#bc it's just like????? its so deeply personal and integral to him that he kept hidden | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jonroxton · 3 years

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can you talk about chlark beyond chloe? personally i think it's weird that the writers kept adding kisses and weird romantic moments without any pay off. i don't know much about the fandom back then but i think the writers were baiting fans since clark/chloe seems to be the second most popular ship after clex. second i personally think chloe would never be happy with clark or anyone tbh and she doesn't seem like the type of person who would have kids so the finale was weird to me.

this got looooong :)

0. it WAS weird, and the choice to never not once go for it with them was to the story's detriment. I'll get into it a little later on in this post.

Re: shipping in sv fandom. there was definitely drama (clana was HUGE when the show was airing and every ship was basically derailed by it lol) but I stayed in my clois lane with a small circle of fandom friends much like I do now. a good measure of clois fans were fans of lois and clark from other mediums, come to sv just for lois and clark, myself included. we were pretty insulated as a fandom even back then. I do remember seeing more Chlark after the S5 finale (when Chloe kisses him goodbye), but those dropped off after Jimmy was introduced right away in S6. The most drama I encountered was with Chloisers: Chloe fans who believed wholeheartedly that Chloe was Lois. They hated SV!Lois and were convinced she would die so Chloe could take her name and job and place by Clark's side, thus a Chlark endgame. this was a popular theory amongst that fandom even into s9, when the clois ball started to roll for true.

bait and switch

a lot of Chlark is rooted in this notion that chloe WOULD be the best thing for Clark, the ideal Lois, the true best friend, the human hand guiding him through Earth's troubles. she would be could be the BEST possible lois archetype for Clark. it's not a wrong interpretation. she was specifically written as a lois-and-lana-proxy (teenage lana is a reporter in some AUs and even some as an adult as a tv correspondent) and she's given many lois-ish traits (tenacious, secretly crushing on clark and in denial), but this interpretation is deeply flawed. first, because lois does eventually enter into the picture and she has her own defining traits that, when compared to chloe, make chloe seem much shallower than realized. secondly, within the complete context of the story, her position in the greater narrative is not as ~the one who got away, the way it did very early on in S1-S4, but one who clark tolerates.

they're friends because clark is forgiving and chloe has staying power. their friendship is riddled with insecurities and unknowns the characters create for themselves. their dynamic is defined by conflict, not resolutions. this is not made easy by the fact that chloe is such a strangely written character, but ultimately she is positioned as a counter to clark achieving his happiness. not a thematic narrative foil but an obstacle clark eventually relents to.

2. and it has been so from the get-go

S1 is the best season for them and the single season which actually considers Clark's side in this dynamic. everything about them later on can be explained with how they are in this season. and that's the problem. when they're 14 it's nice teen angst drama and works perfectly to establish the dynamic. when they're 24 it's at best a pattern, at worst regression. we expect certain behaviors, dismiss them too, when it's children, at least I do. clark and chloe never move beyond the dynamic they establish in s1 and early s2. in essence, clark and chloe remain children around each other. they have many discussions in the later seasons that make at least one appear petulant.

so S1 clark has just been told the greatest secret of his existence and he imprints on lana hard that same night (right AFTER jonathan tells him, he meets lana at the graveyard and talks to her for the first time EVER, a lot of childhood imprinting going on in SV). all of s1 follows clark's heartache over lana, watching her from afar and figuring out a way to be near her. this pain is exacerbated by the fact that he believes he caused her her greatest grief: the death of her parents via the meteor shower which he arrived in.

here the first beat of the chlark dynamic is established: chloe's job and passion – the wall of weird and her pursuing the meteor infected oddities of SV - directly affects clark in a negative way (he's suicidal for much of s1-s3). so her crush on him is countered with her unknowingly causing him great grief. om top of that: clark becomes part of this passion of hers and she eventually begins to pursue him as a story to be uncovered, very superman yes. here tho, it causes nothing but strife for them and paints chloe in an awful light (and clark too, highlighting his refusal to open up). I personally enjoy this aspect of them in s1. bc they're so young I give em a free pass and it's a good conflict playing around with old superman tropes, but it makes for a fraught friendship.

