Pitch A Direction: Starfire

[Incognito]

Yeah, it is one of those threads again but this time it is for a certain alien powerhouse.

Starfire is a fan-favourite character who has existed for 40 years, having appeared in multiple media adaptations such as Teen Titans Animated Series (2003 and GO! series), the Titans TV series and animated movies. She is a member of The New Teen Titans and The Outlaws as well as having her 12-issue limiter series. What ideas and direction would you pitch for the character?

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[Restingvoice]

Honestly the only thing I don't like about the Amanda Conner series is her depiction as a naive princess that sounds like she's new to Earth. I like the fun tone, the art, everything else. So do that, but not that.

[Incognito]

One of my ideas for Starfire is to explore her home planet, Tamaran and her antagonistic relationship with her sister, Blackfire, would also like to see her brother as well. Tamaran is from the vega system so she could tag along with the Omega Men and have adventures with them.

Recently Starfire was shown to be a mentor in both the Teen Titans Rebirth Comics and animated movies or a big sister role in the Titans TV series so I would not mind If she serves as a mentor again to the Teen Titans or she could be part of the Justice League again (either a branch which specifically tasked for an interstellar mission or the mainline branch). I think she could work well as an Instagram model/social media influencer as a homage to her model days with Donna Troy as her go-to girl with photography and editing (and partner in crime), she could serve well as a celebrity superhero since she is an alien who does not look like a human (Kryptonians) or is a shapeshifter (Martians). Also, bring back Key West as her base of operations.

[Ascended]

Well, for quite a while I've looked at the Titans and my only real question, when it comes to what they should be doing, is "What's the next logical step in this person's life?"

For Kori, what I'd do with her is put her on the throne of Tamaran.

It's an uneasy position to be in; the people of Tamaran have been through *so* much; they've lost their homeworld, at least one colony, they've gone to war against the Gordanians, been invaded by the Blight, the throne has been unstable for decades, ravaged by Imperiex, Tamaran has joined the United Planets and that's caused all manner of backlash (see Superman's books), and I don't even know what else. Is there a people who have suffered more than the Tamaraneans in recent galactic memory? They don't think so.

And a lot of people question whether Kori, who has spent so much time anywhere *but* Tamaran, should be on the throne. Between being sold into slavery by her own family and her time spent on the unruly, troublesome earth (cause of so many problems in the universe) many people question Kori's loyalty and state of mind. So of course Blackfire has capitalized on that and started a rebellion that Kori is desperately trying to keep from becoming a full blown civil war.

Uneasy is the head that wears the crown, and Kori rules over a divided people who have lost much of their territory, culture, resources, and self-respect in one relentless disaster after another. And as if the threat of civil war isn't enough drama, we'd also have a new external threat in the shape of Tamaran's closest galactic neighbor, the Pax Imperium of Almerac. For centuries, the space empire ruled by Maxima has gazed inward, barely interacting with the rest of the universe's governments...but in the wake of Empress Maxima's union to her new consort-king Vartox, Almerac has suddenly doubled in size and is hungry; their trade is booming, their prices are low, and Almerac threatens to sweep Tamaran into economic collapse...and while both Tamaran and Almerac are members of the United Planets, Kori fears that once her people are broke and desperate, Empress Maxima might gain control of the Tamaranean empire through economic takeover. And Blackfire, of course, might be involved in the plot.

Can Kori keep her people from being swallowed up by foreign powers and civil strife? With all her friends light years away and her own people distrustful of her motives, can Kori trust anyone around her? Is Kori even capable of navigating these deep political waters, or is she just a broken warrior who should never have been put on the throne in the first place?

And because everyone always wants a love interest and it is thirty years past time for Kori to let go of Nightwing, we'll introduce Kyle Rayner as a potential new love interest, and the only friend around Kori can completely trust. But, of course, if she's seen leaning on the Green Lantern Corps, will her people think she lacks the strength to rule and discard her yet again?

[Godlike13]

Starfire starts a cult.

[Sutekh]

One thing that struck me about Tamaran was the nature of Blackfire, born 'deficient' and unable to fly, like most other Tamaraneans. It would make sense that she's not the only Tamaranean with this condition, that, like hemophiliacs on Earth, there's a relatively small sub-population on Tamaran with this same condition (Blackfire might indeed represent the first time in living memory that it's cropped up in the royal family!).

