#episode: Frozer

[bittersweetresilience]

Adrien Agreste and Borderline Personality Disorder

DISCLAIMER: I've been a bit low on spoons this week, so I haven't gathered as much evidence as I probably could have. Also, I am but a humble student in clinical psychology. This is mainly a thought compilation for @moonieratty!

To introduce the topic, without going into it too much, personality is described by features and behavioral patterns, or traits, consistent across situations and across time. Personality disorders are therefore enduring patterns of highly maladaptive traits evaluated in personal and sociocultural context (Dozois, 2019, p. 290).

Like other disorders, personality disorders have diagnostic criteria. The DSM is used primarily for diagnosis in the US and Canada while the ICD is used more widely in Europe and other places. I'm more familiar with the DSM, but I've included a brief section on the ICD to be comprehensive. It ended up a bit longer than anticipated, so let's go below the cut. Warning for discussions of abuse, self harm, and suicide, and a brief mention of substance use.

Overview of Borderline Personality Disorder

BPD is prevalent in a small percentage of the population, about 1-2% by varying estimates, and is characterized by instability across domains of emotions, identity, interpersonal relationships, and behavior. Its onset is usually in late adolescence or early adulthood and symptoms may diminish with age, after one's thirties or forties, especially with therapeutic intervention. Along with ASPD, it has been the focus of a lot of clinical research; it is unfortunately associated with high rates of non-suicidal self-injury and suicide (APA, 2022, pp. 754–755; Dozois, 2019, pp. 308–309).

Etiological factors for BPD include both biological and environmental disturbances. Of note to our discussion is the heightened risk for BPD in cases of child abuse or neglect, as well as growing up with another family member with a serious mental health condition (NHS, 2022). It's been well established that Gabriel is emotionally neglectful if not outright abusive toward Adrien in multiple ways, so this is a clear risk factor. In addition, although I won't argue definitively for Gabriel having a psychological condition, he did keep Emilie's body in the basement, so there is clearly some kind of disturbance going on.

From a cognitive-behavioral perspective, Linehan argues that BPD stems from families who consistently invalidate childhood emotional experiences and "oversimplify the ease with which life's problems can be solved," which may cause children to learn to seek attention and communicate with others through emotional outbursts (Dozois, 2019, p. 297). This rings true for Adrien and Gabriel as well.

I have to apologize for my son, Ladybug, he's like his mother. Way too overly dramatic. (Jackady)

It doesn't seem like this is the first time Gabriel has thought this, and labeling an emotional reaction as being overly dramatic is very much invalidation of it. As for emotional outbursts, Adrien has had quite a few, mostly as Chat Noir. More on this later.

To round out this first section, attachment theory proposes a connection between poor parent-child attachments and BPD relationship difficulties. Specifically, maladaptive behavior in relationships may stem from childhood development of an anxious-ambivalent attachment style, where intense fears of abandonment interfere with a strong desire for intimacy (Dozois, 2019, p. 310). You can clearly see this in Chat Noir's relationship with Ladybug, and I'm sure other people have discussed Adrien's attachment style more in depth, but suffice to say I think this is an apt description.

Argument from DSM-5-TR

In the DSM, personality disorders are primarily diagnosed on a categorical model. There are a few general criteria which I won't be going into, but I will highlight that personality disorders are stable and pervasive, and would be diagnosed only if they were leading to significant distress or dysfunction. Adrien's mental state is not great, so the latter shouldn't be a problem, but this show does not always pay attention to consistency, so I'm going to be speculating some. Everything in this section is cited to the relevant DSM entry unless otherwise stated.

The DSM characterizes BPD with instability in relationships, self image, and affects, as well as marked impulsivity. It has no exclusion criteria, so BPD can be and frequently is comorbid with other disorders like mood disorders, PTSD, and ADHD. Of the below criteria, five need to be met in order for a diagnosis to be made.

Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment

Hey, where're you going? . . . So you're allowed to know her true identity, but I'm not? (Syren)

You're not really replacing me with a turtle, are you? (Anansi)

A lot of people have delved into Adrien's abandonment issues, which feature most prominently in his relationship with Ladybug. His fears of being replaced result in him seeking reassurance from Ladybug, and he can lash out if he does not receive the response he hopes for. Ladybug is his world, and he wants to be hers, so anything infringing on that feels to him like a threat of being abandoned, and he does not like it very much.

Impulsive behaviors like giving up his ring can be interpreted under this lens: he can avoid abandonment by doing the abandoning first. Then it will be him leaving, and not the other way around.

I also interpret Adrien's nightmare (Le Marchand de Sable) as being a fear of being alone as much as it is a fear of being trapped.

Unstable and intense interpersonal relationships alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation

We'll be united, more powerful and free. We'll defeat Hawk Moth, then we can both run away to an island! Far away from everything. We will live off nothing but fruits, and we will have a little pet hamster and we will name it— (Le Patineur)

I just can't do this anymore. I give up… on everything. Even you . . . If I become Chat Noir again, Ladybug will just end up rejecting me, over and over. (Kuro Neko)

Even though Adrien mostly keeps his head on straight regarding what he's owed and not owed by other people, his relationship with Ladybug is full of highs and lows. He thinks Ladybug is the most amazing girl, but this can recoil quickly into feeling as though Ladybug doesn't care about him enough or isn't meeting his needs.

Furthermore, he developed this idealization of Ladybug as a potential lover or caregiver at one of their first meetings (Cœur de Pierre), and continually sought to spend time together and share the intimate details of their secret identities early on. These are all common to individuals with BPD, as is the switch from idealization to feeling as if the other person "does not care enough, does not give enough, or is not 'there' enough." Ladybug is the only person Adrien consistently projects this instability and intensity on, which might be something interesting to explore.

Identity disturbance: unstable self image or sense of self

When I was a kid, I always wanted to be what my parents wanted me to be! (Exauceur)

But, does that mean Chat Noir is who I really am? Deep down inside? (Kuro Neko)

With all the secret identities, it isn't surprising that Adrien fits this criterion, but canon even explicitly draws a link between Adrien's unstable sense of self and his childhood experiences. He doesn't know who he is, and he distracts from this by being Chat Noir, only to struggle even more when he feels useless and underlooked as his hero self. His behavior shifts dramatically between trying to prove himself with grand gestures and refusing to participate or lashing out. There is definitely something to discuss on this front.

Impulsivity in at least two potentially self-damaging areas

Giving you some extra time . . . I trust you to bring me back, m'lady. (Gamer 2.0)

There are only two liars left in Paris and one of them knows the ultimate way to catch her attention . . . Crazy about you, m'lady. (Mensonge)

This is walking a thin line between impulsivity and suicidal behavior, which would be excluded from this criterion, but I'll list self sacrifice here because I can see an argument for Chat Noir's impulsive behaviors being out of love or the desire to be useful. There may still be some self injurious intent or euphoria, but Chat Noir does have faith in Ladybug to bring him back eventually. Nevertheless, this is impulsive and unhealthy. Chat Noir jumps too quickly to this option to have thought it through.

I can't think of another area, because Adrien isn't old enough for reckless driving, spending, substance use, or sex. This is also a kids' show. Just presenting these options for fanfiction writers out there.

Recurrent suicidal or self mutilating behavior, gestures, or threats

I... I don't know what to do! (Chat Blanc)

This is all our fault . . . Cataclysm. (Culpabysse)

By itself, what happened in Chat Blanc would not be solid evidence, as that was an unprecedentedly traumatic situation. Combined with Culpabysse, though, there is a strong case to be made for at least passive suicidality for this to be able to come up as an option.

