Beast Boy: Red X? I thought Robin was Red X!
Red X: Think again.
The Titans attempt to stop a robbery only to find the one causing it’s none other than Red X! It’s revealed that the Red X suit that Robin designed has been stolen by someone new. However, Robin thinks he’s to blame for creating Red X in the first place and is determined to catch him, while he ponders on how clear the line between good and evil really is.
Tropes
- Abandoned Warehouse: The episode begins with the Titans fighting Red X in a nondescript abandoned warehouse.
- Animation Bump: The episode seems to have had an unusually high budget, with fluidly animated fight scenes and loads of new environments. Barely any Speed Stripes to be seen.
- Anti-Villain: Red X's Thrill Seeking endangers the public because of his suit's power source, but doesn't have anything violent planned for it, and even saves the Titans just because.
- Badass in Distress: Chang manages to capture Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy and Starfire and holds them hostage against Robin.
- Big Damn Heroes: Red X pulls an Enemy Mine to rescue the Titans from Chang and even has a brief Bash Brothers moment with Robin.
- Bittersweet Ending: Although Chang has been stopped, Red X has escaped, with no clue as to who he is. Robin is left to ponder over the line between right and wrong.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Dr. Chang says he's sick of working for bad guys, and wants to be one.
- Cast as a Mask: Even though the new Red X isn't Robin, he still has Robin's voice actor, using the same voice.
- The Chessmaster: Dr. Chang plays Robin and Red X like guitar strings.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Robin goes to have his 'chat' with Chang at the observatory, the telescope is covered by a large tarp. It turns out to be vital to his plan.
- Clothes Make the Superman: The Red X suit has enough gadgetry to make anyone who wears it effectively super, which becomes a source of embarrassment for Robin when someone steals it and becomes a formidable threat. That Red X relies on the suit is exploited by Robin at the end: when X makes a predictable move to nab some xenothium for himself, Robin undercuts his efforts by stealing his utility belt, rendering his theft pointless and nullifying the threat he poses.
- Continuity Nod: After the first run in with Red X, the first thing Starfire does is to see if Robin is a hologram. Which she does by repeatedly poking Robin, even after it's proven that he's not.
- Dangerous Device Disposal Debacle: Discussed when Beast Boy figures that Robin is kicking himself for not getting rid of the Red X suit. Robin then explains that the suit's Xenothium power source made it too dangerous to destroy.
- Dirty Coward: Chang reminisces on hiding from the city's residents while operating a giant laser that will destroy most of them.
- Dwindling Party: Chang’s mooks pick off and kidnap the Titans one by one until only Robin is left to fight him.
- Easter Egg: One of the choices for Red X's possible identity is Jason Todd.
- Energy Weapon: Dr. Chang builds a laser cannon powered by Xenothium to disintegrate anything he aims at. Naturally he aims at first an apartment building and then the captured Titans.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: This Red X doesn't know about Starfire's recently-gained laser powers. A few minutes later, Robin confirms that he's not Red X this time.
- For Science!: Dr. Chang, the episode's antagonist.
- Glove Snap: Cyborg produces a rubber glove from out of nowhere and does one of these after Beast Boy suggests checking Robin for batteries in case he’s a robot.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: The episode's theme.Robin: There is good, and there is evil, but the line between them can be almost impossible to find. Does one good deed make him a hero? Am I to blame for all of it because of a single mistake? In the end, all I really know is that the answers don't come easy. It's supposed to be simple...but it's not.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Chang.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: When Chang says he'll "move on to you" to Starfire, he's talking about the Titans in general, but he strokes the side of her tube in a very suggestive way. And threatens to destroy Robin's "pretty friend" later.
- It's All My Fault: Why Robin insists on going after Red X.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Chang plays Robin and X against each other to get them to steal the Xenothium for himself.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Chang.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The rest of the Titans have this reaction when Robin reveals that the Red X suit is powered by Xenothium. That is, except for Beast Boy, who has no clue what they’re talking about.
- Mythology Gag: One of the theories of Red X's identity on Beast Boy's chart is Jason Todd, the second Robin.
- Not Me This Time: Robin tells Starfire to stop checking if he's a hologram; he's really here, and he's not Red X.
