books because I think we all knew back then there wasn't a whole lot of diversity. Nope. Just a tiny bit. You might get Storm and Bishop, thank you, maybe that's it. But again, they weren't really created by us or you know, uh, you know, with with our you know, writers and storytellers behind it. So I think for me, I understood the difference uh at a very young age, and I was like, how do I do something different? How do I create my own story? So I started writing a lot of stuff, and I've got these old mead notepads where you know uh I'm drawing on the cover, I'm writing stuff on the inside, and it looks like total garbage, but you know, there's something, some charm to those little interesting things, man, that uh you have as a kid, you know, there's just purity to it, and art is so pure um expression, especially just to express yourself with. And uh, I'm trying to think where I could so uh from that point on, it was just like art classes, art school, uh college, you know what I'm saying? I came out to the New York area. I interned at Marvel, where I was doing production art and design and stuff, and then getting my illustration degree at the same time, and uh which was a lot of fun. I got so much experiences where I learned like the business of comics that oh, hey, you can make money doing this if you really understand uh how to put something together professionally, how you hire the right people. Um, you know, I think the biggest you know issue sometimes we have as artists is we want to do everything. And I think we got to focus on one or two things that we're really, really good at, and you know, become and continue to refine that. You know what I'm saying? For me, it was always the drawing part, and then now I'm doing the writing and drawing, these two things, and then running this comic book company. And uh, have so much respect for cosplayers of because you know, as uh Fox Promenade and uh Kuran Akiba are talking, I'm looking at their IG and I'm seeing that they all start with these illustrations and then they build on top of that, and then you have this fully finished product, and it's such a similar uh you know walk, you know what I'm saying, and in terms of like the comics. Like we start out with these ideas, these character illustrations, and then we bring something to life. Uh, so it's the same energy, it's the same vibe, and I and I just love seeing the creativity with all of y'all. Um, so I'm gonna be googling and checking on y'all while I'm doing all this and just getting ready for the inbox DMs, all that stuff. But uh I'm sliding in, y'all. But um, yeah, that's a little bit of the journey, man. And you know, I started Ray Comics My Business in 2015, really with the sole purpose of telling amazing stories about you know black and brown characters um in you know, exciting uplifting situations, you know, with no electric powers.

SPEAKER_08 31:40

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

You know, fun fact uh no electric powers. Um, but I kind of wanted to kind of splice all the things I loved growing up in the 90s. Like I loved like the Tokukatsu genre, you know, Sentai. So I was grew up Beetleborgs, you know, Ultraman Six, Power Rangers, the Gyver, uh Berserk. Like, I loved all these really weird, crazy genres. I discovered anime um at Blockbuster, you know, in the weird dark.

SPEAKER_09 32:10

I feel like I'm the only one who didn't discover anime through Blockbuster. You're not the only one who didn't discover anime through Blockbuster. I'm the only one who's never watched an anime from Blockbuster.

SPEAKER_02 32:19

I can't recall, so I can't remember that.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Um, I'm I'm it was weird because they had the anime section and they had like the dirty movie section because that's where the hentai stuff was. I mean, uh supposed to watch.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

Let's let's all be honest with ourselves. At a certain point, it's all one and the same. Thank you. Thank you. Very true. Very true. Hentai or not, they they they blend too much of the same tropes.

SPEAKER_10 32:47

Hentai's stores, just put it out there.

SPEAKER_02 32:51

There's an octopus.

SPEAKER_08 32:57

There's a horny octopus somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

There's a horny octopus waiting somewhere in in like the these these stores, ladies and gentlemen. Just some weirdo freaky stuff. But um inspired by so much anime, man. And I just love that that genre. I love the 90s, and I was like, I'm gonna basically make a comic book company that you know, and make stories that were really an homage to that era. Uh, and that's really what our flagship title, Okamist, is about. It's a sci-fi martial art action story about a young man, um, young black boy that has a latent superhuman ability that could potentially save the human race. And he's got these, you know, Sentai-esque warriors that are actually the villains of the story that have travel from the future that are trying to extract that hidden ability for their own purposes. So kind of an interesting spin. And you know, as they get close to the main character, he evolves, and there's this like hawkish, you know, doomsday vibes that you're gonna get, and and it's really kind of a weird, off-the-wall um narrative that's completely you know different than what you'd expect from a superhero or a comic book story. And uh, you know, for me, it's like how do we tell stories that are different and unique? And that's everything that we do going forward. It's kind of like the barometer, our compass. How do we tell a different narrative? How do we spin it so it's so you know unique that when you walk up, you kind of get surprised. Like, I didn't know I was looking for this, but now I am.

SPEAKER_06 34:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

And that's like our kind of our mission as a whole. And um, yeah, it's a little bit about myself and Ray Comics. And uh, you know, now again, I'm gonna go by polar bear toenails is my new shit. I'm gonna start telling people at conventions. This is my new thing.

SPEAKER_09 34:36

Uh you easily could have called yourself Ray Comics after you would have been fine. Um but I I so I I will have to agree your your approach, uh Ray Comics approach of you know, kind of shocking the masses, if you will, and having people kind of walk up and say, I didn't know I need this, because that's literally how I felt when I walked up to your table and I like I felt the sense super sensi vibes, I felt you know the abilities that were not electric uh based. I like I felt and when I opened the pages of the comics that I purchased, y'all go and purchase some of these comics, they are phenomenal, yo. Like I got I would show you my room, but you know, there's a lot of poster up here from Ray Comics, absolutely phenomenal. I bought way too many, it's never way too many, but I bought a lot. I'm scratching back by the way. Um but they were they're so detailed. Money well spent. Ah, no, definitely. No, they're so detailed. The artwork is, and I I like to say that your the artwork um from your comics is so thick, and I say that because the there's such depth through the color, there's so so much depth in the storyline, there's so much depth in what you're reading and what you're seeing, and you can make such a connection. Like my my nephew saw the characters in the book in the comic and was like, What is this? Like he asks the question. Normally he sees things, he's like, Oh, okay. But he asks, What is this? He wants to inquire because he sees people with my skin tone, with his skin tone, and it's with his sister's skin tone, with his cousin's skin tone, and you know, we're a lot of different shades over here, but um, the it's the the quest the the the inspiration behind being able to see yourself on a page. We say it all the time, we always want inclusion, and you just mentioned it before, you know, back in the 80s, 90s, you know, we had Storm, we had Bishop, and then about 10 years later we had Static Shock. Um there's a lot of other people, but I'm just saying, um, you know, Jon Stewart, um, black lightning. Um, uh, but you know, to have something of that nature, what was I mean, obviously, you you just said it, you wanted to, you know, build something that um creatively uh creatively uh you could showcase the things that you saw in the past, but give it a modern spin and put us in it. Um other than shocking the masses, is there a another goal? Is there something else you want to do as you move forward with your comics uh and your artwork?

SPEAKER_00 37:04

That's a great question. I mean, I think the biggest underlying theme throughout each book that we create is just really trying to give a window into the black experience. Uh, you know, Kale Alonso, the main character of the story, you know, is you know, an orphan. He doesn't have any parents, he doesn't know really who you know who he is. And I think a lot of times, you know, we as black Americans are detached from some of our origin, you know, where we initially come from, you know, what tribe we're really from. And, you know, as I was doing my you know ancestry DNA test, you know what I'm saying? I find out, you know, saying, oh, you know, 45% Nigerian on my mother's side, it's an incredible thing to like discover, you know what I'm saying? But it's like, you know, without these types of things, it's like without like and having that direct connection to that culture, it's a little bit of a mystery. And it's like, you know, I mean, uh with the comics, with Okhumus, it's like you're seeing this young man figuring out who he is. He's like, okay, I'm essentially on this trajectory of like, okay, I want to do science, I want to understand biogenetics and geology, so I can learn more about who I am internally. That's his goal when he shows up at Purdue University in Okamist issue one. And you know, Purdue University, it's the number one school for genetics, so it was purposeful that we chose that. And um, his goal is to figure out who he is. Um, and then all of a sudden, these warriors from the future show up and they're targeting him. And again, we're always targeted by some type of authoritarian figure. It's my kind of my uh way of speaking about police brutality, it's my way of speaking about any time we're trying to do something, and then there's some type of gatekeeping bullshit energy that shows up. Yeah, um, and that's really what happens to this main character in this book. And then from that point on, you know, we always have this saying where it's like, you know, saying you're you know, you keep poking this sleeping dragon, this motherfucker's eventually gonna wake up and start burning your ass. Like that's really what the time it is. So this character, Cale, you know, has this late ability awakens, and then from that point on, these people who are you know oppressing and trying to you know steal something from him are now on the run, and there's just this whole dichotomy of again, you know, this whole you know, again uh idea of me speaking to our experience, you know, through a narrative storytelling element that you can relate to. And it's not, I'm not gonna hit you over the head with it, it's not preachy, it's just well told. It's it's again put into a yarn that that you know you can unravel pretty easily.

SPEAKER_09 39:37

I uh I was I was about to say don't give them too much, but they need to hear all of that to know why they need to go and purchase it because it's spoilers, darling, spoilers, right? It's so phenomenal though. Um, so you know, one thing that I always, you know, and I've had this conversation with Kazi Shiny, and I believe the doctor as well, is you know, we you we see a lot of you know anime and cartoons and you know uh comics, and you know, we always ask about like a movie adaptation or anime adaptation or a game adaptation. Do you have any um kind of future prospective vision in that direction, or you kind of stay in the path of Ray Comics at the moment?

SPEAKER_00 40:18

That's a great question. And what one thing I want to quickly mention about um anime. I mean, I think all of us know since we're all anime fans, we've been watching it for you know at least 20 years, yeah, that you know, the diversity in anime is is is is not really existent. You know what I'm saying? You know, here and there we have certain characters, but there's also a lot of racism involved in anime. I mean, you know, some of our favorite animes have, you know, uh, you know, the only black characters or the pseudo-black characters, like Piccolo, for example, yeah, portrayed in this light that's not so positive. So I think it's it's just so important for us to really create our own everything, you know, whether it's comics, anime, movies, TV, show, games, everything. Um, but I think the base of that really starts with building a library. Um, you know, uh my main goal with Ray Comics is to build a uh a library of really great stories. So when you know the film TV and the game people and all these folks start calling, like, hey, what do you got? And I'm like, oh, I got volumes of shit. You know what I'm saying? I got all kinds of stuff ready for you guys to check out. What do you want? You want, you know, a cyberpunk story, you want a sense-esque story, you want a sex comedy, you want this, you want that. What do you want? We got it all, and I think that's um my goal at the moment. I I've been, you know, uh lucky, I guess, to just you know get some people interested. Like, oh, hey, what do you you know, on some Hollywood shit, but like, you know, it doesn't really do much for me. Like, I really want to again continue to honor the fact that I love comics, you know what I'm saying? And and all that stuff will happen. Um, but we all know it's like 10 minutes of an animation is like 10, you know, like 10 months worth of work. Yep, you know what I'm saying? And then people need to eat, and you know, yes, they can't just have ramen the entire time.

SPEAKER_09 42:03

They gotta have to learn from the third Hokage, they cannot.

SPEAKER_00 42:07

Yo, yeah, so it's like you need you know, but you gotta pay a team for that type of stuff. So, you know, if you gotta do it, you gotta do it right. You gotta have the butts and the seats, you gotta have fans behind it, and that's how you do you build that with the the content in that library.

SPEAKER_09 42:21

Okay, and then of course, I have to go to the question I asked our other two guests for today. You know, um, your your artwork, uh as you just said, is you know, it's embodied into your your comics, into the stories that you're trying to portray and give out. So, for you, what is art? What is black art? And why also part two of the question why do you feel it's so necessary for black art to be seen, not just by us, by but by everyone?

