#cuz they need to have more of a relationship then reluctant allies

[aweirddreadfulterror]

Idk man take this shity comic and leave me alone ToT I might clean this up, but probably not 😅😅 and I am Obsession with Maximus’s sad lil eyes O-O this was done without references and was done pure memory so it’s not accurate, and they aren’t drawn with clothes because I was feeling lazy -_- 

[okkos-ferrum]

Hot take maybe but like i feel the vile crew are a much more fun, dare i say, dynamic of a dynamic.

Like dont get me wrong i think zack and ivy are a fun duo that contrast carmen's badasssery with player acting as intel and shadowsan as a stoic support

But antonio, jean-paul, gray, and sheena (mime bomb too ig??) played off carmen better. (Tho to clarify not at all saying the writers shouldve had carmen hang around vile instead, they def were all bad influences on one another due to vile)

Like to me, cuz carmen is the mainly hyper-competant moral good of team red, she somewhat stands alone for it. Player is highly specialized, while idk what zack and ivy contribute specific to the team aside from extra manpower. Shadowsan may rival carmen in skill, but he has his own mistakes he's working to fix, so he's in no moral place to argue against her. As much as team red is filled with good wholesome family moments, carmen still feels kinda treated as the leader, and thus, seperate from the group. I wish sometimes there would be a conflict (no im not including the s2 conflict with the car and stuff idk that one was too inconsequential to me) between team red splitting hairs on how to approach a problem. Itd add some variety to each specific relationship carmen has with each rather than a generic friendly terms

The vile crew works as a more entertaining group cuz there are actual unique dynamics carmen has with each of the group members, as well as the group members themselves having unique relationships with each other. For the first point, cuz everyone is on the level playing field of some kind of competant thief, its not like carmen has the immediate, no-questions-asked role as the leader. Theres more of an underlying feeling she had to make a good impression aside from her skills to gain their respect, which to me is more realistic than zack and ivy suddenly attatching themselves to a then dismissive but skilled carmen during the boston caper. Like as contrived sheena just being a hater to carmen is, theres still something interesting abt her still tagging along with carmen as a reluctant friend/rival. As such, it challenges carmen to show a different side to her, like her constant need to prove herself, to the forefront, which in turn, helps also flesh carmen out more. In comparison, antonio is quite the opposite, being literally so nice to everyone regardless, which also makes him stick out (like for example, in the cs interactive game, he will readily help carmen out if u choose him to be an ally)

Each character in the vile crew have also unique groups. Unlike one blob of general friendliness like team red (aside from the over it dad energy from shadowsan lol), we see that antonio and jean-paul have a closer friendship within the group, similar to how carmen and gray also have a closer bond. Tell me the unique relationship zack has with player that is different from how anyone else treats player? Like its not much.

Theres def more banter within the vile crew as well, with sheena always being the sour one of the group. Moreover, there is the group collectively finding mime bomb to be the "weird guy in class" that is so endearing to me. They all challenge each other, like how they all judge gray's pun vile name, or how they sometimes make fun of sheena during their first mission. Yet admist all that, they still care and enjoy their company together, as seen with them still reminiscing the water balloon prank in season 4 or how antonio and jean paul are relectant to fight carmen the first time they see her again.

Idk i find it so funny how the show was able to make the vile operatives so endearing as characters, especially in comparison to tesm red whos a bit lacking

[stars-and-spice]

I’ve seen a few people suggest this show queerbaited because it ended with a male/female kiss, and so now I need to rant. (under the cut cuz looooong)

I don’t think this show is queerbait (in regards to it not having a male/male relationship). I really don’t. As far I know they never implied there would be a male/male relationship to promote the show. 

I DID see a couple people saying that it was said that Loki would have a male and a female romantic interest, so you know what I did? I LOOKED IT UP. All I found was that an “industry insider” (read: someone who is not involved in the show and probs just wants to get a story) claimed that was the case. (here’s the original source but be warned it has some Bad Takes), so unless you want to be all conspiratorial and say they deliberately leaked this to the insider to lure the gays in without being held responsible... which sure, is possible, but as far as I know there is no proof of this so I don’t feel comfortable making that accusation.

Now I admit that I have only been following this show for a week but I haven’t heard about any other hints at a male/male romance in the lead up to the show. If I’ve missed something then I sincerely apologize.

As for what’s actually in the show ...this is quite subjective, but I don’t think Loki and Mobius’s relationship goes as far as queerbaiting. I get why people ship it. They have a fun dynamic and they have that reluctant-allies-who-grow-to-care-for-each-other thing which is popular in romantic ships... but it’s not exclusively used for romance, and I did not notice more unambiguous coding, for instance jokes about they being couple-like, or lingering stares, things that you often see in actual queerbaiting. And I’m not the sort of person to miss subtext, whether I ship the pairing in question or not.

