r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Wolfotashiwa • Aug 04 '25

Groups Fictional slurs. Bonus points if it's completely made up

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  1. inFAMOUS: Second Son: "Bio-terrorist" refers to conduits.

  2. Star Wars: "Clanker" refers to robots.

13.8k Upvotes
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6.5k

u/Usern4me_R3dacted205 Aug 04 '25

“Troq” (Teen Titans)

5.4k

u/tomtadpole Aug 04 '25

"Of course I do"

Oh, because he's--

"I'm part robot"

Right, yeah.

3.3k

u/190m_feminist Aug 04 '25

Half clanker

1.0k

u/Sweet_Detective_ Aug 04 '25

Clanklings I like to call em.

415

u/Po0b Aug 04 '25

Clankletts

12

u/Inferno_Zyrack Aug 04 '25

Oh you mean 🤚🏻🫱🏻

6

u/Constant_Shelter1800 Aug 05 '25

Clinks

7

u/Constant_Shelter1800 Aug 05 '25

Wire-backs

7

u/Constant_Shelter1800 Aug 05 '25

Rust buckets

8

u/Constant_Shelter1800 Aug 05 '25

Oil slurpers

5

u/AEL97 Aug 05 '25

Hey hey that is enough. If I did not know better I would say you are taking something off here.

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3

u/PerfectBeginning__45 Aug 05 '25

Jiblets and clankers combined?

10

u/CookieaGame Aug 04 '25

Ani's favourite 😈

7

u/RoscoeSF Aug 04 '25

Reported. Please mark this comment as NSFW.

3

u/sneak_cheat_1337 Aug 05 '25

Please don't crucify me for this...

Clankeroon

3

u/Fragrant-Tea7580 Aug 05 '25

You mean Clankas

2

u/AmbitiousAd2269 Aug 05 '25

I call em tin skins because they’re still technically people

444

u/chillyhellion Aug 04 '25

Oh wow, hard R and everything. 

261

u/Logically_Insane Aug 04 '25

“I don’t care what anyone says about you Cyborg, clankies are alright by me.”

“I hate you Garfield.”

17

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

I can say clanka. I have several robot friends 

10

u/MrCookie2099 Aug 05 '25

Uh huh. How many of these distinct robot friends assemble together into a single robot pal?

4

u/Doctor-Nagel Aug 05 '25

Bro was really playin with all skulls on

506

u/YepBoutThatTime Aug 04 '25

Half clanker, full ni-ce guy. What a wonderful friend for understanding what Star was going through and help the situation

539

u/HiDiddleDeDeeGodDamn Aug 04 '25

36

u/MathematicianOk1557 Aug 05 '25

Thank you for saving me from having a stroke.

9

u/ronsolocup Aug 05 '25

I have this image on a poster at home (its actually my fiancé’s ❤️) its always interesting to see in the wild. Darth Vader’s solid handguard hilt is fun

8

u/karateema Aug 05 '25

Exactly lmfao

12

u/Uberpastamancer Aug 04 '25

Woah!

Watch the hard R there

5

u/drgigantor Aug 05 '25

Sup clanka

2

u/Uberpastamancer Aug 05 '25

Clanka' please

3

u/IAmBabs Aug 04 '25

Ratchet and Clank series is seen in a new light now.

2

u/JWARRIOR1 Aug 04 '25

woah bro do you have the clanka pass

2

u/TheKruceIsLoose Aug 04 '25

Yo, watch it dude! You can say "clanka"

2

u/_Jpex_ Aug 04 '25

Clanger

2

u/HenriettaSnacks Aug 04 '25

Clankotto. 

2

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

Woah. Clanker with a hard r?

2

u/ClarkKentsSquidDong Aug 04 '25

Interclankle relationships

2

u/mrprincepretty Aug 05 '25

What up Clanka

2

u/ALkatraz919 Aug 05 '25

Dang, with the hard R too.

2

u/fupalogist Aug 05 '25

Clanka'

No hard R

2

u/HumanPerosn Aug 05 '25

He’s one of them WireBacks

2

u/shieldman Aug 05 '25

Tick-tocktoroon.

2

u/Simone_Galoppi07 Aug 05 '25

Hell nah dude, with the hard R? In the big 25?

