New headcanon:

There is no such thing as a lion on Altea - at least, no such real thing.

There is, however, a creature called a lion (in rough English translation, of course) that is a fearsome yet benevolent animal of fairy tales and children’s stories. Alfor was always fond of these stories (and so was Allura, for that matter), and could think of no better creature after which to model the ships made from the comet’s ore.

Happy New Year!

As a gift to ring in 2018, have some Modern AU headcanons of the OG Paladins on New Year’s!

Alfor is the most excited and optimistic for the new year. He and his wife are sickeningly sweet and all hugs and kisses as the clock strikes twelve. He’s the one that raises a super sappy toast to friendship and the new year.

Blaytz brought the alcohol, of course. If he’s dating (the Galra servant) then he will be super romantic. Otherwise he’ll be around flirting, but also happy to spend time with his friends.

Zarkon and Honerva are pretty awkward but also somewhat cutely romantic? He ends up saying something formal yet oddly sappy as well, much to Alfor’s delight.

Gyrgan has one of those noise-makers and he uses it for sure. He brought his kids (and the small grandchildren) to celebrate with them. He made the food, and he also ends up mixing drinks most likely.

Trigel is the one that actually led the countdown, don’t let her fool you. She is also the one to insist that everyone share resolution.

All in all they’d be a huge big lovely family celebrating the new year.

Happy New Year everyone! ❤

New headcanons:

Each of the paladins had their own way of fighting with or without their lions.

Zarkon is an excellent warrior. He’s well-trained and tactical; he’s good at neutralising his opponents (and by neutralise I actually mean kill) and winning quickly. He sees no need in drawing out a battle. With Black, he’s just as effective, but he also does a lot of instructing the rest of the team on what to do. They usually listen (except for Alfor and Blaytz, who 99% of the time listen to literally no one) and things work out because Zarkon is good at this leading thing.

Before joining the alliance, Alfor was not a fighter. He was a giant nerd who spent most of his time in his lab blowing stuff up (note that the explosions were typically accidental but not always). He had a bit of training, but he wasn’t very good. His strategy in actual fights relies on pure luck and magic (or as he would argue, “Not magic! Alchemy! There’s a difference!”) weapons. He’s super reckless and likes to just rush in, especially if he can potentially save someone. He surprisingly does a lot of saving their tails, but they do a lot more of saving his (and yelling at him afterwards).

Blaytz, like Zarkon, learned to fight from an early age. He is less about the cool and calculating side of fighting and more about the beating people up side. He’s skilled, and has good instincts for fighting, but most of it was trained into him. He has a lot of good battle-cries, and isn’t afraid to use them. He’s not as reckless as Alfor but he’s a close second.

Trigel is also an excellent warrior, but primarily, she’s a smart warrior. She absolutely will not rush into things ever. She’s cool-headed and logical even in the heat of battle, and spends a lot of time making sure her teammates don’t get themselves killed (because, let’s be honest, they’d be dead without Trigel). She’s also low-key ruthless and could win a fight in .2 seconds.

Gyrgan, in all actuality, would rather hug it out? But when he’s fighting, he’s more like, you know, SPINNING HEADSPIN! and other such loud and eager attacks. He’s pretty intimidating until you get to know him (at which point he’s a teddy bear), so most of his enemies are already worried at the sight of him. He finds this rather hilarious, and is quick to take advantage of it.

New headcanon:

We all already know Alfor is a science nerd (we’re gonna assume Altean alchemy was a science), but he also adores learning about other cultures.

It’s his favourite part of the whole alliance and later Voltron thing. He loves tasting the foods, trying on the clothes, learning the customs and languages, and especially just interacting with the people. He takes the time to learn about every culture they meet - and the people around the universe love him for it. He is happy to teach people about Altean culture too; he could talk for quintants about his home. With his enthusiasm for both learning and teaching, he’s (somewhat surprisingly) one of the most natural diplomats on the team.

New headcanon:

If something went wrong, it was usually Alfor, Blaytz, or Zarkon’s fault, or some combination of the three. It typically wasn’t purposeful (though the potential for intergalactic wars started by an insulted Zarkon was always there) and it typically needed Trigel and Gyrgan to do a whole lot of damage control.

The time they scared an entire solar system into thinking the apocalypse was being heralded by the arrival of Voltron was blamed totally on Alfor - they were his lions, and Trigel had to explain that they weren’t ancient deities there to punish them while Alfor almost just went with it. The war Blaytz nearly started with his flirting got him banned from the planet not by the leaders but by an annoyed and exasperated Gyrgan. Zarkon had to be physically held back from challenging people to duels almost regularly.

It all came with the paladin gig.

New headcanon:

Trigel was super curious about Altean alchemy. She asks Alfor all sorts of questions about it whenever she gets the chance. He’s happy to answer her questions- even the really weird ones that he doesn’t quite understand himself. Half the time he only confuses her more, because, honestly, while the man has a knack for the alchemy thing he also doesn’t understand half the things he’s made (case in point: the lions of Voltron). 

Trigel almost finds this more frustrating and baffling than the prospect of Altean alchemy itself.

