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I totally agree with you. VLD leaving out Pollux was such a wasted opportunity. I thought they were gonna add it and make them like Space!Wikanda or something. Adding Polloux would've added more grey. They could've scrapped the clone subplot and had Shiro end up on Pollux, befriending Romelle and Bandor, that way both Shiro and Romelle get more screentime and development. I still think the clone and Lotor's colony were both stupid and problematic ideas that should've been scrapped.

Hi Anon, thank you for the Ask!

I always assumed that Pollux would show up in some form, that it would be related to Lotor in either a shady or trope-defying noble way, that Romelle would also be involved, and it would be for just one episode (like Hole in the Sky) with some mix of legacy/nostalgia goggles and exist to unite some dangling plot threads in a meaningful way that doesn’t create more questions or vagueness. And that’s almost what we got in the worst way possible, and for the sake of nothing because it was never necessary, with only more questions created and everything was vague.

Pollux as an actual political entity could have added meaningful shades of grey instead of the superficial morality gruel continuously heaped onto the story plate with every decision made by nearly every character as the series progressed. But in order for Pollux to add that meaningful grey, there would need to be clear good-and-evil, or ethical-and-unethical representatives in the story without relying on the Tragic Pragmatist Underdog In A Hellscape Setting Who Has No Good Options To Save Lives And Probably the Universe to provide some half-baked measure to judge all actions against that is left intentionally vague by lazy writing posing as Fashionable Leaving It Up To Audience Interpretation.

As for the clone—Kuron, Ryou, Jiro—can we have a new test? Right after the sexy lampshade test, we could have a “Does The Character Who Does The Thing Really Have To Be a Clone?” test.

Does The Character Who Does The Thing Really Have To Be a Clone if:

A long-lost identical twin can do the Thing?

A brain-washed original can do the Thing?

A traitor sleeper agent original can do the Thing?

An alternate reality or time-traveling original can do the Thing?

You have no intention on following up on the ramifications of cloning respective to the setting and what the introduction of the technology means for those who use it.

For #5 above, that’s the biggest reason why BOTH the clone and the Colony were unnecessary (I hesitate to call those ideas stupid b/c it’s all about execution). The clone introduces far too many questions that usually begin with “Why didn’t Haggar also clone X…?”, while the Colony only existed to provide a cheap shock reversal of the Zuko bait, and was never required for S7-S8 to proceed as it did, nor was Romelle required.

I don’t say that to diss the character, but she added nothing to the plot that wouldn’t have been more interesting and fun if Reformed Zuko-Lotor hadn’t been in her position instead. Lotor had a personality that provided contrast and tension against the paladins in addition to already established rivalries and relationships with the paladins and it was too late in the game to give a shit about a new character who didn’t have any of those things.

Additionally, in terms of narrative utility, Romelle could have been replaced with either a strongly worded letter written in blood or a sad-tragic hologram, and the murder-confrontation with Lotor could have been just as easily shoe-horned without care as it already was.

Yes, Romelle is cute and blah blah Yeeting Girl Power blah blah, but Romelle as a part of Pollux-as-political-entity would have done more with her character, either as an antagonist or an ally. Otherwise, she was only a tag-a-long Elf Usagi who had to be given out-of-place-and-inexplicable martial skills/might in order to hold her own in S7—again—Reformed Zuko-Lotor would have made more sense in her place as the 7th Ranger.

Returning to the #5 Clone Problem, and the Colony: S7-S8 could have remained the same (including dead Lotor) because the Colony Alteans were not necessary. They weren’t necessary because Haggar/Honerva had cloning technology and access to Lotor’s body at various points over the past 10k years. If Shiro was fascinating enough for Haggar to clone, then for damn sure Lotor would have been. The Altean pilots in S8 could have been an army of Lotor clones. As-is, some (or maybe all) of the Altean pilots were possessed by the dark entities so there you go. The Lotor clones don’t even need their own personalities or motivations. The dark entities are another reason why the Colony Alteans were unnecessary. Honerva had Oriande, the dark entities, and could have used Galra Empire resources regardless of what state it was in to construct her mechas for Lotor Clones to pilot. Zarkon conquered nearly the entire universe, that’s really fucking big y’all, the resources were there.

Oh, but the Colony Alteans and Romelle’s story were necessary to motivate Allura to reject Lotor and motivate the Paladins to murder-confront him! 

