#guess who's pumped for Shiro and Lance in season 6

[ganymedesclock]

Your meta is singlehandedly responsible for all my opinions and characterization of Shiro tbh and I kinda just realized something. Tell me if I'm wrong but I get the feeling what you're trying to say about after-s2 Shiro is just: This is Shiro, except now all his stressors are Worse.

I mean, Shiro’s not the same person he was in the first two seasons just as much as none of the other paladins are the same person they were in the first two seasons, but, I definitely think Shiro since then has built on what was established as his essential character that’s growing and changing.

Part of it is he’s under a lot more pressure. Part of it is, when Shiro first came to the position in s1 he basically took all of his trauma and survivalism and tried to stuff it back into the mold of the Garrison’s Golden Boy. And ironically, I think it’s s1 Shiro who’s a lot more callous- look through the early episodes and see how many times Shiro interrupts, corrects, shoves or silences Lance in particular.

He’s determined to make a good impression early on, and, frankly, Shiro’s first impression of Lance is not favorable- he seems to regard him as just fooling around when the paladins need to be serious, they need to commit to this. 

He’s also the one to chew out Keith for demanding Pidge can’t leave and was about to make, frankly, a very bad decision by letting Pidge wander off alone into the universe without even questioning how even a very resourceful and clever fifteen year old intends to survive in a hostile spacefaring empire they know almost nothing about. And it’s pretty clear, I think, rather than fair judgment, Shiro’s letting his personal sense of guilt, believing he failed the Holts, rule in this context. 

Yes, people shouldn’t be shackled to paladin duty, but given Pidge’s custom jet booster had a good chance of making the pod explode (and by good, seemingly as high as 50% since it was used twice and the second time it detonated) on top of everything else, it’s clear if she’d gone off alone the way she meant to, she would have died.

Shiro in s1 is trying to be a perfect leader for everyone and frankly, who he’s become since then is better. It stands that he’s come a long way that Hunk, Lance, and Shiro himself all agree it’s unlike him to snap at people and bark orders.

At a glance, Shiro might seem as if he’s doing worse, but to me, I think it’s an incredibly heartening sign that Shiro’s character development appears to be an exercise in learning to ask for help.

Because while Shiro’s not a tyrant of a leader the way Zarkon leaned alarmingly close to in s3e7 on multiple occasions- it stands that Shiro, too, especially early on, suffered from that disconnect. He kept his own problems incredibly close to his chest. It’s obvious that he desperately latched onto being Black Paladin as a way to cope- as a way to redefine himself by something other than what had just happened to him.

Shiro in s1 is a tight-coiled spring. He’s uptight, he argues with Lance over the littlest things, in s1e1 on two separate occasions he breaks up arguments just by yelling for them to stop or “Stow it, cadets!”

Shiro’s growth as a character involves climbing off the pedestal he was sitting on at the beginning of the show. And he’s not the only one who was enforcing it, either- Lance flat-out says Shiro was his personal hero. 

In the comics, Pidge can’t conceive the idea of defeating Shiro at all even though he’s really not that much a better fighter than the other paladins- before she gets her head in gear and is able to knock him out, she just reflexively looks to him as an invincible paragon which is a pretty big cognitive slip in an issue all about Pidge’s ability to gather and keep data.

In s3e1, none of the team can really see themselves conceptualizing Shiro and a lot of their overtures seem to suggest, more than none of them are suited to the Black Lion like Shiro is (fair!) that... not a lot of them really understand what Shiro was doing. Even Keith, the closest to Shiro, leads as a Red Paladin. He says he can’t do this like Shiro can but he never seems to clarify what that entails.

What I personally think began in earnest in s3, though there were small things building towards it all along, is the systematic demystification of Shiro as the perfect leader, as the team’s paragon.

There’s kind of a point that, as Zarkon’s specific counterpart, enemy, and successor, Shiro is going to be called upon to succeed where Zarkon failed.

And Zarkon’s failure, what led to his death and downfall as a paladin, was twofold: he failed to listen to his team when they had valid points, and he kept all of his personal suffering privately away from them.

Zarkon gambles everything to rescue Honerva in s3e7, and it goes disastrously because he lies to his team the entire way leaving them completely unprepared- so when he ends up outside of his Lion and faced with a devastatingly powerful opponent, he’s surrounded and killed while the rest of the team is not in a position to do anything to help him.

Shiro in s1e11 leads the team in an equally desperate gamble to rescue Allura, and it works out. It works out because Shiro has the team’s consent beforehand, and even people who disagree (Keith) still consent to go. So when Shiro ends up outside his Lion and faced with a devastatingly powerful opponent on two fronts, it’s not his personal skill as a fighter that keeps him alive.

It’s Keith going toe to toe with Zarkon to buy Shiro time to get back to the Black Lion.

It’s Lance, Pidge, and Coran holding off the majority of the empire’s forces.

It’s Hunk smashing in to break Allura out, and it’s her and him together that come to save Shiro’s bacon from Haggar who had already seriously injured him and could easily have killed him in that moment.

It’s pretty obvious that Shiro being honest and transparent with his team is what’s keeping him from getting killed. They’re his saving grace, time and time again, Keith especially- which is a big deal, when Keith is Alfor’s successor, and while Zarkon broke with the entire team, it was his refusal to listen to Alfor that was the nail in his coffin.

And in s5e3 and s5e6, what’s steadily moving into position to save his bacon from Kuron? It’s not just Lance being the team’s interpersonal Heart as usual- but rather, that Shiro is finally, decisively, opening up and connecting to the person he’s been at odds with from the start. 

