#document analysis

[officialspec]

my fan fiction graph

[airwavesdotblog]

O.J. Simpson’s Twists of Fate: From Cancer Battles to Infamous Trials

In May 2023, O.J. Simpson shared a video on X (formerly known as Twitter), revealing that he had recently “caught cancer” and undergone chemotherapy. Although he didn’t specify the type of cancer, he expressed optimism about beating it. Fast forward to February 2024, when a Las Vegas television station reported that Simpson was once again receiving treatment for an unspecified cancer. In a…

[tudorblogger]

Book Review - ‘Anne Boleyn’s Letter from the Tower’ by Sandra Vasoli

Who thought it was possible to write an entire book on a single letter? Well, Sandra Vasoli manages it, and what a brilliant book as well! I have never quite been sure what to make of this letter said to have written by Anne Boleyn to Henry VIII from the Tower of London on 6 May 1536. Many historians question the authenticity of the letter, saying it’s a fake. Vasoli follows the track of the…

[clownowo]

I think that if Miles Edgeworth were to ever have a Tumblr blog it would be entirely Steel Samurai based with a carefully organized tagging system. He posts lengthy formally worded analysis about Steel Samurai and nothing else. He doesn't check his notes. He does check his asks, because they're kind of like emails. He has anon asks and dms turned off. Someone sends an ask about his interests outside of Steel Samurai and he immediately blocks them. He doesn't have pronouns or a name to be called by in his bio. The only hint about Edgeworth's personal life is that when he refers to the death of Jack Hammer or the conviction of Matt Engarde he only refers to Phoenix as "that man".

Maya definitely has a tumblr and it has a canon Pink Princess url. She actually hoarded a bunch of Pink Princess urls long before the character was officially announced because she knew she needed to have them. Her tumblr header is "the real pink princess ask sal manella". Her pinned post has these

[ID: Two blinkie banners. The first has a lesbian flag background and says "Pink Princess is canonically gay." The second is light pink and says "PinkSteel shippers dni". End ID] (thank you @princess-of-purple-prose)

Maya follows him and sends Edgeworth asks periodically. He thinks she's a wonderful conversationalist. He has no idea of her identity. Maya is fully aware he's Edgeworth.

[cheshirecat-syndrome]

[fujoshiromiya]

💥

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

pez dispenser debris for the fic ask thing? 👀

As much as this is my “kill no darlings you will get EVERY flashback” fic, there’s overarching sociopolitical backstory explaining why Izuku and the rest of class 3A exploded in the public eye that I don’t think I’ll ever fully fit in.

It’s a combination of it being more of a meta analysis than anything and also requiring information from a perspective that I know will never appear in the fic. Like, the fic still gets the different moments that make up this analysis, but there’s no explicit connecting thread to show how they all locked together to create this sort of global cult following of class 3-A. I almost put in a little fake news article opinion piece that was meant to sort of walk the reader through why society is Like This, but I decided it was too heavy handed and deleted it.

Everything that I’m going to reference has already appeared in pez dispenser debris to some degree, and none of it will ever actually materially impact the plot. They may receive a little more detail down the line if they’re mentioned in passing in the fic, so out of an abundance of caution, I’ll stick it below the cut so people can avoid this, but I don’t personally consider any of this spoilers.

Izuku and the rest of the class are famous in pez dispenser debris in a way that’s pretty much unprecedented for students. Canonically, not even all might had a name for himself until after his graduation. Pretty much everyone from class 3A are public figures, with Izuku specifically being considered a major global figure.

In my mind, there was this perfect storm right during their second year that catapulted them into fame. The class personally has varying levels of awareness of why they got so popular, but there was this perfect cross winds of societal unrest and fear that made them household names.

There was an approximately one month span in their second year where they were just hit one after another with a major firestorms of events: The UA Sports Festival, the Sidekick Strike, and the Tartarus Prison Break/Desertion of Yokohama.

The UA Sports Festival is the one that the kids attribute this most to, because so many of the news articles that followed referenced their performance in it. But it probably gave them less mileage than what the other two events did.

What the UA Sports Festival did was showcase their skills to the world in a venue designed to show them off. The public was already on edge. All Might had retired, crime rates kept going up, and people were rapidly losing confidence in existing heroes. Class 2A made such an insane showing of skill in the second Sports Festival that it made the public rave about them for weeks after. It was extremely reassuring to Japan that they had such powerful heroes in the barrel and would soon be on the streets. But that attention probably would have died down had it not been for the Sidekick Strike and Yokohama.

The Sidekick Strike actually had nothing to do with them. But it undermined the public’s faith in heroes at just the right time.

The Sidekick Strike is just one of those things that I have no POV that would even tangentially be involved in it so we’ll get a few passing references in media clips and it’ll never be discussed in depth. Which is a shame because it’s such an interesting conflict to me.

The Sidekick Strike was heavily inspired by the 1919 Boston Police Strike. Effectively, it was the height of the labor rights movement, and police officers got together and went on strike to get the police union recognized. They had tried to negotiate and negotiations failed, and so they all walked off the job. The city descended into lawlessness, the national guard was deployed, it was a whole thing. Famously, Calvin Coolidge fired the entire police force over it on the grounds that there was no striking from public safety.

I thought it would be really interesting if there was something similar that happened with the sidekicks. The thing is that the heroics structure as it stands really incentivizes abuse towards sidekicks. We have a society where there’s a decent amount of heroes who are only in it for the fame. A not insignificant amount of money must come from marketing deals. And it’s a ranked system, so they’re all in competition with each other.

Heroes wouldn’t be incentivized to showcase their sidekicks—they’d be incentivized to take advantage of them and take credit for their work.

Like, think about the work-study experiences. Momo didn’t even officially work for the hero she studied with. She wasn’t getting paid. An adult woman used her for a shampoo ad. Who wants to bet whether Momo saw a dime from it? It’s probably very predatory because the nature of the system incentivizes predation.

I thought the underlying legal issues would be interesting and complex. Who owns a sidekick’s image—the agency or the individual? Who gets the proceeds of their brand deals? This all would be governed by their employment contracts, and sidekicks just starting out have very little leverage compared to big name heroes. And those heroes would want to keep their sidekicks names small and theirs big. The rankings are competitive, after all.

It’s a situation where I do think that like. The sidekicks would have a point in unionizing. The use of their image, appropriate compensation, and proper credit for their busts would all be like, very legitimate concerns in a normal employment context.

I see agencies like Idaten settling immediately with the union and having their sidekicks back on the street before the day is out. In my mind, idaten is considered the gold standard for sidekick jobs already, and their employees mostly did it out of solidarity with the people they worked alongside of. Like, Idaten was already doing most of the union’s demands and signed off very quickly on the remaining ones. If it was just about the Idaten sidekicks, none of them would have gone on strike, but they had a lot of colleagues who they depended on in the field who were in terrible situations. What were they gonna say, sorry, sucks to be you, I got a great gig though so condolences? These were the people keeping them alive. They went on strike because they knew Idaten would publicly settle before the day was out and set an example for the rest of the agencies. Hopefully it would help other agencies follow their lead.

But that didn’t happen. Some agencies, like Endeavor’s, fired everyone immediately. And I think a lot of agencies spent a long time picking over every line item in prolonged negotiations. It dragged out.

And that went over fucking terribly.

All Might just retired. Crime is up. And their sworn defenders are bickering over who gets what cut of the action figure line. Like I think the public would have fucking hated this in a post-All Might world. It would have seemed like the only real hero just medically and irreversibly retired and the rest of them are squabbling about whose turn it is in the spotlight.

I also think that the villains would have taken advantage of it.

The Tartarus Prison Break in pez isn’t the one that happened in canon. Here, the League of Villains attacked Tartarus and set everyone loose. In the process, they made a very clear stance: they are going to leave with All for One, and they are not going to attack any civilians. They won’t fight at all unless attacked first.

All of the horrible and sadistic villains they just let go have not made the same promise.

