#i love u bp!keith

[bluemantics]

Keith felt bruises behind his eyes as he stared up at the hologram. No matter how many times he ran the battle simulation, BOOM. He watched for the 100th time as the planet that Voltron was simulated to defend exploded in fiery death-ray style.

The black paladin rubbed at his face and sighed.

“End simulation.”

Keith whipped around at the surprise voice, spotting Lance entering the dimly lit room, blue holographic light shining across his freckled skin.

“What was that for?” Keith huffed. He knew he wasn’t fooling Lance with the whole “respect your leader” act, that his voice was too weary.

“You’re going to kill yourself over this stupid sim,” Lance told him, forcing a warm cup into Keith’s hands. He turned toward the blue light, reaching a hand up and gently over the planet debris, still frozen in time. With a flick of his wrist, Lance dispelled the image.

“I just can’t figure out what’s wrong with our formations,” Keith started as the light changed to a glowing yellow. He took a sip of the cup. It was warm and sweet, not quite tea, but likely one of Hunk’s comforting creations. Still, it couldn’t settle the writhing mess in his ribs.

“Why don’t you let Allura or Pidge help? Or… me?” Lance asked. “I’m your right hand guy for a reason.” Keith dismissively waved a hand through the air, ignoring Lance’s look of offense.

“I have to do this on my own, Lance,” he told him sharply. “I’m the black paladin. Shiro did this a million times. Sure, sometimes with Allura, but he also did it alone.” Keith’s hands hovered over the buttons, but Lance stepped in front of them, forcing Keith to take a step back.

“Hey. You don’t have anything to prove here,” Lance said, tone full of caution. “You’re not Shiro, Keith, you can have a different strategy. Just because he isn’t here doesn’t mean you have to fill any hole he left behind.” Keith felt something burn inside him and he clenched his fists.

“I’m not trying to be Shiro, okay? I know I won’t live up to that.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know—“

“I just have to do this without distractions. I’m the fucking leader, now. You just have to trust my decisions here.” Keith looked Lance in the eye with a challenge. He knew he was too tired for this, but he didn’t back down even as Lance straightened to his full height and jabbed a finger at him.

“Fuck you,” Lance hissed. “I’m your second. I get to challenge you, talk shit through with you, and tell you when I think you’re acting like an ass. Breaking news, Keith! This is peak asshole behavior.” Keith rolled his eyes.

“You aren’t needed here, Lance, and if you can’t let go of your insecurity for the sake of the team and let me figure this out, then this will be on you.” He gestured to the empty air where the battle sim had been, anger clouding his words.

Lance paused. He took a step back, his legs hitting the console table.

“You’re right, you’re not like Shiro,” he responded, voice cold, eyes sparking with something hidden. “Shiro wouldn’t dismiss me like this, especially if he knew I was right.” With that, he shoved past Keith and stormed back out of the room.

“Computer off.”

Bright yellow light faded to a dim, barely lit red, as if to taunt him.

[sapphicvevo]

apparently if you don’t have a mullet you can’t be leadership material WHO KNEW????

[astralscrivener]

⭐ for at skyfall!! :D

first of all: i love u

second of all. this is a long one so i'm putting it under a read more, but first, for anyone who doesn't know what at skyfall is:

can i interest you in a klance and adashi fic where shiro and keith get kidnapped and adam joins the castleship crew

fanfic writers: director's cut!

OKAY SO it's silly. it's so silly. the very very basic premise for this one had been sitting in my google docs for four years. since senior year of high school, bestie!!!! FOUR YEARS!!!! i'm almost done w college that's how long the basic premise has been sitting there!!

here. i can provide a screenshot of exactly what it looked like in my notes. it was a google doc full of things i could use as potential fic titles or chapter titles bc i STRUGGLE with titles so it was handy to have some notes for that. the edit history on this bitch goes back to december 17, 2017, aka peak of the voltron fandom

ID: a screenshot of a google doc. in bold and italics, "skyfall / at skyfall", followed by six bullet points: "multichapter probably, or a oneshot, either way it has to deal with kuron and someone has to come close to death, focus on the downfalls of the two previous black paladins (shiro & keith), black paladin lance, klance for reasons". End ID.

