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chancellormatt · 5 years

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Voltron Rewrite Episode One - The Dark Paladins

NOTE: The following takes place shortly after the events of Voltron Season 6. While it is meant to replace the final season of the show, neither Seasons 7 or 8 are considered part of this canon. Enjoy.

Out in the deep stretches of space, in the infinite hollow blackness, a light begins to shine. It is not a soft, pleasant light, but an aggressive violet one, that would hurt the eyes if looked upon too long. The light spreads out, and forms into a glyph shape. The glyph grows further, all the while the original core light burns brightly in the center. The glyph’s size finally reaches its apex and the light blazes its very brightest.

Then, in an instant, the light and the glyph vanishes. In its place is the robotic form of voltron. But this is not the voltron we know. This voltron is dark in color, with purple lines of light tracing up and down its body and limbs.

Inside the cockpit of the Black Lion, Emperor Zarkon sits, at the controls.

“All Paladins check in. ” He says in his throaty, menacing voice.

“Honerva checking in.” The Empress reports uneasily from the Green Lion.

“Lotor...checking in.” The Prince pants out from the Red Lion. He is covered in sweat and looks the worse for wear.

“S-Sendak checking in.” The Commander stutters from the Yellow Lion.

“...Raimon checking in.” The maroon armored paladin of the Blue Lion replies stoically.

Zarkon gives a slight nod at the complete check in. “Honerva, report.”

“The jump between dimensions was successful.” Honerva replies. “...barely.” She adds the last, with a wince.

“The fleet?” Zarkon asks.

“The rift is closed. They’ll be dead in moments, if they aren’t already.”

“Hm.” Zarkon takes his hands off the controls to interlace his fingers.

“So we are in a new reality with no army, no information, and no resources.” Prince Lotor sums up, looking none the too pleased with the situation.

“We have Voltron.” Zarkon says harshly. “That is enough. It is always enough boy.”

“...yes my lord.” Lotor says after a moment, gripping his controls tightly.

“Sendak, get me communications.”

“I begun scanning the moment we exited the portal, my lord. It seems that the Galra Empire, in some form exists in this reality. The codes are different, but those are our signals. I’ll have them cracked in under a varga.”

“See that you do commander. We have a brand new universe to conquer. We’ll start by taking over whatever flawed version of the Empire this reality holds. I am going to split up the lions for now. Lotor, Raimon, I want the two of you to search nearby planets. Find us a suitable place to rest for the time being. After that...we shall find out if this universe also holds its own Voltron. ”

***

Voltron blasts onto the scene of a battle between Galra forces and the Voltron Coalition. The Galra outnumber the Coalition greatly. Voltron moves in between the two, activating shield and blocking the Galra line of fire.

“Attention Galra forces! This is Keith of the paladins of Voltron. Lay down your weapons and surrender, or we will use force.”

There is a brief lull in the firing, but almost as suddenly the firing kicks back up and redoubles, only now focused solely at Voltron.

“I’m gonna go ahead and guess that’s a no.” Lance jokes.

Keith only sighs.

“Just our luck getting caught up in a battle on our way back to earth.” Hunk says.

“You’d figure eventually they’d give up soon as we arrive.” Pidge says.

“The Galra are nothing if not stubborn.” Allura puts in.

“Then we better show them we mean business. Form sword!” Keith orders.

Voltron tears out the sword. The Paladins slam their throttles forward, and Voltron rockets towards the nearest Galra cruiser. With a flash of light the cruiser splits in two, then explodes. Voltron races towards the next cruiser.

Inside the command ship of the Galra, alarms chime all over the bridge. Commander Skreil, a short, stocky Galra watches with displeasure as Voltron tears through another cruiser.

“Commander we’ve lost another ship!” An officer calls out.

“That’s one more commander!”

“Curse you Voltron…” Skreil grumbles.

“There is a way to stop it.” A voice says.

Commander Skriel turns as a Druid walks out from the shadows.

“The Crusher. It could defeat them.”

Skriel scratches his chin thoughtfully. “And you’re sure it’ll work?”

“Of course…” The Druid replies.

“Very well,” Skriel nods. “Two can play at this game! Lieutenant! Tell our two sister ships to get into formation, and have the rest cover us.”

“Done commander!”

“Excellent! Now engage!”

Outside, the Paladins watch as three of the Galra ships move close together, and panels on the sides begin to light up.

“What are they up to now!?” Lance exclaimes.

“Guys! I’m detecting some strong quintessence readings coming from those three ships!” Pidge reports

Suddenly the three ships link together, and begin to transform. The bodies of the ships break into smaller pieces and begin to reconfigures. It forms into a massive, vaguely-humanoid robotic being. Then it reaches to its back and pulls out a long purple-energy bladed axe.

“Hey combining a bunch of ships into a robot is our thing!” Lance says, sounding offended.

“How do you like my PALADIN CRUSHER, Voltron!? Hahaha!” Skriel cackles over the communicator.

“He seems pleasant.” Pidge says sarcastically.

“Uh...guy that thing’s pretty big.” Hunk points out.

It is indeed, over twice as large as voltron.

“It may be big but we’ve fought worse guys than this!” says Keith. “Let’s keep him on the defensive guys!”

“Right!” The other Paladins chime in unison.

Voltron blasts towards the Paladin Crusher, sword outstretched in front.

“Ohoho! Attacking already!? How do you like...this!?” Skriel shouts out as the Crusher swings its massive axe. As it does, a blade of energy shoots out in an expanding arc towards Voltron.

“Thrusters!” Keither orders, and Voltron boosts to the side, just barely missing the energy blade.

“Oh no! It missed!” Skriel shouts as Voltron closes in, sword bared. “Just kidding!”

A pair of energy beams fire out from the Paladin Crusher’s eyes, and collide with Voltron’s chest.

The Paladins all cry out in alarm as Voltron is blasted back. The Crusher pulls back for another swung of its axe.

“Shield!” Keith shouts.

The wings slam together into shield form a moment before the energy blade hits. Voltron is shoved backwards by the blow, but otherwise unharmed.

“HAHAHA! You thought we only had one trick up our sleeves! This robot is the weapon that will finally destroy you, Paladins of Voltron! And more importantly, make me the new Emperor of the Galra! It's laughable that-”

“Quick, while he's still monologuing! Pidge, you get an analysis on that things fighting patterns?” Keith cuts in.

“Algorithms still gathering data, but so far it seems to want to keep us at a distance. As much quintessence as that thing has, it can’t have a limitless supply so it's gotta make cuts somewhere. My guess is it doesn’t have much in the ways of shields or armor.”

“Keep us moving then, legs. Hunk? Give us the shoulder cannon.”

“You got it Keith!” Hunk slams his bayard into his lion’s port.

