#the problem would be that Marinette doesn't believe that they are equal

[karlrose]

thinking about the statue scene in puppeteer 2.

thinking about it's possible connection to the story of Pygmalion and Galatea.

just thinking.......

[halfagone]

That was great! This next prompt is a bit more angsty. So it’s Danny’s birthday, and what does he get? It turns out the realms was waiting for him to become a certain age before he could take up kingship, the problem with that is that he and Pariah need to have an official battle for the crown, with each of them being given one of the two king items (the crown or the ring) so that both of them are of equal power. Basically they have to fight for the crown and the fate of the earth…with the fight being broadcasted live throughout the entire planet. Basically this prompt is seeing Marinette, Adrien, and maybe Alya’s reaction to the fight. The fight ends with Danny winning of course, but it’s a close thing with him literally flickering in and out of his human and ghost form, with his identity being revealed once the fight is over since he could no longer maintain his ghost form . What do you think? Bonus points if Adrien is an anime fanboy here, lol.

I think the main problem here is that Pariah technically isn't supposed to be able to leave the Ghost Zone? I can't remember the specific canon explanation at the moment (assuming there was one. DP tends to pass over a lot of explanations, which fair I guess) but I think that was a big, important reason why Pariah brought Amity Park into the Ghost Zone to begin with since he couldn't very well go out to it. Of course there could be a magical way to get around this (and believe me, I'm trying to figure one out for a few other fic ideas that have been brewing in my brain) so this would lead to a question of how this is being broadcasted. Their battle would be so dangerous and the destruction would be so widespread I seriously doubt that anyone would be able to catch the full thing on camera/video. And this is also assuming that Danny and Pariah's ghostliness and power doesn't just cut the feed or make it all blurry.

Unfortunately I don't have full-on prose for this idea, but! I can imagine how their reactions would go.

I actually think this would help Marinette lose some of the hero worship for Danny because now she understands he's not just some ancient, super experienced, super powerful hero. He's like her, he's just another teenager trying to do his best with all this responsibility and power that he doesn't always know how to handle. I can actually imagine Marinette apologizing to him for how intense they used to be, because now she recognizes that his hesitation and discomfort for what it really was. It wasn't him trying to be humble, it was him feeling inadequate for such praise.

But for Adrien, I think he would actually respect Danny even more when he finds out Danny's civilian identity. I wouldn't say the hero worship gets more intense, but I think Adrien would have more respect for how Danny tries to juggle both and deals with all this power. Because while Adrien might not have the same responsibilities as Marinette (if she is the Guardian already in this AU), he does have a lot of power at his fingertips as Chat Noir. Adrien would be more blown away by the control Danny shows, and I definitely think he would compare it to some anime protagonists he's seen or watched on TV.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Yeah but like. Didn't they confirm back in S2/S3 that Gabriel and Nathalie were aware of the whole "every action has an equal and opposite reaction" nature of the Wish and they knew Adrien could very well be the price to pay. And Nathalie being Mayura immediately makes me feel like she should not have custody of a sentikid. Either she had no problem committing multiple murders, or she doesn't view Adrien as a real person either. Given that she uses his amok and her motivation for loving/protecting Adrien from Gabe seems to be Adrien's importance to Emilie, I'm inclined to go with the latter. Meanwhile a fair amount of what Felix cites as unforgivable behavior from Colt is actually the same thing Gabriel's doing to Adrien nowadays, he's just more subtle about it. Bad vibes all around

I can't remember if they did?

Like. The fandom debated on if they did or not. I know that. I'm not sure if they know that Adrien would be at risk in a 'life-for-a-life' scenario.

Plus Canon kinda flipflops on if it's an 'Equivalent Exchange' situation or a 'rewriting the universe' situation. At the very least what happened in Ephemeral confirms more on the latter. So why would Gabriel or Nathalie believe that Adrien would be in any danger if they could recreate a perfect world where everything is fine?

The whole 'killing the Sentimonsters' thing is also questionable as fuck. This was definitely a case where the retcons make everyone look bad.

