Abandon Shipping: Many longtime BB/Rae shippers abandoned the ship for this specific iteration of the characters when the actors were announced and a large portion of their fanbase were put off by the large age gap between Gar and Rachel's actors. Even fans who did ship these iterations of the two ended up abandoning ship due to her treatment of him in the fifth episode of season 2.
Accidental Innuendo: It happens between Kory and Dick, in the episode Together.
Kory: How did you put it earlier? "We can't fight together unless we know each other's moves", right? So you've already seen mine. Now I wanna see yours.
She actually means Dick's combat movements. They still end up having sex a few moments later.
And You Thought It Would Fail: From the second the trailer was released and the infamous "fuck Batman" line was heard, the show was a subject of constant ridicule and hatred with many considering it an overly edgy interpretation of a usually fun teenage superhero team that perpetuates the idea that DC is dark and violent. While it had its critics and never shook off this original impression for some, the show did gain a fan base and went on to last four seasons before reaching what its fans agree was a pretty satisfying conclusion.
Two notable expamples with Rachel are how she treats her biological and adoptive moms: with Angela, Rachel doesn't flinch when she walks past her mother's dead corpse twice, though to be fair it turns out she was working with Trigon all along; while Melissa gets it even worse, since the poor woman raised and loved Rachel like she was her own child, fully aware of all the danger involved, yet she is treated as if she never existed by her adopted daughter.
Because of his status as the Chew Toy and being Out of Focus, Gar tends to suffer the most trauma but rarely speaks about it. In Season 1 he is tortured by scientists and ends up violently eating one to escape and in the season final he's beaten almost to death by his mind controlled friends. In Season 2 while he brings up these two things, the writers don't do anything and instead he ends up being tortured again by Cadmus who brainwash him into being a weapon and killing innocents. Also it's never acknowledged that he essentially left his surrogate family to help Rachel, Kory and Dick which is what led to all those other traumatic events, and he never seems to express any regret over leaving the Doom Patrol. Even in Season 4, when he learns that Dr. Caulder was the one responsible for creating the virus that killed his parents and turned him into Beast Boy as part of his plan to seek immortality, he gets over the whole ordeal rather quickly.
For someone who gave up on a normal life and trampled on her own moral principles, just to be with "daddy" Deathstroke, Rose shown no sadness over his demise, nor any angst or internal conflict for being manipulated by him and being lied that Jericho is dead, when he is very much alive. And she got over her break up with Jason, quite quickly.
In-Universe, Barbara and Dick note how Bruce quickly dismisses Jason Todd's death as if it never happened, and revealed he did the same thing when Alfred and Commissioner Gordon died.
Trigon, the ancient demon so dangerous that an entire alien race devoted themselves to preventing his return by any means necessary, and achieved an apparent The Bad Guy Wins at the end of Season 1... is easily disposed of in the Season 2 premiere with Raven simply pulling a new power out of her ass to send him back to his own dimension, or maybe even kill him, it’s really not clear. The show runners revealed this was actually intended to be the Season 1 finale until they decided to go with a cliffhanger ending instead. But still, fans rolled their eyes 9 months for such an obvious conclusion. And it gets even worse in Season 4 when they bring him back...only for Brother Blood to kill him without much trouble. Some all-powerful demon.
Then there's Deathstroke, who was quickly set up as the main antagonist of season 2 and his threat was felt even when he wasn't around... only for him to be killed early into the season 2 finale and replaced as the main antagonist by Cadmus Laboratories, who didn't show up until the season's sixth episode.
This happens again in Season 3, though it's not to the level of the previous two due to the lacking physical presence. Scarecrow had been spending half the season cleverly working the Titans, Jason Todd and the entire city of Gotham to dance to their tune, always staying one step ahead. However all it really takes to send it all crashing down is the Titans spending one episode not self-destructing and acting normally for their entire operation to be taken out. The only reason they last to the end of the season is a combination of sheer luck and some Xanatos Speed Chess to re-right the ship, but they never feel anywhere near close to the threat they were in the first half of Season 3.
Arc Fatigue: Dick's transition from Robin to Nightwing takes about two seasons. It would've happened at the end of the first one had the writers not changed their minds at the last moment.
There was no foreshadowing to Gar being able to turn into anything but a tiger, until he transforms into a snake in the Season 2 premiere.
In "Nightwing", after her Heel–Face Turn, Rose declares that the Titans are her true family. The problem is that the Titans spent the whole Season 2, being mostly huge jerks to each other, threatening each other or breaking apart because of the lies and other unresolved issues of the past, instead of being the surrogate family they are supposed to be. Beside, she barely has any screentime with them, except for Jason, Dick and Raven. So, is really hard to see why Rose would join and see them as family, when in this regard they didn't come off too different from Slade.
Starfire spends most of Season 4 pushing that she has to make a Heroic Sacrifice to stop Brother Blood, and in the finale, she does...only to come back a minute later, perfectly fine, with no explanation given as to how she survived or why.
Awesome Music: Titans has a rich soundtrack, enough to guarantee its own page.
Dick Grayson. He's either an interesting take on the character whose troubles of being the protege of a more brutal Batman and trying to heal from that pain, or a very dull take on him that repeats plot points throughout the first season and doesn't offer enough to be particularly likable. Even transitioning into Nightwing, his actions in Season 3 where he took much of the spotlight away from other characters and committed further morally questionable acts like knocking out Krypto and Conner with Kryptonite has caused more turmoil, but whether or not Season 4 walks things back enough is equally as big of a debate.
Rachel Roth. While she's an undeniably sympathetic character, many fans have pointed to her uncharacteristic abuse of Garfield throughout the second season, and seeming lack of real focus in the first season despite arguably being the most important character story-wise(likely due to the season spending most of its time focusing on Dick) as being good reasons to not like her. Her sorta squicky romantic subtext with Gar only makes this worse.
Bizarro Episode: The flashbacks in 3x06 involve Barbara working as a thief, despite saying what she wants to do is do real good in the world, and Dick joining her for a two week crime spree where they execute high tech robberies from museums. It is unclear when in Dick's established timeline this takes place, nothing like this has ever been mentioned before, and it does not connect to anything going on in the present, aside from Lady Vic's vendetta with Barbara.
Cant Unhear It: Much like Ron Perlman and Manu Bennett before him, Esai Morales’ portrayal of Slade has been praised and been very warmly received by the fan base. Of note is his excellent, very coldblooded and physical performance as he takes the taciturn Slade and makes him terrifying without saying much at all.
Captain Obvious Reveal: Given Jason's use of a drug to control his fear, the reveal that Scarecrow was the one guiding him came as no surprise.
Hank savagely beating his pedophiliac coach, Vincent, to death for hurting Dawn and for rapinghim as a child. After Dawn discovers pictures of kids in his laptop and decides to watch Hank deal with him, his fate was sealed. And. it. is. satisfying.
