#i am a fan of house. i have watched all of voltron as it came out. i am aware of what actual queerbaiting is as well as unintentional romanc

[junipum]

im sooo annoyed seeing some of the GO2 posts that are calling it "low quality" or fanfiction in a negative sense. like yeah ik we're all entitled to our own opinions but i truly don't see half the issues with it that would elicit such criticism. i get it might've been a little less action packed than s1, but that doesn't make it bad! or poorer quality! stories have ups and downs, and i don't even see this as a down at all. i genuinely really like s2, and i think it lives up to the hype. i know i certainly believe it was worth the wait! i think the ending was good as well. i would've loved a happy ending right away, but it's a well known fact that stories only get better endings after something heartbreaking or drastic happens that totally throws a wrench in the plans. i can't help but think of the end of hannibal s2. while at the time of release fans might've been mad possibly, but now with s3 we look back at that and cherish it as just another layer of the show and their relationship. i can only pray that we get a s3 that gives gaiman and pratchet time to finish/continue the narrative they're creating. aziraphale and crowley deserve more time to fix their relationship, and the writers/directors deserve more time to continue the plot without being stopped by annoying critics

#sorry for the rant im just. ugh #oh ANOTHER thing #people call it queerbait when they don't kiss #then call it fanfiction when they do #literally what #if you can give me one good reason to use fanfiction as an insult against s2 #that DOESN'T revolve around the kiss or their relationship development in s2 #ill listen and form my own opinion around that. but if that's your ONLY reason to call it that #politely shut up. #i am a fan of house. i have watched all of voltron as it came out. i am aware of what actual queerbaiting is as well as unintentional romanc #so many shows ive seen before have gotten cancelled because there was lgbt+ rep in it. please just don't let this be one of them #good omens #good omens 2

[shirophantomvox]

How Illumi, Hisoka, and Chrollo would react to their S/O in the hospital

Hi, anon! You are welcome to join my Discord Server if you are a fan of Hxh, Voltron, or both! I promise this is a safe environment! This is an interesting topic for sure! To the other anon(s), I am working on your request! This will contain both fluff and angst. I forgot to include Leorio in this, so I’ll include him in the next HxH post. You’ll have to forgive me, I have 2 more requests in my inbox and I am not feeling the best. I just got my second Covid shot and it is hurting like hell. Nevertheless, I encourage you all to get your shot if you can. I will be on this site one and off and I should be on it for real next week. I have run out of ideas to write and I began to think I was annoying people with my HxH content (no one said this I just assumed). This post has 1974 words. After these requests are finished, I plan on doing a character analysis for Leorio.

Anyway, let’s get into the post!

We’ll start with Hisoka this time.

Hisoka

In all honesty, this man has heard of a hospital (since he sends a lot of people to it after fights) but has never been in one.

The signs, floors, staircase numbers, and elevators all confuse him. He has only been in one once when he was a kid and has never been again.

He isn’t a social butterfly in this setting because this is a professional establishment and not a college party. Asking for directions takes quite a toll on him because of his established pride. You know guys act when they want to find a destination on their own and will go miles out of the way instead of just asking for direction.

He doesn’t talk to anyone; all he wants to do is find you and make sure you are alright.

He is the tallest person in the freight elevator. So tall that everyone at turns to look at him at once for at least 10 seconds and turn back around surprised.

“How tall is he,” one of the nurses ask.

“Tall enough to be my house!”

This annoys him. He takes out the Joker card and lays it against his thigh but realizes he cannot make any hasty decisions. His bloodlust was activated merely out of irritation and not by threat. You were on his mind and destroying these worthless humans wasn’t an option for today.

He approached the guest desk and waited for about 2 minutes before he was acknowledged.

“May I help you,” a smug receptionist asked. Wow, these people do not know who they’re talking to.

“I’m here to see y/n.”

“Y/n is in room 345. Go down the hall and to the right all the way down.”

This man nearly ran with a quickness! His jester shoes somehow made the floor shake as he ran.

You were awake, eating the horrible food the hospital provided and watching TV. It seemed like you were doing ok, but you had just been in a car accident. Your arms and right leg were still sore. It was so bad that you’d be fine with Hisoka carrying you everywhere.

When you two are alone in serious public places, he doesn’t play games or tricks. He is often portrayed as a ruthless man, but in settings like this, he places the jokes and games aside for later. When he enters your room, he is silent for 30 seconds. Much too long. He was shocked; he walked around your hospital bed, pulled up a chair, and stared at your cast. It had many names written on it.

“Yes, I am ok.”

“I apologize for not being there for you,” he began to say.

“Shh… it’s ok. This is life. It hurts like hell, but I’m a trooper!”

Admiring your cast and its multiple fonts of handwriting and messages, he grabbed a sharpie marker, wrote his name, with a heart and spade next to it. Surprisingly, his cursive was very neat and legible.

“I didn’t know you knew how to write in cursive! Why don’t you write me letters?”

“I see you every day and it hurts my hand.”

The doctor wouldn’t be in for another 1 ½ hours, so Hisoka used your thigh as a pillow as he took a nap. He had been up for countless nights thinking about you. He was screwing up so bad, Chrollo let him leave early.

“As soon as your better, we will fight again. I won’t go easy on you. You won’t be in the hospital but you get the jest.”

Illumi

Illumi isn’t the type of man to overreact in these types of situations. When you both agreed to date each other, you knew you all were tough cookies. You were aware of the dangers of dating an assassin and he knew about the dangers of dating a bounty hunter. People hated you both and you targeted.

One night you both were caught in a vulnerable state. While you both enjoyed chocolate milkshakes at a laid-back 1950’s styled diner, two men were previously thrown out for fighting. While your back was turned one of those men shot your arm, causing you to carelessly throw your body to the ground due to impact.

While everyone else was screaming, Illumi jumped to the ground and tied his hair tie around your arm to temporarily stop the bleeding.

“Illu, why does it feel cold in here,” you managed to breathe out.

His heart dropped to his stomach for the first time in history.

“Don’t say things like that!”

Illumi is already horrible at displaying emotions, but all he could do is frown in fear. Once the EMS came barling in, he demanded that he ride with you.

Illumi hadn’t experienced anything like this since Killua had been injured when he fell from a tree.

You and he were separated when you were rushed into surgery leaving him alone in the waiting room.

When Illumi is stressed and cannot properly display how he feels, he tends to act in “odd” ways.

He begins to furiously turn pages in magazines or bother the receptions every 2 minutes about the status of your surgery. When the woman finally says that you’re still alive, he tones it down a little.

Illumi is open to conforming advice from strangers; he has been receiving it secretly from strangers. Since Silva was busy abusing him, he often found comfort from “the streets”.

He has a bad habit of pacing back and forth and fidgeting in his seat while horrific images fill his mind. All he has seen is pain and even though he was used to it, he didn’t want you to go through it as well.

While sitting in his seat (finally!) and head in his lap, doubled over indescribable sorrow, a little girl walks up to him with her hands folded and a doll under her arms. Illumi feels her presence and looks up. The girl’s curly hair covered her endearing eyes and her smile is wide.

“They’ll be alright. I just know they will,” turning around returning to her mother, the girl said with confidence.

On cue, Illumi placed his hand over his heart, smiling just a little.

He walked quickly to your room once you were out of surgery.

His speed walk mimics one of a soldier; his left arm in since with his right leg. His shoes echoed throughout the hall.

As soon as he enters the room, he shuts the door harder than usual and gives you a tight embrace. This surprises you! You’re lucky if he lays his head on your shoulder!

Illumi had been working out lately. He wanted to beat you in the “squish the melon” contest. He is very competitive and even if he lost, that doesn’t hurt his ego. Not in the slightest. Since it was just the both of you alone, he bends down to hug you tight, so tight that your face is squished against his.

This behavior is only surprising because he usually doesn’t coddle you even when you get hurt, but this time he realized that you could have died from the gunshot wound.

After that he kissed your forehead and almost simultaneously the doctor barreled in just missing the sweet moment between you and your beau.

Chrollo

When Chrollo is holding meetings with the Phantom Troupe, he always appears to be neutral. That is very important. A leader has to show strength even through the worst/hurtful times of their lives.

Chrollo had gotten a call from Nobunaga that you had gotten hurt on a mission and had actually gotten captured by the enemy. Phinks was able to get you back but you suffered horrible injuries.

This is protocol; they do this for any of the members. The troupe was oblivious to the fact that you and Chrollo were dating. They thought you were here to replace Uvo.

In situations like this, he is calm on the outside but screaming on the inside. Common sense will tell you if you are startled by the news you’ve just received and you begin to drive, you could cause more harm on the way to your destination.

Chrollo is very silent; he doesn’t call to check on your status or anything; he would rather see it for himself.

You were a trooper! After all, you are dating a dangerous robber.

Chrollo already knew what room you were in so he just went.

“I knew I should have kept y/n by my side. Y/n insisted on doing my dirty work that they almost died! How foolish could I have been?” He constantly cursed himself for letting his guard down with you.

He always gave you room to think and complete your own tasks but he can’t help his protective nature; one he has for the troupe but times 10.

His childhood friends had been shot by law enforcers, his home was horrific, and the last thing he needed was for you to be gone. You were keeping him afloat in society.

When he opened the door, Phinks was sitting in a chair, one leg over the other, laughing at a TikTok video.

Nobunaga on the other hand was watching the world news and seemed invested that he didn’t hear Chrollo enter the room. Once they both saw, they stood to their feet.

“Y/n is ok boss. They suffered a few cuts and burns, but they're breathing.”

Chrollo’s straight face remained as he stared at you.

Chrollo’s silence is something the troupe has internalized as a sign of anger, rage, or both. When he didn’t speak and just stared, everyone knew that their next mission was going to be a brutal one.

Chrollo is a man that isn’t afraid to express how he feels. He could cry right now if he wanted to and no one would dare laugh at him or insult him. After all, Nobunaga cried when he realized Uvo was dead.

Nobunaga and Phinks excused themselves as they saw him place his hand over his mouth.

Once the door closed, He pulled up the chair, grabbed your hand, and gently squeezed it. His warmth woke you up instantly and you turned your head. You winced in pain causing Chrollo to jump from his seat, moving to your right side so you wouldn’t turn your head too much.

“I’m glad you're alive, darling. What were you doing putting yourself in danger? Feitan could have handled the beast!”

He isn’t trying to doubt your ability to fight, he’s just concerned for your safety. Even so, why would he insist that you join the spiders?

A tear dropped from his face as he silently kissed your hand three times. You smiled warmly and placed your right left hand on top of his.

“I am fine, boss. You need not worry. I’m a trooper, remember?”

He placed your hand against his dry cheek and continued to kiss it. You were his lifeline and he wanted to spend every moment with you.

#hisoka morow #hunterxhunter #hunter x 2011 #hunter x hunter #illumi zoldyck #hxh 1999 #hisoka #chrollo lucilfer #chrollo #hxh illumi #illumi #hisoka morrow x reader #hunter x hunter x reader #hunter x hunter x you #hunter x hunter x y/n #illumi x reader #illumi x y/n #illumi x you #chrollo x y/n #chrollo x oc #chrollo x reader #chrollo x you #hxh headcanons #hxh imagines #hxh chrollo #hxh x reader #hxh 2011 #gon hxh #hxh fanart #y/n

[tini-writes]

Bloody Valentine (Pt. 1)

-

“In my head, in my head,”

“I’m laying naked with you, yeah.”

“In my head, in my head,”

“I’m ready to die holding your hand.”

“I don’t do fake love, but i’ll take some from you tonight.”

“I know, i’ve got to go but i might just miss the flight.”

“I can’t stay forever- let’s play pretend,”

“And treat this night like it’ll happen again.”

“You’ll be my Bloody Valentine tonight.”

-

(Songs in this fic belongs to their rightful owners)

(All Characters from Voltron: Legendary Defenders belong to their rightful owners)

-

Section One

Sign of the Times

-

I love music, Keith Kogane had decided at a young age.

There was something about it that had attracted the young child to it as a lamp would to a moth. His mother and father encouraged it, and it wasn’t long before the small child found himself singing along with the lyrics. New songs basically every week had found itself strung to the growing boy’s heart. His parents followed the lead, letting the verses and choruses hold their three-person family together. Dancing in living rooms and singing in public were some of the best memories Keith held dear to this day. And things were good back then. They were happy.

Until Keith’s twelfth birthday.

From what the now young adult had heard, his parents had snuck out early that morning to grab a gift for him, but on their way out of the store, had become casualties of a shop shooting. He had woken up that morning to police, one looking very sorrowful while holding a walkman to his chest. “What’s going on, where’s mom and dad,’ Keith had asked, eyes wide.

The male officer just shook his head with sad eyes, quietly handing over the gift to the young boy.

And the world seemed to stop spinning for a moment.

From that moment on, Keith had been relocated to an orphanage. Many people tried to take him in, only to have him returned back to the orphanage with angry foster parents flat on his tail. Keith found himself hitting rock bottom of a hole with the title ‘depression’, and he had no clue how to crawl out of it.

Until the Shiroganes decided to adopt a child. And that child was Keith.

It was a good family. A mother, a father, and a son or age fourteen. The mother was a quick-witted businesswoman and the father owned a mechanical shop somewhere in the center of Texas. The son, Takashi, was kind, offering to spend time with his new younger brother every day. He was the golden boy, the perfect figure for an older brother, and it didn’t take long for Keith to warm up to him. The two stayed up late a lot because despite Shiro (Keith’s nickname for him) being the golden boy, he had a knack for acting like a toddler.

And Keith figured he could get used to something like that.

___

Years later, Keith and Shiro had moved out. The two were close now- well, close enough for Keith to be able to tolerate moving into an apartment with him.

The two of them had moved to a small city, but a city nonetheless called Altea- a small speck on any map. It gave Shiro the city he wanted while not having a bunch of people so he didn’t have to go to war with his younger brother to get him out of the house. It suits them both well, and they were happy about that.

While out, the brothers had met some friends that happened to spend a lot of time in their apartment now. They met Matt Holt, and through him, they met his Non-Binary sibling, Pidge. And through them, Keith met Hunk and Lance, Pidge’s best friends.

Pidge and Matt were both slender people with unruly caramel hair and freckles. Pidge was the shortest (by a lot) who wore round glasses and always seemed to have some sort of green article of clothing on their body. Matt rocked an undercut, always wearing one of those hoodies that oddly look dirty, but is always clean somehow. Both of them, however, were your basic nerds and coffee addicts.

Lance Mcclain is a lanky, tan, Cuban boy with more ego than legs, surprisingly. He’s cocky, arrogant and a giant flirt. He’s constantly aiming to tick Keith off for some reason, or maybe it’s just him. He’s everything Keith despises in a human being, but for some reason, he can’t be mad at him. No matter how self-absorbed he can get, Keith will still find those blue eyes and snarky smirk to stick him into a wormhole of emotions.

A crush. So what? It’ll go away.

Hunk was a tall yet stout Samoan. But he was sweet, and Keith liked talking to him. He was always smiling and he was the kind of person to lift your spirits without trying. You just don’t want him on your bad side, and Keith’s pretty sure that’s how he got respect for the guy in the first place.

Pidge, Hunk, and Lance had roped Keith into their small little trio since day one- just as well as a certain Cuban caught his eye. Shiro had caught on quickly, tossing Keith quirked brows over Lance’s shoulders to which Keith could only flush at. And things like this only made him more frustrated because Lance was a giant flirt, teasing girls after concerts and sending winks to one of their directors, Allura (to which she would always roll her eyes). But Keith always looked down on his own emotions when it came to the taller boy because it just felt so… impossible for the other to feel the same. But yet he still found himself enjoying side hugs, gentle bantering, and moments where Lance would teasingly offer to cuddle.

He let himself pretend, and he was okay with it.

Keith can roll with it.

___

He was running now, trying to pace his breathing with each thump of his foot hitting the ground. Keith gripped the paper in his right hand just a little bit tighter, using his left to fix his black hoodie flying behind him from the speed of him dodging through other pedestrians.

Left, inhale.

Right, exhale.

Left, inhale.

Right, exhale.

Keith followed that pattern, inhaling, and exhaling the pain from the cramp that was coiling at the bottom of his gut. He winced, skidding to a halt, and turning as he found his way into the apartment building of Arusia. He pushed his way through the spinning door, nearly ramming into Alfor, great-great-grandson of the guy that founded Altea. Alfor smiled widely, recognizing him.

“Oh, hello, Keith! I just dropped Allura off. She said you texted her something about meeting up--” Alfor was cut off by Keith scrambling around him, racing for the elevator. “Eh? Keith? What’s going on?”

The teenager was already in the elevator, however, pressing floor number six and just as the door closed, cupped his hands around his mouth. Keith was grinning now, heaving and out of breath. “We made it!”

Keith watched Alfor’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline and his own smile split over his face. Then the elevator door closed between them. Keith was still grinning so hard his cheeks hurt, pacing in circles in the levator until the obnoxiously loud ding sounded from the tiny speaker. Keith took off again, bounding down the slim hallway until he found their room.

Not bothering to dig for his keys in his pockets, he knocked as hard and as fast as he could basically bouncing in place. “Shiro!” He yelped, coming to the happily numbed conclusion he would hug his brother as soon as the door opened. He hadn’t felt this happy in years, and even then he felt that a goal this big was so far out of reach so when it happens so suddenly--

The door opens and Keith launches himself forward, throwing his arms around the shoulders of the person who opened the door. Keith didn’t hug much, but it just seemed so right. He spent a moment basking in the ocean salt scent of--

Wait a hot holy minute.

Keith pulled back and scanned the face of the person he’d been hugging. Grey-purple eyes met with ocean blue, and flushed face met flushed face. But Lance is grabbing Keith’s shoulders and giving him an intense glare. “Keith, what’s wrong? Why are you screaming? Are you hurt?” He sounded panicked, and then his eyes landed on the lilac piece of paper Keith had clutched in his fist. “What’s that?” Lance reached down and snatched it, and Keith let him, mind still scrambled because Lance’s breath just fanned across his lips and he thinks he’s dying--

But then those eyes are shining, and slowly, a giant grin on Lance’s face and Keith’s gut is twisted in fifty painful knots and Lance barges into him and lifts him off the ground. Keith lets out an oof as Lance laughed, grinning widely. Lance is spinning with Keith in his arms and the smaller teenager feels giddy, and Lance is whooping and hollering and they’ll probably get a noise complaint. “We made it! We fucking made it, guys! Guys we’re in!”

And as fast as it started, Lance is setting him down and scrambling down the entrance hallway, and Keith is reeling for a moment before he’s dashing after the Cuban. He rounds the corner in Shiro and Keith’s small living room, and the couches are crowded with people craning their necks over Lance’s shoulder. And Pidge was the first one to hop up, whooping and pumping a fist in the air.

“Whoo! I told you we’d make it!” Pidge hollered at the top of their lungs, flopping back against Hunk as the taller person sad down, grinning madly. Lance was still staring at the paper, a Cheshire grin illuminating the room as Allura and Matt stared at it with their jaws agape. It was Matt who rebooted first, eyes wide.

“Jesus. That’s great!” And then the taller sibling is charging across the room, diving for Pidge and wrapping them up in a bone crushing hug. The smallest growled under their breath. “Oh! I’m so proud of my little sibling! Yo, we should bust open some champagne!”

Suddenly, Shiro’s head popped out of the Kitchen doorway. “Who said champagne?”

“Wow. And here i was thinking you were innocent,” Lance teased with that smirk, handing the slip of paper to Allura who still stared at it in pure awe. She might’ve been having a stroke. Shiro lanked his way into the room, standing by Keith who rested against the wall with his arms crossed.

“I like to think that I still am.” Shiro cracked up, but he jerked a thumb in Keith’s direction. “But Grumpypants back there should stay clean of alcohol for one night.”

The buzz of rum washing down his throat and the mirgane burning sickeningly at the back of his mind. Lolling his head back so he could stare at the roof, tears clouding his vision and before he can stop himself, he’s sobbing.

“Oh, Keith…”

“WE MADE IT TO THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS!” Allura comes charging of whatever crack of hell, hollering and Keith is physically shaken because he didn’t know she had that much energy. She hooks an arm around Shiro’s shoulder, and the other adult is perfectly fine with it because he has a boyfriend. But his eyebrows do raise up his forehead in a way that reminds Keith solely of their father and Alfor. Do all dads make that face?

Keith and his friends are in a small rock cover band with the name ‘Voltron’. Allura had come up with the name and had become one of their directors along with another guy, Coran. Pidge and Hunk had insisted on being with sound and effects, tucked away often at the back of the stages. Romelle, a blonde girl that ought to be tucked into the dark folds of this cursed apartment stealing liquor was their drummer- full of energy and not afraid to flip you off. Shiro and Lance are guitarists, Shiro always on bass while Lance has the talent to swap between acoustic and electric.

And somehow Keith ended up being the lead singer, which he was fine with as long as he didn’t have to sing with any real emotion.

And so ‘Voltron’ was formed.

“What?”

“What?” Romelle (there she fucking is) sticks her head out of the kitchen, a Twisted Tea in her hand. He thinks he’s gonna snatch it from her because he bought it with his work money, but he’s not that cruel with his friends.

“We made it?”

“No fucking way.” Romelle plops herself the rest of the way out of the kitchen, strutting over. Allura just nods with so much energy that Keith thinks she might snap her neck.

“Yes fucking way.” Allura nods again, shoving the paper in her best friend’s face. “Look.”

Shiro pulls the paper back from the blonde’s face a bit so he can read with her. And Keith watches with humor as their eyebrows raise in sync, and he backs away with a fond smile and his arms still crossed. He turns on his heel and turns toward the kitchen, making his way to the fridge and he ducks into it to pull out his own can of Twisted Tea.

He leans back against the island in the kitchen as he clicks it open and takes a swig. It’s not something strong, but it’ll have to do until everyone else leaves and Shiro is asleep. He sighs, letting his shoulders sag as the burn of the alcohol settles at the back of his mouth.

Let his liver be forgotten about.

“I thought Shiro just said he wanted you to catch a break from alcohol?” He hears Lance joke lightly, and turns to find the lanky boy already settled into one of the barstools at the island, watching him from where his head is perched on his hand. Keith resists the urge to groan in annoyance.

This stupidly attractive boy just can’t be shaken, can’t he?

Keith turns to face him, setting his elbows on the same island as Lance as he makes direct eye contact as he takes a long, cold, intoxicating swig. Lance tossed his head back and cackles, eyes crinkling at the edges as he waves a finger at the boy across from him.

“Scandalous.”

“Look who's talking.” Keith rasps, the fire of the alcohol being a mepic bitch and sneaking up on him. Then suddenly his lungs are in flames and he’s hacking up a storm. Lance’s keeps snorting his obnoxious high-pitched laugh, eyes closed in mirth.

Keith fakes the cough for a second just to make sure the sound of it is saved in his mind.

“Humor. I like it. The happiness of making it into the battle of the bands must’ve really hit you hard.” Lance wipes some ‘happy tears’ away from his eyes as he pats the seat next to him, motioning for Keith to sit with him. Keith doesn’t budge. Lance tossed his head back. “Come on, Mullet. If you’re gonna converse with your favorite guitarist then at least sit your happy ass down.”

“Who said you were my favorite?”

“Well, you’re not trying to claw me to shreds right now, for one, And second of all, you’re completely ignoring Shiro with the whole ‘no drinking’ thing.” Lance reminded, counting off on his fingers. Keith just hums and nods, taking another long swig of the five percent alcohol.

“Fair argument.”

“So does that mean that i’m your favorite?” Lance asked as Keith turned back to the fridge, tucking the rim of his open can between his teeth to grab two more. He sets them both on the island before tipping his head back and finishing that can off. He can feel Lance’s eyes gouging into his neck, and he might’ve swallowed for a completely different reason.

Keith sets the empty can down and slides one of the full ones toward Lance, taking the other for himself and he pops it open. He presses his lips to the opening of the can before he responds with a teasing, “I never said that,” and Lance is gaping at him. He babbles for a moment with wide eyes before he shakes his head with more energy than Allura.

“Oh come on! We have fun on stage! Try-outs! We shared a mic!” Lance tosses his head back and groans in a way that makes the wind fly out of Keith in a loud sigh. Lance doesn’t seem to notice for he’s too busy pouting. “Come on!”

“This sounds similar, don’t you think? Blue? Remember that?” Keith leans toward Lance with a smirk, and Lance shoots a glare at him even though there's no real heat behind it- Keith realizes that now.

“Oh, not this shit again… You’re the reason Blue was stolen in the first place! Zendak and his band are just a bunch of dweebs looking for something to pawn and you just happened to get me caught up in that fistfight with Rolo!” Lance complains loudly, but Keith is quick to quip back.

“Me rescuing Blue for you was a bonding moment! I delicately handed her to you!” Keith knows he’s pouting now, so he turns his head to the side and hiffs. Out of his left ear, he can hear Lance open his can. “Besides, you definitely slept with his sister. That’s the entire reason I got into that fight in the first place.”

“Oh, yeah i was,” Lance says between chuckles that sound too low and sensual not to be considered inappropriate and bad for Keith’s health. “She was hot, too. I have no regrets in that bubble.”

And Keith let his heart sink to the floor.

Sure, Lance talking about a hook-up with some girl really shouldn’t bother him, but it just… does. Makes Keith feel a flurry of emotions and the only way he can respond is by staring sadly at his can or alcohol. Lance’s laughter dies down and it leaves them in silence, and Keith can’t tell if he should be talking or not.

Keith folds his fingers around his can of Twisted Tea and presses his lips together, letting his head hang.

Another minute or two of silence before the atmosphere shatters.

“Hey, that didn’t bother you, did it? Me sleeping with someone after concert? You technically aren't the boss, but you just seem… triste.” Lance sounds awkward and guilty, which was never a good thing coming from him. Lance was always cocky, finding ways to shuffle his way to the head of the stage to show off during concerts. So when that tone completely switched, the first thing that clicked in Keith's mind was that he probably responded the wrong way and now Lance is upset.

Shit.

“No, it’s fine. Sleep with as many girls and guys as you want. I don’t decide how you cope- seeing you havn’t snached my Tea away from me, yet.” And this gets Lance’s lips to quirk into a soft smile, and Keith’s heart skips a beat. And then Lance’s hand is reaching between them to pat at his shoulder, his own lips now in a straight line.

Fireworks dance under Lance’s fingertips, and it made Keith light up. He was hyperactively aware of Lance’s hand rubbing his back and shoulder blades gently, their eyes not leaving the cans in their hands.

Keith found it funny how Lance could be so close but so unreachable at the same time. And what hurt the most was moments like these, when he wanted to stay in them forever, but also the nagging feeling of his emotions being unrequited. And the fact that Lance would wake up in some fan’s apartment the next morning just felt so… cold and lonely and empty that Keith just wanted to disappear sometimes. Just float into nothingness and let his mind rest.

It was nice now, sure.

But it would never be enough.

