#✕ ▌❛ form voltron! ( main ).

[kismetconstellations]

@sockdooe, This is the full original image:

According to the Tumblr post I originally snagged it from, it's an early piece of promotional artwork, meant to depict Keith as the series's central character. Shiro is shoved into the background, presumably to illustrate that he was intended to fulfill a Doomed Mentor role.

[transingthoseformers]

Thinking about my one OC combiner gestalt again

I've decided that their combiner name should definitely 100% be Aggravator, especially since it fits the theme going on with the og decepticon combiners, but all of the individual components seem a little TOO individual and don't stick to a theme beyond animalistic root modes :(

they have 0% lore but it'd be really funny to make them all based on various crocodilians (OR EVEN SPINOSAURIDS >:D)

[tsukinoiri]

&. @skyguarded liked ★ for a smol starter

"don't just stand there --- run!"

[carlottastudios]

MY GIRLS THEY'RE ALL HERE TOGETHER!!! Thank you so much Avalon!!!

Also fun fact, I'm still running an ask game about my ships involving these ladies: https://www.tumblr.com/carlottastudios/775477450985586688/to-celebrate-international-shipping-day-i-am?source=share

Commissions for @carlottastudios of her various OCs!

Commission a headshot for $10 on my Ko-Fi!

[aroaceleovaldez]

random question, you mentioned a bit ago that the PJO fandom has a lot similarities with old anime fandoms. i’m interested to hear more about that if you want to elaborate? thanks :)

Of course! The main aspect is just fandom crossover - generally book fandoms are their own sort of isolated fandom "bubble" so-to-speak, so most of the audience crossover is within that bubble (book fandom-to-book fandom crossover). Back in the day book fandoms actually had their own version of a "Superwholock" composite fandom which consisted of (but was not limited to) primarily PJO, HP, and The Hunger Games, but also frequently included other major book fandoms at the time like The Maze Runner, Shadow Hunters, etc etc. It even had its own little symbol thing! But so you have the book fandoms "bubble," and then anime fandoms are their own "bubble" as well and there's not always a lot of crossover between them. You might get some, but they're largely their own spheres (there's definitely more crossover now than there used to be, but still). You can kind of think of it like how there are separate conventions for stuff like anime, comics, furries, etc and they were all born out of the sci-fi community. There is crossover between them, but you're largely going to see one main subject in its designated space.

PJO fandom back in the day was an outlier though, because we had notable amount more interaction with anime fandoms back then than most book fandoms. I'm not sure why, but I have a couple of theories. (under the cut cause this post got long)

One of the primary ones is that PJO has a HUGE overlap with "Western Anime" fandoms, primarily Avatar: The Last Airbender (and eventually also Voltron: Legendary Defender). Obviously these fandoms are going to have a LOT more crossover with actual anime fandoms (a large amount of formerly-PJO, at-the-time-VLD fans moved to My Hero Academia fandom during the last two seasons of VLD for example) particularly moreso than other western cartoon fandoms. Most of the overlap just kind of arises from the generation growing up on PJO (when it was new in the States) was also growing up on A:TLA at the time, and may have also had minor interactions with anime in the states in the early 2000s like your 4kids animes and such. It could also be due to the PJO movies causing a huge influx around 2010 (alongside a couple of the other major book fandoms also having movies around this time) and a lot of those new fans getting into the books/fandom from the movies probably had a bias for visual media versus text-based media, so they're more likely to be in anime fandoms versus other book fandoms (and the general prevalence of anime fandoms circa 2012, when a lot of those pjo fans were getting into fandom for the first time due to being like, 12 at the time). Also, a lot of pjo fans are big into fantasy, action, and coming-of-age genres, all of which anime has plenty of (see: shonen animes).(This is actually what I attribute to why VLD fandom failed so badly - VLD was a mecha show with a fanbase not very interested at all in mecha genre, because you had a large percentage who were pjo and adjacent fans more interested in other genres.)

One of my other theories is crossover with Homestuck. While PJO doesn't have a specific unique fandom crossover with Homestuck, Homestuck was just so ubiquitous with fandoms of the late 2000s/early 2010s that crossover is inevitable. It of course was also formative to many big name fans of PJO that you probably recognize, like Ikimaru, Indigonite, Fuocogo, Elentori, and etc. Even Viria (the original post is gone but reblogs still exist) and Velinxi were also Homestucks. Nearly every old PJO BNF (and some current ones) are or were a homestuck, and BNFs have a large influence on the fandoms they're in (hence the name). Homestuck itself heavily referenced many animes and had large crossover and interaction with anime fandoms, alongside just generally being a ubiquitous internet fandom in it's own right back in the day. So it figures that PJO fans who were also Homestucks would either pick up the anime influences through Homestuck and its fandom or enter anime fandoms popular at the time through Homestuck fandom. (There used to be a joke about "Homestuck is my favorite anime" due to how just lumped in Homestuck was with anime fandoms despite being an American webcomic, but this makes sense given again the anime influences on the comic). (We're actually kind of seeing this again with The Locked Tomb, another book fandom that has a lot of overlap with anime fandoms, but hilariously Locked Tomb started out as davekat fanfiction so it all loops back around to Homestuck, LMAO). In general these overlaps make sense - Homestuck and PJO are similar genres of story and both involve a lot of mythology and pop culture references, and a lot of the anime that were popular in PJO spheres were in similar genre categories or adjacent at least to the same demographics. Especially a lot of your big 2012-ish animes. And also Homestuck. Also, Homestuck fandom (and a lot of anime fandoms at the time) had very large and vocal queer fanbases, which the PJO fandom was also starting to have at the time, which wasn't as common (or at least as vocal) in other book fandoms.

