#Commander Holt

[is-there-an-echo-in-here]

X

[saggitary]

The true dichotomy of life is the debate between thinking of the Coruscant Guard as the suspicious quiet black sheep of the GAR because they work on Coruscant directly under the hand of a Sith Lord and regularly see the worst the Republic has to offer… of thinking of them more like Brooklyn 99

[chibi-pix]

Oh yeah, I started this back in January, didn't I? So, in a discord server, someone shared a pic of Gantu in the Lilo and Stitch series. I don't remember the context or why it was brought up, but I had been smacked with the thought of drawing Sendak like that. Thus, this. And Sendak not understanding the joy of a beach day.

At least he understands fashion. Pidge probably picked his outfit for him, by the way.

Also! The Gantu pic.

Trend setters.

Anyway! I hope y'all enjoy this one! Commissions are available on my Ko-fi. Until next time!

[the-feral-gremlin]

Pre Canon Voltron headcannons Bc I Can. Part 1(?)

Keith has dyed his hair red before, (specifically before meeting Shiro and then once at the garrison to piss Iverson and Sanda off.)

Shiro knows how to give himself a (non sexual obvi) massage.

After finding out Keith’s holiday plans consisted of staying in his shared room at his foster parents, Matt and Shiro invited over for the Holt/ Shirogane-Whatever the fuck Adam’s last name is family dinner. And he hasn’t missed one sense, even when in the desert.

Keith taught Pidge how to pick a lock and how to defend herself, while Pidge taught Keith his way around a computer.

Keith knows first aid. (Bc his dad was a firefighter, he grew up in the desert, and bc he was always getting himself in trouble.)

Matt and Keith pranked Iverson and Sanda a lot (unbeknownst to everyone else because they would get in a whole lot of trouble obviously)

Matt and Keith were roommates.

On the anniversary of his dad’s death, you could find Keith under his bed frame or in some other odd place with music playing. Matt covers for him in class while Shiro and Adam ask for the day off and hang out with him, usually in silence.

Adam, Shiro, and Iverson were all in the same book club.

Adam and Shiro have the occasional double date with Sam and Colleen (it consists of Sam trying to get Shiro to call him something other than Science Officer Holt and Adam and Colleen swapping recipes)

That’s all for now

Next ->

[keepofkandrakar]

it should not have taken me three watches and several years to realize that Voltron is just very gay Power Rangers 

[discordiansamba]

so how is everyone doing in this peacetime reality?

Well first off, the Kerberos mission went off without a hitch, instantly launching the career of young Garrison officer Matt Holt. He now holds the same Commander rank as his father. He works with his dad on all sorts of tech for the Garrison, basically living his ideal life. He also never really gets that second puberty he got in canon so he's still relatively pretty short. His only regret.

Pidge never had to fake her own identity to enter the Garrison, so Katie Holt attended and graduated under her own name. She also works with her dad and Matt, and is still friends with the cadets she was in her flight group with, Hunk and Lance. Hunk's got a solid career as an engineer for the Garrison (and is glad his role lets him do it from the ground). Lance realized he was kind of shooting himself in the foot during his last year and really buckled down with his studies, eventually managing to graduate as a fighter pilot- even if he never obtained the flashy upper level rank he actually wanted.

Shiro is on the verge of retiring as a pilot, but is thinking of staying on as a teacher. His disease is finally showing signs of actively getting in the way of his daily life, but he's got another good ten years before he really has to start worrying about its day to day effects. He made up with Adam and they got married. He's one of the Garrison's most decorated pilots...

...although Keith is hot on his heels, at least in terms of skill. He's proved himself to be one of the most skilled pilots the Garrison has had in generations, but he keeps turning down offers of promotion. Being in the chain of command isn't for him. He's mellowed out a little since his temperamental youth, thanks largely due to Shiro's influence. He's still not really suited for the strict Garrison lifestyle though, so he kind of bounces from base to base. He mostly works as a test pilot.

(Allura and Coran are still asleep, waiting for someone to wake them up.)

