(Tiger anon again.) The only thing that would bring me back into watching canon (and purchasing merch like, say, the comics and ALL the Shiro-BP and Allura gear) is retconning s7-s8 by reestablishing Shiro as BP, the OG Lions Lineup, and Allura NOT Being Freaking DEAD (but very much alive and well and badass. And the Lion Goddess/coleader again.) ...Jiro still being alive/getting Twinganes (or at least mourned!) is prolly too much to hope for. Until then? Fixit with Twinganes, Cloneganes, & Sven
I just read it somewhere (I think it was an ask to @ptw30) and I don’t think its much of an exaggeration at all to say that making Shiro Black Paladin in seasons seven and eight would have fixed almost everything. Not completely everything because we still need a good resolve for Lotor as well as the clone and Allura needs to Not Die but signs in the story point to those having been in the cards as well until the EPs decided to break the story in order to sideline Shiro and going for ‘dark and edgy’ (in a way that was certainly dark but not the least bit edgy).
I’m not going to lie. At this point, @dreamworksanimation is in the negatives when it comes to my trust as a viewer. Which is - bad. Most shows start off in the neutral and then earn their way with a viewer’s trust or else fail too and the viewer simply changes the channel to something they like better. Starting in the negative means that I have no reason to even check out anything they do in the first place, much less tune into it long enough to let it earn positive karma with me. They can tell me they’re going to do better the next time but if I don’t even show up to see the proof than it still does neither one of us any good. At this point, I’m not even sure @voltron knows what it did wrong with the story (hint, it wasn’t shipping related). The internet gives me access to a huge ocean of entertainment options. There is no reason at this point for me to bother wait around for Dreamworks to perhaps figure their shit out with Voltron when I’ve got other companies that already have their shit figured out and are, currently, right now, in this instant, willing to show me their product and take my attention and my money. The Voltron name brand wasn’t enough to keep me watching Voltron Force when it came out and its not enough to get me watching anything now. In fact, the brand name of Voltron has actually managed to go from something that I would be curious about thanks to past associations and turned into something I would actively avoid due to past associations. Dreamworks gets to ride in that same cart since they’re the ones that signed off on the EPs and let them steer the story the way they did, whether through ignorance or carelessness.
I can’t say I would never come back. If nothing else Voltron: Legendary Defender has left a rather large hole when it went down in flames and a part of me would really very much like some kind of closure. But the problem with that is - I don’t want a reboot. I don’t want to see someone else’s ‘new’ take on the Shiro I knew, or the Allura I grew so fond of, or several of the rest of the team I want closure and actual arcs for. I want this Shiro to get the story he deserved. I want this Allura to get her triumph and find a family with this team. I want this team to come together and find they’re each others found family. I want these lions to claim their original line up paladins and love them the way they did in the first two seasons. Giving it to me in a retelling with new characters isn’t satisfying (and frankly, why would I invest in brand new characters a second time with the same company that showed me just how little they value their characters or their fans. Fool me once - shame on you. Fool me twice - shame on me.). I don’t want a retelling. I don’t want a ‘new’ Shiro.
But how would they fix VLD in such a way that would draw out the rot considering how deeply its worked its way down into the very story itself by this point? Would it be enough to erase the distrust and justifiably leery feeling I have about going on that ride a second time? The first time I went on it, it started out fun and worth my time too but look at how it ended. Why would I risk that a second time? I’m not even sure Dreamworks realizes how badly off the rails the story went or how vile the treatment of the characters was and how utterly rotten the messages the story sent were. In an entire ocean of other entertainment, what would be enough to make me give that all a second chance?
The answer, if you’re paying attention @dreamworksanimation and @voltron is the characters. I do love a lot of VLD’s characters. In its early seasons, VLD gave us some wonderful characters, some honestly deep and intriguing characters that I grew to care deeply about very quickly, characters that invested me in the story, the universe and the show itself, characters I was eager to watch grow and develop and triumph at the end. Hell, I stayed through the trash fire that was the last two seasons just in the hopes of seeing something good for those characters. Now, how do you parlay my love of the characters into something that will draw me back and get me, knowing I’m already distrustful of your ability to even tell a basic story properly, re-invested in the product, brandname and story?
I don’t know @dreamworksanimation and @voltron. That’s your job to figure out. I’ve spent enough time already filling in your shitty plot holes with meta just so your basic story will make sense. You do the work for a change.
