Sandbox / Ambiguously Brown WC

Ambiguously Brown wick check

59 wicks needed, 70 was "the goal" (total wicks are 71)

From Square Peg, Round Trope: "Ambiguously Brown is meant to refer to a character whose skin is noticeably darker than the rest of the cast, but their ethnicity is never touched upon. It now tends to refer to any character whose skin isn't milky white, even if their ethnicity is clearly stated."

A. Character is dark-skinned *compared to other characters* and this is never explained. (Correct)

For example, "Alice is tan with blonde hair. This stands out because the rest of the cast is fair-skinned, but her background is never explained. It's unknown if she's a minority or a white girl with a tan."

A

1. Magical Island: "Not to the extent of Aaron and Aki, but Thomas has slightly darker skin than the main heroes."[...]"Is he tan from being in the sun too long or this is his natural skin color?"[...]"She has the darkest skin color and her race is never mentioned.""
2. Trigun: "His exact skin tone is very inconsistent, but he usually has a darker skin tone than the other characters in the official art, presumably because of all the time he spends outside. "
3. Dragon Ball Universe 6 Major Characters: Described as a "dark-skinned beauty" ^note within the Episode 93 preview of Shonen Jump, Kale is noticeably tanned compared to the likes of Caulifla and Cabba. The only known Universe 6 Saiyan with the same complexion is Renso, Caulifla's brother. However, her skin gains a slightly lighter shade of melanin when she transforms into her Super Saiyan Berserker form.
4. Captain Tsubasa Foreign Rivals: "He's notoriously darker than his teammates. Then again he's inspired by dark-skinned Dutch players like Franklin "Frank" Rijkaard or Ruud Gullit, both of Surinamese origins." Counting this as correct instead of hinted at since the example doesn't say he's implied to be Surinamese in-universe
5. The Prince of Atlantis: "Dorothy had a darker skintone than the other members of the Platon crew."
6. Under The Cold Moon: "Grete has noticeably darker skin than most werewolves in the past and alludes to her difficulty in pre-colonial and post-colonial America in flashbacks."
7. King's Maker: 1/2 wicks: "Noticeably darker-skinned than any of the other characters, but holds the title of Duke in a kingdom that also has no clear real-world counterpart, but leans heavily towards European. As such, his actual race is never touched upon."
8. Digimon World -next 0rder-: " For whatever reason, she's a little darker skinned than the other human characters."
9. Thunderbirds Are Go: "Darker than the white Tracys but not as brown as the Indian Brains."
10. Ever After High The Rebels: "She's darker than Raven, but lighter than Cedar. Parts of the fandom likes to think that she's Native American." Fan spec

B. Character is dark, but the example does not clarify this darkness in relation to everyone else

For example, "For some reason, Alice is tan with blonde hair." The description, at least is very clear that the brown skin must stand out. Included here are characters whose context is just that they are some shade of brown without describing the setting or the other characters.

B

1. Bearmageddon: Dickinson has light brown skin, but it's unclear if it's his natural skin colour or just tanned from living in the mountains for most of his life.
2. Inspector Gadget (2015): "What little that is shown of his neck in "A Higher Class of MAD" shows he has a rather dark skin tone."
3. Blackstar: As mentioned above, Blackstar was originally going to be African-American, but ended up just sort of brownish with straight hair. Fanon holds that he's Native American. Fan speculation
4. Ever After High The Rebels: 1/3 wicks.: "She has slightly tanned skin."
5. Shakugan no Shana: "Definitely has an African or Middle-Eastern appearance, complete with brown skin and dark hair, but his procedence is obscure. Given the references, he could be Egyptian or Hindi." Fan spec
6. God Never Said That: "There's no concrete proof that Naoko said that Setsuna was part Romani, but it's a persistent rumor—and generally accepted headcanon. The official reason for Setsuna being Ambiguously Brown is simply aesthetic." I am putting this here instead of in ZCE since for some reason which is probably dark skin, fans speculate that the character is Roma.
7. Karlee Pérez: "Her complete list of ethnicities is above. WWE gave her the ambiguously exotic name Liviana at first, before going for the more Anglo sounding Maxine. In Lucha Underground she is presented as Latina." This is a rela person, but I suppose this is an Enforced Trope of sorts as it refers to wrestling personas
8. Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl: " His skin was brown during his youth, but in present day his skin is quite fair. For the record, japanese people who are naturally fair skinned can easily become very tan if they are outside in the sun a lot."
9. Mother Russia Bleeds: " While Sergei looks like a blonde Caucasian in the actual game, he appears like a very dark-skinned man with black hair in the Launch Trailer." Double entry w Race Lift

