#Adriens life is so depressing man

[kikigeh]

Miraculous had 5 seasons to try and turn Gabriel/Hawkmoth into a good, interesting or at the bare minimum a convincing threat but I feel like, even despite all of the brand new lore and backstory, his impact is pretty meaningless when at the end of the day he is going to be facing off against Ladybug and not someone else who'd make infinitely more sense for him to be battling against.

Hawkmoth really has no business thinking Ladybug is his greatest enemy when his own incompetence is the only thing he has ever battled against and Ladybug's gripe with Hawkmoth has more to do with the fact that she can't live her normal teenager life because she was chosen to be responsible to stop him. There's absolutely nothing that connects the two besides the fact that Hawkmoth wants her miraculous and the fact that they are both connected to Adrien somehow.

There's no clashing ideologies that are put at the forefront, they are in no way foils, Hawkmoth's "noble" motive of resuscitating his wife is impossible to root for because he spends the rest of the show being utter shit to his son so you can't convince anybody that he's a good person who deserves to be rewarded. The fact that at the end he's going to be rewarded with anonymity, a wish come true and his son never once being able to learn about anything about his deeds, all to make the showdown about how Hawkmoth and Ladybug have always been destined to fight against one another... it's just so silly.

The show really is a monument to wasted potential because how do you miss the chance to make it at least the kind of show that you'd recommend wholeheartedly because at least "the ending is good", and instead opt for the silliest kind of undeserved ending for the bad guy? It's seriously kind of depressing.

And to top it all off, the show actually gave Ladybug a formidable foe in Felix/Argos but then tossed that storyline away over... Lila??? Man.

[sweetcloverheart]

I can't stop thinking about how upsetting it is that in MLB the "Power Of Love" only applies to the villains instead of the heroes, and for such flimsy reasons

Marinette is never allowed to truly nor fully rely on her relationship with her classmates to help with interpersonal problems because if she does, then she can't be the "super strong female protag" the show totes her as. So the show will constantly/actively discourage any cooperation or reliance on her friendships (even as it "punishes" her for failing to do so like in "Penalteam" and "Strikeback") by having it always end in failure or a worst situation, while presenting the others as too "naive and trusting" of her enemies or any adults/solutions as useless (Oh hi Su Han!) to justify it, thereby forcing her to have to tackle whatever issue she faces alone while presenting it as necessary. She's even made to lie to her partner because telling him any relevant information regarding their previous main enemy would mean removing Adrien's glued-on rose-tinteed glasses regarding his father and what an awful human being he was in his final moments of life.

Meanwhile, Gabriel can do everything short of tax fraud and always be presented as our deeply conflicted "morally grey" villain who's actually totally in the right, because everything he does can be excused because it's being done in the name of obsession love for his comatose wife. Nothing he does is worthy of persecution because in the narrative's eyes, he hasn't done anything wrong actually, since it's all for love. Emotionally abusing his son and trying to take advantage of his depressive episodes for his own goals? It's fine, it's for Emilie. Using a clearly emotionally vulnerable child and a super exploitive one for his plans and then abandoning them to the consequences? It's fine, it's for Emilie (and Chloe and Lila are She-demons, so they deserve it!/s). Harassing his son's girlfriend (through both his position and magic) to either try and get them to break up ("Protection" and "Pretension") or getting a magical servant for his own ends ("Chat Blanc")? It's fine, it's for Emilie. Leaving his friend and secretary to die from the same broken miraculous that magic coma-ed his wife? It's fine, it's for Emilie. Using his adult friends and his son's same age ones for his activities as Hawkmoth by purposely upsetting them? It's fine, it's for Emilie. Exploiting his son's image despite said son being clearly uncomfortable with it? It's fine, it's for Emilie. Instructing one of his Akumas to allow his son to fall to his potential death to confirm if he's his teenage nemesis (Edit: was incorrect about event. Have corrected)? It's for Emilie, so he's good! Locking his child in a bleach white rubber room (Unfriendly reminder that Adrien has canonical claustrophobia) because he went to visit his friends and to have him out of the way of his ultimate plan via using the previously mentioned image exploiting? Emilie, Emilie, Emilie - so long as it's for her, anything he does is golden! Even at the very end, where you have Marinette pointing out how much he made his son suffer, Gabriel does no proper reflecting or is forced to have his goal denied of him as a result - instead, he's given posthumous hero status (along with a statue and another adult villain who skipped consequences giving a speech about what a great and noble man he never was) and made directly responsible for the utopia the world became because he threw the heroine's mercy right back in her face; all because the "Power of Love" makes it so that everything he does for Emilie is moral and good, no matter how vile.

[marinetteplztakeabreak]

Miraculous ladybug season 5 episodes (released so far) guide:

For my lovely friends who cannot recall which episode is which (sidenote, if you havent seen season 5 please remember that a very brief memory-jogging summary is not gonna give you full context and please just watch the show if you wanna know what’s going on)

Evolution: time portals, gabi chooses violence against teenagers over saving his loved ones, alix is put into witness protection

Multiplication: Alliance is announced, Adrien quits his job, no one can find Félix

Destruction: Gabi attempts to doxx Ladybug but is foiled by the power of scavenger hunts. Then he cataclysms himself

Jubilation: gabi uses spyware to doxx ladybug real? psyche! It’s just marinette’s old friend in a costume! Also Ladynoir gets married and has four kids and then gets divorced and never speaks of it again

Illusion: “i’ll make you pancakes any day, son.” Gabi is so divorced and in a custody battle. Nino creates the Resistance and akumatizes Gabi on purpose for intel

Determination: adrientte goes back to the wax museum with luka and kagami as wingmen. Marinette fails the date successfully by finally deciding that chat noir is so hot

Passion: Natalie gives Adrien romance advice and gets akumatized on purpose to fight her ex-husband. Ladynoir kwami swap happens.

Reunion: old-fashioned stuffy ladybug calls chat noir a silly little clown boytoy but ladybug will not be stopped from loving him even more

Elation: glaciator 3.0

Transmission: crying sobbing in bed, love confession, rejection, the kwamis decide the depression has gone too far

Deflagration: kittybella, gay rights, five seconds of ladrien, that adrinette hand-raising thing, my entire life

Perfection: “i love moo,” dolphin love song, kagami turns into a cloud for a minute

Migration: luka goes into witness protection

Derision: marinette traumatic backstory reveal. Adrien tries to maim a man

Intuition: gabi is dying. This is his own fault. They are in outer space

Protection: adrinette cute picnic date, look how polyamorous-coded they can make kagami

Adoration: power of lesbians so strong it convinces marinette to say i love you to her boyfriend

Emotion: diamond dance, argos reveal, red moon, laying on the floor bathed in moonlight and wailing rights

Pretension: kagami is slightly kidnapped but then takes over her own kidnapping and gets to trauma dump. Marinette insults Gabi’s pancakes

Revelation: someone Finally gets doxxed! It is Gabi. Lila becomes a conspiracy influencer and a class rep

Confrontation: lila tries to ruin everyone’s lives by messing with their class schedules. marinette is 12,000 steps ahead of her. Lila’s wig is snatched

Collusion: evil police robots are a thing. Bustier is a confirmed lesbian who craves the proletariat uprising. Ladynoir says guillotine the elites. chloe is mayor. Superheroes are illegal.

