#vld staff

[callmelyc]

My KL secret Santa gift for Andy from the KL renaissance discord server 💫💞

Galtean klance

[kismetconstellations]

Here I go, again... The ride just never ends.

Shiro's reaction to Allura sacrificing herself for him in Season One, when he was still a character who mattered:

Shiro's reaction to the exact same thing in Season Eight, when the writers had long since stopped caring about him:

Shiro's response to Ulaz, who he barely knew, sacrificing himself to save him, back in Season Two:

Shiro saying goodbye to one of his dearest friends, who saved his life and gifted him with his new arm, and the power source for it, in the final episode of the absolute disaster that is Season Eight:

[pidges-lost-robot]

I will always believe Keith's sudden growth spurt due to "being on a space whale for two years" is just someone on the creative team for the show really trying to wish fulfil a similar growth spurt.

"He needed those years to bond with his mom in a montage and find lotors plan and space puppy to dog etc.-" Shut up, he didn't need TWO YEARS for any of that stuff. Whoever it was, you were just 5ft 7in and wanted real bad to be taller than Lance. Shut up, I see you there

[yonebutvoltron]

Ngl if I have to choose one character to end up with Keith, I would go with Acxa.

Like. Talking professionally here. I would have nothing against it if they were to be canon. Their chemistry somehow makes the most sense to me (aside from Allurance, maybe). They are somehow both lonely wolves and leaders of a group at some point. They do have a history. I do think they would make a great team. Just straight up power couple.

I want to marry Acxa too but like. She and Keith could have make a badass duo. And you can’t possibly convince me that there couldn’t have been something between them with how the other characters hinted at it “Your favorite paladin” are you serious

[avidbeader]

Heh, just saw the new round for that AO3 ships poll, and this one made me stop and wish for a third option to eject them both out of the poll and into hell:

[snazzy-specter]

i really don't think y'all need to be as worried as you think

vld is . . . a hot mess that i never finished because the pacing was driving me up the wall, but I really feel like you guys need to remember; everybody has black spots in their careers, especially in entertainment.

that aside, i did research on whose doing what and what they have done and, shock of shocks, one of the showrunners from vld is credited as director, Joaquim Dos Santos. He also worked as a director on Justice League: Unlimited, storyboard artist and director on Avatar: the Last Airbender, and has some other directing credits.

the other two credited directors are Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson. Powers doesn't have a huge fimography, he seems to only have film credits in 2012, but those credits include One Night in Miami, which he wrote the original play and the adapatation, and it kinda got him a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination. And if you're worried he has not animation experience, he also happened to be a writer and co-director on Pixar's Soul. and he has experience in franchise material, and is credited as writing 5 episodes of Star Trek: Discovery. I've heard kinda mixed things about Discovery, but again, no one has a perfect track record.

Thompson has more credits that include a fair amount of work in the Art Department of various shows and movies. and he also worked on the last Spiderverse film as a production designer.

also, the director of a film is not indicative of a projects final results. Santos was mainly a producer for vld. he has two directing credits, one art department credit for storyboarding, and two writing credits, one of which is one of IMDb's highest rated episode.

it's worth noting the guy with the most writing credits (not staff writer credits), Joshua Hamilton, has a, frankly, kind of middling career, and i don't feel like dwelling. check his IMDb if you feel like it

meanwhile, Phil Lord is back from the first movie and is joined by his frequent collaborator and guy he has to share a wikipedia page with, Christopher Miller, who was just a producer on the last film. for some reason, i get the feeling they don't need an introduction, but just in case, they also wrote and directed Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Lego Movie together. do with that information what you will.

personally, i'm more concerned about the other credited writer, David Callaham, as his credits include the screenplay for Doom (2005), Wonder Woman 1984, and Mortal Kombat (2021), which was beaten at the box office by Demon Slayer: Mugen Train in the second and third weekend of its release. that said, he is also credited as a co-writer for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, so again, make of that what you will.

and for anyone who thinks i'm being too optimistic, let me pull out my oldest fandom card and bring up Danny Phantom, which Butch Hartman desperately wants you to think he was responsible for. yes, Hartman created the concept, but he's only credited for writing seven episodes, one of which being the series finale that fans have rather infamously hated for literal years (it's cooled down, but i saw that shit as recently as 2012). he also has one additional story credit for the episode Splitting Images, which, yeah i can see that.

meanwhile, the guy credited as the series developer in thirty-one episodes, Steve Marmel, has fourteen story credits and nine writing credits by my count, and one of those is the highest rated episode that also got a video game tie-in, The Ultimate Enemy.

even with that praise i've given Marmel, i'd still argue he's had a solidly OK career, which i would also say of Marty Isenberg, who has fourteen writing credits and Sib Ventress, who has nineteen writing credits.

the point i'm trying to make is that media like film and television is a collaborative medium. every participant has some black spots on their resume. looking at everyone's track records, i'd said Across the Spiderverse is in mostly good hands. and the one guy i'm worried about isn't the one who worked on vld, which frankly, i think is just kinda a show that started strong and fumbled that execution towards the end into mediocrity.

just remembered the v*ltron showrunners are directing the into the spiderverse sequels

[keithkog]

"Based on canon"

"Klance"

Lmao biggest joke I've seen. Delulu to the max, are we? Kl is disliked by the vld staff and was never even going to be canon. But keep on dreaming I guess.

