#like genuinely how can you possibly get upset that the little mermaid is Black in the live action

[spaceshipkat]

tbh i do find it funny when i, the person who literally majored in history in uni, don’t give a fuck about historical accuracy in fiction (especially when the fiction isn’t trying to be historically accurate—like idk bridgerton yknow?) while other people who haven’t touched a history textbook since high school get up in arms over it (especially when it’s something like that one character in Vikings Valhalla being a Black woman despite the fact the show gave an incredibly logical reason how that happened and is possible or idk the fucking Little Mermaid—WHO IS A FUCKING MERMAID—being Black like come on just say you’re racist and go)

[babysizedfics]

Back at it again with a couple more HC prompts, which imma just dump in one, and you can pick which ones you want. Puddles with the kiddos, family baking sessions when both are regressed, Ro wanting attention whilst Logan is reading, so climbing all over his book, how their reactions to new stuffies differ, regressed versus non-regressed birthdays.... Etc... 👍

okokokokok buckle up everyone

Puddles:

this is the only one where i have to be like .. i don't think so :0 see virgil can get very nervous when it rains because he's so anxious about 'is it gonna storm? will there be thunder? will we be hit by lightning? will there be a flood? what if one of us slips and hurts our head??' that he just cannot relax enough to be able to jump around in puddles because 'WHAT IF I SLIP IM GONNA DIE' and the wetness on his skin sets off the wrong sensory feelings so jumping in muddy puddles is a no for him (as much as he loves peppa pig)

and roman is a fussy little thing, he may not care as much for his appearance when he's small but i think he will still be conscious enough to notice if he gets wet hair and muddy clothes - plus i feel like roman's mood is quite tied to the weather, on dark days he tends to fee a little more gloomy, ao again not sure about this especially if he wouldn't have his baby brother there with him

Baking:

OH BOY so roman is a great cook okay? like chef level he has honed his skills so that he can make romantic meals for handsome princes, but baking? nu uh, too technical, he ain't got time for that. Patton is the baker of the house and makes cookies and cupcakes way too often for Logan's liking (but secretly he loves them of course, he's just concerned for everybody's teeths) but both CGs will cook dinner when the boys are little

When the boys are regressed they're not allowed much in the kitchen anymore. after roman tried to make breakfast in bed for his CGs and started a very small but very real fire he has lost some kitchen rights (ficlet coming to you at some point perhaps) and is not allowed in the kitchen without at least one CG. even if he can switch so quickly between headspaces, he ends up either 1) too stubborn to come out of little space, or 2) a kittle bit clumsy when he comes out of it

but to make up for roman being upset by this slight loss of independence (he is a big kid after all) patton and he do weekly baking sessions! and there's always a theme. most recently they had animal crossing themed cupcakes, a little mermaid themed jello (not technically baking but roman wanted to but little fish gummies in the jelly), and... the next one is a secret because i might put it in chapter 7 (: in fact chapter 7 will feature the first instance of this tradition!!

virgil has pyrophobia (fear of fire) and so is never keen to be in the kitchen while there's food preparation going on (but he was allowed to help with the under the sea jello!!) so roman and pattons baking sessions are an excuse for mama and baby bonding time! the tradition didn't start until after virgil's separation anxiety from patton had eased up a little so luckily there's barely any tears

mama baby bonding time consists of but is not limited to: sitting on mama's lap, doing puzzles together, (vee trying to suck on a puzzle piece and crying when he's told not to), mama reading baby books to vee, vee touching all the textures and flaps in the baby books, snuggles

Ro wanting attention while Lo is reading:

this is 1000% canon!! later in the series logan will often be at work in his room and have the boys with him because patton is busy with something or another. they realise they really do need to keep working for thomas' sake but manage to integrate the boys' littlespaces into it. Eg. logan dangling baby plastic keys from one hand to amuse girgil while he's typing with the other

but when it's quiet time, when patton is in virgil's room because the baby is having a nap and papa wants to watch over him, when roman hasn't been little because he's been working or simply not in the mood earlier that day, when logan is just chilling, just reading a stephen hawking book in the living room, when he's literally just vibing, roman can and will launch himself into logan's lap sending the book flying and logan isn't allowed to tell him off because 'I'm little now! i want attention now!! hi mom!!!!'