and so you can very much tell that this was in the era when everyone thought lance should have been the black paladin, and also that time when everyone knew kuron was a clone from like the minute he entered season 3 but they dragged the plot out for three and a half seasons. ANYWAY

like many other people, 2020 sent me spiraling back into klance because quarantine truly was the time when people just went back into old hyperfixations. like i was still actively writing and interested in klance, but hoooo the panini brought the brainrot back in full force, and so i wanted to write angst. it had been a long time since i wrote angst. and i wanted a long-term project that wasn't the fix-it fic and also wasn't a modern au. i wanted the paladinsverse dammit. and then lo and behold i found this in my notes and went "oh. i can use this"

i ended up scrapping the kuron thing mostly because i missed shiro and i was sick of the little clone bitch, and also my feelings on BP lance have gotten more complicated, and ALSO i wrote the original premise when no one had any idea who the fuck adam was, and ALSO i've gotten way into the broganes dynamic, and so with the Glasses Of Hindsight on the plot became: shiro and keith having to survive together, keith and lance secret relationship, adam joins the castleship crew

i still chose "at skyfall" bc black lion guardian spirit of the sky and blah blah blah, but the focus is a little less on the whole "black paladins" thing and more on like, the team's bonds as a whole. and also i'm a sucker for devotion, be it platonic romantic familial whatever, so jot that the fuck down. really i just want more hurt/comfort. more "how far would you go to protect the ones you love." more "what would you sacrifice to keep them safe." and so during the past few nanowrimos i just began. writing chapters. and yelling about them. and now i'm six chapters deep and proud of the way it's coming along

(and thank you for editing them my wonderful beta bestie <333)

thank u for this ask!!!

[keith-is-not-an-emo]

So I’ve been thinking about Black Paladin Keith, and the more I think about it the more I see it as being against canon.

No hate against Keith or why he CAN’T be the BP. Actually, I won’t even mention him personally in this post.

It’s just, from what we’ve seen from the show, everything that says that Keith should pilot Black, doesn’t matter (in canon).

The only and most foreshadowing detail we have for BP Keith is... well, Shiro, current BP, telling Keith to take his place. Now remember the whole “it’s the lion that chooses its paladin” and “such bond cannot be forced”. I really hope it’s still relevant in s3 and forward *winks at DW*.

Secondly, I don’t know where the whole “we are a team and make decisions together, everyone's opinion matters” Shiro’s thingie went. The two (2!!) instances where Shiro told Keith he should do it is when they’re alone. And I doubt he consulted with Lance, Hunk and/or Pidge beforehand. I mean, he didn’t even consult it with Keith!!

All that said, I’m not even counting Keith’s character and personality here 

So yeah, when I say it really goes against canon, I’m not exaggerating. And surprise, before I say “so yeah it’s clearly bad writing”, I actually think it will be the plot twist of the season? (”Black Paladin Allura, surprise!” shouts DreamWorks, to no one’s surprise). If it does end with BP Keith... well, it will really be bad writing. Not because I say so, but because it literally will be anti-canon.

My conclusion? If I trust the writers, Black Paladin Keith won’t be a thing.

[ikimaru]

idk if it was intentional or not but in the lion switch photos, I love the different outfits showing where everyone was mentally when they made the switch. How when Keith became the bp, he wasn't thinking about volton at all, he had just began obsessing over bom. How red didn't accept anyone until Lance proved that he was Keith's right hand as Keith was to Shiro. How when blue accepted Allura, Lance didn't have a Lion at all, yet he was fully on board with supporting Allura the entire time.

ohh yeah kinda! I was thinking of some specific moments when I made them like the first one was more based on s4 when Keith left for the Bom and Shiro had to take back the black lion, the second was Keith accepting Lance and his right hand role and the third basically what u said c:

glad you liked the pics!

[headspacedad]

1/2:Thanks 4 ur reply it means a LOT. I NEVER see this addressed about Keith& not much about Lotor,its all brushed off bc RealFamilyTM is BEST. & they had Lotor pay 4 rejecting Haggar while Keith "evolved", ppl wrote posts agreeing!My biggest mistake was giving my birth mother 2nd chance& it gave me more scars&trust issues& a really good bullshit detector.U can imagine how horrifing s6 was,this is NOT how one who regrets acts, she never made amends& was NEVER called out.Then left him AGAIN, OFC

2/2: & I want Shiro back 2,not just bc as BP he was happy&best 4 the team, but as Keiths found family.Ppl have no idea what found family means 2 us &meeting someone like Shiro, who loves u,believes in u & would NEVER give up on u, even when everyone else does. In s6 they took the words Keith should've yelled at HER,how she made him (ME) feel "ur broken& worthless & I should've left u like ur parents" on Shiros mouth.Then s7 had Keith discard&replace Shiro w/ the one who left him twice.Sickening 

First know that you’re not alone.  I know several people that saw themselves and their relationship with their abusive parent(s) or other authority figures in some of the relationships in VLD.  How those relationships and those characters in the story were handled deeply impacted them and several of them dropped the series entirely because they were so upset with the messages they were seeing on the show.  There may not have been huge blog threads but there are certainly people that feel similar to what you do from season six.  And season seven. 