Raven defeating Trigon in the Season 2 premiere, given all the horrible things he and his influence put her through during the entirety of the first season.
For fans who find her to be Unintentionally Unsympathetic, Gar calling Rachel out on being a Hypocrite in season 2 episode 5 is this, even if it she immediately lashes out at him again afterward.
Likewise, for those who have a less than positive view on Dawn's character, watching Hank realize how toxic their relationship might actually be (coming to the conclusion that they're essentially using each other and crime fighting as unhealthy coping mechanisms for their traumas) and proceeding to break up with her in order to try and figure things out on his own made more than a few fans happy. Watching her angry reaction to him calling it quits is especially fun to watch for those who find her Unintentionally Unsympathetic.
Bruce killing the Joker (albeit offscreen) for murdering Jason Todd. It's true that he considers this a personal Moral Event Horizon, and he even admits Joker was cackling that he finally won his little game, but damn if it wasn't satisfying that the Trope Namer for Joker Immunity finally got what was coming to him.
Gar getting fed up with Kory always attacking him while she's in a trance despite always him trying to help her and the other Titans. The last straw is when she throws him in the trunk of her car and drives him out to the middle of nowhere. He becomes so distraught with all the shit happening that he chews out Kory for her and the other Titans not pulling their shit together, which leads to him always paying for it. O.O.C. Is Serious Business at its finest.
Trigon, Big Bad of season one, is the evil, world-destroying demon that the Organization worships, and is actually the father of Rachel Roth and the source of her dark powers. Trigon seeks to use his own daughter as a gateway to cross back into the world, using his cult of personality the Organization to butcher and torture swathes of people and having her mother Angela Azarath manipulate Rachel into his clutches. Once he crosses through, Trigon proceeds to Mind Rape almost all of Rachel's friends into his broken slaves, having them beat Gar into a bloody pulp to shatter Rachel's heart before literally tearing Rachel's heart out of her chest. Trigon even breaks Angela's neck to "housekeep" before he prepares to set out to swallow the Earth in darkness, devastating it of life and continuing on to destroy all life in the universe.
"Hank and Dawn": Vincent, Hank Hall's old gym coach, proves himself far worse than even many superpowered characters, preying on his young students to molest them at his whim. Vincent goads Hank's young brother into his clutches by threatening to have Hank expelled from his prestigious school, raping Hank instead when he substitutes himself. A laptop discovered in the present day reveals he has pictures of countless other kids he'd targeted before him.
Creator's Pet: This accusation has been thrown at Dawn/Dove II starting in season 2. The writers portray her as a pinnacle of morality, Dick and Hank are both deeply in love with her, and she keeps getting inserted into plotlines that have very little to do with her, often at the expense of other characters getting screen time during scenes that they should logically be in. Her being portrayed as a Morality Pet to Dick and Hank has been met with eyerolls, due to her characterization coming off far more like an example of Toxic Friend Influence who encourages them to do questionable things (such as encouraging Dick to "be Batman") only to backtrack when things don't go her way and act like they're the only guilty parties despite having previously encouraged their actions or behaviors. Tellingly, Season 3 sees this behavior land her in big trouble when her actions results in Hank's death, which causes her to leave the team almost immediately afterwards, being written out of the series altogether.
Creepy Awesome: Slade is walking Nightmare Fuel, but this is the thing that makes the fandom give him the Draco in Leather Pants treatment. His general creepiness, the genuine threat he represents, the psychological traumas he is capable inflicting on others, and the fact he is similar in some aspects with his most popular iteration made many people embrace his appearance from the very beginning.
Designated Hero: Most of the Titans that aren't Gar and Conner tend to fall into this, as many of the characters are often unsympathetic due to blaming others for their problems and treating each other unfairly. It doesn't help that despite being a superhero team, they are rarely shown to do anything actually heroic such as saving people and instead a number of them tend to get away with doing a number of questionable things. Season 3 and 4 however does try to avert this, with the first episode showing the team actually fighting crime, though some characters are still difficult to like.
Donna Troy's cheerful disposition and Platonic Life-Partners chemistry with Dick had many fans hoping that she'll be a regular for Season 2 - which wound up being the case. And although she drew criticism for some of her actions in the second season, her death was universally panned, with the hints of her return doing little to dispel the backlash from losing her and how she died. Thankfully, season 3 has her back for good.
While they only made a minor appearance in one episode, the Doom Patrol were beloved by viewers. Their eventual spin-off has received nothing but praise from fans.
Garth quickly became a fan-favorite thanks to his Nice Guy personality, and because just being around him helped the original Titans to act better. His death was not well-received as a result, though most did predict it in advance.
Deathstroke the Terminator made quite the impression on fans thanks to his intimidating presence, his awesome costume design, and his clever manipulation of the Titans without even having to be in the room with them. Naturally, fans were displeased when he died at the end of Season 2, and hope he's really alive somewhere.
Red Hood manages to show that Jason ToddTook a Level in Badass and really play up his manipulative side by getting Dawn to accidentally kill Hank through a clever Batman Gambit. It also helps that he has an excellent costume design and an intimidating vocal modulator.
To say that fans of the animated series have been critical of this series' tone would be a massive understatement. Those defending it have been just as vocal, especially in saying that the series' tone is just as true to the comics and the series shouldn't be expected to copy the animated series, especially when the animated series deviated from the comics in a lot of ways.
There's also a minor one with fans of the DCEU as Ryan Potter had campaigned to play Tim Drake in the solo Batman film and those who are keen on the idea are worried that his role here will prevent him from playing a part in the films. Furthermore, there are a number of DCEU fans upset that the show has been critically praised despite sharing the same dark and gritty first impressions.
The Arrowverse also came in for some thanks to Warner Brothers inexplicably allowing the show to use Deathstroke, shortly after they'd made a big deal about how Arrow couldn't use him anymore because they wanted to put him in the DCEU and the fans couldn't possibly accept two simultaneous versions of the character.
Fan Nickname: Many fans have slapped this show's version of Koriand'r with the unfortunate nickname of "Hookerfire" due to her poorly-received outfit strongly resembling a prostitute.
With the Young Justice (2010) fanbase, since this show and Outsiders are the first two originals announced for the DC Universe streaming service. It also helps that both franchises were screwed over by Turner-owned networks; TNT backed out of Titans, while Cartoon Network cancelled Young Justice (and nearly every other DC-based show). Many are looking forward to both shows, and often share the same communities.
The Arrowverse fandom has warmly welcomed the show, especially Arrow fans who are hoping that Manu Bennett's Slade Wilson could be transplanted over. But that will never happen because Esai Morales was cast to play Deathstroke in Season 2.
