#Kuron Deserved Better

[anzuhan]

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Thought about Kuron for far too long and started wailing screaming and throwing up blood

[kismetconstellations]

VLD + 🌹 💩💚 👎 👀 💖 💢

Oh boy. Here we go...

Ship that you have as an OTP: Shiro/Keith, but only when portrayed in a very specific way.

Ship that you find disgusting: Shiro being romantically and/or sexually paired with Sendak, and Shiro being romantically and/or sexually paired with Pidge, especially when she's underage.

Ship that you secretly like: It's not much of a secret, but Shiro/Sven, my beloved crackship. (⺣◡⺣)♡

Ship that you can never see happening: Shiro/A woman, because he's gay, and the milquetoast fetish ship whose popular fandom portmanteau rhymes with "pants".

Ship you're curious about: Shiro, not his clone, but actual, original Shiro/Lotor intrigues me, but, again, only when portrayed in a very specific way. No Top/Dom/Alpha Shiro, thank you. Shiro/Coran has potential. "Kuron"/Lance is kind of cute. And, I've read fic shipping Shiro with Keith's dad... a concept, it turns out, that I'm not at all opposed to.

Ship that needs more love: Shiro/Sven! There's so much selfcest for Shiro out there, but no one wants to pair him with the version of himself from an alternate reality? The one who isn't an exact genetic replica? It's two sweet, scarred, dorky (one slightly more than the other), and self-sacrificing space soldiers. There's a veritable trove of untapped potential, there! Shiro/Adult Hunk is also sorely overlooked and underappreciated. Those two would be so good to and for each other.

Ship that is most misunderstood: I'm worried I might get flack for this, but... Shiro/Keith.

I don't think Shiro had feelings for Keith or ever saw or entertained him as a romantic prospect, Pre-Kerberos. I don't think he and Keith were dating at any point during the first two seasons. I strongly dislike any interpretation that paints Shiro as dense or emotionally oblivious for not immediately acting on an anguished declaration of love that Keith offered to a brainwashed clone and prefaced with, "You're my brother". And, I can't stand how imbalanced portrayals of this ship are both amongst the fandom and within the show, itself, in favor of Keith.

Shiro deserves more and better than being reduced to Keith's emotional crutch.

A prime example of this imbalance is how often Shiro agonizes over Keith's scar, in fanfiction. The scar that he, himself, didn't inflict, but would still (in a manner that is completely befitting of his character) find reason to blame himself for. Meanwhile, Keith slicing the clone's arm off in order to defend himself, leaving a resurrected Shiro to inhabit a body without his dominant arm for their entire journey back to Earth, almost never merits apology or discussion.

The emotional distance between the two of them in Season Eight is blamed entirely on Shiro, victimizing Keith without ever considering that, beyond it being abysmal writing, the distance could be symptomatic of Shiro's poor mental state, and the fact that he has no one while Keith and the other Paladins all have their own tribes outside of the Voltron bond.

(Keith, surrounded by his mother, Kolivan, and the Blades' love, pride, and support.)

(As opposed to Shiro, standing blurred and isolated on The Atlas's bridge, in a panning shot that he isn't even the focus of.)

The Atlas's bridge crew doesn't count as any sort of support or real companionship for Shiro, as they're shown working out and socializing together while Shiro remains on the bridge by himself, absorbed in his duties.

I have my own theories about why "Kuron" appears to be more physically attracted to Keith than Shiro does that I won't get into, here. But, suffice it to say, Keith and Shiro have chemistry. They're extremely important to each other, intuitively know how to get past each other's emotional walls, and their bond defied death, itself. It's just a matter of putting them on equal footing, giving Shiro's trauma as much consideration and weight as Keith's, and not depicting them as seme-uke stereotypes because of their height difference and physical builds.

Fiery, intensely devoted, and protective Keith would be the dominant partner.

Not the near-completely celibate, heartrendingly gentle man whose brain and body have been ravaged by trauma, is terrified of being a broken monster, and was previously involved in a long-term relationship with a controlling partner who felt a need to "protect" him.

---

Thank you so much for the prompts! ❤

[thatgirlonstage]

Man I’m not even. This isn’t even me being angry. I’m too tired and there are too many other things to be angry about to waste it on fucking Voltron. I was never even particularly a shiro stan!!!! I just saw art of Kuron and was violently reminded of the fact that entire—I don’t even want to use the word “plot”. That is frankly giving it too much credit. The entire clone THING was so staggeringly badly written that I genuinely and truly don’t understand how it is POSSIBLE to fuck up your writing that badly.