And, for a time, Komandr ended up ruling Tamaran, and at least some Tamaraneans had to be willing to function as her oppressive guards and state police and thugs and brownshirts. What better group for a flightless ruler to appeal to than this formerly pitied minority of flightless Tamaraneans, playing on their bitterness over their state and overselling the pity and condescension and neglect they'd gotten from their flying brethren, soaring overhead while they were, literally, always beneath them?

But, even bad things end, and Blackfire is deposed, and the Tamaraneans who worked for 'the usurper' and oppressed their own people at her will have gone from a pitied minority to a despised minority, and been forced to flee into the wilderness and form their own outlaw communities, aided in their survival only by secret experiments that Blackfire had performed, with the aid of a Psion ally, giving *all of them* a smattering of her own type of power, to release the solar energy they were absorbing into starbolts (instead of using it to power flight, as 'normal' Tamaraneans do).

Starfire's role on new Tamaran is to broker a truce between this small group of rebels, who were, primarily, misguided and emotionally manipulated by Blackfire into serving as her jackbooted thugs, and now have pretty much the other 99% of surviving Tamaraneans out to pay that back... She's, of course, the perfect person to stand the middle ground, being a rare Tamaranean that can both fire starbolts, like the rebel minority, and fly, like the vast majority, giving her a foot in both worlds, symbolically speaking, and being something of an outsider, by Tamaranean standards, having spent so much time off-world.

(Whether or not Tamaran is destroyed, or on another planet, or sharing a planet with Rannians and Thanagarians or whatever this week, I don't even know what's in continuity any longer. I'm assuming that, for purposes of this storyline, the majority of the planet Tamaran's population, and the planet itself, are intact, and that whatever events led to it's destruction haven't happened in this latest continuity, or were greatly oversold and it only suffered some destruction, but is recovering. But the story could be set among survivors of Tamaran on some new world, just as readily, with much smaller stakes, since a population of refugee survivors would be significantly smaller, and, given the conditions of most refugee situations, would make the story a bit bleaker than I care for. 'Hey, we survived a planetary genocide, let's now divide into factions and kill anyone who worked for the oppressive regime!' Bleh.)

[K7P5V]

Honestly the only thing I don't like about the Amanda Conner series is her depiction as a naive princess that sounds like she's new to Earth. I like the fun tone, the art, everything else. So do that, but not that.

I know, right?! Still LOVE the sense of humor and, most especially, the artwork...

[Incognito]

Well, for quite a while I've looked at the Titans and my only real question, when it comes to what they should be doing, is "What's the next logical step in this person's life?"

For Kori, what I'd do with her is put her on the throne of Tamaran.

It's an uneasy position to be in; the people of Tamaran have been through *so* much; they've lost their homeworld, at least one colony, they've gone to war against the Gordanians, been invaded by the Blight, the throne has been unstable for decades, ravaged by Imperiex, Tamaran has joined the United Planets and that's caused all manner of backlash (see Superman's books), and I don't even know what else. Is there a people who have suffered more than the Tamaraneans in recent galactic memory? They don't think so.

And a lot of people question whether Kori, who has spent so much time anywhere *but* Tamaran, should be on the throne. Between being sold into slavery by her own family and her time spent on the unruly, troublesome earth (cause of so many problems in the universe) many people question Kori's loyalty and state of mind. So of course Blackfire has capitalized on that and started a rebellion that Kori is desperately trying to keep from becoming a full blown civil war.

Uneasy is the head that wears the crown, and Kori rules over a divided people who have lost much of their territory, culture, resources, and self-respect in one relentless disaster after another. And as if the threat of civil war isn't enough drama, we'd also have a new external threat in the shape of Tamaran's closest galactic neighbor, the Pax Imperium of Almerac. For centuries, the space empire ruled by Maxima has gazed inward, barely interacting with the rest of the universe's governments...but in the wake of Empress Maxima's union to her new consort-king Vartox, Almerac has suddenly doubled in size and is hungry; their trade is booming, their prices are low, and Almerac threatens to sweep Tamaran into economic collapse...and while both Tamaran and Almerac are members of the United Planets, Kori fears that once her people are broke and desperate, Empress Maxima might gain control of the Tamaranean empire through economic takeover. And Blackfire, of course, might be involved in the plot.

