#and what character is this hero's secret identity

[broadwayfan92]

Am I the only one who likes Colin and Penelope in S3 part 2?

Part 2 was always going to be about Colin finding out about LW. Yes, he was very, very mad, but it was understandable because of what Pen wrote about Marina, Eloise and himself. Yes, he was harsh, but remember how he treated Marina in S1 after he found out she was pregnant? He was very upset and angry, and said some things he shouldn’t have said.

However, this time it’s different, Colin knew he was in love with Penelope and still wanted to marry her. He found out about LW right before their wedding, so it makes sense he’s going to need time and space to digest that information. He loved her, but he also was hurt, angry, conflicted, jealous and in love. That's a lot of emotions to sort out. Just like with Marina, he said some things he shouldn't have. Colin is VERY sensitive, which is his best and worst character trait.

However, he was able to put aside his anger during the wedding and reassure Penelope with a nod that he wanted her to walk down the aisle. The love in his eyes was evident every time Pen was with him. Just when everything was fine and when it seemed like that they could work it out, the queen comes in saying one of the Bridgertons is LW. When he asked Pen to give up her column in that moment, she said no. Of course Colin was upset, especially since they hadn't moved past this roadblock.

Colin tried to save Penelope from Cressida’s blackmail, but made things worse and he hated that he couldn’t help. He's so used to helping Pen that he's never seen her be independent and work things out on her own. In the end, Colin realized he didn’t need to be a hero and Pen didn't need saving. It took time, but he worked through his emotions and was able to be the husband she needed. He accepted his wife’s choice and stood at her side. He loved Penelope deeply and was devoted to her.

Penelope also went through her own arc. She’s realized that she’s made huge mistakes because of her writing. She was trying to do better with the power she held, even if she couldn’t change the past.

She was going to tell Colin about LW, but kept getting interrupted or it was not the right time. She even gave up LW up after talking to her mother and Eloise. Pen only started writing again when Cressida nearly succeeded in trying to take credit for her work. Penelope stood up for herself and told Colin at their wedding that she wasn’t going to stop writing because LW was her work. Unfortunately, it drove a wedge in her and Colin's relationship because he didn't like keeping her identity a secret anymore than she did. In the end, she found her voice, formed her own plan and came clean. The truth was out and she was free of the secret that was too difficult and too dangerous to keep.

No, Colin did not need to go to Penelope during or right after her speech. That was HER time and part of both their arcs. She was owning up to her mistakes and actions, and Colin didn’t need to save her. He was looking at her with the love and support she needed. He nodded in encouragement and pride. Their time as a couple was after her moment in the spotlight.

These are flawed characters shaped by their home lives and experiences that life threw at them for 3 seasons. This was about two people growing, accepting each other for who they are and the love between them conquering everything else. Forgiveness was also a big part of their stories. Penelope had to forgive herself for her mistakes and ask for it, while Colin had to forgive Penelope.

Throughout the season, Colin had to learn to be himself instead of what society expected of him and to not be the hero. Penelope had to learn to come out of her shell and find her voice outside of LW. This is a big accomplishment for two characters who are at least 19 and 22 at the start of S3.

Side note: I’ve noticed the writers like drama for every couple on Bridgerton, particularly the last four episodes. S1 was heavy on lack of communication. S2 dealt with not wanting to fall in love. S3 dealt with secrets. Both of the main characters of these seasons aren't 100% happy until at least the last 10 minutes of the last episode.

I think in S4 we’ll see Colin and Penelope as a happier and stronger couple. However, I don’t expect to see a lot of them, similar to Anthony and Kate in S3 and Daphne in S2. Once the couples are married, they don’t seem to get a lot of screen time in order to make room for the next main pairing, but are there to offer advice. Personally, I hope next season is Benedict's.

Anyway, loved this season! Polin forever!

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Happy Bat-dad day!!

by DreamMyuku The heroes were gathered in the main meeting room, reviewing the latest intel. But as they settled in, something unusual caught their attention Scattered across the large conference table were a variety of brightly wrapped gifts. Glittery bows, colorful paper, and handmade cards stood in stark contrast to the usual seriousness of the room. “Um, did we miss a birthday?” Flash asked, zipping around the table to inspect the gifts. “Doesn’t seem like it,” Wonder Woman said, picking up a card adorned with a crayon-drawn bat symbol. She opened it and read aloud, “‘Happy Father’s Day, Dad…We love you. From, your Bat-family.’” The room fell silent. All eyes turned to Batman, who had just entered the room, clearly taken aback by the scene. “Care to explain, Bats?” Hal asked, struggling to suppress a shit eating grin in amusement. Or It’s father’s and the Batkids always find a way to make it memorable for their bat-dad. Words: 2773, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Duke Thomas, Alfred Pennyworth, Justice League (DCU) Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Justice League & Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members & Justice League Additional Tags: Good Parent Bruce Wayne, Batfamily is a Mess (DCU), Timeline What Timeline, Secret Identity, Family Fluff, Father's Day, Attempt at Humor, I failed, How Do I Tag, Chaotic Batfamily (DCU), My First Fanfic via https://ift.tt/LQc6MNf

[finsterhund]

which serves better as a superhero name?

Andrometificer

Andromtificer

[phoenixcatch7]

I know 'person with secret to hide spots other person with secret to hide but doesn't say anything' is like. Thee trope in superhero crossovers, but come on! Some of these guys have been doing this for decades! There's tons of heroes that have gone to pretty extreme lengths to be Completely Imperceptible in civilian life.

Don't you think it's scarier, after all is said and done, to sit there and think I didn't notice a thing? I wouldn't have ever realised? I would never have known? To know that someone you were familiar with - close with, even! - had this whole other personality and skillset and powers and experiences and life just behind the curtain, and they hid it so completely you didn't even see it was there.

'I always knew there was something off' what if you didn't. How world shaking would it be to be so utterly blindsided? To know that this person had somehow learned to so deceptive?

[isfjmel-phleg]

Carol Bucklen is the only one of Bart's civilian friends to confirmedly figure out his superhero identity (others come close, but those threads get no follow-through). But how did she come to that conclusion?

Carol knows Bart first as her classmate, and they become friends, although she frequently gets exasperated with his inexplicably erratic behavior and what she perceives as a need for public admiration.

But she first encounters Impulse when he rescues her from some older teenagers who are attempting to sexually assault her.

(Impulse #6)

We don't get any reaction to this or reflection on it from her, but this incident would have to have a tremendous impact. She's only about fourteen and she has been through a no doubt deeply traumatic experience. And the local superhero just happens to show up in this isolated location to find her and just happens to know exactly where she lives to drop her off at. He doesn't speak, but she presumably does get to see his face up close (in the goggles), however briefly. She seems to have kept quiet about this encounter (for instance, when Preston makes his movie about Impulse, no one looks to her for insight into the character, as they might if they knew she had met him), but surely it leaves her with a lot of questions.

In #13, a spike in Bart's already-considerable popularity at school brings Carol back to her earlier impression of him as a glory-hound. She lectures him on not seeking attention through being a daredevil or giving in to peer pressure. And then she says:

Based on her limited evidence, it's not an unreasonable conclusion (although she could stand to take into consideration the fact that he keeps telling her he's not in it for attention, which is the closest he can get to telling her the truth without giving himself away)--but she's still incorrect. And speaking from a place of fear! She values this friendship and is afraid of its being sacrificed to the call of fame.

But by the end of the issue, after Bart's unwillingly back in the spotlight, we see Carol across the street from his house, observing the admiring crowds and thoughtfully holding a pen or pencil.

I think it's here when she finally puts the pieces together.

Because Bart's newest claim to fame is for rescuing a classmate in danger--not as Impulse, of course, but as himself. And Carol seems to have drawn a parallel between such conduct and that of the mysterious boy who rescued her. And then she draws something else...

Much later, when Bart announces that he's leaving Manchester to live with his mother, Carol decides to give him a farewell gift:

(#24)

This is what she was working on that afternoon across the street from his house.

How she chooses to depict him is significant. He's in costume but without the goggles--an important omission. Had she included them, the drawing might be just a random picture of the weird local superhero that she's giving him for some reason. But his bare face is an indication that she knows who he really is, even if she's never seen him precisely like this. His expression is a characteristic one. It's the one Thad thinks of as "insipid innocence," but really it's more intent. Thoughtful. On alert. Ready to spring into action. This is the boy who has both come to her rescue as a hero and supported her through difficult times as a friend, and this, in her understanding, is who he really is.

[martiniblues]

spidey boy ; 이민형

pairing spiderman!mark x female!reader

synopsis mark has tried to hide his secret identity from you for as long as possible, to keep you safe, of course. little does he know that you’ve untangled his web of lies long ago and will do anything in your power to get him to admit it. just when you've had enough of him lying to you, he ends up getting caught in the act trying to save your life.

genre established relationship, fighting (if you squint), lots of fluff, slight violence and cat-calling, slightly suggestive, mark calls reader “my girl” and “pretty girl”.

wc 2.9k

“do you think that spiderman guy is actually as good as everyone says he is?” you ask mark, who lay peacefully in your lap as your fingers ran through his hair.

you two had been hanging out after school, as you usually do, watching random channels while you both indulged in each other's day. however, you had articulated this hangout the night prior.

a few days ago, you had aimlessly been searching through mark’s backpack in hopes of finding your calculus notes, which you had so graciously let him borrow, only to stumble upon a very familiar red and black mask balled up in the bottom.

at first, you thought mark had hit peak fangirl. he was obsessed with the superhero after all, completely drawn to the tv or newspaper whenever spiderman was mentioned, but so was every other human being in your city.

so when you began noticing how mark’s late-night appearances and “fashionably late” activities began lining up with the famous building-swinging superhero, your mind put the pieces together.

you tried to understand his point of view and why he wouldn’t reveal this very key detail about himself. it hurt you, though, feeling as though there was something in you that made him not feel comfortable enough to expose himself to you.

so, you compiled a plan to get the truth out of him organically, or as organically as this could be.