There's also a bit of overlap with DCEU fans who have defended the show's tone as being closer to the original run in the same way that they have for the films. Both have been hit with criticism for their similarly gritty and serious tone, so fans who like the DCEU for this aspect are just as interested in the show. Many DCEU fans have also noted the parallels between that version of Bruce and the Titans version of Dick and appreciate the show for them.
There's a considerable overlap between fans of Titans (2018) and fans of Marvel Cinematic Universe shows such as Daredevil (2015) and Jessica Jones (2015). In light of the news that the former (along with several other MCU shows) has been cancelled despite strong critical and audience reception, many Daredevil fans are rooting for Titans to continue the trend of gritty, mature superhero shows with serialized storytelling.
On the other hand, those who were fans of Teen Titans Slade welcomed this show version of him very warmly. For them, this is what animated Slade would have been if not for the age restrictions. Both versions of Slade seem to inspire same creepiness, cool factor and menacing presence that made the character one of the most chilling villains ever.
Genius Bonus: Rose and Jason quote West Side Story, which is a modern-day retelling of Romeo and Juliet in which a girl and a guy tied to rival street gangs fall in love. Their relationship is torn apart by the conflicts between their friends and families. Which reflects their situation in the show with the whole "Titans vs Deathstroke".
All of Dick's hatred towards Bruce in Season #1 becomes completely unsympathetic after the reveal that Bruce was nowhere near as bad as Dick had claimed.
Of course the premiere of Season 3 more-or-less rectifies this hatred when we learn more about the specifics of how Bruce operates.
Dick encourages Jason Todd to remove the tracking beacon in his forearm, that Batman place there. Jason, in the comics, gets beaten to death by Joker, because Batman couldn’t locate him fast enough to save him.
For the better or the worse, one of the main reasons Jason Todd is so popular is his deep hatred of cops. Jason implied that during his days as a street kid, he was a victim of police brutality, therefore, when he brutally attacked some cops for no other reason then the fact that he could, the fandom cheered up for him. This takes a darker turn with the rise of riots against police brutality that have erupted across the United States in the summer of 2020, following the death of George Floyd in police custody.
The Season 1 finale "Dick Grayson" has Trigon put Dick in a dream future where Jim Gordon and Alfred are dead and Batman kills the Joker. These events eventually come true as of "Barbara Gordon", the premiere in Season 3.
It also overlaps with Batwoman (2019), as it strongly implies that Bruce killed the Joker in that series for causing the death of his Aunt and (apparently) his cousin, which is why he ran off and never came back (though it's never outright confirmed). This series does the exact same thing, only Jason is the one that bites it, and Bruce is actually seen running off for this very reason.
And now, with Batman (Chip Zdarsky)'s #135th issue, Joker may have come Back from the Dead when the Red Mask resurrects all the other deceased Jokers (i.e. Jack Nicholson's Joker, the DCAU Joker) across the multiverse.
Season three highlights Bruce's manipulative and callous behaviour, emphasizing that Dick choosing to forgive him in season two does not mean that he was wrong in his assessment of Bruce's flaws. Even he is shocked by just how bad some of Bruce's behaviour is. This makes it harder to watch their scenes together in season two, especially the scene where Bruce offers his condolences after Donna's death, which parallels Dick trying to do the same after Jason's.
Brenton Thwaites quickly won over many of the viewers that were skeptical before the first episode aired and delivered a much more nuanced performance than people anticipated from his previous body of work. Even those who hate the show have admitted he's a pretty good actor.
Curran Walters was received very cold when he was cast as Jason Todd, especially by those who couldn't see other Jason Todd than Jensen Ackles interpretation. Most were surprised by his very natural acting and think he did a good job by the way he brought to life such a controversial character as Jason Todd. People consider the scenes where Jason tried to kill himself and the one where he breaks down in tears as he learns the truth about Rose to be Curran's best performances. He also manages to nail the intimidating factor and the arrogant swagger of the Red Hood effortlessly
Despite the initial poor response to her wardrobe and wig, Anna Diop surprised a lot of viewers with her charismatic performance, excellent chemistry with Brenton Thwaites, skill with comedy and handling of the more dramatic moments. She has even been cited by some critics as the breakout star of the ensemble.
He's Just Hiding: What some fans theorizes about Deathstroke's demise in the season 2 finale. It doesn't help that he was supposed to be shown alive, on a hospital bed. Alas, while he did return in season 4, it was as a zombie reanimated by May Bennett, confirming he had indeed died after plans to show his survival were scrapped.
Jason is very rough around the edges to just about everyone other than Gar, who he's actually very sweet to the majority of the time. Notable examples include Jay very softly assuring Gar that when he's talking about "rejects" he's referring to himself and not Gar, and Rose referring to Jason as "your boy" when talking to Gar.
Kory and Donna can be read with a certain amount of Les Yay.
Pretty much the only character Rose opens up to in the first three episodes of season 2 is Rachel.
Jericho and Dick. Out of all OG Titans, Jericho was the closest to Dick. In episode 2x11, Dick's own hallucination of Bruce insinuate that Dick loved Jericho.
Jason Todd bonding with Superboy/Conner Kent after he saved his life.
In the episode where Jason meets Hank and Dawn, Jason compliments one of them as "Babe". Hank laughs, thanking that Jason was referring to him before realizing Jason was actually flirting with Dawn.
Jason: Present and accounted for, babe.
Hank: (laughs)
Dawn: Babe?
Hank: (Realizes what's going on) What did you say?
Once the trailer for episode 11 was released, a lot of fans predicted that many of the events would be Trigon giving Dick hallucinations.
In Japan, some fans predicted either Yūki Kaji or anyone else from the Japanese voice cast from Attack on Titan would end working in the dub of this series due to the sole name of the show. Not only they got it right on the former, he also managed to voice Robin, the leader of the titular team.note Albeit he already voiced Robin before in Batman Ninja.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Both Deathstroke the Terminator and Jason Todd, aka Red Hood are both some of the deadliest and manipulative foes the Titans have ever faced, are Hero Killers responsible for the respective deaths of Aqualad and Hawk—and both are equally more likable than the titular team, who treat each other like crap in spite of claiming they're "family", drove Jason to near suicide for something he didn't even do, most refuse to recognize their responsibility for their role in those two targeting them, and had many Unintentionally Unsympathetic moments throughout the show. Thus, it's much easier to see why two deadly assassins would want the Titans to pay for their mistakes.
Hank/Hawk is a Jerk Jock with a Hidden Heart of Gold, who not only couldn't pursue a college football career due to getting knocked in the head a few too many times, but also lost his little brother and former partner in a freak road accident, and even had to deal with years of sexual abuse as a child.
