#melissa18999

[dragynkeep]

“Neo will do something that’ll make you hate her.” Forgive me but there is no way Yang is actually dead sooooo nah.

jokes on you crwby it made me love her

[ninja-go-to-therapy]

Wow didn’t realize I wasn’t following you yet. That error has been corrected. Also Happy birthday!

Yay! Thank you ☺️💛

[yugirl-with-dragons]

Hey there! I just discovered your blog and I love it to pieces. Seriously thanks for all the fun aus for 5ds, they’re fantastic. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

ASDFGHJ THANK U DEAR ;;

[rwdestuffs]

Okay but real talk. Best and worst aspects of volume 7 in your opinion. (Sorry, I haven’t been paying attention to Rwde as much so if it’s not too much trouble a summary of your thoughts would be cool. If it is then feel free to ignore this ask.)

Okay, this is interesting. So I’ll put this under a readmore.

Pros:

Character development.

Weiss, Willow, Yang, Blake, Nora, Qrow, and even Penny got a lot of development this volume. While this does mean that the other characters got shafted (Though, I’m not complaining about vomit boy getting none), these characters were kinda in need of it.

What I mean is that Weiss stood up to her asshole of a father, Willow finally showed that she has some idea how to be a decent mother, Yang showed motivation to do something that isn’t related to Ruby or Raven, Blake showed a similar drive, Nora finally took initiative with her relationship with Ren, Qrow got to let his guard down (You can find me complaining about the alcoholic getting development though), and Penny got validation that she is a real girl.

So having the Maiden Powers, powers explicitly stated to only transfer to women, go to Penny is a really great arc for her.

Fights.

Call it cliched or what have you, but the fights this season were pretty good. While not on the same level as Volume 3 and prior (though, what fight is?), these fights actually felt like they were fights.

Robyn

A rule-breaking rebel named after a bird that isn’t a deadbeat bandit lady? And to be honest, she was easily the best part of the Volume. Considering that she is a really interesting character, this is a plus.

Jacques gets owned.

A corrupt, racist, narcissistic, abusive CEO gets punished for having the election hacked so that he can win?

Yep. This is definitely a fantasy show. And I like that. It’s just… So satisfying to see an asshole get what’s coming to them.

Cons:

Clover’s Death.

Yeah yeah, call me unoriginal, but that death scene was super forced, and could only really be explained if Tyrian has a Semblance that causes idiocy like that to happen.

I’ve covered this before in two prior posts, so I won’t do much here.

The level of Ironwood Bootlicking.

Ren, the Ace Ops, even the some of the fndm sided with Ironwood in his whole “abandon Mantle to die” plan. Admittedly, Ren re-sided with the main characters when what Ironwood was doing was basically pulling a Palpatine.

Simply put, Ironwood was being heartless, and so. Many. People. Sided with Ironwood over the titular team because the latter had empathy.

And then Ironwood basically hands Salem what she wants because he can never be at fault. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t update the security on his systems. It wasn’t his fault that the drones that attacked Vale were hacked. It wasn’t his fault that Mantle felt like they had no choice but to steal supplies to protect themselves. Nothing was ever his fault, it was always the fault of others.

Everyone was so much more willing to put the blame on anyone other than the military dick-tator.

… Note to self: Add this to Done dirty: Ironwood.

Being cheated out of Nora Backstory.

I think that this explains itself.

Being led-on to think that Nora was the trans character and then having it be revealed to be a random side-character to a side-character.

Admittedly, Penny could also fit this category, given that whole “Penny gets validated as being a Real Girl” thing, but Nora was wearing the colors, and given how important colors are to the series, it kinda felt… like being cheated out of something. Speaking of Penny…

Penny’s back

I like Penny. I was heartbroken when she died. So her being brought back kinda feels like her death was cheap. If the arc had also involved Ruby trying to get new Penny to ‘remember’ what Old Penny knew, that would have also been really satisfying.

