do The People™ know that Dick implicitly considers Robin to have an age limit and that absolutely informs how he approached the Tim-Damian Robin transition during the Reborn era?
"In my mind, I was still that Robin. Still swinging alongside the Batman, still his kid partner. But that was the problem. I'm not the same kid. I've changed. But as long as I wear this same costume that I've worn since I was eight...I keep playing a role I'd long ago outgrown." -New Teen Titans (1980) #39
"I don't believe this. That man raised me. I've gone through hell with him and because of him. Don't lecture me about him until you've cared for him and loved him as long as I have. And the first thing he taught me was how to be a man..."[Dick throws his old Robin costume onto the table] "...not how to become a kid all over again." -Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying, Part 4 (New Titans #61)
"Probably a great marriage the Castles have...but then, I messed up with Kory myself. Blew it with the Titans...lost my way as Nightwing. I'm too old to be Robin...and being the Batman on a grim tour like this certainly isn't me. But what is? What am I?" -Batman Prodigal, Part 9 (Batman #514)
"But I've outgrown the green shorts. I can't be a kid partner any longer. Not just yours. Anyone's. It's time for the Boy Wonder to become a man." -Robin 80th Anniversary Special, "A Little Nudge" (2020)
There's this utterly fascinating tension between Dick refusing to be seen as anything other than Batman's equal partner while he's Robin and acknowledging later on in his career that Robin will always be subordinate to Batman at the end of the day and that's why he can't stay in or return to the role (and partially why he would never ask Tim, a person he genuinely sees as his equal, to remain in the role).
Because Dick was not joking or being patronizing when he called Tim his "equal" here:
"He's my responsibility, now. You're not my protege, Tim...you're my equal. My closest ally. You'll be okay." -Red Robin (2009) #1
He genuinely believed what he was saying and I think that's vitally important for understanding where his head was at when he made the decision to make Damian his Robin during the Reborn era.
It actually drives me a little insane because it's just an absolute and utter mismatch in vision and priorities. Dick deeply believes in Tim's independence and his potential to spread his wings and become something greater than Batman's non-independent "junior" crimefighting partner, just like he himself did when he became Nightwing...and meanwhile Tim just wanted to be Robin, never really desired to be anything else other than Robin, and was clinging to the mantle by his fingertips in order to stay sane at the time.
And this dynamic is still present now that Tim's gone back to being Robin again! Tim had seemingly moved on from Robin but pretty quickly donned the mantle again when he thought it was needed because Robin is a specific type of job to him, not a role he eventually would grow out of. And Dick is once again pushing Tim to grow beyond it because he wants more for his little brother than what he sees as Tim sacrificing his own future and growth for the purpose he laid out for himself at thirteen (to take care of Bruce, because Batman needs a Robin):
"I love Bruce. He's my family. But I couldn't bring him out of the past. And after awhile, I realized the longer I spent trying to get him out of the past and into the present...I was sacrificing my own future. I don't want that for you. I know you've gotten comfortable going back to being Robin while Damian is out of town. But he's earned that name now. And you...you deserve your own future. Trust me, Tim. At some point...you have to set yourself free." -Batman: Urban Legends (2021) #10
Tim, of course, is going from identity crisis to identity crisis and once again clinging to Robin, because it's an identity he can wear where he absolutely knows where he stands. It's a role and job he knows he can do and do expertly. And Bruce isn't like Dick; Bruce loves having Tim around as Robin and isn't going to push him on leaving the role. Meanwhile, Tim and Damian are at a cosmic comfort level with operating as Robin simultaneously, so he's not being threatened to leave the role by the other mantle wearer either.
So there's a narrative tension where Bruce won't push Tim on a new identity but Dick will, because Dick (the eldest child, the original Robin, the person who defined what it meant to be Robin to both Bruce and Tim) sees and understands Robin in a specific way: as an invaluable role and learning experience, but one that is eventually meant to be moved on from once you're old enough to fly on your own.
annaxmalina
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