superawessomeguy:

Thank you for the wonderful 8 seasons, the jaw dropping fights, and heart warming moments. #thankyouteamvoltron

So I know I pretty much dropped out of the fandom since the summer. Real life got kind of hectic, and the fandom itself seemed to be getting pretty toxic, so I kind of just peaced out for a bit. But then the final season of Voltron came out and naturally, I got sucked right back in.

I decided, seeing as this was the final season and all, and you only get to experience something for the first time once, that I’d sort of live-blog my thoughts and reactions to each episode so that I could keep track of my thoughts on the season. Afterward, I’d give each episode a sort of score between bad and great, based on how much I’d enjoyed it. And then, when I finished the season, I made some final thoughts as well. And now here they are, posted for your viewing pleasure (assuming you care or are interested).

Obviously this is mostly going to be very subjective, and so my views on something might not reflect your own. This was also based on a single first viewing, so I may have missed details when I was watching that explained things that left me confused, or I might look back on things differently now that I’ve had time to process them. But overall, here’s my first reactions to the final season of Voltron: Legendary Defender. Enjoy!

Episode 1: Launch Date

Episode 2: Shadows

Episode 3: The Prisoner’s Dilemma

Episode 4: Battle Scars

Episode 5: The Grudge

Episode 6: Genesis

Episode 7: Day Forty-Seven

Episode 8: Clear Day

Episode 9: Knights of Light, Part 1

Episode 10: Knights of Light, Part 2

Episode 11: Uncharted Regions

Episode 12: The Zenith

Episode 13: The End is the Beginning

Final Thoughts

Here there be spoilers, so notes are hidden under the cut:

• OMG was that a clip of the original series wtf?? Why???
  
• Romelle’s hair! DAmn she looks good. Taking tips from Allura?
  
• OMG hunk hun you are being a very bad friend, mocking Lance for getting shot down. And yet, that’s totally something I could hear best friends saying to each other so points for realism I guess? Seriously tho Hunk. Bad friend! No cookie! But then he turns it around and calls Lance “young man” OMG. Once again, A+ best friend dialogue going on here
  
• Not a huge fan of the way they handwaved Earth’s Defenses. “How are the Earth’s Defenses?” “They’re good.” That’s it? What ARE they? To be fair, it probably doesn’t matter how Earth is defending itself, I just found it a bit obnoxious that they cared enough to acknowledge that Earth might need to be able to protect itself after last season, but not enough to actually explain HOW. It’s grating that they brought attention to it, and then didn’t actually explain anything. Why bring it up at all?
  
• Hunk is BEST WINGMAN, literally throws Lance at his crush and then gets him the hell out of there when the mission is accomplished
  
• Pidge cosplaying as Pidge is both hilarious and horrifying
  
• Well, the mice were MENTIONED, that counts for something right?
  
• Coran’s bubble pipe outfit more like cosplay goals omg it would be SO COMFY
  
• Aww Keith actually gave good advice? That’s amazing. Also it’s nice to see some friendly bonding with these guys. The scene was a bit clunky and short though, could have been a bit longer to smooth out the interaction a bit. Still, nice that they included it
  
• LONG HAIR ALLURA!! How long has it been??
  
• Lance lookin mighty fine too in his date outfit. And I love his family
  
• That Allurance scene was beautiful, but 2 things 1) DOES CORAN MEAN NOTHING TO YOU ALLURA?? HOW DARE YOU SAY YOU HAVE NO FAMILY 2) Beezer totally pulled a Wall-E before taking that photo and stole a plant in the background for no apparent reason I love it
  
• Overall a cute mostly-filler ep which thankfully gave us a chance to enjoy some characters interacting. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. Mostly meh, bordering on okay. A decent start to the season.
  

Once again, hiding under a cut for spoilers and swearing :)

• THE CAT LIVES FUCK YES
  
• The Alteans are kind of a…trusting bunch aren’t they? Is NO ONE going to question this stranger who just showed up out of nowhere? With no proof of anything she’s saying? No? We’re just going to blindly follow this strange woman? Okay then.
  
• I’m hella biased because I love Haggar, but damn I’m so happy we got an ep focused on her. And JESUS what a heartbreaker! The entire story of Honerva/Zarkon/Lotor is such a tragedy. None of them was evil, truly (well not at first) they were just victims of their own emotions. Zarkon loved his wife and child so much that he got them quintescence-zombified and turned himself and his wife evil. Lotor clearly wanted to be a good person and considering his circumstances turned out WAY better than he should have (where’s that not-as-much-of-a-jerk-as-you-could-have-been award from Avatar: the Last Airbender?) but he still worked in shades of grey. And now Honerva is clearly crazy beans but once again she’s acting out of love. Like, these are definitely bad guys, cool motive still LOTS of murder, but they’re bad guys with amazing development. I’d say thanks to this ep, Haggar/Lotor and even Zarkon have more character depth than some of our friggin PALADINS.
  
