#but i just love kuron so much

[im-smart-i-swear]

*buddy voice* hey guys do you ever remember something embarassing you did years ago and get a strong violent urge to brutally smash your past self's stupid idiot head into the nearest wall and punt him into the ground while screaming about all the things you he did wrong. and then stab him, y'know for good measure.

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Me: I don't know what to do with Veronica's character in post s8 au, I don't want her to be Just Lance's sister and Kuron's friend with Pidge's storyline slapped on her, but also I'm not really sure about her character. Sure there's the whole lying to her family thing but I don't think that's enough?

Brain: ok so what if Veronica started out as trying to look for what was Lance upto but she ends up being so obsessed with finding the truth that not only she repeatedly puts herself in harms way but also the original goal falls on wayside.

This could be her way of dealing with trauma which is getting engrossed in the Mission and a problem to fix while suppressing her grief and refusing to actually acknowledge her problems and her own emotions a foil to Kuron's arc that is him being literally driven by emotions. She's angry at Lance for leaving without a word and angry at her family for their clinginess, however she keeps it to herself and just avoid them pretending everything is fine and normal

Also a foil to Lance who started as trying to figure out what was going on but as soon as he realized that 1) Allura and Kuron are still sorta alive 2) he can bring them back, he got obsessed with it consequences by damned.

Plus through her we can actually explore how quintessence actually effects and changes humans rather than become aware of the end result

Also there's something a character who is obsessed with truth but is also such a frequent liar

[im-smart-i-swear]

WHAT IF I STARE AT THIS FOR ONE BILLION YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

So funny story…this is for my anthropology monster class final 💙

[justaz]

all this was to say that lance had the perfect set up for a deep, beautiful character arc but…well. we all know what happened. he’s arrogant, overconfident, and cocky and this ends up with him making mistakes and costing his team a pretty run with the flight sim. yet you can see in that episode with the yupper that lance has a deep insecurity that he buries and hides under smirks and quips and a whole lotta pride. (they also could’ve tied it to his family as well since they gave him multiple siblings which would’ve overshadowed his accomplishments which is the root of him striving for greatness and perfection so much that he gets tunnel vision and his team pays the price, but i digress.) with his competition/rivalry with keith, the star student who is effortlessly talented, it would’ve been beautiful for them to be equals as coleaders without them realizing. it wasn’t a conscious decision for either of them but lance’s little line from the first episode had more truth than he realized - “lance and keith, neck and neck”.

and then to lose that along with himself when kuron takes control of the team, to watch him struggle and flounder and fall deeper into his insecurities, his pride and ego wounded so much that he is unsure of his every move, his every word, his every breath. it would’ve been PERFECT for him to figure out that kuron was a clone and that the team was under galran command. lance being forced into the leadership role, much like keith was, and having to make decisions and choices for the team as black paladin - still being so unsure of what he’s doing and if it’s right. he full heartedly believes that the team needs keith back, they can’t do this without him, but keith is on the space whale and no one can get ahold of him so it’s up to lance. lance who slowly heals the deep wound within him that has him believing that he’ll never be good enough and grows his confidence back on solid ground. lance who becomes steady and sure of himself and leads the team almost effortlessly.

all this paralleling keith’s character arc which (ofc) happened off screen in canon. keith who was restless and explosive for years bc he never had a mother, his father died when he was young, he was bounced around from foster home to foster home, and once he found a permanent home, shiro goes missing and is presumed dead. keith who is constantly searching for something he can’t name and finding his mother and is forced to be with her for two years while glimpsing the past and future. keith seeing his parents meet and fall in love, watching as his mother practically tore herself apart inside as she left him and his father behind - feeling a piece of him settle within at the sight. she didn’t want to leave, she would’ve given anything to stay. watching his father and shiro raise him, their love unconditional until the day they left. krolia watching little keith rage at the injustice and being there for his older self and healing those wounds. settling every restless piece within him until he became the man who stepped back onto the castleship with a space wolf, an altean, and his alien mom.

keith and lance finding a shred of stability with one another as coleaders of voltron and best friends since they definitely grew closer during s3. they were attached at the hip, they did everything together, the line between platonic and romantic blurred so much that it wasn’t even there anymore, it was just them. but it was unhealthy how close they were, how dependent they were on one another. only to be torn apart and with their unhealthy codependency, they completely fall apart without the other there so theyre forced to rebuild the foundations of their beings. lance crumbles all alone as he and the team become distant and he rebuilds as black paladin. keith crumbles alone at the blade hopping from mission to mission and rebuilds on the space whale with his mother.

