#but yeah I do think at least VLD had a purpose for making Lotor go crazy but it was a tactical plot-driven reason

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Lotor seems to have a lot in common with Chloe Bourgeois from Miraculous Ladybug since they both seem to have great potential of getting redeemed, but the writers decided to screw them over and make them all the sudden villan for no reason even though both shows main protagonists have done far more questionable things than them, heck both shows even romantasize the protagonists creepy stalking behavior

Hi, anon. Thanks for the note! I’ve never watched Miraculous Ladybug, so I’m afraid I don’t know too much about a Lotor vs. Chloe comparison? I’m sorry, though, if that show triggered some unhappy memories about VLD!

In terms of protagonists being worse than the villains, I personally struggle with that statement for Voltron? VLD is complicated because the show starts by treating war/battle as a fantasy violence video game. Like, the Galrans are mostly robots or one-dimensional soldiers who are torturing, killing and conquering. So our protagonists are already light-years ahead of that incredibly low baseline. And it’s easy to cheer Team Voltron on when you know they’re just blowing up robots or a pure-evil villain. It’s that whole fantasy violence thing without accountability. Then, the show gets increasingly more complex in terms of the politics, and the costs of war (with Ulaz’s death, for example), and the humanization of the enemy. But in this environment, our protagonists are still a bunch of ill-prepared teenagers running with scissors. Like, the original paladins of Voltron were leaders and rulers with a history of navigating wars and alliances. These paladins? They grew some over the show, yes, but they still had to go from playing a video game and screwing up flight simulators (or living a royal life in peace-time), to handling actual death and collateral damage in an active combat theater. I doubt Galaxy Garrison had training in their curriculum for how 17-year-olds should handle that. And all of the other older authority figures around Team Voltron and Lotor just totally and utterly failed them.

So I think my frustration with Team Voltron has cooled a lot over the years. From an in-show perspective, they were surrounded by supposedly competent advisors and intelligence officers who should have been able to at least question certain decisions or behaviors. But they did nothing constructive to prepare the paladins for war besides training them to kill.

And in the case of s5-s6, all of these experts and allied civilizations gave Team Voltron the green light on an official alliance with an empire they had seen brutally torture/experiment, enslave, and colonize. Actual weeks had passed between s5-s6. And yet, we never saw Kolivan warning the team that this was a really bad compromise for the Voltron Coalition to make; we never saw the paladins having to handle upset questions from their vast allies, who no doubt had recent memories of trauma at the hands of Galran military officers. But the instant Lotor is revealed to have also been a quintessence vampire in some way, like every other Galran officer with a body count they’d allied with, that’s the uncrossable line for Krolia, Coran, Kolivan watching this all go down—? Like?

When Shiro linked the Voltron Coalition to Galran military intelligence, what the heck did they think all of these soldier reports included? Military commanders happily sipping cocktails with locals on a beach? So I don’t think it quite hit the paladins yet that they weren’t working with uwu morally unproblematic people with easily forgivable pasts or a clear record of trying to make up for that past. And Team Voltron had zero guidance for how to navigate pursuing justice/reparations while also not leading to another war or worse outcome. Ultimately, even all of these concerned authority figures forgot about the show’s most plot-important victims that they were fine with dissolving the alliance over.

(RIP Patrulius in the harvesting pod, did you ever get out??).

The incompetency of elder authority figures also feeds into my frustration about Lance’s character, and how it was once again Coran in s8 who pushed him into this weird 1950s dating construct where Allura isn’t an agent over her own body. Like, Lance is still pretty young here, mimicking all the toxic masculinity he’s picked up on, and Coran’s behavior is supposed to be…better. Like, even Lance himself was uncomfortable in that scene, and that was wild to watch.)

And speaking of the ongoing failures of authority in the story, I still can’t believe that Coran didn’t cut in on Lotor in season 5, even, to warn him that exposure to the rift was known to make people lose control over their darkest thoughts. I could plausibly believe Allura didn’t think to question this because she was doe-eyed over Lotor and desperate for anything that could secure peace. But it’s not like Coran, who is supposed to be a king’s advisor, didn’t see this happen with Zarkon and Honerva. He could have questioned Lotor’s plans, and that actually would have been fascinating. Because if Coran, being a king’s advisor, had employed that kind of logical foresight, we might have seen something unsettling in Lotor that could more clearly foreshadow a fatal flaw he wasn’t working on (you know, like that classic Icarus Syndrome). But this show just didn’t question itself or self-reflect, lol.

So I don’t think anything Team Voltron did was them necessarily intending to be cruel where they wanted trillions to die in the name of justice, but their ignorance and the blatant inaction/silence or questionable guidance from anyone with higher credentials or experience resulted in some very uneasy outcomes.

But those outcomes were what this show wanted to keep the drama rolling.

I can’t speak for Chloe’s arc and the reason for why she misses the mark, but Lotor’s fall resulted in another several episodes of big robot battles and extended drama to meet a predetermined 78-episode directive. And given that the production team complained about having no breaks at all through the development of this show, I doubt they had time to weigh the cost of every decision they made to keep drama going. (I mean, we saw several other haphazard, concerning things happen since the beginning of the show; the colony twist wasn’t an isolated incident of plot over-complication and questionable handling of topics a;sdjfasf.)

I do think it’s easy to stay bitter about things and to let that poison everything, including even other shows. And I don’t think that’s a mentally healthy place for me to be—even though, clearly, I do still have frustrations with the art of story construction, lol. So I guess... canon is someone else’s story, but I do have control over how I respond and how I might try to tackle hard topics in my own works. And I’ve got to work with that.

I hope for what it’s worth that you can still find things worth enjoying in your other show, and that you can explore the characters and the stories in ways that are meaningful and feel right to you. It might help as well to look for shows and media that explicitly do have redemption arcs for a main antagonist or villain, or that handle traumatized or abused characters well.

