Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender

Well, I thought "The Voltron Show" was really funny, so I don't have a problem with it. In any case, Keith's still with the Blade of Mamora at the end of the season, so I think we'll see more of that plotline as the show goes on.

edited 14th Oct '17 7:08:28 PM by KarkatTheDalek

Oh God! Natural light!

edit: wrong thread

edited 14th Oct '17 9:51:29 PM by Nouct

The main reason The Ember Island Players worked so well was not only its placement (the last silly episode before the finale) but how it was able to get a lot of mileage out of the silliness and the stereotypes juxtaposed with our main characters. Aang sees himself portrayed as Katara’s little brother and is horrified that’s all he’ll ever be.

The Voltron Show is just wasted time with no real character development. There’s no contrast.

Or maybe don't compare it to Avatar? The show isn't Avatar.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

It clearly wants to be, so I will.

edited 14th Oct '17 10:28:16 PM by Beatman1

You really will say anything to shit on this show.

Honestly you have such a massive hateboner.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

Dude, the only thing this has in common with Avatar are some of the people working on it.

Maybe don't derail this with constant jabs at the show if you clearly don't enjoy watching it?

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

It feels like it’s trying to copy all the surface elemtens without anything deeper. You can’t tell me the writers weren’t thinking of Ember Island Players when they made The Voltron Show.

This season pretty much made me done with the show.

edited 14th Oct '17 10:34:47 PM by Beatman1

I can because not everything in this show has to be tied to Avatar.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

Then stop watching it if you clearly don't like it.

Have you actually said anything positive about this show? Literally all your posts are negative.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

I liked the first two seasons quite a bit. It’s the last two seasons which has made me drop it.

Dude... there's complaining and then there's beating a dead horse. It's fucking tiring, we know the show is flawed, but the thing about the rest of us including those who find the show's flaws to be severe is that we can discuss those flaws in a civil manner without whining like a broken record with complaints that border on pointlessly salty. We've already been over it in the MVCI thread too, you have a tendency to take a stance which may not be unreasonable in itself but then present and defend it in a way that is.

If you can't find a way to complain that is civil, then it's probably better not just for us but for you and your mental health that you stop posting your complaints here at all. Also I remember you being quite negative about the first two seasons in these threads as well, so if that's how you act when you "like" something, then please take a sabbatical.

Also stop comparing it to Avatar, they're clearly two different animals and all the people expecting it to be like Avatar or Korra are a huge part of what's responsible for the fandom's utter shittiness. Speaking of which, if you want to find people who also despise Season 4 as much as you seem to, go hang out with the angry Klance fans. You'll finally be in good company.

edited 14th Oct '17 11:11:09 PM by AlleyOop

I'm close to just bringing the mods in if this doesn't cease.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

Hmm, it kinda feels like planes were changed between seasons .-. Either that or pacing changed, but it does feel like some plot ideas were dropped. That being said, I guess its possible they were planning to kill only mute general anyway since being hard to grasp their personality makes them the expendable one

I don't mind much because this was originally the second half of S3. Things like Operation Kuron and the BOM's bad rep might be explored more in S5. In the original season layout, you really don't need constant reminders of plot points that were already explained at the start of the season and planned for the next one, especially if you're binge-watching.

That's not really true though? So long as Voltron/the lions gets used it doesn't really matter whether or not they're fighting ships or giant robots.

edited 15th Oct '17 7:43:50 AM by Chariot

So much this. Not sure where people got the idea that the directors are held to some standard from the older versions of the show. It's a reboot, for cripes' sake.

@Adric: You shouldn't wait to holler. Just do so. If you see a problemsome pattern, best to holler sooner than later. No need to wait. To say the least, I'm saying this in general here. Any topic it applies.

I'm not holding it to the standards of the original, which was a by-the-numbers Monster Of The Week show. I'm holding it to the standards of other mecha series that feature big space battles, where it's coming up incredibly short for me. I can enjoy it on other merits now at least since my least favorite character is out of focus and the ground battle choreography has stepped up its game, but for me Voltron is a candy-colored oddity that doesn't even feel like it fits in the 'verse they created.

x4 And since they were produced as 26 episode seasons, we're technically not even done with the season yet. So, expect that plotline to pay sometime in the next two batches, or however Netflix feels to split up the episodes.

edited 15th Oct '17 10:17:34 AM by GamerSlyRatchet

Latest blog update (November 5th, 2022).

Honestly, this show never really felt like a "giant robot battle" show from the start as is. It felt like people on a mission to stop wars as is, always filled with a ton of characterization. From the start, it focused less on the robots and more on the people.

It's not even like Voltron Force, which made it clear how it was more about the giant robot battles. It's not about being episodic, it's the premise. And the premise focused blatantly on the characters more than anything else.