I have seen quite a few more posts on how badly VLD misses it with the ‘found family’ vs ‘blood family’ so you’re certainly not alone there either on feeling the importance of found family is vital and not being written as it should.  Or at all really.  The show had desperate problems with not showing what’s happening and just expecting us to either assume or be told in later interviews as well as missing vital emotional moments and beats that are necessary to make the story believable.  The story can tell me the team are friends and ‘found family’ but all I see when I watch the show are retail workers waiting for their shift to end.  That’s not found family.

One of the problems with a story written as badly and without regard to the importance of the actual characters or audience emotions in it as VLD has become is that it will send damaging or bad messages simply for lack of awareness and realization.  The writers get so tangle up and blinded by ‘being clever’ that they don’t just mangle the story and the characters but they do so in ways that their audience may find gives messages or treat characters or situations in alarming ways.  No one is going to manage to cover everything and every POV in their writing but an awareness is necessary of the story that’s being told beyond the one someone thinks they’re telling.  Its why shows should have more than one voice involved in story creation, to find the balance.  VLD failed that and failed it spectacularly and with amazing tone-deafness.  The writers wanted Krolia to be Keith’s amazing healing discovery of a missing part of him and they failed bother work out the how that would happen or even the why.  She just suddenly was and we were told to just assume she magically made his world and him perfect.  But the show never showed it to us or explained how it happened or even showed them bonding or working through Keith’s issues.  It all just suddenly was, resolved without even a hand wave (and certainly not by allowing Keith to feel any emotions that weren’t positive and happy) and an audience with no idea how we got there.  Nothing was earned (and that’s a huge continuous problem with the story at this point).  The writers, having moved from the ‘leadership is about earning trust’ of the early seasons into the ‘shut up and randomly trust me’ ‘edge’ of the final seasons failed to take into account how that would actually look in a story or on the characters they put it on.  Or maybe they realized it but they thought ‘dark and edgy asshole’ was a popular look for main characters suddenly. 

I was not enamored with Korlia but I was not opposed to her either.  She seemed to me to simply be there as a plot point and not an actual character in and of herself.  I’ll admit, I didn’t look at her too closely because of that.  But that’s where diversity in audience (and writers) comes in.  Because I might have missed something from lack of it catching at any of my jump points but very obviously other people didn’t miss them and they deeply impacted them.  And you.  This is why discussion in fandom is so important and open discussion is so important.  Fandom can’t become a monolith voice with only one view or opinion.  Because for everyone that loved Korlia and saw nothing wrong with her interaction with Keith there are people that it waves big red flags at and its important to bring up those points.  Because it IS passing along a message to a segment of the viewers of the show and the children watching it, that they should NOT be expected to sit quietly by and say nothing about it.  People NEED to speak up about Lotor and Haggar’s relationship as well and how the story treated it (and him).  These are discussion we as a fandom should be having, need to be having.  Stories have a way of striking us where we live.  And because they do we need to be able to say ‘wait, this needs attention paid to it’.

[stoner-joxter]

i want to write to all the boys i've loved before au w/ klance after seeing that one post, u prolly know the one, but...... if i have keith as lara jean and shiro as margot...... that means i gotta break adashi up w no getting back together....... and thats a big no no....... o h m a n

anon. it’s YOUR fic. you can make them get back together! (when has the fandom literally ever listened to canon lmao i write bp lance and hallura fics) IF YOU WANT THEM TO GET BACK TOGETHER YOU CAN MAKE THEM GET BACK TOGETHER!!

