#bomb9000

[ganymedesclock]

What academic subjects could you see the paladins being individually good at I wonder?

Paladins in school! Let’s do this.

It’s worth noting from the get-go that you’re grabbing a pretty educated sample size here. The paladins didn’t go to normal high school, they went to astronaut school. So the ‘average’ here is pretty high.

Pidge

I’d put Pidge down as the most ‘conventionally’ book smart of the paladins. Her memory, intelligence, creativity, and most importantly curiosity have built her a vast knowledge base. At the same time, I don’t think that Pidge necessarily had the best grades of the paladins. Almost every time we see her dealing with school, she has other things going on- either bullying and isolation before the Garrison (s4e2) or her infiltration and hunt for answers (s1e1).

Pidge reads both ADHD and autistic to me- I see her as someone who’s very invested in her personal projects, or once she can connect to a subject- but if she can’t care about it? She gets distracted. In s4e2 she directly interrupts the teacher and the lesson to talk about something she probably knows about because of her father- something she cares about a lot more emotionally that’s unrelated to the lesson.

So in that sense, I think Pidge would test very well- playing to her strengths of memory and cognition- but probably have a very hit or miss record with homework, especially in subjects she doesn’t really like. S4e2 also suggests that Pidge gives up on studying really easily when she’s upset.

Rather than gravitating towards specific classes, which would seldom go in directions that she prefers, it’s more likely that Pidge would prefer personal research about anything that seizes her interest and use classes as a jumping-point for her own personal studies. Just from her interests in old-school video games and her mentions of Tesla and Turing, I’d guess that Pidge’s favorite subject would probably be the specific intersection of technology and history.

Her grades, I think, would be very across the board- even when she has a need to succeed at a given subject for practicality’s sake (wanting to get into the Garrison to be with her family, or needing to stay in the Garrison to find her family) it’s hard to keep up, especially because it’s very hard for Pidge to derail at all from a project she cares about more.

No, I think our straight-A Dean’s List student would be:

Shiro

Here’s the thing about Shiro. He has the charisma, reputation, and self-consciousness of a chronic overachiever. I’ve said before I would be very surprised if Shiro in his teens was not a deeply unhappy stressed person because he had those perfect grades, but he did that because he buckled down and got all of his work done at any cost. He studied, he did his assignments, he took advanced courses, he probably got some concerned talks about stress levels and biting off more than he could chew and sort of nodded politely and said he would take that into account but it took him actually getting out the other side to legitimately chill.

That’s not to say Shiro persevered by diligence alone- I think Shiro’s plenty educated and able to have a good command of that. But I think Shiro had a very troubled relationship with academia in the later grades because he felt- and still, to a degree, feels- this need to live up to a larger than life reputation.

I think the subjects that would speak to Shiro would be ones that could let him get out of the muddle of just grades, grades, grades, and tap into his sense of higher calling, that there’s something worthwhile in what he’s doing. He says in s1e1 that he’s not so interested in the scientific ramifications of what they’re doing, which I’ve always taken as an admission that what drew Shiro to the Garrison was the allure and appeal of open space. The idea of flying, moving free at the final frontier of mankind and the solar wind figuratively in his hair was what called to him.

Hunk

Hunk, I think, would fall into some of the same, but not all of the problems Pidge is. He’s a little more concerned by the implication of the teachers being mad/disappointed in him, at least in s1e1, but he’s seemingly less concerned breaking the rules as much as he’s concerned getting caught, which is an important decision.

I think what he’d have in common with Pidge is not being too attached to subject material- he does the assignments/gets pretty good grades because again, he doesn’t wanna get in trouble, but, his real passion is environments like, if there’s a shop class/practical exams or extracurriculars because Hunk’s a lot less enamored with knowing and studying as he is with doing and making things.

Even then I feel like he’d sulk just a little from time to time because, yes, he knows there’s a rule you can’t use rocket fuel for that, he’s just saying, it’s a stupid rule.

Lance

So Lance... canonically is not beloved of school. I think out of everybody he’d probably have the worst grades, and my personal suspicion is it’s a combination of English not being his first language- his fluency is really good, but he can be observed to switch/mess up words on rare occasions- and ADHD that means even if the errors he does make are super innocuous ones he doesn’t always double check and catch them. And lecture-based anything is kinda hell. I imagine him doing pretty well with the Garrison mostly because Hunk is able to help him with notes and explanations- Hunk is good at putting things into pretty simple terms and has more of an ability to focus.

I don’t think Lance would really have a favorite subject. Gym, probably? He was probably one of those kids who was eternally good at gym class because he has good hand-eye coordination and a lot of energy.

