#lance meta

So I made a post exploring things the D&D episode from s6 could have predicted for s7 - now that we know what happens in s7 and I’m looking back at my meta it’s slightly terrifying how many things were alluded (particularly in regards to Shiro).

I also examine things from the Feud episode, and how it pertains to s8. I think Lance is going to get a character arc in s8, as well as Pidge. Delve under the cut to see the craziness.

I don’t see a lot of people talking about this at all, so I want to talk to my thirsty klancers out there about a seemingly not-klance scene. 

That’s right. This scene. 

This screenshot is right after Lance says “we make a great team” 

Sound familiar? 

Now I know this seems consequential at first, but hear me out.

The reason this is so important is because one scene his feelings aren’t completely shot down, and in the other, they are. The romantic coding of this phrase is essentially confirmed when Lance gets all blushy after saying it to Allura. However he is shot down, essentially closing a potential pathway to get closer with Allura, the only thing that makes it different from the moment with Keith is that he delivers the line in a completely softer way, and Keith remains emotionally open to him, smiling at him with acceptance. However different the deliveries are, the choice of words is where the parallel lies. Writing is a deliberate art. ESPECIALLY in television shows, where creators drop foreshadowing left and right. I think the comparison of Keith and Allura being referred by Lance as being a part of his “team” is intentional, and meant to imply that Lance wants a partnership, he wants to get closer to them whether he believes it explicitly or implicitly.  And the rejection he receives from Allura implicitly shoots down this possibility of a partnership in any more than a platonic sense. While the emotional readiness of Keith to be a part of his “team” could be foreshadowing for a possible non-platonic relationship to come. Essentially, the parallel between the phrase said to Keith and Allura is made. The “door” to Allura is shut immediately at her own volition, however the “door” to Keith is left open and ambiguous, possibly foreshadowing something between them in the future. 

This might seem a tad bit deep for just a one-liner, but I beg to differ. Parallels are added to characters with intention. In this case, I believe the intention of the creators to connect Allura and Keith in this way ties to Lance and his eventual love interest. So while it may be just a one liner, if you think about it, the one liner is meant to connect something ever larger together that could possibly happen in the future.  

The other reason as to why I am so confident about this theory is that the connection between Allura, Lance’s initial crush, and Keith, has been made many times. So it’s not that much of a stretch to say that they would do it again. I’m sure I’m not the first to point this one out, but the connection made between Keith and Allura has been made pretty clear over the course of the seasons.

in season four, with the most blatant connection: 

  Also, his use of the words “The two of us” to refer to both him and Allura (in the same scene that I’ve been talking about) was said in a dreamy voice. While he said the EXACT SAME WORDS to refer to himself and Keith helping Shiro out of the Garrison hospital (back in S3 ep1, during the ‘hey man’ scene)

I probably could find some more parallels but finals are coming and I don’t have that much time on my hands to rewatch the show, so I’ll leave you to find the other ones ;)

One final note: 

Not being funny, but if Lance were serious with his affections toward Allura (and I mean in love serious), would he really be saying,‘I’m not ready to settle down’ and ‘There are a lot of fish in the sea’? 

One thing we know from the comics, is that Lance is serious about love. He wants to be in love, and he wants to be equally loved in return. Allura has never shown signs of romantic recuperation. She has never returned Lance’s flirtations, nor responded with anything less than disgruntlement and mild irritation from his advances. 

I find Lance’s words ‘I’m not ready to settle down’, very interesting. To me, it tells me that Lance doesn’t feel emotionally ready to commit to a long-term relationship with a loved one, because he hasn’t found someone he feels he is in love with. If Allura were the woman that Lance had totally, and completely, devoted his heart to, then I would be certain in saying that he wouldn’t even look at anyone else. 

Lance is serious about love, real love. We know that he has a deep understanding of it. He knows and values the commitment behind love, and from the show, comics and vlog, we have seen him only ever playing the field, meaning he has never truly fallen for any of the girls he was flirted with, including Allura. 

When Lance does fall in love (and we know he does have a end-game romance from interviews), he will mature and feel emotionally ready to settle down with that person.  “But I think there is, to some extent, at some point you’ll find that one person that above all you kind of fall in love with a little bit and realise that it’s nice to have that one person than kind of just going all over the place... He’ll mature in all ways.’” - Jeremy Shada

What have we heard from Lance’s mouth? ‘Sometimes what we want, isn’t what we get’. 

What have we heard from Lauren? ‘He (Lance) might look for it, but what he might look for is not necessarily what he needs. I think he needs someone who’s self-assured...so that he can kind of become that same person and know himself.’

In other words, Lance needs someone; 

“Self-assured.” - Lauren. 

“It doesn’t matter where I come from. I know who I am.” - Keith S2E8

Who can help him step up and mature as a person. 

“Keith goes, ‘No, dude. You are super important to the team. You should stop thinking all that because we need you.’” - Jeremy Shada.

 “And Lance? Leave the math, to Pidge.” - Keith to Lance S3E

Who has been there all along 

“Yeah, the show’s going for a slow-burn.” - Jeremy Shada. 

“We used to be in the same class at the Garrison?” - Lance S1E1. 

“We had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!” - Keith S1E6

Someone who will treat him as his equal, listen and respect him. 

“I respect it’s (the Black Lion) decision, and you should to.” - Lance to Keith, S3E2. 