steady keith and lance meeting almost like for the first time after lance and the team took out kuron and keith and krolia found a hidden altea. together they turn on lotor and take him down too. since kuron has already been dealt with, lotor didn’t get away and all that other shit in canon didn’t happen so they get to remain in space until they take the empire completely. allura places shiro into the clone’s body and meets romelle and talks of freeing the hidden altea after the war is over and theyre not at risk anymore. keith and lance are unsure of how to proceed with the whole leader thing but there again pops up the coleader resolution. as steadier, mature versions of themselves, keith has really stepped into the black paladin position while lance had always been more suited for red. keith and lance, leader and his right hand, but they’re equals. theres no competition, no rivalry, no jealousy or envy, just respect and love.

[komohine]

hello oh my gyad you’re my favourite artist EVER. I love the warm tones of your drawings and the way you draw keith and james is so so pretty (you have 100% converted me to be a jaither) like seriously keith is gorgeous and the outfits you draw him in are ethereal. I have many questions ive been brewing for a little bit and you don’t have to answer all of them but feel free idunoo👍👍👍

1. in the college au, does keith have his cheek scar? if so, how did he get it?

2. what is james’ and keith’s favourite thing to do with each other in free time? in every and any au you have

3. how does wearing clothes bode for james in the android au? does every tiny string get caught between the metal or does he just not wear a shirt half the time? or the third more sinister option, fabric just doesn’t catch in the plating at all

4. what colour are keith’s eyes.

5. does james play any sports/instruments like every freakish extracurricular absent parent having kid ever?

6. thoughts on the keith neurodivergent headcannon?

7. would james ever introduce keith to his family? or is he no contact/they wouldn’t care?

8. do you headcanon keith with any galra features? if so, what are they?

9. favourite food and colour headcanons for the both of them?

10. do you think keith would have any piercings?

+ a singular drawing request, soggy keith (thankyu for reading c:)

Hello i love you guys take notes from this anon please ask more questions like this i wish tumblr allowed me to answer a question more than once but PLEASE ASK HUGE QUESTIONS LIKE THIS I LOVE YAPPING ‼️😄 I LOVE YAPPING ‼️😄

Also THANK YOU FOR THE COMPLIMEBTS HEEHEE 🙏 i try my very best to deliver fire content 🫡 which is why i havent posted a finished piece in a while… im cooking… 😈 also its way too late for me rn to get out of bed and draw so i will reblog this with soggy keith… sometime later…

Beware a huge freaking wall of text… but id appreciate it so much if anyone reads and responds to my headcanons and adds on 😄

1) TW: ASSAULT. i was debating this, and i think yes but its much smaller than the one he has in canon. He gets it in roughly the same way, an altercation with kuron (evil shiro, except kuron is just a major asshole who isn’t related to shiro but tries to take his place through manipulation. Keith (and everyone except james actually) fell for it). Keith eventually confronted kuron outside a bar after repeated attempts to get closer with keith during their night out and kuron got pissed and pulled a knife. Fortunately keith is also an mma legend and wiped kurons ass but he got a pretty bad cut on his cheek. James made sure everyone knew about what kuron did (james is hella connected because of his parents wealth and also bcs he was trained for a while to inherit his parents company. Also, James is an incredibly smooth talker and can convince anyone of anything. So kuron pretty much has zero chance at a job in the future cause he got blacklisted from everywhere lol). This is me painting sheith as the weird freaky violently uncomfortable shit it actually is lol 😄

2) canon compliant: literally anything that isn’t high risk and stressful. Cooking, reading, sitting on the couch watching bad horror movies and shouting out plot predictions and then laughing when they’re right. Because theyve had too much drama in their life. They really appreciate the times when they can wind down. Playing fetch with kosmo is also fun, because yk teleporting wolf, so they need to get creative to get kosmo to exercise.

College AU: similar, chill things. But because of james’ absolutely insane schedule and keith’s investigative work about his father’s unusual death, they don’t really get much time together outside of studying together, lunch dates (james always makes time for lunch. Well he tries, but he has notoriously bad scheduling luck so he’ll end up with back to back classes from 8 am to 9 pm, no lunch break, or random 2 hour gaps where he needs to go off campus to a diff location for his next class so he cant acc spend those 2 hours relaxing its just him fighting downtown phoenix traffic), etc. but they’re both pretty outdoorsy, so both him and keith like going camping when they can. Its a nice break for the both of them. Also james made keith run a marathon with him once. Keith barely survived, snd slept for 18 hours after, but it was fun! In return keith dragged james to his mma gym and tried to get him to do a kick (because james is one hell of a sprinter. He has sprinter legs. That should theoretically translate super well into an insanely strong kick) but james was too nervous. every time he stepped in the ring he’d just stand there awkwardly and not move. He did send one of those punching bags flying with a kick though after he worked up the confidence (keith was right!)

