#will they get most the miraculous back this season but not the butterfly/peacock

[cloudshapedpatch]

so do you guys think season 5 is gonna be the last season of miraculous or no

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

So you've talked a few times about how Plagg and Tikki failed on a fundamental level as mentors, and how Fu wasn't even really a mentor at all, but I don't think I've seen you bring up Su-Han as of yet, and I'm curious to know where you fall on that particular character.

I personally feel he could've been useful for expository purposes, and/or served as a catalyst for Marinette's growth into the role of guardian/team leader (you know, if the show were interested in character growth, or suggesting it's protagonist isn't omni-capable), but instead he showed up in four episodes, caused several problems, raised more questions than he ultimately answered, and honestly makes me question why he was included in the first place.

The order of the guardians is back after 170+ years and the most lasting impact this has on the story is... they teach Jagged Stone Kung Fu? Were you on the writing team, how would you make effective use of this plot point (Or was it a bad idea to begin with?)

Su-Han is an incredibly weird character. I'm honestly not totally sure why he exists, but I'll give you my best guess and then we'll talk about how he could have been used because I do think that he had potential.

It feels like they only introduced the guardian temple back in season three because they wanted to explain how the peacock and butterfly got lost - even though their explanation just raises even more questions if you know anything about archology - then they realized, "Oh shit, we probably need to address the guardian's return somehow, don't we?"

But if they let a whole mystic order descend on Paris, then we don't really need our two heroes, so instead we get one rando who walked (or I guess jumped?) from Tibet to Paris in order to be the writer's whipping boy because that's really how Su-Han is used. He's not here to help or to be a mentor. He's here to voice audience complaints so that the writers can shut those complaints down with nonsense logic.

For example, this exchange from Ephemeral is what kicks off Marinette's awkward and concerning plan to lie to her partner about an identity reveal:

Su-Han: This really takes the cake! Ladybug: Grand Master Su-Han? Su-Han: Nine! You used nine Miraculous to defeat a single villain, when Cat Noir could have just used his Cataclysm! Ladybug: I had to. Cat Noir was missing! Su-Han: What do you mean "missing"? You can't just let the holder of the one of the most powerful Miraculous go about as he pleases! What if he started making his own decisions, or act it out? Like Shadow Moth?! Ladybug: Cat Noir? Act like Shadow Moth? Wow. Are you blowing this out of proportion just a little? Su-Han: Not at all. In fact, you should find out who Cat Noir really is, so you can have better control over him. Ladybug: What?? No way! We can't know our true identities! It would be too dangerous if Shadow Moth got a hold of one of us! Su-Han: I. Don't. Care!! Deal with this problem quickly, otherwise I will take back his Miraculous as soon as he shows a whisker! And I'll choose the new Cat Noir myself! Ladybug: Okay, okay, alright. What if you knew who he was, would that work? Su-Han: I... I suppose so. But I'm warning you, if you don't succeed— Ladybug: I get it. Cat Noir will be replaced.

Does Su-Han read like an Adrien salter to you? Because he does to me! He's presenting a valid argument in the most obnoxious and inflammatory way possible by making it about controlling Chat Noir instead of having the argument focus on the issue of, "Hey, maybe more than one person should know who has this extremely powerful miraculous just in case something bad happens to that one person?" An argument that holds more weight than he could possibly know because of the whole senti issue making Chat Noir a potential perfect sleeper agent.

And at the end of the episode, we get this exchange even though none of Su-Han's concerns have actually been addressed:

Su-Han: So, do you know who Cat Noir is yet? Ladybug: No. Su-Han: What? I thought I had warned you— Ladybug: I don't want to know. I've proven to you a hundred times that I'm a good guardian, and Cat Noir and I have proven to you a hundred times that we were exceptional superheroes, and you! How many times have you told us that we were messing up, when that was totally untrue? You're judging us based on your own fears, and not on our actions! Su-Han: (groans) You're right, little Ladybug. Perhaps I'm worrying over nothing. What's for sure is that one doesn't come across a guardian like you every century. (reaches out his fist) How do you say again? Ladybug and Su-Han: Pound it.

You can tell that the writers wanted Su-Han to be the bad guy here. That his pushing for an identity reveal was at fault and you - the audience - should feel bad if you ever agreed with him, but his base argument is never actually addressed. Marinette just says he needs to trust her and so he does for some reason? Remind me, which of these two is supposed to have years of experience and which of them has been a hero for less than a year and in that time has totally failed to even try to retrieve the miraculous that she's supposed to be recovering? Writers, please stop saying that Marinette is the best guardian ever when you don't let her do anything that feels all that special. I'm not saying that she's terrible, she's doing what was asked if her, I'm just concerned that this is considered way above average quality.

On top of that nonsense, there's also the problem that Marinette's counter argument would have worked right from the start, so her rushed deception plan doesn't feel like a true act of desperation like it was clearly supposed to be. Instead, it just makes her look like a horrible person even though that obviously wasn't the writer's intent. This is what always happens when they speed run these complex what-if or backstory episodes. It never works out like they clearly want it to.

Chat Blanc did it by making Adrien look bad for hiding his identity so that he could date Ladybug. Derision did it by making multiple characters look unhinged and/or evil. Ephemeral does it with the frankly baffling lie plan which is only there so we can have a proper identity reveal moment between the leads. That's literally why the episode is written like that, btw. They wanted to let Adrien confess his identity in a big romantic moment, so they forced a scenario where that would happen even though it makes Ladybug look terrible.

Anyway, back to Su-Han.

If Miraculous was allowed to have serious plot lines that spanned multiple episodes, then Su-Han could have been a great edition to the cast. Season four is a pretty big tonal shift for the show. Things start to feel a lot more serious in this season with the Ladynoir conflict and Marinette struggling to be the guardian. It also comes right after the season where we learned that Master Fu wasn't a true guardian. All of this is the perfect setup for a true mentor character who shows up to fix things and maybe even give out some new powers!

Imagine how much better this season would have been if it was about Su-Han helping Ladynoir! If he saw the conflict and stepped in to guide them through it. You could even have him be closer to Adrien than Marinette to balance Marinette and Fu's relationship.

For example, what if the guardians didn't have the wacky staff that tracks down miracle boxes but not miraculous because then Gabriel would be defeated too easily? What if Su-Han just shows up and Marinette doesn't trust him, but Adrien does? And so Su-Han helps Adrien the most while Marinette keeps Su-Han at arms length just like she does Adrien because that's what Fu taught her to do and Fu was wrong about everything! This could still lead to the season four ending, but instead of it being a nothing burger where season five continues all of the same problems, instead season five is where Marinette embraces Su-Han and really starts to understand what it means to be a guardian and a partner? Things Fu never taught her because he kind of sucked at his job.

That's just one way to make Su-Han work. A way that keeps canon intact up to the start of season five because, while I hate season four's writing and "conflict" resolution, I can admit that there was potential in the base idea. You could also scrap all of season four and rewrite everything to keep things more light hearted while still letting Su-Han be a total upgrade.

You could even go the exact opposite direction and set Su-Han up to be the next big bad! Why have sentimonster freedom be a conflict (even though it really wasn't) when you could make everything about Kwami freedom? It's a really natural progression to go from defeating Gabriel to fighting for... institutional changes(?) in how the miraculous work. Let Kwamis pick their holders and remove their bonds so that Gabriel never happen again!

I really do mean it when I say that this show is bursting with potential. I wouldn't be so enthralled by how bad it is if it didn't have potential to be amazing.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Say, recall that post on how Season1 to 3 could be done with the revised Butterfly? I realize one could get the same general plot beats out of season 4 with it & the 12 Kwami too... Well kinda.

Here's how I'd do it if I had to stick to some things bit not others XD

Season 3: As before, Kim was Tiger King & Chat Blanc was more like a prophecy. Also Gabriel steals the Miraculous that weren't being used, Mouse & Peacock.

Miracle Queen is slightly altered to show more sympathy for Chloe, either with her being an Akuma kid, so Gabriel forcibly Akumtizes her, or showing how unstable her head-space is.

Rather than declaring for Hawk Moth, Chloe just tries to run but its seen as an admission of guilt by the heroes who don't ear her out.

Season 4: Marinette & Adrien's whole arc is grappling with issues of trust, forgiveness, looking back and realizing mistakes sometimes in time other times too late & the increasingly crushing weight of their duties. Overall mostly the same-ish, the differences come from the villains and can be broken into 4 quarters.

Quarter 1: Truth & Lies is one episode, Gabriel has been subtly negging Kagami & having Lila through one means or another stoke paranoia in Luka. He uses Mullo to duplicate his Akuma & transforms them both at the same time, as well as giving them Familiars. He uses the Peaock to transmute their physical forms to make them more dangerous or hard to hit.

This nearly wins him the day, Marinette has to pull on most reserve heroes & uses a combo of Multi-Mouse & Trixx to protect her identity, which coincides with her having to reveal her identity to Alya to get the job done. The big reason he loses is the Kwami didn't tell him that while adults can use the powers more than once, they can still be hurt overdoing it, so Gabriel collapses from the strain & is pissed.

Stuck on more subtle methods for the next quarter he persists in trying to low key undermine Kagami, Chloe, harass the other temp heroes & uses Lila as his on the ground scout. She's living alone in a new apartment now with her mother thinking she's at a fancy boarding school & she's clearly... struggling, but doubling down thinking she can somehow 'win'.

The other big shift if Chloe's head-space is less pro Hawk Moth and more bitter cynic about the heroes. Sabrina notes she thinks 'something' happened on Miracle Queen Day but Chloe can't/wont talk about it.

Sole Queen happens here with her trying to be a good big sister, IE:

"Dressing and acting this way is expected, this is how we avoid mothers wrath, don't fall for fathers sad dog act give him an inch & he takes a mile. Our classmates have no sympathy for people who aren't doormats & if you want to resist Hawk Moth you have to be strong!"

The pressure she puts on Zoe is a microcosm of the pressure she's under & Zoe snaps. Then gets accepted by the class which Chloe has mixed vibes on at best. Their relationship persists a little longer n that Adrien & Chloe "I want this to work but not on your terms" and Chloe's "I want this to work but I need more from you than you give."

Quarter 2: Alya has been helping Marinette cover her identity, serving as substitute Ladybug and the "new" fox.

Lila continues stalking & sabotage. Chloe's head space continues to deteriorate, while others like Kagami also show issues they get sufficient support that it doesn't break them.

Queen Bananas is actually a major episode two one scene. When the movie is being discussed in class, Chloe is absent. It cuts to Gabriel's Manor where a very frazzled Chloe is being given a manipulative spiel about how "This movie is for you, to finally say your piece and have people hear you."

