#Monkey Monarch

[pyr0frnzy]

East Blue Bug Crew with the addition of the chopperpilla🐞👒🐛

Originally the idea was something my friend and one of my moots came up with while we were drawing on magma!! We were assigning bugs to different straw hats and these were the ones we came up with. I drew all of them aside from brook and jimbei on magma but I’ll just say what they all are:

Luffy is a hercules beetle, Zoro is a praying mantis, Nami is a monarch butterfly, Usopp is a weevil, Sanji is a hornet, Chopper is a caterpillar (specifically a moth), Robin is a Hawk Wasp, Franky is a Thorn Bug, Brook is a stick bug, and i think Jimbei is a water bug!

Also here are the magma doodles! first one is low quality :( also i learned i cannot draw thorn bugs oops

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Y'know, i just realized something...

Kagami found out ladybug identity and then she gets akumatized, but then she didn't say shit to monarch, but then the VERY next episode, Luka, a guy who literally knows the secret identities of Ladybug and Chat noir, Got fucking akumatized and the for some reason, Monarch read his mind and now Luka got exposed.

And because of that, he had to leave.......

I just have something to say to the writers.....

WHY

WHY THE FUCK DID YOU HAVE TO PULL THE "ALIX" CARD ON LUKA??!!

THE WRITERS MADE KAGAMI FIND OUT, YET WHEN SHE GOT AKUMATIZED, SHE DIDN'T SAY FUCKING SHIT AT ALL, AND SO THEN SHE WAS SAFE

BUT THEN THE VERY NEXT FUCKING EPISODE, LUKA ENDS UP LEAVING BECAUSE "MoNaRch FoUnD oUt ThAt LuKa KnOwS"

WTF, THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE!!! MONARCH COULD JUST TELEPORT TO BRAZIL OR WHEREVER THE FUCK LUKA IS WITH THE POWER OF THE HORSE MIRACULOUS, AND THEN HE COULD CAPTURE LUKA

Don't forget how Marinette almost got akumatized multiple times (Ladybug, Elation, Derision), yet Monarch never learned she was Ladybug.

Also, don't forget Alya (Heroes' Day, Oblivio, Felix, Gang of Secrets), Nino (Heroes' Day, Oblivio, Rocketear), Max (Gamer 2.0), Kim (Derision), and Sabrina (Adoration) all got akumatized after becoming temp heroes, yet Monarch never learned their identities either.

I'm starting to think the writers don't really know what the point of mind reading is.

[lelouch]

Fauna endémica de México ♡

[sonikkuruzu]

@gokutober day 27! Today's prompt is "Orange" so here's Goku with orange butterfly wings

Prompts here - https://gokutober.tumblr.com/post/760403973653053440/gokutober-2024-prompts-are-here

[ivebeentotheforest]

I couldn’t help myself

[godrizza]

Kong getting a fresh trim for his appearance in loms2

[poishy]

Just so ya know you’ve asked for it

WHO’S YOUR TOP 3 FAVORITE BOXERS

MAY WE SEE THE WOMEN’S CIRCUIT AND WHOSE DESIGN ARE YOU MOST PROUD DOF FROM THAT

And finally who would be trusted to watch your kid to watch your children most to least with both men and women circs (hypothetically)

(Giving an anon emoji sign off bc why not statue of litterby )

-🗽

ALRIGHT BUCKLE UP ANON AND THE REST thisll b a long one

king hippo (Duh)

von kaiser

hmmmm thats a tough one uhhhh probably either bear hugger, disco kid, aran ryan or soda popinksi !! but id i had to pick, rn itd b (joe biden voice) SODA !!!!

and now for the womens circuit !!!!

Ok so... starting with the challenger, Cassidy Cornfield !

hailing from farley, iowa, shes a little off her rocker. She believes she was put on earth by aliens to box. Though, this is likely just smth she made up as a result of a vivid dream she had when chowing down one too many corn nobs! Speaking of corn, she WILL talk your ear off about all the supposed ‘’proof’’ she has of alien existence, like the crop circles that show up frequently around her hometown. That being said, she IS determined to prove herself for her alien overlords, so prepare for a challenge!

She's modeled after glass corn, which looks like this (thanks to charlie for that idea !!):

Other details include...

her full name is Cassidy C. Campbell (she won't tell what the C stands for)

she's of irish/cherokee descent

they are a tiny straw weight standing at 5'2 feet and weighing 90 lbs, and an adult little mac trains her !!

Speaking of little mac, unlike him, she had to wait a year to get her boxing license for her 18th birthday. She simply doesn't look old for her age😔 Poor girl still gets handed the childrens menu at restaurants as well!

Her gimmick is that when charged with enough punching power, she can unleash a painful series of punches known as the ‘’Glass corn combo’’. think hondo rush, except like the star punch, it cant be countered, only avoided.