Android au: uhhh kind of not applicable i fear. I cannot say why. But sometimes james lets keith clean his gun. When things get rough, he’ll let keith fix him up if there’s anything broken.

3) lowkey the sinister third option. Maybe they have some special super tightly knit fabric that’s impossible to catch on things. But also, the androids are designed pretty well, and are surprisingly devoid of super snaggy edges

4) violet. In human au, black, but im a firm believer of him having dark eyes that shine a dusty violet when the light hits them just right

5) canon compliant: TRUMPET AHHAH HES A TRUMPET PRODIGY no actually it makes me a little mad just how good he probably is at trumpet. Like gorgeous, bright tone. Huge dynamic range and lung capacity. Im so mad. Probably also piano. And fencing. He is also extremely good at sabre fencing. And i was saving this hc for later but wtv ill just repeat it: james was the one who taught keith how to wield a sword because i refuse to believe keith picked up his bayard and it formed into a sword just because. No man, its because james would beg keith to practice fencing with him and keith would finally relent and james would teach him pretty much all he knows. And keith remembered those lessons.

College au: track and field. Specifically, sprinting. James is acc so good at sprinting that he went to the olympics twice and won silver in the 200m the first time, and gold in the 100m the second time (lets pretend youssef flash (usain bolt counterpart) stayed home that year for whatever reason). And also ballroom dancing! Like waltzes and shit. Hes such a loser. And probably piano and trumpet too but they’re not so important lore wise.

6) YEEESSSS i also believe in james being neurodivergent in some way. No neurotypical man likes finance that much (my personal headcanon. Also in college au he does high level 1000 page math workbooks for fun.)

7) canon compliant: i havent thought that much abt james’ family in the canon universe. Tbh theyre probably all dead (hence why he reacted so harshly to hunk in that one scene) by the time he and keith get together officially so there’s not much he can do. He’d take keith to his sisters grave just to tell her the news (his older sister was the only person in his family of like 7 that gave a fuck abt him). During their garrison days, he probably never mentioned keith as a way of protecting him from his family.

College au: yes! He tried! Unfortunately his homophobic republican christian parents did not appreciate it. James really introduced keith as a last olive branch because he was alr so close to cutting them off, but their reactions were so bad he lost his temper in public (never before seen) and stormed out halfway through their planned lunch dragging keith by the wrist. And then he cut them off.

8) me personally no. If im being so fr every time i see galra feature Keith it always comes across as infantilizing in some way? 😭 like “ooo kitty ear keith!” somehow you are infantilizing both asians AND a completely made up race guys. The only real feature is maybe his funny coloured eyes? But galra eyes are yellow so uhhh… but i think internally there’s a lot more galra presentation. Like his heat/sickness tolerance, sleep cycle, endurance, etc.

9) i havent really thought of this, i have colours I personally associate with them but hmmm. (Canon compliant, but probably applies to all of my aus) Keith’s favourite colour? I dont think he would really have one specific one but he might list off some colour combos he thinks looks nice. Like red and black. Hes also not super picky, but he really misses his dad’s halo halo. James is too depressed to have a favourite colour. And he likes anything that is a painful experience while consuming. Like very strong and bitter black coffee, straight everclear, your most acrid cigarettes. Because he hates himself.

10) in my college au he has a snake bite! Only one though, on his right (our left) side. Also he has his lobes pierced. I dont think he’d have anything in canon compliant, just bcs his hair is already pushing the garrison guidelines and i dont think they’d let him pierce anything. Maybe earlobes, but thats it. Same goes for android au.

[disgruntled-screaming]

As my rewatch of Voltron season 6 comes to a close, here are my thoughts on it. Mind you, as I'm writing this, it is past midnight. I took my medication, and one of the pills I take makes me a bit sleepy. I wholeheartedly apologize for any repeated sentences, nonsensical phrases, poor spelling of certain words, and poor grammar.

