#lance is not just for keith's development

[kurochan3]

It's been 6 years since I watched Voltron: Defender of the Universe...

I'm still upset with that ending.

[disgruntled-screaming]

Keith being able to reach the spiritual field or whatever it's called should have been something for Lance. I am so tired.

I love Keith, don't get me wrong. But my god the amount of favoritism Keith got by the writers showed.

Lance deserves better.

[bluemantics]

when i reach 200 followers i will drop the most sickening klance analysis with red paladin/black paladin dynamics & yes it will include shiro, allura, and other character mentions.

this is a threat.

and the only reason i haven’t posted it sooner is bc i am almost done traveling. so i haven’t had much free time yet

BE WARNED

[justaz]

lance as the blue paladin (former or current, doesnt matter) being a black widow. lance swallowing/killing his pride and letting himself be seen as nothing more than a flirt, an airhead, a blonde bimbo. lance being the teams secret weapon during meetings with planets to get them to join the coalition. lance sniffing out the right guard or advisor or royal that knows everything, getting them wasted and flirting for hours to get them to spill all the dirty secrets. lance being able to alert the team ahead of time if a planet is truly interested in joining the coalition or if they have an agreement with the empire and they lured voltron there as a trap.

lance swallowing/killing his pride and letting himself be seen as weak and stupid. lance playing up the airhead persona so their enemies don’t view him as a threat, them taking out the rest of the team first in their order of who would pose more of a threat to them and them always leaving lance for last bc they underestimate him. lance annihilating their enemies bc he actually is smart and strong and capable.

[sockdooe]

FUCK YOU VOLTRON LEGENDARY DEFENDER!!!!!!!!!!!! I SHOULD NOT BE CRYING AT DAMN NEAR MIDNIGHT CAUSE OF YOUR FAILURE OF A SHOW ASS 🖕

[melanthiosthescreamer]

YOU ARE SO REAL FOR THIS

[sleepy-keith]

voltron headcanons (pt 1?) for @robylovi bc i told them i would lol

- shiro had a punk phase, still does but he will take that shit to his grave keith and adam know, both by accident, and keith will constantly hold it over his head

- lance used to be a competitive swimmer. when swimmers are underwater an excessive amount of time, you can develop ear drum issues and need to have tubes inserted so fluid buildup can easily be drained i had to have this, it SUCKED lance has had to have tubes inserted three times now

- if you have to have tubes multiple times, it can affect your hearing. in lance’s right ear, his hearing was already slightly impaired due to the tubes but after the bomb explosion he lost almost all hearing in that ear which is why it seems like he’s excessively loud. it’s not being annoying, he just can’t tell he’s being as loud as he is

- keith’s dad is from texas but is korean american. he listened to country, but like older country most of the time soft spot for alan jackson/big and rich though

- keith was raised on a mix of korean food and typical southern food and he had a habit of putting gochujang on EVERYTHING

- when keith would go to the fire station with his dad, he had his own honorary firefighter hat that was a little too big on his head but he wore it proudly

- fuck canon but i have a very personal headcanon that when hunk was younger he had an ED but with the support from his family and lance, he was able to form a healthy relationship with food and gains a special happiness from sharing that food with his friends and family

[vldunchartedregions]

I see all these comments and notes about changes with Allura and Lotor and Keith and Lance, but where's Shiro in all this? One of my biggest grievances about s7-8 was how they seemed to strip him of his personality and turn him into a bland leader, and it was thought that they might've cut some of his more personal interactions with the team. Does this have any basis in reality?

Hello! Thank you for the question.

This question... is a loaded one and more complicated than one realises.

If you're unaware, Shiro has an complicated history in the corporate realm of developing Voltron: Legendary Defender.

He was meant to die after Season 2.

He was the mentor character; a vehicle to progress a leadership narrative for Keith. That's why he talks about dying in various moments throughout VLD.

Very Gurren Lagann (Simon & Kamina, anyone?)

It didn't happen due to him being the most popular character and they needed to sell more toys.

