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Has anybody noticed that the Ryphorians from the Alien Archive look suspiciously like the Galra from Voltron? Even their gear looks uncannily similar! Just take a look at the images of them on pages 98 and 99 of Pact Worlds and tell me you don't see the resemblance to the modern Galra from Netflix.
Many Galra have the thin coating of fur and pointy ears that Ryphorians do. Some seem to have high cheek bones and no fur, with more pronounced ears, such as the witches of Galra. That gave me pause until today, where I read in Pact Worlds that there is a significant minority of elves on Triaxus, who have breed with the local population of Ryphorians to produce half-elf/half-ryphorian offspring. The elves and their offspring would easily cover the variations we see among many Galra.
What do you think? Were the ryphorians inspired by, at least in part, by the Galra of Voltron?
I mean, ryphorians, then called triaxians, first started showing up in Pathfinder in Distant Worlds, and then later in Reign of Winter & People of the Stars. Distant Worlds & Reign of Winter both predate the Netflix Voltron series by a number of years, though I don't know whether any early concept designs may have leaked to influence the design, or if it goes back to the original 80s run - was never a huge Voltron fan, myself.
There've been some minor changes in design elements since then but I think that boils down more to differences in the style of the artists than anything, though the SF artists may well have been influenced by Voltron's design elements.
Just realized that the dragon-blooded Ryphorian on page 106 even has the webbed ears we sometimes see in the more brutish, classic Galra.
More and more I suspect there were influences, unconscious or otherwise.
Before SF was released I was doing a Pathfinder in space game, and I made hobgoblins Galra. But yeah, Rhyphorians are Galra. 100%.
This is a Rhyphorian?
This is a Rhyphorian?
It's a rather animeish bit of fan art, but yeah, the long furry ears, slitted eyes and cool coloration are good indicators of a winter rhyphorian.
I love everything about this thread. Time to make a Blade of Marmora solarian rhyphorian.
That sounds awesome!