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looking back on voltron
Nov. 25th, 2023 04:03 pmi ended up talking about voltron with a friend of mine yesterday. he happened to bring up that i used to be into it, and i just can't help myself, everytime someone mentions voltron to me, i go on a long ramble about what went wrong with the show, what my experiences in the fandom were like, and just everything. what can i say, voltron was my big hyperfixation for a good while, so seeing it crash and burn in the way it did was quite the experience.
so now i'm thinking about voltron, and i think making a post about it would be fun.
looking back, i've come to the realization that i liked voltron because of a few specific elements and because of the idea i had of the show in my head, rather than the show as a whole.
the biggest appeal of voltron as i was watching it were shiro and keith. yes, i was a dirty sheither. their relationship was so compelling to me. something about keith's undying loyalty on shiro and shiro's faith on keith as a person. i do still think they had a really well written relationship. it just really felt like these were two characters that unconditionally loved each other. there were definitely some story beats that struck me as very romantic. their relationship was also very prone to angst, and i'm just a sucker for that. they were specifically built for me to like them, honestly.
the other big appeal, and arguably the thing that has stuck with me all these years, even more so than shiro and keith, was lotor. oh, lotor... he was one of my favorite characters and nowadays, he's the only character i think about when i think of the show. i found him so tragic. his backstory was painful, his desire to be better than his parents, the fact that he was messy and in the wrong, but still arguably better than his abusive parents were. lotor was a more interesting antagonist than zarkon ever was, honestly.
i think the voltron episode that i remember the most fondly is the one where lotor kills zarkon. it was such an intense episode and the aftermath is so interesting. the fact lotor kills his abuser and he grieves. it's devastating.
and then they just... completely got rid of all his nuance by making a sadistic weirdo, objectively in the wrong. and out of nowhere too? it would have been forgivable if it at least made sense with the way lotor had been portrayed until that point, but we hadn't seen him do anything so unhinged and cruel. he was not a good person, but definitely not to this extent, and portraying him as even less sympathetic than his abusers was... a choice.
i'm not sure i wanted lotor to be redeemed. it would have been cathartic to see lotor heal and break the cycle of abuse, but i wonder if lotor was way past that point. i'm not sure.
a character that reminds me of lotor, except with a better written character arc, is karai from tmnt 2012. karai is a messy person, that does things that don't align with the moral code of the heroes, but she's still treated as a victim. she makes bad decisions, because of the way she was raised, and she never fully moves to the side of the heroes, but the heroes also don't antagonize her as much as they do her abuser and are willing to work with her and help her when needed.
i think i would have wanted something like that for lotor. i'm not sure how exactly they would have pulled it off, but anything but what we got in canon would be better. the way lotor's character arc ended was incredibly depressing, but not even in a particularly satisfying way. it just felt really cruel and pointless.
after lotor died, i really lost faith in the show, and the ending was even more of a trainwreck. it felt like getting invested in the show was a huge waste of my time. i poured all that love and passion into this and it repays me like this? not fair.
apart from that, the fandom was a chaos. i think that's what most people remember voltron for, apart from the god awful ending. the voltron fandom was infamously toxic, and i would argue voltron really changed online fandoms for the worst. i've personally noticed fan cultures have become especially hostile ever since voltron ended, which is quite fascinating considering no one talks about voltron anymore. but regardless, if you weren't there, i promise you cannot imagine what it was like. i was in the TRENCHES. the sheith vs klance ship wars were so incredibly stupid, and looking back both sides were fairly deluded into thinking their ship was going to be canon with no real proof of it. granted, i do think the klance side of the fandom was infinitely more unhinged. thinking about those days sends shivers down my spine.
i would love to give voltron a rewatch one of these days now that i know to keep my expectations low. i think it would fix me. or make me worse, perhaps.
so now i'm thinking about voltron, and i think making a post about it would be fun.
looking back, i've come to the realization that i liked voltron because of a few specific elements and because of the idea i had of the show in my head, rather than the show as a whole.
the biggest appeal of voltron as i was watching it were shiro and keith. yes, i was a dirty sheither. their relationship was so compelling to me. something about keith's undying loyalty on shiro and shiro's faith on keith as a person. i do still think they had a really well written relationship. it just really felt like these were two characters that unconditionally loved each other. there were definitely some story beats that struck me as very romantic. their relationship was also very prone to angst, and i'm just a sucker for that. they were specifically built for me to like them, honestly.
the other big appeal, and arguably the thing that has stuck with me all these years, even more so than shiro and keith, was lotor. oh, lotor... he was one of my favorite characters and nowadays, he's the only character i think about when i think of the show. i found him so tragic. his backstory was painful, his desire to be better than his parents, the fact that he was messy and in the wrong, but still arguably better than his abusive parents were. lotor was a more interesting antagonist than zarkon ever was, honestly.
i think the voltron episode that i remember the most fondly is the one where lotor kills zarkon. it was such an intense episode and the aftermath is so interesting. the fact lotor kills his abuser and he grieves. it's devastating.
and then they just... completely got rid of all his nuance by making a sadistic weirdo, objectively in the wrong. and out of nowhere too? it would have been forgivable if it at least made sense with the way lotor had been portrayed until that point, but we hadn't seen him do anything so unhinged and cruel. he was not a good person, but definitely not to this extent, and portraying him as even less sympathetic than his abusers was... a choice.
i'm not sure i wanted lotor to be redeemed. it would have been cathartic to see lotor heal and break the cycle of abuse, but i wonder if lotor was way past that point. i'm not sure.
a character that reminds me of lotor, except with a better written character arc, is karai from tmnt 2012. karai is a messy person, that does things that don't align with the moral code of the heroes, but she's still treated as a victim. she makes bad decisions, because of the way she was raised, and she never fully moves to the side of the heroes, but the heroes also don't antagonize her as much as they do her abuser and are willing to work with her and help her when needed.
i think i would have wanted something like that for lotor. i'm not sure how exactly they would have pulled it off, but anything but what we got in canon would be better. the way lotor's character arc ended was incredibly depressing, but not even in a particularly satisfying way. it just felt really cruel and pointless.
after lotor died, i really lost faith in the show, and the ending was even more of a trainwreck. it felt like getting invested in the show was a huge waste of my time. i poured all that love and passion into this and it repays me like this? not fair.
apart from that, the fandom was a chaos. i think that's what most people remember voltron for, apart from the god awful ending. the voltron fandom was infamously toxic, and i would argue voltron really changed online fandoms for the worst. i've personally noticed fan cultures have become especially hostile ever since voltron ended, which is quite fascinating considering no one talks about voltron anymore. but regardless, if you weren't there, i promise you cannot imagine what it was like. i was in the TRENCHES. the sheith vs klance ship wars were so incredibly stupid, and looking back both sides were fairly deluded into thinking their ship was going to be canon with no real proof of it. granted, i do think the klance side of the fandom was infinitely more unhinged. thinking about those days sends shivers down my spine.
i would love to give voltron a rewatch one of these days now that i know to keep my expectations low. i think it would fix me. or make me worse, perhaps.
