#ML analysis

[uptoolateart]

Here's a whole bunch of initial thoughts I have after watching the London Special.

Time Travel

Speaking as someone who writes way too many stories involving time travel...there were a lot of holes in this special. Also, I appreciate that it's been 15 months since the S5 finale aired, and they probably wanted to remind us (and especially children) of the key moments...but some scene repetition felt like it was just there to pad out the episode length. But I'm gonna shrug all that off because of everything else this special did.

Lies, Lies and More Lies

I've not been quiet about how angry I was over Ladybug lying to Adrien and keeping vital secrets, in that S5 finale. I'm so glad to see that this special addressed that stuff. By the end, we see that both heroes are keeping secrets. Cat's identity has become more pertinent than never, and she has no idea.

Going Too Far

In their final conversation, Ladybug told Cat she worried she might have gone 'too far' this time. Throughout S5, we were repeatedly told no one has ever been able to handle unifying the miraculous like Marinette can. We also watched her change dramatically over that season. By the S5 finale, I felt like she'd become overpowered. In this special, I think she acknowledged that. Maybe she handed out the other miraculous because she realised she was in danger of becoming another Gabriel, e.g. making decisions about what's right for Adrien, etc.

Did She Make the Right Decision?

With no one else to turn to, Marinette asks Plagg and Tikki if she made the right decision. They don't tell her she's wrong, but they also seem very undecided. She also asks Bunnyx, who tells her that both paths - telling or not telling Adrien the truth - will lead to both happy and sad moments. This warns us that hard times are on their way. She wants to 'protect Adrien', but she can't. She can't keep him from pain. seems to suggest that Marinette's choice to keep the truth from him is going to lead to some hard times.

Kagami

Kagami intimated that she disagreed with Marinette's decision. When she comforted Adrien in the white room and told Bug Noire to go...that really hit me. There is so much going on there. Transformed, Marinette can't comfort Adrien. In fact, she's just hurt him, and Kagami is the only one in that scene able to help him pick up the pieces. Not just that, but Kagami can relate. Remember her name means 'mirror'. She's now in the position Adrien could be in, if he knew the truth. She's the one trying to come to terms with the truth about her parent. She's the one dealing with the knowledge that she's a sentibeing. She is an example of Adrien's alternate path. When she tells Bug Noire that she's letting her love for Adrien blind her...Kagami is speaking personally - as someone who can put herself in Adrien's shoes in a way Marinette just can't.

If I Could Turn Back Time

When Chrono Bug got that black cat calendar as a lucky charm, she must have known it meant Cat Noir was somehow the solution. But she ignored it. I think her emotions regarding Adrien blinded her from understanding what the universe was trying to tell her.

She and Bunnyx spent much of the episode trying to determine the crucial moment when things started spinning out of control - the moment they needed to change. Marinette focused on the revelation of her identity, which I'm sure was vital. BUT...the elephant in the room was the moment she chose to lie to Adrien. Standing in that time burrow, she had a chance to change the story she told him and undo everything that's on its way. Surely that cat calendar was hinting at this.

Kitten

I think it's telling that the cat on the calendar was a kitten. It felt like the universe was telling her there's something she isn't seeing in Cat - that he's more fragile and in need of nurturing than she acknowledges. When she sees him at the end, and he tells her he has his own awful secret - when he cries over it - she should be questioning why he's that eaten up about missing that final battle. What's his secret? Why's he so devastated? But she's too wrapped up in her own conundrum. Like in Cat Blanc, she's not 'listening'. For me, the most painful moment was when he tried to reassure her that things would be okay - now it'll be 'you and me again, just like old times'. She hasn't yet told him there's actually a huge team now. But they both must understand that the old times are well and truly gone.

The Truth Is Out There

We're now waiting for yet another reveal. Adrien and Marinette still have to find out they're Cat and Ladybug - but Adrien also has to find out the truth about his father. This special hammered it all in so hard that it's Chekhov's gun waiting to go off. What I wonder is if the writers had this angle in mind all along, or if they did this after they saw the fan reaction to that S5 finale. I suspect it's a bit of the latter, particularly because they also had Bunnyx explain that Marinette's reaction to Gabriel in the S5 finale was her getting the 'proof' that he was Monarch. Her reaction was one of many things we all questioned after that episode first aired, so I think the writers were trying to 'fix' things with this special. And I'm fine with that. I'm pleased that they're listening and not just moving on from this stuff / trying to sell it to us that lying to someone is 'the right thing to do'.

The Wild Card

At the end of S5, I thought it was clear that Lila had worked out Ladybug's identity. I assumed S6 would involve some vendetta against Marinette. This special demonstrated that would make things too easy, so they levelled the playing field. Lila doesn't know Ladybug's identity. But she does know Monarch was Gabriel. I think it's inevitable that at some point (probably not for ages, because the writers will want to string us along in suspense), she'll tell Adrien the truth about his father.

Cat Blanc

I think 'Cat Blanc', and Adrien's vision in the white room, were foreshadowing. In this special, we saw how angry Adrien was at Bug Noire when she told her story. He demanded to know why she couldn't save Gabriel. He seemed to have forgiven her by the end, but when he learns the truth, he's going to feel so betrayed. And when he breaks down...watch out, moon.

The Inevitable Break-Up

I think it's inevitable that Adrinette will break up...but only temporarily. When it all blows up, it could be the necessary turning point we've been waiting for, where they finally get on equal footing - where their relationship is based on honesty and total mutual respect.

Conclusion

Buckle up, guys. We're in for a bumpy ride - but I remain optimistic. After 15 crazy months, I'm finally no longer angry about the S5 finale.

[miraculous-floconfettis]

That's way too many frogs.

Either someone in the Miraculous team is fan of frogs or this is sus.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Scarlet Lady Top 10 Favorite Characters: Number 8

@zoe-oneesama

Number 9 Here

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Number 8: Nino

Oh Nino, Nino. Canon did you so poorly.

I can’t even preface this with a compare/contrast between how he is in Canon vs how he is in the comic. There’s nothing to compare. Nino in Scarlet Lady is vastly superior.

1. He makes me smile whenever he appears 

Yes, I know this reason is particularly subjective, but it’s true. Whether he’s making me laugh from some of his antics or making me smile at how wholesome he can be. He is just a character who cheers me up whenever he appears. Not because he tries to, but because that’s just who he is.

And as such, I’m counting it as a reason he’s on this list simply because he’s so enjoyable.

His expressions vary mostly between cute and hilarious. His attitude towards some of the situations he ends up in are very relatable. Not what he “should” do or what you would expect a show geared towards a specific demographic would have him do, but what a random person in his position would be likely to do—good and bad. 

Knowing he will inevitably be bailing Alya out of jail some day.

Screwing with Adrien about wanting to ask out Marinette himself.

Faking dead at the sight of Alya all dolled up for Chloe’s party.

Out of the core group, he is the one who most reminds me that these are teenagers. Sometimes selfish and often immature teenagers. While Adrien and Marinette are dealing with some variation of stress that comes from hero work and Alya is focused on her blog about the heroes, Nino is just vibing. He’s chilling and just trying to hang out and be a good friend.

All the fun antics and wholesome friend and teenage moments I was hoping for in Canon? Where we get to see them just be regular teenagers doing regular teenage things and be happy? They are here in Scarlet Lady. And Nino is one of the characters who shows that best.

He’s a silly. 

He’s a sweetie.

He’s an idiot sometimes, but I can forgive him.

Overall, Nino isn’t really mean. He can be a jerk at times, or selfish and dismissive, but we don’t see him really be mean to people and he doesn’t get snarky the way other characters do.

He’s just a very human very chill character living his life and doing the best he can and I love and appreciate him for it.

…though of course he wouldn’t be on this list if that was all there is to him.

2. Nino’s Role

Nino’s role is hard to place when compared to the other main characters of the story. But trust me, it’s there. And it’s actually deeper than most would think.