“wha… what do you mean?” your boyfriend’s head quickly snapped up, turning on his palm to face you with a questionable look knitted into his features.

a smile teasingly pulled on your lips, knowing you had hit a sore spot in his ego. how couldn’t he be proud of himself? after all, he was known as the hero of your city.

“i don’t know,” you continued, leaning back against the couch, watching your boyfriend swing from building to building on the screen in front of your bodies. “he just seems too full of himself, like cool you can swing from buildings and hang upside down, but we have police and firefighters for a reason!”

it took everything in you to not break character, slowly watching mark’s face grow red at your painful statements. he just looked at you, eyes blown wide and brows pulled so close together that you were certain he could get stuck like that.

with a small giggle, you reached out, brushing your thumb between the crease in his brows and bringing it down to caress his cheek.

“what’s with the face, baby? don’t tell me you're obsessed with him too.” his face slowly relaxed as your soft hand held his face, but his brain was still scrambling with your previous statements.

how could you find him not absolutely amazing? he could swing from buildings and hang upside down!

“you don’t think he’s cool? not even a little bit?” mark’s eyes followed yours to the screen. spiderman now being shown saving an older woman from getting mugged.

“i think he’s cool, i guess.” you looked back at your boyfriend only to find his eyes already on your face, his previous expression appearing again. “babe, you can’t be serious.” mark leaned back, feeling completely bewildered by your nonchalant attitude towards his heroic duties.

“it’s not that big of a deal."it’s not like you’re spiderman, so why should it matter if i like him or not?” you titled your head away from the screen to watch his eyes grow wide, and you could audibly hear his breath hitch.

“but…” he quickly let out before catching himself, looking at the tv to see his segment disappear. “but what?” you teased, beginning to feel bad for your ministrations.

he looked back at your face, sighing heavily. “nothing, just like the guy a bit," he said before lying back in your lap to hide his face from you.

this was going to be a lot harder than you thought.

“hey baby~” mark cooed as he stepped into your apartment, takeout bags in hand. you quickly sprung up from your spot at the counter, running to hug your boyfriend after not seeing him for awhile.

after your first attempt to disclose his true identity was unsuccessful, you held off from bringing up the topic for awhile.

but you had finally decided to take a different approach this time.

“i missed you, pretty girl.” the nickname made your cheeks heat up as his cold hands held your face in front of his. he inspected you lovingly, relishing in the fact that he could finally hold you without school being in the way.

“missed you too," you replied before kissing him softly. mark dropped the plastic bag on the counter beside him, pulling you firmly against him. his lips were almost enough to make you forget about your plan.

almost.

“god, i’m hungry.” you pulled away, making him laugh at your cute antics, and he joined you on your couch to eat. as you sat, you pulled off your (mark’s) sweatshirt to reveal the key details of your plan.

mark quickly noticed the black spiderman logo displayed across your chest, at a loss for how quickly your opinion of him changed. “you like?” you asked, flaunting the red baby tee you had bought earlier that day.

“i- i thought you thought spiderman was stupid." he nearly choked on his food, trying not to blush at the image of his girl repping him like this.

“i never said he was stupid, mark. i just thought he was overhyped, but i now understand where all the love is coming from.” you looked down, ogling at your new shirt, sure of its effect on your boyfriend.

“oh…” he tried to fight the grin, trying to cover his lips, but couldn’t contain his relief. “glad you finally came around, baby.” he smiled before shoving his face with more food.

“you’re not jealous?” you asked, beginning to take on step two of your plan. “he is a guy, after all.”

this made mark actually choke on his food. “what? why would i be jealous about that?"

“i mean, your girlfriend wearing a shirt for some muscular superhero who is most definitely sickly hot under that skin tight suit he wears while saving lives." you went on swirling your fork in your food, looking up every so often to see mark’s cheeks darken at the compliments.

he held his head down, but not enough for his flushed ears and cheeks to go unoticed. “why are you so red, baby? i still like you more, you know; spiderman can’t take you away from me.” you reached over and combed your fingers through his hair to feign worry.

“that is, unless he happens to swing by and sweep me up with his insane muscles.” you winked, making your boyfriend turn into a tomato.

“yeah, you wish he would do that.” mark  joked, trying to deflate his growing pride, which you continued to boost.

“what? are you saying i’m not worthy of spiderman’s fantastic biceps picking me up and swinging me through the night sky?” mark looked at you quizzically.

you couldn’t be serious, could you?

mark discarded his food, crawling over to trap you beneath his body. "fantastic, you say... and what are these?” he made reference to his own muscular arms peeking through his fitted white tee.

"marvelous," you replied, sliding your fingers softly over your boyfriend's muscles. how lovely it was that you didn’t have to dream of spiderman’s biceps as they sat right in front of you.

“better than fantastic in my book.” mark smiled before catching your lips in his.

your spiderman shirt was soon discarded in that moment but continued to linger in mark’s head days later.

“i’m just gonna go grab a few things. i promise i won’t be long.” you stood in your doorway, attempting to run to the store to get a few things before it got too late.

mark hated this.

“why cant i just go get it or go with you?” mark wrapped his arms around you from behind, making it increasingly difficult to slide on your shoes. he kissed you all over your neck and face, held your hand, pulled at your jacket sleeves, and even attempted to block the door entirely to try and get you to stay, but you were as determined as you ever were.

“i’m a grown woman, mark. i can run down the block by myself.” you turned around in his arms, reaching for your keychain next to his head on the wall, hanging by a hook.

“it’s dangerous out there. wouldn’t want my pretty girl getting hurt.” he slouched against the wall, still holding onto your hand as your whole body nearly made it out the door.

“good thing spiderman will be there to save me from any danger.” you teased him before slamming the door in his face, preventing him from getting anymore words out. not that he could form any from your statement anyway.

as you made your way through the isles of the tiny convenience store down the block from your place, you began to notice a dark figure popping into your vision.

a man decked out in all black and wearing a dark baseball cap pulled down just enough to hide his eyes followed your trail through the store.

he just coincidentally needs the same things, plus it’s freezing outside. that’s why he’s covered up so much, you thought. you can't say much about covering up with your giant black puffer jacket nearly swallowing you whole.

as your shopping trip continued, you couldn’t help but notice the figure not picking up a single item they inspected.

how weird, you thought.

“have a nice night!” the sweet cashier bid you goodbye before you quickly made your way out of the store.

as you exited the glass doors, the figure from earlier greeted you outside. your steps increased in speed as you noticed the figure continuing to follow your path.

you: mark could you meet me outside

you: creepy dude won’t stop following me

you: dude answer the phone

you: mark come on this is serious

you huffed, knowing the figure was still following you from a distance and aggravated by mark ignoring your texts.

“what’s a pretty girl like you doing out here alone at night?” the figure spoke from your side, somehow managing to come up beside you without you noticing.

you stayed silent, pretending to be interested in the cement beneath your feet.

“hey! i’m talking to you!” the voice barked, noticeably irritated by your lack of interest. “i asked you a question, bitch!” a hand grabbed your wrist tightly, stopping you in your tracks.

thinking it was the figure, your body froze seeing spiderman right in front of you. stumbling back, you watched your hero step in and fight off the creepy man, knocking him over before webbing him to the alley wall ahead.

“try and speak to her again, and you’ll get much worse than a few webs on you.” the familiar voice of your boyfriend came out deep and threatening, making your breath hitch. you had never heard him speak like that.

while the bum continued to try and yell through the webs plastered over his mouth, spiderman turned to check on you.

“everything all right? he didn’t touch you or hurt you, babe- i mean, mam?” the fumbling of words made you laugh slightly, knowing the dork under the mask.

“i’m all right, thanks to you, spiderman.” you swooned, so caught up with the fact that your own boyfriend was spiderman and that he had practically beaten and webbed a man to a wall for you.

“what could i ever do to repay you?” you asked, trying not to trip over your own feet at the way the suit hugged mark’s muscle so well. more than any t-shirt ever could.

“just doing my job, as always.” spiderman leaned his body against the wall smoothly, resting his head against his fist. you two stood there in a few seconds of silence, both not knowing what to do.

“you better get headed home; it’s getting late.” he coughed, finally breaking out of his daze.

“no swinging around the city for me?” you asked, pretty disappointed that your boyfriend was about to make you walk home alone. “no can do, web swinging with lovely ladies is a daytime activity only; i wouldn’t want anyone to miss it.” he pulled his body from the wall, shooting up a web to hang from a sign above your heads.

“what a shame. guess you’ll just have to give me a show of the city another day," you replied, watching as mark swung his legs over the sign to hang upside down effortlessly.

definitely trying to impress me, you thought.

“i can see what i can do.” he crossed his arms over his chest before you stepped forward on your tiptoes, placing your hand on his cheek, making him short circuit.

“thanks again, spiderman.” you spoke, leaning into him to place a quick kiss on his mask-covered cheek.

“of-of course. any day, mam,” his voice cracked at your actions, making you laugh as you turned away to walk home.

mark hung in bliss before realizing he was supposed to be at your place, not saving your life in a spidey suit.

you rushed through the door, dropping your bag on the ground and making a beeline to your room. the only place with a window mark could slide through without getting caught.

you swung open your door to reveal a maskless spiderman half way through your bedroom window, eyes wide, body frozen.

you froze in shock, almost surprised that your plan had finally worked. "gotcha," you smiled, leaning against your door frame satisfied.

