look, at some point youve got to give people some slack.
people dont always read the entire history of an OP whose single post they like or reblog on social media, and shitty people can sound reasonable once in a blue moon, especially when what theyre talking abouts got nothing to do with the subjects theyre shitty about. it doesnt change that fact that theyre a shitty person with shitty opinions, but it does mean they dont always come across that way.
thats why so often you meet someone and think theyre pretty okay until they Open Their Mouth and say that one thing that reveals them to be a douchebag. thats why you can be friends with someone for ages before realising that theyre actually terrible and cutting them off.
sometimes it takes some probing for the gold to wash off the turd. and with how disconnected people are on social media? that doesnt often happen
i think we all should be more careful about who we support in public forums, especially if we have any kind of influence over others, but come on- someone likes or reblogs a post that seems completely harmless, and it turns out that the OP was a terrible person who believes terrible things? doesnt automatically mean the reblogger supports all those ideas- they might not even know about it.
if you think its relevant, or that the reblogger would care, by all means tell them. id hate to in any way give people with dangerous opinions more of a platform. but, guys. let them know first and hear their response before throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
if you’re offline or away and i message you something (like a link to a meme or a picture or w/e) honestly just assume that i’m just leaving it there for when you get back and not expecting you to answer straight away. i don’t need you to respond with “hey, sorry, i wasn’t at the computer!” or anything. i was leaving u a gift for later.
Oh, 2008 Iron Man movie, how I love thee. Let me count the ways:
Tony Stark’s ridiculously floppy hair he has to slick back for work, because like any good comics hero, he always has That One Rakish Lock Of Hair ™. Whoever styled Downey obviously knew what they were doing.
Relatedly, Paltrow actually ginger as Pepper. I love the strawberry-blonde look from later movies, too, but it’s so bright and pretty here.
JARVIS. Just… JARVIS.
The soundtrack. It’s one of the most distinctive and enjoyably electric-guitar-heavy soundtracks I’ve heard. I love how it mostly goes for modern-ish synths and ambient stuff, and also nods to classic rock, classic metal in particular. (The drums are incredibly John Bonham, and one of the main refrains is so close to “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin that I’m pleasantly surprised someone didn’t try to sue Ramin Djawadi.) Makes perfect sense for a futurist who works in tech at the cutting edge, but does it listening to stuff like 90s metal and AC/DC and wearing Black Sabbath shirts. Also, it means that when the full orchestral pomp kicks in, it’s even more affecting for how unusual it is.
“The bad guys won’t even want to come out of their caves.” Sure, it’s an offhand joke, but there’s a kernel of truth to it. It shows how damnably naive he is about some things, even as he pretends not to be. (”There’s a line, we don’t cross it.”)
The fact that he tells Yinsen, “Thank you for saving me.” A little thing, but important, especially contrasted to “What have you done to me?” at the start of their acquaintanceship.
The American Cheeseburger
The way it shows that good is something you have to do, not just something you are. We get to see pretty much every step of him becoming Iron Man, and it’s shown to be damn hard work. We get to see him exhausted and scruffy and injured, and his test flight nearly kills him, but he keeps going.
And we see the intricacies of what he’s doing. God, I love how much attention has been paid to the tech. The sequences when you get to see all the hydraulics and the soldering, so on… That’s just lovely prop and animation work. (Yes, I’m just here for the tech porn. How did you know?)
“I shouldn’t be alive, unless it was for a reason.”
A lovely Pepper/Tony dynamic that’s so different from the comics in all the best ways. “You’re the most qualified, capable person I know” is said with earnest admiration.
Though “Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart” could be straight from the comics - again, in all the best ways.
How quiet Tony is. It’s more pronounced after Afghanistan, but even before, when he’s not playing up the snark, he’s soft-spoken, introspective and receptive, constantly trying to put people at ease. Sure, he can be arrogant and do dumb things (keeping Rhodey waiting three damn hours? Really, Stark?) and he’s obviously very used to his privilege, but it’s an interesting contrast and a nice piece of characterisation that’s very in line with 616. We get to see that less in other movies, but it’s always there.
The arc reactor. A beautiful piece of
in-universe
engineering and prop design, and a really lovely poetic device that makes perfect sense with the arcs and motifs from the comics even though it was an MCU invention.
The fact that someone clearly went, “The workshop is important to him and probably where he spends most of his time” and worked to add little touches: the coffee machine, the models, the spare parts, the bits and pieces of a life dotted around. It feels very lived-in and like they actually thought about his character, rather than like they went for generic “harsh and futuristic = cool”.
