#devils due lotor

[mermaider00]

No4forLotor || VLD!Lotor/DDP!Lotor

Note: This pairing is two different Lotors, one from Voltron: Legendary Defender and the other from the Devils Due comics. DDP!Lotor will be referred to here as “the Prince” 

If this pairing is not for you, then don’t read it and go about your day. Happy No4forLotor, everyone 

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This is the craziest thing he’s ever done.

There was only one great tear. Lotor isn’t sure if there are more and no one has yet discovered it, but the one great tear was something neither reality could ignore. One rip that created one entrance, like a door opening to a very mysterious room that was always meant to be closed securely, with those on the other side not meant to mingle. It is still unknown to scientists on both sides how this great tear occurred, but now two realities have bled into one.

There are now two Zarkons. An Emperor and a King. There are two great races, the Galra and the Drule. Lotor was certain there would be a declaration of war almost instantly for supremacy, for all the power of two realities that could no longer be separated and sealed away. In a shocking turn of events, the Emperor and the King came to an agreement, to work together for the time being to completely conquer both realities with the resources and knowledge of the other. The Emperor and the King look nothing alike, are of a different species and home world, but there is something inside them that understands the other. Lotor is convinced both Zarkons don’t intend for this to be a permanent truce and are only biding their time until the other is no longer useful, but there are also two Voltron’s trying to stop them.

Each Zarkon has a son. Prince Lotor.

His father the Emperor was not against him meeting the Drule Prince of another reality. Lotor was certain that he would not be able to stay away from his alternate self even if he was forbidden from meeting him, he would simply find a way and knew in his heart the Prince would want to meet him with equal desire. They are so alike and yet they are so different in many ways. As soon as his blue eyes met the golden hues of the Drule Prince, there was a gravitational pull in his body and mind and soul that he would never be able to avoid. Not that he would want to.

So he didn’t. Lotor gave into it, his curiosity and the explorer trapped inside him his father the Emperor had tried to destroy vibrating with excitement and thirsty for knowledge. This person was him but he was also not. They shared the name, the title, the tyrant father. They were the same height and had the same voice. Their mothers were gone and were neither Drule nor Galra, but the blood of both women was strong in the veins of their sons.

They were the same and they also were not.

Lotor wondered if this was how his father the Emperor felt when speaking with his alternate self. Was the deep understanding Lotor felt with the Prince the same as Zarkon felt with the King? Was there a strange unspoken bond there? Lotor hoped it was not the same.

Lotor was drawn to the Prince. The Prince was equally drawn to Lotor.

Their bond eventually would evolve into something like attraction. And then attraction became desire. One that was impossible to ignore.

And it is the craziest thing he’s ever done.

There is something about the Prince that Lotor is weak for. They look alike but yet the Prince is a completely different man with his own attributes, like the blue of his skin or the gold of his eyes. They are different but yet the Prince understands the struggles he faces, the abuse at the hands of their evil fathers, the burdens of doing what must be done and how sometimes those burdens keep them awake at night. The Prince is a handsome man who does not flinch at the sight of the scars along Lotor’s back put there by his father the Emperor. The Prince is not appalled by the things Lotor has done in order to survive and the Prince does not judge him. He does not think he’s a monster like many believe him to be because the Prince knows his true intentions without Lotor having to speak them.

The Prince is someone Lotor has longed for his entire life, and a great tear in the space between two realities has granted his wish.

Who could ever understand you more than your own self? Someone who is you but also not?

It is a crazy thing, to get involved in such a way with the Prince. It almost feels taboo.

It feels…

Forbidden, is what Lotor thinks when the Prince finds him in the halls of a Drule ship where there are no guards, when he stares at Lotor with his golden eyes as he struts closer to him in his ridiculous Drule outfit and presses him against the wall. They are quiet as they stare into the intense eyes of the other.

Leaning forward slowly, the Prince kisses him.

They did not plan for this to happen. They hadn’t looked at each other the first time they met, a miracle on its own, and decide to become intimate. Lotor had not been with a man in a long time, he has always preferred women. The Prince had been far more comfortable for this strange surprise than he had been, and Lotor had wondered at the time if it was some perverse kink, to bed his alternate self simply to say that he had. An odd victory.

But the way the Prince kisses him is the same way Lotor kisses him back. And when Lotor kisses him, he feels more peace than he has ever felt in ten-thousand hard and lonely years.

Perhaps the only person who could ever truly understand him… is Prince Lotor in another body.

It feels forbidden, taboo. It is also exhilarating and wild and good.

To be with the Prince… Lotor can finally feel some pleasure.

In his ridiculous Drule outfit with his battle helmet set firmly on his white hair and his cape draped behind him over his shoulders, the Prince caresses Lotor’s neck, opens his mouth for the other man’s tongue. When his lips find the other side of his neck to nip on, Lotor’s claws sink into his waist, his fangs bared in pleasure.

“Stay here for the night,” the Prince rumbles against his neck, the tips of his own fangs softly pressing against purple skin.

“I can’t.”

“Can’t you?” The Prince kisses up his neck to his jaw, his hand sliding down to rest upon Lotor’s pectoral. “You enjoy my comfortable bed. Your night terrors aren’t as frequent when you’re with me.”

“This is getting complicated. Any moment now our fathers could turn and suddenly demand the head of the other. What do you think happens to me if the King finds me in your bed? Again?”

The Prince’s golden eyes darken. “I will take his head myself if he were to harm you.”

“But you haven’t,” Lotor replies with a slight desperation in his voice. It is easy to be himself and feel the things he feels when with the Prince. “You haven’t done that, in countless years. You hate your father as much as I do mine. And the King still stands and rules.”

One way they are different is the great arrogance within the Prince, one that sometimes makes him a bit careless. Arrogant and careless are things Lotor does not have the privilege of being. The Prince sighs and rolls his beautiful eyes, his hand rubbing at Lotor’s chest. “So much fear for a few measly hours. Your reality has made you so afraid.”

They may have a bond that has now gone deeper than either had ever intended, but there are times when Lotor finds him simply infuriating. His blue eyes go hard and he releases his hold on the Prince’s waist, feeling defiant. “You are a spoiled brat.”

The Prince chuckles darkly and yanks Lotor against him, taking his mouth quickly before their lips smack away. “That’s right. A rotten spoiled brat who thinks of nothing but you. You have consumed me, Prince Lotor.”

“Don’t sweet talk me. That mouth of yours will get you killed. It has already gotten you hurt.”

The Prince and the King don’t have the same relationship as the Emperor and his son. Lotor learned long ago to lie to his father with obedient words, to kneel for him as he cursed him dead within his heart, to carry out his orders as he gave his own meant for sabotage. The very few times Lotor has snipped back at the Emperor, it was always met with devastating sacrifice. Sacrifices Lotor can no longer endure.

Especially now, when his heart aches for a man who shares his name.

But the Prince, Lotor knew firsthand, does as he pleases in the halls of his ships, in the palace on his home world. King Zarkon hates his son more than he is ever proud of him, but the Prince’s back does not carry the scars Lotor’s own does, inflicted there by the hand of the Emperor. The Prince suffers, but not as Lotor does.

He has been hurt, however.

Both men think of a time recently, when Lotor had been on his way to see the Prince. He’d been told to go to his personal chambers, and with clearance as he passed Drule guards, Lotor had made his way there as if he had every right to. He’d been excited to see the Prince again, his heart already jumping in his chest at the chance to touch him again. To feel that peace that took away all the hurt inside him.

Lotor had opened the door to see King Zarkon’s big hand around the Prince’s throat, holding him up in midair by his neck, his feet dangling far from the ground.

Fury had instantly consumed him, his fangs already sharpened and bared with the intention of ripping the King’s throat out for putting a hand on the Prince in such an awful manner. And seeing that fury inside the man who was not his son as instantly as it had taken Lotor, King Zarkon dropped his son to the ground as he would an old cloak.

The Prince, not caring about his wounded throat, had rushed to Lotor’s side to stop him from making a grave mistake. Attacking the King would call for execution, he’d said to Lotor as he took his shoulders, forcing him to meet his eyes and not the apathy in the King’s. The Prince had caressed his cheek, whispered into his ear, unmoved by what his father would think of such intimate actions.

“I’m fine,” the Prince had told him, his voice a little hoarse. “Calm down, Lotor. If you don’t, he will kill you. Please.”

Why must they both suffer, no matter the reality? Were there other Lotors in other realities being hurt by their fathers and without their mothers? If Lotor had not barged in, would the King have strangled him?

As the Prince tried his best to hold Lotor back, King Zarkon walked passed them, big and powerful and strong. He sneered at them, scoffed, rolling his eyes and also completely unsurprised that his son would embarrass him this way. “You disgust me, both of you,” he’d said to them before exiting.

Why is it that the only person who will protect them be someone they could never ever meet under normal circumstances? Lotor had wondered.

He wonders it again now as he stares at the hopeful Prince, knowing he’s playing off his need to be with him, to be able to protect him, as nothing more than desire.

They want to be together. They want to protect the other from their fathers.

It is a crazy thing, what Lotor feels in his heart for this man who shares his name and title.

The Prince squeezes his shoulders, wraps his arms around Lotor’s neck. He presses their bodies close and softly kisses his lips again. “I want you. Please stay with me.”

Does he feel what Lotor feels when with him? Lotor knows the truth when he’s kissed by him. The Prince couldn’t hide it even if he tried.

Later that night, when the Prince’s legs are spread around him and his hands grasp at his arms, Lotor knows staying with him was the right choice. The way the Prince moans and looks up at him, the way he sinks into his very comfortable bed, the way he snuggles against his back to spoon him when they’re done… Lotor understands that the Prince needs him as much as Lotor needs the Prince.

One Prince Lotor is all they have. The only peace and love and acceptance they feel is with each other. It shouldn’t be this way. It’s a crazy thing. Crazier than a tear in the space between realties.

The Prince holds him close, breathes into his mussed white hair. With Lotor’s scarred back against his chest, the Prince always makes sure to be the one closest to the door, should anyone want to end their affair because of embarrassment or disgrace or even jealousy with an ambush. The Prince will shield Lotor with his own body if he must.

Better for Lotor to be with him than without him.

“Don’t be so afraid,” the Prince whispers into his ear, their naked bodies pressed tightly against the other. His hand rests on Lotor’s chest, and Lotor is quick to take it and hold on. “No terrors for you tonight, my love.”

This is the craziest thing he’s ever done, Lotor thinks again as he kisses the Prince’s hand.

And it is the best thing that has ever happened to him.

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

I was reading some old Voltron comics, and wow, back in the day, they used to very clearly publish details the fandom needed for fic purposes, lol

I love that Haggar’s weight is explicitly unknown, tho, LOL. She is so powerful, no one can weigh her.

Screenshots (c) Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Vol 1, published by Devil’s Due Publishing, 2002, ISBN: 9781933160849)

[nomadicism]

DDP Voltron: a Not-So-Brief-Summary

I love DDP Voltron, and I’m always here to praise it because...I bailed on it at first.

Despite being initially turned off from one scene in Vol 1, this is the series that gave me:

a serious-and-very-interesting inclusion of Vehicle Voltron (worthy of a separate post);

Queen Merla doing her Scheming Thing;

Drule Politics;

Not-A-Damsel-Allura;

Angst-Ridden-Tragic-Past-Kung-Fu-Master-Keith;

Sven being a wonderful and grumpy badass;

Redhead Romelle;

And a characterization of Lotor that started out gross (re: Vol 1) but evolved into something very different-and-better from DotU while still keeping some core concepts.

So, yeah, I can’t complain.

Summarizing DDP Voltron: the plots (with spoilers):

Continued from this Ask regarding the Voltron Defender of the Universe comics by Devil’s Due Publishing. I include photos and scans from the comics.

“Hi, I looked into buying the ddp Voltron comics cuz of your rec but it’s too expensive for me. Could you maybe give a short summary or tell us what you thought was really great in the comics in terms of characterization and plot? I like your Lotor comparison posts and would like to know more about the other characters in the comics (and what happened to Lotor in the end)”

- Anon

Here we go Anon! Thank you for the Ask!

To begin...The DDP continuity is very much American-style comic book writing, for better or worse (but mostly better).

