#just the fact that his homeworld is mentioned alone contradicts it.

[ashenwolfe1]

Guys, I don't think he's from Amphoreus.

[vegetarian-macan]

Macan’s Birthday 2021

As a lot of you know from following me or just watching me go completely off the rails, you’ll know that I’m very fond of Macan as a character. Unfortunately, he’s one of many characters that Lifewonders has introduced with an intriguing characterization that is shelved for the same joke over an over again. You know the one.

This post is going to be exploring that concept, and the ramifications it has on his character and how these beliefs affect him in his Date Quest. All information presented will be from his appearances that are lore-heavy, as well as some of my own inferences. Everything will be under the cut because this is going to be a little long.

And fair warning, I will be getting mentioning topics such as suicide and human trafficking as it is a part of his character, keep this in mind as you read.

First, let’s start with the lore that appears in his character quest (the first one, hoping for a second at some point), as that came first. The beginning starts with Macan speaking about how he woke up one day in a jungle with no memory besides the knowledge to find water, food and shelter, and the belief that if one consumes another, they will live on within you. He soon saw that he was a weretiger, with no recollection of how this transformation happened in the first place. In the scene in Chapter 3 where Macan and the MC are discussing himself, he brings up a theory of how this happened, saying that a tiger may have become human, or a human became a tiger. Either way, two beings were killed, and one was reborn from them.

He was unique in the world of Shangri-La, no one else was like him, as strong as him. He was unlike anything there, which made him truly and utterly alone. He hated what little time he spent as a weretiger in Shangri-La, being unable to speak to others as they were afraid of him, and with no one to talk to, he soon began to go mad. When the past Macan appears in his character quest, and the protagonist and the Macan from Tokyo have to fight him, he has a few lines of dialogue about how there’s no one around to answer his calls anymore, no one to listen to him. How he hates being alone.

After he is defeated, this past Macan cries about how he’s going to die alone, that he isn’t just another beast, he’s Someone. It is implied subtly in this scene that had he not been Summoned to Tokyo Macan would have either gone completely mad or committed suicide. Thankfully, this was avoided, although the result to being Summoned was less than ideal, which I will talk about later.

There is a scene in his character quest, right before Past Macan appears, that is explored in his date quest. While bathing in a lake together in the jungle, Macan brings up that with the protagonist there, being in Shangri-La is different. He’s more comfortable, he has someone to talk with now. He mentions that if he could, he’d want to go back to Shangri-La and live there forever with the MC, before stating that if he dies first, he’d want you to eat him.

As for his date quest, let’s set the scene with some lore provided in-game. It opens up with this: 

A world where the horizon is lost. This is the homeworld of Macan, Shangri-La. It is said that it is at the end of the mountain called Hourai "the end of Kunlun" and "behind Deva Loka". That is, it is "on the opposite side of the never-ending road" where people believe in "Reverse Reincarnation". In a world dominated by this faith, death does not mean the end of existence. They believed that even if the physical body was destroyed, the astral body and the spirit would continue living on in a separate state. They could continue living as long as the body, astral body and spirit were not all destroyed at the same time, which is the eternity that Shangri-La promised. 

Macan brings this fact up when he is introduced; those that he consume live on within him, and whoever shall consume him he will live on in them. This is the faith by which he lives his life. No living being is exempt from this rule in Shangri-La, which is most likely part of the reason that Macan has hangups over consuming animals like fish and livestock. They have no choice in how they die, and he cannot be comfortable eating them like that. 

As you may remember, Macan states, or rather implies, that he has eaten people that have lost in a duel against him before. He is completely comfortable with this aspect, seeing it as a natural result to things because, in his homeworld, it is. This is not shared by the residents of Tokyo and other worlds, however, with characters such as Suzuka and Nomad being put off by this. But there is a reason for why he fights the way he does.

Within Shangri-La there was a cycle that persisted up until the creation of the Macan we know, one that was completely broken by the actions of a single human. This cycle was the creation of the Weretiger King, and is explained in his Date Quest as follows:

The weretiger known as Macan Gadungan is also a believer of this faith [see above]. When a creature like him is created, a human is consumed by a beast. The human's spirit is then reborn in the body of this beast. The name of the magangadungan is known throughout Shangri-La as the king of the jungle where many monsters are said to roam. However, it is the opposite that is true. It is not the strongest magan becomes king, it is that the strongest king becomes a magan. Even the toughest bodies will eventually decay, and so even the strongest man will rise from his chair. But there was still a way in this world to make one's faith eternal. The way to accomplish this is to be eaten by a King and to become their flesh and blood. Even if one's body is consumed, as long as the rest lives on, so too will you. Therefore, it is the former king's fate to be eaten by a new king, and live on.* They will be reborn into a new body. The king of the jungle must then remain the best as well as fascinating target that everyone will want to eat. Until the day they too are consumed, no one can defeat them.

*(I’m aware of the contradiction here, but I will not know the correct translation of this section until it is translated officially)

Macan, or the human he once was, managed to stop this cycle, this loop, in its tracks by turning it on it’s head. The challenger is never supposed to defeat the King, and yet, he did. And so, every past King, every instance of this Weretiger King and the human Macan used to be were fused together, and became a new Weretiger King. One that hadn’t been seen before in that world. 

Soon after, he was Summoned to Tokyo, and sold on the black market run by Daikoku. His date quest explores as well, stating that his time as a prisoner was spent in a cage, shuffled between owners and trying to take pieces of him to use for medicine, leather, meat, anything they could take from him. And yet, he continued to live on, his immortality coming from the jungle of Shangri-La, and the former kings that now made up his existence.

He escaped by mauling one of his captors, and presumably picked up by Claude while he was on the run. Those captors of his wanted his flesh and blood, and it was something he would never give them willingly. 

The same cannot be said for the protagonist, or whoever he is paired with in his Date Quest.

