#anyway i will always mourn the arcs we were meant to have in season 4

[alicentes]

FTWDs final season could have been so much better if it was revealed that Troy was running padre and controlling madison (as revenge) this whole time. He knew enough about nick and Alicia to make madison think padre knew who and where they were this whole time. And here are some other reasons how this storyline would make sense and be more interesting:

- Troy has a military background so him taking over and running a military base makes more sense than two teenagers building it up by themselves because all the adults died.

- taking and training up children to be solidiers also would make a little sense because of his own fucked up upbringing and the idea he has of the type of people who were made for this world. He would have probably had the same idea as shrike, that the kids stood a better chance at padre than with their “weak” parents. The mother of his child dying for being a good person and not getting to raise their daughter (who would not be named after his abuser) could have also played into this idea of the kids being separated from their good parents.

- shrikes radiation cure experiments: Troy ran walker bite experiments before, just to see how people would turn. So it would also make sense if the work we see shrike doing was something he approved of or an idea he himself came up with. As for shrike, it would make sense that she turned out this way if she’d spent years being mentored by someone like troy otto instead of becoming evil and stealing children just because her dad died.

- the scene where madison smashes the glass to expose “padre” would have been such a good and shocking reveal if it was Troy. Imagine Madison finding out that Troy is not only alive but had been the one running this the whole time!

There’s also a lot of other things I would have done differently for the other characters too and I would have liked Madison to have a little villain era and do some really fucked up shit as she tries to take down Troy and padre. How dark would Madison go? Would she survive with her humanity still intact?

I know I’m just talking into the void here because no one care about this shitshow but I just hate it when shows have a plot that could have been good, maybe even great but then completely miss the mark and fans come with better theories and ideas with minimal effort and thought.

[amegatronfan]

Jame Roberts’ Instagram Q&A -November ‘18

Right. 

So.

- Back in MTMTE #15, when the original Rewind got locked in the Slow Cell with Overlord, he suddenly learned how to shrink while he transformed. This was not an ability he previously had, as shown in, for example, MTMTE #2, when Tailgate sees Rewind for the first time (before Swerve introduces him to CDRW) and remarks that he can see a “giant memory stick” in the distance. However, the fear that Rewind felt in that moment triggered his ability to shrink to the size we see him in, like, LL #25, for example. This helps him survive both Overlord and the shots fired off by Chromedome, and so he, along with Overlord, is recovered by the Galatic Council. Overlord is seen as too dangerous, so Rewind is chosen as the guinea pig for an experiment the Galatic Council are trialling; an experiment that would allow them to “punch holes” into alternate universes. Since they want to use Rewind as a weapon against the Black Block Consortia (and other enemies of the council, such as other Cybertronians), the technology is built into a suit of armour meant to resemble Primus (this suit of armour was built in the same vein as the Magnus armour, in that it made so that a small robo could pretend to be this big, famous robo and not, like, the sentai suit dealio I had originally envisioned when JRo was describing this. this was done because they rightly assumed that seeing Primus land in the middle of a battlefield would scare the royal shit out of everybody, most especially other Cybertronians, who have the cultural context to know who the fuck he is.) 

So, then, it worked, and Rewind made it into the past?? of another dimension (that wasn’t the Functionist universe), but then it malfunctioned and he got trapped there. He had fight his way back to the original universe by travelling through a bunch of other alternative universes (there would have been an interlude during the Mutineers Trilogy where we saw Rewind 1 travelling through the Marvel 2006 universe). At first, he was travelling back to the OG universe was so he could be reunited with his conjux (he met other Chromedome's along the way, but he wanted to find his Chromedome), but as he was travelling, he discovered Chromedome’s secret; that he had helped in the cover-up of Dominus’ murder, and so it became more complicated (he kinda wanted to avenge Dominus.) This would’ve all culminated in an issue where Rewind 1 finally made it back the original universe. As has been previously established, only one Rewind can exist at the one time, so Chromedome would've had to decide which Rewind would be cancelled out, all while Rewind 2 (and by extension, the audience) would’ve learned from Rewind 1 what Chromedome did to Dominus, which would’ve complicated things even further.

JRo came up with this idea before he began writing MTMTE, but by the end of season one, he was starting to become uncertain about this particular storyline, as Rewind, Chromedome and their relationship began to develop. Having Chromedome do this to Rewind started to feel wrong. After talking to his editor at the time (Carlos, I believe?), he decided to leave in the scene with Chromedome and Prowl, where Prowl threatened blackmail and Chromedome used Shadowplay to erase the blackmail from his memory, just in case he still wanted to go through with it. However, by the time it came to the final stretch of issues, he already so many other plot points to introduce, explain and tie up, he didn’t have time to do all three for Rewind 2 and his ultra-complicated, high concept adventures, and deal with the complications it brought with it to the cast, so he was forced to drop it.

So, with that out of the way, here are the more breezy answers:

- Megatron didn’t have a mentor who taught him medicine in the Warren, he taught himself everything he knows about treating people because he’s “the most ferocious autodidact.” (i stan a legend)

- Ratchet would still be the better medic though

- Megatron specialised in neurology

- Flame survived the events of LL #24

- The only reason Functionist Universe! Orion and Terminus were killed was because of time restraints 

- Making Drift and Ratchet’s relationship a romantic one started feeling right around their return in the Remain in the Light arc, but JRo didn’t really decide that they were definitely conjux endura until he began writing LL #25 

- Rewind’s colour changing pants are now (dubiously) canon (”Chromedome is fascinated; he might be an outlier.”)

- Admitted a couple of times, once again, that he wished he hadn’t killed Trailcutter 

- If a Cybertronian is gifted a vial of innermost energon and survives whatever near-fatal injury or illness they had, they have the option to either keep it, as a reminder of the love they and the donor share, or they can regift the donor’s innermost energon to them. If they do indeed die, the most common practice is to donate the innermost energon (as Ratchet did posthumously in #25)

- “Sorry, I’ve seen ‘Chromedome is a bottom’ on the screen and that’s thrown me.”

- When asked if he’d change anything if given the opportunity to rewrite the series, he admitted that there were “a bunch of things”, which included:

    * Spacing out events more, most especially near the beginning of MTMTE,            where so much was happening that it all felt “a bit busy”, and the Crucible           arc

    * Writing more stories about the tertiary cast (eg. Spotlight: Hoist) to really            sell the fact that this was a ship with 200 mechs on board (the main cast            would still have had their own quirky adventures going on in the                          background)

                * An example of such a story would’ve been having an issue focusing                    on the writer behind the Lost Light Insider

    * More stories with the Mutineer’s

    * Give the Scavengers an entire tradeback to themselves in Season 3,                  encompassing an entire arc he’d had planned for them

     * He wouldn’t have “decapitated Red Alert like that” 

     * Having the charisma parasites being followed up by Swearth “didn’t do              him any favours as they were three very high concept issues one after the          other”

      * Would’ve seeded more mentions of the Guiding Hand in MTMTE (though             not in Lost Light, which had enough, he felt)

      * More Star Saber (longer fights with different characters)

      * Way more Roller!

