#look what became of Voltron and Star Vs

[juniaships]

Oi but you know what i will go back to writing silly fanfiction and mary sues instead of harassing creators&actors who already face so much shite from the industry itself that they don't need to get even more of it flung at them by entitled fans.

[appleb18]

Why Modern Cartoons is Not Great as it Used to be in this Decade

As 2010′s draw near to the end and begin a next-generation, cartoons have changed from being a fun episodic adventure with a meaningful message and can get dark sometimes to a story-driven show with deep messages. While cartoons have a great start in early 2010s such as Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gravity Falls, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, however as time passes cartoons are becoming less interesting and not many aren’t talking about it. So what the hell happened with modern cartoons? Let’s get to the bottom of what happened to this decade of cartoons and why isn’t anyone talking about it anymore 

The Animation Quality 

The quality of the animation of cartoons back in 2000′s were amazing, so many variations of animation styles that look very appealing such as 

Samurai Jack 

Avatar: The Last Airbender 

Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends 

Recess 

Proud Family and so many more

But now in modern cartoons, most cartoon shows are using a similar style of animation which many people called it “Calarts style”. Most cartoon shows are using because it’s cheap however it takes away creativity, more detail nor being organic. Look at Infinity Train, compare from the pilot to the release 

It looks very boring having most cartoons look the same. Then there’s artistic freedom where creators let them draw whatever they want such as Steven Universe and OK KO. That sounds good but really though it just looks lazy and unprofessional. This is very distracting that most characters go off-model every scene like why Rebecca and Ian-Jones Quarry think it was a good idea! 

Great to Below Average

So now let’s talk about the three shows that were once popular Steven Universe, Voltron, and Star vs The Forces of Evil. The trope I’ve been seeing as of late about these shows that it was pretty hype and they deliver on that. All they need to do is conclude it and call it a good cartoon but then crash and burned in later seasons. 

Steven Universe didn’t get popular until “Jailbreak” and that was when everyone was watching it. It had character development, an interesting world of gems, a gorgeous background and has one of the best soundtracks. This isn’t surprising because the creator is the same person who wrote Marceline episodes in Adventure Time which was Rebecca Sugar that created the series. Then season 4 and season 5 happened which the show drop in quality like mostly the show prefer showing filler which makes the plot go too fast and made arcs underwhelming, crystals gems and Lapis Lazuli and Peridot aren’t being used that much in the show and having each villain being beaten by simply talking to them. While there is Steven Universe Future but that hasn’t gotten interesting in my opinion. 

Star vs The Forces of Evil is a show used to be interesting for the two seasons and “Battle for Mewni” arc but then shipping drama got out of hand and that resulted to fell from grace 

Then there’s Voltron and we all how that turned out for the last two seasons

What these three have in common that they set up this interesting premise and world in the first few seasons but they all went downhill. Awful character writing, insane plot twist, and terrible pacing. I did wish that those shows would get better like how Adventure Time and Regular Show had one bad season but after that, they both got better but they didn’t and it went from being great to disappointingly average. 

Comedy Over Messages

Now that’s got the most hype shows, let’s talk about shows that not many people talk about because the premise and world aren’t engaging enough to watch and which they are We Bare Bears, Craig in the Creek, Clarence, OK KO, and The Loud House. While I’m not saying they aren’t bad but it is just not interesting to watch, it's just that it’s too tame and too comedic. The main issue I have it doesn’t really teach viewers like they used to anymore 

OK KO was about to talk about gun violence but they turn it into a comedy. In “Let’s Not Be Skeletons” people overuse the gun and resulting everyone to turn skeletons and KO tries to stop it but fails. By the end of the episode, it was a dream and calls Congress to stop it from happening. I really hate how writers of this episode of making a serious issue turn into comedy and that’s a pretty awful way of doing it. 

Look at Static Shock and Fat Albert, instead of making Gun Violence a joke, they talk about how serious it is by having someone shot and that devastated the characters a lot 

Then there's Hey Arnold, it really dives into serious issues such as 

“Pigeon Man” showcases that some people are meant to be with other people while others like Pigeon Man are just different and can’t be with other people. 

“Helga on the Couch” showcases Helga's anger issues and those issues manifest because her family ignores her because of her sister. Never truly cares for like no makes her lunch for school and no one brought her to school when she was a young girl. The only person that cares for was Arnold.

Then there’s my personal favorite, “Arnold Christmas”. Mr. Hyunh is always sad at Christmas and this episode revealed that he had a daughter and all he wanted was to see her grow up but there was a war coming near his village. In order to do so, he had to give her up so she can have a better life. It took 20 years to get out of the country and he almost gave up hope to find her until Helga helped Arnold to search for her and be reunited with her father. 

Modern cartoons don’t show those kinds of messages anymore and there’s something worse than that and I hate how cartoon shows keep doing this. 

Today’s Villains

I” ve been seeing a lot lately that the main antagonist isn't handled well in cartoons as of lately. Most villains have been getting redeemed lately and not paying their crimes. While show creatures try to make them sympathetic and the victim however it doesn’t excuse them for their crimes. 

White Diamond who caused multiple mass genocide on worlds, brainwash any gem that stands in her way and shatter gems gets easily defeated by simply getting talk to and just not gonna do it anymore because Steven said so. 

Mina Loveberry and her Mewni soldiers wanted to destroy monsters. When her and her army magic depleted, she just goes in the wilderness and no one stopped her. 

Moon Butterfly helped Mina create her soldiers so she can retake the throne from Ecipsa. Instead of having the monsters and her surrendering the throne that she was attending to do, however, her plan backfired when Mewni Soldiers and Mina wanted to kill all the monsters. Why didn’t Moon saw that coming, they were clearly racist against them. Then by the end of the show, she never once apologized for what she has done. 

Starlight Glimmer created a cult that no one has cutie marks until the mane six defeated her in “Cutie Map” She returns and her revenge on Twilight by going back in time and making sure Rainbow Dash doesn’t perform the Sonic Rainboom. After multiple going to multiple timelines, she finally catches up to her and then her tragic backstory been revealed and it was very disappointing. The reason she caused all of this because her friend moved away and that’s it. That’s not all, instead of her facing her crimes like most villains such as Tirek or Queen Chrysalis, she gets off the hook and she became friends with Twilight in a matter of minutes 

A good example of a good antagonist is Aku from Samurai Jack. When he first appeared in the show, he’s pure evil, destroying anything that stood in his way and ruling over the weak but as the show progresses, the serious villain became more comedic villain but that doesn’t mean he’s a silly character, he’s far from that. He’s still all-powerful and should be taken seriously. This is what I want from a villain.  He’s powerful, he’s truly evil and has a personality. 

Villains can be sympathetic and relatable however shouldn’t be forgiven so easily. When a character crosses the line by taking multiple innocent lives should never be redeemed, even if they have a sad backstory 

Cartoons lately have become less popular in this past decade, the glaring problems about cartoons are its animation, comedy over messages, messy plots, and terrible villain. People will only talk about cartoons from the late ’80s to 2012. I’m afraid that this day of age that it isn’t appealing anymore than in previous years. The only animation that people will talk about is anime shows which I can’t lie, is far superior to cartoons as of now. I feel that the only way it can make it back on top is it needs something like Adventure Time or Gravity Falls moment that reinvent it more relevant and view to modern audiences. I really do like to watch cartoon shows for animation, message, and characters but I keep seeing issues in modern cartoons and I hope that it will change in the future. 

[prowlingthunder]

WIP Meme 10/20/2020

Tagged by: @mandakatt

Look at what you've done. How dare you. I'm not even sure this is all of them. I think some are hidden in gdocs yet. Argh.

Tagging: @egodominustuus @thelostknee @linwyrms-lair @gracethescribbler @skywalking-across-the-galaxy @khantoelessar @zpansven

Read the list under the cut.

1: A Child of Blood

2: Eileen - Birds of a Feather

3: BtVS - Lupercalia - Xander - Wolfthreat - WIP

4: BtVS - PT Alexander Harris Auroresbrother - Denguards - LUPERCALIA - WIP

5: Buffy the Witcher

6: SynthSil - Ascendent Ab Inferis (Lux Aeterna AU)

7: Boys in Blue

8: Butterfingers the Deathclaw

9: Piper - (Lupercalia)

10: Sil/Jack

11: CM - Lupercalia WIP - Red

12: CM - Lupercalia WIP -

13: AC/FFXV - Des and Noct swap places - ffxv Halloween bang

14: Trigun x Outlaw Star

15: Gargoyles x Ronin Warriors

16: Power Rangers x Ronin Warriors

17: Ronin Warriors x Outlaw Star

18: Rurouni Kenshin x Yu Yu Hakusho

19: Dragons Breath -- DAO&RW

20: Farcry 5 / What Became of Edith Finch - Eddie

21: Farcry 5 / What Became of Edith Finch - Jake

22: Gundam Wing - With Daemons WIP

23: GW Pacific Rim

24: GW&IA&FFX - Auron - Roulette - Unlikely

25: Hobbit/RW - Bilbo -

26: House Ronin Warriors

27: RK-Xmen = Dragon Teeth

28: RW-PJ

29: RWSG1

30: SG1/JOS - Third - In a God's Bedroom

31: ST/RW

32: SW/GW - Brothers and Sisters [clonefic]

33: Thor-x-Ronin Warriors

34: Noctis (Final Fantasy XV) / Levi (Attack on Titan) - Hunting [Noctis in AoT]

35: Hiei (Yu Yu Hakusho) / Prowls (Exalted) - Stars [Prowls adopts Fire Demon baby]

36: Noctis (Final Fantasy XV) / Ezio (Assassin’s Creed) - Family [Assassins in FFXV]

37: Kuwabara (Yu Yu Hakusho) / Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) - Honor [Kuwabara unfucks SW]

38: Kuwabara (Yu Yu Hakusho) / Dex-Star - Love [Kuwabara adopts a Red Lantern Cat]

39: Voltron/Escaflowne

40: When the Night Comes/Arcana crossover

41: YYH/Naruto - Kurama - Foxkids

42: CSI NY - Lupercalia WIP -

43: Dark Matter - Hiro - [Lupercalia] - WIP

44: Every Warden Ever - WIP -

45: Nelaros and F!Tabris as wardens

46: Salazar - Crowbar Fic

47: Carslile/Sil - Highschool

48: Joan rambles

49: Junior - (Best laid plans)

50: Junior - Outsider

51: Junior - The G.O.A.T.

52: Junior rambles

53: MacCready - Big Town Blues

54: MacCready - Radstorm

55: Nora - Line-dried Laundry (Lupercalia)

56: Pandora -

57: Pandora - Lupercalia Fic - [Inside Pandora's Box]

58: Pandora rambles

59: Russian Roulette - Silas deathfic

60: Sil/X6 rambles

61: Silas - Demon Summoner AU - A Leaf in the Wind

62: Silas King - Snow Angels (Papawolf!Renigald)

63: Silas King - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Operation: Rescue Quinn kidfic)

64: Silas rambles

65: Winter Animals (papa!Artem)

66: Y7 - All the Things I Didn't Say

67: Ambulo

68: Contritum Coronam

69: to abstain from doing harm

70: A General Gift

71: ABO nicias&caleb/nicola

72: An Army - Prompto & Ignis - Blood and Water

73: Andali misc

74: Ardyn - (Triplets verse)

75: Cathedral of You fanfiction

76: Cor -

77: Cor - Dawnfire - WIP

78: Dave - [Scourgeverse]

79: FFXV Glaive Lupercalia

80: FFXV Prompto Lupercalia

81: Galahdian Noctis au

82: give a brother wings

83: Halloween '19 d2

84: Halloween '19 d3

85: Halloween '19 d4

86: Halloween '19 d5

87: Halloween '19 d7

88: Noct raises Ardyn

89: Nyx -

90: Prompto - Terrible Things

91: Sealions - Cor - The Dance

92: snowchild (Lupercalia wolfProm fic)

93: The Feral Coeurl of Galahd (Galahdian!Cor fic)

94: Transplant Fic Box

95: Vipers Victim

96: what fire burns

97: IA - Kasmir!Oliver Briggs - WIP

98: IA - Nebrija x Arzu - Family - WIP

99: David and kids

100: David and Bridget, Combat Skills

101: David vs Simon Fight

102: Bridget tending David

103: Music *http://youtu.be/G2ZKKXCuaYc?t=9m46s

104: Seduction

105: Wish

106: Destiny

107: xerxes

108: Giayl - Wolflords (Lupercalia)

109: LotRO - Aegliraan - Caran Dagra - WIP

110: Lupercalia - Shepard - Star-light, Star-bright

111: ME - OC - Blood And Water

112: Black Cats and Broken Mirrors Chapter 5

113: Itachi - Step Two

114: The Hardest Part - Chapter One - Alone

115: 100+ Words list

116: Bioshock - Big Daddy - ABO verse

117: Character Roulette 2

118: Life of Redemption

119: A lover's homecoming

120: The Dreaming Cord

121: Logan - (This is what it's like) - WIP

122: Outlander - Kainan - (wolf fur and dragon teeth)

123: SPCH - drabble

124: Thor - All The Little Children [Lupercalia]

125: Thor - Lupercalia WIP - Frigga -

126: WoW - Livieva - Puppy At Heart

127: Haruko - Genji lives path

128: McHanzo Timetravel Shenanigans

129: Overwatch - Yuuma - Nest of Vipers - Big Bang

130: Stan/Haruko

131: Stanfic

132: Taijo Aitai tinyfic

133: Yuuma Op

134: Mia - Lupercalia fic - The Chosen Ones ch2

135: RW - Lupercalia - Arago & Hariel - Blood and Ashes - WIP

136: Ryou - Coal Dust - GIFT - WIP

137: Seiji - Kagome, Kagome

138: Seiji & Cale - Quadrature Pt2 - GIFT - WIP

139: Yulie WIP

140: Dinner

141: Bamboo

142: Travel

143: Sting

144: City

145: Noise

146: Titan

147: Oddyseus

148: Hera

149: Archangel

150: Centaur

151: Gorgon

152: Rainforest

153: Music

154: Groot

155: Plagues

156: Courage

157: Rage

158: Belief

159: Joy

160: Horoscope

161: Family

162: Obligation

163: Friend

164: Loneliness

165: Anakin - - timetravel fic tcw/ep7

166: Anakin / Rey - A Pocket Full of Sand (Reincarnation Fic)

167: Eurynome - Monsters in the Dark

168: Eurynome - Supernova?

