How do you prefer your Cyborg?

[dkrook]

We got how many versions of Spider-Man and Batman in costumes they never wore in comics? I see a BUNCH of them collecting dust on toy isles for Batman including the ones from Todd McFarlane.

We have a Smallville figure of Cyborg without the face plate.

We have 4 Static figures. Not one is in his Young Justice outfit or his current one.

We have had Black Lightning in an outfit in stores in the Total Justice Line. Mind you we were still almost 10 years away from him being seen in tv or movies and the one comic that he had with the outfit would NOT see a trade for another 15. Huntress and Kyle were in that line-neither was on tv or in movies yet those toys were on the shelf.

The Wallace West figures who DOESN'T look like Keiynan Lonsdale- had NO selling.

Where is the Batman Car show Duke Thomas figure at??? Instead of the 3 that are out now including his current outfit that was a figure 3 years before Wayne Family Adventures came out?

And we got an entire line of Star Trek The Next Generation figures in outfits they NEVER wore on tv or in movies. See Star Trek Generation movie figures. The cast wore Deep Space 9 uniforms in the movie. We never saw the cast as cadets-yet those figures exist.

Same with TMNT. We never saw TMNT on Star Trek and don't think they won't toss out the human versions of them from Power Rangers eventually.

We get stuff made that doesn't match the tv or movies all the time.

Yet it still at times sells.

All points of sound reason,
All lost in the wind, due to the goal post moving mentality possessed by many.

[dswynne]

How? With the humor of TEEN TITANS GO (animated series) and the savvy of TEEN TITANS (animated series). Vic should be beyond the trauma of being a cyborg by now, especially with the popularity of Cyber Punk and anime.

[Ascended]

35% (14 of 40) DO NOT WANT the face plate on the character and/or they want Cyborg to display an ability to alter his facial appearance at will.

32.5% (13 of 40) WANT the face plate to be maintained

32.5% (13 of 40) "Abstained" and provided no definitive answer.

I love that you put in this effort and broke down the thread's opinions. Well done man (or ma'am?), your effort is appreciated. Did you by chance notice the percentage of people who are fine with the face plate but also support his ability to alter his appearance? I'm curious what the split there is.

Imagine boosting comic book sales by 15 , 20 or 30% based upon fixing this one issue due to new or renewed interest in the character.

I think the face plate and the baggage associated with it absolutely need to be debated and a solid, workable direction decided upon (by DC, not us, since we're just nerds on the web with limited influence in the matter), but I don't think the plate is Vic's problem. Yes, you can say that it's following the 'broken black man' troupe and therefore needs to die, and I feel that. But the plate isn't the real issue, DC's view on Vic is. They see Cyborg as ensemble only, worse; Titans-ensemble only. They're not interested in his potential, they see that as misplaced effort because he's 'just' a Titans-aligned team player. They see Raven, Beast Boy, and Starfire (among others) the same way. Change that and all the rest works itself out. Remove the plate without doing anything else, and you'll still have the exact same Cyborg, only no longer recognizable as Cyborg.

If the argument is that Vic would be a bigger deal if he were pretty, it's disproven by the fact that he's a bigger deal than all the non-legacy PoC's at DC who *are* pretty. By this logic, Vixen should be the biggest PoC at DC. That said, I do absolutely support updating his look; the plate isn't a problem but the plate looking like it came out of 1985 is.

We can compare Vic to the big name Leaguers, and Vic certainly pales in comparison to them. And it's probably easy to blame the plate on that, with all the perfect white people around him. But it's not the plate, it's the fact that those perfect white people are twice as old as him, global icons with some of the most well known stories in modern (nerd) fiction, and decades of high-caliber talent that built rich, compelling mythologies. The plate doesn't make Vic less, his lack of history and development does. You don't fix that by making him pretty, you fix that by giving him history and development.

[Shockingjustice]

I love that you put in this effort and broke down the thread's opinions. Well done man (or ma'am?), your effort is appreciated. Did you by chance notice the percentage of people who are fine with the face plate but also support his ability to alter his appearance? I'm curious what the split there is.



I think the face plate and the baggage associated with it absolutely need to be debated and a solid, workable direction decided upon (by DC, not us, since we're just nerds on the web with limited influence in the matter), but I don't think the plate is Vic's problem. Yes, you can say that it's following the 'broken black man' troupe and therefore needs to die, and I feel that. But the plate isn't the real issue, DC's view on Vic is. They see Cyborg as ensemble only, worse; Titans-ensemble only. They're not interested in his potential, they see that as misplaced effort because he's 'just' a Titans-aligned team player. They see Raven, Beast Boy, and Starfire (among others) the same way. Change that and all the rest works itself out. Remove the plate without doing anything else, and you'll still have the exact same Cyborg, only no longer recognizable as Cyborg.