And while a lot of people take that as a “boo hoo, poor Lance”... it’s really more to Shiro’s detriment than Lance’s. After Shiro and Lance argue, Lance is the one who has multiple people verbally taking his side (Hunk, twice, and Allura personally talking to him about it with her concerns, and Shiro himself apologizing)- while Shiro clearly is falling back on bad habits and withdrawing from the team about his issues.

Because Shiro, in a very catlike manner, starts avoiding people when he’s feeling awful. Which is why I think it’s such an unsung glorious moment when in s5e6, when Lance hasn’t even brought it up again or prompted it- Shiro is the one to bring it up and basically tell Lance to keep looking into this because something’s really wrong.

S5e6 is a glorious day for Shiro’s character because, some time before the car has set on fire, Shiro’s actually rolling down the window and telling someone “hey, the door’s locked and I don’t know where this thing is going, and this is kind of a problem. Can you... get help, please, I’m terrified”

So in that sense, much as I purport to be take it or leave it about clone theory, that’s why I really hope this is the original Shiro at hand... because everything he’s learning here is incredibly good and important for his long term emotional health and I’m pretty sure what we’re gonna get out of Kuron is a strong positive emotional arc for Shiro and Lance. 

Shiro’s moving away from being the team’s perfect leader, but that’s nothing to mourn, because instead of a perfect leader he’s becoming an honest, emotionally healthy person who knows he can actually trust his team. And my multiple posts talking about how Shiro really wasn’t that perfect once you take the rose-tinted glasses off isn’t dunking on him or calling him lame-

it’s pointing out that he really wasn’t doing anybody a favor by pretending to be ideal leader. In s1e9 he had a full-tilt panic attack and immediately jumped into realizing Allura was still in danger and they had to act fast to prevent them all from being destroyed- which is fine, except the part where... he didn’t unpack or process any of that afterwards.

Sendak dug up a huge volume of Shiro’s insecurities, trauma, and frankly fear of himself, of the idea of being irreconcilably changed by what the empire did to him. This is a big problem. The implication is on some level Shiro is genuinely not comfortable in his own skin and that... wasn’t the only allusion to it. 

S4e4 is basically a whole exercise in the paladins and how they relate to image (and how they really don’t) and with Shiro, the main thing Worm!Coran focuses on is Shiro’s body.

Shiro’s body, that, seemingly, he prefers to keep covered as much as possible given even though he prefers pretty close-fitting attire, he’s also pretty consistently one of the most modestly dressed of the paladins. That, as mentioned, Sendak was able to maliciously play on the fact that Shiro has some lingering anxieties of what was done to it, and that pervades his flashbacks and reactions to his missing year- the repeated implications of medical torture emphasized less by pain (sedatives are frequently shown) and more that things were done to him, that he doesn’t know the extent of, and he was powerless to stop.

And Shiro- perfectionist, anxious about how people see him (s1e6 for example), with these very serious insecurities about bodily autonomy and the aftermath that he’s been living with...

(he has a large facial scar, lost color in part of his hair, and is missing an arm, to say nothing of any other scars he might have that we as an audience haven’t seen, and, personally, his body type to me suggests that he lost weight in prison and his super-defined musculature is less about athletics and more a lack of proper subcutaneous fat)

...has Worm Coran repeatedly telling him to show off his body. The relatively innocuous (before Coran gets brain-wormed) start of it all even has the script make a joke about how Shiro only has one hand, that he gives a “really?” aside look at.

I can’t help but feel like the implication there, when all of the other prompts poke at existing insecurities- 

Allura feeling like she’s just an ineffective replacement for the person no longer with the team when she was one of the loudest unhappy voices about him drifting away, Hunk being relegated to his gastrointestinal problems and his genuine quick wit and keen sense of humor ignored, Pidge being ignored because “nobody cares what you’re saying anyway!”, and Lance the actor basically spending the entire time indulging the fake, flashy casanova persona he uses to cover all of his own insecurities

-that there’s something significant that, again, all of s4e4 for Shiro is talking about his body, especially his muscles, which is seemingly another change after the missing year- he doesn’t seem nearly that built in the Garrison pictures, though it could be that he’s just wearing more modest clothing, it’s still very suspicious especially when Haggar’s endeavor was to turn Shiro into her personal fighting machine.

Shiro’s got a huge amount of things that have been quietly eating him from the start, and the good news is, they’re actually starting to bubble to the surface- he’s actually breaking down and talking about them with less and less impetus, which is important, because back in s2e7, Shiro made it clear that his connection with Black, that any ideal connection, needs to be rooted in trust. And while he’s heavily spun that as, he needs to be trustworthy to others...

If Shiro never talks to the team about his problems, no matter how he might spin that as not wanting to burden them or that he’s able to deal with it on his own, he’s not trusting them.

And again, that Lance is seemingly the catalyst for this is amazing to me, because Lance?

Lance is the trust guy. Lance is the feelings guy. Lance is the uncrowned king of literally every thing Shiro has been struggling with the absence of here.

Lance is both the guy who genuinely gets in Shiro’s face when he feels like Shiro isn’t listening to him, but he’s also the guy talking about how Keith needs to trust the Black Lion because Black wouldn’t ask him to do this for no reason (when Black is Shiro’s Lion, and Keith draws many obvious explicit parallels between Shiro’s requesting him to fly Black and Black taking Keith as their replacement paladin).