• Overall loved the ep, it tore my heart out and ate it. The one complaint is how easily the Alteans just kind of fall in line with Honerva, although I guess it’s implied Lotor’s been brainwashing them for millenia in prev seasons. Still, that one tiny nitpick is pretty much my only complaint. Man what a good ep
  

More hiding under cuts for length and spoilers

• Matt when the hell did you become so badass? Bitch just space dropped without a parachute??
  
• I dunno if Voltron was really needed to take out 2 satellites, kinda seems overkill, but whatever
  
• I’m glad Hunk recognized Lon cuz I sure as hell didn’t
  
• Also Lon brings up some really good points. What ARE the alternatives if they don’t want to join Voltron? His criticisms are all really good arguments. And no one really has any answers for him…or at least not enough that would satisfy me if I was judging this debate.
  
• While I’m glad that plot point from, what, 2-3 seasons ago? (edit: OMG that was from season 5 are you serious you forgot about that plot point for 3 goddamn seasons??) finally got dealt with, what a letdown. The introduction of the monster was so intensely ominous and it seemed to be such an important plot point way back when, and then you took it out in one ep? It’s pretty clear the writers forgot about the bioweapon, or that it was originally going to be part of something that got cut, and then had to go back and shoehorn something in at the last minute so that loose thread wasn’t left dangling. That’s just…really obnoxious.
  
• Overall another meh ep. While it’s nice to see Keith taking on a leadership role and acting the part naturally, I didn’t feel the writing was the best. A character brought real criticism to the main cast, and I honestly felt his points more compelling than the weak responses Team Voltron gave. The fact that they saved him so he changed his mind was kind of a cop-out too. Keith saving him doesn’t change the fact that Lon was right; they’re conquering just as much as the Galra did, they’re just nicer about it. You’re either part of the Galra Empire Voltron Coalition or you’re the enemy. No one is getting another choice. Not a great choice to make your good guys look like jerks, show.
  

This one’s shorter, but you still get a cut

• *sighs at more lazy writing* Sure they just HAPPEN to be flying by Olkaria while it’s getting attacked (edit: okay so afterwards it turns out they’re flying there AFTER the attack, but the time frame isn’t very clear and it still seems too convenient)
  
• The team banter is cute tho
  
• Are you trying to tell me that a) the Robeast the size of a building somehow decimated the entire PLANET, b) a Weblum which is also roughly the size of a building (I think?) is also a threat to a PLANET, and c) Team Voltron expects to search an entire PLANET for survivors??? Either Olkaria is so small it doesn’t actually count as a planet, in which case I have many more problems with the science of it, or this is just stupid
  
• Well that was a really dark ep when you think about it too hard. Did Reiner die? I assume she died. I guess at least her people survived, though where the hell did they go? (Edit: they literally never show up again in the rest of the series except for the one pirate dude. The show never addresses it again. Wow.)
  
• Srsly tho, the sense of scale in this ep was a goddamn mess.
  
• Another meh to bad ep. Tried to tug on the heartstrings but honestly, I wasn’t buying it. Pidge’s connection to the Olkarians just hasn’t been built up enough for me to feel like this is an actual blow to her, and even her actual motivation was a bit hard to believe. She’s mad that all these people died because they had more to teach us? What about AN ENTIRE SPECIES JUST BECAME HOMELESS AND/OR ENDANGERED. I feel like that’s kind of more important than the loss of knowledge Pidge. Instead of feeling bad for Pidge this ep, I’m just feeling like she’s way too clinical. She’s focused on the wrong thing here, and that doesn’t reflect well on her character at all.
  
• Bad writing overall just made this ep so pointless. It only contributed a tiny bit to the overall plot of the season, and it left a lot of plot threads that never got addressed. Not a good ep.

I got a little excitable during this one…

• Team human trying to bond over pets, that’s so cute, and then Acxa had to kind of ruin it. Still, I’m grinning so I obviously don’t care that much. Plus the mice! They still exist!
  
• I am LOVING team human trying their best to adopt Acxa…and kind of failing. But in the most beautiful way :)
  
• Love the look of the planet team Voltron got trapped on. It legit feels like an alien world, wonderful design elements here. I feel the creativity that went into it.
  
• Plus call back to Pidge/Hunk’s nerd fight that’s adorable
  
• I feel like the science of the atmosphere doesn’t sound quite right. Like, I’m sure there’s a ratio of CO2 to Oxygen in the air that won’t immediately kill you, but I feel like the time frame is off
  
• Goddamn it now I’m googling it
  
• Okay so I can’t be 100% sure but based on what I can research in the span of, what, ten minutes? It seems like if o2 is low enough to cause you to lose consciousness, you go down in minutes, not hours. I mean, suspension of disbelief and all, they’re on an alien planet in space, but it’s enough to bug me a little.
  
