Robin's Arkham City Look Inspired By Cage Fighters

[Archemetis]

Looks cool but a minor-nitpick is the cape.

One complaint: can that cape be extended a bit or just removed altogether? It doesn't look right as is.

Same here but since it looks like concept/art I wouldn't expect to see it in the game. It looks like a tailor was making it for him but suddenly ran out of materials and had to cut it short.

Either that or he hasn't changed his cape since joined up as the Boy Wonder.

If I had to choose a Robin for comparison, I'd say this reminds me more of Jason Todd than any of the others.

Saying that, I'll have to wait until the game is out to see if this one is at all murderous or uses excessive force like Jason Todd.

Totally agree. I must be the odd one out because i thought Todd was one of the more interesting Robins

I'll agree that he is an interesting Robin, far more interesting Red hood, mind.

If had to pick the Robin who interested me, personally.

I'd say it's Stephanie Brown. I think it's probably just because she's a girl robin.
(and she was a 'super' hero called the Spoiler previous to that.)

 

[GeorgW]

I didn't like the earlier black and white picture they released, but now that it's in colour I like it a lot more. Still not sure about the shaved head, but with that cape on he looks awesome!

Also the Robin in the game isn't Dick, it's Tim Drake,

Wait, if the Arkham City Robin is Tim Drake...

Where's Dick Grayson?

*SEQUEL FORSHADOW*

I'm hoping that Batman dies in AC and gets replaced by Dick Grayson!

 

[SomeBritishDude]

I'm hoping that Batman dies in AC and gets replaced by Dick Grayson!

That would be awesome. Batman comics have been so good with Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian as Robin, that would be an awesome game!

 

[For.I.Am.Mad]

Cage fighters? Whatever, I thought it was because they seem to have a hard time doing hair with the Unreal Engine. That's one thing Japan still has on us, hair modeling in games. Soul Calibur, Tekken, Street Fighter, Catherine, you know that hairs looking right. Meanwhile our shit looks like glorified helmets......what was the topic again?

 

[LostintheWick]

I actually prefer the boy-wonder look to a buff Robin...looks like I'm in the minority here though. It's not that I think the redesign is BAD, it's just not the Robin I appreciate.

Oh well, at least it's a highly optional thing. Doesn't become a problem unless I focus on it.

I was never a huge fan of the Boy Wonder look, but I can appreciate where you are coming from. I'm getting a little tired of our only solution for revamping a "lame" character. It's always "Make him an angry badass" or "Darken up his/her story!"

It's creatively lazy at this point. BUT... I still like the design and I think it targets the markets demographic perfectly.

 

[MajorDolphin]

I like this. If they bring Robin to the current movie franchise I hope they follow a similar character design. I always thought Ben Foster would make a great Robin after he went nuts in Alpha Dog.

 

[StBishop]

Holy Amazing Make-Over Batman!

*Cough* Anyway...It looks great this new look...Tempted to -- Oh wait...No best buys anywhere near where I live...Typical...Oh well.

I can't even import it most likely. I can't pre-order from Best Buy to have a delivery in Australia.

I hope one of the retailers over here gets the pre-order bonus.

I think Robin is a pretty cool guy.

 

[Toar]

This guy looks like a transition between teen Robin and adult Nightwing. I think it is decent. Maybe loose the stick and give him a pair of knives or something of the sort (Bat-a-rangs) and make him playable. Also, don't make him a dick. GIve him a few quirky lines to aknowledge that he used to be a little snot, but now he is adult-ish and is ready to take on a dark and menacing Gotham.

 

[urahara75]

If I had to choose a Robin for comparison, I'd say this reminds me more of Jason Todd than any of the others.

Saying that, I'll have to wait until the game is out to see if this one is at all murderous or uses excessive force like Jason Todd.

Hit it on the head, sir.

