#Miraculous Ladybug Meta

[lostuntothisworld]

Perfection is The Episode of all time

Cat Noir: Utterly, absolutely, totally in love! She's so amazing; I could talk about her for hours! I mean, I won't, because that would put our secret identity at risk. Ladybug: It doesn't really matter who she is, what matters the most is that she loves you back. (grunts) So, does she?

I can't believe they straight up reenact Ikari Gozen's fishing rod thing with the point of beginning for Marigami (the TV show friendship game), and then ended at City Hall (That's where all legal weddings take place) and then they pull up a barge, and the Liberty is where Kagami accidentally discovers Maribug's identity. And then we get this:

Cat Noir: What matters isn't what you tell me, it's what you tell him. (breaks the akumatized object, releasing the Megakuma inside.) Did you tell him how you feel? Ladybug: (upon capturing the Megakuma) Oh... (laughs awkwardly) everything's so natural between us we don't even need to say anything. Miraculous Ladybug! (throws the small kettle in the air and chuckles)

And the rest of the episode is Marinette fretting about Kagami for hours and not communicating because she doesn't want to disappoint her.

[rozunderpressure]

I wish someone would talk about how Chloé is like… A literal tragic character…

Who she is currently does not allow her to make the current right choice, but also makes her worse which goes on to not allow her to make the right choice next time either, so she is stuck in a cycle where she is constantly nudged further into the dark with no one pulling her back because all the people who could, at one point, have done it have already been pushed away by previous bad choice she was nudged into making.

And people keep giving her bad advice and not responding correctly to her BS. Like Miss Bustier being dismissive of her bad behavior or Ladybug telling her to act more like her mother which probably made sense for Mari, WHO HAS A GOOD LOVING MOTHER, and is just a teenager who really should have not been given this kind of weight to carry.

The problem is that Chloé's problems are ones that are not solved by being a goody nice nice to her, which is how MLB (the show, not the character) likes to solve all its problems... They would be solved by her being give some real (AND PROPORTIONAL) consequences to any thing she does wrong, while also guiding her in a better direction…

Her problems can not be solved with a pep talk, which means they never will in this show... Which, again, makes her a very tragic character...

[sweetmeatdale]

It’s sorta fandom meta but I love the tendency for non fans to just assume Chat Noir is a girl at first glance. Only part that makes it better is the long term fans who agree with them.

[satoshy12]

Bruce:" I am not collecting children! They find me!"

Flash:"Yeah, right. Don't believe you."

Bruce: "What do you think? I put my arms out, and a new child falls into my arms to adopt!"

To show case it,

Bruce stretched out his arms only for two babies to land in his arms. With a name tag on them. Daniel and Marinette.

Bruce:" This doesn't prove anything."

+

Bruce is on speaking terms with their families. As the meta-babies most often teleported, Maddie and Jack met Sabine and Tom. And now they talk at least once a week, as Bruce and family is kind of part of it too.

[minoudrien]

it’s nothing it’s nothing… I JUST THINK IT’S FUNNY HOW while the peacock miraculous was broken gabriel didn’t touch it and despite expressing guilt about nathalie falling ill he still let HER be the one to use it whenever the peacock’s power was ‘needed’ for gabe’s plan that day. he never once offered to wear it in her place.

but the second the miraculous gets fixed? oh no nathalie is no longer necessary, turns out gabriel CAN wear the peacock miraculous now and he’s going to use it for the rest of the season in conjunction with the butterfly miraculous to make himself stronger.

and this is NOT salt, i actually love that this specific writing choice just further proves something about gabriel’s character; he may feel guilty about it afterward, but he will not hesitate to put his loved ones in harm’s way for his own personal gain.