Lance is the one who tells Allura that Shiro is ultimately not their enemy, that they’re on the same side, and who’s vindicated when Shiro is now clearly working with Lance against Haggar, telling him that something’s wrong and that he doesn’t feel right, hasn’t felt right for a while, which is the last thing Haggar wants Shiro to do.

Lance trusts Shiro, but not blindly. He’s compassionate, but not to the point of self-neglect. He is exactly the head that Shiro needs on his team right now. And that experience is gonna mean a hell of a lot to Lance, as well.

[irrevocably-delicious]

Ok ok ok I gotta get my voltron s6 feelings out so I can go to bed before I implode

So first off I’m gonna start off with saying:

This was a really fucking good season. This might be the best season. This shit was fucking great. 

But let me detail

The writing is so tight my dudes, but in a way that feels fast and exciting. Not like it’s rushed. We ended the season and FOR ONCE I had no burning disappointment or questions. I was just like “hell yeah”

The plot all works? And moves together coherently? This is really the first season where the twists and turns are fun and not “wow that fucking came out of left field”

BUT SPEAKING OF LEFT FIELD: the reveal of Lotor’s true motivations and what he had done was really astounding. In the first few episodes when we see Allura helping him, I was like “Oh yeah, he’s totally using her to make his ships his own powerful voltron thing” and I knew he was gonna betray them and it was all a ruse to get access to more quintessence, but holy shit, holy shit.... the reveal that he saved Alteans and had been draining their life force??? Truly horrific. I’m shocked that Voltron went so dark. It’s the most truly evil thing I’ve seen in a long time.... it was fucking excellent.

When we learn that, Lotor becomes IRREDEEMABLE. There’s no way this will come back. And it hits Allura where it hurts the most: her people. So there’s no way this fuck boy was ever going to be forgiven. Lotor transforms into a truly terrifying villain, and his descent at the end is enthralling though tragic to watch. 

Keith’s whole backstory (oh yes, oh my god voltron finally brought the food) is really wonderful. Its.... exactly what all the fanfic said it would be. I won’t lie. But i fucking gasped when I saw that Shiro’s original vest is Keith’s dad’s. That gripped me by the heart. 

I...wanted....to....die when Keith and Shiro were fighting. The animation was sublime and the emotions gripped me by the asshole. I think you have to be pretty detached if that “Shiro! You’re my brother!... I love you.” Didn’t make you whimper.

Shiro is a dork who loves DND. I love him. 

I’m a SHiro and Lance stan. This season was fucking painful. 

Coran got to do a lot! Yeah baby! I love you, bitch.

Loved the continued Hunk and Pidge focus throughout. They’re definitely a solid duo and I liked how they always got shit done. Watching Pidge anguish over Shiro’s viruses was heartbreaking, especially when she admitted she made a plan in case this ever happened. 

MY HUSBAND IS BACK AND HE IS A TRUE WHITE HAIRED ANIMU BOY

They use the word “embiggen” in the DnD episode (a desperately needed comedic break this season) and that is a fucking Simpson’s reference you NERDS. 

The killing of the castle was.... poignant. It marks a new chapter in the show and feels like a graduation of sorts. The paladins have grown up now. They’ve moved out. Oh how many fanfics have I read set in that place! i will mourn thee!

I’m fucking PUMPED for earth

Some cons.... and they’re not cons? Let me explain

Hey yeah, they’re pushing allurance it feels like

This doesn’t make me mad. I promise. If you asked me WAY BACK in season 1 who i thought was gonna end up together i would have said “Oh allura and Lance, surely” and klance was kind of like.... a crack ship for me? Like I LIKED it, but i never hoped it would be a THING. But then Allura and keith interacted more in season 2, and then of course we got a LOT of klance in s3, so i was like....shit maybe klance?

Allurance does not bother me at all. It really does not, i promise. It makes perfect sense. Lance has had a crush on allura FOREVER and thinks she’s wonderful and amazing, and I think this season was really hinting that Allura is starting to see how mature Lance has become and how much he supports her. It nice.

BUT! I just.... reeeeaaalllly want some LGBT rep in voltron. And not a side character. Like a main one. And Lance always felt like the character who would fit best in something like that? Like he’s the one who’s most relationship oriented, so it would make sense. Also there’s only like.... 3 dudes around the same age so I was like “it’s gotta be two out of the three of you, because Pidge and Allura would never be a thing. And Keith and Lance have the most hints at being that so..... gotta be you two boys I guess.”

I’m not saying that if Allurance happens then Lance CANNOT be confirmed as LGBT and have some kind of arc, but I think it would be a bit harder to work in.... narratively speaking. Like I’m trying to think of a scenario where Lance and Allura are together and he just goes “Anyway, so I like dudes too!”.

Maybe the writers will find a way to give that LGBT representation that I have not thought of? Possibly? But i don’t want it to be some throwaway thing. Like Shiro just goes:

“Man I can’t wait to see my boyfriend again. ANYWAY!”

Allurance becoming canon by NO MEANS makes LGBT rep impossible, but I guess it would be from a source I would not expect. (Heith becomes canon and we are all FOOLS)

Lance did not get to do much this season

I’ve seen this going around a bit and it’s Mmmmmm debatable. I feel like his arc was really tied to Allura’s this season. So he didn’t get so much his own moments, but small moments that all kind of intermingled between Allura’s and Lotor’s. A LOT happened this season. I understand why he did not get as much screen time. But he was still there more than in season 2!

The only actual real con

“It’s been two years. We can finally continue our mission.”

