#alteans are bad

[sistamajor]

Someone needs to update Keith on human courting rituals, seriously

💜💙

[ethereance]

Part 2 of my social media allurance au. Find part 1 here

[discordiansamba]

Pidge is the first to find out.

Of course she is- she's the one who summoned him. She didn't expect it to work, but now they're both bound by the rules of summoning to forge a contract with one another. Keith knows better than to ask for her soul, so he asks for her hair instead. She has a lot of it, and it she can grow it back if she wants to. It's an infinite resource.

(Colleen just thinks he's a friend of her daughter's. They do not dispute this. She does do a double take when she goes to check on her daughter and finds that she just abruptly cut off a huge chunk of her hair, though.)

Allura is the next one to find out. They kind of have no choice but to tell her, given Keith's disappearing act. It's not as bad as having to tell one of the paladins, though. She has no preconceived notion as to what a 'demon' is. To her, he is simply another kind of Earthling.

(She agrees to keep it a secret, though she's clearly not happy about it. She doesn't understand it would effect the paladin bond more if they knew.)

Shiro is the third to find out, but Keith doesn't learn this until much later. He's there when he faces the Trials of Marmora. Keith never realized just how much he saw there. How when he passed out on the ground, beset by illusions, Shiro saw him as he truly was. Shiro never says anything.

(Shiro understands why Keith never told him. When he smiles and tells him that it doesn't matter what he is, that it's enough for him to just be Keith, he's not only talking about his Galra heritage. If Keith is a demon, then he's been a demon the entire time Shiro has known him.)

Kolivan and the Blade of Marmora all find out at the same time. That he does know. They have questions for him, although Keith is hesitant to answer them in a way he wasn't with Allura. These people are the other half of his heritage. It's a weird feeling. Guess it explains his purple skin and yellow eyes, which he clearly didn't get from his dad.

(For all his apprehension, to them he is no different from any other half-Galra. It is a surprisingly comforting feeling.)

Lance, Hunk, and Coran all find out together.

The mission was a bust. The ship was a decoy, rigged to explode. Regris is on the verge of death, and needs a healing pod fast or he won't make it. So Keith makes a gamble and reaches out to Pidge. Can you summon him back to the Castle right now? She's confused at the urgency but complies. Keith's gamble pays off- he's holding Regris at the time, and he gets dragged along with him. It doesn't matter that he's just appeared right in front of everyone in his true form.

Allura snaps into action and helps him quickly get Regris to a healing pod. He's put right next to Shiro's, where he's been in stasis ever since their battle with Zarkon. It's only then that he has to confront his choice, turning back to face Lance and Hunk. There's no way he can just write this all off as due to him being part Galra. He has to tell the truth.

(When Shiro emerges from the healing pod, Keith has already left for the Blade.)

[imhereformysciencefriends]

Day 6: Galra Allura

Tags: @loturaweek2024 Species swap, alien culture, Galran Empire, helping someone you dislike and hating it the whole time, deep seated propaganda/brainwashing, touch starvation

Read on AO3

Prince Lotor was an embarrassment to the Galra name and species. Everyone knew that. To even touch him was to risk being polluted by the filth that tainted his bloodline and made him soft, pathetic, vulnerable. To associate with him? Was to practically volunteer to join him at the bottom of the pecking order. He was alive only because he had half-inherited his father’s martial prowess (and how powerful was the mighty Emperor Zarkon, that even half his strength should best any Galra that challenged Lotor!) and because Galran custom forbade even Zarkon from ridding the universe of his own child.

Allura knew that.

Allura was a good, dutiful, honorable, hardworking Galra. She was proud, as all Galra were proud, she was fearsome, as all Galra were fearsome. She was cutthroat and coldhearted—and maybe that was a lie.

The smell of blood was not foreign to her. She’d spilled plenty of it, herself. His shouldn’t move her. It was good, she justified to herself, that she concerned herself with the wounds and wellbeings of other Galra, for Galra were all as one, united under their glorious emperor, and to uphold and uplift the Galra around her was to uphold the empire as a whole, she self-rationalized. But Lotor was only half Galra, his blood tainted with Altean genetics, she shouldn’t care if he bled, if he ached, if he hurt, if he gasped as he rolled himself onto his knees and hand, the other wrist too damaged to put his weight on.

Really, she would be doing him a favor just for walking by. If she just strode past him and the unconscious bodies strewn around him, hell, she should be concerned about them, not the one left standing (or, well, kneeling. Getting there).

…Maybe, since he was half Galra, it would be alright if she half-cared?

She didn’t ask or offer, simply walked up to him, got his good arm slung over her shoulders, and lifted. He growled at her, and she growled back, not exactly happy about this either (damn her soft heart! A Galra should be better!), but his anger settled into confusion when she merely pulled him to his feet.

“...To what do I owe the honor?”

“Can it,” she snarled. “Let’s just get you out of here before any of these fools wake up and try for a round two.”

Because yes, that was it, they were the fools. Everyone knew Prince Lotor inherited half the emperor’s strength, it was their fault for thinking that they could best even that.

As a group.

Against one man.