169: Jeeri -

170: Shmi Skywalker - Son of Sands [Aniwolf]

171: Snowdrops

172: Star Wars AU Fics

173: StarWars - WIP

174: Trials and Shenanigans (Bits and Pieces)

175: We Shouldn't Be Friends

176: SG1 - Sam - - WIP

177: SG1 - Sam&Jack - - WIP

178: SAO - Yui - SAOFest - Marching Band

179: SAO - Yui - SAOFest - What Big Sisters Are For

180: SAO w Jaegers - Silica - WIP

181: Series: Bad Plan

182: Arrow&RW - Oliver - - WIP

183: Cye - Homecoming (Multiverse)

184: Papa!Cye

185: little shadows far reaching

186: Untitled document

187: Voltron - Keith -

188: Geralt - Witchwolves [Lupercalia]

189: Hell Hath No Fury

190: Chapter 3

191: Adventures of Maiwen Tanet

192: Art of Living

193: Asclepius

194: Bloodlines

195: Bondsiblings

196: Cats Cradle

197: Smoke Song

198: Darkness Watching

199: Desert Sands

200: Dragon's Cross

201: Dragonkin

202: Fractured

203: Hydra

204: Lyric Book

205: Poetry Book

206: Red Moon Kisses

207: Rupert's Drop

208: Feyborn

209: Superheros

210: Wonderland

211: A Mother's Love

212: Harry Potter and the Light of the Moon

213: Minor Troubles

214: Roses In Stained Glass

215: Even God Can't Save You Now

216: Mirrors Edge -

217: Our Secrets

218: Mica Sands

219: SG1/RW

220: They Call Them Ghosts

221: We All Bleed

222: In A House Of Brittle Bones

223: With A Crash of Thunder

224: Digital Shards [YGO/Digimon]

225: God Save The Queen

226: Fractured Light

227: AtlA/RW

228: NatM/YGO

229: SG1/StS

230: Van Helsing/Helsing

231: GW/Avatar

232: GW/JOH

233: Saving You

234: Firefly/Outlaw Star

235: GW/RW Reincarnation Is A Bitch

236: Escaflowne/RW

237: Mending Of Hearts Hope/Noel

238: The engines of iron Cindy/MTProm

239: Weaver's Undoing

240: A Nomad's surprise

241: A Soldier For Sale

242: Heir of Spring

243: The Ghosts of Haven

244: Master's Vengence gladio/prom d/s bdsm

245: The Unfortunate Ice Cream

246: The Perfect Hustle

247: The Adventure of Odie, the One Eyed Sock Puppet

248: Angels in the Attic

249: Mending the Sun

250: Numb to the Stars

251: Traitor of Heaven - ffx/ffvii

252: Isle of Iron

253: Irreverence

254: the empty tower

255: Bravery In Eternity

256: Changeling's Duel

257: Gilded Dispair

258: Wolfwan return of shark

259: Clonewolf O66

260: Time of the Wolf Lupercalia AU

261: Time of the Wolf Lupercalia snippets

262: Going Down (Cpt. America lupercalia)

263: wake up cpt+girls

264: Lokison

265: Uncle of Mine

266: The Things Wolfsisters Do

267: Howling

268: Shield Sisters

269: starhunter lupercalia

[sarasanddollar]

SARA'S VAGUE SENSE OF HOW CARTOONS PROGRESSED:

as requested by @chintastic and @whatdoesthefauxsay, and specifically requested by @lunagalemaster to be posted to Tumblr!

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh early 1900's animation becomes a thing in the West? Merrie Melodies, early Looney Tunes, that kind of thing. Black and white stuff, view in theater only, it's not "adult" but it's really for adults going to the theater and sort of "look at our technical skill!" sort of show (and as a form of escapism from the war, then the Depression, then the war again)

skip on down, Snow White happens, Disney is a phenomenon, we're not really looking at cartoons in the film circuit here tho so I won't be talking abt like Disney movies and Pixar et al. because that's a whole other animal

television gets invented !

"adult cartoons" that are like funny/sexy happen, stuff like Betty Boop, we're still figuring out what animation is for but plot starts to show up esp with the now popular Mickey/Bugs Bunny stuff

It's the mid 1900's, we're out of the war, I don't know what happens in this period, I know the Hays Law becomes a thing so censorship happens pretty fast, and Saturday morning cartoons directed solely for kids are officially a thing, so Inspector Gadget, Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones + the Jetsons, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Tom & Jerry, more Looney Tunes and Mickey Mouse cartoons. A lot of these toe that line between "cartoons for kids" and "cartoons for adults" by including little things that make it fun for parents too

It's the eighties!!! The Industry has figured out that they can make cartoons that [gasp] Sell Merchandise!!! to kids. So toy cartoons come out, that's all stuff like TMNT, My Little Pony, Transformers, X-Men, He-Man/She-Ra, Voltron, Rainbow Brite, Care Bears, and Strawberry Shortcake. The quality of storytelling goes DOWN down down down down and everything is just factory-churned out with the purpose of Selling Toys (tho we still hold a lot of these things pretty near and dear)

The nineties happen. Nickelodeon figures out that cartoons are good and kids like them! And starts airing those instead of live action and puppet shows. They realize, hey, what if... We had cartoons. ALL DAY. Instead of just on Saturdays, for an hour in the morning. They instate an all-day all-cartoon channel that is ONLY their original content (they borrowed stuff like Tom & Jerry up until then), and they follow a brand guideline to make sure it's... The kind of stuff kids like. It's funny, it's interesting, it's creator-driven, and it's not just to sell toys or just churned out to fill a time slot. Quality picks up! This is why 90s cartoons are still a classic today. But also TLDR Nickelodeon killed the Saturday morning timeslot

Cartoon Network follows suit. We get good stuff well into the early 2000s, and then Disney decides to throw in as well - they'd already had shows in the 80s based on their existing brand properties (Little Mermaid, Hercules, Aladdin, and ofc Micky Mouse, Chip+Dale, and DuckTales!) but we start getting original channel-only stuff like, well, American Dragon. More on that later.

The Simpsons. We start to get adults for cartoon that also have heart and morals, instead of just. Sex jokes (Simpsons has quite a few of those too though!). The Simpsons is a cultural icon and influences pretty much every kids cartoon you can imagine, from SpongeBob to Fairly OddParents.

Anime. Anime was beginning to become VERY popular in the States sometime in the seventies (backtracking a bit here) and popular stuff like, AstroBoy, Akira, Speed Racer, started getting ported to kids channels later on (with really bad dubs.) That got a greater and greater influence ESPECIALLY among adult weebs that weren't really as huge a group as they are now demanding Better Quality English-accessible stuff (there's a whole thing on the history of this that I don't have enough internet time to get into) and that started to happen, esp when Ghibli became a huge success, people started going crazy for it, and Disney was like hey ! a market ! and made Good Dubs with A-list guest star voice actors that started the anime revolution overseas

Speeding back up, we start getting things with overarching plots. Avatar happens. Avatar ... Is revolutionary, and that starts making people realize that hey :pikagasp: we can have things that are Complete. Instead of you know axing them halfway or keeping them static status quo for every episode. This is due to the influence of anime on the industry! Remember we're well into the early 2000s and anime is now more mainstream than ever. Naruto, FMA, Black Butler, OHSHC, Death Note, all that good stuff is happening at this point in time.

Avatar doesn't do anything though. It's just, different. Different enough that people remember. (And enough that everyone who worked on it worked on the aforementioned American Dragon - a lot of the same writers and actors, giving it a pretty good internal plot of its own!)

Stuff like Totally Spies happens! That's also anime influenced. Later we'll get stuff like the new Voltron, the new She-Ra, the return of Avatar with Korra, slowly but surely everyone is deciding that Japan is the good trend. Even Winx Club or Angel's Friends over in Italy gets the anime influence! Everyone knows what's up.

It's the early 2010 and cartoon quality goes... Down for a bit, around these points, we get stuff like Fanboy and Chum Chum, Fish Hooks, just, the so random xD rawr humor is what kids are into and the industry doesn't know what to do except gross out humor and barfing rainbows and it's just... Not memorable.

Except Adventure Time nails it and it's a PHENOMENON. I don't know what happened there but something about the childlike wonder and good humor being connected to the (you guessed it!) overarching plot causes a sensation like never before.

Gravity Falls.

Steven Universe.

Star vs. the Forces of Evil.

In Canada, Detentionaire.

A Scooby-Doo reboot during this time called Mystery Incorporated.

Suddenly this is the trend. Starting with ATLA but leading to AT, big scary mystery, big scary villain, episodes that CAN be viewed stand-alone but also super connect? THIS is the industry trend now and we are LOVING it. We love a story that... Progresses. Characters that grow and change. 80s kids are now older and want cartoons that are good, not just. Toys selling machines.

Streaming services killed the television star. It's a LOT easier to do the overarching plot thing now that you can sit and binge something in one sitting instead of waiting once a week/month to see one ep of a thing you already forgot what happened in last time.

My Little Pony!! Gets rebooted. It's 2013 and for SOME reason this has a huge following? A huge following of adult men, where it's a show for little girls. The brony movement was so huge it's often compared to how Star Trek became a big hit among female viewers way back when. This doesn't influence other shows in storytelling terms but it does change marketing - now your only audience might not be what you think it is. Everyone tries to follow suit by selling their shows to "adult fans," it doesn't always work but boy howdy! And well, MLP follows the trend of overarching plot too, best as it can.

It's the late 2010s and we're in the nostalgia age. Now 90s kids are older and they run the market - we're not trying to make new stuff or support new creators, we're trying to salvage what was and make money off what people loved before. Reboot after reboot after reboot, Disney with its big movies and Nickelodeon doing (a great job, admittedly!) with their Rocko, Zim, and Arnold movies. It's working out fine, but it's a pretty big indicator that there are no new ideas - or rather, new ideas are being snuffed out in favor of bad PowerPuff Girls reboots (Cartoon Network not doing so hot, SU is what saved it!)

this is probably not well written I kept backtracking and adding other stuff pff I hope it's coherent ;; ENJOY

[darkspellmaster]

Voltron Rant regarding Prince Lotor, his plans  and everything that follows...

Right now it’s late, and I’m tired, but there’s something that has been going on in my head for a while now since season 6 has come out. Recently I started to work on a long post about comments made by the staff and Lotor’s actor, regarding his behavior and I’ve seen a lot of reactions from fans in regard to anyone feeling that Lotor’s actions were justifiable, or that one should feel sorry for him for his past. 

Now on the one hand, it’s perfectly fine to have a sympathetic villain. A lot of shows have that and they are stronger for it. On the other hand, if you’re having someone do villainous acts, please have the character own those acts rather than, saying that they just need help and hugs. Or that it’s a nature vs. nurture thing, because in a lot of cases one could use characters that fall into the same tragic area as Lotor and point out the folly of this statement. 

Now while I have nothing but mad respect for the Voltron creative team and the cast, I do think that they’re making a bit of a bad choice in how they’re wording things in regard to Lotor. Because they are painting him in a very “Draco in leather pants” way, which will not go down looking good should the character not get redeemed, and even if he does, it still doesn’t look good. 

Again I really love him as a character, I just wish that people would at least realize that he’s not some innocent person that has done no wrong, and, in this case, that defending his actions by putting the blame on Voltron or Romelle, or his parents, is just adding to the issue that he hasn’t fully come to accept. That he could be accepted by others, even welcomed in, if he would let go of his damn desires to go across the rift and accept that he’s both Galra and Altean. 

I mean, hell he had an open chance to just live the life he was talking about, but he either didn’t think about it, or didn’t see what he had right before him. 

Let me try to explain, again, if this comes off as bitter or salty it’s not meant to be but it’s late and my brain is working on over drive here. 

Let’s start with Lotor’s plans for the Alteans. Given what Romelle tells us Lotor has these people completely under his sway and control. They trust them with their lives, love him and worship him. This means that they would give their lives for him if he but asked. And yet, rather than just explaining his plans to these people, the ones that owe him their lives, he lies to get them to be used for his plans. 

My issue with this is that it’s a cold and calculated move. Not some misguided action, it’s a deliberate choice that he had to consider before making it. Meaning that he didn’t trust his people, or that he didn’t fully understand the level of devotion that he had. Lotor could have easily talked about his plans to the Alteans there. There was no reason not to, as they trusted him. He could have explained, in detail, what he was trying to do and why it was going to benefit all of them and allow them to come out of hiding. Again given the feeling of devotion these people have, I would be damn surprised if he didn’t get a whole host of volunteers to be tested for this project and to willingly do this for the betterment of the people. 

This plan that he set up was a whole folly because of the fact that there had to be better ways of doing this or getting the energy for the Quintessence. Not only that but one could argue that he had the perfect set up there for his own peaceful existence or a way there to grow his own army. The Altean’s would have happily learned to fight, or work with tech, to help build him up an army to fight his father. He’s a long living person, so why not play the long game? 

Also regarding the situation with Romelle, As per JDS, I should note that he points out that Lotor could have put up his hands and let himself be arrested. He could have easily owned what he did at that moment and said “Yes, I did what she said, it was for the greater good, and I’m not ashamed of it. I’m willing to be put back in the cell while you all cool off and so we can talk. Like we have in the past.” That’s all he had to do, and yet he dumbly put himself in a weird position and later blames everyone else for his choices. Choices he made on his own. No one had a weapon at him saying you have to do any of this. 

