Quote Originally Posted by PCN24454 View Post
Because it's the Ship of Theseus.

Which one is the real Tim? The one made with all the old parts or the one made with all the new parts?
In this hypothetical, it would come down to how successful the retconned race change was. Part of the reason outside-media stories have some greater flexibility with race is because we’ve seen more than one be an otherwise direct adaptation, with the real cultural changes of the race-change being either more subtextual or malleable to the character’s portrayal. However, we have seen a few that have exposed how you can either screw up an attempt to address the change so badly that neither the old fans or the target demographic are happy - New 52 Wally West being a prominent example.

I’m a white guy, so I have limits on how well I could see Tim getting a race change in comics. But to me? If he remained a humble, nerdy kid from an upper middle class family, with a recognizable characterization and series of adventures and relationships, and his tenure as Robin occurred while he still lived with a dad who acted similarly to Pre-Flashpoint Jack Drake, he would more satisfactorily be a “real” Tim Drake than the New 52 one. And I feel like all that could be maintained while someone with more real-world authority than me incorporated the cultural experiences that would differ between a black kid and a white kid in America.

...I will say that I feel pretty bluntly like, if I were in charge of adaptations, I would avoid making Jason black unless a black writer I trusted well wanted to. Jason feels like he’d fall squarely into the expected racist pitfalls and stereotypes you’d expect because of his already “poor street kid” origin and more “thug”-like reputation compared to the rest of the family.