#but the way canon vld set them up???? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mckinlily · 8 months

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Um, okay this is a loaded question, and if you want to play it safe, you can answer me in DMs, but...I personally feel that there's something wrong about how VLD placed Keith in the lead. In a way, I can see him becoming Black Paladin, but Shiro...it feels more natural to me, it feels right that Shiro is Black Paladin. I'm not into VLD beyond Shiro, Keith's parents, and the Lions personally, but I know someone who loves it and makes good points about Keith as a leader, but something just isn't aligning for me. Maybe it's because Shiro and Keith are two radically different archetypes, and they got swapped when they shouldn't have, I don't know.

I came here because I saw one of your post S2 rewrites, and I appreciated it. So, again, feel free to answer me in DMs (if you have problems DM-ing me, let me know and I'll fix it for you) if you don't mind discussing this with me.

As a final note, I'm not trying to hate any particular character. They're all fine on their own, and I don't want to treat one as worse than the other. I just want to figure out this problem I'm having with Shiro and Keith.

Thank you for reading this, and take care.

You came to the right blog! Because I adore Keith and believe he certainly has qualities that could make him a good leader—and absolutely hate him as the Black Paladin.

The thing I never understood about Voltron fandom debates about who should be the Black Paladin is that they always seem based in the idea that because Shiro is a leader and the Black Paladin, that means the Black Paladin is the ONLY leader on the team.

It is worth noting that that premise was disproven in episode one. It was Allura who made the final call on whether the paladins should run or stay and fight Sendak, and Shiro explicitly bowed to her authority. From then on, Shiro and Allura both lead Team Voltron until the show decided to destroy their characters, accepting influence and trading responsibilities depending on which one of them fit the situation at hand. Typically, Allura functions more in a commander and diplomat role and Shiro is more of a field officer, but they both pick up the lead where needed.

I know you didn't bring up Allura, but I think it is vital she is included in any conversation about leadership in Voltron. She is introduced as THE princess of an entire planet, she has more knowledge and experience of the intergalactic landscape than any of the other characters, she's been set up to be a leader since birth, and she IS the leader of Team Voltron for two whole seasons. Shiro makes it VERY clear he considers her to outrank him.

So the question you have to ask any time you consider replacing Shiro as Black Paladin: why NOT Allura? If the Black Paladin is the "best leader", why are you skipping over the one character already established and thriving in a leadership role? (And then you have to ask yourself if that character being a Black woman has anything do with that.)

Now I do think there are ways narratively you could answer that question. For instance, if you keep the Lions as sentient beings, that means they can make choices—including wrong ones. For instance, for a time when I believed anything might be salvaged after season 3, my head canon for Black choosing Keith was that Keith was the one missing Shiro as intensely and desperately as Black in that moment. Therefore, the choice was not about Keith being "better" but rather them being at the same place emotionally and that allowing the bond. The major problem with the Lion swap in canon is that we're given NO reason for Keith to be Black Paladin besides "plot device said so". Especially when we have Allura right there. It's just bad writing.

(By the way, you don't have to be pro-Black Paladin Allura. There's nuance to be had, and I personally am actually more One True Black Paladin!Shiro. But you can't just dismiss her--a capable and proven leader--from the conversation. Erasing her character is not the answer.)

ANYWAY. Back to Keith. Or rather, leadership on Team Voltron. Thing is, there are many different WAYS to be a leader. We already touched on the differences between Allura and Shiro. Keith does a good job of making split second decisions in battle or calling shots if Shiro is incapacitated or somehow separated. If you're in the middle of a fight, the plan has gone to shit, and the team just got separated, Keith is great at telling people what to do and mobilizing because something needs to get done NOW.

But that's not the only way to lead. Keith, for instance, is terrible at pep talks. He misses a lot of the nuances going on between him and his teammates off the battlefield. He doesn't plan ahead, like, ever. Sure he's great at making up stuff on the fly, but sometimes you need a plan.

But it's not just Keith. For instance, when Shiro, Lance, and Pidge go on the mission to rescue Slav, it's Pidge who calls all the shots. Is that not leadership? Pidge is often the one telling people what they need to do to solve technical problems. She's a center for information, typically the one collecting it, organizing and interrupting it, and then instruction others based on her conclusions. We see her take point on a mission, give orders to her teammates, coordinate efforts, problem solve in real time and relay a new plan in order to navigate unexpected challenges. Why not argue PIDGE should be the leader?

And there's when they freed the Balmera and Hunk took the lead. That mission was more challenging, but I'd argue in that arc, Hunk's leadership mattered less in terms of orders and more in terms of determining what type of team they'd be. Hunk was ADAMANT they free the Balmerans and set a tone for the team where they didn't leave suffering people behind. Hunk set up a moral imperative for the team that they'd be lesser without.

And Lance! There's actually lots to say about Lance and his strengths and types of leadership. But it's easy to point out that Lance is the one initiating fun and team bonding outside of battle. And when you're operating a giant robot held together by emotion connection, that's pretty dang important!

Point is, they're ALL leaders. They all have the capability to take point when needed. We SEE them all take charge at different points of the show.

So what's the Black Paladin then? If Shiro's The Leader then what does that mean? And this is the cool part! Because you know what Shiro is really really good? Know who else to put in charge. He's the one who first acknowledges Allura as an authority because he sees she has knowledge and experience he and the others do not. He selects which paladins to go together on which missions based on their strengths and the situations. He steps back and lets Pidge or Lance or Hunk call the shots if they're in an area of their expertise. Shiro's job isn't to tell people what to do. It's to decide who to put in charge of what and place them in best position for success.

There's another aspect of Shiro's leadership that is supporting his teammates, offering comfort, teaching, and giving the kids something solid they can believe in so they don't have to care the full weight of the war. But like letting others take charge where they shine, Shiro's leadership is all about enabling those he leads. One of my favorite Shiro lines is "It's too dangerous—I'm coming with you." Shiro's goal is never control. He is support. He leads the paladins because he sees the best in them and helps them reach it.

Narratively, also, Shiro is just set up to be the Black Paladin. The parallels between himself and the Black Lion are too obvious. From both being controlled and abused by Zarkon to Shiro's missing arm and Black's mission bayard. It's a kid's show. The symbolism isn't all that subtle. And if that weren't enough, we literally get an entire episode A plot in Space Mall about it where Shiro literally fist fights Zarkon for the Black Lion and in the end, he wins because he makes it clear it's the Black Lion's choice and trust.

Remember when I said the problem with Keith in the Black Lion in canon is that we're never given an explanation beyond "because I said so"? We're shown repeatedly why the Black Lion chooses Shiro. Even before we meet most the Lions, the other paladins themselves choose Shiro as their leader when Lance asks him if they should go through the wormhole. We repeatedly see Shiro seek to understand the Black Lion better, and Black responding. We see the similarities between their situations and backstories. We see them bond.

And I think this is really important because when Shiro is in the Black Lion, it's not about him being "in charge." It's about his relationship with the Black Lion. Yeah, of course, the other paladins are leaders! And they should be! But none of them have Shiro's relationship with the Black Lion. In this narrative, the Black Lion isn't a prize to be won but a relationship to nurture, and Shiro has put in the work for that relationship.

Which is really important because it means the Lions aren't a hierarchy. The Black Paladin is one role, an important role in Voltron, but no more important than any of the others. "The Leader" is not the most important person in the room. Instead, Shiro is a facilitator who enables all the others to perform their roles better.

Also can I just remind everyone just how well the Red Lion fits Keith? The paladin who keeps throwing himself out airlocks get the Lion most likely to go AWOL and fly off to save him. Keith defends his friends and team by attacking first and asking questions later, and Red started destroying a planetary body to get to Keith. The kid with abandonment issues gets the Lion who doesn't hesitate a second to go after him. And even the way they're shown to bond—that it's so physical and based in action rather than words—it's so Keith. I freaking love Keith as the Red Paladin. He gets to be as chaotic and free as he was always meant to be and gets a Lion who meets him every step of the way.

But if you say, no, Keith should be the Black Paladin. Well. What about Red wasn't working? Why was that role not one Keith fit in? Because from my reading of canon, Keith was thriving in Red. He got a secure attachment to his favorite person in the world, he gets the freedom to fly while also being part of something bigger, and he's making friends. It's still in its beginning stages, but he's figuring out how to bond with Lance, Hunk, and Pidge and you get the sense these are a kind of friendships he's never experienced before. But you know what could kill that really fast? Making him The Leader, a position that inherently sets him apart from the rest.

This is actually a problem twice over for Keith because unlike Shiro, who is shown to be given his role voluntarily by everyone around him and repeatedly shows he's earned that trust and respect, Keith is basically thrown into the Plot Device Machine and gets a t-shirt that says YOU'RE THE LEADER NOW. And we never get a reason beyond that.

This is actually my biggest problem season 3 and the Lion Swap. Because as soon as they made that choice, the Lions became a hierarchy. But what other explanation do we have? Keith won Favorite Character status got "prompted" to Black Paladin. But as soon as Black Paladin is a promotion, that makes the other paladin roles inferior. Red becomes the "second in command". So Lance get prompted but can never be equal to Keith. Allura gets the "Training Wheels" Lion/Blue, and they didn't have to write that as a massive demotion, but they sure did anyway. Hunk and Pidge are no longer leaders because they aren't in the "Leader" Lions.

It makes me so mad. One of the things I loved first about Voltron was the message of equality and servant leadership. The idea that a leader (represented by Shiro) is someone who elevates and enables everyone else. A recognition for the more "feminine" types of leadership—nurturing, compassion, emotional support. Which support roles are seen as vital and just as if not more important than being the "boss."

But we only got two seasons of that before they pulled the rug out and said, "Nope. We're returning back to patriarchy." Suddenly the Lions were in a strict chain of command, one character was the boss and the rest were his subordinates. There was a top position and a bottom position, and the characters were all fighting over each other. Perhaps most damningly, the Lion lost all personality and agency and become trophies to symbolize a character's power. And I'm not saying they're an accidental representation of how women are treated in Western media but I MEAN. It's right there.

My response when anyone says "[X] character should be the Black Paladin!" is—Why? Is their connection with the Black Lion deeper than Shiro's? Do they have more in common with Black than Shiro does? What could they achieve or obtain as the Black Paladin that they couldn't where they currently are?