What. What? This is stupid. I guffawed at this line. Why did the writer’s do this? You could have just been like “It’s been 6 months” why 2 years? That seems dramatic. Did they just want an excuse to write Keith as more mature and leaderly without having to do more development? Did they just wanna draw him bigger? Were they looking for a quick “Keith and Krolia are fine with each other now” excuse? Just have it be a few months! I’d buy that! Did the animators really just need a reason to give him longer beautiful shojo hair? WHAT? WHAT IS IT? I DON’T UNDERSTAND! THIS WAS STUPID. I dunno I feel like there’s a disparity between Keith and the paladins now. Like before it was “Keith and his school friends” and now it’s like “Keith is the young, hot, leader.... and here’s the teens he takes with him.”

I dunno. Mmmmmm not thrilled? Really just wanna know the motivation behind it. 

Anyway tl:dr boss ass season. The best writing in a long time. klance crops? Not watered.

[getyourvitamin-bri]

Super-Mega-Foxy-Awesome-Hot Klance Fic Recs!

One-Shots

Sweet Quiznak - CheckeredCloth Read if your into hurt/comfort and humor, an odd mix but this fic does it awesomely. Summary: "You're really into him," Hunk mutters, and wow, Lance's face is on fire. Hunk is killing him. "Look, read into how you like, Freud, just make sure that if I die Keith knows I totally would've mowed his ass like grass. That way, I can laugh hysterically at his emotionally-constipated expression from the afterlife." Rated Teen & Up

Love Bug Stuff - WhatTheBodyGraspsNot @whatthebodygraspsnot I’m such trash for Love Bug fics, this one in particular is stellar. Summary: Keith is bitten by an alien love bug that makes him fall in love with the first person he sees. And just guess who the heck that first person is? Rated M

Never Saw You Coming - dimpleforyourthoughts @dimpleforyourthoughts Read if you love angst, slow burn, mutual pinning, and hurt/comfort aka read if you love being put through all the feels :) Summary: Three months in space on his own would have been fine. Three months in space with Lance McClain is a whole other fucking story. Rated M

nothing’s quite as sweet - dimpleforyourthoughts There is cute cats and cute klance, need I say more? Summary: Keith is a barista who hates his job. Lance works at the cat shelter across the street. Rated Teen & Up

Muy Lindo - flipfloppandas - I’m trash for shy adorable keith and this fic delivered. Summary: In which Lance must learn how to navigate through a relationship with a Keith who is surprisingly shy, but it’s okay because Lance honestly freaking loves it. Not Rated.

implosion (the lines we cross) - pidgeotto_gunderson Some well written hard core angst if your up for it. Summary: The adrenaline is pumping through his veins - this is what he needs, what they both need. To yell and scream and hurt each other before they can mend.Fix-it fic for s7e6, imagining if Lance and Keith fought things out while they were all lost in space and it led to Lance finally spilling about his insecurities. Rated Teen & Up

Crest of White, Bow Down - 2towels @2towels I totally went “awwww” while reading this fic, its so adorable, it will definitely make you smile. Summary: “I don’t know what I need to do to prove to you that I haven’t thought about leaving, but I haven’t.”Without hesitating, Lance lifted his good hand to rest on Keith’s cheek and stroked his thumb across it, silently appreciating his pouty features as he swallowed. “Tell me every day you love me more,” He finally demanded dramatically and breathlessly, flitting his gaze down to Keith’s shoulders instead of the intensity of his eyes, “maybe that would work.”“That wouldn’t even be a challenge.” Keith said quietly.--Five times Lance is swept off his feet, and one time he falls. Rated Teen & Up

Kodachrome - HoddieMaine @joinmeinthishell , Ninke_A @collector-of-hats Wow this is such a beautiful story, its really well written, read if you love pinning and fluff. Summary: Keith has been at a loss for a while now. His job is terrible, his passion for photography has waned, and his pseudo brother has moved to some little town and keeps insisting he visit.When Keith finally does go, he ends up on a little street full of quaint shops. He intends to simply spend time with Shiro but ends up in a record store across the street. With a very attractive man, who signs instead of speaks. Rated E

Thinking ‘Bout You - BleuSarcelle @bleusarcelle, Queerklancing   @queerklancing I got a cavity from the fluff in this fic :) Summary: That time Keith had a voice in his head singing and found out he had a quite unique soulmate link. Rated G

Rose-Colored Boy - melancholymango  @melancholymango Read if you enjoy angsty lance, langst, & to experience all the feels. Summary: “I missed you, you know.”“Yeah?” Lance sighed, warm and giddy, clearly not absorbing how serious the words truly were. “Yeah.” Keith said, more certainty in his voice now. He reached down, hesitantly threading his fingers through Lance’s and giving his hand a squeeze. Lance tensed next to him. “I still do.”“I mean, I’m right here.”“Are you? You still seem pretty far away.” Rated Teen & Up

Blue Christmas -  melancholymango  I loved how keith and lance were written in this fic, its just overall super well written. Summary: The team decides to celebrate the holiday season in space as nostalgia gets the better of them, but reflecting on the past hurts Lance more than it helps and Keith doesn't have any memories to reflect on. AKA the one where Keith and Lance hate the holidays together, only to realize that they were actually celebrating all along in their own Keith and Lance way. Rated G

Multi-chapter

Not That Bad - varelsen @lvtvr Yeah this fic gave me lot of feelings, their relationship builds beautifully. Summay: “Am I really going to have to explain this to you?”“No, I’m totally fine with you shutting up right about now.” Hunk cups his hands around his mouth. “You. Are crushing. On Keith.” Or, a college AU featuring coffee shops, silly rivalries, motorcycles, arcade games, friendships, and lots of warm, fluffy feelings that are both confusing and delightful all at the same time. Rated M

