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#I was thinking Felix Lila and Zoe
nionom-art · 2 years
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I’m back! Anyway, I finally finished up the main team for the miraculous mew mew au I have been working on- Juleka and Rose are the final additions (mostly because the color schemes were the best fit). I decided to make Juleka a white tiger for contrast.
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IOTA Reviews: Emotion
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Hey, remember Felix? You know, that minor character who is the entire reason Gabriel has all of Ladybug's other Miraculous? The writers remembered he existed more than halfway through the season.
Let's get into the eighteenth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Emotion
We start off with Marinette and Adrien getting ice cream, and just like last episode, right when they're about to kiss, Adrien stops at the last second. While we don't see it, it's heavily implied that Gabriel is behind this. It turns out that Adrien has to get ready for some dance for rich people. While it has a name and I think it was mentioned in a few earlier episodes this season, it's really just some dance for rich people, so I don't care enough to remember it. Of course, all of the rich characters we know are invited, like Kagami, Chloe, Zoe, and Prince Ali. Lila, on the other hand, wasn't invited. This might sound important, but nothing happens with her until the end.
Zoe isn't going because of the “character development” she's gotten, so she offers to let Marinette wear her dress to the dance, which just so happens to be a masquerade ball. Tikki asks why Marinette even wants to go to this party she wasn't invited to, but all Marinette says is that it's so she can tell Adrien that she didn't have to keep the dance a secret from her. Why didn't Marinette just call Adrien? Because then we wouldn't have a story.
At the ball, Adrien and Kagami are the king and queen or whatever because their parents are really determined to make their ship sail even though the two show no real interest in each other (insert your own joke about the writers here), but they're interrupted by Amelie, Emilie's twin sister and Felix's mom. She's worried because her son has been missing for weeks, but Gabriel couldn't care less about the little twerp.
At the party, we get a somewhat amusing joke where Chloe fails to recognize Marinette under her mask, where Marinette not only says her name is Zoe, but her “underling” is named Chloe too. But speaking of...
Chloe: How rich are your parents? Rich? Very rich? Immensely rich? Of course, otherwise you wouldn't be here! It's too bad we can't bring out underlings with us. I'm sure these tin cans can serve properly but we can't make fun of them! (grabs a drink from a butler robot before kicking it) So lame!
Okay, did the writers just stop caring about writing convincing dialogue for Chloe? This is a problem I've noticed a lot this season. Yeah, Chloe was bad in the last four seasons, but here, she constantly talks about how Sabrina is her “underling” (Passion), or how she finds Marinete's suffering to be amusing (Derision). It's not really out of character, but it's weird how she's so much more blunt when it comes to boasting about how full of herself she is. It feels like a lot of her lines this season were meant to be placeholders for stuff the writers thought they'd change later, but then they decided to keep it in anyway. And of course to show how stuck up the other rich kids saying the same kind of stuff Chloe normally says, which is somehow less subtle social commentary than Hop Pop shouting “EAT THE RICH!”.
Adrien and Kagami talk about how they're expected to follow orders, while pretty much saying that Kagami is a Sentimonster since the camera really wants to show off her ring.
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Oh wow. what does this mean? Wow, this is such a compelling mystery with so many twists and turns. I am so very invested right now.
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However, as the two talk, it's clear that Adrien isn't himself, literally.
“Adrien”: Let's leave, I dare you.
Kagami: Are you insane? We can't do that.
“Adrien”: Of course, we can. I can.
Kagami: (gasps) You'd do that?
“Adrien”: Wanna bet?
Kagami: No, we can't.
“Adrien”: See? You're not as free as you claim. Don't you think we should be able to decide our future?
I'll get back to this later.
Marinette tells “Adrien” that she loves her, but Chloe figures out that Marinette crashed a party she wasn't invited to. Of course, because this is Chloe, we're supposed to ignore how unnecessary this plan was for Marinette. Seriously, Marinette crashing the party in “Gabriel Agreste”, as illogical as it was, made sense, because they needed to stop Chloe from showing Gabriel incriminating footage of Marinette. Here, Marinette had no real reason to crash this party when all she had to do was call Adrien, and Chloe, like her or hate her, makes a good point in that she wasn't invited. But again, since this is Season 5 Chloe, she could say she opposes human trafficking, and the writers would still find a way to make her look like the bad guy.
Chloe tells the other rich kids to help her expose Marinette, but because they're so stuck up and entitled, they refuse to touch her. I'll give you all a moment to groan from that unfunny joke. Then we get this conversation between Marinette and “Adrien”.
“Adrien”: All eyes are on you.
Marinette: They're looking at me like I'm a monster.
“Adrien”: Look closer, Marinette. (whispers into her ear) They're the monsters.
I officially take back everything bad I ever said about the Canto Bight scenes from The Last Jedi.
While I get what the episode's going for, we really haven't seen a lot of the 1% doing things that would actually warrant this level of scorn from the audience. Yeah, most of them were egotistical snobs, especially Chloe, but you can't really see this as a shot at the elite when it's aimed at their children instead of their parents. All we've seen in this episode is the rich kids being jerks (and even then, it's played for laughs), Chloe rightfully trying to get Marinette thrown out of a party she had no reason to crash, and Gabriel and Tomoe trying to pair their children together. If you want to show the audience how bad rich people are, you need to show them actually abusing their power and mistreating others. As bad as the aforementioned Canto Bight scenes were, they still worked because it managed to back up the point it was trying to make.
Compare this to characters like the Ferengi from Star Trek or the World Nobles from One Piece. These are allegories for the 1% that work because they do a better job at exaggerating aspects of them that can translate to how we see the elite in our world. With the Ferengi, they represent everything wrong with cutthroat businessmen who base their entire society over financial gains, and with the World Nobles, they represent the disconnect with the common people by being so arrogant, they wear helmets that prevent them from breathing the same air as the commoners. If you wanted to show how bad the rich were, especially considering what's going to happen in a few minutes, you needed to do more to make the audience not like them so we'd be more happy to see them get their comeuppance.
Marinette figures out that Felix impersonated Adrien once again (it honestly stops being impressive when he's done it during literally every episode he appears in), and he decides to transform using the Peacock Miraculous in public for some reason, calling himself Argos.
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Argos' design is okay. The suit and coattails look pretty nice, and the coloring on his face works a lot better than Gabriel's. The only problem I have is the way the hood looks. It looks too goofy to go with the rest of the suit. It kind of reminds me of that salmon suit Squidward wore in that one episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.
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Before anyone else at the party can do anything, Argos reveals a Sentimonster he created, Red Moon.
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Red Moon is... a red moon. It's just a red moon that floats above the city, and it gives Argos the ability to make anyone bathed in its light disappear with a snap of his fingers. If anything, this shows how overpowered the Peacock Miraculous is, and that Gabriel was a real idiot for not trying anything like this while he was Shadowmoth.
Anyway, after making everyone think his cousin is a supervillain as part of his brilliant plan, Argos decides to tell everyone in the room about what his Sentimonster can do. He demonstrates this by, of course, choosing to snap away Chloe before targeting Gabriel and Tomoe. You really have your priorities straight, buddy. Argos then carries Marinette outside before throwing her in a dumpster, because if he snapped her away, than Ladybug couldn't fight him.
But then Argos decides to go to the streets, and decides to snap away a bunch of innocent civilians... while singing a jazz song. To anyone curious as to what it sounds like, I must warn you, it isn't for the feint of heart.
I take back everything bad I ever said about the Hawkmoth rap.
First off, I'm just going to say it, Bryce Papenbrook cannot sing. Argos is clearly trying to sound like a suave and confident villain like Doctor Facilier from The Princess and the Frog, but his delivery is terrible. It either ranges from flat monotone to trying to shout while dealing with a sore throat. The point I'm trying to make is that there was a good reason someone else did the singing voice for Adrien in the recent movie.
Second, this doesn't do anything to make us root for Argos as a character, because there's no reason for him to be doing this. I can understand why he'd use his power to get rid of Gabriel and Tomoe (even Chloe, given we know how much she's done), but why is he suddenly going nuts snapping a bunch of random people who haven't even met him before? The episode tries to make him a character who only does bad things because he has no choice to, so him doing this to a bunch of innocent civilians makes no sense.
Finally, WHY THE HELL IS THIS SCENE A MUSICAL NUMBER?! It's hard enough to see Argos callously wipe out a bunch of bystanders, essentially committing genocide, but the tone of the song is all upbeat and cheery, while the lyrics are about how Argos should get whatever he wants. What is the purpose of adding a song here? Are we supposed to find this funny? Is it meant to establish Felix as a wild card? Is the song supposed to make us like him more because of how catchy it is? What was the writers' endgame here? Like I mentioned earlier, this flies in the face of the characterization the episode is trying to establish for him.
Marinette transforms into Ladybug and arrives on the scene, confronting Argos over what he did last season.
Ladybug: You're the reason why I lost the other Miraculous in the first place! And why he took them! You gave them to him without any regard for the consequences it might have with the people of Paris!
Argos: True, except I work for no one. I only helped Monarch cause it served my plans! I needed the Peacock Miraculous and today I need yours and Cat Noir's so I can make my wish!
Ladybug: Your wish?! What do you want?! What are you trying to do?! You're destroying the world and we don't even know why!
Argos: When I merge your Miraculous together, I'll make a wish to create a better world! A free world, where no one will be under anyone's control anymore, where no one will be excluded like I was! A world without people like you to decide what's right or wrong! Who gets powers and who doesn't!
Dude, you're literally playing God right now by snapping away people who did nothing wrong, while singing a song at that. You have no right to lecture Ladybug on how to use power responsibly. And once again, even though we just saw him happily snapping people out of existence like the kid from that one Twilight Zone episode, the episode is going back to portraying him as someone who's only doing this because he has nothing to lose.
Ladybug tries to use her Lucky Charm, but gets nothing in response. This is because her plan is to get Argos to give up, but even in episodes where her plan was to get Akumas to give up, she still got her Lucky Charm (Rocketear, Qilin, Penalteam, Reunion, Perfection, Intuition), so this doesn't really make any sense. Ladybug calls Argos' bluff, so he wipes out everyone from existence. After running into Kagami and snapping Adrien back into existence, Argos is surprised that they aren't thanking him for wiping out all of humanity, and in fact, see him as a complete psychopath.
We then learn Felix's true plan. Earlier that day, Argos capitalized on a opening he had been hoping he would get for weeks, and then created Red Moon. Right after Adrien's date with Marinette, Argos ambushed Adrien, and snapped him out of existence with Red Moon's power. He then decided to impersonate Adrien so he could infiltrate the dance and snap Gabriel, Tomoe, and everyone else out of existence.
I think my feelings on this plan can be perfectly summarized by Tony Stark.
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First off, why did he need to sneak into the dance? All Felix had to do was transform into Argos, and nobody would know who he really was.
Second, why did he need to impersonate Adrien? Felix claims he's doing this for him, yet all he did was steal his girlfriend and ruin his public reputation. As a matter of fact, why did he even snap Adrien away? You're already wiping out all of humanity, so I don't think temporarily doing the same to Adrien will earn you any goodwill.
Third, why did he waste so much time screwing around with Marinette and Kagami? I sort of get why he would try to get in Kagami's good graces (keyword being “try”) by trying to convince her to rebel against her mother more, but why did he dance around with Marinette while pretending to be Adrien? Felix later says he wanted to spare Marinette for Adrien's sake, but he barely knows her, and whether she finds out Felix impersonated her boyfriend or not, she's going to be pissed at either you or Adrien because of your galavanting. In fact, I don't think he ever told Adrien that he danced with Marinette while at the dance in the first place.
Finally, he really needed to wait for this for weeks? If your goal was to get rid of Gabriel and Tomoe, why didn't you just ambush them yourself instead of waiting for a public function? This isn't like has last few appearances where he needed to rely on his intellect. He has superpowers now. All he has to do is create another Sentibug or some kind of assassin Sentimonster and he can be rid of them easily. Instead, he waited weeks for a chance to steal his cousin's identity, dance with his girlfriend, talk trash about Kagami for listening to her mother when he's supposed to be helping her and Adrien, blow his cover in a crowded area by transforming, and use his killer moon to erase all of humanity from existence while singing. Remember, this is the show that usually makes jokes about Marinette's obsession with unnecessarily complicated plans.
Anyway, Argos tries to use his powers to bring Marinette back, but for some reason, they won't work. My best guess is that it's because Marinette transformed into Ladybug, but that shouldn't chance the fact that Argos snapped her with Red Moon's power. After trying to justify his genocide by saying he never wanted to hurt Adrien and Kagami, Argos remembers how his powers work and brings everyone back. After Ladybug lets him go scot-free, Argos goes to a private place realizes that he may have made a few mistakes for almost wiping out all of humanity, tearfully snapping Red Moon out of existence, calling it “his sister”. Because I guess we were supposed to emotionally connect to the giant moon that showed little to no signs of sentience this entire episode? Argos transforms back to Felix, and we learn that Amelie knew where he was the whole time, and she was apparently testing Gabriel for some reason.