Can Kori keep her people from being swallowed up by foreign powers and civil strife? With all her friends light years away and her own people distrustful of her motives, can Kori trust anyone around her? Is Kori even capable of navigating these deep political waters, or is she just a broken warrior who should never have been put on the throne in the first place?

And because everyone always wants a love interest and it is thirty years past time for Kori to let go of Nightwing, we'll introduce Kyle Rayner as a potential new love interest, and the only friend around Kori can completely trust. But, of course, if she's seen leaning on the Green Lantern Corps, will her people think she lacks the strength to rule and discard her yet again?

I like your pitch for Starfire just like you did for Cyborg in the appreciation thread. It brings her back to her space/sci-fi roots with a political twist sort of like Games of Thrones in space. I remember that Tamaraneans are not too fond of Green Lantern so it would be very interesting to see the relationship between Starfire and Kyle Rayner, (*edit*) she already has a relationship with Jessica Cruz so maybe that the Tamaranean could trust the Green Lantern. I have always see Starfire and Blackfire having a Thor/Loki type relationship, they are both royalty and one sibling is an outsider due to her being born sickly and thus being stripped from the throne, it could play well with future stories and it could be the reason why Starfire was born because she was not expected to live that long. I wonder who else could join Starfire's cast since she got her siblings, Tamaran and the whole vega system. Omega Men could potentially join as extended characters due to both of them originated from the same solar system.

After looking at my ideas for Starfire, I am full on board with your idea with Starfire as the Queen of Tamaran and bringing her more closer to the interstellar corner of the DC Universe.

[Incognito]

One thing that struck me about Tamaran was the nature of Blackfire, born 'deficient' and unable to fly, like most other Tamaraneans. It would make sense that she's not the only Tamaranean with this condition, that, like hemophiliacs on Earth, there's a relatively small sub-population on Tamaran with this same condition (Blackfire might indeed represent the first time in living memory that it's cropped up in the royal family!).

And, for a time, Komandr ended up ruling Tamaran, and at least some Tamaraneans had to be willing to function as her oppressive guards and state police and thugs and brownshirts. What better group for a flightless ruler to appeal to than this formerly pitied minority of flightless Tamaraneans, playing on their bitterness over their state and overselling the pity and condescension and neglect they'd gotten from their flying brethren, soaring overhead while they were, literally, always beneath them?

But, even bad things end, and Blackfire is deposed, and the Tamaraneans who worked for 'the usurper' and oppressed their own people at her will have gone from a pitied minority to a despised minority, and been forced to flee into the wilderness and form their own outlaw communities, aided in their survival only by secret experiments that Blackfire had performed, with the aid of a Psion ally, giving *all of them* a smattering of her own type of power, to release the solar energy they were absorbing into starbolts (instead of using it to power flight, as 'normal' Tamaraneans do).

Starfire's role on new Tamaran is to broker a truce between this small group of rebels, who were, primarily, misguided and emotionally manipulated by Blackfire into serving as her jackbooted thugs, and now have pretty much the other 99% of surviving Tamaraneans out to pay that back... She's, of course, the perfect person to stand the middle ground, being a rare Tamaranean that can both fire starbolts, like the rebel minority, and fly, like the vast majority, giving her a foot in both worlds, symbolically speaking, and being something of an outsider, by Tamaranean standards, having spent so much time off-world.

(Whether or not Tamaran is destroyed, or on another planet, or sharing a planet with Rannians and Thanagarians or whatever this week, I don't even know what's in continuity any longer. I'm assuming that, for purposes of this storyline, the majority of the planet Tamaran's population, and the planet itself, are intact, and that whatever events led to it's destruction haven't happened in this latest continuity, or were greatly oversold and it only suffered some destruction, but is recovering. But the story could be set among survivors of Tamaran on some new world, just as readily, with much smaller stakes, since a population of refugee survivors would be significantly smaller, and, given the conditions of most refugee situations, would make the story a bit bleaker than I care for. 'Hey, we survived a planetary genocide, let's now divide into factions and kill anyone who worked for the oppressive regime!' Bleh.)

Your ideas for Starfire and Blackfire sounds good as well, there is a lot of storyline potential with the character and you can build a mythos around her and Tamaran.

