Why was Robin so "weak" in Batman: TAS?

[CyberCubed]

Whenever I rewatch B:TAS what sticks out the most to me is how little Robin does even in the episode he's in. B:TAS is often praised for bringing in the "modern Robin" to TV to erase the campy's 60's version of Robin. But B:TAS Robin felt shortchanged in so many ways. In the episodes he's in he's usually kidnapped, drugged up, knocked out, or needs Batman to save him. (Ra's Al Ghul's debut ep, the Baby Doll ep, the one with Poision Ivy's fake plant family, etc), or just plays second fiddle to Batman in general. He's also not a very good fighter, in B:TAS Robin gets taken out rather easily in a lot of episodes, let alone Rupert Thorne's henchwoman nearly drowning him in the Bane episode.

After seeing Robin in Teen Titans 2003, Young Justice, etc....it really stands out that B:TAS Robin wasn't very...action oriented. It's a shame because I loved him as a kid. It's also weird because he's college-age in B:TAS and isn't a teenager like the later cartoons portray Dick.

I guess it was a product of the 90's, or can't have a sidekick like Robin overshadowing Batman in his own show.

 

[Otaku-sempai]

Well, I'd say that Dick still qualified as a teen in B:TAS, just as an older teen (18 or 19). His fighting ability did vary quite a bit from episode to episode; sometimes he was able to hold his own alongside Batman. The stand-out Robin story was probably the two-parter "Robin's Reckoning".

 

[Red Arrow]

Tim Drake did a pretty good job in "Never Fear".

I always felt like both Dick Grayson and Time Drake were portrayed quite realistic in B:TAS and I liked that.

 

[BigFatHairyDeal]

If you think about it, Batman is on the weaker side, too. And by "weaker," I mostly mean less comic book insanely competent. So on a relative scale, if that's your baseline Batman, Dick should be lower on the scale, and in the end it works out for me. Give me this Robin any day over the current Robin in the animated movie line.

 

[the_joker]

If you think about it, Batman is on the weaker side, too. And by "weaker," I mostly mean less comic book insanely competent. So on a relative scale, if that's your baseline Batman, Dick should be lower on the scale, and in the end it works out for me. Give me this Robin any day over the current Robin in the animated movie line.

It has been a fair while since I've watched Batman:TAS, but I do remember Batman himself in this show being weaker than his usual self nowadays. He even struggled against thugs frequently, so this comment makes sense to me.

 

[TnAdct1]

First off, some the examples you use aren't the best ideas to claim that Robin is weak. After all, Robin probably isn't a match against Ra's al Ghul, while he allowed himself to get captured in the Baby Doll episode in place of the final actor that she was trying to kidnap.

As for him being "weak", one thing to consider is that the supposed lack of fighting skills is made up with his smarts and how it could be helpful in situations could be at a loss. In the first two Riddler episodes, Robin is the one who deduces most of the puzzles (with Batman being saved for the big rescue in the end). In the aforementioned Poison Ivy episode, as a student at the college where Ivy's husband works, he is well aware of his kids in terms of their gender and who has custody. Then, there's the Batgirl intro episodes, where he realizes that Gil Mason is involved in the framing of Com. Gordon by the fact that they he ducked early when bullets were fired at him during a rally.

 

[Mr.O]

I for one, was never a big fan of little Damien taking on adults like nothing. So find the weaker Robin (and Batman) of BTAS refreshing.

 

[Fone Bone]

It's probably to provide contrast to Batman. No Batman on Teen Titans means Robin is Batman with Spider-Man's powers.

 

[Mr.O]

It's probably to provide contrast to Batman. No Batman on Teen Titans means Robin is Batman with Spider-Man's powers.

If you mean TT 2003, I think Robin was "Batman with Spider-man powers" more so because all of his teammates were practically demi-gods. He wasn't even the smart one like Batman in Justice League.

 

[Otaku-sempai]

It's probably to provide contrast to Batman. No Batman on Teen Titans means Robin is Batman with Spider-Man's powers.

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Rob has mad fighting skills on TT, but--even so--no super-human strength or powers per se.

 

[Rick Jones]

There were times when Dick would just be thrown in as a easy hostage or something but I can't say that I ever had a problem with how he was portrayed on the original BTAS, before things soured during the New Batman Adventures. Dick was still a college boy and not crime-fighting every night like Bruce was. He had been doing it for years at that point and he was always pretty good backup but he was still very green and, as it's been said, the show didn't show Batman as being all that invulnerable either.

I think my favorite hostage moment was when he was caught during the Bane episode and eventually ended up tussling with Thorne's henchwoman while Batman faced Bane. They had fun with that.

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[TheDarkAss]

First off, some the examples you use aren't the best ideas to claim that Robin is weak. After all, Robin probably isn't a match against Ra's al Ghul, while he allowed himself to get captured in the Baby Doll episode in place of the final actor that she was trying to kidnap.

As for him being "weak", one thing to consider is that the supposed lack of fighting skills is made up with his smarts and how it could be helpful in situations could be at a loss. In the first two Riddler episodes, Robin is the one who deduces most of the puzzles (with Batman being saved for the big rescue in the end). In the aforementioned Poison Ivy episode, as a student at the college where Ivy's husband works, he is well aware of his kids in terms of their gender and who has custody. Then, there's the Batgirl intro episodes, where he realizes that Gil Mason is involved in the framing of Com. Gordon by the fact that they he ducked early when bullets were fired at him during a rally.

Actually, the example the OP used of Rupert Thorn's secretary, Candace, nearly drowning Robin is a good example of why Robin seems so weak. That really bugged the hell out of me.

But yeah, in general, Batman was weaker in this series than he was later, so it makes sense that his teenage sidekick would be even weaker. But he should have been able to beat Candace.