#but like robin's very genuine in her want to help people... even though the spotlight just brings her pain

[mymarifae]

she is so fucking pretty btw. i loev you please be nice and come home

[everlastingfable]

a jumbled mess of my thoughts about voltron

This’ll probably be the messiest post you’ll ever read. I’m done trying to finish this and edit it into something coherent, so I’m just combining the 3 drafts I have written out into one massive post. I doubt anyone will read this whole thing, but each draft is a sort of rewrite of the last, so there’s a lot of overlap. But there’s also a lot of new thoughts too as I kept thinking about this. There’s also a lot of unfinished thoughts.

There’s mostly negativity in this btw. This fandom had/has an amazing ability in making you think that this show was utter garbage. on par with riv//erdale or s//pn, but it really wasn’t. Like many shows they had weak points, it was never perfect, but it’s much better than we’re told to remember it as.

Intro from Draft 3 because I liked the way I started it:

This is all of my thoughts about Voltron, the show itself and the fandom. I have tried to write this post out for over a year or two now, so it was originally intended to be my final thoughts about the show. Obviously, it’s evolved since then into whatever this is. There may be some things that I’ll be wrong about, because I’m not about to dig through hundreds of discourse posts and old interview videos to prove a point that I doubt anyone’s gonna care about. This will 100% be based on my thoughts, opinions, and experiences.

That said, I don’t even know how to begin to describe how much I love this show. I’m probably one of the few people who have no regrets about enjoying this show as much as I do. I’d wholeheartedly recommend watching it, because it’s genuinely a good show. Voltron did the unimaginable for me. I don’t usually enjoy sci-fi stories. I especially don’t enjoy mecha stories. Yet somehow, Voltron combined the two and made a show that I loved so much I can’t stop thinking about it even though it ended over 2 years ago.

Draft 1: thoughts about a year after it ended without rewatching any seasons since it ended

It’s been about a year since voltron ended. I never wrote my thoughts about s8/the show then so here it is now. Because I decided to wait a year I honestly don’t remember a lot of specifics. But I still have a lot to say about it. This is very long and is basically everything I have to say about this show. I love voltron. It’s been an important part of my life during college. 90% of all papers I wrote were about voltron. But as much as I love it, I won’t deny that it fell apart at the end. 

Note: I tried to categorize these thoughts so I don’t get off topic and can talk about everything fully. But because they overlap so much there’s definitely some minor repeats when I connect two parts but decided to hold off talking about it all the way until the right section.

PRODUCTION

This is something I’ve expressed concern over while it was airing, but in a span of 2 and a half years, they premiered 78 episodes. That’s a lot, especially when you consider that production for s3 started after s1 premiered. There’s a lot of really good voltron review videos out there that aren’t just “oh I’m so cool I hate voltron” but there was one that talked about how the production was a mess and the writers couldn’t make up their mind for the endgame ship. And while that doesn’t sound like an important issue, it really does show when it comes to how characters are written together and (I think) the fandom war. 

Summarizing what that video said because I don’t remember who made it, the writers/producers never made up their mind on which ship was supposed to be endgame (klance, sheith, allurance, kallura). And this really does show in the show itself. I don’t like klance. I especially hate it because of my experience with the fandom, but I won’t deny that they were sometimes written romantically. The same goes for sheith. And that’s the problem. 

I don’t think the world building parts of the show was fully developed either. Shiro was supposed to be a teen like everyone else but then he was an adult. His and keith’s relationship was honestly vague for a good while. I don’t think anyone really knew how each characters’ relationships with each other was supposed to progress. Was allurance always supposed to be endgame? Because they didn’t really interact that much until like season 6, and then it was kinda sudden from what I remember. There was very little, if at all, parts where we were shown oh allura might like lance romantically. Keith’s relationship with the main cast didn’t exist for like 3 seasons. It was messy. 

Speaking of which, keith disappeared for a good portion of the show. I assume it’s because steven yeun was busy. Which is fine but then I think about how quickly voltron came and went, I wonder why they couldn’t slow down a bit so they could still have steven voice keith during those episodes. Maybe it’s because of how much I love keith, but he honestly felt like a central character to me. 

If I think about teen titans, for example, this show also had 5 main characters. Sometimes certain characters would get a spotlight for a season, but all-in-all they were fairly equally represented. It didn’t feel like robin was the main character. But that’s how I feel about voltron. Keith, and shiro to an extent are the main characters. A good portion of the plot relies on them. Shiro got kidnapped, keith leads them to the blue lion. Shiro is the leader with keith has his right-hand man and they mostly interact with each other. So when shiro “dies” and keith takes over, it starts to feel like keith is now the main character. Now he’s the leader and the arc is about him growing into becoming the black paladin and stopping lotor, who is his main enemy. But then he disappears. 

Again this is most likely because of my bias towards keith, but the episodes after that felt lackluster. Lance didn’t really get his character growth to become a good second-in-command. Because that development was supposed to be based around keith. :P. A big part of lance’s growth is to learn to stop needing to feel that he’s better than keith. And him accepting keith as the black paladin was a huge part of it. But with shiro as the leader again lance loses that development. Keith’s not in the picture anymore, and the person in-charge was already in a leadership position and has nothing to learn by being there. 

Before I go way too deep into my thoughts about the plot/characterization, I do want to mention the animation. The fighting scenes are amazing and one of the most beautiful 2d animation I’ve seen. That is, when it is actually animated and not just the camera panning on a still image. Here’s where my biggest concern over the time comes in. 2 years is absolutely not enough time to animate that many episodes. I was genuinely worried for the animation company because it could not have been a good experience. And yes, we got more episodes sooner, the quality definitely dropped and it’s a real shame. Who knows when we’ll get another american cartoon in this style. I love this animation style but it takes time and a lot of skills to do, so not that many companies do it. I honestly wished they took their time with the show not just to get more time to animate, but also to flesh out some of the plot.

PLOT

As hunk said in one episode, they don’t linger on dramatic events that just happened. This show is very fast paced, and that’s not a bad thing. But they never took the time they needed to really feel the weight of everything that happens. Keith’s galra heritage reveal was basically swept under the rug. So was the shiro clone, lotor’s death, zarkon’s death, naxzela, and so many more. In general, that was a big problem with how the episodes went. If it wasn’t for the sheer number of fanfics covering those topics, they were really swept under the rug. It honestly kinda felt like the writers didn’t know what to do with the aftermath of their reveals. But some of these were pretty essential to the plot of the story. 

