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* DontGoInTheWoods: The edges of Stephen's woods merge seamlessly into real world forests and stands of trees, but to stumble into his woods without his protection will lead to death as anyone who does so will be lost forever.
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* EldritchAbomination: Tim stumbles across a thing in the Appalachian Mountains that is currently in the form of an apparently [[HumanoidAbomination harmless, if odd, little girl]] who maintains human form by linking itself to a human, who is given regenerative powers and made mute and whose mind is radically altered by the link. If the link is broken "she" reverts into a mass of tentacles, eyes and mouths and starts killing and eating everyone around "her" until she forms a new link. "She" doesn't seem to notice being shot and while using a flamethrower on her seems to get her attention it doesn't appear to actually cause her any damage.
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* ColdBloodedTorture: Johnny Warren was a Mafia enforcer who enjoyed torturing people while waiting for his actual target to show up. When Tim first "meets" him he's been beating, burning and otherwise torturing the girlfriend of a guy who stole from his boss all day while waiting for her boyfriend to show up.
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* ColdCash: In the Violent Tendencies storyline Robin, Spoiler and Violet are led by the Penguin to a fish processing place with the money hidden under the ice. It's fake, but Violet tries to steal it anyway until they're ambushed by the Korean Mafia.
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* RecklessGunUsage: Johnny Warren tries to shoot Robin and the woman Robin is saving from him even though Tim warned him that the epoxy he tossed on Johnny's gun has warped the barrel and the gun is visibly deformed. He loses a hand for his bloodlust.
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* EldritchLocation: Stephen's woods may look like a normal forest if you squint but Tim notices quite quickly that there are species there that have no business co-existing and things aren't necessarily the right size. Then there's the fact that neither space nor time work properly there, allowing Stephen to use it to nearly teleport but anyone or thing that follows him in and loses track of him will be lost in the woods forever.
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* YouCanBarelyStand: During ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' Robin ends up facing off against Croc when he's running a high fever to the point of suffering mild hallucinations. Croc quickly defeats him and uses him as a hostage but he gets a second wind and turns the tables on his captor after waking up and realizing he's giving Croc an advantage.
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* YouCanBarelyStand: During ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' Robin ends up facing off against Croc when he's running a high fever to the point of suffering mild hallucinations. Croc quickly defeats him and uses him as a hostage but he gets a second wind and turns the tables on his captor after waking up and realizing he's giving Croc an advantage.advantage.
* YourMindMakesItReal: The only reason Tim can harm Johnny Warlock is that Johnny cannot disassociate him with the remembered pain of losing his hand to his own exploding gun after Robin damaged it in a fight while Johnny was still human. His own fear of Rob turns his powers against him when he's fighting him, which Tim absolutely takes advantage of and encourages by acting as though he's impervious to Johnny's powers as otherwise he and his allies would have been killed by the magic user long ago.
* YourMindMakesItReal: The only reason Tim can harm Johnny Warlock is that Johnny cannot disassociate him with the remembered pain of losing his hand to his own exploding gun after Robin damaged it in a fight while Johnny was still human. His own fear of Rob turns his powers against him when he's fighting him, which Tim absolutely takes advantage of and encourages by acting as though he's impervious to Johnny's powers as otherwise he and his allies would have been killed by the magic user long ago.
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* AdultsAreUseless: While it's not played straight as Alfred, Harold and Dana are usually competent and useful most adults in the series are either constantly useless or actively a problem: Tim's father has no clue how to be a parent, Ariana's uncle tries to kill Tim over a misunderstanding, Tim's teachers are combative and make no inquiries into his injuries and constant need to sleep in class (or in one teachers case only makes misdirected questions trying to frame Bruce as an abuser, but only after Tim is living with his father), Bruce pulls heartless gambits trying to manipulate Tim, Az!Bats goes off the deep end and tries to kill Tim and after Tim's father dies Tim has to forge portions of his father's will in order to avoid becoming a ward of the state.
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* SeriousBusiness: When Tim is transferred to Brentwood Academy by his father as punishment for not trying out for football, and supposedly lying about having done so even though Tim was intentionally vague when his dad asked, he's amused to hear that the school doesn't have a football team. Brentwood is a ''soccer'' school he's told, and students that display physical aptitude for soccer can be forced onto the team.