During this quest, Macan’s beliefs are tested when he goes to finally consume the protagonist while they lay on the private beach, and he can’t go through with it. Even with his jaws around their throat, he cannot make the final push. Why?

You see, up until this point, Macan had lived by, essentially, the law of equivalent exchange. Give and take, in equal amounts. The bare minimum was given to him whenever someone interacted with him, and Macan gave the same back. So what happens when someone gives him more than that? What happens when he wants more than just the bare minimum? This part addresses that; his beliefs crumble under him.

Macan believes that he can’t ask for more than the bare minimum from others, their flesh and blood, because it would be going against the nature of the weretiger kings, to want nothing from others and also embracing your own personal desires to the fullest. This was what he learned in Shangri-La, the way to prove that he was alive and existed. It was simple, it was an easy world to live in with this belief. But it wasn’t enough for him, not when it came to the person he loved.

Macan wanted more from them; their flesh, blood, soul, everything. He wanted their time, their friendship, their love and adoration. But something deep in his being told him he didn’t deserve it, that they won’t reciprocate this need. The parts of himself, the human, the tiger, and the one that is neither and both, all want different things, and it confused him. Startled him. Scared him.

In the end, he realizes that if he were to kill and eat them, he would lose them. They would be apart of his existence from there on, but they wouldn’t be there. He would no longer be able to see them smile, sit with them on the beach, fight together with them. Which is a loss he couldn’t take, and was prepared to throw away his entire way of life to preserve that bliss. Were they to ask the same of him, he would give them everything he was without hesitation.

His date quest ends ambiguously, which is fitting. The player gets to decide how Macan and the one he has fallen for continue with their life. To follow one’s beliefs, or stop and reconsider when the price to pay is the one you love.

[stan-the-fic-man]

Brink - Chapter 2: First Encounter

Chapter 2: First Encounters

For the citizens of Beach City, out of the ordinary occurrences were something that happened so often that they were almost on the level of being mundane. They had been through everything from incoming invasions all the way to being completely destroyed by incoming masses from space.

So, when a strange looking metal bird came flying into their town, it was not that big of a deal to most of them. Yes, it certainly caused many to look up and acknowledge the creature, especially with it spouting off strange gibberish while it flew, but there was almost nothing else to it after that. Everyone simply went on with on with their business as if nothing ever happened.

To say that they were desensitized was something of an understatement.

It didn't take Squawktalk long before he had enough information to accurately calculate the words and language of this planet. It was what the Minicon was best at, and he always worked efficiently. Yet his constant noise was one of the main reasons that Soundwave never took him out. The more important one was the fact that they rarely if ever needed to learn new languages.

Once everything was done, Squawktalk immediately started making his way back to the shuttle, spouting off new phrases that he heard. While it took him a bit of time to get back, there weren't that many who were anticipating his arrival. Whether it was the cons or the bots, neither side wanted to hear that unending talking.

When the minicon got back to his master, Soundwave was quick to start with the upload of the language to the ship's main console. As it was all being uploaded, Perceptor looked over everything that was being shown on screen.

"This is very strange," Perceptor said, looking at the images that had been taken by Soundwave's microbot. "The translations are in without issue, but there is something rather disconcerting about the beings I'm seeing here. From Shockwave's old reports, the beings that used to inhabit this planet were far larger than this."

"Well we've already had two things happen that contradict old reports, why not keep adding to the pile?" Cliffjumper said, "Really, he thought that nothing would change in all that time? Maybe Shockwave doesn't think as logically as he wants everyone to think."

"The dominant species of this planet is of little to no concern." Soundwave spoke up, "Establishment of long range communication is essential in order to receive further guidance."

"Soundwave's got a point." Jazz said, "Whatever species it is that has this planet now isn't really that important. While it's good that we at least know how these things communicate, it would be best if keep our distance. You know how Optimus is with involving species that don't need to know about us."

"While our reasons may be different, I do agree that we should keep a low profile." Onslaught said, "Comms are what's important right now, but we need to check out these points to check for a sign of this new energy first. Once that's confirmed or proven to be nothing, then we call back to Cybertron."

"Well then, let's get down to it." Hot Rod said, "After everyone gets uploaded with Soundwave's data, we'll divide up into two teams and hit each point separately. Cliff, Jazz and myself will hit the point right here on this peninsula while you and-"

"Hold on there. Since when do you give us orders?" Swindle inquired.

"I'll handle this, Swindle." Onslaught said, cutting his teammate off, "Last I checked, we both took orders from our own. So excuse me when I ask, but what gives you the authority to start passing out orders to us?"

"It's simply based off of what's around each of these points." Hot Rod said, "While the first one is larger than the other, it's also right next to a built-up area. No offense, but you and your cons aren't exactly known for subtlety."

"I'll ignore the fact that you blatantly ignored the fact that we pulled one over on you bots on more than one occasion because there's a bigger point to be made." Onslaught said, irritation clear in his voice, "It hardly matters that it's a built-up area since we'll be keeping away from it to check out this reading. The big thing here is that our teams cooperate with each other. While you may not agree with my methods, you can't deny that I know how to lead my team. The only reason you're here is that you seem to be Prime's pet project."

"Woah, slow your roll there Onslaught." Jazz said before Hot Rod could get a word out, "I don't give two scraps what you may think of Optimus, but you have no right saying that. Hot Rod has proven himself capable on the battlefield. Especially when things get heated."

"Yet you and your red friend over there have had more experience than him separately. Little strange to me that he would be picking the least knowledgeable to front this mission. But again, that's beside the point." Onslaught said, "If even if we are going into a built-up area, that only increases the chances that we'll be seen. While I doubt these primitive creatures could really do any harm to us, it never hurts to take caution. If something does happen, he can handle it without issue. So, you'll take the second point and we'll take the first."

