#plance analysis

[chanceplanceromance]

Thanks for this blog... I'm a little scared of sharing post-canon season 8 plance cause it might look like I'm happy about Allura's death? I spent so many days angry and I even cried about Allura... but I want to be a little bit positive, negativity it's really affecting my everyday mood and it's not good

Wow I meant to answer this like 5 months ago. Whoops.

Liking something doesn’t mean you found everything enjoyable.Characters die in fiction all the time, even beloved main characters. I amincredibly saddened by Allura’s death but I still enjoyed parts of season 8.

I’m sure there are some people out there who think Planceshippers are happy Allura died because now our ship is possible (there mighteven be Plance shippers out there who think that). This is speculation but Ithink this is how most Plance shippers truly feel regarding Plance andAllurance and Allura’s death:

Allura dying does not help Plance. Post s8 Plance means Pidgehelping a grieving Lance and a brokenhearted Lance learning to love again, twothings that are very difficult and take a good amount of time. 

I think if Allura lived, Plance would happen more quickly. Yes,Allurance would be able to live on for a time, but even in canon it was paintedquite plainly that Lance and Allura don’t understand each other. Their relationship felt… disjointed. And that might just be because the creators were trying to throw a romance together last season, but even then Lance couldnever comfort her about not having a family and his valiant efforts to “beher family” didn’t seem to console her either. There is also the issue ofAllura rebuilding Altea and Lance wanting to stay with his family on Earth.There were too many things working against them that would ensure one of themwould not be happy in whatever situation they chose. Lance could love Allurawith all his heart but he was just not right for her (and this is coming from someonewho likes Allurance). 

If Allura lived I think Lance and Allura would have come to thiscrossroads eventually. While I don’t want it to sound like Pidge would be arebound, it would be a lot faster and easier for Lance to move on from breakingup with Allura than to have to move on from her death. 

Sowhile yes, I see it as very possible for Plance to happen post s8 afterAllura’s death, it is much more difficult and should not be a thing forPlance shippers to rejoice. And I have yet to see anyone within the Garden whofeels that way. However I think it’s really tender and bittersweet for Lance tofind love and happiness again with Pidge, and it parallels the show with Lanceleaving Blue for Red.

And there’s also Pidge’sinteresting line in s8 (which kinda addressed her obvious crush on Lance) whichalso has - fortuitously - the Red Lion to her side with a hint of Blue. Oldgives way to new - Allura is between Lance and Pidge and barely in view. Pidgeis completely on Lance’s level and perfectly within his sight. The imagery hereis just too beautiful - that Lance would have a brief time with Allura beforemoving on and finding Pidge.

Am I looking too deeply into things? Of course. But the imageryand symbolism here is too strong to ignore. Despite the many flaws of s8, thereare still a LOT of sprinklings of canon hints towards endgame Plance. Whetherthis was done intentionally or is just the work of a few animators who shipPlance is uncertain, but it’s still undeniably there. It would have made moresense in this shot to have Allura be the focused Lion beside Pidge since Allurawent to Olkarion with her, but they chose to have it be Lance. And it’s notjust “the lions are in loose formation of Voltron” because Allura isright there too. That’s not being lazy, that’s a conscious decision to haveboth Lance and Allura in this shot, with Lance being the focus as Pidge says“the old gives way to the new.”

Suspicious.

But now I’m turning this ask into ameta so I’m going to stop now. (I am working on a “hints that Plance isendgame” meta because there are way too many little things like this in s8which is why I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Plance happens post s8.)

[alwaysinsonder]

Some hope...

So I don’t intend for this to be a meta post or anything and in fact, I’m not even going to tag this as meta. It’s just plain speculation and I’m not sure if someone’s brought this point up before in relation to Plance but I’m going to give it a go anyway.

I’m a ruthless Plance shipper and lately my hopes have been dwindling. I’ve been poking around the fandom and I’ve noticed an interesting point being brought up in the fandom’s other major ships.

VLD’s EPs have taken quite a bit of inspiration from Macross. As we all know, the Roy Focker lookalike all the way in S1, and also the A/L blush scene of S7.

Strangely enough, looking through the existing meta examining the parallels in the narrative, I find it odd that no one made the connection between Pidge and Misa, when they have so much in common.

This thread in particular, highlights the moment where Misa gives up on Hikaru because she feels like she can’t compare to Minmay, someone Hikaru has loved from the start. You know what it reminded me of? This scene, as I’ve pointed out in my meta post from post S7: 

This thread by hordeskull on Twitter outlines a lot of the parallels between A/L  with Hikaru/Misa/Minmay and also how much VLD took inspiration from Macross just in general. It’s very detailed and they’ve done a good job in compiling it. Though it’s in the context of K/L, I feel strongly there’s a case for P/L in it as well. 

Doesn’t help either that Misa literally looks like Pidge:

And Hikaru straight up is Lance:

 And I’d also like to point out one more parallel. 

We’ve all seen this right...

Now let me show you this:

You can see more of the date here. I’m pretty sure S8E1 (if that’s when the date is taking place) is going to take inspirations from this scene so it’d be cool to have a look nonetheless. 

