#alya is here too

[literaphobe]

core four go out to eat mala stir fry and Adrien sheepishly asks if it’s ok if they get small spicy totally okay if not he will eat anything they wanna eat because he loves them so much and they are his best friends :) they were gonna order small spicy to begin with but Adrien tears up two bites in anyway and marinette FREAKS as he blows his nose ADRIEN BABY IM SO SORRY we will get NO spicy next time!! Alya and nino ask her Well then what’s the point of eating mala stir fry. but then Adrien CHOKES so nino caves too and says WHO NEEDS FLAVOR ANYWAY!!!! ARE YOU OKAY BUDDY!!!!!!!

[ramen8008]

[aslibekroglu]

If Deniz didn't see you, would you have let us go? If Cihan didn't seen me, would you have left? I would have. Really? What do you think, you think I enjoy living here with you? Then why did you stay?

[firstdove15]

Guess it's safe to say I'm back into regularly reading manga/comics for the time being XD

1) Reading Ichi the Witch (forgot there was a chapter and caught up in time for the next one coming in a few days)

2) Catching up on Dandadan (Currently on chapter 108)

3) Reading One Pound Gospel

4) Reading Webtoon's Wanna Be Friends

5) Started Firefly Wedding

[beyondthegame]

hiii mila! first time sending a prompt here (hehe); "always giving the utmost attention to the other if they are in a crowd" for n, please? thank youuu 💕 And hope you're doing well, sending u virtual hugs from afar! 🫶

It's funny, really. You and N Tallon being injured at the same time. You know how they're feeling, and they know how you're feeling. You're both itching to kick a football again, so much so that you've decided to get tickets to one of the local football games. The crowd is large enough to hide the two of you. You can blend in without the media getting a whiff that you're there.

"I hear you're injured," you say as you lean forward. N's sitting a row in front of you, your eyes connected when they sat down and they sent a usual grimace in your direction.

N takes a long moment to respond. At this point, they could blame it on the fact that the crowd is so loud and they didn't catch what you said. But you know that would be a lie, you saw N react to your words. The raised brow, a heavy sigh, and the sideways glance towards you.

"I'll be fine by next week," N responds. "You however..."

You chortle. "So you do keep tabs on me."

The accusation has N fully twisting in their seat. They completely disregard the fact that the two teams are walking out onto the pitch. "I do not keep tabs on you," N says sharply.

"You could've fooled me," you counter.

N's jaw clenches. "Seriously, what are you doing?" they ask with slight venom in their tone. It isn't anger, it's not that strong, but still very stern.

You pause. "If I wanted to stroke your ego I'd say that I'm vying for your attention," you counter.

"But, let me guess, that's something you'd never do, right?" N asks with a scoff.

"Honestly, Tallon, have you met yourself?" you ask with furrowed brows of your own, "because during this football match I could tell you exactly what it's like being in your company and I don't have good reviews."

They laugh. It surprises you that such a pleasant sound can come from someone you have such a rivalry with.

"It definitely seems like you want my attention," N utters, their dark grey eyes shimmering under the fluorescent lights. "I'll remind you that you're not here to see me, you're here to watch a football match."

That's the problem with you and N. You're both stubborn, you both have to have the last word at any chance you get.

"Last time I checked, when you're talking to someone it takes two people to have the conversation," you say. "Plus, this is my regular seat here and I have a feeling you know that."

N does know that. Of course they do. It's as though there's a section in their mind that's dedicated to you. They hate it. That stored away there's every memory they had with you, every argument, every feeling they felt when in your presence.

And, now, this one will be added to the list.

[buggachat]

adrien never went to public school / adrienette have never met AU where Ladynoir are dating but Marinette has beef with Adrien Agreste™ on twitter, spurred by her interest in the fashion industry and her friendship with Mylene. ads are all over the place of Adrien promoting products like air in a bottle and NFTs and just generally so many products that are extremely poor taste/bad for the environment. Marinette tweets about beauty standards in the industry and all the shit Gabriel brand does to the environment and how Adrien Agreste perfectly encapsulates it all.

Adrien, of course, never responds to any of her tweets. her tweets are just white noise in the background. she is nowhere near on his level. one day Marinette tweets out something akin to "if I saw Adrien Agreste irl i'd punch him in the face" and her twitter gets banned for Threats of Violence, Alya draws attention to the injustice of it via the Ladyblog and suddenly "I want to punch Adrien Agreste in the face [gets banned]" becomes a bit of a meme. NOW people know who Marinette is and are listening to what she's saying (on her new account or whatever). Chat Noir also tweets that he wants to punch Adrien in the face

A hashtag trends. Marinette caves and starts tweeting about the scandals of the industry on her Ladybug twitter too. Adrien's twitter and instagram comments are flooded with both threats to punch him but also just generally critical comments like "nice pic and all but are you not going to address the sweatshop allegations?". Adrien still does not address it. At most he turns comments off. Marinette is gnawing at the wood of her desk.

Then a Ladybug and Chat Noir identity reveal happens.

Marinette is stunned. Absolutely mouth agape. Cannot form words. Chat Noi— NO, ADRIEN— ADRIEN FUCKING AGRESTE looks at her and is like "oh ha :) .... Marinette Dupain-Cheng, right? You're the girl who wanted to punch me hahaha"

after recovering from her world being shattered, she's like...... "hahaha...... um............... yeah...... uh..... so you... DO know who i am. and you're just. ignoring it then. hahaha... ok... thats....... fine..... anyway..... u-uh...... im not... gonna actually punch you. but. um. k-kitty do you um. maybe want to stop promoting deforestation and all that"

he's like "I don't"

she's like. "yes you do. literally in your newest ad you said to the camera 'who needs trees when bottled air is the way of the future'. like did you really read that line out loud and not see a problem with it"

"yeah, that wasn't me"

"what are you talking abou—"

"it's deepfaked"

"..... what"

"all of my ads in the past few years are deepfakes. I complained too much so my father fired me. turns out that i signed away all rights to my face and voice to him when I was 13 or something. he can just use my face and voice and name however he wants. he generates ads. i dont even have access to the 'Adrien Agreste' twitter or insta accounts. sometimes he makes me do runways but beyond that I'm not involved in all."

"... ... ... ... ... what"

"yeah haha... :") im sorry. i wish i could help you more. but he never listens to me. i don't like it either, i.... i've asked him to stop sooo many times. but he never listens to me. i hate seeing my face used without my consent but haha.... i don't... have any rights here so. sorry. i really wish i could help more"

and now marinette hates "Adrien Agreste"™ ads/posts EVEN MORE and is threatening to kill Gabriel Agreste himself. all while kissing the real adrien agreste silly

[familyagrestefanblog]

Honestly, in my opinion, Marinette saying she doesn't trust Chat Noir for THIS reason did nothing but VALIDATE Alya in her anger.

Cause all that Marinette actually says to Alya here is that Marinette doesn't want Chat Noir to know because she thinks it's way too likely that Chat wouldn't stand for that lie either and not knowing who the boy underneath Chat's mask is would leave Marinette helpless if Chat were to flip her off and just decide to tell Adrien the truth as civilian behind her back.

Like, that's literally all Marinette said to Alya here. Even if she probably didn't even realize it, it nothing but VALIDATED Alya in her opinion that telling Adrien is the right thing to do because now she being told by Marinette that Chat would side with her, ALYA, and not Ladybug if he knew.

So from Alya's perspective, it's Marinette vs both of her partners who she deliberately keeps in the dark BECAUSE she suspects they wouldn't agree with her.

Which is ironic cause Alya started this conversations asking if this is a Ladybug and Chat Noir vs Rena Rouge situation, only to find out it's Chat Noir and Rena Rouge vs Ladybug.

