Reflection and Analysis

Voltron: Faulty Concept of Headcanon

The ages of the Voltron characters are unknown, but some people believe that Shiro is twenty-five and Pidge is fourteen. As discussed in earlier reflection essays, part of this belief comes from a fan video claiming to have gotten the actual confirmation on the canon character's ages, when said fan did not. In regards to what I've found in the discussions, there is talk about how everyone has their different headcanon, and we should just get along. The logic behind this is there is nothing wrong with having different opinions, and part of civil discussion is accepting other people's opinions.

I disagree with this attitude.

First off, while it is true that one should have civil discussions regarding differing opinions, if an interpretation is incorrect, then one can be called out for said interpretation. Even before the series launched the staff made it quite clear they de-aged all paladins to teens, and the comics for the series which were released before said video very clearly says all five are teens. It is not the staffs fault certain fans are not willing to suspend their disbelief in the matter, but the fault of the fan. The fact certain fans are unable to properly suspend their disbelief actually says more about the fan than anything, but more on that in a bit.

However, there is another reason.

Here are the definitions of Canon, Fanon and Headcanon from zoni's article "Fan Fiction Basics: Canon, Fanon and Headcanon".

~ "Canon is facts, information and events presented in the source material your story is based on."
~ "Fanon is a belief generally agreed upon by multiple fans to fill in gaps in a storyline, universe or character history when facts are not provided in the source material.
~ "Headcanon is an imagined reality of the source material which may or may not agree with the canon."

However, zoni goes on to say two other things. In regards to fanon, "fanon must mesh seamlessly with the canon. To be useful, these imagined or suggested details have to line up with plot holes, questions that need answers or other problems that show up in most fandoms." In regards to headcanon, "most headcanon is comprised of fangirl fantasies, inside jokes and other silly things that don't play into serious stories. Typically there's no basis in the source material and headcanon rarely makes it past conversations with friends or oddball posts on Tumblr. When it does, it can confuse readers. Headcanon is typically unique to every fan. Nobody (or, at least hopefull nobody) has exactly the same headcanon as someone else."

There are a few problems though with zoni's definitions. For example, this idea that Shiro and Pidge is twenty-five and fourteen is agreed upon by multiple fans, and most certainly contradicts canon even though fans of said ages say that it does not. More on that is a bit. I am going to argue here that where something is fanon or not isn't based on a large number of fans agreeing on the idea, but whether or not people can agree with the argument being made for said argument. Headcanon on the other hand is just an imagined reality which does in fact contradict the canon material, and thus should be avoided at all times.

After all, does not the word headcanon derive from the idea that that the idea is just in your head?

More specifically, there are two other terms which are important to use. Jossed or Jossed Fanon is fanon that at one point did not contradict fanon, but was also a theory regarding where canon material could go. Ascended Fanon is fanon which becomes canon. The idea that Shiro is twenty-five does not count as either, because the staff said before the show that they'd made all of the characters teens, but nobody wanted to believe them, and even though it wasn't straight out stated in the canon material before the comics, there is clues as to this being true.