#Ml Ladynoir critical

[familyagrestefanblog]

Sorry, but I need to get this off my chest for a second.

Rewatching older episodes after the s5 finale really stings in the sense that this show has never ever even pretended like Chat Noir and Mayura would in the end get out of their partnerships with Ladybug and Hawkmoth okay and by their sides. The way Adrien and Nathalie ended up in the s5 finale and them not making it to the final battle was in every way possible predictable just from both their partnership dynamics alone and their fates were sealed with and by the time of "Kuro Neko"

I don't have it in me anymore to pretend like Chat Noir in Ladynoir and Mayura in Hawkura (?) weren't from the very start til the very end always and consistently human sacrifice coded for Ladybug and Hawkmoth which is exactly what they ended up being so the two heads of the war can brawl it out alone.

I'm not tagging this as salt, this is just objectively what Chat Noir's and Mayura's purposes in the partnerships have always been and there is no going around that. I can't tell you how much I wished that wasn't the case.

[mamayura]

I just need to be direct about some things for Ladybugs side of Ladynoir in s5 now for a sec.

It's just.. somebody please tell me how I am supposed to believe that Marinette actually learned something from the season 4 Ladynoir conflict or won't continue to just fall further back on her words when Revelation showed that Ladybug will lie and use Chat Noir as bait and a tool again to continue her s4 treatment of him and how he was nothing but the scapegoat/pet/punching bag for her and Alya for the entire season? Something she already in s4 barely felt appropriately bad about until the end of Strike Back had her pull a 180

Marinette literally proofed in Revelation that she has in fact either not learning anything or doesn't think Chat Noir deserves a better treatment, season 5 just didn't give her the chance to pull this more often because there were no other heros. What am I supposed to expect from her in season 6 now taht the entire team is back?

How am I supposed to think that Ladybug is capable of having a partnership with Chat Noir were both of them are allowed to make mistakes without getting punished for it when Derision is literally the episode about how her being bullied and publicly humiliated is the core of her trauma and yet the same episode has her go back and put Chat Noir at the risk of the very same thing by her own hands again because of the lucky charm plan, and as per usual HE apologizes for having been emotional and yet she never takes accountability for how she then proceeded to use him?

So people in season 4 were right? Ladybug is not capable of behaving normal in this partnership, the moment Chat Noir makes a mistakes or has a bad day or is affected by a power she will continue using him then however she pleases. Is she just not capable of coming up with other plans? Can Chat Noir really not exist in this partnership without being at the constant risk of being turned into a tool and scapegoat while being humiliated in their dynamic the moment he does something wrong? Is the only way of preventing that Chat himself not making mistakes again because Ladybug can't be asked to not do this shit to her partner?

Or can Adrien for once NOT be the only one to apologize in situations like that? I wouldn't be as harsh on what she did in Derision if Psycomedian in season 4 didn't exist where it was already established that Ladybug takes it for granted what Chat Noir puts up with for and from her and that got maxed out for all of season 4. And yet in season 5 Derision we are somehow not one step further? Can she not just say "Hey, about the toilet thing. Sorry that I went after you there, it was my first instinct because the power was to act out the meanest humor. Sorry for having used you like that again though, I will try to do better"

In the context of what Marinette's traumatic backstory is that plan of hers showed 0 self-reflection and once again puts all pressure on Chat Noir to not make a mistake around her or else she will apparently go back to her old ways without feeling bad about it. If Ladybug never clarifies anything then the episode just had her indirectly tell him that this is still what he has to expect from her when he has a bad day or whatever. Just like with Ladybugs violence in s4 she was never asked to take an ounch of accountability for and teached children bad lessons on how to treat friends several times because she's a girl and can get away with it, Derision has her indirectly reinforce that Chat's responsible for her treatment of him. He needs to do better to prevent her from pulling stuff like that because she's "justified" in whatever she does to him anyway as s4 teached us.

Or the fact in Migration neither Marinette nor Adrien know for sure if their partner knows that Luka knew their identity and Monarch picked up on that, and yet only for Adrien one can make a legit argument for why he didn't bring it up and that's the fact that Ladybug and Luka left him for so long all alone in the akuma battle that he would rightfully assume that this is were Ladybug and Luka talked about everything. Marinette on the other hand has no excuse for why she is keeping the fact that Monarch knows that Luka is aware of both their identities a secret from Chat Noir. It's yet another impossibly irresponsible secret directly concerning Chat's life and possibly the safety of all his civilian loved ones she just keeps from him and can't be criticized for because it's Marinette.