Pre-retcons? Who cares. Even the more lifelike ones like Sentibug were just fake Magic Constructs. Why did it matter if they 'died' if they're not 'alive'?

But when they retconned the Sentis to be sapient, they'd already had a handful get killed off. Suddenly giving Nathalie/Gabriel a conscience about the new ones they make would draw attention to the others. But also they can't just /not have them make and kill Sentimonsters/ because what the hell is the point of the Peacock being in this show if they can't use it??

(Side note: This is another reason I hate the retcon for making all Sentibeings be Sapient. No matter who has the Peacock. They either have to use it and then kill the Sentimonster, or just never use it at all.)

Anyway!

This might be possible to salvage for at least Nathalie if we have her in somewhat the same boat as Marinette? Where she doesn't know that /all/ the Sentimonsters are Sapient Beings. She knows Adrien, Felix and Kagami are, but assumes that they were Specially Made in some way or had something Added that made them Real while the others are not. So have her find out and have a breakdown about it. Gabriel can't get the same treatment since he /definitely/ knows as he was there for Adrien's creation.

Also yeah Canon!Gabriel is just. UGh.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Honestly I agree Lila and Zoe SHOULD be a combined character it would even be good lesson for kids (that I believe is rarely taught now) that just because someone acts/behaves/looks nice doesn’t mean that they are nice deep down and people can just simply act nice to take advantage of you (which also works with Zoe’s motivation to become an actor as well)

It'd also be a way of showing a lesson of how to deal and not deal with that sort of person. Because the sort of manipulator that Zoe would represent is in a lot of ways worse than the standard bully that Chloe is.

Part of Chloe's problem in this setup would be in that she's overly reactionary in general. She would be especially sensitive to what Zoe does and wouldn't handle it well because she's so focused on what Zoe is doing that she doesn't realize why people don't believe her. If she stayed calm and thought things through, she could avoid falling into Zoe's trap.

The lesson that Lila presents in canon is supposed to be that lying is bad, but it doesn't work because Marinette is our point of view character and she knows from the start that Lila is lying. As such, we as the audience knew going in that Lila was a liar and is in the wrong with no buildup or reveal to it because it's literally the first thing we learn about her in the episode and the series proper. Because of this, it feels more jarring that the lesson seems to be more that Marinette is the one wrong for calling out Lila's lies and hurting her feelings than Lila is for choosing to lie about her in the first place when it is clear that Lila is not a good person and we are NOT supposed to be supporting her.

It would hit more if Marinette and the audience walked into this situation just as blind as everyone else. Because Zoe would be subtle and not overreach in her lies. Rather than rely on false claims of relationships, she would play on the emotional heartstrings of the class more by throwing Chloe under the bus and making herself look like Chloe's victim. Tell stories about their childhood and all the ways Chloe tried to get her in trouble over the years (especially as it would technically be the truth). That would immediately gain her the sympathy of the entire class and Marinette (as she has been Chloe's go-to victim) AS WELL AS the sympathy of the audience since we would know about Chloe and how she is by this point so the idea of Chloe bullying and mistreating her sister would seem pretty likely.

Then have the reveal come out slowly but surely. Hints here and there that indicate Zoe may not be as innocent or as much of a victim as she initially appears. Show a shot of Chloe ranting to Adrien. Show Adrien trying to support Chloe and everyone chalk it up to him being her friend and not knowing better. Have Marinette overhear Chloe's version of the past event Zoe mentioned. Have Zoe pull a similar stunt in current day and someone actually pay attention and notice things aren't lining up. Have someone actually witness the confrontation between Zoe and Chloe where Zoe smugly admits to setting Chloe up again.

That sense of betrayal would hit the audience then about as much as the character and would cement that yes, Zoe is the one in the wrong here. With none of this, "yeah, she did wrong but so-and-so did worse so that equals it out" BS that the show tends to do.

