#anti lance mcclain

[harukamitsuki]

Ur soooo right abt Lance I think he just became the fandom’s darling because people saw inklings of insecurity and home sickness and zeroed in. He’s whump bait, but like without the more complicated issues tied into Shiro, Allura, and Keith’s problems. Prime projection material.

He has potential and I appreciate fandom’s ability to see that in him, but you’re so right that people have completely forgotten who he is in canon. He *could* have been better, but he wasn’t and it’s frustrating that people have lost sight of that because I think it would genuinely produce more interesting takes on his character and role in the story. As someone who genuinely wants him to be a better character it makes me want to eat dry wall.

Lance, first and foremost, is the everyday man. That's why he's so popular. He is far from a piloting prodigy, flirts with every pretty girl, funny and exaggerative, has a generic weapon like a rifle, is the first paladin to find his Lion, and has the most basic interal conflict there can be. Which is why everyone loves him.

Shiro? Shiro is confirmed gay, was hailed as the most promising pilot pre-canon, was officially the youngest man sent into space, but also had an illness for canon forgot about it, had major PTSD that left him unable to move in most cases, considered himself broken if his hallucinations said anything, and literally died. He's good leader matieral, able to handle a group of four wildly differing teenagers and only really let his emotions plan his course of action once (when Allura was kidnapped). This man is insanely skilled but also insanely traumatised.

Keith? Keith beat all of the records Shiro set and was known as a genius in the field, only held back by his defense mechanisms and rushing on ahead. He was abandoned by his mother when he was a toddle, then his father died implicitly before his eyes, he was then an orphan where he was probably passed around from family to family, ot feeding into his adandonment issues. He gained a friend in Shiro, the first person to reach out to him, and then lost him a few years later. He finally gets Shiro back, only for more shit to happen. He finds out his mom was Galra, and becomes sorry that he even existed because of this. Nobody on Voltron actually felt like his friend with Pidge constantly calling him a loner right after he lost Shiro, Hunk poking fun at his Galra genes, and Lance playing up this one-sidedly rivalry and taking everything he does as an attack on his person. He loses Shiro again and has to constantly give him up for the sake of Voltron and the universe. The only time he can focus on himself is when Shiro is back and he distants himself for the team's sake and they just let him go. He's so affected by grief before the story starts and it doesn't give him a break. Even so, he's so kind and genuine about everything. He becomes the Black Paladin, not because he had no choice. Maybe at first, but he grows into that role and becomes a great leader.

Pidge? Pidge is a prodigy and a genius, able to hack firm and software from alien planets. She can fly a jet just from reading instruction manuels and have little to no trouble. At the same time, lost her brother and father all at once. When she finally got some clue as to what happened to them, she was kicked out and banned from the Garrison. She disguised as a boy and snuck in, abandoning her dream of becoming a fighter pilot because navigation would teach her more about scanning space for extraterrestrial communication and lifeforms. When she finally has the chance to find her family, she has to constantly give them and clues she may find up because Volton and the universe come first.

Hunk? Hunk is just as much of a genius as Pidge, even if the writers forget, with him able to spot foul play on an alien ship easily. He's so kind and loving yet fierce with his protection and so strong when defending his friends. He keeps spirits high with his warming attitude, even if he's the most home sick of them all. He acts the most realistically to become a child soldier. Still, even when he's terrified, he pushes on so that people like Shay can find out what freedom is. Feel it for themselves. When they go back to Earth, Hunk is the only one who has to fight to get his parents back and earn his happy ending. He suffers throughout the series, but he's always looking at the greener side.

Allura and Coran? They lost their families and thejr entire species before canon ever began. They lost so much and have nothing but revenge fueling them. They have to deal with the fact that they slept through the massacre of the Altean species and woke up far too late. They have to deal with inexperienced humans who have no real attachment to the war. They have to deal with the fact that they are the last of the Alteans. And when it's finally revealed that there are more survivors, they have to deal with the fact that they're being farmed by Lotor/Honerva for their quintessence. Allura was so depressed in season eight after falling for Lotor then being used so thoroughly by him. Coran never got to say goodbye to Allura before she died. Despite this, they still fight with all they have, making sure nobody has to face the loss they've felt.

Lance? Um. He's insecure about his place in the team? I guess Veronica nearly died but she didn't so whatever... He did spend a lot of his time in the Garrison being compared to Keith... But he also spent time he could've used to better his skills to sneak out and flirt with girls or hit the arcade. Um... I guess...

Um. Yeah.

See, I always wonder how people see such angst potential in Lance, or even see him as an angsty character in general. They act as though he's suffered the most in canon when, in reality, he hasn't. He has the most generic troubles and, I guess, it's more relatable that way? People don't have to struggle to relate to PTSD or abandonment issues or identity issues or child soldiers or losing your entire species.

Insecurity? That's easy because everyone feels insecure.

Which is why Lance is so popular.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this isn't valid. It sucks to feel insecure and doubt your every move. The only difference is how common Lance's issues are compared to everyone else. Because Lance is generic as hell, people love to vent through him.