They even made a joke about it in S4E4: The Voltron Show.

Coran freaks out and tells him they're never letting him go. He's the most popular character.

So TL;DR: They tried to kill him again post Season 6. He truly had no purpose originally past Season 7. The many arcs he had (including the Kuron arc) were resolved already.

He was literally in a coffin in S7E1: A Little Adventure, while the gang tried to find a way to get him to wake up after his Clone body starts to disagree with him.

In one of the drafts apparently as spoken to on the Afterbuzz TV Podcast, the Showrunners wanted to see Allura progress into his commandeering position once Earth and the Atlas came into play. Shiro's current role from S7-8.

Nope. Not allowed.

So, they were able to integrate him in a very impactful way into Season 7 in the final battle, were able to give him a greater purpose in order to save Earth, and we did have some sweet moments in Season 8; Clear Day being one of them.

He played a quintessential role in Season 8 at the commander of the ATLAS, but he did have another core purpose, and of course, this was a mentor role.

Someone to guide the way for others.

Boom.

He was a vehicle for another subplot: The Love Triangle™

Claudia is a character from Macross / Robotech, who lost their Fiancé; a fighter pilot.

Claudia comforts Hikaru, who was just broken up with by Macross Idol, Lynn Minmay, and is currently stuck in a love triangle between her and her childhood friend now supervisor, Misa?

Time to blow your mind.

Both photos were taken by a Beezer equivalent robot, same beep and boop sounds.

Don't believe me? Watch here from 10:20

Sound familiar?

The VAs even mentioned there was a scene between Lance and Shiro that made everyone in the booth cry. We don't ever see this scene as far as we're aware.

The love triangle subplot was cut for the most part, so the mentorship scenes he was meant to have purpose and intent for? The sole reason they instilled the Adam storyline and his death in the first place?

All cut.

TL;DR: He did have a greater purpose to the plot of Season 8, however it was for the most part cut. Boo.

Thank you for the question.

[hopefulrunaways]

first doodles of an AU idea i want to develope for a comic i wanna draw, where future Keith (a future where klance got togheter thank u very much) get swapped with a past version of themselfs and their respective Lance version have to deal with it until they fix whatever interdimensional time-space mess future Keith got himself into.

whatever, doodle the first meetings! hopefully i get to actually start this and not just throw it into my proyects bucket and never touch it again, lol

[riverstyx333]

Soulmate au where it’s not the first words your soulmate says to you, but the words most important/impactful to you that appear on your wrist.

This doesn’t always mean something nice or love confessing, it can also be the cruelest thing they ever say. It’s also completely in the eye of the beholder, the most important thing your soulmate might say to you might be their first words, or maybe it’s them remembering your favorite color.

I like this because i feel like it leaves room for the relationship to develop before they actually realize that they’re the one.

But then take this with Klance

One day Lance gets hit from a blast by the core reactor and suddenly Keith’s telling him that they’re soulmates. That they had some “bonding moment” that Lance /doesn’t even remember/ in which Lance had happened to say Keith’s words. Words that god knows Lance would NEVER say to Keith. “We make a good team” what a load of bullshit. Keith must be messing with him.

And Keith let’s it go eventually, because anyone in space could say that to him when you’re fighting on such a big team. So Lance and Keith go back to normal, if not fighting even more, with Lance trying to compensate for the fluke of the “bonding moment”.

Then, Lance starts to think, as he and Keith get closer, that maybe Keith wouldn’t be so wrong for him, that maybe it wasn’t such a fluke. But something’s not adding up.

Lance had always been teased for his words. How could something so mean be the most important thing they ever say to you? Basically calling you dumb, even if maybe they’re just poking fun at you.

“Maybe your soulmate saying that is what gets you to finally realize that you really are stupid,” the kids at his school would always tease.

Lance didn’t want to think that his soulmate thought he was stupid, one of his biggest insecurities, so he ignored them. All his life he believed that there must be some explanation he was missing, until now.

