Monsters & Mana

## **Episode Guide**

"**Monsters & Mana**" is the third episode of the sixth season of *Voltron: Legendary Defender*.

## Synopsis

*When the team takes a break to play a magical role-playing game, their fantasy world sparks useful ideas to help them solve real-world problems.*

## Trivia

* The episode is written by Mitch Iverson, a regular D&D player. The brutality of Coran as the Game Master is attributed to Iverson.
	+ Lance's lack of understanding of a twenty-sided die is based on a real experience Iverson had with a friend who thought a D20 is larger than normal dice.
* This episode contains numerous references to various gaming and pop media:
	+ Steve Ahn made episode stills in the montage mirror the cover art of *Final Fantasy XV*, *Final Fantasy VII*, and, at the request of executive staff, *Chrono Trigger*.
	+ Lance and Allura are posed much like Tidus and Yuna's romance scene in the lake of *Final Fantasy X*.
	+ The montage includes a Korean ghost thanks to Steve Ahn.
	+ Hunk takes an arrow to the knee, a joke from *The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim*.
	+ A change in the viewer's user-interface with pixels and mouse clicks is a reference to *World of Warcraft* suggested by either Steve Ahn or Mir staff Jang Seok Jin.
	+ The levitation spell birds are inspired by cuccos in *The Legend of Zelda*.
	+ The pixel art scene in the tavern is inspired by Suikoden.
	+ The first mount that Allura summons is from *Secret of Mana*.
	+ The second mount that Allura summons, a "Mer-Pegasus", is colored similar to Ariel from *The Little Mermaid*, thanks to Lauren Montgomery.
	+ The treasure room contains rubies and a potion from the *Legend of Zelda* franchise.
	+ Lance's cat-like alter-ego is inspired by Merle from *Escaflowne*, originally intended for Pidge.
	+ Allura's alter-ego and Hunk's are inspired by *Record of Lodoss War*, with Hunk's alter-ego being based on Etoh.
	+ Coran's dragon form is inspired by *Breath of Fire* dragons.
	+ Coran's true form is inspired by Orcos from *Kid Icarus* and Ainz Ooal Gown from *Overlord*. Lauren Montgomery was not familiar with *Overlord* but saw a toy of Ains and showed it to designer Christie Tseng.
	+ There are fairies from *The Legend of Zelda* in lamps of the tavern.
	+ "Shiro" obtains the blazing sword from the original *Voltron: Defender of the Universe*.
* There were intended to be more references in the treasure room, including *Aladdin's* lamp, Ariel's fork, *Sleeping Beauty's* spinning wheel, and *Cinderella's* glass slipper from Disney; and He-Man's sword, but the legal team saw the notes specifically naming the objects and removed all traces of them. According to Lauren Montgomery, they were able to get other references in by not telling their legal team where the references were coming from.
* The "Coranic Dragon" was originally named the "Gygaxian Dragon" after *Dungeons & Dragons* creator Gary Gygax. This was also removed by the legal team.
* Rhys Darby voices all incarnations of Coran in the episode, including the monstrous dragon form, in which his voice was digitally edited.
* The alter-egos of the Paladins were designed to be based more on character personalties. Originally, it was written with Pidge as a wizard and Hunk as a tank, inspired by the 80's *Dungeons and Dragons* cartoon, but Lauren Montgomery suggested the opposite and had Iverson watch *Record of Lodoss War* for the first time, which was created from table-top RPG systems; as such, Hunk is a healer and Pidge is a tank.
* "Shiro" choosing to be a "Paladin" in the imaginary world is a joke among staff that Shiro is a stereotypical hero-type that staff generally finds boring, and their struggle to make him interesting with his tragic past.
* "Shiro's" alter-ego character, constant replacement with exact copies, and desire to be nothing other than a Paladin, mirrors his clone storyline.
* Though he did not play the game, Keith was designed as a barbarian by character designer Christie Tseng. Mitch Iverson says that Keith would be a half-elf ranger because he is part Galra, a lone wolf, and a tracker who bonds with animals.
* Michael Azzi created all the pixel art scenes much like he did for the video game in Black Site.
* Steve Ahn created all the artwork for the back story of "Shiro's" alter-ego character.
* Steve Ahn storyboarded the tavern scene to include alter-egos of numerous staff members, and this made the final cut.
* Lauren Montgomery says that her favorite easter egg in the episode is when Pidge is breaking the vases "a la *Zelda*" and a Blade of Marmora sword appears, which was inspired by fan art of Link smashing vases while inn-keepers cower in fear.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 AfterBuzzTV: "Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 6 Episodes 3 & 4 Review with Lauren Montgomery & Joaquim Dos Santos", June 2018
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Let's Voltron Episode 142: "Post-Season 6 Recap with Joaquim Dos Santos & Lauren Montgomery", June 2018
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 6 Interview – Space Grandpa", June 2018
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Inverse: "There's More to the 'Voltron' D&D Episode Than You Think, Showrunners Say", June 2018
5. ↑ Let's Voltron Episode 143 "Josh Hamilton (Story Editor) Interview", June 2018