The cannon appears on Voltron’s shoulder, while at the same moment, its boosters erupt. Voltron zips around in a complex pattern, while at the same time it blasts its shoulder cannon directly at the Crusher.

The Paladin Crusher swings its axe and fires eyebeams, multiple times, but none of the energy attacks come even close to hitting. As soon as Voltron’s cannon fires, it boosts out of the way before it can be hit.

Inside the Crusher, the interior is shuddering with each blast of Voltron’s cannon.

“Ah! Why isn’t this working!?”

“The armor on this machine is...less than ideal.” The Druid admits.

“What!? What do you mean!?”

“If they keep this up, they’ll whittle us down bit by bit.”

“Quiznack! Well forget that, let’s bring the fight to them. After that Voltron!”

The Paladin crusher boosts forward, chasing after Voltron. The Crusher starts to gain on Voltron, and swings its axe, in a bullrush to try and cleave the other robot in half.

“Pidge! Arm Cannon!”

She slams her bayard in and the cannon appears on Voltron’s arm. One blast behind it’s back, and the Crusher is shoved backwards. Voltron takes the moment to whirl back around, and swung the sword at the Crusher’s body. The Crusher blocks the blow along the haft of its axe. The two struggle there for a moment, neither giving an inch.

“More power to thrusters!” Skriel orders.

“But sir we only have so much quint-”

“MORE POWER!!!” Skriel bellows.

The officer throws a lever, and outside, the Paladin Crusher glows brightly with quintessence. Voltron begins to be shoved backwards, and the axe crackles closer to the head.

“No…You...” Keith says straining. “...Don’t!”

Keith rams his Bayard into the port on his lion. The wing boosters appear on Voltron’s back, and erupt into a flash of light. The Paladin Crusher is thrown backwards under the force, and smashes into a Galra cruiser behind it, which explodes.

“Status report!” Skriel demands.

“We’ve taken damage!” One officer reports. “Outer armor layers are cracked!”

“Quintessence supply low!” Another shouts.

Skriel scans the display. “Where’s Voltron?”

He is met with only the ambiance of battle.

“Get me a visual on Voltron!”··µ·

“Wait...I’m getting a reading on our port s-”

Suddenly, a blur moves past the Crusher, and it’s side is sliced by something, shaking the interior. The blur moves back around and slices the Crusher again on it's other side.

“Critical damage sir!” An officer yells.

“What on Diabazal is happening!?” Skriel shouts.

The monitors finally adjust to the speed of the blur. It is revealed to be Voltron, moving blindingly fast via is boosted wings.

“Oh...quiznack.”

Voltron, moving almost too fast to be seen, zips back and forth, slicing open the Paladin Crusher’s armor with every pass.

Skriel spins around to shout at the Druid. “I thought you said this thing could beat Voltron!”

“Uh…” The Druid vanishes in a cloud of energy.

Commander Skriel stares for several moments. Then he starts running. “To the escape pods!” He cries.

Outside Voltron swings the sword one final time, and the Paladin Crush splits in two. Then Explodes. Purple energy lights up the battlefield, and all is still for a moment.

“I’m getting an emergency signal!” Pidge reports, then blinks in surprise. “They’re...surrendering.”

“Alright!” Lance exclaimes. “Another win for team Voltron!”

Keith nods slowly. “Good job team. Let’s regroup with the Coalition. After that…”

“Home.” Hunk says with reverence.

The rest of the paladins silently agreed.

***

Shiro waits in the hangar bay, alongside Matt Holt.

“Finally going back to earth…” Matt says, as if not really believing it.

“It’s been a while hasn’t it?” Shiro replies.

“Hey you got back there a year or so ago didn’t you?”

“Only for a bit.” Shiro shrugs.“Didn’t really get a chance to stick around or say hi to old friends.”

“Well hey, there should be plenty of time for that soon.”

“With our luck? We’ll be neck deep in Galra before the day is out.”

Both laugh at that. They watch as the five Lions of Voltron fly inside the hangar, and set down a dozen feet or so away. The Lions begin to open up, one by one, and the Paladins walk out. They are met by cheers from other members of the coalition in the hangar, and are quickly mobbed. After slipping through through the crowds, they finally make their way to Shiro and Matt.

“That was some good work out there.” Shiro commended.

“We did as well as-” Keith starts to say.

“Heck yeah we did!” Lance declares. “Can’t stop the Voltron! I say Vol you say:” He points at the crowd behind them.

A cacophony of “TRON!” erupts in the hangar.

“Vol-”

“-TRON!”

Lance smiles self-satisfiedly as the cheer continues without his prompt. Pidge rolls her eyes, but the others only chuckle. Even Keith smirks slightly.

“Really, I am proud of you all.” Shiro continues. “You’ve earned this trip back to Earth.”

There is a series of uncertain smiles.

“Wonder what everyone’s been up to while we’re gone.” Lance ponders.

“Hope they haven’t worried too much…” Hunk says wistfully.

“I bet...Mom’s missed us.” Pidge says after a moment. She and Matt both look distant for a moment.

“Man...she’s probably gonna ground you for the rest of your life.” Matt finally says.

Pidge laughs for a moment, then frowns. “You don’t...you don’t think she’d actually…”

“Oh yeah I do.” Matt said nodding emphatically.

“Uh oh…” She suddenly looks worried.

“Ah Pidge, come on, it's not like she can actually ground a Paladin of Voltron.” Lance says.

Matt and Pidge both stare at him.

“You haven’t met mom.” They say in unison.

“But remember guys, this isn’t just a family visit.” Keith says. “We’re also going to convince the Galaxy Garrison to join the cause against the Galra, and help us rebuild the Castle of Lions.”

Lance sighs. “Typical Keith, bringing us all down.”

“I wasn’t…I’m not...ugh. Just...try to remember that we have more than one priority when we get there.”

“We get it Keith. Loud and clear.” Hunk says. “I just hope they got food there. I dunno about you guys, but after all this traveling and fighting, I’ve worked up quite an appetite.”

“I’m sure they’ll have food Hunk.” Shiro says with a smirk. “But Keith is right. After everyone’s done greeting, we are going to have to meet with the Garrison brass. For now, why don’t you all go relax. We’ll be making our approach in another couple hours.”

There is a clamor of agreement, and Lance, Hunk, Pidge and Matt all head off. Shiro, Keith and Allura are left in awkward silence.

“Well I should go...see how Coran and Romelle are doing.” Allura says. “He’s been working with her to try and figure out how best to approach the Altean colony once we are able to travel there. I’ll...see you when we land.”

Then she leaves as well. Keith watchs her go, and stares off into space after she is out of sight.

“You doing alright?”

“Fine.” He says a little too quickly.

Shiro raises and eyebrow. Keith sighs.

