#Morally gray character Nathalie

[rosellerivers19]

The Adventures of Shady bug and Claw noir: My version continued here’s some lore

To those who remember this post I ended up finally finishing coloring it and I’ll post it next

So to give a little explanation before the Paris special was released a bunch of people thought it would be about the alternative universe characters being the complete opposite of the original. Inspired by a few of the posts I made my own headcanons.

The Paris special ended up being way different but I still enjoy my own personal AU.

In my personal AU there is Nice Chloe, Shy Luka, Mean Marinette and Adrien, Hero Gabriel, Morally gray character Nathalie, Villain Emille, Main hero Alya and Nino. And maybe a evil master fu

These are the tropes that were created to be the opposite of the original MLB characters. Since Chloe is originally a bully I made her a nice girl in this AU similar to original Adrien and actually have been friends with Marinette at one point. Nathalie was a gray characters in the original at least the original seasons as her goals changed so I decided to do the same in this one but with different purpose. Marinette and Adrien are obviously the villains in this twist scenario and like in the actual special Alya and Nino would be main character heroes since in the original they were side characters.

However I do expand in the characters beyond this trope like Marinette’s meanness comes from her Negligent/Broken Dupaincheng family and that’s why she prefers to be a loner and hates the agreste family a locally owned boutique. She bumped into Gabriel agreste once while she was in a bad mood he was very nice to her and even gave her a beautiful dress he made himself saying since he didn’t have a daughter he didn’t have anyone to give it to and would appreciate if she took it even as she denied saying it was precious. Marinette envied Adrien seeing as he had such a nice father but seemingly took him for granted.

Adrien had a twisted sense of love because of his mother Emille who ended up accidentally dying. His mother was manipulative, toxic and emotionally abusive and Adrien was forced under her regulations even if Adrien maybe subconsciously knew this was bad or wrong he still mourned her death like he mourned Gabriel’s in the London special because she was his mother. And because he was always compared to Emile and well his life was primarily dictated by her methods he grew up thinking that was love. Gabriel wasn’t able to stop this abuse outright and didn’t even know how bad it was till too late a few weeks before she died Gabriel argued with her about this. He feels guilt for having such a fight so soon before her death but her death was how Gabriel discovered Evil Master fu (it’s called something else in the actual special) and how he became a hero it was Emile’s dying gift acknowledging how her parenting style wasn’t the best.

Adrien being so used to his mother’s abuse thought love wasn’t kind and gentle hugs but shouting and indifference and bonking people on the head like Marinette does. He was attracted to her because of this and doesn’t like Gabriel’s sweet kind love feeling like it’s weird and fake.

Twist Luka is more like original Juleka in this AU he’s more shy doesn’t speak much but music is his solitude his father is still Jagged stone but him leaving his mother hurt him to the point he became less outgoing while Juleka became mean and cruel instead.

Luka is one of Marinette’s only real friends but Marinette just convinced herself that he’s just a project she’s working on because she’s bored. The project is to make him braver.

Marinette isn’t an outright bully but can be very cruel to people she doesn’t like. Kind of like Lila with elaborate schemes but not the insane lying part.

Alya and Marinette aren’t friends in this AU and Alya actually dislikes Marinette.

Alya isn’t dating Nino either since they’re supposed to be the main character super hero duo like the original ladybug and Chatnoir. Not because they’re scared necessarily it’s because well Alya is really awkward with her feelings and she knows Nino likes her but she doesn’t think this is the right time with the villain still at large. They subtly flirt though.

oh and I think I ship Luka and Adrien in this AU as seen by the art so I think Luka would be Adrien’s bi awakening and he’d slowly become used to the sweet love because of him. He’s convinced that Luka is his rival though while Luka thinks they’re friends.

Zoe and Marinette would also be enemies to lovers with Zoe being the new kid at school trying to take Marinette’s Queen Bee spot gets frequently have confrontations before they realize they have feelings for eachother when Zoe flirts with Shadybug and Marinette realizes she likes it.

This is my au so I decide to ship whatever I want with no regrets

[plumsaffron]

I think some to most of the miracubitches can’t tell the differences between morally gray characters (some of these characters make hard choices even if it hurts. But some fanfic writers can’t do it correctly either!), characters’ alternate POV (they weren’t there at the incident(s) so they’re more akin to being stuck in the middle or trying to avoid unnecessary petty conflict, they ain’t drones for the supposedly “beloved” protagonist) and just plain bashing…

And that’s not good for their fragile lil sanity…

Miracuhoes also can’t tell the difference between the canon and fanon versions of the main characters they supposedly love. 😔

They won’t admit it but some are lowkey rah-cist against white ppl due to painting Adrien as an abusive spoiled rich brat. Bruh, Adrien is an abuse victim!

Oh man, I personally think that the Lila/Cerise/Iris demonization isn’t as bad as most ML characters but the miracubozos just love to keep on being negative about her. 😬

Canon Lila: just a skilled actress who’s also a master manipulator? Still an antagonist though, probably never went as far as her Fanon selves?

Fanon Lila, we can thank the many fanfic writers’ dedication of creating more “depth” for her: some lies flop, leading to her downfall, instant prison time. Sociopathic and possibly psychopathic? (Inter)national criminal, she must’ve bullied other students (to hurt or off themselves…) from previous schools she went to all bc they called her out and didn’t fall for her lies. (Ngl, these days I feel more sympathy for these victimized fan characters than Marinette.) Instigating ass bitch, telling her mindless sheep followers to beat up her enemies. Let’s not forget these writers making Lila into a s3x offender bc some of the make victims rejected her. In retaliation, she makes them look like the offender, ruining them...

Hmm drones. It’s be a huge shame if I were to learn that these miracudung piles hate that sentimonster thing. From the observing these miracupests enough, long enough, it’s almost as if they advocate it entirely, simply because the character(s) they wanted to participate in doing for them, didn’t participate in their miracusuckoff cult for their protagonist or themselves. It’s almost as if miracudrones want characters to be sentis. Could it be that miracubitches want to be obedient miracusentis themselves?

I wonder if they want Gabriel, Tomoe, or Nathalie to be their parent(s)

But they must not see the difference of fanon vs canon of the their beloved main character(s). Fanon in their minds needs to be the superior version no matter the cost. If it’s not seen as how they think all canon should be for the characters, the glass of their sanity might break for these thirsty miracuhoes (with the bonus condition at times fulfilled of ignore the cases when they do or succeed what they opposed in canon).

Sigh. Seems these scuds don’t want to acknowledge and accept what a victim is or rather the ultimate victim of the show, Adrien, is. I don’t think they’re racist. I think they are possessed by evil. JUST KIDDING; some probably are racist or are the evil. Sigh… these miraccidents are too far gone. Gabuse slurpers they are I suppose too… well abuse slurpers. They must worship this image

But I’m not surprised cause that image is a actually a tragic reflection of how easily people would brush off what happened to Adrien (Most recently the London Special, where people are like yay hugs between Marinette Adrien or Nathalie. *UWU Sobbery intensifies* Or Ladybug and Cat Noir togetherness at the end of the special). Idk maybe they are casuals or just like seeing such crumbs or seeing what next, but it’s like they are glorifying or ignoring a victim being screwed with along with the characters in the special so called on his side (including the fugly Bunnyx trio and unfortunately Kwamis)

Wonderous how somethings shown in their faces consistently can be cancelled out and then scrambled up to make it out to be its Adrien’s fault somehow or Adrien is the problem. Cancellation of what was established and revealed and reinforced of existence. And so these maggots will make crap up for defamation against him and pass it around as if it's the truth. Sigh… Unfortunate how a victim won't or don’t be out to be causing problems, had different POVs, doing good and supporting others, caring for others and their well being, and unfortunately sacrifices himself and happiness, still gets shortended or screwed over (and currently continues; seemingly on the beloved protagonist’s side). And yet the reward some of these miraccidents gave him is to label him an abusive spoiled rich brat.

