#maybe during one of these fights keith is like up in the rigging and he falls and does the thing where he slices through the sail

[scattered-winter]

pirate captain allura. (pirate queen....if u even care...) first mate romelle (pirate yuri....) and coran as the ship doctor and resident Uncle.....garrison trio are also there......lance is the sniper and guy who fixes the sails (tailor...) hunk is the ship cook and local strongman and pidge is trying to find her brother (lost at sea).... stowaway keith (also trying to find his lost at sea brother...) maybe they find shiro during their voyage and Plot Ensues....

in honor of frigate friggin' friday perhaps I will make a pirate au. for the sillies.

[justheretobreakthings]

Welcome to the Family - Chapter 5

(Previous Chapter)

Word Count: 2,723 (Total Word Count: 11,961) Read on AO3

Story Summary: Lance had been excited about his family taking in a foster kid, eager to get to meet his brand new little brother or sister, who would surely adore and idolize their super cool Big Brother Lance. What he got instead was a sullen, quiet, temperamental teenage housemate with a criminal record and a disastrous haircut.

Pidge: How would you like to play some terrible Xbox games Hunk and I picked up at the flea market for 50 cents each?

Lance: im not sure i would like that at all

Pidge: Too late.

The doorbell rang mere seconds after Lance received the last text, and he groaned at prospect of having to move from his comfortable bed, but managed to suck it up and drag himself down the stairs and open the door to see Pidge and Hunk at the front stoop, the familiar car of Pidge’s older brother Matt already backing out of the driveway. “Whatever happened to you letting me know you’re on your way before you actually arrive?” Lance asked.

“It was a spur of the moment thing,” Pidge said with a shrug. “Besides, I went to all that trouble to rig up the backwards compatibility on your Xbox, of course I’m gonna use it.” She held up the little stack of games in her hand.

Lance stepped aside and allowed the two of them in. “Why were you shopping for video games at a flea market, of all places?”

“We weren’t,” Hunk answered. “Matt took us to go hunting for parts for that new battlebot Pidge and I have been working on, and we just stumbled across them.”

“And we thought, well, we should get Lance in on the fun,” Pidge finished as she set the games on the coffee table. “Feel flattered. Go ahead, you pick one to start.”

Lance tilted his head to look over the low-res images and strangely-drawn cover art of the games, all with titles he had never heard of - Dreadnite, Rise of Vengeance, Snowboard Havoc, Moonrace, Dark Alert. “These all look terrible,” he said.

“Well, duh,” Pidge said. “You don’t buy a video game for fifty cents and expect quality.”

“Fair point. Okay, I pick…” Lance closed his eyes, twirled his finger in the air, and jabbed one of the games at random. “Moonrace. What is this, a racing game?”

“I dunno, maybe?” Pidge said.

“I’ll set it up!” Hunk said, snatching the game from the table.

Pidge kicked her shoes off and flopped down onto the couch. “All right, now that we’ve got that taken care of, time for the burning question: where is he?”

“Where is who?” Lance asked.

“Waldo,” Pidge replied, rolling her eyes. “Who do you think? Where’s Keith? I wanna meet your new emo brother.”

Lance raised a brow. “Oh, is that why you guys decided to drop by? Just to see Keith? And here I thought you actually wanted to spend time with me. I’m hurt.”

“Quit hiding him, McClain.”

Lance plopped himself down onto the couch beside her. “Sorry to disappoint, but he’s not here right now.”

“Aw, what?” said Hunk, looking up from where he was kneeling by the console in front of the TV. “So we came all this way for nothing?”

“My feelings. They’re wounded.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re thrilled to be graced by your awesome presence too, Lance,” Pidge said. “Seriously, though, we wanna meet him.”

“Mamá took him to the school to get his schedule figured out or something,” said Lance. “And then I think she was gonna take him back-to-school shopping too.” He shrugged. “They’ve been gone for a few hours now already. Don’t know how much longer they’re gonna be.”

“Well, at least we’ve got something to do while we wait,” Hunk said as the opening menu appeared on the TV screen and he stood up. The game menu displayed an option of either one- or two-player mode, and Hunk turned to the others, one controller in each hand. “Looks like two players max for this one. Who wants the other one?”

“Dibs,” said Pidge. “Toss it here.”

“Excuse you,” Lance snapped. “This is my house.”

“But it’s my game.”

“Or you could both take one and I’ll sit out this round,” Hunk suggested.

“What, like mature adults?” Pidge said. “Sounds boring, but okay. Toss it here.”

Hunk passed a controller to each of them and plunked down to sit cross-legged in front of the couch and watch. Pidge sank down into couch cushions, bringing her legs around to drape over Hunk’s shoulders as if he were her personal ottoman.

It turned out that Lance’s assumption was correct: it was a racing game, and a buggy one at that. Three races in, Lance ended up having to set his controller down and wait for Pidge and the other computer players to finish the race without him, as his own Mooncar had somehow morphed through a rock wall and gotten irretrievably stuck during the first lap. “So,” he said, nudging Hunk in his decision to make conversation to pass the time. “Battlebot?”

“For robotics club at school,” Hunk said. “Pidge and I want to get a head start on ours.”

“I didn’t realize you actually got to make the robots fight!” Lance said. “I thought they just, like, did chores or something.”

“We don’t make them fight,” Pidge said, not taking her eyes from the game. “They do things like throw discs and walk on balance beams and stuff.”

“Oh,” Lance said, shoulders deflated. “That’s… less cool. The ‘battlebot’ name was misleading.”

“That’s not what they’re officially called,” said Hunk. “That’s just what Pidge calls them.”

“You would know this if you actually joined the club,” Pidge said. “We need more underclassmen.”

Lance shook his head. “Told you already, schedule conflict with swimming.”

“I call bullshit,” Pidge said. “Matt’s president this year and he’s still got time for soccer.”

“Soccer and swim have different schedules,” Lance said. “Sorry, Pidge, you’re not getting me into your club.”

“You’re going to regret that decision once the robots turn on humanity and you don’t know how to deprogram them.”

“Hunk will protect me, right, Hunk?” Lance asked.

“If I must,” Hunk said. “Maybe we can try and convince Keith to join robotics when he gets back.”

Pidge perked up. “There we go, that’s an idea! We’ll get to him before any other clubs get a chance!”

“Eh, I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Lance said. “Keith doesn’t really seem like the club-joining type.”

Hunk raised a brow. “How come?”

“Because he’s not exactly social,” Lance answered. “In the time he’s been here he only ever comes downstairs for meals and barely says a word to any of the rest of us during them. The rest of the time, he’s just holed up in his room, quiet as a mouse.”

Hunk shrugged. “He only showed up, what, two days ago? Probably just still being shy.”

“Hunk, there’s shy, and then there’s straight-up asocial. I mean, you’re not exactly the most outgoing guy in the world, but if you moved in with a group of people, you would hold an actual conversation with them by day two, right?”

“I wouldn’t,” Pidge said.

“Yes you would,” Lance huffed. “And it’s not like we haven’t made an effort, you know? We try to chat with him and stuff, but he just stares at his food and mumbles little one-word answers and shuts us out.” He sighed. “Of all the foster brothers Mamá could have picked for me, she goes with the one who doesn’t even want to be here.”

“Still bitter about not getting the happy hyper eight-year-old you dreamed of, huh?” Pidge muttered.

“I’m not bitter,” Lance said.

“You are so bitter,” Pidge said. “Besides, it’s not like your parents just picked him out of a catalogue or anything. I’m pretty sure when you apply to become a foster parent, if you don’t already have a specific kid you’re planning to foster in mind, the state gets to pick one for you. Or, something like that, anyway. And what are your parents gonna do, go ‘oh, no thanks, this one’s too quiet, we’ll pass’? Dick move.”

“I’m not saying I wanted them to do that or anything. I’m just - I dunno, frustrated, I guess.”

“Eh, give it time,” Hunk said. “You’re a lot to get used to, and it’s only been a couple of days. Patience is a virtue.”

“Since when did I care about being virtuous?” Lance said.

“Don’t know what you mean, you’ve always seemed like a pillar of virtue to me,” Pidge said flatly. She picked up Lance’s controller and dropped it back into hands. “Okay, next race is up. Try to not hit every single crater this time, it’s no fun playing with a player two if you don’t put up an actual challenge.”

