#gabriel/marinette team up

[drtwit]

Miraculous Ladybug: No More Heroes - Chapter 31

Court Of Miracles - Summary:

In the past, Nathalie slowly recovers while trying to sooth a panicking Adrien. In the present, Marinette and Gabriel face a big revelation after one of the worst welcome back parties of all time.

"Gabriel, be honest. It wasn't Emilie's death that made you a villain, it wasn't the world, and it wasn't the miraculous. It was always you - You were a villain long before you created Hawkmoth." Three years after his death, Gabriel Agreste awakens to a Paris ruled by akumas. He has no idea how he's alive, he has no idea what happened to Paris, all he knows it that he was the one who allowed this to happen. Hunted by the ghosts of his past, with no miraculous to protect him, and his greatest enemy now his only ally, Gabriel must brave this nightmare with Marinette Dupain-Cheng and make a choice: To become the villain he knows he is, or to find a way to become the father he failed to be.

Fandom:

Miraculous Ladybug

Relationships:

Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Gabriel Agreste/Nathalie Sancoeur

Characters:

Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Gabriel Agreste

Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir

Nathalie Sancoeur

Colt Fathom

Lila Rossi

Nino Lahiffe

Chloé Bourgeois

Félix Fathom

Luka Couffaine

Alya Césaire

Max Kanté

Additional Tags:

Gabriel Agreste Redemption

Has a long way to go

Chloé Bourgeois Redemption

Retcons

Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug

Identity Reveal

Ladybug/Hawkmoth team-up

Gabriel Backstory

Gabriel being an asshole

Protective Nathalie Sancoeur

Félix Fathom Is Bad at Feelings

Lila Rossi Being Lila Rossi

Hurt Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir

Story switches between two major points in time

Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Needs a Break

[a-flaming-idiot]

Hawkmoth: *Sneaks in through the window* Mayura: *Flips light on to reveal her sitting in a chair while stroking Chat Noir in her lap* Mayura: "And where have you been all night, sir?" Hawkmoth: "I- I- *clear throat* If you must know, I was out battling that wretched little Ladybug and her friends into the early hours of the morning." *Spinny chair turns to reveal Ladybug laying across Rena Rouge's lap* Ladybug: "You wanna try again, Hawky?"

[girpgorp]

Les Enfants Terribles! Been holding on to these evil Ladybug and Chat Noir designs for a few years now, finally got around to doing something with them. I've always been... disappointed with canon evil versions of our sweet little idiots. Antibug and Chat Blanc are. serviceable. as far as akumatizations go, but I was pretty sorely disappointed by Shadybug and Claw Noir. They're not even really evil!! Sooo lame.

Anyways, I'm tickled by the idea of who Marinette and Adrien would be if they were just like, genuinely bad people. Or as bad as teenagers can be. I have a lot of ideas about characterization for them, especially about how the people that they are in this world affects how they present themselves as supervillains. They hate each other in and out of costume, and in costume are constantly trying to kill each other and steal the other's miraculous, with huge blowout fights that tear apart Paris. Occasionally, they grudgingly team up to deal with akumatized heroes sent by this universe's Gabriel.

That about sums it up! Looking forward to doing more with these terrible two.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

EVEN MORE SPOILERS FOR SEASON 6

I figured since I already read it, I'd give my thoughts on the recent interview Astruc and Thibaudeau took part in.

Due to incompatibility with the new animation engine, SAMG will not be working on the next seasons of ‘Miraculous’. The series is now being developed entirely in France, with the integration of Dwarf Animation.

Okay, props for no more outsourcing, even if I'm not sure what this means for the other ZAG shows.

Season 6 is considered to be “a new beginning”, aside from being a new story arc. It is sometimes referred to by the writers as Season 1.

I'm sure that isn't confusing to the executives at all. Also, maybe don't imply you're starting from scratch when you're already reusing the plot of the main villain using the Butterfly Miraculous.

The writing team already has concrete ideas for how Seasons 7, 8 and 9 will begin and end. They also have ambitions to make it to a Season 12, only if the support of viewers and executives allows them to do so. With this, they emphasize the fact that they would not continue with the show if it were no longer needed or interesting.

So basically, they're planning to keep this up for as long as they can until someone pulls the plug.

The opening of the sixth season is still undecided. They are still discussing whether they will change the musical arrangement or not. Thomas also considers the possibility of making a brand-new theme song. A song has been confirmed for S6. They have the music, the arrangement and a female singer. The character remains unknown.

Imagine how funny it would be if they brought back the woman who sang for Marinette in the movie instead of having Cristina Vee sing again.

Despite leaving Paris at the end of ‘Revolution’ (5x23), Chloé Bourgeois will return in Season 6.

Putting aside all the things I've said about her "damnation arc", what is even the point of bringing her back at this point? She has no powers, no influence, no allies, and isn't a threat of any kind. This makes her not being the next Hawkmoth make even less sense, becuse she has more of a reason to hate Ladybug than Lila does.

Also, with the news that Chloe is coming back, this means that she essentially escaped punishment or at least found a way to rebound like Lila did. So that's a grand total of ZERO villains who actually got punished for their actions after five seasons. I'm starting to think Ladybug and Cat Noir really suck at their jobs.

Sebastien Thibadeau: “[Cerise] (IOTA: I'm still calling her Lila for simplicity's sake) is a villain without costume. She is a villain all the time. There is a reason why, but this reason, neither I nor Astruc will reveal to you yet.” Interviewer: “You mean you already intend to tell it?” Thomas Astruc: “Yes. And you know what, we have already told it, but you haven’t noticed.”

Translation: Ladies and gentlemen, LET'S GET READY FOR RETCOOOOOONNNNS!

Seriously, we are approaching the sixth season of this show. It has been eight years since Lila first appeared all the way back in "Volpina", and we still know nothing about her other than the fact that she has some three moms for some reason. You can't pull the whole "This is something you need to rewatch to understand!" excuse because the last two seasons hinged on breaking the rules about Sentimonsters.

Speaking of, I love how this comment about Lila accidentally implies that Gabriel never did anything evil when he wasn't Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth/Monarch. All that emotional abuse and isolation Adrien suffered was all out of love!

Thomas Astruc on Chloe redemption arc: “We put the characters in situations, and then we say to ourselves: “what would be the logic?” How would the character logically react in “such and such” a situation? And we tried, we tried everything. But every time, we say to ourselves: “if we write this, it’ll be wrong”. There’ll be no reason, it’ll come out of nowhere, the fact that she’ll face something nice and say: “Oh, I’ve been horrible, Marinette what have I done! From now on, I’ll be...” No, nonsense. I understand people’s desire for Chloe to be nice. I’d like that too. But I’d like it if in real life, people with a lot of power suddenly started doing nice things. But Chloé has no interest in changing. She has no reason to change, unfortunately.”

Ah, yes because Gabriel (Global terrorist and abusive parent), Felix (Betrayed Ladybug and temporarily wiped out all of humanity on a whim), Nathalie (Willing accomplice to Gabriel) Andre (corrupt politician and Chloe's primary enabler), Sabrina (Willing accomplice to Chloe) all had compelling reasons to change their ways.

Also, "I've been horrible, what have I done?"

MY BROTHER IN CHRIST, THAT'S HOW VIRTUALLY EVERY REDEMPTION ON THIS SHOW IS EXECUTED.

The fact that he's seriously acting like he actually wanted to write a redemption arc is insulting. Not only does it ignore all the things he's said to fans who were upset at the turn of events, but it makes no sense for him to take this stance because he's a writer. If Chloe turning a new leaf is too strange of an idea, then write an actual character arc allowing her to progress to a state where she recognizes what she's done is wrong. You control the character for God's sake! It's not like you're training a dog to stop humping the couch. You can change things to make a redemption arc possible.

In other words, Astruc is either lying to save his ass, or THIS IS WHAT THOMAS ASTRUC ACTUALLY BELIEVES about writing characters.

Sebastien Thibadeau talks about Andre's character development: In contrast to Chloe, “Andre Bourgeois evolved as a character because we had already imagined a back story. He had the potential to change, and that’s where the beautiful scene comes from — I think it’s magnificent — between Gabriel and himself on the roof of the Grand Palace, where he says: “But Gabriel, what’s become of us? We’ve forgotten the kids we used to be”. But we [writers] know what kids they used to be, and we’d like to tell the story one day, to show what young kids they were, when they were struggling through Paris and weren’t yet what you’ve come to know in the series. He’s sad about what’s happening to his daughter [Chloe], and he’s trying to change it, but he can’t. He is proof that a character can change.”

This. This right here is what cinched it for me. I've tried for years not to say it because it's a word that has been flung around a lot over these last few years, but I feel like this little snippet is enough of a reason for me to say it.

These writers are sexist.

