#because marinette should get to give up the lb miraculous at the end of her character arc

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I think part of the trouble with reading ML as a magical girl team is that it’s really written to be Marinette as the Lone Hero.

Sticking with Winx Club as an example (which I absolutely loved), even though Bloom was clearly the main character, the other girls got focus and attention and their own narratives unrelated to Bloom’s. Alya doesn’t have that; nearly the entirety of her scenes and focus are still for or related to Marinette’s story, which the writers have outright told us is always meant to come first.

As such, I think the more solid reading of ML is that it’s a poorly written superhero romcom that pretends to be a magical girl team, but only ends up offering crumbs. It’s why we’re shown the extra Miraculous and given a “core four/five,” only for it to be revealed that the new holders aren’t actually permanent team members. A decision I remember thinking at the time made absolutely no sense, but now in hindsight can be perfectly explained by how doing so would necessitate that attention/focus be taken from Marinette, which ML absolutely refuses to do.

In fact, I’d wager that’s the actual reason Chat Noir has a crush on Ladybug before Adrien falls for Marinette: it keeps his attention even as a hero focused on her. There’s plenty of salters who love to deride him for not focusing enough on the “job” and making LB pick up his “slack,” but that fits the show’s intentions perfectly. Chat can’t be written to (as) capable if LB is to shine. Hence why we had the whole Catwalker argument being nonsensically centered around “perfection.” 😭

(Post with the Winx club example for context.)

You're absolutely right. Miraculous is trying to be a loan hero show (or perhaps a serious hero and silly sidekick show) where Marinette is the only important character outside of the villains, a magical girl team show where female friendships are the most important relationships in the show, and a heterosexual rom-com all at the same time which leads to a ton of nonsense choices because those are three genres that really don't mix!

While I never outright said it, the post about rom-coms vs magical girl team shows was spawned by the fandom conflict over Alya's writing in the later seasons. I wanted to take a moment to point out why she keeps being given the roles that people expect Chat Noir to get and why both sides of that fandom conflict have very valid feelings given the way that the show is being written, so I didn't talk about the lone hero thing since that doesn't really play a part in Alya and Adrien's fight for narrative importance. If we're looking at Miraculous as a whole though, then it's 100% a piece of the puzzle when you're trying to figure out where the writing went wrong.

I've mentioned a couple of times that they're putting way too much on Marinette's shoulders. The main reason that I feel that way is because they also decided to give her a full team of heroes to work with which is deeply confusing. If they really wanted to go the Marinette-is-the-only-real-hero route, then we should have never gotten any additional heroes beyond Ladybug and Chat Noir. Keep Chat Noir as the comedy sidekick and let Ladybug use all of the other miraculous as powerups without ever handing them out.

After all, when it comes down to their actual role in the narrative, most of the team feels like nothing more than a powerup since they basically just do whatever Ladybug tells them to do. Outside of Viperion and Bunnyx, there's no reason why Ladybug can't just dual, triple, or quadruple wield. This is extra true because they took the time to tell us that Marinette is able to wield more miraculous than most people and then... never really did anything with that. Why have a line like this one from Kwamibuster if you're never going to have Marinette do more than the occasional dual wield?

Master Fu: No Miraculous owner in all of history has ever been mentally and physically strong enough to use that many Miraculous at the same time. Wayzz: Marinette truly is special, Master.

Switching from a team back to a duo would also fix the awkwardness of Adrien's writing as that really wasn't a problem back in season one. The hero who does all the cool stuff and their wacky comedy sidekick who keeps things fun is a classic setup for a reason!

[nixthelapin]

Guys… idk how this only just occurred to me now, but in s4: Strikeback, Tikki would’ve known that Marinette didn’t give the Dog to Adrien, because she knows Chat Noir is Adrien. Idk if she would’ve figured out it was Felix, but she definitely would’ve known that couldn’t be Adrien. (Ladybug already saw Chat earlier when fighting Strikeback while under the effect of Risk.)

And she didn’t think to warn Marinette about this?? (When she and Felix detransform to recharge in the sewer.) Like, I know she couldn’t say anything about him being Chat, but.. I definitely think there are easy ways to alert her, even something as simple as “hey, Marinette, there’s something off about ‘Adrien’” and explain it as kwami intuition or whatever. Even if Marinette doesn’t believe her, Tikki could at least get her to watch him closer (at the very least try). Heck, she could’ve told LB to tell Chat Flairmidable’s identity, so then the real Adrien knows what’s up and he can keep an eye on Felix! I know at this point she’s not so big on keeping Chat in the know, but I think she might’ve listened of her kwami insisted on this one specific thing.

Idk the feasibility of these ideas, but damn, Tikki, you coulda done something about someone you know was an imposter!! That basically makes the result of the Felix’s lie/bretrayal her fault in my eyes. Even if it wouldn’t have worked in the end, she should have tried something to prevent a disaster. (It doesn’t matter that she didn’t know what would happen, the fact that someone who lied about their identity and now has a Miraculous because of said false identity is enough to call action)

Though I guess this isn’t Tikki’s fault- she’s not real, she’s a character. The writers let this happen, and made their many-thousand year old character be a moron and let a villain become more powerful. Congrats guys, hope you’re proud!

[soullessjack]

so im on s5 of miraculous and i keep thinking about cat noirs whole “kept at a distance” arc bc it’s genuinely really interesting but gets so wasted by always winding up with him basically validating ladybugs nonsensical decisions and treatment—the same treatment that we were already shown upset him enough to destroy public properly about it. the most consistent reason LB ever gives cat about why he can’t be fully trusted or relied on is that he’s too much of a liability for their partnership to work—either because he’s too reckless, too in love with her, or his cataclysm would be too dangerous to use.

whatever it is, the baseline is that she thinks he’s a liability, and obviously that’s like salt in the wound for cat since he genuinely loves her and enjoys being partners with her, but it’s also just sad to see him continue to respect her decision and act like it isn’t a problem for him when he’s literally upset enough to physically lash out and use his powers to do so. and I know a lot of it can probably be explained by ladybug’s experience in the cat blanc timeline, but 1) she starts holding him at a distance way before that even happens, 2) she’s actively making it worse by not telling cat noir about cat blanc and why she thinks she has to exclude him for his own safety, and 3) SHE SHOULD HAVE TOLD HIM ABOUT CAT BLANC TO BEGIN WITH BECAUSE IT’S LITERALLY A WORLD ENDING SITUATION INVOLVING HIM DIRECTLY‼️‼️‼️‼️

instead she just allows him think he’s unwanted and unnecessary, calls the shots on how he should feel about “having more free time” and ironically makes him even more susceptible to being Akumatized because of it. ladybug might not be aware that cat is adrien and has a terrible home life he actively uses his miraculous to escape from, but she’s playing right into all the key aspects that adrien resents from his father; she decides what he wants without considering or asking him, she trusts him conditionally and still distances herself enough for him to just not know certain things. it’s done with good intentions, but it still clearly affects adrien very poorly, and it’s just such a frustrating glass-chewing miscommunication that only needlessly complicates the situation

don’t even get me started on Kuro Neko where ladybug falls head over heels for the changed version of her partner and narrowly avoiding her having to actually screw up and learn a lesson about accepting cat for who he actually is because catwalker is just “too perfect” for her to function—instead of being an obedient idealized version of her best friend who lets her be in control of everything (WHEN ADRIEN LITERALLY USES HIS DOUBLE LIFE TO HAVE THE CONTROL HE DOESN’T GET AT HOME).

theres so much potential for the base concept of the miraculous of destruction and its Kwami/holder being distrusted outliers among the rest of the Kwami/holders, but the magic system sucks and it kind of loses any chance when the other Kwamis are established to be catastrophic if they use their powers without a holder. and it gets even more confusing if you consider that Fu specifically chose adrien to hold that miraculous, but then encourages Marinette to keep her distance from him and barely acknowledges him as a hero in general. Like why did you even bother testing adrien for his worthiness or whatever if you obviously don’t think he’s worthy of knowing anything about you or the rest of the miraculous OR his best friend’s identity??? but you’re totally okay with her just giving them out to anyone in Paris who’s conveniently around and having her know their identity???? master fu when I catch you master fu

auugghhhfgg I don’t know the magic system thing could be its own separate post but likeeeeee I just think the miraculous of destruction whos constantly mistrusted for no reason and goes Kamehameha Krazy in another timeline is very special and could be treated so much better if the writers were good at their job and didn’t make every character’s sole purpose be validating ladybug/marinette even when she’s in the wrong

[mlb-a-rewrite]

Lila’s Story

Season 1:

She is introduced with the rest of the class, she blends in, she is no one special.

A few episodes in, she gets her "solo" episode. Basically a lot of the more background characters (like Juleka, Milene, whoever you know) have episodes "about" them where they get akumatized because of some minor conflict. Lila talks about how she was bullied at her previous school and now by Chloe and doesn't have any friends, gets akumatized, is saved and everyone tries to make her feel included. She fades into the background and isn't mentioned again for the season.

The bedroom scene also happens here (more on that later).

Season 2:

She doesn't really appear at all, just living in the background

There is one episode where it opens with the bathroom scene (again, more on that later), I think kinda partially during the mid-season finale idk idc and then during the big mid season finale a new miraculous holder appears. This is Lila as Volpina, except she doesn't actually have the fox miraculous and is just akumatized to appear that way. We also can't really tell it's Lila, like looks wise anyways. She's got a big mask on that kinda like covers the top half of her face but like context clues make it so its kinda obvious its her. She is basically the akumatized villain for those episodes and flees before anyone can ID her/deakumatize her so the characters don't know it was her.

The Chloe episodes happen where we learn abt Chloe's mom and everything, People are conflicted about Chloe, not sure whether they should try and help her and give her the benefit of the doubt or put her down and like reject her. Lila insists they help Chloe, that everyone deserves a chance to be included, and thus, she starts to befriend Chloe (This is the very end of season 2)

Season 3:

Starts off by establishing Lila is friends with Chloe. At some point maybe she and Chloe go on a trip together (like during the Shang Hai special they were traveling to American or some shit) and are besties. (Lila spent this time tracking down info about the miraculous but was actually traveling with Chloe)

Lila has a solo moment where she is trying to get hawkmoth's attention, hoping to get akumatized. Her wishes are not granted. Maybe this is the bathroom scene take 2 but that feels off to me might revamp the timing of all this later.

Eventually, Lila slips up and reveals too much to Chloe about her intentions to do evil things. It really isn't a big deal and Chloe doesn't even realize that she said something out of place. But Lila can't take chances so she

Turns on Chloe. This is near the end of the season. She talks about how awful Chloe is/was to her while she was just trying to do good but it is hopeless she is just too mean and the class turns on Chloe again, thus having Chloe revert back to how she was at the begining of the show

Season ends with Lila betraying LB and stealing the miraculous to give to hawkmoth. (This could be why marinette/adrien dont trust her because they knew she lied this whol time as a hero so maybe she is lieing irl too. Lila doesn't know LB/Chat's secret identities of course)

Might shift Lila's betrayal of Chloe to much later.

Season 4:

Lila has earned the trust of most of the class (minus chloe/sabrina and mari/adrien and Alya/Nino bc they trust their besties). It isn't full on civil war within the class but there is tension. Lila doesn't do much to instigate conflict.