Jason Todd is a teenager who's dealing with the negatives of being a Legacy Character and by season 2 is suffering from a Inferiority Superiority Complex and worries that his new adoptive father sent him with his new Aloof Big Brother because he's a "reject." Then, while trying to prove himself to the older Titans, who have been keeping him, Gar, and Rachel out of the loop, he gets kidnapped and tortured by Deathstroke, and would have died if not for Superboy’s timely intervention. Subsequently, Jason winds up suffering PTSD after his near death experience. This only gets worse when the other Titans wrongfully accuse him of messing with them (when Deathstroke is the one pulling the strings) and almost commits suicide until Dick stops him. Then he flees back to Gotham, only to learn that Rose was tasked by her father to pull everyone's strings and storms off in a huff, left even more angry that he was played like that. It gets so bad that by Season 3, he willingly disobeys orders by Bruce not to track down the Joker, instead using an experimental drug he made himself to suppress his fear and gets himself killed by the Clown Prince of Crime. Considering the first thing he does as Red Hood is target the Titans and play them for chumps, it's hard not to see why he's so angry at them.
A number of Doom Patrol fans have announced that they plan to watch up to the episode where the titular team is introduced, and check out the moment it's over (as well as any future episodes in which the Patrol appear.)
A similar reaction was had by fans of Donna Troy and Jason Todd since the former is very rarely used outside of the comics and the latter is rarely used as Robin, with his time as part of the legacy often being skipped over outside the comics if not completely ignored in favor of portraying either Tim Drake or Damian Wayne sooner. Though sadly, many were disappointed in the former's less than appealing personality in Season 2, but the number of people who tune in for Jason has only increased!
Some fans are only interested in the episodes that focus on Hank and Dawn, due to finding the Battle Couple more interesting than the core 4 characters. That is, until Season 2.
Fans who find Dick and Rachel, who are arguably the two driving forces of the plot, to be Unintentionally Unsympathetic watch the show for Gar and Kory instead. However, after the actions of the latter during Season #2, this group has mostly disappeared.
Many people who were not very pleased by Season 2, still watched the season just to see if Brenton Thwaites' ass makes him worth of being Nightwing.
Karmic Overkill: At the end of season 3, while Scarecrow is already locked up and helpless, Dick allows Raven to overflow his mind with unspeakable horrors, perpetually trapping his psyche in what is practically a bad acid trip for eternity. As he screams in hysterical terror, Dick and Raven walk away happily. Though, he probably deserved it, it still seems unnecessarily unheroic.
"FuckBatman".ExplanationThis quickly caught attention because of how odd it seems for someone like Dick Grayson to drop the F-bomb, and just hearing the phrase sounded funny. And the comedic Jason Todd teaser added to the fire by opening the possibility that Dick was saying it entirely because he found out the new Robin gets to drive the Batmobile.
"Hookerfire" (or referring to Starfire as resembling a hooker in general). ExplanationSet photos of Starfire's downright embarrassing costume were quickly stuck with this moniker by fans, since the combination of cheap-looking flimsy dress, long stockings, and garish fur coat combo makes her bear an unfortunate resemblance to, well, a streetwalker.
Dick's frightened reaction to seeing Gar's tiger form for the first time.
Dick leaves the group, again.
The scene of Negative Man/Larry cooking is beloved by fans.
"How many Robins are there?" Sometimes followed by an image of one of the many various Batmans saying "Not enough."
Begging the showrunners to show Wally West/The Flash, Garth/Aqualad/Tempest, and Roy Harper/Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow for just one episode so they can team up with Dick and Donna for some "Fab Five" content in increasingly desperate ways. Became a bit of a Discredited Meme after Garth's death.
Jason reaction is all heart eyes over Rose Wilson before even meeting her for beating, well, cops.ExplanationJason himself hates the cops with a burning passion and even beaten the shit out of them with a sadistic pleasure.
Deathstroke the "Another adaptation". ExplanationSlade got many adaptations in the last 5 years.
Misaimed Fandom: The show places heavy emphasis on Bruce's flaws, both as a man and as a parent, especially in terms of how his emotional distance and induction of young Dick into crime fighting was deeply harmful. This is true even though he also has positive qualities and Dick reconciled with him after accepting that he tried his best. However, fandom was quick to take his side of the story, as presented in season two, as completely accurate, dismissing Dick's reaction as just a grown man's refusal to take responsibility for his actions, rather than the legitimate grievances of someone that was raised to be a vigilante growing to hate the way he was raised.
In-Universe, Bruce thinks he crossed this when he finally kills the Joker after the clown kills Jason Todd, convincing him he's no longer worthy of wielding the cowl and passing the mantle to Dick.
Whatever sympathy the Titans may have had left for Jason Todd dissipates when he manipulates Dawn into detonating the trigger to a bomb in Hank's chest, killing him in the process.
Beast Boy's tiger form is undoubtedly impressive for a TV show, but by the fourth or fifth time in a row he uses it, it becomes painfully clear that the show is just trying to reuse the model to keep the effects budget down. And it really doesn't help that in some scenes, the lighting makes it painfully obvious how fake it is.
The Establishing Team Shot of the Titans finally standing together after their first fight as a team would've be awesome, except that Starfire didn't actually take part in the fighting and only got knocked around mere seconds ago.
Rose's first scene, fighting a bunch of cops who apparently are under the impression that their guns are just weird-shaped clubs, with not a single bullet being fired.
Raven's evil-self that appears via reflection sometimes speaks like a school bully rather than a demonic entity that's trying to force her into embracing her demonic heritage.
Likewise, Rachel constantly talking about her "dark side/darkness" is this for some fans.
The season 1 finale spends the vast majority of its time setting up Dick's eventual possession by Trigon. It also sets up Hank, Dawn, Donna, Kory, and Jason as the cavalry. Come the first season 2 episode, the characters who were hinted to be the much hyped Big Damn Heroes not only don't fulfill that role, but the five of them get possessed almost hilariously fast in comparison to Dick. (Again, Dick had an entire episode, whereas all five of them last, at most, three minutes each). The two worst has to be the reveal that Hank and Dawn are drug addicts (and Trigon using that as a way to control them), an aspect of their characters that had absolutely no foreshadowing, and Kory immediately deciding to just off the fake Raven despite her clearly pre-established desire to protect her and horror she felt the last time she attacked the girl. The fact that this was somewhat meant to be the Season 1 finale, it's like they didn't take the time to properly rewrite it.
The way Minka Kelly borderline whispers nearly all of her dialogue as Dawn is this for many viewers.
Despite Curran's amazing delivering, in the scene where Jason breaks up with Rose, having the character saying "huh" after every proposition looks a little like overkill.
Hank being incapacitated by Jason Todd of all people is The Worf Effect taken to new and hilarious levels. Alan Ritchson is a big, big dude, while Curran Walters is... not.