“Well...I’m leader of Voltron...again.”

“And?”

“And if you remember, it didn’t turn out so well last time.”

“Things are different now.”

“Are they? I only took the position to stop you when you were being mind controlled. I’m still not a hundred percent sure I’ve got what it takes to lead them.”

“Well,” Shiro shrugs. “ At the end of the day that's up to you. You get out of the team what you put in. Do your best to lead them, be there for them when they need you, and you’ll succeed.”

“I’ll...try. Thanks Shiro.” Keith nods appreciatively.

“Anytime.”

“Really though, I should be the one asking you how you’re doing. Having your soul torn out and put into a clone body must be...weird.”

“It's...something I’m getting used to.” Shiro admitted. “I do miss the robot arm.”

“Maybe Sam can make you a new one.”

“Maybe. For now, you should just worry about getting some rest. Something tells me we’re in for a long reception once we land.”

***

The five Lions of Voltron fly alongside the Coalition group of ships, racing towards a nearby star system. As they fly faster, planets become visible. They draw closer to the third one from the sun.

“Heads up, we got ships approaching.” Pidge says.

Sure enough, a handful of space fighters fly out towards the group.

“This is Keith of the Paladins of Voltron.” Keith said over his communicator. “Along with a company of Coalition of Voltron ships. Requesting Galaxy Garrison permission to land on earth.”

“-Did you say Voltron?” A voice crackles over the communicator.

“That’s right.” Keith confirms.

“Ah hell, I gotta call this in.” The line is silence for several long moments. “...alright. The...Lions, and one small ship are cleared for landing. The rest of you are gonna have to wait out here, well away from Earth for now. We’ll escort you in.”

“Understood.” Keith switches the line. “Shiro? Get you Matt, and whoever else wants to land in a transport. We’re going in.”

The Lions fly in, along with the transport ship, flanked on all sides by fighters. The lions and ships descend towards a massive Garrison base landing pad. There is a small crowd of Garrison personnel in uniforms along with civilians in normal clothes. The lions and ships land, and a moment later, all exit.

The Paladins, with Shiro, and a small group from the Coalition approach the crowd.

“Mom!” Pidge breaks from the group, to sprint towards the woman standing next to her father. Matt is running at her heels.

“Katie! Matt! Oh thank God!” her mother cried out.

Pidge practically tackles the woman, and Matt isn’t much more graceful. The three of them grip each other in a death-grip of an embrace.

“Uncle Lance!” A pair of kids cry as the break from the crowd. Lance’s eyes water as he dashes to embrace them, he is soon enveloped in other relatives.

Hunk walks over to hug his hims family, a tad more reserved than the others, by no less heartwarming. Commander Iverson, along with a group of Garrison personnel walks over to meet the remainders.

“Lieutenant Shirogane. It's been a while.” The man extends his hand to Shiro.

“Too long, Commander Iverson.” Shiro replies, shaking the man’s hand.

“Gotta say, never thought you’d come back to earth with five...uh...space lions. I hear they turn into a giant robot?”

“I see Sam’s informed you all. And yes, they do turn into a robot.”

“Sounds...exciting. We’ll have to debrief you all of course.”

“I can help you with that as much as i can for now. As for the rest of the team, I think they need some time.”

“Understandable. Your team can take all the time they need.”

“Thanks. Oh and they’re not technically ‘my team’ anymore. Keith here is the leader of Voltron now.”

“Commander.” Keith nods.

Iverson looks at Keith as if seeing him for the first time. “Well I’ll be. Sam said you were on the team but...well I guess I was wrong about you cadet.”

Keith shakes his head. “I wasn’t...the best cadet either. It's water under the bridge.” He offers a hand that Iverson shakes.

“I’ll be seeing you all shortly.” with that Iverson and Shiro head inside the base. Keith is left alone, with the exception of Cosmo. He scratched the dog’s ear thoughtfully. Coran and the Coalition forces are off to the side conversing with some of the garrison personnel. After scanning the area, Keith notices another lone person. Allura, hanging back by her lion, not really looking at anyone.

Keith hesitates a moment,. “Be there for your team.” He says to himself, while scratching Cosmo. “Stay.” He says, then starts to walk over. Allura looks up as he approaches and smiles.

“Don’t you have family to be celebrating with?” She says.

“Not really. Krolia...my mom, is with the blades right now. There...isn’t really anyone back here for me to see.”

“I understand.” Allura looks down.

The conversation falls dead. Keith scratches the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Allura?”

“Yes?” she looks up.

“Are you uh...are you doing alright?”

“I’m...fine.” She says carefully.

“Okay. You just...well never mind. As your leader...you can talk to me. If you need to or whatever.”

“Thank you Keith. I’ll keep that in mind.”

After another few moments of silence, he walks back to where Cosmo still sits.

“Man, I suck at this.” he sighs.

The cosmic wolf barks, as if in agreement.

***

“Can we get this over with, so we can go back to being with our families?” Pidge complains. All of the Paladins and Coalition leaders are seated in a boardroom opposite a panel of Garrison high command. There is one empty seat on the Garrison side.

“Pidge.” Keith says warningly.

“I’m with her.” Lance pips in. “I don’t see why we gotta wait for this ‘Admiral’ person.”

“The delay was...unexpected. As was your sudden appearance.” An aged Commander named Sablan explained.

“Didn’t Mr. Holt get you ready for us? Dunno just seems like something you had plenty of time for.” Hunk points out.

“I tried to get them prepared.” Sam Holt says from the Garrison side of the table. “But telling people five robotic lions with a coalition of aliens are coming to visit is one thing, having them actually show up is another.”

Suddenly, the door to the room slides open. A stern-looking older woman steps in.

“Admiral Sanda.” Iverson says, standing up to salute the woman. The rest of the Garrison commanders do the same.

“At ease.” She says, talking over to take a seat herself. “Apologies for the delay. The leaders of the world had much to say regarding how to treat this meeting with ‘The Voltron Coalition.’” She scanned the people seated opposite her. “Who can I consider the leader here?”

All eyes turn to Shiro. He in turn, looks to Keith.

“You better take this one, leader of Voltron aside, I dunno if you wanna trust me talking to these guys.” Keith whispers to him.

Shiro nods understandingly.

“Lieutenant Takashi Shirogane, reporting for duty, ma’am. I’ll be speaking for this group for the time being.”

“Understood Lieutenant.” Sanda says. “Now, would you care to explain what this is all about? I’ve heard the story from Commander Holt a number of times, but I’d like to hear things from your perspective.”

