#obvs you’re entitled to your opinion.

[frnkiebby]

Okay FellowWhores!

Here are your Appreciation Day details:

Over the next week I will post four of my favorite frimages with a little drabble of how I image the evens of the picture taking place.

They’ll be anywhere between 500-1k words.

With the first one being at 6pm today, i’m hoping it’ll follow an every other day schedule. So today (sunday) being the first, then tuesday at 6pm being the next, and so on until all four have been posted.

Ever your faithful FrankWhore,

frnkiebby~🎃

ps. ILY ALL THANKS FOR BEING WHORES FOR FRANK IERO WITH ME

[heroictoonz]

Light LMK s5 spoilers:

I mean this in the kindest way possible but ppl who are talking about the s5e1 scene were Wukong calls the stone “our” birthing stone to MK and pointing at it like AH YES THEY ARE CANONICALLY BROTHERS AND/OR CANONICALLY BLOOD RELATED drives me honestly a little crazy. Like, if it’s ur preference to hc that that’s super totally cool and fine and you’re entitled to your own opinions and hcs but like I see people arguing about it or getting mad that they did this in show and I’m like? Really? What the fuck?

Like I’m a white American but to see so many other fans go here and accuse the show of saying SPECIFICALLY that MK and Wukong ARE BLOOD BROTHERS feels so westerners thinking westernly western to me. Again I’m a westerner so I could be super wrong and anyone who’s actually Chinese/not western correct me sure but like idk it feels ridiculous to jump to blood brothers bring full canon here

For one I’m pretty sure that Nuwa didn’t make Wukong. Obv I’m not like an expert on the lore but I know a decent amount and from my memory I don’t think they really explicitly state how Wukong came to be. Like yeah bro popped out a stone but i don’t remember there ever being any other specifics over that. Heaven just saw it happen and was like huh guess the egg does come first and then moved the fuck on (till the Problems™️ of course)

The stone like its a rock it is a literal and honest to god rock. Like if you WANNA hc them as blood brothers thats cool whatever but I just do not understand the ppl who are acting like this is DEFINITIVE PROOF. If anything it reads more like clone shit than brothers lmaoo but also like why read into it like that at all idk I don't even think I'd care normally but its super off putting it feels like I'm back in the fucking Shield Brother discourse and would literally rather throw myself into a pit

[firecurls-27]

You don’t have to answer this! But I am curious on your thoughts on people who say Chalice and Cuphead should be seen as only friends with a sibling dynamic, and should never be shipped together?

I don’t mind them at all! I have friends who don’t ship, but think it’s cute! So I don’t mind at all if you see them as siblings, You’re still welcome! You’re entitled to your own opinion! (Unless it’s something illegal obv)

I haven’t gotten any hate anons for cupchal yet, but I don’t mind!

[maggieisalarrie]

...

[sayosdreams]

Some of the takes I see in this fandom are… not it. Like you’re obv entitled to your own opinion but do u rly not see the difference between Elain not necessarily owing Lucien anything (in essence any mate not owing their mate anything just bc of the bond) and Mor not bothering to resolve a shitty situation between her ‘closest friends’ for 500 years

Like. Im not saying Mor needs to come out, I’m saying if you’re a true friend, you don’t play with your friend’s feelings like that. If u rly care abt them u can sit them down and be like hey you’re a great friend but I don’t see u like that. Instead u choose to string them along bc u don’t want them to have lower self esteem or some other bullshit??? No offense but that’s just being a shitty friend.

So yeah, I think Elain doesn’t necessarily owe Lucien anything but Mor owes Azriel a proper conversation.

Sue me

FYI I do ship Elucien, I just don’t think that she owes him anything. If they get together, it should be bc they want to

[babieken]

Hwy, am I an arsehole because I don't want to date anyone with depression?

I know that sounds bad but my brother has it (and is abusive and uses it as an excuse) my mum has it and is dependent. My sister has it and gets angry my male friends say "it rules their lives" and I have diagnosed anxiety, so for me I want to date someone that I don't feel the need to tiptoe around ya know? Sorry for info dumping but like help, I just want someone strong and dependable like Shownu to be a partner (should note that out of my family I am the only one taking steps to better my mental health not only with medication but with therapy and stuff)

I mean… you can obv date whoever u want and everyone is entitled to their opinion, however, i will say two things.

1) being abusive, dependand, and having anger management issues aren’t exclusive or limited to having depression. People can have those issues and not have depression and other can be depressed and not have those. Let’s not mix those up.

2) if you have mental health problems yourself that you’re saying you’re making effort towards working through, I don’t see why you’d be activity looking to ‘date’ anyway when you’re supposed to be focusing on your own well-being and mental health journey.

Bonus: good luck finding someone with no mental illnesses in this economy kdkfkdkd

[siriuslyblack12]

ok i just finished any way the wind blows and i have thoughts so spoiler warning!!!

this was honestly the healing we all needed after wayward son like... the tenderness. the hurt/comfort. the closer. MWAH

and i know there are so many people who hate wayward son because it's not exactly a happy ending after carry on but i'm not one of those people by any means, i actually like wayward son more than carry on for really getting into trauma and intimacy issues

that being said i needed this book lmaooo

simon and baz fake-break up :((( i cried i actually sobbed

but it was worth it for that chapter 16 though :)

chapter 16 is the new chapter 61 honestly

it was great

all the simon and baz stuff was so great

*all the chefts kisses*

PERHAPS the sex scenes were a little.... hmmmm idk

like reading simon snow say the words cock and spunk was aN eXpERieNce

the penny and shep stuff was really cool too!! i guess i wasn't overly invested in that but it was really fun and they had really good chemistry yay

ofc shep has a mermaid std

ofc shep tried to fuck a fairy

what else did we expect honestly

AGATHA

first things first, i am the number one agatha wellbelove stan. no it's true i am i love her and i appreciate that rainbow didn't just throw away her character after the first book like some other authors would have

(probably because female writers actually know how to write women COUGH COUGH)

yeah i love agatha

aND SHE'S SAPPHIC THATS A WIN

honestly i was rooting for them the whole way through as soon as she started describing niamh's hair in intricate detail

and agatha being the goatherd is just so... perfect. like she's at peace with herself and her relationship (GOOD FOR HER) and at peace with the magical world too

i've seen people say that they headcanon agatha as aro/ace which i totally understand and you're entitled to your own opinions obviously but my personal hc was always sapphic agatha (she could still be sapphic and on the aro/ace spectrum too!)

just... feelings

smith smith-richards is a dumb name im sorry it's true he was kind of a dumb antagonist too but i see why he was necessary

maybe the simon family stuff and the sword could have been hinted at sooner but overall,,, yeah i loved this book

obvs

[fastcarsgovroom]

[Yeah yeah long rant but I process things and understand the world by writing essays so if it’s too long you don’t need to read it, but for my own sanity I wanted to write and post it.]

So this is my perspective as a person whose culture (non-white, I suppose this is relevant or something. Not Mexican so I guess I don’t get a say for this Landogate but here I am) gets parodied and insulted sometimes: There *are* real issues around cultural appropriation and caricatures that reduce my culture and my experience into jokes, and real harm can come from it. Sometimes, that does involve party costumes. There are instances this is done to intentionally insult and harm, but most of the time, it’s not done with malice. It’s just a bunch of people who are not aware of such issues and having fun. A bunch of ignorant people, dumbasses, if you like.

The thing is, despite what certain places online want to believe, it’s not something that’s discussed extensively everywhere. It’s not exactly something people ‘should know’ right away or even think to research. Heck even (some) people from my own culture find the costumes and stereotypes funny, or just don’t care, or laugh at or laugh along with the people wearing costumes and making fun of the culture. There’s more nuance to this issue than ‘wearing costumes that are based on stereotypes = bad’.

Because otherwise you do get instances where people get offended on your behalf when you don’t think it’s a hill worth dying on. You get people who tell you ‘you’re colonized, you’re brainwashed to be sympathetic to the colonizer / offender / etc., you don’t know what you’re talking about because you’re too detached from your culture because you like ‘Westernized’ things and values, you’re ignorant about your own culture, you have internalized whatever-phobia and self-hate’. Because if my or others from my culture’s independent thought does not line up with the social justice movement du jour we’re part of the problem. My ‘minority’ voice be damned because it doesn’t fit your narrative. Yeah, really love this part /s.

I won’t tell any of you how you should feel or do or whatever, but look, shit’s tiring. Especially if it’s Lando. He’s a young (yeah yeah privileged white we’ve heard all of it) driver who gets paid to make rounds in a circuit for our entertainment. He’s spoken up about some salient issues. He does stupid things. But why is it that every little thing he does is scrutinized, and why take the time and energy to get outraged over any hint of a slight? Every week or so, there’s outrage. For some reason. Some, yeah, borderline ‘oof’, bad taste on his part. Some are like, ‘wth even? This is the hill you want to die on?’ And more often than not, it’s in the name of defending someone’s or some group’s perceived honor. I don’t really understand where some of you are coming from. Yeah you’re entitled to your own opinion, but what is it with the ‘you’re with me or against me’ stance? Someone offers a counterpoint, they’re branded an apologist. Someone says they don’t get the outrage, they’re a rabid fangirl who wants to sleep with him (okay pls another thing I really don’t get is why sex is always factored in like some gotcha. Someone talks about sex? Cancelled! Someone you don’t like? They’re not getting enough sex! Cancelled! Someone seemed to have more sex than someone else? Lmao the other person who has more sex is obvs better. Less-sex person is cancelled! Oh someone online doesn't agree with me! Must want sex! Cancelled! Idk grow up.)