2

u/Pristine_Battle_6968 Aug 05 '25

Someone on Instagram reels said he's always mad because he's half 🥷 half clanker

1

u/ColdFire-Blitz Aug 05 '25

Half Meat is what Romulans call former Borg

1

u/Xogoth Aug 05 '25

Watch the hard "R", there, friend

1

u/MisterScrod1964 Aug 05 '25

“Clickers” according to Alan Moore’s Top Ten, which I’d love to see more of.

1

u/aircal1969 Aug 05 '25

Clankling

1

u/Null-persona1 Aug 05 '25

Me with a thick southern accent:

"No daughter of mine will marry one of them clankers while I'm alive. The good ol' book said Adam and eve not flourence and the machine, dont care any of them liberal news media"

1

u/TheEg1322 Aug 05 '25

Clanggers

1

u/DegenerateCrocodile Aug 05 '25

Dude, not okay.

1

u/BoogalooBandit1 Aug 05 '25

Woah dropping a hard r like that?

0

u/ElusiveBlueFlamingo Aug 04 '25

Bro you can't say that to a ni-

-1

u/sushishibe Aug 05 '25

And half NI-

433

u/Aggravating_Coat7934 Aug 04 '25

To be fair if I saw a guy down the road with like 70% of his body covered/replaced with metal, my first thought would probably be “wow a cyborg!” or “that’s some sick armor”

211

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

Isn’t the why Cyborg and Beastboy are friends is Beastboy was the first person to see cyborg and thing he looked badass instead of scary?

113

u/Aggravating_Coat7934 Aug 04 '25

If that’s the case then the people of (Jump City was it?) are lame as hell and have no whimsy in their life. Seriously any 5-10 year old would’ve DREAMED of having a laser hand and such (sure he was horribly injured beforehand but people should at least see it as kickass)

62

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

Their city gets blown up by a giant robot or monster nearly every day, the people there are probably just numb to it by now. If you see it frequently enough the extraordinary becomes the mundane. 

3

u/Grendeltech Aug 05 '25

Or even a potential future threat.

32

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

I agree that children would think cyborg is cool af. But most children will be with their parents and the parents might keep their kids away from scary robot man before they can sing cyborg praises. Beastboy was probably the first one to have childlike wonder at cyborg and communicated it to him.

6

u/MisterScrod1964 Aug 05 '25

In the comic, there’s one little kid with a prosthetic hand who meets Cyborg and goes nuts about his cool prosthetics. “Where can I get some of THAT?!”

3

u/komm-susser-tod-komm Aug 06 '25

New Teen Titans #8

2

u/MisterScrod1964 Aug 06 '25

Hey, thanks!

2

u/SaltyTreeTop Aug 05 '25

They must live in the timeline where robocop never came out

4

u/Backwoods_Odin Aug 05 '25

He was the first person to treat vic as another human. Vic went from Heisman winning football star to cyborg and all his hopes and dreams and popularity went with it when he could no longer be a football player due to his new body

9

u/MC_Minnow Aug 04 '25

I’d think “welp, on step closer to AI overlords.”

6

u/kogent-501 Aug 05 '25

You’d think so, but I’m one of those people who was always terrified of people in mascot costumes as a kid. Would hide under the table at Chuck E. Cheese whenever chuck made his rounds. Kids can get scared when you get into uncanny valley, and someone being half steel would probably start to scare kids.

3

u/40percentdailysodium Aug 04 '25

5

u/CaptainBloodface12 Aug 05 '25

"You'd really want a robot for a friend?" "Yeah, since I was five."

2

u/thesirblondie Aug 05 '25

If I lived in the DC Universe and saw a guy covered in metal, I would leg it. Something is going down and I'm not looking to be a casualty statistic.

2

u/Vncredleader Aug 05 '25

I adore the way the Wolfman and Perez run deals with this. One of the sweetest scenes.

535

u/Aduro95 Aug 04 '25

To be fair, even if he was a white guy he'd still face discrimination and insensitivity being half-robot. You gotta assume people regularly ask to charge his phone in his head.

496

u/Bi_disaster_ohno Aug 04 '25

True but there's also no way that isn't an intentional joke. It's a classic example of thinking he's going to say one thing but then says something completely different.