After Adrien explains to Marinette that his father ordered him to not tell her about the dance, Adrien goes to talk to Gabriel about it. Gabriel, being Gabriel uses his control over Adrien to force him to never talk about Marinette again. Gabriel then gets a call from Lila, and even though she's been nothing but helpful to him since Season 3, he's apparently tired with her. Why is he suddenly rejecting the help of his most competent (by comparison) ally?
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Also, the episode ends with the revelation that Lila somehow knows Gabriel is Monarch. Why? How? I DON'T CARE, BECAUSE THIS EPISODE SUCKS!
Oh my God, this episode was just terrible! “Derision” and “Adoration” definitely got to me with the way their stories were handled, but this was the first episode in a while to really piss me off. The plot was contrived as hell, basically being a repeat of “Gabriel Agreste”, and you all know how I wasn't exactly a fan of that episode. Think about it: Marinette sneaks into a party, Felix tries to scheme against Gabriel, and Marinette and Adrien end up getting caught in one of his schemes.
The social commentary about how bad the rich were just felt more pretensions than anything else. I get that it's meant to teach children a lesson about the real world, but the episode feels so confident in what its trying to say when it's not that deep, even by kids' show standards. Rich people are bad? Yeah, I think someone like me who lives in the same country as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg knows that. Will you actually teach kids about the financial conditions that allow the wealthy to abuse their power or the cutthroat methods they'll resort to in order to turn a profit? No? You're just going to tell kids that rich people are jerks without giving any actual evidence in the same episode you're using to try and to teach them? Man, these writers just keep hitting it out of the park here!
This whole “Rich people suck” message also falls flat because Felix is the one pushing it. You know, someone who already comes from a rich family? It's not like Bruce Wayne where he uses his money to help the people of Gotham, as Batman or not. Felix just whines about how “tHeY'rE tHe MoNsTeRs.” when he's just as well-off as they are. The episode tries to do a subtle discrimination message as evidenced by his rant as Argos earlier, but it doesn't work because we have never seen anyone discriminate against Felix for who he is. Yeah, the episode once again tries to hint at him being a Sentimonster, but because the show hasn't just pulled the trigger and confirmed it, it's hard to really sympathize with him being “excluded” when we've never seen him being treated differently by others in earlier episodes, and even if he was a Sentimonster, nobody would know or be able to discriminate against him in the first place.
I don't know why the show keeps trying to excuse Felix's actions when once again, he pretty much committed fucking genocide yet the episode still wanted us to feel bad for him realizing his actions had consequences. If he actually wanted to own up to his mistakes, he'd either hand over the Peacock Miraculous to Ladybug or help Ladybug stop Monarch. For someone who claims he hates when people abuse power to make others suffer, he's no better, judging from how both times he's gotten to use a Miraculous, he's either screwed over Ladybug (Strikeback) or endangered a lot of innocent people. And if you're wondering why I didn't point out any double standards between the treatment of Felix compared to Chloe, that doesn't really matter. No matter how you feel about Chloe, whether you feel like she got screwed over or not, it doesn't really make how the writers are glorifying Felix any better or worse, as his potential “redemption arc” isn't off to a good start.
The plot was stupid, Felix was an idiot, and it felt like more effort was put into the musical number than the writing. In my opinion, this is easily the worst episode of the season so far.
Although at the very least, now that we have even more evidence that Adrien, Felix, and even Kagami are all Sentimonsters, I think I know what clip I can start using to describe my feelings on this plotline.
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THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... FELIX
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For someone who managed to outsmart Gabriel on multiple occasions with no superpowers, Felix's intelligence really took a nosedive the second he got the Peacock Miraculous. He came up with a completely unnecessary plan that involved impersonating his cousin's identity and mocking his friend when he's supposed to try and win their favor, he danced with his cousin's girlfriend without his consent, transformed in public, smearing his reputation even further, and proceeded to gleefully wipe out humanity through a musical number, and needed other people to point out how immoral his actions were. Of course, Marinette gets second place thanks to her plan to break into the party and later letting Argos get away.
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nobodyfamousposts · 1 year
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Why Scarlet Lady Is Better Than Canon: Lila Rossi
I had mentioned before at length regarding my distaste, dislike, and dissatisfaction with the character of Lila Rossi in Miraculous Ladybug canon. A character so horrible, so poorly written, and so two dimensional that I did not think it was possible to make any iteration of her I wouldn’t dislike.
And yet it seems @zoe-oneesama has come through for me yet again in Scarlet Lady by taking what was quite possibly one of my biggest issues and most despised characters within canon and with only a few changes, turning her into something enjoyable. Dare I even say…likable.
More than that, even. It says something when my least favorite character in Miraculous Ladybug canon can somehow become one of my top favorite characters in a different variation of it. 
It’s because Zoe shows an understanding of the characters and what makes them engaging, and other than SL Adrien, it shows the most in the form of SL Lila.
See, Canon Lila Rossi is a selfish, manipulative, egotistical, petty, and self-centered liar.
Scarlet Lady Lila Rossi, on the other hand, is a selfish, manipulative, egotistical, petty, and self-centered liar.
Now I’m sure all of you are looking at those two sentences and noting that they’re the same thing. And you are right. That’s the point! Because the difference between the two versions isn’t who Lila is but rather in how the narrative and writing treat her and what Lila ends up doing because of it. And it’s why Scarlet Lady is superior in its handling of Lila.
Lila in Scarlet Lady is not a good person. Nor does she become a good person. She admits that she lies for fun and just to see how far she can take it. She’s fully on board with continuing her lies and trying to fool her mom and the school to get away with staying out of school for a year. This is all in lines with regular Canon Lila and shows that they are still the same person, it’s just the events and situation and narrative that differentiate them. It’s in how the Scarlet Lady story handles Lila and her character.
For the sake of convenience, I'm going to be using Scarlet Lady to refer to the comic itself and Scar to refer to Chloe's hero identity specifically.
Let’s review and compare Lila in Scarlet Lady to canon:
1. Lila in Scarlet Lady is NOT a plot device. 
She doesn’t need to be. It’s clear that the plot is and has been moving forward on its own without her. Even if Lila were to have been removed from Scarlet Lady altogether, it’s pretty evident from everything else that’s been happening that we would still be getting to some plots and story points without too much difference or delay.
Scarlet Lady has a natural progression. The story and characters aren’t so rooted in the status quo that sudden additional character like Lila or Felix are necessary to throw in just to move things along. And Lila isn’t simply forgotten about when she’s not needed to do so. She doesn’t vanish without an explanation only to return also without explanation just to be able to force the plot to move.
Events within a story can be dependent on the characters, but the plot itself should not be dependent on what feels like a third party to show up and force things to happen when they should already be happening. That speaks of bad writing.
Canon Lila existed for the purpose of getting the Grimoire into Marinette’s hands so she could be the one to take it to Fu and learn about the Guardian and Miraculous secrets, as well as to be a future helper to Hawk Moth. Up until that point, the plot had done nothing with Fu and had done nothing to move things forward in learning about the Miraculous or why Hawk Moth would want the specific two. And after Volpina, the episodes that feature Lila are the ones that display more plot progression or involve Hawk Moth having layers to his plans. Lila only appears when she’s to be used to further a plot, then disappears until needed again.
In Scarlet Lady, by the time Lila appears, it’s already clear to Adrien, Plagg, and Fu that Scar is a horrible person and that she had no business being a hero. It’s also clear that Adrien is handling the hero work on his own and needs help. This is part of what causes Adrien to know that Lila is a liar and call her out on his own because in addition to Lila stealing his book, he already knows Scar well enough to know Lila’s story of Scar saving her would never happen. Lila isn’t the reason they find this out, nor is she the reason that the book is discovered and gets to the Guardian because Plagg chooses for himself to take Adrien to Fu. And afterwards, Lila’s appearances are more natural. Plot progression happens with and without her. Her appearances involve her interacting with her classmates like a person. They don’t have to have a plot-relevant purpose.
Narratively, there are three reasons to put in a scene.
Plot
Expansion/information/character focus
Entertainment
In canon, all of Lila's scenes are plot-focused and plot-driving.
In Scarlet Lady, they vary. Some are plot (like Lila's anti-Scar attitude getting more focus and validity over time). But more of Lila's scenes are focus in on her character and entertainment. This builds Lila as a person and makes her enjoyable to watch.
Lila is not a plot device as the plot doesn’t NEED her to progress. But that’s not to say that Lila doesn’t matter…
2. Lila has a role that nobody else in the story could cover.
As I’ve stated before, Canon Lila is pretty much another Chloe and there was nothing she was used for that Chloe couldn’t have or wouldn’t have been able to do. As a rival/foil to Marinette, as another love interest for Adrien, and even as a helper to Hawk Moth—by the time Lila started any of these roles, Chloe was already there and fully capable of filling them.
In Scarlet Lady, due to Scar being the hero Lila is butting heads with and being outted earlier on, SL Lila ends up not filling those same “roles”. She’s not a rival to Scar or Marinette, just a hater/critic of the former and a friend to the latter. She was called out by Adrien so she is shown to have no further interest in trying to pursue him. And as of yet, there has been nothing of Lila helping Hawk Moth.
Instead, Lila’s scenes show her engaging with the other classmates. More of the results of her being revealed as a liar. Her being a queen of sass and snark. And most importantly, her going head to head with Chloe and Scarlet Lady in verbal lashings that prove her silver tongue is no duller for people knowing of it.
In fact, she’s a part of people starting to realize that Scar is in fact horrible and her popularity starts to break down. 
Yes, yes, we do have both Adrien and Marinette who realize how horrible Scarlet Lady is and hate her, but other than some snarky comments at her expense, they don’t do much about it. Mostly because they can’t. Especially early on, it’s clear that they’re forced to keep Scar around because as useless as she is otherwise, she is the only one who can purify the akuma and undo the damage. And as Fu has told them, Scar is still too popular with the city that trying to take the earrings from her would result in more problems. The two of them have to focus on dealing with the akumas more than trying to deal with Scar. Plus let’s be real: even as snarky as they both can get, they’re just too nice.
Others are also similarly of no help. Alya is still completely wrapped in Scar’s facade of a hero to see how selfish and unheroic she is. Most of the other classmates also go along with this narrative. But even the ones who DO know like Alix and Nino aren’t that active. They know but they don’t do anything with that knowledge.
Lila has no such barriers. She’s not a hero. She doesn’t know how “necessary” Scar is in akuma battles. And she doesn’t have to worry about not upsetting Scar since the “hero” already hates her. And thanks to Marinette and the other classmates with their “we still care about you for you” bit, she now has no reason to put up a mask…or a filter.
This makes Lila in prime position to try to push more against Scarlet Lady’s popularity and talk at length about how horrible she actually is. Something she is MORE than happy to do.
Lila is essentially the first main civilian hater of Scarlet Lady.
And with that in mind…
3. Lila’s actions are reasonable. Perhaps not intelligent, but they are reasonable.
She commits a number of the same acts as canon in Volpina. Stealing Adrien’s book, buying a necklace to be a fake Miraculous, trying to claim herself as the hero’s best friend for attention, and trying to claim she is a hero herself to get Adrien’s attention.
SL Lila is not a master manipulator or an up and coming villain. We are not expected to view her as a real threat to anything except Chloe’s ego.
Sure, she wants to speedrun the popularity and attention and maybe a nice rich blond boytoy to be her arm candy, but it’s clear in the very first comic she appears in that Lila has NO IDEA what sort of people she’s interacting with or telling lies about, and so has no way to prepare for what happens. First in that Adrien is so DONE with everything that he calls her out himself from the get go. Second in that Scarlet Lady appears to “save” Adrien from Lila’s lies when it was no longer necessary, proclaims aloud to the multitude of bystanders that Lila is a fraud, and then dumps her in a fountain for good measure and further insults her to boot. And at the end of it all, Scar doesn’t apologize for her actions, doubles down, and only further insults Lila. And as if all of that wasn’t bad enough, still being wet AND being on top of the Eiffel Tower results in her getting sick.
As such, Lila’s hatred of the Ladybug Hero in this version of events feels more understandable and based on a legitimate grievance. Several even. Scar’s actions go well beyond canon’s version. We clearly see how hurt and humiliated Lila is. Plus we have all of Scar’s previous antics to look back on and…well, we already came into this with more reason to hate Scarlet Lady than Lila, and Lila simply jumped on the bandwagon that was already there.
It also makes more sense then that Lila never even pretends to forgive Scar. Scar never apologized. She caused emotional and physical harm to Lila. And unlike Ladybug, Scar never tried to make an offer of friendship so Lila isn’t losing out on any opportunities out of spite. Heck, Scar’s treatment of Alya shows us that there is nothing to be gained from even pretending to be a fan of Scar. So Lila’s hatred of Scar is understandable and her refusal to be friends with Scar makes perfect sense.
