#Ml guardian lore

[familyagrestefanblog]

If you ever wondered how little some Marinette fans care about actual canon, always remember that the theory of "Marinette has to one day give up her memory of her whole life by renouncing her guardianship to pass it on and die in tragedy" is entirely made up by the Fandom.

Nothing in the show ever so much as implied that this is something every guardian has to do by default and it doesn't even made sense logically because it fundamentally requires of you to ignore that Marinette could die in a car crash tomorrow like any normal person and she'd obviously have died a guardian, too, with the Miracle box then being passed on regularly. The universe won't explode if Marinette Dupain-Cheng hasn't first given life itself permission to kill her off by renouncing her guardianship. Su-Han was literally shown to have control over the Miracle box, too. The world will live.

Not to mention that the guardian culture looked MUCH more like all of them were supposed to be able to guard several Miracle boxes the Temple has because they were/are a whole ass GROUP of people picked for that cause and had to dedicate their lives to that temple and calling. Marinette in Canon is as good as stated by Su-Han to not follow any rules on how a guardianship is supposed to work and Fu was alone by necessity. Permanent heros weren't even supposed to be a thing much less a whole team by one Miraculous holder guardian (which is also not supposed to exist).

Just because canon had Marinette say "Nah, imma do whatever I want cause I'm the only guardian culture I'll take into consideration" doesn't it mean she's suddenly the only source of reference for how this works. She didn't invent guardianship, the logistics and rules don't start with her. There is literally no reason for why Marinette at any point HAS TO give up her memories when she's old. She can just give someone else the Box and not renounce her guardianship until she dies. Why are people insisting that that's not possible as if the show would ever tolerate Marinette having to follow such an order anyway?

The theory literally relies on you treating Marinette as the first and only guardian to count for the logistics of this, and you entirely ignoring everything we've ever seen of the guardian culture and lore in the show because I have genuinely no idea where the fuck this reading came from. Certainly not Canon cause it's in no way Canon compliant, her fans just ran with introduced concepts and rewrote everything about it for maximum drama.

Giving up one's memories is a safety method and nothing in Canon ever treated it as anything else.

[wintermoth]

So I’ve been thinking about the ML Guardians AU, and about how when one of the kwami pair dies the other takes on a few of their traits, like how the Fox will have truth mixed in with lies when she talks, how the Butterfly is, well, chaotic now. So I was wondering how about water and fire? How does traits of water manifest with the Tiger of fire?

(Also absolutely no pressure to answer this. I get this is an old AU and my question is out of the blue.)

*cracks knuckles*

Since water and fire are material things rather than immaterial, it presents differently.

Firra the Fox successfully adapted to life without her partner by learning to tell the truth with her lies. Had Firra failed to adapt, she would have drowned in her lies, unable to find a Guardian let alone maintain a relationship with one. Truth and his Guardian were responsible for a lot of the Fox Guardian's early education until he or she learned how to speak Firra's language and play her game.

Nurru, on the other hand, being Order, was all about schedules and routines. Every day didn't have to be the same but deviations from the schedule or expectations were frowned upon. He liked things to be neat and tidy. Unlike Firra, Nurru never really stood a chance at saving himself. Losing Kaoss was such a fundamental disruption to his existence that he literally could not comprehend how it was possible, what life would be like without her, or how to proceed.

He should have retreated so deep into the concept of Order that he became a being of stasis and stagnation instead. However, his Guardian's behavior in the wake of their deaths became the compass by which he oriented himself. Revenge, grief, and desperation became the new normal for Order and, unfortunately, its created a feedback loop between them, which has spiraled them into chaos and madness.

Now, Baagh. As I said earlier, representing an elemental force rather than an a concept, he functions differently. He's not obsessed with fire, flames, etc. He doesn't orient his life around them. In the old days, he used to run hot enough on a normal day that he could set things on fire just by touching them for too long. He could ignite any and all parts of his body and it wasn't unusual for him to have some sort of open flame somewhere (a la Charmander tail). He wasn't afraid to cause fires because he knew that Water was right there to stop things from getting out of control and keep him in check.

So, when she died, he quickly realized that his safety net was gone and that a simple touch could burn a village to the ground. He could not live among people--ie have a Guardian--if he was just going to ruin their homes and lives by existing. So instead, rather than taking on the physical aspects of water, he changed his behavior to account for the loss of it. The way humans have to adapt their behaviors in a drought to prevent fires from breaking out. He learned to keep his body temperature low enough that he wouldn't start fires, he kept himself free of flames, and became far more cautious overall.

[ilikekidsshows]

-long ask ahead-

Big fandom blog recently said that ML is a character-driven show, that it shows what the characters WOULD do, not what they SHOULD do. This really got me thinking.

Somehow I can kinda see their point; if there was a book about the events of ML written completely from Marinette's POV, we could see all her thoughts and how she disregards other characters' feelings/existance and it would make sense because they are not of any priority to her view of the world. As Marinette she has a strong drive to get Adrien into her hands that leads to all kinds of funny/questionable situations. Her depictions in the show where she paranoidly imagines scenarios with Adrien or is plotting to get to him is what I could see as character-driven moments. No-one outside of herself is giving her these goals and ambitions.

But aside from that? The Ladybug/superhero side seems only reactive instead of active. She saves the day when the villains attack, but has no ambition to go after them when the attack is over. There is no real tie to her personal life aside from her having to play the hero role and some attacks interrupting her civilian life. If the story wouldn't emphasize that she is the greatest Ladybug, and instead anyone could do it as well, then Marinette probably wouldn't do it. She doesn't seem personally attached to being Ladybug, as seen in Kwami's Choice. If we removed Hawkmoth with all his backstory and ambitions from the show, there wouldn't be a Ladybug, there wouldn't be a plot outside of Marinette wanting Adrien. Marinette is not interested in the lore of the miraculous or in being a superhero, she wouldn't do anything without an outside influence. So this side is more plot-driven if we view Hawkmoth as the plot-tool?

And what about characters popping out of nowhere and mingling with the plot (e.g. Felix, Chloe)? Chloe's actions are clearly often just there to further the plot of the episode instead of giving us insight on her character. Felix's goals change every other episode. Tomoe could be any other prop and we wouldn't know more about her, etc.

Can stressing about being the guardian be viewed as character-driven? No-one outside of Ladybug herself really pressures her to act a certain way in that role (Su-han could be talked down easily, I don't count him). Is her keeping secrets and disregarding Chat Noir a result of her controlling behaviour, thus character-driven? (but it's also extremely convenient for the writers to add tension or because they don't care about Chat Noir) And how is this perspective meant to make it more bearable to watch unfolding?

I did look up some character-driven vs. plot-driven posts and explanations, but the more I think about it in the context of ML, the more it blends together and I get no clear answer. Of course, there's probably very few exclusivly 100% character- or plot-driven stories, and certainly not a show like ML, but some elements should be easier to put in one box or the other? I'm not even sure about the definitions of character- vs plot-driven anymore, I'm so confused, I'm sure I got it wrong along the way and mixing in-character with writer's views and so on.

I would love to respark my enjoyment of the show with a simple change of perspective but I think that sadly won't do. In the end, whether it's this or that, I'm still disappointed and unsatisfied with how it went in the long run. Yet it's still interesting to think about how people who still really like the show could view it.

