So sad we never saw Shiro use the black bayard. We were robbed I tell you. What possibilities do you think it would have turned into if it was used?
we were horribly robbed and the wild thing is that Shiro’s black bayard reveal should have been one of the most basic ‘givens’ on the show. It’s potentially the longest running fandom speculation for the series. We went two seasons with him not having it, watched everyone else get their bayard forms and then upgrades, watched him win back the black bayard at the end of season two and it should have been the most obvious basic story point to show us what it turned into for him. It’s like inhaling and expecting there to be air. There are just certain story beats you just know a story is setting you up for and you, as the viewer/reader look forward to the fulfillment of. Shiro’s bayard form was just about the most glaringly obvious and simplistic set up for a story beat in existence.
And @voltron and @dreamworksanimation couldn’t even manage something that was the story writing equivalent of baby food.
if anyone ever deserved to have the word ‘professional’ slapped off them, this would be that.
Its a sign of abject failure on the ‘story’s part that we, the viewers, have to come up with the answer for that story beat ourselves. But since we do, here we are.
Personally, I expected all along, and I know I’m not the only one, that Shiro’s bayard would take the place of his Galra arm. It would have been satisfying in that it would take the place of something the Galra had ripped from him and forced on him with something that would be a gift of love and welcome bonding between him and his lion that had also escaped from Galra control and that they’d willingly won together. It would have also let us continue to enjoy him fighting as dynamically and amazingly as he did before so there would have been no need for a new fighting style to be developed for him. And - to me the most beautiful part of the ‘what could have been a wholesome lesson’ - Shiro doesn’t NEED his arm. The black bayard coming and going would have shown the viewers, some of whom, including children, might be missing limbs, that you don’t NEED both arms to be complete and effective and useful and involved and important. That a leader could do plenty - including pilot his lion - with just one arm and it wouldn’t hinder or slow him down in any way. When he needed the prosthetic - the black bayard - it would be there for him but he didn’t need it to be a ‘complete’ person. That Shiro is just as vital and necessary and active and involved and a leader without both arms - and other people can be too. The black bayard being Shiro’s right arm could have been redemption and a powerful partnership between him and the lion he worked so hard to free, understand and bond with. Not a crutch but a link. I honestly believed right until season eight (even knowing how horrible seasons seven was) that we’d see Shiro use the black bayard. It was unfathomable for me to imagine anyone would make it such a pivot point in the story and then throw it all away. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ah.
In other, fluffier and entirely speculative news I was also partial to arnis/eskrima sticks, like Nightwing in Batman uses. They seemed like they’d fit Shiro’s fluid, up close leveraging style beautifully.
What do you think, gang? Technically the bayards change to fit whatever the user needs but suits their style. What other theories can we get up in here about what Shiro’s Black Bayard is?
