Voltron Legendary Defender Thoughts and Opinions (and What I Wished Could've Happened in the Show)
I have to say with all the criticisms this show received at the time that it aired and still does to this day, (some valid, some bordering on conspiracy) I enjoyed Voltron Legendary Defender in it's entirety from beginning to end. Yes, that includes the heavily divisive and critiqued seasons 7 and 8. I enjoyed all the characters quirks and flaws with Keith and Allura being my favorites. I was curious to see what direction the story was going to go in and was pretty satisfied. I even thought Allurance was a cute ship.
That being said there are plenty of things that I wished the show had done differently.
Keith Should've Remained the Black Paladin from the Moment the Black Lion Chose Him After Shiro's Disappearance.
I have heard that Steven Yeun Keith's voice actor was still bound by his prior commitments hence why he couldn't voice Keith as frequently in the later seasons after seasons 1-3. That being said, I would've loved to see Keith, at his own pace, grow into the role of the Black Paladin. Instead of leaving and joining the Blade of Marmora where his leadership arc was happening off screen, Keith should've stayed with the paladins and been shown struggling at first to accept being the Black Paladin until he eventually comes to embrace it. He still goes about leading the team in his own way but develops leadership qualities that rival Shiro's leadership abilities. This leads me into my next point.
As Much As I Like Shiro, the Writers Should've Stuck To Their Guns and Given Him the Axe.
I know what people are going to say, "But Shiro and representation!!!" Not to mention, more behind the scenes drama involving creating merch off of Shiro's popularity as a character. Once again I'm looking at this from a narrative standpoint. A lot of Keith's issues stems from the fact that he doesn't trust anyone because of how high his mental walls are from his deep fear of being abandoned. The only exception is Shiro, the only person who has given him a fair shot. However if that had been taken away, Keith would've been put into a situation where he had to gradually learn to trust and rely on his fellow paladins and vice versa. He would've developed a stronger bond with them over time and allowed his walls to come down around them.
I'll use Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6 as an example. He shared a very close bond with his older brother Tadashi Hamada but got himself into trouble constantly through illegal bot-fighting in spite of that bond. Hiro was also closed off when it came to interacting with other people outside of his brother. It would take losing Tadashi to jumpstart Hiro's character arc. He would learn to rely on Tadashi's friend group and his creation Baymax in order to move forward and grow as a character. Tadashi, also, has remained axed ever since the release of the movie with fanfiction being the only way to keep him alive.
This is what I would've like to see happen to Keith. I wanted him to learn to rely on other people, and the best way that could've happened was to remove Shiro.
Now I will move on to my next point and that is in regards to the Lion switch.
Lance Should've Stayed With The Blue Lion and Allura Should've Piloted The Red Lion
I am fully aware that this iteration of Voltron is a reboot of the 1984 anime Voltron Defender of the Universe where Allura and Lance piloted the Blue Lion and Red Lion respectively and the reboot honored that continuity. However, the Lance and Allura of DOTU are very different characters to the Lance and Allura of VLD.
When Lance was first given the Blue Lion, it had to do with the fact that Lance has a very free-spirited personality similar to the Blue Lion. The Blue Lion also serves as a teacher to her paladins and helps the paladin in question to reach their full potential. I don't think that Lance had reached his full potential in terms of a character arc by the third season and should've stayed with the Blue Lion, not just because of his strong bond with Blue, but because Blue would help Lance through his insecurities.
Allura needed to become the paladin of the Red Lion not because her father King Alfor was the Red Lion's original paladin, but it would help her character arc come full circle. Allura spent a large majority of season 2 being extremely distrustful of the Galra due to what they did to her race and the 10,000 years worth of suffering that they wrought upon the universe. Even discovering that there were some good Galra didn't move her to immediately trusting them. Everything came to a head when it was discovered that Keith was half-Galra. She treated him with a coldness, barely talked to him, and would look at him with a steely gaze. She would eventually put her distrust away when being reminded of Keith's commitment as a paladin of Voltron even at the cost of his life and apologize to him. The moment Shiro disappeared, Allura was quick to give Keith compassion and comfort over his loss all the while reminding him what was at stake.
Allura showing her support of Keith being the Black Paladin would be the moment that the Red Lion would take to Allura being her paladin but she wouldn't make things easy for her either; especially keeping in mind how she treated Keith, her previous paladin. It would take Allura displaying humility by acknowledging the harsh treatment of Keith and truly recognizing that it was wrong and supporting Keith, a half-Galra as the Black Paladin for the Red Lion to fully accept her. This moment would parallel King Alfor accepting Zarkon as the Black Paladin in spite of being the Lions' creator thus becoming Voltron's right hand. Allura would fill that role in the same way her father did thus allowing her character arc to come full circle.
My next point will be in regards to shipping.
Kallura and Plance Should Have Been Endgame From A Narrative Perspective
First I want to say that I'm a big Kallura shipper as you can see by the blog and although I'm not a huge Plance shipper, I do think it is cute. So, I'm going to look at why these ships should've been endgame for the story's sake.
