#There may be Sentimonsters too

[hamsteriffic]

Miraculous Fandom Stats

Ao3 Wrap Up 2023

I don’t know if anyone has done this, I hope I don’t step on anyone’s toes. Here a wrap up for 2023 for Miraculous Ladybug!

This study only assesses the fanfics posted by the last update, so if there was an older fic that was from 2021 that was updated in 2023, this would be captured by this study.

📈 The data presented here is a snapshot of the Fandom on: 05 Jan 2024

🖤 Works posted to Ao3 in 2023

In 2023 there were 10,515 fanfics posted (including crossovers and all languages). The median word count per fanfic was 2,268 words. In general, each fic received 5 comments, 561 hits and 36 kudos (median).

A majority of fanfics were not crossovers (Fig 1). The peak of Ao3 posts for Miraculous Ladybug was in 2021 with a total of 11,350 fanfics. Fanfics with crossovers have had a steady rise in popularity from 2018 with a peak of 2,609 in 2021.

Fig 1. A total number of fanfics posted to Ao3 in 2023 for the Miraculous Ladybug fandom without crossovers (blue line) and with crossovers (dotted line).

Note that this analysis will excludes crossovers (a separate analysis to come!).

Fig 2. Total number of completed fanfics (red) and incomplete fanfics (pink) posted to Ao3 in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom for 2023 (excluding crossovers).

Fig 3. Total number of words per fic published or updated in 2023. The median word count per fanfic in 2023 was 2,268 words.

The most frequently used tags for 2023 were (in descending order):

Fluff (1495)

Angst (1040)

Identity Reveal (982)

Aged-Up Characters (968)

Alternate Universe (732)

Hurt/Comfort (700)

Adrien Needs a Hug (510)

🏆 Highlights in 2023 include

Miraculous Ladybug Season 5 Finale, s05e26, Re-Creation (Part 2) (First Airdate: July 01, 2023) [2]

Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie (Released: July 05, 2023) [3]

Miraculous Paris Special (Preview Screening: October 15, 2023) [4]

🖤 Most Tagged Side of the Lovesquare in 2023

Fig 4. Percentage of fanfics tagged with different sides of the Lovesquare.

Note that these are only taking into account fics that use this tag. There may be fanfics that have sides of the Lovesquare that are not indicated. This analysis also includes tags for Marichat May, Ladrien July etc.

Adrinette (34.5%; 737 fics)

LadyNoir (32%; 677 fics)

MariChat (23.5%; 501 fics)

Ladrien (10%; 213 fics)

🖤 Top 10 Characters Pairings on Ao3 (excluding Lovesquare)

Alya/Nino (927 fics)

Luka/Marinette (734 fics)

Juleka/Rose (405 fics)

Nathaniel / Marc (337 fics)

Felix / Marinette (317 fics)

Gabriel / Nathalie (286 fics)

Adrien / Luka (269 fics)

Felix / Kagami (183 fics)

Adrien / Kagami (159 fics)

Kagami / Marinette (158 fics)

There was a large shift in a number of pairings, in particular there was a dramatic increase in the number of fics tagged with Felix Fathom / Kagami Tsurugi (see below the cut for Season 5 spoilers). Other notable mentions are also Marinette Dupain-Cheng / Zoe Lee with a 2.5 fold increase in fanfics posted in 2023 (63 in total) compared to 2022 (26 in total).

🖤 Conclusions

It’s been a big year, and one that is controversial in many ways. I was just curious to see if there’s a decrease in activity since the season 5 finale, but it looks like the fanfiction writing is going strong. But are fans tuning out? Or are we trying to create more fix-it fics? (I will delve into that in a different post, since this was quite labour intensive).

There have been some interesting changes in relationship tags as well as tags for Sentimonsters (below the cut).

Methodology, References and Season 5 Spoilers below the cut:

Warning: Season 5 spoilers below:

🖤 2023 was also the year Feligami became official

This has lead to a dramatic increase in fanfics for the power couple.

Fig 5. The total number of fanfics posted on Ao3 for Felix / Kagami, represented per month saw a dramatic increase since the release of Season 5 in 2023 (blue). In contrast, I have plotted the total number of fanfics per month 2022 (red).

💔 2023 was also when the sentimonster theory was confirmed

Fig 6. Fanfiction that have used tags for Sentimonsters since 2018. Note that this is not a cumulative plot and that the numbers are individual works from each year tagged for Sentimonster.

In 2023, there were 192 works that tagged for Sentimonster Adrien, and 95 for Sentimonster Felix and 34 for Sentimonster Kagami. Recent usage for the tag 'Adrien is not a Sentimonster' was also observed (21 cases).

Please don’t be mad at me. I’m just a stats hamster.

Methodology

Filtering

The analyses start from Sep 05, 2012 when the first promotional video (PV) for Miraculous Ladybug was publicly leaked [1].

Since the website is very active, the information may change as this data is best considered to be a snapshot of the fanfics posted at this point in time. Also note that the filter is also for last update, and not first posted, so that older fics may be captured in later datasets. But for the purposes of this study, I am assuming that if the author is updating, then they are still active in the fandom.

To get an idea on what was posted to Ao3 this year, I have filtered for last published date 01 Jan 2023 - 31 Dec 2023. Note that while there was only an option for selecting by Last Post Date, which meant that works originally posted earlier (pre-2023) would still be captured if it was updated within the bounds of these dates.

Furthermore, it is also possible to backdate works on Ao3 which may also give false results. However, it may be likely that if this did happen it would only be a small percentage of fanworks. As such the data is an approximation of fandom activity during 2023.

Relationship Tags

I have followed the Ao3 rules so that / are taken to mean romantic relations and & for platonic relationships. In this analysis, I have combined the numbers for Felix (PV), Felix Graham de Vanily and Felix Fathom.

References

[1] Miraculous PV (https://miraculousladybug.fandom.com/wiki/Ladybug_PV)

[2] Miraculous Ladybug Re-Creation (s05e25) World Premiere (Switzerland) (https://miraculousladybug.fandom.com/wiki/Re-creation_(The_Final_Day_-_Part_2)#google_vignette)

[3] Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie (https://m.imdb.com/title/tt10364034/releaseinfo/)

[4] Miraculous Paris Special (https://miraculousladybug.fandom.com/wiki/Miraculous_Paris)

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

If you were to write Lila would you keep her being a con artist criminal with multiple identities but hinted at/revealed it earlier than S5 or would you cut that part down of her character entirely ?

It would really depend on how much space I had to fill. Gabriel is not the kind of villain that you can draw out forever. His story needs to have a clearly planned ending right from the start. In fact, I think they drew him out at least a season too long. So, if I also had to fill eight seasons, I could see myself going the Lila route. I'd just make a few changes. Off the top off my head, here's how I'd handle serious villain Lila as opposed to what canon wrote, which is petty school bully Lila who is entirely unbelievable as a serious villain.

First of all, Lila wouldn't be introduced at the end of season one. While her and Gabriel probably need to have some overlap, that's way too soon. In my version, she shows up at the start of season four and she'd be heavily toned down. We'd know that something was off about her, we may even keep the liar thing, but it would be a lot more subtle. Lies like, "Ladybug rescued me" and "I got to go backstage at a Jagged Stone concert" instead of "Ladybug is my bff" and "Jagged Stone wrote a song about me." Her goal would no longer be gaining peons, but instead gaining true close friends who like and trust her. The reason for this is that Lila is replacing Optigami as Mayura's last sentimonster.

See, season three ended with all those identity reveals and most of the revealed identities are in the same class. That's curious, so it makes perfect sense for Nathalie and Gabriel to want someone undercover in Adrien's class, but they can't do it. So Nathalie makes a sentikid of her own, gives her the power of manipulation, and sends her off to try to find Ladybug and/or Chat Noir by whatever means necessary.