Lance has a stable friendship group, is constantly given everything he wants, and even manages to destroy what has been the canon ship over decades (Kallura). He invented a rivalry with Keith, who didn't even know who he was when they met. Because of that, people either ship them for the 'rivals to lovers' trope or hate Keith and act as though Keith was bullying him. Shiro doesn't take Lance's side often because Lance's ideas are dangerous or reckless. He still tries to let him down gently, making logical arguments (see: Shiro explaining that Red is fire-resistant so Keith has to go to the BOM HQ). Oh, but he's not on Lance's side so the fandom decides he's an awful leader. As if they know what a good leader is. They think a good leader is someone who gets distracted by a pretty girl and blames everyone but himself.

The only thing not given to Lance on a silver platter is Black. Thank God. But because he wasn't given Black when he was given everything else, fandom decides that DreamWorks hates Lance and decides to argue that Lance was always destined to be the Black Paladin. Ignoring how Black's colour scheme was LITERALLY ON KEITH'S CLOTHES.

So. Yeah. He definitely has potential before DreamWorks just started rewarding him for breathing. The insecurity he has could have been a good way to develop his character. He could have become someone outside of Keith or Shiro's shadow. He didn't need a love interest to prosper, as proven by the fact that he never prospered in canon.

His potential was there, just ignored because the writers were allergic to complex characters, even to the smallest degree.

(They should have gotten the writers for Race to the Edge to do Voltron ugh)

[voltroneption]

lowkey fucked that lance immediately started hitting on the cyropod girl. not cool :/

[voltroneption]

yesss. I'm an anti-allurance and anti-klance- I just don't think lance is good for either of them and isn't bad in an interesting way

i love allura so much

Call me weird but

Is there anyone in the VLD fandom who didn’t like Klance but also didn’t like Allurance?

Like, Klance never interested me, mostly due to its fans who were obsessive bullies, and Allurance was just...meh to me, even though I could tell they were gonna probably be endgame way at the start.

No, I don’t hate gay people and I don’t hate black women, I just didn’t vibe with the character combinations.

[come-on-valdez]

If I had a nickel for every time a Hispanic, brown haired, fun-loving character got together with a girl he has had barely any development with in the last installation of the series I’d have two nickels which isn’t much but it’s weird that it happened twice right??

[weaponizedducks]

lance mcclain wears jorts unironically and i believe that wholeheartedly

[the-feral-gremlin]

Lance McClain heard “tried to be a halfway decent friend, wound up a bad comedian.” in the garrison lounge and fell to his knees.

[harukamitsuki]

I have one thing to say about this. Wrong. The only reason Keith didn't want to lead is because he was forced into it. Because him taking over the Black Lion would be like admitting that Shiro really is gine, and Keith didn't want to think that.

Lance wanted the Black Lion for himself. Not for the team. That's why Black rejected him.

'He was already teammates with Pidge and Hunk,' yeah and he sucked. Episode One showed that with no filters. They crashed the simulator and, from Lance's own words later on, they always crash.

'Without him, the Blue Lion would have never went to space.' Um. Without Keith, he wouldn't have found the Blue Lion anyway? Without Pidge, he wouldn't have even gone to Shiro's crash site? Lance is not that pivotal. Keith and Shiro set things in motion.

And Lance making sure everyone got along well? He isolated Keith. He always started shit with him, even when Keith was obviously greiving Shiro. Yeah, for one scene, he set his jealousy aside, which somehow made him the Red Paladin (should have been Allura). But, if I were in any of their shoes, I would not be willing to follow someone who's already had their Lion stolen from them, constantly flirts with any pretty girl, gets jealous over the smallest of things, and has an ego bigger than the teleduv. Yeah, he's insecure, but it's not what he expresses to everyone else. To others, he's egotistical.

Also.

The Black Lion chose Keith specifically because Keith did not want the position for himself. Shiro didn't want Keith to lead because he's his brother and he wants the best for him. If that was the case, he wouldn't be encouraging him to lead them in a war. He chose Keith because Keith proved himself to have the potential to be a better leader than Shiro.

What do I mean by that? Well, I'm talking about how Keith is constantly the first one to issue orders when Shiro's not around or able to and it always works. He's constantly telling the guys what to do when Shiro can't. I'm talking about how Keith advised not going to get Allura. Because, as much as people give him shit for that scene, he was right.

If Thace hadn't been there, Voltron would have been taken and the mission would have been a collosal failure. Allura herself said that they should not have come. Shiro, right then, was not thinking clearly. There were others ways to get Allura back. They should have come up with an actual plan, as Keith suggested though with poorly-chosen words, instead of rushing back in.

Lance showed no affinity for leadership. As far as I'm aware, Lance stans think he should be the Balck Paladin because...? Why? Because you think it'd give him a good character arc? Because he's the everyday man and it makes you feel good about youself? You're sacrificing a well-written character arc for meaningless titles.

