m3nt4llyr4v3d

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I swear, if there’s not some inner conflict in Adrien where’s he’s like “My father was an awful person” and “But everyone says he’s a hero though…” I’m going to scream

It’s bad enough that he says he wants to be “just like him” at the end of season 5

But if this isn’t acknowledged as an actual problem that immediately needs to be stopped before he completely internalizes Gabe’s behavior towards him as “good”, no hope for this show

(I mostly say this because I read buggachat’s fic Open My Eyes, and I’m not saying the season has to go exactly like that, but they can’t just write Adrien to act like his father’s a good person without a single doubt in his mind… right? Right……?)

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml writers salt #adrien deserves better

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Forgiveness in Miraculous

The main issue I have with the redemption in ML is that redemption = forgiveness

The fact that characters get redeemed/forgiven/absolved when they haven’t done anything to warrant any of that: they simply change their mind and oh they’re good now! The good guys fully accept them as good too!

The characters who are “redeemed” so far have not put in the work to be redeemed

Literally the only character I can think of who did something bad and is actively putting in the work to be better and be there was fucking Jagged Stone

Felix barely did shit to be actually be a better person, and yet Kagami’s vouch for him is supposed to be our indication that he’s redeemed, not only that but he’s on the team!

Nathalie changed her mind, then changed it back to continue helping Gabe, then changed her mind again at the last possible moment, and she’s just chilling at the end with Marinette not doing anything about it, somehow that’s our indication that she’s redeemed (if it turns out Marinette forgot because of the wish somehow someone please throw a brick at my head)

Andre literally hasn’t even tried to act better or be better, and he’s completely absolved from all his actions because “he’s sowwy!” At least the other two characters tried doing something at the end, he didn’t do shit!

I am aware that them being better people could come around in season 6, but that’s not my issue. My issue is how they are treated as already redeemed without them putting in any work whatsoever!

It’s so ironic that the writers rag on Chloe because they say she only did good things because of selfish reasons, when the redemptions for the other characters literally amount to them changing their mind and that’s it

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml salt #andre salt #felix salt #nathalie salt #ml writers salt #ml writing criticism

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Oh god if they tell us all this happened in his backstory, causing him to do all that, and he doesn’t get therapy? No hope for this show

Some people think the reason they had Felix tell his story through that weird play was because the details were too graphic for younger kids, do you think that's a good excuse?

No because the details of Felix's abuse weren't narratively necessary. Felix suffering any abuse wasn't narratively necessary. I'd even say it was a bad thing to add because I doubt that the show is planning to deal with that issue by putting Felix into therapy or the like. It's going to be resolved by Kagami's love and was arguably only added to make Felix a sad little uwu who we can't blame for his actions.

All the play actually needed to do was:

Establish who the sentimonsters are (which it arguably failed at)

Establish that Gabriel is the butterfly holder (which the next episode does anyway)

Even outside of the abuse issue, most of what we see in the play was pointless. Giving us Emilie and Amelie's backstory would have only mattered if Emilie was brought back to life, which seems to not be the case? Even if she was brought back to life, what did we really learn about her? If we removed this play from the story, what would the narrative lose? Maybe season six will surprise me, but my guess is nothing.

You want to know why the play was really added? It's there so that Marinette wasn't able to defeat the akuma and free Chat Noir from his nightmare dust, making sure that there was no identity reveal and that he didn't show up for the final. That's it. That's the whole point.

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml season 5 salt #< prev tags #this damn show

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Honestly, I’d be fine if Chloe had a damnation arc, if only it was written well

if only the show didn’t go out of its way to make sure to stomp on every good deed she’s done

if only it didn’t try to say that every good deed she’s done was completely out of self interest, even when that’s not supported by the earlier seasons of the show

if only it didn’t completely erase the reasons as to why she acts the way she does

if only it didn’t make her a completely one-note, one dimensional villain

if only it didn’t pretend that she’s just an inherently evil being and not, you know, a human, a high schooler with issues

if only it would actually acknowledge the adults who influence and manipulate her to act like that

if only it wouldn’t act like she’s worse than the adults around her

if only it wouldn’t act like the people who do the same actions as her were better just because

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml chloe #chloe deserves better #ml salt #ml writers salt

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I guess I should also mention that i specifically mean fics that don’t switch the salt on Lila to salting on the class, I used to like them but I don’t have the greatest opinions on them now 😅

There are very, very few Lila fics where she’s redeemed/good/chaotic. And honestly that’s fair, a lot of the people salting on her are understandably frustrated by the worst lies she tells and the sheer amount of plot armor she has