[goatlilly]

Violeon and Foulette

I know it’s not an update for the Minnie miraculous series, but I’ve been having some difficulty with the twins designs, so they’re taking a bit longer than Cat Man and Princess Ladybug did. For now, though, here’s some concept art for Villain Marinette and Adrien as the Peacock and Butterfly. This is concept art for a sort of reverse AU to Minnie Miraculous, where all the Adults are heroes, and these two get to be the antagonists of the series.

The general idea is that Gabriel doesn’t know Adrien is a Sentimonster in this AU, and Emilie created Adrien on her own. Grieving the loss of his wife, Gabriel begins carrying around the ring he gave her when the two of them were engaged, (the singular ring that Emilie used in this AU to house Adrien’s Amok,) and starts unknowingly feeding Adrien his sadness and desires to have his wife return. These desires corrupt Adrien, and he ends up finding and using the Butterfly miraculous in order to try and retrieve the Ladybug and Cat miraculous for the purpose of bringing Emilie back to life.

As for Marinette, without the Ladybug miraculous and Tikki to encourage her, she ends up feeling isolated and lacking in confidence at school, too scared to make friends or stand up to Chloe. (She has Alya, but is sure that Alya is afraid to open up to her because she doesn’t want to ruin what the two of them have.) She has a crush on Adrien though, and senses some of the same loneliness in him that she feels. Eventually, after spending a whole lot of time obsessively following him around, she finds out about his secret identity as Violeon, and, empathizing with his drive to bring his mother back, dons the Peacock miraculous and becomes Foulette in an attempt to be a part of his life.

So yeah, those are my villains. Both put their own desires second in order to please someone else, becoming corrupted by the need to be needed. Of course for Adrien he doesn’t realize it.

Oh, and yes, Marinette realizes pretty quickly that Adrien is a Sentimonster, and manages to track down his Amok. It takes her a while to figure out what it all means though, as she’s new to the Peacock miraculous and its powers. She’s in pretty deep before she pieces together what’s going on, and even longer before she’s brave enough to try and fix things.

But anyway, yeah. That’s them. :) I like them—they were both pretty fun to design, and I’m relatively happy with the results.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Scarlet Lady Top 10 Favorite Characters: Number 10

For @zoe-oneesama

Number 9 Here

Okay, I realized as I was writing these that there is way way WAY too much to each of these and why to be able to put them all into one post, so I'm breaking them down into individual essays focusing on each one to keep them palatable.

So without further ado....

Number 10: EVERYONE

Yeah, I know it may be cheating but at this point it was the only choice I could make.

I came to regret making this list, specifically because I couldn’t seem to make up my mind as far as who all would be on it. I reread the entire series. I kept switching people in and out as I was reminded of characters or scenes I loved. And I came to a realization that there is no character in the whole of this series I didn’t enjoy to some extent that they didn't deserve some love in this list and I kind of wish I could have added all of them just to give them all some spotlight.

Yes, it is partly because everyone is vastly improved compared to Canon. But as I reread the series, it came to mind that if Canon didn’t exist and I didn’t have the comparison between the characters, I still very much would have loved this series and everyone in it.

Cause and Effect Exist

It's important to have a setting in which the characters and their actions make sense for the world they live in. When the setting is supposed to be modern day earth, we need the people to be able to show that they are capable of surviving in it on a day to day basis without being so massively incompetent that they would do something like accidentally ingesting poison. Or forgetting how to breathe.

I would think it would be obvious, but sometimes Canon makes me wonder. Which is never a good look for a show that is supposed to have some level of seriousness and involve superheroes.

Here’s the thing Canon can’t seem to get: when a majority of the things that go wrong in a plot are because of everyone having to be stupid to make the plot work, you have a problem with the writing. Changing the material in a story so that younger people can enjoy it does NOT mean dumbing down the characters and throwing in arbitrary lessons with no real reason to them. Even if the show itself is geared towards kids, you can’t treat the audience like they’re stupid.

In Scarlet Lady, the people aren’t stupid.

Silly, yes. Wrong, often. Overdramatic, definitely. But while they may make stupid choices sometimes, they aren’t so dumb that anyone should have concerns about their ability to function at a higher level than an overcaffinated 2 year old.

They’re fooled initially the way many of us would be with a biased story that hits the news first. Oblivious to the problems in a situation that they logically wouldn’t have much direct insight into. Prone to making mistakes and incorrect judgement the way that anyone would. That's normal. That's expected.

But they’re not so incapable as to forget things that happen right in front of them between one day and the next. Or even between one scene and the next.

Things carry over. We see cause and effect. We see consequences—bad and good. And those consequences extend not only for the episode or season but for the entire series.

Aurore KNOWs Alec cheated her before and maintains a tight control over him and prevents more of his antics.

Adrien and Alya maintain a cold attitude towards Lila for some time after her reveal as a liar. And it even remains a point against her as used by Chloe as herself and as Scar to discount what she says.

The boys of the class remember Adrien’s “love letter to Marigold” and try to win him her merch because they’re bros like that. 

Adrien himself remembers the instances of his dad being a massive prick and instead of being surprised and “sad boi uwuwu” each time it happens like it’s supposed to be a surprise that the massive prick would choose to be a prick, he very clearly moves through the stages of grief to the point of a sort of acceptance that involves planning around and even for him.

Gabriel’s horrible parenting and general lack of concern for Adrien or his wellbeing as he ends up a casualty of various akuma attacks was played off for laughs when such incidents occurred. Then they were brutally called out against him in the Finale as a way to counter his claims of doing everything for Adrien’s sake. And the big reveal of the Birthday Scarf…utilized in the last way anyone would have wanted.

And Chloe is perhaps the biggest example as her antics ARE NOT forgotten or ignored by anyone. The classmates still interact with Chloe and are relatively nice to her, but they don’t just forget that she’s treated them horribly. They don’t act surprised when she does anything horrible. Nor does anyone just laugh it off or excuse it as “just who she is”. We see follow up to her behavior—the class fully expecting her to cause trouble and actively try to plan around it. People calling her out on past behaviors. And even bigger consequences as time goes on. Such as Adrien breaking off the friendship. And a blink and you miss it fridge logic moment in Ikari Gozen when you realize that when they said she was banned from all future Gabriel-involved competitions, they meant it.

The fact that by the time the big reveal happened that Chloe was Scarlet Lady, no one was shocked.

Story-wise, this is showing the passage of time and the effect the events of the story are having. It’s showing that there is lasting impact and that what happens to the characters matters.

Meta-wise, this is Zoe rewarding us for paying attention.

Continuity exists in Scarlet Lady. Time exists. The people exist. When anyone does anything, you get the sense that they aren’t operating in a vacuum. The things they do matter. There are consequences. There is an impact. And if there is an impact in the story, there will be an impact on the audience.

Which leads to…

Character Depth/Character Growth

Usually in TV shows of this nature, if there ARE character arcs for the side characters, they only occur over the course of a single episode devoted to focusing on them before moving on elsewhere. 

Canon didn’t give us that much at all in favor of having every episode that should focus on other characters learning and growing instead forcing Marinette to be wrong in some way and learn an arbitrary lesson that often would have better served for someone else.

In Scarlet Lady, the arcs we get are impressive for all that they’re relatively unobtrusive. They aren’t big. They aren’t world-ending. And the thing is, most change in life isn’t. It can just FEEL that way.

Like the way it felt for Kim when he first found out Ondine liked him and then had his confession to her screwed up.

And the way it felt for Kagami when she lost that first match against Adrien.

Then there’s the way it felt for Chloe when she was dismissed by her mother, had her popularity go downhill, and ended up losing her Miraculous.

…or the way it felt for Adrien when he discovered his dad was Hawk Moth.

The reactions we witness are in a great part due to actions outside of the characters’ control, but are ultimately a result of the experiences they have had and the ways they have changed as a result.

The question becomes: are the characters that we meet at the beginning pretty much identical to how they are at the end? Is the world?

The answer in Scarlet Lady is no.