She grit her fangs. Life wasn’t fair. Of course Galra didn’t play fair. It wasn’t honorable, exactly, but she doubted this was an official challenge for anything. And how did a prince get picked on this much anyway!? It was embarrassing for him.

“I rather must admit, I had thought when you approached me you intended to finish what they’d started.”

“If you keep chatting so much, I just might,” she snapped, with less heat than she’d intended. The line of his arm across her armor was distracting (it was always distracting) (she had yet to shake off the childish need to be touched outside of battle. Shameful). It was distracting her. This was a distracting situation.

“...Thank you.”

“Please,” she muttered quietly, “don’t ever mention it.”

And, see, again, Allura was distracted, it was a distracting situation, she wasn’t thinking about where she was going, because she’d just finished her shift and had been heading back to her apartment, and in lieu of actually taking Lotor somewhere her body just. Finished the trek home.

She stopped in front of the door to her room, very clearly in one of the residential halls, very clearly embarrassed with herself, even with her downturned ears hidden by her helmet and her blush underneath her fur.

He laughed, damn him, a soft, breathy, barely-there sound. “And where, precisely, has my valiant savior taken me?” Lotor asked, teasing and very knowing and sounding quite amused, the bastard. She shoved him off of her into the wall.

“You know I’ve had about enough of your sass!” she snarled, fangs bared, and he laughed again, louder, though his eyes were sharp on her, treating her like a threat. Good. She was one.

“Forgive me,” Lotor said, still sounding amused, if cautious, “I’m afraid my mouth has played the culprit in many of my altercations. I just can’t seem to control it.”

“Perhaps you should learn.”

“Perhaps.”

She crossed her arms and huffed, then. Well. Conceded in looking away first. It bristled, to be the one to look away from Lotor, embarrassment of the Empire, but she could admit she was being just slightly ridiculous (she’d been the one to bring him here, after all), and even if he did take advantage of the deliberate show of weakness, she doubted he could do much against her, down a wrist and limping like that.

“Your breath seems caught enough,” she muttered, still turned away. “You can make your own way from here. I’m going to rest.”

She slammed her hand down on the ID pad and her door slid open for her, allowing her to storm in.

“Wait!” Lotor called, soft but urgent, and she stilled in the doorway, cocking her head to look at him and her lip lifted just enough to snarl with one fang.

“Please, at least tell me your name.”

“...Allura. Now go away.”

The door didn’t slam behind her, just neatly closed like it always did, and she found herself resenting the emotionless metal for its lack of force. Good riddance. She was supposed to be enjoying a varga or two of personal time before she slept and went back to work the next day. Not dealing with stupid princes and their stupid faces and their stupid injuries and their stupid, breathy, lilting laughs that sounded so soft and inviting and their stupid smug faces and stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

Her face burned as she stripped off her armor, flinging it roughly at the armor stand. Whatever! She hoped she never saw him again!!!

(Except she did, she did, she wanted to see him. Stupid. Pathetic. Weak Allura).

[unusualwhatsits]

Altean!Will for the super cool and good VLD!Byler AU floating around

[laughableillusions]

Does anyone remember that episode in VLD where Allura was racist to Keith bc it was found out he was half-Galra

[njararna]

whoever thought the ‘what if the species that was genocided were actually the bad guys in an alternate reality and committed lobotomies on entire species’ episode was a good idea needs to be handled. i know they were in the writers’ room rubbing their hands together gleefully like they thought they cooked something Profound…💀 any ‘what if the oppressed were the oppressor’ storyline is absolute dogshit and i really wish ppl would stop using it

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Bitches be like "i am going to rewrite vld show and it is going to be sooooooo much better than the og!!! I am also redesigning them to fit my vision better teehee!!" and it is everyone looking same except Lance who is whitewashed.

[clausenauto]

Are you wondering what is the lifespan of a car starter? Ask your auto mechanic for advice on how to maintain alternators.

[domesantis]

Lotor and Keith: The Duo We Deserved

Disclaimer: it's been around 8 months since I've last watched voltron. details may be inaccurate

Sometimes I think we were robbed of what could've been an amazing friendship.

Keith's discovery of his Galran lineage and Lotor's of his Altean heritage, and their indirect parallel of upbringing, I hoped these two would form an amazing bond as they're the only people that could relate to each other in terms of ostracization due to their race. But that hope eventually dwindled down when I realized that the showrunners were definitely not planning that, and in fact, even makes Lotor a bad guy again.

At the very least, I had hoped for a heart-to-heart conversation about them being mixed race and flesh out that aspect of them more. Yet again, I was let down.

During Keith's entire life, he has been ostracized by his peers and constantly bullied for being different. It has been the fundamental characteristic of him— his preordained Galran traits— embedded into every crevice of his disposition and being unable to do anything about it. When he finds out about his Galran heritage, we finally conclude the reason, in profound realization, why he's never fit in much back in Earth. Ultimately, this would give clarity and closure to Keith about why he's the way he is, but what the showrunners overlooked is the inevitable, imminent consequence of an identity crisis.

He's too galra to be human (antisocial, rebellious, fierce and stubborn), but too human to be galra. (compassionate, warm, weaker and smaller in stature, humanly physical features)

This is his reality everyday.

