this is so funny omg, keith stans back at it again.
its just like, so funny when you ignore keith picking up fights with lance as well when he wasn’t even addressing him. like yes lance may have started it, but keith is just as guilty for continuing it (and again, even starting some fights himself). if keith was the “better person” or “the poor poor victim” he wouldn’t be reacting the way he does, so stop painting keith as some delicate flower, yall are disrespecting him.
Also I don’t even….. see the problem with half of these gifs like, in some of them lance is saying the hard truth and if keith stans cant handle it then too bad.
and all of these gifs are from like, s1 and s2 (except lance doubting keith being the BP). its not like we’re 5 seasons in with s6 about to drop out that had nothing of a development, not at all :O character growth? never heard of her
It’s 2018 and here we are, trying to put Keith’s behavior on
the same level as Lance’s.
You already derailed yourself when you said, “Lance may have
started it,” and there really is no way to come back from that. You cannot
compare someone’s defensive retorts to someone who genuinely means to attack
your character, you can’t expect Keith to have to put up with any of that and
not turn away from it and brush it off. Why are you expecting Keith to be the
better person when it’s Lance you should be telling this to? Be the better
person, you say? How about telling that to the person who has a serious issue
with you based on their own self-created notions toward someone they’ve never
met, have never talked to in their life, and is constantly using that as an excuse
to justify some of their harsh comments and unnecessary taunts to someone who
genuinely had no knowledge of that person existing? Expecting Keith to take all
of that and shrug it off when some of those comments are at a personal
level—calling someone a dropout, telling them that you’re in a better class
thanks to that person failing out? Telling someone that they’re power hungry
enough to use their dead best friend’s image when they’re obviously grieving
and hurting from it?
You’re gonna sit there and tell me that this is something
Keith fans need to hear? Reminding them that you’re constantly trying to
denigrate someone’s character in an effort to prove yourself better than them?
Trying to influence others to make them believe that Keith is an untrustworthy
and terrible person? You’re really defending someone who only has their own
best self-interest in mind and is trying to pin all the world’s wrongdoings on
another person because of their own need for glory, in Allura’s own words?
Why is it so hard for y’all to recognize that Lance and
Keith are not friends, and are, at the most, uneasy allies? Why is it so hard
for y’all to recognize that you don’t talk to someone like this, you don’t
remind your friends of their previous failings and shortcomings, you don’t tell
them that they’re untrustworthy and will make a mess of everything the moment
someone is thinking of choosing them over you? It’s not “hard truth,” it’s you
being a goddamn jealous bitter asshole who had no real investment on that
relationship. Lance’s grudging acceptance of Keith’s position because
circumstances have forced him to make this choice is not him wanting to support
Keith as the black paladin and leader, when Lance had been sitting in the black
lion for half an hour, hyping himself up to take the black lion, saying it was
his moments, it’s his ticket to fame and fortune?
Keith having egged Lance on pales to the amount of times
that Lance has deliberately tried to pick a fight with Keith, trying every
opportunity to inject how he’s better than Keith into moments that don’t call
for it. It’s Lance’s own insecurity and jealousy over the things that he wants
but sees Keith having that he’s upset about.
Yes, a lot of this is from S1 – S3, and there were scenes I
could have chosen from S4, still some from S1, but it seems as though so many
of these scenes have flown over your head cause all you’re seeing is someone
pointing out vicious and toxic behavior as someone trying to lander your fave.
The amount of people crying about this gifset are all trying to bring up
Keith’s behavior, are trying to derail and act as though Keith is the one at
fault for Lance’s constant attacks, for him existing is the reason why Lance is
that way and it’s not Lance’s fault. It’s also funny how Lance claims Keith to
be the hothead when it’s Lance who has the most emotional POV and reaction in
the show. Is that a bad thing? No, it gives insight about how Lance is feeling
and what he’s thinking. He’s the one who blows up at Keith, he’s the one who
tries to get into Shiro’s face and yell at Shiro about him choosing Keith, it’s
Lance who demands that he’s gonna save Shiro, it’s Lance who’s reacting to everything
with emotion.