They may not believe it, but whether they intended for it or not, they wrote a story arc where a grown man was shown to have more sympathetic qualities than his daughter. How the hell can you defend it in a way that doesn't highlight the misogyny that this show runs on?

The fact that they gush over how much "potential" Andre had right after saying how that same kind of potential wasn't enough of a reason to attempt a redemption arc with Chloe really shows how confusing their priorities are. I'm sorry to keep saying this, but for a show that takes a heavy anti-capitalist philosophy, it seems like the members of the 1% are the characters who get the most depth and sympathy... unless you're under 18 and lack a Y chromosome, that is.

A meeting will be set up in the coming weeks to decide on whether or not to make a live-action for ‘Miraculous’, Thomas Astruc reveals.

As a former Arrowverse fan, I'm willing to see this out. Not only did the Netflix One Piece series prove you can make an animated property work in live-action, Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie managed to do really well even without the usual writers behind it.

Thomas when asked about Gabriel’s wish in ‘Re-Creation’ (5x26) and whether he brought Emilie back to life: “All the answers are in the episode.”

For the love of--STOP SAYING THAT!

You keep claiming that we just need to rewatch the episode to understand things, but between the continuity errors and abandoned subplots, it's hard to tell what's important and what isn't. Either say "No comment" or give us an honest answer.

If people are still confused about how the season ended after almost a year, and you keep giving answers like this:

Maybe you need to change the way you tell the story.

Astruc when asked about ‘The Supreme’: “Oh, if only you knew... Nothing we do is meaningless.”

Sebastien Thibadeau on Season 7: “Once you’ve seen the start of season 7, I can swear you’ll watch season 6 a second time. That’s all I can say.”

Because it'll make Season 6 look like a masterpiece by comparison?

Thomas Astruc on the worldbuilding: There are Kwamis and Renlings, what makes you think there aren’t others [creatures]?

I swear, by the time we get to Season 10, we're going to get stuff like aliens, demons and talking mushrooms, or at least something ludicrous like that.

Zoe had a love at first sight when she met Marinette in ‘Sole Crusher’ (4x07), they confirm.

Of course! That's why it wasn't framed any differently from something like the umbrella scene and Zoe showed absolutely no signs of attraction to Marinette! It's genius!

Executives had Thomas write several alternative concepts for ‘Miraculous’, very different from what we know today or even the early PV. Among them, “a concept where Ladybug is the head of a group of superheroines, like Sailor Moon. There was no love story.”

Can you imagine a world without the Love Square?

The script writers’ favorite episode is ‘Simpleman’ (4x19) as it represents a personal, work and family attachment. Marinette’s grandfather, Roland Dupain, is inspired by Thomas Astruc’s grandfather.

Okay, either Astruc had a complicated relationship with his grandpa or he's been dead for years. While I understand that older generations have outdated views (for example, my great-grandmother yelled at me for saying I wanted to learn Japanese because "They tried to kill us!"), the fact that a caricture of a grumpy old man was based on his grandpa is a little concerning.

Also, between this and Sabine being based off an old flame of his, this only makes the theory that Chloe is based off a real person Astruc knew more plausible.

Astruc: “This is why our work is so difficult. We have to manage to bring in this generation of younger ones, and at the same time, we have to satisfy the generation that was here before and that grows with the series.”

First, if you're trying to please older fans, maybe don't get into fights with them on Twitter.

Second, you made a thread after "Simpleman" aired where you insulted fans for not getting the "meta" element to the episode and compared them to the character you just said was based on your grandfather.

You've also been burning away a lot of the older fans' goodwill over the years. Trust me, I have a few examples.

Despite sharing a similar appearance, the symbol on Nino’s T-shirt is not related to Hack-San.

Okay, is this a fan theory I missed back when Season 4 was airing? Why would anyone draw that conclusion?

Thomas Astruc talks about Season 6: “I’ll say it sincerely, I was very doubtful at the end of Season 5. I said to myself: “if we were to continue, how would we exceed?” Well, we did. It’s been a great season. The new writers have brought us a lot of great stuff. All the episodes we’ve written in Season 6 are fabulous. Each episode is on point, there is no unnecessary lines. All the scenes are really interesting, really well-crafted.”

Translation: Tons of filler, bad comedy, reused Akumas, and more Love Square drama that we're trying to claim hasn't been done before.

Thomas when asked if Marinette will get akumatized: “We never give any information about what may or may not happen.”

JUST. SAY. NO. COMMENT.

There are many important details throughout the series that no one has noticed. Thomas says that when we see the next seasons, we’ll think, “Oh, the writers had it all planned.”

You know, like how Season 3 established that Sentimonsters can be sent out of control by Cataclysm a few episodes before Adrien, a Sentimonster, gets hit by a Cataclysm and is affected in a different way. It was all planned from the beginning.

The Ladybug PV was an animation test and was not intended to be public. Jeremy Zag decided to leak it himself.

Honestly? Dick move on Zag's part. You have to wonder how pissed off Astruc was.

According to Thomas Astruc, what the ‘Miraculous’ series is today represents only 5% of what he wrote in the original bible he presented to Jeremy Zag. “The universe has evolved a lot since. I don’t know if the ideas I put there will be reused someday. It was very extensive.”

Thomas Astruc and Sebastien Thibadeau discuss the parallels between Marinette and Gabriel: Astruc: “Gabriel’s personal back story is the cause of his misery, not his will. And above all, it creates a beautiful mirror with Marinette, which is what’s interesting. They both have a lot of love for Adrien, they’re both designers, they both have a Miraculous, but it’s other choices.” Thibadeau: “That’s what makes it a great hero-villain contrast. Even if they don’t know it from the start, they have a real point in common. As we see at the end of Season 5, they both love Adrien. Except there’s one who does it by doing the right thing, and then there’s another who does it by doing the wrong thing, hurting people, to get there.”

And the one who did the wrong thing by hurting people ended up winning. What does that say about the contrast?

------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's it for the interview. I have to say Season 6 does not look pretty so far.

[chocostrwberry]

If yall have noticed, I often mention “seasons” when describing the timeline of my AU.

“Choco?? What are these seasons you are talking about? Why are there only three when the show has five??”

Sit down, little one, and let me tell you a story…

AHDKWHSJ JK JK

But anyways-

I have split the events that happen in my AU into seasons because then it’s easier for me to keep my facts and timeline in order! All episodes are in exact order/sequence of events!

Season 1: Gabriel can create sentimonsters.

In this season, it’s establishing the world of Miraculous. Marinette and Adrien is learning how to be miraculous holders while navigating their own lives.

Origins: Marinette becomes Ladybug for the first time alongside Chat Noir to defeat Stormy Weather.

Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat an Akumatized Mylène, Animelle. Together, they visit Master Fu for more information on their new duties.

Marinette has a hard time balancing being Ladybug and her civilian self. Ladybug and Chat Noir have to team up to defeat a game-themed teenage akuma.

Sweetpea: Marinette enters a design challenge with Alix, and Adrien is her model! Rose is akumatized into Sweetpea after a health scare makes her unable to help her team with their design.

To Be or Not to Be: There is a school play, and Chloe will stop at nothing to get the main lead. Ladybug struggles to win over Chat Noir, who seems oblivious to her attempts at flirting.

Boy meets Girl: Marinette develops a crush on the class’s most popular boy after defending Juleka against Chloe. LB and CN battle Reflekta.

Princess Justice: Marinette is chosen to submit a dress design to high-fashion company represented by Chloe’s mother. Jealous of her success, Chloe destroys her project, causing Marinette to be Akumatized.

Fish Food: Ladybug and Chat Noir have to defeat an akuma who goes by the name of Captain Kraken. For the Winter Ball, Marinette makes plans to ask Luka to be her date.

Winter Formal: The winter formal is here, but Marinette is worried about an akuma attack that might ruin her chances with Luka.

Be My Lover: Now that Marinette is officially dating Luka, Adrien’s jealousy becomes more apparent. Chloe’s repetitive and harsh rejections of Kim turns him into Dark Cupid.

Road Rage: Adrien has a fight with Chloe about her behavior towards others, and she acts out once again and Nino is akumatized into a foul-mouthed biker with a vendetta against her.

New Girl: A transfer student is introduced to the class, but Marinette is suspicious of her two-faced behavior.

Prophetica: Marinette’s constant lying and lack of trust makes her and Alya have a fight after she fails to bring cupcakes to her sisters’ birthday party.

Primadonna: After Chloe’s mother decides to take her half-sister to her movie premiere debut instead of her last-minute, Chloe becomes Primadonna and turns Paris into her own personal black-and-white film.

Sabrina seeks Marinette’s help to expose Lila after she comes between Sabrina and Chloe’s friendship.

King of Music: Jagged Stone is akumatized and it is revealed that Luka and Juleka are his children. Marinette’s duties as Ladybug become more demanding and her relationship with Luka strains.