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* BoardingSchool: Tim's father loses patience with his supposedly bad record and after realizing Tim didn't try out for football he yanks him out of public school to send him back to boarding school, at Brentwood Academy, in the middle of his freshman year of high school. Tim adjusts to the school but compares it to a prison and is almost happy when his dad makes a financial blunder that bankrupts him and causes him to stop paying Tim's tuition.
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* ChubbyChef: The waitress and chef at the diner in Gotham's Widow Creek neighborhood where Stephanie takes Tim for comfort food when she's upset are both noticeably plump.
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* EgyptIsStillAncient:
** Played with. Scarab is the most technologically advanced of Robin's foes and the only character noted to be from Egypt, but she seems a direct descendant of ancient Egypt skipping all the cultural influences of Arabic and Christian influence in Egypt. This is explored in ''ComicBook/RedRobin'' where it's revealed she's part of a group of assassins who trace their roots to ancient Egypt and intentionally behave this way.
** When Johnny Warlock is hiding out in Egypt his room has a view of desert and ancient ruins.
** Played with. Scarab is the most technologically advanced of Robin's foes and the only character noted to be from Egypt, but she seems a direct descendant of ancient Egypt skipping all the cultural influences of Arabic and Christian influence in Egypt. This is explored in ''ComicBook/RedRobin'' where it's revealed she's part of a group of assassins who trace their roots to ancient Egypt and intentionally behave this way.
** When Johnny Warlock is hiding out in Egypt his room has a view of desert and ancient ruins.
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* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Even after having to declare bankruptcy and considering himself broke Jack Drake bribes politicians to get his way. When Tim ends up in Gotham while the city is quarantined he bribes his way into getting his son, but no one else, evacuated against federal orders.
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* CorporateConspiracy: Strader Pharmaceuticals is developing a Psycho Serum, by having people sell it as a superpower granting drug to unsuspecting people in Gotham. When their unethical and deadly human experimentation starts gaining attention they hire mercenaries to kill their surviving victims and dispose of the bodies.
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* PsychoSerum: Strader Pharmaceuticals develops a drug that's meant to give the user super-strength, and while it does it is also addictive, makes them incredibly violent and slowly starts breaking down their bodies killing them horrifically and painfully. When they realize their illegal experiments are being investigated they hire mercenaries to quietly hunt down, kill and dispose of the bodies of everyone who took their concoction.
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* AfterActionVillainAnalysis: Tim often reflects on the circumstances which led to the villain he fought in the issue to a criminal lifestyle. He's usually sympathetic to their plight but never feels it excuses whatever they did to bring them to his attention.
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* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Lloyd Waite is the CEO of Strader Pharmaceuticals and oversaw their highly illegal development of a drug designed to give the user super-strength but ended up making the users homicidal and killing them over time.
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* ButHeSoundsHandsome: Tim mentions the former Robin looking more "graceful" and built like an athlete in comparison to Conner dressed as Robin when trying to convince Darla Aquista that said Robin (himself) is dead so she doesn't need to keep trying to kill him.
* CampStraight: Bernard is flamboyant, dramatic, concerned with how dress communicates to others and seems to cling to Tim after spotting him and noticing him as attractive and unattached. He's also straight and interested in Darla. A few reboots later his next appearance did away with the "straight" bit and had him ask Tim out.
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: Tim ends up tracking down an apparent new female vigilante wearing purple and thinks he sees Spoiler, only to discover he's tracking a new player who goes by Violet, only then to discover someone wearing the Spoiler costume is also tracking Violet. He's furious at the stranger behind the mask for dressing up as his beloved deceased girlfriend, disrespecting her memory and messing with him but then learns it actually is Stephanie, whose death was retconned to have been faked in this storyline.
* CapeSnag: As Tim has always had a quick release cape which he uses in fights any time his cape seems to get him in trouble it's an early hint that what is being seen is staged and Tim is actually playing a part.
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: Tim ends up tracking down an apparent new female vigilante wearing purple and thinks he sees Spoiler, only to discover he's tracking a new player who goes by Violet, only then to discover someone wearing the Spoiler costume is also tracking Violet. He's furious at the stranger behind the mask for dressing up as his beloved deceased girlfriend, disrespecting her memory and messing with him but then learns it actually is Stephanie, whose death was retconned to have been faked in this storyline.
* CapeSnag: As Tim has always had a quick release cape which he uses in fights any time his cape seems to get him in trouble it's an early hint that what is being seen is staged and Tim is actually playing a part.
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* CoolCar: Tim's Redbird.