So in most stories and shows, there is a character who tends to have a non-main plot arc related but still emotionally impactful role. They can serve as a connection to normalcy in an increasingly non-normal situation. It’s not just about showing support to the main character, but being a link for both the heroes and the audience to the normal world that the heroes are supposed to be fighting for. They are a reminder of humanity and what is supposed to matter. They can also see things from the normal world perspective that the heroes would lose sight of because as heroes, they have to focus on the bigger world issues.

Here, Nino is tied to normalcy. While Adrien and Marinette and Alya are all focused on heroes in various ways, Nino is focused on more personal things. He is focused on his moviemaking and his dreams. He is focused on his family. He is focused on his friends and their feelings. 

He is focused on making sure his best friend has a good first school picture day. 

He is focused on helping his bro try dating the girl he likes.

He is focused on supporting a friend in the middle of a panic attack.

He is focused on supporting his girlfriend during a tough time.

He is focused on partying with his friends.

He’s just focused on hanging out and having a good time and making sure others are happy.

Nino focuses on things on a personal level from the viewpoint of a normal kid.

As such, when he DOES get involved in heroics, it’s primarily regarding the impact it has on him on a personal level—to save his little brother during a major monster attack. To try and stay safe during an akuma attack. And yes, to support his girlfriend after she finally catches on that her hero is a fraud.

Nino isn’t attached to the world of heroes the way that the other three members of the Quartet are. Some may say this makes Nino lacking, but I would argue that this gives Nino a perspective that the other three are missing.

It should say something that Adrien and Marinette have gotten so used to Scar’s antics that as much as they hate it, they’ve lost track of how truly problematic it is. It reached the point that it didn’t register to them that other people were in a position to finally see what they had been dealing with, much less that anyone would be freaked out by that reveal. They had long since moved past shock and anger to simple annoyance and resignation.

Adrien seemed to be bitter but still more or less resigned to his unfortunate circumstances while Marinette was willing to put up with it so long as she was able to help Chat in some way. They come to accept that working around Scar and dealing with her attitude is just part of the job to the point they lost awareness of things outside of that. This doesn’t make them bad or uncaring, but it does emphasize a need for a character who isn’t so entrenched in the issues and constant crisis with lack of assistance that he can notice and bring attention to the smaller and more personal things. Their regular proximity to Scar has left them detached in a way and unaware of how she’s impacted others. 

Nino is in a prime position to see and care—far enough to not be dragged into the drama but close enough to those affected to notice the effects. It is through this difference in position that Nino offers a perspective that the regular heroes can't. It’s what lets him be aware of other people, their needs, and the changes that they go through. Even when they themselves don’t realize it or the need for it.

This actually ends up being where Nino develops as a character. Because originally, he was…pretty bad at this to put it mildly. Maybe not Kim levels of oblivious, but still problematic.

Nino shows the makings of a leader. He has to if he wants to be a director. We see it in how he was able to take charge in Horrificator and Party Crasher. But leadership only works if it’s tempered by compassion and awareness regarding the other people involved, and that was something Nino struggled with.

He had a hard time picking up on things. He had a team but wasn’t really able to lead them or work with them properly because he was stuck in what he wanted or thought would be a good idea in the moment and didn't consider the feelings of those around him. He needed people at times to tell him what was going on and what impact he was having. And at times, even when he was told that something was wrong, he struggled to really listen. It stood to reason that he ended up with a mess, but at least he ultimately learned from it.

This kind of ends up becoming the core of Nino’s growth. He improved after the mess in Horrificator and wasn’t nearly as much of a jerk, but he still struggled with being able to read people. He acknowledges it as a weakness and actively tries to do better.

This is Nino’s arc. It isn’t as obvious or big or shiny since it’s one of the only ones not directly related to either of the main plots of Hawk Moth attacking the city or Scar/Chloe being the absolute worst. But we get to see over the course of the story how Nino is doing more to improve himself and be a better friend, a better person, and ultimately a hero.

As a result, Nino comes off as perhaps one of the more mature and levelheaded characters in the story…certain moments aside.

With Marinette focusing on helping Chat and Adrien focusing on surviving, it stands to reason that being the emotional support for their friends and helping resolve their personal NON-world crisis level problems would come as a secondary priority…and likely wouldn’t be addressed at all if things continued as is without intervention.

Nino ends up being the one who takes on that role. And it ends up being one of the most important roles in the story.

Remember, he is the one who helps Alya calm down from a panic attack in Animan. He later supports her as she's coming to terms with the reality of Scar not actually being heroic. He again helped her as Foxtrot to find a new goal for herself in Sapotis. He also reassured Chris in that same episode. He supported Adrien getting to be a normal teen with normal teen experiences in Bubbler. And again later with the reveal of Gabriel being Hawk Moth—both in taking the jerk down and knowing full well how much trouble this will bring Adrien.

And let’s also recall that this is all during the timeframe Nino is noted to have been struggling with this very thing and trying to improve. Alya calls him out on it in Dark Cupid. In Intermission 1, Nino was shown to still have mistaken Adrien’s crush as being on Marigold since Adrien’s lie the previous episode in Dark Cupid. He promised to “step up his game” after and be more aware.

And it shows. The very next episode is Animan, where Nino kickstarts the whole thing by setting up the hangout to allow Adrien and Marinette the chance to see if they could be more than friends.

These moments seem like such little things when compared to the bigger plot points of a super villain turning people into monsters or a hero stealing credit for city-saving she’s not doing, but they hit on a much more personal level because he is getting personal with people in a way they need but would otherwise be overlooked in the face of those “bigger problems“.

And the kicker is that said “bigger problems” would be continuing to keep the endgame events from happening without Nino there. 

NINO is the one who helped Alya come to terms with her hero being a fake and guided her on how to move forward. If not for him, she might have tried to rationalize it and double down on her defense of Scar—that it’s her way of being a leader and staying out of the direct fighting in order to keep her Miraculous safe, which is a reasonable conclusion given that is Gabriel‘s assumption in the story and that it would be a valid tactic in any other situation if it weren’t for it being Chloe being the one doing it. And even if she had accepted the truth, that hardly meant she would do anything about it. She might just have deleted her blog and gone into a depression, doing absolutely nothing the rest of the series. Meaning no Koki Marina, no expose on said fake hero, and no leads to the main villain.

NINO is the one who set up the all boys party in Party Crasher. Kim might have had the idea, but Nino was the one with the plan and the excuses already planned. Bad move? Yes. A choice that I am going to rag on him for? Definitely. But it’s also the reason that Ivan and Kim completed their character arcs and became heroes. That’s not to say other things couldn’t have happened to give them that chance, but this specific event is why it happened and if not for this, it may not happen at all. Fu was the one giving out Miraculous at the finale and he specifically chose those who had been chosen previously. Meaning that without this, there is a likelihood that there would have been less heroes to help out in the final battle. Or whatever heroes were chosen last minute would have had similar issues as Zoe being the new Bee hero with no prior experience or knowledge of the akumas.

NINO is the one who taught Adrien what friendship actually is. Adrien’s whole speech in Despair Bear about friendship? How they watch out for each other? Consider each other’s feelings? Make each other feel good when they’re together? THAT’S NINO! He’s a huge part of the reason Adrien grows and is able to recognize healthy relationships and what isn’t healthy. Nino taught Adrien what friendship is. Nino gave Adrien the knowledge and strength to confront Chloe and Gabriel.

And here’s a huge one: NINO is the one who helped Adrien realize his own improved emotional and physical state, lessened stress level, and that he doesn’t have to continue to deny himself a relationship or things that would make him happy in general. Up to that point, Adrien fully wanted to date Marinette but had decided to forego trying because he was too stressed and busy dealing with Hawk Moth and akumas on his own while being dragged down by a partner who wasn’t helping. While Marigold joining certainly helped the situation, Adrien had been carrying the weight alone for so long and had been so accustomed to denying/being denied things he wanted that he didn’t actually notice how much better he was doing until Nino pointed it out. In Adrien’s own words: “Can…can I really? Is it possible? Am I allowed?”