This would give a clear reason for Gabriel to trust Lila, a clear reason for Lila to know all about the miraculous, and a clear reason for Lila to hate Ladybug. In this version, I wouldn't do Nathalie's lackluster redemption. Instead, Nathalie stays bad right up to her death. Perhaps her last act is getting the butterfly to her daughter and ordering her to get revenge on Ladybug and Chat Noir should Gabriel fail. After all, Gabriel can't wield more than six miraculous at once, so it makes sense for him to send Nathalie off with at least one of them while he enacts his master plan just in case it fails.

That's just one potential path to take. I also like the idea of having Lila be someone who came to Paris in order to find the miraculous, but who has no ties to the Agrestes. That would require some pretty big changes to her character, though, as I can't see that type of character caring about things like dating Adrien or being a model or all the other crap that has nothing to do with gaining a miraculous and everything to do with popularity and social clout. Lila canonically doesn't know that Gabriel even has a miraculous until the final of season four, so she basically just lucked into finding one instead of doing anything logical to find it because this show has no clue how to actually write smart, clever characters.

In summary, I'm totally fine with complex, master-manipulator Lila, it's just hard to figure out the best way to make her work when we don't know anything about her backstory or motivation. The version proposed above is just the best I can do to fit her into the role canon placed her in. A role I could easily see later seasons flat out ignoring.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

You know, really thinking about it. Gabriel did the most evil thing with his wish.

He laid a curse on Marinette. A burden not meant for her to carry. Knowledge that will keep her at a distance from the boy she loves. She knows he’s a sentimonster, that his father is Hawkmoth, that his mother died because she uses a broken miraculous. And ALL of that she has to hold. A burden that would break Adrien. A power dynamic that can’t be destroyed without harm to Adrien. A curse so cruel it could forever taint the love.

Gabriel casted his sins onto Marinette. And now whatever happens will be on her watch. Gabriel may have “Sacrificed his life” but the real sacrifice was Marinette. Gabriel gets to be with his wife, Gabriel gets to be treated like a hero. Gabriel won in the most twisted way. All it did was cost the soul of a heroine that loved Adrien too much to ever hurt him.

[ilikekidsshows]

Call me a childish hater but I'm glad the Hack-San Ladynoir ending got obliterated into pieces. It already felt degrading and hollow back then with how Adrien's worry for Ladybug's life is not not addressed to give Marinette a free pass for throwing the worst possible situation in Chat's face (someone else suddenly having her earrings which he understandably took as Scarabella being a Sentimonster and Hawkmoth possibly having found Ladybug). That episode said so much more about Marinette's absolut lack of care for Chat as a person than about Adrien being "needy". At least he deeply cared for her safety, can't say that about Marinette apparently)

And I also hate how Marinette is using the term 'sulking' to describe her own feelings if she were in Chat's position. It's such a childish and degrading word to use here. That episode already killed most arguments that Marinette thinks about Chat's safety beyond how she plays into it (with Kuro Neko for example killing the rest. Gurl seriously thought Chat's akumatized as a civilian for a while and didn't even consider it BAD that Hawkmoth knows his identity, which she disregarded again in Elation), but I simply HATE that Adrien was made to attack Scarabella because he clearly thought about the realistic worst cases

And yet the end of the episode has Marinette use childish terms and not even once push back on Chat basically telling her that he's irrelevant. She took care of what's important and that doesn't include him. She's perfectly fine with him thinking that because obviously she considers his hurt feelings as unprofessional neediness that came from their 'special bond' and not because he was still left to believe that he's supposed to care for her safety in their duo and that Ladybug would do the same (which the show has shown over and over again, she literally wouldn't. She barely remembers that Chat is a real person and the show plays it straight)

I hate that the episode had Adrien initially REACT in a way that honors the bond Ladynoir was once supposed to have (meaning, seeing a new holder with the other one's miraculous as a red alert situation) just to be girlbossed into oblivion by the two leaders on top of the hierarchy who clearly don't consider him in anything.

That is such an awful way to morally approach this as show. Adrien was the only one of the three of them who treated the situation with the right seriousness and he got punished for it by being treated as a pet and needy child to the two treat Ladybug's above him.

It says honestly so much more about Marinette and Alya than Adrien.

Marinette viewing Chat's problem as some unprofessional neediness is also highlighted by her not even humoring the question of if he too may need a person to confine in. All she say sis that she would have sulked if she had found out like this that he revealed himself to someone else, but she does not care to ask of he needs anyone. For. Her it's a ridiculous thought apparently that Chat could need something.

Or have valid feelings that go beyond unprofessional hurt feelings because "their bond is so special uwu". How special can it be if Marinette at no point can be made to give a shit about the person underneath his mask? When she immediately ditched him after being told "no" once in Kwamis choice?

How special can it be when Marinette over and over and over again degrades anything Chat feels as childish pettiness and sulking that need to be fixed by him catering to her more?

I don't care what anyone says, Adrien was right in leaving in Kwamis Choice. Very obviously he had to learn ever since Hack-San that Ladybug is a person he needs to be able to live without because this girl is the most unreliable partner anyone could be stuck with. My hope is that Lila will have a blast with the broken pieces that is Ladynoir. I don't even want them to break up forever to punish Marinette or some nonsense, I just want the show to fucking DEAL with this horrible morality that is Marinette's absolut disregard of Chat being a real person.

---

This tendency is extra annoying when as early as the New York Special we saw Adrien’s despair over killing someone be sidelined with Marinette lying on the ground, sobbing about how Adrien went back to Paris instead of spending a school trip with her, the epitome of having petty “me problems”. Cat Noir giving up his ring is just pushed aside with a "he made his choice", because why would Marinette care about her loyal superhero partner who was just seriously traumatized when she can cry about Adrien going home from a trip early instead? Adrien having any feelings on actually important stuff is just him “sulking”, but Marinette can throw herself a pathetic pity party about how she can’t see Adrien for a few days and we’re supposed to treat it like she’s lost everyone who ever cared about her.

But, sure, Adrien is the one being emotional and needy, while our feminist icon “girl power” protagonist cries and throws up because she has to be a day without her crush. At this point, Adrien could have a hole in his torso, and the show would still treat him as an ungrateful whiner, while Marinette getting “Queen Bee” in a Miraculous hero personality quiz would be treated like the world was ending. It doesn’t matter whether or not someone is dead, has had their secret identity discovered or has been replaced by a Sentimonster. What actually matters is whatever petty shit Marinette is worried about today, which is usually the same petty shit she’s worried about every day, just for the record.

This is Marinette being sad that she failed to tell the boy she will see in school a few days later that she loves him, like she fails to do every day of the week. But this is treated as the emotional lowest point of the movie, with more pathos than anything else this entire show has gotten even after the fact, because she’s crying in the rain about it this time. Clearly Marinette has more important things to worry about than Adrien does and this isn’t all just emotional manipulation on the part of the writers! Her love life is being slightly inconvenienced! We're supposed to take this shit seriously!

Like, while Marinette is lying on the ground, in the rain, crying after failing to do something she will be able to try again in a few days at the most, Adrien is dealing with having (temporarily) killed someone and his abusive father being in a Mood(™). Cat Noir is missing in action. Soon after we see Hawk Moth is gonna try to cause a nuclear apocalypse, which ends up being treated as normal superhero hijinks. The special treats all of this obviously more pressing stuff as unimportant, because it’s not about Marinette's love life and god forbid this show be about anything other than Marinette for five minutes.

Like, when I first saw the NY Special, I said she deserved to lose Cat Noir as a partner. I only meant that in a “This was caused by her own actions and Marinette should learn a lesson from this” kind of way back then. Now, though? Getting away from Marinette is for Adrien’s own good, and I hate that being concerned for Adrien now translates to “wanting Marinette to be punished”, all because Marinette has been turned into such a toxic, needy, clingy person that she will be in emotional agony if anyone around her takes distance from her to take care of their own needs first instead of solely catering to hers.

