#blame the Chloes for this

[spookierdeer]

my internet was down recently so i redesigned some miraculous ladybug characters from memory. details of this spur of the moment au below ⬇️⬇️⬇️

this is kind of off the cuff and wordy as hell, but it was what i was thinking about while drawing. i ran out of steam to draw anyone else but if i were to revisit i would probably do this in a different art style lol i tried to make them match but it's too samey to me and got boring working on this fast </3

marinette is 16-17ish instead of 13-15, most of the cast are this age except a few like luka who are 17-18

ignore that marinette isn't fully colored in the first image, i saved it before deciding to fully color everyone LOL

instead of general education, they go to an arts school the first akuma attack was focused on a private school nearby which adrien, kagami, and chloe attend with adrien and chloe being transferred afterwards to the art school (adrien and chloe both put in the fashion design course by their dads)

marinette is in the fashion track, alya in photography/video editing, nino, luka, and rose are in music, juleka and marc in writing, and nathaniel is in illustration/animation. other characters either fall into other tracks as well, attend the private school, or another nearby school that isn't arts focused. if a character fits something else better than what i said then pretend i said that instead 👍

marinette's interest in fashion design takes more of a front seat, i feel like it isn't brought up much in the show for how important it seems to her. instead of a 14 year old designing an album cover and whatever other insane opportunities she's gotten, i think those opportunities might come from businesses and celebrities working with the art school and marinette having a track record of lucking out in her work catching the eye of the people interested

kagami in canon is extremely autistic teen girl coded to me and therefore my favorite so i double down on that here

-her hair is short because in one of the only times she's actively rebelled against her mother's wishes, years prior to this au, she cut her hair short on her own because the feeling of it touching her neck and shoulders was constantly upsetting her. when her mom finally noticed she took control over this act of rebellion and took kagami to a hair stylist to get a haircut she found more appropriate; kagami has been getting it cut this same way since then.

-after moving to paris she had to give up a lot of the norms she found comfort in. i think she would have taken incredible care of the backpack she was given when she first started school and it's become somewhat of a comfort item. the private school would be pretty strict about dress code, but as long as the backpack didn't look sloppy and was in one of the allowed colors, she could use it- so even if she didn't use it much in middle school i could see her returning to it to have as a piece of home in a new place that's otherwise incredibly overwhelming.

-even if she isn't interested in it, she listens to her mom and does as she says which has her even more quiet and reserved than she would be normally. shes good friends with adrien, he's actually one of her closest friends, but she doesn't open up much more around him and he can tell. she meets marinette through him and while she doesn't magically blossom into a different person, she definitely speaks her mind more when around her and eventually adrien- marinette's personality connecting with her own just right and that makes her feel safe in a deep way.

-marinette inspires her to push boundaries, one of the first ways she rebels (considered so in her own mind) is wearing a friendship bracelet marinette makes for her despite her school not allowing jewelry like that. another is a "good luck" charm key chain she keeps latched to a zipper inside her backpack.

-i don't remember, but in the show i think kagami might model with agreste brand in some way? she might do that here too since her mom and adrien's dad are close, but she prefers modelling for marinette's projects even if she's shy about it at first. they're usually alone during this and kagami sometimes helps by wearing marinette's WIPs as she works and during those times kagami finds she laughs and smiles the most.

-i'm rambling now, but kagami reflects marinette in a lot of similar-but-opposite ways i didn't get into here and i need to stop talking about kagami and marinette or i'll be here all day.

idk what all to write for adrien bc i dont keep up with the show anymore so idk what his deal is rn, BUT here i would explore his experience with unspecified depression- he would have so much lust for life and joy but between his mom recently passing and his dad being a quiet megalomaniac with his only real parental support being his dad's assistant and his own bodyguard- he just doesn't feel much excitement with life despite how he might express himself in front of his friends. i think getting transferred would be, unintentionally on his dad's part, the biggest boon possible for adrien bc he would slowly regain that excitement in regards to just living his life- even if gabriel squashes it often with rules and tiring modelling work. becoming friends w nino, marinette, and everyone else would bring him out of his shell just like kagami even if it's in a different way.