SPEAKER_00 42:52

Uh really powerful questions, man. I mean, I think uh shoot, to me, art is black, like all day. I mean, like if you rewind the tape, you know what I'm saying, like we're the first storytellers, you know. I'm saying we're the first people to do really everything, you know what I'm saying? Whether it's you know, and and this just makes me think about you know, the list, this laundry list of black inventors that was on my grandmother's fridge that I looked at every single morning when I lived with her and my grandparents, and um how powerful it is to realize that it's like we've created pretty much everything, and you know, art's no different, you know, in terms of uh you know, the concept of what it is, you know, I'm saying the concept of expression, it it all comes back to us. And then uh your second question, and remind me of what that is because I just lost my train of thought. I apologize.

SPEAKER_09 43:46

I'm sorry, no problem. Uh the second part is why do you feel as though we not just for us black people, why do you feel like black art or your art needs to be given to all the masses, everyone?

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Yeah, I mean. So this is and see, I want to just shout out to all the the amazing women on this podcast, you know what I'm saying? Um, because I have a firm belief, and it sound maybe may sound a little different coming from somebody as light as me, but um, you know, I I I feel like the black woman is God, you know what I'm saying? Like everything comes from her, you know what I'm saying? Everything comes from that. So, really and truly, um the essence of what we do, you know what I'm saying, you know, comes back to our queens, you know what I'm saying? How do we edify, uh lift up, support our women, you know, our women creators, you know what I'm saying, and how important it is. I mean, you know, it was my mother that got me into comics, and and really and truly, um, you know, I think it's so important for everyone to realize that it's like, hey, we need to, because first of all, like, I don't know, I I you know, I got all of the women in my family when I see how they react to like you know, the beauty and health industry and how like they're not necessarily reflected correctly, um, you know, it's very it's real disheartening, you know what I'm saying? So and I and I I feel like a lot of people need to see that our narratives are extremely important, they're so rich, you know what I'm saying? Like without our narratives, there is no anything. You know, you take out the black dancers on TikTok, there's no other, there's no other good dancing that goes on. Can we talk about that for for a hot second? But before we do, it's like remove us from music, remove us from art, remove us from costume design. There's no art, there's no anything without the black experience. So um everyone needs to kind of like you know understand what it is and not try to appropriate it, but try to respect it, we're trying to honor it. You know what I'm saying? The same way you would honor our queens, honor the the work that you know is birthed from them, you know what I'm saying? Their sons, you know, I'm saying every person who you know has a dope story. And and every once in a while you go to a convention, you go to an event, and there are some woke people who are not black that say, hey, wait a minute, I want to support something that's not the status quo, you know, uh, you know, white-bred all-American male character that is, you know, chauvinistic towards women and every everything else, you know what I'm saying? So there are some woke people out there that understand. Let me you know see what's up with these new narratives. But long story short, our narratives are incredibly important, they're amazing, and they are uplifting and so rich that it behooves you to get into it because there's just so much there.

SPEAKER_09 46:30

Awesome, awesome. I see, see, you asked, I said it again, ask the question, you get a quotable statement. Awesome. We're definitely gonna cut that one too. I like that one. All right, so now a question for everyone, and this is of course, including our our core panelists. So we we're having this black arts or artist episode, uh, part one, of course, and we want to you know give our these artists the opportunity to promote themselves, of course, and you know, get their name out there to our you know listeners. But you know, a question I have is kind of piggybacking off of the black art episode episode question. Um sorry, it happens, it's okay. Right, uh yeah. Uh so when when you when you see a an artist, and this can be a cosplayer, this can be a uh uh a person who, you know, of course, draws or puts it on the canvas, um, this can be a dancer, this can be a singer, when you see a black artist, what is your first instinctive response? Like what's the first thing that comes to mind? What's your knee-jerk reaction when you see a black artist? And uh we can start with uh Miss Sione.

SPEAKER_05 47:46

Um I think it's it's it's inspiration because it's not something that we constantly see on a daily basis, um, and it's something that we crave to see on a daily basis. So I'm immediately inspired. I want to see what their thought process is. Like where, like, how do they get this creativity? Like, you know, I I would I love to kind of see how they were inspired. Every time I see a class player or an artist, I'm always thinking like how like what was their thought process? And I always like, I need more, I need to dig deeper, I need to, I'll scroll all the way to the bottom just to see the progression of their art. And um, and I'm always inspired by it because it helps me in my craft as well. Um, it makes me want to do better. Uh, it it makes me look up to them more because every single artist that I see is vastly different. Um, you know, you can have a cosplayer who cosplays Bleach or Naruto, but each one has their own spin on it. And I love how black people are so creative. We can take one subject and blow it up to different worlds and um things that you wouldn't even dream of. And that is for us, that is for the generation after us, the generation before us, because a lot of a lot of times this is not content we usually ever see. And so just to be able to witness it is a blessing. Um, and it for me, you know, art feeds my soul. Art is something that has been a part of me since I was a child. So to kind of see it, you know, being living and breathing into different variety is just so satisfying for me. Um, it really does push me. So I I always need to, I always need to see more. Like my Instagram, the people that I follow is 90% black. 90% black. That is who is on my news feed. I just I because I I love it. I love to see it. Um and it just keeps me going. It gives me so much inspiration, it gives me so much positivity to see black people really hone in on their nerddom and and own it and and you know, and be proud of it as well. Something that that could have had us ostracize or the black sheep when we're younger. And and now it's like live your truth and and just just own that shit. And so that's it just kind of like is a knee-jerk reaction, like, oh my god, I have to see more. I need to see more. And so I'll just spend, I would say, quite some time just fascinated and just kind of enveloped into a cosplayer or cosplayers or artists, um, you know, even utilities, uh, you know, and it's just it's just very, very much of a gift and a blessing just to be able to be in this generation to see it. Some people um, you know, could have passed and and never could have imagined that this was a space that we would have had created for ourselves. And so um, I'm just very blessed that I'm able to live and witness all this glory, uh, so to speak, within our space.

SPEAKER_09 51:10

Gee, I should have waited until you to be last. That was amazing. Um uh Kase Shinryu. I'm sorry to have you follow that up. Uh I've already had you in mind as next. So what is what is your knee-jerk instantaneous um uh reaction for whenever you see a uh the the the work of a black artist?

SPEAKER_11 51:37

Uh whenever I see uh black art, I feel like I'm uh I don't know, I feel like I see a piece of uh home. Um is this something very uh comfortable and you know, and while while neither of my parents were uh artists or artistic, my my home was definitely filled with uh, you know, like paintings and and figures, and the you know, the air was always filled, uh filled up with you know, something, either something grandma or my mom was playing this, you know, some somewhere within 50 years of the black artists just something's filling, filling, filling that space. Um, both, you know, so so this so this both audibly and visibly is this something extremely comfortable, um and safe, uh, and just you know, and I've and I've always been drawn to uh um just creative expression in uh all of its in a in a many of its forms. So uh yeah, if I uh if I'm just walking down the street and I just see a painting, I'll just stop it. I could be late. I could be like I'll just I'll just kind of leave myself for a second, just like okay, we're gonna we're gonna impart this uh into into into myself and just take a second and appreciate this. So uh um yeah, yeah, uh yeah, uh art art is so necessary. Um and and I'm not you know and I'm not sure how I would operate uh if I couldn't um you know uh consume and and impart in different uh creative pursuits uh at my leisure. So uh yeah, yeah, seeing uh see seeing uh seeing other black art like out in the wild is in the wild. It's like you know, it's like you know you fight you fight through that that white tundra then you see this this onyx oasis with the side. Oh no, yeah, not paying me. But uh but um but no, no, yeah, it's definitely uh home home is the best word to describe the the feeling I get when I see other black art.

SPEAKER_09 54:10

Okay. Umade. Black art, when you see it, what occurs?

SPEAKER_03 54:17

Um fortunately I've I've gotten a little bit more squared away and used to it now, but um growing up in an area because I'm I'm I'm from Texas. Um I moved up north about two and a half years ago. Uh also in Bmore. Hello.

SPEAKER_06 54:36

Oh, a lab. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:39

But I remember the first time I even came to a con up north. It was KatsuCon like 2018, and just the amount of black cosplayers that I saw at that con, I I was absolutely freaking out because I had never ever ever ever seen that many black cosplayers at a convention before and doing things that they didn't have to do just because the character was black or brown, or getting into music genres that they didn't have to get into because they were black or brown, and just awe and and uh definitely like Cyane says just inspiration and amazement. And it's it's uh compelling, it's fulfilling, and it just uh lights my fire up, you know. It's like yo, you're you're doing the damn thing. I want to do the damn thing. Um that amount of representation in you know, on film, off film, on photo, in person, um, in my ears that I just didn't really get exposed to as much um in my space. Like, yeah, Beyonce's from Texas, that's great, of course. Uh Negan Stallion's from Texas, Jamie Fox is from Texas, we breed excellence sometimes. Um but yeah, so for me to oh no, you're fine. Baltimore is like um so for me to be able to just see things like that, I am constantly in awe, and it reminds me to get out of my head and step out of the box that I didn't put myself in.

SPEAKER_09 56:17

Okay, the doctor. What's your knee-jerk reaction?

SPEAKER_12 56:22

So for me, I think have to think of an immediate reaction when I see you know black art. Um, it's a combination of kinship and pride. Where when I see that, you know, when I see black artists, and this can be art in really any form, like there's definitely that pride to see that, oh, one of us is excelling and you know, fighting against or really breaking through like this white dominated or white push field in a lot of ways, and showing our stories and our successes and representing us. And I get a huge sense of pride out of that. I love seeing that. And you know, because you know, these are black artists, I often see bits of myself when it comes in the stories that they tell. You know, there are experiences that you know, uh like many of us can relate to that often get highlighted through the work of these black artists that we otherwise don't really see a whole lot. So it's almost like akin to having a really close friend, like having some huge success, like, oh, your best friend just graduated or something like that, or you know, it's that level of someone I love and someone I empathize with, someone I care for, like is really doing something amazing. And that's kind of what I immediately think of, or my nature of reaction when I see black art. And I love that it's thriving so much now. We really are making this you know space for ourselves where we're celebrated, you know, not just tolerated. So yeah, I love that. Um, and I will say um I'm really glad that so many of the panelists mentioned art being this therapeutic element too, you know, because when you know, like for me, I'm definitely not a professional artist by any means, but I know like artist therapeutic for me, just what I create, but it's also therapeutic to see other black artists creating and excelling.

SPEAKER_07 58:19

That's kind of like that.

SPEAKER_12 58:20

That's something like it literally is like very positive and it's healing in a lot of ways. So, you know, all those kind of complex, mixed positive, you know, emotions that pride. I get all of that when I see black art and I love that, and I you know I'm always looking forward to seeing more.

SPEAKER_09 58:39

Amazing. All right, gotta do it, y'all. Mr. Polar Bear Toenails.

SPEAKER_00 58:47

You're having so much fun with that name.

SPEAKER_02 58:49

I'm keeping it you're you're given to us, and we are willfully accepting it.

SPEAKER_09 58:56

Yeah, your knee-jerk reaction, your immediate thoughts uh when you see black art of any kind.