[enchantas]

Oof lol I'll restate I want lance back in blue kieth back in red possibly allura in black but I'm not against bp lance I just dont think it would work out to well thoughts??-🦀

Sorry if I blow up your asks rn I’m on a 4 hour drive rn and I have nothing to do except make fan theories lol-🦀

ok im going to give u my very sexey take on this and whilst i do agree that your line-up sounds lit and its valid but!!! i have some qualms:1. imagine keith as allura’s right hand… i just.. dont think itll work too well idk? who knows i could be wrong w that but imo there would be better options2. i love LOVE LOVE the idea of allura piloting black but i have a few issues with it because if she goes into black it kinda puts her into 2 leadership positions? like.. i prefer how shiro and allura worked together bc they were 2 leaders and it was effective u feel? if allura became bp she wouldn’t have that.. KDJGKGJFB does that make sense? dont get me wrong she’s very strong and capable but i just think she’s shouldering 2 roles (like the queen and also the queen’s general idk?). ALSO BTW THIS IS NOT ME SAYING THAT SHE SHOULDNT BE A PALADIN GJKFGJN

also im a massive massive fan of bp lance and i think it’ll work PERFECTLY with his arc and how he’s maturing as a person and as a leader so my preferred line-up would be allura in blue, keith back in red and lance in black. lance as bp is like… one of my fav concepts ever fgkjbnfgk

[cloudybakery]

Voltron s6 thoughts and feelings(spoilers, mostly positive, none of that hate shit here)

SO OH MY GOD THAT FUCKING HURT BUT IT WAS SO GOOOOOD

so this is just gonna stream of consciousness okay

LETS TALK ABOUT HOW THEY GAVE LANCE A VULNERABLE MOMENT WHERE HE CRIED AND IT WASNT A JOKE THAT SHIT GOT ME i was so so happy about that?? Yea Allura comforted him and stuff and I was hoping it would be keith but also he and Allura grew close this season and I like their relationship as a friendship all ships aside because sometimes you need that?? like tbh I want them to have a punk level friendship someday like can you imagine that’d be so cute

i cried when they destroyed the castle of lions like i fucking cried 

OKAY BLACK PALADINS??? OOOOOOOOF i was so tense thats probably the most tense I’ve been since the beginning of the Chroma Conclave arc in Critical Role like holy shit that was amazing and so well done 

“you’re my brother, I love you” JUST THROW ME OFF A CLIFF THAT WAS SO GOOD the flashbacks of younger keith were so cute bless you crew for giving us that 

Keith??? Is so pretty??? what the fuck I’m gay

The fighting was a little heavy this season and as someone who lives for plot and character development through dialogue i was kinda put off, but they still did a lot of characters justice 

KEITH AND KROLIA BACKSTORY I WAS A MESS AND A HALF FUCKIN HELL that shit was amazing like I was so happy they gave us that 

They didn’t kill Krolia thank g o d 

KEITH IS LIKE,,,,,,,20 OR SOMETHING PHYSICALLY part of me is still shook about that but also like he got to spend two whole years with his mom and his space wolf reconnecting with her and that just made me so happy 

his hair is so long and tbh I never want him to stop growing it out 

WHAT IF WE GET PONYTAIL KEITH PLEASEEEEE I NEED IT 

I CALLED IT I FUCKING KNEW IT I NEVER TRUSTED THAT SON OF A BITCH LOTOR okay so maybe I did for a little bit but thats good writing on their part they let us all get complacent with the paladins and then BAM HE’S A POWER HUNGRY PIECE OF SHIT 

Shiro d i e d.  Like, full on died.  that was crazy and still has me shook

Lol we’ve been right about the astral plane since the beginning im dying 

WHITE HAIR SHIRO WHITE HAIR SHIRO tbh if you think about it Josh was technically hinting at that with his little “spoiler” post on insta 

Allura yeeted Shiro back into his body js

Ummmm Studio Ghibli hair WHO like that’s all I could think when Keith’s hair was whipping around him during the last ep 

ALLURA THE REAL LIFE CLERIC bringing paladins back to life left and right

okay the dnd episode was so perfect lemme just say KURON LOVE DND SO MUCH???? WHAT A NERD??? But also me with the backstory and wanting to play the same class,,, His only redeeming quality I wonder if Shiro likes dnd that much 

Allura being an archer was soooo good she was so excited

thank u dnd episode for never explicitly saying what gender Pidge’s character was just that they were a dwarf I take my representation where I can get it 

Kuron using his full name for dnd is such a mood 

still not over the fact that lance named his character Pike 

WHEN KEITH WENT PARTIALLY GALRA IN THE BP EPISODE I ALMOST SCREAMED THAT WAS SO COOL

he got back in his paladin armor and I cried 

Pidge and Hunk get to build Shiro’s new arm!!

