#miraculous wu xing

[imthepunchlord]

I hope it’s okay for me to send this, but going off of what you’ve researched and how you’ve set everything up so far, I do believe that the only change you need to make is switching Bee and Fox between Bagua and Wu Xing.

Like you said, power-wise both the Fox and the Bee have about an even number of pros and cons for going into either, so it really does boil down to Trixx just feeling more important than Pollen at this point in terms of their personalities themselves and how much attention those personalities are given in-show. Along with the pros you’ve given for having the Fox be the Earth Wu Xing, the Bee going into Bagua is good because it still fits for the Earth slot there that’s not too weak or too strong of a placement with both the powers and the kwami tied to them in consideration. Bonus, it evens out the number of bugs to mammals in the Wu Xing (Peacock was gonna be the odd one out anyway since there’s five slots) and adds another to Bagua so Mantis isn’t left hanging.

Concerning Turtle and Butterfly switching place too, I don’t think that’s necessary for many of the reasons why a Bee-Fox swap is. With Wayzz and the Turtle in general, they just don’t FEEL nearly as important as the Butterfly and Nooroo due to how they were handled in-show, especially with the main villain holding one and the background mentor holding another. Plus, the switch would throw off not only the Butterfly being powerful enough where both Ladybug and Cat are needed, but why Gabriel would even bother with it over Peacock regardless of possible sickness seeing as it’s not one of the ones he needs to make a Wish or even in the top tier of power.

I also don’t think you need to mess with the number or meaning of the Wu Xing, Bagua, or Zodiac slots. Not only does that make life more complicated for you, but switching that sorta stuff up for these real-life ancient systems for what are supposed to be in-universe even more ancient godly beings feels kinda… wrong?? Like, it’s why the canon handling of the zodiac, Wu Xing, and yin yang and how they relate to each Miraculous bothers me so much; it just feels like NOT the thing anymore y’know?

In any case, I hope my ramblings are of any use to you, and please feel free to reply with your honest thoughts either way.

(P.S. If it helps concerning Duusu, after her Miraculous is fixed, it's revealed that her erratic behavior really was partly a result of the damage to the Peacock Miraculous, which she comments as being like there was "chaos in [her] head" and she was in a nightmare. Now that her mind is completely cleared, she can still be quite emotional and a bit scatterbrained, but to a lesser extent than when her Miraculous was broken.)

Yeah it's ok, I don't mind feedback and having thoughts shared with this, cause it will be something I'll be going back and forth on. So having outside feedback helps.

And you do bring up good points. This is to work off what's seen in the show while also making changes to secure it works out better (like Butterfly, Ladybug, and Cat adjusted to be on that same level of power, cause based on what Butterfly can do, Peafowl too, it's hard to believe LB and Cat are the "two most powerful"). And between the two, Fox does have more significance. Between Trixx having a defined personality and to Fox actually tied to more plot relevant characters. Bee's importance really comes down to who has Bee, which ultimately in the grand scheme of things, Chloe and Zoe aren't so important. The former definitely got far more attention than she really needed given she wasn't going to be redeemed or be a big bad.

The nice thing too about having Bee with Bagua does allow flexibility in where Bee can go, so if I feel I need to move some around placement wise, I will have that option.

Like Bee can match with any of these. Fox though is more limited in placements.

And good point with the debate for Turtle and Butterfly; by my research, Turtle should be a very significant Miraculous, it's a sacred animal in China, one of the few equals to the Dragon. But show wise it is more of an after thought. So Bagua is a good middle of the road for it.

And yeah, messing with official numbers would be best to avoid. The only one I think could be done in adjusting the numbers is the Bagua set, while it is officially Eight Areas, there is the unofficial 9th area, the yellow center representing balance and vitality, yin-yang. Earlier ideas actually had Dragon be the unofficial 9th member of Bagua, which works really well as dragons are tied to the number 9, and the initial idea was that Dragon was the most powerful, the one that represents yin-yang as a unit, and is the one all 3 tiers circled around. And the trade off to being the most powerful was that this was the only Miraculous you can't make a Wish with. And while Dragon was the unofficial 9th member, hidden under the yin-yang symbol in the Miracle Box, Turtle would've taken Dragon's slot in the Zodiac, allowing a loose reference to the Four Symbols within the Zodiac, and work off Turtle and Rabbit being an immediate pair. Or, allowed there to be 2 serpent based Miraculous: Cobra and Snake.

Ultimately decided to not change up the Zodiac and let it be, and just stick to there being 25 Miraculous instead of 26. It would've been a number difference but it also is still a good size number of Miraculous to exist and work with.

Anyway! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, it was helpful and brought up some good points I didn't think about. And thanks for letting me know about Duusu post her Miraculous fixed. That's good to know.

[howhow326]

What if I reworked the Miraculous Powers jk... unless

So I feel like a common criticism of Miraculous Ladybug is that the Miraculous are kind of underwhelming: The Lore says that the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous are equal in power, but the Ladybug miraculous has like a gazillion different powers (Lucky Charm, Purification, Miraculous Ladybug, and now miracle charms) while the Cat Miraculous has the one power. Likewise, the lore says that the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous are the strongest, but the both of them are just above average compared to literal Time Travel!

So building off the other two posts that reworked the Miraculous Ladybug power system (ill try to link them in the comments of this post so Tumblr dosen't hide this) I will now do what the title of this post says!

Yin & Yang miraculous: 7 powers (strongest miraculous go brr)

Wu Xing miraculous: 2 powers

Zodiac miraculous: don't exist lol (I don't like them. If I did keep them, then I think they should still just be one power. And the rabbit miraculous should have a different power)

■ ■ ■

Ladybug Miraculous of Creation Yang

Creation: Lucky Charm (same old)

Ladybug: Smell, Agility (all of the miraculous explicitly get passive animal powers now. Ladybug has a good sense of smell that she can use to identify objects and super agility to dodge attacks)

Transformation: Purify (It's the same thing as before, but now it works on all of the miraculous powers and not just the Butterfly/Peacock. Because the Ladybug miraculous is one of two strongest miraculous and it makes more sense for it to counter everything and not just two things)

Animation: Miraculous Ladybugs (Just going to point out that I changed the Peacock attribute from emotion to animation. I don't get how the life generator is Emotion outside of the fact that living things have feelings, in which case it could also be called the miraculous of Respiration cuz everything breaths right? Back on track, the Ladybugs work on everything now like Purify)

Protection: Miracle Charm (I really like how well this fits! And again, it works for all negative miraculous powers and not just two)

Illusion: Looking Glass (I am proud of that name. This power summons eyewear that lets the user see the truth. That truth could be anything from seeing through illusions or seeing through lies. Bout to end Lila's whole career)

Domination: Obedience (I kinda struggled to come up with a power this time. So, Obedience allows Ladybug to force someone to obey a rule or a group of related rules like the law of the land. The obvious use is to passify criminals, but it's also kinda brain washing. Marinette would be tempted to use this power on Chloe and Lila, but resolve herself to only use it on villains. Also it's broken so maybe using it drains all of Ladybug's energy)

Black Cat Miraculous of Destruction Yin

Destruction: Cataclysm (same old)

Black Cat: Hearing, Vibrosense, Night Vision, Speed, Agility (remember when Chat had Night vision in season 1? Anyway, Chat has a lot of sensor powers and speed to make him good at fighting and tracking down akumas, in contrast to Ladybug's defense orientation. Btw, Vibrosense is the thing Cats do when they sense vibrations in the air. Remember it because almost everyone has it lol)

Transformation: Corruption (I like to think Chat is villain coded [affectionate] so I gave him a lot of evil powers. Corruption is the same thing as Akumas, buy Chat can't control what they turn into or control the person. This makes this a high risk high reward power where Chat either turns a villain into something harmless like a dog or into godzilla)

Animation: Catastrophe (I stuggled to come up with something again. So this is like a reverse of Ladybug's Miraculous Ladybugs where, instead of restoring everything, Catastrophe blows up everything. Another high risk high reward power, its useful against villains that change the environment and terrible to use otherwise)

Protection: Charm Breaker (It breaks charms. It also breaks the magic hax that akuma villains use, so Chat could use this to break brain washing and the like. If Chats not going to be integral to curing akumas, he could at least be good for fighting them)

Illusion: Cheshire Cat (I stole this name from the other posts. So my version of this power lets Chat disguise himself as literaly anyone which gives him something to do outside of fighting. Now Chat can go espionage yay!)