This is a headcanon rp blog based after canon so I’m letting people know, ain’t that deep trust me. If you do want to know, I adhere to canon lore as closely as I possibly can, that’s all it means.

Keep on dreaming that I care if they liked klance or not

I do this for fun so I don’t really see a problem either way

-OOC

[haibunnyy]

This might be a hot take but…

I loved S7 of vld and I don’t get all the hate for S8. I see it a lot on here that people hate the later seasons or flat out refuse to watch S7-S8 and while everyone’s entitled to their opinions, honestly I don’t get it and hope now with VLD being taken off Netflix people give it a chance before it’s gone.

!Spoilers below!

Disclaimer S7 IS my favorite season. From the travel home where we see just how far the paladins have come with their relationships with each other from goofy moments like the game show episode to E6 the journey within, when they’re going crazy stranded in space and fighting with each other. “you ran away. Maybe you should’ve just stayed away” ugh the angst love it.

Then the second half of the season had so many solid moments where the cast finally got what they wanted, going home, seeing their families, proving the people who doubted them wrong (specifically Keith with this one tbh) but it’s nothing like how they expected. I thought the fight for earth arc was one of the most serious and emotional arcs of the show. Everyone willing to die for their home planet, the almost self-sacrifice moments, part where Lance closes his eyes ready to die and Keith’s calling out to him…sold.

Don’t get me wrong it’s far from perfect, I hear the criticism. We get the dreaded bury your gays drop this season with Adam (maybe that’s why they decided to kill off Allura, had to even it out /j )

Moving into S8, arguably not at good as S7 by a long shot but I still think it’s worth the watch. And I know I’m gonna lose people here but oh well it’s me and my delusions against the world.

Persssonaalllyyy I see a lot of the hate for this season comes from Allura and Lance getting together. And okay don’t shoot me here but I’ve noticed a lot of hate for Allura in general stems from this season and I am a Allura defender to the end. I’m gonna be honest in the rewatch I could see it, why people ship klance (they’re my OTP I get it), the rumors about if there was one more season it’d be canon, or how the staff even shipped them or how someone left the team or got fired and that’s why it’s not canon. I get it truuuussttt me I get it. But that’s just not what we got and in the context of what we did get, I honestly thought Lance’s and Allura’s relationship, as short lived as it was, was cute.

We see 7 seasons of Lance flirting with Allura, flirting with all these girls claiming to be a romantic and you now what? He is! He’s a good boyfriend! As much as he changed throughout the show he’s still “loverboy Lance” nervous to make the perfect date for the girl he likes, talking to his friends about it cause he’s feeling insecure taking out a literal princess, taking Allura to meet his family, and as much as I ship klance over allurance (and would have preferred for the two of them to go out instead) their date was CUTE okay sue me.

As for Allura, I get it, she did not like Lance AT ALL in the beginning seasons. So where did this come from? Poor choices in the writing room most likely BUT in the canon Allura has been strong willed the entire show, leading along side the BP, becoming a paladin herself, giving up her father to protect others, loosing the castle of lions and truly one of the last pieces of Altea, she looses so much and even when she finds out there’s Alteans alive, they hate her and believe she’s the bad guy. She’s been this selfless warrior princess who’s had to be selfless for 7 seasons, I think when presented the opportunity to be selfish and happy, she would take it. Shes tired, all her paladins got to go home to their families, got to return to their home planet. Shes lonely af, happy for them ofc but that shit gotta be depressing.

And again as much as I prefer Klance and Allura/ Romelle, for the canon I thought it made a lot of senses that she’d go out with Lance after he asks. I definitely see it as a “fuck it, why not” from her and she gained feelings throughout their relationship. Which irl I don’t recommend but in my eyes it humanized Allura. She made a lot of selfish choices this season from taking creature from the void to, agreeing to go out with Lance. But again I don’t even think it was out of character of her. I think it was bound to happen, after everything she’s been through, being selfless and perfect all the time she finally cracks. Plus it was nice seeing Allura have her “I’m just a girl” moment. Going shopping with Romelle and Pidge, having girl talks, trying to impress Lance’s family. It made her more relatable.

Another selling point for this season were the fight seasons Honestly I loved all the fight scenes in this season, the animation really popped off today. My fav was between Zethrid and the paladins. But does does loose a point here for Zethrid and Ezor being hinted as a wlw but never explicitly stated so boo to that.

