Thread:N8THGR852/@comment-28096636-20180303214225/@comment-27892537-20180304191232

+ Robin/Nightwing (Dick Grayson): While I said this list may not be "in order" yet, it's hard to argue that Dick may be number one. He technically doesn't have the longest tenure as a Titan among their many members, but he does have the longest tenure as their leader, through multiple incarnations of the team. He is a founding member, and he is the one who typically keeps the team together throughout its rough patches. All other Titans respect him, and he may be the only one I can say this about. Even if he is not an active member of a team of Titans, if he steps in, he typically exudes leadership and takes the command of the situation, but he does not do so authoritatively. He is kind in his approach and others respond. He has also other Titans, like Rose Wilson. Of the non-powered Titans, he is one of the most capable, and he loves the team he founded more than almost anybody.

+ Wonder Girl/Troia/Darkstar/Donna Troy: Yes, Donna is known for her many complicated origin stories (although, they can easily be understood if read firsthand, from my experience; others may understand with greater or less difficulty). She is known for her many identities, too, as well as their accompanying power/equipment sets. Her original Wonder Girl self had a distinctive; her first Troia identiy had one; her Darkstar identity had one; her second Troia identity had one (one different from her first); and her Donna Troy public identity had a distinct one. Still, what she should be known for is having the longest tenure with the Titans. There have been times when Dick took a leave of absence, yet Donna stayed on. After a few times of Dick and Donna doing this, Donna has a decent lead on Dick in terms of issues with the team. She was also second-in-command, so if Dick left, she was in charge. And she led the team herself a few times. As a Titan, she was the responsible and levelheaded one. She often played den-mother, and she calmed arguments and kept things civil. While Dick loves the group and what it represents more than most Titans, Donna cares about each Titan as an individual more than most Titans (not to say Dick doesn't love his teammates; he does; this is just Donna's overt role as den-mother). She gets less recognition from the general public for not being in the animated series, but her comic versions have been very significant in the Titans universe.

Starfire (Koriand'r / Kory/Kori Anders): While I am sure you may have expected me to continue with the original five, I am trying to put this as much "in order" as I can while making this list, even if it won't actually be what I ultimately call "in order." Anyhow, my point is that some members of the New Teen Titans play an even larger role in the Titans mythos than some of the founders. Starfire was a character fans immediately were drawn toward. While they may have come for her looks and (lack of) clothes, they stayed for her character. Starfire is burning passion personified, in multiple ways. She is both the very sweet and loving friend as well as the raging warrior who has to hold back her violent tendencies. I can tell she is important to the Titan universe from an editorial perspective, too, given that when the Titans needed a representative on a poster or advertisement for an upcoming DC-wide event, Starfire was the one most used (although Raven probably makes a close second). She had a long tenure with the New Teen Titans and New Titans, as well as the two Titans teams and the third Teen Titans title. In TTv3 (Teen Titans Vol 3), she was on the initial roster as a mentor for the younger members, the "next generation" members. She left before too long to join the Outsiders with Dick and Roy, but she served her purpose as a Titans-builder well.

+ Beast Boy/Changeling: Gar Logan is one of the largest personalities of the Titans. He is one of the group's "faces." He has experienced some of the most tragedy amongst the Titans, and he spends most of his time making jokes as a defense mechanism/consequence. He keeps the team lively. Although, he's not all jokes and games. He has serious sides, too, making him three-dimensional much of the time. Much of his modern popularity stems from his role in the animated series, but that's fine. He has been a member of Titans West, New Teen Titans, New Titans, Teen Titans, Titans L.A., and the Titans. He is one of those ever-present members of the group. In New Earth, because he joined at a very young age (15 years old at the start of New Teen Titans), he has been able to slowly age up. By the end of New Earth, he had reaches the first couple years of his 20s, but he still had a deeply rooted place on the Teen Titans team. In PE, he seems to have been aged down (I wish they'd give us a specific age for many of these characters), but he still remains. In PE, he is the only one to have been a member of all three incarnations of the Teen Titans team. He'll probably be in many incarnations to come.

+ Raven: Raven in some ways has a similar role in the group as Beast Boy, and the two are often placed on the team at the same time, whichever incarnation of the team they are in. She started off at Dick and company's age at the beginning of NTT, but after she died and was resurrected, her resurrected body was younger, and she was a teenager yet again. This allowed her to more rationally stay on the Teen Titans in Vol 3. She is well-known as a Titan, and she would probably be one of the first five names listed if you asked a general DC Comics fan to list five Titans. She has had many personality and power set alterations over the years, but fans seem to love her however she acts and whatever she can do.

+ Cyborg (Victor Stone): Vic has always been a character deeply rooted in ties with the Titans. Gaining fame as a member of the New Teen Titans, he stayed on the team for a long time. His 180 IQ and street smarts gave him the smarts to help the Titans out of many jams. He tries his best to stay humble and remember his roots. When he inherited a fortune, he still chose to live in a lackluster apartment on the lesser-end side of town so that he would never forget who he was fighting for. He has gone through many changes. He has had his original self and its functions; his Russian-upgraded self and its functions; his Cyberion self; his Omegadrome self; and his returned-to-Cyborg/pre-Flashpoint self. That's just in New Earth. In Prime Earth, he has had even more "models." Anyhow, much of his connection to the Titans is becoming lost in current continuity, given that his PE version was founding in being a JL member rather than a Titan member. It has recently been revealed that he had a brief Titan connection in PE, but we know little of it. Still, for all the time he spent as a Titan in NE, he needs to be put in a high spot. When he was Cyberion Technis and went a little crazy in his loneliness, he sought out all of the Titans (JLA/Titans: Technis Imperative) because he saw the Titans as his family. He loves the Titans, and we Titans fans love him.

+ Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow (Roy Harper): A founding member of the original crew, Roy is close to his fellow founders. He had short stints on the New Teen Titans as Speedy before adopting the Arsenal identity for the first time and taking leadership of the New Titans. When his team disbanded, he became a sometimes-member of the Teen Titans team led by Atom. When that team disbanded and the Titans formed, he stayed on as a primary member for the duration of the title. He then went on to lead the Outsiders team for a while. He left and became Red Arrow, joining the JLA, but when the Titans regrouped, he joined the team again as Red Arrow. In PE, Roy has struggled as a hero but has now found his place with the Titans. It was his connection with the Titans that helped him get clean. He owes them much. Roy has gone through the most uniform changes among the Titans. He has had (1) his original NE Speedy uniform; (2) his first Arsenal uniform, the purple Daytech one; (3) his yellow Arsenal uniform; (4) his first red Arsenal uniform, received from Haze; (5) his modified red Arsenal uniform, made with inspiration of his Native American origins; (6) his Outsiders Arsenal uniform; (7) his Red Arrow uniform; (8) his Arsenal uniform once he got the mechanical arm; (9) his PE Speedy uniform; (10) his Arsenal uniform from RHatO; and (11) his current Arsenal uniform in Titans. He was a Titan using all but two of these uniforms.

+ Kid Flash/Flash (Wally West): Wally has a considerable tenure with the Titans. He was with all of the original incarnation, and he was a founding member of the New Teen Titans. He stayed on the New Teen Titans for 40 issues before leaving. He took on the Flash identity and began to make a name for himself as a solo hero rather than simply as a team-character. The reason he is a little lower on this list at the moment is because he began to become identified as a solo hero and as a Justice League member. Since becoming Flash, he spent more time as a JL member than as a Titan. Because he is associated less with the Titans than he probably should be, I put him lower on the list. Still, he was a member of the New Teen Titans as Flash as well as Kid Flash, and he was on the Titans (all incarnations). In PE, his role with the Titans has increased. He is now almost entirely known as a Titans member, which is a plot point in current comics as he is learning to have a life outside of the group. Nevertheless, as a member, he serves as the heart of the group. And he and Dick are best friends who go to great lengths for each other.

+ Aqualad/Tempest (Garth): Garth is important as a founding member of the group. He has had a brief stint with the New Teen Titans as Aqualad and has helped out as an ally more times than that. Editorially, part of why he wasn't kept on the team was because he had limited abilities and had a weakness in that he needed to be near water. Once he became Tempest, Garth became a Titan more actively, given his greater abilities. In PE, Garth seems to be possibly even more capable, which coincides with his greater role as a Titan. I expect him to serve as a Titan for a while to come.

+ Robin/Red Robin (Tim Drake): From 2003-onward (or at least to 2016), Tim has had a large role with the Teen Titans. He has had a long tenure with the "next generation" of Titans, predominantly as leader. In some ways, he is the "new Dick," but he is also his own character.

+ Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark): Cassie is in the same 2003-2016 situation as Tim. She has led the group at times and pushed the team to great heights.

+ Superboy (Kon-El / Conner Kent): Again, he is in the same boat as Tim and Cassie, being a Titan on and off (but mostly on) since 2003.

+ Impulse/Kid Flash (Bart Allen): Bart started his career as a Titan as Impulse with the New Titans, but that tenure was relatively short. As such, his prominence as a Titan mostly stems from his tenure with the Teen Titans from 2003 onward, pretty much like Tim, Cassie, and Conner. These four are often associated together, and they're often associated together as Titans.

+ Jericho (Joseph Wilson): Joey joined the New Teen Titans when Wally left, and he was a mainstay on the team for over 100 issues. His role as a NTT member is so pronounced that in flashbacks showing the history of the Teen Titans, when they get to the NTT section, there are usually eight members shown: the original seven plus Jericho. He was very close friends to Dick, Donna, Kory, Vic, Gar, and Raven. After he was resurrected, he joined the Teen Titans again in the mid-2000s. By the end of New Earth, Arsenal and Jericho had decided to form the Titans again, but we don't get to see their new team because of Flashpoint. In PE, he does not have the same level of connections to the team, but he has helped them a couple times. I hope he will eventually become a Titan again.

+ Terra (Tara Markov) [I'll do both at once]: While neither Terra was with the Titans for very long, they have had a very large impact on the Titans mythos -- enough to be mentioned. The first Terra is known for being the first character to join the New Teen Titans besides the founding members. She is known for joining and betraying the team during The Judas Contract. The first was legitimately evil, a murderous psychopath. The second Terra, however, was heroic, and I liked her a great deal. The second was a member of the Team Titans, the New Titans, and Titans L.A. I really enjoyed the second Terra's tenure with the teams.

I suppose these would be the "most essential" Titans, but there are other significant ones. When I finish that list of membership by issue count, perhaps that will help you learn about other characters who have significant roles in the Titans (for instance, Damage and Argent have both been Titans for about 75 or so issues, which is a decent amount).