Cyborg

Overview

Half-human, Half-robot, Cyborg is the literally fused man and machine superhero of the Teen Titans. After an accident that almost killed him, Cyborg awoke to find half of his human body replaced with cybernetically enhanced limbs. Seeing himself as a freak, Cyborg found himself able to fit in well with the Titans, who were all a little abnormal. Their friendship allowed Cyborg to feel like a normal teenager (or as normal as a superpower teenager can get) and Cyborg became a true blue support beam in the team's structure, acting like an older brother to many of them.

While Cyborg's robotic parts allow him to perform superhuman feats of strength, they also allow for him to have some serious firepower, such as his rocket limbs and sonic blaster. Additionally, Cyborg is also a tech wiz, capable of building a vast array of security systems and vehicles (such as the T-Car and T-Ship) as well as infiltrating enemy computer systems. Cyborg at times is not always confident in himself, but with the help and support of his friends, he's always ready and up to the challenge of anything that comes their way.

Adaptation

Cyborg shares the backstory of his comic-book counterpart (as well as his alias Victor Stone) with the personality of his cartoon persona. This connects him to STAR labs, the laboratory responsible for assisting his father in fitting him with his robotic parts. Additionally, his generally more optimistic attitude and support for the rest of the Titans provides the foundation of stability for the team in "Custody", again very similar to his cartoon self.

I felt that the strength of his cartoon counterpart was that they pulled his most endearing quality, his big brother kind of attitude and kind of responsibility, from the comics and amped it up. Additionally, his knowledge and ability to support others as a team player I think served them well, especially as the series was animated and seeing the Titans work together well was vital to showing that the Titans not only were on a team, they were a freakin' awesome team. All of these things were what I really wanted to bring into "Custody" with Cyborg, to have a character that was genuinely interested in supporting and being there for his teammates and allowing that infectious outlook to pull them all together.

Personality and Relationships

Cyborg is normally a very easy going, very chill 'dude' as Beast Boy would put it. Before becoming Cyborg, he was an athlete at school and always enjoyed pushing himself to become stronger and better than before. After the accident, perhaps due to his 'realist' nature, Cyborg fell into a state of depression, seeing himself as a 'freak' and 'unordinary', until he met the Titans. Now having people to fight for and people who believed in him, Cyborg decided to step up and once again, give all he had to becoming stronger, better, and smarter in order to help others.

Despite being a bit older than most of the Titans, Cyborg found great friends in each of them. Hitting it off with the guys, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin all enjoy roughing around outside playing sports, playing video games on the Gamestation, working out at the gym, and cooking up the best meat (or tofu in Beast Boy's case) dishes imaginable. When Robin is out of town, Cyborg becomes the de-facto leader of the Titans and often assists Robin in analyzing and conjecturing theories and methods to take down the bad guys. Though he is a fairly positive person in social environments, Cyborg's tendency to focus on the negative in serious situations is often balanced out by Beast Boy's optimism, for whom Cyborg was originally created as a bit of a foil for by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. Cyborg is also close with the girls as well and able to offer them emotional support and strength when they themselves are not always sure of their own capabilities.

Personal Thoughts

Cyborg is a fantastic character. He adds so much depth and dimension to the team as a whole, regularly acting as an older brother of sorts, which I love (maybe because I always thought having an older brother would be cool haha). However, I always had mixed feelings on how he was written. I loved his cartoon adaptation and I also enjoyed his original comic book counterpart in terms of backstory. The issue to me though was that after a while, I felt that his problems in the comics were pinned down to only a set of two issues or so, revolving around his desire to be fully human or his desire to be stronger as a superhero. So when things like this get repeatedly hashed up, it starts to get old and he becomes less appealing, which was unfortunate for Cyborg as a character.

I didn't want to do that with Cyborg in "Custody". Rather, I wanted him to be an intellect, but also chill-sporty kind of guy that could be relied on, something I felt that the cartoon did regularly. That, to me, is Cyborg's biggest strength. He's there for people when needed and can push through his own struggles to help others and support them, even when he might not even be so sure of himself at first. Additionally, while he does try to shoulder a lot of the burdens he faces himself, I like that he's willing to let his friends help when given a gentle nudge. The Titans are not just his friends, they're family to him, and he will always be there to protect them. And once he finds the strength to believe in himself, he doesn't hold back, making him, in my mind, a great role model for teenagers and kids out of the Titan line up.