It could be. But yeah they Lila negativity be ridiculously spammed to the point I straight up usually refrain looking her up outside of here and even here I’m kind of like eh-ish.

Hmph I guess they want to leak fanon Lila in canon while doing the usual of not thinking things through because of their unstable obsession against her. Downfall addiction these miracusnorters have (figures since lies exposed crap is a worthless thing too many losers rodeo rode on). Psycho, socio, yep fanon or fandom braindeadium charge. It’s not that different from losers being the first to designate her to such. I wonder if it’s because they secretly know that what they label her might get redirected another character so labeling her is a twisted defense mechanism of theirs to prevent someone else from being targeted possibly.

Welp currently going on I know of is fancomic of Lila being a psychotic serial killer yandere or something currently, and getting folded by Chloe after Chloe saves Marinette. Chloe told her she’ll go to jail while Alya films what’s happening. Hmm international criminal. Yep hearing that again and remember of some bloggers posts of that crap makes be me groan.

Bullied others in the past. Hmm I remember an ask about that someone else posted to another blogger here. It’s funny cause they act like elementary children don’t exist. That Kim Sabrina Chloe or Marinette aren’t real (no offense). What are they trying to prove (oops I already know it’s that nonsense again because of their selective closed mindedness)? Oh boy to cause them to hurt or end themselves. Big irony of the fic triters to write that considering January 2022 Incident.

Ah instigating Lila. hmm that’s strange. I could have sworn people knew Marinette be instigating or a lot of viewers want to have her friends and Chloe and Sabrina (along with characters from other series) to rally up against Lila to wreck her like I remember at times seeing on here/deviantart. Perhaps they clowns should look at how demented they’ve become. They like assigning crap against her but the mirror scares them or other people around in their face. Strange form of Lila worshipping.

And unfortunately the worst of all their miracupredadvocation. And I thought crap where people make her a breed victim of Adrien/Cat Noir or Marinette/Ladybug was putrid enough (along with miracabomination prompter(s)) and disgusting human romanticizer(s). But I’m not surprised how far certain miracustains gone considering this as one of the reasons I avoid searching Lila Rossi on here or YouTube.

If you you’re wondering, this mistake of existence especially is saying she’s has 21 25 years or is an adult and is spreading that around (like a lot of other disasters on youtube commenters upvoting or usually endorsing it, redditors, at times here, social media etc).

I guess he did

And make to matters worse, very Spanish community alerted of the incident to also be the very community to honor the Lila fangirl by spitting on her grave (yes the rest of the miracatrocious community do but them though too is a big kind of wow), thus in a way, they and other watchers are joining the justifying everything that chased that girl to her end by viewers wanting the absolute worst to be true (and it doesn’t matter who’s affected in or out the show).

They must really wish Lila to not be ignored or to not be accepted and destroyed by any means despite the incident of the girl in real life not being accepted or left alone for accepting and wanting to see more of Lila.

Absence of thinking things through is strong for the miracufeces.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Senti Chloe might be one of the only senti plotpoints I would have been okay with if I'm being honest, like if TA ever got the boot it would be a pretty good way to explain most of her out-of-character actions in s4&5 while kick starting her back onto her Redemption Arc or at least make her neutral/morally-Gray again

Oh yeah like.

If I didn't know that TA would use it as a 'see she's totally evil and has no good' thing, it would be a great plot.

She was programmed to be just like her mother, essentially. But she is her own person with her own free will. So she tries to become something new.

And like. Audrey didn't give a shit. Even when Chloé acted within her programming she wasn't 'exceptional' why should she care what the brat does?

Then Gabriel and Nathalie are like 'Hey look. If you use her Amok to make her awful again, we'll help you out with something else!'. So Chloé is physically forced to be awful against her will. She doesn't know it's against her will entirely, it feels wrong, but she's told this is right and she can't fight against it.

[ao3feed-ladynoir]

And Justice for All

And Justice For All by AsukaLangleySorrow

Since Nooroo and Duusu had fallen into the hands of a mysterious new owner and warned the other kwamis that they might be used for evil, Master Fu designes a plan to put two teenagers in charge of two the most powerful objects, talismans in both the kwami and human world. But the events following this decision unravel in unexprected ways as the teenagers appear to have their own views on the matter and are not so easily swiped up their feet by the promised glory of your typical good-doers and guardians of the weak that a mysterious old man offered with a piece of sketchy jewelery. Together, they form a duo that even Hawkmoth can't rival with. And who knows what their reign of self-identified justice brings to Paris in the end...

Words: 2154, Chapters: 2/2, Language: English

Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M, Gen

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Blanc, Marinette Dupain Cheng|Lady Justice, Chloe Bourgeois|Vespinemesis, Tikki, Plagg, Wayzz, Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe, Gabriel Agreste, Nathalie Sancoeur, Caline Bustier

Relationships: Adrien Agreste|Chat Blanc/Marinette Dupain Cheng|Lady Justice

Additional Tags: reverse au, lady justice, Chat Blanc, Wrecking havoc, marinette and adrien turn out to be a "bad" seed but actually not really, morally gray, catharsis fic for my anger issues, Bullying, master fu is not a good guy, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, no goody-two-shoes in my fics

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46543159

[shysublimecoffee]

Before I begin, I want to make it clear that this discussion isn’t meant to be an attack. My words might come across as strong, but I don’t intend to criticize you personally or make you feel bad, especially to the Original Poster.

There's something to be said about how some fans, particularly those who criticize Adrien, go to great lengths to scrutinize every interaction he has, nitpicking and criticizing him for not perfectly aligning with their expectations. Adrien is genuinely one of the kindest male leads, yet people still find reasons to have issues with him. Anyone who claims that Adrien lacks empathy either hasn't watched the show closely or is twisting his character to fit a negative narrative. Take the "high road" speech regarding Lila, for instance—a stance I actually agree with. He saw right through Lila's motives, understood the situation, and yet the "Chameleon salt" was ridiculous. And don’t get me started on the fanfiction—people will write an entire saga based on one episode vilifying him that wasn’t even that bad or serious, turning other male characters into her "prince charming" like some overblown male fantasy.

It's wild because if you're pointing fingers at someone lacking empathy, it should be the main lead and heroine. If you think Adrien is the one lacking empathy, I strongly disagree. This is the same character who gave Marinette the confidence to become Ladybug, constantly supported her, and was always there for her. In contrast, Marinette, who has been a poor partner and kept secrets from Chat Noir, seems to struggle with empathy. I think Marinette relates to people in a "self-absorbed" way, meaning she can only understand a situation if she somehow makes herself part of it. This causes her to approach issues from a skewed perspective and she's very controlling, where the actual problem doesn’t get properly addressed. It’s a compelling character flaw that, in my opinion, hasn’t been fully fleshed out in the show and never will because of "protagonist-centered morality."

If Marinette were as empathetic as some claim, what about her decisions in "Ephemeral" and teaming up with Luka behind Chat Noir’s back? Or how she tries to reconcile Chloe and her toxic mother? If Marinette had true empathy, she'd understand these situations better, but it seems like she’s avoiding confronting the possibilities when it comes to do for anything with Chat Noir even simple communication or that the world is more shades of gray than in black and white that not everyone has good parents. She’s almost become a second but kinder Gabriel. Whenever CN dares to show emotions , she can’t handle it. But when he’s a doctile people-pleaser, suppressing his own submission for hers, he becomes the ideal partner she wants to keep.