[clutchpowers]

Don’t wish to alarm you, but clutch’s new eyepatch is hiding a perfectly fine eye underneath.

no he lost it so he could have a chance in the LCU (LEGO Cinematic Universe)

at least that’s what hes telling everyone

[ptw30]

The sad thing about Lance is that he was almost always the second choice, a bandaid replacement because the other option was either unavailable or dead. As a pilot he replaced Keith, As a paladin he replaced Keith, As a romantic partner he replaced Lotor, And even as a person he replaced Allura. The only time he was chosen first for something was when he was the Blue Paladin and that got snatched away from him. Dude was done dirty and the worst part is the writers didn’t even notice.

Oh, I think they noticed. I just don’t think they cared - or even if they did, they didn’t do anything to change it. 

[bitterlapis]

Thoughts on the, “there’s always another way than killing,” message children’s cartoons since Batman the animated series have loved to push? There hasn’t really been much nuance not even in top tier western kids cartoons like A:TLA. (American dragon Jake long S2 though...) Look no further than SU for a series that started out with nuance only to fall back to that same moral. “She didn’t always do what was best for her, but she always did what was best for earth.” That line is so cringy now.

Yeah, that line is cringy now x_x

Anyway, my thoughts on the “there’s always another way than killing,” message. It works for certain characters. It definitely doesn't work for tyrannical dictators.

It works for Batman because the show already established his no killing rule. It works for Avatar The Last Airbender because Aang was raised by monks and learned about their ideals and morals. Plus the show and characters addressed and acknowledged that Fire Lord Ozai is bad and must be stopped.

While Aang didn't kill him, he did made him weak by stripping him of his bending. Ozai was then locked behind bars to rot to attone for his crimes.

In SU....not so much. In the beginning of the show he was all about fighting. He loved how the Gems fought corrupted Gems. He loves how Opal fought, he loved how violent Sugilite was. When Lapis told him that they can't fight Peridot and Jasper Steven was like, "No, that's why we HAVE to fight them!"

He learned about the Diamonds. He learned that they don't care about the Earth. He learned that they want to destroy it. He acknowledged that they are bad people.

But now when he comes face to face with the Diamonds, he doesn't want to fight them? He wants to talk to them? Despite learning about the horrors they've done? Steven, these people colonize planets and kill their own people for being different. Why do you think the Off Colors were hiding?

Where did his spark to fight back go? Where did this "Let's talk it out" attitude come from? What happened to Steven?

This whole "I don't want to fight the Diamonds, I'd rather talk it out/we're family" is just so sudden and out of place for a show that started out with Steven ready to throw hands.

The “there’s always another way than killing," message only works if it is set in stone in the early episodes. And if it changes, then you HAVE to show how the hero changes their mind. Not this random, out of the blue nonsense.

[storyboos]

Plus if you think about it parties involving the whole kingdom would be Festivia’s best chance to meet her birth parents without explicitly looking for them, as that could’ve pissed off her adoptive father.

In her chapter it says she was raised by the magical high commission, and she believes her birth parents are eclipsa and Shastacan

[lattetimes]

The thought process with the yellow and blue diamond appears to be, “well they didn’t actually do what they meant to do so it’s cool. Also they were just pissed that their sis was dead so their actions are understandable.” This is forgetting what these two have done on at least 10 other planets.

how the FUCK would they not realize what they’re doing, @ Crew?? 

Yellow Diamond deadass said to Peridot, “i want that planet to die”

[avocatotoast]

Hey yo. I can’t remember if you were in the discord when I pointed this out so I wanted to ask your thoughts on what I noticed. So in two different episodes Gary hugs someone and says, “hell yeah.” And then later in that episode the character he hugs dies. Do you think this is intentional?

yeah, i think there’s a strong possibility that’s intentional ^^ i don’t think it would mean anything significant story-wise, but i could definitely see the crew slipping in little parallels like that

[pdqsketch]

This isn’t really an ask so much as me saying that I really liked your Evermore animatic and I can’t wait to see more of what you draw.