“uh…” mark scrambled, attempting to put his mask back on as if it would make you forget seeing his face entirely. as he tripped and tumbled around your room, you slowly made you way behind him.

“mark,” you began, attempting to get him to calm down. “baby,” you turned him slowly as he finally got his mask back on. “mark? who’s mark? that your boyfriend or something?” he attempted to deepen his voice to throw you off.

he realized this was unsurprisingly unsuccessful, noticing the smirk that continued to show on your face. “you know him, don’t you, spiderman? he’s the boy who just kicked ass and saved my life less than ten minutes ago.” you said, gently pulling off his mask to reveal your boyfriend’s face.

he stared at you, not knowing how you felt. “look, i can explain this all,” he nervously let out as he looked anywhere but your eyes.

before he could explain, you kissed him softly, wanting to ease his worry and express your gratitude. he saved your life after all, and not just by being spiderman.

“i’m not mad, not at all.” you looked into his eyes, noticing how at ease he seemed to be at the relief of your words.

“i’m so sorry i didn’t tell you sooner. i was so scared you wouldn’t want to be with me or be scared of me,” he ranted, trying to make you see his side in case you had lied and were even the littlest bit mad at him. he hated when you were mad at him more than anything.

“why would i not want to be with you? i love you, mark, so much, it’s crazy.” you pulled his face into your hands in disbelief at his words. “and plus, how could i be scared of such a handsome, strong, crime-fighting superhero who so happens to double as my boyfriend. if anything, people should fear me,” you joked, ripping a laugh from his lips.

“how long have you known?” he asked, pulling you closer by your waist. biting your lip, you looked down, trying to hold back your laugh. “remember when you borrowed my notes for class and forgot to give them back?"

you didn’t even have to finish, seeing the realization wash over his face as the words fell from your lips.

“yeah, maybe putting your suit in your backpack wasn’t the best place.” you both laughed at the situation at hand; mark was completely dumbfounded.

“so that’s why you talked such shit about me and bought that stupid shirt!” he continued to put together the pieces, gripping your waist tighter as he laughed at his own stupidity.

"ding, ding, ding!” you replied, pulling away slightly to take in his whole look, still not being used to see him like this up close. “yeah, definitely need to see you in this more often now."

mark flushed, turning into putty in your presence. your eyes traveled all over the intricate details and meshing of the suit. how it hugged his body and made him look completely unreal.

“do a little spin for me, doll.” you teased, wanting to ease up all the pent-up emotions still hanging in the air. mark giggled at your stupid comment but did as you asked nonetheless, turning slowly for you.

turning completely to the back, not a second went by before mark felt a harsh slap on his skin. “fuck baby! what was that for?” he whined, reaching down to rub the irritated spot.

"sorry, i couldn’t help myself when you have an ass like that, mark lee.” you smiled at his pained expression, putting your arms back to lean against your vanity, still ogling at your boyfriend’s physique.

“guess i really do need to wear this more around you.” he placed his hands on either side of you, trapping you beneath him.

“maybe the story time can wait till later.” you breathed before his lips pressed themselves to yours.

“i love you so much, my girl."

“i love you too, spidey boy.”

now you had mark completely to yourself, spiderman and all with no secrets left to hide.

© martiniblues | do not copy or translate my work!

note | more spider!mark WHAT CAN I SAYYY WHAT CAN I SAYYY. he’s literally my fav mark to write ever like pleaseee get him as the korean peter parker asap!!! anyways, hope you loved this and my request box is always open <333

[writers-potion]

Writing Magicians

If you are drafting or deepening a magician character, consider these personality traits and common characteristics of magicians. Your magician doesn't have to be set in stone or have all of these traits.

Intelligent

Magic requires a critical, quick, analytical mind to practice and implement. Must be capable of making difficult decisions.

Good Memory

For memorizing spells, potions ingredient lists, rituals and anatomy of magical creatures.

Creative

Magicians need to adapt existing spells and rituals to the situation

Self-disciplined and focused

Casting a spell or conducting a ritual requires the magicians to have unwavering focus and self-control.

Patient

Magic takes time to practice, especially if it's not a talent that you're born with. You also need patience to calm your human sacrifices down and make those stupider than you understand what's going on.

Highly trained

Mere talent is not enough. Practice - and pain - makes perfect.

Specialist

Magicians will have a spell/an element/a potion they are exceptionally good at

Musical

Many forms of magic involve drumming or chanting, or even singing.

Spiritual

Many forms of magic are linked with religious practices or concepts. Your magician might be heralded as a spiritual saint, or hunted for being a heathen.

Prayers are often a part of magic rituals.

Studious

Magicians are always keen to learn more, expanding their skills range, acquiring news spells, understanding different forms of magic and exploring scientific subjects.

Many magicians will amass books, or sign up for every available online class.

Well-orgnized and Methodical

The best magicians always have information and ingredients at hand and know where to find them.

They prepare thoroughly before rituals and have Plan B,C,D ready

Introvert

Many magicians like quietude and solitude in which they can recharge to practice a new spell in peace.

However, some magicians love social gatherings, maybe even showing off their power.

Ethical

Magic gives a person power, and requires moral judgements to apply this power wisely. You magician protagonist will be ethically challenged, but pull through difficult decisions guided by his good heart.

You magician villains, of course, will fall due to their unethical practice of power.

Sharp Sense

Your magician is likely to have a goos sense of smell/sight/sound, so that they can tell poisons part and catch the exact note of the chant.

Descended from Magicians

Magic is often portrayed as a talent that is passed down generations. It can be of blood (you must have "magical blood", so to speak), or it can be a guarded family secret.

On the flip side, your hero can be the only one with magical talent in a family with no such powers.

Psychic

Although magical and psychic gifts are separate matters, the power of foresight is often considered a branch of magic.

If your hero is a psychic, make sure it has limitations and consequences!

Day Job

Few magicians practice openly. Even if the magician earns money from her practice, she'd want to disguise her identity and pretend to work a more everyday job.

Many modern magicians work in the medical sector; other are employed in scientific, engineering or the arts field.

Pet

Magicians are known for thei close relationships with animals.

This can be a typical pet, or a mythical animal, or perhaps an incarnation of the devil, who knows?

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

[queenpiranhadon]

Hello! You commented on my post about my dream request so here it goes...

Pro Hero! Dynamite is dating Underground Pro Hero! Y/N. He doesn't know she's a hero, doesn’t even know she has a quirk. She has a "job" where she can travel a lot; a model for Mitsuki & Masura (they know, because parent instincts). Anyway, YN gets sent on a lot of missions with Pro Hero! Deku since he's one of the few who likes working with everybody. Dynamite sees how close they are and is seething, and end ups turning it into a huge fight.

(i woke up at this point but pls make it comfort if you can)

thank you in advance!!🫶🏾🫶🏾

A/N: Idk if this is what you wanted but I loved this prompt so much!! Big thanks to @zanarkandskylines for beta reading and editing this I owe you so much 😭 Here's my masterlist!

Warning(s): f!reader, Katsuki and reader are dating. and they live together, reader is an underground pro hero with a pre-established quirk, mentions of blood, Katsuki thinks reader is cheating on him with Deku, angst to fluff, characters might be a little ooc, mentions of passing out, reader cries a lot, Katsuki does too, Katsuki almost kicks reader out, cursing, Katsuki calls reader princess.

Pairing: Pro Hero! Bakugou Katsuki x Underground Pro Hero! Reader

•─────•°•❀•°•──── ɢᴏᴏᴅɴɪɢʜᴛ ────•°•☁︎•°•────•

Shit. 

Pain flares up in your abdomen as you try not to think about the blood gushing out of your side, as the taste of iron lines your taste buds, making you want to vomit. 

You were on a mission with your close friend and pro hero, Deku, who you consider a friend till the end after endless mission assignments together. Your quirk, Rays, allowed you to control the lighting of any setting you were in- even if it were bright outside, you could plunge anything within a 100-mile radius into complete darkness if you chose to do. Along with that, you could illuminate anything within the same distance in the middle of the night. Your eyes would change colors while your quirk was active, growing lighter and darker with the lighting around you- a feature that allowed you to be hired as a model for Jiyū, a clothing company owned by renowned clothing designers, Mitsuki and Masaru Bakugou. They joked that that lighting always favored you during photoshoots, capturing your eyes in such an alluring way that it was almost like you were the one who made the clothing look exceptional. They’d often drop hints that you would, in fact, be a perfect fit for their hotheaded son. You’d laugh at their insistence, waving off their jokes. They never would guess the reason behind your choice of career path, especially as a secret pro hero. 

You were an underground Pro Hero by the name of Sola – specializing in espionage and stealth, a major asset to Pro Hero Deku as you balanced his brute force with elegance and mobility. You loved your job, not ever having to need to be prominent on the Hero charts and found your reward through the knowledge that you were helping others. It was silly, you thought, to sneak around with a secret identity like all the books you read, unlike the Pro Heroes you knew that basked in attention. And even though you didn’t need people fawning over you 24/7, you still had one issue with all the secrecy. 

That being your boyfriend, Katsuki Bakugou.  

You loved him with your entire heart, and more, as he did you. The both of you got together a few months after the explosive blonde had graduated from UA, your relationship blowing up the tabloids with a bang as he climbed the hero rankings. 

You trusted him with your life, and he trusted you with his heart, and yet you couldn’t tell him about your job as an underground pro hero.  

This was one of the reasons why.  

You hid behind a pillar in the abandoned warehouse you had caught a drug network alongside Pro Hero Deku. The both of you were tracking the pricks for months, coming home late every night with a new excuse to tell Katsuki. You knew it would burden him with worry, choosing to keep your secret hero identity just that - a secret, even from Katsuki. He couldn't worry about you when he had his own job as a Pro Hero to worry about.  