Keith

Okay so for Keith I have a real answer: Probably geography! His interest in the outdoors, maps, environments and their composition would seem to point in that direction.

I think in general Keith probably didn’t get along with school any more than Pidge did, more of a problem with the social environment than the education. I also have to wonder if he was one of those “smart kids” who was able to coast for a long time on good testing skills and then hit a wall where he started struggling and didn’t know how to study, and Shiro stepped in to teach him study habits and how to make that work. (better study habits. not the one that he used in high school.)

Keith’s grades were probably pretty good until Shiro went missing and took a nosedive shortly before dropping out.

Allura

Given Alfor’s level of education and also his level of closeness to his daughter, I wouldn’t be surprised if Alfor actually taught Allura a lot personally. She implies that it was expected of her to be trained in combat since a young age (s1e2) and in s3e3 mentions that she’s been flying the castle for “over half my life” implying she’s had pretty extensive pilot training as well, which would also suggest highly educated, but, probably in a much more personalized one-on-one setting. Her ability to understand pretty rapidly what was going wrong with the castle’s barrier in s1e1 would also suggest engineering knowledge.

I have to wonder if Allura would favor cultural/social studies over STEM, mostly since she does seem to really enjoy talking to people and value diplomacy highly, even if in her vlog she confesses it’s not necessarily always her strong point (“I had to learn to be a diplomat”)

[its-osomatsu]

h,,help me m,,my roomba is lo,ose,,,,

Try luring the ‘lil guy back with some bread crusts! I’m sure it’ll gobble them right up.

[sshrimps]

💀 this but replace "eat" with "vore"

Oh noes ,, you’re too late ! !

I’m already voring you as I answer your as k!! I’m sowwie!!

[piggietv-moved]

lmao bomb9000 ➡ gaz666

[notrlythatgothrat]

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[ganymedesclock]

Im writing a fic with Matt in it as well the main charatcers but I'm having trouble because Matt and Lance seem very similar personality wise? How could I write Matt without making him ooc but also not just another Lance?

This is an interesting question! Since I think that Matt and Lance are people where if you just glance at them they do seem really similar, but on a deeper level, they’re quite different.

Lance, I’ve talked a lot about but I think if I just had to grab a brief summary, Lance is a very emotional person, he’s a very compassionate person, and he’s also an actor. For the most part, he’s ruled by what he’s feeling. He’s probably the fastest to get openly angry at a situation but the fastest to cool down, and he’s actually the most in control of his emotions because of the fact that he tends to just let them do whatever they need to do. 

I think the best evidence of that is if you compare him and the way he squares off with Keith to a lot of other fictional Heroic Rival figures. In s3e1 and s3e2, both times Keith angers him, but we also see that both times, Lance is someone who steps up to comfort Keith. And that’s the compassionate, nurturing side of Lance. He sees that Keith is suffering, upset, stressed, and that, to Lance, is more important than his desire to be better than Keith.

Lance is a natural nurturer. The combat style he develops is posting himself above the battlefield as a sniper, but he also goes from there to check on all of his friends.

I think one of the key concepts with Lance is “heart on your sleeve”. Even as someone who has a pretty good capability to act, he has a sort of overwhelming natural sincerity that means that he prefers to be honest. The few times he’ll be emotionally dishonest is when he thinks it will make people happy.

And that’s a pretty big divergence from Matt. Matt isn’t emotionally closed- he can be an excitable goober, all right- but think about how Matt was established in s4e2.

Matt tends to hang back, gather information, and then decide how to act. There’s a certain guarded quality he has that I think Lance lacks. At a glance with the paladins it fades because they’ve sort of already earned his trust through their connection with his sister.

The Holts are very Slytherin to me, to use a Harry Potter analogy. To the unfamiliar, Slytherin is often described as “Here you’ll find your real friends” and it evokes very certain ideas of loyalty- not freeflowing empathy for everyone you meet, but rather, forging a small circle of close connections that you will defend and support viciously.

We see that the Holts worked for the Garrison, and regarded it fondly, looked up to it. Pidge celebrates when Matt gets in. But at the same time, we also see winks and nudges, of, “Well... but what they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

The biggest thing for Matt is he’s a friendly sweet person, like Lance, and he likes to take care of people. But Lance is very trusting while for Matt, Matt likes people easily, but trusting them is a different game, and trusting them completely is a different ballpark entirely.