Lance did not have to be the Black Paladin to have his own character arc. That's just lazy writing and fans wishing he was Shiro.

I don't know why, but I'm on an angry V:LD rant. But Keith should NOT have been the black paladin. No matter what Shiro said.

Keith was hot-headed, he got frustrated easily, he held anger in. None of those are things that make a good leader. Those are all detrimental to both the functionality of a team, and if let simmer and stew it could even hurt the teammates.

The only reason Shiro said it was because of his relationship with Keith. They were brothers.. He loved him and wanted him to finish what he'd started. Their bond was too close and it clouded his judgement. Hell, Keith didnt even WANT to lead.

A leader is someone who looks out for their team. Makes sure their in the right headspace and are getting along nicely. Someone who holds the team together. A leader should be someone that eases tension between the group. Who did all of those things?

Lance McClain. He did all of those things and he wanted to lead. He literally set the whole plot into motion. Without him the blue lion would have never went to space. Without him The group of humans wouldve never met the Alteans. Hell, Hunk and Pidge wouldn't have even snuck out had it not been for lance. He brought the team together. He was already teammates with Hunk and Pidge. It's arguable, but Lance was Coran's favorite paladin. Once he set aside his crush he and Allura were good friends. He respected Shiro. He and Keith even became good friends. He did that. Lance did.

Lance deserved to lead, and I want to say that the only reason Black opened up to Keith was because of Shiro. He put that out there and as a last wish, and Black fulfilled it. But Lance should've become the Black paladin after Shiro.

[blue-character-brawl]

The brackets are finally here!

(sorry for the poor quality of the bracket images lol it’s the best i could do)

Two quick propaganda rules:

1. Propaganda is good and encouraged, just don’t send any negative propaganda. This tournament is for fun, and anti-propaganda kinda ruins that.

2. If you do make propaganda, you can either send it through my ask box, or you can reblog the post with your propaganda. Either is fine!

These 6 brackets will go on until there’s only one character left in each. Once the six semi-finalists are chosen, there will be two battles of 3, and then the winners of that will go against each other in the finals! Each poll will last for one day, but the finals and semifinals will be a week each. The posting schedule will be one bracket a day, meaning that day 1 will be bracket 1 round 1, day 2 will be bracket 2 round 1, and so on. The first set of polls will drop tomorrow (March 30) at roughly 4:00 PM EST. Now, onto the actual matchups!

Bracket 1:

Cam (Rhythm Heaven) VS. Casey (Deca Sports)

Grover (Sesame Street) VS. Rosita (Sesame Street)

Cookie Monster (Sesame Street) VS. Gonzo (The Muppets)

Blue (Blue’s Clues) VS. Flippy Doggenbottom (Toontown)

Bluey Heeler (Bluey) VS. Bandit Heeler (Bluey)

The Tesseract (Marvel) VS. Captain America (Marvel)

Blue (Overly Sarcastic Productions) VS. Blue (Animator VS Animation)

13th Doctor (Doctor Who) VS. The TARDIS (Doctor Who)

Lancer (Deltarune) VS. Lance McClain (Voltron)

Link (Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) VS. Zelda (Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)

Navi (Legend of Zelda) VS. Fi (Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)

Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney) VS. Trucy Wright (Ace Attorney)

Mega Man (Mega Man) VS. Megamind (Megamind)

MePhone4 (Inanimate Insanity) VS. Four (Battle for BFDI)

Teardrop (Battle for Dream Island) VS. Sadness (Inside Out)

Blue Album (Weezer) VS. Blue Meanie (Yellow Submarine)

Bracket 2:

Scott Wozniak (Scott the Woz) VS. Jacob (Alpharad)

Big Pauly (Papa Louie) VS. Watergirl (Fireboy and Watergirl)

Abby (Wii Sports) VS. Saburo (Wii Sports)

Kris (Deltarune) VS. Berdly (Deltarune)

Powerade VS. Gatorade

Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson) VS. Luka Couffaine (Miraculous Ladybug)

Gooey (Kirby) VS. Goo (Inanimate Insanity)

Benrey (HLVRAI) VS. Bubby (HLVRAI)

Gus Porter (The Owl House) VS. Anne Boonchuy (Amphibia)

Agent (Penguinronpa) VS. Gary the Gadget Guy (Club Penguin)

Mordecai (Regular Show) VS. Blue-footed Booby (Real Life)

Wish Bear (Care Bears) VS. Grumpy Bear (Care Bears)

The ocean (Real Life) VS. Elsa (Frozen)

Cinderella (Cinderella) VS. Alice (Alice in Wonderland)

Doc Hudson (Cars) VS. Sally Carrera (Cars)

Mudkip (Pokémon) VS. Squirtle (Pokémon)

Bracket 3:

Marth (Fire Emblem) VS. Lucina (Fire Emblem)

Chrom (Fire Emblem) VS. Dimitri (Fire Emblem)

Donald Duck (Disney) VS. Dewey Duck (Ducktales)

Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog) VS. Leonardo (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Sans (Undertale) VS. Queen (Deltarune)

Dipper Pines (Gravity Falls) VS. Finn the Human (Adventure Time)

Gumball Watterson (The Amazing World of Gumball) VS. Perry the Platypus (Phineas and Ferb)

Squidward Tentacles (SpongeBob Squarepants) VS. Inkling Boy (Splatoon)

Bubbles Utonium (Powerpuff Girls) VS. Bloo (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends)

Logan Sanders (Sanders Sides) VS. Patton Sanders (Sanders Sides)

Jay Walker (Ninjago) VS. Nya (Ninjago)

Tom (Eddsworld) VS. Thomas the Tank Engine (Thomas and Friends)

Sokka (Avatar: The Last Airbender) VS. Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Sapphire (Steven Universe) VS. Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe)

Nightwing (DC Comics) VS. Superman (DC Comics)

Wendy Darling (Peter Pan) VS. Dorothy Gale (The Wizard of Oz)

Bracket 4:

Craig Tucker (South Park) VS. Goombario (Paper Mario)

Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid) VS. Kaito (Vocaloid)

Michael J. Caboose (Red vs Blue) VS. Leonard Church (Red vs Blue)

John Egbert (Homestuck) VS. Vriska Serket (Homestuck)

James P. Sullivan (Monsters, Inc.) VS. The Genie (Aladdin)

Wheatley (Portal) VS. V1 (Ultrakill)

Frosta (She-Ra) VS. Mermista (She-Ra)

Falco Lombardi (Star Fox) VS. Blu (Rio)

R2-D2 (Star Wars) VS. Bo-Katan (Star Wars)

Mountain Dew Voltage VS. Blue Gushers

Pablo (The Backyardigans) VS. Tuxedo Sam (Sanrio)

Crackle (Rice Krispies) VS. Blueberry Muffin (Strawberry Shortcake)

Blue (Pokémon) VS. Piplup (Pokémon)

Nightcrawler (X-Men) VS. Mystique (X-Men)

Sayaka Miki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) VS. Tsumugi Shirogane (Danganronpa V3)

Shun Kaido (Saiki K.) VS. Teruhashi Kokomi (Saiki K.)

Bracket 5:

Soundwave (Transformers) VS. Optimus Prime (Transformers)

Frankie Stein (Monster High) VS. Lagoona Blue (Monster High)

Stitch (Lilo & Stitch) VS. Roadrunner (Looney Toons)

Merryweather (Sleeping Beauty) VS. Hades (Hercules)

Zazu (Lion King) VS. Benny the Bull (Dora the Explorer)

Samus (Metroid) VS. Shovel Knight (Shovel Knight)

Toy Bonnie (Five Nights at Freddy’s) VS. Spheal (Pokémon)

Lucy van Pelt (Peanuts) VS. Numbuh 2 (Codename: Kids Next Door)

Nebula (Marvel) VS. Steve (Minecraft)

Blue Alien (I’m Blue by Eiffel 65) VS. Shiver (Splatoon 3)

Barney Calhoun (Half-Life) VS. Blue Beetle (DC Comics)

Vivi Yukino (Mystery Skulls Animated) VS. Naoto Shirogane (Persona 4)

Ciel Soleil (RWBY) VS. Bloom (Winx Club)

Jack Harkness (Doctor Who) VS. Spock (Star Trek)

Gwen (Total Drama) VS. Rosalina (Super Mario)

Mugman (Cuphead) VS. Sea Fairy Cookie (Cookie Run)

Bracket 6:

Teddy (Bob’s Burgers) VS. Blue M&M (M&M’s)

Sailor Mercury (Sailor Moon) VS. Silvermist (Disney Fairies)

Bibble (Barbie) VS. Sylvie (Wander Over Yonder)

Simon Seville (Alvin and the Chipmunks) VS. Dory (Finding Nemo)

Tsunami (Wings of Fire) VS. Bluestar (Warrior Cats)

Rainbow Dash (My Little Pony) VS. Metal Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Beauregard Lionett (Critical Role) VS. Jester Lavorre (Critical Role)

Veronica Sawyer (Heathers) VS. Smurfette (The Smurfs)

Undine Wells (Sleepless Domain) VS. Idia Shroud (Twisted Wonderland)

Lan Wangji (The Untamed) VS. Korra (Legend of Korra)

Pokotho (Hatchetfield) VS. Langa (Sk8 the Infinity)

B.O.B. (Monsters vs Aliens) VS. Vergil (Devil May Cry)

Vault Boy (Fallout) VS. Jake Sully (Avatar)

Phantasma (Scooby-Doo) VS. Jack Frost (Rise of the Guardians)

Tutter (Bear and the Big Blue House) VS. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Disney)

Spy (Team Fortress 2) VS. Baljeet Tjinder (Phineas and Ferb)

As stated previously, the first round of polls, which will be Bracket 1 Round 1, will begin on March 30, at approximately 4:00 PM EST. See you then!