When she leaves she sees a similarly frazzled Lila being shooed away, "You are not meant to come here in daylight" and the two hair a brief stare off before looking away and pretending they didn't see the other. Besides that, when Gabriel sabotages 'her' movie and gives it to the class in secret, Chloe's breakdown reaches peak.

This is also where she realizes Gabriel is Hawk Moth intensifying her lashing out at Adrien, "Were you in on this!? Of course you don't understand you never listen!" and as Queen Banana she is extra unhinged. Still, nefore she transformed she was shown scribbling "Gabriel = Hawk Moth" on her arm.

Quarter 3: Lila has been stalking Alya and while nothing is confirmed, (To Gabriel) he does know she's still in Ladybug's confidence. Cue all that noise.

Alya almost gives in, but doesn't solely cos she knows Marinette's identity. IE, she would have gone Miracle Queen for her family too, but she had more reason to trust Ladybug.

Despite the win, this is where Alya has to publicly quit being Ladybug's ally because she's endangering her family.

& worse? The fox is missing.

Lila has it, but Hawk Moth doesn't know.

At the end of this quarter Gabriel is back to using all three Miraculous baby!

Penal Team is the culmination of Chloe's anger at the heroes, isolation from support & rejection by others all manifesting in a massive:

"You want a monster, I'll give you a monster like you've never seen!"

This also breaks between Chloe & Sabrina; potentially on purpose. The battle is hard and hectic & Ladybug has to call on many heroes to win & they ultimately end up in a stalemate.

Chloe's anger is to uncontrolled to articulate anything beyond vagaries abut being left exposed, how she thinks Hawk Moth will win, s just trying to survive, ETC. When looked back on it makes a major point but in the moment it gets a:

"This is why you were never fit to be a hero!"

Which ends up leaving her so depressed, along with the stalemate that she forcibly kicks Hawk Moth out of her head and just... Quits.

Lila comes to recruit her at the end of it but Chloe is looking at the broken glasses and smirking, stopping Lila in her tracks by asking if she wants a jib.

Quarter 4: Adrien is still being sent on some kind of tour, or Felix has some kind of prank (Seemingly) planned for the event. Either way Marinette needs to get in to see him for sentimental reasons like passing on a gift from class or to stop the "Prank" (the whole thing with the rings)

She is surprised that Jean seemed leery to add her to the staff when Zoe used her Chloe impersonation though. As well as confused there's another "new staffer" Its Chloe in a bird mask. Yet a confident, swaggering Chloe is also attending the party, whaaaat?

Yeah its Lila using Glamour and make up to pass as Chloe.

Meanwhile Chloe breaks into Gabriel's office, finds the secret entryway and basically holds reveling the truth or Emilie's life hostage in a very. "Yes I'll go down but I will take you down with me" way. Forcing Gabriel to surrender the Peacock "He used it least so he's likely to give it up" and swear to leave her loved one's alone.

He bitterly does so before Akumatizing himself to try and get it back.

Lila gets a message telling her to leave & that Chloe will be leaving Paris that night if she wants to come. Lila is unsure caught between escape or finding a way to do more than 'run and hide', but either trust Ladybug enough to jus tell her this stuff. So she gets caught & Gabriel realizes she had the Fox but she loses it.

The episode ends on a disguised Chloe getting a hotel room in London, having used the transmutation power to make gold.

The big finale is basically built around a major scheme of Gabriel's.

Like canon in that respect but also him offering Lila a "Chance at redemption". Which comes with incredible danger!

She manages to play her part well, in part by figuring out Ladybug's identity and does actually steal all her Miraculous, including Tikki.

Buuuut she doesn't trust Gabriel and when he does indeed turn on her she manages to slip away with Tikki & maybe one other.

She returns it to Marinette & gives her a brief summary of, "Hawk Moth is Gabriel, he messed with out heads, betrayed us, and was always going to throw us away, & I don't know what to do anymore."

Exactly what state she's in when its all over, or if its even her who makes the delivery or a Kwami she gave the Miraculous too, or if she stays in Paris are all unclear. The underlying theme is she got dragged in too deep and taken advantage of by a adult manipulator. & that she didn't think anyone would believe her or care once she knew how bad it was. So rather than trying to get out (As Choe did) she tried to turn the game on him and uuh, it didn't pan out.

This episode would also likely involve Adrien also discovering the truth about Gabriel & basically needing to run like hell, but he can't contact Ladybug about it in time.

Season ends on Marinette & Adrien revealing their identities as they resolve to continue the fight.

Chloe is shown watching Hawk Moth's dramatic "I will soon win!" proclamation with Doosoo insinuating she'll be making a comeback in Season 5.

Not sure what would happen there, but yeah. that's a general idea anyway XD

let! Chloé! Go! Feral!

[imthepunchlord]

Man, hearing about the season 1 days of miraculous makes remember when we first saw the leaks of the season and first the art for the pearls and stone, Alya with the fox (and how everyone called her Volpina), and Chloe with the bee. Man, those were days. I also remember how everyone was thinking Gabriel had the peacock and Emilie had the butterfly originally. I even remember when we first got that one image of Pixie Girl, and everyone thought she was a teenage Emilie with the butterfly miraculous that was going to appear in a flashback episode 😆. Ah, I miss those days.

Gosh so much is taking me back.

I remember expanded Square chaos. I remember there were theories of Ladybug and "Volpina"/Rena being rivals/antagonists to each other as a reversal of them being best friends + clearly Marinette wouldn't trust the new Fox (which I was never crazy about, especially as you typically didn't see that for Adrien and Nino, felt like turning girls against each other); and QB and LB were going be friendly. And there were speculated shenanigans for QB and RR, I think there was also a small rise of Chloya and the idea that maybe they'd have their own Square going.

Some I didn't see, like the theory that Pixie was teen Emilie, but I did see that she was planned for the NY Special, and there were the plans for the Shanghai Special.

I really did theorize that Marinette and Adrien were going to get their own exclusive Specials to be focused on, with Marinette in Shanghai and Adrien in NY and he for sure was going to work with Pixie.

Another theory I had was where Fu was going to become Marinette's mentor, Gabriel was going to be Adrien's, cause I did like the idea that he had the Peafowl, not Emilie. And I thought this concept art of Duusu was her being furious with Gabriel literally shutting her away.

And something was going to go down and this "Paon" was going to steal the Peafowl from Gabriel.

Or she already did and what Gabriel had was a fake.

And potentially that HM was who Gabriel and Emilie feared and that's why Adrien wasn't allowed out.

Those really were the days. The theories were so fun. And much of it I think was more interesting than what we got.

And it was a time of aus. I don't know how many aus are being done for ML these days, I think most are salt fics now, but that was the time to have fun, do different spins. Doing kwami swaps. Life swaps. Cowboy au.

You could get creative with akumas, like, I remember finding old fics that swapped Marientte with Bridgette and trapped her in a different reality/timeline, and I kinda wish the Paris Special did that. Off topic, but I feel the Paris Special should've gone full comedy and full reversal for characters. And that we actually got to see this different Paris.

Like, could you imagine Marinette and Emonette swapping places, either through akuma or Bunnyx, and Marinette's scrambling trying to figure out how to get back and how to keep going in this topsy turvy world where apparently Ladybug is a villain? "Hawk Moth" is a good guy? Wtf is Chat wearing? Wtf happened to Adrien.

And you got Emonette just needing shades cause this world is so bright and sunny and why do these people keep talking to her? Tf happened to Adrien, was he a poser this whole time? HM's a villain? But of course he's a bad villain just like he's a bad hero. And ooooh she's going to have so much fun with Chloe... and who tf is this Lila and what does she think she's doing picking a fight with Emonette. Oh, she's adding her to her list...

And you could add to it if kwamis were also kinda reversed.

Emonette stuck with canon Tikki trying to get her Marinette back, but also trying to rein in Emonette, try to be that voice of reason and her consciousness, and oh, she's dumping all of Chloe's things down the toilet... she's got her work cut out for her.

Meanwhile Special Tikki is more "pure luck" and is more chaotic and sporadic, she's not outright malicious, but she's just rolling with that neutralness of luck, it having good and bad and it comes down to karma and your own actions. She's just here to sit and watch the consequences play out. Emonette was kinda funny though she was predictable in her karma as her negative actions fed negative consequences. But man, this Marinette is freaking hilarious. Tikki is constantly eating popcorn, enjoying the show cause she never knows what she's going to get with this well meaning if all over the place Marinette.

[artzychic27]

Now we need the DC science kids creating their own resistance (behind the inferior resistance’s back) and making a plan to defeat Hawk moth. And I am 99% sure that Zoe becoming Vesperia was all a plan for Jean to get his hands in a miraculous and learn how to track the butterfly.

(Season 1)

Aurore: Alright! For two months, Hawkmoth has been plaguing Paris, and the so-called heroes haven't gotten anything done!

Cosette: Is it because they're a bunch of kids who don't know shit about magic jewelry?

Aurore: Yes.

Simon: And because some old guy with some shady origins entrusted two random teenagers with the world's most powerful Miraculous?

Aurore: Yes.

Reshma: And because those two teenagers happen to be our schoolmates? Both of whom have no experience with magic or superpowers?

Aurore: Yes.

Lacey: That was very irresponsible.

Denise: Exactly. We've had years to perfect our powers, they've had the Miraculous for, like Aurore said, two months. Dios, I sound old.

Jean: Look, we can easily take down Hawkmoth before they do. There are hundreds of Miraculous in the world, each tied to their own Miracle Box, and I'm certain there's one here, which is how Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Hawkmoth got their Miraculous. We just need to get close to Ladybug and Chat Noir and earn their trust so they'll loan us any spare Miraculous when they come across an Akuma in need of backup.

Aurore: Okay, you're making some sense, but how will this get us closer to finding the Butterfly Miraculous?

Jean: Oh, just a little augmentation spell. There are certain rules that come with like, overpowered Miraculous, preventing them from copying other powers and shit, blah blah blah, so, that's where I come in. A bit of magic on those, and we'll stop Hawkmoth once and for all.

Aurore: Perfect. And in order to get those Miraculous, we'll need to show Ladybug and Chat Noir that we are the right fits for them! It may take weeks, months, but once we gain their trust, then-

(Season 2)

Ismael: You have to be kidding me! She brought out the Fox, Bee, and the fucking Turtle, and gave them to Alya, Nino, and Chloé of all people?! What did they even do?! I threw myself in front of a bus!

Reshma: Easy, Ismael, relax... But, yeah, what did they do? But, Chloé revealed her identity. Marinette won't be choosing her again... Right?

