#about the state of this industry this fandom and what they care about (spoiler alert: definitely not music)

[dearedwardteach]

wait so jjk1 is literally just seven so far??? like there's no other song rn no definite plans for the album no overall artistic view??? or did I misunderstand what he said in suchwita when he said he hadn't really worked on anything else so far???

[cutiepie-keith-blog]

Lance, sweetie, what have they done to you

So how about that finale huh?

Yeeeeaah, wasn’t that… Something.

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But, okay, real talk here… Given the state of the fandom, I feel like I need to add my two cents to the situation. Which situation you may ask? 

The Voltron Cast queerbaiting its audience with its characters? The terrible way they handled the villain’s overarching narratives? No. None of that here.

I’m talking about the finale. That trainwreck to end that dumpster of a final season. That absolute worm-infested cabbage mulch that brought a pickaxe to keep digging when they hit rock bottom. But forget about cinematography or allegories because there’s already dozens of other blogs that tore it to bits and explaining how it’s a disgrace to the sacred art of animation and serialization.

Instead, I’m ranting about how they mistreated my favourite character, Lance McClain.

So how did the Voltron staff do him dirty? Let’s see… Which one of these options sounds the most plausible…?

Killing off his chances for a character arc

Problematic stereotyping

Retconning CANON LORE to accommodate this sloppily written finale

All of the above

Did you choose 4? Congratulations! Here’s your prize:

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Part 1: “Character arc? What’s a character arc? Is that a sauce?”

Ugh, it’s like the showrunners didn’t even CARE about writing Lance’s development. Season one and two were brilliant because they offered a set-up for his internal growth from a self-depreciating goof to confident marksman. 

I guess the writers never heard of following through, though, huh!! 

A constant from season 1 was style over substance when it came to Lance, and each time a new season dropped we all waited for something - ANYTHING - that would show us that he had grown; that we were witnessing the development of a fully realized character.

But no. Lance is just comic relief! He’s funny! Look at him failing to flirt! Hahaha! It’s funny because he’s stupid!

But he’s really not! And we all know this! Lance has been shown time and time again that he is a competent character... That’s why it’s so painful to watch his importance be relegated to that of a side-character. ESPECIALLY after his motivations were so clearly established.

In episode one, what did Lance say to establish his motivation? 

“I’d love to explore the cosmos! There’s a whole new world out there!” 

He, THE Lance that wanted nothing more than to explore the great wide galaxy and live free-spiritedly… You’re telling me THAT Lance would give all of that up to separate from the rest of his team (who up to this point he regarded very clearly as family) to live a quiet life?? You’re telling me that the Space Paladin, Lance McClain - after saving the universe - would drop every relationship he made with his team… To be a FARMER??

And oh yeah, he’s Cuban and they made the Cuban boy a farmer.

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Part 2: They made the Cuban boy a farmer

AKA the ‘Look how WOKE you are now, Netflix’ second half because the whole Lance becomes a farmer thing comes a bit later.

Gather ‘round the dumpster fire, children, and let’s just take a moment to remember how PROBLEMATIC it is that they made the CUBAN boy a farmer...! Oh, Voltron showrunners, you absolute uneducated walnuts! The way they did it was so forced, too, and it made Lion King (2019) look sincere; So let’s start at the beginning...

In the original series, Lance was a one note ‘prince charming’ that existed as the pretty boy that would end up with the main girl, Allura, so you can only imagine the sheer, utter EUPHORIA I felt when I saw the first hints, the traces, the signs of a 3 dimensional character from him.

And then Allura...! My Queen! They gave her a personality too! So how could I not love them being a canon couple!

I’ll tell ya how. They killed off Allura, that’s what. And let’s ignore that one tiny detail that the only main character chose to kill was Allura, the BLACK PRINCESS because that’s a whole other rodeo that I ain’t ready to play clown in just yet. 

And what happened to our soggy cardboard cutout of Lance do when forced to deal with grief??

Well to start, the death of his alien girlfriend suddenly made him an alien too so?? Okay?? Are all the rules of the universe worthless now?? Because according to the rules that the showrunners set with Keith being half-galra, you can’t change SPECIES. 

There’s being artistically adventurous on one hand and then there’s throwing whatever shred of artistry out the window. 

OH HO HO BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! (And spoiler alert! This is the part where Netflix making Lance a farmer kicks in)

Now we all know Netflix is a company that is well known for being progressive in the film industry because of how they cast minorities in their original films and series, and they’ve made it clear time and time again that they support LGBTQ+ community. 

Hey Netflix, REAL progressive of you to play right into the stereotype of (Here it is) MAKING THE CUBAN BOY A FARMER. With Takashi Shirogane, japanese fans of the original series had a new strong leader to look up to. And what’s more was that they showed him marrying his husband in the finale!

And Lance? Out of heartbreak and sudden alien-ness, he abandoned all his dreams to explore the universe to become a farmer in some throwaway planet. 

All the other fans from Central America (e.g. that’s ME) now get to see a once in a million chance of mainstream representation not as something to look up to, but as another disappointment perpetuation the steel wheel of assumption.

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IN CONCLUSION: UGH

Good riddance to this show. 

I will never forgive the V:LD staff for ruining NOT ONLY my favorite show, but my favorite character in all of fiction. 

*mic drop*