New stuffies:

AHHHHHHHHH this this this is so so cute!!

roman never used to care much for soft toys before okay? before he was ever a little sure he appreciated disney action figures (he used them to block out scenes he wrote for theatre productions and screenplays and fanfiction) sure he always had a soft spot for Mrs Fluffybottom his childhood toy, but she always just sat on a shelf, he never fet the need to cuddle her or play with her

but when he realises he's little, when he starts playing with vee, when he sees how much vee cares about his soft animals, when patton and logan buy him a present to welcome him to the littlespace family and it's a golden teddy bear (soon to be named Aladdin) with big brown beady eyes and a satin crimson bow around its neck? yeah big kids love stuffies too

and now whenever roman is gifted a new toy (soft or otherwise) he essentially gets the zoomies!!! his brain is going a million miles a minute with all the game possibilities and with the excitement of NEW PRESENT!!! and with the happiness that his caregivers thought about him and he's been a good enough boy to deserve gifts?? yeah he's so so so excited he canNOT stand still he runs around the house for a whole hour flinging his new toy around (yeah he's a bit rough with them and there's been more than one torn limp or loose eye but he doesn't care it just shows how much they're loved!)

Now virgil: this boy is very very very emotionally attached to his stuffies. when he was a "dark side" he couldn't have much soft stuff because it just went against everything the household stood for and he couldn't risk the others finding out about how not-scary he really was, but he allowed himself a single stuffed rabbit that was easy to hide and that he loved with all of his being. it was his security blanket and his one item that could offer him comfort in a oanic attack and his only posession that he felt was true to him and not true to the scary facade he put up to scare thomas and the "light sides" into listening to him

without spoiling anything, that bunny was left in that house when he moved to the "light sides"

and in his new home virgil started collecting soft toys whenever he needed comfort. everytime he felt unwanted, every time he had an anxiety attack, everytime there was a thunderstorm predicted for the next week he would get himself a new soft toy because that was the only way he knew to comfort himself. needless to say he's got a pretty big collection now. you might think he became desensitized to new toys because of how many times he had gotten himself a new one, and you might be partly right.

that is until for the first time ever he is given a stuffie by someone else... when logan buys him a soft toy in apology for accidentally revealing his regression to everyone ((yes i am writing this fic!))

it wasn't really logan's fault, virgil should have been more aware he should have been more careful he should have hidden it all better but the logical side was guilt-ridden nonetheless. virgil hadn't expected much to be honest, the sincere apology was enough for him

but when logan blushed and shyly opened a box and handed him a black cat stuffie? virgil had to fight very very hard not to outright sob on the spot. he simply took it, thanked logan shakily, and prayed that logan didn't point out the fact that tears were falling onto the fluff of his new stuffed friend Jiji

now whenever he gets a new toy it's different than before - it's not because he's upset and needs comfort, it happens less often now but it's more special, it could be for a holiday or as a way of saying he's been very sweet or just because patton simply couldn't resist this one because look at its cute lil eyes! but each and everytime he knows when he is handed a new toy by one of his family members it really means 'i love you'

and he buries his face in its softness - it used to be to hide his tears, but now he just can't help but squeeze it tight and close and let the feeling of love wash over him

Birthdays:

yknow that episode of steven universe where steven wears a regal cape and a golden crown? yeah that's roman whether he's little or not

seriously this kid is very much the 'it's my birthweek!' type

lots of singing, lots of 'but i'm the birthday boy!!' to try to get thtings he really shouldn't be getting (like a third cookie) (and yes patton caves every single time) (patton is eventually banned from making decisions on romans behalf during his "birthweek")

there's not much difference at all between little romans birthday and big romans birthday, he's just an excitable boy whether he's a kiddo or not - this may or may not make the caregivers question whether maybe he actually was a little before virgil's regression was revealed