“Very well.” Shiro nods. “Last year myself along with Keith, Lance, Pidge and Hunk recovered five robotic lions, which when bonded together become the powerful robot known as Voltron. Together we fought against The Emperor Zarkon who had at the time, taken over much of the know universe. After many hard-fought battles we defeated him, but in doing so, left a power vacuum in the Galra Empire. To combat the fracturing Galra Empire we helped form the Coalition you see before you. We were one-time allies with Zarkon’s son Prince Lotor, who tried to fill that vacuum, but when he proved himself an enemy, Voltron was forced to defeat him as well. I should note that I am no longer officially a part of Voltron. My position was taken over by Keith here.”

Sanda eyes Keith briefly, before turning her gaze back to Shiro. “Very well, I think I understand the situation. Now I have a question for you Lieutenant Shirogane: What do you want from us?”

“Ideally? Unrestricted support to the Voltron Coalition. That means Earth forces fighting alongside the Coalition to finally put down the Galra Empire before it has a chance to get back on its feet.”

Sanda nodded as if understanding. “Absolutely not.”

“What!?” is the collective reaction from most of the seats on the Coalition side of the table. Shiro, however, does not look surprised.

“The people of Earth simply cannot justify getting caught in an interstellar war, that we so far, have been able to avoid getting involved in.”

“With respect Admiral,” Shiro says, “it's only a matter of time before one of the Galra warlords finds Earth and decides it might make a nice mining colony.”

“And should such a thing occur, we will respond accordingly.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Matt says, putting his feet up on the table.

“Officer Matthew Holt.” Sanda says. “No longer MIA I see. If I’m not mistake you are still technically a member of the Galaxy Garrison.”

“Consider me retired. I’m full time Coalition now. And you guys should be too.”

“We are not going to prematurely involve ourselves in a senseless conflict.” Sanda says firmly.

“Senseless!?” Keith says, speaking aloud for the first time. “There are millions of planets out there that need our help! Every one of them that joins the Coalition makes us that much stronger to be able to push back the Galra warlords. Are you really just going to sit there and ignore all those people because you’re scared of fighting!?”

Sanda narrows her eyes at Keith.

“I think,” Shiro cuts in,“what Keith is trying to say, is that this relationship would be mutually beneficial.”

“Indeed.” Ryner says. “We offer not just military assistance, but technology as well. Technology that has innumerable uses, not the least of which is for defence against the Galra.”

“Yes we’ve seen some of this ‘alien’ technology.” Sanda says turning to Sam Holt.

“We’ve used everything I learned out in space, along with with what we could reproduce from my ship to further enhance the Garrison’s technology. We’ve even begun work on a prototype mech know at the Atlas-”

“None of which are to be used in this conflict with the Galra Empire.” Sanda interrupts. “As enticing as more of that tech is, it has been decided by men far above my own head, that the risks do not outweigh the reward.”

“Then what are we even doing here?” Lance asks.

All eyes turn to him.

“What? We were all thinking it…”

“The Castle of Lions.” Allura suggests.

“Right.” Shiro nods. “If you will not provide military assistance, that is understood. But we left Sam Holt with plans for a ship known as the Castle of Lions. We’d like the use of Garrison resources to rebuilt it, in exchange for the earlier mentioned technology.”

“You want us to help rebuild your...ship?”

“The Castle of Lions is a lot more than just a ship!” Coran pipes up. “It functions as the space faring home of the Lions of Voltron, and gives them support in battle.”

“It's essentially a mobile HQ for Voltron and the Coalition. It has innumerable uses. Unfortunately it was recently destroyed, but hopefully, making use of it's plans and the best of all our tech, we can make a new one just as good.”

“You’d be hard pressed to do that.” Coran says. “My grandfather really knew what he was doing when he built the thing. That being said, under my careful guidance, it may be possible.” he says, twisting his mustache thoughtfully.

“That may be within our limits. So long as it is not tied back to Earth. But we’ll need a bit more than simple tech upgrades. We need a...Sam, what did you call it?”

“A balmeran Crystal.” Sam says. “The Atlas wont work without one.”

“We’ll need to get one to rebuild the Castle anyway.” Hunk points out.

“Those terms seem fair enough.”

“Very well then. The Galaxy Garrison will assist in the construction of this ‘Castle of Lions’ in exchange for the crystal. But no direct military involvement is to be supplied in any capacity. Understood?”

There is a chorus of underwhelmed “understood.”

“Good. Meeting adjourned.”

***

“I can’t believe they could be so heartless.” Keith hisses. They all are walking back outside the Garrison base, where their lions sit.

“Buncha jerks.” Lance agrees.

“They’re only trying to protect themselves.” Shiro says. “It's understandable considering the circumstances.”

“How about the circumstances of all the planets still under Galra rule?” Keith shoots back.

“I’m not disagreeing with you Keith, just saying that it may take time to get them to come around.”

“Well they can take all the time they want.” Hunk says. “I don’t know about you guys, but my family told me they were gonna cook a big old feast to celebrate me coming home.”

“We should probably get going too.” Pidge says.

“Yeah, I was totally right. Mom grounded Katie ‘until further notice.’” Matt says with a smirk.

“Don’t remind me...” Pidge says adjusting her glasses uncomfortably.

“I’m taking off too.” Lance says. “I’ve got a lot of catching up to do with everyone.”

The three walk off, to greet their respective families.

“Coran and I also have duties.” Allura says, nodding to Shiro, then Keith. She and Coran make their exit as well.

“I’m going to talk with the other coalition leaders to see if we can figure out what to do next. You going to want to be there?” Shiro asks Keith.

“No thanks. Think I want to be alone for a bit.”

Shiro nods and the other coalition leaders return to the ship. Keith walks over to the black lion, and finds Acxa standing next to it, petting Cosmo.

“Didn’t realise you came here too.” Keith says.

“Thought I’d tag along, see how it all went.” She replies. “Judging from your expression it didn’t go well.”

“Not exactly.” Keith says gruffly. “They won’t offer any military support.”

“Pointless.” Acxa shrugs.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean this whole Voltron Coalition, recruiting planets for the cause, it's a waste of time. That isn’t how you’ll stop the Galra Empire.”

“We’re making progress.” Keith says.

“Some.” She admits. “And maybe, if everything keeps going well, you’ll eventually be able hunt down and stop every one of the dozens of Galra warlords scattered across the universe. But it’ll take decades. Maybe even lifetimes. All the while innocent worlds will continue to suffer.”

“You got a better idea?”

She nods“The Galra understand one thing: strength. You want to stop them? Give them a strong leader. A new Emperor to stop the infighting, and reclaim the Empire”

Keith scoffs. “We tried that with Lotor. Didn’t go so well.”

“Lotor was too ambitious for his own good. I’m talking about someone that would have all your best interests at heart.”

“Is this the part where you say it should be you?” He says, skeptically.

“Hardly. I’m talking about you.”

Keith looks shocked.

