#the new sheith fans needs to know this exists…..

[iota-in-space]

…Never forget the canon Sheith thigh touch….a tiny detail but an intimate little thing to purposefully animate….in a nice gentle moment….

[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. 

[discoursecatharsis]

I'm sorry but I'm getting very annoyed with people getting upset over pillowforts new ban. The user they banned was drawing a 9 and 11 year old girl having sex, a loli drawing. They're literally just banning loli and shotacon. There's a visible difference between an anime child and an anime teen, and people need to stop whining about it, they're not banning trans people or disabled people, they're literally just banning people from drawing kids having sex. For God's sake.

I think people are more upset over the way pillowfort handled it. They didn’t have this rule in their TOS before banning the user, even though people had been asking for months for them to clarify their stance on nsfw content involving minors. They just straight up deleted this person’s account with no warning, for breaking a rule that didn’t exist at the time. And I think that’s reason enough for people to be worried about what this will mean for the website management-wise, organization-wise, etc.

Also their new rule was extremely unclear and had way too much gray area. They say “later stages of adolescence is okay,” awesome. But there’s still so much gray area with fictional characters visually because not every late-teen/early-adult looks exactly the same, cut-and-paste.

What about characters who look young but are adults?

Here’s a character from the anime Cheer Danshi. He’s a first year university student, so he’s 18. But the random pillowfort mod who receives a report on nsfw art of him probably won’t know that.

Here’s a snippet from their new policy

So sorry, Saku, even though you’re an adult in college, since you appear “barely pubescent,” no smut for you.

And what about artists whose art style is very cutesy and soft and they have a hard time making their characters look older? There are too many factors.

Pillowfort is going to have a hell of a time moderating this rule. Especially if antis flock to the site and report every Sheith or Otayuri fan art, they’ll be swamped in false reports.

I don’t like loli/shota, so I really don’t care that it’ll be against their rules. It’s pf’s site and they’re allowed to have whatever rules they want. But I think it’s unfortunate that CSA survivors will no longer be able to use pillowfort to post/look at art to cope. Also that said, I can see why people are concerned that this may lead to pillowfort banning other “problematic” content in the future, suddenly and without warning like they did here.

Personally I trust Pillowfort when they say they won’t budge on other problematic content

https://www.pillowfort.io/posts/232244

But this could be a slippery slope and they could go back on their word in the future, so I understand why people are upset and worried.

Edit: That said, I know there are people who are upset at the “no loli/shota” rule specifically, but I think most people are upset over the grayness of this new rule and the potential slippery slope it could lead too.

[perfectlyrose]

there’s something wretched about this

Shiro tries to discover the sequence of events leading up to Keith's departure from the Garrison and ends up opening a much larger can of emotional worms than he anticipated.

Sheith, pre-relationship, angst || 2.5k, all ages

AO3

The need to know is an itch under Shiro’s skin. He’s trying to accept that his memory has gaping holes in it now and he feels like he’s doing surprisingly well at that. The information he needs now isn’t something he’s forgotten though; it’s something he never knew to start with.

He’s pieced together scraps of information but the picture is still less than clear.

What he knows is this:

Sometime between the Kerberos launch and Shiro crash landing back on Earth, Keith left the Garrison.

Lance has called him a dropout more than once. Keith mentioned getting booted.

The shack he had awoken in looked lived in, was littered with the traces of Keith’s existence.

Keith is closed off in ways that Shiro doesn’t recognize.

Shiro needs to know what happened in the year and some-odd months he was in space. He tries to ask Keith, wanting to hear it straight from him. Keith’s face goes stone-still and he awkwardly shifts the conversation to something else.

Shiro’s heart does a funny twist as he considers the possibility that Keith doesn’t trust him enough to share anymore.

He wants to say that he’s shocked about Keith parting ways with the Garrison but it would be a lie. Keith had always been about two moves away from getting expelled or storming out at any given moment. Keith was there to fly and his willingness to bend to the strict discipline of the military bureaucracy was miniscule on good days. He did exactly what it took to get in the sims, in the air, and no more.

But Shiro needs to know what happened.

Keith won’t talk to him about it, so he seeks out Lance.

He finds the Blue Paladin wandering the hallways, clearly undecided on how to spend their few free hours. “Lance! Just who I was looking for,” he says, putting on a cheerful front.

“Oh, hey, Shiro,” Lance replies. “What’s up?”

“Was hoping you could help me with something. Got a minute to talk?”

“Nothing but time,” Lance answers with an expansive hand gesture.

“Just wanted to ask a few questions,” Shiro explains as he leads them to the lounge. It’s empty and he takes a seat on one of the couches. Lance sits opposite him.

“Whaddya need to know? I am always up to date with the latest gossip, even with the limited sources on this old ship.” A smirk spreads across his face as he leans back, resting his hands behind his head and an ankle on his knee. “Hit me with your best shot.”

“I was hoping you could tell me some of what happened at the Garrison after…” he pulls in a breath, “after I left.”

Lance’s eyebrows go up. He scrutinizes Shiro. “You want to know what led up to Keith living in a shack in the desert.”

Shiro shrugs and doesn’t deny it. “Might be a bit curious.”

“Well, as the guy who took his spot when he finally flamed out, I can provide a pretty accurate account,” he boasts.

Shiro gestures for him to go ahead.

“Right after the Kerberos mission left, Keith was like… weirdly quiet. I mean, he was always kind of quiet except when he was getting in trouble, but it was different. He kept his head down, you know? Stayed out of trouble for once.”

Shiro wonders if that was because he was no longer there to help smooth things over, wonders if Keith was trying a little harder to toe the line so he’d still be there when Shiro returned.

That isn’t fair to his friend, though. He always joked with Keith about him being a troublemaker but it wasn’t true, not really. Keith never made the trouble or even sought it out, it just seemed to dog his footsteps. His sharp edges caught against the rigid fabric of the Garrison and tore through it instead of dulling down.

If Keith had been trying to fall in line though, what had caused his flight to the desert?

“Once news of mission failure hit, shit kinda hit the fan,” Lance continues, waving a hand. “Mullet disappeared for like two whole days. Even missed a sim flight which was super weird for him. Heard he got into a shouting match with Iverson when he showed back up. Rumor had it that he was screaming about how it couldn’t have been pilot error and that the Garrison was covering something up.” Lance sits up straight. “Hey, he was actually right!”

Shiro’s focus narrows onto two words. “Pilot error?” he croaks out, voice unsteady.

Lance takes one look at Shiro’s face and blanches, pulling back. Shiro doesn’t want to know what expression he’s wearing to cause that reaction.

“Um yeah,” he stutters out. “The Garrison announced pilot error as the reason for mission failure.”

Shiro feels helpless anger licking at his bones. After years of being their poster child, the Garrison dismissed him with the two cruelest words they could pick. Pilot error. Like he hadn’t worked harder than anyone else to be able to graduate early, to be selected as the pilot for the Kerberos mission. Like he hadn’t fought tooth and nail to keep his spot, like he hadn’t given up everything to fly the mission and fly it absolutely perfectly.

They erased his entire body of work, his every professional achievement, with two words.

“Makes sense, I guess,” he says aloud. And it does. The most common reasons for mission failure lie with the pilot, but not with Shiro, not this time. His fists clench and he wonders if they publicly blamed his illness too.

He doesn’t ask.

“Yeah, so, that was pretty much the only thing everyone was talking about,” Lance hurries to continue. “And you could just kinda see Keith starting to lose it, you know? Pretty sure there was a betting pool as to when he would finally snap. Could see it coming from a mile away.”