Fantasy is so much more my personal creative grab bag than sci fi but if I ever do write an original sci fi series I am going to include a clone plot and when asked what my inspiration was I am going to say “spite” and when my hypothetical interviewer says “spite about what?” I am going to say “I wish to fight Lauren Montgomery to the death in a Denny’s parking lot”

[matt0044]

So... “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is a bop, right?

It’s firmly supplanted “Let It Go” as Disney’s latest ear-worm until the next one comes along but it’s more than just a catchy ballard. It spells out how the Family Madrigal view him as a blight on their family name, especially when they’ve been a pillar of their community.

It also describes how rather than dealing with his problem and maybe helping him through it, they opted to just let him retreat into his room never to be seen again. Better to sweep it under the rug. However, this also proves to be a root in while the house is coming undone.

The message is clear: a family can’t stay as one so long as they can’t talk about their problems with each other. It’s why Mirabel doesn’t get a gift so she can be the outsider looking in.

Where is this going? Well... somebody just finished Voltron: Legendary Defender... and enjoyed it.

Here me out before you scroll away.

I had finished up to Season 7 along with Teen Titans three days before Season 8 dropped. I knew that fandom discourse would be a bear and opted to let the season simmer before I viewed it for myself a few Watch Lists down the road.

What I couldn’t have known was this overwhelming hate for Season 8. I was on Twitter where handles were being altered to include #FuckVoltron and the like. I glimpsed spoilers of what happened in the finale without getting into the dirty details.

Thus I decided to put it off until the heat died down. A whole half decade at that. With Fandom Drama down to near non-existent, I decided to return and engage with Voltron on its own terms from the start. No shipping drama, no expectations for how it should go, no accusations of problematic behavior and no Purple Lion conspiracies.

And... I liked it. I highly encourage those scared off by the drama or felt Season 8 did it dirty to give it a(nother) shot. It deserves a full on renaissance the way Twilight got.

Why? (spoilers ahead).

I was sold on Allura and Lance’s relationship. I loved how he went from being a flirt to genuinely admiring Allura as a leader and Paladin, encouraging her in the season 4 finale without trying to get anything out of it.

I liked the tonal shift around Season 7 where the ultimate Golion homage is made with the Space Explorers coming home to a war ravaged Earth.

I liked how human Lotor and Honerva were as villains coming after Zarkon. I can see why there’s a whole ass conspiracy framed around him actually being in Season 8. Also them taking that “Your mother was an Altean bitch” like and running with it for Hagger was brilliant.

Keith becoming the Black Paladin after Kuron’s reveal was well done and felt weirdly natural in retrospect. He feels like he can’t measure up to Shiro and learns more discipline from

Allura sacrificing herself to restore all realities felt a lot better with the knowledge of spoilers. It helps that the ending went with a more noble feel than angsty, showing how the Paladins strove make sure that her actions set an example for years to come.

I love that they got creative with the multiple alien species and kept the Alteans from being just humans in space like in the original. It really took inspiration from Vehicle Voltron with more aliens in the mix.

Shiro the Hero, as Crazy Coran put it. What can I say except that he’s the kind of character you call a Mary Sue if he wasn’t a guy. Always calm, always perservering, putting the mission first and being a pillar the team can lean on. He even creates his own Voltron out of the Atlas

Honestly, the whole Adam thing isn’t something I fully blame the writers given the producers pushing back. Mind you, I feel like Keith would’ve made a good endgame pairing with him if they had even out their ages when they first meet, both as teenage proteges.

Studio Mir was amazing, especially with the space battles. Honestly, if Robotech managed to make a comeback, I could totally see them being tapped to match the classic Anime style.

So... yeah. Voltron good actually.

[sagegreenfrogs]

why do tdp and voltron always somehow connect in my brain

TW: abandonment, mentions of suicide

I've been thinking about rayla's speech in "the great bookery" to Amaya about how she left Callum to protect him and help him but Amaya rejects this with "you abandoned him. you broke his heart."

like DAMMIT THIS COULDVE BEEN KLANCE-

as we all know Keith has a fun habit of distancing himself from people he loves "I push them away before... they reject me." (him leaving team voltron, emotionally locking himself away, leaving the garrison with no protest, almost committing suicide at the battle of naxzela, etc.) and I think if dreamworks wasn't full of bullshit then that could have tied into him leaving to "protect" lance.

and when Keith did leave the team, it did hurt everyone else. it broke their hearts. it was detrimental to the team, especially considering that it was kuron, not the real shiro who took over in his absence. if him and lance were given the emotional and relational development they deserved, this may have played out similarly to how rayllum is going.