She continues to work with Hawkmoth, slowly gathering more information. Maybe she refuses to give him the miracle box unless he reveals his identity to her or something like that so she can continue to have leverage over him.

By the big final conflict, she has a lot of information on everything and desperately wants a miraculous to make everything better. She wants to make herself special and rich and perfect and powerful and in control, but she gets sloppy, and thus, is killed when she tries to go against hawkmoth

I think there should also be scene before her final conflict with hawkmoth where she is getting desperate and frantic and ends up trying to turn the class against Mari and co. Maybe Marinette is trying to get the class to help stop her because she found out Lila is a supervillain and Lila tries to get the classmates to back her but she slips up in how she talks/acts and they all start to see through her facade.

[sweetcloverheart]

Clover Rants Miraculously - No Defense

Spoilers for script/ s5 finale leaks below, so readers beware and all that!

“But why are people defending Lila and Chloe? They helped Hawkmoth and are cruel to Marinette for no reason!”

Look, if I have to choose between two teenyboppers acting out out of spite and a middle school celebrity crush and a grown man who’s actively making bad choices that are hurting his loved ones with himself not even giving a damn because “he just really loves his wife”, then the decision’s practically being made for me - especially if I’m told I have to treat said teenyboppers like they’re Satan incarnate solely because they’re big meanies to the MC instead of everything else they’ve done in series while the man in question has to be celebrated and given everything he wants despite all the pain and bs he’s put both the leads and entire city through because dead coma wife made him sad :C.

And at least the show was honest about Lila being that petty and egotistical enough to team up with a supervillain because it might give her power (and also ruin Marinette’s day) - half the stuff she pulls doesn’t surprise or upset me that much because I was told from the jump she’s a little jerk with no attempts to excuse/humanize it (or telling me I need to feel bad/like her or I’m “bad” too like with Gabe). Meanwhile, of the two times Chloe joined Gabemoth, one required him to go out of his way to manipulate and isolate her into saying yes (Like yeah, she was already told she couldn’t be QB anymore and shouldn’t have been that upset/shocked Ladybug got a different hero to help fight her parents, but that doesn’t change the fact that Gabriel and Nathalie purposely made Chloe think Ladybug didn’t want her help specifically so she’d turn on her more easily), while the other was Chloe...trying to get out of gym class and thus waits for an Akuma to just show up and posses her (as opposed to Lila straight up grabbing one from the air that just happened to be passing through and giving Gabemoth her own evil plan to take down LB just because), so that one was just a regular Akuma of the day plot with a minor twist. Otherwise, Chloe’s just a self-centered jerk who does whatever makes her feel like she’s the best but overall is frankly harmless (as Marinette and co either ignore her or quickly undo her nonsense) unless she’s throwing daddy’s mayor title around - something that was also told to me at the start. The fact that the show is only now trying to make these two seem like, King Ghidorah levels of evil/bad (especially when they took no time to help build up Lila to her future big bad status like they clearly wanted it to seem like due to never using her more) when they’re done nothing to really earn it (yes, even with the events of “Ladybug” and “Miracle Queen”) is...kind of silly, especially in comparison to Gabriel’s crimes. Yeah, they should face some form of consequence for the bullying and deliberate akumatization, but on a scale that actually matches those actions.

On the other side of it though, Gabriel is literally doing everything he can to make his son and said son’s girlfriend miserable as possible as he torments the people of the city into becoming his willing/unwilling goon squad to fight two magical teenagers for their Miraculous, yet we’re supposed to just see it as “a misunderstanding” and accept him getting rewarded with the wish and Emilie’s revival because “oh, just let the poor magical terrorist have his dead wife back! He really is sorry and feels bad about it - not enough not to use his son as a bargaining chip for an evil magical eugenics cult and backstab the heroine after she gives him a chance to repent and steal her magical objects to get the Wish, but he really rweally fweels bwad”. If Chloe has to be disowned and Lila forced into one of her many alt-identities as a result of their actions, then Gabriel should not get to have his happily ever after self-sacrifice, even if it does end up hurting Adrien in the long run.

[temporalbystander]

I told myself I wasn't going to ever make this post. Because I had hope. Because I wanted to believe that Miraculous had decent writing and that the sentiadren theory was not the pinnacle of what they could accomplish. Then season 5 happened. The first few episodes were good, it even forced me to make my blog solely Miraculous themed because the interactions I had with everyone were so much fun. Heck youve seen the reaction posts I did both in character and as myself.

(under the cut is a bunch of writing that you can take as me explaining my reasoning or just complaining. Either way, if you're hoping for anymore Miraculous content from me? Stories or screen caps, you best unfollow. Because I'm done.)

But then the leaks came. And, like an ancient being unable to properly use Facebook, I failed to avoid them. I told myself that certain spoilers didn't matter, that I could wait until the actual episodes came out to decide whether or not the salt was justified, that with a terrible memory like mine I'd forget it in no time (just look at some of the other screw ups I've made regarding Miraculous, it's not that far fetched.) However, as the number of Miraculous tags and blogs I followed began to grow the number of consenting opinions grew as well.

There are those who hate Marinette for being obsessed or a stalker when it comes to Adrien (who Id like to point out has had several episodes where we've seen his obsessed stalkers. Now Wayhem is creepy.) Those who love her and believe that all against her should suffer (which I was briefly a part of and still must fight my Alya bias even now.) And the same goes for the rest of the characters. But I still wanted to sit back and form my own opinions as cleanly as possible.

Needless to say, I failed. The more I stepped back and looked at the episodes, the more spoilers I failed to avoid to the episode screenshots I saw despite not having seen said episode yet. It all resulted in one clear opinion in my mind. Season 5 is a letdown. Not only because it's an out of order mess with the release dates but because it seemed more and more like pandering. Sentitheory is confirmed, Adrinette becomes canon, Lila gets revealed, Chloe gets punished and we get some LGBTQ+ recognition in the form of Zoe. (And Miss Bustier if I'm hearing right but I'm not really sure about that one.)

That should have been great, I'm all for writers letting the fans know they're appreciated. I was a brony during the 100th episode. That was like ambrosia for us fans. This? Felt like bad fanfiction and I know bad fanfiction, I've written tons of it. Firstly, why Zoe? If you're going to piss off Disney and other broadcasters, which I believe is why it was never done before, then why not confirm Rose and Juleka? Or Marc and Nathaniel? Why spend an episode saying something the fandom had basically decided the moment Zoe first showed up? And apparently it's just an end of episode confirmation where Marinette says she's flattered? I mean I get it but really? I don't know whether to be proud of her for not making a big deal of it or disappointed that the show doesn't make a bigger deal of it considering just how hard a confession like that can be. But you know what? I haven't watched the episode and I'm not going too so I probably shouldn't judge it.

What I will judge the everloving shit out of is the handling of Luka and Chloe. Luka must leave Paris because he knows who LB and CN are. That makes sense, we've seen in Star train that HawkMoth can't really sense or control his akuma's once they leave Paris so they'd have to leave to hunt Luka down. However Luka found out halfway through last season and, outside Ephemeral (which is its own set of issues) is never brought up. Seriously? I'm all for the Lukagami team up (which didn't actually end in Lukagami) for getting Adrinette together but you couldn't have had him pop up in a few more episodes to have him give excuses for the heroes to get away? Maybe pop up a bit more in support of Adrien? I'd be more upset if I hadn't known about the whole Luka leaving Paris, along with the Zoe confession, since BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED. But again, seperate issues.

And then there's Chloe. Oh Chloe. Now I wouldn't call myself a Chloe Stan. Until I actually started writing out ideas I didn't like her. She's the civilian foil to Marinette who is only put up with because her Daddy's the mayor and Adrien remembers when they had fun as little kids. The terrible airing of episodes didn't help either. Had I not been taking notes on every episode and had they not marathoned them on tv leading up to the release of the movies, I would have never put the pieces of her character together. Her self doubt, her abandonment by her mother, Mr. Cuddles and sucking her thumb? That is not the actions of evil incarnate. And what does the show do? LITERALLY REPLACE HER WITH ZOE!

And I don't mean the salty fans complaining about Mary Zoe as a replacement. No, the show doubles down by having the mayor adopt Zoe and send Chloe off with the mother who refuses to get her name right that Chloe doubts actually loves her. That? Is beyond fucked up. That? Is something I'd have written back when I didn't fully understand how tribulations and pain were parts of character growth. Just a simple "nah, Chloe bad. Zoe better. Just have Zoe." Seriously do you know how long it took me to realise that you can't just get rid of the bad guy if you want to make a good story?

And then, to cap it all off. HawkMoth gets his wish. On the bright side, if you wanted to know why Bunnix didn't show up until Evolution or during Ephemeral? That's why. Apparently Marinette feeling like a complete and utter failure is necessary for the future Alix comes from to happen. In fact, had Ephemeral happened before Wishmaker? Wed basically be watching season 6 right now. How else was Luka supposed to know what the hell Ladybug was talking about? Dudes not that smart I'm sorry. Hell nobody in the show is.

Seriously, who's genius fucking idea was it to have HawkMoth win this far into the show? Need I remind all of you how the wish is meant to work? It's a reset. A complete erasure and rewrite. There should be no "keeping secrets from Adrien" drama because, as far as the entire UNIVERSE is aware Emilie Agreste never vanished and whatever happened to Gabriel always happened. Hell the only one keeping secrets in this new world should be the kwamis since they're apparently the only ones who recognise what a reset looks like meaning they've experienced it before. And apparently they're all with their holders in this new universe? Hell I may watch the last episode just to figure out what crap they pull to try and explain everything. And why we should care about anything that happened in the past 8 YEARS if the "grand plan" of Astruc was just to erase it!

..... Sorry. I got way more frustrated towards the end there than I should have. If you have read this entire thing? Thanks and I'm sorry if I've wasted your time. What started out for me as a wonderful show about magic and love and typical good vs evil has now appears to have devolved into lazy writing, character assassination, retcons and repetition. I don't want to be one of the people who blame ZAG or TA or the writers about the problems of the show. That's more anger and salt then I need in my life. I'm just saying that, if this is the direction they choose to take it, that this was always the end point? Then I'm getting off here.

[disorganizedkitten]

These Hopeless, Helpless, Miraculous-Wielding Romantics Chapter 1

Miraculous Ladybug | 2018 | 2,085 | Ao3 | Masterlist | Next

Paris. It’s the city of lights, love and (occasionally evil) butterflies. Our duos have been through a lot, and there’s more to come. But love, fate and magic always seem to entangle and bring friends close and lovers closer. And of course, our favorite wingmen and wingwomen are here to help push that way too. (It doesn’t matter what kind of wings, right?)

A mess of self-discovery and shipping, written for LadyNoir July 2018.

Rena Rouge watched through her flute three rooftops away, stifling giggles as Ladybug landed on the roof, looking around suspiciously. This plan was as complex as one of Marinette’s, which meant it would either A. fail horribly and Queen B (who was monitoring it’s progress beside her) could tease her about it later, or B. it would actually work because there wasn’t a stuttering mess here to, well, stutter her way out of it.

