Season Seven...
So right now I feel a little hopeless and lost. Its stupid I know and probably prompted by a lack of any meaningful sleep all alongside other personal drama I won't bore anyone with and don't wish to explain.
But Voltron. These season 7 reviews. I guess it's times like this I see I'm really not much of a multishipper at all. There's my OTP and "those other guys, gals and non binary pals" it seems. I just can't get my head around what seems to be confirmation everywhere of canonical allurance. Let me preface this by saying you ship want you want to ship if it makes you happy. I'm not anti your ship or whatever. I just have my own opinions on it and those may not gel with yours. Just don't mistake a lack of agreement with the presence of hatred. Ok? In fact, maybe some Allurance shippers out there can help me get onboard, who's to say? I mean, first off one of the things that comes to my head is that line "not what he wants but what he needs" and "someone self assured" when talking about Lance. Now we can argue till the cows come home about the canonicity of extended media. But so far it's gelled for the most part. And to me, Lance getting exactly what he always wanted doesn't seem like what he needs. Nor frankly does Allura seem self assured. A strong female character yes, but full of doubts. Reasonable and rational doubts. I mean, lets look at the story. Boy meets alien princess. Boy hits on alien princess. Alien princess shows no interest. Boy keeps hitting on alien princess. Alien princess continues to show no interest. Alien princess meets new guy, gets burned. Boy is there to comfort. [SOMETHING IN SEASON 7] Boy and Alien Princess hook up. Now to me that SOMETHING in season 7 needs to be pretty monumental to make this whole thing resonate and feel like natural progression. And even then...it doesn't feel like a satisfactory bookend to their story or indeed doesn't resonate with Lance's character growth. It just feels like the same old "keep persistent kid and one day she'll give in".
I thought we were beyond that notion. That no means no. That hanging around and developing a friendship with ulterior motives was creepy not admirable... And yes, much as I love him and much as his approach to his feelings has shifted, I can't just deny Lance HAS ulterior motives still. He has always wanted to be with Allura, has perused that since day one and that persistent attitude seems to be being rewarded as though Allura has all the agency of a prize not a person. Let's also look at Allura. Fresh out of a painful break up from a relationship that redefined her understanding of being Altean. That connected her more deeply and profoundly to her past and to her father and even her magical lineage than ever before. All to find out the person who took her on that journey was a mass murdering soul vampire. Does it really feel, in the space of say, 6 to eight episodes, that the idea of getting over that AND falling in love with someone new won't feel rushed...? It's personal and subjective. Sure. But to me...it feels like she won't be given the time she deserves to really grapple with that in a meaningful way.
I don't know. I'm struggling to articulate this meaningfully, but the idea of Lance and Allura getting together just feels like the antithesis of one if not both of their journey's. Maybe its the safe fairy tale ending of persistent boy eventually scores the princess on a rebound. Maybe Allura only pretended to show zero interest in Lance romantically for the rest of the show. Maybe Lance was never supposed to grow as a character and the only lesson he has to impart for young men is "keep at it even if she says no."
But to me that all just feels, like Lotor before it, to be a massive MASSIVE wasted opportunity in story telling. It feels like neither character really gets the satisfying end they deserve and ultimately, after the credits roll and we all get over gushing about how cute they are... The issue of Altean ages comes into play.
I know full well I'm being over analytical of a cartoon. I know most people even in the fandom won't care about this because once the show is over who cares... But for me, beyond the credits, those characters I've invested in will feel doomed. Lance, even assuming massive advances in human and Altean tech may only live for 200 years maximum. Coran considered just beyond middle aged is 600. Maybe Lance will just get kept alive by Allura's usual Deus Ex Machina? But even Voltron has NEVER shown artificial extension of life to lead to anything but madness. So to me Lance seems doomed to madness or death while Allura may live to see their great grand children die... And I can't be happy about that. Silly as it is I care about these characters too much to consider that as their eventual fate. Let Keith have Galran longevity and let he and Allura be together. Lotors nanny shows even non Rift touched Galra can live for a very long time. Give Lotor an incredible redemption arc rather than bringing him back as a bigger badder rift monster. Let the two of them reconcile. Hell, let Allura meet a nice Altean Person at the colony as she rules over a new kingdom... Just, don't doom Lance for the sake of his teenager Princess chasing fantasies...
After turning Lotor into a space vampire last season, I started to lose faith in the ability of the Voltron writers to tell a compelling and surprising story. There's still hope now that this can be undone. But to me, if things are going the way they seem to be...it feels a little like every time I put faith in them to tell a compelling story with meaningful twists and turns...they just end up defaulting to the safe route...
Honestly, right now this is the first season of Voltron that I'm not looking forward to. It feels like the make or break of the entire series for me. It feels like so much potential has been wasted. Allura and Lance getting together will, for me, just cement my disappointment. That the whole series won't end with a bang but with a whimper. And given how superb the first five seasons were...that just breaks my heart...
Feel free to respectfully disagree. I guess this is what happens when I let myself get hyped about anything. I guess at this point I'm just venting.
Oh and the whole teasing of Keith's wolf's name like it was a big deal...? Screw that. I feel like at this point hyping the fans up over literally nothing is just setting people up to be disappointed.