So she learned nothing from season 4 and stuff like Ephemeral?

Or even just little moments like Marinette proudly confirming to Alya behind Chat's back that she had him wear the insult paper in his bell for an entire season and them laughing, when it should be a no brainer that Chat didn't agree to wear it so she can tell it others behind his back for him to be laughed at. He trusted her that nothing bad would come out of it and yet that's what she did the moment Alya was there. That is such an awful thing to do. You don't do that to friends. Thats what I expect from Chloé, not Ladybug in Ladynoir.

Or in Réunion when Jeanne was talking down on Chat Noir because she is projecting her own Black Cat issues on Chat by insulting a 14 year old boy for not looking like a full grown man and Marinette.. agrees. One episode prior Marinette was gushing towards Alya about Chat's looks, muscles and whatever but the moment Marinette is insecure in front of an adult Ladybug who isn't all nice to her she directly agrees with insults unfairly directed at Chat Noir through backhanded compliments about "but he's very loyal" because at least it isn't her? And right in front of Chat too?

What's even worse is that Adrien couldn't see or hear Jeanne so from his perspective he literally just witnessed Ladybug agreeing with an insult about him spoken by a past Ladybug while he can't at all defend himself. Chat has no way to tell if the past Ladybug isn't constantly insulting him because apparently his Ladybug won't even disagree or sees any problem with that, and neither does he know if that already went on prior to meeting him.

It's moments like that for which I'm genuinely glad that he rejected her next episode in Elation. Why would he want to still date Ladybug when shes agreeing with insults being directed at him? Adrien was noticeably more insecure from then on in Réunion because he just doesn't know how hard he's being trash-talked and Ladybug just agreed :/

And then of course there is Kwamis choice right after Elation which.. dude, from Adrien's perspective he rejected Ladybug ONCE and then she fucking LEFT. Instantly. Adrien learned that episode that Ladybug herself is apparently a hypocrite and can't take a no either. Their entire partnership dynamic demands of him to be her yes-man and never ask for anything, never saying "no" and if he does than she stands under no obligation to respect it like when she still just uses her guardian privileges to overwrite him having renounced his Miraculous.

And then she for the first time actually had to respect Chat telling her "No" about something and she left. The ending of Hack-San is meaningless now because of Kwamis choice!

Season 5? What am I supposed to do with stuff like that for Ladynoir? Did Marinette learn something in the Ladynoir conflict of season 4 or only partly and I have to expect her regressing again and going back on her words because she was never properly called out on anything? If calling her out is the only way Marinette can learn then why is no one asking BETTER of her in important stuff like this regarding Ladynoir?

Did Marinette learn something or nah? Or will you at least have Alya want better for Chat Noir when Marinette herself already can't do it?

[theerurishipper]

Season 4 and 5 made it just so difficult to truly believe that Marinette really loves her Kitty. The Fandom and show can scream about vague soft eyes and "she loves her kitty so muuuuuuch! <3" however they want, but it says alot about Marinette's character that this vague "I love my kitty" never really gets any more specific.

Saying "I like you / I want you around" doesn't mean anything whne the actions themselves paint the picture of her basically taking Cat Noir for granted and not thinking a single second about his actual well being or his perspective in any of this.

It's like in Glaciator 2 where a good part of the episode Marinette spends either screaming at Cat, manhandling him however she pleases and even invalidating any of his emotions by screaming in his face that HIS emotions don't matter in any of this, this is about HER and her only when she used him not knowing Marinette is Ladybug against him by secretly forcing him to practice with her her confession for Adrien.

She's literally screaming at him that his emotions are irrelevant to her. She just wants him to do whatever she wants and however she wants it bc apparently thats the only way she can stand being around him. And that she got in season 5, how Lovely.

And then later when Cat voices that he thinks Ladybug can't stand him anymore because she screams at him and gets seriously physical Marinette is like "No, no, that doesn't mean she hates you <3"

When, like, yes Marinette. Under anything resembling to normal morality you constantly reducing him to a rag doll, screaming, insulting, replacing him, leaving him behind on the battle field for your own and your friends' benefit and brushing him off would be a perfectly reasonable thing for another person to view as a bad thing. Only YOU would demand of someone to view that as unparalleled depictions of fondness, and that hasn't changed much by Elation.