When she hides away at her home, there’s a valid reason behind it due to her being sick. Her “plan” to fool her mom and the school in order to avoid going back also makes sense given the fallout she knows she would have to face if she did. (At least more sense than it made in canon for her to disappear for months just because Ladybug outted her to one guy who clearly seemed to be on her side more and neither of them did anything to inform anyone else of the truth.)
And when she returns to the school and the classmates, it isn’t out of nowhere. Once she was no longer sick, she was planning to continue some ruse. We clearly see how despondent Lila was over her situation and the feeling that she’s on her own and no one would side with her over Scar. This was deep. It shows real fears and feelings on Lila’s part. And it’s telling that it was the assurance from Marinette and support from her classmates that convinced her to rejoin the class. It doesn’t look like she would have had the willingness or perhaps the courage to do so if Marinette hadn’t reassured Lila that they had her back and had taken steps to try and help her, even when she wasn’t there and as of yet had done nothing to warrant it.
Here we see a Lila who is vulnerable and real. Who is clearly impacted by events on a deeper and more personal and meaningful level—or at least better than “GRR! Superhero revealed I was lying about her to a boy I like! I shall join the terrorist attacking the city and potentially destroy the WORLD for revenge!”
In this way, Lila is portrayed more like a normal girl. Since the narrative isn’t trying to play her off like she’s supposed to be some master manipulator the way canon does, Lila for all intents and purposes IS a normal teenage girl. A normal teenage girl who was humiliated and injured by someone with more power and social status than she can fight back against. She’s less of an archetype and more of a person with her own thoughts and feelings and ultimately choices which—even if we don’t like or agree with, we can at least see and understand.
Her actions are reasonable. Not just in that we as the audience can empathize with them but that they make sense. For Lila’s character, for her personality, and for someone in her position.
4. No plot armor.
SL Lila’s plans don’t just seamlessly work out. If anything, they go very wrong very quickly. Even before Scar calls her out, Adrien already made it clear that he knows she’s a liar. This effectively ruins her plan to try and get his interest and not just in the “Adrien being nice but not in to her” way. Furthermore, as she’s revealed as a liar in front of the entire class, we clearly see some of her classmates (Alya) continue to take issue with her later on. And even the ones who don’t have such issues are at least fully aware of Lila’s personality and don’t allow her to fool or manipulate them.
Sure, she still tries to manipulate her mom and the school to avoid having to go back, but that doesn’t last that long. And in Lila’s defense at that period of time, she was legitimately sick as a result of her dip in the fountain.
So it’s pretty clear that Lila lacks the plot armor that she had in canon. But it’s not just that Lila experiences losses, it’s also in the ways she succeeds. And unlike Canon Lila, SL Lila is not reliant on the plot to accomplish anything or make things work in her favor.
Some classmates still consider her friends. She’s still welcomed back—even with a bit more trepidation than before. She gets some epic zingers on Chloe and Scar. She got to have another interview with Alya just to be able to go on at length about how horrible Scar is. She manages to get on live TV just to heckle Scar. And over time, more and more people are seeing the problems with Scar.
Lila still gets some victories. Certainly not as many and not as big as what she gets in canon, but at least they don’t feel so forced. And they’re entertaining to see.
Which delves a bit more into an additional point I wanted to make…
5. There are consequences and responses to Lila and her lies.
With Canon Lila, everyone is in this weird sort of limbo where they automatically believe Lila JUST ENOUGH to not question her but at the same time NOT ENOUGH to actually follow through with some of her lies. In Chameleon, Lila claims to have and then magically be cured of Tinnitus and Bustier believes her just enough to rearrange the seats for her at her will but not enough to require some doctor’s note or confirmation of either the presence or recovery from the medical issue—even in the event the former could be overlooked, the latter could NOT and any school or teacher worth their salt would require SOME proof to discontinue an accommodation for someone with a disability because that would be a liability. In Ladybug, Lila claimed Marinette pushed her down stairs and the adults believed her just enough to admonish Marinette but not enough to get Lila actual medical attention, which is a liability and gross negligence. In Ono-chan, Nino believes Lila’s lies about needing Adrien to help tutor her just enough to give her an opening to go to his place but not enough to follow through, check up on her afterwards, or reasonably consider that maybe the supermodel with the super strict father might not be the best person to tutor her and he should ask for help from Max or Sabrina instead?
Each and every time, Lila is believed in the exact way she wants to the exact extent that would most benefit her with minimal effort on her part when it shouldn’t work that way. Even if we disregard how stupidly obvious many of her lies are, there is something wrong when they believe her enough to trust what she says over anyone else telling them otherwise but not enough to follow through on what that belief should then involve. They believe her when she says someone pushed her down the stairs but not enough to get her medical attention? Make sure she has no broken bones or internal bleeding? This has the issue of ruining the suspension of disbelief and making it look like the problem isn’t Lila being amazingly smart and evil so much as it is everyone around Lila being infuriatingly stupid and negligent.
Scarlet Lady nixes that problem in one episode by having Lila be revealed as a liar immediately, but furthermore follows up on it and the fallout of those lies. Nothing big or major or life-ruining—it’s middle school, after all. But the impact is still there.
Even episodes later, we see effects of Lila’s earlier lies. Chloe of course keeps referencing them in their encounters and yeah, it is reason for no one to really take Lila’s word against Scar’s—at least at first. Alya and Adrien both give her some pretty evil looking stares, showing that even five episodes later they both still very much remember what she did and do not approve of her getting free jewelry. Alya in particular stands out. She is shown to bear such a grudge against Lila for lying on her blog that she holds no sympathy for her being sick. And in the second intermission, she looks physically pained when she has to ask Lila for an interview on why she hates Scar. Something she had apparently sworn she would never do again after being fooled the first time. And something Lila looks completely overjoyed to do. There are people who are angry with Lila. They have every reason and every right to be. But it doesn’t have to mean the end of the world for her. It just means that there needs to be something.
The classmates don’t have to be made out to be stupid to make Lila work. They are canonically very kind and forgiving people. But canon makes them come off that way more because the lack of continuity seems to erase the lessons of previous episodes or somehow make them forget that certain people are horrible.
Zoe fixes this and a lot of problems in canon by having not just the classmates but EVERYONE in Paris remember and respond to things that have happened previously, even if just in little ways. Given how little room Zoe has to work with, this is HUGE. Simply adding comments here and there puts the scenes from canon in a new light and makes the classmates feel more fleshed out and like…dare I say it: PEOPLE.
The difference from Canon has a lot to do with how everyone else reacts to Lila, which makes these other characters and Lila appear more real and like fleshed out people rather than caricatures who only exist and move as the plot requires. They don’t have to bash Lila or try to light her on fire for it to be clear that Lila isn’t a good person and that there are consequences to her actions.
This is all leading up to the real possibility of…
6. Character arc?
It says something that contrary to most expectations, Lila is not what one would consider to be redeemed in Scarlet Lady. Lila is not a good person here just because she rejoins the class and becomes their friend and Zoe at no point tries to pretend that she is.
Marinette and other classmates made the choice to reach out and try to befriend Lila, but unlike most other arcs in other stories, this doesn’t result in Lila being redeemed. And she in no way got Lila to admit she was wrong and try to be a good person. 
Lila is not necessarily forgiven or absolved of what she did. Nor is anything Lila did magically erased. All Marinette did and all she had to do was encourage Lila to not run away now that the truth was out. She helped convince her to return to the class with everyone fully knowing what she’s done and the type of person that she is and move forward with that. She informs Lila that despite her lies, there are people in the class who genuinely care about her and are worried about her. 
Hell, it’s not even all up to Marinette. We see Alix sending messages to Lila encouraging her to join the class for Marinette’s birthday party. Sabrina fully admitted to inviting Lila to that party. Same with Rose, who has also been expressed to be worried about Lila. There are members of the class who are shown to care about her and who were noted to have made an effort to help Lila even after what had happened. Because they consider her a friend despite what she did, and that’s what friends do. All they asked was that Lila stop with the lies, stop with running away, and give people a chance.
And the result is the more mellow but passive aggressive Lila Rossi we see in Scarlet Lady. Not a Lila who is a good person or who is redeemed. This is a Lila who is at least honest with everyone about the sort of person that she is. She’s not pretending like she was in canon. She’s not being fake. She’s not putting on a mask of niceness anymore. This is a Lila who is fully acknowledged by everyone to have been a liar, to still be very selfish, and in some ways...a bad influence.
With a few episodes left, perhaps there is more we’ll see of Lila’s development and who she’ll become. Maybe we’ll get to see her take the steps to become better. To be a good friend, a good person, and maybe even a better hero than Scar. I don’t know for sure just yet what Zoe has planned for a character like Lila, but I do know what I see here:
A good start.
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maspers · 4 months
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Ranking the Miracucast by how good of a Doctor Who Companion they'd be.
Marinette: She'd be great at it, but she would also hate it and just want it to be over. She's tired and has no time for this shenaniganry. Please give her this chance to not be involved. 5/10
Alya: Would have SO MANY QUESTIONS. Could do very well, but I can see her veering dangerously close to Adam Mitchell territory. Careful there, Alya. 7/10
Adrien: Yes. 10/10
Nino: I think he'd be a decent TARDIS passenger, but he's the type that'd be part of an ensemble. Wouldn't work as well as a solo companion. 4/10
Chloe: Sorry Chloe fans, but no. The Doctor can pull a redemption arc out of anyone, but they also have no patience for bullcrap. It's just not happening no matter how much I want it to. 1/10
Sabrina: I think she would be great, but the fandom would not like her as a companion. 6/10
Mylene: Yeah, she would not like it. 0/10
Ivan: If Mylene isn't going, then neither is he. 0/10
Rose: Would be absolutely hilarious due to her name alone. Accompanying a Classic Doctor might be better for her. 7/10
Juleka: I don't care what you say she would be excellent and the fandom would love her. Ironically would probably fit better with a NuWho Doctor. 10/10
Kim: The Doctor does not want Kim in the TARDIS. Kim has been in the TARDIS at least once, and the Doctor has vowed that it will be the last time. They're wrong. 4/10
Max: The Doctor would ADORE Markov. Max would be Markov's plus one. 7/10 by proxy
Alix: Pretty sure she already is a companion. Like. In canon. We haven't seen it but it's definitely happened, fight me. Alix/10
Nathaniel: I want to say he'd be great but in my heart I know he would be Very Stressed. Definitely would not want to travel with the Doctor, but would keep getting dragged along by his friends. The fandom would love him though. 5/10
Lila: As she is now? Absolutely not. The Doctor would despise her. -10/10, BUUUUUUT if she was picked up before Volpina (or pre-Chameleon at the latest) I think she could be redeemed like in the Scarlet Lady AU. She would be hilarious. She gives me Turlough vibes. If the Doctor can deal with Turlough and Missy then he can deal with Lila. She has the potential to be unique and have an interesting character arc compared to other companions, and let's be honest NuWho needs something unique and interesting. 8/10
Luka: Like Nino, he works better as part of ensemble. Would be an excellent supporting character for Marinette or Juleka if they were companions, or maybe be a very cool Oneshot Companion like Wilf. 3/10
Kagami: The Doctor would have their work cut out for them, because Kagami is a "stab first ask questions later" person and the Doctor doesn't vibe with that normally. Neither The Doctor nor Kagami would be happy with this arrangement. So naturally Kagami's sole season would be one of the best in the entire show. 9/10
Marc: He would travel with either the Second or Thirteenth Doctors. He would do wonderfully, but his seasons would definitely be more focused on the Doctor than Marc himself. Sorry Marc. 7/10
Ondine: Is too busy keeping Kim out of trouble. And as stated previously, the Doctor does not want Kim in the TARDIS. 2/10
Felix: I just don't think it would work. Felix could definitely be a major recurring character, but somehow I can't really see him actually being a companion proper. He does get bonus points for being British. Perhaps instead of being a companion he spends his free time annoying Torchwood. 3/10
Zoe: She'd be great. But the universe would be Very Cruel to her. People will die, and she will not be happy about it. 8/10
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flightfoot · 2 months
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ML Fanfic Recs for 2023: 10K - 20K Words
So I’ve been going through and adding particularly good fics I’ve read throughout the year. Only Complete fics, of course. Enjoy!
Chat Noir and Marinette decide to fake date in order to get Buttercup jealous enough to confess. Why won’t that boy make a move on such a wonderful girl as Marinette? And why is he beginning to hope that Buttercup stays blind?
Adrien wakes up in Nino’s arms. Neither of them have any explanation for this, considering they were nowhere near each other the night before. 
Marinette and Zoe uncover a ring stashed away in a closet. Why does it have an unusual effect on Chloe?
Felix isn’t careful enough when he goes snooping around the Agreste Mansion. Gabriel decides that he can’t let him roam free.
Kim bets Alix that she won’t be able to attend all of her friends’ weddings in a row. She has never been one to turn down a challenge.
All this and more below the break!
