History Comicbook / RobinSeries

[[redirect:ComicBook/Robin1993]]

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[[caption-width-right:298:Tim Drake as Robin (left) and Red Robin (right)]]

->''"Look, I never wanted this for myself... but I wanted Batman and Robin back together the way they should be. And if Dick won't become Robin again... someone else has to!"''
-->-- '''Tim Drake''', ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' #442

In 1993, after the success of three separate miniseries chronicling Tim Drake's tribulations as the third ComicBook/{{Robin}}, (succeeding [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] and [[ComicBook/RedHood Jason Todd]]), Tim was given his own monthly ongoing series that began in 1993 and ran for more than 15 years, until it ended in early 2009. The series is notable for depicting Tim's personal life with his family and friends, and him balancing a delicate act between his superhero and civilian identities. The first 100 issues of the Robin series were written by Creator/ChuckDixon, which was acclaimed at the time for a high-profile TeenPregnancy arc involving Tim's girlfriend, [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie Brown]] (Spoiler). In 1998, Wizard magazine ranked the series as the best ongoing comic book of the year.

As the series went on, Chuck Dixon left the book and different writers came on-board. The first was Jon Lewis, whose short tenure on the Robin series built a stable relationship between [[OfficialCouple Tim and Stephanie]] and had fondness for writing slightly sci-fi plots, which was jarring in a Batbook that focused more on street-level crime. Next was Bill Willingham, who forcibly retired Tim from being Robin after his dad found out his secret, and killed off Stephanie in the War Games crossover. Adam Beechen took over the series with Robin: One Year Later and had Tim leaving Gotham for a while and temporarily staying in Bludhaven with [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra Cain]]. Dixon then briefly took over the series between issues #170-174 to resurrect Stephanie Brown, but was promptly fired and replaced with Fabian Nicieza, who wrote the last arc in the series before it was cancelled in the wake of "Batman R.I.P." at issue #183.

After a brief hiatus, the ''Robin'' series was [[SequelSeries succeeded by]] ''Red Robin'', written by Chris Yost and depicting Tim Drake's search around the world to find evidence that Bruce Wayne was still alive after having had the mantle of Robin taken from him and subsequently cutting himself off from the rest of the Bat Family. He was approached by Ra's al Ghul's assassins, who were also interested in finding out what happened to Batman. After the resolution of this story, Fabian Nicieza took over as writer with issue #13. The series lasted for 26 issues, being CutShort by the ComicBook/New52 continuity reboot in 2011.

Subsequent series starring the next Robin, Damian Wayne – ''ComicBook/RobinSonOfBatman'' and ''ComicBook/Robin2021'' – have their own pages.
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!!The ''Robin'' series provides examples of:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: ''Robin'' volume 1 (1991)]]
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%% [[caption-width-right:350:Tim's first solo outing]]
->''"Do you ever get tired? Do you ever wonder if what we do makes a difference?"''
-->--'''Tim Drake'''