Not to mention that there was a number of opportunities when he was alone with Allura where he could have mentioned the Alteans and explained everything before Keith and Romelle came in. This way not only does he look heroic, as he can put his own spin on it, but also Romelle’s impact on Allura could have been lessened some what, or at least the whole revelation could have had a different outcome. 

Then there’s the fact that there’s a number of characters out there that both counter the idea that one has to end up with a “the ends justify the means” mentality from the tragic life he’s had growing up, and the idea that how you’re raised and the people around you, are what create you. 

Also one could note that it’s not the fact that he didn’t have anyone around him loving him that made him make bad choices, it could just be the fact that he’s already predisposed for it due to being in the Quintessence and it makes it easier for him to naturally think the way he does. 

Just to name a few: (Warning Spoilers  below the cut) 

Ardyn Izuna from the recent Final FantasyXV for example grew up in, as he puts it and we only have his word on this, a perfectly happy sort of household as a prince. He eventually went on to be chosen to stop the Star scourge and was to become the rightful king. However his actions during this event caused a tragic outcome that lead him to become petty and angry and want not only to destroy Noctis family, but also to remake the world for the greater good. 

Like Lotor there’s a sense of entitlement to him. He’s long lived and is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants done for his view of peace. Even if that means killing innocent people along the way to do it. 

I can also point out at the same time to Char Aznable of Gundam. Not only does he lose his parents to a straight up murder by a friend of the family, he later loses a friend because the guy looks like him. Char’s goal is the destruction of the Zabi family and he’s a very complex character who chooses to kill his friend and the most innocent person in the Zabi family, Gharma Zabi, even though they’re best friends, just because he was born into the wrong family. Gharma had nothing to do with the death of Char’s parents, and yet, for what he feels is the greater good for the Space Colonies, he needs to wipe them all off the face of the earth. 

Both of these guys have the same issue that Lotor does, that the ends justify the means, and that by taking the actions that they do they think in the end they will make the world a better place in some way. There is also the selfish aspect too in them, where even if their choices are purely based on real feelings, under that there’s still a sense of “I want something.” Which is still a selfish thing, and again, they still are villains as they take villainous actions that they don’t need to to achieve what they want. 

And what of a character like Folken de Fanel, who chose to go to the side of evil because he felt it would bring about the greater good, and protect his brother. He didn’t realize how bad his actions had become until he killed two of the people he had saved as children. Prior to that time he had told Van, his younger brother and hero of Escaflowne, that he was willing to keep doing bad things if it meant innocent people like Van could live in a world where they didn’t have to fear war or pain, or sadness. After the death of the two cat girls that he raised, he actually owned what he had done and was willing to face trial and his own death that he had made happen on himself. He even turned sides at that point. 

On the other end of this, you have someone like Voldemort who actually got help and yet still became evil. 

Then you have the other side of the coin, where the characters also had bad lives, didn’t have good influences but became heroic characters. 

Levi from Attack on Titan, for example, grew up in the slums. Lost his mother at a young age, became a thief and pretty much grew up with a lot of rough people. Yet he wound up meeting Erwin at an older age (late teens or early 20s) and was already a good person who wanted to do right. 

Then you have Sha Gojyo from the Saiyuki manga series. Gojyo grew up with an abusive mother who had sex with his elder brother who had to pretend to be his own father so she wouldn’t beat Gojyo. Not only that, but him being a half demon, half human made him a target for beatings and harm. His own step mother tried at one point to murder him and he nearly just let her do that to make her happy, and his brother had to kill her to stop her. He was abandoned at the age of ten and left to fend for himself. Yet he’s one of the kindest and most honest of the Sayuki crew, willing to go out of his way, even as he complains, to help those in need as the story moves along. 

The idea that Lotor’s upbringing is one of the points for him making his choices is fine, but it’s good to remember that just because you grow up in a bad situations doesn’t mean you’re going to make bad choices and do villainous things. 

One last character really fast, which I think highlights some of the issues regarding Lotor’s actions for me. 

Recently Black Butler revealed that the main character Ciel phantomhive has a twin brother. Because of this we’ve also recently learned he’s more than a little obsessive over his twin brother, and may have been behind his own parents murders as a means of keeping his brother to him self. On top of that you have Ciel himself, who, after suffering not only illness, but also sever physical, mental and sexual abuse, is a bit on the cold side (an understatement) and willing to make choices that a normal 13 year old really shouldn’t have to make. However, for all his gruff actions, he’s actually a loving person who does things to make others happy, even while drowning in his own despare. Keep in mind that both boys had the same pair of loving and attention giving parents. 

(Manga Coloring (129 chapter) by VermeilleRose.Original art (manga page) by Yana Toboso.)

As I said above, I don’t hate Lotor. He’s a great character and a wonderful antagonist. But I do see him as a villain, and he needs to own up to his actions. What I mean by this isn’t just saying, “Yes I did this but let me explain...” he needs to own what he did. Tell them that he either feels that he’s right about the choice he made and thus feels that he was in the right, that he disagrees with them as he feels that he made the right choice, and if they can’t be allies because of it, so be it and that he has no regrets for doing it. Or that he thought he was right, and now feels that he’s wrong and wants to fix what he screwed up and accept the consequences. 

No blaming the Alteans, no blaming Allura or her father, no blaming his father or mother, and no blaming Voltron for what he did. Again, no one told him to do what he did. No one, as far as we know, put the idea into his head. This was his idea and his alone, as far as we know, and if he’s not regretting doing this, than own up to it, accept the consequences, and move forward. Be that as an ally or not. Just own it and fans need to stop making excuses for him. 

Being from a broken home may have contributed, but that doesn’t mean it has to make him into the person he is. As I pointed out, there are others that are in just as bad situations, who still manage to become good people and heroic in their lives. And at the same time there are bad guys that have had nothing but a loving family, and still become monsters in the end. 

But actions need to have consequences, and while one can understand the actions of a character, that doesn’t mean that their actions can’t be seen by others as villainous or bad. And being misunderstood doesn’t alter the choices the person made. 

[writingfromalterspace]

The  Brilliance of Voltron

[SPOILER ALERT:  This article discusses the final series and the events of the last episode.]

The big question at the end of the eighth and last series is:  what did you think?  I’m surprised to find myself saying:  IT WAS BRILLIANT.  Yes, it was flawed.  No, this isn’t what I thought was going to happen.  And no doubt the fandom is up in arms and raging with trillions of theories and “should have beens” flying across the interweb.  Fortunately, I live in a universe of one (me) where virtually no opinions colour my thinking on anything, so I can say, without knowing what anyone else thinks:  I loved it.  It was bloody brilliant.  And it ended exactly how it was supposed to.

The two main aspects of the eighth series were the Lance/Allura relationship and Allura’s death.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and say:  it had to happen.  Both aspects HAD TO HAPPEN.  She had to have a relationship with Lance.  And she had to die.  No one wanted her to have a thing with Lance, least of all me.  The idea was put forward quite early on;  after all, Lance had a humongous crush on her from the moment he saw her.  But the idea of this rather young and immature guy with the extremely sophisticated, intelligent, powerful woman who was ten thousand years old (and counting) was just WRONG.

BUT!  The fact that it was wrong, meant it was perfect.  Wow, that’s going to be hard to explain!  For a start, the moment the relationship was established in the first episode, I realised she was going to die.  It was the Big Arrow:  the fact that their relationship was wrong indicated directly that she had to die.  They couldn’t be together forever.  There was no happy-ever-after for them.  Knowing she was going to die (and I promise, I knew NOTHING about this series when I started watching:  I go in with no spoilers at all, no knowledge, and no discussion with anyone) meant that I watched the entire series on edge:  when would she die.  How would she die.  How would this affect everyone.  How would this affect Lance.

Simply put, what we have here is a conflict in a relationship:  it was perfect and it was wrong.  How could it be both?  It was wrong, thus it signalled Allura’s death.  And it was perfect because of a little thing called STRENGTH.

Now I need to talk about Allura:  she was by far the strongest character, in every way, and also had the greatest strength of character.  She believed in the Paladins from the moment they arrived, before they even had a chance to believe in themselves.  She held them together.  She had knowledge.  She had power.  She was absolutely driven, too, and very focused on what needed to be done.  She had lost everything:  her family, her people, her planet.  She had nothing left and everything to live for.

ALLURA GAVE EVERYONE STRENGTH…….

……but who gave Allura strength?

Not Lotor.

Ah, Lotor.  Sigh.  Seriously hot.  Sexy voice.  God, he was yummy.  Please let me take a moment while I divert into fantasyland…….

Anyway, Lotor was the ideal partner for Allura.  Completely besides the fact that he was gorgeous, he was her equal in every way:  intelligent, educated, driven.  They talked the same language and they understood one another.  And they looked really good together.  The chemistry worked.  They worked.  It was an ideal match.  I wanted them to get married and have lots of babies all in different colours with white hair.  This was a couple that fulfilled my every romantic dream.  However, this would only have worked if Lotor was redeemed.  Just how he could be redeemed, I couldn’t imagine.  He had been broken by his godawful parents.  Was there any possibility of coming back from that kind of insanity?

Which leads me back to my question:  who was there to give Allura strength?  And the answer is:  Lance.  When she was broken after her foray into Honerva’s mind, who brought her back?  Who sat at her bedside and LOVED her?  Lance.  No one else could do it.  And THAT is why their relationship was perfect.  THAT is why it had to be:  SOMEONE had to give HER strength and that person had to be someone who offered her pure, innocent, devoted, whole-hearted love.  Someone who loved her utterly for who she was.  It was love that brought her back.  And however much I felt uncomfortable with their relationship, I could see it had to be.

It was also part of Lance’s story arc.

I want to look briefly at all the story arcs, because one thing that troubled me in the eighth series (and for the seventh as well) was that there was very little character development.  I only realised later, once I’d finished watching to the end, that the reason for this was because most of the character arcs had already finished.

Pidge:  Her story ended basically when she found her brother and father.  She was now complete as a person.

Hunk:  He didn’t have much of a story arc but it was completed right at the very end when he cooked for the diplomats, which was a really nice touch.

Shiro:  His story arc ended when he truly found himself, as it were, and became wholly himself (with that awful new arm that I really hated, but that’s another story).  He reached his pinnacle by running Atlas.  Before he’d been the leader of Voltron, but being the leader (captain or whatever) of Atlas, meant he was even more powerful.  So he had all the power he was going to get and didn’t need to develop much more.  I loved that he had a happy ending with a new partner:  as a character, he really suffered the most and deserved some joy.

Keith:  His story arc ended with his rescuing Shiro and finding his mother (not in that order, I don’t think!)  So as a person, he was complete before series eight and didn’t need more development.  I personally don’t think Keith was capable of a romantic relationship with anyone, boy or girl.  I think he is destined to be a lone wolf for the rest of his life.  His pinnacle was being able to lead Voltron:  this was Keith at his most powerful.  His friendship with Lance, I think, was extremely important, and I imagine he would always be there for Lance.  This was indicated in a scene towards the end and was a sign of his maturity.

Lance:  But no one matured more than Lance and we had to wait a long time to see that maturity.  He was silly and funny and excitable and jealous.  But he was also smart.  His perfect-but-wrong relationship with Allura gave him the maturity he lacked and I even wondered at one point:  who are you and what have you done with the real Lance?!  Not only did his chance to openly love the woman he had yearned for for so long make him grow up, he also actually grew a few inches and ended up taller than Keith!

So:  it was part of the crucial story arc that Lance reach maturity by having that relationship with Allura.  It was part of Allura’s story arc that she be given strength from someone who loved her because frankly, she was exhausted after giving up all her strength for everyone else.

And just because her death was signposted (to me, anyway, as I am a writer and have an understanding of story construction), doesn’t mean it wasn’t a shock.  The moment she said, “I’m not coming back,” I broke down and sobbed.  Her sacrifice was the right thing to do but it was still heart breaking.

More about that sacrifice:  why did it have to be Allura?  Because she was a goddess.  She may have been born a princess, but she grew into her godhood.  This was her story arc:  her attainment of power.  She became more and more powerful as the story developed until she was powerful enough not only to end Honerva but to REDEEM HER.

Before I do on, I want to make a note about the theme of Voltron.  To me, it was about strength.  Not just the characters and that whole “my robot is bigger than your robot” thing.  Behind every evil character was another evil character who was even stronger than the first.  But the strongest of all was Honerva.  She was, frankly, horrible.  But the more powerful she became, the more one pitied her because all she wanted was to be her little boy’s mother.  And there is no greater strength, if you can measure such a thing, than a mother’s love for her child.  Not all mothers.  Not always.  Not always in the right way.  And not all parents bond with their kids.  But if there is a bond, the pain when it breaks is truly terrifying.  And it was that pain and loss that drove Honerva.  It was that pain and loss that gave her the terrible strength to do what she did:  to tear through universes to find the right one where she could be a mother.

And – oh! – what a fantastic piece of writing!  THE IRONY!  When at last she found the perfect universe, when she found Lotor as a child, he REJECTED her because he was uncorrupted and pure and could see her for what she was.  The irony is that the only universe that produced an uncorrupted Lotor was the one in which Honerva had disappeared.  Honestly, even the Star Wars universe couldn’t produce an idea as good as this, as subtle, as complex, as brilliant.

So now it’s the end and we have the two most powerful beings in all the universes confront each other:  good vs evil.  I love that they were both women.  And I love that Allura showed her strength not by fighting, in the end, but by showing the greatest strength of all:  she helped to redeem Honerva.  And by redeeming Honerva, she also redeemed Lotor:  by recreating all the universes again in a new god-like big bang thing, it meant that that uncorrupted Lotor, in his universe, could grow up to be a good man, the one he wanted to be, the one I wanted him to be, the one Allura would have wanted him to be.  So he was redeemed after all.

Now who can truly offer redemption more completely than a god?  Or goddess?  Thus did Allura reach the level of godhood.  And gods and goddesses are, as we know, immortal.  So Allura isn’t dead.

She’s out there.  And she’s strong.