Adrien, a manipulator or gas-lighter? Why on earth are you attaching such heavy, damaging labels to someone who is clearly a victim? It’s disgraceful, honestly, that anyone would even have the audacity to do so. If you’ve watched the show or even Season 5, you’d know those terms apply to Gabriel Agreste, not Adrien. And let’s not pretend Marinette, Felix, Kagami, or Nathalie are completely innocent either. Adrien’s autonomy has been ripped from him, his life controlled and manipulated, and yet people have the nerve to paint/cast him as the villain?

It’s strange, too, because Chat Noir is the heart of this operation while Ladybug is more of the brain. And if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that Adrien has increasingly taken on the role of the heroine in later seasons. Remember It's Adrien wearing the dress in this relationship and being saved by Knight Marinette. The dynamic has shifted , and this whole "lack of empathy" argument falls flat when you realize it's a role reversal of what we usually get from other shows happening here. Yes, Adrien has flaws, but what’s truly infuriating is how those flaws are constantly suppressed, twisted, or outright ignored to cater to Marinette. It’s as if the entire fandom—and even Astruc and the writers—have collectively agreed that Adrien exists solely to serve her narrative, with his own struggles and complexities swept under the rug.

I’m going out on a limb here, but maybe some of you are projecting way too much onto Marinette—like she’s your self-insert. It’s insane how, just like in the show, Adrien’s tiny faults are blown out of proportion, scrutinized to hell and back by the audience, while Ladybug’s flaws are conveniently overlooked. Why? It’s almost as if you’re Gabriel, demanding Adrien be the perfect male lead, without a single flaw. He may be the designated love interest, but he’s a character in his own right, with his own struggles—struggles that are arguably far worse. I hate playing the suffering Olympics, but it’s true—he’s literally become her therapist in Season 5. What more do you want from him? He has no one to lean on besides Plagg, while Ladybug is surrounded by an entourage of yes-men and women. He’s isolated, forced to bear the weight of his world alone, while she’s propped up at every turn.

If anything, Marinette/Ladybug doesn’t deserve him.

People are absurdly sensitive to any mistake Chat Noir or Adrien makes in the show, to the point of claiming, “He has no empathy,” or labeling him a manipulator—labels that completely contradict his character. It’s insane how they demonize him for things that simply aren’t there, driven by an unreasonable need to find fault where none exists. The sheer lack of media literacy in this fandom is staggering, especially when it comes to distorting the narrative to fit their own fantasies. If this were AO3 or Fanfiction, sure, you’d have free rein to craft your version of Adrien. But newsflash: your fanon Adrien and canon Adrien aren’t even remotely alike or similar.

The entire Love Square started because, from the very beginning, it was Adrien's kindness that touched Marinette's heart. In "Origins," it wasn’t his looks that drew her in, although they were mentioned often throughout the show she's thirsty lol —it was the moment when he offered her the umbrella as a sincere gesture of apology. That simple act of kindness was what truly made her see him for the first time. Adrien recognized Marinette’s discomfort and took action to ease it, offering her the umbrella not just as an apology, but as a way to connect with her on a human level. It's his ability to understand and respond to others' emotions that defines his character, showing that empathy is at the very core of who he is despite what anyone in the audience says otherwise. He's had a rough and terrible home life but that never stopped him from being a good boy and trying to reach out to others we have to commend him for that!! And I'm tired of being the only one to see it. He's a strong kid.

What’s next? Adrien was cruel for laughing at her? How dare he! 😂 (sarcasm, obviously). This fandom honestly.. is something.

I’ve been thinking about how Adrien is generally not an empathetic person. He’s well mannered and generally nice but I’ve yet to see him share a moment of vulnerability with someone that wasn’t about himself. There were the times he’s given Ladybug pep talks but he never seems legitimately concerned for her emotional well-being, simply smiling after she hugs him instead of showing any interest in why she was feeling the way she was and how he could help her. He literally felt the pressure she’s under every day and didn’t feel any need to change himself to help alleviate it. Of course, a large portion of empathy is learned and he hasn’t had great examples and sometimes people just don’t have the energy to genuinely care and all that but the point remains: Adrien rarely thinks about other people’s feelings. Despite how it sounds, this isn’t a criticism of him, just an observation.

[mini-cookie-11]

Analysis of "Real Gabriel"

So i'm going to write this because yes

Gabriel Agreste is a villain, and he obviously is going to receive all the hate of the fandom, mostly. And i think that's what makes him a good villain, even in a kids show. That's the point of being the antagonist.

but

He's a really complex character, as his motivations. I think the fandom hasn't spoke enough about what the actual "wish" is. Like i mostly read that people says -he wants his wife to come back alive- kinda ideas. But he has implied a lot about erasing a mistake, or thinks like that.

I totally bet on that he wants to go back and not do something, or stop Emilie on do something. And that would make all the future "invalid". At the end that's why he's so careless of even Adrien most of the time, because, as cold as it could be, he knows that it just wouldn't count.

Obviously he won't sacrifice Adrien's life because he is his son, but Gabriel is just putting all of himself in getting the cat and ladybug miraculous. Also something to point out, is that he obviously won't go so far away, because is still "his reality", idk if you get the point but i hope is clear enough xD.

Anyway, in Queen Wasp, something curious happens for just a few minuts.

Gabriel actually gave up for good. And the whole self changes.

Who is Gabriel Agreste without the burden of hope that he can save Emilie? Who is he without the miraculous, without magic?

It was just a few minuts, but it gaves enough details to make my brain go insane with ideas. I hope i can make it justice.

His motivation to break the promise he made to Emilie (maybe when she was alive, we don't know) is Adrien's safety. Also that he was powerless, all the options for him where gone.

As he was walking away, Gabriel was leaving all hope behind. And we get to see his sadness next.

Nathalie enters the room, then this.

This is something that any of them could be back from, even when Gabriel actually keeps trying to get the miraculous.

This is just her showing her attention and affection on him, he just receives it with comfort.

On Nathalies side, this whole thing of Gabriel giving up and then stop giving up, was really painful. Because, when she had her "walls", Nath knew that he just would never pay attention to her, and probably at the end she was ok with it (like i know not ok in a good way, but like she was resigned to that). But here Gabe actually received the hug without saying anything against. She was close to him physically in this particularly way; there is no coming back of knowing how it feels to embrace him. So probably all her walls just fell at that moment, there was hope, a hope that she never had in the past. And that same hope that later can mean a broken heart.

On Gabriel's side, is like "ok that happened but i still love my wife so that didn't happen" kinda way of thinking after going back to his goal. But i really think in that moment, he just let himself be and feel. It was the new taste of a future that maybe not now, but at some point, really close, he was willing to build, with Nathalie's help.

random tought: i think it was good that he didn't stop here, like aside that the whole show would have ended, but i think Gabriel needed to grow closer to Nathalie, fighting together, plotting together, maybe at this point he actually get's to know her, and that admiration for her, that she is always standing by his side, is setting the bases for something more... oh let's say it he already loves her uwu.

Gabriel showing himself in public, giving affection to Adrien.

That's it. There's the analysis.

He is loving and caring for his son, like he could have waited until Adrien ends the show. But, it was Gabriel's way to actually show and celebrate somehow that he was actually free. That he can be Adrien's father 100%, that he is proud of the little men he has become. The Agrestes are so extra, you can't change my mind xD.

