This is what I adore about this entire arc. We had so much foreshadowing from the very start of it, and threads to potential future stories. The second arc of Voltron told us Lotor’s motivations from episode 4 before revealing them in episode 23 of the second act. We can see all of Lotor’s true motives and intentions from the first 6 episodes alone, and the Altean empire wasn’t just to show that anyone can fall on the dark side, and the fact that this little acid trip was a huge spoiler to the end of the arc personally make me respect the writing even more. It even hinted the existence of Alteans. You can see the seeds planted and how it was written as one season. Go back and notice all of Lotor’s lines about Alfor, it has so much meaning now. How he talked about Alfor neutrally in front of his generals where he was the most honest, and how he used Alfor’s name to get Allura to warm up to him, and then drag it through the mud when all bets were off. Best of all? Allura sees instantly that Lotor really was just using her for her powers and takes no nonsense.
how it plays into the trope of “main male character does heroic shit and is supported by his female love interest whenever he is knocked down, while said female love interest helps in the heroic shit but mostly only pines after or thinks about the mc and draws most of her strength from being inspired by the mc”
except in this case, lance is the love interest and allura is the heroic mc
Also adding to this, the presentation of Lotor entering in is similar to that of the vamp seductress type, trying to take the attention of the mc from the love interest while the love interest acts jealous but eventually gives up cuz she wants her beloved to be happy. Basically the unnoticed teammate chick vs the dark chick type but gender flipped.
‘‘That’s not true. I left to protect the person I most love. You.”
I really adore how Voltron took the demeaning aspects of OG Allura and gave them to Lotor instead. A nanny with a habit of humiliating and spanking
Constantly kidnapped and manhandled -seriously like once a season-
I love this shot with his head down in shame and defeat. Satisfying.
And objectified
“There goes our bargaining chip”
“Give me my son, Lotor”
“Deliver the package to Honerva”
“We’ll take it from here”
This is, really interesting when you take into account his god complex. He wants, needs to be worshipped and acknowledged as this great leader. But how he is treated is constantly like an object stolen, i.e. “Shiro is escaping with Lotor” “Show me Lotor” “The Shiro that took Lotor” and treated like a possession. I love this so much.
I can’t put my finger on it either! But the “poor Allura, all the power in the universe at your fingertips and you still fear using it”, it feels like a staple shounen anime line. Can anyone more savvy point out a direct reference for it? @nomadicism@aquaburst07
superheroladies 