[fictionalnormalcy]

I am starting a stream of posts. They won’t be consecutive because I don’t find ideas lol, but I’ll try to do my best. Now, what these posts will be centering on: DISNEY/ DISNEY PIXAR vs. DREAMWORKS

This reel of comparisons for me first started when I got super hooked onto Dragons: Race to the Edge. I’ve been obsessed with How to Train Your Dragon ever since, and haven’t been able to shake it. With my over-analytical mind, I started thinking of Disney and DreamWorks. I’ve always had an obsession for both, because their movies were my childhood. I didn’t grow up with no Breaking Bad or Armageddon, it was animated movies with songs and animals that could talk and walk on two legs. 

For the first comparison, I am going to keep it to our current day, 2017-2019. DreamWorks and Disney usually release one or two movies a year. The year 2017, we had the release of Boss Baby for DreamWorks, and Coco for Disney Pixar. 

Coco was quite a change on Disney Pixar’s circuit, for they don’t often do movies with musical numbers. But the songs “LLorona” “Poco Loco” and “Recuerdame” brought in a huge audience falling in love with the story of an adventure durante El Dia de los Muertos. 

DreamWorks has had a large success of the creative story of how there are two different kinds of babies and how sometimes growing up can have its pros and cons. The inclusion of puppies versus babies was quite appealing as well. 

We reach our current day, of 2018. For Disney and Disney Pixar, we await two fabulous movies. Incredibles 2, and Wreck it Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet. Now we’ve gotten plenty of trailers for both, and most fans (myself included) are uber-excited to see how awesome Disney will execute these sequels. 

Before I make my DreamWorks comparison, I want to give you some other info. Now I know it doesn’t tie into this all that much, but just follow along. Disney has three channels on television: Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney XD. Whereas DreamWorks dominates Nickelodeon and Netflix. 

I’ll be honest, not many of Disney’s shows have caught my attention. The only ones I watched with excitement were Star vs. The Forces of Evil, Good Luck Charlie, and Lab Rats. I do want to watch Andi Mack, but I don’t have cable. DreamWorks, well it’s the same case for them as well. My favorites are Voltron, Trollhunters, and Dreamworks Dragons. 

For 2018, DreamWorks is not giving us a movie. Because they are hard at work on the release of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, coming out March 2019. I was quite heartbroken that we aren’t getting a movie, but then I looked at the alternative. While we may be getting gradual release of the third movie, such as title and date releases and hell, the Dragon Riders transformations of full-on dragon, DreamWorks is consoling us in another way this 2018.

The releases of Season 6 on Netflix of Dragons: Race to the Edge, Season 3 of Trollhunters, and Season 5 of Voltron! 

Two shows came to a close. Dragons: Race to the Edge completed their mission of giving us an in-between of what happened between the first and second movie. With the new transformation that has been released, there’s rumors going around that we’ll be getting another in-between show for the gap of movie 2 and 3. To put it short, Season 6 may have been the best season of the entire duration of Dreamworks Dragons. The trailer in my opinion, was the best trailer I have ever seen of any movie or show I’ve ever seen! They gave us so many clue for why there were certain things in movie 2, we even got a glimpse of Valka! One thing they missed was what gave Hiccup the inspiration to alter his metal leg the way he did. 

Trollhunters just released their third and final season on May 25th. I’ve mentioned before, that I loved both Trollhunters and How to Train Your Dragon because their animated series were made based on the books. I confess, I cried at the end of Trollhunters. Their final scene: “ This series is dedicated to Anton Yelchin” and his voice being the final dialogue you hear, my heart was torn to pieces. 

But I still have to say, there was still some stuff they left unresolved. It seemed like too an abrupt ending to me. Troll Jim! OMG, I mean I’d heard the rumors that he became a Changeling when he was exiled to the Deep, but this was just a sudden turn of events! It was a bittersweet ending, and I absolutely loved it, I just wish we could get something more.

For Voltron Season 5, we didn’t get an ending thank goodness. But we can tell, they’ll tie it to an end on Season 6′s release... just like Race to the Edge. Keith finds his mother, Hagar realizes she’s Lotor’s mother, and Zarkon has finally been eliminated. And now, we’re starting to see what actually happened to Shiro, be it only getting bits and pieces. 

So Disney is giving us movies, and DreamWorks gave us breathtaking and tear-jerking endings to two of their Netflix shows. 

I am not picking a side, because their brilliance leaves me awestruck. I am merely making a comparison. Which do you think? Can you pick a side, or left in neutral like me? 

[mateushonrado]

Voltron: Legendary Defender S7 (aka S5) thoughts [part 1]

Status Post #6281

"A Little Adventure"

Why couldn't Dreamworks just change the title sequence? I think it's fair.

Flashback scene focusing on Shiro and young Keith.

Next generation of astro explorers.

I'm sensing some Star Trek references with the flight simulator stuff.

All red fails. LOL.

Keith is acing it with the simulator.

Introducing James Griffin.

Keith stole Shiro's car and gets taken to juvie.

Beginning the brotherly bond between Keith and Shiro.

Back to the present day, Shiro is on a healing pod while the Paladins, Krolia, Coran and Romelle try to contact the Coalition.

They're at the Dalterion Belt, which original Green Paladin Trigel ruled there as queen.

Yelmors. Funniest name in the show.

Keith's "I'll stay with Shiro". Aww.

Romelle's comments basically sums up the YMMV trope "Angst? What Angst?".

Another flashback, this time on a spaceplane called the Calpyso.

Outside in the present day, Coran, Hunk, Lance, Pidge and Romelle look for yelmors.

My goodness, they've been shrunk down. Someone call Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Third flashback scene focusing on Keith's past.

James makes fun of Keith for being without parents.

Keith punches James in the face.

Same flashback as "The Black Paladins".

Wacky adventure.

Pidge attempting to talk to either Keith, Allura or Krolia.

Fourth flashback, this time with Keith and Shiro flying on the hoverjets.

Keith pulling a Keanu Reeves-esque "Whoa".

It's official. Keith's father was indeed a fireman.

It turns out that Shiro suffered a muscular illness that affected his right arm, which likely explains why it was amputated during his time as a POW and replaced by a bionic one.

Hunk's the Paladins' only hope.

Fifth flashback and it's a downer as Shiro is advised not to go to Kerberos due to his illness but Sam tries to tell the female general to allow him.

Shiro talking to his boyfriend Adam, who actually tells him not to go but he tells him that he needs to go.

After this, Adam tells Shiro that if he decides to go, then he call it a day on their relationship.

Sixth flashback and it's a heartbreaking moment.

Shiro's illness could kill him within in the next couple of years.

Shiro regains consciousness and Keith hugs him.

Sumalee Montano voices Admiral Sanda, Lotor's voice actor voices either James or Adam, or is it Max Mittleman for one of them. I'll find it out on IMDb soon.

"The Road Home"

Pidge referring herself by her real name in an attempt to communicate her father.

Hunk and Romelle interaction.

Pidge can't wait to see her dad but fears her mother will not be happy for her running away.

Chibi moment.

Pidge is allergic to cows?

Coran mentions about Allura's grandmother.

Hunk is with the mice, Allura is with Keith's cosmic wolf, Keith is with Coran, Shiro and his mother, Lance is with Romelle (at least their interaction is a platonic one) and Pidge is with Kaltenecker.

Coran reciting the Altean alphabet.

You'd think Lance would be lovey dovey towards Romelle. Nope, just platonic.

Pidge is playing video games on the Green Lion.

Romelle, Coran and the mice are now with Pidge.

Team Voltron entering a Blade of Marmora base in order to get help but it's empty.

The cosmic wolf teleports from Lion to Lion.

Looks like there's more Sincline ships but who's piloting them?

The Lions don't have enough power and are under attack by those crystals.

Voltron enters inside the cyclone.

It's an icy planet, not like Hoth in Star Wars.

Keith showing his honest leader skills and giving his mother his sword.

Krolia vs the Galra stormtrooper and Krolia wins.

Hunk going full Rambo to take down the Galra ships.

Romelle confronts another stormtrooper in the Blue Lion's mouth.

Wolfie.

Oh, crap the Lions have been powered down and captured by Zethrid and Ezor.

"The Way Forward"

A first mate speaks in a British accent. I wonder if we get to what she looks like.

Coran is trapped inside the Black Lion and manages to free himself, while the mice and Keith's cosmic wolf is inside the Lion.

Coran shows his badass side.

Ezor concerned about stuff while talking to Zethrid.

Oh, crap. Zethrid and Ezor are going to torture them with the questions.

I have a good feeling that Acxa is going to pull a heel face turn, given that she's helping Coran, not to mention that she's not like Zethrid and Ezor in terms of agendas.

Coran changes his appearance.

I see that big guy that Coran tries to punch him modeled his armour on Zarkon's Quintessence Armour.

One of the guys looks like a male version of Ezor.

The mice frees Team Voltron and tells Allura about Coran and Acxa.

Yep, Acxa is on the good side as she confront Ezor and Zethrid. I knew she would pull a heel face turn.

Keith managed to take down those two generals and prepares to find Acxa.

Team Voltron prepare to inside the Lions.

Keith sides with Acxa in order to confront Zethrid and Ezor.

Thank goodness for Keith saving Acxa, while Zethrid and Ezor are KOd.

WTH? It turns out that it's been three years since the final battle with Lotor.

Timeskip confirmed.

It's official - Acxa is now a good guy.

What else has changed? Zethrid and Ezor are now warlords, Honerva is still at large and Sendak pretty much became the new Emperor. Just my guessing.

Make that ten members: Keith, Shiro, Allura, Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Coran, Romelle, Krolia and Acxa.

"The Feud!"

Garfle Warfle Snick and hosted by Bob.

Bob explaining why Team Voltron got here with hilarious results.

For the rest of eternity? Wait, what.

Space Pictionary time.

The other team are obviously duplicates of Zarkon, Haggar, Lotor and Morvok than the real thing.

Sitcom family moment between faux Zarkon, faux Haggar and faux Lotor.

Faux Zarkon called Lance the dumb one.

It's the grey alien vendor from "Space Mall".

Lance's reaction face to the Snick.

Bi-Boh-Bii's back.

Doesn't this game show remind me of Nickelodeon's past game show or some Japanese game show.

Sal's back with a new commercial promoting his own restaurant Vrepit Sal's.

Pidge is the brainiest and wins her match.

They're voting for themselves but they finally win the show.

Back to reality.

Plaxum appears in a commercial.

[beanymachine]

Voltron Season 6 Review

Hello, welcome to my Review! I hope what I say makes you think and see a different perspective on the show. If you want to say what you think I’d love to hear it! 

Anyways I’m going to list a lot of stuff I thought was well executed. The episodes did a good progression of an eerie feeling grow more and more. The first episode helps start this tone with Shiro getting headaches from Haggar, Lance dying and being revived, and Hunk learning more about the Galra’s history and culture. This and other parts of the episode help set up some important stuff throughout the season:

-What’s up with Shiro?

-Lance and Allura’s relationship and well as Allura and Lotor

-Culture

-And power (quintencess or however you spell it)

The second episode of the series then talks about Keith and his past, to start finishing the development of his character and the problems he had. Keith’s journey is also important as it leads to Lotor’s backstory and motives. Another thing the episode does is bring in a major theme of the season: Love.

Throughout the season we see how Lance deals with the fact that he IS in love with Allura and how Allura and Lotor are getting closer and closer. And we see how love can hurt when it doesn’t work out between two people, or when it isn’t reciprocated.

You know, like how Allura called out Lotor and made him flip his lid.

But we also deal with familial love. In Keith’s past we see how he was when he had a whole family and how they all loved each other (Keith was a baby so he’s really just goo goo ga ga). And how Krolia loves Keith and at one point hugged him to try to shield him from a wave of whatever.

There is also the very big and impactful scene where Keith and Shiro are battling and he tells Shiro to please stop because he’s his brother and that he loves him. It made the Possessed Clone Shiro twitch and hesitate, and then tried telling Keith to give up on him. And Keith even decides to die with him because he won’t leave him alone or give up on him, just like he did for Keith. And luckily the original Shiro and Keith are able to reunite.

Back to the tone of dread, the season does well building up to multiple climax points, like how Lotor’s dirty secret is found out, Clone Shiro being discovered as a clone and him and Keith fighting, the big battle with Voltron vs Lotor and how Lotor losing his mind, and him eventually being left to supposedly die in the quintencess realm.

The Animation was stellar (Haha get it? I’ll go now) with the fight scene of Clone Shiro vs. Keith, Lotor going mad, and the big Voltron fight.

Also it was a good choice to put Monsters and Mana for a breather episode right before things start going downhill.

Lotor’s fall into madness was excellent too along with his animation and expressions.

I’m also glad Hunk got a bit of spotlight. I know people say he doesn’t get much of a chance to rise and shine, but honestly do you really want to see him go through possibly a lot of emotional or physical pain? Plus it seemed like he was developed basically in the first season and pretty much fully developed I think. I can understand if people want more chances for him to shine. He did use his canon a lot in the last battle of this season so hopefully that will be enough for some. It’s enough for me at least.

With this being said, I’m now going to point out some things that I think could’ve been improved.

1. Keith’s abandonment issues and the two year timeskip, as well as the message sends.

Keith I’m sure is almost done developing and is almost whole like Pidge and Hunk. But the way it was done was good but left some stuff out.

First, the last season left off Keith’s relationship with his mom to be a startling new one that most would expect to be in anger and why Krolia left and the demand for answers. And we get that at the beginning of Razor’s Edge. However Keith doesn’t freak out as much as I’d suspect he would when he sees visions of his past. But what I do not like most is the two year time skip.

Keith apparently spends two years with Krolia on that space whale. That leaves many questions as to how he and Krolia talked about Keith’s issues. How did he deal with his fear that he’ll be abandoned or he’s not wanted, or that he thinks he has to prove himself useful and fast in fear of not being wanted? How did Krolia react and try to parent Keith in their strained relationship? Was their relationship even strained for long? If I found my space mom I never met before and she left me as a baby, and didn’t tell me immediately why she left, I’d be really upset and demand answers as fast as I could get it.