[uniquecellest]

More Adashi AU

- Adam talks to Shiro while Shiro pilots the Atlas, Adam says some words that feel like a goodbye and Shiro calls out to him. He thinks Adam is dead (Adam was able to evacuate his plane before it crashed with the Galra)

- Upon hearing that the Galra are coming, Shiro and Adam argue over Adam being involved

- Once the quartet of Matt, Adam, Shiro, and Keith are reunited Matt and Keith hound Shiro like annoying brothers for leaving Adam and Keith behind

- Adam saying the words "we're going to get you to the medbay and once you're all healed up we're going to have a sparring match where I throw you around like a rag doll" / "don't ever worry me like that again. I don't know if I can ever take a loss like that again"

-Adam infiltrates Galra forces and travels with them in space. Shiro can't believe what he sees when he thinks Adam is willingly working with Galra

-with Kerberos being considered a bust bc of "pilot error" The Garrison wants to send others into space to retrieve the Kerberos crew. Voltron crew finds Adam's ship just floating in space with no life force seeming to be inside. They investigate to find Adam on the floor and alone. Turns out there's barely enough oxygen for even a new born let alone a grown adult (bonus if Adam's ship was hit with quintessence); Shiro refuses to leaves Adam's side while he's in the healing pod

-Adam somehow being used to help power the Galras main ship that attacked earth like some Alteans were

-They never confessed their feelings so when Shiro is determined to go on Kerberos Adam just sits with his feelings and waits; both thinking they've missed their chance with the other (cue Matt, Keith and Pidge trying to get them together when they reunite)

-Soulmate/soul marks AU where Shiro and Adam do not meet until Shiro comes back from space

- (shout to Chibi-pix for this one) Adam is like a brother figure to Pidge which results in Keith and Pidge being siblings causing Iverson to lose his mind bc Keith and Pidge are Matt and Shiro 2.0s (Lord help him when an Adam 2.0 enters the picture); Adam and Shiro are blissfully aware of their siblings antics but act like they aren't

-Kuron goes to Earth and kidnaps Adam

-Shiro is forced to choose between Keith and Adam

- They start off as a one-sided rivalry until an incident forces them together and they start to get to know each other

-more patient Adam and reckless Shiro

-Adam joins the Blade of Marmora where he runs into Keith (Adam still thinks Shiro is dead) Adam is with him in the two years in the Abyss and reunites with Shiro when Keith returns to the Paladins

-Eros!Adam and Psyche!Shiro

-Teen Titans AU where Shiro is Cyborg and Adam is Bumblebee (points for Kuron being Brother Blood)

-Camp Half-Blood demigod Shiro and Camp Jupiter Half-Blood Adam

-Adam and Matt get buried alive and Shiro is a reck trying to find them (Adam) so they don't die

-Baker/Cook Adam and Shiro who can't boil water without setting it on fire

-Adam and Shiro swap roles (neither are dead though)

-Shiro and Adam meeting once when they were kids but not meeting again until they are older. Both remember but Adam acts like he doesn't recall it at all

-Both are cadets and one has a significant other while the other is pining hard (s/a with the significant other doesn't last long, significant other also happens to be mutuals with Adam and Shiro)

-Shiro trains and gets a bad bruise on his neck that everyone thinks is a hickey until Adam returns from a trip (cue Keith defending Shiro but the other Paladins and co think maybe Shiro cheated)

-Shiro confesses to Adam one night but acts like he doesn't remember it then he and Adam spiral in their feelings

[graphicpolicy]

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week! 15 comics to check out this week #comics #comicbooks

Wednesdays (and Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at! Find out what…

[alukardtheabysswalker]

Inspired by that ME comic that I can't find rn (please tag the author if you find them) my brother and I brainstormed which ME characters would fit best in the Mole Cold Open from B99 so here you have it:

Shepard: That's crazy, no one here's a mole.

Anderson: How can you be so sure

Shepard: Because I know these guys, I know everything about them

Anderson: You're a poor Commander if you don't think people can surprise you

Shepard: Not these people. Here, watch this I know what everyone is gonna do tonight. It's thursday, so Kasumi is gonna leave early to rehearse with her dance group, Dancy Reagan, they're the first ladies of movemente. Liara's gonna be going over her weekly budget. And Thane will be attending a "Pyjak for one" cooking class.

