#luka loses the rings

[verfound]

FIC: "Of (Maybe, Finally) a Wedding" (MLB; Lukanette; LBSC Lukanette Month 2024)

@lovebugs-and-snakecharmers is doing a Lukanette Month for September 2024, and we all just kinda tossed some prompts in the disco to compile a list?  We ended up with 71 prompts, so I decided I’d roll some dice to pick a prompt, do a twenty minute (ish, bc we all know sometimes they run away from me) sprint, and try to get some short fics out this month?

The last in the series, I swear

Read on Ao3

Prompt 57: Fortune

This could not be happening again.

There was no way in hell he was this unlucky.

He was marrying Ladybug – Lady Luck herself! – in just under an hour!  He could not be this cursed!

“…she’s going to kill me,” he groaned as he stared into the definitely, very, no doubt about it empty box in his hand.  He dropped back onto his old bunk, barely aware of the rock of the boat around him.  Barely aware of anything beyond the fact that he had lost the fucking ring.

Again.

“Bullshit,” Juleka said, peering over his shoulder.  “She hasn’t yet, and you’ve given her ample reason to.”

“Thank you so much, beloved sister, you are encouraging as ever,” he groaned, slumping forward to land his head in his other hand.  The one holding the empty ring box dropped between his knees, and he groaned as his fingers twisted in his bangs – then groaned again when Juleka batted at his hand, trying to stop him before he undid all her hard work.  “Juleka!”

“Luka!” she snapped back.  “Do you have any idea how much product I had to use to get that damn cowlick to stay flat?  I’m not about to let you mess up your hair now.”

“Yeah,” Dingo snickered from the other side of the cabin, where he was busy adjusting his tie.  “That’s Mari’s job later.”

“…disgusting,” Juleka sniffed.  “But accurate.”

“I don’t think either of us are really going to care about my hair in…oh my God. Thirty minutes.  Thirty minutes,” he gulped, looking up and staring in horror at his best men (well, technically Juleka was his best man, but no one had been able to convince Dingo of that).  “She’s going to be here in thirty minutes and I lost the fucking rings.”

“Breathe, dumbass,” Juleka sighed, rubbing his back.  It felt too stiff, but that might have been the suit.  Why had he agreed to this it was all going to pot Marinette was going to take one look at the too-stiff suit and ringless box and leave him on sight.  “Where do you remember having them last?”

“In the box!  Last night!” he cried.  “I was double-checking everything just so this didn’t happen!”

“So is it possible maybe you grabbed the wrong box?” Dingo asked.  Luka blinked at him, his eyes narrowing, and he shrugged like it was a perfectly valid option.

“Exactly how many ring boxes do you think I have lying around, Dingus?” he asked.

“Oi, now, no need for all that,” Dingo said, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he walked over.  Luka wondered what it meant, if both Dingo and Juleka looked better in their suits than he did.  Even the mohawk – which usually clashed with everything – was working with the dark blue color.  “’Sides, don’t Mari make jewelry, too?  You could have a lot of extra little boxes lying around.”

…he had a point, but Luka wasn’t about to admit that.  Besides, all of Marinette’s extra little boxes were usually kept in her studio, and the rings hadn’t been in her studio since…well, since the night she had finished them and first tasked him with keeping them safe until the ceremony.

He’d had one job, damn it, and he’d gone and fucked it up.  Again.

“Maybe they fell out?” Dingo continued, poking the empty box.  “They’re probably back at your flat, Lulu.  I can pop over lickity-split and be back in plenty of time for the vows.”

“…the vows,” Luka gasped, his eyes widening again.  Oh God, the vows…Marinette was going to hate his.  He was terrible with words – what was he thinking, opting to write his own?!

“…ooook,” Dingo said, nodding.  He looked up at Juleka, who looked entirely too amused for her own good.  “You make sure he doesn’t jump ship.  Handle…this.  I’ll go get the rings.”

“Good luck,” Juleka said, though from her tone – from the absolute wreck losing his shit on the bed – Dingo honestly wasn’t sure which one of them needed it more.

– V –

Two.  Hours.

The wedding was supposed to start two hours ago.

And Luka was no calmer than he had been half an hour before it was supposed to start – or even at the exact time it was supposed to start, when Dingo still hadn’t made it back and he was getting a text from Marinette claiming there had been a slight emergency, no need to panic, she’d be there soon.

And Juleka had received a text from Rose ordering her to stall, they needed more time, get Jagged playing or something!

He supposed he should be grateful it was a small wedding on his ma’s boat, and that the only guests were a handful of family and close friends, but that wasn’t stopping the panic from clawing at his throat.

Marinette was standing him up.

She’d heard about the rings, realized he was a lost cause, and…

“Sorry!”

His head snapped up as he stopped his pacing, and there she was.

…dress-less?

She was…running towards him in the most bizarre getup.  She was…still wearing her pajamas?  The ones Rose had specially bedazzled for their hen night, with the pink tank top with the rhinestone BRIDE stamped across the chest.  (He did not know about the matching rhinestones on her ass, which had their guests cackling as she raced forward with PROPERTY OF L.L.C. stamped across her backside.)  And pink, fuzzy flip-flops.  Her veil was blowing behind her as she ran, one of her hands holding it in place as she waved at him, and then she was there, grabbing for his hand and grinning.

“You are never going to believe the day I’ve had,” she said, leaning up to kiss his cheek.  She turned out to the small gathering, all staring at her with wide eyes and open mouths, and waved.  “Sorry, everyone!  I know, I know – I’m so late.  Classic Marinette, right?”

There was a smattering of laughs, but she still winced as she turned back to him.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, stepping closer.  “There…was a series of accidents.  You would think Plagg had a field day at Juleka and Rose’s – the fire was the least of problems.  Jocelyn’s impending termination and murder are still on the table.”

“…fire?” he asked, his mouth dropping open.  Like a fire – and not Marinette threatening to murder her beloved assistant – was what had really shocked him.  She reached up to close it, her smile softening as her finger ran along his chin.  “Marinette –”

“We’re all fine,” she said.  “The dress…is not, and I’m sorry for that.  Well.  It might still be – the backup dress was the one that caught fire.  My actual dress…”

She bit her lip and looked down, shaking her head as if she was trying to erase some unpleasant memory.

“Marinette?” he asked, laying his hand on her cheek.  She shook her head again and grinned at him.

“Joce will find it,” she insisted.  “It’s not her fault I stupidly put it in one of my usual garment bags.  Anyone could have made that mistake, right?”

“…she gave your dress to a client?” he asked, his eyes widening again.  She shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but he knew her.  He knew it had to be killing her – she had worked so hard on that dress.  He hadn’t even been allowed to see the designs for it, because ‘bad luck’ or whatever.

“I was really looking forward to you seeing it,” she sighed.  She leaned up, and he bent obediently so she could whisper in his ear.  “I was really looking forward to you removing it.”

…she had tried to say it low enough that only he could hear, but his ma had damnably good hearing for a former rock star who should have gone deaf years ago and had heard every word.  She threw her head back with a raucous laugh, but Marinette was still grinning at him as her cheeks turned pink.

“…nevermind,” she said, tucking some hair behind her ear.  “She’ll find the dress, and we can worry about it later.  This will have to do for now, right?  At least I’m here.  So…can we just get married already?”

…and yeah, she was there.

But Dingo still wasn’t.

“I’d be more’n glad to, lass,” the Captain laughed as Marinette turned towards her.  He shot a desperate look over Marinette’s head to his sister, but Juleka just rolled her eyes and gestured for him to turn like the missing rings didn’t matter.

The hell they didn’t…

“Wait!” he cried, tightening his grip on her hand.  She turned back to him, frowning, and he sighed.  “We can’t.  Not…not yet.”

“Luka?” she asked, squeezing his hand.  “What’s wrong?”

“Just marry her already, dumbass,” Juleka hissed, but he shook his head.  “Before she gets smart and changes her mind!”

“Marinette…darning…I…” he started, but then Dingo was swinging onto the deck like a bad Tarzan impersonator????

…he was a Couffaine.

Chaos was in his blood.

But surely there was a point where…well…wasn’t this too much chaos?

“Not objecting!” he hollered as he landed on deck.  He held up the rings, his manic grin somehow even more insane than usual.  “Got ‘em, mate!”

“…what?” Marinette asked as Luka groaned, dropping his head into his hands.  Dingo blinked at her before lifting his shades – a custom blue and pink pair he had ordered just for their wedding.  They even had ‘BEST DINGO’ stamped along the legs (in rhinestones, of course, thank you, Rose).

“Ain’t you a bit underdressed, baby girl?” he asked, squinting at her pajamas.  “Pretty sure you’re supposed to be the one in the big, fancy dress.”

“We’re not talking about the dress!” Rose screeched as she came running up the gangway.  “Oh my God, what is wrong with this city?!  Traffic –”

“I know, right?!” Dingo cried, turning to her.  “Stupid Mayor Bourgeois and his reelection parade – nobody wants you anymore, André!”

He had spun back towards the shore, raising a fist to shake at the city, and Luka wondered if he’d be justified in shoving his Best Dingo overboard.

…after he got the rings back, of course.

“…oi, lads,” the Captain whispered, leaning over to the bride and groom.  “We sure this not be the dress rehearsal?”

Marinette shook her head, laughed, and grabbed his hands.  And suddenly, with her smiling at him like that, the rest of it just…didn’t matter.  Because it was her – it was them – and what more had he ever wanted?

“…I forgot the rings,” he whispered, leaning in.  She laughed, and if that wasn’t his favorite sound in the entire world…

“Star,” she whispered back, dipping her chin towards her chest, “I forgot my entire dress.  I think we’re good.  You ready to do this?”

…God, yeah.  He really was.

(Later, after one hell of a kiss and too much cheering and not enough cake, she’d chide him for freaking out about the rings again.

“You know I’d have my craft bag on me,” she’d tell him, rolling her eyes.  “Or the Captain would have some spare rope somewhere.  I could have whipped something up until we found the real things.”

He supposed he should have known that, in the end.  He was marrying Marinette Du…Couffaine, after all, and she was just kind of amazing like that.)

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Every Episode of Miraculous Ladybug Season 5 Ranked (Part 2)

Part 1

(This site's stupid 30 images per post forced me to do this, so thanks for nothing, Tumblr)

#14: Transmission

I swear, I'm not doing these on purpose. This is just how I've been ranking the episodes.

Like I said in the last part, this episode just did not need to happen. The first half is cheap melodrama between Marinette and Adrien and the second half is a run of the mill Akuma fight with two different heroes. This is the story that seriously warranted two parts this season?

I just can't stand the fact that Marinette and Adrien gave up their Miraculous so easily here. Maybe if it was Season 2, Season 3 at the latest, I'd buy it, but near the middle of Season 5? They honestly view their love lives as more important than the battle with Monarch. If it was anything else like the stress or physical danger, I'd also be understanding, but Tikki and Plagg decide that Marinette and Adrien are so miserable that they need to be happy by losing their Miraculous without a fight. Remember, this was just two episodes after “Reunion”, which showed Joan of Arc was a Miraculous holder. So fighting in the Hundred Years' War didn't get so much as an ounce of concern from Tikki, but teenage angst is too much for her little heart to bear?

Maybe it's the benefit of knowing this won't be permanent, but the issue I have is how much the show draws this out for so long, as if the audience is supposed to buy it. “It's really happening, guys! Ladybug and Cat Noir won't be the stars anymore, we swear!” This kind of plot can work under the right circumstances. All you needed to do is at the very least, make it something they choose to do instead of their Kwamis taking their Miraculous away so we can see them weigh the benefits of giving up life as a superhero in ways that aren't exclusively about their love lives. I'd even buy it if it's something Ladybug and Cat Noir actually agreed on before quitting.

While I can sort of get Alya becoming Scarabella due to her experience with the Ladybug (even if she chose to give up using any Miraculous at the end of Season 4), Zoe getting the Cat just feels like the writers put a bunch of names in a hat and picked hers. The two just don't have as compelling a dynamic as Ladybug and Cat Noir do, because they don't get a lot of time to know each other. Alya and Zoe have almost never interact with each other, so the masks don't really shake up their relationship, because there's no relationship to speak of.

Also, the Akuma here was really forced. We know nothing about this new character while the show acts like we're supposed to know who he is based on some minor hints with Nora calling earlier. While I will give the show credit for arguably giving us the most powerful Akuma of all time due to being both a man and a bear, he's as forgettable as a villain as Kitty Noire is as a hero.

Just about nobody here comes out smelling like roses in this episode. The Kwamis are morons for caring about one ship becoming canon, Marinette and Adrien are selfish cowards for giving up their Miraculous with little hesitation, their friends are ignorant buffoons for thinking some random attempt to get Marinette and Adrien to talk will somehow seal the deal, and Alya and Zoe are idiots for not thinking that they should take off the shiny ring that tracks their every movement. It's a terrible episode, and the only reason why “Deflagration” is ranked higher is because it didn't irritate me as much as this one did.

#15: Determination

And now we're onto the really bad episodes this season.

This episode is pretty much what you've come to expect by Season 5. People keep forcing Marinette into situations she's clearly uncomfortable, and we're supposed to just laugh at her anxiety, because we still have eight episodes to go before the show decides to take her mental health seriously.

