you never have to thank me for anything.

main blog dotty ✦ 19 ✦ vld sideblog ✦ allura & shiro stan ✦ occasional salt/discourse will be tagged under 'dotty's salt mine'

[bravepaladinsedits]

Some Altean Shallura for you all!

From our Instagram @/bravepaladins

[shiroganetakashi]

Don’t get me wrong ok I love Lotor but any time I try to see someone defend his actions with something like “but he didn’t WANT to kill all those people or his trusted friends it was to help people :(“ I’m just

[allurahimesama]

...shiro died 2 yrs ago today

[shiroganetakashi]

some of you have never had a glowing alien wound and a fall from the upper atmosphere, crashing into a hard pan surface at what I’m guessing is about 25 meters per second squared and it shows

[aaliyah-draws]

The Heart and Head of Voltron

[elessent]

As a few people have already pointed out, Lotor’s situation was basically a high stakes version of the Trolley Problem.

Lotor: Has very little power, and can only sometimes change the direction of the train when he’s not being forced to watch from the sidelines. So during the few times he has control of the switch, he makes the difficult decision of directing it towards the track with fewer people. In the meantime he spends every waking moment trying to figure out how to stop the train completely. 

Zarkon: Could care less which way the train goes. Many times he’ll even choose the route with the most people on it to make a point.  

Honerva: *multi-track drifting*

Voltron: Has the ability to lift the train completely off the tracks while simultaneously blaming Lotor for not doing a better job.

[braincoins]

Except that it’s more like Lotor deliberately put those few people in front of the train. 

He didn’t have to experiment on the Alteans and literally suck their quintessence out of them. He chose to do that, because he wanted to get into the rift. He claims that accessing unlimited quintessence peacefully will mean the Galra Empire stops conquering new worlds, but we have no reason to believe that’s true. Even if it were, do you think they’d willingly give up everything they’d already conquered?

What does the Galra Empire even use quintessence for? Zarkon and Haggar use quintessence to maintain themselves and do things like make Robeasts and such, but other than that, we never see the Empire use quintessence for anything. 

In any case, Lotor exploited his exalted position amongst the Alteans to experiment upon them and kill them for his own purposes. This isn’t “someone has to die, so it’s better it be fewer people than more”; it’s “Too bad some people have to die for me to get what I want.”

[shiroallura]

lotor, @innocent altean people, refugees, and overall survivors of genocide:

[bbtree]

the amount of sheith fic and fanart that pins the blame for s8 and many other problems in the show in previous seasons on shiro is really upsetting. these fans, mostly keith fans, can recognise that there is something wrong in how things have turned out but can’t recognise that the root of the problem is shiro’s treatment in the show? i don’t understand why you all ship your fave with shiro the convenient scapegoat? what’s the appeal? you don’t give a fuck about shiro’s pov, you didn’t notice how many reasons the narratives gives SHIRO for distancing himself from keith in s7, you really think keith should own him because he kept saving shiro’s life. i’m really upset.

just make up an oc who looks exactly like shiro so your fave can fuck h– oh WAIT, the sudden interest in clone shiros… yeah, ok, you’re all on that already. not like, you know, keith didn’t give zero fucks about any of them in canon (since we’re apparently fucking trapped in canon shit) or passively allowed kuron to die or even told shiro’s soul to ‘fight’ kuron for occupancy in his own body…

keith cutting off clone shiro’s arm with shiro’s own bayard in s6 was the beginning of the end and you didn’t realise it because of the ‘i love you’. or you realised it and thought it was romantic? shiro was not accepted into keith’s family in s7 or s8, you didn’t realise it or you thought it was because they are romantically linked and apparently shiro, who HAS NO FAMILY HIMSELF, not spending time with keith and krolia is automatically shiro’s fault? keith, who loved and supported black paladin shiro, didn’t even ask him once when he came back from the dead if he’d like his lion back, which was ooc for keith, but you didn’t give a shit because you only cared about keith getting everything? ZARKON LITERALLY TOLD KEITH THAT KEITH WAS THE IDEAL LEADER OF VOLTRON BECAUSE OF HIS GALRA BLOOD AND KEITH DIDN’T CONTRADICT HIM, HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK SHIRO WOULD FEEL ABOUT THAT? it doesn’t matter right? all shiro needs to do is support keith, right? he can have no other feelings, right? he should be a good obedient support chara for Real Hero keith right? instead shiro is such a selfish ungrateful bitch right? meanwhile you’re still waiting for lm and jds to release their ‘original’ sheith s8 because their obvious hatred of s1-s2 shiro has nothing to do with this mess, right?

