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miraculouscontent · 4 years

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Ask Explosion #6

Asks answering previous posts:

Oh, okay! I’m glad, thank you!

(the post this anon is referring to)

Ohhhh.

And fjbgjnfkjgfg thanks >////<

I don’t think there’s much wrong with liking the design itself; I prefer Riposte personally, but that’s just me.

The best way I could put the “insensitive” part (I’m sort of dumb when it comes to this stuff and I talked about it before when I was working on that 3D model of Marinette) is that it’s so heavy on Japanese. I mean, they already have Kagami constantly wear what looks like a school uniform and Tomoe is just like--super heavy Japanese. It’s like the show doesn’t know how to balance “can’t tell at all” (with Marinette) and then “okay this is WAY strong” (with Kagami+Tomoe+Kung Food).

That makes sense! I guess the only problem then would be that the kwami can’t really act as mentors of any kind because “you’re saying this just because that’s all you can say” (like Sass, hypothetically, always willing to give someone a second chance, no matter what; I know that’s not what his power specifically entails but it’s just an example).

I would however definitely lean towards kwami being very strict in one alignment, so Tikki would always be on the path of pure good and thus never want to take/steal/whatever, whereas Plagg is always on the path of “bad,” but there are times where Marinette will have to ignore Tikki while Adrien will have to listen to Plagg.

And yeah, the guardians existing and the kwami not having so much control... not a huge fan.

Someone asked about Chat Noir’s flirting and he claimed that it was “on purpose” (you know, while throwing episodes like “Felix” at us but okay) and then he followed up with this:

There was also this other comment he made a while back when someone tried to make a suggestion to him:

Except he’s missing the point completely. When he talks about constructive criticism, he acts like it doesn’t matter, especially not anymore now that they’re working on Seasons 4 and 5:

(I mean, personally, I don’t think I need “engineering knowledge” to know when a rollercoaster I’d ridden nearly tossed the cart off the tracks and had questionable design decisions, but you do you, Astruc.)

Yes, constructive criticism is mainly for seeing a product improve, but that doesn’t mean ignoring it because, “well you haven’t seen the full product.”

“Animaestro” even has a bit of commentary on it:

Ladybug: What's with that trailer too? I am not scared of cats, at all.

Animaestro: You haven't even seen the movie and you're already slamming it?

Chat Noir: He does have a point, you know.

Ladybug: I wasn't slamming it. It's called constructive criticism!

(firstly, of course Chat Noir bows to Astruc on that one because he’s Astruc’s sunshine boy, ugh)

Ignoring the fact that a movie/printed book is usually a “full product,” criticism is also to say “you did this thing wrong, don’t do this in the future.” It doesn’t have to be referring strictly to the show. It’s just, “you did this thing wrong and here’s why, try to catch yourself if you accidentally do it again in the future, whether in what you’re working on now or otherwise.”

(He’s also talked about “unsolicited critique” before and I don’t know what that means? Like, dude, this isn’t someone’s fanfiction where I’d actually agree that you can’t go after them for their work. This is professional work.)

Anyway, remember “Chameleon”? When everyone saw the trailer and absolutely flipped out over it, then there were people who were like, “Wait for the full episode!!”?

Guess what? The full episode came out and people were either just as mad or even madder than before.

Astruc wants to have his cake and eat it to. He wants to say that his episodes are “stand-alone,” and that the order isn’t that important, but when people start pointing out issues, it becomes, “No! You have to wait for the rest of the episodes to come out!” and when people do that, it’s gonna be like, “Well, we already did the whole show so it’s not like I can change anything. *shrug*”

Also, just blaming it on “the industry” when everything else has been exhausted:

(He’s literally brought up before that the New York special was meant to have subplots about other characters, so it’s not like he can never say anything when something didn’t fit the “original vision”; I’m not asking him to get on his knees and say he’s sorry - plus, I do recognize that a lot of influence comes from the industry and people like Jeremy - but I expect a little more than the “whoops” he gave when people pointed out that “Weredad” contradicted his statement on Miraculous Ladybug.)

I think the reason people see it the way they do is because of Fu’s line in “Robostus” seems to imply the exact opposite thing happening.

