I very much enjoy the theory that Shiro wasn’t supposed to be around for AT LEAST one of these episodes. Here’s a compilation of Shiro-standing-around moments.
While I see progress in Mr.
Dos Santos and Ms. Montgomery addressing claims of queerbaiting, that had never been my issue with
Season 7. I think they overhyped Shiro and Adam’s relationship. I think Adam –
as well as Zethrid and Ezor – dying was unnecessary as well as offensive, and
though I had wished Adam and Shiro to have met, I had hoped they wouldn’t
end up together.
(Ultimatums are not healthy in any relationship, and as a
former caretaker of someone who had a degenerative disease, I loathed that Adam
walked away from Shiro when Shiro needed his support.)
My issues with Season 7 were
mainly:
Shiro was demoted from the head of Voltron, and he could have flown Black in Season 7 as we see the paladins flying their lions from beyond their bodies. So Shiro missing arm could not – and should not – have stopped him from piloting.
He was ousted from the “found family” team, and he
has no one else. And his mantra has always been and was again in Season 7 – “we’re stronger together.” Yet he’s no longer part of Voltron. He has no other family on Earth. How sad is that?
He was almost killed three time and even flatlined once this
season.
He was not allowed to strike back against Sendak and even got
laughed at when using his human hand. Keith needed to “rescue” him rather than
empowering Shiro to stop the abuse against him – this post explains it
perfectly.
Shiro – the paladin whose lion saved him from death and who lived
in the “infinity of Voltron’s quintessence” – is not a paladin? That doesn’t make
sense.
Oh, and this all happened in the season where Shiro to shown to be LGBTQ+
representation.
That’s not taking into account Allura being demoting literally
to a foot soldier when she was a commander. She should have risen to the role of
commander of the Atlas and bridge Earth and Altean technologies/forces. That also doesn’t discuss how every paladin-lion bond “victory” is actually a defeat of another kind (Re: VLD: Why it’s hard to rewatch.)
It also doesn’t
discuss how Shiro’s whole storyline revolved around whether he was worthy to be
a paladin, and the story’s answer is no – even though there is more than evidence to prove he was and still is. (Re: Shiro is Still the Black Paladin, and Here’s Why.)
TL;DR: They took a disabled, minority, mentally ill, LGBTQ+ representative character, and said he couldn’t be a paladin.
I didn’t like this season, and I doubt I’ll like Season 8. I wish DreamWorks would see the mess that this season was and create a Season 8 to address all this. I would be willing to wait for it, but they won’t lose that much of their investment, I would assume.
I have no idea what they honestly expected, but they’ve been pretty upfront when they’ve been less enthused about how they’ve been ‘forced’ to tell the story. Which means I see no reason to doubt them when they’re just as upfront about how excited they are. They’ve finally got what they wanted, even if it took 65 episodes to get there: Shiro is now just another secondary character alongside Coran, Romelle, Matt, and the rest.
As for Atlas, it exists — when you get right down to it — as something for the second-tier characters to do. It’s command central, but it’s a step removed. It gets a moment to shine, as do all secondary players in the average space opera. But only a moment, of course; it can’t steal the spotlight for too long. Then it gives way for the real heroes to deliver the final blow.
At the same time, the EPs are well aware Shiro has his own contingent of fans (including among the execs). So they’re going to pitch this to fans as they probably did to the execs, by translating their own satisfaction into excitement on the fans’ behalf. It’s a cousin to concern trolling, except it’s excitement trolling, as though the EPs’ joy is shared by the fans.
“This is exciting and awesome and everything Shiro wants,” they’d say, bubbling over with enthusiasm, and the message is: we know what we’re doing, so set aside your doubt and trust us. We’re excited; you should be, too. If the average viewer is willing to go along, we’ll see it in the data over the next few weeks. I’ve certainly seen some on tumblr who are fine with Shiro’s demotion.