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May I Introduce Myself, Your Highness? by @chocoluckchipz
Whether picking up a stray animal off the streets or saving a dying child at the market, Adrien had always strived to be the best version of himself. Truly, he would've been the perfect candidate to be snatched up by a kwami, were he an orphan, dying somewhere remote after a short life full of nothing but suffering and misery. Yet as it stood, the sole heir to the French throne had little to complain about. Apart from, perhaps, a complete absence of a love life. That is until a mysterious girl, wandering around his gardens at night, catches his attention.
I love Fantasy AUs. It’s a bit unclear what’s happening at first, but it all gets explained in the last chapter. Also don’t worry about the age gap between Marinette and Adrien at the start of the story, I promise it’s not a problem in the end.
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do you think I have forgotten about you? by @roseinaugust
Based on the song 'About You' by The 1975. Memory Loss. Told in alternating time lines, one leading up to and one dealing with the aftermath of Marinette relinquishing the Miracle Box and the guardianship. Marinette struggles with her life after losing her memory, though there is a persistent voice that calls to her that always seems just out of reach in her memory.
Beautiful memory loss fic here, with seeing Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s relationship before she gave up the Miracle box, juxtaposed with the present day, when Adrien is only a stranger to her. I could really feel how Marinette was struggling with navigating these new circumstances, with her friends seeming to expect her to remember, to be who she was to them, to Adrien especially, before, and her just... not knowing whether she can do that. It’s got a happy ending though, for those who are concerned about that.
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Creative Lies and Destructive Truths by @azuriteartist
Alya and Lila are two sides of a never-ending fight. The fight between truth and lies, between honesty and deception, between justice and personal gain. And now they have the powers to elevate that fight to a city-wide level.
Can Alya stop the deception before it destroys the city? And can Lila stop the truth before it destroys her?
So everyone who’s been around my blog for awhile knows how much I love Alya getting the spotlight (I mean my sideblog alyaappreciation is dedicated to her, because frankly, she needs it), and azurite’s lovely fic here is no exception. Fu ended up giving Tikki to Lila and Plagg to Alya. There actually isn’t tension between them at first, they get along well to start with, but Plagg knows Lila’s lying about things and eventually pushes Alya to take action once they grow alarming, until the two of them are both accusing each other of being liars as superheroes, and the public doesn’t know what to believe. 
I’m betting there’s more of this AU to come. I hope so, I love the consideration and agency it gives to both Alya and Lila.
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How Marinette Learned to Stop Worrying And Love The Ball by @rosie-b
Hidden from the crowds thronging around the busy fairy portal in Paris's town square, a fae gate sits at the edge of the forest, locked, rusty, and full of ancient magic. Marinette thinks that this abandoned gate must not work anymore... but one day, a fairy disguised as a black cat steps through it.
Ah, Fantasy Soulmate AUs, my beloved XD. This ain’t the only one of this fic type I’m gonna be recommending. This is just a cute fluff fic without much strife. I love Marinette and Chat Noir being able to be childhood friends via his visits, even if he has to pretend to be her cat whenever he comes over, and I ESPECIALLY adore Alya being his chaperone and quickly becoming friends with Marinette in her own right. It ain’t a complicated plot, but it is a nice and warm fic.
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Vengeance Noire by @phiellydinyia
After a horrific argument with his father, Adrien escaped from the mansion with his heart in pieces. In hindsight, it made sense why an akuma was sent his way. He shouldn't have let his emotions get the better of him.
But he never expected Plagg to be even more upset than he was. He never expected his own kwami to be akumatized. To become the threat of a city he swore to protect. And what's worse is the fact that Chat Noir can't jump in to save this one.
But Ladybug can. And that's why he has to find her as quickly as possible, suit or no suit.
I love some good Adrien angst, especially with a delicious side order of Plagg and Adrien’s bond with each other. Even as Adrien’s barely functional, though, he’ll do everything in his power to save Plagg, even if Plagg wishes he wouldn’t go quite that far. 
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the best laid plans (of bugs and bakers) by @mexicancat-girl
Paris is buzzing with the appearance of a new ladybug-themed hero, Scarabella.
Alya decides to use her second hero identity to help her best friend Marinette. A bit of her flirting with Marinette is bound to make Marinette's crushes jealous and finally ask her out! Her plan is fool-proof…!
Except when it's not. Not enough people are talking about Scarabella flirting with Marinette. How can Alya properly help her best friend if the news can't be bothered to cover Marinette's budding romance with Scarabella and only posts things about Marinette with Chat Noir?! So Alya puts her all into her plan, upping up her flirting each time she appears as the newbie hero Scarabella.
This totally does not backfire in any way.
I adore fics that center on Alya, I haven’t exactly been shy about that fact. This is a nice one for some Alyanette adorableness! (And some Scarabella and Chat banter, I really enjoyed reading that as well). “Fake” flirting to make crushes jealous tends to turn real very quickly, and this is no exception. It’s hilarious, Alya’s the last one to figure out that her romantic relationship with Marinette is very much real XD.
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Control by @generalluxun
A fun and rebellious gesture by her friend Zoé leaves Marinette accidently in possession of something more precious than she ever expected to hold.
It's a blessing. It's a curse. It's life itself.
She has no idea what to do. There is so much wrapped up not only in WHAT, but also WHO. Her friends and partners can offer advice, consolation, and support, but in the end when you are both Ladybug and the Guardian you are the one in control.
This is a fantastic SentiChloe fic. Marinette ends up with Chloe’s amok and isn’t sure what to do with it, whether to try to give it to Chloe, whether to try and use it to make Chloe a better person, or whether to just hold onto it secretly. Along the way, she ends up getting into Chloe’s head, getting a better idea of Chloe’s mindset, what she thinks and feels when she does the things she does. I loved seeing her struggle with figuring out what to do, it ended up being a great character study for both Marinette and Chloe!
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Within Your Heart by Inkyibis
It's Valentine's Day and Ladybug just wants to her superhero partner to find his love.
And what she wants, the Lucky Charm will create.
If only she could remember what it is she did last night.
Adrino fic here! Marinette’s drunk and feeling awful that her superhero partner is alone on Valentine’s (she’s in a loving and committed relationship with Alya), so she creates a Lucky Charm to help Chat find love! In this universe, Ladybug’s Lucky Charms have the power to create new rules for the universe to follow, such as making one that demands that if you have any magic in you, you have to tell the truth or else you’ll freeze. Or in Adrien’s case, that he has to wake up in the arms of his true love every day XD. It’s very sweet and I love both Adrien’s and Nino’s relationship, and the relationship between the rest of the Miracuteam members as well, even though that’s not the focus.
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This Distance Between Us by @coffeebanana
After defeating Monarch, the search for the Peacock Miraculous brings Ladybug and Chat Noir to a hotel room in London. But it's hard to enjoy the victory when Ladybug can't figure out why Chat's been so quiet, why he seems so sad. How's she supposed to help if she has no idea what's wrong?
This is a great Sentiadrien fic, with Chat freaking out about it and feeling like he’s not worthy of Ladybug’s affections, but not telling her what’s actually wrong because he thinks she won’t want him anymore if she knows. Of course, he’s wrong about that.
Also there’s a pretty intense confrontation with Felix, pissing Chat Noir off is a bad idea.
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Auspicious by The_Rabbit42
Entry #6 for AU April 2023: Reverse-Crush Kwami-Swap
Adrien is quiet and reserved whenever he's not consumed by stress. And between extracurriculars and modeling and his responsibilities as Mister Bug, he's often stressed. He appreciates his kitten, but he loves his bright and outgoing classmate. Not that she knows that.
Marinette's parents have always allowed her a good deal of independence, but she's felt her confidence skyrocket since getting Plagg. Simply being Lady Noire allows her to be more flirty and free. She likes her friends, but she loves her stoic and heroic partner. Not that he knows that.
This is just a lovely fic that’s exactly what it says on the tin. I like how Rabbit goes into what Lady Noire’s and Mister Bug’s dynamic is like here especially.
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Of Crisp Days and Crispier Cakes by @scribeofrhapsody
Gabriel wants to not be sick. Adrien wants to make a cake. Nathalie wants a chill birthday. Maybe they can help each other. Maybe it'll be a disaster.
So this starts off as just the cute fluff fic of Adrien and Gabriel attempting to make Nathalie a birthday cake that the summary indicates, but soon evolves into a more action-filled drama fic when Gabriel makes the terrible decision to akumatize a cashier while sick... a cashier who happens to be in the same shop as Nathalie and Adrien. Who are willing to put their secret identities at risk in order to save each other.
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After Irritation Do Us Start by @scribeofrhapsody
It was the most difficult decision of his life, but Gabriel did it. He let go of Hawk Moth. He moved on from Emilie. Now, all he wants is to enjoy life with his son and new wife. Unfortunately, a certain nephew of his seems to be determined to unearth what Gabriel needs to remain buried.
I love this look at what could have happened if during the season 3 finale, Gabriel had decided enough was enough and given up on being a supervillain, moving on with Nathalie instead. How much better things could have been if he’d just decided to stop - though Adrien still wouldn’t be happy to discover why Hawk Moth had suddenly stopped attacking.
Oh yeah, there’s an OC here called Gerald who Adrien’s puzzled by, since he’d never heard of this guy before the past year. At the end of the story you find out why he’s included in the story. It’s not a major thing, but it is kind of funny and fits well with the rest of the story.
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Rocking the Cat-Eyes by @buggachat
“I like being a girl.”
“That’s the alcohol talking,” Marinette snorted.
“I’ve always been a li’l jealous,” Adrien admitted.
“... Of what?”
“That you get to be a girl,” Adrien murmured, “and I don’t.”
When Marinette and Adrien host Girls' Night at their apartment, Adrien is easily welcomed to attend as "one of the girls"... but has a bit too much to drink. Some drunken confessions are spilt, some assumptions are made, and most of all...
Adrien is confused.
This is a great Genderfluid!Adrien fic. Marinette actually figures out that Adrien’s not entirely cis before he does, and tries to let him know she’s supportive... but unfortunately Adrien comes to some incorrect conclusions...
Anyway it’s a lot of fun, and Adrien rocks a dress and makeup!
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Desperation by OuzoAthena11
Marinette is at the end of her rope. There seems to be no hope for defeating Monarch, not now that he has most of the Miraculous and has figured out how to transfer their abilities to others.
Tikki has an idea: Awaken the memories of who Marinette was in the past to see if any of their knowledge across time and the multiverse could help.
But this means that Marinette might forever be changed, and so will Chat Noir, if he should choose to do this.
Little did they know that they knew each other in their past lives, and how frequently they crossed paths and even were a couple... well, that meant that they are soulmates.
Star Wars crossover fic here, with Marinette as Obi-wan and Adrien as Quinlan. I like how the reincarnation aspect was handled here, with Obi-wan’s and Quinlan’s memories being prominent and them “waking up” in a way at first, but those settling back down after a bit and Marinette and Adrien going back to being mostly themselves, but with a lot more life experience under their belts and some cool new abilities - which comes in handy for taking down Monarch!
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Family by @unecoccinellenoire
“You know,” Nino grins, “if you need advice on being a big brother in a year or two I’m sure I could help.”
The bottom of Adrien’s stomach dropped out.
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Adrien struggles with the concept of his father and Nathalie having children.
So this is a world where Adrien and Marinette managed to defeat Gabriel, taking his Miraculous, with them giving him an ultimatum: they won’t out him as being Hawk Moth so long as he doesn’t cause any more trouble and does right by Adrien. Gabriel does, in fact, move on finally to Nathalie, giving Adrien a lot of mixed feelings to deal with. He still loves them both despite everything, but he’s also angry at them and he definitely does NOT want them to have children, both because he thinks they’d like any biological child they had more (he’s also harboring guilt from indirectly being the cause of his mom’s death), and because frankly, they screwed up too much with Adrien for him to want them to inflict that on another child.
And then there’s also Adrien dealing with the realization that he’s a Senti on top of that and wondering why he and Felix look the way they do, what Emilie’s reasons were.
It’s mostly just Adrien getting to talk things out, navigating this emotionally fraught situation he finds himself in now that the dust is settled.
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Galaxy In Your Eyes by @liiinerle
Arriving in Paris, Kagami almost immediately finds herself assaulted by a dark, infectious butterfly. When she wakes up, a ladybug-themed superhero is standing over her, and her eyes are like holes into an empty, vast, and incredibly alluring universe...
An AU where the two main Miraculous function differently from the norm.
Nice Marigami fic here! Or should I say, Ladygami - technically Marinette doesn’t exist, only Ladybug, who’s an immortal creation goddess, or something like that. But she still fights to protect Paris from Hawk Moth alongside Chat Noir, who is still a normal, squishy human underneath the suit.
Anyway, there’s a but of inspiration from Nimona here, with a lot of people being scared of Ladybug because she’s a bit... out there, especially when she shapeshifts to have like, 6 extra arms and a lobster tail. Kagami’s into it though XD
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Stay Weird, Ladybug by @diadraws
Ladybug receives an invitation at the end of a patrol!