#voltron #vld #lotor #oh god I relapsed and had a vld salt moment #tw salt #but yeah I do think at least VLD had a purpose for making Lotor go crazy but it was a tactical plot-driven reason #as opposed to a character-driven reason #because yeah a lot of characters got really OOC in that a;lsdjfasd

[chibi-pix]

Okay, y’all! It’s time for another night of Chibi watches with Voltron Force! Let’s do this! 

Episode 14 has me appreciating VF, much like VLD, with showing different aliens. And not just saying “yes, this is a different planet, but they all look like humans from Earth.” There are so many visuals! I mean, we see them in other episodes, but it just keep appreciating these details more and more.  Ah, Larmina. How do you get her attention? Music. Especially a music festival.  And then they mentioned Stereolactic. I recognized that name thanks to this art drawn by lion-time that I saw! And now I understand what Stereolactic is.  I adore the cadets geeking out over Pidge knowing Sterolactic. That’s just cute! And Pidge explaining that Stereolactic doesn’t exist, only a DJ, it made me think of this thing with Hatsune Miku. Who apparently was just a fictional character but had concerts or something? Yeah, that.  And seeing Stereolactic, something about the appearance made me think of Daft Punk. I dig it.  It’s also adorable that Pidge loves his work as Voltron over being the DJ. That’s sweet. He loves his work and team! When the robeast was up, I was thinking they either needed Vince to help neutralize the haggarium or Daniel and Larmina to take the robeast down from the inside. A bit of both, they needed all three. And Vince giving Voltron the green center. Perfection!

Okay, let’s move on to episode and 15 and see the return of the Hunkyard vehicles. All repaired, shiny, new and... making their own baby Voltron? Didn’t see that coming. But it worked well! Awesome! That Arusian anchovy is still alive I think. No thank you. It’s sweet that the cadets got to take a road trip to Earth and Larmina is getting to enjoy her time. Poor kid didn’t get a fun childhood of friends and goofing off. And that kid. Dudley? DID NOT TRUST HIM FROM THE GETGO! His determination to be Voltron’s biggest fan was kind of off putting. Though it was amusing to see his collection, the perfect visual of DotU. And him going after Vince and Daniel in his Voltron replica. At least Larmina returned. After having fun and social time with other kids.  Also, on Arus. Finding the black lion after he takes off. Lance: “I haven’t been this bored since Pidge’s last tutorial.”  Pidge: “Hey!” Oh my gods, guys. They feel like an old married couple! Their teasing, comments, and whatnots reminds me of my folks! You guys were right! VF Plance! Okay, I’ll go get my watering can. Gotta water the garden and these plance. Also, good on the kids for remembering to bring back pizza. Even better? For the whole team! Even Keith has a slice as he stand on Black’s head. 

I have been waiting for episode 16. Someone in a discord server mentioned it to me because of my love of Pidge and Chip being twins and working with such in VLD for AU purposes. I actually tried watching it before, probably last year, but didn’t get far for whatever reasons. But here I am, getting to enjoy this episode. I cry a bit, though, because the twineractions are minimal.  Pidge: “I think they’re trying to tell us something.” Baltons: “Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaainsssssssssss” Did no one make a quip about the zombies starving with part of the team? I don’t think I heard any remarks about that. It would have been hilarious if Pidge just looked to Lance and said “Looks like you’re safe.” That would have been the best! Poor Vince, listing movie tropes, fears, bad things. He’s having a crisis. Poor baby.  And Pidge’s voltcom with the smart stars is pretty damn cool. I like it! And the Balton pinned to the wall and asking “Brains?” I snorted so hard at that, it hurt. I was just grateful I wasn’t drinking anything at that moment.  I had hoped Chip would be okay and end up joining up with Vince and Pidge to help them out. That would have been so sweet and awesome. It would have been nice to see the twineraction and them being badass ninjas. But, alas.  It’s a good thing Voltron accepts pilots a bit more easily so Larmina can pilot Green. And her excitement and work with kung fu voltron to fight Lotor. Get wrecked, Lotor! Poor Chip is confused about what happened. Though his excitement in seeing Hunk was cute! Also, ancient Baltons having a hand in the original Voltron program? Intriguing! 

Ah! What a lovely night to watch Voltron! And I enjoyed it! Still put out on the lack of twineractions. It would have been so nice to see more. I want twin content.

Anyway! That bit it for the night!  Until next time!

#voltron force #vforce11 #voltron force 2011 #chibi writes #chibi watches #i never understood how a crowded music event could be about peace #but then again i don't like crowds #my anxiety keeps me in my room with music and volume I can control and no people #i feel like dotu pidge would enjoy the music festival to some degree #VLD pidge would probably find a place to sit away from people to work and listen peacefully #braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaainsssssssssssss #my twin loving heart is broken #but i can always daydream and imagine different scenarios #i now have a new idea for vf doodle set with lance and pidge interacting #for the brains episode

[forgotten-daydreamer]

in defense of Allura

Disclaimer: I do not accept any kind of hatred under this post. I expect all readers to act politely toward those who don’t share their opinion, and I expect you to expose your own ideas respectfully. Toxicity is forbidden on my blog. I don't hate any character, and this is just an analysis. Anything that stimulates a mature debate is welcomed, as long as you do it politely. Thank you!

The time has come. Long enough I’ve dwelled upon the choices that the writers of VLD have made, especially in the last seasons: in this post, I’ll focus on the decisions concerning Princess Allura. 

We were introduced to Allura in the pilot of the show, and it only took a few minutes- should I say doboshes?- to understand her overall personality. The Princess stumbled out of the pod, disoriented and confused, and only an instant later- the time necessary to snap out of her groggy state- she defended herself against a possible threat, being Lance in this case: she physically overwhelmed him with only a few rapid moves, her grip on him steady. Everything about her body language and verbal language screamed “strength”, in the following scenes as well. As she remembered about her father’s death, and about her homeplanet Altea being destroyed, the initial shock faded rather rapidly, and in a few instant she recovered from it. This doesn’t mean that if she hadn’t done it she would have been weak, not at all; it means that Allura, being a leader, knew how to put her feelings aside for a better situation, in order to better focus on the mission at hand.