#klance #voltron #writing #this was supposed to be on Ao3 but I can’t find the time to track down my laptop so fuck this #bloody Valentine

[goldstonegolem64]

epilogue

On the planet of Olkarion Rebels,Queen slayers Mercarnies and Olkair alike were celebrating the Huge Victory they just had against the empire .But above the planet the Castle of lions , Along with several other rebel ships were being repaired by Vanguards cloud of nanobots. An as this was happening inside of the Castle of lions .Lance,Keith, Hunk, Pidge,Jay and Matt  Were all sitting around The healing pods that housed Thace and Shiro now both armless seeing as Shiro was rejected do to his metal arm being severally damaged in the fight  

“ Hey Jay can you put some music on sitting here in silence is really depressing “Matt asked 

“ Alright  “ Jay replied as he tapped on his wrist computer and let his music start play 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccRif2DaGs

“ Thank you “Matt said 

“ Your welcome “ Jay said before the room return to the semi silence it was before just with music playing in the background They all sat there for a few minutes until Allura,Coran, Ezra,Shay and Kolivan walked in

“ So how's everyone doing  ?” Coran asked But no one answered” Oh that bad uh” Coran rubbed the back of  his head as Ezra and Shay walked to their respective Boyfriends 

“ Well after everything they have gone through it makes sense that they would be tried and well worried “Allura looked towards  The healing Thace and Shiro

“ So Allura what is are next move?” Keith asked

“ Well I wanted to talk to you about that. After learning Zarkon’s plan to capture your families and use them as a bargaining chip against us. I believe we should go back to your homeworld and make sure your families are alright and to well recruit Earth to the coalition along with recruiting Mars if that’s ok with you jay ”  Allura looked over to jay to see his reaction 

“ Yeah it’s fine we would  have to go there eventually” Jay said as he leaned his head on Ezra’s shoulder 

“ An the rest of you ?” Allura turned her head towards the other 

“ Yeah going home sounds nice” Lance said

“ Same here it would be nice to show Shay around my hometown   “ Hunk said  

“ I would like that” Shay add

“ I wouldn’t mind going home after a year of fighting see mom again would be a breath of fresh air.Right Katie “ Matt said as he elbow bumped his sister 

“ Yeah it would be nice to see mom again. I just hope see doesn’t loss it when she sees what happened to my leg “ Pidge said as she tapped on her right foot   

‘ Yeah that’s going to be a pain explain also she might want you to stop being a Paladin after seeing your foot” Matt replied 

“ Keith what’s your opinion on this ?” Lance asked 

“ I mean where am i going to go. I live on this ship and my brother brother in law and Nephew also live here.So where they go i go” Keith said Bluntly 

“ Alright it looks like were all in agreement So when are we heading out?” Jay asked 

“Once Adam and your kids are back on board and the repair are done will be heading out to your home system“  Allura said

“ Alright with that out of the way is there anything else we need to take about?” Lance asked 

“ Well i think K-7 could be useful he was made to be pilot so having more mech pilots on are sie would be nice.Once we start make are own V-types. As for the twins “

“ They did help us fight Zarkon” Pidge add  

“ But they almost kill us the first time we meet them” Hunk said he felt Shay’s grip around his arm tighten a bit 

“ Yeh i don’t trust them to much after that “ Shay added 

“ But they also worried us about zarkon plan to kidnap  are families “Pidge countered 

“ But they helped kill entire rebel outpost” Matt add 

“ Ok but they helped us and can pilot Robeasts and i firmly believe that they can help us in the long run and i mean if the do betray us we can just end them without a second thought “ Jay said 

“ Not to interrupt your discussion” Everyone turned to look at the speaker who was Kolivan “ but i believe the Twins should go with us seeing as they are children of are former members “ Kolivan said     

“ Well Before we make a concrete decision  let have Adam be here and see what the twins want to do.” Jay said 

“ no i think they Should go with the Blade it would get them out are hands, An they could still help us in th long run”Keith said   

“ Yeah that sounds fine but still lets wait for adam to get he so we have a full team decides “ jay replied 

“ Well you are third in command so will wait “ Lance said 

“ Well Allura’s here and her word trumps mine” Jay turned his head to look at the princess  “ So boss what do you want to do with them ?” He asked

“Lets wait til Adam is here and when Shiro wakes up “ Allura said she then turn to look towards Kolivan “ Will you being willing to wait an few more hours ?”

“ It will be fine i am not need back for a few more day.But if you don’t mind we would like to send Thace back to base with Axtok?”

“ That is fine “Allura replied 

“ Thank you “ 

[ Princess The prometheus is approaching and will be docking soon.  ] 

“ Well i looks like will get are answer soon “ Matt add 

“ So whose going to be the one to tell Adam what happened to Shiro ‘ Hunk said 

“ I will i’m a doctor intraining and i was the one who had promised to Shiro home alive” Jay got to his feet helped Erza up to their feet  ”  lets get this over with  “ Jay said as he walked out of the room followed by Ezra 

Elsewhere 

in his peranol chamber of his Capital Ship Lotor looked at The badly damaged Command center with thousands of plasma impact burneds ,Bullet holes, and a long gash that lay their like an open wound on the side of the command center. “ I wish i could have seen it. Most have been a beautiful fight “ Lotor said to himself as he starred at the carnage caused by the Rebel army. As he looked the door to his chamber.Lotor turn to see a Women with lite blue skin dark purple and blue hair. Blue eyes with yellow sclera  She also had four small horn sticking out of the side of her head and they wore the armor of his generals

“ Lord lotor we have collected the fragments of those cubes “ The woman said 

“ Good have are top researchers on in i want to know what they're made of and where they came from “ 

“ Yes my lord” 

“ Then once your done with that bring me the man named skyver followed by Contacting are spies in the rebellion and tell them to watch this Jay person closely i want any and all information on them. He is are only lead to this second Altean Colony and we must find it before my mother does .  I will not let her kill of what is left of my people. “ Lotor ordered 

“ Yes my lord” 

“ one last have we found where bandor disappeared to ?” Lotor asked 

“ Yes we have  “

“ Where “

“ Back i the first colony we was found by guard barely alive. He is currently being treated there and is said to make a full recovery in the come months. We also did a head count after the crash and found that we are now missing one other person”

“ Who is it ?” Lotor asked 

“ Bandors older sister Romelle Silva ‘ 

“ Do we any idea on her current whereabouts ?” 

“ No she has disappeared near the Void’s opening she may be dead My lord “

Lotor clenched his fists hearing that “ And what of CenterPoint labs 

Axca voice when from her normal stern and militaristic tone to more somber one “ completely destroyed and only a few members of the team survived”

“And what about the few survivors “   

“ Off world and in recovery “

“ Alright We'll hold off  on the gate project for another few year and keep me posted on the recovery. You are dismissed “Lotor order 

“ Yes my lotor “ Axca said as she left Lotors Chamber    

Lotor stood there in silence for a few minutes 

“ It was not your fault My friend sciences as it’s rises   “ Ragna said as he walked out from a shadowy corner of the room 

“ Still It was my orders that sealed  the fates of all those people “ Lotor said looking at the smokey wolf      

“ True but you now know what not to do next time “

“ Not to follow my parents notes and stop trying to tear a hole into the fabric of reality “

“Correct Now what is the next step seeing as your father failed to capture  Voltron or the Valkyrie  “

“ I still believe conniving  Voltron  to join us is are best options and to make peace with the rebellion.But i don’t think mother or most of the Generals that were under my fathers rule wouldn’t  be happy about it “

“ Then fight for it and make them listen to you”  Ragna said 

“That is the easy part the hard part is going to be talking to the Paladin in the first place”

“ The worst thing they can do is kill you and fully shatter the empire and bring peace to the universe “ Ragna said 

“  They won’t kill me hopefully when they make this new universal government.Now how is my mother doing “

“ She is in grieving still “ 

“ And of the force that influencing her.”

“ It’s still there stronger now then it was before ” 

“ Alright then it’s going to be but we most keep pushing forwards if we are to stop what is coming “  Lotor said as he walked over to a desk in his room and tapped a button on it to reveal a screen that show a crack in the fabric of reality that was slowly getting bigger and had several different energies leaking out of it

Back in the castle of lions   

Jay and Ezra walked down the hall way towards the hanger beau had told them to go to meet Adam and Jay’s kids

“So you guys going to stay with the fleet or got back to hunting down Queens?” Jay asked 

“ once the repair are done will follow you guys for a few day see what worlds your going to recruit some people then go back to bugs” Ezra replied as They  held onto Jay’s arm 

“ Good to know ‘Jay replied

“ So have you figured out what your going to tell ADam when you see him ?” ill Ezra asked 

“ I’l just tell  him the truth we won and Shiro’s in the healing pods and is missing his arm. “ Jay replied as the two entire into the Hanger. As they entered the Hanger they saw several rebel Ships parked along with Seeing the Valkyrie sitting there surrounded by dozens of rebel pilots engineers and ground troops They also saw the Prometheus parked with next to the dragon mech  

“ Looks like Val has a little fan club “Ezra said 

“ Yeah it looks like it and it looks like Adam’s already he let get this over with then ” Jay replied as the two walked towards the crowd surrounding.

As they got closer to it A female voice Yelled out to them“ Hey Silver lining do you have a moment “Jay stopped in place with Ezra stopping alongside him 

  Jay didn’t know if the person was referring to him or someone else but he turned his head towards the voice and saw a Coeihns woman with short Green hair, Blue eyes  wearing a muscl-t and a open  fleet suit with the upper half tied around her waist .she was walking towards them and the only reason he know the women’s race the moment he saw here was because she looked very similar  to bastion which made him fell a little uneasy.

“ You talking to me “ Jay said while pointing to himself as his helmet automatically pitch shifted his voice to sound like sound wave 

“ Oh my god really” erza asked as they fought back laughter at the stupid voice 

“ What i am i suppose to do it just happens “ Jay said as he pulled of his helmet and started to messing with the in working off 

“ Well that answer my first question “ The Coeilhn woman said as a carma bot float in front of Jay’s face and was about to take his picture 

But if on reflex most of Jay’s facial features disappeared leaving just as the flash when off  

‘ OK that one’s new” Ezra said starring at a now faceless jay 

The Jay mouth reappeared” Next time ask someone  if you want to take their  picture” Jay pushed the carma bot away from his face as he put his helmet back   “ Now who are you and why are you bothering me “ He said he voice dripping with annoyance and anger following that his face marking glowing brightly    

The Coeilhn women stepped back a little scared by the sudden tone shift “ I’m Rey Wellmore I’m photographer working with the Rebels. An i was hoping that i could get a few pictures you and the valkyrie along with Asking you a few question “ REy replied 

Jay’s anger faded away ‘ Next time ask a head of time because  right now i have some where to be and someone to me wi” JAy was cut off as something slammed into his back nearly knocking him to the floor. Jay’s head did a 180% and looked down to see bastion face pressed against his back followed by him  hugging Jay “ Oh hi Bastion”   

“ Your back “ BAstion said his voice muffled   

“ Yeah i am .What did you think i wasn’t going to comeback ?”

“ Maybe”

“ Why?” He question 

“ I don’t know when you didn’t come down with everyone. We thought maybe you had died  “

“ You could have called i bought you all phones for that reason” 

“ we may have forgotten that “ Bastion replied 

“ God you guys really are taking after me “ Jay said as he patted Bastion on his head 

“ Excuse me but who are you talking to ? “ Rey asked

Jay’s neck snapped back into place to look at the reporter “ Sorry Ms. Rey This is Bastion one of my Boy . say hi Bastion “

Bastion walked from behind Jay and looked up towards Rey and when their eyes meet Rey He felt like he was looking  mirror into a which made him felt a little uncomfortabl.So he step back behind Jay  “ Hello Ms.Rey Bastion said “ He said with a wave. and a noticeable hint of nervousness in his voice 

“ Hi Bastion “ Rey said but she sounded Distance and a little confused  

Jay notice this an made a note of this “ Alright with that out of the way. If you wish for an interview when i’m not working you can find me either living in there “ jjay pointed towards the Prometheus “ or in the med by learn from doctor Ventair or in the training deck ‘ Jay said as he, Ezra and bastion started walking towards the Prometheus 

“ Yeah talk to you later “Ray said lose in thought . She watched the three entire into the prometheus   and once she knew she would see her she pulled out a her phone and call someone “ HEy Gillmore it’s me Rey can you check check something out for me ?”

In the Prometheus 

Jay,Ezra and Bastion walked into the Living room 

“ Hey everybody i’m home  “ Jay said as he walked in the living room.

The moment his voice rang out  in the room  Molly head turned around and She scrambled out of Fitz lap crawled up the couch and throw herself at he father. Not noticing the two foot gap between the two of them. Jay with the reflexes that all people get when they become Parents. Quickly grabbed his Daughter out of the air before she even started to fall.Once she was in his hands he quickly pulled her close to him “ God you are going give me a heart attack one of this days”  Jay said

“ Papa’s home” Molly said as she wrapped her arms around Jay’s Helmeted Head 

“ Yeah i’m home Sweety daddy’s home “ He said sweetly as he hugged his daughter back 

“ Hey Jay how was the Mission?” Fitz asked as he looked up toward Jay from his seat 

“ Yeah how did the mision go and why did it take you so long to get back ?” Usamu asked

“ Well that’s a long story see ‘ Just stopped mid Sentence as something Grabbed his Leg. So he looked down and saw Clay hugging it “ Hey Clay “

“ Where you go “ She said as she looked up to him with tears in her eyes 

Jay felt like he had just been punched in the heart as he looked at his other daughter “ I’m sorry Daddy had to go save the universe “ Jay said felling really bad 

“ No leave again “ She said as her grip around Jay’s Leg tightened

“ Yeah no go away again” Moly said as she tried to wiggled out of her father’s arm.Jay didn’t want to drop her. So he place her down .Once she was on floor she grabbed onto Jay’s other leg mimicking her sister 

“YOu both know that not going to stop me right.” Jay said as he start walking  as he did molly started Giggling while Clay stayed quiet  

“ Oh god this is the adorable “ Ezra said as they watched their boyfriend and his kids just goof around as Usamu jumped onto jay back while Bastion and Fitz watched and laughed 

“ Yes it is “ Adam said as he walked out of the stairway holding onto a walke and curious Izuku 

Jay stopped in place “ Hey bub”

“ Is Shiro alive ?” Adam asked already know what jay was trying to do 

“Yes missing his arm but yes “

“ Alright Same medbay as before “

“ Yes “

“ Alright  See at lunch and thanks for for keeping your promises man “ Adam said as he patted Jay on the shoulder before walking out of the Prometheus 

“ Your welcome man “ Jay replied as he watched adam leave “ Ok tat was easy”

“ Yes it was “ Ezra said 

“ Now with that out of the way “ Jay looked to fit then Bastion seeing as the other three were still holding on to him “ Um So there is a chance that were going back to my home world and then to the home of the other Paladins  “ Jay said as Usamu jumped off of his back 

“ So were going to meet Grandpa then?” Usamu asked as he walked in front of his father with a tone of wonder in his voice 

“ Yeah along with my brothers and sister some friends of mine and my mom’s parents  an if we're lucky hopefully not my dad’s family “Jay said that last bit with a little bit of venom in his voice

“ Why not you dad’s family ?” Ezra asked 

“ it’s along story my dear and my DAd can explain it better . Now who wants hear how the mission when “ Jay said not wanting to talk about his families problems 

In what remained of Galra central command

Haggar stood looking over her comatose husband. She had been starring there for the past few hours and wonder how this could have happened . They had taken ever precaution studied every battle that the paladins were in and even equipped the titan with weapon’s tailor made to handle Voltron and the Valkyrie at the same time  but when the snap dragon self destructed on top of the Titan it sealed his fate “ Oh my love what have they done to you” She asked herself 

“ They butchered him “ A very familiar yet strange disembody voice said right behind her

She quickly turned around and slashed at the person behind her only to swipe at empty air “ Who goes there show yourself ‘ She yelled To the empty room

“ I’m hurt Honvera how could you forget me..I’m the reason that you and your husband are even alive after your little encounter that beast from the void ’ the voice said 

“ What “ Haggar thought back to when she and Zarkon had died she remembered hearing a voice talking.But she had put that up to being on death's door. ‘ So it was  you i have to thank for our revival “

“ Yes it was me” The Voice said as a faint humanoid being started to form from purple quintessons  that was powering the lazuriz chamber that Zarkon was resting in  the figure had only defining feature was the two bright soul burning yellow eye “ My name is  Deceit and despite my name i’m here to help you again. ”

“ Why “ Haggar asked  not trusting this thing but she had to be weary seeing as this thing was just sitting on her husbands healing chamber 

 “ Because  every time you  drained a world of it’s quintessens and used it to fue you and your husband.It feed me and i wish to keep that relationship on going. So i’ll help you again by keeping your husband alive. Seeing as this thing “ He tapped on the Lazarus chamber “ Is only postponing the inevitable .” Deceit    said as a jagged smile started to appeared on his avatar’s face.

“ What do i have to do for this deal to work?” Haggar asked knowing that it’s not that easy 

“ Your a smart one “ Decit pointed the newly formed finger at her “ I want you to find this ship   “ Deciet’s hand seemingly grabbed onto reality itself and opened at portal that showed of a massive ship that looked like the castle of lions mixed with her Son’s Capital ship surrounding it it was a massive ring around it “ An destroy it”

“ Why ?” 

“ It’s existence has put plans i have had in motion for a long time in jeopardy. and that is all i’m will to tell you at the moment “ Deceit said 

Haggar glared at Deceit but she really had no real choice  but to follow “ Alright then we have a deal ‘

“ Good i’ll see you in the funny pages Honvera “ Deceit said as he faded out leaving the tear in reality that show off the ship there for a few seconds before it closed up 

Haggar stood there starring at the empty space before turning back to her husband and hoped she man the right choice 

Back in the Castle of lions  

“ So right before Zarkon Die he grabbed on to the black lion’s head with his robeasts remaining arm and tried to electrocute shiro to death but his arm took most of the damage and now he’s healing for the next hour.An once he’s a wakes We’ll be deciding whether or not will be going back home along with the Fates of The twins and K-7 am i correct “ Adam said

“ Yeah that sums it up real well “Matt said

“Alright and thin else i need to know before me and Izuku have to wait another hour just so we can take to him “

“ Uh were going to need a new black paladin for a few months while Shiro new prosthetics are installed from what Jay and that spider said “ Hunk added 

“ That spiders name is  Ventair and she is one of the best Doctor in the whole rebelion so please show her some respected “Matt said 

“ Sorry what Dr.Ventair said “Hunk said  

“ Alright when will decided who the next black paladin then ?” Adam as 

“ After we decide are next course of action will pick the next Black Paladin and with Shiro still around along with Leonidas it won’t take to long i hope “ Allura said 

“ Yeah lets hope “ Lance said 

“ It would be funny if Jay was chosen to fly the black lion “ Matt said Jokingly 

“ I mean Val’s design was some what based off of the black lion so it could be possible that if we  run into  trouble we could possibly combined with the Valkyrie  to make new version of Voltron  “ Pidge added as she grabbed her laptop and started typing away at the possibilities of powers that could come from the union between the two mechs  

“ We could run that by Jay and Val before anything happens i know val was against at first but maybe she changer he mind after the fight with Zarkon. I’ll go ask him“ Lance  said as he got up.But before could full get on his feet Beau’s voice came over the P.A System

[ Alert Alert A gargantuan class dreadnaught of unknown origin as exited a wormhole  8 kilometer north east from are location ] This was followed by a screen show ff the massive ship

Everyone stood or sat there in stunned silence as the massive ship which was a weird mix between the Castle and That war ship that attacked then before they had left the battle fleet 

“ Hey guy is anyone else getting a weird case  desaviolooking at this thing  ?” Pidge asked  

“Yeah i feel it too” Shay said 

“ Same here” Hunk add 

Allura looked at the ship as she did one name came to mind “kronse” Allura said under her breath.Before hundreds and hundreds of Image flashed right in front of her mind causing her a massive and painful head that caused her to fall to the ground clutching her head 

“Princess !!” Everyone yelled in surprise 

“ What’s wrong” Coran asked worried as he helped Allura back to her feet 

“ I don’t know but something about that ship is causing me to see thin Ah “ She grabbed he head again as another set of flash happened 

[were receiving a message from the Ship ]

“Send it through”Adam said taking charge of the situation as he said that a message written in english which surprised everyone.But that’s wasn’t what caught their attention what was write on was 

Hello my old friend let us take like the old day :Signed Queen Allura of the Altean/Galrain Empire 

To be continued in Book two Time to change History 

#takashi shirogane #voltron #klance #lance mcclain #plance #lotor #lotura #matt holt #hunay #hunk garrett #vld adam #vld shay #vld coran #RAX #Allura #OC #CANON DIVERGENCE #au #pidge gunderson #kidgance #kieth kogane #kidge #adashi

[maddiesup]

Tag game!

I was tagged by @ohbabycupcakes thank u💖

RULES: Name 10 favorite characters from 10 different things then tag 10 people + leave comments on all of them

This is gonna be hard, where do I even start?

1) Keith (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

Okay I'm- trying not to laugh too hard because oh boy, this show was a complete mess. BUT Keith still stays as one of my favorite characters ever just because no matter how badly I was hurt by vld he'll always be precious to me 💖 He's hotheaded, cool and a lone wolf, but needs affection more than anyone else on the team. He's easy for me to relate to as I am more likely to push someone away than to keep them close just to avoid being hurt as well. His development is amazing tho and I love love him so much 😭 also it might be just that I have a soft spot for emo characters lmao

2) Todoroki Shoto (Boku no Hero Academia)

This just reinforces my statement earlier since Todoroki is pretty emo too :') But in a different way than Keith. If you are a part of bnha fandom you know he's generally a little bit overrated, but I couldn't help falling in love with him at first sight anyway lol His backstory is tragic but he keeps pursuing his dream and damn is he good at it. Also the combo of fire and ice is aesthetic goals. However, what I admire the most about Shoto is probably his loyalty to his friends, his will to fight and sometimes his goofy attitude (even if he probably isn't aware that he's being goofy lol) In conclusion: I love him, let's move on.

3) Uenoyama Ritsuka (Given)

Can I just stop to say how much I love given for a moment? Like I've never seen a bl anime/manga that would portray gay characters so respectfully 😭❤️ Ue is basically me gay panicking, I feel the boy so much :') OH also what's up with gays & guitars bc first given, then why r u and now also 2gether :') (I might be falling in love with this trope help) okay so: Ue is panicking when he starts liking Mafuyu but he handles it so well in a way? He doesn't deny his crush even if he is slow to notice it lol He's straightforward and sometimes a little bit rough around the edges, but even if he's supposed to be "the cool guy" we see him in the most hilarious settings and that just makes me love him all the more 💖 he respects Mafuyu and his boundaries and I want more of that in bl anime please

4) Eiji & Ash (Banana Fish)

Uhhhh this anime,,, I CANNOT choose between Ash and Eiji, I'm gonna forever see them as a pair and that's simply it. Ash is another emo one I would like to say that but he's actually not. He's backstory is heartbreaking and the life he has to live is dangerous and scary. He gets used to this reality where he has no one to rely on and no one to trust but then Eiji appears tearing his walls down and making him finally be able to show his soft and sensitive side to someone. Eiji is like a salve for his wounds and yes, I'm still emotional about it bc their relationship is one of the best developped I've ever seen. Their bond is so strong it's beautiful, they would literally die for each other. It's so apparent that they love each other and care for each other so much (don't mind me crying in the corner)

5) Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson & the Olympians)

PJ technically got me into fantasy/sci-fi in elementary school and it stays at the top of my favorite book series list ever (big props to Uncle Rick 👏) The whole series is funny and I would say pretty light-hearted even tho you know,,, Percy saves the world several times, lol, usual demigod things™. He's lovable. Son of Poseidon so he has seaweeds instead of a brain (or so you thought, he is brilliant at strategic planning and has a charisma to be a great leader), has a very good sense of humor, is loyal and would risk everything for his friends. Also he loves his girlfriend very much and I was crying while reading the House of Hades but no one needed to know that oh well. I'm also gonna mention Nico de Angelo here, since he fell in love with Percy (didn't we all tho) and was the first gay character I saw portrayed in the book and oh do I love him 😭💖

6) 707 (Mystic Messenger)

Was I losing sleep over this game? I was. Do I regret anything? Absolutely not. I think my choices are pretty boring tho, since Seven is literally everyone's favorite but oh boy there's a reason for that. Apart from being a talented hacker who knows too much (and I think is cautious of us the most at the start) he has a lovely happy-go-lucky personality composed of all the lame jokes, questions "have you eaten already" and anxiety (another emo one). He's that type of a character who will always try to make you laugh but you never know what's going on inside his head. He's mysterious and we don't get to know him well till his route so pretty much till the end of the game lol. Also he loves his brother, phd pepper, honey buddha chips and Elizabeth 3rd the most in this entire world and I love him for that

7) Evan Hansen (Dear Evan Hansen)

ANOTHER EMO ONE okay but hear me out Evan has social anxiety and its portrayal is almost too real for me. He makes a big oopsie which at the start seems like a little innocent lie but then snowballs to enormous sizes. He gains everything in this bargain, a best (dead) friend, a caring mother, a father, a girlfriend even - and then everything falls apart since it all is built on one fat lie. He makes a lot of mistakes and then some more but you get it and you feel for him, and you cry with him and you're happy for him. And when all of this is over you're glad that he's still there trying his best, taking it one day at a time. And sidenote: Ben Platt's voice is angelic and I love him as Evan 💖💖💖

8) Isak (SKAM)

Another gay panicking one. I'm starting to realize there's a set of traits that I particularly like in fictional characters lol But ye, when I was watching skam ofc it was the third season which gripped me the most and kept me on the edge, bc yet again Isak taking an "are you gay" test was way too real for me. He makes a lot of mistakes along the way of figuring out his sexuality and sometimes stuff with Evan becomes really messy (for both of them) but he stays with him nevertheless ❤️ Skam is literally so good in its portrayal of the characters :') Anyways: alt er love 💖

9) Viktor & Yuuri (Yuri on Ice)

Em, another one that I absolutely can't break up to just one bc how could I? Yuri on ice got me into skating ❤️ I went to an ice rink for the first time bc of this anime and I almost died but now look at me actually finishing my first three months of ice skating training and watching real life figure skating competitions :') Little did I know then. But they're not only my favourites bc of that, I genuinely love the development of their relationship from fan - idol through skater - couch to lovers and history makers in the end. I love how Yuuri is a ball of insecurities and how Viktor manages to reassure him. I love how Viktor fell in love with drunk Yuuri clinging to him. I love how at first Yuuri wasn't able to get too close to Viktor without getting flustered and it changes so drastically to them basically always holding onto each other. I love how Viktor was stuck with no inspiration but then Yuuri came and turned his world upside down. I love how they support and respect each other. I could probably go on into eternity like that and Yuri on ice isn't even the best anime I've ever seen but it's certainly my favourite one ❤️

10) Tutor (WHY R U)

I can't believe I'm so obsessed with thai dramas rn and I'm only gonna include Tor on this list smh He's mental attitude inspires me. He's able to hold so much and appears totally unfazed even if he's barely holding on inside. He's hardworking and doesn't want others to pity him since he can manage it all just fine. He has a kind heart, he's a wonderful friend (especially to Hwa, he always listens to her, gives her pieces of advise, supports her and tries to cheer her up). He never forgets to say thank you when he genuinely feels grateful. But as we've seen he also is passionate and when he loves he LOVES. Also he's the biggest tease to Fighter and I love him for that :') I am so satisfied just by seeing him happy, please do not change that whyru gods 🙏

As it appears I'm done .-. I have no idea what have just happened and if my rambling even makes sense but not that I care at this point. If you read this far, please drink some water now, that was a lot of reading to go through ❤️

Tagging: @wir-ro, @saecookie and any other 8 people who might want to ksks (im too tired to tag lmao)

Don't be like me and go to bed at reasonable hours despite this whole quarantine thing .-. thank again Doreen for tagging since it was really fun 🥺❤️

#funnily enough I realized I didn't include any female characters #which is kinda sad tbh #I think Hermione would be the one to be the closest to the pedestal #but it's done already huh so #tagged! #thanks for tagging uwu #vld keith #voltron #voltron legendary disappointment #ye right #given #uenoyama ritsuka #banana fish #asheiji #ash lynx #eiji nakamura #dear evan hansen #percy jackson #isak #skam #viktuuri #yuri on ice #katsuki yuuri #viktor nikirofov #todoroki shouto #bnha #why r u tutor #why r u the series #707 #mystic messenger

[roguepaladin]

Shallura prompt? Rock concert!!!

Congradulations you have just recieved a 2300+ word essay! 

This was fun to write, is it romancey enough? I don’t know, but it was fun!

_

It was freezing!

On this late winter evening, where temperatures dipped below zero and the winds picked up; Allura found herself standing out in the bitter cold, holding on to last bit of warmth her body had left to give. You had to be crazy to be out here, but crazy she had been when agreed to accompany her cousin Romelle to a concert.

Romelle’s favourite rock band ‘Voltron’ was in town and she practically begged Allura to go with her. It wasn’t everyday a famous band came to their city of Altea. Romelle called it her one and only chance to every see them in the flesh, and Allura had to be there to catch her when she fainted.

‘What kind of name is Voltron?’

