#So lm hoping for that in season three

[juchily]

its a stupid show about cannibalism and women where the women don't have visible body hair and their hair roots and makeup (looking at Nat...) aren't doing how reality realities.

I like the girls and everyone more than anything but they are such horrible people, every last one of them past and present may we please not treat them as pookies who arent responsible it haven't done bad things (doing bad things inst necessarily bad, at anytime a person is going to do a bad thing, that's life, it matters if they own up to it and learn from it and the girls have not...) and I get it, the memes are funny, misty is a poodle sweety cutie pie who's done nothing wrong and totally hasn't drugged a bunch of people, lottie is a sweet deer eyed baby who totally doesn't have self worth issues and problems with self sacrifice, self harm, and totally didn't start the hunting thing as well as saed travis and almost had him murdered

This is still and adult show and no matter who may watch it (I'm in highschool, not even necessarily what some people may consider a young adult), we must treat it with nuance and care as well

PSA to everyone in this fandom before YJ goes on Netflix, season 3 comes out, and we inevitably gain some new people: LET PEOPLE ENJOY THIS SHOW. Let people be shippers, deer Lottie and raccoon Nat people, shitposters, Travis or Misty haters or lovers, deep scholarly analyzers, fanfic and smut writers, gif makers, ETC. People are allowed to have any opinion they want about this show as long as it’s not harmful to other people. If you don’t like it literally all you have to do is ignore it. We don’t all have to agree on everything, that’s what makes it fun. It’s good to have different perspectives, just be nice to each other.

And it’s not that serious, IT’S👏A👏FUCKING👏TV👏SHOW👏

[singular-yike]

ya got anything on the idiot (lumen)

Hmm, Lumen's a curious one, there are theories out there but I'm not necessarily entire on board yet, nevertheless let's take a look at what they're about, then you can decide for yourself~!

Carelessly Converging Ray of Sunshine — Lumen Celeritas

Name

Lumen's name is a bit of a weird one, it's a western name presented in Japanese order, [Family Name] [Given Name]. Thus, it is written in the original Japanese text as "Celeritas Lumen".

Their given name "lumen" is Latin for "light", and perhaps more famously the unit of luminous flux (symbol: lm), a measure of how much visible light is emitted by a source per unit of time.

Their family name "celeritas" is Latin for "speed" or "swiftness", sometimes said to be the origin of the notation c for the speed of light in a vacuum, popularised in the equation "E = mc²".

Both tie back to Lumen's ability to "take and bundle light", more on this later.

Title

Their title, Carelessly Converging Ray of Sunshine (無頓着に収束する恩光) can be largely divided into three parts:

無頓着に：Translated as "carelessly", it literally means to not care about things, to be indifferent or unconcerned.

収束する：Literally "to converge", so the translation's direct.

恩光：This one's a bit more curious. It refers to the sun's light, or light during the spring, characterised as nurturing to all life, a blessing to be grateful for.

In English, we have 恩光 translated as "ray of sunshine", "a happy person who makes others feel happy", as an approximation. This is honestly really clever, if you ask me, but I'd also like for us to keep in mind the whole "blessing/gratitude" angle, it'll come into play later.

History and Story

Lumen has seemingly been around for an incredibly long time and has apparently even helped solved a major incident in the past. Thanks to this, they're famed as one of the "Three Lights" and their heroic exploits passed down as legend to the modern day.

However, while Lumen can technically absorb both sunlight and moonlight, the latter makes them extremely agitated, violent and incapable of self-control, akin to a drunken state.

Once, they accidentally absorbed moonlight and woke up to what was once an entire village reduced into a burning field. After this event, as well as further yet unknown twists and turns, they had their power and knowledge mostly sealed.

One might then assume that this is why Lumen acts so childlike but Tenkai had heard that they were basically like this even before their powers got sealed up. Although this is a third-hand account, so maybe take it with a grain of salt.

Nevertheless, ever since the village-razing, Lumen tries their best to sleep beneath trees or within caves at night. They would from then on live their leisurely days basking in the sun during the day and sleeping in the shade during the night.

Their peaceful days would seemingly be undisturbed until the events of EMS, where they were starving from the gather clouds cutting off the sunlight from reaching them (they were too dumb to think of moving).

So they set out to flex their hero muscles once again, hoping to solve the incident... And got entirely beat up by our protagonists... oops. Losing their nerve, they went home and slept under a random tree.

Perhaps they were careless due to the extended period of shade, or perhaps they were too preoccupied by their loss, but when the sky cleared up that night, the moonlight was able to reach Lumen.

Absorbing the moonlight and going berserk, they managed to break their seal ended up unleashing an incredibly powerful spell card, "Blitz Spark".

The powerful, gigantic laser destroyed anything in its way, breaking mountains, melting the earth and even tearing a hole in the inner Mugenri Barrier.

The melted earth never settled down until the events of RMI, a whole season later, where the souls finally cooled it back down into solid rock, creating a ravine known as the Road Traveled by Light.

Tenkai Zuifeng ended up being sent to clean up after Lumen, since they were in charge of the section of the barrier Lumen broke. Lumen is apparently aware of all this and even gives Tenkai their thanks for fixing the barrier.

Additionally, though we don't know by whom, Lumen was once again sealed up, even tighter than before. This seemed to dumb them down even further, leading to the state we see them in BPoHC.

Other Lumen Curiosities

Ability on Display

Lumen's ability to "take and bundle light", which allows them to physically collect the light that shines down from the sun and bundle it up, is actually seen in action in their EMS stage 3 portrait (below).

Red Disc on Their Back

Related to Lumen's EMS appearance is the strange red disc they have on their back. It's doesn't seem to ever be explained and even when asked JynX only jokes that it's "Nevinyrral's Disk", a reference to a Magic: The Gathering card.

Personally, I think it's likely that this is just a part of the last seal put onto Lumen, considering that it breaks along with the talismans on their head during the extra stage (as seen below).

Lumen's Seals

It's actually unknown who is in charge of keeping Lumen sealed up, if anyone at all.

At the very least, it is known that their re-sealing after EMS, which is apparently much tighter than their previous one, was not done by anyone related to the Senri Shrine, as identified by Tsugumi (which is a curious point in and of itself btw but that's for another day).

Rejected From the Afterlife?!

Curiously, Lumen has twice claimed that they've been rejected from the afterlife:

EMS - Tsubakura's Route Stage 3

Tsuba "Welp, you just do your thing and ascend to Nirvana already." Lumen "Those cast out from the cycle of reincarnation can't ascend in the first place…"

EMS - Kuroji's Route Stage 3

Lumen "Sorry, but I've been deported from the Netherworld already!"

This is honestly really strange and I'm not really sure how to even really understand these lines. Did Lumen already died once and was sent back to the land of the living? Are they literally incapable of dying? Why would this be?

Understanding aside, this is certainly possble, Yaorochi and Sukune confirm in RMI that cases like these, where someone is rejected from the cycle of reincarnation, can be found just about everywhere, so Lumen somehow being one isn't out of the question.

Theory: Origins in Christianity

Yep, we're not ending with the "Other Curiosities" section today!

There's a theory on Lumen's basis that seems to be somewhat accepted by both the Japanese and Chinese fanbases, though I'm rather on the fence about it myself.

Still, regardless of whether it turns out true or not, it does make some interesting observations, so lets take a look at it:

The key observation the theory makes, is that Lumen makes multiple references to both the traditional Japanese religions (Shinto and Buddhism) and Christianity.

There's quite a lot of these references but let's briefly go through them one by one:

Lumen and the Traditional Japanese Religions

References to Shinto, these are scattered here and there with Lumen, but they include:

The Shinto talismans on their head in EMS and plastered all over them in BPoHC

As a side note, they hilariously say things like "Are you an idiot?" (阿呆加), "Idiot Hero" (馬鹿偉人) and "Big Idiot" (弩阿房) on them.

The Shinto shimenawa rope tied around their head in BPoHC

The traditional kadomatsu new year's decoration on their head in BPoHC, which has its origins in Shinto as well.

The spell card God Card "Orbs and Lines", where "god" (神) of course uses the kanji originally used to specifically refer to Shinto kami.

References to Buddhism, these are all found in Lumen's spells:

Criminal "Cross Halo"

The Japanese word used here (後光) specifically refers to the light emanating from or behind buddhas and bodhisattvas, rather than that of Christian figures.

Taiji "Tranquil as a Breeze in Daylight, as the Moon After Rain"

This references the Chinese philosophical concept of the "Taiji" (太極), often represented as what you might recognise as the Yin Yang symbol, which had been incorporated into Chinese and subsequently Japanese Buddhism.

Sumeru "One Great Constricting Universe of One Billion Worlds"

"Sumeru" is the name of the mountain at the center of the world in Buddhist cosmology, surrounded by several concentric rings of alternating mountains and oceans which form the world.

Lumen and Christianity

The first note here is Lumen's many Christian-esque lines, stuff like:

"May light shine upon thee!"

"Ah hereby absolve ya' of yer crii~iimes!"

"May light shine upon thy skeptical heart!"

"All right, I hereby grant thee salvation! Let there be light!"

"Let me cleanse you, o stray lambs."

"Let there be light unto the darkness within you!"

They may not really be all that Christian in content, but they certainly do give off that vibe.

Another point here is their spell card background (below), which features a stained glass-like pattern, of course associated with the elaborate stained glass windows found at some Christian churches.

There are also many references to the cross born by Christ in Lumen's danmaku and spell cards, including:

Their mid-boss non-spell in EMS stage 3

Shot Card "Crossfire"

Release Card "Cross Fiyah"

Criminal "Cross Halo"

Criminal "The One Burdened with the Spinning Cross"

The Theory

This curious combination of Shinto, Buddhist and Christian references lead to the theory that they're based on the Spanish Christian missionary Saint Francis Xavier.

He was the first missionary to have ever preached in Japan and realised that since the locals all believed in Buddhism, he'd have to somehow rebut its teachings yet adapt to Japanese traditions.

In one such attempt, he initially preached about the Christian God under the name "Dainichi" (大日), the Japanese version of the Buddha Vairocana, earning him welcome from the local Buddhist monks. He would later switch to "Deusu" (デウス), from the Latin and Portuguese Deus.

Francis' Latin name would hence have inspired Lumen's own Latin name, and accidental combination of Buddhism and Christianity would lead to Lumen's own seemingly confused references.

Frankly, I don't so much as disagree with the theory but am simply withholding judgement. It observations about the references to the two sides are definitely valid, at least in my opinion.

Rather, there's just not enough that we know about Lumen for me to make this judgement. Though for now I'm definitely keeping it a note in my mind.

Ending

So that finally wraps up Lumen.

It's not exactly definitive, since they're another character surrounded by mystery, despite the cheerful, lighthearted exterior but I do think it does the job fine for now.

As usual, I hope you enjoyed~! :)

[cabeswaterdrowned]

which tda book is your favorite?

Lord of Shadows slightly edges out Lady Midnight although they’re really close since I love both so much… but LoS has the overall most impactful arcs and storylines to me the section in the Unseelie Court is probably my favorite part of the series, and the ending packs a big emotional punch to say the least. It might be my favorite tsc book period actually I really love LoS. Also like I just said in the previous ask I tend to be a middle book(s) or middle seasons girlie it’s just who I am. I think this book struck a neat balance between being character driven and plot driven that was extremely effective although to be clear it would probably also be my favorite if it was just character centric filler angst about Emma&Jules because that’s who I am… but I’m still glad it was more than that! LM is also wonderful in a way that few first books in fantasy series are to me usually there’s a slow burn for me to be really invested but not here, and the whole murder cult mystery with body horror (had forgotten about the missing hands that made it even better) + forbidden romance + familial dynamics themes combo and vibe really works for me. Qoaad is my least favorite of the three but I still really like it, and I definitely thought far better of it on reread compared to when I first read it since back then I had been anticipating it so hard and theorizing etc. and had very sky high expectations (especially with Clockwork Princess being a rare perfect finale to me and with how much I loved the first two tda books I hoped for Qoaad to accomplish the same thing..) on reread I could evaluate it more for what it is and I came to the conclusion that about 80% of the actual content of the book I am a fan of, it’s just that the pacing of the book is insane. Genuinely if that book was split into two books and they were paced normally I’d have loved them as much as the first two I think! Genuinely I think cc has gotten too attached to trilogies as the sole structure for her work and it’s a big part of why the receptions for her last two finales have been what they are … (well I’m sure there are multiple factors at play but I’m confident that’s one of them) also maybe even effected tmi part 2 because I remember cofa being pretty filler and the plot there feeling like it could be resolved in a duology? I love almost every individual storyline in that book so if you asked me which ones I would snipe for the third book to be paced correctly I’d be hard pressed to get rid of things but if you split it into two books and grounded them each tonally to feel distinct and just gave us some breathing room I think you could stick the landing! But since I like almost every individual element of the book it’s an enjoyable reread when you already know where the story ends up and the best parts of it really work for me / get a level of emotionality from me no tlh or tmi book does so it still ranks high (like #6ish since I like all the tid books more as well as first two tda) for me, I slander her but she’s my bestie <3.

[extraliga-related]

if you are still taking questions: top five moments you'd use to convince people to watch extraliga hockey?

Tried to keep it short. Didn't exactly work. 5 (or so) moments to determine why you should follow the league(s) waiting below!

HOCKEY : TNG

Commentators like to throw around the phrase "a child playing among men" when talking about rookies entering the NHL or underagers at Worlds, but here's where you come closer to the literal meaning. Kids as young as 15 are starting to try and carve their spot in the big leagues while facing those who've been there, done that.

Dalibor Dvorský, for example, broke a record when he scored his first Extraliga goal for HC Banská Bystrica at the age of 15 years, 7 months, and 18 days. He was the 2nd youngest to set foot on Extraliga ice overall, with Mešár, Nemec, Molnár, etc. also making the Top 10, thus signifying a shift regarding involvement as well as development of youth players.

Or 2005-born Eduard Šalé netting his first while Jágr, the oldest guy still out there on a pro level, looks on from his spot on the ice. If you're into records, you better start watching... he's technically setting a new one with each shift.

If the NHL Draft or the WJC are something you care about, it's an entertaining way to put some faces to names and get to know a bit more about the origins of players beyond what any minute-long introduction video and occassional filler fact ever could.

THE NARRATIVE™

Get yourself a near-tragic little guy to root for and cheer with:

→ Forward Samuel Takáč, approaching 30 and generally dissatisfied with his career's unsustainable trajectory after three solemn years in France, was on the verge of calling it quits early when he decided to give it another shot with a change of scenery. He got himself a career year in which he received the call up to the Slovak NT shortly before his 30th birthday, was one of the most productive players out there, won Olympic bronze, and managed to claim the title with his Extraliga club as the MVP.  

