Also re: Lance’s insecurities, another fanon trope/characterization that I find really uncomfortable is the “Lance sacrifices himself for others because he thinks they’re more important/essential than him.”

Like, for one, I think that’s really exaggerating Lance’s self esteem issues. He’s insecure, sure, but he’s a kid trying to define his role in a team of geniuses, so it’s only natural that he would be. I don’t think he thinks he’s worthless so much as he’s now wondering what he contributes to Voltron; he’s not the strongest or the smartest or the best pilot or a leader, so if he’s not the sharpshooter, what’s his “thing”?

The fun thing about Lance as a character is that he toggles between insecurity and confidence in a really teenager-y way. It feels natural, it feels human, and it’s what makes him relatable. Erasing his entire personality and defining him just by his insecurity is… really not true to his character.

Another problem I have with the trope is that I think it kinda? Takes away from the heroism of what Lance does?? He’s this sympathetic, empathetic kid. He likes people, he connects with them easily, and when they’re in trouble, he wants to help. When he pushes Coran out of the way of that bomb, it isn’t like he pauses to weigh his importance against Coran’s; he just notices that Coran is in danger and tries to help. When the warden shows up for the yupper, Lance gets in the way and says “stay away from my friend!” because he wants to protect his new friend. 

What he does is out of compassion. Lance doesn’t protect others because he thinks they’re more important than him– he does it because he just. Thinks they’re important. And that’s so refreshing and I can’t really see why people would want to take away from that.