‘It’s their concept!’ Romelle explained.

‘They use their combined powers as musicians to form the new sound of futurist rock electro! - Allura, stop making that face, you have to come! Please please please!’

So, she eventually agreed, though it took her some time to understand the whole ‘mystical space lions taught them the way’ mythology… and to stop laughing. Now, she was slowly regretting everything!

Romelle made they arrive early in order to get the best spots in the standing area. A plan that had them standing out in the cold for nearly 4 hours. Please be worth it she begged. Granted she didn’t have to pay for the ticket as part of the deal. She looked at her cousin, even in this cold, Romelle never lost a bit of excitement, and she chatted away animatedly. Apparently, her favourite member was the drummer named Hunk and she even wore his colour; a yellow t-shirt and a matching signature headband. Allura looked around noticed many others in line also wearing yellow, some green, but most were dressed in blue, red or black. The reds and blues didn’t seem to like each other. Romelle said it was about a dumb rivalry between the lead singer and the guitarist.

After assessing all the colours, Allura started to feel out of place in her pink puffer jacket. Not that everyone was dressed in team colours, and she also felt they were just like her; here against their will.

When doors finally opened, Allura was dragged by her cousin up to the very front of stage. As close as they could get that was not actually standing on stage. Romelle pulled out her homemade posters and handed one to Allura. On Allura’s poster in bright yellow letters was ‘Feeling unsupported?’, which she supposed made sense with Romelle’s ‘I could be your other leg’.

The house lights went down and the avenue filled with screams as the band took to the stage. A large screen began to play a video, that made them scream more as it introduced the band members over the sound of deafening rock music. When the stage lights came on, Allura didn’t think it was possible for the crowd to scream louder but they quickly proved her wrong.

‘FORM VOLTRON!’

The leader singer screamed in the microphone and the crowd chanted back

‘DEFEND THE UNIVERSE!’

The band immediately started playing their first song, it was now Allura got a proper look at the band. The each wore their signature colour so she knew immediately recognised Hunk at the drums. According to the intro video; D-Jing at the launchpad was the group’s only female member Pidge. Next strumming away at the electric guitar was Keith. Standing next to Keith was the Leader Singer, Lance who seemed to be trying his best to sing a note over the sound of the guitar. The final member, dressed in all black except for his silver dyed bangs was Shiro, jamming away at the bass. Allura felt herself staring at him for most of the set. While the others were high energy, he had a calmness in his manner. He even struck her more when he took over for Lance and sang the bridge, which made half the crowd go wild. His voice was strong and steady and didn’t feel out of place in the lull of electronic beats. Romelle looked over to her cousin-

‘Ah-ha!’ she smirked.

‘What?’

‘I see you’ve decided to join team black, don’t worry, everyone falls for Shiro first’

Allura blushed, ‘I- I’m not falling for anyone’

Romelle laughed.

‘Its nothing to be ashamed of, Shiro is the leader of the group for a reason, he writes all the songs too’

Allura ignored her cousin’s smug face. Though she had to admit he did stand out the most for someone not wearing a colour.

She on the other hand, stood out very clearly dressed in bright pink and standing in front within the ocean of hardcore fans.

At the end of the song, the band took time to introduce themselves. Lance talked the most but he also seemed to have the most fans and he looked very proud of that. Allura was sure Romelle screamed out her left lung when Hunk said a small hello and waved his drumsticks. Keith just waved, and a fan at the back screamed out marriage proposal. Pidge hyped up the crowd with a few beats. When it was Shiro’s turn to talk, Allura felt herself become nervous. She didn’t know why but she felt like his eyes had glanced a bit longer on her than others. The crowd went wild as he smiled over his microphone. He then simply thanked everyone for coming to show, thanked the venue and introduced the next song.

Over the course of the next five songs, Allura wondered if she imagined him staring. His eyes would look up quickly in her direction and quickly down. Perhaps Romelle was right and she had developed some cliché crush on a rock star, because there was no way she could catch the eye of someone famous that easily. This wasn’t a movie where the next moment he would jump over the stage and proclaim her to be the most beautiful thing in the world. However, she was losing count of how many times he stole a glance at her.

‘Maybe he was staring because I’m staring’ She thought, and she blushed at how creepy she must be right now. So, she decided to turned at look at Romelle, who now had long tears down her face because Hunk wouldn’t stare her way. Judging from the way he played those drums, Allura highly doubted he could afford to look away for fear of messing up. She comforted her cousin and tried to help her enjoy the rest of the show.

Allura kept fighting her strong urge to look back over at the bassist, so she decided to close her eyes and dance instead. She had to admit that they sounded very good, not something she would listen to everyday but they played well and the crowd had a good energy. So, she danced, and pulled her cousin into a dance. It was there in the midst of her swaying she caught those eyes, and this time she was 100% sure he was staring this time. Her head moved side to side so he was none the wiser that her eyes were locked on him. He even seemed to be enjoying her watching her dance. Suddenly self-conscious of her dorky moves, she mis-stepped and tripped over the person behind her. Allura watched as his expression change to shock and fall out of view as she slammed onto her back. She was completely mortified! Over the sound of music, she could hear Romelle call out to her, as she tried to pick herself. It was in this process she was interrupted by a sharp pain to the side of her head which threw her back onto the floor, effectively knocking her out.

—

When Allura came to, she was lying on a sofa in what seemed to be the backstage area of the venue. As indicated by the vibrations and muffled sounds of music coming off the walls. She moved to sit up, and could feel her sides and head ache in protest.

‘Don’t get up too fast’ came the voice of woman, it was steady and monotone.

Allura looked over and noticed a tall older woman sitting across from her.

‘Where am I?’

‘Green room. I don’t know what you did to knock yourself out but you were lucky to not be trampled on’

It was then Romelle entered the room, signalled by her delighted squeal at seeing Allura awake. The other woman in the room made a face like her ears were ringing.

‘Are you okay?’ her cousin questioned, examining her up and down.

‘I’m fine, it only hurts a little’

‘That’s a relief! You caused quite a scene!’

Allura felt her face grow hot, ‘W-What…What do mean caused a scene?’

The tall woman got up from her chair and walked over to the pair.

‘For starters, we had to stop the show until we could remove you safely’ she stated as if telling her charges for arrest.

NO! Allura grimaced, they had to be joking, how embarrassing!

Romelle however was smiling at her.

‘Don’t be embarrassed, everyone is SUPER jealous of you right now’

Romelle then described the events after she blacked out. Shiro having seen her get kicked in the head, had stopped the performance immediately and ordered everyone to get out of the way.

‘and guess what!’ Romelle squealed-

Allura had no time to response before Romelle continued on detailing how Shiro, escorted by a few security guards, carried her backstage!  

‘-and I explained to Krolia, that you were my cousin so she let me in’  

Allura looked over at Krolia who seemed to regret that decision as Romelle couldn’t seem to keep from squealing excitedly about everything.  Allura wanted to sink into the floor, what if he thought she made a scene on purpose. She wanted to go home, but her head really hurt and Krolia refused to let her off the sofa. There she was forced to stay another 20 minutes until-

‘THANK YOU, GOOD NIGHT!!!’

The sound of the crowd roaring was heard from the other side of the wall. They had missed the rest of the concert. Not that Romelle seemed to mind, her cousin’s misfortune was working in her favour. She was back stage! Hunk’s jacket was on that chair, if only she could just reach out and touch it! Oh, why won’t Krolia just leave the room and stop watching her like a hawk!

Allura’s heart began to race as she heard the voices of the bandmates come closer to the door.

As the door opened, the sounds of the crowd screaming for an encore filled the room, but none of that seem to register to Allura’s ears as Shiro strode across the room towards her.

‘You’re awake! How are you feeling?’ and he had a genuine concern in his eyes.

Allura couldn’t seemed to find her voice. So Krolia answered for her and drew his attention away to band matters as Allura’s now understood her to be their manager. The other members came to ask her the same questions and here Romelle did the talking with a slight bias in answering mostly Hunk’s questions. Lance and Pidge were polite, lance more so and Keith seem to be just as mute as she was. The attention was overwhelming as thoughts battled to stay present while imagining all the ways she was possibly carried by Shiro. She blushed as she thought of him carrying her ‘princess’ style.

‘Let’s go home…’ she finally managed to say. Which was not something anyone expected a fan to say in this situation. She however was not a fan, and wanted to get far away from those piercing eyes as soon as possible.

Allura pushed herself off the sofa and grabbed her cousin’s hand.

‘Thank you and I’m really sorry I made you have to stop your show, and from what I remember I did enjoy it, so please don’t think it was done on purpose’ and with that she turned and left.

Reluctantly Romelle left the room behind her cousin knowing her excuse to be in that room just went up in flames.

‘Stay here, I’ll go get our bags and coats’ she sulked off and left Allura to stand in backstage area.

The door to the green room opened, which Allura didn’t notice until the person who came out was standing next her.

‘Allura?’

She jumped, and turned to looked at Shiro.

‘I’m sorry, that is your name, right?’

She slowly nodded and he looked relieved.

‘Don’t apologise, I know I’m the reason you fell and got hurt tonight’

‘What…what do you mean?’

‘Well, I was kind of staring at you down- I MEAN! not you…I was staring at your SIGN and then eventually…you’ he seemed nervous to admit that last part.

‘My sign…?’

‘Yeah, ‘Feeling unsupported’?’

‘Oh, well that wasn’t really mine, it was my cousins’’

Shiro now look extremely embarrassed, brushing his hand against his neck nervously.

‘That-Actually makes more sense…it was yellow after all…’ he mumbled.

It was now Allura noticed the hand on his neck and connecting arm was an artificial and extremely well made prosthetic. Did he think she was making a jab at his disability? She wouldn’t- She didn’t know!

‘Anyways! I’m sorry…for that, I’m glad you enjoyed the show, it’s not often I get see someone dance like that’ and he managed a smirk and mimed her.

Allura blushed, she knew it! He was laughing at her moves!

She wanted to tell him off but Romelle reappeared and he excused himself. Stealing one last glance as he closed back the door to the green room. Leaving her with a bundle of confused feelings. If he thought her sign was mean, why was he still evidently flirting with her.

That, however she would have to ponder another day, because for now she had to listen to Romelle describe every detail of her 2-minute conversation with her idol.

END

#shallura #fanfic prompts #allura #shiro #modern au #rock band au #romelle is a crazy fangirl #lizzy does prompts #my writing

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Break Through

Break Through - Kidge Month Day 8 Prompt Fill Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Kidge Summary: Third part that goes along with these: [One, Two]. With leads and intel running out, Keith and Pidge take a break from their Garrison investigations to grab a bite and maybe raise their spirits. Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more.

She dragged one hand through her hair and let out a loud, infuriated growl. "How are they doing this?" Her voice came out more as a screech than a shout, which caused her partner to wince a bit. A part of her said she should feel guilty, but the much larger part of her was just pissed. “There’s no way that they’ve upped their security this much in less than two months! I shouldn’t be running into this much trouble trying to track down files!”

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out. We’ve already had smaller breaks in this whole thing," He said, a bit of frustration starting to tinge the edge of his words. He pushed another pin into the cork board they used with more force than necessary, clearly trying to keep a handle on his own irritation.

She glared at him over her shoulder, reaching up to push her hair out of her face. "We've been at this for five weeks and we've gotten almost nowhere!"

He glared back at her before indicating her laptop with one hand. "We know there's a missing audio file; that's a huge step in the right direction!" He glanced back at the cork board to verify where they pin had been placed. It was covered in a maps and photos, with pieces of colored yarn attaching each map to its corresponding photo. She could see the familiar spark of determination in his dark eyes as he observed all they’d discovered so far. "It's only a matter of time before we find it."

She scoffed, feeling no where near as certain as he did. "Unless they completely wiped the hard drive. They wouldn't want potentially damning evidence like that just sitting pretty for someone with a little bit of hacking skill to find. It's a huge liability that they can't afford," She grumbled, closing her laptop and shoving it aside. For as much as she wanted to keep going, a part of her felt so tired. She’d been working tirelessly since two and a half weeks ago, when she’d first found the clue in some confidential emails that there was a final audio log picked up from the Kerberos mission. “The Garrison is run by a bunch of assholes, but they’re clever assholes, Keith.”

Keith stared at her before sighing, setting his hands on his hips and looking down at his boots. "Maybe we need a break to help clear our heads. We can get some food or something,"He suggested, lifting his gaze again to look at her. She didn’t look over at him, though, and instead decided to focus on the tiny hole starting to appear in the old socks she was wearing. "Wanna go to the new Denny's they opened up?"

"Whatever," She sighed, stretching her legs out and getting up.

She toed her sneakers on while she pulled her hair back in a messy ponytail, wanting to just get it over with. Her stomach roiled quietly, clearly thrilled at the idea of food, but she didn’t want to yet. She wanted to stay and work more, try to find an answer. If it was there, surely she could find it with a little more time! But no, just because she was feeling a little frustrated, Keith decided they needed to stop any progress! Did he just not care about the fact that the Garrison was spitting outright lies about what had happened to Shiro, Matt and her Dad? She’d noticed he seemed more interested in whatever strange energy reading he’d been tracing through the desert.

She was silent the whole ride to Denny’s staring at the window, stewing in her resentment at Keith for dragging her out.

Despite it being well after midnight, there was a modest crowd at the restaurant. Not enough people that it looked like they’d need to worry about waiting long for service, but certainly more than she’d been anticipating. Normally when they felt the need for post-dinner-pre-breakfast pancakes, they were the only diners in the place. They had to wait a moment while the server dropped some drinks off at one table before being greeted properly.

He offered them a small smile. He seemed a bit tired, but the smile was still genuine. "Good evening. Just two for you?" He asked as he reached to grab two menus.

"Yes, please. Thanks," Keith said gently. They were led to the dining room and were given a corner booth, with an empty booth between them and another pair of dinners. Pidge immediately scooted in as far over she could, glaring out the window again. While she did that, Keith ordered their drinks and opened his own menu. "You know, sitting there and pouting won't accomplish anything, Katie."

She looked over and glared harder, miffed to find he hadn’t even lifted his eyes from the page to address her. "Maybe if I was at my computer I'd be able to do something,"

"Patience yields focus, you know," He commented casually, tilting his head a bit as he looked over an item. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at his words and how completely cliche they were. Where had he heard that from, she wondered. The server returned with their drinks and then headed off again at Keith saying they needed more time. She pulled her own drink over and took a sip, unsurprised at the taste of Dr. Pepper. He knew her so well. "Hmm. If I order some mozzarella sticks, would you have some?"

"Where did you hear the hoakey nonsense?" She asked as she stirred her ice with the straw.

He looked confused, finally tearing his gaze from the menu to look at her. "Well, I'm not hungry enough to eat a full meal and a whole order of mozzarella sticks on my own. Plus, I know you like them, too, so it just made sense to ask,"

"What? No, not about the mozzarella sticks," She said, taking another sip before opening her own menu. She may as well figure out what she wanted for herself, too. "That thing you said just now, about patience and what not?"

"Patience yields focus?" He repeated, clearly confused.

"Yeah, that. Where did you hear that from?"

"Oh, Shiro used to say it all the time, when I'd get pissy about stuff with the Garrison. It... It's helped me a lot through this whole situation, remembering what he said back then," He admitted, suddenly seeming uncomfortable. He tore his gaze down, swiped up his water, and started chugging it, as if trying to wash the taste out of his mouth.

"Oh," She trailed off, looking away for a moment before looking back over at him. And, this time, she really looked at him. She had enough time of knowing him to be able to read his subtle gestures. One hand was gripping his water like he was trying to shatter it, the other drumming along the table. His eyes had returned to fix on the menu, but they weren’t registering the words on the page, cloudy with pain. Her own heart lurched, knowing that look and that pain all too well. She looked back down at her drink as shame swallowed her whole. "I'm sorry."

He perked up in surprise and looked at her, blinking rapidly to recompose himself. "For what?"

"You're going through all of this junk, too, and sometimes I forget that. I need to be more aware that I'm not going through this all alone, that you’re trying just as hard as I am,” She admitted, peeking up at him as she spoke.

"It's okay; it's not like I don't occasionally forget myself," He said, offering her a small half-smile in return. Some of the shame wiped away and she squared her shoulders a little bit more as he returned his attention to the menu, turning the page and looking at the dinner options. "When we get back to the house, we should watch a movie or something. Oh, or we could listen to music and just veg out."

“You mean like we used to do on the Garrison roof?” She laughed.

“Yeah, only way better, because we can play the music as loud as we want,” He said with a sly smirk.

“Yeah, but can you even get your stereo up there? Since, you know, you don’t just use streaming sites like the rest of modern society,” She teased, peering over the different breakfast options. She wanted the mozzarella sticks, but pancakes also sounded really good.

He laughed back and took another, smaller sip from his water. “Oh, please! Your streaming sites are only good when you have internet connection. Having a physical copy of the album to use is a great approach; especially with bands or albums that are particularly great,” He retorted.

She opened her mouth to respond before a thought occurred to her, causing her to gasp. “Keith, you genius!” She squealed, reaching across the table to grab his face and pull him closer.

He looked stunned and stared back at her, blinking slowly, before chuckling. “Ah, made you see the light of day?”

“No, what you just said! That it’s good to have a physical copy of something, in case you can’t access it otherwise! That would also be a great approach when dealing with sensitive materials, such as classified files from a computer? Burning a physical copy to keep tucked away somewhere safe, so that you still have a record of it, to maybe assure that people snooping around on your computer can’t find it?” She pressed further, lowering her voice as she spoke her last few words, not wanting to risk being overheard. They hadn’t encountered anyone from the Garrison in their time off base, but she was still a fan of being safe rather than sorry.

He sucked in a quiet breath, eyes widening. “It’s a huge liability they can’t afford, but they also can’t risk not having it, in case of the higher ups wanting it,” He breathed out.

“Exactly,” She hummed, letting go of his face and slumping back in her seat. Her lips turned up in a grin. “Celebratory mozzarella sticks?”

“Fuck it, let’s go all out. Celebratory mozzarella sticks and celebratory milkshakes,” He said with a smirk of his own.

#Voltron legendary defender #Keidge #Kidge #Peith #Kidgemas #MonthofKidge #MonthofKidge2019 #KidgeaPalooza #KidgeaPalooza2019 #Pidge Gunderson #Keith Kogane #my fics #Me: I'm gonna make sure all of this fics are stand alone! #also me: *writes this*

[dragonofyang]

ABTV Mar 4 Transcript

A full transcript of the ABTV Voltron March 4 interview with JDS and LM is below the cut. Special thanks to @voltronisruiningmylife for helping me get it done since it was a monster to transcribe.

@felixazrael @crystal-rebellion @leakinghate

Vrepit Sa!

KC: It’s been a very long road, and here we are at the end of it. We are the Afterbuzz TV Voltron: Legendary Defender after-show and this is our series retrospective. We are--we’re gonna talk about character arcs. We’re gonna talk about stories. We’re gonna talk with some very special guests, and we are, as always, going to have a wonderful time tonight because within the next two hours we are finishing this up and then the Tavern of Lions will be closing its doors for good. So, thank you for joining us for this incredible episode and for this incredible ride, and for the very last time team, it’s time to form Voltron.

Voice overlay: You’re tuned into Afterbuzz TV, the ESPN of TV talk. Now let the buzz begin.

MS: I’m not crying, you’re crying.

KC: We’re all crying. Everyone’s crying. It’s fine, everything’s fine! Hi. Happy Monday.

MS: Happy Monday, everybody, yeah.

KC: Welcome to the end of the universe. There’s a restaurant here. Yeah this is what you’re in for the next two hours. Hello, everyone, we are the Afterbuzz TV Voltron: Legendary Defender after-show. This is the series retrospective. This is everything. This is it. We are going to talk about it all in summary for the most part, and we’re going to have a grand ol’ time. I have with me tonight green lion Megan Salinas.

MS: Hey, everybody!

KC: Rejoining us this evening, red lion Emma Fyffe!

EF: Hey! It’s nice to be back for just this one, you know, very special, sort of, series retrospective. Thanks for having me.

KC: It is so good to have you back for the wrap party. I am black lion Katie Cullen and we have our two wonderful special guests joining us again this week for the last time. We have our showrunners Joaquim dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery.

All hosts: [cheering]

KC: Welcome back, you lovely human beings, and thank you for giving us this show.

JDS: Oh, please.

LM: Thanks for being fans of it. I think we’ve probably said it 8 billion times, but we loved making the show. We loved how passionate so many of our fans were about the show, and it was just, like, a labor of love and it was us just trying to make something that really spawned from our nostalgia and all of the things that influenced us over the years.

JDS: Yeah, I mean, I think that’s it. It was, you know, we loved this property going back to a time when our brains weren’t able to really process what story was. We just knew, “we like that” and that stayed with us.

EF: It was interesting. Today on Twitter, somebody had tweeted something that was basically a poll of what were the first five anime series you can remember watching. And for me Voltron was definitely one of them, and it’s one of those things where again I was too young to really process what was happening, but I just went, “This is cool! I like this thing!”

MS: Yeah, it came out at a time when you didn’t even know what anime was.

EF: Oh yeah!

MS: And so you’re just like, you’re just like, “this is cool, it’s unique, there are robots, there’s an awesome girl pilot”. And yeah, it was a good--for it’s time-for it’s time it was a fantastic adventure, and I feel like you guys updated that feeling very well.

JDS: Aw, thanks.

KC: It definitely was. This was just a wonderful thing. Before we get started, we have house rules. We always have house rules. Yeah, the spoiler warning is, of course, down because we are talking about literally everything. If you would like to be a part of this conversation, if you’re watching live, hello, welcome to the livechat. There is also our hashtag #ABTVVoltron. And, um yeah, this is going to be a big one, I think, and as always the third, final, and most important house rule is be nice or get out. [laser sound effect] And you say that we’re joking, but, um, those of you that were in livechat before stream were there when we disabled it as a test. And I’ve banned three people already tonight. So, we’re not kidding: be nice or ya gone.

MS: I do have to ask, Josh, where are you getting these sound effects?

EF: I know, right? The sound effects are great!

KC: Oh, they’re wonderful.

Josh: I have a plethora of so many things.

KC: We appreciate your plethora. Josh is our Coran tonight and has been for this entire season and he is absolutely wonderful and we love him. But yeah, everyone has opinions. Please feel free to express your opinion, please feel free to express your opinions in a respectful manner. Respectful to your fellow people in chat, respectful to your hosts, respectful to our guests. And if you fail to be respectful, ya done.

MS: And here’s the thing guys, it is perfectly okay to disagree. It’s okay to disagree with all of us. We don’t speak for the entire fanbase. This is all just only our opinions.

EF: I was gonna say, I don’t think we even all have the exact same opinions.

MS: No, no.

JDS: You embrace those differences.

KC: That’s what makes this show fun. If we all sat down and said “Well, I like this thing!” “Well, me too!” “Me three!” “Me four!” Now let’s fill another 45 minutes. That’s not how this works.

EF: No, definitely. Yeah.

KC: So, yeah. Them’s the rules, ladies and gentlemen. And before we get going, I would like to toast to Voltron.

[MS and EF “aww”]

EF: I have actually not had one of these before.

KC: This is the first time we’ve had the Sendak on Ice on air, and it’s going to be the last time I make one of these because it turns out one of the main ingredients has been out of production since 2016.

EF: Oh, wow.

KC: So, love you guys.

EF: Up high.

[indistinct chattering]

KC: To Voltron!

[drumroll]

[John Cena airhorn meme sound]

EF: Tastes like--it tastes like a Jones soda or something. Like a fancy soda that comes in a glass bottle.

JDS: Yeah, it’s good.

KC: I like ‘em sweet. Straight quintessence shot right to the heart. Alright, let’s get rolling.

EF: Okay.

KC: Let’s pick up where we left off from last week, actually, because there was a big part of the, uh, last episode of season 8 that we didn’t have time to touch on and that’s the epilogues. Now, I actually want to open the floor to you guys ‘cuz I--my understanding is there’s a story behind them? And we’d love to hear it.

JDS: Yeah, there is. Um, so, you know, when we originally conceived of the epilogues, uh, you know, the conceit was that we were gonna do these goofy kind of throwaway things that were, like, I don’t know, catching up with characters that we didn’t, you know.

EF: Oh yeah!

JDS: So we had one that was, was--

EF: Like characters we met in the space mall?

JDS: Yeah, like characters we met in the space mall and what they ended up doing. We had, like--

MS: What’s Kaltenecker up to?

JDS: We had Zethrid, I think, teaching, like, a crossfit class.

LM: Yeah, she had a whole crossfit line.

MS: Oh my gosh!

JDS: And it was cute, and it was fun. Um, and you know, by the time we were sort of crafting that portion, it’s right when we were sort of on the receiving end of the fallout from season 7, specifically the Adam and Shiro stuff.

KC: Sure.

JDS: Which we totally understood, there’s sort of a, you know, a big story that surrounds all that. So we made a decision to sort of, uh, recraft the epilogues to one, I think, include Shiro’s beat, but as a result all the other characters, you know, it would’ve felt--I don’t know--it would’ve felt a little weird if we just done, like, “hey--”

LM: Yeah, silly crossfit Zethrid--

EF: Then Shiro’s wedding! [indistinct] Which everyone was at, too!

JDS: Uh, so, you know, we definitely… They were sort of, Shiro specifically was crafted around the idea that we were attempting to reach out to the fanbase that was affected negatively by--

EF: Sure, absolutely.

JDS: --you know, the storyline between Adam and Shiro. So, uh, you know, I think even as we were doing it, like Lauren and I were looking at each other and we were like, “Some people are gonna hate this. Some people are gonna view this as like, a giant band-aid. Some people are gonna view this as, like, pandering. We knew it. We sort of ran it up the chain, uh, at DreamWorks and, you know, there’s again--we’ll get into the background of all that Adam and Shiro stuff. But thankfully, they were--they were open to allowing us to do it because it really was our way of trying to canonically confirm on screen the sort of vagaries around his orientation.

EF: Yeah, I think that I just sort of wanted to address that right off the bat. Just-just from the point of view, is like, for me as a viewer watching that scene, I did not feel like that scene was pandering. I understand why people might feel that way and might feel like it was a big, giant band-aid, but at the same time, a lot of complaints that people had was, “Well, they didn’t even have any conversations together!” I’m like, “This is supposed to be a couple years later, you guys. It wasn’t--this isn’t like, the day after.”

JDS: Yeah, but I honestly think that ideally, had--had the story been available to us--

EF: Sure.

JDS: --had, had the studio at the time been open to us exploring that, we don’t like to just jam characters together.

EF: No, absolutely.

JDS: Our ideal situation would have been to build that relationship.

EF: Oh, sure, yeah, definitely. Um, yeah, but I-I-I feel like I-I understand the mixed feelings about it, but ultimately I’m appreciative of, like you said, the message of, “Okay, well, we feel like people felt like they weren’t a hundred percent sure that Adam and Shiro were definitely a couple, so like, let’s-let’s really address the fact that-that Shiro, who is your, like, super-manly hero is a gay man,” and-and-and the importance of that shouldn’t be belittled by any stretch of the imagination.

JDS: It shouldn’t, but I, you know, again it’s-it’s sort of like we-we can see this thing from a multifaceted view. So, like, as an outsider, I’ve looked at shows and immediately sort of written it off as, like, “Ah, here we go again.”

Hosts: Yeah, yeah, sure.

JDS: I-I think we totally get it. I think we were hoping that people would be able to kind of read between the lines, and there were certain people that could. And I think we have a relationship with you guys, ya know, we talk and hang out so you guys sort of understand where we stand on the issues. So, um, I think that-that plays into it and, you know, obviously appreciate your understanding. I don’t know.

EF: Why, yeah, as you say, I can’t look at this show without my own biases of knowing you guys and having had conversations with you about, like, the process of making this show.

JDS: That’s right.

EF: So…

JDS: Um, but I think, you know, if you’ll allow us to just go back to the sort of, like, the story point between Adam and Shiro, you know, and this isn’t… I think it’s more emblematic of kind of the state of the industry overall and our specific little nook of animation, which was, we were right in this, like, middle area and-and that goes for us as showrunners and for the show in general. So, we weren’t creator-owned, we weren’t creator-driven--I mean, we were creator-driven in the fact that they allowed us to tell a deep story the way we wanted to--but we don’t-we didn’t create Voltron. You know what I mean? For all intents and purposes, this is, like us taking over something like Transformers.

