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Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender

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jessicadicicco610 Since: Oct, 2018 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#3426: Jul 28th 2021 at 1:35:11 PM

[up][up] Could you link to that interview?

Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
#3427: Jul 28th 2021 at 1:54:11 PM

[up]The Koplar interview was on a podcast of theirs -

https://www.letsvoltron.com/episodes/voltcon-2020-recap

The Reddit link was right here, in which a mod of said Reddit confirmed with the podcast what the president of World Event Productions said -

https://www.reddit.com/r/Voltron/comments/oroobs/will_there_be_any_new_voltron_properties_coming/h6rfiuk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Edited by Beatman1 on Jul 28th 2021 at 4:54:18 AM

OmegaRadiance Since: Jun, 2011
#3428: Jul 28th 2021 at 3:02:23 PM

Voltron Force was…okay.

Every accusation by the GOP is ALWAYS a confession.
drac0blade Since: Jan, 2015
#3429: Jul 28th 2021 at 7:38:08 PM

I liked Voltron Force. The animation was cheap, and it relied on Haqgarium way too much, but I liked how it expanded on Voltron's mythos, the lion swapping was a neat idea, and I really liked the characters — yes, even the cadets. I liked how they bounced off the old guard, who also got their own episodes focusing on their development. Force's version of Hunk is probably my favorite version of Hunk.

Plus, Voltron Force was actually, you know, about Voltron, and not constantly trying to push him to the side. One of the things I like about Voltron is his mysterious origins — the original show stated he was a legendary force for good long before Zarkan and the Drule Empire showed up — and Force gave us several episodes that dropped hints on where he came from, while still leaving lots of room for speculation.

Edited by drac0blade on Jul 29th 2021 at 1:01:15 AM

AegisP Kindhearted SSSSSNAKE Man Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
Kindhearted SSSSSNAKE Man
#3430: Jul 28th 2021 at 8:31:33 PM

If Voltron Force had the animation Defender did it could have been a smash hit. ALSO on Dreamworks losing Voltron.

I dont even like 80's Voltron. I just despise Legendary Defender.

As long as this flower is in my heart. My Strength will flow without end.
HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#3431: Jul 28th 2021 at 8:32:36 PM

Defender could have been a hit if they just cared about Voltron.

I get wanting to make it more special, but boy did they drop the ball.

Then again, they dropped the ball in a lot of places.

One Strip! One Strip!
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#3432: Jul 28th 2021 at 8:32:42 PM

Well here's hoping the next folks who get the license does a better job at it.

Give us a good Mecha show one of these days.

Edited by slimcoder on Jul 28th 2021 at 8:32:59 AM

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
OmegaRadiance Since: Jun, 2011
#3433: Jul 28th 2021 at 8:33:30 PM

Defenders has Shiro and Keith who I love too much to hate the show for. But I can say I am extremely disappointed in it.

Every accusation by the GOP is ALWAYS a confession.
Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
#3434: Jul 28th 2021 at 8:42:02 PM

The big question now is who would want it. Koplar, in his interview, suggested he would be open to a live action TV show, but no one is far enough in negotiations to say anything.

I do think World Events Productions is going to watch that Filipino adaptation of Voltes V very closely to see if the storytelling works and what wouldn’t work.

Edited by Beatman1 on Jul 28th 2021 at 11:42:16 AM

Chariot King of Anime Since: Jul, 2014
King of Anime
#3435: Jul 28th 2021 at 11:53:22 PM

I liked Defender though I'll admit I never watched the final season. Should probably do that sometime.

PhiSat Planeswalker from Everywhere and Nowhere Since: Jan, 2011
Planeswalker
#3436: Jul 29th 2021 at 12:03:41 AM

Legendary Defender made me angry with how hard they dropped the ball after imo a very good season 1. So many awful writing decisions made and worsened due to Executive Meddling and Steven Yeun's scheduling conflicts.

Oissu!
ultimatepheer Since: Mar, 2011
#3437: Jul 29th 2021 at 4:34:33 AM

Honestly, Defender is a master case of everything going for a series and then it still managing to toss it all away with an impressively fast case of Seasonal Rot.

Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
#3438: Jul 29th 2021 at 5:03:14 AM

There’s admittedly a lot of questions I have, and it seems like Voltcon 2020 was Koplar’s last big interview, so I presume the answer to many of these is “We’ll see when we have more information.” What we do know so far (in link form to avoid cluttering the page) -

Koplar confirms that Dreamworks/Universal passed on the Voltron movie and that the rights to make new Voltron material on their end also expired. Koplar is also uncharacteristically blunt about saying the executive who was overseeing the David Hayter script didn’t “get” Voltron (Insert VLD Joke here). This is where he mentions it might be feasible to make a prestige television show (I bet he’s going to be watching the Filipino Voltes V like a hawk to see if it works and if international distributors want it).

When a fan asks about a Spider-Verse style crossover, Bob says that the legal rights probably mean we won’t be seeing the VLD versions of these characters again in any form and the next version of the space explorers will most likely have different personalities and appearances (I take that to mean blonde Allura, but who knows?).

The comics were cancelled due to the buyout of Lion Forge.

Long story short, Dreamworks is out, the book on the VLD iterations of the characters is closed, and whoever gets the franchise next, if anyone, will be operating from square 1. No names are ready nor are announcements ready. I’m admittedly curious if a new company does get Voltron, if that means VLD will be taken off the air in a case of Keep Circulating the Tapes.

Edited by Beatman1 on Jul 29th 2021 at 8:06:37 AM

ultimatepheer Since: Mar, 2011
#3439: Jul 29th 2021 at 5:06:56 AM

At the very least, if studios can take a hint we can expect Pidge to be trans next reboot.

Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
#3440: Jul 29th 2021 at 5:16:24 AM

[up]A lot of that depends on what World Events Productions wants, admittedly. I imagine with them firmly in the driver seat (as opposed to Dreamworks becoming a partner through the Classic Media buyout) means that they’re going to have significantly more control over the next iteration of the franchise, whenever that may be. (And given the frustrations they expressed with Universal, that could mean a lot of things).

Edited by Beatman1 on Jul 29th 2021 at 8:17:14 AM

AyyItsMidnight Look, just be decent to one another ok? Since: Oct, 2018
Look, just be decent to one another ok?
#3441: Jul 29th 2021 at 11:56:40 AM

Yeah, seeing this show crash and burn and reading up on the fandom has been truly morbidly fascinating. I feel so bad for everyone involved creatively (not to mention the fans having to watch this shit) and I hope they all walked away from this GOT-tier trainwreck with big ol' checks in their pockets.

Self-serious autistic trans gal who loves rock/metal and animation with all her heart. (she/her)
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#3442: Jul 29th 2021 at 12:21:41 PM

What’s the comprehensive rundown over how this show became the disaster it wound up being?

Cause damn I wanna read about all this shit again. evil grin

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
#3443: Jul 29th 2021 at 12:38:58 PM

[up]All I know is looking back at this thread, there are a lot of opinions and posts I’d like to edit. I don’t know if there is a comprehensive history of the trainwreck that isn’t heavily biased in favor of a ship.

Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
#3444: Jul 30th 2021 at 5:26:04 AM

One more key piece of info from the interview, Bob mentions that he wants to work more with Bandai, (who the VLD crew allegedly turned down to make the toys when they of the Gunpla were insisting on more giant robot fights) but also the Dreamworks licensing situation means that there will likely be no more VLD merchandise of any kind. He also notes some desire to make a Robeast toy, but the issue is figuring out which one (My vote would be Lo-Tron).

From what I'm seeing of the interview, Bob was very courteous about working with both Dreamworks and Lion Forge (while being fairly blunt about working with the movie people and getting absolutely nowhere) which is interesting given that VLD dedicated an entire episode to making fun of him and his perceived control over the franchise. There's some reading between the lines where it felt like Bob did want something more akin to this -

But didn't get it. Right now it seems like Priority #1 is moving on from Dreamworks and getting either a film or a live-action television show going.

For reference, this is what the Filipino GMA Network is cooking up that I said WEP is probably keeping an eye on. (Filming began a month ago for a targeted early 2022 release date).

Edited by Beatman1 on Jul 30th 2021 at 8:26:43 AM

deuteragonist Since: Dec, 2013
#3445: Jul 30th 2021 at 10:03:23 AM

[up]That’s a pretty cool trailer.

Even though I stopped watching around like Season 5, I never thought the show had nearly as much going for it as other people did.

I’m really sorry if this sounds extremely negative, but the character work was really poor in VLD. Yes, there definitely needed to be more Voltron, but if the show really wanted to prioritize the characters then it really failed to make them consistent and interesting. Outside of multiple characters being ripoffs of Avatar characters, the ones who weren’t tended to be pretty generic.

That being said, Shiro was fucking awesome and the way the writers treated him was ridiculous. He was easily the best character.

Edited by deuteragonist on Jul 30th 2021 at 10:03:42 AM

TargetmasterJoe from Velocitron Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
#3446: Jul 30th 2021 at 10:55:18 AM

who the VLD crew allegedly turned down to make the toys when they of the Gunpla were insisting on more giant robot fights) but also the Dreamworks licensing situation means that there will likely be no more VLD merchandise of any kind.

Aw, what? We could've had Gunpla or Soul of Chogokin or whatever of VLD!Voltron? And Bandai wanted more giant robot fights and DreamWorks said no? Isn't that like having a superhero show without doing superhero fights? That just sounds so backwards...

I never got around to finishing the last season, but man, I'm not sure if I want to.

And thanks for the Voltes V context. I was all "what does Voltes V have to do with anything?" And holy crap, Voltes V looks hardcore! (Kinda wish it was a cartoon though...sad)

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Jul 30th 2021 at 1:55:28 PM

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#3447: Jul 30th 2021 at 11:22:08 AM

I'm baffled by the idea of Dreamworks wanting less giant robot stuff.

Did they not understand the point of Voltron?

And I'm baffled cause I thought it was the writers and creators who wanted less Voltron? Now I'm getting confused. Who was saying what here?

One Strip! One Strip!
Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
#3448: Jul 30th 2021 at 11:28:25 AM

[up]The writers of VLD, the ones hired by Dreamworks, and the showrunners wanted less Voltron. The toy company (which is assumed at this point to be Bandai) wanted more, and Dreamworks stood behind their writers and said Bandai wasn't welcome if they wanted things the showrunners and writers didn't. Koplar, for his part, was speaking highly of Bandai's quality (the SOC of both Lion and Vehicle Voltron). Hope that clarifies.

slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#3449: Jul 30th 2021 at 11:29:32 AM

Gotta say, Bandai's in the right here.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#3450: Jul 30th 2021 at 11:49:32 AM

Agreed.

Like, I can kinda see what the writers were thinking, but they went way too far.

Again, the entire point of Voltron....is Voltron. What was the point of the show if they didn't want to use the main attraction.

For all the shit Masters of the Universe Revelation is getting, at least they planned to have more He-Man for the second half.

This brings me back to my original issue: why have a Voltron show if you don't want to use Voltron.

One Strip! One Strip!

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