YMMV / Teen Titans (2003)

YMMV tropes for the Teen Titans (2003) series

Tropes with their own pages:

• Ensemble Dark Horse
• Fandom Specific Plot
• Fanon
• Memes

---

A - B

• Adaptation Displacement: The success of the series meant that the Teen Titans are Robin (specifically, Dick Grayson), Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven, as far as most of the public is concerned. The comics have been around since The '60s and have had dozens of members throughout the years, but good luck finding many people who recognize any outside the core five from the TV show. Most subsequent adaptations try to mimic this show's roster as a result, only swapping out a character or two.
• Adaptation Distillation: Adapts and distills many elements from the Wolfman and Perez age of the comics along with some elements from both before and after that period.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Terra. Some fans see her as a wonderful person who is constantly misunderstood and persecuted (often times they are also Beast Boy/Terra shippers), or as a horrible bitch who betrayed the Titans and deserved what she got at the end of Season 2 (usually Beast Boy/Raven shippers). Few people realize what she was actually meant to be: a Broken Bird and Anti-Villain with complicated motives and very deep emotional issues. So she's a normal 15-year-old girl. Albeit one with geokinetic powers.
    • Also, in "Things Change", does Terra truly have amnesia? Does her subconscious mind remember and is keeping her conscious mind from remembering too? Or does she fully remember on a conscious level and is just pretending not to remember? Is she even really there? Teen Titans Go has her older brother confirming that she is Terra, and he respects her wishes to have a normal life. Terra at least remembers Brion and smiles as she sees him leaving.
  • Val-Yor from the episode Troq was seen smiling as he left Earth. Was he smiling because he is relieved to leave a planet full of Tamaranean sympathizers who called him out on his Fantastic Racism and smirking for being better than them? Or was he really, deep down, thankful that Starfire saved him and is slowly changing his views? Or is he still racist against the Tamaraneans, but proud of the Titans for standing up for their friend?
  • Raven hugging Beast Boy at the end of "Spellbound" is one of the most heartwarming moments in the show, but Raven may have more than one reason for doing it. While it's clear that she is showing gratitude for supporting her, it may have also been her way of apologizing to him. For what, exactly? Not comforting him the same way when Beast Boy went through pretty much the same thing with Terra. She realizes that Beast Boy didn't get any kind words from his friends, and that he needed that hug just as much as she did.
  • The writing of the season 3 episode "The Beast Within" is terribly inconsistent about what's actually going on, including the question of how much of or even whether Beast Boy's ugly behavior is actually his own fault.
    • And while we're on the subject, can somebody explain the Man-Beast, what it is, how it works, and why Adonis was one, too, please? 'Cause the fans certainly aren't in agreement.
  • In "Birthmark", Raven’s ability to stop time. Was it just a “birthday gift” from Trigon that she could only use once on that day, or is it a power she always has, but can only use while feeling very intense emotions (such as the extreme fear and panic she was no doubt feeling when her friends were about to die)?
  • In "Troq", Cyborg replies to Starfire's question of whether he's been judged because of his looks with "Of course I do. I'm part robot". Did he mean that at face value and he is discriminated against more for being a cyborg more-so than because he's black, or did he not mention racism due to Starfire's naivety towards Earth culture?
  • In "Go!", after Robin frees Starfire and she kisses him to learn English, she tells him "If you wish not to be destroyed, you will leave me alone!" and flies off. Was she saying this as a threat, or as a warning about what the Gordanians would do if they saw them helping her (which the Gordanians eventually try to act on)?
  • Did Cyborg really develop a crush on Jinx when he infiltrated the Hive Academy? Or was Bumblebee just saying he did to get under his skin?
• And You Thought It Would Fail: A Teen Titans show by itself doesn't sound too bad, but one inspired directly by anime of all things raised some eyebrows. Couple this with the silly sense of humor and the lighthearted atmosphere of the first few episodes and many fans felt that this series couldn't hope to live up to the maturity and complexity of the DCAU in any way. This was quickly proven wrong by the fourth episode, "Forces of Nature", which introduced the Big Bad of Slade and immediately ramped up the quality of writing. Following this, the show began to become increasingly darker and more intense, and eventually became known for its involving and dramatic story arcs revolving around the personal struggles of the main characters, mixed deftly with comedic episodes to ease the tension. The series eventually gained a massive following and became Adored by the Network, to the point where other Teen Titans properties borrow more closely from this show than they do the original comics. The show later received a Spiritual Successor in Young Justice (2010) which received its own cult following, and later gained a remake of sorts in Teen Titans Go! which became a ratings juggernaut.
• Angst? What Angst?:
  • It's revealed in the tie-in comic that Starfire's parents died after she was sent away as a slave by Blackfire to the Gordanians. This isn't brought up at all in the episode she returned to Tamaran. Granted, the comic came out after the episode aired, but watching it again, it becomes particularly jarring considering that Starfire displays no form of grief. Blackfire's lack of grief is justified. Fanon for this seems to be either that Starfire's parents were so distant that she never really knew them (which given that they were royals and what we know of their culture, might make sense) or that they sold her into slavery in the first place (with or without Blackfire's prodding). There is also some consensus that she considers her Parental Substitute seen in the fake wedding episode and his wife (if he has one) to be her true parents.
  • Beast Boy has several examples.
    • During "The Beast Within" Robin decides to subject Beast Boy to a full police interrogation to figure out what happened to Raven after they disappeared from the tower. Nobody ever brings up how the Titans were one hundred percent willing to assume the worst of him, or how Beast Boy's episode is a blatant example of There Are No Therapists.
    • Also from "The Beast Within", Cyborg suggests that Beast Boy's DNA is decomposing, which is a condition that almost assuredly means death... but not only is the implication ignored by everyone in the room, literally the first thing out of Beast Boy's mouth is a question about Raven's recovery.
    • Beast Boy's history with Terra is one of the most heartbreaking things to happen to the team, and yet he only ever angsts about it when she's relevant to the plot. The rest of the time, there's practically no sign that she had any impact at all.
    • Everything to do with the Doom Patrol, which was introduced in Season Five and introduced a huge retcon into Beast Boy's history — Beast Boy had always been rather free-floating as the show's local Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, so the idea that he's actually been a Military Brat who would rather save lives than follow orders the whole time is downright bizarre. Even Cyborg and Raven privately muse about it.
    • The tie-in comic also confirms that Garfield's parents died in Africa when he was a little boy. This gets even less treatment than the matter of the Doom Patrol.
• Ass Pull:
  • Cyborg regenerating in "Titans East" went well explained that he acquired Brother Blood's powers by hacking into him, but somehow his human upper arm regenerated from the robot parts. Also his ability to access Brother Blood's power is Handwaved as being "a one-time deal".
    • He also got a spontaneous boost during the fight with Atlas when he's suddenly and inexplicably able to surpass the built-in limits of his hardware.
  • The second Man-Beast in "The Beast Within", which swoops in at the last minute to absolve Beast Boy of any potential guilt he might have over the episode's events.
  • Season 4’s weird insistence that Raven and Robin are the closest among the Titans doesn’t make any sense. Out of all the Titans, Raven interacts with Robin the least in the first three seasons, having multiple episodes that focus on her friendships with Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg, but never Robin. The writers tried to justify this by having Robin say that they are so close because she looked into his mind in “Haunted”, but this negates how Beast Boy and Cyborg literally entered Raven’s mind in “Nevermore”.
• Audience-Alienating Ending: The final episode of the show, "Things Change", has Beast Boy find what appears to be an amnesiac Terra Back from the Dead, only to have an attack by the Monster of the Week prevent Beast Boy from gaining any kind of explanation as to how she's back. The series also ends without revealing if Terra's amnesia was genuine, or if Beast Boy even encountered the real Terra. Needless to say, not many were happy with the lack of closure, and Word of God explaining the episode was written with the knowledge there wouldn't be a sixth season, instead wanting an Ambiguous Ending, did little to quell fan complaints. As a result, it's common for fans to treat the preceding episode "Titans Together" or the Trouble in Tokyo movie as the actual finale, and pretend that "Things Change" doesn't exist.