sheith was my first vld ship and still my fave despite the canon fucking it up and the fandom being rabidly anti shiro but i think i’m reaching my limits. we’ve got sheith bnfs mocking shiro’s pain and struggles, unthinkingly using ableist arguments, dismissing the importance of him being black paladin, even writing fanfic where his canon husband a black man fucks keith’s dog, and relentlessly portraying shiro as a coward, a traitor, someone who gave up on his dreams and Doesn’t Care About Woobie Keith’s Feelings… instead of reacting like a normal shipper and just going full au. like why are the fuck are your coping mechanisms like this. I’ve been in so many fandoms and I’ve never seen this level of bullshit.

i’m honestly beginning to wonder if you can ship sheith if you give a fuck about shiro. like what is the point. i can barely enjoy any of the content past s2.

[giraffesonjupiter]

The rationale for shipping Sheith for most of them at this point seems to be “Shiro being kidnapped and tortured for a year MADE KEITH SAD so Shiro owes him comfort” if shipped earlier on, and otherwise, “Keith saved him so therefore Shiro OWES HIM” (and ofc dismissing how horrifying most of Keith’s ‘saves’ are wrt to the clone & Shiro’s agency). Like, at this point people are straight up either using the clones or even making up completely new OCs to get revenge on Shiro (as if their entire claimed problem with Curtis isn’t that he’s an OC).

People claim it’s OOC for Shiro to pay no attention to Keith, and yet they don’t see how OOC it is for Keith to steal Shiro’s lion without ever even giving Shiro a passing thought? Or they go on and on about how terrible something was for Keith, when it was something that happened to Shiro (see: Shiro’s year-long captivity, the clone fight). Like… how basic can you get?

It drives me up a wall that Sheith shippers were the ones saying they’d be totally fine ignoring canon if Sheith didn’t happen, and yet they’re also writing post-S8 fics in the most insulting way possible. I don’t get why they can’t just ignore canon like they said they would, but if they really want post-canon content then at a bare minimim they should treat Shiro’s motivations with a modicum of respect if they actually care about him at all - but instead everything I’ve seen post-canon is about how Shiro ‘made a mistake’ or was ‘too scared’ or ‘didn’t realize his feelings in time’ or w/e. They can’t even give Shiro the respect of considering that even if Shiro had feelings for Keith at that point, that doesn’t mean a decision to stay on earth and marry Curtis wasn’t the right one for Shiro at that point. They can’t even manage the barest decency of respect for Shiro - no, Keith was hurting, so obviously Shiro’s decision was wrong. Apparently they’re fine with canon as long as it shits all over Shiro in ableist & racist ways, but as soon as there’s even a hint of Keith not receiving yet another narratively unearned reward, that’s when they draw the line. And they’re all too unaware to see that.

They couldn’t make it any more clear that they only care about Keith and what Shiro can do for Keith, and it’s absolutely sickening.

[allurahimesama]

back in s7, sheiths didn’t give a shit about shiro being retconned from black paladin, destined child of the stars, leader of voltron...to grey earth military dude, shoved into an unfitting ship where he’s helpless and firmly out of the hero role.

i saw so many horny fanarts of “the leader of voltron and his trophy garrison husband the captain of the atlas”. they LOVED shiro in the boring earth guy role as long as he was holding up Big Hero Keith.

but after s8, NOW suddenly they care that shiro abandoned his dream of defending the universe. because s8 showed shiro start a new life of his own that doesn’t involve keith. keith pushed him out of the black paladin role that connected him to his voltron family, so shiro made new family with the atlas crew, fell in love with curtis mcmegathrusters. only now that his last link to team voltron has been cut, completely isolating him to b-cast, do they give a shit.

but of course, it’s not for shiro’s sake. they’re upset and spiteful on keith’s behalf: “how dare shiro hurt keith like that?! keith supported shiro at no narrative cost to himself and shiro betrayed him! curtis stole shiro away, he should get fucked by keith’s dog! oh yeah, allura also died this season...she’d be furious shiro didn’t marry keith!!”

