#that lion swap really screwed them in the end
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
shallurallels · 3 days ago
Text
You know what I think about a lot.
The writers could’ve easily avoided the lion swap and Kuron as a whole by simply making it as if Shiro had been teleported to the Galra during those those last few seconds in the fight of 2x13.
Tumblr media
To me that storyline would have been 10x more interesting.
Imagine Shiro being recaptured and having to figure out how to escape but we actually see his escape this time. Imagine the overarching issue for the Paladins being they can’t form Voltron in season 3 because they’re down a lion and Black doesn’t allow Keith to pilot it. They’re then forced to forge a better bond with their lions, unlocking new abilities and a greater understanding of the lions individually.
That way we still would’ve gotten the origin story of Voltron (with some major tweaking cuz I didn’t care much for the actual origin story) but it raises the stakes.
Tumblr media
No Bp Keith. No Allura assuming a lion. None of that bs. They could’ve done so much with these storylines. Then either at the end of season 3, Shiro somehow reunites with the team, or that’ll be top of season 4. Seeing true emotions of fear, anger, sadness driving the paladins throughout the season would’ve added so much depth to each of their characters, especially Keith’s.
Tumblr media
Lotor would still the be big bad of season 3 since Zarkon is down for the count, along with Haggar and the generals by his side. Ooouuu what if we actually got a scene where Haggar is explaining to Shiro why he could’ve been their greatest weapon.
On that note, I would’ve really liked to see more on Shiro’s ptsd. That could’ve been highlighted with him being back in the hands of the Galra. Perhaps Black was trying to teleport him to safety but Zarkon was interfering up til the very last moment? Just as Keith has suggested.
Idk I just feel like season 2 really set up season 3 to be the downfall of the show—the Lion swap specifically.
11 notes · View notes
todororororokiy · 4 years ago
Text
Voltron is trending so here’s how I’d remake Voltron: Legendary Defender
I’d like to preface this with a few things 1) I loved season 1 and 2, I was a die hard Voltron fan from the second I started watching, and while I had issue with season 3-6 I was ok with them 2) I never watched season 8 and I only watched half of 7. From what I hear, this was a good decision 3) I spent six hours straight working on this, so I apologise for any spelling mistakes or errors 4) None of this belongs to me.
Ok, basic setup is the same except for one thing, Shiro is aged down. It never made sense to me to have Shiro be 25, and the rest of them be 15-18, it seemed like a very big gap, and as we can see from Fandom it caused a lot of discourse. So every bodies aged as such, just for reference:
Shiro: 20
Allura: 22
Keith: 18
Lance & Hunk: 17
Pidge: 16
One more note, all seasons would be about 11-13 episodes long. It has never made sense to me why four of the eight season were 6-7 episodes and the rest were a normal length.
Season 1 & 2
Both of these seasons were great. Voltron was a really good show for these first seasons. There’s nothing to change here.
Season 3
Plot Changes
Nonoe at the moment. There would be more scenes added and obviously some scenes would be altered but over all the plot is intact.
Shiro’s Disappearance
In this version everyone has a different opinion on Shiro's disappearance, I never felt like they did in the show.
Keith, obviously, thinks he’s alive and so does Pidge.
Hunk and Coran remain doubtful, though they each have a little hope, Coran more so than Hunk
Allura and Lance both think the worst. Side note: this is where we see Lance and Allura properly transition from slightly awkward coworkers to friends. Their shared grief and angst helps them bond and open up a route for them to start communicating. They kind of got over him being a creep reallysuddenly, and that doesn’t happen, even if he had stopped the behaviour, I think she’d take some time before she allowed him to be her friend.
Pidge and Her Family
Pidge is super isolated in the original show. While her arc, I felt, was about trusting the team and leaning on them more for support. To come out of her shell, and be defined by something greater than her family and love for technology.
In this version everyone wants to help find Matt and Dr. Holt. Having her connect with the team by them wanting to help, and especially them wanting to help in the wake of Shiro’s disappearance feels like a logical move. Everyone’s devastated about Shiro one way or another, and they want to see Pidge get her family back. It brings the team members hope for Shiro.
Lion Swapping and My Many Issues with it
the lion swap should have been temporary. Something they had to do but would try to avoid as much as possible.
Originally everyone wants Allura to pilot Black. She’s their commander and so should take up the mantle of leader. But black refuses her entry.
In this version everyone in the team says that they’re making do with what they have. That Allura is their commander of their operation, Shiro their leader. We see in this episode there’s almost a bit more of an understanding between the paladins, we seen that each has grown to see one another for the person they are rather than the person they initially thought they were.
We see struggle both in the team as they can’t make voltron, and having no real commander as Allura’s been forced to pilot the Blue lion. We also see a major issue arise because Allura CANNOT connect with blue. Keith, Allura and Lance can fly in them, but they can’t unlock any of their elemental powers. It’s impossible. We see through this season moment where ice or fire or teleportation might be useful but the paladins have to find ways around it because of this handicap. The emphasise that the lion swap isn’t something to be taken lightly and is a real issue.
Lance and Feelings of being Inferior
Lance feels like he’s he’ll never match up to Keith throughout this season as Keith has started to prove that he’s more of a leader than Lance has.
Because lance’s friendships with everyone have deepened, they start to  encourage him a bit more, be more supportive towards him.
We see Lance stand up for himself as well when Hunk and Pidge make comments about his intelligence that actually really hurt him, we see them being surprised, but then they profusely apologise and say they were joking, we see an absence of said jokes after this point. This helps build Lance’s self esteem a little
Keith and Lance’s friendship also has room to breath as Keith is y’know, around, and not off with the blade. Through this friendship Lance comes to realise Keith isn’t all perfect and that he might be holding himself up to unrealistic expectations, though he still doubts himself a lot
The Clone Plot Line/The Lance and Shiro Plot Line
The clone plot line? Loved that soooooo much, it could’ve been so good, we could’ve had so much interesting stuff, and we did, The Black Paladins is fantastic, but they did nothing else, and I feel like even in that episode the clones were set dressing.
There was also the issue of Lance breaking down into tears in season six. What was that? He didn’t have the emotional connection to Shiro I felt the show was implying he did. We’re gonna fix that.
We see Lance and Shiro become closer friends while he’s a clone.
Clone Shiro is a lot more vulnerable and less guarded with his emotions than original Shiro was, and a little more willing to joke and be more lenient, even if this can also back fire when he explodes into fits of rage.
This allows everyone to get closer to him, but especially Lance, who I feel up until this point was just always at a weird point in his relationship with Shiro where they were friends, but Lance got the impression Shiro didn’t like him a whole lot and Shiro got the impression Lance found him very intimidating and scary, and had zero idea how to deal with this.
Keith and Leadership
Keith’s time as a leader helps teach him some things and really gets the ball rolling on showing the audience that he can be a leader even if he initially struggles  
season 4
Plot Changes
Keith floats between the Blade and Voltron for maybe an episode of two.
Everyone is convinced that once Shiro can fly black, things can go back to normal.
After returning from a mission the castle ship gets attacked and everyone runs to their lions. Allura and Lance pipe up over the comms on their helmets that they can’t access Blue or red. Lance runs to see if he can convince Blue to stop being like this
Meanwhile Keith has a talk with Coran and comes to the realisation that he wants to be apart of the team while Pidge, Hunk and Shiro try to deal with the threat themselves. He gets the message from Allura who comes running into the room saying they can’t access red. Lance was able to get into blue however. Keith rushes off with his mind decided, he hears red in his mind. They form voltron for the first time since shiro’s disappearance.
Everyone’s helping Pidge look for her father and brother and at the start of an episode we get a scene of them all discussing some potential clue while they train.
The episode where Pidge finds her brother follows the same outline, but everyone’s there helping her. However the really emotional scenes ie the graveyard scene and later on when they’re reunited, take place with only Pidge and Matt so the moment isn’t ruined
Instead of Keith discovering the trap at the end of the season, it’s Allura as Keith is with the Voltron team on the planet, trapped.
Shiro gives some “this isn’t the end of the line” speech and talks about how they’ve all connect more over the past few months, and they’ve become a real family and nothing can change, even if it all ends here. That causes the others to all connect with their lions on a deeper level, and it helps them raise out of the field, but only a little. Then Shiro asks black to trust him, to put her faith in him once again. He tells her he knows somethings wrong with him, that he doesn’t know how to fix it. That what they did to him was terrible- and she flashes something in his mind telling him off for such negative thoughts and they connect. Voltron rises.
Keith, Conflict, and Starting to become a Leader
The season begins with Keith still struggling to decide how to spend him time. We see more of this struggle, that starts in this episode. He’s trying to spend as much time with Voltron and as much time with The blade as he can.
He feels connected to the blade due to his heritage and believes somehow he’ll be able to find some sense of family. But he’s more connected to his team and Voltron. We, as an audience, know that he’s already found his family in Voltron at this point.
We also see everyone deeply worrying and missing him. With frequent calls and messages exchanged back and forth between everyone and Keith. He feels this worry and doesn’t know what to do, because for the first time in his life he has a family that cares about him.
As the season goes on we see Keith prove himself as a leader without being the leader of Voltron. When Shiro’s incapacitated we see him take charge and guide everyone.
One particular moment would be Keith having to command a group of alien soldiers, and get them all to follow him and help fight off some Galra from their planet. In this we see Keith struggle slightly to control everyone, before he gets the hang of it and leads everyone to victory and safety.
The Clone Plot Line
Because Shiro is a clone he cannot access the black lion. This is sort of implied to be because she knows he’s a clone and refuses to let him in because his quintessence is screwed up.
Lance and Shiro are seen to confide in each other a lot, and Shiro tells Lance things he feel he can’t tell anyone else, even Keith, for fear they’ll worry too much.
We see the start of Shiro’s headaches in this season, and Lance helps soothe them.  
Shiro does eventually access the black lion, but only because of some hard core begging and Keith being back
When we see Haggar we realise she’s spying on the paladins through Shiro. Some way or another we also learn that they were able to make this clone using DNA samples from Shiro amputated arm that they preserved.
The audience can also come to the conclusion that the reason Shiro gets a headache’s is because of Haggar looking through his eyes.
Pidge’s Family
Pidge gets a lot of clues about her family and the team helps her track down Matt and Dr. Holt.
We see a lot of team bonding over this as they try to break down clues and discover where they are, and how to get to them.
The whole arc surrounding her brother and father is a little more in depth.
As this arc goes on in this season we also see Pidge being to come to see the other paladins as her family. Pidge is the last one to have this realisation and it really solidifies them as a family unit
The team all have a really sweet moment where Pidge announces that she’s glad she had the help of her family to help find her brother.
Lotors motivation: what are they?
Before we get into the next four season, I’d like to specify Lotor’s motivations, and the reasons behind why he does what he does.
Lotor is troubled. He was abused as a child. His parents were corrupted and evil, and there was nothing he could do about. He suffered greatly emotionally and physically when they raised him. He was desperate to please them.
As he grew and tried to both find a balance between acquiring large supplies of quintessence and keeping the local people of the planets they were mining happy, he was punished for these digressions. He became angry, and started to hate the Galra. Blaming them for everything wrong in the universe. Believing that without them his parents would not be like this.
Lotor wants to bring back Altea, he comes to believe that they’re absence in the universe has caused the Galra to take over. He thinks they’ll be able to undo, and fix everything bad in the universe. The problem is, there aren’t a lot left of them. There are a few, scattered, and hunted down by the empire and eventually all will be caught. It scares him and when Altea was destroyed, along with millions of Alteans so easily.
Lotor realises he can no longer try to convince his father and mother that what they’re doing in wrong. He decides to make the colony to protect the remaining Alteans. To hide them away in a far, far off planet in an odd section of space the Galra don’t have interest in.
He comes to learn of alternate realities and ways to reach through and get to them. He believes, and in his mind he knows, that what he has to do is find some reality where Alteans are the ruling class, and not any Alteans, these Alteans, the version that existed just before Altea was destroyed. He won’t bring all of them over, just some, slowly and efficiently until there’s enough to defeat the Galra empire and bring back peace to the galaxy.
Lotor comes to realise the sheer amount of power this will require however, and comes to a dark realisation. He harvests some of the Alteans for their quintessence. Because the ends justify the means. He will bring peace and harmony to the universe if it’s the last thing he does. Even if it means a few sacrifices.
Back to our scheduled programming
season 5
Plot Changes
Keith is still with the team.
Zarkon doesn’t die in the second episode of the season. Cause what was that. Like seriously.
Allura and Keith are the first to like and trust Lotor for different reasons
Everyone else is far more sceptical. They still don’t trust Lotor. He seems sketchy.
The team have more direct encounters with Zarkon and a lot of different fractions of the Galra empire this season due to Lotor. While the Galra all unquestionably follow Zarkon.
Many Galra say that Lotor “has all the thirst for power that Zarkon does, all the thirst for quintessence but none of the courage to stand up and take it” which paints him in a better light as they all interpret this to mean he’s not anywhere near as cruel as Zarkon.
We see in a sort of one off shot of them post saving a planet that Shiro still cannot figure out what’s wrong with him, while Lance tells him that there isn’t anything wrong with him. A shallow comfort as they both at this point don’t believe that.
The blade offer Keith a mission right before the battle where Zarkon dies, a mission to do with something important, and is too take place after their current mission. Keith believes it may be his mother, and Lotor and the team pushes Keith to take the chance. He doesn’t want to leave the team but Lotors words about seeing his mother for what she truely is. Lotor means this in a really sinister way we later find out. Keith asks Red to once again give her command to Lance and both Blue lion and red accept the changes.
Zarkon dies at the end of this season, a fight between Lotor and him, we see a lot of emotion, and tense fighting. Zarkon dies to his son.
Pidge’s Family
The whole thing with Pidge’s father remains, and so does going back to earth. It’ll take a long time, but Pidge’s father feels he doesn’t belong here the same way his children do. He’ll be back, they’ll see each other again some day soon.
Alongside this we get the confirmation that Pidge really does feel that the team is her family just as much as Matt, and her parents are.
The Clone
On the Shiro front, he feels terrible, things have only gotten worse for him, he feels completely unlike himself.
Because of the severity of his headaches, the team puts him in the healing pods a few times, but they do nothing, everyone is worried.
Lance especially had a few fears as he hears more and more worrying information from Shiro about nightmares he keeps suffering. Shiro asks him not to tell anyone.
While Shiro doesn’t tell even Lance, we the audience learn of his illness and his ex boyfriend and the issues that arose because he wanted to go to space.
Keith, Galra Heritage and Leadership
Keith warms to Lotor surprisingly quickly. He finds comfort in talking with someone like Lotor about his Galra heritage. Lotor is half Galra, and while the rest of the paladins are supportive. They don’t understand it in the way Keith believes Lotor understands it
While Keith does hear some worrying comments from Lotor, he ignores them, as he doesn’t want to lose this connection.
We see Keith act more as a leader this season as well, with him again leading planets of aliens, and at a few points, Voltron when Shiro’s headaches incapacitate him
Lance and Self Esteem
Through this season we see Lance come into himself a little more. As per the last season he’s been more honest with everyone and it’s made him happier
We also see Lance realise he doesn’t really want to be a big leader like Shiro and Keith. That while he can, he doesn’t want to. He prefers taking a step back. In this realisation he becomes a lot more confident in himself as the teams sharpshooter, something everyones been calling him since season one. His gun transforms into a sniper rifle with this realisations and he and the team are amazed.
being back in blue also helps reaffirm this as he and blue continue to power up together.
Allura and Lotor’s Developing Relationship
Allura warms to Lotor after some initial hesitation, as she comes to believe he wants the same thing as her, the return of a peaceful time, and harmony in the universe. He wants desperately to find some way to restore the universe and they bond and develop genuine romantic feelings.
Allura and Lotor start sorta dating in this season towards the ending, before everything goes to shit, and he slowly begins to want to reveal his true plan to her.
We also see Lotor’s many conflicting emotions surrounding his father. Him killing Zarkon at the end of the season serves to cement Lotor as a good guy to everyone, and a symbolic way of freeing him from his past.
Side note: the monsters and mana episode takes place in this season before Keith leaves and things take a nose dive into serious business
Season 6.
Plot Changes
This season begins with Voltron fighting a small army of Galra fighters.