And, though I don't think most of us realize it, the answer to that last one is power. Because we're soaked in patriarchy and a certain portrayal of "leadership (derogatory)" that many fans automatically assumed the Black Paladin HAD to be in control of and have power over the other paladins. So of course you want your favorite character to be the Black Paladin! You don't want your self-insert to be inferior!

But that's all the patriarchy talking. The other paladins are NOT inferior. There is NOT a hierarchy of types of people. Keith doesn't have to have Shiro's role because he's already equal as Keith.

Keiths look different from Shiros, but they're all equal and valuable as they are. Same goes for Lances, Hunks, Pidges, and Alluras. The whole point is they're stronger together. Their differences make them BETTER.

So yeah. Of course, Keith has some good leadership qualities. There's plenty of situations where it only makes sense for him to take the lead. But why on earth does he need to be the Black Paladin to do that? He's already Keith!

#voltron: the legendary salt mine #thanks for the ask!#oh gosh this got so long #would you believe this is the SHORT version?#I have a LOT of feelings about leadership and patriarchy and how it shows up in voltron #i didn't even get to go into hunk and lance's roles #and how they deserve so much more respect and appreciation than they receive #hunk especially #if you're somehow not sick of me and want to chat more feel free to dm #or hit my inbox and i'll answer with another monster probably #mckinlily writes #long post #could i use a read more? yes #will i? unfortunately for everyone no

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boyprinzessin · 7 months

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VLD fic rec - cosmic dust by @discordiansamba

cosmic dust (188990 words) by discordiansamba Chapters: 35/35 Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Matt Holt & Pidge | Katie Holt, Matt Holt & Keith, Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro Characters: Keith (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Colleen Holt, Matt Holt, Te-osh (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Rolo (Voltron), Zarkon (Voltron), Haggar (Voltron), Sendak (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Olia (Voltron), Ulaz (Voltron), Thace (Voltron), Haxus (Voltron) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Galra Keith (Voltron) Series: Part 1 of cosmic dust Summary:

When her brother and father disappear without a trace during the Kerberos mission, Pidge sets out to find them. What she finds instead is an escaped half-alien fugitive, running from the same empire her family's been taken by. Convincing him to take her to space with him is the first step, and from there, well... as they say, when you look for trouble, it tends to find you.

Bookmarker's Notes:

I love how this fic completely reimagines canon while still retaining very similar goals. I feel like AUs that cover large swaths of the original media are often at risk of feeling monotonous, but this AU really breathes a completely new life into the story and progresses in a completely different way that lets the reader really get to know the depth of the characters. The overall vibe is a lot different, emphasizing a lot of the secrets you're waiting to see unfold. It makes every chapter incredibly exciting as new little nuggets of information are unearthed that contribute to the larger picture. There's a lot more I could say about this fic but I don't want to spoil the experience so go read it!!!

#other people's stuff #vld #fic recs

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vxmp-irate · 3 months

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intro post to vxmp-irate’s blog !!

my name is aster :3

18, bigender + queer, he/she pronouns

i like to post fanart and oc art, also i love to write so occasionally i’ll post something that has to do with my writing

i use procreate for my art, and i often use mellon_soup as a reference for poses, but all art is my own

socials -

instagram: vxmpirate (art)

tiktok: vxmpirate (edits and art)

twt: wingedlyres (random - sometimes art)

pinterest: astirial (some art and boards)

ao3: vxmpirate (a few fics)

fandoms i’m in

VLD

gravity falls

hermitcraft/life series

OFMD

deltarune/undertale

the hunger games

a bunch of random animanga

also mxtx

if you’re in these fandoms pls interact !

about my characters…

i have a handful of ocs, and i love them all so dearly so here’s a bit about them:

z - he/him pronouns, bisexual, my persona, and a huge asshole but he’s the oc i draw the most so i love him heart, always bleeding out of his mouth cuz hes dumb and gets in fights, also self proclaimed midwestern emo

axel - z’s boyfriend, he/they pronouns, gay, huge space nerd and obsessed with the past (he strictly listens to pre-2010 music)

phoebe - she/they pronouns, bisexual, blonde, also kinda a persona (but in a “omg shes so me” way, not in a “i designed her to be me” way), she’s super into early 2000s culture, a bit of a y2k baddie

vix - they/she/he pronouns, lesbian, phoebe’s dumbass girlfriend, punk and goth, he is a musician!

jesse - they/he pronouns, unlabeled icon, designed them as a character for a school assignment and ran with it, they cover their fucked-upness with humor, originally designed as a phoenix shapeshifter, but the idea was scrapped

juniper - he/she pronouns, also unlabeled lol, jesse’s partner, my final of the persona ocs, i use juniper whenever i am making a self insert oc for something, and she started off as a kitsune shapeshifter (idea was scrapped)

and lastly, i have a story about characters who are given special powers through their birthstones. i’ve had the story for a while, but the characters are really really important to me and my art, so i draw them a lot. here’s just a small description of all of them:

noé, garnet, they/them

zoey, amethyst, she/they

jade, aquamarine, she/her

damien, diamond, he/him

emery, emerald, they/them

garret, pearl, he/they

lucy, ruby, she/he

liam, peridot, he/him

erik, sapphire, he/him

ophelia, opal, he/she/they

cecile, citrine, she/her

sophia, topaz, she/her

- i tend to refer to them as the names of their birthstones (ex. i call lucy ‘ruby’ way more than i call her lucy) but their birth names are all still used in the canon story i have set for them

closing thoughts

if you like my art, and are interested in any of the fandoms im in, or in any of my characters, feel free to follow me ^_^ i’ll be posting way more than i have in the past (which is.. never) and i’m so excited to be sharing my art with all of you

i do art as a hobby, but it really really helps me express my thoughts and joys and its a great way for me to share my interests, so i’m really looking forward to this blog

ok bye!

#intro post #introduction #blog intro #blog info

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lemeute · 1 year

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fic stat game

rules: give us the links to your fic with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the fewest words.

tagged by @arafinwes!!

first-most hits: that would be And You Find Some Way to Survive. this fic is from april 2017, at which point I'd been fucked up about Takashi Shirogane from Voltron: Legendary Defender for about six months. unfortunately for him, I needed a character onto whom I could project my feelings about teaching, grad school, and being the only one emotionally responsible for various teenagers. he also had space trauma so this was like. perhaps not very fair to him. but in this fic he doesn't have space trauma yet!! only "my mentee is dealing with a Crisis that I don't have the resources to fix" trauma!!

second-most kudos: fdjksljf apparently Conditional Acceptance, which I think of as a companion fic to the above. more of the teaching projection, less of the Crisis vibes. I think these two are at the top in part because Voltron fandom was so big compared to my other fandoms, and also in part because the specific flavor of gen they are picked up readers on both sides of the Big Ship War

(sneaking in a shoutout to Severance, a Tatooine-centric Star Wars prequel fic which has the third-most kudos, because I'm still fond of it and the oneshot series it's part of, oh rise with me forever)

third-most comments: also a Voltron fic, because when I sort by comments the top sixteen are Voltron. If You Trust Me is abandoned after three chapters, and is also one of the few ship fics I've ever attempted (there may be a correlation). it's an Disney!Aladdin fusion, and I got sucked into writing it because of a stray "cut off your hand for stealing" reference in the movie; Shiro is canonically missing a hand, and I canonically cannot resist a fic idea that? involves amputation????* but despite this bewildering quirk of my personality please do not be alarmed; the fic is cute, what there is of it. my favorite thing about it is that a minor character who goes missing at the start of canon has been transformed by a curse into the flying carpet, and this is also a pun.

(*uh. there is also a prequel to this fic, Try To Try Hard. which is perhaps not so cute.)

fourth-most bookmarks: for a second I thought this was the same fic as above and I was like wow sorry everybody but NO, it just starts with the same word! If Only In My Dreams is. also Voltron. it is CHRISTMAS WHUMP IN SPACE.

fifth-most words: And You Find Some Way to Survive puts in a second appearance here (at 8,354 words if you're curious)

fewest words: ok look the one with the fewest words is a 72-word prompt fill that I didn't really like even at the time and I am simply going to link you the third-fewest words, because A of all it is still only 166 words and B of all I got only Voltron for all the other answers even though I've written for So Many Things and so I think I should be allowed little a Picking. as a treat. and C of all because and now my heart stumbles is Eomer and Eowyn, who are SIBLINGS and the bestest bravest darlings and all should love them. ok there you go.

with this set of results I think it is only appropriate that I should tag some of my VLD-era writing pals @curiosity-killed @demenior @lookforanewangle and then I will also add @kcrabb88 and @amarguerite :) if anyone else would enjoy doing this please grab it and feel free to say I tagged you!!!

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supermarine-silvally · 11 months

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20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag @chameliyun!

How many works do you have on ao3?

Eight I think! Mostly longform which is why the number is so low lol

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

503,612

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently I'll write for Death Note, My Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter, Demon Slayer, One Piece, Soul Eater, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Doctor Who. I have VLD fic up on my ao3 but I don't write for that fandom anymore lol

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Starbound (VLD, 294), Ground Zero (MHA, 223), Far Longer Than Forever (VLD, 76), Tales From Wammy's House (DN, 62), and The Ghosts Within Us (HxH, 57)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I'm usually super late to respond lol but yeah I try to get to all of them! I love interacting with people and I treasure all the feedback I get!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

All my ao3 fics (excluding Tales From Wammy's House, which is a collection of short stories I wrote as part of a fandom event) are unfinished, but I know which one is gonna have the angstiest ending... no spoilers though!

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Again, they're all basically unfinished so no spoilers!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Haven't so far so hopefully I never will lol

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I am physically incapable of writing smut. I know some ace people write it no problem, but... I am not one of those people lol

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I'm open to crossovers but I can't recall any that I've actually written. Usually I prefer to do them in the same sort of genre (for instance, a MHA/Marvel crossover or Pirates of the Caribbean/One Piece kind of thing where there's a sort of plausibility in setting)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

If I have, I don't know about it. Not sure why anyone would bother though lol

12. What's the longest you've spent working on one fic? And the shortest?

Longest: I've been working on A Shot in the Dark since 2020 though I don't update it much anymore. But I don't want to abandon it at this time so I'll count it as ongoing.

