space loser giant kitty committee (voltron)

Spoiler

Yeah, like I didn't like how Allura was acting, but it was mostly that the writers/other characters let it sit for so long. I kind of wanted people rallying around Keith, which we didn't get (and I was sad about). But in the end she at least copped to having done something out of line, even if she didn't actually say anything about trying not to hate all Galra so much as just still trusting Keith. It gives me hope that the writers are going for a storyline about how complicated prejudice can be, which I am 1000% on board for (It came up in some of the ATLA post-canon comics, I'd love to see it actually in a canon cartoon with the same creators).

Honestly, I was a little more upset about Hunk, who I kind of expected better out of? He's my fave. Why is my fave asking things like "So do you all know each other?" Uuuuuuugh.

Also, re: @OtherCat's experience on Discord, special diplomatic training? We don't even know for sure Allura actually received diplomatic training at all, unless I'm forgetting something? I don't think it's been mentioned in the show that she definitely did. And from what I know about royalty, when people start getting trained to take over really depends. Some cultures do train heirs from birth, but others wait until a certain age, or even until it's certain they're going to be ruling soon (i.e. the previous ruler is dying/stepping down). It depends on cultural values and we don't actually know enough about what Altea valued besides peace, technology, and their frankly terrifying planet. For all we know, she could be half-trained or untrained, and even if she was fully trained, I'm pretty sure the types of training that actually get rid of feelings are more Zarkon's gig than Altea's.

 

Spoiler

oh yeah definitely. poor hunk really gets the short end of the stick this season - he acts like they didn't all find out Keith was galra roughly 4 minutes after Keith did, and instead of being 'wow cool a space-time gravity distorter! i wonder what kind of engines and *technobabble* they're using' he went 'food.' seriously he's a genius engineer! he should have more useful things to say! he's also presumably been through enough to know that you CHECK whether what you're cooking is food or not before you cook it - and why would spaceship parts be stored anywhere he'd expect to find food?

gotta say though, I did like him working at the mall and turning it around. that was nice, I thought.

 

Spoiler

It was taken that it was a given that of course Allura would have had advanced training because that was a royalty thing that would have of course happened. Because royalty is so very superior and would be perfectly calm when faced with a species-ending, planet destroying war. They seem to feel that she was obviously not in line for the throne because of her actions. Which was what I was primarily annoyed with along with the "Let's Demonize the Female Character" rhetoric. And the constant fucking nitpicking and theorizing based on the evidence that they hate the character therefore obviously Allura's people are the bad guys.

Just, if you're gonna say Allura should die, you should be also wanting Coran's head, I'm just saying.

I've only seen up to the third episode, and while I'm not happy with Allura's reactions, I can see they're based in Allura being extremely, horrifically stressed? <i>She almost drove the ship into a frigging sun.</i> So I'm not surprised she's so deeply prejudiced? And I'm hoping we see a character arc where Allura is able to recover/over come her prejudices. I blame this more forgiving view on ElfQuest.

 

Spoiler: YES CHEF

I... really want to see Vrepit Sal catch up to the castle at some point and just throw himself at Hunk's feet like "TEACH ME MORE, MASTER" and end up being their full-time cook.

Pros: take some of the Food Guy mantle off Hunk, force Allura to interact with another Kinda Assholish But Not Actually Terrible Galra, have a Not Terrible Galra around for Keith to hang with sometimes, also occasional opportunities to see Hunk channeling Gordon Ramsay again but anyway.

Cons: ???

...actually I really really want to see a Varkon Blart: Galra Mall Cop spinoff. Because you know that place is full of stories.

 

It's good old fashion something that starts with an M :)

 

"M"?

 

Note: they're mad at Allura for being Racist when she has tons of trauma and multiple direct negative experiences that inform her reactions, and yet is REALIZING this and at least making some effort to be accepting of her team/family member and work with their new Galra allies. They're pulling the "Royalty are specially trained and totally not biased by prejudice or racism ever!!!!" thing out of their ass to justify it. Contrast, no such negative criticism of Hunk who in only one episode threw basically EVERY ANNOYING CLUELESS WHITE PERSON RACIST MICRO-AGGRESSION trope at Keith and never corrected himself or had anyone else correct him.