But then I see the occasional fic, where it delves into her life or her mindset, where she makes some friends, or when she learns that the people at her new school do genuinely care about her and maybe she should just indulge in it, and it always leaves me desperately wishing that canon went a different direction with her

Right now we have a living paradox where she tells the most ridiculous and obvious lies to her peers and the adults and not a single person has actually figured her out yet, her plot armor being so strong that it bends reality, and Adrien’s own friends don’t even believe him

The way she’s written makes it damn near impossible to not want to salt on her, so much so that Gabriel has more fics where he’s good than her. Writing a redemption fic kind of requires a bit of an overhaul of how she’s written

I dunno what I’m yapping about here honestly, I just want more of those types of fics, cause her character is so interesting to me, just not the way she actually is in the show. The few I’ve seen where she’s just a chaotic good/neutral force are the most fun imo (maybe I should write a Lila fic)

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There are very, very few Lila fics where she’s redeemed/good/chaotic. And honestly that’s fair, a lot of the people salting on her are understandably frustrated by the worst lies she tells and the sheer amount of plot armor she has

But then I see the occasional fic, where it delves into her life or her mindset, where she makes some friends, or when she learns that the people at her new school do genuinely care about her and maybe she should just indulge in it, and it always leaves me desperately wishing that canon went a different direction with her

Right now we have a living paradox where she tells the most ridiculous and obvious lies to her peers and the adults and not a single person has actually figured her out yet, her plot armor being so strong that it bends reality, and Adrien’s own friends don’t even believe him

The way she’s written makes it damn near impossible to not want to salt on her, so much so that Gabriel has more fics where he’s good than her. Writing a redemption fic kind of requires a bit of an overhaul of how she’s written

I dunno what I’m yapping about here honestly, I just want more of those types of fics, cause her character is so interesting to me, just not the way she actually is in the show. The few I’ve seen where she’s just a chaotic good/neutral force are the most fun imo (maybe I should write a Lila fic)

#miraculous ladybug #mlb #ml writing critical #ml lila #i want to study her under a microscope

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You remember when in “Guilttrip” Adrien almost cataclysmed himself?

Is that like… ever going to be properly addressed in the show?

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #adrien deserves better

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I don’t like talking about or salting on hasbin/helluvaverse cause it’s not that fun for me like talking about the numerous writing pitfalls of Miraculous (also for me there’s just infinitely more to talk about for that show)

But I would like to say, based on what I’ve seen

It’s standom is absolutely horrid, near nuclear meltdown type of state

I mean, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone get defensive over people liking a fictional r*pist, saying “oh they’re fictional it doesn’t hurt anyone!”, then get mad at people who want to hurt that fictional r*pist or want them dead…

What in the actual fuck, how does this even register in someone’s mind as being a coherent thought

#hazbin fandom critical #hazbin fandom salt

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Chat Blanc Doesn’t Matter

(to the person who actually saw it)

You’ve probably seen this said already but I have to express how frustrating this is dear LORD

Lemme preface this by saying: I think it’s hilarious that the fans come up with better headcanons than the writers

I completely believed the idea that the reason Ladybug was growing distant from Chat was because of the whole Chat Blanc thing. Sure, it was really alluded to twice in the entirety of season 4, but it honestly wouldn’t have been the first time something important was brought up only a few times, so it was reasonably believable. It’s falls in line with Chat Blanc affecting Marinette in multiple ways, her wanting to distant herself from Chat to prevent that timeline, whether subconsciously or on purpose. Meanwhile, her distance from Chat and his feeling of inadequacy on the team could possibly lead to his akumatization anyways. It was poetic really

And then the writers turned to us and said “oh no, it’s not that! It’s just that she has a lot of responsibilities and… that’s it!”

Kuro Neko happened in this season.

The episode where Marinette, for a brief moment, thought that Chat was akumatized.

And she barely has a reaction.

Look, I’m aware that if that was actually Chat, he wouldn’t have the ring and would be a bit less of a threat… theoretically, I mean being akumatized can replicate his powers regardless but whatever. But I feel like this “revelation” should have a stronger reaction? She saw the world get completely destroyed the “last time” this happened, why isn’t she more affected by this??