Next up, Beauty Bling !!!

All bling and no brawn !

I've posted her bio before, so i'll keep it brief; basically shes macho man's fame monger younger sister, and unfortunately for her, shes all bling and no brawn! Despite herself though, she's no quitter! She once pulled many all nighters trying to figure out computer science, and now it's one of her biggest hobbies !

other little factoids about her are...

her full name is Brittany Anita Jones

Cis woman, she/her

shes mixed white/native hawaiian (i hc macho to be white/native hawaiian as well).

She's modeled after 00s/y2k fashion

talks like a valley girl

talks on her phone during intermissions. will either b calling her dad or her friends.

Gimmick: Similarly to glass joe, she has poor defense and rarely attacks. Her special attack is her stepping back, moving a hand through her hair, and saying ''Ready to be punched in style?'' and releasing a very easily avoidable uppercut.

Will also say ''rude!'' when you avoid her punch

Next... Axelerator !!!!

The Mighty Mechanic!

This Welsh wrestling-watching mechanic from Cardiff packs a meaner punch than his predecessor ! Too bad this motor mouth gets so excited he can’t resist calling out his attacks every time he throws a punch ! But hey, gotta put on a good show, just like those cool wrestlers on tv !

other factoids about him...

his full name is Axel Cadogan

21 years old

hes a cis woman but goes by he/him pronouns bc hes swag like that

stands at 5 foot tall and weighs 220 lbs.

he wears a mechanic outfit as his boxing uniform.

Gets flustered really damn easily. Especially around hot women. 

Gimmick: Basically a huge motor mouth (haha geddit) who calls out all of his attacks, and gives you plenty of time to avoid them. You do gotta watch out which way you dodge, though. Next up, Silver Hook and Scallywag !!!!!

The Meanest Hook Of The Seven Seas !

Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to be just like the pirates from the stories she read all the time. This of course, includes having a parrot, which she affectionately named Scallywag. Unfortunately, Scallywag keeps running her mouth and telegraphing her owner’s moves ! Despite this, however, Silver can’t stand the thought of not having her emotional support parrot by her side. 

Other factoids about her:

Her real name is Maria Bermudez

Cis woman, she/her

shes 29 years old

stands at 6'2 feet and weighs 200 pounds

from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Her parrot is a Black-legged parrot. She’s had it since she was 5 years old.

Brings her parrot literally everywhere

Gimmick: Sure, she might be faster than Axel, but she's still a rather predictable fighter who telegraphs her attacks very clearly. You do gotta watch better which way you dodge, though. When the parrot says ''left!'', well, you better watch your left.

Up Next, the minor circuit champion, Dancing Queen !!!!!

Lay All Your Gloves On Me ~

A huge fan of ABBA, if that wasn’t already obvious, veteran Queen’s entire gimmick is based on that of 70’s pop and disco. She’s also by far the happiest person of perhaps the entire WVBA, despite being arguably the lowest ranking champion of all circuits. Some even theorize that she’d be happy, even if she was THE lowest ranked boxer. That’s because everytime she gets in the ring, she’s 17 again. That’s just how happy those Swedes are !

Other factoids:

Her real name is Heidi Karlsson

She's a trans lady, she/her

shes's 45 years old

she stands at 6'4 ft and weighs 215 lbs.

From Jönköping, Sweden

Always seen smiling. Always.

Became a boxer partially to let our her frustrations about disco fading away as a trend

Gimmick: she has a special move called the criss cross punch, where she diagonally raises her fist to punch you and then the other, similiarly to that iconic disco dance.

____________ Now for the major circuit !!!

Disclaimer: I do Not have designs or certain info for the majority of the characters from here on out. Please bare w/ me

Next up, Black and Bunraku !!!!! (props to charlie for the name)

A Boxer based on the japanese art of bunraku, Black and Bunraku actually consists of ''two fighters''; A puppet who hits you, and the puppeteer who controls the puppets movements, covered from head to toe in black. As a result, the woman's identity is a real mystery.

Other factoids:

Refuses to say her real name, age, height and weight, instead letting the puppet do all the talking.

From Osaka, Japan. This is also where the biggest bunraku theatre is located.

Gimmick: Hitting the puppet won't do anything. Once you figure out the trick to hitting her in the head, she's a fairly easy opponent to take down.

Next up: Nike the Great !!!!! A threatrical tirant and a complete history and art geek, Nike longs to be a wise philosopher slash theater actor like the ancient Greeks, with a boxing twist. Her stage name ‘’Nike’’, meaning victory in Greek, is one she holds because she is sure to be the victor, despite only being in the lower major circuit. Oh well, confidence is a stepping stone to success, right?

Other factoids:

Her real name is Nikki Ioannidis

She identifies as a nonbinary woman, she/he/they

27 years old

She stands at 6'0 feet and weighs 220 lbs.