You could also interpret the self sacrifice in this category. Suicidal behavior in individuals with BPD is often preempted by fears of rejection or abandonment, so an interesting analysis could be made on this front.

Affective instability due to marked reactivity of mood

He's still only thinking of himself! I just want this terrible day to be over and done with! I hate Christmas! (Pire Noël)

Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to make you so mad. I get it. You're sick of me . . . No one can help me, Kagami. (Glaciator 2)

Adrien's prolonged episodes of anger and despair reflect a high reactivity to emotional stressors, especially interpersonal ones. In general, he just doesn't feel very well unless something is actively bringing him joy. Most of his outbursts are brief, though, and I will discuss them as part of a later criterion.

Chronic feelings of emptiness

I'm not Adrien, so I wouldn't know if this is the case, but I can say he has experienced at least one depressive episode (Kuro Neko) and emptiness would not be unfamiliar. You can look at him and decide.

Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger

How was your amazing evening with your "friends"? . . . What do you think? (Glaciator)

Why not? No one'll know if I quit. No one'll care! (Syren)

A two-person plan?! There's only one two-person plan, and that's Ladybug and me! (Sentibulleur)

Give me a break, Miss "I can't even come up with a superhero name"! (Hack-San)

Anger in individuals with BPD can manifest as bitterness, sarcasm, or recurrent verbal outbursts, which Chat Noir absolutely exemplifies. These outbursts are often followed by feelings of shame or guilt and contribute to a feeling of being bad. Chat Noir apologizes after being harsh in Glaciator, and I wouldn't be surprised if he felt badly about the other times. Again, these outbursts are often precipitated by interpersonal fears and perceived threats of abandonment. Unlike other symptoms, this specific one tends to be unique to BPD.

Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociation

I cannot recall any evidence for this but headcanon away, my friends.

All in all, I think Adrien has a strong case for BPD presentation according to the DSM. Canon is not always consistent, but I think it presents an interesting and mostly coherent narrative for this lens. From this perspective, Adrien's behavior reflects a deep intolerance of being alone and a dependence on other people to define the self.

As a corollary, BPD behavioral patterns are frequently linked to self sabotage and self undermining right when a goal is about to be realized, which could manifest as dropping out of school right before graduating or ending a relationship when it seems to be going well. Food for thought. Individuals with BPD may also feel more secure with transitional objects like pets than with interpersonal relationships, which could reflect in Adrien's relationship with Plagg.

To add some subjective understanding to this clinical mumbo jumbo, I've added a source of genuine BPD experiences below (Mind, 2022).

Argument from ICD-11

With the release of the ICD-11, a dimensional model for diagnosis of personality disorders became the new standard. What this means is that individuals are no longer labeled as having 'histrionic' or 'dependent' or, indeed, 'borderline' personality disorders, but are rather assessed as having any form of personality disorder on a sliding scale of severity and with trait domain specifiers (Swales, 2022). To put it more simply, people are diagnosed only with a general personality disorder or personality difficulty which can be optionally specified as deviating on one of the personality traits in the Big Five model, which is well established in personality psychology.

This move has several benefits. Stigmatization related to particular personality disorders can be reduced, and differential diagnosis and comorbidity between personality disorders becomes irrelevant. However, people retain access to treatment and support. Evidence-based treatments like dialectical behavior therapy are particularly well established and crucial for BPD; for this pragmatic purpose, the ICD contains one additional specifier for borderline pattern personality disorder (Bach et al., 2022; Swales, 2022).

The DSM and ICD are designed to be compatible with each other in many ways, and in this case, the borderline specifier in the ICD is directly lifted from the criterion of the DSM (WHO, 2023, 6D11.5). Based on our previous discussion, Adrien would be equally qualified for a diagnosis in France. I would likely describe his personality disorder with moderate severity, where multiple areas of functioning are affected and self harming behaviors may be present, but not all areas or relationships may be equally impacted and traits are not as rigid and inflexible (WHO, 2023, 6D10.0–6D10.2).

Interestingly, the ICD includes three additional manifestations of borderline pattern which are optional and may vary across time (WHO, 2023, 6D11.5).

A view of the self as inadequate, bad, guilty, disgusting, and contemptible

An experience of the self as profoundly different and isolated from other people; a painful sense of alienation and pervasive loneliness

Proneness to rejection hypersensitivity; problems in establishing and maintaining appropriate levels of trust in relationships; frequent misinterpretation of social signals

I'm fascinated by the number of adjectives in here. I simplified very slightly, as I did with the DSM criteria, but I had to keep all these adjectives. Anyway, I won't elaborate for too many more paragraphs, so let's say sentimonster moment and leave it at that. I will spare you my mirrored Félix essay. For now.

Qualifications and Limitations

First of all, Adrien is a teenager. The distinguishing factor between a personality disorder and regular adolescent difficulties would be longevity and identity concerns beyond his developmental phase (APA, 2022, p. 758). Second of all, Adrien has a uniquely terrible home life and magical problems. Some of his behaviors could be normal considering his experiences and sociocultural context, and this matters when it comes to psychological evaluation. Take everything with a grain of salt!

More generally, the categorical model of the DSM has several issues, not to mention diagnostic issues related to culture, gender, and stigma. Some but not all of these issues are addressed by the dimensional model it includes in a later section, which shares theoretical foundations with the model of personality disorders in the ICD. Even so, issues remain. Diagnosis, access to treatment, and political statements are intrinsically linked in complex ways. I won't get into all of the nuances, but be safe, remember this is a fictional character, and keep an open mind.

REFERENCES:

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787

Bach, B., Kramer, U., Doering, S., di Giacomo, E., Hutsebaut, J., Kaera, A., De Panfilis, C., Schmahl, C., Swales, M., Taubner, S., & Renneberg, B. (2022). The ICD-11 classification of personality disorders: A European perspective on challenges and opportunities. Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-022-00182-0

Dozois, D. J. A. (2019). Abnormal psychology: Perspectives (6th ed.). Pearson.

Mind. (2022, September). What does BPD feel like? https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/borderline-personality-disorder-bpd/experiences-of-bpd/

National Health Service. (2022, November 4). Causes - Borderline personality disorder. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/borderline-personality-disorder/causes/

Swales, M. A. (2022). Personality disorder diagnoses in ICD-11: Transforming conceptualisations and practice. Clinical Psychology in Europe, 4(Special Issue). https://doi.org/10.32872/cpe.9635

World Health Organization. (2023). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (11th ed.). https://icd.who.int/

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

i will never forgive the miraculous fandom for shipping lukagami when season 2 came out

WERE Y'ALL BORED??

DID Y'ALL HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO??

NO ONE BETTER TO SHIP??

[little-mari-on-a-roof]

hot take but Frozer might be the most cringe miraculous episode. I mean, the dream love declarations from both Chat Noir to Ladybug (he wants them to go to a deserted island???) and Marinette to Adrien, the whole drama of it, the music, Luka, the whole Kagami talk about changing your target, Adrien asking Marinette for dating advice and her thinking she's talking about him, and Adrien inviting HER to his date with Kagami, the shoelaces thing, Adrien running after Marinette and then being like nooo she's my 💖friend💖, "I never hesitate", Marinette replying to Adrien's offer to do things just the two of them by screaming that there should be everyone else there too...

