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erithel · 2 years

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Hi,.....if you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from VLD? And why do you love them? And your top 5 (or top 3) favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this question before....Thanks....

Hm, okay so it's always tricky to narrow things down, but let's see…

Before I put my lists, here, I'm going to state that I am choosing these based on canon only. Characters like Hunk and Shiro have been tweaked in fanon to a versions I love, but that is not how they actually are in the show. And characters like Allura and Lotor had a ton of untapped potential, but it would be a whole different thing to list my favorite characters based on what could have been.

So here we go:

Favorite characters:

Keith

Lance

Coran

Krolia

Shay

Keith and Lance are, appropriately, pretty much neck and neck. Keith is just a little more of a favorite because he's the one I personally relate to the most.

Both Keith and Lance had enough character stuff in the beginning seasons to make them interesting to me. I wanted to know more about them, and I wanted to watch them grow. That, to me, is a solid foundation for favorite characters.

Coran, I realize, may be a surprise. He was just the stupid comic relief, right? Except no, in the beginning he wasn't just the zany character who said wacky things for laughs – he also genuinely cared about the Paladins. And I love that duality in characters.

Krolia is a very specific one – because I love her as her own person, but I don't like her as "Keith's mom." I have a whole post about that subject, so here I'll just say that…hey, sometimes it's as simple as the fact that I just have a thing for badass warrior women, okay?

Shay may also sound like a random choice. But she was just…sweet. Like, from what I can remember, just genuinely good – and that was refreshing. I wish they had actually done more with her.

Note: Animals are excluded from this list, because they are automatic favorites.

Favorite moments:

Episode 2: Allura and Coran testing the Paladin's response time. Allura asks how long it took them to response, and Coran replies: "Seventy-five degrees. [pause] Oh, sorry. No this is a meat thermometer!" Klance fanart made me start watching. That moment made me keep watching. Because it genuinely made me laugh.

Sunset scene. You know the one, and you know why. (Look just have characters get along and support each other, okay? And let them talk! Is that too much to ask?)

I don't remember which episode, but the moment where Lance confesses his feelings to the mice and they tell Allura. Allura's reaction was one of the best things (and the reason why it makes me upset with how that all turned out). It was pure expectation subversion, because you could see it all in her body language and hear it in her voice: She didn't know what to do, because she didn't want to hurt him. This moment meant so much to me because so often female characters are forced into situations where it feels like they don't really have a choice. It makes them feel like objects. But this moment took me by surprise because I thought "wait, for the first time in a show like this, are we going to get to witness a male and female character choosing friendship over romance because it was better for both of them??" Alas –

Lance staring at Keith open mouthed when he was returning after the space whale. Like…bro…you're telling me this shit was platonic?? You're telling me Lance's brain literally stopped functioning for a solid 6 seconds of screentime because his rival was back???

5. The Keith/Shiro fight in season 6. Say what you will about the writing and choices made for VLD. The animation and choreography for that fight was fucking spectacular. And basically the only thing I need to say to prove that is that if you watch the fight, and really pay attention, you'll notice that Keith was fighting defensively in all but one moment (when he went Galra for a split second). I love stuff like that because it means it's not just a mindless action scene – there's a purpose to it, and the actual characters and their motivations are built into the fight.

OOOOF okay that took a lot of thought and I know the minute I hit post on this I'll think of other moments I loved (it's been a while since I actually watched, and it's sometimes hard to distinguish canon from fanon lol). But yeah, that was fun!

#asks #voltron legendary defender #erithel's hot takes

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ceryanie · 2 years

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Woah! It's been a long time since I posted something coming from myself, isn't it? Well, the VLD show is over, but the fandom is still alive and creating ideas for a #postseason8 sort of thing, and I actually like this kind of content. Aaaand, because of that, I also love improving my skills to represent moments and characters too.

This drawing was, like, the first thing I drew from Princess Malocoti. I really, really fell in love with her design, is so amazing and cool! It definitely called my attention! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ However, the time passed and passed and I guess I kinda improved her design ideas.

Being she a character whose drawing consistency fades away sometimes, I've chosen personal design options that would fit more, always thinking about how would she look in VLD and a Post Season 8 with different animation. Why is it? Cuz as I read before from the fandom, DreamWorks doesn't have the license anymore, so, maybe to keep the consistency in character design, another Corean or Japanese Animation Studio, along with Studio Mir, was in my mind when I draw the VLD characters. I usually mix the character concept with more realistic facial expressions, with the preexisting designs made in VLD.

https://www.deviantart.com/ceryanie/art/Princess-Malocoti-Facial-Concept-903043201

I started to practice more the facial concept I actually wanted for princess Malocoti. Even when this is not the sequencing order from one sketch to another, it actually represents how different from Princess Allura I wanted her to look.

https://www.deviantart.com/ceryanie/art/Pirncess-Malocoti-Voltron-Ascenders-Post-s8-853039095

As time passed, I wanted to "read" Malocoti's design from the top of the head to the tip of the feet. Having a curvy body as It was in the comics, which makes a difference in style and physical characteristics of VLD, sounded good to me; however, I guessed it needed to be adapted to fit more in the style that was present in the show.

So, I tried and tried to make the character more appealing while looking at the comic's physical appearance. A slender body, with big breasts and bigger hips than Allura, I could see (this is not me being a perv, I had to have specific observations, sorry for the description, though). Seen the previous Sketches, it was noticeable how I've exaggerated body features in order to comprehend, instead of analyzing more, but apart from it, this could be justified by saying I was developing her backstory at the moment too, so I focused on two things at the same time.

Now, I'm looking at it much better as my skills progressed a little bit too.

In terms of hair and body, I made them more remarkable to highlight a difference in terms of design from Allura. I tried to give her features according to the backstory I started to write for her. I thought "Well, she gotta have a convincing design and a backstory that can hold it". I have lots of things in mind for her story and Krellian culture, as well as a new name for her, since I actually want "Malocoti" to be kind of a last name.

However, what I'm talking about? What do I want when expressing a fan Fanfiction concept many of us don't know about? Well, please, allow me to explain the deal.

"Voltron: Eclipse of a Legend" or "VEoaL" (VEOAL), is a post season 8 fanfict that tries to find solutions to problems made in the Voltron: Legendary Defender, using most of the canon elements and writing structures to form new ones that can be explained, offering an enriched story with the proper character backstory that can justify the present actitudes and physically personal changes given to the characters. Enforces moral messages about "found family", "friendship" and "teamwork", as well as including ones that tend to be more developed and serious when it comes to the topics. Due to the main cast being all adults, the level of bloodshed, skin exposition, adult themes and swear words depending if it would fit the character's personality, can appear, adding more to it, these features only appear with a good justification to serve into the story.

Damages caused by Voltron in past seasons can be now affecting the present.

Broken relationships can be existing with the purpose of being "fixed".

Realistic responses, dialogues and reactions can be given.

New missions and new antagonists can be included with an actual role serving the story.

LGBT+ representation will be included with certain characters.

Minor characters like Curtis will have more depth.

Personal main cast backstory explaining their personality in VLD can be highly included.

The main purpose is to give more character dev and development, as well as including comic relief here and there.

A new menace is affecting realities around the universe and their different solar systems. With new oppositions against the Defender of the Universe for cracks they left behind, Coran warns to Lance, who is still struggling with a new identity left by her deceased girlfriend, Princess Allura. Meanwhile, Shiro's decease is increasing with not too much time left to him, breaking the heart of the ex Voltron pilots. Pidge, and a really exhausted Hunk, are on the way to find an explanation to the strange phenomenon with Coran and Romelle's help. Obstacles are in their way to hit them like never before; members with a broken relationship between themselves have to work together to find a possible way to bring Voltron back and save the universe once more. Resistance. When the past is calling them, is it okay to hear them, or just leave them behind?

Lots of stuff are coming through my mind and I actually need to do the fic. I had two attempts before, but I guess I now have a more stablished structure to begin with.

Talking about the progress I made with Malocoti's conceptual design, I looked more at her hair instead of the rest of the features I actually know. While drawing today, I found out that she has an already more detailed kind of hairstyle than just her hair pulled back.

The hair is way different in the two vignettes, however, I took the first one as a reference for her hair, along with a more detailed style in the front of it. The first one made clear her hair is wavy and has braids in the back. With some references for girly hairstyles and looking more reference for elf princesses, I could finally find a personal hairstyle that fits more with her and looks very similar to the one in the first vignette.

I also saw how I actually improved in the sketch and anatomy too, but, well, I'm still not so good with hands. I should practice them more apart.

I was going to draw her with clothes that actually cover her body, but anyway, I'd give you some more spoilers if I do that. This is one, but is not that complex or necessary. She's just dancing to please people as a plan, and later one she comes to fruition.

I actually hope you like this progress as much as I do, and tell me what you think about it. It's a very long post, but I guess it's worth it. Thank you for reading and supporting me!

I'm on DeviantART accepting point commissions as @Ceryanie. @Ceryaniedraws on Instagram @Ceryaniedraws on Youtube and Twitter and here, you know, Ceryanie. You can follow me there and talk to me about anything.

Oops, clumsy me! Here's the sketch!

#PrincessMalocoti #Voltron Legendary Defender #VLD #VLD Characters #Sketch #Traditional Sketch #Character Design #DragonPrincess #BlackLegends #Conceptual Design #VLD girls #Voltron Legendary Defender Girls #Midge #Post Season 8 #Voltron Post Season 8 #Voltron Eclipse of A Legend #VEOAL #VLD comic characters

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hirazuki · 3 years

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Ooo I'm curious about your hot takes on the Inuyasha reboot after reading your tags 👀

Ahaha, where to start XD Idk if they are hot takes, but here are my thoughts in bullet point form for coherency, I couldn’t figure out how else to organize them. Under a cut, as usual, because it got lengthy... as usual :D

We are 13 episodes in, and I still have no idea wtf is going on or what the series is actually about. And yes, I’m aware that we didn’t know of Naraku’s existence or of the overarching plot until at least episode 16 of that series either and Inuyasha was still very episodic in nature at that early point too, but here’s the thing: Inuyasha did not build upon a pre-existing series. For better or for worse, Yashahime has certain expectations to live up to that the original anime didn’t, by virtue of its being a sequel. Unfair? Maybe, but tough; that’s what happens when you make a sequel. Additionally, despite us not knowing The Main Plot™ of Inuyasha until later, the basic framework for it was laid out clearly by... episode 2? I think? Find and collect the Shikon Jewel shards. Boom, done. Were there distractions or fillers? Sure, but you never got the sense that the characters simply up and forgot about the shards. Even in fillers, the shards often made some kind of appearance. With Yashahime, there’s like three potential storylines going on: 1. The most obvious: most of our main cast from the OG is missing; where are they? Apparently no one in-story cares! :D Inuyasha, who’s that lol. I’m all for a sequel focusing on the new generation with cameos of the old crew; after all, they already had their own series. But this is like... no one cares about them? No one talks about them? And the more characters go about not mentioning them, the stronger their absence is felt. Like, for instance, Kaede knows Moroha is InuKag’s daughter. Moroha grew up on her own, doesn’t know her parents. Kaede doesn’t mention them to Moroha, doesn’t even spare a passing thought about them for the audience’s benefit, Moroha doesn’t ask. Kagome’s family in the present day meet Moroha, recognize her as Kagome’s daughter and... say nothing??? Souta shows Towa Kagome and Inuyasha’s old photos, but doesn’t say a word to Moroha?! Like. It makes no sense. By people not even acknowledging their existence, it makes the fact that they are nowhere to be found even weirder. Also the new gen girls don’t care about their parents or finding out who they were/are... like, okay, it would maybe be in character for one or two of them, but all three don’t give a fuck??? 2. Kirinmaru/the rainbow pearls: Idk how familiar you are with the story, but similar deal with Naraku and the shards here. Kirinmaru is being set up as the villain, still a mysterious figure; our new gen trio is supposed to collect the rainbow pearls that... some of his henchmen have? Or he is after them? Or is that Riku? Unclear. ANYWAY the new gen girls often forget all about the pearls’ existence :D 3. Setsuna’s memories: Setsuna’s dreams have been stolen by the dream butterfly and they need to get them back, because without her dreams she has no memories and is unable to sleep. Cool! Finally a solid, easy-to-follow plot line! Except wait! Towa, who supposedly made it her goal to get Setsuna’s sleep back, forgets all about it! All the time! Like, none of them make an effort to look into this other than being like “oh yeah, know anything about the dream butterfly?” to random folks every now and then. The Inugang back in the day was putting some grad school level research towards their goals, just saying. It just feels like everything’s all wishy-washy and there’s nothing really solid tying the series together. People just remember shit exists when it’s convenient.

