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see also:

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One taught me love

One taught me patience

And one taught me pain

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Voltron season 8, “Shadows”

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is james ok?????

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The real tragedy of S8 was Matt’s hair rb if you agree

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the truth about vld: queerbaiting (s8 spoilers)

I’m not sure if I’m going to actually post this, but I really just need to get it out of my system and out in writing – although a lot of people are saying otherwise, Voltron is a prime example of queerbaiting. And yes, I’m referring to Klance. No, I’m not saying Voltron is homophobic, because obviously it is far from it. But queerbaiting and homophobia aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.

There is no argument against the fact that the majority of the vld fandom ship/shipped Keith and Lance. In fact, Klance came in first place on fandometrics two years in a row. That means that Klance was not only the most popular Voltron ship, but the most popular ship on all of Tumblr. Seeing as the creators of Voltron aren’t idiots, they definitely knew this. Klance being popular? Not news. This has been the case since the beginning of the show, before all eight seasons were made. And even when they were all made, the ship’s popularity never changed (hell, we spawned leakira after s7). So why, then, was Klance never shot down the way Kaxca or Sheith were shut down? Especially after s8 was finished and it was definite that it wasn’t going to be canon? Why string hopeful fans along in hope that their favorite ship would get together by the end of the series?

Well, there are really only two possible explanations. Either, one, vld is cruel and enjoys letting their fans carry on thinking something has a chance of being canon when it doesn’t, or two, (the more likely reason) they don’t want to lose what’s easily their biggest fanbase. This is the definition of queerbaiting – allowing LGBTQ+ fans to believe two same-sex characters will get together without the intention of having it actually happen. And this is exactly what vld did with Klance.

There were many opportunities to shoot down Klance, considering how often they got asked about it. Yes, they had an NDA, but there have been instances where certain ideas or headcanons were shut down in interviews. Not to mention the interview with Jeremy and Kimberly where they straight up confirmed Allurance in s8. So why didn’t they shoot down Klance when they knew it wasn’t going to happen? Vld isn’t cruel, I don’t think, so the only plausible answer is that they didn’t want to lose viewers. And they certainly would have, by a significant amount. So they allowed fans to still have hope, despite the fact that there wasn’t any. That’s not fair to any of the fans, especially those who are LGBTQ+ and had a lot of hope for Klance. Perhaps vld wasn’t obligated to disclose the lack of Klance, but it certainly would have been considerate of them to warn their fans not to expect anything.

And don’t think I’m not grateful for the rep that we did get, because it was certainly there and more than what other (even most) shows would give. I love my evil lesbians. And Shiro getting married was really sweet, especially since the kiss was shown explicitly – but let’s be honest, here. We don’t even know Shiro’s husband’s name. They interacted maybe once or twice during the season, and even then they weren’t significantly memorable or romantic. But yes, they did kiss, so there’s that.

But Klance? Klance would have been revolutionary. Keith and Lance easily had one of the most (if not the most) developed relationship on the show. It was the typical rivals to friends development, but the amount of trope-y/romantic situations they were thrown into all series long most definitely could have been (and was by many) interpreted as them being more than friends. It wouldn’t have been difficult to allow them to naturally progress into a romantic relationship; in fact, I’d argue that it would have been easier than the way they allowed Allurance to progress. And if they had done that, it would have completely challenged the idea of viewing things through a solely heteronormative lens – people who didn’t see their romance could have gone back and analyzed their interactions with a more open-mind. Because if Keith was a girl? The romantic tension between him and Lance would have been so painfully obvious to everyone compared to that between Lance and Allura. But instead, LGBTQ+ people who did see this tension as romantic are painted as “reaching” and simply seeing things that aren’t there.