In a narrative that treats Marinette’s smallest inconvenience as more important than the well-being of any other character, of course the idea that Marinette herself could ever be in any real peril is inconceivable. The writers would never let anything happen to her, so Cat Noir is just stupid for worrying about her well-being, he should just be aware of the meta narrative, I guess. No one could ever defeat Ladybug, which is why the writers’ commentary claims Marinette won in the S5 finale, so the only thing to actually be worried about is whether or not she gets to have her boytoy of choice. Actual peril doesn’t exist in the larger narrative of Miraculous, outside of vague hypotheticals that will never come to pass, because the biggest worry of the entire universe is to make sure Marinette isn’t upsette.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

I can see the inconsistency of Felix character is because he actually a character for there "Fans demand" :

Sooo you prefer 2D-Catnoir/Felix rather than our angel Adrien ? Here Felix ! He official debut in "Felix" ! He is Adrien cousin and a big jerk ! Hate him just like how I hate him too !

Wh- What ? You like him ? Fuck ! So you feel he is more competent that our pure evulz bitch teenagers ? Fine ! Here's Felix who manage to trick Gabriel in "Gabriel Agreste" ! Now He is as dangerous as Gabe

Oh Fuck ! You still like him and feel he is more "relevant" than our angel Adrien and my sweetie Marinette ? Here's I present YOU Felix join Miracuclass as "Dog Hero" and then sell all the Miraclouses to Gabe ! He is Evil ! EVil ! EVIIIIL !

What ? You asking me why he want Peacock Miraculous so much ?! Here I present you Felix as Argos ! He wiped humanity out-of-spite and try to create the Utopia for his own freedom ! He is misanthrope !

What A second ? Why... You... STILL.... EXPECTED... CHLOE... TO BE REDEEMED.... why she already... has many traits... to be put in "Complete Monster" territory ? Why YOU keep want her to be redeem like Zuzu and Pacifica just because having shitty parents ? FINE ! Here's Felix to be our Zuzu ! He is tragic little peacock... has tragic backstory.... shitty dad... and a handsome teenager.... pretty much like Zuzu right ? Now shut up and Go simp on him and Feligami already !

Proper redemption arc ? Who hell need redemption arc as long as he is "tragic and handsome" ? Don't worry... we will make Kagami as "senti" out-of-nowhere aside she wear different ring as excuse and a "horny possessive girl" who still can't move on from Adrien and make her Simp felix because he smell and looks like Adrien RIIIIIIIIIIIGHHT LOL

Honestly, it is pretty hilarious that Felix was meant to be seen as the actual character who went through a serious redemption arc compared to Chloe, when the writers pretty much speedran through every major part of it in time for the finale.

Like, say what you will about Chloe and whether or not you think she deserved to be redeemed, but at least the arc leading to her betrayal was spread across three seasons. Felix's redemption arc only lasted three episodes.

Because of the poor pacing, this is the character journey Felix goes through during the latter half of Season 5.

Emotion: "I'm going to wipe out all of humanity and create a better world! Wait, you think I'm insane for erasing your friends and family from existance while essentially committing mass genocide? WHAT HAVE I DONE?!"

Pretension: "Even though I've spent almost no time with you, I think I'm falling in love with you because you may be a Sentimonster person with strict parents like me. Of course, I don't love you enough to break my new moral code against using Sentimonsters or even answering for my betrayal of Ladybug."

Representation: "I'm finally going to do something to help Ladybug because her arch-enemy is getting in the way with my week-old relationship, and that moral code against Sentimonsters? I don't want to use Sentimonsters to fight, but using Sentimonsters to put on a play to convey information I could easily tell Ladybug myself, since my new girlfriend conviently learned her identity over ten episodes ago? Perfectly okay. And since I have a personal stake by wanting to protect both my cousin and girlfriend, surely, this means I'll get to play a big part in the season finale instead of just letting Ladybug do all the work, right?"

Conformation and Re-Creation:

[adrinoir]

Headcanon: Adrien Agreste is Trans? (Part 6)

First things first: Happy pride month to everyone in the community!

If you’ve followed my blog for a while or fallen down the rabbit hole of this headcanon at some point, you’ll know I’ve supported it for a long time. Sooo, welcome to part 6 of the Adrien being trans headcanon.

Here are the other parts of this headcanon if you’d like to read those: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

Usual disclaimer: this is just for fun! Obviously cis boys can have these same qualities and traits. Don’t take it too seriously. These are all just things I’ve noticed. Also, I use the term "sentibeings" vs "sentimonsters" because I personally feel the canon term has a negative, dehumanizing connotation - please keep that in mind, too!

Sentibeings develop their own lives & identities

I feel like this shouldn't have to be said, but in case anyone feels Adrien being a senti-human debunks the hc, I'm writing this as an important reminder. Although they were developed through a miraculous power, Adrien, Felix, and Kagami are very much still human. Felix has made it clear that people of his kind are dehumanized, seen as "monsters," and taken advantage of which is something that upsets him greatly, and rightfully so.

This in itself is sadly something a lot of trans people can relate to. We're often dehumanized for not being "normal" and having unique/different identities in comparison to cis people who identify with their assigned birth gender.

But, I do want to focus more on the fact that sentibeings who were developed into humans are humans, meaning they develop and function the same way all humans do because this is important when talking about this hc. Adrien can still very much be trans considering he's a human with his own life and identity.

Felix had the dramatic presentation of him and Adrien's life story. Yes, he addressed Adrien being a boy the whole time, but also consider that he's going to respect his cousin's identity if he is trans. If this headcanon was in fact canon, Adrien would very much be closeted, and it isn't up to Felix to reveal his identity to others. Saying Adrien was born and raised a girl would not have added anything to the backstory, anyhow.

Gabriel could be controlling for other reasons, too

As we are all aware, Gabriel is a very controlling parent. We're directly shown that he's this way because Adrien is a sentibeing who he can control through his ring, and he's an evil, narcissistic person who doesn't care about others, including his own son. However, it is very much possible that there are other underlying reasons why he's as controlling as he is, let alone towards his own son. Like, why would he not love his own son?

There could obviously be hundreds of underlying reasons why Gabriel is so careless and controlling, but one of them could be that he may not love his son since he's trans. I briefly mentioned in part 3 of the hc that Gabriel could be unaccepting of Adrien being trans, so I'm going to build off of that.

Gabriel may not have always been quite as controlling and neglectful. Maybe before Adrien transitioned, he was a gentler, more caring father. However, we're shown in Wishmaker (yes, I know I always reference this episode lol) from Adrien's perspective, that his parents have always had certain expectations of him, most of which he's followed. So, if Adrien went against their expectations and transitioned to be their son instead of their daughter, that could've easily set Gabriel off (maybe even Emilee too, for all we know).

Why does Adrien tolerate the way Gabriel treats him?

To build further off of my last section, Adrien is aware of his father's terrible behavior and accepts it for what it is throughout a good portion of the series. But, why does he tolerate and accept it? There could be many reasons why, but I'm going to focus on two particular possibilities.

First of all, I also mentioned in part 3 that Gabriel seems like the type who'd gaslight Adrien, saying things like, “you have it so good here! I didn’t kick you out and I use your right name and pronouns!" If he is like that, that could be what makes Adrien so tolerable of his controlling behavior. He may allow this neglect and control because his father is "accepting" of his identity, enough to use the right name and pronouns.

OR, maybe Adrien thinks his behavior is acceptable due to internalized transphobia. Internalized transphobia is sadly a very common thing trans people experience. If this is something he feels, he may think it's right of his father to be unaccepting because "trans people (like me) are not worthy of others' acceptance."

Adrien's vision of the ideal man

This is another thing I've talked a bit about, but I think it's important to talk about in depth.

We see Adrien in many different identities. The ones I'm going to focus on in particular are himself, Cat Noir, and Cat Walker.