      * Show Cyclonus’ recovery from his injuries in #47 more as more of a slow,          arduous process instead of an “Oh, he’s fine now” dealio

      * Would’ve liked to pull off the Troja Major two-parter better

- [SPOILERS FOR IDW’S UNICRON SERIES]

When asked who’s death Megatron would be most cut-up about, Optimus, Soundwave or Starscream, JRo said he’d take Stasrcream’s the worst, as the two had “unfinished business” (the new Pacifist Megatron wanted to reconcile with Starscream). Though Soundwave was listed last on the “who'd Megatron would mourn the most” list, he also said that he’d be “proud of what Soundwave did”

- On a more lighthearted note, he said that Stan Bushs’ Dare was playing in Rodimus’ head during his “Til All Are One!” montage in the 2012 annual

- Cyclonus is, unfortunately, no longer rich, because much of his wealth came from Tetrahexian real estate (as stated in the prose story Signal to Noise, packaged in Volume 4 of MTMTE), and the value kinda dropped after Unicron, you know, destroyed the whole planet (though he also said it’s more than likely he and Tailgate invested in real estate on New Cybertron)

- Said that if Rodimus and Drift had been amica endura “no one would’ve batted an eye,” (and that they would’ve completed the ceremony off-screen)

- Rodimus was originally going to sacrifice himself in Crucible to stop the Omega Guardians from using the Warren to enter our universe and take it over. (”Even saying that is making me yawn”) Everyone would’ve thought Rodimus was already dead, and as such, another, unnamed character would’ve gotten credit for his sacrifice. Rodimus would’ve known this, and sacrificed himself anyway.

- “You’re all [unapologetic] shippers and I salute you.”

- As he stated on Twitter before, he’d have liked to include a scene between Cyclonus and Drift, where Drift proclaims his new respect for Cyc after seeing his Great Sword. This scene would’ve happened around the Remain in the Light arc. 

- “Are you guys still talking about Chromedome being a bottom? Oh my god.”

- In a fight between Drift and Cyclonus, Cyclonus would win.

- When asked who he’d ship Rodimus with, he said that Rodimus was an interesting case, as he’d actually be quite well-versed in the area of romance, unlike the rest of the cast, and that he “wouldn’t pine for people.” In the end, he ended up choosing Roller.

- Getaway didn’t make up the Conjux rites; they’re real 

- Rodimus’ flame abilities are not an outlier ability, but an upgrade he got along the way (he compared it to getting a really excessive tattoo). The ability is really painful and uses up a lot of Roddy’s energy.

- When asked what he hoped from the next continuity, he said that he wanted it to continue to be inclusive “in every sense of the word”, specifically pointing out the LGBTQIA+ representation as something he wanted to see continued. 

- “Yeah, Springer’s pretty hot.”

- First Aid has a crush on crush on Springer (as does JRo)

- Cyclonus is legitimately a great singer. It’s that his abilities are more of the operatic kind, meaning “he is not always appreciated by the uncultured”

- “[A fan] says that Lost Light is a love letter to fan fiction, which it absolutely is”

- When a fan asked why (to paraphrase) Roller was just so dang hot, JRo said that “Roller just has that effect on people thanks to Jack’s lascivious designs” (and before you go off and google it, lascivious is defined as “feeling or revealing an overt sexual interest or desire”)

- Drift’s wealth was made through bounty hunting

- Brainstorm and Chromedome might have been amica endura, but that Chromedome felt “burnt out” from his various failed relationships, both platonic and romantic. 

- No one even has a “Rung-shaped gap” in their memory after LL #24. They honestly can’t remember where the various matrixes came from, as is the case with all the things Rung was responsible for. They all blame it on memory creep and have each come up with their own contradictory explanations as to how and why these things happened. 

- When asked if Swerve liked The Big Bang Theory, JRo replied with a swift “No, he has a brain”

- Instead, he said Community was Swerve’s favourite show

- Cybertronian weddings are “very long”

- There was a lot singing at Cyclonus and Tailgate’s wedding

- Brainstorm and Perceptor’s wedding, meanwhile, “would be very complicated” because “they’d be trying to outdo each other in subtle ways”. It would “make for a good sitcom episode.”

- Roddy’s favourite meme is “the butterfly one”

- Rung’s favourite meme is “the woman looking confused with algebra in front of her face”

- Swerve is over memes

- “[Drift’s thighs] are certainly impressive”

- Swerve is “destined to have many friends”

- Whirl and Cyclonus most certainly became amica endura after LL #25

- Swerve got Misfire’s number in the end

- Though he said many times in the lead up the end of this continuity that this was his last time writing for Transformers, he said he would like to write a 12 issue series centred around a character he didn’t name, and then later admitted that he wanted to try to convince IDW to let him write another series. He also said that is there was ever a Grand Collecter’s edition of the series (that collected all the issues, prose stories, additional stories from other series etc into one or two hardback editions, for example), he’d write an additional prose story to make it worth people’s money

- Hoist confirmed the Lost Light’s resident furry

- “Tailgate is the cutest? Yes, he’s a little marshmallow.”

-  In his final days, before his execution, Minimus would’ve taken his poetry to Megatron so that he could read it (he would’ve also read Minimus’ poetry on the Alt! Lost Light, though assumedly under far less tragic circumstances)

- Getaway was considered the hottest mech on all of the Lost Light, with Skids as a close second. Together, they were “a hot duo.”

- Functionist Universe! Anode was a brilliant war general 

- Nickel had a girlfriend before her homeworld was destroyed 

- Rung can’t dance (we been knew)

- Crankcase and Con4Eva did hook up in the original universe

- “Does Rung know we love him? No - he’s very lonely” 

- No one in the cast likes all of the Shrek movies, but all of them like the first one.

- Chromedome and Brainstorm met each other the New Institute (which was my question answered :D) 

- Roddy would eat Doritos if he could 

- Not a single Transformer (in the IDW-verse) would like Trump

- The worst film that Roddy likes is Caddy Shack 

- Terminus would’ve never admitted that he was lying to Megatron

- Unfortunately, the song Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind & Fire never made it to the Lost Light

- “Who would make the best romantic partner? Depends on your taste.”

- JRo’s favourite superhero is Spiderman, his favourite TF toys as a kid were Hot Rod & Sandstorm and Nautica is his favourite character (from MTMTE/LL)

- Megatron, does indeed, both give the best hugs and deserves hugs! 

- “You’re a tactile, compassionate, thirsty bunch, aren’t you?”

- Tailgate, Swerve and Rewind would all play Fortnite

- Drift and Ratchet would’ve opened a “clinic” together (the question asker was unintentionally vague, so JRo was intentionally vague with his answer)

- Drift thinks that Ratchet was the one who made the first move, while Ratchet thinks Drift was 

- Ratchet and Drift would’ve been together for “decades and decades” before Ratchet died

- While Nautica/Skids still isn’t canon, he did confirm that Skids’ feelings for Nautica were romantic in nature 

- While Jack Lawrence bases many of the characters’ mannerisms on his own, he bases Rung’s mannerisms off of JRo’s, which doesn’t help his “anti-mary-sue argument.”

- I can’t remember the exact quote, but when asked what it’d be like to have Whirl as a roommate, he said something along the lines of “you’d have a crush on him even though you’d hate him.”

- In case it wasn’t clear enough in the text itself, Whirl rejected Ratchet’s hands because of a shift in how he saw his own disability. He no longer saw it, and by extension, himself, as a “deficiency” that needed to be “fixed”

- JRo pronounces “Omega” as “Oh-me-gah”. This is important information to include. 

And then the livestream ended with JRo saying we all “need a cold shower” after all this “fervent shipping” and went off to finish his half a pint of Corona. (what a legend)

Feel free to add in any answers or details I missed.

[bombshellsandbluebells]

clarke and blarke ☕️☕️☕️

Hooooooo boy get ready for me to be the saltiest I’ve ever been on this blog about Clarke/Blarke. I mostly try to keep it to a minimum, both because I know I have followers who like Clarke and Bellarke and because I try overall not to be TOO salty (though this season is trying my patience.)

I always say this, but I did used to really love Clarke in s2. Like REALLY loved her. She was one of my favorites. And I kind of lowkey shipped Bellarke - I was never really that invested and I never really read fic for them at all, but I was generally a fan of the idea of the ship, I guess, and I sort of assumed that’s the direction the show was going in.

