#cowboy coran

[0xy--m0r0n]

cowboy coran.

[pidges-lost-robot]

Been bothering @joshbii to tell me what they think each voltron character would be in a pathfinder game (to do an alternate version of the monsters and mana designs, a journeytaker campaign if you will (please don't I'm sorry)):

Pidge: Swashbuckler with a psychic dedication and she absolutely fully leans into it cause Lance isn't the only dramatic bitch here

Shiro: There was a couple possibilities between a Champion or potentially a Monk or a Magus with spellfist

Lance: Gunslinger w/Bard and he pretends all of this is nerd shit but he's optimised his character to hell cause he cannot just let this character be a joke

Keith: Witch with a familiar he brings along with him (a.k.a foreshadowing for Kosmo later cause shush) or potentially a ranger or potentially a Ruffian

Allura: Aerokineticist who is trying to gain all the elements eventually with the joke later being that the team realise with the order she's going in her character is becoming the Avatar and she doesn't get it xD (not Josh trying to get me to make up not derivative references, dude shush: )

Coran: Investigator/the GM of the game like last time with an Investigator character he likes to just annoy the team with for fun

Hunk: Magus with a warhammer and magic shield with a focus on fighting against the abuse of magic

[Please don't roast me for how I describe these, this is Josh's burden I'm new to pathfinder lore]

[With their knowledge I will probably draw these at some point too]

[elidee-art]

I revived one of my very oldest OCs (shoutout to the tagboard on arwen-undomiel dot com you guys got me through my early high school years)

I originally brought him back because I realized I could recreate him as a FFXIV wol because he's a catboy, but... it instantly got out of hand. He's now a cowboy monster hunter with his group of wasteland marauders. He might also be some kind of vampire too because I'm determined to cram as much self-indulgent cringe into his story as possible. I'm having a great time

His name is Coran (he/him), the one slapping his hat is Siwan (she/he), and the one with bunny ears/horns (I have not decided yet lmao) is Maeve (she/they)

[curveofthevalley]

Voltron Primark Universe

welcome to the primarkverse, an au in which the voltron team (and friends!) work at the primark and other shops at the local shopping centre - the paladins are all like 17/18 and shiro is in his 20s

in collaboration with my favourite children's show enabler @vanillaa-sky <3

• alfor owns primark, zarkon owns h&m

• coran is the regional manager who spends too much time in this specific store because it's his favourite and he loves the staff

• coran gives everyone lifts home in his minivan because he worries about them getting public transport late at night

• shiro is the manager and he runs that primark like it's the navy and then goes home to bitch to his husband

• curtis doesnt even work anywhere near the shopping centre but he knows all of the gossip

• keith lives with shiro and curtis because shiro drives him to work all the time, and he's not sick of how in love they are enough to move out

• keith has a second job (hmv) so he's always running late or getting his hours mixed up

• shiro tries to make keith's schedule easier because he's the best big brother

• allura's dad owns primark so she doesn't really work there but everyone lets her come in and work because honestly she's really good at it

• she's the best at dressing the mannequins

• allura refuses to be paid, plus she lets them all take home a kitten when her cat has a litter

• the kittens are all named after colours based on the colour of the collars they had as kittens to tell them apart (they have very similar patterns) and the names just stuck

• black for shiro, red for keith, blue for lance, green for pidge, yellow for hunk and white for allura

• black and keith are besties, red and lance get off to a rocky start but they bond eventually, and blue is just obsessed with allura

• keith also ends up with a wolfhound puppy (kosmo) as a reconciliation gift from his mother when they're finally reunited

• lance is kinda bad at his job but the customers really like him and he's helpful mostly so they keep him as the personality hire

• he also shows everyone pictures of his pet cow so they all bug him for more every shift <3

• lance does photoshoots of blue and kaltenecker with blue wearing a little cowboy hat and blue neckerchief and insists they're best friends

• lance is a photodump enjoyer who runs an 'anonymous' instagram account posting mugshots of the primark staff but everyone knows it's him because he forgets to post any of himself

• pidge is always on call to fix the tills when they fuck up

• she also finds a way to jack the wifi so that they actually get good signal in the break room (the game setup they all share is in there, they keep to a strict schedule of who can play when)

• matt works at game or cex to put himself through university, he's going to get an aerospace engineering degree and work with his dad one day

• pidge also plans to do this once she's through with sixth form, if it's not her allotted game time in the breakroom they're 100% studying for exams that are months away

• hunk helps and they test each other on their knowledge (they're both guaranteed all A* grades)

• shay works at a coffee shop a few stores down and practically has hunk's schedule memorised because he always comes in to buy drinks for everyone before his shift

• she remembers his order perfectly but he has to remind her of everyone else's

• hunk only goes there to see shay but he's too nervous to ask her out so they just visit each other at work a lot

• romelle worked at a different primark, with lotor, and he was so terrible at his job that he got fired

• as revenge he convinced zarkon to buy out the lot to turn it into a h&m so romelle ended up at the voltron store

• lotor and his generals (acxa, ezor, zethrid, narti) work at h&m round the corner

• lotor loves to come by and brag about being on his break but he never does any work anyway

• zarkon owns the store so lotor is a h&m nepo baby

• the generals are lovely and bring sweet treats and costa for the primark voltron team

• sometimes voltron show up at h&m to distract lotor so the girls can actually do their jobs without him being annoying

• allura had a brief thing with lotor while he worked at primark but broke up with him when he got the store closed down

• after she broke up with him the kallurance polycule formed (lance has two hands for holding both his boyfriend and his girlfriend)

the voltron brainrot has fully set in the year of our lord 2024, thank you for coming to our ted talk!