Keith and Krolia's adventure to the area where the other Alteans are should have been at least two episodes - there are moments that should have been more fleshed out, but were unfortunately cut short by production, and possibly absences of Steven Yuen since he is a popular actor in both America and South Korea

Season 6 was ordered, it started production with a certain number of episodes, then one of the suits decided to cut down on the number of episodes - that explains the weird montages

Monsters and Mana, while the best episode of the season (and I stand by it) was definitely written as either a needed filler episode (which is fine) or a special episode to release between season 6 and season 7

Anything that I said about Lotor, in terms of how he ruined Allura's character, is wrong. Allura is just not a good character in this season. I can understand that she needs that connection to her people, and Lotor is able to help her. But I genuinely stand with Lance when comes to not trusting Lotor, since he could not shut the ever loving fuck up about their fathers being friends. My brother in Christ, Lotor, we fucking get it. Your dad and her dad rubbed elbows.

The kiss shared between Lotor and Allura still makes me gag. Nothing against the shippers of this specific ship. I just hate Lotor and how he manipulated Allura. I've been through my own kind of manipulation, so I can't seem to like the character as a person.

I am still right in the theory that Lance and Shiro's relationship was supposed to be important. As much as I adore the fight that Keith has with Kuron, and he tries to being Shiro back and Keith says "I love you", shocking the clone enough for Keith to get the final blow... Lance was given the shaft once again. I could try to work with this in my fix it fic, despite sacrificing my favorite moment in the finale. I'm still outlining my fic, and still on chapter 1, so only time will tell.

That Galra robot that was programmed to have fun was amazing and the scene of it being tied to a rocket getting shot into space as Amazing Grace played in the background is iconic and I wish people talked about it more. Because it was insanely funny and I loved it too much. Fly high, random robot. I will always love you.

Despite me bashing Lotor for all that he is, I will still say that he is a well written character that I would love to punch in the face. Unfortunately he is like 7ft tall, and I am the same height as Krillin from DBZ. So I'm either going to have to learn how to do a Shoryuken a la Street Fighter.

As much as I love the finale of Season 6, I genuinely have to say that Keith's inclusion after being away from Team Voltron just seems convenient.

The Black Lion is the most disloyal bitch I have ever seen. I love the Black Lion's design, as I should. I'm a basic Voltron: Legendary Defender fan. But the Black Lion instantly took Keith back after leaving the team to be with the Blade of Marmora. Also the Black Lion had no problem with Kuron after a certain point, which is stupid. How dare it not be a continuous struggle for Kuron to gain its trust. Then again, this is the same lion that was still loyal to Zarkon despite the fact that Zarkon was evil. Never understood why Zarkon's bond with the Black Lion was so strong when Shiro proved himself to be the better paladin, but that's none of my business at this time.

I personally felt like the Blade of Marmora overstayed their welcome after a certain point. This could just be a me problem, and I am wholeheartedly willing to be the only person on this hill.

Coran is consistently amazing.

I don't know when the writers started making Hunk more of a tech savy character (I genuinely have no idea), but it's quite eye opening when you notice the change in archetypes.

Matt is still an okay character to me. When he was revealed, a good chunk of the fanbase was madly in love with him, which I understand, but I just look at him and shrug.

[emo-ostrich]

1: why doesn’t anyone talk about how heartbreaking this scene is

2: why doesn’t anyone talk about this episode?!?!

it’s actually very well written and serves as a set up for the much darker twist the show is taking

in this episode we learn:

-pidge would sacrifice a good amount of the universe to save her father. they’re the most logical and analytical on the team, yet all that goes out the window when her family gets involved. there’s an argument in the beginning of the episode that is very reminiscent of when pidge was going to leave voltron in season 1 and keith yells at them.

-honerva remembers that lotor is her son. this is a HUGE set up for season 8. she begins the phase 4 of the kuron project which leads to keith returning and becoming the black paladin. but she does all of this because she knows zarkon will kill lotor. she’s ok with lotor killing zarkon bc zarkon is merely a husk of the man he used to be. that realization definitely leads her down the path of “how can i restore my family” (cut to end of season 8).

-on the topic of project kuron, we see the effects of it with shiro lashing out and not being… very shiro like… but he gives lotor HIS BAYARD in the hostage exchange without telling the rest of the team. honerva calls for the beginning of phase 4, and we can see that phase 3 was the shiro that been with the team since he returned in season 3. he’s been living this jekyll and hyde type life with half kuron controlled by honerva and half real shiro.