Shortest: Tales From Wammy's House since it was for a week-long challenge lol

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Second Chances is co-written with the amazing @til-the-static-comes :)

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I'm a big canon/OC shipper so I'm really attached to my canon/OC (and OC / OC) pairings moreso than most canon/canon, buuuut my favourite all-time canon/canon ship is still the Doctor/Rose Tyler; you can pry them from my cold dead hands. Killugon (Gon Freecss/Killua Zoldyck from HxH) is a close second.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

A Shot in the Dark is already so bloody long and I'm still a ways away from finishing it, but I'm gonna try, I promise.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, I think. And I'm pretty good at character-centric stories.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm not great at poetic, descriptive writing since I'm usually more interested in what characters are thinking/feeling rather than their external traits/environment. That might be more of a style thing though. I do have a bad habit of making characters monologue for a little too long sometimes, and relying too much on internal monologues too.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Oooh okay so I actually have so many thoughts about this!! I think it's a really effective tool if done properly-- I frequently use languages other than English in my writing since a lot of my characters tend to be bilingual. For me, it's really important to use it in the right moments that make sense within the narrative, and keep a logical kind of consistency to that rule. In my own writing -- I'll use my MHA fic Ground Zero as an example since I do it a lot there -- I like utilizing other languages in moments that reveal something about the character (Kova's foreignness/identity as a biracial/cultural Japanese-Ukrainian teenager is a major theme of her character and of the story) or when it creates moments in which a character's dialogue is supposed to be impenetrable to other characters in that scene AND THEREFORE to the reader as well-- but I DON'T use it (even though the character would technically be speaking another language in that scene) when I WANT the reader to understand what's being said. In Ground Zero, when Kova is having a phone conversation with her Ukrainian father, she's obviously speaking Ukrainian to him, but I don't write the conversation in Ukrainian because I want the audience to understand the dialogue-- and because that would be really, really annoying for a reader to have to wade their way through, assuming most of my readers are not fluent in Ukrainian (and neither am I, for the record-- I know a bit, but not enough that I don't have to check with external resources created by native speakers). But in contrast, when Kova is with her Japanese friends, if I drop a Ukrainian word/phrase into the conversation, the reader is getting the experience of the friends, and both the characters and the reader are meant to share in that confusion until Kova translates it. (Example: Bakugou is not meant to know that Kova has been calling him a dickhead (khuylo), but the WAY she says it is meant to convey that she's being derogatory so he's somewhat aware he's being insulted without me having to put a translator's note right after). I do translate and put the Latin lettering (as opposed to the Cyrillic) in the notes section at the bottom of each chapter, though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ever? Pokemon. On ao3, VLD.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I'm so close to finishing Ground Zero and it has such a special place in my heart so I'll pick that one :)

no pressure tagging: @shrinkthisviolet, @deathbecomesnerds, @chickensarentcheap, @antivanruffles, @til-the-static-comes, and anyone else who sees this and wants to!

#tag game

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a-fools-errand · 2 years

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I need to put this somewhere so that I don't forget it and you legally signed up for this by following me. This is my current "thinking about these at work but Im using up all my tiny little sticky notes to write them down" vld fic list:

1. Westworld AU but set in canon universe. I simply dont have enough robots in my current robot Lance fic, now EVERYONE'S a robot w a special twist and (if you havent seen the show) Voltron is a "historical reenactment park" (read: violent play place for rich assholes). With special guest, the Lions!

2. Spinoff "what if Pidge and Hunk found out Lance was a robot" where I use my complete alternate storyline so that its not just reading the same fic. Aka Lance's backstory has the same cast of characters in name but a COMPLTELY different style relationship >:) Partially spy v spy where Keith and Shiro keep secrets about Keith's Galraness and the Garrison Trio keep secrets about Lance being a robot. More emphasis on friendship (I know, you didn't think that was possible, right?) But still Klance as all my works are (but definitely background).

3. Being Human(US/Canada version)/Urban Fantasy AU where Lance is a ghost and Blue is the house he died in (and he can communicate with her), Hunk is a werewolf but DEFINITELY not the fun kind (and his and Lance's relationship is central to the story), Keith and Shiro are vampires (Shiro's a lot older, Keith's from the 80s lmao) who are tangled up in a corrupt vampire society, Pidge is a nymph (dryad?) Who doesnt like non-supernatural humans and basically has just their one little tree left from a forest thats been cut down (and if that dies, they die with it). Then there are other characters who are spoilers...

4. Eldritch Lions AU - long time people, YEAH BET YOU DIDN'T THINK YOUD SEE THIS ONE AGAIN. Really though, heavily rewritten so dont worry about it sucking (at least in the same way). Basically just the paladins being literally vessels for the Lions and having incomplete souls without them. Super cool powers (in theory) that are appropriately sized for how intergalactic Voltron is (aka planet shaping). Are the paladins still themselves after getting the powers though...? Who knows! Back to you in the studio, Fool!

So yeah!! Thats kind of it? Not really but these four are the most concrete for things I really want to write if I ever get more time!! I really hope I get more time coming soon...

#voltron #voltron lance #vld keith #lance mcclain #keith voltron #fanfic #voltron fanfic #alternate universe #how does tumblr even work #do you even read these tags?#or am I just talking into the void?#oh!#eldritch lions #robot Lance #robot everyone #urban fantasy au

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shirophantomvox · 3 years

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Random date night with Illumi, Hisoka, and Chrollo

Hello, anon! Ask and you shall receive! This prompt is very interesting and I will try to keep it in character as much as possible. To sum this up, Hisoka would take you to an ice cream shop, a carnival, or apple orchard while Illumi would rather go to an art or historical museum. Chrollo would persuade you to attend a book reading/author signing or go hiking. Depending on who you are and what your ideal date is, I’m sure you’d find them all fun. Going to a carnival or apple orchard is my go-to since I’ve barely been because they’re all in the suburbs. These headcanons are explained much more than the others. That is why Chrollo and Illumi seem to be short, but they’re not. Also, I can’t wait for Halloween because these headcanons are going to be amazing. I am extremely sorry if there are grammar errors! Taking classes on Zoom is frustrating and now my brain has to relearn everything that I lost in 3 months! Before we get started, I have a few announcements.

This post is more laid back than my other headcanons because I tried to keep it as canon as possible.

I want to thank you all for 65 followers! It means a lot! I’m happy to see that a lot of you enjoy my writing and like it enough to follow me! I have a challenge for you! When I reach 100 followers, I will host some type of writing event here...but I need ideas. I’ve seen some pages do specials where you can send an ask and pretend like you're talking to a character and I respond with what they’d say. SEND ME IDEAS! I WILL CREDIT YOU!

I will be stepping back a little more than before. I’ll still be logged in and re-blogging but as far as writing posts like this...it may only be once or twice a week. You see, I’m in college and I’m struggling financially and I have to work on scholarships. If you all send me an ask, be patient.

Voltron posts will only be created based on asks. I will not be writing posts about VLD if no one requests them. I do not receive any feedback from it anymore and no one seems to like them.

Now, let’s get into the post.

Let's start with Illumi first.

Headcanon 1: Illumi has a secret admiration for different types of art but he specifically enjoys pop art and surrealism. He has commented on how surrealism makes his brain twist and his feelings swirl as he tries to figure out the piece and what inspires it.

He prefers not to participate in tours as he likes to digest the art at his own pace.

Headcanon 2: In his spare time, he paints on a canvas. His art style consists of both surrealism and abstract art. For a person with a dark personality, his compositions always contain bright colors and abstract techniques that leave you wondering about his TRUE personality. He is truly a good man with a bright personality but after being abused for so long, those behaviors/personalities have been shoved so far down his throat that they may not come back up.

He has a bad habit of asking you what you thought about every single piece of art you passed. The conversations were great but this is a date after all. The playful conversation slowly turns into a lecture about art. Although you loved your bf’s dictionary-like brain it also drained your energy.

One of his favorite artists is Vincent Van Gough. Although he favors surrealism, Van Gogh’s art style was mind-blowing to him. So amazed that he buys several Van Gogh t-shirts from the gift shop.

His favorite piece created by Van Gough is “Starry Night”.

He notices that you are becoming bored and decides that it is time for MORE excitement, one that you are certain to enjoy.

“Where are we going,” you ask, pretending to be interested.

“Down to the basement. We are going to have a bite to eat.”

Since Illumi rarely smiled, when he did smile it drove you wild. The anticipation of what his next move was going to be is what drove that wildness. Being a bounty hunter was thrilling already but dating a smart, badass assassin was totally out of your league but it worked out.

Headcanon 3: Illumi’s idea of being romantic is dramatically different from yours. He believes just spending time with you on the couch was enough. He is correct; but if you have the time and funds, your time together should be a little spontaneous. You insisted on dates outside of the house because his family will not stay out of your business.

“Illumi, I am too hungry for more trivia.”

He chuckles. “Don’t worry. So am I. That is why I’ve decided to take you to a wine and cheese party.”

Huh? Wine and Cheese at 3PM? That’s ok. When was there a time limit on when you can drink alcohol?

Illumi has indirectly attended parties as such when he was 15 years old. He never drank, but he watched as his mother’s friends (surprisingly) talked about business and their children. This time, you weren’t going to talk about business for once. Instead, you two were going to actually talk about what couples discuss.

Headcanon 4: When introduced to alcohol for the first time, Illumi immediately stated how he hated brown liquor. That includes Hennessy, Jack Daniels, etc. It makes him sick to his stomach. He prefers to drink Smirnoff mixed with fruity drinks like strawberry or pineapple.

He loves it when you make these drinks for him on a summer day.

Hence the title wine and cheese, you both go to a stand-up table, place your brochures down, and actually have a wonderful conversation not involving work or hunting.

Illumi smiled a few times, more than usual. Whenever he appears to be softer even around you, that is because he has mellowed out and doesn't have the overbearing weight of his family on his shoulders. You set him free.

Hisoka

According to a one-shot that another manga artist created, they expressed that Hisoka was found on the side of the road, was taken in by someone that worked at a local circus, and learned Nen in a matter of days. Hisoka’s clown look and having the skills of a magician proves that this has to be canon in some way.

Headcanon 1: Given this potential backstory, going to a carnival is his go-to every summer. He wants to take you to a circus but saves that for you as an engagement gift.

Everyone with a heart knows that whether or not you’re in a relationship or not the carnival is fun as hell! Expensive fried food, elephant ears, funnel cake, ICEE’s, rides, and stuffed animals are to die for!

Being at a carnival relaxes him so his bloodlust isn’t activated unless someone bumps into him and causes a scene.

