#robotech voltron

From Golion:

Elements from Golion should be its own post, and I think that most of them are pretty well explored throughout Tumblr by others.

Gladiator combat survivors/champions made into living weapons.

There are different kinds of Galra with different designs and most of the different kinds have a name.

Sadak/Sendak’s name.

1. Gladiator combat survivors/champions made into living weapons: DotU cuts this out, but in Golion (and this relates to #2), the gladiator combat is used to weed out the strong by having them fight Half-Beastmen. Those that survive are taken by Honerva who uses her magic to transform them into Death Black Beastmen (who don’t look like other Galra).

In VLD, Shiro is a survivor/champion of gladiator combat and was made into a living weapon by Haggar and is an important element to his character. This doesn’t happen in any other continuity to any other character (other than nameless Galra in Golion).

While there is no special name (like Death Black Beastmen) for it (and Shiro is not Galra), we can see that there are other “Galra who don’t look like other Galra”, such as Sendak who also has a quintessence-powered weaponized-prosthetic given to him by Haggar. Shiro isn’t the only gladiator combat survivor to be made into a weapon, Myzax is made into one as well, just of the Robeast variety (called “Mecha Beastmen” in Golion).

2. Different kinds of Galra: We can see this visually in VLD, but they are not named as they are in Golion. Merits its own post with tons of images to compare. This was also in DotU, but glossed over, while Golion gave more detail about it.

3. Naming: Yurak from DotU returns in VLD as Sendak, which name-wise relates more to Sadak in Golion. This is another tell regarding #1.

Voltron Third Dimension and Voltron Force:

Since I strongly dislike both of these Continuities Which Must Not Be Named, I never bothered to watch more than a few episodes of either, so I didn’t pick up much subtext to meta from. There are other folks on Tumblr who have heroically watched these series and can speak to any borrowed elements from them. If two annoying twin girls claiming to be Lotor’s nieces ever show up in VLD, you’ll have Voltron Force to blame. Still, credit to Voltron Force for giving us Haggarium.

Dynamite and Devil’s Due Publishing comics:

I couldn’t get into the Dynamite Voltron comics, but I enjoyed the DDP Voltron comics. I admit having a bias towards DDP since they included Vehicle Voltron (in an interesting plot-appropriate way), so I highly recommend reading them. The DDP comics also included Merla so other than the made-for-the-US episodes of DotU, this is the only other continuity that includes her (so far…).

What both these series (mostly DDP) gives us are a gold mine of elements/concepts that pertain to the Lions, Allura, Lotor, Haggar, the creation of Voltron, and the search for Voltron. All of which VLD appears to have iterated upon and expanded/updated even further (especially with Allura and Haggar). This is one of the things I love about the Voltron continuities, this idea that you can look at any of them and say “hey that’s a good concept, what if we use and tweak it to fit into this new context?”.

A backstory for the creation of Voltron that involves Zarkon and a scientist friend (Dynamite)

The Lions are sentient and can form mind connections with their pilots (DDP)

Allura being the mystical key to Voltron (DDP)

Voltron having a mystical-not-exactly-technological source of power (DDP)

Lotor having a legit code of honor that he abides by (DDP)

Kogane becoming Keith’s surname going forward in subsequent continuities (DDP) (edit: true of Voltron Force but not confirmed for VLD as of S4)

Allura and Lotor having known each other when they were adolescents (DDP)

An explicit quest to go looking for Voltron as opposed to just happening upon it by accident as in DotU (DDP)

Conceptualizing Haggar’s magic as part of an ancient cabal (DDP)

Haggar’s magic/role allows her to sense the return of Voltron/Allura’s mystical connection (DDP)

A Voltron pilot being rejected by a lion (DDP)

#1-6 are self-explanatory: VLD takes concepts 1-5 in different (and IMO better) directions, but these comics are the first iteration of those concepts. I really like that for #1, VLD swapped out Zarkon’s “scientist friend” for Alfor and made Alfor a scientist as well as a king.

#7 Allura and Lotor childhood/adolescent/teen relationship: is (as of S4) up-in-the-air for VLD, but this concept is related to a concept found in the Robotech/Voltron crossover that exists in VLD.

Something to watch out for in S5 is whether or not (if this exists in VLD) the childhood/adolescent/teen relationship was reciprocal friendship on both their parts, or if—as in the DDP comics—Lotor was placed on Arus to gather information and create the illusion of being the perfect gentlemen (e.g. diplomatic relationship).