This is him finding Audrey after akumatize her, with his sad eyes. At this point everything just wasn't worth it, and he harmed somehow his old friend, and later we discover that it was actually Audrey who discovers him.

You can't tell me that Gabriel dislikes Marinette, i mean, look at him. Oh this picture is so much "like father, like son" uwu. He seems really interested in Mari's talent, even happy that she is there. I don't think he would mind if she dated Adrien.

"oh but cat blanc"

I KNOW I KNOW

But as i said before, he knows that if he achieves his goal the future would be erased, and everything would be "worth it". He made them broke up to get the akuma on Marinette, that's all. im not justify him, but trying to understand how his mind works xD.

he looks soft. is my fave version of him uwu

Here Gabriel has this "proud dad" look on his face staring at Marinette xD

BUT THEN

AHHHHHHHH

CHLOE

agreste going :O

But like everything ends just right there.

Gabriel Agreste is the villain, yes, but he would be literally a different person without the burden of being Hawkmoth, having the "responsability" of a promise that he made to Emilie. All things have a cost, obviously the opportunity of saving the one he loves, is taking away Gabriel's chance for a warm present, where he can be free.

Free to be himself around his loved ones, free to actually love them the way they deserve, to feel happy and to spend time with Adrien, free to build his family again.

I'm not saying he would be good, because, yeahhhh his moral is pretty gray, like his hair, sometimes xD, but free of the past, free of his bad decisions.

Free of Emilie, in a way.

[purrincess-chat]

In your opinion, what are all the things that ML writers could do to fix the show and make it better?

Oh, Lord, how much time do you have?

I don’t even know how to begin gathering my thoughts for this, so if this ends up being a big incoherent brain dump then, uh, I’m sorry. XD

So, first and foremost I guess, they need to balance their main characters better. Why is all of the plot tied to Adrien? Why does Adrien have a more fleshed out backstory than Marinette? This is supposed to be a girl power show, and yet it revolves more around the boy’s life from the girl’s perspective basically. Marinette really doesn’t have a dog in that fight outside of the fact that she was asked. 

Marinette needs some kind of tie into the plot that doesn’t revolve around her love interest which is basically all they are willing to give her in this show. Everything about her has to relate back to the boy somehow, and if girl power is their message, then they are kind of defeating the purpose. Sure, they have episodes that are supposed to depict that the girl doesn’t need the boy, but then when you pile on top of that dozens of other instances where she gets pushed aside in favor of the boy, including words coming out of the creator’s own mouth (or off of his two thumbs onto a screen) then it doesn’t exactly hold the same weight. 

If your protagonist doesn’t have a tie into the plot, then why are they the protagonist? Take other shows, for instance: Avatar: the Last Airbender, Aang is the avatar and it’s his destiny to keep the balance in the world, She-ra, Adora was destined to become She-ra, it’s in her blood. But you have Marinette who is Ladybug because….the greater good? Some fairy sprite bug thing asked her to be? 

The villain isn’t personal for her, there is no mark of destiny that deems that she must be a hero, she’s just kind of there. Even her family barely gets fleshed out in comparison to Adrien’s. I mean, her parents are just blindly supportive of her meanwhile Adrien’s mom is in a magical coma, his father is cold, distant, and neglectful, which for some reason turns his assistant on and makes her want to sacrifice her fucking health even though Gabriel looks like a dried up soft pretzel. They canceled the special where we were supposed to learn about Marinette’s family, and I think that about sums up my point.

Secondly, I think they need to abandon the idea that Adrien is perfect because it’s not doing his character any favors. Thomas is so far up his ass about Adrien being a perfect example to boys that he has actually looped back around and made Adrien a poor example to boys. He gets away with all of his bad behavior because Thomas just covers his eyes if you call it bad behavior, he refuses to take no for an answer from the girl he likes, he thinks standing up for yourself is being unkind to the other person regardless of how unkind they are being to you, he conveniently turns a blind eye to the abuse of his friends, but god help you if you try to assert yourself against your aggressor because “you should just be nice to them and eventually they’ll change” like um, and maybe they won’t, in the mean time, I don’t want to put up with their bullshit! 

By insisting on this perfect image, they prevent Adrien from growing because you can’t improve perfect. I have said it before numerous times, but Adrien reeks of amateur fanfiction author’s self-insert OC. He’s described as being perfect, he’s good at a lot of activities just because, he’s wildly attractive, charming, smooth, can generally do no wrong, everything revolves around him, the narrative is constructed in a way that usually puts him above the everyone else. The fact that more people don’t realize that, especially the creator himself, is laughable. 

“But Cat, Chat Noir gets mind-controlled and thrown around and is goofy and-” Okay, but when Chat throws a tantrum about Ladybug not returning his feelings, who apologizes sincerely? Who is painted as being wrong in that situation? When Chloe puts a train full of people in danger just to play hero for a day, who does he scold? And of the two, who does the fandom adore more? Bonus: who do the Chibi specials revolve around and pity? 

Thirdly, they need to actually delve into shit more. It’s season 3, they’ve only been greenlit for 2 more seasons, and what plot do we have? Gabriel wants to bring his wife back from her magical coma, Master Fu messed up something in the past that led to two Miraculouses being lost as well as their temple to be destroyed where presumably everyone else but him died making him the last member of that magical society. That’s it. We don’t know how Emilie got to be the way she is. We have suspicions, but nothing explicit in canon yet. Same with Fu. We don’t know what his mistake was, only that he made one. We barely know any lore about the Miraculouses, the origins, how they were made, when they started working with humans, why they were created. 

If you want my honest opinion, with how slowly they’re dragging out this Agreste plot, they could have accomplished it in two seasons if they actually made every episode count and mean something. We get like maybe 1-2 minutes of actual plot relevant information once every few episodes, if that, and sometimes that “plot relevant information” is just the villain learning that there’s a guardian. Hang onto your asses, guys, they’re really laying it on thick for us. 

Seriously, they give us breadcrumbs of plot, and they don’t even go into any of the cool shit (like fucking Master Fu and his ancient magical fight club perhaps??) because obviously the villain’s assistant being in love with him despite the fact that he’s married, has a kid, and is doing all of this to resurrect his comatose wife whom he loves and devotes everything to is WAY more interesting and important than all that froufrou magical ass Chinese bullshit, right? Like, this show has all of this Chinese lore and a biracial lead, and they still somehow manage to make it all about white people. but ya know, the French are proud of themselves I guess

Fourth, chunk the status quoyo out the fucking window. I get that this decision may not have been the writing team’s, but in fact a higher up decision, but it’s still a stupid ass decision. For a show that is trying to introduce deeper plot, you cannot progress anything if you constantly have to set everything back to the way it was at the end of the episode, and that much is evident. The relationships are getting stale, characters aren’t developing, plot is moving at a snail’s pace, all because they are so bound by this idea that everything needs to be right in the end to maintain an episodic format. If they wanted to keep the series episodic, they shouldn’t have gone in for all of this lore and backstory that they say exists, but never tell us what it is because that just leaves a lot of people unsatisfied. 

Fifth, for the love of god learn how to write dynamic characters. Not everyone needs to be dynamic, but your main cast should probably be. Adrien, I love him to bits, but he is static as all fuck. Which, again, see point number 2. One of the biggest complaints floating around about Stormy Weather 2 is that the characters haven’t changed. With the exception of Marinette, none of the other characters have really learned anything. Adrien hasn’t, Nathalie doesn’t have enough focus to learn shit, Nino and Alya really haven’t, Chloe sure as hell hasn’t, and Gabriel can’t decide if he’s an abusive piece of shit or a sympathetic, heart broken sad man, so I barely count him. 

