#let's voltron podcast

[shannonmuirauthor]

Over the years, I have been appearing on LET'S VOLTRON: THE OFFICIAL VOLTRON PODCAST, talking about a number of topics related to the show.

This year, as part of the 40th anniversary of the property, I helped review the 1984 series episode "There'll Be A Royal Wedding," a puzzling title (which we do talk about) which is INCREDIBLY significant to the property as it heralded the return of beloved character Sven...

... but it wasn't the case in the original Japanese GOLION.

Follow along the hosts Marc Morell and Greg Tyler, along with myself, break down the differences between the two episodes and Sven's lasting impact on the mythos of VOLTRON.

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

trying to catch up to the let's voltron podcast again and Greg Tyler,, you're so big brained

this man really said, during the Rogue Trip review, since the lions are sentient maybe Pidge and Hunk accidentally triggered Black lions' PTSD from being cut open and experimented on by Wade for 5 entire years which is why he ran even from the people he trusted

now i'm sitting here trying not to spiral because that makes so much sense, like omg let's get you some therapy ya big kitty holy shit

[ofmdrecaps]

11/25-26/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR: Happy Belated Birthday Kristian!; Taika Waititi; Rachel House & David Fane; Joel Fry; Samson Kayo; Samba Schutte; Vico Ortiz; Anapela Polata'ivao; Guz Khan; Nat Torres; Damien Gerard; Fan Spotlight; Our Flag Means Fanfiction; Never Left Podcast; OFMD Spin the Bottle; Love Notes;

Also delayed due to Tumblr Blip, sorry all! I have some other great news though! The absolute sweetheart @lowrahh has volunteered to join my team to help get Alt Text added to the recaps! She's on the opposite side of the world so we may have some time syncing differences, but she's been helping me the last few days and it's been amazing! Thank you so much @lowrahh! Alrighty, on to the recap!

== Happy (Belated) Birthday Kristian! ==

Happy belated birthday to our dear Wee John-- Kristian Nairn! (11/25/2024) And guess what, he's on Bluesky now!

Source: Kristian Nairn's Instagram

Also, coming soon, is a new track by Kristian and MikeT! - Echo!

Source: Elliptical Sun Instagram

= Taika Waititi =

More interviews with Taika about Interior Chinatown! Silly things like "if you had an entrance song, what would it be?"

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A post shared by GOLD HOUSE (@goldhouseco)

Source: Interior Chinatown Hulu

= Rachel House & David Fane =

Rachel House, our Mary Reed, and our beloved Fang, David Fane were out at the Moana 2 Premiere in Australia! Moana 2 comes out in the US the 27th! Check it out if you can!

Source: ABC Pacific

Just some quick pics of our cast <3

Source: For Your Ref Pod

And David just being adorable.

Source: Awhimai Frasier Instagram

Source: Pere Yonce Instagram

And some silly interview questions at the premiere!

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A post shared by FLAVA (@flavaradio)

Source: Flavaradio

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A post shared by K-Zone (@kzonemag)

Source: Kzonemag

= Joel Fry =

Our dear Frenchie is joining Ncuti Gatwa in the Doctor Who Christmas Special this year!

Source: Adopt Our Crew Bsky

= Samson Kayo =

Samson is going to be in the new Voltron cast along with several other amazing stars!

Source: Amazon MGM Studios and AdoptOurCrew Bsky. and Samson's instagram

= Vico Ortiz =

Our ever busy Jim Jimenez, Vico Ortiz is joining "Reckless Spirits", a short comedy film! There's a crowdfunding effort for getting it going! Any gifts made today through EOD on Thursday, November 28 will be DOUBLED by a match (up to $7,500). Wanna learn more or support it? Check out: https://bit.ly/reckless-giving

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A post shared by vee hua 華婷婷 [fka vivian] (@hellomynameisvee)

Source: Hello My Name is Vee's IG

Some love from a fan of one of Vico's voice acting works!

Source: Vico's Bsky

I believe this has been share before but Vico is out sharing things they've been tagged in so let's post it again! The audio version of Blood City Rollers by V.P. Anderson, Tatiana Hill, and featuring voicework by Vico! Check it out here!

Source: Vico's Bsky

= Samba Schutte =

One of the short films Samba starred in - Best Life - has been nominated for the LA Independent Film Channel Festival for 2024!

Source: Valerie and Chaney IG

= Anapela Polataivao =

In case you haven't cried today, here's Rachel House, sending love to Auntie! (Anapela Polata'ivao)

In other Tinā news, it'll be heading to the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival in the World Cinema Now section at select locations between Jan 4-10! To get tickets, visit the Palm Springs Site!

Source: Tinā the Film Instagram

= Guz Khan =

Guz is sending out some love to these bakers!

Source: Guz Khans IG stories

And here's Guz showing off in his sweet ride.

Source: Guz Khan's Threads

= Nat Torres =

Nat Torres, writer extraordinaire, always bringing a smile to our faces <3

Source: Nat's Instagram

= Damien Gerard =

As always, our Father Teach, aka Damien Gerard, one of the coolest cat dads on the web, loves to keep us busy with cat content!

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Our Flag Means Fanfiction =

New mini-episode of Our Flag Means Fanfiction is up! This time covering The "HighSchool Jukebox" Fics by @oatmilktruther! Read by BabyKraken! Check it out here!

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Spotify.

