History YMMV / Robin

** Tim is one for James Tynion IV, which is something Tynion himself even partially admitted to. It’s especially notable in his run on [[ComicBook/DetectiveComicsRebirth Detective Comics]] and in the '''Titans of Tomorrow''' crossover.

* CreatorsPet: The amount of doting Scott Lobdell does for Jason Todd at the expense of characterization and plot has turned most people away from Comicbook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws (and by extension its sequel Red Hood/Arsenal). It often shows up in the form of characters created for the sole purpose of CharacterShilling, or by downplaying other characters to make Jason look good. Even many fans that like Jason are a bit put off, partially because of his lack of regard for ShowDontTell, partially because they find many of the scenarios touched upon when writing Jason (such as Jason moving on from his past and healing from his trauma) to be an example of TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot and partly because of some UnfortunateImplications that has cropped up throughout his writing. Not helped by the fact that Lobdell's admitted in an interview that he cares more about action beats than character arcs or the perception that he views Jason as his personal self-insert.

** Damian vs. Tim is probably the biggest rivalry among the Robin fanbase, as people who prefer one tend to ''really'' dislike the other, since they are fundamentally different characters who in-universe can't stand each other. Tim fans like that he's a normal Robin who sought out the role and earned it against all odds, so they dislike Damian for getting the role purely due to nepotism. Damian fans like that he wrestles with his upbringing and darker nature, and find Tim very boring by comparison. Since the New 52, Damian was pushed as the "best Robin" and Tim was treated and written as a FailureHero in comparison, so for Tim fans they see this as Damian getting CharacterShilling while Tim is tossed aside, while Damian fans see this as Tim demonstrating his inferiority next to Damian. In 2020, Damian was given a controversial storyline where he descended into villainy, while Tim was slowly given more importance, which resulted in Damian fans saying his development was being ignored and he was being derailed so that Tim could return to the role (he was variously called Red Robin or just Robin during this time), while Tim fans found it fitting that he returned to prominence and that Damian woudl succumb to his darker urges like he did.

** Tim's Drake outfit, an ugly brown number with gold trimming that looks more a training outfit that Bruce would give to a Robin ''candidate''. It's not just ugly, but it clashes with the rest of the Batfamily (likely why he's never worn it around them) ''and'' the rest of Young Justice.
** Inverted/averted with the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'' take on the Robin costume. Both [[InTheHood Tim's]] and [[MovieSuperheroesWearBlack Dick's]] outfits, as shown in ''Arkham City'' and ''Arkham Origins'' respectfully, are generally well received as they could easily work as film versions of the outfits. Tim's outfit did have FingerlessGloves that ruined it for many for obvious reasons, but his ''Knight'' look is considered an improvement for looking like armor instead of cosplay and giving him full gloves. Tim's shaved head in ''Knight'', however, is less well-regarded than the rest of his look.

** Tim Drake has slowly became one thanks to the New 52 period. Many new fans were introduced to the franchise under Damian Wayne's tenure as Robin, and so have gotten used to him in the role. However, this meant Tim has meandered without any relevance since the reboot, not helped by him getting completely overhauled as a character in an attempt to make him more standout. Fans who are familiar with the character who was still prefer Tim and wish he got properly developed again, while fans who were never familiar with him just see him as the boring middle child and don't see what's so appealing about him.

*** What people want Jason ''to be'' is even divisive. Some prefer him to be an villainous reflection of Bruce and Dick, who is an enemy of the Bat-family and Bruce's great failure, while others prefer his anti-hero version and like him being integrated back into the Bat-family.
** Damian Wayne. Either he's a Woobie who just needs someone to believe in him (hello there, Dick) and has exhibited tremendous CharacterDevelopment over the course of several books, or a horribly arrogant, obnoxious, violent and cruel person who only gets to be Robin because of his last name. Tim Drake fans understandably take the most umbrage at him for directly, unceremoniously displacing Tim, and the comics have struggled to give Tim a relevant role ever since.
** Tim Drake has slowly became one thanks to the New 52 period. Many new fans were introduced to the franchise under Damian Wayne's tenure as Robin, and so have gotten used to him in the role, but Tim meanwhile has meandered without any relevance since the reboot, not helped by him getting completely overhauled as a character. Fans who are familiar with the character who was still prefer Tim and wish he got properly developed again, while fans who were never familiar with him just see him as the boring middle child and don't see what's so appealing about him.

** For Tim's Red Robin look: Condom head vs. Swan queen. Some feel the condom head look works because it takes inspiration from Batman and is just more practical, which reflects Tim's character. The swan queen look is liked for having some practicality in the cape. While nobody will say either is an amazing costume design, which one is better is up in the air. Both are generally considered stellar in comparison with his "Drake" costume though.