Not to mention he wasn’t exactly on the best terms with the greenette you worked with constantly. 

The fight ensued, you heard Deku’s grunts and the cracks of bones, no doubt his One for All in usage. You manipulated the light around him, effectively blinding your opponents while giving your partner the advantage of sight.  

You were losing blood at a rapid pace, head becoming fuzzy as your body slumps to the floor, giving into the exhaustion from overuse of your quirk. 

The last thing you heard before the world turned black was Deku’s triumphant call for you, reporting that all the villains were restrained.  

When you woke up, you were in Izuku’s apartment, head hazy and your temples throbbed like they were being stabbed repeatedly by blunt needles.  

You got up without a word, thanking Izuku for his hospitality before leaving to go home, brushing off his concerns and walking out his front door.  

Anxiety gnawed at you on the taxi ride home, subconsciously fiddling with your shirt to make sure your bandages weren’t visible, and praying to whatever deity was watching over you that Katsuki wouldn’t notice.  

You reached your apartment complex, taking a deep breath and settling for a somewhat content look, before inserting your keys into the lock and opening the door, basking in the familiar warmth of your shared home. 

Spotting Katsuki at the kitchen stove, you creep up to him and wrap your arms around his waist, to which he stiffens, but you don’t think much of it as you tighten your arms around him.  

“I’m home!” You sing, smushing your cheek against him but he says nothing.  

Worry works its way through your mind, wondering why he wasn’t responding, until his gruff voice snaps you back into focus. 

“Where were you.” he says, phrasing it like a statement, not a question.  

Your heart drops into the pit of your stomach- does he know? Did Izuku tell him?  

Wh-what?” A nervous laugh escapes you. Had you been caught? “I told you, I was in the US -” 

“Cut the bullshit.” he snaps, and you let go of him – you can physically feel your heart snap in two. “Where. were. You." 

“I...” you trail off, the words caught in your throat, willing the tears that threatened to spill not to fall.  

You both stand there, wordless, staring at his eyes, full of pain.  

“You never even loved me, did you?” he says, voice cracking full of emotion, your eyes widening.  

“Katsuki no- I" You try to explain, but he cuts you off, the pounding in your head returning with the new rush of emotions.  

“Just stop. Please. Leave and never come back.” He spits out, tears finally dripping down his face. “Go fucking be happy with shitty Deku because obviously he’s a better fucking boyfriend than me.”  

He thought you were cheating on him. Those late nights coming home, prolonged trips without explanation- god you were so stupid.  

You rush towards him, mind racing as you try to explain, try to fix things. You couldn’t lose him, you couldn’t- it would destroy you in ways unimaginable.  

And yet, he pushed you away forcefully, making you cry out in pain as he contacts your wound in your side.  

He almost stops breathing when he sees the blood, your blood, on his hands.  

You panic, and he grabs you by the shoulders, lifting your shirt up to reveal the bandage wrapped around your torso that the blood managed to seep through.  

“Kats-” 

“Who fucking hurt you.” he growls, low and feral- all resentment from the previous conversation melting away with the realization that you weren’t with Deku – or at least in the way he thought.  

“I’m an Underground Pro Hero.” You whisper, a desperate attempt to mask your feelings as you curl into yourself. You can’t risk looking up at Katsuki and seeing his reaction. 

“You what- fuck, you have a quirk?!” He looks at you, eyes wide.  

You nod hesitantly, his vermilion stare meeting your own, attempting to assess what else you could be hiding from him. 

“I wasn’t allowed to tell you- the Commision wouldn’t let me, I wanted to tell you so bad Katsuki, but I knew you had so much on your plate, and I didn’t want to bother you, and-” you break down, Katsuki cutting you off as he encircles you in his arms, consoling you silently, letting your distraught form melt into his embrace.  

Heaving sobs turned into choking cries, which dwindled into sniffles that lead to silence. You’d drifted off, cried yourself into a sleepy daze while he carefully cradled you in the kitchen. His own guilt ate away at him- he understood your situation, the Commission was as unsympathetic to a hero’s situation as the League was to anything. But it still hurt, that stupid Deku knew about your status as a Pro Hero before he did. He shook his head, dispersing his feelings. He hated himself for his words, for assuming the worst and thinking you were capable of doing something so low. Running his fingertips over your bandages gingerly, a pang of worry struck through him. He wiped the tears off his face, and then yours, lifting your sleeping form and headed for your bedroom. 

Right now, he needed to take care of you.  

Changing you out of your clothes, he settles you into one of your favorite worn out shirts of his, tucking you into bed before getting ready to sleep himself. 

He joins you in bed, heaving a shaky breath after everything, wrapping his arms around you, one hand placed on the back of your head and the other on the small of your back, holding you against his chest like you were made of porcelain - too scared to let you go, but scared of breaking you, too.  

“Goodnight, princess.” 

[theloneotaku158]

As of Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12, local precious-gremlin-who-I-would-die-for, Maps Mizoguchi, is now officially(?) the sixth Robin. Or at the very least, she's now "in" on The Secret™.

If this isn’t a set up for her taking up the Robin mantle officially then I genuinely don’t know what is.

As one of the twelve Gotham Academy enjoyers in existence, I am having the extremely normal reaction of "FUCKING FINALLY! LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO--!"

In all honesty, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't seen this coming from miles away. Like, Maps has appeared in a number of seemingly random cameo roles recently, including Batgirls (2021), and even technically as Robin in the backup issues of Batman (2016) #119-121, and in a short story in Batman Black & White. And most of those got collected in a standalone titled "Maps of Mystery", which specifically gathered all her appearances as Robin (and the Gotham Academy Belle Reve story).

And then, of course, her recent time-travelling Future-Trunks-esque appearance in Birds of Prey (2023), as the tech-based Meridian, from a potential future timeline where she apparently makes it as a superhero using gadgets she apparently designed, proving that she's hero material.

That's not something you do for a character for no reason. That's the sort of thing you do when you want to keep a character in the conscience of your readers for whatever reason, because you have bigger plans for them.

Also interesting to consider that, in the "Mother's Day" story where this took place, Alfred is standing right there and not lying down six feet under wood, dirt and a stone slab, and that Bruce is in the old Batcave under the manor so he still has Money™. So we must assume this was some nebulous time in the past (after GA: Second Semester(?), but before City of Bane)... which I won't bother to analyse the exact timeframe of because DC doesn't care about the post-Flashpoint / New 52 / Rebirth / Prime Earth / idfk / Dawn of DC timeline, so neither should I.

But I think it's really funny that this presumably means Maps has known The Secret™ for a long time relative to present-day comics, but always acted like she didn't.

But if all her appearances are in chronological order, that means Bruce is only the fourth Bat whose identity she discovered.

Like, she discovered Cass' identity almost by accident on a trip to the zoo, Damian showed off his grapple gun and gave her an actual Batarang during the three hours he was enrolled in the school (as if she wouldn't immediately put two-and-two together even back then), and she even found out Terry fucking McGuinness would become Batman in a future via a time-travelling grandfather clock.

No I did not make that last part up. Read Gotham Academy istg.

Did Cass know that Maps had been acting as a Robin when she met her, both at the zoo in Batgirls and her future version in Birds of Prey?

Does Damian know the one (1) friend(?) he made in Gotham Academy is potentially in the running for his job?

Is Bruce himself aware that she knows as much about their identities as she currently does?

How is DC going to retcon this so it all makes sense in the barely-functioning canon of the modern DC universe?

I'm digressing. Where was I going with this?

Point is, she's destined to become a Robin, and I'm glad DC finally pulled their fingers out their asses and capitalised on that destiny.

Let's just hope it doesn't take another year for them to follow up on this plotline again.

Bonus: Jason Todd, after learning of Bruce taking yet another happy kid under his wing as yet another Robin, giving her some advice:

[cosmicpoutine]

leaving a lil rant here :]

I love Tim and his ships sm. Me personally, I only really ship TimKon. Those two are perfect for eachother and have so much clear queer coding that it’s crazy, and they have dialogue that’s just. gay shaped.

I also get TimBart, I don’t ship it romantically but I get why people do!! Tim and Bart are close as well, and the balance they get between ‘depressed tired wet cat’ and ‘living breathing embodiment of adhd’ is great.

I also get TimBartKon, they’re a trio. They are always a trio, so many people like to bring up how TimKon has so much coding and one of the big examples they use is when Tim tried to clone Kon. You know who else he tried to clone? Bart.