If, after seeing how popular Loki x Mobius is, they start actually queerbaiting them in season 2 (fairly possible imo, that sort of thing has definitely happened before) then I’ll... idk, make a disapproving tumblr post (i mean, I don’t have a Disney+ subscription to cancel so...) but that hasn’t happened yet.

So what is the bait in this supposed queerbait then??? The fact that he’s bisexual??? Please do not tell me that we’re calling a main character being unambiguously confirmed bisexual queerbaiting because he doesn’t end up with a man??? I get wanting him to end up with a guy because it would mean the studio taking a stronger stance, and (particularly if you’re a gay/bi man) because you just enjoy seeing two men in a relationship, but that’s got nothing to do with whether this is queerbaiting. 

This argument is seems weightless enough as is but let’s also add the fact that in the same episode that they confirmed he was bi they started to clearly set up the male/female romance, so they hardly fanned the flames of false hope there.

Now I do agree that it’s very likely that had writers wanted to do a male/male romance (and maybe they did, we just don’t know) Disney would have shut it down, and you can call that homophobic, cuz it is... but it’s NOT QUEERBAITING.

I just feel that using that word here is unjustified and actually diminishes it’s impact for when it’s properly used.

HOWEVER, this is just about accusation of queerbaiting about a male/male romance. I DO think they queerbaited about gender fluid rep, but funnily enough I don’t see so many people talking about that...

[whenimgoodandready]

Boy, Oh Boy! Is it great to have a miraculous! Having the power to create, destroy, cast illusions, protect and paralyze, getting a cool costume, kicking villainous butt, saving the world, being adored by others, feeling like this is what you were meant for! Man! It.is.awesome! I’d sure hate to see what happens when all of that is just tragically taken away from you! (laughs for a moment then slowly stops laughing to get serious. Clears throat). Yeah, well, that would suck, but maybe it’s for a good reason. See why:

*Miraculer-We open with an akumatized villain running amuck and destroying the Eiffel Tower (again) and how Team Miraculous is trying to stop them (we don’t see it, but it’s happening) and the day is saved thanks to a rubber duckie?🤨Yeah, idk how that worked, but it did. The whole gang was there:Ladybug, Cat Noir, Rena Rouge and Carapace. Just like from last seasons finale! Wait! That’s all of ‘em right? Did I forget someone?...............Oh yeah! There was that bee girl, Queen Bee! Oh I remember her now! That was resident mean girl, Chloe Bourgeois! (laughs). Guess she was unwanted ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Okay, that was mean, but we all know the truth that Marinette/Ladybug can’t stand Chloe. However, that’s NOT the reason she wasn’t recruited for Team Miraculous. Ever since “Queen’s Battle”, Chloe had exposed herself as Queen Bee in front of others to gain her mothers approval (didn’t work) and one of those people was Gabriel Agreste, a.k.a. Hawk Moth! Cuz of that, she’s barely called into action by Ladybug out fear for her (Chloe’s) and her loved ones safety. We’ll get back to this later, when then see Lila and from the previous review, we saw that she has allied with Gabe in being a spy for him to get intell on Adriens whereabouts. Nice to see she’s becoming a reacurring character now. Like what should’ve happened in Season 2! Humph! She has no idea he’s Hawk Moth nor does she know she’s just being used to trigger akuma attacks and is only doing so to be close to Adrien. Her first assignment, target Chloe so that she might join Hawk Moth after the lack of duty from Ladybug to turn against her.

Here’s something I found interesting, Mayura was in this episode! Mayura was in this episode! From last seasons finale, we saw that Nathalie (as the fandom guessed) was the peacock miraculous holder, but Gabe had told her not to use it again cuz the miraculous was damaged! So why is she here again!? Why!? Later on that too, but we do get to see more of her powers and she uses this thing that’s called a “sentimonster”? She uses one of her fan feathers, an “amok”, to create a creature from the object of the negative emotions of the victims in a vaguely similar way to Hawk Moths power and hers is called “amokatization”. Pretty cool, except her second “sentimonster” was a lollipop monster😒. Yeah, not as good as the butterfly one. Sorry. It still has the same purifying effects though (Lol! Bye-bye feather!).

Back to Chloe, when the “sentimonster” attacked she was for sure Ladybug would come and get her this time, especially since Lila told her about “a way to contact her (Ladybug)”. It ended up looking like a poor attempt at rain dance is what happened. When the “sentimonster” was defeated without Queen Bee, Chloe gets upset at being ignored again which Hawk Moth senses and tries to alumatize her. She refused!😳She refused! She f**king refused! SOUND THE ALARM PEOPLE! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME EVER IN “MIRACULOUS LADYBUG” HISTORY THAT SOMEONE HAS REJECTED AN AKUMA! AND FROM CHLOE BOURGEOIS OF ALL PEOPLE! WTF!? Surprisingly, Hawk Moth wasn’t astonished by this though? Hmmm. He does, however, send the akuma to Sabrina when Chloe shoos her away after getting upset at not being called into action again and refusing to play “Ladybug and Cat Noir” with her and this time we see her akumatization (unlike in “Antibug”) and her second villainess look, Miracular!

