#or a shiro vs lance and hunk type thing

[leenfiend]

Kissing you on the mouth for your Lance son of Hermes take. I didn't even really have an opinion before but after reading your post I'm immediately sold and so invested in the au

Do you have ideas on what the other characters godly parents would be? Hunk with Hephaestus makes sense to me, and I'm a fan of Keith son of Ares (learning to accept his godly dad could match with his arc about accepting he's part galra, a supposedly evil/violent side of him, + the anger and fighting skills), but not sure about the others...

hello!!! I'm glad you see the vision hehe. I actually sent many a paragraph to heynhay about this only yesterday. I was firmly on the son of Ares Keith headcanon but then... someone reblogged my post saying Keith son of Zeus (I think it was @pidges-lost-robot and i was like WAAAAIT.

Okay so here's my many many paragraphs explaining headcanons for each. Shiro son of Zeus: Okay so in my head Shiro & Keith are both sons of Zeus but for very different reasons. They're like Thalia vs Jason types. Shiro is a great leader, he's ambitious, he's brave, he's a legend. His dad is so proud. He's been on like 20 quests and absolutely demolished all of them. All the kids in camp know he's So Cool and Talented. He can be hot headed sometimes but ultimately he's really adept at setting aside his feelings for the Greater Good etc. Ideal hero type and ideal son to the big guy upstairs. Keith son of Zeus: Keith is all the bad traits of Zeus (sorry to him). He's got a short temper, he's impulsive, he's closed off. He's a prodigy without meaning to be. Everyone pays attention to him but (despite what Lance thinks) it's because they think he's a freak, he's not a big three kid the way you're Supposed To Be. And he doesn't want to be a leader. This really rubs Zeus the wrong way. Keith would rather disappear into the ranks of his fellow campers than be the star of the show and that goes against everything children of Zeus are supposed to be. His dad definitely refuses to claim him for a long time which makes Keith just some weird really powerful kid who doesn't know who his godly parent is. Luckily Shiro takes him under his wing : )) (too bad Shiro doesn't come back from his latest quest tho, no one knows where he went off to and Chiron doesn't want to send out a quest because if something kept Shiro The Legend from coming back to camp it must be really bad). Hunk son of Aphrodite: ANOTHER ONE I'M FIRM ABOUT. I think Hunk's defining characteristic is his love for his friends. Hunk is always looking for peaceful ways to solve problems, he's always forming relationships with people before doing anything else, he really values giving love to those around him. It also doesn't hurt that he's kind of squeamish and particular about a lot of things, as a lot of Aphrodite's children are. But I really think his greatest strengths are the ways he's able to relate to others. I know a lot of people say Lance is the glue that holds everyone together, but I think it's Hunk. I know the fanon is that Aphrodite's kids are all just big flirts but I think both Selena and Piper are great examples that that's not true, and Hunk would absolutely be their brother. Pidge daughter of Hephaestus: I've seen some people saying Athena for Pidge but that's another one where I just can't get behind it. Pidge is so smart in so many ways but so stupid in others. She's too impulsive and single minded to be a daughter of Athena, imo. Her main love is figuring out how things work, what makes them tick, and using that knowledge to help those she loves. Children of Hephaestus are know to hold grudges, fight for their families, and let's not forget Hephaestus spending literally all of his free time trying to play pranks on the other Gods with his little contraptions like that is all Pidge would do all day long. Plus she befriends a robot and that is who she talks to for the first like 3 episodes of Voltron that is so unbelievably child of Hephaestus energy. Anyway thank u for asking this question I've been thinking on it for days. I am also open to the idea of Shiro being a son of Athena, I think that would suit him well. And also in my head I like to think Keith would potentially just remain unclaimed until he stomped his way to Mount Olympus and forced whoever was his parent to fess up.

[sapphicvevo]

re: on shiro, favoritism, lance and hunk, and s2

@gayofthewild this was such a good question that i put a lot of thought into, and i ended up making a really long ass reply that was originally gonna just be a reply in the photo posting part of tumblr, but i figured i’d make it into a text post so i can read more it  because it got REALLY LONG and just so i can talk about it in depth like i wanted to! 

but to be super clear, i agree with you whole heartedly!!!! it really IS hard to tell when it’s an actual character flaw or a writing one, especially when it comes to voltron, especially on this particular topic with shiro’s treatment towards lance and hunk in season 2. 

for a while i didn’t have a really concrete opinion about this other than that ‘yes this is a really shitty aspect about shiro’s character and should be discussed but i dont know if i really like how it’s being discussed in the fandom right now’. because a lot of it at the time was really black and white, and while a lot of the discussions about racism and pedophilia in this fandom isn’t black and white and never will be, this one is a little trickier imo.

talking about shiro’s favortism towards pidge and keith, which like, yes it’s canon he holds a certain favortism towards them and it’s expected because shiro feels a sort of obligation and guilt towards pidge because he knew her father and brother and w as there when they all got separated, and he’s here now and they’re still missing and he’s left taking care of his crew’s daughter and younger sister so he’s going to feel a certain extra level of care and compassion for her. and shiro and keith had a relationship  before the kerberos mission, a very influential one if keith’s “without you i’d be someone very different today” has anything to say about it. which also makes a lot of sense imo why he’d tell keith he wants him to take over the black paladin considering he’s known him longer, even though allura is definitely more qualified to be black paladin off of skill and leadership capabilities at the time alone.

but shiro’s still the leader, even though he never may have wanted to be, considering he’s the oldest amongst all these teenagers. he still has an obligation to lance, hunk, and allura to consider their capabilities, their opinions, and everything else when it comes to voltron, because as he said in the first episode they’re a team and everyone’s influence is important in order to make a team work in the best way. so shiro automatically dismissing hunk, lance, or even allura for certain things isn’t what a leader is supposed to do, especially considering how OPPOSITE of that shiro was in season 1. (minus shiro not listening to hunk’s suspicion about rolo, which is really the only instance i can think of right now of shiro dismissing the three of them in season 1)

but here’s where it gets messy because season 2 treated lance, hunk, and allura POORLY. (i’d say they also screwed over shiro and keith for angst and to follow a certain plot line instead of how the characters would actually react based on s1 characterizations, but that’s a post for another day maybe, but the season still focused on them and pointed them in the right for the entire season so that’s like.. DEFINITELY for another post lol). lance was treated as comic relief, dumbed down to make pidge look smarter, barely there and barely had any characterization besides being flirty, one episode, and like 5 seconds of touching on his insecurities before getting over it (and that’s until season 3 proves otherwise). hunk was ignored, dumbed down also to make pidge look smarter also, and had so many fat jokes and talked about food i can barely remember lines where he wasn’t talking about it (also got CHAINED to a fucking kitchen. AND PEOPLE TRIED TO DEFEND IT ON WHY IT WASN’T NASTY). allura was treated horribly too. she had a storyline where she had distrust and anger towards a group of the universe’s oppressors who DESTROYED her entire planet and people and was treated as the impossible one throughout it. she was told that ‘not all galra’ bullshit, yelled at by characters while not even considering her side, and treated like she was being unreasonable for being cautious because the last time her people trusted the galra…. they blew up her entire planet. and instead of a conversation between her and keith where they both tried to understand the other’s point of view to come together to find a mutual ground, she apologized to keith where keith didn’t say anything about how he could’ve understood where she was coming from.

so when people criticize shiro for dismissing lance and hunk in season 2, i wanna agree really badly! i wanna be like YES HE FUCKING DID AND IT SHOULD BE CALLED OUT. but we also gotta remember that shiro isn’t his own person and he’s being written by white people who thought all of the above shit was okay. so i totally understand why you’d get confused because for a long time i was confused about this topic also. but i think this is where it comes down to season 3.

here’s how in my opinion that shiro dismissing lance and hunk can be considered a character flaw if it’s written well in season 3: the show actually acknowledges that shiro holds favortism for pidge and keith. lance, hunk, and allura discuss this with him. shiro, who’s a character who’s known to be understanding, calm, and receptive takes it into their consideration, considers what they’re saying, has a conversation about it, and realizes that they have a point and explains his side as well. they consider each other’s view points mutually, because if shiro is ignoring them i really don’t think that it’s intentionally or out of malicious contempt for them. they understand each other, apologize to each other, and shiro works on this while still maintaining his relationships with keith and pidge because it’s human to feel closer to other people, while hunk, lance and allura feel comfortable, respected and heard within the team, and they understand why shiro is the way he is.

but if they never bring this up while continuing to paint lance, hunk, or allura as the unreasonable ones? i’d definitely consider it a writing flaw to be quite honest instead of a character one.

as of right now, i wouldn’t be opposed to people calling it a mix of both because all we really have right now is season 2 to base this all off of. i just think people should be careful when criticizing shiro about this as a character by calling him a terrible leader or purposefully hating lance, hunk, or allura by saying he’s purposefully hurting lance when lance has never in canon come to him about this particular problem, because in season 2 shiro was also the only one to compliment lance about his sharpshooting skills and recognize his importance to team voltron.  

tldr: season 2 is a mess and the writers are even MESSIER. when criticizing shiro for ignoring lance, hunk, and allura and their treatment in season 2 it should really also be acknowledged of the writers influence to how he’s written in response to these characters and their interactions, but in no way am i defending it.

[ashkazora]

One more tragic thing about Five!Lance is that his relationship and feelings about the team vs the teams relationship and feelings towards him is really skewed. Unlike canon Five, Five!Lance had an opportunity to build his relationship with the team and grew closer to them which was why their deaths hit him so hard. But now that he is in past it's pretty much back to square one and he doesn't even know if he could rebuild the same type of closeness again. They are the same yet so different

Oh yeah, anon, of course. Getting sent back to the start of everything, Five!Lance is left kinda floundering at what to do with his friends. He remembers the late night sparring sessions with Keith, the sleepovers and spa days with Allura, the whispered talks at the dead of night with Shiro, the video game sessions with Pidge, and the comfort he could always find in Hunk. But the others? They don't.

He's essentially back to the first base with so much knowledge of his teammates, yet can't connect with any of them. Just because he sees them as close confidants, friends, and a family, they don't see him like that. Not yet.

And, well, to Five!Lance, maybe it's better that he doesn't form a relationship with them at all this time around. HIs memories of his old friends back when they were paladins are so rose-tinted that he can't bare to have something different.

[storiesbeyondthestars]

Something interesting i noticed: in keith’s flashback in s7ep1 there are blatant parallels to lance in s1ep1. Theyre both doing risky maneuvers in the simulator and even comment on the stick “sticks loose” vs “getting a feel for the stick” and they get the team reprimanded by iverson even the camera angle is the same and also “the only reason ur here is bc of shiro” vs “the only reason ur here is bc the best pilot dropped out”

Good catch!

1. They’re both goofing off at first. Keith ends up bumping into Lance without a care, while Lance honestly doesn’t care that he’s making Hunk feel sick. They use the exact same excuse. (As little Lance says that Keith’s going to end up being a cargo pilot if he keeps it up, their first year is probably pretty general and after that they get more specific (type of pilot, communication, engineering, etc).