Thane: Tonight's menu "Sauce-Alon-I"

Shepard: And if I run and leap at Garrus he will most certainly catch me in his arms. Coming in!

Garrus: No, I'm holding coffee!

*crash*

[themagicmerci]

The freedom fighters of Voltron really should of had more screen time, they had their moments and they obviously did what they could to defend and at least slow some of the Galra’s power, but we don’t exactly get a ton on them. We do get scenes of them and their actions (begin the Blitz, Reunited, e.t.c-brief mentions/moments) it still feels they were done dirty. Te-lash obviously seemed she would have been a important member to the show if they hadn’t killed her off. (S trope to which I hate). It could have changed the story line, or maybe it wouldn’t have.

Te-ohs was the commander/leader of the freedom fighters and could have been around for hundreds of years (not too sure of how long her people live to). Building a record of successes and influence for smaller rebel groups. If she wasn’t killed off she could have given more information to the paladins and Matt. They may have ended up parting ways for Pidge to find Matt or aided them in her venture to find him. Leading to the paladins meeting the commander of the freedom fighters and possibly having a better grasp on the inner workings of the Galra empire (I’d assume she and Matt have some sort of close relationship -my guess is almost a parental one?)

Other notes I wanna just- have out but I haven’t exactly planned an actual thing to talk about them with…yet

Te-lash could have given them a hand in planning in the attacks on the Galra outposts, possibly giving an advantage to the freedom fighters when engaging. (Olia and her could work off one another as well)

Kolivan and Te-osh could have interacted and may have been able to know our (if she hadn’t known) that the cannons would have had extra shielding. This may have given them an idea and plan better then going head in. ((Kolivan may not have trusted the fighters before since he could have not had much of an interaction with them or real leader to speak with,

Olia and Ozar could have had more interaction with the paladins, thought this would disrupt the activities in future season they would have more intel and may have been able to change the events that would lead up to Lotor’s downfall. (Like a ripple it could have had them do something different from what they choose to do and how they found out certain things. Like the butterfly effect basically is what I’m saying.

The relationships and inner workings could have been seen more- the found family moments or bonds. (But seeing what happened to that with the paladins…

Anyways, I’ll make something more stable and might actually realize I’m wrong about stuff here, my brain is getting a bit fuzzy and all over the place again- ha

[is-there-an-echo-in-here]

The man has Holt energy, that’s all

X

[chibi-pix]

I had come across this post with The Boulder and Toph and I had to do it, but with Pidge and Sendak. And, yes, utilizing Pidge being blind in an AU, but with a different outfit than I gave her in my MitD au series.  But. This felt perfect. Another option was using Haxus instead of Sendak, but I liked Sendak more since, in blind AU/s, Haxus is a good guy. 

Anyway, I hope y’all enjoyed this one! Until next time!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Poor people pay higher time tax

Doubtless you’ve heard that “we all get the same 24 hours in the day.” Of course it’s not true: rich people and poor people experience very different demands on their time. The richer you are, the more your time is your own — not only are many systems arranged with your convenience in mind, but you also command the social power to do something about systems that abuse your time.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/10/my-time/#like-water-down-the-drain

For example: if you live in most American cities, public transit is slow, infrequent and overcrowded. Without a car, you lose hours every day to a commute spent standing on a lurching bus. And while a private car can substantially shorted that commute, people who can afford taxis or Ubers get even more time every day.

There’s a thick anthropological literature on the ways that cash-poverty translates into #TimePoverty. In David Graeber’s must-read essay “The Utopia of Rules,” he nails the way that capitalist societies generate Soviet-style bureaucracies, especially for poor people. Means-testing for benefits means that poor people spend endless hours filling in forms, waiting on hold, and lining up to see caseworkers to prove that they are among the “deserving poor” — not “mooches” who are defrauding the system:

https://memex.craphound.com/2015/02/02/david-graebers-the-utopia-of-rules-on-technology-stupidity-and-the-secret-joys-of-bureaucracy/

The social privilege gradient is also a time gradient: if you can afford a plane ticket, you can travel quickly across the country rather than losing days to the Greyhound or a road-trip. But if you’re even richer, you can pay for TSA Precheck and cut your airport security time from an hour to minutes. Go further up the privilege gradient and you’ll acquire airline status, shaving another hour off the check-in process.