I think you mentioned on your blog that you have some education in media-analysis or something of the kind. If you like, could you share your perspective on the claim at the top?

What's the common definition of character-driven stories and can we apply it on ML?

Would this change of perspective make some writing choices more enjoyable (it's subjective, I know)? I think a lot viewers expect a superhero show to be more plot-heavy and characters to develop (or characters wanting to improve themselves somehow), so if we went into ML thinking from the start "this is not about the plot and how people should act, I'm just watching characters do whatever they would do" would our reactions be really different?

How would the show have to be written and presented to be truely character-driven?

Sorry that's a lot I ask. Feel free to answer whatever you like (or ignore the message). Thanks for reading anyway.

Anonymous asked: Miraculous is character driven story, the plot is determined by what the characters's do rather than the usual opposite with wath the characters doing is determined by the plot, said a friend of mine when we discussed before. What's your opinion about it if I may ask?

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Okay, so I'm just going to start this by saying that "character-driven" and "plot-driven" are not literary analysis terms, but writing tip terms. It refers to what the focus of your story is. It means that, when you write a book or a movie, you should usually pick to prioritize an in-depth character study or a story with a lot of plots or world-building (the lore, if you will). Character-driven stories have a plot or several, but it isn't intended to be the main draw, so it can be sloppy while more work gets put into making sure the characters are complex and have clear arcs from beginning to end. Similarly, plot-driven stories can have complex characters, but the main draw is meant to be the larger narrative.

Plot-driven vesus character-driven is a writing tip against avoiding a bloated story full of unnecessary details. If your story is about two nobles dealing with an arranged marriage and the pressure their families put on them, having a complex magic system and magical duels using said system take up a bunch of pages is unnecessary. Similarly, if you're writing a story about a complex magic system, how it gets used and how it affects the society at large, dedicating a lot of time to a romance arc takes attention away from the actual points of the story, like the dreaded "forced Hollywood romance" in action/adventure movies.

In a comic or TV series, you usually (thanks companies for cutting episode counts; you suck) have more time and space to deal with more stuff, and varying stuff can improve a long-running series. In an ongoing, long-running superhero comic or show, you can and should use both and have them take turns. This is, in fact, the industry standard. Sure, a Batman story can technically have him chasing down Scarecrow, but, if the bulk of the episode/issue/trade is him battling his inner demons that the Scarecrow's Fear Toxin causes him to hallucinate, then is the story really about chasing down Scarecrow, or is it about developing Batman's character? (It's the latter.)

In general, I don't think "character-driven versus plot-driven" is a useful analysis tool, because it's binary. Basically, in media analysis, you should always try to avoid yes or no questions, but many binary questions are equally bereft of deeper meaning. Asking if Miraculous is character or plot-driven will answer that question, but not anything else. You can describe how you came to that conclusion, but the character/plot divide won't by itself create any other points to be made about the text, you need another tool/lense/question for that.

In addition, character-driven versus plot-driven can't refer to "what moves the story", because moving the story is the plot. The plot, or plots, are the cause-and-effect chains within a story. A plot doesn't move by itself, either natural occurences or character actions will move it along, you need a cause and effect. This also means, that, even if character-driven was a way to describe story progression, only stories about natural disasters could be not-character-driven.

In the top ask, the would vs should division seems to imply that the person describing Miraculous as character-driven is trying to say that, in Miraculous, the characters’ actions are supposed to be logical from the perspective of their personal motivations and not necessarily morally correct. This is how I’ve seen most people defend Marinette's villain arc; that we aren't meant to agree with her, but simply wait and see what the payoff will be.

The problem with this approach to analyzing Miraculous specifically is that the writers have never committed to a long-term payoff. I just can't believe that Marinette's villain arc will lead to a satisfying conclusion instead of the show either dropping the whole thing without addressing it, or having Marinette once again get so upsette that her victims have to console her. They're already setting up the possibility for instant forgiveness by focusing on how upset she was about the lying she “had” to commit. She already feels bad, so punishing her would be wrong, and the “punishment” here refers to any kind of long-term consequences for her actions.

Of course, the implication also is that, while we supposedly aren't supposed to agree with Marinette, we can't hold her too accountable either, we can't “demonize” her or want her to get “punished”. Which just sounds like we aren't even allowed to expect this “plotline” to have a satisfying conclusion. It could very well be that these people would think “yeah, Marinette was wrong but she feels really bad about it so let's just everyone forget about it until she does it again” would, in fact, be the satisfying payoff. Basically, even wanting the other characters to be justifiably upset with Marinette is the same as wanting to “punish” Marinette, so we can’t expect any character to behave like they have motivations or feelings outside of pleasing Marinette.

But, like, that's that thing with character actions supposedly making sense from their perspective; as you said in that book comparison, it only makes sense from Marinette's perspective. From any other perspective, what on earth is motivating the other characters to keep giving Marinette chance after chance while she squanders them all? She's not that good of a friend that she’d earn that much leeway, not from supposedly reasonable normal people who are merely acting how they would act instead of how the Marinette-favoring writers think they should act. The would versus should argument therefore only refers to Marinette and is just an excuse for her actions.

In addition, we have one big problem with the argument that Marinette is supposed to be a flawed character and anyone criticizing her is just too impatient to wait for the payoff for her character arc, in addition to the writers’ inability to write payoffs that I already mentioned. The other problem is that, while the audience might think Marinette needs to grow and become better, the writers don't. Every single one of Marinette's self-growth arcs has been scrapped: her inability to communicate got vindicated, her awkward romancing got excused and her quest to confess to Adrien got resolved by Adrien confessing instead. Marinette isn't a character who grows. In addition, the writers' every comment on the S5 finale has been nothing but excuses for why Adrien not knowing anything is right, because Adrien is just too emotional (like a hysterical woman who needs to be controlled because the writers are that kind of people).

So, in terms of what character-driven and plot-driven even mean: if Marinette is both completely disengaged from the plots of stopping the villains permanently or figuring out the Miraculous lore, and is a static character who doesn't actually grow or have a discernible arc, what is Miraculous as a show even about? In addition to the love square, it used to be about character development before the retool, but, after said retool, the characters have stagnated and the show just spins its wheels until the writers decide to have something cool happen to ramp up social media engagement. Now all we have is the love square and Marinette acting like she’s the center of the universe, so I guess the show is about the love square and Marinette, so it's technically character-driven, if character-driven can mean “making one character look like she’s the only one deserving of sympathy or celebration”. I guess you could say the show is Marinette-driven, it’s about Marinette and what she wants and what a girlboss she is while getting what she wants.

Frankly, it kinda sounds like the new character-driven vs plot-driven comparison is trying to create a new way to say: “don't expect a kids' show to be well-written.” It's kinda like people are saying: “of course the plot is shit because Miraculous is about the character writing”, but, like, the character writing is shit too. That’s what I’ve been saying since the S5 finale aired and Astruc started claiming that Marinette won and was truly kind and Adrien can't be trusted to know the truth about Gabriel: the way Marinette is written doesn't match how the writers want her to be viewed. The writers are only really interested in writing one character, but in a way where all her character arcs get scrapped, which, I think, doesn’t even hit the bare minimum requirement of being character-driven the way writing tip websites intend it.