= Never Left Podcast =

A new episode of Never Left is out on your favorite Podcast Platforms! This part 2 of the Flags set-- you can check it out on their linktr.ee!

Source: Never Left Podcast Instagram

= Seven_Sugars Spin the Bottle =

For those of you on Bluesky and Twitter, you may have seen this very fun post by Ashley (aka Seven_Sugars). It's a gif of our cast and a spinning bottle! You just screenshot the gif and it tells you who you get! (I got Lucius which is 100% awesome by me, call me Pete because I love that man). Wanna try it out? Visit Ashley's Bsky!

Source: Seven Sugars Bsky

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies! There's definitely been some reminders lately that this time of year isn't the best time for everyone. Remember to be kind to yourself and don't beat yourself up too much ok? Sometimes you do everything right. Sometimes you do your best, you bust your ass, and then shit goes horribly wrong the last second. Whether it's a draft on something fan related, or getting to work on time, or preparing a candid talk with someone or being careful driving on ice, and someone else hitting you from behind. Whatever it is-- life sometimes just does not cooperate with your expectations.

To top it off, that can be very hard if you've already been dealing with so much. It really can. It can seem like.. NOTHING goes right, and like everything is frustrating, and when your cup is already full of nonsense it just starts overflowing.

You know what the good news is? Your cup will slowly drain over time the kinder you are to yourself. Rest helps it drain, love helps it drain, comfort helps it drain so you can have more room for the next thing that happens. Right now it feels like too much because your body and your mind need a break, and you deserve a break. Winter time is normally meant for human beings and animals to hibernate! To recover with the seasons! But now we work all the time, and it can burn us out real fast. Take care of yourselves, take breaks, and if shit goes wrong, keep taking breaks, if you can, until it doesn't feel so hard anymore <3 I hope you all rest this week and have some self-care time off if you have it-- and if you don't, please be safe out there. Thinking of you.

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[yuzusfinest]

I listened to the let's Voltron podcast, and oh my goodness you guys won't probably believe me when I say that there was this pitch for Adam and Shiro and it was already STORYBOARDED, but they go into a conversation that Adam and Shiro aren't ALLOWED to be in a relationship with the reason being that it was a more boy centric show

Here's the podcast, he said at the 49:20 mark

https://www.letsvoltron.com/episodes/dd427e27

there's more things to point out in the podcast regarding their relationship but I would like to point that specific fact on this post

[violethowler]

Timekeeping in the Voltron Universe

This post is a guide of all the information that I’ve discovered or calculated over the course of writing my various analysis posts about the VLD story on how the intergalactic timekeeping units that are used throughout the series compare to those of Earth. I've been putting this together for a while as a resource for me and anyone else who intends to write VLD fics so that those who plan on incorporating the differences in time measurements into their stories can have a baseline to build off of.

(I'm aware that others in the fandom have made similar posts, but I haven't seen any that have done the math on some of the time comparisons)

Ticks

Ticks are established early in the show as the equivalent of seconds, and the Let’s Voltron podcast actually timed the team’s little ticks vs seconds comparison from S1E06 Taking Flight and found that a tick is 1.399 seconds.

Dobashes

Dobashes are the equivalent of minutes. How many ticks there are in one dobash is not something than any official sources have provided any indication of.

Vargas

Vargas are the equivalent of hours, and S3E03 The Hunted implies that they are very close in length. When the paladins are pursuing Lotor’s ship at the start of the episode, Pidge says “At our current rate of speed, we’ll be in attack range in an hour.” When we cut to Lotor’s ship barely a minute later, Acxa says “the lions will be on us in one Varga.”

While the number of dobashes in one varga is unknown, it at least gives us an indication that the amount of time elapsed is still about sixty minutes in Earth time.

Quintants

Quintants are the equivalent of days, and the show actually tells us how many Vargas are in one day. In S2E08 The Blade of Marmora, the path to the Blade of Marmora’s base is said to close for two Quintants once Keith and Shiro reach it. When we cut back to the Castle of Lions in the middle of Keith’s trials, it’s been “roughly ten Vargas” according to Coran, and when Allura asks how much longer they have to wait, Lance correctly estimates “thirty more Vargas.”

This means that 2 Quintants is the equivalent of 40 Vargas, meaning that one Quintant is 20 Vargas long.

In Earth time, this means that a Quintant is only about 20 hours compared to the 24-hour days of Earth. Dividing 20 by 24 to find the percentage establishes that 1 Quintant = 0.833 Days

Movements

Movements are the equivalent of weeks, and while it’s never explicitly confirmed, Coran’s mention of the paladins forming Voltron “six times a movement” in S1E02 Some Assembly Required implies that there are 6 Quintants in a Movement.

Since Quintants are only 20 hours, six of them would be the equivalent of five 24-hour Earth days.

Phoebs and Deca-Phoebs

Phoebs are the equivalent of months and Deca-Phoebs are the equivalent of years. The Deca indicates that there are 10 Phoebs in a year, and I actually managed to figure out the comparison to Earth years while crafting my second VLD timeline guide.

When Shiro and Allura are detected during their infiltration of a Galra cruiser in S1E10 Collection and Extraction, the computer identifies Shiro as “Fugitive prisoner 117-9875.”

The format of his prisoner ID number indicates the year on the empire’s calendar that Shiro was captured, meaning that the Galran calendar places the beginning of Season 1 in imperial year 9876, since the discovery of Voltron occurs a year after Shiro’s capture.