Yeah, no movement was going to be made there because Adrien had spent so much time convincing himself he couldn’t until Nino pointed out that he could.

Without this insight, odds are we wouldn’t see Adrien and Marinette getting to date or reveal their identities as long as Hawk Moth was still around. And when they did finally take him down, dating would probably be the last thing on their minds.

Nino helped progress a major plot point. If I’m being snarky, I would say he did more to actually help get them together than Alya did with all of her attempts in Canon. Just going to prove he is the better wingman.

It may not feel like that much in comparison to some of the other major arcs in the story, but sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest impact and Scarlet Lady is a story that rewards us for paying attention to the little things.

Without Nino encouraging him to try, the endgame romance wouldn’t have happened. But more than that, since Adrien and Marinette getting together came with the reveal of their identities, that would also mean that Adrien wouldn’t have had the support he needed after his father’s defeat. 

We saw it when he was talking with Fu. Adrien was trying to minimize the severity of the situation and pretend everything was fine when it wasn’t. He wasn’t able to let himself break down until Marinette showed up to force the matter.

Marinette was able to support him and know just how bad it was because they knew each other‘s identities by that time—something that Fu clearly didn’t want them knowing even at the end. And while the friends were all willing to support him and house him, they didn’t actually know the extent of it. It’s one thing to find out your father is a supervillain. It’s another thing to be the one who had to help take him down and see the full extent of what he had done and was willing to do…and how little he cared.

That? All of that? Everyone being in prime position to be where they would be needed? Nino contributed.

To be fair, maybe things could have still worked out without Nino, but I’d be willing to bet they wouldn’t have worked out nearly as well.

That’s part of what makes Nino work. As a character. As a friend. And as a hero.

3. Nino The Hero

When you have a storyline that involves other established characters becoming heroes and joining the main hero team—even if only temporarily, there needs to be a reason. Or at least more to the choice than that they are the main character’s best friend and it’s obligatory that they get first pick.

I dislike making the comparison in this case because they’re different characters with different situations in different versions of the same story, but I have to say that of the two, it makes the most sense to me that Scarlet Lady Nino was the first temp hero chosen compared to his Canon version or even Canon Alya.

I can’t even try to make a comparison with Anansi because we all know there is nothing to compare. For what should have been his hero episode, he was stuck playing referee and barely did anything with the Miraculous he was given.

So instead let’s look at how they handled the situation in Sapotis.

In Canon, we see Alya rather ineffectively and pointlessly trying to corral her akumatized sisters while seeming to forget that trying to talk down akumas generally doesn’t work and that she couldn’t control them even when they weren’t akumatized. Then her arc for the episode was a mix of secret keeper and trust exercise when neither were ever acknowledged in Canon to be an issue for her previously.

In Scarlet Lady, Nino isn’t dealing with the Akuma problem, he’s just trying to rescue his little brother—a much better and more reasonable use of his time and efforts as something he could feasibly accomplish without superpowers. Not easily, of course, but still possible. Or at least more possible than trying to talk down endlessly multiplying gremlins without any idea which were the originals or had the item.

When Nino sees Chat Noir, he begs him for help to save his little brother. Then when he’s given the offer to help out himself, he jumps at the chance—not to be a hero but to save Chris. Becoming a hero is a means to an end for him, even amidst the wonders of learning about kwamis and having superpowers, Nino’s primary focus was on saving Chris.

This shows Nino has good focus. He’s also a team player, because he goes along with Marigold’s overly complicated plan even if he doesn’t really understand it or how it is supposed to work. He trusts at least that they will help and that they have a plan that can work. Plus he got a good zing at Scar by emphasizing Chat and Marigold as the heroes of the city and the ones he will take orders from. It was a callout but a more mature one by emphasizing Chat and Marigold’s efforts rather than simply insulting Scar the way that most of the other characters did. Because that’s how Nino is.

By this time in the story, he’s already working and making progress towards being a better person. Something that becoming a hero both helped with and confirmed this progress in. We see it in his acts as a new member of a team and in his actions as a singular newbie hero. He prioritized and rescued Chris even as the Sapotis were being dealt with (in contrast to Scar who is concerningly chill with letting people die because she can just bring them back anyway). And after taking Chris back and being on a time limit, he still took the time to help Alya under the guise of a new face and gave her direction and an outside perspective when she needed it. That’s what makes him a good hero, he’s got heart.

Alya put it best: “You comforted me, even as Fox Trot, like the sweetheart you are. Of course you’d be a super hero.”

Of course he would be a super hero! Of course he would be picked as the first temp hero! Not because he’s Adrien’s best friend or the convenience of Chris being involved and them needing an extra person, but because Nino has the qualities to be an effective and supportive hero. He’s caring, he has good ideas, his work with music and movies makes him a good fit for the Fox and powers of illusions, he is capable of working as part of a team, and he’s good at seeing problems and helping to come up with solutions. He has heart!

It’s something he holds on to throughout the series. It’s why he gets akumatized on Adrien’s behalf and then again for Alya in the finale. It’s why he reaches out to offer Adrien friendship and tries to support him when he needs it while also tempering some of his antics. It’s in the way he supports Alya without dismissing the problem or fixing things for her. It’s in the way he helps guide people to realizations and solutions without taking away their agency.

Nino is a huge reason why things worked out. For the endgame, for the relationships, for the heroes, for the city.

Scarlet Lady gave Nino the focus, development, relevance, and character that makes him worthwhile. And that is why he more than deserves a spot on this list.

[robylovi]

Thinking abt the parallels between Luka and Adrien (+ their daddy issues)

Physically vs. Emotionally absent dads

How they both play their dad’s instrument

How they both wear their dad’s merch

How they both had preconceived notions of their dad before knowing it was Their Dad™ (Jagged Stone as Luka’s favorite artist and Hawk Moth as Adrien’s literal archenemy)

How Luka was abandoned and refuses to abandon others + How Adrien had to earn his father’s time and thinks he has to earn everyone else’s

= How they both are ASS at setting boundaries because of it

How (super randomly btw) the girl they dated happened to design things for their dad

^ How Gabriel didn’t even remember Mari despite her having a very active role in Adrien’s life, while Jagged Stone was closer to her than he was to his son

How Luka’s dad isn’t really ‘gone’ like Adrien’s mom is, but Adrien’s dad isn’t really ‘present’ like Luka’s mom is

^ How they’re both a living reminder of their ‘gone’ parent (dyed hair/blue eyes, blonde hair/green eyes) to their ‘present’ parent

+ Also think it’s neat how their outfits contrast (black vs. silver ring, white vs. black shirt, blue vs. blond hair); opposites, yet not opposite at all.

[sugarcubetikki]

From day one, there have been multiple theories and interpretations about what Adrien’s future career path and passions would be as we all wanted to see this boy be able to choose and discover something for himself rather than the dozens of activities his father was making him do. I believe the most popular theories in the fandom were Adrien becoming a baker or a stay-at-home dad. I think the popularity of these theories arose due to Adrien being good with kids and showing a fondness towards Marinette’s family and their bakery in early seasons. Furthermore, as Miraculous is built on subverting gender roles, and Adrien’s characterisation is more traditionally feminine with the narrative I guess we were building on that (and men taking on more domestic roles seems to be loved in fandom spaces in general).

However, I hadn’t quite seen running as a potential career choice for Adrien and most of us wouldn’t expect it either.

I, for one, didn’t expect it but I am not disappointed and I think it makes a great lot of sense for his character for three reasons.

Reason #1

As much as I love baker and stay-at-home dad Adrien aus, I’m glad that canon chose not to take that route in this episode. I think that choice would be more detrimental to his character rather than beneficial in our canon narrative.