• Audience-Coloring Adaptation:
  • Several things, ranging from character design to characterization itself, were later implemented into the actual comics, with varying results. Also, if you were to ask someone today about the Teen Titans comic mythos, they're much more likely base it on their knowledge of the show.
    • For some specifics: take Cyborg and Raven. The former's popularity in this show (and a few other factors outside of it) have carried over into the comics and even boosted him all the way up to becoming a founding member of the Justice League come the New 52 launch. The latter a little less so, but after this show portrayals of Raven have skewed much closer to this show than her original comic appearances in terms of combative powers and physical appearance, going as far as to have her reborn as a young teen after decades of being as old as Dick/Nightwing.
  • This has caused problems with Starfire's reception as a character, as her cartoon self and her comic self are radically different, causing her comic-self to be widely disliked by a large number of fans who were introduced to the series through the show. While both Starfires are loving, affectionate action girls who are always there for their friends that's about where similarities end in terms of personality. Starfire from the cartoon is a Naïve Newcomer, Funny Foreigner, who speaks in somewhat broken English and has trouble fitting in due to her vastly different culture. Starfire from the comic is a hot headed Bruiser with a Soft Center who is both a very liberated young lady who isn't nearly as shy or awkward as her cartoon self, speaks perfect English, as well as being very sexually active by American standards and is a major case of Ms. Fanservice. She is also easily enraged and much more prone to violence than her cartoon self. When New 52 tried to emphasize her original incarnation's darker characteristics at least part of the backlash was from people who grew up with the cartoon counterpart, and were confused as to why she was so drastically different.^note Other backlash was due to making her very one dimensional in attempt to make her edgy, giving her a costume that was somehow even MORE revealing than her original incarnation's, essentially just being there as eye-candy, and having Roy have sex with her despite her apparent amnesia. Also of note is her physical appearance. Her cartoon appearance portrayed her as a very skinny young woman with small, but still noticeable curves. Her original comic incarnation was so curvy that several other Titans affectionately and jokingly referred to her as "Balloon Bod."
    • After the backlash against the writing of Starfire's character in New 52 became too much, DC wrote her out of Outlaws and gave her her own series. In it, her physical appearance and attire is much closer to her cartoon counterpart's appearance. Her personality became something of an amalgam of her Pre-New 52 personality and her cartoon personality, and her English skills are somewhere in between the two previous incarnations. Arguably she has now become the Titan who is most like her cartoon self.
  • Comic-verse Beast Boy's inexorable slide into shallow Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass can largely be traced back to this show. He has also aged down after slowly aging up since the 90s, and his alias has reverted after going by "Changeling" for decades, even during the Wolfman/Perez run.
• Awesome Music:
  • The opening theme, a catchy, surf-rock inspired number performed by J-Rock duo Puffy AmiYumi.
  • Mumbo's "Master of Your Fate".
  • Terra's theme (especially the rendition that plays during her run through the obstacle course) is pretty darn awesome.
  • Near the ending of the Apprentice arc, an intense, dark guitar riff plays when Slade loses his cool and lashes out at Robin. It gets a slower Dark Reprise when Robin pulls an awesome Batman Gambit on Slade to save his friends.
  • Everything from the "Aftershock" and "The End" multiparters.
  • The third act of "Masks" has some of the most ominous background music in the show. Special mention goes to Slade's first full appearance, and then his first real fight with Robin.
  • Here's one that doubles as a Funny Moment: When there's trouble you know what to dooooo... CALL CYBORG! He can shoot a rocket from his shooooe... CAUSE HE'S CYBORG! Doodadoodah, something like that! (Oh yeah!) Nananana, BIG FLUFFY CAT! (That's right!)
  • The climax of the episode Haunted is perfectly spine-chilling.
  • Blink and you'll miss it, but when the Titans make a comeback during the big fight in the Grand Finale Titans Together, a badass instrumental orchestral remix of the main theme song plays.
  • The song "Raining Down on the Fourth of July Parade" in the episode "Revolution".
• Badass Decay:
  • Brother Blood. Even though his power level actually seemed to go up with each appearance, his personality became increasingly hammy, petulant, and single-mindedly obsessed with Cyborg as he falls into his Villainous Breakdown, which noticeably hurt his overall effectiveness as a villain (but as mentioned before has was in the middle of a Villainous Breakdown, so it does have reason).
  • Also very observable with the HIVE kids. In their first couple of appearances, they're the Evil Counterpart team to the Titans and can fight them evenly (and beat them without too much trouble if they play their cards right), but as time goes on they become complete jokes to the point that Jinx, who remained the most competent, finally jumped ship and became a hero.
  • In the final battle with the Brotherhood of Evil, Mother Mae-Eye is taken out by a single hex blast from Jinx.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Terra, who, like her comicbook original, is at the center of a debate on where exactly she falls on the Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness. The fact that she's an Adaptational Nice Guy helped make this even more heated.
  • Mother Mae Eye. Some people find her episode hilarious due to how out of character she makes the Titans, especially Raven, act, and she is fondly remembered for putting Raven in a dress. However, others were sickened by how sweet her episode was.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • Slade's entire appearance in "Forces of Nature", where he not only creates a giant fire monster for no reason other than pure destruction (though this was primarily to divert the other four Titans while he could face Robin one-on-one for the first time), but displays several magical abilities that he never uses again.
  • Terra (maybe) moving icecubes in one scene in "Things Change". This is never explained or brought up again.
• Bizarro Episode: At least once per season, with such episodes being telegraphed by use of the Japanese opening. Mad Mod's episodes fall into this, as do "Fractured" in Season 2, "Bunny Raven" in Season 3, "Don't Touch That Dial", "Employee of the Month" and "Mother Mae-Eye" in Season 4, and "Revved Up" in Season 5.
• Broken Base:
  • The show draws flak from some fans of the original comics for its frequent, yet inconsistent less-than-serious tone, its Animesque nature, and the many differences between the heroes in the comics and their cartoon incarnations (like animated Raven's exaggerated Gothiness and animated Starfire being less aggressive and more naive). In addition, the physical appearance of the characters in the animated series is profoundly different than that of the original comic book series which (despite its title) depicted the Titans as being in their 20s^note at one point, the comic series even dropped Teen from the title, as it had become apparent they weren't anymore, with Starfire and Raven being arguably the two characters most noticeably "kiddified" for the animated series.
  • Season 5 as a whole tends to be divisive with the fandom. Some loved the focus on both new and old supporting characters while others hated it, and felt the series should have concluded with Season 4 as originally planned. The Series Finale, "Things Change" is especially a sore point among the fandom: some fans see it as a disappointing Cliffhanger ending for the series that should be resolved, while others believe the episode's message about accepting change was a perfectly fine note to end on.
    • Following up on the above, considering the amount of time that has passed, how the creative team split up ages ago, and both the finale and Teen Titans Go!'s message of moving on from the past (which was emphasized by Khary Payton in a 2017 panel), should the series even ever make a comeback?
  • The series was notorious for its Robin/Starfire vs. Robin/Raven fandom war. It got so bad that stating your preference was a quick way to make enemies. There were even little online cultures around the ships—Robin/Starfire fandom tended to consider themselves more well-adjusted than the alternative, whereas Robin/Raven fandom often considered themselves more mature due to the complex nature of their fandom.
  • Whether the more serious episodes or the more comedic episodes are superior.