2. They both get called out on their behaviour. Of course there’s also the parallel of Hunk being sick in both, but I wanted to focus on Keith and Lance. Both are essentially called out by the people they’re working with. 

3.They both respond in the exact same way: by showing off. Seriously, if you didn’t know the two pics were from completely different years, you’d think they were for the same scene.

4. Iverson then uses their failure as a lesson/motivator for the class by talking to everyone at large. When they’re younger, Iverson is less harsh on Keith, which makes sense because they’re younger. By the time they’re older, the expectations are there that they should be at least a bit proficient. 

5. Three things here actually. Firstly is Iverson’s posture when lecturing. He stands tall, gets in close and leans towards them. That’s the same in both. Keith and Lance respond differently to the intimidating, of course, but Iverson is saying different things. 

Keith doesn’t give a shit. He’s used to being on the bad end of teachers. This yelling? This does nothing for him. Lance though, Lance is visibly more intimidated, looking up at him and making eye contact, as opposed to how Keith stares forward, ignores him, doesn’t care.

Then of course, the exact parallel is the wording of ‘you’re only here because of this other person’. In Keith’s case, Shiro. In Lance’s case, Keith. It doesn’t matter who’s saying it, the point is that it’s there.

It actually sets up how things work with both Keith and Shiro, as well as Lance and Keith. 

I included the part with Iverson, because it’s what I’m getting at. Firstly, before he even says this, Lance is following in Keith’s footsteps already and he continues to do that again and again.

Not only that, but Keith himself is following in Shiro’s footsteps. This is literally shown in the lions where Keith goes Red>Black, Lance goes Blue>Red. If something ever happens to Keith, Lance is going to go into Black (and I think we may end up getting that in S8, but not permanently, just to help Keith like Keith helped Shiro because, again, stepping into each other’s footsteps!

[wofuru]

Voltron s8 (long post sorry)

So ... voltron has come to an end (unless there are more surprises coming). And I will say right of the bat that I am devastated.

I know this is 'only' a tv show, but let me explain some things to get you on the same line. I started a little late on the VLD train thinking it was only a mecha anime show at first and then I saw the character designs. Shiro caught my attention right away and Keith as well. And then watched season 1. That moment when Keith finds Shiro and turns his head, his expression at seeing the only person he loves and that have been there for him being alive after all... I fell in love with their relationship. I thought ‘huh oh ... I think I got a pairing I will be shipping XD’ and tough myself as silly. 

And then as the episodes went on, the more we got to see a beautiful, respectful relationship between two men that are equals. Yes Shiro is technically his superior according to ranks at the garrison, but he treat him and all the other paladins as equals. He is their leader, but most of all their friends. Shiro/Keith relationship evolves through the serie, but have always been on the basis that they love each other so so much, but do not stop the other from taking risks, they trust in each other strenghts while they still worry for each other. They keep saving each other in so many ways that are shown to us through the series. 

Sheith vs gays representation in stories/series

Sheith has been since the beginning something more than any of us, more then what anyone could have expected. They represent something we haven’t seen before. And this is a m/m couple relationship that is pure, non-toxic and natural, not forced. And also not between background characters. Yes we have been having as the LGBTQ2+ community more representations in the last few years in different shows. while females couple were more rarely seen at the beginning, they were there as a beautiful and cherished relationship and treated as normal (unless it falls under the stereotype that it’s hawt because its 2 girls having sex in the mind of classical straight guy characters representation). But with m/m relationship, we have been shown as either toxic relationship in which one or both partners cheat with sleeping with someone else or are blatantly sleeping around with just everyone (cheating or as an open relationship sort of). Every gay couple shown as kinky stereotyped relationship that are together only to have sex all the time and nothing else. IN the rare cases that it is not the situation we see, instead we get a character that we learn is gay after a while and mentions having someone in their life that we either never see or are simply a nobody OR someone super stereotyped like a girly boy or drag queen (in which there is nothing wrong with being at all, but they are used as a moquery to being gay in these cases which IS disrespectful). Sheith is the 1st relationship that are neither these. Both are important characters, both are strong characters and none girly to have like a “Who’s the girl in the couple” vibe. They are equals, have a healthy and interesting relationship. Every interactions they have are natural and transpire sensibilities that as men we are still told or shamed everyday if we dare show or talk about. 

AND take into account that not only adults watch the show. Kids of all age love those characters for WHO THEY ARE and learn that it is alright to love people around them, to show them. That it is not wrong to be two boys and love each other so so much, to show your affection towards the other. 

Shiro is also a man that was sick and lived with it knowing he had little time left. He got abducted, abused in so many ways. Lost an arm and still continues to love and care about people. He still continues to fight to what is right, despite his ptsd, despite all. 

Characters in the season

What Season 8 did (and 7 as well to a certain extent) is show us that it doesn’t matter how hard you fight, how hard you care, you’ll get everything get ripped from your hands. Life won’t be kind to you ever. Shiro lost the black lion for no real reason, just an excuse to have Keith become the main character. But moreover got shoved on the side in a corner to be seen once in a while so we in the fandom would not rant too much about him barely existing anymore as a character. In s8 they have stripped him of every character traits he had to make him become the basic space ship AI character type that speaks to only to explain what the audience and the other characters needs to be explained to let the story move on. He does not even get to be the one leading the meetings and building the strategy. Every occasion they had, he was put on the back up line to let Voltron pass forward. He became a plastic character with no personality. 

As for Keith... Keith got every dialogue Shiro would have normally have, even the phrasing of how he speaks is not reminiscence of himself, but the same as Shiro speaks, his words, attitude, everything. So his personality was thrown out the window. The goal of the series had been for him to evolve from the right arm character to a leader (which does not stand right with me for other reasons I will speak in another post maybe in the future), but that is understandable. But for that, he didn’t have to become someone else. Being a leader can be done different ways. Yes Shiro was and is a big influence in his life, but they are two different persons. Why they are so strong together is because they complete one another. Keith could have picked on some things from Shiro, but make it is own that is what I mostly want to say. To see him preside the meetings at the garrison, make the strategy, tell people what to do inside the Atlas, not just the Voltron team is simply bad, both for him and for Shiro’s character. This is completely OOC in many ways and also put Shiro in the corner as non existant, especially since we see in the room with them sitting and saying nothing. 

I have been speaking mostly of Sheith, but the other paladins also lost all their flavors in this season to become 1 dimensional. Hunk is the cook that cares, Pidge the genius geek and Lance ... the worried boyfriend, Allura the character that wants to save everyone herself alone and will stop at nothing to do so. All the side characters of the series were on point, but none of the main cast characters were. Every paladins became those plot exposition devices to explain what was going on because it became so condensed with concepts and ideas that were interesting yes, but there is such a thing a too many things happening. And with all those things they have sacrificed what the people loved the most about the series and it was the characters and their story. The season was about mechas fighting mechas so the universe would not explode too much or will come back. 

Wrapping everything up

Through the series we met a lot of different people, planets and all. We even got the AUs that were confirmed and given in a way to the fandom to validate that all the content fans have been doing were considered as possible because of the infinite quantity of realities in which the characters could have had different lives. This was truly a beautiful gift to everyone, to every crack ships even. 

Now in season 8 we see all those aspects being reduced to shreds. The paladins of old are shown, but disappear forever. The olkari gets destroy and we never hear from them again, all the realities get destroyed expect the one we are following which makes it so that ONLY this one is the real one starting from there. Putting the fans to realize that however this ends in the next minutes of the show, this will be the only possibility the story will end, so you better put your seat belt on, because if your ship doesn’t happen, then no hope for you. 

Pairings and couples

Allura and Lance became a couple through this season after a well evolving relationship through the season, but at the end Allura sacrifice herself, with the team not really trying to stop her, except Lance. Which does not make sense since they do not even react that much until she says her goodbyes to everyone. So they kill one of the pairing right here and there saying that Lance will always think of her and remember her. He gets marks just to remember him more. But there is no chance of redemption, Allura is dead, becoming cosmic dust in the skies. 

Punk didn’t happen, but this is something we could have anticipated. Since they do not seem to be with someone else, this at least gives lenience to an open ending game for them. 

And now Sheith ... at the very end, they have decided that Keith would go back to the Galras and try to make them evolve in a better society, which is interesting BUT. As we see in the 1 year later skip, they do not seem to have been in contact with him at all because they were asking news on how things were going with the Galras. And Shiro is the one asking so it means that they haven’t both been in contact in a long while. Then comes the epilogue in which we see Keith continue to travel the galaxies helping people in his separate way and Shiro ... gets married to a nobody that we never saw before s8 (unless maybe in the background once in s7 I hear). They made the guy speak a few lines during this season and these moments always seemed forced implanted so we would know who he is sort of. The whole s8 (and even 7 to a certain extent), Keith and Shiro never interacts. Like at all. They become complete strangers. Keith is seen behind Shiro at the marriage seen like a posted image half hidden. Which does not make sense and is simply insulting to the fans. If they were not romantically involved, they were if anything at least best friends, there were their everything. And Keith telling Shiro he loved him was never addressed, the whole black paladins episode either. They never talked about it on screen and if it was behind the scene ... it made Shiro stop talking with Keith entirely ? Which he would simply never do and Keith would never abandon Shiro either. We have seen him run the universe times and times again to help him, save him, be there for him. To have Shiro simply leave (and become a HOUSE WIFE no less) is worse then killing the ship, it is an insult to every gay out there. This tells us all that it is ok to be gay, but choose someone that nobody will care so it does not make waves, that when you do, leave to live the discreet life and abandon your dreams and your personality. That basically you need to lose yourself, to hide, to be afraid. That if you tell someone you love that you love them (especially between guys), you will lose them, that they will never speak to you again. 

And THAT is the problem. Yes I am sad my ship didn’t become canon on screen, but if they had made an open ending, it would have been just fine. Have Shiro arrive when Keith leaves for the galras saying ‘hey Keith, we need to talk’ or just leave with them. Anything, but not this. But aside from just my ship, don’t just coward behind because you are afraid to show a main m/m couple show on screen. Sheith is the most beautiful gay representation in American history and instead, DW decided (not Lauren and Dos, I mean above them who made these decisions) litterally piss on our face and throw a bone at usby marrying Shiro to a guy to say hey you got your representation and we are the first animated show to have a gay marriage seen... but it does not count DW. The guy is a nobody cares about, this is just throwing gays under the rug, again. 

Modified scenes

With everything that have been digged out by now after s8 dropped, we now know that this ending was NOT the one the creators did and wanted. They wanted to most likely make Sheith cannon, and I am pretty sure this wedding sequence was suppose to be Keith and Shiro due to a post Lauren made not so long ago about what seemed to be it showing a black and a red hearts which has been the representation logos the fans have been using for Sheith since the beginning. I also found this last scene when the lions leaves slightly off. The moment we see Shiro and Keith one behind the other (which is gorgeous), Shiro seemed weird and I realized why by seeing someone talk about it on twitter. Shiro is missing his left arm at that moment and shoulder making him look was thinner. Which look like he was there maybe with his hand on Keith’s shoulder like on the drawing Lauren gave us the day before the season aired.  We know that Ezor was supposed to be dead, but they brought her back after all with another VA which means they did this change very last second and couldn’t get the VA to join perhaps. They added scenes with this couple maybe to purchase our silence into the lgbtq2+ community representation, so we would have 2 couples and shouldn’t whine about it. But ... by doing this and sacrificing maybe scene Shiro and Keith had during this season to have none at all is again just an insult to the fans of the serie. S8 was bad from beginning to end. Some elements were fine, but 90% not. This is an insult to the fandom, to the dedicated fans and also to the crew who worked on the show for so long. 

