Robin (Teen Titans Go!)

*Titans, GO!*
--**Robin throughout the series.**

**Richard "Dick" Grayson**, most commonly known as **Robin**, is the former protégé of Batman, as well as the leader of the Teen Titans, and one of the five main protagonists of Teen Titans Go!. Desperate to lead the best superhero team ever, his perfectionism and obsessive controlling have made him quite unstable at times.

The voice actor for Robin in the 2003 Teen Titans, Scott Menville, has returned to voice the character.

## History

Born to a family of circus performers, Dick Grayson had a tough childhood growing up. As seen in "Dude Relax", the carnival animals used to bully him nonstop, and, even worse, his parents were killed in a tragic acrobat accident. The mega-rich playboy Bruce Wayne, otherwise known as Batman, adopted Dick and made him his sidekick, Robin (also known as the "Boy Wonder").

Having been mistreated by Batman, Robin left Gotham and arrived at Jump City in the episode "Flashback". But after realizing that he was a useless loser without powers, the happy-go-lucky hero set out to start a team of teenage superheroes—of which HE would be the leader. Unfortunately, four hopeless recruits enraged Robin so much that several other enlistees deemed him an incompetent leader. Lead by Kid Flash, they mutinied against him, tossing Robin out of his own Tower and into the streets. While he initially wanted to call it quits, the four failures from earlier convinced Robin to embrace his anger and use it to reclaim his team. And after breaking Kid Flash's knee, Robin and his new friends retook the Tower—and the Teen Titans!

Intent on never losing his team again, Robin has since then ruled the Titans with an iron fist, punishing any disloyalty or laziness he sees.

## Personality

*"Robin is the slightly power-mad, perfectionist leader of the group whose main complaint is that the other Titans just won't do what he says."*

For Robin, anything less than perfection is absolutely unacceptable, and so his far-from-flawless team is constantly putting him on edge. Despite his authoritarian leadership, the Titans often disregard Robin's orders, exasperating him to the max. His worst fear is losing control, and that is exactly what happened when Beast Boy briefly hijacked the team in "Gorilla". Every iota of power is lustfully coveted by Robin, out of immense insecurities that are all stemmed from Batman's mistreatment and negligence.

Not only does Robin live on the borderline of insanity—he often crosses over, traveling deep into crazy land whenever he does not get his way, this causes him to become extremely violent and sometimes murderous as well. In "Yearbook Madness" for example, Robin plummeted into instability and multiple personality disorder just because his picture was barely featured in the yearbook. Yet, he even had some form of love sick nature, in addition, his hopeless crush on Starfire has led to many despicable deeds, such as when he crushed Speedy's head out of jealousy in the comic "Bored of the Dance". His obsession is also implied through his constant need to overcome Batman's shadow. All these traits display his immense inferiority underneath his superiority facade.

It is noted that Robin can never have supernatural powers, for because, giving him powers would make him become extremely power-hungry and become a total megalomaniac. As it was shown in the episode "The Avogodo" Robin was corrupted by the powers of the Mexican food that his teammates presents to him, and develops a strong obsession in having more of these food so he can grow stronger and protect the world, only to later on become a supervillain that plans to replace every last food in the world as Avocado, and would even kill his own comrades just for that goal. As long as he remains powerless, he is more of a highly insecure wimp who has to rely on his powered friends to take care of his messes.

While Robin's harsh discipline and abuse are usually counterproductive, overall he is a well-intentioned individual. No one has dedication to fight for justice quite as much as Robin, making him a very well-qualified leader of the Teen Titans. Also, as long as he's not being idiotic and unhinged, he can be part of the fun among the team.

## Physical Appearance

Although Robin originally kept his dorky Silver Age costume, his four teammates took the liberty to make him look cooler in "Flashback". Robin's new suit consists of a Kevlar-lined red shirt that sports his "R" logo as well as a couple of yellow lines on its centre. Instead his traditional speedo, he now wears green skin-tight pants, along with metal-tipped boots. Around his waist, Robin has a utility belt full of gadgets, stocked with everything from grapple guns to smoke bombs. His green gloves cover his embarrassing baby hands, and he wears a black and yellow cape. Rarely if ever are Robin's eyes seen; he keeps them hidden behind his mysterious mask. To finish off his look, Robin spikes his black hair, slathering lavish amount of hair gel into it every morning. Despite Robin's rad appearance, the other Titans constantly make fun of him for his short stature.