It’s immediately clear to us that she wasn’t minimally interested in Lance’s advances: she considered him as a teammate, and later as a dear friend, but nothing more than that was  shown in the first seasons. When Lance got badly injured, she didn’t seem too worried- though she immediately jumped into action to secure the perimeter. A couple of episodes later, when Lance exited from the healing pod, she spoke to the teen kindly, relieved that he was alright. Yet, this is not a sign of being in love: all of us would be happy if a friend of ours who was at risk was said to be finally out of the woods. 

Allura was very practical, focused on her mission: she wanted to save the universe at all cost. At the beginning, her continuous arguments with the paladins may have given the impression that she was annoying and too strict, but she was simply driven by passion and desire to prove to everyone, herself included, that she could do the right thing for the universe. Though she never made it explicit, it was obvious that Allura cared about the opinion that the others had about her (even when she simply insisted on thanking the Arusians) because she tried to overcome her own insecurities by making herself as useful as possible to the cause. Even when she “just” flew the Castleship, she always offered her support and ideas to improve training, strategies and team bonding. 

Throughout the seasons, we learnt that Allura had the tendency to blame herself, like when she thought that the Galra were tracking the team through her, for example. Allura also threw herself into battle if it meant saving the others, like when she pushed Shiro out of the way and ended up prisoner, or when she saved the Balmera and risked her own health, pushing herself too far to do the right thing and help the innocents that she couldn’t protect during the 10’000 years of absence. So, according to the evidence we had collected in the first seasons, Allura was selfless and caring, despite everything. 

And then, just when we thought we’d seen it all, Allura became the paladin of the Blue Lion of Voltron (I’ll talk about this event in Lance’s p.o.v. in a different post, don’t worry). She was uncertain at first, but ready to dive head-first into the battle, willing to learn and improve her skills. Being an Altean, she immediately connected with Blue, and everything seemed rather easy; though at the beginning her piloting skills weren’t the best, she learnt in the matter of a single episode, and if you don’t consider it quick learning, then I don’t know what it was. Added to that, Allura was also talented, “progressing a lot faster than any of [the other paladins]”, as Lance said some time later.

When Keith confessed his Galra lineage, her attitude towards him was childish, but it was how someone would have normally reacted in a similar situation. People often have a hard time accepting someone that is unwillingly part of a group whose members caused them any harm; it’s one of the principles of racism, and that’s a synonym of ignorance as well. Human minds work like that, because we all tend to associate trauma with a certain group of people, or day, or any other input: it’s despicable, and sadly most people think like that. Luckily for all the Allura stans (me included, though I stan all the main characters of this show) she overcame this issue quickly. What I like about it was that she didn’t brush it off, but she apologised to Keith in person, evidently mortified for her behaviour, and after that she moved past it, accepting her friend and overcoming their differences happily. Mature people apologise, while childish ones pretend that their mistakes didn’t happen: by making amends for her mistake, Allura showed us just how mature she is for a 18/22 year-old (we do not have an official age, so my guess is as good as yours). 

Things seemed to be going well for her: she learnt how to better manipulate quintessence, she gave Keith space when he needed to find Shiro after his mysterious disappearance, she learnt how to better pilot her Lion and so on and so forth. It was all going well, until Lotor’s arrival: then, it all started to go downhill.

Lance became inexplicably obsessed with her again, and at the same time, Lotor slowly  manipulated Allura. Now, I don’t personally like Lotor since he willingly commits genocide for his own purposes, but I will not dwell further on the topic for it’s not my main discourse now.

Lotor tricked the Princess into believing him, she played into his hands, blinded by love. Mind that when I wrote “love”, my left eyebrow rose impossibly high. In fact, Allura had never shown to be interested in love; surely enough, she was romantically (and sexually, apparently) interested in people as we have witnessed, so the possibility of a love interest wasn’t odd at all. It was just sudden. Too sudden, for my personal opinion. 

The problem I have with Lotura (Lotor x Allura, and I specify because I had to google the ship name) is that it’s based on nothing. The team was wholly against Lotor, except for Shiro who was not himself, quite literally. Allura never gave any impression of trusting people easily: not only when Keith said that he was half Galra, but also when Shiro begged her to trust Ulaz. She was hesitant and not happy about having someone she didn’t trust on board. Thus, her sudden burst of trust toward Lotor was odd, especially when it was quite obvious to most of the audience that the Galra prince was not telling the whole truth. I also wish that we got to see more interactions between Pidge and Allura and Hunk and Allura in s6 and beyond, since they rarely talked anymore despite being on the same team. Even Allura’s interactions with Coran were so diminished in number that they looked like complete strangers in the second half of the series, and it hurt. 

I mark this point as the start of Allura’s downfall: from iconic character to mere love interest, which is not wrong at all per se, but it is when any other trait and development is purposefully ignored and forgotten by the writers “for the sake of the story”.

Thankfully, Allura seemed to recover quickly after Lotor’s betrayal (the scene when she flips him like a coin? Priceless), declaring all of her hatred towards the cruelties he’d committed and how he let her down irreparably. One good thing that Lotor did- and I have to admit that it was good-  was that he made Allura discover new abilities and become stronger, powers-wise speaking. Yet, all of this was secondary to her being a love interest with no other apparent purpose. Why do I say this? Because as soon as she got rid of Lotor, she got together with Lance, and to be honest it’s not quite clear to me how or why. 