[harukamitsuki]

Okay... I am currently back on my Voltron bullshit and continuing my rewrite of Voltron. And I'm constantly reminding of HOW MUCH I HATE LANCE.

Don't get me wrong. I am still treating Lance fairly in my fic, making sure he gets screen-time and a proper character acr and stuff.

But by GODS. This man pisses me off so much and that's only made worse by his stans. I was scrolling through Keith's tag here on tumblr. I also have Kl@nce filtered out. I cannot see a single post without at least three pages of scrolling and then it's only ONE POST. AND IT'S STILL KLANCE BECAUSE IT HASN'T BEEN TAGGED CORRECTLY.

Anyway. Onto the actual things I hate about Lance and not just his fandom.

Lance is a fucking asshole. I mean that on the deepest level. Let's go through it chronologically because I cannot rank it from least to most assholery, because some things are on the same level.

1 - Allura wakes up from the cryopod and Lances catches her. She's confused and dazed and the first thing you should do is ask if she's alright. Oh, but Lance is above that. Instead, he flirts with her. Karma given immediately as she calls his ears hideous and puts him in a submission hold, which is why I kept that scene in my fic, but that was still wrong. I know it was played for comedic effect, but that doesn't make it not canon. It's canonically accurate that if you've awoken from a coma, Lance's first instinct is to flirt with you if you're pretty.

2 - Literally throws Hunk into the middle of a battle. I get that Hunk was supposed to leave the Lion anyway, but just shoving him out when there are lasers everywhere and Hunk has no protection? Yeah. So much for 'best friend'. Add on the fact that Lance never really treats Hunk like a friend. At all.

3 - Okay. Season 1 Lance isn't bad outside of those two examples, even if he has his dumb moments, so let's jump to Season 2. Starting shit with Keith for no reason. People can go 'oh, Keith obviously did something to him at the Garrison' but he DIDN'T. The writers themselves confirmed that Keith did nothing to Lance, he just started shit with Keith all the fucking time. Like accussing Keith of wanting Blue and cutting him off when he tried to explain what was actually happening, even though Lance is the one who was outraged initially that Keith had Red. Or how about Lance getting up in Shiro's face and screaming his head off about how Keith would rather kill people than listen to them, as if he knew Keith at all after bullying him the entire time.

4 - Okay. This one pissed me off the most and is the biggest reason I'm making this post. The fact that Lance used Shiro's death/disappearance against Keith. Keith outwardly expresses his lack of desire to become the leader and accidentally let it slip that Shiro wanted him to do it. To which Lance is all 'convenient that you say that when Shiro's gone'. What. What the fuck. Stans really say that Lance is precious but how the hell are you justifying that? A blind man could see how much Keith loves Shiro, and Lance has the fucking gall the say that Keith is USING his death/disappearance for a position he doesn't want? He didn't even apologise for it. He just told Keith to suck it up later on. This is one of the reasons I hated Lance as the Red Paladin, the others being explained in an earlier post of mine.

5 - Oh, yeah. We're not done. Because after Keith, it's Allura. Allur@nce is probably the worst ship that could have happened, apart from Kl@nce. If you wanted a straight ship, how about what was canon for the past Voltron series? Kallura? Anyway. Yeah, Lance treats Allura like a prize instead of a person. He's posessive in a way that he has no right to be because they were not together. He glares at Matt for flirting with Allura, something he only does once. He gets mad at Lotor and tries to stop them from spending time together, EVEN THOUGH LOTOR IS HELPING ALLURA AND BONDING THROUGH ALTEAN THINGS. HELPING HER KEEP IN TOUCH WITH ALTEAN CULTURE. In Season 8, he literally yells that it should be Lance and Allura?? What a fucking weirdo?? You can't claim that you're destined to be with someone without being together. That's not how healthy relationships work. That's how a stalker's mind works. Lance is constantly flirting with Allura throughout all of Voltron and she never once reciprocated until Season 8 where it's so obvious that Lance is just a rebound but the writers wanna make it so that it's 'true love' and they want Lance to be happier than anyone so they just gift her to him like some sort of trophy. Lance didn't care about loving Allura, he cared about winning her. At least Lotor actually cared for and respected her. I still don't like canon Lotor, but that's mostly because the writers didn't want to deal with gray morality. Cowards.

1 - Honestly the worst example of a leader. It's shown from episode one. Now, there is the argument of learning to become one, but Lance just never learns? He's never facing the consequences of his actions and, if he is lectured, he ignores it. Keith actually takes lessons to heart and tries to improve and he does. If Lance became the Black Paladin, the universe would have been doomed because he can't get over himself for a single moment to even bother listening to anyone else's advice.

So. Yeah. Those are the main reasons why Lance is an asshole. Now to make the Lance stans really pissed.

Reasons why Lance would have been a terrible leader and could never have been the Black Paladin.