You can compare how in s1e1, Lance ferrets the truth about Pidge’s feelings on Kerberos out of her by carefully asking a question that brings it up- but as soon as she reacts, he shows his hand, and makes it clear that’s what he’s really asking. He’s a good enough actor he could easily have pretended he wasn’t, that it was just a coincidence, and get an untainted observation of Pidge’s response, but he doesn’t. He’d rather be clear with her about what he’s asking.

Conversely, when Matt comforts Pidge in the flashback in s4e2...

He comes into the room bringing a slice of cake with him. He noticed, and knows, Pidge is upset already. He made a plan of action, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s significance to the cake- that it’s a kind Pidge likes or she’s just partial to sweets. He also doesn’t actually ask her why she’s upset as much as reads from the state of the room, takes it in, and deftly, obliquely weaves in the good news that he got into the Garrison and uses it to prop Pidge up right where she needs it- by reminding her that her intelligence and desire to share it doesn’t isolate her from everyone, that even if she’s a “nerd” she’s a nerd in good company.

Lance and Matt are both perceptive- they both notice something’s up. But Lance follows Pidge basically on impulse, confronts her more or less on the same, and is very straightforwards about how he does it. Lance is the kind of person who, if someone’s upset and storms out of the room, will follow them almost right away.

Matt, conversely, will hang back, study the situation, figure out how he’s gonna play this and what he thinks will cheer them up and work in there.

And again, there’s that whole Holt thing of whether or not they like you, that doesn’t mean they’ll trust you with everything, and in Matt’s case, he’s not too apologetic about having set up a rather terrifying-looking trick with his false grave. He counts on the idea that the people he trusts, the people he wants to find him have the code.

Lance walks around with the door to his heart hanging wide open and if people wipe their feet on his aorta and then leave he’ll be hurt but he’ll shrug and move on without ever even considering he should close it.

Matt doesn’t ever leave his heart open- he has people he’ll open it for if they knock, and he has people who he gives a spare set of keys.

It’s also worth mentioning that when confronted by an unfamiliar stranger in his base, Matt’s response was to attack and fight viciously without so much as a stray word exchanged. He didn’t know who this was, no idea if they were working for the empire, but they’re here, they’re probably dangerous, that gets him aggressive.

So I think the thing about Matt is I can see him being a lot more... detached than Lance. Again, Lance is a bleeding heart and s1e6 really shows that off. Matt in a similar situation would talk to Nyma cheerfully, maybe even flirt, but I can see him either deflecting when Nyma starts to try and lure him away from the group, or rolling with it with the express intention of seeing what she’s planning and keeping a tight grip on his staff the entire time.

I also feel like Matt would probably be willing to take a harsher angle than Lance, even if he expresses it in a not especially harsh manner. Something I’d expect to come up in s5, with Lotor- Lance will probably have the strongest negative opinion about Lotor but also trust him the fastest, because, that’s just Lance’s nature. He’s not oblivious to the possibility of betrayal, but engaging with anything requires him to be open emotionally.

Conversely, Matt would smile and shake Lotor’s hand and, in friendly tones, make it clear that he doesn’t trust this guy for a second and if there’s so much as a suspicious scratch on his sister or her weird found family this alliance is over as far as he’s concerned.

Lance is the kind of friend who, after a bad breakup, will throw himself out of bed at 3AM and drive across town to sit with you right there at that moment and won’t leave until you’re okay even if he has a test in the morning because he is the kind of guy who Cares Aggressively and then he’ll grumble about not enough sleep the next morning.

Matt is the kind of friend who waits until you’ve done some coping in private because he knows you’re not the type that wants to be caught in the thick of it, and then shows up with your favorite kind of coffee and helps take your mind off it.

At this point, I haven’t quite worked out the degree to which Matt’s compassionate side “wins out” over his cautious one, since we’ve only seen so much of him at this point. It’s worth noting that back in s1e3, we catch a glimpse that he can get very stressed very fast if he feels like a situation is completely out of his control, while in s4e2 and s4e3 he takes a lot of pride in his knowledge and skills, probably because that’s a way to feel more in control of the situation and more confident.

Which is another contrast with Lance, because Lance.... has a certain amount of just faith things will work out. Again, it’s the willingness to just let people in and if it goes badly, well, he’ll deal. If Matt had been stuck in the Blue Lion running wild in s1e1 he’d probably be absolutely freaking out. oh god none of his ways to deal with this situation would work.

[ganymedesclock]

One thing with vld that I'm a little disappointed about is that we never really see keith and allura's dynamic actually developing or taking a place in the show, minus the (awkward in my opinion) hug in s2 when allura came to terms with keith being part galra. How do you think they'd interact normally? What I'm basically asking is do you have any platonic keith and allura headcanons??