They chose to do this now because of the Sidekick Strike. All their heroes don’t give a fuck about protecting them, so they’re strapped for staffing. So they’re taking back their leader and going back to ground, and the heroes are free to immediately go after and contain all those bad bad villains who just escaped. And those guys are headed to the heavily populated mainland, so better be quick.

The whole world knew that was their explicit reasoning and promise. Because Himiko fucking lived tweeted the escape.

The Sidekick Strike took the hit for a lot of the blame, but I do see all the sidekicks breaking strike lines to go respond to the crisis. But response times were severely handicapped by the fact that most if not all of them were cut off from their agencies. It was just a complete systemic breakdown.

And then there became the question of what crisis do you respond to: All for One’s escape, or everyone else’s?

I mentioned in one of the little fake tumblr posts that the Tartarus Prison Break was seen as Endeavor’s greatest failure. And part of that is because he chose to sacrifice the nearby area, Yokohama, to contain All for One.

I am one of the biggest haters of Endeavor’s later arc, specifically because it required going back on the nature of the abuse he had subjected his family to that was already established in canon, but that’s a different rant. This is not canon endeavor. I hate what they did with canon endeavor.

That being said, I do think that the self doubt weighed on him once he became number one. And this was the moment of his career where it really crushed him.

All for One had escaped. So had every other villain from Tartarus. He should go after the most immediate threats. He knew this. It was basic triage.

But they would never have a better chance to stop All for One.

Prisoners in Tartarus aren’t exactly hitting all their macros and micros or training daily. They are not adherents to the Bakugou Katsuki Fitness Lifestyle. All for One was coming off spending the last few months drugged up to his eyeballs and strapped to a chair in a straitjacket with at least fifty guns pointed at him at all times. The man has not scratched his own nose in weeks. He’s weaker now than he’ll ever be again.

It was their best chance.

If he escaped, and he went back to ground, he’d have the time and space to get as strong as he wanted, and then he’d come back for real. And he’d be coming back for everything.

Stopping him the first time had cost them All Might.

And Endeavor simply was not All Might. And he still wouldn’t be All Might when the next fight came.

It really was the hardest decision of Endeavor’s life. He had to admit to himself that his own inadequacy was going to cost them countless lives. But he thought it was a hard decision he had to make. He was losing the battle for the barest chance at winning the war.

So he made the call that all heroes were to respond to All for One. They had to hit the league of villains now with their full force if they were to stand a chance. They could not afford to divide their already sparse forces. They’d respond to Yokohama when AfO was contained.

He was also the one who made the call to broadcast the warning message that we hear in the Twitter post. He thought it would give civilians their best chance. He didn’t want them to act with the expectation of the heroes being en route.

Of course, that meant that the entire city got fucking sirens going off and a message telling them that the heroes were not going to save them. Which, as you can expect, did not do a lot for public morale.

In my head, Tartarus is like, the equivalent to Gotham’s Arkham. It’s borderline an institute for the criminally insane. You don’t end up there unless you did something super fucked, are super dangerous, and have extreme violent tendencies. It’s exclusively for the most dangerous and indiscriminately violent criminals in the country.

The entire world was watching in real time while the tragedy unfolded. A lot of people were livestreaming after the emergency broadcast dropped, because they didn’t want the government to be able to handwave away how terrible their death was, or because they didn’t know what else to do, or because they just didn’t want to be alone. The full expectation was that it’d be a massacre.

But it wasn’t. Because Class 2-A responded instead.

The Class 2-A defensive efforts were discussed in one of the silly little fake tumblr posts and in the fake twitter post. In those, we find out that 1) Class 2-A, along with Lemillion, Suneater, and Nejire responded to the scene; 2) the entire class rolled out of Mirio’s fucking mom van and tamaki and nejire’s cars like they were fucking clown cars; 3) the HPSC claimed it was a legitimate operation blessed and coordinated by them; and 4) a lot of people think this was a lie, in part because videos leaked of Aizawa bitching them all out in the street afterwards. We also see Izuku’s green lightning at the end of the twitter video, showing him responding to the scene just as the first villains hit the mainland.

This fight has a lot of names in the backstory that lives in my head. It’s called the Tartarus Prison Break for obvious reasons. It’s also been called in some circles the Desertion of Yokohama, because of the call Endeavor made.

But it’s also called the Battle of Yokohoma. And it’s ranked alongside the Battle of Kamino as one of the finest acts of modern day heroics. And that’s because of Class 2-A. If it hadn’t been for them showing up, it would have gone down in history as the Massacre of Yokohama.

Like. It kills me that I can’t include the full details of what happened, but there’s just too much to make in a flashback. It’s a fic in and of itself. But it really was the fight that made Class 2-A.

It was the first fight where they were really the only heroes that could be counted on. Granted, they’d had to fight for their lives alone, but this wasn’t just their lives. These were thousands of terrified civilians who all thought they were going to die.

It was the first true test of them as heroes in the world. And they actually rose to the occasion. They didn’t just fight the villains—they realized that they needed to get emergency services working throughout the city if everyone was going to make it. Momo and Tsuyu conducted a mildly hostile take over of the emergency call center so they could coordinate relief. They had fucking Tokoyami and Dark Shadow single-handedly holding the line on the hospital while Kaminari, Shoji, Jiro, and Sato all learned to drive for the Very First Time while commandeering the city’s fucking ambulances. They were fighting and containing villains, performing emergency aid, putting out literal fires, everything. It was the hardest fight of their lives.

There was a hot second where Class 2-A was The Moment. Like. The entire world was watching them during this fight, and they had no fucking idea until it was over. People lost their minds when the first footage made it out of Yokohama of a bunch of teenagers showing up and immediately throwing hands with S-Class villains.

It was global news. Think of the kind of media attention that was received by the search for the Titan, the Tham Luang Cave Rescue, the Suez Canal getting blocked by the Ever Given (rip queen you will always be famous to me), that kind of thing. Class 2-A was fighting for their fucking lives and then found out three days later while they were all still in the hospital that there was a prayer vigil going on in Portugal for them during the battle and CNN had 24 hours live coverage of the fight that had so many viewers it outnumbered the population of Finland. Like what do you even do with that information.

The world expected a massacre. They didn’t expect a bunch of footage of high schoolers kicking the shit out of superpowered murders and personally ferrying the injured to the hospitals they were also defending.

The other part about this fight that really made them permanently part of the public consciousness is that it was not lost on everyone that every single person who responded to that fight did so at the risk of their license.

All of them had provisional licenses, save Lemillion, Suneater, and Nejire, all of whom went AWOL from the explicit directives ordering them to respond to the fight against All for One. The operation could not have been less authorized. They had to steal their gear and jimmy the UA fence to even get out. The explicit plan was to steal one of the UA buses and have Bakugou fucking drive them to the fight (he also did not know how to drive but he seemed the most likely of them to break literally every single motor vehicle code to get them there but still be naturally talented at it enough to not kill them) but Izuku told Mirio what bullshit they were up to and Mirio, who was with Tamaki and Nejire when the news broke, immediately decided he would be on that bullshit too and pulled up in his mom van.

In my mind, there were strict rules around provisional licenses and how they could be used, and they broke pretty much all of them to respond to Yokohama. It would have been grounds to revoke their provisionals and permanently bar them from heroics. Lemillion, Suneater, and Nejire could have all lost their licenses for helping them and for going AWOL.

The HPSC fucking fell over themselves to legitimatize the entire operation. They knew they were utterly fucked if they didn’t. These kids already had murals being painted of their faces in other fucking countries. There was a little old lady in Kyoto livestreaming herself working overtime to embroider Iida’s face onto a cushion because that lovely young man saved her darling granddaughter from *checks notes* horrible and painful death directly caused by the failings of the current HPSC administration. There were multiple trending posts online agreeing to fucking riot if those kids got in trouble for this.

Every single actual hero in the immediate vicinity of this disaster had responded to fight a villain who wasn’t actually attacking anyone. And then they fucking lost. They publicly broadcast a message saying Good Luck Champs Because We’re Not Going To Save You. It was an actual PR nightmare that they had a bare chance of salvaging if they just latched onto these kids like an aggressive parasite and that is exactly what they did.