[just-jae]

Voltron LD Creative rerwrite

Okay, here we go.

Imma start with some superficial stuff:

All the main characters are adults (ranging 20-45). Tallest to shortest: Hunk and Keith are a close tie, Lance, Allura, Coran, Shiro, Pidge.

Oldest to youngest (ignoring Altean aging and the whole 10000 yr sleep) : Coran, Shiro, Allura, Pidge, Lance, Hunk, Keith

Allura's hair is more of a amber blonde. It's got like a slight rainbow effect (if that's what that's called) but just warm colors.

Alright less superficial stuff.

Keith's mom had a more outgoing and fun personality,. A lot more laid back and adventurous, but also verocious in battle. She can be passionate about what's right and wrong and what's nessecary. Leaving behind Keith wasn't just a testament to her dedication to to the Marmoran cause, but also to how much she trusted Keith's da with her bean

. Keith's dad was an actual cowboy (took care of cattle and the like) and liked to do funky cowboy dances. Maybe a volunteer firefighter though?

Keith also likes to do funky cowboy dances… when no one’s watching.

Keith had a crush on a neighbor who'd come to dance at their ho-down parties, but yaboi shy af tho so they never actually dated. His dad definitely teased him about his "boyfriend".

After Keith's dad's death, Keith became something of a workaholic, pouring himself into training and school, but was socially and emotionally shut down. He never really properly mourned, and had a hard time with intrusive thoughts whenever he was on the ranch, so he left it completely for the Garrison.

Allura and Coran aren't the last Alteans, the remaining ones are scattered throughout the universe just like the Galra (I mean, that was the whole point of destroying Altea-- to get revenge. So the Altaens dont have a homeworld just like like the Galrans, but the goal was never to wipe them out--- also why would they assume every Altean was on Altea. C'mon.

The Galra were originally very war like. It was their technological advancemencents that the Altaens adapted for more altruistic science. The Galra specialize in weapons and battle ships and communications while the Altaens had tech catered more toward medicine, bioengineering, and observation (telescopes, scanners, etc) But had a culture more deeply rooted in magic and mystic arts. Magic was how they initially came into contact.

Daibazaal had nightmare creatures, Altea had nightmare weather.

Zarkon was a Paladin a bit ironically. The Galra were very confrontational and defensive, often escalating conflicts amongst eachother or other planets into full out war, to the point that they were often seen more as predacious creatures than sentient beings.

Altea was one of the first planets to make peace with Daibazaal and, in-short, begin rehabilitating their image as bloodthirsty monsters, by sharing their diplomatic skills with them. This gave rise to leaders like Zarkon, whom could be very passionate and fierce if e felt threatened, but had the patience to observe and investigate a situation and indeed forged a reputation of robust reliability. Zarkon was a great leader, but was always controlling and power hungry,however those traits were used in healthier ways. Before then, those vices were more or less thoughts in the back of his head. Altea and Daibazaal worked together to forge Voltron, but at the time they were both fairly homogenous peoples (not very diverse in their personalities or mindsets) and so members of other species ended up as the other three paladins. The first Green and Blue paladins were both from the Dalterion belt, with Yellow actually being a wanderer alien of no particular planet (was mixed species too cause scifi).

The Fallout happened because of Altean witches being shady on multiple accounts and a domino effect leading to the death of a paladin. Broken trust, grief, and anger-- along with Altens generally tending to deny or trivialize the existence and influence of witches... or any bad thing in general-- escaelated social problems amongst their respective planets, opening old wounds until the destruction of Daibazaal, turns the Galra on the Alteans.

At first the Black Lion willingly participates, not only sharing the pain and distrust, but also being more nieve influenciable, like a child basically, but eventually it becomes conflicted by the killing and Zarkon's blind rage, and indulgence in his controlling tendencies, still emotionally attached, it rejects Zarkon and allows itself to be locked away, not even trusting itself to choose a good paladin to replace Zarkon.

Then history happens and--

Okay so Lance is indeed a sharp shooter. His whole theme is precision and perfection. He's accurate with just about any weapon, and is phenomenal in tight spaces and dynamic, high-speed settings. Personality wise e tends to be impulsive and impatient, nit picky, vain, and superficial, quick to make other's deviations from an "ideal" out to be a flaw to fix. He starts out really annoying at first but he means well, he's just misguided about image and what-not. Also Lance is the cooky, foody one and a snob about it.

Hunk IS AN ENGINEER, and mechanics/physics expert. He's very attentive to the conditions of things, particularly when it comes to problems, and is good at telling real problems from inperfections. He's a good listener who tends to other's internal turmoils and helps the team mesh together by supporting everyone and tending to their needs. Sometimes this can be a bit onesided as Hunk may sometimes feel he has to be strong and invulnerable for everyone else, becoming burned out or neglecting his own care.

Allura grapples with the fact that Altea's allies turned on them and wiped out everything she knew in a blink. I imagine she's got some trust issues and at first is particularly sensitive to infighting. From her perspective the Galra were either lying the entire time or the very idea of an alliance was fragile to begin with. The fact that it seems the entirety of the Galra went along with wiping out her people and then turning on the rest of the universe muddied her optimism and makes her more wary and hesitant to give the benefit of the doubt.

However, these are more subconsious fears that effect her knee-jerk reaction to things. The other paladins, starting out rough to begin with, and being prone to inner conflicts, help Allura to remember how strong and reliable forged bonds can be. She ends up investigating more of Altean and Galran history to try to make sense of what happened to cause the trust formed between them to collapse.