(irrelevant but patton definitely makes the pun 'you're a little? a little what? finish your sentences silly billy!')

virgil hates his birthday. hates it.

too much attention, too many things that could go wrong, too much pressure on it being a good day. what if his anxiety is bad that day? what if he doesn't want everyone watching him open presents? what if he's genuinely terrified that people think walking towards him with a big grin, singing at him, and carrying a cakeful of literal fire is a somehow a fun activity??

when he first moved into the house he made it very clear that he does not have a birthday so don't even try to throw him a party

naturally roman and patton were devastated, but after a failed attempt at getting virgil to enjoy his birthday they obeyed logan's request that they not try to push the idea on virgil any further

but the first birthday after they become a little family, it's a bit different

they don't push it, not at first, but virgil does wake up to patton already in his room and cooing at him adoringly , immediately sending him into his regressed headspace

then he's given a new soft toy. that wasn't so bad

then roman let him choose what disney film they watched. that wasnt bad either

then logan cuddled him for an hour and they might have fallen asleep together not noticing the smell of vanilla coming from the kitchen

then there was a new paci, a new rattle, another new soft toy, and cake cut up into tiny squares so he could nibble on it with his fingers

there was no loud singing no big surprises no bright lights or fire or anything else that he hated about birthdays

there was only love and toys and comfort. so virgil really didn't mind birthdays much after that

[thefloatingstone]

Why do you think skeletons aren't scary anymore? I can't watch old b-movies without either laughing or telling the woman screaming at the walking skeleton "calm down, it isn't even that scary."

*Rubs hands together* Hoo boy, you wanna know?

First off; I’m not a psychologist, so take what I say with a pinch of salt. But you asked so here goes!

I think the reason skeletons are no longer considered “scary” is simply due to 2 things; Desensitization, and disassociation.

When I was a kid, I was REALLY scared of skulls. Skeletons too I guess but skulls specifically. And I don’t mean cartoony skulls, I mean photos and videos of real skulls and skeletons. Looking back and trying to think of why, the answers seems to be, quite simply, that a skull is a face that’s not there any more. So when I looked at them, even if photos and stuff, as a child I could not ignore the fact that I was looking at something which was, essentially, looking back at me. And that’s unnerving.

A skull, and a skeleton, are essentially “something which is not there any more”. Both in the physical sense of flesh, but also in the metaphorical sense of “life”. Since literally forever, Skeletons have been shorthand for the concept of “death”. But this REALLY came into play after the Black Plague in Europe. Suddenly, a rather stagnant culture as far as art went, got a boom of artistic expression. Suddenly the mundane, everyday life was completely broken away from under them, and the concept that “Death is always with us” because very much a reality. Not only in the disease still on their doorsteps, but also as an extension that “we ALL die at some point. Disease or not.” In the past, mortality was a much more accepted concept of life, as it were, but the disease really made people stop and ponder it more seriously, having needed to face it head-on for such an extended period of time.

I bring this up because a Skeleton literally came to represent not only “death” but the concept of human mortality. And its depiction in art was not so much “here is a skeleton” as the idea that “death is our constant companion in life”

Later on, (much later) in Victorian times, EVERYTHING was super melodramatic XD like… EVERYTHING. And the Victorians had an especially morbid taste. Stories about murder, ghosts, and the supernatural were extremely popular, and often very seriously believed. This was when you could actually become VERY rich as a “medium” and hold seances and could be completely considered a 100% serious business. Honestly, I blame how repressed Victorian society was that anything even remotely morbid and “scary” would get the ladies screaming. (I am specifically referring to Victorian England here of course. I can’t speak much for, say, Scandinavian culture at this point)

