# Voltron: Legendary Defender
Voltron: Legendary Defender is the 2016 Netflix and DreamWorks reboot of the 1980s mecha franchise, built by alumni of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show attracted one of the loudest Western animation fandoms of the late 2010s, with shipping wars, queerbaiting accusations and petition drives that defined its online footprint through the series finale in December 2018.
## Origin
Voltron: Legendary Defender premiered June 10, 2016, with all 11 episodes of its first season dropping at once on Netflix[3]. DreamWorks Animation produced the series as the second reboot of the 1980s Voltron: Defender of the Universe anime, following Nicktoons' Voltron Force in 2011[5]. Executive producer Joaquim Dos Santos led the crew, which pulled heavily from the staff behind Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra[5]. DreamWorks and Netflix confirmed a second season for late 2016 shortly after launch[6].
The original Voltron is a 1980s property owned by World Events Productions, not an internet creation; the fandom around the 2016 reboot grew from Tumblr and Twitter users posting fan art, ship content and reaction posts in the weeks after the Netflix premiere[1]. No single fan is credited as the originator of the online community's shorthand.
- **Platform:** Netflix (series) / Tumblr (viral fandom)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2016
## Overview
The fandom around Voltron: Legendary Defender formed quickly on Tumblr and Twitter, built around the five paladins piloting robotic lions that combine into a giant mech[5]. Ship names took over the discourse fast, with Klance (Keith and Lance) and Sheith (Shiro and Keith) producing fan art, fan fiction, animatics and theory posts well before each new Netflix drop[1]. Fans read the showrunners' interviews and social media as hints toward queer canon, and that reading grew into the central argument of the fandom through 2018[4].
The show itself was positioned as a prestige animation project, with crew from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra attached from the start[5]. That pedigree set expectations for serious character work and progressive storytelling that fans later cited when things went sideways[1]. Petition drives on Change.org accused DreamWorks of executive meddling, and the finale's rushed gay wedding for Shiro drew more anger than praise[2][1].
Urban Dictionary entries from the aftermath capture the whiplash in blunt terms, with one definition calling it a show that was really good until seasons 7 and 8 "made me cry till 3 a.m."[8]. The ship wars, callout threads and finale discourse made Voltron: Legendary Defender a case study for later debates about queerbaiting and "epilogue representation" in children's animation[1].
## How to Use
Fandom shorthand drew directly from the show's ensemble: "Klance" denotes the Keith and Lance ship, "Sheith" the Shiro and Keith ship, and "VLD" is the common abbreviation for the series[1]. Shipping posts, fan art, animatics and discourse screenshots cycled on Tumblr and Twitter around each season drop[4]. After December 2018, the "quarantined queerness" critique coined for the Shiro wedding was carried into other animation fandom debates[1].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Voltron: Legendary Defender?
It's a 2016 DreamWorks Animation reboot of the 1980s Voltron mecha anime, released exclusively as a Netflix original series[5].
### Where did Voltron: Legendary Defender come from?
All 11 episodes of the first season premiered on Netflix on June 10, 2016, produced by DreamWorks with crew from Avatar: The Last Airbender[3][5].
### What does Voltron: Legendary Defender mean in meme and fandom use?
In online shorthand, VLD stands for the series itself and anchors ship tags like Klance (Keith and Lance) and Sheith (Shiro and Keith)[1].
### How do you use Voltron: Legendary Defender in fandom posts?
Posts typically cycle on Tumblr and Twitter under VLD and ship tags, with fan art, animatics and discourse screenshots about queer representation debates[1][4].
### Is Voltron: Legendary Defender still popular?
The show ended in December 2018 and sits in classic-fandom territory, with its legacy largely tied to the finale controversy and ongoing animation discourse[2].
### Who made Voltron: Legendary Defender?
Executive producer Joaquim Dos Santos led production for DreamWorks Animation, with much of the crew coming from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra[5].
### Why was the Voltron: Legendary Defender finale controversial?
Fans accused DreamWorks of executive meddling and of relegating Shiro's gay wedding to an under-developed epilogue, which GeekDad called 'quarantined queerness'[1][2].
### What is Klance in Voltron: Legendary Defender?
Klance is the fan ship pairing Keith and Lance, two of the paladins, and became the flashpoint for the fandom's long-running representation argument[4].
### Did the Voltron: Legendary Defender writers want LGBT representation?
A Change.org petition argued the writers wanted it but were blocked by DreamWorks executives, asking the studio to 'give the Voltron writers the green light'[4].
### How many reboots of Voltron exist?
Voltron: Legendary Defender is the second reboot of the 1980s Voltron: Defender of the Universe, following Nicktoons' Voltron Force in 2011[5].
## References
1. [https://geekdad.com/2018/12/how-the-end-of-voltron-legendary-defender-exemplifies-the-quarantining-of-queerness-in-animation/]()
2. [https://www.change.org/p/dreamworks-voltron-season-8-release-the-original-the-showrunners-wanted]()
3. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltron:_Legendary_Defender]()
4. [https://www.change.org/p/dreamworks-dreamworks-give-the-voltron-writers-the-green-light-give-us-lgbt-representation]()
5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/voltron-legendary-defender]()
6. [http://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/704591-voltron-legendary-defender-season-2-coming-late-2016]()
7. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXW1waqRCb0]()
8. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Voltron%20Legendary%20Defender]()
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