#anti a11urance

[shiroallura]

such a well developed and realistic romance

[shiroallura]

so allura had an whole episode she spent worrying over shiro, smiled at him when he helped her down from the car, allied herself with him in the garrison, thought about his lack of prosthetic even when no one else, even himself, did, spent time and energy creating his arm even when she had a million other things to do, and went and built it when the memory of her destroyed home was too much to bear, was horrified when the arm hurt him, and then sacrificed her mother’s circlet and last piece of her home she has to save him, and i’m supposed to believe she likes lance?

[shiroallura]

also, probably the last time i’ll actually talk about a11urance myself, but

it sucks because the thing is, where allura and lance ‘are’ in s7 is where they should’ve been seasons ago. like, by season four. imagine, what their relationship would have been like if lance had decided to just accept friendship, and hadn’t been wrongly jealous at any man who so much made any flirty comment towards allura (and flirty comments that were always much more well received than any of lance’s ever had been).

because then the times when lance supported her wouldn’t have been tainted by the knowledge he was also always hoping, rather loudly and obviously, that she’d also fall for him, wouldn’t be tainted by him constantly trying to ‘win’ her in some sort of competition against a rival (keith, matt, lotor). and then the affection allura developed for him, affection we’re now supposed to believe now means romantic feelings, could feel somewhat earned.

it still wouldn’t have perhaps been the best message, nor would i think that they’re well suited to each other, however... it would be a relationship in a much better state with a much, much less harmful message and degradation it’s giving to both its characters right now

[shiroallura]

this may be petty but... honestly it’s both funny and heartbreaking to see all these a@llurancers coming out of the woodwork saying, i always defended lm and jds, how could they do this?? etc. or the fact that after a season with SO much AL content their tag is basically dead right now (whereas our tag is thriving even though we got like... one scene?) because like... 

it just shows that not only did AL fans not connect with narrative, or critical thinking in the same way, but like... the fandom seems to be pretty weak, overall. they’re gonna have a hard time coming back from s8, meanwhile we knew the show was dead to us the second it was announced that shiro wasn’t going to be bp and we kept going along because we’ve been here before. we’ve built up resilience after every drawback or strike. AL hasn’t. and i don’t think they’re going to be able to.

idk, i just won’t be surprised if in two months, AL fans have basically all left the fandom by then

[shiroallura]

one of the reasons i love shallura is bc allura liked shiro as a person all along. he never hit on her against her will, or acted possessive. a/l depresses me bc i’ve been in allura’s shoes more than once. i was excited to see lance get over his crush and be her friend instead bc i’ve had to end two friendships in the past because the guys couldn’t let it go. it sounds lame but i wanted to see a girl end up with someone she’s felt connected to from the start because i’ve never had that myself

hella valid and it’s going to be really disappointing if they go this route, esp bc lance and allura do make good friends, but they are not what either of them need in a romantic partner at all

[shiroallura]

everything points to allura becoming queen of the new altea. but knowing the writers they’ll make her realize all she needs is lance and she’ll stay on earth instead lmao

honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the writers have new altea be established on earth and that’s how they get around it, but yeah

[shiroallura]

I wanted to rant a bit cause I was put off by this interview with LM and JDS (gosh when I'm not) and in regards to an allur@nce question, Lauren says "she’s starting to look and realize that there are good people around her" and dude, I wasn't never on board with the rebound thing in the fandom but moving from Lo//tor to Lan//ce just cause "she realized he was good" does sound like a rebound. And it makes me... sad (1/3)

In the current canon, I can’t see a rewarding romantic relationship between these two. And we never saw a turning point for Allura’s feelings towards Lan//ce (not even before Lo//tor shows up, which is what Lauren wants us to assume), it feels so odd that it seems almost intentional. I just can’t believe they wasted sm animation showing us their one-sided relationship to just go and make Allura magically fall for him out of nowhere, it’s just too ooc. (2/3)

Even if they don’t end up together, even if this thing they’re doing is just to develop A and L and give them some sort of lesson, they’re just making it worse, if they had deepen their friendship on s3, s6, heck even on s7, the message would have been so much powerful. (3/3)

I’ve always found Allur@nce’s credibility as a romantic relationship to be weak, quite simply and perhaps peculiarly enough, because Voltron so often highlighted its growth. In seasons one and two, they’re one of the only relationships to be left largely stagnant. Lance flirts, Allura’s annoyed. For 26 episodes. As sloppily as Keith and Allura’s arc in the back end of s2 was developed, at least they got an arc that ultimately ended on good terms. Allura was shown attempting to bond with Pidge in 1x04 and whenever they did speak to each other, it was fine. 

