Personalities/Traits of the Robins

[Arctic Cyclist]

Duke Thomas traits pg 5

Despite not being Robin and getting kidnapped less than Damian, is the current boy hostage. Since he's new and a different color Batman notices if he disappears or gets hurt.

No bird names in daylight. That's why he's THE SIGNAL.

Plus non Robins get put on a bus and sent away. Some Robins as well.

Enjoys food. Not so sure about sleep.

Not nocturnal. Did not do well trying to be nocturnal. Thinks better in the day.

His stepdad was nocturnal, one of the night construction workers. He's like his mom, finds everything makes better sense in the light of the morning.

Kept his parents at Wayne Manor when he lived there. Accepted that was weird and put them in a home then moved in with his cousin.

Prefers living with family. Biological family. Not fictive families that are strangely cult like and fall apart every month.

Natural leader.

Good with crowd control, mob control.

Has visions.

Currently hanging out with Cassandra Cain.

Damian calls him by his first name.

Only Robin voted onto the island with everyone's consent.

Only member of the Batfamily that everyone liked from the initial encounter.

That's because he's the only one out and open about being a meta and related to metas. But he's cool. He's not pressuring anyone else to come out even though it's obvious.

[lemonpeace]

If I had to sum up Duke in two character traits I'd say he's pragmatic and rebellious. The type to set out to understand the rules, not necessarily to break them, but will break them if necessary.

Here's a pretty in-depth look at the character I posted on the Duke Appreciation Thread from a post I found a while back:

Duke’s path to heroism begins before he ever meets Batman. It starts when he meets Bruce Wayne. He meets Gotham’s prodigal son during the Zero Year event, when his parents bring the unconscious Wayne into their home. When they meet, Duke is already studying up and planning to take on the Riddler by himself. He’s all of 10 at this point, and there’s a man who has taken over the entire city, and Duke is completely unafraid. The consequences for failing the Riddler’s test are dire, but it doesn’t matter. Duke is willing, Duke is ready.

After this, we see the next major development of Duke’s personality. Batman, who Duke has looked up to since he was rescued in the wilds of the Zero Year while fishing, is gone. And so are his parents. Duke enters foster care and essentially becomes a problem child. He has gained a deep distrust of authority and a fierce independence. He bounces around foster homes, refusing to stay put and be used, because he has learned to rely on himself for his needs. He’s had it rough. He develops his manifesto of “Robin doesn’t need Batman”, which is a perfect summation of how he operates as a hero. Further still, Duke chose the vigilante life on his own. He recognizes it’s crazy and irresponsible and he can’t help it, it’s called to him.At this point he's joined and even leads a division of the We Are Robin Movement, and we see him developed a bit further in relation to Bruce specifically. By this point he has also deduced the identities of 3 members of the Batfamily (Bruce, Dick, and Damian), and knows that Bruce is hiding from himself [post-endgame]. He confronts him on it, calls Bruce on his bs, and that’s another important facet to Duke’s personality. He doesn’t take ****. At all. Duke stands firm in his identity and doesn’t take others being untrue to themselves lightly. Duke is perceptive enough to call someone’s bluff.

Now, while Duke is fully prepared for crazy and being a hero, he is still unsure of what that means in relation to the Batfamily. Note that this isn’t the same as feeling out of his depth; Duke would be a vigilante regardless of the others. He already was one. But now that he’s in the gold, he has doubts as to what that actually means. He’s not like them, but only because he’s not in the dark. He literally operates in the light. He’s not hiding. Because he’s not afraid of who he is and what is in him.

[Arctic Cyclist]

Robin

Actually a bird.

Batcow's sidekick.

Originally Dick's pet in Tiny Titans.

Clever.

Can escape most traps and cages.

Loyal and brave.

Keeps dying and getting replaced but no one notices because it's really hard to tell boy robins apart.

[Konja7]

Arctic Cyclist, I know Barbara isn't a Robin, but can you include her on the descriptions.

[J. D. Guy]

Duke Thomas traits pg 4

Isn't in school anymore. Another high school drop out like Tim who's either home schooled or has a GED.