They totally knew. Actually, it was a joint operation coordinated by and between UA and and the HPSC. Why would the kids be in trouble?? They had responded because the HPSC told them to.

UA gave it a week of dead silence and then issued a short statement praising the bravery of their students in a recent HPSC approved mission, and then they never said another word about it. They didn’t have any choice but to go along with the HPSC’s story. If they contradicted them, all of class 2-a would find their licenses pulled by the end of the day, and lord knows they wouldn’t wait for the court of public opinion to work its magic and would just all go out and become fucking vigilantes, because why not. Aizawa has aged 100 years since he got this class. Every single day he thinks of how it was a 50/50 shot between him and Vlad.

No one in the class is fully aware of just how famous they were in the immediate aftermath, because the school bent over backwards to try and shield them from it as much as possible. Like, they have an idea, but none of them saw the full explosion firsthand because of just how hard the school worked to keep it from them. Aizawa confiscated the internet router and told them it was punishment for whatever the fuck they did to the buses (thank god Mirio was just as crazy as them because they were NOT GOOD at hotwiring cars) but really it was to try and insulate them from it a little bit. Like. Japan’s Imperial Family wanted to do an official visit. The White House offered to host them. They received interview requests from every major talk show on the planet. Buzzfeed wanted to do a puppy interview with them.

Right now, Aizawa’s terrified for Midoriya’s graduation, but in the aftermath of that, he was breathing into a paper bag about all of them. Society had sort of latched onto them like they were the last life raft on the titanic. All for One was back, and All Might wasn’t, and the heroes had publicly broadcast a message saying they were useless, but don’t fucking worry, fifteen year old Iida Tenya is on the case. Society will be upheld by Kaminari Denki, currently viral for driving a real life city ambulance one hundred miles per hour down the street while screaming “WEE WOO BITCH.” And don’t forget the pillar that will be Mina Ashido, who rushed over to him earlier that day to show him her extra sparkly pink nails. And if you have a major fight that needs to be won? Don’t fucking worry, just send out bone-breaking boy wonder Midoriya Izuku and his equally reckless brother Toogata Mirio, because their dumbasses managed to take down an S-Class villain team that only All Might could defeat the first time around. Don’t worry about the multi week hospitalization they needed after, because that’s an acceptable burden to put on children.

When Aizawa started this job, he promised himself he would never send a student out to die. Some of them would die. But it would be tragedy, not damnation. He’d have given them their best chance. Part of the reason why he made that promise was because he sort of felt like his teacher sent him out set up to die, and it’s only luck that he made it through his first couple of years.

He has gone to the funeral of every single student he has ever had who did not make it. He goes back to their graves every year.

He was fucking petrified after Yokohama that society would push these kids too far too soon. Every single one of his classes before them had gotten the benefit of being practically unknown their first few years. They didn’t have the world talking about them like they were already the top heroes. He was terrified they wouldn’t have the space to learn and grow when they started.

A lot of teachers would have tried to mine the notoriety of Yokohama to hard launch their students’ careers. Aizawa told Nedzu point blank that he would quit tomorrow if he did not help him quash this thing as much as possible, and nedzu agreed.

This world killed its real heroes. It sucked them dry and left them like All Might, and he just needed fucking time. He needed fucking time to let them be kids and maybe they’d survive.

Izuku ended up being the one who escaped the aftermath of everything the least. His Quirk was too much like All Might’s for the world to let go of him easily.

And then Stain got fucking dogpiled by idaten in the aftermath of the Tartarus prison break and implied he considered Izuku the only true hero in the absence of all might and everyone started asking super inconvenient questions like “how does stain even know you exist” and “no really he called you by your actual legal name how does he even know that” and it just. It didn’t help things. Izuku’s suffering.

So yeah. There was just this absolute collision of a total lack of faith in current heroes combined with a huge swell of public trust in class 2-a that led us to being in the landscape we are now. All of the currently licensed heroes said that they wouldn’t be there to save the public, and then Class 2-A immediately hit back that they would be there. Actually, they’ll risk everything to be there. They’ll die to protect the public and they’ll risk the entire future they had been trying to build and they will fucking be there to save them.

There’s a lot of people that never forgave the heroes for deserting Yokohama. And there’s even more people who have absolute faith in Izuku and his classmates because they didn’t. That’s why the world is watching them so aggressively. These kids are the most trusted heroes in Japan right now.

I wish I could fit in more about what happened, because I love this backstory so much, but 1) some of it absolutely requires POVs like Endeavors, which we won’t get in pez dispenser debris, 2) there’s no one POV that could tell the full story via flashback and 3) it’d just be too long of a divergence. Like. It really is a whole fic of its own. I’d love to write it one day but I probably won’t have the time

[mosstrades]

been rewatching a pretty good series

[101suouexpressions]

Suou, the one who values his words

I know I recently kinda called him a liar in my fic, but despite what people might think, Suou truly never lies.

Harmless jokes

Suou had made quite the entrance with his unique style and the famous "Leo Dicaprio" line.

This, to people who knew he was just bluffing for fun (which was pretty much everyone except our beloved Sakura), was quite the shocker, but in a good way, since it helped bringing across that he was indeed friendly.

Facing inquiries from his peers

Suou's way of dealing with questions he doesn't want to answer resembles his fighting style a lot: Deflecting, and throwing the opponent off-balance.

Deflection here refers to how he diverts the attention to someone/something else, thus avoiding having to elaborate.

For example, after the duels with Shishitouren, Suou redirected his classmates to Nirei so that he didn't have to answer.

And by throwing the opponent off-balance, I mean he asked the question back at the other person, like how he dealt with Sakura here.

This doesn't always work, but it is surely effective against someone who is as easily flustered as Sakura.

However, this means that Suou's natural enemies are people who push for an answer regardless of his effort to drive them away.

Entering: Tsugeura Taiga.

Apparently, Suou really had a hard time fending himself off of pushy people. I'm pretty sure he would just beat it into their heads if they weren't someone he cares about, but Tsugeura was his classmate and although stubborn, the boy meant no harm. This left Suou, in a way, kind of helpless.

Look at his face, he's going though it! (And I'm cackling about it haha)

No matter what, there will always be situations where he couldn't crack a joke to cover up, but instead of lying about it, Suou simply refused to answer.

This can be either just nodding to what they say and calling it a day...

(You can see the pattern here. "Everyone calls me that", "That's what everyone says". He's avoiding having to give a concrete answer.)

...or, smiling mysterously.

When Sakura took notice of Nirei's scrapings and questioned Suou about it, you can see the contrast between Nirei's and Suou's responses here. Nirei had opted to an innocuous lie in hope that Sakura wouldn't push it, while Suou only gave him a secretive smile.

Suou just, does not lie.

I feel like a lot of people don't recognize this trait of him. To be fair, it was only when I was going through my notes of Suou's behaviors that I finally saw the pattern.

So, what do y'all think?

[tec-a0l]

what do you think Eric would've been like if a girl seriously loved him, like deeply?

i’m unsure if you’re referring to how/if his life would’ve changed or how he’d react to a girl being interested in him, so i’ll just do my best to answer both!

in terms of how his life may have gone, i personally don’t believe much would’ve changed. eric didn’t seem to be good at regulating his emotions, and didn’t have a great track record when it came to women (notably, faking his suicide to “prank” tiffany typher), so it’s hard for me to imagine he’d have been a good enough partner for a lasting relationship, and any subsequent falling out would likely have only fueled his rage.

plus, i have a feeling that eric being in a relationship while dylan was single (something that would absolutely have displeased and even infuriated dylan) would make things rocky at best between them. we know that he clearly held dylan in very high regard—even copying him at times, according to devon adams—so doing something that might jeopardize that friendship seems out of character to me, even if he was desperate for a girlfriend (or at least, the idea of a girlfriend).

when i consider eric in a genuine relationship, susan dewitt immediately comes to mind. we know they were fairly close, even hanging out on prom night together (the witness statement she made regarding that night is one i plan on posting soon). while it’s unclear if he truly had any intent to engage in a relationship with her, he did address susan in the final basement tape and said that things would’ve been “very different” under different circumstances.

after the massacre, susan wrote the following letter to him:

reading this, it’s clear that she cared for him immensely, and from her statement about prom night, it’s clear he cared for her quite a bit as well. while i do think it’d be a nice story if knowing her feelings for him (or even them dating) made him not go through with the massacre, i truly don’t think any kind of love or relationship would’ve been enough to change his mind.

like i mentioned in the personality analysis i did for him, we don’t really have a ton of insight into eric from family or friends, so trying to determine his behavior/reaction to such a personal experience is quite difficult. besides, he was only 18 when he died, so any kind of romance he may have had prior would’ve definitely been. well. the kind of romance you have in high school 😅

i’m sorry this is so long, hopefully i answered at least some of what you were asking! feel free to send a follow up ask if you have more questions or want me to elaborate on anything :-)

[dramatwrgy]

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[ineffable-suffering]

Aziraphale, I love you. But you lied. And here's why.