At some point, it’s not even about Lando anymore, but like, the actual issues people are yelling about. Really seems like you’re reducing the issues you claim to be defending to like, “I don’t like this guy, he did something that is vaguely problematic. Obviously it was X-ism. Let’s complain about it in his tags, and if the ‘fans’ don’t agree, they’re problematic too." Because, sex I guess.

In some instances, yeah, I get where you are coming from. I really do. But, is this really how you think advocating for social justice and progress is supposed to be? Would you really go yell at your friends and family who do something that can be couched as offensive and correct their behavior, or is jumping in the online cancel bandwagon more fulfilling because it’s like you’re doing something on a larger scale? Look, I’ve been there. There are social issues I care about, that affect me, that I hope to slowly ‘educate’ people around me about, people I care about so they change their ways. Have I snarked and yelled at people (in my real life) about them? Yes. Did it work? No, not really. Not everyone is going to react favorably to hostility. Not everyone is as ‘woke’ as you. Not everyone is doing something to step on your rights or offend you. Being more educated about an issue doesn't make you better, or give you the high ground to yell at other people for every little thing. Honestly, at this point I think some of you are just anger trolls who don’t really care about the issues you claim to be defending.

[miraculouscontent]

Askplosion #12 2/4:

.:New Miraculous Asks:.

Anonymous said:

Can people just STOP calling Marinette a "stalker"? Like, seriously? Especially TV Tropes. They have her listed under the trope for "Stalker With A Crush" and even have a video source of her(from Copycat) which was taken WAY out of context. They also listed her under "Stalking Is Funny If It Is Female After Male", which IS an existing double standard, but Marinette is still not an example and wouldn't be even if she WERE a stalker, because Wayhem's stalking actually WAS played for laughs!

Granted he was stalking another male and we don't know if he has a crush on him(but if he did it would be...unfortunate), but it's still an example. Plus, they claim that Volpina is about her learning her lesson regarding her stalker tendencies, but that no matter how many times she learns it, it never seems to stick. Yes, because everything is Marinette's fault and she's the stubborn shallow bitch who needs a kick in the ovaries, it's not, you know, the writers making her look bad/OOC!!!

THIS. ALL OF THIS.

Oh my god, I cannot tell you how infuriating it is to see “stalker” get thrown around like that. I would need two hands to count the amount of words that have lost meaning to me because people throw them out wildly and without any self-control. Stalkers engage in far more aggressive and obsessive behavior than Marinette, and usually also feature them harrassing whoever they’re stalking (such as calling them a lot), and they also never stop when they’re asked to. Marinette doesn’t fit the description of harrassment at all; Chat Noir does more than her and I don’t even call his behavior “harrassment” because that’s another word that’s lost all meaning by now and I wouldn’t use it in the first place.

Anyway, I think the Wayhem example is valid because Marinette’s crush on Adrien is written very much like a celebrity crush, so it’s similar territory.

On the note of “Volpina,” I do not understand it considering that Tikki was all on board with Marinette following Lila for the sake of getting the book back; that was one of the cases where there was an alternative motive out of just “follow Adrien” (which is not really something we see Marinette frequently doing; usually when we see her watching Adrien, it’s because she wants to approach but can’t bring herself to).

And yeah, most of the time, it’s just the narrative. The show basically puts it all on Marinette to solve all her personal problems (while constantly piling more stuff onto her) instead of getting active encouragement (no, eye rolls, verbal jabs, and groans do not count) from her friends and Tikki.

Like, what am I supposed to expect from Marinette when her friends still actively support Adrienette? By supporting Adrienette, regardless of the comments they make, they’re supporting Marinette’s behavior. Same with Tikki.

Anonymous said:

Have you noticed that with love interests of Marinette and Adrien, it's always the girls who like Adrien who are shallow, mean bitches and competition to Marinette(like Lila, Chloe, Kagami at first), while the boys who like Marinette are nice, friendly, and have no competition between each other whatsoever, sometimes not even knowing there IS competition(Adrien, Luka, Nathaniel). It's just really unfair and sexist because it's like girls can't be civil/friends and must fight over a guy.

That’s been a common topic of salt for a long while, yeah, I just don’t talk about it much.

It’s a difficult subject because I’m the type who can’t hold it against the guy characters (so I won’t dislike Kagami for “being similar to Chloe/Lila in terms of aggressiveness,” for example) because it feels wrong to, but I can hate the trend itself.

It’s also doubly unfair because Marinette’s crushes blip away quickly (like Nathaniel and Nino) while Adrien’s crushes stick around specifically to upset Marinette, so it’s like the show is saying, “if there’s a character who loves/supports Marinette, they gotta either stop or leave” (I’m pretty sure I got a “Didn’t Need Burrow” about the narrative sending Luka away and I don’t doubt it).

Anonymous said:

Personal Heacanon: Marinette and Chloé used to be friends until Marinette found out what Chloé (and Sabrina) has been using her commisions (mostly elaborate traps "to guard off thieves") for. This is why Chloé has it out for Marinette specifically. This is why everyone stood by as it happened. This is why she hates liars. This is why her "friends" are so casual at making jabs at her self-stem (they never believed she never knew what Chloé was truly up to). And also why Lila had it so easy at gaslighting everyone againts her (she's "relapsing" and it's easy to think she "deserves it").

Dang. That’s intense.

Yeah, Punch has given quite a few ideas about Marinette and Chloe previously being friends if I recall correctly. I like the idea even if I never use that kind of idea myself.

Anonymous said:

I feel like Adrien could be a really cool character if they focused less on romance? If that wasn’t his only motivation, and they developed his friendships more, and they didn’t have this entitlement. I also would like more actual friendship in regards to adrien & marinette? And him actually having interest in her but denying it bc he thinks he can only like ladybug. I feel like the sexism of the creators/writers are seeping into the character a lot and ruining it, too... It makes me really sad.

I’m hoping Adrigami will help adrien sort out a lot of his stuff bc Kagami doesn’t take any crap, and I actually really like their relationships, but I don’t have much hope. I would love for the show to use her and this relationship as a way to call out and develop adrien, but I doubt that will happen bc that would mean acknowledging his flaws. It’s just disappointing, really....

Yeah, Adrien could’ve been interesting, especially if they used Adrimi to its full potential, but they don’t. The show also has a history of letting Chat Noir get away with things and not punishing him so I wouldn’t be surprised.

Anonymous said:

Honestly, I don't even ship the love square anymore, but Fanon Adrienette is a thousand times better than canon Adrienette(the same goes for every other side of the love square, obvs). It's what the canon should be but we fans can only wish. Take, for example, the whole "she's just a friend" statement. In canon Adrien makes it because he genuinely sees Marinette as that and nothing more(which of course isn't bad, it's just sad when Marinette's always humiliated for the sake of getting his love).

In fanon, he makes it because he's actually in denial about his feelings for Marinette(which reminds me of a definition for "just a friend" on Urban Dictionary, which had Adrien drawing her name with hearts and flowers around it, and yet, when Nino asked if he had a crush, he STILL insists she's just a friend!), but realizes his mistake later.

In canon, Adrien thinks Marinette is Ladybug only because it's convenient for him since she's in love with him. In fanon, he actually does notice things about her that make her similar to Ladybug, and falls for her BEFORE knowing their identities because he sees the same qualities of bravery, strength, and femininity that he sees in Ladybug(I remember one fanfic where Marinette stood up to GABRIEL'S overprotectiveness, and Adrien could only admire how much she resembled Ladybug in that moment).

In canon, Chat is ignorant of Ladybug's feelings and agency and doesn't comfort Marinette when she's sad; instead, she has to comfort him. In fanon, Chat Noir cares about how Ladybug feels and values her agency, his jokes are genuinely funny(although canon Chat can be funny too, it's just the where and when), and he backs off when Ladybug is uncomfortable. In fanon, Chat Noir genuinely helps Marinette when she's sad and sometimes comes to see her just because, not out of plot convenience(and calls her "Purrincess" a lot more, why did the English dub just change it to "little lady"?).

It makes me think, maybe, just maybe, if these things were canon and the world was fair to Marinette, I might actually ship it; it might actually have a fighting chance against Lukanette and Adrimi. But while all these things are cute, it only makes canon more disappointing. Fanon is doing what canon should be doing. Fanon is supposed to build off of what canon gave us and expand on it. Fanon shouldn't create its own alternative because canon isn't giving us enough to chew on, it shouldn't have to.

Sadly, I think most of the fans, including the Adriennette-shipping ones, should be on some level in charge of the show; things would be SO MUCH better for the main ship(which isn't even progressing that far) and SO MUCH fairer to Marinette if that were so.