“...me? The Galra Emperor? That’s a pretty lousy joke…”

“It's not a joke Keith. You’re strong willed, and a good fighter. Even more importantly, you command Voltron. You have power. The Galra will respect that, if you push for the throne.”

“I’m not going to become the Galra Emperor.” Keith says firmly. “I don’t know the first thing about politics.”

“Galra politics are simple. The guy that hits the hardest is in charge.”

Still Keith shakes his head. “It's not going to happen.”

“Suit yourself.” She shrugs. “But there is a power vacuum in the Empire right now. If you don’t fill it, someone else will.”

With that, Acxa gives Cosmo one final scratch then walks back towards the ship. Keith is left staring at the ground. He looks up at the Black Lion.

“Emperor of the Galra.” he shakes his head. “Yeah right.”

***

Emperor Zarkon sits in the Black Lion, eyes closed.

“Father? We have a report” Lotor says over the communicator.

Zarkon opens his glowing eyes. “Go on.”

“No luck with the surrounding planets. All are completely desolate. However, we may have found something better.”

“Explain.”

“Sendak and I have been going over the Galra communications since he cracked them. We have a lot of information here but a few key pieces seem especially important.”

“I’m listening.”

“First of all it seems this reality’s versions of both you and I are...well dead.”

Zarkon’s eyes narrow. “...how?”

“Unclear. Lot of conflicting information, you understand. It seems however, that your alter was defeated some time ago by Voltron. My alter fell to the same fate just recently.”

“I was not in control of Voltron?”

“It appears not. A few beings from some far off primitive planet, are piloting the Lions now.”

“So the version of myself here was so weak we could not reclaim the lions all those years ago? Pitiful. I hope you have better news than that.”

“I do. Our deaths left a power struggle that the Galra haven’t recovered from yet. It seems the Empire is ripe for the taking.”

“Good. At least the Paladins of Voltron here are too incompetent to take it for themselves.”

“There is...one other thing. While Sendak was going over the different signals, he noticed on that was hidden behind the others. A subtramission. He couldn’t crack it, but as soon as he showed it to me I recognized the pattern. It was almost identical to a transmission protocol I used for my agents back...in the old reality.”

Zarkon’s eyes narrow again. “I’m going to ignore for a moment that you had a transmission network I wasn’t aware of. Whatever you found had better outweigh that misstep.”

“I think it does. The network is a series of communications between what I must assume was myself and someplace within this reality’s Quantum Abyss. After a little digging, I found a digital pathway, that should take us safely through to whatever is inside.”

“What are you expecting to find?”

“Most likely? Resources. A hidden base, perhaps. Maybe even something more valuable. Either way, seems like the ideal location for a new HQ.”

“Very well. We shall travel to this place and set up base. Once completed, we take back the Empire.”

“Vrepit Sa.” Lotor says.

“Vrepit Sa.” Zarkon replies, closing his eyes again.

#voltron #voltron season 8 #voltron fanfic #keith #lance #pidge #hunk #shiro #zarkon

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companionjones · 7 years

Text

Elements (Part 3)

Part 1 Part 2

Imagine: Being able to control the elements and the (tenth) Doctor finds you fascinating and slowly falls for you.

Imagine by: @doctorwho-imagines

Fandom: Doctor Who, 10th Doctor

Pairing: Tenth!Doctor x Reader

Warnings: Really long, reader is shorter than the Doctor. Language! Violence. **Anxiety Attack** **PTSS**

“So, y/n, all of time and space; everywhere and anywhere; every star that ever was. Where do you want to start?”

You looked at the alien questioningly. “What’s a star?”

A smirk broke out on his face, “Oh, y/n. I have so much to show you.” He then started flicking switches and pushing buttons on the console.

“What are you doing?” The curiosity in your voice made the Doctor’s heart flutter.

The Doctor glanced over to one of the yellow railings behind you. “See that bar right there?”

You turned around. “Yeah.”

“Hang on to it.” As the Doctor said that, he turned over one last lever, and the TARDIS dissolved into its usual chaos.

You let out a scream, and grabbed onto the railing for dear life.

“It’s okay!” The Doctor yelled over the crashing and banging. “She does this all the time!”

“She?!” You shouted back, confused.

He laughed loudly, “She’s my ship! The TARDIS! Time And Relative Dimension In Space! I probably should have introduced you two earlier!”

“Oh, well--!” You were interrupted by the TARDIS ‘landing’. You fell to the ground, hurting your back a bit. “Nice to meet you, TARDIS,” you groaned politely.

The TARDIS whirred friendily back.

While you stayed on the ground a little longer, getting your barrings, the Doctor’s face appeared above you.

“You alright?”

A warm, sweet smile showed up on your lips, “Yeah, I’m good.” You took his hand to help you up. When you did get back on your feet, the Doctor and yourself stood your ground for a minute, caught in each other’s eyes.

After the minute passed, the Doctor found himself saying something he didn’t want to: “Uh, we should go. I want to show you something.”

You still seemed out of focus. “Okay.”

The Doctor led you to up a flight of stairs to a room which had a bunch of clothes in it.

“This is the TARDIS’s wardrobe,” he paused, and looked to you, and grinned at your wonder. “Go and pick an outfit.”

Your eyebrows rose, “Really?”

The smile on the Doctor’s face grew. “Really, go.”

Twenty minutes of wandering through the surprisingly large room, you found some clothes you liked, and had put them on.

“Do you want to see?” You called out from around a corner.

The Doctor couldn’t help the corners of his lips turning up slightly again. “Of course.”

You turned the corner.

Male: If your hair is long enough and you like to wear it like that, hair up in a small bun. If your hair isn’t long enough, here (just the hair). A grey t-shirt and brown khakis, and red vans with white laces. You also had a black watch, and high and black socks.

Female: If your hair is past your shoulders, you have it up in a simple ponytail. If it’s any shorter, you just wear it down, or maybe with a hairband holding your hair back. You have a grey v-neck t-shirt, dark blue jeans, black Nike sneakers with white laces and a white swish on the side, and regular black socks.

(If you don’t like any part of the outfit that I gave you, you can always use your imagination.)

Upon seeing you, the Doctor’s jaw dropped a bit, and he slipped into what was almost a trance. To him, you were breathtaking.

Not to toot your own horn, but you also couldn’t help but admire your choice in style. Well, to be fair, you had only seen yourself in a white shirt, white pants, and white shoes your whole life.

Anyway, you noticed how distracted the Doctor was, but didn’t pick up on what he was distracted by.

“Doctor?” You waved, trying to get his attention. “Doctor, are you alright?”

The alien in front of you shook his head, “Yeah--yeah, I’m here. Should we be on our way?” He gestured to the door.