Remember episode one? Remember how the hydraulic stabiliser was out in the simulator and Lance still tried to push on, even though Pidge and Hunk advised him not to? Totally great leadership qualities there. There's nothing better than a leader that refuses to listen to you. 'Oh, but Keith is stubborn and didn't listen--' yes he did. He's stubborn and unrelenting at first, but he eventually realises that they're right.

Remember episode three? Remember when Lance bragged about kicking, which made Voltron fall, then proceeded to try it again and failed again even when Keith advised him not to? Yeah. Lance does not make good decisions and does not listen to any advise. Even from the leader's right hand man.

Remember Season 1 Episode 12? Remember how they were waiting for Shiro and Allura to get back and then Keith saw someone taking quintessence so he decided to follow them? Remember how Lance said no and was ignored but did nothing more to stop Keith? He has no authority and no charisma to keep anyone at bay. Pidge herself mocks Lance for being the pinnacle for leadership. Sarcastically. Because he's far from it.

Pidge doesn't respect Lance as a leader, Keith never would considering Lance treats him like shit, Allura can't take Lance seriously with him hitting on her every ten seconds, and Hunk is always questioning Lance's decisions. If nobody respects you, you cannot be a good leader.

2 - Easily distracted. Yes, it's a very popular headcanon that Lance has ADHD, and I agree with that, but that doesn't make it okay. And he's distracted in the easiest ways. Just shove a pretty girl and he'll instantly get distracted and lead the entire team to doom. Remember Nyma and how easy it was for her to steal the Blue Lion? How he didn't even warn anyone that he was taking her out for a ride because he didn't want anyone contesting his conquest? Yeah.

Don't get me wrong. It's fine to have ADHD or get distracted easily. Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece is a great example of a leader who gets easily distracted, but the second he sets his mind on something, he blocks everything out. Lance just doesn't have the capability to do that, nor do I think he'd be able to learn how to.

3 - Gets jealous really easily. As in. Really fucking easily. He's jealous of Keith from the get-go, starting a one-sided rivalry that he's constantly on the losing side of because Keith doesn't care. He gets jealous of Matt when he flirts a bit with Allura. He gets extremely jealous of Lotor for having actual chemistry with Allura. He's constantly jealous and a good leader is only ever in competition with himself. A good leader will only strive to become better for the sake of the team, not to say that they're better than someone else, much less if they're someone that you are in charge of. It's a horrible trait to have.

Jealousy in and of itself is not a bad thing. It's when that jealousy overrides your logic and controls you, instead of you controlling your jealousy: which Lance struggles with a lot. And getting jealous over anyone who even looks at your crush is a very bad thing to do because you do not own your crush. It's okay to be jealous, but not posessively like Lance is. Not to the extent of trying to scare off any potential suitors.

4 - Nowhere near as skilled as Keith or Shiro. Sure, the writers may claim that he is better, but the proof is in the pudding. Keith and Shiro are fucking unmatched. I've defended Lance's skills in a previous post, but I also said in that post that, while he is skilled, he is nowhere near Shiro or Keith's level. I mean, Shiro was the golden child of the Garrison and set so many records. He was known as the best pilot. Keith beat those records and his flying capabilities are always, always noted. I haven't heard a single character comment on Lance's skills, other than to point out how bad they are. Keith was the only one who could have flew through the astroid field, he was the only one who could fly into the Marmora base which was in a blue star surrounded by two black holes, he was able to fly a Galra jet just by pushing the right buttons and knowing what the do, and he's the one who unlocks the warping abilities of the Black Lion. Shiro was able to connect with the Black Lion far before anyone else, able to see through Black and connect with Black to the point of his soul being saved by her.

Lance hasn't done anything spectacular. And, no. He was not 'done dirty'. He was given almost everything he wanted except the Black Lion. The writers claim he's the best pilot, but have not shown it at all. In my eyes, Keith and Shiro will always be the best.

5 - Selfish. Again. Nothing against being selfish. It's perfectly fine to be selfish, so long as it doesn't actively harm others. But for a leader? You should be as selfless as you can be. The team comes before you. And that's exactly what Lance isn't.

Lance is selfish and that's okay, but it's not leadership material. The whole reason Black rejected him is because he wanted the position out of selfish reasons. When he enters Black, he says 'Come on, Lance. You can do this'. In other words, he wants to pilot her because he wants to prove himself. He wants the acknowledgement. He wants the title of the Black Paladin and leader. Black accepted Keith, both at the start of Season 2 and Season 3, because he piloted her for purely selfless reasons. For Shiro.

Lance wants things for himself. Keith wanted things for Shiro. It was only after Shiro came back, (or so they thought), that Keith started focusing more on himself. Even then, he put everyone else before him. He distanced himself from the team so that Shiro could pilot Black again, and he was constantly risking his life for the Blades.