This means that there really isn’t an “end”, especially since the series was cancelled and couldn’t properly complete the big arc with Merla, Sven, Lotor, and Haggar causing a ton of trouble. As whole, the series is excellent material for fanfic writers to run with. I’d love to hear from the creative team that wrote and planned the comics as to what their final plans were for the characters and all the subplots.

Image content below: not graphic, but warrants a PG-13 in some cases.

First, the worse:

Those fucking skull belts. I just can’t take either Lotor or Merla seriously with them on sometimes.

Space Elf Biker Queen Merla. It wasn’t even the 90s (when the “bad girl” craze happened) so there was no excuse. Her design doesn’t match any of the other Drules, and each Drule Kingdom has something different about it. Still, it’s Merla and I’ll take her any way that I can get (don’t make that dirty you pervs).

The art style(s) is/are all over the place, and I don’t mean that as a dig against the art itself, but the style(s)—styles of competing western superhero body builds vs kind-of-sort-of anime-inspired faces and so on—don't always convey important concepts.

A glaring example of this being the age, height, and weight/muscle difference between Zarkon and Lotor. The physical difference between them is an important visual representation of the power that Zarkon holds over Lotor (who is 22 years old at 6’3” 200 lbs against Zarkon’s 93 years of age at 6’8” and 365 lbs). The difference between them is obvious in some issues of the series but not in others as different artists illustrate different issues which is a little jarring at times. It’s like they couldn’t consistently decide on whether to illustrate Lotor as either tall-and-slender with more anime-elf-like features or…as a super villain six-pack straight out of DC comics or something (guess which version I prefer).

Some of the artists’ styles make Pidge look like a 16 year old with stunted growth (as he’s supposed to be), while others’ styles do not.

Other than Pidge, every character is in their mid-20s and up, but Allura is younger (19) in a way that had me thinking: “Okay fanboys, I get it, the hot barely-legal Princess is a Thing…but why is she chasing after Keith* (26) when he’s clearly not interested…?”

The space mice are robots (yeah…).

* Speaking of Keith, this reminds me that every iteration of Keith has something new tacked onto his character (often taken from another character). In DDP Voltron, for the first time, we get to see Adult Angst Keith who has Tragically Lost Everything That Mattered (dead parents, dead fiancée). Enter innocent Princess Allura to heal all that pain away. LOL. At least Keith’s dead fiancée was given a full name. Joking aside, Ka//llura in DDP Voltron is done well and an interesting take on that ship.

ONTO THE BETTER!

The writing is clearly for older teens and adults, meaning that it can tackle deeper concepts and create a setting of consequences when it wants to. The writing does a good job at moving beyond black-and-white morality characterizations—[salt] “Moral grayness” done right [/salt]—handles the complexity of many interacting characters while setting up myth arcs and a larger world to explore without preventing/stalling the main characters from moving through smaller plots (an actual writer could probably explain this better but there it is).

The comics show love for the original series (both Lion and Vehicle seasons of DotU) without ditching the made-for-US DotU episodes that gave us characters like Merla. (looking at you Voltron Third Dimension and Voltron Force)

True DotU love is a Stride the Tiger Fighter reference.

Even Stride from DotU shows up and I love it. I never thought I’d see Stride again. I love that he’s a space pirate in this. Lotor vs Stride is so much fun and I need more of it. Alas, A Legend Forged is all we’ll get.

The writing is also more military/comic-sci-fi focused with the politics of the Galaxy Garrison, Galactic Union, and Drule Supremacy driving the larger plot lines and rivalries. The writing doesn’t cross into magic/fantasy territory as much as the original DotU series did, and definitely not at all like VLD does. So that can be either a pro or a con depending upon what one’s blended genre preference is.

Despite my picks about Allura’s age, with the exception of Pidge (and later Chip), all of the characters are adults! No teens here.

Additionally, the concept of Allura having a magical and mystical bond with Voltron in an actionable way (and the lions being sentient forming bonds with the pilots) is first found in this series. VLD iterated upon that and added a lot more. Those aren’t the only concepts either...

BASIC PLOT SUMMARY:

Captain/Commander Hawkins (originally from Vehicle Voltron) assembles a team of highly-skilled yet questionable men to go find the mythical Voltron in order to help the Galactic Union in its long cold war against the Drule Supremacy (currently under armistice with no active hostilities). The problem is that the Galactic Union (aka Galaxy Alliance) doesn’t believe in Voltron and thinks Hawkins is crazy. Hawkins has to go behind his superiors’ backs to prove that Voltron exists.

This is how Hawkins ends up with a team of:

Ex-Navy Special Forces (not SEAL) Sven (age 27) who is stuck on “administrative leave” due to some complicated self-defense killing while on a mission in South America;

Pidge (age 16) orphaned-ward-of-the-state-child-prodigy and student at New West Point;

Former Navy pilot Lance (age 24) is an inmate serving time for fly-boy antics (pro-tip: don’t buzz a senator’s penthouse with a navy jet);

Hunk (age 24) military engineer/mechanic who has resigned himself to being the tough guy (this is interesting and I wish there had been more time to explore this concept for Hunk);

And finally, Marine-on-leave Keith (age 26) who has thrown himself into his martial arts training to get over the tragic death of his fiancée.**

** This concept for Keith works well because it sets up a parallel between him and Lotor that feels more natural than the formulaic shōnen style from DotU. We don’t see Lotor’s side of it until Vol 2, and had the series continued then that could have been explored more.

After this set up, the story points are small and contained. The summaries below are of these smaller plots and they overlap with each other so what follows is not a chronological-by-issue summary.

VOL 1:

Find Voltron, Hawkins gathers the team, and explains the myth of Voltron and Drule Empress Jain IX (think VLD Honerva/Haggar if she had been Empress of the Galra instead of Zarkon).

Voltron, the Great Intergalactic Fairy Tale.

The team goes to Arus, which is in ruins as Zarkon razed the planet a decade prior. They meets Princess Allura, who doesn’t like being called ‘Princess’ because after the death of her parents and destruction of her world, she doesn’t see Arus as independent or a kingdom anymore (they are subjects of the Ninth Kingdom of the Drule Supremacy). Haggar does her “magical sensing the return of Voltron thing” while Allura has a mystical dream conversation with the Ghost of King Alfor. Zarkon sends a detachment to investigate Haggar’s warning of a threat coming from Arus. The detachment arrives, a fight ensues, and our heroes get into those Lions and form Voltron.

Getting to know Arus and Allura, where there is some set up of the Lance-Allura-Keith triangle in a fun-and-believable way (and that says a lot coming from me).

No kl//ance in sight.

Did I mention that I have a strong and abiding bias against romance being mixed into action/sci-fi/mecha/adventures?

Yeah, the writers handle this well here and sold me on Ka//llura when I’ve always found that ship to be ‘meh’, while for DotU I leaned more towards Allur//ance instead (which isn’t saying much because I’m nearly always ship agnostic). Not saying that to rag on any ships, but the treatment of Allura with regards to relationships (platonic or romantic) and her agency is my #1 deal-breaker for any iteration of Voltron. So that’s why I bring this up. This is American comic book style romance, similar to what you’d find in series with ensemble casts like The X-Men, The Avengers, or Justice League. It’s neither shōjo, nor reliant on “cut-to-the-chase” clichés necessary for including romance plots within the time constraints of animation. It’s not terribly deep either, which means that it also doesn’t distract from the rest of the story. To me, that’s a win.

Save/Free Arus, which introduces Lotor (age 22) fresh from Drule bootcamp and sent by Zarkon to further investigate Arus now that they have confirmed Haggar’s vision of a threat in the form of Voltron. Lotor’s brilliant idea of investigating is to show up in Allura’s bedroom as the grabby stalker space barbarian we all love-to-hate from DotU.***

Ugh. You can’t see my wretch-face. No thanks. Fortunately, I got over this BECAUSE IT GETS BETTER.

We find out that Lotor and Allura were kinda-sorta childhood friends, but mostly that Zarkon had sent Lotor as an adolescent to Arus as a spy under the guise of diplomacy. This re-introduces the “instrument of evil” concept from DotU such that in this continuity, Lotor is raised by Zarkon to be an unquestioning tool of conquest and their power dynamic is very one-sided. Zarkon’s abusive-and-controlling behavior becomes obvious once Lotor fails in this first mission. (some of this backstory comes from the character bios which appear in some of the issues)

***The issue that shows this creepy/gross scene was my introduction to the series and I put it down immediately as that characterization of Lotor and treatment of Allura is my #2 Voltron deal-breaker for me. Needless to say Vol 2 redeems this so well that—once I read the Vol 2 issues—I picked up the entire series and was able to catch on to what was happening, and this scene bothers me less now.

Lion Swap, where Sven is mysteriously rejected by the Blue Lion during his second time flying it (hmmm that sounds so familiar!), and Allura becomes the Blue Lion’s pilot instead. They fight Lotor’s forces and a Robeast. Obviously, Lotor fails his mission and Sven is benched and he’s not happy about it.

I love DDP Sven. He’s so grumpy.

VOL 2:

Lots of world-building in Vol 2. I love what the writers did with the Drule Supremacy. My only pick is that they didn’t include any of the Drule (like Hazar, Dorma, Throk) from Vehicle Voltron, even though the political focus of Vehicle Voltron is reflected in the world-building of Vol 2.

Primary plot:  Rebuilding Arus while the politics of both the Drule Supremacy and the Galactic Union create obstacles for everyone, and Something Is Up With Sven. A lot of story is packed into Vol 2, and sadly, the series was cancelled before it could be completed. So the conclusion (kind of) of the story is only found within the Voltron Defender of the Universe Omnibus.

Rebuiding Arus interrupted by Theft of the Lions, while Arus is being rebuilt and Sven is having Issues™ (cough VLD Shiro/Kuron cough).

Proof of Hawkins’ BDE.

Hawkins arrives/crash-lands in a stolen/commandeered Drule ship to ask if the Garrison could send scientists to study Voltron, but Allura doesn’t like that idea at all. While they discuss this, Arus is attacked (sort of) by the Galaxy Garrison (distinct entity within the Galactic Union) who steals Voltron from them, and forces Hawkins to return with them (essentially he’s arrested and about to be demoted for his actions at the beginning of the series).

Team Voltron leaves Arus to try to get the lions back, and while doing so, uncover a conspiracy between the Drule Supremacy and important leaders within the Galaxy Garrison. Also, Hunk’s brothers are larger than him…like much larger. He’s called “Hunk” because he was the smallest of his brothers and it was a teasing nickname from them.

Obligatory giant robot fight between Lion and Vehicle Voltrons: Our heroes find out that the Garrison stole Voltron in order to study it and create their own (as well as some other things). So now we get Vehicle Voltron which made me super happy. It’s not as powerful as Lion Voltron (and a good reason is given for why it requires 15 pilots instead of 5). Team Voltron sneaks into where the Lions are being held and manages to fight off the Vehicle Force Team to escape. As they leave Earth with the Lions, Vehicle Voltron is sent after Lion Voltron to bring them back to Earth.

I love the Vehicle Voltron uniforms in this so much...

Right. Giant robot fight. Rather than winning the fight, Lion Voltron manages to escape while Vehicle Voltron has its energy over-loaded. Then, the Lion Team hides out to give time for the Lions to recover. Lotor shows up, making the claim that the Lions were going to be sent to the Drule, and he’s here to collect what’s rightfully theirs.

Former classmates ragging on Lotor...but wait! Is that a tiny hair bun/knot/something pulling his hair back? YASSS.

Bring on the Robeasts, but first, another obligatory fight: a one-on-one between Lotor and Keith. No swords this time (because this isn't space fantasy). It’s martial arts instead, and Keith (who is 4 years older than Lotor) kicks Lotor’s ass because Lotor spends more time talking shit and less time fighting.

Patience yields focus son!

Political fallout from Lotor’s failures, and Lotor Meditates Upon The Nature of Honor (or something): This introduces the politics of the 10 Kingdoms that make up the Drule Supremacy, including Queen Merla.

MAJOR UPGRADE. Girl you belong on a Lady Death cover. Did Vampirella style your hair?

Zarkon gets into political embarrassment over Lotor’s run-ins with Voltron (and thus the Galactic Union) and is sanctioned for it in front of the other kingdoms. Other rivals appear, and this sets up a lot of interesting subplots that are sadly never explored (as the series was cancelled).