Headcanon 2: PDA is something that Hisoka does well; he doesn’t overdo it but does it enough where people get the impression that you are a couple and aren’t “best friends”.

While completing a mission depending on how rough it may be, he insists that you tag along to see how he handles the situation. You’ve already seen his ruthlessness from Hunter’s exam but he insists.

His sense of pride gets the best of him sometimes. Sometimes his head is so big that it reminds you of a large birthday balloon.

Headcanon 3: ANYWAY, given his nature, he is very adventurous, dangerous, and courageous. If he wants to go on the Demon Drop, he’ll do it and you DO not have a choice in the matter. He’ll tease or guilt trip you into doing something that you would not like to do.

“Well, you wouldn’t want me to cling on to someone else, would you?”

“No. Of course not,” you reply.

“Let’s go then, scaredy-cat.”

As a hunter, you’ve seen worse. Why are you so afraid to go on a ride?

Headcanon 4: At apple orchards, cornfield mazes are one of his favorites. You cannot for the life of you figure out how to get out but he can. He grabs a scarecrow and scares you from behind. That annoys you but is nothing compared to later on that night.

Oh. My. God. It’s haunted house time!

“Hisoka, I’m not going in!”

“Why not? I’ll protect you.”

“Because they’re monsters and I already have to deal with one.”

It took him a second to catch on that you were talking about him.

“That’s going to bite you in the butt, kitten.”

Headcanon 5: Like Killua, Hisoka has a sweet tooth. Don’t allow his buff appearance to fool you!

He LOVES caramel apples, elephant ears, funnel cake, freshly squeezed lemonade, fudge, and cotton candy. How can this man manage to stay in shape? The world may never know.

Headcanon 6: He isn’t one to play by other people’s rules but he sets his own rules with your relationship that you both must obey. One of those rules says that neither of you can be on your phones while together.

Headcanon 7: Hisoka insists that you both wear either matching pants or matching shirts to avoid unnecessary flirtation.

He isn’t jealous but on “us time”, he doesn’t want to lose a single second.

Headcanon 8: Hisoka only jumps in when necessary. Given that you’ve passed the hunter’s exam and work as a bodyguard, he knows you can handle your business. If the person can’t take a hint, then he steps in. They almost back up immediately considering Hisoka is towering over them.

When the moon shines, you both go to the car and off to sleep in your comfy king-sized bed.

Chrollo

We all know that Chrollo loves to read! What does he specifically like to read? What Genre? Does he like to read alone or with other people?

Although Chrollo is a thief and must be hidden in the shadows, the authorities have called off the search for him for at least 3 years. Slowly but surely, he begins to find himself in the outside world again.

Chrollo once discussed a book with the Phantom Troupe when they were being transported to another place for a mission. He read “Tears of a Tiger” by Sharon M. Draper.

The reading sessions are opened with an affirmation and a reason to be thankful to be alive. He says he is thankful for the troupe, glances at you, and smiles. No one catches on to that sly face except for Phinks.

Headcanon 1: Chrollo is very silent and shy to an extent. He only associates with people he knows and trusts. You are the social butterfly at this moment.

Chrollo tags along behind you like a shy child, holding your hand while you stick out your free hand to greet everyone.

Today, the book club was going to read “Divergent”.

Headcanon 2: Although he loves to read, he hates it when others read out loud. Most people are drably read and it annoys him. After a while, he takes over. Chrollo was tense the first 30 minutes of the meeting because two cops were there but neither of them noticed it was him.

Headcanon 3: Chrollo often acts the part of the character that he is reading in the book. His tone, attitude, and emphasis on certain words keep the group engaged. He is complimented on his acting!

“Good Job, honey,” you whisper.

He responds by tightly squeezing your hand.

His tone was so impressive that the host insisted that he read for the entire night. He was ok with that because in between reads he was often distracted by a lovely pair of jeans and shoes you had on. You were into writing, so hearing others read and act out the characters helped.

Headcanon 4: In some settings, Chrollo is very braggadocious. He insisted that the group read one of your stories so you could be provided with feedback.

“We’d be delighted to view your story, y/n!”

“It will be fun!”

The book club wasn’t a stereotypical club that only consisted of soccer moms but instead consisted of men and women who were involved with a business, law enforcement, health, etc. This was an open space for everyone to relax and forget about their demanding jobs.

After the meeting, the group went to dinner at a nearby pizzeria. You all enjoyed large pizzas, beer, salads, and dessert. How could your stomach (or anyone’s stomach) hold that much?

Chrollo laughed so much that it made you question if he was your actual boyfriend or not. He even engaged in conversations with the two off-duty cops! For once, you helped Chrollo experience the greater things in life; true love, friendship, and happiness.

“Thank you,” he whispered and slyly placed a kiss on your hand. “For everything.”

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erithel · 3 years

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I guess fanon is way better than canon 🤷‍♀️

In most cases, I'd say no to this – mainly because as someone who wants to create my own stories, I get annoyed when fans think they know better than the original creators, and they start demanding where the story should go.

VLD is a weird exception, however (along with several other things) – and it has to do with the lack of planning that seemed to go into the later seasons, and how the characters' growth and development was set aside to make room for a pure focus on plot and action.

I get really annoyed when shows or movies show that they didn't have a solid plan for where the story was supposed to go, because my belief is that if you are telling a story, you should want and need to tell that story. There should be a reason and a purpose why you are creating this thing. There should be a reason the world need to see it. So it's such a let down (to put it lightly) when shows or movies treat these things as just a way to make money.

I know VLD had a lot of outside meddling. I know the creative team got bad and threatening responses from fans. I'm not condoning either of these things – but it doesn't negate the fact that if the story had been solid from the beginning, this meddling shouldn't have made a difference. Because when you create a story, everything in there should be in there for a reason – and no matter what some rabid fanatic or clueless studio executive says, you should be able to stand up and fight for the story you are trying to tell, and not cave in to their demands. Because who knows your story better than you? (In an ideal world, right?)

So, in this case, yes. I would be bold enough to claim the fanon is better than the canon – and I'd base that claim on the fact that the fandom collectively agrees on certain things that should not have been overlooked or forgotten. There are literally millions of ways to write fanfiction. There are millions of ways for people to interpret each character. So in VLD fanfics, why are so many of these things the same? Why are there so many that address the same moments that were brushed aside in canon? You could throw a rock into a sea of VLD fanfics and hit a thousand stories that deal with Keith's attempted suicide at Naxzella.

The fans took the moments that mattered, and expanded on them. They fleshed out the characters and gave them the development and the arcs they were lacking. They didn't just write fanfiction because it was fun. They wrote the stories they felt needed to be told. And that's why the fanon is better.

#asks #erithel's hot takes #canon vs fanon #vld #series critique

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kodzuken · 2 years

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Ooh you were a Klance fan. Question is Klance being treated the same way Buddie is? Like in interviews and such?

i don't think so personally, but also i have a lot more faith in buddie than i ever did in klance! i think klance was always set up to be a non-canon ship, and when the showrunners saw the way the fandom reacted to them, they kind of almost leaned into that to secure their popularity. with vld, the worse crime was the adashi stuff, which genuinely was problematic and bad representation.

with buddie -- i truly don't think people (and i don't mean you anon!!) understand how little a showrunner/writer can actually say about the show in an interview. like -- ok, i'm not in TV but i do work in publishing, and like, the things you can't say before things are announced greatly outnumber the things you can say. if it's not signing NDAs it's just general good practice to not spoil your product before it's released. it's the same publishing books as it is making a television show like 911.

KR and tim aren't going to sit down and say "yeah we romantically coded buddie to preface them becoming canon", because that would ruin everything they've been building up (and more importantly, it would be a waste of money, and i hate to break it to you (universally, once again not you specifically anon), the fiscal outcome is always going to matter more than the story, especially to like. fox). so when KR says they're good friends, and tim tells us to write fanfiction, i put on my little "i work in the publishing industry" hat and realize that they're literally. protecting the integrity of their work, and that isn't a crime, nor is it queerbaiting!

#i hope this makes sense!#anonymous #reply #fandom discourse #anti vld #once again just in case

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headspacedad · 3 years

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Do you think it's safe to say that the majority of people treat the last two seasons of VLD as non-canon? (Or depending on who you ask, anything after season two?)

I don't know if I'd say 'majority'. First off I feel like there were a lot of casual viewers who probably just dropped the series and never gave it any thought afterward (lucky them). And second I would like to add the disclaimer that this is my opinion only, I don't keep a tight grip on the pulse of the general VLD fandom and that I cultivate my dash very strongly so I really only hear a very small part of it that generally tends to ring the same notes I do myself. From what I've gathered though I would feel safe saying the majority of fans who were invested seem to have rejected the last season for sure. Personally? I use how fans feel about season seven to measure whether they're Shiro fans or not. Because the second to last season was - yes, okay, it was shit and illogical writing with a lot of 'boy are we wasting time or what with this episode' and a huge dose of 'why is no one acting IC?' as well as a very firm sprinkling of 'boy, the paladins really all do hate each other, don't they?' - but despite that there were some interesting and intriguing concepts in the second to last season. They were jarring and poorly introduced, they weren't explored or explained but the interesting concepts and hints that It Could Have Been More were all over that second half of season seven. In fact there's a really solid fan theory that season seven WAS written with different characters in parts that other ones ended up playing and when viewed that way, the second half of the season would have made a lot of sense and been a very satisfying story (which makes it that much more frustrating because the story was Right There and the EPs refused to take it). So season seven at least had potential.

Except.

Except for the way Shiro was treated right from the very beginning when he suddenly wasn't piloting Black and no explanation was ever given why - -and all the way through to the end of it where he either sat out fights his team needed him during, was rendered helpless by being handcuffed to his fucking belt, wasn't even drawn into group scenes, was taken out of commission despite the fact 'our paladin armor must have protected us' while he was wearing paladin armor, was left out of that horrible 'we all hate each other' 'game show' only Great Heroes were allowed to play (and frankly, we can all just be glad he wasn't included because - wow, that episode was baaaaad) all the way through to dying two more times, going into screaming torture two more times, not having any family OR friends show up (because the EPs said it would be 'boring'), losing the fight that should have been his resolution fight and otherwise being reduced to a helpless, useless, exposition spouting sudden expert on how Voltron works set-piece. He was given no resolution to any of his issues introduced in the first few seasons and handed a giant robot that wasn't even allowed to be useful because that would eclipse how super special Voltron was supposed to be. Oh, and he's got a boyfriend for rep points but the boyfriend dumped him because Shiro wouldn't give up his long term dream so that he could become a stay at home house husband instead and then, multiple years after the breakup in which he is never mentioned or even vagued about, he dies so Shiro can get a sad. Ah, yeah, and let's not forget that Shiro is also suddenly dying of some disease that was never mentioned before or after or even given a name or resolution for. And finally lets include the fact that at one point the writers literally had Keith actually stand there in front of Shiro and tell him to his face that the team (without him in it anymore) was stronger than ever. So - yeah.

