#if you've been in vld for as long as me you know which ship I'm referring to

[deconstructing-klance]

Unhinged Klance Shenanigans #1

While working on my posts, I do a lot of research. My schooling involved research to support my ideas. I like to find anything that can back up what I say or confirm any Klance news. I like to be accurate, transparent, and thorough. If any official VLD news comes out that Klances does happen post show and confirms all of the supposed "Klance coded" moments, then I'll admit I was wrong.

But I still won't ship them because, in my opinion, they're not good for each other and would not last long in a relationship for various reasons. That's a blog post for another day.

Anyway,

I came across this while researching ... and I was just floored.

"As human beings, we deserve the right to have Klance be canon."

Much entitlement. Such audacity.

Let's take a look at the language here. (This is my speciality.)

Deserve is a verb. It stems from an Old French word, deservir - deserve, be worthy of, earn, merit.

Interestingly, deservir comes from the Latin deservire - serve well, serve zealously.

Breaking deservir down: the suffix de = completely, and servire = to serve.

And, according to Etymonline (my favorite website ever WHICH NOW HAS A MOBILE APP), the Latin sense of the world evolved from "to completely serve/serve completely" to "be entitled to because of good service," and then to the French "be worthy of."

This is a LOT to unpack.

Firstly, let's take a look at the original meaning of the Latin deservire: serve well, serve zealously.

I think it's pretty known that Klancers serve their ship pretty zealously. Almost to the point where it's a little scary. Maybe even a little cultish.

As much as I love VLD, making my own head canons, and acknowledging how much it means to me as a person, I do know that it is fiction. Just because something is fiction doesn't make it less valid or important. Saying "It's just a show" severely invalidates how deeply it has impacted people. But, at the end of the day, Voltron is a beautiful piece of fiction that has been shared with the world.

A fictional ship that has such a chokehold on you that you make a petition to get it canonized ... that's overkill.

And it can't be said that the majority of Klancers serve their ship well. Because raise your hand if you've seen Klancers bully people for not shipping Klance, or you have been personally bullied by a Klancer.

That brings about my second point concerning the modern day meaning of deserve: to be worthy of."

Frankly, because of the bad Klancer attitudes, they don't deserve to have Klance canonized. They're not worthy enough to have that ship canonized because their vitriol kinda dragged down the fandom.

This is what I mean about being tired of Klance shipper attitudes. Being a human being does not entitle you to have your preferred ship be canon.

As a human being, you deserve health, prosperity, love, and kindness.

DreamWorks would never take this seriously and I'm glad this petition didn't go anywhere.

Suggestion for the future: if you want to start a peition, your name really should be on it, because that's one way to show you genuinely stand behind what you're petitioning for. Notgivingmynameforprivacyreasons, I wish you luck in your future endeavors.

Also, I don't see any credit given to Ikimaru for the Klance art that was used. I may not be a Klance shipper, but I think her art is beautiful. (See? Even as a non-Klance shipper I can validate her art and see the beauty in it.) I even considered commissioning her for a time, before I realized she doesn't do commissions anymore (at least, last I checked), and after thinking it over figured Ikimaru probably wouldn't accept a non-Klance VLD commission. And that's completely okay.

[sucrosette]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

28, 32 if you count the MCU fics I am not particularly proud of. But some people seem to like them, so they stay.

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

266,092 - I probably have a good 50k+ in sitting in my wips.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Genshin Impact, BSD, VLD (but only klance), the Wolfstar corner of HP, and BNHA. Also, I'm planning to write for Carry On for Carry On Countdown this year. At some point I’d like to write for kingdom hearts and sk8. (Previously MCU but as mentioned that's been long abandoned.)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Whoops, There Goes My Heart (T, 38.4k)

Iced Coffee is Not Supposed to be Spicy (E, 11.1k)

He Makes Me Bloom (E, 30.5k)

Rosé & Bubblegum (E, 11.3k)