Keith’s part galra! So he doesn’t look it but there had to be obstacles with voltron forming the coalition. He’s part of the race that caused this war. I honestly think we should’ve seen that reveal become part of the plot, or what was the point of it? They could’ve just as easily wrote keith to be a regular human just like everyone else. Taking the time to add that part of his character needs to have some significance in the story. And yeah, they had krolia appear but she wasn’t really a significant character except to kinda magically fix keith’s problems. In general it felt like they forgot parts that they were foreshadowing with keith. Why could he turn purple sometimes? Did that quintessence he was hit with fix him or help him hide the galra parts? Why does he look so human? What is up with him having that quintessence sensitivity? I’m all for shows ending with some questions unanswered because sometimes it’s impossible to answer it all and let it feel natural, but this just felt like they forgot or decided it’s too much of a hassle and just ignored it.

Okay going into more specifics now, s8 was kinda meh. It especially felt bad because it came out the same day as spiderverse which had a very similar villain motivation, but objectively done better. I think honerva’s motivation came out of nowhere. We see in the flashback episode that she was so intent on getting knowledge that it literally destroyed daibazaal. So, it was established that her motivation is knowledge. Even though she lost her memory and regained it, as haggar she was still very focused on quintessence. We know she was gathering a lot of it, and maybe they said it and I forgot, but we never knew why. Family wasn’t really shown as a motivation for her. Even with lotor it didn’t seem like she wanted to be a family again, but instead was using him for her own unknown motivations. Anyways, the season felt awkward. And the new dynamic they had really needed more time. The last season should’ve expanded to be at least 2 more. It would’ve fit a lot better imo. S1-2 would have zarkon as the main villain, s3-6 would have lotor, and s7-8 would have haggar, who was also the puppeteer throughout the entire show. But she didn’t appear for s7 and her motivations didn’t really make sense in s8 so it evidently felt rushed. There were also so many major characters in s8 we needed more time to see them interact. 

So the ending with allura becoming constellations. Gonna be honest that whole last part had me confused. Especially with the fact that I barely remember what happened, why are the old paladins like trapped in the lions? I could excuse the other 4 but zarkon? Especially a zarkon that’s not corrupted? It was weird and didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and that’s all I’ll say about that. I don’t even want to try to suggest an alternative because I think that whole last half of the season is so messy it can’t be fixed. But it was so obviously pandering to the fandom it hurt. Lance getting those marks was so obviously referencing when people wanted lance to be altean in response to keith’s galra heritage. The shiro/curtis kiss was very “look see he is gay and not just because we said so” while nice, was very weak (why wasn’t keith in the shot?).

Despite my complaints, I remember liking s8. I really liked the addition of the atlas, even though it didn’t feel like we were watching voltron anymore sometimes. S7 had to be one of my favorite episodes since s2. Not to say that s7 is better or worse, but I really like it because it felt like a genre shift. I usually don’t like space sci-fi or mecha stories. Voltron somehow managed to combine the two and make me love it. S7 did not feel like either of those. First, a good half of it took place on earth. And I believe two episodes didn’t even have the main cast, and when team voltron finally made it to earth, voltron wasn’t even there until the final battle. I genuinely loved it. I think it was a very well done invasion/apocalyptic story that doesn’t get told in animation that often. But if I think about s7 with the rest of the show, it was awful. It broke up the tone the show usually had and it was a very different way of storytelling that voltron didn’t have before. It wasn’t a space sci-fi mecha story, it was an apocalyptic action story. Voltron was so unimportant they sat on a moon for episodes. It stopped becoming voltron and started becoming a spin-off. 

I do have to add that I absolutely loved the color themes in s7. We already had purple for the galra, but in s7 it was very obvious that alteans are themed blue and earth is themed with orange. I loved it so much and it was great. I do like that they gave shiro something to do. Honestly not killing him off in s2 made him an awkward character afterwards. But I didn’t like that they brought back sendak. There was no explanation for it and it wasn’t good imo. He didn’t really do anything besides conquer earth then die. Haggar was also absent the entire season which definitely didn’t help her storyline in s8 because we didn’t know what she was doing the entire time except abandoning everyone who was loyal to her. 

I’m usually not a fan of time skips, it has the tendency to gloss over character development or create glossed over recap. Honestly I wish voltron spent more time over the blade of marmora massacre or just the bom in general. They received no rest. Literally everyone part of that group died except for kolivan. Speaking of that episode, there was no explanation for how keith was able to know where macidus was about to appear and that honestly bugs me. There’s so much about keith we don’t know. He has so many abilities we were just never told. 

Again a lot of problems within team voltron is that there was never any follow up on things that happened, like keith leaving the team. He becomes the black paladin and no one bats an eye. Lance did make one comment about keith leaving but then it wasn’t ever mentioned again. I get that the writers/producers wanted the dynamic the original had, but they didn’t take the time to work up to it. Keith wasn’t a natural leader, but he suddenly is because he spent 2 years on a space whale with his mom and a space wolf. Like I mentioned earlier, voltron feels like keith is the main character but then they dropped him for a few episodes, realized that he’s important and added him back in while saying “oh he went through a time skip so he grew into the role he needs to be in now”. It feels like a cheap pay off.

I’d like to specifically talk about my thoughts on each season and work back but honestly I don’t think I can remember s3-6 separately. So they’re being chunked together. 

Lotor had the potential to be a really great villain. But he had to be foiled with keith. They have a lot of similarities that I think could’ve really played off well together. Lotor isn’t really allowed to have a leadership position. Yeah he was technically in charge while zarkon was recovering, but haggar didn’t really allow him full control. But, he was a great leader. He knew how to read his enemies and form an alliance. Meanwhile, keith had a leadership position thrusted to him, and frankly he wasn’t a good leader. He tends to keep to himself so he never really has to make decisions with a team. It could’ve been great, but shiro had to still be in the story. I’m honestly conflicted about this because on the one hand, I think it really ruined character developments for the main cast, but then I loved the clone shiro plot line. I think keeping shiro prevented keith from growing. He was able to remain dependent on shiro instead of actually bonding with the rest of the paladins. And of course he had to just go awol. Also, lance didn’t really get to have as prominent of a role as I think he could’ve had with keith. 

These seasons are also when the lions stopped being sentient robots that specifically choose their paladins to just really cool spaceships. We don’t get that level of bonding that was so prominent in s1 and 2. That’s also something I’m conflicted with. I think the lion swap was a great way for character developments, but it also removed a lot of it. It kinda made the bonding feel useless. The swap also changed the dynamic of the group. Instead of shiro and allura being co-leaders, and everyone else feeling like they’re on equal footing, it felt like Keith was the leader with lance being a needed right-hand man. Hunk and pidge were off doing their thing and allura was a leader but also not. Maybe if they had spent more time working with this dynamic it would’ve felt better. But they didn’t and it didn’t. Voltron also implied that allura was the only one that could control the castle ship, but then she goes to become a paladin and who’s driving the ship?