C. Character is brown but their background is known from the start, there are hints about their background, or their background is later made clear within the work.

For example, "Alice is tan with blonde hair. Later her driver's license shows her last name is Lopez and she mentions a family recipe for arepas." Also included are characters whose ethnic ambiguity is explicitly pointed out.

C

1. Sofia the First: "Sofia's mother, Queen Miranda, because she comes from Galdiz, the equivalent of Spain". Fantasy Counterpart Culture counts as explanation per description
2. Ever After High The Rebels: " She's made of wood, further confusing things. As of "A Wonderlandiful World" it is confirmed she is black." Explicitly black
3. Kaiju Girls: "Mio has the brown skin tone, but she's a Japanese girl nonetheless." If she's clearly Japanese then doesn't she just have a tan?
4. The Ideal Sponger Life: "He has a darker skin compared to most Japanese due to his male ancestor from the Carpa Kingdom." I'm guessing Carpa Kingdom is a fictional place populated by brown people... still, this is explained.
5. Chiasmata Protagonists: Known ethnicities (maybe?)
   1. "Jacqueline is the white female character (for as far as that goes...)"
   2. "Omar is the Ambiguously Brown, Middle-Eastern character."
6. Fate/EXTRA: "In her lunch scene, she cooks Egyptian food, and in the 5th Week's Magic Circuit Repair scene Archer wonders whether she's Egyptian or Babylonian. The presence of a bindhi on her forehead also suggests an Indian influence in her design. In CCC she clarifies that she's Egyptian, but her creator enjoyed Indian culture and that influenced her design somewhat." Also counts as ambiguous In-Universe
7. TotalDrama.Tropes A To G: "Several characters, though many have explanations: Noah is Indian, Justin is Hawaiian, Katie is Caucasian, and Courtney is South Asian." So... not ambiguous at all then?
8. The Saxon England Saga: Unlike in real life, there's a larger Native American population thanks in part due to the British landing earlier and a less severe epidemic. Combined with a policy of intermingling, this has resulted in a considerable proportion of the colonies' inhabitants being mixed-bloods. Explicitly says they are mixed white/Native
9. Granblue Fantasy Humans F To N: "He's obviously meant to be black, but he's also pretty much the only one ever shown, and wherever he comes from remains a mystery since he was orphaned at a very young age." If he's obviously meant to be black then what are we discussing?

SUBCATEGORY: Character's ethnicity is ambiguous In-Universe (lampshade, mistaken for [stereotypically brown nationality] etc, they can pass for multiple ethnicities, there are often contradicting hints).

For example, Bob tells Alice, "Okay, you're clearly not white but I can't place you." Alice laughs and says, "My mom is from Venezuela. I just dye my hair."