C - D

• Can't Un-Hear It:
  • After this show, there's a very good chance you'll be imagining Khary Payton as Cyborg, Tara Strong as Raven, Greg Cipes as Beast Boy, Scott Menville as Robin, and Hynden Walch as Starfire when you read the comics. The same goes for Ron Perlman as Slade/Deathstroke.
  • Particularly Khary Payton as Cyborg, having reprised the role in several other media after this series and seems to have become the de facto voice.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: In "Trust", it's pretty obvious that Madame Rouge was disguised as Hot Spot in the end, due to how "he" conveniently appeared without having his powers activated.
• Comedy Ghetto: This series was, in its day, dismissed for having a frequent comedic tone. However, given the nature of the show, it can be plenty serious if it wants to be.
• Complete Monster: See here.
• Common Knowledge: It's commonly circulated that the show was cancelled and that there was supposed to be at least on more season (usually, the "evidence" is that Starfire never received her own season arc or that Terra's fate at the end of Season 5 was leading into a future subplot), though it's not as simple as that; Season 5 was a Post-Script Season (meaning it was never planned from the beginning) as the show was supposed to end with Season 4. Season 6 also would've been a post-script season, and supposedly only made it as far as a failed pitch. The only thing close to this is that Season 5's episode count was reduced from 20 to 13.
• Crack Pairing: In-universe, we have the Official Couple of Kid Flash/Jinx. While both characters are adapted from the comics, their ship isn't, and it's extremely unlikely to ever happen there, whether the Kid Flash is Wally or Bart.
• Creepy Awesome: Raven and Slade. Raven gets less creepy as the show goes on, while Slade gets more creepy as the show goes on.
• Critical Dissonance: Season 5 was one of the most, if not the most, well-received seasons among critics and fans of the comics, who felt its tighter continuity, introduction of new characters such as Kid Flash, and more serious tone made it just as good, if not better, than the previous seasons. Among fans of the show, it's the most polarizing season for some of the same reasons.
• Crossover Ship:
  • It's not uncommon to find Teen Titans crossover pairings, especially ones with Raven. Some the most popular Teen Titans crossovers are Terra×Ben 10, Raven×Spider-Man, Starfire×Spider-Man, Raven×Danny Phantom, Raven×Zuko, Raven×Ben 10, and Megara×Speedy.
    • The Ben 10 and Raven ones are especially strange when you consider that the original, young Ben was also voiced by Tara Strong, the voice of Raven, while the teen Ben from Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien and Ben 10: Omniverse was voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.
    • Considering the case of Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading on the latter series, Terra and Ben 10 is also kinda weird, since Gwen in Ben 10: Alien Force was voiced by Ashley Johnson, who voiced Terra.
    • Beast Boy is also getting shipped in the Fanfiction.net archives, especially in harem fics.
  • Raven×Naruto pairings are pretty common.
  • Though not as common as with Raven, Starfire has also been paired with Danny Phantom.
  • Raven and Starfire were both been paired with Spider-Man.
• Death of the Author: Despite Khary Payton and various writers confirming on multiple occasions that the series finale "Things Change" was purposefully left inconclusive as a metaphor for not being stuck in the past, there's been constant and vocal demand over the years for a series revival and to resolve its Ambiguous Ending. Even Tara Strong and Cartoon Network got in on it by saying that a sixth season could occur if Teen Titans Go! To the Movies did well enough at the Box Office (while not a flop, the film ultimately didn't meet Warner Bros. expectations).
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Although it could be attributed to his lack of education and youth, Beast Boy shows signs of ADHD. He gets distracted easily, he's impulsive, he's quite hyperactive, and he appears to have memory issues (he can't remember any facts or trivia that aren't related to pop culture, and he doesn't seem to even register Cyborg's instructions on how to fix him). At the same time, he often shows creativity and ingenuity with his shapeshifting, a vivid imagination, and surprising competence when he is focused on a singular goal (finding Terra, getting a Moped, fighting Slade one-on-one, and coming up with a plan to defeat the Brotherhood of Evil with a small team of heroes). He also sometimes shows signs of depression, which often coincides with ADHD.
• Die for Our Ship:
  • Terra is not hated for her betrayal as much as she is hated for getting in between Beast Boy and Raven, even though Word of God states there was nothing there but a close friendship between the latter pair.
  • Also, Robin/Raven fans towards Starfire.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Terra can be both this and Ron the Death Eater due to her fluctuations between good and evil.

