I’ve never really made much of a deal bout this but I’ve never been a fan of giving the galra animalistic (usually cat-like) traits such as bleping. To me, that kind of thing doesn’t really go along with how the show presents the galra. They’re not really meant to be space cats, but really, are meant to be space vampires.
The creators themselves compared the Galra Royal family to vampires, which makes sense. Zarkon is almost entirely driven to find Voltron since the beginning to use it to farm quintessence from the rift.
In a sense, it’s very similar to how vampires usually are depicted as entities entirely driven by the search for blood. Much in the same way vampires hunt down people to suck their blood, the galra will go great lengths to acquire quintessence and the resources to obtain quintessence. Hence all the mining colonies we see from the beginning in s1, where as pointed out in the show, the galra took without giving back to the point that the colonies nearly died (like the Balmera). Very much in the same way we’d see vampires suck their victims dry of the blood their victim need.
And we see this most importantly in the designs of the characters themselves. There’s a reason why there’s not really a uniform galra look in the same way all Alteans are space elves. Cause like vampires in history, the galra have a varied look. The only things that define galra are the jaundiced eyes, blue or purple skin (like a corpse), pointy carnivorous teeth, and long talons. All of which are found in vampires across many cultures.
All of the paladins display great leadership skills because that’s what the original paladins were, leaders. People focus so much on who leads voltron they overlook a pivotal aspect of the lore, which is that these guys
Were all leaders before forming voltron. The current paladins are the opposite, only showing their leaderships after forming voltron, and after they stopped depending on Shiro to be their source of guidance, all stepping up themselves.
The leaders from the start were Allura and Shiro, and even Allura herself grows to be a better leader and the leader of the coalition itself over time, practically the queen of the rebellion and the face of the war against the empire. She gives orders and makes decisions instantly and no one gives it a second thought.
Keith has developed into a more stable leader that can finally listen to his team and give the necessary commands and serve as a sort of older brother figure to the rest of them. Hunk displayed his leadership skills in Omega Shield, taking command without hesitation because he was the best suited for the job, not complaining in the slightest and showing what a great leader he is.
Lance is shaping up to be a dependable right hand, who now puts his team before his own personal glory, and like we saw in the colony when the generals invaded the castle, he instantly gave orders and they all listened to what he said. Pidge has shown over and over again her quick thinking and strategic mind, and once she gave a plan they all follow it instantly. So far she has showed the least classical leadership as she gives the least orders in situations, but she’s growing into one still and they all instantly follow her lead in situations that depend on her.
Compare them to the first arc, where they all depended on the natural leader Shiro and at times Allura, and you can see that they’re all equals now, just as the original paladins were. Being the leader of voltron isn’t this greater status, sometimes a team needs a leader to give direct orders to act as one, but it doesn’t negate the great leadership they all display and will continue to moving forward into the final arc. Watching the second arc you can see the exact moment they all stepped up when they lost Shiro, and now with him back they’re his equals and no longer need to depend on him for every single order. They can make those decisions themselves.
One of the biggest mysteries since season 1 were what are the Druids, and what do they look like, and where does Haggar get them from. There have been many speculations from corrupted Alteans to Lotor clones to dead Alteans revived and used by our favorite necromancer Haggar. It seems like the show is finally going to answer it now that Haggar is seemingly in control -of even Sendak I bet- as the trailer implies the Galra have new weapons and s5 reference to Sendak being her puppet.
The Druids have specific cuts on their arms, and now bandages, that the person Keith fights has as well, so it’s very possible to Haggar is creating them now faster than ever, be it from the Altean colony Lotor left behind with thousands of corpses or other methods. There seems to be an army of them now so their production must be urgent and clumsier. Perhaps it has something to do with this shot
Look at the mark on the man’s forehead, that says an interesting story all on its own.
During s3-s4 I abhorred the sibling theory, I hated it with every inch of my being, but seeing Krolia in s5 sold me instantly and I could not deny it. Like many I dropped the theory after s6, but then this came up to me today and I thought to myself, am I delusional, am I being fucked with by the show again? And the answer would be yes, because those Krolia and Acxa eyes are identical to a T. Makes it more fuckey when you compare trophy husband’s eyes, that Keith got. Acxa has the thicker eyebrows and the upper bend, something that Keith also has. Let’s go full exploding brain here a bit.