EF: Sure, one hundred percent.

JDS: So there was only so much leeway we had with the stories that we could tell, and honestly, when the Adam and Shiro storyline was sort of being played out and we were sort of meeting some resistance, you know, Lauren and I kind of looked at each other for a moment and said, like, “How are we gonna handle this? Is this something we, like, bail on? Or, like, what do we do here? Like, do we just, like, up and leave? You know, that really wasn’t an option for us.

EF: Of course not.

JDS: And yeah, but also, you know because we had a crew, just like--

LM: It’s not-it’s not just like, “Oh I can’t afford my mortgage!” You know, we have a crew that we care about we brought onto this show. If we abandoned them, we-we don’t know what’s in store for them. We don’t know, do they get to stay on? Do they get to keep their jobs? Does someone else come on and then they’re working under someone else that they didn’t sign up for? Or--

JDS: Or they’re working under someone else that’s just gonna be like, “Alright, we’re just gonna finish the show and not really do right by the rest of it.” Like--

Hosts: Yeah.

LM: We, regardless of what we could do specifically within the show, we knew that at least we could send the larger thematic message through the show, and so that kind of became our focus.

KC: Sure.

JDS: Right, so to get into the weeds of it just a little bit, our original conception, like our original idea for Adam and Shiro, it’s-it’s similar to what you guys saw play out on-screen. There were differences. They both shared an apartment, the scene that you saw, it didn’t take place in, like, the officer’s lounge. Adam was not a member of the Galaxy Garrison, he was a dude that had a job that looked like a working professional. And they had a conversation that clearly displayed that they loved each other and that the relationship was just sort of coming to an end because Shiro was choosing, you know, the Garrison over their relationship. You know, as we sort of got through the process of premise, script, it went all the way down the line. It got storyboarded. And then at some point, you know, we received pushback from the studio and you know, we were sort of a little confused, like, “hey, how did it go, like, so far down the line before we received pushback?” And you know, this is not like a, like, a vilifying of DreamWorks or anything, like, every exec that we ever interacted with was, it was like, “hey, we understand why you want to tell this story. We understand where you’re coming from. It’s a little bit bigger than that. You know, there’s-there’s other, sort of, controlling parties with Voltron which makes it unique. It’s not just a DreamWorks-owned property.” And it just--I think logistically it just got really, really weird.

EF: Well, and like you were saying, it-it’s not something--it isn’t something that you created, so there were certain limitations in terms of, as you say, like, what, how far you could go with stuff you wanted to do with the story, I think.

JDS: Well, yes, but I mean there’s also a, you know, weird sort of hypocrisy there with that. Like, we’re able to show thousands of characters, you know, basically dying on-screen, [hosts indistinctly shouting over him] but we can’t--

MS: --that planet that-that Lotor was working with being on fire! But two people that love each other--

JDS: It’s inherent hypocrisy, but it’s like, one that’s frustrating for us as creators, but I think when we sort of got, you know, we sort of revised the script, we sort of revised, you know, we tried different avenues and it was clear that it was something that wasn’t available to us. It was a storyline, so we revised it. So we made the revision, we basically-we essentially made them like Goose and Maverick for all intents and purposes. It was like they were, you know--we revised the setting. We revised that--what the nature of their relationship. And as we sort of, like, moved down the process, you know, we got to the point where Earth’s invasion was happening and we were like, “We’ve seen Voltron cut through, like, every Galra cruiser. We’ve seen the Galra basically reduced to competitive,” like, not a joke at that point, but we were looking for ways to make them intimidating. We were looking for ways to, like, make Earth’s loss feel heavier.

KC: Yeah, you want them to stop being Stormtroopers.

JDS: Yeah, exactly. So, um, you know, we decided to put Adam on the front lines, to make, you know, Santa’s decision that much--her hubris and all that mess, you know--all the more sort of real. And-and, you know, so at that point it was like, essentially we were like, “Okay, it’s like Tom Cruise crying over Anthony Edwards in Top Gun. Sorry, anybody that’s not forty, you don’t understand that reference.

LM: They were flight partners.

KC: I’ve seen Top Gun.

EF: I understood that reference.

JDS: They were flight partners.

LM: They were flight partners, Anthony Edwards died in a… what was it?

JDS: F-14 Tomcat.

LM: Yeah.

MS: I’m sure the reboot will be out in a couple years.

EF: [indistinct]

KC: They better have volleyball. They better have volleyball, I tell you what.

JDS: That’s right.

KC: Anyway.

JDS: But we got into even weird situations where it was like, you know, I had a, like, Tracer statue, like, prominently placed on my desk, and like, we were like, “Hey, this awesome show Overwatch, with which we share a bunch of fans, like, has Tracer as, like, their lead character and she’s awesome.”

KC: The poster girl for the game of the year is a lesbian.

JDS: That’s right.

EF: And I was gonna say, I-I think too probably for you guys, and I mean, I may be making assumptions that are completely incorrect here, but I think there was a level of, you know, so many people were aware of your involvement with shows like Legend of Korra that had an ending wherein two women ended up in a relationship with one another, which again, actually, when you-when you look at it’s vague-ish.

JDS: It’s vague, but I will say it’s paid off because their relationship built naturally through the body of the show.

EF: That’s very true.

JDS: And that’s what’s important, you know, I think that is what’s important. We were obviously approaching Shiro’s orientation from-through flashbacks trying to show that he was in a-just a mature relationship.

EF: Yeah.

JDS: Um, so it was different.

EF: A-and I think I’ve had some conversations, and I actually wrote an article about it for fandom one time where I was discussing the fact--and this was pre, uh, the final season coming out--and I was basically saying, you know, I understand people’s frustration with the whole Shiro scenario, however, just because the person who he was in a relationship with got killed off, like, doesn’t mean that he’s no longer gay. And I-but I-being completely understanding of people bemoaning the trope of “bury your gays”, which definitely does exist and I’m not saying that it doesn’t and that it’s not a problem, but it is important to know that, again, you have this character who is very much your sort of quintessential, like, alpha male.

JDS: That-that was the trope that we were trying to, like, sort of step on was that, you know. I grew up with characters like Duke. To a much lesser degree, he’s a big, giant robot Optimus Prime. The idea of Optimus Prime being with another Optimus Prime was off the table. Like it was a no-go.

KC: That’s because he’s with Megatron.

JDS: Exactly.

MS: Obviously! That is canon!

KC: Yes! They’re obviously exes and that’s why the war happens. [laughter] But the “bury your gays” thing, it sounds like-it sounds like it was either gonna be bury your gays or no gays and that’s a rough choice.

JDS: Okay, well, okay, so here’s where we arrived at this. And-and again, you know, we were pointing to things like Overwatch. We were pointing to Steven Universe, saying like, “Guys.”

EF: Oh, absolutely!

JDS: They’re different scenarios. We, I mean, we were in a slightly different position. We didn’t have, you know, that position of being the creators of this IP. And we also weren’t a video game that was directly marketed to, like, teens and above. We were, for all intents and purposes, like, started as a show for boys, like, 6 to 11 to sell as many toys as possible. And that’s just, like, a fact. That’s business and-and it sort of is what it is.

LM: Yeah, I think another unfortunate factor is the fact that animation is so far ahead of the schedule as far as releases that, you know, sometimes really important decisions are being made before people even realize what the core audience should be and you have to--it’s a little bit like gambling, kind of--you gotta put all your bets on this one area, and hope that that plays out.

EF: Oh, yeah! Well because it’s before you can get--because you’ve got the majority of your content written before you can even really gauge an audience reaction at all, as you say, let alone, like, determine your core audience.

KC: Animation is a multiple-year pipeline, a lot of people don’t get that.

JDS: But yeah, specifically with season 7 and 8, we basically held onto season 7. So season 8 was, like, done by the time season 7 was dropping. We had, like, a month left. When reactions for season 7 started coming in and that was-that was day of the drop. We were in a weird position. To DreamWorks's credit, I think the tide started changing internally. They came back to us and said, “Okay, hey, we're open to explore this relationship between Adam and Shiro.” So we were in this weird position where we had, like, all the animation done we had $0.00 left in the budget in terms of like what we could do, and it was like, “Alright we know Adam's fate is what it is, do we do this and sort of, like, take this step knowing that we're going to take some flack?” And we decided to do it, so we revised the dialogue. It was for--you can probably see it in the animation. If you really pay attention, it's like, it's literally our editor cutting out mouths and like puppeting different dialogue. The dialogue is pretty vague, it's sort of the best we could do, and that was a process of, sort of, discussing what we could actually have them say. Season 7 goes down the way it does, pretty-pretty… I think our other big “if we could go back and do it again,” we would not have gone to Comic-Con. [Hosts make “ohhh” noise] We would not have shown the clip at Comic-Con.

LM: We learned a big lesson about managing expectations [everyone echoes LM saying “expectations”] for sure. It’s-it’s such a weird thing because, you know, we’re-we’re in this show, we’re making 78 episodes. You kind of get to this point where you really can’t see the forest through the trees. Like, we lost a bit of our objectivity, and so we’ve kind of gone through all of these versions of the Adam and Shiro scene. And so when we kind of got to this point where, like, some light was peeking in and people were revisiting what we could do, we wanted to celebrate.

Host: Yeah, of course!

LM: Like, we were so excited.

[Indistinct]

EF: Yeah, no, I-I mean, I-I’m--I was there during that Comic-Con panel. I talked to you guys right after and-and I was literally, I-I had been--I had been at the Geek and Sundry and Alpha party the night before, I had stayed out way too late, and I was sitting next to my friend Michelle, and during that scene between Shiro and Adam it was very clear to us that they were a couple. Like, she, like, I remember she, like, started--when my friend Michelle gets excited she just hits people--so she starts, like, hitting my arm and then we were both so excited we, like, tried to lean in but we were both very tired and we clocked heads. And-And I--but again for me, it was like I--and I-I texted Josh--and I was like, “Oh my god, this is so great!” And yeah. And-and I remember watching season 7 in, you know, in the comfort of my own home and-and-and seeing how things went down for Adam and feeling sad, but also thinking, “hoo, I have a feeling there’s gonna be some people that are really mad about this.”

JDS: Yeah, yeah yeah. And it was, I mean, totally understandable. I think--

LM: Yeah, I think, like, again once-once that came down, it kind of snapped us and made us realize, “Oh yeah, this is what we didn’t see.” Like, this is-this is what happens when you’re, like, so, like, laser-focused on the show that you-you don’t get to compute it through the fans’ eyes anymore. You’re kind of just in the creator space.

EF: I think, also you know, you were contending with a fanbase who--so, like, growing up I was really into Gundam Wing. So, to me, it is not surprising that there’s such a large, sort of young, teenage girl fanbase of this show because it sparked a lot of the same sort of, like, fandom interests that I had for Gundam Wing when I was-when I was a teenage girl.

KC: Teenage girls like fighting robots so much.

EF: Girls like fighting robots and cute boys piloting them. That’s just-I’m just throwing that out there!

JDS: Girls also like genuine character. I think that’s the thing that--and that--it dawned, I think we knew it because we had worked on, like, Avatar and we worked on Korra, and we knew that there was an audience thirsting for that type of content. So when we go to Comic-Con and the crowds, every time we went to a different con, it was like more and more female representation in the crowds and more and more questions about the characters and not so much about the big you know.

EF: Definitely.

JDS: You know, I think our, sort of like, machine was in place for what the show was being marketed towards and we were like, “That’s a train that is not really stopping.” But our audience, we recognize, is diverting another way.

MS: Absolutely. And that’s, not to bring other shows into it, but there are other shows where they’re, they experience that same sort of pressure point where the-the show was intended for a particular demographic to sell particular merchandise to a particular group, and when another group latches onto it and gets really excited about that, instead of, sort of, course-correcting and being like, “Oh, we can-we can sell to this group,” instead the show gets taken off the air.

EF: Yeah.

JDS: It’s, like, viewed as a failure or whatever.

KC: Young Justice.

MS: Yeah. I wasn’t gonna name any names!

KC: I mean, we know that’s what happened to it.

JDS: But the great thing, though--

KC: And now it’s back!

JDS: Yeah, it’s back because I think culturally we’re in a very different place with regards to what animation, who it’s playing to, which is awesome.

LM: Yeah, the type of shows that we always wanted to make and always wanted to work on. I think we talked a little bit about this last week, but there was no avenue to really make those shows when we started Voltron, and we were very used to playing in our animation boys toys box. And now those avenues exist, which is magnificent. It’s huge for us because, you know, there was a time when we honestly, we didn’t know if we’d see it in our career. We were always the sad people like, “We’re in America, if we were in Japan we could make these shows.”

JDS: We were also like, “We’re gonna have to figure out really clever ways to work in, you know, these bigger elements and the more mature storyline.

MS: That’s what you guys were talking about a lot last week, is wanting to make the show something bigger than what people expected it to be. To elevate it to something more important.

JDS: But I--so I mean, we’ll continue on and sort of, like, explain how everything played out all the way through-through the-the epilogue stuff. But to DreamWorks’ credit, like, look, they’ll-they afforded us a ton of freedom to explore story and build characters with depth, and like-like heart-wrenching backstories where we’re like, “Is this villain, like, am I feeling true emotion for this villain’s, like, arc right now?” This is, you know, that that’s stuff a-and these types of shows, it’s sort of few and far between. And I know, you know, I’m sure there’s a whole contingent of the fanbase that’s like, you know, “Whatever, dude. Big excuse.” I get it, we all get it. We’ve all-we’ve all sort of been there, but for us it was a big deal.

EF: Yeah, I’m never ever gonna get over baby Lotor, ever.

JDS: It’s tragic. It’s sad. I know!

EF: He’s so cute! Why did they animate him so cute!

JDS: I know!

MS: His eyes were so big.

KC: [indistinct] gone full anime.

JDS: I was having a baby at around that same time. I was like, “My son!”

KC: [singing] “Look at my son!”

MS: And-and talking about a little bit about representation, I know that obviously the Adam and Shiro and the-the epilogue is what a lot of people really wanted us to discuss tonight, but, um, I had one or two people reach out also wanting to discuss a little bit of Ezor and Zethrid because that was… When-when they got their final story beat, I was so-I was so satisfied with it. It was--again, I don’t want to speak for anybody except for myself, like I don’t represent any group other than me. My opinions are my own--but seeing their relationship and seeing the-the way their arc went, I was very satisfied with their sort of redemption arc and sort of all but confirming that yeah they were a couple.

JDS: Right.

KC: As the biromantic ace woman on the panel, I believe I screamed “space pirate lesbians” when that happened. Can confirm, space pirate lesbians.

EF: I enjoyed that, as well as my new ship: Veracxa.

Hosts: [cheering]

JDS: Veracxa. I think that’s about as legit a ship you’re ever gonna get.

MS: Emma texting me in the middle of my-my watch through season 8 going, “Hey, they’ve had one conversation and I’m all about it.”

KC: I just want Rizavi to puppet master all of this. She is the one, like, leaving notes in people’s lockers or going, “Hey! Do you want to eat lunch together?”

MS: And not only that, she’s taking Kinkade’s camera and turning this into a show. It is absolutely.

JDS: It’s like, Real World on the Atlas

EF: I was-I was gonna say, it’s like Tara’s House.

JDS: How dare you! Generational, you kids! It’s Real World!

KC: She just brings the footage back, puts one clip of it on the internet, and says, “Selling it to the highest-bidding network.”

MS: I am positive that Zara would absolutely love this and would totally be down to reprise her role to make this show a reality.

JDS: Uh, yeah. If you would allow me to continue with the [indistinct] before we get too sidetracked. Fallout. Season 7. Actual depression. Like, terrible. Studio’s like, “What is going on” and-and they sort of turned to us. At this point, you know, I think She-Ra is either in development or they’re like, full tilt, sort of, going, and the studios, like, sort of figured out where they stand. So, awesome. It’s awesome.

EF: Yeah.

JDS: We wish it’d happened a little earlier. But it’s-it’s really cool, um, and they sort of turned to us and said, you know, “How-how do you want to address this? How do you want to handle this?” And you know, we, at that point, we had already put out our, sort of, public statements because we just felt like, “Oh my gosh,” like--

MS: “What do we do?”

JDS: --it’s coming down on us. Rightfully so. Um, and so we sort of crafted the, uh, the, you know, Shiro and Curtis marriage as a result. It-it was sort of like a-like a sub-complaint that came out of the Adam and Shiro thing, which was like, “Hey, appreciate it,” but what was there was kinda--

Host: Not clear?

JDS: --was kinda not really clear, like it wasn’t explicit, it wasn’t, you know, they weren’t looking for anybody to, like, be, like, kissing or you know, doing anything like that. But they wanted something a little bit more tangible.

Host: Yeah.

JDS: So this was, like, our way of reaching out to fans and it was like a, like a sort of animated, you know, apology or like an animated sort of olive branch.

KC: Sure.

EF: I mean, I also think that it-it-it sort of needs to be said that in terms of the fanbase that there is a difference between wanting representation and wanting your ship to be canon.

KC: And I think a lot of this was disappointment that one ship did not become canon. And just because your ship’s not canon doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.

EF: No, no, no!

KC: It doesn’t mean it’s a bad ship.

EF: And on top of that it is-it is completely okay to want both. They’re not independent of one another, but there-there is a level of-of you have to recognize that your ship is about you. It’s about you nine times out of ten, especially when it comes to young women exploring your sexuality in a way that is very safe because it doesn’t involve any women. But it’s about you. It’s not about you wanting representation necessarily.

JDS: I think that there’s-there’s definitely that. I think there’s also, you know, I think you can’t deny when, like, two beautiful people are in a room, you’re like, “You should be doing something!” I think, sort of, the shipping phenomenon in general also speaks to the fact there's a hugely underserved portion of the fandom who’s just not seeing something they want to see.

EF: Oh, yeah! Definitely! And I mean, you know, I’ve enjoyed a lot of the, like, fan content that’s come out of Voltron.

JDS: Sure.

MS: The fan community in terms of the artistic stuff that comes out, it’s incredible what people create and the fact that you guys have been able to inspire that creativity shouldn’t also be something that’s diminished.

EF: Oh, definitely not.

MS: For-for all of the, um, the LGBTQ audience members who maybe felt conflicted with this particular epilogue. I know one person reached out to me, going that they wanted more, and one person reached out that, like, they felt that, like, Shiro walking away from the military wasn’t something that fit his character and that’s actually something we’d like to speak to you about because I-I don’t necessarily agree with that assessment. I totally understand where that perspective comes from. But the way it was worded in terms of he left the battle behind, I, yeah. He-he has been through so much in this series that yeah I understand where people have a lot of issues with it, but I think him leaving the military and going and living a normal life with somebody that he cares about, I think that’s a very fitting end for somebody who had been through so much trauma.

EF: Yeah, yeah. I think I see both perspectives on that as well, but I’m more on your-I’m more of the same opinion as you of that didn’t feel out of character for him for me.

JDS: I mean, I don’t know, I think we saw it as like, the dude had been through a lot. You know, we, the circumstances at which we sort of arrived at that scene didn’t allow us, like a, we had like a day to really put that together.

EF: And you’re talking about the whole, like, conversation of everybody sitting around the table leading into the, like, post stuff on the end?

LM: Everything-everything before fully animated was set in stone. Epilogue and on was-was stuff that we made some adjustments, some stuff was similar, if not the same as before. And we just tried to ultimately do what we felt was right, which was give the people who wanted it that legitimacy of yes Shiro, one of our main characters, is in fact part of the LGBT community. It’s on-screen, there’s-there’s no question anymore. We unfortunately couldn’t make a full-fledged relationship at that point because the show was done.

KC: There’s no time and there’s no budget. Animation takes forever.

JDS: It was that-was that situation where we were sort of like, “Do we do this? Don’t we do this?” and we thought it was just more important to do it, to confirm it, to be able to, like, show people in a very clear manner. And we, I think sort of, wholeheartedly accept that it’s clunky. [laughter] It’s hella clunky. Like, and you know we-we sort of--

LM: It’s far from perfect, but ultimately when the opportunity presented itself, I think we would have felt badly if we had not tried to seize that.

JDS: Right.

Host: I think that’s fair.

JDS: And it was, it was, it was, it was sort of like this weird opening where, like, DreamWorks was in this, like, figuring out where they stood and the opportunity presented itself and we were sort of like, “We kinda have to jump on this or it might go away. It might be something…” And you know, again, like, to the studio’s credit, like, I think they’ve sort of figured it out. They’ve obviously afforded us the ability to create something beyond just, like, a show about, like, a robot made of lions that slices another monster in half every episode.

EF: That’s what I was gonna say. It was definitely not a “monster of the week” kind of show by any stretch of the imagination. So that, in and of itself--

JDS: It’s kind of a weird victory.

EF: Yeah.

KC: At the very end of it, at the very base of things, people, and American society, let’s be real, tend to view LGBTQ content, all of that, LGBTQIA content, as automatically mature for some reason and we touched on, like, violence is okay but god forbid you see two dudes kiss. This is a show that is aimed at 8 to 11 year old boys and at the end of it we had two men explicitly kissing at their wedding. You may not like the execution, you may not like who it was, you may think it came out of nowhere, but guys, we got it. A quote-unquote kids’ show. That’s a hell of a milestone.

JDS: Yeah, I think we all had to acquiesce at some point, and sort of, and DreamWorks too, sort of had to say, like, “Hey, your audience is what your audience says.” It’s no longer like what we were sort of building this franchise around. And you know, I think that’s awesome. The-the organic nature at which the audience sort of grew and evolved and sort of became super proactive in, like, creating content and-and sort of created their own series alongside ours is awesome. It’s great. So, I think they-they just sort of, like, at the very end they were just like, “Guys, just do what you think is right.” And we used our heart. There’s a ton we would have-we would have done differently, but to armchair-quarterback 78 episodes over 4 years, um…

KC: Which is what we’re doing in this episode.

[indistinct]

JDS: To really break it down and try to, like, say, “If we had zigged where we zagged,” like, there’s-there’s no-no real good--

EF: Well, yeah, because you could go on about that forever, but it’s all in the past at this point.

JDS: And the other thing is, like, believe me. I’ve been, like, up at night going, like, “Should we have done anything at all and saved ourselves a headache?” And it’s like, no I think we did the right thing under the circumstances given.

EF: Yeah, I agree, yeah. [indistinct]

KC: [indistinct] I’d actually like to top this off with a comment from RedLantern27 in chat because I think they encapsulated it: “It’s like how Team Voltron tackles their problems: might not be the most elegant, but it gets the job done.” [laughter] I say, unless there’s anything else you’d like to add at the end there, I think we can finish that conversation. We are halfway through our show.

JDS: That’s insane.

MS: Thank goodness they gave us more studio time.

JDS: Fortunately they gave us another hour.

KC: Does anyone want another drink?

MS: Oh! I do!

KC: I am not actually kidding, would you like another drink?

EF: I mean, I’ll have some more. Are these RWBY shot glasses?

KC: Yes. Yes they are.

MS: There’s a RWBY one and an Attack on Titan one with Mikasa.

KC: Because Voltron is made for kids and therefore they don’t have official shot glasses. But hey, if anyone wants to send me some, I’d be down.

EF: I am wearing officially-licensed Voltron merchandise, I will have you know.

JDS: That’s awesome.

EF: This is a child’s shirt because I wanted it in red and it didn’t come in red in adult sizes.

JDS: It fits perfectly.

EF: Thank you.

KC: I am wearing hilariously-unlicensed Voltron merch because there isn’t a licensed one that says, “See ya later, paladudes!” And I thought that was apt.

EF: That’s pretty good.

KC: Emma, please help me.

EF: Oh yeah, this is yours, Megan. It was bound to happen (re: minor spill of Sendak on ice).

KC: It was, it was. Yep, that is future Katie’s problem. And while we’re having our intermission I think we also have an announcement.

MS: Alright guys, before we move onto our next topic we wanted to say thank you for making us the ESPN of TV talk. For us to continue to grow we could use your help. If you’re on YouTube right now hit that thumbs-up button and subscribe. If you’re on iTunes, please-please give us a five-star rating. But no matter where you are, leave us a comment so that you can get involved in the conversation. Being a part of Afterbuzz TV has meant so much to all of us and we truly appreciate you supporting us and doing what we love. Don’t forget to tell your friends and keep enjoying our show, and yeah. Guys, this is-this is our last show, and it really means a lot to us that you guys have stuck with us throughout the entirety of this show’s run. We love, as Katie said earlier, our tavern of lions, everybody who’s in the hashtag, and everybody who’s ever done fanart for our silly nonsense.

EF: Oh yeah, there’s some good fanart from the show.

MS: It’s so good!

EF: It’s really good fanart.

MS: It really means a lot to us and yeah, yeah, Katie take it from here before I cry.

KC: Oh, I thought you were gonna read the iTunes reviews.

MS: Do you want to do the iTunes spiel and I do the, uh--

KC: Yeah, thank you to everyone who was supporting us on iTunes and you can still do that even after the podcast is over. If you leave a comment, if you leave a rating leave us five stars because there are five lions in Voltron and that’s how this works. Um, yeah, it helps people who are searching for the podcast find us. It helps bump us up in the iTunes ranks. And, well, if you leave one after this you won’t get a shoutout because that’s life, but for those who left one a little bit earlier we like to do shoutouts on the show.

MS: And apologies to anybody who left one where I’m not getting the chance to read it out. The iTunes, sort of, filter thing in terms of putting it in chronological order does not work on my mobile device, so I sort of have to scroll and guess about what. So if I miss you, I’m so sorry, please screencap it and put it in the hashtag. But we’ve got one from Kiwi12343: “Yay! Almost done, though I am sad to see the podcast go. Voltron has helped me through a lot of crap. Thank you for the thing I could look forward to on Mondays.” And then we have MLaura3456: “Thank you so much for the show, you are all so amazing. I’ve been watching for just a year and it’s been so much fun. I’m going to miss it once it’s over, but I’m glad I was able to watch it. Geeking with you and the guest is just the best. It’s time to form Voltron.” And then we have one from Oz Gint, not sure if I’m pronouncing that right, but, “I found Afterbuzz with RWBY Vol. 2 and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the animation aftershows. I have unfortunately been unable to catch a live Voltron show, but I’ve listened to them all. Since it’s the last episode, we can finally talk about the biggest surprise of the whole show. That’s right, after eight seasons, Hunk finally took off his headband.”

Everyone: [laughter]

MS: “(cont. -ff last review) Oh and I guess those other things too. I love the review, so long, and thanks for all the fish”

EF: Okay, for me, Hunk’s epilogue was perfect. The fact that Romelle was, like, part of his-his space cook crew, I was like, all in. All in.

KC: And Vrepit Sal.

MS: And Shay, and Bii-Boh-Bi.

EF: It was so good.

KC: This is the new Avengers crew.

MS: Again, apologies if I couldn’t find it, but again, thank you all so, so much. We love you, you’re all the best.

EF: Yeah.

KC: Yeah, and seriously, thank you guys for participating. This has been so much fun and we-it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun without all y’all beautiful humans.

MS: Even if we don’t agree, if you don’t agree with us, if we don’t agree with you, if we don’t agree with each other, it’s okay.

JDS: I don’t agree with myself.

[laughter]

KC: Let’s make life real interesting.

MS: The bottom line here is that the show was always meant to be fun and we had fun doing it, and we hope you’ve had fun watching us.

EF: And I think, too, just, you know, being open to the fact that people have different opinions than you and then--and that-that’s okay is a really important message to kind of put out there, as well.

LM: Absolutely. It’s a message that I learned, like, probably a little too late for my little, immature ass, like when I was in eighth grade, the most important thing was the fact that my best friend bought the same Target sandals I had and how angry I was that she had the same Target sandals that me and 20,000 other Target shoppers had. Like, and I look back at that, and I’m just like, “Why did I waste so much energy on the dumbest thing in the universe?”