Lance just... isn't the type. He has put others before himself, but he expect things out of it. He expects a parade and acknowledgement. Nobody knew what Shiro went through to rid Zarkon of his connection to the Black Lion. Nobody knew what Shiro went through in his imprisonment because he doesn't want to burden anyone with that. Nobody knew what Keith went through to save Black and Shiro from Zarkon. Nobody knew what Keith went through when they were all mad at him for missing an attack. Lance doesn't withold that sort of stuff. The only thing he doesn't talk about is his insecurities, which he ends up spilling to the mice and Laika (the Yupper) anyway.

6 - Last one. Promise.

Nothing fucking happened. While Keith was gone, nothing of importance happened surrounding Voltron specifically. There was the Lion mind meld and Lotor joining, but all that served to prove was, with the mind meld, if Keith was there, he would have heard Shiro. And with Lotor joining, all it proved was how immature Lance was.

The second Keith gets back, things start happening again. Lotor gets outed as cruel and manipulative (still an ass-pull, by the way), Shiro gets outed as a clone, and so on. If Lance was leading, they all probably would have died ages ago. I'm talking Season 3 Episode 2, ages ago. Because Lance just isn't cut out for it.

So. Yeah. Those are the main reasons I hate Lance and why Black Paladin Lance is an awful idea. Screw the people who believe in it. It is awful.

Like I said, this won't affect my treatment of Lance in my rewrite, because I can fix those issues that come up. I don't have an issue with Season 1 Lance, it's later on that gets problematic. I just hate people building Lance up by bashing all the other characters, then claiming that Lance is the most traumatised, sad character when SHIRO AND KEITH ARE RIGHT THERE. NOT TO MENTION ALLURA, WHO LOST HER ENTIRE SPECIES, AND CORAN WHO LOST EVERYONE INCLUDING ALLURA AND NEVER GOT TO SAY GOODBYE TO HER.

Fuck. I hate Voltron so much but I can't help but love it.

[voltroneption]

is anyone else just kind of. annoyed by lance. can he literally not.

[worst-ships-poll]

competition info:

current bracket (will be updated as we go):

complete list of character names and their respective fandom under the readmore below.

submissions:

submit here: [google forms link]

submission rules: [tumblr post link]

SUBMISSIONS CLOSED!

poll info:

this poll is literally to cause tumblr drama because I’m bored. feel free to start discourse in tags or replies. I’m not a mod of my posts and I’m not monitoring my posts. do your thing.

reiterating this poll is for fun, and while I’ll try to keep it organized, I am not going out of my way to make a tumblr poll bracket I’m doing in my free time 100% bias-free or 100% optimized.

I reserve the right to add or remove ships to the initial bracket at my discretion, or to not answer all asks, or whatever else makes it more fun, short of actually changing results (I will let the people decide.) basically, if you have a problem with something about the way this competition is run, I don’t care.

I feel like this should go without saying but I do ascribe to the idea that some ships are inherently morally bad and deserve to be hated. I won’t post about all my opinions on the ships, but if a ship is predatory/offensive/has bigoted shippers I will join in calling it really bad, and I will not be accepting or starting anti/pro-shipper discourse here. it’s 2023, grow up and stop shipping incest.

polls will be posted in batches from their respective level on the bracket and will last a week before moving on to the next set. i.e. all of the first vs. polls will be posted at the same time until a week passes and they’re done, and then the winning ships will be noted and we’ll move on to the second level of the bracket and all of those polls will be up for a week, etc.

posts will be tagged via batches (”batch 1“, “batch 2″, etc), ships, and fandom.

I will be trying to seed it properly based on ship prestige, number of submissions, and common sense. if you have an issue with it after all of that, send a text form complaint to 1-800-YOUR-MOM to file necessary feedback.

full list of ships and characters with their fandoms and rankings:

(struck out listings are ships that have lost in the bracket so far)

1. Dean Winchester/Castiel from Supernatural

2. Kylo Ren/Rey from the Star Wars sequel trilogy

3. Ciel Phantomhive/Sebastian Michaelis from Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler

4. Midoriya Izuku/Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia

5. Thor Odinson/Loki Laufeyson from Marvel/MCU

6. Keith Kogane/Lance McClain from Voltron Legendary Defender

7. Merlin/Arthur Pendragon from Merlin BBC

8. Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski from Teen Wolf

9. Jiang Cheng/Wei Wuxian from Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed

10. Pannacotta Fugo/Giorno Giovanna from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

11. Sam WInchester/Gabriel from Supernatural

12. Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter from you know what

13. Sam Winchester/Dean Winchester from Supernatural

14. Tony Stark/Steve Rogers from Marvel/MCU

15. Axel/Roxas from Kingdom Hearts

16. Edward Cullen/Bella Swan from Twilight

17. Onceler/Onceler from The Lorax

18. GeorgeNotFound/Dream from Minecraft Youtubers fandom

19. Rhaenyra Targaryen/Daemon Targaryen from House of the Dragon

20. Kaeya Alberich/Diluc Ragnvindr from Genshin Impact

21. Alina Starkov/The Darkling from Grishaverse/Shadow and Bone

22. Tony Stark/Stephen Strange from Marvel/MCU

23. Blackbeard/Stede Bonnet from Our Flag Means Death

24. Uchiha Sasuke/Haruno Sakura from Naruto

25. Dirk Strider/Jake English from Homestuck

26. Dabi/Hawks from My Hero Academia

27. Phoenix Wright/Miles Edgeworth from Ace Attorney

28. Catra/Adora from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

29. Sans/Toriel from Undertale

30. Jack Zimmermann/Eric “Bitty” Bittle from OMG Check, Please!

31. Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze from Star Wars: The Clone Wars

32. Kai/Lloyd Garmadon from Ninjago

rankings was done via a combination of counting the number of submissions and balancing fandom/ship popularity and/or exposure. ship names for the bracket image were found via websearching, I did my best to find accurate or relevant ship names for all of them when applicable.