We also have a lot of fun and rewarding moments with the paladins as well, like the clear day episode. We get to see Shiro actually have fun for once. Only took 8 seasons but hey. The moments between Pidge and her family were very wholesome and rewarding considering how much Pidge went through to get her family back together. Lance with his family was also cute. His little rant about why his sister shouldn’t go out with Keith was funny. The infamous sunset scene with Keith and Lance, would I have gone batshit insane if it was a love confession between the two? Oh absolutely but oh well. Hunk and Keith’s friendship was nice to see considering where they started with Hunk being the timid one and Keith being an emo loser. TLDR it was nice to see those finale happy times where we really see how far everyone has come before the ending.

As for the ending, maybe I’m just not creative enough to see a different route. But Honerva being the finale villain was one of my favorite choices for this ending. She’s been there literally the entire time just fucking shit up for the universe. Her motive to be in a reality where she can be with her husband and child? 👏 having villains just be evil for the fuck of it is great and all. But it reminded me a lot of the scarlet witch from marvel and she’s my all time favorite character in he MCU so maybe that’s why I liked Honerva so much. Fuck the universe if your family is on the line, am I right? It made her a great villain in my eyes and the polar opposite of allura who had to give up her family and her home for the sake of the universe.

Which is why Allura sacrificing herself to save the universe? Lowkey saw it coming since around season 5 and to me made total sense. She tried to be normal, to live on earth or on the atlas, but she’s a reliac of the past and she knows it. It goes back to the point I made of this girl is tired af. A chance to save to universe and be reunited with her parents even if it’s death, she’d do it. Season 8 she tried deviating from the role forced upon her as the selfless sacrificial lamb but she was doomed from the start. I deadass cried when she died and honestly I’m fine with her death as well. Everyone did what they were destined to do; if the paladins were destined to save the universe, she was destined to die for it.

Now to the post credits and post canon

Here’s where I say the hate is valid and deserved. Points lost fr with having Shiro marry an extra. I get it, they wanted the diversity points of saying YES Shiro is in fact gay but they were only allowed so much wiggle room/if they put it at the very end nothing can go wrong right? so they settled for that. Do I see the damage it does towards queer representation in media? Now I do but at the time when my little gay self watched that I was shocked they’d even show that much and took the breadcrumb piece of rep and ran with it. I told myself, “meh shiro deserves to live the quiet married life after all the shit he’s been there.” But it def should have been Adam.

As for everyone else, the journey’s over. The lions are gone, I thought it made sense that everyone went their separate ways but still maintained a friendship. That’s growing up, that’s adulthood. When I watched that at 17 I was annoyed that they didn’t stay together as a friend group but now at 23, I totally get it. They are still friends, they just got their own things going on so they only reunite when they can. If that’s not adult friendships idk what is.

Keith traveling with the blade helping others, great! Hunk and Shay being cooks and doing diplomacy shit, awesome! Pidge living her best life with her parents building up earth, love it! Did I like that the one Latino character ended up being a stereotype and living on a farm? No I did not.

I interrupted as Lance staying on earth and grieving Allura’s death. Which I can see happening but Lance deserved his own happy ending. I see Lance becoming an MFE pilot or joining the Atlas crew with his sister, something where he continues to pilot cause it’s all he’s ever wanted to do but still carrying that grief with him.

To finish this yap session off, my final thoughts are I think a lot of S8 hate comes from Allurance and the post credits. I think the hate for Allurance and Allura is unfair and some of it stems (from what I’ve noticed) from this misogynist/fetishizing tendacy to shit on the female characters who come between mlm ships in fandoms. So again, I am an Allura defender through and through.

As mentioned earlier, hate for the post credits, makes total sense. But I’d like to bring up a point I see rarely discussed in this discourse. I am not excusing the queer bating that happened or the blatant racial stereotype we got for Lance’s ending but I truly believe Voltron is a product of the times and essential for the evolution of queer rep in western animation. I could do an entirely separate post on this but I’ll sum it up as best as I can here. Queer representation in main stream western media was still new and touchy. And mlm representation was even fewer. I think the backlash is valid and was necessary for dreamworks/Netflix and any other companies to learn their lesson that gay people in cartoons is OKAY and should be normalized. that’s why following I think Vld was one of the many factors in a shift for openly queer couples in animation that we see in shows like She-ra.

So it sucked that we never got klance yeah but I never once thought Klance was gonna be canon. I wished for it but I figured the best we could hope for is some hints like how they ended Legend of Korra.

So besides from the effects it had on western media, as a fan I’ll still take the ending and even recommend it to people as is because of the art that came after. The fanart, the edits, the post-canon and fix-it fics I love reading time and time again. None of that would exist without that controversial ending. I don’t think I’d still be such a diehard fan to this day if it had ended any differently. My appreciation for this show and obsession stems from how invested I was in the controversies, rumors and hype every season. Like the whole pride month post on twitter, dear god what a mess but hopefully a word of warning now for creators thinking of queer baiting fans again.

It’s not perfect, there were a lot of fucks up along the way and at times, downright problematic but I will still always recommend people watch VLD all the way through. But hey maybe that’s just my way of wishing I had more people to talk about the ending with ¯\_ツ_/¯

[leakinghate]

Is team purple lion still active in 2024?