This five issue mini-series marks the first time any iteration of Robin has headlined in his own title, and was very successful spawning two more mini-series focused on Tim and an eventual ongoing title.\\
\\
Tim sets out for Paris to train under the Rahul Lama, the last master of an ancient holistic Tibetan martial art that incorporates healing with self defense. While there he runs into a defected DEA on a personal mission of revenge and gets distracted from his training by a plot by the disgraced British nobleman and ganglord Edmund Dorrance, who goes by King Snake and is looking to unleash a biological weapon on Hong Kong. ComicBook/LadyShiva throws herself into the mix when Tim joins forces with the former DEA agent, Clyde Rawlins, and inserts herself into Tim's time in France as Tim's new trainer once Tim is forced to help Clyde escape King Snake's Ghost Dragons.
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* BlackDudeDiesFirst: African American Clyde Rawlins is the first and only member of the main cast of the story to die.
* DeathSeeker: Clyde Rawlins is being intentionally reckless and doesn't feel he has anything left to live for though he'd like to take out King Snake on his way out. Clyde does find death at Snake's hands but fails to do any real damage to his opponent.
* DestinationDefenestration: Tim kicks King Snake out the window during their final fight.
* EiffelTowerEffect: As seen on the cover of issue one the Eiffel tower is used as shorthand to let the reader know the story is set in Paris.
* EvilBrit: Dorrance hates that he lives past the golden age of British colonialism. It's not so much that he's seem particularly proud to be British, he's just incredibly racist and misogynistic, thinks himself above everyone else and hates that foreign (and his own) governments take issue with his trying to subjugate, torture and kill people.
* EvilMentor: ComicBook/LadyShiva interrupts Tim's training and ends up his new mentor.
* ExecutiveSuiteFight: Ends with two fights in King Snake's executive suite fifty floors above the streets of Hong Kong. In the first Snake pummels Clyde Rawlins to death, and when Tim arrives and sees his ally dead he's able to use a bit of misdirection and kick Snake out the window, where he then leaves him clinging to the ledge with ComicBook/LadyShiva standing over him who is implied to have made him fall to his death, though of course he shows up again later.
* GayParee: Tim travels to Paris to train with the Rahul Lama, and gets to take in some of the sights before being pulled into trying to prevent an international incident.
* IDidntMeanToTurnYouOn: Darkly hilariously depicted between Tim and Lady Shiva. Lady Shiva wakes him up at night for their martial arts training, telling him that she'll bring him to a ''"[[ImaginedInnuendo whole new world]]"''. Tim's response? ''"[[HilarityEnsues Um... I don't think I'm ready for this]]"''. Lady Shiva then nonchalantly replied that they can do that later, after the training.
* OldMaster: Tim's trains under the Rahul Lama, a very old Tibetan refugee living in Paris who was the last living master of an ancient fighting style and whom Tim noticed never seemed to run out of stamina.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: King Snake is a sexist, racist, fascist ganglord.
* ReminiscingAboutYourVictims: Dorrance starts describing in loving detail the way he killed Clyde Rawlins' wife and children while beating him to death, and the last words Rawlins hears in life are Dorrance saying the only thing he regrets about the whole affair is that his blindness means he won't be able to actually watch Rawlins himself die.
* SimpleStaff: After Shiva hijacks Tim's training and asks him to chose a weapon he picks a staff out of the selection of bladed and piercing weapons weapons she offers him due to its potential non-lethal applications. He's also implied to have a little previous martial arts training with a staff.
* SportsDad: Jack Drake wants Tim to play football. Tim ''hates'' football, to the point that he doesn't even like watching it. At one point Tim got out of his dad asking him why he was getting in late by saying he stayed late because of football tryouts, though he never said he tried out ''and'' if his dad knew the first thing about his son he might have though he was taking photos or something. Instead when Jack learns the football coach doesn't remember Tim trying out Jack tears apart Tim's room, destroying Tim's possessions and trying to hack into his computer until he wrecks the back wall of Tim's closet, discovers it was a false wall hiding the Robin suit and summarily goes to Wayne manor to threaten Bruce with a gun.
* StupidJetpackHitler: King Snake has his Ghost Dragons in France to transport a biological plague spreading weapon developed but never deployed by the Nazis to Hong Kong. Interesting choice given that UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan was committing horrific experiments with biological weapons and the best ways to spread disease through a civilian population during the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar[=/=]WWII and their experiments occurred ''much'' closer to Dorrance's power base.
* SufferTheSlings: When the Rahul Lama instructs Tim to chose a weapon to study Tim selects the sling, and later uses one to great effect when coming in to a fight with the Ghost Dragons.
* TrainingFromHell: Deconstructed. Tim got more out of training under the Rahul Lama than under Shiva's brutal tutelage, most of what she taught him was just how to try to think out of the box during a fight to try and avoid getting pulverized.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Robin II: The Joker's Wild!'' (1991-1992)]]
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The second of the Tim Drake focused mini-series preceding his ongoing title.\\
\\
Tim is the sole protector home in Gotham when the Joker breaks out again during a winter storm. As Joker hasn't seen nor heard of Robin since he killed the last one Tim is rather anxious about facing him, but quickly realizes Joker's latest plot is more in his own wheelhouse since Joker has been researching hackers.
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* AmoralAttorney: The Joker's lawyer is presented as more naive than amoral, but the Arkham director feels like his requests are all incredibly dangerous and are all potential escape attempts on the Joker's part and the director is ''right''.
* AsleepInClass: Tim falls asleep in history class and his irritated teach wakes him with a question about the lecture. Ives manages to mime the answer to him behind the teacher's back.
* BadBoss: Joker of course. He gives his henchmen some leeway, for Joker anyway, but is happy to attack them for intterupting him or stepping out of line too many times even if that line is somewhat arbitrary.
* BookSafe: Joker's "grandmother" brings along a hollowed out Bible designed to eject Joker gas and containing a breathing mask for his boss.
* {{Brainwashed}}: Joker drugs Dr. Pellinger into a stupor that makes him easy to control, thereby getting himself his own hacker.
* CardboardPrison: Arkham security once more proves to be a joke, with the Joker being freed by his visiting "mother", a man is a shoddy disguise, who poisons the facility with Joker Gas. It's especially amusing since the director was trying so hard to finally avert this:
-->''The Joker is the most dangerous inmate we have in here. The list of directors who have lost this office because of his escapes is '''legion'''.''
* CharacterTiers: Discussed InUniverse briefly by Ives, Hudson and Hudman before the conversation gets derailed by Tim bailing on their plans to play ''Wizards and Warriors'' that evening.
* ColorCodedSecretIdentity:
** Tim wears an open red button-up shirt one day, and a red sweater the next at school reflecting the red upper torso portion of his Robin suit.
** Tim is seen wrapped in a plush green robe once he's out of costume and warming up in the manor, to reflect the green pants, undershirt, mask and gloves of his costume.
* ConvenientComa: Tim visits his father and talks to him, but notes he's never been able to be candid with his father before Jack ended up in a coma and he doesn't expect he'll ever be able to again if his father wakes up. He also notes his father is a lot easier to visit since he's in the city in a hospital room instead of flitting all over the planet and avoiding Gotham, and his son, like the plague. Despite these things Tim really does hope Jack recovers.
* CutTheJuice: When Tim realizes Pellinger is trying to hack into the Batcomputer while Tim was trying to hack Joker's system Tim cuts the power without hesitation, even if he isn't happy about it.
* DepravedDentist: Issue 2 takes full advantage of the imagery, with the cover depicting Joker as a crazed grinning dentist with Dr. Pellinger strapped into the chair, the theme has a basis in the story itself but the dental tools are cover only.
* ElectricJoybuzzer: Joker takes down Mr. Freeze, who had tried to take over Joker's henchmen while Joker was locked up, with a handheld buzzer to the palm.
* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: The guards let through the Joker's "mother" after being tasked with making sure she's not smuggling anything but do little more than run "her" through a metal detector and don't check the Bible she's got nor notice that she's a man in IncrediblyConspicuousDrag.
* IncrediblyConspicuousDrag: One of the Joker's henchmen in fairly poor disguise as his grandmother is able to get into Arkham to visit "her grandson".
* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: Discussed since Hudson feels like Tim never hangs out with them and is pissed that he's left their gathering early. Ives defends Tim strongly, and Hudman acts as mediator for the group but he also sides with Tim.
* JerkJock: Karl, who thinks Tim should hang out with a "better" crowd and makes fun of Ives.
* TheNicknamer: Ives usually just uses last names but he also likes to use "Hudster", seemingly because of it's vague meaning and the possibility that he could be talking about either Hudman or Hudson, or both. Good luck getting him to clarify especially since the two in question seem to always know who he's talking to or about and don't ask him to stop. He also calls Tim "Master Tim" on occasion, referring to Tim's much more affluent background than that of the other kids at Gotham Heights.
* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: Joker's current physiologist feels this way about the criminal, which infuriates the director who knows better.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The Joker stops smiling and telling jokes when he first sees Tim. He's ''furious'' that there's a Robin running about when he went to all the trouble to beat the last one half to death and then blow him up for good measure, even though it wasn't something he planned in advance and was just "lucky" happenstance.
-->''You... I killed you... [[SuddenlyShouting I KILLED YOU!]] '''''[[SuddenlyShouting I KILLED YOU!]]''''' You're dead! DEAD! DEAD! [[ThinkingOutLoud Well, just have to kill him again, that's all. Kill the little birdie. Yes, yes]].''
* OhCrap: Robin assures Commissioner Gordon he can handle whatever situation there is, without Batman. Then Gordon reveals that the Joker is on the loose. Oooooooohhhh... yikes.
* OutsideRide: Tim leaps atop the truck Joker's just used to kidnap computer whiz Osgood Pellinger, he only stays on for a couple of blocks since Joker has his henchmen start shooting at him and then has a freakout and knocks Tim to the curb and speeds away when he sees it's Robin.
* ProducePelting: Fans at the Gotham Giants football game start throwing their drinks and food at the Jumbotron when Joker has Pellinger hack in so he can disrupt the game while delivering his demands to the city via the thing.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Defied with prejudice. Also serves as a CallBack to some encouragement Bruce gave Tim at the start of ''Robin Volume I''.
-->'''Gordon:''' If Batman were here...\\
'''Robin:''' He's not here. You know, he didn't pick my name out of a HAT for this job!
* SpeakOfTheDevil: Bruce has been out of town for the whole storyline and just as Alfred reassures Tim that he dealt with everything well and B will be proud of him Bruce slips in through the door as though summoned by his name, startling them both.
* SurroundedByIdiots: The director at Arkham is only too aware that most people working there and the lawyers he has to put up with are all hazards to keeping his prisoners in the asylum. It probably doesn't help that competent people are ''not'' lining up to work at Arkham given its track record.
* SoccerHatingAmericans: Alfred gives the inverse, Gridiron Hating Brits, some lip service when Tim walks into the kitchen and notices Alfred is watching American Football while he works. In a moment of sarcasm blindness Tim goes to change the channel since Tim's personally not fond of football but Alfred stops him since he does actually like watching the game.
* ToiletHumour: Joker ends up falling into a sewage treatment tank when Tim defeats him, but Tim's too tired to do more than think his predecessors probably would have been able to come up with a quip. Later at Arkham Riddler takes up the slack and makes a joke about how much Joker stinks that pisses Joker off and gets a laugh out of Two-Face to end the series with.
* TokenRichStudent: Tim's family is much better off than his friends and classmates and had previously only attended boarding schools at his father's insistence. Ives points out how odd it is for him to be attending a public school in Gotham after seeing what Tim has for lunch, though he's grinning the whole time because he knows Tim is only getting to go to public school because he's under the care of Bruce Wayne at the moment.
-->''"What the heck are you doing at Gotham Heights High, Master Tim? Your butler sends you to school with a bag lunch that ain't exactly a PB and J sandwich. The clothes you have on cost more than my whole closet. So why aren't you packed away to one of those fancy boarding schools like the rest of the rich brats."''
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Robin III: Cry of the Huntress'' (1992-1993)]]
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->''"I've gotten myself in deeper with every lie I've told. I know having a secret identity is kind of a lie in itself, but I didn't expect it to get this complicated."''
-->--'''Tim Drake'''

