In the media there is a certain preconception of Robin the Boy Wonder, people tend to think he’s generally lame and a total joke of a character. This view has been inspired by the dreadful portrayal of Robin on the screen in both the old campy TV series and in the films in which Robin was portrayed as a boring and annoying old man. Robin is seen as a stupid character that has no right existing.
This is a fracking travesty.
Robin is a very worthwhile character and one that would make a fine addition to Arkham City, he’s just awesome. The problem arises, and the view differs, because yes the film and TV versions of robin are rubbish but the comic book version is the one that’s good. Granted over the years Robin is a moniker that’s been held by a few individuals; but the main two are excellent. Dick Grayson was the first robin and his master of acrobatics made him brilliant at navigating roof tops and also aided in his superb fighting style. He was intelligent and had a charming disposition that nicely offset the dark knight’s harder edge. He later went on to become Nightwing and was even better in that role than he ever was as robin. Personally I think it would be really cool to see both Nightwing and Robin in the game as playable characters in coop or with seperate single player portions where you can plays as them. I would choose to play as Robin given the oppertunity, especially if that Robin was Tim Drake.
My personal favourite Robin is Tim Drake, this is a person with a great sense of humour, a mastery of martial arts and a detective and deductive mind that surpasses even Batman himself. From the start Tim was depicted as a detective greater than batman as he is the only one, ever, to work out who wears that cowl. He also has this great point of view that I can really get behind, he didn’t become Robin due to some kind of trauma, no, he became Robin because he saw a Batman without his boy wonder and realised that Batman needs a Robin. You can't, can not, have a Batman without a robin. That's just a fact of the universe.
This idea that Batman can’t exists properly without a Robin is something I’ve believed for the longest time. Those two are intrinsically linked in a way that no other two super heroes, or other heroes and their sidekicks, ever are. Bats is a very dark and brooding character that’s always on the verge of insanity, he’s a character that sits apart and above the world and views it with an analytical sense of distance. Robin is needed because he provides Bats with a human side, a side to rein Bruce in and keep him connected to the real world. Furthermore they also give Bruce support and act as a family, he views each of those Robins as sons and cares for them deeply. With his super hero career he could never really have a proper family; so these kids he takes under his wing are his surrogate sons. There could be some really poignant story moments in the game if the developers decide to take advantage of this relationship, there wasn't really much emotional threat or any real emotional levity in the first game. Brining Robin to the fold would provide that.
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