Contains some of my own headcanons, most notably: MIRACULOUS HOLDERS ARE CREATURES!!! They get actual animal traits when transformed instead of just a costume. My tumblr is diadraws where I elaborate some more on my headcanons which may add some additional context to this fic if you are interested!
CONTENT WARNINGS: *major* depictions of panic attacks, discussion of child neglect/abuse, and a minor emetophobia (vomiting) warning towards the end.
I’ve loved the comics and fanart I’ve seen dia create for this AU, with Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s more animalistic designs, so reading a fic set in that AU was a real treat! It’s mostly just a Ladrien sleepover at Adrien’s house, but it’s very nice and cozy, with some good character development of Adrien helping Ladybug with panic attacks she keeps having.
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Trapped by @consistent-chaos-corporation
Felix asks to visit Adrien as soon as his father is gone. Gabriel catches him snooping, looking for Adrien's Amok.
Everything gets worse from there.
Damn, poor Felix. He came to try and help Adrien, but instead Gabriel stole his Amok, forcing him to obey his commands, holding him prisoner in his basement for months. If you want some quality Felix whump, this is the fic for you!
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When Secrets Come Undone by SortaArtsy
Ladybug promised not to tell Adrien... but she never promised not to confide in Cat Noir. What happens when Ladybug unintentionally vents to the one person who wasn't meant to know any of it?
****MAJOR SEASON 5 SPOILERS WARNING! ****
May not be season 6 compliant when it comes out.
This is a “Adrien finds out what everyone’s been keeping from him post-S5″ fic, and I think it’s handled really well! He feels very hurt, betrayed, and disbelieving initially about being a Senti and his father being Monarch (...mostly being a Senti, it ain’t that hard to believe that Gabriel was a supervillain), and is angry at everyone who kept it secret from him, but he still handles it well, going and talking to the people involved, getting their reasoning and perspective. 
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Wanted: Catnap by SortaArtsy
Adrien Agreste has barely been sleeping, trying to be everything expected of him. What happens when he spreads himself too thin? Sick!Adrien/ Cat Noir
Adrien’s just pushing himself so hard, trying to do his regular duties, until his illness forces him to rest. I love how concerned everyone is over him - even GABRIEL eventually relents and wants him to rest. It’s just cute and nice and fluffy.
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Felix is Fine by SortaArtsy
Felix wakes up sick, but is determined to keep it under wraps. Kagami refuses to be fooled. Feligami fluff. Implied past trauma/ abuse, though nothing explicit. Set post S5 so there are SOME SPOILERS!
If you want a Felix sick fic, this story’s the fic for you! I like how Felix and Kagami actually talk about why Felix is so determined to keep the extent of his illness hidden, what caused him to feel like he needs to do that, and Kagami’s understanding about it. Colt sucks.
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Our Tales Are Endless (That’s Why I Tell Them) by @joonapeach
Marinette lives a simple life - one surrounded by pretty dresses, fresh macaroons, and the calming view of Paris. It's a life she thinks she has always fit in.
And yet sometimes, when a certain boy comes by her shop with a flower and a new adventurous story, she can't help but wonder if there's something else she's missing.
This was a truly gorgeous story. It’s the classic “Marinette gives up the Miracle Box and loses her memories” storyline, exploring her life two years later. Even though she’s had time to heal and recover, she still feels like she’s missing something, something big. At least Adrien’s stopping by regularly to tell her stories about Ladybug and Chat Noir, even if she doesn’t understand why they resonate with her so well.
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a winter so warm by @rosekasa
winters were hard for even the best of vampires, but at least adrien had marinette to keep him warm with her cuddles.
december was going to suck without her. so it was only to be expected to get extra cuddles in before she left, right?
(well, not really, considering those heating supplements he was taking, but she didn't need to know about that).
This one’s mostly just cute cuddly adorableness! It’s basically like all those “Marinette gets the Ladybug trait of needing to cuddle up to someone for warmth”, but with Adrien instead. And of course featuring Marinette being a very talented witch who just wants to help Adrien stay warm when she isn’t there XD.
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The 8 Weddings of Alix Kubdel by The_Rabbit42
The bet is simple: with the Rabbit Miraculous, Alix will be speaking at all of her friends' weddings. No matter what age they tie the knot, she'll be there looking the same. From Alix's perspective, she's going to each ceremony and reception one right after another in a nonstop bender.
This fic’s a lot of fun! I loved seeing all the different weddings, as well as how Alix slowly felt more and more out of place, with going forwards in time. Some of the weddings could get, uh. Exciting as well XD. And while there’s been years in-between Alix’s appearances for her friends at the wedding, for Alix, it’s only been a few hours, if that...
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and I thought I heard you sing by @into-september
When Hawkmoth has been defeated and unmasked, Marinette is left with two problems and no solutions.
First, that Adrien is further out of her reach than ever before, and no-one can tell her how to get to him.
Second, that Cat Noir is far more troubled than she knew, and the only thing she can do is wait for him at the place they agreed to meet.
It’s your classic “Hawkmoth’s defeated and taken into custody but that means Adrien’s in for a rough time” sort of fic. Everyone’s worried about Adrien and wants to give him what comfort and support that they can, but he’s being hidden away from everyone (which I mean, honestly that’s a good move), so that’s not really possible. Plus, Ladybug’s noticed that Chat’s having a tough time in his civilian life, which worries her.
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Time Locked AU by PumpkinPatchworkQuilt
In Time Locked, instead of just fixing the damage it puts everything post akuma back to exactly how it was, people, buildings, memories, time. Since it’s more extreme than in canon it requires both The Cat and The Ladybug to complete the Cure,(and visually contains both as well). Because of this only those with a miraculous can recall the events and only those who cast the Cure will have any lasting effects from the fight and even then it’s limited to scars, phantom aches, getting a tad more muscle definition and of course spatial displacement in extreme cases.
Since technology is slightly resistant or incompatible with the miraculous magic, footage of right after the akuma attack will survive, on a technicality and as such only reappears when the time catches up the the recorded time, that could be minutes, hours, or days depending on how long it took to defeat the akuma.
First story: Alya’s Guide to Surviving a Magical Terrorist Which You Can’t Remember
In a world where the fight against Hawkmoth is kept secret from the public, one Alya Césaire sets out to bring the whole thing to light, (and possibly win a journalism award while she's at it)
This was an interesting AU, I loved the focus on Alya especially and her investigative abilities, figuring out that there was a battle between good and evil taking place in the background of everyone’s lives even though most signs of it are wiped clean after the battle’s over. And Adrien and Marinette pick up on her cleverness and want her to help! I love how much appreciation this fic shows for Alya.
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Stitched Together by @nedjsmlfavs
Stitch Witch Marinette was just supposed to be having a nice, terrifying outing with her best friends. She never expected to find a magically trapped kitten, but here we are! Whatever happened to this poor little guy?
Poor Adrien, being transformed and chained up for ages, having no idea that he was gonna be rescued. But at least he got to have fun at Marinette’s place as a cat! 
Most of this fic is adorable, though with some dark undertones lying in wait. After all, SOMEONE chained up that poor little kitty...
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Love Remains by @kasienda
Marinette stood in the center of her own room. The pink walls were adorned with sketches and photos, and other unfamiliar souvenirs of her life. Her eyes jumped curiously from a hand made purse to a bowler hat decorated with a feather to a cork board covered in pictures of her friends.
She loved her room. Which made sense, she supposed. She had theoretically been the one to decorate it, but she didn’t remember decorating it. And now, the room was like a cave filled with treasure.
Because each little piece of it held a secret - some part of herself that meant something to her, a clue to what her life had been like before…
Before she had woken up in the arms of a boy wearing a magic black catsuit. His heartbroken sobs had caused something in her chest to twist painfully. She hadn’t understood why then, but from that very first moment she knew she had wanted to make things better for him.
She had no idea how to do that now that she understood what she had lost.
Sixteen years worth of memories.
The echoes of which were papered onto the walls and notebooks of her room just waiting to be rediscovered.
No one else seemed to share her excitement.
Unlike most “Marinette loses her memories” fics, this one isn’t super angst for Marinette - she takes it in stride. Now, everyone else, not so much. It’s really interesting seeing her contrast who she appeared to be before with who she is now, particularly when it comes to her previous self being in love with Adrien and not Chat, while she’s in love with Chat and not Adrien. Of course eventually she finds out certain things that makes that make a lot more sense. She isn’t so different from how she was before after all...
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Betrayal by @jennagrinsoverml
MAJOR EPHEMERAL SPOILERS!!
Ladybug planned to use Viperion's power of Second Chance to get Chat's identity to Su-han without Chat knowing or agreeing.
Of course, then the world went crazy, and she didn't go through with it.
But when an akuma exposes Ladybug's plan to Chat, he doesn't know that. He just knows that his Lady betrayed him.
He deals with his feelings in the best, most mature way he can think of.
He disappears.
So I, like a lot of others, wanted more follow-up on Ephemeral, and particularly on the betrayal of trust it was for Marinette to try to trick Chat Noir into giving up his identity to a third party without his knowledge or consent (I wrote my own take on that at the time, called Transcient, that I’m proud of). This fic did a good job of exploring that, with Adrien reacting in a manner that made sense to me (repressing his negative feelings about the situation as much as possible and trying to justify it to himself, but still feeling terrible despite his own best efforts), and how Marinette realized that she messed up, since Luka keeping it secret that he knows hers and Chat’s secret identities caused her to be upset as well. It did a great job of exploring those negative feelings and letting everyone talk things out, explain their viewpoints, and rebuild their relationships afterwards, which is something I really value.
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Swimming in Circles by @generalluxun
Life has moved on for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She's not where she thought she would be seven years ago, but she's still in a good place. Classes, hobbies, friends, her life is full despite the lingering shades of her faded yet sweet middle-school romance. Then just as quick at the first time, someone drops into her life and turns her into an absolute mess once more.
Love and crushes might be her undoing, but she's got a little more experience this time to weather the storm. This fateful stranger stirs memories as well as emotions inside of her, and with a forthrightness her old self would be jealous of, Marinette takes the plunge.
So this is a Trans fic, with Marinette’s new crush being a trans version of a certain classmate who she doesn’t recognize, who’s changed a lot, for the better. I like how it deals with the baggage she has with that person, has her think that through.
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Three’s company by @torvalvt
Kagami has been doing her best for years to ignore her feelings for her friends. It doesn't help that Adrien and Marinette insist on spending as much time as possible with her, even going so far as inviting her along on their dates together. If only the affection she felt for them wouldn't get in the way of their relationship. Because it is growing harder and harder to tamp down her feelings with how close they are getting to her.
This is adorable. Adrien and Marinette really want Kagami to join their relationship and she just doesn’t dare hope for it. If you want some adorable Adrigaminette from Kagami’s perspective, I recommend checking this fic out!
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theerurishipper · 9 months
Text
A few more things because I am not done talking about this finale.
I know a lot of people think that this issue of Gabriel being seen as a hero and Marinette keeping the fact that Adrien is a sentimonster and that his father is Monarch is going to come back as a major plot point, or that Gabriel isn't really redeemed and that this isn't the end. And I'm not saying I have evidence that it's not going to turn out that way, but like... this is Miraculous we're talking about.
The show which famously tries to offer sympathy to bad people because of their tragic backstory by:
Trying to half-assedly "redeem" Natalie into some kind of super mother figure for Adrien, even though she enabled and participated in his abuse for years and never showed remorse for it, or even took accountability for it. Her callously killing Sentibug is never brought up again either. And she still does not give Adrien the Amok that helps him choose for himself or tell him he is a sentimonster, and yet is framed as a good parental figure for him.
Trying to redeem Andre Bourgeois and frame him as some kind of great person by having him adopt Zoe and send Chloe to live with her abuser by disowning her, even though it's his shitty parenting that let her get to this point. And letting him get off scot-free for all the times he abused his power as Mayor.
Trying to redeem Felix by glossing over such crimes as him giving all the Miraculous to Gabe, him committing genocide, him trying to ruin his cousin's life, him victim blaming Adrien, him returning Adrien's Amok to Gabe, and many such things. All because he had a tragic backstory and cared for sentimonster rights (even though he killed two on-screen with only regret for one of them) so that clearly means that he did nothing wrong and does not need to be held accountable for those things, even though he showed no remorse for it or desire to do better.
And the show which also famously ignores major plot points and leaves them behind with little to no resolution in favor of dropping new bombs on the audience, such as:
Choosing to ignore the Ladynoir conflict in Season 4 by having Chat Noir just push aside his legitimate grievances with Ladybug's bad decisions to continue being her emotional support partner. This conflict was not addressed ever again, even in Season 5, and was left without any resolution.
Neglecting any exploration of Chat Blanc beyond some obligatory mentions now and again to remind the audience of why the show needs more seasons.
The whole plot with the alternate love interests Luka and Kagami, which was built up across a whole season and dismissed within two episodes of the next season so that the writers could focus on the new Love Square drama they came up with for Season 4.
