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destinygoldenstar · 3 months

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Just A Little Rewrite Of The Character Of Marinette Dupen-Chang/Ladybug (Part 1; Origins)

Hey y’all. So I never expected to come here.

I’m doing rewrites of characters as exercise cause why not? I always need to be writing otherwise my skill goes rusty.

I don’t have a wonderful history with this show. I remember watching season one as a kid, but I didn’t go beyond that because I got bored. I thought it was just a me thing and I was more attracted to serialized kids shows like Ninjago and the books of Sailor Moon. (Yes, that’s serialized.) As a kid I liked the books more than the 90s show and I think that’s a completely personal thing.

I think that’s just my personal preference, I tended to gravitate towards serialized shows a lot more and just have episodic shows as background noise.

But I posted before what drove me back in to this show. My GF’s sisters were a fan of the show, and the movie was coming out at the time. So I was forced to watch it with them and thought it was decent.

They hated Ninjago without even seeing it besides clips, and I liked that. We both saw these respective shows as childish junk without much intrigue and value. So I made a deal with them that I’d watch Miraculous if they watched Ninjago. They actually started to like Ninjago after seeing its compelling story unfold. They didn’t think it was serialized. As for me on the Miraculous show after seeing it Seasons 1-5, I expected that to be the case for me too…

What a surprise, I didn’t see the appeal and even got uncomfortable and upset at some points.

I would say why, but honestly, there’s so many YouTube videos online that pretty much say the same things as to why it didn’t work for me.

It’s too long, the villain suffers from the length and is a joke, the main character is a stalker, the secondary is a sidelined joke, they hate a teenage bully but give a middle aged terrorist a pass, messy lore, promotion of toxic behavior-etc. I’d just be repeating.

So instead of doing that, I got a cool idea that I got from one of the sisters. She asked “Well if you’re so much better than professional writers, how would you do it?”

I am NOT better. Keep that in mind. I’m just a scatterbrained person who likes to write and has personal preferences.

I do see the appeal with this show. Again, I was a Sailor Moon Stan as a kid, I liked Pretty Cure, magical girl properties are my special interest. So this show should’ve been a slam dunk for me. It has a very compelling IDEA of the secret identities putting a strain on a relationship between two leads, and the main villain being the father of one of them.

So… how would I bring forth the potential of this story? Well, there’s a lot more factors than you think. That’s why I’m going to only going to be focusing on one factor for now. (I’ll do Adrien/Cat Noir in another post)

I’ll see how this does, and depending on if people like it or hate it, I’ll continue and flesh out this rewrite idea.

So… love it or hate it, here you go.

The show’s theme introduces you to the idea of Marinette as a character:

“In the daytime, I’m Marinette. Just a normal girl with a normal life. But there’s something about me that no one knows yet, cause I’ve got a secret.”

Except, a more accurate description is ‘perfect girl with a perfect life’ because that’s how the story presents her a lot of the time. I can get behind being above average in privilege, but I can’t get behind none of her very blatant flaws being called out. This girl actually kinda scares me.

I wouldn’t mind it if her stalking-possessive nature was called out and a focal point for character development, but it’s not. I wouldn’t mind it if it was just placed in one bad episode, but it’s nearly EVERY episode.

I honestly don’t know if she’s better or worse than Total Drama’s Sierra…. Honestly I’d say Sierra’s worse cause she’s in a more sexual show, but I can definitely see arguments otherwise. (Y’all who know my blog, know I DESPISE Sierra as a character)

That, and Marinette’s essentially a ‘perfect person’ in the narrative and can do no wrong, to the point where she’s instantly a great Miraculous holder episode 1. It’s hard to relate to her, which I’m supposed to.

So I’m going to be rewriting her character to have a legit arc, and a likeable character.

Keep in mind that I am not here to ‘replace’ the original version. If you love the canon Marinette and the canon show, then by all means, love it. This is just an exercise and it’s not meant to be personal.

And uh, EDIT: This was originally gonna be one post, but… the essay got way too meaty and long, so I’m splitting it up into parts, parts being the significant points of growth Marinette has in this rewrite version. So… you guys like what I have so far, I’ll definitely continue this.

So, here’s my version of Marinette Dupen-Chang, AKA Ladybug.

Before I begin with Marinette, I have to address her status as Ladybug, and in order to do that I have to address the Miraculous, and in order to do that I have to address the power system, and in order to do that I have to change said rules.

In short, the original show is 130 Episodes long, not counting any specials. I feel like those can just be supplemental and I won’t be addressing them here. So many episodes are filler and this is ridiculous. It also hurts the threat of the villain when one story arc is THIS long.

