#bp keith

[tequieroshiro]

me: sees a post justifying why keith felt uncomfortable in a position of leadership that was imposed on him

me: oh :)

me: continues reading and sees the nature of the post was to exalt lance as black paladin and use keith as a stepping stool and trophy wife

me: oh :(

[sollilja]

“if Black Paladin Keith is westernized bullshit… then why the fuck did the writers give him natural leadership abilities and consistently show that he’s a good leader, and probably the best leader besides Shiro?” -anon (thank goodness for back buttons in browser)

Black is not the only way to lead.

The fact that having leadership skills is defacto that Keith HAS to go to Black is a fundamental misunderstand of how teams operate, It’s very much the western mentality of There Can Only Be One. In fact, I believe it was Josh Keaton, or else it was JDS or LM, during a panel, they stated how everyone on the team leads in their own right. And that’s exactly how a team should work. Each part of the team needs to be capible in their own right, and not just wait around for the one leader to make every action and decision. Keith can lead from Red. Pidge can lead from Green etc.

That’s just a plain weak team, if they wait around for Leader. 

And Western bullshit. This is what happens when you devalue every spt but ‘leader’, when you make it so the Only achievement is the ‘leader’ spot. Everything else feels like a consolation. Which hurts the value of people who can’t/won’t/don’t want the ‘leader’ spot. As well as, who is gonna work their best or put all themselves in if they feel like they’ve been cheated a spot they’ve earned. 

Black is not some measuring stick for abilities, nor is it a prize to be won. 

I hope everyone reaches THEIR full potential in their own spots. 

I had hope that Voltron wouldn’t pull the bullshit. Cus it would’ve been a beautiful display that each place on the team is EQUALLY as VITAL, as Voltron is 5 parts. It could’ve shown that not everyone has to strive for The Top (which ends up causing heartache and dissatisfaction with life, since, yknow, there can only be one. Meaning there are countless people who feel worthless, because their positions have been devalued in the race to the top. ) that you can have amazing leadership qualities, and, in fact, lead, without needing to The One. And that the ‘leader’ spot is just as much a follower, if not more, as there is only one of them, and four other people they need to bow to at times. 

If, truly, the argument is There Can Only Be One, then why not the big hoopla over allura? She is, as a princess, THE most capable to lead. In fact, she’s the Heart of Voltron. So if that’s the argument, then why is there no big rally for her to lead? 

Because sexism, and Western bullshit.

This isn’t actually about the resume of the leader. It’s just that this show is following a Western narrative that has placed Keith in line to be the leader. When, in some ultimate form of irony, technically the most qualified is written off. Yknow. Cus /she’s/ female. And also dark skinned. 

But go off I guess?

[sollilja]

You’re right, V/LD *isn’t* a show about growth and character development and Keith being uncomfortable in a leadership role while his only friend/its ex-occupant is presumably dead is DEFINITELY the same thing as him not wanting it. Never mind that he’s been leader of Voltron in every iteration before this, including the one V/LD is largely based off. Never mind the fact that his own VA has acknowledged that Keith shows leadership qualities that Shiro canonically tries to stoke but w/e i guess

The point is that you can lead from many spots on Voltron. All of them, in fact. It’s such a western cultural thing for it to be ”there can only be one”, as of there’s The Black Paladin and, oh uh, four others who help them. That’s not how Voltron works. They all lead in their own way. I believe Josh Keaton has said that in an interview, that they all have leadership qualities and take turns leading.

Each part of Voltron leads a different element or general characteristic and battle style. Red is the specialist for quick movement, fierceness, and the sword.Green is maybe less clear, and I’d have to ask around abd check sources (aka open the paladin handbook that my ass JUST finished perusing today. Rip me)Blue is adventurous, bold.Yellow is stability, and hardiness.

Ad of course, Black is the calm, collected ”leader”.

You cannot have Voltron without all five parts. They are all absolutely integral.

And pilotting each takes a certain amount of leadership on its own. Like, the other four lions aren’t consulation prizes.

And that’s what bothers me.

This forcing Keith into Black treats the other spots like unworthy. Like, somehow, his skills make him superceed what any other lion has to offer, it’s treated like it’s almost a demotion for him to be in Red.