If the argument is that Vic would be a bigger deal if he were pretty, it's disproven by the fact that he's a bigger deal than all the non-legacy PoC's at DC who *are* pretty. By this logic, Vixen should be the biggest PoC at DC. That said, I do absolutely support updating his look; the plate isn't a problem but the plate looking like it came out of 1985 is.

We can compare Vic to the big name Leaguers, and Vic certainly pales in comparison to them. And it's probably easy to blame the plate on that, with all the perfect white people around him. But it's not the plate, it's the fact that those perfect white people are twice as old as him, global icons with some of the most well known stories in modern (nerd) fiction, and decades of high-caliber talent that built rich, compelling mythologies. The plate doesn't make Vic less, his lack of history and development does. You don't fix that by making him pretty, you fix that by giving him history and development.

I fell like the bigger reason was because he was in Superfriends which had no other black characters to use and for whatever reason they seem scared to use Vixen. I'd also argue I see more people say Static is DC's most popular Black character.

[thefinalguy]

To answer the question of this thread... Young Justice and Doom Patrol did a good job of making him look like a cyborg.

George Perez Vic wasn't too bad.

[skyvolt2000]

I fell like the bigger reason was because he was in Superfriends which had no other black characters to use and for whatever reason they seem scared to use Vixen. I'd also argue I see more people say Static is DC's most popular Black character.

Static is NOT owned by DC. Static is owned by Milestone and that OPENS a bigger can of worms.

Lets take the first Milestone run 1993-1997.
Steel and John Stewart had their books when Milestone started. Steel lasted till 2001.

Black Lighting got an ill-fated run that what would be a trend with New 52 Static and Green Lantern Mosaic-editorial antics.
Amazing Man 3 came around at that time.
Cyborg was going through his blown up and Gold body phase.
Hotspot was introduced and then killed in Teen Titans.
Nubia had a cameo appearance.
Blindside (I think that is his name) first black Jewish hero in Relative Heroes.
Perry White got his black son Keith Roberts (who has not been seen in now 23 years).
Huntress's foster black son vanished.
Shilo Norman stopped being Mr Miracle 2.


DC pretty much let Milestone be the source for black characters despite NOT owning them. Pretty much excluding Steel- DC black character did very little during that Milestone run.
Which is why we are having issues now.
DC did not capitalize on what Milestone was doing. You had Static outselling Animal Man and Swamp Thing and he was by admission of McDuffie one of lower selling books.

DC didn't give shots to black characters and that falls on not fans but EDITORIAL.
We saw shots given to the likes of Gunfire, Anima, Black Condor and Pack Ratz (yes I bought some of those). Even Body Doubles got a mini. Yall don't remember them??? Dan Abnett · Andy Lanning · Joe Phillips creations that haven't been seen in 20+ years.


So here we are 30+ years later and even being on 2011 Justice League Team-it still took time to get him an ongoing??
I would have gave him one before Mr Terrific when New 52 started. So I could at least BRAG that my A list team-all members had an ongoing. Instead Marvel got that right with Falcon's team in 2015 and did it more than once since.

[skyvolt2000]

To answer the question of this thread... Young Justice and Doom Patrol did a good job of making him look like a cyborg.

George Perez Vic wasn't too bad.

With those looks, you had something else come with it-development.

Look at Teen Titans Go-the writing on those shows MAKE You look beyond Cyborg's looks.

We have seen YJ Cyborg with more skin than the comic one.

[The Darknight Detective]

I fell like the bigger reason was because he was in Superfriends which had no other black characters to use and for whatever reason they seem scared to use Vixen. I'd also argue I see more people say Static is DC's most popular Black character.

They used Vic because the Teen Titans were DC's biggest-selling comic book at the time.

[Customizer]

Often Cyborg enthusiasts cite writer David Walkers 2015 series when referring to character evolution , growth and the ability of the character to alter his appearance at will. I often find myself doing this as well (credit to Walker. He left an impression as a writer) despite there being other canonical source material . I've seen Priest run cited as well.

Oddly enough i don't see writer Semper Jr's 2016 run on the title used as evidence often (again...guilty of that myself). It's as though many of us saw what Walker (and to a lesser extent Priest) did and completely over look that Semper Jr continued / re established this power set in his 2016 run following David's work.

So where does that leave writer Morgan Hampton and the current Cyborg title?


Can someone clarify what is going on in these attached images for me?

Mid transformation.jpg

Lecture transformation.jpg

Walking mid transformation.jpg




It clearly looks like Cyborg is in mid transformation i.e. Cyborg is altering his appearance ("going incognito") prior to attending a University lecture on genetics, nanotechnology and robotics.
By the time Cyborg is seated in the auditorium he has no visible signs of his previously worn armor anywhere on his body.
Cyborg leaves the building in civilian clothing following the lecture and attends a concert still fully unarmored and blending in with the crowd.
He then alters his appearance back into his armored form as he runs from the crowd onto the stage (the image shows the intermediate form of his arm as it morphs from "flesh" to armor).

How is he able to accomplish this?