So in this version, it’s NOT 5 Seasons of the Hawk Moth story arc.

Instead, it’s 2 Seasons.

How many episodes per season? I wrote all the episodes of seasons 1-3 on notes, cut out the episodes that were either filler or contained content I cut, or were just flat out offensive, and I STILL got a big number, so… I definitely plan it to change.

Yes there’d still be filler episodes with this logic, but it’s also not fast enough that the story feels like it’s going too fast, and personally, I don’t hate there being filler. So I can keep SOME.

But which episodes I’d keep in and which ones I’d cut out is a discussion for another day. If I mention an episode that means it’s not cut. That’s a given.

Basically, the Season 3 finale is now the season 1 finale. And the Season 5 finale is now the season 2 finale and the end of the story arc.

Cool?

Next, the lore regarding the Miraculous.

In the original show, there’s multiple Miraculous with different powers, and the Ladybug and the Cat Noir Miraculous are deemed the most powerful due to their abilities of creation and destruction respectively. And these Miraculous have been carried down from user to user since earth existed.

ALL of that is being carried over here. I have no problem with those rules.

But I am changing how the Miraculous work.

You can NOT swap users Willy Nilly. Whoever is linked to the Kwamii of a Miraculous is the ONLY one who can activate those powers. The only way to break that link is by using certain abilities that permanently cut that link. More on this later. (So NO Scarabella, no other ALT user, it’s just Marinette who can access it)

How does Hawk Moth plan to use the Ladybug and Cat Noir Miraculous to grant wishes with that logic? Miraculous’s powers can be released if they are broken, relieving their Kwamiis and ending the cycle of that Miraculous Hero forever. But if the powers are released, anyone can get their hands on it when they’re released, so you know, someone could use that to grant a wish of theirs.

I’m hesitant on this one, but regarding the ‘After you use a certain ability you only have five minutes left before you de-transform and have to replenish your Kwamii’. The rule itself is fine, it’s just broken constantly, especially in later seasons. Yeah in episode length it’s realistic but in universe some of these are definitely taking more than five minutes. So I WILL keep that rule but increase the time limit to TEN minutes. Not five.

In regards to the Ladybug Miraculous specifically. This one is important. The specific abilities themselves.

She has Lucky Charm, where she can summon a random item to aid her. Okay. Simple.

She has the ability to capture the Akumas. Okay. That’s pretty vital story-wise. Fine.

Then the titular Miraculous Ladybug…

Yeah fixing literally everything I removes consequences like property damage, people getting hurt or killed, etc.

So you’re probably thinking “Okay, this is where she cuts this power entirely so there’d be actual consequences”

Well… you’re actually wrong.

Yes, I didn’t remove this ability. But I DID change the rule for it.

Remember when I said the only way to break a Miraculous link is by using a certain ability that cuts the link permanently?

This is that for the Ladybug Miraculous.

You CAN use Miraculous Ladybug. And it DOES restore everything to its proper fixed state. (Physically.) EVERYTHING. All at once.

BUT, by doing this, the user resigns. Unable to use any power from the Ladybug Miraculous ever again. Any strength or power they got from the Miraculous is gone.

Once it’s explained to Marinette, and essentially the audience, it’s a stake of whether or not she should use that ability. Especially when there’s multiple consequences in battles that could be fixed. She could fix it. She could fix the world and resign and go back to her normal life. But when Hawk Moth would still be around, that’s not the right thing to do.

Why do I bring this up?

Well one it’s to keep in mind for some character choices. And two, it’s so I can reveal another big change on Master Fu. One that impacts Marinette’s character.

Master Fu is still the guardian of the Miraculous box. But he’s NOT the user of the Turtle Miraculous. He’s not a current Miraculous user at all.

Before Marinette, Master Fu was the previous user of the Ladybug Miraculous.

Yep.

First off, it’s my firm belief that all Miraculous are bound by no gender.

Second, the Ladybug Miraculous are basically one of the two most important, and considering the Cat Noir Miraculous Users hold the power of DESTRUCTION, why would the guardian of the box NOT be the Ladybugs?

Third, this establishes a connection between Marinette and Master Fu. But what exactly is that connection aside from “He used to have this power that he is now carrying down to her”?

That’s where we get into the Origins, where we’re starting discussions about certain key episodes.

Origins

The Origins episode begins not with an info dump narration, but with a little narration from our main character.

“In the daytime, I’m Marinette. Normal girl. Normal life. But there’s something about me no one knows yet, cause everything’s about to change for me.”

This is a younger version of Marinette. About 6-7 years old. She’s playing with her mom’s hat on the window seat of a bus.

She and her mom are on this bus moving to Paris France as Chinese Immigrants, as her mom is now engaged to a local baker that lives here.