“It’s not me who sucks, it’s the game,” Lance said.

“It’s a poor craftsman who blames his tools, Lance,” said Hunk.

“I am this close to kicking you both out of my house,” Lance muttered before settling back into couch and moving his concentration to the TV screen.

They passed the next race mostly in peace and quiet, and went another round before getting bored and switching to Dark Alert, which turned out to be a fairly generic side scrolling beat-’em-up game. It was about ten minutes into the game, with Hunk at the controller, that the knob of the front door finally turned to welcome Lance’s mother and new brother back into the house.

Lance lifted his hand in greeting as they entered, his mother carrying two shopping bags in each hand and Keith hugging a new backpack to his chest. His mom smiled back, but Keith didn’t even look his way, instead staring at Hunk before darting his eyes toward Pidge. He stepped back, brow furrowed.

“This is Hunk and Pidge,” Lance said, answering Keith’s unspoken question and gesturing to each of them in turn. “Friends from school.”

“Oh, you’ll have to get used to seeing those two around,” his mother said to Keith. “They and Lance are something of a package deal. Good to see you guys.”

“You too, Señora McClain,” Pidge said, although her eyes were fixed firmly on Keith. Hunk paused the video game and turned in their direction as well. “So,” Pidge continued. “You must be the famous Keith that Lance has told us so much about?”

“Pidge,” Lance groaned as Keith narrowed his eyes toward Lance in suspicion. “It’s not like I was gossiping about you or anything,” he assured Keith. “Just, you know, telling them I had a new foster brother who moved in. Nothing bad.” Okay, that was a bit of a white lie, but what Keith didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

Keith must have accepted it, though, because he nodded slowly and mumbled a hasty “hi” to Pidge. Hunk, in his turn, smiled widely at him and waved. “If you’re not busy, you wanna come join us? We’re running through some new games. Well, they’re old games, actually, but they’re new to us. Still have three here we haven’t touched yet, you can be the first to give it a go. Oh, I probably should have asked first, you like video games?”

Keith stared at him for a couple of seconds before shrugging, and Lance raised a brow at Hunk. If they had been doubting at all that Keith was as untalkative as he had claimed, here was the supporting evidence. Hunk must have at least started to pick up on Keith’s stony vibe already, though, because he’d babbled a bit just then. Hunk always babbled when he felt awkward.

“So is that a yes or no to joining us?” Pidge asked.

“No thank you,” Keith said.

Pidge shrugged. “Probably for the best. These games kinda suck. I’ll ask again when we bring over something decent.”

“You two ready for the school year?” Lance’s mother asked. Pidge and Hunk both nodded and made sounds of assent before she turned back to Keith and said, “They’re both going to be sophomores as well, so you guys might be having some classes together. I’m sure they’ll be happy to help you out with anything you need to help get settled into your new school, same as Lance. Isn’t that right?”

“Of course, Señora McClain!” Hunk said with an enthusiastic nod at the same time as Pidge responded with a flat, “Sure.”

“There you have it,” she said with a satisfied nod. “By the way, Lance, whatever happened to those old clothes of Marco’s I gave you to go through and pick out? I wanted to let Keith have a look at the ones you didn’t pick, see if there’s anything he likes. Lord knows, he barely brought along enough clothes to last him a week.” Keith tightened his grip on his backpack and dropped his gaze to his feet.

“I put them back in the attic,” Lance answered. “Marco has terrible taste in clothes. Keith can have all of them.”

“You didn’t want any of them?” his mother asked. “With all the money you spend on clothes, you really didn’t want any new outfits for free?”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m blowing my allowance on designer labels or anything,” Lance said. “I just don’t want to be seen in public in the sad remains of Marco’s grunge phase.”

His mother shook her head. “Well, at least they’re not going to waste now. Come on, Keith, I’ll show you the clothes. I promise, they’re perfectly fine; Lance is just picky.”

Keith nodded and hurried to follow, and the two of them made their way upstairs and out of sight. Lance watched them go before turning back and nudging Hunk. “Okay, you can unpause it now.”

“Well, I don’t know what you were complaining about,” Pidge said. “He seemed great.”

“What are you talking about?” Lance asked. “He barely said two words to you.”

“Yeah, that’s why he seemed great. Breath of fresh air after years with you.” Lance picked up one of the couch pillows and smacked her on the head with it.

“He wasn’t really emo, was he,” Hunk said. “I mean, he had the dark colors, but I think emo involves more accessorizing.”

“Okay, yeah, I kinda meant emo more as a vibe, you know?” said Lance. “Like, introverted and angry-sad. And he’s got the hair for it, and the face.”

“What, ‘cause of the scar or something?” Pidge asked.

“I meant, like, the facial expressions,” Lance said. “But, sure, that too.”

“No wonder you’re not crazy about him,” Pidge continued, smirking. “New kid in school, broody and mysterious, good-looking and with a face scar to boot? He’s gonna be stealing all your dates.”

“What are you on about?”

“That was one of the things you were worried about, right? New foster brother taking all the dateable people for himself?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “First of all, a face scar would make a person less likely to attract admirers, not more.”

“Actually, I’m with Pidge on that one,” Hunk said. “Apparently people go nuts for face scars.”

“Yeah, like, Matt’s friend Shiro?” Pidge said. “Guys are falling all over themselves for him, and let’s not pretend the scar’s not at least a factor.”

“Okay, but that’s a special case. Shiro’s - ”

“And apparently people just swoon over the Phantom of the Opera,” Hunk added.

“And there’s Prince Zuko,” said Pidge.

“Inigo Montoya.”

“Harry Potter.”

“Deathstroke.”

“That lion from The Lion King 2.”

“You’re reaching,” Lance groaned. “And bottom line, he is not going to steal my dates. Hell, for all we know, maybe he doesn’t even date at all. Maybe he’s another Pidge.”

Pidge perked up, eyes suddenly bright with curiosity. “You think? That’d be awesome!”

“Should we ask?” said Hunk.

“No, Hunk,” Lance sighed. “Leave it.”

Pidge huffed out a laugh before slumping back into her previous posture on the couch. “Well, whatever the case. He didn’t seem so bad. Just quiet. I say give it time. I was quiet too when I first moved up to your grade, and look at me now.”

“Ah, the good old days,” Lance said wistfully. “Yes, I remember.”

“It’s like you want me to punch you,” Pidge huffed, giving him a shove. “But seriously, my money’s on it being nerves. I’m sure he’s not so bad.”

“Give it time,” Hunk said with a nod. “Patience.”

“Whatever,” Lance said, shrugging. He folded his arms and turned his eyes back to the game on the screen. “So when we switching controllers again, huh? I haven’t had a turn in like half an hour.”

“Patience, Lance,” Pidge said sagely.

“You guys suck.”

[somecynicalanimator]

Module - Performance & Character

When trying to come up with ideas for the short story, I hit a large road block early on, struggling to come up with an idea for my short story. I had some ideas about someone playing air guitar and putting their foot through a TV, or running away from a gang of people as I had when working on the climbing animation. However, I thought that these were too lacking in narrative to be the basis for a solid animation. I consulted one of my lecturers for advice, and received some decent advice. I was told that the short story doesn’t need to be very complicated, and that drawing upon real life can be a decent strategy. Something else I was told is that ideas need to be often left to incubate, and that trying to force out ideas is like trying to draw blood from a stone. An example he gave of letting things rest for a while was from the classic Sherlock Holmes books, in which he would go to the theater or just do something beyond investigating the murder case, allowing his ideas to incubate and mature on their own instead of forcing them, allowing him to figure out the case. A breakdown of this process can be seen on this website (http://geoffpetty.com/creativity/) in which allowing ideas to be crop up on their own can be beneficial.