While at Ives' birthday dinner Tim meets a girl his age named Ariana Dzerchenko whose father is threatened by the Hammer, a gang that's made up of criminals from the old Soviet Bloc. After his father forbids Tim from leaving the house and Bruce tells him to take a break as Robin to allay suspicions that have arisen due to bruising Tim instead disobeys them both because he has a hunch the Hammer are going to give the Dzerchenkos more trouble. Not only is Tim proven right but Mr. Dzerchenko is murdered and Ariana kidnapped by the Hammer later that very night despite Tim's attempts to save them. \\
\\
While following the kidnappers Tim meets Huntress and the two agree to team up to prevent the Hammer's current plot. They both choose not to involve Batman who is unaware of the scope of what's been brewing across Little Odessa and Old Town and would disapprove of their actions since Batman doesn't care for Huntress' brutal methods and lack of compassion and Tim is only involved because he's disobeying Bruce's orders since Bruce brushed off Tim's concerns.
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* AbuseMistake: School councilor Earlene Hollingsworth thinks Bruce is abusing Tim due to the bruises Tim has been showing up to school with. It's interesting that the timing doesn't make her suspect Jack since Jack just got stuck at home to the point of having to actually buy a house in Gotham and stuck in a wheelchair when he used to avoid Gotham (and his son) like the plague but she seems to like Jack.
* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Two of Sebastian Ives' many cousins are a pair of identical twin girls. Since they're both jovial with similar personalities and their parents give them matching outfits and keep their hair cut the same way they're exceptionally difficult to tell apart.
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Ives is mortified that his parents force him to wear a party hat and pose for pictures at his birthday party, which they also insisted be at a restaurant in Little Odessa. Tim thinks most of Ives grumpiness is a front though and Ives is mostly good natured about the whole things outside of his frequent complaints about how loud his family is.
* AsleepInClass: Tim falls asleep during study hour in the library and gets a lecture from the librarian for misusing his time there.
* BadLiar: While Tim would eventually train himself out of it he's still a terrible liar at this point which works against him when trying to convince Ms. Hollingsworth that Bruce has never and would never hurt him and tries to pin his injuries on a vague upperclassman. His natural strength was always keeping secrets and keeping quiet, he ends up suspiciously looking to the side and gnawing on his lip when he tells her his fib.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: [=KGBeast=]'s wrist mounted weapon has a retractable blade and a gun in it.
* BloodFromTheMouth: After his one man fight against the Ghost Dragons starts going downhill once Lynx kicks him in the face Tim has blood dribbling from his mouth.
* CallBack: [=KGBeast=] recognizes Robin and has an existing beef with him even though Tim's never met him. Tim realizes immediately that the Robin [=KGBeast=] is so eager to kill is actually Jason Todd, and considering Tim is outclassed and disobeying Batman's orders and very likely to get himself killed at the time he finds it extra unsettling.
* DamselInDistress: Ariana Dzerchenko gets kidnapped and Tim works with Huntress to save her.
* DysfunctionalFamily: Ives complains about his large and embarrassingly loud family as if they're a mess but Tim thinks they're nice and also thinks Ives is mostly exaggerating for storytelling purposes.
* FriendlyLocalChinatown: Tim manages to follow [=KGBeast=] to Gate Street when trying to prevent the Russians from kidnapping Ariana. As the local gang is run by one of Tim's first recurring villains they're of course happy to greet him and try to put him six feet under.
* ForgottenBirthday: When Ives rather forcibly invites Tim along for his family birthday dinner Tim asks whose birthday it's for, starting Tim's long tradition of not keeping track of anyone's birthday including his own. Ives implies this is not the first time Tim has done this to him so apparently Tim has always sucked at birthdays.
* LeotardOfPower: Poor ComicBook/{{Huntress}} is in her leotard with a plunging cleavage cutout phase, which really sticks out since it's snowy and windy for a large chunk of the tale.
* TheMafiya: The main villains of the piece. Mr. Dzerchenko was mixed up with them before moving to the US and their attempts to get him to come back as a forger are what set the plot in motion.
* OutsideRide: Tim leaps on top of the Hammers' car and splatters the windshield with paint to force them to stop when they're abducting Ariana.
* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Ariana is claimed to have been murdered, which makes Tim go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge since he feels he should have prevented her from being kidnapped in the first place. During said rampage he discovers and saves the still living and captive Ariana.
* SaiGuy: Lynx's right hand man is armed with a pair of sai, which he ends up dropping when Tim breaks his nose.
* SecretKeeper: Tim ends up a secret keeper for Huntress's secret id after he effortlessly figures out she's Helena Bertinelli to her consternation.
* SelectiveGravity: Whatever on earth is happening with ComicBook/{{Huntress}}'s cape the top three feet or so of it are not subject to the laws of gravity, instead rising dramatically from her shoulders to sort of hover behind her head.
* ShameIfSomethingHappened: The Hammer sends a group to threaten Ariana to force her dad to comply, but things go sideways and they end up murdering Mr. Dzerchenko instead.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Huntress assumes Tim is trying to save his girlfriend despite his protests. Tim's not lying, he only met Ariana because he wanted to try and help after seeing her father get shaken down by The Hammer, which happened earlier on in the same night she ended up abducted. He barely knows her name.
* SuperWindowJump: Batman and Robin swing through a window to take down the White Wolves, a Neo-Nazi biker gang, on page three.
* TemptingFate: Tim thinks to himself that things can't get any worse and is immediately set upon by the Ghost Dragons. He realizes that he shouldn't have even let the thought cross his mind as soon as Lynx makes her presence known since he already knows things can ''always'' get worse.
* TermsOfEndangerment: Lynx calls Tim "Bird Boy".
* ThoughtCaption: Tim narrates the piece through teal green tinted thought captions.
* TrickArrow: Huntress has listening devices modified into trick arrows so she can shoot them to attach to buildings where meetings she wants to listen in on are taking place.
* VehicularAssault: After Robin forces him to ditch the car he arrived in [=KGBeast=] hijacks a passing city bus and tries to drive over Tim with it. While Tim doges the criminals do get away with their hostage.
* VillainByDefault: Just to make it clear in a very short timespan that the White Wolves are jerks the narration states they're Neo-Nazis within the few pages the gang exists on before they get killed to the last man by a rival faction.
* WreckedWeapon: [=KGBeast=] breaks Tim's staff in half with a wrist mounted blade pretty early on in the story.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Robin'' volume 2 (1993-2009)]]
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[[caption-width-right:300:Spoiler & Robin]]

