#i just love the way the writers write marinettes anxiety

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

At the end of “Reunion” I find it so interesting when Marinette says 

the fact that Marinette immediately finds an impediment to her potential relationship with Chat Noir, is almost entirely in line with what she is doing with Adrien. In short, it almost seems like Marinette is purposely sabotaging any chance at having a romantic relationship.

Jeanne (Joan of Arc rather?) never said that this was the eventuality of miraculous holders. In fact, what led to her own decision to give up her miraculous, was a very unique set of circumstances that don’t even apply to Marinette. Marinette, and Chat Noir for that matter, aren’t being forced by their rulers/governments to fight in a war against one another. More importantly, their powers aren’t being taken advantage of by their countries. The main factors that led to Jeanne giving up her miraculous had little do to with her love for Dark Grimalkin and had much more to do with her desire to leave her position as a pawn of the state.

Marinette, as she often does, catastrophized her situation and came to the worse possible scenario, that she either had to choose being in a loving relationship or being Ladybug.

I think that Marinette’s question here is less based on reality and is rather, more indicative of her current state of anxiety. As many people have said before me, Marinette stresses the most over situations that she can’t control, and being led by her emotions, her falling for another boy, her opening herself up to the possibility of rejection, all take a lot of her control out of the equation.

When Adrien first begins to show serious interest for Marinette, is when she asserts that she isn’t in love with him, this is when she avoids him, and flees situations where he might reveal his feelings to her. Marinette here, is attempting to gain as much control possible, if he never confesses, she never has to deal with her still lingering feelings, she never has to worry about the possibility of more between them.

This is the same thing she is doing here with Chat. It’s interesting to note, her conclusion that “she has to give up her miraculous to be with him” comes after the line where she says that a love story is possible between Ladybug and Chat Noir.

In truth, Marinette, doesn’t fully want to be in a relationship with him. Does she love him? Yes, but she is also afraid of the unknown and of what she can’t control. It is no coincidence that the aforementioned lines go hand-in-hand. She has no real intention, as Tikki so frankly says in Passion, on making good on her feelings. It’s really Marinette’s anxiety that is creating the one actual boundary between herself and getting what she wants. 

Whether it is Adrinette or Ladynoir, or even a PRPR relationship that becomes canon first, there’s no denying that what must come before that is Marinette facing her fears and anxiety and allowing herself to finally be with the one she loves.

[theerurishipper]

I agree so much with your Adrinette post. Unlike a lot of the fandom, I've always been a fan of both Adrien and Marinette so it hurts twice as much to see what the writing has done to them. How did their huge moments get switched up?! She was supposed to be the confesser. I cheered her on for 4 seasons that she would finally confess. Then when the time comes, Adrien does all the cute and risky confession stuff that she was supposed to do. Like what? It might have made her life easier if she were a real person, but as a character? The writers just took away a HUGE character moment from her. A huge triumph everyone wanted. Just gone. After 5 seasons. It makes her less compelling as a character to not have that.

They gave the responsibility for that to Adrien and gave the responsibility of facing Gabriel Agreste and talking to him about Emilie to Ladybug?! Maybe someone wrote the character growth fulfillments on a sticky note and it smudged and they got them mixed up? I think Ladybug should have been there to face MONARCH, but the Gabriel Agreste moments and discovery should have went to Adrien. It theoretically makes his life "easier", I mean in the sense the show is going to position it as. I'd love if they tackled the reprecussions of this, but my money is on them letting that whole senti thing fade into the background never to come up again and he will just live happily in his bubble thinking his dad is a hero forever. But as a character, that just like flatlined him. He is 80 percent less compelling now. His moment. Gone. After 5 seasons. Possibly never to be spoken of again or revealed. Sad.

I don't understand Season 5's thing with not challenging the characters where it counts the most. Neither of them grew. They both did a lot... for each other's plot points. Adrien worked and adjusted his approach to woo Marinette, but that wasn't a character growth moment for HIM because he's always been that way. There was no big anxiety hill to get over there or big change for him. He's always worn his feelings on his sleeve and been kind as Adrien. No internal conflict besides "I want to be with my girlfriend." Marinette stood up to Gabriel FOR Adrien and faced him in the end, but again. Not a strong character growth moment for her considering she has no emotional tie to Gabriel Agreste. There's no internal conflict there besides "He's keeping me from my boyfriend." There's not even the triumph of her beating Monarch because he kind of... wins?

Because neither of them actually confront their assumed assigned character challenges, they both come off extremely uninteresting to me by the end of the season. I can't even agree that Ladybug's character is benefiting here. I am not happy as a fan of either. They didn't allow her any true character building triumphs that she should have as the protagonist. While robbing Adrien of his character arc and keeping him unchanged and blissfully ignorant in his bubble.

I honestly have nothing more to add, because you nailed it anon. Your observation about them completing each other's character arcs is so spot on. You're also completely right about the fact that they are going to breeze over the implications of Adrien being a Sentimonster. The one thing I will clarify is that when I say Marinette benefits from the writing, I mean that at least she gets to do something and has some kind of agency and choices outside of being someone else's prop, whereas Adrien gets none of that. But you've honestly said everything so perfectly and I couldn't agree more.

Thank you for your ask!

[rjalker]

Anyways, you know what I just realized now, lol?

The reason Adrien had to fail so ridiculously in Desperada?

Was it to show how irresponsible Adrien is?

Nope, you're supposed to be cheering for him and feel bad for him because he's "traumatized from having to watch the girl he loves die over and over again".

Like he's not the one who literally kept choosing to let her get killed rather than do the responsible thing and not fucking lie to her and abandon Plagg.

Was Deperada written to show us how horrible of a person and so-called "hero" Adrien is?

Nope!

You want to know why it was written? Literally?

To punish Marinette for trying to rely on Adrien without his secret identity getting in the way. She did not mean to give the Snake Miraculous to Chat Noir, she meant to give it to Adrien Agreste.

The boy she has a crush on.

The entire episode exists to punish Marinette for trying to interact with Adrien when she knows it's him, rather than him as Chat Noir, who she doesn't realize is him.

Because that would mean letting Marinette get over the literal trauma response of debilitating anxiety that she has whenever she tries to interact with him.

That would mean letting Marinette actually be happy and would mean that their ""relationship"" actually gets to develop in a way that benefits them both, instead of it literally just being Adrien sexually harassing Marinette for five seasons straight and having the time of his life with it while she's so stressed and anxious and depressed she's constantly literally on the verge of a fucking mental breakdown.

And these writers, these 45+ year old white men, cant' have that. They can't let Marinette be happy, they can't let her have a healthy relationship with Adrien, because that would ruin all their fun of tormenting her through their self-insert "can do no wrong and if he does do something wrong it's actually Marinette's fault" Adrien.

The writers did not intend for Desperada to showcase how horrifically irresponsible and callous Adrien is in regards to the safety of Marinette or anyone else in Paris. It's not meant to show how horribly he treats Plagg, abandoning him at the drop of a fucking hat.

It's meant to punish Marinette for daring to try to do something to progress her relationship with Adrien beyond "literal panic attacks at the thought of talking to him". We're supposed to blame everything that goes horribly wrong in the episode on Marinette, for daring to choose Adrien over Luka.

....Even though the writers themselves were then forced to immediately write Luka out of the story because they realized that their audience was coming to the painfully obvious conclusion that if Marinette has to be in a relationship, she deserves to be in one with Luka rather than Adrien, because Luka actually treats her with respect and compassion.

The entire thing exists to punish Marinette.

Kind of like the literal entire show.

[heartfulselkie]

I'm sorry you're sick. I just finished three days of nothing but bed and water ): I hope you recover quickly.

🍉 for the ask game. You don't have to talk about trauma but any way you see your real world bleeding into your writing I love that shit ❤️❤️

I hope you're feeling better! I've been mostly chilling in bed and marathoning movies today inbetween napping

For the Fanfic Writer Ask Game

🍉in what ways has writing helped you process trauma and/or navigate through your own life?

Writing is definitely an outlet for me, though I guess that's more obvious than I realised. For me, I've been able to see a lot of ways I can relate to the characters in Miraculous Ladybug (primarily Adrien and Marinette) so it's easy to let my own personal experiences affect my fic writing. Even moreso recently with the way the show's narrative has been going in regards to Adrien.

I have a history of depression and anxiety. I'm actively working with it, but its a long process and its probably just something that's always going to be there with me. A lot of it is to do with my gender dysphoria and sense of identity (or, well....lack of) so writing about characters coming to terms with who they are, who they see themselves as and who they want to be is soothing for me. It's also comforting to write characters going through their struggles but coming out the other side and finding those people that love and support them. There's a reason Hurt/Comfort is one of my favourite things to write (and read!) and I don't see myself losing my attachment to it anytime soon.

