#course launch

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

I could wax poetic about why Viktor's League backstory is inherently more interesting and more thematically resonant than where they went with him in Arcane season 2, but the cold hard truth is

a man covered in grease and probably blood who builds his own body out of scraps with his own two hands, can in fact build any contraption out of dinted metal sheets and a few screws including a deathray, performs deeply inadvisable operations on desperate but consenting people with his own tools, generates a cult following against his wishes because of his ability to inadvisably help people but the power's all his now anyway so he may as well, wants to clean up and save the undercity but is (only sort of) misunderstood as a walking Geneva Convention violation a freak and a supervillain, torments his arch-nemesis on at least a weekly basis and probably homoerotically hunts him for sport, had his life's work misattributed to people in the ruling class and is angry and tragic about it forever, tries to rip out his own emotions and is unsuccessful but pretends like he was not, is actually oddly kind to children, and is at the end of the day still just some guy,

is just hotter okay

[danandphileselevel4]

BIG was the hard launch and I will die on this hill. The ex truthers that focus on the past tense of “the relationship we formed at that point was something I needed” forget the present tense immediately after that of “we ARE real best friends, companions through life, like actual soulmates”. No one is soulmates with their ex.

[avoidghost]

[PREORDER] Dratchrod Acrylic Charm ❤️‍🔥🚑⚔️

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Finally can open my merch store! Not much on there yet, but I have plans for the coming months for stickers and prints and more stuff :3

[stinkysleeveless]

playing gtav as michael: make him throw himself off the mountain. in a suit. the ragdoll physics satisfy my brainrot. how many times will he bounce. let him cartwheel into the abyss. i am clapping. 

playing gtav as trevor: i bumped into another car and the impact made him grunt. i must reflect. i must repent. i must load the game from the last save point. trevor bb i am so sorry let me make u soup

[try-set-me-on-fire]

this guy

[vldunchartedregions]

If Lotor was meant to be redeemed would we see more from Romelle then? I can’t even imagine how she would have reacted to his return after what we saw of them interacting in s6 / what happened to her brother.

Oh ho ho. Thank you for this question.

You've unlocked Pandora's Box... 🍿 Strap in, everyone.

We have a very telling conversation at the beginning of Launch Date:

Romelle: You know, back on the colony, Luca and I didn’t always get along. But despite that, I always respected Luca. She had an inner strength that many did not and a desire to be a part of something greater than herself.

Allura: If she was so desperate for something to believe in, it may have made her susceptible to being manipulated.

One of Keith's biggest mistakes was bringing Romelle to Voltron. To Lotor.

She's on the wrong side of the war. She is being manipulated. She is a set up. She is a spy.

Luka died by Honerva's mind power in S8E1.

Luka was shouting at Romelle about how she betrayed them, how Honerva is going to save them, and this would've potentially alerted the entirety of the Atlas with her shouting carelessly about Honerva's plan.

In season 8, episode 1.

Honerva really said, "No thanks. Too early into the season for you to ruin it now."

She was also very insistent that Allura goes on this date with Lance despite noticing her hesitance, goes shopping with her to build her trust with her, and then speaks to Luka ALONE, immediately asks if she's alright, and then abruptly asks where the Altean Colony is?

"It's not like that!" and she's right.

She's working with Honerva to gain more insider knowledge on Voltron.

Honerva can access the Alteans through their minds via the dark entities, but it doesn't mean she can see through their eyes; she can only preach to them, control their thoughts, and kill them at will.

Romelle has been set up from day dot to betray the paladins by being Honerva's spy cam from the inside (allegedly). Keith and Krolia fell for it. Keith trusts her story immediately.

Why wouldn't you? She's the first Altean they've seen.

We also found it insanely telling of their characters that Lance is visually suspect, while Keith immediately trusts her and wants to find Lotor right now.

Ahem.

She's also suggested to be a traitor -- not once, but twice by the Alteans on board the Atlas, including Tavo, who's she claims she's grown up with. He says it to her during the episode Day 47.

Another question that was raised after one of our many rewatches of the episode Clear Day: How would Honerva know that Lance & Allura were dating during Clear Day?

How would Honerva possibly know to use Lance as a convincing point for Allura to absorb the dark entity? At this point in the story, Honerva wouldn't know that at all... unless she had a spy on board the Atlas.

Isn't it strange how on Clear Day when this all happens to Allura, she is absolutely nowhere to be found? She's not on the ground playing the games. She's not aboard the Atlas -- at least that we see as the viewer.

This is a set up.

Romelle also achieved a goal when she helped to set up Allurance for Honerva's greater plans.

It's a distraction.

Launch date sets up several subplots related to Lotor, the Altean Colony, the Love Triangle™, Romelle, and so, so much more. Romelle's is one of them.

I'm really excited to finish writing some pieces of the meta and dive more into this topic. It is fascinating.

