#generalluxun

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

The Miraculous fandom has some of the most creative people I know in it. I mean this, positive sense.

However that same talent becomes a problem when people cannot distinguish between a narrative beat and their own post-hoc justification.

The second is useful now and again when any sort of media misses a beat or takes a leap. ML fans carry the narrative on their backs.

It's telling that you have so many fanworks out there that are equally or more valid readings of the canon when they were published that have been completely obliterated by future development.

I'm not talking the wild takes. I'm not talking ML suddenly turning shonen, or coffee shop AU. I'm not even talking 'Adrien gets equal screen time.' Just 'with what we know, what comes next?' type fanfiction.

It's like canon is deliberately trying to dodge anything remotely predictable... but narrative beats are predictable for a reason. They work. They're good storytelling. A twist can be good storytelling, but only if it is better in every way then the not-twist.

You combine the shock-at-all-costs mentality with ML fandoms devotion and creativity and you get leaps of logic that would make a crypto seller blush. It ends up going downright unhealthy places at times.

I know their hearts are in the right place. I know they just care about the show they've sunk time and self into, but there are times you have to step back.

It doesn't mean you have to give up or turn away from the media. You just need to be willing to admit 'This episode/throughline/season/beat sucked'.

Then you hope it gets better.

Not doing this now and then is engaging in cult behavior.

(Post that spawned this ask)

I fully agree. People liking "bad" media doesn't bother me. What gets under my skin is people defending bad media. I'm in a book club and we all own that we like books that are objectively bad. We don't defend them as good, we just like the good parts enough to drown out the bad stuff. That's normal and fine. You don't have to limit yourself to perfect and pure art if such a thing even exists. I can name flaws in most of the things I like, I just think the good far outweighs the bad.

Miraculous is not some deep and complicated show that requires you to watch every episode. The writers have flat out said it is supposed to make sense even if you miss seemingly vital episodes. This means that trying to go the deep and nuanced route to explain the flaws doesn't work. This is a show for young children. It is supposed to be easy to follow. If it's not, then it has failed at its job! Little kids have no expectations to subvert. Shows like Miraculous are supposed to teach them how stories work so they can go on and watch more complex stuff when they're older. (For us adults, shows like Miraculous are supposed to be cute escapism that lets us feel like kids again.) If no one can possibly predict where a story is going next at a high level, then it's probably a bad story.

To be clear, I don't mean that every plot beat should be obvious. It's just that the longer a story goes, the more obvious things should feel as all the little elements of the story build and come together. This allows the audience to get excited about what's going to happen next and keeps them engaged. Stories where literally anything can happen no matter how little sense it makes aren't fun because you can't get invested in anything. I'll take a predictable ending over an impossible one any day.

A perfect example is the season three final. That final was all about Gabriel winning because he knew Chloe's identity. This is spelled out in the episode and the episode setup.

Miraculer set up:

Gabriel: Chloé Bourgeois must become Queen Bee again! Nathalie: Are you still considering making her an ally? I'm afraid Ladybug has grown reluctant to giving Chloé the Bee Miraculous. She's being very careful. Gabriel: Then I will get Chloé to force Ladybug to give it to her. All I need is for her to lose all hope in Ladybug. To become angry enough so I can akumatize her. (smirks evilly)

Ladybug: I'm sorry, Chloé. I should've told you this a long time ago. I might never be able to let you be Queen Bee again. Queen Bee: What? But I did everything you asked me to. Ladybug: I know. But this is for your own safety. It's too dangerous for you and your loved ones because Hawk Moth knows that you're Queen Bee.

Final pay off:

Hawk Moth: Try it and see for yourself. You're Ladybug's greatest fan. You've helped her, you've trusted her. And what has she done for you in return? Chloé: (gets angry) Nothing! She couldn't care less about me! I'm done with her. She's irrelevant, utterly irrelevant! (reaches out to grap the Miraculous, stops) I want you to de-akumatize has my parents first! Hawk Moth: Whatever you say, my queen. (Chloé takes the comb and puts it in her hair, releasing Pollen)

Since the final also includes every other temp hero being outed this should mean that season four will go on to have Ladybug and Chat Noir starting from scratch, but is that what happens?

Nope! The mass identity reveal means nothing and everything is fine to keep going as is. Chloé's identity reveal being a problem was a one-off fluke we don't need to think about.

There is no justification for that. You can decide that you're willing to let the flaw slide and keep watching, but there is no way to make this a good choice for the story. It was the start of the secret identities holding less and less weight to the point where a lot of people no longer care about the love square reveal because it's been so incredibly cheapened. Marinette keeping her identity from Chat Noir no longer makes sense when it was once pretty reasonable.

[marimbles]

I feel you on today wicking, opened up a wip and felt actual pain at the idea of writing.

Any doodle with Sabrina Raincomprix would spark joy. Quadruple points if Adrien is somehow involved(even platonically)

Who says a dog and a cat can’t be friends? :) he is probably telling her terrible dog puns lol

Thanks for the request—it was a welcome distraction tonight and Sabrina was so fun to draw! It was my first time drawing her🥰 I hope this can spark a little joy for you in this tough time🫶

[tumble-witch]

Saw your Lady Blanche art and it's already awesome, but saw you mention about the mask and my brain immedietely poked me with what if...

Instead of a mask she had either o 'mask' or even just a white discoloration of her skin(like Argos or Mayura) over her *mouth* instead of her eyes, like a ninja mask thing.

Something something inversion... mouthpiece as a civilian, free as a hero, mouth not her own again as an akuma but by her own out of control emotions this time?

OMG YOUR MINNNDDDD

I'm so designing this the second I'm able to!

Also, it reminded me of the monkeys

🙈🙉🙊

[jacquesthepigeon]

Re:emochat/bug

Want to bet all this buildup is going to be all a ruse, and in the special they won't really be all that evil, just doing what they have to/hopeless and a good talking to will be all they need to be heroes again?

Imagine if all the “evil” things they do is not pick up trash off the streets and loiter

Hesperia is helpless against them

[trainsinanime]

This might be something you would have an opinion on:

A good train game?

Not *simulation* I know Train Simulator exists, but more the high level build a network, plan routes, upgrade engines over time, manage train composition etc.

I'm not super deep into that, to be honest, I haven't updated my trains in video games review website in well over a decade (and it's mostly broken now, I gotta fix some coding there one of these days).

But I can give you some weird answers:

Factorio is not a train game, but it has trains, and the later you go into it, the more trains become an important part of gameplay. Personal play styles will differ, of course, but I love to spend a lot of time tweaking the train network. That said, there's not a lot of depth to the train systems there. No real scheduling, route finding is fully automatic, you can't set up any truly complex stuff (no automatic shunting). For the record, I play with enemies off, except at the moment I don't play at all because Gleba seems too daunting (I'll get around to it one of these days).

I know a lot of people like Transport Tycoon Deluxe and its modern open-source reimplementation OpenTTD. I have never played it and so have no opinion on it.

If you want a really weird answer, "JB BAHN" or "Bahn.exe" is a German (English is also available) 2D rail simulation program that has an utterly bizarre hold on my mind. It's positively ancient, dating back to the 1990s, and older versions still required DOS. The UI still looks like Windows 3.1. The website still uses frames. The graphics aren't retro pixel art, they're genuine old pixel art, looking like someone took the style of a communist illustrated children's lexicon and reproduced it in MS Paintbrush (not Paint, that came later). It's objectively awful… and if I start playing it, I don't stop for thirty hours (average). Part of it is that it's very mechanical, you can spend a lot of time just redoing the same steps over and over. Part of it is the very intricate depth of its scheduling and shunting system. Want to build a classification yard? Want to build a station where the locomotive runs around its train? Want to build a station where the locomotive uncouples and another couples to the train to continue the journey? All possible, with the slight caveat that everything is a massive ordeal. I love this game. Don't play it.

Cities Skylines. The 1 version, not the 2, which I haven't played because it has no Mac version (neither does JB BAHN, I haven't played that in years). The railroad system simulation is entirely surface-level, incredibly janky, part of the traffic system that is even more janky in all its other parts, and there are a lot of obvious missing features, but hey, you can have some fun with it.

I don't think this is helpful but this is the best I got, sorry.

[catmelot]

Guys, guys!!!! reminder that I have Ko-fi account where you can go donate a couple of bucks if you like my stuff. ⭐⭐⭐ 

Also!!! You can commission me, like this fine people have done 🤍 and if I were you, I'll commission me like now, because starting the new year I'm gonna increase my prices! ✨✨✨✨

[frostedpuffs]

Gonna guess an iconic word that may or may not show up. 'Ridiculous'.

it only shows up once so far!

“Because,” she said, “I know you’d try to talk me into something ridiculous, like naming my baby after you.”

Send me a word, if it’s in my wip document I’ll answer your ask with the sentence that it appears in

[airi-p4]

Lukamouse where Luka knows Mari is Ladybug, but not that she is Multimouse. So he thinks he is 'moving on' and... Oops :)

aksdbaksdbas

I WANT.

GIVE ME 👀

[flightfoot]

Underrated Miraculous Fic writers

So I read a crapton of miraculous fanfics, and I often end up gravitating towards particular fic writers over and over. Most of the time a lot of other people have clearly noticed the same thing, as their stories tend to get tons of kudos - but not always. Some of the fic writers I read most reliably get very little attention, for one reason or another. Usually because they tend to write for a particular niche that I like but isn't overwhelmingly popular throughout the fandom, but other times I have no idea why their stories aren't more popular.

Anyway, I wanted to spotlight a few of those authors here!

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Generalluxun (@generalluxun)

If you're a fan of fics that really explore Chloe's character, look into her mindset and try to redeem her without relying on shortcuts or making other characters look worse in comparison, then you've probably at least dabbled in his fics before. I'm especially partial to his newest fic "In Direct Opposition", as Alya's the main POV character and is looking to reform Chloe while navigating this whole akuma situation, and Control, a Senti!Chloe fic where Marinette accidentally stumbles across Chloe's Amok and has to decide what to do with it.

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linerle (@liiinerle)

Linerle specializes in Marigami fics, with a more general bend towards queer romance. If you like those, then you're in for a real treat! Accidents Are Also Miracles is particularly noteworthy, as it's the single longest completed Marigami-centric fic in the fandom. It's a fantastic story that I highly recommend checking out!

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BecomingButterflies (@bbutterflies)

They specialize in Adrino fics, so if you want to read some Adrino goodness, their author page is a great place to stop by! I've especially enjoyed "I'll give myself a name (something stupid and pretentious)", where Adrien leaves town after finding out Monarch was Gabriel, and only returns years later, to find that Nino has missed him quite a lot...

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TrishaCollins (@consistent-chaos-corporation)

Trisha often writes Felix-focused fics, delving into his trauma with being raised by Colt, and him trying to be a better person. Not that it's just introspective pieces, a lot of their fics are pretty action-based with serious stakes and villains who are only too willing to hurt the heroes and innocent bystanders, and even kill them. I'm especially partial to their Madness series, which is a sprawling AU, touching on Felix's and Adrien's childhood, but soon fast-forwarding to the present-day, with Chat Noir and Ladybug confronting Felix about Monarch's Miraculous theft, and him seeing the errors of his ways and helping them. I particularly appreciate how viscerally Felix comes to understand how his actions hurt others, particularly the Kwamis, who he put in a similar position to what he himself had been in with Colt.

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TheChatatonicOne (@rosie-b)

I love a lot of their fics dearly, they're well-written and scratch just the right itch! They mostly write Lovesquare fics, often with a more angsty bent.

I especially adore their enemies au fics:

Stealing Freedom, where Adrien's long been puppeted about using his ring by his father as Cat Walker, who, thankfully, Ladybug and Co. know is a Senti who has no choice in the matter - with Marinette then discovering that her fiance, Adrien, IS Cat Walker.

home is where the fight is, A short glimpse into a Ladrien enemies au, where Adrien's being controlled by his father into fighting her, but is dating Ladybug as a civilian - and Ladybug's secret identity has just been revealed to the world.

True Blue, Chatatonic's ongoing enemies au which I have recced numerous times, which takes the more unusual (and difficult) approach of having MARINETTE side with Gabriel instead of Adrien, and doing so while keeping her in-character by having Gabriel lean into his manipulation skills, telling her half-truths about how Adrien will be happier once his mother's back, and that ultimately the heroes are the ones being greedy and reticent in all this, and that the akumas all agree to help him, even if they don't remember afterwards. It's among the best Miraculous fics I've read this year so far!

Not that she only writes enemies au of course, she's written many other Lovesquare fics. I particularly enjoyed The Mer-Human Race, in which sailors and merfolk would have friendly competitions on who was faster in the water, with the winner being able to ask for some sort of prize. Marinette had been looking for a merman to race for awhile so that she could be granted a vessel of her own at a younger age than was normally permitted. Luckily, a Merman named Chat Noir showed up suddenly and offered to race her. Pity that her friend Adrien wasn't there to watch it...

[i-like-anything-water]

Chloé: I still can't really believe you went after her when all of this was throwing myself at you.

Adrien:Chloé, you came out at the beginning of the next school year!

Chloé:That is entirely beside the point

Adrien: It's not like you're into anyone besides Ladybug.

Chloe: Of course. Nobody is amazing as her.

Adrien: I mean, there's other people-

Chloe: No, no, Adrikins. Nobody is kind, selfless, has a beautiful smile, a soft and comforting voice, smells like a newly batch of pastries, smart, funny, cute blue pigtails, amazing fashion sense and bravery like Ladybug!

Adrien: ...you just described Marinette.

Chloe: What? No, I-

*cue Marinette 'clumsily' catches someone's books after they tripped, apologized and flashed them a comforting smile and helps them on their feet*

Chloe:....

Adrien, grinning: See? I thought I could ask her out-

Chloe, cracking her knuckles: Back off, Agreste. That girl is mine.

Bunos:

After their conversation and Chloe stalking up to Marinette...

Adrien: Plan BuGFs is in motion!

Zoe: Copy that. Kagami, is Marinette okay?

Kagami after intentionally tripping that student: Yes.

Nino: Should we stop them...

Alya and Sabrina: No.

[buggaboo-i-love-you]

Welcome to a peculiar fandom!(Aren't they all?) I hope you enjoy your stay.

Requests? There are so many options. I'm a multishipper who loves Rarepairs myself(though no hate for a LS fic!)

I'm a writer too.

What's your main vibe in writing for ML at the moment?

hey @generalluxun! yeah, every fandom has its quirks lol. currently i’m just experimenting with ideas, but most of them are really random. i’m pretty basic in that i love ladybug and chat noir together. most of my fics that im planning will probably be somewhere around seasons two or three, because that’s just what calls to me. season five was good, but i don’t really know how to write that right now. maybe later on!

i’m not quite sure if i answered your question the right way, but thanks for the ask! if you have anything else you’d like me to write, i can always use the experience :)

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Saw your comment on Socqueline and thought you might find this interesting: my back-of-the-napkin revision of Derision to make it fit into canon and be overall a better episode for the genre.

https://www.tumblr.com/generalluxun/773143078216335360/revisiting-s5-e14-derision-and-making-it-work?source=share

(Post that spawned this ask and the linked post for those who want it)

Quick summary of the linked post: keep Derision mostly as-is, just change Marinette's bully from Chloe to Socqueline. This explains why Marinette's trauma doesn't resurface until season five and doesn't massively retcon Chloe's character from petty brat to bully who specifically goes after Marinette

My preference is still to nix Derision and make Marinette's trauma come from Felix's betrayal in the season four final. That would explain why her trauma only shows up around Adrien and not Chat Noir even though she dates both of them in season five. It also removes my biggest issue with Derision's place in the narrative. Namely the fact that it tries to validate Marinette's worst behavior which is an absolutely insane move because there is no way to validate that behavior if your goal is for her to date Adrien. It only "works" when it's a joke that isn't meant to be taken seriously and I use "works" very loosely here.

That being said, if we must keep Derision, this is probably the best way to do it. It makes the retcon far less blatant and lets there be actual consequences for the bully. One of my biggest issues with the way Miraculous handles bullies is that it's teaching the kids at home a terrible lesson by presenting bullies as some undefeatable force. That's a problem because - unlike supervillains - bullies are a very real issue that the kids at home might actually be dealing with. Having an episode dedicated to taking down a bully in the proper way would be a breath of fresh air. It also falls more in line with the way Marinette is written throughout the show.

One of Origins few flaws is the fact that Marinette goes from pushover to powerhouse in the blink of an eye. It's a pointless choice that I'd personally nix. It would be much nicer to have Marinette's first moment of standing up for herself be in the Derision flashback. She goes to her parents or the teachers and gets actual help, giving herself a major confidence boost going into season one, explaining why she was able to stand up to Chloe and others.

[marimbles]

Hey saw your tags in that 'girls who can't comfort' post. I wanted to say- not to claim you are actually *good* at comforting, but your friend in that situation sounded like they were going through it and...I guess what I want to say is the fact that she kept crying etc doesn't mean you *failed* to provide comfort. Sometimes people are just deep in their feelings and need space to feel themas they come.

You stayed. Apparently she didn't leave, so you must've provided something. That you didn't achieve happiness or stem the tide doesn't mean you didn't have an impact.

Always remember every emotional exchange includes at least two people and you have control over at most one. 😁

Aw, thanks. I appreciate that. This isn’t a one-time occurrence (just the most poignant one in memory haha) cause in general I just struggle to know what to say and how to be there for friends who are having a hard time. But I do think the most important thing is the trying. No one is gonna be perfect at comforting because there isn’t a magic word you can say to make it all better when something really, really hurts. But sometimes just being willing to sit there in someone’s pain with them is enough, even if it’s uncomfortable. I appreciate your take on this💜 we are all just trying! Haha

[tumble-witch]

Firstly- Very much enjoying bread girl AU, your butterfly user is absolutely menacing. 😬

Canon memory loss notion I saw brought up:

Marinette will lose her memories. Adrien will find out about his father *and* that LB lied to him. He will be angry/sad and Marinette in her guilt will give up the guardianship so she can alt-F4 her memories.

Thank you so much! I really enjoy seeing your comments and takes <3

---

God, that would be devastating, wouldn't it?

The one last ultimate way she might run away from him. No matter how far he reaches out to her, she recoils harder, even though she wants nothing more than to reciprocate

It's like that one verse from The Living Tombstone - My ordinary life

«If you become untouchable, you're unable to touch»

I really like Marinette. I hope the show deals with this elegantly is they decide to bring that up

[jacquesthepigeon]

I just wanted to say I agree with the 'don't blame Marinette' post you made. Her choices in the S5 finale run completely counter to lessons we've SEEN her learn throughout the series. Why? Because making the bad choices helps stoke drama and extend the plot into more seasons. That's all.

I don't *like* the person Marinette is right now, but I don't hate her. I just want her to stop. I want her to realize what she's doing. I want her to recognize she's consolidating power 'To protect the ones she loves' of course, but that's how so many very dark tales begin. Will the writers let her? Probably eventually.

I mostly just hate that I can't ship adrinette right now. The girl chose to gaslight the boy 8 ways from Sunday 'to avoid hurting him' Girl, he's already hurt, you just want to dodge the conversation and pain you'd go through explaining it to him. Like I get it, but it's still a bad dynamic for a ship. One person having vital knowledge (not to mention actual life knowledge about the senti-thing) over the other... bad dynamic no matter who it is.

Yeah, others know too, but she's the protagonist so they all go silent when she says 'no, we won't tell him.' Protagonist's burden :/

The upside to this is you can still watch S1-3 Marinette where she learns how to do... *exactly not this* and be proud of that girl just fine. What S4/5? The show ended after 3, right?

I think mostly I'm going to just focus on Movie!Marinette. That's a girl you can get behind. Caring, heroic, brave, and willing to take the risks rather than seeking to mitigate them all.

I really just can’t get invested in anything from the later seasons cuz the quality took such a nosedive that it’s not even worth entertaining in my mind

The show doesn’t care to make things make sense so why should I at this point? It’s a futile effort

So while I choose to not to think too deeply about (or even acknowledge) certain newer details, it’s not like I’m going to argue with others about them. My frustration is purely in regard to people refusing to acknowledge who’s actually responsible for all of this.

Yeah, canon Marinette objectively sucks. Doesn’t change the fact that most of the characteristics that make her suck aren’t part of a thought-out character arc but rather the crew trying desperately to cover their own ass for their very poorly planned and executed “plot twist” finale.

[rozunderpressure]

Always awesome to see someone else's brain works spilled out! Up=aged voices are interesting to play with. I've done a couple up-aged stories. For Chloé(one was at 25 one at 28 I believe) I always keep the word 'sharp' in mind. It suits a lot of what I see as her core traits. Sharp- Clears the path, removes obstacles

Needs to be handled carefully, can injure you, even accidently, very quickly

Is a state of being, not an intent. Something sharp cuts because of how it is, not because it desires to

can be a part of healing as much as hurting. You want something sharp for surgery, right? 🤣 Sharp can mean fragile. The finest edge is also the one that dulls the easiest from use.

There are more ideas around that core, but it's getting late for me here. You'll post when you finish your fic right? I'm very curious to see it! I'm also wondering how the relationships of all the characters have developed. I love having something to look forward to :)

Oh, I love your definition of her, I am terrible with names, but I believe you wrote this really fantastic future fic where Chloé is sick and passed out sleeping in Mari's room, they are happily married and stuff, and I remember that edge in that one and how their relationship is described... I love that fanfic!

But Chloé in this is just a little more-- chill? If Chloé Bourgeois could even EVER be chill? This is as chill as she gets anyway, mostly due to influence of quasi-surfer dude Jack Lee-- (They have a very odd relationship, very "28 year old full adult Chloé Bourgeois and her 46 year old teenage son Jack Lee", and his mom full on applied the transitive property of "well, she is my granddaughter's sister, therefore she is also my granddaughter"), but she still has an edge, obviously...

My favorite aspect so far, is the complete flip on power dynamic, because Mari is most certainly on top and that has been interesting, because while we know Mari uses power responsibility, all Chloé can do is hope she did not became a vengeful bitch-- And Mari is in the Fashion industry now, so in Chloé's eyes--

And yes, I will publish it, if I finish it, and I hope I will! I just really need to get this idea out of my system!

ANYWAY, thanks for the ask!