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If it looks like a duck

And quacks like a duck

It's gay! (Part 2):

Merthur (BBC Merlin)

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BBC seems to have a track record of taking existing IPs and making them uh... suddenly a lot... gayer. Sherlock and Merlin, like, jeez guys, wtf. (BBC Sherlock might be covered in part 3 maybe)

Merlin was released in 2008, ending in 2012 with one of the most devastating finales ever to exist. More devastating than Supernatural (spn fans don't come at me).

It's especially devastating with the most popular ship of the show. It's actually so queercoded it's crazy. (PS, been a while since I've watched the show so my memory may be fuzzy)

Merthur:

Let's talk about Merthur. The slash ship between Merlin and Arthur Pendragon.

At the start of the show, Merlin, a young sorcerer, is sent to the kingdom of Camelot by his mother. There he meets Arthur Pendragon, prince of Camelot, heir to the throne, and supreme asshole, being a dick to someone. Merlin jumps in to stop this and tells Arthur that's enough, but Arthur is just like "Do I know you?" And so Merlin is like "you're right, you don't, I wouldn't associate with an asshole like you" and uh... well Arthur replies with... the single gayest thing he could've said... ever.

Okay, calm down, sir.

Obviously that isn't what he meant, but I mean... like, come on- just this entire interaction because Merlin replies that he wouldn't wanna do that and Arthur says why, and Merlin says "you have no idea what I'm gonna do to you" and GUYS CAN WE STOP BEING GAY FOR LIKE FIVE SECONDS

Not to mention that they're, what, INCHES away from each other. Guys now is NOT the time.

Anyway, Merlin tries to punch Arthur and is very easily taken down and sent to the dungeon for trying to punch the future king of Camelot. Gaius, the court physician and also the person Merlin is staying with while he's in Camelot, gets him out of there.

He meets Guinevere, the maid of Lady Morgana, the king's ward, and she tells him that standing up to Arthur was brave, but it's a good thing they didn't fight because he would've lost, Merlin says he could've totally beat up Arthur and she says "you don't look like one of those big muscle-y men" HA HA SHE CALLED HIM A TWINK. Keep Guinevere in mind. Gwen.

Anyway, magic is illegal in Camelot, so Merlin's sorcerer stuff needs to be kept under wraps. Magic is totally not an allegory for anything else at all.

Merlin and Arthur meet again, and they're back to being very gay. Arthur aks how Merlin's "knee-walking" is coming along and says he could "take you apart in one blow" and Merlin replies "I could take you apart with less than that" okay, guys, there are children present. You might wanna tone it down a little.

I know they're technically arguing here, but... this entire scene should just have a gay flag overlay because seriously wtf is this.  You just... have to watch it. It's so gay it almost hurts. It is actually gayer than gay sex. 

So anyway later on Merlin goes into a cave under the castle where the last dragon alive is being held and he talks to this dragon who tells him that he's destined to be Arthur's boyfriend- I mean destined to help Arthur save the kingdom. Yeah. There we go. The dragon specifically says that Arthur is "the once and future king who will save Albion." Merlin is upset at this and is like "nuh uh, that guy's a dick, you're a lying ass dragon" so the dragon peaces out, explaining absolutely nothing to Merlin, or the audience, as he calls out after it. Fun.

Anyway fancy dinner party time, Lady Morgana enters and all eyes turn to look at her. Merlin too and though he seems to think she looks good and even compliments her, it's not exactly too big of a reaction in contrast to Arthur's reaction. Though we can assume "well that's just Arthur" in light of how the scene plays out, Merlin's reaction seems a little tame. (Gay ass mf)

At the fancy dinner party some lady tries to assassinate Arthur and Merlin saves his life. Because of this, Uther, Arthur’s father, tells Merlin he must be rewarded for this. How does he reward Merlin? By making him Arthur's manservant, of course! Yay episode one over!

So now Merlin is Arthur's manservant and in this like knight battle thingy he has to help Arthur get into his armor before the battle and clean his armor after it. Merlin was at first annoyed at being ordered around by Arthur, but eventually we see him smiling and even talking to Arthur like his friend. Arthur obviously replies to all this with more orders for Merlin because he's still Arthur. The point is, Merlin is warming up to the situation he's in.

He finds out about ANOTHER plot to kill Arthur in the battle thing. So he's set on stopping it. This guy is bringing the snakes drawn on his shield to life so they can bite and kill Arthur in the final battle. Before he can do this, Merlin finds out and cuts one of the snakes' head off taking it to Arthur as proof.

Arthur doesn't believe him at first but Merlin says "I know I'm just a servant and my word doesn't matter but I would never lie to you" Arthur tells him to swear it and so Merlin does and Arthur believes him. 

So they go in front of the king to accuse this guy of using magic but little do they know he actually knows they know so he killed the only credible witness to the snakes meaning the accusation had no legs to stand on other than a snake head. This makes Arthur look like he's trying to get out of the battle with this guy, basically he looks like a coward.

So he gets mad at Merlin, saying he trusted him and that he's sacking Merlin for a servant he can actually trust. Their first break up. 😔

Merlin goes to the dragon like "bitch, now I know you're a lying ass dragon, there's no way it's my destiny to protect this guy, he hates me." Then the dragon is like "a half cannot truly hate that which makes it whole" wow, describing Merlin and Arthur as two halves of the same whole. That's hetero. Okay well, arguably, it could be hetero in the sense that I could say that abt my best friend, but just the dragon like "you and Arthur’s paths lie together" I mean... come on.

Anyway Merlin goes ahead and saves Arthur’s life for the second time. Get used to this. Arthur then tells Merlin he made a mistake by firing him and that he wants him back as his manservant. Arthur doesn't know Merlin saved him btw cause he saved him with magic and magic is illegal. Regardless, Arthur here, though he admits to being wrong, doesn't really say sorry. Most likely because he's emotionally constipated, a nice gift from his father.

