Shada's Voltron Meme

EDIT:  I changed some of the commentary.  I was rushed when writing this, so I polished it up a bit.  Or maybe just cut some rambling out in exchange for different rambling, I don't know.


I did my own meme.  I'm not ashamed to admit it.

I don't know why I don't see these around so much anymore; they were fun to do, and I learned a lot about the fanbase.  So I made one and did it myself.

The Blank Voltron Meme

Don't worry; I'm still working on contest winners.  But summer's been kicking my butt lately, what with one major event after another.  Not getting much time on the computer.  So I did this using mostly traditional media, and just slapped text and color on.  No fiddling around, no fixing sizing issues (of which some are bugging me, I'll admit), this is just done to tide my "I HAVE TO DRAW VOLTRON STUFF" muse over until I finish contest art.  You can even still see some of the underdrawing; in fact, it sort of gives this a whole fun sketchy look.

MEME EXPLAINATIONS  (This WILL blow the spoiler):

1.  Self explanatory, although if you're new here I'll explain that the reason I go by Crutch Ninja is because I'm often on crutches, canes, or in a wheelchair due to some ankle problems.  But I've gotten SO good at those crutches, that I can whoop some poor unsuspecting purse-snatcher if he should mistake me for an easy target.

2.  OK I'll admit; Pidge was my favorite BEFORE the spoiler came out.  Pidge skyrocketed well into the lead after that.  But come on, she's GREEN which is, after teal, my favorite color.

3.  Those who follow me will know I usually tend to like the geeky, gadgetry characters.  But those are nearly universally guys, and while that is just fine by me (geeky guys are cute, I'll be honest), the number of glasses-wearing, tech-slinging GIRLS is somewhat limited.  The last ones I can remember really liking were Tanya from that old Mighty Ducks cartoon about alien ducks playing hockey and fighting crime, and the aptly-named Gadget from Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers.  THESE WERE AGES AGO.  (. . . OK I guess Agatha from the Girl Genius webcomic can count, but she's not a TV character)  And the best part about Pidge, is that unlike a lot of geeks, she's SPUNKY.  She won't take sass from anyone.  She's almost more a rebel than the group's actual designated rebel, Keith.  This show does a good job of finding new takes on old tropes.

4.  This question was in case anyone had one.  I love everyone, even down to that no-dialogue Macross-esque blonde dude at the Garrison, to the awesome Galra soldier who sometimes can't get his commanding officer's name right and rated himself a "3" on the bloodthirsty scale, to the cute little Tron Bit Rover drone of Pidge's.     );

5.  Sorry, but I thought these two were cute together.  They're both nice people and fit each other well, despite the fact that she's "a rock that [Hunk] admires very much".  They're also the only pairing I think has ANY official hint to it whatsoever.  I mean, come on!  They got a romantic sunrise!  Alone!  Talking about freedom and deep stuff!  And I apologize for botching Hunk; who'd have thought he'd be harder to draw than a rock alien?
I'm also a fan of Shiro/Allura and Lance/Pidge.  The first I like because they're sort of the Space Parents of the group and I think they'd be adorable.  The second I like because I can totally see Lance not taking Pidge as a girl seriously at all until she actually does something girly, like wear a dress.  Then I can see it hitting him like this Girl Genius comic.  As the comic says, it would be hilarious to watch.  Also, Pidge sometimes hits him when he gets flirty and stupid with other girls, so maybe there's a SLIGHT chance she's subconsciously jealous.

6.  As I stated earlier, I love how this show does a good job of finding new takes on old tropes.  Pidge isn't just the brains, she's the daring "Scrappy".  Lance isn't just the friendly flirt, he's also in your face, competitive, and full of self-confidence (at least on the surface).  Keith isn't just the rebel, he's also the awkward, adorkable shy-guy.  Hunk isn't just the "big nice guy", he's also the back-up brains for mechanics and a voice of reason (albeit sprinkled with paranoia).  Shiro isn't just "the leader" and "Team dad", he's also the PTSD soldier and curious teenager who sorta still wants to have fun and fit in (even though I still have a hard time accepting that the guy is NOT in his 20's). Everyone's got depth to them, and for me, good characters are the #1 thing for me in a story.

