OK K.O. Let’s Be [Fan Activist] Heroes!
Spoilers Ahead!
OK K.O. Let’s Be Heroes! is an action-packed coming-of-age story set in the retro-futuristic year of 201X. There are heroes! Friends! Aliens! Ridiculous villains! Created by Ian Jones-Quartey, the show follows K.O. as he trains to be a hero at Gar’s Bodega with his friends and coworkers Enid and Radicles. The trio work at the hero supply bodega and fight villainous robots sent over by Lord Boxman.
One of my favorite things about OK K.O. Let’s Be Heroes! is that it creatively discusses important issues and encourages viewers to engage in fan activism.
So, what is fan activism?
Fan activism is using the power of fandoms to promote social change. Fandoms can come from books, TV shows, movies, games — any creative media that people are passionate about. By connecting real world issues to elements from these fandoms, fan activism uses the energy, creativity, and community of fandoms to accomplish positive social change. You can learn more about using fan activism at the HPA’s Wizard Activist School!
The episode “No More Pow Cards” is a great example of how cartoons can seamlessly include social commentary and fan activism in their storylines.
No More Pow Cards
In “No More Pow Cards” K.O. learns that his friend Dendy can never have a Pow card because she is a Kappa and Kappas are ineligible for Pow cards. Pow cards are collectable trading cards for heroes and villains. As heroes and villains level up, their cards update.
“Actually K.O., I’m unable to receive a Pow card because…I’m a Kappa. Many decades ago my people lived in ponds and small lakes. Eventually land-dwellers settled in the area and Kappas were forced to live under bridges and eat leftovers from their new above-ground neighbors. It wasn’t ideal, but we adapted to the situation. But then people started making up stories about Kappas pulling people underwater. The reality was very different from the rumors. Despite their absurdity, the stories persisted and Kappas came to be seen as monsters…incapable of power or heroism. That is why Kappas are ineligible for Pow cards.”
K.O. is outraged and confused as to how he can keep collecting Pow cards when they exclude Dendy and her people. Dendy’s confession highlights a few important things: First, the prejudice against Kappas began when “land-dwellers” colonized land where Kappas lived — much like prejudices against indigenous people in our world. These prejudices are often spread to reinforce colonizer rule. Second, while Dendy has learned the history of her people, K.O. has not. This shows that while the treatment of Kappas isn’t hidden, it’s not taught either. And third, Kappas are denied Pow cards because of wider, systematic oppression. Kappas aren’t just ineligible for hero cards, they’re ineligible for villain cards as well. They are viewed as “incapable of power,” which spans farther than just Pow cards.
Dendy and K.O. talk and decide that Pow cards are morally wrong and that they can’t keep collecting them. The two nearly throw their card collections into a volcano until they both confide in each other that they’re both confused. Dendy says, “It doesn’t make sense to hold onto something so negative K.O., no matter how much satisfaction they bring to both of us or their symbolic importance in the timeline of our friendship...”
Here Dendy recognizes that Pow cards reinforce racism and that they play an important role in her and K.O.’s friendship. After another discussion, Dendy concludes that they can “appreciate what’s good about Pow cards while still recognizing their faults.”
Most fans can relate to the experience of feeling let down by the people or companies that create what they love. Do you burn all of your merch when your favorite creator lets you down? What do you do when your favorite show hires racist writers? Can you still go to conventions if they’re sponsored by unethical companies? These questions don’t have easy answers but it’s important that we ask them.
Creating positive fandoms requires fans to think and engage critically. K.O. and Dendy know that Pow cards are racist and unfair, but their friendships began out of their mutual love of Pow cards and neither of them want to lose that. Their friendships began out of their mutual love of Pow cards and neither of them want to lose that. Further, K.O. and Dendy like Pow cards because they encourage people to become heroes by doing good.
K.O. and Dendy decide that recognizing the fault’s of Pow cards isn’t enough and Dendy’s parents drop her and K.O. at the Pow Card Industries to confront the people in charge. Once inside, the two friends talk with Mr. Cardsley, the boss of the Pow Card Factory, about the exclusion of Kappas from Pow cards. At first Mr. Cardsley refuses to give Dendy or any Kappa their own Pow card because he’s never even heard of a Kappa doing anything “noteworthy.” He says that Pow Card Industries has used the same system for decades and there’s “no need to change a thing.” Dendy retaliates by saying,
“Have you ever considered the reason the world does not view Kappas as heroic is because we don’t have any heroes of our own to look up to? And for those of us that are out there doing something you’d call “noteworthy” you’ll never get to notice if your computer doesn’t either. All I request is for us to be given a chance.”
This convinces Mr. Cardsley to agree to temporarily allow Kappas to be eligible for Pow cards, even though he doesn’t believe any Kappa is worthy. However, it turns out there are Kappas all over the world who should have had Pow cards the whole time! Sales go through the roof! Mr. Cardsley is ecstatic that his company is making even more money, and Dendy gets her own Pow card!
K.O. and Dendy took the passion they felt for Pow cards to create positive change. Being a hero is about standing up for what’s right, even when the cost is high. K.O. and Dendy took the lessons they learned from the Pow card fandom and applied it to a real-world situation — much like the HPA’s Not in Harry’s Name campaign that successfully convinced Warner Bros. to stop using chocolate sourced from child labor for Harry Potter branded candy.
The outcome of K.O. and Dendy’s campaign also shows that corporations like Pow Card Industries often don’t care about the morality of their products. Corporations are focused on profits and that often comes at the expense of already marginalized groups. This episode shows that sometimes you can’t convince people, or companies, to do the right thing; however, you can give them an alternative that can help convince them.
If you want to be a fan activist, you can learn more at HPA’s Wizard Activist School!
Talk It Out
- How do you engage with your favorite fandoms? Do you consider yourself a fan activist?
- When has a fandom let you down? How did you react? Are you still a fan now? Why or why not?
- How do you critically engage with your fandoms?
Take Action
- Learn more about fan activism at HPA’s Wizard Activist School!
- If something in your favorite fandom is problematic or lets you down, try to find a way to speak out about it. Are there other people who feel the same way? Consider reaching out and creating a #hashtag to raise awareness.
- Talk to your friends or family about their favorite fandoms — discuss how they’ve encountered problems like K.O. and Dendy.
Resources
No More Pow Cards via TV Tropes
No More Pow Cards via OK K.O. Wiki
OK K.O.! Tackles How to Handle Problematic Media via Den of Geek
Wizard Activist School via The Harry Potter Alliance
GLAAD’s Where We Are on TV Report (2017–2018 Season) via GLAAD
Not in Harry’s Name via The Harry Potter Alliance
Fandom Forward is a program of the Harry Potter Alliance. We help you bring fan activism to your favorite fandoms with free toolkits and activities to use in your chapters, with your friends, in your classrooms, at your libraries, on your own. Find full toolkits at thehpalliance.org/fandomforward.
For more info, email us at fandomforward@thehpalliance.org