[Alphaxman]

I just want Vic to be powerful, confident, and competent. I want him to be in the upper echelon on tech heroes. He should have all of his standard weaponry, including the Boom Tube. The White sound emitter should always be his go-to offensive weapon of choice. Just like in the Snyder-cut, Vic should be a techno-path, which should take away the need for Oracle in Titan business. Leave her for the Bat-family.

I want him to be more man (60% of his body) than machine. Maybe have his left arm up to his midarm be cybernetic, as well as both legs knees downward. His right hand would have cybernetic inlays, but it would still have flesh. His spine, or possibly his entire skeletal system, be reenforced by super-dense metal. He should still have most, if not all of his organs, but he should have a power core within him, similarly to Tony's Arc Reactor (a Motherbox?). Only half of his skull would be metallic.

Now for the controversial part: the half-face plate. It's part of his established look, so he should keep it. Maybe it could only be seen while he's in battle mode. So, while he is in his civilian guise, either it could be covered by artificial flesh or a holographic illusion. Keep the red eye, though.

[Agent Z]

We got how many versions of Spider-Man and Batman in costumes they never wore in comics? I see a BUNCH of them collecting dust on toy isles for Batman including the ones from Todd McFarlane.

We have a Smallville figure of Cyborg without the face plate.

We have 4 Static figures. Not one is in his Young Justice outfit or his current one.

We have had Black Lightning in an outfit in stores in the Total Justice Line. Mind you we were still almost 10 years away from him being seen in tv or movies and the one comic that he had with the outfit would NOT see a trade for another 15. Huntress and Kyle were in that line-neither was on tv or in movies yet those toys were on the shelf.

The Wallace West figures who DOESN'T look like Keiynan Lonsdale- had NO selling.

Where is the Batman Car show Duke Thomas figure at??? Instead of the 3 that are out now including his current outfit that was a figure 3 years before Wayne Family Adventures came out?

And we got an entire line of Star Trek The Next Generation figures in outfits they NEVER wore on tv or in movies. See Star Trek Generation movie figures. The cast wore Deep Space 9 uniforms in the movie. We never saw the cast as cadets-yet those figures exist.

Same with TMNT. We never saw TMNT on Star Trek and don't think they won't toss out the human versions of them from Power Rangers eventually.

We get stuff made that doesn't match the tv or movies all the time.

Yet it still at times sells.

So how much did that Smallville figure sell?

[Agent Z]

I just want Vic to be powerful, confident, and competent. I want him to be in the upper echelon on tech heroes. He should have all of his standard weaponry, including the Boom Tube. The White sound emitter should always be his go-to offensive weapon of choice. Just like in the Snyder-cut, Vic should be a techno-path, which should take away the need for Oracle in Titan business. Leave her for the Bat-family.

I want him to be more man (60% of his body) than machine. Maybe have his left arm up to his midarm be cybernetic, as well as both legs knees downward. His right hand would have cybernetic inlays, but it would still have flesh. His spine, or possibly his entire skeletal system, be reenforced by super-dense metal. He should still have most, if not all of his organs, but he should have a power core within him, similarly to Tony's Arc Reactor (a Motherbox?). Only half of his skull would be metallic.

Now for the controversial part: the half-face plate. It's part of his established look, so he should keep it. Maybe it could only be seen while he's in battle mode. So, while he is in his civilian guise, either it could be covered by artificial flesh or a holographic illusion. Keep the red eye, though.

I'd change the red eye to blue.

On another note, I'd drop the motherbox entirely. Humans in the DCU are more than capable of creating powerful technology on their own.

[Midnight_v]

I'd change the red eye to blue.

On another note, I'd drop the motherbox entirely. Humans in the DCU are more than capable of creating powerful technology on their own.

God no.

The motherbox boom tube thing gives him much more relevance and use since the 4th Worlders (i.e. Darkseid) being a need-to-use property means he will always have a spot in the bigger
picture. Unlike if it something made by idc star labs or my dad made him in a basement for example

[Alphaxman]

I'd change the red eye to blue.

On another note, I'd drop the motherbox entirely. Humans in the DCU are more than capable of creating powerful technology on their own.

I disagree on the Motherbox. Having New Genesis tech is a huge advantage for him. That would put him above most other tech based heroes and villains. And as for the red eye, I just think it is more striking than a glowing blue one. Just look at Superman when he's pissed off. Glowing red eyes are intimidating. Even if blue is my favorite color.

[Agent Z]

God no.

The motherbox boom tube thing gives him much more relevance and use since the 4th Worlders (i.e. Darkseid) being a need-to-use property means he will always have a spot in the bigger
picture. Unlike if it something made by idc star labs or my dad made him in a basement for example

The Fourth World is a niche property that serves as fodder to other major properties, Superman and Justice League more often than not. Victor didn't need them to be popular as evidenced by how well received his Teen Titans and, to a lesser extent, Smallville incarnations were.

You only need to look at how irrelevant Victor has been to the so-called big picture ever since he got a mother box.