** Damian vs Tim is probably the biggest rivalry among the Robin fanbase, as people who prefer one tend to ''really'' dislike the other, and anyone who's a fan of them. Since the reboot, Damian was pushed as the "best Robin" and Tim was treated and written as a FailureHero in comparison, so for Tim fans they see this as Damian getting CharacterShilling while Tim is tossed aside, while Damian fans see this as Tim demonstrating his inferiority next to Damian. In 2020, Damian was given a controversial storyline where he descended into villainy, while Tim was slowly given more importance, which lead to rumours that Damian was getting sidelined so Tim Drake could be pushed as Robin again, and as a result caused a ''lot'' of controversy.

** For Tim Drake, the period around 2004 to 2008 saw his TraumaCongaLine kick into high gear: his father was killed off in the controversial ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' miniseries, his girlfriend and successor Stephanie Brown was killed in the hated War Games arc, his best friend Superboy was killed off in Infinite Crisis, and his ''other'' best friend Bart Allen was killed even later. This storm of angst combined with another infamous storyline remained a stain on the character's record until Chuck Dixon, Fabian Nicieza, and Chris Yost took on the book.

** After leaving it to some extent with Detective Comics Rebirth, Tim entered it ''again'' with the infamous "Drake" period. Some consider this a wake-up call that DC has no idea where to take Tim's character, though it's thankfully short-lived and almost immediately, Stephanie Brown is acting as an AudienceSurrogate calling out how stupid he looks.

** Dick Grayson has two, [[ComicBook/{{Starfire}} Koriand'r (AKA Starfire)]] thanks to the Teen Titan books and [[ComicBook/{{Oracle}} Barbara Gordon (AKA Batgirl I/ Oracle)]] due to Dixon establishing the groundwork. [[ShipToShipCombat Fans get heated over which one is better and that's all we'll say.]]

** 2018 onward really seems to be hitting Damian hard. First, his best friend disappears only to come back years older and tell him he’s leaving again for the future permanently, robbing him of one of the most positive influences of his life. Then his adopted brother is shot in the head, surviving only to have a vast change in identity, robbing of his other most positive influence. Then Alfred is killed by Bane in front of him due to an error in his own judgement. This causes a downward spiral where he regresses back to his more brutal ways killing criminals and pushing his fellow Teen Titans to lock up others illegally, causing a rift between them. And the Batman catches them in the act causing an argument between father and son which ended with Damian quitting. With every positive influence in his life gone, Damian is on a dark path as foreshadowed by the Legion.
* MainstreamObscurity: Ask anyone how many Robins are there, and expect people to be surprised that there's more than one or two Robins in the comics. Dick and Tim are usually who the general population know most thanks to the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries animated series]] and the VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries, though in recent years, DC's push to make Damian the central Robin in adaptations have made people more familiar with him.

** The creators seem to be aware how much of their fanbase dislikes Damian, and while they continue to push him as a prominent character they'll take the opportunity to have other characters take him down a peg. Like [[http://www.dccomics.com/sites/default/files/imce/2016/11-NOV/TJH_11-4-2_581bdeb6296529.64840290.jpg this giant panel of Jon Kent gut-punching him.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Tim Drake post new-52. Before flashpoint, he is one of the most popular DC characters thanks to him being an AudienceSurrogate and even has his own book that lasted a long time. Post-new 52, his new characterization was not well received by fans and you'll be hard-pressed to find him featured in a story arc.

*** Post-Rebirth, a Robin 80th Anniversary one-shot subtly retconned that Stephanie did know Bruce's identity and was given the same training and treatment as the other Robins, instead of her time in the role and her subsequent death being the [[EpicFail horrible results]] of a failed [[BatmanGambit]].

* FanPreferredCouple: Dick Grayson has two, [[ComicBook/{{Starfire}} Koriand'r (AKA Starfire)]] thanks to the Teen Titan books and [[ComicBook/{{Oracle}} Barbara Gordon (AKA Batgirl I/ Oracle)]] due to Dixon establishing the groundwork. [[ShipToShipCombat Fans get heated over which one is better and that's all we'll say.]]