From Athens, Greece

HUGE rivals with Narcis Prince. only ONE can wear the V for victory and that's HER.

Huge rivals with A Lot of people, including Monarch Mayhem (keep reading to see her bio !!)

During her intermissions and fights, she'll show you some of the art she's made, like painted vases. If you punch it out of her hands, she’ll get REAL mad though, so watch yourself !

Gimmick: Pretty clean fighter, outside of the fact she brings art into the ring. Hey, she's an artist after all !

Up next, Moto Mauler, The Electrifying Biker !!!!!!

This biker chick loves nothing more than the rush of the road and the wind in her hair ! and a good tussle of course. She will make sure to knock you out with the great speed she feels on her motor cycle.

Other factoids:

Her real name's Nguyen Lihn

She's a trans woman, she/her

24 years old

She stands at 5'9 ft and weighs 170 lbs.

From Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

During her intermissions, she'll talk about how beautiful the sights are and how you oughta be quicker on your feet.

She gets along swimmingly w/ Axel bc duh. mechanic x biker chick, cant go wrong w/ that right?

Gimmick: Clean fighter, outside of entering the ring on a motorcycle. Will try to exhaust you with quick jabs, and when you're tired, releases a series of punches to take you down.

Lastly, Monarch Mayhem, The Monarch of the Major Circuit !!!

Formerly known as Butterfly Bash :3

An unsuccesful artist turned boxer, Monarch Mayhem brings her frustrations into the ring, and with success! She is the crown jewel of the Major Circuit after all. That being said, she will NOT let you forget she's an artist! She will try to hypnotize you with stunning butterfly patterns on her sleeves made by herself of course, and dodge equally elegantly. At least the boxing crowd appreciates her !

Other factoids:

Cis woman, she/her

She's 31 years old

She stands at 6'1 ft and weighs 175 lbs.

From Calabar, Nigeria

Gimmick: Like i said, she'll try to stun you with hypnotizing patterns on her sleeves. The way to avoid this is to block your face, otherwise you'll get dizzy and become incapacitated ! Additionally, she does a lot of fake-outs, making her a formidable champion.

_____________

Now for the world circuit !!!

First off, Scarlet Fever, The Bad Omen !!!!!! Clad with arguably the most unorthodox boxing wear, a robe with a plague doctor mask, Scarlet Fever serves as an omen that the next opponents you’re about to face are the real deal. Other factoids:

Trans woman, she/her

She's 55 years old

Stands at 6'7 ft and weighs 210 lbs.

From Florence, Italy

Doesn’t speak, but does speak in Italian sign language.

Also does plenty of hand gestures in the ring

Secondly, Flossin' Fury, The Mental Dental Case !!!!!

After getting her medical license revoked for malpractise, she's now a dentist turned boxer. Got any cavities? Let's find out!

She's my newest addition to the OC roster, so i. Don't have much apart from a basic premise. She'll get developed soon though dw dw ! Thirdly, Sunny Gunny, The Granny with Guns !!!!!

After becoming tired of being bullied all the time, she trained to defend herself against bullies. Don’t let her old age fool you, she’s still a tanky old lady who can deal quite the mean punches ! That being said, whether you win or lose against her, she’s a nice old woman who’ll bake you some delicious goods !

Other factoids:

Her real name is Sondra ‘’Sunny’’ Seydoux

Cis woman, she/her

She's 80 years old

Stands at 6'5 ft and weighs 180 lbs

From Tallahassee, Florida

Of Haitian American descent

Of course brings baked good in the ring during intermissions. Also Oft seen knitting as well.

Balls of yarn spin around her head when she’s stunned

Gimmick: She just loves hugging her grandchildren, and this bleeds over in the ring as well; she's a real powerful hugger to the point you can b immediately incapacitated when you're hugged. During title defense, She will protect her body with her knitted blanket that can be removed in a certain way. Next up, Butch Diamond, A Girl’s Best Friend !!!!!

An Australian football player turned boxer, Butch has a robust body and an near impenetrable defense, making her a formidable fighter ! She puts her skills she learned from football into good use, so be quick on your feet ! Albeit somewhat cocky, she mostly just hams it up in the ring, and is a kind soul outside of it.

Other factoids:

Her real name is Desmond Kelly

GNC cis woman, she/he

He's 39 years old

He stands at 6'0 ft and weighs 235 lbs

She's from Melbourne, Australia

She's of Aboriginal Australian descent

Very sociable and friendly

Gimmick: Your Glass corn combo won’t work on her stomach! In fact, if you try it, you will lose HP! Instead, try stunning her and hitting her in the face with it! During her title defense, she’ll train harder, and somehow become even more robust. Now, your hands will be incapacitated for a short while if you try to hit her in the stomach repeatedly, longer if you try to do a glass corn combo.

And lastly but not leastly, Nessie,

The Shadow Champion !!!!