Okay. I’m not gonna beat around the bush for too long. It’s time now for me to also throw my try at a personal Good Omens Season 2 Magnum Opus into the mix of already existing magnum op..i? Opusses? (Smited? Smote?)

If I’m honest, it isn’t fully my own magnum opus, as I read this meta not too long ago that made me go: „Oh! My God! That’s it!“ And I’m pretty sure a lot of other people have clocked this too by now. Of course I’m not saying it’s the objective truth but after having mulled it over for many endless nights and days, wading through the onslaught of coffee theories, body swap theories, The Metatron re-writing the Book of Life theories and many, many more, this is the one I think is most plausible and, if you look closely, most obvious.

And it goes as such: Aziraphale lied.

To all of us. All of them. And most of all, to Crowley. He lied to him. Well, he sort of did and also sort of didn’t. He certainly didn’t tell the truth. At least not all of it. I hear you ask: “OP, what the fuck are you talking about”. I answer you: Let’s start from the top and under the cut.

(Small note: this meta ended up being way too large for Tumblr, which is why I will redirect you to an external doc at the end of the post, where I have written it all down nicely and accurately. It's about 35 digital A4-pages long, just in case you want to save it for later.)

(Word count: 12.831 | Approximate reading time: 50 minutes)

Let’s start with a short recap of what happens before the Metatron crashes the bookshop party and everything goes to shit. The proper visuals for this are in my Tumblr post but I am absolutely convinced that right up until when the Metatron comes to take Aziraphale away and talk to him, the angel is fully ready to get into Crowley’s Bentley-chariot and finally ride off into the sunset (or Alpha Centauri-set or whatever). You can see it in his face and body language. You can see when the penny drops for him that a) Crowley loves him b) he loves Crowley and c) they can finally start their happily ever after. Aziraphale realizes this all throughout said Brielzebub reveal in the bookshop. And he’s such a lost cause once he does. 

I mean, look at that. Look at it. This (very shitty recording, sorry, I'm not tech-savvy enough to avoid the Amazon Prime screen recording blocker) is the very second Aziraphale realizes hat Crowley loves him. When he hears him suggest Alpha bloody Centauri as a getaway for Gabriel and Beelzebub, as Crowley has done to Aziraphale for so, so many times now. He finally understands what Crowley was trying to tell him with that all those times.

Aziraphale realizes this all throughout the Brielzebub reveal in the bookshop. And he’s such a lost cause once he does.

Right when Crowley suggest Alpha Centauri as a nice getaway spot to the two, Aziraphale looks at him and he gets it. That Crowley has loved him, has been loving him for millennia. Truthfully, they've both known that for a long while now. But there's a difference between knowing, wanting, craving and actually being able to finally have something. And that's exactly what we see on Aziraphale's face here. This is it. This is where it all starts working out for Crowley and him. This is were they can start their eternity together.

So from that second on, Aziraphale only has eyes for Crowley. He keeps physically pawing at Crowley with complete heart eyes, as if to say „Look, look, that’s gonna be us too! Finally!" He’s actually so smitten that he doesn’t even hear what Crowley is saying when he asks Shax if he can have back his apartment now because he’s sick of living in his car. (Also, what way to drop that bomb right in this moment Crowley, lmao). 

Once the Metatron comes in, the first thing Aziraphale says is that they don’t need to talk because „he’s made his position quite clear“. He doesn’t even want to talk to the Metatron, because in his mind, he’s already made the choice. Actually, he made the choice way before the bookshop showdown. For starters, I’m convinced that the Jane Austen Ball actually never was for Maggie and Nina but for Crowley and him (you can read more about that here). And apart from that, for this whole season we have seen Aziraphale trying to advance his relationship with Crowley romantically and domestically and move them to the literal next base (our car!). And after everything he just witnessed with Brielzebub, the final nail in the coffin of ethereal-infernal romance being possible, his choice is absolutely crystal clear: It’s Crowley. It’s always been Crowley and it always will be Crowley. And now it can be Crowley. They can be an us.

The whole of Season 2 is such a massive learning curve for Aziraphale’s character, with him remembering all those important pivotal points of his past,  and this very moment is the peak, with him not only understanding that Crowley loves him (because he certainly knew for quite some centuries now) but accepting that love, letting himself have that love, being allowed to want that love and taking that love and starting their new and final chapter with it. Nevertheless, the plot clock ticks for them. The Metatron saunters into the bookshop, evil and stinky as Metatrons do, and urges Aziraphale to come with him with his whole Take The Coffee schtick, which I will get into later. And Aziraphale, immediately sensing there’s Something Up, does. Can’t really turn down someone as high-ranking as the the voice of God, after all. Even if you were currently already planning how you were going to elope with a certain red-haired serpent of Eden. 

he next time we see Aziraphale on screen, it’s so painfully evident on his face that he is neither happy nor excited. Not even the slightest bit. We’d know if he was, thanks to Mr. Michael master-of-microexpressions Sheen. None of the usual “Aziraphale is happy”-signs are there. No blinding eye-smile, no giddy wriggling, not giggles and gasps. No, when the Metatron tells Aziraphale to „go tell your friend the good news“, his expression looks like this:

I’m gonna go out on an entire limb here and say: That does not look like someone who’s absolutely tickety-boo hyped to tell his demon soulmate that he just got the juiciest promotion and that they can both be angels and live happily ever after in ethereal eternity now.

This, folks, looks like someone who knows exactly that the news he has to break right now, are going to be tickety-shit awful and very upsetting to said demon soulmate. And already, from that very short snippet of conversation, we can tell that Aziraphale isn’t really given a choice by the Metatron. Because while the Metatron does tell him that he doesn’t have to „answer right away“, he immediately follows it up by: „Go ahead and tell your friend the good news!“ Very distinct and definitive choice of words here. It’s “good news” because it’s already been decided. Because it’s already a done deal. There is no “yes, no, maybe”. This is the only choice he’s giving to Aziraphale. Because it’s ‘Coffee or death’. 

And he already gave him the coffee. 

***

Tumblr won't let me continue this over a certain character limit and I am not even remotely done yet – so, I feel like this is a good moment to redirect you to the continuation of this insane meta before we're in too deep. You can do so right here!

I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions about this once you've fought your way through it. Hope you have a good time with it!

[flightfoot]

Marinette is the second-biggest liar in Miraculous

Marinette's fascinating. She says she hates liars, but she will freely use lies to get things to go the way she wants - sometimes to help others, and sometimes to help herself. To the point that I'd argue Marinette's a Guile Hero, even. Outside of cases where NOT lying would have catastrophic consequences (e.g. Marinette needs to tell a lame excuse in order to go be Ladybug), she'll lie to try and avoid embarrassment or to help accomplish some goal she has.

The show doesn't often focus too heavily on the fact that Marinette's lying during these, so I feel like they're overlooked a lot, but I'd have trouble telling those lies, personally, since I really don't like lying. Something really needs to at least be true from a certain angle in order for me to feel comfortable saying it.