I can’t deny that when I watched s1, I was an Allurance shipper; I was sixteen, a hopeless goofball who believed in all the clichés. Now, however, I do realize that Lance’s advances were annoying and obnoxious (and he’s my absolute favourite character, so this shows you just how honest I’m being, hopefully), and that I’m so grateful that Allura didn’t give in. At least, she didn’t do it at the beginning. In the last season, however, she fell in love with Lance in a single episode: when he asked her out, she seemed hesitant and only accepted because Romelle pushed her to give it a try. The dinner sequence was where Allura understood that Lance wasn’t the womanizer she thought he was, but I don’t believe that in reality that would have changed anything. You don’t simply fall in love in one evening only because your date’s family tells you that this person isn’t what they seem; in fact, that would worry me even more, personally, because it would mean that my date is a total stranger.

Lance’s “I love you” was not completely uncalled for, but simply very confusing: he seemed to be over her, but he became jealous when Lotor showed up. I tried so hard to see this as a “protective brother/friend” dynamic, but that sentence leaves no space for speculation (again, I’ll talk about Lance another time). What shocked me was Allura reaction’s to Lance’s confession.

She’d never looked at him with any kind of romantic interest, and even if some scenes may be seen as such (when she resuscitates him. And proceeds to hide it from the team. Yeah, another huge disastrous plotline), it’s undeniable that the Princess had trust-issues, and for a good reason too. That one time that she went against her team’s choice and trusted Lotor a bit too much, she got used and heartbroken. So why was she suddenly so in love with a boy that she’d always treated as nothing more than a good friend? My answer is: bad writing.

If Allura had shown any romantic interest in Lance for at least three consecutive seasons out of eight- to create a deeper connection- I would have taken it without complaining much. If Lotor hadn’t committed genocide and didn’t proceed to use Allura, I would have accepted Lotura too (friendly reminder that I don’t do ship hate unless ships involve rape, pedophilia and incest. So I’m not hating on Allurance and Lotura, though Lotor is a villain and I don’t like him, but that’s just my opinion). If Allura was allowed to be both strong and romantically interested in anyone, I would have taken it. But especially in s8, the writers erased her personality, turning a bright and iconic character into dating material. It wasn't fair to her nor to Lance, honestly.

The last straw was her sacrifice: Allura died to save the universe and since it was her main goal, I’m okay with it, though it hurt as she’s my second favourite character. What I didn’t like about it was that the villains got a happier ending than she did. Lotor, who committed genocide, got to live happily ever after with his parents, a violent conqueror and an abusive hag who ripped the universe apart to be with her son (I get it, mothers love their kids, but this is far too extreme). And furthermore, Lotor didn’t even like his parents, but still for some reason he was happy to be with them again, maybe because at least he got to spend eternity with someone that loves him despite everything. 

Allura, however, died without saying goodbye to Coran, the man who stayed by her side for all their- but also ours- adventures, the one who believed in her the most and who did everything to protect her. She died without getting a last look at the universe she left behind, at the people who weren’t there in her final moments but that cared for her and vice versa (Shay, Romelle, even Krolia. Even the mice, Kalternecker and Cosmo, really). Each character had about a half a minute to say their goodbyes, except for Lance, whose goodbye was the longest but also the least impactful, in my opinion. The writers played too much with the dramatic idea of it and the result was sloppy- as much as I love dramatic scenes, this was purposeless. 

Allura’s last act of kindness- as if saving the whole universe and every existing reality wasn’t enough- was gifting Lance with the Marks of the Chosen. Though, I’m not sure how to interpret it. In a fic I recently wrote, I theorised that “Allura gave you [Lance] these marks because she knew that you had greatness within, and they can actively remind you of it in your darkest moments [...]”. Of course, I’m far from sure that this is the real reason. My question is, was there even a real reason, or did Allura give him the Marks for dramatic purposes? If so, I’m glad that it wasn’t confirmed officially, because at least we get to make our own theories that surely are more satisfying than “we wanted fans to cry more”. Still, I see those marks as scars, and I will talk about it thoroughly in Lance’s analysis. 

In conclusion, I don’t think that Allura was bad at all. I think that, in the end, she was simply badly written, which is entirely different.

s1-s5 Allura was a strong, compassionate, empowering, trustworthy, bright, lovable and fun character and for that, she deserved a better- much better- ending. She’ll always be in my heart, and I hope that future reboots will treat her right. 

I will always remember Allura dearly. As Coran said in the final episode, “Just around this table I see so many lives touched by her actions. For some of us, she was a diplomat, a teacher, a leader, and a friend. But to those of us around this table, she will always be family”. Raising an imaginary glass, I just want to say... “To Allura”.

#friendly reminder that when i say what type of ships i don't support it doesn't mean i hate the shippers. i just don't enjoy that ship. #not anti-lotor fyi #i love allura so much #my emotional support princess #she's baby uwu #but she can kick ass too òwò !! #allura #princess allura #vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender #analysis #vld analysis #lot*ra #all*rance #lance #lotor #pidge #coran #hunk #shiro #keith #kalternecker #cosmo #krolia #romelle #mice #alfor #altea #long post

[sol1056]

three contagonists in one

another two-parter anon:

...while many people [note] Lotor's lack of a relationship with Keith, I find infinite wasted potential in what could've been an interesting arc with Shiro. Both leaders, explorers, abused by the empire, and --- this was stressed for some reason in the Kral Zera episode --- both being a special object of Sendak's hatred.

You just knocked right on one of the few truly fascinating aspects of S3-S6, and one VLD seems to have completely overlooked: Lotor’s positioning as a mirror contagonist.

There’s something you’ll find in a lot of the Gundam series that I haven’t seen too many other series do, and it’s become my favorite way to flesh out a cast. Although most Gundam series have a nominal protagonist, there’s usually a core group of pilots. Each will step into the main spot for a few episodes, and each has a secondary character who acts as their foil. This is their mirror contagonist. 

I first noticed the pattern in Gundam Wing, where it was most stark. Heero had Relena, whose innocence balanced his brutal backstory yet whose political savvy balanced his ignorance of the bigger picture. Duo had Hilde, who’d become a traditional soldier while Duo acted alone. Trowa had Cathy, whose compassion and extroversion matched his detachment and isolation; Quatre had Dorothy, whose ruthlessness and game-playing echoed Quatre’s darker side. And Wufei had Sally, who refused to mope, but grabbed the bull by the horns. Even the antagonists had mirror characters.