3. the second beat

is that neither chloe's crush on clark, nor his asking her to stop pursuing his truth, do anything to stay her. her tenaciousness becomes intrusiveness and inconsideration (many of her accomplishments irt the daily planet are directly bc she betrays clark). she simply will not listen to her friend and does not believe his livelihood and autonomy is worth losing a story over. this is literally the opposite of comics/live action lois lane, who in various versions drops the clark reveal story to protect him. this passion turns vindictive pretty early for chloe, who eventually pursues stories about clark out of jealousy and entitlement (against lana also).

4. the third beat

is that clark doesn't ever see chloe as romantic prospect except this time in s1. the tornado trapping lana pulls him away from any solidifying of the clark/chloe dynamic, and that's that. but we know clark was willing to go for it in early s2 when he apologizes to chloe about running off on her. it's chloe who decides not to go on with the relationship. clark is visibly confused, but also 15 so he can't see that chloe is putting on a brave front to protect herself from clark running off again. I liked this too as it's another play on superman tropes, but my sympathy for them stops here.

5. and stays here

these beats are the entirety of this dynamic. everything about chlark can be distilled down to their childhood. it's why I don't hate them completely, bc I have a lot of love for kids who hurt in such a way and that time is never easy. in s8 (I think its s8) when we get a flashback to when they meet as kids (more imprinting!). little tenacious cute chloe kisses insecure clark bc of the funny awkward tension, acknowledging it, and then immediately takes it back because they're better as friends. (also they’re like 11 lol)

every single romantic moment with them is undercut either by chloe herself, or by the presence of other storylines/romances the writers wanted to pursue. the lack of integrity in chloe and the lack of interest in clark, regardless of how sincere their connection or how messed up, is a central part of their dynamic that needs to be reconciled with their friendship. and its exhausting bc there is never a point they are ever truly comfortable around each other.

6. to a fault

knowing the secret doesn't change chloe's methods. it doesn't make chloe clark's great confidante. if anything, it complicates matters for both because their relationship then becomes about the greater good and clark's great destiny. everything chloe does becomes about that, which in theory sounds awesome, but is executed much the same way as s1!chlark: by reiterating behaviors that highlight the negative aspects of that loyalty and the negative aspects of their characters.

the single time they do actively examine what this loyalty means and how chloe's hero complex complicates things for chlark is with s8 and davis. she protects davis with the skills of subterfuge and secrecy she developed as clark's friend. and it costs her jimmy and a lot of her personal integrity as a character. tho ironically it makes chloe the strongest she's been as a character. this is the first time clark is forced to view chloe as an enemy and he never quite recovers from discovering the dark depths she’s willing to go to.

it's an arc dealing with the established beats: how far chloe is willing to go for a kryptonian (very far), how much she's willing to do for him (A LOT and all of it illegal), and what it costs her (jimmy). it deals with her jealousy (always second choice) and her motivations (uncovering the truth). this great want that she struggled with for years is turned on its head and examined, revealing just how weird and dark her hero complex is because obviously davis is not clark. davis/chloe served to highlight more than any other arc how it's really too bad that clark never saw her that way, because she has so much love to give and when channeled, it's a great force. only it's a great force for evil. clark has to confront that it’s not just lex but his other closest friend who is willing to go so far. they backtrack hard in s9 and s10 but they keep this underlying wariness in clark towards Chloe throughout. it’s not anything new, but it’s no longer subtext that clark doesn’t fully trust chloe.

7. And that's the rub

in the end. chloe and clark have many storylines they're in together and chloe's important.... to develop clark and as a counter to clark. clark never instigates anything, not once, for 9 years! when the show did give us Moments TM, clark is reacting, not actively making choices to connect to her. if anything, clark is incredibly awkward about chloe when they become intimate. he doesn't seem to know what to do with her crushing on him (the elevator scene is a great one to show just how awkward chloe makes him feel). more than that. clark never tells her his secret. and later on, chloe doesn't tell him half the crazy wild shit she does to protect him bc she knows he would disapprove. I still hold that the only reason they work is bc clark is a forgiving character and would give her chance after chance after chance. that's the watsonian explanation, but the doylist explanation is that the writers just never cared to explore them beyond this point.

