Hi, Tim Drake! | BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Reaction

First time watching "Sins of the Father" from Batman: The Animated Series! Even though this was technically the second episode in Max's order, I was encouraged to watch this first, and I'm thankful I did! Enjoy 🖤
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[@andre1999o]

One thing I find interesting about this episode is that they basically gave Jason Todd's backstory to Tim Drake. Tim's backstory is quite different in the comics, while Jason's is basically the same.

[@mariebourgot4949]

Personally I was a bit disappointed that they did that, as I wanted Tim's backstory not Jay. They should've either do the same Robin but call him Jason Todd, or do Tim properely.

[@hkaayaakuu]

I can see writers doing that a lot

[@Narutoanime16g]

Isn’t Tim the most stable of the robins ? I only know Tim from this and Young Justice

[@hkaayaakuu]

@@Narutoanime16g tims dad a thug, Stephanie's dad is a villain, dicks parents are dead, Jason's were maybe dead or he was given away, damian is the grandson of a "eco"terrorist

[@andre1999o]

@@Narutoanime16g I mean, that's a pretty low bar for the Bat-family.

[@AyrtonAE]

They basically merged Jason Todd and Tim Drake. Tim's normal backstory is of a gifted kid that discovered Dick's Identity because he was a fan of the Flying Graysons and saw Nightwing do a somersault that was Grayson's "Trademark". And about the order, I would recomend Batman Beyond first, because there are some episodes from Justice League that references Batman Beyond and you would be a little lost if you never watched it first. (And also it is my favorite cartoon of all time, so maybe I'm a little biased!) Trivia, in some places, like in Brazil, Batman Beyond was called "Batman of the Future"... in english... I don't know why...

[@MegMageReacts]

Brasil 😂😂 que legal

[@Kuszu]

@@MegMageReacts Yeah, in Poland Batman Beyond is named "Batman - 20 lat później" - "Batman - 20 years later"

[@Kennyisdarkvanilla]

That’s what I was going to say. Because it has Todd’s backstory, but this Robin is also very smart like Tim Drake.

[@JW666]

It's also called "Batman of the Future" here in Sweden too.

[@lordmorklen5166]

It was Batman of the Future in India as well.

[@lithiumgreen105]

I love Tim Drake in the comics, but yeah, this is definitely Jason Todd’s origin story adapted for the DCAU. Tim definitely has an interesting arc in the DCAU, and it’s going to be fun seeing you react to it!

[@jitomatino]

The good thing is, as meg said, that even though this is basically the same origin as Jason, Tim does have a different personality and development during the season. He is a more playful and less antipatic Robin and also very loyal to Batman, just like the original Tim in the comics

[@Goobergurl]

I wouldnt say this is Jason's origin story, because in the comic's Tim's Dad works for Two-Face. The whole Tim doing crime stuff is a TAS original backstory. Now THAT part definitely gives Jason vibes, but Tim does crime for other reasons, if that makes sense. Jason was doing it for survival, bit Tim is doing it for something more

[@fdjtron1732]

​@@Goobergurl Jason's father was working for Two-Face, not Tim's.

[@MegMageReacts]

Any intro comic recs?? :)

[@brandonemerson6926]

@@MegMageReacts Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying is where Tim is introduced after Jason’s death. A bit old now but shows how Tim brings a bright spot to Bruce’s life, and why Batman needs a Robin!

[@Enkijamenk]

They're not aging Barbara down, she's still vaguely in her early-20s, it's just the animation style. This is fully Bruce Timm's drawing style, now, and he draws everyone very angularly, which tends to make characters look younger, since the sharp lines and limited details have that effect. Look at Bruce! He looked around 35-40 out-of-costume in the earlier style, now he looks more like 25-30. As for telling him who Robin is, it doesn't take a genius. He already knows Batman is Bruce, and Bruce had one, very publicly known ward, and that was Dick. Who else would Robin have been?

[@otaku-sempai2197]

For this show Tim was given elements of Jason Todd's (second) origin story. Originally Jason had a backstory very much like Dick Grayson's, but it was soon retconned to make him more of a street kid.