Also, you can’t call Lance and Keith not interacting for two
whole seasons as character development. What’s the character development for if
there’s nothing happening for it to take place? Grudging acceptance is not the
same as accepting something out of freewill if the circumstance didn’t call for
it by force.
Again, I still keep coming back to you saying it’s Keith’s
fault for responding to someone who is trying to slander his character, someone
who spends their time together trying to make you look like an idiot and a
fool. It’s Lance who should have swallowed his pride, Keith shouldn’t be blamed
for trying to defend himself or getting upset because of Lance’s words.
Nice try to put the blame on Keith and not acknowledging
where the blame truly lies.
Lotor is coded as half white/half POC with his white side being the side of his abusers and treated as being less than for being half POC (Altean) so,
Nevermind Lotor is proud of who he is. Nevermind Lotor is proud to be of Altean and Galra descent. Nevermind that you just slandered half of Lotor’s heritage in the name of defending him. Stripping his character down, stripping mixed race down, to a single sentence in the name of hate and uwu/woke points. Yes, Lotor is a survivor of abuse and wears that openly. But. Lotor is proud to be of Altean AND Galra descent. Proud of BOTH sides of his heritage. Washing over that and boiling his abuse down to a single sentence is a disservice to a phenomenal, nuanced character. But nevermind any of that. Let’s talk about:
What Voltron Owes Imperialism
or
Why Fandom is Missing the Point
Lotor being coded as half POC / half white may be completely on the money, but to say the Galra Empire is white coded is wildly inaccurate when we look at real life empires across history. Empire is not exclusively white. Empire does not know age, does not know gender, does not know race. Sci-Fi owes a great deal to European (white) imperialism but for this fandom it is important to remember Voltron originally came out of Japan. A country that has also parented deeply imperialistic ideologies and committed grave atrocities in pursuit of that imperialism. It is important to remember BOTH SIDES of Lotor’s heritage because, like all mixed race people, he pulls from more than one culture. But above all, IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER EMPIRE IS NOT THE ANSWER. Imperialism is bad no matter what form it takes.
The Galra as Imperial Japan-
Altea and the Galra both hold imperialistic views that closely mirror real world historical justifications for imperialism, but the Galra are not white coded. The Galra Empire holds more in common with Imperial Japan’s doctrine than with European empires in terms of structure, conquest, and internal justification. Looking at their structure, the Galra work on a class system. We have to assume there are at least a few classes given the complexity of such things, but we have only been shown a serving class and a warrior class, the latter being of the utmost importance and seemingly occupied by most of their citizens. We’ve only met 2 named non-warrior Galra across this war; and we likely were only shown the serving class to demonstrate that Zarkon has always been elitist. Like Imperial Japan, the Galra have a very rigid, militaristic internal hierarchy based on strength and blood, in that order, but always together. They elect their emperor based on valour and fighting prowess. They rise through the ranks based on how successful they are in battle, through honorable rite of combat. And following this ideology, Galra conquer because they are the strongest. Because others are weak and if a species is not strong enough to defend their people and their land then they deserve to be conquered and used for the glory of the Galra Empire. And the Galra consider their blood to be the source of that strength. The strongest are strong because they are pure and it is in their veins. But then we see that ideology tweaked as the Galra expand and spread. We see people like Shiro, who meet their criteria for strength without blood to bolster their claim, who have admirable fighting prowess. So Shiro becomes elevated; they call him Champion and brand him theirs by outfitting him with a piece of their culture, their technology. Because it is not enough for Shiro to be strong; he must be strong in the way they are: as a Galra. We see this again with mixed race Galra citizens like Lotor and his generals who have Galra blood and therefore are strong enough to be a part of their ranks, but they are still considered ‘less than’ because their blood is impure- ideology that was so deeply ingrained in Imperial Japan. This intense stratification in the Galra is perfectly illustrated when we are first introduced to Lotor:
The Galra also match Japan in terms of conquest. Colonization is achieved by sending merchants, missionaries and families to new territories to occupy the upper class and maintain hold on new land. But we learn Zarkon was not interested in this when Lotor recounts how he worked alongside the native inhabitants of his conquered planet. Zarkon was not out to colonize but to conquer. Like Imperial Japan, he sent soldiers and they conquered like locusts. They came in, stripped the area of resources, and put the appropriate fear into the local population. Like Imperial Japan, they preyed on the weak because they were strong. But a large part of why Japan was never conquered isn’t because of their tremendous fighting prowess. It’s because other imperialists, white imperialists, came to their lands, saw similar ideologies being practiced and sought alliance instead of subjection. And Japan eagerly accepted alliance, not out of fear, but because they sought to enhance their wealth through knowledge and technology. Sound familiar? If you’ve paid any attention to the early relationship of Alfor and Zarkon it should.
