We’re they right?

>Interviews confirm the showrunners originally wanted Shiro to die permanently at the end of season 2 and that the flashbacks shown in “A Little Adventure” were “gonna be [in] either the first or second episode of season 2.” This paints an uncomfortable timeline where the season 2 premiere reveals that Shiro is terminally ill and gay on top of being mentally ill and physically disabled, then the season finale kills him off.

>Voltron was shitty article # 7492

Yea we get it. The original is ten times better and it's just a monster-of-the-week type show.

>you checked our boxes but you didn't check them the right way

>With this in mind, the purpose for Shiro’s disabilities retroactively becomes ableist rather than inclusive: the series intended to use these things to “justify” his untimely demise, as the death of a “broken soldier” would not be as great a loss as if he were of able body and mind.

But the original didn’t have muh inclusiveness. Muh representations. Muh gay ships.

>Shiro’s PTSD and amnesia are dropped when he returns halfway through season 3, while the only references to his terminal disease are contained to the same flashbacks that introduces it and another interview with showrunners. He instead has new sources of trauma introduced as the plot demands, like when he is revealed to be a clone after Haggar takes control of him in season 6 and when his ex-boyfriend dies in season 7.

>Because of this, the arm wrestling scene in season 8’s “Clear Day” gave many fans pause, as some believe this situation would trigger his PTSD since it mirrors the gladiator ring he fought in as a slave; in season 1, a fight against a Robeast triggers a flashback he had with the same villain in the ring. There is debate about whether the scene’s levity was a result of negligent writing or if it was intended to show he had healed enough to face a potentially triggering situation and instead triumph over it.

>If this was the case, that makes his sudden retirement in the epilogue even more concerning. Why would Shiro need to retire from his new job, in his twenties, if he was able to cope with his PTSD? Why would it suddenly affect his ability to work when previous seasons showed he was still fit for duty with it?

>The truth is that all these illnesses and disabilities were piled onto Shiro as plot devices, not out of a conscious effort to respectfully represent or handle them. His retirement would not feel like an attempt to sideline him for being gay if he had ever expressed a desire to walk away from the stress of his job. We are consistently shown the exact opposite—even after being brought back from the dead in the season 6 finale, Shiro fights to return to his new post as captain of the Atlas in season 7, even while grievously injured.

It’s always the case. It will never be enough.

>For all the traumatic events that Shiro undergoes in the series, every time he begins to speak about his experiences, he is cut off and dismissed. After he recovers from almost dying in season 3, Lance asks how he’s feeling and Shiro mentions a weird headache—then is interrupted by Pidge, and it’s back to business. This happens again in season 7 when the paladins discuss their imminent journey home to Earth. Shiro begins to say that there were times he thought he’d never see Earth again—and is cut off by a joke from Lance.

>Time and again, Shiro has to “man up,” soldier on, and get over it. We are repeatedly and deliberately shown that any introspection of his trauma is too boring or unimportant to waste time on, while exploiting his trauma for the plot is not. And whenever Shiro is given the opportunity to walk away, he never does. He is defined by his resolve to never give up.

>The series pretends he is no longer affected by his PTSD after season 2, while simultaneously using it as an excuse to sideline him in the epilogue while the other paladins are still allowed to continue “the battle” in peaceful ways.

>Since Shiro could not be killed outright, the series turns to another main character to set up for an unnecessary sacrifice: Princess Allura. In previous Voltron continuities, Allura has always been light-skinned and blonde. While she and her fellow Alteans are not analogous to human races, the decision to make her darker-skinned was confirmed to be so non-white viewers would have a lead heroine with whom to identify. This makes her death in the series finale extremely tone deaf—the only black Allura in the entire Voltron franchise is also the only one who dies.

And thank Christ for that.

>Throughout the show, Allura constantly doubts her worthiness to help in the fight against the Galra Empire. She blames herself for Zarkon tracking the team in season 2 and for Lotor’s manipulation of them in season 6. Even as her magic powers develop and grow, her guilt lingers, no matter how much encouragement she receives from her advisor Coran or her eventual boyfriend Lance.