He turned into one of the team's leading forces while also giving advice to future NHL hopefuls along the way. He's got an A now and enough motivation to keep him going for a couple more years!

Get yourself a tragic little guy to root for and suffer with:

It's 2010 and a young center + his twin move to CZ to play together. He utters the humble ambition to "stay healthy and do well for a team that plays well." As his career unfolds, he:

quickly develops chronic back pain & fucks up his knee

gets called an „injury magnet"

may be on same team as bro in theory but rarely, if ever, in practice

gets dumped into hopeless affiliate

never gets a chance to advance past 3rd line

It's 2014 and the twins are reunited, determined to gain some more ice time, but a goal turns out to represent the epitome of his career as he's putting on the jersey of his new team for the first time, receives a hit to the stomach, watches the puck awkwardly stumble into net on the same play and... that's it. He got hurt on the play and was done for.

It is 2023 and he never achieved either of his goals. 🥲

THE EPIC HIGHS AND LOWS OF RELEGATION/PROMOTION

We've got a closer (both in terms of points and geography) competition due to less teams which got tensions rising and regional rivalries heating up. But relegation and promotion are probably where it reaches a boiling point. In years with open leagues, you've got the worst team of the top league battling it out with the best team of the 2nd league to determine who gets a spot on top.

Let's take the example of HK Liptovský Mikuláš and Žilina.

HK LM reserved the last spot for the past 4 seasons, got lucky in relegation, and remained in the league.

Now imagine the thrill of just having won the championship in your league, still riding that high, and confidently going into battle with a notoriously bad contender... and then you fucking lose. That's it. Started with a single goal in mind and then it's just like... here we go again. Same shit, different year.

Experienced the whole spectrum of emotion within a short period of time, and even if your team gets to carry the cup, it's still tinged with the stench of failure (and beer, probably). Meanwhile, the guys who finished last celebrate like there's no tomorrow because there is, in fact, another tomorrow. Mission failed successfully.

pictured: from epic highs -> epic lows in like 2 weeks

GOALS

There's something to be said about extended rink dimensions making room for some spectacular plays when there's more time to plan a move that doesn't merely rely on speed alone, but...

Do you ever just see certain goals and think „Now THAT'S what I'm watching this sport for!" Because... yeah.

[Sádecký 2020 TREvDET & 2019 TREvMAC, Filippi 2014 BTLvZLI]

CELLYS

The NHL may have their storm surge, salmon toss and the good old round of stick salutes, but (most Euro leagues, but for the purposes of this post) Extraliga steps it up a notch. Depending on the team, they'll either skate back out as a unit or have the fans decide which player to celebrate. And how. Great way to interact and strengthen the connection, always a delight to watch. Especially when goalies are involved.

To add just one example:

[gamesbyumaira]

Sims 4 Collection Legacy Challenge

Sims 4 Collection Legacy Challenge 

Hiya! Dive into this ten generation legacy challenge. Hope you have fun! 

Basic rules for all generations:

Complete all goals and Life Missions (LM)

If you choose to play as an occult then the rest of the generations must be an occult..

Traveling from one neighborhood to another costs 50 simoleons to and from. Traveling from one world to another cost 100 simoleons to and from.

Gremlins must be a lot trait for all generations.

No selling from inventory. No mark ups when using the yard table or view table.

Season is set to Winter when first starting and game play is normal.

If you choose to have a pet or a pet is assigned, all pet food must be cooked by you.

Complete aspiration(s) unless stated otherwise and Max out career (unless stated otherwise)

Life Mission must be complete before moving on to next gen

Siblings and none heir sims must move out once they age to young adulthood and are gifted 10,000 simoleons each.

Each gen is assigned a collectible they must finish and display in their living room. Once the next heir is ready to play as, the current heir must pass down one of their collectibles as an heirloom. Gen ten should have nine heirlooms that were passed down. 

Each current sim must pass down a portrait of them-self to the next heir. Giving gen ten nine portraits of past sims.

Lastly, each of the following generations must have one of the same traits as gen one. For example, gen one traits are Erratic, Unflirty, and Jealous. You must choose one of those that the remaining gens must also have. Choose wisely. 

Have Fun!

Generation One: Struggle

Things are tough and you weren’t ready for this. Having to put aside your dreams to care for your family wasn’t your first option but it was the right one. Caring for two elderly parents and a younger sibling was needless to say difficult, especially when finding a good job meant having experience that you lacked. So you worked part time jobs and many of them to help fill everyone’s needs. That was your job, the caretaker. From one job to another you worked hard and always treated yourself to a day of fishing. Your love for the sport gave you a sense of self and time away from your hectic life. Fishing was your thing and finding some cool items others have lost made for some money on the weekend yard sales. The struggle was real but you managed to pull through and get the desired life you wanted. 

Aspiration: Angling Ace

Career: Part time jobs (change every week)

Traits: Erratic, Unflirty, Jealous

SKills: Fishing, Charisma, Handiness

Collection: Fish

LM: Have a life savings of 100,000 simoleons

Rules:

Household must have two elderly parents and a child sibling.

Live on the biggest lot in any world. 

Set simoleons to 100 after move.

Have three kids back to back. Middle child is the next heir.

Spend most of your time with your eldest and youngest child.

Parents and sibling’s needs must be green at all times. You can only play as them to fulfill their needs. 

Parents to live with you until they die.

Once your sibling is a young adult they must move out and you must give them 10,000 simoleons.

You can only discipline and parent the oldest and youngest child. Middle child can do as they please.

Generation Two: Discipline

Discipline and structure is what you wanted all your life. You didn’t hate your parents, just wanted more stability from them. Their lifestyle wasn’t what you wanted and always felt ignored by them. You have had your freedom and choose to take a different approach. Joining the military was your idea. You'll be able to get your disciplined stability and hopefully a life different from your parents. You also met the love of your life and planned to marry and start a family, as soon as you got your work orders. 

Aspiration: Jungle Explorer

Career: Military- reach level six and choose covert ops

Traits: Paranoid, Proper, and trait from gen #1

Skills: Archaeology, Selvadordian Culture, Guitar

Collection: Artifacts [16]

LM: Complete work orders

Rules:

Marry someone from the military career

Marry your partner when you reach level six of the career

Have only one child

Child must be born before you leave for your work orders

Complete your work orders

Work orders: Reach level six of the military career and choose covert ops. The work order is to find the three ancient relics. The previous ops team was sent to retrieve the relics from the temple but have since gone dark. The military needs those relics before they get into the wrong hands. The eight member ops team failed to return and the orders have now fallen onto you. Rumors spread from the locals of Selavadoria that the military men all have turned into skeletons that haunt the temple now. Find the relics. 

You have seven days to complete your work order

Find the lost temple and the three relics

Earn the trust of the Selavadorian people (Selavadorian Culture max skill)

Find other artifacts to help narrow the relic search (archaeology max skill)

Rent out the eight beds vacation home for seven days

If you succeed the orders within the time frame you will be awarded 50,000 simoleons and a home of your choice in Willow Creek or Oasis Springs. 

If you fail then you must abandon your orders and run. You have deserted your post and are wanted by the military. You run away to Newcrest, a place no sim wants to live. You have nothing on you and must live a closed-off life. Your partner and child will run away with you. The only job you can get is the laborer position. That is your life now. Zero money on a deserted land. If you fail your work orders then there is no life mission. You must just keep your sims alive until the next gen heir is ready to take over. 

While you are doing your work orders your partner and child cannot accompany you for it is far too dangerous. They must live at home and do as they please until you are done with your orders. 

The relics that need to be found & assembled to complete the orders are

Balampalosh Watcher Relic with a rare crystal (Watcher base with the cat top)

Totecallcm Death Relic with an uncommon crystal (Death base with the llama) top

Zazatoti Chaos Relic with a common crystal (Chaos base with the bird top)

Generation Three: Mundane

Your childhood was secluded and away from the world. Your parents' work made it tough to have a normal life. You weren’t allowed to make any friends or talk to any relatives. You became a loner. It wasn’t what you wanted but it happened. You wanted to reach out and talk to people, make friends and do normal things. So you turned to the web. Found these amazing people from around the world who are living lives you only dreamt about. You wanted to be around people, have friends, and a big family. You wanted the 9 to 5 normalcy. You wanted the mundane no matter what others thought about it. 

Aspiration: Big Happy Family

Career: Salaryperson [Supervisor Branch]

Traits: Loner, Childish, and trait form gen #1

Skills: Parenting

Collection: Postcards [Penpals 14]

LM: Have all character traits for all children in the green and maxed out.

Rules:

As a child and teen never make friends at school

Always leave school early

Move out once a YA and live in Windenburg

Have five best friends and marry one of them

Have five kids (all kids must be born before deciding on who is the next heir).

Have one child have all negative character traits then work with them and bring it back to green.

Join a premade club and form one of your own.

All kids must have their own clubs

All kids must be A students

All clubs must meet at least once a week

If you have Outdoor Retreat then every Saturday take the kids camping.

All kids must join an after school program.

No one is ever late for work or school

All homework and work assignments are done each day

Everyone is in bed by 10pm on weekdays

Sunday dinners are a must

Get silver or higher on all birthday parties. 

All kids that are not next gen get 20k when moving out. Next gen heir gets 40k.

Generation Four: Adventurous

You couldn’t complain about the life you grew up with. Your parents did everything for you and supported all your dreams. You heard the stories of your grandparents and the struggles of your great grandparents. You wanted to feel that rush. You wanted to feel those moments of “oh shit” no matter how weird that was to the rest. The normal safe life wasn't for you. It was too bland, you wanted adventure, you wanted the world. And you got what you wanted, with the hefty inheritance your parents gave you you sought out that adventure. You wanted to live in the woods you camped in as a kid. You wanted to explore the city and all its glory. Heck you wanted to climb a mountain. This was the real you and not the cookie cutter version your parents wished upon you. First thing first a makeover. 

Aspirations: In your YA life stage live in San Myshuno and complete up to level 3 of the City Native. Then complete the first half of the Outdoor Enthusiast. Finally complete level 2 of Mt. Komorebi Sightseer and all of Extreme Sports Enthusiast

Career: Athlete- Pro Athlete Branch

Traits: Adventurous, Loves-outdoors, and trait from gen#1

Skills: Skiing, Snowboarding, and Rock Climbing

Collection: Simmies (24)

LM: Climb Mt. Komorebi as an elder

Rules:

Must complete aspirations in order.

Live in San Myshuno until the first two aspirations are done.

First two aspirations must be done in YA

Must use all of inheritance before starting career

Use the last of the inheritance to buy a home in Mt. Komorebi. 

Move to Mt. Komorebi as an adult.

Marry some who also has the sports enthusiast trait

Saturdays and Sundays are reserved to to build up your extreme sports skills. You cannot work on these days. 

Adopt at least one kid

Generation Five: Oceanic 

Your parents have been active your whole life, they even climbed a mountain. From all their adventures they loved the snowy escape of Mt. Komorebi. It was home but it was always too cold for you. You wanted to feel the warmth of the sandy beaches. You wanted to feel the coolness of the ocean under your feet. Alas you did. You moved to Sulani, the beautiful world filled with sun, beaches, and the ocean. You wanted to immerse yourself with the island culture. You wanted to dance and sing the night away with the locals. But not all was good there. The ocean and islands needed help. You were determined and made it your job to help. 

Aspiration: Beach Life

Career: Conservationist

Traits: Active, Child of the Ocean, and trait from gen #1

Skills: Mixology, Dancing, and Singing

Collections: Seashells [13]

LM: Keep Sulani clean and find all buried treasure [18] and gift them to the Island Spirits

Rules:

Live in the Mua Pel’am neighborhood 

Earn and keep the Heart of Sulani by cleaning it up

Participate in the local culture

Attend all island festivals

Host weekly kava parties and earn gold ratings

Marry a local (non mermaid unless you are playing with occults)

Own at least five deep sea pictures

Live off the grid

Have at least three kids

Generation Six: Stargazer

Having spent all your life in Sulani, your life was blissful with the warm sun under your skin and the cool water at your feet. With beauty all around you you were always intrigued by the clear night sky. Being able to see the vast universe the Sulani skies provided you became obsessed with space. You wanted to learn more about it. You wanted to explore it. You wanted to be an astronaut. Your parents were bittersweet about you leaving the islands but ever so supported you to accomplish your dreams. Space here we come!

Aspiration: Nerd Brain

Career: Astronaut

Traits: Genius, Noncommittal, and trait form gen #1

Skills: Logic, fitness, and rocket science

Collection: Space Prints [15]

LM: Harvest aliens (10) and space rocks (4) 

Rules

You can live in any world that isn’t the same as generation one

Build a rocket ship

Star gaze each night

Attend all GeekCon festivals in the city

Have three kids with three different coworkers as a YA

Never marry (you are too focused on work to maintain any relationship).

Live with the partner until the baby is a toddler, then the partner and toddler must move out. 

You all the kids on the weekends

You must pay 2500 simoleones per kid each Monday

Have a fourth child before aging to an elder (this will be the heir)

 The fourth parenter is neer in the picture

Retire as an elder

Adopt a dog or cat after the fourth child is born

Spend remaining days raising child #4

Generation Seven: Four Legged Friend

You'd say you spent your life alone and in a sense you did. Alone from humans. Your parent never made any attempts to help you maintain any relationships with your older siblings. It was always you and your furry friend and that was all you needed. Your heart, though heavy, was content with the company you had. Animals were there for you when you needed them so naturally you wanted to be there for them when they needed you. 

Aspiration: Friend of the Animal

Career: Veterinarian- open your own clinic

Traits: Cat lover, dog lover, and trait from gen #1

Skills:  Veterinarian and pet-training

Collection: Feathers (12)

LM: Be friends with 15+ animals

Rules:

Live in Brindlenton Bay

Open and run your own vet clinic 

Have at least three pets in your household at all times

At least one must be a stray

All cat/dog food must be cooked by you

Pets must accompany you everywhere

If you have My First Pet pack have at least one rodent pet as well

Must have a pet room in your home

Visit the dog park every weekend

Meet the love of your life at the dog park

Name all pets after book/movie characters

Income can only come from the clinic (once its open)

Be best friends to animals :)

Generation Eight: Critically Delicious

With your parents at the clinic most of the time you were responsible for your own meals and on occasion theirs. This awakened a love for food in you. Always wanting to try new flavors and share them with the world. Cooking mass amounts of portions and holding food yard sales on the weekends while your parents were away. On your food journeys to the clinic you met many different people. You met the locals of your town, some from neighboring and the ones from the city were your favorite. You wanted to move to the city. You wanted to be surrounded by different people and different flavors. You wanted to meet new people and fall in love. You loved your town but the city could offer so much for your culinary dreams. The fast city life was an added bonus. With goals in mind you set out for San Myshuno to conquer the world. 