As Thomas commented, so much of his character already revolves around Marinette considering that he’s pretty much all he has left and feels the most comfortable around her right now. (Even before his father’s death, his sense of identity seemed to revolve around her a lot as we saw him expressing that his love for her was the only thing he was sure of in S5. I think it’s because he’s been deprived of autonomy so much that he seems to be used to basing his desires around other people’s).

That’s why I believe him going into baking or being a stay-at-home dad at the future would not really help him grow as a character as both those choices still keep him under Marinette’s wing.

As this episode established, Adrien needs to figure and explore his passions for himself. Whilst Marinette will always be there for him, he needs to understand what he wants by his own volition.

(Having him make a breakthrough in discovering his interest for running without Marinette at the end of this episode was a great start!) Reason #2

I thought it was interesting how they started this sequence with Adrien looking up sadly at his big and lonely house before running away from it.

It takes me to what Sublime asks him later on.

This is what Adrien has wanted from Season 1: to run away and escape the four corners of his house to explore the outside world. It feels like a callback to Origins where I think of Adrien running away from house to start school. There’s also several times in the show where he runs away to escape the cold and lonely atmosphere his house brings.

The bars on the gate of the house in this scene also makes it look so much like a prison.

Of course, we now have Adrien standing on the outside of it rather than inside considering that the person who was keeping him in the house in the first place is dead.

It still doesn’t mean that Adrien thinks of the house as less of a prison. An association like that is hard to forget especially now that the house is where both his parents died.

But now, without Gabriel, we know he’s free to run from it for as long as he wants.

I also want to add that in Hinduism, running is considered as a physical response to escape distress.

Reason #3

Should someone’s passion really be built on running away from something else? Well no. But I don’t think we’re meant to see it that way. Adrien running at the end of this episode away from his house is meant to symbolise him finally breaking free from the Gabriel’s controlling influence. Him running away is mainly a step towards his growth.

Besides, running isn’t only seen as means to escape problems but it also signifies pursuit of a goal and taking on a spiritual journey for self-growth. (Dream analysis tends to associate both escapism and pursuit to running in dreams depending on the context and circumstance). This also fits Adrien’s character quite well. Not only is he escaping past trauma, but he’s taking on a new journey to explore what he wants in life.

So yeah, let the boy run!

I’m super excited to see where they take his characterisation with this one. The symbolism behind his potential passion/career choice is just gorgeous.

Edit: I’d just like to make it clear that I don’t see this scene as Adrien finding his passion for life. I more or less see it as Adrien taking a step forward to discover something he potentially is passionate about by himself without input from any of the people in his life (he also makes a new friend on his own and that makes me happy). Running is indeed a potential career choice for Adrien, and it could possibly be something he can see himself doing in the future, and we will definitely get more buildup to this passion of his in future episodes too! It’s not a definite career choice for Adrien though, because as Marinette said, he’s young and he has plenty of time to explore what he’s passionate about. This scene isn’t really about making a definite choice, but rather Adrien being allowed to explore something he feels is right by his own choice.

[familyagrestefanblog]

Ladybug's Lucky Charms in Werepapas

Let's talk about another detail that people kinda REALLY wanna ignore about Marinette's decision in the Werepapas akuma battle. It's the fact that she hand-waves away FIVE Lucky Charms until she finally goes with the sixth:

No, that is NOT irrelevant. Marinette is not supposed to disregard her Lucky Charms left and right because they're trying to tell her what she's supposed to do. That's Lucky Charm 101 in an akuma battle.

I'm not gonna pretend like I know for 100% certainty what they all tried to tell her, but

1) a couple of them can be easily interpreted in very relevant ways.

And 2) I don't NEED to know what exactly they all mean because it doesn't need to be PROVEN that Marinette isn't supposed to cherry-pick her Lucky Charms. We've known since s1 how this works and it's still done like this in s6. Thanks to not being limited anymore to 1 Lucky Charm, she gained the luxury of sometimes just getting to summon one for the purpose of whooping ass instead of solving the actual situation - which is still a lucky charm's REAL purpose - but that doesn't change the fact that you're supposed to listen to the Lucky Charm, not the Lucky Charm to you!

Under special circumstances like a final battle, sure, use additional ones to whoop ass. But you can't just switch out the problem solving Charm with a purely ass whooping one which is what Marinette did here in "Werepapas". It's fine when you do that in an extremely dire situation, but a normal akuma battle is no dire situation. Especially not when the only real stakes there are is being reckless with Adrien's amoks!

She's supposed to use whatever she gets and that'll lead her to the right solution. Not going through a whole line of Lucky Charms until she gets one where she finally likes the first thought she gets from it because of how little it challenges her self-preservation (makes you wonder if having unlimited Lucky Charms now isnt the worst thing that ever happened to her. Now she can just ignore whole Lucky Charms until she finally gets one that tells her something closer to what she wants to hear instead of listening to the CHARM)

Let's take a look at her 6 Lucky Charms:

From my recollection (so correct me if I'm wrong), while the teapot sometimes shows up here and there as filler Charms it was firmly established and used several times as a visual cue for Marinette to go to Master Fu.

Obviously, she can't do that anymore, but she has Alya as co-guardian, Luka who was trained by Su-Han, and even Su-Han himself as Celestial Guardian who now does whatever she wants.

In a situation where Adrien's amoks are the akuma object, it's a pretty logical thing to happen that her first Lucky Charm tells her to get Guaridan-related help. She has the option, all the needed support, and all the resources, but doesn't use it because it wouldn't be nice having to face the baggage that could come with it.

And even if you wanna say "She didn't get help because she didn't wanted the new Butterfly to possibly find out that Adrien is a Sentibeing!" Then that excuse still falls flat because obviously Adrien's LIFE is supposed to be more important than preventing that secret from coming out. The secret has no value if Adrien is DEAD.

Afterwards she gets a fan and this obviously could VERY likely mean that she's supposed to get Felix involved because he's the Miraculous holder of the Peacock. And by "VERY likely" I mean "I doubt there is a likely chance that it ISNT a hint to get Felix".

I won't even elaborate on this further. Her second Lucky Charm tried telling her to get Felix when Adrien's amoks were on the line and she ignored it. It is what it is.

For the third and fifth ones, I personally don't know what they could mean because I already struggle recognizing what exactly they are supposed to be. Though, they do have recognizable shapes. I bet other people could look at them and know where they've seen these objects before in the show.

Then right between these two, the fourth Charm Marinette summons is an unicycle (that for some reason isn't polkadotted, but screw it)

An unicycle like she summoned back in season 2 "Sabotis", the episode in which Alya became Rena Rouge for the first time. Meaning this one pointed to getting Rena's help.

For me, this is one of the most interesting ones regarding Marinette's feelings of not wanting to face the Lucky Charm's solution to instead protect all her secrets. But if anything, I would want to give it its own post and not half-ass it here. Cause there are a lot of layers to this one.

And, of course, the last one: the scarf. It's alongside the fan the one for which the fandom does casually acknowledge the symbolism of it being a call back to 1x01 "The Bubbler" where Marinette now infamously made the decision to let Adrien believe that it was his father who made the scarf for him - and not her - because of how happy it made Adrien that his father finally "cared":

I don't think I need to explain why it makes sense that this is the one s6 Marinette cherry-picks to finally work with. The poor scarf has been made into the symbol of Marinette wanting to keep pretty much everything about Adrien's family a secret from him. Including him being a Sentibeing. I miss the good old days when we dreamed of the scarf being set-up to become the catalyst for Adrien to write off his father as a useless deadbeat who isnt worth his time and love.

So, unfortunately, of course this is the one she goes with now. Even if it means taking the risk to kill Adrien. Anything to keep the secrets save and lies unnoticed. How tf did we GET here?

[mamayura]

Revelator analysis: Marinette remembering the Umbrella scene incorrectly

You know what I find really interesting about the interview scene in "Revelator" where Adrinette retells how they met? Marinette is actually getting a few details wrong.