I feel this very much so. The show has been around for a long time and fandom can shape a lot of things. I think the love square wouldn’t be as beloved as it is if not for the fandom expanding on it and making it better (obviously, in some cases, they don’t make it better, but the love square is plentiful so there has to be some good takes out there).

Some shows do in fact let the fandom build off the foundation it makes and then you have things like Astruc outright lying and saying that Chat apologized in “Frozer” when he, in fact, did not, which makes everything more muddled.

maxwaspace said:

What is your opinion of the Scarlet Lady webcomic by Z.O.E?

I’m not into the love square no matter how better one might do it (it’s been soured too much for me in the show), but I do get happy seeing Zoe’s art and wondering how she’ll change/expand on the plotpoints in certain episodes.

Anonymous said:

Not sure it anyone's already said this but-

Canon Audrey: you're fired!

MC Audrey: you're hired!

Okay but hear me out.

Canon Audrey being put in charge of dealing with Miraculous’ writers, MC Audrey put in charge of hiring new ones.

Anonymous said:

Something the genuinely scares me is how close some people’s predictions where for miraculous I just saw predictions people made for season 3 and it’s worrying that the worst possible scenario for them ended up happening beat for beat.

The show can be very, very predictable that way. The way I’d describe it is that I do expect these bad things to happen in really convoluted and dumb ways, but it still surprises me by exactly how predictable it ends up being. I mean, I catch certain things really easily and the phrase, “the whole episode just flashed before my eyes,” is something I commonly say.

Predictability isn’t entirely bad, but when the prediction is unwanted? Yeah, there’s a problem.

Anonymous said:

You could basically summarize the difference between what Miraculous fans want and what the Miraculous writers want by using the John Mulaney "Delta Airlines" bit as a template.

I had to get said bit explained to me since I haven’t seen that one, but yes, now I can confirm.

Anonymous said:

How do you think Chat Blanc would play out if Marinette and/or Adrien were already dating other people? Like if Marinette had already moved on, do you think the narrative would punish her for it?

I imagine it would have Adrien still be crushing on Ladybug and he’d break it off with this other person when he realized that Ladybug is Marinette, which the narrative would then promote as “the correct decision” because they’re soulmates and such. If Marinette has moved on, she probably won’t care about his advances, which would lead to Adrien getting upset and maybe being convinced that an identity reveal would solve the problem and/or speeding up getting Hawk Moth defeated/arrested.

Marinette would probably be blaming herself for not being “sensitive enough” to Adrien/Chat’s feelings, which is what led to him being akumatized.

I could also see the girl squad forcing Marinette to give Adrien the present similar to canon, but maybe the beret doesn’t have a heart and Marinette isn’t actually interested, but rolls with it because the girl squad insists on it (probably convinced that she’s denying her own feelings).

Anonymous said:

What do you think constitutes as a "strong female character"? Do you think the girls and women in Miraculous Ladybug are "strong female characters"? Why or why not(I'm sorry if this sounded like a school assignment, by the way!)? Because to me I feel like a lot of them are given depth and focus, but they're often forced into stereotypes, and let's not forget how the show derail's Marinette's character for a joke. But lots of people think a strong girl has to be boyish or else she's weak somehow.

“I'm sorry if this sounded like a school assignment“ dfhgkfdgfg

I guess it depends on what you consider a strong female character. Like, can a shy female character be “strong” if maybe she holds firm to her morals or can fight people off?

I think Marinette has the potential to be a “strong female character” but the show nerfs her using her crush on Adrien (which raises so many red flags that I can’t cover here) and all it’s really done for her is get her laughed at and humiliated. If her life didn’t revolve and get ruined so badly due to her crush on Adrien, I think she’d be a strong female character (I know what the Season 3 finale did but I’m not buying any of it until we see proper results in Season 4).

That’s not to say that characters with crushes can’t be “strong” but it has to not control their life. I mean... okay...

Would Sabrina be considered a “strong female character” if she recognized Chloe’s treatment of her and worked hard to get out of it? Is the want and attempt to move on from something what constitutes “strength,” or do they have to succeed?

My conflict is always... I want to give Marinette credit for trying to move on from Adrien, but I know that it’s just the writing trying to make things seem tense/strained just to make it feel “better” when they actually get together. You see it all the time in anime/manga where a misunderstanding/self-doubt ends up hurting the relationship of the main ship; it’s to force conflict and separation, giving the ship something to overcome so they can get together.

I will say though that shy characters can be strong, physically strong characters can be weak, and so on. What defines a “strong” character may be vague to me, but I take it as I go. I would like to say that Marinette is a strong character on her own because she wants to improve even if she fails, but I also don’t want to give the writing credit for something that ultimately means nothing. I want to say that she’s strong but the narrative seems to do everything in its power to tell me that she’s weak.

Let me give a non-Miraculous example: say that you have a pacifist character, but there’s a villain who has done terrible things, cannot be redeemed (plz do not swarm my inbox with “anyone can be redeemed” comments, this is a hypothetical), and any method besides killing them right there and now would lead to more destruction/lives lost.

You might say that that the pacifist character would be “strong” in sticking by their morals and trying to find another way even if they ultimately would fail and the villain would get away, but an argument can also be made that the pacifist is being stubborn and letting people die because they are unwilling to rethink the morality they’ve chosen. Is a pacifist a pacifist if they’re letting the blood of other people spill because they themselves aren’t willing to have the blood be on their own hands? Are they “strong” because they stuck by what they believe in or are they “weak” because they refused to expand what they believed was “right”?

You could apply that to Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender (I know he’s not female but stick with me here). He was faced with having to murder the Fire Lord to the point where a past reincarnation who was raised on the same values as him didn’t agree with him. I think it was acceptable for him to try and stick to his morals and find another way, but he came up empty and the show had to give him a way of taking away the Fire Lord’s power so Aang didn’t have to make that choice in the end (there’s also that thing with the rock to his back and having to give up Katara but we’re not getting into that).

People could argue that, “oh, he admitted to himself that he’d have to kill the Fire Lord and then he got the Deus Ex Machina so it’s okay!” but the problem there is that the narrative basically gave two options: Murder or Take Away the Guy’s Bending, but there was incredible risk involved in the latter option. Aang almost lost himself against the Fire Lord and risked everything so that he would not have to kill him.

I would argue it makes him weak. I would argue that needing the narrative to favor him makes him weak (which is one plus for Marinette I guess the narrative is usually against her???). The lack of ability to understand his past lives and see things from their perspective made him weak for me, as him holding so stiffly to his values made it appear that he felt his ways were “better” than everyone else’s (which had been a long-standing problem for me and I never forgave him for “The Southern Raiders”).

Anonymous said:

What do you think of adriens mom Emilie. Like what do you how do you feel she wound up using the peacock miraculous personally I’m leaning into her being a villain due to the fact that there aren’t any stories of a peacock hero (unless they retcon that) and that her husband is well freaking Gabriel who has no real form of morals. Also I can’t help but think of how they got the miraculous in the first place. Anyways overall what do you think they will do with her or think of her right now.

I see her like I see any dead mom in media (I know she’s comatose, not the point); a tool for angst. Her reasons for using the peacock could be anything (might even be that she was given it and simply wearing it was damaging to her, or she transformed once to try it out and that was that), but I just don’t feel strongly about her because I’m not invested in the Agreste plot.

Me personally, I headcanon that she’s kind of like Bustier where she appears good but is actually very damaging. Instead of the generic “good mom who tried to do good things for her son but folded to angry dad’s demands,” I would like to imagine that she’s selfish in her own right and was part of the reason for Adrien never going to public school; she’s possessive herself (a contributor to why the Agrestes are so wealthy) and wants her son to remain close to her even if she genuinely cares about him and should want him to be able to go and learn from the world.

But I imagine they’ll probably make her either “pure good mom” or “villain like Gabriel where she’s ‘sympathetic’ but also evil.” The show has never been good at doing gray morality (see my MC Audrey for example) and usually messes things up if they try.

Anonymous said:

Honestly, I don't like Mme. Bustier, but if they DARE pull the pregnancy jokes with her--and I don't mean "pregnancy puns", like those would be ACTUALLY funny without offending anybody, but "ooh, she's pregnant so now she's moody and has wacky cravings and screams at everybody and is a nightmare to be around" and other things that just scream "male writer who mocks female biology and doesn't understand women", I'm going to cry. We already don't like Bridezilla, and this isn't any better.

Ugh. I don’t even like pregnancy plots in general or anything related to pregnancy (my followers who have been around forever and know of my hatred towards babies: wow what a shock!!), so adding on “jokes” like that?

Hard pass. I already don’t like Bustier so the mere idea of her potentially getting any focus there--

Anonymous said:

What do you think of the Alyanette ship? Personally, I'm ambivalent to it, but I can sorta see Alya being bi and having a crush on Marinette but Marinette doesn't like her back. Or she could have a crush on Ladybug. But I don't like the idea of it being mutual, considering how pushy and invasive Alya is. It also doesn't make sense for her to so insistently push the love square if she likes Marinette. But perhaps that's where some of her sarcastic quips come from: jealousy(cliche I know).

I’m always here for bi representation (no one can take my bi disaster headcanon’d Nino and Kagami away from me), but I actively dislike the Alyanette ship. I was okay with it back in Season 1 but it started to fall off in Season 2 and officially die in Season 3.