Winter Wonderland: After Chloe misses one of Sabrina’s recitals, she is Akumatized into Ice Queen and turns Paris into an eternal winter.

Marinette misses one of Luka’s concerts, where he was going to debut a song he wrote for her. They break up and he is Akumatized into Heartrocker.

Liar, Liar: Marinette finally tells the class who Lila really is, but they have a hard time believing her. Lila is Akumatized into Miss Miracle and offers her services to Hawkmoth in order to take down Ladybug.

Lila strikes a deal with Gabriel when Adrien invites her over to his home out of pity. Hawkmoth’s identity and motives are revealed. Chat Noir takes Ladybug to see Master Fu for help because of Plagg’s warning against Lila.

A New Guardian: Master Fu makes Ladybug the new Guardian before Lila can get to the Miracle Box.

Goldbug: The peacock miraculous is fixed. Hawkmoth unifies the miraculous to become Shadowmoth. He creates Miss Miracle’s first sentimonster: Goldbug. Marinette becomes Firefly to defeat them both.

The time span for this season is about 4 months, starting in the beginning of Junior year.

Season 2: Emelie wakes up.

This season focuses on the lore of the miraculous. Ladybug unifies miraculous every other episode to defeat both akumas and sentimonsters. Lots of kwami-swaps and unified ladybug happen in this season! (Scarabella, Queen Bee, Carapace, Ladybee, etc.) Marinette is also warming up to Adrien.

Chat Noir is skeptical she’s the right pick to be guardian, and she takes that personally. She decides to unify against Reflekta and her sentimonster, Reflekdoll.

Mr. Midas: After rejecting an expensive present, Chloe’s father is Akumatized into Mr. Midas and wants to turn everything into gold for his beloved daughter. Tigerbug and Chat Noir try and defeat him and his sentimonster.

Sweet Dreams: Ladybug becomes Hercula after a sleepy akuma discreetly puts Paris into an eternal slumber.

A Spider’s Web: Ladybug becomes Mantigirl to defeat Arachnia, a kindergarten teacher who is Akumatized at the Paris Zoo and trapped Adrien and others.

Marinette comes down with a mysterious illness, and so it’s up to Scarabella and Chat Noir to save Paris from an Akumatized grandmother and her gang of angry sentidogs!

The Wailing Lady: Firefly and CN battle against a grieving widow and her sentimonster, a giant willow tree in the middle of Paris who she believes is her deceased spouse.

Sugar and Spice: Marinette faints while working at the bakery. This makes Sabine anxious, and she is Akumatized into Mother Desserts. Marinette and Chat Noir work together to save her.

Tikki suggests giving others different miraculous to help her fight the akumas and sentimonsters. Adrien tells Chloe about his crush on Marinette thanks to Plagg. Chat Noir visits Marinette and takes her on a trip around Paris.

Operation Ladybug: Luka suspects Marinette is Ladybug, and he recruits Alya to help him figure out the truth. Chloe starts treating Marinette with less disdain, much to everyone’s surprise. Firefly and Chat Noir fight another akuma and sentimonster.

Bon Appétit!: Alya’s mother becomes akumatized while working at the hotel. Ladybug and Alya work together while Chat Noir tries to keep Chloe and Sabrina. Alya’s suspicions are confirmed, but she tells Luka to stop digging.

Kwami Captor: After some mischevious kwami escape the miracle box with their jewels, Marinette becomes Multimouse to hunt them all down.

Queen Bee: Chloe decides to use the Bee miraculous she found to try and help Mantigirl and Chat Noir. Her need for attention makes the mission not go according to plan. Chat Noir and Marinette have an argument about his secret identity.

Protector of All: Nino and Adrien are in charge of elitist children for a day while Marinette and the class set up a school sponsor event. When an akuma attacks, it’s up to Nino to protect the kids while Tigerbug and Chat Noir defends them. Luka finally gives up his suspicions.

Miracle Team: The Miracle Team meet up for the first time to take down an akuma. But they struggle to actually work together! Chat Noir breaks up with Marinette, leaving them both devastated.

Soulmates: Marinette and Adrien spend the day together to find a gift for Chloe’s birthday. Nathalie finds out about Gabriel and Lila’s dark deeds with Hawkmoth.

Happy Birthday Chloe!: Chloe’s birthday party goes awry, thanks to Lila’s sabotage, and Chloe is Akumatized.

Sick Day: Marinette is too sick to go to school most days and struggles with night terrors. She is worried about her health, and talks to Tikki about it. Alya, Nino, Luka, and Sabrina try to clear Marinette’s name. Adrien visits Marinette at the bakery.

Marinette vs The World: Marinette’s friends finally has what they need to prove Lila is terrible once and for all. But Adrien isn’t sure it’s the best idea.

Cheer up, Marinette: After unifying once again to defeat an akuma, Marinette’s condition is so bad she is bedridden and cannot celebrate Chinese New Year with her family. The kwamis try to cheer her up. Adrien is growing worried about his father’s health and seeks comfort in Nathalie.

Like Mother, Like Daughter: Chloe’s influencer half-sister, Zoe, comes to Paris. Chloe humiliates her out of hurt and anger, and Zoe is Akumatized into Delightfulee.

Reign of Bourgeois: Chloe’s mother arrives in Paris after hearing about her outburst against Zoe. She is then promptly akumatized into Stylix and takes over the city. What’s worse, she has put a bounty on Chloe’s head.

A Sunny Day: The Miracle Team accepts Vesperia as the new Bee miraculous holder. Her outgoing positivity is welcomed, but her hesitation puts them in danger.

Never Trust a Fox: Trixx abandons Alya and runs away with the fox miraculous, pledging his loyalty to Lila instead. Volpina tricks LB and Chat Noir into thinking she’s on their side. Ladybug has to unify once again in order to defeat her and the akuma once she betrays them.

The Wish, Pt. 1: Because Marinette is out of commission, Scarabella, Vesperia, Carapace, and Chat Noir have to fight against Volpina, The Wailing Lady, and her sentimonster.

The Wish, Pt 2: Gabriel now has the Ladybug and Cat miraculous. Marinette and Adrien follow Volpina to the Agreste mansion, and Adrien learns the hard truth about his father.

By the end of the season, Shadowmoth has completed his mission and trades his life for Emelie’s. A part of Lila’s backstory is revealed.

This season ends at the end of Junior year, breaching into summer.

Season 3: Marinette’s Sacrifice

This is the final season of my AU!

Summer Break: Adrien’s doppelgänger cousin Felix attends the school after visiting with his aunt and uncle over the summer to help Emelie readjust. Lila now has a new name, Cerise Blanc, a woman sent by The Order. Emelie decides to give Cerise the butterfly and peacock miraculous in exchange for her having The Order keep an eye on Adrien. Cerise unifies the Peacock and Butterfly miraculous to become The Empress.

Return of the Butterfly: Rose is akumatized into Sweetpea once again after receiving devastating news about her condition. The Miracle Team return to take it down.

The Emperor’s Daughter: Adrien’s mother surprises him with his fiancé, Kagami, who he hasn’t seen in years. Her social class proves difficult for her to make friends.

Paper Flowers: Because of his shy nature, Felix makes an origami flower with a romantic poem written inside of it for Kagami. However, Kagami believes it was Adrien and becomes determined to make their relationship work.

Felix becomes depressed over Adrien and Kagami’s relationship while going out with them for the upcoming winter formal. Emelie grows jealous of how close Nathalie is with Adrien and sends her on a business trip abroad.

Boys’ Night: Emelie’s hovering nature makes Nino worried for Adrien. He starts to encourage Adrien to rebel a bit, but Nino didn’t expect Adrien to become so out of control when he’s off a leash. Meanwhile, the girls on the Miracle Team are having a sleepover to buy exclusive Jagged Stone tickets.

The Star: Adrien is akumatized into The Star after Emelie tells him she will unenroll him from school and return to homeschooling because of his recent behavior. She also fires Nathalie.

Tales of Scarabella and Kitty Noire: Adrien is under house arrest and Marinette’s sickness is coming back, so Scarabella and Kitty Noire have to keep Paris safe!

Hanabira: Kagami witnesses Adrien and Marinette together while waiting for their date at the Louvre, and is Akumatized and takes over the museum.

The Masked Lady and Me: When Cerise catches Felix looking for the peacock miraculous, Cerise later introduces herself as Madame Morphosis and makes a deal with him to avoid unification sickness. Felix’s backstory is revealed.

Our Frozen Hearts: Felix and Marinette find an unexpected common ground when they are forced to watch Adrien and Kagami dance together as Winter King and Queen.

Sentimaggedon: Madame Morphosis tests Felix to see whether or not she should let him keep the peacock miraculous she gave to him. In a desperate attempt to prove himself, Felix as Argos creates multiple sentimonsters that accidentally bring about the apocalypse. It’s up to the Miracle Team, with Dragonbug, to save the city.

