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vlotd · 4 years

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Reasons I Want to Make Plance Canon in V:LotD #4,615:

THIS COMIC FROM QUESTIONABLE CONTENT.

But as Pidge and Lance. Like... it’s not even hard to picture, right?

#or maybe I just like QC a whole helluva lot #or both #could be both #VLD fix it fic #MAYBE THIS IS ALL A THINLY-VEILED ATTEMPT TO GET YOU ALL TO READ QC #because Marten and Claire are ADORABLE #and proof that 'straight' couples are not boring #(and can also be queer ones but y'know...)

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vlotd · 4 years

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More Altean thoughts

So, we know Allura’s earrings work as comm links. I’ve put this in fics before, but I believe her bracelets have a function as well. So, for V:LotD, here’s the thing about Altean jewelry (and some more thoughts on how they dress and why):

All Alteans have at least one crystal on them somewhere that stores a small amount of their quintessence. When they approach something - say a door that’s locked and only lets certain people in - the... machinery, for lack of a better term, reads the quintessence stored in the crystal. If that quintessence is allowed to access this device/enter this door, then the door will open/device will activate/etc. The crystals can also have other functions, depending on access. For example, maybe you’re allowed to enter This Door and access This Comm Link, but not That Door or That Comm Link ‘cause that’s for higher-ups. While you’re in the building, you can access the Communications Link that’s authorized for your quintessence, but once you leave the building, your access to that link shuts off; it’s only for work communication during work hours, let’s say.

(This is why, in season 1, Allura couldn’t hear Shiro fighting with Haggar until Hunk showed up to rescue her. When he came in, her earrings suddenly had access to the Paladin comm link again (she has access to ALL comm links regarding the paladins and the Castle - she’s the Princess). She and her earrings were, in essence, out of range (and possibly blocked; no doubt Haggar knew about this).)

Allura chooses to wear two crystals as her two earrings. Even if she loses one, she has a backup.

The bracelets are, as I wrote in the fic I linked above, her command bracelets. (She calls them ‘control’ bracelets in the fic, but I like command better now.) They allow her to use Castle systems anywhere in the Castle without being actually near the appropriate devices. (In the fic, her bracelets work more like the crystals I described just now; again, I wrote that a while ago and my thoughts have progressed some on this.)

When Klaizap approaches the Castle in season 1, Allura just waves one bracelet-ed hand through the air and not only silences the alarm but pulls up a screen so they can see the approaching “intruder.” This is something that would normally be done on the bridge, but she is, again, THE PRINCESS. She can access any Castle function from anywhere inside the Castle so long as she’s wearing those bracelets. (She does have to be inside, or just outside; as we saw in season 1, being shut out and on the other side of the Castle’s shield means she has no control over Castle operations.)

So while, yes, these are very pretty pieces of jewelry, as befits a princess, they also have practical applications. I believe that she chose for them to look this way deliberately. King Alfor could also control Castle functions from anywhere inside the ship, but his control device(s) didn’t look like bracelets, and his ID crystal didn’t look like earrings. Allura likes pretty (and sparkly!) things, and this also helps the items blend in a bit more and go unnoticed. (That’s also why the bracelet-like “bumps” on her wrist in her flight suit - I don’t think the control bracelets are literally in there, but I think that they provide the same functionality as the more decorative bracelets, as well as some other functions that we see in the paladin armors.)

Now, I’ve spoken before about how I think Alteans (at least back in Allura’s and Coran’s day) were covered head to toe. Specifically, this:

Alteans believe that showing skin (other than head and hands) when you’re above a certain age is very inappropriate. To bare one’s skin to someone (outside your family) is to make yourself vulnerable to them, and it shows a deep level of trust and intimacy. Thus, skin tight clothing may be fine, but showing actual SKIN is not. Coran wears gloves because, in his day, even showing hands was considered a bit racy. He’s old-fashioned, basically.

I hinted at the reasoning here, but I wanted to be clear about it.

Alteans don’t have our religions. I believe there are Altean religions (we hear talk about old gods, after all), but I’m not sure that any of those religions dictate that you must cover up. And Alteans don’t have any qualms about skin tight clothing, obviously.

