Originally Posted by
Grayson - The Dark Heir
That's the exact same situation Nightwing is in. It doesn't "take away" potential, because being part of the Batfamily is why we have stuff like Gotham Knights and Wayne Family Adventures, where both Dick and Jason are simply parts of the Batfamily. Both seemingly very popular in their respective mediums, both only existing as they do because both characters have the potential to be tied so heavily to the family, etc.
You don't have to like it when it comes to Jason or Dick, I usually don't like how Nightwing is treated in Batbooks after all. It's just the thing you're asking for isn't just ignoring Jason's original characterization as Robin, which is what I was talking about earlier, but also all of his character development since 2011. Which is still reasonable, just not something I personally agree with.
If we're going to talk about limiting characters, the Detective Comics Annual is a good example I think. On first glance, it just looks like an issue where Dick is Bruce's sidekick. Yet, the entire issue is about the impact Dick has on Bruce and on Gotham, and it's real neat. Nothing crazy, but it was nice to see Dick function as not just Bruce's conscience as he usually does, but Gotham's as a whole. Dick doesn't need to be in Gotham, and he doesn't need to be on this case. He's here because he wants to be. At least, that's the in-universe reason. The obvious reason for this is because he's the Batcharacter with the deepest connection with Bruce.
The thing about the 'Tec Annual is that you could tell the same general story, same bones at least, with any Robin. Or even Batfamily member. I mean, you could even replace Bruce in this too. The story could've been about Dick and Steph, or Kate and Duke, etc. These characters overlap, that's just how it is. That might "limit" what stories you can tell with them, but it doesn't limit you from telling good stories. Dick is the best example really, since he has no business being in Gotham for a story like this. He shouldn't be a Batcharacter. But he is, so this story happened, and it was nice and sets up a great potential event in Shadows of the Bat. If he was a DCU or Titans character through and through, this story probably wouldn't exist.
So yeah, overall, I don't think throwing out a character's previous characterizations is a bad thing, since it's happened before and people like the reinvented characters, I just like the Nightwing Annual for bringing Dick and Jason's past relationship back to where it used to be. Like, it's kinda sad that outside of some one-off appearances in each other's books and Bat events, the only time that was ever focused on and done even remotely well was a Lobdell issue.