Domination: Disobedience (While Marinette's Domination power is her only offensive one, Chat's Domination power is his only supportive one. Disobedience allows Chat to break magically forced obedience: so it works on Ladybugs stuff and Amoks.)

Butterfly Miraculous of Transformation

Transformation: Tenshi/Akuma (same old, now with clarification on what a good akuma is called)

Butterfly: Mind Sense, Flight (Butterflies aren't psychic but who cares. Mind sense alllows the user to sense people's active brains which includes emotions and some of their thoughts. He can also fly with wings now because I said so)

Peacock Miraculous of EmotionAnimation

Animation: Amok (same old)

Peacock: Sight, Hearing, Vibrosense, gliding (apparently, peacocks can sense vibrations using their feather crests. I really didn't know that before I started searching. Also, no flying, just falling with style)

Turtle Miraculous of Protection

Protection: Shell-ter

Turtle: Water Vibrosense, Strength, Endurance, Speed Swimming, Holding breath underwater (Did you catch that it's good underwater yet? The miraculous power ups still exist, the Turtle just makes those redundant now. Also, I tried to give Carapace some more tank abilities to make up for him being the least mobile hero. He can't jump over buildings, but getting punched by him is the same thing as being hit by a truck)

Fox Miraculous of Illusion

Illusion: Mirage

Fox: Hearing, Smell, Vibrosense, Night Vision, Speed, Agility (I really like how Rena Rouge is less of a fighter and more of a mezzer/trickster in the show, so I tried to highlight that here. She has a bunch of senses to help with intel gathering and can always dodge or run away if she gets caught. She's also faster than Chat and more Agile than Ladybug, but weaker than both)

Bee Miraculous of Domination (Note: Domination is the name of the Bee Miraculous attribute in the French version and the English one changed it to Subjection, which literally means the exact same thing. I like Domination better, so bye bye petite Subjection)

Domination: Venom

Bee: Smell, Vibrosense, Flight (Yes, Ladybug being the only bug her that cant fly is weird, but I didn't want her to lose her Spiderman swinging)

Ladybug and Chat would have to spend time during a better version of season three learning to use their new powers instead of relying on the dollar store justice league.

[shwoop]

Miraculous cleaved AU Power Systems - Zodiac addition

so uh hi! im shwoop and this is my little (hah!) pet project! I’m gonna write dot jot notes here and some other necessary info for this au so if anyone wants to play in my sandbox.

 ( I used Not Dead Yet’s magic system as a template make sure to check it out                                  after this !!! ) there will be more ml boxes!!)

- Rat (water( heart )yang) Miraculous of Cleverness and Community.          Makes clones of herself and others but gets smaller for each one. peak power is a hundred clones able to lift twenty times her own weight. restraints are the more they split the more exhausted the user gets, others get disoriented when done to much

- Ox (earth (body) yin) Miraculous of Determination and Absorption.                      The most durable of the miraculous, the user is able to absorb 5% of all attacks aimed at them there final is reflecting it out in a single devastating attack. draw backs is that the user will feel far more pain than the others and his final takes time to charge

- Tiger (wood (mind) yang) Miraculous of Confidence and Amplification.                The most intimidating/charismatic of the miraculous, only second to the dragon. their final is a scream that can stun, disrupt, or strenghen moral. restraints would be how long she can go on a single breath

- Rabbit (wood(mind)yin) Miraculous of Cycles and Time.                                   An outlier, mainly because of the moon rabbit myth that had affected the creation process. they can use there control over time to speed themselves up or use there mallet as an extention of herself to cause an area affect. her power/time level shifts with the moon cycle making her weakest on a full moon( because the light reflected is the suns, not the moon)

- Dragon (earth(body)yang) Miraculous of Balance and Weather.                           this miraculous requires its users to have a clear head to avoid catastrophe and will boot the user out of their transformation if it see you as a danger to its self and others. the powersgiven to the user is the physical manifestation of whatever weather is occuring at the time. overtime the user could affect and prexisting weather

- Snake(fire(energy)yin) Miraculous of Growth and Intuition.                                   I’m thinking the final would be clairvoyance, but not like random stuff or even shots of dead world(or timelines) but of pivotol character moments like how the hug between mrabel and isabela. restriction here would be up for interpretation. subtle plant manipulation

- Horse (fire(energy)yang) Miraculous of Movement and Migration.                        portal powers but I liked the feet feathers so much that the user can float for a little while too. restraints I dunno, has to picture where there going I guess. oh they have binocular vision so the untrained will feel super weird at the start so best time to fight these guys is at the start 

- Goat (earth(body)yin) of Imagination and Dreams.                                              the goat miraculous grants users the ability to astral project to the spirit realm even able to form weak constructs after practice. The con? it leaves your body defenceless and if you don’t return to it, the user will be stuck forever in the astral realm, the same will happen if someone takes the miraculous

- Monkey (metal (soul) yang) Miraculous of Curiosity and Pranks.                          basically ben 10...thats his power, being ben 10.

- Rooster (metal (soul )yin ) Miraculous of Discipline and Culmination.                  able to acess any possible ability to ever exist within the animal kingdom, but never able to unlock its true potential.

- Dog (earth (body) yang) Miraculous of Prudence and Reclamation.                    able to track, there final is a dig ability they can use that breaks through anything in their search for whatever was lost. their only able to use this ability once every transformation.

- Pig (water (heart) yin) Miraculous of Nurturing and Jubilation.                              I have yet to decide if it’ll be a gift or Not dead yets power of imunity, can’t it be both? uuugggghhh a decision for future me

soo this is my sandbox hope you have as much fun as I did making this Byeeee

[chaos-has-theories]

Sat up with @echo-has-queries last night doing ye olde "making the secondary miraculous adhere a bit more to the wu xing" and now I can't stop thinking about. Nino/Alya/Zoé

[princess-of-the-corner]

Time to pull more from that 10page word doc since we're talking about balancing the Black Cat and Ladybug Miraculous and I kinda wanna talk about my take.

Well, first I increased the powers each Miraculous has to 5, to emphasize that these two are the most Powerful ones (I gave the Wu Xing Miraculous three Powers, and the Zodiac Miraculous two).

Since they're supposed to be Yin and Yang, I looked up more about the symbolism behind that. I made the Ladybug the Yang and the Black Cat the Yin bc it fit really well (despite cannon having them the other way around in the box), and then picked five sets of contrasting values/things associated with Yin or Yang and tried to make the powers mirror each other and also be the only way to counter the other.

Like, I kept Lucky Charm and Cataclysm basically the same to be Creation and Destruction, except I kinda made Cataclysm a bit harder to use. It needs the User to carefully focus and direct it, or else it would either spaz out of control (like, taking out a wall and letting an Akuma escape instead of taking out the floor to trip it up like you wanted, not kill the dinosaurs going out of control) or barely do anything.

Another duo I picked was Order/Chaos. Miracle Cure is basically unchanged from cannon as well, except I added the stipulation that it can only restore Order to things that the Weilder was involved in, to give a concrete reason why it can't be used to just fix everything bad that's ever happened in human history.

For the Black Cats Chaos Power, I came up with something I call 'Catastrophe' which is an Area of Effect ability that creates a bubble of Chaos. Other Miraculous Powers and even other Magics go haywire, electronics short out, gravity gets funky, just pure Chaos. The Weilder can dispel it whenever they want, it disappears when they detransform, and it can be dispelled by Miracle Cure (but there's nothing stopping the Black Cat from immediately using Catastrophe again if they're strong enough to use it multiple times)

I also picked powers for Light/Shadow, Body/Soul, and Life/Death

oh dope.

Honestly I could've gone with more opposites with my AU, but I feel that those things could be better utilized as their own pairs seperate from the Ladybug and Black Cat.

So those are Life/Death, Creation/Destruction, and good/bad Luck

I do have the Rooster and Goat be Day/Night, though I don't lean into the shadow as much as the light in that one.

[imthepunchlord]

Another issue to add to this topic, is the wonder why is Cat even out?