“Rena? Chat? Queen B? I swear if this is a setup-”

“M’lady I’m insulted! Why would I ever set you up?” And there was Chat Noir, right on time and right where she knew he’d be. Alya’s wingwoman skills would work this time, and her ship would become canon! Heck yes!

“You tell me, I just got a call from Rena saying I needed to get here now, and that you and Queen B were already here too.”

“I got a similar call, just switch me with you. Do you think it’s an akuma that’s hacked into our communicators?”

Rena was confused when Ladybug slammed her forehead into her palm and groaned.

“Nope. I know who did this, I’ll take care of it tonight during our scheduled patrol with Rena and Queen B.”

“Are you sure LB?”

Ladybug turned to Chat Noir, placing her hands on his shoulders. While Rena couldn’t see her face, she guessed Ladybug was giving Chat a are-you-really-doubting-me-now look. (Really though, she was giving him a yes-I-got-myself-into-this-mess-let-me-get-out-of-it look, mixed with a this-isn’t-that-kind-of-secret-I-really-do-trust-you look).

Chat’s shoulders slumped. “Alright, but can we meet up a little earlier, just the two of us? It’s been a while since we’ve done that.”

“Of course Chat! You think twenty minutes will be enough to get from the Eiffel tower to Trocedaro and back?”

“It is for me, the question is, will you be able to keep up?”

Ladybug reeled back in false offense, and Queen B had to cover Rena’smouth so the other two didn’t hear her squeal. Rena shoved Queen B off as she turned back to Ladybug and Chat Noir.Honestly, she wasn’t that loud.

“Ladybug doesn’t like Chat Noir? I mean obviously not. It’s not like their chemistry could be seen from a mile away or anything,” Queen B muttered from Rena’s side. (okay so they weren’t quite that far away, but still).

“Oh it is on Chat! Get in as much practice as you can before tonight, or prepare to have your butt kicked!”

“Ooh, someone sounds confident. Should we bet on it?” Chat asked, leaning in.

“No,” Ladybug pushed his nose, shaking her head.

Rena slammed her face into her hands. ‘Why?’

“Why not?”

“Cause I know what you’ll want to be the prize.”

“A rooftop picnic?”

Ladybug seemed surprised, and Rena found herself wishing she had a second vantage point so she could her face. “Actually, I’ll agree to that. Loser hosts it?”

“Only if Winner gets to pick the venue,” Chat bargained.

“And date.”

“Okay!”

“Okay. See you tonight,” Ladybug waved and threw her yo-yo.

Chat sighed as she left. His usual, lovestruck sigh that gave Rena all the more reason to give these two a shove in the right direction.

After a few seconds he shook out of it and left. “Alright Rena, I’ll admit, it’s a start.”

Rena Rouge turned to Queen B, incredulous. “A start? Did you not see that? I have it completely under control! They’ll be an item by the end of the month!”

“Except Ladybug knows it’s you,” Queen B pointed out, her bright yellow fingers pointing towards where Ladybug and Chat Noir had just vacated.

“Nah. She just thinks she does. I’ll play innocent until it’s over with, then I’ll ask for bragging rights.”

Queen B raised her eyebrows, “You? Ms. Setter-upper extraordinaire, needs bragging rights?”

“My other subject has a minor speech impediment cause by being in the basic vicinity of her crush,” Rena shrugged.

Queen B facepalmed.

“Who has a crush? Oh my gosh! You two are Queen B and Rena Rouge! I’m such a fan! And so is my best friend Alya! Can I get a few pictures for her?”

The two superheroes turned to see Marinette of all people standing at the edge of the roof, hands up to her chest like a true fangirl.

Queen B froze up a little bit, but Rena’s face split into a huge grin. “Of course, anything for a fan!”

After Marinette had gotten a few pictures, (She really would send these to Alya), and after she had decided to dial her fangirling back a bit, Marinette posed the question that was the whole reason she had come up here. “So what were you two doing up here anyways? I hope I didn’t interrupt an Akuma hunt!”

Rena shrugged, “You didn’t interrupt anything, Queenie and I had just finished when you arrived.”

“Finished what? Or is it some super secret super hero stuff?”

“It’s some super secret super hero stuff,” Queen B answered quickly, her smile a touch too wide. Marinette had to swallow a triumphant grin. She and Chloe had had a bit of a run in while detransforming a few weeks ago, and had been getting along better since, but Chloe being uncomfortable with ‘Polka-dots’ (as was her new nickname for Marinette) when talking superhero stuff like this was just too much fun to watch.

“No it isn’t,” Rena said, exasperatedly. “We were wingwomaning Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

“Oh my gosh really? Are they going to be together soon?”

“Yep!”

“Which one are you wingwomaning for? Or did they each ask one of you?” Queen B was shaking her head and making a huge Alya-reminiscent X with her arms over and over as Marinette continued sneakily interogatting Rena Rouge. Rena however, wasn’t looking back at Queen B and getting the warning. Although maybe it was Queen B asking Marinette to stop.

“Now that’s a secret,” Rena teased, “But don’t worry, I’m sure once we get them together we can start wingwomaning for Civilians.”

Queen B had given up from her perch behind Rena, and wasn’t even trying to stop her partner from spilling the beans.

“But hasn’t Ladybug already done that?” Marinette asked. That got Chloe to look up, an eyebrow raised. Had Chloe missed everything?

“She has?” Rena seemed surprised as well. Marinette felt a little insulted at that, but maybe Rena was acting. After all, she didn’t know Marinette already knew she was best friends with Rena Rouge.

“Oh yeah! She got Ivan and Mylene together, and Alya and Nino, and Onidine and Kim, and-”

“Okay we get it! We’ve got a little catching up to do. But we will, don’t worry.”

Queen B scoffed. “No, you have a lot of catching of to do Rena.”

Rena turned and stuck her tongue out at Queen B, before turning back to Marinette. “Well anyways, anything else we can help with while we’re out here?”

Marinette pursed her lips, and caught sight of Queen B mouthing “No. No. No. No.” over and over again. She couldn’t think of anything else off the top of her head, so she decided to give Queen B a break. For a little while. She needed to decide how she felt about Alya trying to set her up with Chat, and Chloe helping.

“I don’t think so, but thank you so much for the pictures! Alya’s going to love them!” Marinette waved and walked back over to the wall which she came up, deciding she’d head over to Chloe’s to get a full disclosure version of it.

“Okay, bye!” Rena waved, making Marinette sure that she had made Alya’s day by coming over and being a fan.

If nothing else, making her friend happy was good. So was information, but she needed more of that.

Queen B parted ways with Rena Rouge as soon as Marinette left. She needed to explain, you know, before Marinette did something rash like she did every now and then. She still shipped LadyNoir, but since she knew Spots and Polka-dots were the same person, (and that Polka-dots still had a major crush on Adrien), she probably seemed a lot like a jerk for trying to set Spots and Chat up.

She scanned the city, finding Marinette almost at Le grand Paris. How did she even move that fast without transforming? She dived for the pigtailed girl, scooping her up and giving her a speed ride to Chloe’s balcony.

“You do know someone probably saw that, right?” Marinette asked, raising an eyebrow as they landed.

“You guys take people up here all the time,” Chloe replied incredulously, still transformed.

“When there’s an akuma,” Marinette pointed out, just as screams started coming in through the window, along with a shout of “Marinette Dupain-Cheng!”

“What did you do this time? How did you even have time to do anything this time?” Queen B asked, waving her hands as if to say ‘Why me?’

“I didn’t!” Marinette protested, “I knew you’d want to explain before I came up with a reprimand, so I made a beeline straight to here!”

“Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous! Not only did you somehow accidentally cause an Akuma while coming at me, Chat has corrupted you with his puns!”

“I punned? Oh, right, beeline, sorry,” Marinette shrugged. “Should we go take that thing down?”

“Yes. And then anything you do, Blame Rena! I know all about your classmate crush and I know that’s why you say to a romantic relationship with Chat, but she doesn’t!”

Marinette shook her head. Of course Rena didn’t, she didn’t know what Chloe knew! “Whatever, Tikki! Spots on!”

The pink flash covered the balcony and then the two bug-themed superheroes were shooting off the balcony and into the afternoon sunlight to fight whoever had a grudge with Marinette this time around.

******

Chat Noir waited on the Eiffel tower, excitement flowing through his veins. Thanks to that prank call from Rena, (deny it as she might, he knew better), and an Akuma that was mad at Marinette because she had entered another contest a while ago and had won, he got to see Ladybug twice already, plus they had a race to do on their own, and a picnic! Okay so a picnic wasn’t actually set yet, but it was a start!

“Ready to lose Chat?”

He spun at the voice, seeing Ladybug smirking at him.

“Oh you’re going to lose M’lady. This cat is fast!”

“I’m faster.”

“Oh. Wanna see for sure? Ready, set, go!”

Both superheroes shot off running, swinging and vaulting while they teased each other the entire way. Eventually Chat did win, but only, and only, because, as Ladybug said, “I know the better food joints. Like I was going to let you pick it, alley cat.”

Chat swooned in fake betrayal at that, before Queen B and Rena Rouge caught up to them.

“Oh there the sneaks are!” Chat looked at Ladybug as she spoke, a smug smile creeping across her face. Had he missed something?

Queen B groaned and plopped onto the ground, burying her face in her hands. Rena just looked at them, the picture of innocence.

“So I have it on good authority that you two want to have a wingwomaning spree, is that right?”

Rena bit her lip, smiling guiltily, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I told you. I told you it was a bad idea to spill the beans to Polka-dots in a public place and yet you do anyways. Spots was listening you crazy fox,” Queen B muttered.

“Exactly. Especially when I know there are fangirls in the area. That’s the absolute best way to get information, don’t you know?” Ladybug reiterated, the smile only growing more smug.

Rena pouted. Chat was still a little confused, but he was starting to put the pieces together. Ladybug had never confirmed it, but he was pretty sure she picked someone out of her own life to be Rena Rouge, which meant she probably dealt with stuff like this as a civilian all the time.

Rena Rouge was a matchmaker in training. And Queen B was her partner in crime? Maybe.

“Fine, I admit it. I planned the meeting.”

Ladybug smiled. “Thank you for the honesty. You two go ahead and finish patrol, and meet me here tomorrow for tips on winging it. Okay?”

The other two nodded, and Chat gave Ladybug a weird look. She just winked and threw her yo-yo off the tower beam, swinging off for the night.

[mokkamicci]

My issues with Kuro Neko

So this post has been long overdue so I figured I finally said it. I’ve been thinking that the way Chat Noir has been treated in S4 episode Kuro Neko has been incredibly unfair. I know we are in season 5 now, but my grievances about Kuro Neko needed to be said. This is really just me ranting

I had a lot to say about Kuro Neko. The most egregious thing the narrative did in Kuro Neko was how Chat giving up his ring was framed as him being heartbroken over Ladybug.

To go into detail, the narrative uses Plagg as a mouthpiece to say that the reason Chat gave up his ring was because he was upset since he’s in love with Ladybug and not getting enough attention from her. I hated that the episode framed it as that when the real reason was because obviously he was being neglected as Ladybug’s equal and partner. Like this should be obvious right? I’m not just speaking out of my ass?