Initially, I thought this meant that the references to Altea being destroyed “10,000 years ago” were a generalization and that it wasn’t exactly 10,000 years.

However, Coran’s insistence on correcting Hunk that the Castle of Lions is 10,600 years old in S1E01 indicates that it was indeed exactly 10,000 years between Altea’s destruction and the return of the Blue Lion.

So, dividing 10,000 by 9876 to compare gives me the math of 1 Deca-Phoeb = 0.9876 Years.

Since 1 year on Earth is 365 days, 365 times 0.9876 gives me 360 days in a sincle Deca-Phoeb.

And since there are 10 Phoebs in a Deca-Phoeb, 360 divided by 10 gives us approximately 36 days in 1 Phoeb. Since 1 Quintant is 0.833 days, 1 day is the equivalent of 1.2 Quintants. 1.2 times 36 gives me approximately 43 Quintants in a Phoeb.

This means that there are a total of 7 full Movements (or 5 7-day Earth weeks) in a Phoeb with one extra Quintant at the end, and 1 Deca-Phoeb is approximately 430 Quintants.

Final Time Comparison Chart

1 Tick = 1.399 Seconds

1 Varga = 1 Hour

1 Quintant = 20 Vargas = 20 Hours = 0.833 Days

1 Movement = 6 Quintants = 5 Days

1 Phoeb = 43 Quintants = 7.167 Movements = 36 Days = 5.14 Weeks

1 DecaPhoeb = 430 Quintants = 71.67 Movements = 360 days = 51.4 Weeks

[klance-headcanons-official]

Klance headcannons hehhehe

lance likes to watch sports but keith doesnt like to, but he still cuddles up next to him while lance is watching. they also share a bag of potato chips when they watch together.

lance plays sports and keith comes to every game. when keith watches he gets REALLY invested. Keith yells at the other players and referees (which lance finds adorable).

Lance and keith love to bake together. lance is really bad at baking and keith is relatively good. Every time lance inevitably fucks the baking up keith pulls him in for a kiss.

my new headcannon is that keith and lance both loooove hamilton. i imagine they both love singing it together. it is their go-to song while doing chores.

keith and lance have a tv in their room (across from their bed). So when they are going to bed they can watch a movie together or something, idk.

most of the time when keith and lance goes on dates they have picnics at the same place where they first met, first kissed and got married.

keith and lance have one of those bff necklaces that are a heart that u can put together. each piece has the others name. they always wear it under whatever they are wearing no matter what.

lance loves bringing keith flowers. keith always puts them in his hair (only because lance likes when he does that), short but sweet😃

lance and keith have a golden retriever named: Sunshine. sunshine is adorable 4 year old doggo.

keith and lance always do halloween together. keith likes wearing monster costumes or horror movie costumes. keith loves chocolate bars and. lance doesnt love a certain candy and comes home with things like lollipops to sour gummies

keith and lance both love going on those public playgrounds at parks. they especially love slides and flying foxes. they own a ball-pit and a trampoline because they love playgrounds that much. lance made the decision to buy the trampoline and ball-pit and is usually the one to say "LOOK ITS A PLAYGROUND! keith plssss can we go on it? pls pls pls pls?????"

every sunday keith and lance have a day called 'Lets Do Shit Day'. they basically have a road-trip and stop and random places along the way. i will be incorporating this into my schedule.

keith would like ebony black and lance would like maya blue.

Lance wears perfume, specifically very flowery type smells. keith likes the smells of his perfume. lance alternates between 4 bottles.

lance and keith both have tumblr.

the 'voltron crew' has a dnd campaign together. each of them plays a character that has completed different traits to their own.

Lance loooves wearing disney shirts. especially disney princesses shirts that are like two sizes to small.

Lance has very cute coffee mugs

Lance and keith def play two player videoganes together. they always end in yelling stuff like "YOU WERE MEANT TELL BE THERE" or "I GAVE IT TO YOU WHERE IS IT?" but it always ends in kissy kissy.

keith listens true true crime podcasts and documentaries on the tv in their bedroom. but lance HATES true crime. so whenever keith puts it on lance runs out if the room, screaming"NOOOOOO" and then keith has to chase after him.

lance loooves sandals and crocks, they are his life!!! on the other hand keith likes dark high top converses!

c o l l e c t i v e h e a d c a n o n s

[sarosenna]

My next Audio Fiction I Love article has arrived!

Champions of the Earth is a lushly sound designed actual play podcast and recorded beta test of a game that lets you play out your fantasies of becoming a sentai hero. Here’s the show description:

Part audio drama, part tabletop gaming livestream, Champions of the Earth is a Parsec-nominated biweekly podcast that blends the epic unpredictable storytelling of tabletop RPG shows like The Adventure Zone and Critical Role with the thematics of the golden age of teenage magical warrior shows like Voltron, Sailor Moon, and Power Rangers into a fully produced, original cinematic audio experience. Set in the fictional town of Beach Bay, CA, the show follows five disaster teenagers accidentally chosen to inherit power suits, animal mechas, and the responsibility to defend the earth from sinister forces – and all while trying to sort out their messy teen drama. Giant robotic kaiju, re-animated animal corpses, black government vans, and the looming threat of homecoming share the stage with personal crises like coming out of the closet and disappointing parents.

Read the article here.

You can read my previous articles on my Medium.