Make This Home Yours (E, 10.8k)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I like engaging with my readers, sometimes I'm just very slow. Or like in the context of a wip, I don't always respond until I'm ready to post the next chapter. Which can be very quick or very slow, depending.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

If Love Was Labeled Poison (E), definitely, easily, by a mile. It's a wip, but it was originally written as just this first chapter. And its ending is heartbreaking. And it's still not gonna be the happiest ending when I post the following two either.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics have happy endings, so just a fic that's extremely precious to me in its healing feelings: and it was enough (T)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I wouldn't call it hate. There have been a couple weird comments I've deleted since entering VLD's fandom space about headcanons but I don't think it's hate. Just people being kind of asses. And in general it doesn't bother me, most of the comments I get are glowing.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

So much smut. Very kinky, queer smut. No one is hetero and no one is cis. I generally try and tag dynamics and kinks used though so no one gets jump scared.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No. I mean, I've thought about it, but in the end, I just end up pulling elements from what would be the borrowed setting for the characters I want to write for. I'm not generally the sort who would dabble in crossover character interactions for longfic. Maybe in a silly drabble, if someone requested some of my favs.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, but I'm unsure if those translations are still available somewhere.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away, before the time of ao3. But not since. I do have a couple ideas with one of my partners that we might hash out eventually.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Honestly? I love all my ships, I couldn't exactly rank them and it depends entirely on my mood. But, if there's one ship I'll always come back to, it's probably tddk, it's my comfort ship, they're always there for me. I have written exactly one fic, but they mean a lot to me. I'm going to write them more. (On that note, please give The Tea Shoppe at the End of Time (T) some love).

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I don't think I have one. I know I have some old wips, but I do plan to go back and polish them up and finish them out.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'd say... probably emotionally evocative imagery and metaphor, I think? I'm very much a smut author, but I think my imagery deserves note. Probably also snarky dialogue I love me some snarky ships.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Fight scenes. Yep. Fight scenes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I like it, I support it, sometimes I do it. It can feel very intimate, but I try and have a native speaker double check my work, and always leave translation notes for my readers.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh, if we reach way back when... Probably Yuyu Hakusho or One Piece. But who knows where those ran off to. It was before ao3 times. I wasn't even an adult.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

To be honest, I can't really pick a favorite. But if I had to pick a writing I've done I think people should read (that I haven't already mentioned) I present Pettiness in Portraiture (E). Mind the tags, it's fucking rough.

[supermarine-silvally]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag @chameliyun!

How many works do you have on ao3?

Eight I think! Mostly longform which is why the number is so low lol

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

503,612

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently I'll write for Death Note, My Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter, Demon Slayer, One Piece, Soul Eater, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Doctor Who. I have VLD fic up on my ao3 but I don't write for that fandom anymore lol

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Starbound (VLD, 294), Ground Zero (MHA, 223), Far Longer Than Forever (VLD, 76), Tales From Wammy's House (DN, 62), and The Ghosts Within Us (HxH, 57)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I'm usually super late to respond lol but yeah I try to get to all of them! I love interacting with people and I treasure all the feedback I get!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

All my ao3 fics (excluding Tales From Wammy's House, which is a collection of short stories I wrote as part of a fandom event) are unfinished, but I know which one is gonna have the angstiest ending... no spoilers though!

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Again, they're all basically unfinished so no spoilers!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Haven't so far so hopefully I never will lol

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I am physically incapable of writing smut. I know some ace people write it no problem, but... I am not one of those people lol

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I'm open to crossovers but I can't recall any that I've actually written. Usually I prefer to do them in the same sort of genre (for instance, a MHA/Marvel crossover or Pirates of the Caribbean/One Piece kind of thing where there's a sort of plausibility in setting)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

If I have, I don't know about it. Not sure why anyone would bother though lol

12. What's the longest you've spent working on one fic? And the shortest?

Longest: I've been working on A Shot in the Dark since 2020 though I don't update it much anymore. But I don't want to abandon it at this time so I'll count it as ongoing.