Luka's conflict about knowing Chat Noir and Ladybug's identities, which was written out in one episode, only for it to have been ultimately pointless in favor of having Kagami know it anyway.
These are great examples of how the show neglects to build up and conclude previously established plot points and conflicts in favor of substituting them with other ones and/or does the absolute minimum to somehow write them out in order to move the story forward and focus on other new plot points that they came up with for the new season.
From these, we can understand that:
Trauma is a valid excuse for everything, and a tragic backstory frees you from accountability unless you're Chloe.
And:
Previously established conflicts are not brought up or explored in any meaningful capacity in order to make way for new ones.
Knowing this, I think it's highly unlikely that the show will ever explore this idea of Gabriel not having truly become a martyr and a hero, and that even if it is the case, it will be neglected as a plot point in order to push this Lila thing to the front. At most, we will get a moment where Adrien learns the truth and instantly forgives Marinette for doing what his abuser asked because she did it out of love, and no one will question the implications of this in any meaningful way. This is because Adrien is not allowed to have feelings that inconvenience Marinette in any way, be it his hurt at her keeping secrets from him, or now her siding with his father and outright lying to him, because his role in the story is now that of Marinette's love interest and emotional support partner, and that's all he's good for. And as for Adrien acknowledging that Gabriel was a bad father again, combining the redemption that simply having trauma gives him and the fact that Thomas "Chloe is not an abused child" Astruc doesn't seem to understand the severity of such things, I doubt we will ever see him outright reject his father ever again.
For all these reasons, I really do believe that it is wishful thinking to expect this to be addressed in any way that matters. If it is not forgotten, it will be relegated to a single moment and forgotten after. That is, if it was ever meant to be explored. The writers of this show are... not the best at dealing with this sort of thing, after all. After all I've seen, it is not surprising to me at all that Gabriel was redeemed. There is a clear trend of characters with any motivation that could be construed as sympathetic or with a tragic backstory portrayed as being justified in their actions, having their actions erased and ignored or at the very least severely downplayed for the sake of making them out to be better than they are. Gabriel has been consistently given sympathetic scenes throughout the season, which culminated in this finale which absolves him of every wrongdoing.
And I know people feel like this is clearly not the end, but that's how a lot of people felt about the Ladynoir conflict in Season 4, and look how that turned out. This show has always been bad at dealing with nuance. An abused child is portrayed as irredeemable and evil, and her enabling father is portrayed as a good person for giving up on her (I don't even like her, but damn). There is a trend of demonizing those characters who really should not be, and offering sympathy to characters who haven't earned it. I have no trouble at all in believing that Gabriel is supposed to sympathized with and redeemed by the end. He gets his happy ending, he gets what he wanted, and his actions make the world a better place.
I've seen the idea that Gabriel actually lost floating around, but did he? He already knew he was dying, and he had, to some degree, come to terms with it. And in the end, he was clearly very happy with just dying if it meant being able to make his wish. His end is clearly portrayed as him making the ultimate sacrifice to wish for a better world, as one last good thing he does for his son. It's portrayed as him asking Marinette to hide all this from him to protect him. Of course, anyone with common sense can see that this is still really controlling and manipulative, but the show pretty clearly frames it as a selfless act. The line "all the times I tried to be a good father," isn't framed as the delusional statement it is. He's smiling in that scene, surrounded by light, and that's not the framing for someone who's supposed to be read as manipulative and evil at that point. The writers seem to genuinely believe that the man was a good father at some points. I've also seen others say that clearly Gabriel was not redeemed by the end because he refused Marinette's hand, but that's not really true. He did paralyze her, but then he freed her and returned all the Miraculous, and Marinette ends the season by fulfilling his dying wishes and letting the world know he was a hero. He paralyzed her, but then he also clearly listened to her. He was also genuinely emotional. Her words did reach him and it is framed as him making a "selfless choice" even though it clearly is not.
I've also seen people say Adrien's reaction isn't necessarily acceptance of Gabriel's heroism since he might be trying to cope with his loss by convincing himself Gabriel was a hero, or that abused children often cannot recognize that their parent is not a good person. And I agree, but that is clearly not what is happening here. Adrien has already expressed disgust for who his father is, and it is possible for him to fall back onto old thoughts and feelings regarding him, but that isn't what's going on here. This here, is Adrien being fed a lie that his father was a good man and a hero by people he trusts. This is Adrien being told what to think and feel, because there are statues of Gabriel being erected and Ladybug spreading the word that he is a hero. This is Gabriel's abuse being erased to portray him as good. And Adrien, after spending the whole season working up to calling Gabriel out, ends the season with hoping to be like him.
And I've seen arguments about how episodes like Chat Blanc and Ephemeral were there to show us that Adrien facing his father isn't a good idea because his reaction makes him vulnerable, but then... why would you write that! Why would you set the protagonist up with this plot point only to write reasons to leave him out of his own plot and character arcs? What about that is good writing? It only makes this finale more deserving of critique! It is not the defense it's trying to be. It just shows they couldn't care less about their own narrative.
I get that this could lead to a potential arc about trust and honesty and all that, but... we've done that before. How many times will Marinette learn the same lesson? How many times will Adrien forgive her for it? How can you even forgive something like this? And even if it all comes to light, what purpose does this serve in anyone's arc? Gabriel is dead, so there's no consequences for him. Marinette has been "learning" the same lesson for two seasons now, and not even losing all the Miraculous made her stop keeping secrets. And what more does it contribute to Adrien's arc to have him learn the truth later rather than now? How does it add to his story to know that everyone he trusts lied to him? Nothing, if you think about it. It really takes away from his story, because he can no longer confront the man who did this to him, he can no longer get that closure, because Gabriel is gone! Sure, it'll be dramatic and all, but that's all it is! But that is how Miraculous operates: shock value and dramatic scenes over consistency and character arcs. Which is why characters like Marinette aren't allowed to retain the lessons they should have learnt ages ago, and characters like Adrien are actively pushed away from their arcs to make way for some other drama.
And this is me saying this while believing they aren't going to bring it up anyway. How many times have we seen this kind of thing happen? For a conflict to be set up only to be ended unceremoniously with no proper conclusion? What reasons are there to believe that the show will actually follow through with this plot? Other than speculation, I mean. I don't see any. The ending did not indicate that there was anything wrong with what happened. The seasons prior set up the conflicts for the next season in the finale episodes. In Season 3, we had Gabe fixing the Peacock and Marinette becoming the guardian. In Season 4, we saw Monarch rise and Marinette lose all the Miraculous. In Season 5, we see Lila get the Butterfly Miraculous and that light that scared her or whatever it was. But we never see any set up for this being a plot point. There is no point in which we are supposed to think this is wrong. A set up, for example, would be something like Marinette looking to the Gabriel statue with a frown, or Adrien feeling unsettled somehow. But there's nothing like that. For all intents and purposes, Gabriel is done and there are new threats to move on to. And removing all that stuff with Lila, it just seems like it could be a solid series finale. The conflict is over, all the characters are back and together and happy, the main couple kisses as the theme music plays in the back in a scene that's clearly the sort of scene used in the ending of a show, and no one even hints at anything being wrong. It's all audience interpretation, and quite frankly there's no real reason to believe it's setting up something. Something was already set up and it wasn't the thought that this ending is in any way flawed. It's a charming, idyllic ending where all the characters are clearly happy and content, basking in the end of Monarch.
And what he did is not clear at all. Did he not actually rewrite the world? It seems like he just traded his life for Natalie's (and Emilie's???? Is that her?), because Hawkmoth still existed here, the Alliance rings still exist, which means everything happened exactly how it did, and the only thing that's changed is that Natalie has recovered. But this just makes the "clearly something isn't right" argument less valid. This isn't Gabriel's "ideal world," which needs to be fixed, this is just the normal world, where there is a statue of Gabriel only because Ladybug told everyone he was a hero. The things that are being done are completely against everything Gabriel ever believed in, so clearly the world is not based on his ideals, and it hasn't been rewritten. So, the only one really responsible for Gabriel being seen as a hero is Marinette (this is not a criticism of Marinette btw, just the writing). This is just the normal world, and the only thing that needs to be "fixed" is that Marinette should tell the truth. But the writers clearly think that Gabriel is fully redeemed, so there isn't anything that needs to be fixed. So why would they address this plot point again? They have no reason to.
And if he did rewrite the world, then the writers just made Gabe rewrite everything and everyone's memories so that he didn't have to be held accountable by anyone, especially the son he abused. That's going to be even harder to fix.
Any resolution to something I don't believe will be resolved anyway will undoubtedly a side story or a minor plot point. Remember, this is the show which is notorious for setting up plot points only to do nothing with them in the end. Everyone was so hyped about the resolution to Luka discovering both Mari and Adrien's identities only for the writers to decide Kagami fit that role better and shittily write Luka out in one episode. Everyone was talking about how Luka keeping secrets would undoubtedly have massive repercussions only for no one to give a shit about it and simply write Luka out for a few episodes and have him come back with no consequence in the finale. And this is a pattern for this show.
All this to say that no, we're probably not going to address this. It hasn't happened before, and I doubt it will happen this time. I've tried to give this show chance after chance, but it never delivered, and I don't trust it to do so anymore. I'll take all this back gladly if it does deal with this conflict well, but as of right now, I feel very confident in putting this post up.
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femmehysteria · 5 months
Text
Best Character Named X Poll
FOLLOW @best-character-named-x-poll
I'm doing a series of "Best Character Named X" polls where all the characters have the same first name but are from completely different media, feel free to send in name/charcacter suggestions, I'm posting one poll a day. New polls scheduled for 1:30PM GMT everyday.
ask box closed for now
WILL BE POSTING POLLS ON @best-character-named-x-poll FROM FEB 1ST
If your favourite character is not included in the poll very sorry i have either never heard of them or actively chose not to include them as theres only 6 characters per poll. Characters will only count of that is their first name, surnames do not count.
Round 85: David
Round 86: Tiffany
Round 87: Charlie
Round 88: Sandy
Round 89: Cody
Round 90: Amanda
Round 91: Jeremy
Past Polls and Poll Ideas under the cut
Names that I have a complete list for*
Caroline, Tyler, Louis, Leonard, Rebecca, Steve, Nicole, Isabelle, Victoria, Katherine, Jade, Alex, Sophie, Greg, Jake, Ellie, Isaac, Robin, Tony, Annie, Lisa, Margaret, Oliver, Clark, Kara, Phoebe, Emma, Ruby, Bart, Alfie, Beth, Julian, Nancy, Penny, Margaret, Tessa, Erica, Theresa, George, Kevin, Sebastian, Felix, Martin, Michael, Erin, Caleb, Helen, Charlotte, Kyle, Martha, Diana, Elsa, Gary, Zoe, Connor, Colin, Daisy, Eric, Maya, Adam, Andy, Magnus, Alma, Nora, Alice, Spike, Leon, Marcel, Kim, Juno, Sue, Chris, Otto, Donald, Daphne, Kate, Todd, Ned, Ken, Angel, Judy, Jo, Hazel, Naomi, Diego, Miranda, Joel, Lila, Duncan, Dexter, Meredith, Pearl, Lily, Malcolm, Napolean, Joan, Nico, Jamie, Nadia, Velma, Jill, Kiera, Rory, Evan, Tam, Klaus, Neil, Derek, Michelle, Luna, Laila, Cordelia, Zack, Imogen, Felicity, Cindy, Alicia, Kelly, Alan, April, Astrid, Delilah, Jodie, Claudia, Juliet, Karen, Jonas, Milo, Celia, Hannah, Joy, Ethan, Katya, Aria, Atticus, Ian, Cynthia, Faye, Frank, Boo, River, Corey, Gabrielle, Minerva, Ebony, Zia, Beverly, Rudy, Georgina
Names I have an incomplete list for (welcome to send character suggestions)
Richter, Sean, Troy, Cain, Agatha, Warren, Percy, Reggie, Mina, Ryan, Felicia, Dylan, Josh, Shirley, Debbie, Jared, June, Mabel, Ray, Chad, Moe, Hugh, Fearne, Christine, Joe, August, May, Scarlet, Alana, Leela, Manny, Dean, Francis, Mason, Oscar, Quinn, Guy, Ulrich, Wally, Yasmin, Tobias, Woody, Sabrina, Quentin, Margot, Alina, Matilda, Freya, Kendra, Angus, Ophelia, Leisel, Zelda, Adora, Piper, Scarlet, Sheila, Valentine, Laurie, Laurel, Fitz, Violet, Gabriel, Ford, Artemis, Owen, Bianca, Newton, Summer, Darcy, Noah, Taylor, Miriam, Hugh, Aurora, Hank, Henry, Dawn, Delia, Cosmo, Wanda, Zeke, Cecil, Aiden, Calvin, Ayesha, Beatrice, Parker, Chase, Hunter, Tina, Misty, Amaya, Amara, Harvey, Talia, Tatiana, Tanya, Orion, Eugene, Kit, Bo, Duke, Blue, Cameron, Rudolf, Mara, Marianne, Carl
Feel free to send more suggestions
*subject to change, you can still submit a character if there is no strikethrough if you think theres a character that its an absolute crime i dont add. Please don't suggest anything for the names with a strikethrough as they are polls that are already in my queue waiting to be published.