Master Fu: Universe must always stay in balance. For every action, there is a reaction. For every wish, a price to pay in return. Had your robotic friend asked to become a real boy, someone would have lost his humanity in return.

New Asks:

Marigami is acceptable. I’m not crazy about it but it’s likable enough.

Lukadrien though... no, absolutely not. On a conceptual level, because it’s such a slap in the face for Marinette, and on a fanon level, because most of the jokes around it is Luka going to Marinette like he’s about to ask her out and then just asks for Adrien’s details. It’s just... ugh. I hate it (throwing Marinette into the ship still doesn’t help for me though because I’m not into the love square).

Bi erasure is my least favorite thing.

And yeah, it’s like--they set the love square ship(s?) out onto the water, then the Lukanette ship later with the plan to either sink it or just kinda... return it to the harbor if they don’t make a huge fuss about it?

Meanwhile, the love square ship has been in piece this whole time, and instead of letting it sink, they put it on a raft to keep it floating.

Depends.

In LadyBugOut? It’s already written and I haven’t posted it.

For canon? Like, Marinette being super disappointed at her view of Adrien being shattered or? :P

That’s accurate. I dislike about a fourth-ish of Season 1,then about half-ish of Season 2, then like... almost all of Season 3.

So we’ll just have to see what happens in Season 4.

I like Adrimi, but I’m not crazy about it and I don’t really write for it unless Lukanette is already the main ship (making Adrimi just a background ship). Adrien tends to dismiss Kagami a lot (like in “Frozer” and then “Miracle Queen” with him not committing) and I don’t want to see Kagami hurting like that (I agree with the anon completely that Adrien is more at fault than she is). They’re both emotionally-stunted so I usually have them wait it out or something to have them get together.

My ideal endgame is Lukanette while Adrimi is more like “let’s wait, let’s work on ourselves (especially Adrien; Kagami at least has on firm crush and wants to commit to it), and we’ll see where we go down the line.”

I don’t know if they really have the guts to arrest Gabriel. I also think that Lila might pick up the butterfly at the end of Season 5 or something after she’s been “dealt with.”

Chloe also is the mayor’s daughter so even if the law was that strict on teens, nothing would happen to her unless Andre got replaced.

Big yikes.

Maybe that the thing forcing Marinette away from Adrien and causing things to go wrong is the part of the curse trying to prevent the ladybug and cat miraculous from coming together?

So, close enough to be attracted and want to work together, but forcing the ladybug away from the cat to prevent the miraculouses from being used to make a wish?

I CHOKED ON MY DRINK.

ugh

ugggggggh

I’m 100% sure that Marinette wouldn’t be as uncomfortable around Adrien if Alya hadn’t constantly intervened. She’s the enabler of both Marinette’s anxiety and her crush on Adrien.

I went back and looked at the scene and it does kinda look like it, yes, because it basically goes from the intersection Marinette is in to another intersection that looks very, extremely similar and I don’t see Marinette in that intersection.

It was just a really, really bad transition. I remember being thrown off for a second too so I don’t blame you, anon.

I think Bob Roth’s intent was to scare Marinette away from showing that proof? He probably knows very well that Marinette has all the evidence she needs to make a case and already had a story planned for the press about how “the young talents they found didn’t measure up and the people deserved better.”

He just needed enough pressure on them for them to believe that he had enough authority to silence them.

And then Silencer tried to silence him instead. :3

I don’t think Marinette’s relationship with her parents would change too much. Like, they already let her just go out whenever she wants which obviously Plagg approves off, although Marinette might become more numb to the idea of being grounded because Plagg just teaches her, “hey lol Ladybug isn’t grounded tho,” so Marinette sneaks out all the time.

Yeah, Tikki would probably justify Gabriel’s behavior, and she wouldn’t really be able to get on his case for flirting as Mister Bug because she’s not aware of it.

lol it helps no one to have Tikki I guess.

Adrien overall and then honorable mention to Alya for Winny’s comment about her being Marinette’s conscience (which is probably why they almost never nail Alya for stuff she does).

KHNJFDNGFD THE LUKANETTE QUEEN MONIKER RETURNS >///<

And ugh, the absolute level of bias in that. Even if the video was made in, like, Season 2 (don’t know, didn’t see it), Season 2 still gives examples of why Adrienette isn’t making Marinette happy at all (and has some of the love square failings too).