Also in this time Keith matured and grew. He became less hasty and when he case back to the team he immediately took the Black Lion without being scared of being a good leader or replacing Shiro. He grew that much! He went from point A to point B, but we never saw it. It’s a vital thing to see how he learned and healed from whatever he was dealing with, not just for viewers, but to perhaps reflect real life as well. I think we should’ve seen it in case anyone was dealing with the same problems as Keith and understood him as well as his thinking from the help of his mom to grow, live, and move on.

Instead we get a timeskip and miss out two years of Keith’s life. And we STILL don’t know his relationship with his mom! Are the cool now? Does he understand and forgive her? Is he at least comfortable being around her or are they at least friendly? Or are they on good terms and on the path to having a good mother and son relationship?

Also, WHAT’S THE DOG’S NAME??? Keith basically took a two year vacation with his mom and had a dog of his own. Like he got to live a little bit of the childhood that he lost without his mother. And I think that’s pretty important. It is a nice thought of how Keith got to be happy, heal, and relax with a dog he got to have and probably loves, while spending time with his mom. But we don’t know if it’s really that or he just was stuck on a whale with his unknown mom and his dog as his closest thing to a friend in a very awkward situation.

Not only that but there’s another message I don’t like as well. Maybe I interpreted wrong. It also may be a situation where one message can be sent or the other and both are equally important.

The idea that you need to know your past, who was in it, to find out who you are. Sure, the past crafts us into the person we are today, and anyone who is an orphan has the right to find out their past. But what you do in the present, and how you move on from you or others’ past mistakes to move forward is what makes you who you are. If you are trying to become a better person from mistakes you made, then you’ll slowly change into the person that you want to be.

It is good to know what runs in your blood and what race you are- Galra or Altean. But it matters to you as a living being what you do, what you want to do, how you need to get there, and if you are going to change or need to.

I thought Keith would learn about his past and see that his real family was with Shiro and the Voltron team. They were with him in a lot of life and death battles. I thought he was going to see more of how important they are to him. But it’s also the fact that no one stopped him or mentioned they missed Keith. I mean I’m sure they did but no one vocalized. Either meaning that they thought it was something they thought that wasn’t needed to be said, or that he wasn’t that important. Which is a lie since many of them hug him goodbye and some tear up when Keith is leaving for the Blade of Momora.

Hopefully they’ll tell us what he did during the two year timeskip for Keith in the next season or in the future and this is all part of their plan for the show. If not... I don’t know what to say yet.

2. The Altean Lady

The Altean Lady, or Romelle is the one that tells us of what Lotor did for the remaining Alteans and what he did with them. I would be fine if she was just introduced to bring his backstory and not be another in depth side character. But the thing is, I’m not sure if the writers were trying to chracterize her by giving her her side of the past or not.

Romelle is supposed to be a survivor and tell the crew what’s up with Lotor. She does this while telling of how her brother was caught up in it and how she reacted to it. And if this is her backstory or another one then it’s fine. But the way Keith introduced her to team Voltron made me think she was going to be a kinda important or at least a vocalized side character for the rest of the season. She takes the light for one episode, but then is just in the background later on. She reacts the same with the paladins when Shiro is on the ground in the last episode, but they way she is shown makes it seem like she is reacting strongly. Why should she? She doesn’t know these people. And yes I’d be sad or upset at seeing someone die, but it made her seem like she knew him when she didn’t.

And she’s still in the background and looks a bit plain but has enough detail on her for you to think “oh, her design makes her seem like she’ll be important this season as not just a reason for Lotor’s motivation and crimes, but as a person too) but that doesn’t happen. Maybe I’m confused on all this and maybe they’ll do something with her next season and characterize her. I hope they don’t think by giving her backstory will be enough characterization.

3. I want friendship darn it!

I wanted to see more friendship between Keith and Lance. I honestly thought these two would reunite and join together to somehow find the real Shiro. Maybe this is my own fault.

It’s just there were that red and blue star in the astral plane and I thought “oh hey, it’s foreshadowing that they are the only two that will be able to save Shiro”. I also thought that because they were both having issues about their place on the team and whether they think they are valued as not just teammates but as people and friends too. I thought the two would become closer as friends and be there to support each other and figure the puzzle pieces out as to why Shiro is acting weird and be the main characters or this season. That’s what I predicted anyway.

Also maybe I interpreted the trailer for Season 6 wrong because it made it seem like Keith and Lance’s reunion would be significant to the plot of the season. And maybe the trailer was going for that. Either way I don’t think it would’ve been the writers and animators fault but maybe the people who edited the trailer instead. But it’s not a big deal.

But now after this season, perhaps the red and blue star forshadowed the candidates closest to contacting Shiro and finding out about the Clone stuff. Or maybe it was foreshadowing Allura and Lances relationship to possible become romantic since they pilot the Red and Blue lions (I saw someone say something about this, I don’t know who said it but if you know please tell me. Just know I didn’t think that up myself or got inspired from it!)

But the stars appeared during season 2 right? So maybe it was referencing the red and blue lion switching pilots. Or the thing it’s foreshadowing still hasn’t come yet and it’s still possibly about Keith and Lance since those are their basic trademark colors.

To add to this I wish I could’ve seen more on how Pidge and Hunk reacted when they saw Keith’s return and change, as well as his family and some random Altean. It seemed only Lance really noticed which now makES ME FURTHER THINK THEIR RELATIONSHIP WILL DEVELOP MORE! ARE THEY FRIENDS OR WHAT?! SEASON 3 MADE IT SEEM LIKE THEY WERE BECOMING CLOSE FRIENDS AT LEAST AND NOT DUMB CLICHÉ RIVALRY!!!

I don’t know we’ll have to wait and see... again.

One last subject I want to note is how people are fearing Lance will be a rebound to Allura’s fast relationship and breakup with Lotor.

I know I don’t discuss ships on here, but if it’s strongly implied one character loves another one, then I’ll probably talk about it or do art on it.

Anyways, there’s no evidence Lance will be used like that from Allura of the creators yet. Allura knows Lance loves her, and knew he really, really does (or maybe did?). Not a crush but a love that can blossom into a romantic relationship. She knows this but still goes after Lotor. And I’m okay with that.

She chose Lotor because she had stronger feelings for him at that time. She didn’t feel the same way about Lance, but during Monsters and Mana, I think she saw Lance in a different light. And she didn’t really try to create feelings just because she knew Lance has some for her since those wouldn’t be true feelings and just pity, at least that’s how I saw it. After the whole thing with Lotor, perhaps she’ll think more about what to do about the two of them later.

The thing is now there are two paths. Down one, Allura deals with her breakup at a normal time and moves on, so that if she does have a romantic relationship with Lance, it will have a hopefully healthy start and actually grow to be a strong healthy one.

One another path, is the one where she tries to get over Lotor immediately and some time passes and grows to fall for Lance, but it can possibly lead to issues as to whether or not she does love Lance or had strong feelings for him, or is still confused and not completely over Lotor, or has some feelings for Lance but it hasn’t let them grown enough yet to let her possibly be in love with him and they try to date but it ends when the her feelings haven’t grown strong enough and the chances of them being together die out.

Or, there’s the third out-of-no where path where it’s nothing we guessed and we are all wrong and it’s something maybe we should’ve seen coming, or it’s an out of no where development.

Either way, we’ll probably know next season if Lance and Allura’s relationship will be endgame or stay friends, or happen but won’t work out and hopefully stay as friends.

Well, that’s my review of the season. It was my first time waiting for a new season of the show, and I guess now I’m more attached to the characters and the show. At first I really wanted to watch it just to know what’s going on and see people’s reaction to the season. It’s still that and I’m happy and laughing at some reactions because they resonate a bit with me and let me feed on their emotion (mwahahaha) but it’s also that I wanted to see if I would like the show more when getting hyped about it or people’s reactions and the payoff it would give. And I’d say it was pretty good!

So, uh... yeah! Thanks for reading! If you want to talk about stuff you can comment on this post! I’d love to hear what you have to say about the season and what you think is in store or what to expect.

Well now I hope we get the release date for the next season soon! But that’s probably wishful thinking. I just heard that they did that after the last season was realeased immediately. But that’s okay. The crew deserves a break after their hard work. And there’s so much art, comics, memes, and more we can make from this new season, so we’ll live for now. Heheh.

Thanks for reading! Bye! Have a nice day!

[whattheklance]

The rest of my season 6 thoughts

OHMYGOSH

what a season

WHAT a season

the next chunk of writing, right below here, was from when i was on the episodes I was talking about before I finished them all

KEITH IS TALLER THAN LANCE after two years

ALSO that means Keith is 21 now, even if no time has passed for everyone else.

man. i think the only reason Lance was "oh look keith's back" was mostly his bitterness over lotor and allura. it's like that bitterness revived his original behavior around Keith from the beginning. even if keith is acting different.

I wouldn't have even thought or noticed Keith was bigger or had grown if fucking LANCE hadn't pointed it out. of course lance is the first and only one to notice. not even in person but via a screen

i also forgot about the cliffhanger already that keith and krolia had found an altean. that d&d episode kinda wiped it from my brain.

and lotor had me fooled too.

though before i started watching i had read someone's post who pointed out how much lotor always told the truth but would lie through omission. not sharing any details that would paint him in a negative light.

is the tenderness he's expressed with allura also part of the lie?? cuz that seemed so genuine.

OHHHHH MYGOSH OHMYGOSH

one of my theories was RIGHT. that the shiro who returned to earth was ALSO a clone!!!

when keith first walked into that room with pods, my FIRST thought was "are all of those Shiros????"

AND OHMYGOSH they were.

when i saw the title of this episode was "the black paladins" my first thought was "does this mean not only keith and shiro, but MULTIPLE shiros will be in this episode???" AND YES. ugh yes.

i don't care that i was right. cuz this was like one of HALF A DOZEN theories i came up with.

i think original shiro NEVER returned to earth

which possibly means that haggar let the blades release A shiro because 1) it wasn't the real one and 2)she might have always intended him to be a paladin.

but i am REALLY attached to the clone shiro we got to know and love and I PRAY that we get to see him again.

and i jumped to a conclusion too quick up there. though a theory of mine was STILL RIGHT, a slight variation on what i just said. I know I have an old post where I theorized that Shiro disappeared because he BECAME ONE WITH THE BLACK LION

AND OHMYGOSH THATS WHAT HAPPENED

it's funny. there was a huge theory going around that something like that could happen to lance and the blue lion, even though there weren't really any solid grounds to think that would happen. But that's what happened to Shiro.

After Keith talked to Shiro and truly bonded with the Black Lion thanks to him. I thought we'd have to say goodbye to Shiro it REALLY felt like he wouldn't be coming back. Like we'd lost him already back in season 2.

and then them having to sacrifice the castle of lions, their home away from home. was even more loss on top of that.

so when we got Allura putting Shiro's spirit from the Black Lion into the clone's body. My heart was swelling. I was so relieved. And I like that it turned his hair all the way white. kinda like when Gandalf the Grey "came back from the dead" as Gandalf the White.

There were SO MANY wonderful beats in this season. Lots of signs of REALLY great storytelling

But I can't help but feel like someone took the great story the team wanted to tell and condensed it way too much. You can still see the elements of what they planned, but lots of important parts felt too rushed

We already know that netflix or dreamworks mandate forced them to bring shiro back a whole season sooner than the creators wanted to. I can't help but wonder what other mandates happened that limited their plans.

The WHOLE Shiro story was a thrilling concept and had some good beats in it. But it also happened a little too fast. Like, Lance's interactions with Shiro in season 5, I felt like that should have led somewhere instead of being dismissed. Even if they wanted the betrayal to seemingly come out of nowhere and surprise the team the way it did, they could've had Lance travel a little ways towards the truth, but have something happen that causes him to dismiss it. It also would’ve amplified his grief upon the betrayal happening, like he could’ve prevented it.

hell even clone shiro. Gonna call him Kuro from now on. He suspected something was wrong. That’s why I thought we were going to get SOME kind of investigation/test, even if it was limited to one episode ANYTHING. i would’ve taken ANYTHING of that nature.

I really wanted Kuro to have some sort of agency beyond his programming. For him to possibly get redeemed or something. I mean, he resisted. He wanted to resist before Haggar forced control. But in the end he was just a device for conflict, and a deus ex machina to resurrect real Shiro. kinda bummed we didn’t get any other clone shiros beyond the sleeping ones in the pods. I liked the idea of a shiro army, good or evil. But maybe they were just empty husks to be used by haggar when one breaks.

It'd be awesome if this wasn't the end of their story, and Shiro in the new body actually had Kuro's voice in his head or something, kinda like 80's Rogue in the x-men with Ms.Marvel's voice in her head. But sadly, it kinda of feels like this is the end of the Shiro Clone Saga.

More on the whole rushing good plot points. The whole reveal of Lotor's true nature with Keith returning. It felt very abrupt, and it didn't help having the D&D episode separating the cliffhanger of Keith and Krolia finding an Altean and the reveal.

Still, even though it all happened faster than I wished, all the beats with the Keith vs Shiro, and Keith discovering real Shiro and unlocking the Black Lion, and even his two year time gap, experience with the Blade and with his mother, crafted him into a confidant fighter who could finally take the lead in voltron, vastly opposite of his pre-blade self. I feel like this character arc, even though it was still too brief init of itself, makes up for some of the lost development from when Shiro should've been gone longer. We wanted to see the new team develop more than we got to. So it was really satisfying seeing them come together now, and feeling like we really saw Keith transform since he last piloted the Black Lion. Even though we had a long keith shortage with seasons 4 and 5, they still managed to have key episodes that developed his arc that led him to who he became in the finale.

though i'm relieved we got original shiro back, i feel like his being brought back was rushed too. Like, I get how that type of scene feels right for a season finale, especially with the fight and losing the castle of lions, but I wish there was more time and development between Keith's discovery of him and his actual return at the end.