Mind you, no deal breakers. She got all the emotional beats down accurately. And I will only truly take this as canon anyway when the French original has her misremember things the same way. But for now, it's really interesting that MARINETTE is the one who gets a couple of details wrong about the moment she fell SO in love with Adrien, while Adrien himself is out here making no such mistake in the whole interview:

This is correct. Simple as that.

This one... is on very thin ice. In reality, Marinette had just left the building and noticed it was raining when Adrien started talking to her. Yes, she was ready to wait until the rain stopped, but she never truly got to the waiting part:

But, by all means, if this were only this detail, I wouldnt make this post right now. Even if, factually, she didnt wait, she just noticed it was raining and thought she had to wait.

But let's get back to this later because there is another layer to this that was the catalyst for me writing this. But for now, moving on:

This is correct again. Adrien, in fact, had an umbrella.

But here is the thing:

This is... straight up wrong. Objectively. What Marinette reacted negatively to was Adrien trying to be friendly and saying "Hi" to her:

He only offered his umbrella at the end, so Marinette claiming so confidently in "Revelator" that she at first turned down the umbrella is false. Adrien opened it for himself because he was the one standing in the rain for a bit while explaining his perspective:

I sure don't see any umbrellas being turned down here, Marinette. So what exactly are you remembering? Just saying.

From this point onwards, the Adrinette interview is accurate again because 1) it's about the emotional core of it, and 2) well, Adrien is then talking the most because it's about him and Marinette is mostly just adding to it. So, yeah...

Look, I don't wanna say that this is some deep betrayal of love and proof that Marinette's love for Adrien isnt real. Of course not. And again, there is still the chance that the line in question is right in the French original (though, I do gotta say, I doubt it because that would change the natural flow of the conversation)

I just find it interesting that the thing about THE Umbrella scene that Marinette gets wrong is the UMBRELLA itself and how and when it was extended to her.

Cause, well... This is not a documentary. Marinette is not a real life person who can mix some things up without it meaning anything. She's the main character and the main narrative tool of the story.

This is the moment SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH ADRIEN. Pretty much 80% of what she does in this show goes back to this moment. In story-telling practice, yes, her being the one who recalls that moment incorrectly should mean something.

Bad faith reading: it's a major indicator that Marinette is actually not as invested in Adrien and their relationship anymore as she was once upon a time. Her needs and desires have changed and that's causing problems now.

Good faith reading (and I genuinely mean good faith reading. Fucking BEST faith reading, in my opinion):

The details that Marinette gets wrong about the Umbrella scene actually correspond with the ending of "Strike Back" where Marinette's lightning moment happened with Chat Noir:

Cause if you combine Marinette's memories of the Umbrella scene with the Strike Back scene, then, yes, Marinette WOULD remember standing way longer in the RAIN before Adrien eventually came to her:

Not because that's how it factually happened in "Origins", but because she was alone in the rain for a solid bit before Chat Noir arrived in "Strike Back".

But the most important thing is that, if you combine the two lightning scenes, this objectively incorrect line actually checks out again:

Because the moment Marinette fell in love with Chat Noir was about him having extended his hand several times but her having pushed him away and held at arms length:

Marinette in the Umbrella scene didnt turn down Adrien's umbrella. Not only because that simply didnt happen, but also because Adrien only had the opportunity to offer it ONCE which she then immediately took. Chat Noir, on the other hand (is that a pun?), did offer the gesture she then fell in love with more than once, which she initially turned down, but eventually accepted.

So, again, worst faith reading: we were supposed to pick up on Marinette remembering the iconic Umbrella scene incorrectly which is supposed to subtly tell us that life has changed Marinette's feelings for Adrien for the worse because she's simply not the girl she was a year ago and the love she once wanted doesnt fit her needs anymore, so it's fading and getting drowned out.

Best faith reading: It's a subtle hint that the love she once wanted doesnt really fit her needs anymore, but the one that does more and more now is Chat Noir who, as we all know, is Adrien Agreste.

Though, no matter which one it is, one truth remains: Marinette remembered the UMBRELLA SCENE wrong and that means something.

[gameguy20100]

You know who I'd feel really sorry for if they ever knew the truth?

Falling out with your son is one thing, but can you imagine the guilt and disgust?

Can you even imagine being in their shoes? Their own son, was an abusive monster and the worst threat their home has ever experienced?

The baby you brought home from the hospital.

The boy you comforted as he came home from a bad day at school.

The boy you teased over his first crush.

The man you hugged as he went on to fulfil his dream.

The monster you created.

There's no amount of therapy for that.

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

Sometimes I think about how Adrien must grieve

How, when he lost his mother, it was a gradual thing, where he lost more and more of her, where he was slowly prepared for an eventuality and a future in which she would not be there anymore. How it was longstanding and tormenting and how his grief began long before the day he would never see her again. How though the pain of loss must have been sharp and aching for him, and he must desperately miss Emilie, at least he achieved some solace in not having to see her in pain anymore.

But then once he's reached a healthy stage and coping style in his grief for Emilie, the wounds are reopened once again.

How his father went from existing to suddenly being gone to Adrien. How he had no warning, no indication that he would never see him again. How even though the grief is sudden and unexpected, it had really started months before Gabriel was gone, and even long before he became injured.

It's how despite the fact that Gabriel was seemingly in good health, and Adrien had no reason to fear losing him, Adrien has actually been grieving for Gabriel and their relationship for a long time. How Adrien has had to watch his father slip away, lose himself, and slowly give less and less of himself over to Adrien, until Adrien could hardly recognize the man that was supposed to be sitting across the table from him.

Sometimes I just think about how grief became a comfort for Adrien, a lifestyle, because he has been taught that all good things in his life, all things he loves, must come to an end eventually.

And I think about how that must affect him as a person.

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

On grief and guilt of Adrien in the season finale

Just taking a moment to rethink the events of the season 5 finale and the London special from Adrien's perspective.

You are locked in a cell in a different city while your partner fights your nemesis. You send your Miraculous to Ladybug and sit out the final fight. Then Ladybug comes to your cell and tells you that your father sacrificed himself because she, by herself, wasn't enough to beat the Monarch. Your father dies a hero, but well, he has still died, and unbeknownst to LITERALLY ANYONE (as far as you know), no one knows that you're actually Chat Noir, yes, the one with superpowers and could have saved his father if only he were there during the final battle.

He's blaming himself so much for his father's death. Imagine being LITERALLY THE ONLY PERSON who could have fought alongside Ladybug at that definitive battle, and not being there. Because you just weren't good enough to get out of the cell.

The final scene of the London special hits hard:

Ladybug: (Do you know what it is like keeping) a secret so heavy that you really want to share it now, right now, because it is too hard and you want to cry and you need someone to console you? Chat Noir: Yes. Yes, I'm familiar.

What you think his secret is?

Realistically, if he really wanted to tell Ladybug his father died, he could; he could tell her that he has lost someone really close to him, and that would have been enough to protect his identity while getting his partner's support and consolation.

The reason why he can't tell is because his secret is the guilt. The guilt of knowing that he is responsible for his father's death. But of course, he can't tell that to Ladybug, because then, he would need to reveal his identity.

If only, if only he knew that his father wasn't the hero everyone was making him out to be. If only he knew that he needn't to feel guilty for missing out the battle, because he had already lost his father the day he'd lost his mother.

Truth is, grief was unescapable for Adrien. He had already grieved his mother, and he would eventually grieve the loss of his father, literally or metaphorically, the moment Gabriel Agreste decided to use the Butterfly miraculous to bring back his wife.

But by hiding the truth about Gabriel, Ladybug is adding guilt to the mix. Because now, Adrien has not only lost his father, but he also thinks that he is the one responsible for it. While it was ENTIRELY Gabriel's own actions that brought his demise. And neither Ladybug, nor Chat Noir, could have prevented that. They couldn't have made him unevil.