Shiro's backstory is much like the original.... EXCEPT there's no clone shinanigans. Shiro was absorbed into the black Lion and then revived- unlocking the ability to astral project and teleport.

At first, the Black Lion doesn't accept ANYONE, as the new Paladin, as it's too busy dealing with Shiro's soul or whatever. It's basically a scifi fantasy withdrawal/shutdown as he started to reflect on the fact that defeating Zarkon wouldn't end the imperialism of the Galra empire-- it seems like an impossibly endless feat. So the team has to learn to function without a head to Voltron. This is when Allura really steps up to be more involved on the front lines. She ends up spending alot of time with the black lion, empathizing with it, while also mourning Shiro, and she confides in it, especially given that they were both stuck in the castle for 10k yrs just to jump into a universal war.

So- yeah, eventually, Allura becomes the Black Paladin.

Allura is the one who realizes Shiro is IN the black lion, and works on learning some kind of magic finger flittering to revive him.

After Zarkon's defeat, the team start to see more Galra opposing the Empire, not through flat out fighting it, but basically by under-the-table acts like voting against certain moves, conveiniently failing missions, Becoming secret allies to previously conquered planets (especially if they're on the outskirts of the empire and barely get looked at-- especially as generations pass.

Passive aggression. That's what it is. "Fuck imperialism, but also we were born on this conquered planet and the Empire is still pretty brutal, so. :,/"

The Blade of Marmora are considered a suicide squad and necessary evil for opposing the empire on such an intimate level as they often participate in war acts to maintain their cover, but have been vital in weakening the empire from the inside and gaining intelligence through their many moles. The Blade is part of the reason the Galra haven't advanced even further than they have, haven't found the lions, or Altaens and are only just now developing their super juice. It looks like they haven't done much but they have, especially for an organization that only started forming after the twisted intentions of Galra imperialism became apparent.

Shay joins Hunk and helps maintain the castle ship as a mechanic. She also journals to practice writing and reading. She ends up creating her own little scripts bc she finds them easier to use. It takes some time to teach her the ropes, but she helps out however she can. Gets a bad case of homesickness after a few weeks, but, you know who doesn't. Occasionally she goes back home.

Pidge was always a tomboy :'D So infiltrating the Garrison was more a matter of looking like a different person than a different gender :V. Just makes more sense to me that that would work better than just cutting ones hair and wearing a short and pants instead of a dress.

Mat died for real. Idk, I feel like the show made a big mistake punching me the gut and then going "haha just a prank bro". NOPE. Its my headcanon now. Mat's gonna stay in the ground and enjoy the tears I shed.

Maybe Pidge looks into it, in denial at first, and uncovers some journals or records about Mat that confirmed he was dead but also leads Voltron to new allies. I thought it was a nice touch to show the mortality of rebels, and why more people aren't opposing the Galra.

Prince Lotor gets a complete makeover, He looks a lot more like his dad, and is a bit of a mess. Like in the original, he goes through much the same arc, except he's not this brittish mastermind, he's still really smart, but he's a mess...a lot like Keith, and relatively young, like, younger than Keith (20), so like, 18-19 ish in galran ages. Imagine OG Lotor and LD Keith fused.

UUUMM...

Sendak and Haxus, and Throk. They do more. Like, seriously, they were good villains'. They still get taken out, but its more than just, Haxus falling, Keith just surprise attacking, and... idek what happened to Throk.. did he even die? *does research*

Throk goes rogue, full chaotic evil.

Some shipping stuff since its crossing my mind:

Shiro/Allura, they're literally mom and dad.

Hunk and Shay, are literally sweethearts, I think I'd love for them to be platonic friends too. Either works. Like, c'mon they adore eachother. Beasties frfr.

Like I said before, Keith/hometown cowboy crush. Keith feeling like he's already thrown es life away (the life he had on the ranch with his friends and whatnot) is something that makes him progressively more angsty. He becomes a high-functioning angster, longing for the life e had before the Garrison, but always being more afraid of the pain of all those emotions than the feeling of being alone or afloat.

When thy go back to earth Hometown Crush has also joined the Garrison, but as Casualty Control. I initially chose casualty control just bc I felt it was a pretty cool but overlooked specialty--- but for those who know what it is, it ironically also implies certain things about his and Keith's relationship

I'm thinking, for Lance/Pidge, he initially picks on Pidge a lot, but develops a crush on her bc "Pidge is awesome!". Its one of the first times he's actually been interested in someone for reasons other than looks or status. But, Pidge is not into Lance seeing him as a baby (even at 22) bc he's immature, and initially thinks he's only interested cus shes a girl and Allura already rejected him. She realizes later that he's being genuine, but again he's still pretty immature so it's a bit of a slow burn for them. Like literal years of work flirting- mutual work flirting.

Zarkon/Haggar, but, they weren't together before the "war". Heck, they didn't even know eachother. Haggar was practicing dark magic before and appealed her use the the Galran Empire just to save herself, and expand her reasources. Overtime, she gained a following of druids and floated up the ladder of power until she was at Zarkon's ear.

Seeing that she is the very thing that wedged the Galra and Altaens apart, they're a very ironic pair, and they're aware of this. But its been 10K years of being evil assholes, Zarkon doesn't give 2fucs about Altaens or witches anymore. And his relationship with Haggar has been marinating for a long time... and is mostly platonic... mostly.

I think Zarkon might even find it funny that the Empire is now the perfect entity for witches to thrive in.