• Sooooo are Veronica and Acxa gonna be girlfriends? Because that’s the way I’m choosing to read this :) :) :)
  
• YAAAAAS Allura using her shape shifting JESUS it’s been a while that is one little ability this show never utilized enough. And god it’s satisfying to see her punch a dude super hard. Love that one of the hunters is clearly the same species as Ezor too, that’s a great touch
  
• I kind of saw Zethrid coming, but for a split second I thought maybe the captain would be a Shiro clone. Damn now I’m sad it wasn’t. Fanfic?
  
• Oh goddamn I was not expecting this ep to get this intense at the ending fuuuuck
  
• Goddamnit Keith always gets the best animation for his fights. Nice to see him as the damsel in distress for once too.
  
• And then it got all EMOTIONAL and then it got even MORE EMOTIONAL and basically FUCK MY HEART
  
• I thought Zethrid was gonna die, and then she didn’t and it was HEARTWRENCHING and I LOVED IT.
  
• Good ep. Very good ep, no Haggar bias required
  

Hitting the pseudo-midpoint here:

• God Robo-Atlas is sexy as hell. I still say the introduction of it was stupid last season, but now that it’s been established that the Atlas turns into a robot, I love that robot.
  
• Well that Altean is dead. Good job team human? I mean, to be fair they were trying to kill you first, but you definitely exploded that mecha and now they are super dead.
  
• GodDAMN Honerva is such a badass. This woman is a threat to ALL OF REALITY. Christ I love her
  
• And then she WIELDED THE POWER TO DESTROY REALITY all BY HERSELF and accomplished her damn goals godDAMN I LOVE HER
  
• “Something’s not right” NO SHIT.
  
• Jesus that was intense. I barely took notes this ep because I was so sucked in
  
• But yeah. Lotor hasn’t actually been seen on screen, just his mech, I’m guessing that’s Bad News.
  
• Still, my love for Honerva just continues to grow. She fought off Allura, talked her down even though she was DESTROYING REALITY, AND managed to do that after wielding crazy amounts of power AND controlling Lotor(?) at the same time. Just. Man. Slow clap for that crazy woman. She da best
  
• Intense ep. Loved the action of it, it almost felt like season finale levels of intense, which just makes me super pumped for the rest of the season. Gotta respect this ep for getting me super fired up
  

Pretty sure everyone loved this ep :)

• Love the method of framing this ep, with the camera. Plus Kinkade! Love that dude
  
• Nice to see how the paladins interact with team human, you can tell that they think of each other as peers first, then consider their ranks later. They’re friends. It’s cute
  
• PUPPY
  
• SPACE KRAKEN
  
• THE MICE
  
• That is also an incredibly resilient camera. Thumbs up future Nikon
  
• ALL OF THAT HAPPENED IN 3 HOURS??? JEEEZ life on the Atlas is non-fucking-stop
  
• Was Suk Jin a reference? If it was it went over my head. It felt like a reference.
  
• Kolivan you adorable dork. If this is all we get from you this season, I’m okay with this. As Rizavi put it, you NAILED it XD
  
• Colleen is an angel. She regrew an Altean plant for Allura? That’s ADORABLE I love her
  
• Awww another cute Allurance moment. I like how they’re handling this relationship. They acknowledge it, give it its moments, but it’s not a major focus of the show. Very tasteful, I dig it
  
• Okay but like. If the recipe Hunk is working on somehow becomes the key to getting through to the Alteans, I will die. Of joy but I’ll still die
  
• Oh my god. Hunk baked a dessert for the Alteans HUNK YOU GOOD GOOD BOY. YOU PURE MAN, YOU ARE THE SWEETEST CINNAMON ROLL EVER
  
• OMFG I FUCKIN CALLED IT HIS COOKIES ACHIEVED PEACE FUCK YES excuse me while I die of joy
  
• HUNK BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER WITH BAKING AAAAAAH
  
• HUNK YOU GOOD BOY.
  
• Okay I loved that ep for the Hunk alone. GOD i’m so happy now. And I really want to try those cookies they looked GOOD
  
• GOOD EP. VERY GOOD.
  

Still trying to figure out exactly how Shiro’s hover-arm actually works…

• That thing that came out of the Altean looks an awful lot like those rift creatures that kinda ate Honerva/Zarkon don’t it…?
  
• Allurance continues to be cute. That is all
  
• Allura really should know better than to trust visions. She’s been led astray by them HOW many times? Seriously girl, have some doubt.
  
• Shiro please do not break your goddamn arm because someone called you old. Your white hair is distinguished! I promise!
  
• Love the battle music for Shiro’s arm wrestle but I feel like his arm is somehow a cheat. Like. How does he control it anyways?? Can he will it to be stronger? It’s not actually connected so how does this even work???
  