Mecha shows are pretty much always characters first. I just started Iron-Blooded Orphans season 2, and there isn't even a robot battle until the first episode's cliffhanger that gets resolved at the start of next, with the rest of the episode focused on character interactions. I'm happy with this, because I like the characters and the robot battle was really well choreographed and cathartic. Like, this is probably one of the bigger frustrations for me is that any time it's expressed people want more/better robot battles, it's treated like this would be at the expense of the characters when in other mecha-focused shows, it often isn't.

And frankly, characterization was also a huge stumbling point in this series, what with Pidge being the only one we were given clear motives for, and her and Shiro probably having more interaction than his supposed BFF Keith; it also honestly feels like we're past the point any explanation for their bond, even if it does finally come up. Hell, part of the reason I still tend to assume the worst was killing off the spirit of King Alfor after he had maybe five minutes screentime that could've been served by a pre-recorded message, and the reasoning that he "had all the answers" was nullified by the Flashback episode showing that, hey, Corran knew the show's backstory too.

edited 15th Oct '17 10:56:15 AM by TheGunheart

Well, yeah, the characterization had issues.

But this isn't like some other robot shows. Gundam was made pretty clear that they're pilots and that it was already an ongoing franchise about giant robot battles.

Voltron's original design was that of a merchandise driven show. Of course it'd be episodic. The next series, which was a weird one and almost kind of like an alternate future to some of the original show, focused heavily on robot training to an extreme degree, to the point that's all it really was meant to be. Legendary Defender actually focuses on more than giant robot battles. It focused on what Voltron also was, a symbol. And that the paladins were that too. This is a big reason why they have already 7 unique pilots, far more backstory and races, actually unique character ideas, the Paladins having even more family, etc. It was meant to be more storyline-based. This is clearly why it was made a reboot instead of a continuation. You also have to remember that a lot of shows these days go a lot better if they try to actually make the characters believable, with better writing staffs, less "nothing but action" scenes, more plot and storyline.

The show isn't episodic either. It's a plot-based one. It also clearly isn't only merchandise-driven. There's clearly some, but considering how few powers were introduced in 4 seasons alone(heck, have we gotten all 5 lion weapons? I think we have, but I can't remember), it was clearly more about the characters.

---

Anyway, finished Season 4. Very very nice. I find what they're doing interesting. I mean, I entirely believe Lotor will blatantly turn on them once Zarkon is defeated, if not sooner. For all we know, it was all just a fake-out plot that Lotor played well. He's super manipulative. I doubt it'll be a true alliance anyway. But hey, could be wrong. Reboot means a lot could change. Pidge is a girl, after all.

edited 15th Oct '17 2:26:05 PM by Irene

Well there's your problem. Not once has the show ever acted like it was trying to be a mecha series outside of the fights against the Robeast and even that's a stretch since fighting giant monsters isn't a thing that's limited to mecha.

edited 15th Oct '17 3:05:08 PM by Chariot

This show is a way different beast than most mechas.

Helps that its a Western cartoon, not a Japanese production so things would obviously be done different.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

Well, there we go missing mine and several others' points, again. I'm honestly getting more frustrated by that then the show's lack of mecha fights at this rate.

Okay, let's take it from the top, nice and slow, pretending this show exists entirely in a vaccuum save for being a reboot of an '80s show and the genre doesn't exist for a moment, since apparently comparing something a work of fiction does to another one is always invalid regardless of context.

The issue is that we have front and center a robot with a sword as the centerpiece, hyped up by every character on the show as the greatest thing ever. Out of 39 episodes, there's maybe one actual melee fight using it 26 episodes into the series; the other handful of cases had it used for anticlimactic puzzle bosses. As of the most recent episodes, it spends its time shooting Beam Spam at static spaceships. A gimmick was introduced where each pilot could give it a unique weapon, then they went and showed off the results of using all the Bayards and then promptly seemed to forget them even when they'd be useful, with Blue and Green still an unknown.

The supposed upside, character focus, has often translated into "the characters sneak around bases" with characterization so messy we had a whole season where one of them was elevated to the de facto protagonist and another had so many "fat and dumb" jokes thrown at him that even the VA thought it was going too far. It's had some good character focus episodes over its run, the latest Pidge episode being a real standout, but rarely bothers to play the characters off each other.

We've also reached a point where the robot just feels redundant with its fight scenes being boringly one-sided next to the ninja fights it suddenly gaining much better choreography after two seasons of them being absolute rookies.

Basically, I feel Voltron is an elephant in the room the show would be much better off without but can't get rid of since it was inherited with the licence, since it clashes heavily with the show's setting and tone and its utilization has been subpar.