My background in media analysis mainly means I'm pretty good at spotting patterns, and Miraculous' patterns reveal sloppy plot writing and sloppy character writing. It's all just been slop since the retool, mostly, I think, because the writers aren’t really interested in developing their characters or plots. The writers’ main focus seems to be to try to sell Marinette as an amazing person who deserves all the attention, while everything outside of isolated “cool” scenes gets overlooked. The wisemen of the groupchat saw these definitions and called Miraculous a “look at our cool girlboss”-driven show.

[imthepunchlord]

Is the main rewrite that has Marinette as the Cat holder still in progress?

Yes it is!

I am actually aiming for each chapter to have 20 pages at minimum, kinda making each one a sort of "episode" while reading. And first chapter just reached page 13, so it's getting close.

It's still not going to be posted yet though. It is probably going to be a while. I do not have all of s1 planned out as much as I like, I do need to continue rewatching s1 of ML, and consider what episodes in later seasons are really worth watching and including as some I think can just be cut/skipped. And I am still noting down future plot bunnies to try and plan ahead and to make sure there are details I can build up to.

And reworking lore and history where I think it'll make more sense. Like, Miraculous having Guardians not allowed to use Miraculous are just so odd to me.

You bring in a lot of kids to train to handle Miraculous, but not use them.

And despite these kids getting training and discipline, you don't entrust them with a Miraculous to handle situations, you trust strangers who haven't gotten the training or the knowledge about Miraculous, and just take a leap of faith that they won't abuse the Miraculous.

So it's getting changed up that the Order (who does NOT take children from families that's a big NO) train their guardians to be the heroes and protector of the world, making Miraculous guardians exclusive to use them as that's what they're trained, taught, and disciplined about.

With these being powerful jewelry pieces, which 6 can have wish granting abilities that can change reality itself, to me, it makes more sense if the Order became more about controlling them as much as possible, keep them in trusted and trained hands, knowing that who they train to be guardians will be much safer choice vs strangers they don't know and take chances on. That's reckless and potentially dangerous.

And another change is that the Order wasn't made around the time the Miraculous were, they came centuries later. Those first few centuries Miraculous traveled the world, and it was largely the kwamis who chose the heroes, picking based on potential not whether this was a good person or not, and kwamis were limited on what to do when misused, so a lot of damage can be done, which prompted the Order to be made by Miraculous holders who didn't think kwamis really knew how to pick the best holders, they decided to train people to be the ideal holders and heroes and put a lid on the chaos that is kwamis picking holders, and just literally bringing order to how Miraculous are being handled.

Anyway, excited ramble aside, yes it is being worked on. It's going to be a while, as personally, I want at least most of s1 planned and written out before posting it. And ideally, I'll have better ideas for the later seasons while I write and plan so it'll go smoothly.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Hello! I've been reading through all your posts so far and even though I am personally an ML fan and not a salter, I love media analysis and I'm sad that there isn't much of them in the fandom. There are directions in the show that I'm not satisfied with and I'm currently working on a rewrite for a future comic.

I'm curious about your ideas and takes on how you would personally rewrite ML, right now one of my issues is figuring out how the Peacock Miraculous works bcuz of sentimonsters. How would you write them?

I'm glad that you're enjoying my stuff! I label it all as salt because - as best I can tell - this fandom defines that as anything even slightly negative, but my goal is more analysis and discussion than angry ranting. Talking about what a piece of media did wrong and how you would improve it is a fantastic way to improve your own writing. It's why I got into media analysis in the first place!

Funnily enough, I do have a massive rewrite out there somewhere on AO3, so I DO have thought about how to handle sentimonsters. Or, more specifically, I've thought about how to handle the peacock. I'll give those first, then circle back to sentis.

In my humble opinion, the idea of sentimonsters should be scrapped for the following reasons, all of which existed long before the sentitheory was even on my radar:

Sentimonsters are too derivative. They feel like akuma clones and not a unique power. You can tell that the power was only created because they wanted/needed a power that would let the peacock be used at a distance the same way the butterfly is even though no other miraculous works this way.

If you want to do a slavery plot, the kwamis are right there being enslaved. You don't need to add human-looking slaves to the mix. Especially given that many of those human-looking slaves are apparently fine to kill off? Just, the ethics around the way the show does sentimonsters will always make me feel icky. Meanwhile the kwamis don't have the awkward element of being magical constructs that were made to serve. They were a free people before the miraculous. The one way I've played with using Felix is as a kwamis freedom fighter instead of a senti one.

Sentimonsters have too nebulous of a lore. In what way are they emotions brought to life? Outside of Feast, emotions don't seem to effect them at all. Nooroo's powers feel far more emotion based than Dusuu's and it bothers me.

There's also the fact that one of the show's biggest problems is character bloat. No writer alive can write a satisfying story that features a team of 36 characters! (18 humans + 18 kwamis) This is why the kwamis act as a hive mind once Marinette becomes the Guardian. You just can't write that many characters into a scene and keep their personalities straight, so they're now a single unit even though it makes Sass and Wayzz feel out of character.

Give all of that and the way the miracle box is kinda... well, it feels a little too cultural appropriation-ish for my tastes. I won't go on a full rant here, but to give two highlights: the zodiac miraculous don't seem to have a thing to do with the real Chinese zodiac and a box based on Chinese lore would NOT use a black cat for the symbol of bad luck. Black cats being bad luck is relatively modern European lore. In other words, the Chinese stuff is just there for ascetics and not actually representative of Chinese culture, so I had no moral issues scrapping the miracle box and making a much smaller version and neither should you if you're so inclined!

The thing about lore is that it only matters as much as the show makes it matter and, outside of a few key miraculous, I really do think you can change them without most readers caring because of how little the powers actually matter to the show's lore. Like they have completely scrapped the idea of making a person match their miraculous even though that was supposedly a big thing back in season two. This is extra true because it took us so long to learn all the powers in canon, so there are a lot of fics that pre-date the canon reveal and do different things.

But if you want to keep sentimonsters to be more canon accurate, I would consider all of the following as options or things to keep in mind. Feel free to use all or none of them as I'm probably never touching this plot and, if I do, it will doubtless be different from whatever you do:

Doing something to make the difference between valid and non-valid sentimonsters abundantly clear and not just "the creator decides who is valid" OR just don't make any sentimonster valid and have Emilie have used the miraculous out of a desire to help people because she didn't know it would kill her

Have Gabriel be more conflicted about the use of sentimonsters since, you know, his kid is one and Adrien, Felix, and Kagami are the only sentimonsters he dealt with for many, many years

Consider having Nathalie make one sentimonster (maybe even present it as her own child) in order to help Gabriel so it's not a slew of akuma 2.0 on the battlefield. Instead its someone at the school looking for Ladybug and Chat Noir after the villains realize that they're teenagers. (This could be a good way to use Lila and make her powers make sense)

Redo Dusuu's Force or make the tie between sentimonsters and emotions more clear. Like Felix is made from jealousy and Adrien is made from love so that's the source of their conflict

Use Felix as a third, morally neutral party who only cares about sentimonsters and have him act toward those goals like we all thought he was going to after season five. Magneto from X-men should be your template for him not whatever canon did.

Consider letting Kagami know from the start and let her know that she and Adrien are meant to be, but she's not allowed to tell him the truth or something. If you don't go that route then, at the very least, have her finding out be a big deal for her relationship with her mother.

