#Lotor's squad

[alivegoast]

Oh, well I uh forgot what the point of my previous post was about. Alien languages. In my story, I just planned on giving Lance a blast of "Common language" at some point... meaning the Galra can use their language around him without his knowledge, and more importantly, Lotor's generals can teach him swears. We love some bad influences tbh.

[lilflowerpot]

How much better is the galra sense of smell than humans? I remember you mentioned it once but as tumblr is a barely functioning site I can’t get to the links on mobile. I’m asking bc it would create a pretty funny/painfully awkward situation if Keith and Lotor were like returning from a quickie or something way in the future looking put together but the those in attendance are like… Sa save me from having to be here

It took me a hot minute to find, and frankly I don't blame you for being unable to locate it if you're on mobile, rip, but this is the only post (I think?) in which I've notably addressed the galra sense of smell!

While I do think of the galra having a heightened sense of smell in comparison to humans, it only really comes into play for stronger scents, such as that triggered by the fight or flight response; pheromones serve as an early warning sign to nearby galra that there is a potentially dangerous situation afoot, assisting them in locating the distressed individual as well as preemptively protecting those members of the group who may not be able to protect themselves. So while I suppose you could argue that this means the galra can “smell fear” as it were (though technically these pheromones would release due to arousal of any kind: be that horror, anxiety, surprise, excitement, or -yes- sexual stimulation), they cannot smell moods/emotions as a general rule of thumb.

So, yes, your funny/awkward situation of Keith & Lotor being betrayed by their own scents technically //could// happen lmao, but probably not if they actually had time to -ahem- calm down afterwards, and properly put themselves back together.

Though pheromones can linger for around 6-8 hours after being released, a great deal of this would be dispersed into the air—and given that the galra do have a somewhat decent sense of smell, they'd likely invest in ventilation of equal quality for enclosed areas—and therefore be too weak to really pick out the nuances of who exactly they belonged to. Those pheromones that were applied directly to skin, clothes, or various surfaces would, naturally, stick around that bit longer, but these would only really be detectable up close; it's less a case of Keith & Lotor walking into a room and all it's occupants immediately Knowing™, and more that of someone who leans over to pass something directly into their personal space that might get a hint of their scents being intermingled... though even that wouldn't be particularly surprising. The galra are, remember, an incredibly affectionate people (Zarkon's inner-circle notwithstanding) and given that Lotor so obviously values Keith's council and companionship, it would be far weirder if they //didn't// smell a little like one another.

Of course, this is all dependent on them having a respectable amount of time to compose themselves. If they failed in this regard—by which I mean if it was more an unexpected knock on the door that barely allows more than a dobash of hasty scrambling to look halfway put together—then all those pheromones from their canoodling would only be exacerbated by a healthy dose of adrenaline,,, and that wouldn't be subtle at all.

[vrepit-sa]

tell me stuff about galra gender xeno

Not much to tell tbh. They're dimorphic like humans are. Galra also don't really seem to acknowledge it much at all. Whether one is male or female, it simply does not matter to them. I suppose on a culture-by-culture basis this could vary, but otherwise the Empire at large doesn't treat one sex any differently from the other. I'd imagine for most galra it would be bizarre to segregate like that.

For your consideration of sending this prompt tho:

Gnov would eat Xaallo for fucking breakfast.

[astralscrivener]

✨ fic directory ✨

i’ve created a post to keep all of my fics in one place. all fics can be found on ao3. (last updated may 4th, 2024)

major ongoing works

STEALING OUR OWN PLACE IN THE SUN

- voltron: legendary defender: a rewrite of vld seasons 4-8. - team focus, broganes, klance, adashi, romellura - rated M, graphic depictions of violence + other warnings in author notes - 22/45 chapters, 251k words (december 25th, 2022) - last posted: chapter 22: season 7, episode 3: elliptical orbit

AT SKYFALL

- voltron: legendary defender: canon-divergent au in which keith and shiro are captured by the galra at a coalition gala. things become more complicated when the team’s search for shiro turns up someone else: adam, shiro’s fiancé.  - broganes, klance, adashi - rated M, graphic depictions of violence + other warnings in author notes - 8/? chapters, 25k words (september 2nd, 2023) - last posted: chapter 8: division and discord

ABCS OF KLANCE

- voltron: legendary defender: oneshots, one prompt for each letter of the alphabet, focused on keith and lance’s relationship - variety of aus, some overlap with squad up (2017-19 modern au), mostly established relationship klance - 18 works, 87k words (may 4th, 2024) - a: artistry • b: brutality • c: comfort • d: defeat • e: elegance • f: faithfulness • g: grief • h: homelessness • i: information • j: jealousy • k: knell • l: loyalty • m: mercy • n: need • o: opportunity • p: pain • q: quest • r: rumor • s: sleep • t: trust • u: uncertainty • v: victory • w: worry • x: xenon • y: yearning • z: zero - last posted: lightning in a bottle (y: yearning)

other ongoing works

THESE 20S ARE RAWRING AND THESE DUNGEONS ARE DRAGONING

- voltron: legendary defender: modern au + d&d series started in 2020 as a stress response to quarantine - team focus, klance, adashi, romellua, hunay

• main work: the rawring 20s XD - chatfic that only updates if i think it will be funny - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author notes - 5/5 chapters, 17k words - last posted: chapter 5: there is no easter bunny, there is no tooth fairy, (september 8th, 2022)

- other works include klance-centric oneshots + snippets of the group’s ongoing d&d campaign - 5 works, 37k words - last posted: midnight into morning coffee (february 7th, 2024)

VLD FIC REQUESTS

- voltron: legendary defender: oneshots across a variety of aus written in response to prompts from friends and followers - variety of ships, but mainly klance and adashi - some overlap with squad up  - 15 works, 92k words (july 8th, 2023) - last posted: distraction

major completed works

DECEIT SO NATURAL

- voltron: legendary defender: canon-divergent trilogy in which lance and keith fool their way behind enemy lines and onto lotor’s ship to steal vital information on the galra empire—only for lotor to become far more dangerous than anyone anticipated. - mainly klance, extremely one-sided lancelot - written before gay shiro reveal + age discourse, contains side shallura - 3 works, 315k words - completed june 15th, 2018

• WHERE PEOPLE GO TO DIE - lotor mistakenly believes that lance is a galra soldier spying on the paladins, and invites him to return home. keith follows him undercover as a prisoner, and quickly draws lotor’s ire as things spiral rapidly out of control. - rated M, graphic depictions of violence - 14/14 chapters, 49k words - completed july 9th, 2017

• DYNASTY DECAPITATED - lotor becomes vindictive after having been played for a fool by team voltron, and the team struggles to hold the voltron alliance together while fending off his rapid advances. meanwhile, keith and lance explore a new stage of their relationship and learn exactly what the other means to them. - rated M, graphic depictions of violence - 18/18 chapters, 67k words - completed august 7th, 2017

• STARS GO DOWN - lotor has captured lance and sentenced keith to death halfway across the universe. lance struggles to hold onto himself as he plays the role of an amnesiac, while keith attempts to fight his way back to the team, alone. meanwhile, the team, down two lions and two paladins, scrambles to bring keith and lance home amidst betrayals and tumult in the voltron alliance. - rated M, graphic depictions of violence, temporary major character death + other warnings in author notes - 37/37 chapters, 198k words - completed june 15th, 2018

SQUAD UP

- voltron: legendary defender: modern au written from 2017-19 to cope with the horrors of being in high school and the transition into college - written before gay shiro reveal + age discourse, contains side shallura and shiro/allura/matt - 25 works, 561k words - completed may 10th, 2019

• main work: squad up - chatfic chronicling the gang’s last year of high school - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author note - 140/140 chapters, 327k words - completed june 15th, 2018

• main work: a midsummer night’s meme - chatfic chronicling the gang’s last summer before college - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author note - 27/27 chapters, 79k words - completed august 31st, 2018

• main work: because guys like us are cool in college - series of oneshots/snippets following keith and lance’s freshman year of college - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author note - 84/84 chapters, 83k words - completed may 10th, 2019

LIGHT UP THE PATH (THROUGH A SKY FULL OF STARS)

- voltron: legendary defender: 28 oneshots completed for klance au month february 2019. - klance - variety of aus, including but not limited to modern au, canon-divergent/other paladinsverse, fantasy au, and more - rated M, creator chose not to use archive warnings + other warnings in author note - 28/28 chapters, 49k words - completed february 28th, 2019

additional oneshots not mentioned here can be found on archive of our own ✨ other writing (including drabbles, snippets, and prompts from tumblr ask games) can be found in my writing tag ✨

happy reading!