The vibe I get from Keith and Allura at present is that both of them clearly care about each other- in s2e9, Allura’s disapproval affects Keith a lot, and in s4e1, Allura worries a lot about Keith as he seems to be drifting from the team. They want each other to be happy and they want to be together as a unit, as part of Voltron.

But I don’t think they quite understand each other. Keith is still kind of withdrawn- he hasn’t forged strong connections with most of the team, honestly. He only really has strong bonds with Shiro and is sorta moving towards that with Lance. S2e9, which I adore, is I think a big exercise in Hunk trying to get Keith to open up, and trying to connect to him- and even after they’ve been a team and fighting together for a while, Hunk is genuinely surprised to discover Keith’s dry sense of humor, which while I don’t blame Hunk for not noticing it, it’s been a thing all along.

This is kind of a significant sticking point. Keith has beautiful potential to have a deep bond with Pidge as his fellow arm pilot, Hunk as an affectionate person- especially physically- when Keith desperately craves affection. Hell, Hunk’s curiosity about Keith’s situation is important because Keith’s really not taking initiative to get his own answers at this point.

And Allura. Keith and Allura had this moment in s2e6 where I think both of them were surprised at how similar they found themselves in that situation. Their fears aligned, their rationale aligned- it wasn’t a complete mirror, but, there was definitely that initial connection. And I think that’s why, on Allura’s end, it meant so much to her that she felt like Keith wasn’t honest with her, that he took her sincerity and hid something as important as the galra, which she had some massively complicated feelings about, from her.

Both Keith and Allura are kind of hungry for connection but both of them, for very different reasons, hesitate to push it further.

Allura, in part, is struggling from a massive amount of trauma, but, also, she’s determined to uphold the expectations of a just and noble leader. She adores Alfor, and is trying to follow in his wake, and I think it’s worth noting that both her attempt at bonding with the Red Lion, and her initial unsuccessful forays with Blue, are very much about duty.

Because of this, Allura often withholds her emotions. Overwhelmingly, we’ve seen her really open and be honest with Alfor’s AI, and Coran, and Keith that one time in s2e6- but again, she felt betrayed, because she felt like that honesty wasn’t reciprocated.

Keith, conversely, is mortally terrified of rejection and because of this, by his own admission, walls others off, because if he stays distant from them it’ll make their inevitable rejection less painful. It’s trauma-born thinking of a very different kind.

So I think both of them are a little distant at this point, and their other issues- like Allura failing to convey the comforting “you are one of us, and we need you here. I need you here. I miss you when you’re gone,” that she meant to in s4e1 which Keith took as just a lecture like he specifically asked not to have- crops up because of that distance. They don’t necessarily have a good understanding of where the other is coming from emotionally.

So they mutually care, deeply. They want each other to be happy. But at this point they don’t really understand what the other needs and both of them are people who kind of benefit from someone else breaking the ice.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that in s3 and s4 both of them developed some pretty strong bonds with Lance- because Lance is exactly the kind of person to poke and prod at others to help them open up. If anything, he’s reflexively drawn to closed-off people for the sheer pleasure of seeing what the heck they’re hiding in there- Keith, Pidge, Allura, Shiro, all people who are sort of inclined to hide depths one way or another and all of whom, Lance immediately has strong opinions about right from the start. Positive or negative, they command his attention.

And lo and behold- we’ve already heard that Lance won’t like Lotor going into s5, and who’s Lotor but another closed-off secretive sort of person, and it’s confirmed that Lance, being Lance, is going to be focusing on Lotor.

But getting back to Keith and Allura- I think that they could be encouraged to get closer, but, it might sort of count on outside situations to help them sorta... initiate. Alternatively, it’s possible that Allura’s breakthrough with Blue coming from asking for help and acknowledging that she can’t control everything and trying to force herself to won’t work- is ultimately going to draw her closer to the entire team by allowing her to open up more. In which case she could help sorta break the awkward standoff with her and Keith.

[sshrimps]

I made some edits for my and @bomb9000s new theme い〜やい〜やい〜や with our sonas 

[sshrimps]

@bomb9000 made me realize 

[sshrimps]

!PROXY!

A fusion between my sona Py and @bomb9000s sona Boxy

[ganymedesclock]

Topic of outfits earlier made me think- what sort of tattoos could you see the paladins, allura and coran having if any? Or possibly what kind do you think they would get?

Honestly I know you asked this about everyone but the only thing my brain is spitting out is Coran with an incredibly elaborate full-back tattoo that hits the team as a total surprise because it’s just not very common for Coran to not have a shirt on and he forgets to mention it.