Mireille: Of course not.

Marc: Unlikely.

Lacey: Never.

Ismael: Yeah, um... Quick question. What's the Lord of Darkness and Famine doing here? *Points to Nathaniel brooding in the dark corner of the classroom*

Nathaniel: I have a name.

Marc: Oh, it turns out Nathaniel also has powers... So, I let him in on our plan.

Nathaniel: Wait, did you say Marinette is Ladybug?... That actually makes sense.

Denise: Wait, go back. What powers do you have?

Nathaniel: A wide variety- Levitation, teleportation, summoning, I'm messing with possession, and entering a person's mindscape... I can't teleport unless I know where that place is, though.

Lacey: Fuck!

Aurore: Alright, he's in. The more hero kids, the better.

Nathaniel: Actually, my father is a demon who has enslaved hundreds of universes and devoured millions of souls, and only created me so that I may act as his portal, allowing him to enter this world and destroy all life on it.

DC Kids: ...

Simon: N-nice to have you on the team.

(Season 3)

Cosette: Okay... We are past five months, and that chick has handed out the Snake, Horse, Dragon, Rabbit, Mouse, and fucking Monkey Miraculous! All to her classmates and two possible crushes! Oh! And there's a Peacock lady!

Denise: It's like we're invisible! Did they not see me beat down Bakerix?!

Jean: Oh, and what about the power-ups?! I mean, come on!

Reshma: I swear, this is getting more annoying as the months go by. Nathaniel, I need to ask... What is up with your classmates? Wh-what are they doing to get the Miraculous?

Nathaniel: Mostly just standing around in the right place at the right time, I guess.

Ismael: Then, we will do just that...

(Season 4)

DC Kids: *Intensely staring at Zoé*

Zoé: ... Hi?

Aurore: ... You're here for a few weeks, and she immediately entrusts you with the Bee Miraculous... How?

Zoé: Wh-what are you-

Marc: We know you are Bruce Wayne's daughter and one of his Robins, we all have superpowers, now EXPLAIN HOW! *Zaps a hole through the wall with his laser eyes*

Zoé: Hey, cool it! Okay, she approached me. She plucked me up off the streets and was like, 'Here's a Miraculous, go beat up your sister.'

Lacey: Okay, that was a good Marinette impression. Maybe you can help us. We've been trying for months to get the Miraculous so Jean can do his magic and help us track down Shadow Moth. Think you can be of some assistance and, and I don't know- Get it through that girl's head that all of us have the makings of superheroes?!

Zoé: ... Yeah, sure. Whatever.

Ismael: Alright! We have got this in the bag!

(Season 5)

Ismael: WE ARE SO BONED!

Reshma: *Shuts the windows to avoid being spotted by Miraculized Parisians* I agree.

Simon: *Packing his belongings* I believe in these times, the protagonists must ask themselves, 'Is this worth it?'

Denise: Amor, no.

Simon: Exactly, it's not worth it.

Nathaniel: I think they mean, fuck the Miraculous, we have superpowers, let's just fuck this guy up.

Ismael: Big talk coming from you, CapriKid.

Nathaniel: Sorry I couldn't get to you guys in time. I didn't know she was gonna immediately flag me down. What'd you want me to do? Run?

Aurore: I mean...

Nathaniel: Oh, come on.

Jean: Hey, Nath's right, we have powers that don't have time limits, and Zoé has training from the world's greatest detective!

Mireille: You know, I think you're onto something, Jean.

Nathaniel: Yeah, it's definitely better than the God-awful Resistance plan my classmates have been doing.

DC Kids: ...

Zoé: We'll circle back to that. DC Kids, GO!

*During Lady Noire's battle with Monarch*

Monarch: Surrender now, Ladybug, for I-

Cosette: TASER PUNCH! *Punches Monarch with their electrified fist* YEAH! We finally found you, bitch!

*The DC Kids appear in Monarch's lair wearing outfits inspired by their parents and pose dramatically*

Simon: And we only had to break into like seven homes, but who's gonna care? Everyone in the world is a mindless drone!

Lady Noire: What- How did you-

Aurore: Shut up! J-just shut up! We've had it up to here with you fuckers! WAY UP!

Nathaniel: Azarath Metrion Zinthos! *Create a black force field around the Agreste Manor* No one's getting in or out, even with the Horse Miraculous.

Lady Noire: Nathaniel?!

Denise: Ah, quit acting surprised. *Knocks Monarch out with another punch before tying him up with the lasso of truth* Now tell us your damn name, you dick!

Mireille: Tell us before I make your eardrums explode, you dumb fuck.

Monarch: M-my name is Gabriel Agreste!

DC Kids: ...

Marc: Wow, who expected that?

Denise: Who else is working with you?!

Monarch: Nathalie Sanceour was for a brief moment, but she is no longer in the picture. Tomoe Tsurigi and I collaborated on the Alliance Rings to ensure total world domination, and Félix was the one who gave me all of the Miraculous in exchange for his Amok.

Denise: And how the hell did Félix get the Miraculous? *Lady Noire backs away*

Ismael: *Zaps the floor next to Lady Noire with his laser eyes* Don't even think about it.

Monarch: Ladybug gave him the Dog Miraculous, which he used to bring them to me!

*The DC Kids all eerily and simultaneously turn their heads toward Lady Noire*

Marc: You... CLORBAG VARBLERNEK!

Jean: Yeah! What he said!

Reshma: I cannot believe what I am hearing!

Lady Noire: I-I thought he was Adrien!

Zoé: Not a valid excuse! What happened to Miss Hound?! Huh?!

Monarch: Lila Rossi is also working for me!

Cosette: Bitch, we know that.

[familyagrestefanblog]

I don't think I will ever get over the fact that Adrinette's Disney Sleeping Beauty romance was in actuality an adaptation of the Maleficent remake where the prince is basically useless and Maleficent saves and wakes Aurora up by the power of parental love herself (although, A+ subversion. I didn't see that one coming lol)

Marinette did not save Adrien. She never did. All she did was giving Gabriel the motivation to use the wish for Adrien for which Gabriel had to trick and betray Marinette and straight up win, and during the wish process GABRIEL made the decision to take of the rings and leave them with Marinette instead of just making it a part of the wish that Adrien gets them immediately, Nathalie, Emilie/Amilie or for Adrien to not be a Sentihuman at all anymore.

Gabriel was the one who brought the peacock miraculous into their lives which put enslavement device into Adrien's existence and he also chose to not remove it.

Gabriel merely was the one who decided to let Adrien go. Marinette didn't do any saving here. Unless you wanna tell me that her not withholding Adrien's amoks from him and abusing and controlling him through them herself somehow counts as "saving him".

All Marinette did was kissing Adrien awake after Gabriel already saved him and brought him back into a save home. Gabriel basically did all the work but let Marinette have the credit. That's it.

I don't know what you want to hear but in my opinion Marinette and feminism deserve more than demanding worshipping for gender subversion when Marinette basically didn't do any actual saving in these 5 seasons and therefore everything amouts to lip-service.

Sorry that I don't think lip-service is enough, your low standards are your problem. I'm gonna watch the next 3 seasons to hopefully see Marinette actually be allowed to save Adrien (and the other Sentihumans and Kwamis) from their magical enslavement, same as I'm not going to celebrate Marinette as the sole savior and most amazing hero of all time based of the lip-service lie of her having defeated Monarque when she in fact fucking lost and Gabriel got his wish but decided to play nice enough for now.

I'm woman enough to request that my female empowerment characters actually win and do the deed to be celebrated for it. The villain doing the heros work like this isn't a win for the hero, it's plain stupid luck.

I always wanted to call Marinette Adrien's savior and the greatest heroine ever too but for that she actually has to do it and not being given it by the villain based on lies.

Marinette has the potential to be called those two things and that's what I hope will happen by the end of the last 3 seasons. Marinette actually defeating Lila as the new butterfly villain and saving not only her prince from enslavement but the Kwamis and other Sentihumans/ Sentibeings too.

Doing more than glorifying lip-service shouldn't be too much to ask for right?

[theytistic]

Considering the series, what you would change do make the series better? You can do anything, except changing the powers, like you doing.

A very interesting game, but quite vague, even with the restriction of not being able to change powers, so here are my rules:

I can't use any reference media than canon;

I can't advance (future season eps in early seasons) events, only delay (early season eps in future seasons). Remembering that if it's something that would have happened if another character had caused it before canon, I can anticipate it, like if the character is smarter or more defiant, it would already count;

If I change miraculous, I can only do it with characters who have already been ported in the series, and I can only use characters available in each season.

Let's start the fun:

Starting with the main change, the delay in the villain's appearance, Master Fu discovered that the butterfly miraculous was for evil and went after the carriers, the same scheme, but he didn't deliver the miraculous right away, because Wayzz said that Nooroo's energy was too weak to say that it would be active so soon.

Meanwhile, Nathalie planned to betray Gabriel because she thought Adrien deserved his father's attention more than getting his mother back, but her goal was still to get Emilie back because she was in love with Gabriel; during this week without a villain, Nathalie would have resigned, forcing Gabriel to look for another secretary, and in the meantime she would have devised a plan to steal the Wonderful and the Wondrous Book, and so in the middle of the night, by switching off the cameras to make it look like a blackout, she stole the book, the peacock and the butterfly, leaving a copy for everyone.

As Master Fu had a week to find his bearers, he ended up finding three ideal bearers: Kim, Max and Alix, and knowing the villain's delay, he decided to give them the strongest miraculous ones to get used to, being Ladybug (more because it was obligatory), Rooster and Dragon, leaving them in their backpacks. However, as Kim is forgetful, he ended up losing the dragon's jewel without realizing it, and Chloe ended up finding it.

With this we would have Bettlix, Phoenix and Royal Scales, in the first week, Max would be the most excited of the three, because he wanted to discover the limit of his powers, Alix would be indifferent, because he hasn't met his colleagues yet and the villain hasn't even appeared, Chloe would only want fame and attention, but wouldn't tell anyone.

Simple sketch to show them, I tried to follow the canon rules on designs, and I used a single color and didn't make a whole lineart, because it was just an idea and more practical. Even though Chloe isn't wearing a mask, her identity is protected by magic, her hair is red, and her eyes are brown (so even if she wanted to, it would be difficult to find out).

That's it for now, if you want to know more you can ask, I doubt this will become an AU, at least illustrated, since it's my plan for the DE.