EF: Yeah, but also-but also you know, acknowledging the fact that-that people’s opi-like your opinions are valid.

MS: Absolutely.

JDS: And look, I think a lot of people have, you know, as I’ve sort of been trying to come to terms with, with negative reaction, positive reaction, all the reaction but mainly the negative reaction, you know a lot of people have sort of said to me like, “Dude, just tell them it’s a stupid cartoon and, like, not to think too much about it.”

KC/MS: No!

EF: That’s not how that works!

JDS: It’s not, a-and for me these shows growing up literally formed the person that I am now.

EF: Absolutely.

JDS: So, it means-it means as much as it means to people because that’s, you know, that’s their world and that’s-that’s what their takeaway, and if they don’t, if they're not getting or seeing themselves represented properly or seeing some sort of representation that they can latch onto or understand. Or maybe they felt like they were on their way to seeing that and were let down by the fact--like I get it. You know, I think we get it.

LM: It's a struggle that we've dealt with a lot just in-in our careers, that animation is-it’s a medium but a lot of times it’s considered a genre. And that’s something that, like, continues to this day that we’re constantly fighting this battle of, like, “No, you can make--” We try to point to anime, which they have every type of thing. They have a show about specifically tennis.

EF: A-a-a-a-and anime is often by western audiences who are not familiar with the medium considered to be a genre. I have so many people being like, “What should I watch to get into anime?” And I’m like, “What kind of stories do you want?”

JDS: Exactly. Do you like story?

KC: I took my tiny, tiny child to see Princess Mononoke because it’s animated and for kids, right? Like no, that will traumatize your five-year-old. It’s a work of art, but it will traumatize your child. Anyway.

LM: And I feel like video games went through a similar thing for a while with, you know, parents bringing Grand Theft Auto back and yelling at Gamestop employees like, “Why did you sell this to my kid?”

EF: It’s rated “Mature”.

LM: Like, it says right there. If you, as a parent, aren’t checking this. But it’s, you know, content is content and we wholeheartedly believe that animation is content people go to and it shouldn’t be, kind of, reduced to-to just, like, “it’s for kids”.

JDS: That said, we should also--I will just sort of self-check--we should have been aware of, like, sort of what we were asking not only DreamWorks to do, but asking the IP to do. We were asking this show to do things and sort of, like, break out in certain ways that were like, [hesitant noise], you know. We needed to learn, we learned a lot. We needed to learn how to manage some of our tone and stuff back up the, sort of, executive chain better. It was just learning experience all the way around the block.

EF: It’s--yeah--it’s interesting to me because, you know, obviously we were touching a little bit on how DreamWorks has, kind of, opened their minds a little bit to some of the stuff that you guys came up against in Voltron, not necessarily with them, it was a bigger issue of lots of people owning the IP, but I-I-I do wonder this ‘cuz I feel like it’s easier or it seems to be more common to me that in shows that are targeted at a female audience, it's more likely that you're going to find a wider breadth of representation.

JDS: I'm not gonna disagree with you there.

LM: I mean I think wholeheartedly that is just genuinely the truth and I think a lot of it stems from that, kind of, toxic masculinity culture that we're still trying to push onto little boys of like "this is weak. You cannot be these things".

EF: To Voltron's credit very much was trying to--I don't want to say “undermine” is not the right word--

JDS: We were just trying to break the trope, our own trope. You know what I mean? Like Voltron was its own trope and the sort of little nook that we inhabited, like, sort of boys toys was its own weird tropey situation. I think before anybody realized it, I mean we were obviously aware, but it was like we were-we were very much a show for everybody, you know. And that just-that just kind of happened. So, yeah.

EF: Which is-which is a good thing.

JDS: Should we talk about Lance, guys?

Hosts: Yes!

KC: We need to move onto, like, intellectual topics and whatnot.

JDS: I feel the clock ticking.

KC: The clock is actually off, but my iPad is back here and it’s just like, “Okay.”

EF: Armor boy Lance.

KC: I need-I need to stop trying to plan these shows, they don’t ever go as planned. What plan!

JDS: Lance.

KC: Yeah, people want to talk about Lance and we want to hear about Lance. He had an incredible character arc.

JDS: He did.

LM: Did you want to intro him or talk to your…? Because I have a lot of feelings about Lance.

JDS: I think Lauren’s got really awesome perspective. I will say that, like a lot of people we saw, like, “Oh, Lance ends up being a farmer and, like, that sucks.” And not to, like, diminish, you know, I’m not making fun of anybody. But I grew up spending all my summers on my family farm in Portugal. It was literally like one, especially as I get older, is one of the most magical experiences that I could ever, sort of, think of now. And it was all about paring things down, getting rid of all the, sort of, BS that went on in life, living off the land, spending time with family--friends and family--and-and-and really getting down to what’s important in life. And so I think for anybody to say that, like, Lance isn’t getting the ending he deserves, or he should have been, like, a hero, he should have been the sharpshooter that went of into the… I don’t-I don’t think that’s what it was about. I think Lance had an arc where he learned about himself that he doesn’t need to be those things and-and that was a lot of baggage that he was carrying on top of himself. And so, I don’t know if that were my ending, it’s-it’s-it’s an ending I hope to have, to be honest with you. I think a lot of people were worried that, like, the visual of him looking at the juniberry flower meant that he was, like, pining away for Allura for the rest of time, and it’s tragic, it’s sad. It was a love story that played out, but he felt loved.

LM: I saw--I mean, I’ve got feelings about Lance just because I, like--as I have a lot of favorite characters in the show--but Lance is probably the one that I actually identify with the most. As-as someone who, like, I’ve struggled my entire life with insecurity, with self-doubt, with self-esteem, and as a girl who grew up watching shows where, like, almost every female was the woman who was pined after and like even in the original Voltron--the show that I love--every single paladin just wanted to get with Allura.

EF: It was the girl. Like that was very common in animation for a long time.

KC: It still is.

EF: I know.

MS: Yep.

EF: Yep.

JDS: Scarlett Jo-Jo, all of it.

LM: Like, that never felt beautiful, like I never felt like I could live up to that. And it kind of just destroyed my self-esteem because I was like, “Well then, if I’m not pretty, what is my value?” I had no value and so--sorry, I’m getting emotional about this. [Hosts all cry out “no!”]

KC: Please have emotions! That’s why we’re here.

MS: I’m fairly certain all of us have been there.

LM: You know, I get-I’ve worked through it. I, you know, I gained a craft, I, like, I have much more self-esteem now, but it--there’s still those little demons, those little, like, voices that come up and tell you you’re not good enough.

JDS/EF: Mm-hmm.

LM: So having struggled with that, Lance was kind of, like, that character who he had those insecurities and he-he handled it in a different way than I did. He put on this really big bravado and that was his defense mechanism. Like my defense mechanism was sarcasm and I still have it to this day, like, I cannot get that DNA out of myself. Like Joaquim has to deal with it. I’m just, like, sarcastic all day long and he’s just like, “Jesus.” JDS: I love it.

LM: Um, but like, you know, everyone copes with it their own ways, and I’ve known the people who--I know those people who they put on the bravado. And so the beauty to me of Lance kind of coming to this place where he’s a baby--he’s able to abandon that. Everything that he wanted, all of these parades, all of these big shenanigans with stuff that he needed other people to see to feel they knew he was important because he didn’t feel it.

EF: Yeah.

LM: And so finally when he feels it inside, like you don’t need other people to tell you anymore. And so, you know, I-I--when I finally started to feel like I had something to bring to the world, like, suddenly I was happy, like, in myself and I didn’t need, like, I would be just as happy to be making this show and have no one know my name as I am to be able to sit here and talk to the fans about it because I’m just doing something that I believe in. And I feel like that’s exactly what Lance was doing at the end. He realized like--there’s also the story element of that I think maybe we probably didn’t make clear--but Lance is, you know, back on Earth with his family and he’s helping Earth to recuperate.

JDS: Right.

LM: He’s on this farm. He’s providing, like, vital resources that people need because Earth didn’t just bounce back and that was important to him. And he’s able to do it, you know, on a farm where there’s these flowers. There’s all these juniberry flowers. That was another thing, it was a casualty of time in the finale, but we wanted to have this really beautiful moment where, as Allura’s made the sacrifice, juniberry flowers are everywhere.

JDS: Everywhere, like on every planet.

LM: And so--

JDS: It’s a weed. They’re a weed.

LM: --he is able to look at this--[laughter]

KC: They’re an invasive species, it’s a problem.

LM: He’s kind of able to remember her everywhere he goes. So it wasn’t really supposed to be like, “Oh, my life has no meaning unless I’m looking at this flower and thinking of Allura.” It’s just, like, “I am content and I’m happy. I have the people that I care about most and I’m doing something that I feel is important and it doesn’t have to be big and flashy.”

Host: Sure.

JDS: And it’s-that’s-it is a slightly more, sort of, mature idea to get across. And there’s a lesson to be learned on our end, too. We really, sort of, stuck to our guns and tried to make a show that was--didn’t have clean endings or super, like, sort of stereotypical happy endings. A lot of it is bittersweet, a lot of it is sort of dealing with the loss of somebody and the hope that that inspires, you know, in their sacrifice. That being said, our big lesson is, like, sometimes people just want to have the happy ending. So that’s stuff that you have to sort of weigh against your art, against your craft. Like, are we serving the people best? Are we serving our own sort of personal story desires best? Wh-what’s that balance?

MS: It’s a case-by-case basis.

JDS: It is.

KC: And there’s something I want to clarify specifically about Lance’s ending, and correct me if I’m wrong, but a lot of the pushback that I’ve seen is, “Well, he’s sad forever. He’s sad forever and ever.” And like, when you lose someone, you do miss them. The grief heals, but it never is completely gone because this person has gone from your life. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he never got over it. It doesn’t mean that he never fell in love with anyone else. It-it doesn’t mean that he just stopped where he was emotionally. We just got to see a couple years into the future and the trajectory that he’s on.

JDS: And-and I think that, again, is sort of our-our learning place. I think if we had--again, not to armchair-quarterback too hard--but I would have loved to have just had a scene, like, back at the Garrison and he’s, like, teaching a class and there’s some jerky kid that’s just like he was. And he’s, like, mature to the point where he’s like, “Okay, soldier,” like, “Alright I get you.” That would’ve been nice, and I think that would have been something that, you know, it wouldn’t have been, like, sort of the relationship maybe that everybody was looking for, but it would have been the closure that people saw, like, “Okay. Lance is, like, he’s doing the thing.” You know. I don’t know, there’s no real good easy answer.

LM: I’ll tell you what ending I was super jealous of, that you guys were there for, but it was the Star Wars Rebels ending.

EF: Oh my god!

LM: You know, Ezra makes his-his sacrifice and then Sabine is like, “Oh, he’s out there and I’m gonna find him.” Like, man, if we could’ve just ripped that in and Lance was like, “Allura’s out there and I’m gonna find her!” like that would’ve been so cool, but then we would’ve legit just ripped off of Star Wars Rebels.

EF: Just take that from Star Wars Rebels! No, it’s true that--and I mean, I think that’s kind of circling back to some of the stuff that you were talking about of, like, the idea of there not being a, like, clean-cut happy ending, all loose ends are tied up kind of thing.

MS: Because life doesn’t work that way.

EF: Because life doesn’t work that way! And so for me, you know, the-the Rebels ending was incredibly satisfying because it’s like, “Well, we could tell more stories with these people, but if we don’t, we’ve got a-we got a good end to this story.” And that-and that, I really do feel--even though for me I was not a big fan of the Lance and Allura romance. I didn’t like it very much, but that’s--again that’s about me. It’s not about you guys.

JDS: And that’s fine. But honestly I think you--

KC: I loved it, and we can disagree and still be friends!

JDS: Here’s the one sort of point of contention that I have because I could totally see everybody’s, sort of, view on it. People were like, "It came out of nowhere." We were like, "We were literally setting up Lance's angle on that, like, a ways out.” He's sitting there confessing to the mice, like, how he felt.

KC: And then the mice go rat him out.

MS: Right from episode 1 he flirted with every single girl, like, episode 1, you know, he-it’s clear that he kinda-kinda likes this girl.

JDS: That’s also, like--

MS: And it develops from there.

JDS: But that’s also, like, as content creators, like, do we sort of read the tea leaves on that and sort of lean into where fans’ expectations are? Or do we sort of go with-with the story that we were crafting and sort of stick to our guns there? You know, sometimes there's some people in real life that end up with people you're like “huh”.

MS: “How? Okay. I have some questions.”

JDS: That's not necessarily what serves story best but that is kinda life.

EF: I had this whole love triangle fantasy that was going on for those last two seasons. In my mind it was playing out. And that was fine! But like I say, like, that’s that was about me, that's not about the story. Like for me, I was like, “Okay yeah, this is the direction I thought they might go with the whole Lance/Allura thing,” and you know, it was-it was not what I wanted to happen, but that doesn’t make it a bad story.

JDS: Well, I could see the argument where it's like, it's basic. It's, like,  what we've kind of come to expect from okay the guy sort of turned around and--but I think Lance's arc aside from, like, being with Allura was bigger than the Allura love story.

EF: And Lance's overall story arc I really enjoyed, especially because you know it’s-it’s one of the things that we’ve been talking about is this whole idea that we were basically we were dealing with an IP that was like "monster of the week.” It was like, “dudes being in love with one hot girl” and just “macho men with fighting robots” and whatever was happening with Pidge.

JDS: Right, yes, yes.

MS: OG Pidge was insane.

EF: Like, totally bonkers.

KC: OG Pidge was terrifying.

JDS: Descended from a clan of ninjas, by the way.

KC: Did the ninjas last long?

JDS: They needed glasses.

EF: But what I will say is that I think a lot of Lance’s storyline--I mean it was across the board with all of the characters, honestly, both the men and the women--but-but very importantly the men, that they had a range of emotions. They had feelings. They had insecurities. They had, you know, emotional walls built up that it was explained why they were and-and all of that is-is great.

KC: They were allowed-they were allowed to be afraid. They were allowed to be unhappy. They were allowed to be broken. They were allowed to not be right about everything and not be leaders and be wrong in the face of other people. And the show went, “Yeah, that’s okay. That’s normal. You can do that and still be a good person.”

JDS: We-we’d go to the writers’ room and sort of get pitched ideas and we would be like, “Oh man, I don’t know how I feel about that,” and it would be that’s exactly why we should do it. Because you need to ask those questions, like, let’s ask those questions, get those things sort of--

LM: Yeah, I mean like, I had my own personal interests like with Pidge and I was like, I had my agenda that I was gonna expose all of these, like, double standards and it was purely agenda-based. And like Tim, you know, our lead writer had to kind of check me and be like, “Lauren, this show isn’t about your agenda. Like, what you’re trying to do, you’re gonna hurt the story if you try to work this in like that way.” And I had to take a step back and, like, look at myself and look at the story and be like, “Okay, what’s important for the story?” Because obviously we always have our preferences, we always have our likes, and-and like Joaquim said, you get a story thing thrown at you and you’ll knee-jerk and be like, “No no no! I don’t want that to happen to that character.” But then you’ll, like, that’s kind of why you have to let those things happen.

JDS: And they’re-they’re like weird experiments and some of them work, don’t work, and some of them are, you know, sort of fall in this weird gray area where people are just like “[noncommittal noise] I don’t know, I don’t know what to do with this.”

KC: “Well that was a thing that happened. This might as well occur.”

JDS: Yep. I mean it’s silly, it’s-it’s so dumb and I’m--we might have said this, you know, before--but like a lot of people sort of attributed a lot of their sort of personal perspectives to, like, Shiro having PTSD and ensuring this pillar of strength and having gone through these trials and tribulations and-and being an amputee. I hate to admit this because it’s so basic and simple, but like, the only reason he had a robot arm is because I’m like, “Dude, can we have a guy with a robot arm? Like, the Winter Soldier is rad, you know, Cable is rad, Solid Snake is rad, and I just want a robot arm dude.” That was it, and so--

LM: He’s a similar thing with Pidge and, you know, my super selfish her good little girl fantasies, just like here’s a girl and she’s masquerading as a boy, and then you know, she ended up being kind of this pillar of hope for the trans community. And so like, I can’t take credit for that because I didn’t go fully into that, but it’s beautiful that it happened and I can look at that now and I can see where it came from.

EF: I think that-that it just sometimes happens pretty unexpectedly in a lot of, you know, sort of IP. I mean I remember when, you know, Yuri!!! On Ice was this big sensation, and even though for the most part, obviously, it is lauded for its LGBTQ representation, but on top of that there was a certain, like, subset of the, like asexual community that were like, “I sort of see Yuuri as asexual and I feel represented,” and-and that’s a good thing.

JDS: Yeah, a hundred percent.

LM: Absolutely. JDS: I will say, just sort of looking at it holistically, though. Like, Lauren’s sort of desire to, like, build that into the character and my desire to build that into the character are two completely disparate things because I just wanted robot arm dude and she was, like, telling this meaningful, like, inside thing. And I’m just like, “How about that robot arm?”

KC: The Venn diagram overlap is “finding meaning in something random that you didn’t initially pitch that way.”

LM: And sometimes the fans will find this extra meaning that we had no clue was gonna come out of it.

MS: Yeah, and I had a directing professor way back in the day who-who mentioned that sometimes brilliant moments like that could happen completely by accident, or it’s an unintended sort of thing. And the fact that it’s there should be celebrated because it’s-it kind of ties into death of the author a little bit. Like, did the author intend that? Well, does it matter? If that’s your interpretation of it, it’s okay.

JDS: Yeah, I-I once heard the story, I was a huge, you know, sort of child of the 90’s, listen to grunge music growing up, Pearl Jam was like my favorite band, and I heard this story once that, like, this group of campers were singing this song “Black” by Pearl Jam in the forest and Eddie Vedder, like, comes out of the woods, like “Stop singing this song!” and everybody’s like [surprised expression], and he was like-he was coming to that, I don’t know if that’s true. Could be total grunge urban legend, I don’t know. I like the story, though.

MS: And he’s still in those woods to this day.

JDS: But he was, you know, his-- his version of the song was not their version of the song and they found a different meaning. For him it was torture, for them it was like this like sort of nostalgic coming together. And so he had to admit that as well. And I’ve heard other songwriters say the same thing where it’s like, “it’s no longer ours, it’s theirs.”  And that’s beautiful.

EF: Oh absolutely yeah. And as I say I feel like you know uh just kind of circling back to uh what we were talking about with where Lance’s story ended, I’ve seen some really lovely fanart depicting more of Lances future. [Everyone laughing]

KC: This is why we believe in fanart. This is why we believe in fanfiction. Just because the official story is over doesn’t mean that you can’t pick it up and sprint with it.

EF: Oh definitely not.

KC: Have fun.

JDS: Yes.

KC: Absolutely have fun. I-- We’ve had a lot of requests for this in chat, and I think uh, I think we should move on to this, um, let’s talk about Keith.

JDS: Yeah

KC: Let’s talk about Keith story arc. Let’s talk about the boy that went from being a lone wolf to being a leader whether he liked it or not, to embracing being a leader. That was absolutely incredible. We stopped, as we were watching Season 8, re-watching it, and at one point Keith and Lance just had that talk about well I used to think I could do everything on my own, and here we are. And I went, “Oh my God you guys are  all grown up!”

JDS: Yeah, I mean that’s the great thing about this sort of serialized format is that you do get to see that growth. I will say that like Keith is probably the character that we get-- there’s a huge fanbase, but he’s the one that like receives the least amount of flack, it’s like people are--

EF: Yeah I-- I do sort of wonder why that is but I-- But also--

JDS: Because, I think we didn’t, we didn’t pair him with anybody, you know what i mean. I think we didn’t designate sort of where he stood. We don’t know. It’s-- It’s--

KC: We don’t know

JDS: Yeah, it-- It doesn’t really matter to be honest with you. I mean it would be great to confirm just to make people happy, but, like at the end of the day he is who he is, and leaving it open to interpretation. Which is why I will say that, just going back to Allura and Lance really quick, it took that possibility off the table, that pairing, and I think that’s what-- what triggered a lot of people. Because it was like you could have just left well enough alone and we would’ve been fine. That’s, that’s a tea leaf reading scenario there as well you know.

EF: It is. But again guys there’s lots of great fanart.

JDS: There is. Yeah you can totally do that too.

KC: We did say that he could fall in love again. You never know.

JDS: You never ever know.

KC: Go have fun.

EF: Yeah I uh-- Uh-- I just loved Keith throughout this whole series. I think for me he was just the the perfect embodiment of that like emotionally damaged like grumpy boy character.

JDS: He had it all.

EF: Yeah.

LM: He was. He was kind of that animation trope.

EF: It was totally an anime hero.

LM: You know I watched Gundam Wing as well.

EF: Yes.

LM: And you know, hero Yui was, he was tricky for me because at the end I was just like [long pause] “I still don’t like you. There’s nothing in you for me. You just, you’re still kind of an asshole.”

JDS: “I still don’t like you.”

EF: “I still don’t like you.”

LM: And then but Keith actually like, [laughs]  Keith started there and then like, he evolved to someone that I like.

EF: I think that’s what it was because Hiro was my favorite in Gundam Wing, and Keith is my favorite in Voltron and I really do think that it is because like Keith is what in my, like, fan brain like Hiro was going to become. And so I feel like I got experience--

JDS: The evolution, the full evolution.

EF: Yeah, I mean yeah exactly. And Keith. It was very satisfying for me.

KC: Duo was my favorite and then I just [gestures vaguely].

LM: I love Duo, he was my favorite too. And that braid I was like, “Man how do you get a braid like that?”

KC: Um it takes a while.

JDS: Yeah, you gotta grow it out.

KC: Great Podcast day for all the listeners there.

EF: This is where we do an ad for Sugar Bear Hair.

KC: Does it look like I’m on my favorite [river?]

MS: But um yeah with Keith it’s so interesting because last season you guys mentioned how one of the initial concept ideas for him was that he was a child soldier and so it’s so interesting.

LM: That was Lance.

JDS: That was Lance.

MS: Oh that was Lance?

JDS: That was Lance.

LM: Believe it or not that was Lance.

MS: Oh I thought that was Keith.

EF: Whoa.

LM: That was back in our super dark phases where we were just coming off of Korra and we were like--

JDS: Were were gonna open up on season 7, earth already taken over, the kids had to--

LM: We had to--

EF: It was gonna be a battle.

JDS: No seriously that was it. Earth was post-apocalyptic.

LM: We had to recalibrate, like reset ourselves for Korra times to like colorful lion times.

MS: But that being said he starts still out, he starts up actually in a very similar place as Pidge, in-in terms of “I need to protect my family”

KC: And my family’s in space.

MS: And I don’t care about anything else, and over the course of the series they-- they learn at varying speeds how important this extended family is to them.

JDS: Yes.

EF: Yes. And I think too with Keith it was that fact that, you know, that he felt like a very fully-formed character in that you know when as you say when you first meet him like he is very emotionally guarded. He’s very, “I can do all of this on my own.” And I like that we really got into why he was that way. And the fact that he, that like, like, Keith at the beginning of the series I feel like if if he had met his mom at the beginning, he would not have connected with her in the way that he did. JDS: Not at all.

EF: And so it was very satisfying to see this person who had grown up so much like find this meaningful connection with somebody who had not been a part of his life.

JDS: Which is sort of a running thing on our show. And it was I think you know, maybe you mentioned it on the last one, that was sort of at one point going to be the sort of Lotor Keith of it all. Um, they were definitely going to share that element where they sort of had both feet in two different cultures and weren’t really sure where they stood on everything. And sort of Keith becoming the proper representation of that--not the proper but--

EF: No, Yeah yeah yeah

JDS: But sort of like good guy representation and Lotor being the bad guy.

MS: Two sides of the same coin.

EF: Man, now I would have loved to see more Keith and Lotor interactions.

JDS: It was a whole thing.

EF: I would have really enjoyed that because I agree with you that i think that I’m trying to think of like another piece of fiction where they kind of explore that whole idea of okay you have these two people that are effectively the same thing where they’re sort of half in one culture, species, etc. half in another.

MS: And one goes down one path and one goes down another

EF: Exactly. So that there is a nice sort of parallel to both of those characters.

JDS: Yup.

EF: And I also really loved Lotor. And I loved, loved, loved Honerva’s storyline in the final season so much. Her whole, her whole backstory, in the way it ended UGGHH it was so tragic cause she was just trying to connect with her family. Which is again, ultimately like a lot of what this show is about is this whole idea of,  “okay well there’s your family, but you also have to look at, like, your extended sort of chosen family and the connections that you’ve made,” and Honerva never did that. She was so obsessed with like reclaiming this family that she lost instead of going “Oh wait,” you know, “that’s in the past. There’s nothing I can do about it, so maybe I need to expand my horizons.”

KC: Yeah. She was obsessed with the past and unable to move on. And a lot of this show is about, alright, well the past will affect you, the past will influence you, but you need to keep moving forward, you can’t live in the past.

JDS: Yeah. I mean you know we’ve also taken a bunch of heat for sort of like the the abuser and abused of it all between Honerva’s redemption and Lotor’s redemption. Uh, and you know, again that’s we sort of like go back to this, I don’t know, it’s it’s not even like a like a like a hard and fast rule but it’s like there really are no clean answers in life so.

EF: I-I-I don’t know for me I felt like with Lotor uh which what I really enjoyed was this idea of I think that he was fully aware of the fact that he’d gone too far, and they--and at that point instead of going, “I need to back off,” he made the choice to go, “I’m embracing this like 10-fold”

JDS: I think that was the thing that there was a clear delineation of like he-he-he reached this threshold where it’s like, yeah I’m sorry it’s too far.

EF: I’m past the point of no return. And I mean that was you know--

JDS: Safe to say that Honerva probably did the same.

Hosts Together: Oh yeah.

KC: She totally did.

MS: Destroyed so many realities.

LM: I mean there’s also a little bit about each Lotor and Honerva’s arcs that ultimately served Allura’s larger arc. Which was Lotor came along when Allura wasn’t quite as ready to be that super open, understanding diplomat. We saw how she reacted to Lotor. She was furious and so in that interaction ended in a worse way. Whereas by the time she took on Honerva she’d kind of made that journey within herself to get to the point where she could see more of the story, she-- if she had been able to look at Lotor in a different way nothing would excuse what he did but she may have been able to get I don’t know get to a better end with him.

JDS: Yes.

LM: She wasn’t there yet.

EF: There was more story to tell.

JDS: And honest, we’d be lying if we didn’t say we weren’t meaning to tell a tragic story like it was tragic, you know. And it was intended to be tragic. And it was intended to sort of--

EF: And on multiple levels like you said. It wasn’t just tragic that like, “Oh Allura’s gone” and, you know, she and Lance had just gotten together, and she had this great connection with all the other paladins, but I think there is also, as you said that that level of also if she’d been here back at the end of Lotor’s story that there would have been not necessarily forgiveness, but more of an understanding of sorts.

MS: The events could have played out differently.

EF: Yeah yeah could’ve played out differently.

MS: and I and I feel like a lot of people sort of forget too that early seasons, she didn’t know how she felt about Keith.

JDS: Right.

EF: Yeah! Yeah! Which is something that I really liked because of course you’re going to be prejudice against somebody who you know is related to, you know, the race of people who as far as you are concerned destroyed your entire life.

JDS: Right.

EF: They murdered all of your people. Your dad is dead because of them. Like of course you’re going to have that prejudice. And and so the fact that once Lotor came along Allura was so willing to, to cooperate with him, and try and see his perspective. That in of itself was huge, and then it’s even almost more impressive that she comes to this understanding with Honerva because she felt so betrayed by Lotor because she had allowed herself to be like “maybe the Galra are cool.”

KC: She’s learned so much.

JDS: I will say like circumstances-- [he cut off KC] Sorry is it end? Is it over?

KC: It’s not over yet. After you finish that thought we’re hitting our last 20 minutes and I want to hit a couple of points. Please finish your thought.

