Tear Jerker / Teen Titans Go! To the Movies

Spoilers will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

"No one's gonna make a movie about me. I'm just a joke..."

Unlike its parent series (sometimes), this movie has a little more emotion when it comes to its characters, as the below examples demonstrate.

---

• A minor example, but in the teaser trailer, the Titans dressing up as Wonder Woman can be this due to their reasoning:
  Beast Boy: No one wants to see us, fool!
  Raven: Wonder Woman inspires people.
  Starfire: And we... (sadly) do not.
• The Titans sneak into the premiere of Batman Again! and see a couple of previews, each about Batman's sidekick. First movie: Alfred. Second movie: Batmobile. Third movie: Utility Belt. Funny, at first, but what makes it sad is that before the third trailer is properly introduced, Robin climbs up onto the stage to thank everyone for finally giving him a movie. But then, Atom laughs at him, saying, "He thought the movie was about him!" Then nearly every other superhero laughs as well, except for the other Titans, who are visibly saddened for Robin, who then bursts into hysterical tears and runs out of the theater.
• The scene, pictured on the right, with Robin lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling with a genuinely sad look on his face. The dark blue lighting in his bedroom further emphasizes his inner plight.
  • The Lion King-style nightmare that follows is just as sad as well as being Nightmare Fuel, even though it's supposed to be Played for Laughs.
• "My Superhero Movie" can feel like a rather desperate plea for acceptance, and knowing he's singing it to absolutely the wrong person makes it worse.
• Slade destroying the Titans' tower. What makes it sadder is that that's the last we see of it in the movie, implying that it's still destroyed by the end and there's no telling where the Teen Titans could live.
  • Before this, Slade mockingly thanks Robin for helping him finish the movie, used as part of his Evil Plan to mind control the entire world. You will believe that Lego Batman can play the Titans' greatest villain.
    Slade: Thank you, Robin! You were so desperate to be in a movie that you turned your back on everything important to you! Even your own friends!
  • What follows is him blowing up the Tower with him inside. All Robin can do is futilely try to escape as everything burns around him. He even starts doubting himself again, since, as Slade mocked above, he turned his back on everything, including his friends, all because he wanted a movie. Sure, it does have a quick Mood Whiplash because of Robin's baby hands, but this moment is completely and utterly lacking the show's typical style. And even before this, the moment is made worse by showing the rooms on fire. And the last thing shown before the scene below? A picture of all of the Titans together, happy.
    Robin: How could I have been so stupid?! I'm not a hero. I'm a failure with no friends.
  • Worse, for all Robin knows, his friends are dead, and he's steeling himself to face Slade alone, and willing to pay any price to take him down. It's a rare moment when the show is genuinely serious and dramatic and plays the scene completely straight, as does the music score.
  • From the show proper, "Tower Renovation", provided an epilogue to the movie — with the Tower getting destroyed again.
• When Robin agrees to let go of the Titans for causing trouble around the studio to get his own movie (already pretty sad, since they don't care much about having a movie, and just did all of it for him), they all leave heartbroken and choose to go their separate ways.
  Beast Boy: Bro, is you for reals gonna ditch us?!
  Starfire: But Robin...we have done all of this for you!
  Robin: Done all of what? Make me look like a joke?! We have to face it: no one will take us seriously when we're together. Maybe we should just go our separate ways.
  Jade: [as the Titans look on, shocked] It's never easy to tell the truth, Robin. But I am deeply touched by what you've just done here. And you four? It was so nice to meet you. Not really. And I'm sure we'll all work together again in the future. Definitely not.
  Robin: I'm sorry, guys. But it's what we need to do.
  Raven: [as everyone walks away] Fine. Go make your own movie. I'm going home to Dad.
  Beast Boy: Well, [cries] the dumpster it is!
  Cyborg: I guess I'll have to be a pro football star after all...
  Raven: That really doesn't sound that bad.
  [Starfire tearfully looks back at Robin and hugs him.]
  Starfire: Good luck to you, Robin. I hope to one day see your movie. I think it will be very good. [flies out]
  • That last part is a major Gut Punch for sure, considering how infrequently Go! plays their feelings for each other this straight. Even sadder when we learn of Jade/Slade's true plan (read: to mind control the entire world to do his bidding)—Starfire would have been one of the first victims.
  • Robin is signing for three young fans on the studio lot, and the third fan is a child with a drawing of not just him, but the rest of the Teen Titans together, who by that point broke up from their ex-leader. ^note  For some added Reality Subtext, before this movie, while the show has received a lot of backlash for not being the 2003 one, it was in fact very popular with its target demographic: children. The memory of what just happened is enough for him to take pause. And then Jade, smiling throughout, impatiently pushes the child aside to stay on schedule!
• Robin gets mind-controlled — because he just couldn't help but peek at the movie about him, which emphasized how much he wanted to be recognized. Even knowing it was a trap.
  • How does he get mind-controlled? Because of Slade's Mind Manipulation, with him doing a Dark Reprise of "My Superhero Movie".
  • And the rest of the Titans are forced to fight him. This is after they reconciled, by the way.