Cat and Mouse: Marinette uses the Mouse miraculous once again to be undercover while dealing with akuma-related disappearances. But Chat Noir won’t take any chances and hunts her down to bring her miraculous to Ladybug.

The End of Us: Kagami breaks off the engagement with Adrien. Adrien then asks out Marinette, who delightfully says yes.

Motherbird: Emelie willingly becomes Akumatized by Madame Morphosis in order to keep her son Adrien under her watchful eye.

Sing a Little Song: Clara Nightingale, an American popstar and a close friend to Zoe, comes to Paris to shoot a music video. But her overbearing manager and strict schedule causes her to become akumatized into Frightingale.

Birds of Prey: While hanging out with Marinette, Kagami is kidnapped by Argos. The Miracle Team have to defeat Argos’s sentimonsters in order to rescue her.

Frenemies: Adrien is trying to get Chloe to warm up more to the idea of Marinette and him being together. Marinette helps Felix overcome his fears and talk to Kagami.

Bonded by Our Sins: After getting closer to Kagami, Felix tries to back away from Madame Morphosis’s control. However, she scares him into submission by threatening to hurt Kagami.

Who is Lila Rossi?: Argos is sent by Madame Morphosis to take Marinette’s miracle box after being informed by Trixx. But him and Marinette devise a plan to trick her.

True Love: Felix confesses his feelings to Kagami at the fashion show and shares his secret with her. Volpina hunts Marinette’s classmates one by one for the scattered miraculous, using extreme measures to get what she wants.

Let’s Do This, Together: The miracle team, along with Argos, has to defend Paris against Lila, who has unified most of the miraculous and become a magical hybrid monster.

Always and Forever: Ladybug and Chat Noir decide to take one last stand against Lila.

Happily Ever After: Marion, a 12 year old girl, discovers small magical creatures who live in her favorite music box!

Quick explanation for episodes 22-24:

Lila collects and unifies most of the miraculous, becoming a monster-animal hybrid and losing herself and all sense of rational. Marinette exposes her identity to all of Paris because of her, and Marinette is aware in a few hours everyone she’s ever known will forget her. Chat Noir reveals himself as Adrien to her before she takes his and the Ladybug miraculous, and unifies them to become Gimmi Marinette and destroy her for good!

Marinette feels Senti-Queen’s mixed emotions of betrayal and hate and loneliness, and her kindness shines through. She uses the Lucky Charm to rebirth Ah Lam as a child, giving her the opportunity to live a normal and love-filled life, the one she never had.

The time span is towards the end of Senior Year, when they were suppose to graduate.

AFTERMATH

So Marinette no longer exists, no one remembers her, and there’s a child version of Lila now.

Now what??

Child Lila is adopted by Marinette’s parents, who have always wanted to have a child. They rename her Marion. It means “wished for child” :,) But also “sea of sorrows”, symbolizing Lila’s life and the pain she caused!

After reading Marinette’s diary, the city knows she was Ladybug. They create a new park called “Ladybug Park” in memory of Marinette.

The Order of the Guardians come to reclaim the jewels unified by Lila, but the kwami refuse to be captured again and flee with their jewels. They all go back to the miracle box for safety. Marion finds the miracle box in Marinette’s old room, and unknowingly becomes the next Guardian.

Adrien only remembers Ladybug, and believes she was the one to unify the miraculous. He has no real recollection of Marinette, but subconsciously feels the loss.

Congrats for making it to the end heheh!

Have some cake! 🍰

Eat it under this rainbow for a break! You deserve it!

🌈

“BUT CHOCO!!”

“You still haven’t explained why there are only three seasons!”

Oh yeah! Sorry!

It’s because I feel like it took 5 seasons in canon to explain what happened in 3. I imagine my AU to be a Disney-owned show that was about to cancelled.

How can I sum up the plot of Miraculous Ladybug in 3 seasons, 12-15 episodes each?

LMAOSJW-

But yup! That’s it! Hope you had fun reading!!

[starguardianniom]

The Power of Love in Miraculous Ladybug

It's bad.

Legit bad.

Just in the opening song, you hear: "The power of love always so strong!"

More like always so strong at creating all the problems in the freaking show fr.

Gabriel is Hawk Moth just to get the miraculouses to save his wife, so he is motivated by love.

Marinette legit screwed herself up in 4 of the 5 seasons finales because of love.

And that's not getting into all the akumas she caused just because she was so caught up in her own feelings that she screwed over other people or just ended up hurting other people's feelings in her wake.

The world legit ended because of her love.

Also had to reset an entire timeline too because she couldn't stick to her plan the moment she learned Adrien was Chat Noir.

Let's not forget how the show portrays Marinette's love of Adrien, via stalking, knowing everything in his schedule for the next 3 years, planning his birthday gifts for decades in advance (and apparently having weird gifts too since she threw one of them in the trash once she saw Adrien's confused reaction to it), getting jealous of any girl getting close to him to the point that she once teamed up with Chloé to get Kagami away, and Kagami had done nothing to deserve being humiliated publicly like that, even worse is that the year before Marinette got humiliated b Chloé in front of a guy she liked by said guy she liked which started her whole obsession about Adrien later on which just makes her a double hypocrite in Animaestro.

Marinette treats Adrien more like a prize than a person, you're not gonna make me believe that everything she knows about him is stuff she learned from him by talking to him, please, given how she could barely speak to him you really think she would pull this off? Pretty sure she just researched him online, at one point she pratically begs Nino to tell her what Adrien finds funny.

And yet not once does she consider if Adrien would actually have a word in their relationship, she called him her Adrien as far as season 1.

Meanwhile, Gabriel loves his son but also emotionally abuse him, and also gets physical with him once he learns he's Chat Noir, he yeeted him to the Eiffel Tower, I never forgave him for that.

He also loves his wife, but he also ended up losing his one real chance at bringing her back just to get back at Ladybug, so you can say his love wasn't enough anymore.

The Power of Love was motivating him until it changed to obsession at revenge with Ladybug.

Now I wonder what's it's gonna take until Marinette realise her love for Adrien is her downfall. So far it screwed her over everytime more than anything else, it's not her strenght it's her biggest weakness that brings out the worst in her, and it got brought to it's height in the season 5 finale and the London special.

Lying to the whole world about Gabriel just to spare Adrien's feelings because Gabriel asked her too, especially after everything he did to him, to her and everyone else? Yeah, no.

It just traps Adrien more.

It's disgusting.

The Power of Love is the biggest evil in the freaking show to the point it's its own character.

Lila wish she could be just as bad.

Maybe she will be able to show us.

And with how season 5 ended, I'm wondering how The Power of Love is gonna do, probably do even more damage.

The Power of Love shown by the main protagonist and the main villain is the most terrifying thing ever in the show.

[imthepunchlord]

How would you rewrite Chloe’s arc in Season 2?

So, personally, I would've just gone ahead and redeemed her. There are various reasons to do so.

She's strongly color coded for Bee, suggesting she would get it. It would be weird if she didn't (shame they didn't do the same to Nino, especially learning that Peafowl wasn't even lost originally, it was added to Volpina last minute).

There were promos and building up confirming she was going to be a hero, and implications that she was going to be part of a team and working with the heroes.

And with the introduction of Lila, and the implication that she was going to be a new antagonist, you didn't need two mean girls to be against Marinette. Much less sorta 3 with Kagami who dabbles in the mean girl trope. Only exception is to have multiple mean girls is to have them face off against other characters than just Marinette, but they're set on that so there should be some sort of change.

Chloe getting a redemption and being a hero is a natural go to.

So Chloe's redemption, I believe, should start off with a loss of power. Something that will humble her for she cannot continue as she is.

And as I've talked about using Lila to push the agenda of Chloe's redemption before, let's talk about another option: using Audrey herself.

Audrey easily could've been another means of pushing the Chloe redemption agenda. She could've been a solid foil to Chloe, by being mean and ruthless, but she's actually hard working, dedicated, and lives with integrity for her career. Things Chloe is not.

And excited to have her mom here, as this is love not freely given, making Chloe want it, it's dashed when Audrey is unimpressed and unhappy with Chloe and how she is.

For not only does Chloe not do her own work and lives live in leisure laziness, living off her parents hard earned money (at least in Audrey's case), but having the audacity to steal another inspiring designer's design and hire an designer to copy it at a competition that Gabriel Agreste hosted (Audrey's never been so embarrassed), Audrey is here to give her entitled daughter a reality check.

She cuts Chloe off on all of her enjoyments.

Sabrina is banned from the hotel. The butler is expected to go over Chloe's work to make sure it is hers and not Sabrina's.

Chloe is expected to get a part time job. She wants to spend money, she needs to spend her own. She'll get the rest of her saved funds at 18.