All in all, Hikaru and Minmay go on a cute date, yeah. But they weren’t the endgame. Misa and Hikaru were.

If anyone who’s more familiar with the story of Macross would like to explain further, feel free! Again, my hopes for a Plance endgame are kind of bleak. But I still think it’s something interesting to note.

[roggling]

Anymore theories on kallura on plance s8?

I'll focus more on Plance in this one. :))

Well, in my opinion, Plance isn't as hinted to as Kallura is throughout the show. Plance is shown in a much more platonic sense throughout the show tbh, there aren't many moments that are solely theirs to insinuate that there may be romantic feelings. To be honest, you have to dig deep in order to read any of their scenes as romantic.

This doesn't make me ship them any less though. I see Plance as a more realistic couple of teenagers. In the Plance fandom, there is an established headcanon that Pidge has a crush on Lance and it's rightly justified.

If we look deep into Pidge's and Lance's interactions, there is no doubt that the two are precious to the other. Pidge and Lance are currently best friends, both play video games together, they fight together fluidly and perfectly, and they both care about the other deeply and are protective of the other.

In the Ark of Taujeer, you can see their teamwork. They comolete the other's attacks and help the other without giving it a thought. They successfully kept the Taujeerians' ship from falling through the cracks and they both worked together to keep the Galra fire off the Black and Yellow Lions as they tried to push the ship away from the acid.

In the mission to Beta Traz, the fight against Sven, their first fight against Sendak, and when they were captured by Ezor and Zethrid, we can see just how protective of the other they are. There is no doubt about it: they love each other.

Now, whether that love is platonic or romantic can't be known for sure for now. We can see that Pidge treats Lance differently than she does Hunk, Keith, and Shiro. With Hunk, she genuinely treats him like a true best friend: she hangs out with him, invents things for fun, she completely understands his technical speak, and she teases him for his crush on Shay. With Shiro, she treats him as her superior and takes his words to heart. I'd like to imagine Keith as another big brother figure for her since Keith was lowkey protective of her during Ulaz's intrusion.

With Lance, though it's kind of different. We see her tease him in multiple occasions, but when it comes to girls, she frowns and eyes him with annoyance. Furthermore, in S4, we see a radical difference between her treatment of Matt and her treatment of Lance. When she drops the mic when she announces that she can make the Lions invisible, she grins up dorkily at her brother's praise...yet, when Lance praises her, she gives him a look. One that was sheepish and just full of...something. (Sorry I don't have any screenshots).

To those who analyze their interactions deeply, it's completely possible that Pidge may have a crush on Lance.

But what does Lance feel about Pidge?

Lance is really protective of her and he holds her up on a pedestal. He acknowledges her for her brains and he definitely sees her as an amazing girl. However, I sincerely doubt he sees her as a potential romantic partner.

He is currently too preoccupied with Allura, heck he even assigned Romelle to his Lion (no doubt in an effort to flirt).

Lance hasn't shown any romantic interest in Pidge on the outside. If he thinks she is cute, we can't truly be for sure because Voltron doesn't voice the thoughts of the characters like other shows. If Plance has a chance in S8, then something has to change in their relationship.

I'm not the first one to notice this, though. There are plenty of other Plance metas and Plance theories that come to the same conclusion as I did. If both Lance and Pidge get together by the end of S8, we're going to need a one-on-one moment between the two of them that will change Lance's perspective about Pidge that shifts his platonic feelings to something romantic. It can be that Pidge confesses in the midst of a tough situation. It can be that they have a talk. It can be a whole infinite number of possibilities.

So if we really think that Plance will become canon, we can be sure that we will see something that will completely change between the two of them. From this, it's a 50% chance that Plance will become canon.

H O W E V E R

We can look at past interviews and statements made by the cast and crew. Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos (the producers) have said before that Lance will be someone's #1 choice (I don't have the link at hand rn, but if any of y'all do please don't hesitate to add it!). And, if Pidge's crush is canon, Plance is a prettt strong candidate.

Also, Jeremy Shada has said before in a live before that Lance's endgame will seem to be out of nowhere. As I've mentioned before, Plance is a ship you have to analyze before you can truly see why it can be considered a logical ship since most of their interactions are platonic. If Plance were to become canon, it would seem to be out of nowhere to most of the fandom, the Plance shippers will be the ones who would have seen it coming.

Finally, though this can't be used as proof since everyone is entitled to their own opinion, Bex Taylor-Klaus (voice of Pidge) is an avid Plance shipper. They have dropped NUMEROUS hints to Pidge and Lance becoming a thing. They have even fed the garden with a Plance theory for S8 where Lance sets Allura aside once he sees Pidge (using a famous Romeo & Juliet quote: Forswear it sight for I've never seen true beauty till this night).

Obviously, Bex is free to ship whatever they wants and their shipping preferences have nothing to do with whether the ship will become canon or not, but it's worth mentioning.

With the promises and statements made by the crew and staff, there is still a chance.

But whether Plance will be canon or not I'll ship it to my grave and no one will stop you either. So don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Even if a ship isn't canon, you can ship whatever you want. ;)