Adrien seems to have this idealistic vision in his mind of what an ideal man is supposed to be like. When he plays his role as Cat Noir, he's very over-the-top: flirtatious, strong, protective, destructive. It doesn't mirror how he acts normally, which as we see is the version of him that conforms to most of his parents' expectations. And, when he plays the role of Cat Walker -since he got the sense that Cat Noir was neither an ideal man nor heroic partner for Ladybug- he tones a lot of that down and acts the way he feels she'd like him best for, very laidback, a bit seductive, and helpful, following her ideas.

Why does he have these odd, idealistic versions of what a man should be and tosses his identity around so much? Let me explain.

Adrien hasn't had a good father figure in his life. So he most likely has had to develop this idealistic version of what a man is and follow that, switching it when he has the ability to live his second life as a hero without needing to conform to his father's standards. Adrien wants to be a man but he has no one to follow for that, especially if one of the main reasons for his father's neglect is due to unacceptance of him being trans, Gabriel will hold back as much as possible on being a good father figure and being a positive influence in his growth into manhood.

[imthepunchlord]

Thinking about those fox powers also reminded me of my ideas for the peacock. The first is how I could alter the canon power. So, along with the basics of removing the sentient life aspect, I would also make it more summoner-like. So, the user would use their own emotions, the emotions of those around them, and even the emotions that have seeped into the places they are in to create sentimonsters (no amok or item). The sentimonsters would generally be more animal-like, and the powers they have are more minor and depend on the creature. The user can control the creatures mentally and with hand movements. The user can probably make multiple at a time (both the same creature and different ones), but making too many can overwhelm the user and split their focus too far. Basically, it would be like what Maria Renard from Castlevania: Nocturne can do (https://youtu.be/xCFvixsZFhc?si=4OnHNv7A5taaOuKo)

Some other ideas for alternative powers are: stunning people with their beauty, delving into the mind of a target to discover their secrets by making direct eye contact with a target, absorbing negative energy to empower themself, scrying, seeing into the future (and if paired with the snake the snake could see into the past), and wind manpulation

Man, Peafowl and Rabbit really are the top two I want changed power wise.

On the topic of Peafowl's canon power, changed or not, I really should've been a power tied to Ladybug. Whether making sentient life to animated puppets, that's heavily ted to Creation.

Peafowl I stand should've had something different, something that should've changed up the status quo as it felt too similar/an extension of Butterfly. And it is a little funny that you have Mayura moving about when when she's a little more designed to be hidden away than even HM himself.

But yeah, a lot you brought up would work. They are iconic symbols of beauty and I also thought of a power of charming with their appearance, maybe even able to charm people to do as they ask. Mind reading, scrying, and foresight all make sense given the major eye motif peacocks have, Vision is one of their more iconic aspects and would've made more sense for Duusu's concept. Air/wind manipulation I'm the most iffy on, there is the fan to work off of, but that power may better work for a more aerodynamic bird like Falcon or Eagle. Peacocks I don't really associate with flight, and I don't know how good a flyer they are, especially with those long tails.

Other possibilities to add:

Healing/purification/rejuvenation, as the latter is an iconic symbol of it, as well as rebirth. Peacocks are associated with taking in evil/corruption and purifying it into beauty, eating venomous snakes to bring out the color of their feathers.

Peacocks also could've had a time power, even Snake's time resetting power could've worked. Mayura is a peacock that stands upon a snake and represents a cycle of time.

Peacocks are also tied to truth, and there's the idiom True Blue to work off of.

They're also tied to guardianship, royalty, luxury, and invulnerability. So they could've been related to fortune and wealth or being more defense.

They're tied to spirituality so could've done something related to spirits, or astral projection.

It's one of those animals that has a lot of possibilities in terms of powers, so the route they went is disappointing, kinda lazy, and convoluted a lot. It's also a little funny as I have read up that peacocks are tied to absolute goodness, being incorruptible; yet it's Miraculous is broken and misused (and maybe still? Idk if Felix is a good guy or not).

Also, idk about you guys, but since I've done various research on other animals and their myth, folklore, symbolism, and idioms, Ladybug I found to be kinda boring as a major lead animal to focus on and set up to be important. Why couldn't it follow a more interesting animals, we could've had Peafowl!Marinette instead. That also could've better worked off her interest in fashion too.

[heidi891]

It’s Nathalie who owes Adrien the truth, not Ladybug

I’ve seen a lot of people believing that Adrien will be mad at Marinette/Ladybug in season 6 for lying to him about his father. I don’t agree with this speculation.

Firstly, Adrien cannot be angry at Marinette, because as far as he knows, she’s just a civilian who had nothing to do with Monarch. But his lack of knowledge may prove to be a blessing, because he may be able to talk to her about his struggles and emotions without turning into another Chat Blanc.

Secondly, Adrien knows that as Chat Noir he isn’t supposed to react too emotionally. If he does, he may accidentally reveal his true identity. I can see him distant for a short time, but not too long. What’s more, he may feel guilty that he wasn’t able to fight with her, that maybe his absence led to her mistake. His alleged lack of involvement in the Agreste drama may also prove to be a blessing, because he may be able to listen to her arguments and look at her with more sympathy. I think he will stand by her (but some of the other Miraculous holders may believe Lila’s revelations, as they did before, and turn against Ladybug).

Thirdly, it isn’t Ladybug’s responsibility to tell him the truth. Nathalie is right there. She’s an adult, his caregiver and someone who was directly involved in Hawk Moth’s actions. Her redemption arc isn’t over yet. It’s good that she became disillusioned with Gabriel and focused on Adrien instead, but her involvement shouldn’t be forgotten and ignored. She participated in Hawk Moth’s plans, she created Senti-Ladybug and relieved her of her existence killed her, she wore the wedding ring (which Adrien noticed). When he learns that he’s a Sentihuman and that his father was Hawk Moth, he will also know that Nathalie was Mayura who created many Sentimonsters without any respect for their lives. She should come clean about it before Adrien, she should admit what she did was wrong, apologise and promise she will never do that again.

I’m very interested in this plot nad their relationship.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Gods, I just remembered but I figured out how to do a "Crack taken seriously" version of "All the Holders Know" AU.

1: The Quantum Mask does not work on other Miraculous Holders.

Why would it need to, they are all tied to the order after all! Marinette & Adrien's uniforms compensate with fully face covering masks at first, but they don't have the time (Or in Adrien's case) patience to do much else, so Gabriel recognizes his sons voice.

For reference this is also why known famous person Gabriel adopted a flamboyant costume, a face covering helmet that makes him look bald, deepened his voice and talks like a cartoon villain.

2: Kwami Holders can also be bound like Kwami but by choice.

What I mean here is that a Kwami's name being known gives the one with said name power over them. In this case, if the Users offers up their name in an oath they too can be bound.

3: Once Kwami are bound to someone getting them away is hard as hell.

Not much to add to this one, it mostly just means Fu can't withdraw them on a whim or without the mutual permission of both user & Kwami.

4: Gabriel refuses to concede the wish cannot work as he wants it too.

IE Gabriel is so damn stubborn, so damn proud and so damnibly obsessed with control. That the idea he cannot force the wish to do as he wants, the idea he cannot be clever enough to make it do as he wants. The idea he needs concern himself with the consequences at all when obviously Emilie means the world to him...

Yeah no, he is basically just refusing to accept it.

Story:

Thus, Origins goes mostly the same but Gabriel recognizes Adrien & basically throws the fight and even gets rid of the Akuma. He thinks he can just ask Adrien for his Miraculous and get a "Of course father."

Instead Adrien flips out, argues & when Gabriel tries to reveal the truth he just fucking bolts out the nearest window. Calls Chloe (The only person Gabriel could/would use as a hostage against him) & runs.

Gabriel is so flabbergasted it takes a minute to transform and then transform Nathalie into a tracker. This, and Chat calling Marinette (Cos of how the masking works secret IDs weren't as bug of a deal so they exchanged numbers but with no names) to tell her. Tikki contacts Fu who uses the Horse to get them all together.

Thus we get to how this AU is justified!

Namely, both sides have a Mutually Assured Destruction method.