A mirror contagonist is also an impact character: they’re the only one the protagonist can’t ignore, even when no one else can get through. Done right, it’s an intriguing way to highlight a character’s internal conflict. But boy, do mirror contagonists take a lot of planning. 

First, they must have a goal of their own, or they’re just a plot device to artificially force the protagonist into plot-movement. Some walk-on just happens to say the right thing to make the hard-headed protagonist think twice? Gee, how convenient. Nope, the mirror character must have their own trajectory, or it won’t be believable that their words/actions could shove the protagonist’s trajectory onto a new course. 

Second, as a contagonist, their trajectory may run parallel to the protagonist’s, but it must differ in the details, whether means or ends. The contagonist is a makeshift ally (as much as they align with the protagonist), but there must also be conflict, and that’s where the quasi-antagonist role comes into play.  

Third, the contagonist personifies either the lie the protagonist believes, or the truth they must accept. Since that points back to the protagonist, you really have to nail down exactly what wound lives in the protagonist’s backstory, what their self-protective lie is, and what truth they need to recognize. Otherwise you end up with a mirror character who’s more like a broken funhouse than a solid reflection. 

Really, you’re creating a secondary character who is tailored to be the only one who can force the protagonist to face the truth. If a secondary character works as a mirror/impact for multiple protagonists in your story... your protagonists need some serious switching-up in their lies, their truths, or their goals. Or all three. 

And that brings me to Lotor. 

He’s a match with Allura, by virtue of his Altean obsession, and their respective parents. He’s also clearly set up as an impact character, with his words changing Allura’s trajectory like no other character manages. He also seeks peace, with similar means (a sentient mecha) but differing goals (taking over the empire rather than dismantling it). 

Although Keith and Lotor never actually meet except for two short scenes, Lotor’s also rife with parallels to Keith. Their respective backstories are shot through with implied neglect, abandonment, distrust, and isolation; Keith’s near-obsession with Lotor underscores that parallel, of like calling to like. 

And yeah, you’re right: there’s a third set of parallels with Shiro. In terms of leadership styles, they’re both inclusive of their teams, fond to a point but always with an edge of distance. They’re strategic thinkers, rather than tactical, and they tend to take the long-range view over short-term gains. And yes, it is rather odd that Sendak seems to have especial contempt for both of them.

This is actually where my original thesis -- that Lotor would make a great mirror contagonist -- falls apart. Because it makes no sense for him to be the mirror for three separate characters. As a contagonist, yes, but to mirror each of these? I mean, we’re supposed to see Allura, Keith, and Shiro as separate entities, so creating someone so well-rounded they can mirror all three...

Lotor is actually a protagonist. 

I’ve alluded to this before, and others have come right out and said it, but this also presents somewhat of a problem. First is that this is too late in the game to be introducing major repeating characters (let alone a seventh protagonist). He should’ve been introduced --- even in passing --- no later than S2. And he should’ve at least been mentioned in S1, so we were aware of the chance he’d enter the fray. 

The second (and larger) problem is that despite being characterized as fully as a protagonist, he swings in and out of being a plot device. Frankly, it’s like the story has no idea what to do with him; he takes up too much room. (Honestly, he would’ve been an amazing protagonist by himself, but I guess that’s too much of a complete reboot to flip the tables like that.)

In S3, Lotor isn’t aligned as a true antagonist; the resulting interactions end up more like protagonists from overlapping stories. Lotor needs a goal that either opposes the team (ie, attack vs defend the empire) or competes with it (both racing to capture the same comet). 

Instead, the team is focused on defeating the empire and Lotor is like, well, whatever. The entire reason they meet is because Lotor manipulates them for his own ends, but these aren’t ends that (at that point) seem to impact the team beyond annoying them. Putting Lotor front-and-center thereby shifts the story to him, which makes the sudden swerve away from him around S4 just as jarring as the original shift to him. 

By S5, Lotor hasn’t lost that layered characterization... and the story still isn’t sure how to balance him with the paladins. He shows flashes of being a true contagonist, in that his objectives are loosely parallel to the team’s, but their ends (overthrow Zarkon) are his means, not his ends (take command of the empire). 

This is where Lotor’s positioning as a quasi-protagonist reveals some major story problems: mainly, that the core team has never expressed what will happen after. The entire coalition storyline --- from the end of S2 to the end of S4 --- drops out of sight, and in the gap, Lotor’s goals become the team’s goals. That’s not a mirror contagonist; that’s a protagonist taking over the story. 

Only one scene ever veers close to doing what it should with a contagonist, or even a mirror: have a discussion. Instead, we get Lotor saying, “this is what we need to do,” the team argues yes or no (but not why), Shiro snaps at Lance, and the debate is over. 

That closed the door on Lotor ever being more than an exposition fairy and plot device. The purpose of a contagonist is to poke holes in the heroes’ plans. Shiro and Lotor (or, in the non-clone version, Keith and Lotor) should’ve gone head-to-head over the (expected) divergence in their respective goals. 

When the story doesn’t go there, it’s a sign the team has no end-goal. There’s nothing, at that point in S5, to indicate what any of the paladins consider criteria for success. What must happen, or be in place, for the team to say the war has ended and been won? Who knows; it’s never discussed or even implied.

Without a goal on the paladins’ part, Lotor has to be stepped back: no meeting with Keith, no exploration of the parallels with Shiro. He’s limited to a plot device that enables Allura’s power-up, provokes conflict for Lance, and provides a ready-made Next Step for the paladins. That is, ‘support Lotor in reforming the empire.’ Which actually just boils down to ‘become the empire’s lackey,’ including vrepit-sa’ing people. (Ugh.) 