8. and what was beyond that point?

they would've been a great counter to lexana in S6 and early clana (clark finally having a gf who knows). it’s playing the clark/Chloe as a straight lois/clark proxy before actually pursuing lois and clark. it could’ve been the precursor to davis and caused an even more personal conflict! the kiss at the end of s5 was their chance. they could've written chlark devolving much the same way lexana did in s6 (or not). but again. the writers never went that far and clearly never wanted to. it kept chlark forever in this stage of childhood friendship always on the brink of collapsing, tittering either way. it's also tough to speculate bc clark's just not into her. in fact he becomes more and more wary of her, to the point where he believes she can do horrible things, and he's right. the stories continually make their methods complete opposite.

they go out of their way to show chloe realizing how happy clark is with lois. and even play a joke on the fandom by literally turning her into lois and seeing the sparks between her friends. it's almost... cruel but it does serve to show how clark is when he's smitten and he's never looked at chloe that way except during the dance when they were kids. other unrequited dynamics have at least some spark from the desired, but nil from clark. clark is into chloe in late s1, but she shuts him down, and when he seems to be into her again (damn that s5 kiss was a good one lol), she shuts him down again. it's just a weird writing choice all around, and that they kept nuggets of it throughout the show is the thing I cringe at most whenever I rewatch.

9. bait and switch 2

with hindsight it is definitely ship baiting and that sucks for that dynamic bc without it their friendship would’ve been the stronger, or at least not full of so much negativity. all it did was remind everyone that chloe’s been duped since she was a kid and that clark is both stupid and strange for never noticing and letting her get away with shit just bc she’s the most loyal. I don’t ship them and even I get frustrated lol

#mystuff #smallville #superman #anti chlark #sayruq #my meta

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booklovingturtle · 5 years

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Kanej and the starry night

I have been binge-watching the last season of Jane the Virgin and one of the episodes inspired this fic. It’s long and fluffy and I loved writing Kanej but I don’t know if its any goo bc its late and I’m exausted so forgive the spur of the moment writing.

Kaz takes Inej back to his village under the guise of a job to complete. One night, he pulls her out of her room to enjoy the night sky and confess his feelings for her.

Inej Ghafa, ship wrecker had only returned to the Barrel for twelve hours before Kaz Brekker had a note delivered to her room. In it, he had laid out vague details about some job that he needed her help in. It was a two days journey from the city. Ineexhaustedted from her time at sea was both nervous and hopeful to spend some time alone with Kaz. Her nervous were quickly replaced by disappointment.

The whole trip Kaz had been impossibly hard to read. It was like they were strangers in a way Inej had never experienced with him. He kept a cold distance between them until they reached an inn located right outside of Lij. By the time they arrived, she still had no idea what the job was. She didn’t even care anymore. Inej crashed into her bed after bathing the dirt from traveling off and was immediately asleep.

That is, until she heard knocking at her door. The Wraith was up and strapping her knives along her body quickly. She moved to answer the door. To her surprise, Kaz stood in the corridor of the inn, looking rather uncomfortable to have woken her up.

“Were you asleep?”

“Yes,” Inej crossed her arms.

“I’m sorry. I-never mind,” he shook his head. Kaz had a heavy quilt in thrown over his arm and was leaning on his cane. Inej was shocked to see embarrassment behind the twitch of his jaw. She was even more astonished when she realized that Kaz had left his gloves in his room.

He saw her notice his bare hands. She didn’t want to push him or make him uncomfortable so she ignored it.

“It’s okay. What do you need?”

Kaz blinked, the only real sign of any level of self consciousness that he would allow. “I want to show you something.”

A flare of confusion filled her but Inej decided it would be better to see where the night would take her before pointing out Kaz’s strange behavior over the last few days.

Dirtyhands carried the neatly folded blanket out of the inn they were staying in. Kaz silently walked away from the small structure and into the forest. Her annoyance was about to overcome her curiosity just as they cleared the expanse of trees to find an empty field laid before her. Her mind cleared and a gasp escaped her.

Stars decorated every inch of her line of sight. Constellations that she had never seen before, even while traveling the continent as a child twinked their hypnotizing dance.

Kaz’s deep chuckle came from beside her as he took a few more steps forward to lay out the blanket.

“This was my home,” He said as a way of explaining.

Inej knew immediately what he had meant. She was able to read him better than anyone, just as he was able to read her. They never needed to say much to each other in order to be understood. It was one of her favorite things about being around Kaz. Both then and now.