Why Galra and Alteans got along-
Earmarking Zarkon as Lotor’s white oppressor is an easy and thoughtless conclusion. Something fans like to jump to because the Galra Empire has been winning for thousands of years. Altea is not the oppressed POC wiped out by the evil white coded Galra. Altea is the white coded European imperialists overthrown by the POC coded Galra imperialists. It’s important to look at the other original Voltron paladins to understand this.
In VLD’s narrative, it is clear Alfor and Zarkon lead the alliance of their planetary system, the “formal agreement to work alongside each other.” Look at the screenshot above. On one side, we’ve got Zarkon, with Gyrgen and Trigel, and on the other we have Alfor backed by Blaytz. Instead of showing 5 individuals coming together on equal ground we are shown Zarkon and Alfor shaking hands while the others stand by. This implies that both Zarkon and Alfor had been working with other planets, shoring up allies and additional resources, to protect and expand their culture. Perhaps they were doing so in a peaceful way, but perhaps not.
We have this story of five warriors coming together to form an unlikely bond, but it’s interesting that we never hear anything about the other three paladins or their cultures, no mention of how they may have influenced Altea or Diabazaal. Just a clip of Alfor visiting one of their planets. We don’t even know if any of the other 3 paladins’ people survived the mass genocide that was Zarkon and Alfor warring with one another. The implication in all of this is that Zarkon nor Alfor were interested in adopting or preserving other cultures but rather sought to spread their ‘superior’ way of life.
Altea as Imperial Europeans-
Everything about Altea’s practice and ideology points to a very imperial European (white) concept of Believed Moral Superiority. Their decisions are very paternalistic, holier than thou, and centered on the idea that they are thinkers who only need others, like the Galra and Blaytz, for brawn. Allura and Coran set Alfor up as this great peacemaker, a very European justification with promises of prosperity that is never delivered. Alteans built a giant near-indestructible magical war machine and labeled it ‘Defender of the Universe.’ They had castle ships which they used to maintain their lifestyle and culture during prolonged visits to other planets. Alteans were regularly making off-planet visits to Weblums and Balmera to collect recourses for their technology. And ages before Alfor’s alliance with the Galra, Alteans ventured far enough into space to discover a mystical, magical place of secrets and wisdom which only a select few from their race were bidden knowledge of and access to. All of this adds up to the fact that Alteans have been conquering in the name of exploration for some time. Alteans operate under the guise of spreading peace and knowledge but that only lasts as long as the leader has pure intentions. When a leader becomes corrupted or a new one takes their place, what happens? Oh wait, we saw that in 03×04 Hole in the Sky with Empress Allura.
This alternate reality furthered the story line in so many ways, but for this post let’s focus on how it helped our understanding of Allura. There she was known as Empress Allura where she “put down the Galra uprising and established the Altean Empire 10,000 years ago… Without [her] will to fight and avenge the loss of [her] father, Altea would not have been able to spread peace and stability throughout the universe.” An imperial justification rampant throughout European empires. And Princess Allura lights up at this description of herself and her people.