### Outfits

For a list of Robin's costumes throughout the series, check out *this link*.

## Powers and Abilities

Born as a powerless human (and never having suffered through a gruesome yet power-giving accident like Cyborg or Beast Boy have), Robin has to rely on his acrobatic prowess and crime-fighting equipment to even stand a chance against Jump City's villains. Nevertheless, he is usually utterly destroyed in combat.

### Weapons and Equipment

* **Staff:** This is Robin's main melee weapon, an extendable metal pole. It has several upgrades and features within it:
	+ A shock trident ("Staff Meeting")
	+ Explosives ("Más y Menos")
	+ Flowers ("Breakfast Cheese")
	+ Beat Box ("Power Moves")
	+ Hockey stick ("Friendship")
	+ A mop ("Grandma Voice")
	+ A plunger ("Staff Meeting")
	+ A taser ("Meatball Party")
	+ A lighter ("Booty Scooty")
	+ A Pole blaster Mode ("Teen Titans Go! to the Movies")
	+ Shock paralyzer ("Teen Titans Go! to the Movies")

* **Smoke Bombs:** As seen in "Sandwich Thief", Robin uses cartridges of high density smoke to make stealth entrances/getaways.
* **Birdarangs:** Inspired by Batman's Batarangs, Robin's Birdarangs are shuriken (手裏剣)-like throwing weapons to disarm/injure foes.
* **Grappling Gun/Rope:** To clear large distances or ascend tall buildings, a grappling gun (sometimes rope) can be used.
* **Net Gun:** Robin can apprehend enemies by utilizing a gun that shoots nets.
* **Vehicles:** As leader of the Titans, Robin often operates the steering wheel of the team's vehicles. He also has some personal rides (borrowed from Batman).
	+ R-Cycle ("Starfire the Terrible")
	+ Batmobile ("Sidekick")
	+ T-Car ("Driver's Ed")
	+ T-Sub ("Knowledge")
	+ T-Plane ("Colors of Raven")
	+ Left Leg of the Titan Robot ("The Left Leg")

### Skills

* **Acrobatics:** Growing up with "The Flying Graysons", Robin became a skilled acrobat, unmatched by anyone in the DC Multiverse.
* **Martial Arts:** Under Batman's tutelage, Robin learned many fighting arts, including Ninjutsu (忍術) in "The Art of Ninjutsu".
* **Physical Strength:** Robin is constantly exercising and training to maintain peak human strength and agility. He is shown to have a perfect skinny body and bulging muscles on his shoulders, arms and abs.
* **Knowledge:** Wasting no time on foolishness, Robin is knowledgeable on many subjects and points of trivia. He specializes in detective skills, like his mentor. He is also shown to be a geological expert in rocks and a historian who knows some history of the Native Americans, as evidenced in "The Groover". His fixated expertise on real estate is also one of his defining traits.
* **Leadership:** Perhaps his best quality, For being an ambivert, Robin displays excellent leadership qualities, leading both by example, but also by force. He also has a fantastic ability for being very heroic, shown in "Caramel Apples" which can lead others to be inspired by him. Unfortunately, this trait is usually overshadowed by his uncontrollable rage.
* **Flute Playing:** He played a flute skillfully in "Grube's Fairytales", "Smells Like Teen Titans Spirit", and "The Power of Shrimps".
* **Saxophone** **Playing****:** He played a saxophone skillfully in "Throne of Bones" and briefly in "EEBows".
* **Trombone Playing:** He played a trombone skillfully in “How's This for a Special? Spaaaace”.
* **Master of Disguise:** In some episodes like "Operation Tin Man" and "Boys vs Girls" Robin training in disguise skills are unbeatable by any crime that is in front of him. He also has a wisecracking talent of speaking in different accents.
* **Makeup skills:** In "Witches Brew", he is shown to be a proficient makeup artist, able to transform the witch-form Justice League's initially hideous appearances into fashionable only with a few brushes and touches from his cosmetics in moments.
* **Sports:** He is shown to be physical at soccer ("Kicking a Ball and Pretending to Be Hurt"), basketball ("A Farce", "Career Day"), skateboarding ("Rad Dudes with Bad Tudes", "The Drip"), biking ("Rad Dudes with Bad Tudes"), bowling ("A Farce"), dodgeball ("Artful Dodgers"), surfing ("Rad Dudes with Bad Tudes"), baseball ("A Farce"), karate ("Them Soviet Boys") and rollerblading ("Rad Dudes with Bad Tudes").