- One-Letter Title
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Played for laughs. Aside from Raven, normally Cyborg is not one to take any of Beast Boy's theories seriously, but when Beast Boy points out that Robin could be a robot duplicate so the latter could pose as X again, Cyborg won't refute the possibility after what happened in "Masks". In fact, he was willing to go as far as to donning a rubber glove to check Robin for batteries. note
- Palate Propping: Red X pulls this one on Beast Boy's ape form, jamming a large X-shaped prop into his mouth. After failing to pry it loose by hand, Beast Boy transforms into a hippo and opens his now-larger jaws sufficiently to discard the prop. Then BB realizes he was perched on a high girder when he transformed from ape to hippo...
- Plot Hole: The Titans decide not to pursue investigating Red X's identity further, with Raven summing him up, as she put it, "anyone smart enough to find the suit and dumb enough to take it for a joyride". Likewise, Robin dismisses X's identity as irrelevant, citing that regardless of who's inside the suit, they're his responsibility. However, the Titans are ignoring several critical factors:
- Whoever stole the suit knew the layout of the Tower. They also knew how to get past the Tower's security systems, as they were able to sneak in and steal the suit without so much as triggering an alarm.
- The thief had to have brought heavy equipment with them, as the suit's vault door was ripped completely off the hinges.
- Point being, shouldn't the Titans worried about their security being compromised?
- The Real Remington Steele: While Red X was merely an alias Robin used before, this time, the suit and title have been appropriated by a mysterious thief, making Red X a separate character from Robin.
- Riddle for the Ages: We never find out who Red X is. Robin says it doesn't matter, only that whoever is in the suit is his responsibility.
- Rule of Symbolism: Played for Laughs. Cyborg's Tic-Tac-Toe rant towards Robin when he learns he powered the suit with Xenothium gives a good visual to the audience as to how right he is in his argument.
- Secret Identity Apathy: Once the Titans are sure the new Red X isn't Robin (minus Beast Boy, who's convinced he's a duplicate of Robin through some contrived circumstances), they figure his exact identity is probably someone they don't know and immaterial in any case. (Like other heroes and villains in this show, Red X seems to have taken the identity full-time, so there's not much practical benefit to knowing who he was before.)Raven: Face it, Red X could be anyone. Anyone smart enough to find the suit and dumb enough to take it for a joyride.
- Sequel Episode: To "Masks". At least, in the sense that Red X is back... and isn't Robin...Robin: A madman was threatening the city, and I had to stop him. So I became Red X, a ruthless thief who could get closer to the madman than Robin ever could. But I didn't tell my teammates, and my plan didn't work. I almost lost my life, and my friends. It was the closest I've ever come to crossing the line, and I thought it was in the past. But now, someone else has crossed that line, and it's my job to stop him.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: Why Robin didn't just destroy the Red X suit? Because the Xenothium that powers it is both hard to get rid of and highly explosive.
- Shout-Out: As Red X and Robin team up and leap into the air, a John Woo dove flies across the screen.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Despite the fact that we never find out what he looks like and he can't be much taller than Robin is, Red X fits this to a T.
- Taught by Experience: Last time, Robin created an alibi by himself by using a hologram. After the fight with Red X, Starfire pokes him repeatedly to make sure that Robin is really there. Cyborg and Beast Boy want to go further by making sure that this Robin isn't a robotic double.
- Unobtanium: An element called Xenothium powers the Red X suit. It's very dangerous and unstable. Even respectable superheroes like Robin can't buy it legally.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Once he knows he’s been bested by Robin and has no way of using the Xenothium he stole, Red X throws the vial down and dives off the cliff backwards in a puff of smoke.
- What the Hell, Hero?: See What Were You Thinking? below.
- What Were You Thinking?: Cyborg asks this of Robin when he learns what powers the Red X suit and the Titans themselves wonder this of Red X for taking the suit.Cyborg: Xenothium!? YOU POWERED THAT SUIT WITH XENOTHIUM?!? Are you crazy, man?! That stuff is dangerous! And unstable! Tell me you were not stupid enough to go messing with it!
- You Fight Like a Cow: Red X fights good and he snarks good too.
