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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

Voltron: Legendary Defender - General Discussion

Meredith Quill
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Potanical Pardon

Potanical Pardon

(edited)

This was the first IP and bit of pop-culture that began to define my tastes at age four. I remember having to go spend that summer abroad and all I could speak and breathe was Voltron. Luckily, I was in Asia and my older cousins allowed me to irrationally talk them into renting the VHS of all the Voltron episodes available at the time every day for months - we had to trek miles just for that one video store everyday. Oddly, much later in life I'd discover that Voltron was really two different Japanese shows turned into one in America making up different storylines, but I guess even the American version made its way back to over there since I am 100% sure it was "Voltron" and not GoLion nor Dairugger XV that I watched. I think I read an article once where the original guy in the US who wanted to adapt the show here, didn't know the name of the show nor understood it and the best he could do was convey that he wanted "the cartoon with the lions". As the story goes, he actually meant some complete different show, but the Japanese studio sent him over GoLion instead. Then he just rolled with it.

Edited by Potanical Pardon
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starri

starri

(edited)

Maybe I should give the show the benefit of the doubt, but the gender politics here kind of bother me.  The rotation of the characters--Lance to the Blue Lion, Keith to the Red Lion, and Shiro/Sven to the Black Lion--makes it feel less likely that Allura is going to end up piloting one of them.  They made too much hay about Keith being fated for the Red Lion to make it seem like he would replace Shiro if/when he leaves, and they'd have to do a hell of a lot of character development to make him seem "worthy" of being the leader.  Maybe the show will surprise me, and Allura will end up in the Black Lion, but somehow I don't think so.  Also, the fact that we've only got two main female characters more broadly bothers me.

And not for nothing, but Pidge, particularly in the original, was so androgynous that they could have easily made him a girl this time.

The odd thing is, even though I remember the GoLion version better from childhood, grown man me who should not be watching this actually remembers Dairugger more fondly.

Edited by starri
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sandwoman

sandwoman

Quote

And not for nothing, but Pidge, particularly in the original, was so androgynous that they could have easily made him a girl this time.

Well there are some hints in the pilot but 

Spoiler

Pidge IS a girl! They make the big reveal at the end of episode 3 and then Pidge tells the rest of the team a few episodes later. Her real name is Katie, but she was hiding her identity.

I thought it was nicely done.

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Twilight Man

Twilight Man

"See? Even the names are great."

The one thing that I always loved about this franchise was the fact that they gave "The Lancer" the name Lance.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLancer

Lance is The Lancer. You can't make this stuff up.

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piequinn35

piequinn35

Okay I have seen all episodes in season 1. I was waiting and waiting for them to say:

Activate interlock!  Dynotherms connected! Infracells up! Mega thrusters are go! LET'S GO VOLTRON FORCE!

nope nope nope!

Allura and Koran said the first 2 only when the castle ship launched.

Anyways, this season is just fine for me (not awesome).

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magicdog

magicdog

I've only seen the first three episodes and it's not bad.  It's been forever since I'd seen the 80s series and the recent "Voltron Force" for all its imperfections was clearer in my memory.  I preferred the latter's animation style but I can understand why this reboot was done in a more anime style, and having some of the creative team members behind ATLA helps.

I think the space mice were silly - then again, I always thought that going back to the original series.  I was shocked Allura was asleep for 10 thousand years, or that Zarkon had been conquering the universe during all that time.  I would have thought one thousand years would have been a better period of time.  After 10 thousand years of conquering various civilizations would make the Galran Empire unstoppable, one would think.

The puke jokes with Hunk got old really fast.  I hope they move past this soon. 

Love the voice work here;  Finn The Human is Lance, Avatar Wan is Keith, and Spectacular Spiderman is Shiro!

 

I was surprised Princess Allura was made to look more alien than past incarnations (loved the ear shape crack against Lance!), but I respect it.  I wasn't crazy about Coran being made to act goofier than past incarnations.  

Why was Keith so obsessed with getting Shiro back to the point of risking his place in the academy for him?  At least we have a reason why Pidge was invested in his quest for his dad and brother.

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netlyon2

netlyon2

On 6/30/2016 at 4:53 AM, magicdog said:

Why was Keith so obsessed with getting Shiro back to the point of risking his place in the academy for him?  At least we have a reason why Pidge was invested in his quest for his dad and brother.

