What Lobdell did wrong – DCnU and Tim Drake

So. I know that the relaunch is more for new readers than it is for old, but some parts of it are just infuriating. I would have been okay with most of it, if it weren’t for the red robin relaunch.
Let’s start out with all the differences.
In pre-DCnU Tim finds out batman’s identity through a bit of luck and some deductive skills. He surprised Dick and Bruce and Alfred by telling them that he knew. About all of them. And Jason. And he figured that Jason’s death was what was causing Bruce to go a little berserk. And then after being unable to convince dick to return to robin, he helps Bruce and eventually becomes robin himself. All of this because “batman needs a robin”. His parents do love him, though at the time they’re globe-trekking archaeologists that Tim sees little of. Once his mom dies though, his dad returns home and is the good, caring father. Tim never wanted to stay robin. He only did it because he felt he had no choice, because no one else could be. And batman needed him. For him, with his father and regular life, robin, and vigilante crime-fighting, was a temporary thing. Sure, Tim has always been the detective of the robins, but before he became robin, though he was smart, he never really exploited that potential. And he was probably an above average athlete, nothing special (though he is a bit young when he first becomes robin – too young to tell if he was a good athlete). The only reason why Tim became a brilliant detective and athlete was because of the training and experience Bruce put him through. And Tim probably grows and develops the most out of the robins so far. Originally he sees things in terms of black and white, but with the death of his dad and Bruce, he begins to drift into the grey. And of course, his detective skills become extremely honed and powerful. Still, he isn’t as good as barbara at hacking. Tim was the easiest to influence robin, and because of that he could change a lot.
Then when Red Robin was at its best, flashpoint happens.
DCnU Tim…… man. Alright. First of all, Tim’s a bit (edit: a lot) more like Jason, a bit cocky (Jason, on the other hand, is more tame). He’s friends with Jason (funny thing is last time Jason and Tim saw each other in battle for the cowl, Tim tried to beat Jason to death with a poker (he originally was supposed to be screaming “I’ll kill you” or something) and Jason stabbed and tried to kill Tim with a batarang). Aw, what the hell. He’s as arrogant as Damian. His real name isn’t Tim drake (though tbh i can live with that). Tim wants to APPLY for the robin job. He’s a gifted athlete and HACKER from the start. I guess in some ways he’s meant to fill the gap oracle left behind (I did love Barbara as oracle and as the original, she’s fine as batgirl again, but oracle was a badass hacker and could kick your ass, even in a wheelchair), but he certainly isn’t doing that while running around with the teen titans (and him and kon-el aren’t besties, wth). And Tim uses people from the start – on some kind of quest for excellence or something. Tim spends a heck of a time trying to find out who Bruce is. He’s not introduced through the graysons. He hacks penguin’s accounts to get Bruce’s attention. wdf, Bruce’s attention? really? He never was robin too. That’s sort of okay, except for two things: 1. we miss joker’s “wth I thought I killed you reaction” and we have an obvious change of the person on the job (guys guys! The old sidekick is probably dead. He’s running around with a new kid!) which probably makes Jason’s death more apparent. he’s a lot less obedient to Bruce. Again, using them.
So. There is almost no original Tim. from the name to the detective turning into the hacker. Bleh. But thing is, Lowell’s got it all wrong. He said in an interview that Tim was the normal kid, the one with the loving and living parents. But what kind of normal life does a kid who’s a olympic-to-be gymnast, a manipulative hacker, and a parent-loving pre-teen have? That is nothing normal. It’s not normal at all. Pre-DCnU had a choice between his two lives. This Tim gives himself no choice.
*sighs* … after all of this, there is a way DC can fix this. They’d better have uber duber awesome character development in order to make up for these changes. Tim won’t change in the new future, so I guess my favorite robin DCnU will be Damian. It’s much too hard to fk up given Damian’s character and potential development. At least I hope.

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