• The family photo is the most precious thing I’ve ever seen GOD I love the Holts. Colleen you are my hero.
  
• I am so glad Coran got his trophy. That man deserves all the awards
  
• Trash talking Shiro is awesome. The fact that it got sweet with the Warden admitting that he’d grown just made me smile. AND THEN SHIRO WON BECAUSE HIS FRIENDS WERE THERE HOLD ME IM CRYING
  
• Finally Shiro can have a nice thing. Finally.
  
• A cute ep. Not my favourite, and Allura’s subplot kind of just annoyed me because seriously she’s falling for the same damn thing again (remember all the way back in the first damn season when her AI dad almost tricked her into flying the Castle of Lions into a star?) but the rest of it had enough cute moments to keep me entertained. Not great, not meh, I’d say it was alright to good-ish
  

Beware, this is where I start to get a bit…salty :/

• I love that they called Shiro in to discuss their plan. He might not be a paladin anymore, but they acknowledge that he’s still a major part of the team. And I love that they have a voice of reason in Lance, but they also all realize that the risk is worth it. What a well-discussed plan, how very grown-up of them. I’m so proud of my space children *wipes away tear*
  
• THE BRIDGE CREW IS ARGUING ABOUT SHIRO’S ROBOT ARM I AM D E C E A S E D
  
• Oh my god Keith you’re breaking my heart he was trying SO HARD to hang on to Pidge but he lost his grip!
  
• Also just gotta say this ep is getting trippy as hell. Kind of starting to freak me out a bit
  
• Holy shit that move Hunk pulled was the sexiest damn thing I’ve ever seen. A very sexy slide and shoot.
  
• Oh shit Allura’s going darkside. That can’t be good. But the lions are there so it is good? IDEK???
  
• O jesus I mean I feel bad for all of them but Lance has to deal with Alfor. He’s dealing with his gf’s DAD. That suuuuuucks
  
• Oh god Coran. You’re breaking my heart. This is a man that should never be made to cry goddamnit, and you DARED to show me him crying???
  
• Okay while I’m glad Allura got to see her dad, I’m hella pissed Keith didn’t hug them all when they reappeared. The boy was clearly losing his goddamn mind, would it kill the show to have him actually show affection?? GIMME A GROUP HUG GODDAMNIT.
  
• Not sure how I feel about this ep. Obviously it’s a two-parter so I can’t really judge it on its own, but I found it kind of confusing and a bit weird. There were good parts, but honestly I think a lot of it was too abstract for me, I didn’t quite understand exactly what was supposed to be happening. And I’m a bit concerned about how they’re going to deal with Allura and the entity. They’ve made a point of having several characters point out what a bad idea it is to be using it, and there have been visual cues showing that this is clearly Bad News, but something about the dialogue and the way Allura seems to keep overcoming the darkness makes me concerned that they’re just going to have Allura able to control it mostly consequence free, just because she’s Allura. I just really hope that this comes back to bite her in the ass, even just a little, so that it doesn’t seem like this was all built up for nothing
  

And then I get a bit MORE salty >:/

Also wordy. There be a lot of words

• Iiinteresting. I was wondering if the original paladins were going to come along; I wonder how this will play out
  
• “Hey dad yeah I discovered the secret to ultimate power already, no biggie” damn girl you throw that shade
  
• “Where do we go?” How about the bright shiny light Keith, the only thing in the universe that looks important, that’s usually how this goes lol
  
• Poor Keith, he doesn’t get a paladin buddy because Zarkon got zombie-fied. I kinda wish OG!Zarkon showed up, the cute nerdy one. Or even Shiro, that would have been funny as hell. “Seriously guys? I’m retired, stop dragging me into this shit.”
  
• They’re acting like they don’t realize that the void creatures kind of fried Zarkon and Honerva’s brains. You literally just saw flashes of it happening. Or did they? I don’t know I just feel like, while yeah Zarkon kind of turned into a giant douche, team Voltron should already kind of know why. And not be surprised. But maybe I’m forgetting what we as the audience know vs characters. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a lot of eps. So maybe they don’t know that the quintescence corrupted Zarkon? I mean, you’d think that the glowy eyes of doom and deep evil voice versus the dork that is OG!Zarkon would tip them off that SOMETHING was up.
  
• God, this has got to be giving Honerva the biggest goddamn migraine. Otherwise she just walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and immediately forgot what she was looking for. How annoying.
  
• Keith you are gonna get your puny ass stepped on what the HELL are you thinking taking on Robeast Zarkon yourself?? “I’ll distract it!” You’ll get SMOOSHED is what you’ll do, dumbass
  
• Is it my beloved dorky Zarkon? Is it???
  