I don’t judge people by what they ship (...much; there’s obviously that little part of me that can’t help giving the side eye) but yeah, not for me.

Anonymous said:

As a different flavor of angst: Can you imagine Marinette’s class going to Riverside park in NYC and Tikki spotting the Jeanne D’Arc statue? I always wondered what it would have been like for Tikki to see Jeanne burned alive by the people she swore to protect. I think Nobody briefly touched on this for Witch Hunter, but not many people I have seen (probably missed something) talk about it. What do you think?

I’m indifferent to past holders getting mentioned and acknowledged; not sure how I feel about them given specific names and such (I kinda like seeing their designs and such but making them actual people from the real world? mmmm not here for that as much).

I like the idea though of addressing those real world things and having the kwami reacting to them. Like, it did make me genuinely sad in the New York special to see Liiri come out and call out Gilbert’s name, only to see this other guy standing there and we know that this Gilbert guy is very much dead by now.

On a related note, I’d be all for a special getting into a kwami’s problem and not making everything Marinette’s fault, so having Marinette maybe helping a kwami through theri issues and it leads into getting more lore on the kwami.

Anonymous said:

I just had an epiphany today: People who hate on Marinette for being "mean" to Lila/teachers telling Marinette to ignore Chloe and Lila and treat them nicely are the equivalent of real adults telling girls who are being bullied by boys that "he does it because he likes you." Ladies, raise your hands if something like this has ever happened: "Jamal tried to cut my cheek open with a razor!" "Oh, Aaliyah, he's only doing it because he likes you." Now that I've seen it I can't unsee it. Disgusting.

“Marinette, they’re just jealous of you, that’s all! Can you really get angry at them for that??”

us: yes

Anonymous said:

Thinking about Puppeteer 2 and how Marinette's identity could have been blown if she had talked to Tikki because of Plagg's incompetence angers me beyond belief because I know, just KNOW, if that had actually happened, Marinette would take ALL THE BLAME for it like there's no tomorrow. It would never occur to anyone that she normally talks to Tikki while she's alone and had no idea that the "statue" in front of her was a real boy AND her partner, or that Plagg should have said something. Ugh.

I KNOW, RIGHT????

That was such a big annoyance to me in that episode. They literally neglected the actual reality of what would happen (”Oh, Tikki! No one’s here, I could practice on this Adrien statue!”) for the sake of humiliating Marinette... again.

Anonymous said:

Your comment about how Ladybug always says she's "in love with someone else", as if that should matter diddly squat when the problem is with Chat not respecting her feelings on their own without another guy in the picture reminds me of a #YesAllWomen post I saw on Twitter. It read: "'I have a boyfriend' is the easiest way to get a man to leave you alone. Because he respects another man more than you." It's just like this except without the dating and the fact that Chat DOESN'T leave her alone.

And then you remember that the “someone else” she’s in love with is the exact person who’s disrespecting her feelings and you proceed to hate everything.

Anonymous said:

The statue scene in Puppeteer 2 could've easily kept its humor by having Adrien fall over when Marinette puts her weight on him and almost kisses him, then Marinette goes "Gasp! You're not a statue!" Marinette is always being forced to humiliate herself in the name of "love", even when she doesn't deserve it, so for once, let Adrien be the one utterly humiliated of his own doing. Then they could have a sad scene where Adrien ACTUALLY comforts her and...wait for it...LEARNS A LESSON.

Alternatively, someone who works on the statues comes in and, also mistaking Adrien for a statue, tries to do some sort of work on him.

Anonymous said:

Since we can all agree that this show is sadly not very good at girl power/inclusivity, how would you tweak the show to make it more genuinely female-empowering/inclusive(can include racial/sexual inclusivity)? Besides the obvious(including more female and/or POC writers on board).

Orientation-related inclusivity isn’t even that hard. Have a character get a call from someone and just be like, “oh, it’s my boyfriend/girlfriend,” and then other companies can just dub it if they’re so afraid of characters who like the same gender.

Firstly, I’d have Marinette learn and become more of a mentor character to other characters (male and female), lean more into more “females in power” (like Mylene showing genuine interest in being the next mayor), either less focus on the “girl antagonists are evil/unredeemable” plots or at least make them legitimate threats that don’t need the narrative to cater to them to make them threatening.

Secondly, Adrien needs to STOP being the one to keep telling Marinette/Ladybug what’s right or the way to do things. I can’t stress this one enough.

Thirdly, maybe not having a season dedicated to three guys getting miraculouses while all the girls are either questioned, self-reveal, or get their miraculous revoked. That might help. :P

Anonymous said:

The saddest thing is that I can see ML going through a "Fate: The Winx Saga" in the future and having an awful, edgy reboot to appeal more to adults.

Different writers probably but at what cost.

+ more sexualization obviously since that’s usually what “more adult” means; Audrey gets the cleavage that her design clearly calls for at least, but again, at what cost

Anonymous said:

I hate what TheOnesWhoMustNotBeNamed have done to the Love Square but I also don't like Lukanette and Adrigami (nothing against the characters themselves). This is going to be one of those shows that regardless what ship wins is going to disappoint around 90% of the fans.

No hate for not liking Lukanette/Adrimi, I understand that.

And yeah, there’s a <1% chance that they can pull out anything satisfying.

Anonymous said:

Off topic, but I realized why I don’t like Clara Nightingale’s design, there’s no light to her eyes, makes her look kinda dead, kinda evil.

DQ tend to do that when they’re the ones animating. I remember “Christmaster” doing particularly well with the eye highlights.

Anonymous said:

What do you think about the future Miraculous specials (Africa, Japan, Rio, Shanghai, London)?

Will be happy to see a new setting because it shows different cultures (though there’s always the chance that the culture is poorly-represented) but that’s basically it. Specials are usually just a cash grab that are just there and any expansion on lore and such is shunted to the side for the sake of love square drama, judging by the New York special.

Anonymous said:

I haven't watched the New York Special yet, don't think I can bring myself to tbh, but this whole time I thought Aeon was the name of the superhero persona, and that the fandom was collectively calling her civilian identity Uncanny Valley bc her model was that bad.

I was genuinely shocked to find out that her civilian identity is named Aeon and that her hero name is Uncanny Valley bc that is not only a stupid name, but kind of insulting since she's an android character of color. (Well, she's a character of color except for when shes running around as a pale naked superhero. Majestia, give your kid some pants!)

oof

Yeah, the Uncanny Valley thing threw me off too. “Aeon” really does sound like a superhero name.

I can’t believe they made her a robot and were like, “mannequin robot design.” I question so many things about the decisions made around Aeon fdkjgjfdg.

Anonymous said:

Do you think they’ll ever leave DuPont college, since it’s a middle school (essentially) and go to a lycee (high school)? I think they’re in their second year of four at DuPont, judging by the previous class picture.

I doubt it, unless we get more seasons? It would mean having to model a whole new school.

Anonymous said:

So I was reading again tikki brand boyfriend and this come to my mind and I have to share it with you.... Tikki is the mother in law of marinette in the future lol (sorry if this isn't the right blog to ask this) (I love yours au, you are amazing!)

(this is the wrong blog, yes, you’re looking for mc-lukanette, not miraculouscontent)

Thank you though! i agree, that’s cute, ahaha~

Anonymous said:

Did you know that there's a TV Tropes page for LadyBugOut?! And someone even left a review there saying they liked it and that they were sick of the Marinette embarrassing and wanted some Lukanette. They say your au is their favorite au in the fandom! Isn't that just swell?

Yes! And the TV Tropes page is fantastic! Thank you!

Anonymous said:

OMG IVE FIGURED OUT WHY MARINETTE IS UNABLE TO GET OVER ADRIEN!!! She’s under the influence of a love potion called Amortentia, which causes a powerful obsession from the drinker (it’s from Harry Potter). That’s why she’s so obsessed, and that’s why she can’t get over Adrien! She literally can’t while under the influence of the potion! She just needs to drink the antidote, and then she can finally be free!

Oh no!! Someone get this poor girl an antidote, STAT!

Anonymous said:

I was just reading your review of Silencer(which I totally agree with by the way), and when I got to the part about how Ladybug lost her voice and her powers are voice-activated, it got me thinking about how annoying Chat was being(as another anon noted, which I also agree with), and then it hit me. While it may just come off as his usual flirtatious banter that's innocent, the fact that he doesn't even seem to mind Ladybug not being able to detransform because then he gets to "be with her" forever and ever and ever amen just proves your point about Chat Blanc. He cares more about being with Ladybug than Ladybug herself, so long as she gets to keep being Ladybug "for him", that's what matters. Remember that the girl he fell in love with was the superhero persona and not the girl under the mask. He couldn't care less about who that actual girl is so long as she's his "lady" and loves him back. He just wants her to uphold the image of his strong and powerful "lady" that he admires.

(Glad you enjoyed the “Silencer” review! Thanks!)

Full agreement here! Chat isn’t really in love with Ladybug; he’s in love with the image he’s made of her and wants to keep it that way, no matter how much he may suggest otherwise.