There was a short period of silence between the two factions as Onslaught waited for Hot Rod's reply. While Hot Rod was considering everything that Onslaught said, there was something in the back of his head that was nagging. Something about what was said about him being Optimus's pet project.

Like it or not, the young bot knew that Optimus had been trying to get him ready for being a leader, and many of the others had taken notice. While it shouldn't have bothered him, he knew it was causing some less than kind words. Not to mention, he wasn't sure if this was something that he wanted.

All the same, he knew he had to give an answer before he started to look suspicious.

"Fine. We'll check out the second point." Hot Rod said, finally speaking up, "but the second I hear about anything going sideways at your cause, don't think we won't be right there after you."

"I'm shaking my rivets off, kid." Brawl commented as he went to leave the room, "Come on Swindle, let's get headed to the drop bay."

The less bulky con followed close behind as the two pilots got up from their seats to follow Onslaught out. There were a few sideways glances from the bots, but they let the cons go and get ready for where they would be dropped at.

"Perceptor, you and Soundwave will have the ship while we're away." Hot Rod said, "Go in cloaked so that we don't cause a disturbance."

"All too simple." Perceptor said, "Head to the drop bay, and we'll be there in moments."

With that, the Autobots left to leave Perceptor and Soundwave to their work. With everything taken care of, this would hopefully just be a quick in and out recon mission.

The first stop was for the Combaticons. Bringing the ship into the planet's atmosphere, Perceptor was quick to turn on the cloaking system to avoid any detection by the anyone who may have been looking up at the time.

Approaching the area in question, the doors to the drop bay opened, showing Onslaught and his crew to be ready to jump at a moment's notice. With one shout of the word "Go!" the Decepticons all ran out the back of the ship and jumped down to the beach below.

Upon landing, the combaticons became immediately aware of how truly different this planet was from many of the other one that they had been to. Yes, they had been to planets that weren't metal on the surface, but this one was different in many ways.

"What do you suppose all of this liquid is?" Swindle asked to anyone.

"Whatever it is, I wouldn't touch it. It might cause you to rust." Blastoff said, "In any case, we have more important things to worry about."

"Right, let's find that energy deposit." Vortex said, scanning over the environment."According to Perceptors coordinates, it should be just beyond this hill."

Turning in the same direction, the Combaticons all saw exactly what it was that Vortex was talking about, and they were certainly surprised by what they saw. It looked like a large statue carved into the side of the mountain. One of a being that they had never before seen.

"What do you suppose that thing is? And what's up with the structure at the bottom?" Swindle asked.

"Who cares," Brawl said, "it looks like it's been abandoned for a long time. In any case, it's blocking our way to that energy."

"He's right, it doesn't matter. We just need to worry about getting to that reading sight." Onslaught said, "Get it out of the way."

Over the course of the past few weeks, things had been very quiet on the homefront for the Crystal Gems. Homeworld had not sent anything their way in a very long time. While that might be a good thing in most people's eyes, to Steven it was a sign that something was not right.

While the gems tried to tell him to not worry and simply go on with preparing for when there would be another attack, Steven was sure that something was going on. He knew that there had to be a reason for them not seeing any sign of a Homeworld ship or some kind of team coming in to check on things. Something just felt… off.

While the Gems didn't quite feel it themselves, they would allow for Steven to go and check on things as he saw fit while they did the same. With them checking some of the more high-risk areas, they sent him to the Kindergarten to check things. All though they had confidence in him, they still didn't like the idea of him going alone. So, Peridot was sent to accompany him… and she was not at all impressed with the reasoning.

"You know the only reason they sent us here is that they know nothing is here, right?" Peridot complained as the two kept walking.

"Hey, it can't hurt to look." Steven argued back, "I mean, you tried getting this place back online, didn't you?"

"That's because I thought there were no other options at the time." Peridot said, "I only wanted to get it up and running so that I might get a little help. Failing that, I might have been able to take you all out."

Steven sent her a wry look, not finding her humor all that funny. While she had definitely come a long way since their first meeting, she still needed a little work in some areas.

"Anyway, my point is that there would be no real reason for them to come here." Peridot began again, "They want this world destroyed, not use it for another growing ground. Honestly, what do any of you expect to find around here?"

No sooner had Peridot said that, that the two of them heard something overhead. Looking up, they didn't see anything at first, but as the sound got louder, they started to see something. It almost looked like the air around them shimmering.

As the noise moved further away, they heard the sound of a voice shouting out "Go, go, go!". Shortly after that, three large bodies could be seen falling from the sky where the noise had been coming from, and they were dropping down not too far ahead of them.

"Well, that's certainly something." Steven said to Peridot.

As the three Autobots jumped out of the ship, each made their way down to help soften the impact. Jazz had taken to using his energy grapple to swing his way down, while Cliffjumper was living up to his namesake. Meanwhile, Hot Rod had simply decided to slide his way down the cliff face, jumping at the last minute to avoid an impact with the ground.

"Geez, look at this place." Cliffjumper said from a high point of the canyon, "If there was any kind of energy anything around, it looks like someone else already picked it clean."

"Yeah, it looks like I made the wrong call." Hot Rod said, his tone slightly down.

"Hey kid, what's wrong?" Jazz said, landing beside him, "This is about Onslaught, isn't it? Come on, since when does a con know anything about us?"

"That may be true, Jazz." Hot Rod told him, "but it does make me think. Am I getting treated differently because Optimus keeps trying to force me to be a leader? I mean, don't even know if I want to be a leader."

"Hey, don't blow a gasket over it kid." Jazz assured him, "You know Prime doesn't do things without reason. If he see's something in you, then there's a reason he wanted you heading the mission. Sure, you got a ways to go, but that's why you're starting out slow. You never know, this might be what you're made for, or maybe it's something else. There's only one way to find out, and you're doing good so far."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. In any case, let's see if this was a complete loss first." Hot Rod said, trying to get away from the subject for the time being. Looking up, he tuned his shortwave communication for Cliffjumper "Cliff, are you sure there's nothing? Your optics aren't picking up anything?"