[@CalciumChief]

Basically the run of Batman on Fox ended, so WB could air it on their own station (WB kids, I guess). They also wanted one more season out of the series, so they got the crew to make it. However, this one was gonna be way more directly connected with Superman TAS and the overall DCAU at large, so the designs of everyone had to be changed to blend in more. In general, everyone got simplified and smoothed out. It worked okay for some, good for few and not so well for others (forever argued Joker redesign). 2:19 The TAS specifically skipped over Jason Todd and went to the third Robin, because the whole thing with people not liking Jason was still relatively fresh and doubt his Red Hood was a thing yet, so just ignored all of that jazz.

[@Aethon_is_here]

*Kids WB.

[@AyrtonAE]

And Riddler's design was a ... Choice... But Scarecrow's new design is THE BEST one yet! It was before Red Hood, yes, but there is a recent comic adapting Jason's story to BTAS.

[@k0bra3eak40]

Yeah Under the Red Hood wasn't a thing yet, it was only released 2005/2006,by then JLU had ended

[@manehriimao2079]

​@@k0bra3eak40 Under The Red Hood story came out in 2005, while the DCAU was still going on, but, it was already late to include him.

[@Davidscomix]

@@AyrtonAEthose comics aren’t canon, they had Bruce sleep with Barb in the comics

[@normancanseco7505]

This season of TAS didnt have its own intro. Because at this time it was combined with superman to build a full hour of tv called the Batman/Superman adventures. So the intro had both of the heroes footage.

[@bet0v966]

Tim is the better detective & genius outta the 3 main Robins. Bats says he might be better than him. He figured out Bruce & Dick were superheroes. While we don’t see Jason in the show, he became a part of DCAU via the comics years later

[@JTOCIII]

Long Live Kevin Conroy

[@Narutoanime16g]

Tim is so spry and just the right amount of happiness Bruce needs in his life now since Dick left, idk the timeline but Bruce definitely seems darker in mood especially since he changed his costume . I just love Tim’s personality

[@ComicPhreak]

Can't wait until she starts reacting to "Batman Beyond", "Justice League", "Static Shock", and maybe "The Zeta Project".

[@milkiassamuel780]

The funny thing about this show's take on Tim Drake is that they just gave Tim Jason Todd's origin story. They gave Tim all of Jason's characteristics but the only difference is that hes called Tim Drake in this show, I mean Tim is basically a street tough kid whose dad worked for Two-Face (exactly like Jason's dad). Ironically Tim Drake in the comics is a little different, being a more cheerful sidekick to Batman, who actually wasn't an orphan like Dick or Jason, and actually deduced Batman's secret from his own detective skills as a child, I still like what this show did with Tim and gave him the spotlight in the show and give him some interesting episodes in the show. Tim is honestly one of the most underrated DC characters that DC hardly use and just act as if he is an irrelevant character to the Batfamily when in reality, Tim was one of the quintessential characters that helped Batman in the comics grow from his depression when he lost Jason to the Joker, and Tim with his impressive detective skills and intellect that Batman believes he's a better detective than Bruce

[@matthewcronin2325]

You’re over thinking it, Batgirl wasn’t aged down it’s just a different drawing style for everyone. Jim Gordon went from being Batman’s size to being a stick bug.

[@eah4452]

yeah i think she feels older in the og one because the art style is more old fashioned kinda based on like 40s film noir, and the new style is more modern

[@fynnthefox9078]

They could never adapt Jason Todd back in the day, since they thought it was WAY to dark considering his fate. So they adapted his backstory with Tim Drake. It's kinda like how they did Clayface, calling him Matt Hagen but giving him Basil Karlo's background. Also, this season is referred to as The New Batman Adventures. They rebranded to match Superman TAS which was on the same network they moved to, KidsWB. They were allowed to get away with a lot more than they ever could on FoxKids.

[@DemonofEmpire]

Facts

[@predatoryzzx]

I love the yellow accents on this Batgirl suit

[@mirtaabreu7124]

This version of Tim Drake is essentially Jason Todd in everything but name.

[@jonasquinn7977]

Once someone knows who Batman is there’s really no point hiding Dick’s identity. After all it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if Bruce Wayne is Batman then his adopted son is probably Robin

[@d-manthecaptain1382]

This suit that Batgirl wears is her first suit, all the way back from her first appearence in Detective Comics issue 359.