Character development is MIA. I’m not expecting ground-breaking char dev in 13 episodes (though I do know 12 episode series that were phenomenal in that regard), but like... I do expect the series to focus on building the dynamics between the main three characters. So far, the series is more focused on teasing the audience with glimpses and promises of the OG cast instead. The creators are using nostalgia and bait (esp of a certain pairing) to drive interest in the series, rather than developing the new characters as fully-fledged characters for their own sakes.

Moroha is was the only thing I actually liked about the series. She is a little spitfire and you can somehow instantly see both Inuyasha and Kagome in her, while she also remains very uniquely herself; I have never seen such a successfully developed main pairing child in any series. She featured quite prominently in the first few episodes -- and unlike both her parents, she’s got a great memory and knowledge of lore -- where she balanced funny moments with badass fighting moments and being the token supernatural encyclopedia. It was great! And then... they’ve like... forgotten her. She’s been left behind so many times by the twins. She’s the butt of every joke. She’s become the type of comic relief that’s, well, insulting. More like a buffoon than anything else. And it’s basically all for the sake of giving the floor to Towa :/

Setsuna is okay. Not offensive, but unremarkable. She’s got her dad’s personality but like way toned down due to her different growing up circumstances, which is nice, but like... I feel she isn’t given any room to grow or breathe or anything. She’s also basically there as a device to enhance Towa’s development.

Towa... oy. I tried to like her, I really did, but she just doesn’t work for me. They set her up having a very Kurosaki Ichigo type deal with beating up bullies and getting into trouble at school and shit -- I’m fine with that. That’s cool. Esp if it’s linked to not feeling like she fits in bc she’s a hanyou? Awesome. Except once she travels back in time to the feudal era it’s all “Oh killing is bad you shouldn’t kill people” and “even though they attacked me I can’t possibly hurt them” and “you need to empathize and talk things out” and “friendship is magic” and shit. It feels like she had a personality transplant, it literally makes no sense. Her design is totally nonsensical too -- out of everyone at her school, she’s the only one dressed in a bright white suit? Do protags not wear the school uniform? Someone should tell Kagome lmao. She’s a pro at hand to hand, and she can absorb demons’ powers and fling them back at them like a personified Tessaiga, and she has a lightsaber sword, and she’s immune to miasma, and -- like... you get it. It’s too much. It’s way too OP for the type of universe that Inuyasha/Yashahime is set in. She’s hanyou for fuck’s sake; remember all the training Inuyasha had to go through? When he couldn’t lift his sword? When his sword attacked him? Sango, Miroku, Kagome, even Sesshomaru all had trouble with their weapons and had to work to become stronger. But Towa? Nope. Towa is straight out of the Yas Queen/Girl Boss manual, so she gets a free pass on everything.

UGH they are doing the VLD/bad writing thing where things happen (like, BIG THINGS) and none of the characters actually react to them. Or stuff happens and there are no consequences. No one ever talks about anything. It’s wild.

Everyone has amnesia!! :D People either don’t know or don’t remember anything or anyone. People who absolutely should know things all of a sudden magically don’t know them. Like, Kohaku -- traveled with an undead priestess, spent years in the company of demons, traveled with Sesshomaru... and yet had NO CLUE that Setsuna is Sesshomaru’s daughter or that she is hanyou, despite her living and working with his team of demon slayers all this time. Like... how, man. How. And Kaede! Don’t get me started. Since when does she perpetuate random demon-boogeyman type stories as facts? Demon children will kill each other in the nest so that only the strongest one will survive, therefore Setsuna must have killed Towa when they were infants. O_O What are they, sharks? Has she been hanging out with Kisame? Wtf?? And she’s speaking about Sess’s kids as though she doesn’t know him or anything about him, when she has had Rin under her roof all these years. It just makes. no. sense.

Things that happened in the original series are happening again now! Because that’s the best we’ve got, recycled plot elements wooo! No, but really, characters that died or things that were resolved in Inuyasha keep coming back. Why? What was the purpose of bringing back Kinka and Ginka? To have a foil for Towa and Setsuna as twins? Someone please tell Sunrise they can just create new characters. Like, it’s one thing to have call backs to the original or cameos, references, whatever. But like... this is entire (dead) characters and interactions.

No one knows how long it’s been since the original series ended. Fans initially heard 20 years from promo material, then “over 15″ and “10 years since” in-series regarding two different events, and now in a future episode summary we’ve gotten 18 years since Hosenki II gave Inuyasha the black pearl. But like, which black pearl? Because the one in Inuyasha’s eye doesn’t exist anymore, but Hosenki II had told Inuyasha that it would take 100 years for him to produce one. So, are we retconning that or where the fuck did it come from? Also, this doesn’t help one bit, it just confuses things even more. Back to the point, though, we have no coherent timeline or real frame of reference whatsoever, and I’m betting it’s in large part to keep the mystery of who is Sesshomaru’s wife going, as it keeps Rin’s age very vague. Everything is vague and mysterious in Yashahime, to the point where no one knows what’s going on, in fandom or in-story even. It’s kinda like how too much plot twist/shock reveal ruins a story, too much mystery does the same. It’s insane that both shippers and antis of that ship can lay equal claim that the “18 years since” announcement works in their favor.

tl;dr: Idk man, Yashahime is a clusterfuck of a series. Even if the mother of Sess’s twins is either of the characters I ship him with, I will still not like the series. There’s no saving this writing. Every episode feels like this:

#baked-hylian #i've been wanting to rant for a while about this series thanks for enabling me! :D #i'm actually not upset about this sequel which is amazing; i thought for sure it would impact my love for the OG but nope!#it is so wild and out there that my brain literally cannot comprehend it as part of the same material #i'm just watching it out of the kind of morbid curiosity you'd watch a horrifying experiment with #and watching the fandom drama too ofc #popcorn in hand #so it's a win-win all around ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#talk: yh

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gimmethehobbit · 3 years

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2020 Fanart Highlights

Thanks for tagging me @une-amie!! Love your art btw!

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Yay, nothing like a little artistic self-reflection! I’ll stick to linking to my comics and art (I have some rotten fic festering on the distant regions of the internet that we won’t mention here lol)

I think I drew more comics in 2020 than I did the previous two years? While my style has gotten less cute and I’m using almost no color, I actually don’t feel too bad about it. The art always served the punchline/gag anyway. If I got you to chuckle/smile with my comic then it’s mission accomplished for me. Also, around when quarantine started is when I got a drawing tablet and basically everything I’ve posted since then has been drawn digitally. I’ll go chronologically over my faves:

Pining Keith in 2020 [VLD | Klance] It seems like I optimistically start every year ranting that this will be the year of klance (now years after the actual show ended.) My favorite thing to do is cut corners so repeating panels and just changing expressions/dialogue is the absolute BEST and I encourage everyone to do it! No one will notice or care! :D This one was still pencil on paper, which I kind of miss because it carries a certain energy that digital misses.

RA Comix: ONE FEAR [Richard Armitage] Okay, this one has like NO notes but I died laughing making it. We could have had a really epic closing chapter to the whole RA/LP thing but I guess now we’ll never know? (is the con even being rescheduled??) Also any RA fan is free to reuse this for whatever RA’s current fear is lmao.

Michigan J. Frog! [Looney Tunes] I worked full-time during quarantine. But on a random day off I thought, you know what, I should really draw Michigan J. Frog on this tablet I’m still getting used to. I think he turned out alright. It’s still my aim to animate him once I have like a year off :P

RA turns 49 [Richard Armitage] This one is very special to me because I spent 5 minutes drawing it and then like an hour just playing around with cut and paste and warping his face. The real satisfaction here was making myself cackle. Also I love that his doll friend is the only thing worthy of being put in color. Did I mention how much I HATE coloring comics???? Which leads me to coloring art...

Leatherface’s Quarantine Advice [Horror | Texas Chainsaw Massacre] This was the first one of my horror/artober challenge. Drawing/coloring is hard! He came out okay, if a bit smudgy but I’m still perplexed over how I did that real cool-looking sky and background.

You’ll Float Too! [Horror | It Movie | Pennywise] Stylistically I went for something that looked like a kid drew it and I think I really nailed it! 😆

ANNABEL/LE’S [Horror | Annabelle | RA’s friend lol] Probably the art piece I spent the most time on this year? Aka more than an hour. Had a lot of fun painting her, I was in the Zone. Really like how her creepy face plays with light and shadow. That blood tear is pretty spot-on 👌 Also nothing like the juxtaposition between Annabelle’s realistic creepiness and the cartoony Annabel 🤡

(audio scream warning!->) Thrandy Scream [LOTR/Hobbit | Thranduil | Legolas] Including this one because it’s one of three animations I did last year along with Thorin’s McRib and Artie Fufkin. I was all set to do a bunch more and then I realized CSPaint has me stuck on a time limit of just a few seconds??? So that kind of sucks. But I like merging audio with crudely moving art. Definitely want to try more of it. Also amused myself by drawing Thrandy after a long hiatus.

That’s all folks! Lmk if there’s something you want to see more of this year :3 (I fell off the RA train because I don’t do audiobooks but I can always make shit up 🤪)

Tagging @heyholmesletsgo @oldfarmerbillswife @sillymarillion-comics @aninomori @atanes-universe @monkeyscomics @thejerseydevile @evankart and any other artist/writer/creator who wants to do this!

#2020 fanart highlights #tag game #damn i spent longer writing this post than drawing some of these comics i mentioned #🥴

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backupblogforjg · 4 years

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The racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism and cruel tropes in Voltron

So, it’s the anniversary of the ending of Voltron. And I’m getting really, really tired of people saying that only shippers hated the ending. There were many issues with Voltron, and they were neither limited to shipping nor to S8.

So, I’ve decided to compile a list.

It gets LONG. Turns out there was a hell of a lot of racist, sexist, ableist and cruel tropes in VLD.

In fact, I had originally planned on writing a list of both the terrible tropes and the plot holes. But there just wasn’t enough room for both. The post is huge as it is, and with the plot holes, it would have been twice as long, so I had to focus on only one thing.

Salt, obviously. So, so, so much salt. I could turn a lake into a sea here. You’ve been warned.

RACISM:

1) The Alteans are genocide survivors. Out of all the Alteans, only the black Altean was used for a Reverse Racism story where she resents a teammate for belonging to the race that exterminated hers. The white Alteans are totally cool with him, and with his race in general, and only hate the bad people. But the black one had to be taught that hating people because of their race is wrong.

2) VLD Allura is also the only version of Allura who is black. In every other Voltron media (several different cartoons and comics), Allura is blond with blue eyes. All the white versions of the character get a happy ending, while only the black version ends up dying to save the world.

While "hero sacrifices their life to save the world" is not a bad trope in and of itself, it becomes bad when it kills off one of the extremely few black female characters in leading roles. You kill off a white male hero, there are 463278462387 more. You kill off the black female hero, you are kinda screwed. Making it worse, Allura had been portrayed as suffering from depression throughout the latest seasons, so that her death comes across less as heroic sacrifice and more as suicide.

3) The brown Cuban kid who dreamed of being a pilot, and never once in 78 episodes ever expressed anything but sheer love for an exciting life, in the final two minutes of the final episode ends up realizing that the place for him is a farm.

4) As told in interviews, Lotor was meant to be a bad example of mixed-race person, to contrast him with Keith as good example of mixed race person. Do I even have to point out how messed up this is?

5) Even before they became Space Nazis, back when they were still on the side of the angels, the Galra invaded and conquered planets. This is portrayed as totally cool when they happily name the prince after a "hero" who invaded and conquered a lot of worlds, and the peaceful Alteans think the guy is just as heroic as one of their greatest scientists. Apparently there is such a thing as ethically killing people to steal their land.

6) They whitewashed Keith, a character who is poc in every other iteration of Voltron.

I’m sure a lot of people are going to get angry here, claiming that I hate Keith. Let me assure you, I don’t. I love Keith, and I hate what was done to him. I hate that they took a traditionally poc character and went to frankly ridiculous lengths to erase that part of his character. Keith should be Asian, and it would be incredibly easy to make him so in VLD (seriously, all they’d have to do is update the freaking bios, an intern could do it right now in 5 minutes). But they refuse to do it.

A lot of people don’t realise that the surname “Kogane” in VLD is fanon.

I’m serious. Check his official bios page. Keith is not actually called Keith Kogane in VLD. Fans started calling him that in fanfiction, and it stuck, but it’s not canon.