Aspiration: Villainous Valentine 

Career: Critic- Food

Traits: Romantic, Foodie, and trait form gen #1

Skills: Cooking, Baking, and Gourmet Cooking

Collection: Snowglobes (15)

LM: Have a kitchen worth 50K simoleons

Rules:

Try all foods (27)

Master chopsticks and the Spice challenge

Live in a different district with each life stage

Host weekly dinner parties and earn gold

Marry another foodie in the meadows

Have a child with partner #1

Get divorced with partner #1

Get engaged to partner #2

Have partner #2 call off the engagement at a dinner party

Get married with partner #3. Then have an affair with co worker

Have a baby with co worker

Have a child with partner #3

Divorce partner #3

Serve pufferfish at a dinner party

Witness the death of partner #3

Marry as an elder

Child from partner #3 is the next heir

Generation Nine: Simple

Hectic was your childhood. Your parent was everywhere from work to parties to marriages. You wanted out of the city and away from that life. You never understood why they did what they did and had your suspicions they were involved in the murder. So you left the first chance you got. Your parent didn’t seem to mind. From the to the country. A place you knew your parent would never step foot into. You wanted a simple life. Growing your own food, being surrounded by nature, and being around wholesome people. The country provided that and more. You got to grow your own food and plants. Your love for plants blossomed. 

Aspirations: First half of Country Caretaker and all of Freelance Botanist

Career: Self employed- sell flower arrangements and food/produce

Traits: Animal Enthusiasts, Good, and trait from gen #1

Skills: Gardening, Flower Arranging, and Cross Stitching

Collection: Magic Beans (6)

LM: Have a thriving garden that is half your lot size

Rules:

Live on the biggest lot in Henford-on-Bagley

Grow your own food

Have the simple lot trait

Own chickens, cows, and llamas

Have at least one rabbit and bird homes on your lot

Enter all county fairs

Win a county fair

Marry a local

Grow flowers to make your bouquets

Sell bouquets, cross stitchings, canning goods, and other products you get from your farm on the street selling table (no mark ups)

Befriend all locals

Host bbqs 

Have a cross stitching group meet once a week

Have a good relationship with everyone you make

Have 100% relationship with your kids

Have at least three kids

Generation Ten: Legacy

As you grew older you realized how important family and roots were. Your parents loved you and your siblings dearly and did their best to instill that love and family dynamics in our hearts. Living in Hendfor-on-Bagley you understood what it means to have a family legacy. Your parents had a few photos and knick knacks that were passed down of past families but that was all. You knew your parents did not have a good relationship with their parents. But that was all, you didn’t know anything about any of them. Hence your life mission began to understand your legacy. You’ve heard some crazy stories but where they just stories. As a wizard with the pen you wanted to bring back the lives of your past relatives. You wanted the world to relive their lives as you adventured out to learn about them. Capturing any last remaining memories they may have left. 

Aspirations: Successful Lineage

Career: Freelance Author

Traits: Creative, Ambitious, and trait from gen #1

Skills: Writing, Painting, and Photography

Collection: Have nine 9 collectibles from previous gens and 9 portraits of past gen heirs

LM: Have a museum in your home honoring your legacy. Have a space to honor each past heir with their portrait, collectible heirloom, a portrait of their home, and the autobiography. 

Rules:

Live in a world where gen one did

Marry someone from gen one’s world

Marry someone who already has a child

Have one child

Adopt one child

Revist all previous heir homes and paint a picture of their home for your dedication museum

Write an autobiography in the honor of the past gen after each heir your visited

Visit all living relatives and have a relationship with them

Take a picture with any living relative

I hope you all had fun playing this challenge as I did making it. :)

[sammys-magical-au]

Hi everyone!

Since my art blog is doing so well, I decided to make a writing/fic blog too! This blog has also kinda become my new main blog

Icon & header image by me :)

Other blogs:

Art blog: @night-terrors-official

(Dead) main: @adhd-jack-harkness

Instagram: TheBumblingBea

Wattpad: SammyR1978

Discord: thebumblingbea

YouTube channel:

Little bit abt me

I’m pansexual, ambiamorous, genderqueer/trans, & lovequeer - I use all pronouns. I live in Canada but I hate winter. I am an aspiring screenwriter and one day hope to reboot the show you probably followed me for; Torchwood! It’ll probably take a while tho so please don’t start tweeting about it. Also! I am an adult (21 babeyyy) so if you are a minor and are uncomfortable following me bc of that, pls don’t! I’m ok with minors following me but it’s always up to you and what you’re comfortable with

{pls read this post before requesting} [requests & inbox closed for the time being]

Other important (?) posts

This post has all you need to know about my three main ocs

Or, see this post for writing advice!!

Find my works easily!

Fanfics:

Torchwood: The Alternate Universe season 4 (TTAUs4)

Torchwood Just Imagine (JI)

Torchwood Like Renther Like Son (LRLS)

Torchwood The Queen of Hearts (TQOH) (currently being rewritten)

Torchwood We Are Family (WAF)

The Extended Adventures of Sam and the Doctor (EASD)

Torchwood Pride (TP)

Torchwood Life at the Palace (LATP)

Torchwood Little Moments (LM)

Torchwood Six of Hearts (SOH)

In Space With Amyplier AU (aka assorted ISWM and some AHWM fics)

Nimona au

The Legend of Lionel Saabem

After the War (and During, and Before)

Original Works:

Sweet & Sassy (SAS)

The Legend of the Lost Twin (TLLT)

Capricornica

STAR

The Greater Universe (TGU)

And check the #sammy writes for you tag for writing requests! (Number of current requests being worked on: 2)

All fandoms (that I may or may not write for but will definitely ramble about incessantly)

Torchwood

Doctor Who (specifically the ninth doctor)

LixianTV

Markiplier (ISWM, AHWM, etc)

Jacksepticeye

CrankGamePlays/Ethan Nestor

Unus Annus

MatPat/Game Theory

Good Mythical Morning

Watcher/Buzzfeed Unsolved

Sturniolo Triplets

Way more YouTubers than I can name 😅

Murdoch Mysteries

Wings of Fire

Nimona

She-Ra and the Princess of Power

James Cameron’s Avatar

Resident Evil (kinda, I’m just here for Leon, Ethan and Rose honestly 😂)

Encanto

The Lion King/Guard

Good Omens

How To Train Your Dragon

Star Wars

Tags

Anything tagged #🧠💫 (can’t link tags w/ emojis ig) is me rambling either about my au, deep lore, fantasy/sci fi design, or worldbuilding stuff

#go to sleep sammy is anything I posted in the middle of the night bc my brain wouldn’t let me rest until I did

#sammy rambles and #its sammys life are about what’s going on/what has happened in my actual life

#tropetastic is where I talk about those juicy tropes I love or those horrible tropes I loathe

#sammy gets asks is pretty self-explanatory, it’s any sort of wonderful interaction I get from people via asks or submissions

#sammy gets soft feelings for humans again … also pretty much explains itself, this is just a separate tag for me to gush about when people are cute

Please BLOCK/FILTER #sammy gets sick if you’re triggered by/don’t wanna hear sick talk!! I’m a chronic complainer when I’m sick but I don’t wanna bother anyone with it

#sammys tats is a tag for my ramblings about tattoos - either getting them, wanting more, or coming up with ideas for ‘em, you can also block/filter that tag if tattoos are a trigger

Anything tagged #she needs to hear this… is stuff I wish I’d heard when I was younger, and am telling my past self now 💕

Vote on my occasional polls, or see the results of old ones with #sammys polls (I’m gonna be honest with you, I’m only including this so I can check my own results without having to scroll but it’s beneficial to y’all too right?)

Check out #twi tag/#sally tag/#moonie tag/#vera tag for pet pics 💖

Anything that is tagged #suggestive contains nsfw jokes, sexual language, etc, although it’s mostly used for headcanons/ramblings or incorrect quotes as fics would have any necessary information about this in the warnings section - if you are under 18 or just don’t want to see this type of content and follow me, please block/filter this tag

Block/filter #wip spoilers, #original story spoilers, and #fanfic wips because any posts tagged as these will contain major spoilers since I can’t keep quiet about the Lore™️

Also have this Markiplier Ego Taglist I hardly ever use if u want

Headcanon tags:

headcanon: its only him (Torchwood headcanons)

headcanon: captain im tired (ISWM headcanons)

headcanon: dont you get it i love you (She-Ra headcanons)

headcanon: i see you nimona (Nimona headcanons)

headcanon: like my father before me (Star Wars headcanons)

headcanon: you were fantastic (Doctor Who headcanons)

headcanon: we couldve been us (Good Omens headcanons)

headcanon: what have you george (Murdoch Mysteries headcanons)

headcanon: you were so brave (Wings of Fire headcanons)

headcanon: and i see you (Avatar headcanons)

headcanon: you are my best friend (How To Train Your Dragon headcanons)

Au tags:

au: what do you want anakin (The Legend of Lionel Saabem au) < Star Wars

au: you destroyed everything we had (The Hero Who Never Lost Faith au) < Star Wars

au: he was my friend (Two Broken Hearts Together au) < Star Wars

au: everything (Torchwood: The Alternate Universe au) < Torchwood

au: please just trust me (Everything Goes Wrong au) < Torchwood

au: who do you have doc (The Extended Adventures of Sam and the Doctor au) < Doctor Who

au: moon still likes you (The Jade SkyWing au) < Wings of Fire

au: my sister is a princess (The Lost Princesses au) < She Ra

au: of course youre our kid (Nimona Gets a Family au) < Nimona

au: do i know you from somewhere (In Space With Amyplier au) < In Space With Markiplier

au: i am human (Deity!Captain au) < In Space With Markiplier

au: i hope you find who youre looking for (Two Sam Ryders au) < In Space With Markiplier/Torchwood

au: i do wanna be free (I Do Wanna Be Free au) < A Heist With Markiplier

au: would you protect them (The Pentas Family au) < In Space With Markiplier/Torchwood/@wouldntyou-liketoknow’s fanegos :3

au: call me lucas (Sinking Heart au) < Sinking Iron

F̶̮̫͈͙̌́̃̽͂͘͘ï̴̧̧͎̠̺̹͊̆n̶̝͕͓̤̘̦̼̠̽́̌̑̿̋̃̎͘ḏ̴͓̮̳̲͍̺̲̗͎̋́ ̴̛̩̯̰͙͖̩̾̿̋͝m̸̱̈́y̶̘̞͈̘̝̗̥̪̒̓̎̈͜ ̵̳̪̪̮͚̫͇̿͛̎̋̾̀͑e��̤̰̙̻̙̈́͊̑̔̓ģ̴̛͇̹̻̠͔͎̜͛͒̃̄͑͂̑̀ơ̸̙͛͂͌͒͘͘̚͝s̶̳̣͖̩̒̅ ̶̨̨̠̗̀̄͂͌̂̉̈̍͝͠h̸̡̬̖̮͔̬̹͒ę̶̦͕̫̠̭̥̬̌̋̀̈́̊̀̀͊͆͘ͅȑ̸̮̇é̸̛̫̹̦̩̭̗̯́̒̋͆̇ ̴̫̜̼̲̙̖̤̐̕͠ ̵̢̘̮̙̫̯̺̀͌̽͒͗̿͊̌́̍͜ ̷̜̥̠̭̱̪͒

RULES:

I won’t tolerate exclusionists/radfems/TERFs/purists/anti-ship {bc proshippers aren’t the bad guys here} (or whatever you call yourselves you’re all the same), racists, misogynists (this includes pro-lifers/anti-abortionists), ableists, or bigots of any kind. Gtfo.

I try to provide adequate warnings on all the writing stuff I post but if I don’t, please let me know and I’ll try to include that in the warnings next time

That being said, I write whatever I want and if you don’t like it, don’t read it. It’s that simple. I will not accept criticism I didn’t ask for

[boomerangguy]

Boomer. Pally. The cast of the live action was announced and the ages are so different that I don't think that we're getting either Kataang or Zutara. That means the focus can be on Sokka for once.

That uf they're smart enough and add Suki to the gaang from the beginning.

I mean, i don't expect anything but I'm hopeful

LM! Always good to hear from you! 😄 I’ve come across a few things here and there but haven’t seen a confirmation or official announcement on the ages, so I’d love to know where you saw that so I can check it out!

Anyway, if I’m being honest…I care way more about Sukka than I do about the rest of the ships in ATLA combined. There’s so much more depth to the ship than people talk about, and the balance—Sokka’s methodical, strategic mind and Suki’s strike-first-ask-questions-later attitude—really makes them special. 🙌 I’d love to see more of them working as a team—whether it’s in cartoons, comics, live action, anything.

So hearing that Sokka’s age might bring more focus to his character is awesome, and naturally I’m super excited! He’s the Everyman character of Avatar, and he deserves not only more credit from the fandom (he’s not just a himbo or a brainless goof 😑), but more spotlight in Avatar content. And there’s just no way to understate how important Suki’s presence in his life is. People try to say all the time that Suki is just ‘Sokka’s gf,’ but without Suki, Sokka would be half the man he is by the end of Sozin’s Comet. The classic example is how she literally smacks the sexism right out of him, but at Serpent’s Pass she also teaches him that the people he loves are capable of protecting themselves, and she later restores his confidence in himself (after the DoBS) when they break out of the Boiling Rock—those are all critical lessons that result in serious changes in Sokka. So there’s nothing I’d love to see more than Suki joining the Gaang early and Sukka having a slowburn through all three seasons. We saw in Suki Alone that she has flaws as well, and the two of them growing stronger together would be beautiful to see on-screen. 🥰

There’s no telling what Netflix will do, though. With Avatar Studios on the horizon, NFLX isn’t incentivized to consider the best interests of the fandom or the future of the franchise, and they might pull some wild nonsense. I still don’t know for sure what the ages are, but I worry about them breaking Sukka like they seem to be doing with Kataang, according to what you said. Yukka? I could live with it. Ty Lokka? Eh, alright. But if they do go with something else (especially something that smells of ill-conceived corporate pandering like Zvkka 🥴) then I probably just won’t watch. This fandom likes to ignore canon anyway, and I’d be happy to ignore the live action show if they scrapped Sukka for the sake of doing something new. I think the whole fandom is holding their breath in hopes Netflix doesn’t screw this up—but it would be really stupid to throw away the only truly well-written ship in the original show.

Thank you so much for the ask!!! Let me know what you think, and lmk where you heard about the ages being confirmed!