“What happened?” Shiro is impressed that his voice is even. The anger is still simmering in his veins, but dread is starting to build in his chest, heavy and unwelcome.

Lance shrugs. “He snapped. There’s at least a dozen different stories about what happened. The one where he punched out Iverson and took off on a hoverbike is the most popular. It was something like two weeks after mission failure, I think. All anyone knew for sure was that Keith literally disappeared within the span of an hour. People saw him in the mess and then his dorm was clear of personal effects like… forty-five minutes later. No one saw him again until the three of us ran into him while rescuing you.”

Cold snakes down Shiro’s spine. He isn’t surprised that Keith left the Garrison, but he never expected to learn that he is the reason behind the departure.

“Was he expelled or did he run?” He has to know. That’s what got him into the mess of too much and not enough information in the first place.

Lance swallows hard. “Pretty sure he was expelled but no one could ever actually confirm it.” He fidgets for a moment and then forges ahead. “Hey, Shiro? Why are you asking me about this instead of Keith? He actually knows what happened since he, you know, lived it.”

“He refused to talk about it,” Shiro admits.

“Okay,” Lance drawls. “Do me a favor and don’t tell him that I’m the one who spilled the beans, yeah? I would prefer to keep all of my teeth intact.”

Shiro raises an eyebrow. “He wouldn’t punch you out, Lance.”

Lance scoffs as he gets to his feet. “Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think.”

He leaves the room, unaware that he just sent Shiro reeling.

He’s been so focused on how he himself has changed that he’s failed to really consider how much his friend must have changed too.

Shiro’s skin prickles with guilt.

He takes a deep breath and tries to sort through everything he’s learned in the past few minutes.

The revelation of pilot error is something he needs to set aside for later, he decides. Keith needs to be his focus. Lance at least gave him enough information to start with regarding Keith’s departure from the Garrison, even if it is full of holes and guesses.

Shiro drags a hand over his face. He really needs to talk to Keith. Putting it off even longer isn’t going to help matters, he thinks. He’s already let Keith avoid the conversation several times. They need to talk about it so they can move forward. Keith needs to talk about it, Shiro thinks, instead of bottling it all up like is his wont.

He stands and heads towards the training deck, knowing that Keith is likely there. Now is as good a time as any to have this conversation.

Shiro watches from the doorway as Keith fights the gladiator on a level higher than he’s seen anyone else try thus far. He moves with single-minded ferocity and sharp-edged grace. Keith in a fight is something Shiro’s never been able to look away from.

He never saw Keith training with blades of any sort back at the Garrison but his bayard seems like a natural extension of his arm. It’s mesmerizing.

Keith’s bayard slices into the side of the gladiator and it powers down, signalling victory for the Red Paladin.

“End training sequence,” Keith says, voice quiet in the large room. His bayard flashes, returning to its base form.

“Impressive,” Shiro says.

Keith whips around. His hair is plastered to his forehead and he looks about ready to drop. “Oh. Hey, Shiro.”

“Have a minute? I’ve been meaning to talk to you about some stuff.”

His face closes off, hiding all the emotion Shiro used to be able to read so easily. “Can it wait? I need to hit the showers.”

“I don’t know when we’ll have another free minute,” Shiro says. “Please?”

Keith sighs. “Fine.”

He walks over to where the water pouches are kept. Shiro follows.

“So, what’s this stuff you want to talk about?” Keith asks after draining half the pouch.

Now or never, Shiro thinks before opening his mouth. He vaguely regrets this conversation already and it’s barely started. “What happened after the Kerberos launch, Keith?”

Keith stiffens. “If you want the Garrison gossip, go talk to Lance or Hunk or someone. You know I didn’t keep up with that shit.”

“I want to know what happened with you,” Shiro presses. “How did you end up out in the desert on your own?”

“Drove a hoverbike there,” Keith shoots back.

Shiro frowns. “That’s not what I meant. You can’t keep bottling this all up. It’s not healthy.”

“That’s rich coming from you” he says with a snort. “You’re practically  the poster child for repressing emotions. Guess it’s a lesson you didn’t mean to teach me.”

Direct hit. “Keith,” he reaches out and rests a hand on his shoulder, “I worry, okay? You seem on edge and talking about all this might help.”

Keith’s face twists and he ducks out from under Shiro’s touch. “You think talking will help?”

Shiro never wants to hear the humorless laugh that follow the words fall from Keith’s lips again.

He nods, hesitant. “I think it will, and I was hoping you still trust me enough to know that I will listen. So, talk to me.”

He knows issuing Keith a challenge used to be the best way to goad him into doing something. It’s almost a relief that the tactic still holds.

“What the fuck do you want to hear, Shiro?” Keith almost snarls. The words sound ripped out of his chest. “That after you left I had to learn how to be alone again and that it hurt worse than before because I actually knew the alternative? That I read every single tiny report and log that you and the Holts sent back to command? Or how about all the ways I self-destructed after they announced mission failure? Do you want a fucking list?” Keith is breathing hard, fire in his eyes.

Shiro has been shocked into stillness by Keith’s ferocity, by the pain dripping from every word.

“What good does any of this do you?” Keith’s voice cracks. “It’s in the past. Just… just leave it there.”

Shiro swallows hard. “I’m not sure that I can. I’m not sure that either of us can.”

“Well, I’m going to try,” Keith says. The strength underlying the words is brittle and cracking. “I thought you were dead, Shiro. You were dead and all anyone could talk about was pilot error and how the Garrison made a mistake sending you up there.” He looks down at his feet. “People didn’t seem to care that you specifically, as a person, were gone and I couldn’t… I couldn’t...”

They erased his entire body of work, his every professional achievement, with two words.

Pilot error.

The same two words completely shattered Keith’s entire world.

“Keith…”

“Just leave it alone, Shiro. Please.” He’s shaking, little fine tremors wracking him. He looks like he’s barely holding it together.

Guilt swamps him, leaving Shiro cold and with a heavy ball of regret in his stomach. “Okay,” he whispers, nodding. “Okay.”

Keith presses his lips into a thin line like he’s holding back more words. He takes a deep breath, fists clenching. Shiro can only watch as he pushes all his roiling emotions back behind his walls, pulls them back under his skin.

“I’m just going to… I’m going to go get that shower.” He doesn’t wait for Shiro to answer, just turns and walks away.

Shiro sits down and buries his face in his hands, trying to parse through all the information again now that Keith has sent him spinning off kilter once more. He’s always had a knack for that.

What Shiro now knows is this:

Keith left the Garrison within two weeks of the announcement of the failure of the Kerberos mission.

Keith was likely expelled but the exact reason why is still unknown to him.

The general reason Keith left the Garrison and retreated to the desert was Shiro’s presumed death.

Keith lived in that desert shack, alone, for an entire year.

Keith is closed off in ways that Shiro doesn’t recognize, ways that were carved out by grief and loneliness.

He draws in a deep breath. The biggest thing he’s realized is that Keith has been altered by the past year almost as much as Shiro has. He is going to have to work to rebuild the friendship they once shared, to earn the right to see behind Keith’s walls again.

It is work he is more than willing to do. He never wants to be the cause of Keith’s pain like this again, never again wants to see the other man almost shaking apart at the seams due to lingering grief. He doesn’t think his heart could take it, not when it feels cracked open after this single conversation.

He’ll make sure that Keith knows that he never wants to make him hurt like this again. They might be fighting a war, but it’s one they’re fighting together and Shiro has no plans to disappear again.