[nionom-art]

Can I just say that I LOVE how you’re delving into mental health in your Miraculous AU? I love how you don’t shy away from basically every one of the Miraculous characters having some sort of mental health issue! This show could be such an amazing rep for so many people and identities but I guess the writers just lack the creativity and insight to utilize their show in such a good way. They’ve proven time and time again that they can’t reach the full potential of the idea behind ML.

Anyway, I love your art and your AU idea! I’m new here, so is there a fic to go with it? Or are you planning a comic? Or is it just assorted pieces of fanart ideas? Either way, I’m here for it! 💜

Thank you!!! I haven’t got an actual fic up and running yet, but I’m currently planning on a comic. I’m in school rn though, so it might take a while for me to actually finish anything, haha.

Most of the mental health stuff I listed is heavily based off of what I saw while watching the show (Marinette definitely shows signs of anxiety and ADHD within show for example). I’m definitely no mental health professional, but I am studying special education at my university. This and the fact that half of my family (including myself) are neurodivergent has made me more aware and able to pick these things out in a show.

I really love shows that tackle mental health issues, especially since most of the people I know have some kind of mental health issue (especially after covid). Thats kinda why a lot of what I write and read heavily involves mental health topics. That, and I’m just kinda a nerd, and this happens to be my favorite field of study.

[iwasbored777]

I love Marinette so much, it’s so nice to have a protagonist with anxiety because I have it too and so I finally have a character I can truly relate to unlike any other. I just wish the writer’s wouldn’t constantly humiliate her in the show, it feels like they make her into a butt monkey too often. But what I don’t like even more is when fanfic writers completely erase her anxiety, usually by taking away her crush on Adrien or giving her extra support as Ladybug which the latter is great and I love to see. But while I think it would ease her burden some, she would still have anxiety because it doesn’t just go away, if the current the stressors lessened, the anxiety would still find something to latch onto. I feel like there should be a balance where Marinette gets support but still has anxiety sometimes and gets help to get through it and stuff instead of taking it away completely. I think it’s so great that Marinette despite having enough of her own problems is always willing to go above and beyond for her friends and family and sometimes for people who don’t even deserve it. She has a heart of gold and truly there is no better choice for Ladybug, a superhero should be someone as selfless as her. Some say it’s unrealistic that she has so many characters with crushes on her but I think it makes sense when you see just what kind of a person she is, she is glowing with goodness and makes friends wherever she goes because she makes the world a better place. I really hope 12 seasons doesn’t happen because I don’t want to wait that long for Marinette’s happy ending. I really hate that Astruc said it’s a rule that she has to mess up and learn a lesson every episode, it reminds me of how the author of Sisters Grimm seems to hate Sabrina and gives her too hard a time even though it’s his own created protagonist. Why make a character you don’t like the protagonist of your series? I love Adrien but he seems to be the writer’s pet and Marinette the writer’s punching bag. I wish we could all buy miraculous from him and give Marinette better plot lines and treatment in the show. Sadly this would not change the saltdom view of her, sometimes I wonder if they are watching miraculous from an alternate dimension and that’s why their takes are the polar opposite of what Marinette actually is.

Sorry for the length but I wanted to talk about this to someone who would understand

I don't think they hate her, trust me when I was a writer I used to put my protagonists through more pain than even villains, just because I feel like doing it even though I LOVED them so much, it felt like they are my kids, but yes, I wish her anxiety is treated more serious at times. It's totally cool if some stuff are used as comedy but I wish they could talk about it or have Marinette talking about it sometimes, more seriously. Anxiety doesn't go away and it's not always something to make fun of. I just wish it's taken more seriously, I've seen a lot of hate like "ML writers constantly humiliate their characters and then expect us to take them seriously when they have a panic attack" which I don't understand. Humiliation is not when Marinette tripps and fall humiliation is when people at the train made fun of her genuine feelings when she was confessing out loud while writing the letter for Adrien. I don't find that funny when she is being made fun of for being in love. Also how is it hard to feel sorry for character if they did something embarrassing before that? How many times characters (protagonists mostly) run into a pole or do something cringy and later cry or panic or anything and you feel sorry because their emotions are genuine and the only way I couldn't feel sorry for a character is if I really hated that character or if a character didn't deserve the sympathy.

And I feel the same way as you about fanon Marinette. That's not our Marinette. Like "she grew up and she is dead serious now" doesn't work. She's going to be just a hyperactive as now when she grows up and she's going to talk fast and she's going to be insecure and nervous and simp on Adrien and all that. You can't just grow out of anxiety. This is how she is.

[lily-drake]

Fantasy/Twin AU

Sorry for being late and not posting for a bit. Was a bit burnt out and had writer block. I will go back to write the other days soon though. Also, sorry, I suck at writing wing aus, this is my first time doing it.

Earth J-236, an earth full of mystical life.  An earth where everyone is born with wings.  Your wings represented who you are; well not really, but that’s what people believed.  If your wings were bright and colorful then you were obviously an amazing person, but if your wings were darker or had little color, then you have great evil in your soul.  Marinette was born seconds after her twin, Damian.  It takes a few years before your wings fully grow in, usually to about 6.  But with the accelerated growth serums used in their artificial wombs, it took them till they were three for their feathers to sprout.  Damian’s were black like their father’s with subtle hints of red like their mothers.  Marinette’s were pure black, devoid of any color, and her mother was so proud of that.  She was the League’s charm, for it’s believed that anyone with pure black wings was pure evil.  Her only purpose being to protect her brother, nothing else was more important than her brother’s safety.  She would die for him, because if he died she might as well have died as well as her only purpose for living would be gone.

Damian glared at his sister, his wings ruffling in annoyance.  She was hovering close to him again, and she never said anything to him ever unless she was completely sure they were alone.  He did not believe that his sister was or could ever be, “pure evil” just because of her wings.  In fact, her mannerisms are the exact opposite of what people believed.  She, in her own ways, is caring, sweet, and protective.  He had seen, and helped, her nurse a baby bird that had fallen from its nest back to health.  She would often place little things around the base for only him to find such as some extra baklava, a throwing knife, a drawing of someone, beads, or other random objects.  Grandfather had always been extra hard on her, making sure she wouldn’t betray them, she wouldn’t become “evil enough to lose herself”.  Sometimes she would sneak into his room at night, and it tore him apart to see silent tears run down his little sister's face as small black raven feathers fell onto the floor from her days worth of training.  He had been learning how to fly, her wings had been clipped every two or three months so she could not leave the base.  She had learned long ago to control her facial and wing expressions, but he could always see the droop in them and the sad shine in her eyes as she stood on the ground while he was in the air.

________

Marinette looked up and watched as the fiery Phoenix flew through the air setting Nada Parabat aflame.  She didn’t feel much as she watched her grandfather get blown up.  She only felt great anxiety and fear as she could not find her brother.  She loved her brother, and if her job was to cause chaos, she would make sure she could prevent it from hurting him.  Grandfather had told her about how cursed she was, it’s why they had to be extra tough on her, and she understood that.  They couldn’t have her hurting anyone they needed, only the people they wanted gone.  She was angry at grandfather yesterday for taking some of her feathers for failing a task, this must have been her fault.  She didn’t want to hurt her brother, her wings had only proven nothing but destruction.  She had to leave now, then she could go where no one else was, and she wouldn’t have to hurt anyone else.  So like a coward, like the disgrace she was, she ran.  She kept her wings tight against her back making sure that no one could grab them as she ran.  An arrow hit one of them, but she didn’t have time to think about the burning pain as she ran and ran and ran farther and farther and farther away.  Tears ran down her cheeks as she silently prayed that her brother would be okay.

She didn’t know how long she ran, but she knew it must have been a really long time as she had just collapsed from exhaustion in the woods.  She looked back at her wings and slowly and carefully spread them out and hissed in pain from where the arrow had pierced her left wing.  Drops of red slowly dripped down her feathers and dropped on the ground.  She quickly closed them and made sure they were as small and put away as possible.  She looked up at the trees made of brass with different colored jade leaves.  Pearl-like apples growing on a few.  She watched a baby griffon follow it’s mother in the distance, turtle ducks waddling to a pond somewhere nearby, deer nibbling on plants, she could hear the rustling of leaves and branches from unseen creatures and everything was getting more blurry and dark.  She was cold, it felt very cold.  She slowly unwound her wings from around herself and closed them tightly around her, but that didn’t stop the chill that went deep down to her bones.  She was a failure, a mistake, she would only cause harm.  Here she wouldn’t be able to do that, and if she died here, then no one would be hurt by her again, and wasn’t that such a nice thought.

