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Just need to get a few things off my chest since Voltron has been a decent-sized chunk of my life recently.

I hopped on board the Voltron Legendary Defender train right before season 2 aired, and I loved it since the beginning. Everything was new and bright and fun, and it was so entertaining watching these rag tag bunch of idiots interact with each other. I kept up pretty religiously, and even watched seasons 1 - 3 multiple times. But my passion for the show died somewhere around s5. It felt exhausting to get through episodes, and I was constantly checking how many I had left to finish the season. The newer seasons felt driven purely because the plot demanded it with the exception of one fun, silly episode per season. That one silly episode brought life back into my love for the show. Its a conflicting feeling because a show about war SHOULD show the nitty gritty plot demanded battles, but god, I was exhausted with them. But I stayed with it because I had so much time invested in it, and it felt like a disservice to not see it through. But I trudged, and the last 2 seasons were really a struggle, and I’d delve more into why the ending was such a disappointment to me.

Like many others, my favorite character was Lance. I say “WAS” instead of “IS” because that character is not the same person as in the beginning. I felt personally connected to Lance like many others did. He was energetic, loud, and silly, which he used to cover up how insecure he was. He used to be so expressive! But by the last 2 seasons, he was tired, quiet, and not outspoken at all. It’s like, as soon as Allura and Lotor became a thing, his personality did a 180. And I suddenly didn’t relate to him, and he didn’t do anything meaningful unless Allura was involved in some way. There was one comment in this season where the baddies refer to Lance as the “loud paladin”, and I was genuinely confused. Was there really no other descriptor for him? The descriptor they used wasn’t even true anymore! Like damn, boy! I’m sorry you got treated this way, but based on the series of events, Hunk is my new favorite! Lance’s lack of characterization was a big negative for me.

Other short character notes: Keith had no personality this season, and I felt that way about Shiro too. “The leader” isn’t a personality trait. The only smidgeon of Keith I saw was when both he and Hunk were on the Clear Day ride. Hunk and Pidge were great. No notes about Allura because her character felt so inconsistent to me. I used to like her a lot, but now I’m just meh.

Also, Keith and Lance’s relationship, are they just best friends now? Like why? What interactions did they have which showed that they no longer viewed each other as rivals after Keith came back from the void? Just because they aren’t as hot headed anymore doesn’t mean they are automatic bffs. Keith and Hunk had a way more meaningful friendship imho.

As for ships, I started as a main Klance shipper, but the more I watched, the more I became a Shance shipper, and I firmly hold them as my Voltron OTP. But to be honest, in canon, I never wanted any ships to be realized. This is a show about teenagers struggling and growing through an intergalactic war. I think it would have been way more meaningful to bond with each other through friendship and familial ties instead.

To be honest, once Lance and Allura got together in episode 1, I anticipated that one of them was going to die by the end of the season. Out of the two, Allura was the more likely to die, so I wasn’t too surprised by her sacrifice. Allurance was one of my lower tier ships, but it felt too rushed and forced these last two seasons. Like it really came out of nowhere and didn’t feel organic at all. So ultimately, I was disappointed by the ending that s8 provided for those two.

As for Shiro and Curtis, I kinda knew that was end game from the Clear Day episode where Curtis shows up to cheer on Shiros arm wrestling match. After killing off Adam, I felt the writers were trying to cover up the backlash they received by shoving Shiro with another POC without giving them any development. But whatever, they cute together. And Shiro can finally rest, like he deserves. Also, Shiro with glasses makes my heart go doki-doki.