[avizare]

Adrien: The ice rink? I think I'd be too shy to go there with her by myself...

Me: *sees the look on Marinette's face* No...

Marinette: Well...

Me: Don't do it.

Marinette: Uh, I could come along-

Me: NO!

Marinette: -with you if you'd like.

Me: *throws my pizza at the TV* NO!

Adrien: You'd do that?! :D

Me: No! Please, for the love of- you both deserve a break from this, dear god in heaven...

[uptoolateart]

Analysis of Adrien - S5 up to Ep 9

I am loving Season 5 so far, and having caught up with all the latest episodes aired in France, I’m more excited than ever.

So, let’s talk about Cat’s behaviour in ‘Elation’. If you’re like me, you were near-screaming at the Marichat kiss - even more so when Cat broke it off, then Mari was akumatised, and then there was more kissy-kissy-meow-meow (my new favourite phrase in life). Their kiss was right out of ‘Amelie’, by the way – adorable. And against a backdrop of a Statue of Liberty, as if reminding us that they’re not yet free.

More than just teasing the audience, Cat’s response was so in character. As Adrien, in ‘Determination’ he told Kagami that he’d started seeing Marinette differently in ‘Puppeteer 2.0′. We can go back even further, to ‘Troublemaker’, where Marinette had her chance to confess her feelings but chickened out and claimed to be just a fan. In fact, every time Adrien says she’s ‘just a friend’, we can substitute this with ‘just a fan’. He’s not oblivious - he’s careful.

Because of Marinette’s explanation for the photos on her wall, Adrien didn’t take her feelings seriously (and, I mean, how surreal must it be to have a friend with a fangirl crush on you?). This is evidenced in ‘Puppeteer 2.0′ when they’re in the car on the way to the museum and he tells Manon that they’re just friends. But it’s clear that his feelings are all mixed up, because he then worries deeply about Marinette possibly not liking him. Then he poses as a statue and she kisses him - and he jumps away.

At the time, we weren’t told why he reacted this way. We never got to see his thoughts when he lay in bed that night, no doubt running it over in his mind again. But we did see a future timestream in ‘Cat Blanc’ where the moment Adrien learned Marinette loved him, he was deliriously happy and told her he’d always felt there was something more than just friendship between them and now he finally knew why. We also saw him stare at her with her hair down and call her beautiful, in ‘Heart Hunter’. Then Kagami pushed herself on him and Mari was suddenly with Luka, and Adrien had no time to sort out his feelings. When Kagami kissed him, he was confused and said he wasn’t ready. He then took a step back from the girls while he tried to sort through his Ladybug problems, which shifted in ‘Glaciator 2.0′ - and the moment he began to evolve for the better was when he listened to Marinette’s love confession for Adrien. It was clear on his face that he was seeing her with new eyes.

By the time we reach ‘Determination’, his admission to Kagami tells us he has loved Marinette a long time but been waiting for her to give some indication that she feels the same, so he can clarify those feelings in his heart. I’ve said before: he’s a celebrity, used to being chased down by fans and receiving declarations of love from plenty of people who don’t know him. As long as he thought Mari was ‘just a fan’, he couldn’t allow himself to open his heart to it being more. But it’s all reached a point where he can’t hide it anymore.

As an aside, I loved the line Kagami gave him about needing to look in a mirror and figure himself out...because ‘kagami’ is Japanese for ‘mirror’.

I also loved the parallel of ‘Determination’ with ‘Frozer’, with Luka and Kagami there again, now pushing a different relationship.

Getting back to Adrien: I think that kiss in ‘Puppeteer 2.0′ was nearly what he needed to see Marinette as a love interest - but she dodged it again. It was almost the permission he needed to think of her as more than ‘just a fan’. He pushed her away because he liked it but needed to sort out his feelings...and, more importantly, because he knew he was tricking her and felt he was taking advantage of her.

Let’s jump back to ‘Elation’, when Cat kisses Marinette and then pulls away, yet again. His reasoning is that he’s behind a mask - he knows who she is but she doesn’t know who he is, and he doesn’t want to take advantage of her. He wants to kiss her but doesn’t want to steal that kiss. It has to be fair, honest and open. She just told him she no longer loves Adrien, so he has to be thinking if she knew it was him, she might not want him kissing her. He did the right thing.

When he says she doesn’t know who he is, again this is all about the idea of fandom. From his perspective, she’s just told him over and over and over again, ‘I’m a super, super fan.’ It’s no accident that earlier in the episode, Adrien was shown running from crowds of fans both as himself and as Cat, and getting infuriated by it. In both guises, he’s a celebrity. He wants someone to love him for him, and Marinette once again made herself ‘just a fan’ in his eyes. Of course he can’t pursue that.

The painful irony is that he has no way of knowing that the whole reason she now loves him as Cat Noir is exactly because she’s finally seeing him for who he truly is. She knows him better than he realises. But how to reveal that without sharing her identity? Alya was right - this stuff can’t work unless they can be wholly honest with each other. I maintain that Ladybug needs to tell Cat about Cat Blanc, if they’re ever going to move forward.

His face, though, when Andre just flat out told him Marinette had been in love with Adrien all that time.... All these years waiting for her to get those words out, and they were finally dropped so simply. This house got LOUD, over that one! You just know Adrien spent the whole night looking back over every single crazy exchange with her, reframing all of it and thinking, ‘Oh my god, is that what was going on!?’ And Marinette doesn’t even know this is in his mind. Now we have Adrien knowing things about her that she doesn’t know he knows, just like she knows about Cat Blanc. Like...what can I even say??

Amazing.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Why Scarlet Lady Is Better Than Canon: Desperada

Can we take a moment to just appreciate how @zoe-oneesama vastly improved Desparada?

There are so many things to love about this episode. Aspik and Viperion's redesigns. Jealous Adrien. Blushy Marinette. Aspik's redesign. Actual follow up on the previous Luka confession in Silencer. Seeing Scarlet taken out by the akuma. Aspik's redesign. Viperion's snek tongue and hilarious expressions. Seeing more family interaction between Jagged and Penny with the Couffaines. Aspik's redesign. There are SO many reasons to love this episode, but there are also reasons it's better than canon and these are in part due to the issues with the canon version of the episode in the first place.

First off, canonically speaking, despite Desperada being meant as Luka’s breakout hero episode and an Adrien-focused episode, we don’t get the necessary focus on either of them as the the narrative ultimately gave the focus and lesson of the episode to Marinette for “choosing wrong” and “not being able to see past Adrien to choose Luka”, which runs counter to the general rule of the series in that she’s SUPPOSED to be choosing Adrien in all things. So ultimately, what should be an Adrien and/or Luka episode feels very watered down because Marinette is thrown into it where she doesn’t need to be to shoulder the blame for anything going wrong.

Secondly, for a Luka hero debut episode, Luka does very little. We see that he’s great with the Snake and was clearly the “right choice all along” to use it. Which is fine. But much like Carapace in Anansi and King Monkey in Partycrasher, there isn’t much in the way of focus on him or buildup to him becoming a hero. In Luka’s case, he’s played off as the second choice to Adrien, which would set the precedent for canon as a whole if canon hadn’t already made that point clear all the way back in Frozer. And that only makes it more depressing how canon seems glued, nailed, and riveted to this as a plot point.