I distinctly remember Sendak belittling Krolia because of her half-breed son, Keith. It went something along the lines of: "Is the Blade of Marmora so low on soldiers that they recruit a half-breed and his mommy in?" Which, most likely, amplified his identity crisis. Poor guy.

I feel as though the same case could be applied to Lotor.

Raised by only Galrans and raised to be one, his father, Zarkon, would also say that something was quite fundamentally different about him. Compared to a stereotypical, standard Galra, he seemed to be quite more compassionate and carefree as a child, showing great intellect and promise in other aspects yet lacking in the personality traits as a Galra and embracing more of his Altean characteristics.

Growing up, Lotor always believed in goodwill, altruism, and attempted to prove to Zarkon that he could successfully subjugate planets by sheer goodwill without repercussions. However, his father's constant abuse for millennia, and cruelly destroying said planet, would of course, send him to spirals and awaken his long repressed Galran characteristics: Tyrannous, vindictive, cruel and spiteful.

Both Keith and Lotor had been abandoned by their biological parents, one in a literal way, and the other, emotionally. Both of them had something just fundamentally, unutterably different about them that they couldn't quite explain, thus thwarting the standards of "what they should be".

If Keith and Lotor had formed a genuine, wholesome familial friendship to replace their absent/abusive parents, they could've established an actual safe space where they felt belonged and heard. The rest of the team may also provide an emotional connection towards them, however, nobody knows their pain more than each other. After all, they both went through similar experiences. Mixed race solidarity!

Also. I think it could've been a great way to represent mixed race people (I'm sorry. Is that how you call them? Is this offensive?). I'm not one myself, so I'm not sure, but this would've been so great to promote inclusivity and accurately represent their struggles in the actual world. This also could've been an amazing plot point for Lotor's character development and fleshing out his character more onto a much more profound and raw level. Instead, they threw it all down the drain by betraying VOLTRON then dying. Disappointed.

Also, I'll be diving deeper into Keith's identity crisis more in one of my next posts, and Lotor's tragic fate.

Get me out of this VOLTRON hellhole. The hyperfixation is too much.

[torveiglyart]

Due to my inability to post a comic page today, I have some more fleshing out of the Avicorians… and a Lance AU.

Due to the unique materials that many Avicorian’s body parts are made of, this race has been poached to extinction. The feathers, bones, teeth, claws, and eyes of an avicorian are held in high regard on the black market. Although they are universally known as extinct, there was a rather large group of Avicorians that escaped the mass poaching epidemic by fleeing to a small outer-rim planet known as Earth, and hiding there.

As generations came and went, the degree of chameleonisation rose, making it impossible to tell an Avicorian from a human, 2,000 years after the genocide. The only indicator that a person could be Avicorian or of that descent is heterochromia, yet even that genetic factor happens in regular humans, so there is no sure way to identify them.

Like Alteans, Avicorians have a unique connection to quintessence. The light markings on their wings indicate a person’s connection, or “power”, to the quintessence they feel strongest. for Avicorians, the composition of quintessence differs based on the colour: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Teal, Blue, Violet, and White. Coincidentally, this colour action works similarly to Earthling’s “Auras” in that personalities can be identified by the quintessence colour. Unlike Alteans, Avicorians cannot “wield” quintessence or manipulate it in the way alchemists can. They can react to and with it, like recharging a Balmera, but cannot utilise it, like Oriande shows. Avicorians require quintessence usage to shape-shift (to morph, not sustain), while Alteans do not.

Quintessence and meaning

Red: Passion, agression, impulsion, heart

Orange: Energetic, creative, impatient, skittish

Yellow: Stubborn, support, compassion, caution

Green: Inquisitive, petty, productive, amicable

Blue: Fluid, thoughtful, trust, fawning

Violet: Decisive, level-head, weary, calm

White: “Purity” White quintessence does not normally appear naturally as it is a refined version. There are no traits, as there are none with a connection to white.

Teal: “Raw Quintessence” Balmeran crystals are the easiest example of quintessence in a raw form. Curiosity, kindness, flexibility, empathy

And now the Lance AU:

Unknown to Lance McClain, he is half Avicorian. His parents, who were actually a full-blood Avicorian and his “aunt” Rosa, were killed in a car accident when he was only 2, and so he was taken in by his aunt Sophia, who he knows as his mom. He was never told of his true parentage, as no one felt it was important for him to know. He was a McClain anyways.

Lance always had heterochromatic eyes, brown on bottom, blue on top, but preferred to wear coloured contacts to hide the unusual colouration, especially after a bad spout of bullying when he first moved to America.

Years later, when Voltron went to aid an Empire outpost with broken shields, Lance sacrificed himself to save Allura from a beam of electricity and was revived by her newfound knowledge of Altean alchemy. Upon revival, he began to have strange pains in his back and nails, yet continuously brushed them off as battle scars or “the whole dying thing”. Months later, when they fight Lotor in the quintessence field, Lance passes out after their victory and wakes up in Red, his armor broken on the ground in front of him and eyes burning. He doesn’t actually take note of the changes until Red is packed with his things and the castle is gone. No one ran into him during the packing trips, but now that things have settled, Pidge is the first to point out Lance’s silence. It is then that Lance freaks out about the wings, blue sclera, and claws.