"Not even residue." Cliff said, scanning the area, before his sensors picked up a very faint reading, "Wait… I think I might have something on the other side of the canyon. It's small, but it's there. I don't think I'll be able to make it from this side. Jazz?"

"I gotcha pal." Jazz said, looking to where Cliffjumper was pointing. With one quick shot, his energy grapple came out and pulled him up to the wall of the ravine. Once there, he dug his hand to keep himself stable. Looking to the spot, he found that there was an odd shaped hole that was formed. It looked too well formed to be natural, but he had no idea what could have made this.

Reaching his other hand inside, he pulled out a mound of dirt that appeared to have nothing in it. Yet, after shaking the clump to see if there was more to it, he was surprised to see what looked like fragments of some sort of crystal.

"Hey guys, I think I found something!" Jazz said, looking outward to see something even more shocking, "Scratch that, I found two of something!"

Looking to see what Jazz was talking about, both Hot Rod and Cliffjumper looked in the same direction he had. Needless to say, they were left a little speechless when they saw what appeared to be a giant drill on the side of the cliff wall.

"I guess you were right Cliff. Someone was here before us." Hot Rod said, getting closer to the strange looking machine. "What do you think it is?"

"Only one way to find out," Cliffjumper said, running to the odd device before jumping from the edge of the ravine. He landed on top of it, causing it to dislodge from the wall and cause it to tumble down to the ground.

Both Jazz and Hot Rod immediately headed to the fallen device, hoping that Cliff hadn't gotten hurt from the very rash action. It took a minute for the dust to clear, but Cliffjumper eventually appeared from the cloud looking completely fine.

"Geez Cliff, what in Primus's name were thinking?" Jazz asked, not at all impressed with what Cliffjumper did.

"Got it down, didn't I?" Cliffjumper argued.

"This is hardly the time to be pulling stunts." Jazz said, "You could have gotten yourself scrapped if something went wrong."

"He's right Cliff." Hot Rod added, "Trust me, I know this is dull, but we need to-

"Achoo!"

Hot Rod was interrupted by a strange noise, and all of them stopped to see where it had come from. Hot Rod got his blaster out, thinking that there might be something of hostile intent coming in. He'd never heard a sound like that before, so there was no telling what it was.

"Come on out and show yourself!" Cliffjumper shouted, seeing movement not too far away from where they were.

Not too far from where the Autobots had landed, Steven and Peridot went to go investigate just what was going on. Naturally, the two of them had thought that it was something that Homeworld had sent. It was really the only thing that made sense their mind as to what it could be.

Imagine their surprise when they instead saw a group of giant, walking, talking robots.

While Peridot was both fascinated and terrified at seeing something like this, Steven was completely awestruck. He had seen a good deal of cartoons and comics about giant robots, but he never thought that he would actually see one right in front of him. It was almost like something out of a movie.

While Peridot had wanted to simply get out of there as fast as they could, Steven remained grounded and was determined to know just what was going on here. Who were these beings, and what did they want?

After getting a display of just what these things could do, things seemed to go sideways for a second when one of them brought down one of the drills. Although the robot was fine, the dust that was kicked up in the process went everywhere. Which, unfortunately, Steven had breathed in some, causing him to involuntarily let out a sneeze.

So now there they were, in a narrow canyon with giant robots pointing weapons at them. They had very few options as to what to do, and Peridot was all in favor of simply waiting for them to grow bored and walk away. Steven, on the other hand, knew that it would get them nowhere. They were more likely to be found out than anything else, so it would be best to simply get it over and done within what he hoped could be a peaceful manner.

Coming out from behind the rocks the two were hiding behind (much to Peridots very visual disapproval), Steven showed himself to the giant robots, who immediately dropped their hostile stance.

"It looks like one of the inhabitants of this planet." Cliff whispered to the other two, "What should we do? I mean we're already found out, so hiding isn't an option anymore."

"Don't worry, I got this." Jazz whispered to them before slowly walking up to the very small creature that was before him. It was almost comical how stark the size difference was between the two, but Jazz wanted to make a good impression, so he avoided laughing. "Ahem, Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong."

Steven had stayed in place when one of the metallic beings approached him, not sure what he was going to do or say. While he wasn't sure what would happen, the words that the robot spoke were not something that he expected, and so he simply stared back with a confused look.

"What was that?" Hot Rod asked Cliffjumper.

"Universal greeting." Cliff answered, "Though, by the look on its face, I don't think that thing knows what it means."

While Peridot was not at all for trying to communicate with whatever these things were, she did keep a close eye on Steven. If anything happened to him, the gems would have her harvested for sure. While the giant beings didn't seem to act hostile to him, she knew well enough to be wary of strangers. Especially considering that these ones were literal aliens.

When one of them approached Steven and spoke, Peridot was nervous, but also intrigued to hear what was said. She had heard those words before, but not for an incredibly long time. It was in the gem archives of very long ago. It was a sort of old speak that hadn't been used for eons, but she remembered it.

Knowing that Steven was not going to know what it meant, she came out from behind the rocks and approached. She was noticed by the aliens, but that was not too much of an issue. She had to make sure that what she heard was right.

"Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong?" Peridot asked the robot in front of the two of them.

When another one of them appeared behind the rocks, Jazz was slightly surprised but didn't show it. From what it seemed, this one did know what he was saying.

"Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong." he repeated.

"Everything's fine Steven." Peridot said, smiling at the response she received, "They say they come in peace."

"How do you know?" Steven asked his green friend.

"Seems that she knows a little of the universal language." Jazz said to the two, "and it looks like your own isn't that hard to learn."

After Jazz had seemed to get the duo's trust, Cliff and Hot Rod approached them. Like Jazz, they really could not believe how small these creatures were. Yet, after visiting many planets before this, it should have been no surprise. Still, they didn't get a chance to interact with locals very much.