The reason that Alteans cover their skin is that it protects you, at least to some degree. (We know that some Altean fabric/materials are very protective while still being form-fitting/skin tight: see Allura’s flight suit and the paladin under-armors.) Baring your skin makes you more vulnerable to attack.

This is a culture that has literal children learning fighting skills. Maybe that’s just for royalty and/or military families, but the fact remains. With this sort of mindset, you wouldn’t open yourself to attack from a stranger. That’s why my idea of Alteans only bare their skin around family, very close friends, and romantic/sexual partners. That’s the “deep level of trust and intimacy,” being shown. “I trust you not to attack me,” sure.

But also, “I am making myself vulnerable to you.” You can take that in lots of different ways (including in some that should be sent to my smut blog [ahem]), but for a race of people who can change what they look like on a whim, saying, “Here I am, my true self with no barriers or armor of any sort,” is a huge thing. You don’t just do that for anyone.

I doubt Coran and Allura think of it that way consciously. Kind of like how we don’t think about handshakes and how they originated as a way to prove to each other that we have no weapons. It’s just how it is.

The fact that the Altean Diaspora Colony (in V:LotD) bares legs and arms regularly shows that (A) fashion has just moved on over time, and (B) they feel safe where they are, they trust everyone around them (and they trusted Lotor).

#V:LotD #VLD fix it fic #Altean culture #headcanons

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vlotd · 5 years

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((I felt like doing some V:LotD plance for some reason. Hope you enjoy!))

It’d been a good training session. Everyone had showered up, changed into civvies, and left, except for Lance. Looking this good meant taking the extra time, putting in that extra effort! Finally satisfied, he headed out, but he’d barely walked out the doorway when he heard a heavy sigh.

“Huh? Pidge?” he called into the other “locker room” (they didn’t have lockers, but what else would you call them?). “You okay in there?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Lance, don’t worry.” But she sounded a little flat.

“Is it okay for me to come in?”

“… I… guess? If you want to.”

Keep reading

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vlotd · 5 years

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pet peeve - noun, informal. something that a particular person finds especially annoying.

So, the time measurements in VLD bug the shit out of me. From a writer’s standpoint, “quintant” is just an awkward word to work with. Do I use “yesterquintant” for the day before? Ugh, I hate it. It’s such a bulky word.

But from a logic standpoint wtf up with this, VLD? These screens are from the first three episodes alone:

Look, even the aliens used years and decades!!

It’s incon-freaking-sistent, and I noticed it on the second viewing of s1 (before s2 came out and gave us “deca-phoebs”). My original thought was that Coran used old Altean time measurements just because he was old-fashioned. But then it turned out that ticks/doboshes/vargas/quintants/movements/phoebs (I assume are months - the word month is never used but I’m extrapolating from the word for year)/deca-phoebs were pretty much Universal Standard.

Originally I tried to reconcile this as “well, you’d use things like ‘years’ when you’re on a planet to refer to the number of rotations of that planet around its sun; therefore Allura means she and Coran have been asleep for 10,000 Arusian years.” But that doesn’t explain the captured prisoners using it, or Coran using “Hump day!” right after quintant and movement. (I know, it’s for a joke, but still.)

So in V:LotD, they’ll just use Earth measurements because I’ll already have established Universal Translator. “quintant” will be translated as “approximately one day,” etc.

I know that they don’t directly translate: a quintant is actually 20 vargas and a varga isn’t 60 doboshes, etc. Thus the “approximately” part.

I could have them use the Galactic Standard consistently, but, as already established, I fucking hate it. xD Except tick and varga. Tick makes sense and varga is just nice to say.

Quintant can go die in a fire.

#V:LotD #VLD fix it fic #if I ever write it #at this point don't hold your breath #though I sometimes write fics set in V:LotD or that use its headcanons

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vlotd · 5 years

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Pride Month

Look, this is a big project and I am also fighting cancer, so I don’t have anything new to give y’all. BUT! As a reminder, since it’s Pride Month...

In V:LotD:

Shiro is bisexual (explicitly so, as Adam lives and we see him and Adam get some closure when the team gets back to Earth... and then, of course, there’s Shallura in this, so...).

Allura is pansexual.

So’s Coran. (It’s not a “racial” thing, just a coincidence, though pansexuality is pretty common amongst Alteans.)

Pidge is a trans girl.