In fact, 3 of those characters’ “development” just revolves around being in love. Nathalie’s “change” is that she for some reason wants to fuck Gabriel (I guess the whole gray-ass pompadour, candy cane aesthetic really does it for her), and then Alya and Nino’s “change” is that they fuck love each other now which them being a couple has basically just become their entire character. They’re barely separate anymore, particularly in Nino’s case more than Alya’s. I’m sure that Chloe’s bit about having changed juxtaposed with flashbacks of her not being nice coupled with how she wasn’t nice in this episode was just for humor because they like to make the point that mean people will never change, but for some reason they still feel the need to teach the protagonist a lesson about being nice to mean people so that they can change, but they don’t do that, they just think that you should keep hoping. :) :) :)

I honestly think that the writers don’t know what “character development” means, and Stormy Weather 2 was just proof of that. All they did was show that the characters have been in a number of different situations, but none of them have really learned anything or grown from those situations, so it’s kind of a weak argument to say that they’ve changed when they’re all intrinsically the same. Except for Marinette because she is constantly the writing teams’ punching bag in all of these morals of the day cause can’t teach shit to perfect boy cause he’s perfect, but of course they don’t reflect on all of the lessons they forced her to learn, what are we, stupid? No, her only importance to the plot is the fact that she loves the boy that the plot really focuses on, so of course her only significant development of character is that she can talk to him sometimes without foaming at the mouth. Not a peep on how she has learned to overcome her jealousy and hotheaded nature, gained confidence in herself, and learned to maturely accept when someone doesn’t return her feelings, a lesson that a lot of us wish good old perfect boy would fucking learn, but he can’t because he’s perfect. :) :) :)

Another part of the problem with characterization in this show, is that often times characters behave in such a way to push the moral of the day rather than giving them established characters. It’s why Alya only questions Marinette’s sources in Chameleon while she just lets Lila claim a bunch of wild shit without batting an eye because she only cares about journalistic integrity when she can use it to beat down her friend so she can learn a lesson about turning the other cheek. :) :) :)

Sixth, pick up a fucking romance novel every once in a while cause hot damn is their relationship progression a heaping pile of hot garbage. Their love drama is so forced and there’s no real development because of the #status quoyo because they must drag this shit on until we’ve all basically lost interest. I’ve seen more people dropping off the love square in the last half season than I’ve ever seen in any other show. Part of that has to do with Adrien becoming a real “nice guy™” but a good chunk of it also has to do with the fact that they don’t really know how to write love drama or romantic tension in a way that makes you care. We all pretty much know that Adrien is never going to figure it out, even if someone grabs him by the shoulders and screams it in his face that Marinette is in love with him, so why should we care? We know that Chat Noir is never going to stop loving Ladybug, but Ladybug is never going to stop loving Adrien so why should we care? We know the show is never going to break the square because they’re endgame so why should we care about the love rivals? 

Seriously, Captain Hardrock didn’t give me a reason to care about Luka or ship him with Marinette. I still stand by my opinion that their chemistry was incredibly forced and inorganic, and it still is, and as much as I love Kagami, I wasn’t convinced that she was interested in Adrien at the end of Riposte either. The only reason we know Luka likes Marinette is because Winny said he “fell in love with her at first sight” on Twitter (which the whole love at first sight trope is bullshit, but that’s a post for another day). Somehow in Frozer Kagami was randomly into Adrien all of a sudden, and no one likes to bat an eye about the fact that she told him to change targets because the girl he likes doesn’t like him back and then at the end of the episode when Adrien admits that he still likes the other girl over Kagami, Kagami is all “well, it’s fine. I’ll wait.” like bitch, again on characterization. A strong and confident character like her would know her worth and would show that boy the door. But of course she would contradict herself because they need her for #love drama later even though we all know it doesn’t matter. 

I love the love square, and I live for soft moments between them, but I’m ready for them to turn up the heat and give me some actual drama and tension that doesn’t revolve around Chat being a pouty pissbaby or Marinette fucking up another love confession. Cause when you do that too many times, it stops being interesting. You have to throw us a bone somewhere or else we’re gonna stop caring, and lots of people already have.

Seventh, can we please stop pitting all of the girls against each other while the boys just get to be cool with each other? For a show that promotes itself as being a “girl power” show, there are a metric fuckton of misogynistic undertones to this show. See: why does the plot revolve around the boy even though the girl is the slated protagonist. See: why does the girl learn all the lessons while the boy gets to be right all the time. See: why two teenage girls are “the worst things I can think of” while an actual neglectful father gets to be sympathetic and “do anything for his family” uwu

Seriously, I think making Kagami and Marinette rivals while Luka and Adrien are just chill dudebros is so tired. Girls fighting over boys is tired, especially because we have it not once, not twice, but three fucking times in this show. Chloe and Marinette don’t often fight over Adrien, but in Despair Bear Chloe sure as hell didn’t want them dancing together. Marinette initially follows Lila because she’s hanging off of Adrien, and even at the end of Chameleon, Lila makes it known that she is still gonna try to steal Adrien. Kagami basically tells Marinette that she better stop hesitating or she is gonna steal Adrien away, and we have Backwarder where Marinette is basically plotting to cockblock them even though we had Frozer where she decided she wasn’t going to be jealous of them because Adrien liked her. Again, see: characters behaving in a way that is convenient for the plot of the episode. All of the drama is between girls. All of the women in this show are described as being terrible, the worst things they could think of, never going to stop being mean. Seriously. Chloe and Lila? Worst things Thomas can think of. Audrey is constantly shown intimidating her husband who is extremely corrupt himself, not that anyone bats an eye at that. Nathalie/Mayura was described by Jeremy as “making Hawkmoth look like a baby.” Any time they show a man being problematic, they have to bring in a female to be ten times worse, and the worst part is: they don’t even know they’re doing it. #girl power, am I right?

Eighth, speaking of making people bad, can we stop half-assing redemptions? Honestly, they’re so back and forth on whether or not they’re going to redeem Chloe. First it’s “mean people will never get a miraculous” then dingdong, who’s that? Queen Bee, motherfuckers. Then it’s talk about how they’re not going to redeem Chloe then bam bitch, “why don’t you love me?” But even after that they reset the status quoyo and have her go back to being mean. Even after they give her a second chance to be a hero and do good, she still goes right back to being her nasty self. I think they really highlighted in Stormy Weather 2 how much they haven’t changed her at all, and yet somehow she still gets to play the hero. 

Additionally, now we have them trying to make Gabriel sympathetic? Boo fucking hoo my wife is in a coma so I terrorize the fucking city on a daily basis, pity me! Also I neglect my son, verbally abuse him from time to time, and I don’t even let him see his friends or feel any happiness, and even though my superpower revolves around feeling people’s negative emotions, I never seem to care about my own son’s unhappiness, but hey, I’m doing it for his mommy, so that makes me better than the 14 year old girl. :D

Shit or get off the pot, Zag. Either you’re going to redeem these characters, or you’re going to leave them the way they are. Make up your damn mind.

Ninth, be diverse in more than name only. For a show that prides itself on its biracial female lead and its ties to Chinese culture, uhh, they spend a lot of time focusing on not those things. I said it before, but they focus all of their plot attention on rich ass white people drama more than the vastly more interesting Chinese lore they have going on. Their black characters were paired together just cause, and their only real important quality now is that they love each other. Their ship is basically their character now, and we barely have a reason to root for them outside of the fact that they’re canon. They have such shallow relationship development that my feet wouldn’t get wet if I stood in a puddle of it. Can we have more on them, please? 