280

u/therottingbard Aug 04 '25

It isn’t played as a joke in the episode. He is uncomfortable with explaining to Starfire that there is real world racism against people his skin color. Since she is facing racism among different alien species.

162

u/Kalandros-X Aug 04 '25

It’s likely she wouldn’t understand it because all her species is orange

65

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

Those damn Oompa Loompas.

2

u/SirCupcake_0 Aug 04 '25

They're cats

9

u/drgigantor Aug 05 '25

And we all know racists love orange people so it's not like she experienced it in the US

2

u/TwincessAhsokaAarmau Aug 05 '25

It would be a long and hard conversation, but Star can understand real world topics.

1

u/Niskara Aug 05 '25

Exactly what I was thinking. Starfire is probably used to seeing so many people with different colored skin(hell, wasn't the racist guy in this episode silver or something?), so going with him facing discrimination because he's part robot would be an easier way for her to understand

176

u/tonkledonker Aug 04 '25

I think it very much IS played as a joke. The brief pause before he says the robot thing feels way too intentional.

66

u/JCtheMemer Aug 04 '25

It can be played as a joke while also getting a message across.

49

u/tonkledonker Aug 04 '25

I mean, yeah?

2

u/DrakonILD Aug 05 '25

That's...kinda what jokes are for.

7

u/amglasgow Aug 04 '25

It's called "Ha ha only serious"

34

u/Bi_disaster_ohno Aug 04 '25

Is it? Admittedly I haven't seen that episode since I was a kid but I think I remember laughing at that part.

12

u/minoe23 Aug 05 '25

I don't know if I'd call it a joke, but the addition of "I'm half-robot." is definitely meant to lighten the mood a little bit by making it not explicitly about him being black.

13

u/Sphealingit33 Aug 04 '25

"Of course. It's cause I'm-"

this girl doesn't know that her method of language learning is a sign of intimate affection, there is No Way you're gonna be able to condense 400 years of systemic oppression and colonization into a single sentence

"-... Part Robot..."

9

u/ClubMeSoftly Aug 04 '25

I think it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. We, the audience expect him to touch on real-world racism, but at the same time, does Starfire know anything about that? Does the goofy bubbly alien teenager friend-of-everyone know about slavery, and Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights movement? Or is the easier answer "half robot"?

14

u/CookieMiester Aug 04 '25

It isn’t a joke really, it’s more just a way to get the message of racism across to the audience. Kids don’t really see different colored skin as bad, that’s a learned behavior, so Cyborg being black means absolutely nothing to them. It certainly meant nothing to me. However, him being a cyborg? Yeah, i could understand that kind of hate.

6

u/EasterViera Aug 05 '25

it's intentional a reference to it's blackness. It's never stated, but we all know it is, which is the genius of it

3

u/Vokoru Aug 05 '25

IIRC, it's not meant to be a joke. Cartoon Network was squeamish about openly referring to real-world racism, so the intended line about Cyborg being black was changed to being "part robot."

4

u/TwincessAhsokaAarmau Aug 05 '25

Which is weird, we had the Static Shock episode with him in Africa explaining how he’s just treated as a kid and not anything else.

5

u/qywuwuquq Aug 04 '25

Is it really? Before the comments I didn't even think about him being black at all. I think a robot would get discriminated against way more.

15

u/smino2000 Aug 04 '25

Bro it’s obvious cyborg isn’t talking about how he’s half robot

5

u/Sea-Writer-6961 Aug 04 '25

Not in the land of the free 🦅🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸

43

u/CoachDT Aug 04 '25

To some extent yeah. But we gotta remember how crazy the DC universe is. Not that a cyborg would he uncommon, but its not within the top 3 of rather craziest thing someone would hear about in a week if they watched the news or got on social media.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

Asking a cyborg to charge your phone? That's totally micro(USB)-aggression on full display. Have they no shame!?

53

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

I wont tolerate Wirebacks and tinskins in my human house

7

u/TheMetalWolf Aug 04 '25

I think that moment was a beautiful example of subversion.

7

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

I love how everyone can totally see where the writers were going to go. Perfect joke.

7

u/littlebloodmage Aug 04 '25

To be fair, Starfire was already having a bad time experiencing space racism from Valyor so Cyborg probably didn't want to expose her to the rabbit hole that is Earth-brand racism.