Oh and: Tony Stark rides bikes, apparently. I needed to know that.
That Audi.
And that damn water feature. Apparently the epitome of cool is having your own little waterfall. I miss that waterfall; I’m so sad we lost it when the mansion got trashed.
How easy an entry point it is, and how it stands perfectly well on its own as just… a really good movie, regardless of the rest of the MCU or the comics. I’d never picked up an Iron Man comic before I saw this, and I fell utterly in love with the universe, the characters and the themes anyway.
The little, realistic touches like the goatee starting to grow out and the motor oil marks.
@the-wenzel and @arahir made really perfect comments about this as well. You can read that post here.
So—I’m fed up. And I know that’s an entitled thing for me to say as a fan of a series, because if I don’t like the way a story’s going I can always hop ship. Note that the Voltron showrunners and writers can do whatever they want, and I respect their creative freedom; I believe the crew shouldn’t have to cater to the whims of their fanbase.
That being said, I’m going to go ahead and bitch about Keith’s treatment as a character, and the way it punishes fans for empathizing with him. Understand that this isn’t me yelling into a bullhorn, “GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER, VOLTRON CREATORS!” It’s me yelling into my blog-pillow, “DEAR GOD, I HOPE THE VOLTRON CREATORS MAKE A TURN-AROUND WITH KEITH’S CHARACTER!” There’s a difference. At least, I hope there is.
1. Keith’s not perfect, but he’s definitely kind
I should begin with another disclaimer: I know Keith’s not a perfect person. I’m not standing on a soap box proclaiming him a precious cinnamon roll who’s done nothing wrong. Remember this moment? “You’re putting the lives of two people over the lives of everyone else in the entire galaxy!” He gets right up in Pidge’s face, and follows her when she tries to walk away.
Keith’s right, here. In the grand scheme of things, they need to put the galaxy first. But he lets his anger get the best of him, and it results in a cruel delivery. And Keith never apologizes for raising his voice like this, even after he goes through a similar arc in season 3 where he loses Shiro and the team tries to force him to move on (and, like Pidge, he eventually decides to put the team first).
Out of everyone on the team—besides Shiro—I feel like Keith should relate to Pidge the most. There are a lot of parallels between how they deal with the loss of their loved ones. It would have been very poignant to show Keith and Pidge talk about these things, rather than present parallels like this and never actually…explore them?
I mean, both those clips came from the same episode—the Voltron crew want us to see the parallel here. Yet these two rarely exchange a word outside of battle.
So that’s all to say that there’s been at least one time when Keith was brash and came off as cruel to me. I do wish Keith and Pidge had settled this canonically. The rest of the time, though—? Keith’s not given to callousness.
You’ll notice that Keith’s more likely to accept others’ mistreatment than defend himself, as @ilovelocust points out with this painful post. It’s not like he means to make trouble with people. Actually, while the team labels him coldhearted, KEITH IS AN EXTREMELY KIND PERSON. Please read this post by @dent-de-leon about Keith’s kindness. There’s this idea amongst fans that Keith and Lance’s rivalry is mutual, but you can tell by season two that Keith wants no part in it:
Lance thinks Keith wants to steal his Lion, and Keith does his best to politely apologize and try to explain rather than fighting back. Lance doesn’t like that he has to share the pool with someone, but Keith tries to mediate the situation and work out a reasonable solution. Lance angrily yells that Keith’s a hothead, yet he says nothing in his own defense. Keith could have easily let himself continue to be baited by Lance, but it’s obvious he doesn’t like having a temper and does his best to keep those kinds of emotions in check. You can tell he really wants to bridge that gap, and makes a conscious effort to do so. He didn’t have to do that.
Keith doesn’t bully Lance like Lance bullies Keith. He fights back at first, and then he does his best to put the whole rival thing to rest. But, like Arahir said, the team…doesn’t ever seem to see Keith’s kindness. There’s this great moment where Hunk stands up to Allura on Keith’s behalf, and I’m so grateful for that—but that’s all we get, as far as I can recall. Keith and the others aren’t friends like Pidge and Lance and Hunk are…like Coran and Allura are.
It really feels like most of Team Voltron are just… not Keith’s friends. Like, they tolerate him as a Paladin and because he’s close to Shiro? But Lance’s attitude towards Keith has really poisoned relations with most of the others.
To conclude: the concept of Keith as the fiery, emo bully does not actually reflect the canon story. And once you realize how kind he is—how desperately he cares about Shiro in particular—the more you start to empathize with him. Which is unfortunate, because the show…tends to treat him like shit.