It would also ultimately be a lesson to Chloe that while Zoe has been manipulative and horrible to her, her way of responding to her and just how she has been acting in general has neither been okay nor helpful. Part of the reason nobody believes Chloe is because she very much IS a bully and they all know it. Zoe wouldn't have to make up much because Chloe's own past actions work against her and Zoe knows that. It would show that the biggest obstacle Chloe has in dealing with this problem is herself, past and present. And it would be a major milestone for Chloe in her arc. Not just about redemption, but maturity.

[iwasbored777]

Can I say something controversial? The way Chloe treats Zoe is the main reason I will never accept a "Chloe redemption."

She's just as much Audrey’s victim as Chloe is and instead of supporting her she treats Zoe like scum.

You spoke the truth, my friend! I would be more interested in Chloé's redemption if Chloé didn't still abuse Sabrina and wasn't mean to other people. Being a superhero doesn't instantly make you a good person and Chloé needed a lot more than that to deserve redemption. Just today I thought about how Chloé didn't think of being a superhero as a chance to help others but as a chance to prove that she's better than most of others and she used that as a chance to brag to everyone, not actually understand how important that is. Ladybug gave her so many chances and she gave up on Ladybug when Ladybug didn't give her what she wanted. The way she treats Sabrina and her father was really something that bothered me all the time and I never actually felt sorry for Chloé cuz she IS the victim of abuse and she still abuses other people. I really don't give a damn about anyone's backstory, what really matters is how you're gonna deal with it. She's a kid and has time to change but what she's doing right now isn't good. Let's not forget that she's assaulting Adrien too. And she needs to be the one who's gonna see that she's wrong, not someone else to risk everything and give her what she wants for her to understand that she needs to change. I can't believe that in Zombizou Chloé just apologised to Mrs Bustier but not to Marinette and she got equal credit as Marinette who got shut down for being angry cuz Chloé vandalised her gift. Bustier really is a realistic teacher when it comes to bullies - she thinks holding a speech will solve the problem.

And, yes, Zoe also has the same terrible mother who wanted to send her back to New York cuz she didn't rise to her expectations yet Zoe doesn't want to be like them. Chloé also got a chance for everyone around her and so did Zoe - the only difference is that Zoe actually decided to be a good person.

I had the same friend in school who was abused by his parents and he would come to school and abuse me. I later found out about his family situation and everyone tried to make me feel sorry for him and I was like "why should I feel sorry for him when he's the one who is hurting me, who did nothing to him, just cuz he's hurting - that's sick"! Revenge is one thing but attacking someone who did nothing wrong to you bc your life isn't perfect doesn't make you a misunderstood person - it makes you a bitch.

And like I said before, there are always people in real life who were horrible and then they show some signs of kindness but they still go back to being mean - it's nothing new. It's not a ruined character, it's literally what we see all the time. Chloé still has the time to change but only if she wants to.

[spacetime1969]

Flirting Back.

My addition to @sariahsue’s @post-reveal-revelry!

Marinette discovered her partner's Identity. Finally, she can get back at Chat for all that flirting. Written for the day 6 prompt: Mischief.

Ao3

Fanfiction.net

Marinette flopped onto her bed after detransforming. "I can't believe it Tikki! Adrien is a pun-loving catboy!"

"Yep." Tikki took another bite out of her cookie.

"Ahhhhhh! My pun-loving cat-themed superhero partner is my unrequited love! What even is my life!" Marinette pointed an accusing finger at her kwami. "Multi-layered mutual pining was not in the magical superhero contract."

Tikki giggled. "Are you sure? I think that it was somewhere under section 24-6: 'Love Life.'"

Marinette paused. "Wait, that's not a real thing right?"

She just smiled. "So! Now that you know who Chat is, what are you going to do?"

"Right…" Marinette is pretty sure that Tikki was joking, hopefully. "I guess I should tell him. He's my partner after all." 

Tikki nodded. "Good. Chat and Ladybug need to be equals. What's your plan to tell him?"

"Plan? I guess just tell him during patrol?"

"Really that's all? That's not very creative."