.... with all that said, since we know now that LM/DS didn’t have this ending in mind, this means the S8 ending (at least the epilogue) is actually not canon. Yes it was aired, but it was made by people who took the final result, basically sabotaged/vandalized it and gave it to people to see. Sheith is canon and this is not fine that it ends this way. I do pray they will hear us all and make things right. Give us the real footage of this season, release it to us and even better remove the season we have on netflix now and put the real one. This is something they can do, they have the real footings. And some series have done this before by removing episodes that ended up being racist and disrespectful. Making things right would prove they care about the fans of the show and the people that were there to support them and also the crew who worked so hard and made so much efforts and put their soul into their work. 

I’ll still be posting Sheith arts and fic. This relationship have moved me like nothing ever did in my life (and I am 32) and made me get back on my feet from a very dark place. I am like Shiro, I have ptsd due to events that happened in my life that were done to me. I was judged all my life and worked hard to be where I am today. I am disabled in some ways and also come from an abusive family where I was raised to be a slave. Seeing a show like voltron, a character like Shiro made me see what I was and the wounds I had that I was walking on all those years. Because of him I finally got the courage to get to see doctors and specialists to heal all those wounds so they would become scars. And I know I am not the only one. Voltron was the best thing that happened to me in many ways and to see it destroy so many lives now (because this is what this season has done) is the saddest thing. I am scared to see kids when scars from this and I know this is already happening. And adults will have to. 

Send your love to the animators and VAs and LM/DS for all their work and let’s hope we can fix this somehow or help them do it. 

[sunset-spring]

Hey, I'm kind of scared to ask you this, but I wanted to know what you thought of the epilogue in Season 8. I'm terrified of what you'll say, but you seem to be a very logical and clear-headed thinker, so I am kind of curious. If the answer isn't good, then please respond privately. Thank you.

It’s ok, I’m not gonna lie I’m nervous about a lot of questions related to season 8 just because so many people have such hard line stances and opinions on it. I have a lot of the same fear talking about it for the same reasons I’m sure you were scared of even asking. Whether you like or dislike s8 or like it, it’s not a big deal to me - no judgement either way. Opinions are varied and everyone has their own reasons for either.

On to the actual epilogue, some context I wanna give is that I had seen spoilers for the season even though I couldn’t watch it til a few days later. I had a prior family thing and I was stressed and I went to tumblr on my phone to look at some art to keep me calm. So I saw a lot of reactions to the season as a whole, but I couldn’t tell what reactions were genuine problems or what were over dramatized hate when I didn’t have full context. 

So when I watched the season, the expectations I went in with were “there might be some things that I’m not going to enjoy, and some that are overblown.” And when I watched it… that was pretty much what I got. There were definitely some problems, but there was also a lot that I think was made out to be way worse than I personally found them to be.

The epilogue itself gets a lot of weight and importance put on it. And personally I wonder if it’s in part because it was leaked before the season aired. When I watched it, I felt very neutral to it. No super strong feelings either way, mostly just “oh, that makes sense for this character, but this doesn’t work very well and is not a great fit.”

Which I guess is a segue to talk about the individual bits in detail. This is going to be long and I’ll do my best to organize it for ease of reading, but I want to go into all my thoughts and logic as best I can and that might result in a bit of a lengthy read, so if it gets a bit ramble-y and confusing, I apologize:

Pidge and Hunk ended up in a place that I felt was very natural for both of them. 

Pidge using her passion for technology to help defend the universe alongside her family was something that felt like it was true to her personality and something that’s a very good world-building aspect for what would happen after the story took place. The concept was something I interested in all the way back in season 3, and is part of what inspired my cadet squad AU initially. So seeing that happen didn’t feel out of place to me. 

Hunk as well had always had his passion for cooking as a big part of his character. Seeing him become a chef and using that passion in a way to bring cultures together is a really good and is very in line with his character. We’ve seen him using that skill in other meetings, such as in season 3, and the way he uses cooking to bring people together is a big thing in the final season, as well as for his character overall. Space Mall is another good example, because while it’s mostly for fun and antics it also showed Hunk connecting and changing Sal for the better. 

Keith, Acxa, Ezor and Zethrid slowly turning the Blade into a humanitarian organization is something I’m a bit neutral on. On the one hand, seeing them come together to change a rebellion group that was no longer necessarily needed into an organization to help others has logic to it, and is a very good thing for them to do. But I’m not sure how I feel about it based on their characters and arcs:

We didn’t get a lot of time to get in depth with Acxa, Ezor and Zethrid, so the grounding for them is a bit iffy. I can sort of see it  since they were in a sort of similar position as Lotor’s generals as that Blade of Marmora is in terms of role: a rebel group that is based on taking down the old empire. And due to what we know of their backgrounds, they were people who were in an “us vs them” mentality based on how they were treated. The conflict of Ezor and Zethrid as warlords vs Acxa who chose to go on a separate path was supposed to show how the damage of that mindset could escalate into something harmful, even with people who had genuine reason to have it - I think that could even be applied to Lotor at least to some degree with how he broke down in season 6. 

I personally think Ezor is probably the best example of this based on her personality, specifically in season 7. We see the fear she has over being hurt and tracked down by others, and then we see her taking joy in the concept of hurting others who she has power over. Because of that fear, whenever she has security and power, she uses it in a very sadistic and spiteful way. That trait is a very natural thing that can occur in situations like her own, and is very understandable. But it’s also very damaging to herself and others.

So having them shift from a mindset of hurting others in order to protect themselves to helping others on a personal level isn’t a bad road to take; in fact it’s one that I think works really well. But because we didn’t get a lot of time to explore their characters more in depth and get to see that transition, I don’t think it works for just a single shot epilogue sequence. It would’ve worked better as it’s own plotline, but with how much already going on and a limited number of episodes to work with I have no idea where they’d fit it. 

Meanwhile for Keith, while he has a basis for being in the Blade already, I don’t really see a strong foundation outside of that. And I think for me, the reason it didn’t have that grounding was because we didn’t get as much with Keith outside of his familial arc with discovering his heritage and mother. That was his sole character focus outside of becoming a leader and Black Paladin, and his arc with becoming a leader was sadly sidelined in season 4 for the other. Which I can understand from a character perspective too - his heritage was an important thing he needed to connect to and understand. But as a result the other sadly didn’t have as much to go on. 

And I think that’s why this was his spot, because had he gotten more development in terms of leadership, I think he would’ve been in that Galactic Coalition leader spot with Krolia and Kolivan. Because with the scene of him with the two of them prior to the feast in the final episode, I feel like that’s where the story wanted him to be, but they also knew that they couldn’t get him there and make it seem earned. So him being the leader of the Blades as a new humanitarian organization feels like a compromise of that. He’s in a leadership position, but not on as big of a scale as the coalition. Which isn’t necessarily that bad, it’s working with what they had to try to get a good medium of what they wanted and what could be done. But it leaves it feeling a bit lacking in terms of personal motivation for Keith. It doesn’t scream “this is Keith making a choice and committing to a cause,” it feels much more like a structured narrative decision rather than an in universe motive for the character.

The final two are the ones I’m most nervous about talking about, because they get the most strong reactions from others. But I’m going to do my best to explain my thoughts.

I can see some of the logic in Lance’s end, but I ultimately think it didn’t convey the message they wanted with his arc very well and as a result ended up with some bad implications.

One of the things with Lance’s arc is that he starts off being a character who talks himself up a lot. He plays himself off as someone really awesome and cool, is very flirtatious, etc. As he continued to progress, we started seeing some of his insecurities. Season 2 introduced the fact that he was worried about not contributing to the team in a way that was substantial, and in season 6 while Pidge and Hunk did their tech and Lotor and Allura were working on the Sincline ship, he was left with little to nothing to do. 

Even with those insecurities, though, the way he responded to them was to actively take steps to improve himself. He doesn’t feel like he has a thing? He trains himself in a specific skill: Sharpshooting. Upset that Allura has chosen to be with another guy? He talks himself through it using the mice as a way to communicate what he’s feeling.

And I want to draw attention to what I feel are some of his biggest defining character development moments. In season 3, when he accepts Keith as the leader, when he talks to him on Thayserix, and when he talks up Allura in season 4 as the heart of Voltron. Moments where he builds others up. And Allura multiple times has talked about those moments with Lance. And her talking about him drove what I believe is his actual character arc, based on those insecurities and the way he plays himself up.

He is enough as who he is. He isn’t contributing any less by not having a niche like Pidge or Hunk, he isn’t supposed to be a grand hero who gets all the glory. He’s Lance, and he’s enough as he is. It’s that simple. 

But the way they choose to show that simplicity in the epilogue is… not the best. They set it up a little with the farm scene in season 4, but overall the choice to make his simple life be living as a farmer has a lot of bad implications based on stereotypes. Which is why so many people have such negative feelings towards it, which is totally understandable and completely valid. 

The idea of him settling in a more simple lifestyle isn’t something I’m apposed to, but I believe that choosing that instead of another type of occupation or lifestyle is a very poor choice, and as a result doesn’t convey his arc well or in a positive light. Which is unfortunate, because I really think that arc is good otherwise.

As for Shiro’s, there’s a lot going on with it and a lot of factors that play into it, which makes it difficult to talk about. 

The marriage is, I believe, a small step in terms of representation, as it’s the first time in western cartoons that a mlm wedding has appeared. But I also admit that because of it being such a small scene with no build up and no relationship to build it up, that it is very flawed. Others have talked about their distaste for it and I understand why, and I also understand those who enjoy it for being there at all. There are also aspects like his retirement that people aren’t fond of, and that’s understandable too, but that’s where I have my own feelings to talk about personally. 

The events of season 7 with Shiro and Adam upset a lot of people, and I myself wasn’t that fond of it. I didn’t feel as strongly as others, but the trope of “Bury Your Gays” is something that has been in media for a long time with a long history. So being upset by it is absolutely valid. The reason I personally didn’t feel as strongly as others was because Shiro, a main character who has fought and survived through the show, was still there, and still a gay man on screen whether he was in a relationship or not. 

The on screen break up I personally didn’t have a problem with either due to the fact that I have personally seen a lot of framing of relationships with abuse and unhealthy dynamics as “straight culture” and gay relationships as inherently free of those types of scenarios. I personally identify as asexual or questioning, but know I’m at least not straight from my own self reflection. And seeing this kind of mentality is very harmful and something I wish would stop because it pushes people within the community to stay in relationships that might potentially be dangerous based on pressure that such dynamics are impossible to occur within a wlw/mlm relationship. There’s also a factor of validity of orientations being erased due to relationship status, such as many people who identify as bisexual having their identity erased by others while  being in a m/f relationship, which is also harmful. While having a healthy and thriving mlm relationship on screen would have been great and a very good thing, I don’t believe the break up itself is a terrible choice because it shows that relationship status take away from someone’s identity.