________

Tom and Sabine had finally been able to hire some trusted employees and explore places in Tibet.  They had made lots of money over the years with their successful bakery, and they thought now was a better time than ever to go on a real honeymoon as they hadn’t been able to afford it before when the bakery had first started.  It was during one of these forest explorations when they saw a trail of little drops of blood and felt they needed to follow it.  What they discovered broke their hearts.  There lying on the cold forest floor was what appeared to be a child hugging their very black wings around them.  They knew of the rumors and myths of black winged people, but they did not care.  They believed that their wings were not what made them evil, but rather situations put into their lives.  Sabine quickly checked for a pulse, and though it was slow she sighed in relief when she felt it.  She quickly handed the small unconscious girl to Tom and they both quickly went to the nearest hospital.  How could someone leave such a small child all alone to die like that?  It looked as if she had been injured if the dried blood on the small fragile wings said anything.  And worst of all, upon closer examination, they had been clipped, recently too.

As soon as they arrived they carried the small girl to the front and demanded that they take her in.  They waited until the doctors were done and gave them permission to visit claiming to be the girl’s adopted parents.  It wasn’t technically a lie, they would be soon even if Sabine had to force it to happen.

When Marinette woke up she knew something was off.  She was under a blanket, she’s never been given a blanket before.  The sent of bleach and chemicals were everywhere and it hurt her nose.  There was a beeping noise next to her that was giving her a headache.  She didn’t know where she was, and that was bad.  She opened her eyes a small fraction so nobody could see she was awake and looked around as much as she could.  The entire room was white and there were bright lights.  There were two strange people waiting in chairs near where she was laying.  She wondered if they were the ones who brought her here.  Slowly she opened them up all the way and silently sat up.  It’s best to make no noise, then she wouldn’t disturb anyone.

“Oh sweety, I’m so glad you’re awake.”

The woman said in a cheery and relieved manner, but she just continued to watch and study them silently.  Her wings felt stiff against her back, though she made sure they didn’t move or give anything away.

“How are you feeling dear?”

Silence greeted them, and her face remained as impassive as ever.  They wanted something, why else would they save a freak like her?  What were they aiming for here?

“Did your parents hurt you?  If so, we can take you away from them.”

Marinette’s eyes widened only a fraction.  These were randoms, innocents if you will.  They obviously had no idea who she was, and they seemed unafraid of her and her wings.  Did they not know how dangerous she was, didn’t they know that black wings meant she was cursed?  The man and the woman looked at eachother and spread their wings.  Marinette was shocked, but she wouldn’t show it.

The large man had light brown eagle wings while the small woman had white and black woodpecker wings.  She wanted to reach out and touch the feathers, but then something bad would happen to them, so she held her hands together.

“We don’t care what your wing color is.  Your wings don’t define who you are, it’s what you do with your life that does.  Can we please help you?”

The woman said sincerely as she gripped the man’s hand in hers.  She felt a pull to them, something telling her to accept.  She didn’t want to hurt them though.  But maybe she could protect them?  Maybe she could find a way around her curse and make sure they don’t get hurt?  Slowly she nodded and they both looked so happy when she did.  She hoped that she wouldn’t hurt them, they didn’t deserve to be cursed.  Maybe if she didn’t touch them things would be ok.  If she didn’t let them touch her then it wouldn’t spread.  She could do this!

________

Apparently she couldn’t do it because this is a very affectionate family, and the first thing that happened before they let her sleep on their —super fluffy, pure Heaven— bed was give her a hug.  She had made sure that her wings were tucked under her clothes and tight against her back the entire time though.  So they didn’t touch her wings, so maybe that meant they wouldn’t be cursed.

It was strange, because the next morning they went to a courthouse, and she was adopted.  She hadn’t said anything throughout the entire event, she just watched and observed what people did.  They stayed in Tibet for another few days before they flew to Paris, France.  This was supposed to be her new home.  The city of light and love.  Maybe here, it would stop her curse.  It was so bright that it had to block out her darkness.  She still always carried one of her knives with her, she felt naked without one.  Tom and Sabine seemed to understand somehow, and said that it was her business and that was enough for them till she was ready to talk about it.  It was strange not to be interrogated for now wanting to tell someone something.

Marinette had lived with the Dupain-Chengs for about a year now.  It was strange really, they were honest business people and their joy was always sincere.  They didn’t question much of what she did even though it was probably weird to them.  They didn’t punish her for messing up like the league did, and they never went near her wings without permission.  They never plucked her feathers, and they would often ask if they could preen her wings.  She would refuse every time, but she would often wonder what it would be like to have someone else touch them.  Think of what it would be like if she weren’t cursed.  When it was time for school she would always wrap them around herself then tape them so no one would see or be able to touch them.  Things were finally going well, she couldn’t risk it now!

There was a blonde brat that liked to act like she was above her, and because her wings were always hidden with no explanation she made sure everyone knew that she was “wingless”.  She didn’t care though, being wingless was better than being evil winged.  She never really said anything in class or to other students, she never gave much reaction keeping her stoic face up.  The brat left her alone soon after for being a, “ridiculous!  Utterly ridiculous freak.”  And nobody was the wiser.

Being Lady Chaos was….the best thing that ever happened to her if she was being honest.  Even with pure black wings, people still thought she was a hero.  She never flew, she was scared she’d fall and die.  She was never allowed to fly before, and even if she technically can do so now, it’s not worth the risk.  Her partner though, Mr. Bug has gold, red, and black wings.  He can fly through the air with ease she wished she desperately had.  Sometimes after patrol she would go to the very top of the Eiffel Tower and just stretch her wings out as far out as she could.  She would close her eyes as the wind blew past her and ruffled her feathers and pretend that she was soaring through the air.

________

Year three of living with Tom and Sabine she was comfortable talking to them more, and with Plagg there to control her chaos she finally let them touch her wings.  It was strange really, she never took care of her wings, never cared enough to.  When she first felt the hands on her feathers she had to will herself not to draw them back for fear of them plucking or ripped out.  But Sabine’s hands were so gentle and smooth that they seemed to move on their own and go closer to her touch.  Sabine would smile and hum as she gently preened the dark raven feathers that were soft and smooth.  Maybe she could finally tell the class that she wasn’t wingless soon, and maybe they would be okay with it.

No, they would not as she learned from listening to her classmates talk to the new student, Lila Rossi.  To them Lady Chaos was the only good black winged person because she was chasing after Mr. Bug to earn his affections.  Lady Chaos was obviously evil before she met Mr. Bug and she would always be evil no matter what she did.  Marinette felt nauseous that she ever thought about telling them the truth.  She had never felt more betrayed than she felt now, because she had given them her trust, and they broke it without even knowing it.  After that day, she made extra sure that her wings were hidden and wore a bit thicker clothing just in case.  Tom and Sabine are a little worried about it, but she calmed them pretty quickly.  She was fine, it wasn’t like they were all great friends to begin with.  That’s probably why everyone sides with Lila and decides that she’s a terrible person.

She had tried leaving her past behind, pretending that she didn’t hurt and kill people.  Pretend that she wasn’t a weapon.  She tried to push it far away, but it wasn’t enough.  It was never enough.  She had abandoned her brother.  She betrayed the league.  She did unspeakable things to please someone who would never care about her, just her use.  The city of lights seems duller than usual, it was probably her fault Hawkmoth came to be in the first place, afterall she was cursed to bring ruin everywhere she went.

________

Lila and Chloe thought it would be a great idea to bring everybody to the Crime Capital of the World for their senior trip.  Probably to watch people flounder and worry when things go wrong, which they definitely would.  She had stopped Hawkmoth a month before the trip, but Mr. Bug took all the credit for it. The arrogant self centered bas*.  Adrien kept giving her side glances that always made her feel uncomfortable and slightly disgusted.  During school he would try to touch her with every chance he’d get.  He almost discovered her wings at one point.  She couldn’t do anything about it before because of the stupid your-rich-so-do-whatever-the-heck-you-want treatment.  Now that Adrien’s family fortune is gone, and people don’t trust him because of what his dad did, so he has to be more careful.  He now kept some distance, which she was extremely grateful for.

She would have broken his hand, she had imagined it plus other things more than once.  But then Tom and Sabine would get in trouble by Gabriel for her actions.  They didn’t deserve that, they had been nothing but good to her since they found her abandoned in that forest.

She would be fine though, as long as Lila had a grip on his arm and she was in the back, away from him.  She listened to their tour guide, Richard Grayson, talk about the history and importance of WE.  The architecture was brilliant really, and you couldn’t blame her for having to draw and sketch it.  She often thought of Damian when she sketched.  She used to leave drawings for him around the base, little things that expressed her adoration for him without getting too close.  She wondered if he was still with the league, had he escaped, did he die?  She hoped that wasn’t the case, she hoped that he would be alive and well.  Bright orange and white wings nearly slapped her in the face if she hadn’t stopped right before the movement had occurred.