I've talked ab her before too, so again will keep it brief.

Gimmick: She's called a shadow champion for a reason ! Somehow, her surroundings become all dark whenever she enters the ring. During title defense, its as if you get pulled underwater. Does she use magic? Is she just that powerful? Nobody knows.

_____________

As for who would be good w/ kids...

Cassidy Cornfield: Not good with kids. Keeps scaring them with stories about aliens.

Axelerator: Axel co-runs his dad's mechanic shop, so hes definitely used to the responsibility.

Silver Hook and Scallywag: Makes kids laugh with her parrot, so pretty good with kids !

Dancing Queen: She has a couple kids of her own ! She's a great momma :3 Loves dancing with them

Black and Bunraku: Nah. Has made kids cry with her puppet. On her own, she's kinda awkward.

Nike the Great: Loves kids ! She loves telling them all kinds of stories ab ancient Greece and myths and being all theatrical about it.

Moto Mauler: Cool big sister type figure. Has a tendency to be too lenient towards kids though.

Monarch Mayhem: Think's kids r alright. Despite how difficult her path as an artist has been, she'd 100% encourage kids to follow their dreams.

Scarlet Fever: Same w/ Cassidy and Bunraku, she scares kids (albeit unintentionally).

Flossin' Fury: She's a dentist. and a scary one at that. So no, kids dont even get close to her vicinity.

Sunny Gunny: Has grandchildren, so naturally adores kids. Would bake delicious goods n spoil them rotten.

Butch Diamond: Also loves kids ! Loves carrying them on her shoulders n letting them climb all over her.

Nessie: Again, scares children, although she finds it funny.

[benzglen11]

Enthusiasm

[fumblingmusings]

Watching Braveheart because I hate myself and whilst I love Robert the Bruce because what a bastard I can see Alasdair also being like 'lol I fucking hate you' because Robert the Bruce was indeed a bastard but also the fact that after all that fighting the Bruce family just kapoots out of existence literally one generation later is just so fucking funny. All that fighting and of course it's the women's line who ensure that the borders are held.

Anyway in come the Stewarts here to make literally everyone's lives bloody abysmal. Including themselves.

That's them, that's the Stewarts.

[gold-rhine]

i keep seeing posts about how furina was Actually Competent As A Ruler, which i think are misguided, even if they are coming from well-intentioned place. like, ppl love furina, and so they have an impulse to advocate her good qualities, which is v understandable, but where it derails i think is in assumption that agency = power, so ppl feel the need to prove that she was Actually Good At Power.

This also shows bc these posts *always* bring up neuvi, to either compare furina to him and say that he Did Her Dirty By Stealing Her Power, or to be like, actually they were Dual Rulers, and even if he was running the government, she was Girlbossing Too, like she was handling diplomatic relations or smth else, we just never got to see The Girlbossing.

both Stealing Power and Girlbossing Off Screen takes, I think, are not only textually incorrect, but also miss one of the central points of Fontaine, which is that its government was a hot mess and NO ONE there was Good At Power. Neuvi was absolutely not Girlbossing himself. Whats the point of like trying to prove furina was in charge of More Things, when all of the things were in shambles. The only efficiently run institution in fontaine is autonomous prison.

like, Furina is Marie Antoinette coded for a reason. She is a critique of monarchy, literally a divinely appointed monarch, that shows that putting in power a random person just bc of their birth circumstances, while they are not qualified at all, and then forcing them to be a figurehead under intense scrutiny of society that expects them to somehow be More Divinely Special than normal ppl, will be horrible no-good for both that person AND society. We had to watch her cry every day for 500 years cut scene for a reason. losing archonhood *frees* her to be what she actually wants.

Neuvi on the other hand, is a thesis of how impartiality for a ruler turns into indifference and inaction. Yes, he was incorruptibly fair in his judgements, but he was judging using the flawed laws inside of a flawed system, and this lead to tragic cases like Navia's dad' death and general bureaucratic and inept government. Like we had to listen to Navia yell at neuvi about it for like 5 minutes straight, come on. He realized that the system was flawed (his stories mention his disdain for courts being run like opera performances), that laws were often nonsensical, but he didn't try to change it, because as a dragon, it was basically not his circus, not his monkeys. only when he started to care about humans and forced by a crisis, he challenged the system, and his final ruling as he ascended to the power of god of life again, is markedly NOT impartial, but made with favor for humans. The thesis is that the judge should rule from a position of caring FOR the judged.

these two are explicitly not Cool Divine Bosses Ruling Together or Neuvi Stealing Furina's Importance As An Archon, but two sides of one miserable coin about how badly run fontaine actually was.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Male Characters who got reformed/redeemed and/or we are supposed to sympathize with, in ML: Alec, Félix, Kim, Gabriel.

Female Characters who got reformed/redeemed and/or we are supposed to sympathize with, in ML: Sabrina, Nathalie.