Not only that, but Adam was not the only character within the show to die on screen, so it was not as if the fact that he was gay was a deliberate target on his back in context. Ulaz, Thace, and many other characters have had on screen deaths from seasons 2-7 before Adam. But as I said, the history behind the trope of “Bury Your Gays” does make Adam’s death sting in a much more personal way for a lot of people, which again is a very valid feeling that I don’t want to brush off. 

So with all that in mind, when the epilogue came and showed Shiro marrying Curtis, that leads to some flaws. Namely the fact that the relationship with Curtis is non-existent, and Curtis himself doesn’t really have much of a character to speak of. The marriage itself is good in the sense that it showed a gay marriage on screen, thus opening the door for other shows to do the same.

But in the context of showing a relationship, there was no relationship to be shown. And if Shiro and Curtis had developed a relationship over the course of the season, it would have been much better for both the story and characters, as well as for showing representation for the LGBT community. Without that, it feels like a last minute addition, which it admittedly was, instead of a genuine show of love and wanting to include a mlm couple. Which in the end, while good intended, it leaves it heavily flawed. Which no hate to anyone who enjoyed it for what it was either. I can genuinely see reasons on both sides why someone would dislike or enjoy it. Personally, the flaws outweighed some of the good for me and keeps me from enjoying it.

As for his retirement, this is where I get far more subjective and into how I personally relate to Shiro, which I know others may disagree with because this is very personal to me specifically I admit. 

When I first started watching Voltron, Shiro was my favorite character. He’s still up there among my faves even with Lotor swooping in after season 3. I loved Shiro’s personality; strong willed leader, open and still fun with the other paladins while still stern when he needed to be. The reason the fan name of Space Dad stuck was very obvious. He was put through hell, continued fighting and came out of it still kicking. And he still had that fun and supportive nature for others as he continued to keep going. 

A lot of people focus on him as mlm representation now, but he’s also representation for those with PTSD. And that’s where I started with him. 

The reason I like Shiro so much is because he reminds me - to an uncanny degree - of my older brother. 

He’s helped raise me my whole life, he taught me how to draw, and he still does so much to support me to this day. And in order to get help paying his student loans, he went into the military and was stationed in Iraq for a short time. He’s back now, and he’s totally fine! And I know many people have opinions on such wars and military, and I agree, trust me. 

And that’s why I don’t have a problem with Shiro’s retirement. After everything he’s been through, while him being a hero is great, I also feel like him stepping back, even if it’s in like a Miyazaki back-in-a-few-years way, is a good thing to show as healthy. Him retiring doesn’t mean he’s not allowed to be a hero, because in the context of the story in hindsight, he has always been gay and has always been a hero. And retiring doesn’t mean he never was, or has stopped being a hero. 

At least to me, but again, this is a very personal opinion and I absolutely understand why people would disagree. But these are just my feelings on the matter. 

That was a very, very, VERY long explanation of my feelings on the epilogue as a whole. I’m pretty sure this is the longest post I’ve ever written. 

But hopefully this has done a good job of explaining my feelings on the epilogue. I’m not really sure how I’d compress it all into a tl;dr, just because there was so much to talk about, so apologies for those who can’t sit and read it all at once. But overall, I was very neutral to it all things considered. 

But thank you @thenorthernphoenix for asking this! I’ve been sitting with these thoughts for a while in my head being nervous about putting them out there, but this helped me really collect them all and hopefully articulate it in a good way.

And again, if you liked the epilogue, more power to you, and if you didn’t more power to you. Everybody’s different with their own feelings on the matter.

[sparklebitch]

Pain vs. Peace (Langst commission)

Summary: Lance gets introspective as he considers self-harming again.

A/N: This is a commission for @spoiledspine! Message me if you want to know more about my commissions!

Trigger warnings are posted in the tags.

Lance lowered his weary body down onto his bed with a sigh. He hadn’t even bothered to take his armor off. He lifted up his helmet with shaking arms and tossed it aside. His hair stuck to his sweaty forehead. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the cool wall behind him.

“Hey, Lance” Shiro stuck his head in the door. “Were all heading down for dinner, you coming?” he asked. Lance pried his eyes opened and forced his mouth to form a thin smile.

“Ah, no thanks. I’m tired. I’ll grab something later” Shiro hesitated a moment.

“Are you okay?” he asked a frown forming on his face. Lance straightened up and cleared his throat. “That was a pretty… tough mission” Shiro continued. “For all of us. Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, inching his way into Lance’s room. Lance shook his head quickly.

“N- Uh, I’m fine. Really. Today sucked but, you know. Seen worse” he laughed shortly. Shiro nodded and paused. “I’ll… grab something after I get a shower. See you in the morning” Lance said with a sense of finality in his voice. Shiro took a step back.

“Alright. See you tomorrow, Lance” he turned and closed the door behind him. Lance blew out a breath and sunk back down on the bed, sliding so far that his chin touched his chest.

It was several more minutes before Lance pulled his weary body to the edge of the bed so that he could take off his armor. He started with the boots, unhooking them from the leg pieces and kicking them off. He moved onto the chest and arm plates. He undid the snaps and began peeling them off, revealing the black body suit that clung to his body. Lance finally rose from his bed completely. He chucked the rest of his armor into a pile on the floor and began to pull the body suit off him. As he pulled it down to his waist Lance was forced to look at the rows of scars covering his wrists. It had been so long ago, and yet, the scars hadn’t faded a bit.

Lance tore his eyes away and finished undressing. He swiftly moved into the shower, turning the foul-smelling water on and waited until it was burning hot before stepping in. Steam filled the small room instantly, fogging up the mirror on the wall. Lance stood underneath the stream of water, his gaze downcast. The scalding water burned against his skin, but he didn’t move to change the temperature. The pain was good. It reminded him that he was alive.

Sometimes he felt like he deserved pain.

Lance didn’t move from his spot until long after the water ran cold. He was shivering, and his teeth were chattering as he stepped onto the tile floor. He reached for a towel and loosely wrapped it around his waist, trying not to look at the scars that he knew covered his thighs.

He couldn’t think about those now.

But as Lance stood in front of the bathroom sink, staring at the blurry outline of himself in the fog covered mirror, he was forced to face his problem head on. He no longer had any distractions from the war inside his head. He braced his arms against the edge of the sink and bit his lip so hard he thought it might bleed.

Lance didn’t want to die.

He didn’t.

But sometimes… sometimes he wondered if maybe death was better than this. Better than the war. The killing. The constantly being in fear for his life. It was all so much sometimes that Lance didn’t know how to handle it. He needed some type of outlet for all the confusing and conflicting feelings this war gave him.

Lance ran his finger up and down the scars on his wrist and forearm. The skin slightly raised and lighter than the rest. It was like braille on his arms, telling the story of his pain.

Lance used to hurt himself. He didn’t anymore. He… he hadn’t in a long time. He used to.

It was in the past.

Lance hadn’t cut himself because he wanted to die. It wasn’t to punish himself. It was a way to cope.

It was a way to distract himself from everything. A temporary release from reality. Being at war left Lance with intense feelings, some of which he didn’t know what to do with. The adrenaline coursing through his veins after a battle made him anxious. He tried finding releases for these pent-up emotions, but nothing really helped. Every high-like period after battle inched him closer and closer back to his old ways. To his coping mechanism.

Cutting made Lance feel like he had control over something. He had no control over anything that happened to him here there in space. He went from feeling multiple indistinguishable emotions to feeling numb. He wasn’t sure which was worse.

Sometimes the need to mark his arms was so strong that Lance couldn’t breathe.

The war, the killing, the constantly being afraid for his life. Everything was piling up. When Lance finally got to sit down at the end of every day, everything seemed to be going in slow motion. And, to be honest, even the good parts of his day sucked. After taking a short cold shower with water that smelled like chemicals, Lance walked down the solid gray hallway into the solid grey dining room and ate solid green goo that tasted just like you would imagine the color green would taste like. He talked to people who, before being teleported into space, frankly, weren’t his best friends. Sure, he was flight partners with Hunk and Pidge, but he wasn’t even sure they considered him a friend until well after they arrived in space.

Truth be told, Lance wasn’t sure he had any friends back at the garrison. He knew that no one there would miss him if were gone.

Before Lance knew it, there was a blade resting on his palm. He wasn’t sure where it came from. He couldn’t remember the last time he had had one.

Tears weld up in Lance’s eyes and he stared at the shiny piece of metal in his hand. He felt paralyzed.

“Fuck” Lance said breathily. A tear slid down his face as his body shook.

Lance was conflicted. He didn’t want to hurt himself. He didn’t. But he needed to. He had to do it to alleviate the emotions raging in his mind.

Suddenly, a sense of calm washed over him. Lance’s face fell, completely devoid of emotion. He squeezed the blade in his palm, watching as it sliced through his skin, causing droplets of blood to form. Nothing. He felt nothing. He was completely numb.

In his head, Lance was screaming. It was like someone else had taken control of his body, locking him up in his mind. Lance’s hand moved of its own accord, like a puppet on strings. He lifted his left wrist, holding it over the sink, turned it over and—

Slash.

He cut.

Just once.

Quick.

Deep.

Lance hissed in pain for just a moment, and then he felt it. The sudden intense feeling euphoria that followed the agony. Lance closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. For one, brief moment, everything was okay. He didn’t feel anything. No bad thoughts, no cluttered mind. His body felt light. He felt free.

But then—

It all came crashing down again.

His wrist throbbed, his head ached, his body sagged in exhaustion. Shame crept up Lance’s neck as he stared at the blood dripping from the gash in his wrist. He dropped the blade, panicked, and reached for a towel to wrap around his wrist.

After he had cleaned up the mess, ashamed of what he had done, Lance crawled into his bed. He was mentally and physically drained. He felt like he could sleep for a whole day, though he knew that wasn’t realistic.

The universe moved on, whether he was ready for it or not.

Just another thing that Lance couldn’t control.

Lance laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. There were only so many times he could use this coping mechanism before something happened. Whether he cut to deep, or someday it wouldn’t be enough anymore. Lance wondered how many more days he could stand it. He knew he couldn’t go on like this forever. The thought scared him.

Was the pain worth it for those few moments of peace?

