Tween Titans are the thirty-ninth episode of Season 1 of DC Super Hero Girls.
Why The Tween Titans Should've NEVER Appeared
- To start, the title characters (or the Teen Titans for sure) in this show appeared to be more flanderized than they were in Teen Titans Go! as they became troublemaking brats who bully their babysitters, Jessica and Karen, and do dangerous stuff for fun to the point where they made their TTG counterparts seemed more likable by comparison.
- The issues of Scrambled Eggs, another episode written by Tim Sheridan and directed by Natalie Wetzig, were carried over to this episode such as the tone being entirely light-hearted and campy with less dark than usual and the overuse of filler scenes.
- This episode could have got the other Teen Titans to have their personas from the 2003 series making it a missed opportunity for the Titans in this show.
- As a plus, Tara Strong reprises her role as Raven from Teen Titans/Teen Titans Go! and the original 2015 web series. But, Scott Menville, Hynden Walch, Greg Cipes and Khary Payton, for some unknown reason, didn't return to voice Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg in this episode, and were replaced by Keith Ferguson, Grey DeLisle Griffin, Kari Wahlgren, and Phil LaMarr, resulting in their voices being annoying, especially Starfire, who was voice by Grey DeLisle Griffin in this episode.
- Similar to the Lion King remake, what's extremely hypocritical on the casting directors' part is that they able to get Tara Strong to voice Raven, but not Scott Menville, Hynden Walch, Greg Cipes and Khary Payton as their respective titans, it isn't helped by the fact that these actors are Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg's original voice actors in most of the media as of 2003 and it is a thing.
- This episode is basically a Jessica and Karen torture episode due to all the pain they had to get throughout the episode.
- Barbara barely has any purpose at the beginning other than filler and just for her to be a bit of a hypocrite.
- This is the last episode written by Tim Sheridan as of 2024, but not a good note to end it after the infamous Scrambled Eggs episode.
- Some unfunny humor from the Tween Titans such as when they played with a piñata, Robin starts hitting the other kids, who are also his teammates, and they all fight.
- Much like some episodes from season 1, Bruce Wayne get flanderized to a rich Gary Stu who only cares about frame than anything else.
- Much like Lois Lane in Breaking News, this episode had ruined the Tween Titan’s reputation as characters in this show as it's not only the titans (except Robin)’ only appearance in the show, unlike Lois who appeared in Cruz Control with her personality improved after her worst episode, but their actions in this episode alone are one of the main reasons why this incarnation of the Teen Titans received negative reception from many fans (with some people calling the titans’ incarnation in this show as bad or worse than their incarnation in Teen Titans Go!).
- Its plot is rather weak to the series as a whole, being one of a handful of episodes in the series that served as filler which never usually happens compared to most episodes which barely have any impact on the series overall, but even so, it can still be skipped. You can watch the show, skip this episode, and anything too important would not be missed.
Redeeming Qualities
- Good animation and voice acting (even the voice acting for Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg are passably okay, despite being irritating) as usual.
- Karen Beecher and Jessica (surprisingly since in other bad episodes featuring her where she’s a total careless hypocrite) are likeable in this episode.
- Unlike their TTG counterparts, at least the Titans here got their comeuppance from Jessica and Karen.
- Despite being immature, Raven is the least bad of the team, since she at least cleans up the team’s mess and restores the mansion back to normal in her sleep at the end of the episode.
Reception
Despite some positive reception and ratings, it received negative reviews by fans of the DC Super Hero Girls series, fans of Teen Titans, and even fans of Teen Titans GO! to the point of being considered one of (if not) the worst DC Super Hero Girls episodes, with some people even calling this show’s portrayal of the Teen Titans as bad or worse than they were in Teen Titans Go!
As mentioned earlier, due to this episode’s negative reception, this was the only appearance of Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg in this show, in the crossover between DC Super Hero Girls and Teen Titans Go, Superhero Freud, the Super Hero Girls even compared the Titan’s TTG counterparts to the Tween Titans.