#ooc: aaaaand panic attack

[r1chi3]

Richie never smoke it makes you get kidnapped by old coworkers.

Also it’ll make your asthma worse and I wouldn’t want you to die!

@the-real-paul-matthews

PAUL?! YOU WERE KIDNAPPED??? THATS WHERE YOU WENT THIS WHOLE TIME??!!!

-🪼

[void-tiger]

...arguably the “build up” was “can a monster like you be a Paladin?” and “you are part of the Galran Empire. Just look at your hand”. And Keith refusing to even touch Shiro’s right arm/shoulder At All waaaaaaayyyyy back in the Pilot Episode. Lance had to before the others weren’t weirded out by it, either. Oh, and how can we forget how Hunk hypothesized about the Arm taking Shiro over/giving false memories while they were arguing about Ulaz?

Basically, the shittiest “build up” ever to give them an “excuse” to sideline the guy. That, and Keith randomly sitting in Black That One Time. (Uhhh, Red didn’t go rushing off to save Keith from going *splat*. I will forever argue that the Black&Keef thing was just Black needing a battery to save her hooman. (Ret voice: “*sighs* The mullet will do...”)

So...no actual buildup for a “Shiro vs Keith Showdown”. Just throwaway crap for monsantos (JDS especially) to force his way into having bpkeefers.

But, there was buildup for BrokenShiro. Which PISSES me off. Because...how dare you. How dare you turn TWO characters’ worst fears into THAT. Then not only not unpack that emotional baggage, you pretend it doesn’t exist and sideline him (and pretend they’re the same “but one’s eeeeviiiiiillll”), with MORE shitty WoG to justify it. Not even a “I’m sorry. I’m just tired. And I have his memories. And I don’t think I deserve this anymore” (still shitty, still OOC because he jumps right back into action once keef and krolia stop telling him to “shut up and Sit Down”)

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...I’ll respectfully disagree about the “that thing!” line. Shiro is rape coded. Which VLD doesn’t acknowledge they did that AT ALL (but JK and Mir prolly did. Tight Shirt Scene discomfort, anyone?) So there’s the trope that aliens rape-and-disect you. Aaaaand, Shiro got disected. Repeatedly. Then we see HUNDREDS of clones that are “decended” from him against his concent?

Okay, he has every right to be resentful. He’s also fiercely protective of his friends (especially Keith), and canonically the hardest on himself and Failed Leaders (Zarkon, Lubos, initially Allura during “Some Assembly Required”. He groaned in exasperation ‘cause “what NOW?!” every time she came on screen or barged in...even though he still tried to support her/not let the others see his aggrivation with her)

So, um. Shiro flatout cannot handle being a “monster” or “failed leader” so much that he sent a guy out the airlock during a panic attack at what he persieved was his captured abuser taunting him. (It might’ve beem corrupted AI Alfor or his own mind.)

...so why I hated “that THING” line soooo much as both a Takashi and Jiro stan, it wasn’t completely out of character for me. (And I will forever wish the two got to meet and clear the air.)

calling the black paladins fight a ripoff of the star wars prequels is an insult to the star wars prequels. unlike in vld, the obi wan + anakin fight had actual lasting consequences for the story and its universe. tbp is just fancy set dressing.

tbh the black paladins episode is symptomatic of VLD’s wider problem with storytelling: lots of big action set-pieces and dramatic showdowns… but absolutely no consequences or follow-through. the story just hops from one Big Dramatic Moment to another, with no emotional fallout, no time for the characters to breathe and react, no emotional beats where the audience gets to process what’s happened… none of that. they never have to deal with the consequences of their choices because the show is already rattling on to the next adventure.

TBP is a prime example of this. Keith has a massive, dramatic showdown with Shiro - which should have huge consequences. it should change their dynamic. it should have emotional fallout. but the show dodges all of those things by having the fight be between Keith and clone!Shiro. it’s cowardly storytelling, because it robs the fight of any real emotional stakes. if the story has already decided that Kuron is just an “evil clone”, why should we care if Keith fights him? why does it matter if he dies? which he does, conveniently sparing Keith any awkward conversations with him later.

here’s what’s wrong with the fight in TBP:

there’s no build-up to a fight between Shiro and Keith. absolutely nothing in the narrative up to that moment has pointed at a need for some kind of Shiro vs. Keith showdown. they are not at odds. they do not have unresolved issues that need to be aired out. so they’re just going at it because JDS thinks that’s big sexy.

because of this, the fight does not serve as a dramatic stand-in for some underlying character tension. ultimately, the fight ends up looking like a throw-down over who gets to pilot the Black Lion, which is so fucking asinine i can’t even find words for it.

the fight itself, whilst beautifully animated, lacks any real emotional stakes because it’s between Keith and clone!Shiro, and as soon as Keith defeats Kuron and knocks him out, og!Shiro appears in the void to inform Keith that Kuron was just a ‘thing’ and an ‘it’ and therefore Keith does not need to care about him. the audience is thus told that we don’t need to care about him either.

this is gross, btw. also it’s completely out of character for Shiro to be that callous and uncaring about a guy who shares his face and memories. fight me i’m right and i’m gonna say it.

there’s no lasting consequences of it, and no one talks about it. Romelle hangs a lampshade on the whole thing at the beginning of S7, but that’s about as far as we get in acknowledging anything that happened.

the narrative dodges the consequences by immediately dismissing Kuron as an ‘evil clone’ and then downloading Shiro’s soul into his still-warm body.

again: this is gross and there’s no way Shiro - a character who was robbed of his bodily autonomy in a pretty traumatic fashion by the Galra - would ever go along with it. 

so Keith never sits down and talks to Kuron about the fact that they fought, or the expression of love between them, or the fact that Keith saved him, but only after he chopped his arm off… it’s never discussed because Kuron conveniently vanishes from the narrative as soon as the fight is over. likewise there’s no moment where Keith tearfully forgives Kuron for trying to kill him whilst Kuron expresses his anguished regret at turning on the team, because - again - he’s just fucking gone at that point.

the only lasting consequence of the whole thing is that Shiro finds himself in a body without an arm, and this is used as an excuse to boot him from the Black Lion and replace him with Keith.

so yeah… it’s pointless garbage. it’s melodrama for the sake of melodrama, with absolutely no substance or heart whatsoever.