Was Beast Boy ever really treated right in TT03?
During its run from 2003-06, viewers and fans of the series, Teen Titans, likely remember the character, Beast Boy (voiced by Greg Cipes), often being made fun of or the butt of numerous jokes and gags. More often than not it was related to the characters, Cyborg (Khary Payton) and Raven (Tara Strong). It was most likely intended to be played entirely for laughs, but looking back, were they—and on occasion, Robin and Starfire—a bit too hard on him?
In retrospect, Beast Boy was the member of the team who acted his age—he is, after all, a kid, a metahuman kid, but still a kid. And, looking back, it seemed like Raven and Cyborg often picked on him for that. Yes, in their line of work, there are times where one has to stay focused and be serious, but, it seems like they were expecting him to have an adult mentality at all times. What’s even more, while having someone fill your ear with jokes on a daily basis can undoubtedly grow tiresome, it seemed like their jokes at his expense were a bit harsh at best and borderline mean-spirited at worst, at least to me.
Furthermore, they (and even the show itself at times) also seemed to have so very little regard for his fighting skills, with Cyborg outright stating that he could easily ‘kick his butt’. Funny, considering how many different animals there are out there that could easily reduce him to scrap metal. Next, after the events of “Betrayal” the two them (and Robin) seemed dead set on getting Beast Boy to view Terra as just another villain. You would think they would be a bit more tactful on the subject, considering that they knew just how much he cared for her. Similarly, with how many shots that Beast Boy seems to take from the rest of the team—Raven and Cyborg in particular—the fact that he starts to act more assertive in “The Beast Within”, circumstances aside, shouldn’t have been all that jarring, when you think about it. However, that fact that he did lash out at both Cyborg and Raven in that episode was viewed as grounds for kicking him off the team. That sort of implies that, to them, it’s perfectly okay for the others to take jabs at Beast Boy, but he must never stand up for himself, otherwise he’s not the friend that they allowed to join. Taking that in mind, and what went on in the episode “Nevermore”; it’s like whatever the others do to him, no matter what it is, is completely justified and easily dismissed like it was nothing. However, he so much as says one bad thing about the others, unless the others agree, he has to be the one in the wrong and has to apologize.
Then, one also has to take into account what happened in “Go!”. When they first met, Beast Boy was the most friendly and amicable of the Titans. He respected Robin without question and was being very friendly to both Cyborg and Raven. In return, he was dismissed by Robin, ghosted by Raven and pushed away and even outright insulted by Cyborg. He wanted to become friendly with Cyborg and the latter assumed that all he had to do was reveal his…condition, and Beast Boy would be fearful and disgusted by it (even though Beast Boy is “a monster” himself in a way). Then, when Beast Boy showed no such reactions and even viewed it as impressive (no doubt due to being exposed to such things during his tenure as a Doom Patrol member), Cyborg simply called him “a weird little dude” in response. You would think that he would have appreciated having someone look at him and not view him as a monster, or would find some solace in being praised by another ‘freak of nature”. Then, later on in the exact same episode, when Beast Boy simply stated that Cyborg looked cool without his hoodie and pants, Cyborg not only dismissed his opinion but also insulted the fact that he was wearing a mask. So his response to someone actually saying something positive about his appearance is to take a jab at theirs? Real nice, Mr. Stone
So in summary, were the other Titans really that good to Beast Boy? Because it felt like they only wanted him around if he could be useful, expected him to have an adult mentality at all times and allowed him to be on the team so long as he was passive and submissive