And to clarify, I’m not (and was never) completely opposed to Allurance. In fact, as I was watching s8e1, I actually began to have a more open-mind toward it. That date? The cutest shit. But the fact that Lance’s arc was solely focused on him wanting and being with Allura? Excuse me, but that’s bullshit. It’s a complete detriment to Lance’s character, and it shows kids that, if you like a girl and keep persisting, eventually she’ll like you back.

It would have been different if even at least one of the following was true: 1) Allura and Lotor never kissed; 2) they included a scene with Allura getting closure with Lotor before getting together with Lance (she didn’t get that until the end, right before she dies); or 3) Allura actually expressed having feelings for Lance at the same time or prior to having feelings for Lotor.

Any of these scenarios would have set up Allurance in a much more natural and believable way. Instead, Allura doesn’t express interest in Lance until about half-way through s7, despite the fact that she was JUST betrayed by Lotor, aka her first love. This paints Lance as a rebound and a second choice, which was the exact opposite of what his character needed/should have gotten.

With Keith, on the other hand, there was always mutual help and development between the two. Both confided their insecurities in the other, and both did multiple things to help build the other person up and grow as a character. One thing I noticed in s8 was that in most interactions between Lance and Allura, it was almost always Lance telling Allura how important she was, how much she was needed, how much he cared about her/loved her, etc. Only a select number of those interactions did Allura actually do the same for Lance, which is the exact opposite of what his character (who expressed insecurity in his worth and place on the team, as well as compared himself to Lotor) needed. Keith, on the other hand, complimented Lance openly and profusely in the two significant interactions they had all season, not to mention the multiple times he did throughout the entire series.

ANYWAY, I digress. To go back to the whole ‘queerbaiting’ argument, to sum it up (tl;dr): if one of the vld crew explicitly said that Keith and Lance were just friends/wouldn’t be canon, then yeah, vld could say that they did not queerbait. But they didn’t, even though they were fully aware of A) Klance’s MASSIVE following, and B) that it wouldn’t be canon. That is what makes it queerbaiting. Because they knowingly let fans get their hopes up, even though it would have been so easy to just tell them not to. But they didn’t, because they didn’t want to drastically lose the amount of viewers for their final season.

So please, don’t tell me we weren’t baited, or that we baited ourselves. Vld was fully aware and fully in control, and this all could have been prevented. I’m sure they didn’t mean any harm by it, but that doesn’t change the fact that it perpetuated hope for the LGBTQ+ community that simply wasn’t there.

Also, can we stop invalidating others’ feelings about s8? Especially if they’re upset about how it turned out? Because yeah, straight out insulting the vld crew/writers/producers is never okay, but we’re the consumers of this show and therefore allowed to – politely and non-aggressively – criticize what happened in it. That’s how the show gets its feedback, and how the crew knows what went well/didn’t go well. We have a right to speak up about stuff like this, and it’s frankly not okay to make people who do speak up feel bad about their opinions, especially if it was stated in a non-aggressive way.

Alas, it is what it is. This is just my opinion, but I think it’s important to put out there.

May Klance be Canon King forever in our minds and hearts, and thank you for coming to my TEDtalk, next.

(because you guys made the best meta and theories: @astrolatte​ @storiesbeyondthestars​ @acoolemocucumber​

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I LOVED SEASON 8

Remember when lance confessed to allura and it didn’t feel completely out of place?

I loved when shiro found Adam and then Adam proposed to shiro and they got married in the end

THE FIGHT SCENES!! ALL OF THEM!!

Allura is such a great character I love how she just lived her life as a strong beatiful empress

Klance became canon!! KLANCE IS CANON KING!!!

Remember when lotor actually came back for real? That scene was great!

Keith and lance on the black lion 0 feet apart, staring into eachother’s eyes as Keith said soft things about lance shit that actually happened

I love how lance stayed a pilot forever and didn’t become something he never even said he wanted to be

Allura is a strong independent woman who didn’t need a man, so beautiful and alive

Baby lotor was adorable I loved how lotor was alive and all

Human lance was amazing and made complete sense

Adam had a name and everything!!