That’s all that’s been released as of today (may 28, 2023)! Please dont mention leaks on this, this is just a reference for keeping track of released episodes, okay thanks!

[charlietheepicwriter7]

A very merry Christmas to you, @2-depressed-4-u . It is I, your secret santa from @mlsecretsanta . I have had a wonderful time talking to you this year (even if I wasn't supposed to, oops), and hope you have a wonderful holiday.

And now, without further ado, your present.

I Don't Need Sleep, I Need Answers

If his father could see his room at that moment, Adrien was sure the man would faint with shock. Fortunately, Gabriel Agreste was needed in China to investigate one of his companies’ main manufacturers, so Adrien was in the clear… for now.

His room looked like his couch was almost pushed up against one wall, but he’d left a foot of space between it and the wall so he had full access to his masterpiece. Along the north-facing wall was a chaotic conspiracy board, with red string threading from picture to picture. Some of his pieces of evidence were printed out from his computer, like the article about Marinette designing for Jagged Stone or the picture of Ladybug kissing him from back during the Oblivo incident. Others were hand drawn to the best of his ability if he couldn’t find an appropriate image online.

But in the end, all the pictures led back to a center image: his limited edition poster of Ladybug.

Plagg hovered near one of the most important pieces of evidence, the feathered bolo hat Marinette had made. “Hey, kid… when’s the last time you got any sleep?” he asked, his eyes flickering between Adrien and his evidence wall.

“I don’t need any sleep,” Adrien spat, climbing over and onto the back of the couch so he could connect some string between a picture of Marinette and badly-drawn recreation of Multimouse. On the hand drawn page, he wrote no earrings????, with multiple question marks going off the page and onto the wall. “I need answers.”

“I thought you’d decided that you weren’t going to look for Ladybug’s identity anymore?”

The boy scoffed. “I thought so too, but you didn’t see what I saw! During that last akuma battle, Ladybug left, and then… Marinette was there! She always hides during akuma battles, she wouldn’t just run around during one, unless…” He pinned another picture to the wall, wrinkling the paper with his force. “She was Ladybug.”

Plagg sighed. “Or she was trapped in the area and took it as her chance to run. Or she was hiding but someone was in danger, so she rushed out to help. Or some other reason why she’d risk her life. Why don’t you just ask her, kid?”

“Because if she’s Ladybug, she’d just lie!” Adrien explained. “I know how this works, Plagg; we’re not supposed to know each other’s identities. Ladybug sticks to that rule better than me… and no matter how good of a person she is, or how much Marinette hates liars, she’d still be willing to lie to protect herself.”

“If she’s lying to protect herself, then wouldn’t she be safer if you didn’t discover who she is? If you stopped your investigation now, before someone gets hurt?”

Adrien shook his head, picking up another picture of Ladybug. “You don’t understand, Plagg. She shouldn’t have to look out for herself. I should be the one to do it for her.”

I Don't Need Sleep, I Need Answers

Adrien’s plan started the next day at school.

Keeping an eye on Marinette proved impossible when she sat directly behind him, but he kept a keen ear on her and Alya’s conversation. While he didn’t think his Lady would be so blasé to discuss her superheroine life where anyone could hear her, he was expecting at least some reference. Alya was her best friend after all; he’d certainly let things slip to Nino throughout his months as Chat Noir.

But no. There was nothing. When not distracted by classwork, all they talked about was the Ladyblog, and Marinette’s new commissions for Kitty Selection. So, it was onto plan B.

When Plagg was trying to talk him out of this—and really, wasn’t that evidence unto itself, that Plagg was trying to talk him out of investigating—he’d said that Adrien reminded him of Alya. Reminded him that Alya had once done the same thing to Chloe, and gotten akumatized for it. But Adrien wouldn’t get akumatized! For one thing, Marinette was in no way like Chloe. For another, Adrien, and Alya back then, had direct evidence that Chloe wasn’t Ladybug, since Chloe was often seen with or around Ladybug.

Outside of the Multimouse incident, had Adrien ever seen Ladybug save or even talk to Marinette?

No.

But Plagg’s words had reminded him that he wasn’t the only person who’d ever searched for Ladybug’s identity. And his best ally sat behind him and to the left.

Adrien pulled Alya to the side during lunch, with Marinette watching curiously and Nino shaking his head in amusement before engaging Marinette in a conversation. Adrien knew he could count on him. And when he found an abandoned classroom to talk to Alya, he swallowed and began to explain.

She’d looked nervous, when he began, but as he kept explaining all his evidence as to why Marinette could be Ladybug, a thoughtful expression bloomed on her face. But that didn’t mean she automatically believed him. And then she asked a damnable question. “What about Lila?”

Ah. He’d forgotten about Lila.

He preferred to forget about her rather than think about—

Alya continued. “Because she and Ladybug are best friends, you know? But I’m pretty sure Marinette hates Lila. Not that she’d ever say she hates Lila, but she refuses to go to girl’s day when Lila is invited, and she leaves sleep-overs early when she’s there, but Lila has no idea why—”

Oh, Adrien had a good idea why. And it was the same reason why Adrien had convinced his father to only allow single or boys-only shoots for him this spring, that it was more fashionable that way.

“Maybe it’s a ruse?” He offered instead. “Maybe Marinette’s only pretending to dislike Lila so she doesn’t find out her identity? It’s not like Lila has ever said she knew Ladybug’s identity.”

“Well, she did imply it once…” When did that happen!? Adrien might be mostly ignoring Lila at this point, but how did he miss that? “But she backtracked when I asked some more questions, so I think she only suspects she knows who Ladybug is. But if Marinette is Ladybug, then we could talk to her and she doesn’t have to pretend to hate Lila anymore!”

Alya gave a blinding smile. Adrien didn’t have the heart to tell her that Marinette definitely would not change her opinion of Lila if they discovered her identity.

In fact, she might yell at them both.

I Don't Need Sleep, I Need Answers

With Alya on board to stalk Marinette for all the wrong reasons, Adrien had started to feel a little more secure in his plan to discover Ladybug’s identity. For the rest of lunch and the remainder of class, Alya used some leading questions on Marinette to try and get any information, but she was like a steel wall. Alya had even thought up a cool audience participation event where Ladyblog would post everyone’s fan heroes that sounded really interesting.

(Marinette said she’d want to be a black cat hero! She was so cute—)

But there was nothing that pointed towards Marinette being Ladybug. After school, once Alya had begged off girl squad duties and Adrien had lied about an extra long fencing meeting, the two met up to stalk Marinette.

First, she spent a few hours at Eiffel Tower, designing. Then, she spent an hour in a fabric store, picking out a few yards of champagne fabric, all of which looked the same to Adrien’s discerning eye, but were clearly different to her. And finally, she met her parents at a local Italian bistro for dinner. And despite spending their entire afternoon stalking her, they’d learned nothing.