* AbortedArc: It was heavily implied at one point that Alfred was falling for Tim's stepmother, Dana. Then Blüdhaven blew up and Dana [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome was never seen again.]]
* AbuseMistake: When Tim’s friend Ives is working as the mascot at a SuckECheeses, he comes to school so bruised that Tim and their friend Callie suspect he is being abused.
* AcademyOfAdventure: Brentwood Academy. Lampshaded by Tim himself when he comments on the weirdness of the school.
* AfterActionHealingDrama: An entire issue of the ''Batman: Contagion'' storyline was dedicated to Tim being treated for the Clench in the Batcave's medbay following a riot during which he was infected. Dick tries and fails to get Tim to call his father before he looses lucidity and Alfred considered himself to be treating the boy on his deathbed as there was no known cure and very few known survivors.
* AgeAppropriateAngst: The Robin series does very well at handling Tim's teenage love troubles and his own methods of coping with his mother's death, the crippling of his father, and subsequent death of said father in a way an average 15-year-old boy would do in those situations (the Robin thing not withstanding).
* AsleepInClass: Tim frequently falls asleep in class since he's not getting much sleep at night.
* AttemptedRape: Both Ariana and Stephanie had a near-rape experience before, and both confessed it to Tim. It's no wonder that Tim has the 'LetsWaitAwhile' mentality in the first place...
* AutopsySnackTime: While a coroner at the Kane County morgue is worrying about the evidently misplaced body of Johnny Warren one of his superiors is casually eating lunch while prepping a cadaver. Johnny wasn't actually misplaced, he just got up and left.
* BatmanGambit: Inherited from [[TropeNamer the man]] himself, Tim does this once to Comicbook/LadyShiva in the last arc of the Robin series. He drugs her food before their fight and wins easily against her.
* BattleCouple: with Stephanie/Spoiler.
* BettyAndVeronica: Tim had a brief love triangle in the early in the series. He was dating civilian Ariana Dzerchenko (Betty) but was attracted to vigilante Stephanie Brown (Veronica) at the same time. Ironic, because Ariana has Veronica's physical appearance and bitchiness, and Stephanie has Betty's physical appearance and tomboyishness. Ultimately, Stephanie wins the triangle, with her becoming his most high-profile (and longest) relationship in the series.
** Even after Stephanie and Tim's breakup, her fake 'death', Tim dating a new girl called Zoanne and later Stephanie's subsequent return to Gotham — Stephanie was still the Veronica, this time to Zoanne's Betty. And again, Stephanie wins the triangle (technically), with Tim breaking up with Zoanne on the phone, and then calling up Stephanie to try and patch things up with her.
** In Red Robin, Tam is now the new Betty to Stephanie's Veronica. And Lynx is the ThirdOptionLoveInterest.
** Any of Tim's civilian girlfriends will end up being the 'Betty' by default due to his working partnership/love-hate-on-off relationship with Stephanie (who is always the Veronica).
* BigBad: In the original Robin miniseries and its sequel, [[ArrogantKungFuGuy King Snake]]. Then for a brief time Johnny Warlock. From the end of the first ongoing into Red Robin, Anarky II.
** ''War Games'' and the brief gang conflict instigated by Jason Todd and then Anarky.
* BigBrotherWorship: Tim Drake adores Dick Grayson. Prior to Jason's violent return and Tim's actual adoption into the family he looked up to Jason too.
* BloodFromEveryOrifice: After getting hit with an electrical weapon Lock-Up had set up Tim is left with blood seeping from his ears, nose, mouth and nail beds. He's still able to kick Lock-Up over a railing from his spot on the floor when the villain arrives with a message he wants Robin to deliver to Batman.
* BombThrowingAnarchist: Initially Deconstructed by Lonnie Machin, Anarky I, who was a WellIntentionedExtremist on his bad days,and generally a HeroAntagonist when not. Then parodied by Anarchy II, who was [[FalseFlagOperation actually a fascist seeking to cause enough chaos to justify a military takeover.]] However, after a SpannerInTheWorks decision by a policeman leads to him killing his own brother and sister, he arguably plays it straight.
* BrokenPedestal: Bruce preventing Stephanie from visiting Tim while she was Robin, hiring Steph and then unceremoniously firing her in an attempt to manipulate Tim back into the role, and preventing anyone from even telling Tim that she was missing while she was being tortured to death permanently altered the lens through which Tim views Bruce in a way little else could and is the reason Tim went to such great lengths to keep from being adopted by Bruce following Jack's death.
-->"During my visit it took every bit of discipline I could conjure to keep from asking Bruce that one terrible question I'm stone cold certain our relationship can't survive. 'What happened in those last moments between you and Stephanie, and why did you keep me from being there?'"
* CainAndAbel: Out of the three brothers Tim gains from being adopted by Bruce two have made repeated attempts on his life. Tim gets to play Able to both Jason and Damian's Cain, with Jason seeming to think shooting in his general direction is an acceptable way to say he disagrees with Tim's way of doing things without considering it to be picking a fight and Damian regularly sabotaging his equipment and trying to break into his room and files. His sister Cass Cain has also viciously attacked him, but she was mind controlled at the time and ends up being the sibling Tim trusts the most.
* CarPorn: There's an entire arc dedicated to a group of car thieves who target expensive sports cars, during which Tim attends a car show, the cars of Gotham's elite are shown at a country club and a benefit gala and there are numerous chase scenes. He also teams up with motorcycle mechanic ComicBook/{{Wildcat}} to catch the thieves.
* ChewOutFakeOut: After losing nearly all of his biological family Tim sets up an actor to pretend to be his fake uncle so that he doesn't have to go into the foster care system. Batman, being Batman, naturally finds out, and Robin assumes he's about to be reamed out for going behind Bruce's back... but all Bruce can say is that he's so proud of Tim for taking the initiative, and gives him some tips on how to make the deception foolproof.
* ClarkKentOutfit: He wore glasses for a while during his short tenure at Brentwood Academy, as sort of a precaution.
* ColorCodedCharacters: Tim's initial costume was primarily green and Steph's was eggplant purple. Tim's narration boxes were given a green drop-shadow or green filled while Stephanie's were purple cursive on light lavender paper making them clearly green and purple coded respectively. Tim's green association became less consistent after his costume lost its green to make it better match his red and black Franchise/{{DCAU}} costume but by this time Steph was "dead" and he was the sole narrator and protagonist of the book.
* ComfortFood: When Steph is reacting to her father's (reported) death and is irritated with herself to realize she's grieving she confides in Tim that mashed potatoes are the ultimate comfort food for her as he buys her a plate of them.
* ComingOfAgeStory: The series chronicles his progression from a naive 14-year-old boy to a jaded, cynical 17-year-old brooder.
* TheConfidant: Alfred remains the person Tim trusts the most and Tim tells him quite a bit that Bruce remains blissfully unaware of. Tim and Steph served as confidants for each other for a time, but then she faked her death and left him thinking her dead for a year while his life fell apart and betrayed him on Bruce's orders "to make him a better Robin" when she returned.
* ConspiracyTheorist: At his third high school Tim befriends a fellow student named Bernard who has a number of interesting theories. His most amusing one is that ''"Batman owns a bunch of secret orphanages all over the world — where he gets his Robins from."'' since he earnestly tells it to Tim, who was Robin.
* CoolCar: Tim's Redbird.
* CostumeEvolution: Tim's primary Robin costume (he has others for specified situations like extreme cold weather) was initially mostly green, with green pants, green gloves, a green mask and a red leotard with green sleeves, eventually it was decided to change his costume to the red and black one from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and get rid of the green altogether despite green having been his associated color across the DCU up until that point. The change was given the in universe justification of being a reaction to his best friend Superboy's death, who had at the time of his death been wearing a black and red costume.
* CutenessProximity: Tim, who has a reputation for being quite serious in comparison to the previous Robins, has a habit of talking to cats he comes across on patrol as long as he has the time to.
* DangerousSixteenthBirthday: in which [[WhatTheHellHero Batman]] manipulated Tim on his 16th birthday into believing the existence of a BadFuture, in order to 'train' him to become a better Robin.
* DepravedKidsShowHost: Crocky, a ''[[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney]]'' parody and cereal mascot. It's zig-zagged in the one issue centered around him, actually: [[spoiler:one of the guys who played him used the suit as a disguise to rob convenience stores, and later took a kid hostage, but the original actor was a wrongly-accused good egg who ultimately helped catch that guy]].
* DetachableLowerHalf: Tapeworm can leave behind part or all of the flat segmented tail he has in place of legs and just regrow it.
* {{Diary}}: Stephanie keeps a diary of her adventures as Spoiler and briefly Robin. When she is the focus of an issue purple cursive excerpts from it are used in place of the green InnerMonologue boxes Tim gets allowing her time to reflect on the events and describe them after the fact instead of reacting in the moment like him.
* DishingOutDirt: Badlands can create localized tremors by sending his powers rippling through the earth beneath him.
* DoubleDate: Tim and Stephanie once went on a double date with Ives and Callie to the arcade at the mall.
* DrowningMySorrows: After having to declare bankruptcy, sell his mansion and move into his condo in the city Jack Drake refuses to leave his bed for anything but to grab a bottle, change the music or grab a book leaving his wife and son to have to do all the paperwork involved in liquefying his assets and keeping the family afloat.
* EasterEgg: Tim always has band posters up in his room which tend to change with the artist.
** Wonder what class Tim’s ''Advanced Egyptian Algebra'' textbook is for.
** When Tim is reminiscing about a toy store he used to beg his parents to go into to no avail there is a Franchise/{{Godzilla}} figure among the generic toys in the window.
* EerilyOutOfPlaceObject: During a visit to an archeological dig Jack Drake comes across an amulet that does not fit the culture or time period, and the overseer decides they don't want to try and account for it and so tell him to go ahead and take the mysterious thing home. It is, of course, a possessed cursed trinket that ended up embedded in the earth years ago while the ComicBook/{{JSA}} was fighting an evil sorceress.
* {{EMP}}: Tim's staff has a built in EMP emitter with a range of 20 yards. He doesn't use it much as it can disable out his own gear too, and it takes a second to set up as parts of the staff have to be shifted around.
* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Ariana caught Tim staring at Stephanie during Karl Ranck's funeral, and proceeded to bleach her hair because she was jealous and thought that Tim preferred blonde girls. (He doesn't, but Ariana was insecure and paranoid at the time) Ironically, blonde Ariana became really popular with the boys at school and that pissed off Tim.
* EvilSmellsBad: Pretty much every hero that has to fight Tapeworm comments on how terrible he smells.
* ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy:
** Tim straight up thanks Dark Rider for indignantly shouting things about his powers that will help Tim defeat him as they're fighting. This of course just pisses Dark Rider off, but does nothing to keep him from continuing to do so.
** ComicBook/BlueDevil lampshades this tendency in villains when Cenotaph loudly explains the source of his powers while trying to choke him.
* ExtraDimensionalShortcut: In the Ozarks Tim meets and befriends Stephen, whose "shortcuts" through the woods allow him to walk places faster than anyone could drive there, and take him through an alternate forest full of flora and fauna that don't belong in the American north-east. If he brings anyone with him and they lose sight of him they'll be lost there forever.
* EyeScream: Recurring villain Lynx has one of her eyes ripped out by King Snake as punishment for failing to kill Robin.
* {{Fanservice}}: Mostly averted (surprising for a teenage book), but there are a few exceptions: Ariana coming out of her room in skimpy lingerie, and Tim's various [[ShowerScene shower scenes]].
* Fiction500: An entire issue was devoted to delivering an awe inspiring cost-accounting of Batman's arsenal.
* FightingYourFriend: Happened with an evil Cassandra Cain in Robin:OYL.
* ForgottenFallenFriend: Tim addresses the Batfamily's habit of forgetting the fallen. It annoyed him when Jason started to only be brought up as an example of what not to do, and ticked him off when it came to Stephanie, who didn't even get a memorial in the cave. He also refuses to forget Harold existed after the mechanic's murder by Hush even though the rest of the family seems to as soon as their one-time ally is buried. He averts this constantly, as he refuses to let his memories of fallen friends fade.
* GeniusBruiser: Tim himself ends up as a nightmare for any poor mook he comes across, but is still outclassed by the heavy hitters like Ra's Al Ghul and Lady Shiva, and must rely on Brains to score a victory against them.
* GoofySuit: When Tim’s friend Ives is working as the mascot at a SuckECheeses he wears a "Rat" costume.
* GoodStepmother: Dana Winters helps resolve disputes between Tim and her new husband Jack after they marry. She goes out of her way to get Tim's side of the story when his father refuses to allow him to speak for himself, and reminds Jack that he said he was going to spend more time with Tim. She gets along great with Tim and regularly acts as a voice of reason to him with regards to his father, but they never grow too close due to his age when she joins the family, as well as her untimely death.
* GroundedForever: Jack decides to ground Tim indefinitely after hearing from Ari's uncle that Tim and Ari had sex (which they didn't) and furiously cuts off Tim's attempt to explain what actually happened. Luckily Dana goes to get Tim's side of the story, which includes Ari's uncle ''trying to kill Tim'' because Ari was wearing lingerie, which was not Tim's idea at all.
* HappyFlashback: After Jack bankrupts Drake Industries and sequesters himself in his room refusing to speak to his wife or son Tim reminisces about spending time with his mom while she was still alive and going to the opera with both his parents on the rare occasions they were home in Gotham.
* HeroHarassesHelpers: A large part of Tim’s job when working with Batman seems to be smoothing things over when Bats does this.
* IHaveThisFriend: Subverted in Robin #58:
-->'''Robin:''' Could I ask you for some non-professional advice?\\
'''Oracle:''' Talk to Doctor Babs, Robin.\\
'''Robin:''' I have this friend…\\
'''Oracle:''' Hold on. This friend isn't you, is it?\\
'''Robin:''' My friend is ''pregnant''.\\
'''Oracle:''' Oh.
** Then he has to deny responsibility — “[[MamasBabyPapasMaybe Not guilty. Not even a suspect]].”
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: "Dodge" stole a prototype personal teleportation device from his Star Labs scientist father because he wanted to be a hero. After his arrogance and lack of training gets him injured when he endangers a group of hostages and the device malfunctions and starts to fuse with him he decides to turn villain instead. Evidently super-hero to super-villain is not a big jump for Dodge as long as he gets to be some type of super.
* JackOfAllTrades: To quote Fabian Nicieza:
-->"What I love about Tim is that he shares some of the strongest traits of various Bat-family members. The intellect and detective skills of Bruce, the ability to lead others and be a friend to others like Dick has and even the ability to make cold, harsh decisions like Jason does."
* KidSidekick: to Batman.
** And Spoiler is the ''kid sidekick'' to the kid sidekick.
* KeepingSecretsSucks: Tim hates having to lie to his father and Steph about being Robin, though he only really pushes Bruce to let him tell Stephanie his id.
* {{Kneecapping}}: Tim took out Mister Mayhem by kicking his knee the wrong way during a melee in Bludhaven where Robin, Ragman and ComicBook/BlueDevil were fighting thirty villains lead by Tapeworm. This had the added benefit of having the gadget Mayhem was about to throw in Tim's face hitting one of Tapeworm's crew instead.
* LamazeClass: Disguised himself as Alvin Draper and accompanied Steph to birthing classes when she was pregnant.
* LegacyCharacter: Obviously, but issue #10 highlighted the difference between Tim and Dick; the issue was a crossover issue of ''ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime'', and worked together with Dick!Robin. Tim realized that Dick's Robin was far more physical -- a former acrobat -- while Tim was far more of a detective.
* LighterAndSofter: Compared to the ongoing Batman series of the time, with [[CerebusRollercoaster some issues being either more lighthearted or more serious]] than others.
* LocalHangout: The teens of the Gotham Heights neighborhood, especially the group Tim hung out with, tended to spend time at the local O'Shaughnessy's, an Irish themed fast food joint.
* MagicAmpersand: Tim plays a tabletop RPG called ''Wizards & Warriors'' with his Gotham Heights pals.
* MakingASplash: Monsoon II nearly drowned Tim when she used her abilities to suddenly move a mass of water into a Bludhaven alleyway. He'd have died if he hadn't been accompanied by ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}} at the time.
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Tomboyish basketball player Callie Evans, who is shaping up to be quite {{the ladette}} as her high school career draws to a close went on multiple dates and was close friends with the much more emotional NonActionGuy Sebastian Ives.
* NearRapeExperience: Darla Aquista is revealed to have prepared a bed for the two of them on the night Tim has ComicBook/{{Superboy}} intervene in the date she'd forced Tim on. Her chillingly out of touch words later that night imply she's only giving him room instead of forcing herself on him further because he saw her commit a murder that evening and she still thinks it's an eventuality he'll come to her on his own.
* NotADate: Back when Tim was still dating Arianna he would occasionally team-up with future girlfriend Stephanie Brown to fight criminals on the street. He keeps on insisting that "it's not a date," but that does not stop Stephanie from shamelessly flirting with him. It doesn't help that he was giving out mixed messages and his relationship with Ari was well past failed at that point.
* OfficialCoupleOrdealSyndrome: Tim & Steph's relationship's first snags are due to Bruce refusing to allow Tim to tell Stephanie his secret identity. Then Bruce nonchalantly tells Steph Tim's ID without first discussing it with Tim, but only after Steph has given her child up for adoption, Tim is forcefully kissed by a classmate in front of her, and Bruce hires her as Tim's replacement Robin without either of them talking to Tim. The largest blow to their relationship though was when Stephanie's death was faked with Tim left thinking her dead for a year. It takes him a long time to trust her again.
* OffTheWagon: Dylan Prescott has a number of issues he's just learning to manage without alcohol so he can try to live a more fulfilling life. Unfortunately his problems are suddenly exacerbated by contact with Noctura whose drug like meta-human ability mixes very poorly with his psych meds. He grabs a bottle of alcohol instead of his pills after spending two days hallucinating.
* OffToBoardingSchool: One of the arcs in Creator/ChuckDixon's run. Tim gets sent to Brentwood Academy by his dad who is worried about him being a rebellious and secretive teenager.
* ParentsWalkInAtTheWorstTime: In Robin #40, Ariana wanted to have sex with Tim, but he told her that [[LetsWaitAWhile they weren't ready]] and ended up just hanging out together on the couch. Her uncle [[NotWhatItLooksLike walked in on them and saw her still in lingerie]], got the wrong idea and chased him out of the house.
* PickOnSomeoneYourOwnSize: There was a period in [[TheNineties The ‘90s]], mostly but not entirely in comics by Creator/ChuckDixon, where Two-Face decided he hated Robin more than Franchise/{{Batman}}. While this mostly meant Comicbook/{{Nightwing}}, he wasn't averse to taking shots at Tim Drake.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Tim and Steph's relationship was intentionally sabotaged with poor communication by Bruce since he disproved of them dating. When Bruce later allowed Tim to finally stop hiding things from her she still usually thought he knew way more about what was going on than he was letting on which led to her not telling him very important things, like about her falling out with the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey, because she assumed he already knew. This put them both in danger on several occasions.
* PosterGalleryBedroom: Tim's room was filled with band posters when he still lived at his Jack's home. Amusingly Stephanie had a prominent flattering poster of Tim's pal ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}} winking over her bed to Tim's endless annoyance.
* PutOnABus:
** Ariana Dzerchenko, Tim's FirstLove. Although she starred in the first 50 issues of the series, she was quickly dropped in favour of the [[FanPreferredCouple more popular Stephanie]]. After her breakup with Tim, she only appeared once and was never mentioned again. Heck, barely [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome anyone one remembers Ariana nowadays]].
** Dana Drake, Tim's stepmother. Or more specifically, [[PutOnABus got sent to a mental hospital in Bludhaven after Jack Drake's death]] and then [[BusCrash was assumed to have died together with the city when it was demolished]]. On the other hand, she didn't show up during ''ComicBook/BlackestNight''...
* RageAgainstTheMentor: Tim has [[CallingtheOldManOut called out]] [[WhatTheHellHero Batman]] several times -- first when Batman revealed Tim's identity to Stephanie without his permission, and the second time when Batman pulled an elaborate, dysfunctional plan to test his dedication as a Robin on his 16th birthday.
* RantInducingSlight: Jack is prone to explosive rants at his son for innocuous comments or actions. A standout example being when Jack flipped his lid about Tim "dissing" him when Tim was watching a live hostage situation and didn't imediatly turn it off when Jack came in and started talking. Jack charged forward while screaming at him so that Tim had to scramble backwards or get run into, and then he took his anger out on the TV after nearly backhanding Tim. For bonus points Tim was already grounded over a misunderstanding caused by Jack refusing to listen to him after Vari tried to kill Tim and then called Jack to complain about Tim before Tim made it home.
* RealMenCook: After moving into the condo Tim starts asking Dana to help him figure out how to cook things for Stephanie and helping Dana in the kitchen while his father is busy drinking and moping. He is never seen trying to cook again after Stephanie's death.
* RearingHorse: Dark Rider is pictured atop his rearing shadow mount with his magic lance bearing down on Tim on the cover of issue 137.
* {{Retcon}}: Stephanie's death in ''War Games'' -- it turns out that she was just hiding in Africa.
* ReunionKiss: After finding out that his girlfriend wasn't actually dead Robin sweeps her into his arms and gives her a surprise kiss. Right in front of Batman, no less.
* RevealingSkill: In Tim’s backstory, this is how he learned the secret identities of Batman and Robin (Dick Grayson): by watching news coverage of the Dynamic Duo's escapades, during which Robin performed a complicated gymnastics move (a quadruple somersault) — which it had been established could be performed only by a small handful of people, including the orphaned circus artist Dick Grayson.
* RoguesGallery: Tim was the first Robin to acquire his own before graduating to another identity.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Tim Drake/Robin (goal-oriented, serious introvert) with Stephanie [[Comicbook/Batgirl2009 Brown/Spoiler]] (plucky, street-smart people person).
* SecondLove: Following his adopted father's footsteps, Tim's first love was Ariana Dzerchenko and his second love was Stephanie Brown. In fact, Tim is Stephanie's second love — her first boyfriend, Dean, got her pregnant and abandoned her after he found out.
* SecretIdentityIdentity: He sometimes addresses himself in the third-person in his thought dialogues, either as 'Robin' or 'Tim Drake'.
* SecretKeeper: Thanks to his spot as the resident SmartGuy, he knew who both Huntress and Spoiler were well before they knew who he was. This annoyed them both, naturally.
* SecretRelationship: Tim and Steph started dating as costumed crimefighters (because he was not allowed to reveal his true identity to her, Batman-related issues and all) and spent a long time only knowing each other as Robin and Spoiler. Tim would also go out of his way to avoid bumping into Steph at school, and lied to his parents when they asked him if he was seeing anyone.
* SeniorYearStruggles: The final arc focuses on the stress of Tim's senior year of high school. This is compounded by the Gotham gang wars and the fact that Bruce Wayne is missing. Tim suspects Bruce isn't dead, so he chooses to make that his priority and ends up dropping out of school altogether.
* ShipTease: Arguably played between [[Comicbook/{{Batgirl2000}} Cassandra Cain]] (Batgirl II) and Tim shortly after ''War Games''.
* ShoutOut:
** Tim wears a Music/GreenDay shirt on at least one occasion.
** Kevin Hudman owns a ''Wizards and Warriors'' tabletop game.
** Ives and Hudson have a long argument on the validity of the [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Star Wars Expanded Universe]].
** When Tim needs to distance himself from Gotham he introduces himself in an incomplete Robin costume as the Spectacular Sunbird, named for the Robin expy Sunbird from ''ComicBook/AstroCity''.
** At one point while dealing with a mass of escaped villains one who claims to be "[[Film/TheWickerMan2006 The Wicker Man]]" appears, [[TakeThat he's defeated upon being informed his opponent has a working lighter]] and never appears again.
** A gander at the figurines and posters in Ives' room reveals a few, including a figurine of a knockoff ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', a Franchise/{{Godzilla}} figurine and a nearly generic RealRobotGenre figurine.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Stephanie Brown (Spoiler/[[Comicbook/{{Batgirl2009}} Batgirl IV]]) was in a relationship with a sleazy douchebag who knocked her up and left her to fend for herself. Her next boyfriend was [[{{NiceGuy}} nice guy]] Tim Drake who supported her decisions, took care of her during her pregnancy, brought her to birthing classes, and even crossed hundred of miles in one night just to see her at the hospital during her labour. Heck the only reason they "broke up" was because she let him think she'd died for over a year, and as soon as she returned Tim realized he needed to break off his current attempt at dating because he was still in love with Steph despite her letting him think she'd died the same week his father was murdered so it wasn't fair to Zoanne even if Steph didn't want him back.
* SleeplessAlarmClock: On at least one occasion Tim sneaks in from acting as Robin all night and falls into bed just in time for the housekeeper Mrs. Mac to open the door and order him to get up.
* SmoochOfVictory: Tim kisses Stephanie after she rescues him from being BuriedAlive. As she had been flirting with him since nearly their first meeting this is quite nice for her, though Tim realizes quickly that despite the relationship having long since fallen apart he's still technically dating Ariana and prevents things from going any further till he's actually single. He and Steph are dating before the week is up.
* SoupIsMedicine: When Steph gets a cold Tim decides to fix home-made chicken soup for her and bring it over even though he doesn't have a car anymore. With Dana's help he's able to fix the soup and then he has to take it by subway to get to Steph's house where she is appreciative of the food. It helps her nose clear up right away and she recovers from her illness the next day.
* SpiderManSendUp: The Redback Spider may be a villain rather than a hero, but her costume is ''very'' similar to that of Spider-Man, though she's traded out the wrist web-shooters for venomous needles.
* StrongGirlSmartGuy: When [[Comicbook/Batgirl2000 Cass]] came to Bludhaven to help out Tim, [[LikeBrotherAndSister Batgirl and Robin]] had this dynamic.
* SuddenNameChange: Stephanie Brown's mother was named "Agnes" when she originally appeared in Detective Comics, but her name was later changed to "Crystal." According to Scott Beatty (who was the first to rename her), he had asked DC editors about the name of the mother but no one could remember, leading to an accidental name change that stuck.
* SuckECheeses: Ives got a job at one, he was too embarrassed to tell his friends about it at first since he was a mascot wearing a [[GoofySuit rat costume]].
* SwissArmyWeapon: Tim's staff contains an {{EMP}} emitter, and as Red Robin he added a retractable blade for emergency use. He doesn't use either often as the EMP disables his own gear and the entire reason he chose the staff rather than a bladed weapon was for its non-lethal applications.
* TelescopingStaff: One was given to Tim by ComicBook/LadyShiva.
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: The reason Tim is now an orphan and permanently dedicated to crime-fighting.
* TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife: The reason why his relationships with Ariana and Zoanne went sour, he kept not showing up for dates or falling asleep during them.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: In addition to the benefits the various members of the Batfamily could reap from a visit to a good therapist ([[AvertedTrope Dick has actually gone to one]]) Tim’s first girlfriend could undoubtedly use some therapy after seeing her father murdered, being kidnapped and forced to help manufacture drugs, and having a classmate try to rape her. Of course it is understandably difficult to trust anyone in that profession working in Gotham.
* ThroughHisStomach: Tim only starts trying to figure out how to cook things from scratch in order to give them to Stephanie.
* TraumaCongaLine: starting from ''War Games'' on Tim experienced his girlfriend's death, his father's death, his stepmother's [[ShrugOfGod possible death]], his best friend's death, his other best friend's death, and all capped off by the apparent death of adoptive father and mentor Bruce Wayne. All these tragedies caused Tim to go down the [[{{DeusAngstMachina}} angsty]], [[{{TookALevelInJerkass}} jerkass]] route right up until he takes up the Red Robin mantle.
** And then [[DeathIsCheap all but his father and stepmother returned.]]
* TrainingFromHell: His training arc with Lady Shiva in Paris and Hong Kong.
* UnconventionalVehicleChase: Tim once chased after a car containing a kidnapped classmate on his skateboard. It didn't work out and he got shot for his efforts but he was able to figure out where they were going and Stephanie gave him a ride there on her motorcycle, and assisted in taking down the kidnappers.
* VillainEpisode: Issue #85 focuses entirely on the Joker, who gives a warped-but-mostly-accurate rundown of his history with all three Robins so far.
* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: A major component of the series before Tim grows out of it.
* WatchThePaintJob: JerkJock Karl Ranck has a nice sports car from his father he's quite proud of, so of course it gets stolen and damaged during a school dance.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: ''Red Robin'' (2009-2011)]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/redrobincover.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Tim, Dick and Damian]]