Regardless of how it happened, PJO fandom behaved a lot more like anime fandoms than book fandoms back then. For one, our fandom was very heavily art-focused. A lot of book fandoms lean more text-focused for obvious reasons, so you'll find a decent amount of fanfiction but not a lot of art (and the art you will find won't usually have a large anime influence like how PJO fandom does in its fanart) (there are other book fandoms that are more art-heavy - like Warrior Cats - but those often involve other overlaps. WC has HUGE overlap with furry fandom for obvious reasons, which is also an art-heavy fandom). Anime fandoms obviously have fanfiction as well, but also have a much larger visual component. Also cosplay - anime fandoms are big on cosplay and have been for ages. Book fandoms usually have very little cosplay. PJO fandom has always had a very strong cosplay community, which is atypical for book fandoms, especially older ones. There are a lot of other little intricacies that are difficult for me to describe, especially since anime fandoms have also shifted over time, but if you compare PJO to other book fandoms even now (but especially back in that like 2010-2015 era), you can really see the sort of in-between space PJO occupied.

It's especially interesting to me because - and I was actually just having a discussion about this the other day - the anime fandom crossover that PJO has still exists, but it's very directional most of the time. Like, if you see a crossover au, there's not a lot of anime crossover AUs in PJO fandom, and many that exist are either older AUs or from older fans. On the flip side though, there's plenty of PJO aus in anime fandoms, particularly in anime fandoms that have a large percentage of PJO fans like BNHA. It's an interesting little exchange.

PJO is a mainstream fandom, so it does get a little funky cause we have a lot of what I call "passive" fandom or "new" fandom which generally doesn't engage or partake in the same ways that "old" fandom did. It's that kind of "consumerist" fandom atmosphere you hear about sometimes, and it largely exists because of that mainstream aspect - these people are largely young and aren't very far into fandom, this may even likely be their first and/or only fandom, and they're basically totally unfamiliar with what fandom is supposed to look like. Their concept of fandom comes from pop culture and mainstream media, which often presents it as very source-focused and consumerist, so that's how they behave in fandom versus the "old" fandom style of community-focus. So within the main PJO sphere you get a lot of people who don't interact with fandom the way you might expect like in "old" fandom. But if you look into other fandom spheres that are less mainstream (which happens to include a lot of anime fandoms by nature, at least in western spheres) you're not unlikely to run into fans in those spaces who, for example, a.) are familiar with pjo due to it being mainstream and b.) interact with fandom spaces in that "older" sense, and so are more likely to make PJO aus for other fandoms (or do other crossover aus or other general "older" fandom things). The newer fans or "passive" fandom people are a lot more likely to stay within the bounds of canon and less likely to make crossovers overall. The younger fans in general aspect also plays into it - a lot of them obviously haven't interacted with those older anime fandoms, and they're less likely to interact deeply with anime fandoms in general just cause of how mainstream anime has gotten in the west, so they don't need to seek out specific communities for it like older western anime fans used to have to.

But yeah. Lots of interesting stuff!

[the-kriller]

My thoughts on voltron

ok guys im really bored this summer and decided to see what the hype is. Here's my thoughts on what I like so far, what I think could be improved, etc. (From someone at the start/middle of season 3)

Dedicate 1 episode to finding each lion. Or half an episode, but I wish they spaced out the lion discoveries a little more throughout the first season.

Pidge and Allura should be closer. The main interaction I saw in Season 1 between them showed different sides than we saw when any other characters interacted with either. This would also help build the feeling that Voltron is MEANT to be a team because none of them stay strictly in their little cliques

Shiro should stay dead. It raises the stakes and shows how the threat can change

However, I also think that Keith shouldn't pilot the black lion. Not yet, at least. After everything he went through in season 2, hes EXTRA moody and lashing out at everyone.

Adding on, they could have an episode where he tries to lead Voltron but his fatal flaws get in the way. He thinks everyone will want him to leave again or something, so he starts pushing everyone away so they don't get hurt. The episode could end with Keith overcoming this and actually beginning to form bonds with the other members

Allura pilots the black lion. TRUSTTT me on this. She has proven to have strong endurance and leadership skills like Shiro, but has a connection to the Galra empire through her past AND the witch Hagar. She could provide unique commentary on their issues

If in this universe her & Pidge are closer, they could have a chat where Pidge is like "Allura, you are the one who brought us together originally and you're the one who's bringing hope towards escaping the Galra empire. If anyone should be our leader, it's you princess."

LANCE GETS TREATED NICELY.

Hunk's character gets fleshed out more. Maybe there's an episode where they're on a planet, and he's trying to be nice and hospitable to the people but they just go against all of his morals and he snaps at them. As a treat

Plotlines from S1 evolve/resolve. Pidge can still be looking for their family, but that shouldn't be the main reason they're staying in Voltron. Give them something bigger to fight for.

Have a fun episode that compares & contrasts all the characters. They get stuck in a space storm and have to tell ghost stories kind of thing.