1. Baddiel And Skinner Unplanned: "David refers to being often mistaken as a Pakistani."
2. Leverage: "Ethnically ambiguous and uses it to her advantage in cons, portraying an enormous variety of nationalities In-Universe." Note: I edited this example to add In-Universe to this example, since the character exploits her ethnic ambiguity
3. The Office (US): "Karen, to Michael at least ("Wow, you look very exotic. Was your dad a GI?"). Her last name (Filipelli) and dialogue suggest she is Italian-American. Rashida Jones is half-Black, half-Jewish." Note: I edited this example to correct Rashida Jones's ethnic background. Note that her last name acts as a 'hint'.
4. Angie Tribeca: "Lt. Atkins finds himself at a loss when trying to categorize her (after having categorized Geils and Tanner). She then states that she has a black father and a white mother." Another ethnically-ambiguous Rashida Jones example, funnily.
5. Shanghai Express: "Ambiguously yellow. "You look more like a white man to me", says Salt to Chang. This film at least gives a Hand Wave to Warner Oland playing a Chinese person by explaining that he is half white." Unfortunate Fake Mixed Race aside, the character is ethnically ambiguous in universe
6. Devil in a Blue Dress: "This is a plot point. Daphne is revealed to be mixed race, "a creole mother and white father" which let's her pass as white. She has a black half brother who's familial connection she hides."

D. Character's ethnicity is ambiguous, but it is eventually clarified by the creators.

For example, "Alice is tan with blonde hair. Although her ethnic background is never explained in the show, the creators eventually confirm that she is Venezuelan." Some examples have this as their meat. I don't know whether this is technically still correct usage.

D

1. Mokepon: Kahn and his younger sister, Mana. Word of God says they're of Turkish descent. Light on context on how they are seen In-Universe
2. Star Wars Rebels: "Ezra, Kanan, and Sabine's tan skin tones sparked some debate about what their ethnic origins could be. It was later confirmed that all three human protagonists are mixed race." This confirmation is by the creators. I put this here instead of the incomparable-to-Earth category below because the article linked compares them to real-world races and ethnicities
3. Blindsprings: 2/3 wicks
   1. "Word of God is that she'd be Egyptian by our equivalent."
   2. "She'd be Indian if she were in our world, according to Word of God."
4. Ron the Death Eater: "portrays Connie as a psychotic, unclean, partial Asian stereotype[[note]]The story describes her as Indian (she's Ambiguously Brown in canon, but was confirmed by Word of God to be Indian)"
5. Bratz: "Yasmin's real ethnicity seems rather ambiguous compared with that of the other Bratz girls, although her creators have hinted that she is of Hispanic ancestry."

E. Character is brown but the setting is not Earth or is not comparable to Earth

For example, "Alice is tan with blonde hair. Given that this is a Space Opera where humans have intermingled for centuries, this is not unusual." I consider this a separate category from (A) as these settings do not view race the same way, so someone being brown doesn't stand out.

E

1. Harbourmaster" "Except on Veras, which is obsessed with maintaining all the semblances humanity had before the Unforgivable Years (and earlier than that), most humans are some shade of tan/brown/sepia. This is indeed the result of lineages mixing together during human spacefaring, although there are a few recognizable—and non-Veran—Asian and Caucasian archetypes. Emphasis on "few". Absolute similarity is interdicted not just by planetary genetic localization, but by the fact that a fair number of humans use Aquaan genetic engineering to alter their own semblances—the genetic version of cosmetic surgery." This is In the Future, Humans Will Be One Race
2. The Reader (2016): " Most characters' skin is described in words like "tan", "copper", "honey", "dark", or "black". This is justified, though, since Kelanna is a fictional world with no real-world equivalents to nations where such characters would come from, and no one group is signified as coming from a specific island or kingdom in the book." Everyone is brown and there are no Earth equivalents, what do?
3. King's Maker (1/2 wicks): "He's from Depennia, where darker skin is evidently more common, but it's unclear if Depennia is supposed to be based on any real-world country."
4. The Death Mage Who Doesnt Want A Fourth Time Bravers: "Gets dark brown skin after becoming a chaos elf, which understandably has no Earth-based equivilent." [sic]

F. Misuse and Misc. Categories

Real People

These creators' ethnicities are known. An actor passing as multiple ethnicities is covered by Plays Great Ethnics.