I think you get the point by now. Over the course of the episodes we see Merlin and Arthur grow closer. Merlin repeatedly saving Arthur, sometimes even at the risk of his own life and Arthur becoming less of a prat. Also... so... so much eye sex. Like... an unbelievable amount of eye sex... 

Btw Guinivere is implied to have a crush on Merlin at the start of the show, with the way she acts around him and such. Merlin however is more casual when it comes to their interactions. He's not flirting or anything he's just being Merlin. (Gay ass mf.) 

In one episode Merlin falls deathly ill. Guinevere and Arthur are extremely worried and the only antidote is in a very dangerous cave and so Arthur is like "I volunteer as tribute!" But his dad is like "no way, you're the prince, you're not risking your life for a mere SERVANT." And Arthur is just like "uhm, actually, I think I will" so he goes to the cave anyway, and Merlin EVEN IN HIS COMATOSE STATE SENSES THAT ARTHUR NEEDS HIS HELP so he summons a glowing orb to light Arthur's way through the cave. So Arthur gets the antidote and gets it back to Gaius and leaves, probably to get an earful from his dad. Merlin wakes up to Gwen and Gaius and Gwen immediately kisses him because she's just so relieved he's alive. She apologizes and Merlin says "it's okay" then immediately after this episode the Merlin/Guinevere storyline is dropped. (Wow, Merlin, pretty gay of you)

Let's recap, after however many times Merlin has risked his own life to save Arthur’s, Arthur is now RISKING HIS LIFE FOR MERLIN'S. He's also shown to be one of the people who are MOST worried about Merlin, and this cast of characters includes, Gwen who's implied to be crushing on Merlin and Gaius who's literally his caretaker and is like a parent to him. And Merlin and Arthur’s souls are SO intertwined that even WHILE COMATOSE they can sense when the other is in danger.

Arthur also isn't there to watch Merlin wake up and doesn't even tell Merlin that he's the one who saved his life. What an emotionally constipated bitch. But you see at the start of the show Arthur would never and I mean NEVER have risked his own life for a servant's. And this positive change in Arthur is BECAUSE OF MERLIN. 

Now that the Merlin/Guinevere has been dropped, we move along to Arthur/Guinevere. So Arthur and Guinevere talk and Guinevere gives Arthur a piece of her mind then quickly apologizes and Arthur’s like "no, it's fine, no one's ever talked to me like that" and... Arthur... MERLIN has talked to you like that. MULTIPLE TIMES. 🤨

The dragon repeatedly tells Merlin that he and Arthur are "two sides of the same coin" and other such prophetic stuff about how they're gay for each other.

Not only would either of them recklessly THROW THEMSELVES INTO DANGER for the other, but Merlin even made the CONSCIOUS DECISION to make sure Arthur NEVER LEGALIZES MAGIC THE ONE THING THAT HAS BEEN CAUSING MERLIN THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF SUFFERING OVER THE COURSE OF THE ENTIRE SHOW JUST FOR THE SAKE OF ARTHUR. HE WOULD THROW AWAY SOMETHING AS IMPORTANT AS THAT IF IT MEANT ARTHUR WAS SAFE.

When king Uther dies, in a later episode his ghost is summoned and he and Arthur talk. Uther runs his mouth about Gwen, Arthur’s literal actual wife, and Arthur is upset at this ofc, but when Uther so much as utters ONE WORD about MERLIN, Arthur is immediately like "now you done did it" and GETS RID OF HIS FUCKING GHOST. Not because he talked about Gwen or ANYONE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER. Because he talked about MERLIN.

I must clarify, I don't think this means Arthur doesn't love Gwen, because he does (bisexual ass mf), but is Gwen the one whose destiny is intertwined with his? Uh, I don't think so.

In an episode, Merlin is upset, and all he does is WALK INTO THE ROOM and Arthur is immediately like "what's wrong?" and trying to cheer him up.

In another episode, Merlin is in danger and Arthur WAKES UP IN A COLD SWEAT WITH HIS ACTUAL FUCKING WIFE (Gwen) NEXT TO HIM AND THE FIRST WORD OUT OF HIS MOUTH IS MERLIN'S NAME. AND THEN HE JUST FUCKING LEAVES TO GO FIND HIM.

When your husband wakes up from his sleep out of nowhere, saying his manservants name then immediately running out to go find him like you aren't even there: 🤨🏳️‍🌈?

By the way, once again with the SENSING WHEN THE OTHER IS IN DANGER. Like... come on.

Merlin has become less of a manservant for Arthur and more of one of the only people he can trust. His closest confidante. Someone he can rely on and he hopes can rely on him.

For Merlin, Arthur becomes less of a prat he's destined to protect and more of someone he cares about deeply and would go to any length to protect. Someone he would do anything for not because he has to, but because he just cares that much.

But through all of that there's still that one problem. That one thing they can't talk about, at least not normally. Because of certain laws.

Magic = Gay?:

In this world, magic was outlawed by king Uther because people were using magic for evil purposes (because magic killed his grandma, okay!) This caused the kingdom to be a little not okay. So basically a bunch of people with magic were trying to assassinate Arthur because of this law, because they don't want the law to continue so if the Pendragon bloodline ends hopefully the next king will be better and get rid of the rule.

Magic itself, in this world, is not something you can do unless you're born with it except for certain types like potions and stuff. But to do magic from your own two hands by yourself that you have to be born with. You don't get a say in it, you're just born with magic. And this magic isn't just something you have, no, it's a part of you. It's who you are. Merlin even says "if I can't use magic I might as well die". Magic is something personal to the user and with it being outlawed everyone with magic is forced to hide away a part of themselves. To lock it away and make sure no one sees such a dangerous disgusting side of who they are. But... magic, when used for the right reasons, isn't dangerous or disgusting at all. The actions of the few of magic users who did bad things created a punishment that affected all magic users. That forced them to live their lives agreeing with others on how terrible magic is when, behind closed doors, they can make objects float and bring statues to life.