[klance-headcanons-official]

Keith has a thick Texan accent, but over the years of bitchy garrison kids, he uses the accent that we hear in the show

But when he gets really mad? The paladins very much hear it. It shocked lance the first time he heard it!

Keith had seen shiro do something dangerous and stupid. He was, rightfully, concerned. So they’re arguing. Shiro says it wasn’t dangerous and that Keith is getting way too worked up over something small. Maybe he was over reacting but it’s Keith.

“Overreacting? You can’t be all hat and no fuckin cattle! And dont you DARE say I’m pitchin a hissy hit! The moment you saw it was gettin dangerous you AND PIDGE!” He points over at pidge who is on the sidelines with the alteans and other paladins like ‘since when does he have this accent and WHEN did he learn to talk like that?? TO SHIRO?? HIS BIG BROTHER..’ 😨😶

.

“y’all both should’ve dragged yer asses back here right quick!” “Keith-“ “I AM NOT DONE TALKIN! Hush up! Cause what in Tarnation was yall done thinkin?! And bless your heart cause I know you were trying to keep her safe but are you a fucking idjit? Cause you were done acting like one!” This goes on for twenty minutes until he switched to Korean because “there ain’t enough words in the English language to describe that I am madder then a hornet at y’all!”

This whole thing was in a very thick Texas accent

- Vee 💜

Wow that imagery actually just made the world a little more bearable

I love the thought of Keith being a little awkward the next day because he did not just talk to Shiro like that.

Shiro's not even mad, just impressed, but Kekth feels a little bad about it lmao

[shanastoryteller]

ShanaStoryteller’s Prompt Answers Masterlist V - Z

VOLTRON

Altean Prince Lance Crown Prince Lance Dense Keith Garrison Friendships Lance and Blue Lance asks Keith out Shallurance Trans Keith Trans Keith, Part 2 Trans Keith, Part 3 Trans Keith and Pidge

THE WALLFLOWER

Sunako and Safety Sunako Oda

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE 

Carlos

THE WITCHER

Bad at Love Fertility God Jaskier Fertility God Jaskier, Part 2 Fertility God Jaskier, Part 3 Fertility God Jaskier, Part 4 Halloween Husbands and Yennefer Husbands and Yennefer, Part 2 Husbands and Yennefer, Part 3 Jaskier the Bard Too Smart Too Pretty Witchersexual Jaskier

YURI ON ICE

Assassin AU Blind Date CASO Add On CASO Snippet Chris and Yuuri, Part 1 Chris and Yuuri, Part 2 Chris and Yuuri, Part 3 Yuuri and Chris, Part 4 Yuuri and Chris, Part 5 Chris on Yuuri Coach Yuuri Coach Yuuri, Part 2 Coach Yuuri, Part 3 Coach Yuuri, Part 4 Coach Yuuri, Part 5 Coach Yuuri, Part 6 Coach Yuuri, Part 7 Coach Yuuri, Part 8 Escort!Yuuri Yuri Sees Ghosts Yuri Sees Ghosts, Part 2 Yuri Sees Ghosts, Part 3 Goblin Fusion High School AU Hogwarts AU Just a hedgewitch Just a hedgewitch, Part 2 Just a Hedgewitch, Part 3 Just a Hedgewitch, Part 4 Just a Hedgewitch, Part 5 Just a Hedgewitch, Part 6 Just a Hedgewitch, Part 7 Language Problems Mafia AU Phichit and Yuri Post CaSO Slytherin!Yuuri

[haibunnyy]

This might be a hot take but…

I loved S7 of vld and I don’t get all the hate for S8. I see it a lot on here that people hate the later seasons or flat out refuse to watch S7-S8 and while everyone’s entitled to their opinions, honestly I don’t get it and hope now with VLD being taken off Netflix people give it a chance before it’s gone.

!Spoilers below!

Disclaimer S7 IS my favorite season. From the travel home where we see just how far the paladins have come with their relationships with each other from goofy moments like the game show episode to E6 the journey within, when they’re going crazy stranded in space and fighting with each other. “you ran away. Maybe you should’ve just stayed away” ugh the angst love it.

Then the second half of the season had so many solid moments where the cast finally got what they wanted, going home, seeing their families, proving the people who doubted them wrong (specifically Keith with this one tbh) but it’s nothing like how they expected. I thought the fight for earth arc was one of the most serious and emotional arcs of the show. Everyone willing to die for their home planet, the almost self-sacrifice moments, part where Lance closes his eyes ready to die and Keith’s calling out to him…sold.

Don’t get me wrong it’s far from perfect, I hear the criticism. We get the dreaded bury your gays drop this season with Adam (maybe that’s why they decided to kill off Allura, had to even it out /j )

Moving into S8, arguably not at good as S7 by a long shot but I still think it’s worth the watch. And I know I’m gonna lose people here but oh well it’s me and my delusions against the world.

Persssonaalllyyy I see a lot of the hate for this season comes from Allura and Lance getting together. And okay don’t shoot me here but I’ve noticed a lot of hate for Allura in general stems from this season and I am a Allura defender to the end. I’m gonna be honest in the rewatch I could see it, why people ship klance (they’re my OTP I get it), the rumors about if there was one more season it’d be canon, or how the staff even shipped them or how someone left the team or got fired and that’s why it’s not canon. I get it truuuussttt me I get it. But that’s just not what we got and in the context of what we did get, I honestly thought Lance’s and Allura’s relationship, as short lived as it was, was cute.