Sick burn Skath.

One of the political rivals is Prince Skath of the Second Kingdom. Skath’s attitude towards Lotor over Merla is interesting as Skath assumes that Lotor “has designs” on Merla when nothing could be further from the truth. Lotor is not the schemer in this continuity, Merla is. Merla makes it clear (to Haggar and others) that she wants to merge her kingdom with Zarkon’s, and marrying Lotor is a part of that. Here, Lotor is shown as someone who doesn’t get to make many choices for himself (and when he does, he gets into a lot of trouble for it).

Since Lotor failed terribly in his first mission and screwed up his un-approved actions to retrieve the Lions after the incident with the Garrison, he—like Keith—has thrown himself into his martial arts training (best described as “honorable warrior code meets ancient Drow Drule fighting techniques”). This further highlights the difference between Lotor and Zarkon, as Lotor grows to see that Zarkon “does not follow the creed.” Gone is the grabby stalker space barbarian characterization from Vol 1, and it’s been replaced with something else that’s kind of hard to describe (e.g. character development is a Thing That Happens), but it involves meditation and loin cloths.

Yeah. That happened. Again with the skulls!

The Drule creed and honorable warrior code doesn’t get explored much further in Vol 2 but I think that the “Followers of the Lion” stuff from A Legend Forged has something to do with that (cough Lion Goddess cough).

Queen Merla has political rivals of her own and they cause trouble later, in this panel we see Queen Xarnaren of the Fifth Kingdom giving Merla the evil-eye.

“Is that leather or latex? What kind of Queen wears...never mind.” - Queen Xarnaren, probably.

Merla and Haggar scheming: We find out that Lotor is confined to Korrinoth (aka Planet Doom) because Zarkon will not risk or tolerate any more political embarrassments. To send that message, he violates Lotor’s privacy (Lotor has his own home) and physically threatens him.

Zarkon deadlifts Lotor with one hand around his neck.

The art style in this scene more accurately represents the physical difference between Zarkon and Lotor as well as their personalities. Lotor is enjoying private time with a servant and is wearing lounge-wear and sandals, while Zarkon shows up in his authoritarian military leader uniform with a gun holstered at his side. Lotor is never seen using a gun (maybe once?), he only uses swords and hand-to-hand combat (unless he’s piloting a ship and firing the ship’s weapons).

Meanwhile, Sven continues to have Issues™ and Merla and Haggar launch their plan. Sven betrays the team, sabotaging the security system that he designed and built for Arus, and leaves with Merla.

Camo Sven with a bandolier meeting Biker Queen Merla in the jungle will never get old.

Merla introduces Sven to Lotor (whom she has managed to get to leave Korrinoth despite the threats from Zarkon). Lotor calls Merla out on brainwashing Sven, and right in front of him too (this happens a few times and it’s clear that Lotor does not approve of the brainwashing).

Merla, Sven, Lotor, and Haggar travel a secret base on Caldaran to discuss the deposition of Zarkon and alliance between the Seventh and Ninth Kingdoms against Bhorn (of the First Kingdom), using Sven to get at Voltron to give them the power to do it. During their discussion, they are attacked by a ship sent by Queen Xarnaren. This puts them all in a bad situation, as Merla is wounded and has to be healed/watched by Haggar, while Sven and Lotor team-up to get through the caverns that cut around the wreckage that blocks the exit and gives access to ships that Merla has hidden at the base. Naturally, the caverns are full of threats.

First date: talk philosophy (seriously). Get to second base: Warrior bonds between men.

Voltron to the rescue…sort of: Team Voltron leaves—but not before Allura gets a blushing eye-full of shirtless Keith doing his katas—to find Sven.

Get you some Allura. You’re 19, he’s 26 and lonely!

Sven and Lotor make it out of the caverns alive to find the ship.

Aaand some mutual appreciation bonding between Sven and Lotor over the beauty of Merla’s ship.

Like, a lot of bonding.

(✧ᴗ✧✿)

So much bonding.

I’m just saying…for those who paddled that Sho//tor canoe…here it is.

Anyway...Voltron arrives while Lotor and Sven have their ship in orbit to take out the Fifth Kingdom ship that attacked their meeting with Merla. Keith hails them, asking about Sven, not knowing who is on board. Sven is all “let’s do this!” and fires weapons on Voltron, splitting the lions apart. While they fight, Captain Yurak (e.g. VLD Sendak = DotU Yurak) of the Fifth Kingdom shows up and the battle gets complicated. Eventually Voltron and Lotor/Sven work together to fight off Yurak.

Merla’s true plans revealed: While the battle rages in orbit, Haggar finds out that Merla was planning to assassinate Zarkon all along (not merely depose him) and she’s not having any of that nonsense. Haggar reveals her Horror Movie “Druid/Priestess/Follower of Sarga” face and they go at it.

Also, it wouldn’t be an American style comic book without at least one hot babe in a shredded costume.

Enjoy lads, and you too @teamsincline ;-)

Haggar uses a jump gate to summon Robeasts, and since Haggar is on her own side, the Robeasts are unleashed on everyone.

Did I say Robeasts? More like cosmic horrors the size of asteroids.

While the Robeasts are being fought, Allura has a Mystic Moment with the Spirit of Voltron and realizes that Sven has been brainwashed. Their minds meet in the astral plane (or wherever) and Allura heals Sven’s mind, breaking the influence that Merla had over him. Unfortunately, the battle isn’t going well, and now that Sven is in his right mind, he’s willing to make the ultimate sacrifice

Whelp, there goes that ship...

Enter Romelle and Bandor: who find a nearly-naked Sven crashed on their planet…

Yeah Bandor, “Wow”.

The battle with the Robeasts over Caldaran is over. Lotor peaced out in an escape ship/pod just in time, and Team Voltron returns to Arus where they mourn the loss of Sven, while Merla tries to get her shit together (speaking of nearly-naked) and finds that she’s not alone.

Yo, Merla, the 90′s are calling and they want their bad girl dress-code back.

Team Voltron’s time on Arus is short-lived as they receive a distress signal, and they go to investigate. Naturally, it’s a trap. This time by Soltorn, General/Ruler of the Fourth Kingdom who has Lotor captured and the ship is rigged to blow.

Aaaaand that’s the end of the series because it was cancelled.

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Sort of weirdly rushed conclusion: Merla and Haggar continue their telepathy vs magic fight, resulting in Merla desperately forcing Haggar to open a jump gate—it’s occult-science so magic is involved—via telepathy.

Things Go Wrong and weird spatial/dimensional rips across the galaxy, including on the rigged ship where Lotor was held captive by Soltorn. Lotor tells Team Voltron that they need to return to Caldaran.

Meanwhile, Sven has a Meaningful Dream About Voltron, and Coran contacts the team to tell them that psychic visions are being reported all over the quadrant. The team arrives at Caldaran to find another Robeast, and the battle doesn’t go well. Sven arrives in time to help and he enters the Heart of Voltron with all it’s shiny blue quintessence quasi-mystical energy. I have no idea how this fixes the problem of the psychic distortions. The story kind of loses me here.

The day is saved and Team Voltron is reunited with Sven, while Lotor takes Haggar to return to Korrinoth, leaving Merla behind. And since Lotor was threatened by Zarkon to not leave Korrinoth, the final panels conclude with Zarkon waiting for Lotor in his home and ready to teach him a lesson in disobedience.

Fade to black with tortured screams.

The End!

Finally, a follow-up mini-series called A Legend Forged was released that takes place after the events of Vol 2. The plot is more self-contained, and involves Team Voltron, Lotor, and Stride being sent to the past when the Thing That Stride Was Stealing from the Drule gets triggered in the wrong way. This series reveals Korrinoth’s past, before it became the desolate Planet Doom during Empress Jain IX’s conquest. The story focuses on the mythology established at the beginning of Vol 1 with the creation of Voltron. It’s interesting and fun, and I usually don’t like time-travel stories.

There’s also the Followers of the Lion...hmmm that tattoo looks kind of familiar.

I hope y’all enjoyed this!

[voltronfandomhag]

Before Devil’s Due: Broken Glass Studios

So I have a of theme going on right now about the “What might have beens” of the Voltron universe. The franchise’s history is littered with unrealized projects or ones that changed direction some point in development, which is probably inevitable due all the various Voltron retellings and the franchise’s age. With that said, today we’re going to look at what’s possibly one of the most obscure bits of Voltron history I know.

It’s commonly known that Devil Due’s published a short lived Voltron comic book series in 2003-2004. However, a few years prior, around 2000 or so, WEP had given the licence to a small indie comic book company called Broken Glass Studios. The about page from their long since defunct website had this to say about the company:

Broken Glass Studios (BGS) was formed by Keith Newsome, Shawn Prince and Jamie Snell during Wizard magazine's WizardWorld comic book convention in the summer of '98. It was formed as an alliance between 3 comic book fans to create and publish independent comic books.

Jamie Snell, one of the company’s founders and artist, mentioned in an interview that Broken Glass had yet to publish a single title when they were approached about creating a Voltron comic book, which was to be titled Voltron: Legends. Now, if you’re wondering how a tiny company with no publication history got a hold of the Voltron licence, never fear, because in the above interview Snell explains: 

VE: Yes. how did you decide to do a Voltron Comic book?

Jamie: Well the Voltron fell in out lap. Bradford Licensing came to us with it. They found our website and approached us to do the book. Bradford Licensing is a company that WEP uses to distribute out license for certain things, publications, gifts, novelties, etc.

VE: That was a lucky break. What was it like suddenly having a license just fall into your lap like that?

Jamie: We were skeptical at first. Made sure we did some research on them. It was legit. We gave them a proposal and they accepted it and forwarded it on to WEP

Broken Glass did release a few promotional images for the comic. However, since this was nearly 20 years ago and most of these images were hosted on sites that no longer exist, I was only able to find the picture of Prince Lotor drawn by Jamie Snell.

I don’t know why WEP decided to go with Devil’s Due instead of Broken Glass Studios. While I don’t recall an explanation ever being given, it’s possible that information is simply long gone and I don’t remember it.

[kingofthewilderwest]

I can't stop thinking about how beautiful Lotor and Allura's children would be if they ended up being together

Oh goodness. Lotor is unfairly pretty, as is Allura. That’s quite a lot of way-too-pretty genetics all in one place! XD

Now… I don’t like raining on anyone’s parade, and I know you just want to have a friendly squee, but I hope it’s okay to bring up how Lotor and Allura have been written throughout the Voltron franchise. I want to write this as a fair warning in case people don’t realize what the issue with Allotor is. Now, technically, if we were looking just at VLD, Lotor and Allura’s interactions have been fine, so I can see why people who lack context to the full franchise would jump into a ship with these two. But the ongoing history of Lotor and Allura hasn’t been so innocent. It’s consequently why I personally would be uncomfortable to hook them up. 

The longstanding tradition between Lotor and Allura has been… Lotor lusting after Allura, and trying to force her into a romance. 

It’s not been pretty.

Beast King Golion (1981-1982) is the main source material from which the Voltron franchise developed. It set the stage for many things, including how Lotor (Prince Sincline) interacted with Allura (Fala). Even one summarizing paragraph from the Voltron wiki gives us an extremely unpleasant situation:

Sincline’s obsession with Fala was revealed that she resembles his mother and that his obsession was rooted in an Oedipus complex. Sincline’s infatuation with Fala is a constant motivation behind most of his attempts to defeat Golion to which even his father warned him to stop. Because of that obsession, Sincline kidnapped Fala’s identical cousin, Princess Amue of Heracles, rapes her, and attempted to execute her after she foiled his plans.

I own the entire Beast King Golion series on DVD, and I can confirm that Sincline does indeed try to pursue Fala and take her against his will. These screencaps all come from just one episode:

Fala is unconscious, Sincline steps over her, declares he’s going to make her his wife, and then picks up her up to kiss her. Obviously this is as “not okay” as you can get between Lotor/Sincline and Allura/Fala.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984-1985) takes the animation of BKG but edits out and tones down its most disturbing content - avoiding deaths, blood, etc. - but it still keeps the concept of Lotor constantly pursuing Allura. This is the corresponding DotU episode from the BKG screencaps I gave you. “Give Me Your Princess” is also about Lotor deciding he wants to take Allura as his bride - something she obviously doesn’t want. And this becomes a recurring conflict throughout the DotU series.

