NAME: Pidge Gunderson
CANON: Voltron: Legendary Defender
AGE: 14
CANON POINT: Season 2, Between S2 E8 "The Blade of Marmora" and S2 E9 "The Belly of the Weblsum
BACKGROUND: Wiki! Season 2 info here

PERSONALITY: Pidge can come off as distant or a little stand-offish at times. She's definitely something of a tech geek and it's easy for her to get wrapped up in a project or in her purpose. It's not really that she intends to blow people off or to be rude, she just likes to focus on her work. Still, she's a teenager and if she's upset this can mean the silent treatment or at the least a stubborn refusal to talk about her problems.

Aside from this stand-offishness related to her work, she also has a hard time opening up to people about her family and the situation surrounding her parents--finding her brother and father is the driving motivation for her sneaking into the academy and for remaining as a Paladin, but she holds her cards close to her chest until she warms up to her friends. It takes time for her to warm up to people and decide to trust them. For instance, while doing mental exercises with her fellow paladins, she closes herself off, not wanting to reveal her family connection to Shiro's crewmembers. She also has to take time to decide whether or not to stay with the other Paladins, as she initially decides to set off on her own to find her father and brother. Only when she has taken the time to work to help the others and to work with them does she finally decide to stay with them.

Once Pidge does open up and let people into her trust, she's an emphatic and loyal friend who's willing to put herself on the line to help others and to accomplish her goals. She's loyal to friends and family alike, working to find out what really happened to her missing father and brother despite being repeatedly stonewalled. She often refuses to quit and was willing to travel deep space by herself to try and track down her family, even if it meant leaving behind the last vestiges of a familiar life. Pidge does NOT give up easily, no matter what obstacles she's facing, whether it's intractable bureaucracy or alien warlords.

Pidge has fire in her and isn't afraid to stand up for herself and even lets her temper get the best of her from time to time. Yelling at military officials who won't give her information about her missing family members or getting into an argument with her friends is normal for her. Plus, being a teenager comes with all the normal emotional ups and downs, aside from all the dramatic space adventures. She has a playful, mischievous side to her as well and is ready to throw in a smart remark or to cut Lance down to size if he's said something stupid.

Her tech-mindedness is mated with an enthusiastic and energetic curiosity. Pidge enthusiastically fawns over and experiments with alien technology and has no problem with asking questions about things she doesn't yet understand. This curiosity also manifests itself in her unveiled awe at the amazing things and sites she experiences in her time with the Paladins and she has a vast enthusiasm for exploration and learning new things. When encountering a new alien robot, for instance, she clambers all over it, examining it and poking at it.

Pidge is a curious, bright, and inquisitive girl. At the same time, though, she tends to be guarded and reluctant to let others into her space, physically and emotionally. Once someone IS let in there, though, they're bound to have a friend for life.

ABILITIES/POWERS: Pidge is your normal teenage girl and probably a little skinny, so she's not all that physically powerful. Still, she's quick on her feet and thinks quickly. She has some fighting skill with here paladin's weapon. Where she shines is her knowledge in technology and engineering. She's able to work on mechanical or electronic devices, knows her way around computer systems, and generally is something of a tech head. She is able to hack into Galra systems with some effort despite being completely new to their technology. She is a problem-solver and tends to think quickly and analytically without too much trouble. She's also an accomplished pilot when it comes to flying the Green Lion and is a good hand with small melee weapons, including her Paladin's bayard.

INVENTORY: Her bayard, a backpack with headphones, her computer, and various other bits and bobs of electronic equipment and tools, the Green Lion

LINKED SAMPLES: Sample one, sample two
WRITTEN SAMPLE: Despite being far away from home (well, further away) it was nice to have something that Pidge could put herself to work doing. The teenage girl is tucked half inside the manifold of one of the Eluvio's shuttlecraft, tinkering with the engine systems as a way to pass the time. It kept her focused and kept her from fretting about stuff too much. Like Matt. And dad. Normalcy, or what had been her normalcy, and Earth all seemed very, very far way. Heck, everything seemed faraway and long ago, really. It seemed like it had been ages since she'd been at the Garrison, since she'd become part of the Voltron family even if it had really only been a few weeks since then. It dominated her recent memory. And now she wasn't even able to move freely with the castle--they were stuck here with this motley crew and strange starship, slaved to it until they could find some way to return to where they were supposed to be.

Not having to fight for her life anymore was kind of a relief, but all the same, she found that she missed it. There was something comforting (or, she hated to admit, thrilling) about piloting the Green Lion, feeling the craft respond to her even before she really knew it. The connection there was like nothing else and she was glad to have the Green Lion here with her. Pidge grunted and tightened down a fastner, frowned, and tugged herself free to sit cross-legged in front of her computer which had been plugged into the systems computer of the craft. Alright, time for the real work to begin.