[silentwillowwhisperer]

Okay do you agree with me that we were severely deprived of Ezor, Zethrid, Axca, and Veronica content? Because they would be the ultimate lesbian squad like

Do not even. Get. Me. Started.

Too late.

(warning: this is a loooooong post.)

My poor girls, they were so perfect! And don't forget Narti (blind lizard gal) because as much as I think Lotor's whole villain arc thingy was dumb, I will NEVER forgive him for killing her. Never ever ever.

I do refer to them as Lotor and the Lesbians in my head, so I think it's pretty clear what I think about them. (Small note: If they were a band that would be their name.)

And Veronica! She was so cool! You know she steals all the girls her brothers bring home. Like, 'Oh you met someone cool at work? I'm just gonna take her off your hands...' Let's be real, if Veronica was not a fictional character, she would be a notorious lady charmer.

And COME ON. Ezor and Zethrid were LITERALLY DATING. I will take NO ARGUEMENTS. Do we not remember that whole episode where Zethrid went berserk on the paladins cuz she thought Ezor was dead?? And how they looked lovingly into each other's eyes? They had an END SCENE together! Well, it wasn't about them, it was that thing about Keith taking over command of the blade but WHAT-EVER. They were 2 feet away from each other because they were inseparable and in. love.

look at them.

Wait I can do better:

I'm gonna scream.

And, yeah, they were technically canon but this doesn't count. If Shiro and the dude he married (..Curtis?) get a canon kiss then so do Ezor and Zethrid.

Before I start my little spiel and Veronica and Acxa, I'm just gonna leave a picture of Narti here for those of you who don't remember her.

She was the one without eyes who could see through the eyes of her cat (honestly so real in a fictional way, love that for her).

Ringing any bells? Yeah, I cried when she died. (I made a rhyme!)

NOW.

Veronica and Acxa. They would have been SO CUTE together. And even if they didn't get together, at the very least they should have been best friends. Like the kind of best friends where Acxa is adopted into the McClain family to the point at which she can always be found there just chilling in their house like she owns the place. The kind of best friends that finish each other's sentences and know EVERYTHING about each other. GUYS. This was the VISION.

And you know what? I gonna put a picture of them here in just a sec, but you ALL know what I'm talking about when I say that they had a klance-style bonding moment.

Do not even try to tell me that they did not have potential. They're making awkward love eyes at each other.

(Also, the limited fanart that exists of them is SO. CUTE.)

Honestly, if the show really wanted to show representation that bad, then why couldn't these ships be real? Adam is great and all that, but if we're going to introduce a queer relationship in the name of representation, then maybe don't kill him off for the sake of drama after only about 5 minutes total screentime.

In fact, Shiro's whole thing was messed up. Yes, I get that he's a queer icon, but why are these things being forced on him? Instead of putting him with another character that also only got 5 minutes of screentime, maybe his end scene could be something like, 'Shiro went and finally got the therapy he deserved' or 'Shiro and Keith spent quality time together now that they were no longer separated' or even, 'Shiro retired from military business and built a comfortable life for himself as a coffee shop owner.'

He. Does. Not. Need. No. Man.

Based on the fact that he still has that Garrison-issued arm, he is still in relations with them in some way. And maybe he quit and just got to keep the arm, but that needed to be specified. Are we forgetting his previous trauma? His periodic flashbacks? The fact that his body was taken over by alien life and used to INJURE HIS YOUNGER BROTHER? The very same brother that he was a role model to?

And maybe we could have kicked Lance's scene out and instead shown him with his family? That would have been a great place to insert Veronica and show them actually bonding like family. Did anyone else find it weird that we got basically no scenes of them interacting in space? With their personalities, they should have been gossiping and having spa days left and right, but there was nothing of the sort.

Wait, I'm sorry, I got off topic.

Where was I? Oh yeah.

The most talked about example of queerbaiting is always Klance because as main characters, they're in the spotlight, but these closeted lesbians do in fact exist.

Why did we get Allurance but not Ezor and Zethrid? They were SO CLEARLY compatible and they weren't toxic to each other like Allura and Lance. My main argument against that ship is because of Klance, it's because Allura had just lost someone important and rebounded to Lance, and Lance constantly tried to be the rock for her that she wasn't ready to lean on. He finally had what he wanted from day 1, and realized that if he really wanted it to continue, he would have to change in ways he wasn't ready for.

If that kind of relationship gets a kiss, then Ezor and Zethrid should get one too. They spent their whole time on the show supporting and relying on each other.

[ang-900]

The Original Voltron Adaptations Vs Their Original Japanese Counterparts.

Beast King Go-Lion:

Go-Lion/Voltron's backstory is that he got split due to his hubris after thinking he could take on the space goddess.

Voltron is a sentient being who lived long before time.

Voltron's title is king of the beasts.

All the pilots, save Fala/Allura, are from Earth.

All the boys are effectively in the same boat as VLD Shiro and have the gladiator backstory.

Earth is dead and gone, consumed by World War 3 by the start of the show.

Allura is canonically 16.

Raible/Coran's a strategist.

Altea/Arus's people were assumed to all be destroyed (especially the royal family), but they're all hiding out.

Allura's parents and siblings are executed by Daibazaal/Zarkon's hand while she was a year old baby. Zarkon didn't know she existed.

Hiroshi Suzuishi/Pidge is descended from Ninja.

There's so much blood and gore. People get cut in half vertically and horizontally. We get the privilege of watching people drop dead on screen with these horrifying faces and screams. Zarkon and Sincline/Lotor drink blood, too.

Honerva/Haggar has this bs called occult science.

Akira Kogane/Keith and Allura are so slowburn to the point it might not exist between them.

King Raimon/Alfor's ghost comes back from the grave to tell the paladins how much they suck.

Pidge threatens to eat the space mice twice.

Shirogane Takashi/Sven dies and and a later episode introduces his younger brother, Ryou/Sven, who was captured as a slave among others before Earth was fully destroyed.

Cannibalism

A tragic side character commits suicide at the end of an episode

Amue/Romelle's older brother is willingly turned into a robeast. Her older brother and father are both murdered by the Galra during a battle with Voltron.

Earth is completely destroyed and uninhabitable. The boys become honorary citizens of Arus.

A scene depicting Pidge's mother shows her seeing him off his mission. It's the last time he sees her.

Lotor has a dream about his mother where it suggests Zarkon had a hand in her disappearance. A flashback occurs showing us she was a good person and was killed for moral differences.

Coran's son, Saint/Garret, died as an infant while he and his mother were escaping from the castle. They are buried by a local group of people. The Galra dig up this grave to clone him.

Hys/Nanny is shot by Garret and dies.

A father-daughter bond is implied between Coran and Allura when the latter comforts the former after the Garret incident.

The Galran foot soldiers are living beings.

Romelle almost died via firing squad.

One notable robeast involved a snake like being who survived a civil massacre amongst her people and was introduced burying her deceased child. She adopts Pidge within the same episode. She dies at the end from blood loss.

Another notable side character was a sand person. Allura befriends this one by giving it her bracelet. The sand person is turned into a robeast. It's implied the sand person dies at the end, though it is unclear why.

During the final battle, Lotor sends out trapped prisoners in bubbles as bombs so Voltron can't move without killing them. Lotor also shoots them as missles. Haggar also shoots at the prisoners so Voltron can move and end Lotor's career.

Haggar's motive in helping Voltron lies in that Lotor killed Zarkon.

Haggar is Zarkon's mother.

Ryou dies fighting Lotor.

Honerva dies. Zarkon dies. Lotor dies.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe:

"We don't need clothes." Keith, 1984.

Arus is still alive, they just get attacked.

Voltron's backstory is that Haggar disguised herself as said space goddess and wrecked Voltron into five pieces.

Coran's a diplomat.

Voltron's title is King of the Robots

Galaxy Garrison exists here.