Whether because the characters themselves change or our perception of them does, we can see that they have all undergone some sort of events that create a difference between the start and end points.

Not all of them HAVE to undergo some big emotional arc. Not all of them NEED to. But the characters still mostly go through some sort of growth by the end that I feel make them stronger and healthier people.

You’ve got the big life-altering changes like Lila and Sabrina.

You’ve got the little changes like Nino and Ivan.

You’ve even got the most minuscule, beginning stages of change in Chloe.

You’ve got growth that creates such perfect setup with Mylene when she starts off scared and traumatized by how things went with Stoneheart then is the one who confronts him in the end. And the parallel between the finale and the beginning when she returns him to normal by kissing him just like they did in that first episode to change him back then, too! (Just….GOD, I CANNOT GET OVER THIS!)

You’ve got them reaching out and making friends and relating to people they hadn’t before.

And by the end of it all, we get characters who feel like people rather than props.

They don’t all have to change. They don’t necessarily need to go through an entire emotional arc and back again. They just need to be part of the world they’re in.

Nino doesn’t just pop into existence when Adrien or Alya need someone to interact with. Kagami isn’t just a non-horrible or non-evil love rival for Adrien or a stepping stool for him to “practice“ at being in a relationship before it’s time for him to try the “real thing” with his endgame pairing. Luka isn’t just a decent guy who is the only actual form of support for the female lead and yet only lacking that precious “male lead” title or all around just not “Adrien enough” to fill the role.

Adrien isn’t just a “sad boy” meant to be a main love interest, Villain’s Morality Pet, and the one everyone idolizes and chases after just cuz he’s the male lead and that’s how you show he’s desirable I guess. Marinette isn’t the atlas keeping the story alive because no one else is apparently capable of learning lessons and changing, or even just the bare basics of functioning as individuals. Chloe isn’t just there to be horrible for no reason and get away with it so she can continue to be horrible until the writers suddenly need her to be sympathetic.

And the rest of the classmates aren’t just some Greek chorus there to fill the background.

We see them interact. We see them making jokes or jabs. We see them even…*gasp* having different opinions!

And on something as major and life-controlling as feelings about the “Hero of the City” no less! Why, that’s the sort of thing that would break up friendships and determine who you can sit next to at the cafeteria! The horror! The scandal!

And…oh hey. This puts the characters in different groups. It links them with characters other their Canonically designated pairings and groups. This lets them disagree on things and not need to vilify any of them. This creates implications that add depth to the story and to the people in it.

The characters can disagree without being enemies. They can be wrong without having to be evil. They can make mistakes without having to be stupid. And they can change and grow—both for better and worse.

And we see both and in different ways. SO many different ways.

Adrien goes from excited and impulsive to buckling under the forced responsibility and weight of a partner who hinders more than she helps.

Lila goes from selfishly bad and self-serving to selfish but friendly with better direction of her talents in a less self-serving way.

And Chloe just goes from selfish and bad to selfish and worse..

I mean, it says something that the combination of Lila’s growth and Chloe’s fall from grace resulted in Hawk Moth being unable to use Lila as a tool for his Heroes Day plot like he originally intended.

The key is that whether they necessarily grow or become better people, these characters are still IMPACTED by the events around them and AFFECTED as a natural result of the world they live in. 

You can’t help but feel for them in some way as a result. It’s part of why I love them.

The other part of why I love them is a bit more epic though…

Crowning Moments of Awesome

If there’s one thing I love, it’s seeing characters be awesome. I love it when characters get to be awesome. I would love to see more of it. Especially when the ones involved are characters you wouldn’t normally expect or get to see have a chance to shine.

And it’s when you see these characters be awesome that you really get the sense that yes, this character would work as a hero.

Seeing Max help against Robustus. Seeing Kim help against Odine. Alix stepping in during Pharaoh, calling out her brother’s fan fiction, and helping the heroes escape the security system at the Lourve. Alya stepping in during Copycat to clue Chat in to what’s going on and later keeping Anansi distracted to keep her away from Chat while he’s trapped. Rose kicking Nightmare!Chat in the face to defend Marinette even when she’s dealing with her own nightmares in Sandboy. Luka leading groups twice to stepping in and helping the heroes deal with akumas. Nathaniel standing up for Marinette and Sabrina when they’re accused in Rogercop and then helping the heroes in Reverser. Seeing the entire class step up to try and protect Marinette in Befana. Seeing all the friends working together to compete in the Friendship Contest in order to protect Adrien from a less serious but still potentially terrifying outcome.

These little moments of support make such a big different and really make it make sense that the heroes would trust these people with magical jewelry to help them in battle.

And the little moments of characters being petty or strong or smart or turning the tables or just showing off what they’re capable of. Even without superpowers.

Adrien getting petty revenge for Nino and finding a tactic to counter Gabriel in the future.

The Police Force in Rogercop just saying “Nope” to obeying an obvious akuma. 

Zoe manipulating akumas twice to help the heroes. Her two Reasons You Suck Speeches to her mom and Bustier.

Every instance of payback that Tikki gets against Chloe.

Everyone in the Finale. Just…EVERYONE in the Finale. The characters who manage to avoid akumatization by either spotting the flaws in the illusion or refusing to give in to fear and even protecting others. Nora smacking any akuma that enters the home. Claudie pulling off Power Mom and ordering Max to stop attacking the city then helping to calm him down. Prince Ali and Juleka freeing Rose by kissing her! Chris, Ella, Etta, and Manon saving Mylene! Mylene saving Ivan with a kiss in a direct callback to how they first got together in Stoneheart! (Yes, I am still stuck on that!) Ondine saving Kim! Lila and Sabrina saving Alix! Luka facing Riposte alone and unarmed and then Kitty Section saving Kagami! ALL of the Heroes making a final comeback to help take down Hawk Moth for good! Just—AAAAAH!

How could Miraculous have peaked with this in Season 2 when this is Grand Finale material? Because there are few things more awesome than getting to see ALL the characters the heroes met and befriended and helped throughout the course of the story stepping up at the final battle to help take the Big Bad down!

Like…can we just take a moment to appreciate how everyone gets a chance to stand out in some way? Not all of them necessarily good, exactly (looking at you Andre). But still stand out and be memorable. Even characters who didn’t originally get much focus. Especially characters who were originally functioning as cardboard cutouts to fill a scene.

Anyone remember Aurore? How for the FIRST akuma in the pilot of the series and one who is quite frankly the most interesting and noteworthy, we don’t really get to see her again except in the background.

In Scarlet Lady, we got to actually look in to the contest and how she lost as well as the aftermath. She wasn’t some arrogant showoff who deserved to lose to the “sweet down to earth rival”, she was a girl who legitimately tried her best and had valid reason to be upset. Seeing her get revenge on Alec for cheating and humiliating her on live TV was well worth it.

Or how about the Photographer? Just there to take photos of Adrien in the park for a photo shoot or be the school photographer, but otherwise has no personality and is only remembered for his weird “spaghetti” line.

In Scarlet Lady, his role is two-fold. He acts as a sort of supporter for Adrien in his crush. Taking really good pictures of him being happy with the girl he likes. Taking more class photos at the behest of this girl for the sake of a friend who missed out on the class picture. And then there’s his OTHER role as a sort of antagonist to Chloe. He becomes one of the only ones in the early seasons willing and capable of dismissing her tantrums.

They’re both given more character. They get moments to stand out and BE awesome. So is everyone.

EVERYONE. From the classmates and big named characters we see regularly to the side characters who only appear once or twice. They all get some good scenes and focus that give them their own identities. All of them are memorable. None of them can really be ignored or forgotten. And part of what made making this list so difficult was that I found myself getting attached to pretty much everyone as I came across each of them that I couldn’t quite make up my mind.