Not really. A sad-tragic hologram as a testament to Lotor’s “crimes” *yawn* combined with the Paladins’ existing-but-partly-tamed distrust and Allura’s problematic space racism could have yielded the same outcome in one way or another. The crimes-worthy-of-death could have been different, and he still could have had that discount Azula breakdown moment to pad Monsantos’ resumes with.

That got longer and saltier than I intended, I’m sorry.

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three contagonists in one

another two-parter anon:

…while many people [note] Lotor’s lack of a relationship with Keith, I find infinite wasted potential in what could’ve been an interesting arc with Shiro. Both leaders, explorers, abused by the empire, and — this was stressed for some reason in the Kral Zera episode — both being a special object of Sendak’s hatred.

You just knocked right on one of the few truly fascinating aspects of S3-S6, and one VLD seems to have completely overlooked: Lotor’s positioning as a mirror contagonist.

There’s something you’ll find in a lot of the Gundam series that I haven’t seen too many other series do, and it’s become my favorite way to flesh out a cast. Although most Gundam series have a nominal protagonist, there’s usually a core group of pilots. Each will step into the main spot for a few episodes, and each has a secondary character who acts as their foil. This is their mirror contagonist. 

I first noticed the pattern in Gundam Wing, where it was most stark. Heero had Relena, whose innocence balanced his brutal backstory yet whose political savvy balanced his ignorance of the bigger picture. Duo had Hilde, who’d become a traditional soldier while Duo acted alone. Trowa had Cathy, whose compassion and extroversion matched his detachment and isolation; Quatre had Dorothy, whose ruthlessness and game-playing echoed Quatre’s darker side. And Wufei had Sally, who refused to mope, but grabbed the bull by the horns. Even the antagonists had mirror characters.

A mirror contagonist is also an impact character: they’re the only one the protagonist can’t ignore, even when no one else can get through. Done right, it’s an intriguing way to highlight a character’s internal conflict. But boy, do mirror contagonists take a lot of planning. 

Keep reading

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I saw this picture of the new Voltron poster and this part of the picture got me thinking….

This Altean looks familiar….

¿¿¿¿??????

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Okay so I know everyone and their dog has speculated basically every onscreen galra to be mixed race / half-galra, usually with only half a shoelace and three pieces of lint’s worth of evidence. Thus, I think it’s only fair I get to have my fun.

Here is my theory: Dayak is Galra-Altean.

Keep reading

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Mhm. Pure Galra, eh? Peace treaty between the Galra and Nalquod?

Hepta’s neck even has that two-toned split when he’s drawn from the side.

Oh, and here is the shining example of this!

Had to repost this because the mobile tumblr stacked the images on desktop.

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I'm kind of confused. Why did Keith decide to steal Shiro's car? When it was the teacher who was insulting him? It was hilarious but I was confused why he did it lol

I think it was meant to show how younger Keith was a kid that was really struggling–he has no one in his corner. It’s more than just “acting out” too. Because, he dealt the blow to Shiro very deliberately–he wanted Shiro to notice his skill, to take him under his wing, to sign him on for the garrison. He pilots that sim with deaft control and total command. When Shiro shows Keith an old spaceship, Keith knows the whole history behind it. He’s interested in this stuff, wants to build a life around it. 

When Shiro first arrives, he catches Shiro’s eye–because he’s so blatantly withdrawn and closed off, and you can see that Shiro wants to kind of reach out to him. Keith very deliberately has his walls up here, is trying so hard not to get his hopes up. 

And you just have to look at how Keith’s entire mood lifts when Shiro asks him if he wants to give the sim a try. No one’s ever been like Shiro before, no one’s ever really given him a chance. 

And you know what?? Shiro’s so impressed!! Keith can do every one of these drills in his sleep, and Shiro knows a pilot when he sees one. When the teacher gives Shiro the list, Shiro makes a point of asking about Keith and doesn’t even mention anyone else, “Is this guy on there? Looks like he’s just about ready to fly the real thing.”

Keith stealing Shiro’s car isn’t payback. It’s a confused and cornered kid desperately attempting to take control of a situation that was always out of his hands. He’s not mad at Shiro, he’s mad at himself for believing that he actually had a chance, for “falling” for Shiro’s nice guy routine and thinking he could reach for the stars. When the teacher says his name’s not on the list, given how everyone else has treated him in the past, he feels like Shiro’s just going to turn on him too. And he doesn’t want to wait for that. He doesn’t want Shiro to see him as just some troubled kid and write him off. 