Nothing except the fact that Marinette had an adorable habit of talking to herself when she was alone, but that wasn’t strictly evidence.

Alya sat back on the bench, pulling her disguise hat down to cover her eyes. Marinette and her family were clearly visible from the restaurant window. “Maybe she isn’t Ladybug?” Alya asked. “I mean, Ladybug usually patrols in the afternoon, and she hasn’t left our sight all day!”

That was more because Adrien had offered to talk Ladybug’s afternoon patrol that day, but Alya didn’t need to know that. He hiked the newspaper with holes cut out for eyes higher onto his face. “She could be having an off day?”

“No. Adrien, what was your real reason for—”

Suddenly, the ground shook and people screamed as an akuma, eye-screaming pink and cackling at the top of his lungs, whipped past. They shot to their feet. Alya begged off to chase after the akuma and Adrien let her, his eyes glued to the window. Her family was still there, but Marinette was gone. Was she in the restroom? Or…

“Adrien, what are you doing?”

“I’m just going to check,” he told his kwami, running to the backside of the bistro. If Marinette was Ladybug, she’d have to escape out the back, right?

“There’s an akuma! Come on, you have to—”

“I just need to check!” He scolded. He was almost there!”

“Damn it, kid!” Adrien froze. Was Plagg… mad at him? Plagg was never mad at him! “This has gone on long enough! Is your love life really worth other people’s lives!?”

No. No it wasn’t. And Ladybug would hate him if he even considered for a second skipping out on a battle just to look for her identity.

Really, there was only one choice left.

“Plagg, claws out.”

“Finally!”

He’d have to try again another day. Think of a new plan of attack. But for now, he was Chat Noir. And Chat Noir had a fight to win.

I Don't Need Sleep, I Need Answers

The next day, Plagg immediately wriggled his way into Marinette’s purse, where Tikki sat, contently eating a chocolate-chip cookie.

“Sugar Cube, you’ve got to make sure your user is more careful,” he said, rubbing his head with his paws. “Adrien almost found out her identity!”

“What!?”

[starguardianniom]

Adrien and Marinette screwing each other's character development

That's literally what happened in season 5.

5 seasons of Adrien trying his best to break free of his dad's abuse and control only for Marinette to honors Gabriel's wish and make him believe he was a hero and a good parent, despite having front seat at his abuse, on top of fighting him, and Gabriel made the both of time cry. So now Adrien will forever think his father was a good man, when he was not. He will like his abuser, when the last episode showing them together has Adrien showing nothing but hatred toward his father for thinking he knew better for him when he was just doing what he wanted Adrien to do and not what Adrien wanted himself.

We spent 5 seasons watching Marinette trying and failing to confess to Adrien, only for him to confess to her instead which rendered kind of all her efforts pointless, on top of not having to learn the many lessons that she should have, like regarding his private life, or start seeing him as a person and not a perfect angel who can't do no wrong. They even had some jokes at her behavior, behavior that they later learned was because she had a traumatic experience which made her decide that the next poor sod that would catch her attention would not be permitted to have a private life whatsoever, just because she made an error of judgement and didn't listen to her friend's warning, something she keeps doing repeatedly during the series. She just gets her boyfriend and never has to change her behavior, and he doesn't get to maybe get mad or creeped out at all the stuff she did for him while she could barely speak to him, let alone struggle to stay close less she ran away out of being scared to ask him out. So her toxic behavior also doesn't get to be toned down. Biggest example is after learning that Gabriel is Monarch, she goes to speak to him because she wants Adrien back, not to stop Monarch once in for all. She has to when he finds her in his house and she can't hide much longer.

The main difference, Marinette has been aware since forever that Gabriel was pretty controlling with Adrien and got depressed over it several times since it meant she couldn't hang out with him. And she still sided with his abuser because she didn't want Adrien to deal with the backlash of knowing his father was the local terrorist of the city. A guy she spent 5 season fighting, and spent the last episode of season 5 beating up because he prefered to go with his crazy scheme instead of respecting his wife's last wish. And she decides to respect Gabriel's last wish instead of being honest with Adrien and the rest of the city, which I'm sorry to say, is beyond horrible of her. People deserves the truth, so does Adrien, stop coodling him like his father tried, he doesn't need it.

Meanwhile Adrien just learned in the last season that she had a crush on him. And saw her doing some pretty weird stuff, but never truly saw the real depths as to how far Marinette was willing to go to get his love. He didn't see her bully Kagami, he didn't see her lie and manipulate her parents to make her follow him to Shangai and abandoning her uncle on his birthday just to go stalk him, among other stuff. So he isn't aware of the worst of Marinette, and half of it he thinks she's just weird because to him that's how she's always been, weird and quirky but still charming and cute somehow.

I kind of just realised that while reading other posts about those subjects and just saw that they both ruined each other's development, Adrien unintentionally and Marinette, intentionally.

EDIT: chocolatevoidpizza made me realize I was victim blaming Marinette for the cruel prank she went through in Derision via the line "just because she made an error of judgement and didn't listen to her friend's warning".

That is unfair on Marinette and I apologize for writing that and take it back.

I however won't delete it cause I need the reminder to not have a repeat of that and I need the lesson.

So thank you chocolatevoidpizza for opening my eyes and knocking sense back into me.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Great response, sorry XD and this line in particular jumped out at me for a different surprise reason:

She just doesn't understand why someone with a Perfect Life™ would change without going through some kind of suffering that forces introspection.

Because I am reminded of a fic that managed to speedily (Seemingly) weave in a Chloe redemption arc & Marinette friendship within the first like, week of the new school year in a totally believable way.

Long story short, Adrien fucking died during Stoneheart.

Specifically, he got crushed by a thrown car before he even got into his house. Gabriel went into a depression slump & Marinette blames herself.

Then she gets to class before anyone but Chloe whose not wearing make up, her hairs barely above a rats nest and she's wearing what is obviously a boys over shirt and quietly crying.

She's too nice to ignore that and then she finds out Chloe is crying about a boy "so lonely & so kind" he could evoke such grief and love from a girl Marinette previously thought incapable of those things.

Then Chloe completely breaks down in her arms & just... Does not bounce back to her usual energy after that.

Marinette, as well as a few others, continue to be gentle presences. To the point where Sabrina gives Marinette's picture to the door man so she can go up to Chloe's if she wants.

Then later, Chloe gets Akumatized into "Anti Hero" but she ignored Gabriel's orders for a week because her focus is on "saving everyone, no one else will lose anyone like I lost Adrien."

So yeah, that kind of event is one I can easily see Marinette perceiving as both revealing new depth to Chloe & that she could rationalize as inspiring change, thus inviting her understanding.

Also spoiler but Adrien's not for real dead, he got mixed with a butterfly, Plagg and Gabriel's wish to become perma Chat Noir.

Just thought that was interesting and a good contrast to show ways in which Marinette can be super compassionate and reach out. VS circumstances under which it would go against her every instinct to do so & both being totally valid reads on the character.

Semi-rip to Adrien but also like.

Yeah just. Showing how much Chloé can genuinely care for another person goes a long ass way toward the shattering of the illusion that she's a 2-dimensional bitch.