[littlespacestars]

“You found me.” 

I found an old unfinished manip in my files and decided to give it some much needed love. <3

[littlespacestars]

“You found me.”

YOU FOUND ME. 

I feel validated for unintentionally predicting that quote. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, SHE WENT INTO THE ASTRAL PLANE AND BROUGHT HIM BACK LIKE WE HAD HOPED. AHHHHHHH. <3333

[allurahimesama]

remembering this after s8...

this edit is officially how allura is found post-s8

[arkadykoshka]

Power Move #alluradeservedbetter #shirodeservedbetter . Photo by @dtjaaaam. Allura: @luciferbob. Shiro: me. . #voltron #vld #voltronlegendarydefender #shiro #allura #takashishirogane #cosplay https://www.instagram.com/p/Bss844BH5TC/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=182j9xstahech

[pukotort]

[devilsofficialfanfic]

Hunk is the only paladin with a working moral compass, and you can quote me on that.

“What about Shiro?” You may ask.

The Perfidy (a war crime) that occurs in S1E1 was his idea. Think again, pal. I got the receipts to back this up

[devilsofficialfanfic]

@34choco an excellent question.

In S1E1, Allura determines that the Red Lion is onboard Sendak’s ship. Shiro suggests that Lance and Hunk pretend to surrender in order to create a distraction for him, Keith, and Pidge to sneak aboard and steal it. Pretending to surrender/misusing a flag of truce is a war crime known as perfidy and is not a legitimate ruse of war.

[bbtree]

tfw you go full galaxy brain on the ‘vld has protagonist-centred morality’ meme and decide that a majority-poc group of rebel characters trying to take down the incredibly white-coded empire that perpetrated genocide on one civilisation and exploited countless others for 10,000 years, are the war criminals.

[witchy-writes]

the first & the last time he held her.

[allurahimesama]

“why call shiro queer? just call him gay.”

here are some reasons why, most of which lifted from @smolsarcasticraspberry ‘s queer shiro hc post.

queer people (as in, people who identify as queer, don’t start shit with me you know who i mean) often find solace in queer because it better encompasses the complexities of their identity unlike specific terms like gay. queer is a comforting word for us, just like gay is for gay people.

so of course it makes us happy to apply it to our fave characters, to say “hey, that guy’s queer like me!!”

yet whenever a character is confirmed lgbt+, there’s a pressure within fandom to not use queer for them.

“that character would hate being called a slur.”

putting aside that literally every term we have used for ourselves has been wielded as a slur, and that fandom seems to have little problem with identity-specific slurs like f*ggot or d*ke applied to lgbt+ characters...

you are assuming that the character wouldn’t be fine with reclaiming queer. how can you know that? it’s not like a situation where an irl lgbt+ person can say “please don’t call me that”, which should of course be respected.

shiro is a fictional character. he doesn’t have that autonomy. and if it makes living breathing queer people happy to see him as queer, what’s the harm? queer people have so little explicit rep of characters expressly identifying as queer, yanno?

personal discomfort is 100% valid, and i encourage you to use word blacklisting tools to your full discretion. i just hope that maybe...this post can help people understand why the word queer, and shiro being queer, is so important to some.

[roguepaladin]

You want to know a missed opportunity?

A call back to S1 in S8

Shiro: I’m not letting you go

Allura: You have to 

but this time he actually succeeds

[aaawunder]

[aaawunder]

dfsdfsd if that theory that hedrick wanted shallura is true sdfsdf what if he writes them into fast and furious

“here’s my ocs Chiro and Callura they co drive this car that’s black and white with red wings”

[witchy-writes]

“also Chiro has a prothestic leg because he lost his real one in a race and Callura has tattoos on her cheeks that glow pink.”