This qualitative account of time poverty is well-developed, but it’s lacked a good, detailed quantitative counterpart, and our society often discounts qualitative work as mere anecdote and insists on having every story converted to numbers before it is taken seriously.

In “Examining inequality in the time cost of waiting,” published this month in Nature Human Behavior, public affairs researchers Steve Holt (SUNY) and Katie Vinopal (Ohio State) analyze data from the American Time Use Survey (AUTS) to produce a detailed, vibrant quantitative backstop to the qualitative narrative about time poverty:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01524-w

(The paper is paywalled, but the authors made a mostly final preprint available)

https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/jbk3x/download

The AUTS “collects retrospective time diary data from a nationally representative subsample drawn from respondents to the Census Bureau’s Community Population Survey (CPS) each year.” These time-diary entries are sliced up in 15-minute chunks.

Here’s what they found: first, there are categories of basic services where high-income people avoid waiting altogether, and where low-income people experience substantial waits. A person from a low-income household “an hour more waiting for the same set of services than people from high-income household.” That’s 73 hours/year.

Some of that gap (5%) is attributable to proximity. Richer people don’t have to go as far to access the same services as poorer people. Travel itself accounts for 2% more — poorer people wait longer for buses and have otherwise worse travel options.

A larger determinant of the gap (25%) is working flexibility. Poor people work jobs where they have less freedom to take time off to receive services, so they are forced to take appointments during peak hours.

Specific categories show more stark difference. If a poor person and a wealthy person go to the doctor’s on the same day, the poor person waits 46.28m to receive care, while the wealthy person waits 28.75m. The underlying dynamic here isn’t hard to understand. Medical practices that serve rich people have more staff.

The same dynamic plays out in grocery stores: poor people wait an average of 24m waiting every time they go shopping. For rich people, it’s 15m. Poor people don’t just wait in longer lines — they also have to wait for understaffed stores to unlock the cases that basic necessities are locked behind (poor people also travel longer to get to the grocery store — and they travel by slower means).

A member of a poor household with a chronic condition that requires two clinic visits per month loses an additional five hours/year to waiting rooms when compared to a wealthy person. As the authors point out, this also translates to delayed care, missed appointments, and exacerbated health conditions. Time poverty leads to health poverty.

All of this is worse for people of color: “Low-income White and Black Americans are both more likely to wait when seeking services than their wealthier same-race peer” but “wealthier White people face an average wait time of 28 minutes while wealthier Black people face a 54 minute average wait time…wealthier Black people do not receive the same time-saving attention from service providers that wealthier non-Black people receive” (there’s a smaller gap for Latino people, and no observed gap for Asian Americans.)

The gender gap is more complicated: “Low-income women are 3 percentage points more likely than low-income men and high-income women are 6 percentage points more likely than high-income men to use common services” — it gets even worse for low-income mothers, who take on the time-burdens associated with their kids’ need to access services.

Surprisingly, men actually end up waiting longer than women to access services: “low-income men spend about 6 more minutes than low-income women waiting for service…high-income men spend about 12 more minutes waiting for services than high-income women.”

Given the important role that scheduling flexibility plays in the time gap, the authors propose that interventions like subsidized day-care and afterschool programming could help parents access services at off-peak hours. They also echo Graeber’s call for reduced paperwork burdens for receiving benefits and accessing public services.

They recommend changes to labor law to protect the right of low-waged workers to receive services during off-peak hours, in the manner of their high-earning peers (they reference research that shows that this also improves worker productivity and is thus a benefit to employers as well as workers).

Finally, they come to the obvious point: making people less cash-poor will alleviate their time-poverty. Higher minimum wages, larger earned income tax credits, investments in low-income neighborhoods and better public transit will all give poor people more time and more money with which to command better services.