[leggylance]

@ that anon: ill admit that i never was convinced klance would be canon cuz im not in the business of getting my hopes up like that, but i think this is a hindsight 20/20 deal. if you were IN the fandom along the way, those little scenes each season or so felt very big cuz, for one thing, there wasnt a LOT of character interaction/development between the team. yeah they stood near each other and said Mission Related Info, but the kl scenes were more personal than that. and then you have the 1/

stuff from outside the show like lok crew (first canon wlw endgame in kids show) working on vld, you had LM's ~you are deserving of respect~ drawing, you have teased lgbt rep from the getgo, you have kl bait in marketing things. so all of that on TOP of some good development scenes in the FIRST THREE seasons of the show, which is when everyone got hooked, and you feel like you can expect more development between them down the line cuz that would make SENSE for the show, its not hard to figure 2/

why people got their hopes up expecting some kind of kl at the end. all of it makes sense in the greater context. obvs a lot of people didnt buy in, or didnt like the ship, so a lot of that wasnt as affecting on them, but it was all there, in the moment, and it all makes sense when you look at the whole picture rather than just the show on its own, since we were getting the show in small chunks, not all at once. and thats not even touching on the misinfo fandom spread around that got other 3/

peoples hopes up because they didnt fact check things that were said (ie the myth that kim said allura wouldnt have a romance- untrue, misquoted, and taken out of context) the fandom was ripe for a pairing like klance to take off and have peoples expectations soaring. its not like the fandom just Decided klance was happening out of nowhere. we clung tight to the hope, but there were reasons for it getting as huge as it did 4/4 end thank u for ur time

✌️😗 i’ve got nothing to add, your honor

[langst-wins]

Okay so y'all are sleeping on the After Buzz interview!!! There's SO MUCH Klance goodness to unpack here, it's full meta worthy.

Okay, so I'm sure by now everyone who regularly views the Klance tag has seen a short 20-30 second video clip from this interview going around. We're all pretty hyped about it (as we should be!)

For those who haven't seen that clip because they live under a rock: it's basically a 45 minute interview all about The Fued episode.

Here's the thing though: that 20-30 second video clip does NOT even CLOSE to do justice to the significance of Klance hinted at in this interview!! That clip isn't even the best part, imo! I highly recommend, before you even scroll down to read this meta, that you click on that video and watch from about 34:50 to about 37:20. That's the clip I'm gonna write about.

Watched it? Okay. Good.

Now listen up.

Somebody was in the Klance tag earlier tryna get people down by saying the interviewer was the one who brought up Klance, but if you watch the video clip I reccomend above, that's not true at all.

The interviewer was asking in general about how they decided who would pick who at the end of the episode. Lauren is the one who brought up Keith and Lance and their dynamic, pretty much out of the blue.

The interviewer asked how they decided who was gonna pick who, and they're talking about who wrote the episode, giving Tim credit, etc.

Lauren started saying Bob was trying to get the better of the team, and having them all choose someone besides themselves and having everyone get chosen, and show they all respect each other, was the only way to beat Bob.

But JDS had a different view.

JDS: "I think Bob was just trying to help them realize it. I don't think he had it out for them, I think he was--his endgame was, like, I want these guys to work."

I know JDS was trying to sound like he was referencing the entire team here - but honestly? I don't think he was.

I say that because, when I first watched this episode as a Klance shipper, this was the exact thought I had regarding Klance. I flipped because I was thinking, "Wowza, Bob's really out here tryna bring Keith and Lance together, huh. Number one Klancer right there, ol' Bob." I've always thought that Bob was low key trying to play matchmaker for Klance and this kinda sort of confirms that in a way, I think.

JDS: "We were like 'how's this gonna happen?' then we read it and we were like '...oh that's pretty smart, yeah.'"

LM: "That is a good way for that to happen."

JDS: "It all worked out, yeah."

I don't understand how this relates to the team as a whole.

I don't understand how this relates to the team platonically choosing each other.

They all like and respect each other. We already know this. What does JDS mean by "how its gonna happen"? How is what going to happen?

Good way for what to happen, LM?

Keep in mind, Bob is essentially an all-knowing deity. If Keith and Lance have romantic feelings for each other, he for sure knows, and was trying to help them realize it just like JDS said.

After this, the interviewer continues on talking about Keith and Lance dynamic and how theres always gonna be that little bit of antagonism between them even though they're mostly getting along now. The interviewer even brings up the "dont miss" snippet scene that pretty much everyone but Klancers brushed off in season 7.

And if you listen while the interviewer is talking about Keith and Lance and their dynamic, LM is kind of saying "yeah" in the background in a weird way, like she kind of sees, the same way I do, that the interviewer is thinking along a line of Klance.

It sounds like she maybe doesn't want to talk about it? It's hard to explain, just listen to it.

And LM kinda awkardly says "aww" at one point while the interviewer is talking about Keith and Lance dynamic. Like I'm sorry but..why aww? And why so awkwardly?

I think LM's mind is thinking in a way geared toward Klance/not spoiling Klance in these last few moments of the interview and she's trying to placate. Again, it's hard to explain, just listen for yourself.

The same person in the Klance tag earlier who was tryna get people down pointed out that, after this, JDS compares Keith and Lance to a relationship he has with a buddy of his. Debbie downer said JDS thinks of Keith and Lance as friends.

I dont think so.

I think they say little things like this to kind of hint at Klance without straight up spoiling Klance. They throw in comments like that to throw water on the fire, so to speak, to keep people from catching on.

(Also: he's not wrong at all. At this point in the show Keith and Lance ARE buddies. It's slow burn. They aren't romantic yet - but they will be.)

But also...RIGHT after JDS makes the buddy comparison is when the moment happens of LM talking, the popular 20-30 second clip that's been going around tumblr.

This is the part I'm sure you've all seen. Lauren says that Lance is maturing, moving on, and opening up by calling Keith the future. She also puts emphasis on Keith's name. "I think KEITH is the future."

And after this is yet another moment that negative peeps are tryna bring KICKers down with; Lauren says Keith is so perturbed by the whole game show thing that he doesn't put much thought into who he chose.

But...that doesnt quite add up.

Earlier in the interview, they were talking about how Keith is just so calm through the whole thing.

LM and JDS said it's because they couldn't really get a hold of Steven Yeun to revoice the lines in a more concerned tone. They make a joke about how he's not exactly easy to get ahold of (lmfao yeah we've noticed.)

Then JDS points out that it really works out, actually, that Keith is so calm, because after flying magical mechanical space lions to form a giant magical mechanical space man, there's likely very little that could perturb Keith at this point, so his meh attitude toward the game show makes sense.

That doesn't add up with him being "so perturbed" by the game show thing that he just chooses at random.

Either he's calm and collected during the game show or he's not. It can't be both ways.

So did Keith choose Lance with a calm and clear mind, or was he shaken and choosing at random? They were very inconsistent with this.

But imo? Keith isn't one to get very riled up or perturbed by things like this. Keith also isn't one to make such an important life or death decision of who should be free to leave without putting any thought into it. That doesn't match his character at all.

LM and JDS did something they often do here, which is the good cop bad cop routine.

One of them hints at Klance, then the other pulls back and tries to make it seem less romantic. Then the one who tried to make it seem less romantic hints at Klance themselves, and the one who originally hinted at Klance tries to ease it back a little.

They do this constantly when discussing Keith and Lance in any way. It's like a rhythm they've got going to stoke the flames and then splash a little water in; not starting a wildfire, but not putting it out completely.

Another thing I noticed: they said earlier on in the video that, originally, the game show was meant to be the final episode before they got back to earth.

Originally, the stakes for the game show were supposed to be "win and you basically get wormholed back to your solar system."

They decided to switch the episode order around because it didn't feel right to have them get back to earth right on the heels of a silly game show; it made the stakes seem like they were less serious, and they didn't want that (makes perfect sense! Good call!)

One note of specific pessimism for Klancers after season seven was that we got that one he's like, the future moment and then Lance turns right around and is angry and snapping at Keith in the episode where they were going space mad.

This made a lot of Klancers lose hope because they felt like any potential was fizzled out when that one moment early on in the season was almost all the Klance we got (I personally think there were more Klance moments than just the Fued in season seven, and I even think Lance snapping at Keith about running away was a low key Klance moment, but that's another meta for another time.)

But...apparently...the space mad episode was originally meant to come BEFORE the Fued.

Y'all know what that means?

It means that, originally...Lance was going to snap at Keith about running away...and then he was going to call Keith the future later on.

This makes a hell of a lot more sense in the terms of Klance being a slow burn. It was the change of episode order that threw us.

Also notice that...they didn't specifically talk about any other characters or the relationship between any othercharacters. They JUST talked about Lance and Keith.

The interviewer asked in general how they decided who was going to choose who...and the showrunners just straight up spent three minutes talking about Keith and Lance without a single mention of the other three paladins.

The interviewer didn't bring up Klance. Lauren brought up Klance. The interviewer saw the opportunity and started digging a little, AFTER Lauren brought it up.

I just...

You guys.

You guys.

All of this, plus the fact that the Garfle Warfle Snick logo is an exact replica of the irl Dating Game logo, plus the fact that Josh Keaton said this episode contains "a lot of foreshadowing," plus the way Lance looked so kind and soft when he called Keith the future, plus the confused looks Pidge and Hunk had when Lance and Keith chose each other, like they sense this was more than a bro moment?

Guys. Come on.

KICK.

[dragonofyang]

From the Sock Puppet’s Mouth

Well folks, good news and bad news.

Good news: the ABTV interview on March 4th confirmed for us that WEP is the reason for the last-minute changes and that certain things were fought tooth and nail for until they came down and axed it.

Bad news: WEP is still using the EPs as their meat shields to hide behind, and despite not being really able to refuse, Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery still said some fucked up shit in this interview and the one before. And we probably should gird our loins for the next interview with Let’s Voltron!

But Yang, why in the fuck are we not going after the EPs, then?

The answer to that and why this is happening is three little letters, my friends.

NDA.

Non-disclosure agreements.

AKA the bane of your existence. And ours. And almost certainly JDS, LM, voice actors, animators, and literally anybody who has to comply with the season 8 we got back in December and the resulting fallout.

These are fairly standard in lots of situations where you’ll be working with confidential material, stuff like stories, military paperwork, movie production, that sort of thing. They generally tell you that you can’t spill the beans until a certain date when the contract expires, or when the information becomes public knowledge and the need for secrecy is lifted. Pretty standard in the entertainment business, keeps people from getting spoiled to trade secrets or important plotlines and ensures that you can trust your employees with whatever you need done for the project in question.

One other thing that these pesky little pieces of paper do is give your employer (say, the owner of a franchise or a superior officer), the ability to order you what to say just as easily as what not to. Don’t believe me? Look up interviews with the people who were in The Last Airbender (yeah… THAT movie). During production and when it was new, they all said how excited they were to work on the movie and be a part of it, but once those magical dates came by to free them of their legal obligations, they spilled more tea than the American revolutionaries did back in Boston. As soon as they wouldn’t get sued, they changed their tune about working on TLA.

Sometimes you just don’t like a project, sometimes your boss is a dick, whatever, but the fact is, if you sign one of those little things titled “Non-Disclosure Agreement”, you are bound by law to say whatever your boss tells you to. It’s very much a “they say ‘jump’, you say ‘how high’” situation. The only time this sort of shit doesn’t apply is if it implicates you in a crime. So like, your boss can’t embezzle money and then tell you to say you did it, or that you helped, or whatever. If it means you’ll get pressed charges, then you’re free to stand up and say “fuck this noise” and leave.

But JDS and LM aren’t being forced to admit to a crime, as heinous as some of what they’ve said in the past two ABTV interviews was. I’ll admit, I saw red the first time I heard the interviews on February 25 and March 4, but ya know fuckin’ what? That was the goal. Those interviews were meant to be a targeted blow against those of us in the VLD fandom who want the real s8 and for the characters to get their stories told correctly, rather than the slipshod stoic nonsense that ultimately created a story with zero meaning.

WEP/World Events Productions/Bob Koplar holds the Voltron intellectual property. JDS and LM are their puppets right now because unless they’re ordered to admit to a crime or otherwise break the law, they could be ruined legally, financially, and closed off from their trade. Would it be nice if they stuck to the scruples they displayed back when the show first started? Fuck yeah. I’d love it if they said, “screw it, here’s the real s8 with the heroine’s journey and the parallel storylines and the ending you deserved to see and get catharsis with.”

Fact is, they can’t, but we, who have never signed an NDA with WEP, DreamWorks, or Netflix or whoever the fuck else is involved, can.

They’re lying, yes, and they said despicable things that would make anybody’s blood boil, but the fact is they’re just the unfortunate human shields that will let WEP get away scot-free and it sets a very dangerous precedent about what happens when a story is being told and someone up top doesn’t like what they see. The narrative LM and JDS are being told to spin is that when the writers left, they went ham and ruined the story and that the real season 8 would be worse than the concoction we got on December 14. LM and JDS have said awful shit as WEP tries to demoralize fans and chase them off from going after the original season 8 and deflecting blame off where it should be aimed. But why would they have to write a story that’s animated and would have been completed before the writers left? LM said it herself that animation is extremely ahead of schedule compared to releases, and if you’re a fan of HTTYD like myself, you’ll know that the third movie’s release date had to be pushed back multiple times to account for the animation schedule because they failed to accurately project when it would be complete, and so pushed it back as opposed to releasing a shoddy product.

It’s simple enough to realize that the story being spun is just logically fallible and factually untrue, but because so much of what’s been said has been attacking the fandom, it’s easy to believe it. I almost wanted to believe that, too. It’s easy when there’s already a face and a name to blame. It’s harder to dig through stinging nettles, even if you know there’s a pot of gold under it all. Luckily I brought work gloves and have friends who know how to wield gardening shears.

We knew before that there was last minute edits to season 8, and @leakinghate did an excellent breakdown of that here in case you want to settle in for a nice read to see what should have been. But the interview on March 4th confirmed multiple times that the problem with the changes and story didn’t come from the EPs or even Dreamworks. The pushback came from the IP owners. JDS says so right toward the beginning, about 12 minutes in when he’s talking about Adam and Shiro’s romance. JDS and LM both discuss how it was the IP owners who gave the order to change an already-storyboarded and approved plotline for Shiro, which directly negates their tweet on March 1 claiming that the store has no creative control and the letter Bob Koplar wrote to a few fans, also written March 1, which claimed the same thing and seemed intent on absolving him as a responsible party for s8. Sure, the person tweeting and the person handling orders might not have to approve things, but that account and the store are both owned by WEP, which is easily proven if you dial WEP’s number. But the IP holders got discussed multiple times throughout the entire episode, more towards the first half than the second, which is when what they’re saying gets really screwy in terms of logic and what they’ve said before and general bullfuckery. Until JDS and LM are thanking the hosts for the unprecedented two hour interview and JDS says, “I don’t agree with myself” at 43:03, they were thanking the fans and apologizing for what happened and explaining that it wasn’t them or Dreamworks, but rather the IP holders who were pushing back.

Don’t believe me?

Click to 12:10 of the March 4 interview. JDS talks about Adam and Shiro’s relationship and how it was originally meant to be portrayed, and at the 12:50 mark he says that they got pushback about their relationship, not from Dreamworks, but from “other controlling parties with Voltron.”