I love rayllum but our boys deserved better.

at least in the epilogue they could've done better. at least given lance a good ending like he deserves. (LANCE MCCLAIN IS NOT A FARMER, FIGHT ME. IF LANCE IS A FARMER SHIRO IS STRAIGHT.)

[swagging-back-to]

^^^ this is exactly why i dont actually consider lance and hunk to be best friends.

they were teammates at the garrison and possibly roommates, that is ALL.

just because he was closer to hunk in the first few episodes doesnt mean theyre actually friends, esp with how hunk treats him. by se 2 hunk is already brushing lance off completely to hang out with pidge all the time. by se 8 theyre basically not even acquaintances from how distant they are.

Seriously. I feel so bad for Lance

We must acknowledge that the season was actually good at the story and the excitement. It was not bad but .. there is something that still upset me .. and it doesn’t even have anything to do with ships. It’s about Lance.

We all know how many self-doubt Lance had at the beginning of the series and they got even worse. He’s afraid to be replaced or forgotten, but that’s just what happened. Lance was portrayed in the Game Show episode as the stupidest person in the universe, and the worst is still, he plays this shit. He pretended that it was funny and there was nothing in it but we know Lance better than anyone on the show. Lance must have felt so bad. And worst of all is that the whole team was there and supported this statement! They gave Lance disappointed looks and stupid comments that really didn’t have to be. All together! Allura, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith were so mean to him. Lance loves his team, he loves his friends and he would do anything for them, but when did they really do something for him in this relationship ?!

I’m not saying that they never did anything for him, but that was really shit. I couldn’t even enjoy this episode because it upset me as much as Lance was treated. He may not be the smartest on the team, but he’s not stupid! He has a big heart and is always there for others even if they leave him alone. Do you know? If I were Lance, I would have gone to any shit if they treated me that way. I would really have stood up and shown the team that they treat one of the most important people as dirt.They just forget how great Lance really is. They’re used to Lance being stupid and I’ve never been so angry in my life, like, why? Why does one of the best characters have to be treated that way?

And the worst is still, he doesn’t even show how much it hits him. He only shows it to the viewer and not his own team. I would be devastated if my best friends didn’t even notice when I feel bad. Hunk is Lance’s “best friend” and he should be one of the first to notice it ?! Shiro has confirmed Kuron’s memories, why doesn’t he talk to Lance and apologize for Kuron or tell him that he is good. Why does Pidge have to exaggerate? When she went to the Garisson, the kids also joked about her, why is she doing this with Lance? Why does Allura break his heart, show him the cold shoulder and use him now ?! Lance KNOW that Allura was in love with Lotor, why should not he feel like a second choice? Why was Keith been so rude since he was back, though he can open up to Lance, he CAN show Lance how important he is! He didn’t do enough. Why does Bob put him like a fool ?! Lance doesn’t earn anything from all this!

They didn’t even notice how Lance changed, how he retired, or how he became much more serious. I hope, no, I pray that in Season 8, everything will be fine for him and the others will finally see how important he is. He deserves the love of his friends and I was so glad when he was finally reunited with his family, almost cried because at least his family cares about him. But Votlron is also a family, all, they are a team and a family, and Lance needs support from both his blood family and Voltron! Both sides are so important to him. And i hope he get what he deserves! I love Lance, and i don’t want him to be Hurt again..

#GiveLanceTheLoveHeDeserves

He will get love! I am sure! Just wait! ~ Jenni❤

[klanceogies]

i hate the clone i hate that entire fucking storyline the team didn't deserve it keith didn't deserve it and above all SHIRO didn't deserve it like what the fuck man!!! it's so fucking annoying and weird and just for shock "plot twist" value like why are u gonna make an awesome character an asshole for fucking ages cause it's a clone like my fucking god it pisses me off so bad and no depth to it either man like just make him disappear and then comes back for like 1 episode as a clone and then they find out (because that bitch shouldnt have been able to pilot black and shouldn't the team fucking know their leader better??? or maybe at least keith like!!!!) but no it's for fucking AGES like that's so fucked up!!!! to not even be addressed later??? my boy lance is fucking traumatized??????? im so anti kuron it's not even funny

[the-idols-story-thesecretbase]

——My Dearest Love,

Born under the vast, blue sky, just the way you are, I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude everyday for the mere existence of you, and how our paths have intertwined.