"Creative?" Her brow furrowed. "Why would it need to be creative?"

"Well I guess it doesn't need to be, it would just be more fun."

Marinette just sighs. "You know I used to think you were the calm kwami."

"So we aren't doing anything fun with this?" Tikki asked with a pout.

"Oh, we are! I want to get back at Chat for all of those terrible pickup lines."

-0-0-0-

When Alya saw that Marinette had made it early to school, she was rather surprised. "Wow girl, early on a Monday? What world-ending event is this!"

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Nice to see you too, Alya. If you must know I'm working on a plan."

She raised her eyebrows. "A plan huh? Would said plan have something to do with Adrien?"

Her best friend just grinned at her. "You'll just have to wait and see!"

Alya did her best to get Marinette to spill the tea on her plan, but Marinette wouldn't budge, at least, not until Adrien walked into the classroom.

"Watch this." Marinette said, smirking at Alya. "Good morning Adrien!"

"Morning Marinette! How are you doing?"

"Pretty good, you?

"Great!"

"So Adrien, you're a boy."

"Yes?"

"Do you think you could help me with something?"

"Sure!" Adrien said with a grin. "What do you need help with?"

"Well you see there's this boy I kinda like." Alya shared a wide-eyed glance with Nino. Could this be it? Was Marinette finally going to confess to Adrien? "He's really smooth and romantic though, and I'm not. So I was wondering if, ah, you would be willing to help me practice flirting?" Okay, Alya did not see that coming.

"Uh, I guess." Adrien said, looking a little flustered. 

"Thank you!" Alya watched as Marinette pulled Adrien into a hug. What the heck happened to her stuttering mess of a friend! How on earth did she go from being unable to talk to Adrien, to asking him to help her practice flirting with him?

Adrien smiled. "No problem Marinette. Are you sure I'm the best person to help you though?"

"Definitely," she glanced at Alya briefly, "you two are a lot alike."

"Okay then, what do you have?"

Marinette looked down at her phone before looking him dead in the eye. "You're absolutely purrfect you know, so gorgeous I only have eight lives left."

Five minutes later there was a very flustered Adrien, an absolutely shocked Alya and Nino, and a very smug Marinette.

"Thanks for your help Adrien! I'm feeling much more confident now!"

Alya and Nino looked at each other. What just happened? And what the heck was up with all the cat references?

-0-0-0-

"Plagg, I think Marinette might have a crush on Chat." Adrien said, and Plagg burst out laughing.

-0-0-0-

That night after patrol, Adrien Aggrest was pacing his room. He had been sitting with Ladybug on top of the TVi building when she had asked him a question. "So, Chat you're a boy right? And you're pretty good at flirting." He had a bad feeling about where this was going. "You see, there's this boy in my class…"

It was all the same puns. How were they all the same puns! "Plagg? Is Marinette Ladybug?"

The kwami shrugged. "Eh, probably."

"Wait what!"

"Yeah, so bakery girl is probably Ladybug. It's not like she was trying to hide it."

"You mean Ladybug has been in my class this whole time!"

"Yep."

-0-0-0-

The next day at school Adrien didn't know what to do. Every time he saw Marinette, he wondered how on Earth he had missed this. Heck, he even called her their everyday Ladybug! And who was this mystery boy his lady wants to flirt with?

Should he tell her that he knew? He probably should. She deserved to know.

Class ended and he was headed home for lunch when Marinette stopped him. "Hey Adrien, wait up!" 

He slowed, panicking slightly. Okay, this is fine, the fact that your friend is also your superhero partner has no bearing on this conversation and everything is completely normal. He turned to face her. "What's up Marinette?"

"Well Chaton, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies with me?"

He knew that smirk, that was Ladybug's smirk. "Milady?"

She smiled. "Yes, Chat?"

He stood there for a moment, before smiling. They'd found each other. He reached out and grabbed her hand. Placing a kiss on her knuckles. "Sounds like a meowvelous idea milady."