Lance is straight but ends up in a relationship with Pidge. (yes, he’s still straight - she’s a GIRL. As a reminder, this means that a straight man - Lance - is in a queer relationship. It Can And Does Happen - see also me & my husband.)

Keith and Hunk I haven’t decided on yet. Hunk ends up with Shay; everyone uses female pronouns for Shay. She is an alien though, so who knows what she’s got in her pants? (If she wore pants.) Hunk ends up with Shay though, and, honestly, I don’t think he cares what’s in her non-existent pants. So maybe he’s pan, too?

Probably will make Keith either gay, ace, or both (romantically attracted to other men, but uninterested in sex). I don’t know if I’d hook him up with James, but it might be fun to do some romantic/sexual tension-y sort of fights between them.

For that matter, I’m not sure about Pidge’s sexuality either, beyond the fact that she does have some interest in men (and, eventually, Lance xD SORRY! Sorry, the joke was too easy, I had to go for it. Sorry, Lance stans, I didn’t mean it!!). It could very well be that she’s also straight, and only interested in men. [shrugs]

THE POINT IS: V:LotD has a variety of orientations for the paladins, shows a variety of healthy M/F and PoC relationships as well as explicitly queer ones, and these will be my headcanons until the end of time*.

*Back when I still gave a damn about VLD canon, I headcanon’d Pidge as homoromantic asexual, and I was desperately hoping she’d get a hot robot/cyborg girlfriend because HOLY WOW wouldn’t that be amazing (and I think Bex would’ve been over the moon about that xD). Buuuuut we live in this world, and for V:LotD, I specifically wanted trans girl Pidge willing to go back into the closet for the sake of finding her family again. I wanted her mother to help her with the disguise, to reassure her that she’s still a girl just pretending to be a boy and doing it very well, that’s all. I wanted her to grow her hair out and not wear the glasses (though obviously she keeps them; they’re Matt’s) and come back into herself after coming out to the team, and I wanted the team to support her in that. And I wanted Lance to fall for her, to be conflicted, and then realize that love is love, he loves her, she’s a girl, he’s not any less straight for that and even if he were, so what?

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vlotd · 5 years

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Oof

The more I talk with people about VLD and the more I look at it, the more work really needs to go into this thing. >_< So many questions brought up and not answered, so many threads dropped...

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vlotd · 5 years

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A) I changed the avatar for V:LotD

B) I’ve been buried under work for @shallurasmutweek (which starts TOMORROW!) but I have not forgotten V:LotD!! I couldn’t even if I wanted to. (I don’t want to.)

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vlotd · 5 years

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hehe uh so

Guess who hasn’t been working on her fix-it fic like she should be doing?

*ahem*

Anyway, want to find out a little bit about V:LotD Altean culture? I just wanted to highlight one of my personal headcanons that’s going to be showing up. (And yes, this already showed up in a fic of mine.)

Alteans believe that showing skin (other than head and hands) when you’re above a certain age is very inappropriate. To bare one’s skin to someone (outside your family) is to make yourself vulnerable to them, and it shows a deep level of trust and intimacy. Thus, skin tight clothing may be fine, but showing actual SKIN is not. Coran wears gloves because, in his day, even showing hands was considered a bit racy. He’s old-fashioned, basically.

Pidge’s shorts are a little shocking to the Alteans but they work with it because, well, they don’t have to look at her legs; they can just focus on her face and try to ignore that she’s showing that much skin.

Lance and Keith being in nothing but towels and swim shorts would have been SCANDALOUS if it weren’t for the fact that, y’know, Zarkon is attacking and we have to get the hell out of here right now. Well, it’s actually still scandalous, but they’re distracted by the life-threatening situation going on.

Then we get to the Altean diaspora. It’s been 10,000 years. There’s a wide variety of clothing, and a lot of it shows off arms, necks, shoulders, and legs below the knee. Sometimes even feet! Coran damn near passes out from the sheer impropriety and Allura is clearly uncomfortable. But, y’know, Alteans! So she copes.

But the return of the Legendary Lost Princess brings with it a fashion trend and suddenly everyone’s wearing those arm things of Allura’s. Y’know, these:

The high collars come back into fashion, too. That’s at least some small comfort for Coran’s old-fashioned sensibilities (even if the short skirts/shorts still exist).