Go all in with Adrien's commands. Gabriel wants Adrien to date Kagami? He's going to date Kagami. None of this Y-7 undo button BS. Go big or go home.

Give the sentimonsters a way to break free. That's what the power of love is supposed to be about. You could go super cheesy with this if you combined it with Adrien's source emotion being love. The literal love child using the thing that made him to overcome what he was made to be to be what he wants to be sounds very fun to me.

Consider giving the senti kids superpowers. It's honestly kinda weird how relatively normal they are. Like, sure, Felix is supposed to be super smart, but we only know that from his Wikipedia and that's about it.

I could go on, but that's a lot, so we'll stop here. Feel free to send additional asks or message me. I have many, many thoughts about how to fix canon while trying to stay true to the core ideas of the story. Or, at least, the things I consider to be the core. I legitimately enjoy the adaption process and think the fun of fanfiction is largely trying to fit alternate takes on canon into the base framework so it still appeals to fans of the source.

[flightfoot]

ML Fanfic Recs for 2023: 80K - 125K Words

So I’ve been going through and adding particularly good fics I’ve read throughout the year. Only Complete fics, of course. Enjoy!

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Tell Me Why You Love Me by @linnieluna

“Anyway, that piece of paper contains the name of this texting app. It’s completely anonymous, so you can download it, make your account with no attachments to your personal life, and communicate with me outside our suits. I included my username on the paper, too, so you can add me once you’re done."

Her partner skimmed through the words on the paper and nodded his head. “Brilliant as always, M’lady. I’m surprised we didn’t figure this out sooner within our superhero careers.”

“Yeah, it would’ve been nice to have this before, but hey, better late than never. Make sure not to have your phone screen on the messages if you’re going to leave it somewhere. We don’t want anyone reading our texts. Also, this is for emergencies only. No jokes or puns. I can only deal with you for so long.”

“I don’t know if I can agree to that last one,” he said.

Now 22 and working full-time, Marinette and Adrien seem to be getting busier and busier, which means fewer opportunities to keep track of akumas and show up on time. With the idea of using a messaging app to communicate with each other without revealing their identities, their lives immediately grew to be easier... until it wasn't.

This starts off as a mostly slice-of-life fluff fic, but about halfway through things turn dramatic when Monarch learns some things he really shouldn’t and takes action. I had a lot of fun with it as it was coming out, it’s worth a read.

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Kwami Magi Homura Magica by Crossoverpairinglover

After eighty-four loops in time, Homura Akemi takes a new path to Paris to save her friends.

The sixty-third loop after that, Homura arrived at the Agreste Mansion.

After clash after clash with the heroes of Paris and its greatest menace, events have reached a tipping point.

Ladybug faces someone verging on a second wish, a wish that endangers space and time to save a friend.

This was an absolutely AMAZING story that crossoverpairinglover dropped out of NOWHERE. Seriously, if you like Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Miraculous Ladybug, this is a real treat - but be prepared to sit down and binge, because it’s over 100,000 words and only has three chapters. 

Anyway, I adore the care that’s taken with going through Homura’s mindset here, she gets a lot of character focus. And the lore! There’s some good explanations here for the history behind kwamis and Incubators’ interactions, and the Order of the Guardians normally treats Magical Girls, and why the Incubators are wrong in their assessment of the universe needing more energy to stave off entropy (hint: it involves Plagg), and just... there was a lot of love put into this.

And the action! Most Miraculous fics don’t have much in the way of fight scenes, and what they do have is mostly just functional. This is one of the rare exceptions. There’s some really long, detailed fight scenes in this (roughly the entire second half of the second chapter has one between Ladybug and Homura), which are a treat to read! 

We also get some glimpses into a variety of other universes here, other timelines, alternate ways things could have gone down - I’m especially partial to the rather detailed view we get of one where Homura sent a message asking for help to the Ladyblog on her third time loop, and how things progressed from there. 

The ending I also thought was really good, a happy ending that generally made sense and dealt with the issue of the Incubators. 

If you can’t tell I’m really happy with this fic, it was incredible and unexpected. The length of the individual chapters can be daunting, but if you’re up for the task, I highly recommend giving it a shot!

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If I Let Myself Love You by @uptoolateart

It’s hard to be a normal girl with a normal life when your mother has terminal cancer. And when fashion model Adrien Agreste moves back to Paris and wants to be Marinette’s friend – or maybe even more – her life is turned upside down again.

How can she risk opening her heart to love when her whole world is falling apart? Especially when Adrien is hiding a dark secret of his own….

- COMPLETE FIC – updates on Sundays

*** No kwamis AU - 100% Adrinette. About half of it is fluffy and half heavy. Please read tags for trigger warnings. ***

This fic can be rough, definitely pay attention to the tags. There’s no villains in this story, it mostly centers around themes of dealing with illness - both being sick and having a loved one who’s terminally ill - and death, grieving someone who’s lost, and how difficult that can be. It can get pretty gut-wrenching at times, especially as you slowly discover more layers of what’s really going on, what both Adrien and Marinette are hiding, both from others and from themselves in order to help cope with their circumstances. But they still move forwards together, regardless.

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Eventually by @lucid-ao3

Adrien’s life has been dictated by rules, monitored, and controlled for years. He has learned to compartmentalize. It’s not that bad. It always gets better, eventually. Doesn’t it?

Recovery can be an unexpected obstacle when you didn’t realize you were being hurt in the first place.

OR: How Adrien lives and copes with the emotional abuse inflicted on him over the years, and how he ultimately could overcome it.

If you want a good “Adrien doesn’t realize how abusive his father is but slowly buckles more and more under his tyranny, until things come to a head, and he actually gets the HELP HE NEEDS” fic, this is a good one!

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Between the Heavens and the Embers by @readersmoon

Everyone in Paris remembers the fateful night of January 16, when the city was attacked by the most powerful and destructive akuma ever created. The assault, which lasted for hours, resulted in the death of 439 people.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was among the casualties.

Years later, Adrien hasn't been able to move on, haunted by the memories of her broken body. So, when the opportunity to leave Paris for a while presents itself, he doesn't hesitate. But this trip might end up giving him more than he ever dreamt of.

This is a fantastic fic, though a serious and a dark one - make sure to mind the tags, and it’s M-rated for a reason. Vee - or rather, Marinette - is going through a horror story here. Imagine finding out that your life is a lie, that everyone you thought you could trust was manipulating you, that you were just being continually gaslit for years. 

As for Adrien, Alya, and Nino... well, none of them took Marinette’s “death” all that well, especially Adrien. Finding out that she’s been alive all this time, in these horrible circumstances, and they had no clue... it’s hard on them as well.

I love how this fic goes into how much trauma everyone has even after the immediate danger’s dealt with, you don’t just walk off this kind of experience, especially with how many years this lasted.

[jacquesthepigeon]

Which do you think is more likely? That there will be a flashback episode of Luka learning mira kung fu in s6 or that they‘ll never bring this up ever again?

Like this plot line is so out of nowhere so we should get more context, but them again, it‘s ml…

It’s going to be a 3 second flashback lore dump and then they’ll move on to shaming Marinette for failing as a Guardian

[princess-of-the-corner]

Does monster lore differ between the bnha and ml monster aus?