Past Polls
Round 1: Peter : WINNER: Peter Parker (Spider-Man)
Round 2: Elizabeth : WINNER: Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Round 3: Jason : WINNER: Jason Mendoza (The Good Place)
Round 4: Eve : WINNER: EVE (WALL-E)
Round 5: Fred : WINNER: Fred Jones (Scooby-Doo)
Round 6: Rachel : WINNER: Rachel (Animorphs)
Round 7: Arthur : WINNER: Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Round 8: Amy : WINNER: Amy Pond (Doctor Who)
Round 9: Tom : WINNER: Tom (Tom and Jerry)
Round 10: Claire : WINNER: Clare Devlin (Derry Girls)
Round 11: James : WINNER: James (Pokemon)
Round 12: Max : WINNER: Max (Black Sails)
Round 13: Simon : WINNER: Simon Belmont (Castlevania)
Round 14: Jane : WINNER: Jane Crocker (Homestuck)
Round 15: Victor : WINNER: Victor Nikiforov (Yuri On Ice)
Round 16: Mary : WINNER: Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins)
Round 17: Will : WINNER: Will Graham (Hannibal)
Round 18: Laura : WINNER: Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)
Round 19: Ben : WINNER: Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi (Star Wars)
Round 20: Chloe : WINNER: Chloe Price (Life Is Strange)
Round 21: John : WINNER: Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives)
Round 22: Lydia : WINNER: Lydia Deetz (Beetlejuice)
Round 23: Mark : WINNER: Marc Spector (Moon Knight)
Round 24: Jess : WINNER: Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)
Round 25: Theo : WINNER: Theobald Gumbar (Dimension 20: A Crown Of Candy)
Round 26: Sarah: WINNER: Sarah Jane Smith (Doctor Who)
Round 27: Richard : WINNER: Richard Gansey III (The Raven Cycle)
Round 28: Cass : WINNER: Cassandra Cain (Batman)
Round 29: Edward : WINNER: Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Round 30: Carm : WINNER: Carmen Sandiego (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?)
Round 31: Hal : WINNER: HAL9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)
Round 32: Sid : WINNER: Sydney Adamu (The Bear)
Round 33: Jack : WINNER: Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)
Round 34: Stephanie : WINNER: Stephanie Brown (Batman)
Round 35: Ash : WINNER: Ash Ketchum (Pokemon)
Round 36: Veronica : WINNER: Veronica Sawyer (Heathers)
Round 37: Kurt : WINNER: Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler (X-Men)
Round 38: Eleanor : WINNER: Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place)
Round 39: Nathan : WINNER: Nathan Young (Misfits)
Round 40: Fiona : WINNER: Princess Fiona (Shrek)
Round 41: Gale : WINNER: Gayle Waters-Waters (Chris Fleming)
Round 42: Barbara : WINNER: Barbara Millicent Roberts aka Barbie (Barbie)
Round 43: Sam : WINNER: Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings)
Round 44: Grace : WINNER: Grace Chastity (Nerdy Prudes Must Die)
Round 45: Barry : WINNER: Barry Bluejeans (The Adventure Zone)
Round 46: Raven : WINNER: Raven (Teen Titans)
Round 47: Dan : WINNER: Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom)
Round 48: Mia : WINNER: Mia Fey (Ace Attorney)
Round 49: Matt : WINNER: Matt Murdock (Daredevil)
Round 50: Rose : WINNER: Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)
Round 51: Robert : WINNER: Robbie Rotten (LazyTown)
Round 52: Lola : WINNER: Lola Bunny (Space Jam)
Round 53: Scott : WINNER: Scott Summers aka Cyclops (X-Men)
Round 54: Olivia : WINNER: Olivia Octavious (Spiderverse)
Round 55: Finn : WINNER: Finn the Human (Adventure Time)
Round 56: Emily : WINNER: Emily Charlton (The Devil Wears Prada)
Round 57: Elliot : WINNER: Eliot Spencer (Leverage)
Round 58: Sonia : WINNER: Sonia (Pokemon)
Round 59: Gideon : WINNER: Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb)
Round 60: Jen : WINNER: Jennifer Check (Jennifer's Body)
Round 61: Miles : WINNER: Miles Morales (Spider-Man)
Round 62: Lana : WINNER: Lana Skye (Ace Attorney)
Round 63: Spencer : WINNER: Spencer Shay (iCarly)
Round 64: Tracy : WINNER: Tracy Turnbald (Hairspray!)
Round 65: Luke : WINNER: Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
Round 66: Natalie : WINNER: Natalie Scatorccio (Yellowjackets)
Round 67: Harry : WINNER: Harry Du Bois (Disco Elysium)
Round 68: Lucy : WINNER: Lucy van Pelt (Peanuts)
Round 69: Damian : WINNER: Damian Wayne (Batman)
Round 70: Tabitha : WINNER: Tabitha Casper (Dan and Phil Games: Sims 4)
Round 71: Nick : WINNER: Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Trigun)
Round 72: Gwen : WINNER: Guinevere (Merlin)
Round 73: Paul : WINNER: Paulette Bonafonte (Legally Blonde)
Round 74: Abigail : WINNER: Abigail Hobbs (Hannibal)
Round 75: Jordan : WINNER: Jordan Baker (The Great Gatsby)
Round 76: Donna : WINNER: Donna Noble (Doctor Who)
Round 77: Morgan : WINNER: Morgana (Merlin)
Round 78: Allison : WINNER: Alison Cooper (BBC Ghosts)
Round 79: Patrick : WINNER: Patrick Star (Spongebob Squarepants)
Round 80: Linda : WINNER: Linda Belcher (Bob's Burgers)
Round 81: Philip : WINNER: Philip J. Fry (Futurama)
Round 82: Clarisse : WINNER: Clarisse La Rue (Percy Jackson)
Round 83: Jeff
Round 84: Maria
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qs3 · 9 months
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The Current State of Miraculous Ladybug Season 5 finale.
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I've recently watched the finale of season five of Miraculous Ladybug, and I must say that my disappointment is immeasurable. There are more issues within this finale than with the Gabriel Redemption, like having Marinette lie to Adrien again, which undermines her development in S4-S5 to trust in others, not giving more insight into Emilie's character after seven years in the show run, and writing out Adrien even though his existence is significant to the overall lore of series, and partly is the motivation for the main villain, Gabriel.
I could mention more issues within this season. Like, for example:
The waste of potential of Zoe's character, Felix's rush redemption arc, killing off the ship Marichat, Lila being a spy, the romance pacing behind Kagami and Felix, the b******* rules of time travel, giving Ladybug and Chat the ability to never de-transform, the entire existence of the episode of Derision, not having a scene of Chat revealing his identity to Ladybug without the presence of Gabriel quote on quote always watching aka Marinette's excuse, or how Thomas thought that letting Chloe get disowned by her father to live with her emotionally abusive & neglectful mother was a good idea.
You think that Zoe, who dealt with the same emotional neglect by their mother, would say something about Chloe living with their mother, but she doesn't because the writers couldn't afford good writing skills.
I can mention more. However, I'm so tired of Miraculous constant terribleness that I don't want to watch and think about this show for a while.
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purplebunnygirl · 5 months
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So my bf and I binged the last like 11 episodes of season 5 of miraculous today, and I want to say, as someone who was obsessed with this show when I was in middle/high school and
1. It was pretty hype but also
2. This show is soooo disappointing
Miraculous has so many great ideas, and yet it's just such a mess
I don't at all like that they treat Gabriel like a hero who helped defeat Monarch, when he literally was sabotaging his son's happiness the entire season and had him locked up during the episodes this was happening
I'm fine with redeeming Felix, and I think they did something interesting with him, but also, I feel like it was kind of rushed and should have been better set up. I won't say that this is definitely what happened, but it gave me the feeling that it was cobbled together at the last minute.
Everything Chloe did throughout seasons 4 and 5 just felt like the writers were trying to get the fans to shut up about her rather than actually serving the story. Seasons 1-2 implies that despite her selfishness, she does care about Sabrina and Ms Bustier, and it was set up for a potentially interesting arc I mean they even gave her a good maternal figure (Ms Bustier) to parallel her horribly abusive mother, so the fact that they even call back to that in season 5 just feels like a screw you to anyone who enjoyed that part of Zombizou. Chloe was never a good person, but she was a child, and she showed the potential to change, and somehow, the corrupt mayor and the abusive father supervillain get to be treated better by the narrative.
Zoe is not as bad as I thought she would be, but it would be so much better if she weren't so obviously there to be a better Chloe.
Lila is just annoying, like she's not interesting, and the only reason she gets away with lying is that every other character loses braincells whenever she's in an episode.
It was refreshing whenever there was an akumatized villain that wasn't a repeat/recolor of a previous one. This happened, ummm.... like 3 times?? I'm sick of Reflekta!!! Juleka has literally been Reflekta 7 times it's time to retire her!!
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Disclaimer: I couldn't fit all the characters in the polls so if you think another Character has a good chance of winning, please comment below. I mostly picked the teenage characters because tributes are only teenagers not adults. Please stay respectful when commenting.
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imthepunchlord · 2 months
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What would be the perfect "Miraculous team" for you?
At this point, the characters that do stand out most to me as major players that could be on a plausible team are: Marinette, Adrien, Felix, Alya, Nino, Kagami, and Zoe.
Honorable mentions/maybes: Ali, Aurore, Chloe, Lila, Juleka, Ivan, and Kim.
Marinette is a must. I do really enjoy writing her, and making my desired tweaks, and it is kinda a shame a lot of recent writing with her is in salt response to canon treatment. It's a big part of the reason I'm on an ML writing break. But she's a must. Most likely with kwami swaps as I am kinda done with her as Ladybug and working off Tikki. Tikki I think could better serve elsewhere and Marinette could be refreshing working off a different personality.
Adrien by default is kinda a must, though his biggest help is that he has a lot of options in what can be done with him. Could go along canon as starting off as a goofball hero that will get serious (though still keep his sense of humor), and be at a crossroads of working with his father or going against him. He could also work with Gabriel at the start, either openly or secretly, and through friendship finds himself as a crossroad. Could also do him joining later, initially exploring him as a civilian, maybe he runs the Ladyblog and wants to unmask heroes and he's extra excited cause his father is actually supportive and invested in his interest. There's some good options for him.
Felix is a must, partly from bias, but he does have a good established arc from starting as an antagonistic loner to turning to a true hero. And the stiff, skeptic, passive aggressive personality he can have could be a good counter to other personalities. And if you want to work off cnaon, he can go absolute gremlin.
Alya is another must. Frustrating as she is, she's a character I see a lot of potential for. Like, a lot of the "lessons" Marinette is expected to learn would better apply to her. And like Adrien, she'd be a great character if she was allowed to learn and improve. And I see a lot of potential in exploring her as a hero at the start, cause you got Alya wanting to start out for glory and attention, kinda treats it as a game initially, and she's on the side of reckless with secrecy, and I just see a lot of good potential for her as a major lead to follow at the start. Learning that heroing isn't all fun and glory, sometimes it's hard, and with reveals, there are pros to it, but there are also cons. She could really add to the secrecy vs reveal debate.
Nino is kinda here by default, but the boy needs something. Ideally something to let him stand on his own, especially outside Alya and Adrien. And one of the best ways to do that is explore him as a Miraculous hero at the start. And he wants to be a film director, so, maybe his focus arc could relate to leadership, learning to develop those skills, awareness of his team and what they can do, and how to best direct them. I will say, of this list, I could also roll with Nino as the supportive civilian friend who grounds one of the leads as he is a character who doesn't have a lot going on.
Kagami, despite all her issues as a character, is a character that caught my attention in Riptose. And while she got a lot of odd choices and polarizing characterization, taking the scattered pieces I can see a potential character being crafted. You got potential in her as the blunt ice queen who's overly dedicated and a little too serious, she wants to make friends but she's socially awkward and can come off as mean, she wants to make her mom proud but she also feels stifled. And by her official skills, she's one of the few characters that could actually vigilante and help the heroes without a Miraculous, or try to compete with them as her mom is tasking her with the chance to fight superhumans and prove herself.
Zoe is in a weird boat as she came in so late and I stopped watching ML so I didn't click with her all that well, but seeing more of her as Kitty and the apparent partner for Alya, it did prompt me to think and consider her more and brainstorm ideas. There's definitely something to work off of with her wanting to please Chloe and pretending to follow her along, but that's not who Zoe is and she can have an arc of figuring herself out, dealing with the tension and mistrust that her relation with Chloe brings, and letting herself flourish. Adjustments though would have to be made for her to come in sooner or be at Paris at the start, either as Chloe's younger sister or maybe twin, or her cousin, or we rip off the bandaid of the vague Bourgeois union, say they're divorced, and Audrey remarried and Zoe is Chloe's stepsister and she's up in Paris so they can "bond". I will say, with her coming in so late, she's also a character I can just exclude.