When talking to a fellow classmate about ideas for this work, I came up with one idea I could go with: a quick draw stand-off. This idea was likely inspired by the fact that I’ve recently been playing some games from the Kirby franchise, which have a few different variations of a quick draw mini-game. One problem I had when thinking about this story idea is the set up, as quick draw standoffs in Western movies usually have some sort of cause, like one person wronging the other or belittling them in some way, leading to a fight. For this problem I turned more towards my inspiration, more specifically the version of this mini-game in Kirby Super Star (1996). This one, Samurai Kirby, obviously had more of a samurai theme to it. I felt that having two samurais, or just swordsmen, crossing paths during their travels and clashing seemed better to me than having to gunslingers clash without any motivation, whereas in this case I felt that both of them feeling anxious could lead to a preemptive strike. They could also end up just putting both their swords up to defend themselves, leading to them clashing and allowing tensions to easy natural towards the end of the short story. Though as I gave it more thought I decided that I could still go with the gunslinger standoff, but only show the standoff, as if something happened that made them want to fight, and they both decided to meet at a specific space and time, which is where the animation starts.

I feel the best idea I managed to come up with was something I thought up at 2am on morning, when inspiration struck. My idea was initially Buckid manipulating Maya controls on his own, creating blocks and spheres and being able to move them and change their scale. I then came up with a story in which Buckid and Keith fight for the title of mascot rig for Salford Animation Students, based on how we were introduced to the Buckid rig in 1st year, becoming the go-to rig for me and my peers, then in 2nd year the Keith rig was shown to us. Polygon cubes would be better for defensive actions, like creating walls and barriers to protect themselves as they don’t roll very easily, whereas polygon spheres would be better for offense, as the can bounce and roll into characters when thrown at great speed. One idea I had was in order to confuse the other rig, one of them will switch the automatic lighting to manual lighting, and without any lights dropped in it’ll be too dark for them to see each other. Then one of them creates a spotlight to blind the other. When dropping Keith in Maya, it tends to be super large compared to Buckid, so based on this I thought that Keith could become giant towards the end in order to attack, like Baby Bowser in the game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (1995). One way I thought the fight could end is one of them, or the animator, rendering, meaning that they can’t move, maybe one of them spawns bifrost water first to make the rendering extra slow. When imagining the rigs manipulating the polygon models, I couldn’t help but imagining them taking poses similar to those seen when Fire/Earth-bending in the show Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005), likely because I’ve recently finished watching the series.

I created some thumbnail sketches exploring what I wanted to implement into my short story animation, sketching ideas I came up with. I feel much of the actual fight scene will have to be cut down due to time constraints. What I could do instead is have them partake in something that more closely resembles a snowball fight than a full on brawl, but it still escalates with them throwing cubes and then making them expand as they fly towards each other.

[starrbomb]

Altean!Lance with a twist pt 3

You guys ready for this? Cause I know I’ve been keeping you guys waiting for this for WAAAAAAAAAAAY TOO LONG! and I already have more ideas about this too so be looking for newer parts! They will be shorter but they’re gonna be so cool( at least in my head they will be; that or I’ll just do it all in one go)

And if you guys want a recap of what’s happened so far in this au: part 1- http://starrbomb.tumblr.com/post/161149655919/alteanlance-with-a-twist

Part 2- http://starrbomb.tumblr.com/post/161761439539/altean-lance-with-a-twist-part-2

Now then! Onward to the part you’ve been waiting for! Part 3!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

•So during the corrupted worm hole, everyone gets flown off into different directions; Lance ends up with Pidge, Shiro ends up with Hunk and Keith crashes by himself.

•Pidge is worried sick because Lance isn't answering his comm, audio or video, and Blue won't let her in. She looks around the garbage nebula they found themselves in and immediately starts to work on a dish to contact the others and get help for her friend.

•Lance is totally out of commission, the fight with haggar having drained him and hurting him in more ways than one. So he's conked out for the entire thing. All the while all of the nightmares that have been haunting him since day 1 out there jumbling together and repeating though his head.

•Once everyone gets back on the ship, Shiro and Lance are put in the cryo pods to heal, and everyone has seen Lance’s true form now, since he isn’t even about to revert back to his human form at all.

•Allura has been subtly (aka, not so subtly but no one can figure out why) avoiding Lance’s pod, only getting close whenever Hunk and Pidge asks a question about his progress.

•Finally, when they both come out of the pod shiro reflectively backs away from Lance, giving him a very uncomfortable amount of space.

•Lance is just trying to get his emotions and his shape shifting under control, but everything is just way too raw, too real. He can’t tell if it’s real or if he’s still stuck in those nightmares.

•When Coran tries to touch Lance’s shoulder, tries to bring him out of wherever his mind his, Allura stops him, getting some very confused looks from everyone else.

•Once Lance finally gets a hold back on reality, he gets a quick recap of what happened while he was out cold, to which he thanks Pidge very much for looking after him and making sure that they got back to the castle in one piece. Pidge tried to play it off, saying that he would have done the same for her, to which he can practically feel Allura glaring holes into him.

•Lance knows that he has to explain, especially now that both Allura and Shiro know. His mind wants to shut down like before; run away from the glares and the stares of fear and confusion from everyone. But he knows that they deserve the truth from him. The whole truth.

•Before anyone can ask him any questions, Lance gets up from the floor and starts walking towards the door, getting an aggressive “Lance!” From Allura. He looks back and explains that they should probably move to the lounge before asking any questions, since it’s a long story.

•Once everyone gets comfortable, we’ll almost everyone; since Allura is sitting as far away from Lance as possible and Shiro isn’t even sitting down. He just stands in one of the corners closest to a doorway. Lance takes a few deep breaths, each one shakier than the last.

•He tells them the truth about Haggar being his mother, and being raised to be/ and actually being a Druid for the empire. He explained how he helped his mother and Zarkon take over multiple planets, how he was trained to fight til death and that the only thing that mattered was the survival of the empire. He told them about the dozens, maybe hundreds, of experiments that he went through at the hands of his mother, how he became a great tactical fighter and a powerful Druid. He told them about how while with the empire, he didn’t really feel emotions at all.

•And then he gets to talking about how he got to earth, about his mission there to infiltrate and gain data, as well as search for any lions there. He told them about how the McClains took him in and gave him a home and showed him the first real kindness and love in his life. He talked about how they changed his view on how his and his mother’s’ relationship was really like, how it had destroyed his sense of worth and accomplishment. He told them about how his younger adoptive siblings taught him that magic shouldn’t be used for harm and punishment and cruelty, but rather the opposite. It was because of earth and the McClains that he realized that he didn’t want to be apart of the empire any longer. He refused to continue his mission, and rather instead of joining the garrison to gain information, he joined it so that he would be able to protect his new home from the empire whenever it would arrive to try and take over earth.

•And that’s when voltron happened and he ended up out here and fighting Zarkon and his mother head on. And that's how they got to where they are now, sitting here after going head to head against the two strongest people on the entire universe.

•Everyone just sits there shocked by the whole story of their friend’s life; somewhere along the way Shiro had left his corner and actually sits down next to Lance, watching his face as he recounts all of the cruelty and abuse he had went through for so many years. He watched as Lance cries openly regrets everything he has done in the name of the empire; promising to the others and to himself that while his sins will always hang heavy on his shoulders, he will do his damn best to help take the empire down.

•After his explanation to the others; he expects them to steer clear of him or to outright kick him off the team bc of who he is. And Keith and Allura fill those fears quickly; both of them always giving him a death glare til he leaves the room, or going too hard on him during training.

•But the others are quite the opposite much to Lance’s surprise. Coran continues to give lessons to Lance about Altea, making sure to add in odd tidbits here and there about the trouble that Alfor used to always get into.

•Hunk and Pidge are practically attached to him now, never leaving him alone and making sure that he eats and sleeps and isn’t pushing himself too hard to try and prove his worth (he ~may~ have done the exact thing many times while back at the garrison whenever iverson decided to make an example out of Lance) in training. or anything else.

•With Shiro; he’s not exactly sure what to do about Lance. He doesn’t hate him because of who and where he’s from; but now everytime he looks at Lance’s face, even though it’s always in his human form, he can’t help but see Haggar’s face right there. So whenever they are in the same room, it’s always super awkward between them and neither of them know what to do to fix things between them.

•It goes on like this for days which turn into weeks, and to clear it’s taking a negative effect on Lance; he’ll hide away whenever he isn’t needed, and it’s getting harder and harder for Pidge and Hunk to get him out of his room. Let alone the effect it all has the rest of the team, creating a rift between them causing a Multics of fights between everyone.