Allura grew up an only child and seldom saw her parents because they were busy.

Sven is severely injured and is, instead, sent to another planet to recuperate, but gets captured as a slave on planet Doom and thinks he's crazy.

Zarkon disrespects Haggar likes it's nobody's business.

King Alfor built Voltron.

Zarkon has a nephew

Pidge has a sister who's stated to be training as a pilot.

That same tragic side character is said to have returned to her home planet offscreen

Romelle's older brother is willingly turned into a robeast. He swims out to see in the middle of a battle with Voltron. Romelle's father in consequence goes mad and is implied to have died as a result.

Balto is ravaged by Lotor's forces. Pidge becomes an honourary citizen of Arus.

Pidge is an orphan and the scene of his mother depicts his adoption

Lotor has a dream about Allura instead. Allura's nightmare shows us she's afraid of Zarkon.

"Lotor, my beloved son, you're a nitwit." -Zarkon, 1984

Doom/Drule council.

Coran's son, Garret, and his wife are said to be alive in another dimension they were beamed to when the Galra attacked them. The clone is robotic like.

Allura when comforting Coran after the Garret incident, calls him a good man.

Lance is a country boy.

The Doom foot soldiers are robots.

Romelle was sentenced to be shot by a firing squad with stun guns.

Lotor and Haggar look for a new robeast victim among the Medusans. Audibly noting that they're all in a deep rest. That Medusan lady chooses to adopt Pidge. She also gets hurt, but it's implied she lives.

The episode about the sand people goes relatively the same way. However, the sand person is stated to be exhausted, but alive.

Sven is injured and sent back to planet Pollux to heal.

During the final battle, Lotor sends out robots in bubbles to trap Voltron. Keith can't move him because the bombs would blow up in their face. Lotor shoots them as missiles. Haggar shoots them down so Voltron can end Lotor's career.

Zarkon lives. Haggar lives. Lotor lives.

Pidge has a brother, Chip.

The same:

The Robeasts sometimes have unique tits (long, metallic, and spiky).

Lotor has three different kinds of chins and noses he alternates between.

Allura's only living relative is her aunt.

Armoured Fleet Dairugger XV:

The show begins with a strong theme linked to the lifestyle and aspirations of young sailors staking their life on the sea.

The Galaxy Alliance's goal is to create a star map of the universe, explore planets, and potentially colonize one.

Shinji Ise/Commander Hawkins is unsure if there are any lifeforms other than the three species in the Galaxy Alliance.

There are three planets in the Galaxy Alliance: Earth, Mira, and Sala.

Miranda Keats/Krik has telepathy.

Barros Karateya/Zandee is possibly from New York.

The cook can sing and cook.

Krik and Moya Kirigas/Cinda are Mirans.

Shota Kreutz/Wolo and Saruka Katz/Tangor are Salans.

The main fleet has spent 7 months in space.

Manabu Aki/Jeff hates spicy food.

Tatsuo Izumo/Shannon has no deeper reason to hate the Galveston/Drule other than they've been fighting one another recently.

Sim/Sandu dies as a pilot with his ship.

Wolo's brother dies.

Haruka Kaga/Lisa's singing when the force is stalled on the weather planet.

Murder

Captain Barataria/Brak kills himself.

Walter Jack/Cliff's brother's name is Jimmy.

Cliff has a magic hobby. He wants to be a member of the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

The Dairugger crew/Vehicle force sing the theme song when sending off Captain Dick Asimov/Stanley.

The planet Hawkins saw blow up was a consequence of the Galra not wanting a base to be built on that planet - Planet Apollo.

Krik on his shift as commander simply orders the teams to head to their vehicles.

The Vehicle Force are observing the artifact they collected in a previous episode with hopes and doubts the civilization survived.

Commander Hagi/Kernel Klaus dies.

Director Wakasa/Marshal Graham is peeved the people aren't taking Drule threat seriously.

Drake/Mongo dies. Teles/Hazar has a devastating reaction to it.

Graves

Krik is implied to be a prince.

Sirk/Dorma has no biological relation to Hazar and instead is his adjutant.

Hazar's father is a Homeworld secretary socrat and he's immediately dismissed from this position when Hazar returns to Galveston.

Planet Mira has flowers similar to purple orange-spotted flowers.

The Vehicle team learned space combat at the space fortress.

The queen of Eldora states the Galran frontline base is east of the planet Eldora, in the area where the blue light shines.

Earth gets attacked, and are fending off the Galra.

Yasuo Mutsu/Chip trained really hard at the space fortress' juvenile school in terms of science.

The pendant Lisa gives Jeff is what her mother gave her before Dairugger's departure from Earth. Lisa considers this a souvenir.

Commander Date/Kernel Kerbert* and crew die due to how damaged the ship is.

Patty Ellington/Ginger planted a seed she found in her room. She compares the growth of the plant to their perseverance.

A sunset reminds Cliff of his hometown.

Hazar gets promoted to commander of the attack fleet.

Pidge dreams of driving his mother to Mt. Fuji. We see her physically in the back seat.

Krik's letter is from his father who states harvest is good on Mira. Cliff's letter's from his father who sends his greetings to Ginger.

The photo of the baby is Jeff's newborn nephew. He has at least one sibling.

Chip is a lonely single child.

Lisa and Chip are childhood friends. They were in the same class in juvenile school, and they trained together at the space fortress.

Kazuto Nagato/Hutch and Tasuku Izu/Marvin insult the three girls. They're mad because Kai Shinobu/Rocky previously talked about Emma/Twyla continuously, whilst Hutch says he grows tired of the three. Ginger trips Hutch and he cries.

Commander Twyla dies.

The crew of the Space Explorer play rugby with a squad of Galra soldiers. They all die.

Both the buck and the fawn die.

The two dolphins die. One was a calf. The mother swims head on to a bomb.

Ginger is grievously injured, and is piloting her machine while fighting off sleep medication. She is dedicated to fighting by her team.

Hazar hesitates to land a killing blow and his gun is shot from his hand. Dorma shoots the body guard and in pain he shoots about wildly, accidentally striking Emperor Corsair/Zeppo - who dies.

The date by the time of the Drule evacuation is Feb 9 in the space year 2203.

Commander Newley agrees the Drules should have the third planet of the 26 system as they have nowhere to go.

Commander Hazar is assassinated by three Galveston soldiers. One of whom is Sandu's younger brother.

Jeff gives Lisa's necklace to Hazar's corpse.

Voltron: Defender of The Universe - Vehicle:

The Galaxy Garrison's motive is to find a second planet because Earth is suffering overpopulation.

It's implied the Vehicle Team and crew already encountered Hazar. He is described as a pirate.

The Vehicle Force call themselves the Voltron Force.

The Vehicle Force can only stay combined for five minutes.

Lisa is implied go be an alien.

Wolo's planet has seven moons.

There is a spy aboard the Galaxy Cruiser for the Drules. This is never touched upon again.

The food is crap.

Krik's from a water planet and it was at one point saved by Voltron.

Krik has ESP abilities.

The Drule have a confirmed child soldier among their ranks.

Shannon's brother was taken prisoner and is currently being held on Planet Doom.

Commander Hawkins pours hot chocolate from kettles.

Wolo's brother is implied to have survived the encounter with the beast.

Lisa talks about past African civilization when the Force is stalled on the weather planet.

Commander Brak says he'll move to another planet if the Galra choose to be peaceful.

Cliff is a country boy. Has a confirmed younger brother named Ginny* and two other brothers.

The Voltron Force are singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" for Captain Newley's farewell party.

Commander Hawkins saw a planet, Orus*, get blown up. The reason for its destruction is unknown.

Krik on his round as commander gives orders with great enthusiasm which is noted by his teammates.

The chef paints as a hobby and the Vehicle Force spend an entire scene roasting his painting.

Kernel Klaus lives and wants to continue building bases.

Marshal Graham is down in the dumps when people joke about him and other high ranking personnel.

Mongo took an experimental time travel ship 😭 and left the empire for good because he no longer wanted to be a part of war.

Hazar drops the photo of him and Mongo because he's clumsy. He looks at it and wishes the latter luck.

The Drule are searching for a new planet due to a transient sun while the Galaxy Garrison are searching due to overpopulation.