Lady Morgana, remember her? She has magic. At the start of the show she didn't actually know she had it, but she does. We're shown her repeatedly talking to Gwen about men and mostly men. But the way she talks about it is surface level and superficial like a teenager with a boyfriend that'll last for a week before he's dumped. Meanwhile it seems as though she cares about Gwen herself deeper than that, than those superficial feelings she talks about.

Merlin is shown to not really have a lot of interest in women despite the kiss with Gwen and one scene with Morgana, but even then he's pretty... tame about it. He rarely has any sort of love interest type scenes with women. In fact half the men who get introduced in the show that Merlin becomes close with seem more like love interests than the women.

All of this seems a little... familiar. That's right, folks. Magic is an allegory for being gay. Lady Morgana is a lesbian (another win for the sapphics)!

And this is the one thing that Merlin can't tell Arthur about. The one thing he has to keep from him. Because if Arthur knew what Merlin was... well... who knows. He can never tell him the truth. Unless he's forced to.

The Finale:

I would explain the entire episode but it's just not important to the point of this. (Well I mean maybe kind of but...... okay it's complicated and like- just, I'm not gonna get into it) So let's get right into the important part. The ending.

Arthur is dying. And if Merlin doesn't get him to a very specific place very fast... Arthur isn't going to make it. So Merlin is determined to get it done no matter what. He carries the dying Arthur around on a horse all day. On the way the encounter a couple of fuckers who like hate the kingdom or something or other it is actually really not important uhm Lady Morgana is evil btw. So Merlin is forced to hide the fact that Arthur is a knight of Camelot, and also the fucking king. But the fuckers actually find out and they're about to attack them when Merlin uses magic to stop them. In front of Arthur. For the first time. After all this time. Arthur finally knows the truth. And in this scene Arthur isn't mad because Merlin has magic. He's mad because Merlin lied to him.

In Arthur's eyes this was a betrayal. The person he thought he could trust more than anyone else, the person he considered to be someone he could always rely on to tell the truth... has kept something so big from him all these years. Arthur isn't mad because Merlin has magic. That's not the part he's mad about. It's that Merlin didn't tell him.

They continue and encounter more fuckers along the way which they expertly avoid thanks to Merlin's magic and Arthur being the observant fellow he is recognizes that this isn't the first time Merlin's had to cover for Arthur. 

When Arthur mentions this and mentions the fact that he never tried to take credit for what he did, covering Arthur's ass every time he did something stupid or someone tried to kill him, Merlin says that's not why he does it. He doesn't stick his neck out for Arthur for fame or glory. He did it for Arthur. Sure, you can reasonably make the argument that he did it cause he's a good person or cause it was his destiny, but the way he looks at Arthur in this scene and the way Arthur reacts. It's clearly not the intended meaning. What Merlin is saying here is "I did it all for you. Because I care about you and I don't want to see you hurt or worse, dead."

When night falls, Merlin and Arthur stop to rest.

Merlin tends to Arthur, giving hin water, trying to keep him alive as long as possible. Arthur starts speaking, saying "whatever happens-" before he's cut off by Merlin telling him not to speak. Arthur tells Merlin that he's the king and Merlin can't order him around, but Merlin says it's never stopped him before so why should he change now. Arthur replies to this with "I don't want you to change. I want you to always be you. I'm sorry about how I treated you." Arthur then falls asleep and Merlin tells him to get some rest, not replying to what Arthur just said but it's evident in his face that it affected him. This scene is also sponsored by too much eye sex to be hetero. (If you think I'm joking about how much eye sex they have... I wish I was)

Later they're just barely at their destination but Arthur is dying faster than Merlin can get him to where they're going, especially since the horses ran off.

So now Merlin is desperately trying to save Arthur and he's just in complete denial about the whole situation, trying to convince himself there's a way they can still make it, but Arthur just shuts him down. He tells him to stop and "just... hold me... please." This is Arthur’s only request as he's dying. For Merlin to just... hold him. Just... be there. That's all he wants.

He tells Merlin that he wants to say something to him before he dies. Especially now that he knows everything Merlin's done for him. He wants to say something he's never said to him before. "Thank you." And those are his last words as he finally dies and Merlin cries over him.

Except... wait. Arthur has said "thank you" to Merlin before. Maybe not often... but he said it. There are even compilations of it. Maybe the creators just forgot. Or...

Maybe this scene wasn't meant to end with "thank you".

Maybe this scene was meant to end with something the creators weren't allowed to say.

Maybe... Arthur was supposed to say... "I love you."

His dying breath, his last words are to Merlin and Merlin alone. No one else. Just Merlin. It was always Merlin.

Merlin screams begging for Arthur to wake up, and obviously he doesn't so Merlin calls on the dragon for help. When the dragon arrives it just tells Merlin "Arthur is the once and future king" emphasis on the "once" part. Arthur was always going to die. It was destined. And we were told it from the beginning. Arthur would die then rise again to save Albion when they need him most, centuries later. Then the dragon flies off leaving Merlin to deal with his grief.

We see Gwen become the only ruler on the throne since Arthur is now dead. She legalizes magic btw and fixes the kingdom kind of, but that's not important to this essay. (Love Gwen so much actually)

We cut to a timeskip. Centuries in the future. Present (2012) day. We see Merlin. He must've used magic to stay alive all these years. All these years. He stayed alive and waited. Waited for King Arthur to return. And he still waits. No matter how long it takes. For Arthur. The once and future king.

I'm starting a series. You're all gonna have to deal with this until I get bored of it.

If it looks like a duck

And quacks like a duck

It's gay! (Part 1):

Klance (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

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Ah, Voltron. The show that ruined lives, friendships, and cause a giant mob of people to start sending death threats to innocent people who worked on the show all because they didn't smash two characters faces together. What a time.