This week (Feb 13–17), I’ll be in Australia, touring my book Chokepoint Capitalism with my co-author, Rebecca Giblin. We’re doing a remote event for NZ on Feb 13. Next are Melbourne (Feb 14), Sydney (Feb 15) and Canberra (Feb 16/17). More tickets just released for Sydney!

[Image ID: A waiting room, draped with cobwebs. A skeleton sits in one of the chairs. A digital display board reads 'Now serving 53332.' An ogrish, top-hatted figure standing at a podium, yanking a dollar-sign shaped lever looms into the frame from the right. He holds a clock aloft disdainfully, pinched between the thumb and fingers of one white-gloved hand.]

[lemondropdew]

one thing I love of Luke Holt voicing Lord Zeus is that his voice is LOUD, booming, commanding, like the thunder, but also like The King should be. But in the same vein, that voice could be soft, fatherly, loving. Which for Lord Zeus, King of Olympus, father to many, is really fitting.

[vinetooth-prime]

Amira Holt

— Ascalonian/Canthan || Merc For Hire Priory Arcanist || ex-Mantle Commander, Pardoned by Her Majesty, Queen Jennah

"I don't get the magic thing. Weapons are more reliable but... I won't lie: it's pretty fuckin' sick when it works."

Born & raised in Divinity's Reach, Amira was a third-generation recruit of the Ministry Guard and inheritor of her family's career legacy. Always exceptionally skilled in her work—thanks largely to her father's constant drilling and pressure to excel—she served under several ministers, eventually (and often) working under Legate Minister Caudecus like the rest of her family.

With the reemergence of the White Mantle, led by Caudecus, tensions began to rise. Amira was locked in conflict with herself between her sense of duty, her sense of loyalty, and her sense of morality. By the attack on Divinity's Reach, Amira found herself trapped among the thick of it, innocent blood smeared on her hands from her own hesitation.

At the betrayal of her family and colleges, Amira deserted, though not in time to avoid succumbing to bloodstone poisoning consuming her right arm. When she came to, she was in a Krytan hospital with her soul fragmented (unknown to her at the time) and her arm had been amputated. Terrified of whatever sentencing she imagined to face, Amira made an escape and fled Kryta.

During her escape, her new aptitude for shadow magic began to become clear, and Amira pressed southward, eventually landing herself in Lion's Arch.

Homeless, alone, and afraid for her life, Amira turned to picking up any job offered her. This quickly lead to Amira floating day-to-day by rubbing elbows in the underground of LA, the apathy of a hard life wearing her down to take thefts, thug jobs, and even the occasional hit. She made few friends and many enemies, also chancing fate and taking opportunity hunting down bounty contracts from private postings, other governments, townships, and crews.

Through chance encounters and a string of lucky choices, Amira eventually met her doppelganger five years later. Avoiding her own death again, a shaky truce was made, which quickly lead to joining the same Priory Sector that employed her "twin".

This, in turn, lead to her joining the excursion to Cantha's reopening and enthusiastically reconnecting with "her roots", making a handful of strong friendships and facing the Dragonvoid threat near the epicenter.

In 1337AE, her arrest & pending execution by the Shining Blade was made public. A month later, she instead received a full pardon from the Crown for her crimes of high treason in exchange for the arrest of her father, murderer, and White Mantle Fanatic, Clarence Holt.

[kismetconstellations]

Shiro from Voltron for the character ask game

To spare my poor followers' dashboards a massive wall of text, my answers will be found behind the cut. Let's regroup there, shall we?

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

I love Shiro because he demonstrates so perfectly that a person's trauma does not have to define them. No matter what kind of Hell they've been subjected to, they always have the option to remain gentle, compassionate, and kind. Even when they're afraid. Even when they believe themselves to be "broken", or monstrous because of what they had to do to survive.

One can rise above attempts to break them, and be so much more than the people who mistreated them tried to force them to be.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

His personality. Even when he isn't being everything that epitomizes a true hero- brave, selfless, strong-willed, empathetic, always looking after others and willing to risk his life for them at the drop of a hat- he's so much fun to watch. From his moments of tired, resigned irritation and bemusement with others' antics,

to his quiet fascination with Altean technology and concepts, like water pouches and their time measurement system,

to the moments where he's just a great big dorky sweetheart.