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* ContaminationSituation: During the ''Batman Contagion'' story Robin was infected with the Apocalypse Virus ravaging Gotham and spent a couple issues hallucinating while slowly dying of it in the Batcave while Alfred watched over him and the rest of the Batclan tried to find a cure while preventing Gotham from tearing itself apart.
* CoolCar: Tim'sRedbird.Redbird looks like a sports car by day, is bullet-proof and has panels that move to disguise it for night use.
* CoordinatedClothes: Tim's friend Ives has a pair of identical twin cousins whose parents dress them in identical outfits. One of them seems to care a bit more about keeping those outfits looking nice though since she keeps any bows and ribbons tied perfectly while the other tends to leave them undone or uneven.
* CostumeCopycat: In one late plot arc, an old Robin villain was running around dressed as Red Robin - an identity Jason had used for about five minutes. When Tim's head and neck got burned taking them down he used the costume's cowl for a while to protect them, and took up the costume himself in his next series ''ComicBook/RedRobin''.
* CoolCar: Tim's
* CoordinatedClothes: Tim's friend Ives has a pair of identical twin cousins whose parents dress them in identical outfits. One of them seems to care a bit more about keeping those outfits looking nice though since she keeps any bows and ribbons tied perfectly while the other tends to leave them undone or uneven.
* CostumeCopycat: In one late plot arc, an old Robin villain was running around dressed as Red Robin - an identity Jason had used for about five minutes. When Tim's head and neck got burned taking them down he used the costume's cowl for a while to protect them, and took up the costume himself in his next series ''ComicBook/RedRobin''.
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* DomesticAbuse: In their few appearances together before Janet's murder it is clear that Jack is prone to ignoring her, brushing off her concerns and screaming at her. In addition they're both neglectful of their son, with Jack being the worse of the two by combining that with verbal abuse, destroying and selling Tim's belongings, blaming Tim for his own actions. There are also a couple of issues that imply Jack has hit Tim out of anger before but that is only alluded to rather than shown.
* DominoMask: Tim comes to regret wearing just an eye mask and no head protection toward the end of the series, when half his head is burned to a crisp when he's caught in an exploding building. Two issues before, he wondered jokingly to himself why he only wears a domino mask as he jumped through a window, noting he'd be pulling glass out of his hair for weeks.
* DominoMask: Tim comes to regret wearing just an eye mask and no head protection toward the end of the series, when half his head is burned to a crisp when he's caught in an exploding building. Two issues before, he wondered jokingly to himself why he only wears a domino mask as he jumped through a window, noting he'd be pulling glass out of his hair for weeks.
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* ExposedToTheElements: While Robin generally appears to wear the same costumes regardless of weather they make a point to mention the winter costumes are more insulated and have built-in heaters. Spoiler once commented how nice it was to be able to cling to Robin in the cold since his heated suit made him like her personal heater, since her suit was emphatically not suited for the weather they found themselves in. He also actually has a snow jacket to go with his costume that he wears in a few issues.
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* FamilyEyeResemblance: Tim inherited his blue eyes from his mother, which only Jack really takes note of and is part of his excuse for locking himself away from his son while he's grieving his dead wife.
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* IntergenerationalFriendship: Tim was friends with the much older Harold Allnut, who is Batman's mute in house mechanic since they both like developing new gadgets. He bitterly brings up Harold's murder when Bruce sent him to ask another genius to help build a new Batmobile, angry that Harold is never mentioned following his death.
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* LostInImitation: Tim's costumes are generally used as the basis for animated adaptations of Robin, he has ''pants''. However bringing the red and black costume of the Tim from the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Animated Series]]--a character who was really a amalgamated Tim and Jason--and making Tim darker and broodier to match lost much what had appealed to fans about Tim and let him carry his own solo series for years. It also [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking meant Tim wasn't associated with green anymore, the color that had been used to identify him in speech and thought bubbles across the DCU]].
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* RightInFrontOfMe: Bernard discusses his conspiracy theories about Robin with Tim Drake, including the one where he figures the latest Robin is dead, unaware that he's talking to the person he is presuming to be deceased.
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* SoftGlass: Like his mentor, Robin has a tendency to throw himself through windows with no ill effects. Tim reserved doing so only for emergencies where time is of the essence specifically because he knows he could still end up hurting himself or inadvertently hurting someone else with the shards despite his armored suit.
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* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Tim's father doesn't spend much time with him or really know him but he does make it very clear that he wishes his son was interested in American Football and completely ignores any mentions of Tim's actual hobbies of photography and skateboarding. He's also annoyed that Tim likes and wants to be in public school rather than a private boarding school.