Yes, we are :D We're relatively quiet these days, but we're still here. We have a small, private discord where we hang out. More akin these days to a group of friends rather than a team working for a cause. (If you'd like to join us, drop me a message! We're always happy to meet new friends) Don't mistake me though, we are absolutely still united by our desire to see OGS8 and vindicate the EPs. We've just... run out of ideas for what we personally can do to achieve those goals. In the meantime we enjoy other fandoms while keeping an ear out and an eye open for any new developments with Voltron. My thoughts are, that it'll take someone on staff opening up about what went down for anything to change. The cast and crew were almost definitely made to sign new NDAs at some point and we have no idea when or even if those will expire. I can guarantee that WEP is going to continue to try and make new Voltron projects in the future so it's absolutely possible that news of one of those will crack the floodgates open.

I've never given up on the idea of making a video adaptation of my essays, though the temptation to say potentially libellous things is strong! I've also been kicking around the idea of making a webcomic adaptation of S7 and S8 that attempts to put the original vision and themes back together. The problem there being that that would be a massive project. Years and years of a project. But. I mean. It's already been 5 years, hasn't it? And still the fury and injustice of it all burns amidst the love for VLD in my heart.

I've had many fandoms over the years, but none with the staying power as this one has for me. I imagine I shall die still holding a love for VLD and its characters. And the original plan for its story.

[angstandhappiness]

NEAT

I've got all the og paladin M&M cards now! I hated Hunk's chin braid, and I decided he was more a fantasy Shaolin monk than the fantasy Catholic monk the show made him. He used nature magic in the show, so I wanted his staff to be more natural looking, like it just grew that way.

[voltrontranscript]

VLD S6E3: Monsters & Mana

Season 6 Episode 3: Monsters & Mana

Transcript by @dragonofyang

Summary: The gang plays a rousing game of Monsters & Mana, led by their fearless Lore Master Coran.

[Google Doc]

[Scene opens in a fantasy setting.]

Hunk/Block: Get behind me! Seal of Protection!

Pidge/Meklavar: Hit it with your lightning bolt!

Block: Lightning bolt!

Both: Ahh!

Meklavar: You call that a lightning bolt?! If you’re the only remaining hope for your village, they’re doomed!

Block: I’m a healer, not a fighter! Soaring staff!

Meklavar: Oh no, that’s the song of eternal slumber. Cast protection from sleep on yourself.

Block: Song of eternal slumber, Pidge? That’s the–[yawn] How come you don’t need it?

Meklavar: I’m a dwarf. Come on!

Block: So sleepy.

Meklavar: Wake up! You’re going the wrong way!

Block: Now!

Meklavar: Got it!

Block: Oh, look. It’s a crystal.

Meklavar: Weird, I’ve never seen an ogre drop a crystal like this. Let’s take it back to the innkeeper, and find out where this ogre got it.

Block: Aw, man. Come on. That’s, like, way on the other side of the Wiebian Swamps. You know how scary and gross those are? Very, very scary and gross.

Meklavar: Come on, you big baby. Your village got turned into stone. Do you want to save them or not?

Block: I mean, they’re not, like, going anywhere. Alright, fine, fine, but I’m not fighting any ghosts this time. I’m just running.

[Cut to the Wiebian Swamps]

Block: Oh, yuck! Yuck! Oh, so scary and gross. What did I tell you? I cannot believe how sticky this Wiebian Swamp goo is. It’s, like, crazy. Hey, you hungry?

Meklavar: We don’t have any money, Hunk. We’re just gonna meet the innkeeper and leave.

Block: Oh, man. I would not have run so hard if I didn’t think there might be food.

Meklavar: Fine.

Block: This is not the atmosphere I remember from last time. Whoa, what are you doing?

Meklavar: Looking for coins.

Meklavar: A greasy meat pile for my friend, please.

Innkeeper: One health plate coming up! Oh, it’s you two again. Did you find any clues?

Meklavar: We found a crystal, just like you thought we might.

Innkeeper: Just as I feared. Those ogres are mercenaries. They’ll fight for anyone that has crystals. The only person that uses this type is the evil wizard Dakin.

Block: Evil wizard? That doesn’t sound good.

Innkeeper: It isn’t, though I admit I should have suspected him. There aren’t many wizards powerful enough to turn a whole village to stone.

Meklavar: So how do we save them?

Innkeeper: You’ll have to defeat Dakin. He’s inside Carthian’s Lair… a tomb of horrors so filled with monsters, traps, and terrors that most heroes would be driven insane at the mere thought of entering.

Block: Uh, maybe those villagers like being turned into stone? Okay, alright. So where do we find this tomb of horrors?

Innkeeper: Just inside the Feldakor Mountains.

Shiro/Shiro: The Feldakor Mountains, you say? You two think you have what it takes to smite evil?

Meklavar: Who are you?

Shiro: Me? My name is Takashi Shirogane. I’m a paladin. And you?

Block: Me? I’m Block, the sorcerer.