-we see lance step up and give orders to the team. lance is the red paladin at this point in the series making him the right hand of voltron and this is one of the first times we see him step into that leadership position. watching him grow into that leadership position and learn to feel valued makes the end of season 8 hurt even worse. plus when shiro realizes they need backup he says “lance we could use a little help.” he already acknowledges lance as his right hand man even if lance doesn’t realize it yet. that’s the shiro part talking. lance gives an order and the team says “copy that” which is how lance normally responds to orders. it’s a very clear role reversal that i think is lovely in lance’s character arc (if only dreamworks actually finished his arc smh)

-lotor killing zarkon is proof he really did want peace. he wants nothing to do with his father, doesn’t want zarkon to be his father, and has no hesitation in killing him. lotor and voltron are fighting for the same thing, but simply have different methods. when they fight lotor, he seems hesitant to fire until allura says he’s like zarkon. that’s what throws him over the edge.

lotor becoming emperor of the galra after zarkon’s death shows that having a galra ally on the throne could be the key to peace (hello keith after season 8) so think about the set back in the war efforts when voltron kills the emperor, a former ally, and then disappears. maybe this is why the galra attacked earth? in the beginning on the series, they’re looking at a star map showing that the galra’s progress in conquering worlds is getting closer to reaching earth but hasn’t quite gotten there yet. so either and conquering has sped up and an insane rate, or earth was specifically targeted by the galra while voltron was gone.

-when zarkon is about to kill lotor, the team saves him. the first lion we see fire is allura implying that j was allura that saved lotor a life. that’s kinda big in her development or maybe she was just firing at zarkon who knows

ok sorry that’s all thanks for coming to my ted talk :)

(this is all about season 5 episode 2: blood duel)

[kismetconstellations]

VLD + 🌹 💩💚 👎 👀 💖 💢

Oh boy. Here we go...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

Thank you so much for the prompts! ❤

[discordiansamba]

I have long been a fan of, and following, your VLD fic on AO3, and then I saw a reblog and was like "hey I recognize that username!" and now I've discovered all your AtLA fic. I love reading your bits and snippets and AU musings on your tumblr.

I've also discovered a whole litter and a half of plotbunnies. Please allow me to share one that you might enjoy! (help I can't raise them all help)

So, in Voltron, multiple realities exist, and the lions and their special space metal can cross between them. What if somehow some of the Paladins and/or the Castle got yeeted into Avatar-verse? What if quintessence sensitivity and/or the connection to the lions translated into bending in Avatar-verse? ...what if spirit Shiro ended up attached to someone in Avatar-verse and searching for Keith who he got physically separated from? What if?

...now if you'll excuse me, I need to try to round up the rest of the litter before they start fights will all the other full grown plot rabbits I've already got overpopulating my brain haha.

extremely funny visual of uncle iroh (who can canonically see Weird Spirit Shit) just looking back and forth between kuron and shiro and just stroking his beard like. HMMMMMMMMMMM. should he be concerned about this?

keith, upon seeing lance and sokka standing next to each other: oh great. there's two of them.

(toph is enormously tempted to try bending kuron's arm but she can be convinced not to much to kuron's relief. spared the classic 'stop hitting yourself' gag.)

[im-smart-i-swear]

I feel like this is Taks and the rest of the fam considering she's an animal lover

HOLY HELL YES

i had to draw this-

taks, 11 years old, acting tough as a coping mechanism in a extremely stressful situation(being stuck on an alien planet): hey. hey guys i have a really cool idea-*proceeds to endanger herself and her friends to prove to tashi just how brave and mature she is*(spoiler: it didnt work)

(i know in an earlier comic i showed taks already having her scar before she came out but shhhhh the timeline here is very rough)

also this whole thing reminded me of a doodle i did of taks and taka a few weeks ago and never posted(i dont do creature design often lol sorry)

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Me again! I'm curious, does Kuron ever change his name?

Yes!!! In fact if this au were to be a story a big part of Kuron's arc would have been him trying to find his own name. At first he would have started calling himself as "Kuron" cause 1) It is similar to Kuro which is opposite to Shiro. 2) Kuron is rather protective of his status as a clone. Like had he got this revealed to him without the entire possession + merger thing then yeah he would have certainly had issues with it, but Kuron of this au has this weird relationship with it where he loathes being a clone and what it had done to him but also this is His, he didnt deserve to be treated like this just because he is a clone and anyone who has problem with it can suck it

Eventually however he would realize that he is still letting others influence and thus define him. After like idk a mental breakdown, some more self reflection and conversations and some other shit, he would choose a different name, his own name that defines him, for himself and is for himself. A name i havent decided on yet but one day i will

[diabolik-boys]

”Happy Birthday you dork."