[@LucasCarvalho-wj1vb]

Tim and Barbara romance was a think only in the Arkham games. In every other media Barbara has a relansionhip with Dick and is like a big sister figure to Tim.

[@serp3n1]

You can watch Batman: Beyond and Justice League together, similar to what you're doing for Superman and Batman. Justice League leads into a sequel series called "Justice League:Unlimited," which you should definately finish Beyond before watching. The main thing would be that the Season 2 finale of Justice League Unlimited also serves as the series finale of Beyond, and has MASSIVE SPOILERS for both shows whichever way you watch it.

[@LucasCarvalho-wj1vb]

They use elements from Jason Todd's origin for Tim Here since DC didn't let them use Jason because by that time he wasn't so liked by fans. This series was before the Red Hood storyline in the comics wich happend in 2005.

[@Regenmacher175]

Two-Face after flipping his coin: "Kill him." Meg: "Are you serious?" It's nice and fun to gush about the villains and paint them as sad, misunderstood, tragic figures but what they're doing is ruining a whole bunch of average people's lives offscreen where the audience doesn't get to see how awful the implications of their actions are. That makes it hard to feel bad for these criminals.

[@keishie23]

Epic reaction ❤❤😂😂 get ready!!!

[@joshuacampbell7493]

Welcome to season 3 Meg. Also Bruce Wayne got another surrogate son Tim Wayne.

[@FireLight_Zero]

Haha, "growing pains" is going to give you all the feels when that episode rolls around.

[@matthewcronin2325]

Definitely watch Batman Beyond after Justice League

[@brianrecinos3914]

The reason this new series skipped Jason Todd over was because the creators knew he wasn't popular in the comics initially since the fans still preferred Dick Grayson as Robin. However, they did incorporate Todd's elements into Drake's with coming from the slums, being a thief, his brash personality and the design on the Robin costume being red and black. Batgirl sounds different because she's no longer voiced by Melissa Gilbert, being replaced by Tara Strong.

[@cole6843]

Tim is my second favorite Robin! Only behind Dick.

[@ryanb8138]

Ever since I saw this episode as a kid Tim Drake has always been my favorite Robin, when he showed up in the Arkham Games I was soo freaking happy!

[@raytheuglymusician2453]

A general rule of thumb is that the age of all the sidekicks is dependent on the writer, and Batgirl can/has been/will be shipped with whichever Robin the writer deems to be the best fit for her. The most popular ship is Barbara x Dick, but the *correct* ship is also Barbara x Dick.

[@jalenbobo668]

Soon you will see why Tim Drake is the best robin 😅

[@petermarvy3218]

If i remember there was a bit of time beetwen this season and previous one. It was also airing alongside Superman TAS and was building for wider universe. Personally i really like the art style change, the previous seasons looked good but i just like this more simplified versions, they just look more clean for me, and i love the color palette, even tho, some redesigns were lacking a bit. And yeah, i think the proportion changes on female characters make a lot of them feel weirdly younger, even tho, Superman TAS doesn't seem to have this problem while being having similar style (but of course, with Superman there is no previous seasons to compare the changes)

[@Aethon_is_here]

Some differences you'll notice is that this. You see, BTAS originally aired on Fox which had more stricter standards and practices for its kids cartoons. But after the series moved over to The WB (remember that?), it could get away with a little more since The WB's S&P's were a little more looser. An example would be you seeing blood in this season where in BTAS you rarely (if ever) see characters bleed. And I don't think an episode like Over the Edge (no spoilers) could get away on Fox Kids. At least I'm not sure.

[@Aethon_is_here]

Also, the fact that this Robin is younger is also a difference. On Fox, showing children in peril wasn't allowed which is why I think Robin (Dick Grayson) was aged up to be a college student.

[@whodatninja439]

I love the last season of TAS. I love the Bruce Timm redesigns of almost everyone. (Except for the Joker) Batgirl looks so sleek.

[@Longshanks1690]

I don’t know what viewing order you’ve currently got lined up or how far you’re in, but I would recommend holding off on the rest of the BTAS reactions until STAS is done, primarily because they reference things that happen in STAS. And it’s not that you’d be lost, it’s just that the intended surprise won’t be as strong in STAS if you already know it’s happened here.

