Personality
When I’ve put together this series of articles for new additions to the Bucks in the past, they generally always come to a close with a breakdown of said player’s game. In this case, it doesn’t feel like any proper introduction to Lopez would be complete without pointing to the exuberant personality that is sure to make him a fan favorite in Milwaukee.
Unsurprisingly, given how close they are, Robin shares a lot of passions with his brother Brook. The fanatical appreciation of Disney, Star Wars and comic books that Bucks’ fans came to associate with Brook, equally applies to Robin.
The twins have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Disney, including the life of founder Walt Disney. In recent years, that has extended to Brook and Robin briefly hosting an NBA blooper show called NBA Slam Funk on Disney XD, while they’ve been regular visitors to Disneyland — and Brook also has a house at Walt Disney World — since they were young children. They even both skipped practice to make a trip to Disneyland during their final season at Stanford. More recently, when Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened in Disneyland at the end of May, of course, the Lopez twins were spotted in attendance.
Brook and Robin also grew up as voracious readers, thanks in part to their maternal grandmother’s collection of over 9,000 books. The most well-publicized element of the Lopezes’ reading diet undoubtedly comes in the form of comic books. Robin is a frequent attendee at ComicCon events, sometimes even dressed as Doc Brown from Back to the Future.
While Brook’s favorite comic character is Batman, for Robin it’s the Wally West version of The Flash, according to David Ramil’s fantastic profile of NBA comic book culture.
For Robin, his love of Disney and comics acted as catalyst for his passion in art and animation as a child and teenager, ultimately leading to a trip to the Sistine Chapel to study Michelangelo’s Last Judgement following his freshman season in college. While Robin’s studies focused on art, Brook studied creative writing.
That combination leaves the brothers with big plans for the future. They already pitched an idea for an animated adventure comedy series to TV networks back in 2013, they’ve collaborated on ideas for videogame projects and superhero TV shows, and they’ve long held plans to collaborate on books with Robin illustrating and Brook writing when they retire.
Of course, all of this just points to the larger interests and personalities of both Robin and Brook, but there’s another hobby of sorts that the newest member of the Bucks has become known for in the NBA sphere. When asked to describe his brother back in 2015, Brook responded:
"“Robin is the exaggerated version of me. He’s more of a cartoon character. He’s known for his mascot beatings, too.”"
Robin’s long-running feud with mascots has become the stuff of NBA legend, having started all the way back in 2013 and continued right up until this day. It’s even reached the point that the Fresno Grizzlies, Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals unveiled a mascot named “Brook and/or Robin Lopez” back in May.
If you’ve gone to watch Robin Lopez play at any point over that timeframe, there’s an excellent chance that during pre-game shootaround or a timeout, you’ve seen him get wrapped up in some sort of antics with what he calls “those furry freaks who run around insulting players, scaring children, and creating a hostile work environment for players like myself.”
Speaking to Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck on the source of his mascot beef in 2015, Lopez revealed:
"“I feel like my earliest encounters with mascots, they were never too receptive of me. I was a taller child. I always looked a little older than I was. I don’t think I ever got proper attention from those mascots.”"
Of course, that means Robin’s path has crossed with Bango over the years too.
Whether the Bucks adding a second Lopez brother makes life miserable for Bango or gives him defense from other mascots remains to be seen. Based on Robin’s tweets in recent days, perhaps Bango should prepare for the worst, though.
— Robin Lopez (@rolopez42) July 1, 2019
For the Bucks, Lopez’s signing should provide plenty of positives on the court. But even beyond that, the combination of him and his brother makes for two of the most interesting people in the NBA, and virtually guarantees a lot of fun for Milwaukee’s fans over the course of the next two seasons.