so i’ve mentioned that i’m finally rereading the baroque works saga from the beginning, and i got to the chapter where robin was introduced and… it just really hit home that post-timeskip robin is like a totally different character.
robin was ruthless and mysterious and complex, and now she’s been reduced to just… quietly chuckling “Ufufufufu” whenever something happens, like she has no worries at all, and no insight to offer??? it’s really been frustrating me that basically all her lines in dressrosa added virtually NOTHING to the story, and when she finally did get to say something that expressed SOME personality, she didn’t even get to fight anyways, so it turned out to just be empty words. plus she could have taken out sugar in SECONDS, her self-professed specialty was assassination! robin used to always be one step ahead of everyone, and now it’s like she’s content to just follow along quietly. it really really bugs me.
and her fighting style was completely based on being ruthlessly effective, eliminating opponents as efficiently as possible, so why on earth would she not have learned shigan and/or armament haki during the timeskip? it makes no sense for her to learn how to make GIANT LIMBS or duplicate herself instead, especially when she takes any damage done to created limbs. like zero sense at all. “yeah i’ll just give people a bigger target and more surface area which they can use to hurt me, and let’s make my attacks hyper-visible and obvious too, this is really a great strategy for someone who specializes in fighting like an assassin to use!!” nope.
i’m just so mad about robin’s “development” post timeskip, you guys. she’s been stripped of all the things that made her robin.
I’ve decided to springboard off of this post in order to voice my own thoughts on this general trend, especially as it related to the latest chapter, #804. In this chapter, I think we’ve gotten the biggest example we have ever seen of Robin acting like a totally different person: her reaction to the crummy but hardworking “dragon” drawing
Robin thinking that various odd things are cute is nothing new–we’ve seen her doing this since Thriller Bark when she thought the cerberus was cute. However, this brings it to a point that just feels out of character for me. Robin, actually crying over this drawing? It’s (kinda) funny, but it’s just so jarringly out of character for me that I can’t appreciate it at all, especially given how she’s contributed so little to the story as a character in the past few arcs.
Now, here’s what I think is a reasonable counterpoint to my and Pandora’s initial thoughts here–characters do change. Characters can and SHOULD change and develop, and Robin’s more frequent and more vocal expressions of her fondness for cute things can be viewed as a part of her development. She was never an assassin because she wanted to be one, but because her life necessitated that she act like such. One can symbolically view Robin’s new main fighting style (growing giant limbs in order to do large, showy attacks) as her moving out from the shadows of the world and standing proudly alongside her crew, rather than acting on her own in the shadows. Even though it would be so much more practical for Robin to develop Armament Haki or learn Shigan as a way to make her earlier techniques incredibly more effective and lethal, Robin’s new fighting style can be seen in a more positive light when you look at it from this perspective. Maybe she’s not as mysterious and pragmatic and doesn’t go off on her own as much anymore, but it is possible to view that as her feeling like she doesn’t need to do that as much anymore due to feeling more comfortable with the people around her.
Now, I’ll start getting to my counterpoint to the above counterpoint. Even with all the above in mind, I am still disappointed with what Oda has and hasn’t been doing with Robin’s character lately, and I really do think that this whole dragon drawing this was way to OOC. For starters, when has Robin cried in the series (as an adult)? She cried when she resigned herself to death and the idea of never accomplishing her dream in the royal tomb in Alabasta, when Luffy convinced her to realize she herself wanted to live on Enies Lobby, and then again when Luffy defeated Lucci and shouted that she was going back with them. Those were all very well made and powerful scenes. But it’s actually more informative for this subject to talk about times when she DIDN’T cry. Robin did not cry when Kuma was destroying the crew on Sabaody, and she did not cry when the crew was reunited and she got to see everyone again for the first time in two years. Yet, she cried over a drawing of a dragon. That’s why I can’t appreciate this scene at all. Because Oda had Robin show more emotion over this than he did for her seeing her crew/family again after two long years of separation. Imagine if Law, who never once cried during the entire Dressrosa arc, had just burst into tears and started sobbing over this too. Yeah, it would have been funny to a lot of people, but it also would have made no freaking sense at all and would be really crummy and inconsistent characterization for him. If this had been Robin’s only reaction to the dragon turning back into a drawing, I would have been pretty happy with it
We would have gotten to see Robin making a small, sweet gesture toward a thing she thought was adorable, and it wouldn’t have been giving her an overblown, potentially out of character reaction.
You can say that this is just a joke, and yeah, it was just a joke. But that’s part of the problem. Robin’s character is being used to make jokes more often than it is used to contribute things to the actual story. And not just that, but more important parts of Robin’s character are being ignored. Does anyone remember that Robin is an archaeologist, and that history and foreign civilizations are of great interest and importance to her? Remember the Robin we had in Skypiea?