I know it's Ladybug's counterpart, but out of all 5 seasons, there's not much reason given on why Cat is even out. Doesn't seem to have a unique edge over Butterfly like Ladybug does, nor does it seem to have anything to add to help, like cleansing or severing a victim from their akuma. And we see that Ladybug clearly works fine with other Miraculous, and now knowing that Fu has 16-17 Miraculous on him, it's an odd risky choice to release Cat willingly. Between the two, Ladybug is really the only one that is a must release, Cat is not so. And as other Miraculous came, there are clearer, better options in facing the Butterfly.

Fox's illusions could've been used to emotionally manipulate and trick akumas (additionally, being based on Wu Xing which does have a control system in place, Fox and Turtle are set up to have an edge over Butterfly, or at least, they should).

Bee would've been OP against most akumas with the ability to immobilize.

Ox's Resistance could've been a viable power to resist influence or send attacks back.

If Fu does have Rabbit at the start, could've solved everything. Even just look at the timeline if you can't mess with the past.

Dragon could've been useful as alternative combative Miraculous and can literally become elements, can easily overwhelm most akumas.

Snake's resetting time would give a nice edge.

Horse's teleportation would be super useful.

Monkey could've been viable with the ability to mess up powers.

Rooster... mostly has any power they want, so that's pretty viable, if you can figure it out?

Dog would also be very OP with the ability Fetch, you just gotta aim for the akuma's item and that's it. Battle won as soon as it's handed to Ladybug.

And even Pig can be useful against Butterfly, offering emotional connection/manipulation.

All of these would be far more viable than Cat, and far safer to release as Gabriel would have one of the two that he desires and have a harder time to make that wish. We don't have a reason on why Cat is a must release over any of these; it just makes Fu look like an idiot doing so, when he has far more better options to work with the Ladybug.

Even the movie was kinda aware of this issue and spouted that they make each other stronger by being together to validate why Cat is out, but Cat still didn't really have any sort of edge over Butterfly, making it less vital. For any viable reason on why Cat is out and what it brings to have an edge over Butterfly, we have to craft ourselves.

And what sucks is that Mayura actually could've been a decent reason to elevate Chat's importance and why Cat needs to be out. With sentis made out of feathers, and being objects instead of a living creature, I don't see a reason for feathers to be cleansed and allowed to go on their way, it could've been that they had to be destroyed, and hey, that's something unique Cat can do and bring to the table.

But I guess we can't have the Cat be able to fix problems and play an important that's just as vital as Ladybug's despite being one of the two established most important Miraculous...

Season One was Fun, but it’s the Reason for All of Chat Noir’s Problems

While season one of Miraculous is certainly not perfect, it’s got a lot of good content. Fun episodes, interesting character setups, and interesting plot setups make it a solid opening season to this type of show. There is, however, one massive flaw, the repercussions of which we’re still feeling to this day. That flaw is the dynamic that it establishes between Ladybug and Chat Noir. A dynamic that works great for a duo, but falls apart when you add a larger team.

General Talk About Team Dynamics

When you’re writing a story with a team or core group, the characters need to be designed around each other. How will they interact? Who are the key characters? Who is the leader? Who is the brains? Who is the comic relief? And so on. 

Each character should, by and large, fill a unique role. This is especially true in larger cast because you’re going to have to balance writing all of these characters, so you need to have clear logic for who will be doing what. This is a big reason why having 18 heroes with only one clear main character is a terrible idea. There just aren’t 18 unique roles to be filled. There will be overlap and characters will end up being defined by their powers and little else. That’s why most shows cap out at 7 or 8 people in that core team and why the core team usually starts as much smaller group.

The size of your team is a huge factor in deciding how clearly the character roles need to be defined. If it’s a team of two, then the fact that the team is so small will make the characters feel important just because they’re the main focus. This means that you can get away with one of the characters being more silly and less obviously important. One of the best examples of this is Kim Possible.

That show sees the titular character doing most of the heavy lifting. She’s the fighter, the badass, the brains, the one everyone knows. Her partner, Ron, is mostly there as comic relief. However, you don’t watch this show and think “why is Ron even there? Why doesn’t Kim bring X?” Because there is no X. Kim and Ron are the only options, so Ron can be as silly as the writers want him to be without coming across as just another part of the team. There are even episodes centered around showing that Kim and Ron can’t function without each other. They are the only viable team.

Let’s contrast them to these four:

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are four of the best know hero characters in modern media and they are exceedingly well balanced. While different versions will mess with the family dynamics, the general pattern is that Leo is the serious leader, Raph is the tank/second in command, Donnie is the brains, and Mikey is the artsy comic relief. The property would not be enjoyable if you didn’t have all four characters there to balance each other out.

However, if the world is ending and you have to pick two turtles to save the day, then you’re probably not picking Mikey for your roster. He’s a strong fighter and a fun character, but the roles that the other three play make them better picks in almost every scenario.

This is true for pretty much any show with this kind of dynamic. If you have a comic relief character, then they’re going to be fun. They might even be the fan favorite! But from the perspective of the story, the comic relief character is there to lighten the mood and assist the team. The other ones are there to take charge and solve the problems. The only way to get around this is to give the comic relief a strong second role that elevates them to more than just the comic relief. (Quick note: this isn’t something that you need to do, btw. Mikey is fine as-is because he doesn’t need to feel more narratively important for the story to work.)

A decent example of a character who is both the comic relief and a key member of the team that you can’t remove if you want to win is Sokka from Avatar the Last Airbender. If you look at the core team, Sokka is the one who is usually cracking the jokes and lightening the mood. He also has no powers, making him the weakest fighter. However, he’s also the one who makes the plans. He’s the “idea guy”. Take Sokka away and the story doesn’t work. The team can fight without him, but they probably won’t win without him because they won’t know where and when to fight.

This is Chat Noir’s problem.

Team Dynamics in Miraculous

Miraculous season one didn’t make Chat Noir a Sokka. It make him a Ron and that worked because there was only Chat Noir and Ladybug. Chat Noir didn’t need to have his importance clearly defined, he was important just because he was Ladybug’s partner. He was the one who kept her from fighting alone. No one else was treated as a viable alternative.

But she’s not alone anymore. There are 17 other people on her team. We’ve seen her fight with different groups and win even though Chat Noir wasn’t able to make it (something that you would never see in Kim Possible). This is the problem. The issue that’s been building and building ever since Rena Rouge first got her miraculous.

If you ignore personal preferences and just look at the roles filled by the different miraculous holders, then Chat Noir doesn’t feel like the obvious pick to stand beside Ladybug. What does he offer that no one else does? What is his unique role outside of comic relief? What makes him scream “duteragonist”?

To fix this problem, you have to go all the way back to the beginning and either nix the larger team or rewrite season one to establish Chat Noir as something more than the comic relief. This doesn’t need to be an aspect of his powers (though I do have thoughts on that). Looking at the previous examples, we see that Donnie is vital because he’s extremely good with technology. Sokka is vital because he makes the plans. Chat Noir could have been vital for a reason as simple as “Ladybug trust him above all others and they constantly work together.” But that’s not what the show did. Alya is both Ladybug’s second in command and her sole confidant. The one who knows all the secrets. Now that Alya - and the rest of the class - have permanent miraculouses, be ready for even more episodes where Chat Noir feels like he’s just there to be Ladybug’s silly arm candy. Which isn’t a problem if Chat Noir is mostly just the love interest a la Tuxedo Mask, but if that’s all he is, then maybe don’t have his family be the center of the plot or put his name in the title?

(Yes, I simplified some of these characters' roles. I'm just making broad statements here to provoke reflection on the writing. I'm not critiquing any property save for Miraculous.)

[loosescrewslefty]

Miraculous Ladybug- Fixing the Powers

I’ve been very much bothered by the way that the writing team for Miraculous Ladybug has been handling powers for a long time now. It might not be as frustrating or offensive as how they sometimes treat the characters and their relationships, but it BOTHERS me. Because it doesn’t make sense that Adults are more powerful than kids just by the grace of being an adult if the magic comes from a kwami and the jewelry and as such the age of the wearer shouldn’t matter as much. And objectively speaking, there as several ‘minor’ miraculouses that seem WAY more powerful than the two that are supposed to be the most coveted, the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculouses. Also both the addition of the potions AND the distinctions given to some of the miraculouses/kwamis (Such as Pollen being the ‘Kwami of Subjugation’) are just... ODD. So a while back I sat down and charted out a way to ‘fix’ the powers in Miraculous Ladybug, much like I’ve seen others fix plots and characters.