I think the two things off hand are

1.) I'm having Angels be a natural species instead of the Guardian Angels that were in the ML au. (though fuck the question of God because it's an all religions are true but none are situation that honestly if we get too into it'll be a headache)

and.

2.) I'm allowing for some hybrid creatures, but only some species are compatible in that way.

[lunareel]

The name of the song that plays during the credits of pokémon X & Y, Kiseki, means "miracles", but depending how it's combined with other words in Japanese, it can mean "miraculous". Now I can't help but imagine AZ as the miraculous guardian of an AU. Also, I kinda have a thought about some pokémon characters being sentimonsters: N, Silver, Lillie and Mewtwo. All of them have "parent" issues, missing good parental figures,

Initially reading the part with AZ all I can think about is:

@plushie-sentai thank you for translating!

The credit song is a fun coincidence. I admit I have no plans or thoughts for a miraculous guardian (personally if there was to be one I would choose either Red or Cynthia). The miraculous jewelry of legendary pokemon was never intended to match up 1 to 1 with the lore of the show or how the miraculous function in the show. I hope that makes sense.

It was more of if you had this jewelry piece you would be backed by that legendary and receive a portion of their powers as a gift. (For reference think of the boons you receive by the Gods in Hades Supergiant game.)

Of course by all means feel free to keep thinking about these ideas and play around with them! I just didn't want to cause any confusion if people ended up asking me more questions about the jewelry.

I think I get the basis of sentimonsters, but most of my knowledge has come by osmosis and they confuse me quite a bit. Please do not send me messages explaining what sentimonsters are. I think I get the general gist of it though, and out of the list, I would say if there had to be sentimonsters in this setup it would only be N.

For context, I stopped watching ML early season 2 because I didn't really like where the story and character writing was going. No hate to those who have been enjoying the show or have liked where the show has gone, I hope you are enjoying it! I wanted to like it, but it just ended up not being my cup of tea.

Quick side note, I have been following along to @zoe-oneesama Scarlet Lady comic. I would highly recommend it is an absolute banger both in writing and in art. How she writes the characters for the story is just *chef kiss.* It's what I wanted out of the ML show and it's been such a good read.

I don't know if that comic is going to cover sentimonsters, but if it does I guess I will learn more about them anyway. If not, I will continue to live in blissful ignorance. (Apologies if they have already answered this and I just missed the info.)

[jennycinco-5]

Something IMPORTANT that ML completely forget to included in canon series

“ LORE AND BACKSTORY “

This two important thing aside Character Development and consistency that ML completely forget to be included. But which Lore and Backstories that deserve to be included in series and deserved its own Episode for it :

GABRIEL BACKSTORY (Before meet Emilie and before her “Death”)

If you wanted to prove that Gabriel indeed used to be a good man just like how the narrative wanted to sympathize with him, then SHOW IT ON HIS FREAKING FLASHBACK ! There are LOT OF HINTS about his background but it only mentioned in exposition rather than shown from his point of view. Heck we also didn’t even see in from Adrien flashback about how Gabriel used to be from his point-of-view. Adrien mention that Gabriel is “changed-man” after Emilie “Death” but That Guy didn’t show some mini brief flashback about how he used to be from his own son point-of-view. Dear orc and his followers, how can I sympathize with Gabriel if we can’t see how he used to be on-screen to make the viewer understand him but spend lot of money on unnecessary “CHloe Is EvuuuulZzz All Along” flashback episode only to excuse Marinette stalkery behavior ?   

THE LORE OF ALL MIRACULOUSES 

Oh yes ! This one is need to be mentioned in EARLY EPISODE instead in NON-CANON COMIC. Sure the comic explained quite good concept about Miraculouses and Kwami but they don’t expand or mentioned it again in freaking canon-show. They have TWO MOVIES about another Miraculouses but still doesn’t bring about the creator of the jewels or how the jewels were created ! Making the movies are pointless “other country representation” 

OTHER IMPORTANT CHARACTER BACKSTORY 

They show spend lot of money to create unnecessary filler episode that not really important for the plot. Derision included since it was nothing more a cheap excuse about Marinette stalkery behavior need blamed on Chloe and her “love-trauma” is completely random since it never shown when she date Luka (Maybe Luka is not white-blonde boy lols) .We already know almost everything about Bourgeois but it doesn’t really important for the plot but what about the other character who willingly worked or having a connection with Gabriel and anything that still ties with the plot of then show ?

There are many unnecessary filler episode that can be replaced with :

Adrien’s backstory before Emilie “Death” since we need to learn about how his life before the series started like come on~ He is THE MAIN CHARACTER right ?! 

Emilie’s backstory ! Is she good or evil ?! Who the hell is she ?! Why we should care about her and her “death” is impact for the plot ?! 

How the Order or Guardian founded ? are they good or evil ?!

Were there any Butterfly Predecessor that ever become Evil which resulting why the power of Buttterfly renamed as “Akumatization” ?

Nathalie past and how she meet both Emilie and Gabriel 

Tomoe Tsurugi past and why she wanted worked with Gabriel (+ Kagami’s past)

Lila past especially WHO THE HELL IS SHE ?! Is she human or Alien-something ? 

I know that some of you claim “It was budget reason” or something to defend lacking of this. Here something I need to talk with you : Agent Ali and BoBoiBoy the 3D Animation from Malaysia, while the budget are not as much as Miraculous Ladybug, they still show about the lore and backstory that important for the plot

Before expand the story into Galaxy series, Original Series BoBoiBoy already had the backstory of the antagonist, the race of the antagonist origin and the lore of Power Sphera (The robot who also of the source of any power) and why the robots constantly hunted by many Aliens by have the 1st generation of Power Sphera show in the 1st movie. Season 1 of Galaxy has brief explanation about TAPOPS (organization of Power Sphera protector) and a canon-special chapter about Fang and Kaizo past. The 2nd Movie and Season 2 Galaxy explain the lore of BoBoiBoy Elemental form, their previous masters (most of them explained brief by their closed relation and family), fusion form and 3rd tier form. Mechamato is a prequel about Amato (BoBoiBoy Father) childhood. Sure we still has no idea about Fang and the others power origins but at least they already explain the lore of the main character power and important things like some antagonist origin and the Power Sphera 

Agents Ali has several flashback and backstory about the main series important character like the main character, pillar chiefs, antagonist and the rivals to know about their life and their motivation. Even the minor one like Young Agents has a chance to share about their motivation .Then we have a movie about Aliya, Ali’s mother and creator of IRIS and OVERRIDE MODE (the gadget who constantly hunted by main villains), her past and the villain who connected with her

There are lot of children animation that still care about to show background of important character.Steven Universe has SEVERAL flashback to show about the Diamonds, Rose Quartz and Crystal Gems and Greg Universe past to know about their character. ATLA has flashback about royal nation family, the main character past and how the character learn their elemental power

Miraculous Ladybug forget to include it since they only care about Love Square fanservice and “revenge-fantasy” on bratty teenage girl. In Season 5 they try to include these but only create more retcon and inconsistency and become way too rushed 

[wilygryphon]

Profile Masterpost

Hi. WilyGryphon here. How is everyone doing?

What you can expect from me: I write fanfiction and I draw, and I will reflect and provide commentary/reblog commentary and gags that I particularly like on fandoms that I am involved in.