E - F

• Epileptic Trees:
  • The identity of Red X. The most popular theory of his identity is Jason Todd. Relating to this theory, this means that Jason was actually Dick's predecessor in this continuity instead of his successor like in the comics.
  • Some people theorize that this series is a prequel to the DC Animated Universe for a few reasons:
    • Robin looks to be about 16, while he was in college by the time Batman: The Animated Series. It's also possible that by then, he and Starfire might have broken up. He also still has a positive relationship with Batman.
    • Kid Flash is voiced by Michael Rosenbaum, who voiced the Flash in Justice League. Later on, it is revealed that the Flash was Wally West, who previously took the mantle of Kid Flash before succeeding Barry Allen.
    • Speedy makes a cameo in Justice League Unlimited with Mike Erwin reprising his role.
    • An episode of Static Shock mentions that the Titans exist in the DCAU.
    • Deathstroke never appeared in any DCAU show, despite being one of DC's most well-known villains.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Slade. He's a detestable person, but so awesome at being bad that it gets him a big fanbase.
  • This series actually managed to turn Killer Moth into a badass Evil Genius. He creates an army of moths that nearly has him ruling the world, and fights the Teen Titans without the need of any effort. Even his costume is cool.
• Fanon Discontinuity:
  • Some fans choose to ignore Season 5, either entirely or up until the Ambiguous Bittersweet Ending.
  • The episode "Deep Six" gets this due to some fans viewing the Titans (Raven and Starfire, in particular) as acting out of character.
  • Some fans would rather ignore "The Beast Within" due to the Titans' mean-spirited Jerkass Ball.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Beast Boy/Raven. The creators and writers of the show repeatedly stated that the two character would never be more than Platonic Life-Partners, though such a relationship was often joked about in the tie-in comic series. The ship became increasingly popular, quickly becoming the preferred complementary ship for Starfire/Robin shippers. At the very least, a substantially large amount of people prefer it to the official canon couple of Beast Boy and Terra (the difference on FF.net is about twelvefold in the romance category). The popularity is noted when it comes to other versions of the characters, however; various comics have had them as a couple in both in the mainline DC Comics and several graphic novels, while the show's Denser and Wackier spin-off Teen Titans Go! completely embraced the pairing (while turning Robin/Starfire into a case of unrequited love), dedicating several moments and whole episodes to their relationship.
• Fandom-Specific Plot:
  • There are many fanfics where Terra being a local school girl in one episode is explained — usually, it's because she got amnesia, which is odd since the show was almost explicit that Terra was choosing to forget.
  • Likewise, it was also common to see Fix Fics where Beast Boy and Terra end up getting their happily ever after.
  • Nightstar, Robin/Nightwing and Starfire's daughter from Kingdom Come, is quite popular and is the subject of many fan fics, even though a large fraction of fans (given much of the show's fanbase is younger people who don't follow the comics) seem to have never read the source material or just skimmed it for Nightstar and Robin/Starfire content. Similarly, there's the newer Jake Grayson, their son from Nightwing: The New Order, who is also lumped in with the family.
• Franchise Original Sin:
  • The show is often credited for Starfire's whitewashed portrayal in subsequent media. Prior to the show, despite being an alien, Starfire was drawn with Ambiguously Brown features (most notably, her curly hair), giving another layer to her Dark and Troubled Past of being captured and enslaved (which included implied sex slavery). However, the show would then portray Starfire as an orange anime girl with straight hair while also making her outfit and backstory Tamer and Chaster. Since then, many of Starfire's portrayals have been closer to the cartoon due to its impact on pop culture.
    • Although this attitude itself has fallen under criticism due to the fact that Starfire is an alien, and the implications of claiming minorities are another species speak for themselves, as well as the fact that her backstory being made lighter was solely due to the show being aimed at children.
  • This show has a noticeably more comedic tone than preceding DC animated shows, which didn't hurt its reception, but did lay the groundwork for Teen Titans Go!, which did trigger notable backlash.
• Friendly Fandoms: It gained an acquaintance with The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023, as all the Titans' voice actors have roles in that movie as supporting characters.

