What's up with the pure hatred for Tim Drake nowadays?

[James Cameron]

I haven't kept up with all of the current Bat-titles for some time, and before registering on this site I had taken a long hiatus from online comic book discussions, so I'm not in the loop on all of the current discourse, especially regarding Batman. I'm slowly catching my way up through different runs, but one thing that has completely shocked me is this utter disdain for Tim Drake that I'm encountering in online spheres.

I mean, people hate this guy now to the point where he's a meme. He's everything wrong with the Bat-family, he's the worst Robin, he sucks, etc., but I rarely ever see specifics. It's so meme-ified now that I missed the opportunity to witness or partake in any discussion about it. So what exactly happened? He used to be my favorite Robin. I always loved the concept behind him, how he wasn't necessarily borne out of tragedy, he just wanted to help Batman. I liked how he never had any great ambitions of being a superhero and didn't walk around demanding respect. He was funny but never a nuisance to me. I liked that he had an actual double life and wasn't Bruce's ward or adopted son until much later, he had a whole life and cast of characters to explore outside of his efforts as Robin. I loved that his loyalty to Bruce outweighed everything else, even when he was upset with him. He was the most interesting Batfam character for me growing up.

Of course the New 52 changed a lot of that - and it's a shame because it came after the incredible Red Robin solo which had some great ideas for Tim Drake's place in the DCU. But it seemed like after the New 52 DC wasn't really sure what to do with him. I thought he had some really great moments though, I liked when they brought back the Titans Tomorrow story in Tec, and even though Futures End wasn't great I liked that Tim Drake had a central role in that. I didn't really like him becoming Batman Beyond but I was just happy to see one of my favorites being a protagonist in some books.

But now I'm coming back into this world and seeing that people are done with him. It doesn't even seem like there's any reasoning with these people. So what exactly is it? I know people were upset with the bisexual thing and Bernard, but that can't be the reason. What happened in the past couple years that turned everyone against him? Is it how he's being written lately, or is it a new generation of fans recontextualizing older material and being like "no, he was always terrible" ?

[Godlike13]

He's in the way. Their repeated attempts with him and their backtracking to capture the magic of yesteryear, despite response, eats up resources and hampers the the development of other characters and the Robin brand in general.

[thwhtGuardian]

I haven't kept up with all of the current Bat-titles for some time, and before registering on this site I had taken a long hiatus from online comic book discussions, so I'm not in the loop on all of the current discourse, especially regarding Batman. I'm slowly catching my way up through different runs, but one thing that has completely shocked me is this utter disdain for Tim Drake that I'm encountering in online spheres.

I mean, people hate this guy now to the point where he's a meme. He's everything wrong with the Bat-family, he's the worst Robin, he sucks, etc., but I rarely ever see specifics. It's so meme-ified now that I missed the opportunity to witness or partake in any discussion about it. So what exactly happened? He used to be my favorite Robin. I always loved the concept behind him, how he wasn't necessarily borne out of tragedy, he just wanted to help Batman. I liked how he never had any great ambitions of being a superhero and didn't walk around demanding respect. He was funny but never a nuisance to me. I liked that he had an actual double life and wasn't Bruce's ward or adopted son until much later, he had a whole life and cast of characters to explore outside of his efforts as Robin. I loved that his loyalty to Bruce outweighed everything else, even when he was upset with him. He was the most interesting Batfam character for me growing up.

Of course the New 52 changed a lot of that - and it's a shame because it came after the incredible Red Robin solo which had some great ideas for Tim Drake's place in the DCU. But it seemed like after the New 52 DC wasn't really sure what to do with him. I thought he had some really great moments though, I liked when they brought back the Titans Tomorrow story in Tec, and even though Futures End wasn't great I liked that Tim Drake had a central role in that. I didn't really like him becoming Batman Beyond but I was just happy to see one of my favorites being a protagonist in some books.

But now I'm coming back into this world and seeing that people are done with him. It doesn't even seem like there's any reasoning with these people. So what exactly is it? I know people were upset with the bisexual thing and Bernard, but that can't be the reason. What happened in the past couple years that turned everyone against him? Is it how he's being written lately, or is it a new generation of fans recontextualizing older material and being like "no, he was always terrible" ?

There isn't really any reasoning with them, it's like Tim somehow hurt them personally sometimes.

He's not my favorite, I've always loved Dick Grayson more but I have no answer as to why he gets hate lately.

[Riv86672]

I don’t hate Tim; I’m Less than pleased at how he’s been written lately.

[NOCTPHOENIX]

I don't understand it either. He's not like offensively bad but people think being "boring" is a reason

[Pohzee]

I do think its exceedingly rare to tell good stories with the entire Batfamily actually having an interesting role instead of slotting into obligatory single lines of dialogue crowded around in group shots. So with Tim being exceeding static and without a real role right now his presence in story is subtraction by addition. His presence in panels distracts and reduces what could be tighter, more focused stories.

[HsssH]

It is a reaction to his toxic fandom claiming that he is the best Robin.