Shortest: Tales From Wammy's House since it was for a week-long challenge lol

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Second Chances is co-written with the amazing @til-the-static-comes :)

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I'm a big canon/OC shipper so I'm really attached to my canon/OC (and OC / OC) pairings moreso than most canon/canon, buuuut my favourite all-time canon/canon ship is still the Doctor/Rose Tyler; you can pry them from my cold dead hands. Killugon (Gon Freecss/Killua Zoldyck from HxH) is a close second.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

A Shot in the Dark is already so bloody long and I'm still a ways away from finishing it, but I'm gonna try, I promise.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, I think. And I'm pretty good at character-centric stories.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm not great at poetic, descriptive writing since I'm usually more interested in what characters are thinking/feeling rather than their external traits/environment. That might be more of a style thing though. I do have a bad habit of making characters monologue for a little too long sometimes, and relying too much on internal monologues too.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Oooh okay so I actually have so many thoughts about this!! I think it's a really effective tool if done properly-- I frequently use languages other than English in my writing since a lot of my characters tend to be bilingual. For me, it's really important to use it in the right moments that make sense within the narrative, and keep a logical kind of consistency to that rule. In my own writing -- I'll use my MHA fic Ground Zero as an example since I do it a lot there -- I like utilizing other languages in moments that reveal something about the character (Kova's foreignness/identity as a biracial/cultural Japanese-Ukrainian teenager is a major theme of her character and of the story) or when it creates moments in which a character's dialogue is supposed to be impenetrable to other characters in that scene AND THEREFORE to the reader as well-- but I DON'T use it (even though the character would technically be speaking another language in that scene) when I WANT the reader to understand what's being said. In Ground Zero, when Kova is having a phone conversation with her Ukrainian father, she's obviously speaking Ukrainian to him, but I don't write the conversation in Ukrainian because I want the audience to understand the dialogue-- and because that would be really, really annoying for a reader to have to wade their way through, assuming most of my readers are not fluent in Ukrainian (and neither am I, for the record-- I know a bit, but not enough that I don't have to check with external resources created by native speakers). But in contrast, when Kova is with her Japanese friends, if I drop a Ukrainian word/phrase into the conversation, the reader is getting the experience of the friends, and both the characters and the reader are meant to share in that confusion until Kova translates it. (Example: Bakugou is not meant to know that Kova has been calling him a dickhead (khuylo), but the WAY she says it is meant to convey that she's being derogatory so he's somewhat aware he's being insulted without me having to put a translator's note right after). I do translate and put the Latin lettering (as opposed to the Cyrillic) in the notes section at the bottom of each chapter, though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ever? Pokemon. On ao3, VLD.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I'm so close to finishing Ground Zero and it has such a special place in my heart so I'll pick that one :)

no pressure tagging: @shrinkthisviolet, @deathbecomesnerds, @chickensarentcheap, @antivanruffles, @til-the-static-comes, and anyone else who sees this and wants to!

[one-thousand-and-one-fandoms]

I have a bit of a bone to pick with the VLD fandom. If you'll allow me a bit of a rant:

In most, if not all, fics I've read, when Voltron arrives at a new planet they meet with The King or The Queen or one royal family. Why?

(I can't figure out how to make a cut on the app. Imagine this is it.)

On Earth we don't have one set/couple/family of rulers, and if there was one person to declare themselves king/queen we would revolt. We've done it in the past. Hell, most of Great Britain's history is about power grabs for the crown than ended in war/revolution/coup, you name it. So why are we assuming collectively that whatever planet Voltron lands on will have one monarchy to rule over the whole thing? Is such a thing even logistically possible?