People who think he's "boring" because he's a workaholic soldier who isn't as inclined to shenanigans and over the top reactions as his younger comrades aren't paying attention. He's an extremely dynamic, multi-faceted character just begging to be explored by someone who loves him and all of his depth and multitudes.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

How he's handled by the team of inept showrunners who helmed this messy disaster of a cartoon.

He has no real support system, something I can only imagine is due to him being the commanding officer to a group of teenagers he can't truly confide in, and the intention to have him fill a Doomed Mentor role, despite him being inadvertently written as The Chosen One. His biological family is virtually non-existent. The only other proper adult he could look to for advice is the designated comic relief. There were opportunities for him to be taken in by the Holts, given their mutual fondness for each other, or even Allura and Coran. Allura and Shiro seemed to have developed an even stronger bond (offscreen, of course) after she saved his life.

(I have a theory that Allura's quintessence alchemy altered Shiro's DNA, which is why his new arm could only be safely powered by the Balmeran crystal from Allura's tiara, and the Atlas, similarly powered by Altean magic, responds to Shiro and Shiro alone, establishing a mental link with him the same way Allura had with the Castle of Lions. But, that's for another unhinged essay.)

And, when Coran confronts Iverson about strapping Shiro to a table in the pilot, he refers to Shiro as "our Shiro".

But, neither of these avenues were ever explored, as Shiro was "retired" and relegated to side-character status, leaving him isolated from everyone, including his best friend who loveshim.

The ableism surrounding his disability is disgusting. He's a forced amputee twice over. He spends most of an entire season standing mute on the sidelines without a right arm, and there's absolutely no acknowledgement of his missing limb, that his best friend is the reason why it's gone, or inquiries into how being rendered effectively "useless" after coming back from the dead is affecting Shiro's already poor mental health.

(Does Shiro sleep? Does he have pajamas he can even change into, or is he supposed to wear the Black Paladin armor the entire trip back to Earth? Is he able to shower with that stump, or does it pose an electrocution hazard if it comes into contact with water? Is there anything available for him to do so he isn't standing silently around, losing his mind?)

His best friend's mother tells him to stay out of a fight, and he meekly accepts the order, never making another attempt to be anything other than a helpless bystander until he's been outfitted with a new arm that he, once again, has no say in the design of. An arm that is bulky and over-sized, impractical, likely extremely uncomfortable, and sickeningly mirrors his abuser's.

The same abuser who filled his head with taunts about his previous prosthetic being the "strongest part" of him, and the same abuser who tortured him and is implied to have raped him.

An ally tells him that he would be stronger with "two robotic arms", almost mocking the fact that Shiro's right arm was deliberately taken from him to be replaced by a weapon. And, this is never called out or questioned.

A punch that he lands on his abuser with his organic fist only incites a mocking sneer before Shiro is flung across the body of the ship that they're fighting on like a ragdoll.

After being made to feel washed-up and old at twenty-six, Shiro participates in an arm-wrestling tournament that he wins-- using the ill-proportioned prosthetic modeled after his abuser's.

I don't know if there was no one on the staff who was aware of the vile implications in this handling of a disabled character, but when one considers the similar grotesque handling of intense trauma and passive suicidal ideation... It doesn't exactly paint a pretty picture of the ideas and beliefs that went into the writing on this show.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

This is so silly and indulgent, but... What immediately comes to mind is, instead of him dying in the second season's finale and spending four entire seasons helplessly roaming and languishing on the Astral Plane, I would have him magically transported to the beach episode of a slice of life anime.

He would get to play volleyball with and be fawned over by a bunch of pretty, shirtless men with glistening, sun-kissed skin. As he deserves. ( ᵘ ᵕ ᵘ ⁎)

5. What’s the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

"Lazarus Drug", by Meg Washington. Longtime followers of my silly little blog might be aware of my love for Bluey, which is how I was introduced to this gorgeous piece of music. It was used to masterful effect in the twenty-eight minute special episode, The Sign.