#8 Quest/Mission for Voltron (directly impacts character development):

In the DDP comics, Colonel Hawkins (Commander Hawkins from Vehicle Voltron) sends Keith, Sven, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk on a mission to go look for the mythical/legendary Voltron in order to defend Earth against the invading Drule Supremacy. Here, Hawkins is risking his career because the Galaxy Garrison didn’t believe that Voltron existed, so the brass didn’t support his mission (this might be relevant).

In VLD, the Galaxy Garrison connection (that we know of so far) exists through Keith/Pidge/Lance/Hunk having been trained there and through Shiro’s return—but rather than a mission—our paladins-to-be go looking for Voltron based on combining Keith’s findings of a power source with what Shiro tells them about Voltron upon his return to Earth, hence they go looking for Voltron via the Blue Lion, rather than lucking out and stumbling upon Voltron as in DotU.

Additionally, Keith’s father (who looks suspiciously like Commander Hawkins) was looking for something—in the manner in which one would look if one’s search wasn’t supported by anything official—which (as far as we know) was the power source that turned out to be the Blue Lion. (I have a separate post planned for our idealistically-alien-friendly-man-of-peace Commander Hawkins.)

#9-10 Haggar’s ancient cabal and sensing return of Voltron:

In the DDP comics, Haggar is the last in the line of the Daughters of Wyvern, an ancient cabal/what-have-you of sorceresses. Through her magic and being the last of the line, she is alerted to the return of Voltron (e.g. Allura’s mystical power).

In VLD, we see that Haggar is also shown with a cabal, but unlike DDP, she leads druids who serve her, and—as in the DDP comics—it is Haggar that is first alerted to the return of Voltron due to sensing Allura’s mystical power/connection to it.

#11 Lion rejects a pilot!

In the DDP comics Sven is rejected by the Blue Lion (revealed later to be due to a defect in his brain); while in VLD, Shiro is briefly rejected by the Black Lion due to…??? Well…Shiro did come back from the Galra with a headache…so…yeah…unleash that meta fam.

Aside: due to the number of elements/concepts from the DDP comics that also show up in VLD, my answer to your question about what I thought VLD Merla would be like, comes from her character in the DDP comics.

The Robotech/Voltron crossover from 2015 provides a few big elements and concepts that appear in VLD. Considering there’s that Roy Fokker easter egg in s1e1 (I’m not the only one who suspects that Rick Hunter, Miriya Parina, Max Sterling also appear in that episode), someone over there at Dreamworks or Studio Mir loves Robotech. I recommend reading the crossover, if only for a few panels of Rick Hunter piloting an actual White Lion mecha.

Comets That Do Stuff. Specifically of the “crossing between realities universes” variety! 

Alfor being more than just a king and sharing an element with Haggar. 

Lotor’s mother being shown-and-named. Even in the prior five continuities, this never happened (Golion doesn’t count here).

Lotor’s mother having a connection to Alfor and a bitter story behind that connection.

Our heroes crossing between realities universes.

#1 and #5 comets and crossing between realities universes: While these are not character elements, these concepts have direct impact on characters (one could argue that the trans-reality comets in VLD are characters, Voltron certainly is). There’s a lot here: “Lotor and Comets That Do Stuff”.  Spoilers abound.

#2 Alfor not just a king, and shares a character element with Haggar:

In the crossover, Alfor wields magic like Haggar does in addition to being king (Aflor = good magic, Haggar = bad magic). In VLD, Alfor is a scientist and paladin in addition to being king, while Honerva/Haggar is a scientist in addition to being a queen (through marriage to Zarkon). VLD expands this by showing both Alfor and Honerva as scientists studying the same thing with divergent outcomes. Alfor = good scientist, Honerva/Haggar = bad scientist.

This leads us to #3 and #4 where Lotor’s mother is not only shown-and-named, but that she has a connection to Alfor.

Her name in the crossover (Lora) is irrelevant, but the subtext that she is related to Alfor, and that her relationship with Alfor soured and they are no longer close is very relevant to VLD.

In the crossover, the soured relationship is due to her political marriage to Zarkon which Alfor didn’t approve of (revealed in Alfor’s snarky comment to her: “So Lora how does it feel to be a pawn?”), and she’s related/family to Alfor (it’s subtle and the podcast with the writer confirms that was the intention).