Inside of Steven's head were a plethora of questions. Everything from the practical to the down absurd. Sure, he knew about the gems and they were aliens, but this was something completely new. Better get started, as they probably had questions of their own.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Steven asked.

[ace-pidge]

I mean, if that's the case then there's a few strange questions about that sequence for instance; if this was after they were paladins, why aren't they 1) in their armor and 2) without their lions? If this is after the lions were separated and sent away, how are they there? Is there a way for the lions to flee without their pilots? We know that red can go to Keith and Black and Green responded when Shiro and Pidge were in trouble, but can they go away from their pilots?

Which inspires even MORE questions like how they're still fighting and where their fighting because Altea was the last planet and Alfor was alone when he was killed rather than being with the other paladins? So, at that point, they clearly either were 1) dead or 2) already gone. But that also goes back to if the lions can leave by themselves and all that stuff and just DREAMWORKS I HAVE QUESTIONS DAMN IT

Haha trying to figure out timelines for VLD is a trip

Coran says Zarkon started the war because he wanted Voltron in order to open a new rift between realities. The planets weren’t prepared and they all fell except Altea. Then the Lions were sent to the far corners of the universe, and after that Coran says Zarkon flew into a rage and killed Alfor, then destroyed Altea.

I think Coran’s wording here is significant. The Lions were sent away, not “taken by their pilots and flown as far away as possible. To me this implies Alfor programmed them to go away on their own, or something similar. We already know by rights Red and Black wouldn’t have had pilots when the lions were separated since Alfor and Zarkon were still around, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine the other lions also didn’t have pilots. Also, I can’t imagine any of the paladins would have agreed to pilot their lions away themselves (assuming any of them were even still alive), not when their planets (or what was left of them) would have needed their leadership. No, the paladins would have stayed behind with their people

I think the more likely scenario is Voltron was disbanded, the lions were shut down and locked away on Altea to prevent Zarkon from getting his hands on them, and each paladin returned to their homeworld to lead their people in the war. When it became clear that Zarkon was too strong and no one could stand up to him the lions were sent away either pilot-less or with filler pilots

As for where that specific shot of Blaytz and Trigel might fit into this sequence of events it’s up to you really. Personally I like to think it’s kind of a last stand. Maybe at this point Gyrgan has already fallen (since we don’t see him in the shot) and Blaytz and Trigel band together in a final attempt to repel Zarkon’s forces. And I think this happened before the lions were separated since by the time they are Altea’s the only planet left standing, implying all the others have already fallen by that point

Whatever the case may be I think it’s clear that none of the lions were actually used in the war against Zarkon. 1) we don’t see the lions in any of the shots when Coran is talking about the war, 2) using the lions in the war would’ve been way too risky, as it would’ve painted a great big target symbol for Zarkon to concentrate all his forces on. Keeping the lions hidden on Altea and not using them probably was actually the better strategy as it would’ve forced Zarkon to search for them “manually.” Only when Zarkon was closing in on Altea, the last planet left, was Alfor like “ok this ain’t working if I keep the lions he’ll find them, time to Send Them Away” 

But then, you ask, couldn’t Zarkon have just used his connection to the Black Lion to find it right away? Why would he need to rip up every planet in the system looking for them if he could just home in on Black and know right away the lions are on Altea? Well consider that during our present timeline Zarkon has spent 10 000 years searching for Voltron and he never found it which means it must be impossible to track the lion when it’s shut down, or that Alfor designed a special shield to cut off Black from its psychic link with Zarkon. It’s the only way to explain Zarkon spending so much time essentially blindly ripping up the entire universe looking for the lion, and he’s only shown connecting with it and taking control after it’s been reactivated by Shiro. Pidge also mentions this in S3E04 “Hole in the Sky” 

The readings are the same ones Zarkon was searching for, the same ones that led us to the Blue Lion. Translation: Zarkon’s been searching for the lion using the emissions spectrum of the unique ore that Voltron is made of, not using his psychic connection to Black 

Which, uh. Really says something about Zarkon’s competence doesn’t it lmfao, if he spent 10 000 years searching using Voltron’s unique chemical “footprint” but couldn’t find it yet Hunk managed to throw together a device out of spare parts to find it in a day. Granted the scale is vastly different (searching the whole universe vs search a single desert) but then later in S3E06 “Tailing a Comet” Hunk does in fact manage to make a device to search all of space for the ore’s unique signature so like really Zarkon wyd. Or maybe it’s more a testament to Hunk’s genius that he’s able to do in a few hours what Zarkon never managed in 10 000 years

Sidebar: the story as told in S3E07 directly contradicts the story as told in S1E01. Remember in the first episode Black was locked in the Castle, yet now Coran is saying the lions were sent to the far corners of the universe?? I smell a plot-hole...

ANYWAY. This got way too long and way off topic, but I hope this at least somewhat explains how I imagine events went down with the original paladins, Zarkon, the war, and the lions!

[aseventhactress]

(WARNING: SPOILERS FOR STEVEN BOMB 5 AHEAD) ‘Who Really Shattered Pink Diamond?’ theories

Ever since Steven Bomb 5 was released, the second episode of season 5, ‘The Trial’, has caused quite a stir amongst the fandom. And it’s only natural that it would. Thanks to Blue Zircon’s analysis during Steven’s trial in front of Blue and Yellow Diamond, she has brought to light a lot of evidence that suggests the information we’ve been told thus far about Pink Diamond’s shattering isn’t as black and white as we originally thought. This has now left the Steven Universe fandom with a question that no one expected to be asking at this point in the series: Who really shattered Pink Diamond?

Naturally, at this stage, there isn’t enough evidence to come to a concrete conclusion. However, there is a lot of evidence throughout the series of Steven Universe that could be vaguely hinting towards the culprit. So, using this said evidence, I have decided to get in on the fun and make a list of potential suspects (in no particular order) who could have most likely shattered Pink Diamond.