Her ignoring his discomfort in the kissing scene (closing her eyes again) and then almost turning into Cat's enemy for daring to tell her "no" one time is one unnerving sight to behold. She basically immediately went back to season 4 mode the moment she didn't get what she wanted. I don't even want to imagine what she would have done to him by impulse if that moment had happened in Ladynoir (I hate how CONSISTENT this is...)

and even by the end of the episode she's still only asking him to validate her when he brings her back.

And well, then she leaves.

It's difficult to actually believe that Marinette really values Cat Noir alot. It feels much more like she values and likes how little genuine efforts she has to make in their dynamics to reach a normal standard, and that he's just the most convenient person for her regarding any kind of ugly dirty work or her worst tendencies not coming with regular circumstances. So of course she would like that.

If I had an anger problem, I would probably like the person too who had to learn from me that that's "perfectly reasonable behavior" they should view as GOOD in a dynamic bc i like using them as rag doll, punching bag and tool.

But just because I personally would find comfort in a person accepting that I can do that to them as my way of "showing affection" doesn't it mean that that's a good thing to make soft eyes about.

But the show is not GIVING us much more to work with. Marinette only on rare occasions voices anything she even likes about him. It goes mostly unsaid so you can claim whatever you want about her feelings for him.

She likes that he's funny, only that the show isn't showing that alot. If at all. Marinette telling Alya in Hack-San to laugh at his jokes because he likes taht is kinda out of left field because Marinette herself honestly doesn't do it alot. The normal reaction is her being annoyed, shutting him up and even insulting him, down to any kind of "slapstick".

And the most I can remember her having SAID about being in love with him in season 5 was being thirsty about how hot he is. I don't wanna be mean but no wonder Alya basically disregarded Marinette's crush. It's not like she ever named anything serious, and tahts....honestly awful.

With Adrien as Cat Noir there was NEVER a question if he values her for more than her being pretty. He loves her brilliant mind, her determination, her drive to help people. Him complimenting her for being pretty was just the cherry on top.

But only towards Joan of Arc did she mention that she likes his loyalty, but that got ruined by her straight up AGREEING with her whne she insulted Cat and the "loyal" part was only to save her own face. She literally agreed with someone insulting Cat right in front of him and only said "yeah, but he's LOYAL" which of course made him insecure. He couldn't see Joan of Arc, how many people are there and what the insult was Ladybug just agreed with. He can't defend himself and saw that Ladybug literally WON'T.

So which one is it, Marinette? Is he hot or a runt who's lucky he's loyal? Why was Joan's opinion of you the whole episode the only thing you actually cared about to the point where you were fine with throwing the person you love oh so much to the dogs again? And Cat looking bad and humiliated again was barely an afterthought to you, as long as it wasn't YOU?

If she actually loves and value him then why is she still treating him as if he merely spawns into existence for akumas or her entertainment and benefit as her care taker? Why isn't Marinette trying to make up for how she used her civilian side to make him do whatever she wants several times by now, as if she never even conciders how this will look like once they reveal (I would loose sleep if I did that to a person!)?

Why was she still perfectly fine with him being completely isolated and having no one in a case of emergency, meaning she always continued letting him run the risk of ending up the way he did in the season 5 finale? Cat being found as a civilian by Hawkmoth was from day 1 one of the most obvious things that could happen and even after 2 what if episodes this fate of his was never actually avoided, because Marinette always just prioritized getting HERSELF out of the equation more than him truly being safe.

That's a risk she was apparently from start til the end perfectly willing to take.

5 entire seasons and the only safety thing she cared about in their dynamic is that if he gets caught and is at the villain's mercy, he does so as quietly as possible so she isn't bothered by it and can close her eyes, cover her ears and go "Lalala".

If Marinette in any of these 5 seasons thought Cat deserved help too than she sure never acted like it, and in fact demanded the complete opposite for her own comfort.

How am I supposed to believe that Marinette loves and values Cat Noir as a person when non of that or his entire personhood goes beyond what little she wants for her own comfort? If you love a person you would actually want them save and not remain in harms way but accept that you shouldn't be asked to care about that? Or remain completely isolated in the dangerous lives you lead without being allowed to ask muvb of anything from you support wise?

Or constantly ditched on the battle field, being done who knows what to so YOU and your friends are fine while you execute the actual plan with the others.

You would ask questions if they're okay and if they need help too, and not just take any half an indicator your being given to write off any concern because you apparently don't actually wanna think about any of that.

You would actually think about them in any decision you make because this is not just about you and their well being should mean something to you. You would tell them things so you don't risk them getting hurt by having to find out themselves the worst way (and here leading to akumatizations).