Anyway, I've decided to go through all the episode transcripts to document these cases in order to get a clearer picture of them, and try to figure out what it means for Marinette. I'm not going to include cases where Marinette's lying to herself, lying so that she can run off and fight the akuma, lying to try and trick an akuma into a position where they can be defeated, lying to maintain her secret identity, or things like that, though there will be some gray areas, of course.

Darkblade

While most of the time when Marinette's late to class it's due to her doing something as Ladybug (which she obviously can't tell people, so she has to lie), she'll lie even if she's late due to things she COULD explain, like when she was working on a trap for her diary and lost track of time.

(Marinette enters the classroom.) Marinette: Hi! I'm sorry! I-uh, I-uh, the bus, (Marinette starts coughing), dry throat!

The Mime

Marinette accidentally deletes the video of Ladybug talking to Alya, so instead of fessing up to the mistake, she steals Alya's phone so she can recreate the video, lying to Mylene about why she has the phone when asked.

(Marinette's phone rings.) Marinette: Hey there, Mylène! Mylène: (from phone) Do you have Alya's cellphone? Marinette: Uh, Alya's phone? Ah! There it is! It must have fallen down off her bag! Silly girl. Alya: (from phone) It's me! I'm here too. Marinette: Oh! Hi, Alya. You're on speakerphone? Hmm.. 'kay, I'll give it to you later on...at the show. See ya! (Tikki looks at her deceivingly.) Marinette: Don't look at me like that. This is all gonna work out! I think...

Marinette does fess up at the end of the episode at least, since she couldn't recreate the video.

The Collector

I'm not counting Marinette's lie that she used to return the Grimoire, since she stole it at Tikki's behest for good reason, and it was best that she not hint at the truth of how she obtained the book.

I AM counting Marinette lying to Fu though, because while I understand why she did it, telling him the truth was a viable option.

Master Fu: How did you discover this book, Marinette? Marinette: (Marinette has a flashback of Adrien with the Miraculous book.) I... uh... I found it, lying on a bench in a park close to... close to the school. Master Fu: You didn't see who it belonged to, then? Marinette: No. No, I...didn't. (Tikki looks at Marinette in a bewildered manner.) Master Fu: What a shame. For a moment, I thought we were about to discover the identity of Hawk Moth. We would've had a chance to defeat him. Marinette: Uh... I could investigate if you want.

Prime Queen

While Marinette double-booked herself as Ladybug and as Marinette and her not being able to say that she double-booked herself is partly why she was driven to lie, Marinette DID have other viable options for dealing with the situation she'd created for herself. She could have just gone to the bathroom, called either the network or Chat Noir, and said that something came up and she had to cancel. I don't know that that would have been the better option per se given how many people would have been disappointed by that, but it would certainly have been the more responsible choice.

Marinette:(Stutters) Oh, I forgot to err, tell my bakery something. They're in the parents downstairs. Do you mind keeping an eye on Manon while I'm not here? Alya: Don't you mean tell your parents something in the bakery? Marinette:(Continues stuttering.) Err, right. Well, err, sometimes, it can take a while - they don't always understand even when I explain. Err, actually, it's not their fault, they... Alya: Marinette? Marinette: Yes? Alya:Go! Marinette: Right! (Marinette then leaves with running down the stairs and starts talking to Tikki.) Alya's such a good friend, I feel so guilty for inviting her over just so I can leave her with Manon - then again, Alya is Ladybug's biggest fan - she'd be crushed if her favorite superhero didn't turn up for her favorite TV show.

Glaciator

This one's a weird example. I'm not sure why Marinette even lied about this. Maybe for privacy's sake? It's not exactly a secret that she loves Adrien though, and she's not doing it out of denial.

Marinette:(stares at the ice-cream) Uh...um. No! I- There's been a mistake! I'm not in love with anyone. And I think I just lost my appetite. (hands the ice-cream back) André: Why of course you are, my little one. When there's love burning in one's heart, André knows it from the start. Enjoy your ice-cream, Marinette. I know he'll be here. (Marinette stares at her ice-cream with a sad look on her face) Ivan: Green eyes like mint... Who could that possibly be? Marinette:(to André) Thank you, but you've got it all wrong. I don't have a- (She suddenly hear a whistle. She turns her head and sees someone walking who has the same clothing as Adrien) Adrien? (But it turns out to be Wayhem. She sighs)

...okay so this other part from Glaciator isn't a lie, but I think is something I need to note, considering some of the things Marinette does down the line.

Ladybug: Listen, I don't wanna play around with your feelings. It would be the same as lying to you. I don't wanna do that. You're more than a partner, Cat Noir. You're my friend. And I'd never wanna lie to a friend.

Like I fully believe Ladybug meant this at the time so she wasn't lying, but man this did not age well.

Troublemaker

This is another "Marinette lies to avoid embarrassment" scenario. She's not ready to confess to Adrien yet.

Marinette:(interrupting Adrien) Oh, so you watched the show, then! (laughs nervously) Well, uh, look...about what you saw on the show last night — the totographs, in my room— Adrien: You mean the photographs? Marinette:(assertively) The grotographs, exactly! (meekly) It-it's not what you think. (pauses) See...I'm really into fashion, and, umm... Adrien:(leaning forward with a piercing, impish glare) Are you lying? Marinette: No! I'm so not into you—I mean, sure, I'm interested in you, but, um, not in that way; well, you know, ha-ha-ha-ha...ha ha!

Gigantitan

Marinette does lie to Adrien about why she came to the park out of nervousness, she does this a lot.

Marinette: I came here to do some sketching! (holds out her sketch pad) I can't believe we've run into each other here! Hey, would you like to—?(She and Adrien hear his bodyguard honking the car horn impatiently) Hang pout? I mean, hang about? No, hag out? (The bodyguard groans again) Oh, forget it. (chuckles) Better not keep your guard waiting. Adrien: Uh, okay. (Marinette sighs when she realizes she still couldn't ask Adrien out. Her friends are all annoyed at her as well.) But we can take you home if you want it.

Befana

Marinette does lie to her grandma about liking her candies in order to spare her feelings, which isn't really a bad move, but it didn't turn out well either.

Marinette: No! No, it's awesome! I can make this work. It's perfect, grandma. Thank you. Gina: Your Nonna has also brought you your favourite candy! (she places a tin in Marinette's hand) Marinette: Oh! (she laughs uncertainly) Gina: You still love them, right? Marinette: Yes, yes of course...

Gorizilla

I guess this is another "lying out of embarrassment" deal, though I'm not sure why she even bothered with Alya, she's FULLY aware of how enamored Marinette is with Adrien.

Commercial voice and Marinette: Radiant. Carefree. Dreamy. Adrien... (Both Marinette and Tikki suddenly hear the phone. Marinette pauses the video to pick up when she sees that the caller ID shows Alya.) Alya: Marinette, I've been waiting for you for fifteen minutes! Where are you, girl? Marinette: Uh, I was deciding which swimsuit to wear. (chuckles) (The video from her computer starts playing again.) Commercial voice: Radiant. Carefree. Dreamy. Alya: Uh-huh. And the Adrien's ad helps you pick out a swimsuit, girl?

Style Queen

This is another case where Marinette's lying because she's nervous and scared, she doesn't want Audrey to turn on her.

Audrey: What is this? Marinette: Uh… (nervous laughter) Chloé: Uh, Mom, this is Marinette Dupain Cheng, the loser! And this is a hat she made, because she thinks she's a designer. (holds the hat upside down) She even signed it, look. Marinette: I— It's not me, it's another Marinette! I was just bringing it to, uh— Nathalie: Marinette! We have to go. (Marinette takes the hat and runs off with her face buried in the hat)

Reverser

This is another case where I'm not even sure why Marinette lied? Honestly she seems to do it instinctually when she panics. She could've told Adrien the truth about her and Marc wanting to see whether Nathaniel likes the book Marc wrote.