luka is one of my faves too so he was one of the first i designed; he's not incredibly more important in this au, but i'd want to focus more on the eldest sibling in a single parent household stress of his character. a wonderful son and brother with a lot of skill and patience who's willing to lend an ear to any friend. lot of stress would pile up and i like thinking about him finally finding out who his dad is- that he's met the guy and it's one of his musical idols. and the man never said anything. and how that would upset him. and being the backbone of not only his family, but his friend group as he's stressed about going out into the world on his own soon in an unstable field and now he has to cope with that too...

instead of meeting alya at school, marinette and alya have been best friends since childhood which brings a bigger stress on marinette when she can't even tell the one person in the whole world her biggest secret- especially since alya IMMEDIATELY becomes ladybug's biggest fan and defender and they never would keep secrets before- and alya could tell she wasn't saying something. i like imagining the added stress of losing that confidant marinette would have had for years and years and having to handle some of the most stressful things she's ever experienced on her own save for tikki with alya slowly worrying more and she can't say a thing. alya got into photography in middle school during projects with marinette and ended up wanting to study it, but seeing ladybug only fuels her love of it- running the ladyblog and social medias about the hero while marinette watches on wishing she could tell alya for the longest time. eventually she does but that's down the line lol

nino is still adrien's first friend in the new school and he meets everyone else through him. i think nino and luka would be fairly close in this au with them working together whenever the other needed help on projects or just helping the other out with learning new skills. i'm not sure how to write it here but i like thinking about alya and nino's dynamic as a couple since what i remember of the show was mostly them together then talking about adrienette instead lmao

one of the biggest examples of missed potential in mlb to me is chloe, so shes rewritten as bully with hero worship of ladybug(/baby's first lesbian crush) only to have her dreams crushed when ladybug takes back her miraculous and says she doesn't think she'll be able to trust her with it again. not sure if she would let it fully go to her head here or if she just suddenly found comfort in pollen only to have ladybug take the kwami away without listening to her side of things. i have a whole thing written for her in my notes app that ill never share just know shes fleshed out here way more than in canon- i already rambled too much about kagami so i'll hold myself back here LOL

marc is such a fun character to me but i REALLY don't like his look in canon and he's one of the main characters i wanted to redesign so i let myself have a lot of fun with him to make up for the years of looking at his canon one

nathaniel is similar, i don't want to change too much about him but i think he's a fun character and his blazer/tshirt/skinny jeans/converse fit in canon pissed me off for years on the back burner lmfao... i think i might've leaned too far away from a style his canon counterpart might choose, but he goes to an art school and if his multiple of his friends being in the fashion track and his partner being an alt kid can't stop him from wearing a plain tshirt and blazer then idk what could

JULEKA..... why does her first saga design look like a sims 4 townie that's goth and into track? not even current sims 4, 2014 sims 4. sims 4 fitness stuff. i'm getting to the characters i wouldn't change a ton about story wise now clearly, i just think their drip is nonexistent, barren. i think her going from near full coverage purple and black goth to bright pink clown when akumatized is a fun dichotomy. i don't think i'll be redesigning any other outfits (or characters for that matter), but that drastic of a change is very fun. i could see her occasionally wearing a privacy mask like marc on days she feels too socially anxious.

i think a modern take on rose would almost inevitably lean into lovecore, but i tried to keep her more simple. i will always love purple/pink ships and the tall, dark, and broody looking juleka who's mostly just quiet and shy and rose who's short, bombastic, and kind with a huge heart is a very sweet and fun pair. in the show she has an unspecified illness which could be any number of things, so i thought maybe she would need to bundle up more than the others (granted there's a lot of long sleeves here lol)- more layers than usual to regulate in the cooler months and the opposite during the warmer ones. i kind of drew these with spring in mind, so she'd probably be wearing thicker leggings or something here- she still REALLY wants to look cute even if her body is mad at her (relatable).

i'm intentionally not getting into the miraculouses or akuma or kwami or the whole (gestures vaguely to gabriel and lila and everything else) here since i'm already yapping more than this justifies for an au i'm not doing anything with. just had a lot of thoughts while designing these. i didn't get a ton into ships here aside from the last few, but i also don't really know how i'd deal with the "love square" since i was never invested in that and instead liked lukadrienette and marigami more lol... i'd also want to explore marinette finding out about chloe's one sided crush on ladybug and her reaction vs chloe dealing with the fallout of hero worship. if you read all of this thank you ilu mwah mwah

[krillonthegrill]

double exposure makes me so angry, not because i hate it, but because i'm like...damn THIS is the game with the most PoC queer rep?