The name and the fact that they gave it that name tells me everything I need to know.

Goodness gracious.

Yeah, people can talk about character’s flaws. I mean, we talk a lot here about Marinette’s struggles in getting over Adrien (partly brought on by a lot of outside factors but still).

Also, sure, Luka is a “pushover” because he’s one of the few characters who understands Marinette’s tunnel vision and isn’t bothered by it, okay. :P (Interesting that the topic of Chat’s entitlement towards Ladybug but Luka respecting her choices and just enjoying being around her makes him her punching bag).

Every time I hear, “Adrien needs more spotlight!!!” I lose a part of my soul. How people can’t see that Marinette is the show’s true punching bag is beyond me.

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mcheang · 4 years

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Meet the family

Takes place in the Chat Blanc timeline. Now that Marinette and Adrien are dating, they need to announce it to their families as well.

Thank you all for following me along as I posted my Chat Blanc fics. I’m sorry to say that this is the last one from my Chat-Blanc inspiration mania. Tmr I post other stories that are still about Ladybug but not based off the best episode of the whole series. Enjoy.

Dupain-Chengs

Adrien is intimidated by Marinette’s giant of a Father. He can still feel the phantom bruises from Weredad... he just nods and agrees with whatever Tom says.

Rolland is actually even more terrifying. Not only is he intimidating too, but he is very critical of Adrien. While Marinette advises Adrien to not take her Grandfather seriously, Adrien really wants the old baker to approve of him. So he goes out of his way to do it.

Adrien is awed by Marinette’s cool Grandmother. She is an actual Italian explorer who rides a motorcycle! Freedom!

Sabine and Adrien mock fight with his fencing foil and her wooden oven stick paddle. She wins. They also converse happily in Chinese. Sabine is happy to have someone to talk to in Mandarin. Adrien is glad he is making a good impression.

Uncle Wang is surprised to hear they were dating. “I thought you two were already a couple when I was last in Paris.”

Adrien: we should have been.

Marinette blushes.

While she is embarrassed, Adrien feels comforted by how homey her family feels like. All in all, her family approves though Rolland mutters that Adrien needs to eat more bread.

Agreste

Gabriel is formal and doesn’t really care about that they are dating. He does warn Marinette to be careful about Adrien’s fans. (He is so going to make use of potential akumas. Nothing personal Marinette)

Nathalie tells Marinette when Adrien is free to meet with her. She accepts the coffee cake Marinette brought over but is still professional as ever.

Gorilla loves getting free pastries. He approves of Marinette.

Amelie is welcoming and seems to adore Marinette. She was delighted Adrien introduced his Girlfriend to her, having seen the news about them already. Marinette is more comfortable around her.

Felix is distantly polite and Marinette is hesitant and awkward. She has a bad impression of Adrien’s cousin because of how aloof he is. It worsens when he ruins Adrien’s friendships, bargains with Hawkmoth and tries to forcibly kiss her. After that experience, Marinette’s awkward hesitance around Felix turns to restrained disgust.

All in all, not a good day. Only the Gorilla and Amelie seemed to approve. Marinette does not want to have to go through the frosty atmosphere again. Of course she doesn’t say so, but Adrien himself agrees. This was just awkward and nerve wracking for him.

When Adrien and Marinette are able, they prefer spending time at her warm bakery. Of course given Adrien’s schedule, they have no choice but to spend most of their free time at his house.

#adrienette #miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fanfic #ml fanfiction #ml fic #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #chat blanc #chat blanc fic #chat blanc fanfic #chat blanc fanfiction

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toujoursmiraculous · 5 years

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The episodes are formatted the way they are for a reason. Otherwise, if there was a major plot arc where the previous episodes are vital to watch before viewing the next episode, would you like to accidentally watch episode 17 when chronologically on episode 6? Because that’s the alternative. We’d get hit with so many detailed spoilers, the fandom would be raging. That’s not the writers fault, but all the multitude of broadcasting companies and countries.