SPEAKER_00 59:07

First thing is like, whoever I'm with, hold my beer, let me get my wallet. You know what I'm saying? For real. I mean, um, per to be honest, man, like just excitement, you know what I'm saying? I think the very first all black show I ever did convention-wise was the Schomburg Black Comic Fest, man. There was so much love, uh, so much energy, uh, so much the whole vibe itself was just positive, man. You know what I'm saying? And I felt like each one of us did something different. There was writers and authors and illustrators and you know, performers, you know, there's people who are doing kids' books there, and it wasn't just all comics. So to be able to go to an event like that and eventually come to an event like BlurredCon where it's even more robust, you know what I'm saying? Like it's really kind of amazing. It's just it's like this you know, you you walk into a room and you feel welcome, you feel like accepted, you feel safe, you feel like, man, this is a place I can grow, I can link with people who are like-minded. And when I see black art in a in a space, something like BlurredCon or the Schomburg Black Comic Fest or any other show that's like that across the United States, is really um uh just a feeling of of just uh again of all of awe, really, you know. And it's hard to explain it. It's because I want to, and really just this interest of like, how do I figure out more about what you do and your inspiration and and where what your journey and how that brought you to where you're at, you know what I'm saying? Like, because each one of us on this podcast or each artist has a very different artistic journey, their influences are so unique, and I I end up learning so much about you know, whether it's anime or stories that I've never even heard of. I mean, I've got a whole group of friends that are just black novelists that you know operate in the DMV area that do some amazing novels, and I've never really been a novelist person, and but you know, now I'm reading more novels because of them, so it kind of opens me up to a whole nother space of expression within the creative arts. Um, so I just look forward to that stuff, man. I look forward to those types of events and just the discovery because you know, I just like um uh my man, the doctor, was saying that a lot of times you go to some of these spaces and you'll see a lot of folks that are not us, but again, because it's it's it's something it's maybe their establishment that they built, and they're kind of either tolerating us or trying to bring us in one by one. But in in a space like Blurcon or these other con you know, shows, it's like, man, there's so much of what we do here, but it's so it's just it's so multifaceted, you know. There's not one table or one vendor that's the same, you know what I'm saying? Even if they're selling comics or it's cosplay, it's all different, and that's what I love about it so much. So, you know, just the excitement of just the the exploration and the discovery of something new that I've never even seen before.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:00

Ah, man, that's such a great point. Like, just the idea. I think when I first heard about the idea of BlurCon, I was, you know, and I heard that there was a dealer's floor, artist floor. I was like, I've been to conventions before, you know, different types of artists selling different things. I'm like, wait a minute, but they're all black. What's gonna be different? If they're all gonna be comic, you know, creators or the and everything, even if like five people in a row were all selling comics or all selling posters or all selling some, every single piece of art was individually different, unique in some shape or form. And yes, I did go to each and every table and buy something different, but that's not the point. The point is each artist and each uh creator was was creating something just wonderful and beautifully made, and it was each and every one of those things was inspiring and just be just beautiful to see. Uh, but I wasn't supposed to go yet, so I was supposed to hand it over to somebody else. So uh shampoo bracelets when you hear black art, what is your first instinctive knee-jerk reaction? Or actually when you see it, not when you hear it, when you see it. Sorry, see, visual.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:14

Okay, um apologies at the same time. I'm dealing with child injury. Uh so no uh to be honest, when I see black art, I really don't get a reaction to it nowadays. I think in the beginning it was a little different, like when I was younger, like when I was first getting introduced to art as a whole, like anime and everything, it was different. Nowadays, I just look at it, that looks fucking good. I can just tell that's black. Uh like afterwards, like like icon cop is kind of messed me up. Like it's just like like like when I started seeing like the static shots, and then I got to introduce the icon, the hero. And I was like, oh snap, like you're not from the ghettos.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:57

And it's like, it's like it's more from like like black art nowadays isn't so much the visual for me, it's more of the either the storytelling of it or the audio of it. So the visual is like, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna guess it's gonna look good because I've yet to see black art that I thought looked trash. But like, but the same sense is like it's like how does that storyline go? Or how does that sound, or if it's music, how does that sound go? Like it was like what's the instrumental? Like, I'm always more of an audio person anyway. So it's kind of like it like the like seeing black art now, I don't feel anything special towards it because it's almost damn near an expectation at this point. Even when I see cosplay, it's like you gotta think you gotta get around the fact that everybody goes sit there and say, oh, you don't look like the anime uh character, or you don't look like this because you're not white, which that's stupid, first and foremost. And then like, and then like you can turn around and be like, well, you're not Asian, so that don't work either. But like you gotta figure out a real way to make that look, to make it look, you know, good or look right, or look original in some way, shape, or form, and then not look like every other black cosplay. And every time you see that, you see a little bit extra, you see a little bit different, something different in the way that they do their particular version of the character, or they do their particular character of choice. And in seeing that, it's kind of like now it's you're looking for the nuances. Well, how did you make this different? Well, oh damn, I see how you how you did, you know, how you did this look in comparison to the other person I saw do the same exact character, and or how everybody's doing the acoustic hoods but they add their own drip to it. Like it's like it's you know, it's it's it's almost like you're seeing this wide range. You you're seeing the same thing, but it's not exactly the same. It's always something different. And sometimes, yes, you gotta look harder than others. But if you look, you'll see that difference. You'll see how that person put the extra slice on their stuff. So now the easiest way to say it is when I see black art, I see individuality. And um and and you see, and if you look a little deeper, you'll see that creativeness that that particular individual brought to it to make it their own. It's not it's not a thing of just seeing the black art and thinking, oh man, that's great. It's seeing the black art and being like how being like that's yours. That's an ownership thing. Um so yeah, that that's what I see when I see black art out there.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:36

I definitely didn't know where you were going with that, but that was a phenomenal ending, dude. Thank you.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:40

I love uh Miss Carnai Keba. Black art, when you see it, knee-jerk reaction, what is it?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:52

I become inquisitive, I would say. Um what is your range when it comes to it? Um are you just showing one type of black person? Are you really showcasing just how um just how many different shapes and colors that we truly come in from different backgrounds, uh, different areas, uh different shapes, different sizes? Um are you really um just doing the one uh like a standard stereotype, or are you truly showcasing black people? Um and I really like to kind of see because of course, like what I was saying before, your art is a part of you. So it makes me kind of delve a little deeper and it was like, okay, well, now that I see this, you know, I was like, show me a little bit more about yourself and how you express not only you being black, but your art as well being black art. What exactly are what are your best moments that you're showcasing right there on your table? What is your first impression that uh you're showing me? And of course, as I as I go a little deeper into it, as like you're telling me a little bit more and more about yourself, about your background as well, without having to tell me anything, because your art is definitely speaking for you. But that's normally my knee-jerk reaction when it comes to uh seeing black artists and stuff.

SPEAKER_08 1:08:25

Miss Kern Akiba said, How deep is your love for me?

SPEAKER_09 1:08:28

That's that's literally what I heard in my ears. I was like, like the song was just playing.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:34

I was like, she was like, I see what you're doing, but how deep is your love for me?

SPEAKER_08 1:08:41

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:43

Can you just like read me like a bedtime story? I've been so quiet the entire time because I just wanted to listen to your voice. Like your voice is high. Like, I'm just saying, like, it really is sexy. So reading me is a promenade is an agreement.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:01

Like, I need you to like come up with like a special like series of notes, voice notes that you do that explain.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:07

Now, I'm not one to create collaborations, but we do have some models who has comics that could definitely turn them into audibles. And we have ladies with very, very exceptional voices, and you're saying that black women are the craters of life, so I'm just sure you know it out there. Let me know.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:24

I've actually started a podcast because I've gotten that a lot. Um, definitely let me know. Well, I'm always willing and open to collab with other creatives. I started a podcast that focuses on um folk tales and fairy tales from cultures of color with a hyper focus on American black stories. And um, actually, I'm going to be releasing the newest episode this week. So yeah, definitely let me know. I'd be more than happy to collab. I love being creative with other creatives.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:57

Sounds like I need to say polar bear toenails.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:00

Uh that'd be that we should take a notes out of here, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_11 1:10:08

Uh that that felt like when you like you didn't know using the shallow side of the pool, and then and then the water washes over your head. It's like, oh wait, we're somewhere else now. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:21

Like a voice of the ocean. Like a voice just give you a nice warm cup of tea before bed and pull the covers over you, gently turns the light down, dimming it just a little bit. Just a little. A soft kiss on your head as you doze off to sleep. And make sure you drink some water.

SPEAKER_12 1:10:36

Right. Stay hydrated, baby.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:43

And then you blink and you're waking up and it's dawn. Hello there, Starline. There's no such thing as a coincidence. What did Master Ugway say? There are no accidents. There are no accidents.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:02

Uh, the black boy. It is now your turn to answer the question. Black art, when you see it, what is your reaction?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:12

Uh so I guess I was actually thinking about this question for like the entire time. Oh, I know that's why I made you laugh. Oh, wow, wow, wow. Attacked. Um, but so a few things come to mind because I was like real, I was getting really emotional just thinking about the question. I was like, I don't know why. But um, so there is this. So sorry, I had to pause my brain before it started vomiting everything everywhere. Um so I'll start here. So there is this uh concept that Karl Marx talked about, talking about you know the alienation of the laborer from their work, which is now part of capitalism's you know overall horrible scheme in which to continue to oppress and remove people. Um, when I think about art, I think about the the more radical aspects of fighting against that alienation from one's labor, from one's life activity, from one's human nature, if you believe in human nature, or one's ability to produce themselves into the world. Like I see art as a means of recreating the intangible, kind of more internal mechanisms of the human consciousness in a physical space. Um, so when I when I see black art, I think of that longing and that depth that comes along with that. And they're like, so in the philosophy of art, there are like two other like really major concepts. So the first one is called sentimentalism. Yes, it's called sentimentalism, and it's um it's more in the realm of ethics. And so it's a meta-ethical view in which morality kind of points towards um the concept of grounding moral sentiments into one's emotions. And when I look at black art and when I experience black stories, black cosplay, black sculptures, um paintings, sketches, uh, any any any medium, honestly, especially when it comes to like dance and more, you know, um uh I guess physical or like immediate representations of it that kind of jump out at you and interact with you in some of those ways. And you know, art interacts with you um, regardless of the medium. Um it is taking this very powerful, I think, ethical and moral stance and making itself present. Like it, I find it to be inherently ethical and moral for black art to exist. And I also find it to be um radically like anti-moralistic, insofar as it's raging against this kind of standard that's been pushed upon it for centuries and told that it does not meet the expectation of this kind of like larger uh societal standard that we've all been, you know, forcibly assimilated into and have been trying to liberate ourselves from for a really long period of time. So that that that kind of that radical act of like moralistic liberation that is black art is what largely contributes to most of that depth for me. And the more longing aspect that I'm referring to is the other concepts in philosophy of art is called emotionalism. It was really, I almost got them mixed up. So emotionalism is this concept that inanimate objects, you know, different phenomena, they convey emotions to people through different appearances and by, you know, resembling or mimicking different kinds of emotional expressions. So the the mere representation of certain like iconographies or different idols, or even uh the the way emotion itself is conveyed through intangible objects is has always been extremely powerful to me when it comes to black art because it's like I use the word longing associated with this concept because like whenever I look at black art, I always pull something else from it. Like there is something else there that's trying to like scream at me, or I think that is trying to scream at the rest of the world, telling it, telling us how it feels, and trying to relay that that that depth and that depth of longing to us so that we can continue to recognize that there's more to our own kind of internal desires and our external world than we really have the capacity for, and art gives us the ability to communicate those facets of ourselves to others and not just to others, but to ourselves. So, yeah, that when I when I when I think about black art, longing and and depth are the two things that stand out to me because at the end of the day, when we really have to ground ourselves, regardless of whether we're ground ours grounding ourselves through gaming, through anime, through um cosplay, through film, we are engaging in the life activity that is art. We are engaging in something that was created by the the beautiful minds of Black artists and the their longing and desire to not just see themselves into in the world or in a specific genre or a specific medium, but to exist fully and wholly and unashamedly and without some degree of barrier or obstacle, saying that they don't have the right or the entitlement to do so.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:42