Meklavar: Name’s Meklavar. Best axe-fighter in three lands. We’re on our way to break the curse put on Block’s town. The villagers were turned to stone by Dakin. What’s your story?

Shiro: I’m on my own adventure. [cuts to a flashback] From a young age, I was chosen to be a paladin because of my bright internal light. My master, D’Jahno, taught me the seven pillars of knighthood. He forged not only my mind, but also my body. I became a shield for good and a weapon against evil. Before I could complete my training, a leviathan demon attacked our monastery. It destroyed all we had, including my master. D’Jahno’s last words to me were…

D’Jahno: You no longer need my guidance to complete your training. Defeating the leviathan will teach you all there is to know.

Past!Shiro: No!

[Return to present]

Shiro: Hey, where are you guys going?

Block: Totally sounds like you’re too busy to help us with this wizard, though.

Meklavar: Good luck with the leviathan.

Block: Man, that guy was so boring.

Shiro: Wait! Wait. As a paladin, I swore an oath to vanquish evil. I cannot deny the righteousness of your quest. I will help you defeat the wizard, and then return to my hunt for the demon that destroyed my master.

Block: Ooh, what’s that?

Meklavar: Oh no!

Pidge: Oh no! Shiro’s dead!

Coran: Shoo, shoo!

Shiro: Did I really die in the game?

Coran: Yes.

Shiro: But that doesn’t make any sense. The mice aren’t playing the game.

Coran: Don’t worry, you can just make a new character.

Shiro: I’m going to be a paladin again.

Coran: Oh, come on now. Do you really want to play a paladin? I mean, you could be something completely different: a maven, a mage, a cleric, a klazgool, a bard.

Shiro: I don’t know what’s more fulfilling than being a paladin.

Coran: But you’re already a paladin in real life!

Allura: Is everything alright? We heard yelling.

Pidge: We’re all good.

Lance: What’s going on in here?

Coran: We’re playing Monsters and Mana.

Lance: Monsters and huh?

Coran: It’s a game.

Pidge: It’s fun.

Lance: I dunno. How can a game that needs a book be fun?

Coran: You ought to read it and find out.

Lance: Nah.

Coran: I’ve been playing Monsters and Mana since I was a boy. My bandmates and I, the Pirate Polychoral, used to play it all the time. I was always the Lore Master.

Allura: So, how do you play?

Coran: Okay, so each person creates a fantastical character. The character is represented by a figurine on this holo-map to help them track their action. But the real fun happens in the mind. Each player gets a turn, and every turn they say what they want to do. The Lore Master, me, knows the difficulty of the task. The person must roll a 20-sided die to see if they can accomplish their action.

Lance: Woah, a 20-sided dice? How big is that thing?

Pidge: It’s normal-sized, it just has 20 sides.

Lance: No, no, no, no. It’s got 20 sides? It’s gotta be the size of a Yalexian pearl. Oh.

Coran: Do you want to play?

Lance: Don’t you guys have something better to do right now? Like, I don’t know, universe-defending stuff?

Pidge: Hunk and I ran into a snag upgrading the Castle’s shields. We’re running a diagnostic, but all we can do is wait.

Shiro: I’m trying to take a mental break. We’ve been going really hard lately.

Allura: I’ll play! Lotor’s busy handling his imperial responsibilities, and I’m at an impasse with the comet ship. Plus, it sounds fun.

Lance: Yeah. Yeah, I already worked out today, so I guess I don’t have anything going on. Might as well play your little nerd game.

Coran: Here you go. Create your characters with the interface loaded onto these. It’ll keep track of your stats. Now it’s time to begin the heroes’ journey.

[Return to game setting]

Pidge/Meklavar: Watch out!

Allura/Valayun: Ow. I’m the mystical archer Valayun, searching for the rune stone of Lapham. What quest are you on?

Meklavar: Block’s town was turned to stone by an evil wizard. We tracked him down through his special crystals.

Hunk/Block: Hey, hey-hey, hey! Whoa, where’d you come from?

Lance/Pike: The name’s Pike. I was going to rob you clodhoppers of your junk, but it sounds like the bigger score is helping you jack this wizard with the crystals.

Meklavar: So you chose a thief, huh?

Pike: I’m not a thief! I’m a ninja assassin, the silent killer. My victims never know I’m coming ‘cause I don’t say a word. They look around, and don’t see anything, so they drop their guard, but what they don’t realize is that I’m lurking in the shadows, silently watching.

Shiro: Yeah, you’re very quiet.

Pike: But I do steal things. In fact, that’s a lot of what my character does. You’re a dwarf, huh?

Meklavar: Oh, yeah. I’m Meklavar, a dwarven miner whose precious family heirloom, the Jewel of Jitan, was stolen. I’m on a quest to retrieve it.

Pike: Precious family heirloom. Mm…

Valayun: Well, it’s very fortunate that I arrived here. I can aid you on your quest. I’ll summon a mount.

[Scene change to Carthain’s Lair.]

Block: Did anyone remember to bring torches?

Shiro: I really think my character would have remembered to bring a torch.