You would let them made their own choices, have agency and not just when you're forced to. You wouldn't casually execute a plan to trick them into revealing their important secret identitiy to two people without their consent or knowledge, and ESPECIALLY not when the god damn angry authority figure, who already doesn't lie your partner, would fucking use it to get rid of them behind YOUR BACK TOO.

You wouldn't want physical harm being done to them instead of even being a main source of it, and never taking accountability for that while demanding to never get touched and spoken to in a single wrong way. You wouldn't want that they accept that you don't owe them anything as their LEADER but they owe you EVERYTHING because you said so and can't handle anything else in a "partnership".

(Only to feel sorry about it for 2 minutes when you loose everyone else but, well, not really I guess? Or else she would have tried making up for it in season 5 more than just surface level stuff that was once again mostly for HER benefit anyway. But more than that never happened)

You wouldn't want to think they're stupid for not thinking like you and draw the line at any "back talking" you're being given bc you apparently concider anything else but absolut obedience and blind faith as your little puppet as you being "disrespected". So they must walk around you like on eggshells and only talk in soft compliments and supportive words cause who knows how you would react otherwise?

Dude, no wonder Ladynoir is fucking dead. Good for Adrien, and I hate that we've come THIS far. Such a thing is one of the last things I ever wanted to say when I started watching the show. Now I can't be angry taht Ladynoir is fucking dead and Cat Noir didn't made it out of the partnership for the finale, because wtf else was this supposed to result in??

I just cannot fathom the type of "Love" and fondness Marinette supposedly has for Cat Noir. Whatever fondness she feels for him gets drowned out by other 20 red flags about her not actual treating him like a real person.

And man, I HATE that...

Yeah, literally. This is probably harsher than what I think, but it's more or less my thoughts on the matter.

Thank you for your ask!

[starlight-bread-blog]

Masterlist 🦋

A collection of posts I put the most effort in. Some are marked by emojies.

Decryption

💙 – Personal favorites

💎 – Partly/majorly dated

VIVZIEPOP (CRITISISM)

💙 Helluva Boss Is Mean To It's Audience

💙 Why Stolas is the Worst

(Tw: Sa) Ozzie and Valentino on consent

Stolas Is A Terrible Father

"Helluva Boss's Pilot Was About Characters"

"Blitzy" and Control

Why Stolitz doesn't work (and how to fix it)

Stella Being Abusive Is A Retcon

Blitzø And Messing Up (Critique)

Helluva Boss's Stock Villians

Stolas And The Biology Of Stolitz

💎 (tw) Angel Dust is Victim Blamed In Ep4

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

On Aang Sparing the Fire Lord & Lion turtle foreshadowing in Sokka's Master

How Katara got back fun and childhood

Zuko Unlearning Violence

The Last Agni Kai is a Tragedy

Mai's Redemption Wasn't About Her

My Interpretation of The Southern Raiders: 💎 Aang & Zuko & Katara

💎 Katara Isn't Irrational

💎 Defending Katara's Grief

ZUKO X KATARA (A:TLA)

What My Zutara Endgame Would Look Like

Zutara in Ember Island Players

An essay on Zuko and Katara's characters

The Fortune in The Fortune Teller

The thematic cohesion of Zuko and Katara

On Katara's Lines in Ember Island Players

"Katara Just Needed To Heal Zuko's Scar"

"Zuko and Katara Would Be Toxic"

Zuko and Katara Won't Enable Each Other

"Katara Needs Aang to Balance Her"

Katara's Canon Interest in Aang

💎 Speculation On Fire Lady Katara

💎 Zutara Shippy Moments

(ANTI) LOKI SERIES

Why Lokius Should Have Been Canon

Loki Shouldn't Have Died

What About Thor (Loki Series)

MIRACULOUS CRITISISM

💙 The Adrigami Breakup Was Hot Garbage

Why I Dislike MLB's Nino

OTHER WORKS

💙 #Bes Talk – Og Blue Eye Samurai posts

💙 ADHD Is A Disorder

Mean Girls 2024 Doesn't Understand Janis

💎 Enemy Vs. Abuser: Catradora

The Blood Moon Curse Was Real

Notes On Fight Club

Charlie's Bullying (Critique)

[gryficowa]

Guys, I remembered that Miracolous special that probably never came out

Because if the Christmas episode (which was announced at the same time) came out, this particular special is already forgotten

Interesting fact: The Christmas episode was supposed to last 40 minutes, but it was shortened and we all know how it ended

However, the Halloween episode did not come out, but was announced in a similar period to the Christmas one (At least as I remember it)

So yes, this series has lost media (And those were the times when the series didn't crash)

Wiki:

Thomas, as usual you wasted something good

Seriously, explain to me why Thomas keeps shooting himself in the foot?

