Tag: c: lance mcclain

paladin-kai:

what allura’s arc should’ve been about: learning to forgive herself for the pain of her past, and figuring out how to let go of it and not compare herself to what once was in order for the old to make way for the new. Being open to change and new ideas allows us to build towards a better future, and harboring desires for revenge blocks our path to true progress and peace. 

what shiro’s arc should’ve been about: recognizing that he is not broken because of his body or his illness or his modifications or his traumatic experiences. That being a real hero comes from being able to stay true to your inner goodness, fight for what is right, and to rebuild yourself again and again, convincing those around you to do the same and never give up. 

what lance’s arc should’ve been about: self confidence is made stronger by working through moments of self doubt. Without our insecurities, we wouldn’t be able to identify what makes us great in the first place. Our goals and our dreams are attainable as long as we are courageous enough to put in the work and try. We shouldn’t always look outward for the validation we deserve.

what keith’s arc should’ve been about: needing others is not a weakness, and losing people we care about doesn’t negate the value of forming close bonds with those around us. It is our relationships with others where we learn to accept and love ourselves. To love and be loved is a gift, and we can learn to navigate and lead others through those connections. 

what hunk’s arc should’ve been about: fear is a universal trait, and being afraid of something doesn’t mean you aren’t brave. There is more than one way to be heroic, and continually believing in the power of trying to see the good in the universe and connect with people is always worthwhile. We all have things in common, even our fears, and acknowledging that is a strength. 

what pidge’s arc should’ve been about: home is not a place. We are always linked to those we love, no matter how far apart we are. Our actions, stories and knowledge that we share amongst us all is what weaves us together. And doing things that would make someone proud is a way to stay connected with them, even if they’re not around. 

thatgirlonstage:

ironinkpen:

I think I’m a little resistant to the “Lance is actually a genius” headcanon because a. it implies that a character can’t be useful unless they’re super intelligent and b. part of Lance’s charm is that he’s not an expert in anything. He’s all about practical knowledge.

Like, listen, Lance could never fix an engine, but when something goes wrong with their ship in episode one, he knows exactly what the problem is. He can’t fight as well as Keith, but when they need to wreck those Galra ships on the Balmera, he comes up with a plan that’ll take out the most. He probably couldn’t write a code or do all the funky math stuff Pidge does, but he can calculate the number of vargas they have to wait until they’re able to go into the Marmora base. 

Lance’s thing is “okay what do we need?” Lance doesn’t have to fix a ship, he just needs to know enough to tell Hunk what to fix. He doesn’t have to know crazy math, he just needs to know enough to know whether Coran and Allura are talking about a minute or an hour so he doesn’t get killed during a mission. And he doesn’t have to be an incredible fighter, he just needs to come up with the best way to stop the ships from taking off without hurting the Balmera– ie, close the door.

Lance isn’t super book smart or amazing at flying or fighting; he’s a creative little shit who’s good at asking practical questions: Do I need to know this or can someone help me with it? Would knowing this help someone else? and Is there an easier way to do this? He’s really good at knowing what he needs to know and putting things together based on what he has. Rover’s here, but Pidge isn’t with it and it’s beeping? Yikes, that’s a bomb. The queen seems to be out of a trance and says she didn’t mind control us? Must be that creepy snake I was asking about earlier. 

He’s perceptive. He looks for simple solutions to difficult problems. He’s aware that he’s not the best at everything, so he uses any resource he has to his advantage, whether it be things in his environment (yo his fight against Hunk in the Depths was nice) or people. In the comics when Pidge has to fight a mind controlled team Voltron, she calls Lance a “top priority” because he has good range and is likely to team up with others. Lance actively seeks the help of other people when he can and distances himself from problems when he can’t so that he can come up with a different solution.

I honestly think that his biggest strength is that he’s not a genius in the way the other members of the team are. Because it makes him take full advantage of what he does have.

Lance is the quintessential jack-of-all-trades: he’s not exceptional at any one thing (unless possibly sharpshooting), but he’s good enough at a LOT of things that he’s a very useful guy to have around. Even if he personally doesn’t necessarily have the technical skill to accomplish what he needs, he can provide ideas or partial solutions to almost any problem he encounters. His versatility and practical thinking are, in and of themselves, exceptional.

He’s also, as you said, perceptive, particularly with people. His disastrous attempts to flirt aside, Lance is clearly the best out of the Paladins at functioning in social situations (Hunk arguably is a close second, but he’s generally more shy and nervous around strangers, while Lance is able to dive right in). Lance is able to make snap decisions about people and when he isn’t being blinded by a pretty face, he’s usually pretty spot on. He’s good at understanding the dynamics of the people around him.

I don’t know which headcanons/metas/whatever you’ve specifically seen or are referring to, but for me at least, when I talk about Lance being really smart, I don’t mean it in the same way that I do when I talk about Pidge or Hunk. I do make it a point to talk about his intelligence, though, because I believe Lance has a kind of intelligence that is sorely under appreciated, both by people in real life and by his fellow fictional characters.