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* ArbitrarySkepticism: In one story arc, Robin is contacted by what appears to be a version of Alfred from a BadFuture where someone in the Bat-Family has devastated Gotham. Robin is unable to convince Batman that it actually happened, because, quoth the Bat, "Time travel is scientifically impossible." Even though Batman himself works with time travelers in the Justice League and has traveled through time dozens of times himself. It turns out that it was a test to see if Robin was prepared to accept the idea of Batman going rogue, even though Tim had already shown he wasn't blindly loyal after B was accused of murder. Tim is rightfully pissed when he figures out the truth.
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* AmbiguousSituation: Stephanie Brown's father, the supervillain Cluemaster, had a friend who tried to sexually assault her. Cluemaster found out, and soon after, the man died. Stephanie accepts that she'll never know for sure if her father was behind this.
* AngryCollarGrab: Azrael tried to kill Tim after grabbing him by the collar and pinning him. This didn't work out for Az!Bats as Tim had already weaponized his costume to prevent this sort of thing.
* AngryCollarGrab: Azrael tried to kill Tim after grabbing him by the collar and pinning him. This didn't work out for Az!Bats as Tim had already weaponized his costume to prevent this sort of thing.
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* KidsShowMascotParody: Crocky in #42 is a Barney parody who's a crocodile. Tim finds the character annoying when he has to watch the show for clues, because the actor who was fired from the role has taken to committing crimes in costume.
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* RepressionNeverEndsWell: Tim tries hard to repress his feelings of disappointment and frustration with paternal figures, but once his father's injuries force him to actually buy a home in the city his son lives in and he and Tim move in together he looses it, yells and runs off when the man tries to tell Tim how ''Tim'' is changing and not the son he knows; as Tim puts it who is the son Jack "knows"? The man has never even lived with Tim before, instead having him housed in boarding schools. Bruce later ticks Tim off so badly that he quits being Robin for a bit in protest after yelling at him.
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The series was almost immediately followed by ''ComicBook/RedRobin'', starring Tim Drake in his new superhero identity.
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One Year Later doesn't have its own page? Okay then.
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Adam Beechen took over the series at issue #148 for the ComicBook/OneYearLater relaunch, and had Tim now officially adopted as Bruce's son and once again working in Gotham as Batman's partner. Chuck Dixon briefly returned the series for 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 [[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman R.I.P.]] at issue #183.
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Adam Beechen took over the series at issue #148 for the ComicBook/OneYearLater "One Year Later" relaunch, and had Tim now officially adopted as Bruce's son and once again working in Gotham as Batman's partner. Chuck Dixon briefly returned the series for 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 [[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman R.I.P.]] at issue #183.
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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.
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.
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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 who had written the preceding miniseries. During Dixon's run, the series was acclaimed at the time for a high-profile TeenPregnancy arc involving Tim's girlfriend, love interest [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie Brown]] (Spoiler). a.k.a. Spoiler. In 1998, Wizard magazine ranked the series as the best ongoing comic book of the year.
Asyear. Following the series went on, ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' crossover event, Tim was sent away to boarding school at Brentwood Academy.
Chuck Dixon left the book in 2002 anddifferent writers came on-board. The was first was replaced by Jon Lewis, whose short tenure on run as writer began with Tim moving from the Robin series built a stable relationship between [[OfficialCouple Tim and Stephanie]] and suburbs into Gotham City itself after his family lost most of their savings. Lewis had fondness for writing slightly sci-fi plots, which was jarring in a Batbook Bat-book that had focused more on street-level crime. Next crime; his run also built a stable relationship between [[OfficialCouple Tim and Stephanie]].
The next writer wasBill Willingham, Creator/BillWillingham, who forcibly retired Tim from being Robin after his dad found out his secret, secret. Stephanie briefly replaced him as the new Robin, before being fired by Batman and then killed off Stephanie in the War Games crossover. Adam Beechen took over the series with Robin: One Year Later and had Afterwards, Tim leaving left Gotham for a while and temporarily staying stayed in Bludhaven Blüdhaven with [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra Cain]]. Dixon then briefly Cain]].
Adam Beechen took over the seriesbetween at issue #148 for the ComicBook/OneYearLater relaunch, and had Tim now officially adopted as Bruce's son and once again working in Gotham as Batman's partner. Chuck Dixon briefly returned the series for 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 [[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman R.I.P." ]] at issue #183.