What? But now it will never get clickbait articles written about it

>Allura’s arc hinges on sacrificing what little she has left so that other characters may benefit. In season 1 she has to delete the AI of her late father, King Alfor, after the corrupted data almost tricks her into destroying the Castle of Lions. In season 6, the castleship itself must be sacrificed to stop the rifts in reality caused by their battle with Lotor from destroying the universe. In season 7, after Shiro’s body rejects the original power source for his new prosthetic arm, Allura gives up the crystal in her tiara—the last remaining piece of her heritage—for him to use instead.

>Like Shiro, Allura experiences loss no matter what she does. She is punished for distrusting Keith after he is revealed to be half-Galra in season 2, then punished for trusting and taking romantic interest in Prince Lotor, another half-Galra character, in season 6. The slow build of romance between her and Lance abruptly takes center stage in season 8 only to make her unnecessary death even more hurtful than it would be without.

>Voltron repeatedly has the paladins refer to themselves as a family. Shiro often gives rousing speeches of, “If we work together, we’ll win together!” Allura herself states that, “We are always stronger together” after she and Keith go off on their own in season 2, putting the rest of their teammates in danger. The single most overarching message at the heart of the show is “the power of friendship.” The paladins can only overcome their struggles by working together, not by trying to bear them alone.

>But then in an interview before season 8, co-executive producer Lauren Montgomery said of Allura, “She’s lost her home, she’s lost her family, [and] all that she had was Coran and her castle . . . [the paladins] don’t need her to be a family anymore; They’ve got family. It’s a weird adjustment period for her when she realizes she’s not necessarily the space mom anymore. She’s not necessarily a part of this.”

>This completely undercuts the paladins’ bond as a team, which served as the foundation for the story in the first seven seasons. Found family doesn’t cease to matter in the face of “real” family. The description of Allura as a “space mom” glosses over the fact that she is not and has never been a motherly figure to anyone in the series. In season 2’s premiere, she grows increasingly more frustrated with a de-aging Coran the younger he gets.

>Allura’s role until season 8 is of a young woman who has experienced and continues to experience unimaginable loss, who struggles with her own sense of worth and ability to lead, and who has her entire life ahead of her to heal and grow. This interview reveals the stark discrepancy between the self-sacrificial role forced on her and the empowered role fans were led to believe she would play. As with Shiro, Allura is punished simply for experiencing trauma in the face of the unrepentant violence and loss she undergoes. Her grief is used to “justify” why she should die.

>Fans have noted that Allura’s behavior in season 8 reflects the struggle of living with depression. Even with the support of her boyfriend Lance and his large, welcoming family, she still feels tired and lonely, shutting herself off in her room. She feels rejected by the surviving Alteans, even though an Altean ally, Romelle, was introduced in season 6 and could have befriended her.

>Once Allura has nothing left to give, her only value is in being removed from the story altogether. She does not get to see the peace she sacrificed everything to achieve. The depression allegory, however unintended, makes this message extremely dangerous. Viewers who recognize their own struggles with mental illness in her story are essentially shown that their suffering is an inconvenience, and that if they can’t get better then they should give up “for the greater good.”

Based and redpilled show writers

>Allura’s decision to take on the power of the dark entity in season 8 culminates in her sacrifice in the finale to save all of the realities threatened by its power. The death of the show’s main heroine lacks even the emotional weight and sense of necessity conveyed by the sacrifice of inanimate objects like the castleship. Her death is not meaningful or bittersweet; it’s insulting. It happens because the show arbitrarily decides it should, out of a belief that death inherently elevates the quality of the writing.

Avatar: The Last Airbender premiered in 2005 and similarly featured a protagonist who wakes up long after the genocide of his people. In the end, Aang triumphs over evil and dedicates his life to rebuilding his culture and the world with his loved ones. Meanwhile, in 2018, Allura is denied this dignity and is instead fridged without a chance to even say goodbye to Coran, her second father figure.

