Preferred duration of Dick Grayson's Robin career?

[Buried Alien]

In any continuity, Dick Grayson remains the first and longest-tenured Robin. Over the years, however, the duration of Dick's time as Robin has gone up and down. If you were calling the shots, how many years would Dick have served as Robin before becoming Nightwing?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[KrustyKid]

Anywhere from five to seven years would work for me.

[DGraysonWorldsGreatestSpy]

6 years with some (8 to 11 mo) occurring in alt dimension/planets where time moves at different pace relative to Earth for all the crazy World's Finest and Blackcasebook adventures.

[Godlike13]

6-8 years. I like him starting out as Robin when he was 10-12. Becoming Nightwing at 18

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Depends on when he starts because if you have him start out when he's 16, you might as well skip forward to Nightwing and forget about him being robin.

The younger he starts and the more time he has as Robin works better for it to be a mantle. For example, in young justice he started at 9 and stopped around 18 so that made Tim's hesitation in stepping in his shoes more palpable.

[JBatmanFan05]

I don't really know, but I picked 10+ years because I hate overly continuity nazis concerned about it. He was Robin for a long a** time and for the longest (just like historically). It shouldn't matter how many years specifically, don't worry about it too much. Accept the haziness and uncertainty. Forget this 10 year timeline nonsense and pinning down Bruce's age and breaking Bruce's life up into "Years" like RealBatmanChronology.

And I don't have Bruce as Batman before 25 years old (unlike some who want to deage Bruce or pack stories into his career). It's hard to get the kind of training he got and Bruce wasn't magically supermature in my mind. Bruce was at least 25 when he started and all his stories happened.

The only thing I do with my detailed chronology is put stories and issues before/after each other. No "years," no ages, nothing really firm.

[Aahz]

I would probably go with him starting around 12 and becoming Nightwing around 19 (at least 18), it seems the most plausible to me based on the original comics. Starting as Robin at an age of 8-10 seems unrealistic for me.

And I would probaly have Jason and Tim beeing arround the same age and much younger than Dick. The new 52 version with Jason beeing almost Dicks age makes no sense.

The younger he starts and the more time he has as Robin works better for it to be a mantle. For example, in young justice he started at 9 and stopped around 18 so that made Tim's hesitation in stepping in his shoes more palpable.

I'm not a friend of the young justice Time line 9 seems super young. And he ends up much younger than his team mates, and makes him imo to "special" (that also the Reason I don't like that Damian starts at such a lower age in the New 52 than the other Robins).
And since they squeezed Jason in that time line he had logically to become Nightwing at age arround 16, which seems to young, since becoming Nightwing was usually Dick becoming Independent from Batman which imo doesn't really works if he is till a minor.

[TheRay]

if you have him start out when he's 16, you might as well skip forward to Nightwing and forget about him being robin.

I don't have a problem with this.

[Robanker]

6-8 years. I like him starting out as Robin when he was 10-12. Becoming Nightwing at 18

I'm of this opinion as well. I feel like his tenure should be the longest with Tim just under him.

[DevilBat66]

6-8 years. I like him starting out as Robin when he was 10-12. Becoming Nightwing at 18

Same here.

[TheRay]

Anywhere from five to seven years would work for me.

I would agree leaning more closely to 5 than 7. Just enough experience to make his skill as Nightwing legitimate, but not enough for him to become too stuck in the role.

[Tzigone]

6 to 9 years. I like Dick starting at 10-13 years of age, and continuing until 19. He needs to be adult when he leaves Batman. Well, if you want to keep the element (big in post-Crisis, but definitely present in pre-Crisis) that Dick is frustrated because Bruce keeps treating him like a child, when he's grown. Moreover, when he's had almost as much experience as Bruce has (I like him starting 1 to 3 years after Bruce). Bruce is very authoritarian, doesn't share info, and doesn't treat Robin like a full partner. It's understandable, since Dick was a kid when he started, but he isn't a kid anymore and Bruce will never, ever see them as equal partners. Moving this down to when Dick is 16ish makes him a child objecting to being treated as child instead of adult objecting to being treated as child, and I don't like it.