[ditzydisaster13]

New Voltron Idea Prompt.

This is a Musical Langst idea.

This prompt belongs to me. Any usage of it must be gained with permission and then proper credits to me.

Lance finds a space radio station. And becomes a part of it. Hes a minor dj that searches for new artists through a version of space youtube, space music apps, space entertainment channels, and even space news articles regarding all of that. Hes even made his own page on one of them for making songs, and sharing them. Without a face reveal. But he has a character thing with a special design. He even has some cery minor merch when he gets more popular. Which is fairly so. Because he Djs and makes music. But hes most well loved because he makes people wanna listen to music more and also make music more now than ever during the war. Hes somehow created more allies than much of team Voltron has. And has also captured the hearts of many who are already allies, who believe they recognize his voice. He had a private server thing. where he talks about his songs, artists he likes, interviews, a merch and podcast station, and stuff like this. -> the planet they visit is actually made up of very many people that Lance had helped through his contributions to the radio station.

My very specific version of this story has Lance as Bisexual/Demi-Sexual. Panromantic. Freckles with curly hair that he straightens and covers with makeup. He has Narcolepsy, ADHD, generalized Anxiety disorder (like hunk) might be autistic. And other things. He was captured by the Galra at one point: leaving him with an Altean tech prosthetic leg, above the knee, and a blind eye. But he has amnesia from the whole event. And not a single memory, even still. Lance is also Multilingual, an empath, sorta. Like it’s not specified as a super power. But it might as well be. He’s actually super intelligent. But likes that he can be a different version of himself that doesn’t take away from the talents that the others also have like tech, fighting, and cooking. Lance still has doubts. But he’s better. Him and Allura are best friends, he’s closer with Pidge and even Hunk than ever before. This contains Shiro X Allura. (I know that he’s gay, but we can make him Bi- shh) eventual Klance, Pining Keith, Happy-with-any-sort-of-relationship with-Keith Lance, and so much more I have to say.

I’m super excited for when I’ll be able to post this. I don’t know how long it will be yet. But it’s definitely gonna be a book. Title ideas would be much appreciated. And once again, let me know either here or private message me if you wanna use a version of this prompt. I’ll be sharing soon how it should look and be set up if you do use it.

[bluejayblueskies]

20 questions for fic writers

thank you @three-magpies-in-a-trenchcoat for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 

130 (more if you count my side accounts and anonymous fics)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 

958,861 (so close to a million,,,)

3. What fandoms do you write for? 

Right now, primarily Malevolent, but I've written for TMA a lot in the past as well. I also have some ideas for RQG fic since I've been relistening to that podcast!

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Cube Rule of Food Identification (TMA)

Just Married (Voltron)

it will be this, always (TMA)

a six-step process (TMA)

ten thousand flowers in spring (TMA) (i had no idea this had jumped to spot number 5!!!)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I used to, and I still want to, but I always feel like I need to have something to say more than "thank you so much!" and I get stuck in the paralysis of what to say and then forget to respond at all 😅 but if people ask me a direct question, I will usually answer it!

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

Hmmm. I write a lot of angst, but I trend towards happy endings rather than unhappy endings, so that's tough.

Oh! So this is on my side account for Malevolent, but The Curation and Preservation of Arthur Lester is probably the closest thing I have to a fic with an angsty ending (that is, it ends very badly for Arthur). Maybe on a more emotionally angsty side, as the pendulum swings? I think that fic generally has an ambiguous/hopeful ending, but only in terms of "they are no longer trapped in the time loop;" all the effects of the loop still remain, consciously or not.

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

Also a hard question, mostly because I tend to write endings that are a bit.... not open-ended, but more "this isn't 100% resolved but it will be in the future and the steps are there but that's a journey the characters have to take on their own." That said, I think By Virtue of Divine Providence is probably my most straightforward happy ending, where "they lived happily ever after for all eternity" is the general vibe.

8. Do you get hate on fics? 

Not that I know of, though I'm sure it's happened at some point somewhere. Nothing to my face though (yet).

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

I do! I typically either write a) sex scenes that fit into the context of a longer fic as a plot point, which tend to be pretty straightforward "sex happened and it was emotional and significant for both people involved" or b) kinky and/or dead dove one-shots that usually get posted on side accounts or anonymously. (Mostly because my bookbinding imprint is tied to this username, and I like to maintain a sort of separation in case anyone IRL comes looking.)

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

I'm not a big crossover person, reading or writing. I think I maybe wrote a superwholock crossover when I was 14-15? But that's about it.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

I sure hope not!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Not that I know of, though people have done podfics or bookbinds of my fics before!

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

No, but I'd love to try it some day!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? 

100% jonmartin; I'll probably never be over them.

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

I have an unfinished TMA longfic, Seen, Unseen, Unsung that I have fully outlined but will very likely never finish writing.

16. What are your writing strengths? 

I think I'm good at internal monologues (ie letting the character ramble for a bit), emotional beats (particularly angsty ones), and writing dialogue that sounds like something the character in question would say.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? 

I'm so bad at writing romance (and yet I keep trying 😅). Established romance? Fine, okay, I can do that. Budding romance? I have absolutely no idea and rely pretty much entirely on tropes I've seen in other fics or books/TV shows/movies/etc.. Also, I feel that I struggle a bit with transitions between scenes that aren't hard scene break cuts.