As
Chuck Dixon left the book in 2002 and
The next writer was
Adam Beechen took over the series
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* HighSchoolDance: Tim takes his girlfriend Ariana to a dance at his high school in the first issue. The school parking lot gets targeted by car thieves during the dance.
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* ToWinWithoutFighting: Tim revived Lady Shiva after he stopped her heart when given temporary superpowers, so she gave him a favor. He later used the favor to get her to leave Connor Hawke alone when she was about to kill him, rather than have himself and Dick try fighting her. Shiva assumed this meant Tim was out of luck when she showed up to fight him to the death a year later in return for having trained him with a bo staff, but Tim poisoned her ahead of time as he knew he had no chance in a straight fight against her.
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* ToWinWithoutFighting: Tim revived Lady Shiva after he stopped her heart when given temporary superpowers, so she gave him a favor. He later used the favor to get her to leave Connor Hawke alone when she was about to kill him, rather than have himself and Dick try fighting her. Shiva assumed this meant Tim was out of luck when she showed up to fight him to the death a year later in return for having trained him with a bo staff, but Tim poisoned her ahead of time as he knew he had no chance in a straight fight against her.her.
* YouCanBarelyStand: During ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' Robin ends up facing off against Croc when he's running a high fever to the point of suffering mild hallucinations. Croc quickly defeats him and uses him as a hostage but he gets a second wind and turns the tables on his captor after waking up and realizing he's giving Croc an advantage.
* YouCanBarelyStand: During ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' Robin ends up facing off against Croc when he's running a high fever to the point of suffering mild hallucinations. Croc quickly defeats him and uses him as a hostage but he gets a second wind and turns the tables on his captor after waking up and realizing he's giving Croc an advantage.
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* UncoveringRelationshipStatus: Stephanie quickly decides she wants to know if Robin has a girlfriend and his hesitance to answer her out of concern for his secret id means she doesn't actually believe him when he says he does. She tones down the flirting but doesn't stop entirely and eventually Tim breaks up with his girlfriend to date her.
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* AFriendInNeed: When Tim learns Ives has cancer he goes out of his way to make sure he's there for him. He even gets back in contact with Ives very quickly in ''ComicBook/RedRobin'' after cutting everyone but [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 his sister]] out of his life and leaving Gotham.
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* DeanBitterman: Dean Nederlander of Brentwood Academy is a suspicious old man who patrols the campus at night and gives out demerits like candy, and it doesn't take very many demerits to earn an expulsion.
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* 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.
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* PosterGalleryBedroom: Tim's room was filled with band posters when he still lived at with his Jack's home.parents. Amusingly Stephanie had a prominent flattering poster of Tim's pal ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}} winking over her bed to Tim's endless annoyance.
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* 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.
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* 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.dance.
* ToWinWithoutFighting: Tim revived Lady Shiva after he stopped her heart when given temporary superpowers, so she gave him a favor. He later used the favor to get her to leave Connor Hawke alone when she was about to kill him, rather than have himself and Dick try fighting her. Shiva assumed this meant Tim was out of luck when she showed up to fight him to the death a year later in return for having trained him with a bo staff, but Tim poisoned her ahead of time as he knew he had no chance in a straight fight against her.
* ToWinWithoutFighting: Tim revived Lady Shiva after he stopped her heart when given temporary superpowers, so she gave him a favor. He later used the favor to get her to leave Connor Hawke alone when she was about to kill him, rather than have himself and Dick try fighting her. Shiva assumed this meant Tim was out of luck when she showed up to fight him to the death a year later in return for having trained him with a bo staff, but Tim poisoned her ahead of time as he knew he had no chance in a straight fight against her.
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* BlandNameProduct: Tim is seen drinking "Spite" soda a few times, and a scene in an O'Shaunasseghy's Spite in shown alongside some other amusingly tweaked brand names on a soda fountain.
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* NotSoDifferentRemark: Prior to Lasky's FaceHeelTurn, Robin worries that he might might have been as annoying a pest to Batman as Lasky is to him.
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* HatesReading: While Tim has no problem with reading, he doesn't care for reading plays and older fiction, which means he avoids doing so for class, leading to him requiring extra credit for his Lit class at Gotham Heights High.
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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robinvol2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Spoiler & Robin]]
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.
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!!Robin (1993) provides examples of:
* 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.
[[caption-width-right:300:Spoiler & Robin]]
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.
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!!Robin (1993) provides examples of:
* 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.