Just like that, she forgave all the strangeness from before. Kaz was allowing her to see a part of him that he hadn’t shown anyone else.

She followed his head and sat down on the blanket. Soon their sitting position turned into them laying side by side, backs pressed against the ground and shoulders a breath away from touching. Inej inhaled deeply, loving the feel of fresh dew under her fingertips.

Inej couldn’t help but wonder how it was possible for the same, tiny stretch of land could be so different. Kerch wasn’t a large island, but somehow it held many, many worlds within it. There was the infamous and dangerous city of Ketterdam whose only god was greed. It was the part of Kerch that Inej Ghafa was most familiar with. For years, it was the only part she had visited. Though she was slowly starting to realize that there was much more this island.

There was an entirely different world that surrounded the lived and breathed just south of the blusterous Fifth Harbor. That world was covered in lush, green fields instead of filthy cobble. Vibrant wildflowers perfumed the air to clean all of the noxious smell of the Barrel out of her lungs. Even the sky that looked over the island seemed to smile at the innocence it found within the small villages that bordered Lij. Wildlife, crackling fires, and far away chatter were carried by a soft breeze.

There was a stillness about the almost-morning that could only be described as true peace. It was even more calming than the gentle rocking of her ship at sea.

“I’ve been to small villages before,” Inej rarely spoke harshly but even the usual reserved measure of her words was stripped away by the night sky. “This is nothing like the those. I’ve never seen the sky look like this.”

“It was my favorite part of growing up here. I wanted to show it to you before the sun rose.”

It felt like they were standing at the edge of a cliff. She couldn’t see the bottom but Inej wanted to leap across to the other side.

“Do you miss it here?”

“Not really. Not the way that you miss home. My family is gone. I have no one left here.”

She couldn’t really argue that point. Inej missed home every day. But home was never a place for her. It was her family. Kaz didn’t have that here. She couldn’t expect him to feel the same way she did about Ravka.

“There’s an old tale that the adults used to tell the children where I’m from.” She was surprised that he had offered her this piece of his past without her even asking. “It isn’t full of sage wisdom that Suli parables have but it's still a common story.”

Inej’s attention shifted from the sky to Kaz. He wasn’t wearing a perfectly pressed suit like she was used to. He’d changed into a light undershirt that allowed her to see the planes of his body. An arm was pillowing his head and his eyes were closed. It was a sign of vulnerability that she knew he didn’t show to everyone. It was rare the Dirtyhands ever felt so at ease with someone that he didn’t need to watch their every move for a threat.

“Jerven Voorhent was a swordsmith.”

“Jer ven voorhent,” Inej repeated the Kerch words. You are integrity. She had learned the language years ago so their harsh consonants rolled off her tongue easily.

He nodded, eyes still closed. Kaz continued the story, “One of the best. Any blade forged by his fires would strike true. People from all the way from the Wandering Isles to Ahmrat Jen would travel to his doorstep and beg for him to craft them a weapon. Rulers begged him to become their personal weapons maker. Men crawled on their knees to become his apprentice. Jervan heard none of it. He continued to make his swords because he loved it. He didn’t even try to sell them. He just enjoyed the craft.”

“Ghezen must have been furious,” she noted. “All that lost profit.” Inej studied the sharp cut of his jaw while he spoke.

“One day a markswoman came to visit Jerven. She had heard that he was the best swordsmith to ever live and wanted to see if he could make her a bow as fine as any sword he ever made. Jerven, struck by her beauty, agreed. The woman, Almhente, taught him all she knew about the bow and he got to work. Jerven worked day and night.”

The woman’s name was almost identical to the Kerch word for prosperity, almhent, Inej thought to herself. She realized before Kaz could finish the story how it would end.

“Almhente test bow after bow that he made but none of them were right. Jerven, eager to impress her, continued to try. He stopped eating and sleeping to spend more time on her bow. His sword making fires died. The line at his door walked away. Jerven lost everything but didn’t see it because all he wanted to do was make the markswoman her bow.”

“But he never got it right, did he?”

He shook his head. “No. Jerven died working on her weapon. People forgot all of his great swords and only remembered him by his collection of failed bows.”

Inej understood the moral the tale. Jerven stood for integrity. He was a man who worked for himself until the chance of earning prosperity came along. He was blinded by his desires to prosper and eventually lost his life to it.