Marc: Do you think he likes it? Marinette: Look at his face, of course he does. Adrien: It's rude to spy on people. Marinette: Eh.. (quickly spins around) No! It's not what you think at all! It's just that... it's gonna be... eh... Nathaniel's birthday soon and, ehm, Marc and I wanted... to give him a disguise... I mean, surprise! Adrien:(not paying it) Cool! (winks) Very typical of you, Marinette. Well, if you need any help with that, let me know. Marinette: Sure won't! (higher pitched voice from embarrassment) Sure will. (slumps) Marc: You're just as shy as I am, aren't you? Marinette: Just do as I say, not as I do, okay?

Anansi

Marinette wants to make sure Nino wins the arm-wrestling competition so Nora will take him seriously, so she sabotages Nora (and uses a lie to give herself the opportunity to do so).

Nora: Really? Is that all you got? Alya: She's gonna rip his arm off. (shakes her head) Nora:(fake yawns) Marinette:(gasps) Over there, an akuma! (points past Nora) Nora:(turns her head to look where Marinette pointed) What?! (Marinette grabs Nino's and Nora's hands and pulls them towards her, so Nora loses the wrestling.) Adrien: And the winner is… Nino! Marinette:(fake sheepishly) Oops, my bad; it was just a fly.

Marinette does fess up to Nora afterwards, thankfully.

Bakerix

So here, Marinette wants to get Roland to open back up to her father, and she's pretty sure telling the truth will get her frozen out (which she is most likely right about) so she resorts to trickery.

Tikki: What are you waiting for, Marinette? Marinette: If I tell him who I am right away, he won't listen to me, just like with mom. (rings doorbell) Rolland: (through an intercom) What do you want? Marinette: Uh... I'm... a friend? Rolland: I don't have any friends. Marinette: This won't be easy. (rings doorbell) Rolland: What do you want? Marinette: Hello, sir. It's the mail lady. Rolland: Do what you usually do. Throw the mail in the trash. (Marinette looks over, sees the mailbox empties into a trashcan. She sighs, then rings the doorbell.) Rolland: What do you want? Marinette: It's for the firefighter's calendar? Rolland: Ah, doesn't need the fire. I hate calenders!

I find it interesting that Tikki actually calls Marinette out for her attempts to infiltrate, including her lying.

Tikki: You sure you should be sneaking in, lying, and pretending to be someone else? You've never met your grandfather, you don't know how he'll react! Marinette: Well, it's not exactly a lie. After all, I am actually- (loses her balance) Delivering the! All the uh! (catches herself) The flour! What really matters is that he comes to dad's birthday party, and that they both make up. (Pushes the front door open, then whispers) Hide, Tikki! (She examines the house as she walks in, noticing all the old-fashioned technology and furnishings)

And of course, she continues to lie to Roland after getting in. I'm not actually sure what her plan was here? I guess to build up some sort of rapport with him before revealing the truth.

Rolland:(startled, turns around) You're not Gilbert! Marinette: No... I'm, um, Germaine! His cousin! Rolland: Hmm. Aren't you a little young to be delivering flour? Marinette: I'm... an intern! (giggles) I'm doing a flour delivery internship, because some day I wanna own my own flour shop! Rolland:(frowns, and turns back to his dough) It's good to be ambitious. You can put the sack down now. Have a nice day. (to his mouse) Soot! (the mouse brings over a bag of soot) Marinette: So you're a baker then, huh? Rolland: Are you a flour delivery girl or a nosy detective? Go on! Put the bag down and be on your way! Marinette: That oven you have there, it's a '72 La Pegnole, Right? It's a rare woodfired model! They only made a few hundred of them! Rolland:(spins around) How did you know that? Marinette: My daddy- uh, um- My bready, bread history teacher taught us that. Rolland: Well, that's new. (incredulous) You need bread history classes to become a flour delivery person now? Marinette: You bet! You have to study for ten years to be a delivery person these days! Rolland:(throws his hands up, then returns to kneading) Good luck with your internship, Germaine. Now put the sack down and have a good day!

Weredad

I'll let Marinette's initial lie about being in love with Chat Noir slide because she panicked and only said that because she believed it was the only way to conceal her secret identity, though there were better options, she just didn't think of them.

I AM counting the way she reacted to Chat gently turning her down though, she had time to think that one through and she went way overboard.

Cat Noir: Anyway, I'm afraid my heart belongs to someone else. (Marinette looks up) Even if she keeps rejecting me. (She looks towards Cat Noir) Even if she loves somebody else. I'm in love with Ladybug. (to Marinette) I'm really sorry, Marinette. (Her parents recoil in shock.) Marinette: (excitedly) Oh, this is so— (She remembers she's supposed to be heartbroken.) Uh… (She looks at her parents.) So sad! (grabbing Cat Noir, dramatically) Oh, to think I spent all this time following you everywhere to tell you that I loved you Cat Noir! (cries) I am so miserable! (weeps on table) No one will ever love me! (Her father looks sad and concerned) (into her hands) I'll end up all alone with my hamster, (running to the stairs) and its name will be (inhales) Loneliness!! (She slams the door and continues crying)

Marinette: (singing) La, la, la, la, la! Ah, such a relief, Tikki. Phew! He's not in love with me. (Tikki looks disappointed)

She really didn't think through how her overreaction here would make Chat feel at all, or how it might cause her parents to act towards Chat.

Silencer

For Silencer, I think Marinette lied here because she didn't want to bring up what seemed to be a love confession that he might not have truly meant as himself. I do still think she should have told him since he directly asked her what he said and because what he said still affects her behavior towards him, so he deserves to know, but I see why she didn't at least.

Marinette: (grabs ahold of Luka before he goes onstage) Luka? Did you really mean those things you said when you were akumatized? Luka: I'm sorry, Marinette, but I don't remember. What did I say? Marinette: Uh, oh, nothing. It was nothing at all. You were possessed by Hawk Moth's akuma.

Christmaster

So this is another "lie Marinette's telling out of embarrassment", though it's also a kind-of pretend-lie, like when Alya claimed to Manon that she was secretly a unicorn. With little kids the line between lying and playing pretend gets blurry at times.

Marinette:(thinking) Uh, look I can't tell you that these are the gifts I've made for Adrien's next 35 birthdays. Cause you'd tell your brother Nino and he'd tell Adrien and Adrien'd think that I'm totally crazy! Wait, maybe I am. (To Chris) Hmm. I can't tell you I'm one of Santa Claus's elves on a secret mission and that I'm looking after one of his boxes of gifts. You wouldn't be interested though; because gifts are for babies, right? And you're a big kid. Chris: That's a lie! Marinette: What, that you're a big kid? Chris: No, that you're one of Santa Claus's elves! Marinette: I can't say anything more.

I do find it interesting that Tikki called her out on it though.

Tikki: A Christmas elf on a secret mission, seriously, Marinette, don't you think you went too far this time? Marinette: I know, Tikki, it was pure ridiculousness. But I couldn't tell him the truth about the gifts. Besides, I simply told Chris a nice little story, which hopefully will teach him some patience. (She picks up the felt dolls and walks to her desk. Tikki looks unsure.) Speaking of patience, I've got an idea of what I can give Adrien for his 50th birthday! Give me a hand?

There's also some follow-up with Chris at the end of the episode.

Marinette: Sure will! It'll be awesome. We're really good buddies. (Alya closes the door) I know I shouldn't have told you that I was one of Santa's elves. But you were acting like— Chris: A baby, I know. Mommy says lying is wrong. So from now on, we'll always tell each other the truth, okay? (He puts out his pinky)

Ikari Gozen

Most of Marinette's nonessential lies are white lies because she's nervous or embarrassed or she thinks it'll help the situation.

What she does in Ikari Gozen is not that. While I don't think she was actively thinking in terms of "I want to hurt Kagami," that was mostly because she wasn't thinking of Kagami as being an actual person with feelings that could be hurt. It's amongst the worst things Marinette has ever done, though she DID at least realize she was being an ass by the end and tried to make it up to Kagami.