Voltron: The Third Dimension (1998-2000) is part of the franchise I haven’t gotten to yet, but it’s written essentially as a sequel to DotU. Though I haven’t watched T3D, I have seen a few clips, and in E3 “Building the Forces of Doom,” Haggar shows Lotor his dreams and his fears. The dream he desires is… you guessed it… Allura…

The history of Lotor chasing after Allura makes its way into the comics and graphic novels. The Devil’s Due Publishing omnibus (2008), which retells DotU with more depth, grit, and maturity, is perhaps my favorite telling of Voltron. I’ve had my suspicions since S4 that VLD has been influenced by material within DDP, given as it contains a story where Sven (aka Shiro) is rejected from his lion, seems to get brainwashed by Haggar, betrays Voltron, and teams up with Lotor. There’s a point where Voltron and Lotor make a temporary alliance to fight against Yurak/Sendak. There’s a fight for leadership and power within the Drule (Galra) Empire. And it’s the only material in the Voltron franchise that seems to write a strong psychic bond between the Voltron pilots, their lions, and each other. Sound familiar?

So, one other thing that DDP brings up is the idea of Zarkon and Alfor initially being at peace, but then Zarkon capturing the planet Arus/Altea when Lotor and Allura were children. In this telling of Voltron, Lotor and Allura knew each other during childhood.

This gets slightly closer to what we see in VLD, but it also perpetuates the impure nature of Allotor. When Lotor reunites with Allura, he grabs her and says, “Now I’ve returned. And by rights, the spoils of war are mine for the taking.” This proceeds into a fight where Lance tries to stop Lotor from doing anything.

(Apologies for the terrible picture I took with my phone).

So what’s repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly been the case in Voltron canon for thirty years, starting back in 1981 and going well into the 2000s, is Lotor pursuing Allura and attempting to take her without consent.

The creators of Voltron: Legendary Defender have consciously cut away many of the franchise’s historic problems regarding issues like gender representation and misogyny. They’ve done away with the trope of one female character existing in an otherwise all-male team; Pidge, originally, Darrell Stoker, has become Katie Holt. They’ve written Allura far more favorably, with much less emphasis on her being the “pretty one” who’s not as good fighting because she’s “just a woman” (yes, this was in BKG). Instead of giving Lotor a harem (yes, this was in BKG and DotU, too), VLD has Lotor working respectfully with women generals. The writers have also intentionally promoted racial diversity by giving Hunk a Samoan background, Shiro a Japanese background, Lance a Cuban background, and designing Allura with a darker skin tone.

And VLD - praise God - seems to have consciously cut away Lotor lusting after Allura, trying to capture her, and trying to force her to marry him.

Now here’s the reason why I don’t like the concept of Lotor and Allura hooking up in VLD. In the DreamWorks show itself, there’s nothing wrong with Lotor and Allura’s interactions. That’s totally fine. If we look at it in a vacuum, it’s fine. And I like that it no longer writes that poisonous material between them. However… how disrespectful would it be for VLD’s creators to take a relationship that’s been written for 30 years as desired rape… and turn it into a romance? By writing an Allotor romance, they’d be acknowledging all the material that’s come before… all the very, very, uncomfortably impure material that’s come before. However you write an Allotor romance in the present day, there’s no way to deny that the firmly-embedded history of Allotor is non-consensual. 

I don’t like the concept of taking something that’s been so thoroughly written as unhealthy, and which is well-known within old time Voltron fans as unhealthy, and making it into a new healthy ship. It’s not that it would “legitimize” the old, gross Allotor stuff. But it would… sweep aside all the problems behind it. It’s far more respectful and less controversial to simply delete Lotor’s romantic interests in Allura altogether.

I mean… if you think about it in terms of real life… if you were someone who had been sexually harassed by someone in the past, and then people wrote a novel about you based upon your real life where your harasser was now a nice prince charming… wouldn’t that feel… disturbing and disrespectful… to you?

So it means that I don’t want VLD to write Allotor. The way VLD has set up Allura and Lotor, yes, it would be alluring on its own. But the problem is that it’s not on its own. And it also means that I’m not going to hop onto any fandom ships for these two, either. I don’t enter ship wars. I don’t. I always want people to have fun shipping! I’m happy with people shipping whatever they want, just so long as they don’t hit any of the following three points: incest, pedophilia, and inherent abuse/lack of consent. Allotor rubs me wrong because of point number three. 

So like you’re seeing here, if I see people hit upon one of these points, then I like to kindly inform people why I think it’s not the best ship to ship.

If VLD is going to write in a reciprocated romance between Allura and another individual (and they might not), they have some good options that also have franchise precedent, or at least franchise basis. Allura kisses Lance’s cheek several times in DotU, making him blush. Allura and Keith get engaged in Voltron Force comics, there’s a long Kallura plot arc in the Devil’s Due Publishing Omnibus, and Allura professes Keith as the one she loves in other DotU comics, too. And of course VLD always has the option of going on a new romance that hasn’t been done before, as I’m sure Shallura shippers would be quick to pipe up.

Again, I’m sorry to rain on your parade, since you’re so happily imagining how good looking Allura x Lotor children would look like! I know how much fun it is to imagine these things with our ships.

[voltron-interstellar-uprising]

What’s Lotor like in this universe? (is he a meanie or is he more chill like his vld or devils due publishing counterpart just curious)

a total drama king with pretty bad karmic timing

[mercy-angel-09]

This was, obviously, written before The Force Awakens came out.

Lance Charles McClain wishes he were Han Solo. Allura’s not buying it.

(Not that she knows what Star Wars is...but I digress.)

From Devil’s Due Publishing’s Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Issue 4. Printed in April 2004. Story by Dan Jolley with Marie Croall, pencils by E.J. Su and Clint Hilinski, coloring by Ben Hunzeker, and inks by Clayton Brown.

[cosmicroyalty]

*the door bell rings*

Lotor: Into the Sincline-Verse (part 7)

From left to right: Smoltor, Lotor, Smollura, Devil's Due Lotor, DotU Lotor, and Kova (who can talk)

[impishcyber]

Cryptic Elisë info!

Authors' note on: 14 December 2021

OLD AF BOIIIIIII. these used to be headcanons of my "Dsmp persona" back when i used to go by "CrypticElisë" when my account was "Wafflenpie" here on tumblr. I still love the headcanons and the idea, but i just don't connect to it anymore. so yea. these now are cringey and embarrassing to me lol.

Written on: 21 May 2021

headcanon time babaeyyyyyy

remember these are headcanons that i have for my smp persona (and maybe overall persona who knows lololo-) so please don't get HEAVILY inspired

don't mind the misspellings I didn't re read this at all to fool proof it

remember that i go by three sets of pronouns (she, he and they!)

(for the love of whatever god you believe in PLEASE DONT LET PHILZA (I KNOW HE READS THE CHARACTER SHEETS) READ ANY OF THESE I WILL DIE OF EMBARRASSMENT)

anyway have a nice day see yall in (looks at clock) *shruggs*

- the village Elisë grew up in is a wandering hybrid racoon village, it settled at one place when their adoptive father was 5.

- the village has a "consult" of sort, its the oldest man in the village who helps anyone, therefore, no one rules anyone (anarchist type of shit)

- Elisë's adoptive mother couldn't reproduce, but found Elisë abandoned by the entry of the bridge that connects the village and the other side (the woods and other lands)

- Elisë was most likely abandoned due to the fact that they were a runt of the family and because they have "the devils seed" (aka because they're half demon too)

- Hyena hybrids are usually very large, but Elisë is 5'3 (juvenile age), but yet, they are taller than most of her peers, taller than them are the "fighting fleet"

- The village that Elisë grew up are known to kick anyone's ass that decided to "disrupt" or "control" the village

- The village on itself is pretty large, more than it seems, and it expends every year more and more

- Elisë left the village for more opportunities, for 3 years they traveled, but keept contact with their parents by letters, until they settled to the smp and met with everyone

- Every hybrid can change appearance, most from Elisë's peers learned how to do it by 4, so did they.

-how Elisë met Phil and Techno-

- Phil and Techno have been walking around the lands for a long time, for 2 months to be exact, trying to find new land, and to maybe trade the treasures they found

- As they reached the clearing of the woods they were met with a bridge that connects to a village of sorts, excatly what they needed

- After crossing the bridge they were met with a sign that said: "Welcome to Procyon-lotor village! stay for as long as you need!"

- They both shrugged as they passed the sign, and entered the gates

- The first thing that they noticed is that the majority of the residents were racoon hybrids, the other people in the village didn't seem to come from it, due to the fact that none had similar clothing as the residents did, probably traditional clothing of the village

- Phil and Techno got off of their horses and decided to walk on foot, after tying them to a nearby stall, where a bunch of other horses were tied, paying the owner of the place a few gold coins

- None of the villagers really gave them much of an attention, which for both was a good thing, the less attraction, the better, but they needed someone to talk to, so they spotted a group of kids playing

- "Hello there kids! Can any of you direct us to anyone that can give us directions?" said Phil with hopes that the kids might help them, since by their size, they seemed pretty young.

- "The elder is down this street! He knows alot so he will probably help!" said one of the kids pointing to the direction

- With a nood the both went down the street, and were met with a relatively small house, it was covered with vines and had tall willow trees on each side, with a knock and a small "come in" the conversation that was being held from the inside was stopped and the door was opened by a more older racoon hybrid, older than the children before

- The racoon wad white fur and had creme colored stripes, blue eyes and a pink nose, and with a smile they opened the door wider and welcomed the both of the adventures in, revealing a small meeting

- "How may I help you young lads? You two do seem lost for sure" said the oldest person in the room. He was circeled around by at least a dozen of other mammal hybrids, that had turned their heads to look at the new commers with curious eyes.

- "Being frank, we are kind of. We were looking for a place to stay until we get information as to where we are excatly, we have also ran out of immunizations.." stopped Phil, giving an idea as to what both of the friends were looking for

- "Fear not young man, we have plenty of ammunition and plenty of information that the both of you can use, you two are more than welcomed to stay in our humble village" nodded the old hybrid, and giving a toothy smile

- All of the juvenile hybrids were looking with full curiosity, examining the two newcomers, until the elder said

- "Elisë and Haxhi, please show our guests around, and give them what they need" and with that two people arose from their spot on the ground

- One was the racoon from before, and the other didn't match anyone in the room

- They were a hyena, greyish brown fur, messy overgrown mullet and dark brown stripes, everything seemed normal except two little horns that stuck out of their skull from their temple

- Both of the kids however were wearing the same traditional clothing that the whole village seemed to wear, the hyena wearing a tank top instead of the shirt, and both of them had baggy pants that reached their calfs and sandals.

- The two held conversation with the guests, telling about places they can find items that they need

- "Who runs this whole village? A king of sorts, a monarch?" asked the hog, trying to seem nonchalant about the whole thing

- "Not really.. we don't have a 'ruler' of sorts, the only person that comes anywhere close to that is the elder, but we only put him in that spot coz' he is the oldest and the wisest of the whole village. We rule things by the bigger vote." said the hyena turning a little to the side and giving a side eye to Techno which nodded to himself.

- "What were you all doing in there? In that house.." then asked phil

- "Oh the elder was telling us stories and lectures, he does that once a week.He used to to that more often but he hasn't been feeling well so he is training us as his students" said Haxhi, the white racoon, "Do you guys go to school?" continued Phil " Yep, both me and Haxhi are probably on 9th grade" continued Elisë, the hyena kid

- The four reached the inn the two kids waved at Techno and Phil goodbye leaving them to do their own thing.

- Phil and Techno continued to stay for a week, seeing that the villagers had no problem with them being in the village, just like the elder said "stay for as long as you need", and Techno came to like the anarchy thinking of the village

- The villagers were helpful and the racoon and hyena duo were even more helpful, there was an almost accident where 'the blood god' tried to kill the poor Elisë after finding out they were an orphan.

- Day by day, the adventuring spirit that Elisë hold became stronger, and wanted to travel just like how the duo did.

-So before they left, Phil connected his transmitter to Elisë's, so whenever they needed him, they could write to him to find them.

-And with that the angle of death and the blood god, left the village.

part 2 of the headcanons!

