Victor Stone: Cyborg Appreciation 2020

[Agent Z]

As I've stated before, the Mother Box did more harm than good for Victor. It's poorly defined in terms of powers, hasn't stopped writers from having blasted to pieces or hacked and shows little faith in Victor as an independent character. His original backstory better lent itself for solo stories even if it was introduced in a team book.

[9th.]

I'm not seeing what the distain about the mother boxes is about, all of it seems to stem from poor writers and low interest than anything.

Also Vic being blasted to pieces constantly is due to him being able to regenerate, it happens to all characters that can heal. It's the Wolverine syndrome.

[Iconic]

Yeah, I see no problem with the motherbox. It’s just DC not being willing to put in the effort with “this kind of character.”

If this were any of their favored children with a connection to the motherbox, you couldn’t tell me they wouldn’t take a deep dive into such a story. They’d put Morrison on it, turn it into an event and attach Batman to it somehow. Advertisements everywhere. “Oh! It’s Cyborg? Ok. Let’s just make a footnote about it then.”

[Dark Falz]

Yeah, I see no problem with the motherbox. It’s just DC not being willing to put in the effort with “this kind of character.”

If this were any of their favored children with a connection to the motherbox, you couldn’t tell me they wouldn’t take a deep dive into such a story. They’d put Morrison on it, turn it into an event and attach Batman to it somehow. Advertisements everywhere. “Oh! It’s Cyborg? Ok. Let’s just make a footnote about it then.”

I think there's some truth in that. You essentially have fans making the decisions a lot of the time, which can both be good at times but also bad if the decisions aren't tempered, and it was pretty clear that no one behind the scenes really wanted to work on Cyborg, because they weren't really fans of his. Or, if they were fans, their fandom only went so far. A guy like Geoff Johns can say or imply he's a fan of Cyborg...but actions speak louder than words.

I think what attention Cyborg got was due to an editorial mandate that was put in place because of tokenism. The decision makers at DC might have believed the idea of diversity is good, but no one behind the scenes actually cared about whether it was there or not. Diversity, or, more specifically, portrayals of black male superheroes, wasn't their issue to fix or work on, so you got what you ended up getting. If it was an issue they felt strongly about, like, for example, Silver Age heroes being dead and/or shamed, you would have likely seen a stronger and better effort from them.

[Frontier]

almost every time we see Cyborg he's spawning a different vague scifi gun that (I guess) we are supposed to assume is his sonic canon.



vague busy scifi gun



vague busy scifi gun



vague busy scifi gun again

that's the default that carrys over, other than that he's either hacking into something with his mind or getting torn apart. sure, we'll get a random device here or there but most time it's just "oh another thing that he has because motherbox" and it's gone, never to be thought of again without doing anything for the character. like, not every single gadget individually added something to Vic in the show but the context that he was building these things, these were tools he used, did added to the character. what has the infinite weapon spawn really done for him? instead of the motherbox giving him nanites to make whatever, how about he uses it to boomtube in weapons or devices from his lab. Vic's a scientist, show him building and sciencing it up the way a human being would because he's a human being.

So, wait, the problem isn't that he has a bunch of weapons but that writers just default to the sonic gun all the time instead of building an established arsenal for Vic beyond that?

[Cyborguy]

Some progress. One of these days I'm gonna have to draw Exxy too. Would to see him back.

IMG_20201116_102655_899.jpg

[J. D. Guy]

Some progress. One of these days I'm gonna have to draw Exxy too. Would to see him back.

IMG_20201116_102655_899.jpg

Looks sweet! Will this be colored at some point?

Also, love Exxy! Never realized how much I'd be missing him since Semper Jr.'s run was forced to an end, but do I ever miss the guy! Woulda loved for them to turn him into a more unambiguously presenting hero/vigilante with powers. Make him a legacy and protege of Cyborgs in name and deed.

If you're willing, I love to see Exxy fanart!

[Holt]

Some progress. One of these days I'm gonna have to draw Exxy too. Would to see him back.

IMG_20201116_102655_899.jpg

Nice job on this!

[Cyborguy]

Looks sweet! Will this be colored at some point?

Also, love Exxy! Never realized how much I'd be missing him since Semper Jr.'s run was forced to an end, but do I ever miss the guy! Woulda loved for them to turn him into a more unambiguously presenting hero/vigilante with powers. Make him a legacy and protege of Cyborgs in name and deed.

If you're willing, I love to see Exxy fanart!

Thank you!! Not sure if I will add color lol.

If I had my way, I'd absolutely put Exxy in another book with Vic and into other media. And I'll def work on some soon!

Nice job on this!

Thank you!!

[Digifiend]

Cyborg cameoed on the last page of Teen Titans today.

[Holt]

Cyborg shows up today in end of the final Teen Titans issue.









Spoilers!

[Iconic]

Serious question:

Can anyone give an in-story explanation as to why Victor looks like this after all this time and with the advances in technology? It’s easy to understand in the beginning with how he looked but now things have changed.

Within DC’s comics, his being black has no bearing on his character so why not just cover it up completely? It’s not iconic and doesn’t offer any representation as currently shown. (I should know)

[Vordan]

Knew Vic would be back with the Titans before long. Alright well with Didio gone let’s hope this franchise can finally get its s*** together.

[chief12d]

Serious question:

Can anyone give an in-story explanation as to why Victor looks like this after all this time and with the advances in technology? It’s easy to understand in the beginning with how he looked but now things have changed.

Within DC’s comics, his being black has no bearing on his character so why not just cover it up completely? It’s not iconic and doesn’t offer any representation as currently shown. (I should know)

Probably DCEU synergy. He doesn't show any flesh outside his face in the movies and it looks like they want to channel that appearance. Plus it's probably easier on the artists to just do a basic robot design then put a black man's face on it. The DCYou version of Cyborg continues to be the best version of his character minus the prominence of the face plate.

[Besouro]

As I've stated before, the Mother Box did more harm than good for Victor. It's poorly defined in terms of powers, hasn't stopped writers from having blasted to pieces or hacked and shows little faith in Victor as an independent character. His original backstory better lent itself for solo stories even if it was introduced in a team book.

There is nothing wrong with Cyborg being merged with a motherbox. For starters it's literally a super-tech upgrade that comes with a powerful legacy and attachment of a legendary franchise- THE NEW GODS.

The ONLY problem is the writers, editors and plain DC in general have ADAMANTLY REFUSED to explore that literal connection btwn Cyborg and the New Gods along with all associated characters. That's the real issue here, not the motherbox.

If anything, the motherbox has expanded Cyborg's repetoire as a character. Motherbox are probably the Apex of New Genesis tech and one of them is fused with Vic.

If I were a writer for Cyborg I would make Vic's Motherbox more unique than the others, have one still at new Genesis and another with a villain then develop story btwn Cyborg and the plethora of New Genesis characters from mr.miracle, Big Barda and onwards as Vic gradually learns more and more about the Motherbox which ilster reveals itself to be sentient unlocking more and abilities as the story progresses.

Certainly I will have to include some themes and issues regarding disability, a.i revolution, conscience digitization, nanotech.

Personally, I would give Vic a new Genesis girlfriend....yes it will be Sarah revealed to be from New Genesis sent to covertly extract the Motherbox which ultimately bonded with Vic.

She would be the character to provide New God's/New Genesis related exposition to Vic when handling problems
from and/or related the New Gods......and it would make her waaay more interesting and more involved as a character in Vic's adventures.