I’m so glad this episode happened cuz starting from this seasons premiere, I did not find a single akumatized villain that I liked! (I almost settled with Chameleon!). I mean, don’t get me wrong, some of ‘em were pretty good, but I tend to have high standards on things. Villains included. Miracular looked great, her power was cool (removing/bestowing powers) and I loved how it looked when it happened (Team Miraculouses signature logos appeared on her outfit! (squees) ), she’s funny and she was pretty tough to deal with especially when it involved the whole Miraculous team (Queen Bee involved finally and sadly, last) to defeat her! 🎉Congratulations Miracular!🎉So far, you’re my favorite akuma of this season! Thank you! Not to mention how her goal was to give the powers she stole to Chloe so they can legit play “Ladybug and Cat Noir” like they always do (“Antibug”). From the montage we saw, Chloe does care about Sabrina at times when she’s not being a b****. It was from that montage though that led her to help Ladybug defeat her. Tickle torture! 🤣. Even though Sabrina has a servitude idea of friendship, she’s still happy with Chloe and she was kind enough to let her keep the Ladybug suit after her reluctant retirement from herohood. Awwww. Hopefully, their relationship will get better.

Things I want to know here. Why is Mayura here!? Nathalie was feeling sick after using it and apparently from what we saw in “Stormy Weather 2” she still is! And Gabe has warned her not to use it cuz it’s damaged and I’m pretty sure it’s the reason his wife is “taking a nap”! So why is he letting her use it again!? Did I miss an episode!? Or has he really gone mad and desperate enough to disregard his own staffs health (and lives) just to get Emilie back!? Scary! Mayuras power, as I said, is vaguely similar to Hawk Moths. Both use their miraculouses for evil, have a way to corrupt people (butterflies and feathers), can communicate with their victims and have the same way for Ladybug to purify them. The difference is, Hawk Moths is called akuma/akumatizations and Mayuras is amoks/amokizations and Hawk Moth creates supervillains from the object of the victim whereas Mayura creates “sentimonsters” from the object of the victims. Makes me think how Emilie used hers for good? Not sure what her powers had to do with representaing the peacock, but I assume since peacocks are “flashy” type of creatures, then the “sentimonsters” are it’s way of showing how “flashy” Mayura can create them. This ep marked history as the first time ever in the show someone rejected an akuma! Wow! And from Chloe Bourgeois!? We almost saw that from “Zombizou”, but here, it was a definite No! She must really be devoted to Ladybug this season. Guess being a superheroine really made her do good (not enough, but still). It wasn’t really confirmed by the staff that she was redeeming herself (the progress was frustratingly slow), but I guess that was just the fandoms speculation. Sabrina got her second chance to shine in her new akumatization where we see it happen and she was one tough little cookie to crack. They needed the whole super squad for her! (the Bee Miraculous was almost stolen!). Her Kirby powers were super effective that she could mix the powers of the heroes all together and we see for the first time what really happens when a living breathing human being is hit by Cataclysm! They don’t die! But it breaks their insides like what happened to Cat Noirs ribs. Ouch! Where do they have to hit to kill a human the heart!?.........Well, that was dark! The battle was intense! What with all the heroes powerless and not thinking straight to stop Miraculer, they needed Queen Bee. In her final and most badass fight with Ladybug and Team Miraculous, she did a great job. She turned down an offer she could refuse from the dark side and almost took back the peacock miraculous! Atta Girl! In the end, it was her who even gave Ladybug the idea on how to defeat Miraculer. Despite all that, Ladybug told Chloe she needed to retire due to her identity exposure and safety of her loved ones. Chloe played it cool (always trying to hide her vulnerability), but deep down she was heartbroken. Not sure if this is the end, but a special good-bye to a once good hero we all guessed would be, Chloe Bourgeois a.k.a. Queen Bee (trumpets plays “Taps”). Oh! Queen Bee, the fandom always knew you were meant to be the chosen one for the bee miraculous since the beginning and now it’s canon. You were discovered when you found the bee miraculous (“Queens Battle:Queen Wasp”), but sadly, you failed to live up to the expectations of herohood. Then you apologized and made a comeback to save all of Paris (“Queens Battle:Malediktator”). And finally, you joined Team Miraculous against the best of the worst akumatized supervillains to save Paris again (“Heroes Day:Cataylst/Mayura”). Your last “Hoo-ray” in the fight against Miraculer shall be known as the best one of all. We thank you for your services Queen Bee. Amen🙏🏻. What’s worse, Chloe is starting to lose her faith in Ladybug and from this episode, I think we’ll see how she really feels in this seasons finale in “Battle of the Miraculous:Miracule Queen”. Let’s see if it’s as tearjerking as it was said.