Personally the one word thing does not sound like a joke, but it sounds like the creators tell too much of the character's "origin story."

Note I am not talking about the character in-world origin story, like "this is how a superhero came to be in the Marvel Universe." No I am referring to this is the characters "out-world" origin story (this needs a better label) of what the creator was thinking or doing when he thought up the character for the first time. Or this is how I describe to a 2nd person during a brainstorm session where we are still brainstorming up the character.

It feels like a very "do not look behind the curtain" and it does not work as a narrative device because it reveals too much, it does not reveal too much of the character in-world, but instead it draws you into an uncanny valley where suddenly you are aware of these characters as flat 2d constructs (see mercury and emerald in season 1) instead of organic storytelling beings.