It’s the confirmation that–yeah, this is too good to be true, time to wake up. Stealing Shiro’s car puts an end to that fantasy, but at least it’s an end he decided for himself rather than one that was dictated outside his control. 

So he turns on Shiro first. He makes him leave. If they’re gonna say he has a discipline problem, why not at least give them what they asked for? Keith outright admits in his vlog that he pushes other people away before they can reject him. And that’s exactly what he’s doing. But of course, Shiro isn’t like everyone else. When he hears Keith’s name has been omitted from the list, that he’s just a discipline case that would never make it at the Garrison–his previous enthusiasm is completely gone. He can’t believe that they’re literally going to just count Keith out like that. 

And it’s obvious from the way that Shiro treats Keith afterwards that he can tell there’s so much going on beneath the surface there, that Keith’s dealing with a whole lot and he needs some sort of support or else he’ll just keep punishing himself until he starts to crash and burn. Keith’s act of defiance is a pretty clear warning sign, and Shiro’s not about to let him just fall through the cracks. 

And I honestly do believe his giving a second chance to Keith was very important on a personal level, because honestly, at some point or another, he probably needed to hear that. We know he’s been told he wasn’t well enough to be capable of certain things before–it’s not a stretch to say he may have even struggled to get into the garrison’s flight program becasue of his chronic illness. People like Sam Holt were there to vouch for him on missions so he got that chance. He wants to be there for Keith because he knows how much it means to have someone in your corner. 

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I dont have much to add on this since I'm not as familiar with all the previous iterations except DOTU and knowing of Vehicle Voltron, but as for VLD, I remember they expressedly said in the Voltron Manual that came out last year or so that the Black Lion requires the most energy (quintessence) from its pilot and I always thought that was part of what made Shiro so special. He was so connected with Black and he must have had a great deal of energy to pilot his lion so instinctively. They never really followed up with that (until s7 as mentioned), but my thoughts are that it would have something to do with the reason why Haggar was so intent on possessing Shiro (re: "You could have been our greatest weapon!") and in line with that, would also be reasoning for the clones, other than just infiltrating Voltron. (Something about Shiro's quintessence making him special, that is.)

The fact that the "quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his Lion" also adds credence to the "vampire mecha" theory since it makes intuitive sense for the energies to have to be compatible in order for the energy zapping to work.

This is also kind of in line with one of my thoughts from season 6, which was that... Lotor must have unheard of amounts of quintessence, as he is able to easily control a Voltron-level mecha by himself, even though Voltron requires FIVE pilots' worth of quintessence to function. Considering that his DNA is literally INFUSED with quintessence--from being in the womb when Haggar entered the Rift--and even being described by the EP's as being a dhampire (half-vampire), I think it makes a certain amount of sense that he has this ability.

“Arus always lies”

I forgot how crazy the backstory third sphere conspiracy between Zarkon and Alfor was in the Dynamite Voltron comics. I’m re-reading them and I get to the part where Sven is telling Keith about how Arus (and Allura) are hiding the truth and he’s all “Arus lies” and my brain replaced that with Azula…obviously.

I’ve long thought that VLD Alfor was shady for binding Allura’s quintessence to Voltron and Dynamite Voltron is reminding me of how some concepts for Alfor were crossed into that territory.

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let’s talk about

so remember these?  All those clones behind the - clone.  So I’ve been bagging on Haggar pretty badly for coming up with so many of them for no apparent reason but I was thinking -

you know that crazy robeast we got at the end of season 7.  What if Haggar had been messing around with that idea before she found out about the Altean colony?  I mean, she’s using the Alteans as battery packs for her new souped up robeasts now but what had she been planning on using before she found out about the Lotor’s secret stash?

Or rather - who?

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now that we have kolivan back in season 7, and he, krolia, and keith have reunited; do you think he knew Keith and Krolia were related when he sent him out to get her or did he just suspect? Also how long do you think Kolivan was Marcidus's prisoner for?

Given how relatively little tattering or wear was on Kolivan’s clothing and the extent of his injury and the state Macidus was keeping him in, I imagine he was relatively “fresh”- Macidus was not seemingly making much effort to preserve Kolivan that we saw, and it’s likely as the leader of the Blade, he’d be one of the last bastions to fall. He’s far too cautious to be flushed out into the open with only minor losses.

As far as Kolivan knowing Krolia… that’s pretty much a given looking at Krolia’s reactions to Kolivan and his blade, as well as her mentioning how the blades connect to their owners’ life forces. Kolivan, like Krolia did for him, would be able to read the knife as Krolia’s as soon as Antok took it from Keith.