[wondermadeleine]

Thoughts on the Miraculous movie:

I'll go into details and spoilers under the cut but here's the meat of it:

Too many songs that weren't even that good

The dialogues often felt forced and empty

The animation was so pretty, like???? Their hair? All the time? So cool

We get it, the power of love and listening to your heart, you don't have to say it in every scene

Lots of changes compared to the show, some of them were great and it could have been even better BUT:

It was so fucking rushed wtf? Which kind of explains my second point

THEY ROBBED US OF THE TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCES

In conclusion:

I consider this movie as an alternative universe, a "what could have happened" simply because it derives from the TV show canon so much

I also would have enjoyed it a lot more if it weren't for the songs, they really ruined it for me

Spoilers ahead, I'm gonna tell you the WHOLE plot, you have been warned

The songs

Like... Why would they do that? Were they trying to give it a Disney movie vibe? Because it sure felt like it. Marinette/Ladybug felt very Frozen-inspired, and Hawk Moth's song (yes, Gabriel has a song, several in fact) was very Dr Facilier/Rasputin

And the songs themselves were just... Not Good. There were too many and they were so cheesy. We were maybe 20 in the room, most of us adults, and let me tell you after the first few songs the general reaction to a new one were groans. I ended up saying "please don't sing, please don't sing" several times during the movie but of course my prayers were never answered. And I usually love musicals

Cut out all of the songs, they have 0 emotional impact anyway, replace them with some dialogue and more interactions between the characters to make their relationships feel less rushed and it could have been a really good movie

The plot

We basically get a speedrun of 5 seasons in 1h40min: Marinette and Adrien get their miraculous, learn how to super-hero, we get a time skip with lots of fights against akumatized people, Hawk Moth loses his mind because of "the butterfly" (don't ask me, I don't get it either) and because he can't get LB and CN's miraculouses, so he akumatizes himself, which somehow makes him super powerful and he destroys Paris, manages to get Ladybug's miraculous and right as he's about to get Chat Noir's, he realises that that's his son under the mask and.... purifies? himself? because The Power of Love. So everyone learns who Hawk Moth is but they don't seem to realize who Chat is? That's unclear to me. They definitely don't know about Ladybug though, since the "last" scene of the movie is Marinette telling Adrien who she is and this surprises him somehow, even though Marinette de-transformed and re-transformed in front of everyone during the fight against Hawk Moth, but okay

In the background we of course get the love square, which doesn't stay as "CN/Adrien → LB LB/Marinette → Adrien" very long:

Chat Noir and Ladybug sing a whole ass duet together when he tries to confess but at the end she says no and then we're supposed to believe that she's torn between Adrien and Chat Noir all of a sudden. Marinette then tries to invite Adrien to a ball and he refuses (since he just got rejected by the girl he likes) so they're both dejected and heartbroken. But after the boss battle, as I said, Marinette reveals herself to Adrien and they kiss

Have I mentioned that this movie is 1h40min long?

HOWEVER. The scene cuts to Nathalie going into the basement where Emilie's body is because Gabriel asked her to, and we see that Emilie is wearing the peacock miraculous

So, I guess they're teasing a sequel? But Master Fu got the butterfly miraculous back so idk what they'll do and idk if I'll want to watch it if it's another musical

Also, about Hawk Moth/Gabriel: they tried to explain why he wants to destroy Paris by saying that the butterfly miraculous is evil and corrupts your mind the more you use it but... I don't buy it. I just don't. I'd rather have a Gabriel that is so hurt by the death of his wife that he's willing to hurt people of his own free will because he loves her that much and would do anything to bring her back than whatever the hell it is they tried to do here. It could have worked if I hadn't watched the show I think, but since I have...

[flightfoot]

I present a conundrum: Would Adrien have been better off if Gabriel never found the butterfly miraculous and was unable to become Hawkmoth ? OR would he be better off as things are with his father terrorizing Paris every other day?

At first glance, it might seem the former is the best option. But the senti storyline and the twin rings ruin that. Even if Gabriel never became Hawkmoth and was forced to accept his wife’s death, he’d still have the ability to control Adrien. Since Adrien is all he has left of Emilie and he tends to view his family as possessions, he’d probably double down on the control aspect and use the rings the moment Adrien attempts to stray from the path he’s chosen for him. He’d likely control his marital future (with Kagami) as well as his career path. Nathalie could subvert this, but it took A LOT to get her to come around in canon. Without his failures as Hawkmoth and his obsession with the miraculous, she might excuse these transgressions because it’s for “Adrien’s own good.”

No one could save Adrien- not even himself-because Master Fu would never have a need to designate a Ladybug or a Chat Noir. Adrien may not even be able to go to school considering that his father will not be as distracted with his magical terrorism. Which means he has much more time to be hypercritical and shape his son’s life into exactly what he wants it to be and Adrien would be ignorant all the while.

So terrorist Gabriel might have actually worked out for Adrien in the end. He inadvertently put Marinette on course to go head to head with him for Adrien’s sake and he inadvertently gave Adrien a sword in the fight. He attracted a lot of attention as Hawkmoth, Felix’s too, so that Adrien isn’t on an island onto himself. He made Nathalie angry enough to abandon his cause and root for Adrien. And he’s distracted enough so that Adrien can maintain some freedoms.

You can also argue that, without the butterfly miraculous, Gabriel never would have become corrupt enough to use the twin rings against Adrien in the first place. That he would have processed Emilie’s death normally eventually and allow Adrien more freedom.

That’s a stretch imo. I think Gabriel had the psychopathic capacity to use the rings since season 1, regardless of the butterfly miraculous. And with time, with or without it, he’d likely use them eventually. If anything, I think he might be more insidious without the butterfly. He’d no longer be confident that he could rewrite everything so he’d burn less bridges and avoid the nuclear approach. Which means he’d turn the manipulation up to 100 and use his “good father” act more. But his love and respect for Adrien’s agency would likely be very conditional based on how well Adrien is playing his designated role.

But I could be wrong. Do you think no butterfly might result in a reformed/better Gabriel?

That... is a very good question. Assuming that he wouldn't just use the Peacock to try to get the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses, brokenness be-damned, and genuinely accepted that there was no way to bring Emilie back and he was stuck in this reality... yeah I can see him doubling down on controlling Adrien. Generally speaking, people like to control whatever they are able to in fraught times, and with people as geared towards control as Gabriel, that goes doubly so. Yeah I can see him becoming even more controlling of Adrien than he is already, and maybe lashing out more at him as well, since he doesn't really have an outlet, though Nathalie may be able to help mitigate that. Adrien wouldn't have a neglectful father then, but more what he has now, which is arguably worse, though I'm not totally sure what Gabriel's end goal would be, beyond micro-managing Adrien's life.

With him not getting a chance to see peers aside from Kagami, and most importantly, never meeting Marinette or Plagg... yeah he may well have it worse.

[itskyliedarkplaz]

Miraculous season 5 finally

Please don't tell me I am the only one who thought the season 5 finally of MLB was really bad.

The only thing that can be good are the true transformation of Tikki and plag and Gimmi.

But above everything else do you know what pisses me off the most?

it's not how Gabriel got away with everything and got deemed as a hero nor is it how Lila (since that is the name we know of her) got the butterfly miraculous without having any equipment and going unnoticed by ladybug. All of these piss me off very very much.

But, what I don't get is why was Chat Noir not also a part of the final battle? HE IS ALSO ONE OF THE PROTAGONIST. HE DESERVES TO KNOW WHAT HIS FATHER DID. Werent ladybug and cat noir like dying and yang. Both should be treated equally. But only ladybug is getting to everything and shouldn't ladybug also tell who was monarh and what the hell happened to him? Adrien is also a good hero, he and lady bug are a team. What were the writers thinking? We have since them battle together since the beginning. Gabrielle should have gotten the consequences of his action. He should have gotten the hate from Adrien, he should have been seen as a monster by the society. He should have gotten away with and deemed as some hero WHICH HE WAS CLEARLY NOT FROM THE BEGINNING. In one of the episodes when Gabriel goes back in time in season 5. He had a chance to give himself the key to fixing the peacock miraculous but does he do that. OH HELL NO.

No one would have expected this ending, and it is not said in a good way

THIS ENDING SUCKED. And the ending of Garielle's so-called five-second redemption arc does not make it good either. For all I see he is just a way he escaped all his problem got away scot free and was deemed as a hero!

WHY DID LADYBUG SAY SHE THAT GABRIELLE HELPED HER DEFEAT MONARCH?? HE WAS SHITTY AND HE ABUSED ADRIEND, SENT HIM TO LONDON AWAY FROM ALL THE ONE HE LOVED. And you know what the worst thing is?

He got what he wanted.

Anyways that's my rant, I lost my sanity today because of it, if you want to remain sane do not watch the season 5 final. This was a rant for the people who lost their sanity like me this. Welcome to the what-a-shitty-ending club(If you think so)

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Evolution

Well, here we are again. Season 5, originally meant to be the last season of the show before the network decided to pull a Kim Possible and give it two more seasons. Although to be fair, this season will mark the end of an era, as Astruc won't be as involved in future seasons. Either way, this season has a lot to live up to, mainly the fact that it has to actually wrap up the plot after spinning its wheels for the past six years.

But for those who have just discovered my blog (in that case, welcome, stranger), or haven't caught up on the show yet, allow me to provide a brief recap of the fourth season. After being made Guardian thanks to Master Fu's incompetence, Marinette reveals her identity as Ladybug to Alya in order to have help dealing with the stress of her new responsibilities, eventually giving her the Fox Miraculous full-time. Of course, Cat Noir isn't happy that Ladybug is starting to rely on other heroes for help, and whines about it for the entire season because he's an idiot. On the villain front, Gabriel begins to use the newly repaired Peacock Miraculous with the Butterfly Miraculous, adopting the new alias Shadowmoth. Aside from the introductions of new heroes and a few minor identity reveals across the season, not much really happens until the season finale. After revealing she's working undercover when she supposedly stopped being a superhero to Nino, Alya loses her Miraculous because she's an idiot. Felix, Adrien's cousin and walking middle finger to anyone who was interested in one of the show's earlier drafts, manages to trick Ladybug into giving him the Dog Miraculous, which he uses to steal her yo-yo with a connection to where she stores her other Miraculous, but decides to trade all fifteen Miraculous to Gabriel in exchange for the Peacock Miraculous (which he may or may not be an artificial creation of) instead of beating his uncle up himself because he's an idiot. After nabbing all the Miraculous from Ladybug's yo-yo, Gabriel acts like this was his plan the entire time, even though he just lost again, because he's an idiot. And even though Ladybug was literally under the influence of an Akuma that made her take more risks, she gets blamed for everything going wrong because the writers want us to believe she's an idiot. The season ended on a cliffhanger where Cat Noir decided to actually help Ladybug without complaining because he actually has to do his job now.

