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FaeBelowDeck — The Problem With Raven
#ravenroth #teentitans #teentitansraven
Published: 2017-09-16 02:29:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 1152; Favourites: 4; Downloads: 0
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THE TIME HAS COME, BIT -- (imma cuss a lot, as usual) -- CHES!!!Yes that's right, i am here to, well...not really roast her, but point out something about Raven's portrayal that bugs me juuust a bit.
Like always it's pointless as a rant, but hopefully can be something of an eye opener and -- AW WHO AM I KIDDING i just feel like bitching and pointing things out.
So it's no secret that Raven is OP and easily the strongest member of the Titans, and if you ask me, potentially one of the strongest (if not thee strongest) character in DC.
Have you seen her powers list?
Lemme write it out for you:
---
Psionic abilities
Empathy (aids in healing and sensing emotion, not the standard form of empathy)
Advanced telekinesis
Telepathy
Thought projection
Spiritual powers
Astral projection
Mediumship
Soul-sealing
Magic powers
Spell-casting
Healing magic
Vast knowledge of mystical artifacts, charms and spell books
Dark magic
Light magic
Telekinetic spells
Psuedo-intangibility
Elemental magic (namely dark/shadow magic)
Necromancy
Time immobilizing
Knowledge on runes
---
I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE FUCK HALF OF THESE ARE, BUT I THINK HER ADVANCED TELEKINESIS IS ENOUGH IN AND OF ITSELF FOR HER TO BE AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE.
In Birthmark, we get to see an increased usage of her magic when she literally moves two whole giant ass buildings together to crush a Trigon-powered Slade, who was chasing her.
And yeah, she STOPPED TIME.
She just wanted everything to stop, so it stopped.
DAMN.
Now i honestly don't have a problem with Raven being so over powered.
She has flaws and weaknesses and troubles that she has to overcome, and i think different versions of her character have their own ways of handling that.
With her father's influence, none of her gifts really surprise me.
And if what i've heard about Superman's inability to withstand magic (of a certain kind, anyway) is true, this means Raven could take him on and potentially win.
But that aside, she can literally move anything she wants simply by thinking about it and wanting it to move, as she's seen doing effortlessly.
I think some of this would need honing, but if she truly let loose i can see her being an unstoppable force.
I mean with that power list, her ability to get into people's minds, phase through solid objects, use spells, send people to other dimensions and everything ELSE, thank God above she's a good guy...girl...
I mean look at her power list!
"Spiritual powers."
That's just one of a couple that have to be ambiguously stated, because her abilities in those branch off into their own ranges and categories!!
She's like Harry Potter meets a 1,000 year old master gypsy meets the pinnacle of all things magical EVER.
YOU CAN'T FUCK WITH THAT!
So here's my problem and before i even get to this, you should know that i already have the answers to all the questions i'm going to present, which will will be touched on later.
Raven is, as mentioned, what ought to be an unstoppable force of nature.
And i realize she has to suppress her emotions to keep her powers from running loose, because apparently she's SO SUPER ASS OP she literally can't feel too much without her energy blasting the planet to bits.
I mean Supes may feel like he lives in a world made of cardboard, but at least he can feel feelings without using his powers.
Jesus...
So with that being said, in the show at least (since i haven't seen too much in the comics [because i don't read them really]), Raven is visibly the most powerful Titan, but fights with just about as much prowess s everyone else.
She is taken down or temporarily immobilized by things i feel like she shouldn't really be immobilized by, considering her reflexes should be better.
Having a magical incantation slows her down for sure, but have you noticed when she gets down to business she doesn't seem to need her incantation?
Like for instance, in The Prophecy when she got uber pissed at Slade getting ready to kill her friends, she told him off, then began throwing him all around the room like a rag doll.
She was able to literally lift him up out through the ground, hold him in place, throw him and do basically whatever she wanted.
In Apprentice, when Robin loses his shit and terrorizes some innocent construction worker, Raven magically lifts him away and holds him in place so he can't move.
Just about nothing can fight that off; it's pure energy, i mean i'm sure it has its weaknesses but when she means it, that shit should be impenetrable.
The other thing about her magic is it seems limitless, she's never drained of it!
So when there's a bad guy, instead of chasing them around the city, letting them get away with crazy stuff and having everyone in harm's way, can't she just...make an energy field around them and catch them?
There!
Done!
The end!
I mean yeah that's heckin' boring, but come on!
She could've walked right up to Slade and been like "*zap* Ok, caught him. Let's take his ass to prison."
There shouldn't have had to be any detective work!
"Burt Fawx, wut abaot fahndin' em?"
Well she can sense things, can't she?
In Go!, she literally senses Starfire nearby and says "she's near."
I'm CERTAIN she has to be concentrating to pick up on most things, but so...concentrate!
Sniff his metal-coated one-eyed white-haired fuck-face out!
AGAIN, I KNOW, TOO EASY AND = A SHOW NOT WORTH WATCHING, BUT I'M JUST POINTING IT OUT, MAN!