We see 7 seasons of Lance flirting with Allura, flirting with all these girls claiming to be a romantic and you now what? He is! He’s a good boyfriend! As much as he changed throughout the show he’s still “loverboy Lance” nervous to make the perfect date for the girl he likes, talking to his friends about it cause he’s feeling insecure taking out a literal princess, taking Allura to meet his family, and as much as I ship klance over allurance (and would have preferred for the two of them to go out instead) their date was CUTE okay sue me.

As for Allura, I get it, she did not like Lance AT ALL in the beginning seasons. So where did this come from? Poor choices in the writing room most likely BUT in the canon Allura has been strong willed the entire show, leading along side the BP, becoming a paladin herself, giving up her father to protect others, loosing the castle of lions and truly one of the last pieces of Altea, she looses so much and even when she finds out there’s Alteans alive, they hate her and believe she’s the bad guy. She’s been this selfless warrior princess who’s had to be selfless for 7 seasons, I think when presented the opportunity to be selfish and happy, she would take it. Shes tired, all her paladins got to go home to their families, got to return to their home planet. Shes lonely af, happy for them ofc but that shit gotta be depressing.

And again as much as I prefer Klance and Allura/ Romelle, for the canon I thought it made a lot of senses that she’d go out with Lance after he asks. I definitely see it as a “fuck it, why not” from her and she gained feelings throughout their relationship. Which irl I don’t recommend but in my eyes it humanized Allura. She made a lot of selfish choices this season from taking creature from the void to, agreeing to go out with Lance. But again I don’t even think it was out of character of her. I think it was bound to happen, after everything she’s been through, being selfless and perfect all the time she finally cracks. Plus it was nice seeing Allura have her “I’m just a girl” moment. Going shopping with Romelle and Pidge, having girl talks, trying to impress Lance’s family. It made her more relatable.

Another selling point for this season were the fight seasons Honestly I loved all the fight scenes in this season, the animation really popped off today. My fav was between Zethrid and the paladins. But does does loose a point here for Zethrid and Ezor being hinted as a wlw but never explicitly stated so boo to that.

We also have a lot of fun and rewarding moments with the paladins as well, like the clear day episode. We get to see Shiro actually have fun for once. Only took 8 seasons but hey. The moments between Pidge and her family were very wholesome and rewarding considering how much Pidge went through to get her family back together. Lance with his family was also cute. His little rant about why his sister shouldn’t go out with Keith was funny. The infamous sunset scene with Keith and Lance, would I have gone batshit insane if it was a love confession between the two? Oh absolutely but oh well. Hunk and Keith’s friendship was nice to see considering where they started with Hunk being the timid one and Keith being an emo loser. TLDR it was nice to see those finale happy times where we really see how far everyone has come before the ending.

As for the ending, maybe I’m just not creative enough to see a different route. But Honerva being the finale villain was one of my favorite choices for this ending. She’s been there literally the entire time just fucking shit up for the universe. Her motive to be in a reality where she can be with her husband and child? 👏 having villains just be evil for the fuck of it is great and all. But it reminded me a lot of the scarlet witch from marvel and she’s my all time favorite character in he MCU so maybe that’s why I liked Honerva so much. Fuck the universe if your family is on the line, am I right? It made her a great villain in my eyes and the polar opposite of allura who had to give up her family and her home for the sake of the universe.

Which is why Allura sacrificing herself to save the universe? Lowkey saw it coming since around season 5 and to me made total sense. She tried to be normal, to live on earth or on the atlas, but she’s a reliac of the past and she knows it. It goes back to the point I made of this girl is tired af. A chance to save to universe and be reunited with her parents even if it’s death, she’d do it. Season 8 she tried deviating from the role forced upon her as the selfless sacrificial lamb but she was doomed from the start. I deadass cried when she died and honestly I’m fine with her death as well. Everyone did what they were destined to do; if the paladins were destined to save the universe, she was destined to die for it.

Now to the post credits and post canon

Here’s where I say the hate is valid and deserved. Points lost fr with having Shiro marry an extra. I get it, they wanted the diversity points of saying YES Shiro is in fact gay but they were only allowed so much wiggle room/if they put it at the very end nothing can go wrong right? so they settled for that. Do I see the damage it does towards queer representation in media? Now I do but at the time when my little gay self watched that I was shocked they’d even show that much and took the breadcrumb piece of rep and ran with it. I told myself, “meh shiro deserves to live the quiet married life after all the shit he’s been there.” But it def should have been Adam.

As for everyone else, the journey’s over. The lions are gone, I thought it made sense that everyone went their separate ways but still maintained a friendship. That’s growing up, that’s adulthood. When I watched that at 17 I was annoyed that they didn’t stay together as a friend group but now at 23, I totally get it. They are still friends, they just got their own things going on so they only reunite when they can. If that’s not adult friendships idk what is.