What makes this episode really sting for me is that it's Luka and Kagami that are forcing Marinette into these unfunny antics this time. For the most part, they never really stooped to this level and didn't try to force anything with their respective love interests until they had trouble in their relationships that required them to communicate. But now, even though one knows Marinette and Adrien are superheroes while the other is usually very blunt with her feelings (at least, before she became this season's next victim), they're going to try forcing Marinette and Adrien to spend time together even they both know they have feelings for each other and MY GOD, THIS IS SO STUPID! It's just a cheap excuse for more pointless shenanigans that stopped being funny years ago.

Yet somehow, that's not the worst of the Love Square drama this episode. It's here where we learn that Adrien fell in love with Marinette over a season ago, during a scene where she violated his personal space. In addition, Adrien somehow showed no signs of attraction to Marinette until the plot demanded it, and came right after another episode showing him falling for her. Why not make it the fake confession Marinette practiced with Cat Noir in “Glaciator 2”? The kiss Marinette gave Adrien at the end of “Heroes' Day”? I'd even take another umbrella scene callback like in “Mr. Pigeon 72”. But no, it's the statue scene that the writers decided on. It's like they noticed all the criticism Marinette got in that episode and were like “Joke's on you! Adrien actually liked being lusted over like an object!”.

And then the masks come on and make things even more convoluted. Adrien at least got to reflect on the events of a previous episode to explain his new feelings for Marinette, but what caused Ladybug to suddenly fall for Cat Noir after four seasons?

The writers don't even bother with an explanation for this. Ladybug spontaneously becomes attracted to Cat Noir with absolutely no foreshadowing, buildup, or even callbacks to earlier episodes. The writers either wanted to complicate things one last time before Adrienette became canon, they wanted to bury the Ladynoir conflict arc from last season in the sand, or the most likely option, a combination of both.

The idea of the public turning on Ladybug was an interesting one to take, seeing how she's been universally beloved for the past four seasons. But despite hinting at it in “Multiplication”, this is the farthest is goes, and even then, guess who's behind it? You can't keep raising points against the main characters if it's only Chloe who does it. It doesn't open debate on the story and essentially tells the audience that they're wrong to agree with her, no matter what kind of point she makes.

As dumb as the way it happened was, Ladybug still screwed up and endangered the city by losing the other Miraculous, but we can't actually challenge children by acknowledging that the hero actually did something wrong and needs to grow as a person. We need to use a recurring character as a strawman to tell the audience that only bad people think this way! Way to remove any interesting internal conflict, writers.

The Akuma was pretty weak, just being an older Puppeteer, down to using wax statues like what happened in “Puppeteer 2”. The army of wax heroes could have been interesting, but there wasn't enough time to do much with the idea. The one thing I liked was how the Ox Miraculous' Resistance was used. It felt like an upgrade instead of a core power Manipula got.

This episode pretty much set the stage for a new level of frustrating Love Square drama this season, and it was one of the season's first outright awful episodes.

#16: Conformation

The only reason this episode isn't at the bottom is because the rest of the ones on this list are far worse by comparison. Make of that what you will.

Like most season finales, this one continues the tradition of being better at buildup than actual execution. Gabriel's plan is pretty decent, even if it's just Heroes Day on a global scale. He utilizes his public influence and business skills to plan out a plan to get almost all of humanity working for him. While I don't like the Miraculized, I still think Gabriel being on top works here, especially since he's not going out into the field like the last three finales.

But other than an okay evil plan, this episode is still pretty bad. Marinette being infected with nightmare dust only happens to get her to the Agreste manor because the writers forgot that Marinette learned Gabriel was Monarch last episode. It could have been a decent way to up the stakes by showing Ladybug not being at 100%, but like everyone else, she just fights off the nightmare dust and doesn't have a single problem during her fight with Monarch. In general, the nightmare dust isn't really utilized well, only being an excuse to bring out the Miraculized. It doesn't impact everyone fighting off the Miraculized, and there's no lesson or theme about fear that's conveyed here.

Speaking of nightmare dust, I'm pretty sure the only reason why it was introduced in the first place was to bench Adrien, which is still easily one of the dumbest decisions the show has ever made. While everyone else had no problem resisting the nightmare dust, Adrien is just physically incapable of doing so because of some half-assed character arc the show pretended happened. So either Adrien got a more potent dosage of the nightmare dust, or Adrien's just too weak to actually overcome his fears. “Sandboy”? Never heard of it! The fact that the writers also tried to claim they were being subversive with fairy tale tropes and cliches didn't help, since it devalues Adrien as a character even further. He's not a superhero and Ladybug's closest ally. He's just some damsel in distress who needs to be saved. Let me just remind you, if the genders were reversed, this would not be seen as some bold move, but the same overused cliche trying to be something new.

I already talked about my problems with Nathalie in “Passion”, and the stuff she does here isn't really different. Despite enabling Gabriel for five seasons, the episode has the balls to act like Nathalie always had morals and is appalled by Gabriel planning to sacrifice someone to save his wife. Just remember, “Passion” established that Nathalie had a history as a treasure hunter, so this is like Indiana Jones not knowing what the Holy Grail does. Nathalie only got dumber than in “Passion” because she somehow thought she could take on a supervillain with nothing but a crossbow and a body that already has one foot in the grave. And just like Felix, Nathalie can't even apologize to Ladybug for the aiding and abetting a terrorist thing. Between Nathalie, Felix, and Gabriel, does using the Peacock Miraculous just make you an idiot?

While the buildup is decent, it's just not enough to really get audiences excited for the second part.

#17: Representation

This episode is yet another example of the show's double standards.

Without going into detail too much, this episode came right after “Revolution”, the one that essentially portrayed Audrey taking control of Chloe's life as a karmic punishment. What happens in this episode? We learn Felix's father literally took control of his life and it's portrayed as wrong as child abuse should be. That's why this episode is still better than “Revolution”. It at the very least understands how serious child abuse is, and tries to tell Felix's story with as much dignity as two teenagers in white onesies can have.

With that being said, there's a reason why this episode is as low as it is. The Sentimonster play used to tell Marinette about Felix is just so stupid. The sets and costumes look ridiculous, it's hard to take the story seriously with Felix and Kagami doing all the voices, and most of it is unnecessary since the whole point is to tell Marinette that Gabriel is Monarch... something that the writers decided she needed to find out on her own in the next episode. It comes across less like Felix trying to alert Ladybug to who Monarch really is and more like he's just trying to justify his own actions. Hell, the actual reason he decided to tell Marinette about Gabriel was because he and Kagami were worried about their own relationship being ruined by him. And yet somehow, Ladybug lets him on the team at the end of the season.

The stuff with Adrien was also pretty dumb. It's cheap fanservice that reminds the audience of Cat Blanc when none of the characters should know who Cat Blanc is. You can call him Anticat all you want, but everyone can see that he's just Cat Blanc with blue hair. It's bad enough that this was what all the times Cat Noir almost Cataclysming people this season was meant to lead up to, but this is pretty much the reason why Adrien is benched during the finale.

This episode really shows how desperate the writers are to make people take this show seriously by showing serious topics like genocide and child abuse, as if the show didn't already ignore the horrible implications previous episodes (like the very last one before this) raised and will continue to raise during the season finale. So much of the episode is just dark for the sake of being dark. It's nothing too horrifying for children, of course, but the issue is how obvious it is that the writers are trying to raise the stakes right before the season finale and show how mature the show's writing is. For lack of a better term, it's this show's equivalent to “Ow The Edge”.

#18: Revelation

Get ready for the episode where the writers abandon all attempts to be subtle and create an episode specifically to attack people who think Chloe isn't the most evil character on the show. Because how dare they be optimistic and try to see the good in people! What do they think this is, a kids' show?

While a big problem with the Lila episodes was how stupid the class is, this episode made it so Marinette got to join in on losing brain cells too. Despite outright admitting to neglecting her duties as class representative (as absurd as it is to be in charge of notifying teachers about student progress they should be aware of), we're supposed to agree with her for not telling her teacher about Chloe cheating. Not only does this make no sense since you'd think Marinette would want to see Chloe get punished, but her claiming that all Chloe does is abuse her privileges loses any point to it because Marinette admitted to not doing her job as class representative, making her just as lazy as Chloe and unintentionally helping her through not telling the teachers. And that's not even getting into how many times Marinette has broken the secret identity rule despite also being the one to enforce it the most as the Guardian.

If the episode at least admitted to Marinette having personal issues that prevented her from displaying any form of professionalism towards Chloe (especially since this episode takes place after “Derision”), that'd be fine. Sometimes, people just can't let bygones be bygones and let their emotions dictate how they handle things. If she willingly resigned from her position by admitting she was just as at fault for Chloe getting as far as she did with her cheating, that would have worked. Instead, the episode does the same things it did with Adrien for the last few seasons: Go out of its way to vindicate Marinette's complaining and never even consider the idea of her being wrong in the slightest.

It's also hilarious to see Ms. Bustier act like an actual teacher for once and plan to work with Chloe to help make up her missed work, but portray it as a bad thing because in Marinette's eyes, that's not a punishment. Since the school year is almost over, Chloe will have to attend summer school at best and be held back or even expelled at worst. How the hell does that not count as a punishment, Marinette?

And don't forget how she gets not one, but two separate scenes insulting people for being idealistic and not wanting to write off people as beyond saving, the second one being copied from Astruc's Twittter.

And remember, this was right before a string of episodes where characters were able to change their ways, including Sabrina (Chloe's accomplice), Andre (Chloe's enabler), and Gabriel (Chloe's supervillain contact). How the hell is Chloe the only one being written off as irredeemable when she didn't pull off any of her evil plans without help? You can still punish Chloe. All I want is for the other characters to be punished as well.

But let's talk about the main event for this episode: Lila. In one of the most confusing “twists” in the show's history, she's now an identity thief who lives with three different mothers. Why? Because the writers have no idea how to hype people up for her being the main villain for Season 6, so they think just making her mysterious for the sake of making her mysterious is enough to build her up as a villain. It's like the writers realized Lila had absolutely zero resources of her own, so they felt like they needed to establish her as an evil genius to compensate. “Who cares if there's no logical explanation for how she's gotten as far as she has despite constantly boasting about her celebrity connections in public? We have to make her vague and mysterious, damn it! It worked for Judas Traveller and Kaine, didn't it?”

This episode takes multiple shots at fans and tries to make Lila seem more compelling than she actually is. It feels more like damage control than an actual plot-relevant episode.

#19: Illusion

Want to see the main characters acting like idiots for almost a half-hour? No? Too bad!

So much of this episode's conflict, the characters trying to investigate a possible lead related to Monarch, comes from everyone making stupid decisions. Nino tries to get one of the most influencial men in Paris akumatized, talks about it in public, falls for his trick, and lets him into his secret alliance. This season really cemented his role as the Zapp Brannigan of Miraculous Ladybug with how incompetent he is. If you really want to start portraying Nino as a tactical genius, maybe you should actually show him doing something smart instead of getting outsmarted by obvious tricks.

Of course, the other characters aren't immune to Nino's stupidity either. Marinette, Adrien, and Alya just go along with his asinine plan to get Gabriel akumatized, never question his logic, and ultimately still go along with the Resistance despite how obnoxious their leader is. The worst part is Ladybug not recognizing her own partner being stung by Venom... when they're fighting someone with access to over a dozen Miraculous. I know Cat Noir was born with glass bones and paper skin, but I don't think he literally freezes in terror when he's scared. And of course, Ladybug never questions the tiny invisible men who stunned Cat Noir after this scene.

The cafeteria scene is something that should really be cited as an example of how terrible this show is with acknowledging continuity. You thought there would be some compelling drama discussing the secret identity rule and all the double standards it has? NOPE! It's a funny joke about how confusing the identity stuff is at this point. The fact that Nino somehow doesn't understand the concept of secret identities in this scene is yet another reason as to why he isn't even qualified to lead an anime club, much less a resistance against Monarch.

The idea of Monarch using an illusion to fight Ladybug and Cat Noir was an interesting one, but it still had some holes. For one thing, what if the two heroes can't dodge one of the illusion Collector's attacks? What if they're fast enough to try tying him up, only to dispel the illusion? The entire plan pretty much relies on the fact that Ladybug and Cat Noir are too slow to catch the Collector.

But one scene that has only become more questionable after the finale is Ladybug trying to reach through to the illusion Collector. Like several episodes this season, it comes across like the show is spitting on idealism and wanting to solve problems peacefully because Monarch tricked Ladybug into believing he willingly rejected an Akuma. Remember kids, if someone says they want to change, it's really a trick as part of an evil supervillain's plan to maintain his secret identity.

This episode is like a microcosm of everything wrong with Season 5. Poor morals, characters acting like idiots, shooting down any potential for plot development, and being told characters are right when their actions say otherwise.

#20: Confrontation

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the episode where the writers just gave up.

There is just so much that happens in this episode that the writers cram in. There's Marinette's “final” confrontation with Lila, the battle with Reflekta, Sabrina's redemption, Juleka's character development, Ms. Bustier's character development, Mr. Damocles' character development, and the reveal of Lila's true nature. I don't think I need to tell you that the writers struggle to make all of these plot threads work in less than a half-hour.

First off, Marinette and Lila. The previous episode implied that Marinette let Lila have this short-term victory because she had her own plan to expose her. This episode puts that plan into action. See, she has the genius idea of going along with submitting school application forms to Lila and Chloe with no actual countermeasure in place, waiting for Sabrina to have a sudden change of heart so they can work together to expose Lila and Chloe through a bathroom peephole. This is the kind of tactical intelligence that will be studied in the history books, let me tell you. There's just no weight to Marinette and Lila's final battle of wits because there isn't any. There's no series of gambits or scenarios that actually pit their minds against each other, so you don't get a lot of satisfaction from Marinette's triumph over Lila. It doesn't help that there's more focus on Sabrina than on Marinette, but I'll get to that later. Even the actual payoff is anti-climactic. Most of the class' apology to Marinette was deleted because Mr. Damocles using a Magical Charm shield was just too important to leave on the cutting room floor according to the writers.