All the loose ends were tied up!! It felt like everything was resolved!!! A proper ending!!!!!!!!

The whole series was just well paced overall I loved it

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Keith is gay, that’s the least this fandom can settle on

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modern au: they love to talk to each other!! 

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voltron behind the scenes 1

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made me laugh to see how they solved this problem :D

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im disgusted im revolted i dedicate 2 years stanning voltron AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET

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@voltron

Who told them this was okay. Who told them that announcing to a fan base of mostly lgbt youth that a character they look up to and admire is a gay man, who has a partner back on earth called Adam. Who told them it would be funny to get us lgbt fans excited at the idea of us FINALLY getting the lgbt representation we were promised. Who told them it would be okay to take that excitement and use it to fuel our emotions towards their shitty show once it’s revealed that the second gay character they promised to introduce us to, is immediately confirmed to be dead.

Nobody told them. They knew what they were doing when they introduced Adam. When they confirmed that Shiro was a gay man. They knew they were building up hope and excitement. And they knew how devastating it was going to be when it was revealed that Adam was killed and that him and Shiro could never possibly get a happy ending. As I type this out, I’m crying. I’m crying for myself as a lesbian, I’m crying for younger lgbt fans who will grow up thinking that they aren’t allowed to have happy endings. I’m crying for the gay men out there who felt they could finally see themselves fully in two characters who were in love. I’m crying as a member of the lgbt community. And I know I’m not the only one.

Lauren Montgomery. JDS. Fuck you. You know what you did. There aren’t words to describe how much this hurts. You promised us lgbt rep and then laughed in our faces. You let yourselves take credit for having a gay man be the hero of Voltron. KNOWING what was in store for him and his lover. Knowing what was in store for lgbt fans. For lgbt KIDS who watch this show. Fuck you. I hope you know you aren’t living this down. And we’re going to raise hell until the very end of this ugly show.

You ugly fucking homophobic pieces of human garbage. You’re done.

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Y’all I’m. This means so much to me… Shiro is an openly gay man. In canon. Shiro loves men. He had a fiancé. A significant other that is a man. The leader of voltron. The hero that everyone looks up to. Is a gay man. I’m literally in tears.

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Who told them this was okay. Who told them that announcing to a fan base of mostly lgbt youth that a character they look up to and admire is a gay man, who has a partner back on earth called Adam. Who told them it would be funny to get us lgbt fans excited at the idea of us FINALLY getting the lgbt representation we were promised. Who told them it would be okay to take that excitement and use it to fuel our emotions towards their shitty show once it’s revealed that the second gay character they promised to introduce us to, is immediately confirmed to be dead.

Nobody told them. They knew what they were doing when they introduced Adam. When they confirmed that Shiro was a gay man. They knew they were building up hope and excitement. And they knew how devastating it was going to be when it was revealed that Adam was killed and that him and Shiro could never possibly get a happy ending. As I type this out, I’m crying. I’m crying for myself as a lesbian, I’m crying for younger lgbt fans who will grow up thinking that they aren’t allowed to have happy endings. I’m crying for the gay men out there who felt they could finally see themselves fully in two characters who were in love. I’m crying as a member of the lgbt community. And I know I’m not the only one.

Lauren Montgomery. JDS. Fuck you. You know what you did. There aren’t words to describe how much this hurts. You promised us lgbt rep and then laughed in our faces. You let yourselves take credit for having a gay man be the hero of Voltron. KNOWING what was in store for him and his lover. Knowing what was in store for lgbt fans. For lgbt KIDS who watch this show. Fuck you. I hope you know you aren’t living this down. And we’re going to raise hell until the very end of this ugly show.

You ugly fucking homophobic pieces of human garbage. You’re done.

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:)

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Voltron: unstanned

i honestly didn’t think it was that great but i got so excited when they revealed that shiro is gay. and then. they do this. i’m just. i have no words tbh