This, I suspect, is also the reason Lotor had to be stripped of his generals before the story let him meet the paladins; the generals would’ve been four more contagonists (one for each paladin) and the story could barely handle Lotor. It wasn’t up to interrogating each paladin’s individual reasons for being in the story, especially when 3/5ths didn’t seem to have explicit goals. 

There’s no doubt Lotor was a compelling character, with damn good personal reasons for wanting his parents overthrown. He was far more interesting, too, when he had little inclination to rule, as this implied some larger scheme separate from simply gaining power. But that also made him an awkward character for contagonist or mirror purposes. Compared to his strong motivations, the paladins became cardboard in their own story: no goals, no tensions pulling at them (other than Lance’s jealousy), no outside pressures forcing them to act, no internal needs pushing them to choose.  

The very nature of Lotor’s personal vendetta revealed, in comparison, the paladins’ complete lack of personal motivation. For that reason, he had to be reduced first to an exposition fairy, then to a plot device, and then to a pawn tossed one way then the other and finally to a villain shrieking madly. Letting him retain the strength and depth of a protagonist only made clear how little the true protagonists filled that same role. 

I should add: Shiro is the one exception to this, as anon points out. Of the team, barring possibly Allura, Shiro is the only one with a personal connection to all three major antagonists (Sendak, Zarkon, Haggar), and the only one with a personal reason to make the empire pay. Contrasting Lotor and Shiro would’ve made sense, as respective leaders, and would’ve been a strong argument with no right answer and serious emotional beats.

The story veered away, I think, because that would’ve returned Shiro’s motivations to the forefront. By S5, I suspect the EPs were already trying to downgrade Shiro and minimize his personal stakes. With Lotor’s parallels to Shiro, the easiest way for the story to dismiss Shiro’s unanswered questions was to diminish the one character whose presence could raise those questions again.

#vld #voltron #lotor #characterization #contagonists #protagonists #analysis #sol thinks about stuff

[boggled-senseless]

My VLD S8 thoughts (and thoughts on the overall show)

Alright, I just finished watching season 8 and before I say anything else, I just want to say I am very happy with the show and how everything ended.That said, I understand that obviously not everyone feels the same. Were there parts I loved? Absolutely. Were there parts I’d change? Of course. But was watching worth it? Yes.

Now, some thought under the cut (spoilers obviously):

On Season 8:

As always, the animation and storytelling was beautiful!

KEITH AND LANCE MEAN SO MUCH TO EACH OTHER

Oh my goodness I love Colleen Holt

“BEYBEY, NO”

Really liked the found footage episode. It was kind of dry/slow at parts but I think the idea was really cool!

Allurance

Also that whole date scene was B E A U T I F U L

I wish Keith and Shiro has more time together this season (especially because it was a focus of previous seasons) but I get that the producers only had so much time and space to fit things

The Paladins of Old!

The whole season had me on the edge of my seat and trying not to yell or cry (in a good “too many emotions” way)

MARKS OF THE CHOSEN

Finishing off the entire show with Shiro’s kiss was the best thing to ever happen to me

On VLD as a Whole:

I’ve been reading some posts here (a mistake, really) and while I agree with some people in terms of “I wish there was” and “why couldn’t there be”, I’m overall very happy with the show. Do I miss when season 1 first came out and everyone was positive and it was just fun? Heck yeah. But part of the problem since then is people tend to get way too seriously invested in shows like these. Everything has flaws. Everyone has different likes/needs/interests. You will always find issues and “problematic” things in any show, movie, game, book, etc., but that doesn’t mean it’s automatically bad. It’s okay to be upset, but it’s also okay to enjoy things that aren’t perfect.

I am sad there wasn’t more LGBTQA+ representation and that it wasn’t more prominent, but we also don’t know what happens behind the scenes and every company, producer, director, and CEO has their own set of “rules” they make others follow. I am on the other hand very very happy they showed Shiro’s wedding and that, despite what some think, this character was actually introduced at least at the beginning of S8 (maybe part way through S7 but it’s been a while so I can’t remember.

Now, we’ve known from the get-go that romance was never going to be the focus of the show, and for that I am happy. I also like the way the handled what they did have. I know tonnes of people wanted K/L or K/S to be cannon (I would’ve enjoyed the former) but I’m actually really happy Keith didn’t end up in a relationship. He didn’t need romance and definitely wasn’t ready for it. In fact I don’t think he’s ready for romance even at the end of the show (maybe in the post-credits stuff but that’s beside the point). Keith needed family, and that’s what he found. Lance on the other hand was always about a relationship. This was something both he and the producers excplicitly said basically when the show started. Allurance, I thought, happened naturally. She didn’t suddenly go “oh Lance I love you” but instead figured it out along the way. She started to get a long with him really well as a friend, and then after the mice told her about his crush and post-Lotor she took the time to think. They got a long really well and also their S8 date was beautful

In terms of everyone’s character arcs, I think they were handled very well.

Hunk grew so much into his current leadership role. He started as an anxious introvert who got sick just looking at a spaceship to a culinary diplomat (didn’t think I’d ever used those words together but here we are). He is there to support others and make them happy and to care. While he didn’t have tonnes of time in the limelight during the earlier seasons, he got all the pushed he needed laster on (and lots of time!)

Keith’s whole arc was very obvious and very long. It was also very early in the show so a lot of us got kind of sick of him. He is exactly where he needs to be by the end. I’m glad he was put a bit on the back burner for this season because he was still always there, and he already discovered who he was. As a leader you need to support your team, and that’s exactly what he did.

Shiro has had a lot going on (also a lot of Shiros going on but that’s what it is) and while yes, it’s been hard for him not to be directly with the team and it’s been weird having him sort of on his own, he needed an easier job and some rest. Even between season 7 and season 8, you can tell he’s really fit for the position. In S7 he was antsy and always on edge because he wasn’t in the field, but this past season he has been in control and you can tell he is at peace, and people no loonger look up to him because he is cool and the best, they look to him because they trust him and know he trusts them as well.