"Oh, Kuron... You all have done too much for little ol' me all over again. I can't tell you how happy you all make me. I always cherish any gifts you get for my birthday every year, but... Each year just gets more special."

"I'm so lucky to call you all my family. I grew up with nothing... I came from a terrible place where all I wanted was to hope for a way out, even if that meant I had no future..."

"But I realize now that... I am so happy I never gave up. Because you all are such an important part of my life now. Thank you. I love you all."

[lilflowerpot]

You probably already know about this, but i was reading an old post where you said how weird it is that Lotor and Keith are perfect narrative foils and I just wondered if you knew there was actually a reason for that? I think (as we can only speculate from what the people involved in the show said) that was by design. However as Shiro was a fan favourite and had unexpected popularity he was written back into the show earlier, despite the fact they had already storyboarded/written at least parts of s4 so they kind of replaced Keith with Shiro in s4 and sent Keith to the BOM. I feel like re-inserting keith back into the narrative though makes so much more sense in some scenes as it explains why some parts felt so *not* lead-up to and out of character and why a lot of loose ends weren’t tied off (Naxzela fallout, Keith being a hybrid never really developed, why the paladins never really mention Keith leaving to the BOM much, Shiro trusting Lotor after very little lead up and giving him the bayard which seems like a much more keith-ey instinctive thing to do, Keith & Lotor’s narrative foils and potential friendship as well as being a perfect way to get the audience to trust and like Lotor even more before his betrayal, Shiro being written suddenly as hot-headed and using Keith’s mannerisms, like his wall leaning thing etc)

There’s an interesting video that explains it a lot better here if you are interested: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iiFiVFxR_Q8

(Also to be clear absolutely no hate to anyone who made the show, it was still great.)

Also thanks so much for writing little blade! Your attention to detail in world building is amazing and really gives an extra depth to the story and makes it so engrossing.

As you say, we can only really speculate the ins and outs of why certain decisions were made and narrative directions taken, and honestly the fact that there's so much that we as fans simply don't know makes it really hard to comment, but ultimately, whatever the writer's reasoning for doing what they did,,, they messed up.

I'm not even saying this as someone who, obviously, loves Lotor blindly, but to use him as an example, his character arc didn't make sense; I can accept absolutely everything (alteans being used as batteries included) as a valid and narratively-supported exploration of his character up until his declaration that he wanted to commit genocide and wipe out the entire galra race,,, because that went against literally everything his character had been built upon. It wasn't a "twist" that served to prove he'd been pulling a long con, it was just... bad writing, plain and simple. Lotor, who'd been actively working to undermine everything his father had become, is ~revealed~ to want to commit the same atrocity that Zarkon did, just in reverse?? Lotor who begged on his knees for the lives of Ven'tar and her people- Lotor who was so gentle when talking to Allura about everything he'd lost in the past and everything he wished to build in the future- Lotor who was trying to create a second Voltron not as a weapon but rather as a means of supplying an endless source of clean energy for the Empire so that it would no longer have cause to devastate and destroy entire planets... that Lotor?

And look, here's the thing, so they'd planned to kill Shiro off only to be surprised that he was popular and so bring him back, fine, they had enough time to do that and do it well... but did they? Because frankly, Kuron got more dedicated screen time than "resurrected" Shiro, and all they really succeeded in doing was shove an obsolete character into a narrative that no longer had room for him, which was d e e p l y unsatisfying no matter how you slice it. I say this as someone who //adores// Shiro, and wanted nothing more than for him to be alive, but from an authorial perspective it felt deeply disingenuous and like an obvious after-thought. Not to mention, as that video says, "team voltron" didn't feel like a team at all, by the end—they barely knew each other let alone liked one another. Keith's ousting from the squad had so much potential from a "Kuron is a double-agent actively working to destabilise voltron" sort of way, but if they wanted that to work then there needed to be some recognition of what happened? Some apologies from the other paladins for never really fighting for Keith at all? Never understanding he was grieving not only Shiro but Regris too (sans, of everyone, Allura, who was the only person to actually recognise & acknowledge that Keith was in pain)?

