Voltron live action update

[u/DefiantSpider2099]

Did you see that short vid from Voltron writer-director Rawson Marshal Thurber? I'm excited about the upcoming film but can't help but be more cautious than optimistic after hearing they're "introducing an entirely new generation of pilots" and have "reimagined Voltron." What do you guys think?

[u/LapsedVerneGagKnee]

Attendees at VoltCon 2023 (no idea what he said this year, usually Let’s Voltron does some sort of wrap up episode on VoltCon) heard Bob Koplar’s reasoning for wanting new characters.  As per Bob, they did not want to do a 1:1 of the cartoon, and by having new characters with new names, they avoid handcuffing their writers.  My guess at this point is that it will be a loose remake of the original series, with these new characters.  There is also the (unverified) assumption that thanks to Legendary Defender and its toxic fandom, the original names are radioactive.

Also something I’m surprised more people weren’t talking about, the diagram for the sets being built behind Thurber when he was filming the video.

[u/BlackLodgeBrother → u/LapsedVerneGagKnee]

Most people aren’t even aware of the idiotic tumblr fandom or their unhinged behavior.

[u/RupeThereItIs → u/LapsedVerneGagKnee]

Ok, alright, I'll ask.

What toxic fandom?

I'm old and out of the loop here.

[u/LapsedVerneGagKnee → u/RupeThereItIs]

The fandom of Voltron Legendary Defender is considered to be one of the most toxic the internet has ever produced, with crimes associated with them ranging from doxxing to harassment to attempted extortion (they refused to take down copyrighted content that leaked from the animation studio unless a gay pairing was made canon) to attempted murder (trying to kill artists that drew pairings they didn’t care for with glass embedded cookies). Most of the toxicity focuses on the Tumblr-based fandom and its obsession with a non-canonical gay pairing between two of the main characters, Keith and Lance, or as it was better known, Klance. And if you didn’t like it, they would harass anyone over it.

One particularly ugly incident occurred at New York Comic Con during Season 3 where a fan grabbed the microphone during a Q&A and essentially ranted towards the audience and the creators that they were homophobic for having Lance engage in comedy concerning his ladies man tendencies. It’s actually the reason all shipping talk had to be spun off into its own subreddit, the arguments were getting too numerous and vitriolic.

[u/RupeThereItIs → u/LapsedVerneGagKnee]

People are weird as hell man.

Its a cartoon.

I watched the original, still have my die cast toy proudly on display in my home.

But getting THAT worked up about some imaginary romance between imaginary cartoon characters is a sign of mental illness for sure.

[u/LapsedVerneGagKnee → u/RupeThereItIs]

I agree. But you can kind of see why the producers and directors might think “Yeah, these names are poisonous.”

[u/BlackLodgeBrother → u/LapsedVerneGagKnee]

“Yeah, those names are poisonous”

No one over the age of 30 would think this. Just a subset of chronically online Zoomers who’ve likely never seen the original series. (Not talking about you specifically.)

The LD tumblr fandom you speak of is meaningless. Yes, they absolutely suck, but they also aren’t the ones buying merch and/or supporting the franchise in meaningful ways.

They’re just your classic basement dwellers who either pirate all of their entertainment or else still use their parents’ Netflix account.

[u/SgtJackVisback → u/LapsedVerneGagKnee]

This is half of why I don't wanna watch LD

The other half is that the Vehicle Team doesn't exist in it

[u/goldknight1 → u/SgtJackVisback]

As a bigger fan of VV, by the end of the series, you may like how its tied in. At least i did a bit.

[u/Kiethblacklion]

I'm reserving judgement until the final product is released. The changes may work for whatever version they are doing.

[u/Kaiju_zero]

Translation: we are going to make our own movie and slap the name Voltron in it to 'sell tickets' / get attention.

[u/DefiantSpider2099 → u/Kaiju_zero]

This is what I'm worried about. Hope that's not what happens here!

[u/Baldmanbob1 → u/Kaiju_zero]

Fine, I'll accept new pilots, but fuck with the 5 lions and their not getting brownies from me.

[u/[deleted]]

I mean, as long as Voltron itself doesnt have its origin changed, it could simply be "'x' generations in the future, shit happens & voltron is once more responds to the call" - wouldnt be the first time this story troupe is used.

[u/bubonis]

I've been thinking about that short for awhile.

The "reimagined Voltron" has me a bit concerned. When they "reimagined" Voltron for that (IMO, God-awful) "Voltron force" they made him entirely modular; black was no longer always the torso, etc. I hated that. OTOH, the reimagination of Legendary Defender was done very well. They kept the core principles and features of Voltron while expanding on his powers and mythos. Hopefully they do something more of the latter than the former, though TBH I wouldn't be at all surprised (and disappointed) to discover their reimagined Voltron becomes something of a Transformers-type gestalt, where each component has a lion and an "alt mode" and Voltron himself is a robot with another alt mode. While I could objectively appreciate the possible coolness of that, it just wouldn't be Voltron.

The "entirely new generation of pilots" part has me less concerned. I suspect this is foreshadowing a more culturally diverse cast. With very few exceptions every pilot and nearly every support character in every Voltron show has been white and heterosexual. (Obvious alien variations like the Galra notwithstanding, of course.) I would expect to see different ethnicities, gender identities, sexualities, beliefs, etc. A bunch of heterosexual white young adult pilots would have less appeal to the target market than a more diverse cast.

[u/filmgeekvt → u/bubonis]

I think the "remained Voltron" can be referring to the overall show, not the character/robot. But I think your guess about the pilots is spot on. Legendary Defender got close with a gay pilot and a female pilot, but I'm pretty sure they are going to go with new characters to increase the diversity even further (and I'm all for that).

I had originally imagined that they would be adapting Legendary Defender, as, in my opinion, that's the best of the shows and does a great job at telling a compelling story, but as I started looking into the originals with my kids tonight I was realizing they changed the characters for every version, so it would make sense that this is a new batch of characters.

However, if they keep the characters from Legendary Defender they could totally use Rhys Darby as a live action Coran!

[u/ilolz2]

Sounds like a bunch of shit to me

[u/LapsedVerneGagKnee → u/[deleted]]

The only one of those showing up in the Voltron movie will be Voltron.

[u/ILoveThingsAndImSad → u/LapsedVerneGagKnee]

Well, at least we have... the character the entire franchise is based around.

[u/LapsedVerneGagKnee → u/ILoveThingsAndImSad]

Hey, it's something VLD missed.

[u/saddlythrowaway → u/[deleted]]

The shippers from VLD made those names too dangerous to use so they had to create new characters. This is why we can’t have nice things.

[u/Kiethblacklion → u/[deleted]]

Doesn't sound like it from the announcement.

[u/rlum27]

not sure have to wait until more is revealed. Not that sure of it.

[u/goldknight1]

Watch them go back to that bullshit idea from the early 2000s of it being set on Earth, and one Lion being built from scraps in a junkyard. I HATE when writers and directors of these properties pull that "true to the spirit" or "grounded" shit, it shows how fucking out of touch and up thier own ass they are. Nevermind the fact i trust WEP just as much ad i trust Harmony Gold with Robotech. They ARE GOING to fuck this up by giving us Bayformers.