Yes Marinette’s parents in the show weren’t married until just a few months after this flashback’s event. And this dad is adoptive and not biological. It’s not very huge on the story, maybe it could be discussed in a filler episode, but all it does is make Marinette not half Chinese, just Chinese.

If you’re gonna have your MC be non-white, have your MC be non-white. Especially if there’s the opportunity.

Anyway, the mom and daughter get off the bus and enter the city, and after some establishing shots on how grand Paris is (in fantasy land, anyway), the bus leaves, but Marinette’s mom realizes she misplaced their passports on the bus and runs after it to go get it back, telling Marinette to wait on the bench and play with the hat.

She does, wondering if she should put something in it as a pleasant surprise for mommy, and then…

Paris gets attacked.

In an almost dream-like state, black butterflies swarm the place, with people screaming and running. Some people not being fast enough and turning to stone once the butterflies make contact with them.

Think Chat Blanc, that’s kinda what it looks like.

Marinette watches it all stuck in place, unsure what to say or do.

That is until a voice demands the surviving citizens to go a certain direction.

That’s when the Ladybug appears in view, leaping in vision heroically and using their magic yo-yo to capture the dark butterflies. It re-directs them, but there’s too much for them to handle. They try, though.

We’ll learn, not here, but in a later episode, that this is Master Fu.

Marinette watches in awe of the ideal perfect looking hero handling the threat the best they can. All while they’re pleading to some ‘cat’ to stop this.

I’m gonna leave it at that here, but TLDR, this is to indicate that the previous Cat Noir (Not Adrien) is one of the villains causing this. Or at least working with the previous Hawk Moth. (Not Gabriel)

Anyway, this allows the Ladybug to take their guard down, and it results in him to direct the butterfly swarm the wrong way, leaving them to hit Marinette.

From there, her vision goes dark. But we know what happened to her.

We stay in her POV as we can’t see anything, but just hear the voice of the Ladybug.

“I’m sorry… it’s all my fault… but I’ll fix everything the only way I know how.”

We see a flash of red, and him decreeing,

“MIRACULOUS LADYBUG”

And just like that, red floods Marinette’s vision, and then starts to open up again to reveal Paris again.

Only, it’s perfectly normal, and back to the pretty state we originally saw it.

The Ladybug is nowhere to be found.

Marinette’s mom comes running to her daughter, grabbing her hand to take her away, terrified about what just happened.

Still, Marinette looks around for the hero that saved her. Confused. Curious. As an actual ladybug flies away in the sky.

*Queue Opening*

Keeping a shot of the sky, we follow the ladybug down to the bakery home that the Dupen-Changs love in.

Their house is the same as in the original. (Anyone else want that bedroom?)

The ladybug flies to the window of Marinette’s room and we see a few shots of fashion concept art, almost all of them with red and black colors. There’s also a few kid drawings on the wall of Ladybug and different variations of what her hero looked like. (None of them are accurate)

This is a show don’t tell way of giving the audience a good indication of Marinette’s character and how this prologue impacted her. She’s not only looked up to this heroic figure, but was also inspiration to apply to her fashion designing profession.

(Yeah anyone remember she was a fashion designer? That’s actually one of the aspects of her original character I unironically liked. I miss the old days when girls can be girly. So yeah, that’s definitely being kept here.)

It’s early in the morning. But we see Marinette, now a fourteen year old student, getting ready for school in a quick (like ten second) easy to digest establishment.

You may notice my concept art for Marinette on this post and that I added an ALT outfit to her original civilian design. Well this is why, and this is where we see that.

She does everything to make the look PERFECT in this scene. Re-tying the shoe laces to be perfectly even, adjusting the jacket collar to be perfectly firm, and trying to put gel in her hair to hide the cowlicks from her OG and Ladybug design.

The point is clear, again show don’t tell, that Marinette is a perfectionist who values her appearance. Though not in the diva way like Chloe, more so she cares about how other people see her.

This is gonna be a constant for this version of her character. She cares a lot about finding what she deems as the best version of herself, and beats herself up when she fumbles at that or makes mistakes, mistakes that she makes A LOT. Because she’s only human. However, with her idealism of Ladybug, she’s non self aware that she’s deeming ‘the best Marinette’ as a completely different person.

(I’m going for a theme of self love here.)

She even went as far as having made a ladybug patterned hat to display for school today. Which she sheds nervousness about.

She gets called by her mom to breakfast, and in the frantic pursuit, Marinette says she’ll be right there, fixes her hair again, and runs down the stairs-

-Only to trip over them.

Yeah she’s still clumsy. I didn’t write that out.