Tikki: Marinette, this isn't fair to Kagami. If you won't be her friend, she won't be able to play. Marinette: Yeah, right. She's so smart, I'm sure she'd figure a way around it. Probably even do it twice as fast by herself. In fact, I bet I'd just slow her down if I went. (gasps) Of course! You're right, Tikki! If I stick with her, I can make us lose. And then Adrien would never see Kagami win and they'll never fall in love. Tikki: Uh, come to think of it, perhaps it would be better for you not to go. Marinette: Hide, Tikki! The game is on! (runs over to Kagami) Kagami! Woah! This must be fate! I mean, what were the odds of you and I being paired up? One in ten million at least. Right? So awesome! (chuckles) Kagami: You didn't look too happy about being my secret friend, though. I saw you turn around and walk away just now. Marinette: (her eyes twitch) I-I actually thought I'd, um, gotten the place wrong. I totally hadn't seen you yet. No way! Really, I'm super excited to play the game with you. (smiles nervously)

Party Crasher

So Marinette didn't feel like telling the other girls the truth about wanting to investigate what all the boys were doing.

Marinette: (senses something is wrong, gasps) Oh! Uh... speaking of excuses, I- I- forgot that I was supposed to help my... grandpa bake a cake for one of his mouse's birthday today. Sorry, Mylène. Catch you later, girls! (takes off) Alya: Did I miss something, or is it bad excuses world championship today?

Tikki actually asked Marinette about it later on. Turns out she lied in order to spare Mylene's feelings.

Tikki: Marinette, this isn’t the way to the bakery. Marinette: No, Tikki, I just said that so I could lead my investigation undisturbed. Tikki: You lied to your friends...? Marinette: I didn’t want to upset Mylène. It was her idea to plant the trees this afternoon. But something totally fishy’s going on. All the boys are unavailable with really lame excuses, and trust me, I know a lame excuse when I hear them. I’ve turned into an expert at them since I became... you-know-who. (winks) I know, I’m gonna call Ivan. He can’t lie to save his life. If there’s something secret going on, he’ll definitely blab.

Marinette comes up with a plan that involves more lying, which again, Tikki calls her out on.

Marinette: All the guys are together at Adrien’s place, so why can’t I be there too? I’ll just pretend I was passing by and, uh... Tikki: Yet another lie? Marinette: Just a half truth.

Marinette's not allowed in since it's boys-only, so she disguises herself and lies in order to crash the party.

Marinette: (in a fake accent) Hi there! It's a-me: Marino! Your neighbor! I heard there was a party going on here, a guy's-only, so I'd like to come-a too, because, uh, I'm a guy. Heh! In fact, it's hard for me to walk with all these guy muscles of mine. Hehe! (The gate opens. She cheers in her normal voice) Aha! (goes back to her fake accent) I mean, hoo hoo! (walks inside and into Adrien's room)

Marinette, as well as Nino, both admit that they weren't exactly honest this episode.

Nino: (to Marinette) Things would probably have gone differently if I hadn't lied. Marinette: I wasn't completely honest today either, but... Nino & Marinette: ...I did it for Adrien. (laugh) Marinette: If we hurry up, we can still plant trees with the girls.

The Puppeteer 2

So this is another case of "lying to avoid embarrassment".

Manon: Really? But I thought you and Marinette were boyfriend and girlfriend. (Marinette squeaks) She has lots of photos of you all over her bedroom. Adrien: (laughs) That's because she loves fashion and I'm a fashion model. Manon: But then why are there so many hearts drawn on them? Marinette: (laughs nervously) Those aren't heart! Those are, uh, upside-down spades! I was just coming up with some new, uh, patterns, for my fabric designs. (covers Manon's ears and leans towards Alya with clenched teeth) You told me you wouldn't tell Nino!

Ah, the honesty of little kids, always making things difficult.

Adrien: Were you serious when you were talking to the statue? I mean... me as a statue? Marinette: Serious? Me? (fake laughs) You gotta be kidding! I'm the queen of pranks! (fake laughs) I knew you were playing a prank on me, so I just wanted to get you back! Gotcha!(laughs forcefully) Adrien:(slowly) So you didn't really mean all the things you just said? Marinette: Of course not, I was role playing! I was in love with a statue, not with you! (stands) If I'd feel anything for you, it wouldn't be like for that statue, rather like, for a... regular human being! (fake laughs)

Again, more lying to avoid embarrassment.

Shanghai Special

So here, she's lying about wanting to reconnect with her roots because she thinks her parents will think it's lame/creepy for her to want to fly halfway around the world to follow Adrien. Though she does genuinely end up connecting with her roots and enjoying her time with her great-uncle.

Marinette: (enters) Mom! Sabine: (turns to her) The package! It'll never make it in time! Marinette: Yes it will, because I'm gonna hand it to uncle Wang myself. (Tom and Sabine look perplexed.) You see, because it's high time I visit my uncle in person! Because my uncle- (trips over the package and gets up.) It's my roots. And I've been trying to connect to Adri- I mean, my roots - for so long! And he keeps- I mean, they - keep eluding me. (Tom and Sabine look at each other) And without him- I mean them - without my roots- I mean, I feel incomplete! (She covers her face with her hands and peeks from between her fingers.) Sabine: Marinette, are you saying that... you want to go to Shanghai?!

Truth

Obviously Marinette lies a lot in this episode for secret identity reasons, but she also just does it out of embarrassment.

Luka: Thanks for the photos of your bedroom (Marinette checks phone and discovers the accidentally-sent pictures by Ziggy) and of Adrien. Marinette: Ah, my room! Yeah, I- uh- it's full of photos of Adrien because I uh... I'm using them for fashion pics for my blog and I need your opinion on them because I know you have great taste, Adrien. Luka: My name is Luka. Marinette: Haha yes of course, Adrie- I mean, Luka. You're Luka, obviously, hehe, because you're you, and I am me, Marinette. Hehe, uh, I'm so sorry, it's just that I've been so busted- uh I mean, busy!

Gang of Secrets

I'm not gonna list every instance here, but Marinette's pretending to be okay to the point that it goes beyond "lying to herself" and more to "is afraid to let anyone in and is lying because she's scared."

Marinette:(crying) Alya: Marinette? Have you been crying? Marinette:(whilst faking the emotion) Me? Crying? Are you kidding? I'm super happy! Let's celebrate and have a party! I'm so happy!

Crocoduel

So this is a case of Marinette lying because she's panicking and wanting to get out of the situation she's in. She asked Juleka to somehow disinvite her own brother from their shared birthday, assumed that she had managed to do it, and when she showed up and found that Luka was there, she flailed. She claims to Alya that she doesn't want to talk to Luka because she's afraid he'll get akumatized if he hangs around her and they're not dating, with knowing that she broke his heart, but honestly it mostly seems to be because SHE can't handle being around him, knowing she broke his heart. Luka's handling the situation just fine.

Luka: Hey, Marinette! Marinette: (panics and runs away) Excuse me! Sorry! I've got something to do! It's super urgent! Yep! Bye! (falls on the stairs that leads below the deck) I'm okay!

Ephemeral

This is another case where I think Ladybug REALLY screwed up. She's not telling a malicious lie per se, but she's trampling all over Chat Noir's agency with nary a thought to whether he has the right to decide things ABOUT himself FOR himself, since she's afraid he'll make the "wrong" choice. Honestly I think this IS probably the worst thing she's done to date, even the Big Lie she tells in season 5 is more understandable in my opinion.

Cat Noir: Oh, yeah! So then, why did you need me exactly? Ladybug: Well... actually, it's kind of linked to what happened today. I've given it a lot of thought ever since I became guardian, you know? (leans on the fence) And, I've realized that... you were right after all. (turns to Cat Noir) We should tell each other our secret identities. Cat Noir: But, aren't the secrets supposed to protect us? Ladybug: I thought so. But when you didn't show up today, I didn't know how to locate you because we can't communicate when we're not transformed. If something bad happened to one of us when we're not heroes, we could know about it. It would make us stronger. We'd be able to defeat Shadow Moth quicker! Cat Noir: (walks towards Ladybug's side) So, we're doing this, for real? Ladybug: Yes. Cat Noir: Wow. Okay. You go ahead, m'lady. Guardians first! Ladybug: No, you first. Cat Noir: Let's do it together. (Viperion listens to their conversation while he's in the sewers.) Ladybug: No, I mean it. You go first. I'm... feeling kind of... awkward.