The only Tim ship I don’t get is TimBern, or any ship involving those two. When Bernard first appears, he’s Tim’s bully. He actively makes fun of tim and puts him down and then that character is forgotten about until Tim comes out as bi, then they just rework his character and go “haha guys this is his boyfriend not bully ygs are crazy” and just forget about all the bad stuff Bernard did? Reworking a character is great and all but, it just feels a bit weird and out of place for me. There’s always going to be that certain toxicity for TimBern, at least for me.

homie... bully??? im flabbergasted- im speechless- im jason todd (dead)

okay, im gonna start off by saying you have all the right to not ship them, and im not here to defend timbern as a ship. im here to defend BERNARD DOWD.

first thing bernard does is give tim advice about teachers, and he clearly says they're gonna be good friends.

if bernard was a bully, tim wouldn't hang around him so much. besides, i hate it when people place tim as a helpless little boy who would get bullied. he has put himself in situations where he looks weak on purpose to keep his identity safe, but he's not a victim at all. tim is a social butterfly because he's really good at masking and reading people.

not to mention, both bernard and darla push tim a lot because they're trying to get him to open up and be closer to them, but he keeps pushing them away. tim is a professional liar.

and when tim has to quit robin and start hanging out with normal people, he invites bernard over.

and bernard is acting relatively normal, and he wants to play video games and talk about how hot tim's stepmom is.

bernard is a normal teenager who has no idea one of his friends is the hero he's so obsessed with. he even shows concern for robin dying and makes up an entire conspiracy theory about batman havin a robin orphanage. you can tell he's afraid of robin being gone for real because at this point they haven't seen robin in months bc tim retired.

i dont know what about all of these interactions gave you the vibe that he's a bully because all i see is a normal teenager teasing his friends and being jealous tim gets more bitches.

im not saying that bernard was never mean or weird around tim, but he definitely wasn't actively bullying tim.

bernard is obnoxious and cocky, yes. but thats just because they wrote him as a real person. he's the school's chameleon, maybe even a little bit of a loser, too. he knows everyone but keeps a safe distance so that he doesn't get pushed into a box. im not sure if, at this point, he was already in a cult or being indoctrinated, but when we see his parents and the dowd home in tim drake: robin that just doesn't look right.

also homie talk about "forgetting all the bad things bernard did" (which in my opinion is none but okay lets follow that logic) everyone forget about all the bad things batman did to tim, he was not a kind and loving mentor, he was cruel to both tim and steph. we forget that batman was kind of an asshole to damien in the beginning. all those things are forgotten for the sake of the batfam.

in conclusion: we're just so used to the idea that superheroes can only ever form strong friendship bonds by having near death experiences together that we forget that the secret identifies exist and that the people who know them by their legal name also means a lot to them. after all, these people are the reason why they're heroes.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Trans girl Zuko moments

Her liking pretty things(such as that seashell)because 'girls like that stuff'

Growing out her hair after a buzzcut as visual character development

'The son my father wanted.But i wasn't me'

Being heartbreakingly jealous of her ideallic sister and wishing she could be perfect like her while hating her for it at the same time

And Ozai perfering Azula for living up to standards while Ursa loved and nurtured both of them equally but payed extra attention to Zuko because of all the degradation she faced

Comparing herself to Ty Lee by saying she's not as optimistic or pretty

Misandrist queen(Her instant reaction to a guy getting near Mai was rage at him potentially being a sleaze,her insults to Iroh,her arc culmenating in coming for her abusive dad's entire life including jumping his ass,etc)

Dragon-coded

All her friends pre-Gaang were girls

Her and Aang=Tween dorky boyprotagonist and late teens mean goth older sister who learn to love eachother trope

She's really maternal to him but also in general

Sokka is the Team Dad to her Team Mom and their dynamic is 'Mean hotheaded girl and chill goofy guy start off thinking the other is annoying asf and picking on eachother until they go on an adventure together and now they're sickeingly lovey dovey best friends totally not lovers'

Chose the Kyoshi Warriors as her bodyguards

This panel in general

But also these that make her look like the second girl mc in a Nickelodeon girl power sitcom

Jet talks to and treats her the same way he does Katara and he's got Smellerbee on his team so He Knows What She Is(and is being an annoying cocky bisexual about it)

Had TWO secret identities-First one was pretending to be an ordinary boy to hide her royalty status and her first instinct on picking a name was after her childhood best friend who's a girlypop and the second one was a hero persona that included baggy ass clothes that hid her entire figure

Baby butch(Toph)immediately adopted her as her older sister

Got 1 taste of living as a daddy's boy prince praised by everybody for manliness after months of living on the run and interacting with the Gaang and went 'I need to get my ass outta here,i can't fucking live like this,I WAS WRONG BEING A REAL MAN FUCKING SUCKS,AANG WHERE ARE YOU!!!!!!!!'

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Hii! I don't know if requests are open, if they aren't you should just ignore this but if they are what do you think of Twst characters with a web-slinger reader. they were bitten by a radioactive spider, saved their city, joined the spider society, saved their city some more, fell out of the spider verse, ended up in some twisted wonderland and I'm pretty sure you know the rest~

The characters are up to you of course and stay hydrated!

(I love your writing, I eat it up)

Thank you!

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Spiderman Reader | Yandere Twisted Wonderland

Web-slinging, super-powered, neiborhood friendly spider-you. Going from saving the world to saving a single island is mighty different. But it seems with magic and rotten personalities in abundance you’ll have plenty to do. Hopefully the rotten ones new friends will back off once they see what you’re made of:

Epel Felmier

“Tha’s soo cool!” 

He can’t help but want to know everything you can do 

Will no doubt want to help you with keeping your identity secret

By any means necessary

Just let him help where he can

Like giving you all his freshly grown vegetables

Can you believe how much there is?

His fertilizer is simply amazing 

Those criminals also don't bother committing crime again or rather they can't

Lilia Vanrouge

“Ah? Is this the age of modern heroes?”

He’s genuinely curious as to where you come from considering you need to be so powerful

but now that he knows he’s joining you on your every mission

just to make sure you don't slip up too badly

And he can keep up 

Expect him to invite you to hang on ceilings with him

And dangle your secret identity over your head whenever he needs something from you

like kisses

[wilhelminaesque-sideblog]

i can't get my mind off of kaeya's hangout. kaeya's unending thoughtfulness and kindness. kaeya thinking of everyone from back home while he was away, missing them and going out of his way to get all of them personalized gifts. kaeya missing his family and them missing him even more. kaeya directly quoting shakespeare and thus pleasing my classic lit enthusiast self. adelinde answering the long debated question of which ragnvindr sibling was a little menace and which was the one following said menace in every step (turns out i was right amongst many who thought the same). kaeya most certainly knowing of venti's identity and venti struggling to keep his act up around him. kaeya getting albedo and klee matching gifts, a set, further emphasizing their great found family bond and his own belonging to it. crepus indulging in kaeya's shenanigans and making him his own semi-alcoholic drink as a treat. kaeya playing all the characters (the bandit, the prince...) without needing to stay in character, for it is he himself that speaks from them. adelinde knowing exactly how kaeya likes his food. kaeya - unable to get diluc's name out of his mouth - alberich. my personal headcanon of kaeya being fond of birds (enjoying birdwatching and singing to them) proving to be true. diona wanting to curse every drunkard with anemo archon's wrath not knowing that her beloved archon is a drunkard himself. kaeya's endearing and genuine love for people and being around them. the foreshadowing for kaeya's own story in the play he acted in and him admitting it resonates with him deeply, thus explaining why he knows it by heart. kaeya canonically embodying his nickname 'prince charming' and serving as an eye candy for many. kaeya's wish to rid himself of the shackles of fate, to rise above it and challenge his destiny. kaeya proudly stating his connection to diluc and crepus, without batting an eye. adelinde reminding him that he has always been one of their own, and that he always shall be. kaeya dancing the night away in a land far from home and having genuine fun. hoyoverse giving us a jeanlisa, kaebedo and kaejean moment all in the same scene. kaeya's and klee's shared childlike wonder and mutual understanding. kaeya revealing the secret behind the coin he constantly plays with. diluc memorizing every lie and excuse of kaeya's that he uses to spend time and indulge in pleasure in his rightful home. kaeya subtly implying that he only acts part-time currently (if you understand what i'm hinting at). the ending 'the grapes of warmth' being a reference to steinbeck's 'the grapes of wrath', once again pleasing my nerdy ass. diluc being protective over his staff and dawn winery family. kaeya being a typical younger sibling and taking every chance to tease the older one. venti sneezing around diona. klee's misunderstanding of the events surrounding kaeya making the situation twice as wholesome. kaeya, once more, doing everything in his power to help jean and make her work life easier. kaeya knowing the schedule of the winery staff members and diluc despite not being around as much. diluc willing to openly display another one of kaeya's gifts inside the winery. adelinde serving us a ragbros childhood story along with a nice, home-cooked meal each time we meet her. kaeya being a beloved son not only to his adoptive father, but to many. diluc's staff trying to cover for his darknight hero vigilante persona as if kaeya doesn't know about it. kaeya helping out the people in need, out of the good of his heart, no questions asked and not needing anything in return. the ragbros nation predicting plenty of scenarios, one of them being grape picking that, as it turns out, kaeya indeed participated in. venti writing kaeya a personalized poem, once again accepting him as a child of mondstadt.

[chaoticallyfluffy]

“ The Homeless Boy and Nepo Baby, a Tale as Old as Time “ sounds very funny for some reason the implications of possible time travel shenanigans or not maybe weird experiences with time?

When the league is captured by a villain, they know better than to tell them anything about their secret identities, but what would a child have to hide? The villain de-ages the two most mysterious members of the league, Batman and Captain Marvel, in an attempt to get their identities.

They both turn 8. Bruces parents were still alive, Billy hadnt gotten his powers yet, and they don't remember anything from their adult (Or in Billy's case, teenage) lives. All they know is that a creepy man has them in a warehouse and is asking for their names, so Billy kicks him in the crotch and they run for it.

After escaping, they find a newspaper saying that the Justice League had gone missing days ago and realize those were the people in the room with them who weren't able to escape. Without the heros to protect Earth, the fate of the world is grim.

The story follows the spoiled Bruce Wayne who is pre-emo phase and absolutely appalled by the rude boy who hasn't showered in a week, and street kid Billy "Eat the rich" Batson as they reluctantly work together to save the Justice League. They both use their unique perspectives and skills to get past obstacles and save the worlds greatest heros, and possibly learn to be tolerate each other along the way.

Its probably a bit out of character for Bruce to be spoiled but... come on. Hes a child who gets everything he wants. Hes gonna be a bit spoiled.

[tenebraevesper]

The Observations of Miraculous Ladybug: The Tales of Wasted Potential

This is a compilation of various rules and messages within and outside the Miraculous Ladybug universe that I had discovered while watching the show and participating in discussions over the years. I might write more of them, but for now, these are my current observations:

-If you’re the main heroine, you have no control over your emotions and you should be punished for even just breathing the wrong way.