And yes, this headcanon means that buff younger Coran showing off his arms doesn’t exist in V:LotD. I’m sorry. He’d have clothes closer to Shiro’s: skin tight to show off dem guns but not actually showing skin. And still wearing gloves.

Speaking of Shiro... this also means that Shiro’s Keith-given outfit is probably the closest to Altean clothing of anything any of the paladins are wearing.

Covers most of his neck, and he’s even covering most of his hands (if not all of them). Skin tight thanks to the clothes not really fitting him, but everything still covered. Not that the other Paladins - other than Pidge’s shocking shorts! - aren’t modest or anything, just that their weird jackets and things are more obviously Not Altean. Shiro’s outfit looks like a variation on something an Altean would wear, so it probably helped make Allura more comfortable talking to him. He was closer to “familiar” in that sense (even if his ears are hideous).

#V:LotD #VLD fix it fic #Altean culture #headcanons

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vlotd · 5 years

Link

Scrips from S1-S6 - well, that was helpful.

#reblogging for reference

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vlotd · 5 years

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*sees the surname you gave Hunk* OH MY GOSH! WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT SURNAME? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THAT KIND OF RESOURCE FOREVER!!!

I dug around for Samoan surnames specifically. I named Hunk after two “Opetaia”s:

Opetaia Foa’i

Jai Opetaia

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vlotd · 5 years

Photo

Thank you, @yslanam!

And a big thanks to @thesoulsikeep for helping me with it, actually! <3

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vlotd · 5 years

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Allura’s Magic

So, at the end of season 2, we see Allura completely own Haggar and magically dismantle the komar. And then, in VLD, we... never find out what that was about? How’d she do it? Does she have more magic powers she’s capable of? You’d think Allura herself would be like, “WHOA,” and want to learn more, right?

I think so, too.

So, in V:LotD, after season 2, Zarkon is out for the count. Haggar is pretending that the Emperor is fine and is issuing orders on his behalf. Mostly she’s keeping the Empire on an even keel, making sure things continue as they have been, but there’s one issue she’s taking into her own hands: the Altean Princess.

Allura is now the #1 threat on Haggar’s personal radar, and she’s going to do what she can to deal with it. The princess is surprisingly powerful, and Haggar instinctively wants that power at her beck and call. So, the ideal solution would be bringing Allura under her control. If that can’t be accomplished, then Allura has to die. It’s that simple.

Back in the day, Haggar’s Druids used to hunt down Alteans. The Druids - in V:LotD - are all Alteans themselves, most of whom joined Haggar willingly 10,000 years ago and have had their lifespans extended because of it. Some of them joined later, after the Druids hunted them down: the offer was “join us or die.” Many refused to join, but some signed on just to survive. And, back in those days, there was a standard plan to find and bring in Alteans: the Survivor gambit.

Allura’s looking to learn more about her powers. She has her father’s alchemy lab and some of his notes, but that’s about it. She is contacted by a mysterious person who identifies themselves only as a “Survivor.” They say that, like Haggar, they are an Altean with knowledge of magical quintessence manipulation. Just as Haggar hides what she is, so, too, does this Altean, though they require much more than just a robe; they, after all, are not protected by the Galra Emperor himself, as Haggar is.

The Survivor says they have heard of what Allura did in the fight against Haggar, and they wish to help her, for the good of the universe. But they wish to remain hidden, secret. “Not even those closest to you can know that I’m helping you. If I were revealed, even accidentally… I am taking a great risk in bringing you this information.” Allura agrees to this because this is an Altean seeking to help her and it’s help she desperately needs. The story sounds plausible, so she doesn’t investigate it further (she’d need the help of Coran and possibly the paladins to do that anyway).

Allura had only just started learning some basics of what it means to be Sacred when her father sent her into stasis. She should have been farther along than that, but the war with the Galra was seen as more important than her lessons. The Survivor quizzes her about what she knows and then starts in where those lessons left off: the fundamentals are the same between Sacred and Corrupted, after all. They’re mostly text; The Survivor rarely contacts Allura directly after their initial discussion.

And so it is, that, in secret, Allura is taught how to wield her magic - by one of Haggar’s Druids. The idea is that she will be brought into the Corrupted - rather than the Sacred - ways of magic. That, slowly, she will become more like the Druids: more interested in power, longevity, and survival than in anything else. She will bring herself under Haggar’s control willingly.

