Received Badly Wanted Representation, Then A Flood Of Ugly Backlash. The Acolyte & Assassin's Creed Shadows
Being a Black fan shouldn't be so hard.
Being a female fan shouldn't be so hard.
We asked for years for more representation and it came first in trickles, then a nice little stream.
The primarily White, male fans who deem themselves the gatekeepers for these properties think that little stream is too much, though. To them it's an overwhelming flood. They're drowning in Black, female, gay, trans representation.
The complaints are overblown. It's still a stream.
Last year we got The Acolyte, starring Amandla Stenberg in two (!) lead roles, playing twins as we've seen as a popular trope this year, 2025.
Before I launch into praise, some acknowledgement: the line that the primarily White, male gatekeepers force most positive reviews to adopt is “it was flawed, but —” (mild praise). I’m breaking a well known taboo if I refuse to hedge my praise with “it was flawed, but —”
No. It wasn't flawed. It was brilliant.
Gorgeous, lush handmade sets evoking the best of the Henson Muppetverse.
Layered, complicated acting, in a fresh story with consistent, engaging writing.
A trope-buster story style that opens several well-worn tropes up, then reverses them.
For example, Amandla’s Osha is being chased by her former Jedi trainer and colleagues in the first episode.
She steers into a cave that drops off with a sheer fall and no other way out.
As the Jedi approach, she takes a step back —
9.99 times out of 10, in movies and shows, the character falls. They're separated from the pursuers and have to keep trying to solve the mystery on their own until a dramatic reunion with the pursuers some 3/4 of the way in. Exhausting and boring trope, when played all the way out.
The trope begins in The Acolyte… and ends abruptly when her former Jedi trainer catches her, and brings her back to them after she falls.
Fresh, beautiful, bravo.
The Acolyte is full of moments like this, turning very worn tropes inside out within seconds.
Like any of the other Star Wars shows released up to The Acolyte, fans on X/Twitter tuned in every week, exchanging fan theories and art and being encouraged by the @StarWars official account, affectionately called “Swagmin.”
But, unlike every other show, our celebrations and discussions were interrupted and sabotaged by an actual flood of racist, sexist haters.
They filled our notifications up with slurs - of the racist and sexist variety - about Amandla. Mocked her acting ability. Screamed virtually about the “holes” in the story.
Every post of praise came along with bad actors underneath it, shaming the fan for liking this crap.
It was exhausting.
It took its toll on us.
Many Acolyte fans locked their replies - ending discussion even with other fans. Some locked their accounts and made their posts undiscoverable. Some left X/Twitter altogether.
When the Acolyte was cancelled suddenly in August, the hateful commenters were thrilled, and the vibrant fandom that had been hanging in, having fun despite the leagues of trolls in our mentions, were deflated.
@StarWars stopped mentioning the show; “Swagmin” stopped interacting with Acolyte fans.
Being excited about a great show led by a Black female Force user just wasn't allowed.
Cut to this year, and the release of the latest Assassin's Creed franchise game, Shadows.
A ground-breaking multi-platform nextgen game, with the latest graphics, smooth combat and stealth, actively changing weather and seasons, and a responsive environment.
Assassin's Creed Shadows takes place in Warring States era feudal Japan (a personal favorite of mine, in historical periods), towards the end of the reign of notorious “Japan Unifier,” Oda Nobunaga.
It very successfully tells the fictionalized historical story of Yasuke, one of two protagonists in the game.
Yasuke’s story went viral in 2018, the same year that Marvel’s Black Panther was released. Yasuke was a real life Black samurai — a former slave owned by Portuguese Jesuit priests, given to Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga raised him up as a samurai retainer. There is evidence that Yasuke was present when Nobunaga met his end, betrayed by his trusted war general, Akechi Mitsuhide.
Ubisoft Studio’s rendition of Yasuke is brilliant and lovely. Strong, skilled, loyal and trustworthy, layered with little comedic effects when he tries and fails to emulate the smaller and more agile Naoe during gameplay. He’s incredibly endearing and a character that you root for.
But there’s just “something about him,” that bothers some fans of the series. While he’s hugely popular with most players, some persistent voices whine about having to play him during the game, wondering why the game couldn’t focus on Naoe instead.
It gets exhausting.
Being a Black geek beginning to receive real representation in these shows, movies and games is exhausting, instead of triumphant. Instead of celebrating and sinking into joy with other geeks of all ethnicities, the extremely loud, extremely small and hostile minority insert themselves into our discussions, trying to bring their status quo back through mockery and condescension.
We still want what we want. All the mockery in the world won’t eliminate our love for new characters like Shadows’ Yasuke, and The Acolyte’s Mae and Osha. It just makes us tired, sad, and resentful.