Even though we all know this special wasn't as good as antagonizing Chloe because the fandom started liking her and Thomas didn't like it

I understand, many series have episodes thrown to the trash, but we are talking about miracolous here, a series that has been turning over for years because Thomas is Thomas

I know that many new fans may not be familiar with this special, because it was announced during the two-year break between the first and second seasons (Seriously, there was such a long break between all this, and the first season ended on something strong and we had to wait for two years for sequels, old times, right?)

The question is whether they animated anything for this special or whether there is only a script

The same question arises as to what the Christmas episode would have looked like if they had had more time and if it had lasted as long as it was supposed to (I doubt whether there is a script for it, because although there were leaks of scripts, they were probably from later seasons)

I don't really expect a full Christmas and Halloween episode, but it's a bit of a bummer that something so good ended up in the trash.

[miraculousalt]

Im dreadin the day S6 might very likely have Ladybug turn round & go off on Chat Noir bc she had to fight alone against Monarch an that wish will result in vry bad consequences

& you just know exactly Adrien wont be gettin anything close to a fair treatment in that scenario bc in LadyNoir Chat's not allowed to exist as civilian person when Ladybug is bein inconvenienced by it n if he does than SHE'S the one being wronged & he has to make it up to her n take all the blame.

And thats most likely once again all the show will do bc Chat Noir never getsa fair treatment when Ladybug has so much as an emotion, no matter what the truth around it was.

Im just so not lookin forward to S6 ladyNoir...

[xhanisai]

ML fandom when Marinette/Ladybug calls Chat Noir by cute nicknames and gets angry and upset when he's hurt and when she laughs at his jokes: *silence* ML fandom when Marinette/Ladybug doesn't reciprocate Chat Noir's romantic feelings in the beginning: SHE IS A HORRIBLE PERSON!!!! SHE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT HIM!!! SCREEEEEEEE!!!!!

[western-magical-girl-confessions]

“I genuinely don't understand why people find the Love Square interesting. It's perfectly serviceable but given we've seen multiple renditions of what it'd be like when they get together in the show, it's hard to be intrigued or invested in it. There's no mystery or wonder to it, and whenever we get it the show just retcons it away anyway. Fanfic pairings are more interesting because we haven't seen them already and we get pairings that aren't retconned/over in an episode.”

[iwasbored777]

It really sucks how the writers forced a crush on Chat Noir onto Marinette and then forced it out of her, if they let it stuck there for just little longer and didn't make it THAT obvious and gave it a better development... I mean true she never stopped loving Adrien but how they forced it as if the planet will explode if the two don't end up together and then pulled it out of the show so quickly and said "no we can only give you Adrien take it or leave it". That's the only criticism I have with how they handled something about Marinette's character this season, otherwise they did her character better than I expected. Makes perfect sense why she fell in love with him and why she chose him because she can't speak to Adrien yet but they could've given it a better conclusion instead of pulling it out of the show and placing Adrienette there as if nothing ever happened.

Also Adrienette simping makes that dream of Ladynoir having artificial babies even weirder. They nailed Adrienette dynamic but making Ladynoir/Marichat a love drama is when they dropped the story there. They should've left it as friendship better than forcing something that was never planned in the first place.

[howtotrainyouragents]

In regards to ladynoir being MIA in season 5 (not criticizing the show here necessarily, but it is weird to have no follow up on Jubilation): Either the writers forgot that ladynoir have a deep relationship outside of romance (untrue, unlikely, they frequently show that friendships exist outside of romance, yes with ladynoir too) or they mean to tell me that everything about ladynoir up till now has been romantic HHMMM

[familyagrestefanblog]

The existence of the Ox miraculous is such an unnecessary ugly detail when you think about Ladynoir and how Chat Noir served as the punching bag and scapegoat for Ladybug, Alya as Marinette's actual partner in season 4, and the whole team in every single way pre-s5

The Ox gives the power of immunity even against any other Miraculous power. One would think with Adrichat's self-harming tendencies that canon had Marinette make entirely about herself because "they're haunting her so much", and her still narratively entirely unchallenged tendency of leaving Chat Noir behind on the battle field as sacrifice or bait to possibly have whatever the hell done to him so she can be save and sound while she and everyone else can look and be cool on his expense

With all that, one would have thought that if Canon Marinette truly loved Chat Noir "sooooooo much" and is oh so haunted by his self-harming behavior and him always getting hurt so she sidelined him "for his own good"

Then how come at no point did Marinette do the actually caring thing by giving Chat Noir the Ox miraculous since he's ALWAYS left behind BY HER so she can leave the battle field and execute her plans with the others save and soundly? If her Chaton's well-being was oh so important to her and it always "pained her so much" to see him getting hurt then why was the Ox only used 2 insignificant times by Ivan at the end of season 4 when it could have saved Chat Noir ALOT of suffering all the way through?