You have a standing ovation, she just she's muted, so she's standing there. Um and this is why the black McCoy goes last on the questions. Um, ladies, gentlemen, binary and binary friends. Um uh so the next question that I did have for everybody is you know, we've all talked about the fact that we may or may not see, or we we were slowly starting to see more of black art or black representation of ourselves in different spaces, whether it's cosplay, whether it's on the silver screen as they call it, whether it's in comics, whether it's you know, wherever it may be, TV. Um actually we were uh watching uh Suicide Squad and uh uh Kazi Shinryu was had happened to be mentioning, oh, we were both mentioning the fact that there was a lot of uh there's a lot of people of color um in in the movie. The only problem was that people of color was getting killed, and we were like, oh, we weren't ready for that inclusion just yet.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:41

Uh you can say wait, wait, wrong side, wrong side, wrong side.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:47

Wrong movie, actually, because Suicide Squad, you should have expected everybody getting killed, but that's not what we wanted though. It was a lot of lace fronts and braids getting killed, and I was like, wait, I wasn't ready.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:57

But interjection, it came out last year. If you have not seen The Hunt and you do enjoy white on white violence, it's a wonderful movie. White on white violence is what fuels black art.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:09

Wow, I'm not agreeing with that.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:11

Um, maybe our artists will it is the catharsis that we have yet to true never ever get tired of.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:21

But um so yes, uh talking talking about you know seeing ourselves or seeing you know uh uh more inclusion in different spaces. Um what what is what is something that you feel, or what is an area or an avenue or platform that you feel that although it may have it, or maybe it doesn't have it at all, you feel like we need more inclusion. We've been talking about movies, we've been talking about anime, talking about TV shows. Maybe it doesn't have it yet and you've noticed it, or maybe it does have it and you feel that it's not enough or it's not done correctly. Like um Polar Bear Toenails uh mentioned uh the uh different comic books or shows of the 80s, and you know how we had just Storm and Bishop, and you know, that was, and then of course Black Lightning and the Justice League, and that was kind of it. And we were kind of waiting and we were kind of hungry and thirsty for something else. Um, and it's so hungry and thirsty that we had to see ourselves and characters that in one way, shape, or form, we don't know if black or not. We still don't know if Skeeter from Doug was black. We don't. Um boy.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:29

We're only assuming still muted, but like right.

SPEAKER_09 1:19:35

I mean, no. We only we only think that Mr. Dink was cos Bill Cosby. We don't know. Um, there there's there's just so many that one alone. I just said it and moving on. Um, there's so many different characters that we've claimed, if you will, because there was no inclusion. We're I and I don't say we were forced to claim them, but we it was almost like a a unified psychological decision by almost all black youngsters, if you will, at that time that this character is one of us because I can't find myself anywhere else. That green guy, not me. That orange girl, not me. Her over there, maybe, but she's a preppy girl. That guy, that blue guy, Skeeter, that's all us. So, like, is you know, we we had to do that to ourselves. Are there any other areas that you feel that we don't have representation and that we need it, or we have representation and it's either not enough or the wrong type of representation? And for that question, I will start with the doctor.

SPEAKER_12 1:20:41

Good question. So I definitely think that there are a lot of different areas where we technically have some representation, but it is not sufficient representation. It could be very superficial, it could be very tokenistic, because oftentimes, you know, these many of these content creators they see just including a black character as an easy fix to the diversity question. Like, oh, well, you know, we have or we have two black characters, how can we not be diverse?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:11

Like we know how many you have is part of the problem. Pats on the back.

SPEAKER_12 1:21:17

But um, no, like, but it's done in a way where these characters often aren't developed, um, or you know, in some worst-case scenarios, as was mentioned, like they just get killed off very quickly, or they're just meant to be foils to a white protagonist. So they don't even exist as their own kind of independent entities, they're just a reflection and a plot development um device for these white protagonists who are the real center of these shows. And that is not sufficient representation at all. Like that's you know, it's barely representation at all. And if you do call it representation, it's just not enough. It's not reflective of actual Black experiences. It's not giving credit to, you know, black characters who deserve better development, who, you know, who deserve not to be, you know, kind of reduced to the most bare bones and simple tropes that come up over and over and over again. So, no, like I definitely think that this requires a real rethinking of what we need when we talk about diversity, you know, and when you think about like, you know, how you create like black characters or really characters like anything beyond kind of the standard white male protagonist, like, you know, it has to be thoughtful. It has to include input from members of that community. That's also critical, because many of these issues would be either resolved or at least, you know, significantly improved if you actually had black people in the room, you know, meaningfully contribute or create these black characters. And you know, you really just need to sincerely care about this as an issue. And that's what you know, a lot of this comes down to. Like this just can't be an afterthought, you know, or trying to check a box that oh, you kind of have to check to appease certain people. Like, no, you care about having black characters who are actually reflective of black people. Yep.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:22

Excellent, excellent. Um, it's current Akiba.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:28

Um when it comes to just like different aspects of art, I feel this uh along the same lines with The Doctor, that all around we need more. But in particular, one that always seems to strike me more than anything else is just sci-fi in general. That uh not only are we underrepresented just in sci-fi and fantasy, but in particular, because I'm so biased towards sci-fi, that uh a lot of times we get I don't want to curse, like the feel free. It's okay. It's a lot of we get the shit end of the stick when it's a lot of it. And um, I think a good example of that was the recent star uh Star Wars trilogy. What happened to Finn was just such a slap in the face from the beginning of it, where we're uh where we're definitely being set up to see that he's going to become a Jedi. There are so many hints, so many clues um that all the audience read as him ascending towards becoming another Jedi, just for him to randomly find the one other black girl in space and be like, oh, that's cool. You're kind of dope, I'm kind of dope too. We don't really have to be like a thing story-wise, but whatever, everything's complacent. Now it's like I've I walked out of there so pissed. Oh no, so right, exactly. But uh, there's so many things when it comes to just sci-fi and particular and fantasy as well, when it comes to just black people in general, that we could add to uh these stories to make them even more incredible. And it's just the actions behind everything are just so lackluster. And and it does the thing that what Doctor was saying, that it's just okay, cool. We got the one black guy, let's throw in an Asian chick over there and deal. We're good, we're all set.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:42

We got a white passing Latino in here as well. Yeah, exactly. Give me and then we're the mighty morphine power rangers, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:25:48

Exactly. Let me get let me be a little extra spicy, throw something, someone ambiguous in there, and you're welcome.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:56

It's like you added on the air, don't leave a bay leaf in there with my leaf.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:12

Right, it was like, but uh, he hit on a lot of points that I agree with a thousand percent. You have to care and you have to listen. Uh and the it's very blatant that there's not enough voices from our community in the room, and it's really nice to see that there are people out here much like um polar bear toenail.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:38

Yeah, the prices. So we're gonna make it, everyone has to say it. I know, I try not to.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:46

Right. That is, you know, I'll go ahead. I see you. I see that I'm not invited to your table, so I will make my own. But that other table still exists, and we deserve a spot there as well. Why can't we have both? Why can't we have our own spaces as well as be in those spaces as well? We there's so many borders that black people have crossed that we have sended past. And when it comes to different topics, different types of art expressing our art, we always go and we add our own flavor to it as well. And I'm just like, I just don't see why we can't be included as well.

SPEAKER_09 1:27:28

Someone who has echoed a lot of those sentiments is actually Miss Sayane Cosplay. Uh, she's said many of the exact same words that you stated just a couple moments ago. So I'll let her go next because I know you I I can see it like kind of showing on your face. They're like, girl, mm-hmm mm-hmm. I'm gonna let you go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:46

Go ahead, give us a little shake. Go ahead. Glory.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:52

I live for sci fi. I live for horror. I know that a lot of our listeners, they definitely. Definitely know me as like the macabre princess of the dark.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:05

Um we need to change my Instagram name.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:09

I should change my name. Um I'm I'm so sick and tired of black trauma. I'm so sick and tired of watching black trauma. I hate it. I hate it with a fucking passion. I just can't stand it. I can't, it gives me like gut-wrenching, revulsive, like I just I just want to puke. And so whatever what always brought me joy was science fiction. Um, it is something that has been near and dear to my heart. Um, and it's also a genre where it's it's kind of like you don't see a lot of it either in general. So it's already very specific genre. I mean, you could quickly run through Netflix of all the science fiction shit in a month, and then you're like, what the hell else do I have to watch? Which I have to deal with all of the time. And to think about science fiction already being a very specific genre, that definitely is telling that we're not fucking in it majority of the time. And so it's very frustrating for me. I love Jordan Peel. I love him because he is stepping up to the plate and he is including us where we're not a stereotype. I love that. I love that so much. I love that we're not the victims, so to speak, and we're gonna just fucking die out. No, we actually triumph. You know, we're we're thinking, oh my God, I've seen this movie before. Are we gonna survive? No, bitch, we fucking survived. Like, I love, like, give me all of that, you know, and and he he also brings a conversation piece to it as well. He brings the psychological, he brings the the community, you know, things that we kind of have side conversations of that barbershop or that that hair salon talk, he brings it to the screen. So it's relatable. It's relatable for us. It's not like we're grasping onto straws, it's not like we have to kind of think of a trope, like it's us. So we put ourselves into these movies. And I really appreciate for him. I know he has a movie coming out next year called Nope. And it's funny as shit because that stuff that we be saying all the time on the internet, like nope, mm-mm, nah, we know, no, not me.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:31

Did you hear that noise coming from the basement? Nope. Nope.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:34

You think I'm willing to walk slowly from the basement upstairs? No, bitch. I'm fucking running. Yes. Yeah, yeah, um, and I I love science fiction so much. I feel like there's also other genres that we don't see. I want to see more of Afro-Victorian, I want to see more Afro Punk, I want to see more like when you saw the wild, wild west with um with uh Will Smith, and it was like, oh, Afro punk, excuse me, uh steampunk. And that was my first time seeing steampunk, and a lot of us our first time was seeing steampunk. And I'm like, I need more of the us in there. I need more of that. Like, give me what the fuck that was. I need it. And so I really think that, you know, uh I feel like Hollywood is just trying, but they're not, they're not, it's not fast enough. I want it now. I want it now. I shouldn't have to wait another 30 years to actually start seeing us being sprinkled in to the entertainment. No, bitch, I want to floodgate. Like I want to fucking parade, put me up, put everybody up in that bitch. I want to see the entire melanated spectrum of us in there. And so, you know, I'm of course I'm very passionate about this. So I was just, I was just kind of just like, I'm there with you. Right. But uh I I want to see more of us in in categories that we see a lot of times with white people, but we never even thought it would be us in it. And I love how um there was something on Facebook that I saw we in our 30s were wearing all the shit that we wanted to wear when we were in middle school. You know, we could wear the the collars with the spikes and we could wear the platform boots and you know, we could wear the garters and and all that that shit that we kind of couldn't afford and we didn't know where to go. You know, and and I love how our generation is really kind of like grasping onto our childhood and living it because we didn't have that space, we didn't even know where to even start. We go into maybe a hot topic and we got looks like the fuck are you doing? That's not it, you know. Yeah, like urban outfits.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:48

And that was when like the topic was still playing like the heavy metal, death metal music before they transfer into like exactly their Disney shit.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:58

You know, and and that also opens the conversation that there was a lot more of us that thought the same thing than we thought. You know, you you play Paramour, we're like, oh my god, you listen to Paramour too? You listen to my chemical romance as well. And it's just so it's just like I I feel like, you know, of course, we're in a space now where we see more of us, even if it is virtually virtual, but it's like we really weren't alone. There were so many of us out here, you know, and we were just quiet because we just didn't have the, I guess I would say the encouragement to really share what was on our minds. And so going back to what genre, um, I think I'm sorry, I live near BWI. So there's like airplanes flying all the time in my house.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:41

We can only hear the we can only hear the brilliant air from your voice.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:45

But um, I really want to see us in those those categories we we already don't really see anyway. And it it opens the path for the new generation to really feel that they can be anything, do anything without having to answer to anybody, you know, have to feel like, oh, I shouldn't do this. No, bitch, fucking do it. Like, yes, like wear, wear the chains, wear the black lipstick, wear, wear the fucking Naruto headband when you're in elementary school, middle school, high school, college. Do that shit. You know what I'm saying? It really gives that encouragement to the next generation and also to us and our parents' generation who are nerds, they just didn't want to fucking say it.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:26

They just didn't want to say it.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:30

So that's my my little she.