-If you’re the main heroine, you need to be taught a lesson in every episode, regardless if it makes sense or the same lesson is being repeated ad infinitum.

-If you’re the main heroine, you’re not allowed to move on from your crush on the main hero, regardless of how much suffering you went through, because this action somehow breaks the rules of the universe.

-If you’re the main heroine, you’ll be subjected to shocking amounts of humiliation, emotional and physical abuse, all either for committing the crime of being a teenager or for “comedy” purposes. Sometimes its both.

-Obsessing over your crush is “funny” and it should be used to further humiliate the main heroine. Even better if it’s labeled as stalking.

-If you’re the main heroine, nobody cares about your mental health, regardless of how stressed out you are or if you’re close to a mental breakdown.

-If the Writers says only a year has passed in-universe, despite the contradictory evidence, then only a year has passed. Stop trying to make sense of the timeline because it is only supposed to make sense to the Writers.

-If you’re the main hero, look cute and wear a mask to hide your identity, you are free to harass the main heroine without being called out.

-Remember girls, telling the main hero “No!” or “I’m in love with someone else!” translates into “I’m playing hard to get”.

-No, the main heroine has no right to consent because the universe already paired her up with the guy who harasses her and still doesn’t understand that “No means no!”

-If you don’t obsess over your crush and think about them day and night, are you even in love with them?

-Unless you’re French and a Writer for Miraculous Ladybug, you have no right to criticize the show.

-Yes, that also goes for those who are professional Writers.

-Even if you have valid criticism backed up by proper arguments and are capable of discussing it in a civil manner, you will still be labeled as a hater and blocked.

-”Miraculous Ladybug is more popular than Pokémon!” [Source: Thomas Astruc]

-Everyone who doesn’t ship the Love Square is evil. No exception.

-If you’re a 14 year old teenage girl who was spoiled and emotionally neglected by her parents and your biggest crime was to bully people, you are irredeemable and deserve to burn in Hell.

-Somehow, a grown adult man who mentally, emotionally and physically abused his son, manipulated people into committing crimes, committed many acts of terrorism (including murder) and almost started WWIII on purpose is somehow more redeemable than a teenager who was manipulated and abused by said man.

-THE ABOVE POINT BEARS REPEATING!!! A TERRORIST IS MORE REDEEMABLE THAN AN ABUSED TEENAGER!!!

-Oh, and the terrorist also gets a statue in his honor and is remembered as a hero after his death.

-If you’re the main hero, you are perfect and the world is flawed and needs to bow to your whims.

-If you’re the main hero, you don’t need character development. All you have to do is to whine and complain, and the universe will bend backwards for you and deliver everything on a silver platter.

-If you’re the main hero, knowing the main heroine’s secrets (which aren’t even hers to share!) is more important than saving the people. Who cares if people are dying, you need to know what your crush/co-worker is hiding for you!

-No matter of bad your lies are, as the B villain of the show, you have the power to lower everyone’s IQ to the point they’ll believe your lies. Also, Google doesn’t exist.

-Even if you have legitimate evidence that the Liar is, y’know, lying, you will be labeled as jealous.

-I’m amazed that Lila isn’t ruling the world when she has the superpower of making everyone stupid beyond belief.

-Paris is apparently isolated in its own bubble and the French government doesn’t exist. How else do you explain a teenage girl becoming the Mayor of Paris?

-The police in Paris is useless. Unless you’re Asian. Then they’ll SWAT you.

-Every great teacher knows that you punish the victim and reward the bully.

-You don’t want to write character development because it’s “too hard”? Replace the character with a cardboard cutout that is just like that character but nicer and/or perfect. Nobody will notice the difference!

-If they do and complain about it, label them as haters.

-If you’re the main hero, you will always get away with lying and gaslighting the main heroine. She is not allowed to contradict you because the Writers said so. If she does, the fandom will grab their torches and pitchforks to hunt her down and punish her.

-Mary Suethor Writing Advice 101: To redeem your character, reward them with a girlfriend or boyfriend. No, they don’t have to go through a redemption arc. No, evil characters don’t get paired up with anyone.

-The main heroes are not allowed to progress the story at all. That is reserved for the very character Astruc hates so much that he replaced him with the main hero.

-Being a mentor sucks! That’s why you can unload all of your responsibilities on the main heroine, who didn’t even want to be the main heroine in the first place, and peace out.

-We are going to show you precisely why the Love Square doesn’t work and is actually very toxic, but we will also pretend that had never happened in favor of shilling the Love Square.

-If you’re the main hero, you’re free to break anything you come across in a fit of rage. Don’t worry, the main heroine will fix it for you.

-If you’re the main hero, you will be forgiven for cheating on your girlfriend with someone who wants nothing with you because your current girlfriend isn’t your true love.

-If you are the main hero and can’t get together with the girl you had been obsessing over for 100+ Episodes, drop her and start a relationship with the girl you completely ignored but is now available. She’s a good enough replacement.

-If a child is being abused and/or emotionally manipulated, you should place the blame on the child and not on the adult who manipulated/abused them.

-The Status Quo will be upheld regardless of how ridiculous the show is about upholding it. If it doesn’t make sense, then it’s your problem and the Writers aren’t too blame.

-If you’re the main hero, you will be forgiven for attempted murder/actual murder of several teenagers, but God forbid you don’t feel bad for almost murdering the main villain.

-If you’re the main hero and don’t try to murder the guy who made fun of your girlfriend, are you even in love?

-Toxic relationships should be admired and looked up to.

-Somehow, 5 Seasons of filler are considered more important and impactful than any actual story progression.

-Who needs lore and world-building? Let’s shove that sucker into a comic book no one will ever read.

-Common sense doesn’t exist in this world.

-Neither to therapists nor CPS.

-Falling in love and getting together with your love interest will result in the destruction of the world and you should be ashamed for thinking love was anything but destructive.

-The main villain will win.

-Let me repeat that: THE MAIN VILLAIN WILL WIN!

-If you’re an adult male and your OTP isn’t winning, you are free to assault a teenage girl and force her to be with the teenage boy you consider her ideal partner.

-If you’re the main hero and you have caused a huge problem (think “abandoning the city you were supposed to protect” or “murder a girl” type of problem), the solution to it is to abandon your partner and let her solve it for you. Don’t worry, you’re a Gary Stu, everyone will forgive you for your “mistakes” or completely gloss over them.

-Calling a liar out on their lies is hypocritical and you should be ashamed of yourself.

-You cannot consider yourself a best friend unless you have committed the following acts: intruding on your friend’s privacy and break her stuff, cause her emotional distress for your own validation, force her into a situation that causes her to freak out or get hurt and then scream at her for not following a plan you never told her about.

-Doing something innocent with your powers, like delivering a gift, will result in the end of the world.

-Somehow, a candy cane suit is considered stylish. Yeah, I still don’t understand how Gabriel is a fashion designer with that kind of taste in outfits.

-All female superheroes should have skintight suits with the camera focusing on their breasts/butt. Have I mentioned that they’re all minors?

-The main hero doesn’t have to participate in the finale. Him learning that his father was the main villain will ruin his perfect image of his family and that is not allowed. We need to mollycoddle him to death.

-Instead of developing your support characters, make them all collectively share a single braincell. Mob mentality at its best!

-Who needs depth when they all have the minimal requirement of one character trait?

-If you break up with your boyfriend, go for his identical cousin. They already look the same and the cousin at least has a spine. Win-Win!

-Any important plot points will be swept under the rug and be forgotten about.

-Félix is still the best character in this show! I will die on this hill!

-Somehow, a 3 minute PV!Trailer delivers more than 100+ episodes of the Miraculous Ladybug show.

-FanFic Writers do a better job at writing than professional Writers. That’s not an opinion, that’s a fact.

-You want to add to or remove something from the story, but it creates a plot hole? Just retcon it and lie to your audience that this was always your intention regardless if it makes sense in the narrative.

-If the fans question you about the retcons, call them haters and block them.

-”This is a kids show!” is a valid excuse for lazy writing, according to Miraculous Ladybug Writers (and some fans).

-Negative emotions are bad and will turn you into a monster. You are not allowed to feel angry or sad at all.

-Characters are not allowed to make logical decisions. That would make them *le gasp* competent!

-Every support character is obligated to worship the Love Square. If they don’t, they’re the spawn of Satan.

-Gaslighting your crush into bending over backwards to your whims is considered romantic.

-If you’re a superhero, you are considered a celebrity and have no rights to privacy. The whole population of Paris is entitled to know who you’re dating.

-Unless you’re the main heroine or the bully, you won’t be faced with the consequences of your actions.

-Yes, even the villain gets away without any consequences.

-Miraculous Ladybug is about spectacle over substance. Don’t expect anything resembling good writing. Or anything that requires to think about the plot more than five seconds.

-Somehow, a teenage boy who attempted to kiss the main heroine once and got punched by her is more demonized than the main hero who did the same for 100+ episodes and still doesn’t care that “No means no”.

-Character development is overrated. Same goes for any story progression.

-If you’re the main hero, you’re free to abandon your partner in a moment of crisis and shirk your responsibilities. You’ll still be forgiven and everyone will act as if nothing happened. Same goes for attempting to murder your partner’s best friend.

-Being a good parent involves emotionally neglecting your daughter and abandoning her, as well as punishing her by sending her to live with her abusive mother. You don’t have to take any responsibilities for your actions and you can easily replace the “evil” daughter with a “good” daughter who isn’t even related to you.

-You are not allowed to sympathize with an abused child, but it is a-okay to sympathize with the abuser.