“Oh my gosh!  I’m so sorry Marinette!  Sometimes my wings just spasm out of control like that!  I didn’t hurt you did I?”

Marinette just silently rolled her eyes and took a few steps backward and watched the class glare at her waiting for her to comfort the liar.  She would never lower herself to do that.  She was still an Al Ghul afterall, even if she did leave it behind when she fled.  She was thankful when lunch came, she waited far away from the line and watched silently from a dark corner to make sure no one would hurt her.  Then she felt it, a hand touching her back feeling for something.  She quickly and instinctively grabbed the arm and twisted it behind them pinning it behind their back at a painful angle.

“Ukhti, let go.”

Marinette knew that voice.  She remembered that name and she could feel her heart stop.  The lunchroom was silent as they watched the small bluenette silently and quickly release the “Ice Prince”. Everyone watched with bated breaths to see what would happen next.  The boy’s wings were ruffled in agitation and fear.

“Where are they?”

He demanded.  Marinette knew what he was talking about, she simply wrapped her arms around herself and turned her head away definitely.

“Why are you hiding them, Malak?  Please.”

Marinette could feel her wings moving in defiance to what her brain was saying.  They wanted to be shown, they wanted to be touched by her brother again.  She looked down and slowly uncrossed her arms from her body.  Damian gently took her hands in his and looked directly into her eyes.

“Everything will be ok, Taw'ami.”

She slowly nodded and with shaky fingers reached under her hoodie and began to slowly unwrap the tape that kept her wings confined.  When all the tape was in her hands she hesitantly removed her hoodie and let her wings unfold from around herself and into the open.  She had made shirts that let her wings slip through slits in the back that were tailored to her wings specifically and were most comfortable.  Damian marveled at how big her raven wings had grown and how shiny they were.  He reached out a hand slowly and gently ran his fingers down the inky black that was her wings.

Shouts of fear and accusations were thrown at her, mostly from her class.  She didn’t listen though, she just observed.  The tour guide was coming over now, probably to kick her out.  He had such lovely wings though,  they were a deep navy blue that looked similar to black with dark red and light blue running through them.  They looked so well kept and soft.

“Damian, what’s happening?  Who is this?”

“Grayson, meet my twin sister, Marinette.”

“You have a twin?!”

Richard exclaimed loudly, drawing even more attention.  The insults and jeers stopped after that.  She looked over at the class and smirked when she saw their shock and confusion.

“Yes, keep up.”

Damian said brusquely.  They must know each other well then.

“Come, we must take her away from these imbeciles and take her to father.”

Damian grabbed her wrist and tugged, her quickly falling into line like she used to when he did this.

“Now tell me Ukhti, have you been taking care of yourself?”

She nodded as they came to an elevator and walked into it with Richard right behind them.  Marinette felt her feathers fluff up nervously.  She wasn’t in control of them right now, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Damian ran a hand gently down her right wing trying to smooth it down.

“Things will be fine Marinette.  Just watch, father will be glad to meet you.”

She looked him in the eyes and squeezed her hands together.

“No, I have not told him about you.  Things will be fine though.”

He seemed to understand her weird way of communicating, she still didn’t understand how he did.  Richard cleared his throat and both turned to look at him.

“Sorry to interrupt, but um…I’m Dick, I’m Damian’s, and yours I guess, oldest brother.  It’s nice to meet you.”

He spread his wings in a welcoming way that meant and showed safety and peace. Her wings involuntarily rose up as well to reciprocate his greeting.  When the door to the elevator opened again she quickly forced her wings to hide on her back trying desperately to keep them from sight.  Damian didn’t seem to like it, but he just grabbed her wrist and dragged her to a large office room.  The plaque on the door read “CEO Bruce Wayne”.  Their father was Bruce Wayne?!  She couldn’t go in there, she couldn’t curse him and ruin his life.  No, she had already messed up at the league, and she was just barely not messing up with Tom and Sabine, she would definitely ruin Bruce Wayne’s life, and she would not allow that to happen.  She tugged at his grip desperately trying to get away.

“Marinette, stop.  Your wings are not cursed, that was a lie.”

Marinette shook her head and kept trying to escape the iron-like grip.

“Do you not trust me anymore?”

She froze at that and quickly shook her head.  Of course she trusted him, it was her that shouldn’t be trusted.

“Good, because we’re going in now.”

And that was that, because the door was now open and she was being dragged into the office room where their father and another boy with large bags under his eyes stared at them.  Damian puffed up his chest and feathers letting his strong, big, and brilliant wings rise into the air.

“Father, this is your daughter, my twin, Marinette Erebus Al Ghul-Wayne.”

They both stared at her in shock and Marinette slowly and cautiously raised her despicable black wings into the air.  Both stared at them in awe before looking back at her, but she didn’t meet their eyes.  She didn’t want to see the disgust and hatred in their eyes.

After a few moments she looked up and saw their wings greeting hers like Dick’s had.  Their father’s wings were a mix of black and dark grey alternating the color in each row of feathers.  The other boy’s were black at the top and slowly turned to red at the bottom.  But they were welcoming her openly, so that must mean something!  Well, it was time to get to know her father, she guessed.

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous asked:

GOD OH GOD NO THE POOR BUG DAUGHTER SOMEBODY HUG HER P L E A S E GIVE HER SOME LOVE AND COMFORT WHERE'S LUKA WHEN YOU NEED HIM MY TEARS - srsly tho. and they play off and make fun of her anxiety and catastrophizing, NO WONDER SHE DOES IT, poor thing can't win anywhere - marinette my love don't cry TT^TT

Waiting for the reveal that Marinette is cursed to always experience these unfair hardships and Luka is cursed to not be nearby during them so AdriChat can get all the glory.

After Miraculous Ladybug cleanses Strikeback’s damage, Luka just stumbles out of a broom closet, coughing up dust and being bitter at the classmates who locked him in there.

Anonymous asked:

You know what I find interesting? When certain extreme moment in the show happens and others heroes are called, a good half of the time Luka is surprisingly non existent. It’s like the writers know if Luka/Viperion was present, there would be no chance to add in the horrible scenarios that most of S3 and S4 are. Guess that backfired on them when they designed a mature and thoughtful character that can literally remove a good chunk of the burden from the main female lead.

I stand by what I said in that they had Luka know as a combination excuse for him to assist the love square to an even deeper degree (either to “””kill””” Lukanette or more unintentional proof that the love square can’t be together without an unreasonable amount of help) and so that they could just not have him be around because he’d break everything.

I can just imagine the one Lukanette writer like, “Hey, have any of you actually thought about the fact that Luka and his family are not only way better for Marinette emotionally, but that having him know basically breaks the entire plot for our finale?”

“Hm... you’re right.”

“Good, so I was thinking--”

“Now we have a writing reason to keep him even further away from Marinette! Oh, and now it’ll be even more effective when we make Chat her only option!”

“...*sigh*”

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

The thing I dislike about Thomas Astruc is the fact that he might change an entire characters growth and development. I mean like if you see marinette's growth and development (it honestly made me like no love her more than I did) In season but then your see the synopsis for the season 4 finale. It says matinette will do anything to stop lila from going with adrien. After all this growth a normal real life person would never do that. Of course there is a possibility she's hit by the villain but

I’m totally not in denial that the writers are pulling a 180 with Marinette, not at all.

Like, maybe, and this is a big maybe, Marinette could try to stop Adrien from going with Lila because she knows she’s working with Shadowmoth, or because she wants to finally confess her feelings to him.

It could happen, right? Right? LET ME DREAM, DAMNIT!

But yeah, this is easily one of the biggest flaws in the show’s writing. A character’s actions and development are entirely dependent on what Astruc thinks would make the story work. This isn’t even limited to Marinette’s feelings around Adrien.

Marinette is able to talk to Adrien like a normal person in some episodes, and is an anxiety-ridden mess who can’t even get out a single sentence without stuttering in other episodes.

Chloe supposedly has moments showing weakness and vulnerability, only to betray the team to show how evil she is, with future episodes not even bothering to give her any sympathetic qualities after replacing her with the super amazing and better in every way Zoe.

Gabriel zig-zags from being an over the top supervillain who gives evil monologues and laughs like a maniac, and then other episodes try to make him more sympathetic, all while he neglects his son in his civilian life. Sometimes, we get episodes like “Cat Blanc” that try to make him sympathetic while he literally assaults his son with glee.

Adrien is either an innocent soul who doesn’t know how to socialize in some episodes because of his Tragic Backstory, and yet he’s supposed to be the voice of reason in other episodes. How he actually went through a mild character arc in Season 3 is beyond me.

Ladybug’s feelings for Cat Noir’s jokes during battle tend to either be annoyance or in the mood to joke around with him. Sometimes, she can’t stand him, other times she’s tells him she loves his jokes.