#V:LotD #VLD fix it fic #Allura

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vlotd · 5 years

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*reads post* 1. I suggest making Krolia half-Galra, which would make Keith a quarter Galra at most. This way, you can have Krolia and stay true to your intended storyline 2. Krolia's appearances can be in flashback, she may have died before the story starts and her memory lays the foundation for the final part of Keith's arc. 3. Rename the cow, but have Lance suggest Kaltenecker, until someone points out the cow's a girl.

Krolia being ½ Galra does make a lot more sense. @claudysummer on that same wavelength!

I’m still not sure if I want her to be Keith’s mom though, just because of the focus on found family as opposed to literally finding your biological family. I do want to keep her in V:LotD, just maybe not as related to Keith.

Also, that’s an excellent suggestion about cow naming!! I think I’ll go with that! :D Thank you!

Thinking about this though, I realized that, if Keith’s not ½ Galra, where’d he get the BoM blade? So I’ve been running this through, see what y’all think of this:

Keith just has a knife, not a BoM blade. When they go to the BoM HQ to meet Kolivan after Ulaz’s sacrifice, there are blades hanging on the wall. These are the blades of fallen BoM members. Blade members earn an existing blade through their actions: the blade will call to them when they’re ready. (They can’t make more blades; as we find out in Space Mall, the planet where luxite comes from was destroyed. Well, okay, the guy just says it hasn’t existed in deca-phoebs but we’ll go with destroyed because it’s quicker. ANYWAY)

A blade calls to Keith. At first he thinks he’s just imagining it, then he thinks one of the BoM are messing with him and he picks a fight. (This is in lieu of what happens in canon where they find the blade on him when he shows up.) He says he’s feeling something weird, from this area over here, and accuses them of messing with him as an excuse to start the fight.

Kolivan says to let the boy up and tells him to close his eyes and follow that feeling. Keith follows it to one of the blades on the wall. Kolivan shares a look with the others and they decide to put Keith through their test because they can’t believe the blade called to him.

The test goes as we’ve always seen, but when Keith awakens the blade, it’s not because he’s part Galra at all - Keith can just be entirely 100% human in this version - but because this specific blade responded to him. And the BoM are shocked, most of them confused, because all the Blades are Galra. They’ve always all been Galra.

And Kolivan points out that well, yeah, they’ve always been Galra because they started this secret society in response to their own people’s misdeeds. But there’s nothing in the history of the Blades - or the blades (the knives themselves) - to say that a non-Galra couldn’t be one.

So, basically Keith bonds with the BoM in the same way that Pidge bonds with the Olkari, that Lance bonds with the mermaids, that Hunk bonds with the Balmerans. (That Shiro bonds with the Alteans… or at least Allura… *cough*) It’s not because he’s Galra to any degree - he just has a similar mindset, a similar outlook, that same passionate dedication to the cause.

The only other problem with Keith not being any part Galra is that one scene in season 1 where he puts his hand on the panel and it works - a scene that, frankly, still doesn’t make sense in canon because he’s wearing a glove. He and Lance dropped in RIGHT ON TOP of a sentry bot; they can just use its hand.

And, frankly, I’m kind of thinking that Pidge can use a severed sentry hand to sort of reverse-engineer how to get into Galra computer systems. She can sort of program it into Shiro’s prosthetic so that it “mimics” the sentry bot hand.

Thus in “Collection and Extraction”, Shiro’s hand mimics a sentry hand and that’s why he - and, through him, Pidge - can get into the system, but it’s a two-way street: the system is collecting data through Shiro’s arm. Pidge accounted for that, up to a point, but she’s busy trying to get through the security wall they encountered. Eventually, the Galra system gets past the “mask” and correctly identifies Shiro, thus triggering the alarm.

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vlotd · 5 years

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Two things my brain gave me, one right after the other. One:

A) Keith is part Galra, not 1/2 Galra. Because, for one thing, the bio-scan would have caught it if he's freaking HALF-GALRA and Allura would have seen that when she went to make their uniforms, which is too early a reveal for that,

B) There were Galra loyal to Alfor (not many, but a couple), and one of those was on Earth when they dropped off the Blue Lion. They stayed, had kids with a local human (Anatomically Modern Humans existed then, and 10k years ago is WELL PAST both Mitochondria Eve and Y-Chromosome Adam), and eventually that bloodline leads to Keith,

C) I'm still annoyed about genetics in VLD. This way - part-Galra instead of half-Galra - makes Keith appearing human make more sense, dammit!