I'm lucky enough to have not been a part of that uhm... unfortunate situation. You see, I am one of the sane fans of Voltron and I also didn't even have any social media at the time so even if I was angry, it's not like I even knew how to send a death threat.

But what's all the fuss about? Why's everyone so pissed cause their favs didn't share a passionate kiss in the series finale? Surely, the anger over such a simple thing is completely unjustified, right?

Yes, actually, sending death threats to artists and animators who had LITERALLY NOTHING to do with how the show was written, no, scratch that, sending death threats to ANYONE AT ALL is completely unjustified.

But minus the death threats, was the fandom justified in being pissed off at the way the relationship was handled? In my professional opinion... yes.

Klance:

Let's talk about Klance. The slash (mlm) ship between Keith Kogane and Lance McClain.

I could spend this time exploring the history of the characters all the way back to the 1984 show, but I already made a super long intro so I think we should just get right into the meat of things.

Voltron Legendary Defender. The first season of the show was released on June 10th 2016 and immediately from the first episode Kieth and Lance have an established relationship.

A not-so-friendly rivalry of sorts originally one-sided as Keith didn't even know Lance existed, until the two met and Keith, being competitive and hot-headed, immediately started arguing back and forth with Lance, turning it into a mutual rivalry.

This rivalry is their main dynamic throughout most of the show. Lance annoys Keith, Keith and Lance argue. 

Lance's dislike of Kieth is just very poorly concealed envy and insecurity, and Keith often tries to display himself as "above" the rivalry or Lance's childish behavior, but it's very clear that it only takes one annoying sentence from Lance for him to immediately stoop down to the same level.

Despite this however, Lance and Kieth are able to work together when it matters such as when it comes to forming Voltron and during some of the team building exercises in the second episode. Technically the fourth episode but the first three were three parts of the same episode.

Point is, gradually, the relationship between Keith and Lance became less of an angry tug-of-war and more of a kind of friendly but not really rivalry with them trying to one-up each other and exchanging banter a lot.

They are also often depicted together in the same shot, sitting next to each other, or even just standing near one another. They're portrayed as a sort of pair. Evident in their contrasting signature colors, blue and red, and their contrasting personalities, with Keith being more serious, hot-headed, and broody and Lance being more of a comedian, easy-going, flirtatious type.

A really big moment in their relationship happens early on in the show when the castle-ship is being attacked by Sendak, one of the antagonists. During the battle against Sendak, Lance is badly injured and is rendered incapacitated due to his injuries. But in a crucial moment, Lance wakes up and shoots Sendak's arm off, saving Kieth, and being an important factor in finally ending the battle. Kieth runs to Lance's side to check on him and Lance says "we did it... we are a good team..." giving a soft smile, which Keith returns.

In the next episode, we see Lance in a healing pod and Keith, in specific, being anxious for his recovery, more so than any of the other paladins, not even the ones who've been friends with Lance for way longer. Once Lance is out, though, he goes right back to bickering with Keith who says he thought they "had a bonding moment" and were past arguing, Lance denies knowing anything about any "bonding moment".

Later on in the episode, the Blue Lion is stolen by a female alien named Nyma who Lance was flirting with. She steals the Blue Lion by convincing Lance to give her a ride in it specifically by mentioning Keith, which makes Lance jealous so he immediately agrees which gets him chained to a tree. Keith gets it back, communicating to Lance that they got the Blue Lion. Lance then asks if Keith can come unchain him from the tree he's trapped on and Keith pretends that Lance is cutting out (there's more to this scene but that'll be covered in a different section of this essay) because of this Lance says "Oh, come on, I thought we bonded!" Showing he does very much remember the bonding moment and only pretended to not remember. (Because he didn't wanna think about it/deal with it at the time. He's literally me.)

Keith and Lance continue to be repeatedly shown as being the antithesis to each other. When they work together on a mission, Keith is shown to be talented but impulsive, making a plan that isn't really all that much of a plan and so Lance stops him and gives him a better plan, showing how Lance is less impulsive, and more strategic. Keith is also shown to always state his opinion bluntly, even if it's controversial and he never tries to really hide his thoughts or put up a front, unlike Lance who is almost always putting on some kind of performance in order to hide his true thoughts and emotions, to hide away his insecurities from people.

The next important moment happens in season two episode five. Keith and Lance are tired from a battle so they both just so happen to independently decide to head to the pool, and when they meet at the elevator going there, they're very displeased to see each other. Keith then says "Look. You stay on one side of the pool, and I'll stay on the other, and we'll be far far away from each other. Very. Far. Away." (Two bros chilling in a hot tub five feet apart cause they're not gay) unfortunately though, the elevator breaks down meaning Keith and Lance are forced to work together to get out. They climb up the elevator shaft... uh... wait idk how to explain this. They... they The Emperor's New Groove it, if you haven't watched that movie, then what are you even doing with your life. So they work together to get up until they realize that Altean pools are upside down anyway meaning they couldn't have swum in it if they wanted to.

In episode 6, Keith and Allura believe they're being tracked by Glara (the enemy) so they sneak out in an escape pod. When Lance hears about this he immediately assumes that Keith and Allura snuck out for other reasons. This makes him upset. When Keith and Allura return, Lance asks Keith if he's with Allura and Keith, naturally, says yes, to which Lance immediately says "like with her, with her or..?"

Lance is clearly jealous. Of Keith or of Allura? Good question. This is the same thing that happened in season one when the Blue Lion was stolen and the mere mention of Keith made Lance jealous. It's ambiguous who exactly he's jealous of. Now I know what you're saying "that's a bit of a stretch, isn't it?" And sure maybe it is, but it only gets worse.

Season 2 is more focused on Kieth finding out more about his past and coming to terms with it and it seems like Keith turning out to be half-galran doesn't really affect Keith and Lance's relationship as Lance doesn't treat him any differently after learning the news.