[@passionsquietrage]

Bruce Timm said they skipped over Jason Todd and went straight to Tim Drake due to how dark and F'ed up Todd's story gets. They borrowed some elements from Todd's story though. Also the art style changed because Timm wanted to both do something new and carry over the simplified art style he was using with Superman the Animated series. The series had also been off air for a short time before the revamp, and was renamed The New Adventures of Batman. Several characters, including Bats himself got redesigned(notice the all grey suit with just a black bat chest symbol instead of the yellow one). Some character redesigns were a bit odd though.

[@sasamichan]

if you watch B-TAS, The Batman, Teen Titans and Young Justice you get different versions of Robin and his relationships

[@edward18517]

"Is this Jason Todd?" As a famous pirate once said "Well yes, but actually no.". And hopefully, since you're listening to the audience over HBO (assuming the audience wants you to go in chronological order), you see the Batman Beyond movie AFTER you see Batman Beyond since that's the ending/finale of...well, this whole universe in general (the movie has things that relate all the way back to this part of the series). If you want to go in production-order, do Batman Beyond before Justice League, but if you want to go in timeline order do Justice League before Batman Beyond (though don't do the episode Epilogue from Justice League/Justice League Unlimited until after you've seen Batman Beyond).

[@LucasCarvalho-wj1vb]

You should definitely watch Justice League first. There's a spoiler for Batman Beyond in Justice League Unlimited (the sequel to Justice League). So you could watch a few episodes of Batman Beyond first thm star JLU.

[@cmrobbins88]

Batgirl is still the same age, about the same as Dick. She’s just short. Also the art style. A lot of the female characters got the sharper hour glass shape and height shortening.

[@Fulcrum00]

My favorite Robin.

[@WickerSticksSinema]

Finally TNBA is where we start getting darker stories and then even darker with Batman beyond

[@rogertemple7193]

Batman the animated series was my favorite and still is and Tim was a great Robin and thank you Meg.💞🐶📺🐶💞

[@eah4452]

this was the New Batman and Superman Adventures, some days they'd show a Batman episode, other days they'd show a Superman episode, and it had its own opening theme, sucks hbo max doesn't show it.

[@misti-step]

yeah i dont think tims origin as robin has ever accurately been adapted 😂 but this tim is pretty fun!!

[@stephentaylor3437]

Well, the animation is more in line with the Superman animation... So that's basically all it is

[@alex.9398]

Batman beyond after Justice league is the best choice here for a bunch of reasons.

[@obvioushieidude7668]

No.

[@alex.9398]

@@obvioushieidude7668 Great counter argument. I never thought of it that way.

[@mariebourgot4949]

@@alex.9398 ^^

[@Daniel-ct3np]

Tim Drake and Barbara Gordon only dated in Arkham Knight because Rocksteady made a mistake. They didn’t know which Robin dated her so they used Tim. There are no other versions of them dating elsewhere. Barbara is Nightwing’s girl

[@bampowbang6898]

Fun fact Meg! Jason Todd does exist in the Batman Animated Series. However, the comic book series takes place after the show. The comic is called Batman: The Adventures Continue. Its fairly recent and its worth checking out. As for Jason Todd in the show, here's another fun fact: Kevin Conroy really wanted Jason Todd to be in the show, as well adapting the Death in the Family arc on tv. However due to censors and people not liking the character, at the time, it wouldn't work.

[@kingxred2487]

you should watch batman beyond between justice league and justice league unlimited and maybe static shock at same time as justice league

[@williamrobinson4513]

Hopefully, if I am not being too bold, if I can suggest looking at OLD WONDS, next, to get an idea of how the "NIGHTWING" persona got started.

[@no1guy825]

i forgot how far we were! i just realized "His Silicon Soul", the second part of the HARDAC storyline, was skipped. Talk about a poignant pure Batman virtues episode

[@21skyrim]

Tim is my favorite Robin ❤

[@glx3846]

Hi, I enjoyed your reaction. Do you prefer this art style of Batman TAS or do you prefer the original art style?

[@theyinkaquadri]

The New Batman Adventures

[@Mono_619]

Does anyone knows where's the reaction for the "Birds of a Feather" episode? It's one of my favorites episodes but I haven't been able to find it :(

[@Tim_Drake]

Hi, MegMage!

