#(just to be safe)

[felis-rach]

My love is the killing kind...

If they don't get a happy ending I'll cry so much guys

[zenniaphoenix]

In universe, I really like Zoe. Even if she has a lot of similarities with other characters, I think her vibe is fun. From a Doylist perspective, though, I think introducing Zoe was a poor narrative choice. I think the slides above are a good explanation of how she compares to other characters, but you’re missing a crucial part of the fandom history that explains how we got here.

Zoe was brought into the story as a replacement for the role that was originally written for Chloe, before Astruc decided not to give Chloe her planned redemption arc. (From what I’ve heard, Astruc basically didn’t like the number of fans that were excited about Chloe’s anticipated redemption arc, or how they talked about it, and decided to scrap it because of that. I’m not searching out the tweets where Astruc said as much right now, but I do remember seeing and probably reblogging them). That’s part of why there are so many sets of dolls with the core four and Chloe as queen bee, even though she didn’t spend a lot of time with the bee miraculous. You can also see that in earlier drafts of the story, like the PV, the character Chloe was based off of was meant to be part of the main group as a friend and a hero. It seems like the plan for Miraculous Ladybug was to give Chloe a redemption arc somewhere around seasons 2-4.

So like… yeah of course Chloe and Zoe have a ton in common. In terms of their role in the overall story, they’re functionally two different versions of the same character. I never particularly cared about Chloe as a character, and I like Zoe better, but the mess this show has made of using Zoe as a replacement for Chloe rather than the sort of person Chloe could grow into with time is disappointing. Practically, Zoe is Chloe, a few steps closer to healing.

They both love fashion. Chloe seeks out prestige in what she wears, and Zoe enjoys decorating herself with art pieces that express who she is and what she cares about.

They both want to have acting roles. Chloe butts into every single audition in the show insisting on being the lead. She feels strongly enough about it that if she doesn’t get her way, she sometimes shuts the whole show down. Zoe has opened up about the fact that she wants to be an actress, and taken steps towards that goal, but she tries not to hurt people in the process.

They’re both wanted their mom’s approval. Chloe will do anything to get it, and has been shown a few times that that doesn’t work, but didn’t learn from that. Zoe’s decided that she’s not going to get it, and she might as well look somewhere else for emotional support.

They both seek out Marinette and Ladybug’s approval. Chloe goes to unreasonable lengths to make it look like she’s a hero like Ladybug, even going as far has putting people in danger so she can save them. She doesn’t usually get Ladybug’s approval, and throws a lot of tantrums about it. She’s still done the right thing sometimes anyways, but not when Ladybug happened to be watching. (Marinette doesn’t owe her forgiveness, but that doesn’t stop a lot of heroes from giving forgiveness. I kinda like the subversion here, but Chloe could have still have a redemption arc without earning Marinette’s approval or friendship, which would be equally subversive of the trope and honestly more interesting). Zoe just gets Ladybug’s approval as a baseline. She almost looses a bit of it, but gains it back within the episode.

Zoe gets a crush on Marinette, a girl who was nice to her when she didn’t have to be. And frankly, a lot of Chloe’s early bullying of Marinette looks like a childish, hair pulling to get attention kind of crush.

Zoe has a strong sense of justice, that’s a little bit more attuned to things that hurt her personally, but she’s learning to recognize things that hurt other people. Chloe has a stubborn sense that things shouldn’t be unfair to her, but doesn’t notice or care when other people are hurt. She has the potential to grow towards stubbornly standing up for her sense of justice if that changes.

Chloe puts up walls to keep her ego from being hurt. And those walls have hurt a lot of people. Zoe is learning to stop hiding who she is, but still occasionally does it by default. She’s still trying to move past the guilt of having been a mean girl before, and figure out who she can be when she’s nice to other people and herself.

Zoe is Chloe’s redemption arc, but the writers skipped the hard bits, where they have to convince the audience she’s really changing.

It feels like Zoe’s crowding the (former) mean girl space because… she is. She’s the foil to Lila that Chloe was supposed to be (as an actress, as someone who struggles to show up authentically), and having just the two characters in that space would have made a lot more sense in the story. And ironically, by having Zoe show up late and take up the space of a main cast member without earning it, a lot of people didn’t react well to her, and thought she fell flat, which was the same concern they probably had about a Chloe redemption arc.

For example: the scene where Andre tells Zoe he wanted to be a director would have hit very different if it was with Chloe, slightly after her lowest point, when she’s just starting to figure out how to be nice to people. For her to have an opportunity to see her dad as a person and understand why he isn’t happy as mayor, and force Chloe to weigh that against all of the privilege that having the mayor as her dad has given her, and decide whether she wants to support her dad being happier or her life being easier. Could she give up being the mayor’s daughter, a core part of her identity and the main weapon she uses against the people who she feels have wronged her, for her father’s sake? That scene would have been a much more impactful one than “oh hey step?-dad, nice to meet you on the roof, it’s neat that we have similar hobbies. I see you regret not following your dreams so I’m going to follow mine.” Even if Chloe botched that one opportunity to be a kinder person, it would have been interesting to watch her try. To fit well with Miraculous’s episode format they’d probably have her realize she was wrong over the course of an akuma fight against her dad, so they could write Chloe messing up and show her learning from it. Which is a thing characters on this show get to do every single episode, but not Chloe. Chloe never gets to learn, and introducing Zoe as a replacement for a Chloe redemption arc really cemented that decision. Having characters who can never be redeemed in canon is okay, but seems a bit mixed up to decide a kid can never improve in a kid’s show about learning to manage your emotions better.

[orphicrites]

From Vanessa's IG 🖤

[thimbleofsoup]

does anyone like my new banner

@charmykidd

[amethyst-marshmallow]

chat do u guys fw my c00lkidd design

bones :)

rbs over likes!!

[platypus-brained]

Reading the tags HURT AAAAHHHHH💔🥲

PnF Spirit Week 1: May 27th - Pets

You never really forget your first ever pet. Especially if they disappear quite abruptly from your life.

[tuherrus]

someone somewhere probably already drew this but here's the centaur kiss anyway

[fernacular]

Marcille and Falin, a few decades down the road.

extras:

[18is]

"unnamed chimera" my ass, Grim you have 5 minutes to run.

[nnobodoodles]

Huh.

So I randomly remembered Croc is pretty much Italian.

[whatisyourchildhoodtrauma]

Trixie Ranks Every Season of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER!

[bunneis]

The Gaslight District is a gothic crime drama about a family of undead gangsters trying to find their place after the world has ended.

[cherrycoloredphoenix]

So how about that post credits scene huh

[bruciemilf]

So I watched Penguin

[larkinna]

"Everything will be alright. I've got you, don't I?"

lena-oleanderson // sea meets earth by fever fever // calling a wolf a wolf by kaveh akbar // portrait of a lady by t.s. eliot // x // great expectations by charles dickens // writing prompts for the broken-hearted by eden robinson // saying something by carol ann duffy // moodylilac // my love mine all mine by mitski // screenshots from dragon age: the veilguard