#altean marks

[torveiglyart]

Surfer Lance as promised. I don’t know how to render sand.

[asterraeceae]

An ancient drawing of Lance from Voltron I did in 2020 *vacuums to remove thick layer of dust*

I absolutely adore how @elentori-art adds texture to her artworks with hatching sometimes and I wanted to give it a try!

I would do it a bit differently now, but I’m still pretty happy with how it turned out.

[duskianfae]

kiss kiss fall in love or something

[heynhay]

I've done the math, there's no solution, we'll never last

[atlas7seo]

I find it really interesting that alteans look so much like humans. Like sure a bunch of the other aliens we meet look humanoid, but curve the ears and get rid of the markings and they're practically human.

Like marketing wise I get it, but in universe I find it interesting they just don't mention it like at all. (Or maybe they do and I don't remember)

Now I know everyone hates Lance's markings in s8 bc wtf DreamWorks that's not how it works. But when we were in Oriande, the part that glowed for Allura and Lotor were the altean markings. So what if humans are some sort of descendent of alteans that escaped and the marking come from practicing (I think they called it alchemy? Maybe I'm insane but-) quintessence manipulation. Maybe humans lost them bc they weren't as exposed to quintessence as alteans were.

If this was the case then...

Lance's markings would have made a really interesting plot point where after he died or something and Allura brought him back, his body was exposed to enough quintessence that he like got markings. Smaller markings than the rest of them but markings nonetheless. It would raise an interesting question and could be like an arc or something.

Imagine if people other than Allura learned magic! We could get like an actual explanation instead of hand waving oh it's magic.

[rose-bunny-28]

Love how 90% of the Voltron fandom has agreed that Romelle is trans (mtf).

Love my trans girly

[freckled-moss]

Fashion

[vldfix]

lance as castiel sketch ish mayhaps (i finally have my posting privileges back!!!!!)

[artsyjesseblue]

Lotor in a Komar Robeast - a Speculative Meta

Listen, I said I wasn’t going to write any more VLD metas, but this one is borderline fanfic, so I have an excuse. My theory is a bit stretched, like a thin rubber band ready to snap, but hey, it’s always fun to theorize. I’m just throwing it out here for funsies.

So, first off, what are the easiest and fastest ways to change the course of an already animated story?

— Static images are easy to alter - Lotor’s cOrpSe comes to mind. Easy to draw a bunch of purple spaghetti over his body.

— If there are changes in the script, calling voice actors back to record new dialogue is also cheaper (and faster) than applying major changes to the animation itself (re-recording dialogue is called ADR and it’s used in the industry on a regular basis).

With that in mind, here’s where I’m applying my theory:

At the end of Knights of Light Part II, Allura remains unconscious, while all the other Paladins wake up from the entity-assisted trip to Honerva’s mind:

From here on, I (like many others before me) hypothesize that she’d continue her metaphysical journey and finally meet Lotor — a natural consequence of the fact that he (his subconscious more exactly) enticed Allura to follow him in the Clear Day episode (“Follow me”? And then we never saw him again? Hello? Anyone there?).

As seen in the “Genesis” episode in S8, Lotor is boiling in his own rage — a rage of galactic proportions, magnified by the rift quintessence. Similar to how she woke the Old Paladins up from the darkness inside Honerva’s mind, Allura would now have a chance to awaken Lotor’s consciousness.

The difference between Lotor and Alfor et al. is that Lotor also retains his physical body — and I posit it would not look as horrid as published in canon. After simmering in the quintessence field among entities, it would make more sense story-wise for Lotor to resemble his parents’ transfiguration. A vampire-like appearance. The flecks of purple light emanating from him in the (supposed) coRpSe scene suggest that as well (Remember Zarkon and Honerva’s eyes, effusing motes of eerie purple light after coming back from the rift?).

Here’s where I’m deviating from the traditional theories:

The outcome of Lotor still retaining a viable body would be that Allura would completely wake him up from his vampire state: mind and body.

In other words, Allura would revive him remotely, via the entity connection. She wouldn’t need to storm the pyramid. Or, to quote Allura herself in the very last episode of S8, she’d “change the quintessence within [his] vessel/body from a destructive force into a life-giving force” (note that in canon she applied this technique to Honerva, while they were in the Connected Consciousness Plane, so… also remotely). As per Allura’s own recount, this was something that Lotor helped her learn.

This would bring us to the next point, as we see it in canon:

At the beginning of S8E12 “The Zenith”, Merla unexpectedly comes to the Paladins’ aid, parrying a Komar robeast’s strike against Voltron:

Pidge exclaims: “It’s the Altean!”

“Why is she helping us?” Lance asks.