If Damian stayed dead, he would have been Robin and Bruce would have an army of clones he keeps transferring his conscious into. Duke would have grown an awesome ponytail/man bun.

Figured out on his own everyone's identity, including the less obvious family members.

Thought it was impressive because that was Tim's claim to fame. Was shot down by Alfred who explained it's not hard. Proving that is hard, except with Damian, and most people are too polite to talk about it.

Bruce has explained to him that he's color coded his family. Duke was not surprised by that, but was surprised that they weren't all red.

Isn't being trained to follow orders. Might be why he follows orders.

Isn't a Powerpuff girl. Or a Brady Bunch kid.

Thinks it's both mean and inaccurate to consider Damian Cousin Oliver. Though he can't argue about Damian being Mojo Jojo.

Realizes that the Family is Malcolm in the Middle, Damian's Dewey, and he's Jamie. He's cool with that.

Takes Damian to the movies. Understands Damian better than most people. Part of Team Teach Damian to Child.

Might become Batman. Really, who doesn't?

Knows that Alfred has a clone.

Has been kidnapped by Ra's, hasn't met him.

Good at riddled and puzzles. Does the crossword every day, and sudoku.

Went on a road trip with Batman and Two Face. Parts of it were enjoyable. Met Harold.

Thinks Bruce calls all his dogs Ace and children Robin because his head injuries have screwed up his memory.

Suspects he's the chick. Is secure enough in his masculinity and sexuality to not mind.

Just quoted one of the posts

(Not that it matters that I did regardless, but...) I like it, and give it my "seal of approval".

There's definitely some fanon and headcanon in their, but overall it's respectably accurate to what occurred in his appearances.

A couple of things, though: I'm not sure if this didn't quite happen, and maybe I am mis-remembering, but I recall that at least in the concept of Batman and The Signal spoken in interviews, Duke was indeed meant to return to highschool. Mind, the book was meant to be 6 issues on onset and not 3, but still. I'm not sure if Duke is supposed to be a highschool drop out. Also, and once again, I may be mis-remembering, but where was it mentioned that Duke's dad in the flashback of issue 2 of BATS was his stepdad?

[J. D. Guy]

If I had to sum up Duke in two character traits I'd say he's pragmatic and rebellious. The type to set out to understand the rules, not necessarily to break them, but will break them if necessary.

Here's a pretty in-depth look at the character I posted on the Duke Appreciation Thread from a post I found a while back:

Still feel this was pretty much the best analysis of Duke/The Signal.

[lemonpeace]

Just quoted one of the posts

(Not that it matters that I did regardless, but...) I like it, and give it my "seal of approval".

There's definitely some fanon and headcanon in their, but overall it's respectably accurate to what occurred in his appearances.

A couple of things, though: I'm not sure if this didn't quite happen, and maybe I am mis-remembering, but I recall that at least in the concept of Batman and The Signal spoken in interviews, Duke was indeed meant to return to highschool. Mind, the book was meant to be 6 issues on onset and not 3, but still. I'm not sure if Duke is supposed to be a highschool drop out. Also, and once again, I may be mis-remembering, but where was it mentioned that Duke's dad in the flashback of issue 2 of BATS was his stepdad?

I think I can clarify some of this for you. Duke is meant to be in school but I don't think we've gotten any details about that in a while. At the end of BaTS, Bruce talks to Duke about him and Cassandra changing schools and Tony Patrick does talk about Duke being school and his powers making it awkward for him (something along the lines of seeing people talking about him behind his back after they walk by or something). As for the Doug Thomas thing, Duke does confirm that Gnomon is indeed his birth father due to their connection; he can feel when he's lying and telling the truth. Making Doug his stepfather.

[Arctic Cyclist]

Just quoted one of the posts

(Not that it matters that I did regardless, but...) I like it, and give it my "seal of approval".

There's definitely some fanon and headcanon in their, but overall it's respectably accurate to what occurred in his appearances.

A couple of things, though: I'm not sure if this didn't quite happen, and maybe I am mis-remembering, but I recall that at least in the concept of Batman and The Signal spoken in interviews, Duke was indeed meant to return to highschool. Mind, the book was meant to be 6 issues on onset and not 3, but still. I'm not sure if Duke is supposed to be a highschool drop out. Also, and once again, I may be mis-remembering, but where was it mentioned that Duke's dad in the flashback of issue 2 of BATS was his stepdad?

