Tim Drake is the Robin who was around when I got into comics...so I guess nostalgia simply won out in my case!
What makes Tim unique is that, as a character, he has come to be defined by the mantle and the legacy of Robin. Dick Grayson has now become an icon in his own right, without the Robin mantle, because of the Titans and Nightwing. Jason Todd has developed his own neat little brand as Red Hood and as the 'Robin who died'. Damian, being Batman's biological son AND basically a child-assassin, is radically divergent from the classic archetype of Robin (intentionally so). But Tim is a character who's really all about being Robin.
Unfortunately, that has worked to his detriment in a scenario where he's no longer the incumbent Robin, and the 'Red Robin' mantle really makes him a Nightwing-clone who doesn't fully want to commit to the path of breaking away from the Robin position the way Dick once did.