Many Galra, in preparation for the Kral Zera, have started to prepare their armies and followers so they can take over the Galra empires at the kralzera
Lotor, with the help of Voltron takes his “rightful” place as ruler, this is because, while Shiro and Lance are still a little skeptical all the other have at least become friendly.
This season follows the paladins as they attempt to be Voltron while Keith is out on a long mission. They miss him, and just like at the beginning of season 3, we see a litany of messages and texts, and voicemails and a few videos sent to him. Even though they don’t get a response. The blade informs the team that Keith will not be able to contact them for some time. The team continues to message him in spite of this.
Lance dies. Lance fucking dies and everyone has a major freak out and there is visible grief and horro among the paladins. Allura brings him back much to everyone’s relief.
we see a lot of angry aliens in this, both over the fact they’re siding with Lotor and over the fact they’re not doing anything immediate
After they come out of the quintessence field, Lotor reveals his true plans to her. She’s horrified and disgusted, much to his chagrin and takes off in one of the Sincline ship.
At the same time as Allura is having this moment, so too are the paladins. Keith has returned with his mother, and an Altean to back up his story Shiro starts having a progressively major headache as time goes on, Lance tries to comfort him.
Allura does manage to get back to the castle of lions. In tears she tells everyone what they already know and they all share a moment of shock before Allura frantically says that Lotor was right behind her.
Shiro’s programming activates and he knocks everyone out and takes Lotor.
The black paladins is a great episode. It’s the same episode in this version. Everything else after this episode stays the same too. It’s pretty good. I’d like to note, Voltron didn’t fail because it couldn’t hit these big emotional beats. It failed because it could never hit the small ones.
The Clone  
While dead, Lance sees Shiro.
Not for the first time, he worries that maybe the Shiro on his team has a point about feeling different.
Shiro and Lance have a moment where Lance is telling him as Shiro is breaking down to “look at me,” to try and give him a grounding spot, and then in this moment Shiro looks away and Honerva’s programming comes through. He knocks out everyone and we get a shot of Lance looking crushed by the realisation, he starts to cry.
Keith, Galra Heritage and Leadership
We see, just as we do in the original show, a lot of time with Keith’s mother
Keith is incredibly conflicted on her return. For one, he wants answers and she seems incredibly unwilling to provide any at all, but on the other hand he’s so great full to have her in his life.
Keith and his mother eventually talk
Keith finds himself feeling guilty about missing his team. Worried and concerned for them, and how they’re coping in the power vacuum caused by Zarkon death.
We again see Keith be a leader with far less effort now. Instead of struggling where he had before, we see Keith take being a leader in stride. Even on one of the smaller planets they pass, helping organise so that food can be brought more easily, and aiding with fending off a particularly nasty creature that has been pestering them.
Keith over this trip gets many lessons about the Galra, and finds comfort in the knowledge, event he parts he can’t stomach. It brings him some closure on this part of his life he’s been yearning to understand for years.
Lance and the Red lion
Throughout the season, we see being in the red lion, and Keith’s absence chip away at Lance a little.
He begins to once again doubt himself and compare himself to Keith.
We also see Shiro help Lance the same way Lance has been helping him for the past couple of season. With support and guidance and helping Lance once again realise he’s his own person
before Lance can truely again be confident in himself, the whole thing with the clone blows up in his face and he’s forced to suffer the consequences.
Conflict in the team
Throughout this season we see the dilemma of what they should be doing versus what they are doing. To many it seems that they are doing nothing, while behind the scenes there’s a lot of stuff going on, coordinating between multiple governments, and a lot of smaller battles occurring that few see or hear of as they don’t require Voltron.
The paladins mostly believe they should be striking a balance, but Allura and Lotor keep attempting to convince them that what they’re doing is sufficient. It frustrates the team to no end.
We see how Lotor manipulates each of them through this season too, more obviously as the audience has at this point been let on that he’s doing something bad.
However we also see Lotor very pointedly not talk about anything hinting at his real plans in front of Shiro, letting the audience know that Lotor knows something is wrong with him.
Allura and Lotor
Lotor and Allura are very close at this point. They have shared their relationship with the team, and  Lotor believes she will side with him if he tells her.
Instead Allura is disgusted by what he’s been doing and tries to get away from him. She fundamentally disagrees with what he’s been doing.
Season 7
Plot Changes
Shiro’s new body doesn’t reject him
the lions are depleted of power. They’re recharging slowly according to Allura, thanks to the strong bonds the paladins share, but it’s unlikely they’ll be fully charged any time soon.
Eveyrone’s depressed and having a lot of feelings of betrayal about Lotor and mixed feelings about the fact they’ve been living with a clone for a long, long time and they had no idea.
Shiros death does a singular good thing. Shiro is more connected with Black then ever. He can now teleport
The whole scene where Keith fights Macidus is with Shiro and it shows them being back insync after being a little lost with each other.
They all find out it’s been three years. In that time Lotor has ruled fiercely, demanding the quintessence mines across the galaxy be drained as quickly as possible. Why? Because of the stunt Voltron pulled three years ago, he can no longer access the quintessence field.
Hunk off Handedly remarks that Keith could be the new ruler of the Galra empire. Keith scoffs.
The flight home takes about half the season.
Through this half season they find a few things out. One is that the rebels have splintered and lost a lot of communication between groups since Voltron disappeared. Two they learn that Lotor found the location of earth. Three Lotor has a high, high price on their heads, far higher than even Zarkon has put upon them.
The paladins eventually all come together as a team, and become even further connected and that charges the lions enough that Shiro can create a wormhole far closer to earth.
They find nothing
This horrifying realisation comes accompanied by a signal from Matt Holt who has a specific bot designed to responds only to Voltron. Lance helps Pidge get it.
The next episode is going to find Matt.
There’s a teary reunion between the two of them and they find a massive colony of those who fled earth when they realised it was to be destroyed when Lotor was attempting to find Voltron, and flew into a rage when they were not there.
Everyone’s family is safe as they were some of the first taken from earth. They have a reunion.
Shiro gets parents, and an older brother (because I did notice the show gave him any biological family) and also gets to see Adam. While it’s still Cleary over, both men get closure, and are happy to see one another alive.
The season from now focuses on Voltron sorting out the coalition and trying to organise everything.
They contact the blade and begin preparing on how to defeat Lotor.
They find some of the blade, but as previously mentioned in the series many were killed in the three years they were away. However they do find a lot of very disempowered Galra soldiers who have been treated awfully by Lotor.
Lotor discovers their alive, and makes a very public announcement that anyone supporting Voltron will be destroyed.
The season ends in a semi big battle between Lotor and the paladins, one on one in a large mech only he pilots.
Both parties are wounded.
The Clone
Everyone feels awful and has no idea what to do
Shiro too feels pained. He has all the memories of the clone in his mind, and he doesn’t know what to do with them. How to sort through them
Lance out of all of them feels the worst as he was the closet to Shiro out of all of them. He believes should’ve seen something and starts to beat himself up over it.
Hunk and Pidge both feel they should’ve done something, or noticed, though Pidge is much more torn up about it. With Hunk knowing that none of them realised and it’s unreasonable that he would’ve any sooner than this.
Keith is shocked and hurt, and worried about Shiro first and foremost. He reassures Shiro that while it may not have been him, the clone acted like Shiro for the most part, a little more personable, but the real Shiro.
Lance and Self esteem
Due to his failure to pick up that Shiro was a clone, Lance begins questioning everything that Shiro ever told him as a clone.
He questions his whole self worth and no one can seem to help him out of the whole he’s emotionally digging for himself.
While recovering Shiro notices this, however, they keep getting interrupt before Shiro and Lance can have a proper talk
Keith kicks a little sense into him and they have a pretty heartfelt conversation which helps Lance a little, but he still can’t shake the feeling someone else would’ve seen it and sorted out the issue sooner.
Lance gets the blue lion back and she talks some sense into him, and tells him he shouldn’t be so hard on himself, it kicks a little sense into him, but again, he still feels terrible and he feels like Shiro’s been avoiding him.
Keith and Leadership
Shiro tells Keith, while still recovering that he’ll be able to take over pretty soon and fly the black lion.
Keith is actually disappointed this time round and feels instantly ashamed because it is Shiro’s lion and they have a great bond.
We come to learn that Keith quite enjoyed the small amount of time her led the team and found he wanted to keep being a leader.
Keith through this season connects to many Galra soldiers and people. He comes to find understanding with them now that he knows about his culture. Many joking comments he should be running the empire.
Season 8
Plot Changs
This season is filled with small battles, and lots of talks with previous allies.
Allura becomes the commander of the Atlas and enlists several humans and other aliens alike to help her command the ship side by side with Voltron. They become a formidable force.
They begin to fight Lotor’s forces in an attempt to bring him down by weakening his army thought they quickly discover he’s dug up enormous amounts of quintessence somehow.
Lotor should become more enraged and mounts larger attacks upon them, yet he doesn’t worrying everyone.
We then discover with the team that with their return so too had the return of the alternate universes, and Lotor was planning on using all the energy he harvested.
No one knows what happened to the Altean colony, and Allura and Coran, unsurprisingly, seem most torn up about. They both hope that it’s safe, and Lotor was more obsessed with his need to preserve the few Alteans he did have if he could never get more.
The team comforts both of their friends through this best they can but they start to realise it’ll be hard to stop Lotor.
Lotor does end up ripping huge holes in the space time continuum.
The last two episode are a battle between team Voltron, Atlas, and crew coalition all battling Lotor and the formidable amount of crafts he’s able to fuel thanks to the insane amounts of quintessence he’s mined over the past three years.
Eventually he starts universe hoping and team Voltron and Atlas all rush in to stop him. We follow them through trying to communicate with Lotor and get him to stop.
Allura pleads with Lotor and says she loves him, he stops and says he loves her too but he must finish his mission. Atlas has to go back because switching universes is ultimately destroying the ship and they’ll die if they stay any longer.
Eventually after wading through a million battle fields, and see a million alternate version of themselves, they end up somewhere quiet. Lotor’s shop is destroyed. This seems like the end of the road.
Keith makes a plead to Lotor, one last stand. Lotor Denys him and tries to jump one last time. When they follow him, he isn’t on the other side.
The go back.
Unfortunately when they do, the forces have stopped fighting and time seems to have slowed greatly. Voltron is badly damaged and they all split apart.
The team lands together. Harsh winds battle ahead thankfully the lions somewhat stop this.
They’re all scared.
The battle above is at a standstill, shots caught in mid air, shuttles paused mid explosion. The faces of both friend and foe paused in a climatic battle.
The large, white wholes keep getting bigger.
Shiro looks to them all.
They all agree that they feel the same thing. The silently look around at their lions and at one another.
They hold one another tight as their lions are sacrificed to stop this.
A second later there’s no wind.
They look over.
In the vastness of space, the fighting has stopped, everyone shocked by what just happened.
Voltron is no more.
They get picked up by the Atlas
We see a planet that everyone lands on.
Somehow despite all this, at least for a second, the world is at peace as soldiers care for one another and count the wounded.
Team Voltron, now joined by Allura and Coran stand alone
There’s talk of what could be done, and what is now down.
They all smile and reminiscence
Someone calls for them. Team Voltron
They don’t need to have the lions to still be a team.
The universe doesn’t need them anymore. .
Lance and self esteem
Shiro and Lance finally have that talk at some point in mid season 8.
Shiro points out to Lance that everyone lived with Shiro every day. That they spent practically every waking moment, that they shared almost everything
Lance feels a little better and with this talk with Shiro it properly solidifies Lance’s faith in himself. He feel confident in his ability as a paladin, and as his own person. He’s the blue paladin. The sharpshooter. He doesn’t need to be anyone else.
Shiro and Lance have a hug, and Shiro thanks Lance for being there for him when he really didn’t have to be. They stay like that for longer than they really need to.  
Allura the commander
Allura feels useless coming along with the paladins and Coran, he also laments that he doesn’t have the faintest clue what to do with himself.
Thus presented to them, early in this season a mech from one of the few people who are willingly to support them at the beginning.
Allura has been a commander the whole way through but in this season we see her, independent of Voltron, become that commander.
Allura’s people are alive, a few hundred of them. But alive. She becomes their ruler, and takes her rightful place as their queen, helping guide them through an unsteady time.
Keith and Leadership
Through this season we see the meeting place of Keith’s search to be a leader, and his search to learn about his Galra heritage.
Many Galra begin looking to him, despite his less than Galra apperance. He builds more connections with many Galra through his season, and with the help of his mother converts a lot of Galra to seperate from the empire and Lotor and join the coalition
With Lotor dead. We see Keith at the Kral Zera and he becomes the leader
18 notes · View notes
abundantchewtoys · 5 years ago
Text
Hiveswap - Trophy room + Treehouse
So, here we are again. Going to just continue from our previous save file... Last saved, October '17. Ouch.
So we had entered Pop's trophy room, and were going to explore the second part of the room. (Yeah I reread my previous post to get my bearings.)
We have to be on the lookout for eyes for the cat (mountain lion) head. And make sure to still use every item on every other item.
---
I wonder if Grandpa got so distraught from Joey (and Jude?)'s disappearance, he'd decide to do "right" by Jade and be there for her. Well, we know how that turned out.
CAT HEAD -> Right, Joey was a big animal lover. Quite a screwed house to grow up in, then.
TAPESTRY -> Hah, yeah, it contains a few Sburb elements. Smuppet head, Scalemate head. Snake head. Must be one of those things Grandpa was subconsciously attracted to.
GLOBE -> LOOK / SPIN -> Hmm, there's an X marked on this globe, but since it doesn't appear to show Earth... Is it where Joey will end up, on Alternia?
KEY / BATTERIES + GLOBE -> Okay, definitely something to come back to. There might be something inside this globe. Do we need to crack it like an egg?
WALKIE -> Right, the key for the attic is supposed to be here in the room.
DEER -> Oooh, something is reflecting in the antlers? ... Could they break off?
ANTLER / KEY + DEER -> Aha, it's hiding something. Is the key hidden on the antler, or does the antler conceal it? Or does it serve as a lever?
TAP SHOES + DEER -> Yup, definitely something conspicuous about it. Heh, "buckaroo".
Blaperile has a good point, it's quite appropriate for a deer to hide something to progress the plot, given Dammek is going to swap places with Joey.
ANTLER + PULL -> Oooooooh!!! A laser! Does it go over to the cat head? ...
Pffff, Jude needs Joey to use her marbles, in a literal sense, but she doesn't have any!
OOoooh! NICE! We are now JUDE HARLEY. :D Awesome! We've analyzed a lot about his tree house from the concept art, but the time has finally come to BE him.
That BGM, hahah. It's like the Ghostbuster version of the House theme. :D Appropriate.
On the right is the schematic for the puzzle. Guess Joey will be needing a red and green marble.
I'm interested to see what Jude may have in his inventory already, if anything.
HATCH + EGRESS -> Okay, so Jude appears to not be opposed against action against the monsters? Thought he was more of the crazy-paranoia static type preparation, but no. Point for him!
WALL CLIPPINGS -> OOooh boy, so the cult is after the portal in their home? At least he thinks so? ... What am I saying, he's probably right, though why they never made a move for it sooner is a mystery. (Unless they're just peaceful monks in a monastery. :P)
Very nice schematics though!
---
DRAWER -> Oooh boy. Yeah, these we need to send to Joey.
Hmmm, I was talking about a red and green marble... But then... I hadn't considered the "cat's eye" marbles. They're probably a red herring.
MARBLES -> Oh, so the pidgeon can only carry two marbles a time. I took a red and blue marble, whoops.
SAFE BOX -> LOOK: Jude has a beeper? What for? OPEN: Oooh, so his inventory was empty until now, the pouch is metaphysical. :P
TREE BRANCH -> Oooh, so the "cult" has been quite active on November 11th, definitely points to the Batterwitch being involved, if he's really on to something. ... You know, Nanna and Jude should've exchanged notes.
DRAWING -> If this is Jude's regular drawing style, I like it. He draws in pixels. Him and Dave'd get along.
So we went over all the rest, took the flares, combined them with the flare gun, went over the room. GUN + JARS -> Jude contemplates weaponizing a venus flyplant, which I'd love to see him do.