Marinette pulled him into a hug. "Glad I found you Chat." 

"Me too, Marinette." He whispered back.

They pulled apart. "Think you can come over to my place for lunch? We have a lot to talk about."

He chuckled. "I'll see what I can do."

Fin

[chicoriii]

Season 4, Episode 14 - Sentibulleur (Sentibubbler)

I just seen the episode today, because I wasn't looking forward for another Alya-centric one, I'm already sick of it. I did it only now when have more free time. It's the first time, since I'm a Miraculous fan, when I'm starting watching a completely new episode without feeling even a bit of excitation. I'm not gonna lie that I enjoyed it, I don't, because it's not my cup of tea. This is why this post is more about why I dislike Alya favouritism than Sentibubbler itself. But I need to clarify that I didn't enjoy the episode mostly because of personal taste, I'm not trying to say it's "objectively" bad (though opinions are never objective, only facts could be). If you love Alya's arc, it's completely understandable that you probably love this episode as well.

I thought it would be a DjWfi episode (to be clear, I haven't seen any trailers of it, only one screenshot, which was said to be from this episode, but I don't remember seeing that moment in it at all, and the ending card), but poor Nino was just a background character. This is literally an "Alya is amazing" episode in which she is saving the world with a very little help of Ladybug and even less of Chat Noir, who is treated more like an offending trash. After watching it, I see fan edits like that are even more accurate to describe season 4 (not made by me, I just stole it from Cartoon Apocalypse's video).

Adrien was supposed to be a deuteragonist and a second main character, but Alya is much more like ones than Adrien has ever been. He has never gotten as many episodes focusing on him as much like those with Alya in a season (and we can be sure, it's not the last one) and he has never be as much the main hero in a fight against villains in any of them. Instead of giving him more screentime, he's putted even more in the background than before, because Alya needs to shine. Why they can't do it without treating Adrien that much unfair? I'm not gonna hide that I hate it and it makes me feel that maybe I should stop watching the show, since it looks like it's not something I really enjoy anymore. Adrien is my favourite character, so I'm really pissed of that Alya is stealing his role. We will see, but once I will be sure that Alya favouritism is gonna last forever, I would consider stopping watching the show seriously. Especially that doesn't go hand in hand with good writing. In this episode nothing as much absurd like in Optigami happened, but I still have one big issue.

It's not a problem with Alya herself. I'm used to like her, even if she's been annoying me sometimes before S4. But I don't know what to think about her this season, since I have some issues with her writing. I just don't like the idea of as much favouritism any of the characters who are not the original main ones, especially if Adrien is treated that bad by the writing at the same time. I would say the same if it was Kagami, who is my third favourite character in the show, after Adrien and Plagg. As you see, I like the Japanese girl even more than Marinette, but I still don't think that making her more important than the protagonist would be okay (it would make no sense, but you know what I mean).

Besides, I've seen people speculating that Alya is going to fuse the fox with ladybug Miraculous in an episode in which Marinette is akumatised (if one will ever happen). Don't you see how much unfair to Adrien/Chat Noir it is? Alya is already getting much of special treatment, more than a character who was supposed to be the next most important one after the current Guardian of the Mother Box. An episode with Marinette as an akuma should be the one in which Chat Noir is saving her without help of any other heroes, just like she has saved him alone in Chat Blanc. If there was a fusion of the fox and ladybug, it would mean that's not a story mostly about Marinette and Adrien anymore. It would make it clear that the writers are not even try to hide the fact that's now it's Alya the second most important character. Adrien could be the third one at best, Chat is only a sidekick of the Ladies, not really a hero equal to Ladybug anymore. Besides, episode like that is most probably the only chance to see Tikki using her power without a wielder. Wouldn't it really interesting to see what bad happens when Tikki is using Lucky Charm all by herself?

