Teen Titans (2003)

Of course she's supposed to be comic Jinx. She's hardly the only example in the show of a character who was adapted to be very different from the source material.

Just look at Brother Blood, or Thunder & Lightning. Or, heck, Slade.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 9th 2020 at 11:07:58 AM

In design, none of them are as drastic as going from indian sorceress to grey gremlin.

Personality's one thing, but looks are another completely. Also going from elemental magic to bad luck is a stretch too.

Like, I can't thing of a design change that drastic in anything if they really are supposed to be the same character.

Is it canon that this version of Jinx isn't Indian? I think she very well could be. Just because they gothed her up for 2003 doesn't mean she got a Race Lift.

Thunder & Lightning went from being Vietnamese twins to being Mxy-esque cartoon god creatures. The HIVE - as an whole - went from being one of DC's several HYDRA ripoffs to being a school. Not to mention everything about Starfire. And I still suspect Control Freak was an adaptation of Film Freak. It happened a lot in that show.

Pretty much every character introduced in the first season of the series is adapted to be different in some way from the source, with several being outright In Name Only. Arguably, they didn't start adapting things semi-faithfully until Trigon showed up.

Teen Titans 03 was a show with many highs, but one thing it wasn't was a very good adaptation.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 9th 2020 at 8:40:15 AM

Wait, what's wrong with Starfire outside of her having shorter hair? Her backstory was in tact, and her powers worked about the same.

I doubt most of her comics outfits would have been allowed in a children's cartoon, honestly. And who knows how they'd struggle with that mane.

I wouldn't use the word "wrong," but it's worth noting that they didn't adapt her backstory until the final season. Heck, I don't think Tamaran was established at all until two or three seasons in.

Initially, '03 Tamaran was Cloud Cuckooland, and Starfire was a the alien equivalent of a Funny Foreigner. Wildly different personality, design and concept. Only her powers are similar, and even then they work completely differently (to make her a Foil for the emotion based powers they gave Raven). She's by far the most changed out of all the main characters.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 9th 2020 at 8:59:33 AM

Exactly. Compare that to comic Koriand’r who is an alien refugee from an oppressive empire called the Citadel who conquered her homeworld of Tamaran which was sold out by her own sister Kommand’r.

The cartoon basically gutted what maybe an epic season long arc that could of rival X-Men TAS season that adapted the whole Dark Phoenix story arc (because, y’know, space & shit).

EDIT: Speaking of changes, even the origin of the team is different from the comics. Depending on who you ask, its either Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad taking on some villain by the name of Mister Twister or those three, Speedy and Wonder Girl freeing their mentors who is being controlled by a being known as the Antithesis.

The origin given is the equivalent of having the origin of the X-Men being them fighting a sentient island who is a mutant with Wolverine, Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler being founding members.

Edited by BigK1337 on Jul 11th 2020 at 7:23:12 AM

Anyone else subscribe to the headcanon that The Batman is a stealth prequel to this show?

I do/did

First I've heard of that theory.

....both are Animesque, but Teen Titans leaned into that aesthetic a lot more (with the wacky faces and shit) while it was mainly the eyes with The Batman.

I suppose a Robin from the latter that's a few years older could be the Robin of the former. Except TT Dick took himself a lot more seriously.

I thought the issue was the two notably different Killer Moths.

....oh yeah. That's a pretty big issue.

Another big issue will be Robin in that show having spilt of from Batman despite being, I am assuming, three years older then his The Batman counterpart. That is rather fast to be an emancipated kid who is operating in his own city without supervision.

Honestly that theory makes no sense TBH. Same with LOSH being a part of the same universe. It contridicts LOSH Supes portrayal who is a team player; unlike his The Batman counterpart who ironically is more of a loner then Batman.

Also, last I check, Speedy from Justice League Unlimited look exactly like Speedy from Teen Titans. Should we count Justice League as being in the same continuity as Teen Titans despite the obvious wirh Dick Grayson.

https://mobile.twitter.com/DerrickJWyatt/status/1299373196806746113

Here's something interesting from Derrick J Wyatt. There would've once been a crossover with Justice League Unlimited, with the Titans taking on Darkseid and the League taking on Mad Mod.

The League would destroy Mod. The titans were one thing. They didn't have a mind reader. But the League would eat him alive.

Not if the writer doesn't let them.

But either way, yeesh. It's a good thing that crossover didn't happen. The continuities of both series just don't mesh well.

Considering what Mad Mod is like in the comics, he seems better off a Batman: TAS villain who is a throwback to Batman 66.

But yeah the Justice League will deal with him easily. They already dealt with plenty of villains with mind altering/reality bending powers (Grodd, Doctor Destiny, that kid who was the Justice Guild sidekick).

And the Titans would definitely get wrecked by Darkseid. C'mon. They all got fucking killed in that Apokolips War movie, what makes them think they'll fare any better against Michael Ironside? Sure their Go counterparts fare better but the Darkseid they went up against was Weird Al.

The only way I see them surviving is if they crossover with X-Men Evolution, teaming up with that team of X-Men. But unfortunately, that would mean Jean Grey will be Dark Phoenix in that crossover, and be used as a tool by Darkseid.

So, what would be better? Going against the Legion of Doom and the Brotherhood of Evil?

TBF Go!Titans are also Strong as They Need to Be and could possibly beat the real deal Darkseid if the plot found it funny.

True. Forgot how much Rule of Funny can bend to their advantage as well as disadvantage.

They can go from utterly destroying anyone, to barely being able to fight a kid with a lot of imagination (who turned himself into a dinosaur to be fair, but still).

Or they can lose to a frickin' squirrel.

Yeah, TTGO Titans are the epitome of Rule of Funny, one day Raven can destroy the Multiverse in a temper tantrum and the next one she gets beaten up easily with a plastic glove

The 03 Titans were never consistently portrayed in strength, so it could go any way. Remember when Atlas was a threat to the whole group and then Cyborg could take him out solo a couple episodes later? If they wrote it a certain way, they could definitely beat Darkseid.

Mad Mod's not the most threatening villain, but it's a crossover. He's one of the most visually interesting ones, and thus is one of the better choices they could have went with outside of maybe Control Freak.

I could buy Mad Mod being a threat to the Justice League in the same way Earth's Mightiest Heroes made Purple Man - who usually fights street level heroes - nearly bring down the Avengers and conquer the world. Mind control the right person, and snowball from there.

As far Darkseid, depending on how they're fighting Darkseid, lots of characters can believably be in a story against him.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Aug 28th 2020 at 5:35:14 AM