GRAY

Thanks @gooseworx for quite the finale and telling such a great story :3

In the book when Ryland is begging Stratt not to send him to die because he has kids who need him, she flips out on him because they aren’t his real kids and he’s just finding excuses to be cowardly… yeah she’s wrong

This is so important to me. I’ve been a teacher’s aid and let me tell you, those kids were my everything. I sent them home everyday, but in those few hours I had them, they were my kids and I would’ve done anything for them. They called me “big sister” and “my cousin.”

I’ve had teachers who see me like that, too. Specifically my history professor in my degree program. He treated me like one of his own kids and I know he thought the same of me and my class that Ryland thinks of his class.

I love Stratt. She’s a fascinating character and an incredible woman for doing what she had to do. But she was dead wrong about Ryland not having children.

I graduated with my history minor and don’t see my professor all that much anymore. We still talk about our latest reads when we see each other. I was going to ask him to officiate my wedding (couldn’t bc of scheduling conflicts).

My kids grew up and got different teachers and I don’t teach anymore. They still like to remind me how much they loved learning reading and science from me.

I can tell you with absolute certainty that those kids miss Ryland so, so much, and wish they had a way to tell their favorite teacher about the impact he had on their learning. There were people who’d miss Ryland.

I was hooked. I watched every single episode, stayed up for season releases, was an active member of the Wattpad, Pinterest, and YouTube communities, and even started an unofficial fan club at my homeschool co-op. This was my life. For two whole years, this was my LIFE.

Then, they screwed it all up. Writing got lazy, plot got stupid, all the stuff you already know. It devastated me. I have loved Voltron my whole life - unfortunately, I still do. To see the depiction of it made for my generation slowly spiral down the toilet hole broke my little heart.

I still can't talk about it without getting so upset that my blood pressure literally spikes. It actually does. I was hospitalized once a few months after the finale and the doctors told me to calm down because I was spiking my blood pressure by stressing myself out so much. (What I was specifically talking about was the end credits bit that shows all of them in the future. FARM BOY???! Lies. Deception.)

More importantly, I've fallen absolutely in love with Ryland and Rocky. Their relationship with each other is so beautiful it makes me want to eat concrete. To find comfort in the only other being that understands your awful situation and form a bond so powerful that you give up your lives for each other because if you can't make it home, they have to... what a dynamic for a man and a rock to have bro. It's sickening.