* JerkassWoobie: Jason Todd and Damian Wayne to different degrees. Both are arrogant and confrontational, and neither has any problem with lethal force, even if they'll reign it in when working with Batman. But their lives have been less than ideal: Jason was tortured to death by Joker and resurrected years later to a world where it seemed like his father-figure has all but replaced him, while Damian was raised by a death cult dedicated to his grandfather, Ra's Al Ghul and trained to be a remorseless killer while his mother only cared about him to the extent that he did what she wanted him to do.
** 2018 onward really seems to be hitting Damian hard. First his best friend disappears only to come back years older and tell him he’s leaving again for the future permanently, robbing him of one of the most positive influences of his life. Then his adopted brother is shot in the head, surviving only to have a vast change in identity, robbing of his other most positive influence. Then Alfred is killed by Bane in front of him due to an error in his own judgement. This causes a downward spiral where he regresses back to his more brutal ways killing criminals and pushing his fellow Teen Titans to lock up others illegally, causing a rift between them. And the Batman catches them in the act causing an argument between father and son which ended with Damian quitting. With every positive influence in his life gone, Damian is on a dark path as foreshadowed by the Legion.

** Robin in general gets a lot of crap for supposedly being a DistressedDude. While Dick played this role straight a lot in the 60s TV show and Schumacher films, generally Batman was captured with him, and in the comics themselves Dick then went on to found the Teen Titans and become TheHeart of the entire DCU as Nightwing. As noted in TrueArtIsAngsty, some people seem to think that Robin ''cannot'' work in live action, even if they're willing to admit he could work seriously in animated or comic form (which leads to some form of AnimationAgeGhetto mentalities).
* ReplacementScrappy: Pretty much every legacy to take on the role for either the one before them, or for Dick Grayson himself. Jason got so much vitriol it lead to killing him off, Steph's ''still'' not forgiven by some hardcore Robin fans for not 'earning' the role, and a big part of the reason Damian is seen as such a CreatorsPet is because he was made Robin seemingly just because of his last name and usurped Tim Drake. Duke Thomas also got lots of backlash when he was being teased as the new Robin, though it's died down since Damian's return. Tim seems to be the only one not to be hated due to being a HypercompetentSidekick KidHero who helped shrug off the reputation of being a DistressedDude, but even there, there are some fans who seem to see Dick Grayson as the ''only'' Robin and so hate him and the legacy for this reason (though, these are rare), and his New 52 version is pretty much this for his Post-Crisis version.

* CompleteMonster: [[TouchOfDeath Vitoria, aka Wanderer]], from ''Red Robin'', was born in Brazil. As a young girl, she was abused by the men in the village. One day, while running from the men, she fell into a pit of venomous spiders. However, instead of dying, she gained the power to kill with a touch. After killing the men--which was justified--Vitoria [[{{Matricide}} murdered her mother]], then went on a killing spree across South America, slaughtering people at random. When she grew bored with this, she recruited a band of like-minded psychos, which she names the Council of Spiders, and attacked the League of Assassins for [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame sport]], butchering dozens of its members in the process, and caring not a whit for any innocents who got in the way. BuriedAlive after her plot failed, Vitoria [[UngratefulBastard killed the man who rescued her]], before announcing her intention of moving on from targeting assassins to targeting heroes.

* MainstreamObscurity: Ask anyone how many Robins are there, and expect people to be surprised that there's more than one or two Robins in the comics. Dick and Tim are usually who the general population know most thanks to the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries animated series]] and the VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries

* {{Narm}}: Tim Drake's identity of Red Robin can be hard to take seriously for readers familiar with the restaurant chain.

** 2018 onward really seems to be hitting Damian hard. First his best friend disappears only to come back years older and tell him he’s leaving again for the future permanently, robbing him of one of the most positive influences of his life. Then his adopted brother is shot in the head, surviving only to have a vast change in identity, robbing of his other most positive influence. ThenAlfred is killed by Bane in front of him due to an error in his own judgement. This causes a downward spiral where he regresses back to his more brutal ways killing criminals and pushing his fellow Teen Titans to lock up others illegally, causing a rift between them. And the Batman catches them in the act causing an argument between father and son which ended with Damian quitting. With every positive influence in his life gone, Damian is on a dark path as foreshadowed by the Legion.

** Inverted/averted with the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'' take on the Robin costume. Both [[InTheHood Tim's]] and [[MovieSuperheroesWearBlack Dick's]] outfits, as shown in ''Arkham City'' and ''Arkham Origins'' respectfully, are generally well received as they could easily work as film versions of the outfits. Tim's outfit did have FingerlessGloves that ruined it for many for obvious reasons, but his ''Knight'' look is considered an improvement for looking like armor instead of cosplay and giving him full gloves.

** The Robin identity in general. Some people think the very idea of a brightly-colored minor running around and fighting criminals is ridiculous. Others consider it a NecessaryWeasel to keep Batman from getting too grimdark. Others invoke the GrandfatherClause and say that whether it makes sense or not, it's part of comics tradition and too late to change.