But in episode 10 when Lance is alone with a yupper he starts to describe his teammates. He seems excited when talking about each one, but when he gets to Keith he says "Keith is always doing things like flying into asteroid fields and black holes and cool junk like that" and in contrast to his excited manner of speaking about the rest of the paladins, when speaking about Keith he instead has a fond smile in his face. Hetero way to talk about your rival.

In the season 2 finale, Shiro, the team leader, goes missing. Keith is upset by this even blowing up at a team meeting over it. And this moment... when Keith is so visibly upset, the entire rest of the team all look to Lance to comfort him, and Lance, without even looking at the rest of the team or even knowing they're looking at him immediately walks up to comfort Keith. Despite all their bickering and their supposed "rivalrly" Lance is still the closest one to Keith minus Shiro. Lance is still the one to comfort him here. Lance still cares deeply about Keith.

Season 3, lovingly dubbed "the Klance season" by fans. With Shiro missing, the group was down one paladin, and their leader at that. So now the team have to decide on a new leader. Coran nominates Keith as the new leader and Lance immediately disagrees. Saying he wouldn't want Keith to lead him anywhere, Keith says he doesn't want that either, and that him being leader is just what Shiro wanted.

The Black Lion however picks Keith as it's new paladin. Meaning Keith would be leader. Keith however immediately rejects the idea, saying "I can't replace Shiro. You guys were right, I'm the loner, I'm not the leader Shiro thought I was." And once again Lance is the first one there to comfort him. He tells Keith that no one can replace Shiro, but the Black Lion chose Keith for a reason. It's because of this that Keith accepts his role as new team leader.

When Lance goes to try and pilot the Blue Lion, for some reason, it doesn't respond to him. Lance immediately takes this as meaning that he's not meant to be a paladin. He's upset but as soon as he voices this, the Red Lion roars. Lance becomes the new red paladin with Allura taking his place as blue paladin.

In episode 3, Keith impulsively leads the team into a dangerous situation not even stopping when the Blue Lion gets hit and Lance is the one who stops him, emphasizing that they're a team and have to stick together.

But, oopsie, the rest of team gets separated. Keith says it's his fault and he put them all in danger, ignoring them when they told him to stop, and Lance says "Yeah, you kinda did. But now we gotta fix it" he's not trying to convince Keith not to blame himself, because he is ultimately at fault, but he's stopping Keith from spiraling and basically saying "it's okay we can fix this" he's not saying YOU fix this. He's saying WE fix this. Him and Keith.

When Shiro gets back to the rest of the group, Lance goes to Keith's room to talk to him privately. Lance opens up to Keith saying that with Shiro back "that's one paladins too many" implying that he would be kicked off the team with Shiro piloting the Balck Lion, Keith piloting the Red Lion and Allura piloting the Blue Lion. This is the first time we ever see Lance being vulnerable with someone on screen. He's not putting on a performance or acting confident like he usually does. And this is all to Keith. Keith specifically. Keith catches on to what Lance is implying and tells him to "leave the math to Pidge" which seems to comfort Lance.

In season 4 Keith decides to leave Voltron in order to stay with the Blade of Marmora, a rebel group of Galran fighters against Zarkon, the same group his mother is part of. Lance in specific seems more shocked and hurt by this decision than anything else. The rest of the team is naturally upset but supportive, but none of them look hurt by the decision. Only Lance. Knowing Lance, this is most likely him blaming himself for Keith leaving. But naturally he just puts on a smile and even makes a joke asking who he's going to make fun of now that Keith is leaving.

Klance moments in the last few seasons are sparse but even then Lance and Keith are often portrayed as being closer to each other than anyone else with Lance opening up to Keith and Keith doing the same as they find mutual comfort in each other. Not even Allura, Lance's supposed love interest, gets the same level of vulnerability Lance has with Keith, and they each drive the other to be better, like a puzzle that just fits perfectly.

If not gay then why perfect antithesis to each other? If not gay then why only vulnerable with each other? If not gay then why always portrayed as a pair in basically every scene? I think you get it at this point. Keith and Lance are special to each other in a way no one else is. Still want more evidence? Okay.

Visuals:

Studio Mir is the animation studio that worked on Voltron, and just so happens to be the same studio that worked on Legend of Korra, a show with a canon wlw couple composed of two main characters. Studio Mir used certain visual cues to imply Korra's feelings for Asami before they were confirmed. Bisexual lighting in the background of scenes, facial expressions that were just a little too fond to be hetero. Naturally, Studio Mir applied the same principles in Voltron. All of this was run by the showrunners before getting approved btw. So, no, this isn't just Studio Mir doing whatever.

Anyway, expressions are THE most important thing in animation. The facial expression you give your character determines how they feel so naturally a lot of care and attention goes into perfecting that.

In the episode where the Blue Lion gets stolen by Nyma, Keith is shown to have been talking to Rolo, the guy who was accompanying Nyma. And according to his facial expression, a smirk on his face and his eyes following Rolo, it seemed like Keith was... what's that? Flirting with Rolo! Gasp! Could he be... g-g-g-g-gayyy!!!

There's more in this episode. In scenes with Lance, and specifically with Lance, the background uses the same bisexual lighting utilized in LoK to imply Korrasami. This was obviously intentional because we've seen Studio Mir use these techniques before. They meant to imply Lance is bi.

It doesn't end there. When animating facial expressions the one to express a deep sense of fondness or more specifically, love, the inner ends of the eyebrows are raised and there should be a soft or small smile.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

And so... so much more. Actually a whole mountain more. Hetero way to look at your rival.

And if you're looking for ideas for totally hetero scenes you can have with your rival, you could totally have a heart-to-heart in the sunset, the kind of lighting usually thought of as romantic, while you look at each other with a deep and soft fondness in your eyes offering a kind of comfort you can only get from each other and no one else.