•But then during an intense battle with the galra, a battleship fires a magic infused blast at the red lion, who was too busy fighting off drones to notice. But Lance did; and without a second thought he dives in and crashes into the red lion, knocking him out of the line of fire and instead takes the blast himself

•The whole team is horrified at the scream that pierces through their comms as the blue lion gets hit and seems to become electrified for what felt like eternity and then becoming nothing more than a husk of metal.

•Hunk and Pidge are enraged and scared for their friend, who hasn’t responded to them since he got hit, and immediately go all out on the galra with renewed vigor as Shiro takes the time to grab the blue lion and return to the castle, sending out an order to the others to retreat.

•Once everyone was back in the castle and they had wormholes away, Shiro races into the blue lion and finds Lance unconscious in the pilot seat, this human form all but abandoned and scorch marks dance across his armor and had torn open his suit, leaving gashes all about him in various states of depth.

•Shiro only hesitates for a second, before shaking his head and scooping up Lance and racing to the infirmary where the rest of them team along with Allura and Coran have gathered.

•It seems to take them hours to fix his physical wounds and find out what the magic did to him to cause him to stay in what appeared to be a hellish sleep.

•The magic had forced him into a comatose state, where he relives his worst moments of his life, over and over and over again, until his heart or brain can’t keep up anymore and he would die.

•Pidge and Hunk rig the mind melding devices to help them enter his dreams and help free him from the spell, with Coran standing by in case anything were to happen while they are inside his head. So the rest of the paladins and Allura slip on the devices and enter Lance’s nightmares.

•Each of the paladins enter a different memory that Lance is forced to relive over and over again on a loop, and during the first couple of loops all they can do is just stare in disbelief at the horror that was Lance’s life before he came to earth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dun dun DUUUUUN! Don’t worry I already have some of the fourth part already written, and I’ll hopefully get more done tonight! Please make sure leave comments and stuff cause I’m full of anxiety and I can never tell if people really like my stuff or not.

[gizmosisbuttons]

Episode 4 was a fandom wide callout post.

all you fools too busy being pissed bc Coran went all show crazy and basically re-characterized the paladins to what the masses found entertaining, to notice that the entire episode was literally a fandom wide call out post. they literally called us out guys. 

lets go over the list of things Coran said/did in ep 4 and compare them shall we?

let me preface this by saying he literally wasn't himself and i still love him just as much as before, my gorgeous man.

”I worked up very specific personas for each of you. This is going to help the audience connect on a much deeper level with each team member.” 

as if they didn't already have defining personalities that make them very likable and awesome? sounds familiar right? its one thing to speculate and theorize based on what we know about a character especially if we don’t know a lot about said character. the writers put a lot of time and effort into developing these characters and even said during an interview once that one of the things that bugged them about og Voltron was that the only properly developed character was Keith. the other guys didn't get a chance to be loved. and that was what they aimed to do, to give every paladin and character the chance to be loved. since the beginning the fandom has been bad at this. taking one teeny trait from each character and twisting them so that the only thing that matters is that trait. 

         “lover-boy lance”

throughout the series lance is known  to flirt with...pretty much every cute alien girl. of course. hes handsome, charming, girls love him. Coran wipes away all of the actually relatable things about his personality in favor of this charming flirt who would win over girls. Lance is insecure, he’s witty, he is the freaking sharpshooter, the teams sniper and their glue. he’s voltrons right hand now for a reason. he got into the garrison which is a military space exploration base, not just anyone gets in. hes incredibly intelligent and a great pilot. amazing really. bc simulations are always absolutely terrible and rarely help. oh yea, and hes charming.but god forbid anyone forget that hes a flirt. who cares about the other stuff that will actually help the audience connect with him. 

        “science wiz pidge” 

its no secret that pidge is incredibly intelligent. she is one of the characters who haven't gotten their developing points until this season. in one of the first flashbacks we learned she nearly gave up studying because some kid decided to be a dick and bully her. Matt pulled her out of it and encouraged her to work hard. later on in ep 4 coran says that her science doesn't need to be factually correct because noone will understand her either way. he undermined her intelligence because . well. noone cares what she says as long as it sounds smart. fanfic writers do this a lot. like. a lot. i understand that you may not have the same knowledge that the girl who hacked herself into a military school base undercover at he age of 14-15 (if the theory that the garrison is a high school program is correct) because she had gotten banned for sneaking in and hacking into the computer system, but if you really do insist on focusing her on her smarts, do some research. no to mention. pidge may be the youngest, but she really is more than science and calculations. shes intelligent yes, but she can hold her own in battle (at the age range of 15-17 with no prior battle training), shes afraid of the possible reality that all her efforts are wasted and Matt and Sam are dead, she is actually pretty social with the paladins (she can even be seen hanging out in the kitchen while hunk makes glass cookies.) and beyond her intelligence, shes wise. shes not just random science facts, she knows how to hold her own in situations outside of battle and books. shes street smart. 

       “lone wolf keith”

now i know this was said to allura, and ill get to that. but if the keith vlog showed us anything, its that  hes not just a moody loner teenager.  i am very guilty of this myself. i portray keith as a human disaster. we don’t know hen he was left alone, we don’t really know much of his story. i head canon that his dad left him to fend for himself but every month woul drop off food or money or something. i head canon hes terrible about taking care of his body. but at least i don’t call him moody and move on.  i give him a background to fill in the blank space, but sometimes i forget and focus too much on his folded arms and  pouty face. he smiles. he laughs. hes an actual precious bean.  but hes also afraid of being pushed away. hes guarded and does his best to be strong. he hides his feelings and protects his heart with everything he has. (geez boi who hurt you). he is not the human embodiment of “teenagers” by mcr. aka he has feelings too. not to mention he also got into the garrison, and was the top pilot regardless of how he got in, if it happened to be by recommendation like most people think. 

      “humourous hunk”

as a hunk stan this one annoys me the most. throughout the episode hunk is consistently embarrassed, and even protests the fart noises, fart jokes, etc. he is purposely tripped for laughs. the fandom forgets that hes not just the fat funny guy, or just the personal chef. hes overcome so much since babies first lion flight, he used to get sick, constantly had to be the voice of reason to keep his teammates out of trouble,  he is just as intelligent as pidge and is actually one of the only people that can keep up with her science stuff. keith and lance even stated that they didnt understand anything they'd said. hes a fantastic engineer even if he had a few tummy mishaps. hes an amazing pilot too, and extremely sassy. he and pidge probably rigged the game console to work in space, And hes pretty friendly and cautious. he is NOT meant to be the comic relief. (say it louder for people in the back)

     “shiro the hero”

a lot of the fandom has taken to calling shiro daddy, sexualizing him (”now put on this tight shirt”) and focusing on shiro and only shiro (shiros the “favorite character” of corans little show). hes great. he really is. and the man needs a break. voltron is a kids show. he isnt meant to  be sexualized, none of them are. hes more than his arms and his leadership abilities. the biggest issue i have with the whole shiro thing. regardless of if hes a clone, when shiro returned he cut his hair differently, and wore short sleeves. everyone i know, including me, said they'd be fine with the clone if he had kept his hair long and “as much as i love the arm view” and didnt change his outfit. its a kid show. his body shouldn't matter.i am also guilty of this, and ep 4 opened my eyes to it. coran lifted shiros arm as if to prove that thats what the audience really wanted. he treats shiro differently bc hes the real star here and everyone should know it. ofc, hes the black paladin. (i wonder where the whole “the black paladin is the only one who really matters here” mindset came from. looking @ u ‘84). shiros may have ptsd, and hes constantly trying to hold himself together for his team, and its obviously not easy. maybe thats why hes got a cute white floof. the stress. 

      alluras erasure  

another point that always bugged me. the fandom either forgets allura exists, or that she is just stealing lances place temporarily. Allura is the blue paladin. while keith is gone, she is not filling in. shes a paladin now too. for coran to call her keith, and constantly call her keith, even though she obviously has a few choice words to say about it, its distrespectful. she says his plan is working and he replies with “why thank you keith...i like to keep you in character” once again, erasing her existence. now im not as well versed in this particular topic, but id like you to keep in mind that he talks to his princess with that mouth, and that she IS the princess and not a fill in while keith leads. feel free to elaborate on this more. 

     coran “fires “ team voltron. 

this. i find extremely entertaining. remember that legal trouble last year bc of the leaks? and right around that time the klance shipper started threatening them if they didn't make it gayer and put keith and lance together? the  fandom, who wanted all of this to happen their way, were threatening to get it cancelled and such just because things didnt go their way. shiro, the leader, disagreed with coran and tries to shut him down. and coran in fit of rage says:

you're a bunch of quitters! quitters! i’m a visionary! i have thoughts, ideas, i dont need you anyway. ill rewrite the show, get rid of the whole lot of you, replace you with new paladins! and the show will be better than ever before!...except for you shiro, ill never get rid of you, you're our most popular character!

this is essentially what the fandom was saying. now, was this definitely their plan, to call us out with this bit, in not sure, but honestly, its almost too coincidental.

the writers have made it clear that they heard us, and have always been listening. and really, thats why i love ep4. you're angry because you know you got called out but haven't admitted it to yourself. the writers do their best to bring us the best show possible, but they cant satisfy everyone. why cant we just be happy about Actual Meme (tm) Matt, and look forward to season five instead of fighting them because we got our shit handed right back to us. weve gotten a  taste of our own medicine, so chill. i enjoy them keeping us on our toes, surprising us with every turn, theyre great writers.who cares if one or two things pissed you off? we both know youre not gonna stop watching.