* AbortedArc: Almost all major plot threads remained unresolved thanks to the DC reboot.
* AlliterativeTitle: '''R'''ed '''R'''obin. Tim's not the first to use it, but he gets saddled with the name of a restaurant chain as his superhero name nonetheless.
* TheAlternet: ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' makes brief mention of a supervillain-created Unternet, which exists alongside the normal Internet. The heroes use it to communicate after Darkseid takes control of all Earth's media and uses it to broadcast [[BrownNote Anti-Life]]. It also made an appearance in ''Red Robin'' where Tim gained a new costume while inside it.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Tim finds Damian quite annoying even after he (mostly) stops trying to actually kill Tim. At one point when he tries to keep Damian out of a computer file the password he sets is [[CousinOliver cousinoliver]].
* BigDamnHeroes: Tim pulls this off during Anarky II's rampage, and receives one from Cassandra Cain and Dick Grayson at different times.
* {{Bishonen}}: Marcus To draws a really [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1b83873I31rnbzjqo1_500.jpg pretty Tim Drake with fabulous hair]].
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Z.]] That said, his character was the most developed at the time of his death.
* CharityBall: Tim and Steph team up to protect Dr. Leslie Thompkins at a charity ball where they rightly expect some ninjas to try and assassinate to good doctor.
* ChestBurster: Sac of the Council of Spiders has thousands of poisonous spiders eat and claw their way out of one of his victims.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Even though it had nothing to do with his mission to find Bruce Wayne, Red Robin takes a detour to save a kidnapped girl in Madrid.
* ColorAnimalCodename: A red robin. Also his motorcycle Red Bird.
* ConservationOfNinjitsu: A group of spider themed villains attack Red Robin. One nearly kills him. When they attack him en masse, he kicks their butts.
* CoolBike: Tim is also a BadassBiker and has grown to prefer a bike to his old Red Bird. It's probably easier to acquire new ones as he travels.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Russian industrialist and hobbyist super-villain Mikalek from Red Robin.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Averted. The series seems to start off as this, but Tim makes away with his brooding while combating Ra's attack on the Bat-family. It still is more straight-faced in nature compared to the original Robin run though.
* DatingCatwoman: Lynx III. Batman even wanted to give Tim advice on how he had handled Catwoman over the years.
* DeathSeeker: Despite Tim's introduction into the Bat mythos as helping Bruce out of this by the time Tim has switched ids to Red Robin he is being accused of falling to self destructive tendencies himself, and his responses are telling non-answers. [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Cassie]] and [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]] are given two different flavors of misdirection, but it's the way he brushes off [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Steph]] rather than answer her that seals the deal, since she's on the short list of people he wouldn't feed that type of misdirection to. He starts getting better by the end of the series after Kon-El, Bart and Bruce return but even the last issue had overtones of Tim skirting around NotAfraidToDie.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Z and Owens]], two issues after their debut.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Cassandra investigating a metal panel and being shocked by it. Then punching the still sparking panel in retaliation.
* GambitRoulette: In issue #12, Dick saves Tim in the nick of time from falling out a skyscraper. Later in the Batcave, Dick questions him whether he had planned it all along, and Tim replies with a: ''"You're my brother, Dick. You'll always be there for me."''
* GuileHero: the only Robin to have inherited this particular repertoire from Batman.
* GunsAkimbo: Pru uses dual sub-machine guns.
* HollywoodAtheist: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] when Tim is revealed to be an atheist in issue #22. The comic notes that he had a mostly non-religious upbringing, and that he would ''like'' to find solace in religion after [[TraumaCongaLine so many close friends and family members have died]] but he just doesn't find the concept of God to be believable.
%%* KnifeNut: The Widower.
* LoveTriangle: At one point, Tim was juggling multiple love interests at the same time. He was casually dating Tam Fox out of costume while flirting with Lynx in costume, and all the time still having UST with Steph (they would have probably gotten back together if Steph hadn't refused the kiss). [=FabNic=] had plans to build the triangle/polygon/harem a bit more, but was cut short by the DC reboot.
* MilhollandRelationshipMoment: After Tim’s best friend [[ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}} Conner]] dies, Tim and Conner’s girlfriend [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Cassie]] share a single kiss that could be interpreted largely as SexForSolace (except without the sex, because, you know, [[CelibateHero Tim Drake]]). They don't do anything further, but after Conner [[DeathIsCheap comes back to life]] both are worried what he'll think of them. He doesn't care; it's not like they knew he was coming back, after all.
* MultiarmedAndDangerous: Goliath of the Council of Spiders.
* MurderInc: The Council of Spiders.
* ObligatoryEarpieceTouch: In issue #20, Stephanie touches her earpiece, even though it's built in as part of her cowl, while fighting the villain Romeo Void when Tim contacts her to warn her about Calculator being on the move.
* OrificeInvasion: Sac of the Council of Spiders has his poisonous spiders crawl inside of one of Ra's Al Ghul's trusted workers (trusted in the sense that Ra's had the man's family hostage at gunpoint) in order to force him to divulge information about Ra's' location. When the Council are done with him Sac has his spiders and the thousands of young in the eggs they'd laid in the man kill him by eating and clawing their way out of him.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Z, a member of the League of Assassins assigned to aid Tim, was one of many hooded ninjas who fought Batman and Robin during the process of Ra's al Ghul's resurrection.
* RenamedTheSame: Robin to Red Robin. He didn’t really give up the name by choice anyway so this let him hang on to it regardless of Dick’s decision.
* RescueRomance: Tim Drake and Tam Fox are both made prisoners of the League of Assassins. When they escape in the chaos caused by Tim defeating the Council of Spiders and hurting the League, Tam gives Tim a big ol' smooch and continues to have tension with him in the series.
* RunningGag: This series lampshades just how many attractive females have attacked Tim only to form alliances with him running from the [[LoveInterest good]] to the [[TeethClenchedTeamwork tense]] to the [[StalkerWithATestTube ugly]].
** Prudence getting her noise broken.
* SecretChaser: Vicki Vale -- she figured out 3/4 of the Batfamily identities, with the exception of Steph, Cass and Damian.
* SecretTest: Turns out that Ra's combined this with XanatosGambit in the first arc. Tim is pitted against the Council of Spiders and then the League of Assassins itself. If he fails, he's dead and Ra's has one less Bat-Clan member to worry about. If he succeeds he proves himself worthy to Ra's Al Ghul[[spoiler:'s sister.]] Goes a long way to explain Ra's apparent use of the VillainBall in the arc.
* ShoutOut:
** In the Ünternet Tam Fox decides to wear her hair in an afro and dresses an awful lot like ComicBook/MistyKnight.
** Tim accidentally creates a 60's Series/Batman1966 Riddler with his subconsciousness in the Ünternet. He's not fond of the implications when it becomes clear the Riddler is acting as a representation of his subconscious.
* SiblingYinYang: With Damian Wayne, fifth Robin and Bruce Wayne's biological son.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Tim started as an idealist as Robin, and slowly went down the cynical route after ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis''.
** Ironic, since his on-again, off-again girlfriend Stephanie Brown went the opposite direction, starting out cynical before becoming an optimist.
* SpiderSwarm: "Sac", one of the members of the Council of Spiders, is a {{pest controller}} who is always covered in spiders and who can have his spiders lay eggs in people and then kill them while eating their way out.
* StalkerWithATestTube: One of [[spoiler: Ra's Al Ghul's sisters. As Tim puts it, he's about to be [[AttemptedRape attacked]] by her in a [[UnusualEuphemism "after school special"]] kind of way.]]
* TheChessmaster: Tim Drake. And ''how''.
* TheCowl: He is after all, the closest to Bruce in terms of personality.
* ThreeAmigos: Pru, Z, and Owens despite being killers.
* TimeAbyss: Turns out that whoever runs the Assassination tournament Tim interferes with is an immortal with a laser equipped "ancient Babylonian" hideout in the sewers of Paris, and is old enough to consider Vandal Savage a near contemporary. It's a shame he had to [[StuffBlowingUp destroy the place.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Tim, Stephanie Brown, and the General all show how much they've grown in ''Red Robin''.
* WasItAllALie: Tam Fox breaks up with Tim at the end of the series when she find out that he's been lying to her about Lucius Fox being dead.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: [[BelligerentSexualTension The premise]] [[UnresolvedSexualTension of the entire]] [[WorkingWithTheEx Red Robin/Batgirl]] [[AlmostKiss crossover arc]].
* WhatTheHellHero:
** Stephanie calls him out in Red Robin #10, in which he admits that she's right and promises to be better in the future.
** Comes from Tam Fox when he fakes her father's death-without telling her.
* YouAreNotAlone: Wonder Girl outright tells Tim this.
[[/folder]]
----