With the formatting of the episodes, this show is meant to be like a puzzle. You get a new piece to add to help you put it all together in the end. We’ve only gotten a fraction of the puzzle so far. And just like a puzzle, it requires patience. That means, trying to figure out S3s chronological order at this point and using, say, Weredad as an example to prove/disprove something that was said in Stormy Weather 2, doesn’t work.

Getting upset at the creator of the show about how he doesn’t listen to your opinion does nothing but make the fandom more toxic. “But he rudely replies back to people!” Then don’t tweet him provoking tweets if you don’t like how he responds. Don’t make it out to seem like he doesn’t know what he’s doing in his own story. Don’t follow him on Twitter if you don’t like reading his responses. He had to get the opinions and suggestions of a lot of people before the Miraculous we know today was approved. At the end of the day, it’s his story and the writers he works with, to do what they want. And like he says, we still have so much of it to view, it’s too early for a lot of the things in the show to be harshly criticized.

Kagami and Luka’s characters are more than just alternate love interests apart of another love square. They’re still new to the story, but their roles will develop with time.

We all would like a reveal, but it’s not the right time yet! For two reasons: -Marinette and Adrien still need to grow. Adrien needs to realize his feelings for Marinette, and Ladybug needs to realize her feelings for Chat Noir. Both of these things are getting closer to happening. -Hawk Moth is becoming more dangerous, more knowledgeable. We’ve already seen examples of what happens when identities are known by one another, and by Hawk Moth. These aren’t with the holders of the very Miraculous that could irreversibly change everything. It would be rushed and irresponsible for LB and CN to find out at this point. Pretty much the whole point is, it is very, very, very important to be patient with this show. Step back, chill out, and wait to see what happens before jumping to conclusions.

#ml #miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #patience

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miraculouscontent · 5 years

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Could we know More about this completely hypothetical situation, please?

Ah, yes, of course. *ahem* Well, in this completely hypothetical situation…

After Marinette opens the blog to fan submissions (it’s a subpage, so only people who subscribe to it get daily updates), Trixx is put in charge of accepting/rejecting.

Trixx is also aware of how Marinette downplays Chat’s behavior to Fu to keep the peace, along with the fact that people are quick to make fun of and mock Chat’s behavior. Thus, the Chat memes fill up the queue for approval and Trixx lets the funnier (and sometimes more critical) ones slip.

(Just to give you guys a scope of how frustrated people get with Chat, the beginning of “Weredad” happens after “Oblivio” in this AU. Won’t talk specifics, but I’ll just let anyone who remembers what happened there imagine how the public would react to Chat’s casual behavior during a certain part of it.)

Chat doesn’t follow the blog actively after a while, only checking back every now and then. However, he eventually catches wind of what’s happening and goes to Ladybug about it.

Ladybug really did think it was going to be a normal patrol.

She was wrong.

She’d just been standing there, waiting for Chat to arrive for patrol. She pulled out her yoyo, opening it to check on LadyBugOut.

But, before she could even touch the yoyo’s screen, a black, gloved hand had slapped it away. Her yoyo careened across the flat rooftop, stopping a solid distance away. It sat there pathetically, screen still opened.

At first, Ladybug could only stare at her fallen yoyo, in complete disbelief that someone had honestly just come out of nowhere and done that.

And that wasn’t even taking into account who’d done it in the first place.

After a few seconds, Ladybug finally looked up, staring blankly at a very angry Chat. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could even get a syllable out, Chat unleashed all of his frustration.

“Do you think this is funny?! Is this some sort of joke to you?!”

Ladybug blinked, confused and startled by the outburst. “I–I’m sorry?”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it!”

Given his current emotional state, she wasn’t going to bother explaining that she wasn’t actually apologizing and was just confused.

Chat, still fuming, turned his attention to one of his pockets. Unzipping it, he reached inside and pulled out a phone. After doing what looked like unlocking it, he shoved it into Ladybug’s hands.

“Explain this!” he demanded.

She gave him a look, vaguely wondering how he could just go up to her, knock her yoyo away, and then order her to do something, but she went along with it.

Looking down at the phone, Ladybug noted that it was the LadyBugOut website. Specifically, the fan submissions page.

She stared blankly, even squinting a bit as she tried to figure out what he was so angry about.

“I… don’t–”

“These!” Chat yelled, pointing at the screen.