This isn’t how character development works. You can’t just focus on certain aspects of a character and ignore other aspects whenever you feel like it. Character development in Miraculous Ladybug is like getting a train to a station, but losing some cars along the way. People will naturally be a little upset when the precious cargo in those cars gets ignored by the engineer who left them behind.

[mc-lukanette]

Being the little girl that she was (both in age and height), Marinette couldn't see over the railing of her balcony without a bit of effort, but that didn't stop her from being there. The balcony was her little hideaway from the world where she felt that she could do whatever she wanted, able to recognize the footsteps of her parents before they actually showed up so she had time to break back into reality and hide anything she might've been working on for them.

That particular day, she'd taken to drawing, a box of crayons and a sketchpad at work for her; she'd gotten them for her birthday and hadn't accepted anything else to draw with ever since. The crayons were plentiful, displaying more colors than she could've ever needed, whereas the sketchpad had paper about twice the size of a normal sheet.

She was given even more of an excuse to spend her time on the balcony that day since the wind wasn't strong, allowing her to draw to her heart's content without worry of her papers getting blown away.

Lying on her stomach, she was partway to drawing the light pink dress she'd seen in her dreams when the sound of a guitar made her stop. She'd heard music being played near her house a few times, but those were a lot more loud and chaotic whereas the current music seemed more subdued and calm.

She looked around, then pushed herself up into a sitting position and shuffled over to the fence of the balcony. Peeking through the bars, she followed the sound's source to the houseboat floating in the Seine, practically right in front of her house. There was a boy sitting there, his back facing her and a slightly over-sized guitar in his lap. His hair was messy, but the tips were highlighted in a gorgeous blue color that put her crayons to shame.

The music he played was actually really good, even though he wasn't perfect at it, and she felt impressed since she didn't know the song he was playing. Maybe he wrote his own music?

It took her a few minutes to realize that she'd done nothing but get lost in the sound, her paper and crayons left abandoned behind her. Snapping to attention, she got an idea and turned around, hurrying to get back to them so she could enact it. Without even a thought spared for her sketchpad, she ripped out a sheet of paper from it, setting the sketchpad aside and pulling out the blue and black colors from her box of crayons.

On the single sheet of paper, laid out horizontally, she took the blue crayon and started drawing various music symbols near the corners. She wasn't a musical expert by any means, but she knew enough and added a guitar just for effect. Then, right in the middle, she used the black crayon to write a simple message:

Your music is pretty.

That done, she pushed her crayons off to the side and began meticulously folding the piece of paper. Given that she loved arts & crafts of all kinds, she knew by heart how to do all sorts of origami.

Making something as simple as a paper airplane was almost too easy for her.

She took the folded message in her hand, then stood and walked over to a nearby stool, dragging it until it was right by the center of her balcony's fence. She stepped onto it, now able to peek over the railing and see the houseboat without any bars in front of her vision to obscure it. Sticking her tongue out to the side, she reeled her arm back, then threw the plane in the direction of the Seine. A hint of doubt briefly overtook her concerning her aim, making her reach out for the plane, but it was far too late to stop it.

The paper airplane soared smoothly at first, courtesy of her throw, but dipped soon after due to the lack of wind. Marinette nervously bit her bottom lip, watching it soar another few meters before dipping again, even as she silently pleaded for it to go farther.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a gust of wind came from behind her. She winced at the chill, then gasped as she saw the paper airplane pick up speed and almost seem to steer itself in the right direction. It flew past the streets and sidewalks, turning just slightly as it actually reached the houseboat, causing it to swerve into the boy's eyesight when it landed on the deck.

The music stopped as the boy's head tilted down at the paper, clearly seeing it. He paused, then carefully set his guitar aside as he got up. He went over to the plane, then picked it up, examining it for a moment before finally starting to unfold it. Marinette giggled when he had the whole thing undone and held out, as it looked as if he were holding a treasure map.

She couldn't help feeling a little disappointed that she couldn't see his immediate reaction, given that he wasn't facing her, but hoped that the message made him happy anyway.

When his arms lowered, signifying that he was done reading, he looked around the houseboat, then turned to search the streets behind him. Marinette realized that he was looking for the writer of the message once his gaze drew upwards to meet hers, and she could just make out his blue eyes.

She squeaked, lowering herself at first to hide, then steeled up her confidence and rose back up, waving at him. He gaped at her, then began to frantically look around the houseboat again, even doing a spin to fully survey it but seeming disappointed at whatever he did or didn't find. He considered the paper in his hands, then set it down on top of whatever he'd been sitting on, setting his guitar on top of a portion of it like it were a massive paperweight. Having done that, he ran into the houseboat itself, to the point where she could no longer see him.

She frowned, not understanding what he was doing. Had...had he not liked it?

Letting her nerves overtake her, she sank down, gripping the bars hard while she fought herself in the prison of her own anxiety. Maybe he thought it was weird to get a message from a stranger? Or... maybe her hand writing wasn't neat enough. Maybe he was mad because she hadn't drawn the guitar accurately enough!

Before she could worry further, the boy returned to the deck, having brought things with him. He knelt down and started to set them down, Marinette squinting to try to see what they were.

Her eyes lit up with relief as she realized: he had brought markers and his own piece of paper.

Excitement coursing through her at the prospect of what was happening, she grabbed the railing and pulled herself up, carefully balancing herself on top of the railing while kneeling down. Her mother would never approve, but she couldn't hear their footsteps anyway and imagined they'd never know.

The boy finished whatever he was writing, then began to fold. Given the size of the paper he was using, she knew that it was going to be smaller than hers, but she didn't mind; it'd just be cuter, that's all.

He took the folded paper carefully in his hand, then looked up to her, at which point she wondered if he could really manage to fly the plane all the way up there. Nevertheless, he seemed determined, taking a few steps backwards with the paper airplane held high. Taking a breath, he then dashed forward, throwing the plane towards her.

The wind picked up again, this time in the opposite direction. Marinette leaned forward in awe, eyes sparkling as the paper airplane was flown her way, regardless of how many meters up she was in comparison to the boy. She gripped the railing for safety's sake to ensure that she wouldn't fall, but once the plane was within her reach, she couldn't help herself. The wind in her hair, she raised her arms, gripping the paper with both hands while being careful not to crush it.

Losing her balance, due to both the wind and her letting go of the railing, she fell back onto the balcony, though it wasn't anything painful compared to her usual clumsiness and she was far too happy to care. She sat up, trying not to rush while unfolding the paper in fear of tearing it somehow.

The message he'd written was simple, like hers, but it made her smile regardless.

Thanks. I like your drawings.

She beamed, then set the paper down and hopped back up on the stool to look at him over the railing. She waved at him, which he returned with his own and a happy smile on his face. Now unable to help herself, she got back down and returned to her sketchpad, humming the song he'd been playing earlier as she thought of what to write back.

Thus began their daily habit of sending paper airplanes to each other, favored by the wind and delivered successfully each time.

[werchezdeeno]

My Problem With Marinette Dupain-Cheng

DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion. If you have a different opinion, that’s totally okay! I’m not trying to invalidate your opinion, I just wanted to get my thoughts out! I respect yours, and I hope you respect mine! :-)

-

Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I’m well aware that she is a hot topic in the fandom. Some people hate her, while others love her. Personally, I think the idea of her character is pretty neat. I’ve seen some people talking about how her home life is boring, and how it, in turn, makes Marinette boring. I disagree with that. I’ve always thought the writers were trying to have her represent inner struggles. Because of that, I think that having Marinette have a normal life is a good thing. She’s surrounded by good luck and people, but has inner turmoil due to balancing her life and her superhero life while also cracking under the stress of being a hero. I think it’s a cool idea. It shows how anxiety can attack everyone. It can also call for a good character, and it has so much potential. But that’s the thing: it’s only potential. Potential matters, but it’s the execution that matters most. And the execution of Marinette’s character? Yeah, that’s something I don’t like.

My problem with Marinette is that she has flaws, but they are never addressed. (Obviously I also have problems with her…questionable behavior towards Adrien, but since I feel uncomfortable writing about it, I’m not going to.) Marinette isn’t the best person. She does rude things, and is sometimes rash with people. And hey, in some instances, that’s a good thing! Characters need to have flaws in their actions so they can grow. The problem is, however, that none of Marinette’s rude actions are addressed. She’s been toxic on several occasions to her friends and people around her. For instance, when Lila was lying about being a superhero to Adrien, Marinette reacted badly. See, Lila wasn’t doing the right thing in this situation–she shouldn’t have been lying, but Marinette shouldn’t have transformed into Ladybug, call Lila out on her bluff in front of someone she knew Lila was crushing on, and embarrass her. There were countless mature ways to handle it, but Marinette chose the rash way. Which, again, is fine if she grows from it. But she didn’t. She never has.