Anonymous said:

Luka is soooo much more interesting with Marinette like, why isn't he the love interest? Same with Kagami for Adrien. To be honest it would be cool if the show set up the love square at first but then slowly started to change to Lukanette and Adrimi once Marinette and Adrien realized their crushes were just not working out. They can still have an identity reveal, but they'll refreshingly stay friends. But the writers don't have the ovaries to do that, I get it. -_- Such wasted potential.

They could’ve done a really interesting bait-and-switch but they decided not to. The love square is full of holes and flaws that they’re very likely never going to address (outside of anything used for that “gAsP maybe they won’t get together???” drama), so having it actually be addressed and be like, “okay, we’re better as friends,” would’ve gone over so much better.

Anonymous said:

I hear people complain all the time that Lukanette is toxic because Luka is merely the "second choice" for Marinette, and that she just uses him as a rebound when she fails to get Adrien's attention. But the truth is, that's not how it is at all. Luka's not anywhere near her "second choice". He gives her tranquility and stability, and she helps him loosen up and have someone to express his creativity towards. Plus, it's totally normal for teens to have two crushes whom they can't choose between.

THIS

ALL OF THIS

I am so tired of people saying that Marinette is “using” Luka in someway as if it’s a conscious decision on her part to take advantage him.

Luka makes her happy. That’s it. Luka is aware of how she feels and respects her space, but I guess that makes him a “pushover” and “he lets Marinette walk all over him” because he didn’t get upset with her and embarrass her in “Desperada” by calling her out over her Adrien blindness.

Anonymous said:

People who say "I like Marinette but she's getting to be pretty embarrassing sometimes" really don't get that the show constantly forces her into situations where she's embarrassed and made out to be incompetent. Like, it's not her that's embarrassing, it's the show that's always embarrassing her. Kind of like Serena/Usagi in the (shitty)DiC English dub of Sailor Moon. It's getting irritating to hear people continually rag on Marinette as if SHE'S the clueless idiot, rather than the writers.

There are some things that happen to her that she literally could not have predicted. Like, just saying, if I had someone claiming to be my friend, I would expect them to know I’m anxiety-prone and not pretend to be a statue just

Anonymous said:

Remarried Empress Anon: I can see Felix as the Duke and maybe Jagged Stone as Kosair (but an uncle and not her brother).

I agree with both of those! Jagged Stone as Kosair/Koshar, omg.

Plus, the idea of Luka and Felix being “friends” amuses me.

Anonymous said:

You know, I find Felix/Marinette content to be really funny. Because, Felix in fanfiction is a completely different character than his canon self- with a different personality, background, and maybe even last name. So, the entire Marinette/Felix fandom is literally just Marinette/oc except it's always the same oc

I struggle to get fully behind Felinette because so much of it does rely on fandom interpretation and playing with fanon in general (plus, having to clarify “I ship fanon Felinette” is weird).

I do however agree that it’s interesting that it ultimately comes to a character built on fanon grounds, and how much more acceptance characters get when they’re based on “canon”/originally canon characters.

Anonymous said:

How would you write the Miraculous PV version? Just wondering.

I don’t think I could without drastically changing characters and at that point it’s not really the PV anymore. “Bridgette“ and Felix’s relationship is the exact opposite of what I like to watch/read about so yeah, changing both of them to what I like would either be too severe of a rewrite or me working too far within the restrictions set out for me.

Anonymous said:

There's a YouTube video claiming that someone will figure out that Marinette is Ladybug and that she will suffer...I mean, yeah? Isn't that what we've already been getting? I mean, not the first part, obviously(and when we have, it's been undone), but the second? Have we been watching the same show? No, have we? Because Marinette suffering, sadly, is not anything new.

lol “Marinette will suffer!” and us like “did you seriously use future tense as if Marinette isn’t already suffering??”

Anonymous said:

Am I the only one who feels like Miraculous Ladybug is feeling less like a magical girl show and more like just another superhero show? This isn't even because of "girl power" or anything like that, or the fact that there are male Miraculous wielders like Chat and Carapace and(long dreamy sigh) Viperion. This is because the outfits don't really resemble magical girl outfits at all and, after watching various magical girl shows both in and out of Japan, Miraculous is starting to feel like its genre is shifting from magical girl to that of "superhero" in its broadest term. And I know I said I wouldn't bring up "girl power", but the fact that so many of the girls aren't treated respectfully by the narrative and are pitted against each other, to the point where they're more likely to lose their Miraculouses or reveal their identities(which often culminates in losing their Miraculouses), only adds to this because the Magical Girl genre is about female empowerment and solidarity.

It's sad because I really don't want this show to become one of those shows where "there might be one or two girls, and she might even be the lead, but it's still mostly guys who are front and center doing the heavy lifting" that we get all the time. Things are starting to change for the better and I want Miraculous to capitalize on that emergence of female empowerment as much as possible. Plus, with the New York Special, the magical girl aspects of the show have been toned down if not obliterated entirely: the transformations for the superheroes only last one minute, and they feel more like the Avengers than Sailor Senshi(which I don't mean in the most literal sense, of course, I am in no way saying that none of them can be male.). Plus they pulled the whole "Samus is a Girl" thing TWICE! TWICE! Come on, if you're show is really about girl power, it shouldn't come as a surprise when girls are, well...powerful! And especially not in Magical Girl for obvious reasons.

So while I'm not saying it's bad for a show to shift from the original genre it was meant to be in(although it must be done carefully, otherwise it looks like you don't know what you're doing), and there is of course no wrong way to do Magical Girl(except for Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna, do NOT go there!), it does make me wonder. And it's kind of disappointing, because I really love Magical Girl and I feel like shows like these could introduce the genre to a wider audience and could renovate it as well. But unfortunately they're going a different direction, and that makes me sad. If not for the transformation phrases/sequences and the fact that they have animal companions, I imagine most people would be totally clueless as to how on Earth this show counts as Magical Girl. It still counts as such for me, but it's deviating farther and farther away from the genre to the point where it becomes nigh unrecognizable, or like even the show writers forgot what genre it's supposed to be. Sadly.

Yikes.

Yeah, I can’t imagine how seeing this show must be like for people that are more savvy with magical girl shows. Me personally, I had to be told that it was a magical girl show because it honestly just gave off the “superhero show” vibes even with the magical girl-esque transformations.

Plus, with magical girls, you usually expect a group of girls? Here, we have Ladybug and Chat Noir, who the writers keep being like “they’re equals” which... yeah, that’s fine but it doesn’t really work with the idea that this is a magical girl show? I mean, “Party Crasher” was basically Ladybug and her reverse harem of superhero guys who just got out of a “males-only” party.

I dunno, coming from someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience with magical girl shows, it just doesn’t have what I would expect when I think “magical girl show featuring a healthy dose of girl power.”

Anonymous said:

I was once reading this review of Miraculous Ladybug called "Miraculous Ladybug is a Hot Mess: A Rant", and while it's a good video and you should watch it and I totally agree with everything she said(plus, it made me laugh a few times!), I had a huge issue with the way she made Marinette's stammering around Adrien to be ALL HER FAULT since he's never mean to her and is always patient with her(yeah, more like oblivious), but that "she's incompetent" and "cockblocks herself", which annoys me because Marinette on her own is not the incompetent one here(I also don't like the term "cockblock", like, can we not? But anyway...), rather, it's the writers who make her incompetent for cheap laughs and don't allow her to improve or let anyone(but Luka, bless his kind soul!) truly be on her side. She then had the nerve to say "Marinette needs to learn to define herself outside of who she's crushing on", when, NO, once again, the WRITERS are the ones who define her by her crush on Adrien.

It's one thing to blame a character for something even when she's clearly written by a writer, because characters are supposed to be consistent yet flexible and have free will in-universe. But when she's written this inconsistently/it's obvious the writers have it out for her(to the point where they even say it) it is nigh impossible to pretend it's an aspect of the character herself and not the writers at fault. THAT'S where you draw the line between blaming the character vs the writer.

In fact, speaking of Luka, she also said that she wants the show to get rid of Luka because he's just a "plot device" and has no reason to like her beyond the fact that she's a "funny girl". She also said that Luka is a stereotype of the "cute bad boys who are emo", when that's blatantly untrue. She's allowed to not like Lukanette but all the things she's saying really ignore the point of his character and that his life DOESN'T revolve around Marinette; the writers simply don't respect him.

Even worse, she contradicted herself by saying that Lukanette is pointless because "we all know that Marinette is going to get with Adrien; it's endgame so why does the show even bother with Luka?" Then right after that says that Kagami's okay and that it's okay for Adrien to move onto Kagami because Ladybug has rejected him as Chat so many times(which is apparently not the case for Adriennette because "MaRiNeTtE's JuSt InCoMpEtEnT" right?). So teenage girls aren't allowed to like other boys or date more than one boy, yet teenage boys can date as many chicks as they like. Nice.