Plagg literally says it here:

(also this is from YouTube, so the captions are autogenerated)

Like I’m pretty sure Chat Noir was upset not because he’s in love with LB, but because he was being sidelined constantly and not being kept in the loop as a partner should. The fact that Alya knew more about the Miraculous at this point in S4 and about the Miracle box in general is just baffling to me. This does eventually get addressed in Strike Back where Ladybug admits to Chat Noir that she was being a bad Guardian and keeping secrets from him after having had losing all the Miraculous because of Felix.

Anyways, now Ladybug is under the impression that Chat left because of his romantic feelings towards her. So what ends up happening? Marinette has to look for another candidate to take the ring, someone that won’t be in love with her so that there won’t be any problems in their partnership. My dude, that was never the real issue to begin with. I guarantee that if Ladybug did the same neglectful bullshit that she did with Chat, with a new partner, that new guy would have the exact same complaints Chat had all along. Complaints like “why am I being pushed off to the side, why am I not being made aware of all this important Miraculous info, why is Ladybug bossing me around, instead of treating me like her equal, you know, as she should?” (But that doesn’t matter anymore because the new guy ended up being Chat in a different costume anyway. And Ladybug ended up wanting Chat back. Sooo...)

The key lesson here from Kuro Neko is that any self-respecting individual would understandably feel resentful and upset at being pushed to the side and kept out of the loop of important matters that concern them too. Not just because the individual is in love with the person who is doing the sidelining. A person is allowed to feel upset and angry if they’re being left out, especially if the information they’re being left out of is highly important to them too. And if that person is being kept in the dark, it might end up negatively affecting them.

This is what’s happening to Chat. The fact that Ladybug is not only neglecting her partnership with Chat, but also leaving out important Miraculous and Guardian-related information, information that is crucial to him as well. If Ladybug had used her Guardianship duties as an opportunity to not only become closer to Chat as partners, but also free her of the stress of dealing with it alone, we would not have the issue of Chat renouncing his ring.

This same issue occurred in the S2 episode Syren where Master Fu was still unknown to Chat but Ladybug knew of him. Ladybug was bound by Fu to keep secrets from Chat then too. When Chat found this out he threatened to renounce his ring then as well. Adrien salters will justify this as an excuse to say “no wonder Fu didn’t reveal his existence yet to Chat given how much of a hissy fit Chat threw over not being trusted with secrets that he wasn’t ready to know yet.” This is the reason salters give. Unbelievable.

So now we have Ladybug in S4 repeating Fu’s mistakes. Ladybug knew keeping secrets from Chat then was a problem so why oh why did she keep doing that in S4? Keeping secrets from your partner never ends well!

Anyways, I ended up going on a tangent here.

Here’s a TL;DR - basically Kuro Neko was not a good episode because of the narrative’s treatment of Chat Noir. They essentially treated his reasonable depression being caused by him being heartbroken over Ladybug, and not because obviously he was being neglected as Ladybug’s partner and equal.

[ct-multifandom]

Destruction Things

Finally, episode three, after all these years! We have the next few to look forward to in the next couple weeks, and up to ep 8 through November as of rn

The wacky timeline sequence of events was kinda fun, but I feel like it’ll confuse kids

How many more insanely complex machinations has Marinette had up her sleeve this whole time?

The biggest surprise about this episode for me was how casually Ladybug told Philipe to say “kwami” for the camera and how when monarch showed up with all of them he wasn’t even surprised by them. I was under the impression that the very existence of the kwamis was a huge secret only holders knew? But I guess they’re public knowledge now and it’s not even remotely a big deal?

I wonder if Veronique’s involvement with the plan leads to her being targeted in episode 6 or if it’s unrelated

Genuinely impressed by Chat’s ability to hold that pose so stilly. I woulda sneezed

Sabine looking cute in her new jammies

Tom’s speech reminded me of the classmates doing things to help LB and CN in the last episode. Is this a continuation of the same idea? It’s nice to see that Tom isn’t losing stamina

The kids keep talking about how they’re gonna go get juice together, but I think this is the first time we’ve actually seen them drinking this juice. Juice bar new location when? This is like their avengers shawarma

They should’ve made an episode 3.5 where we watch Marinette, Alya, and Adrien go to bed and get some rest

Check in next week for the episode where Alya takes Monarch to small claims court over her broken phone and wins

How are they gonna resolve that one? Surely they won’t just give her a new one like it’s nothing. And she was so unbothered but it breaking. Any modern kid, much less a big deal blogger, would be way more upset

Edit: I predict that later or at the end of this season they’ll find the lucky charm rope and we’ll see the craziest Miraculous Ladybug ever that’ll undo all of Gabriel’s property damage, fix the miraculous, and heal the magic gangrene disease

When those pictures of exhausted Marinette with the kwamis leaked I got hopeful that she’d get them back in some later episode but no. *sob*

The deyassification of the miracle box

Guys, check your kids’ Halloween candy. I found the dragon miraculous in a sour cherry fun dip

Me leaving Agreste Mansion with 15 kwamis up my ass

He doesn’t even need them! As long as he has the miraculous, he can summon them whenever, so just let them go! Baby Ziggy wants to go home and Barkk wants to be with Marinette

Unrelated but predicting that the goat de-transformation phrase is “Ziggy are you ok”

Thinking about how after they get them back they’ll probably be given to permanent holders pretty soon after and won’t get to live with Marinette for much more time anyways

I realllly hope we see at least one of them using their power without a holder, preferably a new one. Is anything stopping them other than the consequences? If it was an emergency they’d totally do it. Sass stopped Xuppu in Truth, but I wanna see that fever dream world. I think Ziggy would be fun, too. Imagine it raining random objects.

Xuppu’s incessant non-sequitur rambling, I love him

Orikko should represent the concept of Confusion

“So you’re useless!” “You can’t talk to me like that!” “Look, you’ve offended him” was so cute. This is the most he’s ever spoken and we’re finally getting some actual characterization!

(I need this for Stompp ^)

I hope nobody getting how his power works is a running gag so they can keep explaining it because I still have many questions:

So he can’t interfere with another kwami’s power… I’m guessing this’ll come up so that Monarch’s villains can’t insta-counter hero powers and so that the heroes won’t be able to instantly de-akumatize anyone in the future. I wonder if there are creative loopholes around this

He can’t replicate another kwami’s power. Which is odd because Rooster Bold multiplied the lucky charm in strike back even though multiplication is already Mullo’s power

Those old bad comics introduced lore that every concept in the universe has its own kwami, but many don’t have miraculous. Is that canon? And there are plenty of canon jewels outside of Paris whose powers we don’t know. How does all this factor in?

Is it like how lucky charm and genesis are two different things despite both making objects and voyage and burrow are two different things despite both opening portals? Can it be inherently similar and have a slight difference?

The meaning of Xuppu’s Santa rant was that you can’t go “skidaddle skidoodle Monarch is defeated” but have to give yourself a specific ability that you’d use to try and defeat Monarch with. But that’s still vague. You can give yourself a super specific ability, such as the ability to fly a plane with zero experience or shoot laser eyes. Can you give yourself the power to mind-read someone’s greatest weakness or divine the location of something?

Does it have genie rules? Like no using your power to give yourself more powers, no necromancy, no insta-murder, no love magic?

[purrincess-chat]

This is Marichat

Yep

They were unambiguous platonic side of LS for a long time

Yep

And this was not considered a dead side of the LS and the LS itself was not dead because of it

That makes sense to me

So, with platonic Ladynoir, they're fine, right?

No, Ladynoir and LS are dead

No jokes, some of them consider the whole love square dead because LN is not canon. Although it wasn't even canon: it's just a one-sided love that was turned upside down for a short time until circumstances that were completely understandable from the point of view of the characters forced them to simply move on. Nothing, the main part of their life is spent in civilian personalities. It might just be me, but I don't think it's such an important part of Marinette's life that she plans to always be a superhero. We've never seen any clear relationship plans in canon with how she will balance her future with Adrien and her work as a superhero. Maybe she doesn't plan being the superhero, after she gets the Butterfly Miraculous. Maybe she'll give the Miraculous to Su-Han, maybe she'll just hide them or just wear them as jewelry until she needs them again. In general, it is difficult to say how it will be further in her opinion, because she, unlike her civilian life, did not plan anything, which already hints that this aspect of her life is not permanent, but let's say: "voluntary-forced". In addition, she strongly separates these two aspects of her life.

Considering that many of them consider Ladybug to be "true self" (with some of this ship criticizing the MC states for this theory) it seems that they only see the two as superheroes for the most part and nothing more. The whole "true selves" is purely "the part of their personality that I highly favor" and/and "the part of their personality that makes up my favorite dynamic, because I'm a big stan." Although even in the case of LN, it's just a version of the ship full of headcanons from season 1, which they will slowly throw in other points of their dynamics and try to make them canon, even if they are not.

I definitely agree that it's weird that people are up in arms over LN being platonic when MC has been fine for years. MC not being requited at all in canon prior to s5 didn't stop them and none of them ever thought their ship was less than or dead. Even after canon expressly said that their side can't be together on screen, MC stans focused on the kiss. They're built different, and also unhinged.

It's very weird to me. Like, I understand s4 was hard to watch for LN stans, but I think a lot of them blocked out what happened last season between them. LN has always had a bantering, flirtatious partner dynamic up until last season because that's a trope of the genre. But LN was always one-sided. The LS got flipped on its head finally, and the writers made a firm decision. We've been begging for the end of will-they-won't-they since s2. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I didn't actually care which side got together first. Or if it happened pre reveal. Like, if they had decided to go with LN this season I wouldn't have cried about it? Sure, I'm happy it's my favorite side, but I wouldn't have been mad if it wasn't. The kids are happy, why would I be mad?

As for Marinette and future plans, I mean, I don't think she dislikes being a hero. She has certainly been given more than she should have to handle, but I think she is fine being Ladybug. And we know from s3, that they are still LB and CN in the future as adults, likely still with their friends having other miraculouses since Bunnix said she was the last resort of the team. I think it's just something she hasn't had time to think about because she is too busy trying to not get her shit stolen again atm and also fighting her boyfriend's dad for custody.

The true selves shit does make me laugh though. It always has because it's not rooted in canon, and the fact that people believe with their whole chests that it is just makes it funnier. Like how many fucking times does canon have to say it before that theory dies? Watching things with your eyes open is hard, I guess 😂 Because you're right. True selves is nothing. It's just code for "this is my favorite side, so I think they're the best." But instead of just saying that, they do a lot of mental gymnastics to make their side seem like it's better than all the others when it's literally just the same shit in a different color. The true selves shit dissolves the second you start seeing the LS as one ship rather than 4 ships. Because there is no logical way to defend it after that. There just isn't.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

It's weird to expect lb to be able to read cn mind and called her a bad partner for it. But it's even weirder for lb to ignore cn WHEN HES OBVIOUSLY IN DISTRESS and not called her a bad partner for it because I think called her a bad partner for ignoring it is understandable and justified especially since she consider herself as his boss.

Every time I bring up this conflict, I try to make it clear that I don't think Ladybug was blameless, I just think Chat Noir's writing was worse. Let's walk through the problem to show what I mean.

