Roasting "Apple Black Origins: The Spectrum and the Spectre" Chapters 9-11
The vitiligo transforms into a tribal tattoo. Fuck this book, for real.
Chapter 9: Duo
Opening Line:
The rebels under Zenith’s command, drawn by the commotion, emerged like phantoms from the shadows of the towering trees.
It’s Gideon versus the Rebels in a straightforward action chapter. All and all this is a painless breather compared to that donkey-punch pummeling we got last time. During the commotion, Uzoh absconds with Willow (I’ve exhausted my outrage for how passive she’s written), and things are looking rough for Gideon. Suddenly, Reagus appears in the trees before getting tagged into the fight.
This was my biggest laugh of the book, so I need to share it.
Leaves rustled, and a sudden gust of wind swept through the clearing. From the heart of the forest emerged Reagus, or as he was once called while a member of the Ghosts, Father Nature. “I’m right here!” Reagus’s booming voice resonated through the air, carrying an undeniable authority. His figure materialized like a specter, blending seamlessly with the foliage. The aura of nature surrounded him, an embodiment of the untamed forces he commanded.
So the two team up, kick ass, win the fight. I’m also realizing that I probably get Reagus and Gideon confused not just because their personalities are identical, but because they both have White Old Man Names (yes I know Gideon is albino and not white, shut up).
Chapter 10: The Legend of the Golden Wands
Opening Line:
Once reverberating with the clamor of battle, the forest had returned to its serene state, leaving Gideon and Reagus amidst its tranquility.
We get some post-battle, bromantic cuddling between Gideon and Reagus. Okay, they don’t actually say they’re cuddling, but this is the sort of scene that’d make any fujoshi raise an inquisitive eyebrow (Whyt-senpai did say you’re in the clear to ship his characters, hopefully Old Man Yaoi is included in this jurisdiction).
The mood shifted as Reagus’s expression sobered. “I heard about the bounty on your head, Gideon. I knew you’d be in trouble. Couldn’t let you face that mess alone, now, could I? Especially not you, old friend.” With a playful wink, Reagus added, “Besides, who else can annoy you as much as I can?”
After they share their bromantic platitudes, Reagus apologizes to Gideon for kidnapping Willow??? Hey dipfuck, you’re apologizing to the wrong person. (And for those keeping score at home, Willow is still missing)
Suddenly, Jupiter the Alicorn appears. We’re treated to an illustration for this scene since it’s a Big fuckin deal, and, well, this thing looks gnarly. This isn’t a cute alicorn or a grrrrrl power alicorn, she looks like she took a wrong turn on her way to the bullfighting ring.
Maybe I’m overreacting, but like, seriously, how allergic is Whyt to drawing anything with a pinch of sweetness? It’s a flying fucking horse, why does it have to look so ragged? You’ve already saved her from poachers, why can’t our girl get a Lisa Frank makeover?
So Jupiter gives The Nod, letting Reagus and Gideon know they’re cool. Reagus is gifted a little bit of pixie dust from Jupiter’s horn, so he’s going to use this to cure his wife and daughteru. He says goodbye to Gideon, who, thanks to unicorn magic, is going to enter a magic portal where Willow’s being held hostage.
Chapter 11: Spectrum Domain
Opening Line Paragraph:
As Gideon stepped through the portal into Elias, he found himself transported to a realm that defied imagination. The grandeur of the place enveloped him as he gazed upon the awe-inspiring surroundings. Before him lay a cityscape frozen in time, its once-magnificent structures now worn down and covered in the patina of ages. Marble and gold buildings, intricately adorned with mystical runes, soared into the heavens, partially veiled by creeping ivy and moss. The enormous stone spires, bearing the weight of centuries, stood tall, their surfaces etched with cracks and weathered engravings that whispered the tales of forgotten enchantments.
Okay, the world of Elias seemed pretty cool, which is why I’m sharing the entire opening paragraph. I’m a tapir so I’m a sucker for stories in the astral plane or ~da world of dreemz~. Phenomenal work here, and even better, I’m not wondering where this is on the methhead to cottagecore spectrum! We get actual, honest-to-God environmental descriptions!