You can lead in other ways than just the stereotypical top of the ladder.

And people are treating Black like it’s The Highest Position. No. They’re all equal parts with different functions.

(Yes other iterations had him lead but let’s not forget the very real and obvious ways they have already subverted previous versions. Such as, what comes instant to mind, the races of the characters. Lotor went from womanizer to having a team of badass women. Allura? No princess in distress (i didnt watch other versions so I’m only using context clues of what Ive seen and heard of lotor, that she was sort of his princess peach. Do correct me if wrong as its entirely a guess))

And even if this is all wrong,

I hope we do one day get media that shows us someone who is genuinely 100% happy being 2nd in command, and never gets nor needs ””promotion””. It doesn’t lend itself to happiness that people need to be number one.

Though, I do think he doesn’t want it. He’s never made any moves for black. ALWAYS REAFFIRMED THAT THE BLACK BAYARD WAS SHIROS WAY BEFORE THE ARRANGEMENT CAME INTO QUESTION. Aka, if the black bayard belongs to the black lion, and shiro has the bayard, and keith insists its shiro’s,,, he’s insisting shiro is the true paladin. But I’ll play at your level. Let’s say we don’t see him not want it. I say, then, bring to me EXPLICIT proof that he wants it. Give me a line or a scrne where we are shown his desire to pilot black. If you say there isn’t proof he doesn’t want it, I say there isn’t proof he does.

But Keith is Asian. He is soooooooo very Asian. Every value I have from my Chinese background is reflected in his character. And I say that there’s a giant gap between Western understanding of his character, and Asian. If a fellow Asian wants to discusd this with me, pleeeeeeease, I’d love to hear it, I haven’t seen anyone tackle this uet. Otherwise, who is u? Don’t talk over me, thanks.

[sollilja]

What if Keith DOES decide that he wants to be Black Paladin? Like if the Shiro currently with the team does turn out to be a clone, and he's the best one for the job?

Ofc he’s gonna want it. This is an American show, with American values. We already know the showrunners created Shiro as a throwaway pawn/road bump/plot device to Keith taking up leadership. They were gonna kill Shiro. So, I mean. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It’d be really cool if they didn’t, But they’ve already sent terrible messages to kids about bullying (Lance bullied Keith and, in the end, won. He got Keith’s spot on the team. And now they’re giving him a character arc as if a few seconds of a good, selfless decision is somehow enough to make him changed. That he doesn’t have to apologize or right the wrongs. No. The bully gets sympathy and character growth.) so their ability to think through the messages they send are surface. There are occassional shining throughs of deep thought and well thought out implications, but there are glaring, terrible, and unaddressed ones. To make Black as the only path to leadership, that the only way to ”lead” is to be in Black, the only way to have value, the prize to be won, a cheap, lazy symbol of character growth and achievement, is natural to the way they’ve written things so far.

So, yes.Ofc Keith is gonna end up in Black.

And, if for some incredible turn of events, I’m wrong. Then I will be too joyous to care that someone has ”told me so”, I invite it, even.

But I’m done holding my breath for deep things from the series.

I love it still. I do. But ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ maybe it was the limited run or the platform or that they kept having to change things cus dw. No blame on anyone, any one part. Just the product of the whole dropped the ball.

But, until then, until he explicitly states his desire, I’m not ok with people forcing it on him. Cus that really says a lot about the person, to me. And it’s too often reflected in life that people think they know better than the person themselves. (”You just haven’t met the right man yet” ”wait until its your child”, etc.)

He’s allowed to change his mind. But we should ’t force something on him if he doesn’t want it. And atm he doesnt

[cryptidmullet]

i rotated that one pic of keith when he was looking at lance and saying "we have each other" and i know he saying that to the whole team but,,,

[sollilja]

Anyways,

Keith doesn’t want to lead Voltron, and that’s valid.

It doesn’t matter if he has the skills, it’s tacky to force someone to want something just because they have the qualifications.

This whole ”oh he just needs to grow into the role and gain confidence” notion is super creepy.

What happened to stopping the argument at ”I don’t want to”? How many times does Keith have to affirm to Shiro that HE is the black paladin for y’all to get it?

Shiro is the leader. Keith is happy af to be his right hand. End of story.