Unredeemable/Unsympathetic characters in ML.: Lila, Chloe, Tomoe. How does TA explain this?

Hey, if it's wrong to say that two teenage girls and a blind woman are supposed to represent the worst of humanity, I don't want to be right.

[evilminji]

(O_O ) I sit here. With a Realization.

There.... There might be... ONE(1!) Danny.

Like... Multiverserally. Because otherwise? He WOULD have met himself. Would have had a big ol "Into The Spiderverse: This Time It's All Spooky Boys (Girl, and Other Assorted Genders)!" Lair and? QUICKLY started running into Portals that lead to Not-His-Parents Fenton Labs.

But he doesn't.

He might? Literally be IT. The ONE in countless of countless impossible numbers, monkey smashing on keyboards until you get a story, Impossible Combination. Maybe the Fenton Luck really DID take them out in every other universe. Maybe Maddies family had some near misses of their own. Maybe BOTH.

There is Only One Daniel Fenton.

He Dies At Fourteen.

He defeats Pariah Dark.

He Becomes King Eternal of The Infinite.

It Was, It Is, It Always Has Been.

Why would you need to create more then one? Clutter up creation with dead end roads and possible successors? Let the Zone be punched full of holes? No, no, if you NEED to replace the old king with a NEW one... you really only NEED One(1) soul... don't you?

I've heard it discussed the Clockwork might be Father Time, father of the Endless. Father too Death herself. If we allowed this to be true? Then the Zone is HER domain. Yet? She does not rule it. Why is he HERE? Time still lives. Still flows. He is not Dead.

Thus the Observants.

You may play here, papa. But not interfere. This place is MINE. She created something with the very literal job of watching her father. He's NOT in charge here. She is.

But! She also hates it. Forever chained to one place between places? Never to see her siblings again? Nah. She can delegate.

A Holy King, if you will. Sit on her throne, listen to their problems, nod and smile, then do her busy work! She'll check in. It should not be hard. Right? Just don't do anything crazy.

It Shouldn't Be That Hard.

But Nooooooo. King after Queen after Monarch after Boss! She comes back and they are either insane or NOT who she left in charge! Everything on fire! The newly dead terrorized and not where they should be! Pariah tried to INVADE THE LIVING WORLD!!!

Did he think she'd LET HIM?

Death is miffed. You could even say... annoyed! Possibly so far as even AGITATED.

It's unsustainable, Father. But, what to do? And, well, "Have You Considered Making A Person?" If organic royalty isn't working, store boughts fine. Check the timeliness, sweetie. Death IS your Domain. You can... delay some.

And he's right. She CAN. She shouldn't, there are consequences, but she can. Others may die sooner then they ought too, in place they should not. It MESSES with things. But... yes... yes she CAN.

She... LOOKS.

Finds herself JUST the right soul. She adores it. It's PERFECT.

AND she barely has to nudge things around! Hardly any messes! She's honestly.. kind of excited. It's been so long, since she and her Father worked on anything together. Bonded like this. Will he watch over him? Make sure he sticks to the right path?

Of course Clockwork would.

Anything for his Children.

[monkiesupreme]

Monkie Bois picking fruit!

This is my first ever post! I'm making an LMK x Mei Hou Wang 2009 AU called, Monkie Monarchs. A reimagining of The Monkey King's origins with elements of Mei Hou Wang and Lego Monkie Kid mixed in.

Will post more about the AU soon!

Chapter 1 -Pages 1-4 Posted

[vignirek]

Wukong + Macaque headcanons (part 3)

(part one & part two of previous hcs)

Wukong

- optional headcanon 1: in JTTW the monkeys all adopt Wukong's surname "Sun" (if I remember that part correctly), so perhaps in the Monkie Kid universe the monkeys still share Wukong's surname like they're all one family in a sense (and maybe it also applied to Macaque while he still lived on the mountain)

- has less scars than Macaque, but the ones he does have are from pretty severe injuries that his immortality was unable to heal for various reasons (and maybe he got some of them from before he became immortal and didn't have op regeneration abilities yet) - his favorite flavor is sweet and he dislikes spicy + bitter foods (while Macaque is the opposite, though he does eat moderately sweet things) - Wukong's fur is short and soft, while Macaque's fur is long and smooth - he and Macaque were the troop's go-to babysitters when the monkey parents wanted some rest from taking care of their babies (after their fallout, Wukong had to be the babysitter all by himself, but then Macaque started picking up his babysitter duties again since his return to the mountain after S4) - likes to play videogames in his spare time, his favorite types are tower defense and fighting games (while Macaque's favorites are fighting games and story-driven games) bonus: they're mutually afraid of horror/scary games (partially inspired by Monarch and Cyyu playing Mortuary Assistant) - optional headcanon 2: Wukong became depressed sometime after the journey, but he's been isolated on his mountain for so long that he doesn't even see it as a problem (and even if he did, he'd just deploy his good ol' "ignore the problem until it's not a problem" tactic) (it definitely wouldn't work all the time though) bonus thought: at some point Macaque realizes that his ex-best friend is depressed and starts secretly helping him out by making him proper meals and making sure he always has a set of clean clothes available (and just doing the house chores in general) (he feels like a jerk for always clowning on Wukong for being smelly after realizing this, so perhaps he does the chores as a way of making it up to Wukong) - he and Macaque used to have a very intertwined/synced fighting style; now they're grown used to fighting separately after their fallout, but they can still subconsciously slip into the familiar pattern sometimes - headcanon for funsies: he/she genderfluid