Her mom asks if she’s okay, to which she gives the thumbs up, and from there we get a similarly framed breakfast scene from the original.

There’s some changes to context though: It’s NOT the first day back at school. It’s not the first day of school at all. No, it’s only the first day for Adrian, who is transferring this day.

But Marinette doesn’t know that, nor does she know who Adrian is right now. (Because Gabriel keeps his son locked away until the agreement to let Adrian go to school.) So in a post about rewriting Marinette, I’m not gonna touch on Adrian centric scenes.

No, instead in this scene Marinette is concerned about a student council meeting. Saying “I bet Chloe will shut down my ideas again.”

Yes. Marinette is a part of the student council. An addition here.

She’s not the president though. She’s the fundraising officer.

The student body president is Chloe Bourgeois. Other student council members include but not limited to: Sabrina, Kim, and Zoe Lee. (Yes Zoe Lee is here from the start. She’s not a half sister, she’s a full sister. A twin.)

So not only is Marinette a part of this council, but in said council she is surrounded by Chloe followers. To get an idea of how… unfortunately treated she is there, as well as everyone supporting Chloe and her calls over Marinette’s, or anyone else’s. Not because they like Chloe, but because she’s the daughter of the mayor and therefore intimidating. So nobody wants to get on her bad side.

It also paints Marinette in the light of ‘I can’t speak up for myself or say my opinion if I know what’s good for me.’

Anyway blah blah her mom tells her that the hat fundraiser for a local insect zoo is a good idea, Marinette knocks over the breakfast stuff and is ashamed, her dad making his first appearance gives her the macaroons as a bonus, and she happily leaves for school saying she loves them.

The parents are loving and supportive in the original and I have no problem with that.

We get her running to school, finding an old Master Fu nearly getting hit, and her saving him at the expense of the macaroons.

Here’s the only change to that scene: (Aside from the Fu scene before not being here in favor of that prologue) Fu is NOT trying to test anyone here. He’s just an old guy now, and without any Miraculous powers, age caught up to him. Instead during the save and the crashing of Macaroons, Marinette scuffles to save a few whole ones, and accidentally includes the Miraculous Box in that mix.

Yes I know the box in the original is bigger than a macaroon, in this version let’s pretend it’s much smaller to fit an accident like this realistically happening.

After she leaves, Fu realizes the earrings are gone, and he starts to panic a bit. He didn’t intend that to happen and is ready to go after her to get them back before she interacts with the power item. Only problem? He’s old and can’t get to her fast enough.

Just like in the original, Marinette goes to school and Chloe and Sabrina, in their introduction, kick Marinette out of her original desk to make way for Adrien. With of course the tweak that no one mentions first days, and another change that Alya is NOT in the same class as Marinette.

There’s a reason for this.

So instead of anyone defending Marinette, Marinette just takes it and moves on, sitting in the corner quietly. She doesn’t object, she doesn’t fight back, she just takes it.

From there we get Adrien transferring into their class for the first time. (Yes he actually shows up here.) And Marinette, at first, is more interested in fixing her hat, UNTIL the last name gets brought up by Chloe. To which she recognizes the name ‘Agreste’ as a famous fashion critic in Paris.

That knowledge makes her unwilling to approach the new guy, thinking he’s the same way and will critique her at every turn. After getting chastised for sitting at the wrong spot, she wants at least one period of a break from it.

After class, and after Ivan gets sent to the office for… I guess calling someone out for bullying you too loudly?? That’s gotta be the most brutally realistic this show will ever get. Marinette spends lunch focusing on fixing up her plans, and trips over again, ruining the macaroons left. At that point she decides to screw it and silently shun herself for failure.

But this is where Alya, from another class, comes up to help her out, recognizing her as the Fundraising Officer. Marinette is surprised that someone recognizes her and apologizes all over.

Alya was trying to find a student council member to help her pitch a campaign idea for a local insect zoo that she knows so she can send off her pet spider there for safety from her little sisters. (Yes Alya has a pet spider. My headcanon.)

Marinette, who already had plans, decides to add that to her paper to sell her point, and Alya gets to see her work. She loves the work, and also recognizes the Ladybug inspiration on her hat. She expresses that if Ladybug was still here, they’d be thrilled to see her looking out for the little ones.

Marinette says there’s no point as she’ll never be like that, but Alya uses her hero fanatic nature to pump her up and to stand up to Chloe to get her plan heard. Thus the start of their friendship as they introduce and hope to see each other more.

Two things: One, Marinette isn’t really friends with anybody in school up till this point. She’s not this overly popular figure that everyone worships. She’s just a regular girl who trips over her own feet, and is seen as the quiet girl in the corner in a crowd of cool kids.