To add, you really have to be aware, and wary, of the vernacular used in game advertising. Any time a game project editor &/or concept artist describes an action/adventure game character like this-

Our vision of Robin is the one of a troubled young individual that is calm and introverted at times but very dangerous and aggressive if provoked.

is really publicity "code" for "'darker & edger' reinterpretation of (publicly-perceived) nostalgic, camp character to make him/her more marketable to today's broadened consumer demographic(s)". When it's spun like this, I start to think back to the similar way game journalists and critics used to describe Kratos in the beginning of the GoW franchise (worked great in the 1st game; became increasingly irritating with each narratively and characteristically stagnant, "flanderized" sequel).

 

[rayen020]

i dunno, bald/shaved head robin? cage fighters hve hair just not much. other than that pretty awesome.

 

[moosek]

Tsk Tsk Rocksteady. You should know by now that all hardcore fans of anything hate any sort of change

Yeah. The domino mask especially.

Has anyone seen Under the Red Hood? Spoilers: When Red Hood takes off his mask and there's still his domino mask over his eyes. What the hell was with that?

 

[TerribleAssassin]

Damn these Yank pre-orders!


I hope they make this free DLC or something, the new Robin design kicks major ass.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I'm digging everything about the redesign except for the hood.

Personally, I've always really hated the "immovable hoods" in videogames, especially when they're used to hide the character's face. In real life they're just way too ineffective. Have you ever actually seen someone sprinting with a hood on their head? No, because the damn thing flies off every time. If they wanted to cover his head they could have gone with a full face mask instead.

Honestly though, I liked original design they were going to use more:

 

[LaBambaMan]

I'm kinda' torn on this design, personally. The new outfit looks alright(minus the midget cape), but the bald head and beefed up body just don't sit right on Robin. Also making him "dark" and "edgy" isn't good character design; it's laziness.

Seriously; have we gotten so uncreative that our only course of action is to make everything grimdark bullshit? This is Robin we're talking about; he's never really been dark and edgy and brooding.

Also; a cage fighter? Really?

 

[Cowabungaa]

Am I the only one that thinks that design looks pretty bad?

It just looks like a generic thug in some SWAT armoured version of Robin's outfit. With a curtain draped over his scowling face.

This stinks of GrimDark gritty bullshit.

'Grimdark gritty bullshit', you say, haven't you played the first game and seen the gameplay footage of Arkham City? What did you except, a game-version of the 60's Batman?

Thing is, the original Robin would stick out as a sore, festering, pulsating thumb in the dark, and pretty gothic style of these Batman games. Hell I hate that bright green and yellow look of his in any Batman related product except the 60's campy Batman show.

Like, you see the angry Batman brooding on a gargoyle in the rain...and suddenly some freakin' kid dressed as a clown comes along. It was especially bad in The Dark Knight Returns. This version though at least fits with the Batman himself. Though the cape needs some work there. And a cage fighter? Lolwut?

But whatever, I won't see either version in my copy of Arkham City. We don't even have Best Buys over here.

Seriously; have we gotten so uncreative that our only course of action is to make everything grimdark bullshit? This is Robin we're talking about; he's never really been dark and edgy and brooding.

Then again, teaming up a stealthy, angry superhero with a brightly-coloured springy kid is just...yeah. But they're going a wee bit far here, I'll give you that.

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

Also the Robin in the game isn't Dick, it's Tim Drake,

Wait, if the Arkham City Robin is Tim Drake...

Where's Dick Grayson?

*SEQUEL FORSHADOW*

Possibly Nightwing?

I would pass out right now if Dick was a playable character.

 

[Realitycrash]

Cool, a Robin that doesn't look like a complete..Well, you remember Yatzee's review of DC online, and what the sidekick training involved?
That's all I think of when I see Robin.

 

[CommanderKirov]

ERm... That's certainly.... Interesting... Sorry I cannot hold it. That sound like a goddamn awful idea, I understand the notion of not making him a kid that yells out "Holy Smokes Batman!" but there is such a thing as going too extreme in an opposite direction... That seems like just the case.