Merla pleads with the Paladins. “Please, do not harm them! They were misguided, much like I was. We all were.”

We never actually see Pidge, Lance or Merla talking, we only hear their voices while the robots carry on with the battle.

This sneaky little snippet of dialogue is where I think stuff might have been altered.

Why?

Because Merla freaking died in the previous episode. Honerva blasted Merla’s mecha to fine cosmic dust, and we witnessed that in a mighty well animated scene, for that matter.

So. Who might have actually piloted that Komar robeast?

Well…

How about… Lotor? What if Lotor’s “do not harm them” was swapped with Merla’s voice?

Freshly awoken from his mega mental breakdown, but still refusing to accept Honerva as his mother — thus putting up a big fight against her (and consequently pushing Honerva to such batshit insanity where she’d decide to search for a child-Lotor in another reality), Lotor would eventually manage to escape the pyramid aboard a Komar mecha. Abandoning Sincline in this case would also serve as a symbolic gesture of departing his past life and actions, and joining the Coalition for good. (Also, in Allura’s vision in “Clear Day”, the Komar robot had a bit of a sacrificial symbolic role, so there’s that as well).

Inserting Lotor here would be an effective action sequence, with a bigger story impact than Merla’s — and it would flow nicely, as he’d arrive in the nick of time to help the Paladins. Not to mention, it would save a lot of time and budget, by skipping that extra episode about storming the pyramid.

Look, I love the ‘storming the pyramid’ idea and all the art that’s been done so far with it. I’d love to see more! I wrote a fanfic around it, too. But what if there was a more streamlined approach?

Also… Also… This action flow would explain the unprofessionally chopped frame (rip Hunk, we only see your shoulder) that follows immediately after the Merla-helps-Voltron scene. (Oh, how about Lance’s “Why is she helping us?” rolling right during this frame? We don’t even see Lance’s mouth - how convenient!)

In the unaltered version of this split screen (there must be an uncropped version, because otherwise… where’s Hunk?), I posit there wouldn’t be any Merla; instead, we’d see the newly-arrived Lotor, the Paladins, and the two remaining Altean warriors. And the convo would flow something like this:

Pidge: “It’s Lotor!”

Lance: “Why is he helping us?” (Or perhaps he would say something else completely? We can’t see his mouth; I guess it was easier than re-animating his lips to the new dialogue?)

Lotor: “Please, do not harm them!” [Optional: “They were misguided — much like I was. We all were.” — this would tie in with what Allura said about him in the Connected Consciousness scene: “Lotor may have been misguided, but ultimately he wanted to preserve life.”]

Scrolling further into S8E12, there are two almost identical semi-static scenes (an Altean character is animated briefly), separated by about 5 minutes (min 12:08, then min 17:00). The background dissimilarity is what triggers my suspicions. Remember I said static images are easy to alter? Spot the differences between these two pics:

Image 1 - minute 12:08:

Image 2 - minute 17:00:

In the second shot Matt and N-7 are gone, but more importantly… the Balmeran alien on the right has been replaced by Merla, and her Komar mecha looms in the background. See how easy it is to switch characters in static scenes? It’s canon. Boom. Proof right here.

What if… that character was actually Lotor? If he was supposed to be in that mecha instead of Merla, this would be a great opportunity for him to join forces with his beloved Alteans, and… and… express his own magical powers! (Oh, magical Altean Lotor? We’ve been waiting for this since Oriande, haven’t we? Here we go!)

Not to mention the super-symbolic gesture he’d make, of giving up his own quintessence — after syphoning it from other Alteans in the past.

Ultimately though, we know that the Balmerans & the Coalition’s efforts fail, as they’re unable to contain the rift. Their reality collapses. Meanwhile, Voltron-Atlas misses their entry point to the next reality. They’re all defeated. Honerva reaches her target reality. There, she meets cute little Lotor, gets rejected (again!) by him, and looses her shit completely.

Then, out of thin air, Voltron-Atlas reappears. May I ask how? Because damn sure, canon never explained it.

While my imagination is exhausted here, I have a couple of options, sourced from a previous meta of my own, as well as @violethowler ’s meta. In either case, the idea is that a supernatural being from beyond realities must have helped them, perhaps akin to the Sphinx in the VLD comics — maybe a Lion Goddess (foreshadowed in S1)? Perhaps they must pass some tests? The riddle of the Sphinx? Perhaps their experience in S7, “The Journey Within” was the Goddess’ test, and they already passed it? Unity, friendship, hope… All that good stuff.

And here, in the Nowhere Land beyond realities, I speculate that Lotor reunites with the Voltron-Atlas team. A seven-unit team (as hinted through Kolivan’s interview in “Day Forty-Seven”). According to a previous analysis of mine, there are animation glitches that hint at Lotor being present in the final scenes in the Connected Consciousness.