Speaking of Allura, she's another character who suffered from what I can only assume was the writers repeatedly changing their minds on the direction of the story and simply shoving her into whatever box best fit. She & Keith at first seemed to be building something important, and while I'm not especially a kallura shipper, god, at least they had an actual foundation for a relationship (in whatever form) hard-won,,, having her throw herself at Lance, who she'd shown ZERO interest in before that point, immediately after her former lover (1) reveals he has a secret colony of her people that he's been using as living batteries, and (2) dIES RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER...? She should have been grieving, and //slowly// healing, but instead she jumps straight into a new relationship that the narrative treats as if it's some sort of epic yet tragically doomed romance rather than an ill-thought rebound?

It just.. it wasn't even a good plot, let alone a satisfying one.

Hunk was originally implied to be the beating heart of the group, except they gave him next to no screen-time only to realise in those last couple of seasons "shit, people are supposed to care about him, errr have a tragic family rescue mission". Lance was treated as a joke from day one, despite being set up to (I personally suspect) become Keith's right hand and emotional support in more than just battle. Keith himself was repeatedly given all the foundations for genuinely solid and satisfying plots only to never quite follow through in the end (learning to let down his walls, to trust, to love- until the entire team casts him out never to apologise for it and only takes him back when they lose their replacement once more / becoming a confident leader and Shiro's successor only for it to be undermined and then thrown back together again when convenient / finding and building a relationship with his mother, except they speed-ran it in one montage and had Krolia leave again soon after).

Truthfully, Pidge is probably the only core character who managed to come out at the end with what felt like a properly concluded arc.

[kauzebridgerton]

I wanted to make a thank you post for some people here.

@yuriko-mukami Thank you so much for being so kind to me, I think we are starting to get closer now, you are a very good and special person, I am very happy to do PR with you, I love your vibe and how you show being kind even in our worst moments.

@yuukanaazu You are a sweet person, your character's kindness comes from the incredible person you are! I loved meeting you this year, and thank you so much for including me in tags, or even in a drawing or model, it made me very happy.

@lucidesunderstander I love your character, just as I really admire who you are, thank you very much for all the support you gave to my new blog, you are incredible and I hope you achieve everything you wanted in your life

@therealaiko-yumei We don't talk much, but you always like my posts and tag me in some fun stuff, and that's amazing, thank you so much for always including me in your stuff, you're a very special person to me.

@cutelih Maria, you are incredible, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you here, thank you so much for always responding to my outbursts on Discord haha, sometimes I just need to have someone to talk to, and you are extremely that person, I hope that you achieve everything you want, I will always be here for you

@mukami-kuron-mrsadisticcat (You probably won't see this haha) We were much closer, but my affection is still very strong for you, I'm sorry for being like gum on your shoe hahaha, I hope you get well soon, you are a very special person, I hope you You can achieve everything you want in your life.

@kindan-no-kanojo You were one of the first people I interacted with on Tumblr, many have already left, thank you so much for staying here and continuing to interact with me, you are very kind.

@bluebird-dolly-bride We became close this year, I must say that you are one of my best friends here, you are a very special and kind person, you are incredible and have a very good soul, thank you very much for being my friend, maybe I would have deleted my profile by now a long time ago, but since I found someone like you here, it gave me strength to continue here on Tumblr, thank you so much ❤️

@sauthorgod Thank you so much for introducing this Nix universe to me, it's so much fun to interact in it, you worked so well on it... I love talking to you about our characters for hours, you're also one of my best friends here, I hope you win over everything I wanted 💕

[bonnietheoutlaw]

Kuro x Keith AU (Shiro's evil clone is obsessed with Keith)

I use Shiro's name here, but my idea is that it is his clone, not him, but I didn't refer to the clone as Kuron. lots of this story mimics abusive relationships and I don't believe Shiro is like this, but it is an interesting concept for a Keith whump fic.

What if Keith doesn't know Shiro is a clone, but does notice that Shiro is behaving differently towards him. Shiro keeps him separate from the group, becomes his training partner, and overworks him like crazy, he could control his diet (saying he needs to be healthy), Shiro could even move his room closer to Keith's room or request that Keith stays in Shiro's room (bc Shiro is afraid of losing him again). This could take the tone of a controlling or abusive relationship or from the perspective of the team, it could seem like Shiro really missed his brother and is scared to lose Keith, so he kinda helicopters around Keith. I think that Lance would take extreme notice of this and maybe he would protect Keith or maybe he would be jealous or just think it's weird the team is concerned.