[@sasamichan]

some people call this season 3 some call it a whole other series and if you watched it in release order, yah they just drop Tim on you with no explanation. looks like they changed the intro for MAX

[@d-manthecaptain1382]

I think they wanted Todd, but Todd was still dead in the comics, so they were told that they had to use the current version of Robin, Tim. Even though Todd is so much cooler.. I find it funny that the episode is written as if Dick was a kid in the original series, and that Two-Face thinks Tim's Dick, even though Harvey didn't become Two-Face in this series until after Dick started going to college

[@mariebourgot4949]

All the robins are equally cool!

[@sasamichan]

there was a batman and robin theme and a Batman /superman theme IDK what MAX uses

[@bryancorrell3689]

You could watch Batman Beyond or Justice League first. But you should definitely watch Batman Beyond before Justice League Unlimited.

[@nathancruz9172]

14:19 it’s good to have someone back who is now a Nightwing.

[@WickerSticksSinema]

Also this version of the joker (imo) is the most twisted version of

[@spencernaugle]

Am I correct in thinking, this is the beginning of the let's just mix different versions of Robin together Trope?

[@johnpittsii7524]

Hi Meg hope you are having an great and awesome day ❤

[@nedzed3663]

Now we're talking, the red sky character redesigns era of Batman TAS. I'm surprised you didn't notice it with the Batman/Superman crossover. I saw it when the new show premiered back in fall 97, with a Christmas episode where Harley and Ivy kidnap Bruce, and Batgirl took on Clayface. I was like, wow glad this show is back (it had stopped airing on Fox for a while after WB got the rights, so this was the first new Batman TAS material I got to see) and I noticed right off how different the characters looked.

[@robertsims7828]

Looking forward to your reactions to The New Adventures of Batman episodes the New animated series took place 3 years after the Red Claw lion unicorn episode in original series in the dcau.

[@AnthonySmith-bj9mo]

hi Meg

[@tonyantonellis9983]

more like one plus one is double jeopardy.

[@nightwingman666]

People were mixed at the start of the series. A new Robin in Tim, the introduction of Nightwing and Batgirl being more proactive with the Bat-Family. But in hindsight it felt proper this episode despite being the second really shifted the status quo of the show and it made sense those who grew up with the original series had grown up themselves in a way. For me the next iteration of Batman series after this one was my jumping point of the DCAU, sadly it didn’t much love at the time but now its more or less a, beloved series after the fact.

[@HoltonKincaid-dl6cd]

Out of the four main Robin my favorite as a character is Jason Todd but my favorite Robyn is Tim Drake I just prefer Jason and Dick as nightwing and redhood my least favorite is Damien I never been a real Damien fan

[@Eidlones]

I'm sure Tim will go on to have a wonderful life.

[@Rocket1377]

For the record, Bruce Timm isn't a fan of Batman and Batgirl getting together either. He did not like how that scene was handled in The Killing Joke movie. He only introduced the idea of her and Bruce having a one-night stand as a way of driving a wedge between Bruce and Dick Grayson, in order to quickly write Robin out of the show and have him become Nightwing, which wouldn't have happened if he was still romantically involved with Barbara. The intention was for it to be a moment of passion, which both Bruce and Barbara immediately regretted, and was not supposed to go beyond that. It's other writers who have pushed for Barbara and Bruce to be a couple, not Bruce Timm.

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

:( D

[@hkaayaakuu]

Tim is a good man or kid. The wkrld was his oyester in the 2000s before the tragedy of his character.

[@SnakeSosa]

I will say to watch Batman Beyond before Justice League due to an episode in Justice League but can't say anymore without it being a spoiler.

[@LeighMet]

The 4th season. They combind Jason Todd and Tim Drake.

[@user-mz6lv3nx8i]

According to Batman Beyond. Barbara will make out with Bruce for some time. Ok i know is disturbing for someone, but i am ok with it fits with DCAU plot development.

[@benschultz1784]

Welcome to The New Batman Adventures on Kids WB! Where everything got a redesign to mesh with Superman: TAS. Including the worst ever Joker design! Start Batman Beyond before the Justice League series. If you're a Kim Possible fan, you'll recognize the lead VA.

[@matthewcronin2325]

For obvious reasons, they skipped Jason Todd in this universe

[@tribalchief6371]

Damian >