And apparently, any problem in a relationship or potential relationship is the girl's fault no matter what. She can't approach him because Goddess forbid girls not always be perfect and capable? She's incompetent and it's all her fault she can't properly talk to a perfectly nice, cute, FAMOUS boy. She rejects him every time he confesses despite him knowing it will fail. Her fault for being mean and not giving him a chance. She gets tired of chasing him and decides to look at someone else since it's not like she's legally married to Boy #1? She should stick with the original boy since they're gonna get together anyway. He gets tired of chasing her and decides to look at someone else since it's not like he's legally married to Girl #1? She should've realized his feelings for her and returned them since they're gonna be endgame anyway. Has this lady ever even been a teenage girl?

Plenty of teenage girls get tongue-tied around the one they love even if he or she is a perfectly nice, sweet person, it doesn't mean they're incompetent(especially when the girls are fictional characters in a world set out to punish them for not making progress and for trying to make progress at the same time, and the fact that the boy is a celebrity who is always made oblivious and kept distant enough from the girl so she can keep putting him on a pedestal and never truly get to know him). Plenty of teenage girls lose interest in one boy and so fall for another. Yet it's somehow only okay for boys to do it? Seriously?

And then for the episode "Ladybug", the reviewer continues to rag on Marinette, blaming her for the fact that her reaction to getting expelled was "I can't let that nasty Hawkmoth win", claiming she wasn't reacting like a normal teen or human in general would react in that scenario, completely ignoring the fact that it's TIKKI who doesn't comfort Marinette and forces her to focus on her duties as Ladybug and almost getting akumatized. She's right about the plot moving too fast, but she doesn't take into account WHY it's moving too fast, because the show doesn't focus on Marinette's inner struggle and what she has to go through. Instead of giving her time to process her thoughts after all that goes on and providing Tikki as a source of comfort and support(which she's, you know, SUPPOSED to be), they make Tikki berate her and force Marinette to push it to the side.

She's never allowed to feel. And that's why it hurts all the more when this woman insults Marinette for her perceived ineptitude, and she's fully allowed to dislike Marinette, critique her behaviors, dislike Luka, critique his role in the story etc., just don't reinforce a double standard as you do so and look closer: ultimately most of Marinette's problems are due to her not being permitted to FEEL. She's not allowed to be nervously in love, or be calm, or be offended, or be just not ready.

The writers keep pushing her in one direction, to be emotionless, to be selfless, to be nice, to be honest, to be "the mature/responsible one" to be a perfect little "Purrincess", to not push for or want anything for herself, even though the show is supposed to be about girl power! She does somewhat touch on that by saying that Ladybug never gets to "take a hit" and that the Marichat scene in Glaciator was too short, but she never goes into why everything is too-fast paced. And if she did, she wouldn't be saying everything she does about Marinette and Luka. Because Luka is more than just the "plot device" she dismisses him as.

He's like a calm oasis, the apple of the hurricane who keeps Marinette calm and just lets. her. breathe. He's possibly the only person who doesn't berate her, who doesn't mimic her, who doesn't insult her, who doesn't ignore her. And the one time he does, he apologizes RIGHT AWAY when he sees how sad she looks. And the funny thing is, I used to hate that scene, because when I first saw it, I thought "Oh man! Luka did the same thing as everyone else did once!" But now I see that it serves as a contrast, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to the other characters in the show. Whereas they never apologize for how they treat Marinette(and often she somehow ends up apologizing instead, sadly) and in fact seem oblivious to it at times or just don't care, Luka notices, Luka cares, and Luka apologizes. That shows that he cares about her and her feelings, unlike the rest of the characters in the show.

And while they do care about her, they're never held accountable for how they treat her. Anarka and Plagg are probably the only exceptions that I can think of(who contribute to the plot of course), but they're obviously not love interests, and the video doesn't talk about them, so I won't talk about them either. But my point is that this review, while good in other ways, is still problematic in this regard, for how it completely ignores Marinette's struggles and how they affect her, as well as the value of Luka's character(even if the show doesn't recognize it at times) and the POSITIVE effect they have on each other(especially since he actually, genuinely, wholeheartedly loves her and is patient with her, since Adrien is barely even her friend and Chat is pushy and entitled. And he has a life outside of her too, which this video chooses to ignore.)! So yeah, I'm sorry this took so long, but I just had to protect my favorite characters because that video did them so dirty. Thank you for coming to my Lukanette Ted Talk! Have a miraculous day! ;3

...Wow????

Can I just say wow??

Firstly, kudos to you for having the patience to not only write all of that, but simultaneous deal within Tumblr’s limitations while doing so? I almost wish I had a video detailing all of these topics (not exactly a video response to that person, but just detailing all of this without explicitly calling people out).

Secondly, I absolutely, 100% feel you on the double standards. I have seen so much hypocrisy in my experiences and it’s insane how people will bash Marinette relentlessly and then let Adrien off with a bunch of excuses, or hate Luka for essentially existing and then accept Kagami.

I also hate the idea of disliking Luka because he’s there to make Marinette feel better, and then liking Kagami because she causes conflict, like the implication is that conflict equals good and things that make Marinette feel loved and cared for are bad because love square endgame, I guess.

It’s exhausting, especially when Marinette is fourteen, clearly tries, but is getting no support. Like, have you ever thought how weird it was that Tom and Sabine seemingly knew back in “Gamer” that Marinette was crushing on Adrien, but in “Weredad,” they don’t worry about the fact that Marinette is into someone else or wonder what might’ve happened with Adrien, like if he might’ve hurt her in some way? If the assumption is, “oh, they just think that’s a teenage thing, flip-flopping between love interests,” well... Tom clearly takes what he thinks to be her current crush very seriously, and even if it was true that they presume she’s just flip-flopping, that really doesn’t show them to see Marinette as more than just a clumsy teenager-in-love stereotype.

So yeah, the characters who are meant to be there to support her ask no questions, but here’s Luka with his sweet “you can tell me everything or nothing, you can be yourself around me,” line, and yet... Luka is the problem???

Sure, how dare this sweet boy NOT cause Marinette more stress. He makes Marinette feel better about herself and therefore he’s “pointless” (which, really, is the true mark of someone who doesn’t care about Marinette).

Ugh.

But yeah, in conclusion, people can have insane double standards when it comes to Luka and Marinette, and thank you for the Lukanette Ted Talk, this was a really good piece! You have a nice day too! ;3

(note: the below ask seems to cut short at the end and I didn’t get a message back about it but I at least wanted to have it here so the anon has (most of?) their story heard even if I can’t properly comment on it:)

Anonymous said:

Relating to the ask about Marinette imagining the events of the series. For me it would be realistic as I sort of see myself in her position for some parts, especially how her friends are represent (mainly Alya) and I can see myself picturing the events of the story (surrounding them) to some extent.

I'm continuing on to explain and rant about how I relate to Marinette. So about Alya's pushiness with Marinette's crush and how she won't let her move on. I used to be sort of friends with this person and one day we hanging out at school and she started badgering me to tell her who my crush was, even though I told her I didn't have one (I didn't have one but even if I did it wasn't her business, especially because we hadn't really interacted for a couple years).

She pressured me enough that I felt the need to make up a person, then she called me out just after I did it because she knew I was lying but didn't realise how uncomfortable I was lucky we were by ourselves so no one could hear how embarrassing it was. It still is but I sort have gotten over it (that's why I'm hear complaining). For her being made to sit by herself because everyone else paired of, I can relate.

I have never been the person who is really close with the friend group (probably because I'm quiet and struggle to interact with others), but I still I hang out during class time, but there have been times when two of the friends sat together and the other friend chose not to sit with me but just in front of me (the tables can fit two people at them) until one friend I went to primary school asked "what about [me]", so them she sat next to me.

The person I went to primary school with also has chosen to sit with the person who was not to sit with me so she could sit closer to the other two friends diagonally across from me on the table next to mine. I can understand Marinette in The Chameleon for how she would of felt when her friends turned in because I am left wondering if my friends even like me, although primary school friend sometimes tried to get to wait with them when we were waiting for the teacher to show up.

As I mentioned earlier I anxious when trying to interact with people who are even considered my friends so I wait for them to invite me to hangout with them. And for the ending of The Chameleon when everything went back to normal, in primary school we had this task we were told research a person and write a biography on them so as the teacher told us we were writing a good copy and the work in our books was a rough draft.