And I’ve written pages of meta on the subtle development of Shiro and Allura’s arc in the first two seasons, but even stripping all that subtlety away: their interactions are always positive, and whenever they’re not, the audience is supposed to sit up and take notice. I still remember watching 1x10 and seeing them disagree for the first time, and being so struck by that, because well… that’s just not what they do. 

Meanwhile, whenever Lance disagrees with Allura (continual flirting even when she’s not interested, being needed to be convinced the Red Lion is calling for him, annoying her when she’s trying to prepare for a conference in 5x01, being jealous about Lotor, shutting down Oriande, being even more jealous about Lotor in s6, blaming ‘Shiro’ in 6x06 when she doesn’t; I’m sure s7 has more, but as you can see, it’s a lot) it’s never really addressed. He either changes his mind or someone else steps in to support her, and that’s about it. It’s also worth telling that a lot of the things he disagrees with her, such as Oriande, don’t actually involve him, or things that are solely her choice (ie. her continual lack of romantic interest in him, pre-s7). 

So when I say “Allur@nce’s weaknesses is how its highlighted,” what do I mean by that? The first is that Lance’s flirting with her even when she was clearly annoyed was always given screentime, and that’s the major mark that causes me to really dislike them as a romantic ship. Same thing goes for Lance’s, quite frankly, possessive jealousy in s4 and s5. If it had only been made known to the audience that he liked her, and then left it at that, the ship dynamic would be vastly different. Because from the start, he would have had to have contented himself first and foremost with being her friend, genuinely, and sincerely. That’s not the dynamic we have with the repeated emphasis we got on him liking her, even when she repeatedly didn’t want him to.

The only season I possibly liked Allur@nce was s3 and s4. Both were seasons where their relationship was more lowkey, they talked to each other and Lance supported her, and besides a silent jealous look at Matt, Lance didn’t say anything to dissaude him. It was just understood that they were growing closer. There was no fuss.

And then season five came. Not only did that season for me prove that Lance was still too immature to not let his emotions get in the way, nor did he know how to support her professionally, but it did two other major things as well: first, it highlighted his completely unwarranted jealousy and thereby immaturity (seriously, wanting Lotor to ‘die’ just because he’s speaking of an alliance with Allura?) because his behaviour would have been unacceptable even if he and Allura had been a couple, and even worse because they weren’t and he had no claim on her. The second was their talk in 5x03. “Speaking with you has actually made me feel better.” Allura is genuinely surprised, as the people she confides it probably went, pre or post s3, Coran, then Shiro, and then (more of a personal headcanon, but they do mention Hunk teaching her earthling road trip games, and they’ve always got on rather well) Hunk. This conversation, this one line, tells us that this is largely the first time she’s confided in Lance about something.

And then, beyond this scene in 5x03, we don’t see any real scenes between them for the rest of the season. Lance attempts and pushes to shut down her desire to go to Oriande. Then, s6 shows us that she’s been spending the majority of her time with Lotor. If 5x03 is supposedly the first time they’re actually confiding in each other as friends, five seasons into eight in total (especially when Lance is the only team member she has prominent development with, unlike Keith who left willingly, or Shiro who was forced to despite his will) and then we see she spends the next months or so with someone else… and then s7 gives no moment when her feelings apparently change?

It’s bad development. It’s a bad timeline. And quite frankly, they have a weak relationship. Lance sacrifices his safety for her, but he would have done it for everyone, and then even after that would have been the perfect moment for Allura’s feelings to change, we see her react disheartened and uncomfortable when she hears of his feelings from the mice the very next episode. Furthermore, Lance is very supportive of her, but Allura doesn’t really return it the same way. Yes, she compliments him, but so does everyone else (namely Shiro and Keith) and not in any way that cannot be defined as platonic.