>Once Allura has nothing left to give, her only value is in being removed from the story altogether. She does not get to see the peace she sacrificed everything to achieve. The depression allegory, however unintended, makes this message extremely dangerous. Viewers who recognize their own struggles with mental illness in her story are essentially shown that their suffering is an inconvenience, and that if they can’t get better then they should give up “for the greater good.”

>As someone with depression, Allura’s treatment in season 8 was devastating to watch play out. The purpose of her death is not to inspire or uplift anyone who might feel represented by her struggles. She is built up only to increase how much it hurts the audience when she is knocked down, over and over.

>Both Shiro and Allura’s trauma only matters in how it can be used to “develop” other characters, rather than how they can process it on their own terms, for their own benefit. Shiro’s death was meant to kickstart Keith’s “development” into the next leader of Voltron. In the finale, Allura passes on Altean markings to Lance, who is shown in the epilogue to spend the rest of his life mourning her.

>While Shiro’s death is not permanent, he is demoted from leading Voltron and gradually isolated from the other paladins in seasons 7 and 8, following his revival in the season 6 finale and the reveal of his sexuality in the season 7 premiere. His abrupt retirement and wedding in the epilogue undercut the agency he regained with his captaincy of the Atlas. It also undercuts the purpose, or lack thereof, for killing Adam and hurting Voltron’s LGBT fans in the first place.

>Shiro’s epilogue is thus an attempt to quieten upset LGBT fans, not to represent them. It is meaningless because it goes against his character development throughout the entire show, in favor of using him as a cheap PR stunt. As with Allura, Shiro’s only value to the series is in his losses, not from any of his gains.

>Allura’s death has been cited by many parents to be the breaking point where their children were too upset to continue watching the finale; others were upset long before at dark scenes such as the reveal of Lotor’s corpse. The end cards of the paladins taking goofy selfies in front of Allura’s memorial only added to the pain, coming across as disrespectful and oblivious to the hurtful impact her death would have on younger and older viewers alike.

>And though Allura is not officially confirmed to be mentally ill like Shiro is, the message both of their stories send is that anyone who struggles with trauma is trapped in our pain. We don’t deserve to keep our jobs, we don’t deserve to remain close to our friends and loved ones, and we don’t even deserve to live.

>Their mistreatment is so harmful because the changes to their identities were specifically made to be more inclusive, to have a positive impact on marginalized viewers. Instead, the final season proves that the changes to their race, sexuality, and other aspects of their identities were superficial at best, and little care was given to any possible harm their trauma and deaths might inflict on marginalized viewers. Intentional or not, the mishandling of their stories is irresponsible and inexcusable.

>In the end, rather than fulfill any of its numerous promises to be empowering in terms of representation and diversity, Voltron Legendary Defender used them as a gimmick to promote a story that was harmful and regressive, particularly in its messages pertaining to disability, mental illness, and death.
And that’s the end of the article. Should I post the replies?

>This was an awesome, eloquent summary of the injustices of this season. As someone who is black, gay and depressed, this finale put me in a dark place and i lost any hope for true gay male rep in animation
-BlackGaySlay

>Wish you had touched on the horrible treatment of Lotor, in addition to all the beautiful points in this.
-Chaton

>I feel like this is the culmination of all the hurt that everyone feels about Season 8.
-Shay

>This was a good, worthwhile, thoughtful, necessary read. As someone who fits many of the supposed targets the show was aiming to represent, I have been really exhausted by a lot of Voltron’s handling, but you brought up a lot of points I did not previously consider as deeply and their implications or missed entirely.
>And I’m bummed! This is a bummer!
>But you did a fantastic job with this and it’s given me a lot to think about. Time to find some creators who will handle these subjects with the care, compassion, and respect they deserve.
-Anna T

>“It’s good you brought up Allura’s depression. But you didn’t bring up how toxic Allurance is. He comforted her, yeah sure but he was enabling her depression. Not mention that line. >“Winning prizes is my specialty”. He’s always seen a glorified version of her. His understanding of her trauma is greatly dwarfed by the depths of it. With that, no one can convince me otherwise. >As someone who has suffered depression, I know what I’m talking about. Allurance only pushed Allura further to her death. She didn’t get the love of found family like she deserved. She needed friendship. Not a relationship. You must acknowledge this for your points to be stronger.”
-froot

>Time to find some creators who will handle these subjects with the care, compassion, and respect they deserve.
Let me guess; Anna T never found these types of creators and is forever butthurt about it.