KEITH GOT THE GALRA mark from his straining to hold onto his life and Kuro's. I almost was expecting him to fully transform into a galra form of his own. Maybe that's in his future, cuz I think everyone wants to see something like that. I hope the gang comments on his mark in the next episode (did anybody get Star Trek (2009) reboot vibes in that scene?? i feel like there was a scene with Kirk and Sulu that was very similar action-wise with the whole collapsing planet-to-space structure)

Man, so this season Lance had to deal with his Allura feelings and losing her to Lotor. Then Allura had to deal with having her heart broken from falling for Lotor then learning how she was used. Ever since Lance faced his feelings he hasn't been the flirt towards Allura anymore. I hope it stays that way. I love Lance and I love Allura, but I really hope the writers don't take us a romantic route. Like if they did start to do something like that, I'd keep my fingers crossed that its purpose would be to show one or both of them that they aren't right for each other. Like, try to get together only to hilariously fail and decide against it. like Rachel and Joey in friends.

They didn't do anything with Allura presumably learning Lance's feelings from the mice. i’m surprised. i was a little worried when that happened. again, i feel like that not becoming anything could also be a sign of omitted story points.

THEY'RE FUCKING GOING HOME

and i can't help but think how we have seen neither hide nor hair of Sendak's coalition since the episode they fought and ran. They're fully functioning. a huge danger. And I remember reading a meta post after last season talking about how sendak understands better than anyone that to beat voltron is to threaten innocents lives, and to ultimately defeat voltron he'd threaten their home planet. A planet incapable of defending itself against galra tech. He even re-demonstrated those tactics AGAIN this season with the galra shield base. As if to remind us he does that...for next season. where the gang goes home only to find sendak's taken earth or something. or at least has a blockade to threaten it.

this season seriously delivered. Razor's Edge, I stand by as being the best episode of the series thus far. But man The Black Paladins episode was on par with Keith's Blade of Marmora reveal episode in season 2, which I put in the top 5.

Good season, despite the fact that possible executive mandates possibly limiting the writing all around felt VERY visible. Even if it's never confirmed for the things I felt were rushed. I feel like I can see that it’s there. I feel like I can see the story they want to tell, and then everywhere I feel was rushed was like an artificial constraint that forced them to cut something out of the story they want to tell.

Cuz it feels like, from the sheer quality of beats within the characters' arcs, anyone, who could craft what we've already seen, would understand the appropriate amount of story needed to properly depict it, and do it justice, but it's like someone who doesn't have the same understanding has told them to make it shorter, cuz reasons. And that’s how we got the end result

PS. i wonder if Kuro’s sheer blandness as Shiro playing D&D was a reflection of his programming. He couldn’t be inventive or imaginative, and his sole purpose was to be a paladin, to infiltrate, so that’s what he chose every time, constantly the same character. Cuz I feel like real Shiro wouldn’t play the same way. Of course it was funnier having that kind of character, but I really think that might’ve been for that purpose.

[quickwrites]

Papa Kitty: Kitsitter vs Dinner

“It’ll just be for a couple of hours,” Thace said.

“You’ll both be fine,” Ulaz said.

“No he has completely gotten over his fear from the roaring incident,” Thace assured.

“There is everything you need to make dinner in the fridge,” Ulaz said.

“Just feed him, washing his hands and face and ask him to show you his favorite toys until bedtime,” Thace suggested.

“He’ll go right down after a story,” Ulaz assured.

“It’ll be a nice quiet night,” the both said multiple times on their way out the door.

And yet, here Antok was, having a grudge match with a tiny pink kit as he tried to get him to eat the mash he had made for dinner.

“Come on,” he growled softly, pushing the small bowl and spoon towards Keith. “Your dads said you love sweet roots! It’s delicious.”

“NO,” Keith shouted, pushing the bowl away. “I don’t like it!”

“Yes you do,” Antok said, pushing the bowl forward again as he had for that last twenty doboshes. “They left a note and everything on them!”

“I don’t like it,” Keith screamed, fighting to get out of his chair and kicking his legs violently. “I DON’T LIKE IT! NO NO NO NO!”

Antok laid back his ears, a thin whine that didn’t match his massive frame escaping him. He had known this was a bad idea. Thace and Ulaz’s kit had always not liked him and now he was taking it out on one of his favorite foods. That shrill screaming certainly wasn’t helping as Keith’s face turned red and continued with his protests. There was nothing for it. He needed help and fled into the kitchen for the inter-base communicator.

Kolivan arrived very quickly. He hadn’t been able to hear much of the situation with Keith’s screaming drowning out Antok’s pleads but he had gathered enough when Antok let him in to see the trapped kit having a meltdown in his high chair with a bowl of mash sitting out of reach. What was more alarming was how tiny his kitsitter had made himself in the face of this defeat.

“I can’t make him stop,” Antok said, having to shout over Keith’s wordless screams. 

“So I’ve gathered,” Kolivan said, his voice as calm and stoic as always. Walking over to the high chair he released the kit from his restraints and picked him up, holding him against his chest and rubbing his back as he ignored the flailing limbs. Keith quieted and relaxed against him, sniffing and huffing softly as he buried his face into Kolivan’s neck. “Now then,” he said, turning to Antok’s dumbfounded face. “What seems to be the problem?”

“I- He- uh, he won’t eat the sweet roots,” Antok said, gesturing towards the bowl. “Thace and Ulaz said he likes them but he just started screaming that he doesn’t and wouldn’t even try it.”

Kolivan looked critically at the bowl of mash and nodded. “Yes, they had a similar problem the first time,” he said. “My youngest did too when she was a kit. I told them to cut the roots into stars and it works like a dream.”

“Stars,” Antok said, frowning. “What’s the point of making them into a shape? It all tastes the same.”

Kolivan shrugged, picking up the bowl and carrying Keith into the kitchen as he crooked a finger at Antok to follow. “Kits are fickle things, Antok,” he said. “No amount of telling them that its the same thing will change their minds. My middle children could be forced to take a bite and realize I wasn’t lying to them but not the baby. She would bite! But the moment any sort of fun shape was added to her food she would gobble it up and Keith is much the same. Here, take him.” Without waiting for Antok to object, Kolivan set the kit into his arms, adjusting his grip briefly so he wouldn’t drop him. Keith immediately became disgruntled by the change over and put both hands on Antok’s chest to push out, preventing him from holding him close as Kolivan had.

“There- isn’t anymore sweet roots,” Antok said, keeping the hurt out of his voice at Keith’s refusal to cuddle. “To make stars I mean.”

“That’s fine,” Kolivan said, scraping the mash back into the pot Antok had left on the counter. “We’ll just fix this.” 

Antok and Keith both watched as the Leader of the Blades of Marmora walked about the kitchen, gathering ingredients and adding them to the pot until a thick porridge formed. Keith cooed suddenly when Kolivan revealed a bag of tiny white ovals in a bad, adding them to a much smaller bowl before ladling the new porridge into the original bowl.

“What is that,” Antok said, quickly shifting his grip as Keith began to squirm in his arms.

“It’s the fun,” Kolivan said, taking both bowls into the dining room. “Put him back in his chair.”

Antok frowned, not understanding at all but following orders as he set the kit into the high chair and strapped him in. 

“He’s getting a bit too big for that,” Kolivan noted, as he set the two bowls down in front of Keith and handed him a spoon. “Remind me to have a booster seat ordered for them. He’ll flip the chair in a matter of weeks with his growth.”

Antok made no response as he watched Keith pick up the small bowl in both hands and pouring the ovals into his bowl with a gleeful giggle. As the ovals hit the warm porridge and after a stir colors appeared among the purple roots. Careful not to disturb the kit as he mixed his food and started to eat as he made tiny roaring sounds, the large galra peered more closely. The colors, he saw, were different animal shapes no bigger than the tip of Antok’s claws. They made no logical sense and by any reasoning the sweet root porridge shouldn’t have tasted so different from the mash he had made earlier and yet Keith was eating it all up with enthusiasm.

“I will see you tomorrow on duty, Antok,” Kolivan was saying, walking towards the door.

“Wha- Leader, wait!” Antok said, spinning on the spot as his tail flicked. “You aren’t going to stay?”

“No, I have too much work to do,” Kolivan said, opening the door. “That’s why I refused to watch him in the first place.” 

“But- but,” Antok started, going to follow his leader and stopping when he was given a level look.

“You’ll be fine,” Kolivan said. “There is plenty of extra if he wants more. When he says he’s done, take him into the bathroom and wash his hands and face. He’ll fight you a little on the face washing but just let him play in the bubbles and it’ll be fine. Change him into his sleep clothes and let him play for a bit. After that meltdown he’ll probably fall asleep pretty quickly after dinner. Just put him in his bed as soon as he yawns three times in ten dobosh and tell him a story. He’ll be out like a light in no time. If he gets overtired then he’ll have another meltdown. If that happens then just put him in bed and pet his back. If you have any questions send me a message but I won’t be able to come back.”

“But,” Antok started only to have the door close in his face, leaving him alone with the kit.

When Thace and Ulaz returned home later that night they found Antokon the floor with Keith curled up on his chest both of them out cold with toys strewn around them. Ulaz refused to let Thace remove Keith until he got a picture. They put Keith in his little bed, picked up the toys around Antok so he wouldn’t roll over on them before covering him with a blanket and going to bed themselves.

-------

Characters belong to Voltron

Antok gets babysitting duty and has to deal with a tantrum with no help. Thank goodness for Kolivan and his endless dad knowledge. The ovals mentioned in the story are along the same lines as the dino egg oatmeal you can buy. Personally, I hate oatmeal and am about to be 25 and I would totally eat it if I could pretend to be an apex predator taking out a bunch of dinos. Just saying!

[kendrixtermina]

Baby Reacts to: “Voltron Legendary Defender”

I’m not familiar with either of the show’s previous incarnations but from what I’ve heard they completely overhauled the characters anyways - supposedly Pidge was once an annoying tagalong kid (and a boy), Keith was a standard issue “hot-blooded mecha pilot”, Shiro was not there, or killed of in the first storyarc, and Allura was a completely different character with a wholly different design, more of a ‘princess classic’ with the looks & personality to macth, supposedly they redesigned her to make her more alien & then threw in the skintone as a hommage to her voice actress. In any case only the name is the same. 

I’ve seen some clips and it seems they had a much more outwardly fantasy-aesthetic going on with carriages & period costume, sort of more like Star Wars or Sailor Moon,  whereas the newest version seems roughly Star Craft esque in terms of their particular blend of Magitek. 

Otherwise it’s pretty straighforward: Evil Empire, Ancient Artifacts, Giant Robots, Space Fights, timefrozen hightech city left behind by the precursors etc. 

The evil empire has a renegate splinter faction but that too isn’t so exceptional (though welcome), the BoM reminded me somewhat of the Tok’Ra from Stargate in their reclusive, slow-to-act approach in that they have tons of futuristic tech but limited ressources & had to be won over first & there still being a lot of mutual distrust on both sides, at least at first.  

Rare in this day and age (and very refreshingly IMHO) the show unapologetically sticks to the basic genre & tropes without falling over its own feet trying to be clever  & meta - sure, they evened out the gender ratio a bit & made the structure of the battles less monotonous but we’re not beaten over the head with any of these things/fit them in naturally & the show never seems like it has something to prove & just lets its story be a straightforward giant robots & explosions kinda thing.

It helps that the artwork is great. 

The best summary of my general impression is that I’ll pobably tune in for season 3. My favorite character so far would be Keith closely followed by Pidge, and Shiro, but AFAIK everyone likes Shiro? I’m prolly b/c I’ve heard it’s terrible (The Umbridge effect is probably in full force...) also I’ve been told there’s a trailer out and I’d rather see season 3 unspoiled. 

Clearly there needs to be some payoff for Shiro grooming Keith as a potential sucessor but I’m hoping that after a few drama-filled episodes, they all go rescue Shiro from wherever he’s gotten to, Keith hands him back his helmet and they all go home together. I mean, he just got his own Bayard. It’s unclear what happened to him in any case, perhaps he was absorben Evangelion style. 

That said one of the show’s strenghts is the clear aversion of the “annoying comedic sidekick” even though it has many characters that has could theoritically fit that description - They try their best to give each of the characters something to do & various skills & likeable traits - Like you get why each of them is there and why they’re our heroes - they also took the time to make sure everyone got a few character establishing moment in the first episode (Shiro’s arrival, Pidge & Keith were already on their own quests by their own means, Hunk & Lance served as the PoV characters etc) and throughout the show they try to bring out everyone’s personalities through reaction shots etc. Like, ALL of them are awesome.

Also apparently this fandom has brutal shipping wars? Some ppl I was sitting next to kept cracking jokes about how [random yaoi pair] was obvliously into each other and after a while it got annoying through sheer persistence. 

I don’t think the show as a whole is going for that like if there was going to be a decent/central romantic subplot they’d have introduced it by now they seem to be content to simply be an action show & there’s not much content like that at all except for the occassional teasing for the sake of humor & Lance’s flirting (which is really more there to exposition his being a bit of a showoff) - the most that will come out of it is that when we see some epilogue telling us what became of everyone, Lance will be shown to have found a girlfriend after returning home to his mom & impressing his siblings with his heroic stories. 

To begin with they seem to be going for a different vibe with the main characters, with how all of them (including Allura) refer to each other as “family” or “brothers” all the time like I get the impression we’re supposed to interpret them more as simply comerades or quasi-siblings with Shiro as the big brother and Coran as the kooky uncle.  

Like I hate it when ppl dismiss already existing romantic subplots as “uneccesary”, “silly” or “pandering” but at the same time it’s not like every show needs to have one or like it immediately needs an explanation when one character doesn’t get a love interest(that they must be gay, ace etc... nothing wrong with those type of characters, or headcanon, but “we’re not doing romance genre RN/ the characters are busy fighting a war” should be a sufficient explanation in and of itself whatever the characters’ orientations are.) 

General Character Impressions:

Their secret seems to be rolling with the basic tropes but connecting them into an interesting structre, so it comes off neither overly in your face nor one dimensional.