In the episode "Origins", despite the flashbacks to when Dick first went to live with Bruce, we don't actually see Bruce's face or see him interact with Dick. The extent of the efforts to keep him out of sight verges on ridiculous, but as Batman has always been portrayed as rather dramatic, it comes across as enjoyably so.
Jason and Rose quoting a song from West Side Story may look silly at first, but is cheesy in a heartwarming kind of way; mainly because it adds depth to both characters while developing dynamics they never had in the comics.
Eve's escape from Cadmus Labs is by simply grabbing hold of Krypto and letting him rocket her through a window manages to be completely ridiculous and yet makes perfect sense. The Special Effect Failure adds to the goofy charm, too.
For people who are afraid of blood, the various blood effects can be this. We also get to see a few charred bodies thanks to Kory's powers. However, after awhile the blood effects go from gross to sort of hilarious thanks to how overdone they are.
The scene where the pedo coach tries to manipulate a young Don and Hank into being alone with him is skin crawling; even worse since it's clear that Hank knows exactly what is going on and ends up sacrificing himself to molestation to save Don from it, with implication that this isn't the first time this has happened to him.
Rose's empty eye socket is shown very graphic in episode 2x03. Yuck.
Newer Than They Think: Somewhat conversely with the below-mentioned Older Than They Think, but a lot of fans have professed how dark the Titans comics are to justify the edgy tone of the initial trailer. While the classic Wolfman-Perez run was mature, grittiness to the extent shown is more something associated with the runs of the 2000s period, where there were frequent character deaths and shocking storylines. Another thing that's also not noted is that this period of Darker and Edgier was generally considered a Audience-Alienating Era to fans of the older runs.
No Yay: Quite a large portion of viewers have admitted that the hints of a possible Beast Boy/Raven relationship happening down the road grosses them out due to the large age difference between the actors (there is almost a 10 year difference between Ryan Potter and Teagan Croft, and Croft is also noticeably a minor). Even some BB/Rae shippers from the comics and the 2003 cartoon have admitted discomfort due to this. (Of course, this hasn't stopped everyone from shipping the two together).
The vast majority of the fandom seems to be against the idea of shipping Superboy with anyone due to him being described several times along the lines of, "the world's most deadly infant," in a variety of ways by others in-universe. The fanbase at large seem to be hoping that the writer's won't give him a love interest until at least season 3, with hopes that will be enough time to get some life experience under his belt.
The idea of Titans being Darker and Edgier and skewing towards the R-rated is not unique to this show, it's just that due to Adaptation Displacement that it's often seen that way and has even bled into later runs in the actual comics. Despite them, there were many dark and mature aspects of the story that wasn't meant for kids in any possible way, with some runs being excessively violent. It's most likely that this is where Titans is taking their influence from rather than the impact of the animated series, which in turn helps distinguish itself while utilizing the freedom of the streaming service.
Similarly, Dick's serious and brooding attitude is not unusual for the character. While he is generally portrayed as the most well adjusted of the family, with much better social skills and ability to balance the parts of himself than Bruce has, this was the result of a great deal of character development over years, not the starting point of the character. His learning to lighten up was a major part of the Titans comics in the 80s, and he has struggled immensely with balancing his personal life with his vigilante career, to the point of flunking most of his classes because he was too busy being Robin and later, altogether giving up on day jobs for his civilian identity so that he could dedicate all his time to protecting Gotham.
Although the short hair Starfire is wearing is new, Starfire having curly hair, on the other hand, is something that was present in her early years.note albeit it was not the same type as she's seen wearing here, and instead was '80s Hair. Thanks to Adaptation Displacement from a combination of her portrayal in the comics in recent years and both animatedseries, more people are likely to associate her with the straight hair she's shown having in those (most prominently the 2003 series).
On another note of Adaptation Displacement, some fans are lambasting Starfire's signature power being colored orange and resembling blasts of fire instead of the green energy that she utilized in the 2003 series. The truth of the matter is that Starfire's blasts have been portrayed as numerous colors over the ages, from the familiar green to pink to even the orange color being complained about and additionally there have been numerous times her powers have resembled flames as well.
Starfire's use of lethal force has gotten some criticism as being out of character. However, the comic book version has never followed the no killing rule.
Some fans have stated confusion with Dawn's lack of pacifism, something the Dove character is considered famous for... However that trait was very specifically Don's. Dawn was from the get-go ready and willing to hurt the villains she fought, only gaining pacifistic behavior when later writers began treating her as a Distaff Counterpart to Don.
More than a few fans reacted with confusion about Gar only being able to turn into a tiger, with most chalking it up to a limitation in the special effects budget. It may actually be a reference to how in most continuities, when he first gets his powers, Gar typically can't turn into more than a small handful of animals for a time. It could also be a reference to Teen Titans: Earth One, where he seems to only be able to turn into a strange werecat form. However, after turning into a snake with no difficulty in Season #2, it becomes pretty obvious it really is just due to a low budget not allowing them to have more models for his transformations.
Hank's hostile reaction to Jason is not something new the show runners created just for drama. This is in line with their relationship in the comics. In 1986’s ‘The New Teen Titans’ #20, Donna Troy had to put a team of substitute Teen Titans together, including Jason Todd (who'd only recently become Robin) and Hank Hall (who was still processing his brother Don’s death). Hawk belittled Jason at every turn, making it clear he saw the teen as nothing more than a unseasoned rookie.
One-Scene Wonder: Titus Welliver only has a few scenes as Lex Luthor before his death, but he does a good job at showing Lex's charisma and intelligence and making it clear why he's so feared, even by Batman.
Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading: Several cases of Word of Saint Paul, most noticeably from Gar's actor, Ryan Potter, has indicated that Gar and Rachel are supposed to be Like Brother and Sister. However, many of their interactions in the first season, as well as several moments in the first few episodes of season 2, are written in ways that are far more common of the "outsider teen romance" genre. Not helping is that Kory seems to ship them in-universe.
Raven being played by thirteen-year-old Teagan Croft has gotten this reaction, as people feel she's too young for the character who is traditionally around sixteen, especially given the age gap with her fellow cast members. Keeping her romantic tension with the significantly older Beast Boy also creates a fair amount of Squick in their interactions that could have been completely avoided with either casting an older actress or cutting that aspect of their relationship out, with little effect on the overall narrative.
Anna Diop as Starfire has gotten significant backlash too, even by people who don't mind her skin color, noting that Starfire has been depicted with darker skin in comics before. Sadly, this doesn't negate the fact that the actress had to deal with months and months of brutal racist, colorist and sexist online harassment (leading her to temporarily deactivate her social media accounts) because of the fandoms displeasure with her race and ethnicity, as well as her wig and outfit, all aspects she had no control over but was instead the fault of costuming (see below).
A partial case with Iain Glen as Bruce Wayne. He was eagerly welcomed as a great choice upon being announced, but then the Season 2 trailer revealed he was Not Even Bothering with the Accent, meaning we now have to deal with an inexplicably Scottish-accented Bruce.