Click to 18:52, where JDS mentions how they didn’t have the position as being creators of the IP. He also points out that, “We were, for all intents and purposes, like, started as a show for boys 6 to 11 to sell as much toys as possible.”

Does that phrase bother you as much as it bothers me?

Because it should.

Ever since VLD ended and the fans started pushing back against what got published as season 8, the EPs have been silent, at least for the first two-ish months. They didn’t say a word anywhere publicly about the show or if they liked it, because their NDAs probably had an “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” clause. Generally, that’s the case because part of your job is to build good PR and hype up your project. Don’t believe me? Look at how they were after literally every other season, they came out immediately saying how much they loved it and how much they hoped the fans would too, and when there was pushback about Lotor’s abuse and the colony plot they were like, “please trust us, we want to do his story justice” even when it probably would have served them better to remain silent.

Not with S8.

Until these interviews, nobody talked. And when they finally did start talking?

They all kept saying the same things.

“This is a show for boys and their dads” and “this is a show meant to sell toys to little boys.”

At no point before this did anybody on the production team say anything even remotely related.

You can look for yourself, but I guarantee you won’t find anything. “Boy toy show” has been the go-to phrase for everybody ever since the silence around season 8 broke, and it’s not their words.

It is, without a doubt, from the IP holder.

We were promised that Lotor’s arc would continue and that “there’s a lot that is at play in his brain and his mind,” in the GeekDad article about him. Narratively, Lotor and Allura were meant to foil Zarkon and Honerva/Haggar. We should’ve gotten an alchemist-versus-alchemist showdown and a cool Lotor and Lance arc. Many things that were built up in seasons 1 through 6 were dropped, and if you refer back to Hate’s meta “Seeking Truth in Darkness”, you’ll find her analysis on what was cut, why, and the plot she pieced together based on the inconsistencies in the details of the season 8 that got released. In the latest interview, JDS said, “We were just trying to break the trope, our own trope. You know what I mean? Like Voltron was its own trope and the sort of little nook that we inhabited was, like, sort of boys toys was its own weird tropey situation.”

And despite all this talk of family and love and complexity and breaking barriers, we received two things from December 14 and on: VLD season 8, and silence.

Complete and utter silence.

The VAs were trotted out to face the wrath of the fans at SAC Anime 2019 and there was nary a word to be heard from the EPs, Dreamworks, WEP, Netflix… Nobody had anything to say about the final season of Voltron. The VAs even commented that there were things they were and weren’t allowed to say. And if they wanted to say anything, their NDAs and general social etiquette prevented them from saying whatever was actually on their mind, because I guarantee you nobody happy about the season would have kept silent. Even when all the season 7 backlash happened, JDS and LM asked us as a fandom to please wait and see, because there would be narrative payoff.

Which is why the latest two interviews with ABTV are all the more rightfully infuriating.

In the February 25 interview, LM specifically says that the initial pitch was to kill everybody, everybody would die and that would be the end of it, and that they had to back off from that. After the broken promises of season 8, that’s pretty damn believable to a fandom who’s rightfully hurting and grieving what could have finished a great show. But then with this March 4 interview, she says that she wanted to go Sailor Moon with it and have Allura come back as a baby after sacrificing herself. Kind of hard for those two stories to mesh when the person LM says would raise Allura would also have been one of the ones to die in the initial pitch.

So what exactly is the truth there?

Frankly, I think neither of those ideas is the truth. At least completely.

Why? A) It sounds like a super early pitch idea and B) because their general behavior disagrees with every interview leading up to season 8. Because if LM and JDS were proud of this product that got released, they would have said so and behaved as normal, if maybe a little more reserved due to fandom backlash. Because they wouldn’t be silent and only coming out with interviews after two months and several of #TeamPurpleLion metas that poke massive holes in what exists of season 8, CallVoltron has been sending letters, and #FREEVLDS8 garnered over 30,000 signatures. WEP has been trying to do damage control ever since we as a fandom started putting two and two together about where these disastrous last-minute changes came from, and only when the petition got updated to include WEP as a point of focus did WEP start trying to discredit the fans and meta writers who were coming too close to the truth. Here is a complete list of everything that’s happened since December 14, to give you an idea of just how wild of a ride this has been.

One main consistent thing throughout everything that’s happened since season 8 dropped is that everybody from the EPs up is lying, whether by omission or outright or through someone else, people have been lying like mad. WEP doesn’t want you to know that they own the IP and have strong input, despite confirming it by liking a tweet on February 13 and how you can be directed to their store if you call WEP’s phone number. WEP doesn’t want you to know that they gave the original season 8 the axe. WEP got scared that we got close and so they trotted out their EPs after two months of silence to try and break those of us hunting for the truth. These two interviews, which, mind you, came after what was scheduled to be the last one.

The official story continues to fall apart with every word of these last two interviews, too. JDS says that they were crafting the epilogue for season 8 during the aftermath of season 7, but according to him they completed season 8 back in June.

Again: which is the truth?

I stand with @leakinghate and the rest of #TeamPurpleLion and think that the original season 8 was completed back in June, but that the backlash from s7 and the general disapproval of a story of empowerment caused the truly-eleventh-hour edits to s8. The EPs are being forced to lie to you due to their contracts, WEP wants to keep hiding and lying and calling their customers liars and mocking them. But the funny thing is that the more intricate the lie, the harder it is to keep it straight versus the truth, as evidenced by how JDS and LM seem to be confusing what was in s8 versus what was pitched versus what they were told to say.

So what’s it all mean, then?

It means you should be watching and writing letters and calling WEP and calling them out publicly whenever WEP and Bob Koplar lie to the consumers and customers that express dissatisfaction with their service and their products.

WEP forgets that there is more to fandom than diehard dads and young boys.

The more they ignore the majority of their consumers, the more money they lose, the more faith they lose, and the less people will want to follow their future projects (like if they decide to do an MFE spinoff). Let’s Voltron is coming up with a new episode with JDS and LM, and they’re hoping to get it up soon. I’d just like to remind y’all that it’s scripted and pre-recorded, it’s not live, and it benefits from being the official Voltron podcast and has to keep good relations with WEP in order to retain that status. So don’t stop calling, write letters, hell just leave a Facebook or Twitter review of the business to express your satisfaction or lack thereof with how WEP treats customers and its show and everything. After all, the road to s8 is paved with honesty.

@felixazrael @leakinghate @crystal-rebellion @voltronisruiningmylife

[kcwcommentary]

VLD7x01 – “A Little Adventure”

7x01 – “A Little Adventure”

It was the news of this episode that caused me to arrange a weekend marathon, first catching up watching seasons three through six and then the new season seven. One weekend, 39 episodes. I was so excited to learn that the show was revealing not just that Shiro was gay but also that he had had a same-sex “significant other,” to use executive producer Lauren Montgomery’s words. I didn’t avoid spoilers about this episode, which had been shown at San Diego Comic Con, so I knew that the only content in this episode was the flashback scene of Adam breaking up with Shiro. But given how much LM and Joaquim Dos Santos were applauding themselves during the two weeks between SDCC and the season seven release, I thought for sure that there would be more interaction between them in the season than this one scene.

I did not expect Shiro and Adam to get back together, but because their breakup was told in a flashback, I thought there would be at least one scene of them talking to each other when Shiro got back to Earth to resolve the emotional content of the flashback scene. Scenes like this flashback serve a specific narrative function: to set up something more. This show failed to provide anything more. Between the Friday release of season seven and my starting my marathon on Saturday afternoon, the news that this one flashback scene was all there was, that Adam was killed off almost instantly the next time we see him after this episode, that once again a show had used the bury your gays trope, it was all being discussed online. I became furious.

JDS and LM had been going around for two weeks acting like they had accomplished something major, and then I find out that the queer inclusion was blink-and-you’ll-miss-it. For me, it felt more hurtful than if they had just not had any inclusion whatsoever. I’m used to most stories ignoring the existence of queer people. What JDS and LM did was manipulate us. They used queer identity as nothing more than a means to promote the season. This is why JDS and LM were accused of queerbaiting the audience, not because of any long period of the show suggesting Shiro was gay without ever confirming it, but because JDS and LM used their many interviews between SDCC and the release of season seven to significantly hype the reveal about Shiro. That promise of inclusion through Shiro’s relationship with Adam was the bait they used to get people to watch season seven, but this one, short flashback scene of the breakup in this episode is the entirety of that relationship.

The anger of the fandom was significant enough that JDS and LM posted apologies online a few days later. Those apologies did not help.

JDS said they had to kill Adam because “we knew seeing a familiar face bravely make the sacrifice along with the squadron he led (and countless others) would help get across the gravity of this invasion.” The only reason Adam was a “familiar face” is because of the two weeks they spent hyping him up, not because of the show itself. Before his death scene, he’s only ever in the flashback scene in this episode. If a viewer was relying exclusively on the show itself, it is easy for that viewer to watch Adam’s death and to have completely forgotten who he was.

JDS said, “We were aware of the ‘bury your gays’ trope but hoped against hope that our struggle to confirm Shiro’s orientation would take center stage here.” They knew that they were using the bury your gays trope, they just hoped people wouldn’t notice.

JDS said, “We had not intended for Adam to be interpreted as a recurring character or someone that would come back into Shiro’s life.” You don’t do a flashback scene like the one in this episode if you don’t plan on resolving it by later having the two characters meet again. Also, JDS has since contradicted this statement in interviews saying that they had wanted to have Adam return with Veronica, but that they didn’t have time to change it back to that supposed original intention because they had changed it to have Adam killed before they were told they could reveal Shiro as gay. Because of instances of public contradiction like this, I don’t trust anything really that JDS and LM say to be the total truth.

JDS said, “We knew people would be affected by the loss of Adam we just could not have predicted how profound that loss would be.” I do not know how he and the rest of his crew could have been this ignorant and oblivious. They are not the first show to employ the bury your gays trope. They weren’t even the first show to do so in the year season seven was released. Audience anger at the use of that trope is not new, so I can only conclude that JDS and his crew just didn’t care to know the history of queer characters in stories to realize why bury your gays is so offensive. Also, this statement and the “familiar face” statement reveal that JDS and LM’s decision to kill Adam was yet another instance of their purposefully trying to manipulate the audience. All writing is a choice. They could have chosen to kill another character instead, but they specifically chose Adam. They wanted people to experience some form of shock in watching Adam be killed, and they thought the best way to produce that shock was to kill a character whose sole characteristic is that he’s gay.

On to the episode. This was a pivotal episode for me, so I have a lot to say.

The episode is credited as written by May Chan and Mitch Iverson. It’s my understanding that May Chan is given a writing credit here, despite not having any credits since 3x02 “Red Paladin,” because she’s the one who wrote this episode’s flashback scenes. I have seen some reference in the fandom to how the content of these flashbacks were originally going to have been included early in season two when Shiro and Keith were trying to survive on that planet in 2x01 “Across the Universe.” So, if JDS and LM are telling the truth when they say that Shiro being gay has been a part of his character from really early on, and these flashbacks were originally written for season two, and JDS and LM wanted to kill Shiro at the end of season two, then they wanted to use the bury your gays trope in killing Shiro too. They wanted to kill the gay character to promote the emotional development of a straight character (Keith). Their approach to including queer characters in the show has always been problematic, at best.

The episode opens at a school – I think Keith is supposed to be something like 12 or 13 years old here. Shiro is there to give a school talk and promote the Galaxy Garrison. The teacher introduces Shiro, saying, “I’m sure you all recognize him. He’s the youngest pilot to ever lead a mission into space.” So, Shiro is a celebrity due to his piloting achievements. This helps give some scope to why Lance has described Shiro as being a role model for him. Every kid in the classroom seems excited, except for Keith, who is just staring out the window. It makes me feel sad seeing Keith so disengaged like this. Shiro clearly notices that Keith is mentally distant. I love when characters (and people in real life) demonstrate significant interpersonal insight like this.

Shiro has brought with him a mobile flight simulator for these students to be tested on. James, who we first saw sitting several seats from Keith outside an office at the Galaxy Garrison during a flashback in 6x05 “The Black Paladins” (a scene that’s repeated in this episode) and will see again as a pilot later this season, is up front, the most eager to use the flight simulator. The visuals of the simulator are ridiculous. It seems like it’s relying on the mistaken belief that the asteroid belt is more dense than it is. The show can’t hide behind a fictional location for the content of this simulation because this scene takes place in a time at which no one on Earth had been outside of our solar system, so this simulation has to be of our asteroid belt. A pilot navigating through our asteroid belt would not have to be dodging asteroids like this because the asteroid belt is nowhere near this dense. Also, anyone having a reaction speed as fast as depicted here, let alone kids, is not realistic. But whatever.

There’s a montage of various kids eventually crashing into asteroids and failing the simulation, including James. Keith sits alone, away from everyone, just looking at the ground. The emotion of Keith’s loneliness is tangible for me. Shiro has let Keith sit off to himself until everyone else has had their turn with the simulator, and then he finally turns to Keith. Keith’s reaction almost makes me think he was surprised that Shiro even noticed him. Not surprising, Keith is really good. “That emo kid’s doing it,” one miscellaneous student says. It’s frustrating that the show, with that line of dialog and with so many others prior to this, is so reductive of Keith’s character to derogatorily label him as “emo,” as if Keith’s emotions aren’t valid. He never knew his mother (until season six) and his father died when he was young, resulting in his being put in an orphanage. His emotionality seems totally justifiable to me.

James is antagonistic toward Keith, saying the simulator must be broken for Keith to have made it past level 5. James’s behavior here is very reminiscent of Lance’s and his perceived rivalry with Keith, so much so that I don’t know why, if they wanted a character to react to Keith like this here, they didn’t just have this be Lance instead of James. With characterization so sparse in this show, why take one of the few characteristics of Lance and give it to another character?

The teacher gives Shiro a list of students she thinks are best suited for the Garrison, and Shiro wants Keith on the list. The teacher then engages in seriously unethical behavior. Clearly able to be heard by both Keith and all the other students, she is dismissive of Keith to Shiro, saying, “He’s a bit of a discipline case. I don’t think he’d necessarily fit in with the rigid Garrison culture.” Even if a student is a frequent discipline problem, no teacher should be having this kind of administration-level discussion in front of the whole class. No wonder Keith is angry, adults like this teacher publicly degrade him given the chance. She then tries to hype up James Griffin, and the show, in giving James a last name, does something it never does for most of its main characters. The show expects us to like James and all the other pilots later in the season, but this introduction to James does not make me like him one bit. The teacher explicitly dismisses Keith and promotes James in a juxtaposition. The show writing James’s introduction this way instantly positions James as an antagonist to Keith.