[maychorian]

Weekly Voltron Fic Recs #41

This is two and a half days’ worth of recs. I had to make a list or it was going to be obnoxiously long. I’m slowly catching up to all my open tabs, but it’s taking some work. You may notice a lot of Lance birthday fics in this post. My writing time has also taken a bit of a hit, unfortunately. Next chapter of The Godsent Wanderer is languishing at nine hundred words. (The Adventure Zone’s finale dropping today did not help.)

Rules: You can find past weekly rec lists here, and non-list recs in my general fic rec tag. Also follow @maychorianrecs for individually tagged posts, the easier to search and reblog. This is stuff I like, and I have a huge bias toward Lance, hurt/comfort, and general fluff, in that order. Gen unless otherwise noted. Please comment on the fics if you read and enjoy them!

Who is in Control? by WildWolf25 Words: 13,995 Author’s Summary: Shiro wished more than anything that they could go back to those days, full of catching grasshoppers on sunny afternoons and rigging up elaborate Goldberg machine-style boobie traps around the house to drop water balloons on Matt’s sister. Back when the biggest conflict they faced was Shiro trying to convince Matt that they couldn’t build a life-sized, fully-functioning robot for their project in the elementary school science fair. Back when their hands were covered with grass-stains and dirt rather than blood-stains and scars. Back when both of them had two hands made out of flesh and blood, rather than metal and wires. (Matt is turned into a weapon by the Galra. When he is “captured” by Team Voltron, Shiro and Pidge help him come back to himself) My Comments: Heartwrenching but satisfying way to bring Matt into the Voltron fold. Be aware of the tags. This fic gets pretty dark at times, though it’s all viewed through memories, which gives it some distance. Wonderful to see Katie and Matt reunited, as well as Matt and Shiro. Shiro says some very important things to help Matt after all he’s been through.

Hugs and Besos by Ninja_Librarian Words: 5,504 Author’s Summary: “Well, there’s only one planet that has Varadero beach, pizza shack looking over the water and the garlic knots and… my mom’s hugs…” She didn’t believe a word the Garrison officials told her. After all, she knew her son better than they did. My Comments: Gorgeous, beautiful, perfect Lance’s mom POV. All of the backstory is so sweet and fits Lance perfectly, and I can just feel the love coming off the page. Wonderfully satisfying conclusion, too.

the best day of the year by FluffyBlue Words: 1,709 Author’s Summary: Lance forgot about his birthday, but his team certainly didn’t <3 My Comments: Aw, so sweet. Show that boy some love. What a good team.

not so little after all by victuri Words: 2,542 Author’s Summary: How to successfully create an alliance: bluff your way through a diplomatic meeting. It helps if you’re afraid. My Comments: Good gosh, I adore Lance and Allura developing a mutually benificial relationship. It took some work, but he gave her the confidence to be absolutely MAGNIFICENT here.

Birthday Surprises by A_Zap f Words: 2,948 Author’s Summary: On a certain day, each of Team Voltron finds themselves the recipient of a package. It doesn’t take them too much to figure out who’s leaving them anonymous birthday presents. Pretty much a 5+1 fic of the times members of Team Voltron are given a birthday present and the time they decided to return the favor. My Comments: Ahhh, this is so cute! I adore Lance being kind and thoughtful to his teammates and getting that love back in return. Beautiful fic.

Too Soon and Not Soon Enough by hufflepirate Words: 6,506  Author’s Summary: Remix of oldmythologies’s Lost in the Fog, which is AWESOME and should probably be read first. Shiro is gone, and none of the remaining paladins know what to do about it. When the rest of the team visits Black to talk to Shiro, Pidge listens in, but can’t bring herself to face the lion - or the place where Shiro vanished. Not until she’s ready to bring him home. My Comments: Completely fabulous alternate perspective and expansion on another amazing fic. I loved Pidge’s perspective on everything, and extended reunion scene at the end was so so so good. SO GOOD. Ahhh, it made me so happy, I can’t even tell you. 

Hold Me Close by SerenePhenix Words: 2,221 Author’s Summary: Keith was not made for the cold. My Comments: Poor Keith. Good thing he has his team to take care of him.

Day 2: Hypothermia by GemmaRose Words: 1,781 Author’s Summary: Downed in a shuttle during an ambush, Coran must survive a blizzard with only his wits, centuries-old survival training, and what meagre supplies he can scavenge from the wreck. My Comments: HURT CORAN! So rare, so precious. Great characterization, he felt very steady and strong even as he sort of accepted that he was probably going to die. Super glad he didn’t, of course. The team can’t do without him.

Rockabye by SerenePhenix Words: 2,171 Author’s Summary: Pidge has to stop the bleeding and is terrified. Coran is there every step of the way even when hundreds of miles away. My Comments: GAH, this fic is intense. Love Coran being the rock Pidge needs, even from far away, keeping calm and talking her through it even while I am positive he’s freaking out on the inside.

dead battery by babitty Words: 3,345 Author’s Summary: a drabble that popped into my head so i sat down and wrote it out real quick. I’m sure people have done this or smthn like it already but fuck it. Lance brought his phone into space. And when Pidge finds out the battery is dead, she helps him out. Bc he’s family. I wasn’t sure what to name Lance’s sister, but i think Mari works??? I honestly don’t know, i may change it even though this is just a drabble. also this is not pidgance at all, i’m rlly hopin that’s clear enough Edit- so apparently mari is canon and I’m real good at guessin names lmao My Comments: Really cute fic. I love Pidge helping Lance fight his homesickness, followed by all the team bonding as they look at the pictures on his phone. The second chapter made it worse, or maybe better. Poignant and heartachey, but sweet.

To Light The Way by A11e_B00klover Words: 13,169 Author’s Summary: When her father dies in mysterious circumstances and leaves her alone with nothing but questions, Allura sets out to find the truth, come what may. Or the time Allura decides to go Sherlock with her family-friend Coran and the five friends she makes in the process. (for the Voltron Gen Minibang 2017) My Comments: A little slow to start, but there are some great ideas and fantastic characterizations in here. Fun modern AU where the team forms a Leverage-type crew to battle corporate corruption and find the truth. I could do with more.

Nobody Learns by SassafrassRex (Serbajean) Words: 30,570 Author’s Summary: He knows there was a time, before he was at this camp. *** Wiser people than Matt knew to steer clear of stars, dreamers, and all other fantasts. *** It’s a pretty strange fate, that Matt had played supporting cast in the story of his own life. *** If they try and they win, you’ll hate them for how they leave you behind. If they try and they fail, you’ll hate yourself for having to tell them let go of their pipedreams. *** “Could mean you need some better friends” – And Shiro has got to know how punchable his face gets whenever he grins like that. *** Shiro’s got it in his head that he could be selected for the Kerberos mission. Matt wishes he would give it up now. Before he burns himself out. *** Written for the Voltron Gen Mini Bang, with the wonderful artist, dylogger!!! Also prequel to All-Pervading Corruption My Comments: This is a prequel to a previously recced fic, but it stands alone fine. This fic is STUNNING. I love the characterization for Matt and Shiro. All of the backstory makes a lot of sense, and their friendship is so strong, weathering a lot of storms along the way. With this kind of background, it not only makes sense that Shiro would sacrifice himself for Matt, but it feels inevitable. All of the “current day” stuff in the prison camp is very harsh and hard to read, though, so beware. In that context, all of their college day shenanigans gain a kind of golden edge to them. Those were the good days. They just had no idea. It was hard at the time. But Matt is strong, and he’s a survivor, and he fights. He fights so hard. Amazing fic. The art complements it perfectly.