G - H

• Genius Bonus:
  • In "Haunted", when Raven goes through Robin's memories, the very last one is a circus, with two shadows on the wall falling downwards. Should give you a hint as to which Robin he is.
  • Also when 'Larry' shows up he gives his real name. It's backward but when the marquee wraps around behind him we see it front ways.
  • A non-comic example: the probes that Slade uses to torture the Titans target their red blood cells and puncture them. Anyone who knows about blood diseases like hemolysis and malaria will realize just how dangerous and painful it was for them. Because their blood cells were being deprived of oxygen (and ruptured), the Titans were suffering from multiple organ failure. A slow, painful death.
• Growing the Beard: Towards the end of the first season, with the episode "Masks".
  • "Nevermore" departed from the standard superhero/supervillain conflicts of superhero shows by focusing on the dynamics between three characters trying to find common ground, even though their personalities were in conflict. This would be a running theme throughout the series, producing fan favorite episodes such as "Fear Itself" and "How Long is Forever?" with a contrast expressed in the origins episode "Go", showing how far the team's relationship has evolved from their initial meetings.
• Hard Truth Aesop: A pretty heavy one in "Things Change", especially for a show targeted towards children and teens. You cannot hold onto a past relationship if the other person does not want to reconnect. Whatever their reasons are, trying to push their boundaries will only make things harder for both of you, and learning when it's time to let go and move on is a big part of growing up.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In "Troq", Cyborg said he knew what it was like to experience prejudice, since he was a robot. Some fans said this was a cop out when he's also black. But when we see "Go!", the origin episode, he clearly expects to be hated just because he's a cyborg freak, usually hides his identity as one, and is surprised when Beast Boy actually thinks he's cool. And when you consider that most of the robots we see actually are evil, and that him being viewed as a freak for being a cyborg was a theme in the comics, it actually makes sense.
  • Starfire being a victim of racism in "Troq" becomes even more worse after Anna Diop, the actress who plays Starfire in Titans (2018), found herself a victim of very real racism and slurs for being a black woman playing a character who traditionally has orange skin.
  • In How Long is Forever? Cyborg says that Starfire's friends "Aren't friends anymore," and the villain of the episode, Warp, says that history cannot be changed, so Starfire's friends would still drift apart. Fast forward to Teen Titans Go!, and the way the Titans act can give off the feeling that they aren't friends in the slightest.
  • And also applied to the bleak future for the Titans of the episode predicting the tragic fates of many Titans in comics with Garth's death in Blackest Night, the transformation of Roy Harper into Arsenal after the loss of his arm and his daughter in Cry For Justice, and the break up between Starfire and Robin. Not to mention both its contemporary run during and after the premiere of the show being either Broken Base or Seasonal Rot.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • In "Sisters," Starfire asks if the fireworks at the fair mean that the Gordanians are invading Earth. Robin reassures her that it isn't. They met when Starfire was escaping a Gordanian prison ship as a "prize" for her captors, and the original five teens teamed up for the first time to fight for her freedom and become a team.
  • The climax of "Nevermore" is Beast Boy and Cyborg fighting the Trigon/Angry Raven in Raven's head to give her a chance to unite all her emotions and defeat her angry doppelganger. In the season four finale, Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy Hold the Line and distract the real Trigon so that Robin can find Raven and save her.
  • Raven is utterly terrified when Slade returns in season four and he implies that her friends will be terrified of her, only for them to rally around her when they learn of the prophecy. Then they insist she hide out in a safe room they made for her while they Hold the Line against Slade.
  • Building on the above, Raven could've easily averted her part in the prophecy simply by letting Earth be taken over or destroyed by whatever baddie came their way. Trigon can't come to Earth if there's no Earth. It would've been a mercy, to both the people of Earth and to herself. ...But that's not who Raven is. She protected Earth because it was her new home, and (as Robin so put it) she dared to hope she could protect it.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Epileptic Trees identifying Red X's Secret Identity as Jason Todd, in light of the appearance of Jason coming Back from the Dead in the comics and in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies as the Red Hood. Also, in connection to that theory, Red X briefly flirted with Starfire. Now, with Red Hood and the Outlaws, she and Jason are working together.
  • Cyborg and Robin's conflict over leadership of the Titans in the end of Season 3 becomes this when, in Young Justice (2010), Aqualad (also voiced by Khary Payton) becomes the leader of the team instead of Robin. For a while, anyway.
  • In "Deception", Beast Boy sarcastically asks about dressing Cyborg like a washing machine for an undercover mission. Guess what Cyborg's stealth mode in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham was?
  • In "The Beast Within", Beast Boy suggests he might take on the name Beast Man only to be promptly shot down by Raven. In the New 52, a future incarnation of Beast Boy is actually known as Beast Man.
  • In "Forces of Nature", Beast Boy plans to prank Cyborg in retaliation for "put red dye in my shampoo". In the New 52, Beast Boy was changed from being green to red for a time.
  • In an early episode of Season One, Beast Boy and Cyborg win Raven a giant stuffed chicken, which she snarks about and later abandons at the first sign of trouble. In Season Five, it turns out she's allergic to the bird.
  • The Season 4 finale has Raven be turned into a young child. Her actress in the upcoming live-action Titans (2018) is the youngest of the main cast.
  • At one point in "Crash" while Robin, Starfire, and Raven are talking, a virus-ridden Cyborg can be heard in the background repeatedly chanting "waffles".
  • This continuity's take on the Doom Patrol omits the Chief and has Mento take his place as the team's leader. The exact opposite would happen for the incarnation of the Doom Patrol that appears in Teen Titans Go!, where the Chief is reinstated as leader of the Doom Patrol and this time replaces the now omitted Mento as Beast Boy's adoptive father.
  • This series presents Terra is presented as a Foil towards Raven, who is voiced by Tara Strong. Strong would later voice Terra herself in Young Justice (2010).
• Hype Backlash: The constant praise for the show by its fans has created unreasonable expectations that newcomers feel it can't live up to. The vitriolic disdain those same fans have for Teen Titans Go! only serves to further the idea that the show is viewed through Nostalgia Goggles.