SPEAKER_09 1:34:32

I told you she's gonna have a whole bunch. You agree with every single moment. See, see um Kaze Shinryu, your uh your opinion.

SPEAKER_11 1:34:44

Uh yeah, I'm I'm uh uh go in a slightly uh different direction. I think uh well one of my favorite things the one of my favorite things about art is that it is both a a mirror and a and a telescope, where it is is both uh reflective of of where you at and is also um uh it's kind of you know it kind of lets you know where you know where you're trying to go, uh, you know, like kind of off in off in the distance and eventually. And I think and I think representation-wise, um uh I think I think uh I think we were where we need to be seen the most is uh oh what's that uh I had the word and I lost it like three minutes ago. What's the uh uh cyber uh cyber where all the uh the Google people, the rich something valley? Silicon Valley. Here we go. All right, so yep, Silicon Valley. We got there. That's all that matters. Uh we need more black people in Silicon Valley because they because they are uh slowly, slowly ruling the world. They can like create a social media. They uh you know that it is this is like uh you know, technology is like the new expanse into the west. Like it is, it is it is it's the future. Um, so the more faces uh we have there, the more uh the more influence we'll have on uh where we're going as a country, not you know, not just in not just as a race. And and by and by that same uh uh token and touching and touching a bit on what the uh what the doctor said, um, you know, we need uh we need more uh just just black faces in Hollywood. We need to be, you know, we need to not only be in the room, we need more black studios. We need to uh like you like like we uh like we know Lions Gate, we know like uh you know we know the uh the woman holding up the light. We know you know we we we need to we need to see one and be like oh yeah, that's the black owned one. Like woman holding up the light. Uh isn't that Paramount?

SPEAKER_02 1:37:04

Is that Paramount? Okay, Paramount, yeah. I mean, I'm I'm surprised I remember it. So I mean the fact that he even said that just triggered like a series of images and I'm out of my own.

SPEAKER_11 1:37:15

Which is exactly what he means. Yeah. Um, so you know, so we uh the more uh the more uh the more we kind of you know get our butts in seats that make meaningful decisions, uh not not only not only will we uh be in a be in a place to uh kind of you know uh impart you know impart our like our will on what happens, but also the uh part part of the reason why we don't have good representation is is that the people who are who is making who is making these decisions and and making this art don't know what what we look like in these situations. But but but when we get our asses in these seats, they're gonna be like, oh no, that's my boss. Oh no, that's that's that person I look up to. Oh no, that's the person who created the the the the such and such, and you know, and I and I and you know and that inspired me to do this. So and and and and and when we get more people like that, then we'll then then we'll start to see representation of of black people that we can look up to and aspire to, and it doesn't even have to be from a black person because it's from somebody who looks up to black people. So um, yeah, so that's my yeah, that's my thing. Uh this big seats of Hollywood in Silicon Valley. Uh, I I think that is uh that that there's a large look this large amount of uh a lot of the money and control and a lot of where a lot of decisions are made as far as uh where we're heading.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:48

You're right. And I could I I could go into detail about the whole Silicon Valley thing, but I'm not gonna do that on this episode because it's not about technology.

SPEAKER_08 1:38:55

Um, so I'm gonna so we can get over to see the black and coi is thinking. So if I give it to the black and choir, we're gonna be here for a while. So I'm going to give it to Fox Promenade.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:07

Can you repeat the question? Understand. Oh, this was, you know, where where do we need more?

SPEAKER_08 1:39:18

Yes. Um if you feel like you don't know where it is, or if it's there and it's not enough, where do we need more representation for black artwork just in general?

SPEAKER_03 1:39:28

Yeah. Um I'm gonna get on my big gay soapbox real quick. Um not only am I tired of black trauma, I'm also tired of how it's it's still 2021 and the Haze Code still affects so much of the intersectional queer writing that you see for characters. We don't have queer-coded Disney villains as much anymore because they know they can't get away with that because we love them. Um, but it's still so difficult to see characters in spaces that's like, oh wow, this show's about oh, oh, she's queer and she's black, and this she's having a terrible time. She's having a terrible, awful time, and the entire story has to be about her overcoming or them coming, overcoming this terrible, awful time because she's because they're queer, and because they're brown, and it's right, exactly. And it's it's it's I on on the note of you know, we need more, yeah, it's great to see the representation on the screen, but we needed more representation in the writing room. Um, as much as I genuinely do love Shira and the Princesses of Power, that was one of my big qualms at the end of that. I because because I didn't know that was something I hadn't known until way after the fact. And I'm like, wow, y'all did a really great job with what you had, but you know what you could have had that would have enriched so many things and been able to, because how can I expect a white writer to give me the amount of subtext and dialogue spoken by black characters if you don't understand how to express my experiences via subtext? You have to just outright say things like that, you know. Also, when it comes to you know, dialogue and dialect writing, how do people talk? You know, how do people feel? Do you have to make this person so explicitly um I don't I don't like that phrase? I mean, it just sounds derogatory anyway, but like, how gay are we allowed to make this black person before everybody's upset that oh wait, but they're a hero. Well, we can't keep condoning all of these negative traits like kissing girls and um wearing dresses if you were born with a uh a male assigned sex and you know all these things, but we still expect you to go out and save the day. Yes, you can. Who cares? Oh, wait, we know who cares. You're worried about their money. Stop being worried about the money, worry about the people and the story and the storytelling because you're robbing us of the ability to see someone who already we already know this queer black character has strife and struggle because they're a queer black character. Get on. We get on, we know how to get on, so we need the characters to reflect that within ourselves because overcoming adversity and overcoming people telling us what we should and shouldn't do, and the boxes that they put us in, and the squares we can't be, and the stores we can't go to, and the collars that we can't wear around our necks, because we're gonna get called an Oreo, or we're gonna get told, Well, you're not really black, you know. You've got just enough traits that make you acceptable to the public that we can put you in these stories because they're not offending anybody. I want to be offended. Give me a black bitch, no, no redeeming qualities. I don't want redeeming qualities. If she's gonna be a villain, let her be a villain, but she's black, and that just happens to be a part of it. You know what I mean? Like, I'm tired of the excuses of that set. Well, I didn't mean to get that angry whole bunch.

SPEAKER_08 1:43:07

Oh no, there it is.

SPEAKER_09 1:43:08

It's like she went, she went from partly on her face to why I love Amanda Wall. Give it a quotes, y'all.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:17

No, it's super valid. This is literally what we're asking for the surprise gay at the end, or right they do all the oh god, I started sweating. So glad.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:28

Yeah, it's like, well, you know, actually, they've been married the whole time, but we couldn't show you because we were really worried about getting canceled. And I get that, because that's how you lose so many good quality shows, is because they were like, Well, if we tell you that this Latinx character is bisexual, we're not gonna get to finish our storyline. And I mean, how do you remedy that? You have to get post season three comics about Korra and Asami going off on vacation because they weren't allowed to be that on a TV screen, and that's why I love it.

SPEAKER_10 1:44:01

We got to see a whole lot, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:44:07

Right. I love I love turf fours, you know. But guess what? You can you can show uh sorry for spoilers if you haven't seen Lendon of Korra, but you can actually people blowing their own heads up, people suffocating people by murder withdrawing breath from their body, but I can't see these two grown-ass women kiss not once. That doesn't make any sense to me because it's it's too much for them to handle, so they're afraid to put us in spaces of controversy. We can survive the controversy because we do it anyway, you know? Like, okay, I'm sorry, but yeah, that's so let me pull it back. The short answer is everywhere, future episode, right?

SPEAKER_08 1:44:53

Right. Well, that's happening. That was amazing. We gotta riled up, y'all.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:01

Do we have a queer coding episode in the future? I think we do.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:04

Oh, please have me back for that because I won't shut up.

SPEAKER_08 1:45:09

We got quite a few people who won't who won't shut up about that topic. So I think we're gonna have a good one. Um, shampoo bracelets. It seems like you want to piggyback off of that uh that particular note and then give your own opinion.

SPEAKER_10 1:45:21

Um, I was gonna actually say writing. Uh, I agree with Fox Horn out of my writing you see in these shows is complete ass, especially when it comes to like black and brown or you know the the LGBTQ community. It's like it's really, it's almost like did you talk to anybody from either one of these? Did you have a conversation? Did you have a random, you could have pulled somebody off the street and tell you, hey, you dumb as fuck. But like it's like it had to be nobody like that went to art school, anything like that. Just pick somebody off the street. Anybody and if you look at a lot of where these some of these studios are, it's like, come on, dude. Like you could have you could have pulled somebody randomly walking by the building. You didn't have to try hard.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:04

You didn't. You talked to somebody you went to school with like two days ago. Like 50 years ago.

SPEAKER_10 1:46:09

You know, we're allowed in a local Starbucks now, so you could have gone there.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_10 1:46:13

Like you could have you could have you could have gone there and picked somebody up, but it wasn't that difficult. Um, but in another way, my issue with writing and representation, where I really think we need it because everybody else has touched on everything up. I'm gonna touch on something that's more prevalent to me. And that's video games.

SPEAKER_07 1:46:30

Nope.

SPEAKER_10 1:46:31

Um, like it's like because it even when we're seeing a little bit of breakout, these other areas, like we're starting to see it more in movies and comics, and we're starting to see it more in you know the animated series and stuff like that. We're the one place we really don't see that at all is video games. Like, it's just like everybody white.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:50

I'm about to say, unless you create it, unless you create that character yourself. Exactly.

SPEAKER_10 1:46:54

You can even tell me y'all went through that many generations of assassin's creed, and not one time was it a black dude?

SPEAKER_09 1:46:58

Like what time I was completely battled. That was the close. How the hell are you in Egypt? Yeah, like that was the close black guy.

SPEAKER_10 1:47:06

Yeah, and even then, y'all trying to make him a little bit lighter skinned to go.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:09

So, like, and even like the I think we got like and I think the two black assassins that we did get, one was like DLC, and one was like the first one, right? Yeah, yeah, like the first one I remember seeing was like the one in Assassin's Creed 3 when we got like the Native American assassin, and the one before him was black, but we didn't get the get all that action.

