In a recent blog I started out talking about my hopes for the show and then channeled that into what I thought would work for a toy line. But what I think would work is not necessarily what I want. So lets get deep into that here my actual wants. This what I hope to see.
Animation
1. I want Cartoon Network to make the effort to broadcast this show more than once a week. While they are building up a stable of episodes, I want to see them run episodes of the previous Teen Titans Go show to help build the audience for new product.
2. I want the show itself to expand the cast beyond the 5 main heroes to include all the heroes who had major roles in the old show. The main cast was always:
Robin,
Cyborg,
Beast Boy
Starfire,
Raven.
But other characters appeared frequently as well.
Speedy,
Aqualad,
Bumble Bee,
Mas,
Minos
eventually joined forces to become a 2nd branch of Teen Titans.
Kid Flash
also was a frequent guest. I’d like to see all of them in the new show.
During both the prior run of Teen Titans Go and the opening year of the Young Justice show, certain characters were unavailable, tied up with usage rights issues.
Blue Beetle,
Wonder Girl
fall into this category and I would like to see them added to the cast.
Also, I’d like to see the Super Family represented on the series by both
Superboy,
Supergirl.
I’ve really enjoyed seeing
Static and the
Super Friends characters
in Young Justice. I would not mind seeing them make guest appearances in the new show. They still have not given them code names, but
Ty Longshadow
Eduardo Dorado
Asami “Sam” Koizumi
would be cool to see.
Finally, if they decide to use the YJ version of Aqualad, I hope they follow the YJ model and include the first Aqualad by naming him Tempest.
Toys
1. ImagiNext.
In this scale I want to see figures of every character mentioned above. Every one.
2. DC Superfriends.
The new splash picture for this line includes Cyborg along with Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman. I see no reason why we could not add ALL the male teen sidekicks of these heroes and male heroes from Teen Titans Go to these product lines. I’m talking about Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Superboy and Beast Boy.
3. Boys Action.
A. My favorite scale is 5 inch figures. Total Justice (which became JLA) is still one of my favorite lines. In case the mentors show up, we need to make the teen heroes in scale to a 5 inch adult hero. The old Total Justice/JLA line included Robin and later Superboy, so I think it can be done.
B. Robin must be in the first wave of single figures. I do not want to wait until wave 2 or 3 or have to buy a multi-pack to get the main character of the show.
C. For any character that does NOT have a classic accessory for their standard look, I’d like to see Beast Boy as some animal form included as the accessory.
4. Price
Finally, I want the lines above to be presented at a price point I and others are willing to pay. This was a major sticking point for Young Justice and I expect it will be one for any DC line going forward.
Licensing
The big void from Young Justice was that there was no licensing beyond the toys from Mattel that I could find. No key rings. No bobble heads. No school supplies. I have Justice League pencils. Total Justice got a coloring book. The closest thing we got was some finger surfboards from McDonalds. I’d like to see the licensing machine take off.
1. School Supplies.
Folders, pencils, erasers, coloring books.
2. Party supplies.
Paper plates, napkins, party hats, paper cups, wrapping paper, gift bags.
3. Households goods.
Sheet sets, comforters, toothbrushes, vitamins, band-aids.
4. Other.
Key rings. Stress relief balls. Pez dispensers.
sadly the teen titans did not work well the first time as a toy line in fact some of the figures never made it to stores. plus actully both kid flash and wonder girl were not avaible due to rights for the teen titans go cartoon. though maybe if cartoon network does not do what it did did with young justice and gives the cartoon a chance maybe teen titan fans will see another chance at figures. and surprised death stroke did not get on your wish list.
I would love to see the Teen Titans released again. I say again I want them to be released as teenagers to fit in with JLU. Any thing else I will not buy.
I agree with this rant on two key points.
Cartoon Network needs to premier new episoes one day a week and use the re-runs of Teen Titans to fill the week. Perhaps it is because I remember watching cartoons after school daily and hate having to wait so long for so little animation now. Sure, the argument that animation and story improvements somehow equal less cartoon per season make some sense, but using the old episodes and shorts makes sense too. Fill the calender and fill the fanbase!
One thing that this show needs is a continous schedule. Young Justice spent more time on scheduling hiatus than showing cartoons.That is a great show on DVD but trying to find the episodes on Cartoon Network was frustrating.
I also think Imaginext is the way to pitch these toys. Imaginext is aimed at the 3-5+ market and is a solid functional line with great integration. More characters the better. Since Cyborg and Robin are already in the DC Imaginext line adding the other core characters would be great. I agree with Demoncat that the previous toys had poor reception and may limit future toy attempts, but since Imaginext is a great DC line adding Teen Titans here would lower the risk. I’d recommend starting with the core and then bringing in more year by year.
One thing that the toys need to do is add in women. Raven would be awesome in Imaginext! Tera! Starfire! If they could manage to sneak in an Artemis that’d be cool too.
The Imaginext DC line already has more women than the rest of the Imaginext lines or the competing Playskool Adventure Marvel Heroes. Recent additions of Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn look great but are still hard to find at retail. I’m hoping they’ll finally be widely available when the Man of Steel Imaginext hits shelves. Superman is cool, but I’m more excited about Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn joining my Catwoman. Adding other female heroes would be awesome. Hawkgirl and Supegirl, and Wondergirl would be cool, but Starfire and Raven would both be excellent. Plus the random Artemis.
One great aspect of both the DC Imaginext line and the Playskool Marvel line is the villains. DC has great Imaginext villians: Joker, Penguin, etc although it is very Bat focused. Zod coming out with Man of Steel is cool. Slade? Slade would be awesome.
What do I want from Teen Titans Go? More fun episodes because I love the campy show. And IMAGINEXT!
like big iv idea for titans to be done in the imaginnext line for not only would fans be able to get females. but also maybe a titans tower placset for other wise mattel would sadly make them another dc sub or only in their unlimted line do robin , kid flash, and cyborg since they are part of the big guns. and wonder girl, provided the titans go creators could finaly have the okay to use her for the show.
Demoncat, I’d disagree that the Bandai Teen Titans line didn’t work. They released a LOT of figures and playsets. I know, I’ve got all of them. In fact, I recall hearing back then that Mattel was kicking itself for passing on the line. They didn’t think it would sell, but it was very successful for Bandai. Maybe I’m not remembering that correctly, but I think I am.
Now the line did end abruptly, but that’s a Bandai thing. They’ll pull the plug on a toyline in a heartbeat, particularly if it loses its media tie-in. Considering that their big property was traditionally Power Rangers, you can see why they’d feel that way. If the show had kept running, they’d have kept selling figures. Look at Ben 10.