-The main heroine will always be punished, whether she deserves it or not. She is obligated to solve everyone’s problems regardless whether they’re strangers to her.

-For some reason, disciplining the bully is the obligation of the victim rather than, oh, I dunno... the parents and the teacher!

-It doesn’t matter if you’re an abusive father and a terrorist, you’ll still be forgiven if you did it out of love for your wife.

-If you like a character, but the majority of the fandom hates them, you will be bullied to death (I’m serious about this, this has happened).

-Rather than developing established relationships, it is more fun to add unnecessary love interests to complicate things, only to drop them in the next episode with no development and act like nothing happened.

-If you’re the main heroine and asking for help from other superheroes because your own partner is ditching you for no given reason, then you’re cheating (yes, it was phrased like that) on your partner and you should be ashamed of yourself.

-I hate Kuro Neko. Adrien is insufferable in that episode.

-If someone tells you “they’re made for each other”, you need to accept that you’re destined to only be with that person and no one else. No, you have no say in that.

-”She’s just a friend” is not a valid excuse for being dense as a brick.

-Seriously, if anyone brings up those quotes again, I’ll hit them with a brick.

-If you are paired up with someone, you are not allowed to have a life outside your love interest. That goes especially for the Love Square.

-Everyone in this show is an idiot to some degree. Félix is the one who holds all of the braincells, while Lila learned to break the system and metagame.

-If you want a better show that focuses on magic and romance, go watch any mahou shoujo anime in existence and spare yourself the hours you’re gonna waste with this show.

-How Miraculous Ladybug Should’ve Ended? Félix dusts Gabriel in Emotion and tells Adrien and Marinette that Gabriel was the Monarch. End of story.

If you have made any observation, leave a comment about it in the replies, because I’m sure that I missed some.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Why Scarlet Lady Is Better Than Canon: Lila Rossi

I had mentioned before at length regarding my distaste, dislike, and dissatisfaction with the character of Lila Rossi in Miraculous Ladybug canon. A character so horrible, so poorly written, and so two dimensional that I did not think it was possible to make any iteration of her I wouldn’t dislike.

And yet it seems @zoe-oneesama has come through for me yet again in Scarlet Lady by taking what was quite possibly one of my biggest issues and most despised characters within canon and with only a few changes, turning her into something enjoyable. Dare I even say…likable.

More than that, even. It says something when my least favorite character in Miraculous Ladybug canon can somehow become one of my top favorite characters in a different variation of it. 

It’s because Zoe shows an understanding of the characters and what makes them engaging, and other than SL Adrien, it shows the most in the form of SL Lila.

See, Canon Lila Rossi is a selfish, manipulative, egotistical, petty, and self-centered liar.

Scarlet Lady Lila Rossi, on the other hand, is a selfish, manipulative, egotistical, petty, and self-centered liar.

Now I’m sure all of you are looking at those two sentences and noting that they’re the same thing. And you are right. That’s the point! Because the difference between the two versions isn’t who Lila is but rather in how the narrative and writing treat her and what Lila ends up doing because of it. And it’s why Scarlet Lady is superior in its handling of Lila.

Lila in Scarlet Lady is not a good person. Nor does she become a good person. She admits that she lies for fun and just to see how far she can take it. She’s fully on board with continuing her lies and trying to fool her mom and the school to get away with staying out of school for a year. This is all in lines with regular Canon Lila and shows that they are still the same person, it’s just the events and situation and narrative that differentiate them. It’s in how the Scarlet Lady story handles Lila and her character.

For the sake of convenience, I'm going to be using Scarlet Lady to refer to the comic itself and Scar to refer to Chloe's hero identity specifically.

Let’s review and compare Lila in Scarlet Lady to canon:

1. Lila in Scarlet Lady is NOT a plot device. 

She doesn’t need to be. It’s clear that the plot is and has been moving forward on its own without her. Even if Lila were to have been removed from Scarlet Lady altogether, it’s pretty evident from everything else that’s been happening that we would still be getting to some plots and story points without too much difference or delay.

Scarlet Lady has a natural progression. The story and characters aren’t so rooted in the status quo that sudden additional character like Lila or Felix are necessary to throw in just to move things along. And Lila isn’t simply forgotten about when she’s not needed to do so. She doesn’t vanish without an explanation only to return also without explanation just to be able to force the plot to move.

Events within a story can be dependent on the characters, but the plot itself should not be dependent on what feels like a third party to show up and force things to happen when they should already be happening. That speaks of bad writing.

Canon Lila existed for the purpose of getting the Grimoire into Marinette’s hands so she could be the one to take it to Fu and learn about the Guardian and Miraculous secrets, as well as to be a future helper to Hawk Moth. Up until that point, the plot had done nothing with Fu and had done nothing to move things forward in learning about the Miraculous or why Hawk Moth would want the specific two. And after Volpina, the episodes that feature Lila are the ones that display more plot progression or involve Hawk Moth having layers to his plans. Lila only appears when she’s to be used to further a plot, then disappears until needed again.

In Scarlet Lady, by the time Lila appears, it’s already clear to Adrien, Plagg, and Fu that Scar is a horrible person and that she had no business being a hero. It’s also clear that Adrien is handling the hero work on his own and needs help. This is part of what causes Adrien to know that Lila is a liar and call her out on his own because in addition to Lila stealing his book, he already knows Scar well enough to know Lila’s story of Scar saving her would never happen. Lila isn’t the reason they find this out, nor is she the reason that the book is discovered and gets to the Guardian because Plagg chooses for himself to take Adrien to Fu. And afterwards, Lila’s appearances are more natural. Plot progression happens with and without her. Her appearances involve her interacting with her classmates like a person. They don’t have to have a plot-relevant purpose.

Narratively, there are three reasons to put in a scene.

Plot

Expansion/information/character focus

Entertainment

In canon, all of Lila's scenes are plot-focused and plot-driving.

In Scarlet Lady, they vary. Some are plot (like Lila's anti-Scar attitude getting more focus and validity over time). But more of Lila's scenes are focus in on her character and entertainment. This builds Lila as a person and makes her enjoyable to watch.

Lila is not a plot device as the plot doesn’t NEED her to progress. But that’s not to say that Lila doesn’t matter…

2. Lila has a role that nobody else in the story could cover.

As I’ve stated before, Canon Lila is pretty much another Chloe and there was nothing she was used for that Chloe couldn’t have or wouldn’t have been able to do. As a rival/foil to Marinette, as another love interest for Adrien, and even as a helper to Hawk Moth—by the time Lila started any of these roles, Chloe was already there and fully capable of filling them.

In Scarlet Lady, due to Scar being the hero Lila is butting heads with and being outted earlier on, SL Lila ends up not filling those same “roles”. She’s not a rival to Scar or Marinette, just a hater/critic of the former and a friend to the latter. She was called out by Adrien so she is shown to have no further interest in trying to pursue him. And as of yet, there has been nothing of Lila helping Hawk Moth.

Instead, Lila’s scenes show her engaging with the other classmates. More of the results of her being revealed as a liar. Her being a queen of sass and snark. And most importantly, her going head to head with Chloe and Scarlet Lady in verbal lashings that prove her silver tongue is no duller for people knowing of it.

In fact, she’s a part of people starting to realize that Scar is in fact horrible and her popularity starts to break down. 

Yes, yes, we do have both Adrien and Marinette who realize how horrible Scarlet Lady is and hate her, but other than some snarky comments at her expense, they don’t do much about it. Mostly because they can’t. Especially early on, it’s clear that they’re forced to keep Scar around because as useless as she is otherwise, she is the only one who can purify the akuma and undo the damage. And as Fu has told them, Scar is still too popular with the city that trying to take the earrings from her would result in more problems. The two of them have to focus on dealing with the akumas more than trying to deal with Scar. Plus let’s be real: even as snarky as they both can get, they’re just too nice.

Others are also similarly of no help. Alya is still completely wrapped in Scar’s facade of a hero to see how selfish and unheroic she is. Most of the other classmates also go along with this narrative. But even the ones who DO know like Alix and Nino aren’t that active. They know but they don’t do anything with that knowledge.

Lila has no such barriers. She’s not a hero. She doesn’t know how “necessary” Scar is in akuma battles. And she doesn’t have to worry about not upsetting Scar since the “hero” already hates her. And thanks to Marinette and the other classmates with their “we still care about you for you” bit, she now has no reason to put up a mask…or a filter.

This makes Lila in prime position to try to push more against Scarlet Lady’s popularity and talk at length about how horrible she actually is. Something she is MORE than happy to do.

Lila is essentially the first main civilian hater of Scarlet Lady.

And with that in mind…

3. Lila’s actions are reasonable. Perhaps not intelligent, but they are reasonable.

She commits a number of the same acts as canon in Volpina. Stealing Adrien’s book, buying a necklace to be a fake Miraculous, trying to claim herself as the hero’s best friend for attention, and trying to claim she is a hero herself to get Adrien’s attention.

SL Lila is not a master manipulator or an up and coming villain. We are not expected to view her as a real threat to anything except Chloe’s ego.

Sure, she wants to speedrun the popularity and attention and maybe a nice rich blond boytoy to be her arm candy, but it’s clear in the very first comic she appears in that Lila has NO IDEA what sort of people she’s interacting with or telling lies about, and so has no way to prepare for what happens. First in that Adrien is so DONE with everything that he calls her out himself from the get go. Second in that Scarlet Lady appears to “save” Adrien from Lila’s lies when it was no longer necessary, proclaims aloud to the multitude of bystanders that Lila is a fraud, and then dumps her in a fountain for good measure and further insults her to boot. And at the end of it all, Scar doesn’t apologize for her actions, doubles down, and only further insults Lila. And as if all of that wasn’t bad enough, still being wet AND being on top of the Eiffel Tower results in her getting sick.