Two, everyone knows Ladybug as the local superhero that whisked away years ago. Ladybug is famous in that sense, and kids especially talk about Ladybug like a perfect hero. All the more significant when a new person takes on the Miraculous.

Moving on with Marinette stuff, we have the student council meeting she attends. She’s in the back keeping to herself as, again, the rest of the council is Chloe and her followers. Yes Kim and Zoe Lee are her followers too, AT FIRST. It’s not just Sabrina.

As Chloe discusses the fundraiser plan for her mommy’s magazine plans, or whatever you want to say, (point here is that Chloe is someone who focuses on results SHE thinks will be beneficial. Not considering what those results do to others) she gets votes, well, she silently threatens them with a stare to vote on that idea, but remembering Alya’s words, Marinette decides to speak up.

She shares her idea that since she and Chloe are both fashionistas, especially Chloe, they can sell hats to fundraise not for magazines, but for the aid of an insect zoo in need of the support, to be a safe haven for those critters.

Only Zoey is fond of the idea, but she doesn’t get to say anything cause Chloe shoots down the others voices. Chloe shuts that idea down, saying it’s a terrible idea and “Who would EVER want to waste money on creepy crawling BEASTS?!” That fundraiser would fail.

Marinette tries to speak up that she knows how-

But Chloe shuts down all of it rather harshly, even going as far to ask if Marinette has the mayor’s support?

“No-“

“Then stay in your corner. Not every Ladybug wannabe has the essence.”

She flicks the hat off Marinette’s head, says that her stitching is rookie’s work, and proceeds to campaign HER idea. While everyone goes along.

While Marinette, again, takes it and moves on, hugging the hat tight the rest of the meeting.

I want to bring up that this is a show don’t tell explanation on why Marinette isn’t often targeted for Akumas, other than MC plot armor. She’s naturally a quiet pushover person at the start. She’s a perfectionist and that goes for unprofessional emotions. She doesn’t wear her emotions on her sleeve or allow herself to break when it’s not fit, so instead if she doesn’t get the results she wants, she keeps the fit and disappointment to herself as much as possible and moves on with her day. Not because she’s emotionless, not at all, she just can keep a level head better.

She’s not Jiang Kai Smith, she’s not an impulsive hot head. She CAN control her temper.

The next time we see Marinette is when Stonehart begins to attack, to which he goes rampaging around the school to look for Kim.

Because it’s implied the class we see in the original episode is the first period. There’s no way in hell Ivan would be dormant and just sit in the office the entire day till Kim left school. So instead he’s just attacking the school.

When the attack happens, all students are demanded to evacuate. You know, treating this like an actual serious emergency, until authorities arrive.

Marinette and Alya are in the same room when this happens, and Alya being Alya, decides to go after the monster and ignore orders. Marinette tries to go after her saying it’s too dangerous, but loses her when she breaks a corner. Stonehart’s damage on a wall cuts her off, and the girl is forced to hide in an alleyway alone. And rubble traps her there. (Not on her. Blocking the way out is what I mean.)

So you know that after this, Cat Noir is trying and failing to deal with it as we get Adrien getting his Miraculous, accepting the hero position right away, and going to have some fun.

Marinette has the last scene of the first part though, as she, in fear, is trying to calm herself down. Again that ‘she has a level head’ thing I talked about earlier. She decides to find a way out of her situation and rummages around her bag, to which she goes for the macaroon box…

And that’s where she finds the Miraculous Box.

Wondering what that’s doing here, she opens it up, it glows, and Tikki is revealed, waking up for the first time in years.

Marinette’s reaction is basically the same, freaking out and throwing whatever she has at the little bug mouse thing.

Tikki chastises the rude awakening. She’s been dormant for how long and THIS is the welcome back party she gets-

Only to realize it’s a scared girl that’s doing this, so she changes the attitude to calm her down.

In the original, Tikki is… super boring. Basically she’s just an exposition and lesson of the day dump, and the only personality she has outside of that is being nice. At least Plaag has personality.

Not this Tikki though. As this Tikki is… kind of arrogant.

She’s deemed one of the most powerful Kwamiis of one of the most powerful Miraculous ever. She’s had her fair share of users. And thus she has high expectations for all her users to be these perfect idealized heroes… and Marinette ain’t it. So naturally she’s nice, but she’s also strict with her ideals and prideful in her power and status and expects the best out of Marinette. (In short, she would NEVER deem Marinette ‘the best Ladybug ever’)

She has a bit of a character arc, so don’t think she’d be that unlikeable for very long. I just gave her a blatant flaw to make her more interesting.