That pleasure doesn’t seem to be the most common reaction, though. The predictive algorithms for twitter aren’t showing a spike for #voltron or related terms (and some are showing a drop). At IMDB, the entire season is the lowest-rated. Every season contains a stinker or two, but S7 is the only one where it’s true of every single episode. Rotten Tomatoes not only has a 17% score for S7, that score is based on 203 votes – more votes than for S2, S3, S4, S5, and S6 put together. You don’t see a sudden change in audience engagement like that unless people are really, really, unhappy.
Of course the EPs want the audience to like their story. That’s human nature, and the basis for any future career advancement. But knowing human nature, I’d be willing to bet that in the process of convincing execs that this is how the story should go, the EPs also managed to convince themselves that repeating the same to the audience would result in the audience agreeing, too.
the thing i think that’s getting lost, at least from shallura fans and shiro stans is like, in a lot of ways… s7′s queerbaiting is like, only it’s second biggest problem? i’m not upset about not getting canon klance, i’m not upset over allur@nce seemingly becoming canon. i’m not even upset about the bullshit backstory of earth vs how much more dramatic and emotional it would have been to have the paladins there while being attacked.
i’m upset because voltron took it’s character that is the most representation for the most amount of people in the entire show: japanese poc, a buff asian man, disabled, chronically ill, mentally ill, and lgbtq+ and were like
yeah, let’s sideline him, let’s take the role he earned and loved and fought and died for and give it to someone who never even wanted it in the first place.
and thought it was good storytelling. vld’s biggest sin has always been its incredibly shitty treatment of shiro, and this was the absolute last straw for me.
…wow. Shiro has struggles. Shiro is a person. Woah. They’re treating him like they’ve always treated him. The shock.
My gosh, that isn’t their biggest sin. The complaints about them torturing the characters are so strange, that’s how writing works. You want there to be conflict, you want the characters to suffer, you want to let the characters grow through pain. Shiro still has more of his character arc left and this is part of it.
Keith being given the Black Lion is literally?? One of those few things where they were just aligning with the old Voltron show? Keith was meant to have the Black Lion in the end.
And don’t forget about the White Lion. They’ve been trying to keep it on a down low, but Shiro channeled its power this season and used it to save earth. He isn’t meant to be the leader of voltron. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have powerful things ahead of him.
Shiro is not a weak character. He isn’t a beaten down character. He’s the leader of the Atlas, the space dad, the man who’s patience enough to take in an orphaned kid and help the kid survive in a place like the Garrison. Shiro is a genuinely good character.
You can try to argue that Shiro has suffered the most out of the Paladins, but that doesn’t devalue him as a character. He’s still a strong, kind, wise person and they created him that way. My gosh, complain about the things you don’t like all you want, but this is not their biggest sin.
and here’s some more bullshit i called out when the interview saying that shiro’s bond with the black lion was gone:
“because if shiro isn’t the one true black paladin, then why wasn’t keith picked by black from the start? why was allura wrong? why was shiro able to do the eye glow in 1×02, like alfor did, before any of the other paladins even after seasons of development with their lions? why have shiro’s arc of a full 26 episodes be about his leadership and bond with the black lion, when keith got maybe 7 episodes at best? why always show keith piloting black through his bond with shiro instead of bonding with the lion itself? why have shiro be the one to fight and earn black’s trust in the astral plane? why have s6 prove that keith was only picked by black because shiro wanted him to be?why already have a plotline of ‘shiro’ being the strategic director and showing him missing black? why have keith not be in black and instead have an entirely separate arc instead of proper development? why have keith unlock things that shiro was able to unlock by himself that keith needed shiro’s help to do? why have all the lions, including black, roar the way they did in the pilot only when shiro returned? why have such a heavy emphasis on shiro wanting to be a paladin if he wasn’t going to be one again? why have a main character, the closest thing vld has to a main character every season, suddenly be sidelined?why have shiro literally fulfil the role of the black paladin more or less from beyond the grave and in the voltron void for four goddamn seasons?why have shiro being in the black lion’s astral plane, because she refused to let him die, to have her save him at all costs until he could be safely brought back, for him to not be a paladin?why would keith be any more willing to be black paladin now that shiro is back for good? why have haggar call keith the red paladin, and the two black paladins refer just as easily to shiro and kuronin 6×05? why have keith pointedly not do the eye glow with the black lion in 6×07? why do this to their most popular character that voltron’s survival and popularity as a show fucking depends upon? why sideline and say that your disabled, mentally ill asian lead of colour isn’t as fit to be the “born leader” he was always made to be, than your white fave?” (X)
as for “keith has to pilot black bc that’s what the old show did!!” that’s bullshit, because in the original, keith occupied shiro’s spot of being the leader from the beginning; there was no lion switching bullshit. in fact, allura being black paladin in s3 would have been more faithful to the original, because in 80s voltron, allura pilots sven’s lion after he dies.