I do wish we could’ve gotten more about the altean colony and the reveal about lotor’s plans, but that got overshadowed and forgotten by the clone shiro reveal. Maybe I just missed it, but I wasn’t sure what the galra empire and lotor were collecting quintessence for. Was it just to make mechs to rival voltron? Lotor’s death was also very unclear. 

The coalition was a much needed thing, but I think very badly executed. They were gathering people from malls. These people are regular civilians who probably don’t know how to fight or fly a ship. I thought it was really weird that they were just getting regular people (aliens?) to sign up like they’re applying to be part of the army. But we never see them maybe join the rebel force matt is part of to learn how exactly to help. I think about avatar and how they also had a rag tag group of people to fight against the fire nation, but these weren’t just regular people living in a village. They were either warriors or very skilled benders. The voltron coalition was just regular people. That genuinely annoyed me because the voltron show just felt like those army propaganda ads, but exciting. Not to mention it was a very hard to watch episode. 

It was definitely making fun of how the fandom complains about how characters are getting reduced to a certain characteristic. But it wasn’t done in an entertaining way like the ember island players episode from atla because some of those were legit complaints (like hunk being the fat/food guy) and that stuff wasn’t resolved. Like the ember island players made fun of sokka constantly talking about meat or katara crying all the time, but the show made it very clear beforehand that these characters are much more than that. Is hunk really more than the food guy? As far as the show mentions, the only things he’s done was make the machine to help find the blue lion, and help save the balmera. All of which was in season 1. After that hunk honestly took the backseat in voltron.

I mentioned earlier, but the time skip on the space whale felt like we were cheated out of keith’s character development. I mean we got development, but we didn’t get to see it. The vlog short showed that keith believes a lot of his problems stems from not having a mom (and a dad) in his life. But instead of seeing keith learning to trust and open up to people despite having so many people in his life leaving him, we get a cute montage of him with his mom. As if it makes sense that two years with his mom would fix everything. (side note, I know a lot of people were saying how obvious it was that krolia was keith’s mom, I genuinely did not know until she said so at the end of that episode).

I’m not gonna talk about my thoughts on s1 and 2 because I’m pretty sure I live blogged those and honestly I don’t think I remember it. 

CHARACTERS

Now I’m finally talking about the characters and I’m starting off with keith as if I haven’t talked about him enough already. I love keith. He’s undeniably one of my (if not the) favorite characters ever. And he’s obviously a fandom favorite if we’re considering the two biggest ships in the fandom. Or maybe he really is just the secret main character of voltron. We know so much about him, for someone who loves keith, it’s great. We basically know his entire backstory, and yet we know no one else’s (except maybe lotor but even that’s iffy).

I never rewatched a single voltron episode since it ended, and I can’t watch any of the connected shows (meaning shows that have the same ppl that worked on it or the same fans, think dragon prince and she-ra) because the fandom was the absolute worst one I’ve ever been in and parts legit trigger me. I am fascinated with fandoms. I love it. I chose my major because it was the closest I could get to just learning about them 24/7. But the voltron fandom was so incredibly toxic and over two ships? Honestly the fandom itself was a major reason why I couldn’t get super invested in the later seasons. I get afraid when it seems like a certain ship might happen. I actually hoped that certain characters just didn’t interact. (I’m not gonna get much deeper in this because I don’t want to touch this topic with a ten-foot pole, at least not now) Aside from that, I think that the plot and characterizations for voltron got really messy post s2. The lion switch was never handled well imo, and post switch the lions lost that sentient personality that was established in the first two seasons. It also didn’t make sense aside from the writers wanted everyone in the original lions. Or at least, we never got the proper character developments into those roles. Keith left right after becoming the black paladin. 

I think another major problem with the show is how some decisions felt like pandering. I remember hearing that they didn’t kill off shiro because he was a fan favorite, so he had to stay for marketing and to make more money. But then keeping shiro alive would’ve derailed the original plot idea. I wish I could see how the story would’ve played out with shiro staying dead.

Draft 2: rewatched the show then started writing this

So I wrote a draft of this like a year ago, realized I don’t remember the show much, so I rewatched the whole show and started rewriting my thoughts.

Pre-rewatch thoughts: It was a good show that was poorly executed

Mid-rewatch thoughts: it’s a really good show that just has some weak points (the second half of lotor’s arc, team voltron’s importance in season 4-6 it feels like a lot of filler episodes until keith shows up again)

End-rewatch thoughts: it's actually a really good show. It has some weak points and some really strong points. Season 8 was confusing though. I went through most of it going yeah okay I guess that can happen.

Final verdict: it's a genuinely good show

What went wrong

It ended on its weakest season, which was also the most abstract and different season. While the main antagonist changed throughout the seasons, it still continued to be the galra empire. Even when lotor joined, the team was still fighting fractions of the galra empire. Meanwhile, season 8 didn’t have any conflict with the galra. The antagonists were honerva and the alteans, who are very different types of villains compared to the galra. There was also little build up to that change. Sure, we got to experience that briefly in season 3 when they went to the alternate reality, but I don’t think that was built up well. Also, the protagonists and the audience are just not prepared. We don’t know how the alteans work like the extent of their abilities, but we were given dozens of episodes to learn about the galra. As a result season 8 just wound up with me feeling confused and thinking “uhh sure I guess they can do that, that makes sense maybe?”

It could not pick who its protagonist is. Yeah the five humans plus allura (and coran?) are the main characters but most shows with multiple major characters still focus one one character as the protagonist. Like atla has aang, adventure time has finn, umbrella academy has five. Voltron just never picks someone and the group constantly changes too, so you end up having to not focus on any character for the sake of time. Of course not all shows do that. Teen Titans had each season focus on a particular member of the team, and tbh I was wondering if that was what they were planning for the show, especially when season 2 was so Keith focused but guess not.

It feels like they did not have the time to fully flesh out the story. Voltron came and went so incredibly fast. They had 8 seasons (technically 6 if you group up the halved seasons). But also the show only lasted 2 years. It honestly horrifies me to think of the time crunch everyone on the team was going through, especially the animators. You can see the drop in quality as there were very few scenes that involved actual animation for the middle bulk of the show. So then, how much time did they have to develop the story, in addition to execs telling them what they can and can’t do. There’s so many arcs that seemed to start then get forgotten, and I don’t blame the writers for that at all. Although I wish we could’ve learned more about Lance and the Altean sword and Keith with his apparent quintessence sensitivity, they probably just didn’t have the time to plot those out.

It had too much outside influence. Such as, the writers wanting to kill off shiro, but then being forced to keep him on the show because the execs said to. And honestly, the fandom. For example, the whole last episode with Lance getting the Altean marks (an obvious omage to ppl wanting Altean Lance).