Entangled - Purpleneutrino (mackerelmademedoit) @purpleneutrino I found this fic super interesting to read, and literally could not put it down. Summary: When Keith found himself mentally linked to Lance of all people, he never thought that it would end in anything but irritation and misery on both sides. He certainly never imagined that it would be a useful asset in team Voltron's fight against the Galra Empire. Now if he can just keep his feelings in check, they might actually have a chance at defeating Zarkon. Needless to say, when he'd wished for a 'bonding moment' with Lance, this wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind. Rated M

Hearts Don’t Break Around Here - klancekorner @dimplesandcurlsss Yeah I stayed up till 4am reading this and it was glorious, I finished at 3am and just thought about it for another hour, so awesome! Summary: Lance and Keith have been best friends since first grade. Lance’s brain is always on overdrive and Keith’s blunt, realistic ass can never keep up. They both come to realize that sometimes you can learn a lot about loving yourself by loving someone else. Rated M

Something just like this - klancekorner A summer romance sundae with a friends to lovers cherry on top. Summary: Keith reluctantly becomes the counselor for the Red Cabin at Camp Voltron, a summer camp in the middle of buttfuck nowhere that his older brother Shiro has worked at for years. Already unhappy with the current position that he is in, Keith prepares himself for a boring, sweaty, miserable summer; and his frustration only grows when he meets the counselor for the Blue Cabin Rated M

You and I Collide - idratherhaveyou @itsthegameilike If you looked up cute in the dictionary, this modern apartment au would be the definition. Summary: Lance likes to sing in the shower. Keith lives in the apartment next door and the walls are not very thick. And you can bet when Lance wakes him up at 7:30 in the morning, Keith has something to say about it. Rated M

I’ve Got You - DragonofFernweh @dragonastral Keith comforting lance is my aesthetic, this fic is my aesthetic. Summary: Keith isn’t great at the whole comfort thing, he doesn’t have a way with words, nor does he have much experience in way of affection. Still, when Lance hurts, Keith wants to do something to help. Otherwise known as; five times Keith comforts Lance, and one time Lance comforts Keith. Rated G

it’s easier for you to let me go - welcometothehumanrace  Should be called 6 times I went AAJKSCNSKDCNSJ because of how fluffin’ cute keith and lance are. Summary: Keith did not think Lance's arms were anything to get excited about. Or his shoulders. Or any general part of him. Just everything about him was unexciting as a whole.Obviously. Or 5 times Lance put his arms around Keith and the one time Keith really wanted him to. Rated Teen & Up

The Message - shipstiel @shipstiel-writes Wow this wrong number fic is just glorious, I laughed, I went “awwwww”, I just had such a good time reading this. Summary: Keith is texted by accident by some idiot one day, and honestly he's not even sure why he responds. Or why he keeps responding. Yet somehow he finds himself drawn in, and okay, so maybe this fool is mildly entertaining after all. Who would've thought. Rated Teen & Up

Homesick at Space Camp - K0bot @k0tron So awesome...just a fucking great fic. Its got fake relationship/married, its got angst, its got ballroom dancing, its got so much fluff, do I need to say any more? Summary: Lance realizes he's been an asshole to Keith, and on a diplomatic mission to a key planet for the Voltron alliance he... overcompensates.

Fake It Till You Make It - nikkiRA @aravenlikeawritingdesk I’m a sucker for Fake/Pretend Relationship fics and this one is the fic that started that particular habit. Summary: “What Keith here means to say,” Lance says, and although his voice is steady, he is gripping Keith’s fingers so tightly it’s painful. “Is that we can’t mate with your people, although we, um, appreciate the offer, because, well. We already are. M-mated, I mean. With, you know. Each other.” Rated M

I hope you love these fics as much as I did, they are some of my fav fics of all time. It took me forever to finish this post because I sorta, kinda, maybe, totally re-read a lot of them while making it :) Shout out to fanfiction writers, thank you for putting so much of your time into these stories for free, your all amazing! 

Check out my blog if you would like >>> @getyourvitamin-bri

[whattheklance]

Season 7

WoW

Just wow. (be prepared for some satisfaction with a side of disappointed but constructive criticism)

Honestly, storytelling-wise this entire season is easily the strongest as a whole. They certainly delivered in terms of story.

The only oddity to me was the battle in the last episode completely unconnected to the season-long story arc. It felt so out of place, like someone mandated “you can’t end the season without having them combine into voltron at least once”

and like I guessed it was for setting up the next season, but it was SO RANDOM, it jerked my focus away from just watching.

I assumed it was Lotor, but seeing an altean was the power source, I’d say it’s connected to Lotor, just not him, himself.

So overall, the story was excellent and well crafted outside of the last episode.

We did get some good character moments for Hunk, but he still didn’t get much attention outside of a single episode story arc.

Lance too didn’t get much attention, and he didn’t even get a story arc over a single episode. Cast and crew have long been promising some Lance focus, and at this point I feel like calling B-S.

This was a team-centric season that didn’t really have a full arc for any of the characters alone, but that also means characters who’ve been neglected in development up til now, continued to be neglected.

Again, I say, this is the best overall season of the show thus far. I thought season 6 was as good as seasons 1 and 2, and season 7 is easily better than them in that regard.