Commander Hawkins and Jeff's relationship is funnier than it needs to be.

Ginger got run over twice by joggers.

Lisa invented a carrot and cabbage cocktail she calls 'C & C'.

Pidge and Chip are twins.

Jeff's favourite food is spaghetti.

Jeff has been intentionally skipping Professor Page's plant seminars.

We see Krik's family photo.

Hazar and Dorma are brother sister and he has a good relationship with her.

Commander Nerok escapes in an escape shuttle.

The crew drinks hot chocolate in their downtime.

Earth gets attacked and wins against the Drule.

Ginger brought an unknown plant seed aboard ship and is growing a small plant.

Jeff explains a learned philosophical viewpoint to Commander Hawkins, and the latter's answer is that Jeff would make a great politician.

Lisa bought a good luck charm from a wizard on Planet Korb*. Jeff doesn't believe in that, but he wears the necklace the following episode.

"There is a good chance the lieutenant could be damaged." & "You're a brave fool." -Krik, 1985

Pidge and Chip studied solar energy as a hobby.

Kernel Kerbert* and his crew survive by fleeing in escape ships.

Jeff has a dog named Rover. He named a planet after said dog, an idea Commander Hawkins shoots down.

Krik's father bought another hydro bionic farm that he will inherit one day.

It's implied Cliff writes about Ginger to his brother as they want to meet 'that smashing Ginger'.

Jeff's family sent his baby photo. He thinks he's still cute.

Lisa and Chip are close enough she recognizes his hand writing.

Chip dreams about Pidge. He worries greatly about his brother after the lack of a letter.

Hutch insults the three girls based on their looks implying Twyla is hotter. Ginger trips Hutch after he, Marvin, and Rocky insult all three female members of the Voltron Force and he cries.

Commander Twyla escapes in an escape shuttle.

The Voltron Force play football with the Drule. Jeff finds Lieutenant Antor seriously hurt under rubble, but they heal him and he lives.

The buck dies but the fawn lives.

The dolphin is a single dolphin who somehow managed to disable a missile and survive.

"We just signed an important peace treaty right at this table. I've agreed to let Ginger slurp up her spaghetti, and she's agreed to let me slurp up my soup." -Cliff to Jeff, (Ginger present).

"Well I didn't sign and I want my own table away from you." -Krik to Cliff and possibly Jeff, (Ginger present).

Episode 45. Episode 45 is way too funny. Krik and Cinda crave coconuts out of the blue, ask Commander Hawkins if they can stop at a planet for some, and Krik salutes to his commander that it was a 'dumb idea'.

Ginger has PTSD from an experience as a child where she survived a ship blowing up.

The Drule home-world had destructive material buried under the surface.

Hazar spares Zeppo, but the latter's body is slumped on the throne.

Captain Newley relocates the Drule to a planet in the fourth quadrant in the far galaxy.

Hazar lives.

Krik is passive-aggressive.

The Drule blow up perfectly good planets they can't have.

The Same:

Krik has ESP abilities.

Krik can possibly play an instrument. He holds it the entire time, however.

Jeff, when he takes the first shift as Commander, is disgusted and reluctant to sit beside Commander Hawkins much to the amusement of the man.

Commander Hawkins is passive aggressive.

The Drule homeworld is getting hotter. All the residents have moved below ground, and starvation is prominent.

Krik pilots Voltron when Jeff is out of commission.

Krik shoves a whole gun into Jeff's pants.

The Sky Team ft. Krik drive a tank/enemy patrol car.

Dorma is kidnapped and asked to join the resistance which she steadily accepts.

Original Japanese:

All the foot soldiers are organic.

Consequences. Consequences everywhere.

A good portion of one note characters die.

Adapted Shows:

Stun guns. Stun guns everywhere.

All the foot soldiers are robots.

Bonus Voltron season 3:

King Alfor's ghost can bend the fabric of space. He can also shoot lasers without a gun.

Nanny lives.

Pidge has formed murderous intent towards the castle mice.

Fifth castle mouse.

Commander Cossack a.k.a. Cossack the Terrible.

Lotor drinks something called a mean potion that increases his meanness.

Queen Merla.

King Deus Ex Machina Alfor.

Lotor gets put in jail and has his allowance revoked.

"You don't know Zarkon like I do." -Lance, 1985.

Bonus Bonus Fleet of Doom:

Chip is taller than Pidge.

Hunk is buddies with Modac.

Wolo and Lance used to lightly "bully" Cliff.

Keith and Jeff are competitive with each other.

6 year-old Keith got lost in a forest.

Haggar has two wolves within her (not literal wolves).

*Not sure what the confirmed spelling is but I did my best to spell it like it sounds.

[alluraswifey]

POV the VLD squad babysitting Alluras and Lotors future kid:

Keith:Soooo…you want a beer?

Allura:He’s four!

Lance:I don’t know!What are we suppose to do with it!

Allura:It’s not and it it’s our son!And all you need to do is feed him,play with him and put him to sleep!It’s not hard!

Pidge:It’s very hard!Kids are snotty and sticky!All they do is carry germs!

Hunk:I mean I can cook for him…but like…

Shiro:Guys we saved the universe how hard can this be?Allura,Lotor we’ll see you later!Bye!

+*^Two hours later^*+

Shiro:*One the phone* Allura!Come back!This is not easy!

[xochitai]

Was thinking of sapphic Lotura again the other night and ran into the question: would fem!Lotor be butch? [ramble below]

This section is partially inspired by a headcanon [or maybe it was a theory; I can't remember] post I saw on tumblr [which I tried to find to link here but I could not] because canon doesn't give us much to work with when it comes to civillian Galran culture. Gist of the post was sexual dimorphism in Galra and links to gender. So traits like being larger and/or more colorful are perceived as feminine [ex. Zethrid, Kolivan] and being smaller with fewer colors is perceived as masculine [ex. Lotor]. The original post has more detail and expands on how fem-/masc- ulinity tie into Galran society, but back to the point. Assuming fem!Lotor looks the same as canon!Lotor, viewed through this hc/theory, she would be perceived as masc. However, just because someone has fem/masc features doesn't mean they identify with that or want to dress in a way that "matches." So we are back to square one.

There was a drawing made by one of the people who worked on the show that featured the paladins, blade of marmora, and sincline squad at a restaurant[?] in winter. [I could probably look this up and find it to put here but I am lazy]. Lotor is walking in, wearing a beanie and puffy coat. Very typical winter clothes in typical winter colors. Not much to work with here. Next.

For this part, I know I have the pic already on my computer so I'll insert it here:

The mix of greys canon!L wears don't seem to be gendered. Whether dress or tunic/overcoat/leggings combo, there's an even mix of dark and light grey. None of the Galra here wear orange or blue, so can't really do anything with that. Lotor's waist cape does resemble what some of the male Galra are wearing, particularly the ones behind Blaytz on the stairs, but those are an over layer being bound by a belt. Similar shape, different construction. Don't really have anything else to go off of though so I will give 0.5 point to team masc.

In terms of actions, I will not lie to you dear reader, it's been a while since I watched the latter half of the show so my memory is fuzzy. Maybe there is some big thing I missed. I wouldn't know; I missed it. Anyways. Ik it's a bit of a stereotype but Lotor designs and builds things. Would it be so far fetched for Ladytor to be a diy/builder wife? With all her little projects? She says she's gonna renovate the space porch but gets distracted and designs a house for the cat and builds a robot.

I feel like I'm reaching the part where I'm grasping at straws. Clothing analysis can only do so much because Lotor wears ONE OUTFIT FOR HIS ENTIRE ADULT LIFE. Not even death can separate him from that damn armor. But does it matter? Do I need canon approval to draw fem!Lotor in dapper fits?

Deleted a little bit because I started to lose the plot. I guess the conclusion is: data inconclusive. Requires further discussion.

As always, hope this was legible enough. I fixed some spelling errors but that's about it. I'm not going through this again to clean up sentence structure.

+ can't remember how many total rambles i have. not sure if it is time for a ramble tag. i don't think anyone reads them enough to warrant one but idk.

[fancoloredglasses]

Voltron (two very different series with the same name set in the same universe? That's not gonna be confusing!)

[All images are owned by Toei Animation and World Events Productions. Please don’t sue me.]