“That is an odd story to tell children being raised on an island whose patron is Ghezen,” she was struck by the message of the story. It was so unlike both the island of its origin and the storyteller to support a theme against profit.

Kaz shrugged. “Maybe. My parents were farmers. All of the people from my home worked the land so others could make the profit. I think a part of them was always jealous of that.”

He finally opened his eyes. Suddenly Inej was swimming in the darkness of his gaze. The moonlight painted his pale skin almost silver but it made the darkness of his hair and eyes stand out even more.

He was close enough that she could feel his breath tickle hear cheeks when he spoke. She loved the way his voice sounded so close to her. “Why tell me this now?”

“Kaz Rietveld never understood. Then, I was Dirtyhands, I lived for profits and money and greed.”

Warmth filled her at what he was implying. Still, Inej wanted him without gloves which meant he had to specific about what he was trying to tell her.

“And now?” she prompted.

Kaz cleared his throat, looking away for a moment. She realized he was looking at their hands, laying next to each other. He looked back up at her, a question in his eyes. Inej hooked her pinky around his. He didn’t stop there. Kaz’s fingers wrapped around hers, thumb gently stroking the back of her hand.

Inej’s whole body felt the touch of his skin. Her fingers curled and her heart sword. Every part of her focused on the way he played with her hand, tracing the lines of her skin. Goosebumps danced up her arms.

“Kaz...” she interrupted his reverent touch. It killed Inej to do it but she needed to know for sure what he wanted. “Why did you bring us here? Is there even a job to complete? What are you saying?”

“I don’t want to be like Jerven. I don’t want to die chasing prosperity.”

Her breathing stopped. When it started again, Inej noticed that it seemed like no air was filling her lungs because all she breath in was Kaz and the fresh earth surrounding them.

“What do you want?”

“You.” His hand stilled in hers. Kaz was giving her the chance to pull away. To deny him.

Inej would never say no to him. Not after all they had been through together. Not after the way he touched her hand, as if it was the most delicate thing in the world. Even the way he spoke to her spoke of an emotion she was still too afraid to say out loud.

“I want you, Inej. If you still want me.”

Her heart soared out of her chest. "Yes, Kaz. Yes, I still want you. I always have, I always will.”

Relief filled him and she saw his muscles loosen. “Can I hold you?”

She smiled widely and curled her body into his. Kaz wrapped an arm around her, face digging into her hair. She sighed, thanking all her saints for this small gesture. No nightmares, no anxieties, no terrors from her past could hurt her in that instant. Not as long as it was Kaz’s voice in her ear and his warmth against her.

“I’m so glad you said yes because I’m pretty sure Jesper is tired of hugging me.”

She laughed so hard that she had to pull away from him. “Are you saying that you’ve been practicing how to cuddle with Jesper?”

Kaz’s smile was more beautiful than the whole night sky. “No, but I had to practice touching someone while you were away. I wanted to make sure that I could do this,” he laced their fingers together again, “right this time.”

“Kaz, even if you had pulled away or still had to wear your gloves, it would be right. As long as its with you, it could never be wrong.”

“I know but I but I wanted to be able to touch you while telling you how I felt without feeling the water.”

I don’t care how long it takes us to be able to touch one another. We will get there in out own time and we will get there together,” she held him close to her again.

“Together,” he repeated to her.

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severalbakuras · 7 years

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time

finish

im not prepared

(apologies to mobile users for the long post)

episode 5:

intro is a pink screen. it’s established pink is a mourning colour. hrmmm.

oh its an eyeball SHIRO

that’s not a good looking room to be in

that HAIR

hallucinating already, this is Not Good.

so he’s like totally alone in that room that is just bad practice right there. supervisor’s gonna get fucked if they get caught.

and. another shiro. one who’s kept clean-shaven. oh ok i know where this is going i think.

operation kuron is so unsubtle that i think we’re in for several layers of bait-n-switch until it turns out shiro never actually existed. schrodinger’s Shiro. shirodinger.

he escaped waaaaaay too easily - yeah. called it.

‘stage 3′ so stage one is ??? and stage two is this guy.

ok so shiro obvs remembers some things but i find it interesting that we’ve had no internal thoughts beyond memories of the tube/surgery. like he’s not thought about voltron or the paladins or allura and coran like he has no idea if they survived or not. nothing at all by the five minute mark.