Or the turtle. Or ANY OTHER Miraculous for that matter?

Why was Alya getting two miraculous in Hack-San perfectly fine with Marinette but heaven forbid Marinette is actually expected to ACT like she gives a damn about Chat Noir's well-being as his leader, guardian, partner, and friend and not just the show having her claim superficial words that hardly have anything to back them up once they actually have to mean something?

Its almost as if Canon inherently doubled down on having Marinette be the kind of leader who will only do things in a way that primarily benefit HER while everything else gets swept under the rug because she isn't maliciously intentioned and then never brought up again. And unfortunately it was her who was written to prioritize making an unnecessary team of 18 miraculous holders no one ever asked of her to form (Su-Han even told her NOT to give out the miraculous like candy),

so Marinette was just made to not consider Chat Noir either at all or simply not as worthy enough of any kind of consideration in her entire leadership/ guardianship or actual safety, support, or ANY KIND of resource since that wouldn't be narratively about her, now would it?

She can't have Chat have the Ox because she might need Ivan as Ox in 4 months and she doesn't want to have to ask Chat to get it back or end up NOT getting to use this ONE other Miraculous out of a whole ass box, because that would involve a basic ass conversation Marinette can't have apparently or her not getting to use all of the miraculous however she pleases at any given point

The horror. Now she would have only 14 miraculous to work with!

As per usual, count me fucking unimpressed by Marinette's writing. The negligence towards Chat Noir on even the most basic level is insane and she was declared the epitome of leadership and kindness for this.

Cool that Marinette already decided in her head that Ivan is suitable for the Ox miraculous and he should get it in future, but Chat Noir needing help and protection wasn't some theoretical case, it constantly happened right in front of her eyes and even by her own freaking orders too because she never thinks of him in ANYTHING and the show glorified the hell out of her as leader for doing all that

Why is looking into ANY detail only making Marinette's side of Ladynoir so much worse ever since season 4? There is no escaping this! Just don't add the Ox with this power or actually have Marinette be a good leader towards Chat Noir. But noooooooooo.

[goldensmilingbird]

What would the ML show have to do in order to meet your Adrien/Felix/senticousins needs? As in what direction would the story have taken or what conflicts/resolutions would have to appear? Your perfect Felix/Adrien rewrite, so to speak (゜▽゜*)

Hmm, this is a hard question. At this point I'm not expecting anything from the show but I still hope to just see more interactions between them. I don't know how relevant Felix will be after this arc had ended but if he and Amelie could live in the Agreste mansion that'd be nice...

As for a perfect rewrite, I don't have one. I'm not in any way a writer 🥲 I feel like Felix should've been introduced earlier though. Maybe then we'd get to know him more outside of him showing up to progress the plot and then disappearing again for most of the season (and I would like to see more of Amelie too). It just doesn't feel right to introduce such a plot-relevant character at the end of season 3 when you got a 5-season arc.

One of the criticisms I saw of Felix's intro episode is that it feels disconnected from the rest of his arc. Like: "If he cares about Adrien, why is ruining his friendships the first thing he does?" "Why is him trying to kiss Ladybug never brought up again?" "Why does Felix blame Adrien for not standing up to his father if he knows Adrien literally can't?" and so on. And I kinda agree. Maybe one of the reasons is that the show is written to be both serialised and episodic at the same time, maybe writers didn't quite know what to do with him yet and were figuring it out on the fly. But yeah, it's strange.

I think I'd keep some of the interactions between the boys from the initial script, they were cute and give a bit more insight into their relationship, and I'd just get rid of the kiss-punch scene entirely. Also Chat going "bet you don't have a lot of friends" feels uncharacteristically mean of him? (especially because Adrien was also not allowed to make other friends until recently) Even when Chloe almost caused a train crash in Queen Wasp, he was still gentle with her. But here he goes from "Felix's not being himself because he lost his dad" to this really quickly.

And small thing, maybe, but I wish Ladynoir post-Strikeback remembered that Felix already tried to make a deal with Hawkmoth "for a piece of jewelry" before.