Now he just needs to convince Keith of this. They can start healing together and maybe one day Shiro will get the rest of the answers he craves. They have plenty of time to get there, he thinks. 

Plenty of time.

[bettsfic]

What do you think are the different types of relationships in fandom/fanfic verses in traditional media/literature? Referring back to shipping question you answered, romantic/platonic/familial boxes in traditional literature, compared to the elements that make fans ship particular characters? Or maybe the relationship are the same, but in fandom there's a more intense analysis and expansion of the relationships?

as much as BDSM is Out of Style now (presumably because of the purity bullshit happening), power-discrepant relationships are something i’ve always used fandom to seek out and understand better. when i was a teenager i used to seek out weird kink forums to try to learn more about sexual deviance, and those had a habit of being enormous and therefore exhausting to comb through, so having power play info offered in narrative has made the whole thing much easier. although one time i did read an entire erotic Yoshi forum and i have yet to read an erotic Yoshi fic on AO3, so, yk, get on that, fic writers.

one thing fanfic does better than i think any other genre is that it denies eros as the only kind of sexual love. sex can be the physical culmination of any kind of love. i think in fic intense platonic bonds seem to reign (stucky, destiel), and while often these stories veer into romance, many of them begin with a foundation of friendship and loyalty (see: Friends to Lovers). and, again, as much as it’s out of style currently*, incest fic shows us sex tied to familial bonds, but like Friends to Lovers, it begins with a foundation of loyalty and devotion. and we also have sex tied to worship (power play), and sex tied to nothing which is then used to pivot a story into a new place (think fics where it starts with a hookup and then character A finds out that B is their new boss). and of course there are slow burns and meet-cutes and meet-uglies and fake marriage and all these other tropes that use existing patterns in order to explore the chemistry between two characters.

with fanfic, it’s also about the nature of the genre. if you have an OTP you presumably read about the same two characters getting together in hundreds or thousands of different ways. they’re different interpretations of characters, but they are still fundamentally the same characters, which allows me to make connections about the nature of love that i don’t think i otherwise could. there’s really no other medium or genre that allows for that kind of groupthink consideration of characters and relationships. we have a massive group of reader-writers who donate their experiences and understanding of love to two (or more) already established characters, and i think that affects how we perceive the complexity of identity.

i feel like maybe i’m not making very much sense. i just know that when i watch a rom com, i feel compelled to re-join tinder and try to date/fall in love with/have sex with men who are very nice but ultimately have no desire in challenging themselves emotionally or intellectually or possess any kind of inquisitive drive toward the exploration of intimacy because their worldview has always been the predominant one. i’ll have to dress up and Be Pretty and shave places i don’t like shaving and wear makeup i don’t like wearing in order to appease their expectations and play into this game of love i only know by rote memorization and mimicry. and i think maybe something is wrong with me that i’m not happy with what everyone else seems happy with. 

but when i read a fic that really hits me, really knocks me on my ass, i start to see the specific threads of companionship i desire, facets of relationships i prioritize, and it helps me say no more easily. no, you don’t ask enough questions of yourself or the world. no, you don’t value loyalty enough. no, you don’t know the difference between intimacy and sex. no, you’re incompetent. no, you don’t think i’m beautiful without spanx on. no, you don’t know how to negotiate wants and needs. no, you don’t know how to love in a healthy way, you only know how to use and be used. no, my standards aren’t too high, my needs aren’t too specific, and i don’t have to settle for someone who won’t love me the way i want and deserve to be loved.

*EDIT: immediately after i posted this i thought of loki and sheith, so maybe it’s only looked down on in certain fandoms? idk

[eledritch]

So reading all of you amazing works as well as following the content of other lovely Sheith shippers has inspired to finally write some fan fiction and contribute too! It’s been literal years since I’ve written anything though, and of course the story that got me really excited is going to have to be a multi chapter monster. As the master of long and complex fanfics, any advice for beginners?

Good!! I believe in you.

Sure, why the heck not :’) been awhile since I made a big writing tips post and I feel like I have some new things to offer since the last one. I don’t know if your fic is gonna be an AU or canon-compliant, but since my specialty is long and complex multichapter AUs, this is mainly gonna be about that.

First, you can check out my ‘writing tips’ tag for my own tips and tips from others on tumblr: http://saltyshiro.tumblr.com/tagged/writing-tips

The most important advice I can give to you as a writer is to READ. I don’t read nearly as much as I used to, but I still try to when I can. Reading was what gave me the inspiration and knowledge I needed for worldbuilding, which is a vital part of not just AUs, but any long and complex fic. You need to be confident about writing the world you’ve stuck your characters in. You have to know that world better than anyone.

More often than not, books aimed at children actually have better worldbuilding than books for adults. There are exceptions to this (a lot of sci-fi, like Dune & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, for example, as well as dystopian fiction like The Handmaid’s Tale), but some of my favorite worlds remain those from children’s books. They include:

The Ever After in the May Bird & the Ever After series

The absurdist and time-period defiant world where anything goes (as long as it’s unfortunate) of A Series of Unfortunate Events

The Other World in Coraline & London Below Gaiman’s adult fantasy novel Neverwhere

The world populated by various small animals like mice, rats, and squirrels in Redwall by Brian Jacques

The medieval kingdoms of Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

The eerie surrealist circus world of The Palace of Laughter by Jon Berkeley

I’m also currently working my way through the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, which is some INCREDIBLE worldbuilding in a high fantasy setting.

So what do all of these have in common? Well, contrary to popular belief, I don’t think you have to go Full Tolkien and write a brand new language as well as six thousand maps for your world. Nope. None of that is required. All that is required is that you LOVE the world you created. Love the heck out of it. Even if it’s a shitty world. Doesn’t matter. It’s YOUR shitty world. 

The more you love this world of yours, the more you’re gonna want to write about it, and the more reluctant you will be to let yourself drop the project. The pitfall many fanfic writers (and writers in general) fall into when writing long works is that they get burnt out and tired of their own story. You can’t get tired of your story if you keep adding to the world and finding new things to love and explore within it.

Worldbuilding reflects onto your characters, too - people are in many ways a product of their surroundings, after all. If your world is shitty, then your characters might end up a little shitty, too. But - and here’s the clever thing about this - because you love your world so much, and because your characters are an integral part of that world (they should be, if they’re your protagonist/villain/etc), you end up loving your characters, too. It feels like a betrayal if you stop writing their stories, and the world you’ve created should at this point feel almost like a real place, albeit within your head and your imagination. And when that happens, writing about your world and characters doesn’t feel like a chore or an obligation anymore. It feels like an adventure.

That being said, human brains have limits and it shouldn’t ALL exist in your head. You gotta take notes, do some doodles and simple maps if you’re into that, and also use resources made specifically to organize worldbuilding. I tend to just use good ol’ fashioned pencil and paper, but I’ve heard this tool is pretty good for digital organization:

https://www.notebook.ai/

Additionally, don’t be afraid to uh....“borrow” from other worlds that have been made before. The sooner you understand that everyone kinda steals (respectfully) from everyone (i.e. the lion king is hamlet; romeo and juliet is heavily inspired by the greek myth of pyramus and thisbe), the better off you’re gonna be in worldbuilding. You can, and unavoidably will, use worlds you’ve read about and/or experienced in the past in your own worldbuilding. It becomes a patchwork of your own, and once you have a base for your world, it becomes increasingly easy to add onto it and expand with more original ideas.