HAGGAR FINALLY I’VE MISSED YOU SO

yeah you keep an eye on that boy. im sure absolutely nothing will happen to this guy.

self-cauterization holy shit.

“what killed you?” is the first spoken line of dialogue from shiro i think. everything else is just vague confusion noises and/or battle grunts iirc. we haven’t even had an internal line of thought yet (which i know don’t rly happen in this series like everyone tends to speak aloud but still he’s ALL alone). i think that’s significant, somehow.

how the fuck has he not frozen to death in that skinny suit.

SHIRO NO THAT COULD BE AN ACID LAKE

“subject Y0XT39″ i will eat a raw garlic clove if this turns out to be the real shiro.

wow that’s rly bad for blood circulation like way to make him lose his hands jackasses.

so these two are space cannibals. neat.

if you’re trying to convince people of who you are why would you just say your first name? he WANTS these guys to know who he is, there’s no point being cagey. say your surname shiro go ahead.

knowledge of who the paladins are rly is being kept tight under wraps. so long as nobody ever thinks to check out any planet where galra were known to have integrated into local alien communities to the point of children.

i :) wonder :) who :) might :) do :) that :)

(i wonder how earth’s doing. everyone has family down there who misses them (besides keith since he’s living in a shack in the desert and nobody from the MILITARY-ish training academy told his dad to come pick him up apparently))

lotor i swear to fuck don’t you dare pull a dreamworks smirk DONT DO YOU DARE

so galra channels are hackable

that big guy’s totally having a SUPPRESSING FIIIIIRE moment

i rly like this winter backdrop i love being able to see the brushstrokes on the snow (like digital ones but they count).

he’s starving but he doesn’t take a single bite of the food onscreen can’t tell if suspicious or #mood bc i don’t like people watching me eat either lol

so operation kuron isn’t something widely known then or Hold up those robo-soldiers have no reaction whatsoever to a unit falling down until the hangar doors close.

ok those two guys in the cave HAVE to be in on it or shiro would’ve died on that planet. why keep the ship above a Death Planet for him to be permitted to escape to unless they had someone down on the Death Planet who could send him back to the right ship to deliver to voltron without him knowing he was being played?

like this is ALL phase 3.

‘stop spying on me’

‘do your fucking job’

HA. IDEAS. IN ZARKON’S HEAD. AHHAHAA

i think this is the first time i’ve seen lotor angry like haggar gets under his skin so easily i hope they talk again soon. ‘I AM THE LEADER’ his VOICE damn.

ok so like i already know lotor is half-galran and he’s probably half-altean too like in the original series with the hair and all. but i don’t think haggar is his mother even though she’s also altean. he’s hyper-focused on not being like his father in that scene but he also seems the type that he’d leave a snarky comment about his mother too if she were. and she doesn’t ever refer to him as her son, only zarkon’s. she’d surely say ‘our’ son, unless she officially disowned him as part of his banishment and hates his guts but then surely he’d have at least SOME reaction to seeing her unless he was, like, literally banished at birth and doesn’t know who she is and that he’s half-altean. bc if he knew he was he’d connect the dots between ‘only altean on the ship’ and his dad v quickly.

like i do know the story behind exactly how original lotor (aka sincline) is half altean and it’s Unpleasant and makes zarkon a fucking monster and i doubt this series would even imply that that was the case here but if it did and our lotor knew this was the truth behind his parentage that could explain his lack of reaction to haggar AND his deeply intrinsic rejection of his father.

oh come ON the ship is stocked with oxygen!!!!!! why would a ship that’s intended for a robot pilot need oxygen!!!!!!!!

seven days, when he’s already in a bad way re blood loss/injury (like a healing serious wound burns calories and fluid by the truckload) and didn’t have much water to go on beforehand. if i didn’t think something was up before man.

finally, almost 20 minutes in, we finally see him think of his teammates. took long enough.

black lion notices. hrm.

episode six:

nice shooting lancFCUKING KILL THEM ALLURA

SAME LANCE

HUG YOUR SON SHIRO actually no you’re not shiro stay the fuck away from him

‘weird headache’ since this isn’t a dramatic romance show, he’s not got Invisible Anime Disease #5 so there’s absolutely a tracker in his brain.