This show is diverse only on the surface. They use diversity as decoration then fill everything else with less interesting shit, and even then they get a lot of shit wrong. It drives one of my Asian friends nuts that Sabine’s neckline is facing the wrong direction. (for those unaware of what I mean, it should look like a y. hers is backwards) They use diversity to pat themselves on the back and say they are diverse, but they have no intention of doing anything meaningful with it. It’s just a gold sticker they wanted to give themselves to draw in an eastern market. It’s cheap, and several of us see through that shit. 

And last, but certainly not least: Shut the absolute fuck up on Twitter. Just shut the fuck up. Every time Thomas opens his mouth, he just pisses off more people or makes everything more convoluted. Shut the fuck up. Please. 

Now, I know a host of you are going to be like “buhhh, it’s a kid’s show, go outside, hur dur, I’m so smart and mature,” but like, honestly that’s a weak argument. Yes, Thomas’s audience is young now and they may not be able to see all of this shit, but when they get older and decide to go back and watch one of their favorite childhood cartoons, all of that shit is gonna come out. They’re not gonna be so naive forever, especially if our generation is raising them, and just because they can’t see all of this shit now, doesn’t mean that it’s not still there just because they don’t notice? That doesn’t make it any less problematic. One thing I love about several shows I used to watch as a kid is that they aged well. When I go back and watch them now as an adult, I find things that I missed as a kid that I appreciate now as an adult. I can’t say that the same is going to happen with Miraculous, especially in this day and age. 

Additionally, kids learn a lot through media. I never believed that I was any less than the boys growing up because I consumed a lot of media that taught me that, and going back and watching it over now, I still get that from those shows. Clearly, if you apply two ounces of logic to this show, it falls apart, and that’s not because it’s a kid’s show, it’s because it’s bad writing. I can always see what they are going for, but they always miss just a little bit. sometimes a lot

A lot of us complain because we are concerned with the message being spread to the next generation because those kids are going to grow up one day and be influenced by what they are consuming now. If we teach our girls that the perfect boy is going to chase after us no matter what we say to them and if we teach our boys that in order to be the perfect boy we have to continually chase after the girl until she says yes, how are those kids going to approach relationships? That mentality is actually something that we are trying to combat in the world. That mentality is why rape is so prevalent because we teach boys that they are entitled to a woman’s affection if they’re “nice” to them, and if she doesn’t give it to them, then she is wrong. 

Media has an impact on kids, whether we like to admit it or not. Yes, parents can still teach them, but sometimes things get into your subconscious and it can determine how you see yourself and the world. Lots of kids engage in make-believe play where they put themselves in that character’s shoes and play pretend. I just think it’s important to give them the right things to look up to. 

[mirime-kisarrastine]

1, 4, 8, 9 and 12?

Thank you :)

1. of the fic you’ve written, which are you most proud of?

Why not ask a mother of several which kid she loves the best? I‘ve been posting fics for almost 13 years (since 2004) and although I may not be the most prolific author ever, I wrote a fair amount of fics in that time. But some of them do stand out...

A Fusion Experiment will forever be special to me just for the sheer guts it took me to write, finish and post it. That it was generally well received is an unexpected bonus. Explicit, two-person foursome with incestual undertones... yeah, it’s that kind of fic.

Lady’s Prerogative is, I feel, one of my best works in regards to characterization of the characters. Plus, it’s book canon-compliant with a twist.

Chimerical is a masterpiece of subtlety and gradual development for a couple that can be really hard to get right.

4. what are some themes you love writing about?

I like canon compliant stories so if the canon is big on friendship, I write a lot about friendships. If there is a grey and gray morality, I do my best to convey it in my writing. If canon totally messed up in something *cough*ouat*cough*, I am all for a fix-it fic to make it better. And romance, of course. I’m a shipper at heart and I will stop writing about my favourite characters getting together/being together in hundreds of different ways when I die, not sooner.

8. is there a character you love writing for the most? the least? why?

I really love writing Mikasa from Attack on Titan. She is a wonderfully complex character and writing her is a gift that keeps on giving. She can be both ruthless and gentle, stubborn and pliant, strong and weak. She is amazing.

Plagg and Nathalie from Miraculous Ladybug have been my favourites to write recently. Nathalie, especially, as her characterization is not as established as some other characters and it gives me more freedom to play around with her.

Generally speaking, if I don’t like a character, I don’t write them a lot so if their presence is necessary for a fic, I tend to struggle with those scenes. But no character stands out specifically.

9. a passage from a WIP

How about some Nathalie love... It’s a Miraculous Ladybug fic that takes place in an AU where Nathalie was the previous Ladybug.

The evening breeze felt good on Nathalie's face. She had spent the past week inside, after her mysterious collapse and her parents' insistence on taking it easy. They had seemed to think she had overdone her studying and Nathalie was quite happy to keep it that way. After all, she could hardly tell them her two-days long bout of unconsciousness had been caused by a magical exhaustion.

Nathalie heard her yoyo beep again. It had been going off every ten minutes ever since she had transformed to get out of the house and to her favourite observational spot. The top of the Arc de Triomphe had been her favourite place almost since the beginning. Lydia preferred the Tower and Valérie-

Nathalie unclenched her fists with some effort. She didn't want to think about Valérie right now. Her anger had yet to abate, as a matter of fact, now that the worry was no longer mixed in with it, Nathalie felt angrier by the minute. Only her determination not to lose control helped her keep the lid on it.

12. what’s your favorite place for writing resources?

Mainly Google for research. I also bookmarked some tumblr posts with both general and specific advice or something interesting I have seen (I’m still waiting for the right idea in which to use those Venetian masks). But Google is super handy for almost anything.

i'm a good writer, seriously! meme

[thetardisisnotourdivision]

Right I'm sorry I should be doing homework but that episode was absolutely flawless and my whole body feels like it's screaming so I need to rant.

Nathalie's arc. Of going from kind of Adrien's stepmum but also basically robotic and dedicated to her work, to all-out villain, to morally-gray but protective and loving is EVERYTHING. Every time she speaks to Gabriel in this episode starts with her yelling at him and ends with a soft look. I have never shipped gabnath EVER but I appreciate how we've seen the relationship between these two grow and change. At the end she must have realised something was wrong and carried him back up from the lair, ALL WHILE LITERALLY DYING HERSELF. Nathalie is absolutely an underappreciated character and I will probably make a more coherent post at some point analysing this episode in further detail.

But the parts where they discuss their deaths... where they talk about finding a "permanent solution" for Adrien, and at the end when they realise they will likely both die before they can make sure Adrien's safe... they broke me. Those two scenes BROKE me. I was supposed to be revising for my French exams but instead I'm CRYING MY EYES OUT because the VILLAINS are dying. I didn't even care about Gabe dying before, I basically just laughed, but in this episode I actually felt bad for him, I felt frustrated on Nathalie's behalf, I felt their despair over their inevitable doom. This episode was PERFECT. Now excuse me while I go cry.

MLB Intuition

Oh... My god...

Oh my god...

I'm actually crying help me, this is the episode that broke me istg what the fuck why do I have all these FEELINGS.

This is so SAD. I laughed in some places but overall this episode broke me like no episode ever has before. Nathalie and Gabriel are both very aware that they're both dying, and the contrast between that and Adrien's smile is heartbreaking. "Very little time" I'M ACTUALLY SOBBING. I'll probably make a far more coherent post later with all the reasons why this is such a sad episode but I just don't have enough energy for it rn because this episode sapped it all.