Season four stars with Marinette extremely stressed by her new Guardian status. In Truth and Lies, the first episodes of the season, we get this:

Ladybug: Will you cut it out with the practical jokes? I could have really hurt you! Cat Noir:(answering while hanging by the yo-yo) M'lady, the only thing that really hurts me is when you make me go on patrol by myself. (sighs, relaxing his posture) I even missed your little angry pout. Ladybug: Sorry, Kitty Cat, I'm a bit over my head at the moment. (pulling him up) Cat Noir: I bet! "Guardian of the Miraculous", big name, big responsibility!

This is also the start to Chat Noir communicating poorly. In this episode, he's straight up told that Ladybug is in over her head and he never once asks how he can help. In fact, we even get him saying this when asked how he feels about the change:

Truth: Cat Noir, tell me what- (interupted by Ladybug throwing a present at Truth) Ladybug: (covering her parasol with foil) ...do you think about my new role as guardian! Cat Noir: If it doesn't change things between us, then I'm good with it!

So not a great start to the season. I know people focused on Adrien's terrible treatment of Kagami in these episodes, but this Ladynoir dynamic was actually what rang alarm bells for me. I kept waiting for Chat Noir to offer his support since it was really, really obvious that Ladybug was in over her head since she was late to patrols, the last season literally ended with her losing her mentor figure, and, you know, she straight up told him that was what was going on?

The next episode is Gang of Secrets in which we see Marinette out her identity to Alya. I get why she did this, she needed support and her partner doesn't seem interested in giving it, but she can't say that for certain because she never asked him directly and she should have. Trusting Chat Noir over Alya would have allowed Ladynette to maintain the security of her secret identity - a thing she claimed was more important than ever - and to honor their partnership. At the very least, she should have told Chat Noir that Rena Rouge was now a full time holder so that he could account for that in battle and to minimize the fallout by owning up to her mistake asap. The longer a lie goes on, the worse the truth will hurt.

To Ladybug's credit, she does eventually acknowledge her mistake after the Scarabella incident:

Ladybug: You... must've been pretty surprised to discover there was another holder! (Silence. She sits beside Cat Noir.) Ladybug: I'm really sorry, Cat Noir. I should've told you. I mean, if I found out that you told someone about your secret identity, I'd... probably be upset, too. I'm really sorry I hurt your feelings.

This is a decent apology. She doesn't try to absolve herself of wrong doing. Instead, she acknowledges that what she did would hurt her, too, if the shoe were on the other foot. The only thing she loses points on is the fact that she doesn't tell him about Rena Furtive.

However, instead of agreeing with her and telling her that she has hurt him, Chat Noir says that she did nothing wrong and never once brings up how their weakened partnership is bothering him:

Cat Noir: You didn't hurt my feelings. You did everything right. Paris will always need a Ladybug superhero to watch over her. It's just... I realized that if one day that hero wasn't you, m'lady, since we don't know each other's identities, that means... I'd never see you again. Ever. And now, I just don't know if I can bear it.

This is the thing that I hate about this arc. The reason why I say Ladybug is blamed for not reading his mind. Especially because, three episodes later, we get Rocketear, which gives us this:

Cat Noir: Everyone has doubts now and then, (looks down) even me... Ladybug: Is everything okay, Cat Noir? Cat Noir: Yeah, yeah. (prepare his fist) Pound it! Ladybug: (fistbumps) Pound it!

Rocketear is the episode where Nino outs that he and Alya know each other's identities while acting like Ladybug said identities weren't a big deal even though that is very much not what happened. You'd think that Chat Noir would want to know the full story, but instead he just lies and says that everything is fine.

So we have two situations where the show allowed Ladybug to give Chat Noir a chance for clear and open communication and both times he turns her down.

What's worse is that he clearly starts making up stories in his head, leading to Kuro Neko, which starts with Adrien avoiding a fight on purpose as some sort of shit test. He then gets upset when Ladybug... doesn't lament his absence on national TV?

Clara: (from TV) By the way, where's Cat Noir? You've saved Paris without him quite a few times recently. Are you two at odds with each other? Carapace, Pegasus, Vesperia and Pigella: (from TV) Pound it! Ladybug: (from TV) Of course not, it's just that... umm, he's a partner like any other! The most important is to pick the best superheroes for each mission, with or without Cat Noir. No matter what, we've got a great team and we'll always be here to save Paris. (Adrien is shocked.) Adrien: (turns off the TV and sighs) "A partner like any other..."

Dude, what did you want her to do here? Complain that you flaked on her? Make Paris feel less safe by saying she doesn't know where you are? Imply that the fight was barely won without you? What are you doing? Plagg, you are completely failing as a mentor right now.

The shit test continues as Chat Noir goes to meet up with Ladybug now that the battle is over, arriving just as Ladybug has finished instructing the team on what to do:

Ladybug: Come on, guys! Hurry up before you all detransform. I'll meet you at rendezvous points. (The heroes jump away in different directions, and Ladybug starts typing something on her Yo-yo.) Cat Noir: Hey! Meow are you, m'lady? Ladybug: Great, thanks, but I gotta go retrieve all these Miraculous. Cat Noir: I could lend you a paw to help save time. Ladybug: Thanks, kitty cat, but it's a guardian's job to do it. Cat Noir: I know who some of them are, remember? I was there when you first gave them their Miraculous! Ladybug: You don't even know where their rendezvous points are, I don't have time to— Cat Noir: Playing cat and mouse is my forte, you know— Ladybug: (yelling) If you wanna save me time, stop wasting it in the first place! (Cat Noir gasps. As Ladybug swings away, Cat Noir clenches his fist.) Cat Noir: And take my Miraculous back when you're done!

So Ladybug doesn't publicly chastise Chat Noir for missing the battle and rejects an offer to help because of very legitimate timing concerns, leading to Chat Noir quitting because she failed his stupid, petty, childish tests. Realistic writing? Yes. Writing that paints Ladybug as the one in the wrong? No.

Going into this episode, Ladybug has no idea that things are messed up between them even though she has actually kept communication lines open. She asks him if things are okay, but he lies. And when he's ready to quit? He plays stupid games and wins a stupid prize. It's really not shocking that the next scene sees Ladybug totally baffled by what just happened:

Plagg: For a while now, you've been neglecting this camembert— I mean Cat Noir, and going on adventures with the all other cheeses! Ladybug: But he should be happy about it, it gives him more time off. Plagg: Cat Noir doesn't wanna have time off, Ladybug! He is in love with you! And your persistent calling on all the other heroes has broken his heart.

And how is she supposed to know that, Plagg? Was she supposed to assume that her partner was lying when he said he was fine? Because she did ask and he said that nothing was wrong. But something was wrong and it lead him to build up a story in his head, reading nonexistent intent into her actions, all of which is toxic and unhealthy communication.

I cannot stress how common this shit is. I've seen it so many times and I will own that I've done it in the past and wound up getting no support when I needed it because I'd directly told people I didn't and they committed the heinous crime of... believing me.

Here's the other thing, there are times when I'm in distress and legitimately don't want or need help. Times when I just need to be alone for a bit. So if someone asks me if I'm okay during those times, I'm probably just going to say, "Yeah, I just need a people break" or something like that. That's why the Scarabella scene is so bad. Ladybug can see that Chat Noir is in distress and he gives her a fully plausible answer: I'm not upset with you, I'm just saddened by the idea of losing you. And she believes him because why wouldn't she?

Same goes for Rocketear. It's reasonable for Ladybug to assume that Chat Noir is just shaken by the fight. She has no idea about the bombshell that Nino dropped right before the fight. She doesn't even know that Nino and Chat Noir are actually close friends, making this fight a lot more devastating than it looks at face value. Her actions here are not objectively wrong. They're only wrong if you know the whole story, including Adrien's needs. Things that she cannot know unless Chat Noir uses his words to tell her things.

I cannot over stress how much season four is a textbook example of denying yourself support because you cannot communicate your own needs. Is it an understandable character flaw for a character with Adrien's background to have? Yes. Absolutely. 100%. But it's still a character flaw. This season desperately needed an arc about Adrien learning to tell people what's wrong. Not because he's the only one in the wrong here, but because things cannot get better when Ladybug has no idea that she's hurting him. (Nino has no idea either, but let's keep our focus on Ladybug.)

One of the most important things you can do for your own mental well being is to dismiss the idea that your needs are the same as everyone else's. Everyone needs different amounts of attention and values different behavior based on things like their upbringing and life events.

I get the feeling that I'm wired pretty similar to Marinette. At least, it influences how I write her because I can go months without talking to my best friends and still call them my best friends, a trait we all share because two of use are artsy introverts and two of us are moms to young kids, which allows for very little free time. Meanwhile, my SO and his best friend spend hours on the phone almost every week. I swear that those two go into withdrawal if they don't talk at least once every seven days. If months went by without them talking? Something would be very wrong, but the exact same time gap isn't even remotely concerning when it comes to my friends. It's something my SO and I had to figure out when we got together because I need a lot less attention than he does. But we communicated and found a balance that we continue to work to communicate about so that he doesn't feel neglected and I don't feel overwhelmed by too little me time.

What I'm trying to say is Marinette wasn't horribly wrong for assuming that Chat Noir was telling her the truth or that he liked having a larger team so he had less responsibility. Those are reasonable assumptions. Especially since he never actually indicated that he wanted more responsibility until he was ready to quit and decided to shit test her by pushing for more to do when she was stressed and on a timer.

I do think that she should have offered it to him before that or - at the very least - the show should have clearly stated why she didn't do that since it apparently had nothing to do with Chat Blanc trauma like we all thought it did. I'm not saying that she's blameless or perfect or that there weren't things she could have done better. It's just really hard for me to look at Chat Noir's behavior in season four and go, "Oh yeah, he's the injured party here. Ladybug holds all the blame and did everything wrong." She did many things wrong, but generally speaking, she owned her faults and tried to keep communication channels open. Chat Noir chose to ignore those chances to talk or otherwise try to express his needs in a clear and understandable manner.

We'll end with one final point to drive this home: You said that she's his boss. Well, if my boss asked me, "is everything okay with the project?" and I said, "yes" while freaking out about the upcoming deadline that I'm probably going to miss because he's given me too much work, the issue is not all on my boss. It's on both of us. Him for overloading me and me for not telling him I'm overloaded. You could even argue that it's mostly on me because I'm the only one who can properly gauge my own ability to do a given workload. As soon as it was too much, I should have said something. And if I don't feel like my boss is approachable? Then I should quit. But that isn't the situation I'm in and it doesn't appear to be the one that Chat Noir was in, either. He wanted to stay part of the team, he just totally failed to tell Ladybug how being on the team was making him feel.

People magically knowing what you need and how you feel is a myth. I promise you, most people in this world do not want to cause you pain, but if you cannot clearly express when someone is causing you pain, then you will continue to get hurt by people who would be very happy to not hurt you if they actually knew that their actions were causing you pain.

[spectral-kitkat]

Miraculous Rant.

Where the hell do I begin…

Season 1:

The show was decent in season 1. Some episodes were just mindless filler and probably weren’t needed in the grand scheme of things but they helped us get introduced to the characters, we got to know the plot and the world our characters inhabit. It was good. The love story between Adrien and Marinette was cute and off to a touching and fluffy start.