I think Keith had already been kicked out of the Academy (which is how Lance got in), so that wasn't a concern for him.

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Anna Yolei

Anna Yolei

Okay, I am way late to this topic, but I hope there are some other Voltron fans hiding in wait, away from the batshit insanity that is the Tumblr Discourse surrounding the show.

In short: it was a show that had a whole lot of untapped potential that it did not even begin to tap into. But when it was good, it was really, really good. Loved season 1 and 2 Shiro--a soldier who obvious still had a lot of PTSD and then later

the reveal about his illness that was Word of God'd as having been cloned out of him

and loved it once Keith was allowed to bond with the rest of the team.

But the last season and a half...ehhhhhhhhhh. Has some good moments, but....eh. Shiro and Keith have two lines in all of season 8, and Lance got the way short stick of development. Anyone who's spent five minutes on Tumblr knows he has a....I'll be extremely charitable and say passionate fanbase that have expressed concerns about his story that we all dismissed but W O W. Forget the epilogue, he was just...there for the last season, almost like a pod person.

IDK, It was still a fun ride. I just hope the next series is able to build on some of VLD's better updates to the franchise with a bit more focus.

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Brn2bwild

Brn2bwild

5 hours ago, Anna Yolei said:

Okay, I am way late to this topic, but I hope there are some other Voltron fans hiding in wait, away from the batshit insanity that is the Tumblr Discourse surrounding the show.

In short: it was a show that had a whole lot of untapped potential that it did not even begin to tap into. But when it was good, it was really, really good. Loved season 1 and 2 Shiro--a soldier who obvious still had a lot of PTSD and then later

  Reveal spoiler

the reveal about his illness that was Word of God'd as having been cloned out of him

and loved it once Keith was allowed to bond with the rest of the team.

But the last season and a half...ehhhhhhhhhh. Has some good moments, but....eh. Shiro and Keith have two lines in all of season 8, and Lance got the way short stick of development. Anyone who's spent five minutes on Tumblr knows he has a....I'll be extremely charitable and say passionate fanbase that have expressed concerns about his story that we all dismissed but W O W. Forget the epilogue, he was just...there for the last season, almost like a pod person.

IDK, It was still a fun ride. I just hope the next series is able to build on some of VLD's better updates to the franchise with a bit more focus.

I felt like they could have done more to acknowledge/explain why Katie/Pidge chose to remain in the disguise of a boy.  Did it make her feel more comfortable?  Did she realize that was who she really was?  Did she think the others would find it weird if she suddenly went back to long hair, etc.?

Also, Lance did seem to get awfully bland toward the end.  I feel bad that his relationship with Allura ended tragically (unless Allura is actually still alive), but I could never buy them as a couple.  

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Anna Yolei

Anna Yolei

On 2/21/2019 at 8:21 AM, Brn2bwild said:

I felt like they could have done more to acknowledge/explain why Katie/Pidge chose to remain in the disguise of a boy.  Did it make her feel more comfortable?  Did she realize that was who she really was?  Did she think the others would find it weird if she suddenly went back to long hair, etc.?

I know the RL reason was cuz TPTB didn't want to do a mid-series re-design, buuuuuuuut...yeah, I would've liked that. Pidge's mom mentioned in season 8 that she was not one who loved shopping nor were her pre-Kerberos outfits particularly girly besides the dress she wore to see Matt off.

She was also the only girl Lance never flirted with, which kinda made me hope for a swerve on the Allura thing and would've been totally cute, but....no 😞

On 2/21/2019 at 8:21 AM, Brn2bwild said:

Also, Lance did seem to get awfully bland toward the end. 

He really did. If the genders were reserved, you'd have had feminists groups shouting to the rooftops about how godawful it is to see a girl turned into a sexy lamp that exists to prop the hero up, because Lance really did very little beyond be Allura's cheerleader. I liked it better when Brittany Murphy's character in 8 Mile did it. (spoilers: I hated it).

But that scene with Coran and the study, complete with the Coran and Alfor ship fodder portrait was comedy gold. Man, he deserved better than he got, too, what with not being able to say goodbye to Allura.

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