The Problem With "TROQ" - How To Talk About Racism

This episode of Teen Titans was praised for its commentary about racism, but what can we really learn from it?

In Season 4, episode 6 of the acclaimed, animated series Teen Titans, The Titans “team up with an alien hero to fight a mechanical menace”. TROQ is one of the more thought-provoking episodes in the series. In attempting a digestible commentary on prejudice and racism, TROQ has been praised for “teaching kids how to stand up to hurtful stereotypes”, yet, rewatching it over a decade later, I couldn’t help but notice how the episode’s good intentions might have fallen short...

A recap of the TROQ

The “alien hero” Val-Yor careens to Earth pursued by 2 spaceships as the Titans watch, impressed by his piloting acrobatics and brute strength. After swatting off his enemies and crashing nearby, the Titans go to greet him. Val-Yor tells the Titans his pursuers were the ‘Locrix’—a race of "vicious killing machines” that think they’re “superior to organics” and who want “nothing more than total galactic domination”.

Val-Yor explains his plan to detonate a “class 5 quantum eradicator” on the Locrix’s home planet, Sentian. Robin and the Titans pledge to help and they all set off for space.

After a series of run-ins with the Locrix, Val-Yor calls Starfire "Troq". When Cyborg calls her "Troqqie", thinking it's a cute pet name, she snaps at him and explains that Troq is a slur meaning "nothing". Cyborg says he relates to why she doesn't physically retaliate to Val-You as it'll prove him right about her being "lesser" because “he’s part robot." Cyborg tells Robin about Val Yor’s racism to Starfire and he becomes enraged. However, The Titans press on, honouring their pledge to destroy the Locrix home-world.

In the final scenes, Starfire saves Val-Yor’s life on Sentian, they plant the bomb together and blow up the entire planet. Everyone returns to Earth, where the team stands by Starfire as Val-Yor says, "you're alright for a Tro-Tameranean".

Robin forcefully tells Val-Yor to leave as Val-Yor snorts and scoffs with derision.

The Problem with TROQ

TROQ follows in the footsteps of Harry Potter by creating a diluted allegory for racism, whilst fumbling actual opportunities to directly address racism.

In the lingering silence before Cyborg explains why he understands Starfire’s distress because ‘he’s part robot’, we’re meant to surmise that he’s really referencing being Black. But by not explicitly addressing his Blackness, the episode negates the very thing that it’s trying to accomplish. TROQ wants to explore the insidiousness of racism but is too squeamish to use the word “Black” to describe an unambiguous Black character who experiences racism. The failure to specifically name race is a sobering reflection of the social climate of the early noughties, where frank conversations about racism were eclipsed by the pride of “not seeing colour”.

But this isn’t the most worrying part about this episode.

The most worrying part is how the Titans react after they discover Val-Yor’s racism.

At the beginning of the episode, As Val-Yor tears across space and into the Earth’s atmosphere, the first thing we hear from him is, “You dirty Locrix are gonna have to do better than that if you wanna stop me!”

...He talks about Starfire in the EXACT same way.

But Val-Yor isn’t some troll on reddit. He’s powerful enough to take down entire spaceships with his bare hands and has access to weapons that can destroy entire planets. His prejudicial beliefs and his armed capacity make him extremely dangerous.

Yet none of the Titans question Val-Yor's militant motives or genocidal intent. Nobody considers that his racism towards Starfire could be motivating his mission. The Titans simply go on believing that Val-Yor is a good guy with a noble cause who’s a bit funny about Tamaraneans.

What the Titans should’ve done was tried to communicate with the Locrix and confirm whether they are what Val-Yor says they are. Instead, Val-Yor’s commanding diction, lieutenant-like demeanour and distressing images of the Locrix, were enough for them to take Val-Yor at his word, and they ultimately assist him in exterminating an entire race (talk about drinking the Koolaid, huh?)

Maybe the Locrix were mechanical supremacists wanting total galactic domination over organics. Or maybe, Val-Yor was the supremacist, and the Locrix were his victims.

Maybe the truth was somewhere in between.

The problem is - The Titans didn't investigate for themselves.

TROQ doesn’t teach kids to stand up to harmful stereotypes. It teaches not to confront racism or think critically about it. The Titans spend 44 episodes beating up bad guys before but suddenly, violence against a bad dude is wrong because it might prove “Starfire” is lesser? In comics, there are parameters of evil that only violence can neutralise. TROQ suggests racism isn’t one of those evils. Which is fine, I guess. Maybe Starfire laser beaming Val-Yor isn’t the best move. But at the very least, the Titans needed to challenge him, his beliefs, his actions or his intentions. Because by not doing so, TROQ becomes a lesson in how the cost of rampant racism can lead to the genocide of a civilisation that you never took the time to understand.