Gideon finds a big pile of magic wands and we hear the Pokédex entry for all of them. I’m sure this is fascinating stuff if you’ve ever legitimately argued if Goku could beat Superman, but I haven’t, so this was a real slog. I will admit that my ears did perk up when he got to Knightjinx:
Knightjinx, a wand elegantly shaped like a Nuori piece, radiated an aura of strategic brilliance. It bestowed upon its wielder the gift of heightened intellect and strategic insight, making them master tacticians on the battlefield. With Knightjinx in hand, objects on the battlefield could be infused with life, transforming mundane chess pieces into living, breathing soldiers, each possessing unique abilities to aid in combat. It was a wand that turned the tide of battle through the power of strategy and cunning.
Chess pieces? CHESS PIECES???? I thought this was a Nuori-based weapon! Nevermind about Reagus rolling into battle like that Homer Simpson meme, THIS shit was my biggest laugh.
So Gideon finds Uzoh, they get into a big damn fight with all of these cool new magic wands we just learned about. And finally- finally!!
Willow does something!!!!
She uses the wand Miragejinx to show Uzoh the family life he could’ve had if he wasn’t such a dick, which was another incredible Fuck You Dad moment.
Uzoh says he’s been an asshole since his tribe endured so much and he just wants to bring them back. It’s a pretty interesting villain motivation, but it still doesn’t explain the misogyny, so, maybe he should work on that.
We then get an even bigger deus ex machina than Jupiter the Alicorn swooping in. Out of nowhere, a portal opens, and Arodihs appears. Everyone reacts like the lil homie is Jesus. So I guess he’s a big deal or something. I was a little confused since they kept vaguely referring to Arodihs as “the child” and I thought they meant Willow, until Willow herself finally got a chance to respond.
This could’ve been a better chapter than Excommunicado (aka the one where Harlem is at home worried about Willow, presumably she’d be anxiously chain smoking if this wasn’t a kids book). We get a cool dreamscape environment, a kickass fight, more hilarious Nuori lore, WILLOW ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING (I’m saying it again because I have wanted this since chapter 1). It would be perfect, but-
The accompanying illustration dragged it all down.
We see Willow with new vitiligo that looks like a gaudy tribal tattoo. Which is just… deeply offensive. Not only is vitiligo a curse in this world, but it can also turn into tribal ink???
I kept rereading this chapter trying to find where does it say her vitiligo transformed. It’s nowhere in the text. But we do get a picture of it.
So thank you, Stephanie Williams, for (presumably) seeing this picture and not even acknowledging it in the text. This fuels my theory that she did the absolute most she could with this backwards-ass regressive plot line.
I think, maybe, the intent was when Willow breaks the ebony/ivory wall, her vitiligo transforms into this cool design. I’m also guessing, perhaps, that Whyt wanted something like Avatar, when Aang’s arrow tattoo lights up when he went psycho mode. And sure, you can do that, give your character a cool tattoo makeover when she goes in the Avatar state. This is a pretty standard anime powerup transformation trope.
But when her default state looks like real-world vitiligo, well… It’s fucking weird that it transforms into something more fantastical.
Some time ago, some dickheads shittly recolored the Clock Stricker girl (aka Shonen Manga’s First Black Female Protagonist) to have white skin/blonde hair. Awful racist behavior, and you’d think the move here would be to block and move on. Instead, the 24/7 Saturday AM news cycle (as in, the official social media page of Saturday AM and Whyt Manga) hyper fixated on this for way too fucking long and fed these trolls a gourmet 4-course meal. The rage! The injustice! How could these terrible people do something so awful!!!
Amplifying these racists just makes it worse, but okay, I’m not here to be their PR manager. My point in bringing this up is that clearly they know this kind of race-swapping is bad, right? But that’s exactly what this vitiligo makeover reminded me of.
I’m floored that this book got this far without anyone putting a hand on Whyt’s shoulder and saying, hey, buddy, maybe don’t draw your vitiligo OC with vitiligo that transforms into a sleek tattoo.
Funny stuff. There was a movie in the 80's called Soul man where a white MC outright changed into a Black man that caused outrage at the time. I say this because I remember a segment that was on 60 minutes ages ago where they talked about Michael Jackson having vitiligo and they used footage from the movie, which looking back seemed like it had recontextualized the initial outrage of the film. My point is that it's weird how given time, outlook on things change, and a steaming pile that this book seems to be might one day be read by someone and considered a 10/10 masterpiece.