I've recently come across a couple of season 4 fanfics that dealt with the Chat Noir feeling left out and quitting thing and every time I read one I can't help but think "man did they chose the wrong side of the masks AND the wrong characters for this conflict. Chat Noir comes across terribly here". It's weird to see people try and justify his behavior and act like Ladybug was in the wrong.
Was Ladybug being the best friend ever? No, but friendship is secondary when they're wearing the masks. Paris comes first. Chat Noir quitting because he doesn't feel special enough is literally him endangering everyone he loves because his crush isn't paying enough attention to him and I truly can't tell if the show wanted us to feel like he was in the right or the wrong here. In Kuro Neko, Catwalker actually does acknowledge the lesson he needed to learn
There's nothing wrong with you. Maybe the boy who was Cat Noir was more sensitive than it seemed. But his feelings for you shouldn't force you to pay more attention to him than to others. You take care of everybody equally, Ladybug.
And Chat Noir apologizes at the end of the episode for causing Ladybug trouble, but the whole thing is incredibly lackluster. They don't actually have a meaningful conversation about why he was feeling that way and the rest of the season seems to present Ladybug as being in the wrong, especially the final! Trusting Alya leads to nothing meaningful and not trusting Chat Noir loses her the miraculous. Basically, I still have no idea what season 4 was trying to do with this conflict and it's been dropped forever now that Adrien is fully reduced to nothing more than arm candy.
HOWEVER, this basic setup could have been a fantastic b plot if the "Adrien doesn't feel needed" conflict wasn't a Ladynoir conflict, but was instead a conflict between Adrien and Nino. Move Rocketear up to earlier in the season and have the fallout from that be that Adrien's relationship with Nino is strained. He can still feel leftout because Ladybug has a bigger team now, but instead of him pouting about it and skipping fights, focus on how that need for connection has transferred to his civilian life, but he doesn't have Kagami or Nino now and he's lost. Then you can either have an Adrien and Nino b plot because that relationship needs more screen time OR you use this to make Adrien and Marinette start to grow closer because Rocketear's fallout is also Alya paying more attention to Nino. Then, when season 5 does the whole crush switch, it actually feels earned.
129 notes
·
View notes
The thing about Ryomina (mlm or mlf) is that I hesitate to say I "ship" it because I don't really consider them solely in the 'romantic' side of things.
Like, to me their whole deal is more on the conceptual scale of things. They exist on many planes, they can be romantic, they can be platonic, they can be the same person, but there is still emotions there regardless of what you do.
Death delivers all, death is all encompassing, death lived inside of them until one day, it leaves. Something that was in them for 10 years leaves him. It should've felt empty, like something wrong. And yet that thing, that concept, that person was no longer stagnant. It saw the world from you, and it grows. It becomes a person, it becomes human. (You also, learn to become human)
It starts off someone who knew only that single point of view, to someone who was able to change. Change themself- and change you- no longer restricted by that tie to you. And yet, the bond you have was strong enough that he was still led back to you.
I think the 'love' that would hypothetically exist between the two of them would be the 'love' someone could have for a concept. An Abstraction and mixed with simple human affection. The love of the life that lived next to the protag. The protag to me would love Ryoji, the way one would love life.
Funny how that is: Loving death like life.
V ADDING A DISCUSSION ON HAMUGIS AND RYOMINA SECTION HERE V
I consider Hamugis more generally romantic than Ryomina but thats also because they also have less fuckassery. But i still also do consider them in that nebulous relationship status area.
Don't get me wrong. I love love love hamugis. Actually let me add a sidetwt doodle here while I can.
Okay heres the thing about my preferences in Persona 3 ships. I'm actually okay with most of them tbh. Like generally I usually don't get other people's interpretations of certain ships, but i still on some level kind of like. Get it.
The only one is like. Junpei and anyone who isn't Chidori; or at the very least with anyone who redacts chidori entirely. I like jundori okay. I like Junpei. Junpei's #1 defender.
But I do on a level instinctively prefer the mlm ver of ryomina over mlf, and the flf ver of hamugis over mlm. (I do actually overall prefer aigis x protag over ryomina in general in the normal terms of 'ship' but we already talked about that)
Now I'm well aware technically I could make the protaganist's character whatever but we've come far enough that a lot of "insert" protagonists already have a general kind of personality okay. I do sometimes err away from canon portrayals, yeah but hey.