DOG HOUSE -> N'aww.
Finally, we go back to the pouch, but Jude realizes it aren't the right colours.
MARBLES + LANTERN -> Huh, so Jude explicitly got two lanterns in the same colour as his marbles for some reason. Wonder why?
MARBLES + PIGEONS -> ... WELP! Pigeon got detoured. The bat monster caught it and crashed into the kitchen. I remember seeing a scene with Joey, the monster 'n the broken window, in the concept art.
The cut scene was cool, it combined panel gags with gameplay art!
---
WALKIE -> :( Frohike... I hope the pigeon lives though.
I didn't think Jude would attempt another pigeon, I thought he'd send Joey to the kitchen!
So, we also haven't used the flare gun yet. Couldn't we scare the monsters of the pigeons this way?
MARBLES -> PIGEON -> ... WELP!!! Well, I guess there's a reason Frohike was his favorite. The other one just... nope'd out of here.
MARBLES + PIGEON -> Guess third time's the charm!... But the pigeon still only made it to the kitchen? ... Oh. Frohike ended up in the monster's stomache. Yeah, that's a step down from just being relatively accessible on top of the fridge.
But next play, we'll have to hurry to the kitchen to save Byers from the monster!
2 notes · View notes
niennavalier · 5 years ago
Text
So I’m sure no one cares but
I’ve recently discovered genderbent Frozen covers and animatics and honestly I love these? Like, a lot? 
(Rambly thoughts under the cut, because I got invested in talking about Disney movies and ways they write characters and generalizing stuff, despite writing this all on a whim and doing not much research but hey, that’s what this blog is for. Random thoughts about movies and stories and Youtube comments)
I mean, I’ll admit that I’ve never been a big fan of Frozen - nothing against the story (cause it is good and for all I will criticize Disney for not generally being particularly uh...keen on taking any risks, I do appreciate the way they do break the mold here) or the music (it sounds like a Broadway musical, hell yeah) - but tbh Let it Go far overstayed its welcome and yes, I’m glad kids enjoyed the movie, but we heard it nonstop for way longer than we should have. The song honestly never felt like it went away for, what like, 2 years? I can listen to songs on endless loops, and this was still too much for me. Granted, I never hated it (my brother did, possibly still does, so I didn’t mind listening to it for the sole purpose of tormenting him) but still. It sorta turned me off from the franchise. I didn’t need to hear it every time I walked into a store.
And I’ll also admit to never being big on genderbending. Nothing against people who enjoy it, but it’s never been my thing, and the few fics I’ve read with it never felt like it used the swap for any sort of message or to explore anything particularly interesting. Which I would’ve preferred, because otherwise, I didn’t see the reason for the swap, personally. (and to be fair, I turned off of this pretty quickly, so I’m sure there are good ones out there, but it’s really just never been something I’m big on)
But like...okay. There is this animatic for Show Yourself, but with the audio dropped into the male vocal range and I love it so much. It’s wonderful and adorable (and the song is legitimately very good, so I’ve seen that part, despite never having actually watched Frozen 2). And also a handful of actual covers, which are absolutely amazing. And now I’ve found the same sort of thing with Let it Go (which I’m now okay with - I guess it just takes 7 years for me to get over the oversaturation of that song in society) and like holy shit, friends. Big fan.
Scrolling through the comments also gets all the “can we please get a Disney Prince movie” thoughts and hey, I’m so on board with this. I know, there are movies with princes (Aladdin, Hercules, Lion King, etc), but it’s less that plain fact of having a prince, and more of the arc for the character? Basically, I wanna destroy the trend of having male-oriented movies be more action-adventure-y. Let boys be soft and have feelings, that’s all I ask. Make that the character arc, have your main character be male and need to discover himself, all of the fears and insecurities included, I am begging you. 
(Sidenote because I did see some other interesting mentions: I haven’t seen Hunchback, back from what I’m aware of with that movie, that one probably fits closer to what I’m talking about. Also Treasure Planet, because honestly, that really is exactly the kind of arc that I’m talking about, and there’s a reason I love that movie with all my heart, it’s amazing, and go watch it if you haven’t. But like, it’s a coming of age story with some good ol’ found family and no romance! And while Jim is really smart and has some bad-ass moments, I love when we get insight into his emotional state. But I could gush about this movie forever, moving on. The one thing about these is not the lack of royalty (for me), but just...box office? I don’t know the circumstances for Hunchback, except that the numbers apparently aren’t great, and to my knowledge, someone over at Disney just didn’t want Treasure Planet to do great, and this goes to show what marketing does. Apparently, they did the same to Emperor’s New Groove, which isn’t entirely relevant, but my point is, whoever did this to these movies, screw you, they’re wonderful)
(Apologies for the tangent)
Anyway, I’m not saying remake Frozen, but doing the genderbend works really well here, I think? Obviously, I love that Elsa’s arc is entirely her own, and stories about opening up to family and accepting yourself have messages that everyone needs to hear, regardless of any barrier. So this isn’t a criticism, just a thought. Because (granted, I’m not doing research to write this, and I’m admittedly not 100% caught up on Disney movies) it feels to me like female characters do tend to have the more emotional arcs. Talking Disney Renaissance, this feels true in the female-lead movies, especially if you compare to the respective princes. In male-lead movies, it’s not entirely true, and I’m not calling the characters flat or emotionless, but that’s not the main thing going on in the movie. (ie, Simba has his reservations about returning and so he talks to Mufasa, and that’s a big scene and its important, but it feels more like it’s just a step to ultimately taking down Scar - tbh, compare the screentimes there). Again, the Renaissance movies are fantastic and I love them, but I just want to make some comparisons. And I don’t want to delve too deep into the more recent ones, because I haven’t seen them all, but the focus seems much more on the strong, independent female-lead (again, not a criticism because we can always do with more strong ladies who don’t need no man - I am just saying). 
But anyway. Frozen. I like the idea of keeping Anna as herself, because the Hans twist and more slow-burn-y development with Kristoff is good - that accomplishes the idea of breaking down tropes. But Elsa as a male character is really interesting to me? Having an arc that centers on fear that’s born of isolation, and ends with self-acceptance and familial love, is something that I don’t recall seeing in male characters very often (not never, but not often)? But I can think of tons of male characters who appear confident and charismatic, even if that’s in their own way, and then even if we do peel back to find trauma and pain, I can think of more instances of it presenting as bitterness or anger rather than genuine fear (or at the very least, we as the audience don’t quite see that fear). I want to see a male character who was forced to repress who they are and has real fear as to who their true self is. I want this character to discover who that is and have a hard time coming to grips with it, and all that stuff because I honestly just really like writing a lot of self-deprecation. Won’t deny that. And then pairing that with magic is also just interesting IMO. I don’t know how magic tends to fall with regard to this sort of thing, but just the fact that it’s inborn and different (akin to D&D sorcery), rather than learned and understood (like D&D wizardry, or even HP wizards), is an interesting thought to me? Maybe because the “strange and different” type of magic reminds me more of the general conception of witches (or...the Salem Witch Trials) which is also more female-leaning, but I won’t stand by that super strongly, because it’s not something I’ve looked into all that much. But it means, to me, that it would be an interesting way to sorta...turn the tables in the way magic gets used.
Point being: I just think this would be a really solid message. That bravery doesn’t have to be saving the world or killing the dragon or even the self-sacrifice story that’s become more prominent in stories now. It can also come from battling your own demons and opening up to people to ask for help. Which is obviously something everyone needs to learn, but if we’re gonna fight the submissive female character trope with some badass heroines, then I say we also do the same thing in reverse for our male characters. Just a thought
#from the mind of niennavalier#long opinion post thing#ill also admit that i really like this idea cause the art is so goddamn good#pretty designs and flowy clothes are my favorite things when im coming up with dnd character designs#and combine that with non-stereotypically-masculine characters and im super down#(i have favorite character types okay? fight me)#but also instagram has been giving me all the frozen 2 stills now and like#elsa is just gorgeous and i dont think i need say more#like im very ace but that aesthetic is so good#(witness me paying attention to this fandom like 7 years late lol)#also i do just wanna clarify some stuff#cause thinking with the modern disney movies#like with moana im not saying that maui doesnt have an arc and good things that happen#i like his part dont get me wrong#but tell me who the titular character is#just sayin#and ive seen a bunch of stuff about kristoff having a song where hes confused about love#and again i think thats amazing!#i need to go find that clip but i legitimately love the fact that this exists#thats good content#im just saying that isnt quite on the same level because same as above#if i ask who the main characters in frozen are#i think you all know the answer#(and my other big ask for disney is to give us a gay character but my hopes there arent super high unfortunately)#(oh and self plug but the more i think about it im kinda doing this sorta thing with one of the characters i made for my short story class#the story itself is meant to be longer than a short story and i wont go into detail here but the idea just ended up being close#even though i started watching a bunch of the clips and having these thoughts after id come up with my character)#(maybe said character is why im having Opinions on this now tho)#(and dumb sidenote but the more i look up fanart the more i realize that the people who are saying that it basically looks like anime#are totally right it really does which is really just interesting to me cause i didnt think of that initially)
6 notes · View notes
sol1056 · 6 years ago
Text
strategy vs tactics
I’ve had a few asks sitting around for a bit since I posted about tactics and strategy, and @nomadicism‘s recent analysis of Hawkins and Mal as leaders in VLD reminded me of the questions. In a nutshell, the difference is:
Strategy is the big picture, and its focus is the final objective. Strategy defines why you engage, and delineates parameters of success or failure.  
Tactics are the implementation, with a short-term focus. Tactics define how you engage, manipulating environment, timing, resources, and intel to achieve success. 
Behind the cut: each approach in practice, characterizing the two mindsets, and character moments that show strategic or tactical thinking so you can see how the combinations can play off each other. 
First, though, I’m going to tell you a story. 
It’s a battlefield truism that numbers win. If your 5,000 soldiers line up against 20,000 enemies, all else being equal, your smaller side will lose. If you’re lucky, you’ve got superior technology or firepower. If you’re unlucky, you don’t. If you’re really unlucky, the other side has superior numbers and superior technology and firepower. 
Scotland, 1314. You’re besieging a castle currently held by the English, and they’re sending reinforcements, enough to outnumber you 3-to-1. Superior numbers, check. Your army? Maybe 500 mounted, and the rest afoot with axes, swords, and pikes. The enemy’s got heavy cavalry and longbowmen. Superior technology and firepower, check. You’re pretty much screwed, unless you’re Robert the Bruce and god-tier at turning the tables. 
Robert had to stand his ground or the siege would fail, but that meant his army didn’t have to exhaust themselves marching. He had time to select high ground, with a rise of trees at his back. His army dug holes along the only approach, planting stakes and covering them up. The first line of cavalry would go down; subsequent lines would avoid them, taking the one alternate route Robert allowed: directly into bogs along the riverside --- exactly the last place you want to take big chargers carrying heavily-armored men. 
At the end of the first day, the English were in the swamp. Demoralized, they crossed the river at night, and prepared to charge... uphill, ankle-deep in mud, and halted at the end by thickets, where the Scots afoot could evade easily. You can’t hold a tight formation when navigating trees and underbrush. Plus, the longbowmen couldn’t support when the cavalry got too far ahead; half their shots hit their own people. And flanking maneuvers failed against lighter Highland ponies, running circles around the heavier English chargers. 
Robert didn't need to know Lao Tzu to know his famous edict: all warfare is based on deception. As the English rallied for a final charge, from the hilltops came a thousand voices and the clang of weapons striking shields. Robert’s reinforcements had arrived!  
The English broke ranks and fled. Unfortunately for them, all that hollering was camp followers banging pot lids with sticks and making enough noise to wake the devil. In the end, historians estimate the English had losses as high as 70%. Robert lost substantially less; of his mounted troops, only two died.
It always comes down to numbers. If you can’t reduce the difference via obstacles (staked pits, muddy ground), you narrow your focus. A head-on strike plays to the enemy’s numerical advantage. So... you only fight some of them. 
In Legend of the Galactic Heroes, the protagonist is outnumbered 4-to-1. He ignores traditional battlefield assumptions (lining up and shooting) and narrows his charge to a wedge formation, focused on one enemy squadron. Now the fight is 4-to-1 in his favor. From there, he attacks the next enemy squadron on their unprotected flank. One at a time, each can be knocked down because he’s limited the battlefield in a way that the numbers favor him, not the enemy.
Attack when they’re unprepared, from an angle they don’t expect, and turn their strengths to weaknesses. If they’re stationary, be mobile; if they’re shifting, be as steadfast as a mountain until they’re just sparrow wings beating on stone. Basically, a skillful tactician aims to disadvantage the enemy and advantage themselves: layer enough handicaps on the other side, and it’ll take ten of them to be as effective as one of yours.
The tactician, though, is only as good as the strategy they’re supporting. The best strategists planned for battles you never hear about, because the battles never happened. Those strategists aimed to be victorious before a battle even began. As Lao Tzu put it: the supreme act of war is to achieve victory without fighting.
Historically, brilliant strategists are often horrendous tacticians and vice-versa. It’s big-picture vs small-picture, really. A strategist, in the midst of battle, is most likely to go for the goal with no thought for subterfuge, intel, resources, or other tactical details. A character whose default attack is a straightforward bludgeon is probably a strategic mind, too set on the forest to register the trees on fire. On the opposite side, a character who can’t seem to pick their battles (even if they manage to win the ones they do pick) is probably a tactical mind, swatting at burning trees and never once thinking of the forest. 
Allura’s decision in the S2 finale is pure strategy. (She ignores the bigger picture of what happens after, but we’ll leave that aside for now.) She’s got the objective in sight and nothing will sway her from ending Zarkon’s empire.
Kolivan’s position is tactical: losing contact with Thace puts the team at a severe disadvantage. The allies have five lions and one castle-ship. The enemy has countless warships, endless resources, and a huge station-thing that practically dwarfs the average planetoid. When Kolivan wants to pull back, he’s not arguing strategy (which is how Allura interprets his words). He’s arguing tactically; losing the element of surprise changes the calculus of victory. 
When the team is on the Balmera, using a sentry arm (basically, using the enemy’s superior technology against them) or befriending the locals (as Pidge does with the children) are both smart tactics. Keith's choice to charge in shows he’s only seeing the goal (take out the sentries). Good strategy, but phenomenally stupid on a tactical level. 
Lance’s response shows he’s got a tactical mindset: he looks for ways that twist the enemy’s advantages against them. The enemy patrols, but only along established open tunnels; Keith and Lance go through a duct. The enemy has vast systems to manage every detail, but the strength of centralizing is a weakness when only one sleepy sentry is in the control room. 
In other words, Lance intuitively finds a way to offset the difference in their strengths by focusing their attack on a single point of weakness. What could’ve been 200-to-2 with Keith’s idea becomes 2-on-1 with Lance’s. 
In the Beta Traz episode (though it’s not written quite as cleanly as the Balmera episode), Lance does show some drawbacks of that tactical approach. His focus is on how, not why, so he dismisses his questions of whether a barely-verbal dog-like creature could be a genius engineer. Someone else set that strategy and made that decision; Lance’s part is just to make sure it gets fulfilled as ordered. 
In team tropes, the leader and lancer are usually strategist and tactician, respectively. S1/S2 reversed that, with Shiro as tactician while Keith showed flashes of a strategic mindset. It’s when Shiro debates strategy with Allura that the two aspects blur, since allies are good strategy (potentially forestalling battle), and good tactics (augmenting one’s numbers, a source of intel). Those debates show Shiro’s versatility, but he does that best when he’s working in tandem with a strategic mind. It’s not where Shiro goes first, on his own. 
Allura is the consistent strategist in those first two seasons. She identifies the objective, and Shiro figures out the best use of the team and Voltron to achieve that objective. In her absence, the roles flip, because Shiro’s left to set the strategy and... he’s too much of a tactician.
The finale in S1 was nearly suicidal from one perspective; the team is going to a battleground of Zarkon’s choosing, with limited backup and surprise as their sole advantage. Shiro’s call to attack when the enemy least expects is sound, but the ‘go in hard and fast’ is little more than a rapid-fire frontal attack. Worse, no one stops to consider that since Zarkon has Allura, he’s expecting Voltron to retaliate --- that is, the only surprise is when, not if.  