Incredibly hetero, no gay here.

If you still need MORE proof... you're an idiot.

Moving along, you're probably asking "well, all of this seems fine and well, but none of this makes being angry over it justified? So what exactly is the deal here?" Let me tell you, dear reader. The deal here... is queerbait.

Queerbait:

Queerbaiting is when the writers of a show deliberately write a character to be heavily implied to be gay or queer in some way, luring a queer audience in with the idea of a canon queer character or relationship, but with no real intention of actually going through with it.

Klance and all the chemistry between the two characters wasn't accidental, wasn't just a little unimportant thing, it was completely intentional. The animation that the showrunners approved was intentional. The writing of scenes between the two and the way their relationship is portrayed is intentional. The forced proximity in climbing up the elevator shaft in that one episode is intentional. 

Don't believe me? Before season 7 was released there was a sort of promotional QnA panel at I think a convention thing for it. During this panel, it was confirmed that there would be a canon queer character in season 7. And not a new side character, an existing one. Of the main cast. Naturally the fandom went crazy, I mean, a canonical queer character! That's great news! So everyone started speculating on who and the main suspects were obviously Lance and Keith with all the evidence suggesting they're bi and gay, respectively. Or if they were really cool they could have Pidge/Katie be canonically trans. It definitely drummed up a lot of hype for season 7.

So on the day of the season's release everyone was really excited to find out who would be the canon gay character! And... they give us one hardly a second long scene with Shiro looking at a plaque with the name of his dead fiance on it. Shiro isn't even that upset he just looks... mildly sad. Then it's pretty much not really brought up again in any significant way.

Sure, Shiro is canonically gay and that's cool and all and I'm glad there's a canon gay character, but... I mean, come on, you can do better. There wasn't even any sort of evidence or anything that implied Shiro was at all gay until this very moment as opposed to other characters that had a lot of clues and evidence and buildup to imply that they are queer.

Especially with the way they talked about it on the panel, like it was something big, like it was going to be crazy and important. Like it would blow us away. Only for... this. It can't help but feel so... intentional.

They knew their audience, and they knew the audience was predominantly made up of queer people. They knew that saying a character would be confirmed gay would only make the views on season 7 skyrocket. They never actually cared about queer representation. Only about how much money they can make off us. 

Klance shippers aren't "delusional" and they're not seeing things that aren't there. All of this just confirms it. This entire time, all these seasons of soft fond glances, of intentional dialogue and lighting. It was all just one big lie. Just bait on a hook made to catch money.

So yeah. I think the anger over it is pretty justified. The anger over being tricked again and again. I tell you, I'm fucking sick of getting into a new show or franchise and thinking "finally, finally some queer rep" thinking that maybe just maybe this time it'll be different, it won't be like the other times. And then... it's exactly the same. Over and over. I think it's justified that queer people are angry over being screwed over time and time again by greedy showrunners. Maybe not death threats, but we at least have the right to be angry.

Klance could have been such a great and well-written queer romance that could've made Voltron such a better show especially considering the shitshow season 8 was, but no. No the writers are fucking cowards. (and also incredibly incompetent when it comes to writing Lance's character specifically, butchering his entire character and personality in favor of the hetero romance he has with Allura which pisses me off so fucking bad)

Oh well. I guess it's just something else that could've been... TIME TO READ SOME "FIX-IT"S ON AO3! 

Triple baka is so silly.

Anyway, forget Lalalala or Okokokok, which triple baka person are you?

(Personally I think I'm either neru or teto lmao)

I wish I was a youtuber just so I could film myself playing The Evil Within 2 so everyone can witness the greatness.

So this man is actively trying to kill the character you play as and he also kidnapped your daughter and killed multiple people meaning you actively have reason to hate him and he is a terrible person but... hear me out-

Is he maybe a psychopath? Yeah probably. But like... he's just mansplain manipulate manwhore-ing his way through life and there's nothing wrong with that. He killed people? God forbid he has hobbies, jeez, guys, calm down.

Anyway I bring this up cause this guy is, I'm sorry to say, AN ARTIST, and he likes to do photography. Specifically of people dying, but photography nonetheless. So in this one interaction there's some writing that appears on the wall that he wrote and it says... "smile for me" and my immediate first reaction, instead of the normal, sane reaction of, I'd assume, "fuck off", was "omg are you flirting with me 😊"

I must reiterate that this man is ACTIVELY attempting to assassinate us. He wants us DEAD. Immediately after you see the writing on the wall he literally sends these monsters to KILL YOU.

Honestly "smile for me" is most definitely a threat because it implies he's taking a picture of you and, as I've said, he likes taking a picture of the moment of people's deaths, but it's okay, he was totally flirting.

I wanna animate this single genshin official art so bad but I cant find a good software on my pc

(Edit: chat I just found out that there is a capcut for pc let's goo)

Alright bitches and bro's and non binary hoes 

I have woken up yet again on the verge of a mental breakdown (but my parents give no shits about it so 🤷)

And I shall make it everyone's problem today.

If nothing else, I want to make the most unsettling, crazy, questionable yet so so intriguing kids show ever. The kind that you watched on TV when you were younger and because of how just so weird it was it just... sticks with you.

A show like Courage the Cowardly Dog.

If I die before I achieve this dream, someone better bring me back to life. Learn necromancy, discover some way to reverse time, just whatever you do, do not let me die without making a freaky ass show.

Man me and my sisters watched this "guess the cartoon by theme song" thing and the fucking wave of nostalgia...

Anyway, here are some of my favorite nostalgic shows:

Rugrats (my sisters hate this one, and I'll tell you... I don't blame them.)

Rocket Power

Shaun the Sheep (one of the best shows ever, no question)

Mr Bean (one of the best shows ever as well)

Teen Titans (NOT GO. My Superhero Movie goes hard though, but that is ALL that I will give that stupid show)

Chalk Zone

Dexter's Labratory

Totally Spies

Kim Possible

Courage the Cowardly Dog

W.I.T.C.H.

