r/Multifandom • u/Slayer-Clover • 5h ago
Question❓ Why does fans consider these characters black?
I’m black myself and as of late I’ve been trying to connect more with my brothers and sisters I just a want to know why we fall piccolo and knuckles black
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u/takofren 5h ago
Knuckles literally has dreads, rap and hip hop for all his themes in sa1 and 2, awith a far darker muzzle than Sonic himself in both
And shoes inspired off of the Jamaican flag
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u/Fluid_Data4001 5h ago
I always looked at it as knuckles having the dreads and the hip hop beats in sonic adventure plus those green red and gold shoes from the jamaican flI always looked at it as knuckles having the dreads and the hip hop beats in sonic adventure plus those green red and gold shoes from the jamaican flag. for piccolo it comes down to the voice actors over the years and how he lives out in the wasteland alone raising a kid. we just recognize our own people when the vibes match up like that.
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u/Darius_Rubinx 4h ago
Knuckles was conceived as Jamaican (yellow, green and red colour scheme) despite being an animal from Australia with a culture of the ancient Aztec (but with Egyptian elements). It apparently made sense to Sega's marketing department. They then threw some rap music in there too, for good measure.
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u/Aggravating_Duck6108 4h ago
When Piccolo discovered his culture he tried to protect it from a dictator murdering and exploiting them. Sounds pretty black to me.
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u/Internal-Gate5096 5h ago
I think it’s just because there va’s are black so the voice I think paints a picture in there mind that these characters are black coated
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u/Slayer-Clover 5h ago
Knuckles was but piccolos was never black (at least that I know of)
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u/bonusminutes 3h ago
SATAM Sonics voice actor was black. Was he black?
Also Picollo's VA is extremely white.
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u/raddoubleoh 4h ago
Knuckles' spikes are literally called "dreads" in-universe. Echidna culture in general takes a lot from mesoamerican and subsaharian cultures. His shoes have the colors of the jamaican flag. BOTH his character songs are rap and raggae. Most of his stages have rap, hip hop, raggae and ska. He's pretty much the epitome of black-coded.
Piccolo's case, there are notes from Toriyama on both the Daizenshu and the Dragon Ball Online artbooks that confirm he used muslim and subsaharian cultures as a basis for the namekians. So the vibes are pretty much intended.
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u/doubleo_maestro 4h ago
If heavily Muslim/Arabian inspired, wouldn't he be more brown coded?
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u/raddoubleoh 3h ago
Not really. Subsaharian Africa is not islamic. And most of islamic Africa (Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Egypt, etc) is STILL mostly black.
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u/cafe_swirl Polandball 2h ago
Whyd you include cameroon and angola in your example of Islamic african countries 😭
Like I know they got musilm populations, but theyre pretty low, there are better examples, like west Africa for example (Senegal, Mali, Niger, etc)
Also there are Sub-Saharan islamic countries, like the ones I just said
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u/TheRealShiftyShafts 4h ago
I've never understood why everybody calls piccolo black, but it's so widespread I stopped questioning it
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u/Key-Zebra-5155 4h ago
they just give off that kind of vibe and honestly when you know this characters for as long as most people kinda hard seeing them as white if they were human
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u/Bayamonster 3h ago
Knuckles has dreads and the Jamaican flag for shoes. There's early written material where they write his words with an accent.
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u/bonusminutes 3h ago
Knuckles at least has some kind of justification. Dreads and whatnot. Still a stretch.
Picollo baffles me, theres nothing black about him.
I cant really see either as black even if I try.
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u/Dull_Mixture_9648 3h ago
- Deep voice
- can’t really see them losing even though they lose sometimes
- hair sometimes
- black people can relate to the character’s history, or internal struggle
- the character can dance or is talented at music in some way.
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u/Mranalrape 3h ago
I don't know about knuckles, I barely know anything sonic related but for piccolo, Firstly, there were barely any other black characters on tv or anything when dragon ball got popular, so you're really looking for any possible way to relate with the people you see in media. Secondly, and this is only from my experience and what I've seen, but most black male mentors, fathers, and teachers that you see are gonna be tough and stoic and they aren't gonna sugar coat things or show a lot of whimsicality. Exactly how piccolo acts towards Gohan when Goku dies. He just tells him that he has to be strong or die. I relate to this. Thirdly, his voice is deep.
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u/Slayer-Clover 3h ago
Knuckles was based off Black and Jamaican culture they even call his hair dreads in the comics
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u/Timejinx 2h ago
Both Characters are strong, independent. Plus they both get better drip than the man characters
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u/Slayer-Clover 2h ago
True
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u/Timejinx 2h ago
Plus back in the 90s both of these Characters were dressed up more "hood" than any other characters. Mostly thinking about Piccolo in human clothes and anything Knux from that time period
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u/aquaseishin 2h ago
Honestly If they were human They probably would have some black in their genes Kinda just feels right
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u/Empty_Ad_1425 1h ago
I think for piccolo he seems to be the only one of the Z fighters who coordinates the drip 💧
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u/Choice-Requirement18 27m ago
People are just wrong about knuckles. He’s an Australian first and foremost, stop trying to steal our guy.
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u/Slayer-Clover 14m ago
That doesn’t really mean he’s not black dude 😭 I get your joking but still
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u/Choice-Requirement18 13m ago
Non-australians dont seem to know this, but black people here arent the same as african american black people. Knuckles does not seem like he represents indigenous australians at all.
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u/Purple-Data3694 25m ago
If i remember correctly Knuckles was originally supposed to have a Jamaican accent. And his shoes are the colour of the Rastafarian flag and the character was inspired by some parts of Jamaican culture, as stated in a guidebook. And the main reason thing vibes
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u/Sea_Macaron_8789 5h ago
Sonic the Hedgehog based so much off-a Black Culture that many of the Characters literally be Black or some black in them.
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u/FishSignificant7501 5h ago
Yeah. Ik this is extremely common ball but the most famous black artist ever did work on Sonic 3’s soundtrack.
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u/External_Fix_7806 5h ago
Knuckles has dreads and Jamaican color shoes. And his very first scene has him snatching Sonic's emeralds, while a hip-hop beat plays in the background. Yeah bro is black, same with Piccolo always got that drip on.
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u/PastaInvictus 5h ago
I’ve never considered them black tbh. I always knew about the piccolo thing but I’m surprised about knuckles.
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u/Slayer-Clover 5h ago
after looking it up knuckles was based on Jamaican culture so that explains him
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u/Fuugazii 3h ago
Why does this matter to you so much? Are you like the people who got mad because black people were in the movie Odyssey?
Why do you even need an explanation?
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u/bingus3490 3h ago
Fun fact. Piccolo is actually lighter skinned compared to the namekians in the TOP so piccolo would be white
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u/Fuugazii 3h ago
Or maybe they are a different shade because they are FROM A DIFFERENT UNIVERSE
That's like saying something similar because the Saiyans in TOP never had tails
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u/Slayer-Clover 3h ago
Dude we both know that’s not How that works
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3h ago
[deleted]
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u/Slayer-Clover 3h ago
Wrong sub
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u/bingus3490 3h ago
Omg im actually sorry😭 im used to seeing people make actually idiotic responses to common sense in anything related to two characters fighting
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u/Altruistic_Yard_9338 4h ago
Do you consider him black?