• IT IS! MY HEART
  
• Goddamn Allura you COLD. The poor man has no idea what the hell is going and then you shoved 10,000 years of bad shit into his head? Congrats, you broke him. Again. Wow
  
• Seriously. Is no one going to mention how cruel and mean Allura was being? Am I supposed to agree with this? I mean, yeah, Zarkon fucked up. Real bad. But MAN that just rubbed me wrong
  
• Oh god Honerva. You’ve turned “fuck the consequences” into a goddamn art form. You’re going to destroy everything ever to get what you want? You are scary. And I LOVE you
  
• “We did it guys!” What…exactly did you do? You lost me show. Did you just give Honerva an aneurysm? Did you break her brain? You seem to have broken Allura’s. GOD that would be delicious irony, whoops you tried to stop Honerva but because of the entity you actually broke Allura. THAT would be the kind of consequence that would make me feel better about this entity crap
  
• Overall I’m not a fan of these episodes. While they had some nice moments that made me happy (the team back together like old times, baby Zarkon), overall it was too choppy for me. The concepts were really abstract - you’re in someone’s mind so it’s understandable that we’d have to go a LITTLE high level, but I didn’t really follow what was supposed to be happening. Were we travelling through layers of Honerva’s consciousness? Were we travelling from thought to thought? The way her mind was represented wasn’t very well mapped, it made little sense to me. And it felt like we were tying up an end that wasn’t even loose. The original paladins were a tragedy, but I’m not sure why the show felt the need to bring them back like this. It just seemed a bit unnecessary. Not to mention the characters (and the writers?) kind of seemed to forget the whole purpose of why this was happening. The WHOLE POINT that the team was going on this super risky mission was that it was theoretically supposed to give them key info on Honerva. Her plans and her location. But they didn’t learn anything other than her final goal, which while interesting, is pretty useless. They have no idea how Honerva plans to actually achieve said goal. It just felt like the whole misadventure was largely pointless. The characters didn’t really grow as people, they didn’t learn anything from the past paladins. The plot only really got development in the form of now we know Honerva’s goal in exact detail, but her motivation hasn’t exactly been THAT obscure. If I ever marathon Voltron again in the future, these are two eps I will probably skip, no question. How disappointing.
  

The finale begins, here we go

• Oh sweet, it kind of was the consequence. Good, though I still wish it was more “The entity is evil and you were an idiot to use it” and less “Honerva is super evil and she’s the reason that using the entity backfired.” Still doesn’t quite get the right message across. Actually, I’m not even sure if I consider this a consequence because I doubt Allura or anyone would walk away from this feeling like Allura is paying for doing something wrong. Once again it’s Honerva’s fault.
  
• Honerva is piloting a mech, fuck yes! And it looks like something out of Eva for extra bonus points, gotta love her taste
  
• Okay so I guess they DID figure out Honerva’s plans? How, I don’t know, but sure. Fine. They figured it out. Also they mention her bringing back Lotor’s mech, but not Lotor. And that brief flashback in Honerva’s mind the man wasn’t looking so good. So is he dead or what? (Edit: this is never made clear. I have no idea what actually happened to Lotor in the end, if Honerva is controlling his corpse or what)
  
• Nice, some good team bonding where they discuss their plans and worked together, and then had some character moments. I appreciate that they took the time to do this
  
• Oh yeah, good point nameless Altean lady. Dude got his entity sucked out and it’s in Allura now, but the rest of you are still stuck. How hasn’t Honerva killed you all yet?
  
• Oh yeah, because your little rebel shuttles are going to have ANY effect on a robeast that Voltron regularly gets beaten by. I applaud your bravery sir, but you dead
  
• Oh shit they’re actually dead, holy fuck! O_O
  
• They BROUGHT THE BALMERA?? That’s SICK. And very smart, now they have lots of energy to work with. Good work Coran!
  
• Oh yeah, maybe bringing a giant power source to Honerva who is actively draining anything she can get her hands on WASN’T the smartest plan. I take it back, bad work Coran. Whoops
  
• God Honerva is just wrecking EVERYONE’S shit. Have they even touched her yet?
  
• Overall intense ep. Can’t really say much more than that. Shit is clearly starting to hit the fan in a big way, and all I can do is wait to see what happens next
  

The climax of the entire series continues. I hope you’re ready for more salt! A LOT more salt

• Hey Coran, can you just casually fix the disintegrating universe? No pressure or anything.
  