So right around Edwardian England, the movies came along. And with the clinging ideas of Victorian England skulls, skeletons and other creepy nasty things were still very much in fashion as “things of the supernatural” and bloody murder and all that lovely stuff. Like Paranormal activity today, Spooky Scary Skeletons you went to see to scream at, not because you’re genuinely terrified of them on a deeper level, but because “eek! The movie is scary!”I saw Jurassic Park in theaters a year or so ago during a re-release and the teenagers in front of us were losing their shit. I doubt any of them are actually scared of Dinosaurs XD but it’s fun to go to a movie and be scared.

And movies offered a unique idea which could not really be done properly on stage per se. (although I’m speaking from ignorance here. Forgive me.) and that is with special effects, even basic early ones, we could see skeletons MOVE.

And this is a whole level of “wrongness” we can’t really comprehend today. Did you know that one of the first “moving pictures” of “The Great Train Robbery” had people supremely upset because it ends with a cowboy shooting directly at the audience? I do not believe people “ran screaming from the theater because they thought they were really gonna get hit by a train or get shot” as is the popular belief, but can you imagine seeing, for the very first time in your life, a gun pointed directly at you and fired? Now imagine seeing a movie with something like a SKELETON. and it is MOVING.

Those are two concepts when put together are extremely unnerving. A thing representative of “death” of “the life that once was here is now gone” getting up and suddenly moving around. That in of itself is scary, but skeletons are also often pictures as being malevolent. They are things of wrongness and they want to HURT YOU.

Much like bad CGI, a moving skeleton is right smack dab in the uncanny valley. Something far too human, but just not quite there. Moving around, sometimes talking, and in this case, out to get you. It’s human… but not quite.

(Metropolis. 1922)

But of course, as time goes on this becomes an easy crutch. And not all special effects are equal. A skeleton in “Jason and the Argonauts” may not be scary any more, but it’s still damn impressive.

“The Screaming Skull”? Not so much…

Soon. We stop associating Skeletons with “They are us, but not quite” with “horror movie” and “Halloween”. They no longer represent what they are. They’ve become shorthand for the idea of horror, rather than a representation of it.

When we look at skeletons these days in movies/cartoons/video games, we have come to associate them as something other than human. a “Skeleton” is now basically the same idea as “an orc” or “a mermaid”. It’s become a mythical species of its own. Its lost the root of what made it scary to begin with, the association with ourselves and our own mortality.

This is through over-use, through decades of subversion of ideas “what if skeletons were actually NICE?” which was novel when it first happened, but is now simply an extension of the “mythical creature” that is a skeleton. We have come to associate skeletons with skeletons, rather than death, decay, loss and the supernatural.

This is not to say this is bad. That is simply the way of things. And in fact, speaks volumes of where humans have gone in ways of empathy. Many people these days really love skeleton characters for the exact same reasons they were scary. “They’re like us, but different.” And whereas that was scary, it is now cause for affection. For reaching out and wanting to befriend and protect something almost like us… but not quite. Because human nature, (despite our best efforts) is really to be kind. And something that had become a character in of itself, it was only a matter of time before it became something sympathetic rather than just plain horror.

Although no longer scary in of themselves though, it is possible to remind people why we found the idea of a living skeleton scary in the first place. it’s extremely hard, and may not be “scary” but it can be done. But it needs to reestablish that association we had as children on an instinctive level.

A good example is “Wiseman” from Sailor Moon. (Yes really). I don’t find him “scary” as an adult, but as a child I would’ve been fucking terrified of this guy. And although not scary, he remains supremely creepy.

Mostly because we only ever see him like this:

And eventually, as the show goes on, there are brief moments where he does this:

Until, finally, in only 2 episodes we see what he really is. But we don’t see it right in front of us. It’s just shown in flashes, in brief moments as he speaks.