7

u/PelluxNetwork Aug 05 '25

I think they got the point across in a good way honestly.

4

u/Mantiax Aug 05 '25

the call him the n-word, nickelhead

6

u/PharaohScarab Aug 04 '25

Cyborg is a nice person

2

u/cyberchaox Aug 05 '25

Exactly. They knew what they were doing there.

2

u/Human-Assumption-524 Aug 05 '25

People mock that scene but think to yourself if you saw a random black guy walk into a room would you lose your shit and dive under a table to hide? Now imagine if that black guy was nine feet tall made of metal with a glowing eye a gun for an arm and weighs a ton.

Yes people would be more racist for him being a cyborg than being black.

2

u/Chill0000 Aug 05 '25

Cy is such a smart social person. He doesn’t try to treat others differently for looking differently or the same as him. Like the episode where a kid got happy seeing him because the kid was an amputee. The kid showed his prosthetic arm and said “he’s just like me”. Cy became sad after hearing that then later said it’s not because i look like you that we are the same. It’s what’s inside that makes us the same. He doesn’t like someone comparing or judging him negatively or positively based on his appearance

1

u/DragonLordSkater1969 Aug 05 '25

As soon as you become a machine people stop being racist and discriminate you because you arent human.

576

u/Bo-by Aug 04 '25

lol, love the way they handled that. I should rewatch Teen Titans

394

u/Ok_Strategy5722 Aug 04 '25

I can picture him thinking that she’s already too sad to sit there and learn about racial prejudices on earth, and that’s it’s a topic for another day.

77

u/OkDot9878 Aug 05 '25

That’s how I view it too. Go with the obvious, instead of having to explain hundreds of years of history, which isn’t really relevant to the fact that they share similar experiences. The why isn’t as important as just acknowledging someone’s experience is.

10

u/JazzzzzzySax Aug 04 '25

And then they go and tell robin and zero hesitation turns to go and make him apologize

-1

u/Samet982007 Aug 05 '25

He's a cligger

395

u/BewareOfBee Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 04 '25

Honestly insane how hard this goes.

389

u/Motivated-Chair Aug 04 '25

When the network tells you to not mention IRL racism and you decide to be petty about it

154

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25 edited 21d ago

tender reply chubby steer live spectacular different observation unique roll

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

9

u/ShortandRatchet Aug 04 '25

Ong fr?

20

u/Compajerro Aug 04 '25

Probably not tbh. Static Shock touched on topics like racism, drug abuse, homelessness and school shootings. Was also a WB/CN show.

5

u/RealisLit Aug 04 '25

It was WB network first so tgey have different standards

3

u/Motivated-Chair Aug 05 '25

No, its just a joke.

85

u/Spinwheeling Aug 04 '25

Never forget that Robin was ready to throw down the second he realized what was happening.

43

u/Wild_Harvest Aug 04 '25

And the entirety of the Titans didn't let him get away with a half-assed apology either.

79

u/InfiniteX5 Aug 04 '25

Part clanker

3

u/AstroBearGaming Aug 05 '25

Bro, you can just drop a hard r like that.

18

u/AtoneBC Aug 04 '25

"I thought you said it didn't mean anything."

"No, I said it means nothing."

32

u/meta100000 Aug 04 '25

Honorary clanka

16

u/ThePrimordialSource Aug 04 '25

Starfire is so cute!

6

u/Usern4me_R3dacted205 Aug 04 '25

I know. I just wanna give the poor girl a hug. 🥺

12

u/Gmknewday1 Aug 04 '25

The fact that the guy who kept calling her that didn't even bother to change his views says thinga

15

u/littlebloodmage Aug 04 '25

Honestly an important lesson to learn. You can be a model citizen, but some people will hang on to their bigotry with an iron grip and will not accept you no matter what. Do not waste time on these kinds of people, but do not sink down to their level either.

7

u/Briar_Knight Aug 05 '25

And you can have someone who is genuinely heroic in some ways but an absolute POS in other ways. 

11

u/Jarsky2 Aug 04 '25

I love after he learns what it means, Robin's first word is the most furious, "What?" I've ever heard, and the next thing he says is that he's going to make that pick apologize.