• Wait, which altean just jumped in? I’m pretty sure of the 3 robeasts, 2 got exploded. One just now by Voltron, the other two seconds ago by Honerva. Are you telling me she SURVIVED getting blasted by Honerva? My suspension of disbelief is a little…stretched
  
• So Coran’s plan is to blow up the pyramid like they blew up the Castle of Lions? I think? Was this man a Mythbuster in a previous life because way too many of his ideas involve blowing shit up
  
• SHAY MY BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL CREATURE! I seriously have no idea how you were supposed to know you were needed, and I’m ALMOST happy enough to see you to ignore that. But seriously. Please explain this massive ass pull guys, or I’m gonna be REALLY unimpressed
  
• No. Show, no. You do not get to hide behind pretty visuals here. What the ACTUAL FUCK just happened. What the actual everlasting fuck. You do not get to just say “I dunno what happened but now we can save the day!” No. That is the asspull of the century. That is terrible writing. That is the DEFINITION of Deus Ex Machina. Explain this shit or I’m going to be PISSED
  
• Am I happy that this means Shiro’s kind of piloting with them again? Yes! Does it even remotely pacify my rage? Not on your goddamn life
  
• Out of curiosity, where the hell is the rest of the crew of the Atlas. There were a lot of them. Are they just there for the ride? Did they DISINTEGRATE??
  
• Aww the Galra are working together to save the universe. By…shooting the pyramid. Sure. That’s how cannons work
  
• OMFG Voltras has goddamn NIPPLE LASERS jesus
  
• Okay at this point I’m kind of like…just let Honerva win? Like, seriously? She keeps kicking their asses. She has literally taken everything they’ve dished out, even these stupid ass pulls and she still keeps beating them. I’m sorry, but there’s only so many time you can pull the Power of Friendship card before I’m not getting any emotional satisfaction from it. Show, you’ve had Honerva win too many times, at this point, a good guy victory just seems completely unbelievable. I mean, I know it’s going to happen because there’s no way this show would end like that where rocks fall and everyone dies, but I am just not believing it anymore. This is getting really, REALLY stupid
  
• *sigh* and they get back up with the Power of Friendship. Of course. Or is it the Power of Keith yelling cheesy motivational speeches? I’m losing track
  
• Holy shit did they die? Did everyone just die? PLEASE tell me the show had the balls to actually pull that. It won’t make me forgive everything, but it will earn a fair amount of my respect back
  
• This Honerva/Zarkon reunion moment is like. Super romantic. If she hadn’t just killed like ALL OF THE THINGS, I’d totally be rooting for Honerva to go get some. Damnit, I’m still kind of rooting for it
  
• Voltras is considered an abomination, how hilarious. She too thicc
  
• That’s. That’s how were ending it, huh. Honerva the woman who took on all of reality and won, and we’re just going to have her kid throw one temper tantrum and everything goes to shit? She went through all that effort, and she gives up after one little boy gets pissy with her? Seriously?? They made her so amazing and then they just MURDERED her character at the end.
  
• I just….ugh. Just ugh.
  
• This episode is garbage. The way they’re doing this finale is turning into a dumpster fire. I am not amused, I am not pumped up, I’m just frustrated and pissed. This is not the series ending I was hoping for.
  

Here it is, the final ep. And I am all of the emotions…

• Final ep. Let’s see if it can dig itself out of the hole. I am not holding my breath
  
• By the way, is Altea secretly the same planet as Earth in the Dragon Ball Z series? Because there’s all these convenient wide open spaces for people to have epic destructive fights without murdering everyone in the world. The non-descript wilderness even LOOKS the same
  
• The sword flies. Of course it does
  
• Where is she even going with that portal?? I thought she’d destroyed every reality but one? Also AGAIN with the ‘willpower through this guys!’ UUUUUUGH
  
• Oh my god NOW what.
  
• Are they dealing with string theory now? Oh. No it’s just more crazy abstract concepts again
  
• So they’re…outside the universe…s??? I think in string theory that technically means they’re in the 10th dimension. Also I’m pretty sure they should be insane if that’s the case. Human minds should not be able to process this. Otherwise I think technically they’re gods now? Existing outside realities, ability to destroy time and space on a whim? Definitely gods now. I would love to see this particular plot point play out but I am 100% sure the show will either ignore it or screw the pooch if they try to deal with it, so my only hope is fanfic
  
• Honerva no! You’re destroying all the concept art that never got used!
  
• What the…you know what. Every time I think this can’t get stupider, I’m proved wrong. A) Why the hell do they suddenly have super wings? B) Those things are ugly as FUCK C) How impossibly massive are they? They dwarf Voltras which dwarfs Atlas which dwarfed the lions which dwarfed humans. Those things have to be the size of a small country. Are you kidding me?
  
• “Humans were flawed too” HOSHIT UNDERSTATEMENT THERE EH?
  
• Okay, this is getting a bit preachy. A lot preachy. “Our differences make us stronger” sure but I’m pretty sure that’s not how alternate realities work. The whole point with an alternate reality is you’re not supposed to interact with it, so not sure how it technically makes you stronger. A great message, doesn’t actually relate to the situation at hand, guys
  
• Okay I am getting a little choked up now. Allura saying goodbye is incredibly heartfelt, and the moments she has with each of the paladins is beautiful. Props to you there, show. Props. You did this part hella good.
  