~   ~   ~

| Other fics | Ko-fi |

[shiros]

lmao did you hear apparently shiro not dying is the reason why the keith vs lotor rivalry was cut and sendak clone plot was given to shiro and allura now ends up with lance instead of keith. i know the writing has always been bad but i cant believe its now THIS bad

Anon…anon…please tell me you’re lying. Please tell me you’re lying and that that stupid prolonged clone arc with an ass backwards message to the theme of voltron and an insult to its audience wasn’t the piece of shit that took away my keitorllura and Keith vs Lotor and a REAL Shiro vs. Sendak.(yknow not having Keith’s maincharacter senses tingle and steal Shiro’s kill) 

I can sleep better at night knowing that the writers were just incompetent and didn’t somehow realize what type of perfect-timing-golden-chance-just-go-for-it- pussy set up they were making. But I can’t fall asleep, because it all fucking makes sense now. All of it. They don’t even have to kill Shiro for this. Or if they wanted to, kill him off then bring the fucker back because with Allura’s dues ex machina we know he could do that at anytime if she wanted to. Sendak was the one launched into space way before Shiro ever was; we were supposed to be expecting his return in season 3, meeting Lotor in 4, build up in 5, then the whole showdown begins in season 6. Then Haggar would be dealt with in 8 after the paladins return in 7 because she’d be the only one left with any type of narrative stakes and plot relevance attacking Earth. It’s the perfect set up for Haggar to be the final boss like most of us were expecting after Zarkon died. It couldn’t have been Sendak because he’s had beef with Shiro since season one so he would have to be regulated to be killed by him during their fight. For any normie watching this show, I wouldn’t blame them for forgetting who the fuck Sendak was especially if they started watching when season 1 was on netflix, waited liked the rest of us for the remainder of the seasons, and went “Who’s that guy?” when he finally popped up.

Allura’s magic, I’d assume, would be a plot point that could have been built up during the time when the paladins were dicking around with Kuron with the propaganda, which could have been squished in as they were doing important things rather than having whole episodes dedicated to shit that didn’t matter. Alien planets are still under Galran control, possibly being drained of their planets resources like the Balmera, but oh sorry you’ll just have to wait until we do circus show tricks to really drive the message home that we’re here to fight for you! We have no real sense of urgency if its not up our ass and down our throat! :)

There’s just so much we could have gotten. So much. Keith’s sense of belonging on the team could have been challenged with the Lotor’s half galra team, a perfect call back to how Allura treated him after she found out about his galra heritage, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk not getting the short end of the stick when it comes to character development, seeing Shiro talk more about Adam with flashbacks so he’s not a literal who when we see him on screen. And most importantly, making it seem like the team actually gives a shit about each other outside of Shiro and Keith (slightly Hunk and Lance/Keith.) Season 7 gave us an inch, but I’m talking about the whole ruler. I never got the sense that the team gave a shit about what happens to one another outside of “If we lose a paladin this will set us back,” or just generally being concerned over another human life like a normal person. 

I don’t think I wanna watch season 8. I don’t need closure, I know what’s going to happen anyway and I’m not going to like it. I’m just done. 

[hunterguyveriv]

Guyver vs Paladin/Blade: A match of fun.

Better late than never. I meant to post this sooner for a friend’s Keith Month, but I got side tracked on other projects due to having good days with my hands, and work. This is my Keith story for her crossover prompt for her Keith Month.

@fiery-mullet Sorry it’s late. I felt like I needed to exploit my good hand days before the bad hand days came back. I may do a sketch of the sparring partners later, but right now I am putting my thoughts together for a halloween story.

Keith Month Day 17 - Crossover

The sound of 2 exhausted people panting filled the training deck. One a metallic-panting and the other a normal human panting. Sho Fukamachi stood in his Guyver armor and Keith in his Paladin armor. Both had been in a sparring match against each other for nearly 2 hours. Sho in his Guyver armor had scrapes and shallow slash marks all over his body. Keith in his Paladin armor also had scrapes, slashes, impact scorch marks, and dents on it.

Both had decided that training robots were too boring, and decided to spar against each other. Keith smirked as he activated his black bayard and Blade of Marmora sword. Guyver-I smirked closing his hands to fists causing the blades on his forearms to extend. Both lunged at each other and swung their swords at one another.

It had been at least a couple weeks since the war for Earth had ended and hostilities had ceased. So two warriors needing to hone their skills decided to use each other as punching bags. Both had a lot of tension built up and needed a release. Not just physical tension but the emotional tension in ranting to the other.

What the two warriors didn't notice, they were being watched from the observation deck. Well, they knew that two women, ones they both trusted with their lives were watching them. There was the fiance of Sho’s at first when he first started fighting against the training drones. But as he started reaching a higher level in the training programs Sho had gotten Keith’s attention, and they started training together. Mizuki snapped her head hearing the observation deck doors open. She smiled as Keith’s “Jhuk’uhn’dac” as the Galra called female mates, walked in.

Both women initiated small talk talking about the mates they were watching not long after she sat down. Pretty soon they reached Training Level 36 in which caused a few Paladins to come to watch. Only when news of the leader of Voltron and Guyver was fighting did the last two Paladins arrive. With them were the MFE-Pilots, Coran, Romelle, some Blade members who were training under Krolia, Matt his fiance and a few key rebel leaders arrived.

Down in the training deck, Guyver-I thrust his right High-Frequency sword at Keith, which was surprisingly blocked by his Luxite sword. Keith thrust his bayard at Guyver-I who caught it before it had a chance of piercing the gap between his abdominal armor and oblique armor with his left hand. Both smirking at each other and grunting against each other’s strength. Guyver-I cocked his head a little.

His head sensor shifting back and forth locking into place pointing at the observation deck. Feeding the infrared images of nearly 30 people watching cheering, even eating snacks. Even taking bets on who would win the sparring match.

Smirking Guyver-I pushed his sword at Keith who responded with his own push, “It seems we have an audience, Keith.” Grunting and looking at the observation deck, “It seems so.” Guyver-I looked back at him, “Make it interesting?” Keith could tell Sho was amused with the development. Smirking under the transparent luminescing visor Keith nodded “Sure, why not!”

Guyver-I jumped backward landing in a crouching position before standing up. Keith had also done a jet-thrust jump backward landing in a crouching position with the bayard blade inches above his right bicep and his Luxite blade pointing to Guyver-I with the bottom of the hilt pointing to Keith’s chest. Guyver-I felt a stinging sensation in his left hand raised it up and looked at it.

Mizuki sat up looking at her mate looking at his hand. Half of the audience was excited that Keith got a good shot in. While others who had the rare occasion to see Sho in action had smug looks on their face. Mizuki was indifferent, she had seen him nearly die protecting her multiple times, and just grown accustomed to her love getting injured… A LOT!

Lance saw her sit back in her seat and continue watching, “You don’t seem too worried that Keith injured your man. You may want to stop them from continuing.” She looked at him with an inquisitive “yeah, so?” look. She saw out of the corner of her eye some of the other audience members just facepalm. Lance got a little uneasy under her gentle yet intense glare, “My Sho has faced hundreds of enemies at once, even destroyed entire enemy bases by himself, and received far more devastating wounds than a pathetic cut.” Lance returned her inquisitive look, “Wait, what?”

She turned her head back to watch him sparring with his new best friend with a loving look. “He has been incinerated by his own attack deflected back at him, been stabbed through the chest when he temporarily lost his ability to transform, had an arm bitten off, even his skull crushed fighting a... proto-type ‘Guyver-Killer’ Zoanoid... “ Everyone looked at her seeing a sad look on her face and the heavy somberness, sensing more to that fact. She sighed smiling again and looked back up at Lance “But he, like your leader, simply won't stop once he sets his mind to something.”

Lance turned to Keith’s mate “Are you going to let him continue fighting him?” His mate looked at Lance and gave him a “hm” shrug with her shoulders, “Let him have his fun.” She turned back to watch him and his new brother in arms.

Keith got in a position to attack, but Guyver-I held a hand up. His control medal flashed and seconds later all of his head armor with the exception of the Control Medal retracted. Keith taking the hint took his helmet off and tossed it aside. Guyver-I extended his right arm-blade and crouched into a position which was neither offensive or defensive.

Guyver-I and Keith continued the sparring match for another hour and a half. About 10 minutes in the Blade’s training under Krolia had to report to her. The MFE-Pilots and Shiro had to report for a mission and left approximately 6 minutes later. Hunk, Pidge, and Romelle went on to do their own thing. Rebel Leaders, Allura and Coran went to greet some Alien Dignitaries looking to join the Galaxy Alliance. Lance growing bored with the match followed the Alteans. Leaving just Mizuki and Keith’s mate. Mizuki held a bag of snacks up to her, without taking her eyes off of Sho “Pop-Goo?” Keith’s mate looked at the back the human girl was offering, “Sure, why not.” The yellow-one certainly knew how to take alien foods and add human twists to them.

Eventually, both Keith and Guyver-I started to feel the burn of their near 6-hour sparring. They stopped with Guyver-I’s sword mere inches away from Keith’s neck and Keith’s bayard inches from Sho’s head. Both men smiling withdrawing their weapons from each other’s heads. Keith stood back allowing his bayard to retract to his armor and luxite blade revert to knife-form before sheathing it. Guyver-I stood backward holding his arms out waist level. His control medal flashed and his armor sprung from his armor disappearing.

Keith watched wide-eyed as the armor disappeared into nothingness, “Whoa, I gotta get one of those.” Sho panted a few times with his reconstituted lungs before looking at Keith, “Maybe if we come across any Advents, I’ll get one for you.” Both men grasped each other’s arms at the elbows shaking.

They walked out of the Garrison Training deck greeted by their lovers coming into view from the observation deck, “I’d love to see the full extent on what you can do, Sho. Maybe next time don’t hold back?” Sho looked to Keith with a serious smile, “I can't guarantee anything,” he then winked at Keith, “BUT, if you ever go after that Super… Weapon… thing, if your team doesn't forget about me, I can assure you will get a full display of what I can do from what I hear about it.” Keith back-handedly tapped him in the stomach playfully, “Deal. I might even get Allura to open a wormhole to that planet just to see.”

[onyxspecticals]

Speculation

I will honestly be surprised if Klance isn't cannon. I mean, there is so much evidence. People have confirmed info on what type of person lance's romantic endgame is, the whole what he wants vs what he needs thing, but we haven't been told who Keith's romantic endgame is (or any of the other characters) so that must mean the creators can't tell us any info on the other characters romantic endgame no matter how vague because we might put two about two together. We are all arguing over why Sheith will or won't happen in light of season 6's events, but has anyone ever considered who Lance would be with if Sheith was cannon? He'll get together with someone, but if not Keith, who? It's most likely not Hunk, Pidge or Allura (sorry other ships I still love you). I'll be just confused if it's Shiro. Then again I may be wrong and the writers have something else planned. I honestly can't wait for season 7.

[camachameleon]

Cam’s Voltron Fic Rec 6/∞

VLD Rec Lists:  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Here’s a Fic Masterlist for my other fandoms. ( ** =  favorites )

  lacerate by againstmygreeleaf

Word count:  26,012 (6/6)

Summary: A collection of one-shots for Voltron Whump Week!

1: Fever- Wherein Hunk's nausea is not caused by his anxiety.

2: Hypothermia- Wherein Keith gets a taste of the Blue Lion's element.

3: Near Death and/or Blood Loss- Wherein Pidge and Hunk find themselves in a tight spot.

4: Torture- Wherein Allura is set up and pays the price.

5: Insomnia and/or Mental Illness- Prompt modified to be Mental Torment, essentially. Wherein Shiro perceives a series of particularly unfortunate events and much more.

6: Poison- Wherein it's Pidge vs Nature.

Comments:  Whump for everyone! Some of it is pretty graphic so watch out.

  i fall, i fall, i falter by theshoutingslytherin

Word count:  5,265 (1/3)

Summary:  Lance’s hand pressed more firmly. “Seriously, dude. You’ll be fine, I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you.”