I would also like to explore Blackfire's 'condition', and the reason why she does not possess abilities. It would be interesting like you said to see if there are more Tamaranians who were born and live with the same condition and how they were treated compare to 'healthy' Tamaranean and the differences between Blackfire and the flightless Tamaraneans is that she is of royalty, there could be a caste system in Tamaran, and the flightless Tamaran could be in the lower classes.

[lgcruz]

From what we've seen of tamaran, I think we can discard the idea of a strong class system (although there is hierarchy).

I also like the idea of starfire trying to find a future for her people, and it seems a strong theme to underline her struggle with blackfire. However I dont agree with the idea of her dating kyle rayner. While I personally don't think they are compatible, my issue is that having a romance run parallel to a dramatic struggle for the future of an entire society undermines both because neither gets the attention they deserve. It would be different if starfire had gotten together with someone on earth before heading to new tamaran as a couple though, as then their relationship would add to the drama.

But either way, I think it's important starfire doesn't start this struggle on her own, because that would mean she spent all those years on earth for no reason or benefit. She should at least be accompanied by a team of heroes (doesn't have to be the titans), who then have to prove their worth to tamaraneans and help starfire's cause, while clashing ideals and learning something new about themselves. Starfire's role would then to find in herself the resolve to broaden her horizons, tame her emotions to her benefit and reach the best compromise possible.

Done right, it could become a truly epic saga.

[Korath]

I'd rather capitalize on the take of Blackfire as seen since New 52. She doesn't hate her sisters, she loves her. But she is ruthless and will always acts in what she believes is the best way for Tamaran. There is a reason why Blackfire became a part of the Justice League Odyssey. But, case in point, she had no qualms killing Koriand'r when Starfire was turned into a New Goddess at the service of Darkseid.

Speaking of JLO... keep the awesome designs for the Tamaranean troops. Those guys looks absolutely badass, and they need to be there, at least in the background. And them plus Blackfire would offer so much potential storytelling for Kori. She isn't out to unseat a despot who's only doing whatever self-serving actions she can. Komand'r is truly a queen with her people at heart, but she lacks the stronger morals and virtues of Starfire. They both love each other but they can't see eye to eye. And frankly, I'd capitalize on Starfire's time as a New God. Have her truly ascend to that position, as a God Incarnate for Tamaran, X'hal Reborn or something of the like.

Have her be incredibly powerful, so much more than her sister... but also have her retain her compass and try to build a better Tamaran, one with her sister. Kori got a crew of misfits from the New 52 Outlaws, she got a monstrous powerboost in JLO and she got the new Blackfire, who offers so much more story potential, because she isn't a straight out evil villain anymore, but more an anti-villain. Tap into the cosmic side of DC, it has so much potential. And have her bring Dick. have Nightwing be the normal human who is the husband of a Goddess. And have her treat him truly like his equal, because he is in heart, if not in might !

[Factor]

Well, for quite a while I've looked at the Titans and my only real question, when it comes to what they should be doing, is "What's the next logical step in this person's life?"

For Kori, what I'd do with her is put her on the throne of Tamaran.

It's an uneasy position to be in; the people of Tamaran have been through *so* much; they've lost their homeworld, at least one colony, they've gone to war against the Gordanians, been invaded by the Blight, the throne has been unstable for decades, ravaged by Imperiex, Tamaran has joined the United Planets and that's caused all manner of backlash (see Superman's books), and I don't even know what else. Is there a people who have suffered more than the Tamaraneans in recent galactic memory? They don't think so.

And a lot of people question whether Kori, who has spent so much time anywhere *but* Tamaran, should be on the throne. Between being sold into slavery by her own family and her time spent on the unruly, troublesome earth (cause of so many problems in the universe) many people question Kori's loyalty and state of mind. So of course Blackfire has capitalized on that and started a rebellion that Kori is desperately trying to keep from becoming a full blown civil war.

Uneasy is the head that wears the crown, and Kori rules over a divided people who have lost much of their territory, culture, resources, and self-respect in one relentless disaster after another. And as if the threat of civil war isn't enough drama, we'd also have a new external threat in the shape of Tamaran's closest galactic neighbor, the Pax Imperium of Almerac. For centuries, the space empire ruled by Maxima has gazed inward, barely interacting with the rest of the universe's governments...but in the wake of Empress Maxima's union to her new consort-king Vartox, Almerac has suddenly doubled in size and is hungry; their trade is booming, their prices are low, and Almerac threatens to sweep Tamaran into economic collapse...and while both Tamaran and Almerac are members of the United Planets, Kori fears that once her people are broke and desperate, Empress Maxima might gain control of the Tamaranean empire through economic takeover. And Blackfire, of course, might be involved in the plot.