Keith would tell a lame story because he's sooo nonchalant and edgy

Lance would 100% seriously try to one up him, it would definitely work but Hunk would barf afterwards

Coran would catch onto the concept before Allura and try to tell a story about some "mysterious but suave Altean" but he would keep saying "I" instead of "he" and everyone would catch on that the story was about him. Also, he would hype himself up so much that the story would fall apart because nobody that awesome could reasonably be scared of ghosts

Allura would tell a REAL story about a haunted Altean castle which would scare everyone even more shitless

Hunk would tell a story about the Garrison in which he was sneaking out of his dorm late at night to mealprep for the next week, but the entire time he was being tormented by some quick moving, shadowy figure.

Pidge would say, "OH MY GOD" and realize that THEY were the shadowy figure. They would proceed to retell the story, in which they downloaded essential clues to Matt's whereabouts and afterwards got hunted down by a giant, hostile Garrison guard (Hunk)

[tsukinoiri]

"keith?" the sudden transmission was a surprise, blinking down at the comms. "what good news? do you even know where we are--?"

@purposeclaimed responded to your call!

"Lance!" The excitement in Keith's tone was almost evident. "Lance, can you hear me?! I'm on my way to the Castle! I have good news!"

[felassan]

this post is just some thoughts on/speculation re: the recent news (the new blog post and the IGN article etc). under a cut for length.

I’m so excited for the official first look at the gameplay!! (ofc) and psyched that it’s happening in early summer as opposed to late summer like August or thereabouts. it feels surreal in a good way that it’s now basically ‘DA:TV Eve’ :D With 15+ minutes of gameplay from the start of the game, we could gain a lot of new information and context such as who the PC is, where the story kicks off and the premise/framing of the story, who the starting companions are, etc.

it surprised me that the name of the game changed, but I like the new title, I think it’s cool and unusual and from dev comments it's not something they decided on a whim or anything. a title change makes sense in the light that Solas isn’t the only focus of the game or the only player on the board – that he’s a key player, but not the heart of it, and the companions are who is being centered. in any event the feel of a title to like say and stuff for me doesn’t affect gameplay or what it’s like interacting with characters etc. I would play this game if it was called Dragon Age: The Quantum Blorbening anyway.

‘The Veilguard’ is the name of our crew of companions, as in a group or faction. (It reminds me of “the Kingsguard”.) Obviously we can see from the name that this group will be involved in protecting and defending the barrier between the Fade and the waking world in some manner. I wonder, will it be a group we form, or a group we join/are recruited into? They must be a fairly recent addition to Thedas. What’s their relation to the Veil Jumpers, if any? Does the existence of the Veilguard imply that the theories that the game will begin with the Veil torn down already aren’t the case? Will the Veilguard always want to protect the Veil during the story, or will there come a point when they re-evaluate that idea? It sounds like they’re always able to take down the new evil threat, but will they always be able (or always want to) to prevent the Veil from being destroyed? also, in-world, who named them The Veilguard?

Maybe our PC’s own ‘title’ (Warden, Hero, Inquisitor, Herald of Andraste, kinda thing) will be Veil Guardian or Guardian of the Veil or something like that..? we obviously won’t be the only veil guard, but while the DA:O PC was ‘the Hero of Ferelden’, in-game they often were referred to in passing simply as Grey Warden or The Warden, despite there being another Warden present (Alistair). When the devs have been talking about The Avengers, I think about that and also get Guardians of the Galaxy kinda vibes. With Varric and Harding’s storyline in DA: The Missing, I wonder if he will be like the Nick Fury (he kind of brought the Avengers together and coordinated them right? Or at least recruited them all, put the team together?), with Harding joining the team itself..? Avengers assemble, form Voltron, etc. with stuff like “you’ll unite this team of unforgettable heroes”, it sounds like the PC (as in previous games) will end up leading the group in some manner, even if they are new to the squad. That reminds me of the HoF. ^^

Somewhere out there in the multiverse, on a different plane, DA4 came out and it was a multiplayer game. it’s good to hear about refocusing on creating a singleplayer game with a focus on characters, choices & decisions, worldbuilding, companionship with characters with their own deep storylines that intersect with the main plot etc, with the customizable hero and the cast of their companions at the center of an SP story. and no online team members, no live service etc.

The world of Thedas itself is still my favorite ‘character’ :D

Warden, Hawke, Inquisitor mention. 🥺

I don’t mind one way or the other about most gameplay specifics. Some of the aspects of combat gameplay (of course, I’m just guessing based on reading some lines in an article atm), like the pausing the action and the ability wheel to give orders, sound like ME: Andromeda gameplay, and Andromeda had good gameplay/combat gameplay that was fun and fluid to play.

One thing I am 😔 about tho is the change of party size from 3 companions to 2. I love Mass Effect and it’s a 3-person squad in that series too (and it works well ofc both in terms of gameplay and dynamics), but I’ll still miss having 3 companions with me in DA :< esp in a game with such a focus on the characters/companions. What can I say, I’m just a blorbo hoarder. I’ll also miss all party members being directly controllable.

I wonder if the 7 companions (seven is a lucky number ^^) will have a class split like 2 warrior/2 rogue/2 mages+1 ‘unique/special’ companion (e.g. Dog, Shale – maybe the flaming head Skellington?) or +1‘extra/secret’ companion or something (e.g. Loghain).