What went right

There’s a reason why the show became so popular (aside from being a reboot of a popular 80′s show) and it’s because of the characters. I’m not about the whole “we become attached to characters because the writers did them wrong but we fans can see the potential and that’s why fan works are better” bs that I see going around this site all the time. The first season particularly wrote these characters so well. They’re relatable but also intriguing enough for you to care about what’s going to happen to them. 

Some thoughts regarding popular fandom discussions:

It’s a plot-driven show with character-focused fans

I like to think of there being two ways to tell a story: by being character-focused or plot-driven. Plot driven shows are ones like atla, young justice, legend of korra, etc. There’s a conflict that gets introduced and the story revolves around that conflict. Character-focused shows are ones like adventure time or we bare bears, they’re less concerned about a plot line and focus more on the characters interacting with their world. Of course all stories incorporate both parts, just some focus more on one than the other. So, here’s where I think a lot of the issues about voltron and the fandom comes from. Voltron is a very obviously plot-driven show but the fandom is very character-focused. I won’t deny I loved the episodes about keith. Season 4 and 5 were hard for me to watch because I missed my boy. But that’s where the arguments come from. People get upset that their fav isn’t in the spotlight

It didn’t queerbait

I understand watching a show for representation, I really do, but voltron is not that show and that's okay. Not every show has to be revolutionary in its representation of marginalized people. I won't pretend to know the harmful tropes for marginalized people. My consumption of media is not usually diverse. But I will stand by my stance that a large part of voltron's later seasons is about the casualties of war. So of course a lot of people died. I also firmly believe that the producers had a much easier time adding diversity to their own created characters than the main voltron characters, because of rights and all that complicated nonsense. So as a result the ones who were more expendable and could die were also the same characters that they could add diversity too.

I’m gonna add the definition of queerbait here so we’re all on the same page:  Queerbait is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ representation.

But here’s the thing. We were told at comic-con or one of those cons that Shiro is gay, and he had a boyfriend. They actually gave us that. Yeah it wasn’t as explicit as She-ra got, but that’s another point for later. There was no lying about it. Shiro is canonically gay, and his boyfriend was Adam. If anything, this whole thing came out of wanting Keith in a relationship with Shiro or Lance. Yes. I will admit, there are plenty of scenes between Keith and Lance, and Keith and Shiro that can be read as romantic. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but did any of the cast members tease the possibility of Kl//ance or Sh//eith (VAs don’t count, sorry but they don’t really have a say in the story)? Because unless they did, and they did repeatedly, the fandom queerbaited themselves. So many people in the fandom were so certain that Keith would be in a relationship with one of them, there was basically an all out war. Even if there was a chance, did you really think the creators (who were pretty active in early fandom days) would continue that development? It was so so toxic they were forced to shut off any possibilities of that.

In regards to minority characters

Again, I'll admit vld is not the place to go for real, proper representation. Their characters tend to be characters that happen to be a part of a minority rather than a minority character. wtf does that mean? Well, you can swap (earth) races for just about any character and it wouldn't make too much of a difference in how they act. There's some lines that wouldn't work like Lance's "I'm just a boy from Cuba" but other than that there would be no significant change. Of course this goes down to preference. Would you want a minority character whose struggles reflect those in real life and as a result be defined by that aspect of themselves, or do you want a character that just happens to be a part of a minority group but whose life is not really affected by that? 

Draft 3: months after the rewatch, mostly an attempt to reorganize the previous two drafts

I’m gonna start with the negatives just to get the ranting off my chest. Season 8 was bad. Yeah. No argument there. Although I wouldn’t say it was bad in the same way Game of Thrones and Supernatural was bad. Rather, it was an interesting and complex premise that didn’t have the build up it needed and honestly needed a few more passthroughs to iron out some parts. At worse, I felt it was confusing to the point where I just accepted whatever new worldbuilding thing they threw at me. The issue with Season 8 vs Seasons 1-7 is that Season 8 had a completely different villain, and a brand new cast dynamic. We got 7 seasons (65 episodes) developing the Galra as the villain. We got to learn who they are, their motives, how they operate, etc. Not only that, but they were pretty basic and easy to understand villains. They’re conquerors. They don’t have any sort of magic, they really just use brute force to attack and enslave the planets. In striking contrast, the Alteans in Season 8 weren’t conquerors. They didn’t care about controlling the universe. They also had magic abilities that our main characters don’t understand and didn’t explore. Season 8 had villains who could create illusions, mind control, and manipulate quintessence. The Alteans are leagues beyond the Galra in terms of complexities as an antagonist, but they didn’t get nearly enough time to be fully developed.

Also, Season 8 essentially doubled the cast size. So despite the fact that we have yet to see much of Keith-as-the-black-paladin Voltron group dynamic, now that screentime is being balanced with the MFE pilots and other Garrison characters. Essentially, there were too many characters, and too little time to flesh out the ideas of this season. A side note, Haggar’s (Honerva?) motivations were lame. I think it would’ve been much more interesting if her plans were just to continue the research she did 10,000 years ago with the rift. That would’ve also brought back the rift monsters which we never got an answer for. What even are they? Instead, her goal to have a family again is really weak. Even in the flashbacks she never showed any care for the more familial aspects of her life. It didn’t make sense for that to be her drive. It also didn’t help that Season 8 came out on like the same day as Spiderverse and the antagonists for both had the same goal, but Spiderverse did an immensely better job.

Another thing that didn’t make sense to me was Keith giving the speech to the rest of the Galra. He is not the right character to give that speech. Sure he’s Galra, but he didn’t even know for most of his life. For him to say “we” like he’s also a citizen of the Galra empire feels so weird. He never grew up with the Empire’s influence, and we never saw him experiencing Galra culture with the Blade. He learned about the Galra as an outsider, and despite the fact that he’s part Galra (he doesn’t even remotely look Galra), I don’t think that gives him the authority to say a speech like that. The speech is similar to Zuko’s at the end of ATLA, and that makes me feel like it would’ve been a lot better had Lotor said it. I think even Kolivan would’ve been a better fit than Keith. 

The more I’m writing about Season 8, the more I’m remembering just how messy and confusing it was. Additionally, the last bit of Season 8 was so obviously pandering to the fandom it gives me second-hand embarrassment. Lance getting those marks was so obviously referencing when people wanted Lance to be Altean in response to Keith's galra heritage. The Shiro getting married was just to make it more obvious that he’s gay, but had no build up. (There were definitely more but I didn’t write myself a list and I’m not rewatching that season)

Second, “Voltron queerbaited”. [this was posted before here]

Speaking of which, Voltron premiered summer of 2016 and ended in winter of 2018. That’s about 2 and a half years where they aired 78 episodes. That’s stupid fast, especially for an animated series. I’m constantly worried about what the people working on that show had to endure. For sure, Season 3 with Shiro coming back wasn’t written until at least Season 1. I recalled the execs demanding that Shiro not be dead since he was a popular character. It’s honestly concerning how little time they had to work on the show, and it unfortunately showed. In the later seasons, a lot of the shots were just still frames that moved across the scene. And the plot line with Lotor could’ve used some work. Although, I think Shiro being forced in there was also a reason for it being so shaky.