As soon as the teacher speaks dismissively of Keith and praises James nearly in the same breath, Keith purposefully fails the simulator. He steals Shiro’s transport and drives off. Cut to later, Shiro is getting Keith out of a Juvenile Detention Center. Keith expresses surprise that Shiro would not only not be mad but also help him after that. Keith has clearly had little support in his life. Shiro wants Keith as part of the Garrison and gives him an address to report to. It is a little odd that Shiro drives off, leaving Keith standing in the Juvenile Detention Center’s parking lot, instead of driving Keith home though.

I’m going to say this now and I will say it again in this commentary: I love the music of this episode.

Meanwhile in the main story (I take it that all the non-flashback scenes are the writing of Mitch Iverson), the Paladins are still on that planet like they were at the end of season six. Shiro, now in the clone’s body, is being kept in the healing pod. Allura says, “Only time will tell if this body will accept Shiro’s consciousness.” This statement is a reminder that this body belonged to someone else and the Paladins took it from him to give to Shiro. If the clone is supposed to somehow be an empty body, then there should be no chance of the body rejecting Shiro’s spirit. But if there’s supposed to be a conflict between the clone and Shiro, then the show needed to actually show that. Also, how could Allura have been so confident in taking Shiro’s spirit from the Black Lion and putting it in the clone’s body at the end of last episode and then now have worries about if the process is viable? Shouldn’t she have discussed that with everyone prior to doing it last episode? This whole moment feels really contrived just so the episode can threaten Shiro’s wellbeing.

Pidge says that she’s tried contacting the Voltron Coalition to ask for help, but that she can’t get through to anyone. Hunk says the Lions need their energy systems recharged. Allura says, “If we had the Castle of Lions, we could recharge them.” Uh, since when did they ever use the Castle to charge the energy systems of the Lions? Why would they even need to? In 3x07 “The Legend Begins,” Alfor says that he made the Lions “from the quintessence-infused ore of the comet, which provides them with an endless supply of power.” In other words, the show has established that the power systems of the Lions are self-sustaining. They never would need to be hooked up to the Castle of Lions to recharge. The show now acts like the Lions need an external source of power, whereas the show has previously established that their power is inherent. So, this energy depletion is a contrived situation that is inconsistent with what the show has already established about how the Lions function.

Coran suggests a potential course of action, that they could use some fictional substance to do something. None of it is important. Keith tells everyone to go get what they need, that he’ll stay with Shiro. Krolia steps up beside Keith, and Allura says she’ll stay too.

And then Romelle speaks. I actually think Romelle’s dialog here is important. She says, “Wait. You just fought Lotor, defeated him, stopped an explosion that could have destroyed reality, took your friend’s consciousness from the Black Lion of Voltron and put it inside his clone, and now we’re simply moving on?” Hunk replies, “Trust me, I’m always saying the exact same thing, but these guys like to move on.” This totally lampshades the show’s plot. By employing lampshading this blatant, the writers are demonstrating that they know the show’s story is badly written, and they are effectively asking the audience to ignore it. This is the second instance of lampshading used recently, the other being in Ezor’s dialog in 6x06 “All Good Things.” If an audience has a net-positive reaction to a story, lampshading confusing or senseless parts of a plot can even read as humorous. But this show has burned the audience at this point, so this moment of lampshading with Romelle feels more offensive. This is the writers saying that they don’t want to have to do the necessary work of following up on the trauma inherent in the situation Shiro and the clone have gone through. The show wants us to “move on.” I even kind of wonder if the dialog being specifically phrased “but these guys like to move on” is even some subtle reference, Hunk standing in for the episode’s writer and the “these guys” being a reference to the executive producers. I have nothing to substantiate that idea, but I do kind of wonder what the creative relationship between the writers, at least the non-Tim Hedrick and non-Joshua Hamilton writers, and the EPs were like. For a long time now, I’ve suspected that the work environment for this show had a disruptive level of toxicity to it, and I’d be curious to know for sure what it was truly like.

We flashback again (so, supposedly back to May Chan’s writing). Keith is looking at a ship that Shiro identifies as “the Calypso, the first ship to carry astronauts to the moons of Jupiter.” Keith demonstrates knowledge of space exploration history by following up with a statement that “it took them three years to get there, longest voyage of its kind.” Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery have called Shiro “boring,” but I don’t know how anyone could watch Shiro in this scene and think he was a boring character. He says, “Reading about that mission is what made me want to be a pilot. Those astronauts braved the unknown. People can accomplish incredible things if they’re willing to put in the time and effort.” This shows that Shiro is a curious, dedicated person. He is someone who aspires. Some stories just use space as a setting, and they can be fun stories too, but I love the portrayal of the sense of wonder that space causes those who seek to explore it to feel. What Shiro says here is at the heart of his character’s motivation. His character is also revealed, not just through his personal aspiration, but also through his ability to inspire others to want to achieve too. He speaks very supportively to Keith here.

Back to the now of Coran, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Romelle looking for whatever they’re looking for. Honestly, given how emotional the Shiro-Keith flashback scenes are, I don’t care for this Coran and crew plot whatsoever. It’s not exactly a bad story, but juxtaposed to such significant, quality, character-driven storytelling like the flashback scenes, the Coran and crew plot is meaningless and just takes up time. There is some humor in it. Coran licking yelmore spray off of flowers and his yelmore animal call make me laugh. I also laugh at a small moment between Pidge and Romelle. Romelle asks, “Are all ancient Alteans like this?” and Pidge responds, “Well, we only know two.” Things go awry and they all get sprayed by some other animal, and the spray instantly shrinks them. Thus, this plot turns weird and feels tonally unlike anything this show has done before.

Back to the flashback scenes. A group of Galaxy Garrison cadets are working collectively in simulators. The process is so easy for Keith that he yawns. Also involved in this group simulation are Hunk, Lance, and James. Of course, the show has Hunk’s contribution to the scene be only his queasy stomach. Keith feels unchallenged by the current simulation and “test[s his] controls.” First Lance, then James, then the no-name others glare at Keith. In the simulation, Keith jets away from the rest. Afterward, Colonel Iverson yells at everyone, saying that because of Keith the whole group will have to spend several weekends running drills in the simulator.

James again demonstrates that his place in the story is that of being an antagonist, further making his switch-flip turn into a protagonist later in the season annoying. He says to Keith, “We all know the only reason you’re here is because of Shiro.” Keith retorts, “I can out-fly anyone in this building.” James reaches a peak of antagonism then by mockingly saying, “Oh yeah, is that what mommy and daddy told you before—” and he doesn’t get to finish before Keith punches him, knocks him to the ground, jumps on him, and starts to beat him up.  To go on a tangent briefly, this is something that infuriates me about our society, and I think this episode accurately depicts this reality: In schools, kids are allowed to bully other kids the way James does to Keith here. Depending on the situation, teachers are either too overworked to notice or they just don’t care and let it happen. The instant that a kid who is bullied fights back, the kid who’s bullied gets in trouble. The conclusion is that kids who are bullied are expected to endure the onslaught of the bullying while our institutional authorities allow the bullying to happen.

We cut to the scene that was in the flashback in 6x05 “The Black Paladins.” Keith and James are sitting outside the, presumably, principal’s office. Shiro is inside speaking on Keith’s behalf. Keith clearly has a very low sense of self-worth, telling Shiro, “You should just send me back to the home already.” These flashbacks do so much character work, revealing to us how much Keith needs to feel wanted by others, and it breaks my heart. I love how supportive Shiro is.

Back to Coran and crew, and I’m still not interested.

Back to the flashbacks. I love the music of this scene so much. Shiro and Keith are flying around on hovercrafts, showing some of how Keith developed his hovercraft piloting skills that he used in rescuing Shiro in 1x01 “The New Alliance,” including jumping laterally across a chasm from one ledge to another. Shiro is clearly having fun racing with Keith here. Like Keith in “The New Alliance,” Shiro dives forward off a cliff (I think it’s supposed to be the exact same cliff). Keith, here, however is too hesitant, so he stops at the cliff’s edge. Keith eventually catches up to Shiro, who’s parked. They watch the sunset together.

I love the music of the sunset so much, more than I can ever describe. I have very strong emotional reactions to sunsets. They have a way of instantly evoking a sensation of nostalgia, wistfulness, and peace. And this music perfectly manifests those emotions. I totally love this moment. (And it annoys me that this music is again used for a sunset scene between Keith and Lance in season eight. Using it there for the two of them feels like a violation of the beauty of this scene and the emotional bond between Shiro and Keith.)

The two of them discuss Shiro’s dive off the cliff. He explains how he did it, and Keith wonders if he is “ready to try that.” Shiro playfully turns the question back on Keith, saying, “What do you think?” and Keith, thoughtfully, answers, “Maybe I should be patient and keep focusing on the basics first.” Shiro asks, and Keith confirms, that Keith grew up in this rocky desert. Keith lived here with his dad, who was a fireman. Keith thinks of his dad as a hero because his father ran back into a burning building, supposedly being the event that killed him.

And then the show hints at Shiro being sick with his using “electro-stimulators to keep [his] muscles loose.” Keith picks up on something benig wrong with Shiro, but Shiro casually dismisses it and says, “It’s just what happens when you get to be an old-timer.”

Back to Coran and crew, and I’m still not interested.

Back to the flashback, where Admiral Sanda is telling Sam Holt that Shiro, despite having cleared all his physicals, “is sick and shouldn’t be sent on another mission, especially as far away as Kerberos.” Sam Holt stands up for Shiro, saying he won’t go on the mission if Shiro doesn’t. Keith is in the hallway and can overhear the argument through the open door.

Then we get the infamous scene between Shiro and Adam. Despite how supposedly close the two of them are, you couldn’t tell it from this scene. The staging does not feel like they’re a couple, keeping them instead across the room from one another. They barely look at one another. The scene ends up not feeling like Shiro and his significant other, and instead feels more like the end of a relationship that was really over a long time before this. This scene gives no sense of these two characters being in love. Shiro is upset because Colonel Iverson called in Admiral Sanda to try to keep Shiro off the Kerberos mission. That Iverson was involved makes Shiro joking with Sam Holt in in a way that suggests friendship between Shiro and Iverson in 5x05 “Bloodlines” even more baffling.

Adam sides with Iverson, citing the mission as a risk to Shiro’s health. Shiro reaffirms how exploration of space is important to him. Adam wants Shiro to view their relationship as more important that Shiro’s desire to explore space. Adam is worried that the mission could result in Shiro’s death. As I said in my commentary for 1x07 “Tears of the Balmera,” the addition of Adam’s worry about Shiro’s health regarding the Kerberos mission in this episode adds a new dimension of emotional pain the revelation in “Tears of the Balmera” that the Galaxy Garrison publicly blamed the destruction of the Kerberos mission on Shiro, saying that it was pilot error. I imagine Adam would have been heartbroken hearing that news, thinking he was right that Shiro’s illness caused him to lose his life. That the show kills Adam, him never learning that Shiro did not die, that Shiro was not at fault for the Kerberos mission, well, it pisses me off. It contributes to how it feels like the EPs and writers of this show wanted to hurt Shiro, and it also makes it seem like they wanted to hurt queer characters.

Adam reduces Shiro’s desire to go on this mission down to the idea that Shiro’s trying to prove something, but we know it’s not about proving anything. It’s about Shiro wanting this experience. He wants to explore space. He likes the way it feels to do this work. He doesn’t pursue this work because he’s competing with anyone, even if he has broken flight records. It is hurtful that Adam doesn’t seem to understand that. It’s realistic though that two people in a relationship would break up because they have different things they want to get out of life.

Adam says, “But I won’t go through this again.” What does that mean? Does he just mean Shiro being away on a mission? Does that mean Adam hasn’t actually been supportive of Shiro’s work even though he says he has? Whatever this is supposed to be referencing, it’s important context, suggesting this is a long-term argument between the two of them. We never get any details as to what has happened before that would result in Adam saying “again” here. I think this line in particular is why this scene feels like this is the end of a slow-process breakup.

I’m okay with Adam feeling like they’re on diverging paths, wanting different things in life, and breaking up over it. I’m not okay with him seemingly not understanding why working space missions are important to Shiro. Adam can claim he’s supportive of Shiro, but with this breakup, it does not feel like he is or really ever has been.

And by having Adam break up with Shiro, it feels like it’s just another instance of the show writing everything to hurt Shiro. And since this is the episode and the scene that reveals Shiro is gay, with Shiro never seeing Adam again, never resolving the tension this scene ends on, it feels like the show is only willing to include gay characters if the story makes them and keeps them unhappy and rejected.

Lauren Montgomery, now infamously, posted a sketch dated November 8, 2016. Hunk and Keith holding a placard with the word Race on it, Allura and Pidge with one with the word Gender on it, and Shiro and Lance with one with the word LGBT on it. At the bottom is a caption: “You are deserving of respect!!!” The show in revealing Shiro is gay, inflicting emotional pain on him in the process, through having the reveal come from Adam breaking up with him, and the show having the rest of the season and the next one having Shiro alone, isolated from the Paladins, no one ever speaking to him as a friend, does not put Montgomery’s claim that LGBT people are deserving of respect into practice. When viewers complained about how the show never lets Shiro have anything that makes him happy, JDS and LM seem to have interpreted that solely through a reductive perspective that viewers were saying Shiro needed to end the story in a relationship, thus the emergency epilogue being added to the end of the last episode having Shiro marrying Curtis. Of course, we fans of Shiro are not against the idea of Shiro ending the show in a relationship, but our criticism is bigger than Shiro having a same-sex relationship. That JDS and LM responded to criticism how season seven handles Shiro being gay and Adam’s death by thinking the solution was to just fling an empty same-sex marriage at us shows that they did not understand why people were so furious over seasons seven. In the end, they could not see Shiro as anything but gay. Respect would have been writing Shiro to be a whole person, with being gay as just a fundamental and important part.

Shiro is an explorer, a pilot, a teacher, a leader, a friend, a fighter, a good man, and a gay man. But with the revelation that he’s a gay man in this episode, the show now begins its process of sidelining Shiro. Being Black Paladin is taken from him. He fought for the Black Lion in seasons one and two. Like here in these flashbacks, we see that Shiro fought to be allowed to pilot space exploration missions. With the EPs taking being the Black Paladin from Shiro, it makes them feel like Colonel Iverson and Admiral Sanda wanting to take being a pilot away from Shiro. They write him increasingly separated and isolated from the other Paladins, his supposed friends. Even with the depiction in seasons one through six and especially in this episode of how close Shiro and Keith are and how important their relationship is for both of them, the next two seasons take that away from Shiro too, leaving the two of them to only ever speak in the most perfunctory ways in season eight. It feels like with the revelation that Shiro is gay, the show decided that he couldn’t be allowed to have a relationship, including friendship, with anyone.

Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery wanted to kill Shiro from the beginning of the show. They did kill him at the end of season two. Imagine May Chan’s flashback scenes from this episode but instead set during Shiro and Keith’s time crashed on that planet in 2x01 “Across the Universe.” Imagine the revelation of Shiro’s illness as set-up for Shiro pushing Keith to become the team leader. In that context, Shiro encouraged Keith to see himself as leader because Shiro thought his illness would eventually kill him. It’s insulting that the EPs and writers thought this was a respectful way to write Shiro’s character.

And what about this illness? The show never confirms that Shiro no longer has to worry about the illness. JDS said the disease is no longer a problem in an extratextual interview, but no one respected Shiro’s character enough to resolve this illness plot in the actual show. This episode introduces the illness and then it is forgotten hereafter. That’s how much respect the EPs and writers have, that they just threw a life-debilitating, potentially life-ending illness on Shiro and didn’t bother any textual revelation that he’s now free of it. It makes the inclusion of the illness in the story absolutely cheap, and it pisses me off.

Back to Coran and crew, and I’m still not interested.

Back to the flashback scenes. Shiro is working on the systems of a hovercraft. Keith walks up, upset, asking him “When were you going to tell me?” He tells Shiro he overheard the argument with Sanda. Shiro explains, “I have a disease, and it’s getting worse. I’ll only be able to maintain my peak condition for a couple more years, after that—The Garrison doesn’t want me up there, neither does Adam.” While whatever disease that Shiro has is not HIV, I cannot escape the distasteful way that the show reveals a character to be gay and to have a disease in the same episode. It feels like the reductionism that a lot of people engage in when they equate being gay with being sick. Our society has gotten better at not doing so, but I’m roughly the same age as Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery, so I’m quite acquainted with when our society did mostly equate being gay with having a disease. I can’t help but to be uncomfortable with the implications of this episode simultaneously revealing Shiro to be gay and to have this disease.

Keith asks Shiro, “So, what are you going to do?” And Shiro, looking down, gets an expression of determination and says, “I’m going on the mission.”

Back to Coran and crew, and I’m still not interested. They have made their way onto a yelmore and ride it to a spot. It digs, some bubbles float out of the dirt, it hollers, and other yelmores come running. The yelmores link ears and dig up more of the bubbles. The shrunk Paladins jump off the yelmore and somehow all luckily fall into the bubbles. Doing so causes them to return to their normal size. It makes little-to-no sense. It’s all just a giant whatever.

Back with Shiro in the healing pod. Allura says, “I’m afraid the clone body has rejected Shiro’s consciousness.” I can still feel JDS and LM’s desire to kill Shiro in this moment.

Keith slams the pod with his fist in frustration. Keith’s voice acting is good. “Shiro, please. Fight. You can’t do this to me again.” The ache in Keith’s voice hurts. The pod’s display then indicates Shiro’s vitals improving. Keith opens the pod, saying Shiro’s name.

Shiro, with more really good voice acting, looks at Keith and says, “I was dreaming. Keith, you saved me.” Keith hugs Shiro and replies, “We saved each other.” It is so emotional. It still makes me cry watching it.

I love the music during this moment. It affects me in similar ways to the music during the sunset scene. This music evokes something that feels pure to me. It contributes to why the relationship between Shiro and Keith is the most important and interesting thing to me in this entire series.

Coran and crew return. Lance relates their absurd experience, and Shiro just laughs and says, “It’s good to be back.”

I was so excited to learn that the show was revealing Shiro to be gay. He was my favorite character. He was the lead character, at least in seasons one and two. He was strong, brave, supportive, calm, a leader. It meant something to think that this show was going to make a statement by having such a character be revealed as gay. But then, the how of they did it was a huge disappointment. Realizing how JDS and LM were totally manipulative of the audience during the two weeks between SDCC and the season seven release made me feel totally deceived and used. I did not feel respected. Their attempts at justification in their apology were offensive.

I’m not a big mecha fan (maybe I just haven’t seen the right mecha stories yet), but I am a big science fiction fan, especially space science fiction. I’ve loved space since I was a really little kid. I also love animation because I think it allows for a way of expression and storytelling that’s different from film. Having a space-based science fiction animated story revealing my favorite character to be a gay man was important to me. It was hurtful to then see, through how the show treated Shiro, how little respect the EPs and writers actually had for LGBT people. How little they understood the importance and implications of how they handled the whole situation.

[spiftynifty]

Hey there! I’m the same anon that sent that confusion ask to jojo. I saw your reply and Read your post about LGBT in kids shows and how (at the time) it seemed probable for a m|m canon. I wanted to ask what your thoughts are now? I personally think it seems most likely that Keith will end in a het. Relationship (despite it seeming a little rushed and lm and jds saying they wouldn’t) Keith ending with no one when such a strong relationship with shiro was built up just doesn’t seem likely either..

To be honest, I was worried about Kacxa at first too. Many, many other hetero romances have started with less than that and seeing underdeveloped relationships just happen because “he was a boy, she was a girl, can I make it any more obvious” is something we are extremely accustomed to. Heck the show kind of plays right into this with Hunk/Shay.

But Keith is different, he is a far more developed and story-focused character than Hunk is, and thus if he’s to be given a romantic partner then it needs to match that flow and level of development. One of the “rules” that we often get in media is that “romance is a higher level on the relationship chart than friendship”. And at this point, and even after 13 more episodes, there’s just no context this show could offer me where I could honestly believe that Keith could regard Acxa with a similar level of affection to how he regards Shiro, let alone higher. This was the biggest reason I stopped worrying; to be blunt, Kacxa doesn’t make sense on a narrative or character level. Keith aside, Acxa deserves to have a story told that doesn’t involve her following dudes around.

Also, revisiting the show I’m quite convinced that Keith is canonically in love with Shiro, that his feelings for him were intended to be read as so many of us do. There’s a reason so many people in and outside the fandom have written about their relationship with optimism and curiosity about where the show is taking it. It’s there, even for those who have never been looking for it. I know a lot of straight guys who have picked up on it despite never realizing Korrasami was a thing. 

But we definitely do a lot of speculating here in the Sheith fandom and I’ve seen some pretty elaborate meta for scenes that didn’t particularly resonate as shippy for me. So stepping back, shipping goggles off, speaking as a viewer and as someone who works in animation, there are really… 3.5 sequences that give me pause, that are so heavily coded and so… interestingly storyboarded and animated that I find it increasingly impossible to believe the showrunners and directors never intended for their relationship to be read romantically. They are:

Because there is something inherently romantic about the slow zoom on their smiles before the slow drift of them towards each other, the castle forgotten

Because this is blatantly highlighting how beautiful Shiro is and Keith staring at him in awe before he closes his eyes for the last time, resigned to their joint fate

Because I have run all the permutations and scenarios in my mind and there is literally no reason for Keith to stop mid lean, with his eye direction shifting lower than Shiro’s eyeline. It would have been faster and way less work to show him just hugging him without the pause.

And then this is the 0.5:

Because while the canon tempers this moment with “you’re my brother”, I am beyond convinced that that line was added because the scene was too romantically coded without it. And if you don’t believe me, check out this edit someone made of what the scene sounds like without the brother line. It’s incredible. 

But will we SEE canon Sheith? that’s… a little more complicated. 

My post ages ago about LGBT in cartoons was pretty optimistic but where I failed was considering the differences in studios. Some companies are a lot more chill about LGBT content in their shows. But they also aren’t the Big Two: Disney and Dreamworks, whose records of LGBT characters are utterly abysmal. Here are the two they had prior to July 2018: LeFou from live action Beauty and the Beast, and Gobber from HTTYD2 in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it line that was ad-libbed by the actor and left in. Arguments could also be made for the Sheriffs in Gravity Falls (that had to be Dumbledore’d after the fact by the show creator who alluded to there being a fight over it).

NOT great, especially when you consider Disney is not just Disney: none, NONE of the 19 Marvel movies feature an LGBT character, nor do ANY of the Star Wars movies. It’s utterly inexcusable. Shareholders in these companies make things more complicated because they help dictate the direction a company will take and if a large portion of their major shareholders are say, more conservative, we’re going to notice that there is one area on the diversity checklist that is repeatedly getting passed over. The bigger the company, the more complicated the relationship is with shareholders. That’s why it’s difficult to compare Korra’s achievement, through Nickelodeon, to the potential of an LGBT relationship on Dreamworks. We should absolutely hold them to the same standards regardless of company size but we can’t expect to get an endgame LGBT relationship just because Korra did, or because of the giant 20-gayteen celebration going on for two wlw ships at Cartoon Network.

But we also got THIS on Voltron.  

And it’s a start. I think it outlines pretty clearly where the limits are for Dreamworks at this time, especially since many casual viewers seemed to miss the romantic implications of Zethrid/Ezor, and a more alarming number somehow walked away from Adam/Shiro’s fight completely unaware they were a couple. Which honestly, was certainly Dreamworks’ goal. Keep it vague enough to fool the shareholders, but implicative enough to pat themselves on the back for their achievement. Even though it only exists because JDS and LM fought tooth and nail for it. But at the end of the day, we still have Shiro, Shiro our canonically gay rep, and that’s so huge. I don’t think people realize how huge that is, and I wish his coming out party hadn’t been so marred by toxic antis and even non-antis who decided to take a really big moment in cartoon history and make it all about themselves and their own pain over the “more” that they didn’t get. 

It’s incredible that we are getting LGBT in cartoons finally, properly. 2018 celebrated three massive historical achievement in kid’s animation: A strong, muscular, leader hero was revealed to be gay and have had a boyfriends, and two wlw couples kissed–one of them got married, onscreen. 

This is HUGE. Prior to 2018 the biggest LGBT cartoon moment we had was Korra and Asami four years ago. 

It was like for four years everyone fought and fought and fought and 2018 was the breaking point and we got this glorious explosion of LGBT romance as a result. Audience reception to these couples has been immensely supportive, which is something the companies are definitely noting if it’s translating into dollar signs. It’s something that makes me much more optimistic for the future of cartoons in years to come. 

But I’m just going to come out and say it: the road to mlm is just a little bit harder. There are a ton of reasons for this but I’d say the biggest two boil down to: classic, gendered homophobia (the white conservative straight dudes with money supporting the studios have an easier time with the idea of two women making out, cuz that’s “hot” than two men, cuz that’s “weird”), and also because it is easier for people to accept that two overly-touchy women are “just good friends” than it is for them to accept that two male characters doing the same thing are. Guys Don’t Get Affectionate With Each Other, after all, because that’s not the Masculine Way. Or something. Tons of people watched the end of Korra and assumed they were just friends. Replace those characters with Shiro and Keith and it raises eyebrows. 

So where does that leave Shiro and Keith? It’s really hard to say and at this point it’s anyone’s guess. I truly believe Sheith was intentionally coded as romantic, but getting the green light is another matter entirely. In addition to the DW shareholders, JDS/LM have to deal with the Voltron ones and since that would include conservative-minded folk along with some Japanese shareholders and Japan has complicated rules about LGBT content… it’s a hot mess. Realistically speaking if you were hoping to see Shiro and Keith kiss onscreen, it’s time to come to terms with the fact that there is a 0.0002% likelihood of it happening. I think the best outcome we can expect at this point is that they both end up single, with bonus points if they’re still alive and on the same planet by the series’ end. I firmly believe that this IS something the showrunners are and have fought for and will continue to fight for until the last retakes are done and the show has been approved and shipped off to Netflix for distribution. 

My tinhat theory is that there is one, single scene/shot, that is blatantly canon, that JDS/LM and KR animated on the sly, and have at the ready that they are totally prepared to replace another more platonic scene with– should DW give the go ahead. But I doubt that go-ahead will ever come. At the end of the day the shareholders are the rulemakers and unless they’re convinced it’s worth the financial gain, Sheith is forever bound to be the “will they won’t they” friends we have seen for the last 7 seasons. And I don’t think that potential financial gain of the kids’ animation world’s first mlm couple is big enough to convince them. But god do I ever hope I’m wrong. 

[sol1056]

let’s just leave this here

so let’s see how quickly I can get through a bunch of these, just so they don’t languish for the next month... here we go. behind the cut:  why the opening never changed, why DW is deploying Josh again, a few about Iverson & Hedrick, is a reboot possible, staying in fandom vs leaving... and some others in the same vein. 

why did they keep the same opening for all of vld seasons, considering the line-up was never supposed to come back to the original from s3?

Every indication is that originally, the team would return to the original lineup. Keeping the opening was probably meant to remind audiences of that inevitability. Or you could believe LM, who said the opening cost 20K to make, and thus was too expensive to do more than once. She’d rather spend that money on a vacation. 

So I've heard that Josh Keaton is doing damage control for S8. Do you think Dreamworks sent him in because they know that he's the one guy that no one can get mad at? After what some of the fans have done to him this past year [...] I’m amazed that he's willing to stick around and try to make his fans happy for as long as he can. I can see why people say "We don't deserve him."

Josh has somehow managed that sweet spot between charming the fandom and gaining its trust. Doesn’t hurt that he’s got the chops, voice-wise, to take written dross (no, really, some of those lines are horribly clunky) and spin it into gold. More than anything else, he comes across as genuine, and that adds a certain credibility to his words. 

But... Josh doesn’t really have a choice. Playing Shiro is what catapulted Josh upwards, and the last thing he can afford to do is piss off DW by refusing to play ball. He’d only be damaging himself (and his reputation among potential employers) if he didn’t snap to attention when called. Plus, I think he really does sincerely love the character, but it’s got to be a tough spot for him right now. 

When you get down to it, the only one on VLD’s (former) staff who seems to believe Shiro belongs in the story and should be respected as part of the story... is Josh. Who else can Shiro’s fans look to, if Josh stops speaking?

So, yeah, Josh is it. And I bet he knows that, and knows it’s just part of signing up for such a major role. This is part of his job. 

So I came across a pic of Mitch Iverson from SDCC 2018 where he and Tim Hedrick weren't in the panel ... and [Iverson] was wearing a SHIRO BLACK PALADIN top ... while the EPs & Hamilton were in the panel promoting S7, Iverson supported Hedrick & his story, and Shiro.

Hedrick was actively involved in every script as the story editor, and reportedly conceived of Shiro as an astronaut returning after his capture by aliens. Iverson got his start thanks to Hedrick, thus it makes sense that Iverson would be simpatico with Hedrick’s vision of the story. 

On top of that, by SDCC Iverson already had his next gig lined up. He continued to write for VLD, so he had to be subtle... but a t-shirt was a good way to make his sentiments clear. Can’t blame the guy, seeing he probably knew what was coming and chose a quiet protest of his own.

As an American, how would you take it if someone, that is, Iverson, called himself a redneck? From what I know thats derogatory term & for people not exactly inclusive & supportive of minorities. He also retweeted an art of Allura with a quote: ‘Laters’, which I found in really poor taste...

Redneck is another slur adopted by the in-group. My guess is that if you called Iverson a redneck to his face, he’d be offended. But if you introduced yourself as a redneck, and then called him one, it’d be different. And yes, as a term, redneck has a complex history, and it changes subtly in terms of how each generation defines/uses it. 