If Keith was his soulmate then it would add up. Keith was always calling Lance stupid.

“The amount of information inside your brain could be stored in a paper airplane,” he had once mocked.

But then again, it doesn’t quite add up. If Keith was always saying things like that, then what made this one more impactful? What makes this one important?

He concludes that it must not be Keith and leaves it alone after that.

But another wrench gets thrown in when Shiro comes back. It throws everything off kilter and Lance feels like he’s knocking into walls he didn’t know existed.

6 paladins. 5 lions. And he’s the weakest link.

It runs through his head like a mantra. He should talk to someone about it. Hunk, or Shiro, or even Allura. But something draws him to Keith’s room late at night instead.

“I’ve been thinking,” he starts, wringing his hands and looking at the floor to avoid eye contact, “that there’s six lions and only five paladins.”

He explains how when everything sorts itself out, when all the math adds up, he’s going to be the odd one out. The weakest link, his brain helpfully supplies.

He lays his broken mess out in front of Keith and watches as he doesn’t falter in picking it all up and putting the pieces back together.

Security falls over Lance and makes him feel so much better. Maybe it had been the right choice to talk to Keith. He’s really grown into the position of team leader.

Keith sends him out, but not before quickly tacking on, “And Lance? Leave the math to Pidge.” Before the door shut behind him.

Lance’s eyes widened and the realization hit him like a truck. Is his room that night, he didn’t sleep at all. He stared at the ceiling and contemplated everything his groggy brain could get its hands on.

It didn’t quite make sense to him why that was the most impactful thing Keith ever said to him. Because, of course it mattered and of course it helped him feel better, but there were so many more important things that could be said or even had been said. It still didn’t add up. But maybe Keith was right, and math just wasn’t his thing.

He found out that he wasn’t half bad at math the next morning, when Keith was gone.

He ran off to join the Blade of Mamora. He’d left Lance behind. And Lance just knew, that it was all his fault.

If he hadn’t gone whining to Keith about the lions, he wouldn’t have put that stupid idea into his head. And now they wouldn’t see each other for the next who-knew how long.

So, finally, all the math added up, and Lance was all alone.

[honeyspeeches]

What qualities do you think made Keith fall for Lance? And vice versa?

WHAT MADE KEITH AND LANCE FALL FOR EACH OTHER?

Let's start with Keith.

What does Keith seem to like about Lance? From what I can glean from his reactions, he responds best to him when Lance is being a goofball:

[Season 2, Episode 4: Greening the Cube, 02:38]

Lance was being a goofball here, 'cause he's starting a snowball fight, while Shiro was being all serious, like "okay guys. We've trained for this. We're prepared" lol. Clearly, Shiro likes it, too.

[Season 2, Episode 9: Belly of the Weblum, 02:35]

Yes! he is smiling here!

[Season 3, Episode 2: Red Paladin, 05:39]

(responding to Lance saying he isn't a goofball, which we all know that he is, including Keith, but that's what we like about him, including Keith).

And I found more evidence of this here from the later seasons.

He also likes it when Lance is being a capable paladin.

[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 19:43]

This is after they worked together as a team for the first time.

[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 21:54]

this is after they formed Voltron for the first time (on purpose).

[Season 1, Episode 7: Return of the Balmera, 07:48]

and this is after Lance comes up with a good idea (that Keith actually admits out loud is a better idea than his was).

[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 15:09]

Keith also likes it when Lance approaches him and talks to him/teases him. He's spotted multiple times smiling when he talks to/teases Lance first (and mirroring his facial expressions too...).

[Season 1, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required, 21:54]

(Lance was seen multiple times wearing this face with both Keith and Allura while he was flirting in the first episode, and here Keith is the very next episode, wearing the exact same face...)

[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 21:48]

(Lance was literally wearing this face the episode before, when he called them a good team....)

[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 21:53]

[Season 2, Episode 4: Greening the Cube, 02:34]

[Season 3, Episode 6: Tailing a Comet, 05:30]

Here we have confirmation that Keith likes it when Lance approaches him and confides in him.