It can also be helpful to do a ton of research. Say you want your world to somewhat resemble Victorian England. How are you gonna know what that was like? Watch movies set in Victorian England to understand the aesthetic and speech. Watch documentaries to get a more factual basis. Read books set in Victorian England for the language and the societal ideas. Go on a Wikipedia or Google deep dive - almost always, you will end up in a much more interesting place than you expected. Listening to music can also be super helpful to get into a particular tone you want to see in your world, or can help you find the tone if you’re not sure what you want yet. I have playlists for most of my stories.

And, finally, understand that there’s always room for growth. I know my worldbuilding can be better than it is, so with every new story, I strive to make a more vibrant, vivid, lovable world than before. And guess what? Usually, not only does it work, but I also enjoy myself while writing more.

The key to long and complex fics is genuinely enjoying what you’re writing. You may be able to bullshit and slog your way through a shorter fic, but not a 200k monster. Another important key - know where your story is going to end up. 

You need a goal to work towards. Maybe it’s a scene you’ve been wanting to write since you came up with the story. It doesn’t have to be the ending, but it helps if it is. You should know the ending by at least the middle of the story. I’m pretty sure I’ve written stories where that wasn’t the case and I was just flying by the seat of my pants, seeing where my world and characters took me next...which is a valid way to approach writing, but riskier, and ultimately rather frustrating when writing fics since you can’t exactly go back and insert foreshadowing for the ending you didn’t know was coming, lol.

I find late-night brainstorms best for figuring out how I want to end stories. I’ll open up a word doc, think for a good while, and then just start typing. Type it out stream of consciousness style. It doesn’t need to be a good explanation of the events, it just has to be an explanation. (This is also helpful in long stories for writing down reoccuring elements you don’t want to forget, such as slang, societal titles, a promise a character made to another than they really need to bring up again sometime...)

For example, here is my stream of consciousness brain-spew for my fic Seal It With A Kiss (this did not all end up happening quite like this, but here it is, warning for nsfw mentions lmao):

Witch Classes: Apprentice, novice, journeyman, master/magus, archmagus

The Wastes – western desert wasteland, Keith is from Blackwater, three days’ ride from the Citadel. It’s bordered by the River Acheron to the west, on the other side of which are the lands where Keith’s father lived with his first wife. The ocean is to the north, with the island of Cobao directly south of the Citadel.

The Citadel – centrally located, perched among Asphodel Peaks, near the lowland Oscuran Woods. Capital, Altea City, is three days’ ride to the east. Shiro’s grandparents live to the south on the shores of Lake Lucanus, a major fishing outpost bordered by the Dalterion Swamplands to the south.

THE VOID: mysterious dimension (or entity?) accidentally opened by witches eons ago (oops), which created Hell and unleashed demons/monsters/old gods (Voidborn). It is made up of what witches call infernal magic – a powerful and supposedly corrupted/corrupting form of quintessence. The Void is largely unknown and inaccessible to humans. Few return, and those who do are always changed by it.

HELL: Thought to be a reflection of the Void on a more physical/less abstract plane. Hell is made up of many pocket realms, including Daibazaal (one of the largest, ruled by the Galra), and Stratonikeia (ruled by Hecate). It is populated by Voidborn, who carve out sections of it for themselves in warlord-esque fashion.

Neither Hell nor the Void are inherently “evil,” though most witches consider them so, and they are dangerous. While the most well-established Voidborn rule with law and order, many other parts are lawless chaos centered around power struggles, and all Voidborn are morally gray to an extent.

VOIDBORN: Despite their vast differences, all Voidborn derive power from human souls & quintessence. Often generalized as demons, Voidborn are secular beings with no “holy” counterpart (i.e. angels), however, they come in many forms:

SPECTERS: generally the weakest Voidborn, they lack corporeal form and often “haunt” areas with histories of death, grief, and bloodshed, frightening humans and feeding off of their fear.

MONSTERS: a large and varied group of Voidborn, not as intelligent nor powerful as demons. They are the mostly likely to directly attack/kill/eat humans and are often hunted, with trophies of their heads displayed outside remote villages to ward off other monsters.

OLD GODS: a more rare group which often overlaps with greater demons; old gods can be benevolent if appeased (i.e. through ritual sacrifice, favors, offerings, worship, etc). They define territories for themselves and over time can become deified by local peoples, since old gods have been known to protect their lands and the people within them in exchange for worship.

LESSER DEMONS: more intelligent than monsters but less powerful than greater demons and old gods, they often rely on contracts and trickery to get their way. They are known to be petty, cruel, and ugly.

GREATER DEMONS: highly intelligent and powerful, they are dangerous beings who chiefly use contracts, torture, manipulation, and possession to take power from souls, which they crave more than any other Voidborn.

*Haggar has been cloaking Keith from Krolia so she cannot find her son since Keith went to the Citadel*

Shiro was captured by Haggar, who experimented on him (gave him the arm, which is powered by infernal energy/Void quintessence and began to corrupt his soul/erode it) and used him as a gladiator, until she managed to capture and slay Kurobasanir, whose quintessence she combined with the remnants of Shiro’s soul. His soulless, empty body was left to fight in the arena as a kind of robotic killing machine, while Shiro’s self became entangled with Kurobasanir. Because Kurobasanir was dead but Shiro was alive and so determined to stay alive, Shiro’s soul (primed with the Void energy which allowed him to stand up against Kuro) took control, though he gained Kurobasanir’s memories, abilities, and personality, while losing/forgetting his own. However as time passes with Keith, Shiro’s subconscious (ironically the only part of him which is still conscious/knows who he is) begins to break through, making him more ‘human’ as he starts to remember who he is/have doubts that he is really Kurobasanir.

He is unable to shift into any other human but Shiro, falls in love with Keith (demons are supposedly incapable of love), experiences sudden surges of emotion/nostalgia and feels protective towards Shiro’s family/horse/possessions/etc, is mostly unaffected by spells that should exorcise or defeat demons, and acts differently than the original Kurobasanir according to the late incubus’s friends. Because Kurobasanir was a sadist, but Shiro is not, so when he fucks Keith in front of the other demons, they know something’s up because he’s not hurting Keith at all.

What he doesn’t remember/know, though, is that this whole thing is a trap set by Haggar in order to lure Keith, who is a cambion (half demon, half human) to her so she can experiment on him in her quest to gain immortality so she can stay with Zarkon forever without surrendering her soul/turn her own soul into a demon’s essence. Because cambion, once mature, are effectively immortal and have a soul, while still retaining dormant Void magic within them which allows for their immortality and more demonic qualities. They are also extremely rare, and Haggar only knows of Keith because Hekate (Krolia) was her mentor and mentioned him.

So when Keith and Shiro go to find Shiro at the Samhain Tourney, Keith sees Shiro’s soulless body fighting and goes to break him out of his cell in the intermission; Shiro, not recognizing him/caring about him/trained to kill on sight tries to kill him, Keith is horrified and unable to bring himself to hurt Shiro, so he is saved by Kurobasanir, who realizes the situation fully once he comes face to face with the body that was once his, realizing his (Shiro’s) soul has been transferred into the incubus’s.

Before he can tell Keith this, though, Keith is captured by Haggar (who he recognizes as Honerva) and the two are separated. Keith cries alone in his cell, thinking Shiro is gone for good and also thinking Kurobasanir betrayed him and/or will be killed or tortured, leaving him utterly alone again. Lots of time passes and Keith realizes Haggar is trying to break the bond between him and Kurobasanir, because they’re both trapped and the contract must be sealed via sex. So Keith is in agony (and very very horny) because he can’t touch Shiro, and the contract is on the verge of breaking (and causing a great deal of pain and harm to both of them, since it was broken against their will) when Hekate/Krolia shows up, kicks BUTT, and bc she’s Mom of the Year, rescues Keith and brings him to Shiro while explaining on the way what happened. She also mentions that Keith’s father left because he was fulfilling the contract Hekate had with him, which was that because he was infertile she would bear him a “human” son (Keith), who would be blessed by her and live a happy/prosperous life, but in exchange Keith’s dad would only get sixteen years with his son, and then Hecate would take his soul.