 Rose Quartz: We can’t rule out Rose from the list just because of Zircon’s analysis. Both Blue Zircon and Yellow Zircon acknowledge in ‘The Trial’ that Rose Quartz had the motive to commit the deed. She rebelled against her own diamond for the sake of protecting Earth and its inhabitants, and since Pink Diamond was the overseer of Earth at the time shattering her was likely the only way to ensure that the humans were free of Homeworld’s tyranny against them. We’ve had quite a few gems say that Rose was responsible for the death of Pink Diamond, such as Garnet in the episode season 3 finale ‘Bubbled’ and Eyeball (who claimed she witnessed the incident ‘with her own eye’) in the episode ‘Back to the Moon’. Even Jasper (who Eyeball claims in ‘Back to the Moon’ was around during the time Pink Diamond was shattered) has accused Rose of destroying her diamond whilst under the influence of corruption in ‘Earthlings’. At one point, even I was heavily convinced that Rose could have done it using the ‘Breaking Point’, since I found it strange that Rose didn’t destroy it after bubbling Bismuth, and it was instead destroyed by Steven after he relived that fateful argument. In the episode ‘The Trial’, Steven himself believes this is how Rose may have committed the deed, and that’s probably because (like me) he went off what Bismuth told him about Rose’s sword in the season 3 episode ‘Bismuth’, where she claims the sword can only destroy a gem’s physical form.

And it’s this line that contradicts the information that we’ve recently learnt in ‘The Trial’. According to the reports given to Blue Zircon and from the information that Blue Diamond gives during the trial, Pink Diamond was shattered with a sword. There have been some people that have argued Bismuth could have lied to Rose about the sword and that she could have shattered Pink Diamond by accident, but considering there have been episodes where we’ve seen Connie wielding Rose’s sword and defeating other gems (i.e. ‘Nightmare Hospital’ and ‘Crack the Whip’), Bismuth was obviously being truthful with what she told Steven since Connie only poofed them. There’s also the fact that it wasn’t confirmed which sword was used to destroy Pink Diamond, meaning there’s a possibility it wasn’t Rose’s own. Other evidence given by Blue Zircon during her analysis has also confirmed that Pink Diamond didn’t have any Rose Quartz soldiers in her entourage before being shattered, and we know this to be true since Steven and Greg encounter an area in Pink Diamond’s zoo where the Rose Quartz gems have been bubbled in the season 4 episode ‘That Will Be All’. And judging by the colour of the bubbles, it’s obvious that the gems within Pink Diamond’s court (or even Pink Diamond herself) were responsible for bubbling them because of Rose Quartz’s rebellion, making it easier for her to stand out and be caught. As Blue Zircon claims, it wouldn’t have been easy for Rose to just approach Pink Diamond and shatter her without someone getting in the way, or at least spotting her and giving Pink Diamond time to dodge the oncoming assault. Although this can be debunked by the fact that Rose could have shapeshifted to blend in with the other gems - since all gems can shapeshift (this is expanded more upon in Pearl’s section) - there’s still the possibility here that gems might be able to recognise each other based upon colour scheme. Yes, we know that in ‘Back to the Moon’ Amethyst was able to fool the Rubies into thinking she was Jasper despite her colouring, but intelligence and observations can vary amongst gem types. There’s also the fact that Bismuth confirms in ‘Bismuth’ that Rose tried to dissuade her from using the Breaking Point to shatter gems. Pearl has even confirmed in ‘It Could Have Been Great’ that Rose believed all life was precious and worth protecting. With those beliefs in mind, it does seem a little contradictory for her to suddenly decide to shatter Pink Diamond, doesn’t it? But that isn’t the only thing that’s suspicious about this, which I’ve recently discovered. This, again, will be expanded on more in Pearl’s section of the list, but we also have to take into consideration how tall Pink Diamond would have been. It’s natural to assume that she’d be the same height and size as Blue and Yellow Diamond, so this would have made it difficult for Rose to try to shatter her in one single blow, due to the disadvantage with her own size and height. 

 Blue Diamond: Compared to the others on this list, Blue Diamond is probably the least likely to have committed the deed. There’s not a lot of evidence to suggest she had a hand in it, since ‘The Trial’ demonstrated that in comparison to Yellow Diamond Blue is more diplomatic. In the episodes where we have seen Blue Diamond make her actual appearances (i.e. ‘Steven’s Dream’ and ‘That Will Be All’), all we’ve seen her do is grieve for the loss of Pink Diamond, to the point where she has made secret trips to Earth to visit Pink’s Palanquin and preserved her human zoo in her memory. ‘The Trial’ further explores Blue’s character, in which we see that (unlike Yellow) she’s seeking closure to Pink’s death. As mentioned before, she comes across more diplomatic than Yellow in the trial, willing to listen to what both sides have to say and even allowing Steven the chance to have someone fight his case to begin with. If she really did have a hand in Pink Diamond’s death, it seems doubtful Blue would act as she’s been seen since her physical debut. Many have speculated that Blue could have killed Pink Diamond and had the event wiped from memory due to trauma, using Yellow’s irrational behaviour and temper outbursts as evidence to say the other diamonds could be hiding the truth to protect her, hence the supposed cover-up. But, as previously mentioned, it is just speculation at the moment.

 Yellow Diamond: Out of the chosen suspects on this list, Yellow Diamond appears to be the most suspicious for the fans, and that isn’t a surprise. Since her physical debut in the season 2 episode ‘Message Received’, we’ve known for a while now that Yellow is the overseer of the cluster and that all she cares about is destroying the Earth. Unlike Blue, she doesn’t care about preserving Pink Diamond’s legacy which is shown during their ‘heart-to-heart’ talk in ‘That Will Be All’, where she tries to help Blue get over her grief but ends up revealing her own feelings on the matter. Having seen those two episodes alone, fans have naturally assumed that Yellow’s obsession is her own way of coping with Pink’s death, in which she wants to destroy the very thing that took away someone important to her. This can be strengthened by ‘The Trial’, where Yellow’s irrationality and temper are demonstrated for everyone to see. But there are other reasons for this, which have either been speculated by fans or are kind of obvious.