This episode really shows just how Marinette's classmates are like NPCs in the Lila-centric stories. They don't second guess Lila's accusations due to their past experiences with Marinette, and as soon as Marinette's name is cleared, they instantly apologize to her and don't even think about how easily they were fooled by Lila and Chloe. The worst example is Alya, Marinette's confidant and someone who was trusted to temporarily use the Ladybug Miraculous last episode, falling for this and not trusting Marinette. My sister in Christ, your friend goes out and saves lives on a weekly basis at least. How can you fall for Lila's story? This is why I think the Lila episodes should have all been set pre-Season 4, so Alya falling for Lila's lies is a little more believable since she isn't already in on Marinette's biggest secret.

I also have to roll my eyes at how melodramatic the talk about everyone's “futures” is. Yes, I don't know a lot about the French education system (If there's anything I'm getting wrong here, don't hesitate to let me know), but I don't get why they're treating their high school choices like such a big deal. Maybe if it was college, I'd get it, but high school? Why can't you just transfer if it doesn't work out? But then again, this is the same show created by a man who thinks school uniforms are a sign of fascism.

THIS IS WHAT THOMAS ASTRUC ACTUALLY BELIEVES.

Speaking of futures, this episode also showed just how little the writers cared about Adrien at this point, with how a supposedly heartwaming moment is him having no plan in life other than Marinette. I know this might seem weird given my problem with him last season was his refusal to think about anyone but himself, but there's a difference between wanting someone to follow orders without complaining and giving them absolutely no motivation outside of their significant other. And once again, if you swap the genders, this becomes sexist as hell.

But the big problem comes in the form of how the side characters are utilized. I don't know why the writers decided to focus on developing characters like Sabrina, Juleka, Ms. Bustier, and Mr. Damocles with five episodes left in the season. This should have been done in earlier episodes, not in the middle of a major story arc. I'm just left not caring about the development because it takes away from the conflict between Marinette and Lila, to say nothing about how little Adrien and Alya contribute to the story.

To me, this episode feels like the writers had no idea how to make Marinette outsmarting Lila into an episode, so they crammed in all these half-assed character arcs to pad out the runtime. While “Revelation” personally upset me more, I personally think this is the worse episode of the two from a writing standpoint.

#21: Revolution

Given how often I've criticized the way Chloe has been handled over the years, I bet you're surprised that this one isn't at the bottom of the list. You'll be even more surprised to learn that I think Chloe is one of this episode's saving graces.

This episode (along with “Derision”) provide an example of the Chloe we should have gotten ever since Season 3 ended: A villain who's allowed to be a threat while still being funny. So much of the past two seasons have done nothing but portray Chloe as nothing but an incompetent joke, but here, near the end of the season, she's in a position of power and is taken seriously. The episode does a good job showing how tyrannical Chloe's rule as Mayor is while still making it funny and in-character for her. She uses her power on frivolous things because she's a teenage girl who doesn't understand the complicated issues that come with politics. It's also why her idea of punishment involves detention, because it's something she's more familiar with as someone in middle school. Of course, even the episode all about Chloe ruling Paris with an iron fist isn't stupid enough to actually let Chloe be a compelling antagonist. No, we need to constantly remind the audience that Chloe is being played, as if we're supposed to see her as nothing more than a pawn even though the show still wants us to see her as an irredeemable monster.

Putting aside that one speck of something interesting, this episode is still incredibly bad. So much of the story is dependent not on how smart the villains' plan is, but rather, how lazy the heroes are. Not only is there not a single moment where Ladybug and Cat Noir acknowledge that the whole reason why Chloe was able to take over as Mayor was their fault, they act as if Chloe abusing her power to make everyone's life a living hell isn't enough of a reason to stop her. What kind of Prime Directive bullshit is this? YOU JUST HELPED SOMEONE LEAD AN INSURRECTION AGAINST A POWERLESS CIVILIAN! HOW IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT?! If there was at least something involving Ladybug and Cat Noir taking responsibility for what happened or at least showing that they played a part in this (especially since they “grow up” in this episode), I'd get it. Instead, because this is Season 5, our heroes are perfection incarnate, and can't ever be wrong. Even when they finally decide to get off their asses and stop Chloe, they didn't know she was akumatized, and nobody seemed to care before Chloe blurted it out, so Ladybug and Cat Noir have no excuses for slacking off.

The final battle is just a joke. Not only is it another excuse to force the Resistance into the plot, it shows Ladybug and Cat Noir unlocking the full power of their Miraculous in the most anti-climactic way possible. Even though they spent most of the episode caring more about their personal lives than actually stopping the obvious threat, somehow, this means they “grew up”. There's no buildup, no explanation, and no catharsis gained from this achievement. All of a sudden, Ladybug and Cat Noir are adults now. There's one decent scene with Adrien, but that's far from an actual explanation. What, did you actually expect an explanation for something this huge? Too bad! We need to have Marinette tell Chloe she's not afraid of her anymore even though she was never afraid of her prior to this season. Of all the things that happened this season, this is the one that makes it clear that Season 5 was supposed to be the end. There is no way Season 6 can happen unless the writers come up with some crap that undoes this, because Ladybug and Cat Noir have essentially unlocked god mode.

But I saved the worst for last, and you all know what it is: Chloe's punishment. I still can't get over the fact that there's actually a scene heavily implying we're supposed to be happy Chloe is going to live with her emotionally abusive mother in the same season that's trying to tell a serious story about child abuse. There's already been so much said about all the horrible things this implies, so I'm going to try and bring up something else. Specifically, how everyone is just okay with this. I can buy Ladybug given all the things Chloe has done to her, but it's pretty odd that Cat Noir, Andre, and Zoe all decide to wash their hands of their association with Chloe as if they never knew her. They don't even feel bad that it had to come to this, and feel absolutely no sympathy for her. Remember in episodes like “Malediktator” and “Queen Banana” that showed Adrien and Zoe still cared for Chloe despite all the terrible things she's done, teaching kids a lesson about trying to show compassion to your enemies? The writers sure didn't, because Adrien and Zoe don't get to say a thing about Chloe after she's defeated. Way to establish connections between characters and do nothing with them, writers!

This episode had so many things wrong with it, and it only got worse the longer it went on, to the point where the ending is essentially condoning child abuse. It's disgusting, but at the very least, it means we're not going to have to deal with Chloe in Season 6.

.....

#22: Adoration

This is one of those episodes I honestly didn't think would hate as much as I did.

I think of all the episodes this season, this is the one that shows how frustratingly inconsistent the characterization is. Characters will either announce how much someone has changed or will take a complete 180 while the show makes it clear this is how things have always been. Not only does the show say Zoe has somehow changed and suddenly developed feelings for Marinette, but Chloe's view of Sabrina has gotten even lower, to the point where she calls her an underling to her face. Because actually showing character development and changing interpersonal relationships is too hard for these writers. It's like that rule everyone knows: Tell, don't show. That's how it goes, right?

Before anyone gets on my case about this, I'm not trying to say that Zoe having a crush on Marinette was a bad idea. The issue is more how it comes across like the show is trying to earn brownie points with LGBT+ audiences with the reveal. The issue is that this major revelation isn't about Zoe, but rather, Marinette. It's from a Marinette-focused episode all about her heterosexual feelings for Adrien while Zoe's coming out story is nothing more than a cautionary tale to get Marinette to finally try kissing Adrien. I'm not saying Marinette should have dumped Adrien to be with Zoe. The point I'm trying to make is if you want to show something as huge as a character coming out as sapphic, maybe put more focus on that character's struggles than the struggles the straight main character goes through. Maybe instead of being an afterthought in the story, make the episode about Marinette helping Zoe confess her feelings to a girl she likes.

This was also the episode that laid the groundwork for Andre and Sabrina's “redemption arcs”. Normally, I wouldn't mind something like them changing, but it's less to show a character becoming a better person and more to vilify a different character. Andre went from a corrupt politician who abuses his power to please his daughter to an honest politician who is forced to abuse his power to please his daughter. Sabrina went from Chloe's loyal friend who chooses to help her make people miserable to Chloe's underling who is being forced to help make people miserable. Both of them were perfectly willing to go along with Chloe's acts in the past, and as we saw in “Revolution”, being a pawn didn't excuse her from being punished, so by that logic, they shouldn't get a free pass either. It's also strange how this wasn't the episode where Andre and Sabrina officially cut ties with Chloe, considering they already had issues with them. There wasn't really a reason to wait if they already made their issues clear, especially Sabrina. Somehow framing Marinette here is okay but doing it a few episodes later is too much for her?

Also, Lila served no purpose in the episode. Just like in “Collusion” and “Revolution”, all she does is tell Chloe to do things she was perfectly capable of doing in earlier episodes. We're supposed to see her as a mastermind, but I don't get why she has to hold Chloe's hand here. Why can't Lila come up with her own plan or manipulate different people from behind the scenes? It only further highlights the double standards because while Sabrina being a lackey to Chloe earns her sympathy, Chloe being a lackey to Lila doesn't for some reason.

I am getting really tired of the whole “Nobody believes Marinette” formula that every Lila episode relies on (Chameleon, Ladybug, Risk, Revelation, Confrontation). It's the exact same story. Everyone who has known Marinette for the past four seasons suddenly loses all trust in her, only instead of instantly believing Lila, it's Chloe. CHLOE. This is worse than Lila, because she's at least in good graces with other people, but this is the same season that solidified the idea of nobody liking her at all. They seriously take her words at face value over Marinette, someone whose friends know has tormented her for a year at least (Derision)? Put aside how I feel about Chloe, this is a story that depends on trusting someone nobody has any reason to trust, and it makes no sense.

There are just so many minor issues in this episode that pile up enough to really piss me off. It's like a death by a thousand cuts.

#23: Collusion

I normally don't try to get political on this blog unless I absolutely have to, and talking about this episode is one of those occasions.

If you've been around since the early days of this blog, you'll remember that Astruc once compared Chloe to Donald Trump, and not too long after the January 6th attack on the Capitol Building at that.

Even before that thread, Astruc made a joke comparing Trump to Chloe less than a week after the attack.

Whether you agree with Astruc's views on Trump or not, the point is that he kept up with American politics and strongly opposes him. So anyway, let's get to the episode where the heroes let someone lead a small army to storm the mayor's office and force him to resign, which is totally different from what Trump did.

I cannot get over just how confusing this episode is. For a show created by someone who usually keeps up with American politics, this is such a tone-deaf episode. I get that the story is trying to lean into French history, and I'm not sure how far into production the crew was when the attack on the Capitol happened, but given how Astruc was aware of the drama, he and his team should have at least considered the implications this episode could raise. The problem with the discussion around January 6th is that the supporters see it in as righteous a light as Miss Sans-Culotte is. As far as they know, what happened wasn't a violent invasion of government property, but a peaceful demonstration. Sure, none of the talking balloons said “Hang Andre Bourgeois!”, but it still brings similar imagery to mind.

Something that also harms the French Revolution narrative is the fact that all of Miss Sans-Culotte's supporters are helping her against her will. Much like countless Akumas throughout the show's history (Darkblade, Kung Food, The Puppeteer, Princess Fragrance, Despair Bear, Befana, Zombizou, Malediktator, Gamer 2.0, Mr. Pigeon 72, Hack-San, Revelation, Confrontation), Miss Sans-Culotte brainwashes innocent civilians so they can help her cause. This goes against the idea that she's speaking for the people, because her victims don't have a say in this. She's not reenacting the French Revolution, she's reenacting Order 66!

Also, this is something I've neglected to discuss. Why make Miss Bustier pregnant at all, much less akumatize her while pregnant? Outside of her students telling Chloe not to make a scene because the stress caused from dealing that is bad for the baby, Ms. Bustier's pregnancy adds nothing to the story. Seriously, the story thinks Chloe annoying the class is more dangerous for Ms. Bustier's baby than Ms. Bustier herself running around and getting into fights with her baby inside. It could have made for some interesting drama where Ladybug and Cat Noir are hesitant to hurt a pregnant woman, even if she's been akumatized. While the writers do try to work around it by giving her minions to do the fighting (as much as it mucks up the themes of this episode), it still doesn't explain why she needed to be pregnant during this episode in the first place.

Putting aside how unlikable Miss Sans-Culotte is in this episode, you can't even enjoy seeing Andre getting kicked out of office because this is the same episode where the writers really want us to feel bad for him. Look at how sad the rich white politician is. Let's ignore the fact that he's a big part of the reason why Chloe is as bad as she is, has abused his power multiple times, and is all around the cause of his own problems. But even though this is a show that tries to take an anti-capitalist stance (which I'll get to more in “Emotion”), we're supposed to side with one of the biggest symbols of everything wrong with capitalism and political corruption. Even then, Andre is framed for corruption instead of the several instances he actually abused his power, as if they're trying to say he was never a corrupt man. He just loves his daughter. Is that too much to ask for? His daughter herself? Eh, who cares? You really need to support the rich white man. Are we sure this show was created by a liberal?