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

If I do, I usually do something along the lines of, "He said in Spanish, 'Don't go over there!'" for ease of reading and because my translations would probably be horrible.

19. First fandom you wrote for? 

Probably Supernatural.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Hands-down whiskey old fashioned sour. It's such a fun world to play in, and I really enjoyed writing all the little newspaper/extra tidbits for it, and I have many more ideas swirling around in my brain for it. By Virtue of Divine Providence is a close second though.

I'll go ahead and tag @shadow0haven, @organchordsandlightning, @captaincravatthecapricious, @splitting-infinities, and anybody else who's interested!

[dynared]

The schedule is up for this year’s VoltCon convention, a small Midwest convention that would normally be completely ignored were it not where WEP President Bob Koplar has made his annual appearances to tell the world what’s going on with the Voltron franchise. For example, in 2020 he announced that Dreamworks had lost the rights to Voltron (while putting them on blast over their attempts to make a Voltron movie, saying the makers of VLD “did not get” the franchise). In 2022 he announced that the rights were with Amazon MGM. And last year, he announced that the movie would not use any of the existing characters names because he wanted the writers to have freedom with their script (although this has also been interpreted as an attempt to further divorce the series from Legendary Defender).

It’s particularly egregious because Bob was, as per the Let’s Voltron podcast, originally a “no” on attending up till about two months ago, at which point the news of set filming dates for the Amazon MGM and the first castings began to trickle down through the trade papers. While no footage will likely be ready (the convention seals away cell phones just to be safe apparently) we may get the rest of the cast or even a plot summary. Maybe finally figure out who Henry Cavill is playing.

[chibi-pix]

Okay. So. While listening to a Lets Voltron podcast thanks to @toasthoneyandstardust, a mention of "Indiana Jones" was made and immediately my brain went into AU mode. So. We have Vince and Katie for the technopath AU going through a sort of temple. And Katie makes a comment of "I guess we're gonna have to Indiana Jones this" or something like that. And Vince is still flipping out on Katie not knowing about zombies. Yet she knows about Indiana Jones? Vince, face it. She has her priorities.

And if the faces/poses feel familiar, they should. They're from the screenshots in VLD where Lance finds out Katie's a girl.

Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this one! Until next time!

[thisweekinfandomhistory]

just downloaded the new episode (USA Itunes/Apple Podcasts app if that matters) and the audio is the Voltron episode again

Argh! Okay -- I know there was an error at first with it repeating last week's episode, but it SHOULD be corrected now. You may need to clear your podcast cache? I know that it is correct on Spotify, at least. If clearing the cache doesn't help, let me know and I'll investigate on my end as best I can.

[l33t-hax0r-tournament]

THE BRACKET IS HERE!

round 0 (yes, we are starting at 0 just like computers do) will start on march 2 at 12pm EST. the round will be spread out across 4 days to avoid a shadowban, and posts will be tagged as #round 0. the matchups were randomized, so sorry about that! matchups in text form are under the cut:

match 0: Ami Enan (Lupin III Part 5) vs. Harold Finch (Person of Interest)

match 1: Barbara Gordon (Batman) vs. Saburo Yamada (Hypnosis Mic)

match 2: Hackerman (Kung Fury) vs. Piconjo (Newgrounds)

match 3: Lain Iwakura (Serial Experiments Lain) vs. Dr. Alphys (Undertale)

match 4: Sollux Captor (Homestuck) vs. Lucyna Kushinada (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners)

match 5: Breanna Casey (Leverage: Redemption) vs. Saeyoung "707" Choi (Mystic Messenger)

match 6: Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost In The Shell (1995)) vs. Bentley Wiseturtle (Sly Cooper)

match 7: Kururu (Keroro Gunsou) vs. Mei Hatsume (Boku no Hero Academia)

match 8: Nomi Marks (Sense8) vs. Tulip Olsen (Infinity Train)

match 9: Tae Joon "Crypto" Park (Apex Legends) vs. Penny (Pokémon)

match 10: Tux the Penguin (GNU/Linux) vs. Hieronymous "The" Hacker (Cyberchase)

match 11: Elliot Alderson (Mr. Robot) vs. Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi (Digimon Adventure)

match 12: Vanessa A. (Five Night's at Freddy's: Security Breach) vs. Chihiro Fujisaki (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc)

match 13: Donatello Hamato (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) vs. Aloe Cookie (Cookie Run: OvenBreak)

match 14: Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club!) vs. Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski IV (Cowboy Bebop)

match 15: Spock (Star Trek) vs. Roxy Lalonde (Homestuck)

match 16: Rita (The Penumbra Podcast) vs. Futaba Sakura (Persona 5)

match 17: Entrapta (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) vs. Mickey Smith (Doctor Who)

match 18: Idia Shroud (Twisted Wonderland) vs. Alter Ego (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc)

match 19: Urushihara Hanzo (The Devil is a Part-Timer!) vs. Alec Hardison (Leverage)

match 20: Root (Person of Interest) vs. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya (Mass Effect)

match 21: Katie "Pidge" Holt (Voltron: Legendary Defender) vs. Penelope Garcia (Criminal Minds)

match 22: Carla Dosa (The Hex) vs. Nicole the Holo-Lynx (Sonic the Hedgehog)

match 23: Dendy (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes) vs. Toshiko "Tosh" Sato (Torchwood)

match 24: Yasuho Hirose (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: JoJolion) vs. Ezekiel Jones (The Librarians)

match 25: Ritsuko Akagi (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs. Felicity Smoak (Arrow)

match 26: Robert "Bob" Johansson (We Are Legion (We Are Bob)) vs. Maya Ibuki (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

match 27: Neo (The Matrix) vs. Trinity (The Matrix)

match 28: James T. Kirk (Star Trek) vs. Player Bouchard (Carmen Sandiego (2019))

match 29: Shiang Sun (Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2) vs. Raimu "Rhyme" Bito (The World Ends With You)

match 30: Susie (Kirby) vs. Miles "Tails" Prower (Sonic the Hedgehog)

match 31: Mikado Ryuugamine (Durarara!!) vs. Fuuka Yamagishi (Persona 3)