“Yeah, you kinda did. But now we gotta fix it...You’re right. Let’s go.” - Lance and Keith S3E3

“Someone very different from what he was going for in the beginning.” - Dreamworks.

 “We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck.” - Lance to Keith S1E1

Hmmmmm.

I-

WONDER-

WHO-

THAT-

COULD-

MAJOR SPOILERS:

I’ve seen some comments about how Lance’s character development this season seems to be reduced to being two dimensional and how it’s a step back from his development in s5. My opinion may hence be an unpopular opinion, but I actually think that Lance’s development this season was really great! 

From the first episode this season, we can see how Lance is still the self-sacrificial and caring individual he was back in s1. I don’t think Lance reacted that way because it was specifically Allura that was in trouble - I think he would have done the same for any other team mate. To quote All Might/ Midoriya from BNHA (in the context of describing heroes), “[his] body moved before [he] could think.” His first instinct when he sees someone in the line of fire is to dash in to push the other out of danger, at his own expense. 

(below: screenshots from s6 when he pushed Allura out of the way of the radiation beam in that split second)

(below: screenshot from s1 when he similarly pushed Coran out of the way of the explosion)

I also loved the way they showed Lance’s relationship with Allura. I’m not an Allurance shipper, but I can respect how the writers have portrayed their relationship - be it the start of something romantic or remaining platonic. When Lance was confiding in the space mice, he said, “she’s smart, courageous and makes me want to be a better person.” As he admitted, it was “weird” for him to say that about her, to realise that he’s looking beyond the surface of the girl he likes. He has come a long way from just seeing her as a pretty princess to truly liking and respecting her as a person.

Further, I don’t think that this scene was a step backwards for him in terms of character development. When he was comforting her, I don’t think it shows how she was using him as a rebound, or that his insecurities were suddenly wiped away, or that he thinks that he now has a chance with her. Just by looking at his facial expression, he seemed genuinely concerned. 

Even when she hugged him (which she had initiated, not him), his facial expression remained sombre. 

In fact, I think his words to her in that scene gave us deeper insights about his character - “let me tell you, as someone who makes a million mistakes, all you can do is get up and try and make it right. You can’t doubt yourself now.” I think it shows a lot about his maturity that no matter how many times he falls, he always has the strength to stand back up and deal with the consequences. It was also a huge show of vulnerability on his part, because Lance tends to hide his insecurities behind a facade of pride. The facade dropped in this scene, showing us his humility and how he deals with his feelings of failure. 

Quick throwback to s3 at this point when Keith was feeling guilty over his rash judgment to follow Lotor. Again, Lance told Keith that yeah, he made a mistake, but that they would fix it together. Lance truly doesn’t give up - he keeps fighting. 

To conclude for this point, I want to point out that I don’t think s6 should be criticised as reducing Lance to a prop for Allura’s character. Instead, it showed a growth of friendship and respect between two characters that were hurting in their own ways. If Allurance does occur, it would be a natural progression. If it doesn’t, it would still be an incredible friendship borne out of mutual admiration and support.

As a final point, in relation to his fighting style, I have also seen how some are disappointed that he didn’t use the broad sword this season. To be fair, the only time we saw him use his bayard was when Lotor’s generals attacked the ship. It was an emergency, and instinctively in such a high pressure situation, I think it’s natural that he would choose the rifle option (something he is comfortable with and more adept at using) rather than the sword form. I think we’ll be seeing cool sword moments from him in later seasons, so I’m not too concerned with the lack of sword scenes from this season. 

Player boy stereotype? Or something else entirely: A look into gender stereotypes and crushes

So, believe me I hear you: The worry of Lance being a flirt and being the only Latinx main character is real, valid and necessary. That is NOT what this meta is about. This meta will cover another facet of Lance: his experience with flirtation and crushing, not so much the flirting itself. I think this meta will help you see, there was more to the vlog than you might have thought at first!

analysis under the cut!

-the boy likes to maintain a good skincare routine. he values his apperance

-he likes video games!! bitch will stay up to play some 2d platformer game. he strategizes his combo in games (which is no surprise considering he does this irl too)

-he thinks hes pretty (and hes right)

-hes very sentimental

-hes GOT to have a face mask and some relaxing music to get a good nights sleep. he probably shuffles around a lot (so i can totally picture him being a blanket hog bc of this)

-hes easy to read. this boy has his heart on his sleeve

-LOVES to be pampered

-hes a clutz!!!! hes a huge ball of nerves in front of his crush!!

-he gets distracted easy

-his favorite food are garlic knots

-he values and finds importance in literally every single relationship he has with someone (platonic, romantic, familial, rival, insperation)

-hes very thoughtful. this is obvious through his actions and in his vlog

-he prefers to think/plan things through before jumping the gun on something

-hes got an incredible gut instinct

It’s so transparent when people want Lance to pilot Black, that they don’t value Red, nor Keith. A leader is only as strong as his team, and the right hand is neccessaryfor the leader. Lance was given glory to be accepted by Red. Few people can be leaders. Even fewer can be their right hand. The right hand has to be as strong as, and possess all the qualities of, the leader. Yet, still yield to the leader. It’s a much harder spot to fill, especially successfully, than leader.

Keith is strong enough to be accepted by Black, he has all it takes to be a leader, but he has even more strength to give that up, to recognize the value of the righthand, of Red.

So, by crying that Lance didn’t become the leader, what is really being said is that Red is not a worthy position, and Keith, the embodiment of Red, is, also, not worthy.