In every other Voltron media, Keith is an Asian guy. But in VLD, they:

- went out of their way to always avoid giving him an Asian surname

- gave him a Texan father

- refused to confirm his race, even when every other character had a specific race. Again, check his official bios. All the other characters got a race, Keith gets “human.” It got so ridiculous it would be funny if it weren’t sad. It pretty much went like this:

Fans: Keith is half alien, but about his human half, what is his ethnicity? EPs: oh, we couldn't possibly say, because the story takes place in the future, and in the future, everybody is mixed up! So, Keith is HUMAN, we can't give him a specific race because there are no specific races in the future! Fans: ok. And what are the races of the other characters? EPs: Pidge is Italian, Lance is Cuban, Hunk is half-black half- Samoan, Shiro is Japanese. Fans: but Keith...? EPs: HUMAN! There is no such thing as race in the future!

Some people at least hoped that Keith's Texan father had Asian ancestry because he kinda looked like Shiro, who is Japanese. But the EPs confirmed that the resemblance was just a coincidence, they never meant for the dad to look Japanese.

At this point pretty much the only evidence that Keith is Asian is that he is voiced by an Asian person. But then, Josh Keaton is not Japanese, is he?

7) After whitewashing Keith, they claimed he is the best leader of Voltron, better than his poc predecessor, because he has Galra blood.

So, instead of bringing up any sort of legit reason to justify why Keith should be in charge (like his empathy or pilot skills), they go with "the half-white guy is also half space-nazi and that's why he should give the orders instead of the poc guy."

If you think I’m bashing Keith here, please ask yourself why you are getting angry at the person pointing out the whitewashing instead of getting angry at the whitewashing. Especially when, again, making VLD Keith canonically poc could be done anytime with zero cost and zero effort, and DW just doesn’t want to.

- Hunk, the half-black half-Samoan guy, was going to be killed and replaced as Paladin by a blue alien. The EPs were pissed when DW forbade them to, and complained in the interview about it.

SEXISM:

Every single woman who is ever put in charge ends up going insane, making terrible decisions that endanger her planet, or losing all of her authority.

Allura starts out as co-leader of Voltron and leader of the Coalition. Ends up as a foot soldier who takes orders from the new leader and his right-hand man, and is treated as a cadet by the Earth military.

HOMOPHOBIA:

1) Dreamworks, Netflix and the EPs very, very, very heavily promoted S7 as GLBT-friendly. The EPs gave whole interviews about the past relationship between Shiro and new character Adam, retweeted a ton of posts celebrating Shiro’s homosexuality, and enthusiastically sent tweets like "you are going to see more of Adam in S7! :D" from their personal accounts after they showed the episode that introduced him.

In S7:

- Shiro's homosexuality is so ambiguous that even the Brazilian voice actor didn't realize that he was supposed to be gay. Just by watching the show, without knowing the World Of God, you can’t tell he and the other guy were engaged.

- Adam gets about 30 seconds of screentime after that one episode they had already shown. Then he dies screaming in pain and terror in a fire.

A lot of people claimed that it was okay to kill Adam because Shiro was supposed to be our rep, not Adam, who was a brand new character we knew little about. And, out of context, that would be true. Adam was pretty much a NPC, why would his death matter?

But the problem here is the context:

- Shiro is closeted in S7, you need to read interviews to know he is gay. So, if only Shiro is meant to be the rep, they couldn’t even do that right.

- They very heavily marketed both Shiro and Adam as gay rep, and specifically talked at length about Adam in several interviews.

In THAT context, REGARDLESS of what you ship, killing off Adam revealed a complete willingness to manipulate the audience to the point of outright lying. Even if you hated Adam, even if Adashi is your NOTP, the clear evidence that the creators had absolutely no problem making empty promises was NOT a good sign.

2) The moment Shiro is revealed to be gay in interviews, he is practically quarantined from the Team.

3) Shiro is also given a Totally Not AIDS deadly disease.

Making it even worse, Shiro never actually gets cured in canon. We are told he is cured in interviews, but the show itself drops the topic entirely. Depending on where you lean in the Word Of God VS Death Of The Author debate, Shiro may be doomed to die.

4) A female villain is revealed to be a lesbian. 30 seconds later she gleefully tortures a little girl. Then she, too, dies in a fire.

(Fan outrage about pulling two Bury Your Gays in the Season that had been very heavily promoted as GLBT-friendly caused DW to retcon her death and bring her back in S8, but she was originally meant to die in the explosion)

5) Shiro ends up marrying a random character who doesn’t even get a name in the show.

ABLEISM:

1) Shiro's PTSD magically disappears offscreen. In interviews, the EPs claimed that he "got over it" between S6 and S7 because "he is a professional." Wow! Who knew being a professional magically cures mental illnesses!

2) Shiro is an amputee. The EPs admitted that they never put any thought into his status as disabled rep, they just wanted a character with a cool-looking arm. It literally didn't occur to them that making him lose his arm (TWICE! First up to the biceps, then up to the shoulder) meant anything. Also worth noting that Shiro’s new arm makes him look like the guy who tormented him.

3) Shiro is systematically robbed of his agency.

- He is the only Paladin who never gets to use his bayard.

- He loses his bond with Black for no given canon reason (and the reason they give in interviews makes no sense, they basically say that transferring his soul out of the Black Lion makes her stop loving him. But she still lets Zarkon fly her!).

I know that Keith is traditionally Black’s pilot in Voltron media (although that shouldn’t matter, because VLD made a lot of huge changes to the traditional status quo). But if they wanted Black Paladin Keith that badly, they could have given some non-insulting reason for it. For example, say “because Shiro has spent so much time within Black, their bond is now so strong that he will get absorbed again if he flies her again.” Or co-pilots in Black (if Pidge can co-pilot with Matt, why can’t Shiro co-pilot with Keith?).

- He is defeated not only by Sendak, but also by a bunch of random Alteans. He basically can’t win a fight anymore unless it’s played for laughs.

- His new robot Atlas is bigger than Voltron, but also much weaker, and can only buy a few minutes for Voltron to come save the day.

- Every single enemy he ever defeated comes back to be finished off by somebody else (even the friggin' Gladiator from S1 comes back in S8). In the epilogue, he retires in his twenties.

4) Narti, the disabled General, is fridged shortly after her introduction. For a while at least it seemed like her death had affected the remaining three Generals, but then it turns out that the "For Narti" line was a trick and they never actually planned on avenging her.

CRUEL TROPES:

1) They intentionally baited the fans by pushing the plot thread that Lotor would be redeemed. They named the episode where he defects "A New Defender," they kept saying in interviews that they come from Avatar and they are very familiar with Zuko *hint hint*, they showed his family as incredibly abusive and Lotor himself as desperate, they showed that Lotor was a victim of severe racism (he is mixed race, and as stated above, the Galra are Space Nazis and are pretty obsessed with blood purity).

Then, after revealing him to be a villain, they gave an interview where they practically dislocated their shoulders by patting themselves on the back as they gleefully bragged that "we made them think we would give them a Zuko, but we gave them an Azula!"

(Nevermind the fact that Azula herself was a 14-year-old child, not a monster, and that Aaron Ehasz himself confirmed that he always wanted her to be redeemed).

When fans who are survivors of child abuse told them that the bait-and-switch was really hurtful, they laughed it off, and claimed that Lotor was just beyond redemption. Then they proceeded to redeem Lotor's abusive parents, who were objectively much worse.

2) Shiro’s clone, who sincerely believed he was Shiro and always meant well, was dehumanised, demonised and discarded like his life meant nothing. His short existence was full of pain from literally the moment he first opened his eyes, as Haggar kept torturing him with migraines to manipulate him. In the end, she brutally violates him body and mind, and brainwashes him to force him to turn on the family he was so desperate to find in The Journey. He dies in incredibly questionable circumstances, without ever getting to learn that his family survived Haggar’s plans. He is victim-blamed for the things she forced him to do against his will with mind-control, and is never mourned because the only family he ever had writes him off as a “thing” and “evil.”

In fact, the horrific treatment of Kuron foreshadowed S8. The Medium article “It never stops at one - Why Voltron: Legendary Defender's tragic ending wasn't a surprise and why more DreamWorks' series will follow suit” explains how.

The tl;dr version is that, when a story posits that the circumstances of your birth determine the value of your life, so that good intentions and hard work mean nothing, and long-established bonds can be discarded with zero thought and care, and your very humanity can be revoked over something you have absolutely no control over, and the whole sociopathic disaster is celebrated as a happy ending... it really, really can’t end well. Not just for you, but for the entire cast.

#voltron critical #vld shiro #vld keith #vld lance #vld allura #vld lotor #voltron #voltron salt #takashi shirogane

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voltron-next-gen-au · 4 years

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Daniel (VLD Reboot)

Daniel is the newest member of my next-gen AU.^^ So to be clear, he is not a fan character. He does not belong to me. He is an actual canon character in the previous Voltron incarnation 'Voltron Force'. If you have never heard of Voltron Force before then I don't blame you. I don't know when it exactly came out but I know it was somewhere in the early to mid-2000s based on how the animation looked.XD I only got to like the third episode before I quit it because it was pretty boring. I'm probably biased because I love VLD (which is the newest Voltron series) and that was the first one I saw but still. I do admit though that I still love Lance from what I've seen in this series. No matter what he will always be my son. Also, there's a part in like the 2nd episode (I think it was the second episode) when Keith returns and Lance just looks at him with the most shit-eating grin and just immediately makes fun of Keith's mullet even when Lance in the scene before was almost killed. And when that scene happened my klance loving heart just went to the moon for a second. Until I remembered that Keith is married to Allura in that version... Oh well, a shipper can dream. Anyways, the reason that I decided to make a VLD version of Daniel was that I had watched a couple of Batman films where they introduced Batman's son, Damian Wayne, which then lead me to some Batfam comics with the Robins and I just got the urge to give Shiro and Keith their own little shit of younger brother that they have to look after and make sure doesn't do anything stupid. Just like how Dick has to handle Damian in the movies. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: Daniel Akagane Nickname(s): Danny Age: 15-16 (In this ref sheet and when he was taken in.) 36 (Present time of the AU) Species: Human-Galra Hybrid Gender: Male Nationality: Unknown Parents: Unknown, Krolia (Adoptive Mother) Siblings: Takashi Shirogane (Adoptive Brother), Keith Kogane (Adoptive Brother) Backstory - Daniel was abandoned by his parents when he was just a baby. Due to this happening he never had any idea of who they were or what they looked like, all they left him with was his first name and that was about it. He hadn't even known that he was a hybrid yet, he just thought he looked odd. He grew up in an orphanage for the first few years of his life where he was physically and verbally abused by both the caretakers and the other children. The reason why he was targeted for this harassment was due to him being a hybrid and not a full-blooded Galra, making him seem weaker and a waste of space. By the time he was 9, he decided he had enough and ran away from the orphanage leaving him all on his own. He spent the next few years stealing food from little shops and hiding from law enforcement. Even when the Blade took control over the Empire after the war ended his life wasn't that much different from when he first became homeless. That is until he turned 15 years old. He was going around his normal day, stealing supplies and food he needed for the week, only this time was completely different from his usual outings. Daniel has gotten a few close calls the few times he had to run away from an angry shopkeeper or a sentry but in all those years he was never caught. This time however the shopkeeper was able to outsmart Danny by not only cornering him in an alley but by also destablizing him with a quick claw to the leg so he couldn't get away. But before Danny could recieve his punishment for stealing he was saved by one of the Blade leaders, Krolia, by knocking the shopkeeper out. Krolia gasped in shock when she realized the boy she had just saved was a hybrid. A human-galra hybrid no less (just like her son). She told the other Blade members that had been acompanying her on the patrol to take the uncosious guy into questioning while she went to go talk to the boy. But to her suprise when she looked back Danny was gone. After questioning the infuriated shopkeeper Krolia had learned that the boy had a reputation for stealing food and other items from almost everyone in that area. Which confirmed her susspision that not only was he an orphan but that he was most likely homeless as well. Now being completely worried for the boy she decided to search for him and to keep a close eye on him. Finally finding him a few days later trying to do his usual routine of pickpocketing and getting his hands on any food he could. He was obviously trying to be more careful due to the injury he had gotten in their last encounter. She just lingers around in the background for a while. After the first week of Krolia doing Danny got fed up with and finally confronted her about it. She told him that she saw a lot of potential in him and said that a boy his age shouldn't be living the way he is. She finally gives the offer to him of staying instead with the Blades and training under her. After considering the pros of this Daniel accepts her offer and becomes apart of the Blade. After a month of training under her, Krolia grows quite fond of him. Danny has also gains some respect of the older Blade. After a while Krolia decides to official adopt Daniel as her own son and to also introduce him to her other son and step-son. Their introduction to each other was odd to say the least. When Krolia learns that Danny has never been to Earth before she thought it would be a great idea for him to stay there with Shiro and Keith to live more normal and quiet life for a while. Keith becomes the main caretaker of Daniel on Earth with Shiro checking in because in Shiro's words it's Keith's turn to look after an emotionaly unstable, emo teenager now. Extras - Skills/Weapons - Due to him having to steal everything he needs to survive and evading sentries he gained a lot of agility skills over time. During his time at the orphanage, the caretakers provided many lessons in combat and weaponry so they can make more soldiers for the Galra empire. So he was even able to use and to progress those skills while running away after stealing from other Galra for resources and being able to defend himself if need be. During one of his escapades, he found a pair of mounted claws, realizing they could be of use to him he took them as well and they are now his main weapon of use. Relationships - He has a strong bond with Krolia. Being that she was the woman who took him he has a lot of respect for her. He mostly calls her by her first name but there have been some that he called her mom by accident. She's basically the first person to become a mother to him. His relationship with Keith is rocky at first. You put two people together who have similar stubborn, hotheaded personalites they are definitely gonna clash with each other. With Keith trying to keep Daniel under control and thinking he's a brat and Daniel thinking Keith is too overbearing and not taking him seriously. But after a while the two start get closer and realize that they do have a lot in common and how to deal with each other's flaws. They bicker and make fun of the other but it's from a better place now. Daniel's relationship with Shiro is very different from his relationship with Keith. From the start Danny was kind of awkward with Shiro. He just didn't really know how to act around. I mean Shiro looked like a tired, kind old man who had been through some shit. He didn't really want to make that worse. Shiro would him some spacedad talks when he was frustrated with something or got angry. Danny gets less and less uncomfortable with him as time goes on and starts seeing him as someone he can depend on. As his relationships with his nephews and niece... he will literally murder anyone who even thinks about harming a hair on their head. Like a good uncle should. Fun fact - Shiro was actually the one to give Daniel his last name. He wanted all three of them to keep the theme of -gane in their last names so he suggested Akagane. Daniel couldn't really say no so he just went along with it. (Get it? Cause their names mean Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Well... Akagane technically means copper but... same thing right? I think.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's pretty much all I have on him for now. Hope you guys enjoy this 3rd edition to the broganes.^^