My age list I made a while ago (age everyone up three years now, I guess, since Damian got older). I mostly live in preBoot land.

Alfred Pennyworth - Anywhere from 50 to 70. A huge range, but I like both the latter post-Crisis/Batman Begins version where he raised Bruce and the Golden Age where he met Bruce when Bruce was an adult, and Dick already lived with him. I both like it for Bruce not having that loving presence in his childhood and that parlaying nicely into his post-Crisis inability to get past his parents’ deaths and emotional isolation and for the idea that when Bruce took Dick in, he expected he would be the doing the raising and the work and rather than foisting it off on someone else.

Bruce Wayne - 39-41. I tend to think of Batman as 26-28 when he took in a 10-to-12-year-old Dick Grayson (within two years of becoming Batman). But I’m okay with Dick being as young as 8 becoming Robin and with Bruce still being 26-28 at that time, so he could be up to 45. For a "current" Bruce, I definitely like him old enough to no longer be a young man.

Dick Grayson - 25/26. Because he was 7 years older than Jason in early post-Crisis appearances and that works well for me, and I like him growing up and I think it works well with him playing surrogate father to Damian for a bit. His age gap with Jason is one of the more important ones if operating in post-Crisis continuity. He needs to be at least 18 so he can leave home before Jason ever comes to Wayne manor.

Cassandra Cain - 19. I haven’t read much with her, but thought she was 2 years older than Tim.

Jason Todd - 18/19. Because before he was retconned to 15 when he died, it seemed quite likely he was 6 to 18 months older than Tim. But that's kinda iffy since he was in 7th grade in the annual (A student, so didn't' fail) shortly before he died, but Dick may have aged 3 years since leaving Robin (dialog with Roy when Roy got Lian) and Jason wasn't 9 when Bruce met him.

Tim Drake - 17. He was my base character to set relative ages by.

Damian Wayne - 10. Because he seemed that around that age when he was introduced.

Selina Kyle - 37-39. Because that seemed a good age for her, relative to Batman, when she was introduced in the Golden Age. She wasn’t a kid, and I have him 26 so made her a peer. Knocked her down a couple years from him because I’ve seen her younger than him in other versions. Up to 45ish is okay if Bruce is, too. I just need her be close to Bruce in age and definitely already and adult when Robin arrives on the scene (prefer Robin barely pre-dating her, as with Golden Age).

Barbara Gordon - 29-32. 1975 had Barbara 7 years older than Dick. New 52 and a couple cartons made them the same age. I prefer her a few years older than Dick, them not dating in high school, but having a flirtation when he was in college (as they did in Batman Family comics in ‘70s), then dating when Dick is 23ish. I didn’t really want them in high school at the same time. I prefer the Silver Age version where she is on more equal footing with Batman and Robin - they don’t know her secret identity and she doesn’t know theirs. She was not trained by Batman. She was not subordinate to Batman, but was her own hero. I like her being out of high school before she takes on the cowl so she and Batman interact as fellow adults, peers.

Stephanie Brown - 17. Because she was the same as Tim throughout the bulk of the 6 years worth of Robin issues I read with her.

Helena Kyle - 1. Because I wish Selina’d never given her up for adoption, and she was talking by then, so 1.

[Jackalope89]

6 to 9 years. I like Dick starting at 10-13 years of age, and continuing until 19. He needs to be adult when he leaves Batman. Well, if you want to keep the element (big in post-Crisis, but definitely present in pre-Crisis) that Dick is frustrated because Bruce keeps treating him like a child, when he's grown. Moreover, when he's had almost as much experience as Bruce has (I like him starting 1 to 3 years after Bruce). Bruce is very authoritarian, doesn't share info, and doesn't treat Robin like a full partner. It's understandable, since Dick was a kid when he started, but he isn't a kid anymore and Bruce will never, ever see them as equal partners. Moving this down to when Dick is 16ish makes him a child objecting to being treated as child instead of adult objecting to being treated as child, and I don't like it.

My age list I made a while ago (age everyone up three years now, I guess, since Damian got older). I mostly live in preBoot land.