Coupled by the fact that over the course of 20 episodes or so, he very very slowly starts talking about his own ideals. That of death. Of despair, loneliness, and annihilation. Specifically, the death of hope, and the removal of any kind of future at all. There is no hopefull future, is Wiseman’s gospel. “Humans are ultimately alone. And they will die so. There is no happy ending. There is no future. So all you can do is respond with hate and anger to that which you cannot escape, and take as many people down with you as you can.”

So I hope that explains it a little at least?

We use to be scared of Skeletons because we associated them with our own death, and with the inherent wrongness of something dead still showing signs of life.

We’re no longer scared of them because we’re taught “nah. a Skeleton is just a person like any of us. They just look a bit different. But they’re nice when you get to know them. And if they’re assholes whatever. They’re just skeletons. like any of us, really.”

[polandspringz]

Voltron Legendary Defender Season 2 Review (SPOILERS)

I would like to begin by saying that I was FLOORED by the final battle of the season. THAT WAS A FINAL BATTLE. Although I was worried a lot throughout the fight they were going to end it on some cliffhanger(which they sort of did), it was nothing as intense as last season, but that does not mean the stakes are not high, if not higher than they were at the end of season one. 

First off, I would like to note some of the improvements this season made before transitioning into its flaws. I thought the comedy this time around was spot on. Last season, the show was experimenting with its audience, and while it was enjoyable to older members, it still had a younger, less mature sense of comedy and style. Additionally, season one had a more “edgy” shaky feel to it at certain times, and for first time watchers its fine. However, over a couple of months reflecting on it, and especially in comparison to the new episodes, the previous season does look a bit unstable. Season two managed to fix most of that, the comedic style was varied, with most of the jokes being made by Hunk having the punchline of being overly explained for younger audiences who can appreciate those jokes in succession while the other characters strayed from wisecracks and made genuine jokes that worked within their characterization. The one that made me completely lose it was Pidge’s “Spores Code”, particularly for its delivery. It was made with no eye movement or anything to signify her thinking of it beforehand, and the way she followed its use by a delayed “HAH!” before the scene cut just worked with how the audience processed it, as they would be catching up with the dialogue right alongside Pidge’s realization. (And forewarning, I will be referring to Pidge as “she” throughout the review, but I will get to that later, so I hope that won’t deter you too much).

Secondly, the action scenes in themselves were very well done. The way the art shifted to have those lines across the images during intense scenes (not entirely sure how to categorize them) were seen in season one as well, but they were much more prominent this time. They were used gradually throughout the show, with the monochrome beige and red background and line art being utilized in the most drastic moments helped stress the emotion. Especially in the final fight, I felt like I was watching something from Gainax or Trigger. Also, this is where I talk about the show being less “edgy”. This season’s battles were very high stake, everything was on the line, but the show’s balance of comedy and action drama was so perfect that it let things flow better. I think this is also do to the way the world felt more fleshed out overall. I remember seeing in either an interview transcript or an interview on youtube the creators talking about how in season one, they really enjoyed the Altean language and cultural jokes the show pushed, and that really stuck out in this season. The creators had a whole segment on Pidge studying the Altean language to later on come back to haunt the other paladins when she began to use idioms and jokes unfamiliar to them and there was also the whole way the plot of the “Slipperies” fit into Coran’s small character development. Most of all, the foundations set to give all the new aliens and groups unique comedic personalities stuck out, with the viewer even being given multiple scenes showing Zarkon’s desperation and Haggar’s disapproval. I keep using the same transitional phrases, but overall, I truly do believe that this is what made this season such a treat to watch. The creators stopped keeping the villains to just villains and the aliens to just aliens and made the leap to do simple things like have characters like Slav act quirky and anxious or the security guard who dreamed of being like Zarkon. It just helped world build and immerse the viewer much better than the first season which had this wall of mystique and edge that kept it feeling a bit empty and kid oriented.

Now, onto some of the flaws.