Can Kori keep her people from being swallowed up by foreign powers and civil strife? With all her friends light years away and her own people distrustful of her motives, can Kori trust anyone around her? Is Kori even capable of navigating these deep political waters, or is she just a broken warrior who should never have been put on the throne in the first place?

And because everyone always wants a love interest and it is thirty years past time for Kori to let go of Nightwing, we'll introduce Kyle Rayner as a potential new love interest, and the only friend around Kori can completely trust. But, of course, if she's seen leaning on the Green Lantern Corps, will her people think she lacks the strength to rule and discard her yet again?

Ascended, I always love your ideas. This would be a really interesting a new take on Starfire.
I'm not a fan of Conner's take, because the character always seems to be played for laughs as if she was completely oblivious to Earth's culture.

[Sutekh]

Have her be incredibly powerful, so much more than her sister...

Just to riff on this one point, it would make sense that Starfire is channeling her solar energy into both starbolts and flight (as well as strength?), and Blackfire lacks that flight option, so, in theory, her starbolts would be a smidge tougher, if the two of them went blast for blast. (And if the enhanced Tamaranean strength is also solar powered, as it is for Kryptonians and similar races, then she'd also be a bit stronger, physically, able to channel more of her stored solar energy into feats of strength, than Kory, who uses some to fly.)

I'm not a fan of Conner's take, because the character always seems to be played for laughs as if she was completely oblivious to Earth's culture.

It would kind of make sense that her ability to absorb language through contact would also include the context that comes along with said language, so that, by the standards of other aliens on Earth, she'd actually be unusually good with slang and cultural context, 'speaking like a native.' It would fit the character if people sometimes thought, from her speech patterns, that she was 'local' to whatever region she was in, and assumed she was just a metahuman with an odd skin color and some *insane* delusion about being an alien space princess...

[Ascended]

Thanks for the kind words, folks.

I'd rather capitalize on the take of Blackfire as seen since New 52. She doesn't hate her sisters, she loves her. But she is ruthless and will always acts in what she believes is the best way for Tamaran.

Oh absolutely. I love a good "straight evil for evil's sake" villain as much as the next guy, but for Blackfire, there really needs to be that middle ground where the emotional connections can really be used to full effect. I should've been more clear on that in my own pitch up above; yeah my Blackfire might be leading a rebellion against her sister but it wouldn't be a starkly black-and-white thing; Blackfire would truly believe that she's doing what is best for her people and thinks Kori, as well intentioned as she is, will only end up doing more damage.

As for Kyle, I'm not actually terribly interested in Kori having a love interest at all for this pitch, but I included it for two reasons; Kori needs to get over Dick and move on, and the love interest is an expected narrative foible and people will bitch if it's not included.

Now, I love Dick-Kori; of all Nightwing's relationships that's my favorite. But DC isn't getting them back together. It ain't happening, and I'm sick of DC sitting on the fence, trying to play fans against each other. It's not helping Dick, or Kori, or Babs. It's not helping their characters in the short-term and it's actually hurting them long term. And it's not enough for Kori to just let go and move on, someone else needs to be brought in to take the "love interest" position so we can finally start getting past a Titans run that had its glory days thirty gods damn years ago.

I don't care if it's Kyle or someone else. I figure Kyle works though; he's a sensitive, heart on his sleeve type of guy, much like Dick. Kyle's an artist and Kori loves beautiful things and the act of creation. Kyle's a big deal within the Corps as the Torchbearer and Honor Guard, which is a lofty position without overlapping or being a "threat" to Kori's throne. Nobody in the Vega system likes the Lanterns so that's some good drama. Kyle and Kori know a lot of the same people (like the Titans) so that makes for interesting connections and drama too. And DC doesn't seem to know what to do with Kyle, and while I'd like to see him back on earth doing the "Everyman archetype" thing, that doesn't seem any more likely than Dick and Kori getting back together so this is as good a place for Kyle as any.

[Restingvoice]

I don't usually like space stories because it's so removed from Earth where the bulk of the story happened, that's why Green Lantern is always the last League member I read... but I'll make an exception because they're hot and underdressed.

Means they better look like the Perez version.