I honestly hate Seasons 4 & 5. I cannot tell you what happened because my brain keeps erasing it. Obviously, the lack of Keith had a huge impact on my opinion of those seasons, but it also felt like a whole lot of filler episodes, and not the fun ones with character development. With Keith mostly out of the picture, and Lance becoming the right hand of Voltron, that should’ve been a great time to develop Lance to become a second-in-command. To have him go through an arc where he overcomes his insecurities. It would’ve also been an amazing time to develop his and Shiro’s relationship. But we didn’t get any of that. 

I genuinely believe Keith was supposed to stay the black paladin and Shiro wasn’t supposed to come back. Keith would be an amazing foil to Lotor. They’re both half-Galra. They’ve both been given a new leadership role that they don’t want. The middle arc always felt so weak to me, and as I mentioned earlier, the Allura/Lotor interactions were awkward. It feels shoehorned in because someone has to interact with Lotor and I guess the writers decided Allura was the best option?

Season 3-6 felt like the epitome of what happens when showrunners are forced to do whatever the execs say and have no time to properly develop their story. I’ll forever be bitter at all the character and relationship development we lost because of that. We never got to see Keith really learn to open up to the team and start to trust others. But Keith still had to get to that point, which is why I assume they had the time jump for him. It’s so disappointing because we lost what could’ve been a great character development. It also made Keith being the Black Paladin again feel cheap. We didn’t get to see the struggle he had to be the leader Shiro saw he could be. He was just suddenly leading them and they worked like a proper team.

Voltron also had a lot of plot holes. Now, I don’t expect shows to answer every question, because it’s impossible to tie everything up and leave no questions unanswered in a natural way. But, there’s a lot of things that felt like the beginning of a plot line or honestly needed some answers. Like, Lance shifting his bayard to a sword. What was the point of that if it was never mentioned again? It felt like that was an important start to an arc for him that just got forgotten. Also, what was up with Keith’s quintessence sensitivity? How was he able to sense where that druid was. How did he know he could summon his bayard to him. I think the part that bugged me the most was that Keith was the only one who did that. Also, Keith’s eyes becoming slitted during his fight with Kuron was never addressed, and I really wish it was. It felt like such a throwaway moment that could’ve been interesting to explore more. Although I’m not too upset with that one as I think we were given enough to piece together a reason for it. 

[renaerys]

18. “I think you’re beautiful.” (Boomer/Bubbles)

{{Original posting unfortunately deleted. Reposted here.}}

February Fic Prompt #8 originally requested by the lovely huinari.

xxx

This was, far and away, the nicest thing Boomer had ever done for anyone. And it wasn’t even for his girlfriend, but for her micromanaging older sister.

“Okay boys, you’re on in 10!” Blossom said. “Make sure you pause to pose at the end of the catwalk so the photographers can get some good pictures for the paper. Remember, this is for charity, so it’s meaningful and important work. You should all feel extremely proud of yourselves for helping out. I know I am.”

Boomer groaned and stared at his painted reflection in the vanity. His winged eye-liner, violet eye shadow, and push-up bra made him feel some kind of way, but it was not proud. As much as he adored Bubbles, and as much as he valued Blossom as a friend, he could not help but regret his decision to participate in the charity drag show, no matter how much money they were raising for the Townsville Planned Parenthood branch.

“How the fuck do girls wear all this shit?” said Floyd, picking at the tight fishnets under his miniskirt that were causing a wedgie. “It’s so uncomfortable!”

“Beauty is pain,” said Mitch, where he currently sat battling a strappy kitten heel sandal that was obviously a size too small for his foot. “Jesus fucking Christ, I’ve literally never been so close to committing shoe murder!”

“Is that a thing?” Boomer asked, pulling at his hair. He was one of the few boys with naturally longer hair, which Buttercup had curled and styled for him. The result was that he looked a little like Bubbles, save for the insane amount of theater makeup.

“I mean, is a shoe alive?” asked Harry as he touched up his fire-engine red lipstick in the mirror over Boomer’s shoulder. The dude was completely at ease walking around in Beyoncé’s Single Ladies costume.

“Of course it is! Every shoe has a personality.” Bubbles giggled as she made the rounds to all the Townsville High School Junior boys who’d signed up to participate in the charity show.

“Personality doesn’t equal sentience,” Mitch said, still struggling. “Otherwise, this thing would feel my murder intent and get on my fucking foot!”

He lost his temper and threw the shoe clear across the room, where Buttercup caught it before it could sustain damage. “Why do I feel like I just interrupted some dumb argument?”

“We’re at a drag show,” Boomer said. “How are you surprised?”

“Bro, you’re doing it wrong. You gotta tuck that shit away,” said Joey, captain of the football team and unexpectedly super down to get this show on the road. He did look rather fabulous in his leopard print romper. Objectively speaking.

“I am?” Elmer Sgloo looked like someone had used him to crack open a disco ball. He nervously examined his tight, sequined pants that left little to the imagination.

“Yeah, you know, tuck,” Joey insisted.

“But I thought I did!”

“No—here, fine, I’ll help you.”

Harry whistled suggestively. “Get a room, you two.”

“Or not. My sister will castrate all of you if you hold up the show,” Buttercup said. She held out the recovered shoe to Mitch. “C’mon Cinderella, gimme that foot.”

Bubbles laughed as she watched them all, but Boomer didn’t share her amusement. He looked sullenly at his reflection.

Butch and Brick are never gonna let me live this one down.

His brothers would be in the audience of course. Neither had been willing to participate in the show, of course, no matter what Blossom said or did. She hadn’t put up much of a fight; when Brick made up his mind, that was that. But Boomer, sap that he was, just couldn’t say no.

“Hey you,” Bubbles said softly enough that no one could overhear them. “How are you holding up? Ready to get out there?”

Boomer met her gaze in the mirror, and he just couldn’t deal anymore. “No, I’m really not.”

Bubbles’ soft smile morphed into genuine concern, and she spun him around in his chair to look at him properly. “What’s the matter? Boomer, talk to me. You look really upset. Does the dress not fit?”

He shook his head. Glitter fell from his hair, and that just made him feel even worse. “No, the dress is fine. Everything’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. Hey, look at me.”

He looked at her. She was so pretty in skinny jeans and a blazer over her 100% Human T-shirt in support of the event. Her hair was up and out of her face, professional for the evening but somehow still the cute, sweet girl he’d fallen for hard. It was stupid, he was stupid, and he knew she’d tell him as much. But damnit, he couldn’t help but feel upset knowing what his brothers and the other guys at school would say when they saw him.