Third and most important in regards to this particular essay, Adrien’s use of the Snake is problematic. He’s shown to be doing it because he’s psyched that Ladybug chose him as a civilian even if that means abandoning her as Chat and LYING to her about it. Other than a few snide comments from Plagg in the moment which could be easily attributed to his own jealousy in the matter, this is never addressed or brought up again. We never see Adrien learning from how things go wrong or learn how to plan accordingly, he just seems to try different random things without considering why they fail only to be surprised time and again when each of his following plans also fail. Because of this as well as his determination, he says he was reliving the same five minute time span for months in a self-perpetuating hell of failure before he finally acknowledges that he isn’t fit for the role. This could have been a great character developing moment for Adrien as he’d have to use his ability as the Snake to actually be the planner for once or gain knowledge about Hawk Moth and Ladybug that can tie into future episodes. But because they focus in on him wanting to prove Ladybug’s faith in him right (and because of Thomas’s “Rule” that Marinette must always be the one to learn a lesson each episode), it comes off as being Ladybug’s fault for choosing him over Luka rather than the fact that it was his choice to forego his role as Chat to be a temp Snake hero—and that between him and Ladybug, HE was the only one at that time who had reason to know why it would be a bad idea.

Ultimately, depending on how you look at it, this results in making Adrien appear either very devoted to the point of codependent or just very foolish and selfish for being so intent on keeping this lie going that he would rather repeat thousands of loops of failure to keep misusing the Snake Miraculous for arguably selfish reasons.

Compare with Scarlet Lady, which has Adrien keep misusing the Snake Miraculous for blatantly selfish reasons.

“But Nobody!” I can hear you say, “Doesn’t that make him worse?”

To which I say, “Yes. Which is why it makes him BETTER.”

As we can see from this comic, Adrien is fully misusing the Snake Miraculous for petty revenge and he is enjoying the HECK out of it.

Is it wrong? Definitely.

Do I blame him? Not at all.

Let’s bear in mind that per Zoe, Adrien has been suffering as Scarlet Lady’s “sidekick” for 8 months by this point. That’s almost a year of having to fight akumas mostly on his own or with unexpected civilian help (which is an issue all its own) while dealing with a bossy and antagonistic “hero” who spends more time on her phone than actually helping with the akumas. Made worse by this girl taking advantage of his state after the fight to give out a false narrative of how SHE saved the day without anyone to point out otherwise.

Dealing with Scar has had such a profound effect on him throughout the series. We can see it in the way that Adrien has been more stressed. His response to Fu upon discovering him. And the way he has been untrusting and resistant to actual help when it finally arrived in the form of Marigold.

Just because Marigold finally showed up to give him a real partner does not mean that his suffering was over or in any way healed. At best, it gave him someone to share in his misery of dealing with Scar and be a support for him in akuma fights/heroing who wasn’t a civilian. Or more accurately, who wasn’t a specific civilian girl he has a crush on…as far as he knows, at any rate.

What it comes down to is that Scar has been a constant source of anger, stress, and resentment for Adrien. Her treatment of him is downright abusive in every way, and Chat has been in the incredibly unfortunate position that there hasn’t been anything he could do about that. Or at least not anything that wouldn’t end up only working to her benefit or making things worse for himself and the city. Even after discovering Fu and being told she was never actually meant to have been the Ladybug user, he was still stuck dealing with her. He really has no choice but to stick it out and let her continue as she is, because the consequences otherwise would be too dire.

This is why the Snake Miraculous is such a game changer…because it is the one miraculous that lets these consequences be thrown right out the window.

This is his one opportunity, perhaps the only time he has or will ever HAVE the freedom to say and do whatever he wants to Scar and not have to worry about the potential aftermath.

No worries about Scar being unable or unwilling to use the Cure.

No issues of Hawk Moth or the akuma getting the Miraculous.

No fears of Scar throwing a tantrum or doing anything to make him look like the villain to the city.

No concerns of Scar trying to run away and potentially losing the Ladybug Earrings.

Five minutes of pure consequence-free actions, where he can do ANYTHING to inflict a fraction of the torment Scar has caused him, to be repeated as many times as he wants!

Ladies and Gentlemen and People of all types: This is Adrien Agreste with a Revenge Boner.

The introduction of the Snake Miraculous gives Adrien the power he’s lacked in his relationship with Scarlet Lady. And now that he’s on the superior end of the power disparity with the freedom to do and say whatever he wants to her with no consequences, he’s taking full advantage of it.

This is a stark contrast to Canon Adrien and how he handled his time as Aspik. This makes Scarlet Lady Adrien exceedingly more selfish compared to the angst-fest that was Desperada in canon. But it is also more enjoyable because of it.

In terms of the Scarlet Lady narrative itself, this is catharsis for Adrien. After everything Scar has put him through, he’s able to get that sweet, sweet payback and see all the ways he can torment her. This is only part of what all that past mistreatment from Scar has been leading up to. This becomes a matter of both continuity, cause and effect, and character building.

Remember the old writing advice of “show, don’t tell”? Yeah. This is Zoe SHOWING you just how much Adrien hates Scar by this point.

In terms of comparing the two episodes, what we have is a difference between an angst-filled self-imposed helplessness versus the aforementioned catharsis. See, this version works better because it makes it clear that Adrien is the one with full control in the situation and what he is DOING with that control. He controls how long the loops last. How many times he goes back. When he stops looping. And most importantly, what he does in those loops.

In canon, part of Adrien’s angst over his time as Aspik is supposed to be over all the times he tries and fails to save Ladybug, but it’s undercut by the fact that his suffering is almost entirely self-inflicted. Both by lying to Ladybug in the first place and then by putting in so much effort to keep the lie going that he would rather allow Ladybug to be taken out several thousand times than simply tell her the truth.

While the narrative seems to want us to believe that Adrien has no real power in this situation, Adrien is the one with the control in each of the loops. He just using it in the worst ways and CONTINUING to keep doing so even when he knows it won’t work. In this sense, his repeated attempts don’t come off as heroic so much as frustrating. And also hypocritical because they’re trying to beautify his actions to hide that they’re ultimately self-serving. When his “suffering” is self-imposed, the angst comes off as pretentious.

Scarlet Lady avoids this because Adrien has no such angst. He’s having the time of his freaking life. Is he a jerk for it? Yes. Is it wrong? Also yes. Should he be called out for it at some point in the future? Definitely. But this is mitigated not only by the power of Second Chance, but also by the fact that it was implied if not outright stated from the start that he had no intention of actually defeating the akuma as Aspik and fully planned to do whatever was necessary to avoid being called on as a temp hero again in the future. This tells us that Adrien’s actions weren’t planned for a specific victory outcome the way Canon Adrien did. It wasn’t that he actually intended to use the Miraculous against Scarlet Lady from the start, but that he realized after that first time seeing Scarlet taken out that this would be a perfect opportunity to let out his unresolved animosity towards her. The way that a lot of people would do if such an opportunity ever landed in their lap to torment their tormentor and get away with it. This makes Adrien incredibly selfish and it makes him all the more real and human because of it.

Then there’s the matter of Luka. In canon, he’s clearly chosen second to Adrien and this should be an issue. However, other than the narrative pointing at Marinette being at fault for choosing Adrien over Luka twice in situations that Luka should be viewed as the “clear better fit for”, nothing is done with it.