As the series went on, Chuck Dixon left the book and different writers came on-board. The first was Jon Lewis, whose short tenure on the Robin series built a stable relationship between [[OfficialCouple Tim and Stephanie]] and had fondness for writing slightly sci-fi plots, which was jarring in a Batbook that focused more on street-level crime. Next was Bill Willingham, who forcibly retired Tim from being Robin after his dad found out his secret, and killed off Stephanie in the War Games crossover. Adam Beechen took over the series with Robin: One Year Later and had Tim leaving Gotham for a while and temporarily staying in Bludhaven with [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra Cain]]. Dixon then briefly took over the series between issues 170 - 174 to resurrect Stephanie Brown, but was promptly fired and replaced with Fabian Nicieza, who wrote the last arc in the series before it was cancelled in the wake of "Batman R.I.P."

After a brief hiatus, the ''Robin'' series was [[SequelSeries succeeded by]] ''Red Robin'', written by Chris Yost and depicting Tim Drake's search around the world to find evidence that Bruce Wayne was still alive after having had the mantle of Robin taken from him and subsequently cutting himself off from the rest of the Bat Family. He was approached by Ra's al Ghul's assassins, who were also interested in finding out what happened to Batman. After the resolution of this story, Fabian Nicieza took over as writer with issue 13. The series lasted for a little over two years, being CutShort by the ComicBook/New52 continuity reboot in 2011.