Allura’s whole story is tragically beautful, and while I’m obviously sad (and nearly cried) at her sacrifice, she knew that’s what she would have to do without question. Her whole purpose, her whole drive is fighting for what’s right and striving for cooperation. Yes, it would have been nice for her to have a “happily ever after” because it’s what she deserved, but she would have been restless and in her last moments, she brought everyone together, made her father proud, and gave everyone hope.

Now, I definitely think Lance deserved better, but aside from loosing Alluran, I think he’s where he needs to be. He never wanted a complicated life and missed Earth and his family like nothing else, so having him stay at home to help at the farm and being the “tour guide” for Allura’s monument is prefect. Yes, Lance has and will always be my favourite so I’m definitely biased here, but I’ve also seen a tonne of people complaining about his arc or “lack thereof” except I actually think it was handled really well. Lance didn’t have a super obvious arc like the others but it instead spanned over the entire show. Obviously he had bigger moments which led him to where he is now, but part of his issue was a lack of patience. He needed to learn how to say things and how to act without impulse and how to share the spotlight. He is a support character. His growth came alongside the growth of the others, and so I think it’s extremely fitting that he didn’t have a specific arc, but instead matured over time. He really, truly earned his Marks of The Chosen.

#vld #voltron #vld s8 #voltron s8 #voltron legendary defender #thoughts on s8 #positive voltron

[toastyzuko]

So starting this off as: I am a klance shipper hardcore. I’m queer, I want queer rep in my favorite show, simple as that. Was I disappointed we didn’t get klance content in this season?

Not at all.

Because look: this season gave us SO MUCH MORE than just that, right? There was so much happening so fast I didn’t have time to whine about my boys not being together. I’m focused all on the incredible season I just watched.

The character development? I was really happy with it! I know this fandom is notorious for saying there’s none, but that’s one of the things I think the show does really remarkably well, and I was really happy with it. Even my favorite Paladin, Hunk, got some well deserved development right off the bat! Getting to see him engineer rather than just being food boy was refreshing and appreciated. Plus, all his interactions with Pidge where they discuss science?? I love it! The show is really making an effort to show this guy is at her caliber, or at least can nearly match it (I mean, Pidge is the smartest on the team).

But other than Hunk? We saw Lance grow in a really surprising but great way. He’s more open and honest about his feelings and, even though he started off flirting shamelessly in the beginning of the season, he grew even more. We’ve seen his deep respect for the people he loves, and I think he now can truly convey that to Allura. Yeah, I think he had a little two-steps-back moment at the beginning when he was being all season one again, but hey, maybe he’s been like this behind the scenes and we haven’t gotten to see it because it hasn’t been pertinent.

I can’t even begin on Keith. Wake me up from the coma that boy put me in. Embracing his heritage, learning about his mother and father, becoming the true Black Paladin and unlocking the Black Bayard and wings? Good gravy I was ready to piss myself.

Allura? My bitch queen went OFFFFF. Y’all, I cannot say how much I love her even more. Lotor scorned her and she DEMOLISHED HIM in the best way possible. And fuck, she is so powerful now. Being able to rip into the quintessence realm and power Voltron like that high key made me cry. When she connected with all of Voltron like that, it just accentuated her place as the heart of Voltron. And reviving a human by transferring his soul? Oh my god yes.

Speaking of: Lotor. This fucker. I actually really liked where his character was taken. Yes, I would have appreciated him being more morally gray as we don’t have enough of that right now, but still. The way I see it is this: yeah, he’s technically 50/50 Altean/Galran, but even his own mother says she wasn’t there. He was raised 100% Galra with their values whether with his father or being whipped into learning by his nanny. When he was exposed in Oriande we saw him revert to his core belief of vrepit sa. He may want to embrace his Altean heritage, but he simply never had the means. The nature/nurture aspects of this show are handled very well (Keith being a great example) and I think this is just another case. Altea is there, but Galra nurture was more powerful. His ultimate demise was because he was too desperate to prove himself as something much greater than everyone believed him to be. He craved power and the quintessence exploited it. It was honestly the best way for him to go: so Power hungry that it killed him off.

And lastly, Shiro. Wow. First of all, we all fucking called clone Shiro, but I wasn’t expecting that many. Are the bodies unstable? Was Haggar under the impression he would die again? His return was incredible nonetheless. I liked how the show covered up the 84 discrepancy of “Shiro died this is is twin(?) to come take his place” while also high key referencing that fuckin mistake in the DnD ep. I’m a huge Shiro fan, but I really like that he died. It shows how deep of a connection he had with the Black Lion while dealing with the sheer trauma of the battle that, for all intents and purposes, should have killed him anyway.

As for Pidge? She got a shit ton of character development before. I love her, and I can’t wait for more, but I’m glad they focused elsewhere (Hunk!) for now. I really can’t say how much I do love her character (I see myself in her and my brother in Matt) but yeah.

Other great things (I know I should wrap this up): the animation! Holy shit, Studio Mir. The final battle in the quintessence realm had me S H O O K. The expressions were fantastic, the design beautiful. They’ve wowed me before with atla, and are doing it again with vld.

Also the detailing of Galra culture! It was fascinating to learn about what is truly an inherently violent species and the meaning behind Vrepit Sa.

ROMELLE. The whole Altean arc, really. It makes so much sense! Of course it wasn’t like all of them were on the planet when the mass destruction happened. I mean, they proved themselves beyond intergalactic travel before so it would only make sense. But just. ROMELLE. Modeled after 84 Allura as a beautiful homage and named after her cousin (sister? Niece?? Relative). High key looked like Princess Zelda but shit I was down.

Final words: this season was a masterpiece. No, there wasn’t much klance shipping fodder but I’m not honestly too mad (yet. Wait a month and I’ll be wishing my boys had their time). Personally, I don’t watch the show for just that! I get my queer shows elsewhere—I watch voltron for the quality content and animation. Would I kill for some queer content in it though? Fuck yes. Focus on the other great parts first!!

tl;dr: klance isn’t canon king (yet) but I’m not mad (yet). Character development saved the show and so did everything else.