Winx Club (ik this and WITCH are like rivals basically, but I think it's stupid to argue cause fundamentally they are two different shows each with their own strong and weak points so it's pointless to compare them (I always liked WITCH more))

Kick Buttowski

Inspector Gadget 

Lazy Town

Danny Phantom

The Penguins of Madagascar

TMNT (2003-2006)

Monster High

Ever After High

Regular Show

Phineas and Ferb

Adventure Time

The Amazing World of Gumball

Uncle Grandpa (I used to be OBSESSED with this show. I was ALWAYS watching it)

Random fun fact about me ig: 

I'm double jointed on all my fingers AND I've memorised the entire World's End Dancehall dance(Miku's version)

I'd rather die than be boring.

Me when im looking for more ideas on an oc pinterest board and pinterest reccomends images of men who look exactly like the oc with women like NOOOOO HES SUPPOSED TO BE GAY 😔😔😔😔

I WANT THE BOOK OF BILL I WILL ACTUALLY KILL TO GET IT

EVERYTHING EVERY SINGLE GRAVITY FALLS RELATED PIECE OF MEDIA WAS RELEASED BEFORE I WAS EVER A FAN OF THE SHOW, BEFORE I EVER EVEN WATCHED A SINGLE EPISODE

I NEVER HAD THE CHANCE TO BE THERE AND TALK THEORIES AND LORE AND CHARACTERIZATION AND GEEK OUT OVER FINDING COOL STUFF IN THE BLACKLIGHT VERSION OF THE THIRD BOOK OR THE WACKY ADVENTURES COVERED IN THE COMICS

AND NOW IS MY ONLY CHANCE MY ONLY HOPE TO BE A FUCKING LOSER NERD THE WAY I WAS ALWAYS MEANT TO BE AND THE ONLY THING BETWEEN ME AND THAT REALITY IS A DAMN PAYWALL BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THE BOOK ISNT FUCKING FREE AND I HAVE LITERALLY TWO DOLLARS

I COULD ASK FOR IT FOR MY BIRTHDAY BUT THATS TWO MONTHS AWAY TWO MONTHS THE CONVERSATION AROUND THE BOOK WONT BE THE SAME TWO MONTHS FROM NOW

I NEED THIS BOOK NOW I NEED IT BEFORE I ACTUALLY RIP MY OWN SKIN OFF MY BODY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEA-

Revamping old ocs

Name: 

Casper

-------------

Nicknames: 

Cas (I just got war flashbacks 😟)

Pretty boy (by Ash)

Richie Rich

Walking wallet

Dumbshit (by Ash)

Loser (by Ash)

Casper the friendly idiot (once by Ash "at least he said 'friendly' that time.")

Casper the rich fucker (once by Ash)

Casper the stupid ghost (once by Ash)

Casper the... I think you get it atp.

--------------

Birthday: December 6th

--------------

Gender: cis male

--------------

Pronouns: he/him

--------------

Sexuality: Straight (sure, whatever you say, big guy)

--------------

Likes:

Money

New stuff

Money

Ash ("I DO NOT")

Attention

Money

Bad movies

Money

---------------

Dislikes:

Ash

Misunderstandings ("JUST TALK" he should take his own advice)

People not accepting gifts

Ash

Ash

Ash

Messy places

Mint ("the taste is far too strong")

ASH

---------------

Background:

Casper was born into a rich family, his dad was a CEO and his mom a well known fashion expert and personal stylist. You'd think it'd be a miracle his taste in fashion is so shit with a mother like that, but it's not like she spends enough time with him to give him any fashion advice. His dad hardly cared about him either, he sent him off to public school despite the fact that he could very easily afford a private school. He just gave Cas money instead of attention. Casper did end up finding a group of friends in school, despite being incredibly rude and extremely annoying. He's glad they don't hate his guts and took a chance on him. Though he'd probably die before he'd say that out loud. He's rich, he's not supposed to mingle with commoners.

--------------

Ao3 tag: "repressed emotions in a trench coat"

--------------

Song: Everybody Loves Me - OneRepublic

Name:

Ashton

--------------

Nicknames:

Ash

Emo bitch (by Cas)

Tony Hawk

Skater boy

Motherfucker (by Cas)

Wannabe goth (by Cas)

Weirdo (by Cas)

--------------

Birthday: September 18th

--------------

Gender: cis male

--------------

Pronouns: he/him

--------------

Sexuality: very much gay

--------------

Likes:

The color black (no, duh)

Skateboarding

Casper ("he's not gonna see this list, right?")

Cats

Bad movies

Rom-coms ("tell anyone and I will break your fingers")

Video games

--------------

Dislikes:

Summer

People entering his room without permission

People who breathe or chew too loudly

People who... people.

Tea

Birds

--------------

Background:

Son of an unhappily married couple. When he's not holed up in his room blasting music to drown out his fighting parents, he's at the skate park with his friends, trying to do a backside 360 ollie. He keeps falling, which Casper the fucking loser never fails to torment him about. They usually just sit and watch but sometimes he tries to teach them how to skate. Cas never joins though. Too pretty to ruin his nails or some shit. Still, if Ash had to pick between staying at home with his stupid parents who should just get a divorce already and sitting with his friends, who honestly feel more like family to him than his own family ever did. He'd rather be with his friends.

--------------

Ao3 tag: "terrible awful flirting"

--------------

Song: Somewhere Only We Know - Keane

Name:

Jamal

--------------

Nicknames:

Jay

Pinkie (once by Cas)

Marie Curie ("I think she's just the only female scientist they know.")

Science nerd

Blue Jay (by Ash "my hair was blue when he started calling me that. It just stuck around.")

