NYCC 2017: Voltron Cast Decides Who’s Prettier – Lotor or Zarkon

Voltron: Legendary Defender is one of my newest obsessions, thanks to the persuasive power of Tumblr. I was able to make the panel at San Diego Comic-Con, and I was beyond thrilled when a panel was announced for New York Comic Con as well. Indeed, there was a whole lot of Voltron at NYCC 2017.

Fans were delighted when it was revealed that Dreamworks would be heavily promoting Voltron at NYCC 2017 with a series of vintage recruitment posters urging fans to join the Voltron Coalition (a major point of VLD season 4, which premieres October 13 on Netflix). In fact, a giant poster featuring all eight ads was prominently displayed near one of the entrances to the show floor. We were hoping that these posters would be distributed at the panel, but they weren’t. (*Psst* You can buy the posters from the official store.) It’s a good thing, too, because the swag they did have – a lithograph of the original paladins drawn by executive producer Lauren Montgomery – disappeared from the tables before my friends and I made it back there. As it is, I bought the Shiro and Keith posters and am eagerly awaiting their delivery.

In addition to the poster (and the lithograph), the Lion Forge booth was giving away Black Lion masks as well as the first issue of the new “season” of Voltron comics, while Han Cholo had a beautiful set of exclusive lion head enamel pins.

The cast had an eventful NYCC – they got stuck in an elevator on the way to the panel, which was the first Saturday panel on the Main Stage. I got to the Javits at 8 to line up for the panel, and there were already quite a few people in line when I arrived; it was definitely one of the more popular panels of the weekend. The panel “pre-show” featured an interview with Marc Morrell, one of the guys behind the Let’s Voltron podcast, as well as showcasing the amazing creativity of fans, who were encouraged to show off their homemade merchandise as well as their cosplay (lots of Keiths).

My friends and I were hoping, since season 4 premieres on Friday, that we would be treated the the first episode of Voltron at NYCC the way the SDCC audience got to see the first episode of season 3. We were not so lucky, though we were given a few sneak peeks, which you can now watch on the Voltron YouTube channel. But of course the best part was getting to see the panelists – Josh Keaton (Shiro), Kimberly Brooks (Allura), AJ LoCascio (Lotor), and executive producers Montgomery and Joaquim dos Santos.

There were a lot of jokes about how Shiro could use a break – AJ said that Shiro and Zarkon should take a beach vacation together, like in that one episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender where Zuko and Azula went to Ember Island. It was suggested that they put a tracker on Shiro to save time, but Josh claimed that you would just find the tracker and Shiro would be gone. But we also got some important information about ongoing plot threads; Earth is still very much in play, Pidge’s search for her family is ongoing, but she’s getting closer, and Keith has apparently started training with the Blades of Marmora. Montgomery and dos Santos talked a lot about the parallels between the Galra and the Paladins, particularly in the power struggles (though the only struggle I can see among the Paladins is that both Keith and Shiro want the other one to lead).

AJ joked that it isn’t a question of who is more evil between Lotor and Zarkon, but who is prettier, and that Lotor obviously wins that contest. Neil Kaplan (voice of Zarkon) disagrees with that assessment.

…hmmmmmm https://t.co/9aUvaAdW6u

— (((Neil Kaplan))) (@NeKap) October 7, 2017

I was also extremely fortunate to be invited to the press room for Voltron at NYCC! I got to ask some questions about how Shiro’s doing now that he’s no longer the Black Paladin, and what the team will do if they need to make a quick escape, now that Allura isn’t back piloting the castle. Check out our interviews below:

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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