#klance #keith x lance #my vld next gen au #danielvoltron #klance family #broganes #voltron #voltron legendary defenders #vld

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sol1056 · 5 years

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git along little nonnies

Got a whole bunch of you on related themes, so I’m just gonna do this all at once: a bunch of questions about DW, spinoffs, merchandise, business, management, support (and protest) and whatnot. In no particular order.

Ok there are petitions and peaceful boycotts directed at DW but problem is they aren’t addressing the EPs and things they, not DW, did so how are we to sign them, how to handle this when this could at best confuse the situation and not give any results and at worst, make matters even worse about what we want regarding DW addressing things?

Here’s what companies care about: money. Everything else is gravy.

If you want a corporation to pay attention to your complaints, then you need to figure out their sources of income, and find a way to threaten that. If the social reprobation is high enough, damage to the brand can translate into lost sales, but the tempest required to make that happen must be much, much larger than anything I’ve seen the fandom manage.

I’ve been saying this all along: voices are far more powerful than signatures. If twenty thousand people wrote or called in, and said what they liked vs what upset them, that would have a far greater impact. Certainly a lot more than a list of names with no emotion beyond a request that may not even be something DW can, or would, fulfill.

And don’t even get me started on mailing stuff in. Cute, but hardly actionable.

Do you know what kind of contracts DW sign, as in, are they obligated to air all seasons, can they choose not to air them, do the companies they work with (netflix, wep) have a say or more say than them? Who gets the last word? Is airing all seasons squarely on DW or more?

As I’m not a corporate lawyer employed by any of the signatories, I can’t tell you what the contract stipulated. What I can tell you is that a contract of the magnitude of the DW-WEP-Netflix agreement probably had a dissertation worth of riders covering the different types of possible defaults or breaches, and the penalties for each. Additionally, the contract also likely covered what constituted ‘satisfactory delivery’ of the product.

To take it down to a really simple level: you place an order at a restaurant. You expect to get it, eat it, and pay for it. You don’t expect to be told, “hey, we burnt your steak and we’re out of butter for your sweet potatoes, so have some green beans instead,” and then be told you still owe the full amount, anyway.

Netflix wouldn’t settle for ordering (and paying for) something never delivered, anymore than you would. Sure, any corporation worth their over-inflated stock options would try --- but that’s the point of contracts, to make sure they can’t.

Netflix paid, DW delivers, end of story.

...do you think ppl in charge didn't think EPs would tell they made changes and also thought they'd manage to bury it? And then they got in trouble and DW is going thru changes for that reason? -waves at DW goings on and silence.

I got lost in all the pronouns, there. Who’s the first ‘they,’ the EPs or DW execs? Is the second ‘they’ referring to the same as the first? So... I’m not really sure what you’re positing, but if the ‘DW is going through changes’ is implying DW’s got a shakeup and/or is promoting its head-of-TV to president and that’s somehow connected to two newbie EPs screwing up?

I’d say the chances are so infinitesimal as to be nearly in the negative. (I should also note, the press release listed successful shows Cohn oversaw, yet oddly did not include VLD.) DW is not a three-person start up; it has stakeholders and a board and a C-suite to satisfy. Cohn got that promotion ‘cause she’s got a track record going back thirty years, most recently growing DW’s TV division from 8 to 800 in five years.

Most corporations tend to announce their new CEO or President like someone woke up that morning and went, hey, I’ve got a great idea. Truth is, it’s usually in the works for at least a year, sometimes several years, or more. The only thing that has me side-eyeing the announcement is the silence around who’ll fill Cohn’s previous position.

But that’s again less to do with a single series, and more to do with what it says about DW as a whole, business-wise.

What meaningful changes could the new president Margie Cohn make that would be different than the last one? Also I'm sorry if your getting a bunch of Voltron/DW questions lately, you just seem to be the most knowledgeable person on this platform.

I’d be willing to bet I’m far from the most knowledgeable person; I’m just someone not bound by an NDA, and curious enough to do a bit of digging and jaded enough to talk about (most) of what I find.

A president can have immense impact on a company’s direction; that’s kinda why they exist, to set that high-level strategy. That said, Cohn will be bound by all contracts signed by her predecessor. The TV side (barring someone filling the shoes she left) will probably continue as it was. The theatrical side (which she’s taking over) will be where we’ll probably see any major changes.

And even those aren’t likely to be on films currently in production. Hell, given theatrical animation can take up to five years, I’m not sure that’d show much change, either. Look instead to changes in investors, new deals, and new properties.

What do you think DW will do about a sequel if there’s really no bible? Theres tons of plot holes & abandoned storylines. VLD will never feel satisfying, and fans already argued with different interpretations based on conflicting content, without a nice satisfying explanation...

I know this is the first of a three-part ask, but I’m skipping the rest because the only answer possible is to your very first question: the bible doesn’t matter.

Any new series --- even a continuation --- will construct its own bible. Same as we’d do in fandom: they’ll patch together what they can, fill in blanks as they need, and gloss the rest, or retcon it outright. Even if there were a bible, diligently followed, that doesn’t mean the next series is automatically beholden to it. Some franchises would care (ie Star Wars) while others might let a reboot mess with the details (ie Star Trek).

For every continuation, there’s gradations in between, since otherwise what’s the interest for creative minds, if you’re obligated to follow someone else’s script exactly? So, no. The absence of a story bible doesn’t preclude the next iteration making its own, as it needs, to whatever extent it requires.

I was wandering around the hot topic online store, and i noticed a shirt that raised a few flags and questions. it's the 'Voltron Location' shirt. it has all the paladins in different places in a star globe chart thing? with what might possibly be planet designations. plus Lance is the only one not inside his blue colored bubble. Keith is in Red and Shiro in Black again. it's interesting at least.

Nearly all the shirts use the same base images, just changed up. It feels a little like someone handed a designer a half-dozen images with a request for forty-something designs --- and now HT is just throwing them all at the wall to see what sticks (or sells).

HT’s stuff has been pretty consistent, from what I’ve heard: Shiro is Black, Keith is Red, etc. Considering the t-shirts seem to be selling out regularly (along with various other sidelines), I’d say someone is savvy as to the fact that the segment of fandom spending the most money is also the segment that prefers the S1/S2 lineup.

If that’s what customers want, it’s smart business for DW to provide.

(Yes, that applies on more than one level.)

There are VLD comic books being released by LionForge Comics, are those considered canon? Do LM and JDS have any involvement? They take place before Season 7and8 but I don't wanna support the original EPs.

Every fandom has its own stand on what counts as canon. Sometimes (especially with adaptations) you’ll find fandoms being explicit as to whether they’re book or movie (ie HP and LotR). I expect the same will eventually shake out in VLD’s fandom, too.

From everything I’ve heard, Hedrick and Iverson were handed the comics and ran with it. I suppose that would argue for seeing the comics as canon, being they were written by people also writing the main series... but from what I can tell, it’s one-way. The show affected the comics, but nothing in the comics ever affected the series.

That said, your purchases have nothing to do with the original EPs. All you’re doing is telling DW you like the VLD-iteration of Voltron.

What are your thoughts on the final vld poster? I feel like it’s missing the end. Allura is randomly staring back into nothing.

It’s a clever idea to do a poster for each season, but it’s not something I’ve ever paid any attention to, really. If it were drawn by the head writer? That might mean the artist had more insight than, say, a storyboarder or animator. But even then... cool picture, still not-canon. I’m only interested in canon.

Do you think that Voltron was rushed purposely by the EP's. [...] Wouldn't this effect the quality of, well, everything? I feel as if they got frustrated with the show at that point and just wanted out.

Dude. There are times I sit here and just stare into space, bewildered yet again not just at the thought of 39 episodes released in one year --- but doing that with 26 as a last-minute cut-and-paste rearrangement. All I can tell you is that what I’ve seen from animation people and aficionados (and friends) is that three full seasons in one calendar year is just bonkers.

If DW hadn’t wanted the schedule that packed, the EPs aren’t the ones getting the say. That’s a DW-Netflix thing. I really wonder whether DW used VLD as a guinea pig. TH went a year between S1 and S2, and the numbers slumped badly. Perhaps DW wanted to know if more episodes, more often, would keep fan interest high? DW has experienced execs, but they’re all from broadcast; how you arrange and time things in the brave new world of binge-watching is a completely different beast.

So, it’s possible it was less of a rush job to get the show out, and more from a desire to see what'd happen to release so much, so close together.

I still think it’s a bonkers schedule, though.

"Relaunch the whole property" sounds like they won't continue expanding the whole vld universe and they'll make a new itineration. Though if they do a spin-off it'd likely be on the vld universe surrounding the new "Legendary Defenders" from the epilogue. And "especially given the response" do you think after the negative response from s8, wouldn't be better for WEP to not keep working with Dreamworks? Or maybe they need to clean their brand from vld fiasco? What can you say about all of this?

I can say you might try re-reading, because boy is that a radical interpretation of the text. Remember, Jeremy was speaking before S8, and all indication is that he was caught off-guard as much as the fans. Re-read in light of Jeremy (at the time) appearing to expect S8 to be a crowd-pleaser.

...I'm becoming more confident in my belief that DW has something planned for Voltron. I mean they are still heavily promoting the show, LionForge is still publishing Voltron comics, and merchandise is still being made. These don't seem like the actions of a company trying to get people to forget a show.

You’re not wrong. Up to the last few days of 2018, DW gave every indication they wanted S8 quietly buried. Nothing they’ve done since has fit that pattern --- including the anomaly of failing to announce their 2019 series. Something is going on, that’s for certain.

Did DW really just throw the VAs to the wolves [for] three days? and there's still no official stance? One panel was enough. They had [the VAs] take the heat for them? But thankfully fans felt sorry for them? Which could also have been the goal, shut the fans up [with] the VAs of the characters who got the worst treatment and who love their characters ... Yes DW this really makes me trust you /sarcasm/

I don’t think that was the original plan. Let’s pretend DW released its 2019 schedule via press release in the first few days of January, and among those was an announcement of a VLD sequel or spinoff, coming late 2019.

People wouldn’t be fussing over putting the VAs through three panels. They’d be complaining we didn’t get the biggest room for every panel. The majority of the fandom doesn’t trust the EPs, and is wary of DW --- really, the only ones who retain any goodwill, at this point, are the VAs. So who better than to assure a nervous fandom about the goodness of the second iteration than the VAs whose characters were most shafted by the first iteration?

What breaks this is that immediately after S8 dropped, Josh and Kimberly went silent on twitter. AJ slipped into passive-aggressive snarking; Jeremy fell off the radar and usually he’s pretty interactive with his fans. Bex pretty much wiped VLD from her stream, possibly including deleting older tweets. Neil tried to engage and made a hash of it, bless his heart.

