Costume Rating 15: TAS Robin

[Podmark]

Today we'll look at Dick's design from Batman the Animated Series. Let me know what you think.


This is the only animated Dick I'm going to do on my own, but if there's any you guys would like rate just let me know.

[BentonGrey]

5: I love it!  This is far and away my favorite Robin costume and one of my favorite costumes, period.  It's a wonderful blend of classic and modern.  It still manages to retain the best of the classic elements of Robin's costume, and it provides some common-sense concessions as well.  I love the two-tone cape.  It's pure genius. The costume itself, with both stealthy and dramatic elements, looks like something an acrobat might wear to fight crime.  It's perfect for Dick, and the only thing that saddens me about it is the fact that he didn't wear it in the comics when he should have.

[bat1987]

Definitely a 5 for me as well. This is the costume that first comes to mind when I think of Robin. It was in BTAS and Tim had the same one in comics for a very long time. Really great update to classic look and the cape is phenomenal.

[Tomato]

4. I really do like this costume, but I do have a gripe with it... and that's that it looks like an animated Tim Drake rather than Dick. Don't get me wrong, I do think this is a great "classic" Robin outfit, it's just hard for me not to see Tim rather than Dick wearing it.

I think the version in "Old Wounds" is slightly better (if only because it looks more like Dick to me) but I just wish the costume had one or two more elements in it (Or even just a non-spiky hairstyle) that made it more unique to "Dick Grayson"

[Podmark]

I like it, it rates right up there with the best Robin costumes. That said I prefer the proper Tim Drake version, it has a little more going on.

[Cyber Burn]

I had to give this one a 4. While it really is a good costume, after looking at the pic that 'Mato posted, I feel that more could have been done with it.

[BentonGrey]

Okay........am I going crazy?  I see no difference at all between 'Mato's picture and this one.  Everyone else seems to see something, but they look exactly the same, other than art style, to me.  What am I missing?

[Podmark]

Okay........am I going crazy?  I see no difference at all between 'Mato's picture and this one.  Everyone else seems to see something, but they look exactly the same, other than art style, to me.  What am I missing?

The main difference is the flipped up edge of the cape around the shoulders on one side adding a yellow lining to the look, it's quite nice. Other differences are the bigger belt buckle and crisper colours.

[BentonGrey]

Ha, yeah, but that is still the exact same costume.  The cape is just sitting slightly differently and the coloring is a bit different.  The costume is the same.  I call shenanigans! 

[Tomato]

Honestly benton, though I used it to demonstrate my point, my issue with it is that it's Dick wearing someone else's clothes. When it came to me making a DCUC Robin, I added just one or two elements of the old costume into it... and you would be amazed just how far a few minor alterations go toward making him look like Dick Grayson in an updated costume, rather than an animated Tim Drake they keep calling "Dick Grayson" for the sake of continuity.

[BentonGrey]

Ehh, I know that troubles you, but it seems perfect to me.  It's a great costume, and I like Dick Grayson a lot more than Tim Drake.   They didn't just want to call Tim Dick in the animated series, though.  He was good with computers, but otherwise he was totally Dick Grayson.

If you take Tim out of the equation (which is, I realize, a lot easier for me to do than you, 'Mato), that costume makes perfect sense as an evolution of Robin's original look.  It's like, a young Dick designs the first one himself, Batman says, 'What?  No, you're totally going to get shot.  Let me help you with that,' and the result is this one, which blends the elements from the original into a more reasonable and functional look. 

[oldmanwinters]

I think the WBkids revamp of BTAS may have introduced the all red variant of Robin's costume, which I really liked... even if it was weird seeing on that version of Tim Drake who seemed to be about 3.5 feet tall in that show.

But, yes, the original BTAS Robin costume is my favorite, even if sometimes the animation cel coloring got weird on the green making the supposedly shaded areas into a strange shade of turquoise.