That the Blades are bound to their owner specifically also gets interesting significance considering the fact that when Keith awakens it, Kolivan specifically talks about the blood in Keith’s veins. Because seemingly each Marmoran is bound one-to-one to their weapon, a case like Keith’s in which he awakens a Blade that wasn’t made for him is a significant statement.

Because Krolia is Keith’s biological mother- because the galran blood in Keith’s veins is blood he inherited from her. So the blade awakens for Keith the way it does for Krolia very likely because of their shared blood. Which is an interesting meta commentary about not only the fact that they have a biological link, but the nature of that link. While Krolia was absent from Keith’s life, her blade remained faithfully by Keith’s side- before he needed a weapon to defend himself, it was a constant he took comfort from, and a helpful tool.

That reassurance, that sense of belonging, that inclination to help, is exactly what Krolia brings to the table when she’s able to earnestly be a part of Keith’s life again starting in s5e5. So the story of the luxite blade comes full circle to a twofold statement- not only are Keith and Krolia of one blood, with him as her biological child- but the nature of that relationship is nurturing, as the weapon that resonates with that blood has effectively watched over Keith and kept him safe. Not every case of shared blood nurtures the child in this way- after all, we have the case study of Honerva and Lotor, where Haggar’s blood in Lotor’s veins actively endangers him on multiple occasions, punctuated- like the case of Krolia and Keith- with the mother’s own actions.

But getting back to the purely factual thing of the luxite blades and their relationship with their owners- Kolivan had to have known. He and Krolia are, seemingly, quite close…

(boy howdy did s7e5 feed my theory that Kolivan is Krolia’s father. They interact with a tenderness and a familiarity that neither of them spare anyone else besides Krolia for her partner and her son, and I don’t think their interactions are intended to read as romantic)

…and the fact that Krolia could just look casually at Macidus’s morbid trophy collection and recognize each of the fallen by their weapons alone tells us the same had to have applied to Kolivan back in s2e8. He accuses Keith of being a thief, not a murder- Krolia’s blade still gleams with a bright and steady light the entire time- but he’s adamant Keith can’t be that weapon’s rightful owner because he knows who that weapon belongs to.

…Though I have to wonder how Keith would have felt if he’d known how to read luxite blades the way that Krolia did- if, before he ever met his mother, he’d known that the light on the hilt was explicitly telling him his mother was still alive somewhere.

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The best thing about this is that neoprene (the fabric wetsuits are made of) is a totally plausible material for space clothes, I'm pretty sure one of the layers in actual NASA space suits is neoprene.

It's what I've always headcanoned bodysuits under the Paladin armor to be made of, as well.

CHemsworth in this wetsuit is what I imagine Shiro looks like in all the tightass clothes he’s worn throughout the series

and honestly I wonder how the rest of the voltron characters can even look at him without losing their minds

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Season seven be serving us whole god damn meal

Like bitch

BITCH

BITCH

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Lookin’ at you, Tumblr.

Grow up. Not everything is made to your demands, the people who make the decisions don’t care, and you’re only hurting people.

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Twitter

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People that think a//urance is being forced– can rewatch the show. The show’s been hinting at this for the entire time now. Doesn’t mean you have to like it, but calling their scenes together this season “forced” is just incorrect.

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Listen, I’m really not a fan of the possibility of Keith/Acxa either, and this isn’t because I’m worried she’ll get in the way of my ships because I literally don’t care about any of the Big Ships. It definitely feels rushed, and they’ve had so little interaction.

But the endless hate I’ve seen for her in the tags (particularly twitter), the constant ridiculing of her character, hoping she’ll literally die, really brings me back to 2006 deviantart when fans formed Kairi hate clubs for getting in the way of their precious Riku x Sora ship. This sort of thing happened in virtually every fandom, where the female character was constantly vilified because she ‘threatens’ another ship, and it’s sad to see that nothing has changed.

So please stop with the hate. Yes, Keith deserves to be with someone he genuinely has a connection with, but so does Acxa. Keith isn’t the only one being affected here. I’m not saying you can’t vent about it, but I think we can support both characters getting decent arcs without demonizing the woman again lol.

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we’re ready

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@lionswaps put the tag “elevator music” on my last gif (below) and i knew immediately what i had to do it was my calling to quickly arrange this and bash it out IM LAUGHING