So now that we're caught up, let's get into the first (chronologically the first) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Evolution

We start off right where the previous season ended, with Ladybug and Cat Noir staring down an illusion created by Hawkmoth, now calling himself Monarch. Not even the civilians really fear him anymore, as they just boo him while still supporting Ladybug, even though she's supposedly the reason why Monarch is like this in the first place. Sure, we could have had the public start to turn on Ladybug while she desperately tries to stop Monarch to signify how dire the situation is, but that would actually imply the writers know how to write serious story arcs.

Ladybug and Cat Noir easily get rid of the illusion and reaffirm their trust in each other.

Aw, isn't that sweet? Cat Noir spent most of the last season complaining about the other temp heroes, and now Ladybug has literally no other choice but to rely on him now. This really is one of the best superhero teams of all time.

We cut to Gabriel, wearing all the Miraculous (which are all now gray to remind the audience that he's evil), doing what he does best, monologuing to his wife's comatose body about how he stole most of the Miraculous from Ladybug, neglecting to bring up that Felix did most of the work for him. What's really weird about this scene is how it goes back and forth between Gabriel and the two heroes. When Gabriel says his victory is almost complete, Ladybug tells the public that Monarch's victory will never be complete. When Gabriel orders a concerned Sass to stay silent, Cat Noir tells the public not to be silenced. When Ladybug says that they won't be prisoners of Monarch, Gabriel makes it clear that the Kwamis are in fact, his prisoners/slaves. Is this meant to be funny? Is this meant to set up the conflict of this season? The tone is very vague here.

For once, Gabriel decides to do the obvious and use the Rabbit Miraculous to try and travel through time first, giving us a good look at his new form.

Monarch's design is... his design is... Oh my fucking God... It really looks like the animators have some kind of bet for who can make the worst unification design going on. The purple skin looks ridiculous, the vest has a really weird design, and I don't get why the Rabbit Miraculous' umbrella the and Turtle Miraculous' shield are purple while the other Miraculous are the same colors as when they're used by their normal wielders. I just... I just can't even begin to describe how utterly atrocious this form looks. And this is supposed to be the most menacing form Gabriel has taken to date! I had all kinds of jokes written as soon as I got a glimpse of this design, but wasn't sure which ones to go with. So I decided to put down all of them. Enjoy!

He looks like a fusion of Joe Biden and Grimace.

I've seen better designs from video game character creators... which were intentionally made to look ridiculous as a joke.

So are you supposed to be a supervillain or a cartoon character meant to teach kids about colors?

This is exactly why Pretty Patties didn't last too long.

Ivan Ooze called, he wants his look back.

So I take it you're a Poison-type Gym Leader?

Tonight, the role of Gabriel Agreste will be played by Henry the Octopus.

How did Gabriel even get his hands on some of Kaos' Petrified Darkness?

I think Gabriel heard about how cool Mayura looked, so he thought changing his skin color would help his new design. It really didn't help at all.

We've heard of Ursula's crazy sister, but how about Ursula's crazy brother?

Gabriel's Lotor cosplay could really use some work.

“Fun isn't something one considers when trying to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous, but this does put a smile on my face.”

Is this a character from that Rainbow High show I've heard so much about?

“What the hell is that?” “Well it ain't a well designed character model!”

I'm pretty sure even the Ginyu Force has better fashion sense.

This is a weird sequel to Home.

Gabriel didn't take his rejection from the Abomination Coven well.

You know, when I started watching Star Trek: Prodigy, I was curious to learn just what Dal's species was like. I really should have been more specific there.

So would this be considered blackface among Sinestro's people?

Man, Ebon really let himself go since Static Shock ended.

🎵I love you, you love me, how did this get on TV?🎵

Oh hey, here's something Monarch and my dad's Captain America costume have in common: The masks are both made of duct tape.

I'm starting to think the consequences for using multiple Miraculous at once are just really poor-looking suits.

See, this is what happens when you eat stuff without Willy Wonka's permission.

“Uh, Pim? What the... uh.. what the hell are you doing?” “Don't worry, Charlie. All I have to do is get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous, and our latest client will have a big smile on his face!”

Man, has Gabriel really gotten this many bruises from all the losses he's had?

I remember when the suit designs for Kamen Rider Revice were first revealed, I thought the color scheme looked ridiculous, but I slowly warmed up to it. I don't think that's going to apply to Monarch's design here.

Gabriel, your new form, woof!

I didn't know Gabriel was really a Moonshadow Elf. It certainly explains his poor impression of a human.

Who wore it better: Gabriel, or Percy in that one episode of Thomas the Tank Engine where his face was covered in jam?

Man, I know people have problems with Lightyear's animation, but I didn't know their version of Evil Emperor Zurg looked this bad.

You know, some historians say that the reason Gothic churches like the Notre Dame Cathedral had stained glass windows was to emphasize the beauty of these places and to teach the illiterate about stories from the Bible. What kind of message is Gabriel is trying to get across with the stained glass pattern on his vest?

Feel free to pick your favorites from this list, or even make your own. Although, let's be honest here. The fact that Gabriel thought he would look badass in this form is funnier than anything else we could come up with.

Just as Ladybug starts to tell Cat Noir about how she lost the other Miraculous, Monarch conveniently stumbles through a time portal, with another version of her and Cat Noir in tow, the latter unified with another Miraculous. Bunnix, the wielder of the Rabbit Miraculous in the future, AKA, Marinette's friend, Alix, comes to warn the present day Ladybug and Cat Noir about Monarch planning to screw up the timeline more than the average episode of Kamen Rider Zi-O. Seriously, Monarch didn't even think about being subtle and just barged into the events of Season 1's “Lady Wifi” where the titular Akuma had Ladybug at her mercy. He didn't even think to use the Fox Miraculous to disguise himself as someone who could have tricked Ladybug into a false sense of security. For a butterfly-themed villain, Monarch really doesn't get the idea of the Butterfly Effect. As for the how the present day Ladybug and Hawkmoth factor into this? Don't worry, the writers didn't care enough to add that in, not even a throwaway line expressing their confusion.

Having the power of time travel on their side, Bunnix obviously takes Ladybug and Cat Noir back to where Felix was about to steal Ladybug's yo-yo and make sure Gabriel never gets the Miraculous—I mean, she takes them to stop Monarch from stealing back Ladybug's Miraculous instead. Ladybug ties up Monarch with her yo-yo, and the three heroes take back every Miraculous in Monarch's possession—I mean, they just explain how Bunnix's powers work and say they're going to take back their Miraculous... which gives Monarch the opportunity to unify with the Bee, Fox, and Turtle Miraculous so he can escape, distract the heroes with an army of Mirage copies, stun Bunnix with Venom and trap her in a Shelter. Cat Noir uses his Cataclysm to break through the barrier while Ladybug ties up Monarch again, but Monarch uses the Dragon Miraculous' Wind Dragon power to escape again.

This scene is supposed to convey how powerful Monarch is with seventeen Miraculous, but when the heroes had a lot of chances to undo all of this with time travel and nab all the Miraculous obviously on display on Monarch's jacket, it makes them look more inept than anything else. I can't believe I have to use this clip again, but...

Seeing how Future Alix isn't able to travel through time on account of having an unhealthy amount of magical neurotoxin flowing through her bloodstream at the moment, Cat Noir takes the other Rabbit Miraculous that Monarch failed to steal for some reason and offers it to Ladybug.

I'm... very mixed on this scene. On the one hand, as much as I hated Ladybug being forced to admit she screwed up through no fault of her own, I do like the idea of her actually trusting Cat Noir with something as big as this. This, as well as their partnership in general this episode, is a sign the two are far more in sync and bickering less than last season. On the other hand, it's pretty out of left field for Ladybug to trust Cat Noir with the Rabbit Miraculous when she herself was shown to use it no problem last season. Out of the three times Cat Noir has used other Miraculous (Reflekdoll, Desperada, Miracle Queen), he was only able to use it right one time, and that was a unification. 

Yes, Snake Noir was able to turn the tide of the battle in “Miracle Queen”, but it wasn't really this triumphant moment of the pinnacle of a character arc for him. Because there was so much focus on the conflict with Hawkmoth and Miracle Queen as a whole, it just kind of... happened, and didn't really get acknowledged much. It's kind of weird how the first step Ladybug is taking to trusting Cat Noir with more responsibilities is to trust Cat Noir with the most dangerous individual Miraculous during a tense situation when she could have easily used it herself. It's a weird time to give him a new power like this when she could unify with the Rabbit herself, and after the conflict ends, then she could start to train Cat Noir to use other Miraculous like the Rabbit.

As for Rabbit Noir, Cat Noir's new form unifying with the Rabbit Miraculous... THANK GOD WE HAVE A UNIFICATION DESIGN THAT DOESN'T SUCK! It's simple, but it honestly looks amazing. The neon blue lights along Cat Noir's suit go perfectly with it, and it evokes a futuristic aesthetic, and those, along with the rabbit ears and cottontail, don't feel as intrusive as other unification designs which try to blend two hero suits together. This is what most of the unifications should be like: simple aesthetic changes that don't compromise the design of the suit while still reminding the audience that another Miraculous' power is being used. In general, Rabbit Noir does a good job with these powers and understands the severity of the situation, taking the conflict with Monarch very seriously. He's honestly the highlight of the episode for me.

Rabbit Noir uses Burrow to follow Monarch to the events of the Season 2 episode, “Riposte”, specifically, the scene where Cat Noir is helplessly watching Ladybug duel the titular Akuma. Monarch's plans to ambush the past Cat Noir are thwarted by the writers FINALLY remembering the danger that comes with using multiple Miraculous, giving the present day Ladybug and Rabbit Noir the chance to catch up. And once again, the present day Ladybug, Cat Noir, Riposte, and Hawkmoth are too oblivious to what's going on when he's right behind them. Monarch attempts to head to the events of “Heroes' Day” and ambush Ladybug and Cat Noir when they try to recover after escaping from the Scarlet Army, but the present day Ladybug and Rabbit Noir knock him out and through the events of “Animan” where Alya and Nino are kissing, and the two lovebirds can't even hear all the commotion going on behind them. Back at the events of the first act of this episode, Ladybug and Cat Noir notice the chase from earlier was actually the chase they were about to take part in.

Monarch travels to an unknown time, and even though he's visibly exhausted, Ladybug and Rabbit Noir once again fail to think beating the crap out of him right then and there is a viable option, thinking that if they tell him to return the Miraculous, he'll just listen. Monarch unifies with the Dog Miraculous in an attempt to tag the Rabbit Miraculous he has with the ball, intending to use Fetch if they ever get it, but because he's currently using seven Miraculous at the same time, his body starts to collapse.

HOW THE HELL DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT?! You were literally told about the dangers of using multiple Miraculous all the way back in “Kwamibuster”! Did the writers seriously forget that happened, and that this kind of negative reaction is a brand-new rule they just made up?!

Okay, whatever. Monarch is clearly unconscious, he's exhausted from the long chase through time, and his body is probably a wreck after using seven Miraculous, so the other Miraculous are ripe for the taking... How do they screw it up now? Well, my dear reader, rather than take the chance to steal as many Miraculous as possible, they only get back the Rabbit until they're distracted by the past versions of Master Fu and Marianne being targeted by the vague Nazi-esque military, revealing that they're currently in the prologue of “Backwarder”, so Monarch has the chance to use Fetch to get the Rabbit Miraculous back and escape.

Okay, I gave Ladybug flak for blaming herself during the Season 4 when nobody could have predicted Felix's plan, but this entire episode has been nothing but her and Cat Noir screwing up and failing to take back the Miraculous Monarch is wearing when he's gotten weaker and weaker. They're clearly trying to establish how powerful he is, but he's only getting this far because the plot is forcing Ladybug to not do the simple thing and take back the damn Miraculous. Hell, Cat Noir points out the obvious fact that even if he can use Fetch to get back the Rabbit Miraculous, Monarch will eventually detransform, yet this episode still insists that this buffoon I spent two pages making jokes about is untouchable right now.

Ladybug finally wises up and uses her Lucky Charm and gets a box meant to contain a single Miraculous in. This was the same Lucky Charm that Ladybug got during “Heroes' Day”, with the plan being to peacefully get Hawkmoth's Miraculous back. While thinking about what she can do, Ladybug's vision centers on the Miracle Box the past version of Master Fu has, and gets an idea.

Meanwhile, Monarch accidentally travels to the events of “Reverser”, right after Ladybug and Cat Noir took a taxi to the Eiffel Tower while under the effects of the titular Akuma. Of course, even though the taxi driver sees Monarch in his mirror, he just ignores him. Monarch tries to attack them, but is forced to retreat, with Sass revealing that because none of the Kwamis have gotten food through the Monarch's use of their powers, so Gabriel is forced to travel to right before he started his little mission through time by walking up to Nathalie, who was on the phone with him while still on the Startrain with Lila and Felix, demanding she give him food for the Kwamis. Yeah, that's the reason why Gabriel is having a hard time, because the writers really forgot the rule they established in “Kwamibuster”.

Ladybug and Rabbit Noir walk up to the past version of Master Fu right after he and Marianne went their separate ways and explains what happened, saying she needs to borrow a Miraculous. Even though the whole point of “Backwarder”'s opening was to show how paranoid he was to use the Miraculous in such a dire situation, Master Fu just goes along with this and lets her have the Dog Miraculous on the condition that she return it to him so the timeline doesn't get more screwed up than it already is.

Okay, so... doesn't this mean that Ladybug and Cat Noir don't have to worry about not having any other Miraculous now? Yeah, they still need to get back the Miraculous from Monarch, but if the timeline wasn't bashed over the head after introducing themselves to Master Fu before they actually meet him in their time, and he's completely fine with letting them borrow some of the Miraculous, why the hell can't they just do that now? If they need the help of someone like Carapace or Vesperia, all either of them has to do now is use the Rabbit Miraculous, travel back to a period in time where Master Fu wasn't busy, ask for a Miraculous, get back to the present, beat whatever threat they're facing with the help of said Miraculous, travel back to the past and give Master Fu back the Miraculous, all while history mostly remains intact. If the original temp hero system where Ladybug had to haul ass to get a Miraculous from Master Fu worked before the Season 3 finale, why can't they just go back to doing that again, but with time travel? You could even argue that it's more efficient this way because they can travel back and forth from the Akuma fight to wherever they decide to get Master Fu's help. It's honestly unbelievable. The entire premise of this season is that Ladybug and Cat Noir are fighting an uphill battle since they don't have any of the temp heroes on their side, and how is the first episode of Season 5 going to be resolved? By using another temp hero for help. Seriously. The writers really didn't think this through, did they?

Back in the present day Louvre, Alix and her father are talking until Ladybug and Rabbit Noir show up, the former handing her the Dog Miraculous. Because screw Sabrina, am I right? The difference is that once Alix gets the Rabbit Miraculous back, it's full-time, and she'll have to leave her friends and family to watch over the timeline until Monarch is defeated. Alix's father is surprisingly cool with all this because it turns out future Alix wrote letters to him to make sure he wouldn't be worried. After a quick embrace between the two Kubdels, Alix takes the Dog Miraculous and transforms into Canigirl.

Compared to Miss Hound and Flairmidable, I think Canigirl's design is a nice step up. There's a good balance of black, white, and brown, and it's a nice touch that her hair looks like Bunnix's, which makes sense given how eager Alix is to get the Rabbit. The only major problem I have is the beret. It honestly looks like it's about to fall off at any second.

Rabbit Noir opens a Burrow to the past for Canigirl to tag Monarch's Rabbit Miraculous with before Monarch himself can do it. Ladybug leaves the Miraculous box in the burrow while the three heroes decide to travel to the frozen Eiffel Tower in the climax of “Heroes' Day”. While all the Kwamis are recharging, Nathalie brings up the obvious fact that Gabriel could easily travel to before Emilie used the damaged Peacock Miraculous. Gabriel transforms into Monarch again and plans to travel back to the night he gave Emilie the Peacock Miraculous in the first place and give his past self a flash drive with the information needed to repair it. However, he gets distracted by the box Ladybug left in the Burrow.

This is supposed to be framed as a tough decision, but it really isn't. He's just trying to drop a flash drive onto the picnic blanket where his past self was eating at. Like with Ladybug, the only reason he's hesitating is to make sure we get a full season. Failing to realize fixing the Peacock Miraculous means Ladybug and Cat Noir won't “ruin” his future, he travels to when Ladybug first used the Lucky Charm, planning to ambush their past selves yet again, only for Canigirl to use Fetch and get back his Rabbit Miraculous, immediately unifying the two into... Canix? Bunnigirl? I don't think she ever got a name.

Whatever the case may be, the suit design is okay. It's pretty much the Canigirl model with bits of Bunnix's color scheme, but like with Rabbit Noir, the simplicity makes it work.

Monarch tries to get back the Rabbit Miraculous, but Canigirl/Bunnix uses Burrow to escape, and even though he collapses at the realization he screwed up his one chance to save Emilie via time travel, Ladybug and Rabbit Noir STILL don't think to take any of Monarch's damn Miraculous while he's distracted. They aren't even distracted by outside circumstances. They willingly leave Monarch in the past and don't think about how he could screw up the future with his knowledge. Yeah, they bring him back to the present in the next scene, but it's only because he doesn't move from the spot they left him in.

Ladybug uses Miraculous Ladybug to heal Future Alix, Rabbit Noir gives her back the future Rabbit Miraculous for her to use to transform into Bunnix again, while Present Alix plans to give Ladybug back the present day Rabbit Miraculous, but Ladybug tells her it's time, so she transforms into Bunnix herself.

Like her future counterpart, Past Bunnix's design is... decent. It's got a nice balance of blue and white, but it doesn't really feel like something Alix would wear. Both versions of Alix are snarky athletes with a lot of spunk, so seeing this form-fitting jumpsuit on either of them is kind of jarring. I still like both designs, but I still think they should have been changed a little to match their personalities more, because Canigirl looks more like it fits Alix’s personality.

Present Bunnix gives Past Master Fu the Dog Miraculous back, while Future Bunnix brings Monarch back to the present. Ladybug and Cat Noir capture him again, and for the fifth time this episode, fail to consider taking any of his Miraculous in favor of once again telling him what they're going to do, giving him the chance to escape via Wind Dragon again. Ladybug isn't happy at her own incompetence costing them the victory.

AT NO COST, DUMBASS! YOU CAN TRAVEL THROUGH TIME NOW! WHAT'S STOPPING EITHER OF YOU FROM PREVENTING MONARCH FROM GETTING ANY OF THE MIRACULOUS IN THE FIRST PLACE?!

So, surprise, surprise, the last scene of the episode has Gabriel talking to Emilie's body about how he failed, and how it's Ladybug's fault he couldn't drop a flash drive onto a picnic blanket. Even Nathalie has it up to here with the plot—I mean, Gabriel's behavior.

Okay, while this isn't nearly as bad as the speech Plagg gave chewing Ladybug out in “Kuro Neko”, this still has a lot of problems. While Nathalie has every right to call out Gabriel for his stupidity, the show never made it clear that his problem was his obsession with beating Ladybug and Cat Noir. If anything, it's his determination to save Emilie, no matter how many innocent lives have to go. Pretty much every focus episode he gets highlights his dedication to his wife (Queen Wasp, Cat Blanc, Gabriel Agreste, Ephemeral, Risk), not his Captain Ahab/Moby Dick relationship with Ladybug and Cat Noir. If this was meant to set up more of a decline showing how his tenure as a supervillain had slowly been driving him insane, the show really didn't do a good job at it.

Also, it's pretty rich that Nathalie is the one calling out Gabriel for doing stupid things in the name of achieving his goal when she's just as bad. The whole reason she even needs those robotic leg braces in the first place is because she kept using the damaged Peacock Miraculous even when Gabriel told her not to. In general, she's one of the only people willing to help him without a question She's really not the bigger person this scene is making her out to be. If this partnership was more like a villainous version of Oliver and Diggle's relationship in Arrow, where the latter only went along with some of the former's schemes so he could act as more of an advisor and make sure he didn't do anything too stupid, this scene would work a lot more.

So Nathalie cuts off all ties with Gabriel out of frustraton, and let's hope unlike Kagami, this moment sticks. However, just as she breaks into a coughing fit, Lila approaches her. You remember how she was at the end of the previous season, right? She saw Nathalie starting to collapse and gave a devious grin, hinting she had something planned.

What did this moment end up leading to?

That. Just... that. Lila just offers to help Nathalie back to her seat, and that's her only line in the episode. What a payoff, am I right?

What was even the point of setting Lila up like that at the end of “Strikeback” just to have that amount to nothing? Was this even Lila genuinely showing concern for Nathalie's health, or is this just part of a plan she has? If it was the latter, kudos to the writers for actually writing a convincing lie for Lila.