More Clearly based on Yin/Yang, Wu Xing, and the Zodiacs

I can’t tell you how much it annoys me that Astruc clearly chose these Chinese motifs for the aesthetic, and didn’t bother researching or properly applying any of the theology attached to them to his show. Ladybug and Chat Noir SHOULD be equal, and balance one another out, but they’re not. Instead, Ladybug gets way more power and importance than Chat Noir does. And the Wu Xing Cycle is an important one too, because that’s nature holding itself in check. 

The Wu Xing has four different cycles attached to it; the Creation Cycle, the Destruction Cycle, the Insult Cycle, and the Controlling Cycle. It could have been interesting to lean into this, so that pairing two miraculous heroes together can lead to new powers being unlocked, depending on the two in question, and that if a  Hawkmoth happens, there are two heroes other than Ladybug and Chat who’d be able to step up and confront him.

New Stations/Distinctions for the Kwamis

It bothers me that the distinctions chosen for the Kwami feel extremely random, and don’t fit together at all. Nooroo is “Generosity”, Trixx is “Deception”, Pollen is “Subjugation”, Wayzz is “Protection”, and Duusuu is “Emotion.” Like, on their own these are fine. But none of them really relate to one another in a way that makes sense, which the Wu Xing SHOULD. As much as it annoys me, I can sorta understand why it would be a bad idea to attach the specific elements themselves to each Miraculous, because then people will expect the powers of that miraculous to relate to that element, which is very limiting. The Wu Xing is about much more than just nature and the elements. It’s also used to reference the passing of time, physical parts of the body, emotions, cardinal directions and so much more. 

But I still feel that the Distinctions for each Kwami and their powers should be presented in a what where it makes sense to see them relating to one another. One way I’ve suggested for people to do this is to include Ladybug and Chat in the consideration and base each of the Kwamis off of one of the Seven Chakras. But another way I like much better is to consider the kwamis in relation to what area their abilities will affect. For Example; Fox- Mind (Wood) Bee- Energy (Fire) Turtle- Body (Earth) Peacock- Soul (Metal) Butterfly- Heart (Water)

These are things you can tell at a glance relate to one another, without limiting the kwamis too much to being one trick ponies. And speaking of limits...

Limits are based on internal balance, not age

In an effort to make the sage figure that is supposed to be Fu NOT look like he has sand for brains and decided it’d be a good idea to give his chosen heroes a massive handicap against the villain right out of the gate, we’re going to change up the limiter for the Miraculouses. Rather than being based on age, the thing that determines how well you use a miraculous is your affiliation with the element/distinction that the Miraculous represents. Let’s use Kim as an example here. He’s very energetic and driven, so he’d have a great time with either the Bee or the Turtle, but give him the Peacock, the Butterfly, or the Fox, and things will get a hell of a lot harder for him. On the exact flip side, Juleka would be great with the Peacock, Butterfly, or Fox, but would struggle with the Bee or the Turtle.

Having the powers draw off of being able to synchronize with that power/ability due to personality makes sense, and is more true to the concepts that Miraculous Ladybug is trying to present than claiming that it’s because of age. And the beauty of this is that people can grow and change at any point in their life, which means that they can learn and change and miraculouses that they once struggled with can become easier for them to use while ones they once used easily can slip from their grasp if they begin to neglect that aspect of themselves.

More Clear and Understandable Power Pyramid

This is one of the things that bothers me MOST about how they’ve been handling the powers. We’re supposed to see Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculouses as the be all/end all, but many of the zodiac miraculouses seem much more powerful than them, and even the Peacock and Butterfly can create opponents that are more than a match for the Lucky Duo. Not to mention the fact that, as I said before, the Lucky Duo itself is imbalanced due to Ladybug getting all the power in their relationship. So the best way to fix that?

Power Pyramid.

By this, I mean that instead of all miraculouses just getting one power and calling it a day, it makes more sense to present the powers as an almost ‘trickle’ effect. To start off, Zodiacs get defined by a single element and whichever side of Yin/Yang they fall on, and get their power based on that. For example, the Dragon. That is a Yang/Earth (Body) Personality, who uses the elements in an aggressive way. Meanwhile, Snake is a Yin/Fire (Energy), so they require someone who comes across as passive, but is actually patient and knows to wait for the precise moment to strike.

Next level up from the Zodiac Miraculouses, we have the Wu Xing/Elemental Miraculouses. Rather than just one power, each Wu Xing Miraculous should get two, one based on it’s “Yin” Abilities, and one for it’s “Yang.” the way I broke it down when I was working this out for examples went like so;

Trixx

Fox Powers/Mind

Yang- Mirage 

Creates an illusion of the user’s choosing.

Yin- Outfox

Gives the user the ability to convince the victim that anything they’re saying is true.

Pollen

Bee Powers/Energy

Yang- Nectar

Ability to heal injuries and cure illnesses (not as strong as Miraculous Cure)

Yin- Sting

Causes temporary paralysis

Wayzz

Turtle Powers/Body

Yang- Shell-ture

Creates an impenetrable shield

Yin- Withdraw

Teleportation ability that allows the user to put people and object of their desire in a pocket dimension of their own making for protection.

Duusu

Peacock Powers/Soul

Yang- Good Spirits

Creates a golem/familiar of sorts that is bonded to a certain person or object and protects them at all costs.

Yin- Soul Search

Allows the user to leave their body and enter another persons to take control of their actions and peer into their memories.

Nooroo

Butterfly Powers/Heart

Yang- Metamorphosis

Creates heroes to fight alongside the user

Yin- Butterfly Effect

Allows a brief glimpse into the future

And then after the Elements, at the top of the Pyramid we have Ladybug and Chat Noir, who get a whopping FIVE power each, but can only access those powers when they are in tune with that aspect of themselves, much like using the lesser miraculouses. For Example, Marinette’s Ladybug Can easily do the Mind, Energy, and Heart powers, but has a much, MUCH harder time with the Soul one, because she tends to read people at face value rather than trying to see beneath the surface. Adrien’s Chat Noir is excellent with the Body and Energy powers, but struggles much more with Mind (linked to one’s creativity) and Heart (Based on people’s abilities to connect with others, something Adrien struggles with after being home schooled his entire life) My idea for the Ladybug and Chat Noir powers look like this;

Tikki

Ladybug Powers:

Positive Heart- (Healing) 

Miraculous Ladybug/Miraculous Cure

Heals all wounds, restores everything to its proper state

Positive Mind- (Inspiration) 

Lucky Charm

Grants Ladybug an object to help her win

Positive Energy- (Creating) 

Wish Come True

Allows Ladybug to will into existence something of her own choosing

Positive Body- (Protecting) 

Elytron

Allows Ladybug to recreate both her own suit and the suits of her allies to help them fight (space suits, ice skating form, underwater suits, ect)

Positive Soul- (Life) 

Red Thread

Ladybug has a limited ability to communicate with plants and animals, extending some of her power to them. Also works on humans, if the person trusts Ladybug enough to basically let her see into their very soul.

Plagg

Chat Noir Powers:

Negative Heart- (Toxicity) 

Cat Scratch

Curses the victim with a lingering sickness that can only be healed by Ladybug.

Negative Mind- (Madness) 

Cheshire Cat

Causes temporary insanity, which varies from victim to victim.

Negative Energy- (Destruction) 

Cataclysm

Destroys anything the user touches.

Negative Body- (Weakness) 

Catatonic 

Puts the victim to sleep.

Negative Soul- (Death) 

Catacomb

Allows the user to see, touch and summon spirits/ghosts

And that’s the basic breakdown of how I feel the powers of the ML universe SHOULD be handled instead. Feel free to comment with thoughts and inputs of your own and ask questions if any of this doesn’t make sense! ^^

[doozie97]

Happy Anniversary Marc Anciel!

This was a commission by nazikart! Please support their works!    Wanted to ask permission to repost this, so let’s pretend it’s still July 23, shush.

