#barlee

I also really enjoy your blog and overall vibe and hope u have a good day!

Keith and Lance and their dynamic, has been one of the best things I loved about Voltron. But I know for a fact it was initially meant t happen. There’s way too much proof, even in season 7. Even if others didn’t see it.

So finding out that it might’ve just been tossed away because DreamWorks didn’t want it... or didn’t give permission... really hit hard.

But as I lay here, with my pillow being soaked with tears... I thought about Barlees tweets again.

Being fair, they couldn’t say all that much, so it’s very much obscure towards what it could mean. But I ... might be able to give some hope towards this. Even if I could be wrong.

First off, Barlee acknowledges that the situation isn’t good and that we have a right to be upset. And from OUR POINT OF VIEW it doesn’t look good. But there is more to the story.

Now I feel like some people are maybe taking her words of “they’re allowed to feel upset by the end result...” a little out of context.

I will dive more into this in a second, but I just want to quickly point out Barlee is being very clear in that the people who also work on Voltron, do care about proper rep and did want what was best for us.

This is where the idea of being Queerbaited came from. Overall Marketing and Netflix had minds of their own, and that’s where the “official videos being tagged Klance” and the obscure tweets by Netflix originally came into play, when they weren’t meant to. This is where the posters Netflix(?) made of Shiro with Adam behind him, and the Keith poster with Lance being behind him, came into action. They only watched the show like the rest of us, so assumed that was the direction as well. They probably had minimal insight into what’s going on, so If any queerbait was involved it was ultametly just the marketing team. Not the show runners themselves who didn’t have any say in what gets shown, tagged or previewed.

Now getting back into this, and why “they’re allowed to be upset with the final result” stands out to me.

A lot of people are saying that “patching up” the “incomplete story” is referring to making Allura and Lance endgame. Lance was promised one, so that’s what their doing. But in all honesty that doesn’t line up for me.

DreamWorks is believed to have not been allowing the team to go through with their original rep and storyline in the first place. It’s rumoured that Shadam and Klance were fought for, but were never allowed... until a certain point, that as Barlee says here, she didn’t even know about until right before the sdcc premier.

This here implies, that they were given permission for rep at some point in time, and not everyone who worked on Voltron were given this insight.

Now this could easily just be making Shiro the only rep, but when you consider them “patching up” after finally being allowed to put in rep, implies they are still fixing up a lot to include the rep, but what else would they need to patch up, if Shiro and Adam had nothing happen, nor did Shiro point out there’s more to him then we saw. That’s why so much changed easily just by allowing the rep to happen. That’s probably why Shiro was thrown in so quickly to being gay rep, and why there wasn’t any Adam and Shiro except a new recording.

I would like to remind you all, that there was another few recordings done for Shiro and Adam, and I believe an actual scene that was suppose to happen. (Don’t take my word for it). So they may have had scenes and audio ready, it maybe never got a chance to use them as they had to change things.

This is where the whole improvisation comes in. They had to improvise to make Shiro as gay. It’s not what we wanted nor was hyped up to be. They just fit it in cause they were only allowed to recently.

Coming back to this tweet. Barlee says that because of the improvisation, much of the rest of the creators didnt get to do everything THE WAY they planned. This is where I think Klance might still be happening.

“They did what they could to patch it up.”

Barlee never once in any of the tweets implies that they are pulling through with Allura being Lance’s endgame just cause it was promised he’d get one.

The Voltron showrunners were given permission for the rep. It may not be how it was originally planned, so that’s what they’re patching up.

That’s why this season doesnt make sense in terms of all the Keith and Lance interactions that demonstrated them being exactly what they were meant to be, a good team, and most importantly, together. There was more scenes of Keith and Lance, (and even one or two scenes heavily implying Lance where he is feeling something towards Keith), compared to the one or two Allura and Lance scenes implying a romance between them.

“They didn’t get to do everything the way THEY PLANNED.” Implying they’re still doing everything they originally wanted... but not in the way that they saw was more fitting. Combine this with the fact they were given permission for rep... I don’t think Shiro is the only rep allowed. Also combine that with the Keith and Lance heavily implied development this season ... both original planned reps were probably given...

Bro. I’ve stopped crying.

“I think they tried to patch it up as best they could once they were allowed to.”

This. Tweet. Right here. No where does it sound like Barlee is implying Lance isn’t getting an endgame with Keith. This is starting to look more like :

“Originally, what was planned was Keith and Lance from season 1-3. However it wasn’t allowed after that and they had to improvise. Eventually rep was allowed, and now they had to not only improvize but patch up anything to try and make sense of it again.”

I’d also like to include that Seaosn 8 isn’t finished yet, most likely BECAUSE they have to “patch things up.”

It isn’t going to feel satisfying because everything is so rushed, since they only got the okay to do it now. It’s not being made the way it was originally planned. So yes, Keith and Lance are still most likely going to happen. But it won’t be the way they originally wanted for the show or for us. That’s why everything is so quick and bumpy, and why Acxa (a side character who all of a sudden is brought in) and Allura (someone who just had their heart horrifically broken) are probably being implied as Romantic towards the two, Keith and Lance respectively.