Romantic Plot Tumor: The general consensus among the fan base is that the love triangle between Hank, Dawn, and Dick is not only annoying due to being badly written, but completely unnecessary. The boys are completely head-over-heels in love with her (with it being stated that she's "the one that got away" for Dick) but (as described in Alternative Character Interpretation, Creator's Pet, and Unintentionally Unsympathetic) she comes off as an incredibly toxic, manipulative cheater; leading many fans to wonder what Dick and Hank even see in her. There's also the fact that Dawn feels like a plot-induced roadblock to Dick getting together with Kory, who he's been heavily teased with since meeting her, and it feels like the writers were attempting to add a bunch of unnecessary drama in an already dramatic show.
The episode "Bruce Wayne" offers perhaps the show's biggest Kick the Dog moment yet for the heroes. Deathstroke hides in the tower and screws around with the Titans by placing around items from bad past memories, and who do they accuse first? Jason Todd, who just got out of a lingering near-death experience that he relives through day dreaming, and laying into him drives him to almost jump off the roof. Fans who aren't quick to forgive them probably wouldn't mind Deathstroke making them suffer.
Considering all the crap that they put him through in Season 2, it's easy to root for Jason Todd when he becomes the Red Hood and manipulates Dawn into accidentally killing Hank by playing her ownattitudeagainst her. It also helps that she's viewed as a Creator's Pet and The Scrappy amongst fans, which makes her and the Titans losing to Jason less like a tragedy and more like Laser-Guided Karma for what they did to him.
The show's mere existence is this for critics of Teen Titans Go!, as its Darker and Edgier tone and more accurate approach to the source material has been seen as an improvement over the Denser and Wackier take that TTG uses.
For those who found Dick's behavior in Season 1 Unintentionally Unsympathetic, Season 2 goes out of its way to rectify this by making him reconcile with Bruce and attempt to improve his behavior (although it does so at the expense of the rest of the cast becoming Unintentionally Unsympathetic instead). And for those who didn't find his behavior in Season 1 as such, Season 3 reveals he was right: Bruce had become so cold and distant after the deaths of Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, and even Jason Todd and had engaged in such manipulative behavior that he gets called out by Dick and Barbara, kills The Joker, then leaves Gotham in their hands.
After the infamous "Hookerfire" outfit, Starfire is given a more comic-accurate outfit in Season 2.
Dawn has been The Scrappy since Season 2, viewed as a Creator's Pet for being held up as a moral paragon who manipulates Dick and Hank into doing what she wants, then hypocritically calls them out for doing the exact thing she wanted them to. Season 3 picks apart her behavior when she gets played like a fool by Jason, resulting in Hank's death, and drives her to leave the series.
In spite of Donna Troy's Unintentionally Unsympathetic behavior in Season 2, she was still well liked enough that her unceremonious death was widely panned. Season 3 goes out of its way to bring her back to life.
Fans (and even his actor, Ryan Potter) haven't been too happy that Beast Boy has been Out of Focus since Season 1. Season 4 gives him his own dedicated episode, "Dude, Where's My Gar?" to help give the character proper development, even featuring him interacting with Jovian Wade's Cyborg in the next episode to homage their friendship on Teen Titans (2003).
Dawn Granger. Since Season 2 started, she slowly lost a lot of fans most probably because of her Holier Than Thou attitude, for being a cheater with toxic influence on both Dick and Hank and for clearly becoming a Creator's Pet. A huge part of the Titans fandom was displeased with her increasing screen time, while the showrunners put aside characters that are more related to the main plot than her, like Rachel, Gar and Rose. She winds up getting a Take That, Scrappy! moment in Season 3, where this exact behavior causes Hank's death when she impulsively tries to save him. She winds up being Put on a Bus in the next episode.
The subplot also has in turn made Hank less than liked among fans, due to his Out of Character behavior and generally making quite a few stupid decisions. He does get a moment of reflection in Season 3 where he admits how bad he screwed up, but these prove to be his last moments before Dawn gets him killed.
Trigon, who after a season of build-up is dealt away with after just one episode, leaving close to no impact on much of anything in the series. His horrible special effects only make this worse. Fans groaned when it was revealed he would be the focal point again for the final season, especially when he's dealt with so anti-climatically again.
Season 2 was even more divisive between critics and fans compared to Season 1 (which already had a very divisive reaction).
The first episode was criticized because the villain Trigon was defeated in a quick, easy and anticlimactic manner, but some fans argued that this could easily be overlooked because the episode was originally the season finale of Season 1.
While Conner's characterization and introduction was praised, his sub-plot with being hunted by Cadmus negatively impacted the second half of the season, as Cadmus takes over from Deathstroke as the final boss villain, despite having no vendetta with the Titans whatsoever.
Gar and Rachel suffer Out of Focus in the season, with Jason and the remaining OG Titans getting more screentime.
Kory doesn't get much better either. Her sub-plot with dealing with Blackfire's arrival feels very disconjointed from the main plot, despite setting up the next season. Also, out of nowhere towards the end, she loses her powers, rendering her useless against Deathstroke and Superboy.
Many fans have also criticized the fact that most characters suffer from Took a Level in Jerkass, making it difficult for viewers to identify and sympathize with them. And the heroes who are truly deemed sympathetic (Gar and Conner) are kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed, just to provide the jerkier heroes a reason to get back together.
Finally, the season finale events, especially the fates of Deathstroke and Donna were received with controversy, to say the least. In general, even the season's biggest supporters admit there are issues that need to be fixed by the writers in Season 3.
Season 3 was seen as a bigger improvement to start with, as it showed the Titans starting to act more like a cohesive unit, finally had Jason Todd become Red Hood and deliver a massive middle finger to Dawn that saw her written out of the series for good, and threw in The Scarecrow as a Hannibal Lecter-esque informant for good measure. However, things took a dip halfway through, as much of the Titans behavior over their treatment of Jason came off as Unintentionally Unsympatheticagain when they conveniently ignored what they did to him in Season 2, Scarecrow's plan and Jason's attempts at redemption were delivered somewhat nonsensically, and the show kept dragging out Tim Drake's transition into Robin to the point he didn't even take up the mantle until the end of Season 4. Nevertheless, it was still seen as a massive improvement over Season 2, albeit still hampered by the show's inconsistent characterization and writing.
Dawn/Hawk vs Dawn/Dick vs Dick/Kory vs Kory/Donna. Notable is that, for a four way ship war, it's been rather tame.
Season 2 sees the beginning of one between Gar/Jay and BB/Rae shippers.
There is a bit of this with Tim/Conner fans as they were not happy with Conner saving Jason, which led to a Jason/Conner following.
