A Netflix writer claims a One Piece Season 2 Character is based on Donald Trump…despite this character debuting in the manga all the way back in 2000.
President-Elect Donald Trump hasn’t set foot in the White House yet, but Hollywood is already gearing up for more “Orange Man Bad” narratives.
A writer for the Netflix live action One Piece series, which received critical praise nearly across the board, is trying to create parallels between Trump and a comical dictator character named Wapol.
A screenshot of Wapol, a One Piece villain, in an episode of the anime – Youtube, Kung Fu Luffy
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Spencer Baculi, editor in chief at Bounding into Comics, gave an excellent description of the character, stating, “Introduced in the manga’s 131st chapter all the way back in 2000, the stocky and purpled-haired Wapol is best described as ‘a comically stereotypical dictator’, his greatest accomplishment in life being his absolute ruining of his inherited Drum Kingdom, whose people have been left in a state of constant poverty, starvation, and sickness thanks to their monarch’s own selfishness, as he regularly pillages the nation’s resources in service of funding his own pleasures.”
Netflix One Piece staff writer Randy Troy is attempting to claim that manga writer Eiichiro Oda had always intended Wapol to serve as a direct commentary on Trump. This is despite the fact that he was first conceived in 2000, 16 years before Trump would enter national politics in a meaningful way.
It was announced recently that Wapol will play a central villain role in the show’s second season, and that The Main Saints of Newark star Rob Colletti would play him.
A since deleted tweet from Netflix writer Randy Troy in which he claims One Piece villain Wapol is based on US President Donald Trump – Randy Troy via X
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In his since-deleted X post, pictured above, Troy states:
“The greedy and petulant Wapol is based on Donald Trump, whose family name comes from the German “Drumpf,” hence where Drum gets its name. In an almost prophetic turn from Oda, Trump’s policies were/are riddled with healthcare management issues.”
-Randy Troy via X, Nov. 8 2024
Of course, he was immediately hit with a community note which pointed out that Oda had previously stated in the One Piece log books that the inspiration for Drum Island came from Drum Rock in Canada. Soon after, the post vanished from X.
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“One day, I read a book and found a photo about Drum Rock,” Oda said in the 25th log book for One Piece. “If I remember correctly, Drum Rock is located in Canada. The rock looked cool, so I drew an island called Drum Island with a mountain called Drum Rocky. Thus, the so-called ‘Chopper Arc’ started.”
When someone pointed out that Wapol first appeared during a time in which Trump had no impact on politics, Troy doubled down.
“He planted seeds as early as 1986, leading to many jokes about him as a US president in pop culture well into the early 2000s when Drum was serialized,” he said. “Even the famous Simpsons episode ‘Bart to the Future’ referenced this idea, predating the start of the Drum arc.”
Do you believe Randy Troy? Is there a One Piece Donald Trump connection? Or do you believe the manga’s original writer who stated specifically where the idea for Drum Island came from? Sound off and let us know!
