Wednesday, December 27, 2017

'Toon Reviews 11: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 1 Episode 2: Some Assembley Required

Some Assembly Required


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
With all the major information about Voltron and the Paladins assigned to pilot it revealed in the premiere, we now start easing into more routine styles for our heroes.  At the same time, constant reminders of the Galra Empire promising to keep coming back to attack, backed by newly revealed information of how they’ve been conquering countless planets in the universe, almost being set on the Paladins’ home planet, Earth, remain a serious issue for the heroes to consider.  In the case of this issue, they’re put through constant vigorous training exercises to form Voltron so to be prepared during all future attacks from Zarkon and his armies.  The problem behind all their attempts is that while they have decent individual competence in the heat of battle, the Paladins don’t know how to work well as a team, which is revealed to be the necessary step to forming Voltron.  From this reveal, as well as the constant mentions of how the characters have issues working as a team in the previous episode, it’s clear that teamwork is going to set itself as major theme for the series.  One thing to appreciate about the lack of teamwork is how it’s presented.  At first, you’d think that it’s all because the characters can’t get along with each other leading to pointless incessant bickering.  Apart from Lance and Keith, their problems are mostly due to a lack of understanding on exactly how to do it.  Plus, some characters have deeper reasons for their lack of cooperation like Shiro still being traumatized by his time as a prisoner of the Galra Empire, and Pidge still wanting to find his family, and apparently his “girlfriend” as depicted by constant looks at a picture.  The training exercises themselves have an enjoyment factor to them with how they’re constructed like drones attacking the Paladins and each one falling down a hole when they're not protected, someone going through a maze where the only one watching him can see the walls that can give him a shock, and the use of equipment that visualizes the process of the Paladins clearing their mind.  Through it all though, we also see a new side to Princess Allura.  She has a major sense of urgency to get the team to focus more, making it so that the training courses match the intensity of what future encounters with Zarkon will bring.  As admirable as her desire to get the Paladins ready is, she can get overbearing with expecting so much from them this early on which don’t always come off as enjoyable.  Sure, her bossy attitude may lead the Paladins to finally work together when they stage a food fight against her, but that kind of brings unfortunate implications on promoting nasty behavior to solve your problems.  The team forming Voltron afterwards is still a great payoff though, making me expect all Voltron formations will be awesome visual spectacles.  I have to wonder though if this is truly the last of the Paladins’ teamwork issues.  Getting over them in one episode shouldn’t be that easy, but with a growing enemy threat shown through frequent scenes of Zarkon and his witch wife Haggar sending a mysterious creature to their location, we’ll soon see how good their teamwork really is.  Overall, despite some overbearing character moments, this is a solid follow-up to the premiere with new information on the workings of Voltron and the entertainment mined from learning how to form it. 9/10
The Ranking
1.      The Rise of Voltron
2.      Some Assembly Required
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where see exactly what was sent to fight the Paladins in "Return of the Gladiator."
If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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