[aaawunder]

“callura has ear mods to make them pointy and chiro has a facial scar from windscreen glass from the car race accident”

[allurahimesama]

how could u not name her carllura

[headspacedad]

(Tiger anon again.) The only thing that would bring me back into watching canon (and purchasing merch like, say, the comics and ALL the Shiro-BP and Allura gear) is retconning s7-s8 by reestablishing Shiro as BP, the OG Lions Lineup, and Allura NOT Being Freaking DEAD (but very much alive and well and badass. And the Lion Goddess/coleader again.) ...Jiro still being alive/getting Twinganes (or at least mourned!) is prolly too much to hope for. Until then? Fixit with Twinganes, Cloneganes, & Sven

I just read it somewhere (I think it was an ask to @ptw30) and I don’t think its much of an exaggeration at all to say that making Shiro Black Paladin in seasons seven and eight would have fixed almost everything.  Not completely everything because we still need a good resolve for Lotor as well as the clone and Allura needs to Not Die but signs in the story point to those having been in the cards as well until the EPs decided to break the story in order to sideline Shiro and going for ‘dark and edgy’ (in a way that was certainly dark but not the least bit edgy). 

I’m not going to lie.  At this point, @dreamworksanimation is in the negatives when it comes to my trust as a viewer.  Which is - bad.  Most shows start off in the neutral and then earn their way with a viewer’s trust or else fail too and the viewer simply changes the channel to something they like better.  Starting in the negative means that I have no reason to even check out anything they do in the first place, much less tune into it long enough to let it earn positive karma with me.  They can tell me they’re going to do better the next time but if I don’t even show up to see the proof than it still does neither one of us any good.  At this point, I’m not even sure @voltron knows what it did wrong with the story (hint, it wasn’t shipping related).  The internet gives me access to a huge ocean of entertainment options.  There is no reason at this point for me to bother wait around for Dreamworks to perhaps figure their shit out with Voltron when I’ve got other companies that already have their shit figured out and are, currently, right now, in this instant, willing to show me their product and take my attention and my money.  The Voltron name brand wasn’t enough to keep me watching Voltron Force when it came out and its not enough to get me watching anything now.  In fact, the brand name of Voltron has actually managed to go from something that I would be curious about thanks to past associations and turned into something I would actively avoid due to past associations.  Dreamworks gets to ride in that same cart since they’re the ones that signed off on the EPs and let them steer the story the way they did, whether through ignorance or carelessness. 

I can’t say I would never come back.  If nothing else Voltron: Legendary Defender has left a rather large hole when it went down in flames and a part of me would really very much like some kind of closure.  But the problem with that is - I don’t want a reboot.  I don’t want to see someone else’s ‘new’ take on the Shiro I knew, or the Allura I grew so fond of, or several of the rest of the team I want closure and actual arcs for.  I want this Shiro to get the story he deserved.  I want this Allura to get her triumph and find a family with this team.  I want this team to come together and find they’re each others found family.  I want these lions to claim their original line up paladins and love them the way they did in the first two seasons.  Giving it to me in a retelling with new characters isn’t satisfying (and frankly, why would I invest in brand new characters a second time with the same company that showed me just how little they value their characters or their fans.  Fool me once - shame on you.  Fool me twice - shame on me.).  I don’t want a retelling.  I don’t want a ‘new’ Shiro.

But how would they fix VLD in such a way that would draw out the rot considering how deeply its worked its way down into the very story itself by this point?  Would it be enough to erase the distrust and justifiably leery feeling I have about going on that ride a second time?  The first time I went on it, it started out fun and worth my time too but look at how it ended.  Why would I risk that a second time?  I’m not even sure Dreamworks realizes how badly off the rails the story went or how vile the treatment of the characters was and how utterly rotten the messages the story sent were.  In an entire ocean of other entertainment, what would be enough to make me give that all a second chance? 

The answer, if you’re paying attention @dreamworksanimation and @voltron is the characters.  I do love a lot of VLD’s characters. In its early seasons, VLD gave us some wonderful characters, some honestly deep and intriguing characters that I grew to care deeply about very quickly, characters that invested me in the story, the universe and the show itself, characters I was eager to watch grow and develop and triumph at the end.  Hell, I stayed through the trash fire that was the last two seasons just in the hopes of seeing something good for those characters.  Now, how do you parlay my love of the characters into something that will draw me back and get me, knowing I’m already distrustful of your ability to even tell a basic story properly, re-invested in the product, brandname and story?

I don’t know @dreamworksanimation and @voltron.  That’s your job to figure out.  I’ve spent enough time already filling in your shitty plot holes with meta just so your basic story will make sense.  You do the work for a change.