In Scarlet Lady, Zoe sidestepped the issue of who would play with Jagged while also pointing out the ridiculousness of firing Vivica in the first place over incredibly stupid reasons. It makes what was an episode that made Jagged look incredibly immature and selfish instead appear much more endearing as it was revealed he did it intentionally to spend time with his kids and both his ex and his kids are fully aware of this. Of course, it was still a jerk move of him to do this to Vivica, yes. But it was endearing and I don't feel what likability Jagged had in season one drop like a boulder.

So instead of the canon narrative of Luka never being good enough compared to Adrien and this somehow being Marinette’s fault, Zoe changed the focus for Luka on how Marinette is responding to his confession the previous episode. This works even better in that it shows continuity is a thing, as is character development. It made the side issue of the episode that Marinette doesn’t know how to respond to this—which makes sense in light of her being a girl who has never been confessed to, now being confessed to by someone she considers a friend and she doesn’t want to ruin that. It handled the situation maturely in the end, and Zoe did a wonderful job showing Marinette’s uncertainty and her reactions as her emotions are still a mess while also showing Luka’s concerns when they’re finally able to talk things out. It was a lovely end to the episode that really felt like a step forward: Luka is shown being more proactive in regards to his feelings compared to canon, Marinette is also coming to terms with her feelings, and Adrien fully admits that Hawk Moth is the only reason he isn’t being forward with his feelings for her.

See what this is? Progress. Slow and simple forward steps that make it feel like things are moving instead of being stuck at a standstill until plot requires them to jerk it forward. This is something Miraculous canon desperately needs.

In conclusion: The Scarlet Lady version of Desperada is an improvement to the canon version because it ultimately puts the onus of control in the matter of the “failed loops” on Adrien where it should be (even if it’s played for laughs), takes the responsibility of “choosing wrong” and Adrien’s failures to defeat the akuma off of Marinette (who had limited control of the situation in comparison to him), doesn’t throw in Luka as a second choice for Adrien with no relevance of his own except that he's second choice, and makes the episode as a whole more enjoyable and less of an exercise in frustration.

[miraculouslycool]

I'm gonna be forever salty that Cosmobug and Astrocat, easily the best power ups Ladynoir have, did not have a proper introduction episode like Syren and Frozer.

Them being in awe of the beautiful designs (and each other), Chat geeking out over Ladybug glowing in the dark, (lbr, Adrien was a glow in the dark sticker kid) Ladybug being fascinated by the starry design of Chat's suit. The two of them figuring out the hijinks of fighting in space, which cannot have been easy unlike the water and ice powerups, which are still earthly terrains. Them sweetly promising each other to do space patrols every now and then (even if they never actually show it in other episodes).

They could've included it in Startrain as an intro episode, which is, if I'm not wrong the first time Ladynoir has had to fight an Akuma in space. Instead what we got was a few minutes of them randomly transforming in the Shanghai special for the first time which was already focusing on so many other things. I'm still so upset.

[ladybeug]

This thing is a time capsule!!! Remember when frozer came out and they had ice skating suits!?

Bc this is how I felt about it when that episode came out!!

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

To clarify, this does not mean your favorite episode, but rather, your favorite episode of this ship. Because this had to be whittled down so much to fit into the amount of spaces available for a poll, this doesn't include every Ladrien episode, so feel free to click other and put your episode in the tags!

This is for the purpose of satisfying my curiosity of ship trends in ml, so please share for a larger sample size!

Ladynoir poll

Adrinette poll

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Curious, but do you know of anything Marinette is bad at? I didn't realize this until before, but Marinette always seems to be presented as amazing at everything. Like, I can get baking and designing, since they're things she's had personal experience in, but everything else? She's either super amazing or she needed five minutes of instruction and she's incredible.

Gaming? Absolute pro. Art? Amazing. Fencing? Just a little help from Adrien, and she's so good. So far, the skills she's presented to be absolutely amazing at: gaming, fencing, art, fashion, costume design (surprise surprise, fashion and costume design are two different avenues), baking, DIY, mechanical engineering (Miracle box hiding place and snapping diary box), fighting, leadership, decision-making, Guardianship, school (somehow straight-A student despite her tardiness and Ladybug issues).

And that's all I can get off the top of my head. I'm scared that there might be more. The only things I can think of that she's bad at is ice skating (which feels like a plot device for the Frozer episode, since she adapted so quickly to ice-skating as Icebug) and talking to Adrien.

I have a character (non-MLB) with the kind of genius that lets her master anything if she's seen it two or three times, but that genius has limitations itself that later compels her to actually think and work hard to master said subject. But Marinette is never even implied to be similiar to this, and everything she's good at is just passed off as "Amazing Marinette" and then left alone.

What do you think? If there's any other examples of things she's bad at, clumsiness nonwithstanding, please tell me, because this thought is driving me bonkers.

Nothing comes to mind, though I will say that Marinette wasn't a very good fencer. Then again, the show is actually laughably bad at portraying fencing, so I guess we just have to take Adrien's word for it that she was good. (I fenced for several years. May even have my old meddles somewhere as proof, though I doubt it.)

This isn't unique to Marinette, though. Most of the teen characters are absurdly talented. Kitty Section was so cool XY stole their music and their look. Alya runs a blog that's so successful that she was interviewed on national TV (end of PrimeQueen). Nino got to be on that TV competition in Simon Says. Max has tech in a literal space ship. The list goes on and on. Marinette just has more than most because she's the main character.

This isn't necessarily a flaw. It's normal for kids shows to have kid/teen characters who are super cool and talented because the goal is to inspire real kids to try things. The only reason it feels like a flaw in Miraculous is that this type of super-cool can-do-anything character is usually reserved for low-stakes episodic shows. Serialized shows (aka, shows with an overarching plot) will still have kid and teen characters who do the things adults usually do because that's what the target audience wants to see, but these kid and teen character will be a lot more nuanced and flawed. They're allowed to fail because their stories can take multiple episodes to resolve whereas characters in episodic shows have to have everything figured out and wrapped up in 20 minutes, allowing for way less nuance to their characters.

Because Miraculous is trying to be both an episodic and a serialized show, you get a lot of awkward characterization and writing. Sitcom drama with prestige TV stakes. We want Miraculous' cast to feel like they belong in a serialized drama because Miraculous has a serialized plot, but the individual episodes must stand alone, so the characters can't have the depth they need. It's messy, ugly writing.

[into-september]

"Maledictator", thoughts

Flipping through the channels at later at night than the target group should be up gave me the tail end of "Frozer" (Luka had a different voice, the ice power-ups are weird) and then "Maledictator".

Did this happen before or after Chloé revealed herself to be a dancing prodigy in LB cosplay that had a wig

Sure sure S5 might go on and on about how she's too lazy for school, but you don't get those dancing skills at one of the toughest ballet schools in the world without dicipline and dedication. If we're supposed to treat anything that happens on this show seriously after all, "Frighteninggale" suggests that Chloé's illiteracy stems from some learning disability left undiagnosed thanks to a system too afraid to be frank about her academic performance to her parents

No helping the complete lack of reality on display as the episode starts, though

Marinette's explanation for choosing Chloé for the fight is something like "doesn't get intimidated by power" (would've been so cool if this was ever followed up on), but it's pretty clear that it's really because she keeps blaming herself for getting Chloé upset. I can't remember if she did that before Adrien refused to join the party because he was upset, but the one most ruthless at tearing Chloé's superhero delusions apart at the start of the episode wasn't Marinette, no matter how much both Marinette and Chloé keeps saying that it was. It was Alya.