JDS: I would just say that you know the end that came with you know the sort of conversation where Allura was saying her goodbyes to everybody. And she was sort of asking Honerva for her help, like they were all essentially dead at that point. Like existence was over. Like this was the saving throw that Allura was sort of putting out there. So we have sort of said amongst ourselves, we would have loved to take an entire episode to sort of explore that conversation, and explore that redemption. It sort of was a victim of us just kind of running out of time. But I do think that like that situation was extreme, you know? I think Allura didn’t come to it easily, but she knew it was a decision that had to be made and and she knows a connection that she had to try and establish with Honerva, um, as much as she believed in forgiveness and and all those things it was like you either gotta put up or shut up right now. This is endgame.

KC: You either do this or everyone is gone forever.

JDS: Right.

MS: I have one more quick thought about Lotor.

KC: Better be quick.

MS: The, like, I-- I understand where a lot of people come from, from that perspective, but I do want to throw out there also, and again this is just my opinion, but just because you are suffering, does not give you the right to inflict suffering on other people, and again he had noble intentions but at the end of the day he killed a lot of people.

JDS: Yup.

MS: And yeah again just because you’re suffering doesn’t mean you get to inflict suffering on other people.

KC: I come back to this so often but, cool motive, still murder. Thank you Brooklyn 99 for that one. Alright we have hit the last 20 minutes of our show. So what I want to hit on really quick for everyone: favorite aspect of the show. Character, character arc, episode. Like favorite aspect and favorite episode if you can pick one. I will start to give you all some time to think, but it’s not gonna be long. Found family. I am a sucker for found family in pretty much all forms, and this show was it for me. Starting very much with Keith and Shiro and this friendship that meant so, so much to them, and then enveloping the rest of the Voltron paladins, at different speeds, in different ways, and Allura, and Coran, and expanding out for the MFE’s and the Garrison, and just you cared about everyone. You could see that they very much cared about each other, and it didn’t have to be romantic and it didn’t have to be blood relationships, just this incredibly strong found family. And then in later seasons you could see, “Alright we’ve developed this bond, we don’t need to focus on it as much.” Shiro and Keith are still incredibly close, but it wasn’t Keith’s crutch anymore, so he could move on, he could work with the Blade of Marmora, he could be a better pilot, a better leader. And Shiro, knowing that Keith didn’t have to lean on him as much could go on to lead the Atlas. Like, they’re still extremely close, but we didn’t have to focus on it. Like, I love found family, I love that we were able to develop that. And my favorite episode is still “Space Mall.” Full Stop!

JDS: Bam. [EF starts making a humming noise in the background]

KC: Ride a Kalteneker, have a hallucination, I love “Space Mall.” Alright, who’s next? I’m taking volunteers.

LM: Um, I can go. Uh, so as a kid who grew up with mostly Western animated TV shows, where everything kind of reset episode to episode, and then literally I think I was in high school the first time I saw Robotech on Toonami. And I realized, this story kept going. And it was serialized. And it had real stakes. And there was literally they-they fought the battle against the Zentradi, and then they had an entire season where they just dealt with the Zentradi like living on Earth with them and trying to commingle. Whereas any American show would just be like we won the battle and it’s over. And it all kind of informed my love of then no reset button. Like, there is no ultimate reset. Everything kind of comes at a bit of a cost, there’s no purely happy ending. We’ve had a lot of like areas where our paladins have had really close scrapes, they, they literally saved the world from collapsing with Lotor But they had to give up their castleship. They brought Shiro back to life, but he no longer had his connection to the Black Lion. There’s always like some sort of give and and ultimately with the big culmination in the end with Allura making the sacrifice, it was just, it’s a story, like it’s I guess I’m just a sucker for those stories, like like I love it when things they kind of happen like real life where, if you’re, if stuff gets that out of hand, you can fix it, but it’s probably not ever going to be the exact same.

JDS: It comes at a cost.

EF: Yeah it’s like you rolled an eight or a nine playing dungeon world system where you succeed with consequences.

JDS: That’s right

LM: And my favorite episode is is probably still like “Reunion.” Just like, the emotional stakes. Steve Ahn and I, I think we’re on the same wavelength as far as like the stuff that we love. And, uh, and he knocked that one out of the park for me, so I love it.

JDS: Absolutely. I mean, uh, I’m along the same lines. But I will just say that within the framework of that, Robotech was just, hands down, like the most influential thing sort of animated I think on both of us. It opened our eyes to a lot of stuff. It opened our eyes to sort of there being no boundaries in terms of what animation was, who it was meant for. I recently had a meeting with like an executive who was dealing with it back in the day when it was originally airing, and he had the same thing that sort of the the same phenomenon that we were dealing with what was where he was like “hey kids were watching this but then we realized like their sisters and their moms were watching the show with them. Because it had this--

EF: Well there’s so many cool women in Robotech why wouldn’t they?

JDS: There were cool-- But there was also a through-line, a very strong character arc for each one of the characters. Um and and there was all this stuff going on that just didn’t have to, you know, it didn’t involve like the big robots. They were awesome. But there was a ton of other stuff. I would say within the framework of the serialized crazy show I love the fact that tonally we could go all over place. We could be as slapsticky as we wanted to and as serious and as dire and as heavy as uh we sometimes got. Uh favorite episode--

KC: Space Mall

JDS: I would say “Monsters and Mana” is probably my jam.

MS: I-- uh, it keeps changing for me because I keep thinking like “Space Mall” was my knee-jerk reaction, but Honerva’s backstory, the episode--

KC: SO GOOD.

EF: Give me a top three.

MS: Yeah, “Monsters and Mana.” I’m gonna go with “Monsters and Mana” because I think that was um, but it’s like neck in neck, “Day 47” is also good--

JDS: “Day 47” too.

EF: “Day 47” is awesome.

KC: “The Voltron Show.”

MS: And the ar--that’s the closest we’ve got to the musical episode. The uh Earth two-parter which was something I was super excited about because of the idea of coming back to Earth after the Galra had gotten there first and beat them to the punch. I am super fascinated by what goes on on Earth without Voltron there to save everyone. So there was a lot.

JDS: That was our--that was our Robotech/Macross homage for sure.

MS: There--I liked, I liked a lot of stuff. But as far as my, my just favorite thing about the show? Favorite, ugh it’s just, so I know this is gonna sound hollow to a lot of people who were upset by the way things shook out, but I love how inclusive this show was from the very, very beginning. Most of the team are people of color, which is so so radically different from the way the show was presented originally in the 80’s. It’s been so inclusive and there are just so many women in the world that aren’t damsels in distress, or just moms waiting for kids to get home. Even moms who are waiting for kids to come home are amazing.

EF: Colleen Holt was like, just everything. She’s amazing.

LM: Colleen was great.

KC: Colleen Holt is a holy terror and my life knows--

JDS: I think though, some approximation of your mom, Lauren. Am I--

LM: She pretty much is. My mom didn’t, so I’ve told Joaquim this many times, but like I was not allowed to stay home from school unless I was literally throwing up. Like if I had a cold? At school. If you were like “I don’t feel good”, you’re at school it doesn’t matter.

JDS: Opposite.

LM: I had to be like projectile vomiting into a can if I was going to stay home, and even them my mom would be like “you’re fine.” If I was like, “it’s not fair.” “Life isn’t fair.” That was it. She would get out the violin and like, “Cry me a river” like this is--

KC: Did she have a violin?

LM: She did not. Like it was fake. But it’s like, I learned really quick that whining doesn't get you anywhere. That like, you know, I mean that means that she was a great mother and great nurturer, like super crafty and I got all my creative juices from her and like she’s an amazing woman. And and she you know, Colleen is, is in some ways very much a representation of that.

JDS: Lauren didn’t have to say that, and it’s like we could feel, she was like--

EF: Yeah we were all like “this is Lauren’s mom.”

MS: But everyone from Pidge and Allura to the Galra generals to the MFE pilots to Santa, every woman in this show made me really happy. Just because it shows that women are people capable of doing any job men are doing and it just, it meant a lot. Sorry I didn’t mean to keep stepping on you.

EF: No I was just gonna say uh yeah I think for me a lot of the stuff we touched on about the whole idea of succeeding but there being consequences because that is a more realistic approximation of how things go in real life. Not everything gets wrapped up perfectly with a bow. And to me that I would rather a satisfying ending than one that is just so conclusive that there’s nothing else you can do because that, that’s just not realistic. Never ever going to happen for you. Sorry. Um, uh, and then let’s see. I think favorite episode. I did love the one with Honerva’s backstory, that was really good. I loved the game show episode.

JDS: God bless you, because the internet--

EF: Had so many layers to it.

JDS: Was quite divided on that.

EF: To me that episode was really dark in a good way. Yeah I really really loved that episode. Um yeah and Oh! I remember what I was gonna say. One of the other things that I really really liked about it--and it goes along with the whole sort of succeeding with consequences--is the fact that there was that time skip where Voltron was just gone for two years. And and and getting to see the fallout from that was very um, it was very satisfying.

LM: Yeah.

JDS: That’s awesome.

KC: There’s, we’ve had a lot of consistent--um consensus in chat. A lot of people are talking about “Black Paladins” being their favorite episodes and being a work of art. People liked the game show episode. People liked, people liked all sorts of stuff.  Uh, Honerva’s backstory. One person said, “I liked any episode with a person in it” and I had to agree. One person said, “the pilot, lol jk” but I know you were joking but the pilot is also one of my favorite episodes.

EF: The pilot is, I’m sorry, [interrupting KC], the pilot is outstanding.

JDS: [Whilst scratching his beard] Oh wow. I don’t even remember that episode. I don’t remember that far back in life.

EF: I think they put two episodes--

JDS: They did.

LM: The three first episodes.

EF: Oh the three first episodes were one.

JDS: It just seems like literally a lifetime ago.

EF: And the three of them playing all together in one chunk, it was like, oh my god it was such a good pilot.

KC: It was just “here’s what you’re gonna get, let’s go.”

EF: Yeah

KC: And at the end of that pilot, I was like, “Where is all of it? Please give it all to me.”

JDS: Funny, you know about that episode, about that chunk, you know, we got a note pretty early on as were, like, just out of development but still trying to figure out the tone of the show, was that the show needed more, like, comedy and stuff. So, like, the whole, like, sneaking around the Garrison and hiding in trash cans, all that goofy stuff was originally not in. It was, just, like, “Let’s put some, like, silly gags where they’re, like [silly noises].”

LM: Yeah, we literally sat in a room with the writers and just watched the animatic, and we’re, like, making up jokes we could just stick in. There was, like, I don’t even know if it’s still in there. Was there, like, the giant cat lady with Lance like, “Watch out for a giant cat lady!”?

JDS: No that’s gone. Giant cat lady’s gone.

LM: There’s something about that. Like, honestly, like 90% of them we ended up cutting later because they were like, “this sounds like it came out of nowhere” because it did. Yeah, we sat in a room and we made jokes.

JDS: But you know, to some extent it did sort of sell the fact that we could go as broad as we did. It just kind of hit you with it right off the bat.

EF: Yeah.

KC: Well, we’re close to the end. I know. I want to say a couple things from our other hosts because Mark and Alexis could not be here tonight, but they both sent in messages. And so from Mark: “Thank you to my fellow lions and the fans for welcoming me as the yellow lion. I’ve been friends with everyone for a while, but working on the show deepened our relationship and brought us closer, similarly to the paladins of Voltron. I may not have spent a lot of time as a part of the show, but I’ll remember it fondly. Thanks again to all of the cast and crew for their hand in this magical show. Thanks to the fans for their acceptance and willingness to jump on the crazy theory train with me. Thank you to Katie, Megan, Emma, and Alexis #legday. Let’s have dinner in front of a giant statue in a couple years, yeah?” [laughter] Can’t say anything about the statue, but I don’t want to wait a couple years. You’re local, dude. And from Alexis: “Just wanted to say how--I just wanted to say how sad that it’s ending, but how thankful I am for this amazing show. I’ve met so many great people and so many feels from the amazing writing and acting this show has brought. Sending all my love to the amazing crew and actors we’ve met throughout the seasons of the show. Found new friends and colleagues along the way, making new memories and unforgettable times with our viewers. To my amazing, beautiful ladies, I miss you and love you with all my heart. Thank you for having me be a part of this wonderful family. Mark, you will always be my right foot #legday you handsome devil, you.” They wrote these independently of each other, just so you know. [faint whip-crack sound effect] I don’t know if we needed the whip crack, but I love it. So I-I want to give you guys a chance to do the same thing if you’d like. If there’s anything else you’d like to say to the fans and you as well. So what would you like to start us off, or would you like a minute?

LM: Uh, I’m, you know, I just want to say obviously I feel like I’ve a million times, but just thank you to the fans for watching, for enjoying the show. We made it from the bottom of our hearts trying to make a story that we found compelling, that, you know, we ourselves responded to the emotional beats and we just wanted to put that out there, hope that other people felt for these characters the way we did. I wanted to share with you, Emma, real quick--

EF: Yes.

LM: --as my Sailor Moon compatriot. I did try to pitch, like, an Allura baby at the end. So, you know at the end of the Sailor Saturn arc, how she sacrifices herself and Sailor Moon goes in and brings out little Hotaru?

EF: Yes! Yes, oh my goodness, I’m--I--I feel you on this!

LM: I was like, “Alright. Blue Lion. There’s just a little infant Allura.” And then you know--

EF: [indistinct] And then she gets another, like, chance at living her life, and she doesn’t have to be sad that her dad got murdered--

LM: As a non-Sailor Moon person, Joaquim was like, “That’s a little weird”-- [laughter]

JDS: Well, what was weird for me was, like, Lance raising, like, this woman that he loved.

LM: That’s the beauty of it!

KC: That’s when it becomes orphan and that’s weird.

LM: It goes from romantic to conditional and platonic.

EF: Or she could-or she could be raised by--

KC: Coran.

EF: Zethrid and Ezor!

MS: And Ezor!

JDS: Oh, see that’s a great idea.

KC: I was saying Coran!

EF: Oh, I was thinking she could be raised by, because, you know, the lesbians and the baby.

MS: Keeping the Sailor Moon parallels, it has to be Zethrid and Ezor.

KC: We-we had to derail--

EF: Veronica and Acxa.

[Hosts cheer]

KC: We had to derail the show one last time for posterity.

[Hosts and LM apologizing]

KC: No, thank you. Thank you.

LM: No, no, no. But thank you, ladies--

JDS: Thank you, guys.

LM: --for always being, like, super supportive and honest with your opinions about the show and, just, you know, speaking to it from a, like, objective, like--

JDS: I will say that, like, we know sitting here and sort of, like, having a longer episode and talking about these subjects that usually, you know, you tend to not shy away from but kind of censor yourself a little bit to talking about only because you know you don’t want to, like, piss off anybody that we’re working for. We never approach- we never approach this uh from a place of of fear or--we’re just trying to be genuine with where we’re coming from and where we think the industry as a whole can go. The answers that we provide here probably aren’t going to, like, satisfy the-the majority of the people out there. We do appreciate everybody’s opinion. We do appreciate the fans that have stuck with us over the years on this. We know this show kind of came out of nowhere and people didn’t know what to make of it at first and we appreciate that they-that they sort of rallied around it and-and it provided us so much joy and continues to. That being said, we’re happy that it’s, you know, in the past. This is probably, like, the last Voltron thing that we’re going to be doing ever, so it’s bittersweet for us and we really thank you-you guys and the fans for-for sticking with us and making it a fun experience outside of us being bleary-eyed. Having no sun for long strips of time making the show.

KC: Well, you guys have come in to talk with us so often and we really appreciate that because we know it-it takes time out of your night, it’s kind of a weird time slot, but we really appreciate you coming in and sharing your thoughts and listening to us go off on crazy, crazy theories while you sit there and whistle.

MS: And you’re just like, “Uh-huh, uh-huh”.

JDS: Well, we appreciate you.

KC: “Sure! Sure!” Alright, Megan.

MS: Yeah, just, thank you is all I can say. Thank you guys, for not only supporting us but for giving us a show that we could talk about. Thank you to our-our other hosts that aren’t here tonight, um, but, like, everybody who’s ever sat at this, like, table. Thank you to literally every guest we’ve ever had to share your insight and your time and everything like that. And everybody’s who’s watched even if, again, you don’t necessarily care for us or agree with us, thank you for watching because it means you care about Voltron and so do we. So we at least have that in common. And just thank you to everybody who’s done fanart and, like, animatics and taken, like, stupid goofs that we’ve said and, like, taking them and made art out of them. That to me is absolutely incredible. Um, so thank you guys for making your show that we could talk about and thank you Katie for being like, “Hey, guys, there’s another giant robot show that we need to talk about.” So thank you, Katie, for insisting that we talk about this in addition to all the other stuff that we were talking about and thank you to Afterbuzz for-for giving us studio time to just allow us to gush about giant robots

EF: I think it was too a little bit of a, you know, this show came out of there being a-of the audience asking for it, honestly, because we-we started doing this show not immediately after the first season dropped on Netflix, so it took a little while and-and basically it was like… You know, I remember I had watched the pilot episode and I was like, “Oh man, this is so great” because I--you know--I knew that you guys had worked on Legend of Korra and then, like, when you guys came in I was like, “Lauren and Joaquim know who I am, this is cool.” Because I--you know--I-I-I love Avatar: The Last Airbender, but like, to me, like, Korra is my frickin’ show, like, just ‘cuz it’s about--it’s about a really realistic teenage girl. I know people get frustrated with her, but I’m like, I was that girl.

JDS: But I think that’s--that--that’s sort of, like, the divide and I don’t want to cut you off, but like Korra was literally created without any plan. There was no, like-like big marketing thing around it and so we were sort of, like, jamming this, like, square peg in a round hole when we were coming to Voltron and it worked out as well as it did despite itself in a weird way.

EF: Totally. And, um, and so you know, watching the pilot episode I was like, “Yes, I can feel the same team has worked on this and I know that we’re gonna get an interesting story with very layered characters,” and ultimately that’s what I enjoy in my fiction. End of story. And-and to see the Afterbuzz audience saying like, “Hey, we know that you guys tend to like shows like this. We want to see an aftershow of this.” And Mark Donica who, you know, engineered the show and has been on the show came to us and was like, “Hey, there’s definitely an interest in this,” and so Katie just kind of jumped on that and-and this all kind of came together and, you know, the fact that we’ve been able to talk with so many people who were involved in the show, it’s just--it’s-it’s been a--it’s been really great. So.

MS: It’s been a privilege.

EF: Yeah.

KC: I think we started watching the show when we were in the middle of moving. And I remember--

MS: Katie and I are roommates! We’ve been roommates since college.

KC: Yeah, we’ve been roommates for quite a while.

EF: I had just moved, I think, because they came out in, like, June of 2016?

KC: So we started watching the show, we were in the middle of moving, and I remember coming back home from an Ikea trip and going, “Are you watching Voltron without me? Why are you doing that?” And watching it and saving the last few episodes because I was so sure that Shiro was gonna die in the season finale, and looking back now and going, “Aw, Katie.” And just the show itself has been an incredibly wild ride, so emotional, so much fun. Having to pause the episode and back it up because I was laughing so hard I missed dialogue. Having to get up and walk around after a season finale so I could process what I was seeing. It’s-it’s been an incredible show and it has, it’s so hard to find animation that addresses war and addresses that war has consequences and does it in a way that kids and adults can gel with it. That’s rare for me.

MS: Very rare.

KC: Voltron hit that and it’s been incredible. And then doing this show with you guys, coming off of Robots in Disguise and going, “We’re not done talking about giant robots. Let’s do this, let’s go.” And everyone who has joined us in the chat and everyone who has joined us on the couch and at the table. Everyone who’s ever been a guest on here who was nice enough to donate their time for our crazy little show and had a wonderful, wonderful time talking with all of them. Everyone in the chat who, again did fanart, I’m still blown away that me saying, “I love everyone in this bar” became the Tavern of Lions and someone photoshopped us a menu. Like, you guys continually astound me. It has been an incredible ride, it has been so much fun, it’s been so great and I’m going to miss you all so, so much. Thank you for everything.

LM: Yeah.

KC: On that note, where can the people go on the social medias if they would like to keep up with you?

JDS: Oh, are we doing this? KC: We’re doing this! This is how we close shows.

LM: Alright. @artofLaurenM on Twitter, @thebestlaurenmontgomery on Instagram. Uh, I apologize. I-I don’t post much, now that--

EF: But your-but your collaboration you post about with Miyashiro? Is that--?

LM: Yeah, Tiffanie Miyashiro. Amazing woman, amazing designer, fashion, and-and so yeah.

EF: I want the outfits of all those J-pop girls. [laughter] They are great.

LM: Awesome.

JDS: Uh, @jds_77 I think on something and @jds_247 on the other thing. Uh, hopefully, I’ll get to, like, sketching some, like, fanarty stuff soon and honestly just wanted to leave a little bit of a void in the wake of season 8 and-and just see my family and do things outside of, like, being involved sort of on a day-to-day with the show. So we’ll get back to it, we’ll have some fun, and maybe post some pics of our new digs and stuff.

KC: Mm-hmm. Thanks again, you guys.

JDS: Thank you so much.

KC: For the show, for coming on this show, for everything. Thank you.

LM: Thank you for putting it together. Thank you for leading it, Katie. Always a fearless leader.

JDS: Also thank you for, like, giving a format to the crew who oftentimes don’t really, like, they don’t have a place to, like, talk about what they do and-and how important to the process they are. Like each and every person on our crew, they’re amazing people, one, amazing artists, and really lent to the DNA of the show. You can tell from episode to episode who directed what, who wrote what, because it had their-their-their essence.

LM: Their flair.

JDS: Yeah, their flare.

LM: Mm-hmm.

KC: Thanks again, you guys.

JDS: Thank you.

KC: Megan? Where can the people find you?

MS: Again, thank you everybody. And thank you to everybody who reached out to me this week on Twitter. You guys are all incredibly sweet and incredibly kind. Thank you all so, so much. You guys can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @themenguin. That’s T-H-E-M-E-N-G-U-I-N. I also do a Lost retrospective podcast called “No Love Lost” where my co-host loves Lost and I don’t. So be sure to check that out.

EF: That’s amazing. I’m Emma Fyffe, I can be found all over the internet wherever Emma pipes are sold at my name @emmafyffe. Yeah, I got a lot of stuff going on, I tweet about it, though, so just, you know, follow me on Twitter and you’ll know everything that it--Oh! Number one, next Tuesday is my birthday. [cheers] But also volume 3 of He Left a Dead Witch is the Call of Cthulu anthology series that we’ve been doing over on the Twitch channel @hyperRPG starts that night, so it’ll be at 7 o’clock p.m. Pacific time. You don’t have to watch the other volumes to know what’s going on, so check that out on twitch.tv/hyperRPG.

KC: You can follow yellow lion Mark Donica at @MarkBDonica. You can follow blue lion Alexis Torres at @atorrest890. I’m Katie Cullen, you can follow me all over the social medias as well as on YouTube and Twitch at @kiaxet. That is K-I-A-X-E-T. I am also on an Overwatch called “On the Point”, and I am on an all things Roosterteeth podcast along with Megan and a host of other wonderful people called the--called “Rooster Team Radio”, so anchor.fm/theroosterteam if you still want to hear us talk about things including giant robots because Gen:LOCK is a thing.

Host: Gen:LOCK is amazing!

KC: Gen:LOCK is such a thing. Well, this is it. Thank you again for coming on. Thank you guys for doing this entire ridiculous show with me. Thank you everyone for watching. See you later, paladudes.

Voiceover: Our founder: Keven Undergaro and me, Megan Menounos, would like to thank you for tuning in to Afterbuzz TV. Remember, we’re not just the first, we’re the biggest in the world and we’re the only destination for all your favorite TV shows. Whatever you crave, we’ve got it, so go to afterbuzztv.com and check out our lineup. Buzz you later!

#dragon's ramblings #TeamPurpleLion #vld #abtv #ABTVVoltron #afterbuzz tv #voltron #voltron legendary defender #transcript #jds #lm #joaquim dos santos #lauren montgomery

[novarasalas]

Second Look Review: Shadows

I love a good villain origin story, especially one that doesn’t feature the heroes in any way, except mentioned in passing and with disdain. And this episode certainly delivers.

This piece is actually coming off as more meta than review. Also, there’s a lot about Honerva and Lotor that I’ve talked about in the past and reference here. Click through my “Honerva” tag and you should find all of it, mostly in the form of answered asks. (psst..is Tunglr still fuxing with links? I want to direct link to things, but...you know.)

This one's for you, Honerva anon. Please never change.

Let’s get started.

-

Bringing on the Heartache

Once again, I have to say, every time I see pre-corruption Honerva and Zarkon, it breaks my heart.

These two loved each other so much.

And Lotor was so wanted.

What a tragedy.

- -

Blood Sacrifice

And here we have flashbacks.

This whole sequence isn’t very clear, actually. It moves from the present and into flashbacks without much preamble. On my first watch-through, this threw me a bit, taking me out of the moment as I struggled to figure out what was going on.

Given this these disjointed transitions, and the fact that it’s never explained, it took me a bit to figure out what was happening, what Honerva was doing.

At first, I thought that as she was draining people’s Quintessence, she was getting glimpses of her past as Haggar, but now I've realized that the flashbacks were only for our benefit.

Her actions at the Kral Zera were twofold: she meant to undo the Empire by killing the remaining warlords vying for the throne, and also to gather enough Quintessence to connect with Lotor to find him.

And the last thing she needed for that, I’m assuming, was to sacrifice something that meant a lot to him.

Goddammit.

This is continuing with the idea that Honerva is willing to sacrifice everything to save Lotor. And entire planet, her husband, even her cat for god’s sake...no one is safe.

Also, I just realized that she’s taken the flame Lotor lit at the Kral Zera. His cat and his flame, then..the only two things left of him.

Also, we’re solidifying the fact that the Galra, or at least the Empirical Galra, are as vampires. And it’s still meant to contrast nicely with the Alteans, who are said to be “life-givers.”

…...that felt really bad to type out.

- - - 

Deification of the Son

Can I admit something?

I’d forgotten that the Alteans on the colony were said to have worshiped Lotor. It seems like so long ago at this point, and so much has happened in the meantime.

Romelle: And over time, the Alteans came to worship Lotor as their savior.

-

Romelle: [This was the world I was born into,] one of unquestioning devotion to a supposed messiah.

But this brought it all back to me.

Honerva:[speaking of the Galra] Your ways weakened a god.

Now this? This is interesting.

I get that the Alteans may have felt this way about Lotor. For generations they’d been told about how he’d saved them, protected them, cared for them. And given that he’s been alive all these years...yeah. I can see why they’d see him in a godly manner.

But why would Honerva feel this way? Why deify him herself?

Well...it’s not actually about Lotor. It hasn’t been since she entered the rift.

Lotor’s feats of alchemy are impressive, if you completely ignore the fact that he’s not the one performing them. He didn’t “pierce the veil”, Allura did. He didn't give Sincline it’s powers, Allura did. He only orchestrated it.

But by elevating Lotor to a god, she elevates herself further. In her speech to the gathered warlords at the Kral Zera, she says:

This flame represents Lotor, son of Zarkon, prince turned emperor, emperor that pierced the veil.

And my Altean blood coursed through his veins.

What a statement.

You see, Lotor is her’s. She created him. And if he’s a god, than she is the creator of a god. A flawed god, but one who’s best qualities he most certainly got from her.

Don’t get much better than that, huh?

And I feel like the Alteans of the colony agree.

Merla: We pledge our allegiance to you, Honerva, mother of Lotor.

And that statue was there in Lotor’s time. He knew that they worshiped him. I guess he had no problem wit that. Like mother, like son I suppose.

Ya know, it’s kinda weird watching an actual cult being formed.

Honerva: May the light guide you.

Yikes.

- - - - 

The Exile

It’s hard having the father that refuses to be happy with anything you do. When you grow up like that, you waste so much time trying to please them, to get them to love you. And it’s usually all for nothing.

We all learn this the hard way. It uh...it’s not typically as hard a lesson as Lotor learns here.

By all accounts, he’s done everything right. He’s done what his father wants, and exceeded all expectations. But he didn’t do it the way his father wanted it done, so he may as well have done nothing at all.

It’s..a familiar feeling. This scene got me real good.