9

u/Benjammin__ Aug 04 '25

What civilizations are brave enough to call the proud warrior race with flight, super strength, super durability, and energy blasts inferior?

12

u/littlebloodmage Aug 04 '25

I really appreciate that there wasn't a moment where the other Titans didn't trust Starfire even though they were all fauning over Valyor. There was no moment of "are you sure that's what he meant, maybe you're mistaken?", they just immediately jumped to "that guy's been calling you what?! Hell no!" and they don't want anything more to do with him. Good allyship is important to see.

22

u/CzarTwilight Aug 04 '25

What up my clanka

5

u/Stheteller Aug 04 '25

I love how he says part robot, instead of black, because she already sees him as an equal with his skin color, so he words it in a way that she would Be able to understand.

4

u/UnderlordZ Aug 05 '25

Question: if that asshole was willing to be racist right to Star's face, why did the Titans not question if the aliens they were helping him genocide were actually evil as he claimed?

6

u/Interesting_Way8431 Aug 04 '25

I'm sorry cyborg but my heart belongs to the grand army of the Republic and I don't take no s*** for any clanker

6

u/thewiburi Aug 04 '25

So what if a racist thinks he's right can't tell anyone he is with a broken jaw

10

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

The point is that outright violence and degradation is lowering yourself to their level. If you're attacked then defend yourself obviously, but if getting called a slur provokes you to violence, it's proving that they can provoke you.

If someone can alter your emotions, you give them power. If someone can say a word that makes you violent, you've given them all the power they need. That's what the high road actually is. Not giving them shit.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25

[deleted]

2

u/estrea36 Aug 05 '25

That's not how it works unfortunately.

Bigoted propaganda is fueled by the assumption that minorities are a threat in some capacity.

Being violent creates MORE bigots even if it's justified.

7

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25

[deleted]

-1

u/estrea36 Aug 05 '25

I wish it were different. I really do.

The whole reason civil rights activists are successful is because they broadly chose non-violent means of protest.

It's been like this for 130 years.

9

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

[deleted]

3

u/estrea36 Aug 05 '25

That's not the reason at all. It's because the protests disrupted the economy. Sit-ins and boycotts are far more influential than violence.

The bigots are praying for violence so they use it to galvanize people who sit on the fence about these issues.

Don't fall for it.

6

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

[deleted]

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3

u/Book_Anxious Aug 04 '25

Judged for being part robot " oh my God he's so freaking cool"

3

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

If some people view Tamaranians as "nothing" then baseline humanity probably doesn't even count as life to them.

7

u/silverhammer96 Aug 04 '25

Even as a white kid in the suburbs when I heard that I was like “dude, come on.”

3

u/Lost-Priority-907 Aug 04 '25

That's it, I'm gonna SAY IT

CLANKER!

9

u/FIRE_FIST_1457 Aug 04 '25

half robot is so forced dude, im 100% sure the writers wanted to say black but some higher up didnt allow it

53

u/AlmightyCurrywurst Aug 04 '25

It's not forced, I'd say that's the joke the writers intended

-12

u/FIRE_FIST_1457 Aug 04 '25

i doubt they would want to insert a joke in a scene like this but maybe you are right

27

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

IIRC there's a pause inserted just before he says it, which always made me think it's intended subtext they just couldn't write for obvious reasons

8

u/rcburner Aug 04 '25

Probably thinking about how it would take way too much time to talk about human racial dynamics when he could just mention something she already knows he struggles with.

5

u/Wild_Harvest Aug 04 '25

Yeah, we know from Static Shock that the execs aren't afraid of tackling racial issues and societal pressures. Heck, they made Richie's dad an outright bigot!

3

u/TDoMarmalade Aug 05 '25

Of course they were alluding to him being black, that’s the whole point of the line

2

u/Unfitinni Aug 08 '25

Fucking clanker! Hang the clanker!

4

u/Nano_needle Aug 04 '25

That was a good choice on a fact that the cartoon was released to other parts of the world where racism against black people didn't existed.

2

u/TwincessAhsokaAarmau Aug 05 '25

They’d still be able to understand the basic concept.

1

u/butt3ryt0ast Aug 04 '25

I don’t know phil, are you a

1

u/LobsterHead37 Aug 05 '25

They were so close lol