At this point I can’t stand either.

Clarke used to be an interesting character. The show still always worked best as an ensemble show focusing on many different characters and how they react to the choices they have to make, but she was an interesting character in her own right in earlier seasons. But the writing has consistently trapped her in the same cycle of making mistakes that make people mad, giving a weak meaningless apology, crying a bit about it being her only choice, and NEVER LEARNING OR CHANGING. They want to keep her stuck between being a terrible person who makes bad choices AND being The Hero who always saves the day and not only does that make her a terribly uninteresting and flat character to me, but it’s also ruined any potential her character once had.

I think the writing has just completely destroyed Clarke as a character. I had hoped maybe last season they were at least COMMITTING with an arc that made her more of a bad guy than a hero and for a while, that was actually pretty interesting, but they ONCE AGAIN solved it by letting Clarke be the Hero and save the day in the end again, despite not fully having earned that. AND THIS SEASON they had the opportunity to actually force Clarke to grow and change and learn AND THEY WASTED IT.

I’m so completely frustrated with the fact that we are going through the exact same cycle with her. Once again she has made choices that hurt other people and made them angry with her and she is giving her weak apologies in response. A bit of crying, the words “i’m sorry” and a justification for your actions is not a real apology - and I wish Clarke had listened to Raven when she told her that.

I don’t want to hate Clarke, frankly. I want the show to make me care about her - she’s the main character. But it’s moved beyond the point of just finding her bland and uninteresting and moved into me actively disliking her character. 

I know the writers aren’t intentionally trying to write Clarke as a selfish, arrogant person, but they are. She makes choices for others because she believes that she is the only one capable of making the Right Choice - despite it being made clear by this point that the other characters would rather she not make choices with their lives. She doesn’t actually regret when those choices hurt or anger people either. Don’t get me wrong, I think she feels BAD about it, but not enough to regret her choice, which she makes clear when she gives reasons and justifications and claims “it was her only choice.” There is a REASON that other characters are constantly angry with Clarke - and it’s because Clarke doesn’t change her actions. She saves the day at the end and then turns around and makes new choices that bother people.

Season 4 said it best - Clarke has a God Complex and unfortunately even in an episode ENTIRELY ABOUT CLARKE HAVING A GOD COMPLEX AND NEEDING TO CHANGE Clarke ultimately didn’t learn her lesson or change. The next episode took her right back to the same place.

Obviously Clarke is a fictional character and she is created by the writing. And I don’t think the way I read her is what the writers intend. I think she is meant to ultimately be a good person who looks out for others and makes the hero sacrifice. But I think the writers keep telling me that without showing me, because what they keep writing for her makes her selfish and arrogant enough that she only believes she can make the right choice and only her choices are right. 

And the thing that’s pissing me off so much this season is that Clarke hasn’t actually been forced to make up for anything she did to the others. And I absolutely do think the others have a right to distrust her and be angry with her, even if I also understand that Clarke was acting out of a desire to save Madi (though it worries me that we’ve never touched again on Clarke literally electrocuting her daughter in order to control her. There wasn’t nearly as much consequence for that as there should have been.) 

Clarke has to earn her way onto that family - not just because her actions hurt Spacekru last season, but because frankly I need to see development in order to buy that Spacekru cares dearly about her. I bought last season easily that over the six years Spacekru came to care about each other like a family. I can’t buy that 3 days after Clarke was practically their enemy - and someone they didn’t really KNOW anymore - she’s suddenly so important to them they’re distraught about her life.

AND I’m really frustrated by the fact that everyone’s storyline seems to revolve around Clarke this season, as if they aren’t interesting characters in their own right with more interesting stories we could tell instead of repeating the same old tired cycle with Clarke. (This tea is all over the place. I’m just ranting.)

So yeah. In my opinion, the writers have ruined Clarke. If you look at it from a writing point of view, by refusing to commit to her flaws and by trying to both sell that there are no good guys AND Clarke is The Hero, they’ve created a flat, boring character who doesn’t grow or change, hasn’t really developed much since s2/3, and is inherently contradictory. If you look at it from a character, in-world point of view, Clarke always believes that Clarke is right, and what she thinks is right is more important than how anyone else feels or what they think, and she is controlling and selfish.

And I hate Bellarke. I actively hate it now. Like I said, I didn’t used to mind it, and I still understand if people want to keep shipping them and writing fanfiction based on their earlier dynamic - but frankly, I despise the idea of a relationship between them now. Last season I would have argued that I actually didn’t think the writers were planning to ever make them canon, and now this season they seem to be pushing their relationship without any development towards it.

Bellarke isn’t healthy anymore. They mistreat each other and argue with each other more than they side with each other and the show won’t take the time to actually rebuild their friendship. Instead they just give us moments that are meant to convince us they’re both still really important to each other, even if it makes no sense and isn’t supported by what we actually see on screen. They AREN’T that important to each other anymore. As of like a week ago they hadn’t seen each other in SIX YEARS. Even if they been best friends before that - debatable, honestly, since the show hasn’t let them spend much time together since s2 - IT WOULD STILL TAKE TIME TO REBUILD THAT RELATIONSHIP. I’m not saying it COULDN’T happen, but it DIDN’T. And the little moments they get here and there - Bellamy crying and mourning over her, etc. - tries to loudly tell me that they have rebuilt that relationship despite the fact that it didn’t actually happen.

Their relationship is all Telling right now, not Showing. It’s all about throwing a few tidbits here are there to convince me they care rather than consistently showing me a close friendship.

And I think it’s ruining Bellamy’s character. Because his entire story now revolves around Clarke - a woman who hasn’t really proved that she is willing to protect him or his family if it puts her and Madi in danger - and it’s weakening him as a character. To try and push Bellarke back to where they were in s2 despite seasons of development pushing them away from that dynamic, they’ve had to undo SO MUCH of Bellamy’s growth and development.

I get that people got attached to the ship and still think of it in terms of what it once was - and I think the dynamic in the first few seasons makes sense - but if the show actually plans to make them a canon couple, they have massively messed up how they wrote their relationship. It doesn’t work anymore and they haven’t put in any of the work to MAKE IT WORK - they’re just coasting on development from 4 seasons ago. It’s lazy. And it’s out of character. And it massively contradicts everything we saw last season.

Anyways. Yeah. I can’t stand Clarke this season, which is a shame because she used to be far better character and they COULD have still done some interesting things with her if they were willing to actually let her recognize her flaws and grow and change. And I absolutely can’t stand Bellarke and I’m not kidding when I say if it goes canon, I’ll probably be done with the show. 

That was a whole disorganized mess of thoughts. 

[velvet-tread]

A theory, or wild speculation, or whatever; anyway there’s some Bellarke

Here follows a collection of thoughts that don’t quite add up to a thesis yet

Season 5 had one of the best runs of episodes I’ve seen on this show ever - strong themes, great setups, impactful character beats. 9 straight episodes of near-perfection.

But imo it fell short in the last couple of episodes. How short depends on your perspective, but my feelings about it range from mildly disappointed to Jane Austen mourning weeds and little weepy handkerchiefs. Either way - the collapse into fudgy incoherence and loose ends actually undid all of the great work the show did in the first 9 episodes.  WHICH IS FUCKING INFURIATING. 

The show painstakingly put together so much excellent character and relationship set ups which either never materialised or didn’t pay off or just fizzled out. And now I’m left wondering what it all meant, which not only frustrates me on a viewer level but also makes me feel like an idiot for wildly overestimating what the show was doing with the material.