Looking back over all this time, it feels surreal, like a beautiful dream I never want to wake from. You've been a constant in my life, a steady hand in the storm, a warm sun in the coldest of winters.

You are, without a doubt, the embodiment of light in my life. Before you, I was wandering in the shadows, unsure of my direction. But you, with your gentle smile and kind heart, have illuminated my world, chasing away the darkness and showing me the vibrancy of life. You bring color to my world, and with every laugh, every shared moment, the hues grow richer and more saturated. You are the sun, the moon, and all the twinkling stars rolled into one magnificent being.

My heart overflows with a love so profound, so all-encompassing, that it sometimes takes my breath away. I cherish every single thing about you——your quirks, your passions, your gentle way of caring for others. You inspire me to be a better person, to reach for something more, to live a life worthy of the love you have given to me.

And that, my love, is where my greatest fear lies. I hope, with every fiber of my being, that I am good enough for you. That I am worthy of the light you bring into my life. I hope that the love I have for you, the love that burns so fiercely within me, is enough. I promise to spend every day trying, learning, and growing, all in the hope of being the partner you deserve.

I will continue to love you with my whole heart, with every beat, every breath, every fiber of my being. You are my everything, my love, my sun, my miracle and my light.

Happy Birthday~

-Forever yours,

Kuron

[janestrider]

Old wip I’m not sure how to finish so I’ll just post because I love pain I guess. Based on this post of mine. 

Clone Shiro needs a hug but he’s too proud to ask for one, so he takes a slight detour in the space mall 

[simping-on-the-daily]

When I hear people say that Kuron deserved to die:

[aurora-313]

Rift Soul Ryou - AU Proposal

Here’s an idea that I’ve been playing with for the last few weeks. And thanks @bbtree for being a kind ear and listening to my whacky idea that I’m trying (and failing) to turn into a fanfiction one-shot or cross-reality story.

We all know the absolute dumpster fire that was the Operation Kuron storyline. However, I would like to put a few preconditions onto this AU before we delve too deeply in.

Full disclosure: I have not watched season 8 but I am aware of its general plot beats. Also this is a mix of AU lore and drabble.

Condition #1 - the reason for the formation of the Galra empire 10 000 years ago was Zarkon’s response to a massive invasion from the inter-reality rift creatures that existed in the Quintessence field. The same creatures Honerva/Haggar was studying. It functionally serves as a dark shadow to the current era’s Voltron Coallition, had the Black Paladin’s virtues descended into vices.

Condition #2 - Haggar’s experiments on the gladiators, and Shiro in particular, over the eons was an attempt to find Quintessence resistant individuals to combat the impending Trans-Reality invasion of the Quintessence creatures.  Shiro himself showing particular resistance to it - insert something about the same genetic strand that caused his disease also grants heightened resistance here. 

Condition #3 - Both driven mad by exposure to that radiation, Zarkon signed off on the research and was attempting to create was effectively a massive meat-shield army to stall the Quintessence beasts until they could permanently scourge Quintessence from the galaxy. His end game goal of that project was to have Haggar create suitable, unfailingly loyal cloned pilots for the Voltron Lions, and using Voltron itself as the key to destroy the source of all Quintessence, effectively erasing the galaxy as well. Zarkon’s plan basically boiling down to a mutual annihilation. 

Bare in mind - these people are mad, hence the doom’s day plans. Okay, backstory out of the way.

Where does Kuron come into this?

Well, Haggar tried and failed to clone Shiro multiple hundreds of time, trying to keep that genetic abnormality while eliminating the nasty ‘terminal illness’ side effect. But even when she succeeded, she had little more than blank living dolls. 

No will, no drive, no spark of life to propel them forward. 

And of course not. The soul that is Takashi Shirogane is safely nestled inside the consciousness of the Black Lion, and Blackie ain’t releasing her grip any time soon. So, however does Haggar solve this problem? Why - but the cruel irony of capturing an enemy and making it fight for the Galra empire.

She captured a rift creature, tortured it into insanity, implanted it inside a fully programmed Shiro clone body - et Viola. We have our first sentient clone in poor Kuron. And the first thing he does, believing he is Shiro, is YEET THE HELL outta dodge before Haggar and her druids can capitalize on this success or replicate it. This also goes to show part of the reason why Black refused to let Kuron pilot her until literal hell was at their door, because she could sense what Kuron’s soul really was and Black (Voltron in general) was specifically made to fight Quintessence beasts.

