iybms

artist, writer --- she/her, 36

[iybms]

hello!

i just make kl art

[kldearlybeloved]

Our next spotlight goes to a newer addition to our guest team: the amazing IYBMS!

Meet IYBMS, a fandom artist that gives us the true renaissance with her incredible works!

You can find her here: @iybms

[iybms]

jodhpurs, lance

[iybms]

growth

[iybms]

hi! so I just reread Like the Night Falling and I wanted to tell you that that fic is what ignited my passion for astronomy.

(long story warning)

when I was a kid, I wanted to be a runner. when I was 9, I could run 5 miles straight in under an hour. when I was 10, I could run a 6 minute mile. when I was 11, I ran the entire grand canyon. then when I was 13, I fucked up my ankle, and now I walk with a limp. just like that, my dreams were dead. I floated around passions for a bit, some band, some writing, some art, but nothing really stuck. and then I watched Voltron: Legendary Defender. and like many fans, I was deeply unsatisfied. so I turned to fanfic, and obviously found you, honestly a staple of the fandom now. and then I read Like the Night Falling, and now I'm reaching for the stars.

Voltron turned my gaze to the heavens. you gave my heart to the stars.

thank you for giving me my dreams back

thank you for sharing this with me, it sounds like your life has been quite a rollercoaster of passion and tragedy so far. when you love something as deeply as it sounds like you loved running, losing the ability to do it feels like losing a loved one. the grief is overwhelming, and it can take a long time to find something that sparks passion within you again. (for some, it can take a long time to heal enough to have the capacity to feel passion again.)

i'm glad that you kept looking, and i'm so glad that you found voltron, and fanfiction, and astronomy. it's a tough dream, and i'm sure you'll hear plenty of people tell you it's not worth the effort. but, fuck it. live the passion. put your whole heart into it. the universe is huge and full of unimaginably cool things, and if it calls to you, call back at the top of your lungs. 🗣️📣

i'll be rooting for you!!!

[iybms]

Was a little stupid and stayed up while I was sick to read Pitch Black again. On the plus side I called out of work today and now have the afternoon free to read all your other klance fics, so, yanno, silver lining. Hope you're doing well these days!

thank you, leo! i'm doing alright. busy, as always, and full of big feelings. i hope you enjoyed your afternoon of reading, and that pitch black still gives YOU big feelings too!! 😉

[iybms]

wip

repainting an old classic

[iybms]

here's another old post-s8 idea from the vault, ft. BoM lance

okay, post s8, bom keith, still pining for lance after voltron

lance: trying to find his place in the universe, does like farming, but restless, still loves flying, never did stop wanting to do more, starts to miss those people who made him want to BE more

so veronica

convinces acxa

to let lance

try out some bom relief missions

without keith knowing

to keep it emotionally simple for lance!!!!

lance just wants to test the waters, okay!!!!!

but one mission gets messed up, keith ends up going in

but when they go in for battle they go in without rank insignia, no sash

and keith has his own blade now, after having finally given krolia's back to her, so lance has no idea what keith's looks like

they don't recognize each other

but keith is like impressed and slightly heartbroken bc this rookie blade he doesn't recognize reminds him SO MUCH of lance

and lance is like damn whoever that guy is he is *chefs kiss* and fights like he's made of fire

and they have uhhhh a Moment there in the base or battlefield or ruins or wherever, still not knowing

and after the mission's over and keith returns to his ship and his generals are there he's like hey who were the new members on the mission today and ezor's like hmmMMM idk ACXA DO U KNOW and acxa is like ..........oops nope sorry can't find those logs anywhere right now sir

completely deadpan

but they keep running into each other

and lance figures it out first, bc keith is p obvious

but it doesn't take long for keith either, bc lance can't use bom blades

keith figures out that he isn't galra, and then that acxa is hiding something, and from there it's just. not hard, keith isn't stupid, only one person in the galaxy has aim that good anyway

but by then the sexual tension between them on missions has risen to like astronomical levels