And in Season 5, she “rebounded” her crush, so now she likes Chat because of the events of season 4… except that would be an issue because it never once occurs to her that a relationship with Chat would lead to that future?? Chat Blanc literally says their love destroyed the world, how else could she have interpreted that? And yet she constantly goes on about what she likes about him and tries to pursue a relationship with him in her civilian identity and she doesn’t think about the potential consequences once?? (I can’t believe the season 4 finale affected her in that regard and Chat Blanc didn’t)

And of course, like others have said, every single iteration of Chat in white doesn’t freak her out. I guess seeing Paris destroyed, flooded, and seeing herself DEAD and her own body DISINTEGRATE IN FRONT OF HER EYES didn’t really affect her at all, nah just a normal Tuesday

No, Chat Blanc doesn’t matter one single bit to Ladybug, because for some baffling reason they’re shoving that all onto Chat, who WASN’T THERE! They had to make him have a nightmare adjacent to it to even do this!

Which, by the way, Marinette couldn’t have told him about any of what she saw therefore making him scared of a potential future based on her words. That would mean that this potential future she saw would have any meaning to her whatsoever, which it clearly doesn’t

what are the writers smoking, genuinely

#ml salt #ml writing salt #ml writing critical

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Can I just say this series has a weird way of dealing with bad/absentee parents?

Jagged left his family, that’s resolved in one episode, Juleka seems like she’s going to have issues with this whole thing- oh- wait never mind that’s resolved now

Audrey is still treated as a terrible person, but the show can’t make up its mind as to whether or not she’s abusive to her daughters or not (more like it’ll kiiiiiiiind of acknowledge it with Zoe, straight up won’t with Chloe)

The show is somehow convinced that Andre is a good father, despite the fact literally in the early seasons it shows that he doesn’t discipline his child at all and literally abuses his power to bend to their will (I do not give a single fuck about how Chloe treats him, he literally taught her to act like this, he enforced this behavior, it is always the parent’s job to discipline their child, I do not understand how some people are genuinely pinning the way Chloe acts fully on her and excusing Andre, the adult)

Gabriel… okay, the show kind of acknowledges his horrible treatment of Adrien… sometimes, it just flip flips on whether or not it will or whether or not it’s out of love (which isn’t any better, show)

Emilie… given the context clues (which I’m not sure if it’s truly context clues or just inferring based off random info in the show) isn’t a good parent either, but there’s absolutely no way she’s going to be talked about at all except when Lila reveals all the secrets

#ml writing critical #ml writing salt #andre salt #gabriel salt #emilie agreste salt #audrey bourgeois salt #ml salt #jagged stone salt

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Felix v Chloe

Lemme just say, I hate the way Felix is treated in the show and the fandom compared to Chloe

Somehow, someway, the characters can forgive Felix and even have him on the team at the end (?????), and all of his actions are completely absolved due to his backstory: “Oh he was just doing all that for his survival! He was just an awkward quirky guy with no social cues all along!”

But Chloe’s backstory even being brought up for an explanation is immediately shut down, it doesn’t excuse a single thing she’s done! Hell, it doesn’t even explain why she’s the way she is because Mylene has an absent mother and she turned out fine! Doesn’t matter that Mylene had a father that actually taught her how to act and didn’t just buy her love with constant gifts and abuses of power, there’s just no excuse!

Both act in their own self interest, turning to the villain to get something they want, but nonono, Felix, without apologizing once mind you, is redeemed and forgiven while Chloe gets sent off to NY with her mother! Everyone wins!

Not to mention Felix did arguably worse than Chloe

Felix was the one who actively made Hawkmoth more powerful by giving him the miraculous (not to mention giving HM the ring) while with Chloe, Hawkmoth got the miraculous on his own and she was just along for the ride basically. Then Felix came back and snapped away everyone. Chloe sent everyone away when she was akumatized as well, but at least we could see where they went and there wasn’t any confusion as to whether they got snapped to some pocket dimension or straight up disappeared. Oh, and she was akumatized by Gabriel who was literally manipulating her along with Tomoe and Lila at the time??

I feel like any arguments for Felix about worrying for his or Adrien’s safety, any excuses, should’ve been thrown out the window in the season 4 finale. After that point he had full control over himself and gave up Adrien’s free will, and he still came back to snap everyone away! Now, I would absolutely be fine with this (cept the Adrien part) I mean trauma with humans isn’t going to go away just like that even when there’s no immediate risk anymore (unless you get a girlfriend apparently). My issue with that is how this same sentiment isn’t given to Chloe whatsoever, her lash outs aren’t given any thought beyond “oh she’s evil for the sake of it”, ignoring how the trauma of her mother leaving her and treating her like garbage would still affect her, and it drives me up the wall

Not to mention the show actively tries to pretend that the adults surrounding Chloe’s life don’t have any influence on her whatsoever, even though they obviously do and Tomoe and Gabriel literally set her up as a scapegoat in this season. Somehow her father isn’t responsible whatsoever for the way she was raised, her mother leaving apparently didn’t even affect her behavior because we’re genuinely supposed to believe this teenager is just an evil person. Somehow the storyline of her being set up as a scapegoat by two grown ass adults is literally ignored by the narrative including some of the fans

Oh but Felix gets all the sympathy regardless of what he did

Right.