*looks at the X Files forever*

Just to pick a few things out at random.

a) Bellarke were put in conflict, but there was no emotional pay-off, the framing was all over the place and the resolution basically a post-script. 

b) We spent the series agonising about the wisdom of going to war on a fragile planet, but the actual harbinger of Apocalypse 3.0 (I can’t believe I have to write that) was someone only tangentially related to that storyline, whom every single named character bar Kabby was trying to stop. So was everyone wrong? Or just ineffectual? The latter is far less interesting and more depressing tbh.

c) The worms

d) Memori

e) I could go on

I repeat, I would not be so pernickety if the run up to the s5 finale hadn’t been so good, and the set up so promising.  The idea of a reboot was genius.  The Bellarke separation was genius.  Blodreina = genius.  Mama Bear Clarke = genius. Eligius = genius. Spacekru = genius. 

But ultimately?  Can ANYONE tell me what s5 meant?  What difference did any of those things make in the end?  What conflict was resolved satisfactorily?  I’d argue that the Blodreina/Blake siblings arc worked the best (although *howl* Bellamy was never given any in-universe context for Blodreina) but generally I’m left with the feeling that very few of these stories or conflicts had any meaning whatsoever, and especially not Bellarke.

So I have a theory and I stand to be corrected as ever because I am very much processing.

I think there’s a strong possibility Jason and/or the 100 writers room began rewriting the back end of season 5 as they were filming the early season 5 material.

Given Jason’s comments immediately after the finale, I’m inclined to believe that the rewrites, if I’m right, were mostly around Bellarke and the Flame.  Specifically, I think that at some point when they were filming mid-season, Jason changed his mind about how Bellarke-y he wanted the season to be, if at all.  And on top of that, I think as he was pitching season 6 around that time, he realised that he wanted to go full-hog with the Flame in season 6. 

Those two things might be connected.  Perhaps Jason realised the full extent to which he coud “bring Lexa back” without actually bringing back ADC, around the Flame.  Perhaps he wants to recreate the show’s Clexa glory days.  And perhaps romantic Bellarke isn’t compatible with that vision. Dumb, in my view, but hey.

Perhaps, he just realised that he can’t doesn’t want to write romantic Bellarke.

If that’s the case, then well, *shrugs*.  Less satisfying for me, but I don’t own this shit.  I do, however, own the prerogative to speculate wildly on how and why they squandered all that promise in the last couple of eps.

Certainly, a mid-season back end emergency rewrite would explain a few things:

1.The loose threads and wonky framing

For example, Clarke’s fury at Bellamy for putting the Flame into Madi’s head was just...dropped?  Why? When it was SUCH A BIG DEAL in 509?  What were we supposed to the think about that?  What was she? And Bellamy, who didn’t appear to even remember who Clarke was until he saw her at the ship, being angry at her? Really? Where? Since when? And importantly - why? 

I’m a writer and it’s my experience that the best planning you do for a piece is when you approach it at the start.  You brainstorm.  You get your thoughts together.  You address each problem and question and mould it into a whole so it all makes sense.

But when you finish the thing and you look at it and you think - the thesis is wrong! I need to restructure the entire thing!  That’s when mistakes get made.  Especially if, for example, you’re up against a deadline or in this case a filming schedule, the threads that you would usually pick up at the planning stage or in the editing stage get missed.  And because they are part of the final editing process, there’s nobody around to pick them up and properly address them.

Result?  Fudge.

2. The curious ambivalence about Becho. 

Look I ADORE Becho. They are soft, and loving and real af.  I fully believe that was always intended to be the case. 

I think Becho was set up as a benchmark, for Bellamy in particular, a symbol of his peace and prosperity in space,. And, of course, I think it was also set up as a point of conflict for Octavia and Clarke. In the case of the latter, it was definitely a silent love triangle. How do you explain the love triangle framing on two separate occasions? How else do you explain the two separate interviews Jason gave about love triangles?

But here’s what Becho was not set up as: a relationship that was supposed to develop on-screen and take the audience with it.  Becho had no arc this season. It wasn’t “a story” per se, however much Tasya and Bob’s chemistry electrified me. It was the backbone to *other* stories. 

So, why, then, were Becho given every single Bellarke beat, especially towards the end? A background of forgiveness? Check. A steadying influence on each other. Check. The person they’re fighting for? Check. Plotting together? Check? Battle couple? Check.

Contrast with Bellarke. Forgiveness?  That’s something for Bellamy and Madi to discuss without Clarke!  Battle plans? Clarke will do that with Echo instead (oh my GODDD my ot3 came to life there *clutches hands and wishes upon a star*). A steadying influence on each other? Maybe! Until they forget each other’s names when they’re not in a scene together! People they’re fighting for? Definitely not each other.

Meanwhile bts, the messages were VERY confusing.  So the show was giving us a Becho that, while very real, was not the core of the story. Which was probably why, in early season 5, some deep Becho nods (the extra forehead touch, the “I love her”) found their way on to the editing room floor. All legit. But then, the script-to-screens then BROUGHT THOSE THINGS BACK to the viewer’s attention?  Why? Why give us those things even though they were cut? Was it because maybe, the show had changed direction after the fact?

And don’t get me wrong. I loved every second of the show’s affirmation of Becho. I still adore them.  But how does it fit into the jigsaw of the show as it stands?  It doesn’t really.  In fact, if you just swap Echo for Clarke in Bellamy’s storyline this season, you would have a hard time telling me that this isn’t exactly what romantic Bellarke would look like - the only difference is that in terms of screentime, Becho’s antagonism has had far more time, and Bellarke’s forgiveness/working together has had more time. IN-UNIVERSE, IT’S THE OTHER WAY AROUND.  It’s why shipping Becho comes so easily for me. And if the show wanted to frame that as Clarke’s personal tragedy, I would get it and probably relish it. But the trouble is, I’m having a hard time understanding what the show *is* saying about Becho and Bellarke, because it seems to be constantly changing its mind.

WHICH. BY THE WAY. MADE THAT ENTIRE WAKE-UP MARPER VLOG SEQUENCE A MASSIVE DAMP BELLARKE SQUIB.

SORRY.

3. The Flame suddenly jumping to prominence as a tool rather than as a symbol late in the season.

The show went from framing the Flame as a threat to this kid, who had hidden from it her whole life, for whom it meant literal nightmares of people burning at the stake, something for Clarke to rightly protect her from, to something that turned her into a mouthpiece for Lexa, to Clarke’s hostility to it being framed as “wrong”. There was an abrupt change of tone imo, to Clarke’s fears being justified to Clarke’s fears making her, and I quote Jason from an interview that nearly made me choke on my cereal, a “helicopter” mum.

Excuse me while I punch the nearest object to smithereens.

The Flame “gave” Madi battle ideas (which were different from Octavia’s how, exactly?) by Gaia’s bedside, with just a MANTRA? That whole scene felt cobbled together at the last minute. Like a film student’s badly edited homework.

It’s giving Clarke life lessons, ffs! 

*clenches fist*

The whole thing feels like a season 5 retcon, hastily put together to justify Madi still having the thing in her head for season 6, when it can do it’s victory lap for real.

4. The scenes that were dropped

a) Bob and Eliza both referenced a big Bellarke scene that got cut.  My guess? Not a romantic scene but some kind of Hakeldama that allowed them to hash out their various beefs with each other and probably involved some shit talking about the Flame.

b) And like, if that scene had some tenderness in it? Too Bellarke maybe? No, Bellarke BAD BAD BAD *stern looks*

c) also, wasn’t Echo supposed to have a sad scene of sitting in the snow and remembering Azgeda? That was supposed to be at the snowy back end of the season, but Echo had no sads really.  Only fierce spacekru love and some cuddles and some good sexy time. Was there an Echo sad that got cut? What was it related to?

5. The writers room walkout

Yeah. I don’t know what that means, but it sure means something.

Just fyi...for some context.  I love Becho and they currently own my heart but until recently Bellarke was very much my otp. Probably, deep down, it still is.