Josh and Kimberly are consummate professionals who reliably promote the series after every season drop, but their radio silence continued for almost two weeks. This wasn’t the first season that came saddled with controversy; if there was a time to go quiet, it was after S7. Something else was going on.

I have strong suspicions backed by research, but if I’m right, I’d be stepping on a major legal landmine. In the interest of not getting blown up, I’ll only say that the VAs appearing for those three panels (and their low-key and mostly diplomatic hedging around VLD’s conclusion) was a good sign that all parties involved are willing to work things out.

[DW was] quick to handle the Season 7 backlash and have stayed mum on what is arguably a much worse reaction to the 8th and final season.

and

I believe the S8 of voltron we got was not the original ending we were supposed to get and highly edited. My question is why? What was the point of changing the original ending? [The] radio silence from DW and the cast is driving me nuts. I wish DW would make a statement.

DW is in an interesting place. Its TV side is barely five years old, but dominated by execs with long-time broadcast experience, predating vibrant interactivity afforded by platforms like twitter, tumblr, or instagram. DW’s background as a theatrical company also seems to incline it away from any ongoing engagement with the audience. It releases a movie and by the time that hits theaters, DW is onto the next thing.

It’s a strong contrast with production studios like Zagtoon (Miraculous), who penned an open letter to their fandom about production delays. Or little studios like Wonderstorm (The Dragon Prince) whose deft use of twitter and tumblr sets their brand apart. Or Federator (Castlevania), with their witty marketing campaigns and willingness to engage with fans. Even Disney was willing to be open about its errors with Tiana, and to make clear how it was striving to do better --- so there’s no excuse that only small studios do such outreach.

My guess is that DW's core leadership is from the school of business in which admitting a mistake is tantamount to ritual suicide. Don’t blink first, or maybe the rule is never let them see you sweat, but whatever it is, DW is turning into a textbook case of how silence can damage a brand.

Companies have multiple avenues to reach customers directly, now. Our modern technologies are a two-way street, and good companies leverage that to create not passive fandoms but active communities. It takes work, careful planning, and some level of transparency --- something old-school execs find highly uncomfortable, to be honest --- but in this day and age, those are crucial building-blocks to achieving any kind of audience loyalty.

DW isn’t going to render itself obsolete (at least not overnight), but it's on a track to end up as the studio whose work audiences only watch when there’s nothing better being offered. Unfortunately for DW, there’s a hell of a lot of other studios out there, and they're all offering something better.

#vld #voltron #television production #marketing #business #sol thinks about stuff

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kurojishiyo · 5 years

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I just wanted to talk about Voltron Force in some way

You know what? I’m going to make a separate post for my actual opinions and “reasons to watch Voltron Force” BUT I’m not a good writer. I don’t know exactly how to articulate words well enough to really capture my opinion, but I can definitely throw in some research in that can give context and maybe some trivia for you to really appreciate the series.

I made this blog because I wanted to talk about weird quirky facts about the franchise because (to me, because I get hyperfixated on the stupidest shit) it’s actually quite interesting.

Before the show actually aired

So this all technically started way before 2011 when the series even aired. I can stretch this back to Voltron: The Third Dimension, but that’d be too much. I’ll start with the Devil’s Due comic which launched in 2003.

The Devil’s Due comics are significant. They are the first true reboot of the Defender of The Universe franchise, whereas Third Dimension (VTTD) before it served as a sequel to the 1984 show. The changes it did bring over evidently influenced future entries in the Voltron franchise.

One thing to thank the Devil’s Due comics is cementing that Keith is definitely not white. In the comics he’s Japanese and Chinese mixed, and even adopting his surname from his original Golion counterpart, Kogane, albeit mispronounced constantly. The Dynamite comics that came after would retain this, whereas Voltron Force would make him more ambiguous and give him darker skin.

Like many things in Voltron: Devil’s Due would be cut short, with its third arc being rushed, and having its final chapters only published in a mass omnibus (which got many pages out of order grrr). Though before the omnibus’ release, WEP (the IP owners of Voltron) would partner up with animation company Kickstart Productions to work on a new Voltron series as early as 2005. Kickstart would provide an animation test based on the Devil’s Due comics.

youtube

Again, things get blurry from here in terms of how development actually rolled out. Between this time to when VF actually aired, Super Robot Wars W would have Golion make a debut in the game, where they clearly credit Toei as the copyright holder, and a year later there would be a legal dispute between WEP and Toei over the legal rights as the movie was in development (important). 2010 was when the rights were settled, and that marked just the right time to make a new show.

(From EJ Su’s DeviantART)

Kickstart was busy developing the series along with Classic Media’s help. The series was initially pitched as Panthera Force. Again, many characteristics of the Devil’s Due comics would leave their mark on VF, even having EJ Su, the main artist of the second volume of the comics (and his art still holds up really well to this day might I add), would help in developing concept art for the show.

Panthera Force was initially pitched to center on new pilots being the main focus of the show, with the original crew being the mentors. Of course, as we all know they only kept three of the proposed five characters, Daniel, Vince, and Larmina. The two that didn’t make it were Imam and Bruno, a reformed Drule and an actual fucking lion respectively. Again, we can only make guesses as to why they scrapped the other two new characters, maybe it would be a chore juggling five old pilots, five new pilots, and the villains all together. Maybe they had a personal attachment towards the original cast or they’re worried about the current fanbase that loves them. I wouldn’t know, I don’t work for WEP or Kickstart.

Oh also… here is where Mattel comes in.

Spoilers: Voltron Force got cancelled

Okay so we all know the story: Voltron Force only had one season and it was cancelled. The official reason is that they simply did not have the budget to continue it as a show, and instead continued the series through its comics… which were intended to release alongside a season 2 of the show.

But I’m here to talk about why there was no funding. I think it’s incredibly easy to simply pin the blame on the fact that it had to do with few people liking it thus low ratings. And yes, that does make up part of it, but I believe that it’s actually more of a symptom than an actual cause.

So remember when I said that WEP and Toei had a legal dispute over the franchise right because of the movie being in production? While multiple companies had a bidding war over who would get the production rights to the movie, Mattel would partner up with WEP for the Voltron toy license in anticipation of the movie being made.

And yes I know a lot of you don’t care about the toys, but we have to realize the nature of the relationship with toy sales and show funding. It’s an unfortunate model that has resulted in the demise of many shows not making it because of lackluster toy sales. But here’s the thing: Voltron Force is a toy commercial for toys… that don’t exist…

Mattel would test the waters with the Voltron license by making toys of the classic robot in their Matty Collector line to mixed reception. We do know that they made prototypes of Voltron Force toys but they sadly never came to be, as Mattel cancelled their partnership with WEP seeing as the movie was never made. There is no point in keeping a license that isn’t making you money, and no movie definitely cemented that. What could have been major funding for the TV show was now lost.

Now as for the ratings; again it would be extremely easy to blame it all on people just not liking it, and yeah that may be a factor, but I think something worth pointing out is what channel it aired on: Nicktoons. From what I’ve been told, Nicktoons has a reputation in which cartoons move from the main channel to there as a way of “killing them”. Certain shows would see that cycle where they would be moved over to Nicktoons shortly before they’re cancelled.

Voltron Force had a lot going against it, and even the actual show does have its budget restraints very visible. Having budget cuts and low viewership continued rubbing salt in the wound. We have to remember that this was before Dreamworks came into the picture. It would just make sense to scrap everything before and work on something new now that a reputable animation company is in charge.

However, Voltron Force would continue through its Viz comic line. To reiterate, these comics were intended to release while a second season would air. But an actual continuation to show’s cliffhanger would be in the 30th Anniversary book.

(for some reason the Voltron Force comics also keeps how the show inserts unfitting DOTU styled artwork in the background)

Final thoughts

There’s something very sad writing about this. Sure Voltron Force’s cancellation isn’t as scandalous as theorizing about what really happened with VLD’s production, but overall I can see that there was a lot of potential for what could have been. Of course there are a lot of things that aren’t executed in the best way, and the most visible is the art style which is the easiest to judge at a single glance.

But you really have to admire that there were people that really wanted to make a Voltron for the new generation, and we have to realize that many resources simply weren’t there for them to make that task easier. Sometimes I say that Voltron Force was simply made during a very difficult time, and as it went through an era of companies backing in and out on Voltron’s involvement, everything ironed out for VLD to come in to a bigger fanfare.

#voltron force #vforce11 #man i can not remember what tags i fucking use for this blog i am so sorry

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ganymedesclock · 6 years

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Compiling for the meme. Also I want to say as an aro/ace person, for “hotness level” I will merely be evaluating character aesthetics and how appealing I find them, since otherwise everyone would be solidly reading “meh”.

Since these got super long, I’m splitting these up and doing all Voltrons, and then all TFA asks.

@a-trolli said: for the character ask, lotor of course!

Me, Clockie Radioactivesupersonic, loving Lotor as a character???? The very idea.

In less mocking news I’ve been pretty much consistently excited about Lotor since pre-s2. I kid you not- my earliest meta on the subject was analyzing the “Weblum Galra” (Acxa’s s2e9 appearance) from the s2 trailer and speculating that was either Lotor or an agent thereof. I did a comic about it.

Whether or not you agree with every decision of VLD’s writing, it’s visually gorgeous and Lotor is no exception. VLD’s offering of Lotor is easily one of my aesthetic favorites- the DDP design is a good contender and the classic poncho is an interesting statement, but, ultimately, the sleek blue-black armor, the added volume to his hair, even personalizing touches like those electric blues and the curl of hair next to his face are very nice touches. The “Mulan” strand in particular does a nice job adding a sense of youthfulness to his design, and AJ LoCascio does such a good job giving him this rolling, statesman’s eloquence.

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

Lotor’s a raven who makes occasional passes at imitating a snake, methinks. He values power and loyalty, can be brash in certain situations, and is quite diligent, but, ultimately what Lotor respects the most is the pursuit of knowledge. Basically every time Lotor’s overcome a wall, it’s because when the going got hard, he hit the books. Given he started studying Altea towards his exile, it raises the clear implication that he responded to feeling bereaved and alone by seeking more information, and used that information to build a sense of belonging.

best quality:

Probably his sense of strategic observation, opportunism, and ambush tactics. It’s just a real delight to watch an effective strategist, especially one like Lotor where he’s not quite a villain so you can actually root for his plans to succeed.

worst quality:

I mean, the part where he keeps ending up alone after his interpersonal connections spectacularly self-destruct and he cuts them off out of fear, but that’s not exactly mostly on him, now is it HAGGAR.

ship them with:

Primarily Allura.

brotp them with:

Did you know that before s4 I had a pet theory that Lotor had met the Generals when they all were children and they’d grown up together. I still think about that.

needs to stay away from:

beep beep, Honerva it’s child protection services and they’re not impressed with your bullshit excuses about the rift.

misc. thoughts:

I don’t have a lot since I tend to just aggressively pour my Lotor thoughts right into the tag but just once I want to see Lotor get frustrated by something and have a frustrated huff that flutters his single forelock.

@thenorthernphoenix said: For that character thing you're doing: Lance

MY BOY.

I genuinely deeply love Lance. And not just because I genuinely deeply love Heart aspect characters in general. He totally blindsided me as far as VLD characters- I latched hard onto Keith and Pidge first, then Shiro. Lance took a long, hard time growing on me! (I love Hunk and Allura too, they just didn’t do time as my Reigning Fave before Lotor stole that particular crown)

Which I think is kinda hilarious, since, uh, well, Lance is probably the character out of VLD I think I have the most in common with, and I think leaping to the notion that the rest of the cast is just a little more interesting than Lance is a very Lance thing to do.

I stand by what I said with Lotor, VLD is a nicely designed show, and Lance is cute. You wanna ruffle his hair. I’d say he doesn’t have any particularly striking or eye-catching features. A lot of his appeal as a character is less his physical features or clothing and more the body language with which he wears those things.

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

Of the Hogwarts headcanons I’ve posted this is one people often fight me on and I think this is because of a differentiation- I think people often sort characters based on who’s good at the particular House’s virtue, and not what they value. Knowledge takes many forms, and Ravenclaw isn’t obligatorily the domain of the most erudite- that would be pursuing a single, narrow facet of knowledge which doesn’t exactly speak to the wisest.