Keith’s breath caught.

It was that look again. Lance’s eyes held the type of promise only seen in B-rated romance movies— and yet it didn’t look cheesy on him. If anything, Lance looked intense— like he was so focused on Keith that he wouldn’t even notice if the world burned down around them.

Comments:  Pining Klance, featuring Keith as the Damsel in Distress. These two are both so bullheaded and it frustrates me so much.

  In Love out Loud by evaunito

Word count:  1,293 (1/1)

Summary:  The gang overhears something said a little too loudly (read: enthusiastically). | Written for Sheith Quote Week Day 1: Shiro loves you baby.

Comments:  This is so fluffy and adorable and I love it so much. Sheith obv.

  **Capsaicin by phoenixyfriend

Word count:  6,237 (1/1)

Summary:  Lance was captured by the Galra. He was more useful alive than dead, but was notorious for being difficult to interrogate, so the Galra turned to poison.

It was... less than successful.

Comments:  This is probably the funniest fic I have ever read in my life. And luckily for us, it is Part 1 in the series Altea May Have Been Space Australia, But Humans are the Weird Ones, so there’s even more! This one is also a good Hunk & Lance friendship fic.

  bench press me by eggboi

Word count:  1,683 (1/1)

Summary:  “The hell are you doing?” Keith grumbles out, body mid-push up. There’s a snicker behind him, too close to his ears, though Keith can’t really understand what would be so amusing about this. Then again, he’s not really sure why Lance is lying on him while he’s doing push ups either. Other than to be, of course, annoying.

“Nothing.” Lance finally says. Keith hears the grin in his voice, which only proves to irritate him a little more. ‘Nothing’ his ass. “Continue with what you’re doing, Mr. ‘I’m-Too-Good-For-Socialization’.”

(Lance, as always, tries to annoy Keith by making his exercise harder. It doesn’t work. At all.)

Comments:  Adorable and goofy Klance.

  **Maybe If the Stars Align by cozypancakes

Word count:  8,223 (2/2)

Summary:  The date and location of when you'll meet your soulmate appears on your body on January 1st of the year it will happen. When Keith's appears, he knows the universe hates him. Keith doesn't believe it will be possible to find his soulmate in a crowd of thousands. But no worries, his friends have a plan. And it is definitely illegal.

Inspired by Tumblr user unblockingwritersblock's writing prompt: "My time says 11:59, New Year's Eve, Times Square. Fuck."

Comments:  Sheith Soulmates AU. Pidge and Hunk are so good to Keith, real friends break laws to help you find your soulmate!

  same cosmic dust by theGALRAempire

Word count:  16,336 (4/?)

Summary:  “...He should not exist.”

“No, he should not. But he does.”

When Kolivan meets the gaze of Keith again, the stars are reflected brilliantly in the glossy orbs as he stares forward in curious wonder. He looks away.

He should not be alive. But he is.

Or: The Dads of Marmora don't know how to raise a kid---a human one, no less, but they make the best with what they have.

He has always been destined for great things.

Comments:  BOM raised Keith, featuring the Thulaz dads. Lots of Galra OCs and I love them all bc basically the whole base takes part in helping raise/babysit Keith, its great. Part 1 of the dads of marmora series.

  VLD Rec Lists:  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Here’s a Fic Masterlist for my other fandoms.

[oddeyecadia]

paladins and singing

lance

- a closeted singer but is closeted in the most "what the fuck" way

- would never sing seriously in front of anyone

- the whole team was convinced this boi couldn't sing for shit cus all he did was scream beyonce songs at the top of his lungs while walking through the halls of the castle

- until they accidentally heard him singing to himself while trying to find something to eat in the kitchen

- like actually singing

- it was a gentle song, so soft and endearing, prefect for rainy– he was singing to mariah carey's "emotions"

- and damn he hittin those whistle tones

- ariana grande who???

- his voice isn't powerful but boi it's freakin high

- he was once part of his local church choir what did you expect

- his voice is a gift from god

pidge

- she doesn't sing a lot. but when she does? oh boi get ready to have your ears blessed.

- one time the team was having some kind of "earth music vs. altean music" jamming (thank god pidge's laptop had some pretty popular earth music cus half of the songs in there are just video games soundtrack) when "dead girl walking" from heathers the musical suddenly played.

- pidge, being the musical theatre trash that she was, couldn't help but sing along

- she sang veronica's parts and tried to sing those jd bits cus she knows every lyric and bOI SHE NAILED THOSE VERONICA PARTS

- who knew this kid could belt beautifully like wtf where did she learn that

- the team was sHOOKT

- both by her voice and the lyrics of the song (mainly by her voice though cus how can a person this small have such thick and powerful vocals)

hunk

- his voice is as soft as him basically

- this baritone could actually make you melt istg

- like imagine john legend with a mix of ed sheeran. that's his voice.

- everyone knows he can sing and everyone loooves it

- he'd always absentmindedly hum or sing whenever he's cookin

- talk about husband material

- back at the garrison whenever lance couldn't sleep, he'd ask hunk to sing for him for his voice is a perfect lullaby

- now the whole team would do that whenever they're having trouble sleeping

- thx for suggesting lance

keith

- the og closeted singer

- this boi has the most attractive voice

- shawn mendez is qUAKING

- he has this kind of low, raspy but soft type of voice

- his lion isn't the only one with impressive agility

- this alien boi's riffs and runs are so effortless tori kelly is shookt

- one time, pidge and hunk found and set up a kind of like altean karaoke and they practically forced keith to sing first cus all of them (even shiro) have never heard him sing

- they connected pidge's laptop to the thing so they could sing some earth songs

- keith chose to sing "heaven" by troye sivan

- everyone drooled at how pretty his voice was

shiro

- literally has the voice of God

- a professional

- pop, rnb, musical, his voice fits every genre like wtf

- has the most powerful voice seriously

- and the most beautiful oops

- he's probably the only one who uses proper and healthier techniques

- sings early 2000s pop music in his lion

- growls and belts every two seconds just to show off

- he's so good at it tho nobody complains

allura

- contrary to popular belief... not all princesses can sing

- y'all at least she broke the stereotype

- you know what she can do though?

- rap like a freakin god like holy quiznak

- she sounds so badass yet so gentle because of the accent

- sets the whole castle on fire every karaoke night

[darkspellmaster]

Going back to the Voltron squeal ask, what types of characters can you see in a series like that if you made it? Can you see Hazar being that "Villain becoming a paladin" that you described?

Actually Hazar was the person I was thinking of. He fits the bill to a T and would be an interesting character given his standings in the Empire. I would love to see maybe different species involved. Sort of like how in Vehicle Voltron you had the Teams, but in this case maybe smaller groups. 

Like one group uses the original Lions. In this case, since I can’t see them pushing this too far in the future, either it’s the original Paladin’s as adults, or their kids, or someone that has some sort of similar connection to them in some way. Like how Jaden had the connection to Yugi for example. I’d also like to have who’s in the ship switched up. Like for example, if I got to do some sort of weird, all bets are off and it could be anything even out of cannon. Then I would love for it to be like…Black Lion a girl and she’s either the protege of Keith or maybe Allura’s daughter. Blue I think could be Hazar, and if you really want to throw it out on a limb, make him related to Merla and Lotor if possible. If not that’s okay, maybe he embodies a lot of what Lotor was like but also unlike Lotor his past isn’t his weakness and he’s turning it into his strength. I would assume whoever took on red would have to be a spitfire, and if Hazar was the new enemy type, maybe make the red lion a half galra. For green I would see either one of the aliens from the nature planet or from Shays kind. Then for yellow, maybe go for human but have them be the other girl in the group and be, really strong but very girly (like go hog wild with it and have them like frilly things). I would say for the other two teams, have one be based on earth based designs. This one could have a team that’s a bit more by the book and probably based off the Galaxy garrison. I would think that the team would more than likely have Shiro (and if we’re going with what I’d love to see) and Romelle’s kid as the leader of the group here, and have them trying to deal with balancing being the leader to people who may be older than her. I’d like to see a Roy Folker from Macross type as one of the pilots who is trying to deal with being back in part of a team as he lost his in maybe a fight with the new enemy or during the fighting with the Galra that’s probably going to happen in the next few seasons. Kind of a showboat but also someone that really has some serious issues. Not sure about the others in this team, but again, its one where the members are all coming to together as a military unit rather then cadets who are still sort of learning and you don’t need Altean magic on this one. The other one I would say make the rag tag group. This is the group of people that don’t normally get along. I think the last one would be built from the remains of the Sincline ships and this one runs on Galra tech rather than Altean magic. The group for this one is probably lead by a team that formed who didn’t know one another at all. Unlike where Keith and Shiro knew each other and Pidge, Hunk and Lance, also knew each other, and Lance and Pidge knew who Shiro and Keith were, have it be where none of them know each other at all. Make at least two of them be sort of like the Romulans vs the Volcans, where the two sides can’t stand one another but they have to work together. And just for the fun of it, have at least one member of the team on that team be an Alt Altean that fell through a rift. That’s all I got at the moment. 

[braincoins]

What do you think the paladins would major in in college?

Okay, I’m going to assume this is normal, modern-day college, because in-universe, they went to the Garrison, and that seems like you have a set program track (for example fighter class pilot vs. cargo class pilot; communications; engineer, etc.) and you just do that.

Sooooooooooooooo...

I did this in “Learn By Heart,” but Shiro is absolutely double-majoring in physics and astronomy. That man wants to be an astronaut, and there are some other majors you can take that will help you get into NASA, but those two are always a good, safe bet (and Shiro doesn’t seem the engineering type). I gave him a poli-sci/history double minor in LBH just so he could meet Allura, but I think he’d pick a more physical/active minor, as well as some club sports. He’d also be in Air Force ROTC.

Keith’s probably also in Air Force ROTC, and doing that thing where they cover his college in exchange for a guaranteed term of service after he graduates. He is not happy about this, but he wants to fly planes and he needs the money. Shiro’s a big help in keeping him in the program. But as for a major? Aviation. Shiro has to help him with some of the mathier bits.

Lance'll be in aviation, too. Probably also in Air Force ROTC for the same reason as Keith: whereas Keith has no family to help him pay his way, Lance has a HUGE family whose budget is probably pretty tight. Using the military as a means to pay for college is a time-honored tradition in big families. And, of course, Keith will be his number one rival. Lance will do better in ROTC in general, because he’s more of a team player. Keith wants to fly whereas Lance wants glory, so I think Keith will, in the long run, be the better aviation student. In the end, it’s six of one, half dozen of another. Shiro will eventually point out that the two of them work best together and will encourage and lead a study group towards that end.

Hunk is an Engineer through and through; I’m thinking civil engineering. He wants to help people and improve lives with what he builds. He winds up in some of the same classes as Lance and Keith (Shiro’s a year or two ahead of them), and forms an instant friendship with Lance. He’s happy to bring snacks to study group.