So, that is all we will say about this for now.

By all means, you can read more about Romelle's arc in this meta and this meta by @leakinghate and Team Purple Lion, which also reinforces Romelle's behaviours and gives us a better understanding of her story.

---

To answer your question, OP:

When Lotor is revived by Allura against the team's wishes? When Keith finally puts his trust in Lotor? When the team puts their trust in Lotor? When they truly learn about the Altean Colonies on the Moon?

It ruins everything for Romelle.

Does Honerva care? Not particularly.

She's a fearsome foe. She accounted for it. She's ready.

Season 8 is not what we think it was set up to be...

...But then it ended up on the cutting room floor along with Lotor.

Thank you for the question.

[imperfectskeleton]

The kids battle morphs are so rooted in their personalities (as they should be)

So of course, let’s start with the bear. There are a lot of things important about the bear, but the most striking one on this read is its short sightedness in the heat of battle.

Rachel is eliminating distractions. So very Rachel, and both a help and a hindrance. It leads to occasional friendly fire when she can’t see right and wrong, but it also helps her lead others into battle, even when the case is she’s “[not brave], just blind.”

She says as she goes to acquire it, she can’t afford to be scared and have a normal life. Can’t worry about all of the options. She needs to fight the Yeerks.

The short sightedness paired with sheer aggression also makes Rachel and Tobias more dependent on one another. This book brings up a few times that Rachel can’t opt out when Tobias doesn’t even have one option of a normal life anymore. As far as the kids are concerned, the Ellimist weaponises the concept of Tobias having a happy family against them. So now Rachel has a protective morph to make up for Tobias’ fragility and Tobias is her eyes. (I’m pretty sure she’s blinded more than once in elephant morph too).

And bears are also famously protective. Mess with bear cubs, deal with mama bear. Mess with any animorph, you will deal with Rachel.

The elephant was still a good tanky morph of course. Incredible useful for protection, but more passive, protecting with bulk rather than attacking.

So let’s go for Tobias next. His father freed him from the life the Ellimist forced them to leave while also trapping him in it. Ungrounded, disconnected from humanity, with a different view of the world to the rest of humanity. Essential to the team because of his uniqueness (that’s true of all the animorphs actually). No good thing comes without a price.

Marco is holding onto humanity and normality. He’s also clever, and subtle, and the only one with thumbs a lot of the time. Plus, how else would he be able to drive?

Jake stumbled into an incredibly dangerous morph by chance and was lucky to escape unharmed. Initially the only apex predator of the group, he is also protective. As the series progresses, he needs skill and strategy - sure, as much as the others he has to cut out distractions and get the job done, but he also needs awareness of his surroundings and the ability to respond quickly to keep his team safe. It’s a very flashy morph that sets him apart from the group, and plenty capable.

Ax is his brother’s flag bearer. He’s the proxy of the Andalite military. He’s also proud, efficient, and like Marco, needs dexterity at times. Not having a battle morph sets him apart from the group, a reminder that he missed the animorphs’ initiation. An earth animal simply wouldn’t do him justice.

Cassie has the least flashy battle morph, and also possibly the least dangerous one. She’s there for her pack, not to do harm to others. And unlike Tobias, she is very grounded. Wolves and birds are both pretty traditional choices for humans in animal form, and Cassie and Tobias both have the most connection with something resembling real magic.

[glorfindel-of-imladris]

Erestor of Doriath 🍃

[melorasmushrooms]

If you called Minthara “Minthy” to her face, you would be walking back to your tent going “I don’t want to talk about it.”

[orangedogsquad]

Market trip this morning with these two! Got some sunshine for it and everything 🥰

[flyingfabio]

🎶 I-T G-I-R-L you know i am that girl 🎶

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Had to explain to a friend today that No Really I Swear Magneto And Professor X Are Friends And Like Each Other Thats Canon And Real

[junemary]

Fengcui are ridiculous. They're fully making out at this point but they REFUSE to acknowledge it out of pure spite they NEED to get the upper hand the other one must be the one to confess first!!!! Can you imagine? Sticking you tongue 5 inches down someone else's throat and still have the guts to say to THEIR FACE that they're the one coming onto you and you don't get it- have they fallen for you? Ooh how interesting, maybe elaborate on that? No? Well fuck you then. And then they do it again. And then they sacrifice themselves for each other MULTIPLE TIMES. Only to share the most disgustingly sweet romance that is CLEAR to everyone around them yet it remains!!!! Unspoken!!!! Even to each other!!!!

[chestnutisland]

18 getting along swimmingly with Blonde Launch?

[andr0nap-02]

HAPPY NEW BUGFRAME EVERYONE!

[amateurghoul]

Nobody can convince me Mischa doesn't suck really hard at Mario Cart. He will drive off the map 50 times before he completes the first lap, all while yelling and shit taking every other player