To me, Lance is a Ravenclaw because he’s motivated heavily by curiosity. He’s earnestly fascinated by people, by the world, by situations. We can tell a lot from the characters by how they respond to their Lion first meeting them- and Lance’s reaction to Blue is basically to just stroll right in and make himself at home. As soon as Blue seems like someone who has something to say, Lance is all ears.

best quality:

Empathy and compassion

worst quality:

I mean, it’s not exactly unforgivable but definitely the one that tends to bite him the most often is his tendency to just wildly try things when he’s got no expertise in a given area/ isn’t sure.

ship them with:

Mostly Keith, but I’m decently amenable to him with Hunk or Allura.

brotp them with:

The whole team tbh but I think him and Shiro and him and Pidge are both underrated dynamics. Also, my undying esteem to the first person who writes him and Lotor getting stranded on a planet and having to work their way out with the power of emotional bonding and a lot of sarcasm.

needs to stay away from:

The Langst crowd. In seriousness, can’t think of anybody that’s a Lance-specific hazard and not generally bad for everyone else’s health.

misc. thoughts:

the Lance face from the WINNER flag is still my favicon. as it should be.

@oxfordmodernfairytales asked: For the character ask thing, Shiro?

Shiro’s come through a lot, and, while I think there are some ways he could have been fleshed out more, it’s really good to see him back on his feet again and I’m optimistic about this thing with the IGF Atlas. He really lights up when he’s on the bridge, and it’s nice to see.

Given the amount of thirst art I see about him, it’s fair to say the fan consensus of Shiro is he’s way hot, and I do think he looks very handsome and charming but I don’t quite find him an Unstoppable Stud of a man. Being fair to Shiro this is probably a lot more to do with my sexuality than anything about his looks.

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

Josh Keaton aired this as his personal headcanon and, honestly, I’d see it. While Shiro is brave, and can and will challenge things directly that he sees as wrong, his greatest successes as a character are games of endurance. Both of his dry, sarcastic comments- one in s2e2 and one in s7e6- involve a cheerfully recited Long List of things that have failed to kill him so far. And what stands out about him to Keith in s7e1, their first meeting, isn’t the charismatic foot Shiro puts forwards- it’s his refusal to give up on Keith.

best quality:

All of the paladins get angry at cruelty, but Shiro has this particular eviscerating fury that really only comes from someone who passionately, earnestly believes in a good world and cannot tolerate the idea that you’re breaking from it.

worst quality:

His tendency to put himself second and suffer in silence for long periods. He’s the biggest advocate of teamwork and the last one to open up about drowning, even when the water’s up to his chin.

ship them with:

Adam, in that... as much as we saw him at a chapter of conflict, I’m a little frustrated at the note it ended on. I think it’d be really interesting to see more out of these guys- their stubbornness, strength of will, and, also, their connection and how much they care about each other.

brotp them with:

His team, of course, but, honestly, he and Allura make a darn good platonic power couple. Let’s see more situations like s1e10.

needs to stay away from:

HAGGAR...

misc. thoughts:

his monolids... are not eyeliner.

#send me a character #readmore

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nomadicism · 6 years

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About that Altean at the end of S7...and Dynamite Voltron

I’ve been sitting on this one for awhile now, and it after giving it a lot of thought, it seems as though the identity of the Altean at the end of S7 might be informed by the pilot/commander of the “duplicate Voltron” from the Dynamite Voltron (DV) comic series.

I’ve avoided DV in the past because the first issue never grabbed me and I wasn’t into the art. I had heard that it was the most adult and the most dark of Voltron continuities, and as S3-S5 started becoming progressively darker I decided to give it a shot as VLD has pulled concepts from nearly every other Voltron continuity, and all that’s left now is Voltron Third Dimension (V:3rdD) and DV.

So I picked up the series a few months ago, and while I assumed that concepts from DV wouldn’t be touched because it was so dark, The Colony would have been right at home in that setting. After finally watching S7, I re-read DV and noted 7 similarities (including the Altean at end of S7) that I’m trying not to read too much into but...here we are.

#1. Keith gaining the ability to see-or-sense the unseen—especially of the assassin/combatant kind:

Above: VLD Keith sensing Macidus.

Above: DV Keith channeling newly-gained magic to reveal unseen assassins from the Third Sphere that have targeted him for getting too close to the truth behind Voltron.

#2. There’s something else going on with Alfor that ties his actions in the past to what the protagonists are facing in the present:

In VLD, while both Lotor (in S6) and Keith (in S7) call out Alfor’s decision to hide the lions from Zarkon rather than fighting, there’s also this business of making Allura the key to Voltron (going beyond just a mystical way to find the lions) and what Zarkon says to Alfor when they are arguing over closing the rift.

“You know it’s more than that.” (and what would that be?)

Above: Both DV Sven and Keith are written pretty dark, and they (especially Keith) borderline as anti-heroes. Here, Sven has just admitted to being the one to assassinate Zarkon, and tells Keith about the conspiracy that Zarkon revealed to him.

Arus always lies...

...and Alfor apparently.

In DV, there’s a conspiracy between Doom and Arus that Sven and Keith have learned different parts of, and that Allura and Lotor know other parts of, and that Allura is keeping secret from everyone on orders from Alfor

#3. Lotor's Aesthetic Change:

DV Lotor is lavender/purple and predominantly wears dark blues and his hair frequently flips into his face.

Both the DV comics and the Voltron Force cartoon came out around the same time (2011), making those two continuities the first time that Lotor was changed from blue to lavender/purple (in all lighting conditions) prior to VLD.

#4. Lotor as a Lunatic and Destructive Force for Peace:

Above: Lotor’s response to Keith’s implied accusations that news of Zarkon’s assassination is a hoax and that Lotor’s overtures of peace with the Galaxy Alliance were all lies.

Yeah Lance...you’re real close to getting it...

All of the well-intentioned extremist/fanatic trope(s) apply here—and when one considers them within the context of diplomacy and peace in a universe after Zarkon’s death—then it appears that these tropes were also part of the concept for VLD Lotor.

DV Lotor—who is far down the slope of madness after Zarkon is killed at the end of the “Sixth Pilot” arc—desperately wants to: (A) not rule like his father and to make amends for what Zarkon has done; (B) to establish peace and is willing to risk his own people to do it. This is made clear through several different conversations with Haggar, the one person whom he has no need to lie to (and realistically cannot).

Oh the things that DV Haggar does to help maintain Lotor’s sanity...

#5. Fighting the same enemy from opposite ends:

“We’re on the same side.”

In DV, both Allura and Lotor are on the same side and don’t realize it (this goes back to the shady business between Alfor and Zarkon). The “Third Sphere” is the true obstacle to peace that must be stopped.

Above: DV Alfor’s pleas with Allura are similar to VLD Lotor’s.

Above: Lotor giving instructions to “bring them back to our universe…” That almost sounds as if there are multiple realities…hmmm

DV Lotor's plan for bringing peace—while also stopping the Third Sphere—involves a “duplicate Voltron” (e.g. another powerful mecha on par with Voltron) that—reading between the lines—rains down carefully planned destruction on every planet (including Lotor’s own planet) in order to manipulate a diplomatic solution that will flush out the Third Sphere, forcing everyone to set aside their differences and work together to stop them (because the root of the conflict traces back to them). It sounds weird but this makes a lot of sense in DV, and I can see how a similar concept would work in VLD regardless of whether or not there is a third malevolent force to be stopped.

#6. Sacrificing thousands for the sake of millions (with good intentions):

Similar to VLD Lotor’s sacrifice of the Alteans, the duplicate Voltron's commander takes things too far—sacrificing their own people’s lives against Lotor’s orders. She justifies her actions by reminding Lotor that he commanded her “to leave no doubt”.

Did somebody say Merla?

#7. Fanatical Followers:

While DV Merla is not wearing a NGE Rebuild inspired plug-suit or powering her mecha with her own life energy, this was the first iteration of Voltron where Merla has piloted a mecha, and the context of DV Lotor’s plans makes this feel really similar to what’s going on in VLD (whether or not the Altean was both piloting the komar-robeast and powering it, or merely its power source is irrelevant).

Above: Lotor is angry with Merla’s actions (murder of 12,000), but he concedes that her actions got the results that he wanted in the form of an official treaty between Doom and the Galaxy Alliance.

DV Merla is a fanatic who takes Lotor’s commands too far, and from Romelle’s description of the worshipful Alteans in The Colony, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were Alteans that exhibit similar levels of fanaticism.

Thus, while at first it really didn’t seem like the Altean would be VLD Merla, but after my second read-through of DV, I’ve now reconsidered that assumption and think that (in context with other similarities that I noticed) that there is a good chance that this is Merla (if not, then Merla may show up later in S8 with her own mecha).

#voltron #lotor #merla #keith #dynamite voltron #voltron: legendary defender #voltron meta #voltron speculation #no discourse please

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headspacedad · 6 years

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okay the angry defense of seven that lashes out at fans who are being more critical looks more and more like sunk cost fallacy

I can see how it would be for some people. A lot of us, myself included, have invested years at this point into the show. We did it because we bought into its promise early. The first few seasons held a wealth of potential and the promise of a pay off for so many of those future potentials seemed to be bankable. We had fun moments, we had edge of your seat moments, we had character interaction that explored motivation, we had loss and we had some serious wins for the team. Season one and two in particular set us up for what we thought was the promise of more seasons like them and we liked that! So we invested ourselves and our time, our money and our free promotion of the show, into that as well as creative talents and our ongoing interaction during periods between seasons. We got attached to characters and storyline threads and we knew there would be pay off for them in the future. Sure, it was irksome that Shiro was the only one that never got to use his bayard and show us what cool form it would take - but the wait would make it worthwhile when he finally did get to use it. Sure, Pidge spent a lot of time so focused on her family she did questionable moral things and relied on the memory of them for motivation but once her family was rescued and safe, she’d soften to the rest of the team and being them into her circle of what she fiercely considered family. Sure Lance wobbled a lot between ‘is he growing in maturity’ and ‘comic relief’ but the pay off would come when he stepped forward into his position as the heart of the team they all knew they could rely on.

We sat through a lot of seasons waiting for the payoff we knew had to be coming because every good story gives you the growth needed and then shows you how that growth is achieved. Writers, and stories, rely on their audience to stay alive and in exchange they promise to fulfill certain needs the audience has. If a story promises ‘found family’ the audience invests and trusts that investment will pay off. If the audience loses that trust, they walk away and a story needs to keep its audience. The story doesn’t have to fulfill their expectations the way they think it will - but it does need to follow through on the promises of things to come it made when it started. VLD promised a lot, mostly about the power of friendship and teamwork and how you can overcome even the worst past to rise and become a hero no matter how many times you get knocked down. It’s basic story promises but audiences have loved it for so long there’s a reason its basic story building blocks.

And now, here we are, at the end of all things, seven invested seasons in, a couple years later, a shitton of meta and headcanons, roleplay and fanfiction, fan art and cosplay created - and we don’t believe in the promises we were given at the beginning, that we hung on to to get through the ‘what’s happening now?’ story issues, that we came all this way to see the payoff for.

Damn straight people are mad.

And also damn straight people don’t want to have come this far for nothing. Put all that investment in for no pay off. Denial is a strong defense mechanism in the human psyche. If we say it loud enough, long enough, maybe we can change things just by sheer will alone. It might not be logical but it is one of the most human reactions to loss or defeat. We don’t want Voltron to suck so bad it can’t even pay off its most basic promises. It had so much potential and we saw what it was capable of when it began. It even now, still has diamond shards in the mess its become. Surely - surely - all the promise of seasons one and two, all the glints of delight in seasons three through seven, must lead up to some kind of satisfying pay off even if this past season was terrible. Look. I know this past season was terrible and, if it was terrible and the EPs decided it was gold, there is no way season eight is suddenly going to reverse that - and yet, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was still clinging to a bit of hope that, somehow, the last season is going to make it all right. Or at least bearable. Or even, for the love of God, please just pay off one or two of those promises, those open threads, we followed all this time to get here. So if people are ferociously defending the pile of steam we got for season seven as ‘great’ or even ‘good’ I get why they are.

Heck, I can even believe that some people really did get everything they wanted out of the show in season seven because what they went in for was something that wasn’t one of the many points a lot of us were there for. Hunk fans, if they’re just here for Hunk alone, have every reason to be delighted with season seven for instance and I would never fault them for that. I’m a Shiro fan myself and if this season had been great for him, I might have set all my other issues with the show on the back burner and told myself that I was okay with what I did get even if it wasn’t all I felt the story had promised at the beginning.

Point being, there is never an excuse to attack other fans that don’t agree or to try to silence voices that don’t fall into goose-step with what someone wants them to. Group-think is a disease, not something to be proud of, and if someone’s views can’t handle being challenged, or even someone agreeing to disagree, then they don’t really believe in them in the first place no matter how much they’d like to. .Everyone takes something different away from fandom experiences and from audience experiences and debate and throwing around different ideas and theories is a healthy part of that. The same mindset that has people burning books because they don’t agree with their message is the one that tries to shut down everyone who doesn’t agree without reservation with their own opinion. I can understand the emotional reason someone would be tempted - but that doesn’t make it right or acceptable.