The show even goes as far as to parallel ‘the Altean peace movement’ with slave labor, a strong call back to European justifications for empire in response to viewing other worlds as savage and in need of control and/or redemption. In that reality, Allura established the Altean empire for peace and justice but also vengeance. She spread that empire because she believed Alteans know peace and prosperity and she wanted to bring their ‘good fortune’ to others. Maybe in her lifetime she was good to her newly conquered subjects. Maybe she had their best interests at heart. Maybe, like Lotor, she had high ideals. But the fact is Allura built an empire and ten thousand years later her legacy is not peace but slavery. Back in this reality, Altea is just a more palatable version of European imperialism because it is an empire that was snuffed out before it could grow into something irretrievably evil. But it was still an empire, one in which Allura believes.
The Point is Empire in any form is Not Good-
Empire must justify itself. Empire is not good. Imperialism is not good. Any of it. The point is that Allura needs to wake up and smell the damn coffee known as freedom. Altea is a call to European imperialist ideology and Allura strongly identifies with this because she was born into it and has believed in it her entire life. The point is that Allura must unlearn her prejudices, unlearn her flawed ideology, and look beyond Altea if she truly wants peace for the universe. Seasons 1 and 2 were about her learning to recognize imperialism. Seasons 3 and 4 demonstrate that she is able to see past it for the greater good. But we have yet to hit the beat where Allura clearly identifies what is bad about her beliefs, about Altea. Allura is not a fickle character rewritten every other season to suit the needs of the plot. Imperialism is something deeply ingrained in her and it will take more than a few heart-to-hearts and minor epiphanies to change that.
Enter Lotor-
Maybe the worst part of all of this isn’t just the glorification of Altea as something it never was, but holding Lotor up as an oppressed baby suffering under colonization. Yes, he has suffered under imperialism, but Lotor is also entirely on board with CONTINUING THIS EMPIRE’S IMPERIALISM! (just maybe a little nicer.. maybe) Hint: If you still want to own people and their lands for the sake of owning them, it’s imperialism. Even if you don’t strip them of their resources and commit casual genocide. It’s still. NOT. GOOD. Lotor is whole heartedly owning the Galra Empire. He is not trying to repay the grievances committed against others by his people. He has not talked of plans to improve the lives of his current conquered subjects. He has not concerned himself with quelling the rebellion against the Galra Empire, his empire. (Side note: a lot of rebels are also coded as mixed race.) Lotor has almost exclusively shown interest in making allies who can bolster his status and gain him access to new resources. He talks of improving the lives of his citizens, Galra citizens. He talks of allowing non-Galra citizens who are strong, who are worthy, to join their ranks. But only if they are strong enough. Fans get upset that Allura is twisted into a naive character to suit the needs of the plot, but that is not what’s happening. Allura has saddled herself alongside Lotor because Lotor is speaking to her in terms of her ideology. Altean ideology. Altea’s way of empire. They are both imperialistic as fuck. Lotor talks of improving upon what his father built, but it is still an empire. And Allura buys into it because Lotor is using her terms of empire. An empire that preaches exploration and peace where WE ARE ALL SAFE AND WARM.
Allura harbours deeply imperialistic views and prejudices. Through the seasons we have seen her slowly chipping away at that mindset, but she is still holding on to an idealistic view of Altea. An Altea that mirrors European empire on multiple levels.
A large part of what makes Allura a compelling character is that her coding opposes itself. She comes from a culture built on a foundation of white European imperialist ideology but she knows the struggles of a POC at the hand of the Galra Empire. We are seeing her slowly understand that Altea’s imperialist way of thinking is not going to end well. She needs to change her ways, her beliefs, if she truly wants the universe to be free and prosper.
Pissed at me for calling out our beautiful ebony princess as white coded? Consider how we as a fandom would interpret Altea and Allura if everything was the same in VLD canon but Allura was still a white skinned, blonde haired, blue eyed woman as she is in earlier incarnations. Same behavior. Same character. Same history. Same descriptions. But Allura was white. How would you feel about Altea then?