[the-true-noodles]

incorrect miraculous ladybug quotes 2! (because we need more of them)

part 1

Nathalie: Now, the recipe calls for 2 shots of vodka.

Nathalie: *upends the bottle*

--

*Marinette's second day of interning for Gabriel*

Gabriel: Hand me the people opener.

Marinette: ...

Marinette: Pardon?

Gabriel, annoyed: The people opener! Just hand it to me!

Marinette, stressed: WHAT THE FUCK IS A PEOPLE OPENER?

Gabriel: How do you not know what a people opener is? Its pointy- you know? With a handle?

Marinette: Knife. It's called a knife.

--

Adrien: *walks to cabinet, removes oreo box, takes half a sleeve, throws empty box out* Hi!

Nathalie: Hey- what are you doing-?

Adrien, shoving an oreo into their mouth: I am saving space :D

--

Gabriel: Would it be discrimination to only hire employees at my doughnut shop who have the same name?

Nathalie: Legally, I don't believe that breaches any discrimination laws. Morally though... I don't know.

Gabriel: I believe god is on my side when it comes to Duncans' Doughnuts.

--

Chat Noir: honk.

Gabriel: WHAT.

Chat Noir: HONK.

Gabriel: WHAT DOES HONK MEAN THIS TIME YOU WHIMSICAL PIECE OF SHIT?????

--

Ladybug: So, what's it like living with Hawkmoth?

Mayura: They once referred to sand as "heterosexual glitter."

Ladybug: ...

Mayura: I love him so much.

--

Mayura: Where's Chat Noir?

Hawkmoth: Don't worry, I'll find them.

Hawkmoth, shouting: Ladybug sucks!

Chat Noir, distantly: Ladybug is the best person ever! Fuck you!

Hawkmoth: Found them.

--

Nathalie: I just heard Gabriel call the dog a “fucking liar” because he barked like someone was at the door and no one was there.

--

Chat Noir: You know, Hawkmoth, when you generalize, you tell general... lies.

Hawkmoth: ...

Hawkmoth: Are you trying to teach me moral lessons through puns.

--

Nathalie: How are you gonna carve a gigantic pumpkin?

Gabriel: The same way I make onion rings!

Gabriel: *grabs a chainsaw*

--

Nino: Hey, you want a tarot reading?

Gabriel: Those are Pokemon cards.

Nino You got a magikarp.

Gabriel: ...

Nino: It means 'fuck you'.

--

Hawkmoth: Here's two facts about me.

Hawkmoth: 1. I hate hot people.

Hawkmoth: 2. I'm a hypocrite.

--

*the day this man goes out of the house by himself*

Gabriel: Keep it running. *Tosses keys over shoulder into empty parking lot.*

--

Ladybug: You ever see something that changes your life and you're just like "huh.."

Chat Noir: I saw you.

Ladybug: Honestly that's so cute and sweet but it kinda makes this awkward because I was gonna show you a picture of Hawkmoth in a turkey costume.

--

Marinette: My hands are cold.

Adrien: Here, let me hold them.

Marinette: My lips are cold too.

Adrien: *covers Marinette's mouth with their hand*

--

Gabriel: If we lose, you’re out of the will.

Nathalie: I was in the will?

--

Nathalie: Are you having another depressive episode?

Gabriel: A depressive episode?

Gabriel: I'm having a depressive series and we're just on season one.

--

Gabriel, entering the room: *Sees Adrien and leaves*

Adrien, watching Gabriel leave: There’s my monthly dose of my dad…

--

*Marinette and Nathalie are planning to break in somewhere to save Adrien without Gabriel knowing he was missing*

Marinette: We need to distract the guards.

Nathalie: Right.

Marinette: What are we gonna do?

Nathalie: I'm gonna break their elbows while you poke their eyes.

Marinette:

Nathalie:

Marinette: Deal.

--

Hawkmoth You’d be stupid to lay a hand on me.

Chat Noir: Oh, you’d be surprised how much stupid shit I do.

--

Adrien: *Gasp*

Marinette: wHAT??

Adrien: What if soy milk is just milk introducing itself in Spanish?

Marinette: *inhales*

Gabriel, in another room with Nathalie: Why can I hear screeching?

--

*during a temporary ceasefire because reasons??*

Ladybug: Hawkmoth learned how to fold origami penguins from Chat Noir the other day. I told them, “I feel a little bad for the penguins, it’s hot here”, and the next day they put them in the fridge.

--

Gabriel: Where did you get that tomato soup?

Adrien: It’s actually a bowl of ketchup I just microwaved.

--

Gabriel: Christmas is cancelled.

Adrien: You can't cancel a holiday.

Gabriel: Keep it up, Adrien, and you'll lose New Year's too.

Adrien: What does that mean?

Gabriel: Nathalie, take New Year's away from Adrien.

--

Hawkmoth: Arson? Oh, you mean "crime brûlée".

--

Gabriel, digging their grave: Long story short, this is my grave.......Want me to make you one too?

--

*marinette's internship is something i want to think would be really funny*

Marinette: Hey, wanna help me commit arson?

Gabriel: What the hell!?

Marinette: Oh, sorry, my bad.

Marinette, whispering: Wanna help me commit arson?

Gabriel, whispering: Of course. What do you need?

--

Marinette: So, are you two friends?

Gabriel: Yes.

Natalie: No.

--

Chat Noir: You use emoji’s like a straight person.

Hawkmoth: That’s literally the worst thing anyone has ever said about me.

--

Gabriel: I’ve been here in jail so long I think I’ve lost my mind.

Gabriel: The days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months.

Gabriel: How long have I been in here now? Almost a year?

Nathalie: This is Monopoly.

--

Hawkmoth: Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my actions.

--

Gabriel, putting their hands over Nathalie's eyes: Guess who!

Nathalie: It's either Gabriel or the cold, clammy hands of death.

Gabriel, putting their hands away: It's Gabriel!

Nathalie: Dammit.

--

Ladybug: We need to open this locked door. Nathalie, give me your credit card.

Nathalie: Here.

Ladybug, pocketing it: Thanks. Chat, cataclysm the door.

--

Nathalie: When was the last time you cried?

Adrien: Uh 15 minutes ago, why??

Nathalie: really? That recent?

Adrien: Yeah *voice crack* is that a issue? *starts crying again*

--

Ladybug: Why are you always trying to aggravate me?

Hawkmoth: To relax.

--

*Something crashes*

Adrien: Shoot-

Gabriel: *running into the room in a panic* WHAT FELL?!

Nathalie: *walking by the room calmly* What died?

