Lance

Landing on Arus, they met Allura and Coran on the Castle of Lions and discovered they were about to become part of the greatest fighting force the universe had ever known... but first, they had to go collect the pieces. Lance and Hunk went to collect the Yellow Lion while Shiro and Pidge picked up Green, then they all went to help Keith collect Red from a Galra cruiser and awoke Black. With all five Lions awakened, and a little bit of teamwork, they were able to form Voltron, Defender of the Universe, and take on the first of many Galra-created creatures called Robeasts that were sent out to stop them. Unfortunately, the celebration held afterward only gave the Galra commander Sendak a chance to sneak a drone into the ship and destroy the crystal that powered it. Lance and Coran were near the center of the blast when it happened, and Lance tackled the Altean to the ground, shielding him but taking the brunt, which knocked him out for a good while. The others managed to stop Sendak from launching the castle, and during the fighting, Lance came to long enough to shoot at Sendak with his rifle/bayard, then passed out again.

He spent a while in stasis to heal, and when he woke, he had two bombshells dropped on him: the Castle was a ship, and Pidge was a girl - not that he really treated her any differently after that revelation. The crew set out to the Balmera that Coran and Hunk had visited that was under Galra 'rule', but were stopped by a distress call from a disabled ship. Hunk had a weird feeling about them, and they might've avoided issues, but Lance took it upon himself to flirt with Nyma to the point that he took her for a ride in Blue, got himself chained to a tree, and had his lion stolen. The others managed to get it back, stopping Nyma and Rolo, then resumed the trip to the Balmera, only to find that although they got the crystal they needed to replace the ruined one, the planet was dying and there was another Robeast. While Voltron held the beast off, Allura performed a ceremony and rejuvenated the Balmera, which showed thanks by crystallizing the beast and ending the fight.

Thanks to Sendak's tampering, the Castle's AI of King Alfor, created to preserve his memories for Allura, was corrupted and set the castle into a tizzy. Because of this, Lance was nearly frozen in a cryo-chamber that closed on him while he and Coran cleaned them, then almost got sucked out of an airlock and was rescued by Keith who'd been running from a training program gone very wrong. In the end, Allura deleted King Alfor's memories before it could send them hurling into an exploding star and the ship resumed normal operation.

From there, they set out to launch an attack on a Galra supply hub, but in the process, Allura was captured. They launched a rescue attempt and Allura was freed, but not before Shiro was injured by Zarkon's witch, Haggar. While trying to make their escape after the discovery that Zarkon was the original Black Paladin, the wormhole was compromised, sending them all spinning off in different directions, with Lance and Hunk ending up on an underwater ice planet with mermaids. Lance was abducted by a group who reverses the mind-control he'd been placed under, and from there, not only rescued Hunk who had suffered the same mind-control, but then the two of them fought off the creature that was not only controlling the mermaids but feeding on them as well. During this fight, Lance discovered Blue's sonic wave ability and the creature was crushed beneath rubble.

Once back on the Castle, Shiro was finally healed up and the group met Ulaz of the Blade of Marmora, who gave them information and sent them to the base he was stationed at as a show of good faith, but the Galra managed to track them, sending another Robeast. Voltron fought it off as best they could, but it was Ulaz who defeated it, sacrificing himself to do so.

Following the events with Ulaz, Voltron rescued the Olkari and the Taujeerians, but despite their best efforts, Zarkon kept tracking them down. They eventually managed to figure out how it kept happening, determining it was through his link with the Black Lion after Red took of across space to pick up Keith and Allura. During all of this, the ship's teludav (wormholer) was damaged, and when the smoke cleared, it was decided they needed to get some new lenses to do the repairs, so it was off to the Space Mall, and after repairs were made, the team set out for the Blade of Marmora's headquarters.

After winning over the Blade courtesy of Keith, the Blade and Team Voltron formulated a plan to stop Zarkon, but there were several tasks to be undertaken to get things ready. While everyone set out for their respective missions, Lance went with Pidge and Shiro to Beta Traz, a prison built for one prisoner: a genius architect by the name of Slav. None of them knew what Slav looked like, and there were two paths, so Pidge did the tech support while Shiro and Lance split up. Shiro found Slav... and Lance freed the guard's pet Yupper, Laika, believing it to be Slav. Oddly, Laika's presence actually helped them get away from the guard, and just before the airlock closed, Lance sniped the guard's robotic arm to free Slav from its grasp, making the mission a success.