I - M

• Inferred Holocaust: The opening to "Aftershock Part II" has a still-frame of Terra using her powers to conquer the city, with civilians running and screaming. The city looks like a war-zone by the time she's through, and Slade later says that Terra has done "unforgivable things". It's never stated outright, but Terra most likely killed a bunch of people at Slade's behest that day.
• Jerkass Woobie: Raven may be snarky towards her teammates, but considering how she’s the daughter of Trigon and has spent her entire life knowing that she exists solely to bring about doom and destruction to the world, it’s hard not to feel sorry for her.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Villains like Slade, Madame Rouge, Blackfire, Mad Mod, and Jinx are extremely popular. A non villain that is disliked, however, is Val-Yor. This is due to his blatant racism towards Starfire despite the latter saving his life. It just goes to show that just because someone is a hero, it won't guarantee that they will all be nice people.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
  • Raven is commonly seen shipped with Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Red X, Starfire, Terra, Slade, or others. It's hilariously parodied in this fanfiction.
  • Also, Robin, who is frequently shipped with Raven and Starfire, but also shipped commonly with Slade, Red X, Beast Boy, and most other guys in the series. To go a little further, he's the Launcher of a Thousand Ships for most if not all of the DC universe.
• Love to Hate: What most fans love about this version of Slade is how utterly cool he is at being evil, this being the most depraved iteration of the character ever. Here, he is completely stripped down of his Noble Demon qualities from comics, has successfully avoided the Anti-Climax Boss even when he got defeated, and after his return from the dead, he got even more depraved, to the delight of his fanbase. Basically, the more evil he gets, the more popularity he gains for it.
• Magnificent Bastard: See here.
  • Season 5: Madame Rouge is a dreaded member of the Brotherhood of Evil's inner circle. With a fearsome reputation to match her suave voice and lofty ego, Rouge is tasked by the Brain to retrieve a Titans Communicator so they can predict their every move. Impersonating the likeness of Robin to confuse and shake Hot Spot's trust in the Teen Titans, Madame Rouge masterfully plays the immediate situation to her advantage, successfully fooling both the real Robin and Hot Spot to gain a communicator. When offered Kid Flash by the Hive Five, Madame Rouge quickly overpowers the then untouchable speedster with clever use of her versatile shapeshifting. Despite her prior condescending attitude towards the High Five, Jinx standing up for herself impresses Madame Rouge. In the season's climax, Rouge, ever confident in her own abilities, goes down fighting multiple members of the Teen Titans despite being frozen like her villainous peers.
  • "Winner Take All": The Master of Games is the jovial founder of the "Tournament of Heroes," using it to lure in superpowered individuals under the illusion of it being a playful contest. In truth, the Master of Games manipulates the heroes and villains into fighting each other then claiming the powers of the losers by trapping them in his amulet, using the Tournament to trick people into practically handing themselves over to him. Absorbing Cyborg when he tries to expose the truth and framing Cyborg as a cheater to prevent suspicion, the Master of Games challenges the final champion, Robin, to a fair duel for the lives of his friends, accepts his eventual defeat and then restarts his Tournament all over again with a new group of heroines for him to manipulate.
  • "X": Red X is a self-proclaimed thief who steals Robin's selfsame suit, then tracks down a Xenothium scanner even with the Titans hot on his trail. Cornered, X uses his knowledge of his surroundings and mastery of gadgetry, taking on the team one-by-one while he makes his way too the Xenothium Ore vault to recharge his suit and uses Robin as a decoy to slip by the security drone. Teaming up with Robin to stop the treacherous Professor Chang, X not only saves Robin but also gracefully accepts defeat when Robin reveals he stole X's utility belt. In "Revved Up", X races against Robin and many of his enemies, demonstrating his skill on a motorbike and when saved by Robin from an explosion repays the debt by dismantling all of the villainous racers in under a minute. Stylish and roguish yet noble, Red X cements himself as a memorable character that's neither a villain nor hero—just as he'd like.
  • Trouble in Tokyo: Commander Uehara Daizo is a Tokyo police detective who arrested the mysterious Brushogan and sealed him away in an abandoned comic book factory. Forcing Brushogan to bring life to hoards of criminals for him to capture, Daizo founded the Tokyo Troopers, rose in the echelons of the police department, and obtained great public favor through his machinations. When the Teen Titans arrived in Tokyo to follow a lead, Daizo remains beneath notice and sets up the circumstances in which Robin is framed for the "murder" of Saeko-Tech, using that as reason to have the other Titans arrested or booted out of Tokyo. When the Titans uncover his deceit, the calm and confident Daizo simply aims to have them eliminated using the full extent of Brushogan's black magic.
  • Teen Titans (2005 GBA video game): Brother Blood is more cunning and dignified than his animated counterpart. Creating a clone army based on the Teen Titans in order to Take Over the World, Brother Blood first sends Gizmo and H.I.V.E. soldiers to attack the Titan Tower, so that Gizmo can steal the Teen Titans' DNA when they fight back to protect their home. Brother Blood then gives Gizmo, Jinx and Mammoth recording devices before sending them wreak havoc in different parts of the city, forcing the Teen Titans to fight them and thus recording their moves in order to improve his clones. When the trio is beaten, Brother Blood sends them with H.I.V.E. soldiers attack the Titan Tower again, giving him enough time to finish his clone army while the Titans defend their home. When he's nonetheless defeated by the Titans, he activates his lair's self-destruct sequence in one last attempt to kill them, never losing his smile even in defeat.
• Memetic Molester: This version of Slade is commonly seen as an Ephebophile by fans - for both boys and girls. It doesn't help that the dialogue at the climax of "Haunted" comes across as creepily sexual in nature, nor does it help the ending for "Birthmark" is effectively an allegory for rape. Not to mention that it's implied he watched Robin change into his new costume at the end of "Apprentice - Part One", or that Deathstroke did have a sexual relationship with the underage Terra in The Judas Contract.
• Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Evil Brit Mad Mod has a good deal of fans from Britain, despite being an embodiment of every British stereotype you can think of i.e. he has wonky British Teeth, he's a fan of Monty Python and The Beatles and hates the "yanks" enough to try and cancel Independence Day!
• Misaimed Fandom:
  • Terra falls into both types. She's supposed to be a morally gray character, someone who made horrible mistakes because of the pains of her past, but wasn't pure evil. Instead, she has people vehemently condemning her as a purely evil irredeemable psychopath and equally vehemently worshipping her as a blameless martyr who deserved far better than she got from the other Teen Titans. Ironically, the former interpretation of her being a psychopath was her character in the original comics.
  • On a show to show basis, the show itself when its controversial comedic successor is brought into discussion, with detractors of the latter complaining about the lack of continuity, characterization, drama, action, and animation style, in addition to being much more straight up comedic. What they may not realize is that these are very similar to the complaints made against this show for not existing within the DCAU proper and having a more animesque art style, taking various of liberties with a lot of characters and their depictions and having a more light-hearted and idealistic tone than the comic series it was based off of. The Terra storyline in particular was toned down in terms of both her role and fate.
• Moe:
  • Starfire, hot alien babe and considering her age, is very cute! She also has a kind nature and naivety about Earth culture.
  • Jericho is a male example. Just look at how cute he is!◊
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Slade crossed it in "Apprentice," when he infects Robin's teammates with nanobots that would slowly and painfully kill them from the inside out unless he acts as Slade's apprentice. And if he didn't cross it before, Slade definitely did throughout season 2, where he manipulated Terra into turning on the Titans, as well as psychologically and physically abused her. That's not even mentioning him gleefully mind raping Raven as Trigon's dragon in season 4.
  • Malchior in "Spellbound" convinces Raven to break his curse using a classic sexual predator technique; preying on her despair and loneliness.
  • Blackfire counts for trying to kill her own sister without remorse in "Betrothed".
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • Terra's Leitmotif prior to her Face–Heel Turn.
  • Due to Ron Perlman's voice acting, Slade's voice is memorable in both its malice and creepiness.