“Yeah, let’s go,” you smiled, and walked with a bounce in your step towards the Doctor. (If you want to, you can link arms with him.)

As the two of you were walking back to the control room, you heard the Doctor whisper under his breath, “Allons-y.”

Your eyebrows quirked. “Allons-y?” you repeated.

He smiled over/down to you. “Allons-y. It’s ‘Let’s go’ in French.”

You humphed.

“What?”

“It’s just funny I know what the French language is.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” the Doctor apologized, referring to the fact that he fed you so much information out of nowhere when he gave you the English language.

You giggled. “It’s fine. I think I’m getting used to it.”

“Good. Now, try not to make any loud noises.”

Your eyebrows quirked again, and you smiled at the what you thought was a random comment. However, when he opened the TARDIS doors, you understood what he meant when you had to suppress a scream.

In front of you was a cave looking area with sickly looking, almost spirit-like creatures roaming around. A cold breeze hit you. The whole situation was just giving you a shaky feeling. You grabbed the Doctor’s hand.

He looked down at your connected hands, then over to you. “Do you want to leave?”

You shook your head, not looking away from the scene before you. You became more in awe than scared.

The Doctor recognized the look on your face and smiled endearingly at you. He did miss this. Seeing the look on his companion’s face when they see something new. What’s different, with you it was so much better than before. When he looked at you butterflies appeared in his stomach. It reminded him of Rose.

Rose. No. He couldn’t go through something like what he went through with Rose again. Was...was he falling for...no. No, he wasn’t. He couldn’t put someone else through that. He just got you, and he never wanted to lose you.

The Doctor eyed the clock he set on the console, before turning back to you. He smiled down at you. “It’s almost eight o’clock at night here,” he whispered.

“So?” You turned your head a little to the side, but did not take your eyes off the scene in front of you.

He chuckled, “Just wait...”

Not two seconds after his words. Countless lights began to shine through each of the creatures’ skins. A ringing came with the light. It got brighter and brighter as each moment moved by. The brightest light of them all shone through the ceiling, and almost as soon as it was visible, which was only a few seconds after the creatures’ lights began, you had to shield your eyes from being hurt. The Doctor did the same. When you felt it was safe, you moved your arm.

And what was lying in front of you, it was beautiful.

You’d never seen so much color in your life, let alone at the same time. There were colors in front of you that you didn’t even know existed. So many different shades of red, blue, green, stretching onto infinity.

The creatures changed into something between a human and an ant. They all had antennae, and among other similarities, smiles. However, again, each being held a different hue of their own.

To say the absolute least about it, you were in shock, trying your best to process it all and not be overwhelmed. All you could hear was the hum of the creatures talking and other various sounds in the background, and your own, somewhat sporadic breaths.

Suddenly, you felt a hand slip into your own. Yet, you still couldn’t move your focus.

“Y/n? Are you alright?” His voice was gentle and cautious.

No response.

“Y/n?” Now it’s concerned.

Still nothing.

“Y/n.” Now he’s just trying to get your attention.

You hummed, spending one more second ogling, then turned towards the Doctor. As you did so, you gripped his hand a little tighter. To be honest, the look on your faces betrayed your battle of holding back a complete break down due to the color overload.

“Are you okay. We can shut the doors if this is too much right now.” He stroked the back of your hand with his thumb.

Pausing for a few breaths which were thankfully getting more controllable, you squeezed the Doctor’s hand closer to your own, grounding yourself before you spoke. “I think I can do this. Let’s give it a try. Shall we?” You sighed.

The Doctor smiled an encouraging, yet excited smile. “Allons-y.”

Happily, he pulls you out of the TARDIS, and into a largely populated area. Every creature you pass greets you politely. You wave shyly back almost every time, and the Doctor responded loudly and merrily whenever someone called out to the two of you.

After a minute or two of walking and greeting, the Doctor leans down to your ear and explains, without slowing down his steps: “The Sherlockwatsonians are a very outgoing and friendly species.”

“Not to mention colorful...,” you added, still taking in the sights around you.

He smiled. Your eyes met with his, and he continued to speak. “You know, they once took over an entire planet without any conflict just due to their kindness.”

“Really?” You asked, never being exposed to that level of friendliness.

The Doctor nodded warmly. The two of you still haven’t broken eye contact, and that was probably a mistake given that neither of you had stopped walking... and you both crashed into a bright red Sherlockwatsonian. All three of you fall roughly to the ground.

When you got your senses back, the first thing you realize is the major pain in your skull. You groan, and sit up rubbing your head.

Almost immediately, the Doctor is at your side. “Y/n? Are you alright?” His voice was full of concern. He had one hand next to your legs, and the other gently at the back of your head.

“That’s the second time you asked me that today,” you chuckled, “I’m fine.” You looked up, his eyes said that he didn’t believe you. To reassure him, you placed your hand on his hand that was set next to your legs. You gave a slight (and, in the Doctor’s opinion, cute) nod.

Your gazing was interrupted when another groan sounded across from you. The Doctor and yourself looked towards the sound, and once the Sherlockwatsonian laid its eyes on you, its eyes went wide and it immediately started apologizing.

“No, no really, we’re okay. Thank you, miss.” The Doctor confirmed while helping you up.

Embarrassed because of the situation this Lockwat thing had just witnessed between you and the Doctor (Lockwat. I’m trying out an abbreviation for it. Just go with it), you stuttered, “Y-yeah. Are you okay? D-do you need help putting your stuff back in your...cart?” You eyed the thing in front of you, and quirked your eyebrow. It kind of looked like a wheelbarrow.... Anyway, you started placing the things that scattered the ground back into the cart. Once you were done, you returned back to the Doctor’s side, and watched the alien amble away.

Peering up at the Doctor, you saw he had a confused look on his face. You realized he’d had that look on his face ever since he saw the objects that where in the wheelbarrow thing.

“What is it?” you inquired.

He observed you for a couple seconds before he spoke, he seemed to still be thinking. “Those were anti-gravity rocket disposers that Lockwat had in her colecheco.” You assumed a colecheco was the wheelbarrow thing. At least you could put a name to the thing now.

“So?”

He fixated on the direction you saw the Lockwat walk away in. “Anti-gravity rocket disposers are for space travel.”

You nodded, urging him to go on.

“Sherlockwatsonians haven’t entered space in over a hundred years at this point in time...” he drifted off, getting lost in thought.

That statement confused you as well. Even if the Lockwats were planning to go off into space, why would they use a colecheco for transport of what seemed to be highly important tech?

The loud ringing of a bell got both the Doctor and your attentions.

“WHAT THE FU--” was your immediate reaction. Your reflex was to hide your face in the Doctor’s chest.

“I didn’t think it was ten o’clock already!” The Doctor bellowed out joyously.

You moved your attention up to him. The look on your face asked your question for you.