As it turns out, though, Hekate/Krolia grew pretty darn fond of Keith’s dad (he’s a human teddy bear hedge mage unfazed by demons, what’s not to love), so he’s just chilling in Hell with her and had planned to come back and tell Keith the whole story, but when he returned Keith had gone off to the Citadel & Haggar was hiding Keith from Hecate.

So Keith and Shiro reunite and they’re so desperate for each other that they basically end up fucking while escaping (Keith is VERY EMBARRASSED but Krolia is like boi I am the mistress of dark magic, I don’t care, get that demon dick, proud of u son. Plus Shiro does his best to hide Things), cue a very wild scene in which both Keith and Shiro are kicking ass while fucking, since Shiro has regained his powers and Keith is Restored By The Power of Shiro’s Dick. Amen. Hallelujah.

Thankfully they finish up by the time they find the Holts, who were being forced to do alchemy stuff in Haggar’s lab. Haggar’s druids attack them, but Keith, who has read up on Honerva’s magic/theories, and Krolia, who mentored Honerva and is now pissed at her bc she tried to use Krolia’s son for her experiments, defeat the druids and are about to destroy Haggar’s research. Then Haggar bursts in, and in a desperate attempt to save her life’s work tells Keith that she can separate Shiro’s soul from Kurobasanir if he spares her/her work. Shiro is actually the one who hesitates, since he thinks Keith deserves much better than him and should have him fully human, as he appeared in their future together. But Keith has made up his mind – he loves Shiro in any and every form, and he’s done with Haggar’s shit. Furious at the thought of what she did to Shiro and planned to do to him, Keith’s magic creates a massive explosion which destroys the lab as Krolia uses one of Haggar’s traveling crystals to take them all away from Daibazaal.

Krolia takes them to her realm of Stratonikeia, a much more chill part of Hell. Because it’s Samhain and everyone is partying, Hecate’s palace is hectic and full of drunk demons and debauchery bc demons just wanna have fun, okay? Krolia makes sure the Holts are given safe accomodations so they can rest up and receive treatment before returning home. Meanwhile, Keith and Shiro are very shaken and Keith is weak from using so much magic to destroy Haggar and her lab. He and Shiro manage to escape the party and get to a balcony or something, where Shiro tearfully apologizes for everything, saying he understands if Keith wants to break ties after their contract is over, and that he wishes it didn’t have to end like this. Keith is quiet, then tells him that nothing is ending, pointing out that apparently he’s also immortal, and that technically Shiro gets his immortal soul in return for completing the contract. Shiro misunderstands, panicking and assuring Keith he will not take his soul and will leave him alone, but Keith cups his face and says he wants Shiro to have him forever, because he loves him, and never stopped loving him. Disbelieving but hopeful, Shiro embraces him gently, and when they kiss Keith begins to show his demonic characteristics (little horns, glowing eyes, tail, reddish scales).

Epilogue – Keith and Shiro get married. In Hell. It’s beautiful. They also have the most romantic, tender, kinky demon/cambion sex ever. They’re in love and together forever :’))

*

I hope that helps, dear!! Best of luck in your writing endeavors. 

[itsallaboutsheith]

Alright, I finished it, I did skip the fighting scenes though, cause I generally don’t find them very interesting. (so that means you can watch through it pretty fast this season, defintely not the case every season) The season has some good moments like the first episode, or the reveal of the BOM members and Kollivan episode, But overall S6 was much better in my opinion.  It’s pretty obvious Allurance will be canon, as the crush gets pointed out several times and seems very much mutual at this point, another crush that seems pointed out is from Acxa on Keith, it’s hinted at and I must say I much prefer the headcanons where they are related one way or the other.  I’m not a big fan of Shiro’s new arm personally since it just looks weird to me, he’s got a hole and then a lower arm, it’s just not a very pretty thing to look at and I don’t see it working in merchandise. Similar I have conflicting feelings about the Atlas robot. Which might be what the reviewers were talking about.  But over all, I missed Shiro with the rest of them, as much as I am happy he played a crucial part still. It’s just not the same and I hope that the white lion really is something that will happen. I know Keith cannot be a leader if Shiro is there to some people, but I honestly don’t see why not. Shiro’s ptsd was never mentioned or shown but this was something that could have played a part in Keith leading, Shiro needing to not feel the pressure of being in charge for a while and learning to enjoy it while healing from his traumas.  I’m also surprised, though much more disappointed that nothing was addressed much. Shiro basically went on as if nothing happened. No talk with Keith about their fight or anything, which I would gladly have seen instead of the game show episode or 2 flashback episodes that could have easily been one if they weren’t so busy building up this new generation pilots, which might be the spin off crew.  I love Romelle and Cosmo, Cosmo is easily the real MVP of this season and I’m glad we got see everyone reunite with their families.  Obviously Adam is dead, we guessed as much from the review. I’m not surprised a whole lot of people died, but I do have to say that I’m not pleased with his dead, where he died just like 90% of the garrison, at the same time he died where everyone else with ties to the paladins survives. Everyone had their family returned to them safely, but Shiro his one person is dead (whether ex or not, that is irrelevant here). In that way it’s definitely part of the kill your gay problem. If the show had killed one of Lance’s siblings or Pidge’s dad, it would have evened it out, now it stands on it’s own.  Obviously it’s the irony of being healthy and dying versus Shiro’s illness and somehow surviving everything. 

I do think Keith has grown a lot and it showed in everything this, I also loved how the season treated Hunk. 

So where does this season leave Sheith, personally I’d say pretty much in the same place as before this season started, we just know a lot about their background now, that Shiro is canonically gay (though if you want to not see this revelation the show made that possible, so I’m not sure he’s as canonically gay as I was hoping for) They also made it very obvious that Keith is the juxtapose for Adam. 

I’m not sure what to expect for S8, I would think it’s about saving the atleans from wherever they come from as it turns out they are used to make weapons. Earth has been saved, so now it’s time for Atlean and the end of the galra empire. Plus voltron has yet to go up against the many druids, but will Shiro be actively there or sidelined on earth/ fighting with atlas.... That has to be seen. I don’t think I’’m going to expect this season to ever dive into thing, as it seems to prefer to gloss over things. I get it it’s a kids show, but why put serious problems in a kids show only to pretend they don’t exist 10 seconds later?.....

[freedom-of-fanfic]

Just wondering if you have thoughts on why klantis can't accept if their pairing does not become canon. I mean, even with other age-appropriate pairings like Allurance and Kallura, they can't seem to accept their existence. But the mere thought that their OTP may not happen in canon seems to be an almost existential fear for them, let alone a queer ship like Sheith. They'll all turn into pumpkins if klance isn't canon! Youth and ignorance of how fandom works, perhaps?

so this pressing need for Your Ship™ to be the Canon Ship™ isn’t a new or even unusual phenomenon … but I think it’s taking on a new fever-pitch in VLD fandom due to how social justice is misused these days.

factor 1: it could be canon

As long as I’ve been in fandom, I’ve spent most of that time shipping ships (if I shipped at all) pairings that had no chance of becoming canon: i.e. slash or femslash. 

there’s a weird security in that! If you’re shipping mlm/wlw in a show where they will never canonically date, much less be endgame, you don’t have to worry that they’ll have a bad breakup or - in general - much serious relationship drama. (most series that feature romance only have serious drama in the romantic relationships.) Their canon romantic pursuits make no difference because you already know your OTP was never going to be canon. and even if you could reach the creators with your feelings about a non-straight ship, slash/femslash fans were the Weird Ones back then; you didn’t talk about your ships with anyone but other transformative fandom members.