I also stream video games on Twitch. Come check me out: https://www.twitch.tv/wilygryphon

My YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/@WilyGryphon (most of my media right now is stream VODs)

My ask box is open, and I would love to hear from you!

My Works:

Kingdom Hearts - Destiny Vault

My first fanfic. Ongoing. Tells an all new, all different adventure that diverges from canon after KHII. Upon learning that Maleficent and a new foe have gathered an assortment of villains to seek a great power that would change the balance of power—and will cause untold destruction in order to get it—the heroes unite and go on a quest to thwart them. Along the way, they learn of and work to solve the problems faced by friends old and new.

Fic: FFN AO3 Tags: X

Heart of Steel

Fusion Fic Crossover Saga between Kingdom Hearts and the Arrowverse (will ultimately expand into greater Disney and DC Comics lore). Sora and Kara Zor-El are adopted siblings, and they journey together with Donald and Goofy to save the worlds from the forces of Darkness.

Fic: FFN AO3 Tags: X

Non-Penned AUs

All Miraculous Ladybug AUs linked on the sub-masterpost Here

Miraculous Ladybug Rewrite

How I would redo the story of Miraculous Ladybug if I were to do so. Notable details would be: Chloé gets a redemption that sticks; Gabriel is more consistent in terms of his standards and what he is willing to do for his goal; Season 3 finale identity reveal; and Adrigaminette endgame. Here

Gryphonverse

A massive multimedia multi-fandom Crossover which I am currently outlining. Includes several different works that take place in the same world (and some that are in different worlds but tie in with the others; they all share the same continuity). Here

The Key to the Miraculous (KH + ML Crossover)

Sora winds up in the Miraculous Ladybug universe after the events of KH3, and he ends up befriending the cast and joining forces with Ladybug and Chat Noir. Here

Ragnarok de Dies Irae

Post-KH3 Epic where recent crises have destabilized barriers in space-time, resulting in sealed gods returning to threaten the worlds. The Guardians of Light work to stop these entities and restore order to the worlds. Meanwhile, Sora works to protect the stability from a different plane of existence while searching for a way back home. Here

My Fandoms:

TV Series:

Arrowverse (Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Batwoman) Stargirl Superman & Lois The Owl House Amphibia Gravity Falls Miraculous Ladybug Warrior Nun Avatar: The Last Airbender Once Upon a Time Tangled: The Series Young Justice Spongebob Squarepants Danny Phantom Fairly OddParents Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius Scooby-Doo The Mandalorian Teen Titans Wednesday DC Animated Universe Ben 10 Veronica Mars iZombie Generator Rex Galavant Kim Possible Phineas and Ferb Sleepy Hollow (2013) The Secret Saturdays The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Movies:

Marvel Cinematic Universe DC Extended Universe Star Wars Disney Shrek How to Train Your Dragon Indiana Jones Nimona

Video Games:

Kingdom Hearts Final Fantasy The Legend of Zelda Professor Layton Ace Attorney The World Ends With You Sly Cooper Nicktoons Unite Super Mario Bros Super Smash Bros

Books:

Harry Potter Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Trials of Apollo The Kane Chronicles Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel The Bartimaeus Sequence The Savior's Series The Powers (Haven's Secret) The Sisters Grimm Septimus Heap Land of Oz The Maze Runner

[irregular-nekomata]

I posted 497 times in 2022

That's 497 more posts than 2021!

11 posts created (2%)

486 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@gimmethemprimals

@dire-vulture

@blooming-grove

@coatlscoatlseverywhere

@peacevine

I tagged 450 of my posts in 2022

Only 9% of my posts had no tags

#fr.outfits - 51 posts

#fr.abberation - 47 posts

#fr.npcs - 34 posts

#fr.links - 28 posts

#fr.genes - 22 posts

#fr.obelisk - 21 posts

#fr.skins - 16 posts

#flight rising - 16 posts

#fr.pearlcatcher - 15 posts

#fr.skydancer - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#and even though i think some of it is due to pose change instead of negligence they did kinda ignore the fact he’s supposed to be old

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Hey!

I'm Irregular, and this is where I'll be keeping my Flight Rising lore! My FR username is Zosimos, feel free to check it out! Please ask about my dragons and lore, I'm more than happy to talk on end about them.

I'll be (hopefully) posting my art here as well.

I have chronic pain, so things might go a little slowly.

link to the FR Helpdesk

Outfit Wishlist Coder

My tagging System!

I mainly reblog other's posts, but feel free to interact! I don't bite :)

3 notes - Posted March 5, 2022

#4

I wish we had more sea-serpent like dragon types. Guardians are Great but being both one of the starter breeds and pretty chill in monstrosity dulls their shine for me.

4 notes - Posted March 7, 2022

#3

Dilemerus

Lore vs Lair (how do they present in lore vs lair?):

In lore, Dilemerus are one huge aberration, with four heads (and therefore four different dragons), four front legs, two back legs, and four wings, two of which are artificially shrunken.

In my lair, they take the form of two separate dragons, Delilah (Combination of Della and Lilah) and Emerus (Em and Nerus).

Backstory

Dilemerus (Della, Lilah, Em, and Nerus) are an aberration formed by four lovers who decided to be together forever, albeit in a more literal manner than most would choose.

Della is their resident troublemaker and while she always (never) has plausible deniability, she usually gets ratted out by one of the three she's attached to. (She/her)

Lilah might be the closest thing my lair has to a prom queen: elegant, cruel, and willing to beat your ass. (She/xe/no pronouns)

Em is the local sweetheart, and willing to help out anytime; from baking with Araceli to helping Nuthilyan put someone's front legs out of business. (they/them)

Nerus is a very motivated scientist, and sees being attached to three others as no downside. He is almost constantly working, but enjoys just being with his other three. (he/they)

tags are for my own sorting purposes:

MD (my Dragons) as a prefix is relating to Lair, ML (my Lore) is relating to Lore

4 notes - Posted March 5, 2022

#2

Omg im in love with ur tagging system with fr.x

Thank you!! using this as a place to put my tags:

FR.(Dragon breed), ex FR.Obelisk

FR.Skins (For both skins and accents!)

FR.NPC (trading post and courier dragons)

FR.Genes (for gene suggestions and discussion)

FR.Familiars (for fams and fam suggestions/discussions)

FR.(trigger tag), ex FR.Multigaze

FR.Boost (for a seller who’s getting their product out, etc)

FR.Bios (for bio resources!)

FR.Outfits (outfit codes)

FR.Bases (for free-to-use bases other artists have made)

FR. Suggestion (suggestions for gameplay)

FR.Deities (for the eleven deities in FR)

FR.memes (Flight rising memes)

FR.OfficialArt (Discussions around the Official FR art)

FR.link (usually for links, although I tend to forget this! I usually use it for things I personally want to find again)

FR.Forums (people setting up forum guides)

Reblogsneak is for reblogs of Irregular.txt

Irregular.txt is for if I actually talk lol

My Dragons is for my lair specifically!