Season 2:

This season was immediately better than season 1. It had character development, it went more into detail about the lore surrounding the Miraculous and we got to learn more about our characters and their families and the villian’s motives. (HM really went from “I wanna destroy the world” to “I wanna wake my wife from the coma she’s in”).

We got to see new heroes which was fun! We got new characters like Luka and Kagami.

The season finale was epic! The Miraculous team all taking down all the previous villains in the show was awesome. At the end we even got Mari kissing Adrien on the cheek. It was great! (Even though it clearly reset itself in season 3 cause it’s never mentioned again)

I really enjoyed season 2 and it’s probably my favourite out of the 4.

Season 3:

Season 3 was kinda good and kinda bad. We had some great episodes but this is where the show took the wrong turn.

Marinette lost some of her character in season 3. This was the start of her descent into being the Queen of Mary Sues. It’s also where she was crowned the Queen of Stalkers! Her character took a fucking nose dive in this season. We had so many moments that just creeped me the fuck out.

1. The ENTIRETY of Puppeteer 2 🤢🤢🤢 I could not stand that episode. When we reached the dreaded statue scene I physically had to pause it like 10 times. That scene takes about 3 minutes to watch… it took me about 20. I cringed so fucking hard because of the secondhand embarrassment I was feeling. That was not sweet, it wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t the least bit cute… it was a train wreck! It was creepy and stalkerish and it’s a wonder Adrien even spoke to her again after that atrocity!

2. LB delivering the present in Chat Blanc. Two words: STALKER BEHAVIOUR!!! I genuinely could not believe my eyes when I saw LB run her hand across everything in his room and then actually SNIFF Adrien’s pillow. Like WTF!!! 🤮 I’m pretty sure whoever was responsible for that scene clearly thought it was the equivalent of when someone gets their S/O’s jumper or something and it still smells like them. But this turned it up to the nth degree and way passed the line of sanity.

Adrien was extremely under-utilised in this season. He didn’t really do anything. The only episodes we got about him didn’t really focus on him. ‘Felix’ whilst focusing on Adrien’s family didn’t really feature him. ‘Party Crasher’ while a beautiful mess was more about Mari trying to get into the party than the party itself. ‘Chat Blanc’ again focused more on Mari trying to fix her mistake.

We got even more heroes in season 3, not in the right order but they were there. It was fun seeing everyone’s transformations.

Season 3 was also the season of destroying redemptions. The big one obviously being Chloe. Season 2 was setting up this amazing redemption for her and before it could go anywhere it was wiped off the face of the earth during the finale (and don’t worry we’ll get to that dumpster fire later). Gabriel also had any remaining sympathy ripped away from him. How did the guy who stopped Gorizilla from letting Adrien die when he only thought he was CN go from that to using his son like fucking baseball in Chat Blanc when he knew his son was CN. Like I knew you were a shit father but you still cared about Adrien in some way shape or form but after that episode I can see I was clearly mistaken!

Before we get to the finale I want to talk about probably my 2 least favourite episodes from this season: Desperada and Reflekdoll

Desperada:

I fucking hated this episode! The only good thing was Luka getting to be Viperion, other than that this episode was awful!

Marinette was a selfish cringey bitch. Completely ignoring Luka to gush about Adrien to Jagged. Brushing Luka off as soon as Adrien turns up. Immediately cuddling up to Aspik and flirting with him when she needed to focus on the akuma (something which she has told CN not to do many times before)

Adrien, I love you kid but Jesus Christ you were a dumbass in this episode! Aspik’s design was terrible! Aspik himself was awful. I know Adrien tried his best but dude you were given the Black Cat miraculous for a reason! He shouldn’t have tried to be Aspik but even when he did he should’ve called it quits after like 5 resets not 25,913 times.

The only person with a brain this episode was Luka. So well done guitar boy, gold star!

Reflekdoll:

This episode was annoying! It was basically the start of the Marinette can do no wrong streak! When they have to swap miraculous I was happy cause it meant we got to see new outfits and see how they each handle the different powers. It would also serve as a way to get LB and CN to see what their partners role is first hand. Until we actually get to it…

LadyNoire is of course amazing and needs no introduction to using this new miraculous that she’s never used before. She’s cocky and confident and basically just LB in Chat’s costume with his powers.

Mister Bug on the other hand is just useless. He struggles with this new miraculous (like anyone would!) and is stupid and goofy. He has to rely on LadyNoire to solve the lucky charm. They swapped miraculous so shouldn’t that mean that Mister Bug should get the lucky vision and the creative powers that the earrings give him.

Overall Reflekdoll is awful. It was shitty writing and the start of Adrien getting the short end of the stick.

And now the season 3 finale… Just what the fuck. That is my only reaction: what the fuck!

Chloe you poor fucking child! What did they do to you!!! So much potential SQUANDERED!!!!

What was the point in bringing in all these different superheros with unique skill sets, costumes and transformations if you were just going to immediately reveal them to the main villian so they can’t be used again. That’s stupid! If you wanted the shock value that is “Oh no HM knows some of the heroes identities!” Then keep it as only some. Have like Max, Kim and Kagami outside trying to find somewhere to hide but unfortunately they get hit. Or Nino and Alya are hiding but the windows open and they get hit. Have some of the heroes hide so they’re fine! Taking away every ally of LB and CN’s was a stupid move! (Even if they wanted Alya to become a spy have her as part of the like 4 that get revealed or something, it’s not that difficult)

Season 3 was 50/50 for me

Season 4:

So I know season 4 isn’t even halfway through yet but so much is wrong with this season already that I need to vent!

So my biggest problem with this season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybitch and Rena Rouge, I mean Rena Furtive… shit, Chat Noir! Is that CN is basically pointless! Adrien has been flung over a rainbow and is only remembered when he’s needed as

1. Marinette’s love interest

2. Someone for LB to shout at

3. A plot device

He has basically been sidelined. Partners my ASS!!!

Adrien is being blown off by pretty much EVERYONE! It’s coming to a point where this poor sweet summer child is going to crack! And it is not gonna be pretty… I definitely feel like the writers are leading up to a big fight between CN and LB which will probably end with Chat Blanc 2.0.

I REALLY HATE MARINETTE/LADYBUG!!!! In Season 3 I said it was the beginning of her descent, well in season 4 she’s done it. She’s descended, she has hit rock fucking bottom. She is so unlikable I don’t actually care about her as a person. She has entered full blown stalker territory it’s only a matter of time before she starts killing people for even looking at Adrien! Not to mention that Miss Mary Sue here can’t do anything wrong! She never has to suffer the consequences of her actions, she is always perfect no matter what she does… it pisses me off!)

She’s the Guardian now big whoop. I know what it feels like to be stressed and under pressure so I do understand why she needed to tell someone about it all. I just don’t see why that person had to Alya! Especially considering she has someone by her side every akuma attack going through pretty much the exact same thing. I know she’s worried about CB happening again but as I said before the more she leaves him out the more she is actually pushing that to become a possibility! Plus it makes sense for them to reveal their identities now since LB is now the guardian it’s probably a good idea to know who holds the cat miraculous, she knows everyone else’s identities!

Even if she didn’t want to tell CN her identity she could still explain the situation to him. If she didn’t want to tell him anything (which she doesn’t anyway) then instead of Alya she should’ve talked to Luka! Her boyfriend for all of half an episode (thanks writers…). He’s so sweet and caring and clearly loves her so much! If she wanted someone to confide in then why not choose the person you clearly wanted to date but couldn’t because of that very reason! (Yeah I know it’s kinda a moot point now since Luka knows both identities but still). He wanted to try and comfort her so it would’ve been the perfect moment for it. That way you could still date him and he’d know why you had to suddenly leave dates halfway through! But no break the boys heart instead!

Adrien and Marinette were both such fucking idiots in the first 2 episodes. Like why would you start a relationship with someone when you know your heart isn’t in it! That’s called leading someone on and is a really shitty thing to do to someone! No wonder Kagami and Luka ended up akumatized!

Another aspect of season 4 I don’t like is Rena Furtive. Yes ok having a spy for your side is a good strategy but when said spy basically tells an important member of a duo that the 2 person job doesn’t involve them… it just really ticks me off! Alya you are the sidekick to LB and CN! Chat isn’t!

Miraculous specials:

The Miraculous World specials suck! Shanghai is better than NY but still has its problems. Both specials add nothing to the overall plot/lore of the show apart from trying to set up some weird cinematic universe…

NY special:

One of the worst things I’ve ever had to sit through! The plane scene alone I paused a few times. I want to say well done to Mari for trying to move on from Adrien (especially considering I’m pretty sure she’s dating Luka at this point) but I can’t help but think it’s just to give her character some pointless development that goes nowhere and doesn’t actually develop anything!

LB can pretty much fuck off at this point! I hate her! She put all this shit on CN (like she doesn’t know exactly how that feels). It’s like why does she get to go off on holiday but CN can’t. LB should’ve stayed in Paris for 3 reasons:

1. She’s recently become the guardian meaning it would probably be best that she stayed with the Mircle Box

2. She’s the only one who can purity the akumas

3. If she’s so sure about being the boss then she should take responsibility of Paris and the citizens.

What really pisses me off about her is what she says to CN during the big fight. “I can’t trust you”… surely you could have this conversation afterwards since you’re supposed to be focusing on taking down the villian! Plus everyone bashes Adrien for giving his miraculous up in this episode but look at it from his point of view: His partner and best friend just said she couldn’t trust him which in turn caused him to cataclysm someone and essentially kill them. That’s gonna take a toll on anyone, especially a 14 year old! He probably thought in that moment. “Ladybug needs a partner she can trust and someone who won’t mess up and kill someone. She needs a better partner.” It makes sense he renounces his miraculous! I’m just upset that in doing so he loses Plagg who is pretty much his only friend who actually understands what Adrien goes through at home.

When Uncanny gets CN to come back, LB acts like it’s not her fault in the first place that he feels inadequate! She didn’t even apologise for saying what she did! He apologised for lying about not being in Paris but nope LB wasn’t in the wrong at all and didn’t have anything to apologise for 🙄… (yes the LadyNoir hug was amazing but I just wish it was under different circumstances!)

Also are we not gonna mention Gabriel Agreste almost starting WW3??? He wanted to launch a fucking missile!!!

Shanghai:

As I said before, this special is way better for several reasons.

We got MariChat! (Best side to the love square imo). This special actually had some semblance on a plot. Fei, whilst a bit op, was a cool character. It was nice to see Wang Cheng again.

However once again there were many problems.

A big one being Marinette yet again! (What a shock! 😒 I’ll come back to this). Another was that once again HM’s motivation has changed. How is getting the Prodigious gonna help bring back Emilie??

Back to Marinette… The fact that the words “Huh?! There must be some kind of mistake! I always know what's up with Adrien! … His 5 first names and every corresponding name date, his yearly schedule, even his shoe size! If there were anything to know about him, I would know it!” come out of her mouth whilst she is flipping through his schedule that she keeps in her pocketbook is a hugh red flag!!! That is not cute or adorable! That’s messed up and Adrien needs to fucking run and maybe possibly go into witness protection… Marinette is a full blown stalker! Not to mention the GPS she has (that could just be the find my friends app on iphone but still).