[anna-scribbles]

chapter cards for thirteen: november - april

read on ao3

[cakemousse]

alright unless proven otherwise, i'm going to hc that toxinelle's crush is actually griffe noire

or a “crush who doesn’t think I’m a lame-o”! credits to @2manyfandoms2count for the translation

it's unfortunate... but hear me out

the salters always say that the lovesquare is toxic codependency, imma show you what real toxic codependency really is, on the part of emonette at least

'he's rude as fuck and disrespects her all the time, there's no way emonette would fall for him' while this is true and i would agree under normal circumstances, toxinelle came from a world where she didn't have anyone, no super awesome friends to inspire her everyday, no best friend in life and in death, no mum who is gentle and calm, nothing. she's lonely and has nothing to fall back on, but you know who she can fall back on? griffe noire

even if he does let her fall

he is the only constant she has in her life, at least ever since she got her miraculous. even if it means getting insulted left and right by him, she puts up with him

why? cause if she doesn't she'll truly lose the only thing she has 'going' in her life

and we can see that after she read marinette’s diary about the part where ladybug and chat noir are partners or rather teammates, she looks at griffe noire, as though she’s thinking of being teammates with him. it’s something she wants, and we know it’s something she truly wants by the end of the special

also in this universe, emodrien has a crush on emonette, so what's preventing toxinelle to have a crush on griffe noire?

toxinelle isn’t happy, we can tell when she poured her heart out to ladyfly about everything and then finally about her crush thinking she’s lame all the time, but there isn’t much she can do if she wants her constant to continue be by her side

loneliness really does some fucked up things to a person huh?

the concept’s pretty fitting of a villain don’t you think? 🥲

[trainsinanime]

What so many of you fail to consider is that for Marinette, being Ladybug is crucial enrichment. If you don't throw an Akuma into her enclosure (the city of Paris) every now and then, she will develop behavioural issues and go insane from boredom. On the other hand, whenever that does happen, giving her an Akuma usually calms her right down. It's like a dog toy, or a laser pointer for a cat.

This is a fairly common thread through most episodes. At the start, Marinette has a problem, often involving Adrien, and she goes completely insane over it, trying to find solutions that are just buck wild. And usually, an Akuma appears, Marinette focuses all her mind on that for a while, and then realises that she went too far and calms down, because now her brain has been sufficiently stimulated and she burned off her excess energy.

Yes, defeating Akumas is stressful for her, no doubt, but I think it's even more clear that not doing that is causing far more stress behaviours to appear in her. She is an excellent guardian and strategizer, great at analysing situations and coming up with plans, and if you don't give her a proper outlet for that, she will come up with her own, often with humorously disastrous results.

So the (admittedly few) posts saying that Marinette shouldn't be Ladybug, or deserves to retire, are getting it all backwards in my opinion. If you retire her, you'll have to give her something else to do. Otherwise, the next time they're in the supermarket, she will build a weird contraption out of a shopping cart, canned beans and a quizz magazine to parkour to the top shelf, instead of asking Adrien for help.

So be a bit more careful with how you treat Marinette. If you force her to sit still, she will not thank you.

[uptoolateart]

Okay, so what I was saying in my long Gabriel analysis rings true. (Ha ha...rings....) He changed to be accepted by Emilie's parents.

Deep down, Gabriel probably relates to Marinette. In the story Feligami tell...Marinette could easily be the poor tailor, while Adrien is the heir to the empire, ready to throw it all away for her.

At some point, Gabriel got twisted and sold out his values. It was probably a gradual process, which explains why Emilie initially fell in love with him and then stuck with him despite her unhappiness with him later.

In one of her videos for Nathalie, she said Gabriel got stuck on things. He was good enough for her but not for himself.

When he looks at Marinette, he sees a little of what he used to be. When he gives her that speech about being naive in the fashion world...he's talking about himself, once upon a time. I think he once had a dream like hers, and he let it go, focusing instead on the wealth and status he needed to be good enough for his in-laws.

Now, he envies Marinette, even if he's unaware of it. That's the only reason a grown man would be fixated on her in that way. He's treating her the way Emilie's parents treated him. He has to break her and get her out of his son's life because if he doesn't - if she achieves her dreams of marrying Adrien and becoming a designer without selling out her principles - it means he could have done this too. It will force him to reflect and take accountability for his bad decisions...and he just can't cope with that.

Similarly, when he hurls abuse at Cat Noir about what an ill-mannered child he is, and when he goes to such lengths to control Adrien...I really think he's seeing a reflection of his younger self there too.

Underneath the pancakes and bad dancing and total insanity, the man is nothing but a writhing heap of regrets and won't see that he had so many chances to do things another way.