And, Chloe is to get involved in the fashion industry. If she's going to tarnish it with her laziness and arrogance, she's going to work to make up for it. Specifically, she is going to approach the girl she stole from and make up for her actions.

And at first, it's all terrible for Chloe.

Homework is hard. It's bad enough that Chloe has to stay after school to get a mentorship by the teachers (as no student wants to mentor her, except for Sabrina, who isn't allowed near her, and Adrien but he's busy). At first, Chloe did discover that she could trick Bustier into doing her own homework for her, but Audrey caught on quick and mean Mendeleiev took over.

The part time job was impossible. Chloe kept getting fired. But it wasn't her fault!

Most customers were beneath her service!

They couldn't expect her to touch out of season clothes!

She had to leave work early because she got dirt under her nails. A clear emergency.

There was no way she was going to wear a hairnet, that was going to ruin her hair.

Chloe was just starting to think her mother would let it go when Audrey put her foot down and had Chloe work for her own company, and Chloe was not allowed to quit or be fired, and was to do the work or else she wouldn't be allowed in her own suite. She would have to sleep on the second floor suites.

The threat was scary enough for Chloe to suck it up.

And the worse one... Chloe needed to go and make it up to Marinette. Chloe dragged her feet on this so much that Audrey dragged Chloe there, apologized to Marinette first, then pressured Chloe to apologize. She told Marinette that Chloe here was to work for her and make up for her dishonesty. When Marinette tried to back out and say it's fine, Audrey insisted.

And so Chloe become Marinette's assistant. She would model for her. She would go fetch materials Marinette needed or help carry things when Marinette went out shopping.

It was weird for both girls and neither of them liked it.

But under Audrey's critical eye, Chloe kept up with all these awful changes to her life, but at some point, there was a shift.

Chloe was able to solve a problem without Mendeleiev's guidance. She did it on her own. She... actually felt proud of that. She wondered what else she could solve without the teacher... Oh! And she'll have to show this off to Adrien and Sabrina tomorrow!

At her part time job, Chloe got her first paycheck. And that felt really good. Money she earned herself. This was hers. Not her father's. Not her mother's. This was Chloe's own money. She was so happy that she, weirdly, didn't feel like spending it. She wanted to hold onto it.

And, extra weirdly, she and Marinette are... talking. They're discussing the big name fashion designers and their thoughts on them. They share their criticisms, or the ideas of what they would like to see. Chloe is even sharing her own thoughts on what Marinette creates and Marinette listens and considers it. And Marinette has actually crafted attire and accessories with Chloe in mind, something that is just gifted away, no strings attached, given from someone that doesn't love her unconditionally like her father does. It kinda... felt like it mattered more. Daddy gifts her items so freely that many of those items she just throws away, but anything Marinette gives doesn't feel like that.

Gosh, who knew Marinette had actual tastes? And she didn't quite mind being around her.

Chloe had to wonder what was the world coming to?

Chloe though did still keep her mean streak. Anyone that irritated her or when she bored, she would pick on. Though when Marinette said soemthing, she backed off a lot more than before. She reasoned it's because technically her 2nd boss. But it did make her annoyed. And Cesaire's smug face added to it.

But one day, Lila starts to mess with Marinette and without thinking, Chloe intervened, roasting Lila while she had the chance. It ended poorly as Lila became an akuma and came after her, but Ladybug offered Chloe a lot of praise, much to her glee. And then, Ladybug presented Chloe with a little box.

A box that evidently held the Bee Miraculous.

"Honestly, you're more wasp than a bee," Ladybug said, the box still in hand.

"Excuse me!?" Chloe gasped in full offense.

Ladybug continued, "But I think you're on the way of becoming one. And maybe Pollen will help you get there."

The box was set in her hand, opening on it's own, and in a flash of light and a warming greeting from a little bee thing, dawned the day Queen Bee arose to work with the heroes, bringing her own mean sting to the team.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Last post you talked about your ideal version of canon, I was wondering could you share it with us? If not, that's ok

Oh man, I could go on about my dream version of canon for ages! I've talked about various aspects of it on here with stuff like my "sugar" posts on Nino and Alya, but the broad strokes are:

Serialized story where it's basically one large narrative told in chunks

A true teams setup where Adrien, Marinette, Alya, and Nino feel like this amazing, tight friend group who grows into a found family as they get older, giving platonic and romantic love more equal billing

No guardian order, just have it be a single-person role that gets passed on from person to person

Kagami and Luka in supporting roles that have nothing to do with being love interests

Sympathetic Gabriel who feels like a truly tragic figure, but who does NOT get redeemed

Emilie gets an actual character

No sentinonsense

Revised miracle box that is way smaller and that has strong lore

The Agreste's aquiring the miraculous is far more morally complex, makes sense, and was not done for explicitly selfish reasons

Reverse the love square right from the start and never have the crushes flip

I've talked about all of these things on here, but the one thing that I've only briefly touched on is my love of a reverse square setup. I am passionate about that one, so let's take a moment to talk about why since it's probably going to be the most interesting to read.

I don't hate the canon setup for the crushes, but also I don't think that they're the ideal crushes. When it comes to romance stories, you want to design your love interests around each other. You want them to feel special and like they bring something unique to the table. Canon doesn't really give us that. There's nothing all that special about Adrien that makes him feel like the person that Marinette would be drawn to above all others. Same goes for Chat Noir and Ladybug, but we'll get to them in a second.

What is Marinette's biggest struggle? Her role as Ladybug.

Who is her main support in that role for most of the show? Chat Noir.

Who is her main support on the civilian side even before the reveal? Alya.

So why is Marinette's crush on Adrien and not Chat Noir? I don't know. It's the lesser setup by far and that goes beyond just the logic elements of who it makes the most sense for her to fall in love with. A lot of Marinette's worst behavior actually feels justified in a reverse crush setup, allowing you to write her without major changes to her character.

For example, Marinette keeping a chest of gifts for Adrien is kind of pathetic. She's friends with Adrien and she gives her friends gifts all the time, why can't she give him gifts, too? Reverse the crushes and suddenly this behavior makes perfect sense. Marinette isn't storing up gifts because of overblown fears of rejection. She's storing up gifts for legitimate fears about how her partner will explain these random gifts, thereby risking his identity, meaning that she has a sold argument for waiting until the time is right (post reveal) to give them to him.

There's also the legitimate fear that confessing her love could ruin their dynamic and put Paris at risk. Keeping her feelings to herself is now an act of self-sacrifice and not just an act of nerves. Basically everything about Marinette's hesitance just makes so much more sense if it's on the hero side.

But what about Adrien? How does this fix him?

I love the idea of our male romantic lead falling for our female lead because she's bold and brave, but it honestly doesn't fit Adrien's character. He is surrounded by powerful, confrontational women. Nathalie, Chloe, Kagami, Amilie, Audrey, and Tomoe are all no-nonsense women who get what they want. This means that Ladybug doesn't bring something unique to his life. She fits the standard mold. Adrien falling in love with her after she talks down Hawkmoth doesn't feel like the right choice for his character because it doesn't feel like something he'd be wildly impressed by.

Meanwhile, Marinette is shown to be a generally wonderful friend. She cares about others and will do what she can to make them feel welcome and accepted. That's a much more unique thing for Adrien to experience. Think about the umbrella scenes and imagine if it was Marinette apologizing. Marinette owning that she treated him poorly and asking his forgiveness. How often do you think Adrien gets moments like that? Doesn't it make more sense for something like that to make his heart flutter?

We see Marinette doing things like making banners to celebrate her friends (Timebreaker) and making sure everyone feels included (Reflekta). Imagine her giving Adrien that kind of treatment because it's just who Marinette is. She shows up to his fencing matches to cheer him on. Brings him his favorite snacks as a treat just because, surrounding this poor boy in honest, genuine love and support. Add in respect, too, and he'd be a goner because those are the things that he's not getting anywhere else! The things that make Marinette unique.

This brings us to our new civilian dynamic. In canon, it's Marinette failing to confess in ever more spectacular ways as Alya tries and fails to help. In a reverse crush setup where everyone is friends without gender barriers, it's things like Adrien coming up with his canon confessions and then watching Alya and Nino react with genuine horror because, dude, you're going to give her a panic attack! No! Bad kitty! Stop that! No confessions until you come up with a plan that we approve of and read at least five books of dating advice because holy shit did homeschooling do you dirty in this area!

Then, while Adrien is working to learn how dating works, he learns that Marinette is in love with Chat Noir and, oh no! He thinks she's into his public persona, totally unaware that she knows the real Chat Noir and loves his dorky self. So he tries to emulate his sexy alter ego while Nino and Alya suffer and Marinette is just generally confused because she doesn't think of Chat Noir like that, so she doesn't even notice what Adrien is doing.

This also adds a nice mitigating factor to Adrien's unwillingness to give up even though it's pretty clear that Marinette isn't interested in his civilian self. If he knows that she loves him, then his persistence is less concerning and more comedic. It's not that he can't take a no, it's that he honestly knows with 100% certainty that the answer is NOT no because she's told him that to his face. He just needs her to realize that the guy she's in love with is right here, ready and willing!

The potential for comedy is just so much more broad and so much less mean spirited because Marinette has none of Adrien's reserved nature, so her friends would totally know about her massive "celebrity crush". Adrien comes over for school projects and just stares longingly at her Chat Noir posters, wishing he could tell her his secret, but knowing that he can't.

In my world, that is so much more fun than canon's setup where Marinette has no reason to hope. I also wouldn't draw the crushes out anywhere near as long as canon did. I like getting couples together in the mid-game. It's a nice early plot to hook you in, but defeating the villain is the end game, so we don't need to draw the romance out that long. Romance isn't that special. It's not all that different from an arc about two characters becoming friends.

That's far from the only major change I'd make to shape canon into my ideal version, but it is the probably the change that I love the most. It's also the change that requires the least context to explain, so there you go!

[valiantlyjollynightmare]

I gotta say, this special was everything I wanted in the season 5 finale

Last year I remember being so angry with the finale! Like, even for just a season finale, it left us with so many plot holes and unanswered questions! But here comes the special and basically explains what they didn't have time to explain in the finale and i am so happy i could cry!

Like, one of my main compaints back then had been the fact that we didn't see the suffering that /must/ have followed after a character's supposed death and now not only did we get confirmation that the death /happened/, BUT WE SAW THE SUFFERING!

And I love love love that Marinette is lying. She's 14 and she's just seen a whole entire person kill himself, and she thinks it's entirely because of her. Of course she's lying about what actually happened. We l've seen Marinette's struggle with the way she percieves herself, and especially knowing she would have sacrificed herself so Gabriel could live on, we know even more clearly how personally she's taking all of this and how responsible she's feeling for everything. BUT SHE ALMOST TOLD CHAT, SHE ALMOST TOLD HIM!!!!!!! and nghhhh all the emotions! I think the nailed the emotions, fhe way they showed them and the way they're stopping them *Marinette mostly) from taking the right decisions.

I have so many thoughts about this special oh my god i am vibrating i am so excited about it all

AMD WE'RE GETTING TEAM MIRACULOUS. AND SHE DIDN.T FIND IT IN HERSELF TO TELL CHAT IT WOULDN.T BE JUST THE TWO OF THEM

I am so curious how all of this will play out, but yeah, getting back to where I started, the special still left us with a cloffhanger and with unanswered questions (like. Why is Lila doing all this, how will Marinette cope, is Nathalie really on her side now, will Tomoe give in and listen to Kagami, are the kids really sentis... and so many more) but like, they answered questions tooz and all that s left doesn.t feel like plot holes, but like plot points set up specifically to be resolved in the coming seasons.

Can't wait for season 6!!!!!!!

[into-september]

Haven't watched the London special but have two observations on when we'll see Adrien learning the truth

DIEGETICALLY: The butterfly miraculous is still lost by the time Alix is in her twenties

ON THE META LEVEL: People talk a lot about Adrien being denied the truth about his dad but I haven't seen anyone bring up Cat Noir being denied the truth about Hawkmoth's demise.

Between "your dad was the supervillain who wanted to change history so your mum never died" and "your dad spent his last months in agony and died by literally rotting to pieces because of the magic that it was your job to use responsibly", we all know which is the worse news. The Movie showed us the first being overcome even after said dad had laid Paris in ruins; the NYC special showed us Adrien's collapse after less than half of that happened to a stranger and then was fixed.

From the way people are posting about the London special, I have the distinct impression that it was also not the part of the problem that the writers were interested in milking for angst. The real focus of this episode should've been Plagg, Alix and Tikki dealing with the aftermath of "Destruction", but instead the fandom is here discussing whether or not we should absolve Marinette for being used to strip the flooring after the writers painted themselves into a corner. The show asks us to pass our judgment on Marinette's choice, but claiming that this is Marinette's choice to make is a fallacy.

Let's be clear on this: "Destruction" exists because there had to be an in-story explanation for why the show won't deal with Adrien learning Hawkmoth's identity. There is a pretense of discussing the morality of Marinette's decision to heed Gabriel's wish above Adrien's autonomy, but per the genre and the tone and the focus and the target audience, there was no other option.

Because here is the truly wild part of this whole debacle: Marinette isn't even making an informed decision. She doesn't have an inkling of what Hawkmoth's identity would do to Adrien. Only when The Reveal happens will she know the gruesome extent of the tragedy that is Adrien Agreste and the true weight of the secret she opted to keep; if she hadn't decided to hide the truth on her own, Plagg/Tikki/Alix would be forced to interfere. Yes Marinette's actions are terrible horrible no good very bad, but if stopping Cat Noir from activating his cataclysm in the wax museum would inevitably lead to Gabriel reviving his angelic wife (which was somehow a worse ending than him reviving his supervillain secretary???), then the solution should be to go back to "Origins" and make sure Master Fu gave Plagg's miraculous to literally anyone else than his son. The real question left by the S5 finale isn't "should Marinette tell Adrien", it is why it was a cosmic necessity that Gabriel Agreste was killed by his own son when Ladybug's team has access to the miraculous who could prevent that tragedy.

There is no universe where the thematically coherent and narratively satisfying climax of the story about Cat Noir and Hawkmoth is "Adrien confronts his girlfriend about lying", and the bitter comfort is that it won't be. If the truth of Hawkmoth's identity ever were to reach Adrien, his girlfriend lying about it would be the least of his sorrows, because those sorrows would be so grotesque that there is no way the show will ever acknowledge them; closure to this storyline was made impossible the moment it was decided that Gabriel would take his death at Adrien's literal hands. When "parents go to jail" was too dark for the networks, I somehow don't think they'll be interested in doing the first ever production of Oedipus Rex for the 4-10 audience.

[marinettesaltprompts]

True Holder Implications

Prompt by @ironicreality

Another Salt Prompt, this time inspired by the oh-so-fun concept of “True Holders” and how its used. Just now with a bit of logic applied to the whole thing.

After all, if Adrien isn’t Plagg True Holder, then it makes all those scenes where Plagg tries to convince him to stay as Chat Noir and go along with Fu and Ladybug’s questionable leadership choices a lot more questionable. And with Adrien having some similarities to Damian (a custom-made heir to parents who trained him in athletics, fighting and academics from an early age), the implications actually become far worse.

Especially if Adrien has to find out right when he learns everything else about Gabriel and the Sentimonster business.

Not too much Marinette salt really, but a massive **block** of it for Fu and Plagg thanks to Fridge Logic kicking in full force.

It starts with the usual Maribat plot outline.

“Damien” arrives in Paris to help defeat Hawkmoth. In the process of teaming up with Ladybug he effortlessly proves his worth as a hero and Marinette can just feel that she’s found her True Partner. He’s protective of both her identities. Proactive in hunting down Lila and is clearly the better hero between him and Chat Noir.

Best of all any reluctance she might have in replacing her first Partner is done away with her inner Guardian sense/magical knowledge/Miraculous informing her that Damian is indeed the True Black Cat. So its a matter of destiny and now that she’s found her soulmate (forget about that spineless Adrien!) it’s the right thing for Chat Noir to step aside for Plagg’s real holder.

With Gabriel unmasked and the other Miraculous now in her box the time has come. And when Chat Noir arrives for what will be their last meeting even he doesn’t seem surprised to see Damien standing in their spot.

Ladybug is surprised herself however when Chat Noir, having been sullen towards Damien ever since the brusque boy had arrived in Paris, wordlessly destransforms in front of them without hesitation. She’s twice surprised to find that her old crush, Adrien, had been Chat Noir all along. And she’s thrice surprised to find him already pulling the ring off his finger without her even having brought up the fact he’d need to give up the ring.

But apparently *he* already knew, because he almost casually throws the thing at Robin, who catches it equally as wordlessly before sliding it on. Plagg appears, and looks towards Adrien for a moment, but Adrien is pointedly not looking at the Cat Kwami- and instead at Ladybug for a moment.

Then he turns and starts to make his way away from the spot, apparently intending to use his natural agility to make his way down.

Surprised, Ladybug finds herself next to him and grabbing his arm before she knows it- and the non-powered boy is easily halted in place. “Aren’t you going to say anything?” She finds herself demanding.

Adrien turns back to her for a moment, and Ladybug was struck by how cold and stone-faced her former partner was. His green eyes were empty of anything she could discern. He looks down at her grip, “… goodbye?”

“That’s it?” She splutters, “after *everything*? You’re just going to leave just like that?”

In hindsight she shouldn’t have been surprised, he’d already left once with barely a word. But somehow this time got to her. This was the end of the Ladybug and Chat Noir for good- there wasn’t going to be another time he took up the ring and became her partner again: but this was how he ended things?

“What else is there to say?” His voice is as empty as his eyes were. “What do you *want* me to say?”

“I-I don’t know, *anything*?” She felt a bit of bitterness rise up; “something about our partnership maybe? ‘Good job!’ 'We did it!’ ‘It was an honour to fight alongside you’, since you know: we’ve only been *fighting for years* against…”

“My Father.” Adrien coolly reminds her.

“Oh,” her anger unfurled in her chest; “is that what this is about-”

“No. No it isn’t.” Adrien tugs his arm, and she loosens her grip to let him free. He steadies himself on the ledge and turns back to face her properly, ignoring the other boy the and the Kwami. “You know what a True Holder is?”

Ladybug almost scoffs, but simply nods.

“Well, *I didn’t*.” There’s a bite to his voice now. “Not until a few nights ago when Plagg let something slip.” His eyes flicker over her shoulder for a moment before returning to her. “But you did didn’t you? That’s why he’s here.”

Okay, things made sense now. Clearly Adrien was bitter about being replaced, but he’d let the ring go before so why-

“… and so did Plagg.” Adrien continues, a hardness in his face now. A genuine edge.

“So?” Ladybug can’t help but ask. “Why does that matter? All Kwamis can feel their True Holders but-”

“It matters because Plagg *always knew* I wasn’t his holder,” Adrien sharply interjects. “And so did Fu.” He looks her over with resignation. “They both knew I wasn’t your actual Partner.

You don’t get it do you? This entire time, I was just a stand-in for *him*,” Adrien pointed towards Robin. “Fu picked me because I was closest thing he could get in Paris to him. The closest thing that could be *controlled* anyway,” more bitterness. “All this time, Plagg was encouraging me to stay close to you, to go along with whatever you and Fu wanted- because they needed a *disposable temp* until the real thing could arrive.”

“I…” Ladybug finds herself taken aback. She’d had problems with Chat Noir and had long since become disillusioned with Adrien, but this…

“I tried to leave a few times.” Adrien’s voice cuts into her thoughts. “Before this, but Plagg always brought me back. He always convinced me to stay, because of…” he trailed off and his voice went cool again. “Because *Robin wasn’t here yet*, so he told me whatever he needed so he and Fu could keep using me instead of someone less controllable.”

Plagg’s voice cuts in, “Adrien-”

“But they were all lies.” Adrien ignores him and keeps his eyes on Ladybug. “Just like everything else. Until I noticed how he reacted to Robin, and started asking questions and *making* him tell the truth a few days ago.” His lips twitch up for a moment, “but it’s all right. Robin’s here now, so there’s no need for me anymore.”

“You…” she finds herslef tailing off. “You didn’t want to keep the ring?”

She doesn’t know why she says it, but it’s an obvious question. She didn’t know his identity, maybe she could have gotten it from Uncanny Valley but surely he could have tried to escape away someplace in the last week…

“Why?” Adrien snorts. “What would it have given me? Plagg was never actually my friend. You were never actually my partner.

Chat Noir was *never* freedom, just another *puppet*.” The brief moment of good humour had passed, and the resigned bitterness had returned.

“You could have asked for another Miraculous,” She offers up. She’d been expecting Chat to at least ask to stay on the team. “Be a hero again-”

“I wasn’t a ‘hero’, I was a *puppet*.” Adrien snapped back. “A patsy, a *meatshield* and a joke most of the time- and I refuse to be that *ever again*.” His voice calmed again, but the underlying sour disillusionment remained; “especially not for The Order, some Kwami, or *you*-”

“And if you’re a True Holder after all?” She demands. “You could be leaving the Kwami you’re meant for alone!””

It really wasn’t something she expected was true. But Chat Noir had had moments when he’d shined, and she’d wanted to at least test him for whatever Fu had seen in him.

“So what?” He bluntly askes. “It’s not like you *have* to be a True Holder to use a Miraculous and you’ll have plenty of volunteers. You’ll be just fine.

As for me?” He lets out a tired breath, “I… I don’t know why I came in person. I just… I’m not part of this anymore. I don’t *want* to be part of this anymore.

Good luck Ladybug.” He turns to leave, but stops as he reaches down to his first handold. “And maybe check with Tikki to make sure you’re *actually* her True Holder. You’d be surprised how well Kwamis can deceive you.”

Blog Note: While not really focusing on Marinette salt, its a really good angsty prompt and does salt on one of the most annoying Maribat tropes, so it gets a full pass.

[drtwit]

Miraculous Ladybug: No More Heroes - Chapter 30

A Team Effort - Summary:

Team Miraculous have the perfect plan to beat Defect. As long as nobody fucks it up.

"Gabriel, be honest. It wasn't Emilie's death that made you a villain, it wasn't the world, and it wasn't the miraculous. It was always you - You were a villain long before you created Hawkmoth." Three years after his death, Gabriel Agreste awakens to a Paris ruled by akumas. He has no idea how he's alive, he has no idea what happened to Paris, all he knows it that he was the one who allowed this to happen. Hunted by the ghosts of his past, with no miraculous to protect him, and his greatest enemy now his only ally, Gabriel must brave this nightmare with Marinette Dupain-Cheng and make a choice: To become the villain he knows he is, or to find a way to become the father he failed to be.

Fandom:

Miraculous Ladybug

Relationships:

Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Gabriel Agreste/Nathalie Sancoeur

Characters:

Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Gabriel Agreste

Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir

Nathalie Sancoeur

Colt Fathom

Lila Rossi

Nino Lahiffe

Chloé Bourgeois

Félix Fathom

Luka Couffaine

Alya Césaire

Max Kanté

Additional Tags:

Gabriel Agreste Redemption

Has a long way to go

Chloé Bourgeois Redemption

Retcons

Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug

Identity Reveal

Ladybug/Hawkmoth team-up

Gabriel Backstory

Gabriel being an asshole

Protective Nathalie Sancoeur

Félix Fathom Is Bad at Feelings

Lila Rossi Being Lila Rossi

Hurt Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir

Story switches between two major points in time

Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Needs a Break

[lollyposp]

SPOILERS FOR THE NEW MIRACULOUS SPECIAL

okay so i am going absolutely insane over something marinette says in this special like. insane insane it's been an hour and ive just been thinking about this one line she says

"ladybug knows. ladybug holds the truth. the world will know only what ladybug will tell it. her words will be the truth"

i mean, not only is this a HUGE weight to put on her shoulders, having to lie not just to adrien but to the ENTIRE world (sans nathalie) about gabriel, but i think it speaks so much about what a burden the ladybug role has become to marinette that she not only understands that she can just LIE to the entire world, but that they'll unconditionally believe her too. and the fact that she feels like it's her only option if she wants to preserve some sort of internal peace in adrien, and the fact that she goes through with it when she notoriously hates lying, i just. OUCH. it really speaks to how burdened she is and how quickly she's had to mature since becoming the Guardian.

honestly it does make so much sense for her character to go in that direction. ladybug has always been a strategist, it's just that the scale of her strategies has shifted from winning a battle to sort of playing mind games with everyone she knows so that she can juggle all the different roles she has. because she's smart, and because she's seen as a defacto leader figure, her word matters to EVERYONE - to paris, and to her hero team, and as she's grown more of a reputation as ladybug throughout the show, her word has slowly become law.

ladybug's line also expresses a sense of dissociation between the self, too. she's speaking in third person, but the dissociation isn't even between marinette, "a normal girl", and ladybug, hero of Paris, which is how it normally presents itself. it's between the ladybug she wants to be, a beacon of goodness, and the ladybug she needs to be: I don't know if this is the correct terminology for it (please correct me if im not), but it's almost as if ladybug is dipping her toes into political subterfuge to keep everything going the way she has it planned. like she realises that ladybug the figure has to puppeteer the masses to keep things under control, in the way she needs it to be, even if it means that ladybug the person suffers for it.

the only gripe i have with the special is that adrien is just???? not there at all???? which makes sense considering he wasn't there for Gabriel's defeat either, and i know that's just to establish a conflict in marinette and adrien's dynamic in season 6, but it still makes me upset that the OTHER PROTAGONIST of the show is nowhere to be seen. i love marinette, but when it comes to the story, the Guardian subplot is marinette's, and the hawkmoth plot should ALWAYS have been adrien's. giving it to her makes it feel like adrien is just a side character whose dad just happens to be hawkmoth.

there were a lot of other dynamics laid out in the special that i hope were set up because they're important to season 6. nathalie might become a mentor figure to marinette, as they both know the truth about gabriel and because marinette is in dire need of an adult she can trust (even if that adult is MAYURA??? which is kind of insane). or marinette and kagami both knowing the truth and kagami clearly disapproving of her dishonesty would be really fun to explore: i would love to see growing tension between them as marinette falls further into this "ladybug's word is god" mentality while she tries to keep up all the lies she's set up, and kagami trying to help her but also disagreeing with the entire set up, it would be frankly awesome. (it would also be awesome to see whether marinette trusts alya with the truth, or if she keeps it only to kagami and nathalie.)

all in all, honestly the special is pretty good. marinette's line about ladybug's word being truth will haunt me forever and if they don't make that mentality important to her character in season 6 i might riot

[generalluxun]

Who do you think is more fitting to be “Creator’s Pet” of the show: Astruc’s virtual daughter Marinette or perfect and flawless Adrien?

Okay, before I start- I don't like the term creator's pet, it tends to suggest currying favor on the 'pet' part, and obviously Marinette or Adrien can't do that.

Perhaps 'favorite'? and let me lay some ground rules.

This is not character salt! Nothing here should be used to deride the characters. This is about the narrative woven with/around them. This is examining the external biases at play.

We must recognize that Marinette is the PoV character for the show. That is value-neutral. We can't hold screen time as evidence.

That said let's tackle Adrien being 'perfect' first. I know the show and creator use that word a lot but it is very clear in the show that ... He's not. He makes mistakes, he gets *called out* for his mistakes, he gets upset, he apologizes. He's not perfect.

So, why/how/what is the purpose of the perfect mantra in the show? It's because Adrien is a *trophy*. He was Gabriel's trophy, and now he's Marinette's. A trophy must be 'perfect', or how can it be a trophy? He makes no demands(his flirting as Cat Noir was shown as him being wrong and he corrected his behavior to be more perfect), he gives everything, he carries emotional baggage and costs nothing.

All of his perfection benefits *other people* in the narrative, not himself. Does that sound like a favorite? No it sounds like something you *give* to your favorite.

Because yes, I do believe Marinette suffers from an above-average attachment by her creator(and some fans) I say suffers from because I think it hurts her as a character. Superficially it seems to her benefit, but below the surface it's empty calories.

Marinette makes mistakes too, but they are always framed as best intentions. At the end of any disagreement she is the one in the right. Her pain is always the focus/valid one in any situation. S5 amped this up to the point I call it 'Poor Mari' when it happens. Any emotional situation must make you sympathize with Marinette first and often only. It doesn't matter what or who is involved. The entire Agreste Arc has been summed up by the emotional impact *Adrien's family being the villains and his father dying* have on *Marinette* not Adrien. Marinette gets the sympathy for someone else's crisis. How weird is that? It's not even that she did anything wrong (before the lie) but no one else seems to be allowed to experience more emotion than she does, no matter the situation.

That is a strange choice and one that hurts the narrative and her character. (As they find new/more/repeat ways to put her in emotional turmoil to keep her always center all the time)

As an example from before S5, we can look at how Luka/Kagami were handled. It's two parallel situations, handled at the same time. How they're handled gives the insight you are asking for.

Marinette's struggle is the first an foremost thing in Truth. Luka is the sweetest bean, and even when he's akumatized it is all about her pain the end and her having to break up with him. He's upset but he never blames her, never corrects her. After the breakup he is still completely supportive and always there. He works to find her happiness, even though he openly admits to still being in love with her. Marinette is handled gently and put on a pedestal.

Meanwhile, Lies focuses more on Kagami and her efforts to connect with Adrien who is pining for Ladybug( just as Marinette is pining for Adrien) She gets mad at him. She breaks up with him. She holds him accountable for his behavior. She gets over him. When she finally joins team Adrienette it is for *Marinette's* sake, not Adrien's. (MP72)

So yes, Marinette is favored heavily, beyond simply 'the main character' she is the center of this world physically and emotionally in a way that is only more noticable as time goes on.

Oh- and another easy metric: How many people have said Marinette is the best Ladybug ever vs. has anyone ever given Cat Noir the time of day except Ladybug when she felt bad about leaving him out of the loop?

[shakytailstudios]

The Dueling Fates of the Guardian Neos & Lady Glasswing

In a world familiar yet strange, tragedy and a gifted Butterly pendant sends a child on a dangerous and destructive path in a bid to undo what was wrought.

While circumstances and the will of the Kami see a very different child granted an opportunity to be something she never truly thought possible, a hero.

These designs are for an AU, I have outlined but only written a fraction of, where in Marinette and Chloe oppose one another as the mysterious Lady Glasswing and the fiery Neo Guardian of the Kwami.

Thematically, its centered-on idea relating to "good victims" and "Bad victims" and how that status impacts victims. How systemic and social failures can lead to destructive and harmful behaviors while support and guidance can serve to correct and heal.

Both would serve as sort of mirrors to one another, spoilers below:

Chloe was a "bad victim" in response to emotional and psychological neglect and abuse. Which largely caused her to act out in harmful ways and be rejected, only reinforcing her behavior.

Marinette was a "Good Victim" after a tragedy. She didn't make waves or lash out, didn't try to cause trouble & so didn't get the support she needed & began spiraling as a result.

Thanks to the support of the Kwami and a growing team of people who refuse to be chased away by her temper as well as an outlet that sees her getting positive feedback, Chloe begins to heal and improve.

Meanwhile Marinette's increasing alienation from people born of systemic and social failures, exaggerated by the Butterfly's use see her becoming more destructive and callous in her isolation.

Thematically and narratively, the idea would also be for Chloe's attitude to steadily shift from "Spite/defeat Lady Glasswing no matter what" to "Save Marinette from herself the way others saved me."

Notes:

Glasswing is also a type of Butterfly and rather fitting as Marinette comes to believe her Akuma are forcing people to show their true selves. She also has to Akumify Caterpillars into cocoons to get butterfly's.

Chloe starts out constantly swapping between Kwami and so doesn't have a "Designated" Kwami, but she trends towards Sass for the Second Chance theming and Roaar for the combative outlet, her suit adapts its colors to her Kwami.

The team is loosely made up of:

Adrien - Horse & Ladybug

Sabrina - Fox & Turtle

Zoe - Black Cat & Dog

Kagami - Dragon & Peacock

Fei Wu - Mei-Shi & Mouse

Lamb & Rooster are indetermined, & I'd be using my 12/15 Kwami Lore, seen over on my main blog.

Lila would have Trixx at the start but lose him due to irresponsibility in the field due to fame-seeking. She ends up wielding the stolen Prodigious on Marinette's side while beginning to realize she is in over her head.

Ironically, with no Gabriel to ruin her life, Fei's much more well off but wants the Prodigious back.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

You know, a person made the coment about how Gabriel shouldn't have been the main villain for so long, and I agree completely.

But besides Felix and Nathalie, there hasn't been a villain who is also a Miraculous holder, or at least who wishes the miraculouses of Ladybug and Chat Noir for themselves, which is... Strange, because we are talking about a wish to modify reality!

Many people, organizations, and even governments would want a piece of that! Hell, even Chloe would want some of that! Gabriel shouldn't have been the only person who was uncomfortable with his life! (And akumas do not count, because it has been well established that they are Monarch's VICTIMS)

You know what would have been great? More villains interested in the miraculouses when Gabriel was still around, you know why? Because it would not only challenge Marinette and cemented the idea of "Ladybug and Chat Noir against the WORLD", but would have also challenged GABRIEL, because now not only Gabriel would have to get Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses to get what he wants, now he would also have to get them FIRST.

Which means he would have to be on amert 24/7, becuase if it's not one of his akumas who gets the miraculouses, it would be another villain, WHICH HE CAN'T ALLOW, he would have to change his strategies, negotiate, scheme more, watch out for his own ass because he would also have people wanting to find out who he is, search for info, USE HIS BRAIN, and even serve as an excuse for Ladybug ans Chat Noir to find out who he is, because he would be dealing with so much shit he would get sloppy one day or another and give himself away!

It would have been a change of pace and made the show interesting because it would have challenged everyone, but somehow Thomas decides to take the most boring decisions for the show...

You know who could have been an interesting wild card to add to the show's rogues' gallery? Su-Han.

Think about it. He's the leader of the Order of the Guardians, the people connected to protecting the Miraculous, the show already hinted at the Guardians not being perfect due to how they caused Fu to accidentally destroy their temple, and Su-Han is trained in a martial art designed specifically to fight Miraculous users.

What if, instead of making sporadic appearances where he does nothing but yell at Ladybug, Su-Han starts opposing both Ladybug and Monarch's factions? What if he believes none of the characters should be using Miraculous, so he and the Guardians try to take away everyone's Miraculous?

That way, you'd have a third party threatening both the heroes and villains, a chance to expand on the show's lore, and possibly create situations where Ladybug and Cat Noir have to team up with Monarch.