Fu can just call on all the Miraculous and though it will kill him, basically blitz Hawk Moth or even all of Paris into oblivion.

However, Hawk Moth has the Peacock and can force Doosoo to make Sentimonsters without transforming, basically disgorging an apocalyptic swam of horrors on Paris.

Neither side backs down, Adrien cannot trust his fathers confidence given the Peacock that killed Emilie was his idea, so they are at stalemate.

Thus, negotiations.

Notes:

(Plagg refuses to leave Adrien without protection cos Gabriel both "Has our friends" and "The kid bolted rather than get an explanation. I do not trust this guy at all!") (Chloe is probably there & may get a Miraculous early out of grim necessity. Marinette is low key confounded the nice & cool Chat knows Chloe, or that Chloe's shouting insults at a supervillain)

Basically, they form a mutually assured destruction style deal where neither side will take "X actions" such as targeting one's families or utilizing hostage scenarios to force surrender of Miraculous.

Identities will be kept secret and up held (Because they cannot prove Gabriel is Hawk Moth anyway & he has all the money) but any and all battles will be, if not schedule, then at least structured to follow rules.

& other things that are meant to turn a near apocalyptic scenario into basically an elaborate and ongoing proxy war/duel. Though be it one with both high stakes and legitimate danger.

Also avoiding ambushes, or otherwise targeting people in their sleep and such and so on. Also translations of the spell book are in the deal too for its return as Fu needs it, but Gabriel has it, so shared.

It sets up a dynamic similar to the early seasons in terms of danger & scale. Chat's very cavalier with his life in general but especially because he doesn't think his father will kill him.

As it is, Gabriel did have enough bargaining power to get some of these concessions, hence it happening at all. & like with how he messed with Chloe's head and recruited Lila in canon there are loop holes.

Also Gabriel probably has to straight up move out (Though be it in secret) or Adrien moves elsewhere with Gorilla as Nathalie is onboard if feeling kind of bummed about it.

Adrien also refuses to give up as he deems what his father is doing as his responsibility to fix/stop. Marinette won't quit because she's gonna this far and wants to reward Chat's faith in her. If Chloe's involved its mostly survival, (& secret desire for heroism) and spite.

Its both more and less angsty than you'd expect.

The rules and such give a sense of fairness and safety. Adrien is viewing this as a sort of quest to enlighten/redeem his father. & Fu seemingly has 'a' trick up is sleeve for if things get bad.

But then we remember the Chloe & Lila canon and stuff like Akuma Nathalie, as well as Audrey & Tomoe... Yeah things can get a lot more complicated and a lot grimmer over time, or stay more safe and structured.

Those are my thoughts anyway.

Yeah that sounds about right for how to make it less crack-y.

[foxwitchaine]

What red flags do you think Adrien has?

First and foremost, Adrien hasn't changed during the series. Like, at all. If this had been any other series with a "Status Quo is God" mentality, I wouldn't be so nitpicky. The problem is we were promised plot all the way back in Season 2. And plot typically involves characters changing, growing, and developing along the way. I know I'm gonna sound like a broken record, but Avatar: The Last Airbender is pretty much the gold standard of what kid's shows nowadays should aspire to be like. The old "it's for kids" excuse is only gonna go so far when we've had gems such as ATLA, the Batman Animated Series, the OG Justice League, the OG Teen Titans, heck even anime like Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z on air. I'm personally not a fan of Dragon Ball Z, but even I can acknowledge what Akira Toriyama accomplished.

Those works also weren't afraid to get dark and scary while still being age-appropriate. Something modern kid's cartoons can all learn from, be it Disney, Cartoon Network, or even Nickelodeon. And something they all have in common? A strong and well-structured plot. Emphasis on "well-structured". I can't claim to know what goes on in the writing room of Miraculous Ladybug, but it's painfully clear hardly anyone knows what they're doing. And it's resulted in the "plot" of the show turning into a tangled tumbleweed drifting across the desert of discarded but better-written ideas.

Whatever the metaphor is, anyway.

Let's continue.

Adrien's second biggest red flag is his continuous defense of characters like Chloe and more recently Lila. I'm admittedly ignoring Season 4 onward because I cannot fathom disrespecting your characters (and audience) so much you turn a kid's show into your own vanity project just to stroke your ego. But that's beside the point.

Adrien has the unfortunate habit of defending problematic people like pre-"redemption" Chloe (I use that word loosely as I'm doing my own Chloe redemption in my fic with Rafe) and Lila. You could argue that it's because of the way his father raised him. But it defeats the whole purpose of Adrien getting to go to school.

School is a place where you learn and grow. And figure out how to deal with unpleasant stuff, such as bullying, incompetent teachers, and apathetic faculty (I'm telling on myself, I just know). The problem is that Adrien, despite all his chances to figure out how to unlearn the behaviors Gabriel instilled in him, has not once made any active attempts to improve himself. Yeah. I know. I may be a little too harsh on him, but that's because I saw potential in Adrien to be much better than he is now. Disregarding the Sentimonster theory being confirmed (again, I'm also ignoring that), Adrien's stagnation is very telling of both the character and the writers. No matter what happens in the show, the universe bends itself backwards to acknowledge his existence. Do you know what that's called in writing?

A Mary Sue. Or, in Adrien's case, a Marty Stu. You could argue that Marinette is a Mary Sue, but she gets torn down so much in the show the argument is pretty much moot.

Do note that this is not aimed to tear down anyone who's written Mary Sues or Marty Stus. I've created several of my own in my early days as a writer. Who hasn't. The thing is, though, as I grew up, so did my characters and my writing.

Adrien hasn't grown up since the start of the show. And that's very telling.

Then there's the third biggest red flag of Adrien: his behavior as Chat Noir. I know it feels unfair to use that against him, but it's been stated multiple times that Chat Noir is, in essence, Adrien's true self without his everyday mask.

If that is who he is without any limits, then I want him as far away from me as possible.

Preferably, with a restraining order.

I have yet to figure out why this keeps happening when Hollywood and other big-name studios write romance — even by female authors and writers — but it has to stop. Men, most sane women prefer it if you accept the first "no" as an answer. That goes for you too, ladies. No, I don't care if this pisses anyone off. I'm an equal-opportunity realist. And I'm gonna say something that will likely have people calling for my head on a pike:

Relationships in general are built on mutual trust and communication. It's hard work maintaining a healthy relationship, it really is. But more often than not, it's one of the most fulfilling things anyone can possibly dream of. No, this doesn't mean everyone is obligated to say yes to romance. There are those who choose to avoid romance altogether.

And that's perfectly fine. I just happen to be a romantic who enjoys romance. That's my personal preference (no, this doesn't mean I like red flags).

The writers of Miraculous Ladybug seem to be under the impression that teenagers should hook up with the first hot person they meet. And that's a very dangerous message to spread. Because what if the first hot person they meet is a domestic abuser? Or worse: a criminal who has no issue using whatever they can to control and dominate their partner.

Adrien — and by proxy, Chat Noir — has displayed behavior that's alarmingly similar to domestic abusers despite his sunshine persona. He's destroyed property because Ladybug told him "no" (Sentibubbler). He set up a date even though Ladybug told him she had plans, then had the audacity to get huffy and upset about it (Glaciator). He's lied to someone about his relationship with her, then blamed her for the resulting akuma.

Note that the last example was from Copycat, a Season 1 episode. Which bears the disturbing implication that this is an ongoing issue, not a one-time problem.

Adrien Agreste had potential to be a great character.

It's too bad the writers have stressed he's too perfect to change.

[vennyvenadito]

I’m glad I wasn’t the only person who had issues with the powers of the peacock miraculous

First of

The power is kinda the same as the moth miraculous, heck, even the presentation is the same

“A random person is sad so send an random akuma or feather, corrupt the item the person has, evil monologue and then BOOM new villain”

And what a huge coincidence is that both miraculous that has to do something with emotions has to be found by the bad guy

But the question is….what does the concept of “Emotion” has to do with creating living creatures, in fact, the concept of emotion works much better with the moth miraculous, but transmission still works too

The moth works better because the akumatized villains are created by what are they feeling, in fact, is like the villains in their designs is like a way to let out all of the emotions they are feeling right now

So then….what about the peacock? Why do we need two miraculous who has to deal with the emotions of a person?

