actually yknow what one of my biggest issues with su analysts aside from going Too Deep Always is that they never seem to know how flashbacks and timelines work
‘wow pink diamond did all this fucked shit and she made the human zoo like she has no respect for human-’ YEAH idiot we literally see the moment rose gains more respect for human life beyond being interesting specimens its with greg it happens 5000 years later with greg anduhalso she didnt make the zoo so throw that assumption out the window
‘pink diamond caused the death of all of her gems and then she just hung out on earth shes done horrible things shes’ YEAH we KNOW she quite literally tells greg later on that he doesnt want to know anything about her because shes done terrible things and clearly feels bad about it
fusion isn’t even always considred sexual it pisses me off that that’s what everyone goes for
if fusion was always an analogy for sexual relationships that would put both stevonnie and smokey quartz in a very,,,,very weird light
and no matter how intimate, personal, and private fusion may be considered by the crystal gems (really just garnet since amethyst and pearl saw it more as being bigger and better) that doesnt change the fact that before garnets creation fusion was seen as nothing but a simple act to get things done- and since pearl and rose would never have fused with a different gem before they wouldnt have known how intimate it could be anyway
like ruby said it herself…the reason pearl lying and fusing with garnet under false pretenses was fucked was because of how important fusion was to garnet
‘pearl once again shows a lack of care for consent when she tries to fuse with Rose without asking and the fact that the crewniverse plays this off as lighthearted is unsettling considering fusion being presented as sexual and intimate it really make such things as sexual assault seem like a joke–’
Also re: Lance’s insecurities, another fanon trope/characterization that I find really uncomfortable is the “Lance sacrifices himself for others because he thinks they’re more important/essential than him.”
Like, for one, I think that’s really exaggerating Lance’s self esteem issues. He’s insecure, sure, but he’s a kid trying to define his role in a team of geniuses, so it’s only natural that he would be. I don’t think he thinks he’s worthless so much as he’s now wondering what he contributes to Voltron; he’s not the strongest or the smartest or the best pilot or a leader, so if he’s not the sharpshooter, what’s his “thing”?
The fun thing about Lance as a character is that he toggles between insecurity and confidence in a really teenager-y way. It feels natural, it feels human, and it’s what makes him relatable. Erasing his entire personality and defining him just by his insecurity is… really not true to his character.
Another problem I have with the trope is that I think it kinda? Takes away from the heroism of what Lance does?? He’s this sympathetic, empathetic kid. He likes people, he connects with them easily, and when they’re in trouble, he wants to help. When he pushes Coran out of the way of that bomb, it isn’t like he pauses to weigh his importance against Coran’s; he just notices that Coran is in danger and tries to help. When the warden shows up for the yupper, Lance gets in the way and says “stay away from my friend!” because he wants to protect his new friend.
What he does is out of compassion. Lance doesn’t protect others because he thinks they’re more important than him– he does it because he just. Thinks they’re important. And that’s so refreshing and I can’t really see why people would want to take away from that.
I have seen some people comment Shiro was dismissing Lance or being petty of him because of his choice of words.
Meanwhile I can’t know for sure what was the writers’ intent with that line, I think that by taking Shiro’s body language into account we can see he didn’t mean for it to be taken negatively.
Shiro is really expressive and when something annoys him, he let it be know with his face. We see that happen in the vlog later when he was remembering when he and the other paladins were trying to form Voltron:
But when Shiro says his teammate’s name at the beginning, we see a completely different kind of expression to the one above:
Shiro’s face is soft and he’s smiling.
That added with Lance’s signature sparkle sound makes me think that Shiro is referring to his teammate with fondness.
the open hands, palms upward, arms outstretched is also a fond - and potentially indicative of the person being referred to being in the room or available to see - gesture. The crossed arms close to his body is a disapproving or defensive gesture. So we’ve got 1. the gentle way he says the name, 2. the body language he says it with, 3. the sparkle sound - and 4. Shiro/Kuron’s own personality in which Shiro acknowledged Lance by his chosen ‘sharp shooter’ tag and Kuron specifically sought out to share something deeply personal and troubling with. All of which don’t add up to mockery or dismissal. In fact, it would taking ignoring all of these to come to the opposite conclusion that Shiro is dissing Lance. There are other ways to get Langst without having to make every other character into a villain to provide for it.
I really think it was just a note on Lance’s relative immaturity compared to some of the others. Lance likes to goof around and make jokes, and Shiro has specifically called him on some that were inappropriate. But he also appreciates Lance’s lightheartedness, including his sparkles. This was definitely a fond moment, not a dismissive one, and if Lance was in the room he would have laughed. And probably made heart-eyes at his hero for singling him out from the group, even in a joking way.