Lotor initially is infatuated with Allura, but it's just infatuation. He does get a bit snot-nosed about it, thinking Allura couldn't see past his Galran blood and seeing it as an excuse to rip on her vices, but its a learning point for him to not have his insecurities blind him to reality. He gets over it once he accepts that Allura's disinterest isn't amanifestation of shallowness or a personal attack. She also makes him realize more about himself than the mix blood he's always ridiculed for. Allura salvages it pretty well.

Okay.. that's enough shipping stuff.

As far as endgame go. The show is very much a power of friendship theme, about building connections and mutual care. So, I guess, the endgame would be the sympathetic Galrans, the ones who HAVE learned to appreciate freedom and connections, instead of perpetuating the heirarchal chain of dominance and control, create their own web, and "join the fight" so to speak, by disrupting status Quo's left and right, and employing the empire's own robust tech and man power against it. It's like the American Revolution, but in space.

Call me a glutton for grief, but I was legit actually thinking that Earth would be destroyed just like Altea. All the signs wwere there, the Atlas being built, "Carrying the world", all the romancing about Earth and whatnot.

It seemed like they were going to put us in bith altean and Galran shoes and really make us understand what it meant to have yourworld destroyed, coming full circle. Maybe Haggar even straight up replicates the event that destroyed Daibazaal. And it just went to show not only how far removed modern Galra are from their history, but also snapshotting why it's so impactful when we see everything that we associate with ourselfes and our identity, and the place we called home, obliterated.

Or on a happier, more conclusive note, all the allies Voltron makes along the way make their defense of Earth successful, and they beome the first planet the Galran's fail to conqure, where at the end of the first season, Voltron barely made it out alive facing Zarkon alone.

[thisgirlhastales]

Can I jus tell you I love your space cowboys series? Every sentence in it is flawless. The dynamic between the two of them is great ! Your world building !!!!!!!

I’m a sucker for a western and heists and romances despite despite despite and your series is where I go for any of that

I can’t count the times I reread it ! And literally I never think about voltron I was there in the beginning and I have done Work to escape and forget many things but your series has such a hold on me

It’s so so compelling so I just wanted to say thank you for writing it <3 you have brought me much joy

*tip-toeing back in several months later*

Hi. Hello. I have been a horrible human who has been woefully neglecting the wonderful, kind words you so were so awesome as to send my way.

Please know that while I am very, very bad at responding to folks in a timely manner, it does not mean I am any less in awe over said kindness.

For all that I am also not really involved in Voltron fandom any longer, I do still love these two space cowboys, along with some of the characters that took up residence in my heart (I'm sure none of you are surprised by the random adoration I have for Coran/Kolivan).

So knowing that this thing, which is a source of comfort to me even years later, can also be something similar to you, is just .... really, really wonderful. Thank you for telling me that, thank you for hanging around, and just ... all the thanks, hun, really and truly.

[ratsinmamouf]

People who shoud do this 4 the funni

@sirompp @birodactyloftheblog @cryptic-cowboy

been seeing this go around so i thought i'd start a tag chain w it. anyway make a poll w ur all time 5 8 favorite characters and see which ones are everyones faves

tagging uh the family @dawning-day @soleadita @xandromedan @moonlightperseus @frigidboy @numerous-bees-in-a-skin-suit and anyone else who i missed/wants to do it idc go wild go nuts

[kekeslider]

ur edits are so cute!

Thank youuuu ♥♥♥

The snapback Lance you did a while back is actually one of the things that made me fall in love with that concept!!

[southerngoffics]

Am I kicked out of the fandom yet or,,,,

[keithshitposting]

team voltron shitposting

allura:

shiro:

lance:

keith:

pidge:

hunk:

coran:

kaltenecker:

[the-coranic]

Voltron Tag

Because I just want to do it.

How did you discover the show? I discovered it through my dad. He was a fan of the 80s series when he was a child. He even has an old toy yellow lion and Hunk out on display. Around when season 2 was still new, he was basically like “Hey, you should check this series out! I think you’d like it. There’s also a character voiced by the same guy as Finn.” so we watched it together and bonded over it.

Was it love at first sight or did it take you a while to get into the show? I fell in love immediately and I hyperfixated on it for at least a year. It's still special to me despite all of its issues, and that hyperfixation still comes and goes.

Do you have a favorite episode(s)? There were so many good ones. I honestly don’t know what my favourite is, but to name a few:

The Rise of Voltron

The whole Balmera arc, because Hunk is my son, my star, and I love to see him shine

The Black Paladin

The Depths

The Blade of Marmora

Blackout

The Legend Begins... just any glimpse I get at Blaytz and Gyrgan

Reunion

Monsters & Mana

The Black Paladins. THE KURON VS KEITH FIGHT SCENE YOOO

Do you have a favorite Paladin? Lance was always my favourite, and Hunk is a very close second. I think I relate to them the most.

Do you have a favorite Lion? Blue. I always wanted to pilot Blue. Maybe because it’s one of my favourite colours, and I’ve also got a connection to water - being a Scorpio, living on the coastline, being interested in marine biology, and being a swimmer? Idk  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do you have a favorite Alien Race? Whatever Plaxum, Blaytz and Gyrgan are. I wish we got to know more about the last two, especially.

Favorite side/other character(s)? I absolutely adore Coran. Outside of Team Voltron - Matt, Kolivan, Acxa, Rizavi and Veronica, and I was also really intrigued by Lotor before they messed him up and turned him into sOUP???

How/Why did you join the fandom? I got really involved in the fandom because I just loved the show, but the only people I could talk about it with irl was my dad and kind of my sister. My old main tumblr was just all VLD for that period of time, and I mostly posted fanart and some memes, gushed about Klance, and convinced thousands of people that Mothman-fan!Keith was 100% canon. It was great.