Earth Isn’t So Far by safety_dancer Words: 1,356 Author’s Summary: “Geez, Hunk! You scared us! I come running, thinking maybe Zarkon had teleported his ugly self into the- is that a cake?” My Comments: I really love all the presents everyone gave Lance in this one. They were so thoughtful and sweet.

Gift Me the Stars and Night Sky by Not_Jazz Words: 1,299 Author’s Summary: Lance never asked for anything. He was happy to just have his family. So, his family decides to surprise him. Or: Lance’s Best Birthday Ever My Comments: Gah, this is ridiculously adorable. The story about tiny Lance made my heart hurt in the best way. What a little sweetie pie, and I’m so glad he has his space family to be with him now.

What We Least Expect by inkbadger Words: 1,712 Author’s Summary: When Lance forgets it’s his birthday, he doesn’t take it well. So he retreats to the Blue Lion. But his team aren’t about to let him celebrate his birthday alone. That’s what family’s for, right? My Comments: So sweet. Everyone cares so much.

Candlelight and Supernovas by Faequeen40 Words: 12,614 Author’s Summary: Deep in space, Lance is really missing his family as his birthday comes up. The Voltron crew go about trying to throw him a birthday party. My contribution for Lance’s Birthday Week! My Comments: I really love how long this is and how everyone got their moment to shine. All of the bonding was sweet and lovely, and everyone put so much EFFORT into making sure Lance had a good and happy day. So heartwarming.

Wild Boys by Cocopops1995 Words: 13,437 Author’s Summary: Shiro wakes up back in Galra captivity. But he’s not having any of that this time. This time he’s determined to escape or die trying. Along the way he meets up with some familiar faces, some more unexpected than others. My Comments: Really fun action fic featuring BAMF Shiro and rebel Matt, among other things. A much more enjoyable way for Shiro to get back to the team than we see in a lot of fics, haha. All of the reunions were top-notch.

Summer Days (Drifting Away) by Atalto Words: 2,630 Author’s Summary: The team take a break from Voltron to regroup and recharge for the final fight against the Galra. Pidge discovers that she doesn’t really like alien beaches, no matter how human they are. My Comments: I expected fun in the sun and got emotional hurt/comfort and cuddling. I’m not complaining at all.

Little Fingers Hold the Tightest by Utsukushin (UserFromPluto) Words: 12,817 Author’s Summary: After the final battle with Zarkon, the Voltron team begins a desperate search for Shiro, but not even Slav’s ramblings on quantum realities could have prepared them for what they find. Shiro has been turned into a child–a bright-eyed, scarred little boy with one arm and no memories–and although they try their best to accommodate the change into their already-chaotic lives, no one quite anticipated just how challenging it would be. My Comments: Ahhh, this fic is amazing and adorable. Tiny Shiro is so cute, but he’s still getting flashbacks and nightmares and needs a lot of care. All of the paladins interact with him in the sweetest ways, and the art is beautiful, too.

The Burden of Adrenaline by spitfire00 Words: 1,329 Author’s Summary: Pidge carries an injured Shiro out of a hostile situation using pure spite alone. My Comments: PIDGE! What a badass! This little fic got my own adrenaline pumping, for sure.

It’s Like a Lithium Ion by F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk) Words: 5,314 Author’s Summary: On their way to the Balmera, Keith runs across a homesick Lance and tries to comfort him. Then he finds Pidge and accidentally gives her an idea and gets roped into helping. It’s a win-win though, because in the end he’s found a way to help Lance. My Comments: Such a sweet fic. Love everyone working together to try to communicate with Earth so the kids can have a way to relieve their homesickness, and Keith was a darling for sticking it out.

Oh, Won’t You Comfort Me? by Ironic_Swag7782 Words: 2,123 Author’s Summary: Crash landed on an icy planet, one broken kit of armour, damaged lions, Lance getting dangerously cold? Shiro could safely say this mission could have gone better. My Comments: I’m always up for Shiro and Lance huddling for warmth. They’re both trying so hard to take care of each other, even in bad circumstances.

Flirting Lessons by sinelanguage Words: 2,099 Author’s Summary: Allura consults her worst– and only– flirting expert for advice. My Comments: Super cute fic with the worst pickup lines ever and Lance being a good wingman. Somehow it all works out in the end. I love Lance and Allura’s friendship.

Lean On by SerenePhenix Words: 1,712 Author’s Summary: Allura tries to complete a mission while feeling anything but perfectly well. My Comments: Short, sweet sickfic featuring dizzy Allura, smart Lance, and protective Coran.

Magnesium Fires by MoonlitWaterSunnyRiver for Mellisah Words: 1,328 Author’s Summary: In retrospect, wandering into a haunted house with no backup had been a bad, bad idea. But it’s amazing how much time you have to consider these things hanging in midair with a poltergeist deciding whether or not to munch on you. Poltergeist: 1. Keith Kogane: 0. Things Pidge can hold against him: too many to count. My Comments: This is so fun and funny and cute. Keith is just trying so hard, but it’s a good thing Pidge is capable of saving him.,

A Leg to Stand On by Aclyr, hufflepirate Words: 26,526 Author’s Summary: Hunk has never wanted to be in charge of anything, but when he gets stranded on an unknown planet with a concussed Shiro, light-years away from where they were supposed to be and unable to contact the rest of the team, he has do it anyway. A galaxy away, the rest of the team is short on resources and shorter on personnel, but they’re not about to let Hunk and Shiro go without a fight. (Story by hufflepirate, art by Aclyr) My Comments: Everything about this fic is utterly perfect. Hunk is anxious, but a badass anyway, and concussed Shiro is like a confused baby chick who needs to be herded back to the nest several times. The frantic search the others go through to find them is very suspenseful and heartwrenching, and you can just feel the tension and stress everyone is struggling with. Great action, great characterization, great emotional moments. I love it to bits. The art is also amazing.

Day 1: Fever by GemmaRose Words: 2,141 Author’s Summary: With Shiro missing and her Paladins scrambling to find him, Allura can’t possibly justify taking a break. My Comments: Short, sweet sickfic featuring fanting Allura and protective Coran.

Have Faith. by halelujah for InsaneJuliann Words: 2,750 Author’s Summary: Four times where the Black Lion reassures the Paladins that all will be well, plus the time she’s reassured herself. My Comments: Post Season Two fic with a really sweet characterization of Black. Hunk is particularly adorable, as well.

hope of a better tomorrow - VLD fanfic remix for babitty! by volleycatnika for babitty Words: 3,190 Author’s Summary: How the five paladins missed Earth and came together to comfort each other (a 5+1 fic). My Comments: Lovely team bonding fic. 

Fics with Season Three spoilers under the cut. After this list, I will no longer be tagging spoilers, since it’s been two weeks now since the season came out.

What’s my name? by greenglowsgold Words: 3,538 Author’s Summary: No one ever knows who they’re going to be until they are. Names don’t always work forever. She doesn’t know who this is, but he isn’t Shiro. My Comments: Season Three spoilers. I love Pidge’s journey here, and this would be a clever way to deal with the Not-Shiro problem. Her stubbornness and determination in the face of everyone else’s disbelief is perfectly her.

You’re Brave and You’re Loved by Talking_Bird Words: 6,464 Author’s Summary: Shiro is gone, but the universe still needs defending. When Keith becomes the new Black Paladin, the team assumes Allura will replace Keith as the Red Paladin. It doesn’t quite go like that and Lance has some insecurities to overcome. My Comments: Season Three spoilers. I honestly liked the way the show did it, but I this version is nicer, with Lance getting some much needed encouragement and love. Mild Klance.

[orokinarchives]

TennoCon 2017 Developer Art Panel

Hey guys! The Developer Art Panel at last week’s TennoCon gave us a glimpse into what’s in store for the future of Warframe. The link to the whole video is here, but if you don’t want to watch an hour-long video, I’m going to break down the whole thing here.