Everyone in this fic has done something to make me happy and warrant my approval. Even the characters I normally wouldn’t like at all had their moments to shine and elicit an “okay, that was cool” from me.

Thus I grant this spot to everyone. To all the characters I don’t get the chance to mention. To all the ones I like albeit somewhat less than others. To all the ones I know are horrible but can’t help but like regardless. To all the ones I fought with myself for THREE MONTHS over which one would get this spot.

I love all of them.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

The Best Friend Showdown

Season four had many, many flaws. One of the big ones was the Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict where Ladybug starts relying on Alya more and more, basically using her to replace Master Fu. We get a sense that Chat Noir feels inferior to Rena Rouge because of this change, but it’s never directly addressed. The most we get is this conversation from Hack-San:

Ladybug: I'm really sorry, Cat Noir. I should've told you. I mean, if I found out that you told someone about your secret identity, I'd... probably be upset, too. I'm really sorry I hurt your feelings. Cat Noir: You didn't hurt my feelings. You did everything right. 

Which is actually a really weird bit of dialogue because - as far as I can tell - nothing in the episode revealed that Scarabella knew Ladybug's identity. She hands out miraculous all the time and no one knows who she really is. Why would this time be different? Ladybug could just show up in costume, explain what's up, and then hand off the earrings while using yet another miraculous.

Anyway, the Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict is “resolved” by Rena Rouge being outed again (and I guess that matters this time), leading her to give up her miraculous so that Gabriel can’t steal it away, which of course leads Gabriel to steal it away and fully disempower Ladybug’s larger team, leaving Chat Noir her only teammate.

How satisfying! This is such good, character-driven story telling!

It’s not. This is plot contrivances to the max with no meaningful character beats, but we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to do one of my favorite things: gush about a relevant Kim Possible episode! Today’s topic is episode 12 of season one: Pain King vs. Cleopatra, the episode that introduces Kim’s female BFF, Monique!

This was a bit of a shocker for me because I didn’t realize that Kim and Monique weren’t pre-series friends. Turns out that, much like Alya, Monique is a new girl, which isn’t a bad call. This was a nice way to delay Monique’s introduction for a few episodes so that the writers could focus on establishing Kim’s relationship with other key members of the cast like her partner, Ron. Spacing out your intros is the way to go whenever you can pull it off as it’s a kindness to your audience that keeps them from feeling overwhelmed, making it more likely that they’ll remember your cast.

The other, more important similarity between Alya and Monique is that, when Kim’s hero partner and life-long friend finds out about Monique, he is less than thrilled:

Kim: I barely got to see them. Right after I hooked up with Monique, the museum was robbed by some glowing-headed animal guy. Ron: Oh, that's nice. Ron: Wait a minute, who's Monique? Kim New friend, really great. Anyway, the thief stole an enchanted ancient talisman. Ron: Whoa, whoa, back up! How can I not know about a new friend? Kim: I met her at Club Banana, then again at the museum before I chased the glowing robber. Ron: So what's she like? Kim: The robber? Ron: The friend, Kim, the "new friend".

Throughout the episode, Kim and Monique continue to bond without Ron, leaving Ron feeling left out:

Ron: Seein' a pattern here, Rufus: Kim does her thing, I do my thing, and pretty soon - we're doing different things.

Which leads him to get a little territorial:

Kim Ron! What are you doing here? Ron: Can I dine with my best friend and her new friend? Kim: Uuh, Ron, Monique, and vice versa. Ron: Bearclaw? Monique: No, thanks, I'm vegetarian. Ron: Uhm, I'm pretty sure it's imitation bear? Kim: She's joking, Ron. Ron: Good one, hahaha, ha, good one. So, did Kim tell you that I'm her sidekick? Cause that role is definitely taken by me. Monique: Riiiight. Well, in... you know I better get to class. Later, Kim. Um, n-nice meeting you, Ron. Ron: Likewise, I'm sure! Kim: What is your problem? You're acting really weird. Ron: Well, let's see. You went to the museum with Monique, not me. Monique was with you this morning, not me. Hmm, pattern? Kim: Yeah. You. Weird. Ron: No, we're drifting apart because you're excluding me. Kim: I am not excluding you. It's just that you and Monique are... different.

Noticing some similarities to Miraculous here?

So how does Kim Possible resolve this conflict?

Well, the plot of this episode resolves around Kim Possible’s version of professional wrestling, the GWA. There’s a competition going on that Kim has no interest in watching (mood), but when Kim mentions the GWA to Monique:

Monique: Why didn't you bring [Ron] along? Kim: Unless someone put a waiter in a headlock, this is definitely not Ron's scene. Besides, he had a date with "Steel Toe". Monique: He scored tickets to Mayhem in Middleton? The GWA rocks! Kim: What?

It turns out that Monique and Ron have a shared interest! Multiple shared interests, in fact! Interests that Kim does not share:

Monique: You know, I still can't believe you met Pain King and Steel Toe. Ron: I can't believe you're into wrestling. Kim: I can't believe I know either one of you.

By the end of the episode, the conflict is resolved not with Kim having to pick a BFF or with Monique somehow being demoted, but by showing that this didn’t need to be a conflict at all. Kim can have multiple close friends that she shares different interests with without any of those friends being lesser. Those friends can, in turn, have their own friendships that don’t always involve her.

It’s a genuinely lovely resolution that makes me love this little friend group because it now has added complexity. Monique and Ron are friends in their own right! Kim is not the center of the universe in spite of her main character status!

I also love that Kim isn’t vilified for having other friends or portrayed as constantly leaving Ron out of things that he'd want to do in favor of Monique. Ron genuinely would not enjoy most of the things that the girls love to do together. At the same time, Ron’s feeling aren’t treated as totally irrational either and Kim even admits to ditching him. It’s a genuine, complex conflict that is super common when someone enters a new relationship be it platonic or romantic.

Obviously Kim Possible’s version of this conflict feels far less complex than Miraculous’ because Kim Possible understood that Ron should be Kim’s one-and-only partner, so his position was really never threatened. Monique does not want to be an action hero and is never given the sort narrative weight that elevates her to Ron’s level or higher, but that doesn't matter. The basic lesson here is still relevant and super important for the intended audience of both of these shows.

There did not need to be a Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict that never got properly resolved. Miraculous could have made these two friends and no, Scarabella doesn't count because Chat Noir has no idea that Scarabella is Rena Rouge/Furtive. Their relationship ended at the end of Hack-San. He didn't even know that Rena Furtive was a thing until she was in the process of being benched and that's the problem.

Kim Possible is not a team show, Miraculous is, and yet Kim Possible has better team dynamics than Miraculous. Monique could have joined Kim's team at the end of Pain King vs. Cleopatra and it would have felt natural because both Kim and Ron had welcomed Monique and formed a genuine bond with her. This is a true friend group that Miraculous can only dream of even though they've been adding new superheroes since season two.

We're going into a season with a full, massive team and yet that team has no established dynamics on the hero side. It's not a functional team! None of these characters have meaningful relationships with each other as heroes save for Alya and Nino since they know each other’s secret identities. The only relationships Miraculous cares about are the various romances and everyone's relationship to Marinette and everyone suffers for it.

The show would not have been harmed by Rena Rouge, Chat Noir, and Ladybug being a team. It was the thing I kept think after watching the Kim Possible episode. Since the team is the end game, why aren't we seeing them? It would have been so nice to have Hack-San end with Ladybug introducing Chat Noir to Rena Furtive instead of a nonsense discussion about an issue the episode didn't even address.

[noneedtoheedtheweed]

Hello! I wanted to share some initial sketches of the team

Can you tell which ones had references XD spoiler alert its Marinette and Adrien's faces and literally nothing else. This does not apply to the full bodies (Marinette having the wrong bangs)

Info dump about each adult character, other potential members of the team, and the miraculous

Alya Cesaire is one of the most well-known journalists in Paris. As Luciole (Firefly in English) and coleader of their team, she works with Felix to study the miraculous, their history, and nature, as well as translate the language of the grimoire.