What are some of your headcanons?

Shiro has a younger brother that Keith reminds him of

And before their history was revealed, I thought Shiro was like Keith’s adoptive father, or at least a supportive family friend who took him in after his dad passed

Pidge is autistic and non-binary, because me too

Lance has ADHD, because me too

Lance and Hunk were childhood friends

Autistic, lactose intolerant, hippo-loving, Mothman-simping, gay, half-Galra, Korean-Texan cowboy Keith was wild and pretty funny to me, and I still subscribe to most of that lmao

What do you think is the best part of the show? The characters and their potential was always the main draw for me. They’re still so important to me. I also loved the art style, the alien designs, and big robot vs. monster fights are always fun to me.

What were your hopes and wishes for future episodes/seasons?

I knew Keith was gonna inherit the black lion but I choose not to shut up about black paladin Allura

More fleshed out backstories (which I’m working hard on for my rewrite rn)

Getting to know everyone’s families better

Shiro speaking some Japanese, Lance speaking some Spanish, or just the Paladins sharing more human culture with the Alteans rather than just the other way around.

*cough* Canon Klance, although I also like the idea of Allurance. I just didn’t like the way they ended up portraying it. They also didn’t do a very good job of shutting down Klance and convincing they weren’t also in love lmao

Just Lance being happy again tbh like wtf?

Did you stick it out until the end of the show? I ended up dropping the series around season 4. I don’t remember if it was because I was already bored or too disappointed to go on, or that part of the fandom got too much, or just because I changed hyperfixations and didn’t get around to finishing it. I learned what happened next through other people’s reactions and it was so disheartening, but I finally rewatched and finished it myself recently. It was a rushed blur, but it was nice to relive the good moments.

[autisticlancemcclain]

part one

———

Lance has no idea how powerful he truly is.

Seriously. Completely oblivious. He’s convinced that he’s the only one on the team who’s not powerful — and Keith knows this because those are the words Lance said with his own mouth. He’s so convinced that power is Shiro’s strength, Pidge’s intelligence, Hunk’s wit and compassion, Allura’s regality, and Coran’s wisdom. He’s even completely sure that Keith has power in his speed and initiative.

Somehow, though, the heart of Voltron does not know how he holds everyone in the palm of his hand. He does not see the picture of terror he makes; jaw clenched, brown eyes flashing with determination, back straight and shoulders set, demonic spider at his side, telepathic mice gathered on his head, poisonous, sentient vine wrapped around him — and the spirts of two lions, red and blue, growling in tandem behind him as he swears that no harm will come to the beast by Voltron’s hand.

Lance did not see the fear in the dignitary’s face. He did not notice his team staring at him with wide eyes, leaning far away from him and his own army. He did not see the pure, concentrated power rippling from him in waves.

If Keith’s being totally, completely honest, it’s kind of hot.

But it’s also a pain in the ass. As much as Lance’s greatest strength is in convincing people to listen to him, when he sets stubborn eyes on a task, the Universe herself cannot sway him. Keith has a snowball’s chance in hell of managing either.

“Just try,” Shiro pleads. “Please. Attempt to convince him that, as much as it sucks, killing the damn beast is the easiest way to secure this alliance and move on.”

“Shiro, your braincells are spilling out your ears like loose marbles if you think that I can convince him to even listen to the words I will attempt to say.”

“Holy idiom, there, cowboy,” Pidge teases, and Keith breaks away from the intense stare-down with his brother to stick his tongue out and shoot her the finger.

“That’s a normal idiom. Sorry that you grew up in Michigan where the most interesting insult you ever hear is someone saying please with a little more passive aggression than usual.”

“…Alright. Point to Keith.”

“Mhm. That’s what I thought.”

“Paladins!” Allura snaps, ignoring Hunk’s smartass comment that she is also, actually, a paladin, and as such is included in such snappish remarks and thus has lost a good chunk of ethos. “Focus! Stars, it’s like I have to do everything around here. Keith. Put your big boy pants on.”

Shiro chokes with laughter, desperately trying to pretend it’s really a cough, but it fools no one.

God, those two need to stop hanging out together. Shiro is dragging Allura down to his level. Poor woman.

“Talk to Lance,” she continues. “He only really listens to you.”

Keith looks at her incredulously. “Listens to me — have I missed something? I asked Lance to lead a briefing yesterday and he asked me what deity died and made me king of the jungle. He doesn’t listen to a goddamn word I say.”

Allura raises an eyebrow. “Did he?”

“Did he what?”

“Lead the briefing yesterday?”

Keith deflates. Because, well. “Yeah,” he mutters.

“So you’re just being a pussy, then,” she summarizes – why does Pidge insist on teaching her modern slang and why does she like it so much – and this time Shiro doesn’t even pretend he’s coughing. Hunk and Pidge also lose their shit.

“I resent that,” Keith says haughtily, denying nothing.

“Yeah. Okay. Off you go. Convince him to at least attempt to hear us out.”

Keith sighs, but does as asked, making his way to his and Lance’s rooms. He decides to take a minute and gather his thoughts — see, he’s learning, look at how not-impulsive he’s being — and heads to his room first.

When he gets there, he spends a few meditating beside his bed — he’d rather stick a hot iron through his eye than admit it, but Shiro and Black may be a little, teensy, itty-bitty bit correct about taking time to gather up thoughts and reflect or whatever.

Just as he’s about to get up and knock on Lance’s door, he hears Coran’s heeled boots click down the hallway.

Oh, fuck yes. If Coran talks to Lance, he might actually listen without argument! Lance has no issue following Coran’s instructions!