I... Don’t know how long this was in my Inbox. I apologize if it was a long time. But thank you! Evermore was a blast to work on. I’m working on another musical animatic right now. It’s not from any fandom, just my own characters. I hope you will continue to like the stuff I make lol!

[dragynkeep]

I haven’t watched the episode yet but I have seen Watts’ takedown of Cinder and not so sound cliche but it was... in a word... cathartic. Your thoughts?

It was great. Arthur was right in everything he said, and the fact that he didn’t work for Cinder but Salem, who would come back, meant that he could say that to Cinder’s face rather than cower because she was higher than them. Even with being dangled on the side of a skyscaper, Arthur and Cinder are on even playing field and he knows this.

After dealing with Cinder’s unrelenting attitude and entitlement, I’m so happy that Arthur read her to filth and told her exactly what was on his mind. No one cares that she suffered, because everyone’s suffered. You can’t bully your way to power, you have to earn it. You can’t just be strong, you have to have the brains to back it up.

It was great. More Watts please.

[maiikawriter]

Hey there long time no see. This is more me just wanting to pitch an idea for a fanfiction and wanting to see if you know if someone’s done it before. So what if Raditz came to earth with Goku, but through circumstances I can’t think of yet the two both bump their heads and forget everything they knew. However Raditz, because he’s older, remembers his name and randomly has nightmares about who he use to be. Raditz could lose his memory via his ship crashing instead of properly landing. Thoughts?

I want to say this has been done before.  It has to have been done before, right?  But specifically, I can’t name anything.  

The closest I can think of is Walk in another direction by Thesaurus_with_no_words, which has canon beginnings up until the point of Raditz coming back which becomes Vegeta taking Goku instead, and the reason this fic idea reminds me of it is that Raditz and Goku develop a close bond like brothers, even after Goku leaving Earth.  However, it’s a kakavege fic and probably not at all what you have in mind.  That being said, I believe I’ve heard about a fic where Vegeta comes to Earth with Goku as children, but I’m not sure about that.  Those are the closest things I know of to this fic idea.  So as far as I know, no one has done it yet.

I really like the idea of Raditz having nightmares about his past because of those memories coming through, but yeah.  Interesting concept, which at this point, I cannot say has been done already.

Maybe some followers know a fic like this, if it exists?  Anyone?

[rwdestuffs]

Seriously hoping for that Neo betrayal next volume. She’s more competent than Cinder could ever even dream of being.

Yeah…

[clutchpowers]

I just noticed the mismatching boots on your Clutch and I am IN LOVE

thank you 8^)

[ptw30]

VLD Season 7 Reactions: Part 2

Hi, @dreamworksanimation and @voltron! Hope you had a great holiday weekend. I received more asks since the last time I sent you a post. Please give these a read, as these are the reviews sent to me from the fandom. Best - ptw30

Anonymous said: Voltron is all build up and no follow up. They teased us with a very cool premise and then slowly went away from it till they finally went to "nope don't remember didn't happen". And the EPs even seem proud of that. I wonder if they ever watched the show :(

The EPs lack the ability to bring a resolution or closure. We never find out Haggar’s motivation or reasoning about Operation Kuron. We never find out who the “other one” was in the pilot. We never find out Shiro’s bayard form. Lance’s insecurities are never resolved. We never find out the limitations of Allura’s powers - she can transfer souls but can’t find the Black Lion galaxies away? There’s just so much left out of the story. 

Anonymous said: Sometimes I think about all of voltron’s loose threads and how this next season is the last and am then transported back to my high school days of putting off projects until the last second, throwing something together, aiming for at least a passing grade. 