Nathalie is literally my favourite character, I don't want her to die!!!! Gabriel I don't care quite so much but it's quite clear what happened at the end and I'm CRYING why did they DO this. S5 has gone downhill in many ways but THIS ONE EPISODE hits so hard in all the right places. Absolute masterpiece. I'm sobbing. This post should be tearstained.

[sfdfmoviereviews]

Upcoming Flicks April 2017

Cinema releases for Australia, April 2017.

April 6

Dance Academy: The Movie

Are you a fan of the Dance Academy television show? Yes? Well, you can now continue the story as this film follows on from the series and tells us where and what the characters are up to now. Genre: Drama Director: Jeffrey Walker Stars: Miranda Otto, Keiynan Lonsdale, Jordan Rodrigues Recommendation: This will only be interesting to those who have seen the television series. I had never heard of the show prior to this month so I will be skipping it.

CHiPS

Based on the 80’s buddy cop television show, two California Highway Patrol officers investigate some crooked cops. Genre: Action/Comedy Director: Dax Shepard Stars: Michael Peña, Dax Shepard, Jessica McNamee Recommendation: Skip it. Some things in the past should be left there and not resurrected.

  April 13

The Fate and the Furious

Dom is seduced by a mystery woman and forces him to turn against his crew. There is also a lot of car chases and submarines and other modes of transport. Genre: Action Director: F. Gary Gray Stars: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kurt Russell, Scott Eastwood, Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren. Recommendation: If it wasn’t for the cast and the submarine I wouldn’t give this movie two thoughts but I am sure there is some fun to be had here. See it.

Denial

Based upon the book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier by Deborah Lipstadt, Denial is a courtroom biographical drama where Lipstadt must prove the events of the Holocaust happened against David Irving, a renowned denier. Genre: Biographical/Drama Director: Mick Jackson Stars: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall Recommendation: See it. The story looks intriguing and its cast is solid.

Colossal

A Kaiju attacks South Korea and an American woman, going through some life problems discovers she is connected to the creature and controlling its actions. Genre: Comedy/Sci-Fi Director: Nacho Vigalondo Stars: Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens Recommendation: See it. This looks hilarious.

  April 20

Going in Style

Three elderly gentlemen who have been victims of the ever profitable but never giving bank set out to rob the banks that have taken their pension. Genre: Comedy Director: Zach Braff Stars: Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin Recommendation: See it. I recently watched a Brit version of this called Golden Years starring Bernard Hill. Hopefully, the Americans can do it just as good.

Raw

A lifelong vegetarian starts veterinary school and goes through a hazing ritual that forces her to eat meat, which starts an uncontrollable taste for meat. Genre: Horror Director: Julia Ducournau Stars: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella Recommendation: See it. It has been getting great buzz but make sure you have a hard stomach.

Their Finest

Based on the 2009 novel Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans, the British Ministry turns to making propaganda videos to boost morale during World War II. Catrin Cole is hired as a scriptwriter to add a woman’s touch. Genre: Romantic/Comedy Director: Lone Scherfig Stars: Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Jack Huston, Jeremy Irons Recommendation: This looks very good. See it.

   April 22

My Pet Dinosaur

My Pet Dinosaur is an Australian family film about a boy accidentally who makes a new friend and plunges a town into chaos. Genre: Family Director: Matt Drummond Stars: David Roberts, Joanne Samuel, Sam Winspear-Schillings Recommendation: It looks like a cheaper version of E.T. but with a weird dinosaur looking thing. 50/50.

  April 25

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2

Starlord and the Guardians must defend the galaxy again and deal with Quill’s father. Genre: Adventure/Sci-fi Director: James Gunn Stars: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell. Recommendation: Must See! 2017’s first MCU film and the long-awaited sequel to the unexpected smash Guardians of the Galaxy will bring back my favourite hero along with some new characters. I cannot wait.

 April 27

Free Fire

When things go awry at an arms deal, a shootout occurs in the warehouse between the two rival gangs. Genre: Action/Comedy Director: Ben Wheatley Stars: Sharlto Copley, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer Recommendation: See it. It looks very fun.

Table 19

Table 19 is about a group of people who are seated at the back of the wedding, the people they wished RSVP-ed ‘no’. Genre: Comedy/Drama Director: Jeffrey Blitz Stars: Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, June Squibb, Lisa Kudrow, Stephen Merchant, Wyatt Russell and Tony Revolori. Recommendation: Table 19 has received mainly negative reviews from critics and the general audience, but the trailer made me want to see more of these characters. 50/50

Gifted

A single man who is raising his niece finds out she is a prodigy child and is drawn into a custody battle with his own mother for the best way to raise the girl. Genre: Drama Director: Marc Webb Stars: Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer. Recommendation: See it. It looks like a fantastic story of heart and conflict of two opposing views with the best intentions in mind.

   My picks for the month are Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2, Colossal and Raw. Tell me what you are checking out this month on Facebook, Tumblr & Twitter

-Terry

[nangbaby]

I actually never saw Kubo and only know that was a Kubo character because I just Googled it. I didn't read the bio because I kind of want to watch Kubo now and don't want to be too spoiled. Although I whipped that up at the top of my head, my inspiration for Gabriel's end fate, aside from the Buffy Wishverse setup, comes from Spider-Man media. Unlike the Miraculous Ladybug writers who went with the 2002 movie conclusion minus the unrepentance of the Green Goblin and the actual victory of Spider-Man, I took my cues from John Semper's 90's cartoon Spider-Man, where you give the villain easy amnesia. Amnesia has already been established in this show and it would be fitting way of paralleling Hawk Moth/Shadow Moth/Monarch akumatizing other people, then having no memory of that they did. Since Gabriel went bad willingly, a permanent memory loss would be a more fitting price.

That and given that the writers have hammered in "Let it Go" as the solution for Gabriel and his obsession, and that even Nathalie, his ally, has told him to give up, it makes sense if Ladybug is able to guide him that direction. That his letting go of Emilie is without his consent (no matter the urgings of Wishverse Gabe...or Wishverse "Gabi") is intentionally sketchy, even though it would be treated as a bittersweet ending. Despite Emilie dying, she would pay the price she explicitly stated she was willing to suffer...so her husband could get a second chance.

Plus that kwagatama brought back from the Wishverse is a nice convenient device to jog Gabriel's memory so that the threat of Hawk Moth coming back is there. More critically, it also might end up allowing Gabriel to make a choice as to whether he wants to be bad...possibly giving him a true redemption instead of one foisted on him by Ladybug (albeit a redemption also brought on by his own actions). Wouldn't it be funny is somehow, due to creation magic, that both Wishverse Gabi and Hawk Moth are both "keyed" to the kwagatama?

Finally, since there are future seasons, even if the new reality is near-identical to the old except for one, many of the drama landmines still remain. Ladybug is still cursed with knowledge that Adrien doesn't have. The difference is here, this lays the groundwork for Ladybug to terms with the morally gray actions she took to obtain victory (she accepted an amok and created a sentimonster even knowing that they're sapient, and even though she resists the temptation to make everything right, she couldn't resist fixing Gabriel), instead of her simply failing yet again as she will canonically. My conclusion puts the ball in her court and makes her an active cause of what follows, and it also sets up future storylines as well as questions as to the ethics of Ladybug and her ability/desire to set right what went wrong.

As mentioned in the post, there's a lot more I'd have to work out, and there are obvious holes I'm missing, but I like the idea of Gabriel instigating his own downfall, but Ladybug being the one to do what she does best...fixing it.