The show depicts Marinette as being in the right all the time. Even when she is doing the wrong thing, she’s still put in a positive light. That’s a problem. Marinette needs to learn from her actions. After making a mistake, a character realizes what they did wrong, and they grow. I know that Marinette is young, she’s not going to be perfect, but that doesn’t mean the show should gloss over her flaws. The show keeps on trying to paint her in a good light, trying to tell the audience that she is a perfect little girl who does nothing wrong. But by doing that, they are contradicting the actions they made her do and making her more and more one-dimensional.

I thought that making her a guardian would be a smart choice. I thought she would make bad decisions (which she did) and learn from them to become the leader her team needs her to be. She made the mistakes, but once again didn’t grow. And when a character tried to call her out on it, he was painted in a bad light. Marinette just gave him a stupid rant and then he’s suddenly all happy with Marinette. Like, no, that’s not what should’ve happened. Have Marinette accept that she was wrong and understand why. Take what she learned and implement it by showing her working to be a better leader. But alas, that didn’t happen. So all I can do is imagine. By ignoring Marinette’s flaws, the showrunners have made me less interested in her and more interested in other characters (Juleka, Kagami, and Chloe). It’s infuriating too, because I adore the potential Marinette has. She could have been a great character! She could have been a character with struggles and flaws and she could have grown from them! But, like most of my old hopes for the show, that never happened, and it may not ever happen.

In short, I like the potential Marinette has, but her execution throws me off. The show ignores flaws and actions and paints her in a perfect light, which creates a one-dimensional and infuriating character.

Anyway, thanks for reading this ramble. If you have any other thoughts, I would love to know them! That’s all I have today, so once again, thanks for reading!

-

Signing off,

Jade

[theerurishipper]

Can I ask you something do you have a degree in psychology or something this isn't meant to be read as an insult by the way I mean it genuinely because your the blog I follow most when it comes to your Miraculous Ladybug Analyses post and every single time you be popping out with bangers like you must be really be intelligent to understand Adrien character and the show and because of you you cleared my doubts on my issues with the show.

You made Adrien character so much more enjoyable in your analyses of him before I took him as one-note and boring because this was a kids show but you really made it much deeper than whatever the writers could ever do with him.

I never liked Marinette but not for the stalking or whatever because it didn't really matter because I took it as a playful thing in the show but her treatment towards her partner and I am glad you acknowledged Marinette has empathy issues because she focuses so inward towards herself and not on other for example she treated instances like ( Making Juleka not invite her brother to the party) or ( Trying to take advantage of Adrien being sad at the benchpark) and I absolutely disliked it whenever Luka came on the show because I feel like her relationship with him give me the icks because I count it as emotionally cheating.

It was things little things that bothered me.

I initially hesitated to critique her, but as time went on, I found myself increasingly frustrated with the constant stream of excuses—whether it be exhaustion, trauma, or sympathy for her panic attacks in the Season 4 finale. It wasn't out of malice, but rather a growing sense of indifference towards her.

What funny to me is why I feel more connected to Chloe and Adrien than to Marinette. It's not solely because they got shafted, though that's certainly a part of it. Their backgrounds and how they handle their traumas are remarkably well-portrayed in the show. Even Lila, despite the general disdain from the fanbase, elicits more of a reaction for me, be it positive or negative.

Marinette always triumphs and conquers every obstacle. I hate to say it, but she just doesn't make for a good love interest. Isn't this a blatant violation of Shoujo rules 101? Kagami seems more suited for this role—bold and intriguing. Shouldn't the main character stand out from the other girls in class? I hoped to see Marinette unveil Adrien's true self as they grew closer, but it consistently feels like the group's interventions are pushing them together, overshadowing any natural progression. Her constant anxiety around him is neither enjoyable nor amusing.

Despite being the golden child who can do no wrong, Marinette has turned into a controlling figure in Adrien's life. I'm baffled as to why people still cheer for her. She's become a hero with a corrupted sense of influence over Adrien. It's challenging to understand the fervent support for a protagonist who lacks the depth and complexity that make a character truly engaging. What's the fun in rooting for a hero when the challenges are mediocre, and victories come effortlessly?

I'm glad you like my analyses! I'm not a psychologist or anything like that, I just like characters from cartoons way too much.

And your experience with Marinette is exactly mine. I loved her at first, but then the writing started to have her do questionable things and then justify her, and I started to like her less. Like you, I don't hate her, but my feelings towards her are indifference and apathy. And the narrative doesn't let her make mistakes. When she does make some grave mistake, it's usually someone else's fault, or the person who was affected by it takes the blame for it. Her conflicts get resolved for her and she never has to do anything to grow or change. Marinette is in this weird dichotomy of never getting a proper win and always losing, but also getting everything handed to her, and it really fails to get me to connect with her like I did in Seasons 1-3. I still love Marinette, but that only really extends to her in Seasons 1-3. Anything about her character past that just makes me feel indifferent and apathetic.

All this to say that you're completely right, anon. Thank you for your ask!

[kairos-polaris]

Miraculous Ladybug. Ah, the show that can't deliver its promises, teaches the female mc wrong lessons, is so sexist and racist it hurts and still calls itself "woke" and says they promote "girls power". I was so angry I wrote it at 1 am with little to no light to see what I was writing.

Mlb has a lot of problems. I won't be talking about the plot because it will be too long.

So here we are!

✓ Who is the main villain? Is it Chloé/Lila or Hawkmoth? The grownup man who chose to terrorise Paris and abuse people in their most vulnerable times? Or two teenagers who need a more strict discipline and help from adults, not their peers? Both Chloé and Lila made mistakes but they're kids who can change. I don't want to say they don't have to be punished for their actions, they do. You can't change a person if they don't want to and making them face consequences of their actions is an important part of growing up. If Mlb writers really cared about teaching their viewers that people can change, they will start a redemption arc for Chloé after Antibug and after Volpina for Lila. But, apparently, they decided that letting kids change their behaviour and grow up to be a better person is boring, right?

✓ Gabriel Agreste. Abuser, control freak, magical terrorist. And yet some people believe he deserves to win. He's not only a bad person but a bad villain too! Most of his actions have no sense and work only because the writers said so. Why did he think that creating a supervillain is a good way to lure out a superhero? They could be in different country/city. Both Miraculouses could be hidden in someone's attic! Plus from New York special we know that other heroes exist. How could he be so sure they wouldn't be the one to fight his champions?

And why did he akumatize himself? He had no way of knowing that Ladybug saw his book. He saw Adrien take the book. All he had to do is to say something like this: "It's a very important book Adrien. Your mother found it years ago in her attic. This book was a great inspiration for me". His akumatization was too convenient for the plot.

✓A lot of people blame Marinette for causing so much akumas. Are you okay people? Hawkmoth is the one who creates akumas. What a surprise! No one other than him can do that. Repeat after me: upsetting someone doesn't equal to using their feelings for your own gain. Chloé deliberately humiliated or angered someone and it still doesn't count as causing an akumatization because it wasn't her goal. I don't mean to say it wasn't wrong but she didn't send an akuma. She is a spoiled rich brat who doesn't care about the consequences of her actions. Lila came close to actually causing akumas but it's still Hawkmoth who sends out butterflies and uses completely natural and normal feelings and emotions against everyone. Please, don't shift his blame on teenagers.

✓ Sexism is everywhere. From civilian interactions to heroes' costume designs. So here's a list of problems I've remembered at 1 am:

Writers show Lila or Chloé trying to kiss Adrien or invading his private space in a bad light. How dare they harass him? And then we have Chat Noir act the same towards Ladybug! And unlike Adrien Marinette actually says "no, I don't like you. Don't touch me like that". Adrien knows that he makes her uncomfortable but he doesn't care. "She loves him but can't accept it" isn't a good reason to continue harassing her. No means no. Not "continue asking me" or "I'm playing hard to get". Disgusting.

Only rivals Marinete has (excluding Hawkmoth because he's Ladybug's rival) are her love rivals. Lila, Kagami, Chloé. Why can't we have a character who rivals Marinete in her passion: designing? It's not "girls power" to have girls in question fight over one rich white sad boy.

The whole Gamer episode. Marinette won fair and square. She deserved to take part in the tournament. Was it okay for Max to be upset? Yes, he spent a lot of time training. Was it okay for him to be angry at Marinette? No, it's not her fault she was better than him. Some may say that she entered because of Adrien (another issue I will mention later) but it doesn't make her less skilled.

Every girl who has a crush is shown obsessive. Marinette, Chloé, Lila, Kagami - Adrien, Rose - Prince Ali, Ondine - Kim. We weren't shown Alya having a crush on Nino but I'm sure she would be just as obsessive because writers can't believe girls can have crushes and not be obsessed with them. I would also like to mention that having two characters of colour with no previous chemistry is kinda racist.(I could have just missed it because I'm not good at noticing flirting. If you noticed Alya and Nino flirting before Animan I would edit this part). They also don't talk a lot if it's not about Adrinette. Their purpose is to push main characters to each other. That's it.