[thecowardlycreative]

Fic Snippet: Honey, That’s Alright

So, I have no idea when I’ll have the energy to write this series [AO3 | tumblr] again, especially since I’ve kind of moved away from the Voltron fandom, but I wrote this little snippet several years ago and it seems a waste to leave it sitting in my google drive to rot.

It’s actually from the fic in the series after the one I got stuck on so slight spoilers for how But Then Again, There’s You was planned to end.

For those unfamiliar with the series, there’s not a lot of context needed. Just know that Keith is the bassist for a band that’s found fame in the last couple of years. Lance is a high school physics teacher. They’re exes who broke up due to misunderstandings and have only just got back together.

Series Previous Parts: Cocoon, Getting Time and Regretting It, Aftermath, But Then Again, There’s You, Scraping the Paint,  [It’s also the origin of this old art of mine. I’d written the scene before I drew the art, which just shows how long this has been sitting in my drive]

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Pairing: Klance

Snippet Word Count: 2,314

Notes: Lyrics are from Oceans by Seafret.

*******************************************************************************************

The rattle of the subway keeps Lance awake as he leans back in his hard plastic chair, head against the window, and lets it carry him home. He can’t fall asleep. The trip is too short, he’ll miss his stop. But he can lean against the window and breathe deeply and let the even-toned voices of the podcast in his ears lull him into relaxation. He could almost be on a boat with the way the car rocks beneath him. If it weren’t for the smell and the noise of other humans, if it weren’t for the lack of salt in the air and the call of birds, he could almost believe it. 

The old lady across the aisle is staring at him when he lifts his head. He gives her a smile and she quickly looks away. 

His stop comes. He hoists his messenger bag up onto his shoulder and shuffles out of the car with the rest of the swarm, up the steps and into the soft evening light and the wall of street noise. The sky is dyed a magical, hazy violet colour by the light pollution and Lance takes two seconds to stare at it as he comes out into the open, the other passengers streaming passed him like bacteria into an open wound. He may not be able to see the stars but the far off winking of artificial lights isn’t a bad second-best. 

Red greets him at the door, weaving figure-eights between his legs.

“Alright, you little monster. Let’s get you some dinner,” he says fondly, scratching behind her ears. 

She miaos her agreement and he smiles. 

Lance feeds Red, takes a shower and puts on his softest, fuzziest pyjamas. He reheats last night’s leftovers because he’s still not used to cooking for one again yet, keeps cooking far too much, and sits in front of his laptop, making his way through the videos he’d marked for later on youtube. He can hear Red crunching on her biscuits across the room. He’s just sat back down from dumping his dishes in the sink and making himself some hot chocolate in Keith’s mug -- because, dammit, it’s been sitting clean on the shelf for two weeks and that’s just too lonely -- when she comes and settles on his chest. 

He sticks a cushion under his laptop so he can still see the screen over her ears; an elaborate bold-eye look that’s incredible to look at but Lance doubts anyone would want to wear it off the runway.

“I know, baby,” he murmurs, returning her affectionate headbutt as best he can while she has him pinned, “You miss your dad.”

As soon as the words are out of his mouth he sees it. A video with both the ‘recommended for you’ and ‘new’ tags cheerily printed across the bottom: ‘Castle of Lions - Oceans live @ east village arts club + intro (AKA the one time Keith Kogane willingly-ish gave us personal info)’

With a grin and a snorted laugh that has Red sending him an affronted look, Lance clicks the link.

The video is shaky and frequently out of focus, clearly from a phone held aloft in a crowd. The band are a series of oddly coloured streaks across an otherwise blue and black screen for several moments before the cameraperson stops waving their phone through the air. Then they’re standing there under lights that are slowly filtering from blue, harsh and cold, through green to a warm orange that sets Allura’s dark skin afire. Matt, the palest of them all, just looks very sunburnt. 

“Thank you,” Shiro is half-way through saying as the video opens. “I -- Uh, how you all doing tonight?” The crowd erupts in response and Shiro smiles. “Good. Good. I’m glad to hear it. You know it’s kind of pretty crazy for us to be here. On our first trip to the UK.” The crowd screams again. “Because sometimes it still feels insane, really, that we ever made it this far. And we’ve gotta thank all of you for that. All of you who came to our shows, ordered our merch, and paid for our music instead of just ripping it off the internet. You paid our rent and bought us our instruments -- bought us the sandwiches we had for lunch today -- decided we were worth something. And you’re the reason we managed to get here, all the way to Liverpool to play for you. So thanks.” There’s one last whoop and Shiro starts lifting his guitar strap off his shoulder and over his head. “So this next one is from the new album and… actually, Keith why don’t you introduce this one? I’m gonna go see if I can put this somewhere for a sec.” He gives the guitar a little lift in his hand.

