#VLD and its surrounding environment definitely got to be addicting

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Is it just me or... was vld.... like, addictive? I consume tons of anime, comics, books, series, movies etc ANYTHING and the last time i felt is was when i was around 14-5 yo with naturo 🤨 2-3(?) years later im still....... holy fuck dare i say UPSET and EMPTY about vld. Is it just me???

Hi, anon, thanks for the note! I’d never interacted with Voltron franchise prior to VLD, but this show really pulled me in too. I had some favorite episodes I would rewatch when I could, and even after all this time, I’m still here writing fanfic for the VLD universe and exploring older Voltron iterations!

I doubt I have an objective perspective to explain “why” VLD was addictive, but I have some personal assumptions:

I think the ATLA-type animation and visual direction was probably the best the franchise has enjoyed so far, and that it represents above-average quality for American-based cartoons. From what I’ve gathered of older iterations, Voltron’s visual quality has been questionable for many years. So it seems like having ATLA-levels of animation and visual design really opened up this old franchise and drew in a much larger fandom per its stronger attention to aesthetics—which ultimately feeds the fanart and fanfic machine. The fact that VLD also injected some visible representation helped to draw in larger crowds. So I really think there’s something important about the visual quality and diversity in cartoons that helps to pull us in and connect with them.

It was a very accessible show in that it was rated Y7 and available to stream, and also was 78 episodes released over the course of a few years. So from 2016-2018, a large potential audience (from young to old) experienced fairly rapid injections of fully animated content to binge. 

Between those rapid binge injections, we also had members of the production team creating content and feeding fandom with art, teases, tweets, conventions. VLD also had books and comics published. This created even more of a consistent hype for the show and fed the larger circuit of fandom interactions, theories, other posts, etc. And there’s definitely an addictive, dopamine kick in finding like-minded fans to enjoy a community with.

I think the voice actors significantly enhanced the accessibility of the characters, making memorable characters even more memorable and lovable too. 

The sheer expanse of the VLD universe and character cast offered different possibilities and focuses. Voltron franchise isn’t as much of a fandom content generator like Marvel, for example, but VLD universe definitely hit a sweet spot that brought a lot of people together for different reasons, in a pretty short amount of time. We can explore quite a few things in Voltron universe because of just how big it is! Not every franchise has such a breadth of topics and content.

So maybe some of these elements could be things to look for when searching for a new show or story to get lost in? And the VLD show itself, with its mix of space and magic and several possible outcomes, on top of its humor and angst, had a lot of potential. I think the potential of VLD haunts and feeds the fandom, even to this today. Maybe its unrealized potential is why many feel there is a lack of closure too with this show. I know I lean heavily on writing fic to get to ideas or concepts that provide closure for me personally.

With the way the show ended back in 2018, VLD fandom experienced a mass exodus. So it’s possible that it’s not just the show that has left us feeling a bit empty, but simply the realization that the fandom environment changed pretty drastically pretty quickly too.  

The good news is that Voltron is a legacy franchise! Many fans remain still, and it’s likely that we’ll see Voltron rise again in some shape or form in the future. Over the course of decades, the Voltron franchise has never truly died. 

It’s possible too that maybe a new franchise might still catch your attention in a way you never expect! While VLD is over, I do think it’s good to keep having some optimism for the future—that something will enamor you just as Naruto and VLD did, or that you might at least find peace with your relation to VLD.

Also, there’s nothing wrong with continuing to favor something from the past over something running in the present. I’m still a big Transformers fan even though I’m not active in the fandom for it and have had some disappointments with the franchise. I often rewatch older Transformer shows over quite a few shows running today, lol. That’s the nice thing about fictional content. It lives and stays with you for as long as you want it to.

And who knows? Maybe you’ll even come up with the idea for the next great, addicting franchise!