## Alternate Forms

Although he is usually going around as the Boy Wonder, Robin has assumed several different identities throughout Teen Titans Go!. Below are some of his more noteworthy ones; for a complete list, *click here*.

## Miscellaneous

To see supplementary information about Robin, visit some of these articles:

* Episodes Focusing on Robin
* Songs Sung by Robin
* Relationships
* Quotes
* Death Experiences
* Voices In Other Languages

## Trivia

* Robin's first ever appearance was in *Detective Comics* #38 (April, 1940). He appeared alongside Batman as his sidekick.
* Scott Menville, who's main voice acting role in Robin, also voices many other characters, including Speedy, Killer Moth, and Billy Numerous.
* Even though he has been confirmed to be Dick Grayson, this particular Robin (as well as the original series version) shares many traits with Tim Drake, including his outfit, his hair when wet, and his choice of a bō staff as a primary weapon.
* In terms of personality, Robin has changed significantly since the original Teen Titans:

* Once a calm, cool, and collected hero, Robin has now become a complete maniac, losing his mind at the slightest aggravation.
	+ The crew explained that such exaggeration on his mental condition is not only for humor, but is also an emphasis on his psychological baggage of losing his parents in childhood and being a vigilante trained by Batman, just to show a complex representation of his overall character.

* Robin has an unquenchable thirst for Starfire's love in Teen Titans Go!, but she rarely thinks of him as more than a friend. In the original series, their roles were a direct opposite.
* In addition, he is shown to be much more antagonistic, taking on the roll of a villain in 10 episodes and more so far.

* Robin's eyes have been revealed twice in the series; in "Driver's Ed", he had black beady eyes, but in "The Mask", his eyes were much larger, and one also contained a parasite (also appearing in "TV Knight 2").
* Starfire has pretended to like Robin a couple of times, such as in "The Return of Slade". However, she actually had serious feelings for him in "Let's Get Serious" and "Starfire the Terrible".
* Throughout the series, Robin's past has severely haunted him. With a life full of pain and regret, his time as Batman's sidekick has made him afraid of the Dark Knight's disapproval (as seen in "Sidekick" and "Thanksgiving") and of being called "The Boy Wonder".
	+ Also, his room is filled with targets and punching bags with the faces of his past adversaries.
	+ In fact, due to desperately craving for Batman's validation, he even mistook the Dark Knight calling him "pal" in "Batman's Birthday Gift", even though the latter wasn't addressing him as one sincerely in his memo at all.

* According to "Crazy Day" and "Thanksgiving", Raven thinks Robin is the most annoying teammate and likes him the least (which, like his original counterpart’s relationship with Starfire, is the complete opposite in the original series).
* Robin is currently the only Titan to not have a speaking role in an episode, that episode being "TV Knight".
* There are several running gags revolving around Robin in the series:
	+ Robin constantly gets horrendously injured.
	+ He often hears disembodied/nonexistent voices.
	+ He uses his grapple gun to cross easy-to-walk distances.
	+ His obsession and goal to gain Starfire's love always fails.
		- According to the crew, his goal of wooing Starfire is doomed to fail and his success will only appear in one of his dream sequences.
	+ After him making mistakes and apologizing, the other Titans ignore him.
	+ Robin likes to arrive/leave with smoke bombs and ninja stealth.
	+ Many jokes revolve around his butt (shaking, clapping, admiring, etc.).
		- Interesting note, "Beast Boy on a Shelf" reveals that his butt is stuffed rather than being naturally buff.
	+ Robin will often be selfish and full of himself in his quest to be the best.
	+ The Titans are continually subject to his orders and his shrill, screaming voice.
	+ He is often the least-liked person out of the group due to his controlling tendencies and is considered to be the butt of many of the Titans’ jokes.
* Of all the Titans, Robin has the most Little Buddies with four: Birdarang, Beat Box, Super Robin, and the Universe Staff.
	+ Although not considered an official Little Buddy, he also has an unhealthy attachment to his staff.
	+ Not counting his creepy relationship with his staff, Robin is the only Titan without a *real* best friend.