“Wait, what?” says Keith. “Sh-Shiro -- no -- wha? Come back.” 

The crowd laughs as he ducks out from behind his mic to run across the stage and stop Shiro with a hand on his arm. Allura’s hiding a snicker behind a hand. Matt just throws his head back and laughs openly. 

Keith says something then but, away from the mic, the video doesn’t pick it up. Given the way he’s lifting the strap of his bass over his own head, passing the instrument to his brother, and the intense look in his eyes it’s probably something along the lines of, ‘drop this and I will literally skin you alive’.

“Ha, brothers, amiright?” he laughs awkwardly as he returns to his mic. He’s fiddling with it, adjusting the angle, kicking the feet around in a circle. “So… uh, I guess this falls on me, huh?” 

“Woo, Keith!” Allura interrupts and the crowd ripples with laughter again. Keith just looks distinctly uncomfortable. 

“Uh, yeah,” he says, pulling a keyboard on a stand a little closer and kicking the mic over so that he can stand behind it and still be heard. “So, I guess every band has that one nice, pretty song. I mean, everyone who looked up the Plain White T’s after hearing Hey There Delilah can vouch for that.” He pauses like he expects the easily-provoked laughter of the crowd again but they’re quiet, listening. “And, uh, this song is probably that for us.”

Shiro appears, creeping back on stage, but he just gestures for Keith to keep going. Keith probably frowns at him -- that’s the sort of response Keith would do in such a situation -- but the quality’s too low for Lance to see it. The video streaks as the phone is passed from one hand to another. No doubt the cameraperson is getting tired arms. 

“And… Um…” Keith is still straightening the keyboard, making sure it’s all still connected, adjusting the mic, not looking too deep into the audience. He plays a few chords to be sure it’s working. “I don’t know how many of you know this but I recently moved to New York to live with my boyfriend.” 

There are a few whoops in the crowd and Lance feels himself blush. That’s him. He’s that boyfriend. That’s his boyfriend acknowledging him on stage in front of a crowd of people who practically worship him. 

“But,” Keith is saying, “the thing is, we still do all our recording and a lot of filming and all that stuff in LA. We still go on tour. So I’m not actually home a whole lot. And it’s not just me. I mean, Allura’s family -- her uncle lives here in England and she lives in America with us. And Matt missed his little sister’s graduation because we were in the middle of recording on the other side of the country. Luckily she’s going on to do her doctorate now so he’s still got another chance. But still. And Shiro… I mean, he’s got me, I guess, but I’m not exactly the same as our parents or our grandparents or all his friends.”

“Don’t cry, Keith!” shouts Matt, micless and beaming.

“I’m not going to cry!” Keith snaps back. The crowd laughs then, shocked out of their strange stupor by Matt’s interruption. “I’m just saying that a lot of people are separated from the people they love -- whether they’re romantic partners or family or friends or whatever -- for lots of different reasons and, even though we wouldn’t want to be doing anything else, uh, this song is about what that feels like.” He pauses for a moment, chewing his lip with a frown deep enough to show up on even the grainy video. “I guess, what I really mean is: I’ll be home soon, babe.”

Keith never calls Lance ‘babe’. That’s Lance’s thing. He’s using Lance’s word and it’s that, almost more than the way he looks so resolutely ahead, so close to dead down the camera lens, when he says it that makes a little shiver run down Lance’s spine. He feels so close through the poor quality video. Like he could be right there beside Lance in the silent apartment.

“Okay,” he finds himself whispering in return. Red shuffles on his chest and he places one hand on her ribs to settle her.

Keith’s words spark a wave of cheers and, with barely a glance between the band members, Matt hits the first chord. 

A hush falls over the crowd. Like a breath held. This really is so much softer, so much more tender and fragile  -- like all those beloved people are cupped right there in their hands -- than other Castle songs. 

I-I-I want you

Shiro’s voice sounds so lonely, drawn out and warbling over only Matt’s gentle guitar. Lance feels something pinch in his chest.

Yeah, I want you

And nothing comes close

His eyes are focused on Keith, standing there, hands hovering above the keys, eyes closed, waiting for his cue. So it’s impossible for him to miss when he opens his mouth and joins Shiro’s friendless voice in the air.

To the way that I need you

I wish I could feel your skin

And I want you

From somewhere within

Lance knows this song. He remembers Keith writing it. Sitting on the edge of their bed late at night when he should be sleeping, strumming at an acoustic guitar with the soft pad of his thumb so as not to wake Lance and humming the looping melody brokenly to himself. He didn’t need to know that Lance was already awake, curled on his side and watching him through half-lidded eyes as the moon highlighted him in stark white lines between the blinds.

It feels like there’s oceans

Between me and you once again

Without his guitar, Shiro is practically wrapped around the mic. He has it cupped in his hands, eyes closed. And the absolutely heartbroken expression on his face is reflected in the sound.

We hide our emotions

Under the surface and try to pretend

But it feels like there’s oceans

Between you and me

The second verse arrives and Allura finally comes to life with the barely there sound of brushes against the skin of her drums. The sound builds. Layer upon layer. Matt’s guitar and then Shiro’s voice, Keith’s voice, the deep bass of Allura’s foot pedal, the brush on the drums. They slide one on top of the other, building up like a figurine from a 3D printer, until Lance feels his throat start to tighten every time the words ‘I want you’ fall from Shiro’s lips, begging and raw. Keith’s fingers finally begin their job. And the steady, simple beat they walk sounds so much like a clock slowed down that Lance is trying not to remember the way that Keith would wrap himself around him from behind when he was cooking and just sway to the steady metronome tick on their wall. Finding music in nothing more than the everyday.