The first is that Yellow did shatter Pink Diamond. Her behaviour during the trial is strong evidence for this, since she is determined to have Steven shattered without even listening to what he has to say. At one point, she even suggests he be shattered because of Rose Quartz turning up in ‘disguise’. And if that isn’t bad enough, then her reaction to Blue Zircon’s accusation just makes her seem even more guilty. It would also explain why she’s so intent on destroying the Earth and perhaps why the diamonds used ‘The Corruption’ at the end of the first Gem War to wipe out all gems in the fight. She could be trying to get rid of evidence of what she did so no one on Homeworld ever finds out, Blue included. The feelings she displayed in ‘That Will Be All’ could be her guilt for what she’s done, which is why she thinks destroying the Earth and the accused killer of Pink Diamond will solve her problems. And yet, despite the other theories behind her behaviour shooting this one down, there’s a strong piece of evidence to suggest this isn’t the case. Does anybody remember the part in the season 3 episode ‘Monster Reunion’ where Centipeedle tells Steven about what happened to her during the last stretch of the first Gem War? Centipeedle draws the scene where the Homeworld Gems are ordered to withdraw and return to their ships right before ‘The Corruption of the Diamonds’. We’ve seen from episodes such as ‘Gem Heist’ and ‘That Will Be All’ with Holly Blue Agate and the Amethysts under her rank that gems formerly under Pink Diamond have been re-assigned between the diamonds, with even Jasper confirming this to be so after her revelation of her true diamond leader in ‘Earthlings’. This means that after Pink Diamond’s shattering there were gems from her entourage amongst the ones who managed to escape from Earth before the corruption. And then there’s Eyeball, who (as mentioned in Rose’s section) has claimed that she witnessed Rose Quartz shattering Pink Diamond, which makes her a key witness. Surely if Yellow Diamond wanted to wipe all evidence of her misdeeds, she would have made sure to find a way to shatter all of these other gems who were under Pink Diamond before and during her shattering, wouldn’t she?

And it doesn’t stop there. There are two other theories which debunk the first. The second theory (linking back to what was similarly said in Blue’s section) is that Yellow’s behaviour can be seen as her way of trying to protect Blue Diamond from the truth. Regardless of who the supposed culprit is, it’s possible that Yellow already knows who it really was and that her actions are just her way of looking out for Blue. There’s also the possibility that she might be just as clueless as Blue, but wants to give Blue some form of closure even if it means exterminating a wrongly accused gem. We’ve seen in ‘That Will Be All’ and ‘The Trial’ just how protective Yellow is of Blue, and that she does care about her feelings. Her irrationality towards Steven and the Zircons could be just her way of giving Blue some form of closure to help her move on, even if the suspect isn’t actually the culprit. Aside from her reactions around Blue, there isn’t much to confirm that this is true, but it is plausible nonetheless. And thirdly, there’s the obvious theory that Yellow just has a vile temper and overreacted to the accusation Blue Zircon proposed, hence why she lashed out. It does appear that Yellow gets easily offended when gems oppose her authority and superiority through insults, which we’ve seen demonstrated in ‘Message Received’ when Peridot defies her and calls her a ‘clod’, resulting in the diamond pulling the face that has led to the iconic meme circulating around the internet. Although it does seem Yellow holds some evidence which makes her seem guilty, it’s hard to truly discern at the moment if this actually makes her the culprit.

 White Diamond: When put against the others in this list, White Diamond is probably one of the biggest enigmas to the fandom. And this is probably the reason why many fans believe she could potentially be the culprit behind the shattering of Pink Diamond. Going off Blue Zircon’s analysis alone during ‘The Trial’ is evidence enough to put White in the firing range. Combined with theories surrounding the murals of the diamonds, White Diamond is seen as the main leader of the gems going off the number of planets that are depicted around her mural. With the amount of power she supposedly has, it wouldn’t be too hard for an elite of her standing to remove another diamond and manage to shift the blame whilst keeping the rest covered up. It would explain her lack of presence in Steven Universe so far, as well as the trial for Steven and her participation in ‘The Corruption of the Diamonds’. But at the same time, we know very little about White Diamond to actually find any concrete evidence or a motive for wanting to shatter Pink Diamond. Until she makes her physical debut, or we learn a little more information about her, all we can do is speculate.

 Pearl: I know what you’re probably thinking. Pearl shattering Pink Diamond? Are you mad?! Perhaps, but it was a thought that occurred to me whilst I was in the middle of watching Steven Bomb 5. Out of her, Garnet, and Amethyst, Pearl is the only one whose past we know the least about. We know she’s been with Rose Quartz since the beginning of the rebellion from Garnet’s past story in ‘The Answer’, and that the pearls on Homeworld are nothing but servants to the nobility and elite thanks to Peridot in ‘Back to the Barn’, but we have no information on who she was formerly the servant of. However we don’t really need to know this fact to determine if she shattered Pink Diamond or not, since she was already part of the rebellion by the time the incident occurred. So the question still remains: could Pearl have shattered Pink Diamond?