Coran: Oh, yeah? Why don’t you check your little inventory there? Oh, no torches, eh? Then I guess you forgot to bring them.

All: [groan]

Allura: Oh, I have something!

Block: It’s just a wall. But this is where we’re supposed to go, right?

Meklavar: Maybe there’s a secret here.

Pike: Maybe you just have to knock. What can I say? I’m good at puzzles and junk.

Meklavar: Wait. There could be traps. You have to check for them.

Pike: Why do I have to check for them?

Meklavar: Because you’re the thief. You’re the only one in the group with that skill.

Pike: How do I even check for traps?

Coran: You roll the 20-sided die, adding your check for traps skill to the roll. If it’s high enough, you’ll remove the trap.

Lance: And what if it’s too low?

Coran: You activate the trap.

Pike: Oh, man!

All: [screaming]

Block: Levitation!

Shiro: Great work there, Block. Let’s keep going.

[Montage of dungeon fights for the adventuring party.]

Pike: Okay, what’s next?

Block: Oh, mamma mia. Look at all this treasure.

Meklavar: It’s our reward for getting past all those traps.

Pike: This is more like it. We fall for traps all the time in real life and we never get treasure.

Valayun: Wow! A quick-draw quiver with a magical creature-summoning arrow.

Meklavar: Oh, sweet! Gloves of transmutation! These bad boys can transmogrify the elemental matter of any inanimate object.

Pike: Awesome! And I got an invisibility cloak.

Block: A bowl that is never empty of food. Our days of vandalizing innkeepers’ vases are over.

Shiro: Wow, a blazing sword! Hey guys, check it–[screaming]

All: [screaming]

Meklavar: Ooh, he dropped a rare item!

Innkeeper: Fools!

Block: Hey, Innkeeper. What are you doing here?

Innkeeper: You dumb-dumbs! I only run the inn to trick foolish adventurers into gathering valuable crystals for me. Thank you for bringing them directly to my lair.

Pike: Who is this guy?

Block: So you’re Dakin?

Meklavar: You were behind this all along!

Innkeeper/Dakin: This is where your adventure ends.

Jiro: I’m Shiro’s twin brother, Jiro, here to complete Shiro’s quest.

Meklavar: A paladin again?

Dakin: Only fools would enter my tomb of horrors. I am the most powerful wizard in all of Aurita.

Block: Oh, yeah? Well, we don’t care. We’re here to turn my village back from stone, man.

Dakin: Your quest is in vain. I’ve already siphoned off their life force. You would have to permanently defeat me in order to restore it. But instead, I will become the most powerful being in all of the planes. I’m going to evaporate you, just like I did with your twin brother!

Valayun: Let’s get him! Yah! Yah! Yah!

Meklavar: [screams]

Valayun: Healing Arrow!

Jiro: I will avenge my twin!

Block: Water Spout! Embiggen!

Meklavar: We did it!

Pike: Hooray!

Block: Hunk-a-lunk! We defeated the bad guy!

Pike: Yeah! I hope those stone villagers have a little cold hard cash for us.

Jiro: Wow. This game is so amazing. It requires problem-solving, teamwork, creativity, all the skills you’d want to imbue when doing team-building exercises.

Pike: Stop trying to ruin our fun with learning.

Block: Uh-oh.

Dakin: Fools! You did exactly as I planned. Only by being slain by five pure of heart on this evil altar could I become the all-powerful Coranic Dragon!

Meklavar: We aren’t powerful enough to defeat a dragon, much less a Coranic one.

Valayun: Fire Healing Arrow!

Block: Uh, I’m low on mana. I can’t cast any of my big spells!

Valayun: I only have one summoning arrow left!

Jiro: Get back! I’ll draw its attacks. Begone! Darg!

Block: We’ll never defeat it without a plan! Secret!

Hunk: Hey, I cast Secret. You can’t listen to us. Got it?

All: Secret received.

Valayun: Let’s do this.

Pike: Nana-nana boo-boo! Nana-nana boo-boo! Come on, come and get me! Hey! Over here!

All: [cheering]

Allura: So much fun!

Hunk: Like, too much fun. Great idea to transmute that food into oil.

Pidge: Yeah, if only we could transmute the particle barrier’s polarity.

Hunk: Yeah, yeah. To do that you’d need some kind of quantum shift network to simulate a collapse of the wave pocket into a darkening perplexity.

Pidge: Yeah, and that would be impossible without…

Both: Changing the Planck Constant!

Lance: Somehow I understand the fantasy words better than the science ones.

Shiro: I can’t get over how great that game was. And my head feels so much better. Thank you, Coran.

Coran: The game isn’t over yet. Wait until you find out who Dakin was working for. Maybe you’ll finally be able to avenge your master.

Shiro: How can you have an adventure ready to avenge my master? I just made that story up.

Coran: I also made it all up, Shiro. That’s the real magic of Monsters and Mana.

Allura: That was incredible! It’s crazy how long we’ve been playing. It seemed like no time at all.