But it just disappoints me and saddens me that some seriously interesting and lovable characters i.e. Lance and Hunk, haven’t had the same kind of attention as Keith, Shiro, Pidge and Allura. STILL.

With only one season left before the end, I doubt that they could really deliver on either character what I’ve been wanting this whole time. Because in order to deliver what I’ve wanted for the characters, they needed to start hinting at and building potential story arcs for them individually a season ago. Season 7 was their last chance to have enough time to do it justice, and they didn’t.

The only hope of that would be if they extended the run or did some kind of sequel to the series. So in spite of an amazing season, I’m still left feeling lackluster because I was so pumped with promises about Lance and about Hunk.

So even if we do finally get character arcs of them in the last season, I can’t see how it’d be enough time to actually be as good as the character arcs the others have gotten.

The cast and crew need to stop PROMISING things. The way they might see things in the show doesn’t mean the audience will see them the same way. So it leaves them far more vulnerable to disappointing fans by promising certain things, and then angering fans who aren’t satisfied with the outcome based on what they thought the promise meant.

I mean. I suppose this is the best possible way to come to terms with the lack of development for Lance or Hunk, with an excellent story-driven season that did have many good character moments.

But some good character moments spread over 13 episodes doesn’t-a-character-arc-make. Dropping a single episode of backstory flashes doesn’t make a character arc either. If they’d delivered on building up to Hunk rescuing his family over multiple episodes, then HEY that’d be a Hunk-centric character arc. But they didn’t. They never actually focused on him rescuing them beyond gathering intel that it was impossible across a single episode. So it sucks because they actually created an opportunity where they could’ve done it, and then didn’t.

I’ve noticed since season 6 that Lance has increased his leading ability in battles, but that’s about the only place we really see it. Without the same screen time as Keith Shiro or Allura, he gets left in the dust, even if he is starting to make calls and be trusted. It doesn’t mean much when we don’t get to see how that transfers off the battlefield in his relationships with the other characters. Lance had more significant character moments last season than this season. None of his moments this season were as much on the forefront as his moments from last season were.

Okay here’s the part where the juvenile inside of me vents on somethings

HOW DARE THEY KILL ADAM!! NOOOOO SHIRO DOESN’T GET A BREAK. 

It’s like they premiered episode 1 early to get people more attached to Adam than they would be if they went in blind and binged the episodes, so the loss of him would have a bigger impact.

HOW DARE THEY LET US THINK THE PALADINS ARE DEAD FOR THAT LONG.

in this day and age and tv shows trying to be edgy AND this being the season finale. I feared that they could possibly have chosen to seriously kill them off and have those other earth kids take their place for a new season where they’re led by Shiro or something. They’d constructed the season in a way that that seemed possible with those kids as a team in the background. 

And shows like Once Upon a Time did a whole 180 on their show in their final season, making it with entirely new characters. And manga like Attack on Titan did it. So I thought it was possible they’d do it. It’d be shitty and a betrayal of the audience to do such a thing in Voltron. But I was afraid it was possible, especially with how out of sync the last episode was with the first 12.

but they didn’t. and i can breathe a little easier

honestly, no matter how good this season was, I can’t see how they can adequately wrap the story up in 13 more episodes.

well, wrap up the story AND give me the character development I desire.

Okay, now the klance fan in me is coming out.

Because there wasn’t any character development for Lance this season, and no real solid interactions between them outside of the gameshow. I really think it might not happen. I know season 6 made a lot of fans lose hope where I only found lots of hope, but this season. Definitely, hope=lost.

Where did fans get that information going around “Lance is the only one in a relationship at the end and with someone he needs not someone he wants.” Did someone official really say that? Cuz I’ve always seen it floating around, but I don’t know where it comes from.

The lgbt representation they’ve been promising. It honestly feels like Shiro/Adam and the heavy hints of Zethrid/Ezor could be the extent of it. Which are nice. But having a main character in a relationship NOW would be much nicer, or at least in an ATTRACTION. Don’t even have to make it a relationship.

if they do give us allurance, I hope it’s only to show us how incompatible they are as a couple and have them go back to being friends. Like Rachel and Joey on Friends (i feel like I’ve made this exact comparison before)

Honestly I'm kinda hoping that Allura’s blush was aimed at Lance’s sister, cuz Allura/Veronica I’d be SO down for that. The irony of the girl Lance likes falling for his sister. YES give me more. I mean, even if it was to make jabs at Lance, her first comments about Allura was “she’s beautiful.” Like, yes Veronica, tell us more.

even though I talked about how this was the best season, I spent SO MUCH MORE time and energy on my disappointment.

Maybe I should sit on the disappointment for a few days then do a slower rewatch. I talked about this in a previous rewatch textpost about how knowing what happens and watching makes it more enjoyable because you’re not holding all this heavy expectations that you hope will be filled, only to be disappointed. Now that I know exactly what I’m getting, I bet a rewatch will help me get back to all the things I did love about the season to make me think it’s the best season of the bunch.

Cuz i was so like “ROMELLE IS ALL OF US” and Lance splitting up passengers and hating his choice was hilarious, and the excellence that was the stranded in space episode. Acxa in general. i love her forever. I also love Zethrid/Ezor. it’s like if azula/ty lee became a thing with a way more bloodthirsty ty lee.

Hopefully I’ll make more commentary about my quick jots above when I do my rewatch.

PS: Kosmo can’t be his name cuz Keith is still waiting for the dog to tell him his name “when he’s ready” (spoiler: it’s yorak) that’d be awesome if it’d happen and i’d die. If the last word of this series was the dog telling keith his name. that’d make me happy.

