I read I am NOT Startfire. I'm not putting anything in spoiler tags because I don't think anybody here cares about this.
But the biggest takeaway that I have from this book is that it's a clear example of Gen X trying to write for Gen Z. Mariko Tamaki is 46 trying to write a 16-year-old, and while that's not inherently a bad thing, it shows here.
The main plot thread is how the daughter Mandy doesn't want to go to college, and all her classmates and teachers shaming her for it. It kind of makes sense because she goes to a prep school, but it's so bizarre to me because that was a big deal for Gen X, and especially millenials, but Gen Z does not have those same problems. A lot of them don't want to go to college because they saw the last generation get saddled with debt, and Mandy even points out early on that she doesn't want to go to college because she's not that good of a student and she doesn't want to get stuck paying off student loans forever, which is totally reasonable. And that's to say nothing of the kids graduating in this post-Covid world with shaky job prospects. There's a reason why there has been such a big push lately to cancel federal student loan debt, or make community college free, or work for a few years and come back to college later. So this huge push to force her into college feels like something out of the 90s or 2000s, not something I should be reading about in 2021. Obviously kids are still going to college (they're not shutting down any time soon), but people should have been a bit more understanding about her very serious concerns about not wanting to go.
But of course they just handwave it, along with the rest of her bratty and rebellious behavior, as being scared of disappointing her mother because her powers hadn't manifested yet. Spoiler alert: they do later.
Then they throw in Blackfire to fight her for the throne of Tamaran in the third act, which screws up the pacing because she literally does not show up until two thirds of the way into the book. At that point Mandy's powers manifest and and she beats up Blackfire, blah blah blah. I would have thought at that point Mandy would have taken her claim to the throne and that would have been her figuring out her purpose without having to go to college, but Starfire was like, "Nah, yo ass is still going to college.
"
But she gets the Titans to train Mandy and she comes up with some chubby slutty superhero goth costume.
It was also heavily implied that Nightwing was the father. I know a lot of dikk/Kory fans were pissed because Tamaki writes Detective Comics, so they thought she came up with this story as a way to sink that ship.
So, eh. It wasn't as offensive as I thought it was gonna be, and not for the same reasons I thought it would be. It didn't strike me as being overly 'woke' or anything. Obviously there's some body positivity themes, and Mandy is a lesbian who has a crush on the popular girl, and they end up dating, but it doesn't beat you over the head with it. It's just framed as teenagers being different from their parents' expectations. I actually appreciated it a little bit because the popular girlfriend reminded me of Zoe from Ms. Marvel, but I hated Zoe, and the girlfriend here is handled a little bit better. There is a weird comparison they try to make with Mandy being the daughter of a Tamaranian to being the child of immigrants that I don't think worked that great, but whatever.
Honestly the most offensive part of this was the push to make Mandy go to college when she didn't want to.
I better get some daps for reading this shyt.
