There’s a valuable lesson in the various incarnations of Voltron. No I’m not talking that giant robots are cool (obvious), that Pidge is creepy when you have him get older (surprising), or that movie adaptions are chaotic and unpredictable (depressingly true). I’m talking about the basic core idea of Being Stronger By Coming Together.
That’s a lesson we usually brush off. Giant robots made from smaller robots, power of love, friendship is magic, fighting spirit of the team, what have you are all common ideas in anime, movies, etc. The idea of Being Stronger By Coming Together is so common we don’t even think about it, and thus don’t learn the lessons. It’s probably not helped by a culture with the delusion that we somehow magically succeed without the help of (even if unappreciated) others.
But it’s a damned valuable lesson. Plus illustrating it through the idea of cool robots coming together to make an even more kickass one is a real inspiring illustration that harmonizes with our half mechanical, half magical geek hearts.
We’re stronger when we come together. Specifically I’d like to focus on the Applied Geek aspect of that – in our careers and our lives.