There is evidence to suggest that this theory is plausible, and the focus of this evidence lies within Pearl’s reactions to the topic itself and her attitude towards shapeshifting. Garnet confirms to Steven in ‘Bubbled’ that Rose did shatter Pink Diamond, and if a member of the Crystal Gems has said this to be true then it’s hard not to believe. Hers and Pearl’s reactions to Steven hearing this story from Eyeball whilst on the moon base in ‘Back to the Moon’ is what makes the accusation believable. But between Garnet’s and Pearl’s reactions, Pearl’s seems to be the strangest. When I first saw the episode, I assumed Pearl’s reaction was out of worry for what Steven would think of his Mother, but after watching ‘The Trial’ it dawned on me that Pearl seems to fall into a ‘shell-shocked’ kind of state whenever the topic is brought, evidenced in both ‘Back to the Moon’ and ‘Steven’s Dream’. If Rose was the one who shattered Pink Diamond, then why is Pearl the most upset about it? Most could argue that Pearl feels guilty because she was once the servant of Pink herself, but naturally this is just speculation at the moment, with the theory also being debunked by another theory that uses the designs of Yellow and Blue Pearl to determine our Pearl as possibly being the former servant of someone in White Diamond’s court or White Diamond herself. However, it is also possible that Pearl’s reactions are connected to trauma for shattering Pink Diamond on Rose’s behalf, with Rose orchestrating the whole thing so it looked like she was the one who committed the deed. And this is where the shapeshifting comes in.

We know from the season 1 episode ‘Cat Fingers’ that all gems can shapeshift, even Pearl herself. She confirms this to Steven when he asks. However, in the same scene, she also tells Steven and Amethyst that ‘just because you can shapeshift, doesn’t mean you should.’ That’s a little strange for Pearl to say, isn’t it? Later on in season 1, in the episode ‘Keep Beach City Weird’, she’s the only gem who refuses to shapeshift and join in the game of ‘Steven Tag’. Now this can be passed off as Pearl being Pearl, but considering what she said in the earlier episode her refusal to use shapeshifting could connect to the shattering of Pink Diamond. We’ve seen Amethyst shapeshift into Rose in the season 1 episode ‘Maximum Capacity’, and since we know all gems can shapeshift it wouldn’t have been difficult for Pearl to shapeshift into Rose and commit the shattering in front of Pink’s entourage. Not to mention sneaking in beforehand wouldn’t have been a problem, since we’ve seen from the season 4 episodes ‘Gem Heist’ and ‘That Will Be All’ that Pearl didn’t stand out as strange to Holly Blue Agate aside from her unnatural mannerisms. Whether this was because Holly Blue doesn’t pay much attention to gems below her rank or not is unclear, but considering Blue Zircon makes it clear in ‘The Trial’ that there were no Rose Quartz soldiers in Pink’s entourage, it doesn’t surprise me that Pearl could have easily blended in as another Pearl from Homeworld during the rebellion and lured Pink Diamond out of her Palanquin before shapeshifting into Rose out of sight of her court and then appearing to shatter her in front of these spectators. It would go well with Eyeball’s proclaimed witnessing of the event and make sense with why Rose supposedly contradicted her own ideology. Pearl has said herself that Rose thought all life was precious and worth protecting, so it would make sense if she had offered to commit the deed in Rose’s place to prevent her from tainting her own beliefs, wouldn’t it?

But it’s not just those factors alone that make Pearl a likely suspect. As mentioned before, in ‘The Trial’ the reports given to Blue Zircon and the information Blue Diamond provides suggests the weapon that shattered Pink Diamond was a sword. However, it’s never been confirmed outright that it was Rose’s sword. Out of the four Crystal Gems before Steven we know that the only two who knew how to wield a sword were Pearl and Rose. We’ve seen in episodes such as ‘Steven the Sword Fighter’ and ‘Sworn to the Sword’ that Pearl is capable of wielding a sword as a secondary weapon, and we’re even shown in ‘The Answer’ during Garnet’s story that Pearl was wielding swords as her primary weapon during the rebellion, whereas Rose had yet to acquire her signature weapon. With this in mind, Pearl can be considered a most likely candidate for having shattered Pink Diamond depending on the type of sword that is confirmed to have shattered her. But, there is a piece of evidence that can debunk this theory, and that does lie with what sword was used against Pink Diamond. We’ve seen in ‘The Answer’ that Pearl’s swords don’t shatter any of the gems she tackles in Blue Diamond’s court, instead they only damage the physical form of the gem like Rose’s sword does. We’ve seen back in the other episodes alongside this one too that Pearl has a specific choice of sword, meaning if she’d used that sword against Pink Diamond she probably might not have shattered her. Then again, Pearl’s attack patterns during the fight scene in ‘The Answer’ consisted of horizontal slashes rather than thrusts and none of the attacks appeared to be specifically targeted for the actual gemstones, so it’s still possible that Pearl’s weapon of choice could shatter a gem if targeted correctly. 

But, as mentioned with Rose, there is one piece of evidence recently brought up by youtuber SliceOfOtaku that debunks the possibility of Pearl and Rose shattering Pink Diamond, and that is her height and size. Regardless of whether or not Pink Diamond’s gem was probably placed in her navel, Pink Diamond was probably the same size as Blue and Yellow. Blue Zircon points out in ‘The Trial’ that Pink was shattered instantaneously with a single blow, and thinking about it now that does seem odd. SliceOfOtaku uses evidence from the season 1 episode ‘Coach Steven’ to prove that Pearl doesn’t do well in fights on her own against larger beings in terms of actual strength, as we saw with her fight with Sugilite. So if either Pearl or Rose had tried to aim for Pink Diamond’s gem for a single blow, she probably would have noticed and had enough time to stop them. This is why it’s understandable as to why Blue Zircon accused the diamonds of being involved in Pink’s demise, since their size and strength would have allowed them to shatter Pink in one go before she could retaliate. However, until we find out more about the circumstances surrounding Pink Diamond’s demise, all we can do is speculate. 

 Taking what was said above into account, each suspect on this list – no matter how little evidence they have – hold some potential to be the murderer. But until Rebecca Sugar gives us more information surrounding Pink Diamond we’ll never truly know. It could even be someone we have yet to learn the existence of. Either way, all we can do for now is keep our eyes peeled and our ears open for anything that could take us in the right direction.