Also, speculatively, being that we’ve never had a qunari woman as a companion before, I hope one is a qunari woman, and since we’ve never had a dwarf woman as a companion before in a ‘main’ game (ily sigrun), I hope one will be a dwarf woman. That also makes me curious about the race and gender split of the 7. Maybe it’s like 2 humans/2 elves/1 qunari/1 dwarf/1 ‘unique or special’ (e.g. Shale)..? Maybe it’s like 3 men/3 women/1 nonbinary person, or the first 6 are a mix of men, women and nonbinary people, and the seventh is something like Dog or a spirit or something?

There were 6 companions in ME1. In DAII, there were 8 in the base game (Seb was DLC), but Bethany/Carver were only around for part of the game. today one of the main things people love most about DAII is its cast of companions. ^^ also, with the way the devs talk about the companions, it's giving "Found Family" trope vibes. that's another thing that people love a lot about DAII. ^^

will it just be the 7 of us, like the crew in DA2? Will it be like in DA:I, where the organization (Inquisition/Veilguard in this case) has main figures/an inner circle, but also commands other people? Or will it be like Mass Effect, where you have a crew which is comprised of companions (in this case 7) who join you on the field as well as a few other developed characters that hang out at ‘home base’? on the number paring down from 9 to 7, I’d rather quality and depth over quantity. In ME2, Kasumi and Zaeed (as DLC) didn’t have proper conversations on the ship. I wonder if “pare down” refers to it being versus the number of companions we had in DA:I, or whether at some point in development of DA:TV there used to be more than 7 companions and some were cut.

each of the 7 companions is from/represents a different faction. For example, while not stated to be a companion in the trailer he was revealed in, it's common speculation that he is, and Davrin is a Grey Warden. Going by the 4 factions Varric and Harding deal with in The Missing, surely 4 of these companion backstory factions in DA:TV are the Grey Wardens, the Antivan Crows, the Veil Jumpers and the Shadow Dragons. And the other 3..? the Lords of Fortune are a new addition to the lore that have also been prominent in recent material. A Grey Warden, an Antivan Crow, and a Veil Jumper walk into a bar.. : ) the composition of The Veilguard is reminding me of Duncan’s words about the Grey Wardens: “Men and women from every race, warriors and mages, barbarians and kings.”

---

some more wild speculation on the 7 factions.

1. Davrin - the Grey Wardens

2. Bellara - ??

3. Harding - Inquisition/Inquisition remnants (I do not think Varric is a companion)

then, based on prominence in previous promo material and The Missing etc -

4. A Lord of Fortune

5. A Veil Jumper (STRIFE PLS!!!)

6. An Antivan Crow

7. A Shadow Dragon

??

or… this prev concept art (bearing in mind it might represent nothing at all except ‘general mood’ & no specific actual characters, or be from a different version of the game before a reboot or before cuts etc, who knows) shows 8 characters. could it be the 7 companions and the Player Character? Skellington Guy (green flaming skull guy) could easily be the (speculative!!) ‘unique/special 7th one’, assuming a 2/2/2 warrior-rogue-mage classbreak down among the other 6 (which is speculation only too ofc). lmk what you think : )

I’m nervous about upsetting or getting the new companions killed already HH.

It’s nice to read how strongly they feel about the new characters and their stories.  

I’m so excited to explore all the regions and varied biomes.

I’m still not clear/sure on whether “you can romance the companions you want” means all 7 companions are bi/pan+, or that there are no non-romanceable companions among the 7 (like no Stens or Varrics), or whether it was more like a general off-hand comment that can’t be read into that much.

I wonder if the Varric-narrated in-game cinematic from 1 year ago plays at the start of the game? Or after we meet Varric?

here is a link to a ramble/speculation about the new logo/icon.

All of Thedas is at risk from a big, scary new threat. As we know, Solas was never the only being interested in the Veil and its removal or destruction. (you can also outline lots of reasons why it should be brought down, like the way the world used to be, elven immortality, the effect on mages/magic etc). it’s also long been theorized that Solas isn’t the main threat/main antagonist in DA4, and maybe more like the Dragon to someone/something else, or a figure like Loghain in DA:O, who you can kill or convince to join you in your fight against the real overarching threat, in that case the Blight. Corypheus broke the Veil in the Red Lyrium future. Demons always want to cross it. the Evanuris are trapped in some way that involves the Veil being in place. Flemythal can never achieve true vengeance while her killers are sleeping or imprisoned somewhere she can’t reach. The Bio25 book says that “The Evil Gods have Thedas in their sights” and that “shadows of the past stir”. It also says that the “Deep Roads teem with evils both new and old”. There are theories about a double Blight. The most recent trailer has someone gushing “Glory to the Risen Gods. They’ve come to deliver this world”. Tevinter Nights hints at fck-knows-what – places and beings, “past the Veil of our world, neither demon nor spirit”, things with chthonic kinda vibes. Etc. a threat being “unleashed” has the implication of someone let something go.. or someone.. let something in... there are also other groups and beings to consider, like the Old Gods, the Forgotten Ones, the Executors.