With the bigger and better teludav finished, it was time to attack Zarkon. The battle was rough, and things went wrong, but they were successful in separating Zarkon from his troops. By the end of the fighting, Zarkon was gravely wounded, Shiro had vanished, and Haggar summoned Zarkon's son, Lotor, to take the throne.

Without Shiro, a new Black Paladin needed to be found, and from the group, Keith was chosen by the lion. To fill the gap left by playing musical paladins, Red selected Lance and Blue picked up Allura. This new team was no match for Lotor though, and they had extreme difficulty forming Voltron. When they finally managed, it was in time to go retrieve a trans-reality comet after picking up a distress signal from an Altean ship that was trapped between realities. The removal of the comet closed the rift, but Lotor was on hand to snatch up the comet and make a getaway. Soon after, Zarkon was revived then branded Lotor a criminal and traitor to the Galra with a kill on sight order, and Shiro escaped a Galra cruiser to return to the team.

Shiro's return made Lance question his position, since he figured Shiro'd take Black, Keith would want Red, and he couldn't take Blue from Allura... so he offered to step down. Keith tried to reassure him that it would all work out, but he didn't seem too convinced. In the end, Keith left to work with the Blade and Lance stayed with Red.

Soon, a plan was hatched to take down a third of the Galra Empire in one swoop, and all of the rebel forces were given their roles to play. Between the rebels, the Blade, and Voltron, key strategic points were secured and a battle raged at the Galra-run planet of Naxela. Unfortunately, Naxela was home to Altean technology that Haggar and the druids reawakened, intent on turning the entire planet into a bomb to severely cripple the rebels and destroy Voltron who was trapped beneath a shield that covered the planet. Lance managed to convince Allura to tap into her own latent abilities that had shown themselves on the Balmera and use that to try and break free, which actually worked. The shields on Haggar's cruiser were too powerful though, and it looked as if she might win. Keith turned his fighter around to sacrifice himself in hope of bringing down the shield, but instead, Lotor arrived just in the nick of time to shoot the shields and destroy the ship's armor. Haggar and the druids retreated to avoid annihilation, and Lotor handed himself over to Team Voltron and the rebels.

Eventually, Zarkon contacted Team Voltron and made an offer they couldn't refuse: give him Lotor, and he would hand over Pidge's dad. Despite Lotor's warnings, Zarkon double-crossed them during the exchange, and Lotor attacked Zarkon head-on, killing his father after a heated battle. Not long after, the Kral Zera, a Galran coronation ceremony, occurred, and Lotor took the throne as Emperor, ushering in a new era of peace among the Galra.

To show his sincerity, Lotor invited Team Voltron to the Galra headquarters, and while he and Allura went elsewhere, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk decided to have a little fun of their own, reprogramming the sentry assigned to give them a tour. With the new and improved Fun Sentry, the three of them blew up packs of food goo in the kitchens until they were chased out, played golf with sentry parts until they were chased away, took photos on the Galra throne until they were chased off, and commandeered their chasers and used them as mounts for a game of chicken in a corridor. Finally, at Fun Sentry's request, they strapped it to the front of the Robeast Coffin... and launched it into space amid a trail of fireworks.

After launching the Fun!Sentry into space, the team regroups and learns that Lotor and Allura happened upon a magical rock that lights the way to the mystical realm of Oriande... which is actually just a floating island inside a white hole whose entryway is blocked by a white lion (the cat, not the band) made of light and alchemy. They head to the coordinates and after an attempt to enter leaves Voltron and the Castle dead in the water with no power, Lotor and Allura run off to do it themselves since they're the only ones who fit the 'chosen one' criteria while the others work on trying to fix the ship. During this time, Lance, who was VERY against Allura going with Lotor, drives the others up a wall, fretting over Allura's safety to the point that he's shoved off on Shiro and removed from the room. The two of them hang out in the hall and have a little heart to heart talk so that the others can work in peace. Eventually, the oxygen levels hit 5% and they're all on the verge of blackout when suddenly Allura and Lotor return and the ship is now at full power again due to the magic of alchemy.

Not long after, the team goes to the aid of a shield station that's suffering damage due to an attack by Sendak's troops, rushing to assist and repair with Lance and Allura working together to weld a broken plate. Unfortunately, the weld begins to short out and Lance/Red slam into Allura/Blue to push them out of the way of the explosion that ensues, taking the blast themselves. Red is shorted and powered down. Lance... got the shock of his life and unless the circuit was completed through his body there's no way he didn't end up dead. While Hunk scrambles to get everything fixed, Allura exits Blue and flies to Red, using her alchemy to revive her teammate.