Keith also likes it when Lance is being jealous... lol

[Season 2, Episode 6: The Ark of Taujeer, 19:26]

As for Lance, we’ve already established multiple times that Lance admires Keith a lot (here and here). He thinks he’s cool, and calls him such multiple times throughout the series.

[Season 2, Episode 10: Escape From Beta Traz, 13:50]

[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 06:04]

He also finds him attractive, commenting on his appearance more than once throughout the show as well:

[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 10:13]

[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 05:05]

[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 06:05]

(and Lance has ONLY commented on Keith’s appearance throughout the whole show… he does call Allura “pretty lady” in the first episode, but he never says anything like that after the first episode, and he hasn’t gone out of his way to comment on her appearance the same way he has with Keith. ever.). So he finds Keith very attractive.

All in all, I think it’s just everything about them that they like about each other. Keith likes all the different facets of Lance and he likes being approached by Lance, and Lance admires Keith, thinks he's cool and finds him attractive.

As for when it really started developing into romantic feelings? well, it was kinda building up from the start, but the point of no return for the both of them is here:

[Season 1, Episode 5: Tears of the Balmera, 21:25]

[an0nwr1tes]

Galtean Klance you have my heart-

Thinking about Galra Keith who’s slowly becoming more and more Galra and developing weird habits that he just isn’t sure how to deal with and Lance who’s reeling from the fact that he’s now Altean and having no idea what that means or how to deal with it so he set all his attention on Keith.

Lance who’s helping Keith deal with all the weirdness of being half Galra by hesitantly going along with everything Keith needs, because the last he screamed when Keith dropped a freshly killed animal in his lap Keith just looked so sad, and ignoring Allura and Coran as they try showing Lance more about Altean’s.

Lance and Keith’s alien discovery’s and experiences being both so similar and so so different, Lance who’s more or less been forced into this position because he died and Allura healed him and brought him back but not quite right and Keith who finally knows who he is and that he’s not weird or different he’s just Keith.

Keith’s parents loved each other, they loved him and he’s proof of that.

Lance’s death was real and he’s constantly forced to remember that when he looks in the mirror.

Lance who loves Keith and tells him that everyday, Lance who forces Keith to sit in his huge Galra form so he can brush through his fur and make it all shiny.

Keith who loves Lance and presses kisses to each mark under his eyes because he knows how hard it is for Lance to look at them sometimes, Keith who whispers “You’re beautiful,” every morning when they get up and every night before they fall asleep.

Lance who can’t stand too look at himself anymore, who freezes when he catches sight of his white hair and blue marks and has to remind himself that that him.

Keith who finally feels right when he catches sight of his reflection, the mark on his face and the fur and ears in his Galra form and wonders how he ever thought that he was anything but this.

Lance who loves Keith in any form, Keith who loves Lance in any form.

Keith who couldn’t stand his Galra form in the beginning, Lance who approached Coran and Allura for help because he wanted to show Keith that he was perfect as he was.

Keith who goes stiff at the sight of a strangely familiar Galra in the hanger when he gets back from a blade mission, Lance who smiling hesitantly and explains what he’s been doing and Keith is falling in love all over again.

Suddenly the Voltron team is forced to get used to two big Glara’s cuddling on the sofa, Allura attacked them once before they turned back in a panic.

Lance who doesn’t know how to make himself only half Galra so he end up taller than Keith.

Keith who’s all for picking up his large boyfriend and carrying him around, because that’s his boyfriend.

Lance who starts giving Keith little trinkets to keep on him and pretty little hair ties to braid his fur with.

Keith who starts cooking the hunts he brings back with them because Lance doesn’t like his things getting bloody.

Lance who’s doing so well and then he’s in the bathroom and freezes at the sight of himself.

Keith who’s doing so well and then he’s sees someone flinch at the sight of him.

Lance who promises Keith’s that it’s ok and holds his cheeks in his hands and kisses his eyelids, who stays in his Altean form so Keith can wrap himself around him and they can cuddle.