Alfred Pennyworth - Anywhere from 50 to 70. A huge range, but I like both the latter post-Crisis/Batman Begins version where he raised Bruce and the Golden Age where he met Bruce when Bruce was an adult, and Dick already lived with him. I both like it for Bruce not having that loving presence in his childhood and that parlaying nicely into his post-Crisis inability to get past his parents’ deaths and emotional isolation and for the idea that when Bruce took Dick in, he expected he would be the doing the raising and the work and rather than foisting it off on someone else.

Bruce Wayne - 39-41. I tend to think of Batman as 26-28 when he took in a 10-to-12-year-old Dick Grayson (within two years of becoming Batman). But I’m okay with Dick being as young as 8 becoming Robin and with Bruce still being 26-28 at that time, so he could be up to 45. For a "current" Bruce, I definitely like him old enough to no longer be a young man.

Dick Grayson - 25/26. Because he was 7 years older than Jason in early post-Crisis appearances and that works well for me, and I like him growing up and I think it works well with him playing surrogate father to Damian for a bit. His age gap with Jason is one of the more important ones if operating in post-Crisis continuity. He needs to be at least 18 so he can leave home before Jason ever comes to Wayne manor.

Cassandra Cain - 19. I haven’t read much with her, but thought she was 2 years older than Tim.

Jason Todd - 18/19. Because before he was retconned to 15 when he died, it seemed quite likely he was 6 to 18 months older than Tim. But that's kinda iffy since he was in 7th grade in the annual (A student, so didn't' fail) shortly before he died, but Dick may have aged 3 years since leaving Robin (dialog with Roy when Roy got Lian) and Jason wasn't 9 when Bruce met him.

Tim Drake - 17. He was my base character to set relative ages by.

Damian Wayne - 10. Because he seemed that around that age when he was introduced.

Selina Kyle - 37-39. Because that seemed a good age for her, relative to Batman, when she was introduced in the Golden Age. She wasn’t a kid, and I have him 26 so made her a peer. Knocked her down a couple years from him because I’ve seen her younger than him in other versions. Up to 45ish is okay if Bruce is, too. I just need her be close to Bruce in age and definitely already and adult when Robin arrives on the scene (prefer Robin barely pre-dating her, as with Golden Age).

Barbara Gordon - 29-32. 1975 had Barbara 7 years older than Dick. New 52 and a couple cartons made them the same age. I prefer her a few years older than Dick, them not dating in high school, but having a flirtation when he was in college (as they did in Batman Family comics in ‘70s), then dating when Dick is 23ish. I didn’t really want them in high school at the same time. I prefer the Silver Age version where she is on more equal footing with Batman and Robin - they don’t know her secret identity and she doesn’t know theirs. She was not trained by Batman. She was not subordinate to Batman, but was her own hero. I like her being out of high school before she takes on the cowl so she and Batman interact as fellow adults, peers.

Stephanie Brown - 17. Because she was the same as Tim throughout the bulk of the 6 years worth of Robin issues I read with her.

Helena Kyle - 1. Because I wish Selina’d never given her up for adoption, and she was talking by then, so 1.

Most things I've seen had Jason about 2 years older than Tim. Pre-Flashpoint at least. After, it seems Jason was aged up closer to Dick.

[Aahz]

6
Jason Todd - 18/19. Because before he was retconned to 15 when he died, it seemed quite likely he was 6 to 18 months older than Tim. But that's kinda iffy since he was in 7th grade in the annual (A student, so didn't' fail) shortly before he died, but Dick may have aged 3 years since leaving Robin (dialog with Roy when Roy got Lian) and Jason wasn't 9 when Bruce met him.

Not sure where get the 6 and 18 Month from, Tim is born iirc in June or July and Jason August.

Most things I've seen had Jason about 2 years older than Tim.

The comics from the 2000s imply that he is 2 years older, if you go by the comics from the 80s it looks more like he is only 1 year older or even the same age as Tim.

[Tzigone]

Not sure where get the 6 and 18 Month from, Tim is born iirc in June or July and Jason August.

Just using general '80s vibes of their ages you mentioned later. I tend to forget actual birthdays. I remember Clark's because it's (sometimes) leap day. Sometimes Jason's from tombstone. And that's it.