As for retweeting things in poor taste... eh, most people don’t have any training in social media. Jokes are the hardest; it’s so easy for them to go so wrong. Until VLD, I’d bet Iverson was lucky to have a few hundred followers. How many follow him now? It takes time to find your footing in striking the right balance of humor and dignity. 

Sometimes the best course is to ignore the stumble. They’ll either learn, or they won’t. Either way, it’s their problem, not ours. 

Will Tim Hedrick be allowed to continue the voltron universe the way he planned it?  

I doubt it. He’s got a new project. If you’re now an EP finally getting your name at the top, would you really want to go back and fix someone else’s story? Sometimes it’s just better to leave it behind, and make sure the next thing you do is something you can have pride in.

...why do you keep saying the last episode Tim Hedrick wrote was The Feud? A lot of people keep repeating it, like it was his last 'fuck you' to the showrunners. But official sources all say 'The Journey Within' was his last episode.

All we can say for certain was that tJW is the last Hedrick episode broadcast. That doesn’t mean it was the last one written. 

Here’s why a lot of us peg tF as Hedrick’s last written episode: the story editor credit. Hedrick's the sole story editor on all his other episodes; tF is the only one in which both Hedrick and Hamilton share credit. The simplest explanation is this episode was edited in that window during which Hedrick had one foot out the door, and Hamilton had one foot in. iow, Hedrick put it into the queue, edited half, and moved on. Ergo, last written.

I can’t believe how they just managed to anger literally everyone no matter your favorite character or ship.

I recall a quote from early on, where LM said they had a feeling they couldn’t please everyone. The problem (which I noted at the time, and has remained true) is that the answer isn’t to just piss off everyone. 

It’s to figure out who you want your audience to be, and to write the best damn story you can for that particular audience. If you end up with a story only old-timer DotU fans love, and kids are lukewarm about, fine. If the reverse is true, fine. You can’t please everyone, especially in a reboot/remake. So you pick your battles, and write your story accordingly. 

Looking around social media, most people I'm seeing are either rightfully upset, or they're hyperfocusing on the one single scene they liked because they just don't have the energy to deal with the show's bullshit right now. How can they fuck up the last season so badly that it seems like the general reaction is disappointment and denial?

I think there’s a common cause for the fandom reactions: exhaustion. 

In American broadcast television, a 26-episode season runs from September to May, then a summertime lull, during which people digest and discuss. Binge-watching is changing this, but it seems one thing hasn’t changed: no matter how fast we watch a show, we still require processing time. 

What did we get? A half-season, two months’ break, another half-season, two months’ break, a full season, three months’ break, and a final full season. If every season had provoked a spike equal to S1/S2, we might’ve been begging DW by June to just freaking chill. Fandom had barely begun to process one season and a new one was already landing on our heads. 

On top of that, S3-S6 weren’t exactly walks in the part, post-release. In terms of controversy, S7 dwarfed them all. That made an awful lot of people (across the entire spectrum, from almost every sub-group in the fandom) disengage. Those who remained dialed back on their expectations (”as long as X happens, that’s all that matters”), or they hung in there, insistent it would turn out alright. 

So either you’re exhausted from not being able to fully disengage with the final season still in the wings, you’re exhausted from convincing yourself this one specific thing would be enough, or you’re exhausted from defending what turned out to be indefensible. 

Frankly, disappointment and denial is a fairly soft landing, compared to what might’ve been. But any way you cut it, the fandom’s worn the hell out.   

Do you think LM and JDS are gonna address this or are they just going to ignore the complaints, wash their hands and move on?

They don’t need to do anything. They don’t work for DW anymore. If someone has to address the complaints, it’d be DW or DW’s chosen spokesperson. I guess you could call that washing their hands, but the simple fact is they’re not on the payroll. They’re not responsible for VLD anymore.

do you think it's possible for dreamworks to rewrite season 8? i've never heard of a show doing that before and i'm afraid that we'll be stuck with what we got, but damn, i really hope that we will get to see the characters get the endings they deserve, if nothing else.

I’m not sure why anyone would bother. S7 was rife with problems; S3-S6 meandered back and forth. If I were to do a soft in-series reboot, I’d go back to the end of S2. That’s the clearest break, story-wise. 

But if you’re going backwards 50+ episodes to the 26th, just keep going and start over. More to the point: not a lot of creators would sign on to inherit problems not of their own making. Same reason new directors on a property will want to rework the script in some way (if not start over from scratch). 

Do you think this is truly the end of Voltron: Legendary Defender? I know that a lot of the cast and crew wanted to continue on with a sequel, and there's so many possibilities and things they can do in that universe, not to mention that Voltron is (or rather, was) a money bank...

Your guess is as good as mine, really. Hopefully we’ll get at least hints when the SACanime panel rolls around in early January.

There's a change petition for the "original s8" to be released ... [people] believe that LM and JDS are NOT the ones who ruined the last two seasons and that it was "exec meddling." Like, no, sorry, exec meddling appears to be what made it good in the beginning.

If we consider Yoo an exec by virtue of being CEO of Studio Mir, then I kinda wish he’d meddled a bit more. 

...I'm wondering if the original version exists, completed. In one post, you said DW picked Tim over L/J so surely that got animated? What do you think? Be real. I don't want to get my hopes high thinking there's some buried treasure out there to find.

Ah, no, sorry, I wasn’t speaking in the sense of VLD but in the overall corporate sense. Here’s how the scenario often plays out: manager A and employee B do not get along. The longer they clash, the greater the chance A will find an excuse to fire B. The project is literally not big enough for the both of them. 

B could resign, quit, or do a preemptive strike: go over A’s head and ask for help. If B leaves the company shortly after, it means the higher-up said: “I’ve heard A’s side, and I think A is right.” The exec might offer a good reference, or blame it on a no-fault bad fit. Doesn’t matter; the exec’s chosen A’s side. 

Now, consider what actually happened: B gets transferred off the project, and gets a major promotion -- basically up to the same level as B’s former manager. Either B has some of the most amazing dirt ever, is phenomenally good at twisting reality to seem like the wronged party... or the higher-up reviewed the situation and decided that of the two, B was the one worth keeping. 

Having decided that, the exec made an offer B couldn’t refuse, which would be to run a show that’s practically tailor-made to fit B’s dream job. That’s what I meant by losing the battle (how VLD would go) and winning the war (being the party seen as in the right, by the execs). 

The only way for A to turn things around is to have a blisteringly successful final product. It could literally kill two careers with one stone: the (former) employee, B, who spun such a good story, and the exec(s) who believed B. 

Given the numbers I’m seeing for S8... that exec did choose wisely.  

ETA (sorry forgot this part): There might be pieces, but it really depends on what version control is in use (if any). For that matter, even if there were saved copies, who’s to say those didn’t get, whoops, deleted at some point? I’d put my bet on there being nothing, now, except what we got. Sorry. 

I could understand if you never want to have anything to do with this show ever again.

Oh, jeez, I was here before VLD and I’ll be here after. Once we all get over our mutual exhaustion (and the holidays, bloody great timing, there), it’ll be time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Fandom’s got a lot to do, putting things back together in all the shapes that’ll make us happy. This is the best time to be in a fandom, if you ask me. Everything’s just getting started!

[asravine]

If in a few years they redid voltron with the original creators, I would watch, because they wanted to do klance (and I even like allurance, but not in the way they did it) and develop the characters correctly. Or, at least, better then what they did 😂😂😂😂 But would you watch?

hey anon!! im gonna cut this answer into two parts bc i have Many Thoughts on the matter but as of now:

short answer: i definitely wouldnt watch a voltron remake by the original creators (in this case im assuming u mean lm and jds, who are the executive producers) and i would be wary to consume any content they produce in the future. even if the vld re-reboot were to be made by another person, i would be cautious to approach it and would probably see the reviews first before watching any of it.

long answer: i was wondering what you meant by the original creators wanting to do klance and where you heard that from!! from what i know lm and jds didnt even think of adding klance as a pairing and it was instead tim hedrick (and a few other storyboarders like chartron) who suggested the possibility of klance (he was the one who included the bonding moment!!)

jds was bouncing around the idea of pairing off allura w someone (and even suggested keith and allura at one point) but ended up going for allurance in s7 on a whim even thou it didnt make narrative sense and regressed both lance’s and allura’s character development, which was also why allurance was done so horribly in canon. funnily enough, i was okay w allurance after s2!! it seemed like the most ‘likely’ pairing to happen and i was neutral about it as long as they had taken the time to develop the relationship in the rest of the seasons. but after how they botched it up by leaving little to no development from s3-6 and then adding a sudden and rushed resurgence in s7, my feelings for allurance soured by quite abit. i dont have any problems w fanon allurance but tbh i dont see how anyone (even allurance shippers) could have been happy w how canon allurance turned out.

the issue i have with lm and jds and the reason i wouldnt watch a vld re-reboot created by them (as well as be wary of any content they create) is due to their work ethic and the pride (or lack thereof) they have in the content they produce. lm and jds have admitted to wanting to kill off the entire main vld cast (and were even given the green light to kill hunk and replace him w acxa!!) in order to create a gritty and dark tale bc of personal tastes. the way they treat their minority characters is appalling (the best example being that they killed off their only female lead of colour, allura), the fact that they dont plan ahead for character arcs is frightening to think about, and the barebones plot they have stitched together that they call a storyline does not have any inherent moral substance or values that could be imparted onto audiences.

as a viewer, i am left unsatisfied and disappointed by the progression (and for the most case, regression) of the characters and as a content creator, i am disgusted by the clear lack of planning the vld team had. lm and jds do not respect the story they are trying to tell. in the case of vld, there IS no story to tell, apart from flashy fight scenes and the cropping up of bigger and bigger villains the team has to defeat. there is no talk about the importance of teamwork or the impact of found family or even the cheesy power of friendship. as such, i fear this would be the trend for any other content they produce which is why im hesitant to look at other shows they might work on in the future (and im esp worried for spiderverse since it is confirmed they’ll be working on the sequels)

i think theres a general consensus that most of the people who still actively engage in the fandom are only staying for the characters. lance, keith, shiro, allura, hunk etc have grown on all on us in these past three years and there was alot of wasted potential that could have been written into the show but wasnt. i think for this fact i would be open to consider a reboot of voltron, if solely only for the characters who never got the arcs they deserved (though i would be hesitant to watch it right off the bat)

i think ive spoken quite abit about my views on a voltron reboot (and my distaste for lm and jds in general haha) but thanks for this ask anon! i really do hope for all of our sakes that if there is a remake that they’ll do better and give these characters and the story justice

[sapphicssukii]

I just finished watching Season 8 and I. Am Livid. This show and its creators had so many opportunities to create something wonderful and it turned all of them down. All of them. They started off with such potential and such hope and they killed it right in front of us. They knew what this show meant to its fans, and they still gave us a shit show. They knew what is meant to us lgbt+ folks. They can scream “representation” all they want but I’m not convinced. I’m just angry and tired.

I’ve got a lot of feelings with this. It honestly makes so much more sense now looking back at the show after hearing what voltron twitter had to say last night. (i don’t know how accurate everything is, but everything makes a lot more sense.) Every other creator makes things that their audience likes and enjoys and that’s part of marketing, but jds and lm just decided to throw that out the window this time. They did so much out of spite and everything but the first three seasons was a whole mess. I was talking to a friend and he pointed out that’s its 2018 and there are still immature people out here choosing not to do something because that what teens who enjoy the content want. 

There was so much potential in this show. I like what voltron could have been beause it could have been groundbreaking a positive, really stepped in the right direction for what representation could and should be, but instead they threw it all out the window including the original bible, the premise for the show. Representation is not just having a character. It is writing the characters to be deliberate and intentionally relatable to the group that it represents. It is more than claiming that they are something off-stage. In fact the whole Shiro being a homosexual male is such a bullshit excuse for them not to make klance happen. (While I do ship klance, I have to say it’s because of their dynamic earlier on and how much they could have done with it.) Shiro was supposed to die in multiple points of the script. However, the kept him alive and then decided to pass on “lgbt rep” on him. For the show writers, they then had a scapegoat, something they could point to and say “hey we gave you what you wanted.” Shiro by all means is gay and I am not disregarding this fact or am I saying he isn’t but he was never coded the same way that Keith was. However, Shiro is Asian and dealing with PTSD among other things. He was their tortured character and they got to pass it onto him. (Keith was always supposed to be a lead character, so it meant more to them that he couldn’t be the LGBT rep and that we be baited by his ethnicity as well. Canonically he is white.)  It’s never mentioned that he is gay on the show and they pass this off as “being gay doesn’t define him :)” which is fair and a good point but you don’t realize that media in 2018 has not reached this point yet. We need to provide examples for young LGBT children and remind them that it is okay. We need to reassure and accept them and by telling everyone it was a subtle part of his identity, they never had to truly accept that he was gay. (It’s cowardice.) Having a bi character on this show would have been so good and progressive as well. Biphobia is real and definitely overlooked most of the time even by people within the LGBT community as a stepping stone to being “fully” gay or people being greedy and Voltron feeds into this binary of you can only like boys or you can only like girls.

I’m sorry I might have tired you out with this post, but those were things I thought needed to be said. I hope you think about things other than this show soon babe. Have a lovely day and I’m sending you all the virtual hugs that you need.  

[storiesbeyondthestars]

There are some who think Allura might die this season. Do you think this could happen? I personally just think that she'll end up taking over what's left of the altean colony but there are some who believe her dying is a big possibility. Just wanted to get your opinion on this.

I actually just watched the video from fictional crystals that talks about that. 

How this entire thing ends is up for debate. I believe that LM and JDS didn’t want to leave it open ended - they want to give a definitive ending to their story. That would certainly be a way to do it. The thing is though, any Paladin can eventually have another step into their shoes (though that could bring things back around to the 80s one where Shiro pilot Blue). What would definitely make it so no one else could try to make a continuation of this version would be to destroy Voltron itself. 

That being said, out of all of the Paladins, I think Allura’s the one that’s most likely to die. I could easily see her being the one to sacrifice herself in order to save everyone else. 

Often time in fiction, events happen in threes. With this group, we’ve had one person try to sacrifice himself but was saved (Keith, saved by Lotor), we have one person who sacrificed himself, dying in the process, and was brought back (Lance, brought back by Allura), so one person sacrificing his or herself and not coming back would kind of complete that. 

If, like fictional crystals says, Allura ends up ascending to become something else, like the Lion Goddess, it’s not nearly as bad as her just full-on dying and that’s it. 

One thing I do know is that if she does end up sacrificing herself, I hope that she and Lance part ways before that for other reasons. I don’t want it to be the reason. That’d be horrible for Lance’s development. 

So honestly, I’m not entirely sure. I could see it going either way.