@Marvel recently introduced Psychic twins named... Snowflake and Safespace. Written by @kibblesmith and designed by @LucianoVecchio ,Snowflake is claimed to be Marvel's first Nonbinary Character and I gotta say, I wasn't very impressed. So I decided to redesign them. My thoughts:

I'm a black transgender illustrator and I wanted to redesign these characters in a way where they'd feel like actual representation. I'm also a Youtuber and I made a video talking about my critique of these characters. You can see that video here:

Firstly, I wanted to establish that all of these characters are bad (Maybe that's the point). None of them, I don't think, speak to teenagers, as they claim to be.

"Internet gas??" lol. I think they're all varying degrees of out of touch, but I'm going to focus on these two

To be honest, looking at both Snowflake and Safespace, I don't feel connected to them. I know I'm supposed to, but I don't. They don't feel familiar to me, and I don't really feel seen. I'm sure that was the point. Isn't that what they were going for?

Some people seem to believe that these characters are created to mock nb folk, but I have a hard time believing that because @LucianoVecchio is an openly queer artist who is clearly fairly knowledgeable about queer representation. He missed the mark here, as did @kibblesmith

But I'm proceeding from this point with the assumption that these characters were created in good faith (even though they are C-list heros). Im not going to change their colors, powers or names, but let's start with the names.

I think it's weird that @kibblesmith thinks that two black teenagers would organically decide to reclaim labels like "Snowflake" and "safespace". These are already outdated terms that people don't frequently use, but I wanted to point out that he does.

@kibblesmith (a white man in his mid 30s) uses the terms ironically, and look at the date on these tweets. Im not saying no one ever says them, but they're already outdated. If the prompt was "kids of today", that's massively missing the mark.

As an outspoken, black trans woman, I've been called a snowflake quite a bit by angry white dudes on the internet. I wouldn't try to reclaim and label myself as a "Snowflake" because that would really overstate the relevance of those people in my life.

And that's the issue I have with these characters over all. They are created for a white gaze. For a white, cis, heterosexual gaze. What I mean is that these characters feel edgy for white liberals, but don't reflect truth about black trans and queer folk.

So having these two characters in your story makes unaware readers feel like they're doing something and learning about an experience outside of their own, but these characters don't have truth in the in the way Riri Williams does, for example.

@LucianoVecchio is one of the lead artists on Ironheart- Tony Stark's black female protege who's based on @BRIANMBENDIS' real black children.

Because Riri has a reference point, she feels real; and I think the issue with these two characters is they feel like an approximation. Their race and gender feels like decoration, not reflection. They aren't based on observation. This isn't representation.

So in redesigning these characters, I wanted to do that. Make them identifiable and familiar to me, as a black trans woman.

Now, I am not non binary, but I am trans and have quite a few NB friends. I'm basing my designs on both my experiences and theirs.

Being black and trans often means experiencing transphobia from your black family/extended black community and also racism from the larger LGBT communities you're in. So this often means finding your own unique way to celebrate both your blackness and transness.

Starting with Snowflake, I think the immediate thing to establish about nonbinary folk is that there is not one way to "look" nonbinary. Non binary afab folk can be high femme, and they can be high masc. They don't have a "look", just a similar (not same) experience of gender.

That being said, I think what they were going for was an AFAB character who rejects femininity, so I'm using that as my base when thinking of this character's personality and self-vision.

My Snowflake takes themselves very seriously. They're an activist who's still figuring themselves out, but isn't more sure of anything than their identity. They're very outspoken, almost too out spoken. Loves to learn, but hates school. A buzzkill who's usually TECHNICALLY right.

The way that @LucianoVecchio drew Snowflake and Safespace's hair really stood out. since I'm imagining that Snowflake is very socially aware and activist minded, I'm confident that they'd have natural hair. Giving them a Killmonger-esc hairstyle (cuz it's cool and now)

What stood out to me in the original design is how much they drew attention to their bodies. A lot of trans and nb folk have a hard time feeling comfortable in clothes that draw attention to their bodies. Snowflake does some (practical) form of binding

In my headcanon, Snowflake is on the fence about starting T, but knows to a visceral level that they don't like being recognized as female/a woman. So they dress more to alleviate dysphoria, less for fashion. They don't really like form fitting clothes.