It’s Keith who raises objections, as a good lieutenant should. The narrative glosses over the fact that Keith is right, except Allura’s single line: ”Tell me you didn't bring Voltron straight to Zarkon's central command!” It’s a subtle affirmation of Keith’s instinct that her rescue was unwise from a strategic perspective.
The bigger picture would’ve weighed Zarkon’s overwhelming power, resources, and sheer numbers against the necessity of keeping Voltron from being captured. Honestly, I’m not sure it would’ve changed much if the team had known Zarkon was the previous Black Paladin. They already knew he wanted to capture Voltron; at that point, knowing why (a strategic matter) was irrelevant in the face of how (the tactics of their approach). 
When Shiro is gone and the team swaps, Allura's move into Blue takes her out of that strategic position. But it also moves Keith, another strategic thinker, into leadership, with one major difference: there’s no longer a separation between the overall command strategy and the implementation of Voltron itself. 
With a strategist in the leader’s seat, Voltron is no longer used tactically, as one resource among several (Allura’s knowledge, the Blades’ intel, the castle-ship as reinforcement). Like so many strategists turned battlefield leaders before him, Keith immediately goes directly for the throat with no regard to resources, circumstances, environment, or intel.
The episode on Thayserix had great character development, but as enemy-interactions go, it was also (as @nomadicism noted) pretty damn stupid. Keith rightly identifies Lotor as the main objective, but at the cost of ignoring all their tactical disadvantages. Pidge points out they’re following Lotor to a ground of Lotor’s choosing, in an environment that works against them and for which they’re not prepared. Keith seems blind to the need for tactics; no surprise he dismisses Pidge’s warning as unimportant.
These are the actions of someone relatively new to exercising that strategic instinct; Keith is too quick to forget the bigger picture once he’s on the battlefield. Puig called for help, yet the team never checks if the Puigians are alright. A situation dire enough to send Voltron, yet Voltron gets distracted on the way to its rescue mission. Neglecting one’s allies is definitely bad strategy.
After all, Lotor set up the meeting. That effectively played his hand as someone who wanted something from the paladins. It’s a reasonable to assume Lotor would try again by some other means, so a good tactician would keep stalling or deflecting until the circumstances can be manipulated to the team’s benefit. Keith’s strategic perspective, on the battlefield, becomes a disadvantage Lotor could use against them. 
And that’s where the real problem lies with making Keith the Black Paladin.
Some characters (like Shiro seems to be) can swing from one mindset to the other; there have been commanders who can manage both adequately, even if they're most comfortable in one. Where VLD strikes untrue is when the other characters flip in response, with the clearest example being when the team must choose between the teludav and the comet ship. 
Shiro provides the strategy (teludav as first priority) and his blunt-force tactics (take the hit) are par for someone who isn’t tactical, both of which are opposite Shiro’s S1/S2 characterization. Keith argues (iirc, he was ambivalent about which target was highest priority), but his ultimate response is a tactical one, when he angles Voltron and side-steps so the comet-ship’s strike hits the teludav. Keith is a good enough pilot to pull off the stunt, but he’s in the awkward position of trying to match Shiro’s skill as a leader-tactician --- and that’s just not where he’s at.
From a battle perspective, Keith’s complaint of ‘I can’t lead them like you’ is literally true. His strengths aren’t tactical; he can’t be what Shiro was for the team. He’s further hamstrung by his reluctance to rely on others. His strategic instincts are (mostly) solid, so he doesn’t need Allura to provide those. His belief that leadership = tactics (per Shiro’s example) means he takes that on, too, so he doesn’t need Lance’s tactical insights, either.
Where the story fails for Keith’s leadership is that it never resolves this conflict to any satisfaction. We don’t see Keith learning to think tactically, so his continued dismissal of Lance’s input (except to follow orders) means the team lacks tactical input. Nor do we see Keith learning to think beyond instinctive strategy to the truly big picture (which admittedly Allura also needed to learn). The result is Keith’s leadership is inadequate strategically and tactically.  
What makes a finale interesting, really, is when both strategy and tactics are engaged. If the story emphasizes strategy (ie, the decision of which target to focus on), the actual battle ends up lacking tension because the conclusion is foregone. A tense battle isn’t created with overly complicated steps that rely more on audience suspension of disbelief than logical actions. 
What you need are good tactics that don’t rely on coincidences or lucky timing. And if you really want a page-turner, make sure you’ve got a smart opponent who doesn’t react as expected.
One more story to illustrate.
Japan, 1542. You’re young, untested in the eyes of all your rivals and neighboring lords, and you’ve spent the first year of your reign getting your own house in order. Your elder sister had married a neighboring lord, the seal on a peace treaty, and now her husband, the lord of Suwa, has broken that treaty and attacked a castle in territory you nominally hold. You have a long game strategy, and that land is a crucial step. On the other hand, a direct strike at Suwa could put your elder sister in danger.
You need to subdue Suwa, keep your sister safe, regain your territory, and prevent any future rebellions that would force you to divert resources when you need them most elsewhere. Short version: you need a strategy that won’t turn your sister into a hostage.  
Not a problem, as long as you’re Takeda Shingen, a strategic genius who’s also smart enough to find and cultivate a brilliant tactical mind, Yamato Kansuke. The above premise is mostly true, though details are hard to come by in English sources. That said, NHK’s 2007 taiga is a good reenactment of the trickery and manipulation Shingen and Kansuke seemed to favor.
The preliminary strategy is simple: conflict in Suwa will give Shingen an excuse to take over under the guise of defending Suwa. A discontented Suwa noble is chosen as the fall guy, and Shingen sends Kansuke and an accomplice to speak with this Takato.
Kansuke says: if Takato provides support when Shingen attacks, Shingen will appoint Takato castellan of Suwa. (In other words, a governor under Shingen’s rule.) All Takato has to do is bring enough numbers to make an impression.
Kyorishi protests: no, no, that’s not what Shingen wants. If Takato leads the attack, Shingen will lend support and acknowledge Takato as lord of Suwa. None of this castellan stuff!
Takato, predictably, is baffled. Is he expected to attack, or to support? Will he be under Shingen’s command, or a full lord in his own right? Shingen's messengers can’t even get their stories straight! Takato decides there’s nothing to fear; this kid Shingen is way out of his depth. Kansuke’s goal: let Takato get cocky, and Shingen can take advantage of opportunities that rashness creates. 
Kansuke heads back to report, while Kyorishi infiltrates Suwa, seeking warrior families who could be dissuaded from supporting Suwa’s lord. Not long after, Shingen’s sister gives birth to a boy. Perfect: Shingen will declare himself the protector of his infant nephew, the future lord of Suwa. That’ll assure the province of its independence and it’ll settle down. 
Takato sends word he’ll attack Suwa, with Shingen as support. Shingen pulls his army together and marches, while Kyorishi spreads the word that Suwa faces the combined armies of Takato and Shingen. He also riles people up with news some of the liege families are sitting it all out. Kyorishi's delivery is note-perfect: omg everyone is against us but at least we'll die fighting to the very end. Dramatic --- and demoralizing.
When Shingen arrives at the main Suwa castle, Takato doesn't join him. Shingen's strategies are on the verge of failing, hanging as they did on Takato. To Shingen's surprise, Suwa also marches, despite a force one-fifth Shingen’s. Suwa’s loss is sealed, and that means, per the time’s customs, everyone in Suwa castle will kill themselves, including Shingen's sister. But if Shingen backs off, his bluff will be called, putting his larger plans at risk. 
Basically, Takato proves cagey enough to not move until he knows Shingen really will fight Suwa. Everything now hinges on getting Takato to march --- but first, Shingen needs to buy time. That means forcing Suwa to retreat. 
Kansuke chooses deception: spread the torches out, put up twice the banners, make the army seem so vast that Suwa loses its nerve and flees for a more defensible stronghold. Those left to defend the first castle will set it on fire rather than surrender, and the Takato will interpret that to mean Shingen's engaged in battle. 
When Shingen's forces make a show of moving into position, Kyorishi is among the Suwa forces, panicking loudly about the Takeda forces. Unnerved, many of the soldiers run rather than face generals with such fearsome reputations. 
Suwa ends up retreating, and the castle burns. Takato marches, certain he’ll arrive after Suwa and Shingen decimate each other --- only to march right into the path of the retreating Suwa. The two armies clash, and while Takato is occupied, Shingen captures one castle, then the next. With that done, Shingen is able to force Suwa to capitulate, after which he sweeps up what’s left of Takato’s forces. 
In one non-battle that’s mostly a lot of maneuvering and some delicate timing -- and a whole lot of groundwork --- Shingen recaptures his original territory, puts down a treaty-breaking lord, takes over a second province, and subdues the one lord who’s shown any willingness to fight. In the end, Shingen marches home without a single casualty. 
And that is how a strategic mind and a tactical mind can work in tandem to an incredibly devastating effect. 
104 notes · View notes
robininthelabyrinth · 6 years ago
Text
Fic: The Beginning of Wisdom - Chapter 3 (Ao3 link)
Fandom: Flash, Legends of Tomorrow Pairing: Leonard Snart (Len) & Leonard Snart (Leo), Len Snart/Mick Rory, Leo Snart/Mick Rory, Len Snart/Mick Rory/Leo Snart, Leo Snart/Ray Terrill, Len Snart/Barry Allen
Summary: In which Leonard Snart is twins.
(the life and times and loves of Len and Leo Snart)
—————————————————————————————————–
Life went on.
Even if Marie was gone, she had left them Lisa, and for Lisa they would give up anything. Any comfort, any safety, anything.
Giving up school was certainly easy enough.
Len proposed that they swap out days of attendance, so that CPS didn't look too closely at them, and Leo agreed. It did not seem like a great sacrifice, especially since it would only be a short while: they could care for Lisa, yes, but only long enough to ensure that she was taken care of elsewhere.
Their father knew very well what drew the attention of the police; he would never let them stay home to guard her.
A friendly neighbor agreed to take her into the little daycare she ran from her home; the Leonards watched her like a hawk for weeks before conceding that the neighbor's friendliness was just that, and concealed no darkness.
(They still came for random inspections at least once a week. The babies and children there all loved them dearly, a reaction neither of them could explain, but which they repaid with kindness and laughter whenever they could.)
Their grades suffered that year, marked down for poor attendance, but their test results easily overcame that deficiency and they advanced to the next grade without any serious difficulty.
As always, they presented the best overall set of grades (Leo's, usually, but only by a little) to their father, and as far as Leo was concerned, that was all.
Len did not think the same.
A thought had come to him, an idea stealing in through the dark one night as he lay awake, comforting himself by watching his brother's chest rise and fall, and he could not rid himself of it.
He could not, because he could not share it with his brother.
"What do you want to do when you're older?" he asked one day after school, as they played with the babies at the daycare.
"Are you asking the babies?" Leo laughed, even as the older children all shouted out their answers, throwing out suggestions like "fireman" or "spaceman" or "dinosaur researcher".
"No," Len said, after they had finished praising each child's choice as excellent and brilliant and innovative and certainly within their capacity to achieve. "I meant you."
Leo blinked. "I hadn't really thought about it."
"Neither have I," Len said, his voice grim as he thought of all the reasons they had not given the future any mind: too tired, too scared, too concerned with surviving today to think about tomorrow. "You should."
Leo hummed noncommittally, but Len persisted.
After months of nagging, and trips to the library to research careers, and visits to career fairs at the high school where Leo complained that they were the only under-ten-years-olds present, Len finally got his answer.
"I don't know, okay?" Leo exclaimed, throwing up his hands. "I might be interested in psychology, or maybe fashion design, but I won't know for sure until I go to college and figure out what I'm good at. Isn't that what everyone else does?"
"Yes," Len said. "That's fine."
"You're being stranger than usual," Leo told him. "Won't you tell me what's on your mind?"
"I had an idea," Len said. "I'll tell you about it, but not now."
It was the first secret he ever kept from Leo.
After that, their divergence began to accelerate. Leo began to focus on his artistic skills, which Len did not care about, and on the higher world of literature, which Len was bored by, and the intricacies of biology, which Len understood but did not love. Len, instead, focused on math and the science of angles, physics, where the answers at the lower levels were simple and the questions at the higher levels were fascinating, but which Leo thought were a gigantic boring waste of time given the presence of calculators.
They both spent hours playing with Lisa, but Leo taught her shapes and the alphabet, while Len taught her sleight of hand and how to measure time.
Leo became more confident in himself.
Len, who had always been confident, became even more protective.
Their father called on them more and more for jobs, but now, instead of splitting them equally, Len took the lion's share.
"Are you sure?" Leo asked, frowning at his brother. He found that he valued his father's esteem less now that he was assured the affection of both his brother and little Lisa, and even a friend or two outside that circle: he was sociable and well-liked but not reliant on others, by his own preference, and having a support team was invaluable to him in staying that way.
"If you don't mind," Len said. He valued his father's praise as much as ever – even more so, now that he had more people to protect, as his father's goodwill was a necessity in protecting them. He did not tell Leo about the extra bruises he obtained when he took responsibility for Lisa's childish mistakes: he had learned by now what it was to be a burden on others, and also that once you keep one secret, it was easier to keep the next. "Your literature essays are a lot more tricky than my math proofs, after all."
"I suppose," Leo said, screwing up his nose. "But are you –"
"I'm sure," Len said firmly.
And so Len went on the jobs, and Leo stayed behind.
Len even liked some parts of the work he did with his father: he was deemed old enough to listen in on the planning, although his suggestions were appropriate only when phrased as innocent questions, and he was extremely proud of his skills, his light fingers and his quick mind, all aspects that helped him be a successful thief.
Those parts, he liked.
Other parts, he hated.
Other parts –
He came home to Leo one day, shaking, for once seeking comfort instead of offering protection.
"What happened?" Leo demanded.
Len shook his head. He had no words: no words that could convey the depth of hurt in his heart, the violation of his soul, that had come when his father had forced him to pull the trigger of a gun when it was pointed at another man – to deliberately end another life before its time.
Another life that lived and breathed and loved; a life that might have had brothers and sisters, too, a Leo and Lisa of their own now left bereft; a human life.
Leo could not understand, and Len never wanted him to.
He had never felt so alone.
Leo got the story out of Len eventually, despite Len's best efforts to repel him. Just as Len had gloomily foreseen, the knowledge caused Leo great pain, for he could do nothing to help assuage the agony in Len's mind. He could do nothing but offer his presence, alive and breathing, Lisa at their side doing the same.
That was still some comfort. Len took that comfort to heart, and it broke through the icy barriers he had erected to hide himself from what he had done.
And so Len wept: an act their father had forbidden as weak.
When their father called for his Leonard, hours later, drunk and laughing and joyous at a job successfully accomplished, Leo went to him in Len's place so that he would not see the tear tracks on Len's face.
And in Len's place, Leo was given a beer and a slap on the back in congratulation for 'becoming a man', which was all the recognition that their father saw fit to bestow upon the incident.
Leo drank the beer, and thought to himself for the first time that perhaps he hated his father.
After that, Leo insisted upon going on the jobs more often again, especially once they became more and more frequent, taking days out of school instead of merely nights and weekends.
Len agreed to relinquish some of the jobs to Leo, secretly relieved to have some time to rest from the thankless never-ending task of pleasing his father, but he insisted that Leo only take the ones where no firearm was involved.
They fought over that, a real fight like they hadn't had in years, but Len held his ground and stood firm. His hands were already bloody; Leo's were not, and he intended for it to stay that way.
Eventually Leo conceded, though he never stopped worrying over it.
Years passed.
Lisa grew up, and grew talented, and there was nothing her brothers would not give her: Leo his presence at her ice skating practices, cheering her on, and Len his growing skills at picking pockets and cracking ATMs in order to pay for the increasingly expensive lessons.
Years passed, and there were more men who needed shooting.
Len's hands stopped shaking after each kill. Instead, they started twitching – not just after a death, but all the time: a nervous tic, a compulsion, a need to move, to act, to steal.
Leo read books from the library about it, books about anxiety and trauma and negative reinforcement and feedback loops, and came up with the word kleptomania, but for all the knowledge he gained on the subject, he could not stop it from being true.
Len was sick, now, in a way Leo wasn't, and that was something they had to deal with.
