Exactly, very nearly too late every time. He’s reactive. The one time I’ve seen that he wasn’t reactive, he blew the project because he kept it secret from the team: He didn’t fundamentally trust them to do their jobs. That’s not leadership. Nor is flying off the handle because a situation is stressful.
When Robin attacked the bystander in that one episode, there was no excuse for it because no amount of emotion justifies the abandonment of reason—especially when the stakes are high. Beating up all Slade’s robots is exactly the sort of thing that makes Robin a soldier rather than a leader.
Robin a tool to be utilized. The tactical incompetence of the group as a whole is prima facie evidence that Robin is a poor leader. One may argue, incorrectly IMO, that Raven may not be best fit to lead the group, yet that question is immaterial to the fact that Robin is incompetent in the leadership role. The team members don’t turn to him when they have problems: In my small sampling of the series, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire have kept important issues secret rather than confide in Robin—until it was nearly too late. That’s not the sign of a trusted leader. Nor would the group have to rely on sheer individual ability and strength when in combat.
To the extent that Robin is fit for a leadership role, it is a “leadership” role. He is all flashy and eye-catching. He’s the singer of the band, the face you’d see in a music video. But that doesn’t mean he’s good at writing the songs or arranging the music—or getting the band to the gig on time.
Since Robin is not a fit commander, who is? Beast Boy is too busy goofing off. Cyborg is either tinkering or helping Beast Boy goof off. Starfire is generally making Neptunian Salsa, or where ever the hell she’s from. But Raven…if Robin would learn his proper role and make way for Raven’s superior cognitive abilities, she would be able to profitably devote more of her smarts and intellectual curiosity to improving the performance of the team. Robin demonstrates both downsides of the Peter Principle: Not only has he risen to his level of incompetence, he is also blocking up the bottleneck through which someone else, i.e. Raven, can excel.
As for being a “Spock,” nothing could be further from the truth. Raven commands massive respect from the team. That is, she gets respect in the real and meaningful sense of the term. When one respects the court, the law, or a superior, one abides by its rules, dictates, and demands. As fantastic as the feel-good, warm-fuzzy type of respect is, a leader needs to fundamentally be someone that others will listen to and whose directives they will follow. Nobody fucks with Raven. When Raven joins a game of Stank Ball, Cyborg is begging for mercy within five seconds. When Raven says, “Stay out,” they stay out or regret it if they don’t. When she wants to read, she reads, and the group does not prevent it. That’s the basis her leadership would be built from—a fundamentally strong respect for her, her strength, and her strenght of character. Lt. Col. Bill Killgore may be a good-buddy, an avid surfer, and a father figure to his men, and when he gives an order, his men are motivated by their love for him as their commanding officer; but, do they have any doubt that if they refuse to follow a direct order that they’ll be in seriously deep shit? No effin’ way.
My dad was in the Navy, and he once said to me that, “There has to be one asshole on every ship.” Someone has got to crack the whip once in a while, and Robin doesn’t have the stones for that. Robin’s idea of discipline is to withhold the daily hug. Raven is the only member of the group with the minerals and the personality to effectively crack down and bust balls when it is necessary to do so, and still have the others remain just as close with her as ever.
(capacitor, plump?! That mix of skinny little legs, slender hips, and little-girl face with the exaggerated (sp?) hour-glass waist and big, full, gravity-defying breasts… If they drew Robin so that he had a massive penis, bulging in his tights, that went all the way down to his knee, we might have a fitting comparison of the way Raven is drawn.)