It also is extremely rude of her to use not only her great uncle’s birthday but also a lie about wanting to know her Chinese heritage in order to go to Shanghai to stalk her obsession, I mean crush. This could’ve been avoided if the Dupain-Chengs were going to Shanghai for the purpose of celebrating Wang Cheng’s bday and then Adrien just so happened to be in Shanghai.

Also this means LB left Paris without telling CN! I know CN did the same but again he can’t purify the akumas. Plus he has a reason he couldn’t stay in Paris, Mari just went cause her crush did. Great guardianship there Marinette.

This was also the last time CN actually did something. Even if it was for a short while before LB and her female partner took over (the beginning of a theme…)

Other things:

There are 2 other things that I wanna say but felt they needed a separate bit.

In Furious Fu, Su-Han has a rule book that he uses to tell Marinette which rules she has broken. At the end of the episode he tells her that is she breaks 1 more rule that he will take the Miraculous and the Miracle Box off her, which fair enough but wouldn’t it be helpful to leave the rule book with her?! How can she be wary of not breaking anymore rules when she doesn’t even know what the rules are??

Now the big one: Master Fu…

Where do I even start with him. He is so fucking manipulative!! He is Asian Dumbledore!

He decides to leave these extremely powerful jewels in the hands of 13 year olds! Surely leaving the miraculous to someone in their 20s would’ve been better!

He clearly favours LB over CN even though the Ladybug and Black Cat are supposed to be partners! Wouldn’t it make sense for them both to be in contact with the guardian from the start?? He randomly started introducing rules such as if LB and CN find out each other’s identities they would lose their miraculous… what kind of bullshit rule is that? It also came out of fucking nowhere!

Final Thoughts:

But to summarise all of that: Miraculous is on quite a steep decline but I’m invested at this point and I am genuinely curious as to where the fuck this will go.

Marinette needs professional fucking help before the writers even consider canonising Adrienette cause at the moment she is not what Adrien needs!

Adrien needs to stand up for himself! He needs to pull LB to the side and tell her what he feels and what he’s going through cause he is on the precipice of a breakdown!

(Small point that’s more to do with the fandom: when searching for fanfics it’s really annoying that Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Bashing is a tag but Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug Bashing isn’t. Why does everyone think Marinette can do no wrong???)

[kisilinramblings]

You know, when Ladybug was giving Miraculous temporarily to people, no one made comments such as “She should consult Chat Noir beforehand”. Though we did got “Chat Noir should be giving Miraculous to people too!” while in canon, what CN did mind was to be left completely in the dark about what was going on, not the fact he couldn’t partake in the decisions nor the selection of potential candidates. Because the powers and the people LB selects are part of LB’s plan to defeat the Akumatized villains. 

But when Ladybug decides to give the Fox Miraculous permanently to Alya so she can be Marinette’s backup ressource, there are people upset she didn’t meet with Chat Noir and discuss about that decision with him? 

Like what changed?

I do agree we are heading toward an episode similar to Syren if Ladybug still keeps Chat Noir too much in the dark again that makes him feel useless or question his presence in the team. But that people get mad on Chat Noir stead for not being “consulted” on a decision that has always been up to LB? Especially that she is now the official Guardian and Chat Noir respects and follows her lead and convulated plans? 

Even when, during Miraculer, when CN saw that Chloé was still lighting her Bee Signal and realized that LB didn’t yet take the time to tell Chloé the truth, Chat Noir just reminder LB to go talk to Chloé instead of offering to go in LB’s place. Why? Because it is LB’s role.

Even when, during Furious Fu, Chat Noir tells Ladybug he will accept to give back his Miraculous if only Ladybug decided so because she is the only Guardian in his eyes? Because he trusts her?

I mean, Chat Noir isn’t oblivious either. He notices things too. He has his own point of view and LB usually listens to him. And Chat is usually open to express himself unless he has been hurt. That’s when he shuts down. But otherwise? He supports LB however he can contribute. 

All that to say that at the end of Optigami, when CN asked LB how she knew there was a sentimonster hidden inside the Miraculous, LB answered him:

“Thanks to my Lucky Charm, Kitty. It always shows me the right way, but this time, I was shortly led astray”.

And you see his reaction. 

He gets serious. He doesn’t say anything yet, but mentally seems to take notes.

That day, Chat Noir wasn’t able to be much by her side or so he thinks, but that doesn’t mean he cannot be the support LB needs. If Chat Noir sees Ladybug be led astray again during one of their missions, Chat Noir will remind her and raise a flag. 

Because he has the knowledge and power to do so. He has the objectivity precisely because he isn’t personally involved. Because he knows they need a focused Ladybug to succeed. Whereas all the temporary Holders are “sidekicks” who follow LB’s lead and authority. Including Alya. Heck she has tried to take some initiative and regretted it because it almost lead the Bad Guys to know Ladybug’s secret identity. So chances are very high Rena will just stick to LB’s plans because she doesn’t want to put her best friend in danger again. Whereas Chat Noir is more at ease to propose things and work with and around LB’s plan so she can succeed.

Anyway, even if Chat Noir knew about the whole Ladybug and Rena Rouge ordeal at this point, even if Ladybug did ask him what he thinks about it, I wonder if really Chat Noir’s opinion would have mattered in the balance. I assume it would have ended like how LB didn’t understood what her Lucky Charm was trying to warn her about until the very last minute. 

It was fitting Ladybug was fused into Lady Bee for this episode. Because the Bee Miraculous is used by someone who can defy authority. And that was what Lady Bee was doing. Defying the omniscient guidance of her Lucky Charm. It is only when Ladybug was back as herself that she questions why her Lucky Charm didn’t have any use to defeat the supervillain this time around. 

Anyway, is Marinette making the wrong decision by permanently giving Alya the Fox Miraculous? I think Trixx did point out the issue.

“See? I am right, even if I am not”.

Marinette knows who to trust, however like any human, her biases, her emotions and traumas can cloud her decisions. We want to believe every character and person will react logically to a situation they are personally living. Spoilers alert, unless they are a machine or from a race that has no emotion, they won’t. And Marinette is mentally recovering from a severe breakdown. And who ended up being her life raft during that difficult period? Alya. 

Marinette does have a point. She needs someone who can be her backup when she is unable to transform. She cannot always count on the Kwamis since their respective power comes with a chaotic aftermath. She can be in a position where she thinks it isn’t safe to transform. 

She has Chat Noir who can stall the villain and buy time but it is only if he manages to be there on time too. And after witnessing the Chat Blanc timeline, Ladybug is avoiding as much as she can to trigger it back. Adrien discovering her secret identity was one piece, but there was another piece concerning Chat Noir and her and that is was she is afraid of and that concerned their secret identity that was later found out and used by Hawk Moth to akumatize Chat Noir.

And then, there is Alya to whom Marinette revealed herself when she was at her lowest and who have been nothing but helpful ever since. Alya is now so much involved with Marinette either as a superhero or a civilian. And Marinette relies on Alya. And now, it looks Marinette is starting to depend on her maybe too much that it will affect Alya in a way she is unprepared for. I’ll keep an eye on Alya’s relationship with Nino. It sure did shake her to find out she had been fooled by SM and that she didn’t realized the being in front of her wasn’t the real Nino. 

Alya is a good and trustworthy ally. She does learn from her mistake and works to do better, but I agree Marinette didn’t seem to have made the most enlightened decision there and Chat Noir’s opinion would probably have changed nothing. 

By wanting to be relieved and have someone to back her up, I think Marinette is not clearly seeing the burden she is imposing on Alya. 

Btw, I am personally presuming that even if Alya could transform at any given opportunity now, it doesn’t mean Rena Rouge will be present all the time on the team during patrols or Akuma attacks. Rena Rouge would still be on-call when the power or Illusion is needed. Like how she had access to the Miracle Box, but still waited for Marinette’s instructions. 

Still, i wonder how much time it will take for Chat Noir to point out LB is maybe relying too much on Rena Rouge and putting her in danger more than necessary.

[imthepunchlord]

One thing it would be probably funny to see: how do you think episodes where Adrien is the most salted over would be with Felix? Like, Copycat won't really happen because Felinette with the cat = reverse crush, plus Felix would be annoyed, but understanding of Ladybug in Syren and since Felix friend group would be more close knitted, Glaciator also would be a simple outing. Though, him as a model? Pretty unlikely.

Let's see.... mindful, s4 I have hardly watched anything of, so that's going to be more limited and based on what I hear and I haven't been paying attention to a lot of it. Maybe someone else can fill in those cracks?

Season 1

Dark Cupid, Felix would never confess while there's an active akuma about. It's really the worst time and place. Wtf Adrien were you even thinking?

Copycat, yeah nothing would happen. Unless Theo really does something that rubs Felix wrong, he wouldn't do anything and let LB handle Theo, who at the core just wanted to tell LB that he appreciates and admires her.

If Bubbler did happen, Felix would actually let that party happen, but he'd move it inside the mansion and have the attendees trash it just to irk his uncle/father.

Refleckta, Felix would push Chloe off the bleachers if he's next to Juleka and she's trying to climb over Juleka to get next to him.

Antibug, Felix would be right there with his partner in being skeptical of Chloe's claims about Vanisher.

If Volpina did happen, Felix wouldn't immediately trust Volpina and raise a HIGH brow at her giving them immediate commands like she's the one they should answer to. He'd also be incredulous of Lila's lies to him about being a miraculous holder and showing him a necklace to prove it. So hella sus, and him having no patience for it, Lila now hates him in this version. Felix says bring it on. He's ready to throw hands.

Season 2

Collector, Felix would be asking his uncle/father questions about the book and not let that go. Also if Gabriel pulled him from school as a punishment, Felix would go make that public. And even if Marinette lets her suspicions of Gabriel possibly being HM go, Felix isn't going to let that go. He'll continue to snoop.

Prime Queen, he'd be with Ladybug in shutting down Nadja's effort to get them to admit they're a couple.

Glaciator, it depends if he has a crush on Marinette or not. If so, he'd readily attend even if Gabriel said no. Maybe even as Chat if he can't be seen in public. Glaciator would still happen either way cause a girl said no to the man's ice cream. How sensitive can you be?

Despair Bear, that "friendship" with Chloe would still be over at the end. Felix is long done humoring her.

Syren, Felix threatening to quit on a flooded Paris won't happen. He knows the importance of secrecy and if LB has an edge to help, fine. Side note, because he takes things more seriously, by this point, he already knows about Fu.

Frozer the akuma would happen, but not the double dates and him getting mad at LB.

Queen Wasp, Felix is going to verbally destroy Chloe for nearly causing a train accident.

Malediktator, Felix would join the festivity and Chloe would be long gone.

Season 3

Chameleon, Felix wouldn't let that go, join Marinette in getting back at Lila. He'd aim to destroy her while Marinette just wants her to stop lying.

Weredad, Felix wouldn't lead the mood on by getting Marinette a rose and attending dinner if he was planning on rejecting Marinette. He'd clear up that issue ASAP before Tom could get too carried away.

Desperada, Felix would actually use the Snake well and not spend time trying to flirt or tell his partner who he is. So no Snake Luka.

Gamer 2.0, seeing LB stressed and overworked, he'd help her wrap up this akuma quickly.

Puppeteer 2, he wouldn't pretend to be a statue in front of Marinette at all. If anything, they'd go make fun at the atrocious designs of the akumas together and make fun of Hawk Moth.