This is all based on my personal reading interpretations. Therefore everything could be considered fanon and head canon, depending on one's opinion of where that begins and ends. However, I'm devoted to the "Death of the Author" trope which states that once a story is published, the author is just a reader like everyone else and their opinions don't supersede anyone else's. It's also been months since I read All Star Batman (a year?), Batman/The Signal, and the majority of Duke's appearances, and even longer for everything not related to Damian or al Ghuls. So I could very likely be wrong on several of my points in the non-Damian posts; my phone only has so much space for comics and I tend to use my library for series I don't love enough to buy. So feel free to correct me if you're reading interpretation is different. I'm a veteran book clubber, I love reading other people's breakdowns of stories and character motivations. One of the best parts of reading discussions is when someone else catches a reference I missed which expands and explains the story.

The final issue of Batman/The Signal was when we learnt Elaine was pregnant when she met Doug. The villain of that series revealed that Duke is his child and Duke's meta abilities, including the triggering other metas, are from him. That said, sperm donor doesn't equal father. Doug Thomas is 100% Duke's real dad. Whether or not Duke's going back to school... I'm not sure. I know he planned on it, I know his cousin brought it up, but I don't know if it happened or will. Time is screwy in DC. And the Bat office editors. Well. We keep complaining about writers, but everyone knows a good editor can make a good writer extraordinary, a mediocre writer good, and a bad writer mediocre. I know we're not supposed to be mean about creators here, but DC needs to overhaul their editorial staff. There were some fascinating plot points and ideas in Duke's story that need explored by a good writing team with a sharp editor who can keep them on track. We'll see what happens in the Outsiders.

[Arctic Cyclist]

I can try, but I haven't read most of her appearances. Give me a couple days and I'll get back to you on that. Or weeks, there's a lot of Barbara stories, and I'm ready to invest in all of them so I'll have to see what my local library has in stock.

[oasis1313]

Can we get a Bat-Cow personality profile? That would be fun!

[J. D. Guy]

I think I can clarify some of this for you. Duke is meant to be in school but I don't think we've gotten any details about that in a while. At the end of BaTS, Bruce talks to Duke about him and Cassandra changing schools and Tony Patrick does talk about Duke being school and his powers making it awkward for him (something along the lines of seeing people talking about him behind his back after they walk by or something). As for the Doug Thomas thing, Duke does confirm that Gnomon is indeed his birth father due to their connection; he can feel when he's lying and telling the truth. Making Doug his stepfather.

Ah, I see. For the first thing, it's another side-effect of "when's Tony Patrick gonna right that Signal ongoing, again?". For the second, real life kinda cut me off, and I still need to read that last issue (it's kinda weird, I know). Still, like Arctic Cyclist said, birth-father or not, Doug raised Duke like his own son, and that's more than enough.

This is all based on my personal reading interpretations. Therefore everything could be considered fanon and head canon, depending on one's opinion of where that begins and ends. However, I'm devoted to the "Death of the Author" trope which states that once a story is published, the author is just a reader like everyone else and their opinions don't supersede anyone else's. It's also been months since I read All Star Batman (a year?), Batman/The Signal, and the majority of Duke's appearances, and even longer for everything not related to Damian or al Ghuls. So I could very likely be wrong on several of my points in the non-Damian posts; my phone only has so much space for comics and I tend to use my library for series I don't love enough to buy. So feel free to correct me if you're reading interpretation is different. I'm a veteran book clubber, I love reading other people's breakdowns of stories and character motivations. One of the best parts of reading discussions is when someone else catches a reference I missed which expands and explains the story.

The final issue of Batman/The Signal was when we learnt Elaine was pregnant when she met Doug. The villain of that series revealed that Duke is his child and Duke's meta abilities, including the triggering other metas, are from him. That said, sperm donor doesn't equal father. Doug Thomas is 100% Duke's real dad. Whether or not Duke's going back to school... I'm not sure. I know he planned on it, I know his cousin brought it up, but I don't know if it happened or will. Time is screwy in DC. And the Bat office editors. Well. We keep complaining about writers, but everyone knows a good editor can make a good writer extraordinary, a mediocre writer good, and a bad writer mediocre. I know we're not supposed to be mean about creators here, but DC needs to overhaul their editorial staff. There were some fascinating plot points and ideas in Duke's story that need explored by a good writing team with a sharp editor who can keep them on track. We'll see what happens in the Outsiders.