So ironically, by trying to protect him from pain, Ladybug is inflicting more pain on Adrien. Except that it is not only in the form of grief, but also guilt.

This is not to diss on Ladybug; she is doing her best with the information available for her. But it certainly isn't the best for Adrien.

[generalluxun]

Something I noticed in Illushater

I don't know if this was intentional or not, but when Marinette was having her panic->take over other hero's jobs episodes, she was in every instance doing it in a *worse* way than the hero themselves would have.

1)Putting out the fire: Ryuko was going to use magical rain. Ladybug plugged into the public water system which is a finite/replenishable resource.

2) Getting the cat: Miss Hound was going to gently port the cat to her arms(and did!) Ladybug lassoed the feline aorund it's guts and yanked it out of the tree.

3)Getting the ball: Ladybug uses her yo-yo to hoist the van into the air, then dropped it back to the ground when the ball was out. Polymouse was just going to get small enough to retrieve it without causing potential(likely) damage to the car's suspension.

If this was intentional, it's a nice touch. It's showing how she's so fixated on doing SOMETHING she's no longer looking at doing the best/right thing. She's not letting people utilize their skills in the best way possible. She needs to be the one doing the thing, she needs to be in control of every situation.

[uptoolateart]

Anyone notice how many times Ladybug talked about herself in third person in the London Special?

As soon as she told that lie about Gabriel and Tomoe, she began separating herself from what she'd done. She's coping through dissociation.

Throughout S1-5, she and Adrien were on paths towards integration. They were learning to see that he already was Cat Noir and she already was Ladybug. The strength lay within all along.

But by being untrue, she's gone backwards, splitting her two selves rather than unifying them. She's attempting to compartmentalise Marinette's relationship with Adrien from Ladybug's...which is unworkable.

In a word...our girl is a mess. She's supposedly doing all this to protect Adrien - but who's protecting her?

[miraculous-floconfettis]

"They are the monsters".

This resonate very differently after watching 'El Toro de Piedra'. Why do I feel like Felix knows way more than he lets on? 😏

[nobodyfamousposts]

Scarlet Lady Top 10 Favorite Characters: Number 9

for @zoe-oneesama

Number 10 Here

Now let’s be fair about this. This list is subjective and according to my own personal bias. It’s not about who is deserving or who is “Best Boy/Girl”. These are just the top ones I like and enjoy seeing in the comic. My favorites may not be your favorites and I quite frankly don’t expect them to be anyone else’s favorites in the same order or even on the same list at all. And just because someone is not on my list doesn’t mean I don’t like them or that I don’t find value in them.

This is just a list of the characters I like the most and my reasonings as to why. What makes me like them? What makes them stand out? Because Scarlet Lady has a LOT of really great characters who all deserve a shout out, so these are just ten of them that stuck out to me the most.

And while I am at least attempting to value them here on their own merit in the Scarlet Lady comic as opposed to Canon or its many MANY issues or the differences between the two, it stands to reason that at least SOME mention of Canon is going to be made. That said, I am trying very hard to not rate them based on my feelings from Canon but more on how I feel about them in this comic.

And because naturally I like my dramatic moments, I’m going to do the list in descending order from number 9 to number 1.

So without further ado…

…

…

Number 9: Alya

I love Alya in Scarlet Lady. So much so that I feel bad that she’s not higher on the list, but to be fair, she has some pretty tough competition. And it says something when that’s the case because it feels to me like everyone deserves a spot on this list…it’s just that some deserve it a little bit more.

Alya certainly warrants her spot on this list. She was one of the characters with the fewest changes from her setup in canon and yet ended up with such a major and lasting impact that her canon self can’t match.

But if I have to break down the reasons:

1. Alya is a good friend.

When mention is made of Alya being Marinette’s best friend, SL!Alya is the version that comes to mind for me. And honestly, she’s the image I long had and long wished for Alya of canon.

A friend who is supportive in all the right ways. A friend needing her own level of support. A friend who will disagree with you on points but still be your friend. A friend who can make mistakes and jump to conclusions but you can always forgive because you know she would do the same for you.

In Mr. Pigeon, Alya was willing to throw down with Chloe Bourgeois to defend Marinette’s honor and her hat design. And this was only two episodes after Lady Wifi, where Chloe had abused her power to get Alya suspended over a relatively minor infraction that had literally nothing to do with Chloe except that Chloe chose to be offended by Alya’s incorrect conclusion. Sure, it can arguably be for payback (given how keen Alya was to confront Chloe), but let’s be honest here: after being forced into a position where you are completely helpless at the hands of a bully and even authority figures are not willing or able to step in, most people would hesitate to confront the bully again regardless of whether they know they’re in the right. And Alya arguably didn’t have proof at the time that Marinette’s hat was actually her original creation.

And yet, Alya was going to act anyways. WANTED to act. For friendship. For vengeance. Not quite sure HOW she was intending to take down Chloe in this case, but I imagine it would have landed her in trouble again and she was fully willing to do so on behalf of her friend.

And speaking of her friend, remember Alya in Reflekta? She was excited of the idea of Marinette being a hero and part of me thinks she really pushed the “Marinette is Scarlet Lady” angle because she idolized Scar at the time and very much WANTED her to be Marinette—someone she also adores. Having two of her favorite people be one and the same would have been amazing for her! Sadly (or fortunately depending on your view) that was not the case, but Alya still got to have her moments of seeing her best friend as a hero, and her starry eyes sell it for me. As does Marinette later arranging an interview for her as Marigold—something especially important given in this version, one of the two primary heroes simply has no time for interviews while the other wouldn’t give a blog like Alya’s the time of day regardless of how much Alya did to help promote her.

Plus how in Troublemaker, she got the entire class to come to school dressed in Chat Noir gear to show support for the poor catboy and to help protect Marinette after the way her room and her multitude of pictures of Chat Noir were revealed on live television. Just to try and limit her friend’s embarrassment after her privacy was violated and her crush was outted.

See this? This is the friendship I wanted to see in canon. The ride or die. A counterweight. Supporting each other in reasonable and healthy ways. To be able to say with certainty that when the chips are down, they have each others’ backs. And Alya does.

Then there’s the Love Square—and if the change to the setup didn’t already improve how it went, then Alya’s involvement certainly did.

Part of the reason the Love Square struggled in Canon was because of how forcefully it was pushed with such shoddy foundation, and Alya was the biggest pusher. She forced so many situations out of some misguided attempt to “help” that only ended up creating stress for Marinette, cringe for the writing, and no actual momentum on the progress of the pairing. If you want a metaphor, then let’s describe it like this: If the Love Square is an actual ship and if Alya was a tug boat, she wouldn’t have been helping her ship “set sail” so much as dragging it underwater across the ocean and to its watery demise.

But in Scarlet Lady, Alya is supportive and encouraging—and not in the way where she blows off Marinette’s anxieties or Adrien’s obliviousness and forces them both into a position they’re clearly not ready for only to turn around and be annoyed that it didn’t work out. 

No, she was aware of Marinette’s feelings and interests to the point she recognizes Marinette has a small crush on Adrien even before the girl herself did. She also seemed to be aware of Adrien’s crush on her. So knowing this, she tried to help nudge things along. Note I said “NUDGE”. 

She knows a spark could be there. So when Alya had an opportunity, she helped to set things up in a way that would give Marinette and Adrien time together to explore that. Not to confess. Not to date. Just opportunities to be together, interact, and see what happens.

Heck, it feels at times like she’s more of Adrien’s wingman than Marinette’s. Especially given the whole bit in Stormy Weather, which remains to date one of my favorite strips of the entire series. Alya was the reason Marinette even made it there in the first place. And when she was picked for the modeling spot, she still tried to influence things to let Marinette take over. Similar to canon, yes, but a notably better feel to it. Better humor. Better outcome.

Which is ultimately what a friend should be trying for. For ALL of her friends.