“I just feel so…so ugly like this,” he whined. “Like, I know it’s for a good cause. And I really thought it’d be fun. For real. I wasn’t just doing it because you asked. Mitch ’n the guys are here too, it’s cool, just…”

“Just, Mitch and the guys aren’t Brick and Butch,” Bubbles said simply.

Boomer sighed. He wanted to rub his eyes, but the last time he did that Robin gave him an earful for ruining the makeup she’d spent so much time perfecting.

“Boomer,” Bubbles said. “I’m going to tell you something, and I want you to hear me, all right?”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Hey.” She kneeled down so she was looking up at him and held his hands in hers. “I’m serious. Are you listening?”

“I’m listening.”

“Good. I think you’re beautiful.”

He scoffed. “Uh-huh.”

She didn’t laugh at him. Her hand pressed over his heart. “You are the kindest, most compassionate person I know. You care so much about people, even when they don’t always return that kindness. That takes an amazing kind of strength most people aren’t brave enough to have, and I think that’s super hot.”

Boomer stared at her. “C’mon.”

She tugged on his dress and pulled him closer. “I’ve never been more serious.”

He was surprised when she kissed him, heedless of the lipstick that would ruin her own makeup, but he just about lost his mind when she climbed onto his lap and made out with him right there in front of everyone. Harry whistled, and Joey and Mitch laughed and clapped.

“Get some, Queen!” Floyd joked.

“Oh my god,” Buttercup muttered. “I seriously need new friends.”

Breathless, Boomer stared up at his girlfriend as she very, very sexily wiped bright pink lipstick residue from her lips and winked at him. “If your brothers have a problem, they can take it up with me personally. I’m actually pretty hardcore, you know.”

Yes, yes he did know. He swallowed and nodded, speechless.

Blossom came back in, her eyes glued to her clipboard and a headset buzzing on her head. “Okay guys, we’re on! Harry, you’re up first, so go line up. Remember, as flamboyant as possible. This is to make people happy so they want to donate the big bucks.” She looked around the room and smiled sincerely. “You all look fabulous, holy cow.”

“I swear to god, if this doesn’t, like, end with free birth control for all, I’m officially quitting the human race,” Mitch said.

“I like your energy, Mitch. Keep that going out there,” Blossom said. She clapped her hands. “Let’s go, the music’s starting!”

Bubbles helped Boomer up. He ran his thumb over her lip to wipe away some of the lipstick she’d missed. “Well, here I go to my social suicide. Guess there’s worse ways to go that don’t help at-risk women.”

Bubbles grinned. “Your feminism is a big turn on for me right now.”

“…Wait, for real?”

“Boomer, go! Stop staring at Bubbles and get your cute butt out there!” Blossom swooped over and grabbed him by the elbow.

“Wait, Bubbles, for real though?” he called after her.

They’d talked about, you know, going all the way, but only in passing, metaphorically speaking. Could she really mean…???

The spotlight was bright and the music was loud, but Boomer forgot all about his trepidation thinking about Bubbles’ smile, the way she’d kissed him so confidently, and her genuine words. Who cared what Butch and Brick thought? It suddenly seemed so insignificant as he took the stage to a crowd of cheering, screaming people all looking for a fun night out. Joey high-fived him enthusiastically as they passed on the catwalk, and Boomer couldn’t stop himself smiling.

Maybe, doing something to help people wasn’t so bad.

[destinebrand-blog]

top 3 fe games! :3 if you don't have a top 3 of that how about.... top 3 magic users!

Ooommg... the first one definitely is a toughie but I’m going to try fielding it anyway. I love the older games but I’m terrible at emulating so I’ve only ever played the games that have been officially published in america sadly and just looked up and watched the rest. 

In that case though:Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade the the first fire emblem game I ever played. At the time I was a huge fan of Roy in Meelee and I thought that it was Roy on the cover rather than Elliwood. Though, I came to love them both and Roy and Elliwood are two of my favorite lords now. I think Binding Blade tends to accomplish a lot with really simple story ideas, like, go find my father, go stop the bad man from doing the bad thing. If there’s something the modern FE’s definitely fail at it’s trying to juggle too much at once. Binding Blade just sticks with a core cast of characters and develops them all in subtle ways, even if Elliwood being a good boy isn’t the most complex of character traits. He still faces consequences in the story, his father dies, he kills the woman he loves by accident and even when she comes back she can’t stay with him forever. As a prequel too I think it does a really good job of setting up for Blazing Blade, and I really hope Blazing Blade gets a release in the US or a remake b/c this game gets you so invested in the Elliwood -> Roy and Hector to Lilina timeline. 

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn: Can I just count these two as one so they don’t take up the whole rest of the list? Ike and Roy have been my boys for a long time, and they’re also my mains in Smash. Ike’s game though made me love his character like 1,000 times more. I went into it thinking he was just the big muscly guy who kicked Roy off the roster in Brawl (I was like 13 at the time forgive me), but Ike’s story and character is probably one of the most complex leads ever for Fire Emblem storytelling? Like Ike loses his father and he isn’t just able to brush it off like Elliwood for the sake of everyone around him. Ike constantly feels inferior to his father and like he took up the burden of leadership too early, so when he overcomes those feelings, it makes the whole “fight for his friends’ themes even stronger. I like how Ike is basically designed like a truck, but he’s every bit as sensitive as the other lords in the series, perhaps even moreso. ALSO non lord character, and he never becomes nobility technically, unless you count him marrying soren. If I had to choose between one or the other I’d probably go with Path of Radiance just because Ike’s arc is stronger than that. Radian Dawn kind of has a problem of Ike showing up and stealing the spotlight a lil, even though I appreciate his appearance.

Fire Emblem: Echoes: I’m just really appreciative that I can put a DS Fire Emblem game on this list. There are definitely parts of Awakening and (IF) I like, and I prefer Awakening quite a bit more than (IF) but the part of Awakening that I love is the entire first half where the game felt like it was going somewhere in terms of consequences and challenging the characters. I can’t really call a game a fave if I kind of ignore the second half of the game. Echoes on the other hand is just on the whole an actually cohesive DS Fire emblem game. Of course I still have complaints because I complain about everything I like, but besides the 4th act being a little lackluster it’s pretty compelling all throughout. Even in the lackluster 4th act though, I really love Berkut’s turn, and considering that Berkut was an entirely new character for the game that they could have easily screwed up, it’s amazing how well he fits into the new plot. 