A HUNK MOMENT THAT ISN’T ABOUT FOOD I’M CRY (like it intersects with pidge but i don’t mind it’s nice that he gets to show his own brains in what feels like forever)

shiro automatically stepping back in ‘this is what we do mode’ is SHRHCHCH. NO. even if he WASN’T a clone he’s still recovering and is missing out on potentially months of their relationships changing and being redefined. he can’t just step back in like that.

ok so like???? if there’d been more scenes like this early on??? i’d probably be totally into klance?? like keith doesn’t really grasp the depths of the issue with lance judging by how the shot holds on lance leaving and his facial expressions and all but keith tries and lance tries and there’s no cheap joke thrown in there’s no rejecting that there was any emotional connection. it’s not solved the problem lance has by any means but it’s lance opening up to keith about his vulnerabilities and worries and it’s keith doing his best to help him both as a leader and a friend and the narrative doesn’t turn either of them into a joke for it. THAT IS MY SHIT RIGHT THERE.

like i’m obvs lowkey into enemies-friends-lovers (bc otherwise i wouldn’t consider keitor or any of my other ships which i won’t name bc i’ve made it this far without comparing anything to warcraft so i won’t start now) but i guess i much prefer the friends-lovers stage. (especially when only one half of the pair considers the other as ‘enemy’ in the first place).

‘just whack it’ is a universal law that will last forever

SHIRO ARE YOU IN THE LEADER CHAIR. NO? SHUT UP.

fucking fake ass shiro he doesn’t even acknowledge keith stepping up to make a plan as leader like he always fucking wanted him to do he just sails on into his own plan without so much as a ‘sorry’. fuck you fake shiro. firo.

and keith just stands there like a lemon like this is ok ahrhfhg. firo i swear to god if you drag keith back down into the place he was on the gas planet before lance intervened i’m gonna be so mad.

interesting that we don’t get a reaction shot of lance when keith offers to stay behind instead of taking back red. considering how that was literally what the last scene between him and keith was about is all.

so clones are genetically identical so the black lion picking up on firo’s ~spark of life~ fading or whatever to rescue him isn’t odd. but the black lion knows your soul and it’s not happy.

(could be an issue when the real shiro returns tho but eh that’s a problem for futuretron)

I LOVE THIS LOYAL PETTY BASTARD

“Victory or death!” OH COME ON YOU’RE MAKING THE WARCRAFT REFERENCES FOR ME. LOKTAR OGAR

so perhaps lotor squad isn’t in on operation kuron?

i wonder what’s being whispered during the mind control scenes.

that ship looks like a space fox... or maybe a star fox.

in two minds about this part like right now firo IS right but they DO need to actually try and confront lotor at some point. it’s ALWAYS going to be a bad time bc lotor has figured out how to use plot armor to protect himself so sometimes you just need to attack that face down trap card and face the consequences or you’ll be stuck forever yknow?

OH IT’S HER. FROM THE SHIP. COOL i was wondering if that’d come up again.

oops he’s ambidextrous.

also i think ezor might be a little crueler than she lets on, she’s got some v. vicious expressions going on in this grapple.

ZETHRID THINKS ALLURA’S A WORTHY OPPONENT ZELLURA YOU ARE CLEARED FOR LAUNCH (in other news i am a terrible person)

honestly those are both equally high priority targets, either one WILL fuck things up in the future no matter if they follow firo or keith.

now lotor how do you know they were about to attack, unless you perhaps had a direct link into the lions communication lines, which have been kinda previously established as being impossible to hack?

(so that’s one point in them also knowing about project kuron)

YES KEITH THIS IS WHAT YOU DO BEST ON THE FLY INSTINCTIVE GOOD MOVE

hooooly shit lotor’s maaaad

get your hand off him firo.

“i’m sorry i had to step in back there” step in. STEP IN. LIKE YOU WEREN’T IN CONTROL OF THE ENTIRE MISSION START TO FINISH. he sets up ‘you were the leader and you weren’t good enough’ almost on purpose..

the former isn’t true because keith still stepped down and firo commanded all their movements from the ship and the latter isn’t true because no plan survives contact with the enemy keith basically had it as under control as shiro always did. considering the circumstances he did damn well AND he scored a ‘fuck you’ point against lotor by using lotor’s own new ship to wreck the teledove.