After that, the episode ends with Gabriel letting out the wimpiest scream you will ever hear in your life. He's clearly supposed to be angry at Ladybug because he refuses to take responsibility for his actions (like father, like son, am I right?), but the scream just sounds so whiny, it's impossible to take seriously. The best way I can describe it is like that one McBain clip from The Simpsons where he screams someone's name, but even McBain manages to have more dignity there, and it's a parody of these kind of dramatic screams.

This episode was pretty mediocre, but as a season premiere? Honestly not that bad. The writers do a decent job setting up how unpredictable Monarch is now that he has more than a dozen Miraculous while also explaining why he can't head into the field and needs to go back to sending Akumas to fight Ladybug and Cat Noir. Granted, not once is the Rooster Miraculous' god-like power mentioned, even after Gabriel loses the Rabbit, but it still shows off all the powers he has now. As flawed as the execution was, the decision to remove the Rabbit Miraculous from the plot first was a great idea, as it answered the obvious question of why Gabriel couldn't time travel to save Emilie after failing to do so. Ladybug and Cat Noir are also shown to be on more equal terms now, which is good. Granted, the road to get there in Season 4 was bumpy as all hell, but hey, hopefully there's going to be less bickering between the two.

As for the episode itself, it's still a very convoluted mess. The idea of a race through time to stop Monarch sounds cool, and the action here is very fluid, but a big part of why the conflict fell flat was because both Ladybug and Monarch didn't think to use their respective Rabbit Miraculous to travel and undo the events that put them in their current predicament. The circumstances behind how Ladybug lost all of the extra Miraculous aren't mentioned at all, which is really weird, considering this takes place right after where Season 4 ended. Felix isn't mentioned once, and it's not explained why Nathalie and Lila are still on the Startrain if Gabriel canceled the commercial Lila and Adrien were going to be a part of. Hell, where was Alya in all of this? I get she isn't a key player, but you would think Ladybug would at least mention she's still in danger after her cover was blown in the previous episode.

So yeah, as far as this episode goes, it's passable at best, but not the worst way to start the fifth season. I'd say it's somewhere between “The Collector” and “Truth”, though it's closer to the latter than the former. And before I wrap this review up, I'm going to introduce a new segment on these reviews: The Biggest Idiot Award.

This is something that internet reviewer Phelous did during his retrospective on Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, where at the end of every episode, he would judge which character was the biggest idiot of the episode based on their actions, and I figured that since this show is no stranger to characters acting like morons, this formula could easily apply to this season. Let's just hope I don't get sued for doing this gag. For now...

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS: LADYBUG

I get Ladybug was still shocked from everything that happened during the previous two episodes, but she and Cat Noir had five opportunities to at least try and take some of Monarch's Miraculous. Instead, they kept telling him that they won and that they were going to take his Miraculous and gave him plenty of chances to escape. It's kind of hard to take the show's claims that Monarch is this super powerful villain when the only reason he got as far as he did while suffering from the drawbacks of his new form was because Ladybug failed to do the simple thing and nab any of the Miraculous he had all over his body.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Do you think the Peacock Miraculous would be better if it had a better power. Before Season 2, I thought it would have some kind of "sight" like can see things from far away or never missing their target.

I think that the peacock would be so much better if it had a truly unique power. I'm incredibly biased about what it should be because of my own rewrite passion project, but I'll try to set that bias aside and just give you some general thoughts on the topic.

Here are some ways that a different power would drastically improve both the peacock and the overall narrative that the writers are going for, but failing to land.

Improvement One: Audience Sympathy

As-is, the peacock makes the Agrestes look unhinged and selfish. Even fans who love the later seasons think that Emilie was probably a terrible person in spite of the fact that canon clearly wants them to think otherwise. Changing the power to something else allows Emilie to be this better person by letting her use the peacock for less blatantly selfish reasons, making her fate less an instance of karma and more a true tragedy. This new power could still be something that ties back to Adrien, but it could also not. She could have just been a generally good person who liked helping people.

Improvement Two: Audience Investment

In terms of how the miraculous are used in a fight, the peacock and the butterfly are extremely similar and that's not very interesting story wise. I've found that stories with heavy magic use tend to be more interesting when you create limited powers and then force your characters to work within the confines of those powers. The less restrictive the rules, the less invested the audience is as they don't have any way to anticipate what's coming and anticipation is something you generally want your audience to feel.

Season five was a great example of this. I think that a lot of people were excited to see Miraculous pull a Cardcaptor Sakura by having our heroes hunt down each of the missing miraculous. That anticipation vanished with the arrival of the alliance rings. Suddenly our heroes had no idea what to do and the season quickly devolved into ignoring the missing miraculous in favor of shipping nonsense. Imagine how much more fun and engaging the season would have been if every episode had the potential to end with a miraculous being recovered!

Improvement Three: Audience Understanding

Most of the miraculous are pretty straightforward. The tiger is a magic punch. The black cat is destruction. The rabbit is time-travel. But the peacock? I cannot explain it to you. In fact, when I first started watching the show, I asked the friend who got me into it what sentimonsters were. She had no idea how to explain them and she was not a casual fan!

We're told that they're an emotion brought to life, but what does that even mean? Who picks their form and special powers: the person whose emotion is being brought to life or the peacock holder? Why are they somewhat immune to the power of pure destruction? What kinds of emotions overwhelm the creation process and create things like Feast? I can't tell you. It's not in the show.

We're three seasons into dealing with sentimonsters and people are still using the head writer's Twitter feed to justify their stance on this major part of canon. There is no reason to introduce such a complex element to your show if you don't care to engage with it.

This is extra true because it's not a fundamental part of making canon's story work. Canon's official line is that Emilie had no idea that the broken miraculous would kill her or anyone else, so they didn't need to make her use case be some major thing like making a baby. She could have just wanted to play with magic and we'd get the same story.

And if they did want her to make her death an active choice? Then we're back to improvement one where her use case needs to be something that's a relatable sacrifice. As is, she doesn't feel even remotely sympathetic. She's just a privileged, wealthy white woman who used that wealth to get magic in order to create her perfect child because she's too good for the kind of suffering and hard choices us normal people deal with. (Like come on writers, at least make the Agrestes middle class. You went the least sympathetic route possible here.)

In another post, someone mentioned using a sentimonster as an artificial heart for Adrien and that's a perfect example of a relatively small change that makes a world of difference for how people view Emilie. Using forbidden magic to save a real child is so much more powerful than the route that canon took.

Improvement Four: Thematic Consistency

I was a huge fan of the initial idea that every miraculous required a specific type of person to weld it. It's something that I lean on heavily in my own writing when I do stuff that focuses on the magic. I want the fox to feel like it belongs to Alya and Alya alone. Similarly, I want the peacock to feel like it belongs to Nathalie or like Nathalie is totally botching its use. Because the peacock is so nebulous and ridiculously overpowered, it doesn't feel like it belongs to any of its holders. Nathalie, Emilie, Gabriel, and Felix have nothing that ties them together and yet I can't say which of them were a true fit and which of them were failing to use the peacock to its full potential. It seems to fit all of them because there's nothing special about. It just makes you a minor god. Huh, maybe that's the theme? Ego of a god? It certainly fits.

So, what should this new power be?

I won't bias you by telling you what I did, I'll just give you my starting point and let you make you own suggestions. The original seven miraculous are largely designed around myths (tricky fox, bad luck cat, etc) so go look up mythology around peacocks and come up with a power that fits! Or don't. That lovely theme was dashed to pieces with the zodiac miraculous as far as I can tell. After all, Fluff is pretty clearly designed around the ancient myth of Alice in Wonderland. 🙄

[killervelveteenrabbit]

“Risk/Strike Back” Fallout / Season 5 Predictions

“Flim-Flam Felix” strikes again. The ring Felix provided in exchange for the Peacock was another fake. Certainly, Felix isn’t going to hand Gabriel his amok, after all the trouble of getting it back. And Natalie still has Adrien’s amok. Felix’s last attempt to fool Gabriel with a fake ring didn’t work—but this time, he’s counting on Gabriel being too distracted by his newfound possession of almost all the Miraculous to notice he’s been hornswoggled again. Of course, Gabriel won’t notice this unless he tries to Thanos Felix out of existence.

Gabriel gets caught in the briar patch. Reassured by Chat Noir and the people of Paris, Ladybug comes up with a plan. She challenges Omnimoth to a duel, betting him that she can still defeat him even if he equips all the Miraculous in his possession. Gabriel agrees, not realizing that the power of that many Miraculous is too much for most people. He ends up having a spectacular mental breakdown that Ladybug exploits to seize control of the stolen Miraculous... but probably not the Butterfly. The season finale was supposed to be “the last attack of Shadowmoth”, but it wasn’t necessarily the last attack of Hawkmoth.

What does Felix want? Why was getting the Peacock worth endangering an entire city? It’s not enough that Felix has stored his amok—the real one—someplace Hawkmoth will never find it. As the ultimate defense, he wants the power to create and control sentimonsters himself. He may use this ability to harass Gabriel or Adrien in the future. There’s a chance he may reluctantly use it to assist Ladybug and Chat Noir in an “enemy mine” scenario.

Alya is still in play. Just because she renounced the Fox doesn’t mean Alya can’t use other Miraculous, especially ones deployed after “Miracle Queen” whose holders Gabriel doesn’t know. Marinette might even insist on Alya taking the Fox back because she’s too valuable an asset to give up.

Ladynoir is a go. Marinette finally realizes that Chat Noir has supported and loved her all this time. They pursue a clandestine relationship, speculated upon by the public but never confirmed. Adrien is thrilled with this arrangement. He honors the boundary LB sets about not revealing their civilian identities... until it’s too much for him and he messes it up, threatening their entire partnership. (Ladybug can prevent this by warning him about the “Chat Blanc” scenario, but she may be unwilling to confront this trauma.)

Meanwhile, Marinette can't reconcile her newfound love for Chat Noir and her lingering attraction for Adrien. If only they were the same person! Does this dynamic trigger a reveal in the season 5 finale? And where does this leave Luka, the only person in Paris who knows both their identities?

Comrades in each other’s arms. If the above relationship dynamic comes into play, Ladybug will start trusting Chat Noir more. She’ll loop him into more of her plans, warn him ahead of time if something will prevent her from deploying, and entrust him with retrieving Miraculous from holders he already knows. Chat Noir will no longer be “a holder like any other”, but her second-in-command, the one who assumes control anytime Ladybug is unavailable.

Exit Natalie; enter Lila. The attack Natalie suffered on the train permanently incapacitates her. She ends up sharing Emilie’s subterranean slumber room, and now Gabriel has even more reason to pursue LB and CN. But he’s suddenly minus a henchwoman. Lila volunteers her services, using her savoir-faire to manipulate Marinette’s classmates and family, creating angst Hawkmoth can use to akumatize them while simultaneously isolating and ruining her rival for Adrien’s affections.