As such, Lila’s hatred of the Ladybug Hero in this version of events feels more understandable and based on a legitimate grievance. Several even. Scar’s actions go well beyond canon’s version. We clearly see how hurt and humiliated Lila is. Plus we have all of Scar’s previous antics to look back on and…well, we already came into this with more reason to hate Scarlet Lady than Lila, and Lila simply jumped on the bandwagon that was already there.

It also makes more sense then that Lila never even pretends to forgive Scar. Scar never apologized. She caused emotional and physical harm to Lila. And unlike Ladybug, Scar never tried to make an offer of friendship so Lila isn’t losing out on any opportunities out of spite. Heck, Scar’s treatment of Alya shows us that there is nothing to be gained from even pretending to be a fan of Scar. So Lila’s hatred of Scar is understandable and her refusal to be friends with Scar makes perfect sense.

When she hides away at her home, there’s a valid reason behind it due to her being sick. Her “plan” to fool her mom and the school in order to avoid going back also makes sense given the fallout she knows she would have to face if she did. (At least more sense than it made in canon for her to disappear for months just because Ladybug outted her to one guy who clearly seemed to be on her side more and neither of them did anything to inform anyone else of the truth.)

And when she returns to the school and the classmates, it isn’t out of nowhere. Once she was no longer sick, she was planning to continue some ruse. We clearly see how despondent Lila was over her situation and the feeling that she’s on her own and no one would side with her over Scar. This was deep. It shows real fears and feelings on Lila’s part. And it’s telling that it was the assurance from Marinette and support from her classmates that convinced her to rejoin the class. It doesn’t look like she would have had the willingness or perhaps the courage to do so if Marinette hadn’t reassured Lila that they had her back and had taken steps to try and help her, even when she wasn’t there and as of yet had done nothing to warrant it.

Here we see a Lila who is vulnerable and real. Who is clearly impacted by events on a deeper and more personal and meaningful level—or at least better than “GRR! Superhero revealed I was lying about her to a boy I like! I shall join the terrorist attacking the city and potentially destroy the WORLD for revenge!”

In this way, Lila is portrayed more like a normal girl. Since the narrative isn’t trying to play her off like she’s supposed to be some master manipulator the way canon does, Lila for all intents and purposes IS a normal teenage girl. A normal teenage girl who was humiliated and injured by someone with more power and social status than she can fight back against. She’s less of an archetype and more of a person with her own thoughts and feelings and ultimately choices which—even if we don’t like or agree with, we can at least see and understand.

Her actions are reasonable. Not just in that we as the audience can empathize with them but that they make sense. For Lila’s character, for her personality, and for someone in her position.

4. No plot armor.

SL Lila’s plans don’t just seamlessly work out. If anything, they go very wrong very quickly. Even before Scar calls her out, Adrien already made it clear that he knows she’s a liar. This effectively ruins her plan to try and get his interest and not just in the “Adrien being nice but not in to her” way. Furthermore, as she’s revealed as a liar in front of the entire class, we clearly see some of her classmates (Alya) continue to take issue with her later on. And even the ones who don’t have such issues are at least fully aware of Lila’s personality and don’t allow her to fool or manipulate them.

Sure, she still tries to manipulate her mom and the school to avoid having to go back, but that doesn’t last that long. And in Lila’s defense at that period of time, she was legitimately sick as a result of her dip in the fountain.

So it’s pretty clear that Lila lacks the plot armor that she had in canon. But it’s not just that Lila experiences losses, it’s also in the ways she succeeds. And unlike Canon Lila, SL Lila is not reliant on the plot to accomplish anything or make things work in her favor.

Some classmates still consider her friends. She’s still welcomed back—even with a bit more trepidation than before. She gets some epic zingers on Chloe and Scar. She got to have another interview with Alya just to be able to go on at length about how horrible Scar is. She manages to get on live TV just to heckle Scar. And over time, more and more people are seeing the problems with Scar.

Lila still gets some victories. Certainly not as many and not as big as what she gets in canon, but at least they don’t feel so forced. And they’re entertaining to see.

Which delves a bit more into an additional point I wanted to make…

5. There are consequences and responses to Lila and her lies.

With Canon Lila, everyone is in this weird sort of limbo where they automatically believe Lila JUST ENOUGH to not question her but at the same time NOT ENOUGH to actually follow through with some of her lies. In Chameleon, Lila claims to have and then magically be cured of Tinnitus and Bustier believes her just enough to rearrange the seats for her at her will but not enough to require some doctor’s note or confirmation of either the presence or recovery from the medical issue—even in the event the former could be overlooked, the latter could NOT and any school or teacher worth their salt would require SOME proof to discontinue an accommodation for someone with a disability because that would be a liability. In Ladybug, Lila claimed Marinette pushed her down stairs and the adults believed her just enough to admonish Marinette but not enough to get Lila actual medical attention, which is a liability and gross negligence. In Ono-chan, Nino believes Lila’s lies about needing Adrien to help tutor her just enough to give her an opening to go to his place but not enough to follow through, check up on her afterwards, or reasonably consider that maybe the supermodel with the super strict father might not be the best person to tutor her and he should ask for help from Max or Sabrina instead?

Each and every time, Lila is believed in the exact way she wants to the exact extent that would most benefit her with minimal effort on her part when it shouldn’t work that way. Even if we disregard how stupidly obvious many of her lies are, there is something wrong when they believe her enough to trust what she says over anyone else telling them otherwise but not enough to follow through on what that belief should then involve. They believe her when she says someone pushed her down the stairs but not enough to get her medical attention? Make sure she has no broken bones or internal bleeding? This has the issue of ruining the suspension of disbelief and making it look like the problem isn’t Lila being amazingly smart and evil so much as it is everyone around Lila being infuriatingly stupid and negligent.

Scarlet Lady nixes that problem in one episode by having Lila be revealed as a liar immediately, but furthermore follows up on it and the fallout of those lies. Nothing big or major or life-ruining—it’s middle school, after all. But the impact is still there.

Even episodes later, we see effects of Lila’s earlier lies. Chloe of course keeps referencing them in their encounters and yeah, it is reason for no one to really take Lila’s word against Scar’s—at least at first. Alya and Adrien both give her some pretty evil looking stares, showing that even five episodes later they both still very much remember what she did and do not approve of her getting free jewelry. Alya in particular stands out. She is shown to bear such a grudge against Lila for lying on her blog that she holds no sympathy for her being sick. And in the second intermission, she looks physically pained when she has to ask Lila for an interview on why she hates Scar. Something she had apparently sworn she would never do again after being fooled the first time. And something Lila looks completely overjoyed to do. There are people who are angry with Lila. They have every reason and every right to be. But it doesn’t have to mean the end of the world for her. It just means that there needs to be something.

The classmates don’t have to be made out to be stupid to make Lila work. They are canonically very kind and forgiving people. But canon makes them come off that way more because the lack of continuity seems to erase the lessons of previous episodes or somehow make them forget that certain people are horrible.

Zoe fixes this and a lot of problems in canon by having not just the classmates but EVERYONE in Paris remember and respond to things that have happened previously, even if just in little ways. Given how little room Zoe has to work with, this is HUGE. Simply adding comments here and there puts the scenes from canon in a new light and makes the classmates feel more fleshed out and like…dare I say it: PEOPLE.

The difference from Canon has a lot to do with how everyone else reacts to Lila, which makes these other characters and Lila appear more real and like fleshed out people rather than caricatures who only exist and move as the plot requires. They don’t have to bash Lila or try to light her on fire for it to be clear that Lila isn’t a good person and that there are consequences to her actions.

This is all leading up to the real possibility of…

6. Character arc?

It says something that contrary to most expectations, Lila is not what one would consider to be redeemed in Scarlet Lady. Lila is not a good person here just because she rejoins the class and becomes their friend and Zoe at no point tries to pretend that she is.

Marinette and other classmates made the choice to reach out and try to befriend Lila, but unlike most other arcs in other stories, this doesn’t result in Lila being redeemed. And she in no way got Lila to admit she was wrong and try to be a good person. 

Lila is not necessarily forgiven or absolved of what she did. Nor is anything Lila did magically erased. All Marinette did and all she had to do was encourage Lila to not run away now that the truth was out. She helped convince her to return to the class with everyone fully knowing what she’s done and the type of person that she is and move forward with that. She informs Lila that despite her lies, there are people in the class who genuinely care about her and are worried about her. 

Hell, it’s not even all up to Marinette. We see Alix sending messages to Lila encouraging her to join the class for Marinette’s birthday party. Sabrina fully admitted to inviting Lila to that party. Same with Rose, who has also been expressed to be worried about Lila. There are members of the class who are shown to care about her and who were noted to have made an effort to help Lila even after what had happened. Because they consider her a friend despite what she did, and that’s what friends do. All they asked was that Lila stop with the lies, stop with running away, and give people a chance.

And the result is the more mellow but passive aggressive Lila Rossi we see in Scarlet Lady. Not a Lila who is a good person or who is redeemed. This is a Lila who is at least honest with everyone about the sort of person that she is. She’s not pretending like she was in canon. She’s not being fake. She’s not putting on a mask of niceness anymore. This is a Lila who is fully acknowledged by everyone to have been a liar, to still be very selfish, and in some ways...a bad influence.

With a few episodes left, perhaps there is more we’ll see of Lila’s development and who she’ll become. Maybe we’ll get to see her take the steps to become better. To be a good friend, a good person, and maybe even a better hero than Scar. I don’t know for sure just yet what Zoe has planned for a character like Lila, but I do know what I see here:

A good start.