I wouldn’t be surprised in Seaosn 8 if they pulled the lame use of Jealousy or pining to bring Keith and Lance together. It initially was meant to be slowburn — These two coming together throughout the story. But they had to, again, IMPROVISE.

Allura and Acxa are mostly likely a part of this “patching up” situation. And the ending won’t be satisfying because not only will these two probably be thrown somewhat under the bus... (hopefully respectfully), they will also make Allura realize feelings for Lance and him coming to realize, no, you’re not the one for me. They’ll also probably use Acxa as a segue to make Lance maybe jealous? Or realize his feelings as he assumes something is happening between her and Keith.

I of course do not like this sort of scenario at all. But that’s the only logical way I can see Acxa being brought into this and being implied to have a crush on Keith, and Allura suddenly has feelings for Lance. If they just wanted to have Lance end up with someone cause it was promised, they would’ve left Acxa out. Keith wasn’t promised an endgame. Throwing her in wouldn’t make sense, unless it was for this purpose.

“It won’t be satisfying to a lot of ppl, and I certainly do not fault them for that.if they had gotten to do what was originally planned, people would feel better about the season.”

So many people were disappointed that not only Lance and Allura being implied to be getting together even after Allura’s heartbreak (besides some of the actual shippers which, y’know, ship them), but also Acxa and Keith out of nowhere, on top of Adam dying without seeing Shiro. This isnt what was suppose to happen. But again, they’re patching up what they can.

—-

“...they’re allowed to feel upset by the end result...”

I’m bringing this back down, to tie all of this together. From everything I’ve gathered. Klance... is still pretty much happening. Or at least, 95% happening as this is sheer speculation on my part.

But to sum up, the showrunners wanted an actual LGBT based plot line, following Keith and Lance. That was initially the slowburn. And it still somewhat counts as slowburn, since they’ve kept the previous development and brought in more interactions and development for them, including the subtleties within Season 4, and end of Season 6 - more than I originally expected to see compared to Allura and Lance. It will feel rushed, but they had to improvise and patchup what they could because they only got permission to go through with it recently, and everything they wanted originally isn’t being done they way they planned.

Allura and Acxa may get thrown under the bus next season, but hopefully it’s not a disservice to their characters. And in terms of Adam and Shiro, people have a right to be upset about it. Ultametly, fans were queerbaited, but not by showrunners, they were baited by the marketing team who exploited not only the LGBT, but also the largest portion of the fandom, the Klance ship.

BUT THAT WAS NOT THE SHOWRUNNERS FAULT. They cared about Rep and they’ve always been advocates. They couldn’t give what they wanted from the beginning because they didn’t have a choice. And now they have permission, and have to do what they can to work back to what they originally planned in a short amount of time, and try to make sense do things again, even though it’ll be rushed and won’t be as satisfying as it should’ve been.

And they know we have a right to be upset with an unsatifying result. Even if it ends with Klance.

So. Did I manage to somehow restore faith for myself? Oh yes. But knowing the posts I make, this will get like 2 notes. But please! BOOST THIS. I think people need to think of this a little better.

And once again be patient. Patience yields focus.

Edit: So I have discovered that these did not refer to Klance. I admit I even took these out of context, HOWEVAH! I still made a post, and gUYS I HAD AN EPIPHANY TODAY AND I REALLY THINK YOU ALL NEED TO READ IT! Please!!! Because, even if it does not happen on canon, which seems like it might not, even though please consider reading!

Keith and Lance have had major roles in each other arcs, even if they weren’t romantic ones! But they have definitely grown into best friends at least, and that’s still a beautiful, beautiful thing! And they’ll be by eachothers sides even after the series ends.

A comment about @barlee

I think her behavior is atrocious and am sad to see that she did what she did, but I’m not surprised. We’ve seen several times through the last several months that that Barlee was spouting anti rhetoric and that she was unprofessional. I remember when she threw Jeremy under the bus for hyping LGBT content, but then caused even more backlash because she suggested that Voltron was supposed to have more content that got scrapped.

I find that her taking money from Sheith fans and then purposely siccing the anti fandom on us as something we really shouldn’t be surprised about. Her wish-washy behavior and thinking that just because she deleted the posts somehow makes it okay is even worse.

The issue is that Barlee enjoys talking quite a big game, but she isn’t even a storyboard artist. She is a storyboard revisionist, one who hasn’t worked on the show since March and has moved onto other projects. She ignored JDS and LM specifically stating that they thought that some people would either see the relationship as brotherly and some as romantic. She ignores who gave us our ship name, who was Josh Keaton. She forgets that staff have repeatedly drawn Sheith in a romantic way, that they have commented to us, that they have treated the Sheith fandom with respect.

She says that the Sheith relationship is “controversial” and that is why no one talks about it, and yet any time I see legitimate news sources, podcasts, and other things done by professionals in the field, they have said nothing but positive things in regards to the ship. I remember Moises getting choked up on the podcast along with quite a few reporters and influential names who thought that Sheith was a beautiful relationship.

The issue here is that we’re listening to someone who uses anti rhetoric to vomit her thoughts, when we have dozens of others who have said our feelings and beliefs on the ship are valid.