Shiro always is next to Keith, at the dining table, controlling how much he eats (which the team notices), in the lounge area while watching movies and talking with the team (he kinda boxes Keith out at times bc he is limiting Keith's circle), while training he analyzes Keith and makes him work as hard as possible and practice until he does perfect - Shiro watches him and gives single word commands that aren't how he usually is, he is not focused on teamwork or support, just improving and making Keith stronger (Keith does his best bc he really wants Shiro to think he's good enough)

Shiro manipulates Keith a lot, uses Keith's trust and abandonment issues against him

could involve the team trying to help save Keith from Shiro and someone getting hurt

After Keith fights with Kuro and saves Shiro from Haggar's control, Keith may need to heal and work on differentiating between Kuro and Shiro - involves lots of coping and trauma

Could involve Shiro's clone really scaring/harming Keith and Keith getting help from Lance - protective lance

When Shiro does get back to normal, maybe he is experiencing extreme difficulty bc he feels guilty and can't lead the team bc they don't trust him

Also, I just love the idea of Shiro slowly changing and Keith trying to be good enough for Shiro, bc Shiro is the only one he has left and Shiro can't lose him just bc he isn't strong enough

[aroaceleovaldez]

i need to know everything about your pjo voltron au

okay so basic plot premise: Thalia, Luke, Jason, Percy, Maria di Angelo, and Bianca all work at the Garrison and get sent on 3 separate missions (Thalia & Luke, Jason & ??? or maybe he's just by himself, then Percy & Maria & Bianca) which are all "lost" and they're declared dead by the Garrison.

Of course they were actually all abducted by aliens. Maria probably dies pretty early on in that whole situation. Thalia gets separated from Luke and ends up escaping and becoming a rebel. Luke, Jason, and Percy & Bianca all separately (except for Percy & Bianca) end up gladiators. Luke becomes The Champion and basically ends up a Kuron/Sendak-type character situation. Is he being mind-controlled? Unclear. He has a giant alien scythe-sword though. Bianca probably dies buying Percy time in the arena. At some point Percy and Jason find each other and decide to try and stick together.

Hazel is a human raised by her galra dad in space with the Blade of Marmora. She knows she has a half-brother through her dad out there somewhere but not anything else about him. She ends up running into Jason and Percy on a mission and helps them escape cause they're humans too.

Back on Earth, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth are all Garrison students. Or Annabeth is possibly in a Keith-type situation where she used to be a student but got Kinda Pissed Off about all her loved ones disappearing into space and ended up getting kicked out. Nico is in a Pidge-type situation where he snuck in as a student under a false name to figure out what happened to his family's mission. Percy and Jason crash on earth, the gang finds them, they find the Blue Lion, and Percy pilots it to the Altean castleship where they meet Reyna and Frank. Reyna is the Altean Princess, because her sister Hylla was queen. Frank is the son of a high-ranking general or something and he and Reyna are a duo.

Rest going under a cut cause this got long -

Lion adventures happen - Annabeth pilots the Green Lion, Jason pilots the Black Lion. Nico finds the Red Lion and meets Hazel when he does and brings her back to the castle. Hazel pilots the Yellow Lion. Nico very quickly realizes he's half-Galra and Hazel's brother and joins the Blade of Marmora. Percy swaps from Blue to the Red Lion. Piper starts piloting the Blue Lion. Leo, Frank, Reyna, and Nico end up the home-base support team. Percy probably keeps the blue paladin armor and Piper gets the spare pink armor for color association reasons and also cause that's usually the format for every iteration of Voltron anyways. It works out nicely. Everybody has extra lion compatibilities too/every Lion has a back-up basically cause I'm still mad vld canon dropped the lion lore/sentience plotlines and we never got cool dynamic lion swapping instead of just the usual single switch. We're having fun here.

Then everything else I don't have much for other than Annabeth and Nico basically swap Keith and Pidge roles once they join Voltron so Nico goes and has his galra identity crisis adventures and Annabeth reunites with Thalia at some point, who is basically in a Matt-type role. And Luke functions as the Sendak-level antagonist who Annabeth probably gets to fight with a swap back to Keith's role in a whole Keith & Kuron emotional situation. Kronos and Gaea are probably analogous to Zarkon and Haggar/Honerva here but not necessarily in that order, and obviously it's more of an either "Emperor and his advisor mom" or "Empress and her prince son" but in either one somebody's doing magic and people are probably getting possessed. Hades, Persephone, Iaepatus/Bob, and Damasen are all with the BoM. The Titans/Giants are probably all Empire generals. Who's Lotor? Octavian? Calypso? I don't know. Who are all the gods? I dunno. We'll workshop it.