One year ago was the first release of Reverser, which introduced us to Marc! Here’s one last theory post about the Goat Miraculous, and Marc as a genderfluid superhero!

Marc receives the Goat Miraculous, which holds Ziggy, the Kwami of Defiance.

With the Goat Miraculous, the wielder can defy the law of Gravity to manipulate physical objects and forces as well as float in the air. By activating it’s power against a solid or liquid object, the object can be carried around by the wielder and thrown at will. (can’t think of a good goat pun please help)

While the Hammer can be used for smashing, a clever goat doesn’t leave a trace of destruction behind; the anti-gravity ability can be utilized not just to destroy, but to move an object and return it to where it came from, like lifting the stone bricks of a wall. Goat Heroes have used their skills to assist in many resistance movements throughout history.

With the alpine Miraculous’s passive ability to scale sheer cliffs like a mountain goat, many Goat Heroes have also engaged in daring rescues of distressed damsels atop the tallest towers. Ziggy very strongly wants to help save Nooroo too.

Marc’s hero persona is named “Silene”. A combination of the half-man, half goat Silenus, and the moon goddess Selene who was seduced by Pan. Silene is also the genus of flowers whose petals look like goat hooves, and apparently represents ‘Youthful Love’ in flower language. Marc uses male pronouns, while Silene typically uses female pronouns.

Silene’s costume is based on a rockstar; she wears white face paint as her mask with black studded shoulder pads and platform boots in the shape of goat hooves. While Reverser’s black and white costume was asymmetrical, Silene is largely symmetrical with the exception of a black painted spot on her right eye corresponding to Ziggy’s coat.

(Fun fact: Ziggy is named after Ziggy Stardust, a persona of David Bowie, the godfather of glam rock and the patron saint of defiant outcasts. As such, I chose to go for a bit of a space + glam rock theme. Plus Hope Morphin straight up refers to Reverser as a punk who spread anarchy throughout Paris)

The Goat corresponds to the Earth Element, which represents a balance of yin and yang, the feminine and masculine together. It’s an element of patience, thought, stability, provision, manipulation, and meddling. When the Earth organs -the spleen and stomach- are out of balance, a person can be overcome with anxiety. Worry and obsession is the negative emotion of the Earth Element, while empathy and thoughtfulness is the positive.

While sheep are known to be skittish and docile, the goat is ornery and defiant. Ziggy refers to Marc as “Little Sheep” for his anxious demeanor, and teaches Marc to stand up for himself no matter who or what tries to keep him down. Ziggy brings Marc stability and strength, while Marc fascinates Ziggy with his endless creativity and insight into the world around him.

Ziggy has a strong sense of justice and can be extremely stubborn, which is why she is often paired with users who are more likely to either negotiate during times of great conflict, or to find more clever solutions to their problems. It is important to both stand for what you believe in, as well as to maintain the peace, which teaches Marc how to be assertive, but neither passive or aggressive, and most importantly to never avoid his problems.

[secretsocietyxmen]

Another Path AU - The Miraculous

I wanted to point out the way the Miraculouses have been changed for this AU. Also, these are some personal headcanons for the Miraculous. I will only be doing the main seven, and will be handling the Zodiac Miraculous in another post.

Energy

Before going over the powers, I want to establish how the powers are powered (does that make sense? eh, whatever). To be honest, the whole one-use-then-depower deal is stupid, and leads to boring, uninteresting fights. As well, the fact that only adults can use their powers multiple times is contrived and, say it with me, stupid. So, I want to propose something to fix this:

A magic meter

Think how The Hero works in Smash Ultimate, and how he has a meter for all his special moves. Using a special drains a bit of his MP, but it refills slowly over time. THAT is how the Miraculous powers should have worked. Using a power costs some MP, it refills over time, and you can use the power again! All of the powers cost different amounts of MP (Something like Mirage costing the least, Miraculous Healing the most), and to balance it out some powers have a cool down time before they can be used again.

As to how much MP a person has, that depends on two things. The first is how much natural magic the person has, or has trained to use. The second is how much experience with the Miraculous the person has. 

The timer for transforming back only activates after the magic meter hits about 15-20% of it’s total quantity. And, since the meter refills (about 3% per second), the user has plenty of time before they reach that amount.

Powers

First, I would like to thank @loosescrewslefty fore being a great inspiration for these new powers. Without them, I would still be lost as to how these powers would be different.

With the new powers is a quick note as to how much MP is used to power them.

Ladybug (Positive Energy)

Heart - Miraculous Healing (all available magic, can be powered by using the Lucky Charm)

Mind - Lucky Charm (20%)

Energy - Miracle Wish (50%)

Can will anything into existence

Body - Elytron (10% each)

Creates small ladybugs that connect to a target. Ladybugs then generate a magical aura that protects that target from the elements and any non-combat harm.

Soul - Red String (30% activation, 2% each second)

Can connect the users soul to another living thing and amplify its natural abilities.

Black Cat (Negative Energy)

Body - Cat Scratch (25%)

Cut causes a bad luck curse to be placed on the victim

Mind - Cheshire Cat (10-30%)

Causes madness. Intensity varies depending on the amount of energy put into the attack

Energy - Cataclysm (40%)

Body - Catatonic (20%)

Puts victim to sleep

Soul - Catacomb (10% each)

Creates shades to work like Shadow Clones

Fox (Mind)

Mirage (5%)

Foxfire (20%)

Recharges targets magic meter and amplifies next ability used

Can be used on self

Does not Stack

Turtle (Body)

Shell-ture/Protection (30%)

Withdraw (40%)

A counter with two variations:

Physical attack - Takes blow on shield, then responds with a powered up Shield Bash

Energy Attack - Absorbs energy, then slams energy into ground, creating a shock wave

Bee (Energy)

Sting (20%)

Just Venom with a better name

Nectar (20%)

Creates a honey like substance that, when consumed, can heal injuries, recharge Kwami, and refill magic Meter

Butterfly (Heart)

Metamorphosis (50%)

Heart Search (10% activation, 2% every second)

Allows the user to scan the surrounding area in order to find suitable Champions/Akumas

Peacock (Soul)

Soul Guardian (50%)

Soul Alignment (10% activation, 2% per second)

Allows the user to enter the body of a person that is currently in the possession of an Amok

Warning: If the user does not return to their body before the transformation runs out, they will be stuck as a roaming spirit until the Miraculous is reactivated. 

That’s all I have for the main 7 for now. And I will create a post for the Zodiac Miraculous later.

[charcutieri]

Not related to Sabine, but I'm kinda bothered about how the Black Cat Miraculous is representing Destruction, Yin and Bad Luck in the CHINESE Miracle Box, even though black cats actually represent good luck and are believed to attract wealth in China and Japan? Like--if Asstruck is gonna base the Chinese Miracle Box on the Chinese Zodiacs and the Wu Xing, shouldn't he base the Miraculouses' powers on Chinese culture too, instead of whitewashing them?

as a chinese person myself, something about the way sabine is portrayed kinda icks me abit. it’s all little little details so like, i’m just complaining my ass off

sabine’s cheongsam is right over left, which is not, it’s not accurate at all. it’s traditionally “右衽” (youren, left over right method), because “生右死左”, right represents life, while left represents death (related to how 阴yin阳yang is left and right). its a bit confusing, but basically sabine is dressing like how a corpse would.

okay sure, you could argue that it’s not a hanfu, and that “the traditional way doesn’t apply anymore”, but the concept still applies. to cheongsams. and isn’t sabine said to be very well connected to her chinese roots? like she should know this.

plus i could go into how ugly the cheongsam is and how it looks like cloth cut from an abstract art museum poster which is low key insulting to the embroidery art of chinese traditional outfits but 🤷‍♂️

okay then her as qilin. i don’t really know if it was intentional or if they just randomly pulled a chinese mythical creature that sounded cool, but they really butchered the representation of it nonetheless.