…On the other hand, Coran’s just as much of a — and Keith says this with all the fondness in his heart, believe him, if he didn’t find it so damn endearing he would not be spending his nights imagining what will happen when he finally grows enough of a pair to ask Lance on a date — tree-hugger as Lance is. He won’t be happy about the beast killing either.

But, hey. Coran’s a wise guy. It’s probably fine.

Just in case, though, he gets up as quietly as he can — he knows Lance’s goddamn bat ears will hear him if his fucking heart beats too loudly — and leans against the door to hear their conversation.

“Lance, dear, I was just coming to find you,” Coran says.

So far, so good. If Coran was already trying to find Lance, it was probably to try and gently convince him that saving the beast might not be the best option, right?

Keith heart sinks a little as a new thought worms into his brain: maybe, Lance isn’t just being stubborn, and he’s actually upset. Maybe Coran is going to make sure Lance is feeling okay, like a good person.

…Yeah. That’s more likely. Keith kind of feels like a jackass.

He startles out of his thoughts as Coran’s voice, notably louder than before, speaks again.

“Well, if you’re really feeling so much better, would you mind helping me recalibrate the fabricator?”

“Absolutely,” Lance says, and he does sound remarkably happier than he did when he stomped out of the bridge.

Huh. Maybe Lance convinced himself…?

As he thinks it, he knows it’s not true. But it might not be best to bring it up now, then. He’s only just gotten into a good mood, it will probably be better to bring it up over dinner, or something, when the good mood has enough time to settle properly.

Keith nods to himself. Yeah. That’s totally not an excuse because he doesn’t want Lance to look at him in complete betrayal again when Keith attempts to convince him that saving the beast is not an option, or anything.

Right.

Totally.

———

part three

[vldkeith]

klance/keithtober prompt #31: halloween🎃

Keith adjusts his falling cat ears and clutches onto the bowl of popcorn he’s been stuck with, trying to keep it from toppling over as Lance and Hunk shove at him, talking to each other loudly even though Keith is literally right between them and holding something very important, but whatever. It’s their fault if popcorn gets all over the floor. 

“Hey!” Pidge barks from in front of them, turning around and glaring at the three of them. Her look lacks the bite it would’ve had she not been wrapped in an orange fluffy blanket with pumpkins all over it, or had she not been curled up next to Allura, sister-style. Also, she’s dressed in a cardboard-cutout robot costume, which is exceptionally ridiculous since their paladin armor could’ve substituted as robot costume, so that doesn’t help. “Can you shut up? The movie’s about to start!” 

“We have control over the movie,” Lance says, pointing dramatically at Shiro, witch hat whipping around and landing lopsided on his head. Shiro, who is doing a couples costume with Adam where he’s the astronaut and Adam is the alien (which is kind of hilarious for numerous reasons, not least the fact that a real alien is leaning against the legs of the fake-alien right now), is sitting behind Keith with Adam and clutching the remote; he looks surprised at being spoken of. “It doesn’t start until we say so! Right, Shiro?” 

Hunk’s nodding vigorously next to him, causing his bear-ears to fall into his face for a moment, and Keith cranes to look back and see what Shiro’s response is. He’s silent for a moment, and then he slowly lifts the remote, pressing play.

The movie blinks into existence. 

Lance and Hunk let out howls of anguish and betrayal, while Pidge breaks out into peels of laughter at her victory. Even Allura is snickering in her fairy-like garb, shooting Coran an exasperated look, and he laughs too, mustache bristling and making the cowboy hat on his head even more fitting. Lance huffs audibly and slumps back into Keith’s side.

“Nobody’s on my side around here,” he bemoans, nuzzling his nose into Keith’s neck and making him feel chills. The bridge of his large hat juts into Keith’s cheek. “I know Halloween’s the time to be evil, but that was just cruel.” He turns to Keith with wide, round eyes. “You agree, right, Keith? Best boyfriend on the planet? 

Feeling butterflies of delight fluttering through his stomach at the identity, which he still hasn’t gotten used to yet, Keith raises his voice and says cheerfully, “Shiro, could you turn it up a bit?” 

Shiro complies, and Lance lurches back with dramatic hurt in his eyes. “Evil,” he says. He pokes Keith’s cat ears. “Evil catboy.” 

“Don’t be mean to him,” Hunk says protectively, pulling Keith closer to him and stroking his hair like he would a cat. Keith starts blushing, because Hunk is so nice and great and warm and he can’t help it. “We have to support people with different opinions from us. This is how world peace happens.” 

“Give me my catboy back,” Lance replies moodily, yanking Keith nearly onto his lap.

“I’m my own catboy, you know,” Keith says, but he’s smiling; being manhandled by these two isn’t exactly the worst thing in existence. 

“You’re right. I’m so sorry, catboy Keith,” Hunk says solemnly. He gives Keith a tiny pat on the head, which makes him giggle a little. 

Lance is staring at him with amused, adoring eyes. “You’re so cute,” he says, and pushes his nose back into Keith’s neck, kissing his throat lightly. 

“Lance.” Shiro’s voice comes from above, like it’s god, and he has a kind-of-not-but-probably-it-actually-is-serious note of warning in his tone. “That’s my little brother. Take it somewhere else.” 

Sticking out his tongue at Shiro (and receiving a raised eyebrow and rather unnerving stare from Adam in return), Lance finally settles down, allowing Keith to take his place leaning against him, head resting on the arm behind him. 

“I had to watch you and Adam do the same thing, hypocrite,” Keith says cooly, looking knowingly up at Shiro with a smirk. He rolls his eyes but doesn’t press it, which Keith takes as a win.