Pidge shares some classes with Hunk as well, despite her double majors of informatics-comp sci and robotics. (It’s the robotics major that has her running into Hunk.) She doesn’t understand how Hunk can put up with Lance at first, but her older brother, Matt, is also in Air Force ROTC, also looking to be an astronaut (though he’s going more of the physics/engineering route than the physics/astronomy one), and he’s friends with Shiro (same year in college), so escaping Lance and Keith winds up being nearly impossible. She gives in eventually, especially once she discovers Lance is not only a prime target for pranking but is excellent at coming up with good pranks to pull on others. 

[keiths-stupid-mullet]

can you link/post a shiro characterization thingy? im writing a fic and im super bad at characterizing and i dont want to make him ooc

Aww, don’t worry too much about it!^^ OOC isn’t necessarily bad, I’ve just had my fill for the day :’D 

But I’m absolutely ready to help if you want it. Before s3 came out I made a post series with little things I liked about the characters, so if you’re looking for random facts about him to bring him to life you can check out this post. I’m writing a little more about how I personally interpret him and his relationships with other characters under the cut :D 

(Keep in mind though that this is my personal interpretation, I’ve never actually read a lot of Shiro-centric works)

Generally, Shiro seems to have 2 different attitudes. One for his team and one for pretty much everyone else :’D

Shiro with the team is incredibly patient. He never yells. The only times where he can be considered rude or abrasive towards his team is when they are in a pinch or a time-sensitive situation, he has already made a decision and someone speaks up against him. Normally he would be the type to talk any problems out but since he doesn’t have that time he puts his foot down and makes everyone else follow him. 

Other than that we see him being dorky (although he doesn’t initiate stupid things he never hesitates to join them, like the food go fight or the laser gun sounds or the spore fight) and we see him giving out compliments whenever he deems it necessary. He is extremely attuned to everyone’s mood and when he’s near and realizes that someone isn’t feeling well he’s always the one to comfort them:

Shiro feels responsible for them. He was the one to hang back when Lance was injured and he is protective of them without being overbearing. Like, he always offers emotional comfort, but when he gets rejected and realizes that it really isn’t wanted he leaves it. He doesn’t fight anyone on needing distance, especially not when they are feeling bad. 

However, Shiro is also a very reasonable person (and, as I already mentioned, attuned to everyone’s feelings) so when he’s approaching someone they are usually prepared for it and open up to him. He doesn’t joke to diffuse a situation. Everyone knows that Shiro will take them and their concerns seriously which is why they usually feel safe enough to talk about what’s bothering them.

One of the problems Shiro has though is that he’s worried about his image. Not in the way Lance is, more in the way of that he never looses his cool in front of his team. He’s scared of who is and who he might become - you can read more on that in the middle of this post (that I wrote after s2 which is why there’s no Allura :P).

Moving on to his general relationship with different characters on the team: Keith.

Shiro and Keith are very close and, more than anything, they are equals. They don’t really tease each other. Most of their conversations are honest and relaxed and they always know when the other one is feeling bad:

They have phrases that they repeat “(it’s good to have you back”/“it’s good to be back”), they have the ‘shoulder touch of comfort’, they know how each other’s minds work (“patience yields focus”), they openly depend on each other. Yes, that goes from Shiro to Keith too - Keith said that he was the only one that never gave up on him, Shiro thinks Keith would make a good leader, Shiro opens up about feeling unsure if he’s ever gonna make it out alive at the beginning of s1. Most of their smiles don’t come from jokes but from shared memories that they’re fond of!

[more on Shiro and Keith]

Pidge. Shiro is undeniably fond of her. Once again, there’s no teasing in their relationship - it’s just honesty. Pidge, who can be rather scathing at times, becomes very soft around him. She feels safe around him, probably because he respects her decisions:

He went with her to search for her brother in episode 1. He would have allowed her to leave the team if she really wanted that. Shiro has confidence in her - “go, be great!” - and he never hesitates to show it. There is no ‘this girl is 10 years younger than me, I’ve got to protect her from the world’ in his behavior, he was the one that gave her the confidence needed to first claim the green lion. Whenever she rambles he lets her talk, he’s not the one to tell her to get back on topic. 

Allura. Shiro is older than Allura, the head of Voltron, has more battle experience, has graduated from the academy - and he still addresses her as his superior. Whenever the team has to make a decision outside of battle he always leaves her the final choice. I’m not completely convinced that it has to do with rank (“Princess” vs “officer”) since he never insists that anyone amongst his friends has to address with ‘sir’ as much as it has to do with respect. Allura is the one with the knowledge about the entire universe and she’s the one that gave them a purpose out here in space, so he is damn well going to respect that. 

Apart from that, he seems to get along really well with her. He comforted her on two different occasions:

I think it’s safe to say that he recognizes some of himself in her. She too bottles up her emotions, feels responsible for all of the paladins, is serious rather than funny and has a secret dorky side. She too has suffered from the hands of the Galra and got forced into something she wasn’t prepared for. But, once again, he never doubts her strength: he has no problems with her joining the team on the infiltration mission in s1.

Lance & Hunk. These two get the same category because there’s not much to say about them. Shiro has never been around when Lance has felt the need to talk about his insecurities or homesickness and Hunk has never freaked out past the point of listening with him at the helm in the middle of battle. Since both Lance and Hunk are extroverted people that talk and joke around a lot Shiro doesn’t quite click with them as much as with the others. That’s not to say that he won’t ever do it - he just needs a little more time for it. 

Despite that, he has the same general effect on Lance and Hunk as on the rest of the team: they feel safe with him around. Hunk hid behind him when they first entered the castle of lions and Lance knows that he’s allowed to keep joking around despite Shiro reprimanding him when he starts saying inappropriate stuff. Shiro compliments them when they succeed with something good - “nice job, Lance! That’s why we bring our sharpshooter” - and he doesn’t make jabs at Lance’s intelligence/Hunk’s fear of flying.

(there’s not much to say about Coran. He seems to get along with him quite well when Coran lets go of his quirky behavior for a moment. Shiro knows that Coran too has suffered a lot but keeps on fighting and he respects him for that.)

Matt. Matt addressed him with “sir” in s4 and he was shown to still wear a cadet uniform on the ‘gone missing in space’ pics in s1, so I’m not actually sure if they knew each other before the Kerberos mission. Either way he was very protective of him - enough so to take his place in the arena - and was extremely relieved when he met him again in s4:

Despite not having had a lot of appearances together, Shiro acted a little differently around him though. Directly when we first saw them on screen he joked “you guys get a little more excited about ice samples than I do” - which is teasing - and he pulled Matt into the hug:

-which can also be considered teasing. Shiro has a playful side that he allows to initiate stuff around Matt! (Part of it might be because Matt just… doesn’t seem to get angry/offended when you tease him. Not even in a fake offended way, he just laughs it off and keeps doing his thing!)

Now, his personality outside of the team. He’s a prime example of a leader when he’s meeting new people as the head of Voltron, put together and to the point. However, his fuse is a lot shorter than with his team:

Slav was driving him up the wall, when the BoM refused to cooperate and believe Keith he was ready to abort mission, the moment he met Zarkon on the Astral level he was ready to fight. In general, he has very strong morals and wants to do anything to set right the injustice in the universe, but he is a lot more patient than (for example) Keith when it comes to that. To top it all off, his will to live is extraordinarily strong too - he survived the fight in the arena. He was forced to fight against and probably kill multiple creatures/aliens.

…and yet he was willing to trust Ulaz and give the Blades a chance. Shiro doesn’t generalize, he observes and makes his decisions or goes with his gut and does whatever it takes to survive. It’s pretty clear that he’s battle-hardened and very strategic, even if he has suppressed most of his memories from his time with the Galra. 

[jokocraft]

[long meta] the hidden depths of voltron S1 E6

part 1: lance’s literal awakening and keith’s metaphorical one 

(if you already know where I’m going with this, you might find part 2: an entire subtextual plot in S1 E6? - in this same post - more interesting)

I’ve been rewatching season 1, and I got to episode 5 with the bonding moment and was like yeahh but then I got to the beginning of E6, with everyone waiting for lance to be released from the healing pod, and I was like wait. I never really thought twice about the scene before, but this time around I was like...hold the phone. 

what is keith’s reasoning for being impatient in this scene, anyway? like, if everyone else can wait a few ticks for lance to wake up, why can’t you? 

is this just your Personality, to be an impatient nuisance sometimes, haha queue comedic intro? well, while keith is often impatient, it’s usually during situations involving life or death decisions. and since lance isn’t about to die, and the timing of his release from the pod doesn’t put anyone else’s life at risk...

since i trust the vld writers enough at this point (at least with keith, i guess...?) to not make characters do shit for no good reason, i don’t think keith was being impatient for the hell of it, especially to do with someone he’s made a point of *Shrug* Not Really caring about -- that is, until shit went down in E5 and keith dropped that pretense like it was hot and didn’t hesitate to initiate the famed bonding moment.

my point here about this scene in E6, is that it’s directly linked to E5′s bonding moment, like 100%. maybe you’re like DUH OBVIOUSLY - and you’d be right, cause it’s obvious to me now and I was probably just being really slow on the uptake - but nevertheless, i don’t think we should hang up the the phone there...

i think that - well, with the “cradled you in my arms” line, we all kind of know - that keith took that bonding seriously to some extent. but to what extent? just seriously enough to be annoyed with lance’s response? personally, I think keith took it seriously enough that he truly believed a major shift had occurred between them - a shift, if my thoughts here are on the right track, he’d probably been hoping for (perhaps only subconsciously) since this scene: 

it’s from the tail end of S1E2, after they successfully form voltron for the first time. i referred to this frame as “first time keith realizes that lance is actually kind of cool”. the way I interpreted this was that now, keith can no longer see lance as >insert stereotypes here< and predictable, but rather as someone interesting and possibly full of surprises and definitely worth paying attention to after all. but in this episode, keith’s still too closed off emotionally to acknowledge at maybe his new perspective of lance is making him wish things between them were different - not so they could be BFFs like lance and hunk are, but something else....something he can’t yet put into words (space ranger partners). 

god they r all 3 uber-dorks okay

anyway

back to E6, I’m now imagining that keith has spent the last 24 hours secretly relishing the idea that he’s finally (for the first time in his life??) got himself a friend that is both a peer and someone that he feels instinctually closer to compared to other peers. (shiro is of course someone he feels instinctually closer to, but he is not quite a peer in age or maturity. the stuff can you do with a mentor/idol is definitely not the same stuff you can do with another shitting teenager like yourself).

buuuut we all know keith’s about to be disappointed when reality rears its ugly head and lance says some bullshit to allura again. “classic”. and so, from keith’s perspective, the reality is this: despite any shift between them that lance definitely felt (he saw it with his own eyes dammit), lance must have nevertheless interpreted it in a way did not put them the same page. fukin sux

poor keith. don’t we all hate when we hype something up in our minds and it turns out we were totally off the fucking mark all along? I imagine right now that he’s busy mentally burying his disappointment six feet deep. (note to remember for later: you can also see in the image above that shiro has the highest tolerance for lance’s shit.)