[that-one-fandom-girl]

Y’all ever think about how Ladybug didn’t really wait for proof of how the Dark Cupid arrows work and how they can be neutralized, such as seeing someone getting saved from the effects or trying other things on black-lipstick-Chat first, and instead just went off of a random lesson from that day’s schoolwork, like, “hey wait, ‘true love conquers hate’? Hmm, then Imma kiss Cat Noir”, so much so that she chased him, lassoed him to a light pole, and then just absolutely pulled that boi in and gave him the longest smooch she could? All while smiling? With no qualms or realizing that she just admitted that she loved Cat Noir?

And that Cat Noir still looked surprised, and then like he was seriously enjoying the kiss even though he was affected by the akumatized villain, because no matter how affected he is/was, he truly loves Ladybug so much that his love for her is stronger than Hawkmoth’s the villain’s power of hatred?

[lostuntothisworld]

It’s kind of messed up that Adrien fell in love with Marinette when she thought he was a statue and treated him like an object because:

At the time Adrien was working as a model, selling his body, and being treated like an object by his father and fans (and it gets worse when he’s turned into a literal object for Alliance).

I’ve said it before, but Adrien is narratively a girl. There is a VERY distinct femininity to his character. They literally put him in a dress and call him a princess. Having your girl coded character fall in love with someone because they treated him like an object has unfortunate implications.

Adrien is a Sentimonster, which have historically been treated as objects. (Looking at you, Gabe). Sentimonsters can be created and destroyed at the whim of their creator. Whoever has their amoks can control them like puppets. (Still looking at you, Gabe). Having a person who is canonically a member of a magical slave race falling in love with someone when they treated him like an object has unfortunate implications.

And to backpack on the previous points, Adrien is an abuse victim. His father isolated him, controlled every aspect of his life, emotionally and mentally abused him, and treated him as a life sized dressup doll. You know, like an object? More unfortunate implications.

And it didn’t have to be like this! They could have had Adrien realize he fell in love with Marinette during literally any other time. (I would have chosen Umbrella scene 2.0). Heck, the statue scene can even stay canon, if they continued to acknowledge that it was a cringey cringefest and moved on.

But no. Magical slave race girl coded abuse victim who has been treated like an object by his father and most of the people in his life falls in love when he’s being treated like an object. The writers really thought this one through.

[passionfruitbowls]

i love how adrien tries to put marinette at ease by letting her know that he’s also still getting used to their relationship, and that he has his own worries. it shows her that she doesn’t have to be alone while navigating her feelings.

and then, when she pulls her hand away and apologises, he’s caring and patient. he doesn’t try and rush her into doing anything, he doesn’t dismiss the trauma she’s developed from people (namely chloé) bullying her in the past. he’s more than happy to wait until they both feel ready to be more affectionate with each other. and having that mutual trust and respect is a very important part of any relationship

[theerurishipper]

"Oh ClAw NOir's dEsiGn Is sO uGly" well that's your opinion. He's not ugly he's cringe fail and he's proud. And I think he deserves it. Just look at his evil lil' smirk. He's in his element, he's in the zone. He's the manwhore to his goth gf's girlboss. He's tired and he just wants to go apeshit. He just wants to go fucking feral. He's unhinged and he's a fucking loser. He's all dressed up in his little jacket and his little spiked bell and his purple eyes and his black lipstick and his double heads of sewer green hair and I think he's slay. Go off king, do your crimes. I support catboys' wrongs.

[bittersweetresilience]

the designers

the runaways

the ones who create

the ones who decay

the lovers

the halves of a whole

a short incoherent compilation of parallels between marinette and adrien and gabriel and émilie. i'm also thinking about the ones who make choices and the sacrificial lambs but for now have these.

inspired by @anna-scribbles! happy thirteen day!

[nemaliwrites]

I keep thinking about how Adrien would be different if he were mister bug from the beginning rather than chat noir - here is an attempt to gather my Thoughts

You are Adrien Agreste.

You have never lived a life where you are free; you have never lived, period. People look at you, and they see what they want to see. They see the plastic smile on your face, one you have perfected over the years. They see your perfect hair, your perfect face. The clothes they dress you in have more personality than you do.

And then one day comes a man who sees you.