[darkspellmaster]

Voltron Theory: Season 5 and Beyond

So given that it’s going to take me a bit to write up all my thoughts on Season 4, because there is a lot, I thought I might go into a brief set of thoughts on season 5 and 6 as well as the rest that would follow.

1. Keith returning to Voltron. I think this is a possibility if not by season 6 then by season 7 at the latest. With Lotor being around, and Keith not trusting him, I can certainly see him not wanting to be away for long if Lotor is there. My guess is that he’ll stay on, playing Shiro’s role in helping out rather than flying, or fly with Lotor to watch him.

2. Lotor’s redemption. I don’t expect Lotor to get this till nearly the end of the 78 episode run. Lotor is not Zuko, and he’s not a man that will enjoy the idea of at all working with the people that he was trying to capture for his own gain. He’s going to use the crew, that much is certain, but as to if he’ll be a good guy by the end of season 5 or 6, I would say no.

3. Lotor will at the least start on a road to being a Good guy. This I think will happen. I have a feeling that given the hint that there is some sort of connection between Lotor and Allura this will alter his view on the Altean’s and possibly his plans. What those are I don’t know, but seeing how his personality is I can see us seeing more of a goofy side to him thanks in part to the crew. More than likely I can see him finding Pidge the most interesting along with Hunk in the matter of getting things to work. So I can see him seeing them in a new light, and he may actually start changing his view on the world and what really happened that day.

4. Lotor and Allura. Hard to say right now. Some are spectulating romance to come from this, I don’t think so. The fact that they’ve been pushing him to be different then his normal play boy counter parts indicates to me that he’ll respect Allura’s looks but there will be a more brother to sister affection going on there if there is anything like that. The fact that they may be related could come into play, and Lotor might help her understand her powers or vice versa. Leading him to gain a greater deal of respect for her as a leader and maybe lead later to a peace between the two sides much like their father’s started with.

5. Operation Kuron. We’ve seen this Shiro become more like his normal self. I’m wondering now if it’s not so much that we had regular Shiro when we had them earlier, but that the Clone version was the first Shiro and this one is the real one who is now implanted with the Clone’s memories and could lead us to a very interesting situation in regard to Haggar’s plans. This plot has not been dropped but I think it will take on more of a role come season 7 over these next two.

6. Sam Holt. Now that we have the brother, where is the father? We know the Holt Patriarch was held captive and that he was not in the Gladiatorial pits. We also know he’s the one that was working on the Photon and Helix storage, and more than likely other significant projects for the Garrison. A brain like that would be useful to Haggar and Zarkon, so I’m betting he’s being kept in an Area 51 place ala our friend from season 2. Also I have a feeling that if anyone is getting that gate to work it will be him, pidge, Hunk and Matt.

7. Lotor and the deal with Voltron. No doubt he’s going to do this to save his own skin. But I think he knows that he’s going to need a better understanding of how the gate works and Allura would be the one to show him that. My guess is he’ll offer himself as a prisoner to help them beat his father, but in return the Galra empire is to be turned over to him. He’s probably got at least three or four ideas in his head, and Unlike Zuko where he has issues with daddy and wants to please him to the point of betraying his friends, Lotor is far more adult and probably plans on making it so that Voltron will have to help him with his plans weather they like it or not.

8. The Generals. Given their reaction to Narti’s death I have a feeling that Acxa will probably be the one to betray the group and end up joining with Voltron to not only help Lotor, but also, if it proves that she’s related to Keith, to help him. Although even if not, she owes him one and will probably make good on her actions. Both Zethrid and Enzor will join with them later, but for a while the four will be on opposing sides, and Lotor will not easily forgive over this, but he respects their choice. I have a feeling Haggar or Zarkon will let them live if they help him capture Lotor.

9. The Mecha. What that thing is, I don’t know. Right now Lotor has the legs, and it looks like the girls have the torso and arms, which means the Head is elsewhere. To me this means that someone is still finishing up the body, and, given that Lotor was missing and unheard of for a while and clearly the girls didn’t know about the gate, this screams to me that he’s working with Pollux for the creation of all these things. Pollux would be a great place to hide it, as well as have Lotor grow up since if there are Altean’s there his connection with them would be stronger too.

10. The Gate. Lotor’s reaction to the destruction of his home world was written all over his face. Much like Allura he feels for the world that he lost. However, his plans seem to be getting the quintessence between the worlds, not going to the other one. Which begs the question, does he know about that other world, or is he just going on theoretical info that his mother had. That Gate, I think, will probably be the door to letting in the Evil Alteans that we met last season and more than likely will ultimately lead Lotor to turn to work with Voltron to beat them back.

11. Haggar’s plans. Given her state of face for that one moment, I have to wonder if whatever is causing her to do this lost some of its grip on her when she faced herself. It looked like she remembered something or was in horror of what she had become, but then was taken over again. I don’t think she’s brainwashed but something is clearly influencing her actions. We also know that whatever she’s up to she’s happy with Lotor’s actions. It could be that she’s been feeding him stories of herself to get him to do her dirty work and open the rift again, which he seems to be doing.

12. Princess Romelle, Prince Bandor, and Prince Avok. Given that it’s looking more and more likely that we’ll be seeing a Pollux at some point, my guess is that Princess Romelle may be the head of the Rebels and hiding it from her brother. We’ve seen that there are Alteans and Galra that live in peace, so I have to wonder if there’s going to be some time in the future where we will meet this trio. My guess is that when we do, Romelle will be captured as the Rebel leader and that she’ll send Bandor off with Voltron to keep him safe. Not sure about the romance between her and Shiro, but given that Lauren said she liked the character, I’m pretty sure at the very least we will get her.