#seven salt #wow I rambled #Anonymous

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applecherry108 · 5 years

Text

first of all hooooooooolyyyy shiitttt

FUCK tungle. it took like 30 tries to log in on desktop. admittedly, i was using the wrong password at first, BUT, even when i remembered the right one it kept giving me shit. This is what i get for being L337 i guess... -_-

anyways, im only on desktop so i can add a readmore to say:

i just,,,,,hate voltron. okay? It sucked. it fucking sucked. i watched the first season and it was like, okay yeah, this has potential. and then s2 was like, okay yeah not as good but maybe s3 will pick up...

s3 didn’t pick up. it was just one long death spiral by the same idiots who fucked up the atla sequel. i hate their writing, i hate their story plots, i hate how they butcher any good ideas they have, and i especially hate their inability to have good character AND plot development happen at the same time.

I got swept up in storm of klance and that’s about it. i have soft spots for other ships but at the end of the day i don’t care. i just don.t fucking,,, care???

the fandom is a mess, the crew was a mess, everything was a fucking mess from the get go.

Like who tf is this show written for?? it has to be for like, 8-10 year olds. It has to be. Everything is just so....stupid. Nothing is ever properly explained, motivations never really given, everyone is just a 2 dimensional cardboard cutout of a trope. And that pisses me off so much bc like??? other shows aimed at young kids can still have great world building. they can have good world building and characters and overall story and still be cheesy and a lil dumb. cheesy and a lil dumb is completely fine!! but voltron is just so...godammn... BORING!! it’s like i WANT to like the characters but its just so goddamn hard when everybody is so fucking flat. by all rights, i should want to marry allura. shes everything i loved when i was little, from her color pallet to her princesshood to her white fucking hair!! i should LOVE allura but i don’t!! i kind of hate her. why?? i don’t know!! shes so...boring! and flat! and fucking PASSIVE! everything in this show lands so fucking flat holy shit.

pidge at matts “grave”? yikes, that was second hand hard to watch for like.... “oooh this is so serious!” but the buildup wasnt there...it was kind of funny tbh... and HELLA awkward...

don’t get me started on lance and hunk. bolin was my favorite look character for the first few episodes and then he got knocked to Comic Relief and had maybe two (2) importantish moments. he/they may be part of the main cast but they’re not main characters. they feel like background props to the Actual Main characters.

which brings me to keith.

FUCK keith.

that’s my reaction after every! new! season!! is just,, FUCK keith. god the show functioned SO WELL without him. he’s just so...idk. i also don’t care. what was his character arc anyway? it SHOULD have been about learning to love and trust others but we only get that in lip service and speed run character development (i hate the quantum abyss...so much... like yeah, who cares about SHOWING our characters mature, let’s just tell that it happened in afucking montage.) if keith were a properly developed character he shouldve remained PASSIONATE and idk, run support?? that boy SHOULD have piloted red, end of story. period. keith doesn’t need to lead he needs to learn to TRUST others and that insludes trusting other WITH HIS LIFE. i won’t rant about how we should have had black paladin lance, but keith should have never ever been black paladin. even after he “matures” he still sucks at. he’s this awful,,little,, Shiro 2.0. and I hate it. i ahte it and i hate shiro just a little bit. even though he was arguably the most likeable character, he shouldve stayed dead. or missing. or whatever. he didn’t need to come back and they didnt need to make keith a little offbrand clone of him. i ESPECIALLY hate that they aged keith up 2 years for no goddamn reason other than to make him the Adult (tm). keith’s dedication to others was gre4at, but it should have, and im failing for this word here so forgive me, climaxed? cresscendo’d? whatever. /resulted/ in him playing support. not leader. lone wolf keith doesn’t need how to lead his pack, he needed to learn to HELP his pack. to be a TEAM PLAYER. he didn’t want the responsibility of leading bc guess what?? some people hate leading!! there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be support! keith’s entire arc is a huge mess of missed opportunities and a grand illustration that he is lm’s and jds’ favorite, just like fucking mako.

i won’t rant about mako, but just know i fucking hate him and the special treatment he gets, and good LORD does keith take over mako. keith isn’t space zuko he’s space mako and it fucking SHOWS.

okay, i’m losing steam here, but like.... so apple, why tf where u voltron 24/7 if you hated it so much? because homestuck was over and i needed a new hyperfixation. and i really had to force it for vld tbh. and at the end of the day, it wasn’t so much about the show itself as the potential of klance (or sheith, up until s3). between the interviews, the coding, the fucking EVERYTHING--it really felt like it could be canon. i knew in my heart it was queer baiting but i had HOPE dammit. hope that this could be killer representation, hope that these characters would delvelopment into something incredible. again, there was so much POTENTIAL. and all of it was wasted. everything really came to a head during the fucking game show episode. it was like lm and lds giving everyone who likes lance the middle finger, really driving home that “no no, he IS just stupid. he’s the comic releif. there’s nothing deeper about him and no one will stand up for him bc they all think of him as such.” and that just....broke my heart. we were so...SO close to lance actually mattering but nope! bolin’d again! and what was his purpose in s8? why to be an accessory to allura of course!

i’ve seen a lot of people really divorce themselves from canon and live solely for fanon, esp fanon klance but like.... i can’t. i just can’t. it’s so fucking hard to work with these cardboard characters. you can only draw so much depth onto them, you know? until the very last moments they had potential, but then it all got snuffed out. but who cares about canon? why bother with it? because! we don’t have a solid consistent fanon version of them! no one sat down and delivered the ten commandments of “here’s what we agree k and l are actually like” it’s stupid and it sucks because everyone has their own little differences and its so so tiring to basically be interacting with minutely different ocs all the goddamn time. canon matters bc it gives everyone the same base to work with. like a cooking showing with the same basket ingredients, but now it’s like.... ya’ll don’t wanna use the mandatory ingredients (and why would you? those canon ingredients are like, a century egg and spoiled sardines, they’re awful.)

okay, and im at work and just came back to this and dont remember my train of thought so like... what really threw all this into sharp clarity was the recent steven universe episodes. they were so...GOOD. so fucking good. so much plot and foreshadowing coming to a head. it was such a wonderfully satisfying payoff that it made me remember what a GOOD show is like, how vld is so very very /bad/. the difference is fucking striking. where one is an intricately woven tale with excellent character development and clear story AND character arcs, that can progress AT THE SAME TIME, one is a hacked together flaming dumpster firing that constantly falls flat and doesn’t know where its going or why. and it s so BORING! like fight scenes can be amazing! they can be well coreographed and tense! and we as the audience can be anxious about the outcome! and vld just wasn’t that! it was boring repetetive action in the least exciting way. and where su set up a lot of potential, holy shit they DELIVERED on that potential. not just for rep, but for characters! for story! for plain ol simple character interactions! and then, again, two dimensional cardboard cutouts.

and now with this difference in good vs bad show so very clearly highlighted for me, i just.... i can’t, anymore, with vld. it sucks. it sucked and i can’t pretend or force a fixation with it that just isn’t there, and truthfully, probably never was. maybe that’s why i’ve been struggling to finish my fic, struggling ever since i posted the last chapter, ever since s7, which, again, that game show was really the nail in the coffin as far as holding onto any hope that this tire fire would ever pick up. like a physically feel ill trying to finishing this stupid fic bc i don’t care so hard. i don’t care and i just... really want to be over it. im sick of seeing it everywhere, im sick of the drama, of the Discourse. like all fandoms have their issues, but hold fuck does vld fandom have a massive Purity problem. like, god, let people ship whatever. who cares. die mad about it.

like homestuck, idk if i’ll ever fully ween myself off vld but i want to move on. i want to enjoy Other Things without having this lackluster weight on my shoulders. and more than anything, i want to stop feeling like im obligated to like the same shit as i did two years ago, or last year, or hell, last week! feel free to unfollow, but yeah i just.... really needed to let this out in a proper post and not in the misc tags somewhere.

#behold my loathe letter to vld #if you actually enjoyed the show and don't wanna read all my bitching then like...probably pass this post up lmao #apple talks #to the tune of spam

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domargo22 · 5 years

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Let's talk about Voltron

I need to make a premise here: I'm Italian, so I didn't have an easy access to the show. Like, the first two seasons aired THIS YEAR on Netflix (I think also on television somewhere, but the house I'm in doesn't have one so I never bothered to find out). And it is still like that. The last season will air on friday (to my understanding) and we still don't know where the hell Shiro went, who is that Lotor guy and if Zarkon is still alive.

So, grinding my teeth in frustration (I am your typical legal neutral person, with big difficulties with understanding made-up english words in strange accents), I found and watched it.

And what a wonder it was!

First of all, the art! I loved the colours, the sceneries, the characters and their expressions! That was really well done.

I loved the plot too. As I am familiar with japanese genres, I would describe it as a mix between a shounen and a seinen. Made for giving you an adrenaline high, with power jumps miraculously there when needed, but still with character growth (not distributed equally, I admit, but everyone got theirs time to shine) and deep themes. Nothing like ATLA, but I don't think they aimed at the same type of story. I especially liked the fact that with Zarkon death the plot didn't stop. There was all this arc with the fallout and chaos of the Galra Empire, a logical theme of course, but rarely seen in cartoons. Usually when the big bad guy died, there was immediately an happy ever after.

I also appreciated the twists the show pulled sometimes. Such as Keith's parentage, Pidge real identity, MATT, the shift of the lions, LOTOR, and so on. Still pissed about Coran taking a frustrating amount of episodes to remember he had the crystal from the Castle around his neck (if he said "oh, if only we had a crystal" one more time, I would have zapped myself inside their universe to beat him). Also, I don't know how, but apparently I managed to avoid the spoilers about what was inside the overpowered robeast, so here I am, still in shock since half an hour ago, when I finished the last episode.

I admit there was an excessive amount of Deus ex Machina moments, but, I repeat, shounen.

Important mention: Adam. What the hell?!? I'll be clear, being on the edge of the fandom I wasn't that indignant after knowing they killed him, because I didn't know they had promised representation. I said to myself 'let's see how they did it'. And it was horrible. Seriously, not enough to make me regret watching the show, but enough to interrupt my concentration during the viewing. During. The. First. Viewing. I couldn't shake the feeling that he was better suited for the role they gave to James. Adam was already characterised, in par with Veronica, was a senior pilot and, as he was the first in the comms and last to fall, I guess he was a good pilot. Why giving Griffin's generation the opportunity lo learn the simulator and not to already expert pilots? Especially when Admiral Sanda thought so little about cadets? I had for more than half season 7 the constant undertone that instead of one good character we were given two half-baked ones in James and Adam.

Obviously, I can't exclude ships in this post. I know ships are important in the vld fandom, but, after seeing it in it's entirety, I can't fathom why. It's so NOT a central part of the plot. It's an action based show, almost promising from the start an epilogue romance at best. Still, as I myself discovered Voltron through a random Klance image years ago, I would like to talk about them (and here you can stop reading if you don't want to risk hearing negative things about yours).

At first I was a Klancer. Its aesthetic, the chemistry and potential I saw in those two first seasons...it was good, and possible. But then it all faded. I'm sorry, I know a lot of you saw in season 3 this big romance bud, ready to blossom, but I just can't. All I could see, all the writers wanted me to see, was an almost healthy friendship. Lance is a support, a leg, from the start, and his role in the team remains despite changing lion. And Keith learns to accept his and others help. It is still growth, but I couldn't read it as romantic, because the camera didn't want me to. No zooms or details, no strange references made by other characters and so on. And I could justify it as sublte enough to not be caught by my oblivious self, if it wasn't for the occurrence of all the above between Lance and Allura.

I will be clear, I don't particularly ship Allurance. I simply think they are the more probable couple as it is now. Since Lance's awe at her in the scene we first see Allura using the bayard as a whip, it is implied his flirting is no more a comic relief, but a deeper affection. Was I pissed at her lukewarm romance with Lotor? Yes, but more because I, being involved in the fandom before watching the series, was seriously biased on Lotura. It's a pity, I liked, and still like their aesthetic, but I wasn't able to judge it fairly because I knew it ended.

As for Sheith, Shiro and Keith's whole relationship is borderline romantic, until Keith murders it with the declaration he sees a brother in Shiro, in a 'we're going to die' situation. He had nothing to gain lying in that moment.

I won't examine other ships further, as the only other interactions I could read as romantic are: Keith and Acxa (well played the 'saving each other' trope that started since the Weblum, but Keith kinda nipped that with groaning at the sole mention of her crushing on him, so I'm hesitant here), Lance defending Pidge from Ezor (cutest moment ever, but one scene in 7 season is simply not enough), Sam reminiscing flirting with his wife while watching Pidge and Hunk argue (their reaction and the totality of their relationship kinda screams friendship to me, though), and, ugh, Keith and James exchange (what was that? Posturing? 'Oh, look at that, the asshole is back'? What. Was. That. Long. Ass. Silent. Scene).