But I’m getting tired of running this race. I have no problem with the show doing a slow burn. I have no problem with platonic Bellarke. But I need consistency and, importantly, I need the show to remember that Bellarke are the backbone of this show. Their relationship - however you frame it - is the heart and without it the show is nothing but a collection of Elon Musk conspiracy theories on reddit.

JUST LETTING THEM HAVE A CONVERSATION =/= BELLARKE ROMANCE.

If you want them platonic, fine, you win. But gutting their relationship from the inside out to try to ward off the sniff of shipping is just counterproductive. It’s the lack of real, meaningful connection that really turned me off Bellarke this season, not the lack of kiss or lack of romantic framing. Early in the season? Yes, the set up was all there and it looked GREAT. But their conflict never got off the ground and we never got a cathartic resolution to show us the characters really, truly mean something to each other. 

Ultimately the show forgot that they were friends who love each other, and I just *clenches fist* can’t ship that.  Maybe that’s what the show wanted. But the flipside is that at this point I’m not really invested in their relationship in any context, which is why the end shot left me cold. I hope Bellarke hasn’t died in my heart forever but...idk it doesn’t look good.

[orionsangel86]

Can we talk about the endgame human-cas vs angel-cas argument? I find it unsettling that a lot of folks think Cas needs to become human; for his good, or Dean's, or narrative. I understand that Cas needs and wants to get away from the other angels, their jobs, their world - but why have to be human? And people who say "I hope he doesn't become an archangel, how awful for him!" Well I think Cas enjoys being an angel - but he's his own sort of angel. He seems to want his powers and identity. Hmph.

It has taken me ages to answer this ask as I’ve been hesitant about it for ages since it will most likely blow up in my face somehow. So look, I’ve answered it here but I also have a disclaimer on my blog that I want you to read because after all the Cas related drama against meta writers last year I need some sort of protection okay:

http://bluestar86.tumblr.com/CasDisclaimer

Please read the link if you expect to be offended by my answer (and if you’re just curious of course).

A lot of other great meta writers have already tackled this, but seeing as you have come for my thoughts specifically I won’t link other posts on the risk of upsetting you. You are clearly already aware of the various discussions that turned into arguments that turned into a huge wank fest so I’m not going to feed into that. 

The problem with the human Cas vs Angel Cas endgame debate,is that it is all just speculation, none of us know what way the writers of the show will choose to take Cas’sstory line. We can only interpret the canon story we have been provided with atthis point. Anything I speculate about future event, could turn out to be totally wrong. But its still fun to speculate anyway. I just want to stress that I am not saying that by disagreeing with me anyone is WRONG. We all have our own opinions after all. 

There are a lot of reasons why people might feel like beinghuman is the best fit and most satisfying endgame for Castiel. There is also alot of evidence in the show that suggests that this is the way Cas’s story isgoing. I don’t particularly think this has anything to do with Dean or destieleither, though there will always be people who do think this.

For starters, the whole concept is a well known TV trope.The immortal character who seeks to be human? Yeah it’s been done before, and whilst this isn’t necessarily a good thing, it is a commonthing that we have been conditioned for years to expect in basic storytelling.The fact that this often comes attached to the love trope that said immortalgives up immortality so they can be with a human is just an added bonus forDestiel shippers.  

So even without exploring the evidence within the show, thevery idea itself is already a favourable one for most people because it fits astandard storytelling trope that resonates with people. It is a comment on thepower of humanity, and also makes us all feel a bit better to think about theidea that an immortal being would prefer to be human than continue to havetheir godlike power and eternal life (because humanity itself is supposedly agreat gift).

(I should clarify here that I don’t believe that Cas’s fallfrom grace should be connected to Destiel and that Dean would love and be withhim regardless of whether he were angel or human.)

There is every possibility that Supernatural may go againstthe grain here, but the evidence in the show suggests otherwise. Castiel’sstory since his origins in season 4 has been that he is the angel that fallsfor humanity. His love for humanity and continued choice of humanity over hisangelic brethren makes the idea that he would eventually join humanity as oneof them poetic. I think that is why this is the most popular endgame theorywithin fandom over everything else: itis poetic.

Humans generally enjoy poetic stories, as well as ironicones. They are far more satisfying. It feels like the natural conclusion for acharacter such as Castiel, whose journey of self-discovery and acceptance hasoften had him questioning his own place in the world and exactly what kind ofcreature he is meant to be. This is his continued theme throughout his entirerun on the show. The idea that the show would end with him remaining in hiscurrent state, or even elevated to something such as an archangel just feelswrong for his development. I can understand why people would consider that “awful”for Castiel. You say that he “seems to want his powers and identity” but youmiss the point the show is trying to explain to us, that his identity is not tied to his powers. In fact, in the later seasons, it can be argued that hispowers have held him back from really understanding who he really is:

I know that there is a big split here in fandom, but I dofeel that those fans who desperately want Cas to stay an angel have anemotional attachment to the idea because it resonates with them on a personal levelthat he is currently “different” so for him to become “normal” feels like aninsult to those fans. It is the same way those fans who view him as asexualfeel I believe. These are delicate issues. When you want a character to be likeyou and you identify with them so greatly, for the show to then fundamentallychange that character in any way feels like a big hit to you personally. But Ithink this is why there needs to be some detachment between what we personallyfeel attached to, and Castiel’s own story that the show itself (via subtext,narrative structure, and text in certain places) is telling us.

(I should also disclaim here that I am in no way against asexual readings of Castiel and don’t want this to come across this way, as there is certainly room for that interpretation in the text - my own personal view on Cas’s sexuality is “undefinable” )

Aside from the narrative poetry of Cas’s eventual fall fromgrace to humanity, I think the reason a lot of us believe it is the naturalconclusion to his story arc is just the sheer amount of evidence and textualunanswered questions that seem to be leading this way.

There are the parallels to Anna early on, and how it isimplied heavily that he also desires those things that she does.

The constant questions that Cas is never able to answer:

“As what Castiel? As anangel? Or a man?” (no answer) -  9x06Heaven Can’t Wait

“I am an angel.” “andyou’re okay with that?” “If we’re going to war, I need to be ready” (hardlya yes) -  9x09 Holy Terror

“Who are you?” (noanswer) “What are you now? A penitent?” “I’mnothing” (not exactly positive) – 9x14 Captives

“No! If I’m gonna die,I want answers. Like, who are you now? Like, you’re obviously not an angel ofthe Lord. And what about all of this walking the earth like Caine from “KungFu” crap? Cleaning up Heaven’s messes. How many more rogue angels are there outthere? And, what are you gonna do once you’re done with all that? Go back toHeaven? Please. The angel formerly known as Hannah has restored order up top.Smoothest it’s run since God cut the ribbon on the pearly gates. So tell me,Castiel, truly, what is your mission now?” (Cas told Metatron to shut up –but Metatron had a point) – 10x18 Book of the Damned

“Brother? Ha! What areyou?” “W-what? I’m an angel of the Lord.” “That so? ‘Cause, near as I can tell,when you have to choose between heaven and the Winchesters …” “You choosethem.” 11x02 Form and Void

Then to go along with these questions, Castiel himself hadsome very interesting conversations. In 9x11 the talk with Sam about peanutbutter and how Castiel used it to describe the things he missed about beinghuman was particularly enlightening for those of us who now believe that this is his endgame. He basically called his angel-hood “disgusting”.

When he spoke to Daniel at the start of season 10, Danieljust wanted to stay on earth and experience humanity. The conversation he hadwith Hannah was most interesting. Remember that Daniel was a Cas mirror here. Aglaringly obvious Cas mirror:

Hannah: “You are anangel, once and forever.”