First, there’s a picture of the art team. Of those pictured, only Lucas Hug was actually at the panel. Also at the panel were Geoff Crookes, Keith Thompson, Mat Tremblay, and Raymond Dela Cruz. The panel was moderated by Rebecca Ford.

Tintmasks for the old Vandal and Wraith weapons! It looks like the ability to recolour these uncolourable weapons is coming soon! We already had the customisable Supra Vandal, but Lucas (at Rebecca’s insistence) went and added tint layouts to all existing Vandals and Wraiths. If you’re wondering what that “Wraith” syandana on the left is, that’s the Rakta syandana from the Spectres of Liberty event.

EDIT: these weapons are now colourable as of Update 22.0 (171012).

New Grineer armour set. It comes with a four-barrelled rifle (NOT a shotgun, Lucas insists), and an “Uzi”-like handgun.

EDIT: these weapons have since been added into the game as the Quartakk (rifle) and Stubba (pistol), along with the Maggor armour set (17221).

This is the Corpus pump-action shotgun that was shown on a DevStream a while back. As an update, Geoff says the weapon hasn’t been sent to rigging yet. Not sure what that means (I’m not an artist or video game designer), but it looks like it’s still going to be a while. The shotgun is accompanied by a sniper pistol, similar to the Knell.

EDIT: these have since been added into the game as the Arca Plasmor (shotgun) and Arca Scisco (pistol) (170907).

A glass-themed weapon set meant to accompany the next warframe, who, as revealed at TennoLive, will be glass-themed. A syandana (”more like a backpack”, says Lucas), a glass hammer, a shotgun, and a kunai set. It’s a good thing they mentioned that those were kunai, or I’d have thought they were more armour pieces.

EDIT: these have since been added into the game as the Astilla shotgun, Fusilai throwing knives, Volnus hammer, and Hyalus syandana (171012).

Up top, an awesome-looking Prime sugatra, and then below, a new set of Prime armour. I really hope this is like the Prime Eos set where Baro brings them, cause there are only so many Prime Accessories packs I can buy, and these look beautiful.

EDIT: these have since been added into the game as the Spritsail Prime armour set and Sardin Prime sugatra with Hydroid Prime (170829).

This is… from the community-designed weapons? I’m not sure; it was hard to make out what they were saying at this point. I think this is a Grineer blade and whip. Regardless, it looks cool.

EDIT: this has since been added into the game as the Jat Kusar blade-and-whip (170726).

Now we get to the good stuff! Hopefully you didn’t get bored and stop reading before now. This is a Tenno ship, much bigger than the Lisets and other landing craft. Keith Thompson talked about how he designed it. The idea is the old Solar Rails don’t work anymore (Presumably the ones travelling to the Dark Sectors, as we have junctions and rails to move between planets that seem functional. Or maybe it’s the Solar Rail to the Tau system!), so this ship sort of generates its own solar rail and moves along it. Notice the cylindrical structures oriented along the anteroposterior axis, which presumably contain or generate the solar rail.

As it travels, however, it will come under attack, and shift into this defensive state, where it stops moving along the solar rail and remains stationary while a squad of Tenno defend it. There are four gun turrets (white turrets, with red-tipped barrels, visible in both pictures) that can be manned, and Tenno can jump out the ship into archwing to defend it, and the ship can be breached by boarding parties, leading to ground combat. It was somewhat implied that this would be a 4-person squad as per normal missions, but it was also stated that this would be a clan-focused mechanic, with perhaps the ships being constructed by clans (if you spend any time on the official fora, you’ll no doubt see many suggestions for something like this). It was also discussed that the ships could also serve as a communal hub (again, mostly for a clan) outside of a combat scenario.

I think this was an absolutely mind-blowing reveal, almost as much as Plains of Eidolon (okay, about half as exciting as Plains of Eidolon). No word on how quickly it’ll get implemented. I imagine everyone’s hard at work on PoE and Umbra, so it’s unlikely this is anything more than concept art at this point.

This is a Sentient outpost. They came from the Tau system – but are there any left behind? It seems like the answer is yes! They’ve been rebuilding their outposts and space stations, and soon we’ll be bringing the fight to them! (Soon™) Keith Thompson said that he was told to make it cathedral-like, and I can see it. Especially if you’ve ever seen the interior of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, which was patterned after nature by its architect, Antoni Gaudí.

(Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família interior – photo credit Jesus Solana)

This is a broken-off piece of an outpost that is being rebuilt into its own separate structure. The inner skeleton of the structure is markedly different from the material that sheathes the exterior. And some additional functionality is being built onto the arm on the right.

Keith and Geoff explain that the first Sentient the Orokin sent to the Tau system was giant – and knowing how big Hunhow is, that must be quite impressive to be “giant” by Sentient standards. It was a massive creature/robot/structure that was destroyed or broken up (how or why is never discussed), and the Sentients use pieces of it to build their outposts. The curved shape of it is meant to evoke a deeply sinister feel. The long strings take in detritus or material floating in space, likely for building materials or fuel. Geoff says it was patterned after a baleen whale, always inhaling, always taking in. Like a black hole.

Another Sentient outpost, with a closeup of the centre. It’s build around another piece of the first Sentient, with more baleen-whale-like intake. However, it’s being built much bigger than the original fragment. The skeleton of this structure has already been built, and the exterior sheathing will likely be laid on soon. This is a fascinating glimpse into Sentient construction methods and design philosophy.

These Sentient concepts are, Geoff says, an example of DE working far into the future. With all the focus on PoE, Umbra, and clans (Are we still focusing on clans this year? C’mon, Steve), I don’t think we’ll see this come into game for a year or more.

The Grineer ghouls, as revealed in the Top Cow comic! I haven’t read it yet, so I’m not sure what their role is. Rebecca and Geoff talked about them though (and Keith). Rebecca says, “As deformed and ugly as the Grineer are, you haven’t seen the bottom yet. These guys are much worse than what you’re used to.” (paraphrased) They’re incubated in these underground wombs (shown on a DevStream recently), and are brought out when needed. You can even see an umbilical-cord-like feature on the top one. The top ghoul is meant to be a sort of suicide unit, grappling on to you and exploding, while the bottom one features the return of the Grineer Sawblade, with a much bigger saw than before (anyone remember those?).

EDIT: these Ghoul enemies, along with two more variants not pictured here, were added into the game with Operation: Ghoul Purge (171221).

Lastly, we have some concept art of Ballas. Again, this is DE working far into the future, so I don’t expect to see this soon, but they were discussing how they’d like to bring him and possibly other Orokin into the game. This is our first look at what an Orokin actually looks like.

EDIT: Ballas was finally seen in-game, as depicted here, in the quest Apostasy Prologue, added with Update 22.8 (171221).

Hydroid Prime and his weapons, as well as the upcoming glass warframe, were shown here as well, but I won’t put them here because they were covered during TennoLive and in the TennoCon recap on the official website.

After this was audience Q&A. Some of the highlights:

More scarf-like syandanas (as opposed to cape-like?) are coming.

Fan concept warframes are not out of the question.

The Sentient arm-cannon weapon previewed a few DevStreams ago might be linked to the Sentient outpost, and come whenever that rolls out.

Geoff actually designed an in-game manifestation of the Tenno orbiter a couple years ago (!), and even made a docking animation with the landing craft. He was surprised it had never been shown. Rebecca made a note to show it during the next DevStream. Related: the orbiter (they said “Tenno ship”, but I assume that means the orbiter) is probably going to be expanded soon. Sure, there’s the still-locked door downstairs, but more than that, they talked about expanding the size of the orbiter and adding more stuff there. The decoration limit is not likely to go up any time soon, unfortunately, due to performance on low-end rigs when you place as many noggles in your ship as Rebecca has.

(EDIT: the Tenno orbiter was not shown on the next DevStream (170728).)

Sentients are supposed to be the highest-level content in the game, with the upcoming Sentient outposts. Those are where the veterans are supposed to go to test their skills. Not sure why this came up during an art panel.

The Sentient outposts will allow the art team to explore what Sentients other than Hunhow look like. (Right now, all the Sentients we encounter in-game are pieces of Hunhow).