“i thought i had it under control” ;A;

HE’S BEEN THERE SINCE THEY ALL FORMED VOLTRON YOU FUCK. HE WAS GOOD AT THIS UNTIL YOU GOT HERE.

FUCK YOU FIRO.

damn that’s cold haggar.

episode seven:

i’m. um. huh. those certainly were memories i’ll need to pause on later.

this dramatic scene is being ruined by all the cute little triforces floating around.

my civil war theory is officially dead now i guess. goodbye, civil war theory. it was nice to have you as a handy aversion of the whole ‘X race is like this while Y race is like this’ trope that always shows up in sci fi and fantasy and sci-fantasy~

this music is giving me jack sparrow IN SPACE vibes.

oooh the dust particle effect in the light shafts in the air is pretty and a good attention to detail.

now see like why wasn’t his spirit projection thing back in season 1 more like this??? he has a character he’s got personality he’s just like his daughter i’d actually MISS this guy if that spirit projection thing had been like his true self and not a bland whatever he was he’s so forgettable i can’t even remember what he was like.

ZARKON WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED. YOUR VOICE. YOUR EYES.

so like galra culture has a class/caste system and is kinda militaristic. explains a lot in the future i guess.

“WHAT IS THAT” is that the same cat narti has? and oh god no he’s a dork.

OH NO HE’S A REALLY BIG DORK AAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAA BABY ALLURA. SHE’S SO CUTE.

oh so he married honerva? oh no. OH NO SHE BETTER NOT BE HAGGAR. DON’T DO THIS.

“it was a customary gesture” tf is that all about.

“by willow!” is that the first canon mention of a deity? cool.

so the red paladin was technically the first paladin.

this thing is eldritch as fuck.

“Am I a leg?!” god i am so sad that you’re going to die horribly i love you.

now it’s REALLY eldritch.

god she really is haggar.

so alteans definitely age then (which proves empress allura was definitely dead a long LONG time before alt-eans went all mind-controlly).

honergar’s giving me major ‘that bloodbender who’s name i’ve forgotten’ vibes.

I KNEW QUINTESSENCE WAS BAD SHIT

he loves her so much im gonna cry.

so the lions cannot pick up on deceit then. they accept the will of their paladin over the safety of voltron as a whole and the other lions. they cast no moral judgement.

so there could easily be an evil voltron somewhere.

ZARKON NO HE’S HOLDING HER HAND ARGH.

so those weird purple cloud creatures from another dimension are puppeteering the corpse of the first black paladin, taking his basic desire for power and extending it into a galaxy spanning genocidal crusade because???

their home dimension must be a fucking hell dimension if things like that are trying to escape.

that guard made it seem like they sorta knew and accepted why their planet was destroyed so i guess zarkon returning from death was such a massive cultural shock that they all fell into line. bc otherwise i find it hard to believe that every single galra would join the battle (like yeah the blades exist but they’re a tiny movement) and not question what the fuck happened to his eyes or voice or how he came back from the fucking dead or why they’re meant to suddenly hate everyone.

ok so why do most of the galra have similar glowing eyes iirc? surely the vast majority should have the normal eyes that old zarkon and lotor have but they don’t. unless like successful generals are permitted to ‘live’ forever by taking the creatures into their bodies but then like they have far too much personality for that. the loktar ogar guy for example. what gives.

that’s kind of a leap at lotor’s motives but an understandable one, they don’t know how much lotor detests being like his father so i doubt he’d do the same damn thing his father was trying to do.

he’s baaaaack and he’s got no new tricks, zombieman zarkon’s still just as thick as the last time~

lotor’s gonna be so mad. and also this doesn’t actually explain why haggar lets zarkon run roughshod all over her much better plans prior to this because she doesn’t remember being his husband until this episode.

and also also imo this means haggar definitely can’t be lotor’s mother bc when we’re seeing things coran can’t possibly know like honerva on her death bed we’re probably seeing haggar’s vision of events and he doesn’t appear to be a factor in either of their lives but she remembers their wedding perfectly.

(unless he’s a zombaby but he can’t be because his eyes don’t glow).

hrm.

season four when.

#vld #voltron legendary defender #sb watches voltron

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