Notes: HUGE thank you to @akaiikowrites for being an amazing history buff! If you want to scream at me or with me over this or anything to do with VLD my ask is open!
one time he got hit and told his teammates he was okay but when he his shift was over he pulled 3 fuckin teeth out on when he was on the bench
lance was the one sitting beside him when it happened
“hold this” “hold wHAT THE FUCK“
shiro
captain + defenceman
leading the nhl in goals for points as a defence man
shiro and keith when a fight breaks out
they’re on the same team
concussion prone
he and keith have a special handshake they do before each game and at the end they touch helmets and shiro kisses keith’s visor and it makes me cry
when keith gets sent to the penalty box the cameras always focus on shiro who looks like he’s gonna cry and “my heart will go on” plays on the PA it’s disgusting
shares a room with keith on roadies because when they’re separated they mope and pine and nobody wants to deal with that again
lance
left wing
SHARP SHOOTER
goalies fear him
teams up with pidge for awful pranks
back when lance didn’t know shiro and keith were dating, he had pidge convince the camera guys to put them on kiss cam
he regrets is after keith climbs onto shiro and it takes both him and hunk 5 minutes to pull him off
keith is unimpressed and mildly annoyed
refs try put them in the penalty box where they just take their gloves off and hold hands while discussing strategy
and they say romance is dead
hunk
defence
always looking out for his teammates
will also Fuck You Up for dirty plays
he and lance have a Bond where they always know where the other person is so he has an assist on like 80% of lance’s goals
literally the nicest player ever- he always gives his stick away to a fan at the end of each game and likes to flip pucks over the boards for kids during warmups i love him
allura
centre and alternate captain
her official role isn’t as an enforcer but she’ll still fuck you up
her slap shots can break sticks and bones
v good stamina and stick handling
involved in a lot of charity stuff on and off the ice
founded a free hockey program for kids during offseason and coaches it with shiro
pidge
playmaker/strategist
goes through 30 pieces of gum a day
posts unflattering pictures of lance to the team’s social media at least once a week
no one knows how to stop her
coran
social media
basically the guy that runs the vegas golden knights twitter
i also just really love the concept of shiro unapologetically chasing after keith and keith not getting it at all.
like, shiro insists on helping him run through sims and plot star charts and keith just sitting there like ??!
keith rounding the corner into the cafeteria and shiro is nonchalantly draped over a table, laughing way too loud at a joke.
keith doing laps in the gym and shiro just so happens to have forgotten something in a locker and oh, hey keith what’s up? didn’t see you there how are you? oh yeah, totally, it’s a great day to run laps HAHAHA.
shiro knocking on his door to drop off a couple manuals he thought would be helpful and oh, hey, you doing anything friday? wanna grab some food and talk flying, ya know, one pilot to another?
shiro touching keith every chance he gets, or complimenting him on the dumbest shit and keith is like, ‘dude, we all took an electronics course, of course I know basic wiring.’
i just love shiro out here tryna lay it down and keith picking it back up like hey man, you dropped this.
OK BUT KOLIVAN WAS SUPRISED WHEN KEITH ACTIVATED HIS BLADE SO LIKE WHY DID U LET HIM GO THREW THE TRIALS IF U DIDNT THINK HE WAS GALRA WHATD U THIINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN??
“Knowledge or death. Mostly death, though. Have fun, kiddo.”
Fem Shiro and Keith, because I do what I want. I wanted femShiro to be strong soldier lady and tried to save that Space Dad Mom vibes so she’s still pretty feminine. And femKeith is just…Keith? hahah. I can imagine how Lance call her “flat-chested” instead of “mullet” and she’s like “Dude? Wh-What’s your problem?!” It’d be interesting to think about femHunk and maleAllura, too.
oh shit i completely forgot about voltron season 5 dropping soon
just moving along like everyone else 