Felix Graham de Vanily is the younger brother of Emilie Agreste- nee Graham de Vanily. Both are- or were in Emilie's case- doctors of European archeology and were famous in their field as siblings who conduct research together. After her mysterious disappearance, he became a professor at a prestigious Parisian university.

Nino Cesaire is Alya's husband and the uncontested heart of the team. He's the least famous of the five- though that doesn't say much as he is a well-known and well-liked DJ. Un/official fun uncle for the kiddos and brother figure to Kagami.

Chloe Bourgeois is the only publicly known hero on the team. She manages their media presence (at least officially as Alya does some of the work as well) as well as their legality with her father, the mayor. She has a set of twins: Zoe and Ray, who live in California with their father for safety reasons (well Ray does at least but that's not relevant to this story. Baby daddy is also secretly a villain but that is also not relevant to the Paris squad). Chloe is not doing too great where that's concerned as she's repeating her mother's failings when she promised herself she wouldn't.

Kagami Tsurgi is the newest member of the team before the rat and dog are lost. She's an Olympic fencer and international business major still under the not so gentle care of her mother. While everyone on the team has a different reaction to the barely-teens, she is the most initially hostile. Afterwards, she is by far the closest with the duo (potentially trio+ by then we'll see).

Marinette and Adrien's miraculi:

Marinette: mouse/rat primarily but do also use the goat (tee hee she's like her hero idol here), dragon, and pig

Adrien: dog primarily but do also use the tiger, monkey, and rooster (tee hee he's like his father here)

Other member(s) I'm considering for this team:

Future Alix with the rabbit- this one is a no brainer, but I think it would be fun as Alix is the same age as the kids. Speaking of...

Present Alix with the horse primarily and the snake and ox secondarily. One of the kid's closest friends, she would be replacing both canon Alya and Nino in this to make her, Marinette, and Adrien a trio. She's the smartest kid in school (balancing Max in a stem v. humanities way)

Extra note I didn't know where to place:

I like the idea that the zodiac miraculous serve as a bit of a practice/ training role to the heavy hitting ones (the 7 and the rabbit). Usually, the goat and tiger would fill this role for the ladybug and cat respectively, but Marinette and Adrien are a bit of a special case.

[mochinek0]

Daminette December: 16-(SUB) Gold Digger

Alya stared into wonder, as Marinette crossed the room of the Wayne Gala.

'What the fuck is she doing here?'

She had tried inviting Lila, but she had said she was too busy.

'Did she know that Mari would be here?'

Alya froze as she watch Marinette talk to Lois Lane and Clark Kent with such familiarity. Even Jon had gone up and hugged her! Alya watched as a guy came up from behind them and put his arm around her waist.

'What is going on?'

Alya ran up to Jon, after watching Marinette walk to the other side of the room with the mysterious guy.

"Hey, Jon." She spoke, trying to keep an eye out.

"Alba?" He questioned.

She winced, "A-Alya."

"Sorry." Jon apologized, "What-Did you have a question?"

"Um, I did actually." Alya answered, "How do you know Marinette?"

"You know Mari, too?" He shouted, excitedly, "We have so much to talk about!"

"Yeah." She smiled, awkwardly, " I didn't realize you knew her."

"Oh, yeah!" He stated, "I met Mari in university, after my best friend, Damian started dating her. Actually, I don't remember seeing you at the wedding."

'Marinette's married?'

"Busy." She replied, quickly, trying to keep the shock off of her face.

"Oh yeah. Ma and Pa are always busy, too." Jon spoke.

"It makes sense that your parents know your best friend, after all." Alya commented.

"Of course!" He smiled, "The Wayne family own the Daily Planet, after all."

'Huh?'

"Pa and Bruce are old friends and Damian had been my best friend for years." Jon continued, "Mari has changed him so much...in a good way."

Jon leaned in and whispered, "If you ask his brothers, off record, they'll say he was much more violent before her. Like Beauty and the Beast."

'Marinette married into the Wayne family and they own the Daily Planet. Marinette is my boss!'

"You wanna go talk to them?" Jon questioned.

"Another time." Alya smiled, "The Waynes are busy and I don't want to hog her attention."

As she walked away, she swallowed a very hard pill. She had been moments away from going to yell at Marinette, but Marinette held the power to fire her. It wasn't worth losing her dream job, especially when she wasn't even a journalist yet.

Alya held a zoom meeting with some of the others in Paris. Others had drifted apart in University and barely spoke to them now. They had been shocked to learn that Mari had gotten married.

"Who did she marry?" asked Nathaniel.

"Yeah, what's he like?" questioned Kim.

"Damian Wayne." Alya spoke.

"Are you sure?" Alix asked, confused.

"Yes." Alya answered.

"Alya are you 100%, no, 1000% sure?" Max pressed.

"Yeah. I talked to my boss' kid. The whole family knows them." She declared, "I was about to march over to Mari and call her a bitch for everything and then I found out the Waynes own my work. Mari is my boss. I can't say anything to her, without risking my job."

"Alya." Alix spoke up, "Lila has been telling us that her new boyfriend is Damian Wayne. She told us they went out last Friday."

"Last Friday?" She questioned, "That was the night of the gala and he was there with Marinette. He barely left her side."

The call fell silent.

"Did we make a mistake?" Nathaniel asked.

"Are you sure that's what she said?" Alya shot back.

"Yeah!" Kim cried out.

After a few moments of silence, Alya spoke, "I'll.....I'll talk to Jon first."

"Babe." Nino called.

"If....If anyone knows something, he would. " she answered, "He's Damian's best friend and he seemed to really like Mari. The whole family does."

"Alya." Nino spoke.

"Bruce was-He got around with woman at this age. Damian didn't give the impression that he would." Alya continued, "Bruce isn't even married."

"Babe." Nino called out again.

"I need some air." She declared and turned off the call.

Alya decided to pour her research abilities into Damian Wayne.

'Jon wasn't kidding when he said he was violent before.'

Damian was introduced as Bruce Wayne's biological child at the age of eleven. Bruce explained how he had been living with his mother, all that time, and he was as shocked as any of them. Many commented how Damian looked exactly like Bruce at that age. He was a vegetarian and an animal activist.

There were a few articles of Damian being suspended for injuring a student or teach. His only statement was he 'disliked being touched'. He even hit a journalist for attempting to ask him questions. Damian had labeled it 'harassment'. He was called Gotham's own Ice Prince.

It was a shock to Gotham when Marinette and Damian announced they were officially dating. The city called them 'Daminette'. Damian was viewed as 'softer', but very protective of Mari. She had been kidnapped for ransom by Scarecrow. When GCPD found him, he was screaming for Damian to get away from him. He was found beaten and bruised. When the young Wayne was questioned about his actions he boldly claimed 'He wasn't afraid of the rouges. If Marinette was hurt again, he was willing to go to jail for the murder of a rouge.' Marinette was quickly listed as 'off limits' and dubbed 'Gotham's Sunshine Princess'.

There were dozens of articles of them at charity events. There were even pictures of Jagged Stone with Damian and Fang.

'I saved Jagged Stone's pet kitten.'

'Why are you lying? Jagged Stone doesn't have a pet kitten, Lila. He hatched a crocodile egg and named him Fang.'

'Maybe he was holding it for a friend? He just seemed so grateful!'

'Marinette, hey, um, can you sign my cd?'

'Gah! Uh, su-sure , Adrien. Go here. I-I mean here ya go, Buddy.'

Actually, now that she thought about it, more, Mari designed his Eiffel Tower glasses, too. Alya took a deep breath and looked up Marinette, instead.

Marinette was a very sought out designer. Jagged Stone had announced her as his designer when she was eighteen. He mentioned how she had been working with him since she was fourteen, but had been under an NDA contract.