- Before leaving the village Phil sent a few of the crows (aka chat) to look after Elisë, since he knew they wanted to travel one day, and to keep a closer look towards them

-When Elisë started their travelings, her mom gave them a parrot that they used for sending letters, to keep in touch

- Elisë started his travelings when they turned 18, since their parents deemed that age "reasonable"

- Elisë knows how to handle guns, knives, arrows and swords, since they we're trained to be flexible.

- She traveled for a 2 years, with occasional returns to the village

- He was contacted by Phil to join him and Techno in the smp (they (Elisë) went there before schlatts presidency)

- Elisë didn't really care, or even bother, to go by the rules of Jschlatt since they did whatever they wanted and bothered no one

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

A Review of Voltron DDP Comic: A Legend Forged (2008)

I knew the old Devil’s Due Publishing (DDP) comics for Voltron were lit…but the sequel, A Legend Forged, really resonated with me! This 5-issue comic series is DDP’s interpretation of the history behind the Voltron robot itself, and it wraps this lore within an adventure plot featuring our main pilots (Allura, Keith, Hunk, Lance, Pidge) in an alliance with Lotor.

I’ve meant to write a review about A Legend Forged for a while because I know that older Voltron comics aren’t always accessible. I think this one deserves some attention because it does things that I find just really refreshing after watching the 2016 Legendary Defender show. It also has some fun details that could have been source material for the world building and events in the 2016 VLD show. 

-

The basic summary of this comic is that Team Voltron and Lotor are accidentally transported 1,200 years in the past after some classified time travel tech destabilizes in the middle of a fight. Powerless from the blast, they crash-land on a nearby planet, and they’re soon captured by people on the planet who have exceptionally advanced technology. Lotor agrees to a truce with Team Voltron to help find a way out of their prison, and back to their own time.

In arriving through the wormhole, however, they catch the attention of a very powerful group who are missing an important piece to complete their special defense project (the Voltron robot). The robot is being built in part by King Altarus, Allura’s ancestor, to fight off the villain in that ancient past—Empress Jain IX, Lotor’s evil great great (10X) grandmother, who is a sorceress hellbent on intergalactic domination.

Ultimately, Team Voltron and Lotor get caught up in the efforts to stop Empress Jain and assist King Altarus’s Council…and they discover some interesting things about themselves and about Voltron along the way!

-

I found A Legend Forged to be one entertaining, snarky shenanigan after another. Although it does source the 1984 character designs and backgrounds along with some references to Vehicle Voltron (which may be alienating to fans familiar only with VLD), I love that this comic deeply and openly explores what makes the Voltron franchise so identifiable and unique—its Arthurian legends/magic in the midst of an expansive space opera.

The comic is meant for slightly older audiences compared to VLD—it includes several instances of adult cursing, frightening images, some brief images of romance/non-graphic sensuality, and occasional graphic violence showing blood. I couldn’t find a publisher-recommended age for this comic on the book covers, but I think it might be T for ages 12 and older.

If you’re interested, a deeper overview of A Legend Forged is included under the cut!

___

At a high level, there’s certain things that just really attracted me to this comic, even though I’m usually not much of a comic reader:

THE WORLD BUILDING

The whole timeline distortion that takes them back 1,200 years is a direct consequence of humans attempting to back-engineer the mysterious Voltron robot. Within that back-engineering, they’d stumbled into creating a time machine:

(Photo Description: The city of Toronto in the future. Someone asks, “Time travel?” Coran replies, “Devised using reverse engineered technology from Lion Voltron, no doubt.” An alliance official responds, “Come on now, how would that be possible?” A second official responses, “Coran’s right. The way that Lion Voltron summons energy and weaponry is a mystery. We learned how to mimic the ability with the vehicle units, without really understanding it.”)

So there’s a lot of undertow here about just what exactly all these different parties (Earth/Galaxy Alliance, space pirates, Lotor) were planning to do with a time machine to begin with before it gets blown up in a battle over it. But there’s also something interesting happening here involving Fate/Destiny and plasticity of time itself.

At the very heart of this comic is the concept that the Voltron robot could not have been completed 1,200 years ago if Team Voltron and Lotor were not accidentally tossed back in time to help complete the project. And idk, I think that’s just pretty cool. It ties these lives of these characters together in a way that I don’t think I’ve seen in any other Voltron iteration—that they were meant to pilot Voltron, because their presence helped to unlock the final missing piece to bring it to life.  

---

In addition, we get a really interesting look into the ancient past of the Voltron universe, back to the beginning of the first space empire. The comic’s big bad, Empress Jain IX, is an incredibly powerful and heartless sorceress of Drule heritage, from the planet Doon:

(Photo description: Empress Jain standing before the leader of a world she’s conquered, declaring, “And thus, the mighty fall! The powerful kneel at my feet! Behold the grandeur of your empress, and witness what happens to those who stand in her way!”)

But there’s always been this larger question in the Voltron franchise around King Zarkon’s unique, fish-like features compared to other Drule characters like Jain, and this comic answers that.

This is what the OG Zarkon looked like:

Compared to the ancient people of Korrinoth, who have similar ears and coloring as he does:

(Description: Keith says to the team, “I think we may be witnessing the beginning of King Zarkon’s people’s assimilation into the Drule Empire.”)

The planet that our protagonists crash-land on 1,200 years in the past is called Korrinoth. The people here had been recently conquered by Jain and share many similarities with the visual features of Zarkon. So this comic establishes that Zarkon has both Drule and Korrinite heritage. Unfortunately for Lotor, the Korrinites of the planet don’t acknowledge his Korrinite blood because he looks too Drule in comparison. So this comic reaches back on the hints that Lotor struggles to fit in with his own people…and it helps to explain why he’s captured along with Team Voltron:

(Photo description: Team Voltron and Lotor stand together, having been captured in a purple energy field functioning like jail bars.)

---

There’s also the concept that Voltron—just like the surrounding environment in Voltron franchise—is an amalgamation of science and magic. The comic’s big bad, Empress Jain, had discovered that her own dark sorcery arts could be challenged by the “lion gods,” who were demanding an increasing price be paid for her horrific conquering. In order to negate the lion gods’ power, Jain explicitly banned religious worship around them and any lion god iconography from her empire.

(Photo description: The dark entity Sarga says, “It is coming, and soon, that which may be your downfall. A twisted abomination of science and technology. The might of the Lion-Gods with the heart and mind of Man.” Jain says, “But I have banned worship of the Lions through the empire.”)

So the Voltron builders were reaching back to a very ancient, lost power that they were risking their lives to resurrect. The connection to a pantheon of lion gods helps to provide some logic around why the Voltron robot itself splits into lions—because it’s literally the symbol of these lost gods.

The visual design of Voltron is also reflected in the armor worn specifically by warriors fighting in the name of these banned gods:

(Photo description: A humanoid warrior wearing Voltron-based armor, coming to Team Voltron’s rescue at the command of the Council.)

So Voltron as a machine metaphorically stands as the Ultimate Warrior in humanoid form, supported by the individual lion gods.

---

Within the comic, it hints at some pretty intense religious discrimination—that Empress Jain was willing to arrest and torment even her own daughter, Azakhi for becoming a Lion Priestess:

(Photo description: Jain’s daughter, Azahki, is revealed to be a dirtied prisoner captured by Jain’s forces. She tells Team Voltron, “Do not fear my Drule appearance. I am a devout follower of your ways.”)

This background battle supports why Team Voltron and Lotor are instantly targeted by Jain’s forces when they crash-land on Korrinoth, bearing the banner of the lion gods in the form of Voltron.

Later on in the comic, we also see that the colors themselves represented the various domains of these lion gods:

(Photo description: An image of Voltron as it’s being built, with King Altarus narrating in the background, ““Yellow for win, red for fire, green for earth, blue for water, and at the center…the might blackness of space which houses all of reality.”)

So we really see Voltron pick up a lot more backstory to explain the robot itself. 

--

We do get a deeper look as well into King Altarus and his Council.

King Altarus, Princess Allura’s ancestor, is the leader of the group. But the work involved in building Voltron doesn’t just rest with him like it did with Alfor in VLD. His council is just as equally if not more powerful than him in other ways.

In this panel, King Altarus introduces his four other team members as the most powerful scientists or sorcerers of their respective planet:

(Photo description: An introduction of the five council members of Altarus: “Cybrus hails from a world of sentient machines…More than a computer, he is also sorcerer to rival any other. The striking beauty to my right is Heket. Born of a nomadic race who travels the galaxy bestowing gifts of knowledge to primitive worlds. She is also the most brilliant scientist of her people. Phelos is a brilliant sci-mage from the neighboring solar system. If you are truly who you say, you may already know legends of our final ally. From a primitive world, but master of the most advance wizardry in the galazy: Merlin.”)

The combination of Altarus, Cybrus, Heket, Phelos, and Merlin all echo the 2016 Legendary Defender’s backstory—in which leaders of various people united together for the greater good of their galaxy. Once again, we have five unique planets represented in the Voltron effort—but in this case, it even includes Earth. This helps to explain part of why Voltron’s original design had very medieval attributes.

Maybe some would think it’s a bit hokey that the OG builders included the actual Arthurian figure of Merlin, the wizard? Idk, I think it’s kind of a fun way to connect Voltron’s ancient, magical past to Earth as well, and it suggests that Merlin was preparing or called by the others to help prepare for a future of advanced warfare. I’ve always wondered why the OG Voltron looked so medieval with the crests and the swords and such—and actually, it being built in part by a medieval human wizard would help to explain that!

--

We also see in the DDP comics a very heavy evolution to Allura’s character and to the world building within the Voltron franchise itself. She’s no longer just a princess who knows how to fight—she’s actively a Clairvoyant, with untapped power. King Altarus acknowledges, and the other Council members sense it, that Princess Allura has way more internal magic than she even knows about herself:

(Photo description: Council member Heket says to King Altarus, “I have a feeling about the girl [Allura]. Her aura is oddly similar to your own.”)

We also see that the dark entity Sarga recognizes this in her as well:

(Photo description: The dark entity Sarga says to Empress Jain, “The visitors…they each have a link to this monstrosity. However, the blood of only one of them pulses with the  magic of Arus. The one called Allura! She is the one! She must be—” Jain cuts in, “The host!” And Sarga confirms, “Yes, with Princess Allura, Sarga will live in this realm once more. With her, we can control Voltron.”)

I feel like this magic probably helped to set the tone for the Princess Allura we meet in the 2016 Legendary Defender reboot, who ultimately got the opportunity to grow into the powers that are hinted at here in this previous iteration.

---

I do also like this comic because the protagonists (with the exception of Pidge who is 16) are adults, and they’re a little more mature in their decisions and interests.

Like, for example, the Lance in this comic has a much more extensive sensitivity to and interest in culture. Instead of it being Hunk bonding with aliens through food, we see Lance as the diplomat, bonding with Jain’s daughter Azahki, just by asking her questions:

(Photo description: Lance and Jain’s daughter, Azahki, sitting at a table and eating. Lance says, “That hit the sport. I was frickin’ starving.” Azahki says, “After being held prisoner for so long, I had forgotten what real food tastes like. So much time was wasted…so much life. Just sitting in a cell because of my beliefs. I…I’m sorry, Lance. This should be a nice evening, and I’m bringing the mood down.”)

(Photo description: Lance replies, “Actually, I’m fascinated to learn more about the followers of the Lions, and about you. Like, where you come from. You feel free to talk about whatever comes to mind.” Azahki responds then, “You’re too kind.”)

I think along with this, we see a more nuanced view into the Drule themselves. Azahki, as both a Drule and as Empress Jain’s daughter, has turned away from the evil deeds of the empire and has suffered dearly for trying to do the right thing. This falls in line with DDP’s dedication in the worldbuilding to show that not all Drule are bad.

--

We also see some very interesting, Honervian backstory relating to Empress Jain’s dark powers. Like VLD Honerva, Jain is in part backed by an ancient spirit/power she likes to “talk” to. She calls on it as the “Mother of Power.” This creepy creature is named Sarga in the comics:

(Photo description: Jain summons Sarga: “Mother of Power, Great Spirit, I summon thee.” The dark entity Sarga manifests and says, “Yesss, sweet Jain! You know my name! Feel free to speak it. Have you found the Host?” Jain replies, “Not yet, great Sarga. But the search continues. To date, my body is the only one that could sustain you in our realm.” Sarga says, “Jain. Do not be so simple-minded. It’s only your mortal shell.” Jain retorts, “One that I rather like, thank you.”)