He was pointing to an assortment of memes of all things; memes that people had made of him.

Some were admittedly a little mean, but they were mostly harmless. Even a screenshot of her destroyed bedroom (thanks, Gigantitan) was followed by a fake Chat caption of, “I could go check on the creator of m’lady’s blog, but my jokes are a full-time job.”

Ladybug glanced back up at him. “Chat, they’re just–”

“They’re mocking me!” Chat interjected. “They all are! Ever since LadyBugOut started, everyone wants to get on my case for every little thing!”

“…We’re heroes, Chat,” she gently reminded him. “That’s why I take heroism very seriously–”

“Is that why you did this then?!” He pointed an accusing finger at her. “You let people post this stuff just to try and prove me wrong?!”

“Wha–no,” she replied bluntly. “I don’t approve these. Someone else does.”

Chat huffed, turning away with a scowl. “It’s just never your fault, is it?! It’s always someone else’s!”

Ladybug ignored his comment and continued, “I can’t run everything on LadyBugOut myself. I have a lot of people helping me out.”

A hiss followed. “Not me.”

She sighed. “We’re the two most active heroes, Chat. It’s a lot of work maintaining the blog. We usually have to split up right after a fight, so I knew it’d be weird having you on video inconsistently.

“Plus, you said you’d support my blog. You didn’t say that you wanted to help.”

Chat spun around, hand on his chest. “You didn’t ask!”

She gave him a flat, knowing look. “You’re always so quick to invite me out to places. I figured you’d insist on helping as soon as I mentioned it, if you’d really wanted to help.”

Chat opened his mouth, but stopped as her words caught up to him. His fake cat ears pointed up in surprise and he even let out a strangled noise.

“Y-you–!”

Ladybug shrugged. “I know you’re mad Chat, but I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Still seeing her yoyo laying sadly nearby, she moved towards it.

Before she could even take two steps, she felt a hand grab her arm. The pull had more than enough force to make her look back at Chat.

He clearly wasn’t done talking.

“Chat–” Ladybug glanced back at her yoyo, about to ask him if she could at least put it back on her waist.

Then, her eyes fell upon the screen, which wasn’t the same as it had been before it’d initially hit the rooftop.

Her eyebrows rose in shock.

Immediately, she turned back to Chat. “Look, Chat–it-it’s okay. Calm down–”

Chat bristled, looking offended by the request. “Calm down?! You want me to be calm after all this?!”

“Chat, please, the yoyo–”

“What did I do to you, Ladybug?!” he asked.

Ladybug, now tense, tried to raise her voice so she couldn’t be interrupted again. “Nothing! Seriously, Chat–”

“Why are you trying to ruin what we have together?!” He pulled her closer, his hand still tight around her forearm. “We’re meant to be! The ladybug and the cat! Ladybug and Chat Noir! What do you have against destiny?”

Ladybug was about to respond, but paused, momentarily brought out of her panic by what he’d just said. “I–I just–wait–what?”

“How am I supposed to believe that some other guy can just come between us after everything we’ve been through? We flirt, we kissed twice, and we end up on each other all the time. We’re partners; special partners! We were chosen! We’re soulmates! What’s so hard about that?”

It was like the world had come to a halt. Ladybug felt a fire flaring up in her chest, and her free hand tightened into a fist.

She stepped back, pulling her arm free from Chat’s grip. She’d done it so abruptly that he jerked forward, even letting out an annoyed, “Hey!”

She didn’t listen, standing straight and firm. “First off, the world does not revolve around you, Chat! I never told anyone to come after you and I am not in charge of what people have said. Not everything I do has to do with you or our relationship!

Speaking of which, our relationship does not exist. We are not a couple. You kept that idea going for people and you are the one who’s upset that it’s not going how you want!”

Chat went to speak up, but Ladybug spoke first, the strength in her voice ensuring that he wouldn’t cut her off this time.

“Secondly, if I’d known that that’s how you saw all that banter, I never would’ve done it. I’m not flirting with you, Chat. Even I know that things get tense and it helps to lighten the mood with some banter, but clearly, that went right over your head.

“Thirdly, you seem to keep forgetting how those kisses happened, and that’s exactly because you never remembered in the first place. The first time, you were under Dark Cupid’s spell and I kissed you to save you. I didn’t want to do it, but I did to break the spell.

