Blackmask

Blackmask

***Keyshia MacArthur***, better known by her nickname of ***Blackmask***, is a character from the epic space adventure *Space Pirate Captain MacTaggart*. She is the Second Mate on board the *Stellar Typhoon*, in charge of weapons and vehicles.

## Persona

Blackmask is the Second Mate onboard the
*Stellar Typhoon*, and also acts as
Jaws MacTaggart's main supplier of weapons and armaments. For the most part, she's very lazy, and a bit of a *hood-cat*. She tends to annoy her fellow crew members by various means-such as jokingly flirting with Alasdair to annoy Kyoko. She also lusts after Taihō Mori, one of
her staff in the Gunnery Section. However, he simply ignores her advances, already being in a relationship with Izzy Rozycki.

Under normal circumstances, Blackmask is a little hard to get along with. Her laid-back attitude to life and work puts her at constant odds with the no-nonsense Leslie Kennedy. She also has a rather volatile working relationship
with Alasdair Geddes, largely as a result of her playful advances against him. Kyoko Mori is also annoyed by such advances, but she mainly holds them against
Blackmask, knowing that Alasdair is not to blame.

However,
the moment the crew is thrown into a battle situation, Blackmask is right there
in the moment, not willing to rest until the last enemy is destroyed. She is merciless
in battle as a result, and an excellent markswoman. Her bravery in tackling
even the most dangerous of enemies inspires much begrudging respect from her
fellow crew members.

Although
she has many arguments with her peers due to her laziness and unyielding
character, Blackmask has a pure heart, and is really quite a cheerful soul.
She's fiercely protective and loyal to her values, and will willingly face off
the enemy with no regard for her own personal safety.

## Physical Description

Blackmask stands at 3 feet two inches,
and is noticeably busty in build (being a close second only to Kyoko in bust size among the female crew of the *Stellar Typhoon*). She has yellow fur, with black paws and tail-tip, and the raccoon-mask which gave rise to her nickname. Blackmask also has matching blonde hair, and green eyes. She's also very *well built*, as she likes to put it, thanks in no small part to her voracious appetite and slovenly exercise regime.

Blackmask
can generally be seen wearing a grey tank-top, green shorts and red sneakers.
Since she has no real concerns about her own modesty, she generally allows a pair of pink panties to peek out from beneath her shorts (that is, if they are
indeed present).

## Background

Of the five major protagonists, Blackmask is the only one to have come from Earth. She was born in East Oakland, close to the City of Critterton and near to San Francisco, California, in 2978. The second-youngest of four kittens (the other three being known as *Stripes*, *Patches*, and a third unknown sibling) in a single-parent household, her birth name was almost never used, and she became solely known by her nickname. Her mother, Ebony, had her four kittens with three different men, but she raised them on her own. Blackmask's own father wasn't always around, as he was busy fronting his underground punk-rock band, *The Field Marshals*, and in fact he would later die under unknown circumstances.

Growing
up on the streets of East Oakland, Blackmask learned to make her own way,
slowly rising up through the ranks of the street gangs. During this time, she was also involved in a lot of gang warfare, which is where she obtained her extensive knowledge of weaponry and explosives.

However,
something happened in that time that, to this day, Blackmask still won't talk about (although it's likely that her unnamed younger sibling was involved in
some way). Whatever had happened, it was enough for Blackmask to abandon not
only East Oakland, but also Earth in general. She knew that if she couldn't
stay where she was, then venturing out among the stars was the only option.

To this end, she *acquired* a
small cargo freighter, christened it the *Ebony Blood*, and used it as
part of her new life as a weapons smuggler. For the next couple of years, Blackmask built up her skills once more, drawing upon her experience in East
Oakland to try and survive in this strange new universe.

A few years later, in early 3007, the *Blood* was caught in a raid by the pirate cruiser *Stellar Typhoon*,
during which the Captain, one *Jaws* MacTaggart, stormed the freighter,
found Blackmask, and cornered her at gunpoint. Blackmask ended up unexpectedly saving her own tail when she managed to identify the kind of gun that Jaws was
holding her up with (a Type 94 Nambu 8mm pistol). After testing her knowledge
further with some of the other weapons she had to hand, Jaws proved to be
impressed with Blackmask, and offered her a place on the *Typhoon* as her
personal Weapons Expert.

Naturally, Blackmask accepted the offer, and promptly made herself known among the ranks of the *Stellar Typhoon.* Her experience with the street gangs has since proven invaluable to the crew, though her hood-cat nature has proven to be rather an annoyance at times. It doesn't help that the clashing of cultures are a bit of an issue, but she's already a bit open.

## Trivia

* Blackmask's birth name was inspired by Oakland-based R&B singer Keyshia Cole (it was Jordann Edwards' suggestion).
* Being from the west coast (specifically the Bay Area), she was exposed to a ton of local musical acts; from Mac Dre to Too $hort, from E-40 to Bobby Brackins - but she's a *huge* fan of Sage the Gemini (her birthday is one day before his!), among other members of the HBK Gang, like Iamsu!.
	+ Listening to those artists may have influenced her *hood-cat* persona.
	+ However, she *really* likes rock music over hip hop - she secretly is a closet Green Day fan and embraced a "punk girl" persona (perhaps due to her biological father, in one of the rare instances he was around). She also has taken a liking to her father's band.
	+ Alasdair has also been known to give her guitar lessons so she may follow in her father's footsteps someday.
* One of her uncles, was named after rapper/songwriter Iamsu! (birth name Sudan Ameer Williams).
* She owns many firearms, as she supplies the crew with most of them. Her personal favorite is a Glock 17.

## Creators' notes

* Executive producer Jordann Edwards considers Blackmask to be his favourite, because of how dynamic she is.
	+ It also helps that Edwards co-developed her character, giving her an Oakland swagger to add to her expertise in weaponry.
		- In fact, Edwards, with the help of Craig in a Facebook chat, developed a backstory for a version of Blackmask that would appear in *The Dynamite Twins and Friends*, one that would definitely be at home in *TDT*'s urban setting.
* On the production/ask blog on Tumblr, she's apparently got a few big fans...
* Edwards would also like Cree Summer to provide the voice, claiming that she would "make Blackmask her own". Though, both he and creator Craig Black would agree that E.G. Daily would pull it off as well!
* Jacob Elmer likes to draw Blackmask, mostly because it gives him an excuse to express his knowledge of firearms

## Gallery

Blackmask sleeping on the jobBlackmask trying to learn to play guitar...if only her father was still around...Blackmask to arms