Leo thought that at least they would deal with it together.
Len did not agree, but it would be some time before Leo found that out, for Len had grown very good at keeping secrets where he thought he needed to.
But all secrets come out in the end.
After one year that had been particularly bad – job after job, night after sleepless night, their father intent on winning a promotion within the foul ranks of the Family to which he had sold himself and using his child (his children) ruthlessly to get there – Leo finally discovered the oldest of Len's secrets.
Of course he did.
It was inevitable: the truth of it was in their final report cards for the year, of which they only ever presented their father with one.
"You're failing out," Leo said numbly, staring at the numbers that marked his brother's test scores.
"My test grades are fine," Len said, not disagreeing. "But not enough to overcome the issues with my attendance."
Leo nodded, unable to tear his eyes away from the rows of zeros and no-shows, looking desperately for some sign of unreachable hope, some signal that this wasn't happening.
He saw one zero that makes his eyes go wide, and he jabbed at one of them with a frown. "That was my day," he said, the slightest shade of triumph in his voice: for if they had made one mistake, then surely they might have made others – perhaps even enough others enough to save Len even from such a miserable performance. "I went on that job that day – remember? I remember, because you had to borrow my textbook."
"Yeah," Len said. "I remember."
"But you're still listed as a no-show that day!"
"Yeah," Len said again. "Because I told them I was you."
Leo stared at his brother.
"Yeah," Len said a third time. "I lied and I said I was Leo on the days I went in and you didn't. I did your tests, I did your homework, I did your class participation –"
"But why?!" Leo demanded. "You – you're Leonard –"
"So are you," Len said firmly, his eyes glinting angrily. "Maybe I got that name first, being the oldest, or maybe I didn't; who even knows at this point? It doesn't matter. It's both our names now. But more than that, you're not just Leonard. You're the Leonard that's going to do good."
"What?"
"You're going to college," Len said, that long-ago decision spilling forth at last. "Just like you said you would: go to college and see what you're good at. You're gonna be good at so many things, and you're gonna pick one, and then you're gonna have a real job. A real life. Dad only wants one of us for his jobs, after all, and that's going to be me."
"But –!"
"I'm the one who's a kleptomaniac," Len said, his voice bitter – not at Leo, who he looked at only with love in his eyes, but at the necessity of this whole pretense. Bitter, not at his father whom he never blamed as much as he ought, but at the life he saw as inescapable. "I'm the one who's a murderer. You're going to make it straight, Leo, with no crime at all. You're going to be good."
"I don't want to make it straight!" Leo cried out. "Not without you!"
"I'll always be there," Len said, "when I can."
"That's not good enough! Why can't I be like you, huh? Why can't I –"
"I don't want you to be like me," Len said. "I want you to be better."
"You haven't given me a good reason to stick to the straight and narrow," Leo said, crossing his arms as he glared.
"You'd be able to adopt Lisa when you turn eighteen," Len said promptly. He'd had longer to prepare for this conversation than Leo. "But only if you have no record."
Leo faltered.
He’d always said and thought that there was nothing they would not do for Lisa.
But –
This?
"You don't have a record either," Leo said, but it's weak and he knew it. "Not yet, anyway."
"The police have always let me go when they catch me because I've been small and had good grades," Len said. "I'm still small, but with my grades like that? They'll ship me off to juvie next time they nab me."
Neither of them pretended that he wouldn't get nabbed. It was practically a feature of some of their father's plans, to leave Leonard behind to take the fall.
It might not happen on the first job Len ran, nor even the tenth, but it would happen eventually. And then Len would be taken away, painted with the brush of the bad kid.
The bad twin.
And once one was marked as good and the other as bad, they would be separated with all the force that society could bring to bear upon them.
"Why didn't you just split the days with me?" Leo whispered.
"Because we were out of school enough days to fail us both," Len told him, his voice gentle but sure and certain. He had not made the decision lightly, but make it he had, and he would defend his decision with all the force of his mind brought to bear upon it. "I did the math."
Math was always Len's talent, but Leo could do it, too. He couldn't dispute Len's conclusion.
"I don't want you to," Leo said.
"I don't want to, either," Len said, and that plaintive plea reached him where nothing else would have: his cold mask of calmness broke into tears that beaded up in his eyes, tears that he would never let anyone but Leo see. "I don't want to be like Dad, Leo. But it seems like one of us has got to be, and I'd rather it be me."
"Not like Dad," Leo, who hated their father now more than ever before, a searing hatred that burned at his heart until it was as cold as stone, said. "A thief, yes. Maybe even a murderer. But you will never be like Dad."
Len pulled Leo into his arms the way he always had, and Leo clung back to him like he always had, and they curled up in their single bed the way they always had.
Neither wanted to think of the day when those easy expressions of affection might not be so easy to come by.
There was no more switching, after that.
Len stayed home, caring for Lisa and catching up on his sleep, brushing up on his skills – his light fingers to take things, his quick eyes to spot traps, his ready mind to plan escapes. He ran small, simple jobs of his own. The jobs were intended to be practice runs, preparation and learning to develop his skills for the real events, but they also usually produced enough money to buy Leo and Lisa some small treats.
He did not get caught on these jobs of his own.
Leo, in turn, threw himself into his studies, forcing himself to become better at math rather than relying exclusively on his brother's talents, pushing himself to excel more and more in what he was already good at, and devoting himself to extracurriculars he had previously ignored: extracurriculars he might need to cite on an application to college. Len had sacrificed so much so that Leo could make it, and, to honor that sacrifice, make it Leo would. And he would make it no matter what obstacles, whether poverty or his birth in the slums, stood in his way.
And though they knew the day would soon come to divide them, they tried their best to stay together.
They were careful, risking more of their father's anger than usual to ensure that his plans worked well, that he would not be caught, that Len would not be caught, but in time the day came that all of their caution was for nothing.
And, as Len had predicted, this time the grim machinery of justice did not have mercy: the child with the good grades and the ex-police father could be pitied and forgiven, but the child who was rapidly growing into a delinquent, whose grades were bad, whose father had been kicked off the force?
He got none of that mercy.
Len was taken, first into police custody where he was too terrified to speak, and then, when they tired of that, before the juvenile court. There, the judge sentenced him to a stint in the local juvenile hall.
Local, here, meant all way over in Keystone, since the actual local one had been shut down as a result of some sort of allegations of misconduct and abuse.
Len thinks that he would have preferred the abuse, if it meant that he could stay closer to home.
After all, he was used to abuse, wasn’t he?
He wasn’t used to distance.
"It's only a few hours away, taking the buses," Leo said that night, watching as Len packed away what little clothing he could spare. His knees were pulled up to his chest and his arms were wrapped around them, and he felt far colder than the room actually was. “We could visit, me and Lisa.”
“If you leave for that long, Dad will notice,” Len said. He’d already done the math, his faithful companion which never lied to him, and had already started to armor his heart against the loss of his other half for months on end.
If Leo wasn’t there to protect his heart, he’d have to do it himself.
He hopes he can.
"Dad won't notice that I'm still there at all," Leo said. He’d done some thinking of his own on the subject. "I'm planning on staying with a friend from school instead. You know how he thinks there’s just one of us, mostly; I'm hoping he thinks you're just gone, and doesn’t call for me."
"Lisa –"
"I'll still take care of her. Not like Dad will bother to, or notice that she’s still getting fed on time. I’ll make it a big secret and tell her she can’t tell Dad I’m around. She’s a good kid; it’ll be fine."
"Okay."
“We’ll call you,” Leo said. “And we could come to visit you – maybe on a long weekend – if Dad’s away –”
“If that happens, then okay,” Len said, and smiled. He did not believe they would be able to come, but he appreciated the promise.
Leo did not smile. He knew how hard it would be for them to make it. "There will be phone calls."
"Every day," Len promised.
“You protect that stupid heart of yours.”
“I will.”
“No new friends.”
“Leo…”
"And you have to promise not to die in there."
"I promise. It's only three months, Leonard."
"A lot can happen in three months, Leonard."
"Take care of Lisa," Len said, because he could not deny that truth. "And yourself."
He left the next day.
Leo stayed at home, curled up with Lisa with him instead of Len so that he could sleep, and wondered how Len would survive.
He wondered, too, if being away so long would teach Len how to live without them.
He wondered what Len would do with that knowledge.
As Leo thought this, Len arrived at juvie.      
23 notes · View notes
fgodestinyawakenings · 7 years ago
Text
And finally at last... Camelot comes to an end for JP side
Tumblr media
Two rounds of fighting the Lion King... IT’S AS PAINFULLY IN THE ASS AS FIGHTING WITH GAWAIN WAS
First round of fighting is definitely pure luck in dealing with her
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Killed Siegfried and Mash and ended with Caster Gil and Cu, also Waver being near dead from the first fight
Tumblr media
But at the very least, Mash’s NP finally upgraded to her true form, Lord Camelot!
Tumblr media
And the second one... I was experimenting with the suggested strategy with Waver as support, Mash and Siegfried to deal with her...
Tumblr media
But my luck hates me, or Waver hates me, or whoever is going against me... At the 100K HP, my whole team being wiped out by her constant NP spamming OTL
Tumblr media
I looked around for a different approach... And tried with JAlter as support since her one and solely skill buff up Dragon Servants too...
Tumblr media
I swapped her at the back before she gets screwed with NP spamming from the Lion King.
Tumblr media
AND SHE’S FUCKING DOWN AT LAST WITH A FINAL BRAVE CHAIN AT HER!!
Tumblr media
With her and Camelot FUCKING done at last, I’m just going to share what I reflected or to survive for myself... Though I’m going to fucking die because NA isn’t JP where the Servants have no Merlin or sorts to screw them
If you don’t have Waver, Tamamo, JAlter, or any of those freaking High-Tier with your luck on Gacha... Find, borrow them to kill those motherfuckers. Or just use whatever you have to survive, if youtube can survive with 3* units, there should be a way.. Or you can always use quartz and command spells to survive
PLEASE SERIOUSLY START GRINDING ORION AND/OR EURYALE, MY ASS GOT SCREWED BIG TIME WITH THAT MOTHERFUCKING THOTSLAYER
YOLO and charging head-on is okay, just need to observe and time when the fuck they going to fire the NP or kill them before they lay their NP out. 
Sometimes half the suggestion may not work on you for the fight if it’s not compatible with your play style. You’ll need to probably try half or whole of the Servants Pool to screw them inside out
GRIND MASH TO HER HIGHEST IN ALL HER SKILLS, STATS AND LEVEL. ESPECIALLY ONCE SHE LIMIT BREAKS FROM LANCELOT SECOND FIGHT, AT LEAST HER HP WILL TANK HIGHER FROM LION KING
Pretty much make your at least 1/3 or half of the Servants you often use or strongest are also have their highest skill... Or at the second stage of cooldown at Level 5 to 7 if you really lack materials
Now to anyone wondering... What about Babylonia next?
Answer:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I’m not ready with Tiamat, Gorgon, Ushikawamaru Alter and Lahmu yet. I’m going to get my ass grinding the main ones up before I screw those ass.
With that... I’m going to wait for the next even that’s not Salomon-completed-requirement event to start grinding
Tumblr media
8 notes · View notes
braincoins · 7 years ago
Text
Creator 2017 tag Meme
Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you’ve created this year (fics, art, edits, etc!) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2017. Tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original!) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works. <3
Okay, I’ma list these in no particular order, because trying to figure out which one is my absolute favorite is like trying to choose amongst my children. Can’t do it. Won’t be done. And thank you, @eloarei, for tagging me!!
1. Lion Soul
Allura is one of the leaders of a nomadic pride of werelions. Shiro is the lone human in the pride, always out of place, unable to be a part of the culture he was raised in. Whatever he feels for Allura is irrelevant. He's no match for her, no matter how much he wishes he were.
The pride is considering going on the offensive against the Hunters - humans who stalk and kill weres - rather than continuing to flee and hide. And Shiro has to decide if the only home he's ever known is really home, and, if it's not, what should he do about that? What can he do?
My collaboration with @yliseryn really took off in ways neither of us expected (especially word count-wise)! It inspired a cosplayer (thank you, @kairosmalificus!!) and some wonderful fanart ( courtesy of @duckydrawsart & @materassassino)! I will forever be grateful and humbled that such an incredible artist wanted to work with me, and I will never not enjoy all the wonderful comments y’all have left on this work.
2. Androcles
If Shiro’s not going to confess his feelings to Allura, then Black will take matters into her own paws.
Ah, the birthday fic for @breezycheezyart‘s 21st birthday! It was stupid fun to write and it seems like lots of people enjoy reading it almost as much as I enjoyed writing it! More thanks out to Pix for not only swapping prompts with me but for beta-ing and helping me with that machine-oriented terminology everyone loved so much!
3. One Night Only (NSFW)
Captain Shirogane is the junior member of the diplomatic mission to Altea. They're heading back to Earth tomorrow, which means if Princess Allura wants to act on her desires, she'd better move quickly. Time is never on our side. 
I think this story has lots of really nice imagery. It was fun to write and fun to read (for me, anyway), and it inspired a lot of “OMG NO!... oh wait, okay,” style comments >:3 So that was fun.
4. Marvelous
Shiro screws up a fairly simple task, and it falls to Allura to cover for his mistake in front of some new potential allies. 
Another one that good some good reception. I put off writing a fake married fic because I didn’t want to be seen as “taking on” the inimitable “How To Drown In The Desert,” which is one of Those Fics in Shallura fandom. But I think I put enough of a different spin on it that it’s okay? And I might actually continue this someday...
5. Risk & Reward (NSFW)
Allura is the Black Paladin of Voltron, former Champion of the Galra arena. Everything else she's wanted in her life - going to space, meeting aliens - has ended badly. Why should wanting Shiro - the advisor to Princess Romelle of Altea - be any different? It's not worth risking their friendship to pursue this crush. Or is it? 
It was an interesting trick, swapping roles and races. So, from a writing perspective, it was good for me, and I did, honestly, enjoy it. ^_^
TIME TO TAG! As always, tagging does NOT obligate you.
@explodingcrenelation
@breezycheezyart
@materassassino
@smolsarcasticraspberry
@millennium-queen
@duckydrawsart
@wildestheart4ever
@admiraljane
@fakesurprise
@almighty-hail
@yliseryn
@firecrackersweet
...I know too many talented people, dammit. I had to make myself stop at an even dozen.
8 notes · View notes
pan-xichen · 7 years ago
Text
What The Heckin Heck Is Gonna Happen To Keith: a meta I guess
OKAY SO I, like every other Keith stan, am wondering what the heck they’re gonna do with Keith. Post s4 he is no longer a paladin and is a member of the Blade of Marmora, but due to the events of the finale I’m still unsure as to how long that will last. Will the team find out he almost sacrificed himself for them without them knowing? Also something to note: Voltron has not used its sword (I think I’m sorry if I forgot I haven’t watched the season since the day it came out lmao) since Keith has stopped being a paladin. The fact that the sword is basically Voltron’s signature weapon leads me to believe that Keith very likely will end up as a paladin again (unless they did form it without him I can’t honestly remember for sure), but then he’d no longer be able to work with the Blade of Marmora, and one of the current paladins would have to lose their position for Keith to return to a lion.
The scenarios I could see happening are: 
- Keith somehow becomes the leader of the Blade of Marmora and does not return to being a paladin 
-Keith does return to being a paladin, causing either Allura or Shiro to not be a paladin anymore and him to likely have to leave the Blade
- Keith and Shiro co-pilot the black lion when he is not off on missions for the Blade
- the extra lion in the carving of Voltron in s3 ends up becoming Keith’s new lion, forming a powerful extra but non-essential part of Voltron meaning it won’t hurt the team if he has to go off on Marmora missions from time to time 
- the extra lion calls to Allura and Lance returns to the blue lion, allowing Keith to return to Red and Shiro to remain the black paladin (probably also meaning that Keith can no longer run off with the Blade of Marmora)
- the extra lion wants Shiro as its paladin and Keith returns to being the black paladin (less grumpily now that he knows Shiro still has a lion)
(I’m gonna put the rest of this under a cut because it accidentally became 7000 words long oops)
Out of all of these outcomes I have a feeling that the writers will end up going for something that doesn’t make season 3/4′s development for Keith obsolete while at the same time allowing him to still contribute to the story directly. I personally can see scenarios three and four being the most plausible because they would allow for more aspects of his character to be present (blade and paladin) instead of eliminating one or the other. Although, the first one is definitely plausible in terms of Keith’s character and could even be combined with number four. We see him demonstrate time and again that he is a natural leader, despite not believing himself worthy to be one. I do feel as though eventually he will end up (willingly, this time) in a leadership role again after acknowledging that he is worthy of that position.