Did I mention they cut off even more of his arm too and gave him an ugly hoverboard there instead?

Basically what I'm saying is that I think the majority of active fans are rightfully upset with season eight (which was a whole other shit show ball of 'we don't know what we're doing' writing) but probably pretty content with season seven or at least don't reject it outright. There were intriguing concepts in it, most of the other characters got to do interesting things in season seven, most of them got moments to shine, they were still the 'heroes' (oh boy at that can of worms) of the story. Lance took some hard hits in season seven and so did Allura - and poor Lotor fans. How dirty Lotor fans were done, though mostly that was season six's ending. Same with Jiro/Kuron fans - that main beef was season six's ending and the lack of acknowledgment during season seven. So absolutely there are a lot of fans out there that are upset with seasons seven (and six). But I suspect, from my limited experience only, that most general fans are probably okay with season seven. (The show was hemorrhaging viewers and fans by that point anyway at an alarming rate). I also suspect that a lot of those fans that got disgusted with seasons six and seven went over to the 'there's no canon after season two' boat and frankly, I tend to paddle along next to it from time to time myself (except I hate to lose Jiro and Sven and Slav).

tl;dr: I think the majority of Shiro fans would like to treat the last two seasons (or everything past season two) as non-canon. I suspect there are several other character's fan bases that feel the same way. But I suspect, and could be completely wrong, that the majority of general fans only reject season eight and are okay with season seven (beyond the regular hiccups of disliking certain parts but still accepting the canon as a whole).

#vld salt #voltron legendary disappointment

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the-lightning-strikes-again · 4 years

Note

Hey, I saw your post about a head canon world where Lotor becomes the black Paladin, and it made me wonder how you feel about a different head canon, one that I personally don’t really have but find very interesting- the head canon of Lotor as a Blade of Marmora agent. How do you think that would change the plot of Voltron, and what do you think would happen with that? Just curious.

P.S. When’s the next chapter of Adrenaline Rush coming out? I love it so much and I’m at the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens-

Hi, anon. Thanks for the note! I’ve definitely thought about Lotor as a Blade before, and a while back last year, I posted a little drabble called The Awakening introducing that plot bunny. You can read it here as well as access links for other BOM Lotor stories!

Outside of that drabble, I do think transitioning Lotor to be a Blade pretty heavily shifts VLD. There’s probably a million interesting ways a person could write such a VLD AU, but I guess my initial thoughts would be something like this (heads up, this is a monster outline for a whole series rewrite):

After the disastrous end of the mining colony, Zarkon doesn’t just exile Lotor. He imprisons Lotor with the idea that Lotor either submit to “remedial training” or death.

When Lotor chooses death over kneeling before his father again, the Blades are convinced that Lotor is in fact truly different from Zarkon. Kolivan moves in to save him, offering him a secondary life in the shadows as an operative.

Lotor rises to the rank of Lieutenant within the BOM and helps establish a surviving Altean colony. In doing so, he discovers the legends of Oriande. He spends his time convincing the Blades that there is deeper knowledge of the universe they could use to defeat Zarkon and his witch.

The Blades share that they are aware at least Blue Lion survived the destruction of Altea, and they suspect that more Lions still exist. Kolivan orders Lotor to stand down from pursuing Oriande in favor of uncovering the location of the remaining lions.

Lotor ends up working with Krolia to better understand how she came to find the Blue Lion on Earth. He grows to see her as something of a mother figure or role model and is aware that she had to leave behind a mixed-race son of her own to ensure the war would never reach Keith.

Lotor warns that the pull to know one’s own heritage is significant, and that her half-human son will likely go to dangerous lengths to know the truth, especially if his more Galran attributes arise.

Krolia assures that her son’s father would keep the truth a secret and that Keith had no known signs of Galran blood.

Krolia missed that her son could sense things a normal human couldn’t.

All of that would be background information to be revealed in time.

VLD s1 would still pick up with Keith sensing the energy of the Blue Lion.

Lotor has by this time identified the location of the Red Lion, also following legends of a Lion Goddess upon Arus to suspect that perhaps more may exist on that planet. But Sendak has also picked up coordinates for the Red Lion.

Kolivan orders Lotor to stay hidden and send out squadrons to extract Red Lion, only for the extraction to fail and for the Red Lion to fall officially into Sendak’s hands.

At this time, Shiro crash-lands back on Earth. Sendak’s squadrons were also trailing his escape. The witch Haggar turns her eye to Earth and senses ancient power—the Blue Lion.

Kolivan is at a crossroads to determine next best steps. Lotor convinces him that it’s better to let Red Lion go temporarily than to lose even more to Sendak. Lotor argues that an elite squadron be sent to Earth to extract Blue Lion, and that he receive approval to pursue his lead for a possible lion on Arus.

Kolivan approves Lotor’s plan and realigns assets to Earth and to Lotor’s extraction team. Some Blades on Lotor’s extraction team are in fact Alteans and other survivors of other planets they have rescued over the years. Backup teams suit up for battle.

Krolia volunteers to lead the Earth squadron. She fears that her son and his people may be in danger.

Hunk, Pidge, and Lance follow Keith and Shiro to the Blue Lion. But at this time, the Galra have already discovered the Blue Lion. Krolia is desperately attempting to fend them off, but the Galra had taken out several of her squadron members, and she herself is injured.

The Galaxy Garrison recognizes that alien squadrons have landed on Earth, endangering several cities with their warfare. In fear that Earth is under invasion, they activate various militarized assets to contain the problem and capture any aliens, dead or alive.

Keith, Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, and Lance all panic, realizing they’re about to be caught in an alien war, the firepower of their trigger-happy superiors, and the biggest national security breach in human history.

Krolia meanwhile, desperate, tosses some weapons over to the humans and begs for their help. She tells them that keeping this Blue Lion out of the hands of Emperor Zarkon is imperative to universal safety.

Keith and Shiro move in to assist Krolia. Pidge is trying to contact Galaxy Garrison about the situation, panicking in an attempt to explain that not everyone in the fire zone is an enemy. Hunk is hesitantly like, “Is this a real thing? Am I actually seeing aliens right now? Omg, is this actually a weapon? I don’t think I’m trained for this!” And Lance meanwhile is distracted. He’s sensing Blue Lion, and it’s responding to him, because out of everyone, he’s the only with the tenacity to actually get in this thing and fly it out of harm’s way.

Shiro realizes if they don’t get Krolia and her team out, the Garrison might not be so kind to her either. Once he sees Lance is able to operate controls, he agrees best thing to do is to get Blue Lion off Earth entirely.

The instant Krolia gets a good look at Keith, she realizes that he is her son and panics when she realizes she willingly begged for this boy to get involved in the battle.

Long story short, the future paladins + Krolia and the surviving Blades operatives escape through a wormhole using Blue Lion, which takes them back to the Castle of Lions on Arus. They narrowly escape both death at the hands of Galra and capture by Galaxy Garrison.

Galaxy Garrison is blaring alarms that Earth has experienced what appears to be its first true alien invasion. It recognizes that several cadets were caught up in the crossfire. They assume those cadets and Shiro to be Missing In Action and feared dead. Earth leaders convene to discuss defense strategies, in fear that this will not be the end.

Meanwhile, Lotor has already landed on Planet Arus with his team. But he soon realizes that this isn’t just the location of the Castle of Lions—it’s also housing the Black Lion’s energy force and the long-lost Princess Allura, the “Lion Goddess” that Arusians had seen through the glass of her pod.

Lotor makes the decision to wake up the princess and her Altean advisor, Coran. In fear that he would scare them as a Galran, he keeps his face mask on. He begs the princess to fly the ship to safety, as he does not know how to use a teladuv but understands what they are.

Princess Allura is very confused for a time, demanding to know who he is and what exactly is going on.

Sendak hears from Haggar that she senses new energy on Arus.

Lotor is distracted, attempting to reach Krolia and strategize a full, double-wormhole back to BOM headquarters with the Castle and Blue Lion in tow. The fight on Earth temporarily distracted Sendak, but with Blue Lion gone, Sendak is now racing his way back to the Castle’s position. Time is very limited.

Lotor stumbles a bit at the sight of Allura, who is very beautiful.

Coran is flailing about that Alfor’s plan to hide the lions is ruined—

At this time, the paladins + Krolia and team land on Arus via wormhole.

Keith is helping his mother to rush into the Castle of Lions for cover, as she is still injured.

Princess Allura is beginning to realize that Altea had been completely destroyed, and she is very distraught that Emperor Zarkon has become an unstoppable tyrant, killing and enslaving millions.

Lotor kneels down beside her and convinces her that if she can operate the castle for just a very short time, then they can save the entire galaxy and take back a Lion from Zarkon, together.

The princess senses his goodwill and agrees, pulling herself together. She admits she knows where the other lions are, as Alfor had tied her life-force to all of the Lions.

Allura is surprised to realize that Blue Lion is just outside.

Lotor’s squadron guides the paladins and company into the heart of the Castle. Princess Allura is surprised again to discover that a human named Lance had bonded with the Blue Lion so easily. She begins to search out the bond ties of the other lions and realizes they are attempting to sort through options for new paladins.

Allura helps Keith with placing Krolia in a healing pod. She senses the energy between them is quite similar, and that they are perhaps related.

The Blue Lion and other Lions communicate to Allura that they need a fresh team that can function as one immediately. A team with new perspectives, a desire to protect, and without the painful history or conflicts of interest that resulted in Alfor’s leniency with Zarkon. They hone in on the humans, and Allura sees their auras as clearly aligned with their respective lions.

She communicates to the larger team that they are in desperate need of paladins for the other lions—and that the lions have chosen these humans who were willing to defend Blue and their home world.