Keith traveling with the blade helping others, great! Hunk and Shay being cooks and doing diplomacy shit, awesome! Pidge living her best life with her parents building up earth, love it! Did I like that the one Latino character ended up being a stereotype and living on a farm? No I did not.

I interrupted as Lance staying on earth and grieving Allura’s death. Which I can see happening but Lance deserved his own happy ending. I see Lance becoming an MFE pilot or joining the Atlas crew with his sister, something where he continues to pilot cause it’s all he’s ever wanted to do but still carrying that grief with him.

To finish this yap session off, my final thoughts are I think a lot of S8 hate comes from Allurance and the post credits. I think the hate for Allurance and Allura is unfair and some of it stems (from what I’ve noticed) from this misogynist/fetishizing tendacy to shit on the female characters who come between mlm ships in fandoms. So again, I am an Allura defender through and through.

As mentioned earlier, hate for the post credits, makes total sense. But I’d like to bring up a point I see rarely discussed in this discourse. I am not excusing the queer bating that happened or the blatant racial stereotype we got for Lance’s ending but I truly believe Voltron is a product of the times and essential for the evolution of queer rep in western animation. I could do an entirely separate post on this but I’ll sum it up as best as I can here. Queer representation in main stream western media was still new and touchy. And mlm representation was even fewer. I think the backlash is valid and was necessary for dreamworks/Netflix and any other companies to learn their lesson that gay people in cartoons is OKAY and should be normalized. that’s why following I think Vld was one of the many factors in a shift for openly queer couples in animation that we see in shows like She-ra.

So it sucked that we never got klance yeah but I never once thought Klance was gonna be canon. I wished for it but I figured the best we could hope for is some hints like how they ended Legend of Korra.

So besides from the effects it had on western media, as a fan I’ll still take the ending and even recommend it to people as is because of the art that came after. The fanart, the edits, the post-canon and fix-it fics I love reading time and time again. None of that would exist without that controversial ending. I don’t think I’d still be such a diehard fan to this day if it had ended any differently. My appreciation for this show and obsession stems from how invested I was in the controversies, rumors and hype every season. Like the whole pride month post on twitter, dear god what a mess but hopefully a word of warning now for creators thinking of queer baiting fans again.

It’s not perfect, there were a lot of fucks up along the way and at times, downright problematic but I will still always recommend people watch VLD all the way through. But hey maybe that’s just my way of wishing I had more people to talk about the ending with ¯\_ツ_/¯

[harukamitsuki]

Okay... I am currently back on my Voltron bullshit and continuing my rewrite of Voltron. And I'm constantly reminding of HOW MUCH I HATE LANCE.

Don't get me wrong. I am still treating Lance fairly in my fic, making sure he gets screen-time and a proper character acr and stuff.

But by GODS. This man pisses me off so much and that's only made worse by his stans. I was scrolling through Keith's tag here on tumblr. I also have Kl@nce filtered out. I cannot see a single post without at least three pages of scrolling and then it's only ONE POST. AND IT'S STILL KLANCE BECAUSE IT HASN'T BEEN TAGGED CORRECTLY.

Anyway. Onto the actual things I hate about Lance and not just his fandom.

Lance is a fucking asshole. I mean that on the deepest level. Let's go through it chronologically because I cannot rank it from least to most assholery, because some things are on the same level.

1 - Allura wakes up from the cryopod and Lances catches her. She's confused and dazed and the first thing you should do is ask if she's alright. Oh, but Lance is above that. Instead, he flirts with her. Karma given immediately as she calls his ears hideous and puts him in a submission hold, which is why I kept that scene in my fic, but that was still wrong. I know it was played for comedic effect, but that doesn't make it not canon. It's canonically accurate that if you've awoken from a coma, Lance's first instinct is to flirt with you if you're pretty.

2 - Literally throws Hunk into the middle of a battle. I get that Hunk was supposed to leave the Lion anyway, but just shoving him out when there are lasers everywhere and Hunk has no protection? Yeah. So much for 'best friend'. Add on the fact that Lance never really treats Hunk like a friend. At all.

3 - Okay. Season 1 Lance isn't bad outside of those two examples, even if he has his dumb moments, so let's jump to Season 2. Starting shit with Keith for no reason. People can go 'oh, Keith obviously did something to him at the Garrison' but he DIDN'T. The writers themselves confirmed that Keith did nothing to Lance, he just started shit with Keith all the fucking time. Like accussing Keith of wanting Blue and cutting him off when he tried to explain what was actually happening, even though Lance is the one who was outraged initially that Keith had Red. Or how about Lance getting up in Shiro's face and screaming his head off about how Keith would rather kill people than listen to them, as if he knew Keith at all after bullying him the entire time.

4 - Okay. This one pissed me off the most and is the biggest reason I'm making this post. The fact that Lance used Shiro's death/disappearance against Keith. Keith outwardly expresses his lack of desire to become the leader and accidentally let it slip that Shiro wanted him to do it. To which Lance is all 'convenient that you say that when Shiro's gone'. What. What the fuck. Stans really say that Lance is precious but how the hell are you justifying that? A blind man could see how much Keith loves Shiro, and Lance has the fucking gall the say that Keith is USING his death/disappearance for a position he doesn't want? He didn't even apologise for it. He just told Keith to suck it up later on. This is one of the reasons I hated Lance as the Red Paladin, the others being explained in an earlier post of mine.

