This Year's Model of Humanity

honestly, the more i think about it, the more annoyed i am that shiro’s personality got streamrolled like that? in which the culmination being that all his former dreams were thrown away so that he could get married to some random person we have never see him interact with before (apparently he works on the atlas bridge, i have learned and was given a name… in the subtitles only… but, you know, i shouldn’t have to play where’s waldo with a main character’s ‘endgame’ love interest).

like… Shiro loved space so much that he ended his previous relationship to go follow his dreams. he spoke in s6 about loving being a paladin and that was AFTER all the trauma he’d been through in space. he got his own fucking ship to captain so that he could be part of the final arc. and then… apparently none of that means anything to him anymore and his ‘happiness’ literally ONLY relates to his sexuality, rather than any of his previously established personality traits or any of his previously established friendships.

i mean, at least keith’s ending flows from his actual previous actions and personality in the series, you know? hanging out with the blades. helping people. sure, okay. and we know keith has a habit of running away from relationships and shutting down if he’s worried he’ll lose them, so i even buy that he would cut off his friends like that and only see them once a year, though it does mean his ending is depressing as fuck, too.

but shiro? shiro’s love of space not even being MENTIONED in his ending? part of the reason that shiro being confirmed queer at the start of s7 was so ground-breaking was because he was already such a fully-rounded out and beloved hero! he had a strong, established personality and emotional connections to the people around him. but apparently none of that matters! just the fact that he likes dudes. that is the ONLY thing relevant to him in the ending. we know nothing about this dude’s personality or their relationship. we don’t know when it started. we don’t know jack shit about it. but it’s gay and that’s supposed to be enough. shiro deserved better. he deserved to still be SHIRO, not just a cardboard cut-out that looked like shiro.

anyway, since alternate realities are a confirmed thing in vld. i guess i’ll just assume they accidentally set s8 in a different reality to the one we’ve been watching in the previous seasons. one where shiro is defined solely by who he wants to date, has no friends and only coworkers, and has no goals or dreams. depressing reality, but at least it’s not the only one.

Tags: #and plus side if it was an alternate reality allura who sacrificed herself then our own s1-7 allura is safe and sound#but really#the more i think about it#the more depressing it is#shiro deserved better than being flattened out to a single element of himself#epilogue NOT accepted#sheith#vld s8 spoilers#vld spoilers#voltron spoilers#and speaking as a queer fan#we are finally getting enough quality queer media#that i don't feel like we have to desperately seek crumbs the way we used to#and can say 'no we deserved better than that'#i don't regret watching the show#because holy shit the animation is still some of the most gorgeous i've ever seen#and the black paladins as an episode#was a fucking work of art that i am still in awe of#but man talk about ending with a whimper and not a bang

Original Post: VLD S8 rambling thoughts