Episode 1, 5, and 13 were my top three episodes from this season, with Space Mall fitting somewhere in between them. Episode one was a good transition between the seasons, it jumped between the different scenes well, had good comedic timing, and built up suspense about Shiro without overshadowing or contradicting too much of the mood of the other scenes. Space Mall had a bit of problems balancing this, because I liked all the subplots in the episode separately, but Shiro and his Black Lion’s arc just did not flow well with the rest of the scenes. Standing alone, it’s amazing,for I had the suspicion from the beginning that they never actually left the castle and the way Zarkon and Shiro had to fight one another with their minds was well done. Yet, the jump into the “mindscape”, as I’ll call it, was very sudden and confusing with Zarkon saying how if they died here they would die for real. (Leaving me to shout at my phone, “IF YOU DIE IN THE GAME YOU DIE IN REAL LIFE”) Generally, my main issue was how we would go from very jocular, joke-riddled and driven scene to one so dramatic that I felt Shiro’s arc should have been placed in another episode. 

Also, this was the season of Shiro. Keith did get a lot of growth with most of the fandom’s theories being confirmed about him, the way the knife tied into it all and such, but from the way the final episode ended, anyone could tell this season was about Shiro. (And the next will probably be Keith’s). One of my favorite things I liked about Shiro’s growth in the show was that he stepped out of the “Dad” parameters set up around him and seemed like another young guy, not quite on the same level as the other paladins, but he became flawed. After he kept repeating to Keith about patience and keeping calm, I was so excited when Slav appeared because it was so clever to have Shiro develop backwards, in a sense. Rather than having him overcome any flaws for growth, the writers gave him a setting in which he could develop flaws. We can see Shiro get seriously angry when given the right circumstances, and the irony in his statements to Keith help bring this to life even more so. On a side note, I would like the bring up something that might upset the Sheith fans a bit. I feel like this season really established that Keith sees Shiro in a fatherly view, as not only did the animators have the “hologram” Shiro transform into Keith’s dad, but we also saw how similar they designed their eyes and other features (Scar on nose vs. scar on forehead). I was a little worried going into this season because about a week before I had heard some news about one of the creators liking a “Sheith” photo on twitter and everyone blew up about it. I really do not want to see any romance happen in this show, not only for personal reasons but also because I feel like it would not only destroy the fanbase but ruin a lot of the integrity and style the show has just now started to build correctly. To be fair on both sides, the elevator scene with Keith and Lance did make me chuckle (”GIRLS DON’T WANT A VOLTRON SEASON 2 GIRLS WANT A VOLTRON BEACH EPISODE” and I also yelled, “TWO BROS CHILLIN’ IN A HOT TUB, FIVE FEET AWAY...”) but I felt like Keith and Lance’s dynamic wasn’t well established this scene. For me personally, Lance almost came close to be destroyed as a character for me. The elevator scene felt like a bone was thrown to the Klance shippers, and I felt like it contradicted anything we had witness between the two before. Sure, they had a mild spat back and forth, and we got another clip where Lance tells Keith to back off his Lion in a bathrobe and face mask, but then we also got a scene where they “had each other’s backs” and it felt like the writers were just constantly fluctuating their opinions on one another depending on the scene and the tempo of the other characters or for plot advancement purposes without taking time to really delve into how these two characters actually feel about one another as paladins.