5 - Oh, yeah. We're not done. Because after Keith, it's Allura. Allur@nce is probably the worst ship that could have happened, apart from Kl@nce. If you wanted a straight ship, how about what was canon for the past Voltron series? Kallura? Anyway. Yeah, Lance treats Allura like a prize instead of a person. He's posessive in a way that he has no right to be because they were not together. He glares at Matt for flirting with Allura, something he only does once. He gets mad at Lotor and tries to stop them from spending time together, EVEN THOUGH LOTOR IS HELPING ALLURA AND BONDING THROUGH ALTEAN THINGS. HELPING HER KEEP IN TOUCH WITH ALTEAN CULTURE. In Season 8, he literally yells that it should be Lance and Allura?? What a fucking weirdo?? You can't claim that you're destined to be with someone without being together. That's not how healthy relationships work. That's how a stalker's mind works. Lance is constantly flirting with Allura throughout all of Voltron and she never once reciprocated until Season 8 where it's so obvious that Lance is just a rebound but the writers wanna make it so that it's 'true love' and they want Lance to be happier than anyone so they just gift her to him like some sort of trophy. Lance didn't care about loving Allura, he cared about winning her. At least Lotor actually cared for and respected her. I still don't like canon Lotor, but that's mostly because the writers didn't want to deal with gray morality. Cowards.

1 - Honestly the worst example of a leader. It's shown from episode one. Now, there is the argument of learning to become one, but Lance just never learns? He's never facing the consequences of his actions and, if he is lectured, he ignores it. Keith actually takes lessons to heart and tries to improve and he does. If Lance became the Black Paladin, the universe would have been doomed because he can't get over himself for a single moment to even bother listening to anyone else's advice.

So. Yeah. Those are the main reasons why Lance is an asshole. Now to make the Lance stans really pissed.

Reasons why Lance would have been a terrible leader and could never have been the Black Paladin.

Remember episode one? Remember how the hydraulic stabiliser was out in the simulator and Lance still tried to push on, even though Pidge and Hunk advised him not to? Totally great leadership qualities there. There's nothing better than a leader that refuses to listen to you. 'Oh, but Keith is stubborn and didn't listen--' yes he did. He's stubborn and unrelenting at first, but he eventually realises that they're right.

Remember episode three? Remember when Lance bragged about kicking, which made Voltron fall, then proceeded to try it again and failed again even when Keith advised him not to? Yeah. Lance does not make good decisions and does not listen to any advise. Even from the leader's right hand man.

Remember Season 1 Episode 12? Remember how they were waiting for Shiro and Allura to get back and then Keith saw someone taking quintessence so he decided to follow them? Remember how Lance said no and was ignored but did nothing more to stop Keith? He has no authority and no charisma to keep anyone at bay. Pidge herself mocks Lance for being the pinnacle for leadership. Sarcastically. Because he's far from it.

Pidge doesn't respect Lance as a leader, Keith never would considering Lance treats him like shit, Allura can't take Lance seriously with him hitting on her every ten seconds, and Hunk is always questioning Lance's decisions. If nobody respects you, you cannot be a good leader.

2 - Easily distracted. Yes, it's a very popular headcanon that Lance has ADHD, and I agree with that, but that doesn't make it okay. And he's distracted in the easiest ways. Just shove a pretty girl and he'll instantly get distracted and lead the entire team to doom. Remember Nyma and how easy it was for her to steal the Blue Lion? How he didn't even warn anyone that he was taking her out for a ride because he didn't want anyone contesting his conquest? Yeah.

Don't get me wrong. It's fine to have ADHD or get distracted easily. Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece is a great example of a leader who gets easily distracted, but the second he sets his mind on something, he blocks everything out. Lance just doesn't have the capability to do that, nor do I think he'd be able to learn how to.

3 - Gets jealous really easily. As in. Really fucking easily. He's jealous of Keith from the get-go, starting a one-sided rivalry that he's constantly on the losing side of because Keith doesn't care. He gets jealous of Matt when he flirts a bit with Allura. He gets extremely jealous of Lotor for having actual chemistry with Allura. He's constantly jealous and a good leader is only ever in competition with himself. A good leader will only strive to become better for the sake of the team, not to say that they're better than someone else, much less if they're someone that you are in charge of. It's a horrible trait to have.

Jealousy in and of itself is not a bad thing. It's when that jealousy overrides your logic and controls you, instead of you controlling your jealousy: which Lance struggles with a lot. And getting jealous over anyone who even looks at your crush is a very bad thing to do because you do not own your crush. It's okay to be jealous, but not posessively like Lance is. Not to the extent of trying to scare off any potential suitors.