麒麟 qilin symbolises fortune and prosperity, and is super prominent in feng shui, so the choice of her villain design being the qilin makes little sense. what would make sense for her to be, is the 獬豸xiezhi, a goat looking creature which is a symbol of justice, known for piercing corrupt officials with its horn. this fits into the context of the episode, right? with the two mfs abusing their power and all.

in the wiki, it’s said that the outfit is of chinese armour. but how? what? this is what chinese armour looks like. i see some attempt? i guess? but this is not really important.

what’s more important is that why is her power wind????? when the qilin is commonly depicted with their bodies on fire with fire breathing abilities??? huh????? did astruc and the writers even did research into the designs?

ik the qilin is more popular but one google search would lead you to discover more chinese mythical creatures that fit her villain motive better. and the qilin is not one of them.

lastly, i feel like sabine’s entire character just screams: “hey look i’m chinese, being chinese is my only trait other than being the world’s most un-asian mom ever.”

yea she appears chinese, but she doesn’t *feel* chinese if you know what i mean. the stuff she does feels like surface level stereotypes about chinese people. turning red does it better, and that movie is mid.

there’s more to chinese culture than the obsession with feng shui, wearing cheongsams every day, eating dim sums, doing tai chi and other shit. and i agree that these are pretty prominent but… the way it’s portrayed makes it too clear that her actions are not written by a chinese person.

and her name. ik i’m whiny as hell but i don’t think any chinese person would give their child such a (lame) name. usually chinese people take much pride in their names, which are mostly related to values and traits. for example my own name is 懿捷, which means excellency and triumph. sabine’s name is 夏冰, meaning summer and ice. huh? if you’re a westerner and gave yourself this name, fine , it’s cool. but you’re telling me a china chinese person gave their child such a name? bullshit.

i could go on with how other asian rep sucks and feels like astruc’s obsession with asian shit

[gostosadeazulpassando]

How am i going to organize my Miraculous' remakes: Part 2/2 - Reworking on the Miraculouses' powers

When I was looking for reworks of Miraculous powers for inspiration, I stumbled upon this post. Literally spent the whole night processing the amount of information the text contained

So when I finally understood everything and organized my thoughts, I started writing, taking all the references in the post into account, but adapting everything to my personal tastes and current powers after all of them were finally revealed (OP's post is from 2019) since I don't want to leave a drastic change, because analyzing well, the canon powers match perfectly with each holder.

According to OP, following the Yin Yang, Wu Xing and Sheng Xiao symbolisms more accurately, the division of powers should look like this:

Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses - Five powers

Fox, Bee, Turtle, Peacock and Butterfly Miraculouses - Two powers

Mouse, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig Miraculouses - Only one power

"Why?" You may ask. And here is the answer. The Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses are the most powerful Miraculouses of the most powerful Miracle Box; They represent the Yin and Yang, concepts of Taoism that expose the duality of everything that exists in the universe and describe the two opposing and complementary fundamental forces. It really made sense to me that they should've had more than one power.

Thing is, they already have. Ladybug explicitly has 2 powers (3 if you consider capturing akumas and amoks as a particular power) which are Lucky Charm and the Miraculous Ladybug's cure. The issue with Chat Noir and Cataclysm is something I will address further down.

Back to the explanation, now I need to talk about the Wu Xing so that things make sense later.

The 5 phases theory, which is a more correct translation, states that wood (木), fire (火), earth (土), metal (金) and water (水) are the basic elements that form the material world.

There would be an interaction and reciprocal control between them that would determine their state of constant movement and change. They also represent the passage of time, seasons, cardinal directions, organs of the human body, cosmic periods and are even linked with properties of medicine.

There are four cycles: the generating one, the weakening, insulting and controlling. This concept would be something cool to play with, with all the possibilities of combinations, but I admit that it would be something more complex than it already is.

Apparently, Thomas took inspiration not from the colors of each element, but from what they represent. Still following OP's logic, each power and animal chosen would be derived from what the element affects and express. Therefore, the pattern would be:

Wood -> Mind -> Fox (Illusion)

Fire -> Energy -> Bee (Subjection)

Earth -> Body -> Turtle (Protection)

Metal -> Soul -> Peacock (Emotion)

Water -> Heart -> Butterfly (Transmission)

And each element would have its Yin and Yang ability, as it encompasses the Wu Xing. Every Yin ability would be more defensive/supportive/passive/collective, while every Yang ability would be more offensive/agressive/active/individual, so i came to this conclusion:

Fox

• Wood/Mind (Yin): Defense - Mirage

• Wood/Mind (Yang): Offense - ?

Bee

• Fire/Energy (Yin): Defense - ?

• Fire/Energy (Yang): Offense - Venom

Turtle

• Earth/Body (Yin): Defense - Shell-ter

• Earth/Body (Yang): Offense - ?

Peacock

• Metal/Soul (Yin): Defense - Amokization

• Metal/Soul (Yang): Offense - ?

Butterfly

• Water/Heart (Yin): Defense - Akumatization

• Water/Heart (Yang): Offense - ?

Now that I've determined the mind, energy, body, mind and heart thing, we can go back to the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses.

As I said, the Yin Yang encompasses the Wu Xing, so Ladybug and Chat Noir's powers most likely would work that way:

Ladybug (Yang)

• Positive Mind: Inspiration - ?

• Positive Energy: Creation - Lucky Charm

• Positive Body: Strength - ?

• Positive Soul: Life - ?

• Positive Heart: Healing - Miraculous Ladybug cure

Cat (Yin)

• Negative Mind: Insanity/Madness - ?

• Negative Energy: Destruction - Cataclysm

• Negative Body: Weakness - ?

• Negative Soul: Death - ?

• Negative Heart: Toxicity - ?

But do you guys remember the thing I said about Chat Noir and his only power being Cataclysm in canon, unlike Ladybug? So, reading some Thomas Astruc's replies on Twitter, I discovered something quite interesting.

He confirmed that the Cat Miraculous' power is not to destroy anything per say. It's actually making something bad, in general, happen to what he touches; this is why Sentimonsters totally lose control and go berserk when hit by a Cataclysm. "The bad thing" that happens is the connection between them and their owners being interrupted.

To make something disappear from existence is annihilation, which is different from destruction, the official Cat Miraculous concept. The very name "Cataclysm" means disaster or catastrophe, which is why there is an association with bad luck or jinx. So basically I'll just be putting each possible effect under 5 distinct names according to the related element. Easy.

Finally, moving on to the Sheng Xiao, the Chinese Zodiac. There are 12 animals in total, which I already mentioned above. Getting to this point, I would also like to mention that I even researched what animals represent the Yin Yang and Wu Xing, just to check the consistency of Thomas. At the end, I wanted to say that I totally understand why he put the animals we currently have in the box.

The animals that represent the Yin and Yang are, respectively, Tiger and Dragon. Two animals that we already got in the zodiac. Gets worse with Wu Xing: Wood and Earth are represented by two more dragons, a Azure one (Qing Long) and a Golden one (Huang Long), while Fire, Metal and Water are the Vermilion Bird (Zhu Que), White Tiger (Bai Hu) and Black Tortoise (Xuan Wu), the last two being just varieties of animals that we already got in the box.

Back to the original matter again, shall we? All the signs within the zodiac are only equivalent and defined by a single element out of all the five and just one side of the Yin Yang, and that's what I'm going to use as a base to change the powers or just improve them. The list goes:

Mouse

• Water/Heart (Yang): Multitude

Ox

• Earth/Body (Yin): Resistance

Tiger

• Wood/Mind (Yang): Clout

Rabbit

• Wood/Mind (Yin): Burrow

Dragon

• Earth/Body (Yang): Elemental Storm Dragons or Wind, Lightning and Water Dragon

Snake

• Fire/Energy (Yin): Second Chance, honestly this is one that I might even have to change the name, maybe to something like Hypnosis – quite cliché I know

Horse

• Fire/Energy (Yang): Voyage

Goat

• Earth/Body (Yin): Genesis

Monkey

• Metal/Soul (Yang): Uproar

Rooster

• Metal/Soul (Yin): Sublimation

Dog

• Earth/Body (Yang): Fetch

Pig

• Water/Heart (Yin): Gift

I must say that I honestly don't intend to completely adapt, specifically the Sheng Xiao's animals powers, to the Yin Yang and Wu Xing molds, as it would completely change the powers, their symbolism, and their matchings with each canon holder, something I don't want because it would cause a mess in my head and I particularly appreciate the original content and stuff on the show. But I promise that I'll try my hardest to make at least some of them still contain precision.