For pure argument sake I will be ignoring that Josh interview, because listening to it, he was panicking when put on the spot -and I dislike how he was- and let’s focus on this only and the classic lost sibling trope in old school shounen anime. First is the robot romance trilogy, which shaped the genre that inspired Golion, we’ll see it’s a rather common trope to have the reveal of the hero has a sibling or relative or both in the evil empire in the genre, and in the case of the trilogy it shows up in the second installment, the darker and edgier of the three.
We have Voltes V 1977 that reveals our protagonist and antagonist are brothers
Predating the robot romance trilogy is UFO Robo Grendizer 1975 that had Duke and Maria
We have one of the best in the genre, Godmars 1981 that has the brothers Mars and Marg
This barely scratching the surface here. It’s such a common trope it’s almost expected. The sibling varies from misguided to noble demon to outright heroic mole. The parents are either evil or dead, or one is still alive but rarely is the family reunion a happy one by the end, it always ends in tragedy for them or others.
Now the big killer of this -now more crack than ever- theory is that we saw baby Keith. Well, like @captain-vulture used to constantly point out, it’s very easy for Krolia to have been pregnant again when she went back into space, seeing that Keith and Acxa seem close in age, with him being around a year older. It’s a killed theory at this point, but the show has a habit of going bitch you thought. I also like to point out that sometimes creators are forced to lie in interviews when put on the spot. It happened with Galra keith theory way back.
vld but the main hero-villain rivals resemble each other more physically and personality wise with each newer arc
arc 1 – Shiro and Zarkon
Barely
any physical resemblance. only in the eyebrows and jawlines with scars on their faces in some way that isn’t mirroring.
Personality-wise, they are both leaders but have vast ideological
differences as to how to go about leading. Both eventually are removed
from the position of Black Lion and are essentially reborn in some
manner.
arc 2 – Allura and Lotor
Physical resemblance is higher than with Shiro and Zarkon. Both have long white hair that is curly with blue eyes, and pointy ears. Both share a species with one another. Backstories is similar and situation with parents is an inverse mirror of one another, though differences in current present time are notable. Lotor is the leader of his team while Allura is the support position. Entrance to Oriande results in paralleling but ultimately different results. Approach to leadership is based lies with Lotor, but with truth and honesty with Allura.
potential: Arc 3 – Keith and Acxa
Resemblance is uncanny unless you look deeply. Acxa bears strong resemblance to Keith’s mother including the same weapon usage as her. A fairly popular theory circulated around the fandom regarding them being related. Personality-wise they are eerily similar with the same responds and mannerisms with both responding to their respective mentor figures in a similar brand of loyalty. Arcs are direct mirrors of each other, with direct parallelism can be drawn directly each other. Both are thrusted into the leadership role where they did not expect to/want it. Fights in a similar manner
Sorry for the lateness anon, but I really had to digest the show as a whole before I could crank this one out.
They’re foils of one another. Think of it sort of like how in many shows and movies, how the protagonist has a rival, a dark version of themselves. This rival shares many of the traits the protagonist has – such as certain flaws or quirks or even virtues – but instead of using them for good, it’s for evil, or in Acxa’s case, morally questionable shade of gray.
But it becomes more interesting when you take the show as a whole into account. Every major arc (26 episodes or so, 24 for in the first cause of the 3-in-1 first episode in s1) has a main rivalry between the main arc villain and the focus character in question, with a particular shared theme in mind. (This is gonna be long but bear with me)
In the first arc, this particular character is Shiro vs. Zarkon. Like Shiro, Zarkon was the Black Paladin. He led his team on many victories and was a natural born leader just like how Allura described Shiro in s1ep1. And it’s very telling how both of respond to this leadership – Zarkon defines himself as the Black Paladin cause that’s how he sees himself and defines his autonomy. Shiro defines himself as the leader of Voltron, Mr. “I want to be a Paladin again”. And that’s the special history between the Shiro-Zarkon rivalry. But also the source of conflict between the two of em
The reason why the rivalry exists is cause they’re the Black Paladins, and Zarkon wants the Black Lion back. They’re essentially fighting over the same lion. Shiro’s and Zarkon’s theme is fighting over the Black Lion.
Arc 2′s focus rivalry is Allura and Lotor, and their shared theme is Altean history. But not only Altean history, their shared history also is cause of their mirror parents heritages.