The EPs failed a long time ago, if that’s the case. When they decided to kill off one of the main characters without allowing the team to grieve, forced the most popular paladin off the team, demoted the leader of the team to a soldier, and abandoned its own lore, including breaking the strongest paladin-lion bond without any explanation - they failed to give the viewers any satisfying conclusion to this story. No matter what the next 13 episodes include, it won’t make up for the middle 39 episodes that literally brought tragedy after tragedy, especially to the team’s only LGBTQ+, multiple-minority character. 

@sweet-rabbit​ said: You know, if the EPs wanted us to not like, nay, LOVE AND ADORE Shiro as much as we do, it was probably a huge misstep on their or whoever's part that they hired a man who voiced a freakin' DISNEY RENAISSANCE CHARACTER to voice Shiro. The blasted fools, the lot of them!

Josh Keaton is a consummate professional, and no doubt, Andrea Romano nailed it when working with him and the team. If there is one thing that is absolutely, without a doubt, above reproach with this show - it’s the voice acting. It is outstanding.

@safeautistickeith said: Damsel Shiro aaaaalways felt Suspect ™ for me. Like. Keith can say, ”we saved each other” (whoever wrote that bless them) But, lbr Shiro’s sidelining was a slowburn that started from his damsel-dom. S1: S and K each got a Big Save. K saved S when he came back to Earth. S saved K when K went after Zarkon (Shiro voice: I’ve got you, buddy) S2: K saved S in Across the Universe. S saved K in Marmora. Equals? Yes. Truly. Then s3 comes along and it’s not longer this beautiful, mutual thing, but Shiro becomes a Damsel in Distress. Which Yikes ™ Asian man demoted to damsel? Unfortunate implications. He’s arc has been about leading up until then? Unfortunate implications. He’s a gay male( the reveal planned in s2??) un for tu nate implications. There’s a line between, ”you can be masc and also need help” and just making him a damsel. Big Yikes. 

Voltron originally broke tropes, which was awesome. Allura wasn’t a princess locked away in a castle-ship but a knock-out, drag-out warrior who wasn’t afraid to get into the fray. Shiro, the strong-willed leader, wasn’t afraid to accept help. Keith, the loner, felt perhaps the most for his team. “Loverboy” Lance was actually the heart of the team, rather than a female character playing that part. Hunk, too, was strong but scared, and Pidge was not the stereotypical girl figure. 

In Season 3, the story began to fall into the traps of the tropes it had broken, and it’s been a demoralizing and disappointing journey ever since.

@melissa18999 said:The lack of characters being challenged emotionally is why everything after season 2 bothers me. Kuron’s arc didn’t test the characters on an emotional level given how after the arc is over everyone just moves on. It’s there only to write actual shiro out of the show for a bit rather than seriously affect the cast. Same thing with Keith’s [crap] and every other character. Nothing tests them emotionally. (Maybe Allura with Lotor)

VLD misses a lot of emotional beats. One of the biggest failures was not showing when the team learned about Keith’s Galran heritage. Then we never see the emotional fallout with the clone, other than the team referring to him as “evil.” The clone fought alongside with the team, perhaps longer than Shiro, and the team never mourned him. Sendak and Shiro’s fight? Shiro never says a word, and then Keith kills Sendak, taking away Shiro’s right to fight back against his one-time captors. 

Lotor had Pidge’s dad and didn’t even try to make her a traitor to Team Voltron? Narti could control minds and not one of the paladins was ever brainwashed by her? Haggar did it to a clone, not even Shiro. 

Even Allura and Lotor’s relationship - Allura’s anger was the stereotypical  “woman scorned.”

So much potential, and it’s just wasted. 

Anonymous said: An ask or two doesn't have enough room to describe how much Shiro means to me, how much strength I draw from him, how many dark places he's helped me out of. But s6's treatment of kuron/shiro left me in tears and nearly dissociating for hours, and it's the only season I haven't rewatched. And here's the kicker: Everything I've read about s7 has made the thought of watching it feel identical to an urge to self harm. I want the EPs to think about that. I want them to think hard about people like me, because I doubt I'm the only one who's been affected like this. And I want them to really, really consider if this is the story they wanted to tell. If this is the effect they wanted their story to have.