Just like the other part of the posts about the remakes (the one that talks about how I am going to redesign the heroes' outfits), that end up in this one, I'll leave it to reveal the Miraculouses powers' changes in each individual post that addresses a particular hero.

Since this was a loooong text, I hope you enjoyed reading this far. Thanks for the attention!!!

And once again, credits to @loosescrewslefty

[imthepunchlord]

Marinette's Elemental and Miraculous Matches (Wu Xing)

Bagua, Zodiac

After much debate and going back and forth, as she's one of the harder ones to pinpoint cause I find a bit of everything to her, I'm suspecting Marinette's core elements are Wood and Metal, with Wood as her primary element and Metal as her secondary.

Wood plays off her leaping between being level headed and reasonable to her imagination just running wild. Wood works off her creativity and her means to think out of the box. It can play off her being curious and nosy, seeking to expand her knowledge of what's around her. It works off her being quick to support and help others, and her being a social butterfly. It works off her being open to learn and grow and seeks self-improvement.

Metal works off her desire for perfection. That she must put forth the best that she can create (one example being in Mr Pigeon where she drew a lot of good hat designs, but they weren't up to her standards), and for things to go as smoothly as possible. Metal also works off her as a thinker, working off logic, facts, and making quick evaluations. Metal also really works off her strong sense of self-righteousness and her dislike of dishonesty (as Metal does like things to be clear cut).

Wood and Metal plays off her being ambitious and aiming high for herself, her capability as a leader, and her tendency to meddle as Wood can be nosy and Metal has a desire for things to work out a certain way. These two elements work off her being very independent and self-sufficient. Wood and Metal also works off Marinette being her own worst enemy, as these two are elemental opposites, but it can also work off her great potential with Miraculous as she is tied to a yin-yang pair.

Of the Wu Xing, that makes Butterfly and Cat as her best matches, and Nooroo and Plagg are the most ideal kwamis to work off of her.

Butterfly's powers are something Marinette will be able to use well. She has the means to connect with others and knows what to say to work with them and offer the support. She also knows to let people thrive and do what they're good at, having faith in their capability. She'd be clever with making minor changes, and astral projection could work off her nosiness and allow her to move about stealthily.

Cat's powers are also quite promising for Marinette. She has the analytical mind that's able to evaluate how to use her destructive power, and be able to expand it's use than just straight forward destruction and malfunction. She naturally goes for stealth so traveling through shadows she would thrive with, and seeing through shadows can play off her nosy nature and wanting to unravel the world before her. And summoning shades to work with her works off her being a leader but able to work with others, listen to their wisdom and ideas.

Kwami wise, Nooroo and Plagg both have the big appeal of being a rock in the storm Marinette typically whips up. If she overthinks/lets her emotions run wild, they're able to bring her back with their calmness and logic.

Nooroo would work with her without taking over and telling her what she must do, work with her to figure out the best course of action. Through his influence, Marinette will gradually be calmer and more grounded, and would work off her strengths without turning it into a full blown Atlas complex as he helps implants the fact that she can rely on others, she just needs to branch out more than try to solve everything herself.

Plagg meanwhile rolls with the chaos, with Marinette probably one of the funniest humans he's be paired with (honestly these two would be delightful to watch). Plagg would have the additional perk to act as a foil to Marinette being a lazy and selfish kwami, countering her need to prioritize selflessness and to always be productive and busy. Through his influence, Marinette would find the fine line between productivity and breaks, and prioritizing herself and her needs to the needs of others.

By elemental placement, Peafowl, Ladybug, and Fox are viable Miraculous for her to wield. She wouldn't be the best matches, but she can pull them off and utilize them well, but there would be some sort of issue be it kwami or a struggle with powers. Power wise, she can become better with them, but there would be a learning curve. Kwami wise, something would need to be addressed. As Wood and Metal are next to the other 3 elements, there are no subpar matches for Marinette.

Peafowl Marinette can utilize well. As a time manipulator, this Miraculous requires strategy, resourcefulness, and being opportunistic. All things Marinette is covered for. She'd be clever in selectively rewinding time, would best utilize pausing time, and would work off resetting time to secure the best results or work off what would be the best route. The last power though could be the one she struggles with most as she would want the most "perfect" outcome, but I do see it as a quick lesson to learn.

Duusu is a kwami I do see getting along with Marinette and would bring something to the table in terms of growth. Duusu would work off her strengths like her skill in observation and quick thinking, and she can be bubbly, energetic, and just as animated as Marinette, so they can click and work off each other right away. The only thing I see as a major issue is that Duusu and Marientte could feed into each other's overreactions and both could spiral into a panic that will only end when they fizzle out. Now if this duo can learn to take turns in their overreactions so one can be the calmer one, or both learn to tone down their overreactions, this pair will thrive. Otherwise they're a ticking time bomb of spiraling panic.

Ladybug Marinette is set with power wise. She has the resourcefulness and creativity to work off Ladybug's two creation powers, able to utilize the generated item and secure she can have a complex and efficient Worker. She also can use the light generation and all it's possibilities well.

As backed by canon, Tikki at the core is the biggest issue with Marinette having Ladybug, as Tikki is set to work off personalities that are a lot more "fiery" and at times "problematic" than Marinette is. Marinette does thrive between Tikki support and affectionate, and doesn't mind Tikki's opinions when shared with her. The issue comes from Tikki insisting on prioritizing others and dedicating her humans to their duties, which is good for Fire personalities that can be easily distracted or selfish, but for Marinette who already is very dedicated and considerate, it just leads to an Atlas complex. Unless Tikki can learn to ease and realize she's piling too much pressure on Marinette, this could wind up quite destructive for Marinette.

Fox Marinette may struggle a little with, though the potential and promise is there. Power wise, Fox does work off Marinette preferring stealth, to dance around her opponents than actually fight them, being a meddler, her creativity, observation, and quick thinking. It can also play into her tendency to disguise herself, and with a power tied to it, should be a true master of disguise. Only issue is that Marinette is not a good liar, and most of the time she gets very lucky. I also can't speak for how good of an actor she is, so may give herself away when disguising herself as another. But over all, everything should be pretty solid.

With Trixx, I do see this as another fascinating kwami-holder match up as they both work off intellect and both can be meddling and know how to work off others and their strengths, and how to sway things their way. Trixx most likely would toe the line between Nooroo and Plagg, rolling with the chaos and enjoying the shenanigans, but also keeping up with duty and opening up her mind to work off others more, to have faith, and to help teach the means to secure things can go your way. Honestly, they'd probably be the ultimate scheming buddies. Trixx is probably the only kwami of the doable trio I don't see being an issue paired with Marinette, it just comes down to powers and how good of a deceiver Marinette actually is.

[howhow326]

What if I reworked the Miraculous Powers Part 2: Zodiac Boogaloo

(Part one here)

Unlike the Yinyang/Wu Xing miraculous, the big problem woth the Zodiac miraculous is that some of them are waaay overtuned while the rest are situational. So my solution is to make all of them situational! The Pig miraculous has an amazing power, fight me. Because most of these miraculous fit the idea I have for them, Ill only focus on the ones that need a change.

Mouse miraculous of Multiplication

Multitude: Stays exactly the same, I love this superpower!

Ox miraculous of Determination

Resistance: I previously changed the Ladybug miraculous so it can counter every other miraculous, which makes this miraculous kind of redundant... but I can't think of a better power, so I guess it stays?