As I mentioned before, my first exposure to anime (or, as I called it back then, “Japanimation”) was Star Blazers and an anthology series called Force Five (again, if anyone finds any footage of this series online, please let me know!)

However, years later I was exposed to another anime series that is likely to be more familiar to everyone.

[NOTE: As with Star Blazers, I am covering the American version of the series rather than the original Japanese, though there’s one difference between the two I’ll briefly mention when it comes up]

(Thanks to Peacock Kids)

(Yes, the narrator is none other than Peter Cullen, who is the voice of Optimus Prime. Nice to know Voltron has the support of the Autobots!)

Voltron (AKA Voltron III, Voltron of the Far Universe,or Lion Force Voltron) tell the story of a team of five Space Explorers who travel to a planet known as Arus to assist the government against an alien invasion. The five are entrusted to reawaken the planet’s primary defense: Voltron (why didn’t they have Voltron online before the invasion?)

(Thanks to Al Kennon)

…a squadron of giant robot lions which…well, we’ll get to that in a bit.

The leader of the team (henceforth called the Voltron Force) is Kieth, who pilots the Black Lion.

Keith’s second in command is Lance, who pilots the Red Lion.

Sven pilots the Blue Lion…until he’s hospitalized by an enemy agent (here’s the one difference I'm discussing: in the Japanese version “Sven” (I’m not looking up his Japanese name) is killed in the attack (obviously we couldn’t have the kids see someone die!). However, his twin brother appears late in the series; the American version has Sven make a return after his recovery) to be replaced by…

…Princess Allura, ruler of Arus.

Pidge pilots the Green Lion

Hunk pilots the Yellow Lion.

The Voltron Force defends Arus against the forces of…

King Zarkon

Aided by the witch Haggar, who creates giant monsters (called Robeasts) to send against the Voltron Force.

Zarkon’s son Lotor commands Zarkon’s armies and has a bit of a crush on Allura, determined to take her for his bride.

The battles are pretty much the same: The Lions attack the Robreast Of The Week, but are overmatched until…

(Thanks again to Peacock Kids)

After that, the fight’s a bit more even until Voltron finally creates its Blazing Sword weapon and slices the Robeast in half (why doesn’t it start with that?)

However, Voltron isn’t the only Defender of the Universe!

(Thanks to T. Winters)

The Galaxy Alliance is overcrowded and it’s up to the Space Explorers of the S.S. Explorer (really original name, guys!) to find new planets to colonize. This inevitable puts them at odds with the Drule Empire (it’s never officially stated if King Zarkon is part of the empire, but Drule’s giant monsters are also called Robeasts)

Like the Lion Force Voltron, this version of Voltron (AKA Voltron I, Voltron of the Near Universe,or Vehicle Team Voltron; there was supposed to be a third Voltron series, but negotiations between Toei (the animation studio that produced the original manga) and World Events (the American company that converted the series into Voltron fell through), the team consisted of smaller vessels that combined to form Voltron. Unlike Lion Force, the vessels were three squads of fighters that specialized in either air, land, or undersea combat.

(Thanks to reminators)

As many of you are aware (mainly due to the fact that NO ONE remembers the Vehicle Team series), the Lion Force became the most popular of the two, and their story has been retold at least twice.

As always, if you would like to see an episode reviewed, please let me know!

[lilflowerpot]

Hi! I was wondering what other vld ships you like/ship? If you don’t mind me asking

Though it's been a hot minute since I've really indulged in vld outside of working on LB, I'm one of those multishippers who can be persuaded on mostly anything so long as the narrative is compelling enough (particularly so far as Keith is involved)! My staples tend to be keitor (obviously) & sheith, but I have a fondness for fics that explore keith/kuron, keith/james, keith/regris, keith/allura, keith/matt in an interesting manner, and I've even read a few solid pieces featuring keith/lance, keith/kolivan, and (most surprisingly of all) keith/zarkon.

So far as non-keith-centric ships are concerned, I'm far choosier, but lotura is always a heartbreaker, ezor/zethird is cute but seldom written (bonus points if axca is their fwb third), shiro/ulaz lends itself to a tender sort of angst, and zarkon/honerva is just outright sad.

I can also go for all the above in a non-romantic sense, of course, but my major platonic dynamics are Pidge & mostly everyone, Keith & the entire BoM, and Lotor & the galra girl squad.

Less so than the ships themselves, it's actually the manner in which any given dynamic is written that sees me become particular: the portrayal of the characters, their mannerisms, their interactions with one another, the circumstances in which they've come together, etc etc... but if you have any fics that you would absolutely swear by—whether they feature a ship listed here or not—then by all means send them my way!

[itcanbesour]

Jator reincarnation au!! It’s crackship time yall ,, except for me this is personally a rare pair and I love it dearly :3 (James/Lotor) also a thank you to a friend on mine because I didn’t come up with everything myself. We essentially gave each other ideas 🙏🙏

KISMET

I’ve always seen Lotor as immortal. He’s lived a long time and I can’t help but think of that’s because he is immortal. ik he isn’t but for this AU he is. In this AU he joins the Voltron coalition and is helping alongside the paladins before they arrived to earth, going against his parents wishes more or less betraying them. When Lotor & paladins arrive to earth Lotor sees someone that takes his interest, despite this guy being completely normal and not having anything special whatsoever (to the public eye). Except this guy, James Griffin (fighter pilot, squad captain, and officer) didn’t exactly care for Lotors presence. He knew the guy existed and that he was helping save earth, and to him that’s all that mattered. His princely title meant nothing to James. And so by default James only spoke to Lotor when it mattered. Lotor on the other hand really, really wanted to get to know James. Something about the other drew him in and like a moth to a light, he followed. It felt natural. Like this was his fate.

As time went on Lotor figured out the best way to get to talk to James, or get the man to really look at him. There’s been talk around how James is very adamant on the rules and regulations and there for: he acts out. If he acted out, James spoke to him. If he acts out, James looks at him. It’s what he was looking for. This is an on going thing, for months he does little things that he knows 1) isn’t enough to boot him from the garrison (not to mention it’s during the war. They can’t anyway he provided information since his father was Zarkon) and 2) enough where he can engage in small talk with James.

It doesn’t work at first, but after a while it does. Lotor made sure to be careful and respectful, letting James know that he is free anytime and would love to get to know him. James is confused by this. Someone wanted to get to know *him?* something about him mattered to another person? It wasn’t like it was shocking, just unexpected and unpredictable. And it comes to a time where they do actually, sorta hang out. It’s not as long as Lotor was hoping but when duty calls they have to answer.

James almost died that day.

And so after that the two hang out more! James successfully gets his team & Lotor to be somewhat friends (he just wanted to let them get along.) and it’s become a regular basis where he’s with Lotor. Whether it’s just strolls around the garrison, or James helping teach Lotor how to read and write in English, getting food together, maybe even training together. It didn’t exactly matter, they were by each other side no matter what. No matter what time or place.

Eventually the two men find out their feelings for each other, they go on a few dates, and in that year they spent together they start dating. It’s a fever dream, but damn was it worth it. For a time at least.

They spend their days together, even during the war and after. It takes takes to build earth but at some point Lotor learns the customs, even understands James’ culture and loves engaging with him in it. (Dabke, food, music) but all happy things must come to an end. James is admitted to the hospital and Lotor rushes to his beside.

They never got engaged. They just promised they would in years time.

And on James’ nightstand sat a note and the promise ring. The note described in detail how much he loved and was greatful to Lotor, being immensely apologetic and promising him that someday they’d find each other again.

Did I mention James doesn’t know Lotor is gonna live forever?

The funeral was on James’ birthday. (Up to you when that is.) and after that everything felt surreal. Lotor wasn’t sure what he was meant to do. His lover was gone and could’ve spent the rest of their lives together in just two years time. Must the universe forsake him like this? If this was his consequences, he could take it.

Until one morning about a year later after James’ passing there’s an all-too-familiar face walking down the street. It made Lotor freeze up. The nose was the same, the hair, the olive skin. Except he was still different. This man didn’t act the same. Unlike his former lover, the guy was quiet and kept to himself. Almost timid.

