Voltron: Legendary Defender

A key plotline involves Pidge disguising her gender to join the academy, and she continues to reject traditional feminine traits even after her secret is out. Shiro's storyline also heavily features his struggles as a gay man, his grief over losing his partner, and his ultimate romantic happy ending.

The main conflict is a standard sci-fi battle against a cruel alien empire. The show does not actively attack Western culture, Christianity, or traditional family structures, though it does mildly critique imperialist power dynamics and rigid social hierarchies.

The series makes huge changes to the original 1980s cartoon. Pidge was changed from a boy to a girl. Sven, a straight character from the original show, was replaced by Shiro, who was rewritten as a gay Japanese leader. These changes were explicitly made to align with modern diversity and queer representation standards.

While most online drama came from shipping wars, traditional viewers and anti-woke commentators criticized the show. They argued that changing classic characters and showing a same-sex wedding in the finale was forced diversity meant to please modern activist audiences.

Executive producers Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery have a notable history of championing diversity and queer representation in their cartoons. They actively used this show to test the limits of what networks would allow for LGBTQ+ content in kids' media.