Sarga is pushing for Jain to give up her mortal body entirely so that Sarga can walk the mortal plane, but they don’t see eye to eye on this. Jain likes having her own body. Even so, Sarga knows that she has to protect her investment in Jain, and so she’s the one who plants a devious idea in Jain’s head—that she could potentially use the Voltron from the future to destroy the Voltron of the past, and therefore reestablish her supremacy over the lion gods and their legacy.

Tbh, I visually get a LOT of vibes from Jain relating to VLD’s Honerva character? Down to the long stringy hair and gold eyes…and she really does look like a female version of Lotor, tbh, lol.

(Photo description: Jain leaning in a circle of candles, exhausted from summoning Sarga, who has referred to Voltron. Jain murmurs to herself, “Pow..power. There is power in that name.”)

I think what I like about Jain as a big bad, though, is that she’s legit just an evil person. She doesn’t have an abuse backstory, like what so many content creators like to reference as the reason for someone going insane/evil. She’s clearly very talented and very powerful and very in control, and she’s using those abilities in all the wrong ways just because she can.

Given DDP’s contributions to the Voltron franchise with its female villains (Merla, Jain), I almost can’t believe that the 2016 VLD show didn’t carry these characters forward but instead raised up the all-new Honerva as “needed female villain rep.” But I can definitely see the echoes of Jain in the Honerva that we see throughout VLD.

I also really, really see similarities in how Jain is willing to use her own daughter, Azahki, as a pawn for her own aims. And by the end of the comic, Jain eventually accomplishes bringing Sarga into the mortal plane by sacrificing her own daughter’s body. This pretty hauntingly echoes the lack of maternal instinct seen in Honerva in VLD and Honerva’s malicious interest in and use of Lotor, even post-death in s8.

I feel like I relived Honerva’s interactions with Lotor in s8 when I saw how Jain acts with her own daughter, Azahki:

(Photo description: Azahki has been shot in the battle. Jain kneels down to her and cries, “Daughter. My only daughter.” Azahki says, “Mother...you…you’re crying? I…I’m sorry…you didn’t give me… a choice.” Jain pleads, “You can’t do this, Azahki, not now. After being gone for so long and now…” But then Jain has a complete switch of demeanor. She stands up and declares, “Now you’ve ruined everything! Everything!” Azahki, bewildered, says, “What?” And Jain yells, “I should have killed you in your crib!”)

Another association with Honerva is that Honerva/Haggar killed the original paladins. Likewise, it is Jain who takes down the Council one by one:

(Photo description: Jain breaks into the Council, hand glowing with power and fallen warriors around her, saying, “How could someone with such feeble defenses have eluded me for so long, Altarus? I give you credit for that, at least.”)

(Photo description: Jane is surrounded by the dead bodies of Merlin and Heket. She says, “Now, to finish this.”)

So I guess I’m just fascinated by Jain as a villain and find her similarities with Honerva interesting. In Jain’s case, however, there’s absolutely nothing to be sympathetic with her on, lol.

--

In terms of Lotor’s part:

I think this comic represents probably the most actively hopeful iteration of him that I’ve seen in the Voltron franchise? Like, Dynamite Comics had Lotor moving to ally with Team Voltron to bring down the rift creatures in a massive alliance, but those comics were canceled before we could see the whole story that Brandon Thomas intended. Here, we have a whole, complete story in which Lotor actively does good deeds and lives, wow.

(I didn’t think that was, like, allowed in this franchise, lol?)  

I do think it’s really interesting that here, Lotor comes face-to-face with just pure, unadulterated evil—and it scares him. Just like in VLD, this Lotor is forced to watch Jain decimate an entire planet and enslave its people. Despite being canonically “evil,” Lotor does not take this level of destruction very well:

(Photo description: Empress Jain speaking to an underling, saying, “For now, rid this planet of its luscious environment and warp home.”)

(Photo description: The planet is set ablaze by Jain’s forces. Lotor is looking on from a different ship. He is unsettled by Jain’s power and says, “My god.” His prisoner that he’s watching on Team Voltron’s request (the space pirate Captain Stride), teases, “Nothing like a little global decimation to build character, eh, Lotor?” And Lotor warns, “Stride,” with an upset look on this face.)

His motivations for helping out and connecting with both Team Voltron and King Altarus’s council do start with just wanting to save his own neck. But as the comic progresses, we see him taking larger and larger risks to help protect the team, and he responds more emotionally to the stakes being faced by other allies.  

Jain’s level of evil, and her later attempts to target Princess Allura as a host body for the dark entity Sarga, are what really push Lotor out of the antagonist/villain role into the position of antihero. And I like this exploration of him because Lotor is a really fascinating character in the franchise and usually always a wild card. Like, he has the capacity to play both sides and be unpredictable.

And it’s interesting too that this comic even opens up by acknowledging that. In the beginning, King Altarus and his council are watching Team Voltron and Lotor recalibrate from their crash-landing on Korrinoth. King Altarus notes that Lotor is evil, but that he’s capable of doing good…because of his love for Allura:

(Photo description: King Altarus judging the team: “The girl has a clairvoyance about her, but doesn’t even realize it. I sense something noble about all of them…save for the Drule who should not be trusted. Although his apparent fondness for the woman may cause him to fight his true evil nature at least for a while.”)

Later in the comic, it’s King Altarus himself who leans on Lotor when he thinks all hope is lost. And it’s Lotor who holds him up and tries to take down Jain:

(Photo description: King Altarus leans upon Lotor and mourns, “She’s…she’s done it, Lotor. She’s ruined our chances. Five generations…for nothing.” Lotor has raised a blaster and replies, “Not without going through me first.”)

So we really see this comic actively allow Lotor’s character to do things outside of the typical bounds of a villain. The very person who called him inherently evil is the one wailing to him and counting on him to save the day, lol.

We also see echoes of VLD Lotor’s pride in this comic. The DDP Lotor is also a man of mixed heritage and is very proud of who and what he is.

(Photo description: Lotor is on the battlefield, having slain an enemy who’d called them pathetic. Lotor responds, “Pathetic? My noble blood begs to differ.”)

So I liked that once again, Lotor is actually proud of who he is even though the world around him actively tries to devalue him. I think that’s been something meaningful about the Lotor character that a lot of people have connected to.

In his efforts to assist Team Voltron in reclaiming their own recharged Voltron lions (so that Jain can’t get them), Lotor is actually a very helpful ally as well, and a skilled warrior. So it was fun to see panels of Team Voltron and Lotor fighting together, side by side.

--

THE CLIMAX AND RESOLUTION

--

Ultimately, the evil Empress Jain tries to take over the Voltron from the future, in realizing that Allura has deep, spiritual connections to the machine. She agrees that this makes Allura the perfect host body for the dark entity Sarga, and as their way to control the robot. And so she enacts the rituals to possess Allura:

(Photo description: Allura’s features are mutating unnaturally as Sarga begins to posses her. In the background, Jain calls, “Don’t fight it, child. Don’t fight the honor of becoming a god.” Someone in the background, revealed later to be Lotor, calls out, “No! You can’t do this!”)

With Jain threatening Allura’s life, Lotor steps up to defend her, still holding up the battered King Altarus:  

(Photo description: Lotor yells, “No! Not Allura!” And he shoots Jain through the shoulder.)

(Photo description: Jain snaps, “Lotor! How dare you attack your own kind! I’ll smite my own daughter, let alone a pissant distant grandson!”)

Ultimately, Lotor’s decision to shoot his grandma (what is it with this franchise and matricide/patricide lol) results in Jain being distracted long enough for the combined spiritual/soul energies of Allura, the previous Council members, and Altarus to bring “life” to Voltron.

This completes Voltron as a spiritual being as well—that it’s sentient and not just a robot, but imbued with the hopes and impulses for a defender against the evil attacking them.

(Photo description: Voltron awakens as a sentient robot and stands to move against Jain.)

Realizing that she has lost, Jain flees in a poof of magic—with her daughter, Azahki, oddly disappearing too. The comic ends for them on an unsettling note that Sarga has in fact slipped through to the mortal realm…by choosing Azahki instead of Allura as her host body:

(Photo description: Jain kneels and cries, “Oh mighty Sarga, I humbly beseech thee. Forgive my failures. Forgive my ability to bring you into our world. I beg you to be given a second chance! I vow to you we will see this through.” From behind, someone says, “Don’t be so harsh, mother.” Jain turns around and asks, “Who dares?” A woman in a cloak appears and says, “You may have failed to give me Voltron’s power, my child. But do not fear.” The woman is revealed to be the possessed body of Azahki, Jain’s daughter. Through her body, Sarga says, “I found a body that will do just fine for now.”)

However, we don’t see this thread explored any further. Shortly after the battle, the Galaxy Alliance manages to rebuild a temporal manipulation device to lock in on the missing Team Voltron and Lotor, and pull them back through time.

(Photo description: A strange flying machine appears. Someone asks, “What…what is it?” Allura echoes, “What’s it doing?” Lotor peers at it curiously and says, “I believe it’s scanning us.” The comic panels show the device scanning and identifying people to send back to modern times.)

And so, eventually, this wayward team makes it back home, with the final panels suggesting the  Garrison had to complete a couple of temporal jumps to do it.

FUN LITTLE PIECES ALONG THE WAY

The comic itself had some interesting and funny scenes in it, including the following:

Please enjoy this image of a boi having tamed a dinosaur in the middle of an active battle:  

(Photo description: Prince Lotor sitting atop a large, dinosaur-like creature that he’s tamed, calling joyfully to the paladins, “You can put your toy away, Pidge. I know where to find the lions.”)

Pidge jokes about Hunk and Lance:

(Photo description: Hunk had saved Lance from a shot. In running past them, Pidge calls, “Keep moving, guys! There’ll be time for spooning later.”)

Some time-traveling paradox humor:

  (Photo description: Lotor shooting an ancient Drule, “Hope you’re not one of my forefathers.”)

Some Keith and Lance badgering:

(Photo description: Lance complains, “Keith Kogane seriously isn’t going to lecture me about battlefield romance, is he?”)

Did VLD get the name Kaltor from this comic??? Because Kalthor sounds pretty darn similar to Kaltor from VLD:

(Photo description: Jain calling out for an underling, “Kalthor! Sigh. Kalthor, this effort is beneath me. Extract the information I seek.”)

ALSO BLESS, THIS COMIC LETS ALLURA CUSS:

(Photo description: Princess Allura raises a blaster to use, but it doesn’t work. She says, “What the--? Damn! Now is not the time for you to malfunction! And I do not know how to fix a 1,200-year-old—”)

This comic probably is also the singular place in the DDP comics that offers any evidence whatsoever that Lotor and Allura actually did have positive childhood experiences together prior to his father decimating Arus, helping to explain Lotor’s curious loyalty to Allura throughout:

(Photo description: Lotor standing before Allura and saying, “I knew you’d pull through, Allura. Speaking of treehouses, do you remember climbing the Arusion orchids in the royal gardens when we were children?” Allura responds, “Yes…of course I do. I…”)

And finally, this comic has no issues whatsoever with making fun of itself or the concept of robotic lions:

(Photo description: A space pirate complains to Lotor, “Think about it! How you think this place ends up looking like it does in our time? Looking like Planet Doom?! Meanwhile, the Kitty Cat Club up there gets out without a scratch!”)

VOLTRON IS THE KITTY CAT CLUB, 2008 CONFIRMED

-

CONCLUSION

-

The 5-part comic A Legend Forged (2008) adds an incredible amount of history and lore to the Voltron franchise. It gave me some things that I personally was really craving out of this franchise—including some logic behind the lion imagery, a legit alliance between previously warring groups that doesn’t just end in catastrophe, some adult snark and some good-old fashioned silliness, some deeper exploration into dark entities/spirits, and also just a really powerful villainess that you can love to hate.  

I think the comic ultimately took on the theme of Strength in Unity and fulfilled the concept that people really can work together. Even if the Team Voltron and Lotor and Council alliance was all just temporary, it was still nice to see that alliance come through for the greater good of the universe, instead of leading to more mass insanity like it did in VLD….