When I was struggling to come up with a title for my Shiro-centric character study/fix-it fic, "Lazarus Drug" proved to be a lifesaver.

"And when I hear you calling, Like you were always there, I rise until I'm hanging in the Middle of the air

And when I hear you calling, I split like I'm a snake With golden light like fingers And, then I start to break

Into a billion pieces Oh, I shatter into constellations Like I've never been more here Like I completely disappear

I'm nothingness, but shining And everywhere at once I'm everything and everyone Who is or ever was."

6. What’s something you have in common with this character?

Less than stellar mental health as a result of trauma.

7. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

There are so many jaw-droppingly stunning and breathtaking pieces of Shiro fan art out there. I also greatly appreciate fanfics, meta, and analyses that take all of his trauma and his disability, and how they would realistically impact his daily life, into account.

Christening him "The Unkillable Gay", and "Gay God", is also pretty darned fantastic.

8. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Dark Shiro, Shiro-bashing (usually in tandem with Allura-bashing), sidelining him due to ageism, ignoring his canon sexuality to give Keith reason to angst over Shiro not accepting him in K/L fics, minimizing Shiro's role in Keith's life to focus on their preferred ship, having Shiro adopt or be biologically related to Keith, especially if Adam is co-parenting and Keith has more of a bond with him than Shiro (it's pretty obvious why certain shippers do this), depicting him as high-libido and sexually aggressive/an Alpha/dominant/top, even more so when he gets off on being called "daddy", expressing a belief that he should have stayed dead in service of Keith's character, treating him and his clone as the same person... Just to name a few.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

I don't see why not.

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

I'd love to think that we could be. But, realistically, I'd be too nervous to ever approach him and strike up a conversation. >////<'

11. Would you date this character?

Though he is undeniably gorgeous, we are romantically incompatible, I'm afraid.

12. What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

Shiro moved to the United States with his grandfather in late childhood, between the ages of eight and ten. That's why he speaks perfect English with no trace of an accent.

13. What’s an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

☆

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Classic Hollywood pilot aesthetic; aviation jacket with (faux) fur lining, patches on the sleeve, and a tight t-shirt or tank top underneath, sometimes with aviator sunglasses folded over the collar or worn over his eyes, military dog tags around his neck, the sort of clingy, curve-flattering pants that he canonically favors, and knee-high combat boots. Scarf is optional.

I also love a soft formal look on him. Crisp dress shirt and tie with a vest over top, perfectly tailored slacks, and shiny black loafers.

15. What’s your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn’t matter if it’s canon or not.)

I'm going to go with Shiro/Keith, though I very much have a fondness for Shiro/Hunk, as well.

Keith's devotion to Shiro is exactly the level of devotion that Shiro deserves, though Keith could stand to tone the intensity of it down just a tad. His willingness to throw his life away for Shiro would be a massive source of anxiety for Shiro, and something they'd have to discuss, among many other topics, before entering a serious romantic relationship.

And, Hunk is such a sweetheart, he'd spoil and pamper Shiro in all of the best ways. When he's of legal consenting age, of course.

16. What’s your least favorite ship for this character?

Romantic Shiro/Pidge, and Shiro/Sendak. An adult gay man and a female child, and a trauma survivor and his personal tormentor is a great big "no thanks" for me.

17. What’s a ship for this character you don’t hate but it’s not your favorite that you’re fine with?

Shiro/Lance, and Shiro/Matt. I prefer Shiro and Matt as friends, and overexposure to Lance thanks to a hyper-zealous fanbase has done a fairly good job of putting me off of him. Which sucks, because I genuinely like him just fine in the show, itself. I don't mind either ship, and have read fic for them. They're just not prospects for Shiro that I ever seriously entertain.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

I love Shiro and Pidge's relationship in the early episodes. The way he is so gentle, encouraging, and protective with her, basically becoming a second older brother, and how she comes to trust and rely on him as a confidante, enough that she personally seeks him out to tell him that she plans to leave the team to search for her father and brother, knowing he will understand, stole my heart almost immediately, and stole it hard.