Pidge is back to shushing them, and this time Allura joins in, throwing a glare at Lance that has him anxiously averting his eyes and making a zipping motion with his fingers in front of his mouth. 

Everyone does quiet down after that, though, and they’re able to watch Halloweentown in peace, munching on candy out of pumpkin-shaped buckets amidst the light of the flickering candles. Halloween has always been Keith’s favorite holiday, but it had lost some of (most of) its magic after his dad died; nobody was around to take him trick-or-treating anymore, and he hadn’t had a neighborhood or friends to go trick-or-treating with, for the most part. 

His teenage years were spent piloting, and then fighting space war. He hasn’t had to have a normal Halloween for nearly a decade--until now, the first one after they’ve all returned, after everything’s over. 

After the best birthday Keith can remember having. Looking around him, at the group of people huddled close with blankets and popcorn and candy, at his boyfriend curled up next to him, thumbing circles and heart shapes into his wrist, Keith knows that this is the best Halloween he’ll remember having, too. 

For the first time since his dad died, Keith feels a real sense of family in the permanent way he’d thought was lost to him forever, given the foster system and Shiro’s line of work and the war. But it’s here, all around him, pulling him in close and comforting, loyal and true and his. 

Yeah. It’s a happy Halloween, indeed.

a/n: these were so much fun to do; i might do more come christmastime! thanks for reading & sticking with me if u did! happy keithtober/halloween :)

[thisgirlhastales]

Lance and Keith, our Two McClains, have a little gossip ...

... they’ve got this idea that a certain Altean space uncle of theirs, and the head of a certain super secret spy group ... might be A Thing.

Well, here’s a little story to confirm that for y’all! ;)

The Darkness Between (And the Goodness Therein)

Also, I’ve organized the one-shots of the space cowboy ‘verse that are difficult to place in the chronology (though they are “canon” for this universe), into their own series: A Little Extra Trouble.

This Coran/Kolivan one-shot was written a while back, over on my Patreon, and once again, my thanks to everyone there who puts up with my ramblings! :) *hugs*

[nomadicism]

In that one Voltron post about Keith in Voltron Force, you mentioned that "I don’t think that many western writers would ‘get’ that archetype". What do you mean by that exactly?

Hi! Great question, thank you for the Ask!

I’ll start this off by stating that when I say something like “western” or “American”, I don’t mean to conflate the two. The latter is a part of the former, and the cultural context is relevant to why I said “I don’t think that many western writers would ‘get’ that archetype.”

Not “getting it” comes down to DotU Keith’s original archetype is that of the super sentai team leader, and that’s not a thing that exists in the western popular media culture (we have something different in place of that). And, kind of like how westerners frequently misinterpret ronin and samurai, if you don’t grow up with it—both the culture that created it, and as a common story type within popular media—then you probably won’t ‘get’ it, at least not without a lot of study and work and awareness of what super sentai is about (and that’s true of anyone’s perception or experience of another culture’s media). It takes time to ‘get it’, and in some case one might not ever fully get it (and that’s okay).

The more I try to figure out super sentai—and the +40 years of popular Japanese culture around it—the more I realize that I have more to learn. Just like with super robot stories—while it’s really about selling toys and entertaining people—there’s something else to it, like the why of how its entertaining. That something else is the cultural time-and-place conditions that gave rise to super sentai and super robot in the first place. Those conditions did/do not exist in the west. Different cultures have different kinds of heroes, kind of like how Superman was borne out of the time-and-place conditions of his creators.

Super sentai team leaders (and for this, I’m including anime with super robot combining mecha team leaders that are based on the super sentai formula) are similar to pre-80s American super hero team leaders in comics, and thus some of the difficulties in writing them also happens in super hero comics too. This is how DotU Keith becomes Voltron Force Keith-with-all-the-toys, even though the story is supposed to be about the next generation of Voltron pilots or whatever (I never got the feeling that they made up their mind about that). It’s an awkward merging of two similar but different types of stories that come from different cultures. I don’t say that to imply that such a merge can’t be done, it’s just easy to do awkwardly (or worse).

What follows is some breaking that down a bit more:

VF Keith (and later iterations of Keith to a certain extent) is an example of the American tendency to de-emphasize the team-aspect of leadership, as well as the leader’s soft skills, while emphasizing solo action hero skills and lone wolf traits, and adding Marks of Specialness. I’m not sure if other western cultures have the same kind of Individuality vs Collectivism dynamic that we do in the U.S., but that’s something I see at play in how Americans write team leaders. It’s not a problem in the “Action hero has a backup team” story (and I think that type of story comes from the placement of the Individual over the Collective), but it doesn’t work well in a super sentai story where the Collective is structurally more important than the Individual, and the Leader is important b/c of his innate personality-based traits or virtues that inspire and bring together the Collective to save the day.

Technically, a super sentai leader doesn’t have to be a great leader, or the most qualified. He just has to inspire through personality and by being a virtuous paragon. It can be hard to quantify what a virtuous paragon is, but it is not the same thing as a moral paragon in the western sense, even though the virtuous paragon occupies an analogous place in a story. One could say that I’m splitting hairs there, but there is a distinction between “virtue” and “moral”.

So at first, DotU Keith had the super sentai team leader feel as he wasn’t changed too much from his counterpart in Golion. The most noticeable change to Akira’s character as Keith in 80s Voltron were that his spiritual traits were de-emphasized due to broadcasting/syndication rules at the time. Those spiritual traits are not a requirement for a super sentai team leader, but within the context of a Japanese story, they help define the leader’s soft skills and shape the kind of virtuous paragon he’s supposed to be. (that’s a tangent into some heavy cultural analysis though).