Felix being against Adrien's friends... I feel like maybe it would make more sense if it was more about Felix being jealous that he was "replaced" with Adrien's new friends + being generally distrustful of humans? Idk. (I checked the transcript again and it's interesting that Adrien calls the video unforgivable but Felix says he doesn't deserve to be forgiven for putting his cousin in danger. Says nothing about insulting Adrien's friends. Hmm)

One of my friends had an idea that Felix used to think Gabriel was a good or at least decent parent, before he realised he was wrong and he's no better than Colt. That'd be fascinating. Then Felix could be jealous of Adrien because he thinks Adrien "got it better" than him, only to find out the truth and decide he must save Adrien from Gabriel.

But anyway, moving on, I don't have any big complaints about "Gabriel Agreste". I just wish he and Adrien could at least have one interaction here, and Marinette's plot feels kinda pointless. "Risk"-"Strikeback" - again, I don't have much to complain about Felix's plot here, but I still think he didn't need to give Gabriel Adrien's amok back. Maybe if he was planning to do Red Moon almost right after, instead of leaving Adrien to be controlled by Gabriel for a while (weeks maybe?), I'd understand it better. But would Gabriel really refuse a deal without the amok? Eh.

And Emotion... I loved it a lot but I still have gripes with it. One of the things that bothers me the most is that Ladybug confronts both Felix and Gabriel alone. I feel like Chat really should've been there - it's his family, after all. Maybe I just want to see Felix saying all of that about how he cares about Adrien and doesn't want to hurt him while literally fighting him. And I was still kinda on the fence about Feligami being canon when watching "Emotion" but "Pretension" really made me dislike their relationship. Again, if Felix was introduced earlier, perhaps it wouldn't be so rushed. And I would find it more interesting if Kagami wasn't a senti - then Felix would have to change his attitude towards humans first, and there could be more of a slowburn with them slowly gaining respect for each other. Or maybe if I was writing I wouldn't give him a love interest at all and focus more on their friendships. Either way, with Felix and Adrien being the only sentikids, the focus would be more on the Graham de Vanily family.

And I think I talked a lot already about how I hate s5 finale and Adrien being kept in the dark. If we could just... not do all of that, that'd be great. But if I had to keep the finale the same, I would still want to give Adrien some resolution. Let him find out and have a conflict with Felix because Felix genuinely thought Adrien would be happier not knowing (maybe he was even a bit jealous Adrien was so "blissfully" unaware). Maybe let him communicate with Emilie and/or Gabriel through Felix's kwagatama, or let him talk to Amelie and Nathalie about his mom (they both got grief as well). I hope Adrien and Felix get to mend their relationship and be close again, but if it happens too fast (like with Feligami), then that might not be satisfying either. Give it time.

That's all I have to say for now.

[starlight-bread-blog]

When a there is an outside factor building up to romantic leads not ending up together, while also wrecking the pacing of the ship...

And the red herring's being toxic but the writers just hope you pick up on the vibe without holding anyone accountable...

Is when it's time to check your bias.

[yeet-noir]

hey, i just wanted to ask what you think of s5 so far? are you liking, does it meet ur expectations or are you underwhelmed?

It's hard to have conclusive thoughts about certain aspecrs without the whole season being out. I will say it's been frustrating to have networks air episodes so far out of order and no consistent schedule, but that's always been ML 🫠 The thing really hurting from that is the activity from the fandom on Tumblr imo 🥲

SPOILERS FOR S5 EPISODES 1-11!!!!!

With that said I have been enjoying the first 11 episodes (I believe it's been 11 at least in order right hahaa)!. I was one of the people that was not very critical to how episodic it was previous, but I am delighted to see the big plot points unfold! My expectations for season 5 (and please if somebody who has read the leaks or watch the episodes out of order keep comments to yourself about my speculations PLEASE) is that we will have a reveal and Monarch will be defeated. Soooooooo hopefully those will play out well 😬

Honestly the only thing the show has done this that I was skeptical about was have Adrienette confession. I always hoped we would have the identity reveal before that and s6 would have post reveal pre-relationship shenanigans. BUT what is making up for it is how slow burn it is I do not want them to rush and date. I want them to slowly build their comfort level in their relationship so I am happy that is happening. I predict (again please NO LEAK COMMENTS sorry but anytime I speculate somebody gotta mention "well according to the bible 🤓") that Marinette will only be able to say I love you to Adrien when she realizes he is Chat Noir which would be very cute.