Macaque

- continuation & sorta update of my headcanon where Macaque has another name besides "Six Eared Macaque" - still kinda stuck on which one would be most fitting for him, but I've narrowed it down to my three favorite options after a lot of digging:

1) "Fēng Wǔ" (风舞/"wind dance"; my main interpretation is that it's a nod to his manner of dancing being light and carefree like the wind (in my headcanon at least))

2) "Yǐng Wǔ" (影舞/"shadow dance"; somewhat similar to "wind dance", but with his shadow powers, could be interpreted as him guiding his shadows in a dance of sorts)

3) "Jiāo Yè" (姣夜/"charming night"; mostly a nod to his black fur and maybe his appearance in general- perhaps the backstory behind this name is that Wukong gave Macaque a nickname in an attempt to help him feel less self-conscious about his own appearance, and the nickname eventually grew into an actual name that Macaque started using)

(note: I'm absolutely not an expert on chinese names and these options are mostly results of me slapping together chinese characters and seeing which ones sound good together in theory- so don't expect them to be 100% accurate to how chinese names actually work)

- has a big amount of scars from various past scuffles that happened before and after his resurrection (mostly because he doesn't heal quickly like Wukong does, so Macaque is not as "untouchable" as him)

- very good at vocal mimicry (basically he copies people's voices really well) and can adjust his voice to copy anyone he hears (his ears help him a lot with that, bc he can easily copy the voice just by listening closely)

- optional headcanon 1: Macaque gets a pair of headphones at some point and spends at least a couple hours a day listening to music; one of his favorite genres is metal (though overall his music tastes range from gentle tunes to something more like rock or metal) and he sometimes sings along (he typically goes into a room covered in noise-cancelling spells to do it) (maybe he takes those precautions because one time he got too into it and received multiple noise complaints the next day /j)

- the vision in his right eye (from his point of view) is pretty bad because of the injury, he's pretty much considered legally half-blind in that regard; the most he can see is blurry moving shapes, but he tries to make up for it with his hearing, so usually the blind right eye is not much of a hindrance to him, though he refuses to get glasses or lenses of any kind for vague reasons - prone to losing his appetite when he's really sick or stressed (he struggles maintaining a healthy weight because of that) - optional headcanon 2: Macaque had already been living on FFM for some time, but then one day he witnessed Wukong hatching from his egg and basically went "oh cool, new friend c:" and brought him along, and afterwards they became friends (basically he's older in this backstory interpretation) - in terms of shapeshifting, Macaque's strengths are in disguising himself as other people, while Wukong is more proficient with the 72 transformations (they can do both, but Macaque only has a few animal forms and hides his tail, while Wukong has his tail at all times when he's transformed into an animal or is using a disguise) - used to be fond of peaches, but after so much baggage involving Wukong, they taste almost bittersweet to him and he rarely eats them nowadays - a decent teacher when he puts his mind to it (he's typically the more organized one when it comes to teaching, though he isn't afraid to push limitations when he feels it's necessary) - headcanon for funsies: he/they nonbinary

[gravity-what]

Chinese Character on Shen Gong Wu Scroll?

One thing I’ve been curious about is the bottom left symbol on the Shen Gong Wu scroll. This one:

And what it could mean for the Shen Gong Wu itself and, well, I found images of as many of the Wu entries as I could and I present you with translations:

熊 = Bear = mikado arms, fist of tebigong,

龍 = Dragon = ring of the nine dragons, Fountain of Hui, Lunar Locket, shroud of Shadows, Sapphire Dragon, Longi Kite, Shard of Lightning, Sands of Time, Ying-Yo-Yo (NOTE: Yang Yo-Yo’s page is blank), WuShan Geyser, Moby Morpher, Kuzusu Atom, Rio Reverso, Ruby of Ramses,

蛇 = Snake = Mind reader conch, Sphere of Yun, serpents tail, Lotus Twister,

猴 = Monkey = Mantis flip coin

蠍 = Scorpion = emperor scorpion, Manchurian Musca

豹 = Leopard = Eye of Dashi, Sword of the Storm, Crouching Cougar, Shadow Slicer

鹿 = Deer = Helmet of Jong

蝶 = Butterfly = Changing Chopsticks, Wings of Tinabi, Shadow of Fear, woozy shooter, Denshi Bunny, Zing Zom-Bone

