Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender

Considering the time when Tim supposedly left, the fact that there's absolutely nothing in the show hinting at a Shiro/Allura romance let alone any indication that Shiro was not gay in the first place (that one image that Montgomery drew in 2016 of Shiro and Lance holding the LGBT sign being a heavyhanded hint of how far along it was planned)? It's clearly a crock of shit.

To be fair, given the Epileptic Trees that Lance holding the sign meant he was going to have a convoluted coming out as bisexual arc, I didn’t view that sign as proof of anything other than a vehement disagreement with what people viewed as the rising popularity of a hateful political ideology.

I mean, Lance coming out as bisexual sounds like a pretty cool arc to me. We need more of those. I don't think Voltron would have done it well, but it could have been a thing.

Thing is there'd be no need for him to come out given the setting. I don't mind the idea of Bisexual Lance in theory, it's just that he'd be one of the worse characters to do it with, even without the fact that nearly everyone who supports it only does it because they want Klance.

Excuse you, I ship Lance with everyone.

I know it's only been a few days, but I already miss Coran.

I mean, there is no need for any character to do anything. But it can still be written and still be good.

Given the way that they were writing Lance, my immediate thought is that he would come out by flirting with someone of a gender everyone else wasn't expecting, and saying, "What?"

I think that the execution of that hypothetical scene would depend a lot on how the others respond.

That would have made the most sense to me. Just trying to put the moves on some guy-lien.

Keith has a heart attack.

Finished the last season.

Welp, I'm a little sad now. No more Legendary Defender to look forward too. The show, as inevitably comes of all shows, is over. But I loved the ride all the same.

x3 - The problem is that is the exact same idea too many of the more hostile elements of the fandom have had.

It’s going to be difficult to separate what’s a legitimate criticism with what’s just shipping related bellyaching from the Fan Dumb for a while. But I feel like this show is going to be remembered as average at best, subpar at worst.

Yes yes you don't like the show. I think we got that from you by now.

I’m actually saying we may not get an accurate bead on the overall reaction to this season for months. Everyone feels like they’re in knee jerk shock mode. But yeah, I’ll stop.

Edited by Beatman1 on Dec 19th 2018 at 2:45:56 PM

Well, I know I legitimately enjoyed the entire run of the show and the final season at least, and aren't just deluding myself into thinking such just because it was just watching it.

It's tough because the show did a lot of things well, and then also made some boneheaded mistakes at the same time, so it seems like a lot of people's reactions are based on whether or not those mistakes are dealbreakers for them.

I enjoyed the show overall too, but it feels like I did because I came in right at the end, which for some reason makes a difference.

Probably because Netflix shows are made with the binge format in mind.

Animated shows, especially. Voltron got hit hard with "animation is expensive and takes a very long time, so we're only releasing half seasons and claiming they're full seasons," which I remember left parts of the audience irritated when it was current because arcs kept being cutoff halfway through, but which would cease to be a problem entirely if you watched it all the way through.

Series finales always fill me with a sense of meloncolly.

I think it handled characterization better than it handled robot battles. How many time was Voltron hit with something and they feel to the ground with no power and the pilots had to will it back to life? I think the writers enjoyed silly diversions more than epic battles because the former allowed for character moments. Also, they really liked the Atlas, because they had it merge with Voltron for that final battle, and where did the crew go? Only Shiro seemed to exist after that point, everyone else just vanished.

One thing I can say, I can feel the people who made this tried really hard, and that makes it all the more disappointing when it stumbled.

I was wondering that one myself actually.

I mean, it's been said that Voltron wasn't the show they even wanted to make. That does explain why there was so much focus on the out of robot scenes. They did seem to be trying, but I get the feeling they never really got over the fact that this wasn't what they'd originally wanted to do.

I'm guessing it's for convenience's sake. Once they fused it was basically Shiro functioning as Sixth Ranger so showing everyone else wasn't really necessary.

No one was ever going to be satisfied it feels like (and Polygon’s review of the finale says such while praising it). One part wanted Korrasami in depth with Klance, one part wanted GaoGaiGar and one part wanted Avatar in Space. It’s a miracle given the divisive elements it came together as well as it did.

In the end everyone felt they were dealt a bad hand and that negatively impacts their viewpoint when it probably shouldn’t.

That’s the legacy from the writer’s standpoint. The best result possible given a bad hand.

Edited by Beatman1 on Dec 20th 2018 at 7:53:30 AM

I didn't come in with any real expectations other than a children's robot cartoon with Animesque style and more or less got that, even if it didn't stick the landing.

There's a lot of rumors going around at the moment that the season 8 we got was completely different from the season 8 that we were expected to get. Several people on Tumblr and Twitter have pointed out that many tweets and teasings made by the cast, most notably Lotor's VA, make absolutely no sense given what we ultimately got, and there's an entire theory post going around on Tumblr that Lotor was originally meant to be alive and rescued during the final battle at Honerva's pyramid, and that he was supposed to be at Allura's side and Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence with her.

In fact, according to the post, Allura's sendoff scene was much different. In what we got, while they Never Say "Die", its blatantly portrayed, framed and played off as a definitive death scene, but in the supposed original version, it was meant to be far more open ended and ambiguous regarding Allura and Lotor's final fates. In fact, Lotor ascending alongside Allura would actually explain why Daibarzak was restored alongside Altea, and why, if you squint, you can see Lotor's silhouette alongside Allura's in The Stinger.

If any of this is true, this could be one of the biggest examples of Executive Meddling I've seen in a good long while.