but you did get one thing right. the show treated him how they’ve always been treating him, and they’ve always treated him like shit.
they kept him around because they had to. they were gonna be lgbtq+ and were still planning to kill him off (and he did die, they were just forced to bring him back). they call him boring. they make keith fight and win against shiro’s abusers instead of allowing him agency and recovery. they talk about their favourite characters on the show and never mention shiro.
“SR: Do you have favorite characters? Or is that like trying to pick a favorite kid and you just love them all the same?
JDS: For me it’s become tougher over time, I have to say. I started out pretty strongly in the Lance camp and I’m really liking the way he’s evolving. But, y’know, you start getting an affinity for all the characters, they’re kind of weirdly your children on some level
.LM: It’s really strange, I’m the same. In the beginning, I was Pidge, Pidge all the way. I love Pidge, but thing is, I love all the characters. I love how far Allura has come, I love how like unbelievably pure Hunk is. And so it’s just all of these things about these characters. I love how much Keith has grown into himself. It’s weird, it is weird. And it becomes harder and harder to pick.”
And a brief breakdown, of everything Shiro has gone through:
having a chronic illness that causes him pain which is never brought up again beyond it being a deciding factor in him losing a long term romantic relationship
being captured by aliens
being tortured and experimented on
losing his arm
being forced to kill and fight for his life
after which he immediately becomes a voltron paladin, which is crucial to his recovery, as the breaking point of with sendak is “you really think a monster like you could ever be a voltron paladin?”
shiro is tortured by sendak
shiro is tortured and injured by haggar, and then nearly killed by alien creatures in 2×01
shiro loses ulaz, the man he owes his freedom to
shiro fights and is nearly killed by zarkon in the astral plane
he’s seemingly electrocuted, and then dies in battle with zarkon after gaining his bayard
keith gets a lion offered up to him on a silver platter: free of zarkon, and with the black bayard, neither of those things he remotely earned or ever wanted (compared to shiro, who wanted to be a defender of the universe from day one)
shiro being replaced by a clone who did little but suffer and die for his team, too, having been brainwashed by haggar to hurt everyone he loves, and then have his body be alive enough to function, and then had his consciousness robbed
shiro meanwhile was in the black lion’s astral plane, even if we have no idea how long he was there, or how he survived
shiro doesn’t get to fight a druid, one of the people belonging to the organization that tortured and experimented on him, because that goes to keith bc they have some random ‘history’ together
shiro is kept out of the team bonding episode in 7×06 even though he’s wearing the paladin armour that seemingly protected everyone else, because the writers don’t want him around
shiro’s new arm nearly kills him
sendak nearly kills him, and shiro doesn’t get to triumph over him; that goes to keith, like always
shiro has no family back on earth; he loses adam. when the rest of the paladins are having reunions or spending time with their family, shiro is giving a speech and all alone, separate from the team he loves with his whole heart
I never said Shiro was weak. But Shiro does not exist on his own; he does not make his own decisions. People write him. And they write him to suffer, and never gain anything from it. He died for the Black Lion, for his team, and then he doesn’t even to get to be a part of it. Senseless suffering and half assed character arcs is not good writing. Him suffering doesn’t make him a bad character, but it does make the show badly written when you see how uneven that pain is distributed. Who has lost more than he has, and who has gained less in return?