Not sure what to make of Chloé's repeated accusations that Marinette made the class "gang up on her" when Chloé demonstratively doesn't care what the class thinks of her

And yet she later grieves that "nobody likes her" and she "has no friends"

And she goes to the party, unaware that it is to celebrate Queen Bee, because Marinette asked her to

The most interesting part of the episode is how she at the end refuses the Butler's help to clean up, insisting to do it herself

"BUt she neVEr wAnted to Be betTER" #surejan

Speaking of things it would've been so cool if they followed up on: Adrien's statement that he "can't" celebrate Chloé's departure. This empathy-to-the-point-of-the-absurd (and it is empathy, not just loyalty) is such a contrast to Gabriel who uses the same skill set to terrorise Paris on the daily - and also to Marinette, whose judgemental ways are usually justified, but who also demonstrates a distinct lack in the empathy department on some very notable occasions (Kagami on purpose, Cat Noir are a side effect of weird writing). Adrien's insistence on sympathising with the other's pain, no matter how misplaced said pain is, would've been such an interesting angle for the show to pursue to cast light on the two others in our central conflict triangle

Chloé's VA aced this one and oh my god whoever wrote these scripts deserves a little medal. Gabriel Agreste is absolutely the kind of man to use the word "hustru"

The most important takeaway is that this episode probably only exists because someone wanted to animate Cat Noir taking the catboy existence to the ultimate level

The simultaneous clever and absolutely careless nature of the writing and directing of this show keeps giving me brainworms and today's is the fact that Queen Bee's weapon is the visually closest to Ladybug's in look and non-special function, and how this episode had one very conspicuous shot of Ladybug and Queen Bee moving in fully synchronised movements. Why would you do that if you're not either going to establish Chloé as a special ally, or as Ladybug's ultimate nemesis?

See also: with S5 explicitly taking on the political system of France, how dare not having a Maledictator repeat there. did we really need an episode about how even an AI can de-akumatise itself these days, or two about Lila getting Kagami akumatised over the same bloody problem that you were too chicken to make for real anyway

[imthepunchlord]

What exactly caused you to lose the rose-colored glasses for Tikki? Like was it one specific big thing or a bunch of small things?

It was a bunch of factors that I began to notice pile up, that were problematic and aggravating. And then it persisted, and in hindsight to seeing this, you got see a some red flags in the past episodes, even as far back as s1.

Biggest factor is that Tikki at the core is a mouth piece for the writers to criticize Marinette and her choices without offering REAL help and solutions. She's not even a true character and is more of an aggravation at this point. Biggest point to this is the fact that her criticism is EXCLUSIVELY to Marinette.

Given how much Tikki cares about how Marinette performs as a hero, to uphold her duty, and was the one to push secrecy; with how Adrien acts as a hero, you would think she'd be bothered by how he behaves as Chat Noir, and how he keeps pushing for a reveal and disrupting the hero work. Even pranking LB once during an akuma attack and messing up her Lucky Charm in Refleckdoll. Now, Adrien isn't her charge, but he IS getting in the way of her charge's duty and goal, and she should at least be getting onto Plagg about these issues. It'd be true to her character with how quick she is to get onto Marinette about things she doesn't liek. But the writers have a bias for Adrien and narrative wise, to them, he's not doing anything wrong.

Only Marinette does wrong. So Adrien gets to act as he wishes as a hero and face no consequences, leaving Marinette to struggle and step up.

This also extends to outside Adrien.

Take Gamer where Marinette had won fair and square in the competition, Tikki made a comment about her not being considerate to Max's feelings. Which like, it's a competition to see the best of the best. Max isn't being considerate about other's feelings. Why should Marinette prioritize other's feelings here when Max isn't?

And this just comes down to the idea the writers have that only Marinette can be wrong. Tikki's role here is to make sure we know Marinette is in the wrong.

Other issues is that Tikki is set up as a mentor figure and adviser/guide/conscious, but she doesn't truly do that. She's only here to call out or question and not offer help or solutions. To name a few:

Refleckta, she protests Marinette trying to sabotage Picture Day, but she doesn't elaborate on why this is bad or what Marinette can do alternatively to solve this issue of Juleka being excluded.

Antibug, where she's "advising" Marinette that she can help even not transformed, but she's not offering solutions to Marinette on how.

Another factor is that Tikki is not here to really help Marinette.

Take Frozer where Marinette is upset and confused and Tikki just asks "Why are you sad?" Why do you think she is???? Have you really not been paying attention? You're right there to witness it all.

Darkblade, she knows how much Marinette has on her plate, as someone going to school, who likes to create, and is a full time hero who is a MUST SHOW; yet pushes her to step up as class rep, piling more onto her plate and responsibility.

Bubbler, with her discouraging using the miraculous selfishly despite it would be helpful to Marinette if she was allowed to use it selfishly at times; which is extra aggravating as Adrien gets to use his ring selfishly.

Troublemaker, Marinette is having a break down but Tikki is acting like she's overreacting and should just be ok with this being how Adrien finds out about her crush.

You also got Tikki here to offer love advise, but later s4 ep takes a stance that kwamis don't fall in love so they can't really help; so that means she's aimlessly stringing Marinette along in romantic advise, not knowing if it'll really help or not.

Kuro Neko, allowing Plagg to deceive Marinette.

The little bit I've seen of s4 of Marinette with the kwamis, she's struggling to handle all the kwamis and Tikki isn't stepping up to help manage them despite Marinette getting very overwhelmed.

If you really want a specific moment, I'd say Frozer is where the rose glasses started to come off. Then I look at Tikki as a whole, how much does she really bring to Marinette's life as a character and presence. And she comes with a lot more stress and unhelpfulness. She's easily the most unlikable kwami out of them all.

A big part of that does stem from her being more of a mouthpiece than an actual character, but it doesn't make her any less aggravating to me.

[theerurishipper]

I brought this up with another blog, but something that a lot of Felix stans who are also Adrien salters say whenever someone points out how Felix acted worse than Adrien is that the show never made out Felix to be a good guy whenever he did something villainous, while whenever Adrien did something bad, the show went out of its way to make sure he got away with it, or didn't have to apologize

However, there were times were he did apologize when he did something bad.

Whether they were good apologies is up to debate, but they did happen.

Felix has yet to apologize for anything he did wrong, so honestly that excuse of why they think Adrien is worse than him really falls apart.

Adrien has apologized way more for lesser things in the span of nine months than Felix has ever done in his life.

He was kind of a jerk to Ladybug in Glaciator and Frozer.

He messed with Theo the sculptor in Copycat.

He gave Marinette some reasonable yet ineffective advice.

He messed up in the New York special.

And all these had consequences. In Glaciator and Frozer, he apologized to Ladybug for his behavior. He apologized for the ineffective advice he gave. His actions in Copycat had consequences in the form of him being targeted by an akuma and his mistake in the New York special was called out and he clearly felt guilty about it. These are the worst of the mistakes he's made, and he's been made to deal with them. The narrative never excused him of anything.

I listed the mistakes Adrien has made. Let's look at everything Felix has done.

Victim blamed his cousin for being abused.

Tried to ruin that same cousin's life out of spite.

Tried to strike a deal with Hawkmoth.

Stole all the Miraculous from Ladybug and gave it to Gabriel, betraying her and putting all of Paris in danger.

Sold his cousin's free will back to his abuser.

Committed genocide.