Interesting. Heh, I can see the "Death of the Author", but I can also see problematics with the idea when it is abused, which happens more often than not sometimes. Especially worse case scenarios like incorrigibly mis-aimed fandoms and straight-up fandom interpretation butchering of the work. I generally feel that the attentions of the author are important to the works they create even after they have been created and revealed to the masses.

A fun headcanon/fanon is still always fun. Within limits.

Also, as said above, the not-going-to-school thing is another side-effect of the story details from Duke's ongoing by Tony Patrick which has yet to reach us, I missed the point about Duke's bio-father, and you are right that Doug is Duke's real father, birth or otherwise.

I also empathize with the thought process when I consider how unduly wishiwashy DC's been with Duke. I feel he has the potential to be the Miles of the Spider-Man world equivalent for the Batman world. If he was given consistent and genuine focus. Tony Patrick shoulda been allowed to write that ongoing he set up a long time ago, and with an artist that is cool and fitting and can keep a schedule (loved Hamner on the BatS book, but his missing deadlines and setbacks didn't do The Signal any favors).

[oasis1313]

I think DC has been very supportive and positive toward Duke.

[nhienphan2808]

Bringing my post from the other thread here :
I think Dick's character depends on Bruce's personality. Golden Age to Bronse Age Batman was a nice competent and sensible badass with no angst and he got a nice competent and sensible badass with no angst no rebel son. Dick is a teen sometimes so they got a few bumps with weird characterisation but overall it's nice. Everything nice went to hell when the modern times when every bullshit Bruce is thrown onto Dick (being 10x richer with every enemies and tons of alive relatives and friends - who all came AFTER Golden Age Dick so frankly doesn't need a kid sidekick anymore, depressions) while Dick is STILL the nice lower class acrobat kid of the 40s. It's of course Dick bears the brunt of time and universe. I think what's sad is while Modern Bruce treated him like **** (and yeah he has no reason to treat him as well as old times) Modern Dick still cares about him because he remembers the old times that weren't even his. Pre Crisis Dick basically raised Bruce and co-created the Batman mythos. I want to yell when Rebirth Dick said "You were not there Hush" , because HE wasn't there either, with 1 year being a bratty Robin.

[oasis1313]

Bringing my post from the other thread here :
I think Dick's character depends on Bruce's personality. Golden Age to Bronse Age Batman was a nice competent and sensible badass with no angst and he got a nice competent and sensible badass with no angst no rebel son. Dick is a teen sometimes so they got a few bumps with weird characterisation but overall it's nice. Everything nice went to hell when the modern times when every bullshit Bruce is thrown onto Dick (being 10x richer with every enemies and tons of alive relatives and friends - who all came AFTER Golden Age Dick so frankly doesn't need a kid sidekick anymore, depressions) while Dick is STILL the nice lower class acrobat kid of the 40s. It's of course Dick bears the brunt of time and universe. I think what's sad is while Modern Bruce treated him like **** (and yeah he has no reason to treat him as well as old times) Modern Dick still cares about him because he remembers the old times that weren't even his. Pre Crisis Dick basically raised Bruce and co-created the Batman mythos. I want to yell when Rebirth Dick said "You were not there Hush" , because HE wasn't there either, with 1 year being a bratty Robin.

Questioning along the lines of Dick's "low class breeding", it might be that Bruce didn't adopt Dick because he is of "mixed race" and a "person of color" (according to Devin Grayson).

[dietrich]

Questioning along the lines of Dick's "low class breeding", it might be that Bruce didn't adopt Dick because he is of "mixed race" and a "person of color" (according to Devin Grayson).

Tut Tut shame on Bruce and years later he goes on to date multiple women of colour, a woman of the night with no breeding and have a mixed race kid. Hypocrite