Lance’s character problems for me also tie into Pidge’s for this season, as it felt very repetitive in episode two and four for me. I could accept Lance and Hunk’s adventure, but once we got the mermaids in the picture I felt like I was watching Hunk and Shay except with Lance and mermaids. Of course they had different purposes in the story, but when we suddenly got Pidge going to a planet about technology, I immediately felt like the writers were trying to check boxes off character arcs as quickly as possible. Back to Lance though, the one thing I could sort of accept and by pass was the scene with him and Laika (the yupper) where Lance suddenly starts to question his worth on the team. This was a bit random, but I also understand how someone could easily start to overthink things about what others think about them when left pretty much alone, so it worked, especially when Lance proved his abilities later. This was not done for Pidge. Pidge’s planet arc really bothered me only at the end of the episode when she learned her Lion’s true potential. When she first got to the planet, she made a statement about her brother Matt. Later on, when she’s about to activate the Lion’s power, we see her struggling to connect with her Lion and hearing the voice’s of her friends saying how they need her and that helps her focus. This worked with Lance, because Lance had self-doubt before Shiro fixed it by saying “That’s why we bring our sharpshooter.” With Pidge, it was like we had the development with nothing to develop from. If before they had landed on the planet, we had had a moment where Pidge talks about her technology or something or had done something and was mildly brushed off by the other characters, the same effect in Lance’s case would have occurred. We, as the audience, would not have had to been given a whole episode of the paladins being disappointed in Pidge but rather we would just have needed a little nudge about something with how they react to her, like how they react to her using technological or Altean terms. If we had been given a set up in the beginning of the episode to show her being somewhat annoyed, the moment where she hears her friends voices would have been more meaningful as we would have made the connections ourselves. Pidge’s line later at the end of the episode talking about how technology has always been important to her felt empty to. Considering the mention of Matt at the start of the episode, it seemed like they could have used this line to have her elaborate or at least have the audience be shown a flashback or something with Matt that would make her love of technology in the present that much more important or valuable rather than just a quirky aspect of her personality.

Now, I’m almost done, but I haven’t addressed the last part of Pidge’s character.

The bathroom scene.

I’m not here to call this a flaw despite it succeeding my list of flaws with this season. I thought the bathroom scene was well executed for something done for a kid’s show. It really wasn’t concrete clear and offered two interpretations so people could take from it what they will before the writers decide to clarify anything. We are given a scene displaying two bathrooms, both with unfamiliar symbols, but one colored pink, the other blue. Pidge glances between them, and we see a non-identifiable alien emerge, and Pidge says she will “hold it”. I know the majority of the fanbase is jumping on this to show that the writers are saying Pidge is non-binary or genderfluid or trans or such. I personally do not see Pidge as transgender. The reasons behind her posing as a boy at the Garrison are still unclear, as girls are obviously allowed to enroll, and she only raises more suspicion around the people who knew her brother by looking more like them. In my opinion, I saw Pidge dressing like her brother as a coping mechanism for the loss. Looking like him would be a constant reminder to her of what was either lost so she doesn’t forget her mission or it was just a way of making her feel like he was still with her. But, back to bathrooms. I had seen this gif online as a spoiler at first when I took a break between episodes. I was worried they were laying down any definite statements about these characters without fleshing them out, but the bathroom scene also provides two interpretations. If you look at the first half, with the two symbols alone, it makes sense that people can use this to support the Pidge’s gender argument as although the symbols are vague, the colors should be enough to tell her which one is for men or women. Hell, the later scene when Keith walks out of the blue one shows that at least one other Paladin “knows” which one to go in. (I personally could just see Keith saying screw it and taking a chance) However, the thing afterwards, where we see an non-identifiable alien emerge from the “ladies” room, the show also could be saying that Pidge is still confused on which bathroom is which and not which one she feels she should go in. It is easy to also interpret the scene that the colors aren’t enough for her to distinguish, which I think works well for children who are watching the show and wouldn’t fully pick up on all the little things yet. (It’s like that scene in Spongebob where they are in the trench city or whatever?) Regardless of what you view Pidge as, the way the writers portrayed this scene allowing a double meaning was a good choice, as it gave the fans what they wanted while also easing the children and those who are less likely to agree with the gender debate something they could stomach. And hey, if you think that kids should be fully exposed to this early on, consider this scene something they can watch when older and realize the full connotations of if they so choose.

All in all, I’d give Voltron Legendary Defender an 8/10 with the first season at a 7/10.