And he has apologized for exactly none of this. In fact, he did all this with a gleeful smirk on his face. This is an obtuse and ridiculous comparison.

And never made Felix out to be a good guy when he did what he did?

Felix stans: The show never justifies Felix! It always portrays him as a bad person and never excuses him!

The show:

Kagami:(puts her arm in front of Félix, defending him) I am nobody's prisoner! Félix is not your enemy! He's like me! He doesn't know how to express himself. Everyone is wrong about him! Including me. (They smile at each other)

Félix: And it was only when his father died that he could recover it, and his freedom along with it. (Félix takes the ring from his father's hand and puts it in his finger) Félix: He understood that the amulet that had allowed his mother to give him life could also take it away. (Félix is now seen "standing" before the Agreste mansion) Félix: So he went to the house of the tailor, who had become a prince, to steal the jewel. (An image of Gabriel appears on the background with only half of his body shown, towering over Félix) Félix: But the tailor had become a powerful prince. (Félix wears a mask resembling that of when he wielded the Dog Miraculous in the episode "Risk" as Flairmidable) Félix: The child had to steal other magical amulets that the tailor desired. Only then was he able to make an exchange.

Allow me to refer to you the last time someone confronted Felix with his mistakes.

Argos: True, except I work for no one. (kicks Ladybug, causing her to crash onto a building) I only helped Monarch cause it served my plans! (charges in to punch her and she dodges) I needed the Peacock Miraculous and today I need yours and Cat Noir's so I can make my wish! (makes another attempt to attack Ladybug with his heel as Ladybug rolls away to evade it)

The show literally pulled the classic "he's not evil, he's just misunderstood!" trope with Felix, and somehow, he's a better person than Adrien? He literally got excused for everything he did without any regret or remorse on his end. He gets a tragic backstory as an excuse and a girlfriend as an easy gateway to the good side and somehow, he's considered redeemed, even though he has continually expressed no remorse for his actions and only justifies himself over and over. In contrast, Adrien actually owns up to his mistakes and apologizes for them, even when he doesn't really have to. There's no comparison here.

Thank you for your ask!

[character-fan19]

Optimizing Viewing Experience for Love Square Shippers

You guys have previously seen me make a post on the love square screen time records based on the data I collected on how much screen time each love square ship has in each episode and special and in each season exactly and now we're going to be putting that data to more practical use and using it to figure out what are the best seasons, episodes and specials for shippers of certain sides of the love square to watch when binging through Miraculous.

Adrienette

You don't need to know the exact screen time for Adrienette in every season to know that season 5 is the best season for Adrienette shippers to watch. Not only is it the season with the most Adrienette screen time, but it's also the season where Adrienette finally becomes canon which is yet another plus.

For episodes that feature particularly large amounts of Adrienette screen time you can look to "Gamer" (6 min 28 sec) in season 1; "Riposte" (4 min 14 sec), "Gorizilla" (4 min 11 sec) and "Frozer" (4 min 10 sec) in season 2; "Oblivio" (9 min 3 sec) and "The Puppeteer 2" (4 min 27 sec) in season 3; "Mr. Pigeon 72" (2 min 23 sec), "Psycomedian" (2 min 19 sec) and "Simpleman" (2 min 8 sec) in season 4; and "Determination" (4 min 46 sec), "Transmission" (4 min 49 sec) and "Protection" (4 min 19 sec) in season 5.

In terms of Miraculous World specials, you're best bet is the New York Special which has 7 min 40 sec of screen time which has the whole storyline of Marinette trying remain friends with Adrien.

Ladynoir

Really you can pick any season since Ladynoir dominates all of them but the best season for Ladynoir shippers would be season 1 which not only has the most Ladynoir out of all the seasons but also has that classic Ladynoir dynamic I've seen certain Ladynoir fans crave in the later seasons: fighting villains and just being a dynamic duo in general, Cat Noir making the puns and Ladybug getting annoyed with him, those kind of stuff.

For episodes with particularly high amounts of Ladynoir check out "Stormy Weather" (6 min 7 sec), "Mr. Pigeon" (6 min 10 sec), "Horrificator" (6 min 8 sec), "Kung Food" (7 min 3 sec), "Animan" (8 min 28 sec), and "Volpina" (6 min 7 sec) in season 1; "Prime Queen" (8 min 19 sec), "The Dark Owl" (8 min 14 sec), and "Mayura" (8 min 32 sec) in season 2; "Reflekdoll" (7 min 19 sec), "Timetagger" (6 min 22 sec), and "Cat Blanc" (6 min 35 sec) in season 3; "Truth" (4 min 4 sec), "Psycomedian" (5 min 40 sec), "Furious Fu" (4 min 57 sec), "Kuro Neko" (7 min 23 sec), and "Strikeback" (4 min 14 sec) in season 4; and "Evolution" (7 min 50 sec), "Multiplication" (7 min 36 sec), and "Passion" (7 min 4 sec) in season 5.

In terms of Miraculous World specials, you can go for the New York special which has 6 min 29 sec of screen time and gives us some good Ladynoir angst with Cat Noir betraying Ladybug's trust and feeling so guilty about that he gave up his Miraculous.

Maricat

For Maricat, the season of you're choice would be season 4, even though most of the screen time there is concentrated in "Glaciator 2". This season even has the episode with the most Maricat screen time in all of the show so far, that is, "Glaciator 2".

Episodes with particularly high amounts of Maricat screen time include "Evillustrator" (2 min 17 sec) and "Gamer" (54 sec) in season 1, "Glaciator" (3 min 29 sec) and "Befana" (36 sec) in season 2, "Weredad" (3 min 57 sec) and "Kwamibuster" (44 sec) in season 3, "Sentibubbler" (1 min 24 sec) and "Glaciator 2" (8 min 14 sec) in season 4, and "Elation" (5 min 37 sec) and "Protection" (48 sec) in season 5.

Ladrien

For Ladrien shippers, the best seasons for you guys to watch are seasons 2 and 3, moreso season 2, where Ladrien was at the peak of its screen time until it dwindled into nothingness in seasons 4 and 5.

For episodes with a particularly large amount of screen time we have "Simon Says" (1 min 22 sec) and "Volpina" (1 min 23 sec) in season 1, "Riposte" (3 min 42 sec) and "Gorizilla" (3 min 58 sec) in season 2, "Oblivio" (1 min 40 sec) and "Desparada" (5 min 35 sec) in season 3, "Strikeback" (37 sec) in season 4, and "Passion" (17 sec) in season 5.

Conclusion

Well, that's it. Hope this was helpful to some love square shippers who want to binge through Miraculous.

[princess-of-the-corner]

I've seen several fic authors reference this idea that ML season 2 was meant to set up a Miraculous Civil War thing.

No clue if that's true but I found the idea interesting and also realize you actually can do that very easily with some episode shuffling and more evenly divided focus, IE:

Episode 1 - The Collector This remains largely the same except Chat does become aware there's a third party that Ladybug knows of but he doesn't.

Episode 2 - Riposte Essentially the same, this is just to get Kagami introduced early, though Ladybug seems oddly... anxious compared to usual.

Episode 3 - Sapotis This is where things start to change a little. Mostly in that Chat starts quietly expressing frustration at being kept out of the loop even if he & Rena get on well.

Episode 4 - Anansi The next verse is the same as the first in this case, as canon, just that Chat is getting more & more grouchy, & Plagg agrees but cannot tell him anything.