The main issue with Lance and Allura is that their relationship is not unique with each other. They never choose each other over everything, or anyone, else (the way Shiro and Allura do in 1x10/1x11 and 2x03, respectively, or either Allura or Lance in the Game Show ep). Lance willing to risk his life for Allura, and her reviving/saving, is something that Shiro did five seasons earlier, with Allura then reviving him the exact same way Haggar revived her husband.

Everything with Lotor proves that when push comes to shove, Allura doesn’t trust Lance’s judgement. The one time she really tries to cheer him up in s3, or in 5x03, the team / Shiro’s lack of similar thinking over powers her positive comment, which sends the message, subconsciously, that he values other people’s opinions over hers.

And nothing the show can do will change that in s1, Lance saw her as a prize that the hero gets. 

And we still haven’t fully seen him let go of the ‘hero’ fantasy he holds himself to, as something he has to achieve, so it’s regressive to his character growth. So is staying in the Red Lion, but that’s a post for another day.

As for Allura, with Lance she’d get a partner who, quite frankly, can’t match her. He’d enjoy the social life, parades and parties of a king, but he wouldn’t have the patience / knowledge for dealing with all the political things coming along with it. He also wouldn’t want to leave his family again. Allura would get frustrated with him easily in competitive or high pressure circumstances, when she needs him the most. She’d also grow tired of him being goofy to try and distract her / get her mind off things. I have an upcoming meta that talks about this more in depth, I believe, but Allura doesn’t need a partner who says, “Hey, take a break,” as their default. She needs a partner who says, “What can I do to help,” who will take half the weight on their shoulders. And it goes back to that weakness of Allur@nce, that they don’t have a unique relationship to each other, especially on Allura’s side, because look at these questions, hard and honest: what defining decisions has Allura made to support him? What has she sacrificed for him? When has she chosen him over everyone, or everything, else?

Because I can think of five damn things for each question in regards to how Allura treats Shiro, and no other character even comes close.

So I guess, in summary: Lance is a teenager who thinks he knows what he wants, and as he grows up, he needs to realize how to be content with what he has. But if he’s with Allura, that message and lesson are ultimately discarded, and it diminishes her character to an unhappy partnership with a boy who someone else could easily fall in love with, but not her.

[shiroallura]

vld has backed themselves into a corner with @llurance bc the way things are now? there’s literally no way to make it happen without it being a reward for lance’s development. he always wanted the space princess. he’s felt inadequate, and like letstalkaboutmanga wrote, allura falling for lance will feel like a prize after s7 and keith kind of shat all over him. like something he receives for putting up with that. it’s so character regressive tbh. it really IS a disservice to them both

gosh i know, and you said it perfectly, my friend. written differently, allur@nce could be a very sweet ship, but its dynamic from s4—s7 damned it in my eyes, and i can’t blame people for disliking it from s1 either bc i definitely get where they’re coming from. repeatedly ignoring rejection and then being a decent person who’s then rewarded for those things by the narrative?? i don’t think so

[shiroallura]

reasons why i don’t like allur@nce

[shiroallura]

Ik you said you won't talk about a/l anymore but why you rant about if we can see on the leaks they won't end up together? (not supporting the dead!allura theories in any shape or form, and also not saying you can't talk about it in your blog, cause you can lol, i'm just curious)

we still don’t totally know whether the leaks are real or not (at least, the consensus goes back and forth, and i don’t care enough about it to keep up) but rather, a/l is like any other relationship in the show for me, and as vld doesn’t even know how to write friendships properly, of course i’m going to critique it. and it’s too bad, bc if the show had handled their development well and made them just be friends in s3/4 i honestly probably wouldn’t mind their relationship, because 99% of my issues with it stem from it being wholly centred on lance’s feelings/desires and how he treats her because of them in season four through six.

it’s one of the reasons i swiftly did away with his flirtation in my fix it fic (specifically, less than halfway through my version of s2). his flirting was unncessary and something he needed to learn from.

and at this point in canon, there’s also no possible love interest that could end up with allura that i could be happy with. keith and lance have never treated her that well (on opposite ends of the spectrum, mind you), lotor was always emotionally manipulative (which i noticed early on in s5, too, so it’s not even like s6 was what suddenly made the ship ‘toxic’ for her), and if her and shiro became canon, on the one hand i would be thrilled, but i also wouldn’t be wholly happy unless vld had another happy mlm relationship to go with it, and while i don’t think shiro and adam should have gotten back together under any circumstances other than adam apologizing, and if even then, adam did not deserve to die.

so, like everything else, vld has ruined all possible canon ships for me (except for maybe hunay). yay.