Chat Blanc, unlikely to even happen. If he found out Marinette was LB, he wouldn't use that info to go date her right away. He'd go to talk with Fu as she is now compromised with his knowing and between the two, she needs to stay a secret. And if they did date, when Gabriel pulls that bs of "you can't date my son blah blah", they'd just do it anyway cause screw Gabriel. And when they fight and Gabriel pulls that "me or her!", it's going to be Marinette hands down. Felix doesn't even like Gabriel. He finally has a chance to punch Gabriel in the face. And if Gabriel makes him Chat Blanc, he is dead. Deady dead dead.

Ladybug, he'd be on the situation ASAP with all the lies and framing Lila was trying to cause to Marinette. Or if it's at him, he's going to destroy her. Two can play at that game, and unlike Marinette, he's down for pulling dirty tricks too.

Season 4

Lies wouldn't happen as I don't see Felix and Kagami dating. He also defintiely wouldn't go in checking on to see if people feel like becoming an akuma cause wtf Adrien.

Hack-San, he'd be suspicious of Scarabella, but instead of going on the attack, he'd hear what she'd have to say then reach out to LB through his baton to hear if she can back this.

Felix wouldn't be bothered about Ladybug relying on other heroes. And he definitely wouldn't be sitting on the couch, sulking away.

[lilithdusk]

OKAY ANGST TIME BC SEASON 4 IS GOING TO BE THE END OF ME

Everyone talks about how Hack-San happens before Rockstar, Wishmaker etc etc and we all know the angst is building up to WRECK US (and Lb and Chat Noir) so here some Ladynoir/Adrienette angst (mostly Adrienette because Marinette has lost her partner and Adrien happens to look just like him)

So imagine if Chat Noir finally snaps and wants to give up his miraculous but he has no idea to give it back to Ladybug because he doesn't know her unlike some people (wink wink angst) and he just can't face her. So, he does the only thing he can as now, a side-kick. One night, he leaves his miraculous on Alya's balcony with a note. Because she's Rena Furtive and thus knows Ladybug's identity, unlike him.

The following day, Alya wakes up and freaks out. She runs to Marinette and explains to her how BAD the situation is. Immediately, Marinette asks her how could Chat Noir possibly know her identity??? And Alya has to admit that she lied and shared the secret with Nino. Marinette can't believe it and, betrayed, runs away. The realization hits her. She can't find Chat Noir. She has lost him for good this time.

So every night, when she finishes school, she walks in the Parisian streets, searching for her lost partner, in vain. Even if he wanted, Plagg couldn't tell her the identity of his owner because of the magic trick. She spends endless nights with her thoughts, the mistakes she had committed by taking him away from the fights and how bad she has treated her best friend when she actually just wanted to protect him.

After weeks, Marinette is on the verge of losing it. She has no one, except Tikki. The girls can't possibly understand the situation she is in and she hasn't forgive Alya yet. Her trust has been played with and her best friend isn't here to keep her calm. And Hawkmoth seems to have understand it because of his recent attacks. Ladybug has been fighting alone for weeks now, without the help of any others miraculous owner and, most importantly, without her favorite partner.

One night, like any others since Chat Noir gave up his miraculous, Marinette is searching. Well, barely walking is mort accurate. She's exhausted, physically and mentally. She can't even remember the last time she had dinner with her parents or her friends.

"Marinette, it's time to go home." Tikki whispered in the small bag.

The rain is now pouring. The girl can't even hear her. She wanders like a walking dead, losing sight of her objective. She can't do it anymore.

Yet, behind her, a car's door is closed and the sound of footstep is getting louder. A blond hair guy stops her by facing her, worried.

"Marinette, what are you doing here ?!"

Adrien is looking at her, concerned. The boy had noticed the girl's behaviour these past weeks and couldn't reach for her, she didn't let him. Well, she didn't let anyone.

He was getting home when he had noticed her walking in the deserted streets all by herself with the rain. He didn't waste time and ran out of the car to go after her. Now, before his classmate, his anxiousness seriously increases She isn't fine.

"Don't worry, I'll be okay."

Her answer is generic, like a robot. She's not even looking in his eyes.

"Let me take you home then. You're going to catch a cold otherwise."

"I said I'm fine Adrien. I'll do it on my own."

"Do what in your own?" He asks but the girl already walked past him.

He watches her walking away, debating about what he should do. A few seconds pass before he joins her side.

"Okay, I'll help you then!"

Marinette sighs. She doesn't know if it's her nerves or anything else but she can't stand having Adrien around, being so nice to her, while she's looking for her partner who's looking exactly like him.

"Adrien I said I'm fine. I don't need your help."

"I'm not saying you need it, I want to help you."

Marinette sighs again and shakes her head. He'll probably get tired and give up in a few minutes. So she continues to walk quietly, Adrien following her. After some time, he speaks up again.

"What are we looking for?"

Marinette stops in her track so suddenly that Adrien almost hits her. What are we looking for... She has been on her own for such a long time now that the feeling of teaming up with someone brings back sudden memories of her partner.

"Someone." She simply answers.

She walks up again with teary eyes. The softness of her friend starts to break the strength she has been holding on for weeks.

"Someone? Who are they?"

Marinette let a laugh escapes her lips. It's a painful one. What can she answer to that question? She has no idea who's Chat Noir.

"Someone who happens to look like you."

Adrien frowns, now confused.

"Me? What's their name?"

"I don't know!" She shouts.

She turns around to face him, now tears streaming down her face. She can't hold it back anymore. His interrogations make Maher realize how stupid and useless is her plan since the beginning. What could she think of? Walking down in Paris and meet her partner? How could she recognize him? She was always the one dragging the secret identity in their conversations!

Adrien has never seen Marinette like that. She is desperate and on the verge of breaking down. Thus, even if the situation and her wants stay unclear, he does the only thing he can think of. He hugs her tight against him. She cries against his chest while he's caressing her hair.

"It's going to be okay. We'll figure it out."

And he remains this calm figure until one of his hand touches hers. There, he feels the coldness of a ring he had never seen on her. She wears Chat Noir's miraculous. She wears his ring.

Next part

[disorganizedkitten]

I'm Literally Right Here

Miraculous Ladybug | 2018 | 951 | Ao3

Alya slipped up, but it led to a rather painful conversation between our oblivious superheroes. And then a story gets told.

“Crap!”

“Rena why-” A flash lit up the area the four superheroes had taken cover in, leaving a very-civilian Alya Cesaire standing in the center.

“Crap. I should’ve seen that coming and found you separate cover. Sorry.” Ladybug winced. “Trixx, what do you eat?”

“I’m not in the mood for anything particular. Tikki’s snacks always look good though.”

“Right. I’m gonna sneak out and see what I can find. Carapace, Chat, stay here and keep an eye on her, okay?”

“I’m not a kid Ladybug! I-”

“I know you can help without an active Miraculous, but right now, we need to rest and recoup. Stay. ” Ladybug yanked her Yo-yo and flew up and out of sight.

Carapace slumped down against a wall, pulling his hands over his face. “Alya, I swear, if you climb up that fire escape-” Carapace didn’t finish, deciding to just let her know he knew her plan.

“Fine. But like, we are not to speak of this having ever happened, and we are not going to question Ladybug’s decision to give me a Miraculous. Okay? I’ve stopped actively investigating you guys, despite what it the Ladyblog says, and I’ve followed the rules, the entire time. Understood?”

“Good with me,” Carapace replied, pointedly not looking at his girlfriend. “I’d give myself a heart attack if it is brought up again.”

“And if I’m curious?”

“Chat Noir I swear if you don’t stop pestering her,” Carapace threatened.

“No, no, Carapace it’s fine. I guess with how many questions I would have if like, Ladybug ended up being Mylene or something, it should be allowed. But if I don’t like the question I won’t answer, okay?”

“Deal.”

“Okay. Number one; Why do you think LB chose you first? I mean, you’re awesome and all, but as the person behind the Ladyblog, it’s a big risk. What did you do to convince her you were trustworthy?”

“I wish I knew! I wonder about it all the time, but I can’t come up with anything! Maybe I passed a secret test?”

“What if she knows you in real life?”

“Nope. No way. I’d know if she did.”

“So secret test? I dunno. Ladybug and I had to pass one, but that was almost half a day before we were actually needed. I don’t think she’d have time to test you in half an hour.”

Alya stopped to think. “Maybe it’s because of how often I’m involved in Akuma attacks? I mean, I try to be helpful nowadays.”

“Maybe. I still think she knows you as a civilian and trusts you because of that.”

“Fine. Let’s say for a moment Ladybug is, who in my life would she be?”

Carapace raised his head to look at the two superhero fanatics as they gasped. Why-

“Nino!”

Carapace slammed his head back into the wall. Why? Why? Whyyyyyyy? Why him of all people? Why? “Dudes! What even?”

“It makes sense though Carapace! Nino knows be better than anyone other than Marinette! And obviously she’s not Ladybug, and Nino is like super chill and can work with anyone but Mnsr. Agreste and Chloe.”

Laughter started up above them, and all three watched as Ladybug slipped off the roof, laughing her head off. “Did you actually just say what I think you did?”

“Yes we did, Nino.”

Ladybug tossed something at Alya, before dropping to the ground laughing. “Nino? Nino? Oh my gosh!” She moved over to sit beside Carapace, obviously enjoying his pain and the other two’s cluelessness.

“Guys! Nino’s a Dude! Ladybug’s not!”

“Genderfluid is thing.”

“Based on whether or not a Miraculous is active?”

“Probably not. Darn it! Wait, LB! You’re here now! Why’d you pick me as Rena Rouge?”

Ladybug choked, grabbing Carapace’s shoulder with a painful vice grip. “What?”

“Ladybug, Dudette, I need my arm to not be dislocated.”

“Sorry Shells.” Ladybug looked between the other two in disbelief. “You want me to tell you why I picked Alya as a superhero?”

“Yes.” They answered in unison.

Ladybug’s demeanor changed in an instant. All humor drained from her face, and she curled in on herself ever-so-slightly.

“Fine. If you really want to know, Alya was my first choice, because she’d been in line for one since Stoneheart.”

“What?” Alya’s voice was scarily low,

“When the butterflies started taking people over, I thought I had doomed Paris. I thought I couldn’t do it anymore, or at all really, and I rejected my Miraculous. I put it back in the box, and decided to find someone else who could probably pull it off better. There were rumors of a new girl standing up against Chloe, and I decided to check it out. I enlisted a couple people to check your opinion on being a superhero, and then I dropped the earrings into your bag when we passed in the halls between classes.

“I thought that was that. You’d make a good hero, and you wouldn’t mess up.”

“Except, I never got the earrings.”

“No, you didn’t. You ran off without your bag, and when I found a panicking Marinette running around, and found you and Chat losing the battle, I stopped thinking. I put them back on, not planning on keeping them, but planning to clean up my mess.

“Then, after the confrontation with Hawkmoth’s head, and Stoneheart, and talking to Chat, I didn’t take them off again. But I still knew, in my bones if not my head, that you were a hero at heart. Even without a Miraculous you were. Of course I went straight to you when I needed backup.”

No one said anything for a moment, and then Alya rushed at Ladybug, and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you.”