Daniel: “Droppedunwillingly…Unknowingly…Into a strange land, a land that, as it turns out,celebrates the free, the individual. For the first time in thousands of years,I have choices. And with each choice… I begin to discover who I really am.”

Hannah: “This isnonsense.”

Daniel: “Because theydon’t teach you this in heaven? Perhaps they should. Then you would understandwhy it’s worth fighting for… What I’ll never understand is why angels won’tacknowledge the wisdom to be found down here.”

Hannah: “What wisdomis to be gained from humans?”  

Daniel: “I’m notspeaking to you.”

Hannah (To Castiel): “Doyou understand what he’s…” (Cas never answered, but it was obvious hedid)

This whole conversation imo is foreshadowing Cas choosing tostay on earth with the humans, and when this is then followed up with this:

Castiel: “Well,perhaps I’ve been down here with them for too long. There’s seemingly nothingbut chaos. But not all bad comes from it. Art. Hope. Love. Dreams.”

Hannah: “But t-thoseare human things.”

Castiel: “Yes.”

It implies that Castiel is longing for the humanexperience.

Later on in 10x03 Cas textually states his reasoning forwanting to stay an angel however:

“You know, only humanscan feel real joy, but … also such profound pain. This is easier.”

He said it in relation to Dean’s choosing to stay a demon,but he understood exactly. Cas longs for the human experience, but he can’thandle the pain of it, hence his choice currently to remain an angel (eventhough it isn’t what he really desires).

This sentence by Cas was a direct response to what he saidearlier in 9x23:

“I just want to be an angel”

Because when Cas said that, he was mourning the death ofDean. It was the easy choice for him. It was less painful to remain an angelthan to go back to being human. It’s not good enough evidence imo that Cas shouldremain an angel for his endgame because he said it when he was deeply mourningthe loss of Dean and it was framed extremely negatively by the show and thenwas countered continuously in early season 10 in the subtext of every conversation he had with Hannah.

Most of these examples came out of seasons 9 and 10 however, but as I always say, the endgame arcs for all the three main characters were laid out in seasons 8 - 10 and Dabb is expanding on those concepts. One of the interesting things from the later seasons and Dabb era that I have noticed is just how little Castiel uses his powers now. Most of the time we either see him fighting normally, or trying out his new hunter knowledge to solve a case. What I truly believe Dabb’s goal with Cas’s endgame is to show Cas that he is wanted and needed and loved and useful without his powers. Because it has been tied heavily to his depression arc in seasons 11 and 12 that Cas doesn’t feel useful or powerful enough. The whole point is for Sam and Dean to show Cas that they want him with them regardless of how powerful he may or may not be. For Cas to become empowered, without literal powers. 

The main issue that we have with Cas being powered up, is that for character development purposes, it makes no sense. How is Cas supposed to learn his lessons that way? If he becomes this super powerful being? How is that gonna help him get over his issue with only being ‘useful’ or a ‘hammer’ or to stop him obsessing about his ‘missions’? What meta writers tend to scream about is that Cas doesn’t yet seem to realise that it’s not his powers that make him important to the boys, but just HIM. We have not had this clearly resolved in the show, and it won’t be, until the damage that was done in season 9 is finally healed. Cas has gone through a fundamental change since the end of season 8 and this arc is not yet resolved. Powering him up even further will only hinder this character development arc, not assist it. 

Remember how in 12x19 Cas made so many terrible decisions because he was so desperate “for a win” for both Dean and himself? Remember how in 13x05 we were screaming because Dean just wanted a win and then Cas showed up? Remember how in 13x06 Dean told Sam explicitly that Cas was his win?

Cas doesn’t need to be powerful for him to be needed and wanted by Dean (and Sam), but HE STILL DOESN’T KNOW THIS. NONE OF THIS HAS BEEN MADE CLEAR TO CAS. We still haven’t had a resolution to Cas’s own issues that were made so very clear in 12x09. That he doesn’t feel competent enough on his own.

This is why to power Cas up even further, or to keep him with his grace in tact, doesn’t really seem to fit the story structure. Cas needs to learn that its not his powers that make him special, its fundamentally HIM. It’s what he used to face the empty entity, its what brings a smile to Dean’s face whenever he’s around, it’s what made Jack choose him as his father (though not made explicitly clear, it is heavily implied that it was Castiel’s goodness that made Jack choose him - because Jack hardly needs protecting - more just the right kind of guidance).

It’s my opinion that Cas will choose to become human at endgame (or before who knows) because his grace is holding him back. Its not even about his obligations to heaven or the Winchesters, I personally don’t think he should lose all ties with all the angels, because I think there is still a lesson that the remaining angels need to learn here and that Cas will be the one to teach them (along with Jack). Its about Cas’s inner struggles and his personal growth, rather than the relationships he has with others. Its about Castiel finally asking himself “Who am I?” “What do I want?” “Where do I belong?” and answering those bloody questions. Perhaps he can answer those questions and keep his grace, its possible sure, but then all of that talk about human things in season 10 wouldn’t have made much sense, and Cas will always be missing something fundamental. The human things that he never got to really enjoy last time. The human pleasures that Dean revels in so much. I think it would be damn tragic to reach the end of his story and not have him indulging in the things we KNOW canonically he longs for. 

Because as the Empty Entity said in 13x04

I have tiptoed through all your little tulips, your memories, your little feelings yes, I know what you hate, I know who you love, I know what you fear...

But remember that feelings, that love and fear, along with hope and dreams are human things and Castiel shouldn’t have to be always torn in two. Right now, that’s what he is. Half an angel, half a man, lost and conflicted. As far as I am concerned, Castiel becoming human answers all the questions the story has been asking him, and provides him with a level of happiness and satisfaction that he could never have whilst still an angel. For his own personal growth arc, imo its the only logical outcome.

I’m sorry if this isn’t what you wanted to hear nonny, but I am just trying to interpret this show logically with the information I have been given, and that all points to a human Cas endgame. As I said at the start of this post. I could be wrong. I could be interpreting all the wrong signals here, but the thing is, we meta writers are not a hive mind, and we sure as hell disagree on a LOT of things about this show, as we all have our own ways of interpreting things, but the majority of meta writers I follow also believe that Cas’s endgame is to be human and we all came to that conclusion individually based on information the show presented. Yes we could all still be wrong, and no I am not saying that any other opinions are incorrect because, and I stress this, all interpretations are valid. But please don’t get upset that I don’t agree with you over this. We just see things differently. You did ask for my opinion after all, so I gave it.

[heero-yuy]

And now I’m gonna make you all feel bad for not trusting Shiro

And explain why new ugly hair Shiro is the Shiro we know and love.

First of all:

If this Shiro is a clone, operation “Kuron” would be fucking dumb.

Like real dumb.

And here’s why.

So like lets say they captured Shiro after the Zarkon fight and made a Shiro “clone” or whatever who's goal is to infiltrate Voltron or something.

Atleast that’s what it seems like the goal is because this dude says 

when Shiro escapes and they shoot his ship. So like it seems like they let him escape on purpose.

Thing is...

Shiro nearly dies like 50 fucking times before he reaches Voltron (BY FUCKING MIRACLE)!!

I mean just think of ALL the coincidences that had to happen for Shiro to get to Voltron.

I dunno if he’s like the least lucky person in the universe or the most lucky, because of how he’s ALWAYS almost dying in some way and ALWAYS escapes death against all odds.

But that was one heck of an incredible journey there!

But seriously, if Keith wasn’t looking for Shiro non stop and Shiro didn’t connect to black in that very second, the Galra’s “clone” would have died. Their project “Kuron” would fucking FAIL. 

I think if that really was the Galra’s goal to make a clone that would reach Voltron they would have made it a tiiiiny bit easier for him to survive somehow.

Just a tiiny bit. 

