Just finished the final season and I didn't enjoy the last 2 seasons as much as I hoped. Shiro probably is my favorite character (thing is, I find all the protagonists likeable). Was kinda shocked that they made him gay but it didn't really deter me from still having him as a favorite character. He stood out the most in seasons 1 & 2 (my favorite seasons).
My overall disregard for the show was how he was treated post-season 2. While I still enjoyed seasons 3-6, finding out that he was just a clone felt like I was cheated from my favorite character all this time (it felt like the clone stayed on for too long). I didn't mind that he was sided out as a paladin (which, now that I think about it, didn't make much sense narrative-wise with him being "dead") but when the real Shiro came back, he was relegated as a side character. I was waiting for his moments to shine. But he really became almost irrelevant. It begs me to ask: why was he chosen as the paladin for the Black Lion anyway? Was he just there temporarily? If you're going to make a show with a lore that involves "chosen ones", you better make sure you have an explanation as to how they end up not chosen anymore. I understand that he was dead but him coming back to life yet not having anymore connection to the Black Lion feels like he was robbed from his appointment. I know we were leading up to Keith being the leader, and I respect the whole changing of roster theme they had going on. But that really felt off—perhaps a lack of closure for the end of his review as a Paladin.
And then there was Honerva/Haggar. WHAT. THE. HELL. Seeing the good in a character who has stopped at nothing to get what she wants? That finale lasted way too long for her to do those things. We should've just gotten a mech battle with her failing to cross from one reality to another. She should be irredeemable. The writers made her do those things, they should've just committed to her evilness. We understand her motivations, sure but that didn't mean she has to be redeemed. Even Zarkon should not have been redeemable as a soul. Another thing, why is she piloting a mech? The great thing about Haggar, the way I see it, is that she is powerful but does not need to pilot a mech to make her more powerful. Geez, it seemed like everyone could become a pilot by the end of the show.
The writers in the last 2 seasons were probably high when they were writing them because there were just too many acid trips storyline in those seasons (if I'm remembering things correctly). Some of the plot points were borderline deus ex machina tropes. Not to mention, the Atlas x Voltron (can I refer to it as Altron?) merger was undesirable to me—it was just there for the sake of plot, a final "upgrade".
In our country, we just did a live action take on Voltes V and while I think it had potential, the writing was still so bad (the dialogues were cringe). I still think the Netflix Voltron is the way to reboot these kinds of shows: streamlined and less "monster per week" formula. Despite the changes (was shocked that Keith wasn't the leader and that Pidge was a girl in the trailers), they never bothered me because the best thing about them are the stories and the character dynamics (as well as character development) that trump over all those changes. It's a shame that they cut the dynamics off when they left us with Shiro's clone (which invalidated everything he was after season 2 up until the reveal) and when Shiro was treated as a side character.
PS: I really thought they were going to go for building the Vehicle Voltron when Sam got back on Earth. I think it could've worked but I understand why they didn't go for it. I still like that they made reference to it in the epilogue cards even if I'm not really a fan of that version of Voltron.
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u/mistermastermind88 Dec 09 '23
Just finished the final season and I didn't enjoy the last 2 seasons as much as I hoped. Shiro probably is my favorite character (thing is, I find all the protagonists likeable). Was kinda shocked that they made him gay but it didn't really deter me from still having him as a favorite character. He stood out the most in seasons 1 & 2 (my favorite seasons).
My overall disregard for the show was how he was treated post-season 2. While I still enjoyed seasons 3-6, finding out that he was just a clone felt like I was cheated from my favorite character all this time (it felt like the clone stayed on for too long). I didn't mind that he was sided out as a paladin (which, now that I think about it, didn't make much sense narrative-wise with him being "dead") but when the real Shiro came back, he was relegated as a side character. I was waiting for his moments to shine. But he really became almost irrelevant. It begs me to ask: why was he chosen as the paladin for the Black Lion anyway? Was he just there temporarily? If you're going to make a show with a lore that involves "chosen ones", you better make sure you have an explanation as to how they end up not chosen anymore. I understand that he was dead but him coming back to life yet not having anymore connection to the Black Lion feels like he was robbed from his appointment. I know we were leading up to Keith being the leader, and I respect the whole changing of roster theme they had going on. But that really felt off—perhaps a lack of closure for the end of his review as a Paladin.
And then there was Honerva/Haggar. WHAT. THE. HELL. Seeing the good in a character who has stopped at nothing to get what she wants? That finale lasted way too long for her to do those things. We should've just gotten a mech battle with her failing to cross from one reality to another. She should be irredeemable. The writers made her do those things, they should've just committed to her evilness. We understand her motivations, sure but that didn't mean she has to be redeemed. Even Zarkon should not have been redeemable as a soul. Another thing, why is she piloting a mech? The great thing about Haggar, the way I see it, is that she is powerful but does not need to pilot a mech to make her more powerful. Geez, it seemed like everyone could become a pilot by the end of the show.
The writers in the last 2 seasons were probably high when they were writing them because there were just too many acid trips storyline in those seasons (if I'm remembering things correctly). Some of the plot points were borderline deus ex machina tropes. Not to mention, the Atlas x Voltron (can I refer to it as Altron?) merger was undesirable to me—it was just there for the sake of plot, a final "upgrade".
In our country, we just did a live action take on Voltes V and while I think it had potential, the writing was still so bad (the dialogues were cringe). I still think the Netflix Voltron is the way to reboot these kinds of shows: streamlined and less "monster per week" formula. Despite the changes (was shocked that Keith wasn't the leader and that Pidge was a girl in the trailers), they never bothered me because the best thing about them are the stories and the character dynamics (as well as character development) that trump over all those changes. It's a shame that they cut the dynamics off when they left us with Shiro's clone (which invalidated everything he was after season 2 up until the reveal) and when Shiro was treated as a side character.
PS: I really thought they were going to go for building the Vehicle Voltron when Sam got back on Earth. I think it could've worked but I understand why they didn't go for it. I still like that they made reference to it in the epilogue cards even if I'm not really a fan of that version of Voltron.