I liked that in this iteration, Voltron stood as a collective effort on the part of various worlds who were oppressed by Empress Jain. That helps to tone down the savior complex inherent in the franchise, that at least here, Voltron wasn’t one nation’s attempt to play police for all other people.

From a critical perspective, if you read carefully, there are some instances where you can tell that various alien races are prejudiced against each other and discriminate on the basis of appearance and religion, and even Team Voltron feeds into this at times in their initial assumption that Korrinites are a barbarian race when in fact they’re very intelligent and advanced. These aspects are just not fully reflected on within this comic, but they definitely feed into the conflict as we experience it 1,200 years in the past. Interestingly enough, the comic also makes fun of Team Voltron members who are from Earth as being “primitive” too. So I guess the DDP world does function in a “problematic” state where all of these alien races are struggling with how to interact well with one another. I’m not sure if that baseline would be a potential trigger for someone just entering this series, so I wanted to call it out here.

I do also occasionally find comics hard to read because of the all-caps print and because comics will switch back and forth between past and present, with only small visual markers to warn you. So I don’t think these comics are designed in the most accessible way. But that could just be me.

---

Overall, I think A Legend Forged ranks as one of my more favorite comic iterations of Voltron. It definitely has some differences from both the 1984 and 2016 shows, but it pulls on enough shared content to remain accessible. And while it was a quick read, it felt pretty tightly constructed. I would have liked to see more aftermath and epilogue, but I feel thankful that the story got an ending and that both Team Voltron and Lotor are shown being transported back home. The comic’s similarities and differences compared to VLD made it fun to read and analyze as well.

So yeah, if you get the chance to try reading it yourself, I recommend it! And if you’ve made it to the end of this very long post, thank you for reading!

[leakinghate]

Legendarily Defensive: Editing the Gay Away in VLD

Disclaimer: This meta is a collaboration of the entirety of #TeamPurpleLion.  We understand while we do touch on narrative romance, we are intentionally trying to be as ship-neutral as possible, and provide that which we only have evidence for.  We encourage the experts in their respective ship-fandoms to meta as they do best on these topics, and we hope this can be a factual basis to springboard from.

In the most recent AfterBuzz interview March 4, 2019, Executive Producers Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim dos Santos revealed in no uncertain terms who, precisely, is responsible for the editing fiasco that resulted in the version of Season 8 presented to the fandom, including explaining to their viewers when the changes were called for, and a heretofore unknown why: the removal of a mlm relationship between two of the male Paladins.

Let’s break it down.

The interview itself is a little very difficult to stomach, especially the latter half.  But, the first portion is an unusually open and honest discussion of what went down behind the scenes, and what it meant to the producers.  It’s also the place where we’ll be lifting direct quotes from.  The hosts of AfterBuzz allow the Executive Producers to have the floor and speak with quite a bit of leeway, and some very curious facts come to light.  For anyone interested in the source, the interview can be found on Youtube.(3)

Voltron is a unique case.  While much of the fan base may not have been around for prior incarnations of this franchise, it has existed for quite a while.

It originally came from a Japanese show Beast King GoLion.  From this show, the robot we recognize from Voltron: Defender of the Universe, was created in 1984. There exists an interview with the Executive Producer of Defender of the Universe, Peter Keefe, as well as other cast and crew on the production of how BeastKing became Voltron.(4)

After Voltron: Defender of the Universe, several other iterations bloomed forth - some in the form of comics, some as sequels, some as reboots. The first series to follow Defender of the Universe was Voltron: The Third Dimension, a CGI-based sequel released in 1998.

While not nearly was popular as its predecessor, it managed to stir up some legal conflict:

“Worse, the Japanese creators of Beast King GoLion — Toei Animation — began saber-rattling. Toei believed World Events had overstepped the boundaries of their 1984 agreement and made the CGI series without buying those explicit rights.

To quash this dispute once and for all, Koplar and crew purchased GoLion outright in 2000. Now they had the freedom to adapt at will. But nothing was in the works.”(7)

As of 2000, Koplar and World Events Productions (WEP) owned all the rights to Voltron. Talk of a live action movie has been in the works since 2005, but with little traction. In 2010, WEP licensed rights for the Voltron franchise to Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics) (7).   By 2011, the animated series Voltron Force was released.

In 2014 Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos approached DreamWorks Animation with the idea of producing a new Voltron show, with the license DreamWorks had recently come to own through their acquisition of Classics Media. In 2016, Voltron: Legendary Defender launched.

It’s worth noting World Events Productions licensed rights to produce Voltron content to DreamWorks Studios.  They did not hand over the entire franchise to do with as they saw fit.  DreamWorks only purchased the ability to play with the characters and the story in whatever capacity WEP believed would remain on-brand.

Amidst the protests and visceral reaction to the final season of Legendary Defender, many have felt confusion about where to direct their frustrations.

In another post, @crystal-rebellion theorized the symbolism in Season 7’s Episode 4 ‘The Feud’ was actually a very blatant representation of what was going on behind the scenes, and why. (2)

Since the most recent interview, statements from the Executive Producers as well as the host have confirmed this to be an accurate assessment of the situation.

Joaquim Dos Santos says it himself:

"This is not a vilifying of DreamWorks. Any exec we ever interacted with was like, 'Hey, we understand why you want to tell the story, we understand where you're coming from. It's a little bit bigger than that. There's other sort of controlling parties with Voltron, which makes it unique.’ It's not just a DreamWorks owned property, and I think it got logistically really really weird." (3)

Seven times, he specifically mentions the pushback didn’t come from DreamWorks, but from ‘other controlling parties.’  He alludes to some logistical weirdness, the implication being a difference in creative direction, or some dissention from higher up. In fact, the hosts and EPs discuss a controlling IP owner eight times in the course of one interview.

He also says, in regard to the issue of LGBTQ+ representation and Adam specifically:

“Here's where we arrived on this. And we were pointing to things like Overwatch. We were pointing to Steven Universe. They're different scenarios, we were in a slightly different position. We didn't have that position of being the creators of this IP. And we also weren't a video game that was marketed to teens and above. We for all intents and purposes were started as a show for boys like 6 to 11 to sell as many toys as possible. And that's just like a fact and that's business, and it is what it is.” (3)

DreamWorks is not a platform that markets ‘toys for boys’ (a talking point brought up no fewer than five times) - but World Events is. President Robert Koplar himself states his target demographic is boys and their dads in Episode 12 from the Let’s Voltron podcast not once, but twice. (5)

The EPs confirm as much with their recent statement in the March 4th ABTV Voltron interview(3) that the possibility of a male paladin’s replacement was greenlit until the IP holder learned the male paladin was to be replaced with Acxa, a woman. This kind of sexist hypocrisy goes as far back as 1984 with Allura being spanked in front of her own team in one episode(11) and tied to a chair by them to prevent her escape in another(11). The 2003 Devil’s Due comic shows Lotor, who looks to be no more than five, witness his mother’s murder via strangulation by his father (complete with an expression of horror on her dead face)(12). Lotor then suffers the same type of non-lethal strangulation in a scene where his father interrupts what the comic refers to as “recreation” with a scantily clad blonde resembling both Lotor’s mother and Allura in a different series(13). All of this takes place in a franchise whose target demographic has consistently been six to eleven year old boys and their fathers. Koplar’s company has made their hypocritical moral stance abundantly clear in Legendary Defender, even going so far as to order the destruction of the entire final season. According to Dos Santos:

“Specifically with Season 7 and 8 we basically held onto Season 7 so Season 8 was like done by the time S7 was dropping. We had like a month left when reaction for Season 7 started coming in, and that was day of the drop. We were in a weird position. To DreamWorks's credit, the tide started changing internally. They came back to us and said, okay we're open to explore this relationship between Adam and Shiro so we were in this weird position where we had all the animation done, we had $0.00 left in the budget in terms of like what we could do and it was like, all right, we know Adam's fate is what it is, do we do this and sort of like take this step knowing that we're going to take some flack? And we decided to do it so we revised the dialogue. You can probably see it in the animation. If you really pay attention it's like, it's literally our editor cutting out mouths and like puppeting different dialogue. The dialogue is pretty vague, it's sort of the best we could do, and that was a process of discussing what we could actually have them say.”(3)

Hold the phone. Taken in context, Dos Santos is explaining the process of DreamWorks giving the showrunners the green light to change the epilogue of Season 8 to give Shiro the unambiguously gay orientation they had written out of Season 7. The problem is, there is no dialogue in the epilogue. Even if we consider the epilogue to consist of everything from “one year later” onward, there is no dialogue for Shiro and another male character that would have to be reworked.

Here is what we think happened: Season 8 was finished in June. The IP owner hated it and ordered it changed at the beginning of July. Those changes included cutting a male/male romance. August came and the fandom melted down over Adam dying. Hoping to avoid a repeat of the Adam debacle, in mid-August DreamWorks came around and offered to let the showrunners put something into Season 8 for more gay representation. By this point the edits to Season 8 were almost complete, the budget was gone, and time was short, so they opted to give Shiro a wedding during the ending, in the epilogue. In an effort to brush off the clear edits to Season 8, Dos Santos mentions the lip movements during the interview but is confusing the making of the epilogue with the rest of the edits.

Indeed, it seems those edits resulted not only in the deaths of the series’ heroine and a childhood abuse victim, but also in the demolition of not just one but possibly two completed romantic arcs. When discussing Allura and Lance’s romance, Dos Santos and Emma Fyffe have this to say:

JDS: I could see the argument where it’s like, it's basic. It's what we've kindof come to expect from okay the guy sort of turned around and-- but I think Lance's arc aside from being with Allura was bigger than the Allura love story.

EF: And Lance's overall story arc I really enjoyed. But again, I think it's this whole idea that we were dealing with this IP that was like "okay, monster of the week, it was like dudes being in love with one hot girl and just macho men with fighting robots and whatever was happening with Pidge".

JDS: Right, yes, yes. (3)

The showrunner himself not only agrees Lance’s milquetoast romantic arc was due to pushback from the IP holder, in discussing the controversy surrounding the main characters’ sexual orientation, Dos Santos inadvertently reveals a major romance between two male paladins was cut.

EF: ...it is important to know that, again, you have this character who is very much your sort of quintessential, like, alpha male.

JDS: That-that was the trope that we were trying to, like, sort of step on was that, you know. I grew up with characters like Duke. To a much lesser degree, he’s a big, giant robot Optimus Prime. The idea of Optimus Prime being with another Optimus Prime was off the table. Like it was a no-go. (3)

If Allura and Lance’s IP-owner-influenced romantic arc is any indication, clearly two main paladins being together was fine. Dos Santos is referring to the inability to pair two male mains.

We don't know for sure, and won't until the original S8 is released. But, we have reasonable cause to believe Keith was intended to be gay and part of the romance that got tanked. When speaking about Keith’s sexuality Dos Santos says:

JDS: Because, I think we didn’t, we didn’t pair him with anybody, you know what I mean. I think we didn’t designate sort of where he stood. We don’t know. It’s-- It’s--

KC: We don’t know

JDS: Yeah, it-- It doesn’t really matter to be honest with you. I mean it would be great to confirm just to make people happy, but, like at the end of the day he is who he is, and leaving it open to interpretation. (3)

Do you hear that? “It would be great to confirm”. Not that it would be great if they could have done it, but if they could have confirmed it. It seems that JDS conceptualizes Keith as having an attraction to men, but he was forbidden from making that fact plain. Again, we have no concrete evidence of who Keith was slated to be with, just that the writers couldn't have two gay male paladins.

The wording of his statements is just clear enough to avoid dishonesty and just vague enough so as not to break contract. Even beyond NDAs, it’s not as if the Executive Producers can speak more directly to these points. We already have evidence of the IP owner’s character in the form of the Voltron Store’s Twitter presence outright lying about WEP and the store being separate entities:

(8) When only a few weeks earlier they had liked a tweet explicitly identifying them as one and the same, while confirming they have the final say over what can be done with the characters:

(1)

Before the fandom realized that WEP was behind the edits to S8 of VLD, the information that they owned the license was accepted fact. This excerpt from the Lets Voltron Podcast, Episode 134, is just one example:

(talking about a Voltron reference in Ready Player One)

Host 1: For those of you not in the know, if you think DreamWorks is the all in all for Voltron. Well, World Events Productions is the company that owns --

Host 2: The Voltron intellectual property.