They dun have to go THAT FAR to convince him he actually escaped and they didn’t just let him go. Just you kno, give him a bit of a push there when he’s starving in space or something (assuming they somehow keep track of him). 

They dun have to go that far also for the viewers to fool em that Shiro escaped so him being a Clone would be a surprise later. I mean they just changed his hair a bit and no one in the fandom trusts him anymore haha.

So unless that ice planet and the universe is like filled with dead Shiro clones bodies who were eaten by monsters or froze to death or died of hunger or whatever, because of all times the clones didn’t make it, and the Galra were just waiting for that one special one that finally would, then I’m guessing that maybe something else is going on.

Because there’s no way that they’d just let him go like that and trust what? FATE to bring him to Voltron unharmed SOMEHOW???

Like that’s a dumb fucking plan.

So I dunno, unless the Galra know that no matter what happens Shiro and Keith always find eachother again and again like a pair of destined lovers.

I’m gonna say...

Complete bullshit. I dun buy it.

OK, Now how long has it actually been? Like how much time passed from their battle with Zarkon till they meet with Lotor? How much time passes until Haggar even summons Lotor?

What if it’s actually been longer than you thought? 

What if it’s been like... I dunno, a year?

Thing is that when we go back to Team Voltron in season 3, they seems to think Shiro is gone, dead, like they act like they all moved on and Keith is the only one who’s still stuck there.

I doubt you get to that point after a day or two, or a week, or months even... (They love Shiro, I dun think they’d give up on looking for him after such a short time or get over his death this easily..)

It’s at a point where they all like “Ok Keith, that’s enough time to mourn, we all accepted it and you have to move on too”

I know they all look the same, and there’s not alot of indication of how much time exactly it’s been.

But it does seem like they’ve been doing what they were doing (freeing planets, Pidge looking for her brother) for AWHILE.

This would explain Shiro’s long hair. It simply been long enough for it to grow that long since he disappeared.

(btw there’s a genetic thing that makes your hair grow really fast that also makes a flock of your hair white in the front, Shiro could totally have that) 

Also the fact he can’t walk at first can be explained with him just not doing that for awhile.

Now when Shiro is finally free he SOMEHOW makes it to that Gas planet they were fighting Lotor at the first time.

Voltron is leaving the scene and Shiro appears and chases it here

I actually looked to see if we can see him but we don’t.

(I also didn’t realize it my first watch, and now every time I’ll see the 3rd episode I’ll be like “NoooOOOOOOOOOOOO you fools wait for hiiim!!!!”)

Shiro sees Voltron leaving him behind.

Besides the fact that he knows this is probably the end for him now, it also shows him two things:

They moved on.

And they are doing well without him.

Anyway, 7 days later, Shiro is dying, thinks of his Voltron days and connects to the Black lion in the last minute.

And Keith (who hasn’t stopped searching for him, now with black lion)

finally finds him.

Now besides the headache, I actually dun particularly see anything really strange about Shiro’s behavior when he goes back.

Watching it again I just got the feeling he just has a really hard time accepting what happened with Black.

I dun see a reason to not believe what Keith suggests there, that Zarkon teleported him to captivity using the Black lion.

Shiro seems upset about it because 

What does it tells Shiro? 

That his bond with black was still not strong enough.

Like, he had so much fighting spirit when he escaped before, and suddenly when he finally reaches Voltron he’s depressed in bed and seems like he doesn’t want to see anyone?

What happened???

Like yeah he wanted Keith to lead Voltron, but I think maybe then seeing the team actually function without him and forming Voltron and fighting the Galra, and considering how much Voltron means to him and his struggle with his PTSD and how Voltron literally been the only thing on his mind when he was dying. 

I think it’s a bit hard for him to accept what he sees when he comes back..

He sounds fake here

Because he’s not being honest. 

Deep inside it hurts him to see they did fine without him.

When Keith goes “They need you”, he lies.

He’s the only one that needs him. The team has moved on. Maybe he says it because he can’t say “I” or feels like he’s not enough, maybe he’s trying to encourage Shiro, because he understands how Shiro feels, without Shiro needing to say anything. He always did. From the very beginning.

So maybe it’s like “Hey Shiro, I know how much this means to you and you’re still a valuable part of this team”

Shiro obviously doesn’t want to go back on his word and be all “Ok Keith, so give me back my lion now!”

But Keith does it for him, and I think you can see Shiro is very happy about it.

Only the lion won’t accept him anymore.

And before this you also have that scene with Lance doing math that I think connects the two

Shiro feels like Lance, he feels like he has no place on the team anymore.

But he doesn’t deal with it in the open, honest and good way Lance does. (which is the reason Black won’t accept him anymore, he’s not thinking of the team)

That’s why he butts heads with Keith over leadership in this episode, and we can see even in the season 4 trailer that it goes on.

I think his position as a paladin and leader of Voltron gave him control over his life back after what he’s been through. In a way that was how he coped with his captivity and his PTSD.

He’s obviously proud of Keith, but I think he’s also jealous and hurt. 

I dun think he's ready to accept he’s no longer leader or a part of Voltron.

(Like he’s proud of Keith, but he still puts him down saying “You’ll get there someday”)

And I think Keith understand where it’s coming from and he doesn’t buy it.

He puts himself down and says he can’t do this because he wants Shiro to feel needed and important.

And Shiro is doing what ya’ll Shiro stans have been doing for months haha, crying about him not being the black paladin anymore and how all his work on his bond with black was meaningless now that Keith is in it.

Shiro's bond with his lion meant the most, he was the one who had to put the most effort into it. And suddenly, it gives him up. I think Shiro feels betrayed even.

And he’s not ready to do what Lance did with his lion yet and give it up for the sake of the team (maybe some Lance and Shiro bonding in the future??)

That’s why it seems like they are heading for a leadership conflict there. That Shiro would try to make Keith feel like he’s not ready for this. Unintentionally. 

And Keith would continue to play along with it, (though being the more fitting person for the position of leader) because maybe that’s what he’s been doing all along from episode one. Trying to gently give Shiro the power and the control he lost when he was captured by the Galra, back. (Without directly confronting Shiro about his PTSD.) (would explain their odd dynamics)

Thing is Shiro is just not as good as Keith with leading Voltron. And I think he’s gonna mess up AGAIN.

It’s like we are back in square one, where Keith is the one that has the right idea in mind and no one listens and they all listen to Shiro who makes BAD decisions.

( Shiro WTF 1 Shiro WTF 2 Shiro WTF 3 Shiro WTF 4,)

This is leading to them finding their balance as leaders and co leaders.

Now Shiro’s leadership is centered around teamwork and protecting his team. 

Keith is the better decision maker (and I have a long rant about Keith coming, because I dun think people understand why Keith is the perfect person for black still.)

I’m just gonna say Keith is definitely the leader they need in they ever want to beat Lotor. 

This all seems like buildup to Shiro finally opening up about his PTSD, and him piloting blue (the team work lion) which I talked about before also. I’m guessing he and Allura will be sharing it, Because someone needs to pilot the castle once in awhile.

This is a very natural arc for Shiro, so I doubt they’ll let a clone go though it.

And back to the clone thing:

The flashbacks Shiro sees when he escapes, seem to me like his regular PTSD flashbacks. There’s something in his memories Shiro is terrified of.

Obviously the clone IS a thing, because we see two Shiro’s. And obviously the Galra has some sort of plan for it.

But the clone is the one we saw in the bed, this is Kuron:

The Shiro that they got back is the real Shiro, or atleast the same Shiro from season 1-2. (who is the Shiro that arrived on Earth, but maybe not the Shiro that went to Kerberos btw)

And the Galra didn’t let him go, they just assumed they shot him down and he died. So they could start doing whatever they had planned to do with his clone.