I wrote the information down as I would the good copy to make sure I was happy with it. When we were writing the good copy, I started to worry I had done something wrong as I had seen my friends work and they bith had just written down the facts. So as my friends and I kept having arguments and fights so I told them that I hoped I remembered to spell all the names correctly because they were not names I was knew how to spell which was true so they didn't question it as I could tell they did

[tinysylveon]

s'cuse me while i complain about the rwby fandom for a bit, and why i p much have refused to fully engage in it since the near beginning and even now. i'm putting this in a read more bc i actually have sanity to put mountain long paragraphs of text under read mores. :^)

those shippers in the rwby fandom really irritate me, because they seem to only pay attention to the shipping and get really angry at the writers for not making their ship "canon" or "interact in a meaningful way". sometimes i'm glad meme-based content creators keep their personal opinions to themselves, because i saw someone say they're "deeply disappointed in the current volume for not providing whiterose content", and honestly being so. and don't even get me STARTED on those fairgame shippers. way to come out as transphobic, basically. harassing a damn trans person like that, saying its all their fault your ship never got water. d e e p s i g h

no, the crwby is not, nor ever entitled to, giving you your ship. you know what actually matters in rwby? the plot. the characters themselves. if you enjoy ships? epic. just don't... harass people. don't go overboard. don't let that ship lead you to despise the show, the creators, or anyone relating to it.

however much i despise only paying attention to the ships, i still do think it's childish and stupid to put your ship hate in the ship tag you're hating. i know you want attention, but there are far healthier ways to do that than purposefully pissing people off by posting "yang/blake is fucking stupid and so are the shippers" or something in the designated tag. yike!!!

shipping is fun, but it's not everything. please exercise common sense, self control, and maturity. i know it's hard, but make an attempt.

sure, you can say it's "horribly/badly written" all damn day, but imo, i still think the writing is ok, because i could see foreshadowing even in the very first volume. now, i've tried my best to find some semblance (lol pun) of information that monty planned a good chunk of rwby, or at least had some plot points written out til the end, but all i can find is "he only planned out to volume/season 5", "volume/season 3", and then apparently "volume/season 10". again, this may mean actual scripts and more, OR just plot points, like a lot of us writers do (ive got a beginning, middle, and end for my story rn, but i only have a bit for the points past what ive already written. fun fun, but i digress. anyways.). so that's... completely all up in the air. what i'm saying is, from what we've gotten past three, and even five, i've enjoyed it a ton! i enjoyed rewatching it! i caught all kinds of small things and foreshadowing and i've enjoyed it a lot. call me easily amused or impressed by "horrible writing" (which... that's all honestly based on opinion at this point.), but fuck it. love this shit.

i can see why people are irritated with shippers. i can definitely see why others have granted a name for the peope who hate the show but still follow it JUST to make steven universe-esque critical posts about it call it the "hatedom" (which obv has been happening before steven's verse but hell it feels and looks so much like it. ya'll.. it's not. that. deep. sometimes.). the rwby fandom is so damn messy and i can see why i've been literally avoiding it for years and just happily watching the show.

this entire thing is def why i've been keeping myself from engaging in it and/or even making any content/side fan accounts for it. it's just... so immaturely messy. a whole mess!!!! a whole mess.

if you want to argue with me: don't. i will ignore you. you're literally part of the problem. if you hate these opinions so much, bro, just block me! it's super easy! a few taps/clicks, and you never have to see me again. wild, i know. i can do the same to you. epic.

have a rad day.

[juni-ravenhall]

the thing with the sc cost of running pets (and clothes! and tack! and possibly horses!) in sso is just that compared to “other games and other stuff you could buy for the same irl value” it doesnt seem worth the cost. it seems overpriced.

i dont care about the cost of jorvik ponies or anything else in-game. i care about the exchange rate of irl money to sc, and comparing what you get. there is obviously an aspect of “sse needs to earn back the work they put in” - but we don’t know where those limits are (without finding out how many of each pet, clothing item, etc, that they sell, and whether they would sell fewer or more if they lowered the costs, etc) and can’t say anything about them. afaik, there is no evidence that the only way for sse to earn back their investments is to sell a low/medium quality 3D pet for $10, or a decent quality 3D horse for $20. we DO know that the company is doing well, paying its staff well and treating them well (seemingly - ofc i dont work there), and can afford upkeep on many servers, just as a note.

for a comparison of something i also think is a dumb cost, is horses in rival stars horse racing (mobile), another game i enjoy! $30 for a coat recolour and some stats (horsey go brrr). there is only 1 horse model in rival stars. no different model or animations or anything whatsoever - literally just a different coat, with the added bonus that you can breed horses so the coat and stats matter. however, i dont think that makes $30 a reasonable cost for a recolour and some numbers, in my personal opinion that im allowed to have about any game. an interesting difference is that rival stars probably has a slightly older target audience than sso (which is interesting just bc adults are supposedly able to make more informed decisions and have their own money, and kids don’t).

obvs, when you sell any product you have to calculate what the expected monetary gain is, and what the expected production costs are, and whether those things will make it worthwhile or not. but you also should think about the actual quality of the product, who your customers are, etc etc... and... there is a point at which, even if “this item took this much work/time/money to make”, if the end result seems more costly than what a reasonable price is, maybe you’re going about the work the wrong way. maybe theres inefficiency in the work methods or poor prioritising if low/medium quality items are costing that much to produce. 

and yeah, anything in sso is a luxury item, playing sso is a luxury, etc, no “extra” sc payments are necessary for gameplay aside from being star rider, etc, all true but not really relevant to my opinion. i also criticise other non-essential digital goods for being overpriced when i see them whether game related or not, and ofc physical goods but less relevant to the topic since they have a different production cost (digital goods have no material or shipping cost and no supply limit).

just my personal opinions and why *i* have issues with the costs of sc (and therefore most, but not all, sc prices in the game). coming from a game dev, artist, and very poor person who thinks a lot about economy without feeling entitled to anything.

[parsnipping]

Hm. Frustrating that people STILL think that it's acceptable behavior to send unnecessarily harsh criticism purely based on opinions such as "this character is ooc" and "fuck your biological explanation, there's no logical way that would happen".

On anon ofc.

Okay, good to know you're a boring, unimaginative person who can only see sci-fi set to Earth standards even tho the source material literally has weird ass aliens that shouldn't "make sense". But go off. 🙄

I'm floored that we're still not past this whole "this was obv not written for me, and it's not to my taste, ergo it's garbage" bullshit.

The entitlement is strong within you.

Disclaimer: This was something that happened today to my friend, not me. I'm just big mad.

[asiryn]

Seriously, it's the girls who bring what Bakarina needs in life: gardening, doujin and food.

What do the boys in her harem offer? Zilch. The fiance wants her around because he finds her interesting, a spice for his boring life. Her adopted brother is an obnoxious obsessive siscon who does all he could to cockblock the fiance. Alan plays music that she appreciates but doesn't care that much, and the emotionally stunted Nicole is nothing more than eye candy. Waste of space, those boys are.

..................................Okay then, I guess we’re doing this. But listen, I do not think I am the right audience for espousing the opinion you seem to want me to. I mean, obvs, you do you, and you’re entitled to your own opinion. But like........literally, one of my recent asks went like this:

me: I hope the show ends with the full poly harem (w/ qpt Keith/Cat), and I like all of the harem ships except for Keith/Catarina, as I’m Conflicted on it bc incest is :///

you: but fuck the boys, amiright?

So like......I don’t know why you think I’ll agree with you?? Bc, yes, I do absolutely think that the girls all suit Catarina the best, but that doesn’t mean that I think the boys have no merits whatsoever. 

Well, okay, I do agree a bit about Keith, who is probably my least favorite character in show due to the fact that all he inspires in me is Conflicted Feelings. The biggest part of the reason for that is obviously bc incest is always :////, but also bc yeah, possessiveness is never going to be my favorite flavor for romance. But even w/ Keith, I feel that, if he just wasn’t her goddamn brother, then his relationship w/ Catarina would be perfectly fine, and perhaps even a contender for the best one of the boys, as he does know her very well. (And I think it’s telling, that of all the fantasies in ep 8, Keith’s was the only one that involved giving Catarina what she was later shown as desiring, even if I personally highly disliked the sexualized manner in which he did so.) The only flaw is, of course, that he is her goddamn brother, and as such, is a glaring, critical enough flaw that it completely kills what would otherwise have been a good ship.  

Geordo’s probably the next most Problematic character after Keith, and yes, you’re right that the reason why he fell in love w/ Catarina was bc she brings zest and color to his life. But he’s also been shown to be genuinely earnest in doing things for her that’ll make her happy, despite knowing that he’s unlikely to get what he wants from her in return, and no matter how that runs counter to everything he’s been taught of what’s ‘appropriate’ in their high class society. He’s protective of her, but also trusts her judgment, as shown in the finale eps, where he lets her take the lead on how to resolve the situation w/ Raphael, instead of asserting any kind of superiority. He also clearly respects and loves her for who she is, and like everyone else, goes along w/ her weird interests and hobbies despite how ‘undignified’ he may find them, and he has no interest in trying to change her to being more ‘respectable’, or whatever. And for all his jealousy and possessiveness issues, he never takes it out on her, or does anything w/ it aside from quiet mild complaining and a bit of bickering w/ Keith. 

I’ve already gone on record as saying that Alan’s the Best Boy for her. Yes, she appreciates his music, but he also plays to her competitive side in a way that no one else does. And to say that he doesn’t care that much about her is pretty ridiculous, imo. Did we not have an entire episode where EVERYONE was pretty much having a breakdown over the idea of losing Catarina? Or, if you were trying to say that Catarina doesn’t care about Alan’s music much, I also don’t think that’s true, considering how much she gushes about it. Alan and Catarina also just have quite a lot of quiet and really sweet moments together, like that ending scene to ep 8, when they’re sitting in that tree. 

Nicol definitely has had the least amount of focused attention or screen time, which is something I hope they address more in season 2. But then again, he can’t exactly do much, bc every time he tries Catarina pretty much faints on him, so that’s hardly his fault that she’s just too attracted to him, now is it?