SPEAKER_10 1:47:31

Like liberations was on the freaking DLC and shit. It's like really, like, that's is it that hard? Is it that hard? Like it's like like even looking at it, even looking at it with like like every once in a while, every time you see a black character in the video game, it's customization. Like you did that, right? But it's like it's like you had to do that shit. And even then, if you listen to that dialogue and that talk, then you can tell that wasn't made for you, baby. Like it's just supposed to touch you at all. So it's like that's why I was like, I think a lot of times they need them, like they need to make more, they need to make the more writing and like stuff that more diverse in these video games that we're playing. And and like just like how they start to do in these con the comic books and everything like that. Like, like, where's our, you know, like Ray, perfect example, where's our Ray comics for video games? Where's our icon comics for video games? Where's our uh, where's our you know, uh icon for video games, you know, like I said. So it's like it's like you every time you get these black video game characters, it's like it's the most like stereotype shit you could ever find. Like that one black dude off of Final Fantasy 13. Fucking like the the afro, and he's like he was following lightning around. You could tell he was straight up comedy relief.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:42

It's like they want every black character in every black video, every video game to be defended. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_10 1:48:46

Like he's the same with every other black guy.

SPEAKER_09 1:48:48

Def Jen Van Datta was amazing. Uh I didn't say it wasn't. I didn't think that was a bunch of rappers. You harmed that game. No one to be defensive and nobody was even talking about.

SPEAKER_10 1:49:02

It looked like it was a real like fucking, it was like it was characters that were making him still talk to karate. That is that's not fucking that's not a character.

SPEAKER_09 1:49:10

It's just hey, he could be type on though, kind of.

SPEAKER_10 1:49:13

Okay, uh you know what? I've seen him fight, he might be able to do something. But fucking it's just like it's not like like it's not like you really get the care, it's not like you get a character out of that. And even then, the character they go on, the whole reason why the dialogue works is they expected black people to play it. Yeah, it was Death Jam. It wasn't like like Def Jam, they looking at the little white kid that just got introduced to rap to M and M. It's like we're gonna copy his dialogue. No, they're not doing it.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:38

Same thing with Shaq Fu.

SPEAKER_10 1:49:40

Exactly. It's like it wasn't that wasn't that was built for us. And even then it wasn't, it was built, it wasn't even necessarily, I can't even say it was necessarily built for us. It was built for people from the hood or from the hood adjacent.

SPEAKER_06 1:49:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_10 1:49:56

That it was like, you know, they was like, all right, cool, this is gonna piece. And then when's the last time we got that? Because even when they did the last death jam, it was like a techno beat type game that nobody really paid attention to. And that was and it was it was weird as fuck. Like it was just like black people, by that point, black people were playing Fight Knight and uh and bam. And that was it. NBA came up.

SPEAKER_09 1:50:19

They would they didn't want us to come back.

SPEAKER_10 1:50:20

So it was always like I wish we would get more like character-driven stories. Like, where's that where's that RPG based on like um based on like uh you know the African African folk tale?

SPEAKER_08 1:50:36

Yep.

SPEAKER_10 1:50:36

Yes. Where you know, where's where's that game that might, you know, where where's the where's the game that might be based on like, you know, uh is as and I understand some people might be, oh, it'll be offensive. Where's that game that based on the underground uh railroad? I can see that as an interesting uh game where you gotta sneak around and stuff like that. Like it's yes, you go in here nigga alive. It's a slavery. But like it's like but if you get the right people around you, they can either keep it out or they can make it or they can make it uh look like understandable to some extent, without you know, because that's another thing. It's like if you do make a game like this, I want to hear niggas five every five minutes, like just snouting it off as you're walking through a forest, like you know. Exactly. I don't want to hear I don't want to hear like Quentin Tarantino movie where it's like every other word, every other like you could have put and there.

SPEAKER_09 1:51:30

You just have to put nigga I played Harriet Tubman Demon Player. I play it.

SPEAKER_10 1:51:35

So that's what I was saying. Like, like when you get these games, it's like you there's ways that you can go about this. There's very many genres that you can play with and still include, you can have your action game that's based on you know a black hero or a black character that you might be able to introduce some folklore from other places. You might be able to be able to introduce, you know, like like different gods or different uh religions that way. You know, it's like there's if you look at like all the African gods, depending on what you know, tribe it is, you can fucking have a whole bunch of shit. Like it's like do you know how many names I made RPGs just researching that thing? That shit is real in the like you just go through my innable RPGs, you'll start to see a bunch of different gods that I enjoy because I enjoy their story or stuff like that. So it's like it doesn't have to just be Japanese folklore, it doesn't have to just be Greek or Roman. You can have your God of war type character based in another religion that's outside of Greek or Norse mythology, you know, pretty much something that's not majorly white, you know. So you can you can have you can have them in other areas, and I would like to see and remind them where Egypt is. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:51

Please remind them like Egypt is like like no way you live in the back and you're white, like it's not I mean, but you're talking about the same population of people who made like a Noah movie and there were rock monsters.

SPEAKER_10 1:53:05

So I mean you can't tell me you didn't forget that you have like if you just straight up, you would have either cancel or or you would sunburn every single day. What like that was that type of stuff back then? So it's like come on, you can you can do this. This is not a this is this and the writing doesn't necessarily have to be, you know, incredibly I and I want to say Afrocentric, but let's be real, it's ethnic. A lot of times when they see when you see black characters in there, it's the most like they it's almost like they went through the fucking, they they Googled slang dictionary and just picked up every sentence they can pick up on that shit. Like it's like ebotics is really another language, and they they tried to incorporate it in video games. You don't have to talk like that, like you don't, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:49

So it's like you try to do your Spanish onward by copying and pasting it to Google Translate.

SPEAKER_10 1:53:53

Yeah, exactly. It's like it's like did you really have the Google Lens act? Like Google Linux for Ebotics, like really, like let's look at this, let's open this up, let's build this back. So I would really like to see the writing for that, you know, a corporate, like done a lot better in video games and stuff like that. There's so much diversity you could have out there. There's so much, there, there's so much like it doesn't have to just be like the the most stereotypical black or homosexual character. You don't have to do that anymore. Because they come because we all come in different sizes now, come in different sizes. They don't have to look like like the most cut up dude in the world, like he just stepped out the gym after being in there for six years straight. Like you don't have to do that. You don't have to live like that. You can have a skinny nerd looking motherfucker, you can have the fat person, like you can have all these options. Because a lot of these, if you look at a lot of these tables, these all all of these people weren't the most cut up, they weren't the most healthy. They were just they had the most willpower, they had they were the smartest, they had the the the the most charm. There's a lot of ways you can go about this and make it an interesting game. It doesn't just have to be action hero, you know, Kratos all the time. So I would like to see more representation in that area.

SPEAKER_09 1:55:19

I love it. Uh Fire N, did you have a point?

SPEAKER_05 1:55:23

Uh yes, I wanted to piggyb on shampoo bracelets about um seeing more inclusion when it comes to African culture. Um, and I wholeheartedly agree. Um, you know, we you see I cosplay a lot of Greek mythology, but Nigerian culture is my culture. And um, you know, I feel like when I did cosplay um, you know, Oshun, which is kind of giving my homage to my own culture, there was a lot of gatekeeping, which was fucking weird. And it was from non-black people that gatekeeped me about, you know, me being disrespectful. And this was when I was just it kind of brought me back a little because I was like, is this is this appropriation? I'm like, no, appropriation is when you take something, you claim it as your own. And this is something that I am giving my interpretation on my appreciation for my fucking culture. And so there needs to be more inclusion and and and less gatekeeping. Like, we're black, we all came from fucking Africa. Let me do this so that more people can see, more people can see us. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, y'all niggas is fine when I'm fucking cosplaying these white ass gods. Nah, bitch, you know what? We're gonna do more black shit actually, because of that. So that's it.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:51

What you're saying, do you have a list of names? Because we can go fuck some people up.

unknown 1:56:56

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:57

Because what you won't do is come fucking with our Sion A cosplayer. That's what you won't do over some dumb shit that you don't know nothing about.

SPEAKER_05 1:57:06

But I I have noticed it though, with you know, other cosplayers as well. You know, the gatekeeping is just fucking weird. But like this is our culture. Let us embrace in our culture, let us live in our truth, and and let let other people also be educated because we're like, we want to know more. This is a beautiful time um in art and this beautiful time, and you're seeing a lot more black people kind of wanting to know more about their roots because we don't see it, it's not advertised, it's not shown on TV, it's not shown our mythology. I was bewildered by how much mythology there is in Nigerian culture, and it's my own fucking culture, and I didn't even know it's amazing, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_10 1:57:46

Whoever thinks that North in Greek mythology is long-winded as fuck. Look up African mythology. Just take a second, just give me a big thing. Take a weekend, take actually take a week, take a week by the week, just you know, lock yourself in your room, go look up African mythology, find out how much you can it's a long ass.

SPEAKER_09 1:58:06

I'm still doing research on shit, but having I won't, I'm not gonna insult nobody and say something like you know, certain cultures and their mythology was actually based off of African or Nigerian, yeah, you know, mythology. I'm not gonna do that right now. Um that's a lot of similar.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:28

You're gonna say from our little similar thing, is that we're a lot of mythos from a lot of different religions, and um we'll call them pseudo-cultures that uh have drawn from the continent that is non-cocasoidal.

SPEAKER_06 1:58:47

Non-caucus.

SPEAKER_11 1:58:52

You know, what say they say really reminded me of uh of when uh Beyoncé came up with Black is King. Oh god, and and and all these uh uh um other other hue then and and and those the the lack thereof uh like came came out with this like this this like fake outrage, like getting mad, and then Africans had to get up and they're like like no shut the floor. No, no, she's accurate.

SPEAKER_09 1:59:18

No, no, no, no, I don't understand. My dad was like so upset that people were actually saying Beyonce was wrong. I'm like, nah, she she went there, she did her research, she talked to the people. There were actual African artists from all parts of Africa in the in the movie, in the movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:59:39

I'm sorry, yo, your $50 budget is not Beyonce's millions of dollars.

SPEAKER_09 1:59:43

I didn't want to I didn't want to make it this, but like for real though, like why?

SPEAKER_11 1:59:48

I mean, well, it's not it, they they don't assume it's budget because they can afford to do the right thing too.

SPEAKER_02 1:59:52

But they could, they just they can only afford to go to Wikipedia, baby. That's all they got. No, you mean to keep it complaining?

SPEAKER_12 2:00:01

Yes, uh, you got a point. Yeah, so just to follow that up, and I think that's such a good point. Um, I always feel like when those criticisms come up and coming from people who otherwise aren't invested in that culture, it's just a way to silence it and suppress it. And that's really what a lot of it comes down to. Where, you know, on one hand, we have this whole wealth of culture and mythology and religion on the African continent that does not get utilized at all. Especially, I love that Champion Grace has brought up with video games. Like, you know, there's so much there that we never see, like literally, it doesn't have to be just Egypt. And even Egypt isn't even done in a thorough way, like it's a really superficial, you know, um, almost whitewash interpretation of that as well. Like that you know, that's not the only representation you have of Africa. But then when people do try to highlight it, you have outsiders who are coming in and you know and criticizing, like, oh, how dare you like, oh, you're appropriating, or like, oh, you're not you're not doing this right, or you're not doing that right. And these are people, you know, it's another way of speaking for a outside group or group that you're not a part of in a way that actually suppress what the promotion or the success of that group. So it's like it's not even about like a sincere concern with, oh well, I don't want you appropriating. It's more like, oh, well, this I don't know, black culture is getting discussed and pronounced, and you know, we're seeing in the media, and that makes us uncomfortable. Well, I truly believe that's where a lot of that comes down to. I don't even think it's a sincere, like, I don't think it's a sincere concern about appropriation. I think it's gatekeeping for the sake of gatekeeping, and it's gatekeeping with oftentimes malicious intent. You know, and I and it happens all the time when you see this with you know, non-black people who sometimes or really often in a lot of cases use this to suppress the growth of black media and the celebration of black people in all these different venues.