Top 3 Mages

Soren: Like I said I like Radiant Dawn/Path of Radiance just delves in a lot more complex characters then the rest of the series. If you look at the rest of this list my type is just going to be emo mages in general but, Soren’s arc of trusting no one because of the circumstances of his past and then slowly opening up to Ike and trusting him above everybody else. It’s more than just the ship though, even though I obviously love the ship, Soren genuinely does act like both a trauma victim and a tactician. He’s closed off, cold, logical and greatly effected by the things in his past. A lot of people compare him to robin but.. Robin’s more of a blank slate none of their backstory really matters that much b/c they forget it. It’s just sad in theory. Soren’s is sad in practice. Also his grumpy butt is very cute. Henry: I like Henry, in both the JP and English versions. Even though I understand there’s a lot of difference between the two. Henry’s a damaged mage like Soren, but I kind of like how he joins the mercenaries even before he starts healing. Like he’s definitely one of those “killing is fun, so just point me at the enemy” characters. But he works a whole lot more than say Peri, because it makes sense why they would recruit Henry when they did (they were trapped by plegian mercenaries and defectors would have helped their cause) and also Henry’s supports all sort of make him change rather than just simply tolerating him because (lol eccentric). My favorite supports of his are with Olivia, and Nowi, because in those cases it kind of hammers home how much Henry wants a family and how better he does with him around. Espeially Olivia’s sort of taught Henry how people can actually care when he’s in pain.

Mae + Boey: I just love these two both together. They count as one. Totally counts. I like how they’re both kind of insecure but also do their best to treat Celica like a normal person. They made the Celica parts of the game honestly the most enjoyable route for me in Echoes, even if a lot of their dialogue has them backgrounded as a little bit of a comedy duo. Mae and Boey are both kind of insecure characters and both of their insecurities play off one another. Boey is from a big household that was poor and he’s more of somebody who had no choice but to become a mage. He’s also the more inferior mage to Mae. Mae doesn’t have as much backstory details as Boey, but she’s a natural mage and from her character and support with Celica I kind of interpret that she’s an easier mage, but unlike Boey finds it harder to sort of be a person. She’s inescure that the others around her don’t see her as a girl b/c she’s so close to them. Which is what makes her dream rather than just being a knight, or achieving greatness like a lot of the other characters in this series, just trying to go back home and start a family sort of sweet too. I just like mages who could easily blow you up in a fireball but all they want to do is start a family.

[ruffoverthinksthings]

Can you do JayxJordan for the ship meme?

1.Whois the most affectionate?:

Jay.Jordan is reluctant to show affection most days due to having beenburned by failed relationships and “falling in love with people toofast;” being new to physical affection and how great it feels togenuinely love someone and be loved back, Jay has no problem“binging” on hugs, kisses, and hand-holding.

2.Bigspoon/Little spoon?:

Jayis big spoon, Jordan is little spoon, always. “He’s got muscles,he uses them.”

3.Mostcommon argument?:

Playfullyspeaking, it’s whether or not Jordan can use her minor, non-wishmagic to solve a small inconvenience for Jay, like a loose thread.

Seriouslyspeaking, there’s Jay’s antics as he grows up, because it takeshim a while to get out of his “reckless teenager with nothing tolose” phase, and Jordan is getting spotlight with the scandals allthe while, getting the bad sort of attention to her channel.

“Idon’t know what you’ve been told, but here, bad news is stillbad news.”

4.Favoritenon-sexual activity?:

Workingout together.

Jaygets a spotter who can easily handle whatever weight he’sattempting, and someone who can easily match him or up the pace forhis training regime without need for complex machines, Jordan gets toenjoy seeing her man sweat and show off those muscles of his, and heher in form-fitting yoga pants.

Really,no one loses!

5.Whois most likely to carry the other?:

Jaywith Jordan.

WhileJordan is more than capable of carrying Jay by virtue of Faestrength, “there is no way I’m hauling your unconscious, drunk,and/or lazy ass down the street, to bed, or across the room, unlessyou’ve broken one or both your legs, or are bleeding out—and asfar as I can see, you’re neither.”

6.Whatis their favorite feature of their partner’s?:

Jay’shands for Jordan. “It’s all the care and attention of Royal, withthe strength and texture of a Greenback, with all the tricks andspeed of a VK—what’s not to love?”

WithJordan, it’s her eyes, no contest. “Prettier, shinier, and deeperthan any jewels I could steal in the whole wide world.”

7.What’sthe first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings forthe other?:

Jaygets even more flirtatious than usual with Jordan, being morespecific and direct about his compliments and suggestions to her,along with making concrete suggestions for dates and hanging out,rather than vague promises.

Jordan,meanwhile, gets evasive and paranoid with him, as oh goodness, it’shappening all over again, will Jay just dump her eventually like allthe VKs do with their relationships, or will it just be for thewishes, or will it be a happily ever after?

Doesshe even want to find out…?

8.Nicknames?& if so, how did they originate?:

ForJay, there’s “JJ” as Jordan’s personal nickname for him, tobe different from the rest; “Red Robin,” a pun, and a referenceto one of the future teams he signs up for, the Avalor Jaquins;“Sly Guy,” used insultingly, when Jordan has figured out whatmischief he’s gotten up to this time; or “Jasim” if shewants to use his real name.

ForJordan, there’s “Jean,” a play on “Djinn,” “Mistress”whenever she’s ordering his lazy ass around to go and do somethinghe’d rather not, “(My Most Beloved) Treasure” when he’s beingparticularly affectionate or alternatively, he KNOWS he has fuckedup—using it like that issupposed to keep Jordan onher toes, but she knows.

Shealways does.

9.Whoworries the most?:

Jordan.

Jayhas a very laissez-faire view of the world because of how out ofcontrol of anything he’s been all his life, but Jordan has both thecapability of understanding all the many forces at work that makelife as it is, and the infinite energy stores and lack of mortallimitations that let her worry basically whenever, wherever, forever,if she wanted to.

10.Whoremembers what the other one always orders at a restaurant?:

Jordan,thanks to her infallible Fae memory. Jay makes it a point to try andremember or guess what Jordan would order as a matter of pride,though.

11.Whotops?:

Jay.“Just keep in mind that who I am in the bedroom isn’t who I amelsewhere, alright?”

“Butwhat about when we do it in an empty supply closet somewhere?”

“JAY,I SWEAR…!”

12.Whoinitiates kisses?:

Jay.

Again,more affectionate, he comes from a very “love-starved”background, and Jordan takes a LONG while to get used to the factthat someone CAN in fact love her for her, the wishes are WAY loweron the perks list.

13.Whoreaches for the other’s hand first?:

Jay.Is it really a surprise at this point?

14.Whokisses the hardest?:

Jay.Man’s a demon, a devil, a doll, and the both of them know it.It also helped that he has had a lot of experience making good,delirious kisses to rob people discretely.

15.Whowakes up first?:

Jordandoesn’t really sleep, but when they do, it’s always Jay. “Gottaget picking when the picking’s good.”

