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Starfire Between the Series and the Comic


Age:

Unlike some of the other Titans, Comic Starfire gives a vague time frame that could help to decide her age. She's talking about her past and mentions training with the Warlords of Okaara. She doesn't state her age, but her physique puts her around the 14-16 age range. Then, she reveals that her sister had her enslaved for six years, putting her age range around 20-23. This age range makes her the oldest member of the Comic Teen Titans. This fact isn't surprising if you're watching the newest live-action Teen Titans series, but in the tv series, she's not older than Robin or Cyborg. In the tv series, she's theorized to be 15-16; nothing is supporting that theory, but it's a known fact that the Titans were aged down to fit the younger audience the tv series targeted. In the most recent adaptation(a live-action version), she, along with Robin, is a lot older than the other Titans; she's 29 and Robin's 30.

Character Design:

Similar to Beast Boy, Starfire goes by another name in the comics. In the comics, most characters call her Koriand'r, which is her real name, but she has been referred to as Starfire a couple of times. She also has a "human" name, Kori Anders, that she uses to refer to herself when talking to people other than the Titans. She has a few similarities between the tv series and the comics, but the creators altered her outfit to fit the younger audience of the tv series. In both, she has long hair; in the comics, it's curly, and in the tv series, it's straight. She wears a purple leotard in the comics and a purple two-piece in the tv series. She's showing a lot more skin in the comics, but both costumes reveal her midriff.

Personality:

Comic Starfire is more blood-thirsty than her tv counterpart. One of the main problems she has with the Teen Titans is their unwillingness to take lives, especially of their villains who she believes does enough evil that they shouldn't be allowed to live. She has a temper and is easily riled up, usually being the first member to attack a battlefield. TV Starfire is an outgoing and bubbly personality that epitomizes the joy-seeking aspects of Tamaranean culture. The tv series focused more on the emotional aspects of Tamaranean culture, making Starfire more emotional and tending to sympathize with other people's emotions. Comic Starfire starts not caring about other people and what they had to say about her, but after she got into a relationship with Robin, she started to share the emotions of people around her. TV Starfire has always been like that; she goes out of her for most characters whenever they seem down or upset. Like Cyborg, sometimes she dwells a lot on the fact she's not human, but she has a lot of self-love and love for the world. While Robin tends to be her focus, if a bad situation goes down, she cares deeply about each member. Regardless of who's in trouble, she's on the front lines, screaming their name or being worried. She also is relatively close to each member even Terra.

Character Background:

There are a lot of differences between Comic Starfire's backstory and TV Starfire's backstory. In the comics, she has a little brother, and her parents are alive. In the tv series, it's never addressed that she has a little brother, and was only a fact confirmed later in another Teen Titans series Cartoon Network did call Teen Titans GO!. In the comics, Blackfire ended up with an illness that stripped her of her power. Due to this fact, the succession fell to Starfire. Moriand'r sent them both to train with Warlords of Okaara, but Blackfire runs away to ally with Citadel, Tamaran's enemies. With the secrets of Tamaran from Blackfire, Citadel was able to invade Tamaran. King Moriand'r, Starfire and Blackfire's father, decided to give them Starfire to ensure Tamaran's peace. Six years of being abused and tortured by Citadel, Starfire was able to escape to Earth, where she ran into the Teen Titans. In the tv series, since her parents died, she was taken care of by Galfore. Similar to the comics, Blackfire used Starfire to create peace among the Citadel and Tamaran. She was able to escape using her powers and landed in Jump City. Blackfire plays a large part in Starfire's backstory in both versions because she's the main reason Starfire has to go through being a slave to the Citadel. Blackfire makes an appearance after Starfire joins the Teen Titans in both the comics and the tv series, but her reaction to Blackfire's appearance was different. TV Starfire had convinced herself that her sister wouldn't betray her and was excited to see Blackfire again. She puts her on a pedestal; she even convinced herself that it only made sense for the other Teen Titans to like her sister more. However, when she finds out about Blackfire's betrayal, the veil falls off her eyes, and she gives her sister to the Centauri police. She ends up forgiving Blackfire's betrayal again when she makes a later appearance. Comic Starfire never forgave Blackfire and is ready to fight her on-site, including the appearance she makes in the comics.