--

(sorry for taking so long)

[icecreamlipgloss]

K folks I know many of you are so so pissed off about Chat Noir being kept in the dark again. But aren't you exaggerating his supposed reaction when the truth comes out? I mean, he hates being lied to, that's for sure, that's something we can all agree with. But do you remember pre Hack San fandom? Everyone was sure Chat Noir would HATE Ladybug for telling someone her identity. Remember Strike Back and Risk? Y'all wanted Chat Noir to snap at Ladybug. Remember your predictions that Adrienette would break up this season right after getting together? And what happened? You want angst, I can totally get it but how's about you stop for a minute and think whether what you want actually makes sense. Do you want angst just for the sake of angst? Wanting and believing that Adrien would break up with the love of his fricking life because of what his poor excuse of a father had done? I can totally see Adrien being hurt and depressed once he finds out the truth, but hate the girl he loves the most for something that isn't even her fault? blame her for being manipulated by this terrible man? When he knows first-hand what it's like to be manipulated by his father? Are you kidding me? Or do you just want your salty fics (where Marinette gets punished for as much as breathing the same air as Adrien) to become canon? I know keeping secrets is not good for their relationship and it may cause misunderstanding and some tension, but not to the point of breaking up and hating each other. Geez Adrien is the sweetest boy who was literally born from his mother's love, he genuinely tries to see the best in everyone, even in Lila and Chloé, even in his father. Then WHY do you think he would hate the love of his life for this? I'm sure he would understand why she did it. Sorry it's getting to long and emotional, but I'm genuinely shocked by the fandom's reaction. I knew this fandom is wild, but that's too much even for ml fandom.

[nothingtherefornow]

Do people lack empathy and appreciation for superheroes in fiction ?

So ... Today I remembered a day when I went into a new library close to where I lives and when one of the seller offered to inform me about anything I needed about the book in the library, I started asking about Batman and Spider-man comics, which are my favorite (along the Batman/Super-man cross over, the Justice league, the spider-verse and when Spider-man also have cross-over with deadpool and x-men)

And at some point I started talking about how I wish that I could find comics about parallel stories of Batman and Spider-man that I once found and read online, and where the heroes aren't getting traumatized and tormented non-stop and can still enjoy happy and silly moments with their loved ones. Because this is something that started bothering me in the main Amazing spider-man comics continuity happening on earth 616, and the last main Batman serie comics which started in 2016 (I don't remember the name of the earth from that serie, Earth-one I think)

And then I thought about Miraculous Ladybug, about how the ML writters seem to go out of their way to make Marinette and Adrien suffer, while the narrative seems to also set a lot of the blame on Marinette when she doesn't deserve all that pain and hate.

So I asked the seller why superheroes authors couldn't give more a more balanced life to heroes characters, with their downfall but also their happy moments, and why it seems like things always end badly for famous heroes like Spider-man and Batman. Can you guess what he replied to me ?

"Les gens aiment voir les héros se relever, mais ils aiment encore plus les voir sombrer".

Traduction "People love to see heroes rise again, but they love to see them sink more"

And I was like : "0_0 .. WTF ?!! Why would people be so heartless and cruel enough to want to see good heroes get tormented non stop ? How can it motivate anyone to be heroic if the more famous fictitious superheroes constantly get beaten down for trying to do the right thing ?"

That's a depressive reality really. Fortuntaelly I' not the only one who's tired of seeing heroes like Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne be miserable and walking trauma mess, some people on Tumblr would also like to give those two a more happy ending.

Just like I'm sure many of us would love to see Marinette not being constantly threatened to have her life destroyed and ruined by secrets she feels forced to keep because no one ever tells her otherwise, or by jealous psycopath supervillains who have nothing better to do in their life than being poor excuses of human beings.

We've since got the confrmation that season 6 of Miraculous is gonna hurt more than season 5, and to me it means that maybe some of my worst fears about Lila's future strategies to ruin Marinette and Ladybug's lives may turn out to be true 0_O

Lila/Cerise made it very clear at the end of Re-creation that she was gonna go Marinette with ill-meaning intentions, and the psycopath liar may unfortunatelly be half successfull to make Marinette's miserable by the end of season 6 if the ML writters want to satisfy all of those who like to see heroes suffer beyond their breaking point T_T

[adrinoir]

Headcanon: Adrien Agreste is Trans? (Part 5)

Part 5 let’s gooooo!

Wow, so, as I’m going through my own trans journey, I was inspired by some to write another part of this headcanon. I was somehow able to connect Adrien’s character to parts of my own journey. It’s pretty cool!

Here are the other parts of this headcanon if you’d like to read those: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

Usual disclaimer: this is just for fun! Obviously cis boys can have these same qualities and traits. Don’t take it too seriously. These are all just things I’ve noticed. Also please keep in mind I haven't watched anything beyond Migration as I’m writing this (I’m using the material I have so far).

CW: mentions of transphobia and abuse

The struggle to envision his future

Trans people can struggle to envision their life in the future due to not having older trans people to look up to. Or they feel so depressed from gender dysphoria or judgement for being trans that it makes it hard for them to see what their future will be like.

We see in Wishmaker, Adrien doesn’t have much of an idea as to what he wants for his future. He told Luka and Marinette that his head feels empty. And, additionally, he said to Ladybug he never had any childhood dreams.

When he’s hit by Wishmaker, he turns into who he is now. I mentioned in part 2 of this headcanon that there’s trauma behind that, and Adrien is trying to be this perfect young man for his parents. However, I want to look at it from a different perspective-

Consider, he turns into himself now - not even an older version of himself with no differences whatsoever, meaning he possibly might not see anything beyond the person he is now. Or (TW here) he didn’t see (or could barely see) a future for himself as a kid because he was so depressed and dysphoric. It’s not uncommon for trans kids to feel like they won’t live to transition. Especially with Adrien, if he is trans, I can only imagine how terrifying it would be for him trying to come out to his parents.

Or, if he was at first confused by his dysphoria and trying to figure out his identity as a child, that confusion could’ve clouded his vision for his future. He couldn’t completely understand who he is and why he was feeling the way that he was.

Not fully understanding yourself and who you are - even within your gender identity - can cloud how you see yourself now and in your future.

The “I just want to be a son!” line

The line Adrien said in Risk: “I just want to be a son!” stands out to me a lot.

I know he mainly meant it in a way of saying that he wants to be treated like a regular kid by his own father, not like a model. But, - listen, I’ll take whatever crumbs I can get - there’s a strong emphasis on this line and making sure he specifies “son.”

Having this strong desire to no longer model (which is in fact one of my other signs I listed in part 4 of my headcanon) and saying he wants to be a son just gives me vibes that he’s so dehumanized by his own father. His father barely treats him like he’s his kid and uses him as marketing for his designs. And referring to another part of this headcanon (part 1), him and his father have this unexplainable disconnect, even though Adrien is such a good son. I had mentioned maybe it’s because Adrien is trans and his father barely accepts this.

So, if it is true that this disconnect is caused (or at least partially caused) by Adrien being trans, he wants to make it clear he’s at least his son, not his daughter.

The dehumanization

Speaking of that unexplainable disconnect and dehumanization I had just mentioned, I want to get into more detail about that.

Gabriel continues to care so little about his own son, and at this point in the series, we see he’s barely even treated like a human anymore. Gabriel’s behavior has worsened. Gabriel had the audacity to free Adrien of his modeling career by creating a fake AI version of him.

That is absolutely dehumanizing. Like, is it good that Adrien is no longer a model? Yes. But is it good that there’s a duplicate of him saying things and making expressions that aren’t real? Things he never said and did himself?