Lotor and Allura have a “bond” over how they’re the “last” Alteans left and are both connected essentially, to the old Altea. Allura is the Princess of the time, and Lotor is the son of the Galra Empire, Altea’s major ally at the time. Their rivalry is different from Zarkon’s and Shiro’s – cause in a way, it ends in a “romance.” It’s a much more peaceful, but more insidious cause Lotor not only was lying bout the whole thing, but also actively using Allura for his own purposes. Allura thought he was a good person, but ultimately was a guy with twisted methods and perverted morality.
Now we’re at the cusp of arc 3. I’m almost certain the rivalry in this season is gonna be Keith with Acxa. And we’ve gotten the build up since season 2. Their theme is one of mirrors.
If you were to look at Acxa’s arc in the second arc, you will realize that it’s a lot like Keith’s from the first one. She acts solely as Lotor’s second-in-command, obeying and executing his orders as he sees fit. She goes along with a plan that sacrifices one of her teammates and lies to the other. That kind of loyalty mirrors Keith’s loyalty to Shiro , whose loyalty got him to set down from being a paladin not once, but twice, in s3ep6 and in s4ep1. Acxa in the second arc, would of done the same given the same scenario.
And here’s where that connection lies – they’re mirrors cause they’re the step-ups to the previous leaders in their factions. What Acxa went through in arc 2 is a mirror to arc 1 Keith. But unlike Keith, whose leader he was loyal to was a genuine, kind guy who was there for him, Acxa had Lotor, who couldn’t care less at all.
Shiro’s a clone here, but at least he tries to comfort Keith here as best as he could. He cared, even if he didn’t understand the true bond Keith and the OG Shiro had. Lotor doesn’t care for Acxa, he just wants results and blames her when he doesn’t get the ones he wants. And Acxa realizes this, which is why she cuts ties with Lotor in the end.
This is a contrast to how in forever and always, Keith was never gonna give up on Shiro, cause Shiro never gave up on him. Acxa gave up on Lotor cause he never gave her a chance.
And that brings us to season 6. Shiro is not the Black paladin and the leader anymore. Keith has grown into his role, and recognizes who he is. He’s synergized with the rest of team voltron, and grew into it, with the help of his spending time with his mom and with Shiro.
Acxa is too, the new leader of her team, but for the opposite reasons. She cut Lotor off cause he was terrible and her and her team were ejected into space for it. All her calls and leadership has gotten her and her team nothing but pain. Acxa has lied to Ezor and Zethrid, something we haven’t seen Acxa apologize for. If Narti’s alive then Acxa is in some major hot water cause unless Narti was in on the plan, Acxa agreed to sacrifice her for it. They have no ship, no faith in her leadership, and no plan. She’s just like season 3 Keith, only arguably worst off.
But here’s where I think the connection will head. Acxa will have to re-adapt to her team again, cause not only does she have to reprove her worth, she has to learn to manage things without Lotor’s help. She doesn’t even have his guidance here either, he genuinely doesn’t care and is gone to boot. She’s gonna have to do things differently, that includes bending into the wishes of her allies where she didn’t approve before.
But of course, in order to rebuild all of that, Acxa needs time and experience, something she can’t really get if Voltron is hot on her tail. But as I pointed out before, Voltron is gone and busy on their own thing at the moment, which gives Acxa the well needed time.
Am I saying Acxa is gonna be the final boss for Voltron? No, I don’t think so. Cause there’s another factor that we have to consider besides Acxa as main threat. That threat is Haggar. Again, Acxa really screwed herself over big time in the second arc, and one of those fuck-ups was breaking ties completely with Haggar. Cause the same way OG Voltron team had their own Oriande-blessed Altean (Alfor), and team Voltron has their own Oriande blessed Altean (Allura), Acxa doesn’t have that cause she tried to shoot at Haggar, the only other blessed Altean we know of. And Haggar has her own plans indeed.
To get to the main meat of the question – Acxa’s main deal with Keith is that she’s his rival enemy in the same vein Zarkon was to Shiro and Lotor was to Allura. We don’t know the source of the conflict of course, nor Acxa’s whole deal, cause it wasn’t her time yet. And it’s why I have been adamant on why she’s not gonna get a redemption arc – if one at all. All rivals in this show are tragic evil villains, and their downfalls have all been their own doing in the end. Acxa is most likely gonna have that choice to change, but Zarkon and Lotor before her, is gonna turn it away.
superheroladies 