Where was that Robin this chapter? This chapter they walked through the gates of a truly unique civilization that has existed for at almost 1000 entire years, spanning even further back than the Void Century. And apparently they have existed almost that whole while without letting humans get close to them, meaning that Robin could very well be the first archaeologist to ever witness what she is currently witnessing.
But the Robin whose love of archaeology is a fundamental part of who she is–something that she loves in and of itself, and links her to her home island, her mother, Professor Clover, and all the other archaeologists who lost their lives searching for the truth of their world’s history–was nowhere to be found this chapter. Robin’s only line after they went through the gates was about flowers growing in awkward places. That’s it. It was Luffy who was excited to see this new place and this new civilization, not Robin. And yes, Robin can still express interest and fascination with this island’s history in future chapters. However, it still feels wrong to me that we got her OOC crying over a drawing this chapter, and not a single thing about her being interested in this ancient civilization and it’s history. And in fact, it’s too late for some things. They saw that the gate to the city had been destroyed, clearly indicating that there were destructive and violent people now charging around in this ancient place destroying whatever got in their way. And yet Robin expressed no concern for this. That doesn’t feel right to me. It feels like this important part of her character is being neglected in favor of silly jokes–her making morbid comments and finding things cute.
It feels like this is a demonstration of where Oda’s priorities are with Robin’s character right now: jokes come first, actual character comes second, and her taking an active role shaping the significant events of the story come third or not at all. This is why I am not laughing at Robin crying over a drawing. Because frankly, I really don’t care about things like that. I really don’t care about the running jokes–Robin’s morbid comments, Zoro getting lost, Usopp saying he has made-up diseases. I LIKE these things, because they are fun and help give a little extra to characters. However, comedic character traits like these are nothing compared to the aspects of the the characters that run deep into who they are and truly define them. I can’t get any amusement out of Robin crying this chapter when it feels out of character to me, and especially when much more significant aspects of her character are being neglected at the same time.
So yeah. I’m a buzzkill. But Oda did such an utterly amazing job with Robin’s character in the past, and now after the time skip it simply feels like there is so much less substance to her than there used to be. Right now, seeing her cry over a drawing just feels shallow.
Additionally, op raised a point above about Robin’s larger attacks being part of “character development”, and while I am ALL FOR character development, it is and always will be something directed by the creator. So while it is ARGUABLE that her attacks symbolise that, from a story perspective it doesn’t make sense.
She gets damage from any limb she blooms. She is tired if those limbs get tired. It would have made much more sense for her to have focused on getting physically stronger and more resistant to attacks if she was going to be using stuff like giganto fluer etc., but her physical strength/stamina really only seems to be due to the fact that everything is larger now! (And hey – maybe she just hit a physical slump, maybe she just ins’t good at dedicating herself to sports. But I find that highly unlikely, considering she studied and passed a high-level archaeology exam as a child).
Additionally, even if she was trying to go the complete opposite route of her self-professed assassination skills, it’s not something that just goes away after two years. She spent years fearing for her life, terrified and alone. The urge to get attacks over quickly and efficiently so she can escape isn’t going to fade so easily.
Plus, you have to consider that during her time skip, she had been placed with the Revolutionary army – guys that are meant to be so secret and specialised that it’s actually rather difficult to know of them. I mean, the only reason we knew who ANY of them were was becuase of the Sabo <-> Luffy <-> Robin connection. And then additionally she was on a first name basis Koala and Sabo!! Two people quite high up in the rankings who – presumably – operate under cover frequently!! So why on earth are Robin’s attacks so LARGE and eye-drawing??
Maybe she was used as a distraction, but that doesn’t really fit in with how the Revolutionary army seems to operate. I mean, in Alabasta, the only mention we really got to them was because of the rebellion, and even then it was confusing. We rarely get anything more than one-liners here and there, and even though part of it is to do with the fact that the story is about the Strawhats, we have more information on the Supernovas than we do the Revlutionaries. We have more information about the grand line than we do the Revolutionaries, and they’re meant to be a huge force opposing the government in a heap of places.
Taking it from that perspective, if their main tactic is misdirection and secrecy, why didn’t they help Robin improve her powers in a way that would be more effective and helpful to their cause? If their only reason was “she would be dangerous” (well yes that’s what we/her want) than why would they offer to teach her at all? Why keep her?
And, on top of that, why wouldn’t SHE go out of her way to learn new techniques like armament haki (which we know Sabo knows), or even some of Koala’s fishman karate (and granted, I don’t believe this would happen merely due to the general respect for fishman karate and the intent on keeping it in fishman only circles, but that’s a completely different meta) instead of attacks that maximized the damage that people could inflict on her?
tl/dr: Robin’s attacks are flashy and cool but honestly considering all we know about her kind of useless/out of character, as well as intensifying the pain that she would feel in battle situations.
Cheloneuniverse 