I thought this phrasing from the IGN article was interesting, though it's not a direct quote from Gary. “Solas, who helped create the Veil, now wants to destroy it.” Helped create? Until now it was more like “Solas created the Veil”. Helped who..? 👁️

The other evil threats/the real threats, these ‘other gods’ (Gary McKay mentions them twice: “it might not just be Solas”, “the Dread Wolf is not the only god” you need be worried about), are surely the upside-down figures in this mural, right? Surely they are the “Evil Gods” (whoever /they/ are) mentioned in the Bio25 book, right? :D

[livin-like-larry413]

How brain dead of a fandom do you have to be to be okay with and perfectly rationalize telling someone to kill themselves and then celebrate the fact that they DID kill themselves after the fact just because they wrote something other than the main ship.

It’s almost like the people that entered fandom in the last 5 years, during and AFTER the pandemic have never grown up or interacted with general media in the way the “weird kids” have since the dawn of fucking fandom media literacy—and it shows.

In every other instance, it’s “protect your peace” / “like what you like” / “Don’t let other people shit on your interests”—but as soon as someone has a ship you don’t like or a headcanon that goes against the flow of factual canon or what YOU DEEM CORRECT, it’s hell on fucking earth and “how dare you actually have fun in this fandom space where nothing is actually real and these characters aren’t really people but I’m gonna treat them like they are and you should KILL YOURSELF for having fun with a FAKE world and FAKE people.”

How in the hell have you completely lost the plot of what fandom actually is—a place to have fun with the world in a way the creator either hasn’t gotten around to yet, or all together just doesn’t plan to do? To form a community where you have fun with others, make fond memories, and create something just for the fun of it? If you’re so fucking concerned about how other people will view you if you have fun with a piece of media that you can’t even really have fun with it, you aren’t really grasping the point of being in a fandom space, and you aren’t ready to join at all. You are a child.

If a select amount of you are so hellbent on being part of a toxic fandom for “lore” you’re a piece of shit. It’s not quirky and cute to be apart of the toxicity. You are an actual fucking child if you think it’s okay to speak utter vitriol and abuse to people in fandom spaces just because they don’t have the same headcanon, way of writing, ideas in GENERAL as you do.

I’ll repeat the words that have been apart of fandom for the last SEVERAL decades:

“If you don’t like it—Don’t read it. Back buttons exist for a reason. Block buttons exist for a reason. Use it.”

If you want to see what the aftermath of what utter horseshit toxicity looks like in large fandom spaces, do your own fucking research, I’ll even list 3 huge, prominent fandoms from the early 2010’s for the earliest instances: Voltron did it. Still does. Real people died and were threatened with death threats. The fandom died. Steven Universe did it. Still does. Real people died and were threatened with death threats. The fandom died. Homestuck did it. Real people died, were continuously threatened with death threats and the fandom died.

You see the trend?

It’s not that fucking difficult to protect your peace, whatever that fucking looks like. It is up to YOU to not look at something you don’t like within fandom and to just move on with your life. Interact with the media that interests YOU; not the invisible audience that you THINK you’re pandering to.

No one forces you to read or look at something you don’t want to. It is up to YOU to curate the space YOU want in fandom, NOT on SOMEONE ELSE to curate for you.

You are never the cause of someone’s death, unless you are actively there and doing it. But you ARE a driving force in their decision. Be the force that makes them NOT take their life, instead of egging them on.

Making a fandom space insufferable to be apart of is not a flex. It’s not cute. It’s not quirky. It is not “fandom culture”. It’s not the POINT. The world does not revolve around you. You are the master of your own stage, but NOT the master of fandom AS A WHOLE. You make your own experience phenomenal, or you make it abysmal, and you can absolutely do the same for someone else in a fandom.

You’d think after Inquisitor, people would get the fucking point.

[leenfiend]

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

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

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

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

[catras-breakup-song]

ugh, okay. i know i try to avoid discourse, especially when it's via my original content, but this is really pissing me off so i just need to take a risk of backlash and get this out there.

i was recently reminded of a youtube video from a while back (reuploaded below) that i really did not like, despite it kind of having a point (albeit for the wrong reasons) but now i can articulate why:

if you watch this without context like an average viewer of the show, it just looks like a genre of fan-made edits that i absolutely adore, which is highlighting parallels & patterns between characters. the problem is that this was made with the intention to paint such existence as a bad thing; that is, to accuse catradora moments in season five of "ripping off" or copying from prior scenes of glimmadora.

to borrow from a comment i left, as a multishipper of both... i simply love that these parallel each other. i'm a huge fan of recognizable repetition that isn't extremely obvious or carelessly spoon-fed to the audience. i don't see this as "i'm upset because my preferred ship isn't canon (however valid that is by itself), so the one that is stole from me, and that's bad" but rather "it's cool, and in a good way kind of ironic, that these two rival ships among fandom have so much in common." i don't want to negate how anyone feels or their right to have other beliefs but i see this as a positive thing, or at least neutral if nothing else, so i just don't understand what the big deal is.

the thing i'm mad about, personally, is how we can never get along and just respect each other's preferences. i think that's actually a more pressing issue that we should be taking seriously as opposed to kids' cartoon ship wars, and that's not even exclusive to SPOP. i'm not sure how many are left over this year, but i know a lot of us initially came in waves after being disappointed with voltron when it ended, and similar stuff happened between klance/sheith shippers (mind you, i was not a multishipper in that case, but i still had the decency to respect the other team even if i criticized it and mostly leave that community alone).

so, from a different perspective, i choose to appreciate this video for (accidentally?) connecting two of the most important main relationships in she-ra.

this is not an attempt to change the creator/reuploader's minds, nor is it meant to come across as inconsiderate of someone who disagrees with me. that being said, we are both as separate parties allowed to express ourselves with the same media and form our own judgements based off it.