The rush of adrenaline you get as you stand up to your asshole dad for the first time is nearly intoxicating. You know, deep in your heart, that you’re right. You know that he’s being unreasonable. And you’ve had enough, so you say your piece.

And then, as it all comes crashing back down, and you realize how much power this man still has over you, and how your retribution is swiftly coming...well, it’s enough to make you sick.

But it’s no good. The damage has been done. You face your punishment.

Yeah...this still gets me real good. Added bonus of enabler mother, too.

….I keep feeling like I’m telling you all too much, but I really want you to understand where I’m coming from.

I feel for Lotor, I really do. He tried so hard, but there was no getting through to Zarkon at this point - there really hasn’t been much of Zarkon left since the rift incident. He’s only base instincts at this point, all power mad and unfeeling.

And now I”m going to say a few things about Lotor because, well...he doesn’t really show up again, does he?

My first point is that I wanted so desperately to see him come back, to start making up for the things he’d done.

He’d obviously picked up on his parents worst habits. In season 3, he was very much a threat; maybe not as much as Zarkon had been, but he was certainly far more clever.

I wanted to see him acknowledge these things in himself and work to rid himself of them once and for all. It would have been cathartic for me, because that’s something that I had to work on myself.

So to that end, I’m very upset that I didn’t get to have that; that neither of us got to have that.

With that said…

Lotor did some terrible things. He wasn’t some soft, baby; a poor, helpless abuse victim. He’s been an adult for a long time now. And when you’re an adult, you have to begin taking responsibility for the things you say and do.

I spent so long with my bastard dad that, even though I tried very hard not to, I picked up some of his personality traits. For a while, I was just the worst. But eventually, I came to realize these things in myself and I had to decide to make the change. I found my own redemption.

When we meet Lotor, he’s conniving. He has no problem torturing Throk. He has no problem luring Voltron into a situation where they might be killed.

He killed Narti.

Now, I do have to say, watching him do that, I was thinking “I understand the impulse”. I was surveilled too. My father's been know to show up where I am when I’m out with friends. Cameras in the house were not an impossibility. It makes you crazy, being watched like that all the time.

But he killed Narti. That’s, ya know...not ok.

I don’t think, in the end, that he was just using Allura. I’m not ever sure that at the beginning of his time with them that he was just using her. But he was keeping secret the fact that he had an entire colony of her people out there. Her people that he was using for energy production, against their will if Bandor was to be believed.

These things are not ok. I’m not sure if you can truly be redeemed from some of these.

I’m not here to judge, though. I just wanted him to have the chance to realize these things and do better, just like I had to.

I say this because, as I’d mentioned, I’ve written quite a bit on Lotor. I keep seeing all these other posts about how he’s done nothing wrong, and as an abuse victim, he can’t be held accountable.

That...has not been my experience, and it’s not a good way to look at things.

I take responsibility for the things I’ve done and said. Occasionally, someone will try to tell me that I wasn’t so bad, not really. But I was, and accepting that is part of the healing process. You have to break the cycle, and there’s no other way to do it.

Lotor didn’t get that chance. Everyone should get that chance, should they need it.

- - - - - 

Well, that got needlessly personal. Let’s get to the stuff that didn’t fit elsewhere.

This guy is Macidus, Keith’s biggest fan.

I only noticed this time around because I have the subtitles on. This show really has a problem with that. Merla is named in the subtitles in this episode as well, even though her name is only spoken once, and in the second to last episode I think.

-

This is something I enjoyed.

Through the flashbacks, we see that it took a long time to build Zarkon’s base.

Here, before the scene with very small Lotor.

And here, with grown up Lotor.

-

I’d seen somewhere someone post about how Haggar was wearing the same cloak she was in when she was dead. I believe they said it was her funeral clothes, probably something about how metal that was.

Well, I’d like to offer a different idea: She’s been wearing her maternity clothes the entire time.

-------------

In Summary:

Well, that was an episode. Things got explained fairly well, and we got some good backstory. Honerva has gone off the rails and has convinced the other Alteans to follow her.

What did you think? Did I miss anything important? Was I amazingly wrong about some things?

Sorry for all the...personal stuff up there. I wasn’t going to write all that at first, but it’s been on my mind. And hey, what’s the point of having a blog I you don’t use it as your own, personal confessional?

Next Up: ….wait, that’s it?

#second look review #voltron season 8 #honerva #haggar #lotor #romelle #zarkon #voltron #voltron legendary defender

[ptw30]

as someone who's only been watching this sh-t show from a distance (and don't actively follow the twitter/social media besides what I see cross-posted here, so who knows maybe they actually /did/ already) can I say how at this point it's completely plausible to me for a fan to say how harmful it is to constantly yell how you hate and want to (and HAVE) kill the single canonically queer character in the entire canon, and have the lovely duo of VLD snap back (1/2)

how not only are they exempt from the Bury Your Gays trope and completely immune to any effects or consequences of it, but that “we’re actually TOTALLY EVEN MORE SUPER PROGRESSIVE becuz gay kuron being totally 120% evil shows that gays can be villains too uwu u just dont understand it duh get on our level sweetie!” (2/2)

I had the privilege to attend the “The Future is LGBTQ” panel at NYCC.*  Marguerite Bennett, a queer comic book writer, spoke about issues she had when writing DC Bombshells. She was accused of having written harmful queer tropes by a few fans, to which she replied, “The majority of the cast was queer. Angst is going to happen to queer characters with a queer cast.” (I’m paraphrasing.)

Contrarily, the majority of Voltron: Legendary Defender’s characters is not queer. And many of the terrible events in the script were reserved for the queer characters. 

Below the cut, an exploration into the BYG trope and how Kuron being evil feeds into it. 

Canonically - there are four queer characters. Shiro is the only main cast queer character, but Zethrid, Ezor, and Adam are also queer. If you listen to the EP interviews, then you also know Blatyz is queer. 

Every canonical queer character has been killed. 

Out of all the deaths in VLD, Adam’s was truly horrific. He screamed out in pain as he was killed, compared to Thace, who closed his eyes and surrendered to the blast; compared to Antok who accepted a blast, groaned, and fell to the side; compared to the Druid, who received a sword in the chest, muttered, and disappeared; compared to Zarkon, the Evil Emperor of the Universe, whose labored breathing ended and his bayard stopped glowing; compared to Trugg and Ladnok, whom we actually didn’t see die; compared to Keith’s dad, whose tombstone symbolized his death.  

Adam’s death deserved a trigger warning. While I do not agree with Hypable’s most recent season review, I am grateful to Donya for spoiling his death. On August 10th, I was anxious about Adam’s impeding demise, but even knowing - I was horrified when it came. 

The EPs are not exempt from the BYG trope or the consequences of its use. 

The issue with VLD is its treatment of its gay characters. All Lotor’s disabled and queer generals were killed. The only general to survive and turn “good”? The straight, non-disabled one. The only paladin to return home to absolutely no family? The queer paladin. Keith found his family in space. Hunk, Lance and Pidge had family. Even Allura is shown with Romelle and Coran. 

Shiro? Absolutely no family. 

I don’t even believe Adam and Shiro should be together - 

(Tangent - as a former caretaker of someone with degenerative disease, I can tell you that most people who say they will stick around to the end, don’t, and if Adam wasn’t willing to wait for Shiro to return, then he wouldn’t have stuck around to take care of Shiro. Furthermore, Adam and Shiro made the decisions that was best for them, which is mature and thoughtful. Even if we disagree with Adam, he broke up with Shiro, and Shiro, by choosing to go to Kerberos, broke up with Adam. But that doesn’t mean Adam deserved to die.)

- but I’m not going to argue whether Shiro and Adam fulfilled the BYG trope. Each person can decide for himself/herself how they feel about Adam’s demise - but Zethrid and Ezor are unequivocally the BYG trope. A touching moment, a promise for them to be together, and then they die. 

There’s no way for the EPs to escape that, technicality or not. (Another point - I don’t care for technicalities. The spirit of Adam and Shiro’s relationship wasn’t written in good faith, especially since the EPs wanted to kill Shiro - so they don’t win any points here.)

Now, I will give the EPs credit that Kuron is not your traditional “queer-coded” villain, but Kuron being evil doesn’t make them or the story progressive. In fact, it makes them either woefully ignorant or actively offensive. 

In “The Strange, Difficult History of Queer-Coding,” Tricia Ennis writes how during the 1950s and ‘60s, conservative groups in America discouraged queer characters in films. These characters were still written but in subtext, and actors were told to play these characters as gay. 

Even dangerous LGBTQ tropes rose out of this time period as the depictions of pulp noir femme fatales and other deadly women rose in popularity. These women were usually written as promiscuous and sexually devious, both with men and sometimes with women. They were also evil and usually met their end as a result of their sins. While depictions of LGBTQ characters were frowned upon, depictions of them in this specifically negative light were not. You were not endorsing an “alternative lifestyle” if your gay characters always met an untimely demise. Instead, they were merely paying for their poor choices. This trope would eventually give way to what we now refer to as “Bury Your Gays.”

Thus, Shiro/Kuron being the only queer paladin, the only paladin to have his bond with his lion broken, the only paladin to turn “evil” and to be killed twice - Shiro’s body and Kuron’s soul - the EPs are not progressive. In fact, they fed the trope they so adamantly denied using. 

Coupled with Shiro being announced as no longer being a paladin in the same season that he was revealed to be queer, in the same season it’s revealed he has/had a degenerative disease, in the same season his one-time partner was killed - one can even make the assumption all this happened to Shiro because the EPs and DreamWorks do not support LGBTQIA+ rights.  

Rounding back - the EPs aren’t exempt from repercussions. 

Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery came from DC Comics as directors, became showrunners at DreamWorks, and went onto Marvel, back to the director chair. That is a demotion. DreamWorks cleaned house - even before Season 8 premiered - and though I think the messages were offensively underwhelming, JDS apologized on Twitter the Monday after Season 7 was released, and LM expanded upon that apology at NYCC. 

The damage is done, though, as many people found Season 7 so harmful that they will not watch more DreamWorks’ show and definitely not projects with JDS and LM. The best thing DreamWorks can do is to apologize (an exec this time), admit there were issues with Season 7 - including the BYG trope, plus the racist, sexist, and ableist themes, as well - and promise to do better in a Voltron sequel and in all their shows by creating diverse teams and an inclusive environment in which to create inclusive shows. 

DreamWorks hasn’t completed that final step yet, but the fact that the EPs are no longer a part of DreamWorks and are not working on a VLD sequel, despite the show being “popular” and what I would say, an overall “success,” says DreamWorks did take notice. Now it’s up to us, as fans, to continue the conversation and not to stop discussing. We need to keep telling DreamWorks and others content creators to create inclusive stories until we get shows with true and empowering representation. 

* I highly recommend any fan of any fandom to attend a few educational panels at each con. They’re included in the price, and they are welcoming and informative for writing true representation in your stories. 

#voltron #voltron critical #represenation #tropes #answered #answrs #shiro #queer characters #operation kuron

[sanctuaryforalluniverses]

Ramblings of an insane fic author

If I get one consistent compliment about my fanfiction, no matter which one of my dozens upon dozens of fic universes I happen to be in, it’s that I capture character voices really well. A dear friend recently asked me how it is I manage to do that.

The truth is, I have no idea. 

Sure, there are the obvious things, bolstered by logic and writerly training. I have a good ear for dialogue, and am enough of an obsessive nerd to know that specific word choice is ludicrously important when it comes to capturing a character’s voice accurately. I also put a lot of effort into studying each character’s psychology, understanding their motivations so I can better understand how they might act or speak in brand-new sets of circumstances. 

But writing, especially fic writing, gets so weird sometimes. 

Like my current fic I’m writing, for Good Omens? If I’d had any control over where I started writing the gorram thing, it would have been about halfway through what is currently chapter 2. That’s where the actual new content starts. That’s where interesting things happen. 

But the entire reason I started the blasted thing is that Aziraphale wanted to explain certain things, tell his side of the story. And Mr. “Ask for a simple explanation about why the Apocalypse is happening and I’ll try to give you mine and Crowley’s ENTIRE RELATIONSHIP HISTORY starting at the Garden of Eden” insisted on beginning at as close to the beginning as I would possibly allow him. Was I the one writing the story? Yes. Did that mean I had any control whatsoever on where the blasted thing started? No, no it did not. 

And that’s nothing compared to Steve McGarrett and Leonard Snart, who have both made me start writing multi-chapter fanfic that I absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt did NOT want to start writing. I was ANGRY that I had to start writing it. And Steve? He did it TWICE. TWICE!

You know my Magnum P.I. reboot fic? When I started watching the show, I HATED Magnum. Hated him SO MUCH. I would rant to my roommate about how poorly written/acted he was, and how much I would enjoy the show if he wasn’t there. I would even go so far as to say his entire existence deeply, deeply annoyed me. 

Then I was watching a completely different show, one of the British detective ones, and a very young Juliet Higgins was on there as a one-episode-only supporting character. And suddenly, Magum was in my head, there solely for the opportunity to watch young Juliet onscreen. I yelled at him, he pointed out some things about his character that I’d missed, and after a long discussion I was forced to admit he was right. Two fanfics later, I kind of love the idiot a little bit. 

And that doesn’t even BEGIN to explain Gendry, who is the only freaking reason I ever started watching Game of Thrones in the first place. Because honestly, my brother tried to get me to watch it. He tried for SEVEN YEARS to get me to watch it, and I couldn’t even make it through the first episode. Several people on my timeline watched the show, so I had the kind of vague knowledge of the program that happens when your entire exposure comes to through fan rants and memes. I briefly tried reading Arya/Gendry fic back in 2013, but lost interest without finishing one of them. They were well written, but I just wasn’t feeling it. 

Fast forward FOUR YEARS, all the way to 2017. Season 7 was airing, and a couple of people on my timeline complained that Gendry hadn’t mentioned Arya’s name once in the first episode where he came back. I noted this with the same passive interest that I paid attention to Voltron, Teen Wolf, and all the other shows that I knew exclusively through Tumblr and promptly thought nothing more of it. 

Then I was at my mom’s house, and there was just enough time to watch one thing on TV before I headed into work. She asked me whether I wanted to watch Stephen Colbert, or the most recent episode of Game of Thrones (the one where Gendry came back). I wasn’t in the mood for Colbert, so I decided Game of Thrones. I cared so little about the show I wouldn’t be emotionally engaged at all, and I could have a relaxing morning. 

Hah. Hah hah hah. 

Because as I was watching, I could FEEL Gendry’s voice in my head. He was trying to answer the question the people on Tumblr had wanted to know - why he hadn’t mentioned Arya - and he wanted me to be the one to tell them. I could hear actual LINES, blazing into my head as clearly as if he was speaking them directly to me. And he was REALLY, REALLY persistent about making sure his reasoning was heard. 

I would like to remind you that this was the FIRST COMPLETE EPISODE I had ever seen of the show. It was only the second episode I’d even TRIED to watch. I hadn’t read a word of fanfic for the show in general, let alone one with Gendry in it, since 2013. 

But Gendry, polite but firm, would NOT SHUT UP.

I bargained with him as I drove to work. If someone else had written the fic he wanted, I wouldn’t have to. I thought for SURE someone had - I was days late watching the episode, and my timeline was proof the ship still had fans - but a search of Ao3 came up with nothing that would fit his specifications. So I found a YouTube compilation of every interaction they’d had through seasons 2 and 3 - which was about a half hour long - and wrote the gorram thing. He looked over my shoulder the WHOLE TIME, correcting me when I was about to get his reasoning wrong. I immediately tossed the thing online and hoped the madness had passed. 

Haha. Because, see, I’d gotten to know the bastard. And I couldn’t let someone that basically good and decent out alone in GAME OF THRONES, of all places, so I wrote until he’d reunited with Arya. Then she told me how much SHE had missed HIM, and of course I had to write them their happy ending. 

Of course, I didn’t have HBO. And my brother was pissed at me for taking so long to get into the show, so he wouldn’t let me use his online account. Which meant I wrote a full 23,289 words of Game of Thrones fanfiction without EVER HAVING SEEN MORE THAN ONE FULL COMPLETE EPISODE OF THE SHOW. Bless every single person who posts illegal clips online. Bless them to the end of their days. 

I got a few small details wrong (but hey, I had a better average than THE OFFICIAL SCRIPTWRITERS). But you know what? I still got complimented on how accurately I captured everyone’s voices. 

So I genuinely don’t know how I channel the character’s voices so well. If anyone can tell me, I’d be really grateful. 

#writing #about me #fanfic #got #steve mcgarrett #gendry baratheon

[sassysweetcollegegirls]

In a Moment

Sometimes Keith looked at Lance and he wished he could pull the Cuban boy into a firm hug that would end with the two of them sharing a kiss that would settle whatever kind of fire it was that seemed to make Keith so pent up and frustrated that he was fighting robot after robot.

Today it was Keith’s fault not Lance’s that Keith was in one of his moods. At this point he was sweating and he was standing pushing the limits with a new robot that the Garrison had set up for training the cadets. Keith’s pushing it’s blocky body to the limits though he lost count on level 15.

His brains repeating what happened with Lance this morning making that fire that much angrier. :

Keith usually woke up earlier than the rest of the team his body always seemed to be stuck with the cold sweats and chills of the nightmares that he couldn’t seem to shake. Some of them felt so real like someone had actually pulled his skin from his body and just said “BROKENESS COMES FROM THE INSIDE” but Keith didn’t know how far inside that brokeness went anymore. He’d done some healing. Krolia had spent time with him and he had seen the life that she had with him before she left. She had seen him with Voltron. His team.

So when he had woken screaming at 3:30 and Kosmo had blipped in Keith shouldn’t have been surprised. Kosmo made rounds now. He was with Keith mostly but Keith knew at some point in the night his wolf woke and checked in with the rest of the team. His soft fur came up into the bed and a soft whine escaped from Kosmo. His head came to rest on Keith’s thigh. Keith stuck his hands in the coarse fur and closed his eyes “they are just nightmares boy.” The wolf huffed and looked at Keith before nudging his hand for harder scratches and to encourage him to keep talking.

“Your a ham.” Keith muses trying to keep the smile off his face,” your like Lance.” He swallows hard at the mention of the Cuban and Kosmo whines a little. “Let’s go running.” He offers and the wolf jumps at the offer.

Keith dresses in his running gear something he managed to pull from donations that had piled in to house the refuges before the base exploded. He was fond of the black leggings and hoodie that read CLASSIC. Had Keith been normal, had their been no war he thought perhaps he might have wandered around Targets looking for outfits like these on the daily. Warm,spandex and long enough for him to hide away in while still managing movement. His Blade gear had been like that but he wasn’t at the blades. Now here he was at 3:35 in the morning running from the base of the Atlas. His breath clouding the morning air. Kosmo kept time beside him. His fur glowing warmly in the darkness. Keith didn’t know why Kosmo’s glow was so comforting against the glow of the stars. Maybe it was because he knew what was past the stars now, 

The two ran each of them pushing around corners and up hills. Keith didn't think about where he was going he just thought about getting rid of the nightmares that haunted him. Kosmo understood followed eyes open ready for whatever could come barreling out of the shadows toward them. Nothing came though and the two ran until Keith was falling. 

He laid out on his back looking up at the stars blood pulsing through his calves trying to find air enough to speak but he couldn’t. He just lay there panting looking at the constellation’s and Kosmo stood above him waiting. He was patient. Looking down at Keith as if to say,” What do you need?” It took a few moments but finally Keith caught his breath able to focus on one star that seemed to shine brighter than the rest,” It all looks so quiet,you’d never know there’s a mega killer alien race out there.” he whispered and Kosmo huffed an almost annoyed sound. He laid there waiting to see if the sky would change if the Mega Killer Alien Race would fall from the sky. He knew what would happen if they did though. Everyone would have to rush to their Lions to fight and Keith wasn’t ready for that just yet. He wanted to lay on the desert floor and look at the sky and pretend for a few more minutes that he was just a kid with a weird dog that theorized Aliens and had terrible nightmares about a war he never fought in. 

The sun started to rise and Keith blinked groaning he sat and looked at Kosmo who sat waiting patiently. “ Take us home.” He stood leaning on his knees as Kosmo wrapped himself around Keith and Keith closed his eyes letting the wolf blip them home. 

Outside the Atlas people and ships were already mobile. Keith signaled Kosmo to stay close and walked aboard his muscles aching in a warm familiar way that meant he could be okay for a while. The routine was different now most everyone took breakfast in their rooms and Keith missed the team’s cheery mealtime activities but he never said anything. He just let his heart break a little as he watched everyone kinda disappear into their own worlds after the battle. 

Hunk had gone back to helping his mom and dad and finding the rest of his family. He was often found in the kitchen and working with members of the coalition. Pidge was so busy with her dad and helping the Olkari that it seemed like she was almost six places at once when they had coalition duties. Shiro had somehow mangaged to find a whole crew and become the commander of the Atlas and that was basically like having the whole Garrison at his disposal. His parental duties had multiplied not only did he have the cast of Voltron but now he had the whole team on the Atlas too. Allura and Coran were always helping with the coalition and moving with the change of things. Helping with updates, Lions, anything that needed to be done they did. They tried learning earth customs and it was funny to watch sometimes as Allura would become obsessed or Coran would try to keep up with the cadets speech. 

Then there was Lance. Lance was the one that seemed to just flow with everything. He had his family and the coalition and then there were the Fans. Lance had dozens of fans they would come while he was working or running or playing with his siblings. They always wanted pictures and to ask Lance about the Lion’s (he never let anyone inside the cockpit. Not after Nyma) but he always proudly showed off red and the rest of the Lion’s and recounted the many tales of how they formed Voltron just in the nick of time. 

Keith often got to watch because he would be seated in Black or working on something with the coalition and he would see Lance with the fans. It wasn't hard to say he didn’t think it was a little cute a little weird but it was still cute. Seeing Lance throwing out all the animated details of how they saved the universe time and time again. It was always the things that made Keith smile the most. It made him almost happy to see Lance in that element. It made the weeks when everyone was to busy to meet for dinner or Lunch bearable. 

Keith was thinking about this when he wandered down the hall toward his room. Kosmo was blipping every few feet so Keith felt safe. He kept walking until Kosmo stopped and Keith heard Lance’s voice and Jame’s. 

Keith didn’t have a problem with Jame’s as much anymore but the guy still bothered him to say the least. So Keith was quiet as he peered around the corner to see Lance and James. 

Lance back was up against the wall his eyes were blown open wide the blue almost hidden by the iris of his eye. James stood above him hand above his head smiling stance relaxed but possessive. Kosmo growled and Keith didn’t stop him because it was a soft growl almost like he was saying,” I don’t know what this is but he’s not supposed to do that right?” and Keith wanted to say “yes. He’s not.” but he couldn’t. 

“You’ve been avoiding me Sharpshooter.” James purred. 

Lance swallowed a blush forming in his cheeks,” What am I supposed to be doing?” he asked

“ You realize we don’t have to hide here right?”  James dogged challenging the question with another question.

“ I realize, but what are ‘WE’ James?” Lance inquired a pained look coming into his eyes and Keith’s heart broke a little because his voice had dropped to a smaller sadder one

James didn’t really seem to have an answer. So he grabbed Lance’s chin and dragged the Cuban’s mouth to his. Keith's heart shattered. 

Kosmo blipped forward growling loudly now. And Keith tried to reach out to stop him but his hand shook. He stepped out of the corner to call him back and that’s when he felt the wetness of his face.  Kosmo had begun barking,” Kosmo come. “ The two men had broken apart Kosmo had been standing between Lance and James protectively and Keith looked at Kosmo desperately. 

Lance saw him though his face streaked with tears through the sad and dirt and tired,” Keith....this isn’t what it-”

“it isn’t what it looks like?” he finished for Lance and James stood glaring at Kosmo who stood protectively guarding Lance,” Hard to miss read something like a kiss Lance.” 

Lance looks pained and hurt and panicked and he’s looking at Kosmo who is still guarding against James,” Keith it’s jus-” 

“ IT’S A KISS RIGHT? YOU DONT HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT TO ME LANCE.” Keith is shouting every bone in his body is vibrating and all the sound in the hallway stops. Kosmo quits guarding because Keith has raised his voice,” IT’S NOT LIKE I CAN’T GET FIVE MINUTES TO HAVE DINNER WITH ANY OF YOU THESE DAYS AND HERE I FIND YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO BE KISSING THE BIGGEST FUCKING ASSHOLE ON THIS SHIP.” 

“ Keith I swear to god. This isn’t.. Keith I j-” Lance is lost his eyes are wide with surprise because he hadn’t expected this kind of snap. 

“Everyone is so fucking busy. And It feels like I’m the only one that misses any of you anymore.... Especially you...” Keith confirms as he wipes tears from his eyes and Kosmo reattaches himself to Keith. Keith manages to find his fingers curled in his short coarse fur,” Have fun with your new boyfriend Lance...”  then just as easily as Keith blipped in he blipped out leaving Lance and James alone in the hallway. 

That had been hours ago. Keith had since then gone to his room and cried. He had cried because he knew he was broken, and Broken means hard to love but he had hoped one day he could be brave enough to show Lance all the broken bits and they could figure out how to glue all the rest of the pieces in place. Now though it was Keith and Kosmo and a day filled with nothing but Coalition free activities because they had a scheduled day off today and because there was no invisible maze, no Castle of Lions. Keith had to hit the Atlas training deck which was different. He couldn’t lock every door and hide all day and have Hunk call when dinner was ready. There wasn’t that option anymore. Instead he had to move past the crowds of people to a space that was unoccupied. He looked at the different devices on the walls and then he noticed the bot. 

The bot seemed to be the thing people avoided. It had a little sign reading “Attempt only if you are skilled fighters,” and Keith recognized the writing as Corans. Keith stomped forward pleased to find something that would challenge him and let the gears in his head click as the muscles made him feel.

“Identification please” The bot asked as Keith took down the sign and stood level with it. People were starting to pay attention to them. Kosmo has retreated to a corner of the floor where he could easily get up but still be out of the way. Keith didn’t care.

“Keith Kogane Paladin of Voltron. “

“Identification Number”

“52623”

“Confirmed: level of difficulty expert training sequence 1. “

Keith was prepared for the attack the long metal limbs though large were still swift as they attempted to get a hold of Keith in a very Coran type manner. Keith snorted because both he and Coran knew that if hand in hand combat ensued between the two of them Keith would win.... or at least he thought he would.

This robot was easy he was still able to think and hold his ground which allowed him to reason through his fire.

Why was he angry with Lance? Because it was James? The robot took a hard punch for that thought. No. Keith knew that Lance could have chosen anyone be it Shiro or Allura or James.SO WHY DID IT MAKE HIM ANGRY?

The robot stopped briefly to muster up,” starting sequence 7.” Keith was holding it off right now with sharp blows and blocks that were filled with anger and the Robot tried to maneuver behind Keith but he saw every opportunity and stopped it.

Keith had never looked at anyone the way he looked at Lance and seeing James. So possesivly poised and kissing the perfection that was Lance; Keith wanted to crumble. Like he felt like part of him died a little bit and had been mummified and left for someone to play with outside. That’s when Keith realized HE wanted to be the one who had Lance against a wall.

Sometimes Keith looked at Lance and he wished he could pull the Cuban boy into a firm hug that would end with the two of them sharing a kiss that would settle whatever kind of fire it was that seemed to make Keith so pent up and frustrated that he was fighting robot after robot.

And this robot he was with now was locked in a block with him. There was a throng of people watching outside his mat. Their eyes were glued to his struggle with the bot. So far level fifteen seemed to be an even match for him. When the bot broke away Keith jumped back making sure to swing wide and leave himself room to settle. The adrenaline was starting to wear down his brain wasn’t distracted anymore, he was gunna need to shut this down and quickly. Keith looked for openings anything to use to his advantage that’s when he saw Lance.

Lance stood at the corner of the mat. His eyes were red rimmed and his nose was pink. Keith stopped completely his eyes fixed on the boy knowing he had been crying. It was ugly and he knew Lance hated when people saw him like this. So why? Why would the Cuban go out of his way?

“End training sequence” he called and the bot stopped all eyes around the mat looked at one another and then slowly they started to disperse. Lance stayed watching Keith.