New headcanon:

Alfor and Coran became friends at a young age, but it was a bit less becoming friends and a bit more Alfor deciding he liked this orange-haired kid and basically actually kidnapping him and running off on a fantastic adventure (without ever actually leaving the palace, much to the relief of every adult involved). The adults eventually convinced him that Coran had to go home, but they had already become fast and best friends, and over the next several years would manage to wreak more havoc than Altea had seen in centuries.

New headcanon:

Zarkon is the original Space Dad.

Really, that’s only to say that he’s the constantly exasperated “Dad” of Blaytz and Alfor, particularly Alfor. If you organise all of them as a family, Alfor is the baby of the family and probably always needs a babysitter if they want to guarantee he won’t die. Blaytz is the cool older brother who is also a bit of a disaster. Trigel is basically Space Mom, but she doesn’t so much as work with Zarkon to parent the two youngest as parent all three of them. Gyrgan is the cool Space Granddad, even if he’d really resent that because, as he insists, he’s not that old. He’s super snarky, too, but he keeps an eye on all of them if he can. 

And, of course, Coran is still there and basically part of the family, but instead of the cool Space Uncle he is to the modern paladins, he’s basically Alfor’s equally disastrous twin.

New headcanon:

Alfor was not prepared to be a father.

When he finds out his wife is going to have a baby, he panics and runs to the only person he’s friends with that actually has kids: Gyrgan. He’s not at all surprised that his friend is freaking out. Gyrgan manages to calm Alfor down and assure him that he had plenty of time to prepare and that he would be a fine father.

Coran finds out before Gyrgan, actually- he is witness to the immediate panic when Alfor finds out, and quick to reassure Fala that, yes, Alfor is happy, this is a good thing, he just needs time to realise he won’t somehow mess up his son or daughter from early childhood. He’s completely ready to fill in the role of favourite uncle.

When Alfor and Fala tell the rest of the alliance, they’re varying degrees of thrilled. Trigel is actually super excited, and she starts researching right away so she can a) help Fala through her pregnancy and b) know everything she needs to know to babysit the Altean baby. Zarkon actually panics a lot like Alfor did- something along the lines of “Wait, I’m not ready to be an uncle!”- and it’s actually quite touching, really. Blaytz decides immediately that it’s the best thing to ever happen; he starts badgering them to find out how long it will be before the baby gets there, when can he babysit the baby, the baby’s going to love Nalquod, he’ll take it swimming- no one is completely sure if he actually knows how babies work.

When Allura is born, Alfor has another mini-panic-attack, but someone shoves the baby into his arms and he just freezes and stares at her. She makes a cute noise, and Alfor just melts. 

Coran meets her next, very soon after she is born. He too melts and thinks she’s just the cutest creature in the entire universe. He doesn’t even want to give her back to Alfor, protesting that his friend is clumsy and will probably drop her and really Coran should hold her a bit longer, just so she’s safe. It’s a rather amusing sight.

As soon as Blaytz gets the news of Allura’s birth, he drops everything and comes straight to Altea. Alfor explains that he would have brought Allura to Nalquod when she was old enough to be travelling that far, but Blaytz kind of gives him an offended, “You would make me wait that long to see the baby?” He thinks she’s adorable, and tells Alfor that he could start teaching her how to swim- Alfor has to explain to him that Altean babies cannot swim at this age, and, in fact, he’s pretty sure Nalquodian babies can’t either.

Gyrgan brings his kids to Altea to meet the new princess. Every single one of them falls in love with her automatically. Gyrgan sits Alfor (by this point a very sleep-deprived and frazzled father to a two-month-old) down and gives him some more much needed fatherhood advice, and offers to watch the baby if Alfor and Fala ever need a break.

Alfor ends up taking baby Allura to visit Trigel in the Dalterion Belt. Trigel has procured a bunch of baby supplies and baby toys for her, all “scientifically proven to help with Altean children’s early development.” She talks all formally to Allura, who understand absolutely nothing and is more fascinated by Trigel’s ears (she seems to choose something on everyone to be fascinated by and tug at, be it Alfor’s beard, Coran’s mustache, or Blaytz’s fins).

Zarkon, when he finally meets her, is somewhat amazed by how small and squishy and fragile the baby is. Allura steals his “cold emperor heart” (to quote probably Blaytz) right away, and it’s probably right after meeting her that he starts asking Honerva, “When can we have one? Will it be this cute? You do want one, yes?” Alfor decides not to even bother warning him about the less adorable and cheerful sides of parenting- Zarkon can figure those out for himself.

New headcanon:

Alfor and Coran play Monsters and Mana all the time. Alfor comes up with the most outlandish backstories just to see if Coran can make them work. Eventually, the other paladins start joining in. Let’s just say that Shiro isn’t the only Black Paladin to always insist on being a paladin in-game, and it drives Coran mad every time.

New headcanon:

Alfor and Coran are the best team. The two of them can do just about anything they set their mind to. Is this always a good thing? They would argue yes. Most everyone else would argue a resounding no. Does this ever stop them? No. No, it does not.

New headcanon:

Alfor had been enamoured by myth of Oriande from a young age, and was absolutely convinced it was real. For a while in his childhood his parents just went with it. He was quite upset to hear it wasn’t real, and eventually decided he’d be the one that proved its existence.

When he found it, he ended up deciding it was something better left alone, and so kept it to himself. But if he walked around with a smug grin at the merest mention of the myth for years to come, well, who could blame him?

He’s a heartbreaker

best friends