#long post #mine #vld spoilers #vld s6 #voltron spoilers #voltron season 6 #vld #voltron #takashi shirogane #shiro #keith #lance #hunk #pidge #allura #lotor #coran #romelle

[edelwary]

So.

In this new, edited version of my theories about Voltron because I have 2 and I’m so sure I’d actually be disappointed if it’s just… Not that because that would be sick. Also they’re linked and I feel like its cool and worth pointing out : quintessence and the creatures are… Same stuff. 

I rewatched all of the fights involving the garla druids or the main bad guys aka the Father, the Son and the Unholy Witch. Lemme tell you it was long and I’m not even sure of what I got out of it, but anyways.

TL Wont Read : The real final boss is the monster of the rift, Lotor will bring it back, and Voltron need its special quintessence to kill it. 

The only thing able to kill druid is the og quintessence and some of it is inside the blades of Marmora. Also druids must have some altean blood, Haggar got her power from the rift and doing drugs is bad.

It’s all quintessence down there !

There are even more silly montages down there ! 

The Blades are the only thing able to take down the druids. I posted the thing long ago before Zarkon actually got killed by Lotor so it’s….. outdated. But I stand by my point. The druids only ever disappeared after they got touched by a blade, and it seems to be the only thing that can touch them.

One thing is that we pretty much know nothing about those space dementors, except that they don’t look very much tangible. 

Like seriously, save it from Haggar, whom I’m going to come back to, they don't even have faces ? They’re basically cloaks and claws.

My take on this is that either Haggar read naruto better than all of us and actually learned multicloning, or she created a whole order of dark magicians with weird properties.

Quick thing here, but the relationship of the druids and their claws is for the least fluctuant. My idea ? Alteans that got corrupted. After all, she had scientist at her orders; she probably called them back and quintessenced their head to give them powers. 

She’s shown to have claws when in her purple form, whereas i’m pretty sure altean don’t have claws ; plus, the druid Keith fought against was pretty chill at first, and only had normal fingers. When Keith pissed him off, boom. Claws. Kinda like Lotor.

I think, the more pissed you are, the more the creatures and your purple side take over.

And the only thing they’ve been shown to be vulnerable to are the blades. Or, if I may say, the blades’ Quintessence. It has a special color. Idk but there are so many types of quintessence in Voltron it’s a farmer’s market of lifesource.

If it sparkles it’s quintessence. But look further, honestly ; Aren’t druids and BOM two sides of the same coin ? They exist only because of Zarkon, thus because of the creatures of the rift. The both act as a support workforce, specialized in a very specific type of action. They’re like, sub-groups of the VLD. 

Somehow, as always, it’s purple vs blue. The blade have this blueish quintessence, while the druids got the magenta one.

So basically, the only way to take down a druid is to use a Blade of Marmora. If not, they do not disappear.

2) Haggar. 

When she fights Shiro, all I can see is this weird gooey plasma ; the other druid had it too ; purple and black. It looks nothing like Allura’s magic. And it only reminds me of one thing aka those frikin rift creatures. Like, they engulf stuff. They corrupt stuff.

We know she’s been exposed to the rift for so, so long. She is possessed by the rift. For real. The creatures are in her ; I tend to think her powers are mostly due to them, esp. the plama things. And she’s now corrupted, and she corrupted stuff too.

Look at Kuron. He wasn’t corrupted by the creatures fully yet, but Haggar controlling his mind sufficed to have the Black Bayard have this shape. When Zarkon actually died, it came back to its original form. Lotor, even in a normal mode, has this shape. AKA he’s possessed all the time, but when he entered the rift fully and emotions took over, boom.

One thing I want to point out is Krolia and Haggar are both moms and if I follow my ideas, they’re literally opposites and I really want to see them fight, because they’re technically nemesis ?

On the other side, Haggar and Allura. Because Allura’s magic is a mix of absorbing sparkles, and shooting lightning. The druids do shoot lightning too, which makes me think it’s their altean magic ; the black plasma, however, is the herited from the rift.

3) Is it me or something whispers when the characters are getting possessed by the RC (rift creatures). Like, I’m pretty damn sure I can hear the druids whisper, same for when Shiro’s arm changed. Also claws are a good indicator of the mood if the character doesn’t usually have them.

4) Coming back to Lotor here, but, his Sincline ship used the rift to teleport, right ? Well, the only thing that teleports are the druids. And Keith’s wolf. I’m pretty sure he sparkles when he travels, doesn’t he ? Yes he doooes. If it sparkles, it’s quintessence !

I’m convinced you teleport by using the quintessence field, and the druids do that to some extent. They just use the corrupted weird quintessence. The smoke is the same color of the creature, so yeah.

5) In fact I do not have much to say ? But I’m saying all source of evil in Voltron originated from that big ass thing of the rift, and that’s what they’ll kill in the end. 

Also, I feel like the yellow quintessence (source of life, according to Coran) is… Influenceable ? Druids turn it purple, and that creature turn it marron/red, and alive. I don’t know, but I feel like quintessence is just like, 90% of the problems of this show.

I have the feeling the big monster is just alive quintessence ? Like, he doesnt have a purpose but it originated from there ? It kinda makes me think of the spirits of the north passage in LoK. 

I think by staying in the rift, Lotor will give this thing a body, so yet another possession and I’m pretty sure this will make things hell for the paladins, but hey, thats the show. 

All in all, the big baddie is the rift creatures. Once this is sealed back, everything will be Okay !

#vld #voltron #vld theories #vld s7 #this was tiring #im not even sure of what i finished by saying #but my only point is #THE BLADES KILL THE DRUIDS #from there i just notice stuff and really just .... afdghjk #im not sooo proud but i hope it will expend your mind !! #my stuff