Scenario three would however feel like they’re just putting him back in for the sake of having him in and likely not really be meaningful (kinda like having Shiro come back so soon screwed up the story a bit for them because they planned to have him gone for much longer), as much as I like the idea of Keith and Shiro as co-leaders. That doesn’t necessarily mean though that they couldn’t be if they were not both the black paladins. I’ve seen a lot of theory about that extra lion in the Voltron carving at the beginning of season 3 being the white lion, which has been an actual canon thing in the past reincarnations of the series. Most of these theories involve Shiro as the white paladin, which I really do like but it feels like he really is meant to pilot Black (even if this might not actually be Shiro at the moment). His struggle to break her from Zarkon’s control was a great plot point from season 2 and both of them starting to heal from their respective trauma together would make for a nice aspect of Shiro’s character arc.
You do also have that Keith was bonded closely enough with Red to have her actually fly out into the middle of space and rescue him, and almost destroy an entire base to save his life. I love Keith as the red paladin, but if the writers still wanted to have him as an active member of the BOM it wouldn’t make much sense to put him back as the literal right arm of Voltron unless the lion switching is a thing that could happen more than once, (Lance moving back to Blue and Keith to Red but when Keith isn’t around Lance pilots Red and Allura pilots Blue) but that would be weird because they’ve put extra emphasis in the past on how important a paladin’s bond with their lion is, and having them be able to do this swap out thing all the time makes that point kinda meaningless. I think maybe the reason why Keith was able to connect with Red from so far away and have her respond when he was in danger might be the same reason why he could feel the blue lion’s energy months before Lance was even there to awaken her, and how he could pilot the black lion in that moment of desperation to save Shiro in s2 ep1. He’s connected to all of the lions in a strange way-- whether the answer to that is simply “he’s an alien” or there’s something else there, (which is what I suspect) remains to be seen, but I believe that his strong bond with Red may have been due to his connection with all of the lions. It still makes me kinda sad to see him not be her paladin anymore because he totally fits as the ‘guardian spirit of fire’, but as of right now the solution to the dilemma of “where are they gonna put keith without cutting him out of the main cast like they did in s4″ is a bit of a narrative corner the writers have backed themselves into that doesn’t logically involve him going back to being the red paladin without sacrificing the new development of him as a Blade of Marmora.
That being said, as much as I like white paladin Shiro (or whatever colour this hypothetical extra lion could be), having Keith be the white paladin would make more sense in my opinion. Voltron already has all of its essential components with five lions, but perhaps an extra lion would turn into a kind of upgrade for the robot. With the lore of the white lion from previous reboots, it might make sense to have that lion allow Voltron to create its own wormholes or even tear into other realities to pass through them, but maybe it just amplifies the robot’s powers. This would give Keith a place on the team while allowing him to still go off on Marmora missions if he is needed with them and not automatically jeopardize the team’s ability to form Voltron. It would also make for an interesting character development in him, as I imagine him seeing that Voltron can still be formed without him might make him feel less needed, but learning that his lion allows Voltron to do more than it could with only five would lift his spirit and make him feel like he belongs again. Maybe it could even include that the black and white paladins were meant to be co-leaders before something happened to the white lion, allowing both Keith and Shiro to donate their strengths as leaders to each other and cancel out some of their weaknesses (Shiro’s ability to remain level-headed under pressure and more diplomatic tendencies mixed with Keith’s passion and quick, creative thinking both at the head of Voltron would make the team an even more unstoppable force and I will fight anyone on this I could write a whole post dedicated to why Keith and Shiro as co-leaders would be beneficial and maybe even crucial to team Voltron’s success).
Technically I could end this here but I have a hypothetical scenario on how Keith becoming the paladin of the extra lion could go down so here have a pseudo-fic:
Keith’s near-death in season four is only foreshadowing to him actually dying... sort of. In the next season, Keith really does sacrifice himself for the greater good, allowing the team to succeed in their mission and deal a significant blow to the Galra empire. Before the battle during which he dies, they discover that there was a sixth lion initially built, but never used, as when it gained sentience it refused to awaken for any paladin. Perhaps this other lion foresaw the events that kickstarted the war with the Galra in the first place, and wanted no part in it, or maybe even wanted to avoid the pain of losing a paladin it knew was going to die. So it refused to function, maybe even flying away to some remote place in the universe (or even a different reality) to wait until its true paladin would arrive. The paladins find the white lion, but predictably it refuses to awaken for anyone-- that is, anyone who is present. Keith is off on another mission for the Blade when they find the lion.
Keith has been having strange dreams about the lion, not knowing exactly what it is. The lion has been trying to communicate with him, but to no avail. His own personal turmoil and lack of self-worth are clogging his thoughts, making it difficult for the white lion to reach him. The lion is brought to the castleship to prevent the Galra from finding it, and they start trying to do literally anything they can to wake it up, but the lion remains silent. It won’t even communicate with the other lions, as without a paladin and after having been gone for so long, it feels as though it doesn’t have the right to do so. Similarly to Keith, who feels as though he has no place on team Voltron.
In the last few episodes of the season, everyone goes into some epic battle again. Keith sacrifices himself so that Voltron can be victorious in a similar way to his near-sacrifice in season four, except the team knows what he’s doing this time. Shiro freezes up when they realize Keith is gone, before screaming and practically rampaging with his lion, cutting down hundreds of enemy ships at once. The white lion roars in frustration, sensing the death of a paladin it never got to bond with, and decides “nope, fuck you, you’re alive”. It launches itself out of the castle, collecting Keith’s broken body from where it’s floating out in space. The initial explosion didn’t end up killing Keith, but it did damage his suit, meaning he could no longer breathe. The lion shows up and uses its own pure quintessence to revive him. The process turns Keith’s hair white, and his irises a golden yellow, but does not corrupt him in the way that Zarkon was, due to the quintessence being pure. He is essentially reborn, like team Voltron’s very own phoenix. 
The loss of Keith has caused the team to get distracted from their goal in their distress, and they’re fighting a losing battle. The white lion suddenly springs up out of nowhere and joins the fray, confusing everyone as they have no idea who is piloting the lion. They win the battle and all return to safety, practically jumping out of their lions and crowding around the white one to see who this mysterious new paladin is. Shiro is lingering behind everyone but still trying to show interest. Everyone has this irrational hope at the back of their minds that somehow it’s Keith, and he didn’t really die, even though they watched his craft explode. A slender figure clad in white paladin armor steps out of the lion, still wearing their helmet. Everyone is holding their breath as the figure slowly approaches them and moves to remove their helmet. Nobody recognizes him at first now that his hair is white and his eyes are yellow, until Shiro finally looks up from where he’d been somberly looking down and says “Keith?” in the smallest, quietest voice he’s ever had. Keith smiles softly as he’s recognized and everyone runs to group hug him. As the others pull away, leaving Keith and Shiro still holding each other, the scene fades out. 
15 notes · View notes
vrepit-sals · 7 years ago
Note
Okay but what is in S3 Keith gets into some dangerous situation and the Red lion goes to save him even though Lance is still inside???? Idk I should be asleep honestly but this thought came into my head
This is such a blessed conceptand I’m sorry this so long to answer but I really wanted to write something forit…_____
Lance swerves and bites back agrin as Red weaves between the enemy fire and downs two ships with aperfectly-aimed blast.
Three more Galra ships regroup intheir place, but it takes a fraction of a second longer than normal. The enemyis wearing thin. Against all odds, they’re winning this fight.
When Allura had called them tothe control room for the briefing her expression had been grim. Almost anentire fleet of Galra ships at their doorstep, the yellow lion out ofcommission, and five hundred more prisoners to be evacuated before they couldleave the system.
Lance had seen Keith’s teethclench from beside him, and Allura had glanced at him before saying what theyall already knew. The surface of the planet was too unstable for the castle toland, and so lions would need to be used to ferry the prisoners up from theplanet and hold off the ships, with the castle as support and without Voltronto fall back on.
The black and blue lions wouldhold the most passengers, and thus would be ferrying the prisoners, while Redand Green would try and keep the Galra at bay for as long as possible. 
Keith hung back as they headed tothe hangers, and Lance had waited, half expecting Keith to ask to swap lionswith him for just one mission. Ask Lance to let him go back to being theimpulsive fighter of the group, blowing up Galra ships rather than the leadersheltering innocents from harm.
Lance had never even pilotedBlack before. It would be a terrible decision, one they may very well look backon with regret.  If Keith had asked it of himhe would have done it in a heartbeat.
Instead Keith had walked forward,stared at Lance for a moment, before placing a hand on his shoulder.
 The words which fell from hislips were unexpected.
 "You can do it. You’ll be fine.“
 They were laced with somethingLance couldn’t decipher. He wasn’t sure who Keith was trying to convince.
 "Of course we can. Onefleet? Me and Red could take them out in our sleep.”
 Keith had laughed for a moment,and Lance savoured it. It lit a fire in his stomach. It reminded him what hehad to come back to.
Keith stared at him for a momentlonger, and Lance saw something in his eyes. Some desire Keith was keepingclose to his chest.
“I’m sorry you can’t pilotRed right now,” Lance had said, guessing at Keith’s train of thought.
“It’s not that, it’sjust…” Keith said, glancing away, before looking back, “it’s notimportant. Good luck.”
Lance smiled at him and clappedhim on the shoulder before turning and running for his hanger.
“Won’t need it. I have Redand Pidge to keep me safe,” he’d called over his shoulder. The last thinghe’d heard as the door shut was Keith’s laugh.
Now, for the first time since thebattle began, he actually believes those words.
Red is lightning fast, feather-lightcontrols responding to him almost before he moves them. The Galra ships continue to fall, some from him, some from a Green lion who keeps popping in and out ofinvisibility.
Most of the Galra ships trying tohit her end up destroying each other instead.
Lance isn’t thinking of anything,lining up and firing shots before his mind can even catch up, when Red suddenlyjolts under him and turns into a dive.
He freezes for a moment, thoughtswhirring through possible malfunctions and their solutions, when he feelsoverwhelming protectiveness surge through their bond, and realises that Redknows exactly what she’s doing.
He all put gives up control, swervingonly to avoid laser blasts that Red, in her single-minded focus, probably wouldhave ploughed right through.
He’s expecting some sort ofnatural disaster when he gets close to the planet’s surface, of Keith havingsacrificed himself to save a prisoner from a landslide, or from falling fromone of the loose plates of rock into the boiling mantle below.
Instead he comes face to facewith a Galra ship, preparing to fire at a group of helpless refugees, andKeith, standing in front of them, arms reflexively outstretched as if to shieldthem from the blast.
He doesn’t need to, because theGalra ship blows up before it can react to the Red lion now standing between itand its prize.  
However, he can hear theatmosphere begin to vibrate with the whirrs of engines, and knows that thereprieve will be short.
He scowls at the approachingships, and takes out a couple while yelling into the communicator.
“Keith! How many more prisonersare there?”
He can hear some static on theother end, and scattered muttering, when Keith answers.
“These are the last of them.Allura is loading the others. The Black lion is just over these hills on morestable ground. You can provide cover while we get there.”
Lance glances at the swarm ofGalra ships gathering and swears. He leaves the cockpit, running down the shipas Red continues firing behind him.
When he opens the door he can seeKeith and about thirty prisoners. It’ll be a squeeze but he thinks they’ll fit.
“No can do,” he says, grinning atKeith’s scowl, “I’m giving you all a ride. Get in.”
Keith moves to protest, but Lancecan see the fatigue of the prisoners, and the fear in their leader’s eyes.
“Pidge can’t deal with the fleetalone-“
“Pidge! Coran!” Lance yells,cutting him off “How are you going up there?”
Lance hears a whoop from Pidgeand a far off explosion, and takes that as his answer.
The prisoners have already boarded theship, so he grabs Keith’s arm and yanks him inside, door closing behind him as hegoes.
It’s sitting in the pilot’schair, Keith behind him and thirty refugees looking at him as a saviour whenthe full weight of what he’s doing hits him.
He’s completely focused on theships now multiplying around them. There are more than he can remember seeingup in the atmosphere, and now he’s alone.  The Galra must have been hiding out of reachfrom their sensors, sneaking in from the other side of the planet, setting atrap for the lions at their most vulnerable. He estimates he can hold them offfor minutes at most.
All the good feelings he had haveseeped away.
“Allura was moving some excessprisoners to the Black lion when the ships attacked. She won’t be able to getback to Blue alone, you’ll have to pick her up when you drop me off.”
Keith behind him is tense, handclenched on the back of Red’s chair. Lance is sure he’s aware of what he’sabout to say.
“Keith buddy,” he says, swervingaround a shot and sending one right back, “we may not even have enough time tomake one stop, let alone two.”
Keith winces as a laser grazesRed’s side from behind. Their company is getting creative.
“I know, but we’ll have to.”
Lance grimaces, boosting up Red’srear shields, and cutting a path through the ships as quickly as he can. Alaser flash cuts across his vision and his mind jolts. 
“I think I have another idea,”Lance says, a grin spreading across his face.
“Allura,” he waits for her torespond before continuing, “see if you can get Black off the ground and getback to the castle. Keith and I will pick up Blue on our way through.”
He waits, tense for a fewmoments, fighting with half a mind as he waits on Allura. If this doesn’t workthey’re screwed.
“We’re in the air,” breaksthrough the comms, and Lance breathes a sigh of relief. Behind him, he can hearKeith do the same.
“Take out any ships you can onthe way but focus on getting to the castle as quickly as you can. We won’t befar behind,” Keith says, and just to prove how in sync they are, when Lancegets up from the controls without warning, Keith slides in and continues firingwithout any break in momentum.
They really are a good team.
Lance pats Keith on the shoulder.
“Try and get me as close to Blueas you can, but don’t stop moving,” he says, and Keith nods at him with a grin.
Lance pauses, and hears Red’spurrs in the back of his mind.
“Welcome home buddy,” he says toboth of them, before moving to the exit.
He tells the refugees around himto hold on, and waits for a moment before opening the hatch.
From below, still a distance off,he sees the familiar blue force field, and his heart soars.
He loves Red, he really does.They work well together, he feels like fire when using her controls.
But Blue is home.
Keith gets them closer than Lanceknows he could, faster than Lance thought was possible. Keith and Red operatewithout a second’s hesitation, an extension of each other.
Lance knows one day he couldprobably achieve that connection with Red.
For the first time he realises hedoesn’t particularly want to.
And then there’s no time forthinking, because he’s launching himself out of a moving alien space ship.
Using his boosters to makehimself faster, a harder target to hit.
“Blue! Go long!” He screams,laughing. He can feel Blue’s joy as she realises who he is.
The Galra ships don’t even havetime to see him before he’s ploughing right into and through the blue force field.
The Blue lion reaches her head upand catches him in one deft motion, softening his fall even as he tries tobreak.
The prisoners on the ship stareat him, unsure if he’s the devil or their messiah.
“Change of plan,” he says,grinning, brushing himself off as he moves to the cockpit, “I’m getting you allout of here.”
Blue’s controls are a familiarcurrent under his hands. He knows the exact layout of this river. His bonesfeel which forks to take.
The Galra ships surrounding themall go up in a perfect ring of ice.
With three of them in the air,and elation still coursing through Lance’s veins, picking off the remainingships almost seems trivial.
There are more Galra fighters thanthey’ve ever faced before without a full team, without forming Voltron.
The ships just keep falling andfalling.
He and Blue are untouchable.
He can still feel Red’sdetermination and laughter through the haze, and through her, right at the edgeof his mind, he can feel Keith, his emotions perfectly mirroring Lance’s own.
Fire and ice wreak destructionacross the battlefield.
Ship after ship going down withless than a thought. Less than an effort.
Blue feels like a cat playingwith a mouse.
Then, almost from another world,he can hear Pidge through the comms.