((((((( also eye-narrow worthy, but....perhaps...meaningless........hm: 

when coran presents the ticker when the topic of ticks vs seconds comes up, hunk and pidge come over to look instantly. allura is shown walking over to the group moments later at 22:00 into the episode. shiro is shown watching from where he stands a few feet away. and keith is just ... ... ... absent from this exchange for 4 seconds before he’s briefly shown finally walking into the frame at 22:04. for four whole seconds he was just...what? staring, I guess? at lance, waiting, probably feeling determined to Be There when lance woke up. but not so determined that he’d risk someone calling him out for it. (but shiro is likely an exception for him: shiro doesn’t have his back turned, and so keith must trust him not to raise an eyebrow if keith kinda wanted to, you now, Be There.) )))))))

anywaaaaaay

we know that burying disappointment not so simple as pushing it away and never feeling it again. because like keith, when present reality doesn’t match our perceived reality, we’re like, “wtf? where did i go wrong? how did i misinterpret this? was I delusional?” and sometimes we’re like, “no, fuck you reality, I was not delusional, not this time, I was not wrong.” And voila, here you see keith in all that frustration: he’s planted himself as much in lance’s line of sight as he can without just straight up taking the yellow mouse’s seat right in front of the bowl of goo. keith clearly intends to be acknowledged. or at the very least, to glean some clue from lance’s behavior as to why he’s being Capital-I Ignored. 

keith stays quiet during the conversation at the table until lance make a quip about the mice besting them all, and keith makes his salt known:

BITCH WHAT HTE FUCK? DID U NOT SEE HOW VALIANT I WAS PROTECTING YOUR ASS? I WAS THE SHIT! NOW STOP SPOONFEEDING THOSE FUCKING MICE I SWEAR TO

lance goes onto totally dismiss what keith did and this is....honestly not what keith expected

lance isn’t even making a dumb joke, he’s just being an asshole, plain and simple. keith now is like *softly* bitch what the fuck. “We had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!” keith says, trying to look indignant, because alternative emotions are supposed be buried six feet deep.

but it’s no use, he’s stonewalled and subject-changed. and while we the audience know that the overly-defensive tone of lance’s stonewalling practically confirms that he remembers, we can only hope that lance realizes this too and is able to feel a pinch of salty relief. 

it’s my conclusion that the whole point of these beginning scenes is not just to have some character interaction and a bit of thrown-in development, but to provide legit exposition and rising action to the fully-fledged subtextual plot of ep6. Read part 2 below, an elaboration of what I mean by this. 

part 2: an entire subtextual plot in S1 E6? 

(apologies to anyone else may have posted similar conclusions and I just totally missed them)

so here i get into are more circumstantial stuff. maybe my reasoning is clouded by ship-goggles, or maybe it’s the opposite, when armed with the interpretation lens that season 3 is all but dreamworks-signed confirmation that Keith and Lance’s relationship is intended to be something more than BFF friendship, and always has been, and everything about their relationship from S1E1 to S3E7 is very deliberate in order to make their future endgame as believable, nuanced, and in depth as is possible for a younger audience show. 

assuming that this interpretation of S3 is not totally mistaken, then I contend that S1E6, in its entirety, is a far more momentous step in their relationship than all previous S1 episodes combined, including the bonding moment. 

basically, hunk wants to fulfill his promise to save his girlfriend shay, but allura decides a new incoming distress beacon needs to be looked into first. they arrive, and very unlike shay’s introduction (S1E5), characterized by dull colors, distrust, and caution....

E6′s introduction to rolo and nyma is characterized by brightness colors, camaraderie, and repose. some quality irony here. tbh, It’s a fantastic way of fLipPing The ScrIPT if you ask me Hunk.

also I suppose it should be mentioned that shay is meant to be noted for her tattered clothes, androgyny, and lack of traditional beauty (but we aren’t fooled, shay is perfect) while rolo and nyma are clearly typed to be MUTHAFUCKIN SEX BEASTS. nyma is very overtly feminine and rolo is equally masculine.

as expected, lance swoons and does his gig. even says “Name’s Lance” which uh, de ja vu anyone ahem episode uno?  as the episode progresses, it becomes clear that lance is going hella overboard, b/c even shiro (who, remember, has the highest tolerance for lance’s shit) is like for the love of fuck-

that night, there’s a bonfire, and rolo starts getting into his backstory. it’s worth noting that that besides space parents shiro and allura, keith is the only other paladin there listening. anyway rolo mentions sendak, immediately acknowledging him as a major threat. the point of that: considering just earlier in the episode, keith mentioned sendak’s threat to lance and lance promptly didn’t give a shit.....

even from profile view, keith’s expression in this frame ^ is distinctly similar to his expression from before (last frame from part 1), e.g. wide eyes revealing vulnerability, small frown, etc. i would take a gander that this is the moment that keith decides to...let things play out, rather than support hunk’s suspicions. 

(why? maybe because he sees lance being a dipshit and if hunk’s right, and these people are liars and cheats, then lance is going to get what he deserves. but, i admit, such a theory has no basis in canon.) 

meanwhile lance is being a dipshit and lets nyma inside the castle while the others aren’t looking. she plays him like a fiddle to get to the lions specifically, and at this point, the keen viewer is really starting to wonder why he’s being so dumb. 

and this is important: I do not believe the writers were making him dumb because that’s his Personality. Just like keith’s impatience with the healing pod, there’s gotta be a reason behind his behavior beyond “that’s just how he is, that’s just what’s happening right now, don’t look into it too hard”. 

I believe - going off of lance’s highly defensive refusal to acknowledge the bonding moment with keith earlier - he’s in a rather delicate emotional state right now, whether he consciously realizes it or not.

regardless of what keith might believe at this point, I think the reality is that lance sure as hell did remember. and although lance’s interpretation was probably different, it was different in the opposite way keith probably imagined (i.e. an even more dramatic and sentimental interpretation than keith’s). but the real divide between them at the beginning of E6 is their reactions to their own interpretations of the bonding moment: 

keith reaction: omg a real friend?? for me?? maybe jesus does love me

lance reaction: lies jesus lies i have never had a gay thot in my entire life nope

one of the big reasons I’m fairly confident I’m not just making lance’s reaction up totally with ship-goggles is because of this slap-in-the-face parallel: 

of ALL the things that could have been done, nyma is cradling lance in her arms, the very thing lance wants to deny even to himself ever happened with a certain someone else. 

if you’re followin my theory, i think it could go like this: 

because of the bonding moment, keith’s mind promoted his relationship with lance from we’re-both-in-voltron to F IS FOR FRIENDS, but i think from what can be seen of lance’s vastly exaggerated womanizing behaivor all E6, lance’s mind promoted his relationship with keith from grumpy-voltron-frenemy to ... 

...

...

... something he can’t yet bring himself to put into words (space ranger partners, italicized coughcough)

honestly, the frame of lance in nyma’s arms is a little depressing when put in context with the beginning of the episode. what is lance thinking, in this moment? or trying not to think about? is he telling himself on repeat: this is what I want, this is what I wanted, this is how it’s supposed to go, this is who it’s supposed to be -- he’s 100% blushing when she asks him to take her on a ride around moon, holding him like this. 

this post is cancelled if keith’s explicitly mentioned cradling is somehow not intended to be totally parallel to this scene right here with lance blushing. 

(sorry little baby cuban, but it is not mindless bromance that is in your future.)

immediately after this, lance seems to check back into reality, and shows some resistance to nyma’s request. but then: 

TRIGGERED

chances are, nyma made an educated guess that lance - like any hopeless romantic douche (psa i still love lance with my whole soul) - would react stupidly and competitively when threatened to be bested by another suitor. but there is a smidgen of possibility that she’s smart as FUCK (which there’s plenty of evidence of) and she knew that there could be only ONE1 reason lance could be overcompensating so obsessively. and out of other TeenPaladins, keith’s the hottest. i wouldn’t put it past this chick to put 2 and 2 and 5 together to get 69 and be correct. 

bonus: she mentions how the minerals of the kinetic spring “reflect off the water, making a rainbow”. Also, I’m almost certain someone has pointed this out before, but I guess I’ll do it again - the bisexual flag colors are pink, lavender, and blue, and this background..!.............but that’s just whiteboard conspiracy silliness, surely.    surely. 

necessary? i think not

((((((( also on a related note, i’ve watched this clip below like eight times because I have a feeling that this sequence is some kind of subtle parallel or reference to something as well. on the surface, lance appears to be surprised and blush when nyma rests her head against his armpit side and starts laughing.

it just caught me off guard like, why would this bit be included? we already know that lance is infatuated with her, so what’s the point? why waste time and frames to keep making the same point? ... oR is there some other point that’s trying to be made and I am blind to see it? right now I can’t come up with anything, but if you have any ideas, definitely let me know. )))))))

meanwhile...

keith stap.

and so lance’s massive fuck up comes to a peak, and he’s so desperate for this thing with nyma to work (so desperate to prove to himself that nothing’s changed, he’s still the same, a beautiful girl is still what he wants, what he needs) that for one sad moment he’s actually willing to believe nyma’s a dominatrix before he’s willing to believe that she’d been playing him all along...

(how can I be mad at this boy?) 

the others start the pursuit to save lance, and i think that it’s clever how keith was given the spotlight in the blue lion’s recovery via navigating the asteroid belt. that pursuit scene was very flexible in its requirements for how it needed to go, technically keith’s role doing that was interchangeable, and so the whole sequence could have been designed in a way to cater to another lion’s strengths. but. 

“This kid can flat-out fly,” says rolo. the title of this episode is “Taking Flight”. why would the title of this episode, in which, tbh, keith hardly does anything for a majority of it, be dedicated to this relatively predictable space car chase?

A: because it enables keith to say that he got is lion back. I saved your ass AGAIN and this time you can’t deny it! 

and because of this experience, lance now has come to understand (to at least some extent) that there’s no point in wishing that he’d had his Magical Moment of Connection™ with some cool and pretty girl like he’d always imagined.

maybe, very very deep down, he’s begun to realize that the moment was only magical in the first place because it was with keith. 

keith, who keeps coming through for him when it matters most. 

the episode comes full circle, and - going along with my theory so far - the real conflict has been resolved. One might argue all that this “subtext” was just a subplot to the main plot of learning their lesson with the bounty hunters and always listening to hunk because he’s right and shay is 1000% more pure than rolo and nyma combined, tattered clothes be damned. 

Or like me, one could argue that all that non-subtextual stuff (not counting the interspersed, juxtaposed scenes of Overarching Plot, Starring Your Hosts Haggar and Zarkon) was just an external plot chalk full of thematic parallels tailor-made to accommodate the true purpose of the episode: for lance and keith to come to terms with each other in the aftermath of the subtle but major shift that’s occurred between them. 

lance took a big step in this one episode by going from total denial to verbal acceptance (for everyone to hear) of a bonding moment, in fact, existing.

and keith did good by accepting lance as he is and choosing not to continue resenting him for how he first reacted. its safe to say that keith progressed in character even more than lance, which I think is why he wins the focus of the episode title, because what he learned was that if he wants a deeper friendship with lance, fate’s not going to hand it to him in a healing pod. he has to do his part developing it. he has to work for it. 

knowing keith, that’s a pretty tall order. but at least this time, keith got to Be There for lance after all.

Here is a follow up post: link