I’ve seen the leaks and now I’m ticked off.

This post has potentially VERY BIG spoilers so I’m hiding this under a cut.

Keep reading

[princess-of-the-corner]

I think one of the reasons that I don’t care for the Marinette vs. Lila plot, as much as I like writing fics where Lila get called the fuck out, is that it’s… the least interesting.

Out of the Main Five of Team Miraculous, Lila being a narrative foil to any of the others is so much more interesting!

Like sure. Marinette vs. Lila is the basic good vs. evil. The protagonist vs. one of the many antagonists. Not to mention the love rivalry over Adrien. But like…. on top of all that, Marinette’s narrative foil should honestly be Gabriel. And that’s a post in itself so I won’t go into it here.

But look at the opportunities the rest of the Team would have!!!

Lila vs. Adrien:

While I argue that Adrien’s true narrative foil should be Nathalie, just like Marinette has Gabriel, Adrien vs. Lila would be interesting.

Both seem to have mildly similar parental backgrounds, from what we’ve seen. Lila’s dad is out of the picture for some unknown reason, and Adrien’s mom is missing.

While Gabriel does seem to be worse than Mrs. Rossi from the little screentime we’ve seen, both parents are very busy with work and ignore their children.

Both also have to uphold reputations too. While Adrien is ‘the face of the brand’ and more in the public eye, anything Lila does reflects on her mother and therefore Italy itself.

Adrien deals with this by believing the best in people, believing he can help them, and being genuinely nice to others.

Lila deals with it by becoming cynical, thinking everyone has an agenda and that niceness is just politics. Be nice or mean to get what she wants.

Seeing the two of them have a rivalry would be more interesting because we can see what both could have become. And how easily they can become each other even now.

We can see Adrien trying to get Lila to be a better person and learn that people will genuinely love her without lying and faking. That while some people just have agendas, that others are sincere.

Meanwhile, Lila could be trying to get Adrien to be like her. He has the actual money and power to get whatever he wants. It would be easy for him to manipulate anyone into anything.

You can even have it working on both sides! Adrien convinces Lila that some people are genuinely nice, and she tries to refrain from lying to them. Eventually either getting a redemption arc or tossing it out the window.

On the flip side, Lila can show Adrien how her lies can get Gabriel and Nathalie to listen to him more. And he can even go darkside for a short time by getting frustrated with unrequited love and using the tactics on Ladybug, but eventually realizes how shitty that is and stops while apologizing.

Again, the back and forth would’ve been interesting.

Lila vs. Alya:

This one!!! Rena Rouge vs. Volpina! Fox vs. Fox! Truth vs. Lies!!

Seriously! Why set up Lila as a lying fake fox and Alya as a journalist searching for the truth if you’re not going to have them get into a fight?

Especially because while Marinette’s foil is Gabriel and Adrien’s is Nathalie, both Alya and Lila are the 'third team member’ to both sides.

I already went over this before, but I think of it would’ve been great if Lila’s lies were outed, but everyone believes her lies were just “new kid trying to make friends quick” lies.

Alya, pissed that she was tricked and resolving to not get tricked again, continues to be suspicious of Lila. Eventually she realizes that Lila is a full-on manipulator, only pretending to have repented to get close to people like Adrien and Marinette.

Alya trying to find the Truth while Lila makes more Lies could make a good back and forth battle.

Especially as Alya would be simultaneously struggling with the idea of exposing the truth due to realizing how the truth can hurt. In the beginning she wanted to find the story and dig up any secrets like the identities of the Heroes. But after becoming a Hero herself, she realizes why the lies and secrets about her identity are in place. The safety of herself and her loved ones.

Meanwhile, Lila is struggling with her lying tactics. Because despite not actually having famous connections and even after the annoyance from the class finding her out she was lying, they still like her. They still care about her and want to be her friend.

Lila vs. Nino

I will admit that Nino is the least developed of the five which is a crime because he’s great and deserves better but that’s for another post.

It would be interesting because he’s the least like Lila. Marinette is the one with all the connections that Lila claims to have and is the 'Love Rival’, Adrien is the one with a similar history but on a different path, Alya is the 'opposite’, and Chloé (who I will get to) is the Mean Girl. But Nino’s none of that.

Still, Nino is friends with everyone Lila targets. And he’s a protector type. Like bruh. He gets the Miraculous of Protection!! That’s just Canon.

The idea of everyone thinking Lila is genuine, but Nino is the only one who get bad vibes and is wary of her could’ve been a good story.

Especially because this would make sense for extending this plot!! Like, Nino is the only one of the four who can’t disprove Lila’s lies himself. Marinette could just be Ladybug and otr Lila again or call any celebrities she knows. Adrien could do the same as Chat, or just by telling people that Ladybug called Lila out. Alya can contact the Heroes and knows how to research anything Lila claims. Chloé can do the 'call up celebrities’ thing too. Nino being unable to prove Lila’s a fuck makes more sense than everyone suddenly being dumb for the plot to work.

It’s also so much harder to have Lila turn people against him! With Marinette, it’s the “sure she’s nice but jealousy makes a vicious monster out of the best”. With Alya it could be either the “jealous I’m bffs with Ladybug” or “jealous of her getting close to Marinette”. With Adrien, Lila could claim that he’s the one pretending to be nice while manipulating them. And Chloé is self explanatory. But Nino is none of that.

It might not have quite the back and forth like the others, but that is also why I like it. It’s more subtle. It’s not a full on battle between the two. Neither is really a threat to the other directly.

This would also make sense writing-wise for why Lila is both built up as such a threat but is also doing nothing to actually be a threat outside of, like, four episodes. She’s subtle, and Nino’s protection of his friends is just as subtle because he plays defense. 

As a bonus: This would also give Nino more screentime and development.

Lila vs. Chloé

This would’ve been so good because, like, they both start as antagonists for the Civilian plot. And there’s two ways that I would go with this.

The first, which I like better because it’s Chloé Redemption: As Chloé learns to be a better person, Lila begins becoming worse and worse.

Both start as Mean Girls for the class, but in different ways and in ways that are reverse of each other. Chloé seems like the typical 'rich girl bully’, but does have hidden niceness and just wants to be loved. Lila seems oh so nice, but is cynical and only seems to want power and attention.

Chloé being the one to try and out Lila’s lies and not being believed makes so much more sense because, well, Chloé is an asshole and the class is just barely beginning to trust her. If they trust her at all. But compared to the other four, she’s the least trustworthy.

However, Chloé is also much more morally gray than the other four. So she can play Lila’s games just as hard. Lean into the lies just enough to turn it around on her. Much like the Adrien plot, you could have Chloé learning to use these skills for 'good’ to help people while Lila continues to just get what she wants.

This would eventually come to a head when Chloé’s redemption arc gets to the point where people do legitimately believe she has changed and trust her.

The other story option: Both hate Ladybug and go Darkside, but for different reasons.

Yes this includes keeping Miracle Queen which hurts me, but it also includes keeping Chloé’s character development by changing a few things.

So, Lila hates Ladybug because Ladybug ruined her plans, and is joining Hawkmoth because she can use his powers to further manipulate the situation and get what she wants.

Chloé hates Ladybug because she feels betrayed and abandoned by her, and joins Hawkmoth because at least he is upfront about how she’s only useful as a tool.

Both are doing the same things, but one is an asshole while the other is sympathetic. And it leaves room for the narrative, and the Heroes, to offer both of them a redemption arc and see who takes it. 

Anyway! That’s my point on how I think literally any of these would be more interesting than making Lila be Marinette’s problem!!