5 notes - Posted April 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I have so many breeding pairs that are either:

Huge Powerful Wife and Weed-smoking Boyfriend

Kind Upstanding Lady and tiny s/o

5 notes - Posted March 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[wintermoth]

You probably get loads of these messages, and sorry for any annoyance, but is there a plan to continue guardians? A previous anon offered to pay for more chapters, something i’d gladly contribute to myself, but i was still wondering if you can ever see yourself getting back it into it - or publishing the total synopsis. Though its no pressure if it doesn’t happen! I’ve really enjoyed your story, the world building’s phenomenal and the characterisations of the OC’s are so deep and gorgeous. I’ve never been one to care heavily about original characters but Sombra, Kasai Neko, and Firefly (as well as the in-story most recent Guardian additions) are so incredibly well written!! Your lore is fascinating and takes a heavy handed and intriguing twist on what’s typically a light hearted fluffy show. Thank you very much for the story! it’s clear in every scene, every dialogue (highlighting the accurate translations), every characterisation, and design; just how much effort such a gargantuan task has taken you. Your writing talent is brilliant, not just in Guardians but also in your power-swap miraculous series! And although i haven’t read them myself, my friend speaks high praises of your final fantasy works! Thank you and have a nice day!!

I get asks about it fairly often, yeah, but .... not like this.

So first off, nonny, thank you. I wish you could see the smile this brought to my face. I really did not expect Guardians to get as big as it did. In truth, I'd like to finish it some day, but I also havent been into ML for a hot minute. I'd like to get back into it but something's stopping me, idk.

Similarly, I've tried to pick Guardians back up several times but there's just a wall I can't quite get around. I know roughly where I need to go and how to do it but I just can't quite get there. Make no mistake, I LOVE Guardians and I sure as shit enjoyed all the time I spent writing and planning. And while I am not above accepting monetary bribes, I wouldn't feel right publishing a chapter or two after so long without a concrete plan and drive to get it through to the end.

If memory serves, we're about 3/4 of the way through the plotline I had planned out years ago. So its not unfeasible I'll ever finish it but just...not right now. Sorry I can't give you a more satisfying answer than that.

[generalluxun]

Okay *cracks knuckles* I may go on a bit :) Firstly though- I'm definitely not going to bash the show in this post. I may say why I prefer things from the movie, but in this case it is not 'Show Bad'(mostly, let's be honest on Show!Gabe..) just 'I like this more'.

One thing I absolutely love about the film is how the characters each get their own story, all woven together, and we get a lot MORE independence by various actors while still keeping the focus very tightly on Marinette. Even more than the show, this movie is about *Marinette's* journey, and it nails it so hard. The moral this movie teaches through her is one that is just slightly different than normal movies of this genre, but that slight difference makes ALL the difference, and elevates the movie above others of its kind. I can go on about this more if you'd like :) Marinette's arc, and the way the movie expresses is it SO GOOD. 🥰 It's something I've noticed some people miss because it isn't as 'in your face' about it as the show is. (the show is expressive, the movie understated, different approaches)

As for the Dragons. I'm going to address this in two ways. First the 'meta' level, then an 'in universe' justification as well.

Before even that though: The movie universe is not 1 to 1 with the show universe. If you've spent any time in comic books you have been through this before. Reboots happen, and while similar notes will always be the same, details change with each iteration. None is 'wrong' or 'right' as long as they agree in broad strokes and are internally consistent. So 'The Movie got the show's lore wrong' doesn't work when we're looking at details. There's no 5 minute timers, no lucky charm, and the Miraculous Ladybugs took growth and effort on Marinette's part to unlock. I could go into details about the relative benefits of each, but I wanted to stress the 'just different' aspect.

So The Dragons(honest this time!)

1)On a Meta level- You could very well be right they are not perfectly accurate. I would say however that ML has a track record of being very fast and loose with mythology and cultural references in general. It's something you need to let slide for the show, and therefor the movie. You point out the really bad ones (The Rising Sun flag had to go) and you always press for a betterment of their representation, but to hold that the movie specifically is bad vs the show on this way, is a touch biased.

2) For an in universe justification- The box doesn't have to be culturally accurate. We've seen the box change in the show to Marinette's Ladybug/pincushion box. That's definitely not 'culturally accurate' Perhaps the last proper Guardian(who reshaped the box) just *really* liked dragons? So, their box had dragon motifs all running through it. Because 'dragons cool'. So it's not a cultural statement, just one Guardian's preferences way back when.

Now on to Adrien- and I've seen your riff on this before from others. 'Adrien isn't the same' and no, he's not exactly, but 'Adrien is a jerk' is a big leap from that. Let's examine Movie!Adrien a little more, right?

He's grieving, openly, obviously. This is something he shares with his father, and he too has to learn to let go just as much as his father does. Show!Adrien really doesn't seem even remotely affected by his mother's death, except in certain episodes. This is okay, the show is more episodic, and Adrien being sad all the time would be a downer, but we do need to admit his behavior is not really of someone grieving, it's of someone who has finished the grieving process. Movie!Adrien has not, his whole family is still stuck, and that's a powerful narrative theme. I love the little touches for this- He's almost always wearing those earbuds, shutting out the world, hiding in the library. Nino tries to pry him out and he barely reacts to his friend. Yet- He took his earbuds out for Marinette. He came out of his shell *for Marinette* He didn't gush or moon, but that's not where his character is. He reached out to her... literally. Which for someone in his position is a huge thing, and it reflects also on Marinette. Even at her low points, there's something that draws him to her.

He thinks she's weird, and that's awesome! She is! Marinette is weird, we've watched the same show right? She hits people with flying tackles, she flails, she is all over the place. Was it S4 or S5 where Adrien says something similar while watching Marinette? How he just figures all her clowning is just how she is, and he likes it. I love this idea, because movie!Adrien says it with a fond smile on his face. It says you don't need to be perfect or amazing, you can be weird, and good people will still like you for you. It's *cute* They're *cute*. I love them your honor. 🥰

movie!Adrien is a theater brat. The whole Agreste family is a theater family, and it's SUCH a great shift. Emilie was an actress. Gabriel is a ham, and Adrien is a ham. You can see the impact Emilie had on them. Where did Show!Cat Noir get his wacky over the top persona? Who knows! It doesn't really matter, we love it anyway. Movie!Adrien though, it's really easy to see how he could draw on the live theater to construct his over-the-top heroic self. Rewatch his intro and imagine him on stage in a play. The energy is all there.

And now the most contentious part- That he's a 'jerk' and the 'watermelon'. This one is funny, because so many people who get so mad at it completely overlook what happens right before.

Movie!Adrien is hamming it up. He's corny as heck. It's funny, but he's not deriding her at all. He's *performing* for her(theater kid) and we get this.

CN: I'm the new hero in town. Here... to save the world...(So dramatic!)

LB: Ha! With what? Furballs?

CN: And what are you supposed to be? A Watermelon?

Notice something? Ladybug started the sniping. I'm not dragging her for it, she's nervous, it's *banter*. It's fun, it's funny. He jabs back, meeting her on the level she has set. Then resuming his goofiness. So many people want to forget that Ladybug started the banter though and just villainize him for playing along. The Movie even showns how it's banter, as later we get the ice cream scene and they're still bantering the same way even though their emotions have both clearly shifted.

Two things really SHOW how much Cat Noir is still paying attention to her, despite the slightly different dynamic. After their first meeting with Fu, He correctly pegs Marinette's problem/arc.