[bokunoheros]

hello everyone, today i will be opening commissions!!! below, you can find the media, ships, and genres i'm willing to write for.

all commissions will be personally shared, not posted on this blog unless it is for bnha and you are okay with me posting it.

please DM me if you wish to commission me!

0/7 slots are taken!

MEDIA I WILL WRITE/DRAW FOR:

  anime:

assassination classroom bnha  bungou stray dogs haikyuu hetalia fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood fruits basket noragami ohshc soul eater suicide squad: isekai the disastrous life of saiki k

   shows:

american horror story futurama hazbin hotel helluva boss inside job it’s always sunny in philadelphia stranger things the boys the umbrella academy voltron

   games: 

boyfriend to death (1 & 2) (so sorry if yk what that is) genshin impact honkai star rail ikemen vampire ikemen villains mystic messenger project sekai: colorful stage

SHIPS I WILL WRITE/DRAW FOR:

canon character x canon character

oc x canon character

self insert / reader x canon character

oc x oc

self insert x oc

matchups* (yourself or an oc x a character assigned from me!)

  GENRES I WILL WRITE FOR:

smut /NSFT** (**not safe for tumblr)

dark content / dead dove: do not eat

generally toxic content

fluff

angst

yandere + descriptions of gore (if desired)

any AU you can think of 

*MATCHUP RULES:

tell me your name (or what you prefer to go by), age, and sexuality

list at least 5 semi-detailed facts ab yourself /personality traits you possess /whatever you think will help me understand you as a person

tell me your top 3-5 characters from the piece of media you select (this will help me assess your personality also)

matchups will include headcanons and reasons as to why i paired you with the character i did, and a 150-700 word blurb to accompany them

WRITING PRICES:

100–300 words: $5-7+ 350–600 words: $7-10+ 600–1000 words: $10-13+ 1500+ words: $15+  2000+ words: $20+ 3000+ words: $30+ 4000+ words: $40+ 5000+ words: $50+ 6000+ words: $60+ 7000+ words: $85+ 8000+ words: $100+ 9000+ words: $140+ 10k+ words: $170+ etc, etc, etc — the most i am willing to write is up to 20k words.  *initial matchup prices will range from $10–15

   ***these are all base prices, i am willing to negotiate depending on the content of the work.

examples of my writing include: tdbk threesome (10.4k words); “....katsuki!” (3.6k words); LIPSTICK STAINS & MIRRORS (7.7k words)

here, i have examples of my art listed below so you can see for yourself what my styles are like and if you want a piece of art or if you’d rather stick to my writing!!

WHAT I AM WILLING DRAW:

people

animals / furries

some NSFT (softcore stuff mostly)

screencap / official art redraws

OCs

ships

light gore

you!

your pets !

DRAWING PRICES:

sketched head/bust shot — $7+ sketched half-body — $13+ sketched full body — $17+

colored sketch head/bust shot — $15+ colored sketch half body — $20+ colored sketch full body — $30+

painted head/bust shot — $35+ painted half body — $50+ painted full body — $85+

   BACKGROUND PRICES (separate from main drawing prices)

basic color background — $5-10 sketched background — $15–25+ colored sketch background — $20–40+ fully painted/rendered background — $65+

VALID FORMS OF PAYMENT:

cashapp

venmo

paypal

[tsukinoiri]

&. @kusatta​ / keith.

             “yeah, yeah, laugh it up --- just help me get this slime thingy off while you’re at it!” 

[kissedbyaphrodite]

Promoting my fic "How I feel this river rushing through my veins"

Fandom: Voltron

Main tags: Half-Galra Keith, Quintessence-sensitive Keith, Druid Keith, Keith Can Manipulate Quintessence, White Haired Keith

Summary: "There he is" Haggar grinned, revealing her jagged teeth "My Apex"

The witch reached out to hold Keith's face, only for him to growl and try to bite her. Haggar laughed at him.

"Oh, feisty as your mother" She chuckled "Fret not, I won't hurt you. You're too precious for that"

Quintessence

¹- The fifth and highest element in ancient and medieval philosophy that permeates all nature and is the substance composing the celestial bodies

²- The essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form

[thethiefandtheairbender]

I had a question for you about the recent KPOP DH post you reblogged:

While I definitely don't think anything is beyond critique, some of the critiques struck me as off. This is especially regarding the idea that the movie should have had a kind of "meeting the Avatars" moment. Don't you think that it's kinda racist to say that a movie meant to celebrate a specific Asian culture should take more inspiration from a series that mixed together a bunch of different Asian cultures?

It just seems fairly insensitive to insist that an Asian-led project about specifically Korean culture, with tons of specifically Korean references, should have instead followed the lead of a bunch of white guys. Like, I love ATLA, don't get me wrong, and it was a major formative piece of my childhood, but I honestly don't get the obsession with comparing every piece of media to it, especially when said media is Asian.

What do you think?