Anyways I feel like... Hamuko and Aigis form a stronger bond together. It's not just the difficulty of the love itself that changes things. It's the approach. Hamuko is generally portrayed as more headstrong and more outwardly optimistic, which, yeah.
I feel like... While Aigis benefits from someone reaching out to her, inversely, Ryoji benefits from reaching out to someone?
And then when Aigis is forced to reach out...
Anyways, what I'm trying to say is I feel like the bond overall has more meaning. Like I did say Aigis' relationship with the protagonist is also still in that conceptual air, I'm kind of rehashing what I said before. Aigis is coming to terms with her own humanity .
I lost the plot of this psot.
25 notes
·
View notes
I fucking hate the "let people do whatever they want! It's just a fictional character!" argument in fandom spaces so fucking much. That argument isn't just used by aphobes it's also used by racists and ableists all the time and it's just exhausting to be in fandom spaces nowadays. No matter how much we tell them that fiction does in fact affect our reality these people simply aren't willing to listen. Just because you personally aren't affected doesn't suddenly mean that fiction doesn't have any effect on reality for anyone!! I hate how much people weaponise anti-censorship arguments against minorities. They just want to push us out of their communities by any means necessary. That's it. They don't want us in spaces that they consider as theirs.
The thing about the "let people do whatever they want" argument is that no individual has the ability to stop and censor another. no one is forcing anyone to stop, it's actually impossible to do so and they know that - what they're actually arguing is that "no one should judge me for what i do" "No one should voice disapproval or complain about what I'm doing" "I should be able to do what i want without social consequences." "people should always be tolerant of what I'm doing"
It's never been about "Letting people do what they want" but rather "you shouldn't be allowed to dislike me for what I do."
they don't think they should be judged for their bigoted views that are thinly veiled behind "it's just fiction!". They don't want to be questioned about their underlying biases because they've built themselves up on being good and an ally - but it's all a performance. an appearance. they're more afraid of appearing racist or phobic rather than actually not being racist or phobic. They play the part of a good ally until they need to actually deconstruct their world view and how they interact with the world. then it's too much work and actually we're being unreasonable and getting upset over nothing. you see this a lot when they try to use loopholes to still seem progressive while also supporting their bigoted ideas.
In the end, anyone can do whatever they want; but that means anyone can judge you too. anyone can decide they don't like you for whatever reason. people can criticize you and form opinions around your actions. While the characters are fake, how you treat them is real. If you show no respect for fake minorities then how can anyone trust you to show respect for real ones?
2 notes
·
View notes
Copying and pasting a thing I wrote in notepad:
Ages: Shortly before Betrayus's disappearance/Present day in story (year born in our years) (heights)
*= OC
Kids
Pac: was 3, is currently 14 (2008) (160cm, 5'3")
Cylindria: was 4, is currently 15 (2007) (165cm, 5'5")
Spiral: was 6, is currently 17 (2005) (180cm, 5'11")
Skeebo: was 5, is currently 16 (2006) (173cm, 5'8")
Elliptica: was 5, is currently 16 (2006) (175cm, 5'9")
Adults
Betrayus: was 39, is currently 50 (1972) (187cm, 6'1")
Stratos: was 43, is currently 54 (1968) (218cm, 7'2")
*Oscar: was 41, is currently 52 (1970) (167cm, 5'6")
*Mei: was 41, is currently 52 (1970) (154cm, 5'1")
Zac: was 33, is currently 44 (1978) (175cm, 5'7")
Sunny: was 33, is currently 44 (1978) (165cm, 5'4")
Spheria: was 48, is currently 59 (1963) (184cm, 6'0")
Sir C.: was 59, is currently 70 (1952) (162cm, 5'3")
(adults years apart)
Betrayus and Stratos are 4 years apart
Oscar and Mei are a couple of months apart
Betrayus, Mei, and Oscar are 2 years apart
Stratos, Mei, and Oscar are 2 years apart
Zac and Sunny are a couple of months apart
Betrayus, Zac, and Sunny are 6 years apart
Stratos, Zac, and Sunny are 10 years apart
Oscar, Mei, Zac, and Sunny are 8 years apart
Zac, Sunny, and Spheria are 15 years apart
Spheria and Sir C. are 11 years apart
Spheria and Stratos are 5 years apart
Spheria and Betrayus are 9 years apart
Stratos and Sir C. are 16 years apart
18 notes
·
View notes