It’s incredibly slimy behavior to see your son as a marketing tool and way to reach your own stingy goals. And that begs the question: why does Gabriel see his son as just these things? How could a father treat his son with such little love and apathy?

This reminds me a lot of transphobic people because they don’t think of trans people as real people. They say and treat them as if they aren’t humans. They’re willing to threaten them, spit on them, possibly unalive them, insult the daylights out of them, etc as if they don’t have human emotions and lives. And, these transphobes are typically hateful, evil people, just like Mr. Gabriel Agreste.

One could argue that Gabriel has just gone absolutely insane and he showed some compassion for Adrien in earlier parts of the series. But, I don’t feel this is true. Referring to Wishmaker (again lol), it’s shown his parents have had expectations of him his whole life. Their love for him was conditional starting from his early childhood, and we’re not given reason as to why this is - it’s just been suspected to be abuse.

And, if we knock out my first section about Adrien not realizing his future, maybe he did know since childhood that he’s trans. And perhaps he defied his parents (like he did when he ran away to the school) and started taking steps to transition (as many steps as he could before needing his parents to weigh in and be somewhat accepting). That’s why Gabriel neglects Adrien and dehumanizes him, and him just going crazy showed more of his true colors - colors that have existed within him all along.

The relationship & physical affection discomfort

In Adrien’s first relationship, he was so uncomfortable with Kagami despite how long they were friends prior to. Understandably, this was his first relationship, Kagami made a lot of assumptions about him as a person, and came on really strong. But, despite liking her, he was still so uncomfortable and never really got over that.

You’d think he would’ve been okay with kissing her and more physical touch since he seemingly had a bit of a crush on her for quite some time. But he hardly was. And he showed a bit of disappointment when she made wrong assumptions about who he really is.

If Adrien has gender dysphoria, he’s not going to feel very comfortable with physical affection, especially with someone who has the wrong idea of him as a person; someone who doesn’t know he’s trans (at least not yet). Notice how he also backs away at times when Ladybug actually tries to be physically affectionate with him (particularly the Fake Ladybug in Puppeteer 2).

Adrien only seems okay with physical affection if he initiates it. If someone else tries to initiate that first move when he’s not completely comfortable with them, he gets uncomfortable. It has to be by his terms. This could be him having to gain that bit of trust since he’s used to that dismissive attachment style from his father who neglects him - it reflects itself in romantic relationships. But it could also be bodily gender dysphoria and the fact that no one would know he’s trans (aside from his own family).

[flightfoot]

How do you think things might have gone if Adrien got Tikki and Marinette got Plagg? Because I think it would have been the beginning of their villain origin stories.

I feel like Tikki/Marinette and Plagg/Adrien work because they appeal to what the other needs. Tikki needs a holder that thinks outside the box with a ton of creative potential but those people are often frazzled and let their minds run away with them. So Marinette needs someone with a grounding influence and some responsibility to get her back on track.

Plagg needs a holder with a sense of responsibility and restraint to wield such a destructive miraculous, but those people are often in the box thinkers, afraid to step out of line. Adrien needs someone who he doesn’t feel beholden to, someone that encourages a more free thinking spirit.

Tikki is often gently scolding and rerouting Marinette and Adrien is often gently scolding and rerouting Plagg.

So if Adrien had gotten Tikki, they would have worked well initially because of their mutual dedication to doing the responsible thing and following rules. He would happily accept being essentially Spider-Man at first. But Tikki would have eventually become just another directive voice in his head and a daunting responsibility as the more analytics heavy hero and the one who is required to save the day. Adrien is already dangerously close to burn out in canon with his civilian responsibilities and always being the responsible/perfect one. With no outlet and added pressure to be two ideals that everyone looks to - Mr. Bug and Adrien Agreste- I think he’d crash. Hard. Possibly into a depressive, uncaring state. At worst, into a meltdown. And Tikki’s words would fall flat on his ears because they’re just another echo of the expectations that trap him.

And Marinette, oh man. Becoming Ladybug served as a way to build her confidence and encouragement to channel her frantic energy into something productive and clever. Plagg would channel it into pure destruction and chaos and enable her worst impulses. Like Adrien, she might be okay at first, developing an “I’m taking no shit now” attitude and becoming less of a pushover. But without Tikki’s restraint and guidance, With no one in her ear to stopper her more chaotic tendencies, she and Plagg might be menaces together. She might become an antihero or a vigilante. She’d be an emotional wreck because in her moments of clarity she’d be like “I was right! I AM a disaster!” And Plagg would be there like “… yep… really fucked that up. Well at least we have cheese.”

I think that Adrien with Plagg and Marinette with Tikki is more balanced than the alternative, but I don't actually think it'd go that badly if the kwamis were swapped.

There would be an issue with Adrien potentially getting burnout even more than Marinette has if he had the Ladybug role, what with how constrained his civilian life is and not having that much of a support system, so that might potentially be even more of a problem for him than it's been for Marinette.

As far as Tikki's presence though, I think that she could fill a valuable niche in Adrien's life, though a different one than Plagg occupies. Adrien doesn't have the sort of reasonable adult influence that Marinette does. I think Tikki might end up filling that role for Adrien, essentially mothering him at times, helping to fill a bit of the hole left behind when Emilie died.

As for Plagg and Marinette, I do think that him enabling some of her worst instincts could be an issue. Tikki's tried to rein her in when she started going down a path she shouldn't, though admittedly with little success. I don't think she'd ever become an antihero or vigilante though, both Plagg and Marinette have decent moral compasses, they can just be a little lax on the actual rules at times, or when their priorities conflict with their other priorities.

I don't think Plagg would be quite as unhelpful while Marinette was being an emotional wreck as you think though. For her more mild freak outs, sure, he might be unhelpful. But if she was really down, if she NEEDED that reassurance? We've seen Plagg with Adrien during those times, I'd say he's actually a more sensitive, caring kwami than Tikki is when he needs to be. He might try and play it off afterwards, but he's actually pretty good at encouraging his Holder when he needs to, and even getting his Holder out of an emotional hole - we saw that in Syren and Kuro Neko. So Plagg might actually be more helpful than Tikki in that regard.