CN:I understand, you're afraid. Failure is not your enemy, your fears are.'

And Later on, during that iconic Wall Scene. You want to know what real respect is? When he whispers 'don't' like he's begging for his next breath, he's already moving his arm aside to let her go. He's expressing his heart, not making demands on her. It's beautiful Ladynoir. (This is what I mean by the movie being understated. The timing/motion of his arm to create a path for her to leave, even as he asks for her to stay, is so easy to miss)

I know I said I would expand on this in another post, but it's actually important here too. (so much is tied together in just 90 minutes) Cat Noir being less instantly subservient/supportive on the surface is also actually vital to Marinette's arc. Show!Marinette's arc is the pretty normal thing 'believe in yourself, don't be afraid, be a hero!' Cat Noir instantly fluffing her up on first blush is what she needs.

Movie!Marinette doesn't need that.

We *see* Movie!Marinette doesn't need that.

Alya gives her unconditional support in the montage -and Marinette still flubs. Tikki gives her a whole pep talk and song! and still Marinette rejects the Miraculous after the fact. She finished that whole encounter curled up in her chair, afraid.

What Marinette needs is to make the choice, as Tikki says the second time. (I LOVE the three-part arc of Marinette's transformations)

'You must face your fears, to save those you love'

It's 'Do it scared.' not 'Don't be scared.' and that's SUCH a great and more applicable lesson for kids. There will be so many times in live you'll be scared. It's okay to be scared, but you can't let the fear stop you.

Hence for Marinette's arc ->

1)Tikki has to transform her.

2)She hesitates, looks to Tikki for reassurance, but ultimately chooses to Transform.

3)She is at an incredibly low point. Her self-doubt has never been stronger, but she chooses to transform without looking to Tikki.

(Yes I know she transforms many times in the montage, but these are the specific story beat ones)

And this message for Marinette caries through. During the climax she chooses to act, without even the protection of the Miraculous. She's afraid and with good reason, but she needs to protect someone she loves. Even in the final scene, after everything, when she's holding that Mask in her hand she needs to take a deep breath before she says the words to Adrien. She's still afraid, but she does it scared.

Her journey just wouldn't work with a partner who was simply fluffing her up all the time.

I've seen some people grumbling about Adrien saying no about being invited to the dance, and ... the boy'd just had his heart broken. He wasn't mean, he was crushed. He'd retreated from the world (the earbuds are back) If he just accepted happily people would be complaining he was using Marinette as a rebound, or never really loved Ladybug or something. 😂

As for Careless Whisper... I thought it was funny, cringe, but funny. Who wasn't Cringe at 14? Seriously. The show probably didn't have the budget for Licensed music, but you *KNOW* if they did Marinette would have worn out T. Swift's 'You belong with Me' when Show!Adrien started dating Kagami. Cringy humor is another ML staple, so I can't hold it against them at all.

Lastly: It's worth it to look up the seven stages of grief when examining Adrien's character arc in the movie.

FWIW I absolutely ADORE the ML movie and could gush positively about it for hours without let up :)

Oh my gosh, it's good to know you enjoy the movie that much because it's incredible to me to see people talking about things they love! <3 🥺🥺🥺 ... B-but it's also, uh kinda unfortunate because I... nnnnngg how to say this... <I am so sorry in advance I put it away in case it is too long and it ruins your mood, but yes TLDR; The movie is cute, enjoyed the artistic elements, but hate the plot dev...>

. . .

I'm actually on the opposite side of this matter, and have a quite strong opinion while being over there, and oh boy oh boy, I think "that" opinion will hurt some poor soul and I swear I won't mean to and pleaseee hear me out... 🥹🥹🥹

I enjoy the music, the aesthetics, the camera angle, the actions, Ladynoir obv, some scenes that are executed stronger than the series (eg: Marinette saves Master Fu; Sabrina's kindness toward the new girl; how they express Marinette's anxiety and the opening and initial character behaviors make sense with the overall settings) and GOOD MUSIC! (I think I said it twice)) But yeah, I tried my hardest to watch it with a blank mind, no judgment, no comparison, and in the end the plot and character devs are not for me...

However, I do think they will be an excellent stand-alone movie for any kind of audience and simply enjoy some action and cute romantic moments. Some scenes are not good for kids like did you see the way Adrien treated Marinette?? He did try to change but yeah I need 30 more minutes for that also did I mention Zag got the Chinese legend wrong with his version of intro-

For what it's worth I think the movie is wasted potential, I truly was so sad, but I do understand why many like it tho I still think the series is superior as of now, I love seeing good things inspired by it hehe but again, I won't jump on the hate train toward the series. If you decided to read this, you are a wonderful and tolerant person; I am so blessed to get such respect from you, I would never hate you for this. Sorry and thank you!!

[imthepunchlord]

The prodigious still exists in the AU?

No.

They didn't really add anything lore wise, and what they did add was confusing. They're stated to be far more dangerous than Miraculous, but all they do is animal shapeshifting. Exclusively 8 animal shapeshifting. Mean while Miraculous has a time traveling Rabbit. A Butterfly that can grant ANY power. A Peafowl that can make life that you can fully control physically, emotionally, mentally, and terminate on a whim. But Prodigious are the ones dangerous enough to be sealed away... suuuuuure.

Either way, the changed Monkey now has the power of shapeshifting, which can become any animal AND adjust their size to big or small. So Prodigious are pointless with this Miraculous and it's changed powers. They're much weaker by comparison.

Them having 5/8 animals that are repeated and exist as Miraculous doesn't help them stand out. I also took the few that are new and just made them Miraculous as I took the concept of Bagua and made it official.

And honestly, you can cut them from the Miraculous story and you literally miss nothing. At least from what I've seen as I stopped watching ML about s3 and just listened to those that did continue watching. I have yet to hear anything about Fei and the Prodigious talked about.

To me, a lot of the Shanghai Special was pointless so I'd vote it doesn't exist or it's drastically changed, like instead this is where the Zodiac were revealed and how they came to join Fu's Miracle Box and came to be in the show, potentially testing Marinette's potential as a Guardian and accepting it.

I also would've gone with the Shanghai being Marinette exclusive in focus, no Agreste in sight, and it progresses her upcoming role as Guardian and expands upon it. Though as a trade off, the New York Special should've been Adrien focused, no Marinette in sight, and it could've been HM and Chat Noir had to reluctantly team up against a new threat, and there are undertones there that imply, hey, this family COULD still work. And just have the NY Special progress the Agreste plot in some way. This also could've been the intro to Audrey and Zoe, and set up the future Bourgeois plot (that ultimately wasted all of our time).

[mymiraclebox]

To the Tikki, Plagg and Fluff, what do you all think of the Order of the Guardians? Do you think it was evil?

Tikki: The Order was not evil in nature, they wanted to protect the world and the Miraculouses. Their methods, however, were not good. They made it so we kwamis were forced to obey the orders our holders gave us. They stole Miracle Boxes from all around the world, and were harsh to the children they trained. I am glad their time is over and that we have Marinette and Adrien now.

Plagg: The Order of the Guardians are pure evil and a plague to kwami-kind! I would have gladly ended them myself like the pests they were but thank goodness they're gone! Master Fu said their fall was a horrible thing but that was one of the best things he ever did!

Fluff: It was part of the timeline that needed to happen.