Lotor approaches anyway. It’s James. His James. The James he longed for since he passed away, his lover was back. The cycle repeats. He gets to know this new James, learns to love him and learns the way his personality clashes with his own.

But James’ fate is only repeated. They hold the funeral on his birthday, once more.

This happens a couple times actually. He finds James either a year later, or maybe even 5 years later. Falls in love with the man, learns to love him for what he is and not for what he was, and James dies. This goes on for a while and it only got worse. Sometimes James reincarnates as something unrecognizable: a flower, maybe even an animal. What is he meant to do when this brown and sandy cat walks up to him one late afternoon; rubs up against his leg and even calls for him? Well, of course. He takes in the stray as his own, crowning the animal with the name griffin.

He finds James, but he can’t *see* him. He’s almost completely different now, married to a beautiful woman, tall and gorgeous. with two little girls clutching at his legs. It was painful to watch, but he couldn’t do anything anyway. That ‘James’ lives till old age, different in contrast to how he died whilst dating Lotor.

Yet again, he finds James. It’s a bit humorous how he is now. The olive skin now pale, that hooked nose he loved to kiss was different, all recognizable features gone. It wasn’t the same anymore, learning to love this James pained him to his very core. Falling in love with this man and learning the beat of his rhythm was tough. Kissing his nose won’t ever be the same.

This wasn’t James anymore; he realizes. After what felt like forever he realizes this. He spent his years looking for the man who’d never be the same again.

And so Lotor becomes an author. An artist, didn’t matter. He’d teach and tell story’s of how two lovers came to be together in the same universe, different time lines. On how an immortal came to be with a mortal. It’s safe to say it wasn’t fictional. But that just meant Lotor stopped looking for his lover. He can’t love him for what he is now, cant love him for what he was then. He can only love him by honoring his memory, letting go and telling the story’s of how they came to be.

He really hopes james can forgive him when he falls in love with someone else.

End

Kismet

a hypothetical force or personified power that determines the course of the future events : FATE, DESTINY

[youareinacomawakeup]

fun fact lotor's squad was originally named all the golden girls' names backwards but they couldn't do that obviously so they changed the names. but you can still kind of see it in their new names. especially with ezor.

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Let's Rewind! Toast Watches Voltron: Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 37: Lotor's New Hitman Season 1, Episode 38: Raid of the Red Berets

Episode 37: Lotor's New Hitman

Doom pilot training session? These aren't the ships I'm used to seeing with Doom

"[They're] not as good as I was when I was training at the academy!" "Uh yes sire" Oh Lotor absolutely failed every class and just threatened his teachers with death if they didn't pass him, no wonder he can't do shit

Are they actually told to kill each other in these sessions? One of the students is taking down everyone else, I feel like you wouldn't want to kill the rest of the squad that could measure up to him but okay

Uhh maybe the instructor is right in not letting some dude who listens to no authority try to take over a planet for you, this is gonna go real bad for doom really quick

"it must be the fastest robeast ever built and it must be red! I only fly red ships" he's gonna steal red lion isn't he

"my magic can easily turn the color to red, but I don't do windows" LMAO well at least haggar has boundaries I guess

Is this robeast not actually a robeast, looks like this dude is just piloting a mech with very little black magic involved

damn barely hits the ground and immediately starts causing devastation, when was the last time we got a robeast that actually committed war crimes for the Drule empire?

Wow no fanfare or anything this time around, just straight to the lions this time, top tier episode already

oh man some kid was actually under some debris, this is getting pretty serious for dotu

is yellow lion supposed to be the fastest lion? Hunk is chasing the mech after saying he was faster I'm so used to the fastest lion being red, I wonder what else fans changed to fit with their beliefs

plot bunny, how the fuck did pidge and lance make it to the other side of the tunnel when hunk is already pushing max in the middle of it yea I think the change people made with red and green being the faster lions makes the most sense here

early voltron formation, its only mid-episode too

I wonder how fast voltron can go, Keith said they were hitting mach 9 as voltron but do we ever hear how fast the lions push it? Would voltron even be faster ?

Aaand now green lion has a wound on the shoulder

Keith: Pidge talk to me! Are you hurt? Pidge: I'd be hurt if you didn't ask I love them so much

the team really is falling for this guy's traps every time huh, faltering on their training I see

is lion head attack their fastest attack or were they just banking on him not being able to dodge all of them

oh god Lotor you literally had such a good change to get rid of voltron and you RETREATED? You deserve to get your ass kicked every time

back to Arus and back to hazing the castle to make fun of the slow ass pilots

second voltron formation of the dayyy honestly I'm used to the VF episode that is so similar to this, but they used a cadet to solve their issue so how the hell are they gonna beat this guy without one

Oh I guess mach 10 is the fastest they can go as voltron

Chozzerai bridge? No that's over like an ocean or fat ass lake or something

good plan maybe? I think it is at least, setting out hovering mines that their mech can definitely outmaneuver but voltron probably can't and then slowly setting them off as they get close to him

earth wind and water, sounds like a pretty cool band name lol

ANOTHER VOLTRON FORMATION? WOW WEP WAS SAVING MONEY THIS EPISODE

oh so their plan is the same but with mach 10 speed, alright I guess? If that's all you got then whatever

omg they actually got him before blazing sword and everything

"maybe he'll land safely and come back again! There you see! He's going to land on planet gloom! That's one of ours! ... oh I'm afraid he didn't make a very good landing..." LMAOO WHY IS THAT WHOLE DIALOGUE SO FUNNY

/episode end

Episode 38: Raid of the Red Berets

Gonna be honest this sounds like an episode aimed at making fun of the French specifically LMAO

"can you and Haggar think of nothing to defeat that one little planet out in space?" Zarkon you literally fought that planet for a WHILE before Lotor came along, I don't think you can speak for shit

Disappointed father™️

well if their other fucked up science experiments are quaking in their boots even before these robeasts (not really) were introduced then I guess they're formidable

oh they're NOT robeasts, they're just regular robots that are getting transported to Arus BY the robeast okay okay

does the castle not have planetary alert systems or something?? Like they've gotta have satellites that alert when something is entering Arusian atmosphere

holy shit are these robots committing war crimes?? They're literally breaking into homes and killing civilians like that's not unheard of, but that's wild that they'd show that in dotu even if they play it off as the lights getting turned off

why do the pilots wave in their lions when the people below them can't even see LMAO

"It's a nice and safe feelings seeing those lions on patrol" robots immediately jump out of the ground and attack a caravan of people absolutely jinxed it sinvos

"something terrible must've scared them away!" omg they were actually slaughtered in that caravan and that's why they're not showing it

scare tactics,, is that what they're censoring the murder spree of civilians to in this episode? Wild

oh so being attacked on the regular with literal monstrosities isn't enough to make the Arusians want to crucify Allura but apparently the "scare tactics" that doom is doing to them is enough to freak them out and try to kill one of their only hopes of survival? Cool cool cool

Coran what, you said you didn't get any descriptions of the attackers, but now you know they're robots and have red berets? Plot bunny

if crowds were that easy to disperse, things would be changed so quickly my god

not a bad idea encasing at least one lion in something super solid, obvs Keith is getting out of this, but it would be smart to do that mid-fight also ironic because black camouflages as a statue instead of having a den

what kind of design is THAT for a robeast it looks like a dragon but bug like? Idk but still cool

why send all the lions to blast Keith with fire when only lance can actually do that?? Gotta make them useful I guess but distracting the robeast IS useful

Keith's free after being thrown straight into the robeast and now voltron can form pretty effective way to get rid of the rock enclosure I guess

this robeast encloses itself in bullet bill cosplay LMAO

man we're seeing a lot of lion head attack recently, wonder why

blazing sword formed, robeast down, Lotor getting belittled, everything is right in the universe

OH THE ROBOTS DID A SUICIDE BARRAGE AGAINST BLACK TO STICK HIM IN STONE NO WONDER THEY'RE GONE THE REST OF THE EPISODE

"men fight hardest when they're defending freedom" interesting, any other word and that would've been super political y'know ignoring that they're fighting an oppressive government lol

/episode end

[hollowwhisperings]

VLD Retrospective: My POV as a Queer Biracial Asian Aspie

I don't generally enjoy listing my demographics in public spaces but for a Voltron Retrospective, I find it Quite Necessary to better convey how much VLD meant to me personally. This is one fan reconciling with a work I enjoyed for years, remain saddened for, and felt betrayed by. lf I'm good for anything, it's my being a Living Statistical Outlier.