Like, at least one of them is mostly about let the person get release all of the emotions they are feeling and they transform

You may say that to create a sentimonster you need an item and it’s created by the persons emotions, like love, hate, happiness, etc

But that topic comes to another problem with this power…look how I say a lot to of times create before and right now

create

create

CREATE

What miraculous HAS not only that power BUT also that specific concept?

THE LADYBUG MIRACULOUS!!

Why the heck the peacock is allow to create living beings BUT no the ladybug?

Like, why the ladybug is only allow to create random items but no living beings, it’s literally the concept of creation but also LIFE, the ladybug miraculous should be the one with that power, it’s work and match a lot better than with the peacock, because again, what does emotion has something to do with create a creature?

Can someone explain that, did I miss something???

I know it would make the ladybug miraculous more overpower than already is but at least it would make more sense, like imagen it’s like a power up, that could work

Anyway, that’s kinda all I wanted to say about that issue

What power would you think could worked with the peacock miraculous

I say before I did have two ideas, one spying people around mirrors and the other one was to with the feathers if anyone looked directly to them, they would be blinded by them

So, what do you guys think, do you agree with me or not, let me know

[flightfoot]

Miraculous Fanfic Recs for ongoing Miraculous fics

So I got an ask requesting me to give some ML fic recs, so I decided to focus on some ongoing Miraculous fics! All of these have updated within the past two months. Feel free to tag anyone who I didn't know the tumblr username of!

Boulangerella by @aidanchaser

Once upon a time, magic was wild. The two princes of the kingdom have been tasked with choosing their brides by the end of their 21st birthday celebrations. Crown Prince Adrien Agreste will have to choose between a woman who can protect his kingdom, a woman offering the power to wake his sleeping mother, and the woman he has loved and admired for the past year. Then there's also the seamstress that he is suddenly falling for. By the time he realizes he doesn't have the power to choose at all, it may be too late.

Kind of a Medieval Fantasy AU here, though with more resemblance to regular Miraculous than I normally expect with such AUs. Kwamis are actually fae, but aside from needing some sort of "deal" in order for humans to draw out their power, they function mostly the same, with Ladybug and Chat Noir being activated in order to help fight against Hawk Moth, even.

Oh yeah, this fic was written pre-S4, so there's some oddities because of that, like Felix actually having a good father, for instance. Adrien and Felix are both still sentimonsters though.

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Lows And Highs (Of Adrien Agreste) by @blackcatsbutterflies

Adrien Agreste- Teenage supermodel, son of Gabriel Agreste, hero of Paris... Type One Diabetic. When Adrien is diagnosed with a chronic illness, he goes through the mental struggles of dealing with this new life. Nothing will ever be the same again, and if anyone were to find out, he'd be humiliated. The world would find him repulsing. Who would want to love someone who was constantly giving themselves shots? Marinette would. (Based off my real life, when I was diagnosed at 13 years old.) TW: Mentions of drugs (no one does them) and the following stuff that will appear in chapters: - Needles - Blood - Paralysis - Seizures - Fainting

Oh man this one is a real treat! I know some basic stuff about diabetes, but not so much what people's day-to-day lives are like, so it was interesting watching Adrien go through this, what he has to do nowadays in order to, well, live. And since he only just got diagnosed, he's going through major lifestyle changes which is pretty overwhelming, and he's feeling pretty awful about it because well, this is gonna hit hard. Though thankfully, Marinette is able to help quite a bit.

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Bell the Cat by @heartfulselkie

Ladybug is the Miraculous Hero of Gallia. She has spent the past number of years fighting the minions of the tyrant Hawk Moth, only for the war to come to an abrupt end. News reveals that Hawk Moth was brutally slain by his own champion and captain of his own elite guard - the infamous knight Chat Blanc, known to wield pure destructon itself. With the disintegration of Hawk Moth's army, Chat Blanc is captured and imprisoned until his certain execution. Being a beloved hero and instrumental in the realm's defences during the war, Ladybug is offered a reward of her choosing. Instead of choosing a title or luxuries as expected she chooses...custody of Chat Blanc??? A new threat is rising in the chasm Hawk Moth left behind, and Ladybug believes Chat Blanc's knowledge and skill will be vital in what's to come. And perhaps he could also answer some questions that have plagued her since even before the war with Hawk Moth began..

This fic is awesome so far, I adore a good enemies AU and Fantasy AU, so both of them together is great! There's a lot we don't know yet, like the specifics of how akumas work in this AU, but I'm eager to know more. Just as Ladybug's eager to try to find out what happened to an old childhood friend of hers who vanished around the time Hawk Moth rose to power...

---

Madness series by @consistent-chaos-corporation

Summary for "Found", the first multichapter installment in the series:

Chat Noir and Ladybug need to tie up some loose ends. Unfortunately, one of those ends is Felix.

I've really been enjoying my time with this series, and if you like Felix-focused fics, you might too! In this universe, Nooroo and Duusu actually used to play with Felix and Adrien when they were little, but Gabriel made Adrien forget that happened - Gabriel and Emilie edited out a lot of little inconvenient things from Adrien's memory, as it turns out.

Anyway, we mostly follow Felix post-Strike Back as he figures out what to do now that he has the Peacock Miraculous. The heroes bursting in and confronting him about it kinda forces his hand.

He goes through a lot of character development here, which I adore, especially when it comes to realizing "oh crap, I sold out living beings to someone who I knew would mistreat them." This series tackled that subject better than any other fanfic I've seen, with Felix directly helping to recover the Miraculous and free the kwami, feelings guilty upon realizing how badly Gabriel had hurt them, and having to deal with a lot of the kwami not liking or trusting him for very justifiable reasons - though they ARE willing to understand why he did what he did.

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Kintsugi - The Beauty in Broken Things by @xaran-alamas

When freed from Mayura's control, and given a chance at a normal life, the Sentimonster clone of Ladybug must learn what it is to be not only a hero, but also a human being, and part of a family. Meanwhile Marinette needs to figure out what to do with a hyper-energetic Kwami with a broken Miraculous. Updates Sundays and Wednesdays

I've always loved Sentibug Lives AUs (as you might guess from my having written two fics where she gets to stick around), and this is one of the best ones I've seen, and certainly the longest.

I love how we get to follow Centi (as she names herself) as she tries to figure out what to do now that she exists and is likely to stay that way, and as she tries to cope with the knowledge that her creator controlled her and when she disobeyed, tried to kill her. She's a nicely developed OC, her feelings are really delved into!

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Not Part of the Plan by @kasienda

“What’s wrong, Marinette?” Marinette wiped her tears with her sleeve, and pulled away just enough to reach into her pocket. She gripped the pregnancy test and held it out to her mother. Sabine’s eyes widened as she took in the results of the test in her hand. Her gaze flashed back up to Marinette’s. “You’re pregnant.” And it wasn’t a question, but it was enough to send Marinette into devastated tears once again. Her mother pulled her back into the hug and just held her. “It’s going to be okay.”

Teen pregnancy fic here, which I know isn't everyone's cup of tea. I love how everyone comes together to help figure out what to do and to offer support - and not just to Marinette either, since Adrien's about to be a father as well.

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True Blue by @rosie-b

Golden Bug and Chat Grise are the heroes of Paris, fighting to protect civilians from Hawk Moth and his akumas. Marinette is Gabriel Agreste’s young apprentice, training under the famous designer to become the next big name in fashion. But one day, Marinette finds an open safe with a beautiful peacock brooch in it... and suddenly, she’s not sure who the villain is anymore.