I wouldn’t hate Felix or his character direction so much if it wasn’t a direct slap to the face for Chloe, not to mention giving the Chloe stans fuel! I mean, it literally proved their point that Chloe deserved a redemption because full grown adults who’ve done worse and a guy who’s done nearly the same shit as her are forgiven and “redeemed”, ridiculous (I say that a lot huh)

#ml salt #ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml chloe #chloe deserves better #felix salt #ml fandom salt #felix deserves better #writing that is

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Not telling Adrien he’s a sentimonster is the most detrimental choice

He’s at risk if he leaves them anywhere, if he accidentally forgets them somewhere, he needs to guard it with his LIFE, and you’re telling me no one thinks to tell him this?? Nathalie?? What are you doing???

I cannot possibly understand how some of the fans see this as reasonable

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #adrien deserves better

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Are they going to tell us why the Agreste’s didn’t even consider adoption? If the answer comes even close to “they just wanted a magic puppet for a kid”, how am I supposed to feel any amount of sympathy for either of them if that explanation amounts to “they’re out of touch uber rich people who probably thought raising a kid was the same as raising a dog”

I really wish we knew literally anything about Emilie, her personality, and the way she parented because the surrounding context makes her sound terrible

#ml salt #ml writing salt #ml writing critical #gabriel salt #emilie agreste #emilie salt?

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crazy to me that people are actually tuning in to my unhinged rants and liking them

i feel very seen

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Miraculous and Redemption

You know, I think I understand what my issue is with this show’s stance on redemption. It’s not specifically who gets the redemption, even the hypocrisy of who does or doesn’t get redemption/forgiven is only one part of the issue.

It’s specifically how they treat the characters who don’t get redemption.

I have seen, in media, where terrible characters who’ve done terrible things get a redemption, and the mean characters, who are just mean, don’t change at all. That’s fine! People are complex, some change and some don’t, some have done horrible things and some are just school yard bullies. It’s fine to showcase this, I mean hell, in the Owl House, Boscha was still an asshole in season 2, and this was past the point that characters like Lilith were forgiven (Lilith isn’t really terrible in Season 1, she just has done a lot worse than Boscha)

Miraculous’s massive issue with this, however, is that the narrative/the authors treats those mean characters as worse than those characters who’ve done horrible things.

I mean, what other media has one of the creators say that some high school bully is comparable to Trump when her literal rich, corrupt, politician father is right fucking there?

Usually the media where a terrible person is redeemed and the mean character isn’t doesn’t treat it as a moral issue. It’s not “oh well this person can’t change” or “oh this person is even worse!” It’s usually “they’re mean, and that’s annoying, but oh well”. That media never treats the character like Satan incarnate, or treats their meanness compared to actual villainy as a moral issue. When characters are around them, they aren’t treating that mean character as literal scum compared to the former villain, the narrative doesn’t treat them as more than an annoyance or, for lack of better words, “small fry”. I mean, while Owl House acknowledged that Boscha was still a prick in season 2, they didn’t act like she was worse than Belos.

Miraculous treats Chloe and Lila, some petty, mean teenagers, as the literal devil compared to other characters. Lila is a master manipulator who somehow convinced 3 people she’s their daughter and has a trillion disguises! It doesn’t matter that that twist came out of nowhere, and it makes it a little weird that this teenager has multiple disguises that she uses around the city apparently, one where she looks like a 20 year old, making people theorize she’s an adult because how on earth is she smart enough or resourceful enough to do this. Chloe is a villain comparable to Gabe, even when she was a hero! Her backstory doesn’t justify any of her actions, but for literally everyone else, we are going to justify their actions! If they don’t do that, they’ll just sweep their actions under the rug completely! It doesn’t matter that she’s consistently being manipulated by the fully grown adults around her, she’s terrible don’t think about it! She neglected her father somehow (???????????????????) so it’s fully justified to send her off with her abusive mother! We aren’t even going to acknowledge that Andre literally had a part in raising her and her turning out this way, because somehow he did no wrong! And what sucks is that it’s succeeding at making those characters appear that way, because some fans are completely genuine when they say that Gabriel is more sympathetic than them. I mean, if you frequent the Reddit (which you absolutely shouldn’t, one way or another it will melt your brain), you’ll consistently see character rankings with Gabriel, Lila, Tomoe, and Chloe in the same category. Somehow the show put the bullies in the same categories as the literal abusive terrorist and his helper in these people’s eyes. You will constantly see these literal teenagers be put on the same category as adults who have done infinitely worse. Even Andre, who is a corrupt politician and terrible role model and literally RAISED CHLOE… is “woobified” by some fans, even going as far to say that Chloe abused him! Nevermind how that would even be possible when she was like, 5-7 when her mom left! I can’t point my fingers at the fans for this though, because the show goes out of its way to place all of its sympathy on the adults, even when they don’t deserve it, EVEN WHEN THE PAST WRITING LITERALLY PAINTS THEIR ACTIONS AS BAD

