so sdcc happened and dreamworks did THAT

If you don't want spoilers from the panel about the upcoming season 7 then turn away now. Because this is going to involve as much as I can remember from the liveblog I was following earlier as it was happening. If you're here and don't mind that, then be warned I'll be screaming a lot, or trying to control it at least because BOY, DID WE GET SOME QUALITY CONTENT.

LAST WARNING FOR VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER SEASON 7 SPOILERS!!!

Okay so part of the clip people got to see, I think its from the first episode of season 7, we see what the team has been up to since the end of season 6. As if it wasn't bad enough that we found out Shiro died at the end of season two, and has been kept safe on the astral field by Black all this time, but when he's been brought back in the end of season 6 it doesn't seem to fix things. It's unclear if Kuron's body is rejecting the essence of Shiro put into him but we see Shiro needs a healing pod but the team don't have any since the Castle of Lions has been destroyed. As a result, Shiro is dying again but Coran tells them if they head to a planet nearby then they can get some kind of energy source to help him. The team heads off whilst Keith (and I think Romella) stay behind.

Flashbacks ensue.

We see Shiro at the Galaxy Garrison with Keith, and the cadet class seem to be doing the flight simulator. Seems Shiro at this point is popular because the students whisper and seem excited when he comes into the room. Everyone fails the exam, hard, but then comes Keith last and he's the only one to pass it. Some wise kid cracks a comment about the machine being broken which ends up in them getting a punch from Ketih, which takes us to the flashback in season 6 where Shiro is taking responsibility for Keith. Iverson gives Shiro a list of cadets he can choose from to mentor, he asks if Keith is on there but regardless if he isn't, Shiro picks Keith.

Keith becomes upset with Shiro when Shiro won't tell Keith that he's actually sick (jeez Dreamworks, we really just want Shiro to suffer, don't we? I love it). It seems to be a problem with Shiro's body, like physically, as he has a small device shooting electronic pulses into his muscles?? Shiro seems to just not want to talk about it and reassures an upset Keith that he chose him not because he felt sorry for the orphan, but because he saw potential but its up to Keith what he does with it. Now brace yourselves for this new bit, we were promised that there would be two LGBT characters in Voltron, one we already know, and one we're still to meet. Well guess who?

I thought it would be Keith or Lance, especially since they just feel geared towards that, probably fandom input skewing my perception. BUT NO. It was neither of these two fine young men, instead it was Shiro. Yes! We see Shiro had a partner named Adam and seems to have worked at the Galaxy Garrison as well. Things aren't happy for the couple though, not forever. The Garrison higher ups and Adam are insisting that Shiro doesn't go on the Kerberos mission since he's so ill but the Holt's father is adamant that it be Shiro to pilot them. Shiro inevitably decides he'll go on the mission but Adam tells him that if he goes, that not to expect Adam to watch him or be there for when he comes back because he just can't go through that. Especially when Shiro has only 2 years before his body seems like it'll be giving in on him. Back in the present we see Shiro dying and Keith pleading for him not to leave him behind, 'Not to do this again'. Luckily, it seems the team manages to save Shiro again but he's officially retired from being the Black Paladin.

The following stuff we had less information on so bullet points will be more effective:

-Shiro gets a new arm
-The Galra get new weaponry and it looks OPAF
-Earth seems to be in trouble. When traveling back they get an incoming message from the Holt's father who seems to be sending out a distress signal
-Sendak is back and he's in charge of the Galra. He threatens to attack Voltron when at its weakest
-Everyone thinks that the Voltron team and Voltron itself seem to be lost after the fight with Lotor - 'So everyone thinks we're dead?' - Hunk

We have about two seasons left after the next one? And we're going back to 13 (episode) long seasons as well. Voltron is really coming to an end guys and we don't have much more to go. Keith definitely seems to be the new pilot of Black and Shiro is done with being a paladin but there's still those ominous words of 'The White Lion isn't done with Shiro yet'. But wow guys, just... wow. I'm not ready for what's to come and I'm not ready for this show to be ending so soon as well (though its probably only ending next year? maybe end of this year earliest?). My favourite character is Shiro and its been Shiro since season 1. He's just... he's the kind of guy that looks like he has everything together but he really doesn't? And he needs the help from his teammates as much as they all seem to think he can do so much on his own?

I think what I'm trying to say is he's cool without being the streotypical type of cool or arrogant or anything bad. He's someone I aspire to be more like and he represents so many different things in our everyday lives. From amputees to people suffering with PTSD and now the LGBT community. I love that they haven't written Shiro based on his uality either, whatever it may be (he strikes me as panual) but that the uality came afterwards and just makes him more of the character I adore. I do love the rest of the team and will probably make more blogs about them when the season is actually out but the SDCC for VLD seemed primarily based on Shiro for now and this is what I gotta say about it. 

I'm super excited for season 7 and the writing for this show continues to amaze me. I'm proud that Dreamworks also had the bravery to actually put a same relationship in their show too. What a time to be alive guys. If you have thoughts or would like to leave a comment or maybe start a discussion with me then please feel free to do so! I'm always happy to meet knew fans of this show and see what others think about it and where its heading. Likewise if you just want to scream at each other a lot then I'm here for that goodness too. If you read this then thank you, bless your little cotton socks.

Don't forget season 7 of Voltron: Legendary Defender will be out on Netflix on August 10th!