Ladybug's penchant to run off is also being noted by others; the reason is that that Marinette now has a 'responsible adult' available, so she's sort of defaulting to Fu even as Ladybug, hence her earlier OOC anxiety in Riposte.

Episode 5 - Frozer His efforts to both wine & dine Ladybug and press for info at what is going on. But because of Marinette's respect for adults she can't bring herself to tell him. This leads to both the 'date' with Kagami & Chat acting as brisk as he does during the battle.

Episode 6 - Style Queen Close to canon but with some notably major if subtle shifts.

Gabriel outlines he's been experimenting with his recent Akuma & determined how to make his strongest & most effective one. He needs someone with a vast idea of their own power, intense emotions beyond the norm and no morals. Luckily the worst person he knows is coming to Paris & she will be his magnum opus!

Other changes including Chloe arguing with Nathalie after her mother leaves & then going to find Adrien, followed y Marinette & Alya when Style Queen transforms and goes for Nathalie first. She want meant to evacuate Adrien before Audrey transformed so yeah that plan failed & she's dusted despite Gabriel trying to order Audrey to focus.

This focus issue comes up again soon when as canon she's captured Ladybug but is now turning on Adrien who is still not golden & about to transform. Gabriel tries to make her focus, but is failing & realizes he underestimate her malice & will. Chloe seemingly talks her out of killing Adrien & Ladybug... Except all Audrey does it dismiss Ladybug and kill Adrien.

The rest of the episode goes largely as canon save that Audrey is blitzing much of Paris for funsies as she's gone rogue. When Plagg destroy the Eiffel Tower we see her reforming into a bigger more pissed off Style Queen before her items broken.

Finally, the biggest shift? The one that causes the dominoes to start falling?

Adrien passes up the chance to get taken back by Ladybug, offering a polite kiss on the hand & follows Chloe. Both cos he's still a bit frustrated & also because he can see Audrey yelling at Chloe already.

Thus he sees her pick up the box and is there as Chat Noir to collect it that night, fade to black.

Episode 7 - No Queen Wasp When Ladybug goes back to get the Bee Miraculous (flashback) we see Chat is there too, intent on making up for his absence he asks what she's looking for. Not wanting to seem irresponsible, Ladybug lies.

This leads Chat to hide the Bee Miraculous & then return it to Chloe who while unhappy Ladybug won't be pleased with her, really wants to be a hero.

Plagg: You sure you can work with that brat? Adrien: I work with a lot of brats (Gives Plagg a stare) Plagg: Hahaha... You meant other models right Adrien? Adrien!

We see Chloe get the Miraculous back & Pollen being surprisingly chill with all this & its followed by Chloe deducing Adrien's identity because, "Who else but you would care about me?"

The next segment of the episode proceed mostly as canon but when it seems Chloe is going to reveal herself, Adrien grabs her arm and guides her to his dressing room.

We see her breakdown over the act her mother doesn't love her & Adrien... Can't really offer much, but suggests she go out for a 'run' to clear her head & maybe something will come up (An Akuma)

She does so & is seen by Alya only as QB & this leads to Ladybug trying to track her down, which becomes a discussion, then argument, then a fight.

Chat Nior joins, admitting he's at fault but also angry he's been kept out of the loop which LB defends because its not her call, which QB thinks is crap on both of them cos one implied LB supported her being a hero & the other is keeping her friend in the dark.

Hawk Moth has regained hope at seeing the fight & almost can't pick who he wants to Akumatize so he goes for the one with the most anger, Chloe.

But, she manages to fight it off in rather epic fashion as well that conveys just how terrifyingly powerful an Akumatized Miraculous Holder would be.

QB staggers back and insists she will be a hero, not even Ladybug can tell her to quit that, then topples off the roof and slinks off while Chat & Ladybug part in confused frustration.

We also see Ladybug comforting Chloe at one point, mistaking the conversation they're having for one about Chloe's mother which could lead to her attempt to mend their relationship.

Meanwhile Gabriel schemes, ranting about the power he felt, about the cracks in the armor and how he has a whole new canvas with which to create.

Fu is unhappy but decides if the person can resist an Akuma they will be a tolerable ally for now, as he 'suspects' he knows who Chat chose & can retrieve Pollen if things don't work out.

We see more of Marinette pushing for Chat's inclusion and discussing her own concerns about how much she's come to rely on Fu.

As well as some of Fu's motives for keeping things so quiet - The less people who know the better, he's paranoid & cautious, Ladybug's magic is better suited for his skills & Chat's schedule makes him hard to get ahold of.

Its integral that him being cut out if not malice, but its already created distrust & its going to take time to mend that. It will be hard given Fu's paranoia & frustration with Chat essentially stealing a Miraculous.

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After this it becomes a bit less clear, especially as I would ideally want to bring Kagami & Longg in as well, but this I feel is a strong enough set up for a potential "civil war" angle.

Because the episodes/season that would follow would involve Gabriel not merely sending Akuma but actively trying to drive wedges between the heroes & sew doubt in public.

The situation with hidden identities VS no hidden identities creating friction within the expanded hero group & sides even being picked in public as the dispute becomes more public with stuff like Prime Queen.

Which I think would lead to an eventual shift as well when some identities do slip between them and Hawk Moths game begins reaching its final conclusion, with Volpina being brought back into the fray.

Some of the specifics sort of vary to me, but I think there would be a clash between the Miraculous team, but also some changing sides based on key revelations. Namely, the substitute heroes finding out Ladybug & Chat's identities, but the pair refusing to hear it until the matters resolves causing some to switch sides.

IE, Nino goes with Adrien once he finds out he's Chat Noir, and either Kagami goes with Marinette cos friendship or respect for Ladybug, or Chloe does a surprise switch, possibly due to guilt or shifting dynamics.

Who switches and why would likely depend on whether the issue is meant to bleed into season 3 or if season 2 resolves it. IE, is this a one off conflict that sets up Heroes Day (Or a similar season finale worthy event) or is Heroes Day/Finale the tipping point that splits the team in half for the duration of season. Either way identities are revealed at the end, its just a matter of how the rest shakes out.

NOTES:

Despair Bear still happens, but its also tied to Adrien basically saying, "You can't be a great hero as QB & a bad person as Chloe" as she tries to balance her own issues, pleasing her mother & being a hero.

Malediktator also may tie into some things, like with Chloe trying to befriend Marinette but also have her be mean cos hey Marinette wanted she & her mom to get along & respects Audrey this makes sense right? Leading to rejection that leads her to wanting to leave Paris & a resolution between Chloe & ladybug even if the latter doesn't realize it at first, that also chills things between Marinette and Chloe.

Fu may or may not make it out of this season with his memories intact, depends n how many season 3 elements that could be swapped out, but that's the gist of it.

Also even if the 'civil war' did persist into or basically serve as the central focus for season 3, it'd not strictly stop cooperation over Akuma or Sentimonsters. It'd be more of a undercurrent rivalry situation that may lead to some odd seating arrangements now that everyone's gone up a year.

Honestly I feel like a civil war for the Team should happen at some point because like. Mari tries her best but she's made a LOT of mistakes and hurt them all in the process.

I don't mean this in a 'fuck her' way but in a like. They're going to butt heads and be understandably frustrated and I don't think Mari will change immediately because she's stuck in a 'yeah this hurts but it's for the Greater Good™ mindset' that she won't get over until something REALLy gets to her.