--------------

Birthday: January 3rd

--------------

Gender: transfem

--------------

Pronouns: she/her

--------------

Sexuality: bisexual

--------------

Likes:

Wildlife biology

Music

Collecting little ceramic sculptures

Kids cartoons

Tumblr (she's the resident tumblrina)

Gardening

--------------

Dislikes:

Loud noises

Losing things (even unimportant/small things)

Writing essays

Coffee ("don't know how anyone could like it")

--------------

Background:

When you live with three younger siblings and two working parents, you end up having to become the parent to your siblings. But it's not so bad, at least she can trick them into doing stuff for her without her parents telling her off. Until they come back of course. Once they're back her siblings are no longer her problem so she usually sits in her room studying or watering her plants or listening to music or goes out to hang out with her friends. They're a group of idiots, but it's okay, she can always be the so-called "straight""man" of the group. They also have major problems, but don't worry! She's always there for them. She's the one people come to when they're not okay, and she's happy to be that person! If only she ever took the advice she gives others.

--------------

Ao3 tag: "all knowing and supportive as hell"

--------------

Song: Give a Little - LeGrand & CG5

Name:

Riley

--------------

Nicknames:

Roy

Van Gogh

Picasso 

Starving artist

Major Tom (a couple of times by Cas "only when I space out")

--------------

Birthday: July 21st

--------------

Gender: amab non-binary

--------------

Pronouns: they/them

--------------

Sexuality: aro/ace

--------------

Likes:

Bugs

Art

Bracelets

Stickers

Books

--------------

Dislikes:

Honey

Florescent lighting

Social interactions

Nail polish ("strong smell. Also it's just weird to have something on your nail. Maybe that's just me.")

--------------

Background:

Born to a single, working mom. Riley had to take care of themselves a lot of the time. But it's okay, they know their mom is working hard for them. And Riley likes being alone anyway. It's highly preferable over being with others. Not that they don't enjoy their friends' company, they do, just sometimes being alone is nice and sometimes being with friends is nice. Especially since they've never treated Riley different. Unlike most people. But even then they still feel different. Maybe they're broken in some way. But... broken things can be fixed. So maybe Riley just needs to be fixed. Yeah.

--------------

Ao3 tag: "excessive use of the word dude"

--------------

Song: Cool Kids - Echosmith

*Coughs coughs*

I think I'm turning into akutagawa Ryuunosuke(NOT the author)..

The anime character with asma

Astma?

Azma?

Breathn't.

Uhhh have a kinda bad poem by me:

There is a void where my heart should be

Nothingness in the place of things I love

Hollowness where others get butterflies

I look at the chasm of my life

And realize that I am empty

(Before anyone speaks, istg I am fine, I just like to write depressing poems)

And this, my dear friends, is why I can't wait to move out.

My mom used my room like a damn storage room while I was gone and she messed up all my stuff. I told her before, I tell her over and over "don't touch my stuff I don't like it when you do that" and what does she do? Touches my stuff. Now I have to re-organize.

Guys im dead.

Im dying.

I have a cold. And it's not even my fsukt, I got it from ym stupid sister.

My fault. Ugh. Worxs. Words.

End me.

Me deleting c.ai so fast after knowing staff can read our chats.

uhmmmm, I prefer to embarrass myself in private, thanks.❤️

Like noooo now I can't be cringe in peace now I have to be cringe with an audience 😭 noooooooooo

do you guys ever miss like random years in the 2010s???

like

this entire summer i wanted to be back in summer of 2012-2018 like

that was the PRIME guys

2019, 2020, 2023-(EXCLUDING 2021-2022 FOR A REASON), 2024 cool and all but

2014-2017??? literally didn’t have a SINGLE worry in the world

and the music was so fun to listen to

sigh

to be back in those times 😞

Life update yippeee

So like I'm at my grandmother's house rn. Also I started cutting myself!! Yay depression!!! One of my bestest cousin friends which I rarely ever see is going to come too tomorrow so LETS GOOOOOOOO

i took this from queen cuz i’m mad right now and i need something to get off my mind so

here it is!

name: nataly, natalia, nat, natty, chismosa, ratalia, natalia-ratalia (NOBODY CALLS ME TBIS ANYMORE 😢), taylorswiftlover69

appearance: 5’6-1/2, honey brown almond eyes, natural wavy/curly brown/blonde highlighted hair, greek…nose?…very like light skin, natural blush, bottom hourglass-(BUT I AM NOT FLAT WHEN IT COMES TO MY CHEST 😭), i like..regular..fashion!…idk like i don’t have a style brah. whatever cargo/tanktops are 😢. i like sundresses! i also like nikes! but not skirts

current obsessions: t-swizz, chappell roan, billie eilish………..psycho..logy?…IDK 😭. oh AND the eras tour..but i think that kinda works with tay!

character arc: i want my dad to be able to see reality and stop being mean and treat me like a DECENT human being. i also want to drop out of honors biology because it’s very hard. i also want to cry in the shower when i get home

personality type: esfp!

Uhhh I'm bored

Name: oh boy. Queen, Queenie, Nightcrawler, Sprinkles, I'm known as Loki by some people, my irl name if you know it, uhhhh can't think of any else so I hope that's all of em.

Appearance: 5'7" round black glasses, brown hair, mullet, dark brown eyes, hooked nose ig(?), natural blush, pimple scars, rectangle body type I think, I don't necessarily have a set fashion style, but I guess I like to dress in ways that stand out. I'm fashionable. Mostly wide leg pants and platform shoes. Skirts/dresses possible but I don't wear them a whole lot.

Current obsession: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Percy Jackson, and the Hercule Poirot book series. (Yes, I am a NERD, bookworm, I'm studious. From my cerebral cortex to my gluteus.)

Current character arc: avoiding the fact that I have to go back to school soon and acting like it's totally okay and I'm not about to break down crying over it. Send help.

Personality type: INTP