Stop it, Lance thinks. He doesn’t want to remember what it’s like to have Keith here, in his arms, in his bed. Because he’s not. He’s off travelling the world, living his dreams, bringing happiness to people who find meaning in the words he writes. He’s off doing good and he won’t be back for weeks. 

So there’s no point in thinking about this now.

He shakes the thought from his head and Red places a questioning paw on his cheek.

“I’m alright,” he whispers to her. She just shifts her paw to pat against his nose. He gives one of her toe-beans a little kiss and she yanks it back, affronted yet again.

So much like Keith.

Lance smiles as the chorus comes around once more. 

Keith is frowning again as Allura’s drums fall out, letting Shiro’s voice, with Keith’s echoing it eerily, come through clearly. And it strikes Lance yet again how odd it is to hear it without anything around it. There needs to be that second guitar, that bass -- He needs Allura’s heavy drums to hold those precious voices up and support them because it just feels undeniably wrong that they could sound so alone. 

And all of a sudden, as Keith’s voice falls into a haunting hum through his speakers and Red purrs contentedly on his chest, Lance would give anything to just jump on a plane right now and fly to England. To be there. To stand in that crowd, one face among many in a dimly lit room, unseen and unknown, just to be there. And see him. Somehow, knowing he misses Lance too is making this all so much worse. 

Red gives a soft mewl and Lance runs his hand down her spine, scratching the backs of his nails through her fur but she won’t settle back down this time.

“I know, baby,” he tells her again as the song fades out and the apartment falls silent once more, empty but for the two hearts beating together on the couch. “He’s coming home soon. He promised.”

[so-many-hills]

Your writer-ly "freedom" does not constitute my $50

Dear author/journalist/media professional,

I might have enjoyed your writing in big magazine/newspaper/new media site, but I am not willing to send you, individual author, $50 a year to hear only your voice on a platform that still seems to be totally OK with hateful content, especially if you only write long form once every now and again with the rest of your compositions essentially tweets. I definitely do not want to read your words in an increasingly walled off AOL-esque compound. Notes! Chat! Comments! DMs! Video! Podcasts! Your customers can enter (for a fee) and never need to leave!

Author, you do what makes the most sense for you. But don’t pretend your solo project that offers you an “unfiltered outlet” – one without the journalistic support of fact checkers, editors, and so on – is, ipso facto, good for readers. Especially if you’re already well-to-do several times over, like a best selling author perhaps, angling for even more money from your readers sucks.

Maybe you, author, should get over yourself.

However, let’s consider the possibility that everything you write is, in fact, precious and needs its own revenue stream. Please bear in mind that not everyone who wants to read your stuff has the money to do so. Not all your readers want to live in the newsletter platform ecosystem. Not everyone wants 10% of what they pay to read your words to go to a service that platforms Nazis and hate groups. Not everyone wants to be nagged to download the platform’s lock-in oriented app to engage further.

What do I suggest? Come together. Defector, 404 Media, Flaming Hydra, and now Hearing Things are a collection of writers with unique voices using more open platforms on the back end. Readers and subscribers can engage with the content on their terms, for the most part. Voltron yourself with some other authors. Take a cut of the subscription/donation rate, share technology and support, and give your readers more value for their increasingly stressed dollar. Even Medium offers a subscription that will let you read different authors under it, which is good as things are rather fallow there at the moment. Then there are sites coming back from the dead like The Onion and The A.V. Club under new, supportive ownership. I’m keeping an eye on them. I am encouraged by what I see so far. Keen readers will note a lot of these sites are from folks who used to live in the Gawker-verse.

Anyway, these collectives offer more for both readers and writers/producers. The one-platform-to-rule-them-all approach, aside of traveling the down the same path that inevitably leads to enshittification, is geared to the writer/producer but ultimately the platform and advertisers.

These collectives also support an open web. RSS feeds! Email newsletters that go to actual email inboxen! Support for the IndieWeb/fediverse! Letting readers engage with the content on their terms outside of a walled garden! They own and control their own stuff in a P.O.S.S.E. fashion!

For the love of all that is readworthy, authors and collectives, please encourage your platforms to offer authentication options (e.g., username/password with 2FA, maybe passkeys) and not the BS that is the email “Magic Link”.

[avidbeader]

See also the Let's Voltron podcast of June 29, 2018, where story editor Josh Hamilton said exactly this.

i haven’t seen this mentioned yet so i guess i might as well? 

with the whole “you’re my brother” i know antis are probably already using this as “they have a sibling relationship” and others, particular sheith shippers, might be weird-ed out by it, but the thing is that word doesn’t always necessary mean “sibling.” let me explain. 

as we know the Garrison is a military base of operations. they train recruits, run missions, ect. people apart of the military tend to use the term “brothers in arms” or just “brother”. In the military this word means “this is my comrade, my ally, i trust this person with my life.” 

so when Keith uses “brother” towards Shiro, he doesn’t mean it in a sibling like manner. Keith is saying, “this is my comrade. this is my ally. i trust this person with my life.” 

at least that’s my take on it.