#and when mirai reunites with cameron at side 6 and talks about how she doesn't want to go thru the arranged marriage

[njararna]

i think perhaps my greatest gripe with vld (and dynamite) is that the storylines of the pilots ultimately feel too individualistic (tho dynamite also suffered with having only strong focus on keith and a little bit allura and hunk and everyone else was kinda. just there. so its no wonder).

i think one of the things abt voltron is that you really can't...let the pilots go off on their own. not that they have to be attached to the hip 24/7 but their storylines should be bringing them in together, not sending them into wildly different parts of the galaxy. they need to function not just as a unit within the story/to fight as voltron, but narratively as well; their arcs should really be complementing and enhancing each other. i feel like vttd understood this pretty well with the way arcs like lance's fed into the overall dynamic of the group, and in vforce, they seemed to treat the force as a proper unit that functioned together while still having their own personal stories (allura becoming queen of arus is still linked to what it means for voltron, keith on his way to becoming king consort for arus is linked to allura and also to the shifting dynamics within the formation with daniel as head, pidge deciding to remain as castle defense still means he supports voltron etc etc)

with vld...its complicated. you have allura going on what is essentially a path to godhood with alchemy and oriande and the secrets of the lions, keith literally peacing out for about two seasons with the blades to find krolia, and then shiro is a clone for a decent part and they subsequently shove him into the atlas once he's not. that's 3/6 paladins being dragged into different directions away from being a unit. keith leaving the team was...such a terrible move. a character who's lost family and been abandoned time and time again and instead of him making his own, he leaves it? and then he chills out on a space whale for two years and i'm supposed to believe he's voltron's leader now when he hasn't done the work to bond and connect with his paladins? keith and allura are also arguably the most important characters within voltron as a franchise, representing both voltron and the alliance, and its those two who are dragged away from the unit in vld (to the actual point of allura dying!!! willingly!!!!!!!!!). what results is a dissonant team with no real core to speak of, what with the constant changes in the chain of command. vforce worked so well because they understood the need for a core! golion is so endearing because within the first few episodes it knew that the team being together was the most important thing.

the storylines are just too...separate. they go on paths barely any other character can follow. and for a show about teamwork and working as one, it doesn't feel that way.