That’s mostly it for the art panel. It was super interesting and a cool look into what’s in store for the future of Warframe. Really looking forward to all of this!

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[ilovelocust]

Mirror Mirror (Part 13)

Note: Welcome to I was wrong, and I am ready to write the next part of Mirror Mirror after taking a break.  Hope ya’ll enjoy.

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Some sense of normalcy has finally returned to Shiro’s life.  He can’t yet welcome Keith back to his bed, but outside the security of his room, he lets his lover back into his life piece by piece.  If things were to stay as they are he might someday be able to go all the way.  Burying the memories of his time in the alternate dimension in the deepest darkest corners of his mind, reserved for all things so much better forgotten.  Of course, the tentative peace cannot last.

Keith is sparring with him on the training deck, during one of their scheduled times.  He’s just knocked the smaller man to the floor and twisted his arms into a hold he knows the red paladin won’t be able to break, when he hears the tell tale crackle of the Castle speakers before Allura’s voice requests Shiro’s presence in Slav’s lab.

Keith offer to join him for “Moral support”.  Somehow the younger man had figured out Shiro’s, not very well hidden to be honest, distaste for being stuck in conversations with Slav.  Any buffer between him and the eccentric alien will do good for his stress levels, so he accepts.

Along with the alien in question, both Allura and Lance are waiting in the lab when he arrives.  He’s momentarily puzzled by the Blue Paladins presence, until he recalls the rotating lab assistant schedule that he has thankfully been exempt from since coming back.

“Ah good you are here!” Slav says, suddenly rearing up directly in front of Shiro’s face.  He barely keeps from lashing out in surprise, “Good, good, we may begin.”  He scurries away to climb on top of a chair with far too many wires attached to it for Shiro’s liking, “Sit down, we must hurry.  Every tick we delay reduces our chances of success by .003 percent.”

Shiro looks to Allura for an explanation, before he sits in something that looks like its primary purpose is electrocution, “Earlier Slav detected signals from what seemed to be another dimension,” Allura gestures to a screen full of pictures and Altean symbols that actually clarifies nothing.  He nods for her to continue, “Upon further investigation he found that they originated from the dimension we rescued you from.” Ice there’s ice trickling down his spine, “We think they might be searching for you,” Allura’s next words feel like an echo in his skull, “They may be trying to get you back.”

There’s more, but Shiro doesn’t hear it.  His captor is searching for him.  The thought looms large in his mind.  He’s trying to bring him back to his ice cold cells and unwanted touches.  He can’t, he can’t go back.

“Shiro!” Shiro opens the eyes he hadn’t realized he closed.  Keith is standing in front of him.  Red jacket, not his captor.  Pull it together, he can’t let the others see him like this, “Shiro you need to sit in the chair. You aren’t going back.” Keith says achingly soft, like Shiro might shatter with the wrong tone.  Keith herds him without touching to the device Slav has rigged up.  No restraints are activated, nothing is even attached to him, but his gut still churns.  Keith takes a step back.

“What does this do?” He asks, trying to re-engage himself with the moment he’s in.

“It’s going to lock you into our dimension.” Keith says, hiding his thankfullness at Shiro speaking again poorly, “Slav explained how it works, but it went over my head.  All you need to know, is no one will be able to grab you again after this is through.”  He’s not sure if that statement is for himself or Keith.

Shiro nods his understanding, and he can hear the device power up.  A quick glance around, reveals everyone but Keith is gathered around what seems to be the controls for the chair.  Slav is the only one actually doing anything.

Slav throws a lever and a low level buzzing begins to emanate from the chair.  When the tingling starts in his toes and fingers, he thinks it’s the machine at first, “Hey guys,” Lance sounds worried, “Can we hurry this up.  That signal from the other guys is getting really strong all of the sudden.”

Shiro chokes as the tingling starts to crawl up his arms and legs.  He’s going back.  His captor is pulling him away again.  He digs his fingers into the chair, bending the metal with his right.  Like he could somehow physically hold onto this dimension, or force his rapidly disappearing sense of touch to stay.  Keith will be so angry.  He promised not to leave.  He’s going to die in that cell.

Incoherent voices are shouting, as his vision slowly whites out.  Like someone is turning up the bloom on the world until he can’t make out what’s around him.  His whole body feels like its covered in ants.  Then…

Red jacket Keith is hugging him.  “You’re safe. We stopped them,” Keith words are muffled against his neck.  He looks up and can’t quite believe it.  No guards, no shock batons, the only purple in the room is Allura’s earrings.  Keith lets him go and walks away.  He can tell from the set of his shoulders that the younger man is trying to regain his composure.

“Dude, what was that about?” Lance exclaims, “You’re awesome and all, but not that awesome. Why do these guys want you so bad?”

“It does seem exceedingly odd.  In 97 percent of known universes kidnapping the Black Paladin from another universe is not worth the effort,” Slav adds unhelpfully.

“I-I don’t know why,” Shiro lies. He can’t let the others know what his captor wants from him, what Shiro has already given him.  They’d never look at him the same way again.

“Shiro,” It’s Allura this time, “I understand if you don’t wish to discuss all the grisly details, but trying to take you not once but twice, makes the interests of this other dimension important information, that at least Slav and I need to know.”

“It was the Galra.” Truth “I was a gladiator, just like before.” Partial truth, “I don’t know why they want me back so badly,” Blatant falsehood.  He should be ashamed of how easy it is to look the princess in the eye and lie to her face, but knowing what his captor wants wouldn’t help her.  If he’s lucky, she’ll write this off to his infamous memory problems, and just go about making sure any further attempts will fail as well.

Allura sighs, “Okay, I believe you.” She says.

He nods, and leaves the room.  Keith follows him out, but no one tries to stop him.

-

Shiro wanders aimlessly around the Castle with Keith by his side.  They walk in silence for a while, but he can feel the emotions and words unsaid building in the other man long before Keith speaks, “Why are you lying?” Keith asks quietly.

“I’m not,” Is his automatic response.

“Don’t bullshit me,” Keith says, physically cutting Shiro’s path down the hallway off.  Forcing him to look into his eyes, “You can lie to Allura and Lance and all the other but don’t lie to me.” He’s reminded of when Keith told him about his nightmares.  He has the same almost wet look to his eyes, “Why are you cutting me out?  You used to be able to talk to me, or at least tell me when you couldn’t.”  Because it would break him.  Keith wasn’t like Shiro or his captor, he hadn’t committed any great sins worthy of punishment.  He didn’t deserve to carry the guilt for things he didn’t do, but he didn’t believe Shiro’s story.  He wouldn’t accept the same line he’d given the others.

Half-truths, for Keith, he had to give half-truths, “I was captured by the Galra, and they did make me fight.  Not in the arena, but for their entertainment.”  Keith’s eyes are still searching his face, watching him for more falsehoods.

“But that’s not why they want you back,” Keith prods.

“No, that’s not why,” Shiro admits.

“Takashi-” Shiro flinches, and Keith cuts off mid-sentence.

“Don’t call me that,” Shiro whispers, avoiding the concern in Keith eyes.  Keith doesn’t try to touch him.  He’d told him he didn’t like to be touched and he’d listened. “My captor always called me that,” No names, but he can share some, “I think that was the only name he knew,” Or maybe he hadn’t cared. He hadn’t cared about anything else to do with who Shiro was, “He…I think-I think there used to be another me in the other dimension, and he died.” Keith is quiet listening to him speak.  The words come easier, “My captor, I think, he wanted me to replace him.  To be his Shiro.”  How can he say the next part.  He barely wants to remember what happened, “I don’t know if his Shiro was his…” He can’t say the word, “But I wasn’t willing.  To his-to the things he did…I didn’t want it.”  Shiro squeezes his eyes shut.  He needs Keith to understand without him having to say it.

“Who was it?” Shiro opens his eyes.  He can see the tremble of Keith’s fist, the way he’s gritting his teeth, “I’ll kill him.” Keith promises in a harsh whisper.

“You’ll never meet him.” Shiro says instead of answering.

-

Two days later, Shiro is once again sparring with Keith, when Slav’s panicked voice comes over the Castle speakers.  “Incoming!” is all he gets out before there is a massive spark of light in the middle of the training deck.  Shiro guards his eyes until it dies down. When he lowers his arms, his captor is standing in the Castle of the Lions.

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