• Lotor what the hell are you doing there you ain’t no paladin! Get out! He doesn’t even go here!
  
• So…they made Altean Lance a thing…? W h y … ? W h a t … ?
  
• Big Bang part 2: electric boogaloo
  
• How…did Allura do that? Whatever, fuck it, I don’t care anymore. She and Honerva are goddesses of creation now tho, that’s the truth and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise
  
• Is Keith Galra Emperor now? Can he be the emperor now? I mean, he’s addressing them like he is. Make him emperor guys. This will end well
  
• Is Hunk a cook ambassador? And he’s working with Shay? And Shiro? That’s perfect. What a good boy.
  
• Oh. my. God. MATT. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR.
  
• Aww man no emperor Keith? DANGIT *flips table*
  
• Okay so I was loving the “where are they now” segment and then…just…Shiro OMFG. Where the HELL did THAT come from?? You married your bridge bunny? You scallywag!
  
• Once again, props to the Voltron crew for actually including that moment for Shiro. That’s super sweet. I mean, we have NO IDEA who this guy is other than he was on the bridge, but what the hell. It’s sweet. All kinds of stupid. But sweet.
  
• Oh FUCK YOU with that last shot. I was okay until then, and then the fucking outline of Allura and the lions going to her and FUCK YOU SHOW WAY TO DIG THE KNIFE IN ONE LAST TIME
  
• Okay, so. Final episode. Series finale. It definitely was stupid. The whole finale was pretty goddamn stupid and made no sense and I’m hella angry about pretty much the whole friggin climax. But the last bits were good. They gave closure, gave us a chance to say goodbye to these characters that we’ve grown attached to, gave us a chance to see that they’d achieved happiness. That’s super sweet and cathartic and all very good things.
  
• But the ending was also REALLY. REALLY. FUCKING. STUPID. Like. Really, horribly stupid. I am super glad it’s over and that the last say 5-10 min of the series were good, that’ll be the main thing I remember which is great, but my GOD that was stupid. Seriously. Frustratingly stupid.
  
• Christ. I need to go through these notes again and try to organize them. Overall not a great season to finish off the show, but at least it’s over. Now we can start applying fanfic to fix all the goddamn awful stupid that happened.
  
• I still say Allura and Honerva are goddesses now. Fight me.
  

Okay so let’s break this down a bit. Into the good, the bad, and the eh???

The Good:

• I love that this season took the time to give us some character moments. Moments when it was just people talking about their feelings or just spending time being people. At points it was clunky, but even then I appreciated that they took the time to actually let us see the characters, not just the plot.
  
• The Allurance romance was also really organic to me. It wasn’t in your face, but it wasn’t brushed off once they’d hooked up either. The show gave them moments together, but didn’t make it a major focus. I also loved that, yeah, they loved each other, but it wasn’t one of those true love, destined to be together romances. They loved each other like normal people did. And so when Allura…became one with the big bang(?), Lance was sad, yes. But he wasn’t emotionally destroyed. He was able to move on, which is totally realistic for a relationship that new. Just, slow clap for the writers on that one
  
• Honerva. God, Honerva. She was just amazing. I don’t think the series did a very good job as setting her up as the ultimate Big Bad; she was kind of on the sidelines and in the shadows too much for it to feel completely organic that she kind of took over at the end, but GOD the season worked her up beautifully…well, up until they castrated her character right at the end, but I’m choosing to focus on the good. She was ruthless, she was powerful, she was badass. And her motivation was so refreshing. She was evil, but her drive was love of her family, and my god I loved that. She was amazing this entire season. I ADORED what they did with her.
  
• The character cameos were incredible. I don’t remember that many new characters, if any, getting added, which makes sense because there’s no point in introducing us to new people and expecting us to care about them at this point. The cameos were mostly well used, and I loved how many old characters they managed to cram back in. Most shows make their characters a one off and the fact that Voltron doesn’t was something I loved about this show in general, not just this season. It was sweet to see so many familiar faces.
  
• While I was NOT a fan of the last 2-3 episodes, the last 5-10 min of the final ep actually managed to be really touching and sweet, and I thought it was well done. Allura’s sacrifice kind of came out of nowhere, but at the same time it made sense. She’d been showing off all these fancy quintescence powers since the first season, when it became clear that it was going to require fancy quintescence powers to save the day it’s perfectly logical that she’s the one to do it. And having her have to sacrifice herself to save everything feels more realistic after the extent of the damage that was done rather than have her and Honerva just fix everything and then carry on like nothing happened. It makes her seem less overpowered, even though SHE AND HONERVA ARE TOTALLY GODDESSES YO. And then I’ve always been a sucker for those “where are they now” type endings where we can get a brief bit of final closure when the show doesn’t really have time to spend on the aftermath. And the end results seemed very fitting and in-character for the team, unlike some “where are they now” segments I could mention (*coughDIGIMONcough*)
  