Jesus, the show has been over for months and Lauren/Joaquim have peaced the fuck out. Will these people ever let it go?

honestly the first two season of the show were pretty good. After that i just followed the threads and saw that that the show went downhill. glad i stopped watcing when i did.

They have roles in the new Spider-Verse movies rather than blacklisted out right.
So never.

Holly shit nigga just archieve that shit.

Sounds like The Dragon Prince’s future.

They are dumb SJWs but that doesn't change the fact that Voltron is shit.

I was going to post the archive link an hour ago, but when the mad lad started copying this over one paragraph at a time, I thought it was too funny to stop: archive.fo/ZloCv

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Most of them have moved onto TDP and She Ra, so the chimp outs will continue in another fandom.

i never watched that so i'll be sure to watch up to season 2 and drop it like voltron.

All animation is shit.

Did you actually watch these shows and formed your own opinion or were you just following what other people said?

i actually did watch the show up to season 2 and dropped while waiting for season 3.

Could have saved us a lot of trouble.

But did you actually watch it to form your own opinion?

the sperg did it to himself. who the fuck green texts an entire article in 2 lines each post?

Almost all of the show's major overarching writing issues were a result of executive interference. Blaming the writer's for Dreamworks' murder of the show is kind of silly.

It feels like he was padding on purpose.

And yet when the creators of Korra and She Ra pointed out there was studio interference, people were willing to forgive them.
What the fuck?

Are you retarded? I watched the show up until season 2. it was an alright show. If i didnt like the show i would have stopped watching a few episodes in.

i tought you couldnt bump your own thread.

I think the limit wears off after a while.

So if you thought it was alright and liked it enough, why arbitrarily stop at the second season?
Are you retarded?

When somebody tells you to just greentext the shit, they mean condense it to just quoting the main relevant points, not copypaste the whole fucking thing.

I give him some credit for the autism.

because other stuff caught my interest at the time and by following the threads i saw the show went downhill so i stopped watching.

I ain't reading nor giving that shithole clicks. Give a tl;dr or get the fuck out, faggot.

Tldr- some blogger now has issues with it cause progressivism.

It's the usual trash article where they look for problematic themes to be outraged about.

Still?

Done

Bet you miss me now, huh?

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Shiro inexplicably did not die despite having every death flag spiked into his backside, while Allura inexplicably sacrifices herself after trudging through unimaginable loss and suffering through every season.

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What was the point of her lookalike in the LD? To rub it in the faces of old fans that choco-Allura is now the real Allura?

>choco-Allura is now the real Allura
>real Allura

Please, the original will ALWAYS be the "real" version of a character. NuAllura is horrendous, at her best she's just bearable. OG Allura at her very worst was inoffensive. Between the two of them I'd pick the original every time.

but shiro wouldn't have been revealed as gay in the timeline the show offs him

Let’s be real; dark space elf will be the new standard because we need a token black.
Search your heart and know it to be true.

>My ships didn't come true so I'll hate this show and write so many shit to virtue signal about how problematic it is.
It's pretty much what happened and also a cautionary tale for people to not fucking pander to a rabid fanbase, especially if they dobit half heartedly.

>and also a cautionary tale for people to not fucking pander to a rabid fanbase, especially if they dobit half heartedly.
Sadly people are still fucking up even after what happened with Voltron.

I kept hearing that they pandered to Klance but I only ever heard this from Klancefags and they have never presented any substantial evidence for this.