7.  This whole scene, from start to finish, was a riot.  Too bad I couldn't put Shiro's pose in there; that was the other part that really made me laugh.  That, and Lance's inability to feel shame for ANYthing he does, and Keith being the only one who thought this whole thing was stupid.
 . . . I had an actual screencap that I had accidentally paused on, and it uh . . . depicts Lance leaning over and actuallly KISSING poor Keith.  Full on the mouth.  It was just there for ONE FRAME but I happened to pause on it late at night when I was already drunk from laughing too much and gossiping with a friend I was staying with while on vacation.  I nearly put it up because it was so bad and yet so funny,  but you shippers already have enough fuel for your fire.  If you want to know where that cap was I can tell you, but you'll have to ask.  Personally, I wonder if the artists weren't just teasing the lot of you, because there was no way they didn't see what they did there.

8.  Fizz came to me in her entirety in a dream, complete with backstory and a determination to gun for poor Coran.  I guess my brain felt sorry for him or something, being one of the last Alteans, and wrote him a romantic interest.
In my dream, the Altean race wasn't completely annihilated, but a small force of survivors split apart and became loner nomads, disguising themselves among other alien populations.  As a result, they lost their quintessence capabilities over the last 10,000 years but improved their shapeshifting.  Fizz was disguised as some other kind of alien when her mercenary band was hired to try to break into and capture the Castle of Lions, but when she found out what it really was and who Allura and Coran were, she cheerfully turned on her team and helped the Paladins kick them out.
She uses some sort of energy-blade tonfa in combat, and knows lots of different styles.  She also adds some MUCH needed knowledge about the current universe to the group, telling them how things are now and what they need to know to maneuver in the new cultural climates.  For the most part, she puts the paladins on edge, because her teaching style is to beat the crud out of you until you learn enough to fight back.  Aside from her rather violent tendencies to hit things, she's actually quite friendly, cheerful, and outgoing.  She loves to tell stories from her mercenary days and is full of weird anecdotes and tales.  But she can be rather blunt, and demonstrates that the current race of Descendant Alteans are a much more barbaric bunch than the refined Alteans of Allura's time.
She spends her time with Coran either learning cooking or ancient Altean history from him (her cooking skills are just as horrendous) or in telling him stories over the last 10,000 years of more modern Altean history.  Despite her coming on rather strong (and my depiction in my sketch), they get along rather well.  Coran is a cheerful, friendly sort himself, and welcomes the new source of information.  And he finds her intriguing in her own right, in a sort of wild, untamed way.  At least eventually.
 . . . Another faction of Alteans in my dream headed off to parts unknown to found a new alliance that would hopefully one day stand against the Empire.  They crashed instead, and after losing their shapeshifting capabilities and knowledge of their history, became the human race.  But this goes on my list of conspiracy theories, along with "Keith is secretly related to Shiro (like half-brothers or cousins or something)", and "Zarkon is actually an Altean".  Come on, he was the Black Paladin and he's got the strength to bash around a LION like a tennis ball; he's totally an Altean.

9.  I love teal.  And I already depict myself in a teal suit, so I went for the lion.  But I can't draw robots very well, so I drew a REAL lion, lol.

10.  AUGH that was a bad cliffhanger.  NOT as bad as it would have been had it ended just before though, but still.  And yet, this was a good spot to leave off too.  Very well done, from a story-telling perspective.  It wrapped up the current crisis and ended just as it hinted to a new one.  Great way to get everyone clamoring for more, and boy did it work.
Had another rant here about why people just can't let Pidge be a tomboy instead of reading all kinds of stuff into it, but that's really neither here nor there and this commentary got too long as it was.  I'll save it for a journal where it can be more relevant and people can ignore it as they please.

11.  TAG to anyone else, really.  Have fun with it!
And by the way, that line is a reference to Ty-Chou's Sketch Dump.  I saw it and now I can't see poor Sendak without laughing.  He's also mad because I didn't even bother to look up his costume design properly, but I was starting to spend too much time on this and I got impatient.  So he got the shaft as a result.  Too bad, so sad.  Same thing happened on the coloring stage; he should be grateful I even bothered with special effects, lol.


Voltron Legendary Defenders is COPYRIGHTED to Dreamworks and Netflix.  Wait, who gets the higher billing??