Keith and Allura are a legacy ship that has existed in many iterations of Voltron. VLD would've stood out the most due to how different this particular version is. Here we have younger versions of these legacy characters that have been through many trials in their lives: Keith never knowing his mother and losing his father and later Shiro giving him trust issues out of fear of abandonment, and Allura having her entire race destroyed by the Galra and witnessing the suffering they have continued to cause for 10,000 years thus creating a deep distrust of them. They were put into positions where they had to grow up fast and assume leadership positions that they weren't ready for. In spite of all of that, they continue to hold their heads up high as they are able to see the bigger picture and are even willing to sacrifice themselves if it means the survival of the entire universe.
What really sales their relationship is they do everything they can to provide support to each other with the most stand out moment in the show being The Ark of Taujeer A.K.A the Kallura episode where they believed that leaving the Castle of Lions would keep Zarkon from tracking them and the other paladins down. Even when Allura began treating Keith coldly after finding out he was half-Galra, even though it stung, Keith didn't try to force her to change her viewpoints since he understood where she was coming from. On Allura's side, once she was reminded of Keith's commitment to Voltron, she immediately apologized to him even hugging him.
They would continue to support each other throughout the show in sometimes outright or subtle ways indicating their care for each other and their needs. If Keith hadn't left, their support of each other would have the potential to grow into something more. This could serve as the basis for their relationship to turn into something romantic.
Moving on to Lance and Pidge they share a lot of things in common: they love to play video games and have fun in general, can be stubborn to a fault, and value their families above all else and long for the day they will reunite with them. They also know how to keep each other in their place especially on Pidge’s part when reining in Lance’s tendencies. My hope for Lance is that he would realize that he thought he wanted to be with Allura but what he actually needed was right in front of him the whole time and that was Pidge.
My next point will be about Prince Lotor and it'll be a point Lotor fans won't like.
Prince Lotor Didn't Need To Be Redeemed; The Writers Needed To Embrace Lotor Being A Villain (Or Exploring His Rivalry With Keith)
Prince Lotor was presented as a victim of his upbringing at the hands of his father, Zarkon and, to a degree, by his mother Haggar/Honerva. As a result, fans believe that he should've been allowed to go down the path of redemption reminiscent of Prince Zuko's redemption in Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, it is my personal opinion that not every villain needs to have a redemption arc. There's a reason why classic Disney villains like Jafar, Scar, Gaston, Ursula and many others have stood the test of time. They were entertainingly evil and fun to hate on. I would've loved if Lotor had been given that same treatment by the writers thus making him a memorable villain.
If the story had gone the full villain Lotor route, I could imagine Lotor would try to form his own coalition that would serve as a rival to the Voltron Coalition; thus creating his own group of supporters to stand against Voltron as a whole. This would create a huge conflict for the Voltron Coalition as the paladins would have a hurdle to overcome when it comes to liberating planets under Galra control. Lotor would also have the freedom to use his Robeast, the Sincline, a lot sooner to get into many battles with Voltron creating even more conflict.
However, Lotor being portrayed as a secretly manipulative villain like in the show would allow his rivalry with Keith to be played upon. Lotor would try to remind Keith of the fact the he and Keith share the commonality of being half-Galra and thus being ostracized for it. He would try to convince Keith that he wants to see a new era of peace with a newly-reformed Galra empire under his rule, Keith would either still be very guarded around Lotor or try to give Lotor a chance, especially for Allura's sake. Allura would still fall for Lotor while helping him find ways to rebuild Altean culture while reigning the Galra Empire into a new era of peace. When the inevitable betrayal happens with the reveal of the Altean colony and Keith meeting his mother Krolia in the process, the conflict between Lotor and the paladins would reach its peak in one more final battle like in the show.
This leads into my next point where the show would reach its point of conclusion.
The Final Season of Voltron Should Have Concluded On Earth and Allura Shouldn't Have To Sacrifice Herself
The show had always built up since the earlier seasons that inevitably Earth was going to be invaded. The only difference would be instead of Earth already being invaded while Voltron had gone "missing" for three years, the paladins will have already reached the Earth and though some persistence on their part would be needed in order to convince the Garrison to prepare for an invasion, preparations would be made. The allies that they gained after liberating them from Galra control would also provide their support as well.
When the invasion does happen, Sendak and his forces would be leading the charge as well as Lotor and his forces. The Voltron Coalition would have twice the trouble to deal with when protecting Earth. However, with the allies they've built up whilst defending the universe, they would be able to make a final stand against the remaining Galra forces.
With the support of the paladins, Allura would not be put into a situation where she would have to sacrifice her life. After everything that, she has experienced in terms of all the suffering that has been wrought upon the universe by the Galra, with their defeat, she would finally be able to experience true, genuine peace with those she cares about and have formed strong bonds with. Most importantly, she would realize that Keith has been there for her since the very beginning through the good times and bad and would realize she is in love with him. The story would conclude with the invading Galra forces defeated and peace restored throughout the universe.
In conclusion, Voltron Legendary Defender was already a good show with some interesting concepts and lots of potential. These are the thoughts I wanted to share that could possibly improve upon that potential.
Feel free to agree or disagree.