Host 1: Many of you have heard of DreamWorks obviously. They make the show. Well, World Events Productions owns the property and has helped make this new show and all previous shows possible.

LV Podcast EP 134, 5:00-5:30 (6)

Now? Many official avenues are hastily attempting to downplay WEP’s involvement. When reached for comment in February 2019 the LV Podcast claimed that DreamWorks owned the licence.

The official phone number listed on WEP’s website no longer offers an option to connect a person to WEP, instead it offers three options: to directly input an extension, the accounting department, and The Voltron Store. (9)

In an effort to prevent fans from contacting them with complaints, WEP have inadvertently made their association with The Voltron Store explicit. Regardless of what the twitter account may claim, they are one and the same company. If these incidents weren’t damning enough, the store has further attempted to engage in a subtle smear campaign by liking tweets from users apologizing for harassment and death threats the store had received over Season 8, when all groups bringing the problems with its forced edits to WEP’s attention have specifically advocated for civil and nonviolent communication. (8)

As the story unfolds, one point is clear: Each new interview brings more information forth, repeatedly shining the spotlight on one little office in St. Louis.

WEP LLC is a private company. It has no shareholders, investors, or boards to answer to. It is the sole IP holder of the Voltron brand, and its President is the only person in the entire world who has final say over what can and cannot be done with the characters. When someone says “the IP holder” they are really talking about one man: Bob Koplar.

#TeamPurpleLion is a collective of analysts ( @crystal-rebellion, @dragonofyang​, @felixazrael, @leakinghate​, and @voltronisruiningmylife​ )intent on tracking down the who, what, where, how, and why of the destruction of VLDS8. We present sourced & cited commentary, relying on evidence so the VLD community can see what happened behind the scenes.

[dent-de-leon]

Did someone say thoughts about Shotor??

Yes I have a lot actually!! To talk about them first, I think I need to talk about Keith–because Lotor saved him, and that must mean the world to Shiro. Takashi, of all people, has always been the one trying to protect Keith and shield him from his own self destructive tendencies. We see this a lot when he’s younger, actually. Keith stealing Shiro’s car and just taking off, deliberately trying to tank his chances of getting into the garrison, that’s all willful self destructive behavior. And back then, it’s done in a desperate attempt to try and regain control in a situation where he feels he has none. They’re saying he’s a lost cause anyway, so why not go out with a bang and show them just how much damage he can do. As a reckless teen, this is all stemming from abandonment issues and profound isolation. 

“I won’t give up on you, Keith. But more importantly, you can’t give up on yourself”–Shiro reassures and comforts him, convinces him that he’s worth more than he thinks, that there’s so much good he’s capable of. As Keith matures, years down the line, we see that he’s more at peace with himself. Rather than “acting out” in response to his trauma, we see him neglecting his own future in favor of something entirely different–self-sacrifice. He is, at heart, very noble and giving. He is also fiercely dedicated to what he believes is right, to his duty, to the mission, etc. We see him all too readily try and fight to the death in his Marmora trial. He volunteers for a “suicide mission” at the end of season 2, and later Kolivan berates him for always putting his own life on the line. Lotor saving Keith in the way he did speaks volumes about how badly Keith needs a support system, and I find it hard to believe such a striking act wouldn’t immediately endear the prince to Shiro in some way. 

We actually don’t see any followup for that, which is incredibly unfortunate. But given that Keith is willing to risk dying with both Shiro and Lotor because he’s so driven to save them, I have to believe it certainly left an impact on him. And I can’t help but believe Shiro would, at the very least, be eternally grateful. He’s as cold as everyone else when he first addresses Lotor in the following season, but I still like to headcannon he had a bit of a soft spot for him after that. 

It’s really interesting actually, because Shiro was the first–and for a long time only–supporter of Lotor out of all the Paladins. You can’t tell me there wasn’t a certain kind of kinship there, particularly when Shiro was driven enough to literally let Lotor “give away” the Black Lion at the Kral Zera. All or nothing, Shiro wanted Lotor up on that throne. Of course, things definitely begin to drift into this grey area as to how much of Shiro/Kuron’s desire to back up Lotor was out of his own volition and how much of that’s Haggar just manuevering the pieces. 

Either way, I think that some part of Shiro definitely had stake in this game. I’m willing to believe he was genuinely moved by Lotor’s commitment to the team–unlike the other Paladins however, it didn’t take Zarkon’s fall for Shiro to take a leap of faith on him. He gave Lotor his bayard. The only other bayard exchanges we see are between other Paladins. For Shiro, in that moment, Lotor was a Paladin, he was worthy enough to wield that sword and do what was right. Shiro would have never let Lotor go into that hostage situation unarmed, which honestly, is a very Shiro Thing™ to do I think. Even when all the other Paladins called out Shiro for acting on his own and doing something so reckless, I don’t think he would have ever played it any differently. It’s in his nature to try and see the good in others and to never leave an ally defenseless.

Also, that Soft Look™ that Lotor gives Shiro in that one scene where he’s struggling with Haggar’s control to try and remain calm? Where he just walks away after voicing his support for Lotor? That’s some good stuff. It honestly looks like Lotor cares–and I’d like to think he does. Shiro’s the only one 100% on his side thus far, after all. 

And I mean, I’m also really biased because I still remember the old Devil’s Due 80′s Voltron comics where Sven/Shiro is also mind controlled by Haggar, and ends up working with Lotor. They end up getting pretty close, have some nice bonding moments, and Lotor even tries to tell Sven that he’s being manipulated. Pretty good stuff, and I’d love to see a take on VLD where Lotor goes that route with Shiro.

Also, and this is HUGE to me so I just have to bring it up–Lotor was literally introduced as a champion in the arena just like Shiro. The thematic parallels there are just chilling I love them. It’s also so jarring to see both these warriors taking down much larger and formidable foes with their cunning and skill despite the polar opposite tones. Shiro is cornered, scared, reckless, backed into a corner and fighting for his life. Lotor makes it all look so flawless and effortless, basks in the applause and has them all practically bowing down to him. He’s charismatic and entirely in control while Shiro is just trying to get through it, just live to fight another day. 

They’re also both looked down upon as “inferior” for their race, but earn some sense of Galran honor in the arena. I would love to see the kinds of conversations they can both have about their experiences as gladiators, how that shaped them and what Shiro’s reputation as “Champion” would mean for someone like Lotor. I can’t help but imagine Lotor would want to spare against Shiro in a similar setting just to test his reputation, Shiro likely abstaining do to his trauma and questioning Lotor as to why prisoners are made to fight for entertainment, philosophical and ethical discussions as to how Lotor should rule differently, etc. 

I mean, and this is all sounds well and good, but things would obviously come crashing down eventually. I don’t think anything Lotor could ever do would make him worthy of redemption honestly after what he did to the Altean colony. And as we do see, Shiro is immediately ready to defend the rest of his team from Lotor once he hears what he’s been up to for the last few centuries. I can’t imagine a scenario where he’d actually stay on VLD Lotor’s side to the end, but the logistics of what could’ve been in a deeper relationship until then are definitely super interesting to me. I really wish the series would’ve considered elaborating on their potential bond more–and I have very much the same feelings about Lotor and Keith. The three of them could really be one hell of a team. 

[voltronfandomhag]

What are the best and worst versions of Lotor?

This is subjective of course but I'd say the worst incarnation of the character is King Lotor from 2011's Voltron Force.

I mean, the potential was there. Again, people are probably going to disagree with me, but I really do think there was a good story to be had with Lotor's setup in VF. He died and then was brought back to life years later through the use of an addictive, corrupting, and unstable magical substance. Not only is he addicted to the stuff, it's destroying his mind. That's some really dark, traumatic stuff.

However, what we get is Lotor being turned into the show's buttmonkey and Kenny. He's just a boring maniacal villain whose inhuman stupidity gets him killed over and over again. All the trauma and dark themes they assigned to the character were either explored in the shallowest way possible or played for laughs. Honestly, I wish Lotor had just been sidelined like the other DoTU villains and hadn't appeared in VF at all.

Honestly, it's part of the reason I dislike V3D Lotor too. Again, this version of Lotor has gone through a seriously traumatic event. He was nearly killed, badly disfigured, and most of his body was replaced with cybernetics. A lot of focus was put on his disfigured face, but the show states 80% of his body was now cybernetic. Yeah. Most of his original body was GONE. But this trauma and disfigurement was played for laughs in the show while Lotor's characterization itself was boring and generic. However, he at least as voiced by Tim Curry and never became the complete joke VF Lotor was.

As for best version, I think I'd have to go with Devil's Due Lotor, specifically his characterization in the comic's second volume. He had a sense of honor and moral code (which didn't really line up human sensibilities, but why should it?), didn't have the creepy obsession with Allura, and his relationships with Merla and Sven were both great. Also, unlike the versions of Lotor listed above, his trauma isn't played for cheap yuks. Sadly, this incarnation of the character was taken from us far too soon. Good night, sweet prince.

[ao3feed-klance]

Treaty of Three

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2QsZpav

by adam_is_love

The war between the Kingdom of Altea and Daibazaal has gone on for far too long. The kingdoms have reached a point to where if it were to continue, both kingdoms would fall to ruin. In an attempt to preserve both kingdoms dignity three arranged marriages were formed. Three Alteans of the royal family will marry three high ranking Galran officials. Princess Allura, Prince Lance and their cousin Adam will be leaving behind their kingdom to go to Daibazaal and try to survive a royal atmosphere that hardly welcomes them.

Words: 595, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voltron: Legendary Defender RPF, Voltron: Defender of the Universe (Devil's Due Comics)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Major Character Death

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M

Characters: Adam (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Allura's Mother (Voltron), Alfor (Voltron), Romelle (Voltron), James Griffin (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Shay (Voltron), Lotor (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Lance's Mother (Voltron), Zarkon (Voltron), Haggar (Voltron), Voltron Paladins, Veronica (Voltron), Acxa (Voltron)

Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Alfor/Allura's Mother (Voltron), Alfor/Coran (Voltron), James Griffin/Romelle (Voltron), Acxa/Veronica (Voltron)

Additional Tags: klance, adashi, Shadam, Laith, Gay, LGBT, LGBTQ Themes

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2QsZpav

[ao3feed-zaggar]

Voltron Defenders

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2x5iycS

by Imawriteritswhatido

On June 10, 2016, a television series was released that touched the hearts of millions and within eight seasons, managed to turn the fandom inside out. Can someone hope to remake this series from the ground up, to make it into something more palatable? God knows I'll try...

Words: 1078, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voltron: Lion Force (1984), Voltron Force (2011), Voltron: Defender of the Universe (Devil's Due Comics), Voltron: The Third Dimension (1998)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M, Multi

Characters: Lance (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Zarkon (Voltron), Haggar (Voltron), Lotor (Voltron), Lotor's Generals (Voltron)

Relationships: Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Haggar/Zarkon (Voltron)

Additional Tags: eventual shallura, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, AU, Fix-It of Sorts

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2x5iycS

[ao3feed-adashi]

Treaty of Three

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2QsZpav

by adam_is_love

The war between the Kingdom of Altea and Daibazaal has gone on for far too long. The kingdoms have reached a point to where if it were to continue, both kingdoms would fall to ruin. In an attempt to preserve both kingdoms dignity three arranged marriages were formed. Three Alteans of the royal family will marry three high ranking Galran officials. Princess Allura, Prince Lance and their cousin Adam will be leaving behind their kingdom to go to Daibazaal and try to survive a royal atmosphere that hardly welcomes them.

Words: 595, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voltron: Legendary Defender RPF, Voltron: Defender of the Universe (Devil's Due Comics)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Major Character Death

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M

Characters: Adam (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Allura's Mother (Voltron), Alfor (Voltron), Romelle (Voltron), James Griffin (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Shay (Voltron), Lotor (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Lance's Mother (Voltron), Zarkon (Voltron), Haggar (Voltron), Voltron Paladins, Veronica (Voltron), Acxa (Voltron)

Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Alfor/Allura's Mother (Voltron), Alfor/Coran (Voltron), James Griffin/Romelle (Voltron), Acxa/Veronica (Voltron)

Additional Tags: klance, adashi, Shadam, Laith, Gay, LGBT, LGBTQ Themes

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2QsZpav