Tiger miraculous of Elation

Clout: The user roars with exhilarating energy, forcing the target(s) of their choosing to focus on them. (Who's bright idea was it to make this thing a Black Cat knock off? At least the Goat miraculous is used differently than the Ladybug, but the Tiger and Cat have the same job of destroying stuff!) (So Juleka's whole character arc is that she wants to come out of her shell and she wanst her dad to see her so, maybe invisibility isn't a good power for her miraculous fandom:/ Anyway, the new power is just a video game taunt, forcing enemies to hyperfocus on Juleka. You can even give her some rockstar style roars to tie that into her identity)

Rabbit miraculous of Evolution

Rabbit Hole: The user rewinds their pocket watch a set number of times to travel back in time for 5 minutes. During the 5 minutes, the user can change events in the past which is guaranteed to change events in the present. The user can also choose to go back to their time period during the 5 minutes, and if they don't they will become stuck in the past because this power cannot travel to the future outside of resetting itself during it's 5 minutes. (That paragraph up there is the only way I knew to nerf this dang thing because I couldn't think of a new rabbit based power that dosen't step on another miraculous toes. WTF. Where do I even begin. Why is the shows Rabbit miraculous so incredibly different from every other power??? Why does it get its own Doctor Who room? Why does it not have a time limit and NO I do not accept that nonsense, timey whimy answer! Just why time travel in general???? I just, oof. Anyway, the rabbit miraculous is now used the same way Marinette used it during the season 4 finale, we need to do one thing in the past to save the future and then we go back to our time. Doing anything else is going to cause a paradox)

Dragon miraculous of Perfection(the name needs to be changed but I can't think of one that relates to the weather powers)

Wind/Water/Lightning Dragon: Sigh, ok this miraculous is what I mean when I say overturned. You can change into an element, you can control an element, and you can do it 3 times in a row??? No, the Dragon miraculous power let's you control one of three elements and then it goes on cool down. No using 3 powers in a row unless you're mature.

Snake miraculous of Intuition

Future Vision: it's literally a rip off of Garnet's power from SU. The user winds up their snake bracelet to play out different future scenarios in their head. These scenarios are life like to the user, but are not actually happening. (I like the idea that this miraculous seems like it's a psychic power when it's actually time travel, but time travel is waaay overpowered for a zodiac miraculous. Clairvoyance it is then)

Horse miraculous of Transportation

Voyage: The power gets you to your destination because it's a horse, get it? It's super lame, but I'll take it (at least this miraculous requires intelligence to use effectively, which matches its holder's personality. More than I can say for some other miraculous) (wait a minute this is the Miraculous of Migration now, wtf)

Goat miraculous of Passion Imagination

Genesis: Miraculous of Passion, dafaq??? Anyway, the power is still a discount of the Ladybug miraculous but it gets to stay for having a different function than the Ladybug power (I win button vs imagination power)

Monkey miraculous of Derision

Uproar: The power is a little op, but because of the changes I made to the Ladybug and Cat it shouldn't be too bad. (I like how this miraculous title foreshadowed that Kim is like low key a jerk.)

Rooster miraculous of Pretension

Sublimation: The user makes an impossible claim about one of the abilities they already possess, and the power makes that claim true for 5 minutes. (it was so easy to not make this thing broken, but the writer just had to use it as a lazy reason for why Hawkmoth can turn invisible! My reworked power works the way we all thought it did before season 5, it only effects physical abilities you already had. Kicking a ball into a goal is something you can already do, but with the rooster you can never miss a goal. This rework is still pretty powerful as far as zodiac miraculous go, but its no where near as bad as before)

Dog miraculous of Adoration

Fetch: Stays the same, it's not overtuned and it makes thematic sense for a dog hero.

Pig miraculous of Jubilation

Gift: Stays the same. F everyone who says its a bad power, its one of the best!

[miraculouscontent]

One of the things that bugs me the most about Miraculous Ladybug (lore wise at least, but characters are a whole other beast) is that the Miraculous themselves feel super imbalanced.

I'm not talking about how the two Miraculous that are supposed to be partners and equal (Ladybug and Black Cat) seemingly have one with two to four powers (depending on if you count Lucky Charm and Miracle Cure as combined, and if making the charms is a Ladybug exclusive thing or a Guardian exclusive thing) while the other only has one, or how several Zodiac and Wu Xing Miraculous seem more powerful than the two that are supposed to be super incredibly powerful, but how they interact with their users.

Some Miraculous need a user with specific skills or a certain way they look at things to be used to their fullest extent. Snake needs someone intuitive, whose good at watching and waiting before acting. Fox needs someone creative and sneaky, who can think fast and support from a distance. Ladybug needs someone who can work with what their given to their advantage no matter how odd it is (which is why Marinette is able to use any Miraculous, she can work with whatever she's given and use it to her advantage)

Then, some Miraculous are best with a person with a certain temperament due to the power they grant. Butterfly needs someone whose good at understanding the human mind and manipulating emotions, even when using it for good (Being able to, for instance, talk a hostage victim out of their panic and then give them the powers they need to save themselves). Black Cat needs someone direct, but not reckless, and cool headed; this is bc the power to destroy literally anything and anyone with a touch should go to someone who understands the weight of that ability and would treat it with the caution it needs, but who wouldn't let that responsibility cause them to hesitate and falter. Turtle is best with someone who is, well, protective, but in an intelligent way; someone whose good at paying attention to their allies and stepping in when one needs help, but who doesn't lose focus on anyone else and who knows their teammates well enough to know when they don't need help.

But then there are Miraculous don't seem to require anything from the user other than a pulse and the ability to speak. Monkey only needs to be able to hit their target. Pig shows the user what someone most desires regardless of if the user themself is happy or optimistic or whatever. Tiger just needs someone who can throw a punch.

And I wouldn't mind these discrepancies and inconsistencies so much if it wasn't for the emphasis placed on the all of the Miraculous needing to go to the right people to be used well, and the fact that some of the writers 'correct' choices don't make any sense (Looking at you, Adrien and Alya (and that's coming from someone who actually likes Alya; it feels like the writers are trying to make her the kind of friend to Marinette that my best friend from high school was to me, except my friend was able to help me come out of my shell and step out of my comfort zone while still being respectful of me and my boundaries. But while I have a soft spot for Alya bc of her similarities to my friend, I agree with all of the criticisms you've give of her))

It just...as someone who loves world building and creating lore for stories, it drives me insane.

The world building and lore in Miraculous is so damn sad.

The fact that they put the origins of the kwami in the comics of all things showcase how little they care about the lore. Punch has already gone into tons of detail as well about how the “Wu Xing” part of the Miracle Box just doesn’t work (among a lot of other things), so I won’t bother, but yeah.

They really needed to either add more powers to better suit whatever personality is needed, or had it be where the miraculous isn’t as strong if the holder isn’t suitable enough for it.

[mystech-master]

Hero Artifact: Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug

Shirou Emiya’s (Fate/stay Night) Artifact (ft. the explanation for this series)

Ren Amamiya/Joker’s (Persona 5) Artifact

Shinra Kusakabe's (Fire Force) Artifact

Decided to go for the Western Character.

a bit of spoilers for Season 3's ending + S4

I went for a Red String of Fate thing to go off of her Chinese Heritage and the Ladybug being a symbol of Luck and Love, plus Marinette's fashion interest. When I was looking stuff up for her, it turns out Fencing is one of her skills, I learned this after deciding on giving her sewing needle blades that come from the red string, which is stored in her Miraculous which opens like a spool of thread. The string connecting the needle is also wrapped around the pinky similar to red string traditions that I looked up, as well as to keep a grip on the needle blades. The red string, much like Vanessa in Black Clover, can manipulate probability, but to a much less degree. To put it simply, it keeps her In the fight but she can't win a fight on luck alone. Plus anyone who can do BS level calculations and is all skill could get around it.

I am REALLY pissed off though b/c I would've gone ham with the Wu Xing and Chinese Zodiac due to the Chinese Miracle Box, but with all the Miraculous already having pretty stupidly simple powers it would be REALLY hard to give her extra powers from them. Plus with all the other zodiac symbols being with the other members of her team (until the recent season) it is kind of hard to justify her having them.

I mean MAYBE I could break that vow since in my Joker idea I had the idea of him using his power to grant pseudo-artifacts from demonic power, so maybe the idea of Marinette granting new pseudo-miraculous powers to bring back her Avenger squad to fight Monarch and all the o.g. Miraculous. I would have to ruminate on this though.

To quote my friend @rex101111

"some of these powers sound like they came out of a power fantasy isekai, but a really fun one that knows to limit the mc at first before really letting them go ham in the last few episodes"

and that is basically the vibe I am doing with these.

[princess-of-the-corner]

How do you think the wu xing elements correspond to the second level miraculouses?

Okay so:

I would need to deep dive the Wu Xing Elements and how they relate to each other and potentially to the Miraculous but based on vibes for what I know:

Bee - Fire

Fox - Wood

Turtle - Earth

Peacock - Water

Butterfly - Metal