4 - Nowhere near as skilled as Keith or Shiro. Sure, the writers may claim that he is better, but the proof is in the pudding. Keith and Shiro are fucking unmatched. I've defended Lance's skills in a previous post, but I also said in that post that, while he is skilled, he is nowhere near Shiro or Keith's level. I mean, Shiro was the golden child of the Garrison and set so many records. He was known as the best pilot. Keith beat those records and his flying capabilities are always, always noted. I haven't heard a single character comment on Lance's skills, other than to point out how bad they are. Keith was the only one who could have flew through the astroid field, he was the only one who could fly into the Marmora base which was in a blue star surrounded by two black holes, he was able to fly a Galra jet just by pushing the right buttons and knowing what the do, and he's the one who unlocks the warping abilities of the Black Lion. Shiro was able to connect with the Black Lion far before anyone else, able to see through Black and connect with Black to the point of his soul being saved by her.

Lance hasn't done anything spectacular. And, no. He was not 'done dirty'. He was given almost everything he wanted except the Black Lion. The writers claim he's the best pilot, but have not shown it at all. In my eyes, Keith and Shiro will always be the best.

5 - Selfish. Again. Nothing against being selfish. It's perfectly fine to be selfish, so long as it doesn't actively harm others. But for a leader? You should be as selfless as you can be. The team comes before you. And that's exactly what Lance isn't.

Lance is selfish and that's okay, but it's not leadership material. The whole reason Black rejected him is because he wanted the position out of selfish reasons. When he enters Black, he says 'Come on, Lance. You can do this'. In other words, he wants to pilot her because he wants to prove himself. He wants the acknowledgement. He wants the title of the Black Paladin and leader. Black accepted Keith, both at the start of Season 2 and Season 3, because he piloted her for purely selfless reasons. For Shiro.

Lance wants things for himself. Keith wanted things for Shiro. It was only after Shiro came back, (or so they thought), that Keith started focusing more on himself. Even then, he put everyone else before him. He distanced himself from the team so that Shiro could pilot Black again, and he was constantly risking his life for the Blades.

Lance just... isn't the type. He has put others before himself, but he expect things out of it. He expects a parade and acknowledgement. Nobody knew what Shiro went through to rid Zarkon of his connection to the Black Lion. Nobody knew what Shiro went through in his imprisonment because he doesn't want to burden anyone with that. Nobody knew what Keith went through to save Black and Shiro from Zarkon. Nobody knew what Keith went through when they were all mad at him for missing an attack. Lance doesn't withold that sort of stuff. The only thing he doesn't talk about is his insecurities, which he ends up spilling to the mice and Laika (the Yupper) anyway.

6 - Last one. Promise.

Nothing fucking happened. While Keith was gone, nothing of importance happened surrounding Voltron specifically. There was the Lion mind meld and Lotor joining, but all that served to prove was, with the mind meld, if Keith was there, he would have heard Shiro. And with Lotor joining, all it proved was how immature Lance was.

The second Keith gets back, things start happening again. Lotor gets outed as cruel and manipulative (still an ass-pull, by the way), Shiro gets outed as a clone, and so on. If Lance was leading, they all probably would have died ages ago. I'm talking Season 3 Episode 2, ages ago. Because Lance just isn't cut out for it.

So. Yeah. Those are the main reasons I hate Lance and why Black Paladin Lance is an awful idea. Screw the people who believe in it. It is awful.

Like I said, this won't affect my treatment of Lance in my rewrite, because I can fix those issues that come up. I don't have an issue with Season 1 Lance, it's later on that gets problematic. I just hate people building Lance up by bashing all the other characters, then claiming that Lance is the most traumatised, sad character when SHIRO AND KEITH ARE RIGHT THERE. NOT TO MENTION ALLURA, WHO LOST HER ENTIRE SPECIES, AND CORAN WHO LOST EVERYONE INCLUDING ALLURA AND NEVER GOT TO SAY GOODBYE TO HER.

Fuck. I hate Voltron so much but I can't help but love it.

[cryptidseeker]

this post here by @ourdustytrails is EXTREMELY helpful for kinda visualising what ill be trying to suggest, although please let’s stick to the Heights In Comparison To Paladins part, specifically Red to Keef, and let’s assume Keef is smol, and let’s get the general idea of sizes based on “Red:other lions” proportion, because otherwise Black is the height of 16-storey building, and that’s. a lot

so.

Voltron, even if lions themselves aren’t that huge, which they are, but 16-storey building for Black? just. what size must the Castle've been then,

but what im trying to say is — Voltron is big. it’s bigger than it’s animated, it’s really, really big. let that sink in. Voltron is a ginormous robotic beast feared by the bad guys throughout the universe, bringing hope to the good ones, defending countless people and keeping their worlds safe, just as it should be.

firstly, we all need to wrap our minds around the scales here. it’s an underestimated thing that is also crucial in understanding the paladins, their emotions, and the whole setting in general. can be useful for authors or idk

secondly, there must be a way to move between lions once Voltron is formed. because emergency situations, because pranks, because whatever — such safety measures simply have to exist even in safe&hi-tech altean world. also: Blue, Yellow, Green, and Red connect to Black with their hind legs — we know lions can swallow paladins for them to get in, but are there also exits from under their tails? sorry

thirdly, and lastly for this post, cockpits must be gyroscopically (or magically altean-y) stabilised. when lions are out of energy, stabilisation is off. minor injuries, bruises, fractured ribs, stuff like that is an everyday thing for paladins already, right? but when lions get blasted with something that shuts them down, well. space is full of matter, it’s full of gas and dust and gravity, and these things have different density. imagine the consequences