There were even pictures of her with Luka and Juleka.

'When did I last talk to Juleka...or Rose?'

Marinette's designs were on runways at fashion week. She traveled a lot: Milan, London, Shanghai, New York, LA. She had her own label, not affiliated with the Wayne family.

It had taken Alya two weeks to process everything.

"Jon, do you mind if I ask you a question?" She asked him, at work.

"Sure." He answered.

"Do you know a Lila Rossi?" She asked.

Jon made a face, "You mean that liar?"

"Huh?" She spoke.

Jon sighed, "You heard about how she was claiming to be dating Damian, too, right?"

Alya simply nodded.

"Damian already served her with a defamation lawsuit." He replied.

"What?" She answered.

"Yeah." He continued, ignoring her shock, "Adrien heard it and told me, so I told Damian. He doesn't like his name being slandered."

"Oh, that's good." Alya smiled, trying to hide her panic, "I....I heard about it from a friend , back home, and it didn't make sense. I told them Damian was married."

"Hey, you did good." Jon replied, putting his arm around her shoulder, "You told them the truth and you had the facts to back it up."

Alya nodded, quickly.

"Oh and don't worry about a story." He spoke, removing his arm.

"St-story?" She questioned.

Jon pulled out his phone and stated, "Damian said 'That gold digger is as pathetic as the rest. Her name does not deserve to make it to the front page'. Adrien told him how she likes the attention. That she use to try to keep getting with him, too, and it took him coming out, as gay, for her to leave him alone."

Jon suddenly started laughing, recalling something, "A-He said she tried to rub on him so he shoved her off, sat of Jagged Stone's son's lap and made out with him. She hasn't bothered him since."

Alya remained silent. She hadn't even known that Adrien was gay.

"I better not see this in a story." He stated, any trace of laughter was gone, "It would be hearsay."

"No! " she answered, quickly.

He continued, "Good. You're learning. You can't take the word of one person and believe it. Someone else may recall something else, differently. Journalism is about finding the truth. Lies don't belong in a story. That's tabloid gossip and for bloggers, even fanfiction writers."

"With this Lila, she will learn the hard way that lying is wrong. She is going to have to explain to a jury: why she lied and what made her claim to be in a relationship with a married man. If she still claims to be his affair partner, she will have to show evidence: dates, hotel names, locations. All of which, Damian can disprove with his own bank statements. If money was taken out, it would show. There are cameras everywhere, especially owned by Wayne Enterprises. They make sure to aid the GCPD with rogue attacks, so they can see every angle." Jon spoke.

"Same with trips out of the states. Damian can disprove he didn't go to visit her and he didn't pay for her to be flown to Gotham or met up in some fantasy place. Not to mention her own passport. " He concluded, "I know Adrien said she likes to lie about celebrities. Hopefully, this is her only lie, out there, because if there's more, celebrities might come out of the woodworks just to sue her. I'm sure you know about limitations and how people can be convicted like ten years later for something they did."

Alya smiled and nodded.

"You should studying law books in your free time. Especially ,what a journalist can and can't do or say." Jon recommended.

"I will." Alya replied, "Thank you."

Alya was in a sour mood, all day after that conversation/information dump. At lunch, she looked up Lila and tried to cross it with her blog. She couldn't find any evidence of past stories to them. There was no dedicated song. Prince Ali worked in children's hospitals, not the environment. Alya looked her up as a model and only saw the Gabriel brand. Lila had been fired at eighteen.

When Alya looked up Adrien Agreste, she saw he had come out as gay, but was in a long distance relationship with his boyfriend, while he finished his studies. He admitted, he planned to leave Paris and move in with him, later. Alya sent a group text for a meeting after work, labeled ASAP. She then spent her lunch inside of her car, bawling.

Alya got home and quickly pulled up the group zoom chat.

"Alya, why-" began Alix.

"Damian Wayne is suing Lila." Alya announced.

"What?" Asked Kim.

"No way!" Exclaimed Nathaniel.

Alya took a deep breath, "His exact comment was 'The pathetic gold digger doesn't deserve her name on the front page."

"Lila isn't like that!" Proposed Mylene.

"Adrien corroborate his story." The journalist declared.

Ivan gasped, "What?"

"But they dated!" Kim shouted.

Alya shook her head, "Adrien's gay and has a boyfriend."

"What about in Bustier's class?" pressed Alix.

"Yeah!" cried out Mylene, "They were always together!"

"Adrien broke up with Kagami during that time." Nino admitted, "She didn't like how Lila clung to him, in the photoshoots, but she also felt like Adrien had a crush on Marinette."

"What?"

"Adrien liked Mari?"

"Did they date?"

"Is that why she called Lila a liar?"

"As far as I know of...no." the DJ answered, "I asked and he said she was more like a little sister to him and he was protective of her."

"He-" began Max.

"He did try to tell me and Alya that Lila was lying, but we thought he was just taking Mari's side." He continued to confess, "It was suspicious since he had just barely started to get closer to her."

He could tell everyone was shocked.

"Marinette knows Jagged Stone." Alya spoke.

"What?" Ivan declared.

"She's been his designer since Bustier's class. She made his Eiffel Tower glasses." Alya sniffled, "She goes with him to charity events. Luka and Juleka call her their 'unofficial cousin'."

"Alya." Alix whispered.

"I looked up a lot when I was at lunch." She sniffled, "I found out from Jon, Damian's best friend. I-I deleted my blog."

"What?" shouted Nino.

"Why would you do that?" Mylene questioned.

"Lila lied about.....everything! I-I couldn't find anything to prove she wasn't lying." Alya sobbed, "Jon said that evidence could be used, even years later. If another person wanted to sue her, they could just use my blog. I'd be a laughing stock! I could lose my job!"

"Alya." Nino spoke, sympathetically.

"We believed a fucking gold digger and lost Mari! I lost my best friend for some cheap imitation!" She started to scream, "Why didn't I listen? Why did I believe Lila so much more than Mari?"

They could see that Alya was taking this information the hardest. One by one, they left the call and texted Lila.

'We know that Damian Wayne suing you.'

'Alya works at the Daily Planet, under his family.'

'His best friend laughed at her and your audacity for going after a married man.'

'Even Adrien is ready to testify, against you, on how much of a liar and gold digger you are.'

'Marinette is married to Damian Wayne, but I guess you didn't know that.'

'I cant believe we believed you.'

'We were idiots.'

'We were kids!'

Lila looked at her phone, as the comments continued to roll in. She had finally been outted as a liar. She had lost Adrien early on and never recovered from his betrayal.

Lila had run away the moment she saw him kissing Luka. He had messed up her plan, all her hard work! It wasn't until later in the year that she realized she had actually fallen for Adrien; he was no longer a ploy to make her famous. Adrien Agreste was who made her happy and who she could be herself around. He had known she was a liar but he tried to make everything better. Now he was forever out of her reach.

Lila had tried to date, but none of them were as good looking. All of them listened to her lies and believed her. None of them were right. In the end, she kept with the same stupid friends, hoping to hear that Adrien had only been going through a phase. Then he had to mess it up again and tell the world he had a boyfriend and was moving in with him soon.

She had cried for days. She told herself that she needed to look like she still had it together so she had made the decision to look up 'wealthy men my age' and chose Damian Wayne. When she found out she was getting sued, Lila had finally realized Adrien hadn't felt threatened by her antics in the slightest. He had never taken her seriously. Lila was slapped with a lawsuit and a restraining order by the Wayne family. If she persisted with false accusations, they recommend a psychological evaluation to be done.

She never expected Alya to turn on her; she had told everyone she was a liar. Adrien had called her a liar. It felt like a slap in the face when they mentioned Marinette. Lila hadn't thought about her in years. Marinette still won the battle, she thought she had victory over years ago.