16.Whowants to stay in bed just a little longer?:

Jordan.“Jay, this is not the Isle, you can probably get that shiton A-bay, or wait and grab it before they recycle or throw-away allthe excess stock!”

“ButI wouldn’t have it NOW!”

17.Whosays I love you first?:

Jay.

Hesays it casually and early as a manipulation tactic, as part of hisvery Spanish inspired “hot and fast” methodology, but changes hismind when Jordan has an incredibly negative, distressed reaction toit.

18.Wholeaves little notes in the other’s one lunch? (Bonus: what does itusually say?):

AsJordan doesn’t really need to eat, Jay usually gets coffeeand other snacks for her from time to time. She has no use forcaffeine nor sugar because of her unique, magical physiology, but shecan derive pleasure from eating, and she likes the notes Jayscribbles on the back of receipts or containers.

“It’slegally bought with my own money, I promise.” - J

19.Whotells their family/friends about their relationship first?:

Seeingas it’s much more convenient, Jordan does, with the caveat thatit’s with Jasmine and over Skype, because she is still one heavilyactive and involved Royal Consort. (Aladdin is no slouch himself, butlet’s face it: the man wasn’t made for sitting in for long,expansive meetings, nor ferocious verbal debate where you can’t infact challenge your opponent to a duel with swords and slander.)

20.Whatdo their family/friends think of their relationship?:

Jasmineand Aladdin raise eyebrows—they’re well aware of Jordan’s lessthan ideal experiences with romance, and even though they do trustJay as their honorary son, they’re well aware that monogamous,loyal “street urchins” like Aladdin were the exception ratherthan the rule.

Genieand Eden are highly supportive of Jay and keep teasing them aboutwhen they’re going to be able to call him “son” for real,something Jordan does not appreciate, as they had done thisbefore with relationships that didn’t work out, and Jay is thefirst real boyfriend she’s had in a LONG while.

Azizsays, “Jay, I respect you as a teammate [later on, “as a man”],and I will support you and help you be the best boyfriend you can beto Jordan. But I swear to Goodness, if you break her heart, I willfucking end you.

“… Also,for the love of all that is Good and Holy, try not to fuck while I’mat risk of discovering you two, please...?”

TheVKs are very nonplussed about it. “So what, Jay’s had dozensof girlfriends, that it’s Jordan just adds a new square to thebingo card.”

TheAKs are much more concerned, especially Ben as they’re all raisedwith the idea of monogamy and long-term relationships as thestandard, with casual, short-term relationships as the outlier, andare aware of how ugly break-ups with Jordan can be.

21.Whois more likely to start dancing with the other?:

Jordan,because she dances with everyone, and “there’s something in myessence that makes me want to show everyone these hips don’t liewhen the music really gets going.” It doesn’t really get overtlyaffectionate until she starts getting MUCH more comfortable beingaround Jay, and gets over her paranoia.

Afterthat, you start to wonder why Jay’s pants never catch fire from allthat friction. (They’re proofed and insulated, after the firstincident with a leather pair Jay is never wearing again.)

22.Whocooks more/who is better at cooking?:

Jordan,by virtue of having a cooking instruction series to her channelwhenever she’s feeling bored; cooking is one of those creative,endlessly novel, and time-consuming hobbies that are a great way topass the time when you’ve got all of eternity to spend, and yourperception of it is at a constant speed.

23.Whocomes up with cheesy pick up lines?:

Jay.“Someone call the museums and the art galleries, we’ve got apriceless treasure just out here in the open...”

24.Whowhispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear duringinappropriate times?:

Jay.

Jordandoes this for the people she has “Dangerous Liaisons” games withsuch as her other full-Fae friends and other immortal Fae (“age ofconsent” doesn’t really MEAN anything when you live forever, andare fully matured mentally at time of creation), but with mortals,she’s learned to tone down the sexiness and the seduction by a goodbit, as it’s more temporary and fleeting than they might think itwill be.

Aftershe accepts Jay will be her “Ever After,” the tables turn, andyou better BELIEVE that Jay has mastered the art of casually,discretely hiding inappropriate erections from said inappropriatethings whispered in his ear during inappropriate times.

25.Whoneeds more assurance?:

Jordan.

She’sgot serious self-esteem issues from all the time she’s been burned,along with the capacity to process paranoid thoughts faster than thespeed of light; meanwhile, Jay has long learned how to stop worrying,but Jordan is still at that phase where she hasn’t lost anyone dueto old age, or seen civilization completely change around her, so shedoesn’t really understand how little all of this means in the grandscheme of things.

26.Whatwould be their theme song?:

“Nobody’sBetter” by Z (feat. Fetty Wap)

Jordan’shad more than her fair share of guys who have been incredibly simpleand upfront about their feelings like Jay, but she finds she can’treally trust him as a mix of her own personal issues, and the factthat Jay’s being serious with Jordan does not preclude him “windowshopping” and playfully flirting with others.

27.Whowould sing to their child back to sleep?:

Jordan.She has the better singing voice, and Jay keeps filling them up withballads of his daring adventures.

“ButI cut out all the bad parts!”

“You’restill teaching our damn kids that it’s GOOD to be a thief stealingfor personal profit!”

28.Whatdo they do when they’re away from each other?:

Jordanworks on her videos, as usual, but she also spends a lot more timereflecting and thinking over things with how incredibly SIMPLE and tothe point Jay is. It’s the classic Philosophical issue of “Maybethat’s all that there is,” and unlike my blog’s point, it’sbest not to overthink it and just accept that the simple solutionreally is all there is to it.

29.oneheadcanon about this OTP that breaks your heart:

WhenJay proposes, it’s not a happy moment for Jordan—up untilthat point, it’s just been them dating exclusively, having anofficial status, and defenses on social media, but there’s neverreally been anything so concrete and legally binding as an actualring on her finger.

“I’mscared, alright?! What if things just go downhill from here? What ifwe end up getting divorced, and we have to fight over who gets thatring back?! What if…” she starts tearing up. “What if we’renot really an Ever After…?”

30.oneheadcanon about this OTP that mends it:

Jaywipes the tears from her eyes, kisses her, and gently says, “Jordan,I’m going to be honest: I don’t know the answer to any ofthose questions. But I what do know, I was willing to spend a stupidamount of cash, set up this whole date, and work up the courage toactually show this ring, than keep thinking to myself, ‘Next time,when there’s a better opportunity.’

“Ilove you, and I want to find out if we’ll work out. Do you?”

Jordansniffs. “… I love you too, Jay, but I don’t know…. I needsome time to think… a LOT of it.”

Jaynods, and puts the box safely back in his pocket. “Go ahead, I’llbe waiting—besides, the store had a no return policy, so it’s notlike I can do anything with this thing, anyway.”

Jordanpunches him, before she pulls him in and kisses him.

Yearslater, she gets back to him:

“Yes.”

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