Lotor hesitates, having had plans for those lions that didn’t involve humans. But he acknowledges that alchemical magic is above his understanding. He glances over at Keith, catching that his scent is similar to Krolia’s—and that his prophecy of a family reunion has come true in the strangest of ways.

Princess Allura quickly sets to revealing the location of the other lions and activating wormholes for them to retrieve them.

Meanwhile, the Castle has experienced 10,000 years of rust and degradation of lesser systems. Coran and Lotor team up to fix the particle barrier, anticipating that they may need to provide backup for the new paladins. Coran and Lotor bicker over many things, and Coran warns that he can see Lotor making cow eyes at the princess even beneath his mask. Lotor vehemently denies it.

Krolia, stubbornly moving her way out of a healing pod, pleads with Allura that Keith not be chosen to pilot Red Lion—that he might find a way to go back and be safe with his father.

Allura apologizes that she is not in control of the lions and that they choose their paladins. “If Red Lion chose your son, it is because Keith can save the universe. That it’s his destiny to be a part of this fight with us.” But Allura is unsettled too, as she’s actively trying to test systems with Coran and this mysterious, masked Blade whose name she doesn’t even know yet, except that his title is Lieutenant. Meanwhile, she’s also trying to keep the wormholes open for the paladins.

The new paladins return in time for the arrival of Sendak, who still has Red Lion in his grasp.

The newly minted Team Voltron make a stand with the lions they have available to reclaim Red Lion and activate Black Lion.

The BOM forces assist in the overtake and attempt to suppress the battle from affecting locals on the planet of Arus.

Lotor realizes that Keith is in significant trouble, as Sendak is moving in protect Red Lion himself. Lotor runs to activate his own ship as backup, knowing Sendak’s fighting weaknesses.

The battle ends up with Keith struggling to connect with Red Lion while Lotor fights off Sendak.

Sendak manages to knock Lotor’s face mask loose and startles in surprise to see Zarkon’s supposedly dead son.

Lotor uses the moment of surprise to critically injure Sendak, escaping up to the Red Lion that Keith has taken command of.

All lions and teams retreat back to the Castle of Lions, which wormholes out before Sendak’s forces can catch them.

Sendak haltingly conveys to Emperor Zarkon that his son yet lives, fighting in the armor of an unknown rebel group.

Zarkon whips into a rage that his darkest shame is still alive and fighting against him.

The witch, Haggar, promises to end Lotor’s life once and for all, and to reclaim the lions for Zarkon’s glory.

Team Voltron meanwhile celebrates their first win in a panic-relief that they were able to form Voltron.

Various Blade operatives take off their masks. Some are revealed to be Alteans, including a grown Bandor and Romelle who were rescued long ago and now fight as part of Lotor’s squadron. Princess Allura and Coran are comforted greatly to know that many Alteans yet live, and that there is a colony where juniberries grow too.

Princess Allura still wants to know who the mysterious Lieutenant is who woke her up and managed to fight off Sendak.

Bandor, a big Lotor fan, nearly breaks the truth that “Lieutenant Lotor is—” and Romelle nudges him to be quiet, interjecting that their lieutenant is a very private person and that no one knows much about him.

Meanwhile, Kolivan is incredibly unhappy that Lotor has revealed himself on an active battle field.

Lotor argues that he did it to protect Krolia’s son, who was chosen to be the paladin of Red Lion—and isn’t that the more important objective?

Kolivan reassigns Krolia immediately to ensure that her ties to Keith do not interfere with Keith’s new mission. Keith still doesn’t know Krolia is his mother.

Kolivan then grounds Lotor from engaging in an active battle again, and admits that it is best if Lotor remain with Team Voltron in his own stylized armor.

Lotor asks if this is a demotion for insubordination.

Kolivan hesitates and says it’s possibly a promotion, if he can help to keep these human children alive long enough to save the universe. If all goes well, then the Blades will back Lotor’s bid at the resulting Kral Zera after Zarkon’s defeat.

Lotor hesitates, then adds, “And my secondary mission, to search for Oriande?”

“…Approved.”

Lotor then asks if it’s in fact cruel to hide from Keith that Krolia is his mother, but Kolivan convinces him that sometimes, the consequences of knowing outweigh the consequences of ignorance.

Kolivan knows that Haggar is Lotor’s true mother, but corrupted.

He fears what Lotor might do with that information.

Lotor, meanwhile, designs new armor for himself that is separate from that of the Blades.

He appears to Princess Allura, offering to help train the new paladins in the art of war if she can assist them with the spiritual aspects of connecting with Voltron.

Princess Allura accepts, but corrects him to say that she knows quite a bit about the art of war, thank you very much.

He searches her curiously and asks to see what she can do—as it is imperative she remain battle-ready herself.

The princess very casually grabs for his own sword and holds it to his throat, in a challenge for a duel.

Lotor’s lips split wide in a smile of delight. He likes this princess and her spirit.

He discovers that the princess really can hold her own, and it’s at that point he realizes he will struggle to remain objective about her in his missions.

Allura is not entirely unaffected either, fighting to maintain a level of professionalism around him.

At some point, Lotor’s cat Kova sneaks in from Lotor’s ship to the Castle of Lions. Kova is a lazy, happy cat who likes to hold a mouse in his mouth but doesn’t actually try to eat it. Princess Allura’s mice get used to be carried around in this way. Chulatt often rides atop Kova’s head.

Kova is something of a therapy cat for the whole team. He likes lots of scritches and the way Pidge rubs his belly. He often steals Hunk’s burritos and sleeps on Allura’s comfy pillow when she is busy.

Dayak, Lotor’s old governess, hears through the grapevine of Galra High Command that Lotor is in fact still alive. Kolivan and other Blade operatives track her, debating if she could possibly be turned to their side. They believe she can be a very valuable asset for future missions.

Meanwhile, it’s been a long time since Lotor had to train children.

The Castle of Lions still ends up with everyone in a food goo fight at least twice.

Shiro is suffering significant PTSD, and the reality is that this is something Lotor fights as well from his time under his father’s command. He tries to help when he can and forms a deep bond with Shiro too.

Lotor mother-hens the paladins because he made a promise to Krolia that he would keep her child safe, but soon, they all worm their way into his heart. He feels very protective of them, and of the princess, who has not yet had the opportunity even to see the colony of her people, safely tucked away in the Quantum Abyss.

Lotor activates Romelle and Bandor for their assistance in tracking down leads on the existence of Oriande or other helpful relics worth having or keeping out of the witch’s hands. Allura argues that Oriande is just a fairy tale, and Lotor argues in return that Alfor simply had to have advanced knowledge to build Voltron as he did. He begs Allura to at least be open to the possibility that more exists about Altean heritage than she ever thought possible.

Allura pauses, then quietly confesses that she is quite sure she’ll never be the alchemist her father was. That he had a gift no one else had ever seen.

Lotor grows impassioned to say that neither of them have to be limited by what their fathers did or accomplished. That they can be so much more, something different—he can feel it. He gets a little too close in saying this. Coran jumps in, noticing that Lotor’s usual strong command of Altean etiquette slips when around Allura.

In thanks for listening, Allura leaves a little juniberry flower for Lotor.

He spins it in his fingers, face in a flush over what it could mean. But he tries to stifle his emotions, knowing that the Princess of Altea would not accept an exiled son of Zarkon in such a way.

Occasionally, Lotor feels like Black Lion is watching him. He can’t tell if it’s because he’s paranoid, or if it’s because Black Lion actually knows his true parentage. He struggles to be in the same space as it, often unsettled.

Princess Allura and Shiro both notice this.

Meanwhile, Haggar uses a significant barrage of robeasts to distract Voltron while she completes building the Komar and perfecting other means of quintessence manipulation.

Haggar convinces Zarkon that Lotor is better to them alive than dead, and that if they could simply capture him again for a short time, she could turn him into Zarkon’s most loyal soldier, and undo Voltron’s advantages from the inside out.

Zarkon hesitantly approves. He demands that Lotor still be killed immediately upon fulfilling such a role, as Lotor would no doubt attempt to dethrone him.

Meanwhile, Princess Allura often catches Lotor reading up voraciously in the library of the Castle of Lions while the paladins complete their assigned training. At first, she thinks this activity has to do with Lotor’s fixation on the legend of Oriande. But then she catches him reading a book about Altean cuisines and asking for Hunk’s help in reproducing them—and she starts to suspect that Lotor’s not entirely Galran.

Occasionally, Lotor assists in BOM side-work, whether it’s breaking from the paladins to assist on an Oriande lead or helping Kolivan to unravel Galran records and codes.

Lotor has incredibly strong opinions about modulation.

Lotor is also very good at acting as a representative while Earth flails over getting in contact with its lost cadets and aliens.

He remains in communication with Krolia often, reporting on Keith’s progress. But Keith is starting to ask questions as well, about how the dagger he found in his father’s stuff one day has the same exact symbol as that of the Blades.

Krolia helps to continue funnel lost people of mixed heritage toward the Blades. As Team Voltron grows more confident in their abilities, Lotor is called away to help train new recruits named Acxa, Zethrid, Narti, and Ezor.

Keith joins along briefly because he wants to learn more about the Blades themselves and why his father would have a Blade dagger.

Lotor discusses Keith’s application for the Blades with Shiro, who tentatively agrees that training with the Blades could be a good way to start ramping Keith up with leadership skills and advanced tactical knowledge. Lotor agrees that the boy is more capable than what his mother would allow him to be.

Shiro was trained to always have a line of command in place in case someone falls. He knows he could very well fall, and Keith as his right-hand is the most worthy in the group to take on the mantle of Black Lion in that case.

Lotor and the Blades agree to train Keith as a Blade, in preparation for a future where Shiro might not be able to fulfill his duties.

Keith sees this as a serious honor and doesn’t want to screw it up.

Meanwhile, Princess Allura discovers a journal from her father, with one of the final notes mentioning that Zarkon had declared he was to have a son soon, and that his chosen name would be Lotor—his day of birth to be on the fourth quintant of the 11th phoebe.

Allura shakily realizes that Lotor’s eyes are Zarkon’s eyes even if they are blue. She keeps her discovery to herself, in surprise that Lotor had so firmly denied his father, and out of respect that he has not willingly shared this history.

Meanwhile, Lotor keeps eyeing the Black Lion, then Shiro, wondering exactly why Shiro is so insistent about a replacement.

Shiro hesitantly admits that Black Lion has started sending him visions—that something is wrong on the astral plane, and that it will likely take everything Shiro has to burn it out.