I know Ladybug actually going through with this plan was overwritten in the new timeline, but this WAS still her plan, she just got interrupted before she could put it into effect, so I still count it against her. It was really screwed up how easily she was able to lie to Chat here while appearing totally sincere.

Strikeback

Ladybug briefly tries to pretend that she misspoke and has no idea what Chat's talking about when he catches her talking to Rena Furtive, but she sees that he's not buying it and fesses up. She really doesn't directly lie about someone knowing her identity, Alya helping them out secretly, etc, during season 4, but she definitely keeps it secret when she shouldn't have.

Ladybug: Nice one, Rena. Cat Noir: (surprised) Huh? Rena Rouge? Where is she? Ladybug: Uh... Rena who? (Cat Noir squints in annoyance.) Ladybug: Fine, she's hidden. It's best you don't know where, it's too—

Destruction

Alya's trying to get Marinette to stop spiralling and watching news footage about Monarch, but Marinette's doing so anyway and lying about it so that Alya doesn't lecture her.

Alya: (in the video blog) Now that Shadow Moth stole almost every Miraculous and told us people to call him Monarch, with all these powers, what is he planning? (The real Alya enters the room's trapdoor, much to Marinette's panic.) Alya: Marinette, what did we say? Marinette: (pauses the video, stuttering) Th-The video launched itself! Alya: (sarcastically) Of course, it did. (goes back to her normal tone) Hey, you want some fruit with your tea?

Elation

So this one is a combination of Ladybug lying to try and get what she wants and her lying to try and make her behavior look normal.

Ladybug: Let’s at least kiss before we say goodbye! (kisses Cat Noir on both cheeks) Cat Noir: (steps backward, causing Ladybug to fumble on her feet) What are you doing? Ladybug: I always kiss four times. Come to think of it, actually, four is a little stingy. How about eight? Cat Noir: (steps away) I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not gonna work, m’lady. We’re partners and friends. Ladybug: Wait, what's up with you? You have a new girlfriend or something? Cat Noir: (gasps and laughs) You’re testing me! Could I tell you if I had a girlfriend. No, because the less we know about each other, the harder it is for Monarch to win. So, did I pass the test? Ladybug: (dejected) With flying colors.

Derision

Here she lies to avoid going to school, since Chloe's set on making her life miserable. I don't blame her, honestly.

Sabine: Aren't you eating, sweetie? Marinette: I have a tummy ache. Can't I stay home today? Sabine: Hmm... Yesterday, your foot hurt, and the day before that, it was your head. Come on, chin up. You only have two weeks of school left with her. She probably won't even be in your class next year. Marinette: Three years in a row, Mom. Why would my luck change now? (stands up from the table and bumps her cereal bowl, spilling milk on the table, her clumsiness thriving yet again, to which Sabine simply smiles)

Emotion

I'm not sure even Marinette totally understood why she so desperately wanted to crash the party in this episode, her explanation to Tikki didn't really make sense to me. She wanted to support him and let him know that not telling her was alright or something?

Chloé: (upon seeing Marinette and scrutinizes her) Oh! You're new! What's your name? Marinette: Uh- Zoé! My name's Zoé! Chloé: Yyyuck! Just like my half-of-a-sister. But at least you have style! How rich are your parents? Rich? Very rich? Immensely rich? Of course, otherwise you wouldn't be here! (grabs Marinette's hand and pulls her along across the dance floor) It's too bad we can't bring out underlings with us. I'm sure these tin cans can serve properly but we can't make fun of them! (grabs a drink from a Tsurugi robot and kicks it) So lame! What's your underling's name? Marinette: Um- Chloé. Her name is Chloé.

Conformation

Here, Marinette lies about wanting to check on Adrien. I'm not entirely sure why? Like, does she think her parents might try to stop her...? I think is one of her "panic-lies", where she lies instinctually when scared even when there's really no good reason to do so.

Marinette:(Runs downstairs and passes by her parents watching TV on the way.) I have an errand to do. See you later! Tom:(Blocks the door.) A-Aren't you going to eat something before you leave? Marinette: I'm not feeling very hungry, dad. Sabine:(Puts her hand on her husband's shoulder.) It's understandable that Marinette would have a poor appetite after Adrien's departure. Tom: But breakfast is the most important meal of the day! (Pulls out an enormous bag filled with croissants.) Marinette: Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, don't worry, I– (Experiences another flash of pain and grabs her head.) (Tom and Sabine look at their daughter with concern.) Marinette: This has... nothing to do with Adrien. I'm fine! I promise. Besides, he's just in London, he's probably doing great, there's no reason to worry. I was just heading out to meet up with my friends. (Takes the bag of croissants from her dad.) And that mountain of croissants comes at a perfect time. Love you both! (Walks out.) (Marinette's parents follow her outside and watch as she leaves from the top of the staircase.)

Re-Creation

This is the biggest lie Marinette's ever told, one that's likely to reverberate through the series for seasons to come. Lying about not knowing who Monarch is and about Gabriel being a hero. Marinette didn't lie all that often during season 5, but she did tell the biggest lie of all.

Marinette: You're not wearing it? Adrien: (while fidgeting with the rings) When Ladybug gave it to me, she told me how my father helped her to defeat Monarch, at the cost of his life. I don't know if I'll ever manage to be like him.

Action

Here, the class decides that they need to lie to gain an audience with the plastic guy. Marinette is there spokesperson, which makes sense since with Lila gone, she is by far the most experienced and accomplished liar in the class.

Marinette: Yes, it is him! Adrien Agreste in the flesh! (gestures to Adrien as he smiles) Amazing, right? (as Nino breaths a sigh of relief) And as it turns out, we're escorting him, all of us, to his meeting with Mr. Bertrand King. Adrien: Right, that's it. I'm uh...(looks towards Marinette for help) Marinette: Here to discuss new advertising campaigns for the Morpho fans. Adrien: Right. Marinette: We're his personal team of... (coming up with an excuse) ...delivery and cleaning people. (the Guard just stares. He then takes a look at Kim, Max, Adrien who smiles with Marinette, Alya, Ivan and Mylène.)

So some surprising results from this. Marinette barely lies in season 1, but she does so quite a bit in the following seasons, especially season 2. I didn't realize before that Marinette has this tendency to lie instinctually when she's panicking, even if she doesn't actually need to, it seems like it's become a defense mechanism for her.

Marinette's definitely a Guile Hero who can and will lie when convenient, sometimes out of embarrassment, sometimes because she's scared, sometimes to attempt to spare someone's feelings, sometimes to try and gain control of a situation, and sometimes just to get what she wants. Most of them aren't *bad* lies really, but she's definitely not the super honest person she sometimes gets painted as, both in the show (by Adrien, which makes sense, he thinks highly of her) and by the fandom. She may hate liars, but that doesn't mean she won't use it as a tool when she thinks she needs it.

[adarkrainbow]

I love how you can stumble on scholarly documents from time to time on the Internet without meaning to. Today's random found - a 144 page thesis about "Hair imagery in Grimm's fairytales". From beards of disguised kings and bloody murderer to the hairs of tower-maidens and the devil, passing by bearded saints and unshaven demon-brothers, you'll find it all here!

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

What can I say? They're my favorite.

[tigerbears]

Hay Suselle fans.

Awhile ago I was delusional enough to write a 51 page, 12K word manuscript defending Suselle, as a rebuttle to someone's 48 Page document claiming Suselle won't happen/isn't healthy, because they said the most convincing counter arguments will get a free commission.

(Context below read more line. All the links besides my rebutttle contain severe Suselle and Noelle slander. Read/watch at your own risk.)

(Also plz don't send hate/do harassment even if I fundamentally disagree with almost every single argument they sent. Just because they are (factually) wrong doesn't mean you can do (morally) wrong things to them (like harassment.)

Let me restate that. Please do not bother these people with hate. I do not want shipping wars or drama with these people.

The Anti-Suselle video.

The Anti-Suselle document.

My Pro-Suselle rebuttable document