They just have no idea real Shiro survived and is gonna fuck up their plans.

I’m guessing the headaches are connected to that somehow.

And this part

I’m gonna have to say maybe this isn’t just connected to Keith actually physically saving Shiro all the time. 

But also to Shiro’s ongoing probably life long battle with his PTSD, Keith is always there to kinda always remind him like “Your’e still valuable, your life is valuable, don’t give up.”

Now go embrace your even uglier hair Shiro and tell him you’re sorry for not trusting him.

[elizabethrobertajones]

Hey. I was reading your notes on the last ep and come the moment when Dean joins Sam and wants a case it kinda hit me that the war room had been used an awful lot this season. Much more than the library. Is it because the map table is easier to clean after eating than the wooden ones? Is it for more dramatic entrances?? Or is it to reflect on the situation???

Thanks for giving me an excuse to talk about the tables in the Bunker, a thing I feel like the weary archivist about :P 

http://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/tagged/look-at-this-effin-table

I’d spent the last 3-4 weeks feeling awful and picking at an attempt to write about it some more… Look, I even made a gif of Mary before I ran out of steam one day! :P But I needed this prompt because I have NOT got myself together to write about it…

Your graph about the tables confirms what I was thinking, really, which was that this season has been favouring it.

It’s a close call between the library - they’re used seemingly interchangeably as a start of the episode setting, though I think the context is always important. Generally when it’s the library it’s more day to day existence, or to do with the job. The war room and its map table are all about setting out conflict, or making the characters feel alone or trapped, and it’s the most hostile room in the bunker. The kitchen is really important and significant and much more about deeply personal stuff going on with the characters.

The last time I wandered through the subject was after 12x02 (ack so much season 12 since then) especially to explain why they ate at the map table (and why Cas was excluded, which I think now we’re seeing the long game of that unfolding we should be even more grateful for :P) and what was going on there…

http://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/152353976198/no-more-myself-only-you-i-cant-help-but-think

I guess that’s like the primer on it, especially through Carver Era and dealing with the emotional stuff… It was answered in a DeanCas context but tbh I went wild talking about Sam and Dean and family and only got to Destiel at the end :P Pfft. 

All the stuff in 12x02 with the Winchesters eating around that table and setting up pie for its fall and Mary’s cooking and all was the first real moment of genuine disappointment in Mary and realising that she wasn’t all Dean remembered - obviously this has turned into the huge emotional arc now but this set up around the war room table was the moment it got set up. And of course it wasn’t allowing Mary into the kitchen, which is the heart of the family and also in the physical world serves the same function as what it all meant when Cas hid in there in 11x18 in his own head. Dean retreated there to reminisce about Mary - keeping his memories of her in his private space where he also goes to hide and think.

Anyway since then, and thanks for the graph to make it REALLY easy to keep track of the important stuff, we had the kitchen thing in 12x03 - having just churned out a massive post about Destiel and the kitchen and all, Dean offering Cas coffee to come sit with them and have breakfast was actually Too Much and I barely have anything in my tag about it - I think I just sat back and basked in being right with that one :P Cas was invited in to Dean’s space and declined it without even coming into the room… Mary walked in and helped herself to that bacon (which I still think could have been for Cas) but also despite in the fresh light of morning seeming to be perfectly invited in after Dena’s misery the night before, had already changed her hair and was meaning to go do a job on her own, the first sign of her pulling away, and obviously the fact she went into the kitchen and nibbled at the bacon was her getting that little foothold into Dean’s most emotional room in the bunker (I think his room reflects his personality, the kitchen is for his emotions?) … She doesn’t sit down and at the end leaves. 

At the end the confrontation takes place in the library, where she left the journal on the table and THAT is important for a parallel later, with the library serving a place of home and comfort, Mary and Cas mourn the loss of what made that for them:

Mary left the journal there while they were on the hunt, but grabs it and leaves, with a shot following her through the war room where she’d left her bag, again the conflict that she was pretty much ready to leave.

In 12x05 the kitchen is just in the opening, and as this is the chunk of MotW about dealing with Mary and her leaving, we get the heavy-handed pie refusal from Dean to show he’s still miserable and betrayed about that, and at that point feeling not in the mood for pie at all (12x02 and 12x05 really cross over with my Dean vs cake tag which thankfully Mittens is keeping a masterpost of THAT nonsense this year so I don’t have to :P)

In 12x08 the library is used for excessive case-related research, but Cas drops the coffee cups in the war room and leans on the table, after the nephilim is conceived - the source of all his conflict for the rest of the season so far.

12x09, now we get to the one I was giffing and meaning to write about! We already covered Cas in Mary’s spot for the whole “missing a lost husband” thing, so onto Mary sitting at the table in the kitchen. She’s in Dean’s spot. She’s still reading the journal, and this is the first time we see her comfortable in the kitchen, since 12x03 she was so awkward there, and 12x02 made the family meal happen at the table of conflict. Of course with Dean gone she’s let herself into his place of comfort without his approval, per say, though he brought the photos of her into the room in 12x02. She hears his phone ringing in his room and goes to get it and takes on a hunt that should have been his, continuing the whole being in his space thing. 

I think it’s a family dynamics thing - Mary’s trying out every room in the Bunker to be comfortable in, trying to fit into their lives, and by being in Dean’s spot and taking up his slack with hunting, it’s sort of like a head of the family thing. It also mirrors how Dean and Cas both have their comfortable safe place in the kitchen. 

I don’t think Mary’s entirely comfortable there yet because she’s not entirely comfortable in the family yet, but it DOES compare her to them. Cas in 11x18 especially, as she’s sitting there reading the journal and sort of stuck about what to do in the same way Cas was watching TV - more paralleling their depression arcs. She DOES hear a call from outside and get drawn away to go help Alicia. She’s not quite as lost as Cas was at that point.

12x10′s bunker stuff is entirely the war room, because Dean n Cas are in a conflict at the start, and resolving it at the end. There’s two really great posts about the use of the table there:

http://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/157097475258/spn-prop-fail-calipers

http://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/157165219401/chiisana-sukima-rosewhipped22

12x13 I think was a fairly typical use of the library at the start of an episode. At the end they possibly just used the set because it’s there and looked good, although as you observed a lot of shots are the library looking into the war room. It solved a conflict, and they chose to use the room that way around, so Sam and Dean were standing in the sort of general family living space watching the conflict resolve. It actually turns out to be part of a huge conflict between Crowley and Rowena, but Sam and Dean are safely uninvolved with that.

Then of course they move to the conflict table in time for Mary to come home.

12x14 ^ continuing that fight, eeeeverything gets said, and the family dinner in 12x02 pays off. All the awkwardness about how they’ve been relating to each other comes out at last. 

Sam continues sitting at the conflict table, debating going to join Mary when we rejoin after the little time skip. Dean comes and argues with him, and leaves. Sam also makes up his mind with the first decision that’s obviously going to lead to a lot more decisions which are going to involve a lot of conflict. 

Dean returns home, investigates the library for booze, but is drawn back out into the conversation with Ketch, which is beaaautifully framed to show they’re at war:

There’s no going off to sit in the comfy library to chat. They’re doing this at the map table like men :P The scotch sits bang in the middle like it’s in a negotiated neutral territory, and also one of the game pieces on the map. (I love this post)

Anyway this ALSO is setting up bigger conflicts - this can’t be the end of Ketch’s interest in Dean or at least the BMoL’s, and their tactics. And now Dean and Ketch have hung out, things are a bit more personal between them, especially because they mostly managed to make each other really dislike them. I suspect a kind of pay off for this scene too somewhere down the way :P 

Aaand... that’s all the tables so far

*narrows eyes suspiciously at the Bunker waiting to see what it does next*