Lance - ‘Average Joe Relatable PoV character’ except they made him not-boring by making him the snarky/funny one & giving (he’s got ice powers & is the designated long range fighter, both very cool powers, pun not intended but retroactively appreciated) as well as drawing logical consequences (He’s the most attached to earth because of his relatively ‘normal’ background & wants to prove himself because it seems he was the midle child among numerous siblings, hence the rivalry with the local ace pilot.) Sorta calls to mind the likes of Kyon from Haruhi or Sokka from Avatar.  

Hunk - For once the “all around nice heart of the group with the more intuitive, roundabout type of reasoning” isn’t the token girl but I’m glad that role’s still there because niceness & group cohesion is a valid attribute. The “nice person” is typically the healer or magic user but making them the defensive fighter makes just as much sense, especially with his personality as the more cautions common sense-y one who becomes committed to the mission through the desire to protect innocents. 

Pidge - The “secretly a girl” thing is kinda trite but it makes sense as a reference to the original and they still eschewed the tropes by how she was badass well before & doesn’t get treated any different afterwards - The plot twist is more that she’s related to the scientists from the prologue. Otherwise another potential spirit animal of mine, VERY relatable in ways I can’t count, fro the nerdy reactions all the way to the short stubby arms XD I’m also grateful that they didn’t give us that trite old “nature vs science” contrast but instead portrayed these as connected.  It’s like Kensuke from Evangelion, except as a girl & she actually got to be a pilot. 

Keith - The Rival Character. Second-best fighter  of the paladins, sort of a ‘larger-than-life’ superhumanly good ace pilot, to Lance’s ongoing chagrin (and indeed he turns out to be part warrior alien), also, predictably, the local cynic. Seems to have the least ties to earth/ have been looking for a purpose in life anyways.    Not quite a ‘stoic number two’ though - He’d probably like to be but he absolutely doesn’t really know when to shelf it, hence his being highly suceptible to Lance’s provocations & flunking out because of a “discipline issue” despite his aparent talent. 

Shiro - Former Ace Pilot & personal hero for both Lance & Keith. Got alien abducted & subjected to the full repertoire (gladiator fights, experimented on, augmented etc.) & is understandeably still rather shook from it. Serious disciplined military type & natural leader, hence ends up taking over almost immediately wheen stranded with a bunch of ragtag space cadet rejects and, as a result, becomes everyone’s beloved big brother figure./mentor. Supposedly just as loved by the fandom?  Actually still pretty young, he just looks mature in comparison to the others but he’s not above getting in a snowfight. 

Allura - There’s the “sweet princess classic”, the “fierce alien warrior princess” and the “glittery plot magic princess” and in Allura’s case they seem to have been thrown in a blender & put together in such a fashion as to make a more complicated character - She’s certainly fierce, somewhat agressive, suspicious & hellbent on her mission but she also has the diplomatic grace one would expect of a royal & ultimately she does have a sweet side (hinted at early on with her adorable animal companions) - The basic gist of it is that she’s a regular teenage girl somewhere, but has been trained for asskicking & diplomacy all her life, & now she’s the last survivor & feels the pressure to carry on her father’s torch & stop the evil empire so she affects a comanding presence most of the time. 

Also there seems to be some meme about calling her a racist (Ugh tumblr) ? This seems to me as one of this stuations where people want complex characters but cannot handle it if they’re not perfect or fitting into easy boxes. 

The whole point of her is that she comes from a different time & culture with it’s conlicts outside of the human character’s PoVs. Like point me at any angry alien princess who is NOT suspicious. Both being unfrozen and heck, even Zarkon’s betrayal are still relatively recent for her, and in the end she was just kinda avoiding Keith (granted, in what must’ve been a confusing uncertain time for him) more than actively being mean and she came through on her own & apologized. Like, it was just like Hunk said: She just needed processing time, something she’s been afforded preciously little of at any point ever, I mean she goes straight from realizing everyone she ever knew (except Coran) is dead to launching an offensive.  

Bonus: I shall attempt to MBTI the bunch

(In Order of certainty)

Hunk - most obvious ISFJ to ever SiFe 

Allura - ESTJ

Pidge - INTP

Keith - ISTP or possibly ISFP, certainly Se-aux tho. One the one hand he uses Fi-ish language in places (”If I don’t do this, I’ll never find out who I am...”) on the other hand he tends to prioritize the mission & is the most cynical/pragmatic of the bunch & tends to be stoic & objective unless provoked (”The rest of the universe has families too.” “Yeah but can we afford to rescue the princess?”) - His relative reactiveness when provoked is sufficiently accounted for by Se. 

Zarkon - ESTJ 

Shiro - ISTJ (though his instant commanding presence makes me doubt the I somewhat that said politician/leader ISTJs do happen. He seems to have been serious & dilligent even before all the trauma tho.)

Lance - ESFJ or possibly Se-dom, ESxx for sure tho. 

Coran - Clearly has Si and Ne but not sure in which order. If I had to guess I’d say he’s either a very dutiful ENFP or a very quirky ISTJ. 

[the-lost-lieutenant]

Headcanon: Dreams vs Reality - A War that’s Not Yours

I have been toying with the idea for a very long time, and never mentioned it because it is a very precarious balanced piece of subject matter, and goes into parts of the world that I am a little uncertain of for the when and what version of Earth the Voltron Universe takes place in.

But essentially, that Aryn grew up in a military family, she always knew she wanted to serve and be like her father. She had the drive and action oriented personality type to succeed. She went on two tours of duty. She had the first stages of everything she had always worked towards and wanted. It was literally in her grasp.

But reality isn’t the same as dreams. She gave up a very steady relationship to go on the second tour, what likely would have resulted in a marriage. The climate of things had changed by her second posting and the war was driven by political greed as oppose to any need for peace and humanitarian aid. She faced hard truths and was stripped of getting to go home. Violence erupted near her station and getting troops in and out became more complicated so her squad’s service was extended after already feeling like a nightmare.

She did her work without question. Driven. Efficient. Ruthless. Terrorist.

Coming home was a blessing but guilt followed like lead weights. Her medals of honour went to stay with her parents because she couldn’t stand to look at them. When she was referred to as a ‘decorated Soldier’ she’d feel sick despite it having always been the dream, the very goal. The to-be fiancée was gone. Friends dead or too ‘proud of her’ to talk to in earnest. Her brother knew the truth and they grew closer.

Always a goal motivated person, she set herself new goals and set her sights on space. To use her skills to go to the stars for peace. Instead of a third tour of lies and lining the pockets of the already rich.

There in space she found a hell well beyond the wars of men.

[kalimarsdreamlog]

Dream 186: I can use the Force!

(Copy/pasted from my dream notes, as usual.) 

Okay well, starting from what I DO remember, (I’ve forgotten a lot since I woke up) we were running laps around the gym. By “we” I mean my mom, me, and a whole bunch of other random people, not necessarily students. Leonard Nemoy was there for example. Nothing was out of the relative ordinary until I noticed someone go out of bounds. They suddenly disappeared. Then I saw it happen to someone else and I freaked. I told my mom to be careful not to go out of bounds, and what did she do? She went out of bounds and disappeared! I despaired for a minute before I saw Leonard Nemoy disappearing too and tried to stop him. I failed. When I tried to inform the three instructors (one being Gandalf, one being Lord Elrond, and one being an alien race that reminded me of a rougher version of the balmerians from Voltron) they paid me no mind. 

Skip to the next part of the dream. There was a giant (and I mean giant) Star Wars live action game that was like an interactive ride at Disney World. In fact this was like a full-content demo for that very thing. If I remember right there were six or seven players per team. It wasn’t a team vs team thing, but each group was called a team and only one group could play at a time. When they called for volunteers for the first team to go, Savanna and I were the only ones to step forward. We had to choose our race and class. I wanted to be elven (which was apparently a thing in this version of star wars) and a jedi, but Savanna took the only elven slot and it wasn’t jedi anyway. I stepped on the four-part platform on the left. Each part was a different player race and class. Two of them were jedi, one was something else, and one was beserker (which was also the only non-human race on the platform). I chose one of the jedi parts. Then we were instructed to enter the structure in front of us that took up the entire wall. The part that we entered differed depending on our race and class. I entered, fully prepared to receive the title of jedi and use of the force. I knew I would be powerful in the force because we had a similar deal in my english III class (I don’t know why english III, but the dream was very specific) where I was a guard soldier of Sidon, and I was a powerful user of magic. Anyway, let’s just say I wasn’t very modest, unfortunately. 

Then there was a time glitch, as sometimes happens in my dreams, and I had to redo entering the structure. Right before I entered, I noticed I was standing not upon the human/jedi part of the platform, but the alien-I-forgot-the-name-of-but-might-have-been-balmerian/beserker part of the platform. Oh. Once back inside the structure, the three instructors seemed amused at my change in demeanor from the last time I had been there. I more humbly accepted my beserker title and use of the force. Next, three segments of the wall lit up, one brighter than the others. One of the instructors was pleased, remarking that with that particular section of the wall being brightest, we were more likely to win. As if the universe didn’t want that, the brightest segment changed, and a voice announced that I had chosen the hardest path. All of the hardest enemies would now be my responsibility. The instructor who had spoken groaned. 

Before I left I tested out my newfound power just to make sure I knew how to use it. It worked more like aura in pokemon than the force in star wars in that it was more of an expulsion of power that glowed than a push and pull of an invisible force. Whatever the case, it worked, and so I emerged from the structure and went back to my part of the balancing platform. 

Once there, the game really began. The wall-sized structure changed to look like a rock face, and somewhere a projector lit it up so that you could see giant space crustaceans crawling down the wall. Certain points of the rock face started to glow, signaling that they could be interacted with. Certain pieces of the crustaceans began to glow as well, signaling that the points on the wall and them were connected. I experimentally attacked the nearest glowing point on the rock face with the force, and the connected crustacean shattered, defeated. Huh. I quickly attacked the next glowing point, but nothing happened. I looked to my right and Savanna didn’t seem to be having any trouble with her enemies, but they did take a little time to defeat. Rather than pulses of power like I was using she sliced as if with a blade. I continued attacking the glowing point on the wall, but before I could destroy the second and last crustacean the projector darkened, and the word “defeat” appeared in red letters. A score board briefly popped up with Savanna getting more experience than I did because she had defeated all her opponents. She got five exp while I only got two. I had to remind myself that I wasn’t necessarily the weak link, since she had a different role and I had gotten stuck with the harder enemies. 

Now that we had demonstrated how it worked, more people stepped up for the second team when volunteers were called for. They had a different first battle, looking to be more centipede-based than crustacean-based. I stopped paying attention until it was my turn again. 

Scene change. A tall kid who had a token of some sort was making some kind of challenge from his proverbial high horse. He flicked the token at a short kid who had a helmet on that covered his eyes. It was a bit tattered. When the kid started feeling the ground looking for the token I realized he was blind. I would have gotten the token and given it to him, but at this point the dream was in watcher’s mode, so I wasn’t really there. I was still in the audience for the game in the other room. Turns out the token meant that the short kid was now a part of team one, my team. As I discovered the next time it was our turn to play, the kid was now one of the jedi on my platform. He was pretty good for being blind. I guess once he was part of the team he was using the force to see. 

The scene changed back to me, but I was disguised in the form of Elrond and I even had his magic staff (he had one in the dream, even if he didn’t in lotr). I was using his identity so I could check in with the other races (the audience was grouped by the race they chose) and listen in on the other two instructors, just to see if they knew anything about where the people who disappeared in the first section of the dream could be. Well, I couldn’t pull the wool over Gandalf’s eyes and he de-spelled me, turning me back into myself. I dropped Elrond’s staff, because now that I was me again I realized that holding the staff burned, as I was not powerful enough to wield it. It had still burned when I was disguised as Elrond, but I was so focused on holding the disguise that I didn’t notice. Elrond himself returned, giving me a funny look since I was with the wrong race. Unfortunately my time in disguise did not glean me any info on the location of the missing people. 

Time skip. It was now time for team one (now full with all six or seven players) to fight their final boss, a gargantuan crab named Arganos. I had to attack the upper tip of his left claw with the force, and once I had destroyed that I had to twist and twist until his claw came off completely. So far I was ahead of my teammates, having gotten used to the difficulty spike that came with having tough enemies from the start, but as twisting the claw with the force became harder and harder I started the fall behind. I was worried I wouldn’t finish in time and we would lose. I had been sure we would lose from the start of the fight, not thinking we were ready for a final boss and figuring we would need multiple tries, but I did NOT want to be the reason for having to try again. With one last bit of determination, I was able to give the final twist, leaving Arganos pincherless and defenseless. It was just a matter of whittling down his massive hp after that. 

Suddenly there was feminine laughter. “Oh thank you for defeating that insufferable crab! He sealed me away, but now that he’s been defeated I’m free!” A lady with purple tentacles for her hair and lower body (I think) appeared. She reminded me of Ursula from the Little Mermaid. She turned out to be the true final boss in a surprise twist of events. I don’t really remember the fight with her though. 

Time skip. Every team now having finished the game, there was a graduation of some sort, complete with gowns and cords. Teams would be called up as a group to graduate. I was too impatient to wait for my team, wanting to know where my mom had gone when she disappeared. I knew the instructors knew. It was their event, they had to. My dad showed up and made sure I actually got my rewards for graduating, but I left the graduation early and started searching the school. It wasn’t my school, it was another school that I had only come to for the event, so I didn’t know my way around. One of the rewards for graduating was glider wings that connected your arms to your sides. It was great. Anyway, supposedly the missing people were hidden in places around the school. The first place I searched was the library, which was full of catwalks for some reason. Of course, I didn’t actually use the catwalks and stairs like I was supposed to, simply gliding from place to place. It was a huge library. Unfortunately the dream ended before I could find my mom. :( Still though, it was an awesome dream!