“You’re so precious, how could anyone be scared of you and your cute button nose and your fluffy paws!”

Keith who presses Lance to his chest and counts the beats of his heart with him, who runs his hands down Lance’s side and mutters.

“Can you feel that? See, you’re here with me Lance, you’re alive.”

Just Galtean Klance being each others anchors.

[justaz]

wrjrithi gon the greind THE COICES THE VOSIBCE THE COICESSSS

haha ha haha what if i rewrote. all. of voltron.

[sexisbetteronthemoon]

i’ve gotta know if you have any ideas about stripper lance like i’m so close to writing stripper lance and a bit younger bartender keith (maybe like 4-5 years difference) who keeps dropping glasses every time lance smiles at him UGH

i woke up like at 3 am bc my phone was buzzing on the bed and i saw this and went "nice" before promptly falling asleep again.

haven't thought about stripper Lance in a hot minute. i'm really partial to aerial dancer Lance and Keith, the stagehand that watches from the wings or the rafters, mesmerized.

stripper Lance would have Keith frothing at the mouth with jealousy imo. they'd have bouncers in the club, but somehow Keith's always the first one on the scene, wrestling away whatever idiot decided to try and grab Lance and throwing them across the floor to whatever bouncer was making their way over when Lance called for help.

Keith has to develop a system where he's deliberately not looking at Lance when he's got a glass in his hands. once, Lance appeared to wink across the room as he dropped down the pole, legs spread wide and inviting, and Keith squeezed it so hard it shattered in his hand.

he'd needed stitches.

but after delivering drinks or as he's pouring out liquors, his eyes are trailing Lance as he does his thing.

he never approaches Lance bc Lance has men all over him every second he's working. he doesn't want to be another amongst the crowd. he knows Lance is really tired after a shift and he's not going to add to Lance's burdens.

besides, Keith is young and inexperienced. why would Lance, a beautiful, older man with the command of an entire room, want him?

meanwhile, Lance is wondering what he's gotta do to make it clear to his favorite bartender that he's been flirting and waiting to be approached.

and he gives up on waiting when he sees one patron flirting with Keith rather than looking at any of the dancers.

he marches over after his dance is done and nearly elbows the patron out of the way.

"hi, sweetheart, did you like my dance?"

Keith is staring at Lance with wide eyes. he's been ignoring the person trying to get his attention, was nearly at his limit and about to snap at them to take a hike. but here's Lance calling him sweetheart.

Keith is a puddle of goo.

"s'good," Keith mumbles bc he gets tongue-tied when Lance so much as nears him.

"it was just for you," Lance says with a little wink, and Keith is sure his entire head is about to burst into flames.

"me?" Keith says numbly.

"you," Lance says simply with a coquettish smile. "so are you going to ask me out already or do i need to be more obvious?"

and Keith's hands are trembling. he can hardly believe it. his dreams are coming true.

"yeah," Keith says, "yeah. definitely. yes, yes, anytime."

"so, yes?" Lance teases, and Keith is grinning, wide and happy.

"yes. please go out with me."

the patron is completely forgotten.

[alienboy51]

you ever really hate a show but you're obsessed with it and it genuinely changed your trajectory on life