After a brief hiatus, the ''Robin'' series was [[SequelSeries succeeded by]] ''Red Robin'', written by Chris Yost and depicting Tim Drake's search around the world to find evidence that Bruce Wayne was still alive after having had the mantle of Robin taken from him and subsequently cutting himself off from the rest of the Bat Family. He was approached by Ra's al Ghul's assassins, who were also interested in finding out what happened to Batman. After the resolution of this story, Fabian Nicieza took over as writer with issue 13. The series lasted for 2 years, being CutShort by the ComicBook/New52 reboot in 2011.

Since then, Tim Drake has not starred in another solo series and has only featured in team books or as supporting cast. The New 52 had Red Robin as the team leader in ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'', with his backstory and personality significantly altered. ComicBook/DCRebirth officially restored him to his pre-New-52 self in ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsRebirth''. Since the beginning of ''ComicBook/YoungJustice2019'' he has been using the mantles of Robin and Red Robin interchangeably, and also briefly adopted a new identity as Drake before switching back.

After a brief hiatus, the ''Robin'' series was [[SequelSeries succeeded by]] ''Red Robin'', written by Chris Yost and depicting Tim Drake's search around the world to find evidence that Bruce Wayne was still alive after cutting himself off from the rest of the Bat Family. He was approached by Ra's al Ghul's assassins, who were also interested in finding out what happened to Batman. After the resolution of this story, Fabian Nicieza took over as writer with issue 13. The series lasted for 2 years, being truncated by the ComicBook/New52 reboot in 2011. With the reboot, Tim's backstory and personality were drastically altered, before ComicBook/DCRebirth brought them back in the pages of ''ComicBook/YoungJustice2019''. In the same series, he spent a brief period adopting a new identity as Drake before he found himself becoming Robin again in the wake of ''ComicBook/TeenTitansRebirth Annual #2''.

[[folder: ''Robin'' Volume 1 "A Hero Reborn" (1991)]]

[[folder: ''Robin'' Volume 2 "The Joker's Wild!" (1991)]]

[[folder: ''Robin'' Volume 3 "Cry of the Huntress" (1992-1993)]]

While at Ives' birthday dinner Tim meets a girl his age named Ariana Dzerchenko whose father is threatened by the Hammer, a gang that's made up of criminals from the old Soviet Block. After his father forbids Tim from leaving the house and Bruce tells him to take a break as Robin to allay suspicions that have arisen due to bruising Tim instead disobeys them both because he has a hunch the Hammer are going to give the Dzerchenkos more trouble. Not only is Tim proven right but Mr. Dzerchenko is murdered and Ariana kidnapped by the Hammer later that very night despite Tim's attempts to save them. \\

[[folder: ''Robin'' Volume 4 (1993-2009)]]

[[folder: ''Red Robin'' Volume 1 (2009-2011)]]

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Tim finds Damian quite annoying since Damian cruel and rude even after he (mostly) stops trying to actually kill Tim. At one point when he tries to keep Damian out of a computer file the password he sets is [[CousinOliver cousinoliver]].

* HollywoodAtheist: His dad was [[{{AmbiguouslyJewish}} Jewish]] and mom was Catholic, but after their deaths Tim became jaded with religion.

* LegacyCharacter: Obviously, but issue #10 highlighted the difference between Tim and Dick; the issue was a crossover issue of ''ComicBook/ZeroHour'', and worked together with Dick!Robin. Tim realized that Dick's Robin was far more physical -- a former acrobat -- while Tim was far more of a detective.