SPEAKER_06 2:02:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_09 2:02:13

It's not accidental, not at all. And then uh polar toenails, you actually didn't answer the question, but I see you also want to make a uh a comment, so I'll let you go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 2:02:22

Uh, I mean, well, I was gonna so man, like I always find it interesting when like let's say I watch a documentary and and I was watching at Fresh Prince Reunion, right? And then they talk about how they're in the room, and all the actors, the performers, the people who are telling the story through the action of the art are black, but all the writers are not.

SPEAKER_06 2:02:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 2:02:45

And I found that to be so interesting because it's like you'd think that you want to do a story justice. Like, okay, you have a responsibility as a storyteller, as somebody who's arranging this, you know, whole show, this whole interpretation to do it correctly, um, to do it authentically. But again, you know, that was one of those things even back then that I think now is slow, slowly starting to change, but still needs to change even more. It's just having more black and brown faces, queer LGBTQ plus faces in the room that can actually actually speak to every single type of character that they're even thinking or entertaining about bringing onto the actual stage. You know what I'm saying? It's just so important for because again, it's not about offending people. It's like if you're gonna try to tell a story, just do the shit right. You know what I'm saying? Do it right and and and and actually care. And I just don't think a lot of people have cared in the past. They just again, like my man was saying about checking a box, that happens a lot. Uh and you know, I feel very similar in terms of what Sayone was saying uh about sci-fi. I I mean sci-fi is a genre I loved, loved growing up. I grew up on Star Trek, Star Wars, you know, saying everything that was sci-fi, I just loved. And I never ever thought there was enough, you know, fair representation, interesting representation, and and thoughtful representation of these characters in the future. But again, that we start to talk about the concept of Afro-futurism, being able to see ourselves further, and again, only we can do that. No one can really do that for us, you know what I'm saying? And that's why it's just kind of like we really have we we, you know, I do want these studios as they're creating media for everybody, they need to include in media for everybody and make sure that it is authentic. Hey, but it's like we also I think uh, you know, and this is what I'm trying to do with with the this this comic book company, and so many of uh of my fellow creators, um, you mentioned Harriet Tubman, Demon Slayer, and a few other great people earlier. That we're trying to create a narrative that is ours that we can kind of control. And I feel like um because I love sci-fi so much, and you know, my my and I'll show you guys this. Is these are just kind of dummy copies. I wanted to just piss just talk about this real quick. So my new comic series, Joystick Angels, is literally about I just dropped this on Kickstarter. These are the proto books, they're just kind of tests from the printer. You guys can see a little bit of this. It's four young black kids in space, you know what I'm saying? In the future.

SPEAKER_10 2:05:28

We gotta add the boom, we gotta add the boom to the edits.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:32

I'm including a uh a soundtrack with it, actually. We gotta sound track, y'all. Oh because I I loved like 80s, 90s video games, you know. Sound uh but obviously we're just just like my you know my man was saying, Shampoo, about the video games being having representation. Again, video games are futuristic, you know what I'm saying? And without someone being an afro futurist on the team, you we're just not gonna see it, and that's why it's like we see the need, how do we do something to create for it? And and you know, um, I do think that the A should be, you know, uh again building the spaces so we can again uh jump and be a part of their team, but also have our own thing too. We should be able to do both, much like um uh Corena Akiba was saying that we should be able to do both, and I totally agree with that sentiment because we want to be able to see ourselves multiple spaces. Again, sci-fi is the biggest thing for me. Video games is definitely a big thing for me. The writer's room of any type of story has to be the big thing for me, it is a huge thing for me. Uh, you know, I'm absolutely turned off by any type of slave or struggle type of narrative. I just want to see us in a space where we're just being us, having a good time, enjoying, and that's to me like the the essence of Afrofuturism is in every story being ourselves, um existing without this, you know, uh overhanging oppression. You know what I'm saying? This overhanging uh prejudice of any kind, you know what I'm saying? Because as much as I love Love Craft Country, there's still a lot of the narratives in there that are is overhanging oppression. And I would love to see a story that is, you know, uh centered around our futurism, where we're gonna be at in the future, but it is just about something positive, something dope, us being us, loving fashion or video games or whatever it may be. And that's really what I'm trying to do with this comic book, Joystick Angels, is just you know, spaces of you know, space, uh, a real frontier, like an actual new frontier, you know what I'm saying, with us in it doing some amazing things. So uh I completely agree with everybody, everything y'all are saying for sure.

SPEAKER_09 2:07:40

I mean, that's that's such a true point. Like, you know, you think about the fact that in a lot of the futuristic, you know, shows or the sci-fi shows, and you know, of course, you yourself uh and uh Say Ne was talking about it, how we don't see ourselves in those places. And it's kind of like to me, when I think of that, it's kind of like, does that mean we're not going to be there? Does that mean y'all gonna try and wipe us out? Or does that mean we've separated and now we're in a completely different part of the universe and nobody's telling our stories? So it's it's you know, I I want to believe it's the latter, but it's like back in the day when you know Star Trek was the only thing on TV on UPN at for like between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Yeah, I took you back um on Saturdays. Um even say UPN shapes. What it was the only thing on you, like sitting, and it was it was so baffling to me because it's like if aliens can come in colors like blue and yellow and green and turquoise and aquamarine and mahogany and burp uh burst diamonds and pearls, huh? I said an amethyst diamond and pearls, and they can come in all of these different colors. How come we couldn't just get a black person on the screen? And then when we say that person's black, does no no no, he was playing this alien, and I'm like, so you're even going to put you already put your pets above us, now you're gonna put aliens above us.

SPEAKER_10 2:09:06

Oh, you want to know what else we like to do? Well, you say if he's not black, oh yeah, he was um Afro-Latino, or he was uh he was no, he was dark Middle Eastern. But like, like it's like it can't just be black, it's like now it's gotta be added on to something else. Why?

SPEAKER_02 2:09:21

But I think that particular point kind of points to what we were talking about earlier when it comes to like how certain characters are rendered, like artistically, and when we think about Skeeter and like characters like that, like when like the same way um Fox Promenade was talking about how characters get queer-coded in some really shitty ways, characters get racially coded in those same really shitty, ambiguous ways, whereas like they won't say it explicitly, but they'll just kind of throw little hints here and there as like, oh, how come you didn't pick up on it, bitch, because you didn't say it. Yeah. I mean, well, I I I do know that Rebecca Sugar intentionally made Garnet the way she did, like she intentionally made her look black. But yes, absolutely, I still agree.

SPEAKER_11 2:10:01

Yep, yeah, and I really uh I really like where uh Suchi touched on and where where where he asks, like, are we are we not there? And and because well that I mean well the answer is no, like one of the results of imperialism was was them you know implanting themselves and their in the in their facade over these other other cultures. So so so so according to them in their narrative, like we know we're not the future, we're the we're a sin of the past, and they fixed it. And you know, and and we and we're just over it screaming like nope, still here, right? Right here, right? Hello. And they're like, Yep, nope, nope, glad, glad we fixed that. Now move on to the the great great bright future, and then it's like uh nope, it's not that bright. You're actually dependent line.

SPEAKER_06 2:10:53

Um it really is egregious too.

SPEAKER_12 2:11:04

Just you know, I think one of my biggest pet peeves is this idea that oh well, we see we're exploring vast, vast galaxies, and everyone there happens to look white. And I remember there was uh someone on it was a video I watched recently, I forget who it was. I think it was someone from Star Trek who talked about this, this idea, and this was uh readed back in like the 80s or something like that. They talked about this whole like, oh, why does everyone look white? And you know, why why do all these, you know, in all these different planets we explore worlds, everyone's white? And of course, the audience gasped and whatnot, but it really is egregious, and it just it's so wild to me that, oh well, having like, let's say, you know, as a different example, medieval Europe. It's fine to have a dragon that's not breaking the bounds of realism too much.

SPEAKER_02 2:11:55

Yep, and witches and warlocks and goblins.

SPEAKER_12 2:12:00

That's fine, but a black person is just being on the pill.

SPEAKER_11 2:12:08

That's unrealistic. Like I escape black people when I fantasize that y'all not supposed to be there when I close my eyes.

SPEAKER_02 2:12:17

You think that, but someone actually someone actually tweeted that a while ago. That like that black like black people and race in politics would be in anime. I was like, you must not watch anime.

SPEAKER_11 2:12:28

You must not understand in 90% of the fiction you you consume.

unknown 2:12:32

Right.

SPEAKER_11 2:12:35

Like every everyone is political.

SPEAKER_02 2:12:36

Like unless you're watching Uncle Grandpa, like please stop.

SPEAKER_11 2:12:42

Like, and it even kills me with the some of the science fiction shows because they will so they would they will they will like create these expansive universes with like this with this realistic like scientific stuff and they will like go into like go go into details and explain like how uh how this weird uh environment is is creating oxygen where it usually wouldn't exist and this is how the such and such but then like they'll have a and then they'll have like a a a sun planet with all all pasty white people and I was like how how did how this way how the does melanin not exist in your universe is that an element as an element it just it just why the drag dragon prince was amazing because they had so many different like different elves and when you got to the sun elves they were all dark skinned every single last one why is that so difficult like what with this conversation about superman that's happened over the years like how his character don't make sense like being a sun absorbing character but he's pale as shit like there's no melan of any kind like it's yeah just like you went into the sun my friend nothing into it not even a tan not even multiple times mind you okay okay red sun yellow sun none of not nothing I'll give you the red sun I'll give like if you I will give them the red sun but the yellow one I'd be cool with him still being pale but bruh anywho um so this has been our episode on why why people actually want to be black because they weren't superman um that is that able to withstand sunlight well the black McCoy you are our last uh individual who needs to give their feedback based off the question that I'm clearly we've all completely lost uh from when I first asked it.

SPEAKER_09 2:14:37

Um uh but please keep it uh sweet and nice and very compartmentalized.

SPEAKER_02 2:14:42

Yeah yeah yeah um it's gonna stay that way because it it pretty much just echoes what Fox Promenade and Shampoo Bracets and everyone else was saying that um when it comes down to writing that's more so the to me that's very much the most fundamental piece of a lot of the representation or a lot of the the how the art that we see is forced to the forefront and it's when it comes to the writing it's a lot of it's the writing that takes so many hits before things get to screen it's the writing that takes so many hits before things get printed it's the writing that takes so many hits hits excuse me before things get recorded people want to continue to edit and um and and cut and paste and completely remove character from certain aspects of writing that are extremely important that is like trying to erase perspectives in order to all lives matter it into this digestible product for the masses. And for those for listeners who may not understand what I mean when I say that if you if you can if you know you know but like for those of you who don't um when I say that it's when they take uh characters and completely remove their more ethnic or racialized experience or their their queer experience or their um immigrant experience in lieu of this or for the sake of this greater narrative of we're all human or we're all the same or we're all equal or our experiences as human um they they supersede our individual experiences as all the things that we have to experience on this very fundamental level. Like at some point subjectivity becomes removed and there's this um this kind of propaganda of objectivity that is paraded around a lot of media in order to unify when it just continues to erase um so yeah that's my perspective that right writing is the is the is the fundamental piece it is where most of our communication has been you know been grounded for for centuries and it's where a lot of the oppression that we experience when it comes to different mediums actually occurs.