Like I said, this is a highly speculative piece. More fuel for fanfiction though.

One thing I’d like to make clear as I close my analysis. When I talk about altering an already animated story, I’m referring to executive meddling, imposed upon the talented crew that poured all their love into this show: the EPs, the writers, the animators. You know, the whole “toys for boys” meddling issue. Imo, the show runners deserved better, just like this story. I’m simply speculating on what could have been.

[harukamitsuki]

Honestly, I kind of hate how Lance was given altean symbols. Unlike my other posts, however, this isn't hating on him. I mean, his relationship with Allura felt so one-sided. Allura was clearly rebounding on him and the show just didn't want to acknowledge it. She was still hung up on Lotor, even imagining Lotor's face when they kissed, which is wrong. She was basically using him at that point and it actually made me feel bad for him.

But the worst part is the altean markings. Every time he looks in the mirror, he will only be reminded of the fact that Allura is dead. If he ever decided to move on and start seeing other people, they're going to ask about the markings and bringing up your dead ex is never going to make a first date go well.

He's marked by this memory of Allura and it is wrong. I feel as though my previous posts have made it seem as though I hate lance full-stop, when this isn't exactly the case. He had some really good potential and it's mostly the writers whom I dislike for making Lance's character go down hill. Unlike other character who I despise (not really in Voltron, though Haggar comes close to that point), there are moments where I genuinely like Lance.

I liked Lance in season one and two, and I appreciated him through season five. I just find myself disliking him more than I like him which is a shame.

The markings are the cherry on top of the cake. The writers really felt like screwing everyone over in season eight. Just that last shot of Lance with the markings that will always remind him of his dead ex who rebounded on him, as he's farming like a Cuban stereotype, (probably the only Cuban thing he's done in the series which is a whole other can of worms), really sets my teeth on edge.

I promise. I will try to talk about other things, maybe Voltron related, maybe other things like... KHR, Owl House, Gravity Falls, BNHA, One Piece, ect... But I'm currently hyperfixated and it will be a while before I stop. Sorry teehee

[mushed-kid]

marb with a haircut cause i got one so he did too

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Thinking about swap!Allurance au but with s8 ending

[torveiglyart]

I went to draw surfer Lance as a warm up in my sketch book, as one does when obsessed with Voltron again, and I was struggling with the hairstyle. So I looked up some random references for surfers and a lot of them have that Sokka ponytail/bun look????? So I was like okay sure and- and Lance quite literally is space Sokka. Like, he looked like another Sokka drawing. I’ll post if wanted but I had to set the pencil down for a moment. If it weren’t for the Altean markings I would not think it was a Lance sketch at first glance.

EDIT: I have rendered it on digital and now he does not look like Sokka. I’m okay now.

EDIT 2: I have finished a full render and will post if someone asks.

[starvoidwolf]

Screenshot redraw to learn how I want draw Lotor

[jalapenobee]

lesbians...and cookies...ykwim...

[discordiansamba]

rotating the Mer AU, and how each mer character looks in mer form this afternoon, starting with Keith.

Since he's only half Galra Mer, he's nowhere near as large as others of his kind... but he is still considerably larger than an Altean Mer by at least twice their size. He has the purple skin and scales that are commonly associated with Galra Mer, and his eyes glow bright yellow- but he also has a scattering of bright red scales that are bio-luminescent. He has sharp teeth and claws, and his hair takes on a more purple hue. He's actually missing scales in places where other Mer have them- his hands and arms, and the area around his back fin are completely scale free.

(The size difference between his human and Mer forms takes everyone off guard, and makes the fact that his human form is below average height even funnier.)

Galra mers are usually bio-luminescent in some way, whereas Altean mers only display this trait when it comes to the markings on their cheeks. Altean mers look much more humanoid in general, though they generally have more pointed ears in addition to the fist parts.

Lance's scales are a lot of flashy blue colors, that stand out more when he's on the surface than he does in the ocean. His markings are a deep blue, and his back fin is slightly torn from a childhood mishap, though not enough to impair his ability to swim. He is self-conscious about it nonetheless!

Allura's scales are soft pinks and vivid blues, with bright pink markings. Romelle's scales are bright pink and teal colors, in comparison to Bandor's deep green scales. Coran's scales are a very vivid orange, with just a little blue mixed in! Alfor's scales are mostly red, with a little blue mixed in.

Shiro takes after Altean mers in terms of size, but he has teeth and claws comparable to those of a Galra mer. He is very specifically patterned after orcas in my head. While he's still under Haggar's control, his eyes glow a vivid yellow, but they return to his normal shade once he's back in control of himself. He has no markings.