Signature Scene: Robin brutally attacking criminals and saying "fuck Batman" is easily the most well-known part of the trailer, for better or worse.
Ironically, the scene of Negative Man cooking is one of the most beloved scenes in the entire first season, which acted as a form of meta foreshadowing towards Doom Patrol becoming a More Popular Spin Off.
Slow-Paced Beginning: The first three episodes are largely about setting the groundwork for the team to come together and the plot to get going, being mostly exposition and backstory while being fairly light on action or story progression.
So Okay, It's Average: How fans feel about the series overall. It's got great acting and costume values, it's mostly respectful to its source material, and it has some interesting villains, but it's far too inconsistent with its writing and characterization to where it's "heroes" can come off looking far worse than the bad guys, some of its special effects are shoddy, and some characters (especially Beast Boy) get overlooked in favor of Nightwing and Starfire. At the very least, it's considered better than Teen Titans Go!, for better or worse.
Special Effect Failure: It's pretty clear that some of the sound effects used in the first trailer are Stock Sound Effects. Some people even commented that some of them sounded like they had been lifted straight from the Batman: Arkham Series games.
Trigon looks absolutely terrible, especially while moving. Even in Season 4, he still looks terrible.
Throughout the series, blood-sprays in some of the fight scenes range from "alright" to "actually decent for a TV series." The failure came from the first season, especially the first few episodes, imposing them on every single point of contact in a fight. Robin fights a few guys in the opening fight, but looking at the blood he kills each of them at least 6 times. Worse was the time where Dove casually palms someone's face in passing, with the spray making it look like she ripped his face off or just made it explode.
Strangled by the Red String: Jason Todd and Rose Wilson, they kissed after a single conversation with each other, and after only 2 episodes spent having them properly interacting, they were already in a very deep relationship, as if their have been involved with each other by many years. Still, somewhat the ship works, mostly because their very few interactions were used to show what Hidden Depths the characters have.
The set photos showing Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven soured the project in many fans' eyes after the promising costume reveal for Robin.
The news that Titans would be an R-rated series has some fans split. While many are glad that it won't pull any punches and deliver a full experience that takes advantage of the streaming platform, others aren't happy that a series known for being lighthearted will be made Darker and Edgier. That said, the dark tone is Older Than They Think, as much of the notoriety for being light came from the animated series and later runs, and many stories including the Wolfman-Perez era were in fact very dark and mature.
The first trailer itself was released to decidedly lukewarm reception and gave a very negative first impression of the show. Common points of contention were drastically changing the Titans, the use of obvious Stock Sound Effects and its over-the-top Darker and Edgier tone. Perhaps most infamously, the trailer was edited to make it appear as if Robin of all people was killing criminals, and he drops an F-bomb in a bizarre context that made it seem like he did it for the sake of being edgy. It got a hatedom that's as vocal as Teen Titans Go! but in the opposite direction. Many were especially worried because this show is the start of a new universe that other series like Doom Patrol (2019) are supposed to spawn from. All future trailers made sure to show the lighter aspects of the show as if to do damage control.
While the fans response to Jason finally becoming Red Hood was mostly positive, the character's official logline for season 3 made them worry about the execution of his Myth Arc instead. Jason donning the Red Hood persona because he becomes obsessed with taking down his old team generated waves of different opinions, from worried to down right negative because in the comics, The Joker and Batman were the ones who played a crucial roles in turning the character into an Anti-Villain, whereas the Titans were nowherenote Jason did break into Titans Tower and fight the Teen Titans in the comics, but by then he'd already been transformed into his later vigilante self. Most of people think that hating the Titans and lack of personal history with them are very weak justifications to become Red Hood, given all the traumatic events Jason Todd went through in the comics by comparison with the show, as well his motivations. There is also the fact that Curran Walters himself heartfully waited to see how A Death in the Family and Red Hood: The Lost Days would be adapted to fit the show. The consensus is that Jason Todd was robbed of his most iconic storylines. However, it was eventually revealed that A Death In The Family would be adopted in some way, and that Jason would end up being brutally beaten by the Joker (crowbar and all).
Take That, Scrappy!: Dawn's character has been poorly received amongst fan circles for her being pitted as a "moral paragon" that was constantly manipulating Dick and Hank into doing what she wanted until they screwed up for doing exactly that and calling them out for it, never once admitting she was wrong. "Hank and Dove" gave her a big slap to the face for this attitude by her own stubbornness and impulsiveness getting Hank blown to bits—by her own hand no less.
There's been some gnashing of teeth over Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven no longer having their signature skin colours (though in the case of Starfire and Beast Boy, their skin changes shade to that of their original counterparts when they use their powers and in Raven's case, her grey skin originated in the Teen Titans (2003) cartoon, meaning her possessing normal skin tones is Older Than They Think).
Some fans hate how Red Hood, who was an independent Anti-Villain in the comics, was Demoted to Dragon for Scarecrow.
Amy Rohrbach, Dick's new partner at the Detroit Police Department, gets brutally murdered by the Nuclear Family in the second episode without getting a chance to display most of the traits that make her comic counterpart so loved.
Rose Wilson. Being an Ensemble Dark Horse, people felt she was underused, especially given that she kick starts the storyline of Season 2, yet she barely shares any scenes with the Titans. Many fans agreed that she was rather a plot device for Jason or Slade than a character. Gets even worse as she and Jericho won't return for Season 3, making their development and integration into the Titans pointless. She won't even get to confront Jason over him being Red Hood.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The idea of Batman snapping and killing his rogues gallery sounds like an awesome premise for an Alternate Universe Nightwing origin story, where Dick would have to go solo to fight not only Gotham's remaining criminals, but also Batman and Jason's Robin who'd actually been trained to kill by this insane Batman. Here it's Only A Dream. Tellingly, the show goes out of its way to make it happen in a small way in Season 3, where Bruce, after getting a healthy dose of What the Hell, Hero? from Barbara and Dick for his cold, manipulative actions, bashes Joker's skull in for killing Jason Todd and hands the reins of Gotham over to them.
Tough Act to Follow: Because of the insane popularity of the 2003 animated series, many fans expected this show to be a live action of the animated show, which, because of its status as Adaptation Displacement/Audience-Coloring Adaptation is often regarded as THE only true Titans among many generations of fans. The success of the former instantly affected the show before it even aired.
Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Widely regarded as the biggest problem with the show. Whether it be that most of the cast is Darker and Edgier to the point of parody (even when compared to the comics where they did the same), the fact that the team seems to say they're like a family despite constantly screwing each other over and lacking any sort of empathy for one another's problems (such as when they all bullied Jason to the point where he nearly killed himself and seemingly none of them apologized for it, or when Hawk and Dove get a kid killed only to barely react and then sing at at a country bar as if nothing happened), or that after the second season anything can seemingly be retconned out of the show no matter how important of a plot point, it really causes the audience to wonder why they should even care about these characters.