Pictures started filling her phone of Damian and Marinette announcing their first child. There was even a picture of Adrien smiling wearing a dorky shirt that read "I'm an Uncle!". The next picture was worse. It was an announcement of Adrien moving to Metropolis to be with his boyfriend, Jon Kent; Marinette's look alike.

She dropped her phone and laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

'Is it really that hard to find a rich man when some nobodies did it with ease? Guess I better find a job tomorrow. Maybe I'll find a rich guy that way; they did.'

@maribat-calendar-events

TAG LIST- DAMINETTE: @meme991001 @umbreon-worshipper @stainedglassm @jasmine-the-fox @psychicdelusionwerewolf @vixen-uchiha @mysteriouschar @missmadwoman @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl @dissarraymania @tundra1029 @abrx2002 @mrsjacuinde @ledalasombra @animegirlweeb

UNSPECIFIED- @animeweebgirl @a-star-with-a-human-name @alysrose-starchild @fandom-trapped-03 @dood-space @moonlightstar64 @saltymiraculer @marveldcedits20 @09shell-sea09 @icerosecrystal @insane-fangirl-of-everything @blueblossombliss @nickristus-dreamer @megawhitleycalderonpaganus @tigresslily @legodetectivemalsblog

[starguardianniom]

It's really only Marinette's show despite Adrien's name all around it actually.

Hell, if they would have flipped it over, it would be Marinette who would have no spot in the story at all, but since she's the hero, well they need to insert her, so even if they give everything else to the deutagonist who's more involved in the story than she ever was and ever will be, they need to give her all the excuses to hog the spotlight even when it's pretty clear that the story isn't centered around her at all and she's pretty much a prop as much as everyone else not named Adrien and Gabriel.

But they had to hype her up since she had literally no string attached to the story apart from being the hero at the start, like hell in Origins, Adrien is not even her classmate in the first episode.

She's a total rando teen asked to save the city and nothing connects her to the plot, then Adrien enters the scene and suddently she's thrown a little thread to connect to him, then gets a crush on him, that is barely developed in 5 seasons, like please let's not kid ourselves she never removes her rose-tinted glasses off her face when it comes to him or ever really try to bother being a good friend to him, either she has to save face from an embarassing situation or she is gushing in some way or barrels her way through to try to confess in some ways, rinse and repeat, the few times she could have genuinely bothered to maybe know Adrien more, she doesn't take the opportunities, she sends them flying through the windows herself because she doesn't want his friendship but his love, her words not mine.

I think the show suffers mostly because Marinette is in it as the protagonist, because she shouldn't have been if Adrien was the one connected to everything else.

Marinette otherwise is about as irrevelent as a character about as much as the rest of the class, and only her protagonist status gives her a edge. Because otherwise she's about as important as her friends, which is not that much in lore.

Heck Nino should probably have been Adrien's deutagonist to his protagonist, but they kind of threw some rocks at him before pulling him up and then well Alya gets to be more important than him, but she has the excuse of being a journalist who created the number 1 blog about the heroes, it says something that Alya got to figure some stuff by herself while Marinette needs Tikki to tell her anything, shows who's interested and invested in the whole thing more.

This is in response to some arguments in defense of the finale I've seen recently, and if you do believe these, then more power to you! But I disagree, and I'm gonna talk about why.

Rant under the cut. Fair warning, this gets pretty salty.

So I've seen a lot of arguments about how it just wouldn't be possible to have Adrien in the final battle, whether it be because it would be too traumatic for him and we can't explore that in the middle of a fight, or because it would take away focus from Marinette and she would be irrelevant ultimately. And I actually agree!

But what could possibly be done to resolve this? Oh, I know! Fucking write better.

If you were going to put Adrien in the position of being central to the story and write him out with the excuse that he can't live up to that role for various reasons, then why did you write him in that role? It's obvious to anyone that if Gabriel is Adrien's father, then the emotional weight of the conflict would be centered on him and not Marinette. Then why did you still write that into the show? If you wanted to focus on Marinette over Adrien anyway, then why did you make Gabriel be Hawkmoth? Let some other rando be Hawkmoth! And now there's no value to Gabriel being the villain beyond giving Marinette some material for her grand speech (which didn't do shit cause she still lost).

And if you were going to say that Adrien was too traumatized to be in the battle or that he wouldn't be able to deal with it well or that we couldn't see that... write around it? Have him deal with it before, or something, I don't know! Maybe give him that sweet sweet character development? Maybe let the friends who are supposed to support him actually do that? Idk man, this is all coming across as a bunch of excuses to me.

The thing is, this is a kids show. It's not real. The writers control everything that happens. It's not about "realism," it's about narrative payoff. It's about the most satisfying outcome. It's about character arcs. If Adrien was never supposed to face his father in a fight, then why make him a superhero? Could have just let him be Adrien the teen model love interest while Marinette is the superhero. Why give him powers which thematically represent him breaking free from his oppressive life and an enmity with his own father if it never mattered? If "it's us against the world, my lady," and "we'll get all the Miraculous back together," never mattered, then why include it? If two partners chosen to fight evil together and the yin-yang symbolism never mattered, why set it up?

If you set something up, you have a responsibility to deliver on it, and Miraculous failed. And yeah. I get that it's hard. I'm not saying writing is easy. But anything is better than this! Writing is your job, and I don't expect literal perfection, but I expect it to fulfill the basic expectations of writing. I expect it to at least be good. This is not good. They literally ignored their own story and themes and character arcs and narrative payoff because they wanted Marinette to get a swanky new outfit and a cool fight scene. It wasn't even for her character. It's just so that they can put give her a cool power-up and sell Bug Noire dolls. It's disrespectful to Adrien's character, and it's disrespectful to Marinette's character too.

The writers failed to make Marinette interesting in terms of the conflict with Gabriel. They gave all the set-up to Adrien and didn't want to write the payoff. There are no emotional stakes in the final battle. They literally only talk about Adrien, and he's not there for that. It's bad writing. And if they didn't let Adrien be a part of the arc with his father as the villain, what hope does he have in the arcs with Lila as the antagonist, since she is a Marinette-centric villain? TA has already said that Marinette is Barbie and Adrien is just Ken. The writers have said that Gabriel is considered a hero by the end of Season 5. The show bible says that Adrien will never find out that his father is Hawkmoth.

Let's face it, they aren't coming back to this. Gabriel's era is over. Miraculous is well known for setting up conflicts and dropping them like a hot potato. If we ever deal with this, it's gonna be half an episode of Adrien forgiving Marinette because "she did it out of love." None of this will matter come Season 6. The supposed conflict being set up now will matter to Season 6 as much as the Ladynoir set up in Strikeback with the "we'll take back all the Miraculous together, you and me," mattered to Season 5, which is to say not at all.

[little-mari-on-a-roof]

Frenglish differences in Miraculous - Episode 2

The Bubbler/Le Bulleur

This one's not really a difference, more of a double meaning that gets lost in translation: in French, the verb “buller” also means "to laze" and is a subtle reference to Nino's cool and laid back attitude (which is demonstrated more literally by him blowing bubbles during the episode).

Adrien, talking about his father

En: I'm pretty sure he was a downer back then too.

Fr: Je suis sûr qu'il a toujours été vieux jeu, même jeune.

I'm sure he's always been old fashioned (lit. "old game"), even when he was young.

I can't believed they missed out on Adrien making a hilarious joke!! And it actually would’ve been even funnier in English since “old fashioned” can be a reference to Gabriel’s job.

Chloé to Marinette

En: Out of the way.

Fr: Dégage, boulet.

Go away, boulet.

Here, “boulet” ("ball" as in "ball and chain" or cannonball) is a word used as an insult to qualify a person who is annoying or drags/weighs you down, like the ball attached to a prisoner's chain. Chloé uses that word very often when talking about Marinette in French.

Chloé

En: Happy birthday Adrien.

Fr: Bon anniversaire Adrichou chéri.