Boys are really nice to their crushes even when akumatized. Both Silencer and Evillustrator were gentlemen. Nathaniel literally took Marinette on a date! Exceptions are Adrien and Felix. Adrien is just perfect (not my words) and Felix is Adrien's evil twin. He was used to: a)show how great Adrien is; b) say "Ladybug would punch Chat if she were truly uncomfortable"; c) to make fans hate him because they prefer PV Felix and Astruc hates him. Do you know why point b is the most harmful? Because it enforces the stereotype that women are always willing and consenting and they have to go to ridiculous lengths to take that consent back.

Suits. Every girl has a skintight suit with little to no details. And did you see how skinny Rena Rouge is compared to Lady WiFi? Or how Ladybug's suit has only one colour? The show doesn't even try to make clothes look more fashionable. They have three (!) designers, two models and Chloé is the Style Queen's daughter. They didn't even try!

✓ Making fun of Marinette's anxiety so often. It's offensive to people who have the same problem.

✓ Master Fu. He's an awful person who pushed his responsibility on children without explaining anything. There was no point in hiding his identity. What if they were akumatized? Well, Paris would be doomed anyway. No Ladybug to purify akuma, no cure. And we saw how dangerous akumatized Chat was in Chat Blanc.

Do you know what would happen if he revealed his identity in the beginning? There would be no Stoneheart 2.0, Marinette and Adrien would have a better understanding of their powers, a support system, a reason to get away to transform.

✓ Chat Noir and Ladybug not knowing who the other is. I've already explained why the akumatization excuse doesn't work. How can you trust a person you don't know? They would be able to support each other in their civilian lives. But they wanted a love square and that's why revealing won't happen in a looooong time.

✓ Sexualisation of minors. Have you seen Mister Bug? Or Lady Noire? They are 14/15! It's gross and disgusting to lust after teenagers. And what about numerous shots of Ladybug's backside? Or how thin Marinette is?

✓ Teaching wrong lessons. First they bash Marinette for not trusting Chloé and then they bash Marinette for trusting Chloé with the bee. How dare Marinette not have fun while fighting her friends? And then several minutes later: How dare she have fun while fighting her friends? Or how she was basically told her feelings don't matter by Madame Bustier in Zombizou. And blaming her for everything bad that happens in the show.

✓ Marinette's whole character revolves around Adrien. It's most obvious in the future special about China. She will go there not to learn about her heritage and her mother's culture but to be with Adrien. Almost everything she does as a civilian is about Adrien. They don't let her move on even when it's hurting her. Wouldn't it be much better if she tried to grow as a person, spend more time on her hobby. Maybe find Hawkmoth?

✓ Another issue is that they don't even try to find Hawkmoth. They treat only symptoms and one day it won't be enough. We had one episode where they were close to finding him. But Gabriel was akumatized so no lead again. Very convenient for the plot.

Why does Mlb have such a big fan base? Why is it so popular? So much wasted potential it physically hurts. But the most important question is why do I spend so much time and energy on this show? Please, send help. I can't continue doing this.

[chicoriii]

Season 4, Episode 4 - Mr Pigeon 72

I have no idea where to start. This episode has some good things and some extremely stupid.

Marinette isn't still completely fine, but I prefer when she deals with it through being hyperactive than being a whining crybaby.

I know people don't agree with me, but personally I don't buy the whole revealing identity to Alya. It's not a problem with Alya herself, I would say the same about every single character who is not named Alix Kubdel at this point of the story. I haven't written anything in my post about Gang of Secrets, because I thought it would be undone in some way at the start of the next episode. The creators did nothing to explain why revealing identity of Ladybug to anyone was super dangerous and would result in a catastrophe in seasons 1-3 and the first two episodes of S4, but it's magically fine in episode 3. Only Alix made sense to me, as she will be the rabbit Miraculous holder, so she is destined to discover identities of everyone sooner or later and Marinette is aware of that. While it's not necessary to learn identity of anyone to other temporary Miraculous wielders, including Alya. Also that reveal hasn't been foreshadowed in season 3, while the show usually does it, especially if it's about something as important as that! More, in late S3, it's been shown that Alya still can't resist to not talking about Marinette's love life with Nino, despite she asked her to not do it. Now the girl, who is overly excited about superhero stuff, has no problems with even accidental revealing anything to Nino or someone else. She's even "stealing" Bunnix line that she's great at keeping secrets (sorry but you, the creators, haven't shown us that she's indeed is before!). This is why I think that reveal hasn't been planned before they started writing season 4.

But okay, I can deal with it, even if I don't buy it, but things these happened in Mr. Pigeon 72 are even more inconsistent with previous seasons. I have been worried about it, so it doesn't surprised me. For some reason Guardian related-things that have been kept in a secret before from everyone minus current Guardian and the future Guardian, are now fine being done in front of Kwamis (remember, they haven't been allowed to learn about making potions before!) and a civilian who is just a temporal Miraculous holder, not someone who is supposed to be trained to be a new Guardian. You can say - new Guardian, new rules, but why? Marinette has been portrayed as someone who respect authorities, she has never questioned any Fu's rules. It wasn't even said in the episode that she's going to change the rules. I hate that the writers don't even bother to explain us what's going on. Probably they don't bother about consistency, they think the audience is going to be too excited about Alya knowing Ladybug's identity and helping Marinette to question anything about it? How Alya could be allowed to learn the Guardian secrets? She is just best friend of the protagonist, she is not one of the main characters to get that special treatment. I makes zero sense to me. Especially since Su-Han will be introduced in episode 6 and he should help Marinette with understanding the Grimoire, Alya isn't necessary here for any other reason than fanservice.

In my opinion the way how they discovering how to make charms that protects from akumasitation was the most stupid thing that happened this season and one of the most in the whole show. Marinette who is the new Guardiand and portrayed as someone extreme intelligent and creative couldn't find the solution for days, but Alya with zero training magically discovered it in a few hours at worst. And when she told her the solution in not even very clear way, Ladybug did it immediately with no effort. That was so anticlimactic. At least the animation was fine, but other aspects of it was just a big disappointment, and I was looking forward for it. Thank goodness it's just the beginning of the season, I hope later important events of the season will be better written and portrayed.

Also I find it absurd that Rena Rough is walking with a page from the Grimoire like it's just an ordinary book and she's talking about it in front of a random civilian, like things that are written there are nothing special. She or Ladybug are not careful about Miraculous lore anymore. Not to mention that they are giving hints that Rena is very close to Ladybug in public, suspiciously close. And now with them being too careless, that's not hard to suspect that Rena Rouge is someone very close to Ladybug, maybe even as a civilian. Shadow Moth knows Rena Rouge's identity, and it's easy to him to learn who is Alya Cesaire's best friend if he doesn't know it yet, after all his son is in the class with her. Marinette has always been super careful and serious about her duties before, why that sudden change with zero explanation? It's just very out of character to her in my opinion.

I didn't like the akuma battle either, it's now the worst fight of the season in my opinion. It was so short and felt very lazy. I only liked that Plagg got some action and interaction with Ladybug (though it should be suspicious for her that he managed to reach to her that fast). He should be aware now that Alya knows Ladybug's identity but he acts like nothing happened. Not a word about it being unfair towards his kid or something, weird.

Thankfully the rest of the episode is generally more or less fun to me. It was nice to see Marinette and Kagami interacting again. I loved Kagami in the episode, although it was a bit weird to me that she isn't seemed to be affected by her breaking up with Adrien. Like her crush was very shallow, so she managed to recover herself from it very quickly. While it's been shown that Luka is hurt, despite Lukanette always seemed to be much more shallow than Adrigami in my opinion. But maybe it's because she's so down to earth, so being less emotional makes sense for her character. I liked how her attitude was opposite to Marinette's hyperactive: "No, I don't want to be in a relationship with Adrien again, he disappointed me, just let me live!!!". And she's another character who said that Marinette and Adrien are made for each other. I'm not surprised that Kagami sees it now when she tried to be with him and that didn't work. She's observant, sees more than many other characters. It seems she's an Adrienette shipper now. It's also good that her issue with Adrien wasn't resolved that easily and too fast. They need more time, but I'm sure they will be friends again.

So, we've gotten shirtless Adrien. I remember seeing a tweet of Thomas in which he answered to a question if there will be a beach episode and he said we will get something similar. I wonder if he meant this episode. Oh, they just remembered that Adrien is supposed to be allergic to feathers. It seems Adrien has allergic reactions only when it's somewhat related to the plot. When it's not, he's completely fine.