Why is it a monarchy? We on Earth haven't had a monarchy that's held actual power for at least a century, I think (correct me if I'm wrong). Why would they? And only one at that? Why not a parliament, kind of like we see at the beginning of Lilo and Stich? Why not show that some parts of the planet have a monarchy, while others have democracy, while others have locally oppressive dictatorships, like we do on Earth?

It just makes no sense to me, and bothers me greately, that there is only one form of government in the whole a$$ planet, and that everyone there, unanimously, are happy with it and agree with its decision to join the coalition. Oh, and did I mention that in these kind of fics the only diplomatic functions we see are balls where whatever ship is front and center can dance and have A Moment? And then BOOM! The aliens join the coallition? Because Lance and Keith kissed and the aliens are suckers for gay romance??

That's not how diplomacy works! In order to understand how crucial and delicate deplomacy really is, let's look at the sh*t show that led to World War I: Germany, the US, France and Austria had multiple diplomatic meetings following the shooting of the Archduke Ferdinand. Germany demanded from the Serbians, I think, extremeley harsh methods of retribution to make up for the assassination, including, if I'm not mistaken, land concessions and a declaration that Serbia would be subservient to Germany. The Serbian government couldn't really do that, and they told Germany so, but Germany threatened to go to war if Serbia didn't comply. And they did. And then World War I led to World War II, which led to the Cold War, which had long reaching ramifications that affect us to this day, such as the rise and fall of the Soviet Union and Comunism, the adoption of Comunism in Cuba, North Korea and other countries that today struggle, the Vietnam War, which according to my husband happened because the US couldn't stand and allow a communist regime in Vietnam, or something like that.

Even today, diplomacy is a very thin tight rope. Look at the NATO renewal agreements that haven't been reached yet, and that if they don't, could mean another Cold War as countries arm themselves to the teeth with nuclear weapons.

Why do we think a whole a$$ planet full of aliens would be any different? Imagine what WE would do, on Earth, if this monstrous machine called Voltron came down from space one day and claimed to be Defenders of the Universe and they'd like an audience with Earth's leaders??? Who would we send? Obama? Trump? Biden? What about someone who isn't American? Maybe a Brit? A French? Maybe someone from Africa or Australia? The UN? Believe me, just trying to decide who would meet or host with Voltron would stretch diplomacy to its limits and could ruffle many feathers or many world leaders which could lead to conflict.

If you've read this far, thank you. I don't want any beef with anyone. I only used Klance as an example but this is a trope repeated throughout, regardless of the ship. I know I'm nitpicking. I know it's a TV show for kids. I know these things don't matter to most people. I just wanted to let that out there as a point of conversation, and maybe to inspire fanfic writers to think outside the box. Bye.

[starlit-bawka]

20 Questions For Fanfic Writers!

No way I got tagged by the really awesome @h4mm132l1c3, and ill tag a couple of other people too probably

1: How many works do you have on Ao3?

Currently I've got 59 things on AO3!! There are a couple more on my long-defunct wattpad though, and I've got a bunch of December whump I need to catch up on too so there will be more

2: What's your total Ao3 word count?

72,774!! Wow!!! And like...90% of that is oneshots! Go me!

3: What fandoms do you write for?

Currently writing for DSMP and QSMP the most atm :O I also write for the PJO fandom, Homestuck, and DR on occasion, too. I get very tempted to write for Stardew Valley and Scott Pilgrim, and I have been. More than tempted to write CareBears stuff too. I'm in deep chat

4: Top five fics by kudos?

(Un)Lifetime Achievement Award, Take Your Secret Son to Work Day, Las Nevadas and the Frozen Fox, Alone I Began, and Of Lost Gods!

5: Do you respond to comments? Why/Why not?

For the most part yeah! I don't get too too much interaction and I just get!! So excited when I get comments! I love seeing what people say and I love to respond! But sometimes I don't, often cause I don't know what to say lol

6: What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

hmmm,,,good question! Probably Why Do I Cry? or maybe Famous Last Words? Gone are the Joys I Knew? I don't really know! I write a lot of sort of mopey sad fics ig LMAO

7: What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

mmmmmmm,,,,not sure for this, either! My Fundy Fluff Week stuff is all supposed to be sorta fluffy which is probably happy

8: Do you get hate on fics?