象 = Elephant = Two-Ton Tunic

鷹 = Eagle = Tangle Web Comb, Falcons Eye, Crystal Glasses, Reversing Mirror

鯨 = Whale = orb of Tornami

螳螂 = mantis = Glove of Jisaku, Fancy Feet,

? 虫 = insect = Black Beetle (I get the feeling this is supposed to be beetles as well like ants in the pants but whoever drew the scroll didn’t know what they were doing…)

甲蟲 = beetles = ants in the pants

蜘蛛 = Spider = Moonstone locust

牛 = Cow = Cannon Blaster

——

Personally (and I wish I had translated this earlier for the sake of fanfics) but bet is on these either being 1) the type of spirit that is trapped in the Wu (ex: a monkey spirit is what was trapped to create the mantis flip coin) or 2) potentially the symbol is more just to highlight a specific characteristic of the Wu. (Ex: the eagle character has two Wu that relate to vision and sight. However how the tangle web comb fits into that… idk)

Either way! Just some interesting notes for people to use as they wish! Also below the cuts are the unknowns since I couldn’t find a scroll image for them

Third-Arm Sash •

Jetbootsu •

Monkey Staff •

Golden Tiger Claws •

Star Hanabi •

Tongue of Saiping • = ????

Sun Chi Lantern • = ????

Heart of Jong •

Silver Manta Ray •

Wushu Helmet •

Thorn of Thunderbolt •

Tunnel Armadillo •

Ju-Ju Flytrap •

Silk Spitter •

Sweet Baby Among Us •

Lasso Boa-Boa •

Monsoon Sandals •

Mosaic Scale • = ???

Monarch Wings • = ???

Gills of Hamachi •

Eagle Scope •

Shen-Ga-Roo •

Golden Finger •

Hodoku Mouse •

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Disclaimer in advance: I haven't watched season 4 or 5 in their entirety, nor do I intend to, so maybe I'm missing info. Most of my knowledge comes from lurking in the fandom.

Why do you think the show was seemingly allergic to allowing their main characters to make any sort of meaningful progress? At the end of season 1, Ladybug comes into possession of the Miraculous grimoire, a major clue that "Hey, Hawkmoth is probably Gabriel Agreste" and then the Collector immediately ends with her and Adrien placing him completely above suspicion (I actually don't mind this, it makes sense for Gabe to throw the two off the trail, but to the best of my knowledge, this is the only time the protagonists make any headway toward Hawk Moth's identity. I wish they had done more active investigation.)

The power up potions show up during Syren, except... they don't do much in the way of a "power up." They're used exceedingly sparingly, and really only let LB and CN compensate for environmental challenge. Nothing else, no actual evolution. This could've been a way to show LB getting more in sync with her powers, being able to create specific solutions to her problems. You could've had similar moments for Chat Noir, upgrade like the ranged cataclysm Chat Blanc could use, or something to do with bad luck. Instead, it was a cheap gimmick.

The temp heroes start getting called in beginning with Sapotis, except that most of them are called in because... you're here and I need this incredibly specific power, which you just so happen to be perfectly suited for. Shut up and do nothing follow orders. (The episode Party Crasher and King Monkey being the most egregious example, imo. Then again, i havent watched Penalteam, and I'm told that episode is far worse). The temp heroes don't really add anything to the plot (Save Rena suddenly being Ladybug's confidant, but that's a rant for another day.), except to cause conflict with CN, and they're all gone as of the Season 4 finale anyway.

Speaking of season 4, the charms. Finally, concrete progress, a way to limit hawkmoth, to cut him off from potential vic— wait what the hell is a megakuma? Why do this? What was the point? This is what I was talking about with Syren, Ladybug coming further into her powers, finally being able to start pushing Gabriel into a corner, and it's undone that same season. Apparently transmission is more powerful than creation, despite repeated assurances the Ladybug (and Marinette) are special.

And then there's the alliance rings. Why can Tomoe and Gabriel make these? No idea. What it means, though, is that LB and CN have no chance of reclaiming the lost miraculous, and just have to passively react to whatever the hell Monarch is up to... again.

I'm told that for the big finale, Marinette wasn't even the one to discover Gabriel's identity, Felix straight up told her, and then Gabriel won. He made his wish. The hero of the story failed to save the day, after doing practically nothing.

Whats extra annoying is that on the Villain side, Gabriel is absolutely allowed to push the status quo. First we get Scarlet Moth and mass akumatization, then the peacock comes out, then it gets fixed, and then Gabriel straight up steals all the Miraculous (save LB and CN's of course, and then they steal the rabbit back because the writers realized "time travelling villain" was a horrendous idea. And Felix is allowed to keep the Peacock, because ??? Gabriel has to my knowledge not given up any other power, before or since). And he's always held the power, he's never been at risk of losing his own miraculous because he doesn't need to go out in person, so why does he keep getting stronger and raising the stakes while the heroes can't do anything.