These concepts return in VLD where the relationship between Lotor’s mother and Alfor also soured, but their connection is through being scientists rather than family (at least as of S4).

The difference in VLD is that Lotor’s mother and Haggar are fused together in the character of Honerva.

Finally, Vehicle Voltron:

Vehicle Voltron concepts require a lot of stepping back and examining subtext because both the pacing of the series and the awkward narrative create inconsistencies in the canon (not a dig at the writers they had a hard job to do). We have to look at what concepts are repeated/hammered home, and that appear in multiple episodes in such a way that they construct a clear story arc while discarding “filler episodes.” The destruction of the Drule home world is a great example of that.

Caveat: I’d be very surprised if the writers or creators of VLD sat through all of Vehicle Voltron, or even watched more than a few episodes of it (it’s a very different genre from Lion Voltron). So, some tropes/concepts just write themselves and are a coincidence. I try not to read too much into what I’ve noticed regarding Vehicle Voltron and VLD, but I do have a separate post planned for Vehicle Voltron/VLD coincidences.

Galaxy Garrison

Pidge has a brother

Throk the Elitist Proxy for the Methods and Beliefs of the Empire

Quasi-Byronic Antagonist Exiled From the Empire (e.g. Hazar)

Destruction of Drule home world and destruction of Daibazaal (has multiple elements wrapped up here)

#1 and #2 (I think everyone already knows this):

Galaxy Garrison comes from Vehicle Voltron where it is the Earth portion of the Galaxy Alliance. It remains to be seen if Earth will be part of any kind of Galaxy Alliance in VLD. I’m waiting for someone to look at the Voltron Coalition and say “It’s like a Galaxy Alliance!”.

Pidge’s brother in Vehicle Voltron is Chip, and in addition to changing his name in VLD, he’s 100000% better and amazing. He’s still a tech nerd/genius, and can fly a combat vehicle. Chip’s characterization in Vehicle Voltron was mostly about: he’s smart, he’s short, and he deeply misses his brother and home world of Balto. VLD has dropped the shortness and Balto, made Pidge female, and their nature of their separation in space is similar but as we know, has very different causes.

#3-4 Throk and Quasi-Byronic Antagonists: are touched on in my post about Lotor and Hazar, I’ve got a separate post planned for Throk. Suffice to say, the writers have had ample opportunity to name-drop or reference non-main characters from prior continuities and—with the exception of Sven and Throk—have not done so. They’ve created new characters, which is great because there is no need to retread what came before. To me, this means that when they do a name-drop or reference, then we should pay attention to it. 

#5. Destruction of the Drule home world and the destruction of Daibazaal.

While not about character elements, this relates to several characters and their actions leading-up-to and during the self-destruction of their respective planets. It’s also entirely possible that this is an example of “some tropes/concepts just write themselves” and the parallel between the destruction of the Drule home world and Daibazaal was never intentional.

This is also a hard one because of narrative confusion from filler episodes in Vehicle Voltron. Following the secondary story arc (which is Hazar’s arc), the Drule home world is self-destructing due to the burial of materials used by the Drule to create their “solar weapons”. What those weapons and materials are is a little vague, but irrelevant.

Stepping back for a zoomed-out view, the concept connection with VLD is:

World self-destructing-and-unstable due to something within its surface that shouldn’t be there.In VLD it’s the rift, in Vehicle Voltron it’s the buried hazardous solar weapon materials.

Leaders ignore the warning signs and continue on as if nothing is happening even though the catastrophe is imminent.Zarkon and Honerva are obsessed with power and research; while Zeppo and Throk cling to their political power. Both are unconcerned with how this affects their people (Zarkon/Honerva indirectly; Zeppo/Throk directly and explicitly). 

Aside: In VLD, Zarkon is concerned at first, but over time, he no longer shows concern.

Wise older men with beards take matters into their own hands.Alfor does so with warnings before the point-of-no-return and then with direct action after the point-of-no-return, while Senator Mozak does so indirectly through his children—Hazar and Dorma—before the point-of-no-return (kicking off Hazar’s “oh shit I need to make peace with these explorers before my people are doomed” arc).

The planet has to be evacuated and the people of the empire no longer have a home.Alfor evacuates the Galra, while the Galaxy Alliance evacuates the Drule.

Voltron is involved prior to the destruction.In VLD, Voltron widening the rift is the point of no return for Daibazaal; while in Vehicle Voltron, Voltron’s final battle with the Drule occurs while the planet is shaking apart.