This is no longer the case. As LGBT+/queer people have gained more and more visibility, media representation has been more and more realistic to expect. Younger LGBT+/queer fandom members are especially ‘used’ to representation being a genuine possibility, and they consume media with that expectation in mind.  They even boldly inform the creators that they demand representation! (we’ve come a long way from the early 2000′s.)

factor 2: the meta of vld raises hopes higher

In the case of VLD, the creators have mentioned that they want to include queer representation. Of course that’s got a lot of us looking out for when it shows up. Also, some of the executive team staffed Korra - the animated show for teens that made the queer ship canon.

According to the executive directors of Korra, Korrasami confirmation was grafted onto the end of the series partially because of the fandom. Its popularity online seems to have been the spark that led to the final handholding scene. If that isn’t motivation enough to beg and plead and bang on the door of the vld staff in hopes they will fulfill every dream of non-straight shippers, what could be?

Making sure the staff knows that klance is the best engame, of course.

factor 3: fandom is an echo chamber filled with purity/‘social justice’ culture

without getting into it at length: a lot of factors have made tumblr a dangerously toxic environment where saying something that bullies don’t like is volunteering for public verbal slaughter and holding the party line is the best way to avoid trouble. and that party line is extreme and getting more extreme because the people who dictate the social rules of tumblr are the ones who are willing to punish anyone who steps out of line (ie bullies). this has turned tumblr into an echo chamber of people repeating whatever the loudest people say and dissenting voices are more likely to catch hell than get heard.

currently the ascendant fandom voices are ones that support purity culture - that is, content needs to be free of ‘bad’ or ‘corrupting’ content to be allowed to exist - especially because kids might see it and get corrupted. therefore, all ships need to be ‘pure’ to be allowed to exist.

The other ascendant voices are exclusionist voices. the more gay/lesbian a ship is, the better it is: in fact, it makes the ship even more pure. (all other kinds of queer representation matter less.)

this is how klantis came to exist: pro-klance antis who use purity/exclusionist standards to prove that klance is the most pure ship of all - and therefore is the one most allowed to exist. everything that competes with it is problematic or not as good representation somehow.

why does this matter? because vld is a kid’s show! if klance is the most pure and the most LGBT, that means it’s the one that has to be endgame.

and they have to prove this because vld fandom is neck deep in a ship war (that klance would lose based on traditional standards. adds that extra spicy desperation flavor.)

factor 4: there can only be one

klance fans who demand klance be canon endgame are not all that different from the average ship war soldier.

the most epic ship wars are almost always sparked by one thing: sharing a popular character. Harmony vs Harry/Ginny, Zutara vs Kataang, Wincest vs Destiel, MaKorra vs Korrasami - they all have one character caught between two ships with so many fans that a few of them on both sides were bound to be pants-on-fire wankers that can’t stand people having different opinions than them and existing. sheith vs klance is the same old song (or would be if social justice wasn’t the most popular bludgeon of choice, as noted above.)

the traditional weapon of ship wars has been ��being more canon’, so most warring is done by close canon analysis, scrutinizing the words of the creators for hints of how it ends, etc. This unto itself isn’t ship warring, but it quickly gets personal for the pants-on-fire wanker types: they accuse fans of the ‘wrong’ ship of all sorts of horrible things … even in the old days these wars could get hideous. (VLD fandom is giving the HP fandom a run for its money in terms of Real Life Consequences for ship warring, but HP was pretty intense.)

Where both ships have the possibility of being canon endgame, the ship that is chosen by the creator to be the Happily Ever After ‘wins’. and because these ships share a character, only one pairing can ‘win’ (poly isn’t a likely canon endgame for a while yet, I’m afraid). and the overwhelming intensity of ship wars can often make the participants forget that any third endgame option exists.

–

so adding up the above factors, a lot of klance fans are experiencing a range of pressures:

queer/LGBT+ representation has been hinted at by the creators & is a realistic possibility in today’s political climate

some of the creative team has a history of making ships endgame in response to fannish support

they feel that klance is the best queer representation the series could provide because it’s ‘pure’ and also very clearly mlm rep

other non-straight/otherwise progressive ships threaten klance’s position as the only ship that can be the rep the creators hinted at, and they don’t want to ‘lose’

all of this together, I think, makes some klance shippers particularly urgent that klance be the series engame - in a way that might have been less intense a decade ago.

(and honestly the fact that they feel they can influence the ending by being loud enough is the worst part. I’m worried they’ll blame themselves if klance isn’t the ending romance, or feel that the creators ended with something else only to spite them.)

[huntypastellance]

A follow up to the posts about the Nazi art (drawn by a Klance artist), the Pride Parade Klance sign & all those edits where Sheith scenes in canon got turned into Klance ROMANTIC scenes by people who constantly spam “I ONLY SEE THEM AS BROTHERS, BROGANES, THAT’S SUCH A PLATONIC BROGANES SCENE” everywhere.

NOTE: This is referring to the Klancedom, NOT Klance shippers. If you do NOT do any of these things, this post is NOT talking about you.

This interview has been approved of by MisterPoofOfficial (names were blacked out at her request).

Do NOT harass any of these people in the screenshots.

The events:

> Misterpoof creates a parody animatic of the Heathers song “Dead Girl Walking” & makes it a Sheith video. At this point, Poof was already known for not wanting to make any content for Klance & only making content for Sheith, Keitor, Pance & gen stuff.

> Klancers fill the comments section, whining for a Klance version. Misterpoof blacklists the word “klance” from her notifications & deletes all comments mentioning them. Poof’s fans tell the klancers to knock it off.

> A Klancer makes a yandere Klance PORN version of Poof’s animatic, directly advertising it on the comments of Poof’s animatic. (Keith & Lance semi-graphically have sex in this video).

Lord Pastel Lance: The Klance version was Keith TRYING TO RAPE AN UNWILLING LANCE (he gives in after Keith "reasons" with him) Oh god, klancers Never change Poof: Oh dear lord;;;; that’s gross I didn’t even watch the video, I was too scared it was gonna look like mine;;;” Lord Pastel Lance: NOPE It's got yandere creep faces & is genuinely disturbing with dark colors & Lance PHYSICALLY shoving Keith away from him And like, actual sex Like, they fuck

> Meanwhile, as Klancers & antis flock to the Klance version, the plagiarist upvotes & responds positively to anti-Sheith & anti-Poof comments. She claims that she admires Poof’s stuff even though it’s Sheith & she hates Sheith & doesn’t like going on Sheith vids while also saying that Sheith content on youtube should not exist at all (even joking that she will start a ship war).

Poof: And my video was dedicated to my friends--It wasn’t even supposed to be taken seriously yet people think that me assigning Lance as the "bad guy" means that I hate him Lord Pastel Lance: Seriously, who says "I was inspired by Poof" & then promotes & likes comments basically saying "I hate Poof & Poof's stuff".