But the biggest issue is the moral. It's impossible to frame Miss Sans-Culotte storming the mayor's office as a peaceful protest because she's clearly inspired by one of the bloodiest and most violent revolutions in history. If she was supposed to be a violent warrior who needed to learn there was a better way, that would work, but instead, the show downplays how dangerous she is... when she has a guillotine blade for a weapon. You can't claim Miss Sans-Culotte is non-violently protesting Andre's administration when she brainwashes innocent civilians, storms into the building, and demands he resign without any question. Even taking all that into consideration, the moral ends up backfiring because forcing Andre out of office caused an even bigger problem with Chloe taking over, and the very next episode threw the non-violence message out the window.

Whether or not you want to consider the political implications here, this is still a terrible episode with a terrible moral.

#24: Pretension

I've always had issues with Felix, and after the trainwreck that was “Emotion”, let's just say this didn't exactly do anything to raise my opinion of him. Just like his other appearances for the last few seasons, he did absolutely nothing to help Ladybug, focused on only doing things that benefited him, and making everyone's lives worse due to his incompetence. And somehow, this idiot is the one who moves the plot along the most.

The entire conflict happened because Felix kidnapped Kagami without even coming up with a plan. Even when he believes that Kagami is a Sentimonster (I apologize for saying that word Felix hates, but once again, the show provides no alternative to it), he doesn't think of Tomoe being able to track her or command her to leave even at a far distance. He doesn't even try to explain himself to Ladybug and Cat Noir and spends more time running away from everyone who wants to kick his ass. But by the show's logic, he just needs friends, even though his entire deal is that he works alone to get what he wants.

It's bad enough that Felix has to screw up everything he touches, but now he's dragging Kagami to his level. Kagami has cemented her role as Felix's lackey/girlfriend and nothing more. People give Marinette crap for the way the behaves around Adrien in and out of universe, but Kagami knows nothing about Felix, yet a single conversation about his past is enough for her to fall head over heels in love with him. She went from someone not willing to take any bullcrap from Marinette and Adrien to believing Felix's story in a fraction of a heartbeat. This season really likes ruining the few likable characters the show has left.

I also have to roll my eyes at the conversation Marinette and Gabriel have about fashion. For one thing, it's one of the few times the entire season remembers that Marinette wants to be a fashion designer and doesn't really factor into her rivalry with Gabriel. This season made their conflict revolve around how to treat Adrien, not their views on fashion. It feels like they only brought it up to remind viewers that Marinette is still into fashion. Well, that, and also to take a stance on artistic integrity... supposedly.

And on that note, it's amazing how the writers display little to no self-awareness during this scene. The show that embraces sticking to the status quo and rejecting almost any attempt at keeping consistent continuity is now trying to teach children about the importance of being willing to take risks when creating something. This is like Hannibal Lecter trying to promote veganism. I get the message, but the messenger's history is keeping me from buying it. It doesn't help that for a scene trying to point out how outdated certain views are, the show ultimately chooses to take the side of the man with the “wrong” mindset by the end of the season.

The pancake metaphor really confuses me too. It's meant to be a running gag that the only thing Gabriel knows how to cook is pancakes, but A) Nothing is really indicated to show how terrible they are as a metaphor for how bad his outdated views are other than Marinette's verbal assessment of them, and B) We later learn Gabriel used to be poor, so either he never knew how to cook prior to earning his fortune or being rich somehow made him forget basic living skills. I'm just saying, when an episode of Sid the Science Kid manages to better convey someone doing a terrible job making pancakes, you might need to put in a little more effort to show how bad Gabriel's pancakes supposedly are.

Finally, Tomoe. This episode didn't really do much to show her as a compelling threat, given all she did was nag Gabriel and try to shoot her daughter when she didn't even try commanding her to fight back when she was kidnapped. She's nothing more than a female Gabriel and is another example of how overstuffed this show's cast is,

This episode is awful, plain and simple. It took aspects from previous episodes that were already questionable, and doubled down on them while acting like there weren't any problems at all.

#25: Derision

And now we're onto the really, REALLY bad episodes this season. One of the reasons why this post took so long to make was that I wasn't sure how to rank these last three episodes. Thankfully, I managed to find a way to rank them based on the morals are executed. With that being said, let's start scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Ah, “Derision”. You're the only episode that makes the backlash caused by “Chameleon” seem like a pleasant breeze. It's incredible to see just how much negative a reputation this episode has in the fandom. Virtually nobody likes it because it manages to upset everyone with its poor characterization. I'm talking Marinette fans, Adrien fans, Chloe fans, Kim fans, and pretty much every other character's fans. I've only seen a few die hard fans defend this episode, and they're the people on Tumblr who defend pretty much everything done this season.

I have just one question to ask about this episode: Why did it need to happen? We didn't learn anything new that we didn't know already. We know Chloe is mean, and we know Marinette used to be more timid and had no friends. We didn't even need that much of an explanation for why Marinette acts the way she does around Adrien, seeing how it was usually played for laughs

Speaking of which, let's talk about the fact that the episode tries to shame the audience for laughing at the jokes about Marinette's reactions to Adrien. You know, something that was the show's primary running gag ever since Season 1? A running gag the writers ran into the ground by the end of Season 3 but still chose to go with it? Now we're not supposed to have laughed at it, assuming we laughed at it all. Way to insult even the small portion of viewers who didn't get on your case about this, writers.

I only have about two positive things to say about this episode. For one thing, Chloe actually served as a pretty decent antagonist in the flashbacks. Much like in “Revolution”, when the writers actually let her be a villain on her own without being made a pawn, she can be somewhat entertaining. If this was the Chloe we got after Season 3, I don't I would have been as upset at the direction Astruc's team took with the character.

In addition, the thing that saves this episode from being at the bottom is that unlike the next two, it actually understands that what the antagonist did was wrong. They don't make up excuses for what Chloe did and she actually gets called out as a result. It doesn't lead to anything major, but it's something.

Like with “Queen Banana”, there's not much else I can say that hasn't already been said. There's plenty of retcons, the characterization for everyone is off, it attacks the audience, and the message about trauma got fumbled by the show's usual double standards. It's been said over and over again, and it's become a symbol of how much the show's quality has degraded.

#26: Emotion

I think if you've kept up with my reviews of this season, you should know by now that I don't exactly like Felix, and most of the problems I have with him can be attributed to this episode. In fact, for a while, this was going to be my choice for the bottom slot.

It's clear that the writers want to make Felix this wild card who's only in it for himself, but like most of the show's antagonists, they want to show Felix as this devious mastermind... but he's also not really evil, and you should feel bad for him. For most of the episode, Felix does nothing but make everyone's lives worse during his first outing as Argos. He smears his cousin's reputation yet again, tricks his girlfriend into dancing with him, condemns some rich kids for the crime of being rich when he's just as rich, and eventually wipes out all life on the face of the earth. But he's just doing it for his cousin, we swear!

While Felix has understandable motivations for what he does, wanting to free Adrien and Kagami, the way he tries to achieve his goal makes it hard to sympathize with him. If the whole point was that what he did was wrong and that he needs to find a different way, that could work. Instead, we're supposed to see him as this tragic figure who was forced to do terrible things when the episode shows him happily singing while causing chaos. It's the same problem with Gabriel, wanting a sympathetic character to do unapologetically evil things. The fact that he has to be told that genocide is bad doesn't make us want to sympathize with him when he breaks down crying. It paints a picture that he's crazy but the show wants to act like he isn't.

Even putting all the crap with Felix aside, the episode is still unbearable. The stuff with Marinette was poorly executed and was just done to get her involved in the plot, and later become the first one to excuse Felix for betraying her. Other than the dance scene, you could easily just have Marinette swing in as Ladybug when Argos starts his rampage and nothing would really change. The episode tries to make jokes about how unnecessary this is, but as usual, its attempts to be self-aware come across like its saying “What we're doing it wrong, we know it's wrong, but we're gonna do it anyway!”

Speaking of the dance scene, I can't stop rolling my eyes whenever Felix tries to be all “We live in a society” to Marinette. Forget the corrupt politicians, corporate moguls, human traffickers, and despotic rulers of foreign nations. The absolute worst section of humanity is composed of the teenage children of the 1%. Sure, you'd have to break my legs before I'd agree to supervise them at this party, but I don't get why these are the people we're supposed to see as irredeemable monsters. Do the writers think because these kids associate themselves with Chloe, we'll automatically hate them? Newsflash, but if I had to choose between hanging out with some annoying kids and a mass murderer, I'd stick with the annoying kids.

Rewatching this episode was what helped me finally realize just what my problem with the show's anti-capitalist message is. How the hell am I supposed to hate the villains on this show for being rich when several characters are rich or at the very least, are successful thanks to their connections to the rich? Think about it for a second. Putting aside Adrien and Kagami, you have Marinette, the daughter of two of the most popular bakers in Paris and earned the respect of multiple celebrities, Alya, the daughter of a chef who works at a five-star hotel, Nino, someone who got to DJ at a major fashion show, Rose, who is friends with a literal prince, Luka and Juleka, the children of a popular rock star, and Max, the son of an astronaut with access to cutting-edge technology. Somehow, these people are supposed to be poor? They make Monica from Friends look like Oscar the Grouch. It's why I can't take the message seriously. You can't write a story about a class struggle when both classes are shown to be pretty well-off.

The only thing that saves this episode from being at the bottom of the list is the fact that despite committing genocide while singing, Felix at least gets what he did was wrong and makes up for it. It doesn't fix everything else he did in this episode, but that's better than nothing. As for the villain featured in the episode that's at the bottom of this list? If you've been keeping track, I think you know who I mean.

#27: Re-Creation

I'll admit, I'm sort of cheating here. I'm judging this episode more as a finale than an individual episode, but I'm making an exception because the plot is tied to wrapping up all the loose ends this season.

I'm mentioning this because for a season finale, the stakes just feel so low. The fight between Bug Noire and Monarch doesn't have any weight to it because they've barely interacted at all for the last five seasons. These are supposed to be two mortal enemies, but you can't really buy the enmity between them. It ultimately cheapens the moment of Bug Noire triumphing over Monarch in the end... before Monarch triumphs over her not long afterwards, but we'll get to that.

The stuff with the Miraculized doesn't help either. We already know that the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous are in the Agreste manor, so the Miraculized's goal is impossible to achieve. It's never even explained why the Miraculized don't go back to the manor to help Monarch beat Bug Noire, since they should still be able to track the Miraculous. All of the fights with them just come across like filler, and there's no real sense of danger or hopelessness to be found. Whether the Miraculized win or lose is irrelevant. Nothing will happen either way because the important stuff is happening in the Agreste manor.

This extends to the part where all the heroes appear to help. It doesn't come across as an Avengers-esque moment for the climax, because it doesn't change anything. The episode never explains what any of these characters were doing prior to the events of this episode and why only now they're helping out. The United Heroes are the most egregious example because unlike Fei or Su-Han, they're a major organization whose members include the president, and they didn't do a damn thing when Monarch stole all of the other Miraculous. Speaking of, there is no way in hell that Su-Han taught Mirakung-Fu to three random people over Ladybug and Cat Noir, much less that those three people are actual masters after about two months at best. Maybe they got to train in Bunnix's Burrow? After all, she's not doing anything else to stop the end of the world other than sending four people over to Paris. This whole sequence really highlights how bland the other heroes of this universe are. If they're not slacking off when they're needed, they're criminally underdeveloped because there's a slim chance they'll get spin-offs to flesh them out.

But I think the biggest issue me and other people have with this finale is the resolution. In what is easily one of the most baffling decisions the show has made, Bug Noire doesn't defeat Monarch, and Monarch gets to make his wish. I don't care how many times the writers technically say she won because she beat him in a fight. Gabriel backstabbed her at the last minute and got her Miraculous to make his wish. Yeah, he died, but he succeed in achieving his goal, never faced any real consequences, didn't get any closure with his son (much less apologize for abusing him), told Marinette to lie about the monster he was to him, and was turned into a martyr with a statue made of the same things he used to control the world.

This ending infuriates me because it not only makes Marinette out to be a terrible hero for failing to do the one thing she was chosen to do (get the Butterfly Miraculous back), but it also ultimately makes Gabriel out to be a decent person even though he destroyed and recreated the world. All Marinette did was take credit for saving the world, and even then, Gabriel got more celebration in the end. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen! She got outsmarted by an abusive parent and didn't even get a new statue in her honor!

But the most damning thing of all this is the fact that this finale retroactively makes everything that's happened over the last five seasons completely pointless. If Gabriel making a wish wasn't as bad as it was supposed to be, why didn't Ladybug and Cat Noir let him borrow their Miraculous? Why make the stakes this high if you're going to downplay the impact of a madman recreating the world in his own image? Follow-up question: why make the stakes this high if the wish being made is ultimately shown to have huge benefits for society? In an attempt to wrap things up with a happy ending, the writers accidentally made the conflict completely meaningless.

That's why this resolution is the ultimate example of the writers refusing to allow any major changes to happen. If they're willing to treat the end of the universe as less important than Ms. Bustier becoming mayor, why should we assume they'll ever take their story seriously? For God's sake, every character you know and love is essentially dead, and we're supposed to act like that isn't a big deal? That's how you wanted to end the show originally? Then again, at least they tried to resolve something, unlike the Love Square. We still haven't gotten a reveal, and I don't think we ever will at this point. These writers will drag out the story until the show stops becoming profitable, which won't be for a long time.

And with that, I am officially done with Season 5. Honestly, after having to rewatch this season again, I'm not sure if it's even worth giving Season 6 a shot. There's nothing to look forward to, and Lila becoming the main villain isn't really appealing to me. At the very least, I have the movie review to look forward to, meaning I can watch something good for a change.

