I understand this is a happy moment for many DC fans within the LGBT+ community, but its disappointing to many other fans who have identified with a beloved character and don’t relate to this change. It’s not like Tim Drake is a brand new Robin; he’s been around for a long time and is well established. I am not alone in feeling that this is the wrong direction to go with this character. There are a lot more people like me, but they won’t say anything; they will quietly stop buying the comics because they don’t feel like they can relate to the character anymore.
1 Like
DC created all of these new characters/series and no one bought them. They all got canceled
This is why dc goes after established characters with a built in fanbase. Also the notion of not being able to relate to a character because of their sexuality, is bogus. I’m not gay and I’ve always been able to relate to John Constantine. I’m not a woman and I own plenty of female centric comics.
8 Likes
I said previously that this will not bring in new readers and will only alienate many others.
Someone mentioned Midnighter - a great character who was gay, but didn’t have entire stories built around that facet of his life and I can predict that this is the direction we’ll be going in with Tim - entire books where his new found sexuality is highlighted.
Jeez Louise can we just leave established characters alone and create new ones and write good stories that comport with the typical hero’s journey?
For those of you who are of Diverse sexualities, why don’t you just demand that already established LGBTQ+ characters be given more play? Why insist that thirty years of history be upended?
Anyway, I’ve said enough. We’re both going to agree.
3 Likes
New characters don’t sell. Why do you think Batman books have always overflowed the market, huh?
3 Likes
I just want to remind everyone that DC and DCUI is a beacon for diversity, has always been and always will be:
9 Likes
I don’t think anyone here is knocking diversity.
The point is contention the sudden radical revision of decades old established characters, specifically, their sexuality, when there are already an underutilized number of sexuality diverse characters who haven’t been in a book in years.
4 Likes
But I said I was done discussing and went back and broke my word so this time I’ll keep it.
I don’t think Tim coming out as Bi is a complete reversal of the character. If they would have made him gay it would have been, but Bi is different ( obviously ).
I agree Iceman was handled horribly by Marvel ( and still is, he acts like he is 16 ).
3 Likes
Probably worth noting that, while Tim has been around for 30+ years, it’s only been 5 or 6 (ish) years for him, and they are adolescent years where people very often go through “radical changes.” It’s not exactly unheard of for a 17-19ish year old to go through some large, and sometimes very sudden, changes.
Changing a character’s sexuality is only a political change if you view acceptance or prominence of LGBTQ characters as “political.”
7 Likes
No history was upended. The writer was very clear that everything that happened before still happened, and that Tim’s relationship with Stephanie was genuine.
8 Likes
Then you have your pick of straight characters to identify with next.
As I said in the last thread about this, I can name, like, only a handful of bi DC characters.
And if Tim no longer being straight means you can no longer relate to him, maybe it wasn’t the character you related to.
11 Likes
To be fair, this does cut both ways. I’m a SWM so I’ve never experienced a feeling of lack of “representation” - I appreciate that others do and obviously there are lots of other SWM characters out there, but if changing the character’s sexuality makes him more relatable to some folks, it’s not unfair to acknowledge that it may make him less relatable to other folks.
6 Likes
Hmm, true. That’s a good point.
I guess what I was trying to get at is that there’s more to a character than sexuality. Drake is still the relatable smart teenage sidekick of Batman, he just doesn’t identify as straight anymore, so letting the character be happy with that one change is maybe alright. I mean, I relate to Drake but I’m not a vigilante Sidekick, so I mean…
But yeah, I guess I do see where a character being straight could make a character more relatable in the same way having him be LGBTQ does.
7 Likes
There is a difference though. SWM have had a billion characters to relate to. LGBTQA+ haven’t. So, it makes sense to suddenly relate to a character if you have never had that representation before.
But I do understand your point and I hadn’t thought of it that way before. Thanks for saying something.
6 Likes
This article put it in ways that I wanted to but couldn’t quite put into words.
7 Likes
That article deserves better than its clickbait headline. “Robin Comes Out” and then the article is mostly well written about nuance and discovery and specifically addresses that neither Tim or the writers have applied labels.
4 Likes
My own article just went live on DC’s own front page. Very proud to be the one to cover it.
14 Likes
Just cool to see a creator come out and basically say, we’ve always treated him as bisexual…
9 Likes
Beautiful article! Thanks for sharing!
7 Likes
Tim and Jubilee are still the best pairing ever. 
2 Likes