I love Enemies AU, as I've already mentioned. This is a more unusual one, with MARINETTE being the one on Hawk Moth's side instead of Adrien. I love how Rosie painstakingly weaves together Gabriel's manipulation and lies so you could actually believe that Marinette might be willing to help him - maybe not very enthusiastically, but believing that it's the best option she has. It's pretty impressive!

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The Beauty of a Rose by properjitterbug

In the small town of Bellerose, Marinette and Adrien are childhood friends while secretly pining for each other. They lead happy lives until one day a long, forgotten promise is stirred awake; changing their lives in ways they couldn't imagine. With time marching on, Marinette is left to chase after ghosts of her past as a strange creature appears in the depths of the mysterious forest. Arc 1: Chapters 1-11: Complete Arc 2: Chapters 12-?: In Progress -- Werecat!Adrien x Marinette

Fair warning, this is an M-rated fic, and it earns that M rating, given it has several extensive sex scenes.

Anyway, I love a good fairy tale AU, and this is one of the better ones I've seen. I love how it's clearly inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but doesn't constrain itself by it. Adrien is not a jerk nor does he capture Marinette. Instead he randomly changes into a Werecat and is abandoned by his family, mistaken for a lumbering beast by the townsfolk, left alone for a year - until Marinette comes to visit the Agreste mansion, the home of her friend who just suddenly left one day, and she sees him in his werecat form...

I love this, Marinette is drawn to Chat, even with him looking pretty terrifying. Adrien's pretty insecure about his whole situation, but slowly opens up as he gets to reconnect with Marinette.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I theorise that in season 6 the writers will pull Chloe and make Félix join Chrysalis’s side. I just can’t buy that Astruc redeemed him after all that he said about how Felix wouldn’t be a good protagonist.

You have way more faith than I do! My best guess is that Félix has lost his teeth and is now nothing more than Kagami's deeply devoted Adrien replacement.

Much like Adrien, the time to do interesting things with Félix was the Gabriel arc where Fèlix was actually tied to the plot. He has no ties to Lila and no reason to help her since she's not the sort of person who would happily help sentimonsters in need and that presumably Félix's motivation. Unless Tomoe is also a new big bad and Fèlix is working against her?

That might work for Fèlix and Lila teaming up, but it assumes that Felix would want help and trust a total rando, which is hard to buy. I also really don't see that route working while Kagami is around since the writers tend to limit the male characters to things that involve their love interest once they have one and Kagami isn't really one for performing or seeing through deception. It's that whole magical girl team show issue that I've talked about before. Adrien may be the main victim, but he's not the only one. Nino was effected, too. My best guess is that Felix is going to join them now. Only time will tell!

I'll also point out that Felix isn't a protagonist. That word doesn't mean "one of the good guys." It just means "lead character" or "one of the lead characters." If Miraculous was retold with Gabriel as the lead, then Gabriel would be the protagonist and Marinette would be the antagonist even if you kept them in their canon roles of villain and hero. This means that Astruc can be true to his word while keeping Felix the person they made him in season five. There is no point in the story where Felix became a protagonist. He's just not that important. So far, his only important role in canon was the season four final. You could cut him from the rest of the show and nothing meaningful would change.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale’s Analysis: Felix Fathom (The Shadow of Perfection)

I am a Felix enjoyer. I was fine with his introduction, and I was fine with his role in the story. And I never really looked too much into his stake in the story until we actually learn who and What he is.

(Spoilers if you haven’t seen it)

Felix is a Sentibeing, just like Adrien is. But he was created by his Father, Colt Fathom. Out of jealousy over Gabriel and Emilie’s child. Giving up his bodyguard in the exchange.

Colt felt his health decline and feeling as if he basically sold his soul blamed Felix’s existence for this instead of himself. It’s heavily implied there was abuse and that he may have even killed Felix by destroying his Amok once.

After learning the truth, Felix made it his goal to take the power that created him, so that no one would have to suffer like him.

Not knowing the details of how he was created, he first set his sights on the Graham de Vanily Rings. Believing they had the power he was looking for. He was dismissive of Adrien and looked to stir chaos, (in the episode, Felix) upon rewatch we see that Felix never meant to cause actual harm to Adrien, he only wanted a deal that would help him get the rings he wanted. Not caring about the people involved.

The next time we see him (In Gabriel) he has done more research and learned what the True item was that created him. The Peacock miraculous. And he had suspicion that Gabriel was the one who had it. So his goal, steal the Peacock. Of course, Felix failed to get it, BUT he did confirm Gabriel had it. Leading to his next plan.

In Risk and Strikeback. He saw his cousins vulnerability, and decided to use it to infiltrate the manor, while giving Adrien a break from his life. Perfect chance to get what he wanted. Of course Felix confirmed a LOT after that. Including that His Aunt was in a glass coffin. And thinking he got what he wanted, he left. Getting the information how to work the peacock and the peacock itself… unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. It was a fake peacock miraculous.

But as luck would have it, Ladybug showed up asking for Adrien’s help. (And Felix happened to be pretending to be Adrien) so Felix jumped at the chance. Getting ironically the Perfect power to get what he wanted.

And we see some hesitation before going forward with his plan… until he witnesses the death of the sentimonster strikeback. Being a Sentimonster himself, he knew he needed to go through with his plan.

And sure enough Felix trades the other miraculous AND the Ring he stole for the Peacock. The one thing he wanted to ensure HIS freedom.

But now that no one could Poof him with a snap of the fingers, his true plan could unfold.

The world of people that thought so little of sentimonsters… time for his people to rise up. Thus we get Emotion.

Felix in an ironic action Snaps away the people who threatened him. And actually does win… only to see the misery he inflicted on his cousin and the other sentimonster, Kagami.

After this Felix has to rethink his actions, as not all normal people are bad, and even with his power he can’t stand against Monarch/Gabriel now. As he revealed his hand. His chance was gone.

The only thing he could do. Try to help that Girl he met. Cue the Feligami. Because without a means to fight Gabriel and no way that ladybug or chat noir would trust him. He was SOL.

Until learning from Kagami that Marinette was Ladybug. Making her able to understand the situation. Someone that loved Adrien and understood Gabriel as a threat. She could hear his plea. He was convinced to trust her.

Thus, he explains the backstory to her resulting in the events of the finale.

___________________________________________

Now you notice how I called Felix the Shadow of perfection, in the title. It’s actually quite simple.

Felix is basically the shadow while Adrien is the light.

Adrien doesn’t know about the dark history. He doesn’t know Gabriel is Monarch, doesn’t know he’s a sentimonster, he doesn’t know about anything regarding his family’s past. Adrien only saw the good, the pleasant memories. All of that dark business is hidden, it’s in the shadows. That’s where Felix is. Felix is the Adrien of the Dark. He’s the one that learns the secrets, does the digging, handles all the grief and strain so Adrien can be the bright sun princess. Felix is the thief of the night. Even his creation was made with envy as the base emotion. Adrien was made of love, a bright emotion. While Felix of envy, a dark emotion.

Even Felix ending up with Kagami is fascinating because Kagami (her name being mirror) and Felix being a mirror of Adrien. It fits that Felix would relate to Kagami.

It’s also fascinating when we think of the promotional video. Felix was the original Chat noir, but before the show aired, he was replaced with Adrien. Only to then be rewritten into the show. He has become the shadow of his former self.

In the end, Felix couldn’t help in the final confrontation (ignoring writing choices) because he wasn’t one of the heroes. And Adrien couldn’t because he was left in the dark on all of the things he would need to know to be a part of the finale. Felix was the piece needed for the writers to write the finale as a final confrontation between Marinette and Gabriel. Because Adrien never knew and Felix wasn’t the hero of the story.

Ironic how both the light and dark were not complete and thus could not be present in the finale

[a-flaming-idiot]

An Akumatized Alya design I made for my Senti-Marinette AU.

She's inspired a good bit by the pokemon zoroark with her hair and powers. Her basic powers are that she has a pocket dimension called The Den accessible through her hair. So she can store items and people inside her hair. Along with increased strength and durability like most akumas, she had incredibly sharp claws and wolf-like senses.