Happy birthday dearest Adrikins.

The nickname Chloé uses for Adrien in the French dub is over the top while she only says his name in English.

Chloé about the delivery men

En: Those slackers.

Fr: Les petites natures.

Lightweights. (lit. "Little natures.")

In French the emphasis is put on the workers being weak, when they're lazy in the English dub (it's just a linguistic difference here).

Alya, to Marinette

En: Don't be a pushover, literally.

Fr: Te laisse pas faire tu vaux mieux qu'elle.

Don't let yourself be pushed around, you're (worth) better than her.

Alya sounds more supportive in French.

Marinette talking to the house camera when leaving her gift at Adrien's house

En: [...] ... did I already say that?

Fr: [...] cadeauuu!!! pour Adrien.

giiiift!!!! for Adrien.

Just Marinette being awkward in slightly different ways (I didn't put the whole quote since the rest of it is pretty similar in both dubs).

Alya, to Marinette

En: Girl, girl, girl

Fr: Marinette, Marinette

I'm not translating that one for obvious reasons, but I noticed that whenever Alya calls Marinette "girl" in the English dub (not just now but also later in the episode), she actually says her name in French. It's not a big deal but I just thought it was interesting.

Nino leaving Adrien's house after being kicked out by Gabriel

Fr: Ouais c'est ça au revoir.

Yeah, right, goodbye.

The sentence was deleted in the English dub.

Adrien to Nino, about his father

En: It's just best to stay out of his way.

Fr: Vaut mieux faire ce qu'il dit, c'est plus simple.

It's best to do what he says, it's simpler.

I didn't really pay attention to this one back when I was taking notes of the differences but it hits different after the sentibeing reveal 🥲.

Hawkmoth

En: It won't be long before Ladybug and Cat Noir show up to meet their doom.

Fr: Ladybug et Chat Noir ne tarderont pas à se montrer pour leur dernière danse.

It won't be long before Ladybug and Chat Noir show up for their last dance.

One of Gabriel's many puns, since it refers to the party that the Bubbler is throwing thanks to his new powers.

The Bubbler after Ladybug changes the music that was playing

En: Dude, who just hijacked my mix?

Fr: C'est quoi ce truc ? Qui a osé remixer mon mix ?

What's that? Who dared remixing my mix?

I think "remix my mix" is very funny.

Ladybug, replying to him

En: Yours truly.

Fr: DJ Ladybug.

She <33.

At one point, ladybug calls the Bubbler "DJ bubulle", which is a way of making fun of him since “bubulle” is a cute word for bubble (bulle in French).

Hawkmoth

En: You can't run forever, Ladybug.

Fr: Tu ne tenvoleras pas éternellement, Ladybug.

You won't fly forever, Ladybug.

A little pun that got lost in translation.

Adrien to Nino about his awesome new scarf

En: Yeah. Can you believe my dad got this for me? It's so awesome. He's given me the same lame pen for three years in a row.

Fr: Ouais, j'arrive pas à croire que mon père aie fait ça pour moi, tu te rends compte ? D'habitude il oublie tout le temps le jour de mon anniversaire.

Yeah, I can't believe my father/dad did this for me. Do you realise? He usually always forgets my birthday.

I can't tell which one is sadder :')). Also, "mon père" can be translated as either father or dad so I left both since I think it would be more likely for him to say "father", but the official translation chose to have him say "dad".

[tumble-witch]

Out of all of your redesigns so far, which one is your favorite?

Oooohhh, what a fun question!

Tbh, all of them for different reasons

Huge post ahead!!!

At first I didn't like Blue Stray's design that much, but with a few tweaks here and there it really grew on me and now it's probably my favourite to draw. I'm still thinking about the hair color and suit hues, but making her hair all twirly changed everything

From this → To this!

With Golden Beetle it's a different story

I really really like his first design and so far I really like how it looks. Sometimes a pain to draw though, I keep forgetting which spots go where. Maybe I'll change him a bit down the line

I can never recreate his beautiful hair from here TwT

Moth Errer was a group effort. I had an emergency Discord call with my wonderful friends and it turned into an hour long brainstorm about her design. Moth is probably the most packed with details out of all of the designs I had so far!

Her mask is based on traditional Chinese opera masks. I wanted it to look like a butterfly, but also remind of tears running down her face. I took the colours from her canon design, too!

Right now I'm working on her civilian design and damnmnnmdnasfhagf mommy? sorry mommy? sorry

Adrien Agreste is where I relax. Blue Stray merch and crocks stay ON. This man can wear whatever the hell he wants. I also want to dress him in fits I have myself. But for now I just let his spirit posess me whenever I draw him. I love him ok? Ok.

I love Marinette Dupain-Cheng so so much you don't understand. But her fits need to be restricting and not-her. I really want to make her wear something nice for once, like in a Paris Fashion week comic or something. She deserves better

But this?

This is perfection. (the pic is from this post). No, actually Bread Girl as a character literally is perfect. No freckles, always smiling with perfect white teeth, hair tied neatly. I like how uncanny it is

I'll use this design in the new comic, too!

Chloé Bourgeois i think is pretty okay, but I didn't think about her outfit too hard. She def needs to appear more in BGAU

I really like Rose Lavillant as a civilian. It's like an angel posessed my hands when I invented this open shoulder look. Tbh I've been searching for a shirt like that ever since

Her akuma design was rushed, but you can't go wrong with colours like that so it's solid in my books!

Juleka Couffaine absolutely fucking slays. Next.

I wanna work on Nino Lahiffe more, but so far I really like him. I think an earring, some cool ass pants and he's golden! (haha get it? golden?)

He really needs to make an appearance in the first akuma comic!

Alya Cesaire needs a proper full redesign. When she made her first appearance it was a one-time thing. I didn't expect to spend on this AU more than 40 minutes of my life! I can do better than a full Nino fit for her

Phew! That was a lot. It was fun to remember some old stuff, thanks again anon!

[trainsinanime]

When people say Marinette is too anxious and has regressed in Illustrhater, they forget some very important facts:

Marinette is very sleep-deprived because she and Alya spent all night up theorising about the new Hawkmhoth. Who knows what kind of caffeine she took in to be functional for their date. It must've been bad.

Speaking of: New Hawkmoth. Yes, Marinette is redirecting some of her insecurities about Adrien onto New Hawkmoth, but she is definitely genuinely anxious about this new threat and this keeps filling her head.

Also bridges in the city randomly collapse now. That was canonically not a superhero, just a really bad condition of the bridge. How many more bridges are about to collapse? Did they cut corners while building these new trams? All that would weigh heavily on my mind too.

These excellent points aside, I also really, really like that Marinette is anxious about dating Adrien. The thing is, I have seen so many shows that had a will-they-won't-they thing going on forever, and then once they did, like a dog that caught the car, the show didn't know what to do with them. The solutions were generally an attempt to return to status quo. Make them break up. Have the forces of fate separate them. Something, anything, other than actually write the romance you just had made canon.

Miraculous Ladybug has even more risk here, because at the end of season 5, for better or worse, all the things that could challenge Marinette in the real-life A plot of an episode have vanished. Her real-life enemies have been exposed and left the school (Lila) or outright deported (Chloé), and her other big challenge was always Adrien. Frankly the show needs to do something to ensure Adrinette isn't too easy, otherwise all the plots would be, "Marinette is having a super-awesome day, briefly interrupted by an akuma". No, they found a way to still challenge Marinette here, in ways that feel authentic to her as a character, and to her challenge of having a real boyfriend for the first time (don't be too sad about Luka's feelings here, he'll understand).

Now, I know many people will say that this is all nice in theory, but the way in which they did in Adobe Illustrhater was so over-the-top and unrealistic that it felt like they were watching a French cartoon for six-to-ten year olds. And to that I can only say: It's been a while since we all watched a regular episode of this show, hasn't it?