Lotor, fearful, goes to Allura and demands to understand more about the Black Lion, admitting that he’s felt watched by it.

Allura hesitates to admit the old history that Black Lion was once piloted by Zarkon, but that it should not be affecting Shiro’s connection with the lion…unless Zarkon were still somehow connected.

Lotor recalls that Shiro was missing his bayard—that this could be significant if it were still in Zarkon’s hands.

Cue a wild crash of shenanigans involving Haggar crashing in with Komar to drain Voltron while Zarkon attacks the Black Lion to take it over, while various forces of Sendak hone in on Lotor as an asset to capture for Haggar’s experimentation.

In the insanity, Lotor is captured.

Princess Allura, fearful that her team is breaking apart, unleashes a level of alchemical power that digs deep into her connection with Voltron and far outpaces any retaliation Haggar was expecting.

The Komar powers down, and Zarkon loses his connection to Black Lion, with Shiro overpowering him.

Haggar digs deep into Lotor’s mind, attempting to plant a dark entity within him. She extracts memories of his attempts to find Oriande.

Lotor might not have magical abilities, but his cheeks begin to glow with his Altean marks as he concentrates deeply on Blade and Altean practices for preserving the mind. But Haggar is relentless, and evermore curious about his marks.

He realizes he might have to die to protect Oriande and Team Voltron, in the way some Blades have gone before to protect the whole.

His fears do not pan out, as Team Voltron and Allura rescue Lotor from imprisonment, with help from the Blades. Allura is carrying Lotor out as the paladins provide cover. Zarkon is roaring that he will ensure his son dies the worst death possible for his treason.

Lotor is genuinely shaken for the first time since the Blades recovered him from Zarkon all those years ago. His secret is out for the whole of Team Voltron. Allura tries to comfort him that it’s alright, and that they would never leave him behind.

He looks up, and Allura confirms that she knows and accepted that he’s a son of Zarkon a long time ago, and that if he ever tries to kill himself again, she’ll kill him herself. She embraces him.

He as an emotional moment because she is the first outside the Blades to accept him upon discovering his parentage.

Meanwhile, Shiro regains the black bayard in a sneaky trick beneath Zarkon’s nose, cutting off any of Zarkon’s remaining connection to Black Lion. But the team discovers in their retreat that Haggar has all the pure quintessence it’d harvested from Voltron—and that she hasn’t used it yet. Pidge also had hacked into the mainframe to discover that the Galra had located a transreallity comet.

During the breach into Zarkon’s flagship, Bandor and Romelle stole what they could of Haggar’s things, to keep power out of her hands. They grabbed a strange stone as part of their loot.

Cue another stream of shenanigans where Team Voltron attempts to keep the comet out of Galran hands unsuccessfully. But in the midst of that defeat, Allura and Lotor discover that the item found by Bandor and Romelle provides a map directly to Oriande.

Plot twist that Haggar had still managed to possess at least Kova and use his eyes to access insight into Team Voltron’s movements. She sees Oriande’s location and leaves for it immediately.

It’s Narti who senses something is deeply wrong with Kova and tries to alert the team.

They realize too late that Haggar has probably already reached Oriande.

They desperately wormhole to reach it, while keep Kova locked up, which is a painful thing for Lotor but necessary. Allura promises that she’ll help find a way to purge Kova of Haggar’s influence.

Lotor’s Altean marks light up just as Allura’s do as they reach Oriande.

Upon arriving at Oriande, the landscape has been corrupted entirely by Haggar. Its defense systems had degenerated over the years since no one had visited in over 10,000 years to bond with the larger life force keeping it intact. Because Haggar infused it with her own life force, it took on her personality and interests.

The White Lion is glitchy, sending both Lotor and Allura in circles around the island.

Allura and Lotor both see unnatural visions and experience harrowing dangers in an attempt to reach the summit with the temple.

Allura isn’t sure that she can gain anything from Oriande if it is so truly corrupt by Haggar. Lotor tells her that he trusts her ability to see through all things, and to discover something that could end the witch’s reign.

Oriande is haunted by phantom beasts.

Lotor chooses to remain behind to fight off those beasts while Allura climbs into the decayed temple and completes the mission. The glitchy white lion is watching him and struggles in some way to assist Lotor before its power wanes. Lotor mourns its loss as a valuable fighting partner, even if it glitched at odd times.

Allura discovers the art of healing and of infusing objects with power, but she also discovers that at the heart of Oriande, Haggar had left an imprint of some of her own self behind.

Allura realizes with a startle that she sees some of Honerva of Altea’s own memories mixed in with Haggar’s imprint. She realizes quickly that Honerva was Lotor’s true mother, 10,000 years ago.

Meanwhile, Krolia has appeared alongside various other squadrons of the Blades, in an attempt to help Voltron hold off increasing numbers of Galran forces from attempting to enter the white hole entrance of Oriande, which has gone dark.

Krolia sees Red Lion take a critical hit. She breaks rank to place herself directly in front of Keith, to protect him while he recalibrates.

In doing so, she reveals that she is so proud of what he’s capable of doing—but that he still needs to learn to watch his six.

Keith is surprised for a few ticks, but then moves to help protect Krolia too, saying that he has a lot of questions when this battle is over, like why she mothers over him so much.

Krolia cannot believe her son is actually this oblivious since she’s been trying to send him messages that she is his mother, but she agrees to talk.

Haggar has at this time returned to Zarkon’s flagship, infusing it with alchemy and the pure quintessence, coaxing the transreality comet to do her bidding to melt into molten ore and cover the flagship. This converts it to a massive transreality mecha, with Zarkon at the helm.

Voltron is at a disadvantage against the much larger, much stronger mecha.

Allura, in a last-ditch desperation, drops her hand to Oriande and activates its stone, begging Oriande to respond to her need for a second defender. The temples begin to adjust. She realizes that because Lotor had subconsciously infused part of himself in Oriande too, the resulting mecha is actually of his own design—Sincline.

The interface is slightly glitchy from Haggar, and Lotor affectionately calls it the White Lion, sensing that his friend is still somewhere in the stone. And even deeper, he senses the memories of all the Alteans who’d infused their lives into stone—resulting in him feeling a few uncorrupted memories from Honerva, before she became Haggar.

He isn’t quite sure what to do with that, but shoves the emotions down for now.

Allura and Lotor pilot the mecha out of Oriande. Because the stones are connected to the Life Givers and the Ones Who Came Before, it is interdimensional in a way the other mechas are not, even if it cannot take a heavy hit. Their addition levels the playing field

Zarkon accesses the quintessence field, discovering he can do so, and Voltron quickly follows behind.

Lotor and Allura follow to stabilize the rift before it can upset the space-time continuum, calling upon the Life Givers for help in holding the threads of the universe together.

Team Voltron manages to successfully beat back Zarkon within the quintessence field, with Allura and Lotor using Zarkon’s own energy against him in a moment of distraction.

The distraction happens because the rift creatures possessing him realize that they are back in their natural universe.

The rift creatures call in their buddies, who begin to cannibalize the great source of power in Zarkon’s mecha.

The paladins take the opportunity to fry Zarkon out of existence, taking a large chunk of rift creatures with him.

Meanwhile, Haggar is on a small ship trying to escape in the regular universe, slipping between Galran factions and Blade squadrons.

Team Voltron return and pick her up before she can run away.

The battle ceases without Zarkon to provide orders—Sendak orders a full retreat upon seeing Voltron return without Zarkon.

Post-battle, Allura performs something completely novel with quintessence. After being in the rift, she realizes she can see different motivations within quintessence. In doing so, she searches out Kova and purifies his mind of dark alchemy. Then she goes to the imprisoned Haggar and purifies out the rift creatures possessing her, who disappear on the material plane the instant they are outside a host body.

Honerva wakes up, fully confused and largely unaware of what she’s done or how much time has passed. She is very convinced that she should be pregnant with a son named Lotor, and that she needs quintessence to stabilize her pregnancy.

It takes Honerva quite some time to realize that it’s been 10,000 years, and a grown Blade named Lotor is in fact her true son.

Lotor is very hesitant with her but sees she was not in control as Haggar. He still can’t look at her. Honerva promises to find some way to make up for her past.

Allura gets to see the Altean colony, returning Honerva to it in hopes that maybe a larger group and some normality could help her recalibrate and reconnect somehow. Bandor oddly takes pity on her, his parents having died long ago. Lotor cautions to Romelle to keep an eye out on his mother, and Romelle promises she will do so.

Allura works with several others to heal and rebuild Oriande to its former glory, as a place of open learning for any who have a deep enough spiritual connection with reality to grasp its secrets. She realizes that most things in Oriande appear as gibberish otherwise to the unmagical.

The Blades and Team Voltron back Lotor for the Kral Zera, and Lotor becomes Emperor.

The human paladins get to go home and celebrate that everything is okay now. Their voices make the human governments stand down from actively firing on alien ships.

Lotor disbands his father’s enslaved planets from the empire, offering reparations and working with Kolivan, the Blades, and Team Voltron to provide assistance to those planets as they rebuild.

Some Galra remember Lotor mostly as a traitor to his father and a bad overseer of a mining colony. The Fires of Purification rise, in time with increasing concerns over how the Galra will sustain its reliance on quintessence without conquering and enslaving.

Princess Allura—now crowned Queen of the New Altean Colony—works on the strange, quite sentient Sincline mecha that she and Lotor had built. She removes any glitch left over from Haggar’s influence on Oriande and realizes that she has a mobile, self-protecting entity that is a direct connection to the Life Givers.

Allura makes a deal with the Life Givers through the Sincline mecha, that it will open the rift twice a movement for the leader of any planet, so that quintessence can be collected from the rift. In exchange, it would have the right to judge the heart of the leader and enact justice against any who abused such a position. And that its older sibling, Voltron, would continue to ensure that no one else abuse the power either in a way that would harm others.

The mecha agrees to the condition on the astral plane. Voltron softly chimes in, agreeing as well.

Lotor approaches as the first leader to test this new system. He tears up when he hears the voices of the Life Givers sing to him through Sincline and offer him a well of quintessence for his people. They ask that he one day return to Oriande so that they can embrace him.

The Galra grow to accept Lotor and his strange ways of doing things.

Lotor finds himself oddly in the same position that began his entire journey—leaning on Kolivan for guidance. But Kolivan is no longer his only ally in a sea of enemies. As a matter of fact, Lotor has deepened several bonds and made many friends.