*** He also considers himself to be this for Stephanie Brown, though fans consider Bryan Q. Miller to be this for his run on Batgirl, though they generally respect Dixon's work as her creator.

* SnarkBait: The decision to have Tim use his own last name as his superhero code name in ''ComicBook/YoungJustice2019'' has been widely derided. Nearly everything about Tim's new identity has gotten this, from the new costume, which many consider ugly, to the codename being a duck and doing nothing to hide his secret identity — people also making jokes involving that Music/{{Drake}} — has gotten some degree of mockery online.

** Damian Wayne. Either he's a Woobie who just needs someone to believe in him (hello there, Dick) and has exhibited tremendous CharacterDevelopment over the course of several books, or a horribly arrogant, obnoxious, violent and cruel person who only gets to be Robin because of his last name.

** Carrie Kelley, who was introduced in ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', is well-liked by fans as well. She would finally making her way to the main DC Universe with ''ComicBook/TheNew52'', though not as Robin (despite being introduced after Damian's death and being teased as his successor), although she ''was'' the fan-favourite candidate.

* MorePopularReplacement: Tim Drake was much more warmly welcomed by fans compared to Jason Todd. This is mostly because Jason himself was a ReplacementScrappy for Dick Grayson and also due to his excessively angsty nature. In contrast, Tim was the NiceGuy who meshed well with the rest of the Bat family. Though Jason himself would end up undergoing a case of RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap after coming BackFromTheDead and took up the identity of Red Hood.

** For Tim's Red Robin look: Condom head vs. Swan queen. Some feel the condom head look works because it takes inspiration from Batman and is just more practical, which reflects Tim's character. The swan queen look is liked for having some practicality in the cape. While nobody will say either is an amazing costume design, which one is better is up in the air.

* {{Misblamed}}: InUniverse, whenever his death is brought up, it's usually blamed for his temper and impulsiveness, rather than the actual cause, which was his biological mother, Sheila Haywood, leading him into a trap.

** Jason for the same costume more or less as Dick, as well as dying and being the 'asshole Robin'.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: A part of the reason for so much stigma against Robin outside of cartoons and comics; the idea of Batman, a dark and brooding loner, taking on a protogé who dresses in a campy brightly coloured costume is seen as such an ill-fitting idea that some believe that Robin simply ''cannot'' work on film, and its not helped by the only time he got a 'serious' film adaptation was the Creator/JoelSchumacher films, ''Film/BatmanForever'' and ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'', which didn't do well for his image, leading both Creator/ChristianBale and Creator/ChristopherNolan swearing against including him in [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy their films]]. It should be noted that in those films ''and'' the classic Adam West 60s ''Series/{{Batman}}'' show, Robin wasn't any worse than Batman in how he was depicted, so blaming him for it is pretty unfair.

** The ''ComicBook/New52''[='=]s origin for Tim Drake is heavily criticized by many fans. Pre-boot, he was an intelligent, non-athletic nice guy and AudienceSurrogate who had the most "normal" upbringing of all the Robins and became Robin because he realised how important it was [[MoralityPet for Batman to have a Robin]]. In the New 52 continuity, he's an arrogant, friendless gymnast who has never been "Robin" and only ever been "Red Robin", he became Batman's sidekick because he wanted a challenge and his last name isn't really Drake.

** Jason: As the writer of both the ''Under the Hood'' comic (and its [[WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood adaptation]]), Creator/JuddWinick is considered MyRealDaddy for Jason Todd as Red Hood, though many do consider Red Hood's best story to be in Comicbook/GrantMorrisonsBatman. Which is why the post-Comicbook/{{Flashpoint}} anti-hero Jason is often consider TheScrappy even in his own book, particularly when compared to the previously mentioned.

* CompleteMonster: Vitoria, aka Wanderer, from ''Red Robin'', was born in Brazil. As a young girl, she was abused by the men in the village. One day, while running from the men, she fell into a pit of venomous spiders. However, instead of dying, she gained the power to kill with a touch. After killing the men--which was justified--Vitoria [[{{Matricide}} murdered her mother]], then went on a killing spree across South America, slaughtering people at random. When she grew bored with this, she recruited a band of like-minded psychos, which she names the Council of Spiders, and attacked the League of Assassins for [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame sport]], butchering dozens of its members in the process, and caring not a whit for any innocents who got in the way. BuriedAlive after her plot failed, Vitoria [[UngratefulBastard killed the man who rescued her]], before announcing her intention of moving on from targeting assassins to [[HeroKiller targeting heroes]].