[marinettesaltprompts]

We Can Grow Up Without You (Two-Letters inspired Anti-prompt)

Inspried by a post of @broadwaycutie16

Marinette had snapped one day. She was done with being a hero.

She had a plan all figured out. She would trick Chat Noir into an ambush so that she could take the ring from him. She would trick Lila into thinking that the ring was secretly in space, all while she secretly kept the ring for herself as leverage, then give the Miracle Box to Lila so that she could be "the Ladybug that Paris deserved", one that would also ensure her former friend's misery. With her memories wiped, Marinette could be with Luka, the only person who cared about her, all the while holding onto the ring so that she could go after Lila, in case she ever needed the Wish to ensure Luka remained loyal to her.

Clearly, this was the best plan, an insane Ladybug thought.

So imagine the chill in her blood when a year after she done her plan, she went to go check on the ring, only to find it missing.

It didn't take long for Marinette to find the news about Chat Noir seemingly betraying the new Ladybug, revealing her to the world as Lila Rossi. She (alongside Felix, who was also unmasked as the new Hawkmoth) were both arrested on charges of essentially staging akuma attacks, while the "Chat" that was Lila's partner was revealed to be a Sentimonster in disguise. All the miraculouses were collected by the real Chat Noir, then he too disappeared.

Marinette knew exactly where he went, however.

Snarling, a livid Marinette went to the office tower of Agreste (renamed from the well known Gabriel brand) where Adrien was located, having returned from a month long vacation. She was unexpectedly let in without resistance however, as Adrien was supposedly expecting her.

Smiling an empty smile, Adrien stared at Marinette, sporting not only a familiar ring, but also a familiar set of earrings.

"Hello Marinette, its been a while, hasn't it?"

Naturally, Marinette was anything but polite. She ranted and raved about how Adrien wasn't supposed to have the ring (nor the earrings). She was outraged, horrified, and most of all confused.

Despite not needing any reason to tell her, Adrien obliged Marinette's demand for an explanation and told her his story.

About a month after Marinette went through her plan, Adrien took a lot of time to think about things. What he had went through regarding losing his miraculous, what he had felt at being tricked by Ladybug and Marinette. He wanted to scream and shout, to let go of his anger and blame everyone around him. Yet he had remembered one of the wise things Plagg once said (during a time he wasn't asking for cheese), and decided to reorient himself by focusing on one step at a time. Adrien messed up by letting his guard down around his former crush, but decided to make up for it by going after the new Ladybug, who at the moment was causing trouble for Paris.

Through some detective work (with the help of Max Kante) and using his head for the first time, Adrien tracked down Felix over the course of a week and managed to catch the latter off guard. Stealing the Peacock Miraculous from his cousin, Adrien created a sentimonster to track down the other miraculouses while pretending to be his cousin (to keep Lila unaware), including his former ring and the butterfly miraculous, which Felix had kept in a safe for when he was causing villainy as "Hawkmoth". He also learned from Dusuu the truth about himself, that he was actually a sentibeing created by his mother, and that her using the then broken miraculous was the reason for his passing. Despite the revelation shaking him, Adrien kept going, focuing on one step at a time.

From there, it was easy to take care of Lila (who grew so arrogant that she didn't expect Adrien to have any way to take her down) and get the rest of the Miracle box back. He also managed to track down the pieces of the Rabbit Miraculous and repair it again, after Marinette was able to destroy it.

With all the Miraculouses returned, Adrien finally used the opportunity to finally figure out what went wrong with his former partner and what caused her to give up being a hero.

Through evidence provided by Tikki and Plagg and a little help from the Rabbit Miraculous (through windows in time), Adrien had learned what went from with Marinette and why she had snapped. She saw how other people used her for granted, Adrien included, and how the responsibility overwhelmed her to the point she felt she had to leave.

However, Adrien also saw that Marinette had also ended up blaming other people for why she was like this (despite having other options to fix her problems), including blaming her partner for being supposedly unreliable (when she had pushed him away from helping with her plans or choosing the wielders) and for being unknowingly tricked by the Sentimonster Ladybug (which he admitted was stupid at the time, but he couldn't have imagined a sentimonster posing as a human at the time). Worse still, Marinette had started to blame the people of Paris for being akumatised, refering to them by their akuma names, despite it clearly being Hawkmoth's fault.

It was Marinette's mention of "Chat Blanc" that got Adrien's attention. Through a window in time, he learned of the alternate timeline in which he was akumatized by Hawkmoth, and learned the truth about his father: he was secretly Hawkmoth this entire time. Adrien was traumatised from this, but kept going.

This eventually led to learning of Marinette's plan to quit, having snapped and deciding to leave the fate of Paris in Lila's hands because "that's what Paris deserved".

Adrien spent a whole week going through all the information, every memory, every significant event, every bit of the life of Marinette Dupain Cheng, then another week to take it all in.

By the end, Adrien was horrified, but he was in a way grateful for what he had learned. Adrien felt sympathy for Marinette and why she felt she had to quit, but at the same time he could not condone her plan to leave Paris to Lila, nor her insults towards her former friends and family, especially with how she blamed them for being akumatized. He also realised that he did in some way play a role in her downfall (especially with his flirting and not trying harder to reach out more), and he did feel somewhat ashamed with himself for not noticing Marinette's feelings until it was too late (though given that Marinette had been somewhat possesive of himself with her stalking and attempts to control his love life, maybe it would have been a toxic relationship that was best to not have happened).

With all that being said, Adrien decided he would take matters into his own hands. With the Miracle Box now in his hands and with the Guardianship belonging to him (after threatening Lila with being Cataclysmed), Adrien decided he would make a new Order of the Guardian sect in Paris, with himself as the leader. He would use the recovered Miraculous to make a team that could not only help Paris, but all of France, choosing people that could handle the stress of being a hero since he could pay them for their services. Since Marinette no longer wanted to be the Guardian due to stress, Adrien would use what he had learnt to ensure he wouldn't make the same mistakes as the former Ladybug. He apologised to Marinette, but told her that he would be taking care of the Miraculouses now.

Of course, this all passed through the increasing erratic Marinette's ears. All she wanted were the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous back so she could make her wish and bring everything under her control, all while ensuring everyone suffers. Plain and simple (to her broken mind at least).

Adrien, of course, politely refused, since Marinette had no right to them considering her plans threatened the very reality they were in and that she had given up the box to someone untrustworthy. It was only once Marinette attempted to attack her former partner that Adrien transformed (without uttering phrase, having mastered his powers by this point) and restrained the insane former heroine, at which point he gave up being polite and threatened Marinette with ruining her newfound life with Luka. Adrien did not want to do so, but he would if she kept going with her foolish quest. Marinette wanted her peace? Fine. But she would not threaten others into acting the way that she wanted.

"...Screw you Chat Blanc" Marinette uttered, having finally lost whatever mask of sanity she had before, eyes growing increasingly erratic. "Just like last time, you tried to destroy me and all of Paris to get the wish, now you'll do it again because I walked away from you, right?"

"Now that was just a low blow..." Adrien replied tersely, the comment about the akumatization getting under his skin. "But since we are going for low blows, what gives you the right to blame others for being akumatized? Prin-cess Jus-tice?"

"Th-that wasn't real! YOU'RE LYING!" Marinette yelled.

Smiling a sad smile, Adrien pulled out the Rabbit Miraculous, quickly showing a window in time before Marinette could react. With no words being spoken by the Agreste, Marinette could only watch as her former self fell under the sway of Scarlet Moth, having no means to resist the akumatization, being moments away from removing her earrings before the akumatization process was cancelled, not by Marinette's own strength, but by the slim chance of Nathalie falling ill.

"Of course, you wouldn't be so quick to judge others if you remebered being almost akumatized. But you gave up your memories, didn't you? All so you could be happy."

Marinette fell to her knees, having gotten cataconic from the truth.

"You know ... that apology I said to you before." Adrien continued "I don't think I mean it anymore. Not to this version of you at least. The Ladybug... the Marinette that used to be before you was someone I considered a friend, a person that ended up being broken by the responsibilities of things she couldn't handle on her own. Yet at the same time, she tried to push people away because of it out of a belief she had to sort things on her own. Had I apologised earlier, had I tried harder to reach out to her... perhaps this entire debacle wouldn't have happened, and she could have retired in peace rather than in anger. Then again, I'm not the same person I was before. I grew up. But you didn't, did you? You're just someone who has no idea about what Paris has gone through. You only saw the last letter of a broken woman and decided to take her words to heart, laughing at the suffering of those who once relied on her to feel safe against a manipulative man, blaming them for their own akumatizations despite having no control over themselves, feeling like what they deserved was justified despite having no memory of what they did to you. You're just some echo of Marinette, an echo that has no memory of anything except her hate, her suffering, and her desire for revenge. You didn't grow up. You just ran away while getting to enjoy the spoils of doing so. You didn't grow up. You didn't change."

Marinette could say nothing, having gone entirely blank. Adrien called security into his office and had her escorted off the premises.

Sighing, Adrien went to a portrait of his mother and pulled it back, revealing a small mural of photos, the main one being a smiling picture of a younger and more innocent Ladybug and Chat Noir. Adrien did not know if the emotions Ladybug showed in that photo were real, but he would cherish them regardless, even after she was gone.

Adrien left inside the mural a single yellow rose, before getting back to work.

[almond-tofu-chan]

weird thing i noticed on rewatch, when they get upset or start remembering something traumatic, both hyuna and till's eyes get this weird purple/pinkish ring around them

but mizi's eyes dont in round 5, even as shes attacking luka

makes me wonder- maybe those rings represent when their minds get foggy. hyuna and till both lose it a bit when thinking about what theyve lost and possibly what theyre going to do next- whereas mizi knows exactly what shes doing when she attacks luka

or maybe its just a stylistic choice on their part, idk, just something cool i noticed

[jasmine-the-fox]

For those who (do not) ring the bells

azv2448 now A29Z10 can really come up with ideas I see… but how about you all read it and tell me what you all think alright?

Let’s go!!

Due to Cat Noir refusing to help Ladybug… she had no choice but to call for outside help… specifically from Gotham. She contacted the Justice League first and explained with proof thanks to her loyal team (Chloe aka Queen Bee, Luka aka Viperion and Kagami aka Ryuko) she was quickly transferred to Batman who is their well-known detective and he agreed to come with his team to help them take down Hawkmoth, Mayura and Lila Rossi once and for all.

Thanks to them, things were easier for Ladybug when defeating akuma’s, in fact as Marinette she had more breathing room to work on her clothing designs then before when Cat Noir would refuse to come help during an akuma battle. Soon, Batman revealed that they had uncovered Hawkmoth and Mayura’s identities… meaning they could fight them and Lila at long last.

But… things aren’t always so easy…

Cat Noir arrives before Ladybug with a determined look on his face “I’m giving you a choice Ladybug: be with me or I will never come back to help” he said which shocked everyone. Ladybug sighed before speaking “I don’t feel the same towards you Cat Noir. No matter how many times you ask me to date you… my answer will never change to a yes” she replied.

This angered him and Cat Noir moved to attack her but luckily Robin moved just in time and saved her while reclaiming the ring for her from her horrible partner… revealing Cat Noir to be Adrien Agreste… Marinette’s old crush.

Ashamed of losing the ring, Adrien runs from the group in the hopes that Ladybug will feel bad and come for him and return the ring while agreeing to date him. But she never did, he waited and then walked home only to be shocked as he watched his father and Nathalie being taken away while being called Hawkmoth and Mayura.

He faintly noticed in Ladybug’s hand the butterfly and peacock miraculous which proved his father and Nathalie were Hawkmoth and Mayura. Scared of being also arrested, Adrien ran to Nino’s place to stay for a night, in the privacy of Nino’s room he told him what he saw which shocked Nino. He said he could get his parents to let him stay for a few nights but nothing more… he would need to return home at some point sadly.

Days go by, Gabriel, Nathalie and Lila were revealed for there crimes and actions… resulting in everyone hating them. Luckily Adrien wasn’t affected by it and was able to return home, the class felt angry and betrayed for believing Lila from the start which resulted in them cutting contact with her. Adrien felt bad for Lila but it was bound to happen in the end, during this time Adrien thought long and hard before deciding to go after Marinette to be his girlfriend.

She was perfect in so many ways and he was certain that she would be a better Ladybug then the one he had fallen for first, as a result he went over to the bakery to ask her out on a date… only to find a stranger working to register “Oh sorry but they moved. Turns out their daughter got a scholarship somewhere and they moved with her” he said before Adrien left the bakery to find the rest of the class.

On there end… they were told that Mari moved to America which resulted in them having no idea on where she was exactly. Adrien tried to find her but he only got dead ends each time, then one day… years later, he found Mari.

There was a fashion celebrity show in Gotham and Mari was the guest on the show, Adrien was so happy and excited that he told the entire class about the news and helped them buy tickets to fly to Gotham with him to talk to Marinette at long last. Mari was out heading for an appointment when Adrien ran after her, she sighed while Tikki grumbled from inside her purse as Adrien caught up “What do you want Agreste?” she asked which shocked Adrien greatly.

No blushing red, not stuttering through his name… nothing! Just a glare and a cold tone in her voice, Adrien was so shocked as Mari checked the time on her watch making him quickly speak “I like you Marinette! Please go out with me!” he said which to his shock… got no reaction out of Marinette “I don’t like you that way Agreste… besides I’m getting married. Now leave me alone” she said and walked away from him.