pretty sure there's a high chance i have autism

really i think the biggest gripe i have with voltron is the fact that there's very little episodes that just build upon the character dynamics or world building. sure, the bulk of the series is plot progression, but we really don't learn a lot. it's a very convoluted series. we don't know much about the magic system. i think a big thing that voltron: legendary defender missed was the art of "show, don't tell." they TELL us that lance and allura are in love, but there's very little buildup to this, especially since they get together almost immediately after lotor dies. they TELL us that keith views shiro as a brother, but we don't see WHY until season seven. it's a great episode, but with keith and shiro's relationship being so very important to keith as a character, i wish they'd explored it a little more. this is why so many people like klance, platonically or otherwise. keith and lance INTERACT and their relationship grows with time. we don't get any episodes of them solo, like we do with other characters, which i think was a big missed opportunity since they are the only characters that are really at odds with each other consistently. i think exploring why they don't get along, and why lance is so resentful towards keith would've been a big stepping stone in progressing their friendship. i think having solo episodes between characters that don't interact as much would've been a great idea, such as hunk and shiro or allura and pidge. those characters would definitely be compatible. show, don't tell, like i said. show us that the characters love each other. don't tell us that they're close friends, don't TELL us that they view each other as family, if you're not going to show us WHY they care so much about each other. keith said it in season seven, why are they really friends? they're just people who got stuck together due to circumstance. why weren't we shown how strong their relationship supposedly is throughout the show? why is the character development lacking in so many aspects? why does keith grow as a character and leader off screen? why don't hunk and lance get to grow into their own people; why does lance only get TOLD that he's strong and self assured, if that's not really the case? honestly, why does coran not get anything outside of being comedic relief when he's just as much a tragic character as allura? oh my god iris stop yapping challenge

[blanceyblance]

A study on Lance's underrated role on the team. Pt 6.

Hunk pt 2

Last time we were talking about how Hunk would usually don't let teasing or hurtful words in moments of stress affect him. That doesn't mean Lance will not jump to his defense too.

In the Journey within, Lance says the famous "just drift out by yourself, Mr. Lone Wolf". At this point Lance had not really made any new kind of jab to Keith, and like we mentioned before he was taking Keith's orders very seriously but then really goes to the yugular in this episode and its only after Keith insults both Allura and Hunk.

There are some other small moments this episode that I wanted to mention.

Like Lance focusing on holding Hunk when they get launched in space.

And how he very much refuses to leave a teammate alone, no matter if that teammate asked them to run. He actually sounds confused by Hunk's request.

Lance's protectiveness can also be seen towards Hunk in the way he refused to harm or fight him even when the later was brainwashed and trying to hurt him. In their fight Lance never actually does more than just push Hunk far from him.

And will also support Hunk when he says no, even when its a direct order from Keith.

Like when Hunk refuses to take Kaltenecker with him and Lance arranges it so he can have nice road trip companions.

It is quite cute how Lance is the first person Hunk shows his shenanigans with the mice.

Overall, while sadly Lance and Hunk didnt have that many significant moments or more development for their friendship, we can see their mutual trust and ease around each other. And how Hunk feels comfortable enough with Lance to follow his plans, seek him for advice and be at the end of Lance's own brand of protectiveness.

As the legs, they work well together, often being paired up in missions and usually being the ones to cover the teams front and back when they go on foot.

Shiro

Starting with Shiro, now we have a curious case in that, sadly, we dont have a lot of moments with Shiro and more with Kuron, but since Lance always thought Kuron was Shiro i'm not going to split them.

In the first episode, one of the first things we are told about Shiro is how he is, in Lance's words "a legend" between pilots and his personal hero.

He expresses bewilderment at the Garrison's treatment of Shiro.

And saving him becomes a proper motivator for them to infiltrate after they discover he is there.

Later, when Shiro thanks them for helping in his rescue, Lance glances for a moment at Shiro's new arm, then smiles softly and follows the handshake.

And lastly, Lance is the one who refers to Shiro as their leader even before Allura assigned him to Black.

These little interactions through the first episode are meant to tell us how much Lance admires Shiro and how high he thinks of him.

This does change how they interact but that doesnt erase the fact that Lance still tries to care for him in his own way.

When they capture Sendak and try to see into their memories the paladins gather around to wait, Shiro being the most interested for obvious reasons but it takes too long and one by one all the paladins start to leave. Coran and Lance being the last ones.

Shiro decides to stay and Lance asks him to let them all know if something happens looking a bit concerned before leaving.

Gonna leave it here but what follows is also quite interesting.

It does make me sad that we dont have as many moments with Shiro and Hunk but what we have it's worth mentioning

[Masterpost] [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5]