And by the end of the comic, I can say that Alya is a friend to not just Marinette, but also Adrien and Alix and the other classmates. Yes, even Lila. Which says something given how much she initially despised Lila for the fake interview and how long she held that grudge against her. Going from outright dislike to grudgingly hanging out with to swallowing her pride and giving a real chance to actual collaboration on revealing a major truth.

Now that’s progress.

And speaking of progress…

2. Journalist Has A Point

Look, many a story will have THAT character. You know the one. Whether a detective, journalist, or conspiracy theorist, THAT character is devoted to uncovering the truth, whatever it may be—and usually in the form of plot-relevant secrets and useful information. 

So one of the biggest disappointments you can create is having such a character 

with all the drive and reasoning to investigate be in a prime position to uncover a major plot point, in which you give them all the resources and all the motivation to make the discovery…and yet have them do nothing.

Or worse, have the truth spoon fed to them instead when it’s convenient. No effort. No drama or antics. No surprise. No real reaction to the revelation. Just take away all the fun why don’t you?

Alya is a major fan of heroes and a journalist in the making. When these things mix, you have a ready-made source of humor and drama in a character with the dual position of he hero’s best friend who doesn’t know her secret and a wannabe investigator who risks discovering the hero’s secret. Normally, such a position would involve a number of antics over a multitude of episodes, with the friend being in a prime position to out the hero and the hero having to regularly come up with ways to distract and mislead the friend in question in order to protect the secret.

In canon, we get all of two episodes that even play with this setup. Two in the four seasons it takes for Marinette to just blurt it out to Alya. Lady Wifi and Pharaoh. That’s it. And of those two, Lady Wifi had Marinette completely unconcerned with Alya’s claim of knowing Ladybug’s identity. No drama. No conflict. No antics. No attempts at misdirection. No introspection or question if maybe revealing the city’s hero is even a good idea. No internal questioning if Alya should be told the secret—if she’s trustworthy or if she would be in danger. No continued attempts to uncover her identity as if Alya had just gotten bored with it. Nothing.

And if you know anything from my previous essays, you know that few things frustrate me more than having a great setup that practically writes itself and doing NOTHING WITH IT.

In Scarlet Lady, that setup is nixed from the start since Marinette didn’t start off as the hero. Instead, what we have is a situation where Alya idolizes the self-proclaimed hero of the city, completely ignorant to the truth that we as the audience were already immediately made aware of: that said hero is Chloe and she is ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!

Marinette is aware of her being horrible. Adrien is FULLY aware of her being horrible. WE all know she is horrible. But Alya, like most of the city, is enthralled and supportive of her as the “Hero of the City”.

This change immediately created a whole new setup. Where Alya is a fan of a hero while being ignorant to that hero’s true nature. Where WE know and even other characters in the show know, but it’s impossible to convince anyone else of this truth. I’m sure you all know what it’s like watching any character in that sort of situation. It hurts. But not as much as it’s bound to hurt her by the end.

And indeed it does, as it kickstarts what initially starts off as a funny setup where Marinette and others stay quiet and try to be supportive while inwardly cringing as Alya creates and manages a blog dedicated to the worst person ever sans Hawk Moth and Gabriel Agreste.

Adding to this is that said person won’t give Alya or her blog the time of day. Chloe has no respect or appreciation for the level of commitment Alya has or how much Alya helped her to get her fame, and even calls Alya a “stalker” at one point. (Not that she’s technically wrong to be fair, but bear with me.) This is a testament to Chloe’s view of heroism as a whole and her expectations regarding the treatment she should receive. Nevermind that Chloe’s initial rise to the spotlight was in great part because Alya was the one to put said spotlight on her in the first place. Chloe doesn’t acknowledge favors, only what she is owed.

This puts Alya in a difficult position. Unlike Canon, she doesn’t have the support of a hero to promote her blog. She is a teenager with no preexisting status as a reporter and no real connections or backing for people to take her seriously. And in a world of already established media and tons of fans like herself no doubt also trying to make names for themselves in similar niche areas, she has nothing to really make herself stand out. What ends up working for her is the live footage she gets of the akumas and the battles, which is exceedingly dangerous and puts Alya in danger. But to her, it’s worth it to be able to enjoy her two passions.

It is painful. It HURTS me to see Alya so devoted to someone who I know full well doesn’t deserve it and it hurt even MORE to see how Alya was finally forced to face the truth. Her reaction was real. Her difficulty accepting the truth that we all knew from the start and that Alya could have (and probably should have) picked up on as a journalist if she only investigated everything outside of the “Heroes WOW” light.

But this doesn’t make me look badly upon Alya. It’s not entirely her fault. It’s reasonable that Alya wouldn’t have known. Given Scar’s refusal to work with anyone outside of publications that “meet her standards”, Alya hadn’t gotten to interact closely enough with Scar to really see her “in action” so to speak. Not for some time.

Alya does ultimately end up finding the truth, but it’s not the one she initially went searching for. What started out as a love for heroes mixed with her interest in journalism slowly turned into a realization of what heroism actually is and who the true heroes are…and aren’t.

And with this realization comes a new outlook, new alliances, new goals, and a new plan to reveal the truth about Scar and just who is really the hero or the “sidekick” in the heroes team.

This here? This gives Alya purpose. It also emphasizes her role in the story and the impact she has. Because over time, the thing that most showed her flaws and ignorance became a major strength—AND ended up benefiting the city as a whole.

She was the only person who actively tried to help Chat when he was on the run in Copycat and gave him the info to know what was going on and who the true culprit was (especially important because Adrien had NO way of knowing what was going on or why he was being framed and Scar certainly wasn’t going to help).

She gave Lila and others a chance to share their stories that otherwise never would have been told. Especially notable given Alya’s initial dislike of Lila for her lies, something she continued to hold a grudge over for a long time after.

And as a result, she is a major contributor to Scar’s declining popularity as she helps spread the truth. Which adds a nice bit of irony to the situation that the little blog that gave Chloe her start and that she ignored ended up becoming something so major that it destroyed her narrative. 

Alya had been seeking the truth, been blinded to it, struggled to accept it, went out of her way to confirm it, and then shared it. Maybe it’s not as impressive as taking down the akumas directly, but it has a much greater overall impact on the story and helping get some of that sweet sweet karma we’d all been waiting for. And best of all, she does the one thing that many of us have also been wanting for Canon: to have SOMEONE investigate Hawk Moth and realize the puzzle pieces are pointing at Gabriel Agreste. 

If only she could have confirmed it a little sooner…

3. Alya as a Person

Alya is a teenager. She is a teenage girl and that shines in Scarlet Lady.

We see her PUMPED at the discovery of heroes in Paris. We see her genuinely EXCITED over the prospect of being a hero. We see her flip her focus and be SERIOUS over serious and not so serious things. We see her unapologetically and hilariously reject Adrien’s pleas for a trade of jobs only to be a hypocrite and turn around and beg him for the same. We see her get terrifyingly ENRAGED at Nino for changing her script without discussing it with her. We see her be PETTY and RESENTFUL over falling for Lila’s lies. We see her be IN LOVE after Animan. Plus how could I not love her sheer GLEE over getting to face off with Nora?

But what really made me love this Alya and put her leagues above canon is her growth. Growth that she didn't really get in Canon. And a lot of that growth was evident through her discovery of the truth that was right in front of her and how she had gone so long without seeing it.

And when she is finally hit with the reality that her hero is no hero and that she was wrong? It’s hard. No kid wants to admit being wrong about anything, but especially not about a belief like that. Not the idea of heroes and not over your hero specifically. Especially when you realize you spent so LONG devoted to something only to find out you were wrong, other people knew, and you could have/SHOULD have known had you really tried to look.

And Alya….did NOT take it like a champ.