And to be fair, this season has really way too much Alya generally, I'd like to see more other heroes, not just Rena Rouge and Rena Rouge over and over again. I want more new Miraculous wielders and since Ladybug is calling the old ones (though she definitely should not do it), I want to see them in action too. We need to get a full transformation sequence of Ryuuko at least once. But the more episodes they are released, the less I believe it would ever happen. Good thing that they found few seconds to show Chat's sequence (only a second time in 10 episodes!), but still no Cataclysm. I wonder if they are even going to show it after season 3.

I have no idea what writers are planning to do. If they're want Alya to be a permanent Miraculous holder who is treated like co-guardian by Marinette forever, why they write her that way? Why isn't she really noble and careful? Why all those red flags she's giving Marinette (those she always ignore anyway): like letting Mr. Ramier know that Ladybug's the Guardian now, though she asked her to keep it as a secret, or stealing a Miraculous that almost made Ladybug's identity exposed. Are any of those events be relevant later? Are they there to show that saying Alya everything about the Guardian things and giving her the fox Miraculous permanently are bad decisions? If yes, what's the purpose of Sentibubbler? This episode doesn't seem to be really significant, it's more like another one fan service for Alya stans. The previous ones were actually important, this one could be missed without much a loss for the plot. The only reason it could be seen as significant is to make Marinette letting her guard down even more. But isn't she extremely careless already? After revealing her identity, she immediately started to tell Alya all the Guardian secrets, gave her a code for the Miracle Box, as well as the Miraculous permanently, despite her identity being exposed and all the wrong things she has done. Marinette is already dealing completely reckless with Alya, there's no reason to make her even more. Besides, that dream can't be a prophetic one, right? I remember that adult Bunnix really believed that exposing Ladybug's identity is something what Alya is able to do (from her time at least), but I think it's impossible to happen in real. That's why I see this episode as the most "fillerish" from all of this's season those have been released till now. Other ones introduced new characters or Miraculous wielders at least, nothing really new and crucial happened in this one. There's nothing bad in fillers, but why another Alya-centric one? Why not focusing on a character who hasn't been favoured this season instead?

The most stupid thing in this episode is that Rena Rouge made an illusion in which Ladybug says that she won't give the Miraculous to her anymore, for two reasons. One is that Gabriel bought that very weak lie without questioning it at all. It's clearly a plot armor. I know that they tend to make Gabriel very dumb when they need it from the beginning, but it's extremely stupid even to him. Hey, Gabriel, you know Rena Rouge's identity for some time now and Ladybug has been already giving Rena the fox few times before after her identity being exposed. Why that sudden decision? Isn't it suspect? Second is that it's been portrayed as a clever thing, while it makes Alya unable to be Rena Rouge anymore, if they don't want to show to Shadow Moth that was a lie. I'm not talking only about the battles, Rena can't be seen in public, since Ladyblog is not the only place which is showing content about the heroes. So then there's no reason for Alya to keep the fox anymore. Unless I interpret it wrong, and Marinette doesn't think it would make Gabriel stop going after Alya. But to me it looked like that and that's also make Marinette dumb anyway, because she is still unable of seeing how dangerous it is for her best friend. Alya's plan worked once, but it doesn't mean it would work again, once he discovers the lie, it would make him even more suspicious of a bond between Rena Rouge and Ladybug. Marinette is risking not only safety of Paris and the whole world, but also safety of her best friend. Why everyone is able to see that obvious thing, not only the girls but also all of the Kwamis? I'm not going to change my opinion that they are dumbing down all the characters who are involved in it and that's just bad and lazy writing.

And where's Su-Han when he's needed. I've been working on the English subtitles for the French dubbing of Furious Fu recently and now I remember that he said that he's going to observe Marinette and take the box from her is she makes a slight mistake. She's keeping making bad decisions, but he still isn't showing. That was a lie? Because if he doesn't see anything wrong in how's Marinette is dealing with her guardian duty, I'm gonna to lose the rest of my faith in the writers.

--------

I'm so sorry. I wanted to be active on Tumblr at least a bit after seeing this episode, but I still don't feel motivated. It's painful to say that season 4 is mostly a disappointment to me, especially that I hate the biggest story arc of it.