I imagine that snowflake, truly has the ability to generate anything with ice, but chooses to generate Shurikens... this tells me that Snowflake is a MASSIVE WEEB. The kind that used to do Naruto runs through the hallways (they're too serious to show that side of them these days)

So I'm going to give Snowflake a very Naruto/Mortal Kombat inspired ninja outfit. Ninja outfits are great because I think they subvert the wearer's body and identity (though you may often immediately read them as male). Snowflake definitely cosplays and made this themselves.

With Safespace, I started to think about a guy who wears pink and how today we really celebrate the kinda guys who can wear something that's typically seen as feminine, but they still come off as masculine because of how comfortable they are in their skin.

@kibblesmith describes him as a typical jock character so in my headcanon, he's definitely the more popular of the two with a more robust dating life. Everyone likes him, even though he's got a really weird style. Maybe because of that.

When people see Safespace, they think he's probably a jerk because he's really confident and good looking. But when they talk to him, they realize he's kinda floaty and in his own world. He's very selfish and self-involved.

He likes looking good.He's defensive of other people, but in a very performative way. If anyone misgenders his sibling, publicly, he's very defensive, but privately, he thinks Snowflake is way too sensitive and should care less about what other people think.

He's honestly really frustrated with his power not being as cool as Snowflakes. It really conflicts with his desire to be seen. He really enjoys the idea of being a super hero, but mostly because it'll get him more followers on instagram. He "looks" the part, but is less capable.

He really does genuinely love his sibling, but doesn't often get them. He's very much about the now. He's reckless, flashy and maybe a little tacky. Doesn't cover his face because "who the fuck cares".
Definitely had this hairstyle first and makes fun of Snowflake for biting.

For his costume, I wanted to give him a wax-boiled leather suit of armor (that was definitely made by Snowflake). I wanted him to be a mixture of hard and soft, but defensive (ya know, because he makes shields lol)

I wanted to expose his middrift (Kai from Exo reference lol) and make his costume look very extra in comparison to Snowflakes. He's less of a nerd, but thinks the costume is pretty cool "or whatever".

And that's how I would redesign these characters. To me, they both feel more real and more grounded and that's kinda what i want to see in characters.

I'm not the best artist in the world and this is just the first draft (I would change so much), but this is what I came up w/

I'm super invested in representation and I really do want to see more black, trans and queer characters in comic books. But my problem with these characters is that they feel like they were created without input.

I think that @kibblesmith is entitled to write outside of his own experience, but that your first impulse when you're doing so should be to have a conversation with the people you're right about. Especially if you're expecting representation brownie points.

Talking to them is a great first step, but actually hiring them to work with you is an even better decision. Black trans and queer writers and artist are here and we would appreciate the opportunity to represent ourselves in a truthful way.

With representation, I want to first fall in love with a really badass character and then I want to wonder who they are when they aren't saving the world. Making a character non binary doesn't save an uninspiring design. We deserve badass nb characters who are more than that.

The fact that Snowflake would choose to defend other people- people who on average won't only just not understand them, but will actively try to invalidate their existence is something a lot of us identify with because that's just part of existing as black and trans.

Persisting even though you know that your very existence, for some people, is up for debate.

Both of these characters feel like people I actually know, and that's something I want to be able to feel when seeing black trans, queer and nb folk in my comics.

I kinda fell in love with these character through this process and now I actually want to read this comic (my head canon) lol. I see so much potential for interesting interactions between them and I dunno, maybe I'll do something with them anyways. haha.

Anywho, that was my redesign of that character. I made this thread to help other people who may be considering creating similar characters. I don't think mine are, like, amazing or anything but they're way closer to something I'd be excited about.

If you got anything from this, give my video about this a view:

And you can always tip me (if you want) via:
Venmo// Kathryn-wilkins
Cashapp// $katblaque
PayPal// [email protected]

Okay byeee, I'm off to do some sewing and watch scary movies on netflix lol. Stay safe and stay inside. <3