Not hate, per say, but comments on the accuracy of my characters, which kinda stabbed my ego a bit lol. It was a nice comment! But the way it was worded was so ouchie!

9: Do you write smut?

I've. Been tempted. As of right now I haven't, though!

10: Do you write crossovers?

Another one of me being tempted!! I haven't yet but I LOOOOVE to read them and so I'd love to write one sometime. (We aren't counting my old VLD Steven Universe au.)

11: Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so! Fingers crossed it hasn't happened lol I doubt it would

12: Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! But if someone were to want to, I would say go ahead! Just send it to me so I can see :D sounds so cool!

13: Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Very recently was my first time doing a proper co-write/collab, which I did with my lovely friend Seven! I would love to do more they're so fun (and probably one of the only ways I'll easily end up writing a multichap KEKW)

14: What's your all-time favorite ship?

ouuuuu ive got a lot of pairings I really really cherish. Jercy my beloved, uhhh Valgrace is so silly, I like to consider myself one of The Kamuegi writers ever, and Pumpkinduo kind of holds an insanely special place in my heart

15: What's the WIP you hope to finish but doubt you ever will?

(Un)Lifetime Achievement Award as sad as it sounds. I love it so much and I'm so insanely proud of it and I love the story but there's soooo much planned and the person I was planning it with hasn't spoken to me in a while. I have hope that I'll finish it someday! Or at least get another two chapters out!

16: What are your writing strengths?

Uhhhhhhh,,,,I don't. actually know! I do a lot of flowery sentences ig? and I think I'm pretty good at angst and similar things

17: What are your writing weaknesses?

Making (and completing) multichap fics, getting ideas to write, finding the motivation to write, and I am definitely bad at planning things out in advance

18: Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've done it pretty sparingly in the past, because I want to incorporate other languages and loooove language, but don't know any of them very well aside from English. But I try to do a lot of research before I add something in, and am 100% open and insistent that someone correct me if I messed up, or if there's another way to go about saying what I'm trying to say, or just to tell me more!

19: First fandom you wrote for?

Never published because I was a kid and it was. So Bad but !!! It was actually for the Minecraft Roleplay series Mary and Dad's Minecraft Adventure (MADMA) back around 2011-2013. I've been in mcrp hell for. a LONG time jesus christ

20: Favorite fic you've ever written?

ohhhh good question. Fullbury Records is very special to me and I'm ALWAYS thinking of what to add to that series, and (Un)Lifetime Achievement Award ofc is also very special to me. I think Heart to Heart is going places once I get back to writing the next chapter, too But I'm also veeeerrry proud of Famous Last Words, and it's very special to me as a projection piece LMAO

Tag time!!

@dyke420-69 @sparrowsong07 and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it lolol be sure to tag me so I can see :D

[kaptainkoalaoshiz]

You know a fandom (and more importantly an important shipper part of a fandom)(fandom like Voltron because it’s the one I main for the moment) is getting very, VERY rotten at the core when you get several DOZEN pics and fics of a character (who I won’t name because people will automatically knows, right?) cheating on his partner that they married canonically with someone else, despite knowing deeply that IN CANON said character would never do that, AS WELL as the character he’s cheating with. It’s just disgusting and spreading a very, very harmful and unhealthy mentality to fragile and younger parts of the fandom that might like the ship I’m vageuing about.

Do you think, honestly, that it’s something you want to teach people? That it’s ok to cheat on someone because you realize that that one person is suddenly the best for you and you’re heartless enough to cheat on the person you CONSCIOUSLY DATED AND MARRIED just... because? Do you think it’s cute or fun to make a character that is canonically chivalrious and extremely loyal cheat on someone because you prefer that one specific ship? If it was just “oh yeah, X and Y never dated and married in my fic/art” then it’s good. I don’t care. But if it’s just “oh yeah, he’s cheating because I find X and Z a better couple lmao” then it’s just horrid and disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourself.