[vividaway]

mini analysis on the finale

yall im not even gonna lie..........i liked the season 5 finale. the concept that these are teenagers who have been beaten and worn down to a crisp to the point of multiple mental breakdowns from both marinette and adrien.........like of course marinette didn’t tell adrien. she’s a literal child, and she loves him, and honestly? its really not her PLACE to tell him. emilie knows about gabriels involvement with the miraculous. nathalie knows about EVERYTHING. there are multiple ADULTS who can step in and talk to him about this, and they chose not to. multiple people have said it: of COURSE adrien deserve to know, and i will be very upset if they never write in him finding out. but it also seems excessively cruel to do that to adrien. as far as adrien is aware, his dad was trying. he thinks his dad is a man chiseled away by depression and grief, who turned towards his works to cope with the loss. he believes there was a turning point where his father started to try. he allowed him to go to school, to make new friends and go to their house, allowed him to quit, started to show up to school events, and finally started to show him affection. adrien is none the wiser on WHY, and it feels extremely cruel to take away what little happy moments he had left with his father. what is the bare minimum to us, is literally EVERYTHING to adrien, and to me, that does mean something. to me, seeing gabriel sacrifice himself for adrien and his wife-- means EVERYTHING. it is what differentiates an evil, unrecoverable person, from a dynamic character who was never meant to be a good person. we were never meant to like gabriel. he’s the villain! but that doesn’t mean we aren’t supposed to be sympathetic to certain aspects of his journey.  i really do think his character was written well. gabriel is a bad, unredeemable man, who did one good action. i personally can’t look at gabriel from season one and say, “he shouldve sacrificed his life in place of his wives life sooner”, it feels wrong. gabriel from season 1 was EXTREMELY different from gabriel from season 5. we see him change (for the worse) over the course of five seasons. 

and the thing about how gabriel is written is like, its realistic. gabriel isnt just a cartoon villain from some kids show, he show’s patterns of real life villains as well. the manipulation, the lying, the guilt tripping, the abuse-- all of it. and thats why, i understand why some people are pissed he got redeemed. but for me, i see the build up. lila has the photographs from gabriels house, and she knews he was monarch. on top of this, it seems like she’s the successor to the butterfly miraculous. people know what he did, and its not just the people on the good side. i don’t see gabriel staying a sympathetic figure for much longer. but all this being said, i dont think it was the worst. the pacing was great, and the animation was top tier for me. theres so many episodes where i can predict whats going to happen next, but i couldn’t with this one. some thing about it just felt....special. like if you showed alyssa from 2016 the finale, i could literally die. no need to show a peasant child, just showing Season One Era fans what happened and how it looks and we’d just. die. everything about it 10x better than we couldve imagined. the writing, the animation, the pacing, the score, the dialogue, the way the world has expanded and been built up and how often we’re interacting with “background characters”.  for once, it felt like i was watching a real show, with a plot that made sense, and wasnt a dumpster fire. but...from reading the #MLBS5Spoilers tag....yall do NOT agree with my sentiments! and thats okay! 

[almadesarrollo]

things that could happen in MLB from S6 ONwards PART 2

so since we know a little about where everything goes...get ready, here comes the bomb hahaha. I'm going to put short sentences of everything I'm seeing and feeling coming....

-The felinette is the definitive ship and the one that gives meaning to the series.

-This shipp will be built little by little going through all the phases, friends, best friends, combat partners, lovers, boyfriends and married

-Felix will be the only one who truly empathizes, he will listen to Marinette and understand, he will take care of her and protect her, he will do this in civilian life as a hero.

-FELIX will be Ladybug's right hand man, he will start as Argos and then he will be Chatnoir.

-CHATNOIR/FELIX will have a theme that is a mixture of Batman and espionage, it will be like the quietest and most cautious missions.

-One of the reasons why FELIX WILL CHANGE FROM ARGOS TO CHATNOIR WILL BE THE DEBT TO MARINETTE, she saves him at some point in the plot and his life or he owes it to her and that is her way of paying the debt.

-Adrien will be jealous of Marinette when she is flirting with Felix (yes, we'll see that and I'm already looking forward to it)

-The adrinette will come to an end and it will be because of adrien and kagami

-(OMG THIS IS STRONG BUT SERIOUSLY, TIME CHANGES PEOPLE) What Adrien will do to make Adrianette's relationship break is that HE will be unfaithful to Marinette with Kagami,yes, kagami is going to get in the way.

-THIS latter will happen either when the two of them are already teenagers or shortly after Adrien asks Marinette to marry him.

-Marinette is going to reject his proposal and is going to fall into a great depression and adrien too

-Adrien is going to try to fix his relationship with Marinette but it will be too late, she renounces him and takes her place, empowers herself as a woman.

-Marinette will move to New York to follow her dream as a designer, leaving everything behind, even friendships...

-ALYA O KAGAMI is going to betray Marinette and reveal her identity to the world (spiderman no way home haha), because of this her life is going to become hell, that is why she decided to change her look, she will dye blonde and maybe even the name will be changed

-Ryuko is going to love Chatnoir/Adrien, this is what makes them like each other more, since Chatnoir feels valued for the first time...

-LUKA will make Marinette see that life gives second chances in love when Adrien's infidelity occurs.

-Through several characters we can see what the future of our protagonists will be like... through Jagged Stone, Adrien as an adult, through Anarka, as an adult Marinette.

-Marinette will be akumatized because of Adrien's big lie or his identity revelation to the world.

[depressed-teacup-inc]

Kwami’s choice is making me want to scream

Ok first half of kwami’s choice is out, kudos for glob for actually not posting the second half first (they’ve been releasing the season all over the place) and this would be episode 10 of season 5

So finally we have some context on what changed so much in two episodes that Marinette is back with Adrien and forgot completely about Chat Noir, and… THERES LITERALLY NO EXPLANATION!!!

I am telling you, the show legit just makes marinette depressed and crying about her love life again (again, somehow her abandoning all the Kwamis is an afterthought because “love” and not “yeah you fucked up because you refused to treat your partner equally and chose to keep secrets and make dumb decisions on your own and you’re literally digging your own grave”) marinette being “completely in love with chat” for nine episodes was never even mentioned beyond one line, AND ADRIEN TAKES THE BLAME FOR MARINETTE BEING SAD.

YOU HEARD IT HERE FOLKS THE GUY THAT REFUSED A RELATIONSHIP WITH A CIVILIAN BECAUSE OF THE UNHEALTHY POWER DYNAMICS THAT WOULD RESULT FROM SAID RELATIONSHIP DESPITE HIS EMOTIONS IS THE ONE AT FAULT HERE BECAUSE HE “FLIRTED WITH MARINETTE AND BROKE HER HEART”

…I swear to fucking god, ANYWAYS-

Marinette further digs her own grave with Adrien telling him they could never work and that’s blamed on the “iDEnTItY rULe” (which still for some reason matters even tho it legit doesn’t but ok)

Adrien is almost akumatized by his own fucking father TWICE (the only fucking reason Gabriel didn’t akumatize Adrien the first time was because he didn’t have a fucking alliance) I HATE THAT MAN IF THEY EVEN TRY TO JUSTIFY HIM IM OUT

And Tikki and Plagg choose to revoke the miraculouses from Marinette and Adrien for them to be togetherrrr.

Now listen, I understand where theoretically this could be a bittersweet, allowing kids to be kids so to speak, but like. The reasoning is driving me crazy

Like the way the Kwamis and show really decided that romance and teenagers dating is more important then the fate of Paris (especially when that entire relationship sucked to begin with and had so much stalking and red flags) but also the way there’s literally no nuance?

Like what happened to Adrien’s entire “chat noir is the only time I truly get to be me and escape from my constricting life” shtick? What happened to Marinette’s… well I would say her commitment to Paris and saving the Kwamis, and also caring about chat noir, but literally none of these end up sticking in the end, BUT THERES LITERALLY NO NUANCE ANYMORE!

Like the minute the kwamis leave with the miraculouses the only indication we get of Adrien (not even marinette) being sad about not being a hero anymore is his abusive dad saying “his sadness has gotten greater” for a few seconds, AND THEN THEYRE INSTANTLY HAPPY?!