13. Zarkon’s new look. I get the feeling that Zarkon is not alive anymore. Or at the very least he’s still mostly in a coma. We’ve seen that he’s in a metal shell being pumped full of warped quintessence. So I have to logically guess that he’s going to end up playing more into his robeast form. I don’t think he’s going to make it past Season 6 with this look and then the new villains will show up at the end of Season 6, and start to work with Haggar who will be on the run.

14. Collation. With the line being drawn in the sand, metaphorically and the Galra losing a huge section of their planets, I get the feeling that we’ll see the collation taking on a larger role in protecting the galaxy and probably playing an even bigger role against the evil Atlean’s to come. After all, we were told over and over about a different reality and we saw it, so that’s more or less a pretty big hint on who is going to be the big bad for the last three seasons.  

15. Keith, Lance, Allura, Lotor, Matt, Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro. This group is going to become the core in the next season and how their dynamics will play out. It’s clear that Lance and Matt both have crushes on Allura, while, given Lotor’s reaction to things he’s probably going to become something of a rival to Keith and Shiro. I have a feeling he may also display some of his own attraction at Pidge due to her intelligence, something that will probably piss off Matt and possibly Shiro as the big brothers of the groups. Hunk will more than likely be the one that shows him how to become friends with the others. Allura’s ugly side may show up due to her issues with the Galra still, and it will show. There will be a lot of dynamics these next few seasons. Although I don’t see the romance hitting high gear at all.

Anything I’m missing?

[ganymedesclock]

your analysis of the trailer? (is lotor piloting sincline?? i'm pumped!)

Season 6 trailer! Boy this was a thing to come back to, here I wander off tumblr for like a minute. All actual comments and such will be under the cut, and from here on out, tagging with vld spoilers, and season 6. 

First, it’d seem to imply that things are going to start heating up into, effectively, war between Sendak and Lotor with the “splinter” factions from the Kral Zera uniting under him. (and Sendak is openly attacking citizens. Y’know, in case we were unsure Lotor still has the moral high ground here). 

Lotor’s also moving ahead with his plan for the rift, which would line up with the indications that, yep, Sincline’s off the bleachers. And about that...

It’s fair to assume this is the third Sincline vessel. Interestingly, much like the Lions, it resembles a living creature more than a spaceship... the interesting part to me is that it looks like a whale or a shark.

Because VLD appears to draw some things from its predecessor continuity Voltron Force (weapon choices for all the characters line up pretty damn close, with only Hunk and Pidge having different weapons, and VLD Allura even uses multiple weapons associated with vforce Allura).

And in Voltron Force, Lotor rolled out a weapon to oppose Voltron- while they weren’t proper mecha that received pilots, they were five robeasts which took the form of animals.

One of which- the left leg and counterpart to the Blue Lion- was a shark. So more than Shiro and Black appearing to combat a Sincline ship, what interests me is its very piscine form- both for the implications if it’s a vforce allusion, and the fact that the Sincline ships appear to be evolving to resemble living creatures more.

I’d guess the beloved character, unexpected line is Hunk’s “vrepit sa” which- while yeah, we never thought we’d hear that out of our heroes’ mouths (as Hunk himself alludes) and especially not in a context of genuine mutual concord- not, y’know, mind control fake-out the way I saw people speculating. For me, I think this is interesting because it lines up with something I’ve noticed before- Lance and Hunk tend to be the team’s kinda diplomats when it comes to relating to new cultures. 

We’ve seen Hunk, Lance, and Pidge saluting together with the two galra guards in s5e5, but they used a familiar Earth salute- this is Hunk saluting two galra in a traditional galra manner, curled fist across the chest and greeting. That’s a pretty major cultural acknowledgement, and I don’t find it particularly sinister- there’s been a pretty blatant push from the start that even stereotypical empire aesthetics don’t have a one to one with pure evil.

We have a clearer shot of Krolia’s helmet, and her and Keith are out, seemingly looking for something?

“How do we know you’re the real Keith” is an interesting comment, coming from Lance who’s been helping Shiro with the whole Kuron issue... except Shiro is right there with the team, and it is, yes, the short-tuft Shiro we’ve been with since s3. (and the lip flaps between Lance and Keith seem to match up too well to be mix-and-matching lines and scenes). So this would seem to suggest to us that some impostor woes went down... potentially separate from Kuron as an issue.

(Also in that scene: the leg ship of Sincline is still in the paladins’ hangar, which is the last possible oversight Lotor would make if we’re supposed to believe he’s pulling away from the paladins deliberately. If anything, it’s a hell of a statement that Lotor hasn’t moved all his resources into Central Command whether or not he’s planning against the paladins. That’s... quite a lot of trust he’s putting in Allura.)

More questions about the Keith scene is that he’s arriving in an Altean pod, but alone, and Krolia’s not there- which would suggest that Keith’s “back” after having... departed from the castle somehow? Maybe Lance isn’t talking about Keith being “back” from his separation from the team, but rather, Keith arrived, left for something, a doppelganger problem ensued, and then the “real” Keith returned?

Also worth noting that Lotor’s “this. ends. now.” sounds... absolutely furious. This is a hell of a lot angrier than his dial even goes. Whether it’s Sendak or Haggar (I doubt the paladins), someone just set Lotor off really, really badly. Whatever he’s witnessing he’s not gonna stand for it.