THIS is the game that sets up the black woman with powers i've been wanting for years?

THIS is the game with black people who have ties to the main plot AND don't sell drugs? and a QUEER black man in academia, no less?

THIS is the game with an out and proud trans lesbian? who i believe is also not white?

THIS is the game with an indigenous lesbian that talks about being indigenous in-game, which i don't believe we've ever had before despite the original LiS story having ties to indigenous history?

it's THIS ONE?!?!

goddammit DeckNine. you HAD to fuck Chloe over in THIS ONE? you just had to give the finger to pricefielders? you couldn't hold back? UGH i need to be sedated

[angelshizuka]

In the Dutch dub Marinette says "Ik kijk er nu al naar uit." (I'm already looking forward to it.) here.

Like... damn girl, you thirsty.

[half-shadowgalra]

Hot Take

(I have no clue if this is or isnt a hot take considering I have never seen this take been made before)

Bianca di Angelo would find her hot

[broadwaycutie16]

Okay, I guess I should clear this up.

I have nothing against canon Marinette. She’s done bad things, but I know deep down she’s a good person who is trying her best. I like her character.

In the show.

It’s the salt version of Marinette that I hate with a burning passion. I hate the versions of her that appear in these fics where she becomes this entitled, vindictive b!t€h hellbent on destroying her former friend’s lives permanently over what really is no more than teenage drama. I understand that she gets treated like $h!t in these stories, but the way she reacts to them is just overkill. And what really seals the deal is the narrative of all these stories direct you to believe that she is 100% in the right acting this way.

It really messes with my head and my mental health, and that’s why I can come off as so aggressive towards Marinette and her stans. Honestly, salting aside, I see both Marinette and Adrien on equal goodness level. It’s only because of everyone glorifying Marinette at the expense of any other character who doesn’t worship the ground she walks on that I’m constantly bashing her on this blog.

[chloepleasestopdying]

If I could change one small thing about LiS (and not like… the entire ending) it would be for Chloe to beat up Nathan instead of Warren. I want that for her soooo bad.

[luluy33art]

CSC: What if Chloe doesn't want to face MAster Fu, still feeling guilty about her being the one to force him to give up his mantel and memories.

She'd feel guilty about it

But controversial opinion, Chloe is not to blame at all or at least she's not the only one to blame

Like HM manipulated her with her parents?? Hello?? And also if we're going to blame, LB is also partially to blame. She chose ryuko for selfish reasons, knowing that the ideal would have been Queen Bee.

That would have prevented miracle queen, but Fu getting into the fight is because LB forgot to detransform. THAT has nothing to do with Chloe. But CSC Chloe doesn't know that so she thinks it's her fault

More AUs lore and info on Kofi

[thisonewhocanbreathe]

okay but the fact that Chloe never question Max once if she doesn't rewind after she kills Frank because Max told her earlier she wouldn't let her count on her powers and no matter how fucked up and painful this is and will be for her she's respecting her will shows how much she's grown as a character and isn't the toxic person all the haters pretend she is. like, it's such a small detail (not really but yk what I mean) that you could so easily miss but it speaks volumes.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Rise of Red at least made me appreciate Mal in D3 though, ironically enough. At least D3 tried to call Mal out for how she lied. Rise of Red meanwhile has Red treating Chloe like shit at times throughout the film, but doesn't once have Red apologize for that and the only apology given out of the two to each other is...Chloe for not instantly going along with Red's plans with no objections or questions. Because for some reason, this film really loved shaming Chloe for existing, likely hence never having Red apologize for how she treats Chloe because the film thinks its right to shame Chloe for being a princess who doesn't like touching dirty things and for being a rule follower. Hell, they literally have Red say to Chloe look where being good got Cinderella basically after they saw in the looking glass that Cinderella in present is now dead, and...Red never has to apologize for saying that hey your moms dead because she was good (and technically Red helped kill her by saying treason is the crime Cinderella is being punished for during the whole coup scene but...) because no, we gotta focus on how bad it is Chloe doesn't instantly go along with Red's plans and how bad it is she acts like such a goody princess.