There was Silence and Keith looked at the bayard in his hand. “You went running this morning... Keith all this training isn’t good for you...” Lance mused trying to start on something anything.

Keith shrugged,”I hardly ate before I met you guys...”Lance flinched and looked at the mat again and ran his hands through his hair. Keith loved Lances hair. He thought it was soft like a bunny’s.

“Keith...I-I’m sorry...” Lance stated clearly crossing the mat to join him. Keith almost wished he hadn’t because he wanted to draw lance into his arms and say it was okay. He wanted to hold him and not let go.

Lance had James though... so Keith bit his lip,” I’m sorry you guys were having a private moment and I wrecked it.” He responded. His hands hurt and he realized he’d dig holes with his nails into his skin.

“We weren’t though Keith... Jame’s into me, but...he only wants one thing from me.” Lance offered trying to sooth. It must have looked like he was going to cry again,” he makes me buy my own bandaids and drinks and he’s not intrested in if I like cake or pie or if Garlic knots go with every meal.” Lance was crying his tears were we’re hitting the mat and Keith eyes were wide,”he doesn’t yell at me when I get hurt, or ask me about Red’s weird lullaby’s. He doesn’t call me an asshole or a spazz, tell me not to miss my shots.”

Keith’s heart was beginning to ache and weep. The walls he had were shaking because these were things specific to him and Lance. He asked him once if Red had been singing to him yet and the Paladin had been in awe almost relieved thinking perhaps he’d been crazy and this was a new thing. Keith remembered how his eyes had danced then. He wanted them to dance again.

Yet he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop teasing, the poking fun because once upon a time that’s what had made them a team and Keith had hoped he was going to get those eyes to dance for him and here they were filled with tears. He was an idiot.

Keith swallowed every ounce of his pride and stepped forward. His head bowed. People were watching but they were all at a distance to far away and for once in his life Keith didn’t care what anyone thought. He wanted Lance to feel safe...and like someone cared.

His careful fingers full of dirt and sweat reached forward to unwrap the arms that Lance had so carefully wound around himself. His skin was so smooth and he was warm. Keith was gentle. Gentler than he’d ever been as he pulled those long arms apart. Once they were apart he carefully wrapped them around his waist. His fingers shook as he reached around Lance to pull him closer.

He smelled like sunshine. Like sunshine and old spice shampoo that shouldn’t even be a thing anymore and mint. Keith’s fingers found Lances hair and he tried not to gasp at how soft it was the dark brown strands were silken against his fingers and just like that the red Paladin was nestled into the crevice of Keith’s neck and shoulder sobbing. The

Lance clutched Keith tighter like he was some kind of life raft that was keeping him from falling to pieces. “He’s not you Keith. I love you...not James.” Lance was nestling closer still crying and Keith heart was soaring.

He clutched the Paladin in his arms tighter than he’d ever clutched anything in his life. Closer than he clutched anything in his life.

“Your my spazz... you do things without thinking. Your skins so annoyingly soft and you always know what to say when I don’t...You can manage a room full of children when I can’t even get Kosmo to listen. I suck at people... at loving... but god Lance I love you. I always have... I’m sorry I yelled... I’m sorry for being difficult to handle. I’m sorry I’m not emotional and affectionate like Hunk is... I’m sorry for a lot of things.. but this is who I am and not a single inch of me doesn’t love or care about you.” Keith let it all out closing his eyes just cherishing holding the boy in his arms because heaven knew if he would ever get the chance again.

Lance had stopped crying he was listening and Keith hoped that somehow Lance couldn’t hear the pounding of Keith’s heart. Keith kissed the spot on Lance’s head he could reach and closed his eyes tilting his head back hoping and praying to his lion to anyone willing to listen that he got to keep this moment for a while.

Lance shivered and drew away. Keith knew his moment was ending. He wasn’t sure what to expect so when he was met with blue eyes staring at him intently he just smiles a soft smile. Keith wants to kiss Lance he does but he doesn’t know if Lance wants him to yet so he settles and kisses his forehead not knowing what he’s supposed to do.

Lance continues looking at him,” you know your supposed to kiss me right?” And their is not one ounce of shame in the boy whose looking at him cheeks pink nose pink eyes red and Keith is blinking.

“Y-you actually want me to?” He stammers and a red color starts to creep up his neck.

“Oh. My. God. Did the Keith Kogane just ask if I actually wanted to kiss him.” Lance took a step back and Keith wanted to grip his waist and drag him back. He didn’t want Lance to leave his arms, not yet.

He reached forward desperate,” Lance...” he wasn’t sure what to say. His face was red and he kept his eyes down,” come back here... please...”Lance smiled and came back and Keith took his hand. The red Paladin was smiling. 

Keith closed his eyes and set his forehead firmly against the other boys. He had kissed people before plenty of times but this was different. Lance was different. He wasn’t someone Keith just wanted to kiss he WANTED to kiss him. He’d thought about it maybe a hundred times since he’d met Lance. Every time he pictured it being something romantic and soft sweet. Not him covered in sweat, shaking, holding him afraid to move forward. 

Lance waited silent willing to be patient knowing that Keith needed a moment,” if you don’t want to it’s okay Keith.” Keith could sense the patience but he could almost feel the hurt too. He knew Lance. He saw the affectionate and the loving personality. So he stopped breathing for a moment and thought of the number ten and counted backwards. Lance waited and he was patient keeping his forehead pressed to Keith and rubbing small circles in his hands. Just the presence was calming for him. 

Keith opened his eyes and gently touched Lance’s cheek. Lance waited eyes patient searching his as gaze met Keith’s and his breath met his. All it took was Keith closing his eyes and reaching forward and his lips were there touching Lances. Lances lips were so soft and warm and Keith felt like he had been swallowed by some kind of vacume as he was kissing Lance. 

Lance melted to Keith he pushed close curling an arm around the taller boys neck and leaning forward. The two met each other kiss for kiss, breath for breath. Keith realized he wouldn’t be able to let go of Lance in that moment. He knew; that he needed him. That somehow this cuban asshole who challenged every minute of his patience. Made him scared of a thing like a kiss. He couldn't  let him go. Not for one second. 

The broke apart and the room erupted in cheers and Keith had to admit he had completely forgotten about the audience. “ Shiro’s gunna kill us.” 

Lance laughed kissing his cheek and Kosmo bounded forward to join their moment. 

#klangst #klance #james voltron #voltron lance #vld kosmo #voltron keith #fighting #kissing #yelling #makeup #fluff #confession

[the-stressmushroom]

My Adventure Time Feelings:

I cant believe that adventure times over. I’ve watched the show from the first episode. I was 10. Now I’m 18. 

I’m not sad its over. I’m more reminiscent about what the show meant to me. It was a constant in my life for a really long time, and I want to share some of the important memories the show is tied to for me. 

Read these if you want, or don’t. Comment on them if you want, or don’t. This is more for me. I need to get my thoughts and memories out somewhere. I just need to share. 

Basically, I can tie the show back to just some really important memories. Memories I forgot existed until this moment. Some of these are triggering so be warned.

The summer before ninth grade, I was sitting in our beach house rental in Coronado, California with my best friend Quentin watching the new episode of Adventure Time. We were so happy and light. His mom died three weeks later and the Tuesday after her funeral we got together to watch the new episode of adventure time in silence. His mom was like my second mom. I was at their house constantly. At least three times a week. After his mom died, he stopped talking to me. He said I reminded him too much of her.

Thanksgiving my freshman year, I binge watched half a season for fun, while telling myself not to eat because I had already lost thirty pounds and I wasn’t going to let the holiday ruin my unhealthy behavior. I was posting pictures of myself online for validation. My self-esteem was so low it didn’t exist. I had gone from 150 pounds to 120 in three weeks. I told myself I didn’t have an eating disorder, I just wasn’t hungry. It took until I reached 98 pounds to figure out I had a problem.

The second week of seventh grade, when I was at my best friend Grace’s house and we were studying vocabulary for our first ever english quiz while packing and moving boxes. She was moving out of of her childhood home. A house I practically grew up in. A house that held so many memories from permanently denting the wall and breaking two of my fingers due to indoor skateboarding, or holding her in my arms as she sobbed after her dog was hit by a car.

Meeting the second boy I ever fell in love with. My nails were painted as adventure time characters, and he, a sophomore, came up to me, a freshman, and got so excited by how cool my nails were. He was my first kiss. 

Coming home every Tuesday from middle school, ready to burst into tears. I was bullied relentlessly and hated school. But I would find solace in the new episode of Adventure Time waiting for me. For a few months, it was on my List of Things to Look Forward To. A list my therapist told me to refer to whenever I felt suicidal.

Standing with my friend in Gym during eighth grade singing Adventure Time songs and talking about the newest episode to pass the time. She was a pretty cool person, and one of the few people who didn’t bully me. It’s a shame that I didn’t hang out with her more. I haven’t seen or heard from her in 5 years.

More recently, watching Adventure Time: Islands while prepping for my SATs and ACTs. For some reason, the episodes really calmed me before my exam and I went in feeling confident. I scored a 33 on my ACT because my nerves were practically non-existant.

Flame Princess was my first ever attempt at fan art and is what made me love fan art so much in the first place. I always loved the adventure time art style and I realized that it was so much fun to draw, not just look at. Without that realization, I would have never discovered my love of art.

When I got my tumblr, the first account I followed was an adventure time account and the first ever post I reblogged was of Marceline. I still can’t believe I that when I first got tumblr, the only three fandoms I was a part of were Percy Jackson, Doctor Who, and Adventure Time. Without Adventure Time inspiring me to get a Tumblr, I would have never discovered Sherlock, Merlin, Voltron, Gravity Falls or (my favorite show of all time) Supernatural.

Feeling like such a badass when I discovered Bravest Warriors. Like it was my little secret that no one else knew about. I felt so adult because it had bad words in it. I remember coming home from exploring an open house with my parents one Sunday in Eighth grade, sitting down at my windows tablet, and watching bravest warriors and the SPN episode “Its The Great Pumpkin Sam Winchester” when I was supposed to be doing homework. 

I remember showing up for PJ day in 6th grade wearing my finn and jake slippers and feeling so fucking cool. Everyone made fun of me, but for once, i didn’t care. I loved what I was wearing and no one could make me feel bad about it. I remember wearing those same slippers as a part of my Chuck cosplay at SPN con, and Rob Benedict being so excited by them, he lept off the stage, ran to me, and gave me a giant hug.

I remember the first time I watched the show. Sitting on the ground in my family room, waiting so excitedly for the new show Cartoon Network had been advertising. It looked really weird and it made me really curious. The first time I heard the theme song, I remember the smile that spread across my face. 

I watched Adventure Time rain or sun, happy or sad. It was always their for me, and it always will be. The first time I watched the show, I was ten years old, a ruthlessly bullied fifth grader who needed an escape from the real world. Now I sit here in my college dorm after my first day of classes, fighting off tears. This show was an anchor to my childhood. And now it is gone. And I am an adult. 

And I don’t know what to do.

And that’s ok.

#Adventure Time #finn #jake #finn and jake #princess bubblegum #marceline #cartoon network #cn

[hunterguyveriv]

Daddy Please Wake Up part 1

As some are aware I have posted the story I am working on titled “Daddy Please Wake Up!” on DeviantArt, Fanfiction.Net, and Archive about 2 weeks ago. I wanted to share it here for those who may not be a member of those sites. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. 

As I have mentioned on the 3 sites I posted this story on, this was inspired by the lack of fan art of Post Explosion/Crash Keith and his wolf. So I wanted to be the first to do something like this.

Part 1: The Explosion & Crash The explosion was nearly as bright as the antiquated nuclear weapons used for tests during a conflict that happened nearly 150 years ago called the Cold War if not brighter. Temporarily frying the polarized filters in the cockpits of the lions, causing the paladins to go blind. Not that becoming blind would matter… The explosion was bright enough that it looked as if it were a second sun. Not even seconds later it slammed into the lions with enough force it was a surprise that they weren't destroyed. Slamming into the black lion the hardest, having supported the body and the other lions supporting the limbs. But there were no screams over the comms, it was as if they accepted their inevitable fate. In the cockpit of the Black Lion, being hit the hardest, Keith was instantaneously thrown into the console in front of him causing him to scream out blindly from some of his ribs breaking before collapsing back into his chair. Almost as if sensing the imminent danger to his paladin the chair magnetized holding Keith to it before everything went offline. He tried calling out to the paladins over his helmet but all he heard was static. He desperately grabbed the controls to do something… anything but they were locked up like the time Voltron was hit by the Komar. The lion was violently rocked again from hitting Earth’s atmosphere during reentry causing the magnetic locks to nearly completely fail to cause him to slam the visor of his helmet into the same console he broke his ribs on. He screamed in pain again as his head started to ring from the impact and blood slowly trickled down his face from his broken visor. Being closest to Black, Blue nearly suffered the same fate from the explosion, had she not been vaguely shielded from Black’s wings. Instead, Blue was slammed with enough force to cause the Princess to get whiplash from the violent motions. Seconds later sensing danger to her Paladin Blue magnetized Allura’s seat even her helmet to keep her from doing any serious damage to her neck. She remembered something Lance said nearly 4 years ago about Water helping Blue recharge. She just managed to type in the coordinates she wanted just before Blue slammed into the atmosphere. SHe grunted in pain trying to keep her calm in the face of certain death, holding on to the controls. Manhandling them trying to keep Blue straight. It was only when Blue started barrel rolling that her resolve started to crack.

Inside the Yellow Lion, Hunk was surprisingly fairing better than the rest of the team in terms of plummeting down to Earth. Due to the extra armor, Yellow had he could still manage to fight the effects of the explosion hurtling his Lion back to Earth. His console in front of him arched streams of blue energy, prompting him to protect his face. Being the heaviest of the Lions Yellow slammed hard into the atmosphere. Inside the cockpit due to the impact with the atmosphere Hunk slammed his arms into the console and his head into his arms cutting it open while also giving himself a concussion. When the Lion started to tail spine adding insult to injury Hunk felt his stomach churning violently. Through the lulling ringing of his concussion and the effects of G-Forces he grabbed his controls and started fighting with them to get control again, yelling. Pidge, being the smallest of the Paladins struggled against the Magnetic locks holding her in place. Her lion’s display flickered off and on as she plummeted towards the atmosphere. She grabbed her controls the best she could but only one responded. She typed some buttons on the console to her left. She pulled up the Head-Missile and tried to launch as a sort of escape pod, but the systems were jammed. She frantically typed other commands on her consoles but nothing was working. Tears started flowing from her eyes as everything she thought of just wouldn't work mathematically or function. She was 30 seconds from burning up on reentry or minutes away from crashing head first into the ground. She heard a faint rumble in the back of her head and with what little power her lion had put it in “Form Voltron mode” reducing the surface of the lion praying it would work.

Inside the Red Lion, Lance was having troubles holding her together. The shockwave not only damaged many critical systems to Red, due to her lack of armor for the sacrifice of speed and maneuverability but Lance hadn't gone unscathed. In the violent shaking and rocking, he bit his lip open but also broke an arm from flailing about. But like Black, Red magnetized her seat to protect her paladin’s torso from the shockwave. He grunted against the pain grabbing both controls. He had to position her for reentry. He called out to Allura - nothing, Keith - he heard briefly a blood-curdling scream of pain before his coms went down, Pidge - static, Hunk - garbled transmissions of him saying something. Before succumbing to G-Forces upon reentry his last thought to himself was to find a soft landing.

On Earth Atlas was in the process of powering back up to revert to its Battleship form when the sonic booms of the lions reentering the atmosphere were recorded on sensors. Shiro tried contacting the Lions but all he got was static. He tried again still static before the realization hit him, they were all free falling to Earth. The only thing the Bridge-Crew could do was watch in horror as the lions fell.

Due to the limited power returning sensors were limited to a 50-mile radius around Atlas. He ordered the sensor officer to track their trajectory and plot estimated crash sites. He as ordered the MFEs ready to launch with Medics in tow with them. They were to follow the lions when they got out of sensor ranger and render any necessary aide to the Paladins. In the hanger bay, the MFE-Pilots and medics received their orders. Each itching to take off as the hanger doors were forcibly opened manually. But the manual override to the hanger dors was too slow. Just as the first MFE left the hanger the lions had all crashed.

Red slammed into a surprisingly intact flat surface on the outskirts of Platt City near what looked like refinery drums. She slammed so hard that Lance broke his arm when it slammed into his console to his right. With the crash over, the magnetic lock released Lance from its vice-like grip on the Paladin. With the artificial gravity system offline Lance fell and to add insult to injury dislocated the shoulder to the very arm he broke. Blue had slashed down, nice and softly into the Gulf of Mexico. Like on the Mermaid Planet all her systems were down as she sank deeper and deeper into the Gulf. Her Paladin unconscious from the impact had a pain where bruises would later appear shooting through her. Blue’s hull groaned from the stress of the explosion and the water as she came to a stop on her side. Just barely surviving reentry Green used the last ounce of her energy to revert from her arm stage to her lion stage. She also managed to roll over as to have her back shield take the initial impact. Green crashed into the forest of Yosemite National Park just barely missing El Capitan. Alarms of various system failures blared in Pidge’s cockpit, but she was already unconscious from the G-Forces wreaking havoc on her small frame. Yellow nearly collided with the Galra base but the impact and close proximity did irrevocable damage to the base causing able prisoners to flee. Nearly all of them fled except for a shocked and growing crowd surrounding two, who stared at the massive lion in fear. Fear of the occupant, one they dreamt of holding in their arms again didn't make it. Not knowing he had fared better than his friends, only slammed his head into a console Leaving just Black…

His body was screaming in pain at him, blood trickling down his cut face as he struggled. Struggled to gain some control of his lion. Struggled against the pain in his ribs laying an arm against them as if it was all that was holding them together. Struggled to stay awake as the ringing from his concussion got louder. Consoles erupted in sparks causing him to wince and move his head away from exploding consoles. The sounds of alarms could be heard, causing his head to hurt even more. Just by closing his eyes to protect his slowly recovering eyesight started him to become drowsy. He heard a faint-weak whisper from his lion pleading with him to stay awake, he had to stay awake. Through his hazy sight, he saw the shack that was once part of the house his father and mother owned when he was a baby. Coming to terms, he thought to himself “how fitting… my path started here, now it is going to end,” he smiled through the physical pain. He thought of his mother, his wolf, his mentor Kolivan who was thankfully harsher on him than his brother Shiro ever was, and her... one last time. Groaning through the pain in his throat, “Well dad, guess I’ll be seeing you shortly. We can finally get to catch up.” Closing his eyes just before Black slammed into the ground head first.

Romelle was sitting in a room set aside for Keith. Of all the people on the Atlas including Shiro & Coran, it was decided she would keep the wolf company. After all, she knew him more than any of the Paladins, Coran, or Shiro. She was humming softly leaning against a wall petting the wolf everyone started calling Cosmo. He had settled down surprisingly during the battle with that Hammerhead Robeasts. Romelle commented “it must be nice to be that calm” as she continued to stroke the wolf’s fur. But the wolf raised his head looking around the strange room for something and started to whine.

#Voltron legendary defender #canon compliant #missing scenes of Lions Pride part 2 #igf-atlas #voltron lions #keith #lance #pidge #allura #hunk #coran #iverson #shiro #veronica #sam holt #romelle #keith's wolf #mfe pilots #vld #vld spoilers #acxa #james griffin #ina leifsdottir #nadia rizavi #ryan kinkade #paladins in peril #mentions of krolia #mentions of kolivan #mentions of keith's father #mentions of Hammerhead Robeast

[sol1056]

Just to make sure I watched the same season as everyone else, in sort of order but not really. 

1. Wow, Lotor’s upbringing was all-around abusive. His parents are neglectful and his so-called governess believes that physical violence is a necessary part of education. And her approach is valorized when Hunk declares that he must’ve learned something after all. 

2. Did it really take this series forty-six episodes to suggest it might be a good thing to learn about the enemy’s culture? Like, at this point, why even bother. Hunk little history lesson might as well have been about why broccoli is green for all it made any difference or carried any narrative weight. 

3. As much as I enjoyed seeing Lance told to pipe the fsck down, I could’ve done without the violence. You wanna know what has the impact on children, in a show like this? It isn’t people saying ‘I love you,’ it’s when violence like this is trivialized and treated as funny. 

4. Sendak shows up, makes trailer-level threats that... aren’t all that threatening. Aha, I know your weakness! I shall now shoot at those people over there and, uh, run away, I guess. Not sure. He literally showed up, didn’t try and take Voltron out, just shot at a station that I could’ve sworn was one he was trying to make one of his own? idk, he disappeared so fast, no chance to ask him. 

5. Disabled ship, no supplies, this seems like a great time to do a two-person adventure to the heart of some anomaly that’s destroyed every probe. Really? Shit’s not going anywhere. At least radio for backup. 

-- minor aside: the use of an anomly that warps space and time was an interesting way to introduce flashbacks, except for the too-chronological aspect. then again, if it’d been out of order, that might’ve forced the two characters to talk, and we could’ve gotten half those scenes summarized in like two sentences. 

6. Thousands of trackers checking every planet and in 10,000 years the only thing they found was a lead on the Blue Lion? that was it? Zarkon’s organizational skills are even more pathetic than I realized. 

7. Now let us pause for an interlude so we can artificially age up a character for no apparent reason. What was the point of that? So Keith could bond with a space puppy? Plenty of time spent on that, and end with a cliffhanger where we don’t get to see an actual meeting.

-- PLEASE OMG THAT ACCENT IS HOLLYWOOD JUST STOP TALKING PLEASE JUST STAAAAAAAHP PLEASE 

8. Submitting minor change to Hypable’s comment: “The Dungeons and Dragons themed episode? It might just be one of my favorite episodes* that they’ve ever put to screen. Shiro fans will, especially, be delighted by it.” No. Shiro fans will not be delighted. Josh Keaton fans will be, because he’s in the episode, But Shiro is not. 

9. Speaking of which, I skipped S6E3. I got better things to do with my time. 

10. I yawned through Romelle's story. No, I don’t care about her or her family or her brother. She’s a plot device who exists to deliver exposition on cue. 

11. Speaking of which, Lotor’s motivation is to get immense power for the Galra... so he can revive the Altean culture and get rid of the Galran people? We’re talking about the culture that his neglectful abusive power-mad cruel mother came from, right? Just checking. 

12. Romelle talks like the quintessence/colony thing’s been going on forever, but first sign of it back in S4 was shipments large enough that it’s a pretty substantial supply chain. Except the Galra themselves found one cargo ghost-ship with only one piece of it left. How exactly did the Blades stumble over it regularly while the Galra barely knew it existed? 

13. So Lotor’s goal was to use one-person komars on Alteans to collect quintessence to do... what? What was the point of all that? Was it powering the Altean’s own colony? Building stuff? Warping things with its strange effects, and oh, guess that monster let loose may end up another dropped plot thread.

...Let us pause and have a moment of silence for all those dropped plot threads.

14. Okay, that was some serious retconning going on in Keith’s flashbacks. There’s the little shack, which from the beginning was clearly not enough for one person to live in. And look, a two-story farmhouse next to it, gone without explanation. Could we at least see a house fire? Something? 

15. Am I the only one who finds the BoM episode now really kinda creepy in hindsight? Even in a vision, if you see your parent, oh, ten years or so after they died, wouldn’t your reaction be something like, “Dad! You’re alive!” or possibly “Dad! You’re a zombie GAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH”. No, really: “Dad, you’re home,” only makes sense if you truly believed that Dad could still be alive. Seeing a tombstone kinda deep-sixes that one, so to speak. 

ugh. more later.  

#voltron legendary defender #vld spoilers #vld #voltron

[svedverite]

Voltron Season 7

This is literally just to enthuse on the season. People not in the fandom (my poor followers who know me irl) feel free to ignore this. 

And let’s be honest, it’s just me nerding out because I need an outlet for my happy screaming, feel free to ignore it in general :) But! I just finished season 7 and I am so STOKED.

First, let me say this is NOT an in depth analysis, this is a fan talking about what they liked in the show.

Second, whooo boy there was a lot to like.

First, the tone was so gritty for this season and it was not something that I was honestly expecting but I really liked it. Most of Voltron as a series has been about magical bonds and tech so advanced it’s never even slightly related to normal science, which is fine, I also enjoy that. However, I did enjoy that when the fight came to earth it was a more limited fighting style with missions that revolved around survival as a goal not the constant “form Voltron”= victory rinse and repeat. I loved that it included all these different factions coming together (I am in love with the MFE quartet and I am so happy they all lived), and I loved that the conflict continued to build for the second half of the season. This was not a season with a battle to liberate a planet every two episodes and I really, really appreciated that. It gave this season a gravity that others didn’t have time to build to. It was very high stakes in a way that really had me on the edge of my seat in a way the other seasons didn’t. It was personal, it’s Earth, it was so easy to imagine and feel the real costs of this fight for all these characters, easy to fear what would happen if they lost. And it was drawn out. We got to see Earth’s struggle from early on through Voltron’s arrival and eventual success.

I liked the reunions we got to see and the reunions we didn’t. Krolia going off with Kolivan and the both of them being with Keith after the battle (let me scream forever into the void). Pidge and her family. Lance and his family, I cannot get over the fact that his entire family joined/ instigated some resistance pockets. That was goddamn beautiful. I also loved the conflict that created for Hunk and how that was handled. Even the fact that Adam died and Shiro went to his memorial I thought was handled well. As has been mentioned by others, there is a cost to war and for the timeline they had for this story arc it was a good decision and it made the fighting more meaningful to have that cost there and present in the story.

I do wish they had more of Shiro as a person and not a commander/ power figure in this season (if that makes sense). I do miss having Shiro’s thoughtful moments, seeing his insecurities and the more healing moments that we got occasionally in the Castle of Lions. And I will be honest, I was really, really hoping to get more out of Shiro than his salty one-liner about being on the astral-plane then shoved into his evil clone’s body. That being said I am also adult enough to admit that to get that kind of scene would have taken a lot more time to set up and the right atmosphere to have it feel right in the arc of the story. Plain truth of this season was that it was (as has been mentioned) team based and Shiro is moving on to other things. Also, I can admit a lot of my desire for this is because I love Shiro as a character and I wanted to get a hurt/healing moment for him. And to finish the Shiro thoughts, I loved how SHiro has evolved at this point. He’s almost as magical and spiritual as Allura, maybe more-so now in his own way, the fact that he basically is the conduit for the Atlas as a fighting ship floored me. And I will hold that sequence close to my heart till the day I die. Also, the fact that Shiro pilots/ commands “the Atlas” makes my literature/ shakespearian heart explode with happiness because that GODDAMN SYMBOLISM. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Otherwise my critiques are just piddly things. I didn’t enjoy the damn filler episode (because I am an adult watching a children’s show). And Bob is now a cursed name in my house. I also didn’t super appreciate all the stacked problems in the very last episode that just showed up out of nowhere. And again, that’s my own hangup as a needy fan not a critique of the storytelling so much. It’s clearly being used to set up the final conflicts in the last season and I can be adult enough to admit that even if it had me ripping my hair out in frustration and fear (we are at that point where any conflict feels like a potential character death to me and I am losing it).

Also would like to scream a little about all the designs for human tech/ space suits. I cannot scream loud enough from a tall enough building to tell you how much I loved their design and seeing what the Voltron team created for the human race. The Alteans have a clear “space-elf” thing going on, color scheme is cyan and its all long elegant ovals and wing-shapes. Galra are very vicious in color and linework, it fits. I love that humans have a lot of what i’d call “rugged” shapes in their helmets and suits, a little more raw-cut that the Alteans or Galra, but that the combination of shapes creates a more elegant sharp shape. Shiro’s suit when he’s about to jump to Sendak’s ship...whoof...design shivers, so fucking good. UNF. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this and I felt that as a penultimate season it brought the story home and did it with flare. Very impressed and I can’t imagine how they’ll outdo this for the final season but I’m excited to see it. While I can’t believe we’re winding down on Voltron (it feels like it just started yesterday) I am glad that it’s winding down as a tight, crafted story. 

#Voltron Season 7 #Spoilers #just enthused vomit #me being a dork #i will stand by this till the day i die #story over fluff