> She even went so far as to react negatively & shut down an upset Sheith fan who was just asking for others to let people ship whatever they want. > She also agrees (multiple times) with fans that gay sex is sin & that they are sinners for getting off to her Klance porn video. > She also claims to be a 14 year old who openly draws BL porn on her parents’ laptop & says that she got all her knowledge from BL stuff & yaoi.

Lord Pastel Lance: Google research: literally just a click away Poof: Honestly......I mean they’re using their parent's computer after all Lord Pastel Lance: They already drew twinks fucking on their parents' computer Are they seriously that worried that their parents will see them reading about gay sex

> She also linked Poof’s video directly on her Klance video & self-promoed her klance version directly in the comments of Poof’s vid. (And mentioned how much she hated Sheith). [Reminder that the Klance version was watched predominately by Klancers/antis who were bashing Poof for not making Klance stuff. This was essentially painting a huge bulls-eye on Poof. And that the Klance artist was encouraging these types of comments in her own comment section.]

Poof: The comments I’ve gotten in the video (are removed) -- I’ve been called a "pedophile" for liking Sheith and making content for it -- another comment was talking about age discourse (also removed) I recall getting a comment (also removed) saying this wouldve been better with Klance

> Poof finally disables all comments (just on her Heathers video though).

Lord Pastel Lance: Also They're blaming YOU & your fans in the comments Poof: I KNOW I READ IT AND IT’S RIDICULOUS

Lord Pastel Lance: ??? If they wanted to apologize, why didn't they just send you a fucking ask? Poof: Exactly??? I have my tumblr and twitter on my about on youtube Lmao they could’ve looked and said sorry instead of talking shit

Poof: I found this in my Dead Keith Walking part 2 Lord Pastel Lance: Amazing Poof: Funny.....You say that Lord Pastel Lance: And yet they can't seem to send you a single comment apology Poof: Yup Lord Pastel Lance: It costs zero dollars to say "sorry for causing people to bash on you" Like damn gurl, you don’t need a tumblr to talk to misterpoof Poof: Exactly??? And they don't know how to use it ------------------------------------------- Lord Pastel Lance: By the way, Did the plagiarist ever apologize to you (directly) on tumblr/youtube? Poof: Nope! Never got a single message from them apologizing to me Lord Pastel Lance: Damn It's been like a whole week or so, right? Poof: Yeah Lord Pastel Lance: Even toddlers can use smartphones to google "how 2 do this" now Poof: Lmao true Lord Pastel Lance: Seriously, there is no way that it takes them over a week to figure out "HOW DO I SEND POOF AN ASK ON TUMBLR" Poof: I mean sure they're new to it and they don't know how to use tumblr, but seriously, it's not so hard to just go to my channel and apologize or send me a message Lord Pastel Lance: Yeah, but A WEEK In 2017 Plus they already send you comments on youtube There's nothing stopping them from sending you an apology On youtube Poof: Mhm ------------------------------------------- Poof: So apparently they "apologized", but through instagram and it was just...

:/ You know, I was expecting a message since there is an option on instagram. Not...being tagged in something where everyone can see it.......... I checked my instagram for once jfc, I don't go on it often, but they tagged me in their post to say "sorry"... Lord Pastel Lance: With like zero context Poof: Yup They just straight up said "I’m sorry" and nothing else :/ Lord Pastel Lance: Sorry for what? Plagiarizing? Shitting on you? Self-promo-ing in the comments of your own vids? Promoting comments that shit on you & your vids? That's SO vague Poof: Exactly??? I'm not replying back to the post because not only is it awkward, but it's just not right to forgive them for what they've done Lord Pastel Lance: I don't think they've fully understood their part in this either I think it's more like a "oh noes, a BNF is upset & people think it's my fault that she's mad!!! D:" sort of thing Poof: Mhm

Twas not the straw that broke the camel’s back, but a never-ending pile of sticks instead.

The entitled hypocrisy of the Klancedom is outrageous.

Claiming to loathe Sheith, but constantly looking at Sheith content & whining to the creators that the content would be “so much better if it was Klance & Broganes instead”. Taking no responsibility when people use your Sheith->Klance content to harass the original creators. Excusing anything & everything fucked up that a Klance fan does with “they didn’t know any better!” even though everybody in the discourse is talking through the INTERNET -- the information multilingual multicultural highway. Encouraging discourse & ship hate while pretending to be ignorant about it. Dismissing all the harassment shaladins receive while using the “Not All Klancers” card whenever shaladins complain about the harassment. Doing NOTHING to stop/prevent the Klantis from harassing people while you yourself bitch endlessly about how Shaladins are such hypocrites for generalizing Klance fans as hate-spamming anti-Sheith douchebags. Calling yourself an anti to “protect children & the LGBTQ+ community” while squealing happily about how gay sex is “sin” unironically.

The second you start allowing/encouraging people to trash on someone, who you CLAIMED to like, & that person’s stuff, which you REPEATEDLY mentioned that you dislike, you have chosen a side in the discourse. You are NOT being neutral.

You don’t want to get involved in discourse? Fine. THEN DON’T GET INVOLVED AT ALL.

[takaraphoenix]

Voltron season 3 rant!

Ah, I’ve been thinking for days now on how to let people know that an additional chapter of “The Lion’s Pride” isn’t gonna happen without posting a vastly disappointing new chapter that’s only gonna consist of a note saying there won’t be a new chapter? And then last night I remembered “Mmmh... lemme try tumblr for that. Also could get that season 3 rant off my chest that way”.

The thing is, I originally thought season 3 might bring... things, developments, character interactions, Matt Holt, literally anything I’d have the need to include in my fic. Instead, it kind of did... nothing. A whole lot of nothing. Don’t get me wrong, stuff happened, but... It felt to me like an anime filler arc. When they run out of source-material because they got so much ahead and thus they have to come up with a short random unimportant arc of stuff to bide their time. That’s what season 3 felt like. A filler to bridge time until season 4.

I mean, there was stuff I liked, I like Pretty Boy Prince Lotor. And his crew of misfits. Finally villains that aren’t generic Galra soldiers where I don’t even need to bother and try telling them apart because... not memorable or important enough to be remembered. It was cool. Also, the blue-haired chick is real hot, but that’s beside the point.

But that was basically all that happened. That and stupid-dumb-ridiculous-unnecessary lion switching. For fuck’s sake. I’m sorry, but Keith being the Black Paladin is the dumbest thing this show came up with so far. Not with the way they had established the lions’ choices. Black should be a leader with leader-qualities. Keith does not, did not and still doesn’t, bring leader-qualities to the table. Allura has been the leader of the team from day one, co-leading with Shiro in a way but in the end still being the one in charge. By all logic, she should have become the Black Paladin. And don’t start with “previous incarnations” and shit, I don’t care about those. I care about the logic of this incarnation and the way both the characters and the world have been established so far. And virtually nothing about that made Keith being the Black Paladin in any way a good or logical choice.

The lion-switching-arc also made me quite dislike Allura some more. Which I’ve done since last season and her racism. Her not trusting the Blade was justifiied, yes, of course you don’t instantly welcome members of a race that literally erased your own race and home from existence with open arms, but her treating Keith like scum for blood you can’t see and he didn’t know about was just... no. And I hold a grudge, even if the other characters already forgave her. I hold a grudge better than any child of Hades does. Now, why she’s pissing me off this season, is how she became the Blue Paladin. She sat there and all she did was literal self-loathe, belittle herself and talk like she was useless. Bahm, Blue wakes up.