[shiroallura]

isn't it funny how lance wanted coran to force allura to stay out of oriande bc he didn't want her to go alone with lotor (he was jealous not just concerned change my mind), while shiro had no doubt allura could do it and went "the princess is right" when lance went "coran don't cave in on this!!"

honestly both lance and keith treat allura so poorly, just in very different ways, and it’s such bullshit like… she’d be better off on her own then with either of them

[shiroallura]

Endgame romances don't start bc a couple of mice tell you the guy loves you. That's bland. Endgame romances start because she pulled your soul from a mechanical lion and brought you back to life.

Seriously, the way this shot pans out says it all. The last look on Allura’s face is the emotional takeaway, and showing that she’s alone in her room, her posture deflated, is just there to hammer it home. She loves Lance but she doesn’t like him, and it hurts her heart because she really does love him, and he’s a great friend to her! She just doesn’t feel the same way. If Allura/Lance were going to be endgame, there were a million other ways this scene could have played out, even if it was making it clear her reaction and posture was contemplative, or considering, huh, maybe I do like Lance, as he is genuine. But they didn’t.

Meanwhile, the thing I’ve banking on since the end of s2/s3, that was almost wholly speculation because s3 hadn’t developed Allura’s alchemic abilities at all, but I still strongly maintained that Allura would be the one to save Shiro purely on the basis that Haggar had saved Zarkon from the same battle, and that they were narrative foils of each other… and while the rest of the fandom got swept up in Keith and Lance saving him as a parallel to 1x01, VLD went with my option, the narrative option. Narratively, Shiro and Allura are endgame, and they’ve been set up perfectly since the very start. So if/when they become canon, I won’t be surprised at all, but I will be sobbing tears of joy.

Not to mention, Allura’s reactions to the loss of Shiro (both in s3 and s5) getting the most attention, and her sharing the reunion scene with Keith? Even though Lance, who was in position to be in that shot, was right there and had cried over Shiro, and Allura, who had to do a complete 180 to be in that shot, moving from behind Shiro to beside/in front of him, was still prioritized? Expressions don’t mean everything in VLD, but you bet your ass that framing does, and Shallura has plenty of it. It’s beautiful to behold, really. 

So yeah anon, I gotta agree with you, 100%

[shiroallura]

allura getting annoyed with lance and telling him to shut up? feels good feels organic

[shiroallura]

they seriously need to push a//urance to work huh, they needed the lion swap, Lotor, the mice and now Veronica! Like... they can't develop on their own, they need a bunch of other stuff to push them together and to push the audience.

if you have shiro not disappear after s2, a11urance’s dynamic wouldn’t have changed. and we’ve all seen how much the show has suffered from him being gone and allura being downgraded to remaining in the blue lion as it makes her no longer a co-leader (whereas if she was in blue but still being allowed to act like a co-leader, it’d be different) so… yeah, just about everything: characterization, the circumstances, pacing, and canon scenes and dynamics, have ruined a11ur@nce for me into probably being my least favourite vld ship (and that is saying something)

[shiroallura]

people are right when they say lance didn't act like a "nice guy" when lotor and allura were getting close, but the narrative depicted him as such. it tried to convince us that he would be so much better for allura because he sees the best in her and that allura didn't know what she was missing out on and whoa she was so stupid for going with lotor!! it tried to make us think allura was dumb for not picking lance and i'm not here for that lmao

y u p

[shiroallura]

acxa blushed at coran when he got too close in s7, allura blushed at the memory of the arusians doing the sacrifice ritual for her, she blushed at pidge once, blushed at keith once, so allura blushing at lance doesn’t set a//urance in stone at all

definitely get what you’re saying anon, altho i think the context (aka what the audience is supposed to take away from those scenes) matters too. like i’ve said before, i won’t be SURPRISED if shallura ends up being endgame after all, but i’m certainly not expecting it the way i was immediately after s6, or any point before then