For honorable mentions where I can see potential or fun or I wish they had more attention:
Ali has a lot of the same appeals as Adrien, is shown to be very sweet, and I am bummed so little was done with him. He's not present enough to warrant being on the main team, but I like him enough that I should try and write more with him.
Chloe I can acknowledge has potential as a character, and that chance of a redemption arc is there, and she can be loads of fun to write. But I also feel irritated with her as she was a waste of time. I get they were halfheartedly going for "will she be good or will she be evil", but it was such a butcher job and you could tell the team was split, and instead of compromising, they just put in both potential to be good and her clearly not going to get better. And I'm just stuck in that irritating spot where I can SEE the potential but she may ultimately better serve as a villain/antagonist.
And this is where Aurore comes in, having all the perks of Chloe being haughty and proud, but none of the downsides. She was a lot of fun to write in Leave for Mendeleiev, and honestly, when I started ML with Stormy Weather, I actually thought she was a major character since she had the initial focus point. Color me surprise when she ultimately became a background character. And then disappeared for a while.
Lila is in a similar boat to Chloe, and honestly between them on who should get a redemption, it's pretty even them for me as they're both terrible. But we didn't NEED two mean girls to go against Marinette. Now, if they were a rival/foil to another character, and Marinette just worked mostly off one of them, then having two mean girls could've worked better. Either way, Lila redemption would have to be around Volpina, cause Chameleon and onward is a trainwreck and there's no way to pick up the pieces of that. And for a chracter who lies a lot, can be petty and spiteful, she has promise to be a lot of fun, and to bring a lot of chaos.
Between the two Couffaine siblings, Juleka is the one I see a lot of potential for writing wise, as she does have that established struggle of trying to find her voice. And by her livelihood, you could play off the comedy of her being chaotic but chill, and ready to take things to the extremes (like kidnapping). And there's the friendship potential that canon tapped into with her and Marinette's shared interest in fashion (I actually think that if the show was more realistic on friend pairs, Marinette would've been in a trio with Juleka and Rose).
Kim is on this list because he cracks me up. Peak himbo but surprisingly wise. That is if we can ignore how he got ruined in s5.
Lastly, Ivan. He was actually the first classmate I really paid attention to, and I saw a promising story to work off with him. Watching Origins, you see most of the class is intimidated by him, so I thought he could have an arc of changing people's perspective, instead of him being feared he's seen as a protector. Which kinda got speedran in the background, but I guess we can't have a plus size character as the focal point. But I'd like to do him as a major lead sometime.
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gale-gentlepenguin · 9 months
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How would you rank the main 6 villains of the first arc of ML (Gabriel, Nathalie, Lila, Chloe, Felix and Tomoe) based on their writing ?
Based on writing? Well damn. (Twist my arm)
Okay so let’s start
But just know I will be discussing spoilers
6th Tomoe
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I put Tomoe last not because she’s written badly but because she’s really written with the least amount of time as one and isn’t given much to work with. Tomoe isn’t a good mother, but her actions are more about a deal she made rather than an ambition. She cares about Kagami to a degree where she doesn’t want her involved in Gabriel’s akuma attacks. Tomoe is doing what she thinks is in the best interest of her family name, but she really doesn’t see the consequences of those actions. She also just gave Gabriel the tech rather than do it herself. So number 6.
5th Chloé
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Now we get into bad writing territory, in season 1 she was the typical bully character. In season 2 and 3 she was the sympathetic mean girl who wanted to change. Season 4 she was back to square one after all of her redeeming qualities were stolen by Zoe. Then season 5 she was just a dictator puppet. So really it’s tragic how poorly written she is. Because this descent into evil could have worked if written better. But it isn’t.
4th Lila/Cerise/ Whatever her real name is
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You can tell the writers tried to write a competent, manipulator that always gets what she wants because of the way she twists her words and her plans are clever. But the problem is… the level of skill needed for the execution was lacking. Now she has 3 moms, multiple identities and a secret lair in the catacombs. The main problem though isn’t that Lila is written smart, it’s that everyone not named Marinette or Adrien is written stupid when she’s around. Lila could easily be the best villain if she had some better writing but… it’s just so dumb at times.
3rd Gabriel Agreste
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The writers wanted to portray a desperate man that would do anything for the family he loved that became blinded by his obsession. They made a selfish bastard that used his family to justify evil actions and bend the world to his whim. Now to be fair there were times where you could see the former, but Gabriel’s writing is so… All over the place.
I still can’t believe they let the guy win. Like what the fuck was even the point of the 5 seasons of fighting him.
2. Felix
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Felix is technically more of an antihero, but he is likely the most calculating and ACTUALLY manipulative of the series. He outsmarted Ladybug and Monarch. His reveal as a sentimonster and his reasoning for his actions is the only positive thing I enjoyed regarding the sentimonster shenanigans. Now he is no longer a villain but his actions propelled the season 4 and 5 plots and should be considered someone on his own caliber. But he’s not number one because there is someone better
1. Nathalie
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The arguably best written villain in all of Miraculous. She works to help Gabriel achieve his goal and is the main reason he got as far as he did, by her sacrifices and pushing her mind body and soul to the limits. She believed Gabriel was noble for his goal and was the one that saw first hand his descent into madness. And that’s when she had enough. Her change against him was because she knew the truth and wanted to stop the madness. If she was the one in charge it’s far more likely she would have gotten the miraculous without falling into such a state. She is one of the few people whose redemption I genuinely believe in this show
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Remember when Juleka liked creepy stuff? Like that horrificator episode, the alien knockoff roared in her face and she just said “cool”, I like why Juleka but I think that aspect of her character was forgotten, flanderization in a character without much character
note: I don’t mean Juleka is bad and neither that she lacks deep, she’s a very fun character which I prefer to watch than the main duo or alya and Nino or Luka and kagami… or Gabriel and Nathalie or Felix and Lila or… basically she’s entertaining and deep enough to get my attention, I just wish the writers didn’t forgot she wasn’t just shy but also a goth which liked creepy things (heck, that makes her relationship with rose better since that makes them even more of opposites which makes them more interesting than the four ships of the love square, since the concept of two people having four ships is cool in paper, but in execution falls flat compared to the basic opposites attract) she just lacks a bit more of characterization since it feels everything of her character revolves around being shy
That's kind of a thing the show has done a lot recently, forgetting certain traits characters used to have in Season 1.
Remember when Nino wanted to become a DJ?
Remember when Kim was a bully like Chloe?
Remember when Mylene wanted to become an actress?
Remember when Adrien liked rock music?
Remember when Marinette liked playing video games?
If the show doesn't just ignore the fact that characters used to have certain interests, they take some personality traits and slap them on other characters, like how Mylene's went from an aspiring actress to an environmental activist so Zoe could be the aspiring actress, or how Adrien went from liking rock music to only occasionally playing as part of Kitty Section so Luka could be the rock musician.
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celestiall0tus · 2 months
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Firstly ❤️ your works, I think my favorites so far are Amaranthine & Miraculous AU. Secondly, which of your miraculouses would fit the canon versions of the characters as your versions of them are more fleshed out?
So, firstly, thank you so much! Truly
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Second, while I've done that kinda with All That Remained, that is a canon divergence. So, why not have a little fun with this one? Let's crack into it:
Marinette - Pig of Ignorance
Adrien - Butterfly of Transformation
Alya - Wolf of Intution
Nino - Tiger of Valor
Chloe - Rooster of Animosity
Sabrina - Bee of Devotion
Marc - Dog of Love
Lila - Fox of Deception
Felix - Black Cat of Destruction
Nathaniel - Chameleon of Imagination
Kim - Cow of Body
Max - Owl of Knowledge
Alix - Ladybug of Creation
Rose - Rabbit of Connection
Juleka - Peacock of Beauty
Luka - Swan of Souls
Kagami - Cicada of Reality
Zoe - Horse of Freedom
Ivan - Bat of Fear
Mylene - Dragon of Nature
Nathalie - Turtle of Protection
And if I were to include Gabriel, I would give him the Butterfly still and Adrien would likely get the Raven of Sorrow
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muggle-born-princess · 9 months
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You really out here backing Chloe then bashing felix? Chloe has been given the opportunity to change loads of times but she’s still the same old Chloe. Felix was severely abused and told he was a monster. I don’t condone his actions, but at least theres an explanation for them. If someone is told they’re a “Monster” for long enough, they’ll of course begin to believe it or at least internalize those words. He’s the perfect example of an antihero and he has far more potential than Chloe to become a better person (with proper therapy and support of course). Its been heavily foreshadowed that hes going to become an important character in the series and character growth is on its way. I dont think we’ll have to wait long.
I dont mean to come off as rude. Ive been studying psychology and abuse and i just really dont like the misunderstanding of Felix’s character in the fandom. I see him as a kid who has good intentions, but has a warped sense of justice. I think Kagami and Mari are just what he needs to set himself straight.
You do realize what you'd just said can also describe Chloe right? Let me change a few words and I'll show you:
Chloe was severely abused and told she was not exceptional. I don’t condone her actions, but at least there's an explanation for them. If someone is told they’re "Not Exceptional” for long enough, they’ll of course begin to believe it or at least internalize those words. She’s the perfect example of an antihero and she has far more potential than Lila or Gabriel to become a better person (with proper therapy and support of course).
I just really don't like the misunderstanding of Chloe’s character in the fandom. I see her as a kid who has good intentions, but has a warped sense of justice. I think Adrien and Sabrina as well as Zoe are just what she needs to set herself straight.
Now I'm not saying that you're not allowed to hate or dislike Chloe; as long as you're not an insane maniac who thinks she deserves to die or be killed or r*ped or whatever fucked up minds these extreme Chloe haters have. If you honestly think Chloe isn't sympathetic, that's your opinion. And yes, looking back at it now, maybe I did good too far with my Felix hate. Maybe it's as bad as Thomas's hate for Chloe. Maybe they're equal. However, my problem is how they basically point at him and go "BUT BUT! HE' S A SENTIMONSTER! HE'S A SENTIMONSTER! SO YOU MUST FEEL SORRY FOR HIM!"
If Chloe having a strained relationship with Audrey doesn't excuse her actions, why should Felix being senti excuse his? That's the question you should be asking.
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jess-the-vampire · 4 months
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what's your opinion on miraculous ladybug?
i consider ML to be kinda a hot mess of a show, it's a show with a lot of cool ideas, but for one reason or another, never quite makes a lot of them work
it's desire to be story focused gets held down a lot because it also needs to be mostly episodic, so events feel like they happen at a snail's pace until s5 where they clearly slammed on the gas because they thought the show was over.
you can tell stuff gets retconned as they go along and that some elements are underdeveloped. Not to mention the elements that are dropped entirely or never touched on.
the show is basically at a constant war with itself, it's got potential but doesn't seem to have the best priorities, especially when it gets more story focused. You can only drag out the romance for so long before it stops being fun, meanwhile you want lila to be your next big bad but she basically vanishes for a decent chunk of the show for example so there's not nearly as much setup as they could of given to make people more compelled in her as one.
and there's more then that, putting what happened with chloe aside, Zoe could be a potentially interesting character if they explored her relationship with her sister more or even with other cast members to get to know her better.
But she's in very little episodes, there's not nearly as much to say about her, and she's given a miraculous so quickly that it all feels like it's there to be a slap to chloe rather then building up a new fleshed out superhero character . That's just an example of not handled well ideas.
so many ideas are good on paper, not handled well in execution.
now that's not to say there's nothing good in it, on occasion, this show can make some good episodes, i loved the paris special, the movie was decent, and the premise of the show is genuinely pretty cool with the kwamis and animal superpowers.
i like a lot of the cast members, kagami, felix, luka, juleka, Nathanial, ect ect
the show can make some great villain and hero costumes
but the show as a whole is still mostly a mess, that even it's highlights aren't enough to save it if you watch it as a complete picture.
HOWEVER, i find the show to usually be an enjoyable hot mess, i didn't go into the show expecting a serious show akin to something like owl house or gravity falls, i came in expecting a ridiculous show that went off the rails more and more as time went on and at this point i watch just to see how bad and crazy it can get. I just don't take it as seriously.
It would be cool if this show had a serious story and handled it that well but i'm in it more for the ride then i am here to be seriously invested in the plot. Even if the show does make me genuinely mad in quite a few places.
Cause this show has a lot of the same problems as like, star vs, like a LOT of the same issues. But star's downfall felt like a betrayal because it felt like the crew cared about handling these things well when you joined that it was more insulting to the audience about how little they did care.
At least ML has the benefit of not being a show i ever took too seriously, and i think that prevented me from being as angry as i could be. Doesn't mean i don't get mad at it, just means my expectations were always a bit lower from the beginning.
i'm here to see how crazy the show can and will get, and hey, maybe on occasion, get to see the team make some good stuff
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