Angry that he was rejected, he went back to the class and lied to them about his encounter with Mari “She was crying! She want’s to be with me but her parents are forcing her to marry an older guy who hurts her!” he said which angered the class and made them determined to stop the wedding no matter what… but they fail, instead they are thrown out just seconds into entering the venue by security with Mari glaring at them.

“I don’t know what Agreste told you and I honestly don’t care… just know that he also knew about Rossi and her lies and instead of helping me to tell you… he kept quiet and told me to take the high road” she said before going back inside to finish getting ready for her big day.

The class, angry by her words glared at Adrien before leaving him behind in silence, Adrien as a result loses his mind… he slowly works to earn money and buys a house in Gotham and then works to plan out his life with Mari… years later he is sent to Arkham “You can’t do this to me! Mari and I love each other! Just ask her!!” he screams as he’s being taken to his cell “Shut it Agreste! Miss Wayne told us how you claimed her and mister Wayne’s kids as yours and how she loved you after Batman save them” a guard said before throwing Adrien into his cell and walked away.

Leaving Adrien to scream out for Marinette… begging her to get him out and to explain her love for him… only for it to never happen as she loves Damian no matter what…

[nothingtherefornow]

New theory about Miraculous World London : Maybe I was wrong, and the "two" antagonist are not different people, but one and the same, and none other than .....

... Adrien Agreste

At first I didn't pay attention to those who theorise that this dude who discovered Bug Noir's secret identity by spying on her after her fight against Monarch :

Could be an akumatized version of Adrien, because the silhouette looked indeed similar to Adrien's body building

But then I also noticed how the mysterious figure who steals Marinette's earings and black cat ring from her, and whom I assumed to be Lila who akumatized herself, does have a body build that's not similar at all to Lila's silhouette, but looks actually more like Adrien's, Luka's or Felix's :

There's also that short glimpse in the trailer where we see Chronobug in the burrow escaping with a book that seemingly belong to the mysterious blue figure who figured out her secret identity

And this takes place where Adrien and Kagami were kept prisonner and "safe" by their respective parents.

Still ... I couldn't imagine Adrien being the one to looks for Ladybug's secret identity, potentially giving it to Lila, given the fact that we see BOTH mysterious villains in Lila's lair, and then stealing Marinette's miraculous from her after seeing how losing all the other miraculous to Felix and Monarch the first time traumitized her. But then ... I remember one other instance where Adrien did try to steal Marinette's miraculous from her.

When he was Chat Blanc ... alone and full of sorrow and despair and thinking that the Wish was the only thing that could fix the broken world he was all lonely in.

And I also guessed that if Adrien were to be ever akumatized by Chrysalis, he wouldn't necessarily know that the new butterfly wielder is Lila herself, and thus somoene who hates his lady and girlfriend guts. Changing identities is Lila's thing after all, all she would have to do is to pretend to be on Adrien's side and promise not to harm Marinette in order to succesfully manipulate him, because that's something that I found curious about the mysterious being stealing Marinette's Miraculous while she's sleeping

How carefull he/she is not to wake her up, which could just be for safety measures, or for another random reason. Notheless whoever he/she is they leave Marinette alone and sleeping after stealing what they wanted, given that the synopsis clearly specifies that Marinette only discovers that her miraculous has been stolen after waking up and seeing the light of a wish being made from a distance.

And that's something I cannot see Lila doing, to not jump at the chance to further hurt Marinette by gloating in front of her and exposing her absolute defeat and Lila's full victory to her face before making a wish

Which left only one question in my mind, what reasons Adrien could ever have to let himself be akumatized by the new Butterfly, stealing the miraculous from his lady, and eitehr making a wish himself or letting who he doesn't know to be Lila making that wish ?

To answer this question, three elements caught my attention :

First, Adrien's reaction in the trailer upon which seems to be learning of his father's death :

Adrien is clearly full of hurt and sorrow in that scene, something which we would not have imagined seeing given the more serene Adrien than the we see in the season 5 epilogue.

Second, The fact that instead of going back to his wielder, despite how Adrien would need a lot of confort after all of that, Plagg instead stayed with Marinette, even letting her wearing his miraculous

And finally, Another synopsis shared about the Special London, and more precisely, the passage that I underlined in yellow :

" In this new episode, Ladybug must make a crucial decision, which will lead to an unexpected twist that fans won't see coming."

This teasing sentence is the core of my theory, here it goes :

According to my new theory, This special London might take place in a timeline where Marinette chose to tell the truth to Adrien, to tell him that Gabriel Agreste died as the supervillain Monarch instead of a hero who helped stop Monarch.

The truth of course didn't bode well with Adrien, who would then feel guilty about the fact that his father may have been indirectly killed because of him, because of Chat Noir's cataclysm.

Which would then explain why Plagg doesn't directly go back to Adrien aftermath and and stays with Marinette instead, because the kwami knows that his presence would be a cruel a reminded of Chat Noir's indirect involvment in Monarch's death

And this would explain how Lila armed with the butterfly miraculous could ever akumatize Adrien and convince him to help her discover Ladybgu's secret identity and steal the miraculous from her, with the promise of a wish that would erase all the cause of Adrien's suffering by creating a new world.

Because what's the point of livign in a world where his father was the supervillain who hurt so many, a world where he is indirectly responsible for his father's death ?

At some point Chronobug will have to travel to the past to stop that mysterious time blue supervillain to figure out her secret identity, and if that person is revealed to be Adrien, Marinette would also have to ensure that the boy never fall prey to Chrysalis's manipulation and false promises. And the solution that will prsent itself to her is to lie to Adrien about his father

It's not the first time that Marinette deviates from the path toward the future adult Bunnix came from, because when she succesfully gave Adrien a gift with her real name on it, that was when the dooemed Chat Blanc timeline was created, Marinette wasn't supposed to have been successfull in giving that gift with Adrien knowing it was from her. So maybe she's not supposed either to tell Adrien the truth right now, in a time when he would be too vulnerable to an akumatization from Chrysalis.

What do you all think about it ?

[imperfect-storm]

Ok but imagine that first team meeting after Adrien finally has the twin rings on his person, regardless if he knows their significance.

The peacock holder can sense Amoks, even if they aren't the creator of said Amok, and can communicate with them when transformed. Proof with Nathalie in Feast and with Felix/Kagami in Pretension. So now that Adrien, aka Chat, is in possession of the twin rings, and Felix is Argos...

They show up and Argos just GLARES at Chat the entire meeting, losing his mind, trying to figure out why Chat has an Amok. Accusing LB of not giving the rings to Adrien. Pouncing on Chat and demanding he give up what he stole, assuming he can sense the specific Amok? Absolutely would be cussing him out telepathically before realizing the implications of being able to communicate in said way with Chat Noir. Adrien may or may not know what they even ARE at that point. Idk there are just so many hilarious possibilities.

In all seriousness, Luka is the only one who knows Chat's identity thus far. Felix HAS to know now too, starting immediately. I SWEAR if the creators ignore the rule they made........

[kairisea]

🌊𓈒𓏸Confessing to Luka Strongarm𓏸𓈒🌊

SUMMARY: After spending lots of time with Luka, you finally decide it's time he knows how you feel.

NOTES: gn!reader, Reader is Trailblazer, takes place sometime after the events of Mo Cuishle

WARNINGS: May be ooc, I'm learning writing and Hoyo needs to give us more Luka content like please I wanna learn everything about him.

COMMENTS: Finally got this out! I maybe had a little inspo as to what to do for my first fic from a friend, but I enjoyed writing this! The intro was a little long, but I think I just really enjoy writing a bit of background for the situation, this isn't the first time! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! I hope it's good for my first fic, fingers crossed! Any feedback is appreciated!

In the time you've been on Jarilo-VI, you've gotten to know all the residents pretty well, as you prepare to go to the next stop on your journey. However, staying here has made you get closer to some of them than you had expected... Sure you had made plenty of friends, even invited them to visit the Astral Express! But there was one who you'd felt like you'd gotten even closer to. Luka Strongarm.

From the moment you met him, you were drawn to him. He was strong, smart, and you had to admit his looks were going for him too. Your time spent with him was invaluable, and he made you feel invaluable too.

On this particular day, you were watching him in the ring, watching him spar for fun against some robots. He hadn't been in any tournaments or anything since you met him, so his victory number was still at 28. A number you drilled into your memory, or maybe it just stuck out to you because it was him.

You were lost in thought, watching him smile as he beat up the bots. Before you knew it, he was done with the fight, and had come out of the ring. He headed your direction as soon as he saw you, a smile on his face as always.

"Hey there, trailblazer!" You could hardly hear him over the sound of the crowd cheering. Perhaps it was because it was even more impressive to beat up a bunch of bots, than it is to beat up a person that they were so worked up over his victory.

You gestured outside, indicating that you wanted to talk to him, without the cheering crowd. He promptly nodded in response, and turned to the crowd, saying a goodbye to them as you started to leave. You barely paid attention to what he said as you looked at him before he turned back to you and nodded for the exit.

As you both stepped outside, you asked a seemingly innocuous question. "Could you follow me?" You outstretched your hand to him, just waiting for fans to try to follow you.

"Yeah, let's try to lose them." He agreed, taking your hand almost by instinct.

Your heart pounded as you held his hand, leading him not too far from the fight club, in the direction of Rivet Town. The place had little meaning, but the abandoned town was quiet, private, and you didn't want anyone overhearing what you had to say.

"This place certainly is a lot quieter than the fight club. I gotta hand it to you, you picked a good place for us to chat!" He said, oblivious to the pounding of your heart. You had been mentally preparing all day to face him, to finally speak what's been on your mind for a while, and now was the time to let it out.

"L- Luka," You stammered, trying to build confidence.

"Yeah? What's up?" He looked at you, a smile on his face. That damned smile that gave you butterflies every time you saw it.

You cleared your throat before continuing: "There's... something I've been meaning to tell you."

He waited patiently, starting to notice how you would fidget, and avoid his gaze, hoping it wasn't anything bad. And yet, despite his fiery spirit, he was so patient, just another thing you liked about him.

You let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, the thing is... I-" you took a deep breath. "I like you, Luka. I... like like you." Aeons this was embarrassing to say. You just wanted to run away and never show your face to him again. And yet- you stayed, and you looked up at him slowly as you contemplated telling Pom-pom that you could never go to Jarilo-VI again.

He looked at you, a shocked expression on his face. This definitely wasn't what he expected, and yet you could swear there was still a smile. That damn smile.

You heard him chuckle. You thought you had screwed things up royally, but before you could overthink too much, he spoke. "You... like me?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't expect you to feel the same way about me." He smiled at you and you couldn't help but look at him in return.

As your eyes met, he held out his hands to you as you subconsciously took them, the difference in temperature momentarily shocking you. "So... does that mean..." You started

"I like you too." He finished. "I just thought that, as a Nameless, you wouldn't reciprocate my feelings. But I'm glad you do." He smiled at you, so softly and gently. You couldn't help but smile back.

The thought of your Nameless duties pulling you away from him entered your mind for a second, but you quickly dispelled them. You can cross that bridge when you get to it. "So... does this mean we're... together now?"

Luka thought for a second. "Well, I mean if we both agree, I guess it does." He looked down for a second, gripping your hands before quickly softening his grip. "Well... if we've both said our piece... do you want to, I don't know, celebrate? I could take you out on a proper date?"

"That sounds great." You chuckled as you went by his side, grabbing his arm. Yes, his arm. It was his organic arm, and you could feel his hand warm in yours. "Well then, 28 time champion," you lightly teased, "where are we off to? I'll follow your lead."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you remember that number so well at this point." He chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll take us to the best place the Underworld has to offer!" And with that, he gently led you out of the abandoned area, your hands intertwined.

So that's it! I had a lot of fun writing this! I may end up making 2 other things bc of this. I wanna do a follow up bc reader is trailblazer and trailblazing needs to happen, so that's prolly gonna lead to some angst... I also want to write a version where the reader isn't the trailblazer since I feel like that's a completely different type of relationships...

If you enjoyed this, feel free to learn more about me and what I do here! You can also see if my requests are open there if you want something yourself!

I talk too much... anyway, I hope to see you around! Pce!

[smeowchi]

Helllllo! Don't mind silly Simple man asking you to ramble abt your fav AU that you created, wanna hear it<3

BOY HOWDY DO I HAVE SOME AUS FOR YA

Or, well, one is more of a story? Kinda? Set between seasons 1 & 2

Either way I love both of em so I’m gonna talk about both of em! ;3c (Below a cut because there’s gonna be. a lot.)

Okay, so first off, we have what I’ve decided to finally name properly (totally not just thought up a cool name as I’m typing this, haha, what, nooo..)

Re: Chipped!

It’s a lot of what I’ve posted about in terms of AUs, and what I’ve gotten built up the most out of the two of em. Essentially, on a very base level, it’s ‘haha what if PAMA didn’t fully leave Lukas and takes over his body again’

You can actually find the first chapter of it here! I’m still working on chapter two because life stuff has kicked me, but yknow! It’s something I adore a good bit, given I both adore angst and such, and Lukas is one of ,y favorites <3 (Sorry, buddy, you must suffer because I like you!)