[coolnonsenseworld]

T-shirts are on pre-order and some new items have arrived so Mmezzy.bigcartel.com got an update!! Shop will be on Pause from 17th of Dec so there is a 15% discount for orders placed during the Pause - 171221. Have a wonderful weekend!

[stworzonka]

ok but please consider Keith coming back from bom which has kinda a "ppl are replacable" mindset and seeing the team managing to go on without them and Lance seeing eir own insecurities about being..a bit replacable mirrored back to em thru Keith and them both managing to grow from it together

[cateyesinlove]

Something that I love about Lance it’s that’s we can tell how much it hurt him to leave blue and he never really gets over it through the show ( for what I can remember.) I also at one point theorizes that the reason who goes so hard for allura after dying is because she is the blue Paladin and that would allow him to be close to blue and have that connection but black Paladin Lance makes so much sense 😭 putting Lance in a position where we would have been able to explore his character and see him mature and grow where everyone has to also mature and deal with stuff so they can catch up with Lance character development would have been iconic

I actually have very complicated feelings about black paladin lance tbh it's like. it's really fun putting him in a Situation where he'd have to grow and adapt and figure out how to lead the team His Way (and also be super super badass while he does it) but at the same time he's literally so perfect for the blue lion ???? like if you put a gun to my head and told me to put lance in whatever lion fits him best blue would ALWAYS be my first choice. not to mention that a different character being black paladin usually means shiro gets kicked to the curb which I never really like

[kodzuken]

Wasn't Shieth more queerbaited then Klance because Lance's LI was set up from early on in the series. I haven't watched the show in years but I thought Sheith was the queerbait and people were furious when they revealed Shiro was gay but he married some dude nobody has ever even heard of and that was considered LGBT representation which was completely insulting to viewers and the writers got ripped to filth for it.

i refuse to believe sheith was queerbaited because shiro and keith were canonically brother figures in the show + the whole issue with shalidan and the age of the characters. but also the whole fucking mess that was shiro's gay reveal at comic con 2018 + adam and adam's subsequent death + the way they had shiro marry curtis in the finale when he'd never had like. more than one line is my villain origin story

[juniaships]

I'm still mad about Lance a late night rant

Okay so a big thing about Legendary Defender is that the Lions are based on natural elements. Since they choose their paladins in this canon, you'd think their choices would reflect these elements. Traditionally, water represents adaptation and change which means Lance should've gotten the most development of the paladins. We saw that he had plenty of flaws and that they didn't stop him from doing what's right. He's flirty, irresponsible yet insecure. He's emotional, not afraid of being afraid (fear is a negative water quality) and clever. So you would think his arc would result huge payoff in him learning to be more responsible and self confident right?

WRONG!

Instead his final story felt like the show was writing a totally different character. Suddenly he's dating Allura and his self esteem issues aren't remedied! Him dating her makes him look more of a rebound. S8 we haven't seen of how his journey made him a stronger individual, nor showcasing his newfound confidence.

It makes it even more suspicious when you realize Keith and Pidge gets to have everything they desire (and a lot attention from the show), yet characters like Lance and Hunk don't get that level of focus not actually getting anything that makes sense for their arcs. This is most obvious in Lance. Even in S1 he was built up to the audience surrogate/Most Relatable Character; most of the time these types of characters grow stronger not just in strength but in mind as well.

Which brings me back to his element. Yes we have seen him grow but it wasn't enough and again he didn't get as much attention to showcase that. As the water type (lol) he had the most potential to change and adapt! He's the comic relief made to make all the other characters loom smart and complement yet we HAVE seen Lance's abilities and positive traits. So why not focus on making them flourish? You threw away all that potential in favor of making him a rebound for the girl he flirted with and who didn't reciprocate his feelings!

I recall the scene where they meet the original Paladins everyone else gets acknowledged by how much they grew over the course of the show. What is Lance's greatest accomplishment? Being the perfect man for Allura! How does his story end? By becoming a farmer! He doesn't become the confident jet fighter or protector of the universe! No he's just farming...

Allura shouldn't have been his reward; maybe the catalyst but not the End All Be All, and I'm being honest the romance only benefitted her dealing with heartbreak from Lotor's betrayal and not really much for Lance. That's not change; that's stagnating.