#vld5 spoilers

[ravenfire2908]

I guess you’re wondering why I uploaded the same picture twice

[alteami]

Acxa saving Keith

[pplutos]

i give my own

[sunset-spring]

Before season 5 aired, I went back and caught up on Brooklyn Nine Nine because I had stopped halfway through season 3. And it was pretty much what I had running in the background all the time up until season 5 of Voltron. So I ended up with a comic about the Zebra Games, inspired by B99′s Jimmy Jab Games. 

And after I finished the comic, I ended up thinking it looked odd that Lotor’s generals had their own unique Paladin Cadet armor while the others didn’t. So I designed unique armor for the C-Squad, as I’ve started calling them.

Like my art? Be sure to check out my Redbubble store!

[sage-nebula]

I want to make a long post on this, but I’m not sure I can phrase everything coherently at the moment, so for right now I’m going to make a short post and say this:

For Lotor, “victory or death” means something different than it means to most everyone else in the Empire.

For pretty much everyone in the Empire, “victory or death” is a battle cry. It pumps them up. It motivates them. It comes from a place of honor, pride, and aggression. For them, “victory or death” means that victory is worth dying for, that they would rather die than face failure.

For Lotor, “victory or death” is a survival mantra. He has spent pretty much his entire life being persecuted and threatened by everyone, including and especially his own parents. He has spent his life with his back against the wall. We’ve seen marked hypervigilance in him as a result of this (how he not only checks, but double checks to see if he’s being tracked), and we’ve also seen how he listens to Empire transmissions from fighters that are actively trying to hunt him down and murder him with the same calm resignation that one would have when listening to an evening news report. By this point in his life, Lotor has learned that if a fight does not end on his terms, then it will end in his death. If he wins, then he sets the terms. He can decide who lives and who dies (and if you look at his canonical track record, he usually lets everyone live, even if he banishes them to a worthless outpost in the Ulippa System because they’re backstabbing, racist fucks). But if he loses, that choice is taken from him. If he loses---

---he dies.

(Yes, he ended up surviving and winning this one, once the Paladins intervened. But before they did, he had lost, and Zarkon was going to kill him, and he knew this, even though he tried to talk his way out of it.)

For Lotor, “victory or death” is a survival mantra. He tells himself that he has to win because if he does not, he will die. It’s not that victory is worth dying for. It’s that victory is the only thing keeping him alive. Even if he wins by the skin of his teeth, barely escaping and only managing because he flies along the surface of a sun, a win is a win. He’s still alive to fight another day. That is good enough for him.

The White Lion attacked him. Repeatedly. It attacked him immediately upon his arrival, and he was thrown clear across the battlefield not unlike when he fought Zarkon. It attacked him a second time---pinned him, actually---and still Lotor did not draw a weapon, he just held the jaws apart so he wouldn’t be mauled and said that he wouldn’t yield, that he sought the Lion’s secrets. Once again he was thrown back, and once again the Lion attacked, and seeing that the Lion was going to keep attacking, that this was a fight, that he had to win somehow or else he would die, Lotor’s survival instinct kicked in, and he opted to not die by winning the fight instead. Was it the right answer? No. This particular bout had a different win condition. But Lotor, who has spent his entire life being persecuted by pretty much everyone, fell back on a survival mantra that has kept him alive---even if just barely at times---for all these years.

Yes, he shouted “victory or death.” But it doesn’t mean to him what it means to the rest of those in the Empire, because they haven’t lived the kind of life he has. 

It’s something I think is worth thinking about.

(Note: Not a single word of Lotor hate will be tolerated on this post. If you feel the need to hate Lotor for whatever godforsaken reason, do so on your own, separate post, not on this one, or I’ll just block you straight up, thanks.)

[starryeyed-char]

Haggar: *spies on Voltron through Shiro*

VLD Fandom:

[kimchi-jamboree]

fakeass shiro: *yells at lance*

me: shiro i would die for you but youre on thin fucking ice right now

[kaiserallen]

Holy fucking shit guys.....I was looking back at what Allura said to Lance and rewatched the sword fight scene with King Alfor and look at the swords....I can’t even...

[rosyr]

hey you know what would make amazing promo material....

the videos that the paladins made for their families

[scenekidstreber]

I know the Sheith ones aren't the same scene,,, but thanks for coming to my ted talk

[dancinglancey]

Lance: *looks back and forth between Keith and his mom*

Keith: What?

Lance: Nothing. I don’t know whether to praise her for making your face look the way it does, or blame her for giving you that mullet.

[klanceful-blog]

"shiro has been quite difficult lately" GIRL IT'S BECAUSE HE IS NOT OUR SHIRO THAT'S WHY HE IS BEING A PAIN IN THE ASS

[sunset-spring]

Started out designing some casual wear for Allura, since the only outfits we’ve seen her in are her princess dress, Paladin armor and suit she uses when piloting the castle. Then I ended up thinking of how Lotor didn’t have anything other than his armor. So I figured I’d give him an outfit too, and then more ideas kept popping up. 

So here’s a bunch of sketches based on that casual/alternate outfit premise. Mostly made up of Allura, Lotor and Lance, with two Pidges and one Keith in the mix. 

Pidge’s were also me wanting to draw her with long hair, and her putting her current length hair in a small ponytail. Hope we get to see long hair and ponytail Pidge in the show at some point, cuz she did look good with it, and it’d be something interesting. 

Like my art? Be sure to check out my Redbubble store! Right now you can get 25% off Wall Art by using the code WALLART25!

[sage-nebula]

Like mother, like son.

[starryeyed-char]

me, before season 5: Lotor is a villain! I hate him! I'll never trust him!

me, after season five, holding back tears and wearing my TEAM LOTURA t-shirt: f.... fair enough

[msfirelord]

I’m sure this has been done, but now that we’ve seen Krolia, what if Keith was 100% galra??? ✨