Relationship with the Other Titans

Cyborg: In the comics, they don't have much of a relationship, only interacting whenever the situation calls for it. One thing is I think they understood each other's anger and stayed away on purpose to show their trust in each other. In the tv series, they're close. I don't think there's a Titan that Starfire isn't that close, but I guess I would argue that it would be Cyborg she's the least close to if I had to choose. She's cheerful and radiates happiness, and it positively affects Cyborg, making him go out of his way to keep her happy. They don't have any common hobbies, but they make an effort to hang out sometimes. In battles, Cyborg doesn't have to dwell on the fact he can't fly because Starfire will always have his back. They're very supportive of each other.

Beast Boy: In the comics, I can't even remember if they even interact if I'm frank. Since they were in the same group, it only makes sense that they have interactions, but honestly, you could fool me. Beast Boy is younger than most of the Titans, and it was rare to see him with anyone other than Cyborg or Terra. In the tv series, they have an underrated relationship. They're close, not only because they have similar personalities, but also because they understand each other's loneliness. While none of the Titans have a 'family,' Beast Boy and Starfire both had to go through their 'families' rejecting or betraying them, Blackfire for Starfire and the Doom Patrol for Beast Boy. They're usually happy, but it's because they relate to each other that they're so close. Starfire's usually pretty willing to do a lot of things with Beast Boy, and it's rare for her to be mad out him. They have a genuine relationship with just general smiley beans. She's also one of the few members who will be outwardly worried whenever something happens to Beast Boy, or being worried, for example, she's the one who mentions Beast Boy's absence in Season 2, Episode 2.

Raven: In the comics, Starfire is close to the girls in the Titans; she and Raven don't talk or as close as Starfire and Wonder Girl, but they're close. She talks to Raven about her relationship with Robin and respects her advice. They hang outside Teen Titans and have mentioned to each other that they care about each other. In the tv series, they're very close. In the beginning, Raven didn't like Starfire and didn't respond well to Starfire, trying to get to know each other. After the switch bodies, they become closer, caring for each other. They're the only girls in the group, so Starfire tends to go to Raven whenever she has any worries the boys wouldn't get like when Starfire had a pimple. Starfire's the only member who gets to mediate with Raven and gets Raven to open up to her more. They have different personalities, Starfire's optimism versus Raven's pessimism, but they make an effort to understand each other without trying to change each other.

Robin: As similar to the other Titans, I'm leaving the member they're closest to last, Robin being that member for Starfire. In the tv series and comics, they had a romantic relationship. There wasn't much buildup before their relationship in the comics, but it becomes one of the main topics as the comics continues. Robin enamored Starfire, and she would probably do anything for him even if he says jump off a cliff. She's naive when it comes to relationships and doesn't have a good idea of what to do when Robin starts distancing himself. They're pretty good for a while, but then they start facing issues after issues that affect them negatively. They don't go through a break up from what I read of The New Teen Titans, but a quick Google was enough to know they will inevitably break up. There's not much else on the relationship in the comics, but I looked up a history of them: Click Here for More. Sadly, they didn't have a happy ending, unlike the tv series. I want to point out one similarity they have, and that's when Starfire has to go home to marry someone. In the comics, she marries him, but in the tv series, the Titans, including Robin, stop the wedding. In the tv series, there's a lot more pining and development; they don't get together until after five seasons and a movie. She seems to have been more aware of her feelings for Robin but practiced patience waiting for Robin to figure it out. She cares deeply for him and tends to search him out whenever she experiences or finds something that makes her happy. She thinks highly of him and was shown jealous of him around other girls like Kitten.

Terra: TBD

Wonder Girl/Kid Flash: She's extremely close to Wonder Girl in the comics, so close that I would argue she's closer to Wonder Girl than Robin in the comics. When she first comes to Earth, Wonder Girl offers her apartment, and they become roommates. They confide in each other about relationships, leadership struggles, anger issues, school, etc. They didn't keep secrets from each other and hung out all the time, doing things that friends usually do like shopping and eating together. They also had good battle chemistry, fighting well together. Kid Flash, on the other hand, falls in the same category of Beast Boy that I can't remember an interaction among them. The only thing is Kid Flash didn't get along with any members, including Starfire, so there were probably times when they got into verbal arguments, but I think they tended to agree about how to deal with villains. Even though Kid Flash does appear in the tv series, he doesn't interact with Starfire.