Now, as a huuuge fan of Langst and all things Lance Feels, I completely adore that it’s basically canon now that the Blue Lion reacts to self-loahting little balls of insecurities, but I hate how Allura handled that. I mean, she must have noticed what she was thinking and how she was feeling when the Blue Lion reacted to her. She must have. She’s not stupid or oblivious. And yet still the first thing she did was basically call Lance stupid. Instead of being a responsible princess and confront him about that realization. I mean, for fuck’s sake, I don’t go and call a person with a buuunch of self-doubt and insecurities stupid in front of the whole team and essentially claim that him being stupid is why Blue let him pilot her. That was so insensitive and really bad.

But let’s focus on the good for now. The Langst. Seriously. Him in front of Blue, feeling like she rejected him. Him going to Keith and telling him he’d step down from being a paladin for the sake of Allura because he thinks he’s worthless. Damn. Yes. I so love my little balls of insecurities who act all cocky in public but really are just adorable little balls of insecurities on the inside and when the cockiness being just a front for that is actual canon, that makes it all the better.

Just one more thing that pissed me off. The lack of Hunk and Pidge. I mean, they were there, but they... just... were there. That’s all they did. They already had too little plot in season 2, in my opinion, but in this season they really just were background characters. And that’s pissing me off because when I signed up for this show, I expected the Magical Girls feels of having a team, with team-bonding and equal plots for everyone but with the princess’ plight being in the focus. Literally what I expected to be Voltron. Instead it’s... very fast becoming the Shiro and Keith Show, with everyone else in the background.

I mean, the Sheith was strong in this one. They’re literally one kiss from being complete canon. And I’m saying that as a non-shipper. Not of them anyway. I only ship Keith and Shiro for the sake of Shklance. The Klance was mild but nice too this season. I love when Keith and Lance have Moments together. Next to the Langst, probably my favorite things to happen on the show.

So, yeah, particularly with that end-note, I gotta say... there was nothing I’d have added in a new chapter. The plot, what little plot there was, could have just happened like that, the ship-interactions too. There’d have been more making out and kissing, of course, but that... would have been it. And that’s not enough plot to do a chapter on. Maybe in two months with season 4, which hopefully will feature more than fillers.

[izuspp]

Thanks for sharing this!

I watched the new season of Voltron this weekend and I was simply amazed. Each season the show becomes better and better. Having Shiro who is a main character and a badass one, confirmed as a gay man was more than I could have asked for, in a world where there are only 2 sides: whether you include an stereotypical gay character falling in all existing clichés and having them as the funny element of the show or have a gay character because you have to go with the flow and in that way you’ll get more fans. In summary whether cliché or fanservice.

What I like about Voltron is that even though is intended for younger audiences, it’s not the typical children series, it is at certain point very realistic. I mean, characters dying in a war? that’s the correct thing that should happen. And not only secondary and unknown characters, important characters must die too, because that’s what happens in “real life” everyone could die in a war.

So, until today that a friend of mine asked me if I was aware of the polemic this caused, I really didn’t know about all this. I’m more an anime than a cartoon person, and for us people who watch anime all the time, it’s normal having this kind of fanservice: characters of the same sex that are too close to each other, that care of each other more than anyone would care about someone who is only a friend, characters making innuendo among them without really showing any canonical relationship at the end. So the fact that we saw Shiro’ significant other die without having a chance to really show their relationship, wasn’t strange at all for myself, I thought it was normal. I mean, the admiral sent those poor guys in useless ships against the Galra, if Adam has survived under those conditions I would have lost confidence on the realism of the series. Like: he magically survived because he was important to Shiro. No way. Why did people want that? I can’t understand...

Besides all this, romance is not the main theme on the series, it has never been and it won’t be. There are hundreds of fans of the original series that would get hurt if this one becomes a drama instead of the sci-fi show they knew and they currently know. And of course, having a same sex romance as a main part of the plot would cause chaos. I mean, I’m a fan of the slash, yaoi, BL, etc. I don’t like heterosexual relationships and it is annoying for me when in a show that doesn’t need romance, they force one just because it’s the right thing to do, because some of the fans want that. I was super upset with Lotor and Allura’s romance until I knew it was just a trick (or perhaps his feelings were true, but at the end Allura didn’t want to continue with him so the little love story ended there, -thank god-) at the end it wasn’t intended to last long and it was good for me.

What I want to say is that, if people is watching the show just because the non-existent romance or any chance of that one of the pairings will become canon, those people are very wrong. Voltron it’s an amazing show that has lots of action, fun and a deep plot to offer, and having that ruined just because of the unnecessary romance isn’t good. We don’t need a forced and rushed romance on this show, either heterosexual nor homosexual.

And yes, I ship Sheith very hard, but if it doesn’t become real I won’t give up on the show, because it’s simply amazing and entertained. It has given me a lot of fun and happiness, and I’m grateful for that and for all that the creators will give us on the future.

Twitter

[kari-izumi]

I've been making an effort to keep discourse of this kind of main since half my followers aren't even in this fandom, but I feel like this needs to be shared under my own name. Like, I'm not new to fandom. There have always been ship wank and fan entitlement, but I've never seen a whole side of fandom just entirely bully others out of fandom like this. And I imagine a lot of that has to do with Tumblr's uncensored and largely unmoderated nature that's allowed for this to take root. Back in my day of Star Trek message boards, we had to work damn hard to get our digs in at other shippers, and even then, shipper talk got tabled for weeks at a time to cool us off (and really, only time and new blood with no past fandom grudges was the only cure, but).

As for the closeted feeling, there's no more clearer evidence of that feeling than of how Sheith's star has entirely risen since season 6 happened. The week of that launch, the ship went from #12 on Fandometrics to #2. And more tellingly, it's stayed there, apart from the week of SDCC. And there were so many fans I came across around that time who came back to the fandom after that incredible validation in canon that they weren't wrong, they weren't sickos and that their interests were valid.

Oh, and the staff? Big Sheith fans. The love for that relationship is just so obvious. They speak about the animation, the inspiration, Josh Keaton's obvious joy and Steven Yeun famously crying in ADR while recording for season 6. You know all of that, and how can you not come out of hiding?

And it may be just me, but even apart from the general wank being off the scale, I don't think I've seen many antis coming after Sheith fans this season, or at least not like they used to after a new season (that even being outside of fandom at the time, I would notice). And that could be because of "gross het" targets taking the bullets and antis' crocodile tears behind Shiro still being single for Keith Adam being killed off but I think even more than that, many of them realize: we don't care anymore. We're not hiding.

But on a far more positive note, the sides of fandom that don't deal with this shit? 100 percent awesome! I've never seen such a creative fandom and one that so actively works to avoid the pitfalls in fanfiction that in every other fandom I've been in. I've never seen Allura get bashed for existing in any fic involving a conflicting Lance ship, and that's including the antis. I can't tell you what an acheivement that truly is having been in anime fandom. The artwork is beautiful! The Plance fandom has been especially welcoming. And the crack videos! OMG, whoever started that trend in this fandom is the GOAT! And the animatronics! Beautiful!

And I hate that all of that gets overshadowed by this stupid nonsense that only one part--one that is getting smaller and smaller by the day--truly engages. The rest of the fandom fights harder than any other group I've met to keep drama out and police themselves. For those on my page reading this who get put off by the drama: don't be. It's mostly a few loud, annoying children at this point and most of the Antis are growing up to see it for what it is.

They've already lost.

Season 8 will be the armistice.

Holy shit. Please read klancers4sh3ith ‘s tweets on Twitter

https://twitter.com/klancers4sh3ith

klancers4sh3ith, whoever you are, I appreciate you so much and I want to buy you a drink