Sorry for being so long-winded, just... needed to get my thoughts out.

Put on your tinfoil hats, folks! We're gonna make some educated guesses as to what is going behind the scenes with Miraculous, but remember that these are, ultimately, guesses. I don't know the full story and I probably never well.

I've mentioned before that writing for TV can suck because you're not allowed pure creative freedom. There are a lot of hands in the pot limiting what you can do because TV shows cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to make. Some even cost millions. That means that final product needs to be considered commercially viable unless you're independently wealthy and have money to burn. This doesn't mean that passion projects can't be commercially viable, it just means that they're generally not approached with the idea that commercial viability is the most important thing.

Writing for children's shows can especially suck because you're heavily limited by the intended audience and by what large corporations deem acceptable for that intended audience. If you're not totally on board with keeping things Disney's version of kid-friendly, then you're not going to have a fun time.

This brings us to Miraculous.

I have often assumed that there were some wacky hi-jinks going on behind the scenes that would explain why the show is such a mess because I don't think that Miraculous is anyone's ideal version of the core concept. The wonderful @nixthelapin recently confirmed it for me by sending me a link to a translation of a lecture given by Miraculous' writing director.

In that interview, we get hard confirmation that the core members of the writing staff originally wanted to tell a darker story for adults or teens, which may explain all the random dark stuff that the show will include but totally fail to explore. We also got this:

Sebastien sold the Miraculous series to broadcasters as a formula show. A person gets angry, is akumatized, then marinette transforms into Ladybug then frees the person from the akumatization and… The End. It's also for this reason that Marinette tries to confess her love for Adrien in every episode, but is unable to do so. But he tried to go against what he had planned with TF1, by slipping little extra stories into certain episodes. Audiences were receptive to these slightly hidden stories. The TV channel even asked Sébastien if there really were hidden things in the series, but he denied everything.

So there you go. There's the hard confirmation of my theory. Miraculous was sold as a formula show so it's mostly written like a formula show, but the writers want to do more than a formula show, so they're adding in all these hints of something more, leading to massive fan frustration when those things don't lead to satisfying plots because, if they did, then it wouldn't be a formula show!

I get the temptation to do what they did, I really do, but I don't think that it was a good move. They would have been better off trying to make an awesome formula show or by being a lot more selective in what greater story elements they wanted to include. There are things that you can develop in formula shows while still keeping them formula shows. One thing that comes to mind is subtle character development. For example, they could have set up all of the temp heroes by giving them strong roles in one-off episodes. Roles that established their heroic potential. What you can't do well in formula shows is complex character development like the mess that was everything with Chloe and Lila.

This may also explain why we get baffling statements like this one from that interview that the writers gave at the end of season five:

Mélanie says that he "could become Chat Blanc" and the others add that even though he does not remember and has never lived it, Chat Blanc still has an influence on his actions.

Are they trying to let Chat Blanc effect the plot without breaking the formula element? If so, then dear gods, this is not how you add subtle continuity to your formula show!!! But that may be what they were trying to do here and in many other places. After all, we also get gems like this:

They note that Marinette's nightmare at the beginning is reminiscent of the episode Weredad from season 3. At this point, we can see that Marinette starts to understand who the villain is although she's not fully conscious of it yet. Thomas says that you can read it in two different ways: if you don't take the previous episode into account, she's starting to intuitively link things together but if you did see Representation, you know that she knows who Monarch really is.

I'm seeing a common thread. What about you?

While the writing director interview doesn't say this, I'm assuming stuff like the charms, the powerups, and the additional heroes come from a similar type of issue. My best guess is that these weren't elements that the writers wanted to add. They were things that marketing made them add to sell toys and so the writers shoehorned these items in because they couldn't find a way to organically fit these elements. I'm not blaming either side for that issue, btw. There isn't really a clear right side in the fight of creative freedom vs a show needing to make money to keep being made.

Since we're talking about that interview, I'll point out that we also got confirmation of another wacky writing rule to add to the list of poor writing choices:

The driving force behind the series is that there must always be a secret between Marinette and Adrien. The lovesquare can never be broken, otherwise there's no series.

"Our main couple can never be fully honest with each other or else there's no story" is a pretty awful rule, but it's what they're going with and that's a big part of why the love square is a mess. It's also a rule that I've often assumed was there based on the writing, but it's nice to get official confirmation of it.

None of this is to absolve the writers of blame nor is it to say that everything is their fault. The point here is that Miraculous' problems are a complex mess of everyone trying to make a good final product without being on the same page with what that final product should look like, resulting in a show that will never live up to the full potential of what anyone wanted for it.