The Doctor grinned. He leads you toward where a crowd is gathering. “Everyday at ten at night their president makes a speech celebrating when they can be like they are now. This lasts until 6:00 in the morning.”

“Why is it like this?”

He laughs, “It’s just how they evolved. It’s fantastic isn’t it?”

You smiled and nodded sincerely.

Unfortunately, your happiness only lasted for a few more minutes. Too soon, you were in the middle of of a huge crowd. The biggest crowd you have ever witnessed, let alone been in.

The Time Lord didn’t realize you were having an anxiety attack until you let out your first helpless-sounding whimper. He looked to you on reflex, and he almost had an attack himself. He immediately knew your stresser, and lead you out of the crowd as quickly as he could, and you two ended up in a sort of alley.

He was terrified to touch you, terrified he could make it worse, terrified to make you feel worse. Suddenly, and the most fortunate thing to happen that day, the Doctor remembered something he had picked up on on Earth a few years (for him) back.

“Y/n? Y/n, baby, listen to my voice, alright? Listen to the things I’m going to say. Tell me five things you can see. Just five things.”

Breathing was becoming less and less of an option for you. “I can’t! I-I can’t! I can’t do it!”

“Yes you can, y/n. If anyone in this universe can, it’s you. Just five things that you can see right now, please y/n.”

It took you a few seconds, but soon you struggled out: “You. I c-can see y-you.”

“Good. That’s great. That’s fantastic. Keep going, baby.”

“The-the green and purple bricks these buildings are made of....this weird street.....” You let out a scream. You were in so much pain.

The Doctor almost hugged you on instinct. He physically forced himself to stay in place. He still didn’t know if that would make this worse. He knew almost nothing in this situation. Not whether or not touching you would be okay, not how exactly much you were suffering, and among almost everything else right now. It was killing him.

“Just two more, then we can move on. Come on, baby.”

You let out another strangled scream. “Your shoes and my shoes. Does that count?”

“Yes, yes, that’s perfect. You’re doing perfect. Now tell me four things you can touch.”

This next round you sputtered out fast, still in pretty deep in hell. “My arms, my shirt, my hair, my pants.” You fleeted your hands around, touching the things you listed.

“Three things you hear now.”

“Your voice. Everyone talking at the rally....” you got frustrated trying to figure out what this next sound was, “ugh, I don’t know, some sort of power tool buzzing, m-my voice.”

“Two things you smell...” he had realized you were starting to calm down, and was taking small steps cautiously towards you.

“The fruits that we walked by earlier,” your eyes were shut tight. “And,” you couldn’t help but let out a small giggle. “Body odor. From all those Lockwats. Has this species discovered deodorant yet?”

The Doctor scoffed. “They don’t have the sense of smell.....tell me one thing you can taste.” He was back to gazing worriedly at you.

“The...the air tastes a bit salty. Wh-why is that?”

“This planet has the most amount of sodium chloride on this side of it’s galaxy. That’s a lot of salt!” He exclaimed goofily.

You laughed.

While you looked away, the Doctor thought about what had just occurred. That was the most scared he had been in a while. He noticed your breathing was quicker than normal, and you seemed to be stuttering still. There was no alternative to the fact that your attacks would become more frequent if you stayed with him. The Doctor knew that. He wanted to show you so much. Too much. But seeing you here now, smiling, laughing, he knew he couldn’t let you go. Arrogantly, he told himself he could protect you from this. That he knew how to stop this from happening completely. So, when you hugged him close, silently thanking him, the Doctor hugged you back. Shutting his eyes tight, he hid from the uncertainty of the future he was creating.

A loud crash separated you and the Doctor. The two of you peered down the alleyway, and far down you saw the Lockwat you had bumped into earlier. She was hurriedly collecting the objects that were supposed to be in her colecheco off the ground again.

Then, another Lockwat came out from a tent-looking structure, and starting yelling something at the red one. She started yelling back. You and the Doctor were too far away to hear what they were shouting at one another. Soon, the verbal exchange turned into a physical one. That’s when you and the Doctor started running to break it up. Before you got there, however, the male, yellow Lockwat pulled the red female into the tent. He then proceeded to shoot her.

“What the hell have you done?!” you exclaimed as you pulled back the curtain to the entrance of the tent.

The Lockwat whipped his head to you. “Who the fuck are you, human-looking assholes?!”

“Well, actually, us Time Lords have been around longer, so it should be ‘Time Lord-looking assholes’,” the Doctor corrected.

The look you shot at the Doctor told him that this wasn’t the time. “You’re going to tell us what the hell all of this is about, and then we’re going to punish you accordingly. Is that understood?” you addressed the yellow being. The dangerous tone of your voice, and the terrifying look in your eye made the Lockwat nod immediately.

The Doctor thought you picked up this side of you as you were treated as you were. In some ways, it reminded him of himself when he let the memory of the Time War take over. He couldn’t figure out if he liked that or not, yet.

“It’s just the few of us,” the Lockwat began to explain, “We plan to go out into space and take over a few more planets. We figured it wouldn’t be too hard because we’re naturally so nice.” He paused and saw that you and the Doctor weren’t buying his words. “It takes work to do what anything remotely close to what I just did!” He defended truthfully.

The rest, surprisingly, wasn’t too hard. You tied up who you and the Doctor found out was the leader, sneaked away to get authorities. They took care of it from there. The Doctor and yourself were back in the TARDIS in no time.

Author’s Note: Thank you so much for reading this! Fill up that heart if you liked it. Over on my page, I have a lot more fics on Doctor Who (so far Doctors Ten and Eleven), and other stories on Hamilton, Supernatural, Teen Wolf, and many, many more. Also, requests aren’t being closed any time soon, so feel free to drop one in my box. If you’re hesitant on weather or not I write for that fandom, just ask (there’s a good chance I do). As long as it’s not anime (sorry!), because the only one I’ve seen is Ouran High School Host Club (I’ll write for that anime, though). I only have one rule for my requests. No smut please. Sorry if this is too long, but have a nice day/night, or whatever time it is for you, and I love you.

**Credits for the character the Doctor goes to David Tennant and the creators of Doctor Who. Credits for the character the TARDIS goes to the creators of Doctor Who.**

#doctor who #doctor who x reader #doctor #doctor x reader #the doctor #the doctor x reader #tenth doctor #tenth doctor x reader #the tenth doctor #the tenth doctor x reader #10 #10 x reader #elements

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satelitebox-blog · 5 years

Text

Samsung 65-Inch Class Q90R (QN65Q90RAFXZA)

Samsung has been enthusiastic about OLED screens for its phones for years, but it’s pointedly shied away from the technology in favor of its own QLED lines of LCD TVs. As we’ve been consistently impressed by OLED TVs since we first started testing them, and less so with QLED, we’ve been skeptical of that choice. With the Q90R, Samsung’s 2019 flagship TV, the company finally proves us wrong. The Q90R is a very expensive 4K LCD model ($3,499.99 for the 65-inch QN65Q90RAFXZA we tested) that shows some of the best color and contrast performance we’ve seen. Usually good LCDs can show terrific color but falter at contrast, and OLED TVs show superlative contrast but have weaker color. The Q90 excels in both fields, earning it our Editors’ Choice.