Of course, this may mean we don't get Krolia in V:LotD at all? Which, on one hand, I'm pretty okay with because Keith's arc is into found family and that family is supposed to be the Paladins, dammit. But, on the other, badass female Galra to root for. If she shows up, she won't be Keith's mom, in any case.

and Two:

Should I keep Kaltenecker’s name? Like, the cow was named after a line editor in the VLD crew, as a shout-out to him (even though it’s a cow and not a bull? but whatever, bovine gender is not as important to me beyond the necessity of creating milkshakes).

I am very tempted to rename the cow after a reference from the Sock Drawer Discord server, but I’m worried that “Kaltenecker” - as much of a mouthful as it is - is too ingrained. Hrm.

#V:LotD #VLD fix it fic

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vlotd · 5 years

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Ships in V:LotD

so far, at least:

Shallura - obviously, clearly, slowburn co-leaders Shallura. REQUIRED.

Zargar - because dark parallel Shallura and also how we get Lotor

(past) Adashi - because Shiro is explicitly bi in this. Adam lives btw

Hunay - because how do you not have THE PURE SUNSHINE THAT IS HUNK AND SHAY??!?!!?!!??!!!

and, I’m pleased to announce,

PLANCE

*waits for the screaming to die down*

I have a lot of reasons for wanting to do Plance, but the main one is simply that I like it and it fits well. I can totally see Pidge having a crush on Lance in VLD canon, dammit. And I’d love to see that reciprocated and explored, especially in V:LotD where Pidge is a transgirl.

And, to be clear, V:LotD Lance is purely hetero. And this relationship is going to be a hell of a journey for him because he thought Pidge was a guy when he first met her (since she was pretending to be one), then he finds out she’s a girl, and she’s trans, and she’s not the instant va-va-va-voom type of chick he normally goes for, but that just makes him that much more certain about his feelings because he goes *heart eyes* for any hot chick who walks by, but this is more than that, and it persists even when Pidge isn’t around.

And because I love the idea of having a straight relationship that is also undeniably a queer one. Granted, Shallura is that as well (given that Shiro’s bi and Allura’s pan in this), but it tends to get underrated as “straight” (as if that’s a bad thing - I’ll say again: heterosexuality is NOT the problem; heteronormativity is).

And yes, this means that, aside from Adashi, all the ships are straight. Most of them also involve people of color, and ALL of them involve equal, loving partners (even if, in the case of Zargar, those “equal, loving partners” wind up going on to become evil despotic tyrants).

We need healthy M/F ships.

We need PoC to feel loved and respected.

We need disabled people and those dealing with trauma to be shown as worthy of love.

We need to reinforce that a bi man in a relationship with a woman is no less bi.

We need to say clearly that a straight man in love with a trans woman is still straight - and is also in a queer relationship despite not being queer himself.

These are all excellent reasons to write these ships, but, ultimately I’m writing them because they’re what I want to write. ^_^

Now, all that being said, if you want to ship other things in V:LotD, you’re welcome to do so. I’m going to work hard to really show the team bonding with each other; I can think of a great Keith and Pidge scene off the top of my head, as well as a great Keith and Lance scene (besides The Bonding Moment). These moments are meant as platonic bonding, but I won’t stop people from taking them and having fun with them if they want to. I’m just saying what’s going to be canon in V:LotD.

Also I’m toying with Thulaz, but I’m not sure if I can keep either Thace or Ulaz around long enough to make that explicitly canon or not. Odds are good they will both meet their VLD canon fates in my version. Sorry. v__v (Hmmm, maybe Kolivantok?)

And, because I’m me, I’m also considering Ryoumelle, if only because @breezycheezyart‘s Ryoumelle stuff is so freaking fun and lovely and I WANT IT TO EXIST DAMMIT. I might just put in some light hints at it; I dunno.