Back on the Castle, Lotor and Allura work on infusing Lotor's ship while Pidge and Hunk tease Lance mercilessly for crushing on Allura who clearly has a thing for Lotor. When Lance finally leaves the room, he ends up hanging out with the mice who 'listen' to him pour his heart out over her. Afterwards, the mice prove not terribly trustworthy because they rat him out to her, and she doesn't seem to know how to take it because she's... really not into him.

During some down time, they play Monsters and Mana, a D&D knockoff. Lance really isn't interested because it's a book, and only plays because of Allura, then when she runs off to Lotor after one campaign, sticks around because he's depressed about it and has nothing else to do. One-sided feelings are hard, man.

When the ship is completed, Allura and Lotor take it for a test run in the quintessence field through a trans-reality gate... and an Altean pod shows up. It's Keith, with his Galra mom (Krolia), a wolf (Kosmo), and an Altean (Romelle). Explanations ensue and *GASP* Lotor has been playing them all along: some Alteans survived the destruction of Altea and Lotor banded them together in one place claiming to want to keep them safe, shuttling them between two colonies. Yeah, it was a lie and he used them as batteries for his own shit, sucking out their quintessence. Upon return from the test flight, confrontations happen, Allura dumps Lotor on his head and Shiro whacks out, grabs Lotor, steals a ship, and it's hasta la later. The rest of the team gets their lions, and off they go after Shiro~!

However, Voltron is too slow, so the lions split and launch the Black Lion through a wormhole so that Keith can chase Shiro while the rest of the team contends with the nasty computer virus parting gift Shiro left. Pidge and Coran go to town on the ship and Allura blames herself for everything that happened... something Lance immediately intervenes on. He does his best to comfort her and remind her that hey, we all fuck up sometimes, when Keith cuts in to say he's on his way back with Shiro... oh and Lotor is coming. They realize Lotor's going for the gate, and set out to cockblock by blowing it up.

When that's done, the team meets Lotor and his generals only to get their asses whupped hard until the Black Lion shows up in the nick of time. They form Voltron, still get beat, and then follow Lotor into the quintessence field to match his power. They duke it out, but it's adversely affecting the paladins, so they concede to Allura's plan to overload Lotor with quintessence before making a break for it and leaving him behind, teaching him not to mack on a girl after using her people as Energizer replacements.

Except now they have a bigger problem: all that jumping in and out left tears in reality that are starting to get bigger and will destroy everything if they're not closed up, but how to close them? Coran suggests overloading the teludav and use the explosion to do the trick but they'll have to sacrifice the Castle... so they evacuate everything, and do just that. They regroup on a small planet where Keith explains that real!Shiro's been dead for a while but his spirit's chillin' in the Black Lion and the other was clone!Shiro who's... right there on the ground, so Allura pulls real!Shiro's consciousness out and plants it in the body of clone!Shiro that Keith brought with him, and Pidge reveals that her dad has a copy of the Castle's blueprints. So we go to Earth!

While Shiro (who is actual Shiro now and not a clone) is unconscious, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Coran, and Romelle set out to find something called faunatonium which will help to recharge the Lions since oops, that was what the Castle was for. To do this, they have to find and track an anteater called a Yalmor, but instead they're sprayed by an alien skunk and shrunk down like kids in a Rick Moranis movie. Adventure and mayhem ensues as they hitch a ride on said Yalmor and eventually locate the faunatonium which returns them back to normal size. Now that they have the substance they need, they return to... wherever it was they set out from and Shiro wakes.

The group heads for Earth and attempts to contact the Coalition, but no luck. They eventually reach a Marmora outpost that's long abandoned, and are attacked/captured. Despite Lance's best efforts, there are no secret passages to be had. Coran, Axca (former Lotor general), and the mice band together to get everyone out, and when they get to their lions and away safe, Acxa then fills them in on what's happened in their absence: somehow, thanks to the beauty of plot holes, it's been 3 years since the fight with Lotor, because how does that even work when not everyone was hopping through reality? Wouldn't the people on the Castle have noticed that 'wow, this is taking forever'? Does nobody other than Romelle ask questions in this series?

They continue toward Earth when they're whisked off in a weird group dream game show called "Garfle Warfle Snick" and are made to play various games/solve puzzles that have them reflecting on the people and places they've seen during their travels as Paladins of Voltron. After getting to the final round, they're told to vote one off the island and the rest would stay forever, so they all vote one another off for different reasons. Host Bob caves and lets them all go, and as they wake up and wonder what just happened, Coran says Bob is an omnipotent inter-dimensional being who judges the worth of would-be heroes, and he must have accepted them, meaning that they are meant to be the defenders of the universe.