So........no, I do not think the boys are wastes of space. If you want more bashing of the boys, you’d probably be better served elsewhere. ✌

[crossedwithblue]

tbh i had forgot the katara as jane i just remembered the zuko being stupid haha the post being ss well makes it great (i suppose they mean the narrative function of being the support and a contrast with lizzy. but yeah comparing her to katara who has such strong independence and standing up values sounds '???')

I read a lot zutara mainly because katara and aang getting together was always super uncomfortable to me

i am always here for Dumbass Zuko headcanons lmao. however I did unfollow that blog just the other day because while I love their art (give me allllllllll the accurately drawn PoC. if you draw PoC (or white people for that matter) as button-nosed instagram girls with dark skin and make no effort to learn how to actually draw different types of facial features i will come to your house and make you eat your wacom tablet and draw my giant nose and square jaw with pen and paper until you get it Right, there are enough resources about this and i am tired) I didn’t love their hot takes which I obviously did not want to say in the tags on their post but idk,,, I was getting this really bitter vibe from their meta, idk how else to explain it. I can understand being bitter about aspects of media you like and of course people are perfectly entitled to their opinions and headcanons, but I just don’t want that bitterness on my dash lol, I come to tumblr to shitpost and look at pretty pictures. and their opinions on zuko were definitely part of it bc they felt really unfair to me and the Pride and Prejudice post is def an example of something where I was just like ??? this makes perfect sense until I actually think about it at all?? why are you being mean to zuko for no apparent reason????? is it.... because he’s the only major character from the nation that is most similar to white colonising cultures, even though he’s doing the work to a) be aware of the colonising mentality he’s internalised and work on it and b) as the ruler of said nation, flag up and eradicate this mentality from his own country, which is evidenced by the FN’s policy of non-intervention in Korra (I think the almost-going-to-war plot in the comics was absolute bullshit by the way, like not its existence but just it not really being examined in that sense)? I am 100% here to examine those aspects of ATLA and again, I totally understand being bitter about them, but it just tires me out in a website I consider a leisure space

I do need to find more atla blogs to follow now, recs would be fab if you have any :)

oh yeah i basically dont ship any of the endgame ships (in ATLA, as you may guess from my header being Korrasami lol) because as i have said before, nobody needs to find their One True Love at the age of 13 lmao (i do kinda ship Suki/Sokka because they are a little older (still kids by our standards but most probably near adulthood by their own, if not actually adults in the full sense, and yes I do think cultural context matters when ascribing adulthood to people outside the modern West no matter what ‘you’re a baby until you turn 18 and then why don’t you instatnly have a job and a mortgage’ internet culture says) and their relationship is just so cute and feels really healthy to me idk we were Robbed of enough Suki screentime, we should have got more Suki and also she should have had her character explored a Lot more than Cool Ninja Feminist Gal) (also, witness the nested brackets, they are here)

I think a lot of people have issues with Zutara (and presumably by extension Zukka? though I haven’t seen this discussed as much or like. at all) because of the issues associated with essentially the heir to a colonizing empire which has decimated the culture of the indigenous-coded woman he’s being shipped with (im sure you’ve also seen those discussions if you’ve spent like. any time at all in ATLA fandom lol) which I... kinda have mixed feelings about, I’ve seen fics where it is definintely completely ignored and done really really badly but I have also seen fics where that conflict is a really essential theme and that’s been quite interesting (would recommend Southern Lights on AO3 if ou haven’t come across it before as a good example of that though it is very long and currently being updated (pretty regularly)). I feel like I’m too removed from that part of intercultural conflict that I have the right to comment on it, though I’ve definitely faced shades of those issues in the past, but I also feel like it’s potentially an example fo knee-jerk Tumblr purity culture to just say its Bad And Wrong so idk I’m conflicted.

In the politics of the world, I just don’t see how Katara being Fire Lady (ugh that’s a phrase that always makes me laugh, and not in a kind way), which is probs the most comon Zutara fic plot, would have Worked in any sense at all, and I definitely think she would have wanted to stay at he South Pole and rebuild her culture and bring bending back to them (as we see in the comics and obvs with her being Korra’s waterbending master iirc) and I can see Zuko wanting to help with that in whatever way possible because he rightly sees that as a really important part of the reparations owed by the Fire Nation. and obviously by the end of the series they were very good friends and definitely had better chemistry than fricking Kataang but yeah those reasons are basically why I don’t love Zutara but don’t necessarily hate it either

this was another ramble, not apologising for it this time because this is just what talking to me is like. I am very here for bringing back letter-writing because it lets me ramble to my heart’s content but also it would take up All My Time

[sometimesrosy]

Hello again. I was the anon who, having previously sent you critical messages, sent you that apology and the subsequent pledge to do better. It was not an idle promise. Obviously it's not your responsibility to educate or help the people who are hurting you on their journey of self-improvement (if they're truly on one at all? big if!), so I understand if you don't post this, but I wanted to at least share with you if it might be interesting. After doing some soul-searching, I think... 1/?

2/?... I think a big part of why I felt entitled to police your tone in responding to anons and other bits of discourse on your own damn blog (again, wrong of me), was because I didn't recognize your right to your boundaries and your space. And it wasn't, for me, a conscious decision not to; I realize that very rarely in fandom have I ever been confronted with anyone putting up personal boundaries. Sure, people have opinions and desires for their fandom experience, but they (and I) have... 2/?

3/?... they (and I) have tended to back those boundaries up with 'unassailable' reasons. Being LGBTQ, being POC, being a CSA- or domestic abuse-survivor... and it's become the mental shorthand that in order to have boundaries at all, one must justify them, which obv isn't true at all. One can have whatever boundaries one wants to. A space is your space even if you didn't 'earn' it (yikes past self, I'm seeing it now...). Combine THAT lack of understanding with a lack of understanding of... 3/?

4/?... a lack of understanding of my OWN boundaries... It's no wonder I've been moving through fandom on the erroneous view that all of fandom was an open space for me to bleat my opinions to. In my mind, formed as it was by using the Internet as my primary escape from a reality in which I had and still have very little of my own space and very little respect from my closest people for my OWN boundaries, yikes. I couldn't see your right to YOURS. I'm so sorry, again. And none of this is a... 4/?

5/?... none of this is a justification for how I wronged you. I wronged you, Rosy, and I'm sorry. Having my own issues does not excuse me for passing them along to others. I am an adult and I did not act like one. I was acting like the scared kid who can't take criticism or even a kind, firm word in the wrong tone... because that's who I am still inside. But that's not your responsibility, it's mine. It's time for me to grow up and try to be more than what happened to me when I was a kid... 5/6

6/6 So, again, I'm very sorry. I hope others who have hounded you also work on themselves and try to do better and be more respectful of your boundaries, the boundaries of others, and their own boundaries. And, sidenote, in case I get misconstrued, I am tacitly aware from some things you've said that you are an abuse survivor, Latinx, and (possibly? iirc) LGBTQ... so I didn't mean to imply otherwise earlier, though it's worth my repeating that boundaries require none of those as a prerequisite.

++

I’m actually really impressed with you. You’re doing some MAJOR self work and are very self aware. That’s HARD. You’re challenging your preconceived notions and facing the hard parts of your past and history and realizing when you are projecting onto other people. 

You’re also looking at fandom, a place that allowed you to avoid your own issues, and seeing the failures of fandom itself and how it supports these toxic mindsets.

And thank you for recognizing your own words enough to recognize the intersections that I have within the fandom discourse. You actually really know who I am and what I said. You listened. 

I don’t really have anything to add to your words in terms of understanding or philosophy because I think you did all the work, so I kinda just want to say thank you, and that I’m proud of you. I am impressed.

[mxtxconfessions]

I've seen a couple of people say Hua Cheng doesn't have a character outside/is too dependant on Xie Lian. And while I can understand where that opinion is coming from, I can't fully agree with it. Firstly we do get told that Hua Cheng spends (an unspecified ammount of) time away from Xie Lian, but we're not told exactly what he's doing. This is due to the story being written from Xie Lian's POV, which is limited to him and his surroundings, for he is not an all knowing being. (1/5?)

Second throught the story we see little sprinkles of what Hua Cheng might have been doing these 800 years - the gambilng house that is obv made by him, some residents of ghost town who had stories of Hua Cheng helping them (I think I remember the pig spirit saying smth along those lines), the treasures he's colected and so on. He does do things unrelated to Xie Lian. (2/5?)

The last and I think the biggest contributer to Hua Chengs "dependency" on Xie Lian though is, what I've dubbed the "one person is enough narrative." It's a fairly important narrative in the whole tgcf novel and is extremely obvious in both Xie Lian and Hua Cheng. With Xie Lian one person was enough to bring back his faith in humanity, letting him let go of his hatred after what happend to his country. (3/5?)

For Hua Cheng however, just one person beliving he's not the absolute bane of evil for being born on a certain day/showing him basic kindness, is enough to give him a will to exist. Xie Lian is quite literally the only reason Hua Cheng exists, so I would think that majorly ties into his character and subsequentially his "dependency" on Xie Lian. (4/5)

I'm not the best at literally analysis and you're ofc completely entitled to disagree with me and shape your own opinions. I hope this made at least a little bit of sense and if I interpreted smth wring due to cultrual differences please let me know. (5/5)