N - R

• Narm: The show's committment to Never Say "Die" is fine during more goofy episodes, but when the show gets serious the sheer level of talking around the term quickly becomes laughable. "Aftershock" is perhaps the worst example, with a body controlled Terra tearfully begging Beast Boy to "Destroy me! Quick!"
• Nausea Fuel:
  • Starfire eating Silky's cocoon and really liking the taste of it, both for the audience and implied In-Universe.
  • Kitten and her boyfriend Fang, whose head is a giant spider, making out. Though it does show that Kitten at least isn't shallow.
• Never Live It Down:
  • Starfire was shown drinking mustard once. It's common for it to be referenced in fan works. She is, however, shown at several points later with a bottle of mustard with a straw in it in the background, even if she's not actually in the process of drinking it.
  • Dr. Light's very first reappearance has him (understandably) still so scared of Raven that her appearing to be on the edge of another demon-mode outburst makes him surrender immediately. Nobody ever remembers that by the next appearance from that, he's gotten over it, to the point that when she attempts to intimidate him into immediately surrendering again, he nonchalantly blasts her.
  • Mento of the Doom Patrol is such a complete Jerkass that it's largely become his sole character trait in the fandom's mind, which has largely oversimplified his more complex portrayals in the comics, where he was an example of Parents as People caught in the Heel–Face Revolving Door. His few redeeming character traits in the later Doom Patrol and New Titans issues^note Steve was key support for Garfield's relationship with his then-girlfriend Jillian Jackson back in the pages of Doom Patrol, and he was unambiguously an example of Good Parents when the Titans were going through The Dark Age of Comic Books, ironically enough. are almost entirely forgotten.
• Older Than They Think: More than a few story threads, most notably Terra.
  • Some fans find it hard to believe that this Robin is intended to be Dick Grayson, arguing that his more brooding, obsessive, and morally questionable behaviors (especially in season 1) are more in line with Jason Todd or Tim Drake. Reading back through the original New Teen Titans comics, however, this is exactly what Dick Grayson was like, especially in the issues leading up to him quitting being Robin and becoming Nightwing—the Runaways/Scarapelli arc featured the exact same "Robin pushing everyone away to work on a case while Starfire attempts to get him to open up more" plot thread as "Masks".
• Periphery Demographic: Despite ostensibly being a kids show, Teen Titans (similar to the DC Animated Universe, but not to the same level as the animated continuity) is very popular among teens and adults due to its good action, clever writing, and surprisingly mature themes.
• Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading:
  • Raven and Beast Boy weren't meant to be a couple, but season three had them both share Character Focus in a pair of emotionally intense episodes, yielding accidental Ship Tease in the process. The creators overcorrected for this in season four by having Raven suddenly insist that her closest relationship was with Robin^note To drive the point home, the very end of "The End" features Raven giving The Glomp to Robin and rejecting the same from Beast Boy, which inadvertently diminished Robin's preexisting romance with Starfire and created a likewise unintentional Love Triangle. Even official statements by creative staff were unintentionally confusing—at a convention before season four, Word of God declared Beast Boy and Raven were Like Brother and Sister and then Like an Old Married Couple in the same conversation.
  • Cyborg was only dating Jinx while undercover, though he admits that she's not-so-bad when she's not out trying to cause mayhem. Jinx for her part was confused on learning he was the hero that she had tried to kill back in season one and hurt that he lied to her. It was Just Business for Cyborg but tells her sincerely that he enjoyed spending time with her as a friend. Yet they had good chemistry, and Jinx in the Teen Titans Go comics even tried to sneak him a Valentine without any of her HIVE teammates knowing. It does seem like Dating Catwoman was there.
  • Cyborg and Bumblebee were initially written to dislike each other in hopes that the fandom wouldn't assume she was his love interest just because they're both black. All this accomplished was making the pairing extremely popular in the fandom due to their constant bickering coming off as Belligerent Sexual Tension.
• Questionable Casting: They got Tony Jay for one episode, so you think he plays a menacing villain or some kind of badass. Nope, he narrates it fairy tale-style, so he doesn't even get to interact with any character.
• Ron the Death Eater:
  • Jinx gets a lot of flak from the fanfic writers for having "betrayed her friends" and turned on the HIVE Five. Never mind the fact that they were villains who repeatedly committed theft and put human lives in danger, that the HIVE Five weren't really her friends (except maybe See-More, the only one who even seems to express sorrow at the possibility of her leaving) and were explicitly depicted as inconsiderate and lacking in any sort of drive or passion... no, to the fans, the mere fact that she was a part of their group and left constitutes a heinous crime deserving of bashing. This is an unusual example of this trope, because it's usually unambiguous heroes like... well... Ron himself that get the Death Eater treatment, not a villainess who performed a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Terra can be both this and Draco in Leather Pants due to fluctuations between good and evil.