He hands you a box — earrings inside, but it’s more than that. What he hands you is responsibility. Trust. The ability to actually be someone.

There is a partner with you; a girl you don’t love. You could have, perhaps, if things were different.

(If there weren’t already another in your heart: someone who hates you, yes, but inspires you to be a better person every day. Who inspires you to put on those earrings, take up your yo-yo, and do the right thing)

She is wild, amazing, black cat through and through. But where she is wild, you are restrained. This is the biggest, the only responsibility you have ever been given. The last thing you want to do is give it up.

Your partner, she tells you, is the opposite. Her entire life has been nothing but responsibility. It’s different, she thinks, to let someone else take the lead for once. To listen instead of command.

Different, you repeat. Does that mean bad?

No, she tells you with a smile. Just different.

The akumas you fight are difficult, of course — but in a way, you’re used to it. In a way, your whole life is nothing but a series of akuma battles.

Wait. Listen. Find the simplest way out of things; the way that saves the most people. And now, you have your ladybugs to set things right in a way you have never been able to before.

Duty makes your shoulders heavier, your mouth set. But that’s not a bad thing. Just different.

Maybe this is who you were always meant to be.

[grahminradarin]

Hi hey hello. I've been watching Miraculous since September, and I just finished.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS FANDOM?

That finale was amazingly well-made. I definitely get why people were disappointed, but there's no way that's everything. The writers who made the rest of the season so good are not capable of writing something this confusing and unsatisfying, unless it's on purpose. This story isn't done.

There has been a lot of focus in the season on class dynamics, but in the last couple of episodes they really start bringing this theme of how people deal with power to the forefront

With Ladybug and Chat deciding not to do anything against Chloe because it's not their responsibility even though they have the power to do it, everything with Lila, the increasingly reckless and harmful ways Gabriel is manipulating people because he thinks he gets to decide what is good for others, Gimmi complaining that no one ever summons them to tell them anything good and only summon Gimmi to use Gimmi's power.

And the thing that brings it together: Marinette's speech right at the end, just before Gabriel makes the wish, when she says the power is only valid when it's used for the greater good of other people.

And then the statue of Gabriel. Right after all of this, a statue commemorating the man who refuses to use his power for the good of others. The dissonance is on purpose. This story is thematically incomplete, and I think the London special will finally wrap it all up.

What does the fandom come away from this talking about? How interesting this all is and wondering how it gets resolved? No. The fandom on the subreddit (and some of them on Tumblr) say "The villain won without consequences! This is bad writing!" and "Why is Marinette not telling Adrien he's a sentimonster?".

I just. How do you watch that and come away with your biggest concern being "Marinette didn't tell Adrien the truth"? How do you not see that it's so much bigger than that? That's not one dangling plot thread, we're looking at an unfinished garment and complaining that the edges are fraying.

And a good portion of the fandom cannot for the life of themselves see the loom and the people working it still going. I don't know how to stretch this metaphor any further, but I cannot believe that anyone would look at something so blatantly incomplete and still treat it like it's the entire picture. It's a microcosm of a bigger issue with the fandom, which is, as far as I can tell, that this fandom wants to watch a different show. Seasons 4 and 5 are so vastly different from seasons 1 and 2, and I think the people that came here to enjoy the first two or three seasons but hated the later ones are angry with the show for not following the traditional kinds of stories in the genre.

This show isn't trying to be an episodic or somewhat serialized story about love squares and middle school nonsense. It's a deep and varied exploration of what being a magical girl does to a 14 year old (in addition to many other things), and it's not pretty. The show is trying to say "this was terrible for everyone, and it shouldn't have happened, but it did, and here's how". And most people didn't want that, which is fair. But it doesn't mean the show is badly written, nor does it mean the writers hate certain characters. It pisses me off that a show this well made, with so much time and effort and care, is constantly dismissed as a badly-written, disorganized piece of crap that people only like ironically. Something this well made deserves a more neutral presentation to let people form their own opinions, and it deserve appreciation for the innumerable things it does well, especially in later seasons and the specials.

In summary, Miraculous isn't bad. A vocal part, maybe even the majority, of the fandom just wanted something else based on the first 3 seasons, and hasn't realized it because they're so devoted to hating on the show. And it deserves a much better reputation than it has.