I Am Not Starfire / YMMV

Animation Age Ghetto: While the portrayal of teenagers may be off-putting for older fans, it's often overlooked that as a DC Young Adult entry, the graphic novel is aimed towards young teens who casually grew up with Teen Titans (2003) and Teen Titans Go! but don't follow the comics.
Ass Pull:
- Blackfire and her forces kidnap Mandy and Starfire, saying that the two will finally have to challenge Blackfire for the throne and make it seem like they're about to take them into deep space, perhaps even return to Tamaran, forcing Mandy to understand the danger Starfire escaped from in her youth… except for some reason, Blackfire thinks the best way for them to face her challenge is to drop them in the middle of Mandy's school's football game to humiliate her in front of her peers?
- The climax of the book has Blackfire nearly defeat Starfire, which triggers Mandy into suddenly developing her powers. She then defeats Blackfire without so much as breaking a sweat, despite being new to her powers and having much less experience than her mom or aunt. At most, one could say she caught Blackfire off-guard and that Mandy was fueled by the Power of Love and that it was a case of Unskilled, but Strong, but it's still an utterly one-sided fight.
Critical Backlash: Even though this got panned heavily by hardcore comic fans, a lot of the more recent reviews have found the hate for it to be far overblown, stating that while it isn't perfect, it's okay for what it is.
Cliché Storm: A major criticism against the book. If you've read any type of teenage drama and/or protagonist-with-a-superhero-parent story, this one isn't going to be any different for you as it follows a lot of familiar beats to the letter. The only real draw it has going for it is that it's related to Teen Titans.
Designated Hero: One of the biggest problems a decent amount of readers have with the book is the fact that Mandy is a pretty unlikeable protagonist due to her constant Wangsting and being a self-centered Jerkass to people. Neither does she really have much in the way of Character Development, many pointing out she only starts turning around after she gains powers which many feel isn't truly earned and that she only does so because her powers give her self-worth which is not a good message to give to the story's target audience.
Die for Our Ship: Quite a few Nightwing/Starfire shippers despise Mandy, viewing her as a Replacement Scrappy for Nightstar, Nightwing and Starfire's daughter from Kingdom Come, in addition to their ship not being canon here. This is ignoring that Nightwing hasn't always ended up with Starfire in some DC media, not to mention the point of the comic is that Starfire is a single parent raising a seemingly powerless daughter.
Epileptic Trees: While the story doesn't confirm or deny if Nightwing is the father (though it seems to lean on no), many fans do believe it to be the case.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!:
- Some reviews have compared this book to Anya's Ghost which likewise had a moody chubby teenager unsatisfied with her life (both even having sarcastic best friends) and having to overcome her faults over the course of the story.
- Starfire's portrayal has come under fire from her fans, who felt it took too much from her depictions in Teen Titans (2003) and Teen Titans Go! which put an emphasis on her status as an alien who was foreign to Earth culture. Although the comic goes out of the way to make comparisons between her and immigrant parents, Mandy shows little respect for the traits influenced by her mother's customs. In story, she slut-shames her mother for wearing skimpy clothing, implicitly looks down on how she doesn't have a father, mocks her speaking habits and never indicates a change of heart about her views, which some have taken to be a jab at Starfire being a role model for sex-positivity, a character trait that had also been erased in modern DC material aimed towards youth.
Memetic Mutation: "I Am Not ____", "Nope, you are not.", "Dumpsterfire."^Explanation
Older Than They Think:
- Starfire had a daughter with Nightwing named Mar'i Grayson, also known as Nightstar, though she has only appeared briefly in Kingdom Come and its sequel.
- Lesser known is their other love child, Jacob Grayson, who appeared only in Nightwing: The New Order, a timeline where Nightwing became evil and stripped the world of superpowers, resulting in Starfire leaving them. Jacob would discover he had superpowers from his Tamaranean heritage, though didn't know about his mother.
- Most of the Youtubers who have made numerous outraged videos seem to be completely unaware that DC has an entire (and very successful) line of Young Adult graphic novels that take liberties with established characters.
- Long-time comic readers have responded to the personal attacks against the writer and the accusations of self-insertion by pointing out that many veteran comic writers who are big names have also self-inserted into their stories, often with even less subtlety. Notable examples including Geoff Johns, Scott Lobdell, Marv Wolfman, Warren Ellis, etc.
Replacement Scrappy: Mandy is seen as this for Ensemble Dark Horse Nightstar, Starfire's already existing daughter with Nightwing that appeared in Kingdom Come. Not helped that Mandy is a troubled, homely-looking muggle with an unknown dad who is apparently not Nightwing and that Mar'i is idealized by the fandom as a perfect kid-turned-teen-superheroine with the best traits from the both of her parents. Shippers have even gone as far as rewriting the entire premise of the book with Nightstar in Mandy's place and calling it I Am Nightstar.
Tainted by the Preview:
- The graphic novel was announced in fall of 2020 and didn't really get many on board with it. Largely because many couldn't see Mandy as Starfire's daughter and the description for the novel felt like something already seen in other stories.
- On the month the book was set to be released, DC released a trailer to advertise for it. This didn't do it any favors (some criticism even stating adding voice overs to it just made it even worse) and the trailer was quickly downvoted to an insane degree^note shortly after its release.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Not much is done with Blackfire's character or her connection to Starfire and Mandy outside of being a mustache-twirling villainess, enough that any other villain would've sufficed. Even any menace she had to the story is immediately undone when she makes the two fight her in front of Mandy's high school solely to humiliate Mandy.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Although her feelings of inadequacy are understandable, Mandy often acts very entitled, despite her great upbringing and supportive (if a little clueless) mother. Likewise, she's bullied at school, but is shown to be uncooperative and unpleasant to many people, whether they deserve it or not. For example there's a situation mid book regarding Claire taking a picture with the Titans and posting it on social media. The story has showcased that Mandy is already apprehensive about being the daughter to a member of a famous superhero group and indeed the action by Claire was a bit callous (especially when she later reveals two catty friends she hangs out pressured her to post it). But Mandy and Claire's relationship hadn't progressed much by that point that Mandy really explained the situation to her. So her anger and blow up at her in Claire's perspective is indeed confusing for the latter. Yet once all said and done and the two talk again, Claire apologizes for her action... and Mandy doesn't for her response, only that said action "hurt her".
WTH, Costuming Department?: Mandy's superheroine costume is seen as either incredibly ridiculous or just incredibly underwhelming and unremarkable, being a typical goth ensemble with two bracelets and a tiara of Tamaranean origin.

YMMV / I Am Not Starfire

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