F 1

1. ERB Season 3: "he's played by a part-Asian actor (Indian, to be specific), but said actor is Ambiguously Brown" This doesn't apply to actors
2. Cher: "She is half-Armenian and also has some Native American ancestry. When she first debuted, she had a much more ethnic look that was still recognizable a few decades later. However, since then, she had undergone a series of plastic surgeries that made her look whiter." Refers to a real person whose ethnicity is known
3. Alicia Vikander: "Vikander has dark hair and olive skin, and says that during The Danish Girl, people had a hard time believing she was actually Swedish." A real person whose ethnicity is known (she is a white Swede)

Example is entirely fan assumption/speculation

For example, "Alice could be Latina." These examples skip context entirely and go straight to guesswork.

F 2

1. Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: "He looks like he's supposed to be Native American, or possibly some kind of Pacific Islander."
2. Blindsprings: 1/3 wicks: "She has a definite middle eastern look": How? In-Universe or no? Is this a fan guess or something with basis in the work?
3. Steven Universe — Humans: "Lars and Shep, who have some sort of mixed ancestry (although, it's only speculated with Shep]]."
4. Hollywood Genetics: "Star, a girl Tim befriends while skateboarding, has light skin and blue eyes while her parents and brother are all Ambiguously Brown and seem to have latino or Filipino heritage."

ZCE

You know. (Or you don't know, rather.)

F 3

1. Puyo Puyo Quest Special: "Shaula."
2. Tokyo ESP: "Except in her first appearance."
3. Braiger" "Pancho Poncho"
4. Cannon Busters: "Zigzagged. Much of the cast, including background characters, are obviously African-looking while still many more play the trope straight." How do they play the trope straight?
5. Lucky Day Forever: "This trope is used to make the Proles stand out from the Whites, which fall into the Uncanny Valley." How?
6. Scary Black Man: All three wicks are sinkholes about dark-skinned characters without further context. (FWIW these are correct uses of SBM from the description which just requires that the character be dark)
   1. "whether he counts as 'black'"
   2. "with the Scary Large Ambiguously Brown Qunari "
   3. "Though he's more Ambiguously Brown than anything,"
7. Curly Hair Is Ugly: "An Ambiguously Brown girl's straight hair turns into an afro."
8. TearRing Saga: "Except it's not her real skin color." But...what does she look like even with her 'fake' skin color
9. GUN×SWORD: ZCE
10. I See a Cat: "The dog's apparent owner."
11. Once Upon A Trial: ZCE
12. Dirty Bomb: ZCE
13. Batman: Rogues Gallery (Part 3): "Henri Ducard was already this, as was Morgan's mother." I guess this is supposed to be 'context' for Morgan Ducard's entry
14. OffModel.Anime And Manga: "Brock is consistently light-skinned in the games, but is Ambiguously Brown in the anime."
15. The Guild: "The Ambiguously Brown member of the Axis."
16. Unreal Championship: " Horus and Hyena."
17. Operation GEAR: ZCE
18. Kim Possible S 1 E 16 Kimitation Nation: " One of the two henchmen Drakken brings with him."
19. The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea: "Alex is Ambiguously Brown"
20. Pani Poni Dash!: ZCE

Other

F 4

1. The Boondocks - Minor Characters: "She has blonde hair and light skin, but speaks with an ebonic accent. Riley calls her a "fake-ass Mariah Carey". I guess the implication is that she's a white girl doing a blaccent?

Results:

• A character is browner than everyone else and this is not explained (correct definition per SPRT): 10/71
• Character is dark, but the example does not clarify this darkness in relation to everyone else: 9/71
• Character is brown but their background is known from the start, there are hints about their background, or their background is later made clear within the work: 15/71
• Character's ethnicity is ambiguous, but it is eventually clarified by the creators.: 5/71
• Character is brown but the setting is not Earth or is not comparable to Earth: 4/71
• Misuse and ZCE: 28/71