Denial was the name of the game. But her growth came in acknowledging that she was wrong, WHERE she went wrong, and taking steps to move forward with what she knew. Not by doubling down and demanding “evidence” that should have been easy to find if she just looked, but by investigating the truth even if it’s one she knew she wouldn’t like. And even if it involved things she didn’t want to do. To this end, she made up with Lila and the two actually ended up working together to change the tide of public opinion against her over time. 

Let’s note that: She went back on her earlier promise to herself, forgave and worked with someone that she disliked, and let go of her own pride and resentment in order to get to the truth that she originally never wanted to acknowledge.

Alya in Scarlet Lady plays more of a role in the series than she did in Canon. She wasn’t just “Marinette’s best friend” and “Ladybug fangirl” or a tool or prop for setting up certain scenes where Marinette suffers or Adrinette is given a half hearted attempt.

Alya is her own person. She disliked someone the others like or come to like. She adored someone the others and even we as the audience couldn’t stand. She stood up to her sister for herself and with the backing of her friends. She was silly at times for all that she tried to be serious and mature. She was oblivious and opinionated. She was wrong about a core issue to the story.

And that was perfectly okay.

Not because the narrative said so. Not because anything she did was hand waved. Not because Marinette or anyone else was thrown in as a scapegoat to distract attention away from her.

But because Alya is a well-written character with a personality that makes her a PERSON rather than a prop. Which makes her development into a hero feel rewarding rather than an obligation.

4. Alya as a Hero

Okay, Sapotis in Canon wasn’t bad. It worked as a new hero episode. It worked as the FIRST new hero episode. It made sense for Alya to help corral her sisters. I loved Trixx and his subtle means of testing Alya. It also had Alya getting some personal development as she changes from her initial stance of wanting to reveal her identity as a hero to knowing when to keep some truths hidden.

The problem is that lesson didn’t really stick as Alya goes on to demand a truth from Marinette that isn’t her right to know, try to force Marinette to tell a truth when she isn’t ready to reveal it, and betray Marinette’s trust and reveal the secret just to make things easier for herself and her relationship with Nino.

Gotta say, not impressed with Alya as a hero in Canon. Especially given how much the narrative had gone out of its way to keep portraying Alya as being in the right in each instance she was involved in regardless of what she actually did.

Then there’s the matter of the issue of her getting the Fox Miraculous after everything that happened with Lila and the complete LACK of Fox Vs Fox/Alya VS Lila/Truth VS Lies setup that such a setup would have been primed for. And if they weren’t going to do that or even anything with Alya and Trixx, then what was the point of giving Alya the Fox? There was just really nothing else that came out of a truth-seeker like Alya getting a Miraculous specifically involved in setting illusions and how that could develop her character.

@punchlord has already done multiple evaluations of the characters and Miraculous and which ones would best/least fit and why, and has done so much more detailed and eloquently than I can really offer here. Instead, I want to focus on SL!Alya and the changes Zoe made.

Here’s the thing: we all knew going in that Zoe was going to follow Canon for the most part. She admitted as such. We also knew that some kwami-swapping was bound to happen as a result of the changes to the world. Chloe gets the Ladybug. Marinette gets the Bee. Sabrina was bound to get something at some point that wasn’t the Dog. And yes, Lila too.

But NONE of us were expecting that Alya and Nino would swap their Miraculous AND their hero episodes!

And it worked. It worked so well.

Koki Marina is an awesome hero with such a stand-out look. And the one image of her playing with her fluffy hair always makes me smile.

The changes Zoe made vastly improved the Anansi storyline. Nino deserved his own hero episode that wasn’t just focus on him secondary to an issue for Alya and ultimately accomplish nothing on his own while someone else solves the problem for him...twice. And Alya deserved to be the one to deal with Nora and take control of her life.

The thing is, this was an episode with a lesson that was misplaced. Misplaced andmishandled, much like many episodes in the original series.

In Anansi, the biggest problem wasn’t that Nino couldn’t prove he could protect Alya, it was that Nora was overstepping on Alya’s life in the first place, especially when it wasn’t necessary. She didn’t consider that ANYONE ELSE could protect Alya—even the heroes when it is their job to fight the akumas. 

But more specifically, she wasn’t willing to consider that Alya could protect HERSELF. Especially of note considering that by this point in both versions, Alya had been running around and getting involved in the fights with the heroes for blog views. And in Canon specifically, Alya had already been a temp hero—I was surprised and disappointed that Alya didn’t argue more and struggle with NOT revealing that fact in the episode. But I digress…

If Alya was to get a hero episode, this was the better setup for it. And Zoe saw that and provided us that sweet sweet payout, with Alya proving herself and helping to take down her older sister. And just the absolute GLEE she had in doing so. The sort of glee you’d see in any younger sibling getting a chance to take on and show up their older sibling. All the younger siblings out there should know it. 

Plus her and Wayzz bonding, omg they are so cute.

While Canon Sapotis was decent (if not a bit frustrating with the lack of lessons for the twins after all their antics), in my view, SL Anansi actually HIT in all the right ways and felt more satisfying overall in comparison as Alya’s hero episode and ESPECIALLY in comparison to the Canon Anansi itself. 

It’s a good episode with a stable episode-centric arc, where the conflict starts with Alya NOT really being able to face down Nora alone and only manages to overpower Nora in an arm wrestling contest because her friends back her and take on Nora in a 4 on 1 match and overpower her together. This is highlighted later in the episode when Alya faces Nora alone to buy Marigold time and is shown to struggle. Then gets the power boost through the Turtle Miraculous that lets her effectively take her down save her. Cough. Yes. Just save her.

It’s a very empowering story for Alya. But it plays a bigger role than that, too. It’s not just the start of Alya being a hero, it’s also the point where she really starts to turn things around in terms of the overarching story of the comic.

This episode is the follow up to Sapotis, where the other characters are having a sleepover partly to look after the younger kids but also specifically to try and support Alya as she comes to terms with the realization that her hero is a fraud. Yes, Alya already knew that Scar was horrible by the time Anansi happened, but actually being a hero and having to work with Scar gives her an up close and personal look at how Scar treats the other heroes and how much—or rather little she actually does in a crisis.

It’s also the point where Alya seems to gain more confidence and also direct her reporting to a better end. And by the end of the episode, we really see Alya starting to use her skills to this purpose. This is when we get to see Alya actually BE the journalist she wanted to claim she was.

This? Right here? This goes to show that not only does Alya herself make a great hero, but that becoming a hero helped Alya improve herself as well. Which is something we should be seeing more of in such stories with teenagers gaining superpowers.

So all that being said, SL Alya succeeds where her Canon counterpart fails. The narrative points out when she’s wrong. She learns lessons. She is silly at times and acknowledged to be silly. But through it all, she retains the heart that makes her a good friend and the passion that shows her to be not only a journalist, but a HERO in the making.

[unfortunately-a-miraculous-fan]

Chloe's sudden shift in character because Thomas realized they were making her a little too redeemable is SO funny to me. Like:

Season 1: Chloe is a regular, one-dimensional high school bully.

Season 2: Chloe is actually a bit more of a complex person than that, because nobody is pure evil. But she's still definitely an asshole.

Season 3: Chloe is a child who was neglected by her mother and spoiled by her father, making her into the brat she is today. Marinette as Ladybug shows Chloe a bit of kindness that she might not have fully deserved, and Chloe takes those words to heart, working to be a bit better over time. Progress is slow, but not impossible.

Season 4: Chloe is a cartoonishly evil villain who never gave even half a shit about anybody.

Season 5: Chloe just about ruined Marinette's entire life years before the show even started, and is the reason that Marinette stalks Adrien (See? It wasn't creepy after all. Stalking is justified sometimes!). Just trust me, this was definitely the plan from the very beginning.

[bugoutreviewgirlie]

I really like how "Revelator" is spelling out how media channels can and will manipulate content to fit the narrative they want, to gain the reaction they want. it's really important that kids get to learn that not all media is unbiased and sometimes, you need to question what you see, especially if it's presented in a way that makes you feel irrationally upset or defensive.