The Bad:

• Ugh so many things
  
• The writing felt all over the place this season, and a lot of details were handwaved or really badly explained. I don’t need an in-depth explanation for everything that’s happening, but too many times the answer the show gave for things happening was “Whoa that’s weird but hey moving on!” and it felt really lazy to me. Worse is there were a few times where they actually acknowledged the gaping plot holes and then never explained them (i.e. Earth’s defenses, Voltron and the Atlas fusing) which just draws more attention to the poor writing. I wouldn’t mind it so much if there had been a precedent for this kind of thing throughout the show, but the only example I can think of where some random superpower shows up out of the blue without explanation was when the Atlas turned into a giant mecha the first time, and it pissed me off just as much then. I get that this is the final season. I get that the stakes have to be raised because this is the climax of the entire show. But if you’ve upped the danger so high that the only way you can make the heroes believably triumph is by giving them random new powers, you have done a really shitty job of writing your climax.
  
• Bringing back the original paladins. Don’t get me wrong, I love the characters, and any extra screen time for Alfor and OG!Zarkon brings me so much joy. But the entire segment felt really unnecessary and out of nowhere. These characters had already gotten their arcs, we already had closure when it came to them. Sure, it was sad. They all kind of died. But there was no need to bring them back. They were really dead and gone. Not to mention having them interact with the new paladins just made it more obvious that they were supposed to mirror the original team, where Lance piloted Blue, Keith Red, and Shiro Black. Blaytz and Allura had pretty much nothing to do with each other, they weren’t foils to each other’s characters, and their interaction was just kind of weird. And while Alfor chatting up Lance was kind of cute in the “meet the parents” kind of way, once again the personalities don’t match. It was awkward and out of place and overall those episodes felt really meaningless and forgettable
  
• A lot of Allura’s actions this season kind of bugged me as well. She did something risky and stupid, starting doing questionable things, and then in the end she essentially faced no actual consequences for these actions. I mean, sure, in the end she kind of DIED, but that wasn’t related to her mistakes so I don’t think that counts.
  

The meh:

• The fanservice. I’m kind of torn on this one because while it’s nice that the show took the time to add in little extras to please the fans who have been with this show all along, a lot of it was really blatantly fanservice. Lance’s altean markings come to mind as an example. They just appear, they never get explained or acknowledged or have any reason to exist or impact on the story. He’s just got altean markings now. And the only reason I can conceive why they added that in was for the fanservice.
  
• The season’s treatment of Coran really irked me too. It was really inconsistent with how it treated his relationship with Allura, sometimes making it very clear that he’s her closest remaining thing to family, and other times ignoring that connection completely. I THINK what they may have unintentionally implied based on when and who was showing the emotions was that Coran cares a lot more about Allura (acting as her guardian when Lance asks her out, weeping in the flashback when Alfor asks Coran to stay by her side) than Allura cares about him (telling Lance on their date that she has no family left at all), which, yeesh. As if I didn’t already have problems with Allura’s writing this season
  
• The lions were a mixed bag this season. I can’t say they had personalities anymore, and I suppose they haven’t for a long, long time but at least they had a few moments here and there where they were acknowledged to be their own characters, rather than just machines. It just wasn’t enough. Remember when Red was actually finicky and temperamental? Remember when the Black Lion actually seemed to care about her paladin? Remember when Blue had sass? The show clearly doesn’t
  

Overall, did I think this was a good season? Yeah, I’d say it was decent. Not the best by far, but also definitely not the worst. And considering the path the show has taken over the last few seasons, I think we got an ending that was as satisfying as we could expect. It didn’t blow me out of the water, it didn’t change the world, but it met my (admittedly low) expectations. It’s over and I walked away being okay with how it ended, rather than disappointed or frustrated. I’m sure I’m one of many people who will say that the show definitely started out way stronger than it finished, and that it never quite lived up to the potential of the first few seasons, but at least I can say I saw it through, and I did enjoy at least seeing how it ended. But I’m also really glad it’s over, because I think it was starting to wear itself out, and that’s why the quality slipped. It got too big and epic, and it needed to end before it turned into Supernatural, where there’s always got to be a bigger threat. I don’t know if I think the good of the final season outweighed the bad or vice versa; while I think there were more little things and moments that made me happy this season, the problems I had with it were pretty huge. And they REALLY ticked me off. But it’s probably close enough that I can say they balance each other out.

I guess I’ll just say that while I’m kind of sad it’s over, and I wasn’t entirely thrilled with how the series progressed, I’m still happy I watched it and I got to be a part of this fandom and phenomena. Someday I might watch the whole series again, for nostalgia’s sake.

But I also might just stick to the beginning, when all we had was a small team of misfits, and a universe of possibilities :)

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