Beyond just the basic ‘what if’ premise, though, it has a lot more detail. It’s not just the regular ‘oh, PAMA is back, people get chipped again/it gets policed’, nonono. Not only does PAMA study Lukas and learn how to fly under the Radar (quite literally, in one case, haha), but after Harper is called to deal with the situation.. PAMA gains a new directive. Not to mention the fact that PAMA is able to blend in a lot more easily, due to the ‘red eye’ thing.. not exactly being as prevalent anymore. Who knows what’ll happen if PAMA isn’t kept under lock and key. Especially once it remembers Redstonia or the portal hallway from Lukas’ memories..

In terms of my other (and actually proper) AU, Admin’s Pawns, here’s a blurb I typed up on a previous post!

“Have you ever wanted to see what would happen if Season 2 starred all the ‘villains’ from the portal hall arc? Well, now you can! Romeo’s picked up a new set of champions, enemies from Jesse’s past who have been specially trained to catch them off guard and attempt to defeat them. Cassie (+ Winslow <3), Aiden, Hadrian, Mevia, and even a few extra familiar faces make an appearance, as the Admin’s army grows to give Beacontown’s hero an adventure they’ll never forget.. for better, or worse.”

It’s also something I’ve been writing here and there, and will post on AO3 at some point! ;3c

There, alas, isn’t much to share story-wise, given it’s not fully fleshed out, but I can share some character details! Although Romeo had to fight tooth and nail to get the group together in the first place, especially given his powers don’t work as well when not in the ‘base world’. When gathering those who were through the portal hallway, he was much weaker. But boy, oh boy, would it be worth it.

Aiden was trained as a sort of guard. Relying on strength alone whilst fighting, and being able to give blows while tanking some himself, he wields an enchanted diamond claymore.

Cassie is much more stealth-based. She relies on being able to catch the enemy off guard. An assassin or rogue type, if you will. Using a hooded cloak, and a face mask reminiscent of her serial killer alter ego, she’s able to stick to the shadows. Popping out to swing one of her diamond axes through her target before using one of her handcrafted ender pearl throwing knives to teleport away again. (She also does keep Winslow with her at all times, not wanting to risk potentially losing him again.)

Hadrian and Mevia’s roles aren’t exactly solidified yet, unfortunately. But as of right now, they’re more advisors than anything. Not exactly fighting, but doing things behind the scenes. That, or you can also think of them as the equivalent to Statler and Waldorf from The Muppets. (/hj)

Amongst their living quarters, however, there seems to be.. a workshop of some sort. The group has been advised never to open the door, but they can hear the goings on within. Sometimes hearing voices, one of which ringing slight bells to only Aiden. The other, however, remains a mystery. Oh, well. Best to follow the boss’ orders, right?

Sorry, I know this is a lot to read, but if you have questions or wanna know more, feel free to ask!! I’d love to share more about my silly things <;3c (This goes for anyone btw, not just Simple!)

[opis-writing-nook]

Characters:

GN!Reader, Luka

Pairings:

GN!Reader x Luka

Warnings:

Mix martial fighting, mentions of bruising, make outs, hair pulling, lip biting, very little grinding, heavily implied that both parties are aware of the others feelings and return said feelings but never actually asked each other out officially, canon divergence, Luka and reader gently bully each other as a way of flirting, fluff at the end

A/n:

I barely know anything about professional fighting, so there will be inaccuracies. I made the reader more dominant/assertive bc that's what I write for. There's little to no info on Luka so he'll probably be ooc by the time we learn more about him but ehhh.

This fic was inspired by this playlist on YouTube.

_____

It was Tuesday, which means one thing: sparring with Luka.

Both of you had converted your basement into a gym a few years back, it had cost you a fortune, but you told yourself it was an investment for your career. Couldn't keep your job if your skills weren't sharp, training is important if you want to keep moving up in the ranks which would mean you would get better pay.

The better you were paid, the better you could live without having to stress about money. Maybe if you saved up enough you could eventually set up a retirement fund.

Music played faintly in the background as Luka, your childhood friend, and you were sparring in the ring. Luka had just landed a punch on you, but you could take anything he dished out.

"You punch like a bitch," you dodge Luka's next punch with a teasing smile, leaving his back exposed, and quickly jabbing your fist in-between his shoulder blades and are rewarded with a painful grunt. "You're leaving yourself too open, Lulu."

"Eat shit and die." Luka scoffs in mock annoyance at the nickname, both you knew he adored the name and wore it with pride, he quickly readjusts his stance before swinging again and grazes your left shoulder. "Can't help that I got my new arm, not used to the weight just yet."

"Yeah, yeah, fuck you too." You laugh as you sweep his legs, knocking him on his back due to his new arm throwing off his balance. "One…two…three…you're out!"

You pause to admire the forming bruise on his jaw, eyes trailing down his neck then torso, licking your lips as you make a mental note to give him some ointment and cold packs in a bit.

Luka grunts as you straddle his waist, panting heavily from the fight while trying to reorient himself after the wind was knocked out of him, he swallows heavily as he looks up at you with half lidded eyes.

He can't help but laugh as you lean closer to his face before pulling him into a bruising kiss, the way you bite on his lip makes him shudder in excitement, if this is what happens when he loses a sparring session with you he might have to lose more often.

Both of your bodies flushed together on the mat, your fingers tangled in his pretty red hair as you deepen the kisses in a languid fashion, giggling as his hands grip your hips like a lifeline. Each tug of his hair earned a needy whine that you greedily swallowed up into the messy kisses, lazy rolls of your hips to tease him and are rewarded with desperate keening sounds.

You break away after what seems like forever, panting softly as you admire Luka's dopey lovesick expression, before kissing his forehead gently and miss the way his eyes flutter.

Carefully, you get up and grab the usual post workout supplies: first aid kit, cold packs, medicine, towels and drinks.

"Listen, we'll keep goin in a bit." You lazily sat down beside him, tossing a towel and drink to him before opening the first aid kit. "But first we need to get all this post workout stuff dealt with or neither of us will be fighting this week."

"Fair enough," he snorted before taking some medicine, knowing if he didn't take it now he would hurt worse later. "I'm in you capable hands, darlin."

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What do you think about Marinette giving absolutely all the Miraculous permanently to their holders at the end of S5 ? Personally I would've only made the people who know Ladybug's identity (Alya, Alix, Luka, Kagami and begrudgingly Felix) permanent holders and leave everyone else as a temporary holder cause they're frankly not important enough characters to have a Miraculous full time imo.

I think it was a really stupid move on multiple levels.

A lot of these characters don't feel like they've earned full-time status, especially characters like Kim and Sabrina. Kagami, Felix, and Nino also raised red flags for me based on their past flippancy with secret identities. Felix literally pulled a Chloe at the diamond dance! I know Marinette didn't give him his miraculous, but come on girl! Don't welcome him to the team with open arms! What is wrong with you??? Didn't losing to Gabriel teach you anything about trusting changes of heart? Wasn't that supposed to be the lesson of Chloe's wacky writing, too?

Even if every member of the team felt worthy, I still wouldn't do this because it's simply way too large a cast to do well. 18 kids + 18 kwamis = 36 named characters of mostly equal narrative importance. You could not pay me to write that, especially given how underdeveloped most of these characters are. The only way this would work in canon is if the show had spent the past 5 seasons building up the extended cast. But they didn't, even though it would have made excellent padding. Why focus on your extended cast when you can dedicate multiple seasons to making the love square as toxic as possible?

The other way large casts can with is if you have distinct plot lines with different small groups like you see in Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings, but Miraculous is the Marinette show. You basically have her team vs whoever the villain is and those are the only real groups characters can be in. I'll be shocked if they change that approach.

[cowlisthenics]

It's really odd to see how many people actually disagree with how the finals ended in Alien Stage, because I actually think it's perfect??

Til is my favorite character but I think his arc is strongest if he died here. The fact it's so unfinished and has so much build up with little to no true end - that's the tragedy of it. It's the tragedy that has followed til literally his entire life. Til was never given the tools to imagine a happy ending for himself, and frankly it seems like no one ever had any intention of letting him or any other human have one. For him to never make it past that, to never find his place, just drives home how unfair alien stage really is. How sacrifice doesn't guarantee your loved ones live or even that your struggles will even be remembered in any meaningful way. Alien stage has always been very upfront about the fact only one will win and by the rules probably survive, and I feel like the more it strays from that diminishes the brutality of the very concept they're criticizing. For them to pull any punches on the finale of all levels would feel narratively weak, personally.

But before this episode even aired, we all knew Til had absolutely no chance. From a purely musical standpoint, maybe. But he's literally so emotionally damaged and they put him in the ring with a guy that gets off to impersonating peoples dead loved ones. Even if he wasn't drugged and even if it wasn't implied to have happened directly after the last match he'd be doomed. Lukas literally is out here playing and getting his freak on about making people die miserably Til is literally the least qualified out of ALL of the contestants to deal with that absolute menace. He was always going to lose, even if they faced eachother in the first round.

From an emotional standpoint I will riot and cry and throw up if he's dead but from a purely writing perspective? It's solid as hell. I literally cannot imagine a more tragic and symbolic way for him to live Or die than right now.

But luka when I catch you Luka. Luka. Luka when I catch you Luka

[mindpalaceofmyown]

THE SONG BEING ABOUT LEAVING PAST BEHIND IS INSANE. everybody confornts their past and feelings for each other throughout the series. not luka. NOT LUKA. him facing hyuna at the end and the video cutting is such a cinematic choice ok. this is really what this lead to.

ivan and till

first off; tills hair is styled the same way as ivan's in round 6. till is wearing a white outfit in the final. notice how tills clothes get progressively lighter as he approaches the final. notice this with other characters. are they implying something about unrequited love between the characters? YES. notice how their behavior towards the love interest is different showcasing the difference in their personalities: ivan makes a last ditch attempt to show his love (ditching the competition and kissing till. then dying bleeding from his mouth (symbolism????)) and till seeing mizi in the crowd and also running towards her but not reaching her in time urghhhh. this may MAY imply the variance in strength of feeling also. ivantill to tillmizi is like a double bond is to a resonance form double bond. almost there but still slightly weaker because of the nature in which it appears. chemistry.

ALSO THAT ONE FUCKING SCENE WHERE LUKA IS IVAN BUT IVAN AND IVAN AND TILL screaming crying throwing up

till and mizi

mizi gives till strength so he runs off and reaches towards her but is too slow. so notice: till runs, doesn't reach her, dies in her arms. ivan runs, kisses till, dies by himself. so what does this say about the strength of their feelings towards each other? :3

luka

this blond bitch gets a whole separate section BECAUSE:

1. slutty outfit.

2. plays violin.

3.THE RINGS HELLO???? he already had bad circulation what was that about huh imagine this a metaphor for the control his guardian has over him. restrict his already weak part even more <- mental illness. this is so reflected in the ending where hes facing hyuna. he won the battle but lost the war.

4. CONTINUING: observe how luka was turned from a child, with expressed feelings, forced into something he had to do and losing that expression as he aged. yes. this is why he gets his section. this man is just like me- i mean what. facing hyuna at the end, his expression is just i would rather die than see you again and be reminded. remember when he was performing with mizi, he was sassy towards hyuna, assuming thed always be separated by some barrier. but theyre not. now he has to actually consider the feeling locked far away. oooo

5. THE WAY HE IVANED JUST LIKE HE SUAD FOR MIZI

overall the animation music so cruchy and smooth and vocal really good urghhhh. @fishyizm wrote abt this more i think

[theastralexpresscrew]

@crimsononiarataki asked: There were no pictures needed of the 'large guy' who managed to singlehandedly break the arena inside the fight club before. Everyone who had been there to see it happen knew exactly what the Nameless looked like. Plus, it wasn't like he was HARD to spot. He towered over everyone, he was rather intimidating to look at, but he wasn't as scary as people assumed he was. Seeing him inside the Fight Club wasn't a rare sight at all. Sure, he was banned from taking part in the fights, but he could still enjoy watching the fighters duke it out. So, he's toward the back, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed over his chest, sunset eyes just watching the ongoing fights. He'd not bothered to bet one anyone, he already knew who was going to win. That winner being, of course, Luka. Despite the number of times he'd been to the establishment, he'd never once seen the redhead lose. Sure, the fighters all tended to get fairly beat up sometimes but serious injuries weren't so common that there needed to be any real cleaning up of the arena between matches. If anyone asked him his opinion on the fighters, or who he thought would win, he'd likely look directly at Luka before merely shrugging and giving a generic response of 'Pick who ya think will win.' if they wanted to ask stupid questions they were going to get sarcastic answers. ->For Luka

There was never any doubt that Luka was one of the best fighters in Boulder Town, if not all of Belobog. Despite being seen as an underdog his win rate was high. Even in his most unfavorable matches he always had a way of making it out on top. It was easy to bet against him, but almost never worked out for those who did.

Today's opponent was a rather burly miner, one who must have worked in the geomarrow mines. His height and weight practically doubled Luka lithe frame. Spectators had their doubts about whether he would come out on top once again or be crushed under the weight of his challenger. But Luka stayed optimistic about his odds. People could bet against him if they wanted, but he was going to do his best to win.

Stepping into the ring as each fighter was announced, Luka finally got a moment to size up his opponent. The man might have been bigger than him, but there were ways around that. Luka was smaller with a lower center of gravity and his agility made him harder to hit. With stances ready the bell rang and the first punch was thrown. Luka ducked low before getting in a hit on the man's side. Another punch came the redhead's way and he sidestepped it, getting off another two punches. Finally a punch connected with Luka's cheek, causing him to stumble back before righting himself.

"Is that all you've got? I thought you would have hit harder than that," he smirked, already back in his stance. His opponent wasn't fond of the taunting, letting out a yell as he charged right at Luka.