I'M CINEMA-SINSING THIS SHIT!
This even takes me back to her fight with Terra.
Ya know, the one where they had a big cat fight in the mud and i'm sure a lot of people thought that was super hot, etc.
Raven got pushed to the point of semi-transforming, developing an extra set of eyes and unleashing a very unusual, powerful energy, and Terra still won.
To be fair Raven really didn't make any moves while in this state, and she was still holding back, as we can see, but by no means should she have lost that fight.
I don't care how in her own element Terra was, again, Raven should've been able to take her down.
And no, it's not me being some butthurt Raven tit-sucker who can't stand to see her get defeated, especially by Terra.
If you know me, i honestly love Terra to bits.
I'm really just trying to use some common sense here.
As irritating as a lack of logic can be for me at times, i do have theories for why -- in the show, at least -- Raven seemed so watered down.
For one thing, which we already know, she had to be in control of her emotions at all times.
Can you imagine harboring basically unlimited power inside your body?
Starfire puts it beautifully in The End:
"The more we feel, the more energy is released."
The more emotion enabled, the further her abilities can fly.
She was raised from birth, basically, to contain all of her feelings and powers.
That's a lot to handle, but then after so long of doing that i can imagine she got so good at it that being mostly numb didn't seem like a big deal.
To my mind, that would make the potential to open up a little (as she later does in my head cannon) and feel a little more, just to get more momentum could be difficult.
It's like putting a lock on a door and then trying to get it open with a slightly bent key.
It fits, but you have to really be careful about it, and you're kind of afraid of what's behind the door anyway.
What could slip out if you don't take care in how far the door opens?
And then will you be able to close it again?
With that bent key, will you be able to lock the door?
In the heat of battle, this is a lot of work, so i can definitely see her having been pretty downplayed all for the sake of control.
Even when she unleashed some rage on Terra, she still very visibly held back.
She didn't make any real moves.
It was rage, but not unbridled rage.
As for Slade in the Trigon arc, NOTHING FUCKING KILLED HIM, so she went to town.
I bet that felt good!
She still held back, though.
Could've crumbled the whole damn building then, because that was unbridled rage.
My other theory for why Raven is so downplayed in the show is because if she were to take over, what fun would that be for everyone else?
What would be the point of them even being super heroes?
Honestly i think Raven can take any villain all on her own, and that's with a slight lack in strategy as well.
She holds things with her magic, throws things and even carefully disassembles a gun-thingy that Robin had in Apprentice.
She didn't break it, she carefully took it apart by thinking about it.
WOW.
So, basically, to give the others a fighting chance (literally), she probably also holds back.
The Titans appear to take turns fighting in the show anyway, which is a really nice marker of their teamwork.
But again, we know Raven has the capacity to finish any fight off all on her own, because in The End part 1 when Plasmus interrupted her "perfect day" for her friends, after so long of fighting she got fed up and literally blew him up with enough force in one move to restore him to his human form.
Which startled everyone, naturally.
I could go on forever with examples, but i think the point has been made by now.
Part of it is the repression, and part of it is playing fair and giving her teammates a chance to engage and do what they love, and are trained to do.
I also wonder if some of it is inexperience, or simply way too much to think about all at once.
It could be a number of things!
Well, as promised i basically countered my own bitch-fest with a reasonable couple of answers, but i still think it's a flawed concept that she doesn't just bring the bad guy in if it gets out of control.
For Raven it almost seems more like she's allowing the enemy to go on their little joyride long enough to fight her friends and cause some trouble, but i think after it starts to get out of hand, she should just clutch them up in one of her energy screens and haul them off to prison.
Once more, yes it's boring and defeats the purpose of a fight anyway, but i digress.
Can you think of a reason why Raven doesn't just nab the baddie and cuff 'em?
PLEASE tell me if i'm missing something, or present to me your own theory!
I love feedback like this.
And who knows?
I've been wrong before, so maybe i missed something.
But legit, this is something in my head that i've wanted patched up for a long time now, so if you know something, TELL MEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
I hope this was smooth and a little eye-opening, because you know how much i love to over analyze everything.
Enjoy!
---DO NOT STEAL MY CONCEPTS, ART OR IDEAS!!! I DO NOT OWN DC OR THE IMAGES USED IN THIS COLLAGE!!!---
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Comments: 15
Well, half the items listed aren't actually things that were demonstrated on the show. Necromancy, for example. Pretty sure that's just a comic thing. (And I'm pretty sure that was only in one of the arcs where she went evil too.)
Raven is deliberately holding back for a lot of the show, as you've reasoned, in order to keep her powers under control. When her inner demonic side gets unleashed she does get more powerful, but because she's unfocused and her power is undirected it just leads to her becoming a tunnel-visioned maelstrom, easy to blindside. (As Terra did in "Aftershock".)