Lotor goes to Allura and says they make a pretty good team, and that he’s feeling cute, how about they marry.

Allura says yes.

The paladins cry happily at their wedding, and for once in 10,000 years, the galaxy is united and at peace.

Dayak reappears in time for the wedding, and Kolivan reveals that she had been giving the Blades tips for how to operate in the background to get around Zarkon’s defenses, and that she had even been instrumental in Shiro retrieving the black bayard from Zarkon.

Dayak is emotional about seeing Lotor again after all this time.

She’s not the only one.

Kolivan’s eyes are twitching during the ceremony. He’s fond and protective of his operatives, but there is a lot of space dust in the air as he watches Lotor marry, remembering that fateful day he’d saved Lotor from imminent death.

Lotor one day tries to give his BOM dagger back to Kolivan, recognizing that he has not been in the field for a long time—and that managing a planet and helping with New Altea is quite a lot of work.

Kolivan gently presses the dagger hilt back into Lotor’s hand. “Once a Blade, always a Blade.”

Lotor tears up because Kolivan is probably the closest he has come to a true father figure.

Somewhere, Coran is still crying of space dust, and the paladins crash the scene to demand a beach party. Because once Team Voltron, always Team Voltron.

Krolia and Kolivan are watching over the group.

There are gratuitous laugh scenes with two mechas standing guard in the distance, gleaming in the sunlight.

The end!

(Ahhh yeah, so this was yet another unexpected and extensive rewrite of VLD, loll. I hope these long outlines don’t bother anyone asdljfsa. But I enjoyed the ask, thank you for the prompt! Also I’m still steadily trying to work on Adrenaline Rush in the background. For some reason, I’m just having some writer’s block with it. I hope to update it soon, though!)

74 notes · View notes

mckinlily · 3 years

Note

SQUEEEEE!!! YOUR MIRACULOUS VLD AU IS BRILLIANT!!! ITS MADE ME GUSH & GIGGLE SO MUCH XD YOUR ARTWORK IS AMAZING AS WELL \(^w^)/ THANK YOU FOR SHARING!!!

Thank you, lovely anon!!! ☺️

Just for you… take a few more silly head canons for some of the side characters:

Keith:

You know how Keith is trying to keep Shiro’s secret but is a HORRIBLE liar? Well, Lance has developed a theory that Keith is Chat Noir. It goes about as well as you can except

Pidge blatantly encourages this for the sheer drama of it

Hunk thinks it’s unlikely…but his nosy brain wants to know and what if!!

Keith is stuck. He can’t deny it too strongly without outing Shiro, and every time he tries to prove them wrong he ends up making things worse

“Seriously, guys! Chat Noir is like a foot taller than me! I can’t possibly be him!”

“I donno, man. The suits obviously change their appearance.”

“Yeah, but like hair and eyes and stuff! Not height!”

“….You sure do know a lot about the transformations. Suspicious…”

“What? No! I—No I don’t! It’s not anything that isn’t obvious!”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say. Chat Noir.”

“I’M NOT CHAT NOIR, LANCE!”

Lance is certain that Keith’s vehement denials mean he’s onto something

Lotor:

He runs a competing blog that (tragically) is still not nearly as popular as the Ladyblog

He was set to it by his mom, and he takes a far more aggressive approach to digging into Ladybug and Chat Noir’s identities

He keeps trying to get Allura to help him with the project, but she’s frustratingly unenthusiastic about it

Does she not care about the city? Shouldn’t people have a right to know who their heroes are? WHAT does the over sexualization of Chat’s fine ass have to do with ANY of this?

(Allura denies all accusations and recollection of conversations about Chat’s ass)

Pidge:

She was rescued once by Chat Noir and something about him…he just felt familiar, almost like an older brother but in a way she just can’t put her finger on…

It’s driving her NUTS

And finally...

Matt doesn't know how Chat Noir is, but he keeps hitting on him every time he gets rescued (which is unusually common. Are you TRYING to get into trouble, Matt??). Hey, it’s a superhero and the guy is HOT. Why shouldn’t he flirt?

Shiro is dying. His best friend keeps hitting on him but only when he’s in a skintight leather suit and he can’t say anything.

He can’t even tell Ladybug because then she'll find out his identity. It’s agony.

Only Keith understands. But Keith mostly just laughs at him so maybe Keith doesn’t understand at all.

#miraculous shallura #thanks for the ask!#i'm so happy someone is enjoying it!

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avidbeader · 4 years

Text

CW: Voltron S8 talk, VLD S8 talk, Shiro’s marriage, ship wars

I’ve been seeing an influx of new VLD fans in the last several months – guess people have more time to watch shows – and it’s brought in a new wave of Sheith fans. And that’s lovely – having more people to create and cheer is a good thing. I know I’ve pointed a lot of people at “Sheith the Movie” so they can have just the Sheith (all 3.5 hours of their scenes with some context) if they want.

However, even if the new fans have been aware of how toxic the klanti shippers were (Klance fans who resorted to slander, harassment, and threats to both other fans and the show’s cast and crew in an attempt to force the studio to make their ship canon), I’m seeing some conflict crop up because some new fans aren’t aware of just how ugly things got in 2018, that most of the people who embraced Shiro and the random groom as a ship were the same people who had spent the previous two years attacking Sheith fans.

In June, we had Season 6. Keith and Lance interaction was at an all-time low. Keith said “I love you” to Shiro in what he thought was a dying confession. Yes, it was preceded by “You’re my brother (in arms)”, but interviews with showrunners like story editor Josh Hamilton made it clear that Keith was trying his best to encapsulate just how important Shiro was to him (without saying that they almost certainly had to include the “brother” line to give DW executives plausible deniability).

In July, we had the SDCC showing of Season 7’s first episode and the confirmation that Shiro is an LGBT character. Klance fans jumped all over the character of Shiro’s ex-boyfriend Adam, because in their minds he would be the key to invalidating Sheith. The media properly observed that Shiro and Adam had broken up over very profound issues and drew the conclusion that if Shiro were to get an on-screen romance in the remainder of the series, Keith was the obvious choice.

In August, we had Season 7. Instead of the heartfelt Shiro/Adam reunion klantis were salivating for, we saw Adam get killed in the Galra invasion. And the klantis rose up, hurling so many unjustified accusations of “fridging” or “bury your gays” over a minor character with a total of maybe three minutes of screen time, that JDS actually had to put his name to an unnecessary apology from the studio.

We also had Keith and Shiro’s backstory, showing just how close of friends they became after Shiro helped Keith join the Garrison, AND Keith saving Shiro yet again. While Lance and Allura continued to grow closer. Because it was clear that the producers had never once considered making Keith and Lance a thing, klanti fans went ballistic with their slander, accusing Sheith of being pedophilic and incestuous when neither accusation has any canon basis at all.

And in December, we got Season 8. Season 8 with a mostly new set of writers who didn’t do their research. Season 8 that tried to cram in too much excess content while finishing up a major plotline. Season 8 that finally showed that the producers had never fully thought through or sought input for handling Shiro, a character they’d originally planned to kill off, decided to make their LGBT rep when told to keep him, and then failed to pick up the strong story arcs he had in the first seasons. And because studio execs gave JDS and LM a single day to change their epilogue cards from minor characters to the main team, we got the very bad decision to marry Shiro off to a random character.

(And the character was random. Stills were leaked that showed Shiro kissing a character that had been seen once in the very first episode, but was too obviously a reference to a character in another series. It clearly didn’t matter to JDS/LM or the people above them who Shiro married as long as it wasn’t another main character. Because we’ve barely passed the point where we can have more than one character of a certain race in the main cast, much less multiple LGBT characters.)

Like they did with Adam, klantis jumped all over “Curtis” as their savior, because to them this should have killed Sheith fandom. And a great many Sheith fans did leave, angry and hurt, not because their ship wasn’t canon (very few Sheith fans expected more than an open ending) but because the concept of Shiro marrying some random character with absolutely no buildup undercut the notion of Shiro as a strong example of LGBT rep. Because those endcards erased every single character’s growth through the series, not just Shiro’s.

Media saw the ploy for what it was, a clumsy attempt to try and reach for a historic milestone when today’s audiences aren’t looking for milestones anymore. Today’s audiences want to be included in the entire narrative. No one talks about Shiro’s wedding as a good example of rep. In mainstream pop media, no one talks about Shiro at all, in contrast to the celebrations post-SDCC. When articles are written about progress in children’s media, Shiro is never included on the list. It’s only this past June, 2020, that DreamWorks shoved Shiro into the background of a collage of LGBT characters from their cartoons, WITHOUT his desultory groom.

LGBT fans, especially gay men, saw the ploy for what it was. Just as the media collectively set Shiro’s wedding aside when talking about positive LGBT rep, gay men spoke out against it. Too bad they didn’t get any kind of apology from DW and the best JDS/LM could say on their one appearance on an “Afterbuzz” was “But we tried! Something was better than nothing!”

And the majority of Sheith fans who remained in the fandom collectively jettisoned Season 8 and began producing even more content. There have been schisms and fallouts, mainly over whether/how carefully to tag for content that includes Adam or “Curtis”, but the fandom as a whole has continued to produce fic, art, vids, and merch. There’s a reason people outside the fandom groan “Sheith in 2020?” There’s a reason antis continue to push their lies about the ship. We haven’t let go of what we love, we continue to create, and we continue to attract new fans.

But most of us do not want to engage in any way with “Curtis” content unless a fix-it is involved (and sometimes not even then – for many of us, Season 8 does not exist). We don’t care about a character who had zero interaction with Shiro before the endcard, whose name isn’t even spoken once in the show’s dialogue – the only reasons we know it are the IMDB credits and one reference in the close-captions identifying who is speaking (and there’s stronger evidence to show that “Curtis” is a last name, not a first name).

If other people find enough of an attachment to this character to ship him, fine. You do you. But most Sheith fans expect those who support Shiro’s wedding to be klantis and therefore look to avoid conflict by minimizing contact. We do not forget. We do not forgive. We just want to be left alone to enjoy our ship in peace.

#voltron #sheith #ship discourse #a little context #why we don't want to interact with fans of Shiro's so-called wedding #because someone wanted to start up a fic/art exchange between Sheith fans and fans of that #and was bewildered that they got negative reactions to the idea #part of being a proshipper or ship-positive is staying in one's lane

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