(It also doesn’t help that the fully grown adult’s actions are all forgiven but god forbid you’re terrible as a teenager, then you’ll get sent off to live with your verbally abusive mother while your basically deadbeat father adopts your half sister literally right after wiping his hands of you)

I will talk about the hypocrisy in redemption at some point, and how bias and forgiveness is handled, but godDAMN, this sucks

#ml salt #ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml chloe #ml lila #andre salt #gabriel salt #this damn show

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The Hazbin stans stump me. I’ve rarely seen a standom where, in response to POC CREATORS… saying that racial representation is bad, to then… be more racist?? That or straight up say they aren’t POC?? Huh???

As a black woman, I have to ask: Are these people genuinely okay? Like, even if you don’t see an issue with the representation, don’t trample on the people who do? Or try to say that they straight up ARENT black??

Standom actually prove they aren’t actively silencing POC voices challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)

#hazbin hotel critical #hazbin fandom critical #I hate it here

[m3nt4llyr4v3d]

I always thought stay at home dad Adrien isn't a good future path for Adrien and with how adventurous he can be, I used to thought that there's no way he would be settled to be stay at home dad, unless, say, Marinette is pregnant or something. After all, we're talking about a kid who's longing for freedom which is his s1-3 characteristics.

But s5 Adrien? The Adrien who proudly say "I'm gonna be anything Marinette want?" Or something along the line?

Stay at home dad Adrien definitely the path he would dive in. If being stay at home dad will make Marinette less stressed, more relaxed and happy then yeah he'd do that. Without a doubt.

I hate the fact the writers choose this path for him, it's insulting for his s1-3 self.

I think Talik Sanis describe the horror of the future Adrienette perfectly in this story : https://archiveofourown.org/works/38691531

And the characters personality is perfectly lined with their current canon self ngl.

I used to think being a homemaker isn't a bad path for Adrien because I assumed it wouldn't mean he'd be stuck at home all the time and one-sidedly support whoever he marries. I envisioned it as a path where he's no longer in a high pressure environment being ordered around by a boss and working around someone else's schedule. Even less than a stay at home dad, I honestly dread Adrien signing up for a 9 to 5 job under a boss *shudder*.

House husband Adrien to me, used to mean he is loved despite his lack of high ambitions. By not having a blue-collar job, he doesn't have to compete with anyone. Being a house husband means he can choose whether or not he has to do all the chores today or procrastinate, run on his own schedule. The dishes can wait until morning, the laundry can be taken to the cleaners if he's not feeling doing it himself, cooking doesn't always have to be his responsibility, the house doesn't have to be completely spotless and who knows what appliances will be invented in the future to make chores even more convenient... little things he can arrange on HIS whims. It's nothing grand, but it's some form of authority. It's a lot more control he's had than with anything in his life. Especially once the kids are at school. In those hours, he can pick a hobby to do or try all kinds of part time jobs or hang out with whichever friend he has that's on their day off. Most importantly, he answers to no one, he doesn't dance to anyone's tune but his own. This is his choice because while it is a heavy responsibility, what job isn't? At least house husband is a responsibility he can be flexible with. Being a house husband doesn't have to stop him from starting a business or doing a part time job if he so chooses to or joining a club for a hobby he is super into.

But I forgot patriarchy ruins everything and it's not on Adrien's side - Adrien is the princess after all, not the knight and never will be. He is not allowed to have things for himself unless it involves making Marinette happy. So, with the way S5 is, I get the vibe Adrien would be the kind of house husband stay at home dad that centers everything on his spouse and has no life outside that. He belongs to her, she's his priority and he has to take care of her. Because that's how women are according to patriarchy.

As for the fic, I haven't read it but I am intrigued. Maybe when my mind is less frazzled because of my own 9 to 5 job treating me like shit.

#not that i don’t love a good malewife #but completely reducing him to that?