Something that's emphasized repeatedly in the show is that Raven's mental state has to be clear-minded and focused in order for her to use her powers most effectively. The mantra helps with focusing, but as you've noticed, it isn't absolutely necessary. That's pretty much the reason she kicks Slade's ass in "The Prophecy", she's angry, but also calm enough to channel it completely into her abilities.
Battles are chaotic and messy and it can be easy to get distracted or lose her concentration. She also doesn't really seem to do much strategizing; her modus operandi seems to be "Do whatever works at the time and whatever you've got enough focus/power for". Also, enough willpower on the part of whoever she's fighting tends to break her dark matter constructs. (Essentially their mind is stronger in that moment than hers I guess?)
So there's a lot of factors, most of them boiling down to Raven just kinda does her thing and doesn't really care too much how she does it as long as she's careful not to unleash Rage. Her emotions and mental state fluctuate, thus the strength of her powers do too.
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Well i know most of that list was in the comic, i was counting everything cannonically shown, no matter what platform.
Ahhh that actually makes a lot of sense, excellent!
Thanks man
Epic input, much appreciated and informative <3
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Hmmm....
So ultimately, she's Darkstalker but not evil? e.o
Well, really, she's like any animus dragon from the Wings of Fire series, except for the fact she doesn't have to enchant something to use her abilities and it doesn't harm her if she uses them a lot.
And the thing about why she doesn't just take down whoever they're battling immediately..... Well I guess that's just one of those moments where you think in to what's happening in reality: so many episodes would just be cut short because.... There would be no battle, no anything. Just Raven taking someone down immediately. So really, that's the animator's thing. That's.... Really all there is to it X3
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Yeah basically, SHE'S LITERALLY JUST OP XD
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One correction: the episode where Raven tosses Slade around is The Prophecy, not Birthmark.
OK, now my thoughts.
Yes, her powers are freaking absurd to the point where you wonder how she can ever lose any battle.
It's best explained that she severely limits her powers, so as to not cause collateral damage, which also means restraining her emotions.
It could also be that if she did go all out and rapidly stop any bad guy, people would start treating her like a deity, complete with a cult movement and worshippers.
Raven doesn't want this - she wants friends and relationships, not worship.
Yes, this is very similar to Superman, as they're both "aliens" from other worlds keeping their powers under control while being heroic figures, being inspirations to people while struggling with their humanity,
However, Raven also has strong similarities to Batman.
Not only is her name and costume a very good fit-in for a member of the Bat Family, but she also hardly smiles, is seemingly cold and emotionless, specializes in scaring the bad guys, isn't very sociable with her fellow heroes, and deep down just wants to be free of the wretched life that's been forced on her.
So you could say that Raven is a combination of the negative aspects of Supes and Batman - Superman's need to restrain himself and Batman's grimdark personality.
By comparison, Robin/Nightwing represents the best of both characters - the hopeful optimisim of Superman combined with the physical and mental perfection of Batman.
Interestingly enough, both Nightwing and Raven dress in black and blue.
I guess it's all the more reason to pair them up.
Finally, to answer the question of why Raven doesn't just levitate every villain and toss them in jail:
In Overdrive, we learn that whenever Raven levitates an object, she moves a part of her soul into that object.
I don't think she would find merging a bit of her soul with an evil doer very pleasant - it's already tainted enough from her father's influence, and she doesn't want to risk any unbalance.
Though levitating her friends is OK, since they have a positive influence on her.
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GAH i noticed that last night and didn't have time to fix it
Thank you, it has been edited!
Oh wow, this was actually very helpful!
And ohhh yes, the fact that Nightwing eventually wears blue and black is interesting in regards to the ship
Though to be honest i like him more as Robin, but i also love the growing up concept there.
Him wearing red and her wearing blue creates that difference between them that makes them click, at least for me.
But when he does change to Nightwing, i imagine Rae loves the finger stripes
The knowledge that Raven doesn't want to risk an unbalance or problems by influence of a villain on her soul is fascinating, and a perfect reason as to why she doesn't like doing it!
Very good!
I still think if something got badly out of hand though, she would probably risk it.
She's a very self-sacrificing lady, but in the standard fight i'm sure her friends would understand her withdrawing.
I also was not aware that she put a piece of herself into levitating things, perhaps i missed that
So thank you for the enlightenment!!!
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I mean, Raven could go toe to toe with, say, Godzilla.
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Varies on the Godzilla and Raven in question actually.
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Let's just say Kaiser energy empowered Godzilla from Final Wars and an unbound AKA full bound Raven had that fight I mentioned before.
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Which "unbound" Raven? 2003 Animated? Pre-Flashpoint? Post-Flashpoint?
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Hmmm.
Probably White Raven could just wipe him out of existence unless you buy Planet level Final Wars Godzilla (which I don't).
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Somewhat true with a lot of points here.
Don't need to go too crazy with the fangirling though.
She's not infallible and she is kinda broken when the writers want her to be, but there's also the fact that her abilities can be sorta vague if you think about it too much.
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