#V:LotD #VLD fix it fic #Shallura #Plance

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vlotd · 5 years

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One thing I was thinking about when I was supposed to be sleeping *cough* was about how I want to focus more on Shiro facing and working through his PTSD. And I thought, he’s gonna spend some time inside Black for a bit, and I wonder how that would help/hinder things?

And then I remembered that Zarkon winds up in there, too. For a little bit, anyway. OG Zarkon, the good man who was subsumed by the QTN Zombie.

Shiro thinks he’s a monster, thinks he’s done terrible things - that he doesn’t even remember - in order to survive. But then look at Zarkon, who’s done terrible things for his own selfish reasons - for power and the increased longevity of an unnatural state.

Shiro’s going to spend a lot of time not really trusting Zarkon, but Zarkon does eventually sacrifice himself to save Allura (and Shiro, who would’ve taken the blast instead). Is that single act atonement enough for all of his sins? Eh, maybe, maybe not; depends who you ask. But it was something he could do, one last act of good that he could choose to do himself, with no dark quintessence warping him: to save his best friend’s daughter and the new Black Paladin (Shiro).

Maybe have Zarkon acknowledge that just before: “It doesn’t matter if it ‘atones’ for my sins or not; all that matters is that it’s the right thing to do, and I’m able to do it.”

And to leave Shiro with that, to let him think on that as it might relate to him. You did what you had to do, Shiro, when you had no other choice. What matters is that, when you have a choice, you choose to do what’s right.

You’re not the monster you accuse yourself of being. You’re not a monster at all.

#VLD #Shiro #V:LotD

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vlotd · 5 years

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@headspacedad has an excellent post that I didn’t want to co-opt, especially since a lot of it seems personal, but the last couple lines just GOT to me:

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.

I spent so much time from season 3 on defending the EPs, having faith in the story, explaining what they “probably” meant by this comment in interviews, using meta to try to get people to have patience because, surely, things weren’t going to go the way they were going.

And that trust was betrayed. That faith was shattered. The story and the characters were violated.

Our beloved headspacedad aims the blame for that at @dreamworksanimation, and that’s understandable. I mean, it is their fault for letting these unskilled EPs promise us soccer and then give us Calvinball. But DreamWorks has built up enough goodwill with me through other shows - Trollhunters and She-Ra come to mind - that I’m personally willing to just lay the blame solely on the showrunners. It’s Montgomery and Dos Santos I don’t trust; seeing their names on a show - even individually - is going to make me reject that show out of hand. Flat-out, I will not watch a show if I know they’re running it.

But it’s not just that it was a bad show. Because it wasn’t always. That’s what hurts the most. If it were a shitty show from the outset, we wouldn’t care about it now. We had something great at first. I loved the new @voltron when it first started. I fell in love with these great characters and fantastic worldbuilding. I loved that they were staying true to the spirit but not the letter of Voltron, and I say that as someone who loved DotU as a kid.

LM and JDS took something fantastic, something that was growing beyond the original (while still honoring it) and tore it to shreds so they could shove it back in the DotU box. They broke their own rules, dropped plot points, left holes big enough to drive the Black Lion through, and had to “fill in” with comments at panels and in interviews when those elements should have been in the story. They tried to paste over these problems with “look, rep!” and “ooooh, we killed a major character, we’re edgy.” And, of course, that just made it worse, because they don’t understand what they’re doing or what the problems even are. It’s like your best friend forgot your birthday and then gave you a Happy Bar Mitzvah card (and you’re a girl and you’re not Jewish, plus this was your 21st birthday and it wasn’t even a Bar Mitzvah card originally, they crossed out “Anniversary” and wrote “Bar Mitzvah” in over it). And they don’t understand why you’re not happy with that.

Sometimes, I question why I’m writing V:LotD. Why am I putting so much care and planning into fixing their mistake? But the answer is because I want to, in spite of it all. I want to because of the promise and the potential shown in the first two seasons. I want to because I did fall in love with these characters and this world. Because someone on that staff - multiple someones who are not LM and JDS - cared, because their work inspires me and should be honored in some way.

I’m doing this because someone should care about this show more than its own showrunners did. And the fact that so many other fans are also writing their own fix-it fics should say something to @dreamworksanimation and @voltron. And no, it’s not about shipping (though many of us are indulging ourselves with that, since we can). It’s about the promise that was broken and the faith that was destroyed.

#babbling

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