so when they're finally on that one mission where it boils over, and keith rips off his hood and deactivates his mask, already pressed up against lance,

and says lance's name, harsh and desperate, only a breath away already,

the second lance lets his own mask disintegrate that's all it takes for them to come crashing together

okay thx for coming to my TED talk

Jan 29, 2020, 4:13 PM

[iybms]

here's an old post-s8 kl idea i had that still makes me laugh

Keith hasn't been able to get ahold of Lance, but he hears Lance is on Earth.  Keith figures he's visiting family, so he shows up at the McClains', and Veronica is like oh, yeah, I know where he is, come on.  She takes him to the bar Lance has been hanging out at most nights, and they get there just in time to see a guy approach Lance at the bar.

Veronica is like "Oooh never seen this dude around before, must be a tourist.  This'll be fun, just watch."  So Keith does.  

Man:  "You're awfully pretty for a farmer." Lance, eyebrows raised:  "You're awfully… forward, for a stranger." M:  "Prefer 'em shy?" L:  "……Something tells me you don't really care how I prefer 'em." M:  "Picked up on that, huh?  Pretty observant." L:  "Holdover from my previous job, before farming." M:  "Oh yeah?  What job was that?" L:  "Paladin of Voltron." M:  *laughs loudly*  "Impressive.  You use that one on every guy?  Or am I special?" L:  "Hah, you're special, alright." M:  "Anyone ever believe you?" L:  "Mmm… a few people." M:  "Well, what a coincidence, I was a Paladin of Voltron, too.  Looks like we have a lot in common." L:  "Wow, small world.  What was your bayard like?" M:  "Bayard?" L:  "Yeah, your personal weapon." M:  "Oh, yeah, sure.  Come with me somewhere private and I'll show you my bayard, sweetheart." L:  "Ooooh, sexy.  I guess you wanna know what mine looks like too, then?" M:  "Absolutely." L:  "Okay.  Ready?" M:  "Huh?  Here??  That's kinda--"

Lance swings out with his right hand, and his fucking broadsword manifests hahahahaha

The dude who was hitting on him yelps and falls off the bar stool, practically pees his pants as he scrambles to get away from the blade while Lance is just full-body laughing

Turns out, even tho the Lions are gone, Lance can still manifest his bayard.  When he's not holding it, it disappears, but he can always call it to his hands.  He's always been the one with the deepest connection to his bayards, and even now he can manifest new forms of it based on his moods and needs.

This mfer has used his bayard as a shearing scythe, a wood axe, a hoe, and even a fuckin pitchfork hahahah

I think, in general, it would be funny for someone to just…. not know that Lance was a Paladin.  To just see this relatively young lookin guy, strong but lean, farming and talking about how much he loves his family and his cow and his flowers, being friendly with everyone, etc.

And then some emergency occurs, or a natural disaster strikes, people are in danger, and Lance snaps into hero mode.

He can lift way more than it looks like he can, he's tactical, has no fear whatsoever, fights with a deadly combination of unidentifiable techniques, and his skill with any kind of firearm????  Absolutely inhuman.

And everyone who knows Lance is just like, "oh, yeah no, just stay out of his way, he's got this."  And the people who don't are like, "wtf???  are all cuban farmers superheros???"  The others laugh and are like, "nope, just him."  "Where did he— Why does he know how to do all that???"  "Well, he was a Paladin of Voltron."  "WHAT??!"  hahahaha

[iybms]

been thinking for a while about "remastering" pitch black, updating the illustrations and fixing typos, etc

should i do it?

yes, i'd love to see it refreshed

no, i'd rather see only new stuff

Voting ended onJan 23

[iybms]

hii omg i utterly *adore* pitch black and like the night falling like??? i have no words. pitch black was practically everything i didnt know i needed. and like the night falling was just the softest best thing ive ever read. how are they so perfect?? i love how you write their dynamic, fluid and adaptable. also im actually super curious what your username stands for if you pleasee wanna share?

oh my gosh, a message gushing with love for pitch black and like the night falling???? i am going to pass out from happiness, thanks.