Shiro is important to many people in terms of representation, and I’ve read many posts about people who identify with him. I’m glad he’s had an impact upon your life, and I hope you can still take comfort in the earlier seasons. Please take care. 

Anonymous said: I think I'd be okay with the "Shiro had a degenerative disease" if that was it alone. Like, it's a really good explanation of why everyone so readily accepted the pilot error thing despite Shiro being an absolute legend of a pilot. But it was tied together with his gay reveal and then the story he was shoved into and... I cannot like it, or accept it.

Shiro was revealed to be LGBTQ+, have a degenerative disease, and lose his place in Voltron - all in one season. The juxtaposition of the reveals is reprehensible, and it sends a horrible message to people who have mental and physical struggles, are LGBTQ+, and minorities. 

Anonymous said: So, here's why the "it's a show abt war so you have to suffer watching, bc there's only tragedy" excuse is weak: It’s a show about space robots, a space robot called voltron. It's not a show about drama, about people dying and it never was. It was supposed to be a show about teamwork (supposed bc that premise has left the building a long time ago) with war comes death? Yes, absolutely, but its not an excuse to kill all of the lgbt characters 

That’s the issue - it’s not an excuse to kill all the LGBTQ+ characters. A show about war that has death and handles appropriately is one thing. Mourning the clone, mourning Shiro, mourning Narti - all those things should have happened, and they didn’t. (These characters were also all with physical and mental disabilities, DreamWorks.)

Showing children closure, helping them to understand death - is a good lesson to learn. But excluding Shiro from his only family, killing his one-time SO in a “fringe” move, and then killing the other LGBTQ+ couple in the show - not to mention killing Shiro four times - that’s a message DreamWorks should not be sending children. 

Anonymous said: The one thing I wanted from Voltron Season 7: Shiro getting to reunite with the team, and work with them again as a part of the team - also, the one thing the Voltron EPs refuse to allow.

Not to be technical - but that’s actually two things. Shiro did reunite with the team, but unfortunately, he wasn’t a part of the team. In fact, he was excluded to the point of no longer even being called a paladin, according to “The Journey Within,” and I agree. I wanted that in Season 7 as well. 

Anonymous said: I'm still lowkey [mad] that Sincline, made of the same material as Voltron, was not sentient, but the MFE fighters and Atlas, which are reverse-engineered galtean tech and run off... idk what they run off, magic low-charge batteries maybe... are implied sentient.

I’m not sure, but I can say - I am sad that didn’t pan out, either. I wanted to see what Lotor and his generals could do in Sincline. I’m sad that Atlas, clearly built for Allura, didn’t talk to Allura first. Instead, she will always be Blue’s second choice, Lance Red’s second choice, and Keith left to Black because Shiro...didn’t not to fly Black anymore? I’m not quite sure why. The story never tells us. 

Rounding back - Sincline had so much more potential than was realized. 

Anonymous said: In not committing to a specific black paladin, or even a specific direction and endgame, the story failed to stay together. It fell apart in the same manner a soft cheese does when pressed to a fine-hole cheese grater.

There are a lot of things that failed to keep the story together. The first and foremost was - you need to keep the team together, or at the very least, not lose two of your main characters in one 26-episode batch, one character for 24 episodes, another for 12.  

Anonymous said: If the EP's have treated Shiro as an equal instead of a 'problem' they had to put up with, would VLD have not have gone downhill? It does feel like their dislike for one character and their stubbornness to stick to their original plan is what dragged the show down. It really does feel like what happened behind the scenes has become a cautionary tale on what you shouldn't do when writing a story and its characters.

I can’t say for sure, but what I can say is - the moment the EPs saw Shiro not as a character but as a plot device, is the moment the story began to unravel. 

cc: @netflix