“I know you both are excited tobe back in your lions, but can you maybe focus on getting to castle so we canget out of here?”
Her exasperation rings clear. Hecan’t think to fault her.
“Right, sorry Pidge. Be rightthere.”
Blue hums as she cuts through thestraggling ships, and Lance breathes a sigh.
He knows there’ll be some lightscolding for the delay when he gets back to the castle, probably outnumbered bypraise for his quick thinking.
Keith will berate him for beingreckless.
For once, Lance won’t be able to throw the phrase back at him.
But the hand on his shoulder willbe warm.
And the lion at the end of hisconnection will be a clear summer sky and a gentle stream.
63 notes · View notes
siphersaysstuff · 7 years ago
Text
Idle Voltron “Season 3″ thoughts
...that wasn’t very good.
Like the whole thing felt really, really stretched out to fill an episode count, but stretched from a not-particularly-well-done starting point to begin with. And that stretching to tease long-form story arcs is leading to internal narrative problems.
I won’t pretend I wasn’t incredibly dubious when Netflix Voltron was announced. But the show ended up really GOOD. It was damn nice to see an 80s revival series for once do just about everything right. So this stumble really kinda hurts more.
Under the cut so’s for not to spoil them what not wants spoiling to be...
Lotor’s whole “why not be allies with the Galra?” could be a good arc as it does address the “surely no-one would ever come back and re-claim the planet” issue that usually isn’t brought up in kidvid (I mean it’s usually not for good reason, but still). And it plays with the bad situation the Paladins were in even after this major victory, with various planets expecting huge revolution but then whoops not that easy. That could be done as a good arc as potential allies turn their backs willingly in favor of the stability of the Galra. But narratively, they shit that bed in the very episode it’s brought up by having Lotor’s Girl Squad use the guy Lotor says “join us!” to as the unwilling victim in a trap. I was waiting for him to say “there, it’s done, my Prince” after he made the distress call, his bitterness turned against the Paladins... but nope!
Speaking of screwing up your narrative, the whole Shiro thing where there’s probably cloning going on and they let this Shiro (whichever he is) get away. Those were cards they did NOT need to show yet. The questions raised are not good questions and only raise plot problems no matter how they shake out. Really shouldn’t have shown the clony-like stuff. I’ve gotten really, really tired of OOOH LOOK MYSTERY TEASY OOOO TUNE IN LATER AND MAYBE WE’LL EXPLAIN. Knock that shit off, writers.
If the plan is the let shaggy-Shiro escape and reunite with the Paladins because this one may be a clone and it’s part of an infiltration game, why put him in situations where the odds are more or less one in one he’d die without external aid that the Galra have zero ability to set up? That’s banking on some royal luck there.
Also the Shiro-escapes episode was interminably drawn out. That was half an episode of content MAXIMUM, a third more optimally. It might, might, miiiiiiiiiiiiiiight have worked if it had been a “silent episode” with no dialogue so there’d be some kinda neat theme to glide on style, but welp. (Also, hi Lars!)
@chrismcfeely pointed out the pilot-swapping going on was pretty unnecessary. It felt like pointless drama to me, guy who only really knew original Voltron via cultural osmosis and half-remembered half-watches as a kid cuz that’s what was on the daycare TV. But to find out it was all to get the pilot/lion setup to line up with How It Was In The 80s is... itchy. This show’s been good at not being beholden to that kinda thing. Just let Allura pilot the Red Lion! We don’t need three episodes of the Paladins being shitty pilots! It reeks of padding and artificially making Lotor seem more impressive.
Also, goddamn Keith was irredeemably unlikable all throughout this. I mean he was never gonna be my #1 boy anyway, but yow. “Petulant baby” is not a good look.
Not that everyone else didn’t get to hold the dumbass ball in the brief dalliance with the Evil Alternate Universe trope. Lance, Hunk and Pidge are SHOWN that the alt-Altaeans have basically lobotomized everyone in the universe, and their response is little more than “huh, that’s unusual” until they’re arrested. Pidge gets like one “this is suspicious” glance early on but then she apparently forgets to be suspicious immediately after? And the scenes play out to where we don’t actually KNOW how much Allura is told about what the al-Altaeans did, but that it sounds like they were because Keith remarks about them taking away free will and Allura was apparently okay with this? The fuckity fuck?
Hey. Hey. Coran. If you knew Haggar was an Altaean? That’s kinda important intel. Coulda, you know, spilled those beans a long time ago. Might have been helpful.
And let’s talk about the backstory episode. Voltron’s inexplicable behavior is SORTA explained here, but the way it’s presented still comes across as just... what the hell. I mean as in “yeah I made five robot lions, *causal shrug* what the hell.” It needed just a few more lines to plant the idea that Voltron itself was a living entity trying to take shape, that Alfor was guided to make lions specifically from an alt-dimension force, not just “oh yeah somehow I made a buncha psychic robot lions and I don’t actually know what any of them can do LET’S GO”. It would take so little...
“I saw it clearly, even though I didn’t truly understand it. I wasn’t even sure what I was doing half the time, but I knew this was... this was what the lions wanted. Like I was simply giving form to an idea, a mind millennia old. I worried at first that I too was being led down a dark path... but somehow, I could see the horrors inflicted by the creatures from the rift, and the force that sought to save lives from it. That what we do here today, with these lions, will prevent our reality from falling as did the one we see through the rift.”
I dunno. Voltron’s been way better than this.
9 notes · View notes
nibimatatabi · 7 years ago
Text
More Random Cassandra Facts
No one asked for this but I’ve got another HOUR AND A HALF to kill before I go meet with my sister and then eat lunch so here we are.
Cassandra got a full blood knealze at 28; her name is Orion. She’s even smarter than Sebastian, and it’s awful. But Cassandra loves her (she’s called Ori or Orio, which the latter is pronounced like Oreo).
Cassandra went back to France after Hogwarts and stayed there for 7 years.
Cassandra moved back to London at 25 - she and her parents kind of just swapped places. They took Sunshine though, so she doesn’t have an owl anymore (no biggie; she can call Evanna, and Lucile sends her an owl at least once a month).
This is also when Cassie starts popping in on Kreacher, because Mistress Hell Witch has died and Cassandra feels bad for the poor house elf (he’s...nice??? to her - he doesn’t insult her where she can hear). They have tea at least once a month.
Cassandra also finds the Black library and in her boredom while she’s waiting on all of the Ministry and St. Mungos red tape to finally get clear so she can work, she kind of sort of becomes an animagus. Her thought process here is ‘you can never be too safe!’ since Voldemort had a horcrux that’s still somewhere in that house. Yes, my Cassie is paranoid. Yes, she’s an idiot.
She’s a cougar/mountain lion/puma. Kind of small, silver-y colored, blue eyes. Very cute. ‘I wanted ferocious not cute!’ Yeah well have you met yourself, Cassie?
She gets the job at St. Mungos and after a couple of months they throw her to the wolves. Not literally, but they let her work with the Longbottoms. She absolutely goes home and has a small meltdown after finding out who had a hand in destroying their lives (that’s two checks against you, Lestranges, and one against Crouch).
Lucile works at the Ministry - desk job. They get to go to the Quidditch World Cup together, and Cassandra gets to come face to face with Death Eaters for the first time in...well, ever, really. One of them sees her, recognizes her, and chases her into the woods (she learns later it was Crouch; they taunt each other, firing spells and hexes until Crouch flees from her and shoots the mark into the air). It’s really very horrifying, and by the time she’s allowed to leave the area where the children and the Ministry officials are, she’s ready to go home; screw this place.
Remus lives with her at this point, just briefly, on her couch. He’s afraid he’ll hurt her, and the first full moon is spent with a cougar and a werewolf bullying each other in a living room while a pair of kneazles look on from on top of the fridge. After that she learns to brew the wolfsbane potion. Not quite as well as Snape, because potions is 110% not her forte, but she managed the one to become an animagus so it’s not the worst and works well enough that Cassandra doesn’t have to worry about him trying to attack her or her cats.
It’s ~a year before Remus moves out, and then the Order has formed up so it’s all good. Cassandra gets a roommate the last couple of months Remus is living with her - Jacob Marks, a former Quidditch star who hurt his shoulder and couldn’t keep playing. Cassandra isn’t 100% sure where she picked him up at. He’s a flirt though - with everyone. Even Remus until he finds out he’s a werewolf; and then he stops flirting but it always kind.
Cassandra was also dating Richard Puffett. They split following the Quidditch World Cup because Puffett found out that Remus was a werewolf and actually literally told Cassandra, standing in her living room with Remus “it’s me or the dog,” and Cassandra stared at him for a moment, then opened the door. “Get out, Richard.” “Excuse me?” “I said: Get out, Richard.” “What-?” “You said it’s you or Remus; I pick Remus.” What a fun summer.
Cassandra joins the Order when it reforms. She also gets into three separate screaming matches with Sirius that end with Remus picking her up and carrying her away. Not a great time.
Cassandra’s roommate has no clue that she’s part of the Order. She intends to keep it that way. When she and Sirius cool off and make up, Cassandra spends more time with him than she really intended too. He’s hurt, trapped, broken, and she can’t fix him but she can’t find it in herself to leave him alone anymore than she could his brother. That summer is also awful, because she and Sirius get into it again about kids fighting wars. Remus once more bodily removes her from the premises.
When Cassandra falls asleep at the house she usually goes to find Sirius when she wakes up. Some nights he’s drunk and brooding, some nights he’s sober and brooding, and some nights she can curl up against him and both of them can pretend they’re kids - sixteen and seventeen and the world isn’t falling apart and maybe they can be in love with each other.
Cassandra thinks she should have gone with them to the Ministry. If they had one more person, Sirius might have survived (that’s three for Bellatrix; Cassandra has decided that the woman’s blood will be on her hands - she’s the reason Cassandra doesn’t have Regulus, the reason the Longbottom’s are basically insane, the reason Sirius is dead). She cries for a week while Jacob is celebrating the fact that the ‘known death eater’ is dead. He has no clue. Cassandra hopes he never will.
1 note · View note
ironinkpen · 8 years ago
Text
“The Leader That You’ve Become”: Allura and the Blue Lion
Alternatively Titled: Dreamworks Let This Poor Girl Have Fun For Once In Her God Damn Life
I already wrote a long ass meta about putting Lance in the Black Lion and talked about Allura in it, but fuck it. I have free time (ie homework I don’t want to do) so let’s write another one about just Allura. This is gonna be long so like, in summary, my argument is that I think that: 1. Allura’s personality and quintessence match the Blue Lion pretty well, and 2. Putting Allura in the Blue Lion might allow for interesting character growth.
But yeah okay let’s go:
Tumblr media
So I’ll be the first to say that Black Paladin Allura would make me shit myself out of pure joy. And scenes like the above definitely point in that direction. Coran says it himself, Allura’s a leader. She’s been running this universe saving thing since day one. Sure, Shiro leads the team, but he’s Allura’s second in command. She’s the one who owns the lions, chooses the missions, makes everyone train, builds alliances, gets the team to safety, organizes resistance efforts, and operates the castle. Shiro might be the head of Voltron, but Allura is and always has been Voltron’s leader.
Alright then, I’m sold. Let’s put her in Black!!
But… would that really be the best move, narratively?
For one thing, if the purpose of removing Shiro from the equation (for at least a little while) is to shake up the team, then putting Allura in as Black (at least immediately) is a very strange move. None of the team dynamics get challenged at all, really, because just be swapping out one stable leader for another. It would make sense, but it would kind of be a cop out to the whole big “ooh, what’s the team going to do without Shiro” build up.
Plus, the idea of consolidating the two roles of Leader of Voltron and Head of Voltron kind of stresses me out. That might just be a personal thing, but I feel like it’s really critical for these roles to be kept separate, and what happened to Shiro is proof as to why. If something happens to one of the leaders, the other is still there to handle things. But like, if Allura gets both jobs, and god forbid something happens to her, the team is left with two vacancies and no leaders at all. Then they’d really be screwed.
And on that note, we need two leaders to question each other’s judgement and decisions. We see this dynamic play out between Shiro and Allura frequently. When Shiro says “yeah let’s trust Ulaz,” Allura’s the one to step back and be like “what.” Shiro ends up being right to do so, but Allura’s questions are completely valid. How do we know this isn’t a trap? What have these guys been doing for the past 10000 years? Shiro was ready to trust Ulaz kinda just… ‘cause, while Allura brought the more realistic concerns onto the table.
And when Allura and Keith leave the castle-
Tumblr media
-Shiro’s the one to be like, uh, we kind of need you guys here. He and Allura balance each other out. If you combine the two roles, the only judgement the team will follow is Allura’s, because no one else would have the authority to really challenge her. And while she is, again, a brilliant leader, that doesn’t mean she’s always right. Like, specifically in this whole “Keith and Allura run away” thing, they could have tested whether or not it was them being tracked in a different, safer way. Ditching the team and leaving them open to attack in the middle of the night was not the wisest move. This is why we need two leaders, so that one can point out when the other is being too brash or too trusting.
The final issue is:
Tumblr media
It’s been emphasized by Coran time and time again that Allura’s quintessence is needed to operate the castle (specifically the wormholes, so that the team can escape if need be). Who would be able to do it in her absence? Can Allura even pilot a lion at all?
Alright so that lays out all of the potential issues with Allura being Black Paladin (and I want to reiterate: I could be completely wrong about all of this lmao, I’m but a mere teenager overanalyzing a children’s tv show). But how would her being the Blue Paladin instead solve any of them?
Well, for one:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
This is the same episode where Keith and Allura run off together. Coran is shown to be capable of operating the castle (to an extent) without Allura!! We don’t know the full extent of the castle’s reliance on Allura, and I’m sure that’ll be relevant / explained in season 3, but one thing she’s definitely needed in the castle for is wormholing. It’s a pretty well-established fact that Allura’s the only one who can activate the wormholes.
But that could change soon.
Tumblr media
Like Slav points out, the castle is outdated. There’s a chance that someone (maybe him, maybe Coran, maybe someone else) might fix it up to solve that problem.
So, who’s to say that they might not be able to fix things so that Coran might be able to make wormholes instead?
If that happens, Allura could pilot blue, since the team would still be able to wormhole away (assuming that’s really the main thing they need Allura in the castle for). 
On another note:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Allura’s quintessence seems to be blue (it was pink at the end of season two but that was probably because of Haggar I think). I’m still kind of unsure on the whole quintessence thing because the only people on Team Voltron that we see actually using quintessence are Allura (seen above) and Shiro (seen with his arm), so there’s no proof that the color of the quintessence matters when it comes to piloting, but Allura does say:
Tumblr media
And if Allura has blue quintessence… Hm.
We’re never told in the series what the traits of the Blue Lion are because Lance cuts Allura off, but a look on the Voltron website tells us that it’s “the friendliest of the lions and the most accepting of new pilots” along with having a confidence that “comes in handy in tough battles against bigger and better opponents.” Allura is undoubtedly friendly, as the Alteans are a diplomatic race. We see the extent of her friendliness when she’s willing to work with the Galra despite the fact that they killed her entire civilization (which, in her mind, happened like a few weeks ago thanks to the whole cyro freeze thing). She’s also quite confident in her abilities and judgement– like I’ve said, she’s a leader. 
Additionally, the Blue Lion is the Guardian of Water, and water is typically tied to traits like adaptability and healing. We see Allura healing the Balmera, and we see her being adaptable when she… does anything tbh. Allura is frighteningly well-adjusted. As soon as she comes out of the healing pod she basically accepts that she’s been frozen for ten thousand years off the bat. She’s really good at going with the flow. She throws together a resistance between the Marmora, Balmerans, and the Olkari, works to train the team despite them being young and inexperienced because hey, they’re all we’ve got, and agrees to work with the Marmora (again, despite the fact that the Galra killed everyone she knew like a month ago).
And then there’s the whole “most accepting of new pilots” thing. The fact that that information is purposefully kept from the audience makes it seem to me that the writers are setting things up so that someone new is going to pilot the Blue Lion next season. And Allura’s a good bet for who it might be.