Dangerous frenemies. Chloe and Lila maintain the alliance they struck in “Penalteam” to obstruct Marinette’s access to Adrien. But Chloe might draw the line at participating in any scheme that involves her being akumatized. She seemed done assisting Shadowmoth after “Penalteam” and seeing Shadowmoth about to win at the end of “Strike Back” genuinely shook her. Chloe and Lila’s team-up will collapse if Lila unwittingly plays this card. Then again, it might fall apart simply because they both want Adrien for themselves.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Another round of everyone's favorite theme: Hawkmoth is an idiot!

Knowing that Hawkmoth could just create a villain with stupidly OP powers, he could've used a time travel Akuma (*cough*Time Tagger*cough*) and had it send him back when his wife was starting to get sick or earlier to prevent her from falling ill and creating the series of events that would lead to him becoming a super villain.

Since he clearly doesn't care about destroying the world, he'd probably not care about messing with the time stream either, so yeah, he could have used time travel to prevent his wife from getting sick.

Or if for some reason she HAD to use the Peacock and get herself comatose a la Sentimonster Adrien theory or other supervillain or preventing some tragedy, have him just go back in time and tell his past self what will happen and where Nooroo is so they can get the Butterfly Miraculous immediately. Then past Gabriel could use it to make an akuma that could do whatever Emilie attempted to use the Peacock to do. Thus nobody would NEED to use the broken Peacock.

Or...y'know...if they had no choice on using the Peacock, he could have his past self create an akuma that could fix Miraculous and make it a non-issue. Since the Butterfly Miraculous was stupidly OP from the get go and the most recent season pretty much says that they can do whatever they want with their Miraculous ANYWAY (given the sudden unexplained reveal that Ladybug can create an anti-akuma charm and Hawk Moth could turn around and create a mega-akuma that could akumatize multiple people AND break past their anti-akuma charms in a way that seems very reminiscent of the way children would one-up each other in their pretend games).

Seriously, there are so many other ways he could have solved this!

[gale-gentlepenguin]

What if Su-Han mentored Marinette and Adrien instead of Fu?

This one is a bit tricky but okay.

-After Fu's sentimonster went out of control. Su Han was barely able to escape with the miracle box.

-He however did not despair. He was the Celestial Guardian! He would find a way to defeat this sentimonster gone rogue.

-Because Fu survived 180 years and only looks in is 70's. I would say he likely used the miraculous a lot and it slowed down his aging.

-Su-han already looks pretty old. (maybe in his 40' or 50's) and was likely only this young now because when feast was defeated his order was freed. But lets say because magic. Su han is still alive.

-But he is hella decrepit. These decades he continued his duty of watching over the miracle box. Handing it out to responsible adults. But he learned as the years went by... most of them sucked.

-Su-han realized that the traditions he had enforced have started to become limiting.

-So when the butterfly miraculous activates, Su han new he needed to spring into action... But he was SUPER old now. so that wasnt going to work.

-He would need to find someone to wield the ladybug miraculous. And since Su han is all about balance. He would likely have the cat miraculous out to.

-Because the show is miraculous ladybug, Su han (while knowing what he was about to do would go against his rules) he handed the miraculous to the only two who passed his tests. Marinette and Adrien.

-Su Han, not being as secretive as Fu, didnt bother telling Tikki and Plagg to hide the fact that he knew them. In fact, he would want to teach them both. The miraculous were incredible tools, and he wasnt just going to hand them off to children and leave them to their own devices. He was going to train them!

-So After the events of Origins... Plagg and Tikki took their holders to meet Su han. He instructed them to detransform.

-"Wait... but shouldnt our identities be secret?"

-"From eachother? You are fighting akuma together. You should know where the other is."

-"But what if one of us gets akumatized"

-"I will teach you how to prevent that from happening"

-Chat noir and Ladybug really had no argument against it. And complied. They were both very surprised by the person underneath.

-Su-han stated that they have been given the highest honor, serving as miraculous wielders, and he will show them how to use the miraculous correctly, and how to fight.

-Ladybug and Chat noir were both MUCH more combat efficient in this situation. With training that was meant on dealing with rogue miraculous wielders, and knowing who the other was, they would be.

-Honestly a lot of the plot points would be streamlined and Adrien and Marinette would like eachother so... they likely got together

-Most of the season one akuma would be the same. Tikki getting sick wouldnt be a big deal.

-And with their advanced fighting experience, they probably could have beaten Hawkmoth/scarlet moth on their own and took his miraculous.

-And that would lead to the team exploring the house and finding the broken peacock, as well as Emilie in the coffin.

-Mission accomplished, Su han would take the ladybug and Cat miraculous back, Thanking the two for their work.

-And with Gabriel bested, feast would stay dormant in that statue. So the guardians wouldnt be returned. Su-han probably would die of old age sooner or later. Maybe founding a new guardian order. He was the main guy in charge. He could probably start it from scratch again. Maybe he even had an apprentice already.

[familyagrestefanblog]

"Risk" puts an interesting focus on Nathalie being in her current physically injured state because she made the active choice of using the peacock miraculous to help Gabriel in season 3, even though she knew that it would hurt her so immensely.

This is a risk Gabriel himself didn't dare to take because he wanted to stay physically sound to fight his war as well as possible.

And yet "Risk" also shows at the beginning just how much wearing two miraculous at the same time as ShadowMoth has mentally scattered him over the course of season 4.

The season started with Gabriel fixing the broken peacock miraculous of the harmful effects he knew of, but my question is now: do either Gabriel or Nathalie even KNOW that wearing more than one miraculous for a longer period of time has serious mental consequences??

Because even if Gabriel were to think himself above such consequences, which I actually don't even think would be as much the case one some might think. Sure, he WOULD wear two miraculous occasionally just like our heros, but there are actually ALOT of episodes this season where he didn't need to activate both and even if Gabriel had thought himself above such mental consequences then at the very least NATHALIE would have tried to talk sense into him about taking an unnecessary mental risk like this.

I don't remember anyone from the heros side EVER trying to bring this up. In "Mayura" Ladybug tried reaching out to Hawkmoth, that he still could change for the better and come back to his senses

But now in season 4 I don't think anyone ever made sure that ShadowMoth actually KNOWS of this catastrophical risk.

From the heros perspective everybody most likely assumes that ShadowMoths IS aware of this and now made the active decision to take that risk, because before season 4 it was Nathalie from the season 2 finale onwards who wore the peacock miraculous as Mayura and the thing is... the heros don't know that the peacock miraculous was broken and legitimately hurt Mayura when she used it to the point where she straight up almost could have died and ended up bedridden til "Kuro Neko" but is still heavily affected by the time of "Risk".

The heros don't KNOW that the only reason why Hawkmoth hasn't combined the two miraculous before is because he feared immense PHYSICAL damage and that the only reason why he then started combining them now is because the peacock was now fixed by Gabriel himself so he thought himself save from further damage, and because Mayura simply COULDN'T transform anymore.

Because of both sides, good and bad, having such fundamentally different perspectives the heros ended up believing in season 4 that ShadowMoth made the knowing choice of sacrificing his mental stability to get the upper hand over the heros when that wasn't the fucking CASE! The heros let ShadowMoth proceed to actively mentally spiral down into the darkst pit because the way the butterfly and peacock have been used til know made it SEEM as if Hawkmoth knew of this risk and now decided to cross that line. OF COURSE the heros never actually thought about bringing this up!

But at the same time, Gabriel proceeded to actively mentally spiral down into said darkest pit because neither he nor Nathalie are aware that this danger even EXISTS, just like the heros didn't know that the peacocks physical danger existed back in season 3! And "Risk" shows that even Nathalie isn't viewing Gabriels new behavior as something positive

So now those unfortunate circumstances of the heros thinking ShadowMoth KNOWS and Gabriel and Nathalie thinking the danger factor was fixed with repairing the peacock cause that Gabriel actually WASN'T allowed to make that important choice about his own mental stability that only drove him further into darkness and away from the things the initially fought for! ShadowMoth/Gabriel became so much WORSE this season in basically every aspect and ESPECIALLY "Strike Back" is gonna show how much wearing two miraculous damaged this man mentally the moment he looses every restrain he had left by sending both Adrien and Nathalie out of Paris.

And for me the saddest point of them all is what this means for Adrien:

Because Adrien lost Nathalie for most of s4 because of the physical consequences of the peacock miraculous in season 3 and now Adrien lost his father to the MENTAL consequences of wearing two miraculous for all of season 4.

Both of Adriens current parental figures (or rather all THREE of them in general) were and are damaged and lost to him because of the consequences of wearing the Peacock miraculous. This is just... fucking horrible omg...

The only difference is that Nathalie KNOWINGLY took the risk of physical damage/death, something she is shown to be able to come back from over time if it doesn't go too far, which apparently it didn't because despite being willing to take that risk both Nathalie and Gabriel knew how to properly take enough caution by not having Nathalie be Mayura in every episode of season 3 and pay attention to the signs of her getting worse.

But Gabriel now does not have the same luxury and absolutely NO ONE is aware of what happened to our main villain to end up causing THIS:

So while, dont get me wrong, Gabriel ending up batshit crazy and causing the end of the world is still 100% the consequence of his own actions since no one forced him to wear both Miraculous or be a villain in the first place, that shits on him because those ARE decisions he made. The dude ain't suddenly innocent and deserving of not being held accountable for the consequences of his actions since season 1 just because starting to wear the peacock miraculous, after letting Nathalie wear it to help him when it straight up could end in her ending up like Emilie, ended up biting him in the ass in a way he didn't wanted to. And neither is Gabriel facing such consequences, and because of it now loosing his son for good, unfair.

And YET I think this is still something that absolutely has to be acknowledged anyway, even if it doesn't serve the purpose of changing the outcome of his characters destination. Because it HAS affected Gabriel and the way he went about thing to extents Gabriel simply wouldn't have gone prior to this. This not only includes directly using the control ring on Adrien and not just passively and officially throwing people out of his life (Audrey and André, and Adrien and Nathalie as well at the end) it also pretty much made him loose focus on his actual GOAL. The two mid season episodes "Optigami" and "Sentibubbler" are perfect examples of this and so is obviously everything we see in the trailer of "Strike back" but I will rather save going into detail for one day making a post of its own about how Gabriel was affected by wearing two miraculous in season 4 when "Strike back" aired.

I just needed to talk about this anyway because MY GOODNESS!