S - T

• She Really Can Act:
  • Tara Strong said that she auditioned for Starfire because she was known for playing the Genki Girl character type. She ended up kicking it out of the park with her performance on Raven instead, an Emotionless Girl with a Dark and Troubled Past who is violently protective of her friends and more caring than she lets on at first. Special note is her talking with her mother in "The Prophecy" and in a moment of vulnerability, admitting that she is scared of her future, and what her destiny will do to her friends. You can hear volumes in Raven's voice when she gives a Little "No", realizing that Trigon already razed Azarath, and Arella had died in the attack but left a part of herself to stay goodbye to her daughter.
  • Before this show, Ashley Johnson was best known for playing Nice Girl geniuses like Gretchen in Recess. Here, she expands her range with Terra, a metahuman that goes Heel–Face Revolving Door as she wants to be a hero but can't control her powers, and makes a Deal with the Devil with Slade. Aftershock, Part 2 shows her giving a chilling monologue of how I Regret Nothing and she did terrible things, making you truly terrified of Terra and wondering if she's too far gone. Even more terrifying is when Slade beats her up and shows that he can physically stop her from leaving, reverting Terra back to the scared girl she was in her first appearance and begging for Beast Boy to just kill her before Slade compels her to murder him. While fan opinions range on Terra, her actress gave quite a showstopper of a performance.
• Ship Mates: Robin/Starfire - Beast Boy/Raven is the most common example. There is also Beast Boy/Terra - Robin/Raven or Robin/Raven - Beast Boy/Starfire. Robin/Starfire - Beast Boy/Terra also exists, though probably to a lesser extent. Kid Flash/Jinx is very commonly shipped alongside any of these combinations. Cyborg usually gets paired with Bumblebee, though he is occasionally paired with Jinx, creating another (much, much smaller) battle between Cyborg/Jinx and the (far more popular) Kid Flash/Jinx. For a while, Robin/Starfire - Beast Boy/Terra - Cyborg/Raven fics were very common.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat:
  • Beast Boy/Raven vs. Beast Boy/Terra is the big one. The Robin/Raven ship occasionally does smaller but still intense battle with both Robin/Starfire and Beast Boy/Raven.
  • Even exists in-universe, as witnessed in "For Real", which is most likely a Take That! to the fans, considering the pairings mentioned (BB/Star and Aqualad/Bumblebee) seem designed to go against the established Fan Preferred Couples.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Blackfire/Red X is rather popular, and not only have they never met but both characters only appear in a handful of episodes each.
• Signature Scene: Slade’s breaking speech to Robin near the end of “Haunted”. The scene is notorious for just how unnerving and disturbing it is, and helped show many viewers how dark the show was willing to get in spite of it being a kids show. To the point where it’s essentially the defining example of the boundaries the show pushed at the time.
• Spiritual Successor: As noted on the main page, the series has a tone closer to the Young Justice comics than the comic it was based on thanks to its mix of comedic and dark storylines. It was even pitched as a Young Justice series. Became Hilarious in Hindsight when an Young Justice (2010) series was created and ended up being closer in tone to the original Teen Titans comics.
• Stoic Woobie: It's hard not to feel sympathy for Raven but she keeps to herself.
• Strawman Has a Point:
  • While Beast Boy's jerkish behavior to his teammates in "The Beast Within" is uncalled for^note Assuming he was responsible for it; his DNA was breaking down at the time, he was right in calling Raven out on how she picks on him and insults him, and the lack of respect he receives at times from the others. It helps that we get examples of this during the fight with Adonis.
  • The episode "Spellbound" shows that Raven has genuine worries about not being able to connect with others because of her interests, best exemplified by her reaction to Beast Boy calling her "weird". The viewers are supposed to be sympathetic to Raven about her isolation, but most of that is her own doing, as she actively refuses to join the others in their fun when offered and makes no attempt to reach out to her friends to address the problem. In fact, the other Titans are never seen to be put out by her hobbies, just the fact that she refuses to socialize even a little with them.
    • It can be seen as early as season 1, with "Nevermore", as Starfire is worried about Raven being gone for so long, but Robin refuses to let Starfire bother her since Raven often spends time alone in her room, to the point of actually restraining Starfire from knocking on her door since, if Raven needed something from them, she'd ask them for it.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The verses of the theme song are these to "Secret Agent Man" by Johnny Rivers.
• Theme Pairing:
  • We'd Fly Away Together pairs Robin with Terra because they're both troubled teens who became apprentices to Slade.
  • The Jinx/Raven fic To Catch A Raven pairs the two up because they're both magical gothic teens.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: While the results were ultimately good, some fans were still left disappointed in comparison to the original comics, or heck, the main DC universe that had really pushed the bar in terms of animation and overall comic book adaptation. In spite of several serious storylines, there were notable changes made for a more kid friendly show, such as Terra being less of a straight-up villain, or Big Bad Slade being stripped of any sympathetic motivations, which were all one thing, but the anime-ish pratfalls seemed outright pandering if not outright narm-y.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: One major problem with the Brotherhood of Evil arc in Season 5, apart from them coming off the heels of the Tough Act to Follow Trigon arc, is that their whole plan to unite all of the Titans' villains into an alliance of evil seems too similar to the Legion of Doom plot that was going on concurrently in the final season of Justice League Unlimited.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Immortus has a very cool character concept — that they did nothing with.
  • Blackfire only appeared in two episodes and we never find out why she's so antagonistic in the first place!
  • Red X, despite his popularity, almost has NOTHING about him is revealed, or how he got the suit Robin used.
  • Slade, in spite of making the most appearances of any villain in the show, has very little revealed about who he is or even what his long term goals are besides gaining an apprentice and dominating the city. It's especially bad that even after he achieved his aim after the fourth season, he almost never appears in the fifth so the Brain can take the spot as the Big Bad.
  • Jericho. He's Slade's son in the comics but it wasn't even alluded to in the cartoon - although this may have been explored if the show had been renewed for more seasons.
  • Classic Titans villain Psimon makes a couple cameo appearances in the last few episodes. Anyone familiar with the Teen Titans comics, or the Young Justice TV show, knows that this is WAY too cool and dangerous of a villain to be left to a mere cameo.
  • Kyd Wykkyd was one of the most interesting HIVE students: mute, having a Batman-esque costume and his odd demon like powers that were somewhat similar to Raven's. They did jack all with him.
  • The Man-Beast form showed up a total of three times during the show's duration, the first two during its original episode.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • On a more basic level, Starfire has a deep backstory, yet she never got a season devoted to her own growth the way the other four did (with Robin and Beast Boy getting two in that they tied in to Raven and Terra's growth respectively), while the most growth we got from Starfire was her relationship with Robin.
  • Another example is Robin and Beast Boy's personal relationship with each other. Throughout the show we see them developing stronger bonds with the other members, but their relationship with each other is neutral at best and tense at worst. There's never an episode where they develop a stronger bond together... though there is that episode where Robin seriously threatens to send Beast Boy to jail.
    • Especially since the Doom Patrol episodes give them the perfect common ground. The closest we see of them coming together is when they team up to individually take out Brain and Monsieur Mallah in the penultimate episode of the series.
  • Terra's betrayal (aka the Judas Contract). In the comics, Terra was part of the team for dozens of issues prior to turning on the Titans, so her betrayal had more impact. In the show? She had just three appearances prior to the episode in which she betrays them: her debut episode, her joining of the team five episodes later, and a non-speaking cameo in the episode after that, which came immediately before her betrayal episode. While Glen Murakami explained that it was due to time constraints (she was originally planned to make much more appearances throughout the season to the point she was supposed to be Promoted to Opening Titles), it is still disappointing that Terra having a significant tenure as a Titan is at best implied through only a voiceless cameo and a single flashback.
  • Robin's transformation into Nightwing is only alluded to once in the series. Despite his interest in becoming said hero, nothing ever becomes of it.
  • It's never explained why Robin left Batman. While it's implied they had a falling out, "The Apprentice" shows (albeit indirectly) that Robin still has a lot of respect for Batman and considers him his father.
  • Whether or not it's romantic, Beast Boy and Raven had one of the most complex relationships in the show... and they never managed to reach a real understanding.
  • For as much of an effect that Trigon had on Raven and her life (for good and for ill), it can feel like something of a disservice for him to only get a passing mention in Season 5, which is mostly Played for Laughs. It would have been interesting to have a Raven-centric version of “Haunted” where she has to ponder whether or not her father is truly gone and what kind of influence he may still have on her, ultimately coming to terms with his passing. The Teen Titans Go comics do touch on this briefly though, where it is revealed her greatest fear is that her victory against Trigon may not be permanent, and that she may end up becoming his portal again, or even be fully corrupted by her demonic heritage.
• Tough Act to Follow: While the final season is not considered outright bad, it is still seen as inferior when compared to the extremely well-received fourth season. In particular, the Brotherhood of Evil is rather difficult to take as the serious threat they're positioned as when they're coming off the heels of Trigon.
• Toy Ship: Beast Boy and Terra. OK, so they're not kids, but they're still two of the youngest characters in the show.

U - W

• Ugly Cute:
  • Silkie might as well be the team mascot.
  • There's also those little egg-headed aliens that worshiped Raven.
  • And Starfire in monster form from the episode Transformation.
  • Blackfire and Glgrdsklechhh's babies in The New Teen Titans.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Terra's detractors view her this way. She's meant to be seen as a tragic case of a lonely girl who lost her moral compass, and fell victim to Slade's manipulation. However, she only let Slade manipulate her because she misunderstood the Titans' actions, and wasn't willing to trust them in the same way they trusted her.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: To an extent. On the whole, the series was pretty kid-friendly overall, but it did have moments of this at times with storylines involving the end of the world, Blackmail when Slade threatens to kill the Teen Titans unless Robin becomes his apprentice, and a few instances of Mind Rape. Not to mention Raven's demonic heritage would make some religious parents and viewers scared.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Either you like the long-haired Nightwing from "How Long Is Forever" and take it as his official future look...or you absolutely hate it and use the fact that it's from a Bad Future that was undone as an excuse to never acknowledge it again.
• The Woobie: Plasmus. The poor guy's incapable of controlling his sludge monster form whenever he's conscious, essentially has to be kept in an artifical coma for his entire life to stay human, and in his only speaking role, he's visibly terrified of what he'll do to people when he's awake.