Lance: Yeah, we have a pretty good time together, don’t we?

Allura: We sure do.

Lotor: Allura! I have grand news. The ship is ready to begin testing.

Allura: Fabulous, let’s try it.

Coran: So, who wants to play another round?

Lance: Sure, count me in.

Shiro: I want to be a paladin again.

Coran and Lance: [groaning]

Shiro: What?

End.

[swagging-back-to]

ok no i know i just posted this but im posting it again to have it pinned to my profile bc this article perfectly outlines how homophobic the higher ups for VLD really were and how absolutely horrible lauren Montgomery and joaquim dos santos really are.

it's a truly eye opening article and every single question i had about 'why the hell did dreamworks think this was a good idea? why did they think this is what the fans wanted?"

They didnt. thats the answer.

[piedpiperart]

List of all the comics I’ve made! In case anyone is interested in reading them 🥺👉👈

❤️-started

🍄-finished

🌸- to do

💀- abandoned

❤️On the Run: Izuku is a vigilante with a healing quirk running from the commission

❤️ Ghost Hero: Danny phantom in mha universe

❤️Stowaway: Izuku is five inches tall and living in aizawas walls

💀Ghost Police: Deku is a police officer who can see ghosts and is partnered up with pro hero Bakugo

❤️Quirkless Future: Pro Hero Izuku gets time traveled back into his 14 yr old body and decides to reject OFA

💀Kitten Deku: Deku has a cat morph quirk and is stuck as a kitten in an alley where pro hero Eraserhead finds him and takes him home, later on he finds out that Izuku is not a cat but a small child

💀Monster Deku: Izuku has a monster quirk and is kidnapped and tortured for years until Eraserhead finds and adopts him! Similar to Kitten Deku but Bakugo is not an asshole in this one 🙂

❤️Rewind: Izuku is a homeless teenager who stumbles upon Eri and gets rewound to age seven! They try to survive on the streets and avoid Overhaul, but Eraserhead finds them and takes them home!

💀Choose Your Own Adventure: Patrons get to vote the next outcome! So far Deku is hit with a quirk that makes emotional pain feel physical and bakugo is getting consequences for middle school!

💀Zombie Deku: Deku gets hit with a quirk that makes him into a zombie (minus eating brains part) and Kacchan blames himself for deku's 'death'

🍄Mermaid Deku: Based on fanfic called 'A fishy Situation' on Ao3

❤️Spider Deku: Deku goes to I-Island on a summer internship before UA and gets into a spider lab accident that ends with him getting a quirk! He joins the hero course and then is targeted by the league :3

❤️Hacker Deku/Over the Firewall: Depressed Deku becomes a vigilante through hacking! He meets Dabi and Eraserhead, and they end up saving the poor kiddo from himself ;-;

💀Fanboy Deku: Pro hero Bakugo is being followed by a smol quirkless child and he is not ready to be a parent

💀UA Faculty: Inspired by Tik Tok staff ocs, discontinued

💀Second Chance: Pro hero Deku dies, four years later he wakes up in someone else's body! Somehow, Todoroki seems to recognize him. Inspired by MDZS

💀Split Todoroki: Todoroki is split into three different people based on three emotions, joy, anger and sadness!

❤️Fusion AU: Deku has a fusion quirk and was thought to be quirkless until entrance exam when he fuses with uraraka

🍄Prosthetic Deku: Deku gets an arm and a leg blown off in an explosion, also saving Kacchan in the process, then he gets kidnapped! Finished! Should be on Instagram and Patreon

💀Bakugo Adventure Comic: Discontinued out of spite

🍄Villain Deku: Instagram only, deep down in the depths of when I was in high school, Deku gets kidnapped and brainwashed into villainy!

🍄Bunny Deku 1: Deku is turned into a bunny and bakugo is turned into a dog and they get kidnapped

🍄Bunny Deku 2: Deku is turned into a bunny and kidnapped, then todoroki gets turned into a cat to infiltrate and break him out

💀VLD/BNHA Crossover:​ Instagram only, Deku meets Lance on a foreign planet, soon after Keith and Bakugo show up, as well as Catra from She Ra before it was discontinued

❤️Phantom in Gotham: Dp x dc fanfic on ao3

❤️ Demon of Gotham: Nightvmcrawler from xmen evolution gets adopted by Jason Todd, DC x X-men fanfic on Ao3

💀My Princess Academia: Disney Princesses as MHA

🍄 Plantzuku! Izuku dies and becomes plant person so aizawa adopts him

❤️Cat Cafe: Izuku has a cat morph quirk thanks to afo and hangs around a cat cafe until aizawa kidnaps him for dad purposes

❤️Unachievable: Bakugo drives deku to sewerslide but finds out izuku has a death quirk that brings him back to life. bakugo has to help izuku get into ua and try to keep him from killing himself at all times, patreon fanfic

❤️Mothman Au: Shinsou finds mothman in his treehouse but it turns out to be feral mutant quirk izuku

❤️Healer Deku: choose your own adventure where izuku was sold to the commission and got a healing quirk but ran away and lives as a vigilante and coffee shop employee

❤️Invader Izuku: Izuku is Dib reincarnated and he and Zim go on adventures

❤️Remembering Robin: Dick grayson reincarnated as Izuku decides to be a quirkless hero

I think I’m missing a few but these are the ones I remember. Most of these are on my Instagram but all are on my patreon @piedpiperart

I will be slowly posting them here too, it’ll just take me a while 😩😅

[saintofpride201]

Not to mention when they write the deaths of characters that AREN'T LGBT+ but the fandom somehow gaslighted themselves into thinking they were, because they shared the screen with their best friend of the same sex a couple of times.