 

Oh. I am slow as well as cranky today. :D And I can't wait to get actually caught up. I am not yet. Also: HUNK NO. WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO WITH YOU. >:[

 

but no see Hunk isn't white so he can't be racist against anyone ever, unlike Allura who is clearly... um... ...Altean-white! Because the actual white-looking male Altean is her subordinate and that couldn't possibly ever happen unless the not-white-looking Alteans were really the Space Whitey McWhitersons because [fart noises]

 

Okay so Robeast! Prorok's design reminds of something I saw in a schlocky sf movie. And at first I thought it was Zardoz, but the flying head in Zardoz is a completely different design than poor monster teapot Prorok.

(Don't watch Zardoz. I tried it once out of morbid curiosity and it is a mistake I will never repeat.)

Anyway, the movie was one of those alien invasion movies, and the aliens might have been invader invaders or "humanity must be prevented form a warlike path" warning invaders. And they looked a lot like Robeast! Prorok's design.

From what I remember.

Poor Monster Teapot. Haggar's design team must have been smoking the funky mushrooms when they came up with that.

Smoking funky mushrooms or watching Mystery Science Theater 3000

Croooooooooooooow

Also, I love Ulaz. For no other reason than he apparently really really liked and was impressed with Shiro. (Ulaz has no chill.)

 

Spoiler: s2e12 and Allura's prejudice issues

It's gonna be interesting seeing how she long-term deals with finding out that Haggar is Altean, too. "Some Galra aren't terrible garbage people" is one thing to process. "Some Alteans ARE terrible garbage people" is another thing entirely.

 

Yeah, I think Allura is... not pampered, or naive that's not the word I'm looking for, because obviously her father put it to her to make some hard choices from the beginning, and expected that she would be capable of making them, but she's very... hmm. Inexperienced with how messy the real world can get, I think. She's had a very clear, nearly black and white view of her situation: Galra are bad, Zarkon must be defeated. Now she's having to face some hard truths and a lot of challenges to her worldview. I don't think coming to terms with it is going to be fast or easy.

 

Spoiler: Can we all just agree that

Thrace and Ulaz deserved better :'( (I actually very much enjoyed Thrace's arc but ARGH WHY DO THEY MAKE ME LIKE CHARACTERS AND THEN KILL THEM)

 

Yeah

Spoiler

STOP KILLING ALL THE COOL GALRA CHARACTERS GOD DAMN IT!

 

Spoiler

Seconded.

Also, unrelated, but did anyone else love the design of Zarkon's mech as much as I did? Because I'm into mecha series but I'm not usually the type who fangirls specifically about the mechs unless I really love them. Which brings me to Zarkon's mech. It's like they took all the coolest parts of Wing Zero, Epyon and Throne Zwei and put them together onto this wonderfully sinister looking frame. It's just...exaggerated and creepy and slick-looking and they have got to be planning to make toys of it. I mean come on.

I'm honestly sad that it got trashed so badly it probably won't come back. I kinda hope maybe Lothar will show up at some point in a 2.0 version.

(I would possibly buy the model kit, and I don't even Gunpa, oh gosh)

 

Seriously though the character designs in this show are so damn good I'm used to seeing alien races who all look identical and especially with the Galra and Olkari we see a lot of variation and individuality! It goes a long way toward making the characters more nuanced.

Spoiler: more direct spoilers

Thaaaaaaaaaace
Also I recognize there is Discourse re: this being a ship but Keith and Shiro's relationship developed so much this season and it was super rad and also fucking hearbreaking

 

Yeah Keith looks up to Shiro so much, it hurt my heart in the best way ;u;

 

also I need to draw Haggar's druids, their designs are so neat and creepy :D

 

Doitdoitdoitdoiiiiiit!

 

Spoiler: Shiro being 9001% done with someone's shit

also can I just say that Shiro losing every last bit of his shit at Slav was the greatest thing ever.

Look, Shiro got captured by aliens and sent to space jail and then got busted out of space jail and got back to earth and got to enjoy that for all of, like, one fucking day before he got dragged into an alien robot cat and ended up stuck on the other side of the universe with four obnoxious kids two of whom are pretty much constantly bickering like an old married couple, and he handled all of this absolute fucking bullshit with the patience of Job and this, this is what it took to make him snap. God bless this show.