The seasons proceed much as they did before, but the hat trick is Season 6′s finale when Shiro’s consciousness is revived in Kuron’s body. 

In this AU, I shall now call Rift Soul Ryou, Kuron’s body isn’t rejecting Shiro’s consciousness. In fact, Kuron - once again aware of his true nature - talks to Shiro and surrenders the body freely by way of apology and atonement before leaving.

As Shiro’s compassion boarders on the messianic, Shiro tries to convince Kuron to stay and help, understanding that he truly loved the family he found with the Paladins. They recognize and sympathize with each other as fellow victims of Haggar’s brutal manipulations and come to an understanding based on that commonality. And, shock horror, Shiro defends the clone whenever the other Paladins get too antsy at Kuron.

Touched, but undeterred, Kuron still opts to leave and allow Shiro to reunite with his friends and family. 

Tears are shed, hugs and bear hugs are dolled out like candy and The Paladins are headed home.  Meanwhile, in the depths of one of Haggar’s cloning facilities - a seemingly failed clone jerks to live, promptly wrecks the facility and escapes into the great beyond.

Sometime down the line, back on Earth and the steady rebuilding effort, Shiro is observing some work while the Paladins are recuperating with their families... and then a prosthetic hand claps on his metal shoulder.

“You know, I don’t mind the floaty arm - I just don’t understand the floaty arm. Digging the white hair though. Makes it easier to tell the difference between the two of us, I’d say.”

Shiro spun, only to be confronted identical face staring back at him with a crooked smirk. The same scar across the bridge of his nose, the same greyed eyes, but the hair dyed back to its natural black. “I don’t think we ever actually introduced ourselves properly.”

“I don’t think so, no.” Shiro laughed, unable to do much else. “I suppose I should ask your name. Something other than ‘Kuron’ I hope.”

The clone shrugs, “I’ve been going by Ryou. Thanks.”

“Ryou, it is then,” Shiro nods with approval and offers his hand out, “I suppose you and me have a lot to talk about.”

Ryou shakes it with a smile of his own ,“That we do.”

TL; DR - Haggar couldn’t replicate Shiro’s soul, so she kidnapped a Quintessence entity, brainwashed it into serving as a replacement soul. Kuron doesn’t die, because as an energy being, he can literally possess another empty shell and continue living his own life.

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

An important thing to note about my post s8 au is that Shiro may had been Lance's hero but Kuron is Lance's Little Guy™

[tauri91]

Shiro/Keith is nice. Kuron/Keith is emotionally devastating and I am here for it.

[tiredpals]

I am, just this second, realizing the "black paladins" episode title wasn't for two paladins, but for three.

[shiroallura]

also while i’m briefly back on the vld salt train, i just want to talk about keith and kuron for a sec

because while i do abide by the theory that many of kuron’s attributes were supposed to be keith’s (snapping at the team, impulsive behaviour, trusting lotor) in whatever draft got drawn up before the execs said lm and jds couldn’t kill shiro off for good

it also shows a complete lack of thought on lm and jds, to make kuron be received entirely unsympathetically by his team once his status as a clone is revealed, to abuse and dehumanize him to the extent that they did when he was once keith, their golden boy

and completely ignoring the fact that kuron’s start is inherently more sympathetic than keith’s ever could be. kuron is scared and alone and desperately trying to get back to his team, he gets upset with keith because keith isn’t being a present team member, he snaps at the team but apologizes the one time it happens (whereas keith does it repeatedly and often doesn’t apologize), is shown in vlogs to wholeheartedly consider the team his family whereas keith is still questioning that in s7. 

kuron is sympathetic because he tries, and strives to be something other than what he was created to be. he knows he doesn’t feel like himself, and is worried about it. he begs black to trust him so he can help his team. he doesn’t have to be coerced into anything, especially a leadership role. he always does genuinely what he thinks is best, not just what he wants, and - most of all - has his mind stolen from him. 

he was created to be a dangerous weapon, but wanted to be a friend and family member, a good leader, and actively strived towards it. that’s his origin story, that’s his motivation, and that’s what he should’ve been.

instead he gets chucked to the side because kuron - like shiro - was always just a means to an empty leadership arc for the one character who never wanted it.