Wanted her to be more wolf-like rather than fox-like to distinguish her from Rena Rouge and wolves just feel more protective to me. So fitting this Akuma who I have yet to find a name for.

A height comparison and more lore under the cut.

The basic idea of my Senti-Marinette AU is that in the process of defeating Hawkmoth, Adrien finds out that he is infact not a sentimonster like Felix thought. Instead, Marinette is actually the sentimonster.

They recover the Butterfly Miraculous and Marinette's amok but Adrien is reeling, unsure of how to tell Marinette or what to do. So he confides in Alya about the whole situation, thinking since she's Mari's best friend and platonic soulmate, she'll know what to do. Spoiler alert, she doesn't. So they just both continually freak out with some hijinx with Mari's amok and its subconscious effects on her.

A new threat emerges that suddenly puts Marinette in a ton of danger, likely targeting her for being a sentimonster either directly or indirectly. So Adrien decides to take a drastic measure, sneaking into where the Butterfly Miraculous is being kept since Marinette is not the guardian in this AU, and steals it. He then uses the miraculous to create an akuma which he sends to Alya. With the shared goal of protecting Marinette and her amok, Alya agrees to become akumatized. (Which makes it more of a kamikotization but they don't know the difference so they all call it akumatization. Which just makes Adrien more angsty about it).

So Alya just scoops Mari up and hides her with her amok inside The Den while she and Adrien fight off whatever this new threat is. She also may or may not bust out this form when Marinette gets too into something and refuses to sleep.

A height comparison with Marinette. Though that is more based on her canon height of 4'5. So Alya is about 7ft.

[kiarabanetmi]

I think I’ve finally gotten my thoughts together about Felix.

People have genuine things to hate about him: in his debut episode he lied to Adrien, impersonated him to destroy his relationships with his friends and classmates, tried to force kisses on Marinette (as Ladybug) WITHOUT CONSENT, and stole from Gabriel with a sinister smirk. He did apologize to Adrien and promised to be better, but when that smirk was revealed it seemed like another lie.

Then, in Season 4, we got to see just a bit more of him. He was incredibly intelligent and cold towards others (he actively insulted Chloe, but he already knew her and didn’t like her). HOWRVER, one thing he didn’t do this time was try to manipulate Kagami, Adrien’s other friend. Granted he was more focused on ShadowMoth/Gabriel. But another thing: HE REJECTED AN OFFER OF POWER from ShadowMoth. That isn’t something to take lightly. Unlike other villains who would’ve happily taken the power (I.e. Chloe and Lila), he outright REFUSED and broke control. Then, he came back in the finale to get info on Gabriel while telling Adrien he would take his place on the tour. But here’s the thing: after he found the secret of Emelie, he didn’t just abandon his deal with Adrien. Even after Adrien said he was gonna follow through with the deal he made with his father and go on tour. Instead, Félix still stayed in his place, probably in his kind to free up his cousin and gave him he happy, or now. He could have just been using it to get away from Gabriel and make sure he was far enough away with the Peacock Miraculous he believed he had stolen, but he still honored his deal with his cousin and kept up the charade. But again, we don’t really know.

Then, he betrayed Ladybug after he gave her the dog miraculous, and exchanged all her miraculous for the real Peacock for reasons we still didn’t know

But now, we’re learning more. In Emotion, he did kidnap Adrien and lie to Kagami. But again, he didn’t try to destroy Adrien’s relationship with her this time. In fact, he bonded with her (after realizing she’s probably a sentimonster too). Then, when Marinette comes and gives him a genuine confession and kind, supportive words, we see ACTUAL GROWTH. Remember, Félix saw the video of a Marinette saying she loved Adrien in his debut episode, and he hated her. But this time, instead, he didn’t try to make Adrien a bad guy. Even if he was acting, it seemed like he was genuinely happy with Marinette. Cause her words may have also gotten to him. He’s already been spying on their date, and I’m guessing he may have still had doubts about her being genuine. But her showing up at the dance changed that (at least in my mind).

Remember, in her speech, she said not only she loved Adrien, but she understood why he didn’t tell her about the dance, that she wasn’t mad, that he was going through a hard time, and that she was proud of him anyways for doing the best he could. And to him, that must’ve been something. He saw that unlike every other person he’s seen Adrien interact with (his father, his fans, Lila, Chloe), this girl seemed to genuinely care about Adrien’s happiness and for him as a person, not just some idol or prize or tool. Please note this time he didn’t try to sexually assault her or make any undue advances towards her either, although that can be argued since she thought he was Adrien. So, when he danced with her, and she called herself a monster (in regards to the other prissy rich kids staring in horror), he got angry. Because he saw one of the only genuinely good people he knew (aside from Adrien and his own Mother) beat themselves up cause of others prejudice.

Also, keep in mind, he transformed only after Chloe ATTACKED Marinette. Sure, it was a distraction to take advantage of, but I see it as also seeing the perfect moment to protect someone good and enact his plan to save Adrien and himself. Cause after he snapped everyone except Kagami away (cause he bonded with her and saw she was like him), he brought Marinette away to a place she’d be safe from his powers. A place where no light from his Red Moon sister would touch her, so she wouldn’t be at risk. He wasn’t just dumping her to get her out of the way. He could’ve just snapped her away and brought her back if he wanted to do that. BUT HE DIDNT.

Then, after confronting Ladybug and snapping her away and bringing back Kagami and Adrien, he reveals his desire to free himself and Adrien, and now Kagami, of their controllers and oppressors, to just make a world where they would be happy and free. And he knew Adrien wouldn’t be happy on this world without Marinette, that’s ANOTHER reason he protected her. He wanted Adrien to be happy AND saw she was a good person.

When he shows Adrien this to make her happy, and sees she isn’t there and his power to bring her back isn’t working, he genuinely starts to panic and apologize. When Kagami and Adrien demand they bring her back, he agrees WITHIUT HESITATION and doesn’t argue his mistake. He thought his powers hurt one of the people he car s about most, his Cousin, whom we now see he does seem to genuinely care about. When he sees the three of them reunite in relief, he looks genuinely guilty and worried.

Another thing to note: Félix regards his non-humanoid sentimonster as any other living being, speaking to it as it understands him. Mayura and Gabriel NEVER did that. Just saw them as mindless tools. He doesnt. He speaks to her as a person, despite that she can’t speak at all, nor has a face, or a discernible personality. And when he releases her from existence, he apologizes because he shouldn’t have created her with so much hate and used her powers to hurt people he cared about. He cried not only for her, but what he had done to hurt his cousin.

At the end of the episode, his mother confirms what his thoughts were at the beginning of the episode: that everyone except Adrien were just cruel monsters who didn’t care or weren’t good. But now, he’s taking back his stance on that. His feelings have changed. Not only is there another senti-being he can relate to now, but there’s a normal girl whom is so kind and genuine and makes his cousin happy. He now sees there are good people in the world other than his mom and cousin, and he doesn’t want to hurt them.

So yes, in the beginning he was an AWFUL person. I’m not going to excuse his actions in earlier seasons at all. But here’s the thing about him (and I’m not using this as an excuse, I’m going to use it as a reference guide): he’s a child. He’s a damaged, grieving, super intelligent but emotionally immature child. This does NOT excuse what he did in his debut episode AT ALL, but it does remind us of something: as children grow, they learn. And as they learn, THEY CAN CHANGE. And Félix seems to be doing that every time we see him. Sometimes those changes are good (I.e. rejecting HawkMoth’s powers, apologizing to Adrien) and sometimes they’re bad (I.e. betraying Ladybug). But he seems to be learning every time we see him.

So, is he a good guy or a bad guy? I think he’s a damaged kid who wants what’s best for those he lives and doesn’t know how to do it right. I think he was cruel and hurtful and cold and closed off, but now he’s learning other ways to be better.

The world is full of greys. Nothing is just as simple as hero and villain most of the time. I think that’s what Félix represents.