Out of the post I just reblogged I want to specifically hold this screenshot up as like…
I think Shiro gets a lot of his compassionate supportive traits played up as all that he has, and, don’t get me wrong, they’re there in force, but I feel like it’s astonishingly easy for the fandom to forget the part where Shiro is a high-strung perfectionist who… in all honesty reads pretty OCPD.
In early s1 he’s fairly hard on Lance because Lance is goofy and sociable and Shiro is hellbent on making a good impression, on Allura, on Rolo’s gang, on basically everyone they encounter not the galra. And that’s not a condemnation, it’s not “oh, poor Lance” because Shiro definitely hits his stride and eases up on Lance as early as the start of season 2, but, like…
Especially when he’s stressed, Shiro is really not good with things going off the rails. He wants things to feel neat and manageable and under control, and it’s that tendency that- somewhat ironically- leads to him clashing explosively with Slav and Slav’s OCD. Because both of them are trying to cope by seizing control of their situation at the minute level, and Slav’s rituals, and Slav taking control of the situation, challenge Shiro’s control of the situation.
Overwhelmingly, Shiro knows his fussy high standards aren’t always fair. And his natural empathy and desire to take care of others, he prioritizes their happiness over whether he thinks their hair is parted the right way- his standards of appearance he mostly only applies to himself.
He even, in my opinion, reacts guiltily in all subsequent interactions with Slav after blowing up at him that first time, but that’s even more to the tune of what I’m talking about- if Shiro gets the shoe on the wrong foot as a first impression he tends to act like it can’t be salvaged, it’s all or nothing.
But frankly, when things don’t live up to Shiro’s standards, and especially when something falls short of his moral standards, Shiro’s incredibly quick tempered and quick to flat-out snarl. Aforementioned empathy and kindness, while powerful forces in him, take a bit of time to kindle in people, and while he will value people’s lives no matter what he thinks of them, he also pretty much came to despise Lubos with every fiber of his being just knowing what the guy had been up to.
I’m not saying this to suggest Shiro is an unforgiving demon or that the guy can’t chill, but, I think the fandom really needs to find a good middle ground between compassionate nurturing Shiro and Shiro the short-tempered perfectionist because frankly, they’re both major pieces of him.
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