[nalascat]

WIP List tag game where @classicbarbie and @cak31ssuperi04 challenged me to post my ENTIRE wip list and its gonna be an incredibly long scroll for whoever DARES to click the readmore button

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs

I am not tagging 100+ people

Click if you dare ->

I have finally organized all of my fic wips into folders based upon their fandoms!! Yippee!! So, for this, it's all sorted by fandom! Some of these wips are over 4 years old and some I worked on today!! Either way, there's a ton and it's bound to be fun!!

Feel free to ask about ANY of these!!! Maybe it'll get me to write them haha

Spider-Man

Aunt May

Gwen

labyrinth

Ghost

Urusq

True loves kiss

Trilogy harry

Tom n Gwen

strawberries

Speeding

Slow burn parksborn

Raimi hehe

Parksborn wedding

Mob boss

3 brothers

ggghost

Goblin 2???

Raimi againnnnnn

Parksborn mermaid

Country club

Black Cat

He almost died

Gala

Cats

bro

Star Trek

Demora annie

demora

Mcspirk cuts

Shore Leave

Soulmate

Cat meow

Dragon

janice/kevin

Sulu's Garden

David

music man

Janice & Sulu soulmates

Snow trek

annie

Aaaaaa sulu

bones

Kirk is jealoussss

Chulu

Barbie

vegas

Tshort

Mariposa

Cat

rockers prompt 28

Luciana

Jealous

Nail salon

Timeloop

The page

TOMMY

Sis chose

Julian/Dominick bc l'm weaj

Louis part 3

Erika

Friendship bracelets

Board

A pauper ig

Nicktoons

soulmarks

I wrote this in the wrong fic moment

Soulmate s

jim

spider timy

tigerghost engage

dibjim engange

tiger family

dib loop

Vampireeeee

Start wreck

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Factory kids

Ethel/Olge

yeessss

Unrequited Augustuca

tiny

Ticket

Spider catcf

Ring

Post tour gus n mike

mike

Ghosts

Hair

Parents

norman

Mike

MAGIC

Fluf

Fake Engaged

ethel/Molly

Mike again

Code

Ethel n Molly

ballet

Ace

Magic Au

Catcf labyrinth

Christmas Market

Ninjago

Superstar Jaybird

Echo n Chad

greencheer

TWOMA REDO

Plasma ebgaged

Techno

Hanahaki kai

Abberation

scars

Twoma

ninjago is an illusion

old ninjago stuff ?

Ninjago Concept

Spy Kids

Juni spider

leeke leeke

spy kid forest

Soulmatr

Rex

oop

juni loses

gary is an idiot

found fam :))))))

Freeverse

Arnold

Dreams (sharkboy and lavagirl)

Carm

Starlight Express

why haven't you kissed me yet

propose

GreaseDinah

I thought you didn't want me Dustin/Ashley

Don't hide your tears

Dinah

Crash

Control intro

control

Cb :)

Cats (Musical)

Victoria

Plato

5+1 Misto

Muppets

Wooter 14

RESTAURANT

Skeeter

Muppet starlight

heehee

club wooter

The Legend of Zelda

Ravs

lorule!!!

Raviolink

ravio

Trolls

Trolls Trek

jd evill

Barbbbb

broppyyyyyy

Jd iawl

Crossovers

Harry Spy Kids (TASM2/Spy Kids)

Dp/ninjago (Danny Phantom/Ninjago)

Tasm trek (TASM2/Star Trek)

warrior (Cats Musical/Warrior Cats)

spy catcf (Spy Kids/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Silence (Teen Titans/Danny Phantom)

Rob (Teen Titans/Danny Phantom)

read (The Legend of Zelda/Kid Icarus)

Choccy spy (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory/Spy Kids)

Miscellaneous Fandoms

Tin petals (Tintin)

Rufio (Hook)

Petal Dance (Descendants)

Neverending Story (Neverending Story)

Lukas (Minecraft Story Mode)

Louis (Ghostbusters)

Jaylos meet (Descendants)

Herbie (The Love Bug)

Coffeeshop Tintin (Tintin)

Beacontown Station (Minecraft Story Mode)

Chronicle (Chronicle)

[toxinellebug]

Paris Special HEADCANONS

Marinette only became emo after Chloe posted the video of Kim humiliating her online because there was no Socqulien to stop her.

Marinetter didn’t wear fishnet gloves or a scarf until those black veins started to appear.

Adrien only cut his hair after his father FORCED him to go to school, (because socializing with kids his own age would be good for his mental health) as an act of rebellion.

When the black lines started to appear, Adrien took inspiration from the Baker girl’s emo makeup to hide it.

Marinette ended up in Ms. Mendeliev’s class, NOT Ms. Bustier, which is why she never met Alya or met Adrien personally, but knew he was a spoiled brat because Chloe paraded him around the school as her Adrikins.

Adrien, who resented being sent to school, followed Chloe’s lead and probably bullied Nino, while Chloe made Alya her new fav target.

Marinette never met Luka since she and Juleka never became friends.

The Crush who thinks she’s a pathetic loser that she references is Kim. (In eng dub she says bf, which makes no sense since the special takes place at the begining of S5 after they got the Rabbit back and right after Cat Noir cataclysmed Monarch at the wax museum- and at this time Adrien has not yet fully accepted his feelings for Marinette and Marinette had broken up with Luka in ep 1 of s4 so she doesn’t have a boyfriend, which would be clear in her diary, but she does have a crush who sees her as a very good friend, whereas bad marinette’s last crush would have been Kim)

Adrien probably enjoys fame and modeling. His mother wanted to be a famous movie star after all. Also, he praises the perfection of Adrien Agreste when he is Claw Noir/Griffe Noir, and frowns when Shadybug/Toxinelle insults him. But Cat Noir has said that he is better looking and better dressed than Adrien and doesn’t understand why girls were fighting over him. Enjoying his fame and possibly relishing in signing autographs at school could also reinforce Marinette’s belief that he is self-centered despite not knowing him… Cuz remember, she was surprised that he seemed to know her, which means they aren’t classmates.

Good Gabriel obviously made Adrien go to school since being alone isn’t healthy for a teen, and Gabriel can’t design for his brand, save the world AND homeschool his son all at the same time. Plus, making friends and learning social skills would help Adrien overcome his grief.

The Centralist nature of the world ruled by the Supreme would result in Sabine having more conservative values, which would make her a more harsh disciplinarian who criticizes her daughter frequently.

Good Gabriel could not risk someone else suffering from the peacock, nor having his identity exposed to the Supreme, therefore FELIX was never born because Fathom Colt could not be trusted. (Sure, you could argue that the Supreme willingly lent Colt the peacock in exchange for something and that’s where Gabriel got the idea from but he had nothing to offer so he stole it, but since his wife is Amalie’s twin and suffered from the same infertility issues, it would be too suspicious if Emelie just miraculously got pregnant when it was impossible for her suster to do so without a miraculous.) The Gorilla was sent at Amalie’s insistence since Adrien is the heir of the precious DeVanilly bloodline and thus must be protected!

Gabriel accepted only because it stopped Amalie from insisting that she be allowed to adopt her nephew after her sister’s death.

This would also mean Amalie sees Adrien as the rightful owner of the DeVanilly twin rings and she would not insist on having them back, which means Gabriel could claim to keep them in a safe until Adrien comes of age because he knows Adrien will lose his free will if anyone gets their hands on those rings and good Gabriel respects his son’s autonomy as a person.

Gabriel never met Nathalie. She was a relic hunter, and since Gabriel stole what he needed from the Supreme, he never needed to hire Nathalie to search for magic jewels.

XY is famous and popular, Jagged Stone is either a nobody or his music is strictly underground indie because it is banned for it’s anarchist nature.

Andre never became Mayor, but he still has the Hotel and is a Movie Director. Chloe’s bad attitude still comes from her father’s wealth and Mother’s influence.

Mylene would not be allowed to attend Francios Dupont.

(Let’s face it, it is a Private school and all the kids who go there are either rich, middle class, or have show biz connections. They have an exclusive curriculum, including textbooks no other school uses, and no handicap access. Nino DJ’s as a hobby- do you know how expensive equipment is? For a 14 year old kid to have that as a hobby he needs to come from money. Building an AI robot isn’t cheap either, Max- son of an astronaut. Alya’s dad has at least a Master’s Degree if not a Doctorate in order to be a zookeeper and her mom is a chief in a 5 star hotel which affords her an apartment in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and ALYA, despite having 3 sisters, has her own bedroom with a balcony. Bakers in Paris also earn more than just a decent living, and sewing is not a cheap hobby either for a 13/14 year old who could lose interest because she’s a teenager. Mirelle and Aurora have the networking and connections to get on TV, you really think their parents wouldn’t send them to a highly rated private school? Chloe is repulsed by public transportation, do you think she’d be caught dead in a public school? Do you think the daughter of the Mayor and the Queen of fashion would go to public school? Do you think Gabriel Agreste who has a bodyguard for his supermodel son would allow him to attend public school? Do you think a world famous Fencer who also runs for political office would teach at a public school? Do you think Tsurugi san, who demands perfection and nothing short of the best, would allow Kagami to join a fencing club at a public school? No, Francois Dupont is a private school, and the only reason Mylene is able to attend is because her dad works there as a janitor. That’s why Chloe is always digging at how poor her clothes are.)

Betterfly said mutual aid is a crime in his world, meaning it is Centralist politics, which means Mylene and Ivan would not be able to protest anything legally and Ms. Bustier would not be able to get a job as a teacher with her idealistic liberal values… meaning she is not a teacher, or she is a mean teacher and probably even has a husband rather than a wife.

Post Paris Special, in addition to being homeless fugitives, Adrien will be a mess because the girl he has been yelling at, calling a cockroach, and trying to steal from is also the girl he’s been head over heels in love with but never had the guts to actually TALK to and it turns out she HATES his civilian identity and he has no idea how to talk to her without his mask but wearing the mask he falls into old habits and has to constantly correct himself before calling her cockroach and he constantly berates himself “WHY did I say that?? Stupid, stupid!” Everytime he ends up saying something snarky, rude, or tries to flirt and it just comes out cringe because he REALLY wants her to like him but he is also low key terrified of her hating him, yet just her grabbing his hand turns his brain into mush and have him daydreaming about wedding bells and a hamster.

Meanwhile, Marinette has never had a friend before, and has zero idea how to work as a team, especially with a moron who is as conceited and spoiled as Adrien Agreste, but they are stuck together now, and she DOES want to give it a shot, especially if it means she can change her crappy life and NOT be destroyed by her own powers. But she has no idea why her so called Partner is so bi-polar; one minute he’s acting smug and showing off, the next aloof (trying to play it cool), then he’s trying to crack jokes and get her praise, then he seems like he’s ready to snap and call her shittybug only to become apologetic, nervous/embarressed/awkward, and try to change the subject. Sometimes he acts like her touch burns him, othertimes he acts like he wants to hold her hsnd and follow her like a lost puppy. But most annoying is when he screws up her plans by trying to protect her by becoming a human shield or tackling her out of harms way (and spending way too long on top of her) when he used to be content to let her hit the ground and laugh about it. She doesn’t know if treating her like a damsel in distress is his idea of “team work” but it is annoying because for her plans to work he needs to focus and do the jobs she TELLS him to!

Marinette is still anti-love after her trauma from Kim so she has no romantic interest in anyone and is completely clueless to Adrien’s feelings and gets annoyed because she sees Paw Noir’s pathetic attempts at flirting as him mocking her even though they are supposed to be “good guys” on the same team now.

Gabriel is aware of both their feelings and it gives him a headache because teen romance is the worst and he knows Claw Noir would sooner drop dead from embarrassment than accept love advice from him, and quite frankly, Gabriel is far more worried about these children being put in danger and all the school they are missing and how worried Marinette’s parents must be with their daughter missing. But he knows the Supreme would show these two no mercy so they can’t return to their civilian lives until the Supreme is defeated.

IDK if Gabriel was able to remove Nooru’s muzzle, or if the Supreme started muzzling Kwami’s after the butterfly and peacock was stolen, but if Ladybug and Paw Noir are going to use their miraculous the right way, they will need to feed their kwamis.

Plagg still does not trust Adrien; it’s not the first time his miraculous has fallen into the wrong hands and been misused and the whole thing has left him jaded with a strong dislike of humans (who are only good for making cheese!) so Plagg will hate and be an asshole towards Adrien for a while before the kid can earn his trust and friendship.

Tikki wants to trust but she is nervous and dispirited from all the harm that has been done with her powers. She wants to believe there is still hope for her young holder, but she’s also not ready to open up her heart just yet. Marinette also is not used to showing or receiving affection, but she knows from reading her other self’s diary that Tikki is supposed to be her friend but she has no idea how to open up to the tiny creature that until now has only been her slave.

Gabriel feels great sympathy towards Marinette who has suffered so much abuse, and great guilt towards Adrien who has never learned how to socialize with kids his own age or deal with negative emotions in a healthy way, but he is certain that these two kids are made for each other.

Nino is still terrified of Paw Noir, and is super weirded out that the biggest bully in School after Chloe is now suddenly, awkwardly, trying to talk to him and asking about his favorite movies for dome reason? But they are members of the underground resistance together now and he’s not going to risk ticking this kid off and getting cataclysmed.

Alya is wary because Shadybug has tried to kill her several times these past few months… and now they are suddenly allies? Sure, that’s not weird or suspicious AT ALL.