SPEAKER_09 2:16:52

Phenomenal okay so I I think as a quick synopsis I believe we've said you know black art is love black art is inspiration black art is amusement black art is in is is uh what we see when we want to see ourselves but you it's not always seen in all the places that we want to see them. So we want to put ourselves in the places where we can create and and and and grow black art but the problem is we need to uh kind of um what is it called trim the fat and then you know add a little bit of fried fried goodness on the outside of that and some seasoning uh so that we can get more uh black seats uh in certain places that things can be changed and not to ask another question because I know I we really need to wrap up but um a question that that came to mind when Kaze did bring up you know Silicon Valley and Hollywood and things of that nature and you know getting us into those same places and I believe polar bear toenails got to say it again uh also brought up the fact that you know you know in the writing scene you know certain people if we have more of ourselves uh uh there you know the narratives for certain characters may change I I think of um I can't maybe Kaze can remember it but uh there was a video we were watching about the behind the scenes of uh Nightmare Before Christmas and Tim Burton films and there was kind of this dialogue between the lead right one of the lead writers and the lead animators and the lead animator was you know creating the different scenes I think at the time for Halloween town I think at that particular moment and the uh musician had already created the pieces that were going to flow and you know create the melody for how the uh the scene was going to be created and then the lead writer was creating the words that were going to go along with all the characters and the artist the animator was saying that and now let me put a little uh perspective on it I believe the lead writer was a woman and the lead animator I know for a fact was a white man and he was changing her script based off of what he felt made the most sense for what he was animating and it to me it was like wait I I don't understand she's the writer you're the animator not saying that you need to follow what she's doing even though she's the writer but I feel like shouldn't some type of cohesion some type of synergy be created so that way you know the animation meets the writing style but he was literally trying no no not trying he was literally changing the script um to fit his animation style because he felt that made the most sense and the only person who could veto what he was saying was the lead director who was not there at the time so that not a question but more so like a final thought is if we get people of color black people into these seats in Silicon Valley in uh Hollywood in these different places and they can impact some type of change they can write these stories they can you know work on the storyboards will we be able to still write these stories and present them to our people or will somebody else who feels ah you say that's the black experience but I've been doing this for 20 years I don't think that's right. Yeah I know you're black you're from Compton but I I don't think that's how somebody from Southeast uh central would really respond to a situation like that so we're just gonna we're gonna change it a little bit oh yeah yeah true I didn't know you were black and black for the past 20 years in South Central no no no no no no i i i've just experienced some things you know i i've seen some things i've written some stories i think um i have some experience you you're new to this i'm gonna show you how it's done i get it you're the real experience uh and that's what we hired you but realistically i feel like you know i i you know i'm from jersey i know how it should go yeah this is this is how it should work no no offense to people from south central or jersey um so uh my my thought process is won't that still happen and again just a thought this is something that's probably gonna lead us uh into the next episode or the next part of this whenever we have it um how will we prevent that from happening because unless we create a brand new space a brand new Silicon Valley you know people have been talking about black Hollywood in Atlanta for years unless we create a new space where we can create these stories these narratives these animations these writings from scratch how do we prevent these individuals who are already in place in these spaces from just kind of saying I know what you said but nah we'll do it like this we'll we'll we'll take a you know what we'll take his name his name is Rashad sure his name is Rashad we'll still we'll stick with that how's that does that work her her name is Felicia by Felicia yeah I heard it yeah yeah yeah we'll do that I think that works that hurt my stomach I felt certain parts of my anatomy dry up so you know how do we prevent that from happening but again that'll be the question for next time uh of course we want to thank each and every one of our panelists uh for joining us this this is you know I I I thought we're just doing interviews this has turned into a very great conversation uh although we always have great conversations this is very eye-opening at least for me um I'm sure it's how it goes you know we we we go in with the intent to interview and then we we start shooting the shit and it gets real that's true you're right um so uh of course I'm gonna give each and every one of our panelists uh especially our guests the opportunity to say how they can be reached what's happening next uh so we'll start with our guests and then we'll go into our uh panelists uh starting with uh Frox Promenade what uh how can you be reached your platforms your websites if you have one and then uh what's next um so definitely I guess I only really exist in a very uh base form.

SPEAKER_03 2:22:37

Um yeah IG is kind of your final form yeah you you you have no idea um well yeah it is uh yeah Fox Promenade on uh IG and Twitter it's like lemonade but with prom. I have the link to my art page it's Suzu Sushi but I am going to be changing that to officially be Suzujade Designs. That's how I sign off all of my stuff. I am beyond inspired today. So if I had to say what might be next for me is that I do have a goal to get my illustrated novel put on Tapas or some other medium online before the end of this year. So please do look forward to some sapphic and queer brown women and non-binary people and trans people being represented in my writing before the end of 2021.

SPEAKER_04 2:23:36

Can you believe that's informal you heard it first I I'm gonna probably put like some type of bomb or some type of siren yeah and I hate to I hate saying stuff out loud like that because I'm like shit now everybody knows I said I was gonna do it now I have you're like fuck accountability from people I didn't ask for accountability yeah thank you no we're we're definitely excited for you yeah I had a wonderful time today thanks so much for having me no no always awesome and we will definitely have you on for the next well not the next next but the next episodes we talked about before um there'll be several of them I'm really excited because your your your fire and your passion in that that moment if we we can talk we were talking about Digimon oh we if we we're gonna get a couple episodes out of you says don't worry about it's a female mess yes um miss current Ikeba yes all right well next con I have going on is awesome con this weekend where I'll be tabling and selling a lot of my artwork from prints um uh flower crowns made out of a lot of damaged comic books oh um lamps repurposed from alcohol bottles I need one of those don't let the cosplay contest now I'm not allowing that in the game oh oh my god yep she's closing the laptop then this episode now that we already closed that book please continue to keep up I love it as well as um I'm launching my new key change with focus around um uh a fusion of black girl magic with Omanju which are these circular plush keychains uh so they feature uh seven different designs of black women um from one who has vitilago two different shades all that kind of wonderful stuff which will actually have their first um presentation at awesome con uh aside from that what about that podcast right oh yeah one you mentioned earlier all right we can listen to you as we go to sleep all right you can find noir narration um on all the yeah wait one more time say it again say it again say it again it's called noir narration because I'm black and I'm the one who's narrating yes in like five seconds but so far it's been sticking quite well and there are currently three stories as well as the season two trailer and the next episode will be episode four known as Lana and the catwoman which actually features a folklore tale with a album uh an albino uh conjuring woman so that will be really really interesting so that will be dropping this week phenomenal and how can you be reached any sites or places absolutely you can find everything from the podcast on noir narration dot card dot co but for everything cut an IKEBA you can find it on Facebook Instagram uh my website all titled as well as Twitter all titled cut and IKiva aside from twitter just at a 590 at the end somebody actually on Twitter has Karanakiba before you did I know right it's been a constant thing just talk about that earlier with like the with the gamer tags like excuse me what do you mean it's right exactly the worst part was just like dude it's like he hasn't been on or they haven't been on since 2014 or something I was like dude just give me the name just letting his sleep just give me the name that's all I'm gonna want a domain it's like when you're trying to buy a domain name it's like yes all right uh well uh I I'll do you this solid sir and because we're about to tell you tell people how to reach you I'll use your actual name uh Mr.

SPEAKER_00 2:27:57

J Sterling TJ Sterling um how can you be reached uh thank you um yeah absolutely it was a fantastic time I have you guys today I uh honestly loved hearing everybody talk about their experiences their inspirations I'm extremely inspired I'm interested in what you guys are doing so I'm gonna be following you again connecting with you offline um I'm hoping to see you at more conventions I've got a whole bunch lined up the rest of the rest of the year I've got awesome con uh next weekend in DC um shortly after that I've got Dragon Con in Atlanta and then a little bit after that New York Comic Con and then Motor City Comic Con to finish out the year in Detroit. Yeah it's gonna be a busy year con wise but I've got a whole bunch of new books.

SPEAKER_02 2:28:44

Alchemist number five the uh next book in the series of six only one more book to go but we've got um a whole bunch of books in this series is the most brand new one Ochemus number five just they dropped it uh this month I've got again uh joystick angels um there was a big Kickstarter that we did for this just last month which a lot of people are going to be getting rewards for we'll have copies of that at awesome con so a lot more comics a lot more games some music all that fun stuff and um yeah I hope to see you guys and connect you at a show and how can they reach you yes I'm at Ray Comics everywhere at R A E comics on IG Twitter my website is raycomics.com you can get t-shirts toys comic books there art prints the whole nine so uh yeah follow me at me stalk me all that let's become friends family I want all the smoke please okay he said it all right our panelists starting with the doctor you can reach me at rod rt on Facebook RT fancy shampoo bracelets you can reach me at shampoo bracelets on Twitter and Instagram I'm sorry Instagram on Twitter you can reach me at shampoo87 and um if you see me around on any video games uh like I said I do say I play those you can catch me at uh coke biceps on damn near everything yeah everything outside of just the first shoot that I made and yes it is the exact kind of Coke you're thinking of yes it is the best biceps so uh go ahead Sione cosplay Sione cosplay on Facebook Sione underscore cosplay on IG and Sione cosplay on TikTok but I only got like two videos on girl we waiting for the third one you gotta let it drop like you could have had a whole TikTok first of all doing that phenomenal hair oh my gosh a 30 second tick tock takes at least an hour and a half it does takes 30 seconds but you know that's no like every time I do a TikTok it's like like at least two hours of editing and I'm like the hell with this I don't like it I don't know how people bust I work in the medical field not marketing this ain't my shit like this is a ghetto uh cause in Ryu uh hold on I was just sharing uh no nowhere narration on my Facebook okay um uh yeah I'm uh Brandon Bowser on Facebook uh Barrett3b on uh Instagram uh I'm I'm not sure if I want to game with any of y'all but if you think you can beat me in a fighting game you can contact me you will not you can contact me and we can discuss uh whether we're gonna share that uh wow we can discuss you can't even play we can't even say we can even give out the game attack he said we'll have a conversation first and if I even feel like your words are worth me trying to take you over to a console we'll have a conversation and don't even don't even get it in your head that it's if it's a new game he hasn't played before that you will still win it just give it give it a solid 10 minutes not even that we were we were just playing the kill a kill game that I bought yesterday that I had never played before and he beat me in the first match it's quite upset I beat him in the second one no third one that's all the kill a kill game right that's amazing it was something else it was something it was something else uh the black mcoy um you can find me at the black mccoy on Instagram and the black mcoy cosplay on uh Facebook and if you uh would like to play Pokemon Unite and potentially have me berate you in silence um you can find me at uh thimpress uh don't forget the judgment yes yes um so again that that is uh thimpress uh t-h e m p r e s s like empress but with t h at the beginning and um uh if you want my friend code that's uh no nice uh also uh for myself uh umbrellade on everything instagram twitter facebook twitch youtube um discord it is suchy no shogun um i would say overwatch but we're boycotting it i guess uh because also if you have anything for suchi and i to play that's not overwatch that would fill that void please let us know that'd be great because we're playing pokemon unite and that's fine but overwatch was kind of like hey not doing anything overwatch so we're gonna need something to replace that let us know uh but if you want to play Pokemon Unite it is Suchi Showgun and then if you want to reach any of us Blurred Spectrum podcast uh reach us at the Blurred Spectrum on Instagram and Facebook and Blurred Spectrum on Twitter um as well as you can send a message to our mailbag it's the Blurred Spectrum at Umbralstark.com um we've had a great time today like we said there's gonna be a part two and it seems like it's gonna be a part three four five and six as well as other associated episodes with these panelists uh we've had a great time we've met a polar bear and its toenails uh frox promenade it taught us how to foxtrot and current taught us a genjutsu for dogs we've had a phenomenal time everybody let's uh let's go ahead and sign out Sayonada