By the time we get to Voltron Force (nearly 30 years later), we run into the 90s Superman problem with DotU Keith (e.g. how do we make the boy scout relatable? plus edgy characters are en vogue). Voltron Force’s solution to that problem was to keep adding new traits/skills/marks of specialness to Keith in order to make him “more interesting” (in some cases, those traits/skills/marks of specialness were already present in other characters). The assumption is that “more interesting”, is how to get people (in this case boys aged 7-9 or 9-12) to pay attention to and relate to a character that was never meant to stand out in that way to begin with.

In the context of super sentai, of course Red Leader is the bestest Japanese Everyman and will lead his team to victory, but he doesn’t get all the toys, and he needs the team to come together to form the giant robot at the last minute. And since he doesn’t get all the toys, then that means that he doesn’t get all of the traits/skills/marks of specialness that are associated with having all the toys, nor does he get into conflict situations where resolution is completely dependent upon his ability to be the solo action hero or lone wolf with lots of toys. This is where Voltron Force goes wrong with Keith…and VLD S6-S8. (Arguably that could be S3, but a lone wolf/solo action star temporarily stepping into the moral-or-virtuous paragon’s leadership role can totally work as part of a growth arc.)

The problem here is the conflation of leadership with being “the most interesting” or being the solo action star, or that to be “the most interesting”, one needs to be edgy lone wolf. That’s literally not the point of a team-focused story, and that is not the place of a super sentai team leader.

In DotU, Keith doesn’t need to be the martial arts master brawler, that’s Hunk. Keith doesn’t need to be the tricksy-ninja, that’s Pidge (DotU de-emphasized that from Golion where Hiroshi had a ninja lineage). Keith doesn’t need to be cynical one that sees through the enemy’s tricks, that’s Lance. Keith doesn’t even need to be the heart, that’s Allura (in some cases the super sentai team leader takes on a larger heart role, but the real heart will always be the female character). Part of the super sentai team leader’s archetype is that he’s got a few things he’s great at (usually one combat skill set + driving/piloting + tactics), and he has flaws that are made up for by the rest of the team, as each member embodies the other archetypes that make up a super sentai team.

One of those flaws is a certain kind of naiveté, for example, Lance wouldn’t have gotten hit by a rock from behind by Lotor during a duel, as he never would have agreed to the dual in the first place, as Honor™ is not an innate part of Lance’s being. Honor is a virtue, and as the virtuous paragon, Keith’s sense of honor plays into his naiveté. Duals are honorable! Lotor gave his word, he must have honor! HAH. No. Honor in this context is an innate quality, and that’s very important for a super sentai team leader, even in an odd-duck combining mecha show like Voltron. 

Not to be that weeb with a “the Japanese prize Honor” take, but they kind of really do when it comes to how to define villains and heroes within certain types of stories. Virtuous, noble, and honorable villains (or antagonists) exist, and they get a completely different kind of death (arc resolution, sometimes in an eastern tragedy this leads to the hero’s catharsis) than a villain who is dishonorable, or without honor (those are not always the same thing). The western concept of honor is different (that’s not a value judgement, and of course variations exist b/c not all western cultures are the same).

In the US—when we’re not appropriating samurais for cowboy westerns—we tend to make honor into more of an aristocratic thing (thanks England), and that’s exactly what Voltron Force does to Keith when they slap on a secret Arusian lineage and special parental legacy of an Arusian Honor Guard. That completely undermines Keith as a virtuous paragon. He doesn’t need any of those things…and again, wasn’t the story supposed to be about Daniel, Vince, and Larmina anyway?

A secret lineage would be the kind of thing you’d give to one of those three, in which case, that would be Daniel or Vince, since Larmina is already related to Allura, even though Allura told everyone that her entire family was killed by Zarkon when Keith et al first met her and Coran. Being Arusian and royalty were Allura’s toys, Keith didn’t need them, he already had enough toys. This is a way in which the writers didn’t ‘get’ the archetype, and tried too hard to make it into something else.

The DDP and Dynamite iterations of Voltron still “give other characters’ toys” to Keith, but it’s not a problem b/c those iterations are separate continuities that begin (or reboot) in a way that is not super sentai. A few of the super sentai trappings remain, but they are much more like American super hero comics, and that’s fine.

In DDP Voltron, Hunk’s martial arts prowess is given to Keith, but Hunk gains a different archetype in return (that I really love and wish I could have seen more of). Hunk still has combat skills, but his archetype is not the big dude kung fu brawler. Even though DDP Keith has gained DotU Hunk’s toy, he’s still well balanced between solo action star and team leader, since he is only team leader b/c that’s what he was assigned to do. He’s not there to inspire his comrades through innate virtuous qualities. He’s there to lead a hail Mary mission for the most powerful weapon in the universe that everything thinks is a space fairy tale.

Dynamite Voltron Keith is okay, but he kind of falls into the solo action star trap in parts of Vol 2. VLD started off strong with a different archetype for Keith, but ended up giving him all the toys as was done with VF Keith.

Any continuity can do what they want, and use different archetypes for the characters, but if part of the goal is to start off with that DotU feeling (or like actually continue the DotU story), then those writing should try to get a better understanding of why all the characters (not just Keith) are the way that they are in DotU (and Golion). And also question why there is this inclination to single out Keith as a solo action star, rather than one part of a five person whole. The inclination isn’t right or wrong, it just is, and it has consequences for characterization.

[marshmallowartbunny-love-me]

Everyone puts magnets on Shiro's robotic arm while he's asleep!! Because why not, and I think it's super cute!