First off: thank you for dropping this in my inbox! The critique post I reblogged was one I skimmed as there were parts of it that matched thoughts I'd had (ie. subjectively loved Bobby, objectively he probably should've been culled), other thoughts I didn't pay as much attention or mind to (the one you're pointing out, for ex).

Secondly: I defs agree that people often hold ATLA up to a gold standard for all storytelling tropes / see it through childhood nostalgia goggles, but I don't think it's inherently racist to compare two pieces of media to each other just because they happen to both feature Asian cultures or protagonists because like you noted, there's a ton of variety within that very large umbrella and they ARE going to be different from each other often times, as they should be... but that doesn't mean there are no potential similarities that can't be worthwhile to talk about.

For ex, KPOP DH's tone reminded me of Turning Red, yes (a movie I really loved, even if I didn't love the tone) but it also reminded me of The Owl House and Shera. People use short hands for what they think, from the media they've watched, is the best comparison and/or is going to reach the most people. ATLA is Super Popular on tumblr and the default for redemption arc comparisons, for example, so it doesn't surprise me that'd be the short hand for Something Else OP thought ATLA did well, tropes wise. People compare Kylo and Namaari to Zuko all the time and when you look at them side by side, Namaari does have more parallels simply by being 1) also royalty, 2) having a more complete antagonist to redemption arc journey, and 3) actively hunting down the protags, which isn't Kylo's main goal in the Sequel trilogy anyway. Structure is plot based similarities, execution is the interiority given and the degree to which it is effective. Something being structurally similar can make it a useful point through which to notice execution differences.

After all, the "meeting the Avatars" is a common trope in (fantasy) media in General, which is "characters meet & converse the predecessors who held their Uniquely Appointed Jobs/Duties," something that happens in a lot of shows/movies with old mentors, themes of legacy, time-bending magic, etc. (Trollhunters, Star Wars, Dragon Prince, Voltron, just to name a few off the top of my head.) There's also some really interesting stuff out there about pan-Asian fantasy worlds in comparison / contrast to pan-European ones... in addition to the trickiness sometimes of separating histories of colonization from each other within broader Eastern history and how to navigate that (my partner for ex is Filipino and accordingly has a very Spanish sounding name but was not raised Catholic, etc etc), but I don't think there's ultimately one right answer size fits all. Some people are going to like and crave pan-Asian fantasy worlds (maybe they feel reflected, as mixed race people often carry a lot of different identities and can often belong to multiple cultural identities at once by being Korean-Filipino, for example) and some people are going to staunchly reject it or sit somewhere in the middle for understandable reasons on all points. But I do lean, ultimately, on the side of "art should get to exist" and so should critique, even if it is the opposite of your experience.

Furthermore: while KPOP DH, to me, has a lot of fun / good stuff in it (the animation, the songs, concepts)... it is a very structurally broken, unfocused movie. The movie clearly wants the main trio of girls to feel Pressure regarding their role, and fixing the Honmoon this time is the culmination of centuries of work... but the movie never explains why it's This Time that's Extra Special, or that the girls feel particular pressure (other than Rumi for half-demon reasons) or even relief to Seal It Forever. After all, if it's permanently sealed... while they may still have to fight demons from time to time, couldn't they also relax and focus on just being Kpop stars? If this was something they were trained for for YEARS (and that is the implication with Rumi, iirc)... do they feel any kind of way about that role or part of their lives being over? A sense of accomplishment or pride in this significant milestone, especially considering Rumi's Hunter mother didn't live to see it (and would maybe have mixed feelings about it bc she fell in love with a demon)?? (No to all, apparently.)

There's effectively no story or emotional difference in the movie between Huntrix being the 1st group of Hunters vs the 300th or whatever, and that feels like a mixed opportunity. This is especially because the movie is somewhat interested in mentorship / complicated mentor/master-mentee dynamics (Celine and Rumi + Jino and Gwi-Ma was like... Right There with Celine literally ALSO being the source of Rumi's shame) but again, doesn't develop it. The girls having past Hunters or Rumi's mom to like, Live Up To could've added more emotional stakes of them failing and throwing in the towel near the end of the movie... instead it comes off as Just being about them and their interpersonal issues/failures rather than like... concern for their community?? Which feels very individualist in a pretty strange way for a movie, like you said, that's also very Korean. Like... where was the Collectivism as a theme beyond "the dangers of saving face/hiding your flaws" which also isn't a main theme and is also only like, the bad side of collectivism without really illustrating the good? (There's not even like... any focus on positive bio family dynamics at all in the movie, which again: Interesting choice.)

Honestly my biggest singular gripe with the movie is:

While the distinction (if there is an actual difference and they're not all created) between 'born' demons and humans turned into demons isn't clear, it is clear that any human can become a demon if they give into Gwi-Ma (Jino + end of the movie w/ the crowds and other characters)

Gwi-Ma and the self loathing he inspires is very clearly adjacent if not outright classified as mental illness

Despite proving that being born a demon (or at least half) doesn't make you intrinsically evil (Rumi, her father) and that demons can indeed change (Jino), the movie does not ever wonder about its condemnation of demons

Demons who, I might add, live in clear fear and servitude of Gwi-Ma and are largely trapped by a magically enforced Border

Demons who, as acknowledged above, presumably became this because of their self-loathing and mental illness. And rather than questioning and trying to rehabilitate any of them, the movie says "yeah, if you can get over your mental illness/self loathing, you deserve to be saved and if you don't/can't, Fuck you, let's reinforce the status quo that keeps you Literally permanetly divided from the rest of 'human' society with no hope for anything else"

like. wut

(especially when, talking about Korea specifically, as of 2024 73.6% of Koreans reported experience at least one mental health issue on a yearly basis, but only 22% of people with a mental illness seek professional help during their lifetime.)

