I agree that as far as looks go, RT isnt much of a xeno type ship. But, i dont think that is much of an argument though.
One more thing that could be important is the energy issue, as the eagle cant handle more than 2 black widows and some shield busters, not to mention 4 solid hull guns plus shield busters. Yes, this is a kind of a pvp argument, but fighting is an important part of RP, otherwise i dont see why someone would go with capships on a faction that has no ships of its own, let alone caps. You cant do much RP if you're dead.
As for the ''flies like a brick'' part, i tend to disagree there. I'd take on any fighter in my RT any day, and twice on sunday:P