So, in short, I loved Voltron (despite having years to bulid an excessive expectation from it), I hate James Griffin's role (you damn Keith wannabe), and Keith win the crown as the savage murderer of ships.

(I know I missed a lot of points, but this is my heated first impression, and is not to be taken as complete or unbiased; and I'm still kinda grieving about Klance T-T)

#voltron #vld #shiro #keith #pidge #lance #hunk #how could i almost not talk about hunk at all when he is one of my favourites?#coran #allura #acxa #adam #james griffin #matt holt #sam holt #ezor #zarkon

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femmescripter · 6 years

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To all of the Anti-Shippers, Whiners and Adam haters in VLD...

E-FUCKING-NOUGH!! Just stop it already! Stop it with the pairing wars, stop it with the death threats to the Voltron executives, stop it with the whining of not getting what you want and stop it with the hate on Adam. Just stop it all together! I wasn’t going to say anything about this, but I have seen so much of this foolishness come up on my dashboard that I can no longer ignore it. And since my friends and favorite artists are also being picked on over the recent drama in Voltron: Legendary Defender this makes me feel especially obligated. To make this post in defense of those people dear to me. So sit down and get your text books - because it’s time for a lesson.

First of all, and I’m going to put this in bold italics so the people in the back can see it, YOU DON’T HAVE TO ABANDON YOUR OTHER SHIRO SHIPS JUST BECAUSE OF ADAM. Same as it is with Lotor, just because Shiro has a fiancé in the show doesn’t mean you have to delete that Shance artwork, revise that Shallura fanfic or edit that Shulaz comic. It really doesn’t. Also like I said in my post concerning Lotor the canon events of a series doesn’t define your pairing. It really doesn’t. That said there is no need to go around telling people they can’t ship Shiro with someone else just because it was revealed that he has a fiancé. A friend of mine actually had someone say this to them. And I’ve seen a lot of people get bashed over not “converting” to the Adashi pairing and dropping all of their current Shiro based ships. Seriously people? Are we really going to stoop that low? And I use the word “low” very loosely because people have gone beyond just telling folks that can’t ship one another with another or just bash them. There are twisted folks who actually tell people they should KILL themselves for so much as liking another pairing. How devoid of common sense and conscience can someone be to say that to another person? What’s even more concerning is that, even in terms of minority, there is more than just a handful of people who act this way and says stuff like that. I don’t know about you all but I find that very scary. But anyway, you can still ship Shiro with whoever you want to. No need to drop one pairing in favor of Adashi. If someone you thought was a friend stops talking to you because you didn’t “convert” then don’t lose sleep over it, because they are obviously not a real friend. And if you dropped whatever previous Shiro based pairing you had without someone telling you to then you have no one to blame but yourself. So don’t take it out on someone else who still ships Shallura, Shance, Shulaz or whatever else just because you’re feeling spiteful for giving up those or similar pairings yourself. Secondly, quit bashing on Adam already. You guys saw a glimpse of him in the trailer that lasted for a good three to five seconds. And now you suddenly know he’s abusive and unsupportive of Shiro? I sure hope you guys have tweezers to get that bullet out your feet from jumping the gun like that. You haven’t worked with the artists, scriptwriters, voice actors and showrunners to develop Adam. Y’all don’t know diddly squat about him so quit acting like you do. Besides as someone who, as the VLD creators themselves said, who has been with Shiro for so long I highly doubt Adam would suddenly turn unsupportive and abusive unless you he was mind controlled or blackmailed. So don’t go saying that he’s always been that way just to justify your other Shiro based ships. Yes I know that Adam broke off the engagement, but I’m not even going to give my opinion as to why he did that. It will only open up an even bigger can of worms. All I will say about it is that whatever reason Adam had for doing so must have been a valid one. And if you all don’t find it valid then that’s your problem. To that extent you shouldn’t lose sleep by racking your brains to figure out WHY Adam broke off the engagement. Just wait for season seven to come along and we shall hopefully get some of the answers then. Besides I’m sure you all have other, more pressing matters to think of. Like a chore you forgot to do or that important assignment you should have done two hours ago. If you haven’t done that yet then go do it now. Keep your hands and minds busy with someone else. Third, but must importantly of all...It. Is. A. God. Damn. CARTOON!! What boggles my mind the most about this is the fact that people are sending death threats and telling the real genuine fans to go kill themselves over a work of fiction. Now out of the ten reasons that come to mind as to why doing that is stupid, two main ones come up front and center. Reason number one because what you put out there is out there is out forever and WILL come back to haunt you. Even if you delete your mean comment someone can still reblog it or post a screenshot of it so people can see just how nasty your personality really is. And just because you delete the email you sent on YOUR end it’s still there on the other person’s end, and they can hold that over your head. Further more when you apply for a job that’s the first thing companies are going to check - any and all platforms of social media you use from Google+ to Tumblr to Pinterest to Twitter to Discord to Instagram to Facebook and everything else to see if you posted any malicious comments. After all no company is going to hire someone who says to some tween that their family wouldn’t miss them if they didn’t or sent a promise of fatal accident to somebody else. So think twice before you press that “send” or “comment” button or slip that envelope in the post office mailbox. Because in the long run the only person those words will hurt is you. And reason number two, the moment the series is over you have to pretty much fix all of your broken relationships or start new ones from scratch. Because if there’s one thing that people remember it’s who hurt them and how they were hurt. Do you honestly think your friends/acquaintances are going to act like everything is fine and let it slide that you told them to drink a cup of bleach because they told you they liked Mattor over Latte or Sheitor or Shiklance? Unless they develop a heavy dose of amnesia or have an saintly tolerance for bullshit, I highly doubt that. Having said that there is a very good chance that you’ll come out of the end of VLD with either little or no friends. Is that a price worth paying just for the sake of defending people who don’t even exist? I mean I can understand wanting to stick to your guns/principals/standards and while that’s admirable...there’s a fucking limit, y’all. It’s better to agree to disagree and let it go instead of browbeating the point at the risk of having people disassociate themselves with you because they’re tired of your argumentative personality and constant need to be right. And hold up - I didn’t forget about you people who are actually complaining about the LGBT representation we got with Shiro and Adam. First you were getting on the case of the Voltron: Legendary Defender creators for not having any LGBT characters. Now you have them and you actually nitpick it!? Come on - make up your minds! You guys should be more appreciative since the scriptwriters, voice actors, artists, and showrunners worked so hard to do this for you - the fans. It may not be Klance but it’s better than nothing. Alright - now having let all of that out I understand that my words will most likely fall on deaf ears with a majority of the people reading this. But if my words got through to at least one person and stopped them from doing something stupid that they will regret for a long time, then that’s good enough for me. In short ship whoever you want to ship Shiro with, give Adam the benefit of the doubt, never threaten or bash people and don’t let fiction rule your life. This really isn’t the end of the world, guys. Just breathe.

And that concludes me thoughts on the matter. I’m going to bed now. I’ll see you guys next time. Hopefully with a much happier post than this one. Toodles~

#voltron the legendary defender #various ships #no seriously there's a bunch of ships #way too man to list in the tags without clogging things #the point is quit bashing on ships period #and stop hating on adam already #just stop the bullshit all together

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cooler-than-space · 6 years

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Kinda started reading The Wicked + The Divine and now my brain is craving for an AU of that with VLD using a few elements from that story (this is a long one, OOP)

Allura would be like Ananke and with her powers she finds the 5 Paladins every 90 years, reborn into new bodies lacking powers or memories of who they were.

These 5 teenagers will then receive the Goddess' gift unlocking their cosmic powers and god-like statuses - with the price that they will only live for 10 years due to the eventual burn out of their mortal bodies(in the comic it was just 2... And that's just depressing)

Shiro was the first Paladin to be found - he took the goddess' gift immediately. He was already bedridden due to his illness and the additional 7 more years was literally heaven sent. He was given dominion over the wind and sky - The Black Paladin. He took his job as a Paladin seriously, defender of the weak and protector of all.

The second Paladin to be found was Pidge. Her father and brother were dedicated in researching everything and anything about the Goddess Allura and her chosen Paladins. They have a collection of records regarding past Paladins and sightings of this elusive goddess. Pidge sometimes accompanied her father and brother on their travels - and they got into a horrific accident. To save her family, Pidge agreed to accept Allura's gift. With her new powers over nature and plant life, she had the ability to save her father and brother. She was now the 2nd Paladin to be found but she was still 15... And in 10 years she will burn out and die. She was going to die in 10 years time and there is nothing She can do to stop or change that. She had second thoughts about revealing herself to the world as the Green Paladin - but with Shiro and Keith's encouragements, she followed their example to be a hero.

Keith was the 3rd Paladin to be found, a childhood friend of Shiro. It was ironic that he was the Red Paladin with the power to control fire... Since Keith's father was a fireman and was KIA. When Keith found out that the only reason Shiro got better was because of his accepting of the Goddess' gift. Keith was still a bit overprotective about Shiro - and so he confronted the goddess to grant him the ability to stay by Shiro's side - much to everyone's surprise, even Allura, Keith was the Red Paladin.

After seeing all over the news the heroic actions of this generation's batch of Paladins, Lance was inspired to be a better version of himself. While on a field trip he found a few classmates of his bullying the new kid who he was kinda friends with. He tries to call them out but gets chased into a cave system and becomes inevitably lost.

Hunk tried to follow his friend into the cave system as the other boy was chased down by his bullies. As Hunk started getting deeper into the caves, getting even more lost and scared... The Goddess Allura found him and gave him to gift as he was the Yellow Paladin - Paladin of the earth.

With Hunk just being new and not used to his powers, in his attempt to save himself and Lance from getting trapped in the cave systems - this causes a couple of Landslides around the mountain. This summons the other Paladins to their aid in preventing further more damage to the surrounding area.

Once everything is okay - the Paladins welcome Hunk into the group. Hunk is nervous, not really wanting to do anything regarding the Paladins - but Lance reassured him that it would be okay... As much as being the Hero of the universe and dying in 10 years would be okay. Hunk eventually sees the good he was doing in the hope that sparks within the people they meet and the lives they save.

As the 4 Paladins continue with their tasks, Lance follows them around. Lance slowly sees the downside of being a Paladin.

With his best friend having moments when his fear and anxiety just take over and he loses control over powers he never wanted or the fact that his other aspirations in life are now rendered pointless that he was a Paladin and to die in a decade.

With Keith who wanted to be a Paladin for the sake of a dear friend. He has accepted the inevitable deadline but he was also afraid to use his powers. Fire was and is a force to be reckoned with - it is all consuming and relentless. Keith was the Paladin who used his other skills and has never used his elemental ability in fear of losing control and causing harm.

With Pidge who was just 15, the youngest in their group, when she became the Green Paladin and hates hates hates the idea that she will be no more in 10 years. There was so much more that she can still do and she knows that there is no real legacy in being a Paladin. Their previous lives prior to their Paladin status were now basically nonexistent and all that will be written about them to the public will just be the heroism of the Paladins and not of Katie Holt or of Takashi Shirogane or of Keith Kogane or of Hunk Garrett.

And Shiro... Shiro will always say that being a Paladin was better than wasting away in a hospital bed for 3 more years. He accepts the new abilities and the additional 7 years. If being a symbol of hope, fighting the evil and darkness that lurks around the corner, to lose every semblance of normalcy is the price to pay, then so be it.

Lance will do as much as he can to ease their troubles. He is there to remind them that despite being reincarnations of the Great Paladins of Voltron, they were still kids - in times were nothing immediate or dangerous was going on, Lance initiates little fun activities for them to do, as if they were just a group of friends. Hunk will always be the first to accept - Shiro had to be reassured that there was nothing needing their immediate attention before he agrees. Keith and Pidge will always be the ones with much resistance, but Pidge will follow Hunk and Keith will never leave Shiro alone.

This will go on for a couple of months, them building this odd family dynamic - until Allura appears before Lance and calling him the Blue Paladin.

"Usually you are the first one I would find, Blue... " She said, "you were always there to help me find Black,this time I had to find him myself."

Lance reawakens with recollections of his past lives and a new sense of self and purpose... And also Milleniums worth of love and memories with the Black Paladin - for in almost every incarnation, there were a couple.

Just one look at Shiro, all of it clicked and suddenly Lance was wrapped in a lovers' embrace.

Lance only has 9 more years left to be with his beloved and the rest of their family... He was the last to be found. He was going to make the most of it.

#shance #voltron #vld #the wicked and the divine au #paladins as gods au

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