And I lied there is a thing I wasn't very happy about and it was Marinette and Adrien having their Miraculous revoked by their Kwamis and them giving it to Alya and Zoé. It felt too weird... and forced? Ladynoir never really addressed it after... Nobody seemed bothered that their fav superheros just left.... Marinette never questions why Chat Noir had to go... and Zoé was such a random person to receive it and I am just not invested in her storyline so it took up too much time when the focus should of been the Love Square. I am happy part 2 wrapped that up and we got to see Marinette in action with no suit THAT WAS AWESOME. And Adrien taking the earrings ICONIC. So while I didn't enjoy part 1 the ending of part 2 really made me feel good.

Sorry I am rambling I appreciate being asked 🥹 I usually keep most my thoughts in a private GC especially with bible leakers sniping commentary posts it is hard to share. I love this show so much it's my guilty pleasure and I still have a positive outlook on it! I just hope in my soul that the identity reveal is god-tier and that their relationship start is to my taste. I also look forward to the Agreste plotline and my little monster Adrien senti-plot cause whether people like it or not it is very clear he is one and love that for him <3

Again thanks for the ask!! Sorry is this was all over the place too

[miraculousalt]

...

They're so gonna make Alya Maribugs main partner from S6 onwards & turn Adrichat into nothing but Marinettes littl boyfriend who's gonna take ova the Bakery.

The show's gonna chuck Adrien into the Dupain-Chengs kitchen now that the teams back so he can b her little house spouse hubby who will forever make her a sandwich and never ever ask for more.

There are 15 more full-time heros now on LBs team. Adrien is only gonna leave the kitchen again when Ladybug asks him to when they need his cataclysm.

That shit just makes too much sense oh my goooooooooooood

I remember the time Wen I loved the idea of Adrien takin over the Bakery but at this point of the morality of Marinettes Story? ..lets not kid ourselves. Marinette Dupain-Cheng ended up standing for nothing but revenge porn feminism coated under a narrative that teaches bullied girls questionable leadership on other people's expenses the villains have to make up for by just... conveniently not doing the logical thing, & to hate everyone round them who doesn "treat them right".

If Adrien takes over the Bakery its just so he can be Marinettes stay-at-home hubby who takes care of the children, their home, her parents and will make her a sandwich for all eternity... It aint gonna happen for him, it's happening so she can be a #girlboss with her whipped malewife at her service an thats it...

Gosh abused children are watching this...

[geek-fashionista]

Hello! I just finished your story “Lucky Us”, and MY GOD IN HEAVEN that was fantastic. It was a bold move making the ending to the fashion competition the way you did, but it was worth it. And the way you delayed Adrien talking to Marinette post-reveal? Ingenious! You write some truly wonderful interactions between LadyNoir and the fluff is just, GAH.

Chloe is such a layered character here, I truly appreciate that. My only criticism is some minor plot points with her (her previous run in with cancer, for instance) are “hidden” behind previous Tumblr posts of yours. Which, the a/n at each chapter tends to clear up, but yeah!

Also, I felt some level of justice given that, much like Adrien, I cannot STAND the Horrificator episode. Even if Mylène and Ivan are adorable! The overly blatant pastiche of Alien alongside the complete refusal of any actual horror just kills me on the inside.

Enough gushing (I could do a lot more though, this was a truly fun story and has paw-sitively given me some new pun op-purr-tunities), now for the ask!

In Ch30 you say Marinette is going to meet with a “Lila”, is this meant to be the same Lila as we know in the show? How is she different in this AU as the one we know in canon, at least given what we knew back in S1? And how would you have preferred her character to go in canon?

Sorry for such the rambly ask, I hope it’s not too overwhelming or anything! Truly a wonderful story and I’ll be sure to check out more! I hope you have a fantastic day!

First off, thank you so much for reading and enjoying the story!! :D

To answer the Lila question, in the Lucky Us universe, she's just a nice gal with a definite Slytherin streak in her---which is why her and Marinette get along so well. I only wrote her into the story because she either is Italian or claimed to be Italian. (It's been a while. I forget.)

Canon Lila was a favorite of mine because I believed she should have been the main villain of Miraculous Ladybug. Gabriel had a motive that could have made him sympathetic. Chloe was, at the time, on her way to a redemption arc (and I'm never going to stop being mad about how they did her dirty). Lila showed no remorse for her lies and had that beautifully creepy transition from smiling and waving to no emotion whatsoever. She's the villain ML deserves.

Thanks for the ask, and have a wonderful week!