VLD gave me explicit representation within its main cast: it gave me Shiro, who I clocked as chronically ill well before it was confirmed (Like Knows Like) & struggled with mental illness too (I'm not a war vet but Shiro's implicit Medical Trauma was Also There). Shiro is also, very obviously, an Asian &, as later revealed, a Queer Asian. There are few Queer Asians in western media who are Actual Characters: Shiro was (& remains) fun to have on board. It was, primarily, his struggles with his physical & mental health that most resonated with me.

Pidge is someone a lot of fans identified with, being a quirky genderbender maligned for her relative youth: I'm an autistic female who is gender "meh" so Pidge was "Representation" but she wasn't New nor Almost Unprecedented like Shiro or, as I'll elaborate further on, Keith. Every AFAB, every youth has felt undermined by their assumed gender & their youth: this is Not New. Pidge is fun but she wasn't Groundbreaking, not to me.

Keith and, to a lesser degree (as in assocoation with him), the "Half-Galra" Misfits were who I most identified with. Even before Keith was having Existential Crises over being Half-Galra, Keith read as someone biracial: his name, "Keith Kogane", makes him a white-passing Asian . I think current consensus is that Keith's Dad was "Mixed Asian*" but Keith's "orphan" (& secret alien) status prevented him from engaging with his heritage.

I am Not Galran (so far as I know) but I am a white-passing Asian & someone of "Two Worlds" (half white, half east asian). Star Trek's Spock established how most subsequent works of the sci-fi genre depicts half-human aliens: all the vibes of being Biracial, existential crises about Passing & feeling Disconnected ("rejected") by either/both halves of one's identity. Keith checks those boxes and Lotor's Halfsie Squad are similarly Coded (to lesser degrees).

Aliens, half-human ones especially, are very easily read as Neurodivergent as in "has ADHD &/or ASD": Keith continued this tradition & it further isolated him from his peers, especially because (like many of us on The Spectrum) he grew up "Undiagnosed". Keith knew he was Different but no one had the correct Context for his "Difference": this lead him to feeling Wrong, Rejected and Alien. This is an experience Familiar to anyone belatedly recognised as having ASD and also to Literally Any Queer Person.

To summarize the above: Shiro meant A Lot to me because he struggled with his health in silence (& was Asian); Keith meant a lot because his Human Demographics & Coding match almost entirely with my own. Shiro became "more" Important to me through his being Keith's Most Important Person (KH fans: you see where this is going): I was already Attached to Shiro, Keith made me invested in him.

KH fans knew from my invoking of "Taihetsu no Hito" [JP for "Most Important Person"] that, through being Invested in Keith & thus Shiro, I quickly Recognised that Keith? Desperately in love with Shiro. I did not, however, consider Shiro likely to Act on any Reciprocating of such feelings (which he did show signs of developing, as early on as that Stranded From Everyone Else and "when I die, you be Black Paladin" episode) due to the implied age gap between them. I knew Shiro was Younger Than Assumed (very early 20's at oldest, I figured from Contextual Clues), that Lance & Hunk were about 17 & that Keith was Older than Lance (so, 18). The age gap between Shiro & Keith was never that much of an issue: it was their difference in Rank & the ages they were at their First Meeting that were the "real" obstscles, to my mind. Season 6 or 7 did a Flashback that made Keith 14 when he first met Shiro: that very much explains why Shiro was reluctant to acknowledge attraction to Keith & unlikely to act on it. Keith did, however, read as Crushing On Shiro pretty much from their first encounter (Keith stealing Shiro's car was a very obvious effort to gain Shiro's attention & respect: something Keith was unlikely to recognise as Crush Evidence but Shiro definitely did).

And then Shiro lost 3 years to Time Dilation while Keith gained 2: their Reunion post-Space Whale was very telling. For the first time, Sheith actually seemed genuinely plausible to me. Keith had had a Glow Up that allowed Shiro to stop thinking of Keith as the kid he'd been when they first met & actually admit that his excuses to not act on any attraction had stopped holding weight. I remain completely convinced that "Kuron" had fallen, equally & just as desperately, in love with Keith over the series and that the Aggression Kuron exhibited toward Keith was as much caused by That (Gay Pining he refused to act on, even as Keith ran around in his Infamous Blades Uniform) as it was by Haggar (& Kuron's growing suspicions on his "true" nature).

Then there was the "You're my brother... I love you!" scene. Initially, given The Current Events of the time, I was irritated by the Abrupt Brother-Zoning from the Very Obviously Pining Keith to Shiro.

Then I noticed the order of these sentences: first, "you're my brother" (neither Shiro nor Keith have any siblings: in asia, there's MLM equivalent to "they were Roommates" in "they're sword/sworn brothers") and THEN, more desperately and while at the cusp of death... "I love you".

VERY ON BRAND, KEITH. It's also the "I love you" that gets through Kuron's programming enough for Keith to save them both. From my observations of VLD, the sole remaining obstacles to Sheith sailing were "will Shiro retain Kuron's memories and, if so, will he accept Kuron as being another Him" and "will the writers be able to get the execs to sign off on TWO queer paladins being queer with EACH OTHER"?

and then... the love confession was never addressed & Shiro stopped interacting with any of the Paladins beyond a professional setting.

By then, a lot of the show was looking Off and I actually looked at the online Voltron fandom to see if other people were Connecting Dots: some Meddling had happened, Shiro was being OOC as all heck, Allura and Keith seemed pretty miserable, Romelle was Sus as Heck, why was Allurance happening, where the heck is Lotor (etc)....

I was, like everyone else, greatly upset by Allura's needlessly being Killed Off and by Shiro's Stock Photo husband. I was also Not Impressed by the alleged "happiness" found by any of the Paladins: Shiro retiring his greatest dream, of flying and exploring the galaxy when he had just found out he Wasn't Going To Die from his Chronic Illness? Jim Kirk, another charismatic spaceship captain who loved to explore the universe, had a similar "retirement" ending for its Heroic Captain.

The first Star Trek film, set post-series, conveyed exactly how Shiro's "happy" ending played out for a character Shiro was almost certainly inspred by: Captain James "Jim" Tiberius Kirk.

Captain Kirk's "happy ending" was introduced in TMP as being: a promotion/retirement, marriage, & settling on Earth. Sound familiar, Shiro? TMP then shows how that "happy ending" plays out for someone like Jim (or Shiro): barely a handful of years later, Jim is miserable in his "retirement" (he was Promoted to a desk job); his Very Sudden marriage to a Previously Unknown Character is crumbling (& is even implied as being arranged by Starfleet's Brass to keep their Poster Boy on earth!); he clearly misses his Team (his Found Family) & at his first "valid" opportunity to get his Team together to fly into space again? That's exactly what Jim does.

Star Trek: TMP also, incidentally, features Jim living out some kind of Space Divorce Drama with his Right-Hand Man, the Half-Human Alien Spock. The two had apparently spent all those years apart and Spocks's "logical response" to [everything post-TOS] was... becoming a Vulcan Monk in order to Purge All His Emotions. (Krolia, please tell me that the Galra do not have an Equivalent to Vulcan's kolinahr & that, if it DOES, you Forbade Keith From Doing It).

Jim & Kirk saved each other, often very impossibly, in every other episode of TOS. They were also so widely shipped by fans that the "founding" of modern fandom cukture is often attributed to those first K/S shippers.

The easy Parallels between Spock/Kirk to Keith/Shiro were something that seemed to increase as VLD continued, likely as its creative team started recognising how naturally Keith & Shiro played out that epic space romance. The relationship between the Black Paladins was consistently emphasized within the series (until it abruptly Wasn't) and their bond was considered the strongest shared by any two paladins. A Sheith required very little effort from VLD's creative team and, given the Time Dilation plot point, that effort WAS made: Keith shows up Older & Blade-ier, Shiro Visibly Reacts and seems perfectly set up to Reevaluate his relationship with Keith, both of them visibly Adult and already established as "Equals".