Like, I get they wanted to kill demons (esp a concept of demons likely borrowed if not outright from Korean mythology, though I wouldn't know because I don't know anything about Korean mythology) and keep it morally easy... but I don't think you can really do that while having a half-demon lead and a demon love interest who undergo self love / redemption arcs without the movie being such a thematically dissonant thing. I really thought in the beginning of the movie we were setting up something closer to Disney's Descendants, which while not perfect 1) actually acknowledges that enforcing a prison-state border is not something to aspire to, and 2) that people aren't born intrinsically evil and can change, even if they've made mistakes, in ways that don't result in death or condemnation of everyone who hasn't shown a certain amount of socially acceptable progress.

(Bonus points for Descendants having an immigration allegory for the core protags struggling to assimilate into the new dominant culture they've found themselves into... because that's like Zoey's 2-3 lines character bit and then is never really explored in a meaningful way even though once again, in the beginning, I thought the setup was so easy because like!! would Rumi not feel slightly torn between two worlds or heritages!! An easy parallel to have both an allegory and outright exploration of something in the real world hand in hand, a bonding opportunity for the characters and a way to explore their individual characterization!! And then Nothing yet again.)

So no, I don't wish that the movie was more like ATLA honestly by any means, but if someone did because they like certain tropes or execution that ATLA did (demonic or villainous characters having yellow eyes in mirrors is also something Trollhunters, a show by Guillermo Del Toro, did too, etc) I don't think that's inherently racist. People compare, reflect on, and emulate what they know, and it's one of the most popular cartoons of all time. Could there be more variety? Sure. But I get it, especially from someone coming from a more Western standpoint, which a lot of Kpop fans also do.

Because like by god, do I wish the movie was more like Disney's Descendants. I really do.

[komohine]

ok warrior cats voltron starclan vs dark forest subplot?!

sparrowtail dies fighting the mountain cats while the paladin group is out finding a new territory. and a dark forest cat takes this knowledge and basically torments Badgerheart with it in the form of vicious nightmares. it eventually mentally wears badgerheart down enough that the dark forest cat could possess him, or at least start to.

this cat is called Hollowthroat (formerly Heronfang). He was formerly part of Badgerheart’s clan as a respected warrior, but an accident left him mute and unable to fight or hunt for extended periods of time and the clan shunned him and named him after his disability. He eventually murdered his own brother, Eaglestalk, who fought against him as he attempted to assassinate the clan leader in his sleep. Hollowthroat succeeded in killing the clan leader, taking all remaining 6 of his lives consecutively.

Hollowthroat was quickly discovered by the clan, and was killed. nearly torn to shreds. His brother went to starclan, while he went to the dark forest. Now he’s dedicated to ruining the clans forever.

Hollowthroat basically possesses Badgerheart and so thats how we get the warrior cats version of Kuron. Meanwhile, Redpaw gets guidance from the spirit of Eaglestalk and eventually, Sparrowtail.

Hollowthroat and Eaglestalk are actually ancestors of Redpaw and Badgerheart, making the two of them distantly related. Hollowthroat was the father of Badgerheart’s mother, while Eaglestalk was the father of Redpaw’s father.

Their final battle against eachother is along a ravine. there was rushing water below, the rain was pouring. Badgerheart had lost his mind and is almost completely possessed by Hollowthroat, who wants to murder the others so that the clans perish in the floods and in the war against the mountain cats. The only way across the ravine is a single fallen tree, and Redpaw is blocking the path. He refuses to let Badgerheart across.

The rain made the grass slippery. The fight was dramatic, with Badgerheart fighting viciously and using forbidden techniques from the dark forest meant to kill. Redpaw didnt want to hurt Badgerheart, but he had little choice. The fight ends in the two of them falling into the ravine. Both of them actually die! And bcs Hollowthroat was in Badgerheart’s body when he died, his spirit was vanquished for good.

Redpaw wakes up in starclan to see Sparrowtail sitting by him. He immediately knows that both him and Sparrowtail are dead. Obviously he freaks out, but his main concern is how Badgerheart and Flintpaw took Sparrowtail’s death. Sparrowtail reassures him, and ends up granting him another life. He says hes not technically supposed to do this, but that for the sake of the clans, starclan could probably make an exception. Redpaw tries to ask Sparrowtail what Flintpaw’s warrior name was as he was waking up, only for Sparrowtail to tell him to “find out when you see him again.”

Badgerheart was also visited by Sparrowtail. It was a bittersweet moment, because then he knew that the nightmares Hollowthroat showed him were true. But Sparrowtail comforts him and says he died fighting for the clan, that it was honourable, and that it wasn’t painful. He also grants Badgerheart another life, and this time its less for the sake of the clans and more out of Sparrowheart’s own love.

Badgerheart was already awake when Redpaw woke (Sparrowtail visited him first), and Redpaw knew from the expression on his face that Badgerheart knew.