new drinking game every time Lotor says something along the lines of “this couldn’t have been possible without you Allura” take a sip bc he said that so many times oh my god it was verging on hilarious 

lol I recoiled at the Lotura kiss I don’t even hate the ship it was just a knee jerk reaction oml 

I love that it took the mice telling Allura about Lance’s feelings for her to understand what a babe

I NEED FANART OF LANCE GIVING THE MICE A BATH LIKE THATS SO CUTE I’ll fukin make it myself 

HUNK TOOK LEAD ON SO MUCH STUFF THIS SEASON MY SOFT BOI IS A LEADER LIKE THEY TRUSTED HIM WITH SO MUCH IM SO PROUD

Pidge doesn’t get enough credit for the hacking she does I half expected Lance to hug her after she disabled the virus she was so stressed this poor child let her rest

tbh give them all a break, THEY NEED DOWNTIME AFTER THAT 

while I was a little sad that Keith didn’t get a lot of time to reunite with everyone, they were kind of on the clock so it makes sense story wise, and hopefully next season he will get some time to talk with each of them for a little bit 

THEY’RE GOING BACK TO EARTH OH MY G OD LANCE IS GONNA GET A FAMILY REUNION IM SO READY FOR THIS ARC 

Bless Coran in the last episode he was the comic relief we all needed at the moment but also him losing the castle was deep and it hurt 

THERE WERE A BILLION SHIRO CLONES THAT SHIT WAS TERRIFYING 

Not gonna lie, Axca kinda felt like Black Widow in Civil War with the amount of side switching she did; I want to know her motives??? And the other Generals??? Please??? i want an episode dedicated to them that’d be so cool like them trying to start over and stuff 

WHEN THEY ALL BONDED WITH THEIR LIONS THAT LINEUP SHOT WAS DOOOOOPE ngl I loved lance and keith next to each other that was such a cool shot of them and the whole team 

also where did Matt go?  He didn’t go back with his dad so I guess he was off on another rebel mission?  idk maybe someone ask at a panel where he went 

same with the Blades like I guess they were off doing other missions and didn’t bother to check in oops

tbh, this season was awesome.  Did we get all the interactions we wanted? not really.  Was it kind of battle heavy? yea.  But was there serious character development? H E L L YES.  Even though there were a lot of Keith and Shiro centered episodes the paladins screen time felt more balanced, at least to me.  Even though most of Lance’s stuff was angst about Allura I still feel like he got to grow as a person from it and he’s starting to become someone who comforts others and really be there for the team.  All we need now is for them to reciprocate and support him when he’s feeling down.  I cannot wait to see what the crew has in store for us and I can’t wait for them to get back to earth it’s going to be so interesting!!! 

[bluemantics]

man one thing i hate abt tumblr ui is that there isn’t a way for me to reply to reblogs 😭 i promise i see all the lovely things yall are saying and i am so appreciative!! if u comment on ao3 or in the replies here i will respond 9/10 times jsyk 😪

also. im back on my rp lance bp keith shit so if ur feeling the urge to leave an ask abt klance… play to that and u will def get a longer response lol

xoxo bluemantics

[marmoraskeith]

you're the first person I see defending black paladin Keith and I love u for it

This biased, ugly fandom can pry Black Paladin Keith from my cold dead hands. Every single person who claims that Keith would be a horrible leader can meet me in the pit.

The sad thing is that I could make 30,127 posts about how great a concept BP Keith is and nearly everyone would be like “yeah this is ok but consider black paladin allura/lance/etc.” in their tags. I’m not trying to say I don’t like those other ideas but honestly, out of everyone, Keith has the strongest drive that shows leadership to me.

There are enough positivity posts supporting other paladins for BP. Why does no one defend Keith and believe that Shiro actually knows what he’s talking about when he says he has faith in Keith and is trying to guide him?

Also, why does no one trust the Black Lion? Granted, I made that BP Keith post pre-season 2—but now that we have proof that the Black Lion allowed Keith to pilot it in order to save Shiro?? He-fucking-LLO!!!!!!!! It wouldn’t open up for anyone who it didn’t sense was a great leader (or capable of it, at least).

Black Lion is on mine and Shiro’s side, so even if everyone else on this hellsite keeps making up petty excuses and denying Keith the leader character arc he deserves, I’ll be happy in my little corner with true canon.