Anyway, Tikki like in the original tries to calm Marinette down and pleads for her to help her. She doesn’t know why her previous master chose this girl as the new Ladybug, but fact of the matter is Marinette is the only one who can stop Stonehart.

Marinette starts listening at the mention of Ladybug. She could be Ladybug? She could be her hero?

Tikki, now that attention is granted, explains to Marinette her powers and how to capture the Akuma, and how to transform.

Marinette, without being ready, does, and transforms into Ladybug the first time.

To which her reaction is panicked screaming like in the movie.

Again, you seen my drawing on this post you see that I redid her Ladybug design.

The reason for this is simple: I just hate her design in the original show. Why is this minor wearing a body suit?!?!? On top of that it’s just a red body suit with black spots on it. I think you can do a lot more creative things with a superhero ladybug costume.

I will admit my redesign isn’t perfect. You can see a lot of my ‘magical girl stan go brrrr’. But I tried to keep the Ladybug motif as much as possible while also alluding to her Chinese heritage a bit. The gold around her black belt space is actually the yo yo string.

All I wanted to do with it was “NO minors are wearing body suits in this kids show! You can’t make me!”

Anyway, Part 2.

Marinette content is… at the same place we left her last episode.

Other than the setting of her being in an alleyway instead of her room, or an abandoned shop, this is literally just how the movie did it.

She finds the yo yo, gets yeeted outta there, gets swung to Notre Dame where the fight with Cat Noir and Stonehart was lured to.

And she crashes into Cat Noir. And they meet for the first time.

And their introduction to each other is… literally just the movie again. Seriously the movie did real good with this part. And, you know, the show could’ve used some more France landmarks than just the tower.

The only differences here that it’s Stonehart instead of the gargoyle. Which you can easily rewrite that design to be a stone gargoyle, it’s stone, it’s in the name. And Cat Noir had a plan to lure it here as a trap, that he was really confident about, but it fails. (He did become a superhero today after all)

Same chase from the movie just with that logic. Honestly this movie sequence did a really good job with setting up the two personalities of the heroes and keeping the lighthearted humorous tone of the show, while also being tense enough to keep interest.

But there really aren’t any citizens making watermelon jokes, cause most of them know Ladybug as a concept already. I can see Adrien, being shut out from the outside and all of that, making watermelon jokes and not knowing, but everyone else? Nah.

Not even the spot vision needs to be changed, as that’s just how Marinette thinks. It’s not part of her power, it’s just her. And I love seeing that thought process.

Same results too; They lure Stonehart in gargoyle form to a train station, Cat Noir gets his foot stuck, Ladybug saves him, and the train proceeds to run over the creature and destroy it.

Yes I know that’s not how Stonehart works in the show. I don’t care. This is beginner’s boss, let it be beginners boss. Regular rock monster. Not too complicated.

I know the magical girl formula well enough.

Anyway, there’s only one change here: This is NOT the end of Stonehart. As like in the show, the Akuma gets away to Ladybug’s neglect. Because she’s more worried if Cat Noir is okay.

The reason I use this sequence instead of the one in the show is because the origins episodes are supposed to be a two parter. As in two episodes tell one complete story. In the original though you have two instances of Marinette not being confident in her ability to be Ladybug, getting confidence to take on the role, fighting the villain, and winning. And then they just repeat the same thing again the next episode! Like what?!?! You don’t need her to have TWO instances of her learning the lesson!

So it’s just one of those instances here.

After they THINK the fight is said and done, Ladybug helps out Cat Noir as they both realize they’re surrounded by reporters and cops asking them questions.

Alya is one of them, asking if they’re the new Ladybug and Cat Noir.

To which Ladybug answers no. She’s not. In fact, she was thinking about handing that role to someone else, so… bye.

And she throws the yo yo and chickens out.

She goes to a… balcony? Bathroom? Closet? Somewhere that’s private. And de-transforms. Tikki congratulates the first fight, but Marinette isn’t too pleased with how that turned out. Tikki however assured her that it’s going to work out. They’ll get her in shape.

Marinette is about to leave, but then she sees in her view the multiple stone gargoyles around the city. All frozen.

Tikki asks if she captured the Akuma, to which Marinette realizes the mistake, and immediately starts beating herself up about it, saying over and over again that she can’t do this, she creates disasters for everyone, nobody like that could be Ladybug. Ever.

And Tikki doesn’t try to object, and simply states that if Ivan gets Akumatized again, this army comes to life.

To that, and realizing that the boy could be in danger, Marinette decides to go find him and help him. She may not be cut out for Ladybug, but she can’t just do nothing towards someone hurting.