[doodle17]

Grown up Bobby and Chloe

He's on his 15th "Damn that's crazy"

Theyre outfits were soooo fun to draw yall I'm obsessed

[m3nt4llyr4v3d]

It honestly kind of baffles me how some fans (mostly the narrative itself) used to say that Chloe was acting “exactly the same” in Seasons 4-5.

Like… wha?

You can say she’s been a bad person for about the whole series, I get that, but huh??

Chloe, in Seasons 1-3, wasn’t great (understatement). She was a bully, furthered insecurities of her classmates (Juleka and Mylene come to mind), Sabrina was her lapdog, she used her dad’s power to get anything she wanted, etc. She’s not good.

But.

Seasons 4-5 have her act like a straight up Saturday morning cartoon villain.

I’ll be in the camp to say that I was disappointed she wouldn’t get a redemption, but eventually came around to a proper damnation arc (or an arc like Zuko’s where he fell from grace before becoming good again). But the way the show treated her after the season 3 finale was so???

She didn’t have a graceful fall or a plummet down, she was teleported to the bottom and the show acts like she was there the entire time. One thing I remembered was in season 4 where she broke off her friendship with Adrien and a few episodes later brags about him being caged up in his house by his father?? Because she didn’t want the classmate’s fantasy of Marinette swooping Adrien’s off his feet to come true (pls tell me I’m remembering this right)??? Or when she got akumatized because she… didn’t wanna play soccer? She doesn’t even care about Sabrina in the slightest and is keeping her in her closet (where is her father!?) Then in season 5 she’s being a dictator??? And she caused Marinette trauma before all of this happened??? Like, cmon!

Even if you think she was bad the whole time, the show literally goes out of its way to show her being the spawn of Satan! The characters, even when they were being bullied, didn’t take her that seriously in the earlier seasons! They could even joke at her expense!

But honestly, this is how I viewed the show’s treatment of her character from season 4 onwards.

[scaratrina]

NOOOOOO I am NOT working on a Saiko/Yekaterina toxic yuri in the Borderlands, going absolutely feral, brain leaking out my ears, but make it post-apocalyptic psychosexual insanity with Niragi stirring the pot like the little freak he is NOOOOOO what do you mean that would be soooo crazy haha unless… (unless I throw Chishiya in there too and accelerate my own mental collapse like a clown on bath salts)

[mwahbabe]

love how we all just collectively turn into animals or cavemen seeing hot lesbian characters 💀

[wowthatsextra]

Chloe barging into the Luthor Mansion and being like, Lana will never want u loser. And Lex being like, has anyone ever wanted YOU?? Nope. And with an attitude like that it's clear why 💀😭

Reminds me of their convo earlier this season in the caves when Clark and Lana first got together. Lex: I haven’t seen you around much lately. Chloe: I've been busy. Lex: Yeah bc being a third wheel is soooo time consuming

[praesparo]

bro i feel like an old man how the fuck do you use this site aga-

[arcadiabaytornado]

Something I love about Life Is Strange is the moral ambiguity of all the choices.

I don't think a single decision in the game is an open and shut case of doing right or wrong. You can debate all day what someone should do in that situation and the "right" answer is going to boil down to your moral beliefs.

I think a good example would be taking the blame for Chloe's weed or not.

It's easy to make a case for why standing with Chloe is a good thing. She's a long term friend who has a shitty home life and just did something incredibly kind for Max (Giving her William's camera) moments before. Standing with her and protecting her from David is an act of loyalty that shows how much Max still cares about her wellbeing. Therefore making it a very understandable choice.

However, I do feel like you could argue that Max shouldn't be expected to take the blame. If she takes responsibility for the joint that isn't hers, David threatens the scholarship that got into Blackwell. That's a huge finical blow that will put Max's educational opportunities in jeopardy. It's not an empty threat either as we learn from Mark in Episode 2 that David has told Wells that Max is dealing pot.

So in that regard is it selfish of Chloe to expect Max to loose a major opportunity for her? Or is it selfish of Max to let someone she cares about get hurt? Are both choices selfish since either outcome screws one of them over? Or are neither really that selfish since both girls are placed in a really bad spot?

I could make a post like this about of the choices. All of them are wrong to a certain extent just as much as they are right. Nothings black and white and a lot of the choices simply boil down to "Who do you want to screw over more?" Which is an interesting moral dilemma as it means you can never really win.