Few could've guessed that the main villain of Titans would be the Acolyte, best known in the comics as the antagonist to their successor team Young Justice.
Donna Troy is a classic Titan and fan-favorite, but nonetheless shackled with many legal issues in the past that prevented her from ever appearing outside the comics, and thus thought unavailable to be used (or thought that DC was screwing her over). Here, she makes her historical live-action debut in this series.
Batman is typically off-limits by DC due to an embargo preventing more than one primary version of Batman at a time, not wanting the character to be confused with his movie counterpart. The fact that Batman not only exists here, but appears in the flesh as Bruce Wayne, was a surprise to some people. It's speculated that they're given more leeway as it's on their private streaming service rather than a network channel with non-DC shows.
The Nuclear Family are a very obscure supervillain team from DC Comics, so them being represented here was quite a surprise.
Konstantin Kovar is such a minor villain that many people thought he was just a Canon Foreigner in Arrow so him showing up here (with no indication that his son, the Titans member Red Star would appear) was definitely out of left-field.
Jason Todd as Robin since most adaptations either only acknowledge him after his death or skip over him entirely in order to focus on Tim or Damian.
Season 1 goes out of its way to demonize Bruce and imply he's the reason Dick is so messed up. However, his stated negative qualities often come off as informed flaws that we're just suppose to take the writers' and Dick's word for. Even his one definitively bad act, putting a tracer in Dick without his knowledge (and latter convincing Jason to get the same implant), comes off as far more sympathetic when you remember a) what happened to Jason in the comics, b) that Hank at one point in s1 got captured and (briefly) tortured by a gang, and c) the tracer in Jason being one of the key helping points to getting him away from Deathstroke after his kidnapping. After the negative reaction to his portrayal in S1 the writers gave Bruce a much appreciated characterization overhaul with his self titled episode even implying he's something of a Morality Pet to Dick. However, this only had the unintentional side effect of making Dick seem even more unreasonable in his opinion of Bruce, and ultimately causing the writers to come across as lazy. Season 3 winds up rectifying this by showing that Bruce is indeed as morally flawed as Dick claimed, as he callously brushes off the death of Jason Todd, and before that, Alfred and Commissioner Gordon, and then almost immediately starts searching for a new Robin before he gets called out on all of this before he finally snaps and kills the Joker.
Season 2 sees nearly every character blame Dick for Jericho's death. Never mind the fact that not only were the other founders in on the plan to use him to get to Deathstroke and could have put a stop to the plan at literally any time, but that Deathstroke himself was the one to land a killing blow when he actively confronted Dick instead of using all his skills to simply take off, thus putting Jericho in danger over a contract.
The treatment of Jason by the other characters in Seasons 2 and 3 meant that many fans were taking his side, with this adding to his Unpopular Popular Character status while making the others even more Unintentionally Unsympathetic. Many of the characters in Season 3 had a Self-Serving Memory about Jason's actions and a Never My Fault approach to ignoring their own mistakes, while in Season 2 they ganged up on him and accused of him of messing with them without any proof shortly after he was tortured and almost killed by Deathstroke.
Unpopular Popular Character: Jason Todd. Nearly every other character couldn't stand him. Fans, on the other hand, are far more appreciative of him, gaining sympathy for his treatment during Season 2 and hoping he could even get his own spin-off as Red Hood, while favorite choices to be his outlaws being Harper Roy and Rose Wilson.
Visual Effects of Awesome: While it's true the show had some Wtf moments on the character design and CGI departments, the stunning special effects and visual art are one of its forte points. The show is very appreciated for its original style of filming and how it managed to turn the show, don't tell rule into metaphorical and symbolic shooting. The pilot even earned the TV Drama Cinematography Award from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards. Here is a fanmade video studying the shooting style of the show.
Wangst: Many viewers felt this way about the immense amount of depressive self-pitying shown particularly by Dick and Hank.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Titans may be part of a franchise that's commonly thought of a lighthearted due to multiple animated series, but kid-friendly it is not. Just the first trailer alone features a dark and brooding atmosphere, people getting mangled, snapped, sliced, burned alive, and Robin himself drops the F-bomb. The fact that it's compared to NetflixMCU and was originally going on TNT should give you a good idea that it was never meant for kids to begin with.
People almost unanimously reacted with horror to the wig and outfit choices made for the Kory Anders/Starfire character by the costuming department when unofficial pictures of her were leaked. The horror and disgust continued when the show proper debuted, and it was clear that was her standard appearance.
Raven's hair in the pilot episode is very noticeably a wig; due to the fact that the hairline does not blend naturally into the actress's forehead.
Even Rose's wig was met with some mixed results, while the wig looks natural, people were not pleased by the hairstyle.
Her vigilante mask is also a big Big "NO! NO!", even if her costume was universally praised as being one of the best things of Season 2.
Though reception is split and there's plenty who defend it, after much hype the Nightwing suit falls into this for some, due to the bulky plated armour. Putting aside how this design trend has became very overusedto the point of backlashfor being very impractical in real life, but it's generally agreed to be out of character with Dick Grayson to wear heavy armour due to his lithe fighting style.
Rachel/Raven goes through so much stuff in the first season alone. Seeing her mother killed in front of her, raised with something evil inside of her and isolated from everyone was just the very beginning of her story.
Gar. He and his parents contracted a disease, and only he survived thanks to the Chief's intervention. He then had to move into Doom Manor, where the closest things he had to parental figures were three loving but very troubled adults who were forced to stay within Doom Manor at all times for their own safety. Meanwhile, there's implication that Chief is an abusive grandfatherly figure to him. He ends up meeting a girl who's an outsider like him, and seeing that she needs help and support, decides to follow her and be her friend. The result of this is them eventually being kidnapped by evil asylum workers who torture him and their two parental surrogates (Kory and Dick), this event leading to him being forced to maul one of the asylum workers to protect Rachel, which clearly leaves him traumatized. Over the course of the next few episodes he has to watch Kory nearly kill Rachel, see the group forcibly split up, see Rachel begin to give in to her demonic heritage and lash out at him, and is experiencing hallucinations that may be due to Trigon's influence or the possible onset of PTSD.
Things only get worse in season 2. First he has to witness Trigon and all his "glory" but he also nearly gets beaten to death by his possessed friends. Then in later episodes he has to deal with Rachel continuing to lash out at him. Things seem to look up for the poor guy as he befriends Jason, but even that takes a downhill turn when Jason gets kidnapped by Deathstroke during what was suppose to be a simple recon mission. Also he's left alone with Conner in the tower when everyone else bails on Dick over the truth about Jericho, and later he inadvertently lets Conner attack several cops, gets abducted by Cadmus and they reprogram his brain to obey them.
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