She goes to a small hospital to find Ivan, and she asks a doctor how he’s doing. She says he’s not injured or sick at all, just distraught. He’s going to be okay.

Ivan is in a chair looking exactly that way. After a soft knock to let him know she’s here, Marinette tries to ask him personally what happened. He tries to be tense and say it’s of no business of some acquaintance like her, but she kindly insists, promising to not tell anyone any of it.

Not that she had anyone she was close to she could tell-but-whatever. You get it.

Still, Ivan refuses to speak. So instead Marinette goes to the crumbled paper, revealing that he was crushing on another girl in their class. Once she reads it aloud, Ivan says that Kim is always picking on him and taking advantage of his own feelings and he’s just sick of it.

Marinette, from her own experience, though without context here, says that she understands. “I get what you mean.”

This is vague enough to be taken into either context. Either she’s talking about Chloe, or Kim and her backstory with him from the original show, that… didn’t get cut entirely to your surprise.

Marinette says she’s no Cupid, but her advice is to at least try to get to know Mylene better. Maybe this could turn into a real thing one day.

Ivan is hesitant, saying he’s still mad at Kim, to which Marinette says “Then by all means, be mad at Kim. Just don’t let that possess your every waking thought is all.”

See I personally don’t like the message that ‘it’s better if everyone just stays happy’. You know me and my character, that’s not how I roll. So instead the message is ‘Control your negative emotions best you can. But when you have to feel them it’s okay to feel them, and the ones that take advantage of those feelings are the real bad guys.’

Ivan decides to call the school to see if she’s around, and Marinette decides to leave to give him privacy. What’s next on her mind is how to break the link between her and Tikki so she can hand off the Miraculous to someone else.

And as she wonders this, she bumps into Adrien, who also came to check on the Akuma victim. She tells him that Ivan’s fine and just needs privacy for now, then asks a little coldly what he’s doing here anyway.

Adrien says he was just… curious how he was doing. That’s all.

It’s awkward after that, as Marinette asks if he’s friends with Chloe. To which Adrien gets his line “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

Marinette tells him she doesn’t need another mental beating today and tries to brush him off, thinking he’s all on board for Chloe’s plans. Adrien tries to say something but is interrupted by Nathalie showing up and needing to talk to him.

Alya finds Marinette outside to gush about the footage she got of the ‘new ladybug’ that’s showed up, and this is basically the “What if Ladybug isn’t cut out to be a hero even though everyone thinks she is?” talk. It’s important because the way Alya describes Ladybug in this scene is what Marinette wants to be seen as, so it’s something she can take to heart.

That’s when Ivan gets Akumatized again and the Stonehart comes back. Though MyLene didn’t even show up or answer, that’s why he’s upset. So instead he goes after and captures Kim… and Chloe. Cause she’s a jerk.

It’s the same as in the show with Cat Noir taking action and failing, as he can’t capture Akumas, and Alya gets caught in the crossfire for Marinette to witness.

And well, because the last talk Marinette had before the fight was Alya’s impression of her, and in this version not too long ago, it’s more fresh in hers, and the viewers mind, and hits harder.

(They’re well done shots. I will give the producers that.)

During Marinette witnessing the peril, we also get some flashes of the incident in the prologue. As this is the same spot that happened, and is now replaying in her head.

She’s familiar with peril like this. She knows the fear that comes with it. But Ladybug was there to save her and everything else when it first happened.

And now it’s her turn.

She has to be that Ladybug to protect these people that need it.

So she puts on the earrings again and confirms to Tikki that she is, indeed, the new Ladybug.

It’s the same fight as in the show, not anything to change there, up until the Hawk Moth speech thing, as in this rewrites context this is actually the first time we get introduced to Hawk Moth.

And Ladybug swearing to stop him is a little more impactful here, as she recognizes the dark butterflies.

She captures the butterflies, leaving all that’s left to save Ivan… and hesitantly, Kim. Ladybug, predicting the Akuma is in the other clenched… claw? Thing? Idk. From an observation in the previous match, makes the plan to figure out how to open the fist.

Details of that plan is… not in my script, cause you can creative no matter what. But just know it doesn’t involve anyone ‘growing closer’ in this scenario.

They get it, both boys fall, Ladybug and Cat Noir save them, she captures the Akuma, the day is saved. Only change is that Ladybug doesn’t use Miraculous Ladybug, for obvious reasons, as the other stone beasts disintegrate with the Akuma, and just become rock rubble around people.

We can do a character centric episode on why MyLene wouldn’t show up to stuff like this. Maybe something regarding her family.

After the fight, Ladybug assures Ivan she personally will not blame him for this. That was Hawk Moth. Not him. Ivan is still disappointed he won’t get the chance to tell MyLene, but she tells him “Well, you see her in school, right? There’s multiple chances to speak up. Just… do it. Even if she says no, it’s worth it.”