It's incredibly disheartening that, after his resurrection, we only get tidbits and table scraps of that relationship.

Why did Shiro start riding with her in the Green Lion on the journey back to Earth? Who knows? The writers certainly weren't going to tell us, because Shiro was so thoroughly a side-character, by that point, he and Pidge- if I'm recalling correctly- only talked to each other onscreen one time.

Never forget what they took from us.

(Also ignore that they forgot to draw Shiro's scar.)

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don’t like?

No offense to Mr. Set-Dressing, but there is nothing that points to these characters having any sort of even platonic relationship, let alone the kind of chemistry that would lead to a marriage a few years down the line. They never address each other by name, or at all, when they're not exchanging commands in the heat of battle. "Curtis" has more personal interaction with Acxa. And, I swear Shiro only looks away from the console on the Atlas's bridge to physically acknowledge this man once.

The animators certainly did poor "Curtis" no favors, either, by making him look like a sad, pathetic older man who couldn't lift or dip his strapping younger groom on their wedding day.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn’t matter?

I adore the idea of Shiro and Allura as best friends, and would have loved to have seen some genuine interaction between the Real Shiro and Matt, after Shiro attacked Matt to save his life. Alas...

21. If you’re a fic writer and have written for this character, what’s your favorite thing to do when you’re writing for this character? What’s something you don’t like?

I've only very recently started writing for Shiro, and don't see myself doing much more than the aforementioned character study/fix-it fic. That said, I love getting into his head to really flesh him out, his psychology, his illness, his failed relationship, his experience in captivity, and using the members of his found family as conduits for him to realize just how special and good to his core he truly is. Like what should have happened in canon.

I don't like writing about him suffering, but part of recovering from trauma is processing it. And, processing often involves reliving the traumatic event as you walk a trusted friend, loved one, or mental health professional through it in the hopes that they will then offer you the greatly needed comfort and support and skills to cope that you didn't have, at the time it occurred.

22. If you’re a fic reader, what’s something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don’t like?

I love in-character portrayals of Shiro in Hurt/Comfort settings that address the sheer magnitude of his trauma, and emphasize how unfailingly brave, strong, compassionate, and altruistic in spite of it all that he has always been and always will be.

I'm not a fan of him being treated like he's "oblivious", or "emotionally constipated" for not immediately acting on an Anguished Declaration of Love that Keith gave to "Kuron", and prefaced with, "You're my brother".

And, I've covered before, in detail, how much it irks and baffles me when Lance fans give Lance traits distinct and exclusive to Shiro in an effort to try to turn him into Shiro, instead of accepting him as he is.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Tough call, since there are so many, but, I do think this one is the winner:

I love that, despite his strong jaw, his features are so gentle and soft, and the silver hair truly lends him an ethereal quality. That arm is ghastly, but it doesn't detract from just how pretty Shiro is, and how much that Admiral coat flatters him.

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

I don't participate in the fandom at all, but I've carried a torch for Leonardo from the 2003 incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since the show was still actively airing and in production. There are so many similarities between Shiro and 2003 Leo that one could almost say there's a specific type of character that I'm drawn to like gravity hurtling a ship into a planet with a crash-landing imminent and the projected number of casualties astronomical.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

My first impression of Shiro, when I watched the pilot and second episode back in 2016, was that he was my favorite character of the lot. I was drawn to him for all of the reasons stated above. But, once I became aware of the online fandom drama, I backed off, only watching three more episodes (A Little Adventure and Lions' Pride I and II) in 2018 for Shiro/Keith shipping reasons before becoming a lurker on the peripheral, exploring fanmade content without engaging with the show, itself. It wasn't until earlier this year that I finally grit my teeth, braced myself, and committed to watching at least the seasons where the Real Shiro is featured in full.

I both immensely regret that decision for the sheer levels of frustration, fury, and deeply-rooted sadness at all of the wasted potential that I opened myself up to, and don't regret it at all. Because, I sincerely love Shiro and wish with all of my heart that he, and especially Allura and Coran and even Hunk, were handled by infinitely better writers in an infinitely better show.

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Thank you so very, very much for asking! ❤