I’ve seen recently several very harmful fics like that and a few arts with the same theme and I’m just disgusted at those who wrote and drew that concensciously and posting it on the wild wild web because “lol, it’s my fave ship and it should have been canon, fuck the canon ship lol they fuck in secret”. It’s not cute, it’s not cool. It’s just being a harmful asshole.

Cheating is never cute nor something that should be done, to anyone. You want that stupid ship to be canon? You want it bad? Make the already canon couple fall out of love. Make them realize that, yeah they’re just not compatible anymore and it’s preferable if they split. Make their backstory like that! It’s normal! It’s ok! Couples divorce for lots of reasons. People can stop loving someone and be a responsible adult and talk about it to their spouse. Cheating destroys a person. It destroys the perception they have on themselves, on the people around them, on the people they love. It destroy their trust, destroy their ability to stay with someone without getting anxious about things like “am I too clingy? Am I not present enough? Do I show that I love them enough? Too much? Am I not fun to hang out with anymore? Is sex not satisfying enough? Is something wrong with me or how I am with someone?” It’s okay-ish to roleplay that with your S.O (and ONLY your S.O, unless you are in an open relationship/polyamorous and have talked about it beforehand). It’s one thing to be kinky for the night and set some controversial stuffs. It’s not ok with you’re going behind someone’s back for some reasons. 

I’ve actually seen people argue that “it’s a mistake” and they “won’t do it again.” Both are awful lies. A mistake is something like putting 40 minutes to the timer instead of 30. It’s texting your best friend instead of your mom. It’s taking the wrong bus or butting into someone. A mistake isn’t deliberately seeking someone to have sex with them. It’s not going to a place you know no one will see and have intercourse with someone that isn’t the person you are dating/married to. It’s not doing the horizontal tango while your partner thinks you’re still stuck at work or spending the night with your bestfriend for a girl/boy night out. Those are way, way too much calculated steps into something to simply be a mistake. I’ve seen people believing those lies and being destroyed by them. Destroyed in their selfesteem and being - rightfully - unable to trust the person they should have been able to trust. It’s ugly, it’s hard to bear. It’s harmful. Some might replie to this post by “yeah but what about those red light district back in the days, huh? Or when the guys had several concubines and shit?” I’ll answer back to you “do we know if that was really accepted by the spouse? Do we know if the wife (because it’s majoritairly the men who cheats) were truly alright knowing that? We don’t. We won’t. But it’s not ok and it never had been. 

But the worst part of that whole shipping affair is when shippers rant about said character to justify what they drew/wrote about. It’s when they are pulling things out of fanon and declaring it bible truth to declare that X cheating on Y with Z is ok and tearing down people who disagree with them, who wants them to see the immorality of it. Those people who are not bashing the ship for the sake of the ship but because it is toxic and harmful and young, impressionable persons can fall on it and get the impression it’s perfectly fine to hurt someone like that. That its ok to have people cheat on someone because you don’t like the look of them together, or prefer X and Z as a ship. That it’s ok to harass someone for something as petty as a cartoon.

Fandom mentality is becoming worse and worse and I am ashamed in every person spreading such twisted and ugly behavior. I am repulsed by their behavior and the audacity they have to think they are righteous in doing so. AUs are a thing. Diverging a canon is a thing. Making something on the side of a fandom is a THING. Deliberately drawing/writing cheating propaganda should never had become that “new best thing” that is hip and cool. You want more content with your ship but you are mad at how the canon has dealt with it? BEAR WITH IT, HAVE A TIGHT GRIP ON YOUR BALLS AND IMPULSE AND WRITE SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T INVOLVE TWO PEOPLE CHEATING ON SOMEONE ELSE.