* As revealed in "Starfire the Terrible", Robin is apparently also in love with the moon; however, it is shown that when he was looking at the moon and kissing it, he was thinking of Starfire or thought that the moon was Starfire, much to her misunderstanding.
* Robin also is shown to love trees as seen in “The Bergerac” and “Where Exactly on the Globe is Carl Sanpedro? - Part 3”.
* Robin has left the Teen Titans in at least eight episodes: "Super Robin", "Staring at the Future", "Money Grandma", "Robin Backwards", "Let's Get Serious", "Multiple Trick Pony", "Two Bumble Bees and a Wasp", and "Flashback".
* Other DC superheroes like the Teen Titans, except for Robin, are shown in "Yearbook Madness".
* Robin has been teaching life lessons to the other Titans throughout the series. However, they find it more boring and stupid than fun.
	+ These episodes include "Finally a Lesson", "Oregon Trail", "Riding the Dragon", "BL4Z3", "Hot Salad Water", "Labor Day", "Tower Renovation", "Quantum Fun", "The Groover", "How's This for a Special? Spaaaace", "The Metric System vs. Freedom", "Them Soviet Boys", "Bat Scouts", "A Little Help Please", and "Fat Cats".

* Because of his amazing abilities, Robin can often seem very narcissistic... he stores sexy selfies of himself on the computer in "Parasite" and "BL4Z3", shows off his body in "The Fourth Wall" and "Matched", and takes extreme pride in his sandwiches in "Legendary Sandwich" and "Sandwich Thief".
* He owns two companies: a headphone firm in "Meatball Party", and a boot company in "Yearbook Madness".
* On several occasions, Robin has gained temporary superpowers in *Teen Titans Go!*, such as:
	+ Incredible leg strength ("Leg Day", "Arms Race with Legs")
	+ Massive avocado abilities ("The Avogodo")
	+ Raven's powers ("Mumbo Jumble")
	+ Vampire powers ("Monster Squad")
	+ Many abilities ("Super Robin")
	+ Super strength ("Dog Hand")
	+ Tiny size ("Body Adventure")
	+ Sweet dance moves ("My Name is Jose")
	+ Has whistling powers such as a fist ("Mouth Hole")
	+ Vibe's superpowers ("My Name is Jose")

* In "Hot Salad Water", Robin is shown to be Anglophobic (meaning he hates British people).
	+ This could have something to do with Robin's Irish leprechaun heritage, shown in "Beast Boy's St. Patrick's Day Luck, and It's Bad" and "The Gold Standard" (Ireland fought a war against Britain in the early 1900s).

* As seen in "Laundry Day", Robin has fangirls. He also briefly had some in the comic "Starstruck".
* As seen in “Nose Mouth”, Robin sometimes fights in his sleep.
* Robin’s favorite type of music is jazz (especially smooth jazz) as seen in “Throne of Bones” and “Justice League's Next Top Talent Idol Star: Justice League Edition”.
* According to Jinx in the episode "Opposites", he has a celery scent.
* Robin has a somewhat similar personality to Benson from *Regular Show* and Rabbit from *Winnie the Pooh*.
* While Robin could barely live through the saltiness of a salt grain in "Spice Game", he is somehow managed to eat pizza and tacos, foods with considerable amounts of NaCl, many times throughout the series. Although it could have been used for comic relief.
* As seen in "Nose Mouth", "Birds" and "The Power of Shrimps", Robin has a habit of writing on the walls whenever he becomes paranoid.
* Along with Raven, Robin is a Pretty Pretty Pegasus fan.
* Robin used to play the electric guitar ("A Farce", Two Parter", "Hot Salad Water", "Throne of Bones", "Teen Titans Go! vs Teen Titans") and the acoustic guitar ("Beast Boy's St. Patrick's Day Luck, and It's Bad", "Campfire!"), but officially retired them after the events in "Throne of Bones".

## References

1. ↑ Official DC Comics bio, https://www.dccomics.com/characters/nightwing
2. ↑ Official CARTOON NETWORK bio, https://www.cartoonnetwork.com/shows/teen-titans-go/characters/index.html
3. ↑ Official DC Comics bio, https://www.dccomics.com/characters/robin
4. ↑ Top 25 Foods that Add the Most Sodium to Your Diet, https://sodiumbreakup.heart.org/top\_25\_foods\_that\_add\_the\_most\_sodium\_to\_your\_diet