-

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[aion-rsa]

Bizarro World: The 15 Weirdest Superhero Games Ever

Most superhero video games feature established characters and familiar activities like web-swinging or causing careless property damage. While most superhero games don’t get anywhere near the weirdness of 1990s’ Vertigo Comics, some can make Marvel Comics’ psychedelic cosmic epics of the 1970s seem tame by comparison.

RELATED: Digital Justice: 15 DC Comics Video Games You Forgot Existed

Now, CBR is taking a look back at some of the weirdest superhero games ever. Since we’ve already looked at games based on major and minor comic characters, we’ll be focusing on games starring heroes who debuted in the world of video games in no particular order. While some of these characters might not seem like superheroes at first glance, they embrace the trappings of the genre like super-powers, costumed alter egos or rogues galleries of villains. This list also includes odd games that offer a reflection of the superhero genre or comic books in general.

CAPTAIN COMMANDO

While most gamers were probably introduced to Captain Commando through one of his appearances in a Capcom fighting game like 1998’s “Marvel vs. Capcom,” the character has been around since 1986. Captain Commando’s beginnings were in North American manuals for Capcom-produced games. With a reverse-engineered portmanteau for a name, the Captain served as the company’s mascot as he went through different looks in the late 1980s. In 1991, Capcom redesigned the Captain one more time and gave him his own arcade game with “Captain Commando.”

In the side-scrolling beat ‘em up, one-to-four players can take control of the members of the Commando Team, led by the fire-and-energy glove wielding Captain Commando. The team’s other members included an extraterrestrial Mummy Commando named Mack the Knife, a Ninja Commando named Ginzu and Baby Head, an infant who fights in a mech suit of his own design. While the release initially received fairly average reviews, it’s more well-liked today thanks in part to that bizarre roster. The title was eventually released on the Super Nintendo in 1995 and as part of a compilation of titles for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2002.

EARTHWORM JIM

While it’s more of a memory today, “Earthworm Jim” was a minor multimedia sensation in the 1990s. After their success making “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” action figures, Playmates Toys wanted to create their own video game-based pop culture franchise. After receiving a sketch of a worm in a battle suit from Doug TenNapel, Shiny Entertainment began work on “Earthworm Jim.”

Released by Interplay Entertainment across platforms starting in 1994, the platformer follows Jim as he fights bizarre enemies like Psy-Crow and Bob the Killer Goldfish, and save Princess Whats-Her-Name. The title embraces its inherently bizarre concept and fills its brilliantly-designed levels with a charming offbeat humor. With its unique art style, fluid animation and inspired gameplay, the game received widespread acclaim and became one of that era’s most beloved titles. “Earthworm Jim’s” success spawned a two-season Saturday morning cartoon, an action figure line and a series of sequels that were increasingly less successful.

COMIC JUMPER: THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN SMILEY

After releasing a pair of fairly successful indie games, Twisted Pixel Games offered their “Earthworm Jim” inspired take on offbeat superheroes with “Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley.” Released for the Xbox 360 on the Xbox Live Arcade in 2010, the game follows the self-aware superhero Captain Smiley as he tries to improve his comic book’s failing sales.

In the action platformer, players take control of the smiley-faced hero as he learns the key to higher comic sales through distinct levels based on a fantasy epic, shojo manga and Silver Age superhero titles. In an unusual twist, each of these levels has a drastically different design sense and graphic presentation. Shortly before its release, the title character’s appearance caused a brief controversy with the indie comics publisher Fierce Comics and their character the Maniacal Smile. Despite that, the game was fairly well-liked, with many reviews praising its varied visuals and its fourth wall-breaking humor. Other critics argued that the gameplay suffered from the title’s focus on comedy.

WONDERFUL 101

While Nintendo’s Wii U seems destined to be remembered as one of the developer’s less popular consoles, its unique design still gave developers a chance to work with some non-traditional gameplay mechanics. In 2013, PlatinumGames unleashed their new take on the superhero game with “The Wonderful 101.” While most superhero games follow a single character or a small team of heroes, this game lets players control an ever-growing horde of superheroes that swells past the century mark.

With a sense of design that draws from both classic American superhero and Japanese tokusatsu (teams like Power Rangers, etc.) troupes, players take control of members of a team called the Wonderful Ones as they try to repel a Geathjerk alien invasion led by Jergingha. In the third-person title, the human heroes can combine “Voltron”-style into a giant creature called a Unite Morph to take on Galactus-sized threats. Players can design each Unite Morph’s shapes by drawing on the Wii U’s touchscreen. While this gameplay mechanic was met with mixed praise, the overall game was positively-received thanks to its comedic story and fair-but-challenging level of difficulty.

SONIC BLAST MAN

Most superhero games feature traditional control schemes built around joysticks and button-mashing, but Tatio’s “Sonic Blast Man” gives players the chance to put on its title character’s gloves. Released to arcades in 1990, gameplay in this first-person adventure was based around a pair of boxing gloves and a quick-drawing punch pad. When players hit the pad, onscreen enemies like armed thugs and a giant crab monster would take damage. Although the arcade cabinet ironically stated that it was “a machine dedicated to peace,” several players were injured while using the machine. Taito ultimately recalled the machine in 1995 and was fined by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

In 1992, a home version of the game was released on the Super Nintendo. This version of the game was a fairly standard side-scrolling brawler. In bonus levels inspired by the arcade version, players have to charge the characters strength by repeatedly hitting the D-pad’s buttons in a circle. The console version of the game received mixed reviews and a 1994 sequel that remains unreleased in the United States.

VIEWTIFUL JOE

While games like “Comic Jumper” use game mechanics inspired by superhero comic books, Capcom’s “Viewtiful Joe” stars a superhero built around movie special effects. Released for the GameCube in 2003 and PlayStation 2 in 2004, this 3D side-scrolling beat ‘em up follows Joe, a superhero movie buff who gets sucked into Movieland and becomes the tokusatsu-inspired Viewtiful Joe with the aid of the aging hero Captain Blue.

In the game, players control Joe as he tries to rescue his girlfriend Silvia and stop a group of villains called the Jadow from escaping into the real world. With a film strip representing his available VFX Power, Joe can move in “bullet time” and use other special effects-based powers. The title was widely praised and a commercial success which spawned a handful of sequels and an anime series. Joe also appeared in Archie Comics’ “Worlds Collide” crossover and a few Capcom fighting games that include 2011’s “Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds” and could include the upcoming “Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.”

IMPOSSAMOLE

From characters like “Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew” to Rocket Raccoon, animal superheroes are nothing new. Gremlin Graphics’ Monty Mole stands out from other animal heroes since he was already an established figure before donning a cape and tights. In 1984, Monty Mole debuted in “Wanted: Monty Mole” as a coal-collecting miner before becoming the company’s mascot and appearing in five subsequent games. In 1990, Gremlin and Core Design’s final Monty adventure saw the creature gain a super-powers in “Impossamole” for the Commodore 64, TurboGrafx-16 and a few other systems

In the action platformer, players control Monty’s alter ego, Impossamole, as he tries to recover the pieces of a lost alien scroll and defeat the villainous Vlarg. Like “Mega Man,” each of the game’s first few themed levels could be completed in any order before the final boss stage. While it’s largely forgotten today, the title was moderately well-reviewed upon release.

PAJAMA SAM 3

Originally billed by developer Humongous Entertainment as “the world’s youngest superhero,” Pajama Sam starred in a hugely successful series of children’s educational games starting in the late 1990s. In the point-and-click series, players control Pajama Sam, the heroic alter ego of a young boy who learns life lessons through a series of “Calvin and Hobbes”-esque adventures. While all of these games feature bizarre adventures, nothing tops 2000’s “Pajama Sam 3: You Are What You Eat from Your Head to Your Feet.”

In this game, players control Pajama Sam as he tries to make peace between warring factions of junk food and vegetables on Mop Top Island. Although the game is theoretically supposed to teach children about a balanced diet, the “Alice in Wonderland”-esque adventure sees Sam thrown into Candy Cane Jail and rescuing delegates for a peace conference. While most of the games in the Pajama Sam series received positive reviews, this game was heralded for its surprisingly complex storyline and animated cut scenes.

SUPERHERO LEAGUE OF HOBOKEN

While characters like the Tick have endured for decades by making good-natured fun of superheroes, Legend Entertainment’s “Superhero League of Hoboken” excelled upon its release but failed to leave a lasting impression. Released for DOS in 1994, the game takes place in a post apocalyptic United States where nuclear war has given most of the remaining population bizarre super-powers. While some like the evil Dr. Entropy try to use their powers for personal gain, the Superhero League of Hoboken tries to restore civilized order.

In the role-playing game, players control Crimson Tape, who has the power to create organized charts, as he leads the League in their battle to restore order. Over the course of the game, players strengthen the League and are joined by new members like rust-causing Oxide Man and Mademoiselle Pepperoni, who’s able to see through pizza boxes. The game’s mix of humor with first-person exploration and turn-based combat earned it high praise when it was released, with a few awards calling it one of the best games of 1994.

BOOGERMAN: A PICK AND FLICK ADVENTURE

As several entries on this list show, superhero satires have really had a chance to shine on video game consoles. While most straightforward superhero games star characters from Marvel or DC, these satires have given developers a chance to follow their creative muses with outlandish original characters. Interplay Entertainment’s “Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure” is a perfect example of the kinds of things major superheroes just can’t do.

Released on the Sega Genesis in 1994 and on Super Nintendo in 1995, this side-scrolling platformer follows its titular hero as he sneezes his way through a pun-filled adventure. The title’s levels were defined by neon green slime and gross-out toilet humor that was a brilliant match for its adolescent target audience. Despite its purposefully disgusting trappings, the game was a solid platformer that received mostly positive reviews. Along with Earthworm Jim, Boogerman appeared in Interplay’s high-selling fighting game “ClayFighter 63 & 1/3” in 1997. Although a remaster of the game was released in 2008, an attempt to fund a sequel through Kickstarter fizzled out in 2013.

CAPTAIN RAINBOW

In 2014, the Michael Keaton-starring “Birdman” earned a slew of awards for its portrayal of an actor defined by his role as a superhero. Six years earlier, Skip Ltd. and Nintendo covered the same thematic ground to drastically different results with 2008’s “Captain Rainbow” for the Wii. Released exclusively in Japan, this game followed Nick, an actor whose tokusatsu show, “Captain Rainbow,” has been hemorrhaging viewers.

In the third-person game, players control Nick and his alter-ego Captain Rainbow as they navigate Mimiin Island, a land filled with Kirarin Crystals that can make wishes come true. On the island, Nick comes across once-popular Nintendo characters like “Super Mario Bros 2’s” Birdo and “Punch Out!’s” Little Mac. As Nick and the yo-yo-wielding Captain Rainbow, the player must help these other characters out before making their own wish. Although the game received fairly positive reviews, it was a commercial flop and was never localized into any English market.

SAINTS ROW IV

In 2006, Volition and THQ’s “Saints Row” followed a gang leader in a solid open world crime game that could sit comfortably next to “Grant Theft Auto.” While other crime games strived to be more realistic or cinematic, the Saints Row franchise became an exercise in escalation, with each game more ambitious than the last. By 2013’s “Saints Row IV,” that same protagonist had been elected President of the United States and was given super-powers in order to help fight off an alien invasion.

Released by Volition and Deep Silver for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the game gives players the opportunity to wreak havoc in an alien-created virtual reality that’s filled with the rogues gallery of former “Saints Row” enemies and references to famous science fiction games and films. In the simulation, the player has telekinesis and a handful of elemental powers that later become available in the game’s real world. The title was a commercial and critical success, with reviews praising its over-the-top humor and robust character-creation engine.

CAPTAIN NOVOLIN

By any metric, “Captain Novolin” is one of the most peculiar games on the Super Nintendo. The title was funded by the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Norodisk and released by Raya Systems as part of their educational line of games. It was meant to teach children about diabetes and healthy living in a release that tows the line between public service announcement and corporate advertisement.

Developed by Sculptured Software, the 2D side-scroller lets players control its titular hero as he battles junk food-shaped aliens and tries to keep his glucose level in a safe zone by eating healthy meals. The game also features trivia questions and a special feature to help diabetic players time insulin injections. Contemporary studies reportedly said that the game largely succeeded in its goal of helping children understand and explain diabetes. Despite its intentions, the game has received largely negative reviews from the gaming press that criticized its graphics and poor, unresponsive controls.

COMIX ZONE

While comic books were still seen as a novelty by the larger world of pop culture in the 1990s, Sega’s “Comix Zone” embraced the trappings of the field in a way few works did outside of the medium. Released for the Sega Genesis in 1994, the game follows Sketch Turner, a comic book artist and rock musician who looks like a cross between Poochie and Adam X, The X-Treme.

After being struck by lightning, Sketch is sucked into his own comic book, also called “Comix Zone,” where he must battle his own creations in order to save the world. In the 2D side-scrolling brawler, players control Sketch as he speaks in word balloons, maneuvers through comic panels and rips off pieces of the page to throw at his own creations. While some contemporary reviews criticized its repetitive gameplay and slightly-too-hard difficulty, the title received considerable praise for its graphics and design. More recently, the game’s reputation has grown due to its faithful reflection of the 1990s cultural and comics zeitgeist.

MEGA MAN SOCCER

With countless appearances in other media and a rogues gallery of villains on par with Batman and Spider-Man, Mega Man might be the most famous superhero from the world of video games. While most of the character’s appearances have featured side-scrolling platforming action, some of the Capcom icon’s other games have placed him in other odder scenarios like kart racing. In 1994, Mega Man embarked on his strangest adventure yet with Capcom and Sun L’s “Mega Man Soccer” on the Super Nintendo.

Depending on the game mode, players play soccer with either a team of eight identical characters or eight different characters from the world of Mega Man. For the most part, the game operates like a standard soccer game, but each robot features a special move that can temporarily stun anyone who touches the ball, including the goalie. Although this bizarre game is technically in Mega Man continuity, it received mixed reviews that criticized its poor controls and choppy gameplay while praising its sheer absurdity.

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