Reflection and Analysis

Voltron: Legendary Defender - Characters Ages

According to a particular group of fans for the series, the ages of the Voltron characters have been confirmed during Comicon 2016. Having watched the material in question, I can say this is actually not true, and the fact the material is being taken as evidence is honestly rather sad.

This entire matter started because one fan got tired of other fans telling her Shiro was, at twenty-five, an old geezer, but also because they didn't believe her when she said he had to be twenty-five. The first problem comes from why nobody believed her; there was actual information floating around that the staff said all of the Paladins were actually in their teens, thus meaning Shiro couldn't be twenty-five. People have forgotten about this ever since the supposed evidence came out.

There is also evidence in the show that the four younger paladins are eighteen or under, which brings us to why people called Shiro an old geezer. It's not because twenty-five really is an old geezer age; for example, Michael Phelps is still able to win gold medals at the 2016 Olympics despite being in his thirties. However, in the same regard, Phelps is still an old geezer in comparison to the younger members of the team; there is an eleven-year age gap between him and the youngest swimmer.

With such a supposed age gap between Shiro and the next youngest, how is he not only able to command the group, but also interact with them socially? It's actually not normal in the military for a commanding officer to act in such a friendly manner with his subordinates, unless of course there isn't much of an age gap. Yes, the US men's swim team does have a major comradery going on, but there is a very wide age range for the team, while Shiro's supposed age of twenty-five ends up being an outlier in comparison.

A fan replying to the comment says the entire mess has nothing to do with shipping, but I honestly wonder if this is true. One of the arguments against pairing Shiro and Pidge together is the age gap, which according to the fan who posted the supposed evidence is eleven years. How can this not be used as fuel against said ship? I personally like the pairing, because even with an age gap I expect Shiro to wait. However, there are still people out there who find any age gap over three to squick them, not realizing this ties into the age of consent.

Back through to the supposed evidence. I've listened to the video over and over again, and can say the evidence does not exist, as the answer to the question was that the ages given were a "safety zone" and "that's pretty much, yeah" the "yeah" part coming after the other staff member said "safety zone". I took the time to watch the actual panel, so from that, I know the staff was vague on a lot of questions because they legally answer said questions, and yet this one fan thought they'd managed to sneak an answer out of the staff when they were being vague on the matter.

That said, the interview did confirm that Shiro is an adult, the others were not, which means Shiro is eighteen or older, and the others are seventeen or younger. People, however, are still guessing the younger three males to be around eighteen to nineteen age wise, so where do the theories for the ages even come from? Having talked to a few other fans, the ages come from the lack of willingness to suspend their disbelief on things they should be willing to suspend their disbelief on.

Shiro: Shiro's age of twenty-five comes from the age of the youngest astronaut out there.

Since this is the known to many people, they struggle with believing someone as young as eighteen or nineteen could become an astronaut, let alone be chosen for a mission into outer space. However, the common theory even among actual astronauts is that the age will drop drastically as technology advances, and there was the belief that the record would have been broken by now or close to it, had the funds for NASA not been cut.

Add to this, the other common theory out there is that once we're able to get to pluto in a few months, there will be space exploration preparatory schools due to the need for astronauts increasing, and the job becoming less exclusive. One of the reasons for the exclusivity is because astronauts typically end up having a degree before going out to space due to the fact space travel is still in the experimental phases, but by the time Shiro goes on the Kerberos mission, this would not be the case.

Someone asked me how anyone could pick an eighteen to nineteen year old to go on a mission as important as the Kerberos mission, but in turn, I asked how could they not if the person had proven themselves skilled enough. Shiro wasn't the leader of the mission, Pidge's father was, so it wasn't as if he was being picked to lead a mission. Hands down a lot of the problem lie in ageism towards younger people, telling them they pretty much can't be successful at young ages simply because there is no way someone that young would have enough experience. On top of this, what does that say about Holt's son? He doesn't look that old.

One other person mentions the fact Shiro doesn't look to be that young physically. The problem is, I've seen eighteen to nineteen-year-olds - including those of Asian decent - who look like Shiro. All of these teens are quite athletic in their pursuits.

Hunk, Lance, Keith: A lot of people believe that Hunk, Lance, and Keith have to be at least eighteen, and yet this has been debunked by the fact the staff has very clearly stated Shiro is the only adult, and one legally becomes an adult when they turn eighteen. We don't have weight and height to go by.

People also missed a clue in the first episode where Hunk talks about getting stuck in the Principle's office, meaning the program they're in is an alternate to high school. A few people have problems believing such a program exists, although a lot of sci-fi series features such schools. I found out recently why when I discussed this with another person - there is the belief that military training starts when one turns seventeen or heads off to a college level program.

That, however, is a myth.

There are military programs out there geared at high school students. For example, there is the JROTC, military academies, the Sea Cadet program. So, once space travel becomes a norm, it isn't too far off to assume that a program which space exploration would also crop up.

Again, someone told me that they think the trio look older than sixteen, but again, I've seen teens around fourteen to fifteen who look like the characters. Typically though the age range is between fifteen and seventeen depending on personal genetics.

Pidge: She's small, so she must be fourteen, or that's the way the theory works.

Except, I've seen sixteen-year-old females who are as small as Pidge. I know grown women who are as small and petite as Pidge! Add to this, her brother is on the small side of things, and her father is shorter than Shiro of all people. Her family is short, so to say she's fourteen because she's small doesn't work. The staff's not confirmed that she's the youngest last time I checked, it is simply assumed because of the original material that she is.

However, at least now people aren't still trying to think she's a preteen.