Fandom Problem #4648:

The idea that if any queer character dies the author is a horrible person contributing to the bury your gays trope really rubs me the wrong way. I don't want to write happy slice of life stories where nothing bad happens. I want to write queer stories where the characters go through the emotional wringer, because I'm queer and those stories appeal to me.

[lnkedmyheart]

If i started bitching about just how horseshit and undeserving vld was of praise you'd have to end me to actually get me to stop. It had shit writing, the absolute worst characterization, no flow of the narrative, the plot was flimsy, shit just happened for the sake of happening, had the absolute worst form of rep, the red-blue bullshit blinded people into thinking they were watching rep when 90% of the time the characters barely even progressed cause the writers couldn't write dynamics for SHIT. The only compelling dynamic was between Shiro and Keith and even that got so tired and irritating to follow and ofcourse the gay guy became a nobody to the main cast the moment he was revealed as gay! And we had to root for glorified colonizers who belittled literally everyone they came across and people just overlooked it cause the princess's skin colour was black, the actual best dynamic potential between Hunk and Lance was never explored, Pidge just did shit with zero consequence and the show staff just said and did shit knowing full well people would eat out of their palms and then on being called out acted like they had a moral high ground.

[yonemurishiroku]

need to know more about your thoughts of voltron. what do u ship. what season are you at (please dont watch past s3/4). are you a keith girl i hope youre a keith girl you’d better a keith kinda guy because theres no way in hell youre a nico girl without being a keith guy they are my two sons my two babies my most beloved the only boys in the world ever they are the same they are so beautiful they are so special the end

I just want you to know that reading this ask absolutely delights me LOL I can see your love for Keith clearly like the sun in a summer noon.

Anyway, to answer your questions, I'm currently in S6, moving to S7 with the slowest wifi ever (dammit). You say I shouldn't watch past S3/4 but actually? I only see things really spicing up when I've gone through like half the series. That is to say: I had to drag myself through s1 & s2 LMAO. When I first started this show, everything was just... weird. So, so weird - the robot, the characterization, the plot and how it's told. It still is! I suppose the American cartoon does differ considerably from the Japanese mangas I usually read (even when VLD is actually inspired by a Japanese series---). I had to struggle for quite a bit to accommodate.

But I dragged myself through it, successfully solely because of Keith. Oh thank god for Keith. And yes, I'm 100% a Keith girl. I don't even need to finish the series to know that. Well like a Keith parent but we'll talk ab that later.

I started this series when I saw a quote of him, when he and Pidge argued, ya know? "You're putting the lives of two people over the lives of everyone else in the universe!" or something along that line. And I've known, from that single moment, he would have my heart in his hand. I'm also aware that people usually compare Keith and Nico, and that's actually the number 1 reason I came to know Voltron LOL many thanks to the crossovers.

Still, nothing could have prepared me for the incredibility that is... Keith. He is... magnificent, I'd say. His voice (dammit his voice---), his character design (the cropped jacket please I'm on my knees---And why does Keith have so many stunning shots????? What r u trying to tell me, staff??), his personality---- Somehow, they are all on point - unlike the others'.

Now, I'm not saying the others are bad. I'm saying that there are so many things to explore about them - I do think Lance has many potentials actually - but somehow, only Keith, Pidge (and maybe Shiro, it's hard to tell) give me the mere sense of fulfillment and contentment upon watching. Pidge - bc damn that girl is incredible, Keith - bc his character arcs are beautiful. Lotor is a freaking rollercoaster and I enjoy that ride. I do not talk about Allura, though she is built quite well. And Hunk is just... there, I do like him tho. Maybe it's the storytelling style that gets me bewildered like half the time. I'm trying. I admit I sometimes find their building... inadequate, to say the least.

I have many things to say about Keith, but let's leave it until I'm ready lolol.

About the shipping thingies, I have to admit Sheith is currently strangling me LMAO. The appeal is clear as day. However, I intend to start indulging in the shipping only when I've finished watching, and maybe after a few days of ruminating on it. There're many potentials! I don't like limiting myself to one ship, which I tend to do without firsthand exploration, when there's so much to enjoy. That is to say: I'm open for everything! LOL Hit me with everything you've got and we'll see if I can join your crew, sailing towards the horizon together.

All in all, I'm having a great time! And probably love Keith more than I should. Can't wait to ramble about it with you, buddy.