Adrien just rushes to confess to Marinette, and Marinette is suddenly super in love with Adrien, WHICH PROVES NOTHING THAT THEY EVER HAD GOING ON WITH THE HEROES EVER MATTERED?!

Adrien no longer cares about his freedom or his image OR PLAGG because “oh yeah I have marinette so I’m complete!” And Marinette NEVER CARED FOR THE KWAMIS CHAT NOIR HER MISSION OR ANYTHING!!! These two are suddenly as happy as they ever were with no fucking problems in their life!

While the new heroes (yeah btw Alya and Zoe are the new heroes, it’s kinda bland, Zoe is only there to show how much better she is in comparison to Chloe, and her design IS UGLY) are fighting, Marinette and Adrien don’t even show a glimpse of worry, or paranoia, or even an instinct to go fight or “call the heroes” as they do! They legit don’t fucking care and CUDDLE!

The show legit said “yeah all these seasons of these heroes fighting for Paris and truly being influenced by their hero lives? YEAH THAT NEVER MATTERED LOOK GUYS THEYRE HUGGING!”

And I would even be ok with it if the show wanted to go down the road of “yeah being a hero is awful and no one in their right mind would ever want to do it but would rather have the messed up compulsion to help others” BUT THEY DONT DO THAT!!! The show is still like “they’re meant to be!”, they’re still heroes in the next episodes, and literally it seems the only reason they’re still heroes in future episodes, is because the new heroes instantly got tracked down! So they have no motive to be heroes, and no compulsion to be heroes and they don’t seem to be affected from their hero lives, so none of it matters!

There is literally no more nuance or care put into being a hero in this show (the new heroes were pretty much randomly selected teens again, rather then i don’t know, ADULTS? I get that this is a magical girl show, but it would be so cool to show adult heroes handling their emotions and powers better then teens and being role models) and the show legit sacrificed any chance of nuance or character motivation it had for the love square! That’s just bad writing!

But yeah I’m going to go scream into a pillow, call me when part 2 is out

[ultrakart]

Transmission fluid

Been waiting for a hot minute for this episode! We got what, like 2 episodes out of order before finally returning to the correct order? Anyway, let’s watch...!

-OH NO even Marinette’s voicemail is depressed

-Marinette isn’t even spiraling at this point. She’s just defeated :(((

-Believe me, I’m glad that Gabriel holds back from akumatizing Adrien (...this time anyway) but I also wonder why

-Actually now that I think about it for a few seconds, it’s probs because of Nathalie

-Gabriel already NOT on good graces with her and using Adrien like that would only make things worse

-Oh wow, my observation is spot on lol

-BRUH GABRIEL STILL TRYING TO CONVINCE ADRIEN TO WEAR THE ALLIANCE RING

-So tone deaf that man. Here use this relaxation app with Lila’s face on it!

-What a mess of a man you are :)))

-Ahhhhh I was spoiled on this ages ago. I knew this was the episode where Adrien and Marinette give up their miraculous

-THE MUSIC WENT INTO A MINOR KEY THATS NEVER A GOOD SIGN

-Interesting setup here

-The kwamis decide that enough is enough, just because Adrien and Marinette are the best at their job doesn’t mean they should be forced to do it

-And this will probably be a character arc where Adrien and Marinette are able to experience a more simple life... but then realize that such a thing isn’t quite what they want

-Come to think of it, this might be the very first time that the kwamis could choose their own wielder

-And oh hey the seed of Adrinette has been planted huh

-Real subtle Plagg

-Chuck your ring at her lol

-And there they are!

-Scarabella and uh... whatever Zoe calls herself

-I realize that I’ve been spoiled on every major plot point in this episode already lol

-I like Zoe’s look! The purple and green look good together

-Notably, her eyes are NOT acid green!

-So... does that mean Lady Noire with blue eyes is actually possible

-Hi Socqueline!

-Bye Socqueline...

-Splatoon

-Oh. I straight up FORGOT that the Alliance ring is like... calibrated to detect superhero movements

-RIP lol

That episode was MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM it was a taste. A taste of brighter days for Adrien and Marinette.

But is it really?

Rubbing my hands in anticipation of where this goes :O :O

[princess-of-the-corner]

honestly anything TA says about Chloé and her background and motives is just like, a display of shallow understanding on how society works. People don't care if the customer service workers (from waiters to doctors and any job that serves a customer, which is pretty much all of them) do their job for money or because they genuinely like said job so long as they get good service like they were promised. Privilege is part of a whole ass System and you can't say just *this one specific person* has privilege when literally a majority of the cast has white privilege, all of them are at least middle class, and Adrien, who is one of the main characters, and Felix and Gabriel, two other big names in the show, are upper class white males. the last two are people who get off scott free from all their crimes which is probably what would happen in real life because of said privileges. And even then, the money all the rich kids supposedly have? Not even theirs. They're all broke dependent children with Adrien being the only one with a job and even then where's that money going? Does Kagami get fencing prize money? Is it hers or is it her mother's? Also anyone can be abused and have trauma and mental illnesses and whatnot, and full stop. Doesn't matter what you have or don't have.

Yeah no exactly like.

If we pretend for a hot second that having wealth cancels out any other trauma, then it should cancel out at least every traumatic experience for Gabriel, Felix, Adrien and Kagami. Not to mention you have to ask where the line is drawn because a lot of the Miracuclass is pretty well-off even though they're not quite in the 'Scrooge McDuck Money' category. (seriously we have discussed the class's financial situations before and of those whose families we've seen the only one who /might/ not be some kind of rich is Mylene.)

But these things don't exist in a vacuum.

You can have all the money in the world and still have trauma from various things! Since we were just talking about a certain AU, let's gesture over to Batman who is famously very rich but also traumatized as fuck!

Someone wealthy can have fucked up events happen to them. They can have parents that abuse them. They can have partners that abuse them. They could be born with some chemical imbalance that makes them depressed despite the fact that they 'have no reason to be depressed' because fuck man that's what depression does!

And while wealth can help, as it has access to resources to help fix your problems, it doesn't solve things.

But yes! Chloé being a child has another layer to it! Because her wealth is not her own and she /can't/ use her money to fix her problems! Even if Chloé did realize 'hey I need therapy', she'd need to get her parents' permission and have them pay for it.

At the same time, she has no way to escape her situation. She is underage and needs a legal guardian of some sort. Her parents have enough money that she can't report them for child abuse and expect to be removed from their custody. She has no access to income of her own and/or skills to get income where she could petition to be emancipated from them.

And even when she /does/ become an adult, there's the question of what will happen. Because maybe they cut her off and leave her to flounder with no skills as soon as she turns 18. On the other hand, they could keep controlling her like a child because she has no skills thanks to their shitty upbringing and can't survive without them, so it's a game of 'you'll get money as long as you do exactly what I want'.

This stuff does similarly apply to Adrien, Felix and Kagami as well. They seem a bit more ready to function in the world, but even so they're still children at the whims of their parents and can only escape through their parents fucking dying.