Reading the research done by Team Purple Lion helped me understand the many degrees of unpleasantness caused by the Forced Removal of Lotor from VLD's endgame: the series' overall plot, key themes and multiple character arcs were contingent to the ugly consequences of Voltron's [murdering] him, the emotional effects Lotor had on Allura, the ways Lotor was integral to the show's themes of Redemption & Recovery & Love (of all forms). Just about every main character (and the imexplicable presence of several other characters) had their Arc underminded by Lotor's staying [murdered]: Lotor (obvs), Allura (VLD's Actual Main Character), Lance (who suddenly became Every Creepy "Nice" Guy), Pidge, Axca, Romelle, Merla, Yzor & her girlfriend, Honnerva...

I was invested in the plot, characters and themes of VLD: its ending wasn't just upsetting, it was contradictory to its own story. Though I am not invested in any VLD ships other than Sheith (for the way the characters are individually Important to me, the ways Shiro is important to Keith, the ways their relationship parallels K/S down to the syllables), the series had set certain ships up through its Themes and within its plot: Allura/Lotor, a reclamation of Allura's agency & a thematic resolution to the major conflicts of the series; Shiro/Keith, a love story the series spent 7 seasons telling; the tentative beginnings of Lance/Pidge, a Chekhov's Gun that would round their individual character development through better understanding each other; Hunk & Recognition of his Ingenuity, Bravery, Compassion (which would, incidentally, feature Hunk/Shay and Hunk's central role in the intergalactic Recovery proces). All of these ships serve a Purpose within VLD's plot, aid individual character development, reinforce the series' overarching themes, and have a solid basis within the text of VLD (as well as outside of it, in interviews and statements from the creative team).

I was able to "recover" from the betrayal of how VLD ended, largely through the detective work of fans like Team Purple Lion and reading many "fix-fic" wherein Allura Lives and Shiro is not OOC as all heck. VLD was one of many series, at the time, whose Betrayal of its themes & characters made Waves all over Fandom. It was, however, one of the Betrayals that hurt me more "personally". It was also a fantastic example of Creatives having horrid working conditions, Corporate Interests actively Hurting their consumers, of Fans being forced to Play Detective due to the modern Media Landscape: the culture of creatives being under strict NDAs, of their being without Unions, of how abruptly Projects can be undermined by the Whims of singular entities (creating additional work on an already overworked labour force, often in ways that betray their own work).

So, uh, surprise: this was a Retrospective inspired by the current Writers Strike & growing awareness (that we have known & ignored for years) of how unethical the working standards of animators are. There are Actual Americans and Actual Artists who can speak on these issues more specifically, as well as the best ways to help the affected: this was a more individual Take, from One Fan, and the ways that media has affected That Fan emotionally (though, being an Aspie, i'm pretty distanced from articulating any Specifics beyond "upset" because "this is narratively inconsistent"). The purpose of writing this was personal catharsis, a means of discovering how I feel about VLD all these years later, and perhaps as an act of microcosm within a greater fandom macrosm RE: engagement with media & correctly identifying how the faults of its business structure sabotage excellent works of fiction from staying "excellent" or becoming "magnificent".

*"Korean-Japanese" seems to ne the current consensus but as Sourced outside the text of the series. It is not his "exact amounts of Asian" that Keith is "relevant" to me but his being both Mixed & disconnected from his asian Heritage.

[astralscrivener]

hello :3

28, 40, 55, 74 for the writing ask pls 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

hiiii darcyyy. you've opened a can of worms with these asks i hope you know

28. what area of writing do you want to improve in?

literally anything that isn't dialogue FTHYRTHJFGHYJFYG i can do dialogue all day every day but i really need to get better with like. settings. weaving the description in instead of painting a long word picture in one paragraph. character actions too. i love writing group scenes. group scenes are agony. where are you all standing. is someone holding a mug. where the fuck did i put the bayards. also just like. writing prettier sentences in general. so many fic writers have absolutely banger passages like shit that gets put on pillows on redbubble and i want that.

40. what is your favorite world that you've created for a fic?

oh boy this is an interesting question. several worlds i have now stolen to repurpose for my own original writing. i had fun with the magic and medieval-ish setting of as long as i'm breathing (i'm not leaving) and its sequel. i also had a lot of fun w the shadow people from klance au month 2019 and your eyes, they shine so bright (i want to save that light)

i also had a lot of fun worldbuilding when i was writing deceit so natural, particularly the politics with tarvin and also the bolza system. i wrote the majority of dsn between seasons 2 and 4 and so there was a Lot we didn't know about so i just went balls to the wall on the worldbuilding

55. have you noticed any patterns in your fics? words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

i was literally just thinking about this today but "[x]'s scream tore raw from their throat" comes up a lot. i love making characters resort to their most primal instincts. love to see agony and achillean rage.

i also have been on a blade keith kick lately. i've posted . 2 or 3??? oneshots recently about keith being with the blades and suffering about it, or even just grappling with his abandonment issues and his anger issues and his galra side and his violent streak, and i have at least two more about it on the backburner. in general i think i have somehow ended up writing a lot about anger and grief and abandonment issues. can you tell keith is the primary character i write

at the same time i am also constantly writing established relaitonships. i love a good established relationship. the pining is fun to play with but there's a much larger part of me that finds more enjoyment of writing characters navigating their relationship and its challenges, or just facing an outside challenge and knowing they have each other to lean on.

74. do you have a fic you wish got a bit more love?

OH BOY DO I. look i loved squad up / the rawring 20s but my modern au fics get the LEAST effort from me, i like them the LEAST out of all my fics, but they're the simplest and easiest for people to read so i get why they get more love

there is a lot about deceit so natural that is cringe and that i would go back and change, by virtue of being 17, a mediocre writer at the time, and also there's stuff we didn't know about yet (gay shiro or allura's age, for example), but i had a fucking BLAST writing it. it took me all the way until season 6 to finish it (i started it between s2 and 3) and so any time canon disappointed me i could just go do what i wanted. established klance, an absolutely baller team dynamic if you asked me, lotor being absolutely fucking bonkers. the twists and turns in stars go down were FUN and i think i need to be that mean in my writing again. someone in the comments commended me for actually letting the characters have a horrible time and i think about it constantly

AND RIGHT NOW THERE IS AT SKYFALL, WHICH IS DSN VIBES BUT WITH BROGANES. please i literally have so much planned for this you don't even know. the chapters are dsn length instead of soopits length. i'm going to explore lance's anger. i am going to put keith and shiro through it. adam is so fucking confused bro. PLEASE

anyway thank u for the asks i'm thinking about beating up keith again

fanfiction writing asks!

[cartoon-watch]

VLD remake but the lions each need a 5 person team to operate

- Lance is still Blue’s Pilot, the sharpshooter during ground missions, and he’s the heart of voltron that bridges the gap between everyone

- Pidge and Hunk are the engineers that keep her operational and make upgrades

- Keith is the cool ninja spy that sneaks onto ships to steal information and plant Pidge’s hacking point (the rivalry is still a thing and lance is smug that he’s the pilot and not the Garrison prodigy; eventually Lance thinks Blue made a mistake and confines in Keith; Keith pep talk and they eventually bond to the point Blue let’s Keith pilot her once during an emergency when Lance gets critically injured during a mission )

- Shiro is the mentor that helps guide their teamwork and works with Allura as Blue’s rep at the Castle control room during missions

- they all still get their bayards and weapons but in terms of forming voltron they give blue variations on the weapons Lance unlocks; they’re just the blue team so they get armor in different shades of blue while lance’s is the strongest color as the pilot

- the other lions get pilots from other civilizations (Like Olkari get Green, Balmaerans get Yellow and Shay gets more time with Hunk )

- the drama of black choosing either the Blades of Mamora or Lotor and his squad (everyone’s forced to face their own prejudices and actually work to through the idea that there are Galras who want to stop Zarkon)

- voltron only forms at critical moments bc it’s a huge drain on the Lions battery and ability to move afterwards

-Lotor has been studying Altea’s history and culture to stop history from repeating and has been keeping the secret colony safe so no one is being sacrificed for quintessence (Alluras family line has continued via some cousin that was off planet when it got destroyed; Corans has continued as well but each generation has named at least one son Coran so it becomes a running joke after they meet)

- the drama and hijinks that ensue from having a castle full of ppl try to save the universe