Design

The Q90R looks simple and stylish, with a thin, matte silver bezel around the screen and running along the TV’s sides. It rests on a simple, gunmetal stand with a single rectangular foot in the center. The back of the TV is made of dark gray plastic and curves outward slightly, and very notably has only a single wired connection. Instead of plugging all of your devices and a power cable into the TV itself, everything is handled by the separate One Connect box that plugs into the back of the Q90R through a single, thin wire. The One Connect box is a gunmetal plastic slab about the size of a cable or satellite box, with all of the Q90’s ports and most of its electronics. Because it’s designed to be tucked in a cabinet, the front is flat and nondescript. The back holds four HDMI ports, an Ethernet port, an antenna/cable connector, a 3.5mm EX-Link port, a connector for the power cable, and a connector for the One Connect cable that plugs into the back of the TV. Three USB ports sit on the right side of the box. The Q90R has no analog video connections, so if you want to use a component or composite video source, you’ll have to get an HDMI converter. The Q90R’s remote is identical to the one included with the lower-end Samsung RU8000, a slim, simple black plastic wand built around a circular direction pad. Its scant controls include volume and channel rockers; Home, Back, Pause/Play, Voice, and Power buttons; a number/color button that brings up an on-screen number pad and additional controls; and three dedicated service buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix. A pinhole microphone on the top lets you speak into the remote to use voice search and Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant.

Samsung Smart TV

In typical Samsung style, the Q90R’s smart TV interface is sophisticated and very Samsung-centric. The platform is also just like the RU8000’s, with a powerful Universal Guide that aggregates live TV and streaming content into a single space; a functional but modest app ecosystem that covers most major streaming services including Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music, Google Play Movies & TV, Hulu, Netflix, SiriusXM, Sling TV, Spotify, and Tidal; and support for Apple’s AirPlay 2 for local streaming from iOS and OS X devices. The Q90R also features Bixby, Samsung’s voice assistant that remains a largely unwanted runner-up to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. It works perfectly well for controlling the TV itself, and can even control smart home devices if they’re compatible with the Samsung-owned SmartThings platform, but it simply isn’t as useful, powerful, or broadly compatible as Amazon’s or Google’s voice assistants. Fortunately, you can simply ignore Bixby by not pressing the Voice button on the remote, and if you have Alexa or Google Assistant smart speakers you can use them to control the TV instead. Unless you’re a very dedicated Samsung fan with a home filled with the company’s devices, Bixby just isn’t very useful.

Performance

The Samsung Q90R is a 4K TV that supports high dynamic range (HDR) content in HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG. It does not support Dolby Vision. We test TVs with a Klein K-10A colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G signal generator, and Portrait Displays’ CalMAN software using methodology based on Imaging Science Foundation’s calibration techniques. In Movie mode, with Local Dimming set to High and Black Level set to low, the Q90R shows remarkably high peak brightness at 548.2cd/m2 for a full-field pattern and 1,510.8cd/m2 for an 18-percent pattern. This is almost as bright as the Sony Master Series Z9F, the brightest TV we’ve tested (1,677.49cd/m2 with an 18-percent field). Combined with an 0.01cd/m2 black level, the Q90R has an effective contrast ratio of 151,080:1, by far the highest we’ve measured on an LCD TV. Only OLED TVs can show better contrast, with their ability to display perfect blacks, and are at best only half as bright. Color performance is similarly impressive. The above chart shows DCI-P3 color levels as boxes and measured color levels as dots. Out of the box, with the HDMI input set to the full color range, the Q90R almost completely covers the DCI-P3 color space, with spot-on whites. Greens and yellows are slightly undersaturated, but all colors are very nicely balanced with no noticeable shifting. The fantastic color and contrast comes through in BBC’s Planet Earth II. In the “Islands” episode, the blues and teals of the water and greens and yellows of the plants look vibrant and accurate. Fine details like fur and bark appear clearly both in shade and direct sunlight. It’s a natural, crisp picture. The Q90R’s accurate colors are also easily apparent in Deadpool. In the opening fight on the highway, Deadpool’s costume can appear slightly purple under the overcast, fairly cool light on some TVs, but is a properly saturated red on the Q90. The flames in the burning lab fight also show a wide range of yellows, oranges, and reds, and details in the shadowy parts of the scene are easily visible without looking washed out. The party scene in The Great Gatsby demonstrates the Q90R’s strong contrast. The contours and textures of the black suits can be clearly seen against the bright whites of the shirts and lights. Shadow and highlight detail are both visible without lacking brightness, and skin tones look natural.

Input Lag

Input lag measures how long it takes for a TV’s screen to update after it receives a signal, and can be important for video games that require responsive controls. In Movie mode, using a Leo Bodnar signal lag tester, the Q90R shows a lag of 79.6 milliseconds. This is fairly high, but enabling Game Mode improves input lag considerably at the expense of some picture quality, cutting it down to 24ms. This is still higher than the 20ms threshold at which we would consider a TV to be among the best for gaming. To be fair, the environment in which we tested the Q90R prevented us from using our newer HDFury Diva 4K 18Gbps HDMI matrix to test input lag, which we have found to be capable of producing more accurate and generally lower numbers on newer displays.

A Surprising Stunner

Samsung’s Q90R TV is one of the best-looking LCDs we’ve tested. It’s also one of the most expensive, at $3,500 for the 65-inch version. That puts it in OLED territory, where we previously thought LCDs couldn’t quite reach. The Q90’s remarkably bright panel and impressively low black levels come close, though, and its color reproduction out of the box is far superior to any OLED we’ve tested. This is an excellent TV for anyone looking for a centerpiece to their pricey home theater, and professional calibration can potentially coax even better performance out of it. It’s pricey and it doesn’t have Dolby Vision, but it still earns our Editors’ Choice for its sheer picture quality. Follow my blog with Bloglovin If you want the slimmer profile and better black levels of an OLED TV, and don’t mind a dimmer picture and less accurate colors, the Sony Master Series A9G and LG OLEDC9P are both excellent alternatives. If you simply want to spend much less while still getting strong color and contrast performance, the Hisense H8F and TCL 6-series remain our favorite budget TVs. Read the full article

#BBC #SamsungSmartTV #Samsung’sQ90R

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