The reference to the famous Umbrella Scene™ out of nowhere in a random episode? It probably means something. I can see "reverse crush" supporters interpreting it as a proof to their theory, especially since this time Adrien did something clumsy and Marinette is laughing because of it (actually both of them). Or maybe because it's the first episode of season 4 with Marinette and Adrien interactions, they decided to be that much gracious for Adrienette fans, to compensate lack of it in the first three episodes. Oh wow, Marinette managed to propose spending more time together to Adrien without stuttering. Probably because she has done it spontaneously. Marinette is the most nervous when she's planning and thinking what could go wrong too much. This time she had no time to it, so it went more smoothly. It's like they building development of their relationship, but it didn't seem in Guiltrip (that's episode 11 chronologically) that something changed.

Seeing screenshot above, you can easily imagine how great friends they could be, being very comfortable around each other and laughing together, if not Marinette's anxiety. We need Adrienette development so much to get more moments like this.

Oh and I just realized that it's also one of the veeeeery few episodes with no real Ladynoir at all (the only other one I remember is Style Queen). So if there was no Adrienette it would be an episode without interactions of two main characters at all (although we almost got Ladrien). It could be another reason why this episode is that nice for Adrien and Marinette ship.

After seeing overly excited Marinette dancing in the rain, I can't believe she can manage completely give up on Adrien. It doesn't look like this at all.

Also we've seen three photos of Adrien wearing THAT scarf. It could not mean nothing different that foreshadowing that he's going to discover the truth about it somewhere this season. But I have no idea what Ladybug's mask with shining eyes could mean.

I don't know what to think about the episode. Despite absurd Guardian-related things, I still liked it much more than Gang of Secrets, but I have no idea if I generally enjoyed it more than other episodes of this season or not. At least it's an episode without stupid drama, which is amazing.

---------

I'm currently less active on social media, because my internet connection is very unstable, it often works very slowly to the point I'm not patient enough to visit Tumblr. Also I block spoiler tags again, because I don't want to see spoilers from the episodes those are going to be released very soon, as I feel that they reveal too much to me once more. We're currently in a marathon of the new episodes and since watching them is the more more enjoyable, the less I know about them, I decided to try avoid spoilers as much as I can. The only bad thing is that I can't be read discussions about the new episodes, reblog them and adding something from me until Optigami will be aired.

[ilikekidsshows]

I love Marinette but I have such a difficult time writing her due to how much of an enigma she is. She is confident in herself as a person and believes that Adrien could see her in a romantic light, but at the same time, fears she isn't good enough for him. She wears her heart on her sleeve, always open about how she feels (girl does not know the meaning of subtlety), but keeps so many feelings bottled up and is lowkey afraid of them. Thoughts?

Yo, I'm actually a fanfic writer too! I just got lost in meta woods and don't know how to leave. So, I'll throw in some things that I think someone looking to write a story about Marinette should keep an eye on.

At first glance, Marinette looks like a character built on contradictions. This makes her an excellent viewpoint protagonist because everyone can find something about her to relate to. But there's a method to the madness, she's not random.

A key thing to remember about Marinette is that she's both an optimist as well as an anxious mess. Marinette is mostly a dreamer, she's very romantic and has highly fantastical daydreams. However, once her anxiety starts acting up, her fantasies turn into nightmares. She isn't really as contradictory as she flips between extremes depending on what else is going on in any given situation.

Basically, the hopeful optimist who thinks Adrien could totally be into her is the core Marinette, but the insecure side of her that creates daymares about how she'll mess up her love scheme so badly she'll have to leave town intrudes on that. Marinette is reasonably confident in most situations, unless there's an anxiety-inducing element (like a person whose opinion matters, or a time constraint).

Example scenarios:

If there are no stakes, Marinette is chill

If she's done it several times before, Marinette is chill. In fact, focusing on doing something generally keeps Marinette from overthinking things

If what she's doing will be seen by someone she wants to impress, she'll panic

If she's put on the spot, Marinette panics

If there's enough time to put together a plan that suits her standards, Marinette is chill

If she has too much time to think about it, Marinette starts catastrophizing

If the emotion is a defining aspect of her relationship with someone or something, or it's just a part of her reaction to them or it, she won't hide from it

If her emotions are more complicated and demand her to self-reflect to make sense of them, she'll prefer to ignore them

There are probably other rules too, but the main one is this: Marinette's panic goes in cycles: a sudden thing will cause her to panic, but she'll start settling if there's time in between and she gets a chance to think of a plan, however, she'll cycle right back into panic when she's given too much time to think because then she'll overthink. A good measuring stick for this is how busy she's being kept by whatever she’s doing. If there's time to think about her actions, she'll overthink them.

She deals with emotions in a completely different way: the more sudden the emotion, the less problem she'll have expressing it, but if it's something multi-faceted or confusing that she'll have to interpret, she'll avoid it. Thinking about it is not an option. Marinette thinks about actions, not emotions. That means even giving her more time to think about it won't work to bring it back to her accepting the emotion.

I haven’t actually written any Miraculous fics yet, but if there are any Marinette writers especially reading this, feel free to throw your favorite tips here too!

[simplystefanie-rae]

I’m genuinely surprised by ML’s uh.... focus, this season. It’s not perfect, there’s still issues (which I’ll get to), but isolated and not taking past episodes into consideration it’s been surprisingly solid? where was this last season? Last season was such a mess, it’s like its being written by different people.

Marinette snapping all over the place in gang of secrets was giving me life. First of all, her dialogue?? The way her VA PERFORMED her dialogue? Amazing. 10/10. When she said she wanted to go for a swim in the height of her losing her mind and actually swam in her magical girl swim suit?? Iconic. Love it. It was in the middle of an intense break down but it’s okay, we all been there. Yelling at her friends and pretending to be mad at them so they’d leave her alone even if they were mad at her? First time this show made me feel something in a very long time. Tbh, with how intense Marinette’s sadness and anxiety is this entire episode, idk how the hell the writers decide that she’s not the one akumatized, or at least almost akumatized. I know it’s difficult to try and do that in a single episode (imo it’s a two part finale situation) but how much more pain can the girl go through before a butterfly catches her lol

I am tired of Tikki being weirdly useless in regards to actually helping Marinette where it matters. But there’s also issues sometimes with the writing saying one thing then something else entirely in the next moment, my example being Marinette venting to Tikki about how she can’t have a love life because she has to lie, then going on to say that she has to lie to all of her loved ones, including her friends and her parents. So it’s less about romance and more about this secret double life taking a toll on her, which is something Tikki should understand seeing as how she’s the one who stress’s secrecy and has had chosen holders for thousands of years. She should have some kind of advice. But the writing just swings back to focus on romance just so Tikki can’t offer anything helpful. It’s weird. I don’t like it. Tikki has enough knowledge to know right from wrong, to scold Marinette when she sees her doing something not in line with strict morals Tikki clearly has, but when Marinette is genuinely distressed from this job Tikki suddenly becomes childlike and naive. It’s where this being a kids show who has to teach lessons but also trying to be it’s own unique thing doesn’t work. They can’t find their own balance. Is Tikki a vessel for the episodes morals or is she a creature that has the mind of a child because they are suddenly suppose to lack human interaction? It can’t be both.

If they don’t wanna do shit with Marinette’s fashion designing can they reroute and have her interested in engineering?

Stop making Juleka mumble shit. 

Give these characters some new akuma designs (except rose, I love hers)

is trixx the only responsible, useful kwami? fucking maybe

Chat doing his usual flirt thing is...annoying, but at this point it just feels perfunctory even if it should be in very bad taste. He just broke up with Kagami, but he was still flirting and hoping to get with Ladybug while even being with her, and I honestly don’t understand how the writers, who constantly insist he’s a sweet boy, don’t criticize this. It’s been so many episodes of him flirting with Ladybug, liking Kagami too, not feeling guilty about any of it or even trying to move on, and the writing is just nothing with that. I don’t get it. I understand it being a kids show that needs repetition and it being kinda a trope at this point but c’mon.

Finally, I missed this Alya so, so much. This is season 1 and 2 Alya, the hero and the best friend that inspired Marinette in the first place. I never really got the Alya salt, because it’s not like the writing was really favoring her, just forcing her to serve the plot so she was going to come across bad no matter what (either she was simping for Lila to cause problems or pushing Adrienette), but at the same time people being like ‘See Alya salters??? She IS great, in your face!’ are just as annoying. This is her first great episode since Rena’s debut, and that’s almost 2 seasons ago. Just because the writing for her was finally great here doesn’t mean it was always. Anyway, hopefully this season really keeps this momentum going regarding her character. No more pushing Marinette to be with Adrien, I want support, but also I want an episode just about Alya and her own character development. It’s an absolute travesty that the new characters in the specials have better writing and character arcs then the character that has been with us for 4 seasons.