i think the way i write their dynamic is driven mostly by characterization. lance is insecure, so he always starts out jealous of keith, and every time the pedestal he holds keith on raises another inch, his own self-esteem drops another inch, creating this giant antagonistic obsession he has in canon. and keith, traumatized from abandonment, is determined to be alone on his own terms, so he lashes out in return, every time. but unlike others, lance doesn't leave him alone. he pushes and pulls over and over again, until both of their masks start slipping, cracking under the pressure of their common enemy and mission. lance craves the acceptance of others, but he won't say it. keith craves companionship, but he won't say it. my favorite dynamic for them is the slow evolution of antagonism to that acceptance and companionship, where neither of them even realize it's happening until it's already there.

"iybms" is an acronym for the first line in a song, "boats and birds" by gregory and the hawk (the song referenced in like the night falling).

if you'll be my star, i'll be your sky.

[iybms]

Hello! I'm so glad that I can follow you and see your works through all these years, and your previous answer about your job made me even more happy, because I'm a sciencist too :D I watched voltron when I was in a high school, and now I'm back to it while getting a master's degree in neurobiology and working in a lab already! That's so great that scientific people can meet in their favorite fandoms! Thank you for your amazing works <3 You are super cool! Astrophysics is sooo hard and interesting field of science, I can't even imagine what it is like to be a professor and so great artist at the same time✨️

Are your love for voltron and your job connected? :)

Can it be, that you watched it because voltron is about ✨️space✨️?

oh wow!! what i've heard about neurobiology makes the field sound really wild. very difficult, but super interesting!! what's your favorite thing about it so far? i hope that you're enjoying working on your master's! (and of course, please take care of yourself during the struggle 🫠)

i don't know if ✨️space✨️was much of what motivated me to watch vld --- i mostly just kept seeing things about it in various places, and the characters looked fun --- but space was certainly a big part of what inspired me to start making fancontent! knowledge of so many fun astrophysical things that could make cool visuals or plot elements in fanfiction made for a basically bottomless well of cool situations i could stick the characters in.

[iybms]

i won't ask you to wait if you don't ask me to stay

[iybms]

I've been such a huge lover of your art as a veteran Voltron fan. I left the fandom after season 8 broke my heart for a few years, somehow wandered back recently to see that so many artists had also left the sphere. I was occupying myself by scrolling through old/dead blogs and revisiting artists I loved. The absolute shock and joy I felt when I saw that you as one of my favorite artists is still around???... These characters genuinely mean so much to me, I was 18 when season 1 was airing, and coming back to see that they are still loved as an almost 27 year old means so much to me :') thank you for bringing so much life into these silly little boys, your writing and art are genuinely one of the best things to have happened to the vld fandom.💙

this is so kind of you to share with me, thank you!! 🥹 i'm happy that so many other fans are still creating and enjoying kl content. it's hard to believe it's been nine years since voltron first started airing, seven years since i started making kl fanwork, and six since i started sharing it. i'm still just as attached to the characters now as i was back then!

[iybms]

You work helping people? That's so cool! What do you do?

my job isn't explicitly "helping people" in the same way that, i.e., a nurse or social worker helps people! i'm an astrophysicist and professor, but i do very much go out of my way to help students. many of them are economically disadvantaged (single parents, caretakers of adult family members, first generation college students, adults who've lost jobs and had to completely switch careers, people who are paying for college by working two or three jobs, etc). i frequently end up helping with a lot more than just coursework, haha.

[iybms]

me: ahhh i used to overflow with artistic drive, i wanted to do it all the time. i wonder what happened? me, age 13: no, i can't do art right now, i have to do homework me, age 18: no, i can't do art right now, i have to do homework me, age 21: no, i can't do art right now, i have to do homework and work work me, age 25: no, i can't do art right now, i have to do work and laundry and dishes and more work me, age 30: no, i can't do art right now, i hav me: ............................oh, i literally trained myself to be unable to do art, whoops

[iybms]

where do I find ur fics?

have a nice day:)

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

thanks, i hope you have a nice day, too c: