#kagami transformation for example

[westywallowing]

someone just wants some cuddles from their favorite person i think

[uptoolateart]

Here's a whole bunch of initial thoughts I have after watching the London Special.

Time Travel

Speaking as someone who writes way too many stories involving time travel...there were a lot of holes in this special. Also, I appreciate that it's been 15 months since the S5 finale aired, and they probably wanted to remind us (and especially children) of the key moments...but some scene repetition felt like it was just there to pad out the episode length. But I'm gonna shrug all that off because of everything else this special did.

Lies, Lies and More Lies

I've not been quiet about how angry I was over Ladybug lying to Adrien and keeping vital secrets, in that S5 finale. I'm so glad to see that this special addressed that stuff. By the end, we see that both heroes are keeping secrets. Cat's identity has become more pertinent than never, and she has no idea.

Going Too Far

In their final conversation, Ladybug told Cat she worried she might have gone 'too far' this time. Throughout S5, we were repeatedly told no one has ever been able to handle unifying the miraculous like Marinette can. We also watched her change dramatically over that season. By the S5 finale, I felt like she'd become overpowered. In this special, I think she acknowledged that. Maybe she handed out the other miraculous because she realised she was in danger of becoming another Gabriel, e.g. making decisions about what's right for Adrien, etc.

Did She Make the Right Decision?

With no one else to turn to, Marinette asks Plagg and Tikki if she made the right decision. They don't tell her she's wrong, but they also seem very undecided. She also asks Bunnyx, who tells her that both paths - telling or not telling Adrien the truth - will lead to both happy and sad moments. This warns us that hard times are on their way. She wants to 'protect Adrien', but she can't. She can't keep him from pain. seems to suggest that Marinette's choice to keep the truth from him is going to lead to some hard times.

Kagami

Kagami intimated that she disagreed with Marinette's decision. When she comforted Adrien in the white room and told Bug Noire to go...that really hit me. There is so much going on there. Transformed, Marinette can't comfort Adrien. In fact, she's just hurt him, and Kagami is the only one in that scene able to help him pick up the pieces. Not just that, but Kagami can relate. Remember her name means 'mirror'. She's now in the position Adrien could be in, if he knew the truth. She's the one trying to come to terms with the truth about her parent. She's the one dealing with the knowledge that she's a sentibeing. She is an example of Adrien's alternate path. When she tells Bug Noire that she's letting her love for Adrien blind her...Kagami is speaking personally - as someone who can put herself in Adrien's shoes in a way Marinette just can't.

If I Could Turn Back Time

When Chrono Bug got that black cat calendar as a lucky charm, she must have known it meant Cat Noir was somehow the solution. But she ignored it. I think her emotions regarding Adrien blinded her from understanding what the universe was trying to tell her.

She and Bunnyx spent much of the episode trying to determine the crucial moment when things started spinning out of control - the moment they needed to change. Marinette focused on the revelation of her identity, which I'm sure was vital. BUT...the elephant in the room was the moment she chose to lie to Adrien. Standing in that time burrow, she had a chance to change the story she told him and undo everything that's on its way. Surely that cat calendar was hinting at this.

Kitten

I think it's telling that the cat on the calendar was a kitten. It felt like the universe was telling her there's something she isn't seeing in Cat - that he's more fragile and in need of nurturing than she acknowledges. When she sees him at the end, and he tells her he has his own awful secret - when he cries over it - she should be questioning why he's that eaten up about missing that final battle. What's his secret? Why's he so devastated? But she's too wrapped up in her own conundrum. Like in Cat Blanc, she's not 'listening'. For me, the most painful moment was when he tried to reassure her that things would be okay - now it'll be 'you and me again, just like old times'. She hasn't yet told him there's actually a huge team now. But they both must understand that the old times are well and truly gone.

The Truth Is Out There

We're now waiting for yet another reveal. Adrien and Marinette still have to find out they're Cat and Ladybug - but Adrien also has to find out the truth about his father. This special hammered it all in so hard that it's Chekhov's gun waiting to go off. What I wonder is if the writers had this angle in mind all along, or if they did this after they saw the fan reaction to that S5 finale. I suspect it's a bit of the latter, particularly because they also had Bunnyx explain that Marinette's reaction to Gabriel in the S5 finale was her getting the 'proof' that he was Monarch. Her reaction was one of many things we all questioned after that episode first aired, so I think the writers were trying to 'fix' things with this special. And I'm fine with that. I'm pleased that they're listening and not just moving on from this stuff / trying to sell it to us that lying to someone is 'the right thing to do'.

The Wild Card

At the end of S5, I thought it was clear that Lila had worked out Ladybug's identity. I assumed S6 would involve some vendetta against Marinette. This special demonstrated that would make things too easy, so they levelled the playing field. Lila doesn't know Ladybug's identity. But she does know Monarch was Gabriel. I think it's inevitable that at some point (probably not for ages, because the writers will want to string us along in suspense), she'll tell Adrien the truth about his father.

Cat Blanc

I think 'Cat Blanc', and Adrien's vision in the white room, were foreshadowing. In this special, we saw how angry Adrien was at Bug Noire when she told her story. He demanded to know why she couldn't save Gabriel. He seemed to have forgiven her by the end, but when he learns the truth, he's going to feel so betrayed. And when he breaks down...watch out, moon.

The Inevitable Break-Up

I think it's inevitable that Adrinette will break up...but only temporarily. When it all blows up, it could be the necessary turning point we've been waiting for, where they finally get on equal footing - where their relationship is based on honesty and total mutual respect.

Conclusion

Buckle up, guys. We're in for a bumpy ride - but I remain optimistic. After 15 crazy months, I'm finally no longer angry about the S5 finale.

[miraculouswolf99]

Why does Alya believe Marinette is jealous when Adrien is with another girl? She knows they’re together!

They did not get together until over midway through season 5. Before then, Marinette did get jealous a lot whenever Adrien was with another girl.

While Alya was wrong to constantly brush Marinette's feelings about Lila aside while using jealousy as an excuse, she was right about Marinette being a jealous person. After all, Marinette did not care about Lila until she saw her with Adrien. She even followed them to the library and spied on them. This was all before anything about the miraculous grimoire came into play, so Marinette did all of that out of pure jealousy.

Also, Marinette constantly got jealous of Kagami. Before Kagami and Adrien even started to date and were just spending time together, Marinette was incredibly jealous. During the premiere of the Ladybug and Cat Noir movie, which Adrien took Kagami to as a guest, Marinette teamed up with CHLOE of all people to sabotage Kagami. They were going to ruin Kagami's dress, also humiliate her by making it look like she soiled herself, before the akuma happened.

Even back before Lila and Kagamu entered the picture, Marinette still had moments of jealousy. The most obvious example being in the Bubbler episode when Chloe got Nino/The Bubbler to play a slow song for her to dance with Adrien to. Marinette got jealous and used her Lucky Charm to change the music, despite how she basically just wasted her Lucky Charm and had to de-transform, let Tikki eat, and then fight Bubbler. She knew what Bubbler did to every adult in Paris and yet still wasted her Lucky Charm because of jealousy.

So, while Alya wasn't the best of friends, she wasn't wrong about Marinette being a jealous person.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

They also transformed Lila into the type of psychopath you'll see in an adult horror movie, remember the scene of her creepily cutting Marinette's face from photos she randomnly has of her while repeating how she'll destroy her life ? That's the type of scene to show up in horror movies with psichopathic serial killers, not children's shows. Not to mention all the fake identities and the creepy lair from the Catacombs where she has a serial killer type of board with her potential "targets", Lila may have had some sociopathic tendencies in S3 but she still fit the mean girl archetype in children's show back then, now they'll turned it up a notch so much she's essentially Lenna Klammer from Orphan incarnated in a kid's show.

(Pretty sure this was in response to my post on the darker version of Miraculous' that the creators originally wanted to make, so here's the link to that for context!)

You make a good point. The longer the show goes on, the more Lila feels like a villain from a teen or adult drama. Well, I say that she feels like a villain from one of those, but it's more accurate to say that she feels like she wants to be a villain from one of those. While her vibes match those shows, her actual execution falls extremely short of the intended goal.

Of course, that's not Lila's fault. It's a writing problem. A complex master manipulator is a terrible choice for the villain of a formula show because complex plans need to be set up over multiple episodes. It is possible to mostly do it in the background so that most of the episodes fit the formula, but you do eventually have to break the formula to really bring it all together in a satisfying way.

Miraculous really doesn't do that kind of thing. The writers are adamant that each episode can be watched as a standalone even when it really shouldn't be, thus that weird thing where Felix told Marinette who had the butterfly only for her to seemingly not remember in the very next episode. If that's the best that we can hope for in terms of greater continuity, then Lila as the main villain is going to be painful.

The cutting up pictures moment is a great example of the headache that likely lies in our future. That scene was from the episode Perfection (S5E12):

Lila: (upon cutting off Marinette's face in her picture with Kagami) Soon, you'll have no one left, Marinette. Soon, you'll have nothing.

This moment feels creepy and threatening, but it goes nowhere. Marinette never loses any of her friends because she can't. This is a formula show. Losing friends means changing the status quo and that's not how formula shows work, which is why we get the worst of both worlds with characters like Alya dismissing Marinette's concerns about Lila while also staying close friends with Marinette because Lila can't actually have a meaningful impact on these relationships.

I think this may be why Lila got Kagami akumatized so many times. Kagami is an outsider to the main friend group, so the writers could have Kagami effected over and over again without it feeling like other people should be asking questions since Kagami isn't friends with anyone but Adrien and Marinette. I really hope that trend is over now because I got real sick of Kagami being written as the Queen of Gullibility Land. It simply didn't fit her character. She can tell that Adrien is sad from a picture (see: Risk), but believes that Lila isn't lying to her after Oni-Chan? Sure, writers. Sure.

[anastasia-queen]

The Current State of Miraculous Ladybug Season 5 finale.

I've recently watched the finale of season five of Miraculous Ladybug, and I must say that my disappointment is immeasurable. There are more issues within this finale than with the Gabriel Redemption, like having Marinette lie to Adrien again, which undermines her development in S4-S5 to trust in others, not giving more insight into Emilie's character after seven years in the show run, and writing out Adrien even though his existence is significant to the overall lore of series, and partly is the motivation for the main villain, Gabriel.

I could mention more issues within this season. Like, for example:

The waste of potential of Zoe's character, Felix's rush redemption arc, killing off the ship Marichat, Lila being a spy, the romance pacing behind Kagami and Felix, the b******* rules of time travel, giving Ladybug and Chat the ability to never de-transform, the entire existence of the episode of Derision, not having a scene of Chat revealing his identity to Ladybug without the presence of Gabriel quote on quote always watching aka Marinette's excuse, or how Thomas thought that letting Chloe get disowned by her father to live with her emotionally abusive & neglectful mother was a good idea.

You think that Zoe, who dealt with the same emotional neglect by their mother, would say something about Chloe living with their mother, but she doesn't because the writers couldn't afford good writing skills.

I can mention more. However, I'm so tired of Miraculous constant terribleness that I don't want to watch and think about this show for a while.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Glad you found that AU idea fascinating! Its probably my most well developed conceptually even if the plot structure is a mess XD Also slight correction it should have been Six-Teen Heroes cos pun.

The team is: Dragon - Kagami Tiger - Juleka Snake - Luka Horse - Nino Bee - Chloe Fox - Lila

Marinette will eventually get the Mouse, but Mullo divided themselves into several thousand when escaping Scarlet Sovereign (Gabriel) and took awhile to both come back together & pick a user.

There's some noted shifts in some of the powers because of both the changed circumstances & adapted world building/story needs.

Horse can do solo teleports, not just portals. Mouse can duplicate itself or multiply other things. Tiger is more like manufacturing an explosion via chemical reaction. Dragon is mostly the same, but it can channel lesser attacks through the sword. Snake is literal, you only get 1 second chance not infinite, but you also get excellent premonition. Bee can 'subjugate' objects, essentially imbuing them with magic that lets Chloe command & direct them. Turtle can make its wearer vastly more durable rather than just shields & also create a wider variety of protections and traps. Fox is a bit iffy, I keep oscillating on either it being able to tap into people's minds to make mirages, or to super charge illusions and make them real.

Also users can utilize their powers several times (Barring Second Chance) if they do more small scale versions of them. But doing so reduces their overall energy pool, meaning they may not be able to do a full power version.

For example:

Bee can sting five enemies for one minute, or one enemy for five minutes, or command objects more easily than it can bind living foe, ETC.

Horse can single person teleport and depending of mix of distance can do this many times, but long distances or too many & they become unable to open a portal.

NOTES:

Some other factors I like for the AU:

The Kwmai while not malevolent do have their own morals, ideals or goals not totally aligned with Fu's. Though all want to free their family. This informs some of their choices.

Tomoe Tsurugi has the butterfly and is opposed to Gabriel but is not on the Heroes side, if anything she wants to take them over or take their Miraculous. This is also why Kagami is in Paris early.

Lila was picked cos she's good at spinning lies at the drop of a hat & Trixx is amused. But Trixx also primarily uses the truth to manipulate people & is trying to basically trick Lila into genuine heroism.

There's a much stronger focus on trying to reduce civilian causalities in this AU as there is no Miracle Cure available. So the team tends to be divided up into the main fighters & emergency evacuation/defense.

Scarlet Sovereign mostly uses what he calls Charm Constructs at first & later upgrades to "Shikigami". The former involve using a charm to transform a mundane objects into an automaton, while the latter is basically creating a quasi magic 'spirit' to fight for him.

Debating Audrey having the Peacock and doing her own thing with a fixed version, or otherwise being a problem too, but not sure.

One theme I want to explore is how secret identity and powers affects behavior.

Like Chloe as Queen Bee is much more responsible and respectable, but this does not bleed over into her civilian life for awhile. Or how Juleka feels so confident as Tigress she gives up on pursuing Rose as herself & tries to do so as a hero exclusively. Or how Nino is not above utilizing the Horse for more childish or selfish ends, but also sort of questions if power corrupts, ETC.

All of them have identity, self esteem, trauma or behavioral issues is what I am getting at XD

Oh dope!

[exammole]

Link to Miraculous master thread here, polishing my rewrite of Season 0 and the Magic System

I'm slowly beginning to get reinvested in this rewrite, so I wanted to update my Season 0 plans. I only will be explaining the changes relating to the previous posts linked above, so make sure you read them.

Paragraphs highlighted in red relate to the Miraculous, ones highlighted in green relate to the story/characters

The origins of the Miraculous remain the same, they're made by Gimme and given form by the mage guy in the comic. In the original drafts of this rewrite I was keeping the Chinese Miracle Box, but I've decided to remove every single one but Barkk. Having twelve Kwami in the story makes everything too crowded and takes away screen time from the OG's. So in the rewrites current version, only the main seven survived the Guardian Temple's destruction.

Bringing up Barkk, I ended up changing the name of her power from Adoration to Location. Barkk isn't one of the main seven Kwami Fu saved from the Temple's destruction, but instead who's Miraculous was recreated in modern day by Lila. (I tried so hard to give this power to Fluff you don't even know 😭😭😭)

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this part, but in the Season 0 post I mentioned the mage who created the Miraculous passed down his magic to his children, and to theirs, and that was the new origins of the Order. Lila is a descendant of that mage, meaning she can both read Miraculous texts and create new Kwami.

Shown in the Magic System post, I gave a rundown through each Kwami's power, but I'm feeling like the way I wrote them down was too intricate and boring, so here is the updated definitions:

Tikki - Creation - Can create anything

Plagg - Destruction - Can destroy anything

Nooroo - Transmission - Can send anything

Wayzz - Protection - Can protect anything

Trixx - Perception - Can project anything

Pollen - Action - Can move anything

Duusu - Emotion - Can change anything

Barkk - Location - Can track anything

In this updated version, any power the user can think of that relates to the Kwami's concept, they can have that power. The catch is that the user can only use that one power forever. Using Tikki as an example, you could manifest the power of Creation as creating any object, or you could make little minions, or maybe you could fix damaged objects.

For the sake of the plot, these powers can't infringe on another active Kwami's magic, so you can't manifest the powers as to reveal a users identity (mostly due to Quantum masking), nor could you nullify or prevent another's power.

The Prodigious in my rewrite stays the same, the Guardians wanted to see if they could make Miraculous on their own and created a highly volatile and unsafe object, so they sealed it away with the help of the Mages and Gimmie. The Prodigious allows the user to transform into eight different animals correlating with different values. if you're motivated by the virtue you can transform safely, but if not, you will get your life force drained (kinda like what happened to Gabriel when he didn't feed his Kwami's) and die horrifically or something.

Since the Dragon Kwami doesn't exist anymore, I'm thinking of giving the Prodigious to Kagami instead of Fei Wu, this gives me an excuse to give Tomoe an actual motive, that in return of kick starting Gabriel's fame, he'll give her the Prodigious for power. And then we can repeat mirror the Adrien/Cat Noir, Gabriel/Hawkmoth dynamic with Kagami and Tomoe.

Kagami isn't an amok anymore, but Adrien still is. Felix and his whole side of the family have been cut, and Emilie is a non-royal, only child now. Alike my Season 0 rewrite, Fu gave Marianne the Butterfly Miraculous to help her fight during Frances occupation, never got it back because he ran off as soon as he heard of Marianne's engagement, X years passed and she gave birth to Gabi Grassette, and his dad gave him the Butterfly Miraculous after she died.

Because I like to give characters unnecessary connections; Gabriel, Natalie and Emilie all attended Francoise Dupont as children, and the old Grassette family home is the now the Boulangerie Patisserie.

Atm I've left character backstories on hold, however since I've pretty much done an yet-to-be-updated Marinette's, maybe I'll post that soon. I'm also trying to figure out the villain order, I'll be shifting and rewriting villains from different seasons into the first one, but that's all for a later date. Sorry for the break, if you have any questions I'm free to ask :P

Edit: Changed the colour of a few paragraphs, mb

[celestiall0tus]

I like to imagine that your verison dragon's second power, which if remember correctly you said was nature manipulation (which I like to refer to as Gaea), allows the user to control all nature, meaning plant life, the elements, weather, animals, and even natural disasters.

Kinda. Let me grab a little something:

I'll be using Ryuko from Miraculous AU for this

The holder has a default form. They don't have access to many powers aside from Form Shift. It's once form shift is used that shit gets interesting

With Form Shift, the holder can change form to a specific element, which sticks to the basics of nature, not including light and dark. These forms are air, water, nature, and fire.

With these specific forms, the holder has complete control of that element and it's very dangerous. For example, air form the holder can create tornados, dangerous high winds, and even steal the air from someone's lungs. Water form gets control over water and ice. Fire can destroy anything and everything. Nature can cause earthquakes, grow forests from nothing and destroy a city, and so much more.

Activation Phrases

Transformation: "Longg, Ascension"

Power: Form Shift

Now that brings me to Mylene in Salvation. I haven't designed her other forms yet, but she has the same powers as Ryuko in Miraculous AU. The difference comes when Avatar state is achieved. The avatar is completely connected to the planet, knowing everything that is done, the pain, everything. It's in Avatar form they are truly a force as they have access to all control whereas holders can only control one element at a time. Making them a true goddess of the earth.

Activation Phrases

Transformation: "Longg, Ascension"

Power: Form Shift

Now we have Rose as Cinders from Separate Worlds. Her powers are currently being reworked.

Activation Phrases

Transformation: "Longg, Ascension"

Power: None/Innate

Presenting Mylene as Drakon in All That Remained. Her power is like the other dragons before her, form shift and nature manipulation.

Activation Phrases

Transformation: "Longg, Ascension"

Power: Form Shift

Kagami is back as the dragon in Paradise as Delphyne. This is the first of the dragons that won't have different forms. Matching the strength of the other holders, she has full access to manipulate all that is nature, meaning nature itself, water, and wind, but no fire.

Activation Phrases

Transformation: "Longg, Ascension"

Power: Magna

Me not realizing that I had forgotten to add this onto the dragon page. Anyway, I present Marinette in Amaranthine as Nimue. She retains the nature manipulation the way Delphyne does in Paradise, but with the addition of fire. However, as Nimue, the powers are used in a more benevolent manner.

Guenevere, where Longg is in control, uses the mastery over nature in destruction ways. Mainly due to her seeking to kill Atropa.

As Mordred, Marinette and Longg in perfect sync, have true mastery over all elements and uses them in helpful and destructive ways.

Activation Phrases:

Transformation: "Longg, Ascension"

Power: None/Innate

Zoe as Wyvern in Siren's Song. Her powers will mirror that of Nimue, Amaranthine!Marinette.

Activation Phrases:

Transformation: "Longg, Ascension"

Power: Sunder

Mylene of Court of Miracles. Firstly, I still fucking love her design. Secondly, she is a Midborn, the first of them to be shown. Her powers include:

Natural Disaster Manipulation

Environment Manipulation

Absolute Control of Nature

[minorcharactertournament]

Who is the Best Minor Character?

Here is the bracket for Best Minor Character, Round 1 begins Monday, February 20, 3pm EST.

Further information regarding character sources, matches, and schedules, is in the read more.

MATCHES AND SCHEDULE

ROUND 1 Left (1-8) / Monday, February 20, 3:30pm EST Match 1: Cabbage Merchant (ATLA) vs Hot Dog Vendor (Madness Combat) Match 2: Gorn Captain (Star Trek: TOS) vs Charlotte (JJBA) Match 3: Morshu (Zelda: CDI) vs Old Joe (BrBa) Match 4: Midori Ōmama (Nichijou) vs Shin Amon (Yakuza) Match 5: Franco (Professor Layton) vs Fred the Fish (Spongebob) Match 6: Steve (Owl House) vs Associate Crow Lord (Dragon Prince) Match 7: Araya Kagami (AI:TSF) vs Tangle (Splatoon) Match 8: Gashloog (Invader Zim) vs Addison(s) (Deltarune)

Right (9-16) / Tuesday, February 21, 3pm EST Match 9: Tad Strange (Gravity Falls) vs Supportive Shade (Hades) Match 10: Willow Hood (Star Wars) vs Padparadscha Sapphire (SU) Match 11: Stoop Kid (Hey Arnold!) vs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Hamlet) Match 12: Signal Lancer (Transformers) vs EnEn (Precure) Match 13: Natsuo Todoroki (BNHA) vs Noid (Disco Elysium) Match 14: Bucky the Chicken Devil (CSM) vs Makino (One Piece) Match 15: Barry the Chopper (FMA) vs String Theory (Worm) Match 16: Ron DeLite (Ace Attorney) vs Royal Guard 01 & 02 (Undertale) ...and again!

ROUND 2 + LOSERS R1 Left (1-4) / Wednesday, February 22, ~7pm EST Match 1: Cabbage Merchant (ATLA) vs Gorn Captain (Star Trek) Match 2: Morshu (Zelda) vs Midori Ōmama (Nichijou) Match 3: Fred the Fish (Spongebob) vs Steve (Owl House) Match 4: Tangle (Splatoon) vs Addison(s) (Deltarune) Left Losers (L1-L4) (I mislabeled them) Match 3: Hot Dog Vendor (MadCom) vs Charlotte (JJBA) Match 4: Old Joe (BrBa) vs Shin Amon (Yakuza) Match 1: Franco (Layton) vs Associate Crow Lord (Dragon Prince) Match 2: Araya Kagami (AITSF) vs Gashloog (Invader Zim)

Right (5-8) / Thursday, February 23, ~7pm EST Match 5: Tad Strange (Gravity Falls) vs Padparadscha Sapphire (SU) Match 6: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Hamlet) vs EnEn (Precure) Match 7: Noid (Disco Elysium) vs Bucky the Chicken Devil (CSM) Match 8: Barry the Chopper (FMA) vs Ron DeLite (Ace Attorney) vs Royal Guards 01 & 02

Right Losers (L5-L8) Match 7: Supportive Shade (Hades) vs Willrow Hood (Star Wars) Match 6: Stoop Kid (Hey Arnold!) vs Signal Lancer (Transformers) Match 5: Natsuo Todoroki (BNHA) vs Makino (One Piece) Match 8: String Theory (Worm) vs Northern Cardinal (Wingspan)

ROUND 3 + LOSERS R2 / Friday, February 24, ~8pm EST Left (1-2) Match 1: Cabbage Merchant (ATLA) vs Midori Ōmama (Nichijou) Match 2: Steve (Owl House) vs Tangle (Splatoon) Left Losers (1-2) Match 1: Charlotte (JJBA) vs Old Joe (Breaking Bad) Match 2: Franco (Professor Layton) vs Gashloog (Invader Zim)

Left (1-2) Match 3: Tad Strange (Gravity Falls) vs EnEn (Precure) Match 4: Noid (Disco Elysium) vs Ron DeLite (Ace Attorney) Right Losers (1-2) Match 4: Supportive Shade (Hades) vs Signal Lancer (Transformers) Match 3: Natsuo Todoroki (BNHA) vs Northern Cardinal (Wingspan)

ROUND 4 + LOSERS MERGE / Saturday, February 25, ~9pm EST Left (1-2) Match 1: Gashloog (Invader Zim) vs Cabbage Merchant (ATLA) Match 2: Steve (Owl House) vs Miss Charlotte (JJBA) Right (1-2) Match 3: Northern Cardinal (Wingspan) vs Tad Strange (Gravity Falls) Match 4: Noid (Disco Elysium) vs Supportive Shade (Hades)

ROUND 4 Results / Sunday, February 26, 9pm EST

SEMI-FINALS / Monday, February 27, 3pm EST R4M1 Winner vs R4M2 Winner R4M3 Winner vs R4M4 Winner

FINALS / Tuesday, February 28 ~7pm EST R5M1 Winner vs R5M2 Winner

RESULTS / Wednesday, March 1

Example of what final bracket should look like, I didn't include the losers bracket in the second image to not over-complicate.

ROSTER

(First image, from left to right, top to bottom)

Cabbage Merchant (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Hotdog Vendor (Madness Combat)

Franco (Professor Layton and the Curious Village)

Fred the Fish (Spongebob Squarepants)

Tad Strange (Gravity Falls)

Supportive Shade (Hades)

Natsuo Todoroki (Boku no Hero Academia)

Noid (Disco Elysium)

Gorn Captain (Star Trek: The Original Series)

Charlotte (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 6: Stone Ocean)

Steve (The Owl House)

Associate Crow Lord, formerly Crow Master (Dragon Prince)

Willrow Hood (Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back)

Padparadscha Sapphire (Steven Universe)

Bucky the Chicken Devil (Chainsaw Man)

Makino (One Piece)

Morshu (Zelda CDI/Link: The Faces of Evil)

Old Joe/Junkyard Joe (Breaking Bad)

Araya Kagami (AI: The Somnium Files)

Tangle (Splatoon)

Stoop Kid (Hey Arnold!)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Hamlet)

Barry the Chopper (Fullmetal Alchemist)

String Theory (Worm)

Midori Ōomama (Nichijou)

Shin Amon (Yakuza/Judgement)

Gashloog (Invader Zim)

Addisons (Deltarune)

Signal Lancer (Transformers: Cybertron)

EnEn (Pretty Cure All Stars)

Ron DeLite (Ace Attorney)

Royal Guard 01 & Royal Guard 02 (Undertale)

[kneesrntus]

Kind of a hot take… but I don’t think Adrien or Kagami are sentimonsters.

Adrien:

At first I thought I was just in denial about the whole thing (which I’m sure some of us are) but as I’m rewatching the show, I stumbled upon the Gorizilla episode. Gabriel believes that Adrien is Chat Noir, and is pretty certain about it, even when Adrien jumps off the building. It’s not until Adrien Wayhem (? Probably spelled his name wrong) are seen together that he decides they aren’t the same person.

Gabriel has had the rings the entire show, (until Felix steals one of the rings in season 3, but that’s irrelevant for the Gorizilla episode) If Adrien was really a sentimonster, couldn’t Gabriel have just told him to transform as soon as he suspected it? Told him to transform as he literally was falling off a building with ladybug trapped? What about instead of sending Gorizilla out, searching the entire city, couldn’t he just have used the Graham rings to order Adrien home? Sure he could have been trying to use Gorizilla’s frustration to gain the miraculous but he could have sent Gorizilla on a goose chase and ordered Adrien home at the same time.

I have more thoughts and examples but I’ll include them in another post

Kagami:

Im not as convinced for Kagami not being a sentimonster as I am with Adrien, so if season six comes out and she is one, please don’t come after me 💀

We obviously don’t have as much evidence for her not being a sentimonster as she doesn’t have a large of a role as Adrien (and I haven’t gotten to rewatching season 5 yet) But from what I remember I feel like when they were saying that Felix and Kagami were the same, I think it was meant to be in a more figurative way to match the play they were putting on for Marinette. A way for them to show that they are the same in the way that they both have controlling parents, they want to escape, and their new found love for each other. ( this can also tie back to Adrien NOT being a sentimonster as I feel like they would have added him into the play as he also shares a lot of these traits with the two)

We also don’t know how long Gabriel and Tomoe have known each other. Considering how reserved Gabriel is, I highly doubt he would have given out the peacock miraculous to 2 other people around the same time. Especially since they would have all been in 3 different countries and he wouldn’t have much influence over the other two adults or a way to ensure he would have gotten the miraculous back.

[georgi-girl]

Miraculous Team Trope Page

A list of tropes that apply to the Miraculous Team au created by SonicPossible00 on Deviantart.

Adaptational Expansion (when a work expands on the original story it was based on): Unlike the original series, which revels things little by little, The M Team series reveals it's worldbuilding all at once. It also expands on the Miraculous lore and characters' personal lives.

Adaptational Sexuality: At least five characters so far have come out as gay, while in the original series, they were Ambiguously Bi at the most.

Alpha B*^ch: Chloe Bourgeois aka Queen Bee used to be this, but during the Origins volume she resolve to change for the better. That title is later taken up by her mother Audrey and the original character Jeanne Gagne.

An Ice Person (someone with ice powers) : Sabrina Raincomprix aka Louve Gris has ice breath, a reference to wolf howls.

Art Attacker (someone who uses art as a weapon) : Nathanal Katzinburg aka Panda Roux has the power to bring drawings to life, which he uses to make weapons and tools.

Badass Normal (a non-super person whose still a competent fighter): The Parisian Police force are portrayed as this. They protect people from Akuma attack and hold off said Akuma until the Team arrives. Ladybug makes a point of praising them whenever she and her team mates are interviewed.

Bespectacled Cutie: The M Team gives us 4 examples of this: Confident Alya, sweet Sabrina, Nerdy Max and Laidback Nino.

Beware the Nice Ones: Applies to the M Team. They're all sweet kids. But they're also well-trained living weapons who will clobber the heck out of wrongdoers. Also applies to most Akuma victims; otherwise normal people who've been pushed over the edge by one too many a-holes.

Big Brother Instinct (protective siblings): Marinette Dupain-Cheng has this for her friend Manon. Nino Lahiffe has this for his brother Chris. Alya Cesaire has it for her three sisters. And the Couffaine siblings Luka and Juleka have it for each other.

Brainwashed and Crazy: This is the simplest way to describe Akumazation.

Broken Ace (an otherwise successful person who harbors a secret agony) This applies to Adriens' father Gabriel Agreste. He's a rich fashion designer, he's raising a remarkable son, and he's got super loyal employees. But he's also deeply paranoid and in constant morning for his late wife Emilie. If it wasn't for said son and employees supporting him, he might be worse off than in canon.

"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!" (a battle cry to activate a superhero's transformation, named after He-Man's famous battle cry): To turn into their superhero selves, The team members must say their kwami's name followed by "Transform Moi!" The transformation also fuses them with their kwami and brings out hidden parts of their personality.

Color - Animal Codename: Corbie Noir, Panda Roux, Louve Gris, etcetera.

Costume Porn - SonicPossible gives very detailed descriptions of characters' outfits, especially the hero and akuma costumes.

Creepy Good: Juleka Couffaine aka Corbie Noir looks like a steriotypical goth but is very kind-hearted and life affirming.

Defrosting The Ice Queen (when an cold aloof character becomes friendlier over time) : This is a big part of Chloe's and Kagami's character arcs.

Eldritch Location - The Garden of Ancients is a benevolent example of this, being a bubble universe that runs on Narnia Time, which the heroes use as a training ground.

Epic Speeches: Ladybug often gives these to her teammates right before a big fight. They often contain multiple pop-culture references.

Expy: A new character based on an existing character of a real person. SonicPossible00 has a lot of oc's like this. For example, jerky M Team-hating blogger Amboise Delay is an expy of real-life jerky businessman Donald Trump.

Fanservice: As the series progresses, there are more and more intimant moments between couples. AND BEFORE ANYONE GETS MAD; number 1, nobody has gone past second base, and number 2, the age of consent in France is 15, so everything is legal.

Heart Is a Great Power (when a seemingly useless power ends up saving the day) : Ladybug doesn't have her Lucky Charm in this AU, so her Sixth Sense isn't as flashy as the others' powers. She still figures out genus battle plans with knowledge gained not only from the environment, but from her childhood memories. Likewise Queen Bee was initially disappointed with her "lame" shrinking power, until Sabrina points out it's many benefits.

Karma Houdini (a character who isn't punished for their bad behavior) : Chloe and her mother Audrey are this, which makes their redemption arcs kind of hard to root for. You have to dig deep into your religious teaching to forgive them.

Lonely Rich Kid: Adrien Agreste and Kagami Tsuragi are this. As is Chloe to a lesser extant.

Magical Girls; And Magical Boys. Both this and canon have a lot of Mahou Shoujo elements.

Maniacal Laughter - Almost every villain does this. It's actual surprising when they don't.

Manipulative Bastard: Hawk Moth is this to a T. They way he talks to potential victims is eerily reminesent of a p%&0phile talking to children.

Mentor Mascot: The Kwamis. On top of being cute, these animal spirits have 4000 years' worth of knowledge to impart on their holders.

Meta Humor - References to canon are often made in the form of a joke or hypothetical "what if" discussion, usually to point out differences between the two series.

Mythical Motif - Many of Hawk Moth's akumas are based on mythical of fantastical figures; Ra, Aphrodite, The Leprechaun, Ifrits, etc.

Nice To The Waiter (a high-ranking person treating a server as an equal): Chloe Bourgeois, of all people is this. She frequently reminds her butler Jean to call her Chloe instead of 'Miss Chloe'. Adrien Agreste and rock star Jagged Stone are this too.

No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The team often combine their powers to deliver this to the Akumas they fight, justified since the best way to deakumatize someone is to knock them unconscious.

Non-Human Mascot: The Kwamis count as this, although neither they nor their holders see them as 'sidekicks'.

Oblivious To Love: Everyone knows about Marinette's and Adrien's secret crushes on each other, except Marinette and Adrien. Then there's Kim Le Chien and Alix Kubdel, who aren't even aware of their own feelings.

Older Than They Look - Master Fu looks 80 at the most, but he's really over 150. Hawk Moth looks middle aged, but is over 200 years old.

Personality Powers (when superpowers match your personality) : Artsy Nathanael can bring drawings to life, goth Juleka can control shadows, big tough Ivan has super strength, timid Mylene has invisibility, Athletes Kim and Alix have giant leaps and super speed respectively.

Power of Teamwork: Combined with the powers of Love and Friendship. The kids plan things out as a team, fight the bad guys as a team, and protect each other as a team.

Protective Kids : All the M Team members are protective of their parents. This is most noticeable in the volume Haute Couture where Chat Noir goes out of his way to protect his dad from the title villain. And in Valentine Lovers where Ladybug does the same with her parents.

Purple is Powerful: There a villainous example in Hawk Moth, who wear all purple, and two heroic examples in Max Kante aka Arachnid and Corbie Noire.

Red is Heroic: Team Leader Ladybug wear all red, as does team member Panda Roux.

Rich B*^ch: Chloe was this before deciding to be a better person. Original Character Jeanne Gagne and her "diamond dogs" still are.

Running Gag (a joke that's repeated throughout a narrative): Aside from the meta humor, there are many scenes of characters spacing out, making a bad pun or 'blushing like a tomato'.

Scenery Porn: Whenever a scene takes place in a certain area of Paris, SP will take a few paragraphs to explain the area's history and significance.

Slasher Smile - Goes with the Maniacal Laughter.

Shipper On Deck (when a character in-universe roots for two characters to get together) : Everyone (even Chloe eventually) ship Adrien and Marinette, and later, they all ship Kim and Alix. Not to mention the team is shipped every every which way by their fans.

Shock and Awe (lightning powers): Hawk Moth has a cattle prod built into his cane, which he uses to torture his lieutenants whenever they fail.

Slinging Shadows (shadow powers): Juleka Couffaine aka Corbie Noir has this power.

Social Darwinist (someone who thinks "Survival of the Fittest" is the same as "Might Makes Right"): Hawk Moth and his lieutenants are this; constantly making speeches about power and the strong ruling the weak.

Stereotype Flip (when a character subverts whatever stereotype is associated with their race, gender, religion, ect.): Chloe and Rose both subvert the Dumb Blonde stereotype, Marinette and Kim, both subvert Asian stereotypes, Max Alya and Nino all subvert Black stereotypes, Miss Caline Bustier subverts the "Teachers are Useless" stereotype, and almost everyone subverts the "Snooty French" stereotype.

Superpowered Evil Side: Being Akumatized is a lot like having a split personality: you black out, go on a magical rampage, and wake up with no memory of what happened.

Taken For Granite (being turned to stone): This version of Hawk Moth spent 200 years as a marble statue before being freed at the beginning of the series.

Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: If it weren't for Hawk Moth, all the teammates would have to worry about is grades, growing up, and romance.

Violently Protective Girlfriend: All the female teammates fight tooth and nail to protect their love interests.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: The villain known as The Collector started out as this. He went downhill very quickly.

World Half-Full (a world with lots of problems but also hopeful): Paris, and the Earth in general, are portrayed as this. Yes, there's a lot of awful, unredeemable people and tragic events, but there's also lots of good people worth protecting.

More tropes to be added as the series progresses.

[distinguished-slacker]

My opinion on Yuu becoming a villain

(NOTE: This is just my opinion and I am not writing this to fight the opinions of those who like the writing or Yuu’s character but rather to simply express my thoughts.)

Sooo…am I the only one who simply does not like villain Yuu? It’s not because he is a villain, but rather the way he is written as one and how he came to be one is what bugs me.

I feel like more scenes were needed during his transition to a villain, showing Yuu feeling broken to separate from everyone than what just the manga has shown us. For example, Yuu and Ashera’s friendship is one which the manga has focused on developing a lot, from the standard demon-human one to actual friends who will support each other. Ashera calling him a monster and Yuu simply eating him and going “Boy, winning is kinda empty :/” and “Didja eat? :D” is a bit of a disrespectful way to end things from a narrative standpoint. Maybe we could also have had some insight on what Yuu thinks of Guren now? He is(was?) like a father figure to Yuu and yet we had no scenes of them. Or what about Yuu’s head going through memories that he and his squad actually experienced (and that have been previously shown in the manga) instead of the usual one panel flashback with the one pixel faceless squad looking at him from afar with a smiles on their faces. What about when they were in Yuu’s hospital room or when they were eating breakfast together or on top of the car or simply any scene when they were laughing and fooling around? Yuu is basically leaving almost everything that has been a part of his life since the manga started…

Also, Yuu was always shown to have his own mental and emotional issues but still from the beginning until Shibuya arc he was always portrayed as the typical positive mc who simply wants to live a happy life with his family. That’s the kind of character he was. These scenes where he jumps to a cold, indifferent and somewhat manipulative persona with either the smiling face with a shadow on his eyes or a simple monotonous expression feel a bit rushed to me because they only started out in this arc, which at most is one day long in universe. Yuu never acted like this before (never to this extent or a hint of it) and so his character displaying this side of his in some scenes within a couple of hours window before his big massive villain arc makes it come off as forced in my opinion. I don’t know whether he wasn’t like this before and an event that happened in this arc made his personality twist more or he simply was like that all this time and just hid it, but it just leaves me with the question about what is that ‘something’ that happened that lead to Yuu showing this side of his. Why now and not before in his 16 years of life? Is it the trauma of Mika’s death or perhaps Guren’s betrayal? Is it just all the drugs he took during these months finally taking a toll on his mental health? Without the elaboration on this aspect of his character, it just feels like these kind of scenes came out just because, to make Yuu look cool, and consequently I’m left with the impression that Yuu’s villain arc doesn’t feel natural, and rather it happened because it had to happen, because villain arcs are badass and the fans will love it. Now, this at least has the advantage of mystery and we will probably get the elaboration of Yuu’s character in the future (similar to how when Eren became the villain and we didn’t know his reasons until later in the manga) but the rest of my points are still standing.

But it’s not only the lack of emotional scenes during this transition and the lack of scenes expanding on Yuu’s personality transformation, the build up before this arc is also insufficient and the chapters feel like they were written as if Kagami just had to go quick and cover all the points before making Yuu the villain: Yuu finally makes Mika his demon, then quick win against the one who was supposed to be the most important villain so far (Shikama) to move him to the sidelines of the plot (basically so the title of villain is available for Yuu to take it), then we get a chapter where Yuu sparks conflict by asking Guren if he killed his family, then the next one we have Yuu forgiving Guren because of family uwu, then we have Guren cornering Yuu again so the betrayal hits harder, then we have an emotional Tepes siblings flashback so Yuu can then go and get rid of Ashera, and now we end with villain Yuu arc, all these chapters being placed next to each other, occurring in the span of less than one year. It’s like Kagami’s main goal was to make Yuu the villain and so he had to tick all the boxes, even though some of these boxes were events that actually needed their own focus, time and writing dedication.

Now, the biggest reason why it’s hard for me to root for Yuu is how the narrative treats him. Basically, it’s no different from before, just that now he finally has the complete freedom of doing what he wants, which is the worst thing. None of what he did makes Mika happy, and yet instead of finally creating some conflict it’s played off as a joke, again. He was lead 15 floors underground so that he could not escape, yet he just shooting star-ed all those 15 roofs into the ground floor and got outside. He defeated Ashera like nothing despite his own demon, his source of power, refusing to give him power, and escaped this easily despite being drugged and surrounded by nobles, who apparently did not react quick enough to his escape. He is never on the losing side for more than one chapter. He just gets one power up after another, basically like always, and now because he is the villain his power ups can get even more ridiculous. It’s like giving a child a weapon, a very big, dangerous weapon no one can fight against. Plus apparently now he thinks he is capable of coming up with his own strategy against people who are smarter than him, have more information than him and know the facts, and had years or even centuries of planning. Some people say Yuu is smart, but I really don’t think so. Whatever thing Yuu did in the story that people considered smart, in the end it’s just your plain everyday common sense, which since Yuu most of the time does not seem not have, whenever he actually shows it it can be confused as smartness. He displays some manipulation capacity, but he is definitely not at the same level as someone like Shikama or Mahiru. The candle riddle was one time he showed to be smart, but overall all the brain he has shown so far in the manga is not enough for him to suddenly be an intelligent villain and make it feel natural. Besides, he does not have any knowledge of spellcraft or Latin; even if he gets some books for research he won’t understand them. The only possibility for him to get actual info is if he allies with someone who has it, but apparently he doesn’t want anything to do with Shikama or Guren. Even if he allies with someone else, he would automatically be working under them, so it really wouldn’t feel as Yuu following his own path as he would just simply change bosses. Honestly, the only way Yuu can achieve his goal is if Kagami pulls a Deus Ex Machina, and we all know what that entails.

So my conclusion is that the story wasn’t ready for Yuu to become a villain and that neither Yuu is ready to live up to being a villain, as he needs more than just power.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

“Marinette gets punished for every little mistake, it’s so unfair, give the girl a break!”,Marinette: Gets away with stalking Adrien, stealing his phone, breaking and entering, even gets rewarded with a seat next to him at the movie premiere right after she tried to humiliate Kagami.

Look, nobody’s trying to say that those things Marinette did weren’t bad, but when I, and by extension, a lot of fans say that Marinette gets screwed over a lot, I’m referring to her being punished for things that were clearly beyond her control. 

Yes, the examples you listed were clearly bad, and I think Marinette should have faced consequences for those, but there have been multiple episodes designed to punish Marinette for minor mistakes or humiliate her for comedy, because Astruc believes episodes like “Backwarder” are the pinnacle of humor.

Hell, the past two season finales basically revolved around Marinette suffering a major loss because she made a minor slip-up that led to everything going wrong (Her going to see Master Fu while transformed and trusting someone she thought was Adrien while under Risk’s influence), so it’s kind of understandable why people side with Marinette on a lot of things when the show constantly blames her for everything that goes wrong because she’s tangentially related to causing the problems, especially with Cat Blanc.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Talks: ML Season 4 Retrospective: Episodic to Serialization

(Season 4 Retrospective Post series)

(Heads up i will be discussing season 4 so some spoilers will be involved)

The Timeline

To be an episodic a show must have each episode on its own have a standalone story. Now that doesnt mean some things cant be overarching themes. But for the most part, the key difference is that someone walking into a random episode can quickly figure out whats going on and what each character wants while not needing to have some sort of context

In season 1 of Miraculous Ladybug it is pretty much a fact that it is episodic. It has Marinette doing something that involves some sort of problem, there is an akuma attack that may or may not be related, Marinette transforms into ladybug to fight crime with her partner Chat noir. They defeat the akuma, and Marinette is able to learn a lesson or solve the problem she was facing. Lather rinse repeat.

Now up until the season one finale and Origins. Anyone could pop into a random episode without any context and figure out everything they need to know to enjoy the episode.

There were some character introductions that occured in the season but they aren't necessary.

For all intents and purposes, it was optional in understanding. Miraculous Ladybug in its first season was Episodic.

Now Season 2 was the start of needing some previous season knowledge. One needed to know that Adrien found a tome from his father's safe in Volpina and that Ladybug met the one that handed out the miraculous to her and Chat noir.

Season two is what I like to call the "Dipping the toes in Serialization". Because while the introduction of the guardian was a huge step... it wasnt always needed to be known when you were watching an episode in season 2. Now compared to last season there are more important episodes that while the episodes tell a typical monster of the week story, there is more going on that one needs to understand. The introduction of Kagami and Luka show that the love square has more complications... but they are only needed to be known for one episode (Frozer). The introduction of Rena Rouge, Carapace and Queen bee, are other examples of needing some additional context. The episode sandboy in which Gabriel learns about the guardian and we learn about how many more miraculous there are.

But despite all of those developments, similar to season 1, missing a chunk of episodes wouldn't leave the watcher in too much confusion, maybe missing a piece or two at most. But the formula is still very much the same. But the season did start the trend of overarching plots that brought more to the story should someone continue. But the truth is, it only applied to some episodes while others it didnt.

This is what I like to call the Mostly-Episodic era of ML. Since there is only some things that make people question certain things, the status quo is still very much intact and one could watch an episode like Prime Queen and an episode like Gorizilla and grasp whats happening.

Of course the season 2 finale does introduce us to the newest threat, Mayura. But for everything else, the status quo is still intact.

Now we enter season 3, Or as I like to call the Semi-Episodic era. This is where knowledge from the previous seasons starts becoming more of a requirement. Chameleon re-introduces Lila (who was in the season 1 finale) and has her become a bigger player this season. Chloé's actions from season 2 impact how the heroes treat her and how they are trying to not give her a miraculous this time around. The love rivals introduced in season 2 that had maybe one episode are now much more prominent and have episodes dedicated to the love rival ships. And the episode feast reveals what happened to the guardians, (a mystery that has been in the air since the start of season 2). Now this was also the time when the airing of episodes out of production order actually started to become a concern, as season 3 could be divided into two sections, Pre-Feast and Post-Feast. Because after Feast, Fu's identity was discovered and he couldnt risk staying in one place, constantly having to move about just in case hawkmoth started snooping. While opinions on the episode vary, many fans would agree this was the point where episodes could be seen as more and less episodic, as information needed to be kept track of, did Hawkmoth know if a certain character was picked? What miraculous was used at this time? Where was Fu? How far has the love rival ship progressed and how does it impact the dynamic.

It is at this point that if someone picked a random episode in season 3 they would likely need more things answered. But there were plenty of stand alone episodes, such as Oblivio, Reflekdoll, Stormy weather 2.0 (a clip show but it does answer questions so...) Animaestro, and so on.

It is also known that Season 3 was one of the more divisive seasons in ML and I think it is partially due to this Half and Half method of the show. Its clear that the show wants to go fully serialized but still fears losing the appeal that comes with being episodic. But looking at this as a stepping stone for the next season does bring more into perspective. The Season 3 finale is the most status quo altering episode to this point. It has Fu removed as the guardian and Places Ladybug as the guardian, it has Chloé's status as hero or villain officially decided, it also puts an end to the whole dangers of the peacock miraculous and even puts the love square on ice as Marinette and Adrien decide to date the love rival characters. This was the start of the Serialization of ML.

_____________________________________________________________

ML and Serialzation

Serialization means engagement with a story and its characters and sustaining change over time.

ML season 4 starts with an entirely new status quo. Marinette is the official guardian of the miraculous. It is there were character dynamics, development and story lines start really going into full swing.

Only one episode takes a step away from the progression of the plot. Psychomedian (It also one of the most loved episodes of that season)

Season 4 starts right on the bat with Truth and Lies. Giving perspectives on Adrien and Marinette's lives now with Fu out of the picture. We see Marinette struggle with her responsibility of being a guardian. We see relationships fall apart, and thats just the first two episodes.

Gang of secrets also dropped a bombshell, Alya learning that Marinette is Ladybug!

The episode after that introduced Ladybug's new power, and so on.

Each episode had some new addition or change that made alterations to the status quo, Some changes bigger than others. But this was the big change in season 4. A lot of complaints this time was more around how things were handled and the random episodes airing at different times (the later of which is not the shows fault.)

Now I think the complaints are mainly because people are not use to judging the season as an overarching narrative. A lot of season 4 episode endings and plots can seem lukewarm of even lacking in some regards compared to the endings of other season episodes and that is by design. Season 4 has a lot of plot threads and most of those threads are present in the episodes as they progress, so when they havent been resolved, they do make the episode seem less fulfilling. (Plotlines such as the Ladynoir conflict, but thats for another post.)

The best way to judge season 4 is not episode by episode, but as a whole, because the journey starts with Marinette being the new guardian and ends with Ladybug and Chat noir on the roof staring down Hawkmoth who has a lot more powers now.

Now remembering that, I can say that ML season 4 didnt take a massive risk when it was transitioning to full serialization, it was slowly walking to reach this point. It was setting its viewers up to reach this point. I can say that the method it did it was... shaky, but the end result is that season 4 of ML had more of the stakes and drama that I felt was missing for most of the show, it was exciting to see how things were progressing and rewatching episodes with the full context of the season adds a new level of depth. But it also means that episodes in the season do feel a bit less filling and more hollow as a result.

So for the fans that liked the episodic nature where they didnt need to over analyze and just enjoy a show about a bug heroine and a cat boy beat up baddies and some cute klutzy flirting, that is understandable and I get that the serialization is not for you. But if you wanted ML to take a more mature turn and have things change and develop, its a step in the right direction.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Given all of this kwami swap talk as well as you explaining how nonsensical it was to hand out the exact two Miraculous that Hawkmoth was looking for to the heroes meant to directly fight his akuma, I’d love to pick your brain about how you think the story would’ve gone if Master Fu gave Marinette the canon Dragon Miraculous and Adrien the canon Turtle Miraculous in Origins instead as well as them having Longg and Wayzz respectively to bounce off of from the get-go. Beyond me loving a classic sword-and-shield combo, I figure that this would still give Marinette the leading stance while giving Adrien the defensive stance in battle, which I personally don’t have a problem with when executed well given Adrien’s issues with self-control in deciding when and on what/whom to use Cataclysm and strategizing in general. In addition to that, having Shellter as Adrien’s power and Wayzz as his kwami would force him to take his and his partner’s disposition in battle seriously from the get-go, with Wayzz being heavily implied to be a kwami that prefers to take his time and thoroughly explain what needs to be done, meaning Adrien would have to show Wayzz that he really understands what he needs to do before getting the transformation phrase out of him.

On Marinette’s side of things, Longg is actually canonically confirmed from his first interaction with Kagami to be a kwami that prefers to take his time and thoroughly explain what needs to be done, which would lead to Marinette being calm enough from his explanation of what’s happening and what her job is to actually remember getting Stoneheart’s akuma the first time without any problems. This is especially in comparison to Tikki who, after Marinette tried to run what she said back to her with a clear lack of full understanding and confidence, even saying verbatim “Aww... this is all going too fast, Tikki... I... won't be able to pull this off!”, simply responds with “Trust yourself, Marinette. Just say ‘Spots on’.” without any further clarification or rerun.

Concerning actually cleansing the akuma, since lightning and especially water have far more cleansing symbolism than creation, either could easily act as the purification of akuma. Lightning could either burn away the negative magic corrupting akumas or burn the akuma itself to ash, which would also deplete Hawkmoth’s collection of butterflies at the time (though Marinette probably wouldn’t like the second option since they’re technically living creatures). An alternative would be Water “washing away” the negative magic in the akuma (while I’m mostly sure that akuma have been sent out in the rain before, Wind could be used to dry off the butterflies before they drown/so their wings aren’t damaged in case I’m misremembering and they’re like normal butterflies in that they can’t get wet). I know I specifically asked for your analysis on the canon Miraculous being given out, and while I would still like that I’m okay with fudging the Dragon JUST this much since it already has established advantages over other Miraculous, a minor wielder not detransforming until all three powers are used instead of just one for example. And while the restoration of Miraculous Ladybug would no longer be an option from the jump, I’m honestly cool with that this far into watching the show as it would push the Parisian officials to get off their butts and actually try to solve the magical terrorist issue WITH the heroes instead of expecting them to just manage everything.

You're actually hitting real close to my "fix" for the dragon with the whole sword-and-shield thing because I absolutely think that the dragon and the turtle should have been a matched set of sorts. I don't like the fact that only the ladybug and the black cat get paired up. I want all of the Kwamis to be part of some sort of set (doesn't need to be a set of two! Just a set). However, I don't see how a sword-and-shield combo fits Adrien and Marinette or how this miraculous pairing would work in the context of canon, though that may just be because I'm missing something. I'll give you why this isn't clicking for me and you can do with that what you will. Do not let me stop you from writing this fic or loving this concept! Fan theories are about having fun, not about appealing to me. I'm only giving you all of this because you asked for my thoughts. Don't feel obligated to read it if it makes you sad.

For me, Marinette's defining feature is her creativity and this setup removes that or at least heavily cuts it back. While you can be creative with the dragon's powers, they're basically just elemental speed boosts which isn't useful in most situations unless we're going to allow akumas to get electrocuted now.

The fights would also become a lot less unique as the heroes are now limited to a shield and the three flavors of elemental speed boost. Those aren't exactly the most diverse powersets in the world, especially given that the elemental thing requires you to physically charge in. You're not casting elemental abilities like a wizard. This new setup could still work if you nerfed the butterfly and made it so that the akumas didn't have such a wide variety of powers, but as-is, that doesn't sound like a balanced fight. The heroes feel too heavily disadvantaged and limited, especially given that they're now both close combat style fighters while akumas can still be ranged.

There's also the issue that Marinette isn't suited to close combat fighting. She has no training in any form of combat sport. Between her and Adrien, it seems more logical to give him the dragon, not her. He's the fencer, after all, and the dragon's weapon is that sudo sword baton thing. Adrien's also better suited to close combat fighting in terms of narrative role while removing Marinette's ranged abilities would further undermine her current role.

In terms of fighting styles, canon's setup is that Adrien does close combat and distraction techniques while Marinette sticks to long range attacks so that she has time to think. This is a really solid dynamic because it lets Marinette be creative. Making Marinette a close combat fighter would drastically limit her ability to be creative because you don't have time to be creative when you're doing that style of fighting. Your brain is simply too focused on survival (saying this as someone who fenced for several years). This is why tacticians are usually at the back of the battlefield relaying orders. You don't tend to send them to the front lines if you can help it.

The final issue with Marinette having the dragon in a canon setup is that I really don't think that you can get away with removing the magical reset button that is her ladybug cure. There are simply way too many akumas that cause mass destruction and even implied death. You'd have to massively nerf the akumas for this change to feel reasonable as it's not a minor change in stakes or tone. Akumas like Syren or The Bubbler would be impossible and you can never let anyone get injured because they now had to heal on a normal timeline, meaning that Adrien would probably end up sidelined before the end of season one.

While I get the desire to have the authorities step in and help more, your theory that the officials would work with the heroes doesn't really match what we've seen in canon or what tends to happen in these sorts of stories. The more likely setup is for the officials to work on solving the case without the heroes help or with the heroes only supplying the occasional tip/coming when summoned via something like the bat signal because, generally speaking, what information can the heroes really give them? Plus that setup requires the heroes and the government officials to have some sort of clear and open line of communication or standard meeting cadence, which is pretty risky and also ads at least one adult character who is now a major player in the story. An adult character who has this as their full time job while the teens are in school unless we're aging everyone up and letting the heroes be available during normal business hours or setting the story during summer vacation?

We've mostly focused on the dragon here, so let's take a moment to talk about the turtle. I do like Adrien as a backup user for the turtle, but you'd have to change the turtle up a bit if you wanted to make it his full-time role. Chat Noir is an incredibly dynamic fighter who jumps around the battlefield via a mix of acrobatics and his staff. Carapace's fighting style is much more tanky with him just holding up the shield and watching for opportunities to move in and defend with his power. This makes perfect sense and would be true for any turtle because of the turtle's weapon and power set. A shield is not suited to offense unless you make it work like Captain America's shield where it's a mix between a shield and a boomerang. For a normal shield, throwing it is a one-time use weapon. It's also not an offensive weapon, so Adrien would be heavily limited in terms of how he could fight.

And if we switch the turtle to Marinette? Then we're back to the whole limited-creativity thing. The turtle's power isn't meant for defeating villains. It's meant for protecting allies and civilians. Whoever is wielding it needs to be watching the fight, looking for risks. They can't give most of their attention to plotting how to win.

All that being said, I really like using the dragon and the turtle to flesh out the team. I think the turtle being the third member of the existing team would make total sense as a way to solve Chat Noir's self-sacrifice problem. You could also replace the black cat with the dragon and make it dragon!Adrien, Ladybug, and a turtle holder, but I'm not really seeing a functional version of canon that removes the Ladybug. It would be a wildly different story.

You asked about the Kwamis, too, so let's end on that!

Wayzz and Longg seem like solid mentors who could arguably replace Tikki without massively changing the feel of the story, but I'm hesitant to replace Plagg. Plagg's got one of the strongest personalities in canon and is the source of a lot of comedy to the point where his poor movie treatment upset a lot of people. Straight up removing him and replacing him with more serious Kwami would change that element of canon even more and I don't know if it would be a good change. Plagg and Tikki's opposing personalities give you a lot to work with. Wayzz and Longg would be way less dynamic and interesting as they're both responsible and calm.

We also have to keep in mind that a lot of Tikki and Plagg's flaws come from the fast pace of the show. Tikki rushed Marinette in Origins because the writers wanted to fit everything into 40 minutes and also establish why Marinette needed to cleans the butterflies in every episode, so they had Marinette and Adrien get their miraculous during the first akuma attack and then mess that up to establish the show's stakes. If they'd been given their miraculous even a day earlier, then things would have gone a lot smoother as Tikki would have had time to fully explain things since no one was in danger. This rushed stakes issue would apply to any Kwami who was handed out during an attack. After all, Wayzz and Longg don't exactly get to give Nino and Kagami detailed explanations when they were chosen either. If Adrien got the dragon or the turtle mid-battle, then I picture things going very similar to Kagami getting the dragon:

Longg: Greetings, young lady and good day to you. Fear not, I am Longg, the Dragon Kwami. Kagami: You're a what? Longg: A Kwa-mi... Allow me to tell you about the many feats that a magic being like myself will help you accomplish once the magic words have been spoken. (Kagami puts on the Miraculous) Ladybug has hopes that you will defeat Ikari Gozen with panache, using the element of your choosing. Wind, water or lightning. But firstly, let me tell you about her plan. Kagami: Longg, bring the storm! Longg: Wait! No! Not yet!

After all, that's basically what happened in Origins:

Plagg: Claws out! That's how you transform. Adrien: Got it. Plagg, claws out! Plagg: No, wait! I haven't finished explaining!--- (enters the ring)

[mcheang]

Mood Swings

Inspired by a Kim Possible episode

It was while Mayura was actually outdoors because Nathalie was accompanying Gabriel for a party hosted by Audrey Bourgeois.

However, before Mayura could even say a word, a coughing fit overtook her and she detransformed.

Duusu: oh no! You really ought not to transform now.

Nathalie glowered. “We need a sentimonster.”

“And I need you to be healthy, Nathalie.” Hawkmoth knelt down and detransformed as well. “I have lost Emelie already. I can’t lose you too.”

Duusu began sobbing. “That’s so sweet!”

So they went back to the party where Nathalie sat down for most of it in a private room, far from the main party venue.

Concerned, Adrien asked Marinette if her parents were serving something would help Nathalie feel better.

Marinette personally serves a jelly dish to Nathalie.

Once left alone, Duusu comes out and cries over the jelly, touched by Adrien’s thoughtfulness.

Nathalie avoided the jelly bits where Duusu’s tears hit.

Marinette collected the leftovers and decided to eat them since she missed dinner earlier on.

Adrien comes over. “Hey Marinette, how is Nathalie?”

ANGRY

Marinette shoves the empty tray at Adrien. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?!” She points a finger at Adrien who backs off from his angry friend. “You know I am always tired of having to do stuff for you. I organized a party for Chloé even though everyone but you hates her. I set up perfect dates for you and Kagami. And now I’m your dad’s secretary’s nursemaid?!”

Adrien holds his hands up. “Woah, Marinette. I’m sorry if I upset you. I didn’t know you were unhappy doing those things.”

“Yeah? Why should I expect anything else from Mr Oblivious?-”

SAD

Marinette starts sobbing loudly. “You don’t even care when Lila tries to ostracize me from the class! Or when Queen Bee nearly killed my family! You don’t even show up for ice cream!”

Marinette breaks down sobbing on the floor.

Adrien is alarmed and bends down, unsure what to do. “Marinette, i am so sorry. It’s not that I don’t care.”

“Liar!” Marinette wept.

“It’s true! I cherish our friendship, Marinette. We really are friends,” he said earnestly.

“Friends!” Another sob erupted. If she had a euro for every time he said that!

“We are friends,” Adrien repeated firmly. “I’ve just been a lousy friend, I guess.”

SUSPICIOUS

Marinette’s tears stopped all of a sudden. She narrowed her eyes into a glare. “How do you consider friendship, hmm?”

Adrien backed up again. “Caring for people?” he offered nervously.

“That was phrased as a question,” Marinette pointed out. “You don’t really know what friendship is, do you?”

“Marinette, you know I’ve only had anime for reference before I even entered Dupont,” reminded Adrien.

“Wrong,” corrected Marinette. “You also had Chloé for reference! You’ve had two bad examples for friendship!”

“Anime wasn’t all that bad,” defended Adrien.

HAPPY

Marinette laughed giddily, frightening Adrien even more with her sudden mood swings. “Oh, I love anime! Which one is your favorite?”

“Sailor Moon?” Adrien squeaked.

“Oh, I loved that show?” Marinette sighed. “You know what else i love? Dressing up as the characters! I had so much fun cosplaying. That was part of how I knew I wanted to be a designer!”

“Good for you….”

“And now I know I can make it because other people like my work too,” Marinette blushed. “Seeing others like my designs really gives me a boost of confidence.”

Adrien was starting to relax now. “I’m happy for you Marinette. Truly. You’re always so optimistic, which is good for this job.”

CONFUSED

Marinette tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

Adrien rubbed his neck. “Well, I mean, that the criticism can be kind of harsh in this industry, but you shouldn’t let it get you down. God knows my dad and Audrey ignore them all, and look at where they stand now?”

Marinette pondered. “Huh. If I do become a designer, will my personality match theirs?”

“What? No, no! It’s not a definitive thing. You can’t judge a profession just after meeting only two designers in person.”

“Why not? It’s not like I will have much opportunities to meet many more.”

“Of course you will,” Adrien said with conviction. “You’re so talented. How could you not get to know more?”

LOVE

Marinette blushed furiously and starts stammering. “You’re so gorgeous- I mean great.”

Adrien flushed as well. “I don’t think I deserve to be called great. I’ve been an awful friend.”

Marinette flung her hands out. “No. No. You’ve been an awesome friend. That’s why I like doing things for you!”

Adrien studied Marinette, trying to gauge if she meant what she said or if she was just trying to cheer him up.

“Marinette!” Sabine called. “There you are. You’re still on duty, you know.”

“See you later?” Marinette said hopefully.

Adrien smiled. “Of course. I owe you an ice cream date.”

ANGRY

Marinette scowled. “You owe me much more than that!” and she stalked off.

Adrien stared after her, lost and confused.

Plagg: wow, talk about mood swings.

Adrien: i don’t understand. I wish I could help her.

Plagg: oh you can’t. This is a female thing. Give her a week to cool down.

Adrien frowned. “Should I tell Alya about this then?”

Plagg: try telling her mother before Marinette insults a party guest.

But there was no need. Sabine was taken aback by how moody Marinette was and hastily sent her back to the bakery. Marinette left, sobbing about how useless she felt.

Gabriel meanwhile was confused and irritated by how short Marinette’s strong emotions lasted.

Given the mood swings, Marinette is excused from school until she is feeling better.

Once all the jelly had been digested,

Marinette blinked. “Um. What just happened?”

Tikki peeked from behind a pencil case, wary to face Marinette. “How do feel now, Marinette?”

“Um, confused?”

Tikki sighed.