Keeping that message in mind for herself, she’s already on her original desk the next day, watching a broadcast that the news reporter is explaining about the heroic return of a new Ladybug and Cat Noir. She also mentions the footage is from a minor that goes by the name Alya, who in an interview says she’s starting a blog to post footage of the presence of Ladybug and maybe play the detective and figure out her secret identity.

Chloe sees Marinette back in her original seat and demands that she gets lost. Only this time, Marinette stands up for herself, and tells Chloe to get lost. After a snarl, the blonde gives up.

Ms Bustier tells the class that they’re doing Chloe’s fundraising idea by majority vote, and Marinette sheds disappointment. Adrien notices.

Then we get the rain scene.

Adrien says hi, but Marinette isn’t in a mood to talk. So he decides to bring up a fact that he voted for her idea.

That gets her interest.

Adrien explains how he knows they don’t know each other very well, and knows that people have their opinions about him… but he’ll be the first to say his, that he respects people with a good heart. Hopefully that convinces someone that he really is trying.

And he’s rich, so… he can help her help that shelter anyway. And he offers her his umbrella. It’s the same scene from there, with Marinette developing her crush, making him laugh, and being all awkward while she watches Adrien leave.

The last scene of the origins episodes is of Marinette (and Adrien) having a letter appear behind them out of nowhere. Unsure how and what to expect, they read the letter. Which tells them both:

“Meet me at *the massage spa’s address* at Dawn tomorrow. Come transformed. We have a lot to talk about.”

“- Ladybug from 2000”

I think you know who that letter is from.

So you know what I’m going for with Marinette throughout the rest of the show, is giving her an actual character arc. An arc involving a theme of ‘self love’. You love someone, but if you’re gonna love someone, you gotta love yourself. And Marinette clearly doesn’t seem to think too highly of herself unless she’s Ladybug. That’s because she’s basically pretending to be someone else, someone she saw in her youth as a perfect figure, and what the public views her as. With all the responsibilities that come with her new role, she clings to the image of Ladybug, rather than Marinette herself.

With the nature of Akumatized victims being a focal point, and Marinette being one of the two main characters, there can be some cases where Marinette interacts with or even befriends some of her classmates or other townies that we’re just acquaintances with her before. All while she uses the Ladybug idea in her head as the reason why she succeeds. Not realizing that in the best cases, it’s all just her. Just Marinette.

Her crush on Adrien is also important, as unlike in the original, I want her to actually talk to him, maybe awkwardly cause she’s still a kid, but still talk to him and get to know him. If Adrien loves her, then that must mean she’s worth it. But they can’t click and become a couple because Marinette cannot love herself. For one reason or another that becomes apparent and her pretending to be another drives the boy away from a love angle.

Marinette is also a little more flawed, and are flaws that actually get called out in some episodes. This is apparent with the new Tikki dynamic, clashing with Marinette’s more humble nature. She’s a pushover in her normal Marinette self and unable to say no to anything. When she tries to go do what she wants it leads to recklessness you expect from any teenager. She also has trouble trusting some people, due to her backstory with Kim, which yes is kept, but one, there’s some edits to it, and two, this episode is gonna be moved to a Season 1 episode so it’s blatant it’s not an excuse but rather used as a base for lessons Marinette has to learn. And you know, explaining her actions not justifying them.

The idea that something like that can be viewed as PTSD and excuse for bad behavior in the writers eyes is honestly disgusting.

What was that Terrible Writing Advice quote?

“Why use trauma to explain behavior when you can use trauma to excuse behavior?”

Not this Marinette though. Maybe through her inability to speak up or confront a crush, there can be a few episodes, not every episode, where she does certain tactics. But here’s the thing: Unlike in the show, these will be viewed as BAD things to do. Ones she gets CAUGHT doing and is disciplined as such. One she needs to apologize for and learn a lesson that there’s much better ways to interact than being an obsessive psycho.

And definitely by season two, this stalker behavior is non existent. Because she would’ve learned the lesson already.

And you know, she isn’t gonna be the focal point of every single episodes, as I definitely want some to be Adrien centric, and even centric on other side characters.

Don’t think Adrien is neglected, he’s an entirely different topic as I didn’t mention his bits in these origins. Because his issues are different from hers.

Anyway I’ll try to get the next post of some other episodes that are Marinette centric in my eyes, if you guys like this version. Or not, you know, best be honest. That’s cool too.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug and chat noir #tales of ladybug and cat noir #ladybug #rewrites #rewrite #character analysis #character designs #character redesign

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