Shiro deserved fucking better, and the fact you can’t seemingly see this proves that the voltron fandom at large has cared about Shiro as much as the creators have, which is to say, not at fucking all.
Soooo….been a long time I wanted to talk about the amazing and heart breaking moment between Shiro and Keith during this season.
It was honnestly, for me, one of the best moment of this Show, my heart was beating like hell when I saw it for the first time because we got like, big reveal, big emotionnal moment and how the épisode end and all : truly great!
but
after watching it it feel like something was lacking, and this is a feeling I got since the beginning of the show.
For me it was a show about a TEAM , a team that will eventually end up feeling like they are family to each others. And we had a lot of “bonding moment” between the characters.
but theses bonding moment where the whole team was here were most of the times “funny” bonding moments (a the party when pidge want to leave, the Show with the bibobi, the DND game) I hardly remember serious, heartbreacking bonding moment with everyone here to support one character.
but I’m not here to make a detailed critic/analysis of the show, I just wanted to show you guys what, FOR ME, would have been the perfect time to show that this show is about a team that is united even in the hardest of times.
So first, everyone is here when discovering The Facility with all the Shiro’s Clones,they are all in shock when seeing it.
Shiro’s Clone arrive, and then, one hell of a fight begin : The voltron Team VS Shiro.
They all try to call out for him, to reason him, talk to him while trying to block his attacks, all of them trying not to hurt him and understand what is going on.
eventually we arrive at the moment when the facility is falling apart, the team got separated from Shiro and Keith, they have their moment of big emotional talking.
The team manage to rejoin Keith on the platform just before the Facility explode.
Shiro fall at the edge of the platform, unconscious because of the blast, keith throw himself so he can catch him before he fall, but he is to heavy for him and Keith get dragged by Shiro.
Lance and Pidge ,with fast reflexes, got hold on Keith’s legs but they got dragged too, with Shiro and keith…
.. They fall into the void.
But Pidge have her bayard, and use it to throw a Grappling Hook to Hunk who catch it in time and hang on as best as he can.
and Hunk succed, he is using all his strenght to keep his friends, his space family, alive. He is the last thing that keep them from falling and he can feel that he begin to slip. With tears in eyes, he hold on tight, as long as he can, while they try to figure out a possible way of getting out of this mess.
but ultimately, with a pained cry, Hunk get dragged by all of them.
and they fall.
they get closer, so everyone can hold on on Shiro, not letting him go, even if maybe it’s a clone, it’s THEIR Shiro.
While looking at their
unconscious
friend, all of them have a moment where they remember how Shiro got an important impact on their lives.
Like, lance remember that it’s because he admired Shiro that he tried so hard to join the garrison and go into space.
Pidge remember how, because he was friend with matt, she saw him as a kind of big brother too.
Maybe that Shiro got an important impact on hunk’s life too, maybe hunk was going to drop out the garison because he feel like he doesn’t matter, but Shiro, seeing him doubting and sad in his corner, help him feel better, and told him how important an engineer is for a team in space.
of courses Keith remember how Shiro saved him and all the canon things we saw.
And at this very moment, we finally understand how Shiro is the CORE of this team, how important he is for all of them. That he is the link between all theses people. and that’s why he is the Black paladin, the head and heart of Voltron.
phew, it’s a long text message (it was hard to write it because english is not my first language) but I really wanted to share it with you (even if my art to illustrate it was totally rushed and not the best art I made), I wish I was better at comic so I could have show it to you as a comic instead of a badly written text.
Lance as Lone Wolf | Allura as Brains Shiro as Prince | Pidge as Sunshine Hunk as Loverboy | Keith as Survivor Matt as Advisor (here) Coran as Rebel (here)
Lance as Lone Wolf | Allura as Brains Shiro as Prince | Pidge as Sunshine Hunk as Loverboy | Keith as Survivor Matt as Advisor (here) Coran as Rebel (here)
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