Tumblr media
The main reason people seem to be nervous about about Allura not becoming the Black Paladin is that they feel that if she doesn’t, it means that Dreamworks is shoving her character to the side. But, like I’ve said, Allura is and always has been the leader of Voltron. She’s the Commander of the Castleship! Her not becoming the Head doesn’t invalidate the power she already has within the group. She is and always has been the most powerful member of the team. That first picture I showed, where Coran calls her a leader, comes before she’s ever stepped foot in a lion. 
Also, it’s basically impossible for Dreamworks to push Allura aside next season anyway lol. We’ve just found out that there are other Alteans! And that they’re evil!! Plus we’ve got a mini-resistance with the Blade of Marmora and the Balmerans and the Olkari going, and Lotor, who in the OG series basically completely revolved around Allura, is coming to town. Allura’s. Got a lot on her plate, and her plot’s going to be central to the next season anyway. So I wouldn’t consider it too much of a loss if she didn’t pilot Black (or even a Lion at all!).
Okay so anyway I’ve been arguing so far that Allura could be the Blue Paladin, that it would make sense, and that it wouldn’t hurt her character, but to be honest, the biggest reason I feel like Allura should be Blue Paladin if she does become a paladin is that I think it would be good for her character.
Tumblr media
We always see Allura as being this very serious person. She’s just lost her people in a war, the man who did it is still out there and is doing the same thing to others, and now she’s gotta deal with a bunch of punkass kids who don’t really know what they’re doing. She’s mourning and stressed. In the Space Mall episode when everyone leaves, she says it herself: “What am I supposed to do now, sit around and worry all day?” 
She worries about the paladins, about her duties, about Zarkon. Sure, she handles this all incredibly well, but it’s clear that there’s already a lot on her plate. And she runs a tight castle-ship as a result.
But, on occasion, we get to see another side of her:
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
She likes having fun! She plays road trip games with the mice and gossips with them, she wants to go out and see pirates, and when she’s left alone in the castle, she plays bumper cars and races down the hallways (god bless the comic tbh).
The Voltron wiki describes the Blue Lion as an energetic and fun-loving lion. And I’d say that’s an accurate assessment. The first thing Blue does it take Lance out on a joy ride!!
The Voltron website describes Allura as “often feeling the weight of the universe on her shoulders.” Putting her in a happy, energetic lion like Blue would allow us to explore the playful, lighter side of her more, which would add a new dimension to her character. Whereas if she’s put in the Black Lion, I can’t see her character changing / getting more depth from the placement. It would be yet another responsibility, which would reinforce Allura’s current feelings of personal responsibility for the successes and failures of Voltron. And, from a writer’s perspective, why would I want to put my character in a role that wouldn’t change them? It’s much more interesting and dynamic to put them in a situation they have to adapt to and learn from.
Plus, we’d get to see Allura bond with the team! She’s sort of removed from the rest of the paladins at this point. We see her try to chat with Pidge in Season 1, but for the most part, the only conversations Allura really has are ones involving training/missions/fighting Zarkon (minus the ones she has with Lance, which are him being thirsty and her shutting him down lmao). Being the Blue Paladin would allow her to integrate herself into the team more fully and just. Be with them. Not as the Serious Leader but as an equal.
Alright I’m gonna wrap this up here before I write another ten paragraphs on why Allura deserves to be happy and have fun and have friends and kick ass without having to worry about that god damn particle barrier. Basically Allura being Blue Paladin would make sense, wouldn’t make her any less of the leader she already is, and would allow us to explore a new side of her! She was Blue Paladin in the OG series, and there’s a possibility that she might in this one, too!
And for one last parting shot:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Everyone else is color coordinated with their lions (minus Lance, kind of). And guess what color Allura wears?
506 notes · View notes
mattandsaraproductions · 8 years ago
Text
A Rant, or, problems with Supergirl season 2
Why I’m writing this I’m sure I don’t know, since thoughtful discussion seems never to occur on this website. But I think lack of discussion is terrible, so here’s me, wading into the morass of shipping (specifically, regarding Supergirl season 2, yay).
Firstly, you can like something and recognize it’s problematic. I suppose this isn’t too obvious of a point, or I wouldn’t be writing this whole thing. There exists a block list, of all the damn things, for anyone saying anything construed as anti-karamel. That’s ridiculous. I’m not claiming that everyone’s points are equally well-expressed, but there are problems with the way Kara and Mon-El’s relationship is written. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy watching them. I’m not saying you shouldn’t like their relationship. I’m saying you shouldn’t ignore the problematic tropes and toxic relationship norms at play merely because you ship them. Those are two different things.
My problem with the show is therefore largely extra-diagetic. That is, I think the writers err by presenting as unproblematic relationship norms that are in fact toxic. I have nothing against Mon-El as a character, except that his name should be Lar-Gand (but that’s another writing fail, and let’s leave it alone). So the “wah wah you hate the hot dude” – yeah, this is why I detest shipping. Also, “supercorp” isn’t canon either, so let me piss off the entirety of tumblr while I’m at it.
Still here? Let’s talk about Monday’s episode. The lesson that Kara is supposed to learn from Alex and Winn (and the power of musicals) is something like, “You should forgive him, I’m sure he has good reason for lying to you.” This fails for two reasons: 
1. As somebody who’s written a little bit on forgiveness (check out More Doctor Who and Philosophy for my essay on self-forgiveness in “Day of the Doctor.” Shameless plug, huzzah!), I can’t recall that much disagreement there is in the literature about owing someone forgiveness. Probably some philosophers do think that there comes a time when forgiveness is a duty, but that’s a minority opinion. Forgiveness is almost always seen as supererogatory. It’s not a duty; it’s above any beyond anything you ought to do for someone. So forgiveness isn’t something you owe to someone. Even someone who’s done far worse things to me than Mon-El has done to Kara, and redeemed himself far better, would not deserve my forgiveness. Why? Simply because forgiveness is not a matter of duty or desert. So it’s not that Mon-El doesn’t deserve forgiveness – It’s that he cannot deserve forgiveness, because that’s not how forgiveness works.
2. This sort of advice is gaslighting. It refuses to acknowledge the validity of Kara’s feelings, being hurt by what has happened, and angry at Mon-El. The writing does not let Alex or Winn accept Kara’s feelings, instead, the characters are subtlety written as telling her that she is wrong to feel this way, that there’s something about the situation she doesn’t understand, and that she would feel differently if she saw things “correctly.” No, none of this is explicit. But compare the scenes we get with someone saying, “You’re angry at him for lying and sad about breaking up with him? Yeah, it sucks. Here, have a donut.”
So is this abusive? I don’t think that’s a well-formed question when asking about the writing. In the real world, is stuff like this part of a system of relationship norms where women are supposed to accept men’s bad behavior? Yes. Does it contribute to a lack of self-reflection on the part of people in abusive relationships? Yes. Does watching fictional characters go through this teach women and girls watching to accept these sorts of things in their own lives? Yes.
The rebuttal from Karamel shippers is about how Mon-El grew up as prince of an awful place (a society where the queen laughs at things like treating people as people), and he’s learning how to be a better person (how to be a hero, even). Now, I think the characters are underwritten. I don’t know if we’re supposed to think Mon-El had problems with the system back on Daxam, if he’s reconsidering everything now that he’s on Earth, or if he’s faking being a better person to get into Kara’s pants. Any of those would be a likely scenario. Really, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter, because it is not Kara’s job to help him along that path.
If he wants to be a hero, or redeem himself, or even just do better, it’s on him to self-correct. His every screw-up thus far has led to Kara dragging Mon-El back on the path. That isn’t her job. Have him go to Metropolis and shadow Clark for a while. Have him thrown into the future and train with the Legion. It’s not that I don’t expect people to see this as normal. Women are expected to do most all the emotional labor in a relationship, so of course people are going to see this as normal. Television reflects our lives, and in turn our lives are shaped by storytelling tropes. But our lives, and the stories we tell, are poisoned by sexist norms that tell us how people are supposed to act. Is Supergirl showing us these norms at play in the characters’ lives, as a way to inoculate us in real life?
Well, no. I have no faith these writers are aware of what they are doing. If this were written to teach, to show how these sexist relationship norms function, and that their subtle insidiousness can infect the relationships even of the Maid of Might herself, that would be one thing. But these are the showrunners who’ve given us Arrow season 3 and nonsensical time travel shenanigans in The Flash. They are not writing a complex show here. They aren’t capable of it.
No, what the writers are doing is writing relationships the way they now how. And what they know is the way relationships function both on television and in real life. On television, where complex functional relationships between adults is non-existent, instead giving us romance that lurches from one drama to the next. And in real life, where women are expected to do the lion’s share of emotional labour in romantic relationships, aren’t supposed to introspect, and are supposed to be forgiving to their male partners’ every failure.
That’s why, for example, they didn’t write that Valentine’s Day episode to show us how stupid Mon-El’s jealousy was and how his actions are the exact opposite of what someone who likes somebody else should do in that situation. No, we were just supposed to accept that the metaphorical dick-measuring between him and Mxy is what any guy in that situation would do. It’s also the reason I stopped watching Buffy halfway through season 1, because the writing wasn’t presenting Xander as someone whose behaviour needed to be called out as misogynistic crap; we were supposed to find it funny, typical guy stuff. Is this sort of behavior normal? Sure. But it’s not a fact of the universe that things are this way. It’s not because of gravity; it’s because of sexism.
I loved how in season 1, being angry didn’t negate Kara being Supergirl. It was such a breath of fresh air compared to the moronic New-52 comics (a Red Lantern, seriously?!). It served to flesh out the character as her own person (her anger being an expression of survivor’s guilt), instead of the gender-swapped Clark they started with. It’s apparently a bridge too far, though, to allow her to be angry at her boyfriend for lying about his past and ignoring her instructions in the field, at least for more than an episode at a time. Lately, however, it seems like all the characters, and Kara especially, do not have inner lives. They act, but they seem incapable of questioning their own motives and desires. I have no idea why she and Mon-El like each other, aside from “straight white people.” It’s not that I don’t buy that this is psychologically realistic. I know it is; I’ve seen friends go through this, and in more straightforwardly abusive relationships besides. People can be drawn to each other, and be stuck in a cycle of breaking up and getting back together. It isn’t healthy, but it happens. 
But this is Supergirl, for pity’s sake. I don’t want realism. I want someone we can look up to. That has always been the point of these characters. A better show, with better writers, would be able to deliver a Kara in relationships still being the emotional and psychological center of the show. Between the CW, the writing staff, and sexism, there’s no chance of that.
TL;DR – I don’t give a rat’s ass about Mon-El. I care about analyzing and ending oppressive social norms that prevent people from living well.
Maybe if I keep punching real hard, something will break. It always works in comics.
1 note · View note
itsworn · 7 years ago
Text
Sorting Out A Square-Body C10
Square-body Chevy trucks, 1973-1987 that is, are gaining serious traction with classic trucks fans for a number of reasons. For starters, their 14-year run with minor changes (front sheetmetal, and so on) make swapping parts from one year to another seamless. That means finding a decent fender, door, cab, and so on, is just a matter of finding the corresponding part from a similar year span. They are also one of the only classic trucks that can still be found in local wrecking yards, which can be a huge plus when it comes to piecing together a square-body project. Of course, a huge aftermarket industry exists to support these trucks as well, making it nearly impossible to not be able to find the part you might need.
But, like nearly every classic truck, there are a few items on the square-body trucks that are not the most visually appealing. They do the job, they look the part, but when it comes to bringing sexy back, these later C10s could use some help. This became painfully obvious when it came time to start prepping our 1980 C10 for paint and bodywork. While the guys at Superstition Restoration, who will be handling the refinishing chores, are very capable, we wanted to take the time to go over the truck ourselves and figure out what we wanted to keep and what we wanted to change. Turned out the C10 could use a bit of help when it came to the looks department.
Nowhere is this more obvious than the side mirrors and door handles. While those “Dumbo” mirrors are great when it comes to function, their form leaves quite a bit to be desired. Big, bulky, heavy chrome mirrors stuck on the door as if done as an afterthought, we’re going to need to swap them out if it’s an increase in aesthetic we’re after. In stark contrast, many of the passenger cars from the ’60s came equipped with sleek, low-profile mirrors that will work perfectly for our upgrade, with a few caveats. We opted to use an exterior mirror from a 1967 Chevelle, courtesy of Classic Industries, but first we’ll have to chuck the Dumbos in the dumpster and fill the holes left on the doors.
The next item on the chopping block will be the stock door handles. Once again, clunky and awkward, these will be swapped out with another component from the muscle car era, with a 21st century twist: billet aluminum 1969 Camaro reproduction handles from Eddie Motorsports. But while the mirror swap it fairly straight forward, this door handle upgrade comes with one huge caveat. The stock door handles feature a push-button that connects to a rod, which activates the door latch while the Camaro items are designed with a push-button that activates the door latch directly (the C10 latch is below the door handle while the Camaro latch is directly behind it). This requires a bit of fabrication if the Camaro handles are going to be made to work.
The last upgrade we’ll be making to our C10 before it goes out for paint- and bodywork is to remove the driprails. Typically, this is a huge job that requires many feet of welding to tidy everything up in a seamless fashion. On the later C10s however, the driprail is a bolt on, which means it’s only a matter of welding up a few 1/8-inch holes to get that smoothie look on the cab.
While the mods we’ll be undertaking to get our C10 a little more fashionable aren’t anything radical, we think they’ll be just the understatement to refine that work truck look into something a bit more reflective of our build’s underlying theme.
The first task we’re going to tackle is to replace those stock, clunky door handles.
We really like the look of Eddie Motorsports’ 1969 Camaro billet aluminum door handles, but they’re designed to push directly on the latch, while the C10 handles use a pivot and rod arrangement to operate the latch. Some modifications are going to be required to get the Camaro handles to operate the C10’s latches effectively.
To do so, we’re going to borrow the pivot and rod hardware from the stock C10 handle, which will attach to the Camaro handles via two small ears welded in place.
Here’s the modified door handle assembly. The Camaro’s push-button stud was shortened to operate the C10 pivot properly.
It took some trial and error to get the handles to operate the latches perfectly. We found that the stock rods ended up being slightly too short, which put tension on the latch, preventing it from fully engaging with the striker bolt. The solution was to order up a set of rods from Brothers Trucks and modify them. First, the new rods are cut in half.
Then, each end is threaded using a 10-24 die.
A similarly threaded sleeve will mate the two rod halves, effectively making their length now adjustable. This will allow us to relieve the tension on the latch and dial in the sensitivity of the push button.
Here’s the final, finished door handle assembly.
Removing the stock handles leaves some sheetmetal work to be tackled before the installation is finished. Notably, the mounting holes and the opening for the handle assembly. First, the Camaro handle is held in place and trimmed to mark its location.
Then, the offending openings can be filled. The new handle is much smaller than the stock item, so that big hole needs to be filled using a small patch panel.
Here’s the finished area with the appropriate mounting holes for the Camaro handle …
… and the finished installation.
A previous owner had installed a 455ci Oldsmobile motor, presumably after the original engine gave up the ghost. He did a thorough job on the swap however, down to the Toronado hood ornament. Suffice it to say, this has got to go.
Filling the small boltholes is easily accomplished with a MIG welder and 0.023-inch wire. The larger hole can be filled using a similarly sized washer, welded in place, and then filled.
Abracadabra, no more hood ornament.
The item that started this whole ball o’ wax are the stock “Dumbo” mirrors. They’re big and ugly, but very effective. Fortunately, so is the big back window and my head on a swivel, so we’re going with form over function here.
Once removed, there are three holes that need to be filled before the new mirror can be installed. The lower hole is small and easily filled while the top two are rather large given the bushings that are installed as stock. These need to be removed before the holes can be filled.
Once the stock holes are welded up, the new mounting holes for the Classic Industries 1967 Chevelle mirror can be drilled and the mirror installed. Note the similarity in size and style of the new mirror and door handle.
The C10’s removable driprail makes easy work of smoothing out the cab. Once the sheetmetal screws and driprail are removed, the small holes can be welded up, ground smooth, and “Bob’s your uncle.”
Here’s the finished section that received the lion’s share of modifications. Removing the large, clunky bolt-ons with sleek, sexy components gives the truck a more refined appearance; just what we’re after.
The post Sorting Out A Square-Body C10 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.
from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/sorting-square-body-c10/ via IFTTT
0 notes