“Neither of us had our memories for Oblivio, and yeah, maybe something special happened. But, all that happened without us knowing about our experiences, our relationships with other people, and even who we were. That doesn’t sound very real to me. If I was going to kiss you, I’d rather have everything already be on the table.”

She stepped forward. Chat stepped back, still tense but too shocked to say anything.

Ladybug continued, “You want to know what you did wrong? Maybe it’s because, after all this time, you still can’t read me. Not on Face-to-Face, not when my voice was gone, and not when I needed you most. If you could’ve understood me, you would’ve seen when I was uncomfortable, known when I needed you to be serious, and–oh, yeah–”

She took a deep breath, not giving him a moment to respond before shouting, “–you would’ve noticed that I was trying to get your attention before because my yoyo has been RECORDING AND STREAMING EVERYTHING.”

The wind stilled. The world around them was silent. Neither of them even moved. They just stood there, staring at each other.

Chat’s eyes wavered. The anger from his face turned to dread. His fingers twitched.

Ladybug closed her eyes, wordlessly turning away from him and stepping towards her yoyo. Part of her expected him to grab her arm again, but he didn’t.

She picked up her yoyo, shutting it to stop the recording. She stroked along the surface, which was still unharmed, then let out a breath.

When she turned back around, Chat was gone.

#category: long post #word count: over 1000 #MC's Collabs #collab: LadyBugOut AU #MC's Writing #writing: story #other: ask and answer

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miraculouscontent · 5 years

Note

Three words: Animaestro. Thoughts. PLEASE.

Not a fanimaestro of “Animaestro.”

[Positives, I Guess]

Just real quick, might as well get the very few positives in.

Firstly, Marinette in her bun. She’s cute and she tried so hard.

Secondly, Jagged. Just… Jagged in general. He is so supportive of Marinette and praises her like she’s his own kid. I enjoy seeing him just about any time he’s on screen because he’s dramatic and emotional about everything.

Thirdly, and this one I say through gritted teeth, but the Adrimi in this episode is nice. I’m going to complain about certain parts later, but I do like how Adrien cares for her, how Tomoe isn’t overly critical, and how we actually see Kagami flustered for once.

Fourthly, Chloe’s face when Kagami’s about to sit down on the cake. She looked like she was in heaven and I snorted really loudly.

Fifthly, Animaestro’s powers are… fine, though I feel like weird visuals don’t work as well on people after the insanity of “Chris Master.” This episode just can’t stand up to that.

Sixthly and finally, I know what it says about Gabriel as a person, but… I’m sorry, I just burst into laughter as he left his lair WHILE STILL HAWK MOTH and then de-transformed in his office before rushing out the door in a panic. Seeing Gabriel in a hurry was hilarious.

And… I think that’s it. Just little moments sprinkled throughout the episode; nothing substantial.

Now, onto what most people probably want to actually see!

[This Movie Doesn’t Move Me]

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Now, I get the slip-up with the fact that this movie obviously couldn’t be made in the time that Ladybug and Chat Noir have been around. I’m all for the idea that the movie started as something else and then had Ladybug and Chat slapped onto it to get more attention.

Would’ve been nice to have that confirmed, but I digress. That’s not my issue here.

My problems lie in two things: one is the movie’s existence in accordance with the timeline, whereas the other lies in the trailer.

This movie existed all the way back in “Sapotis,” but Chloe directly references Queen Bee. This already makes things confusing because the cover on the movie in “Sapotis” is a screenshot of the trailer, so it’s not as if two movies exist that have the same style.

Moving onto the trailer itself, talks about how Ladybug is afraid of cats and how she’s powerless without Chat Noir.

Marinette says that’s not true… adding that she’s not afraid of cats. It’s not “That’s not true, and I’m not afraid of cats either!”, it’s, “That’s not true… I’m not afraid of cats!” which implies that the ‘powerless’ detail is something she doesn’t argue with. The same thing happens later as Ladybug and Chat face off against Animaestro, where Ladybug asks about the line concerning her in-movie fear of cats.

I also have an issue with the fact that Adrien plays Chat Noir if this is how they present the trailer. Obviously, Adrien didn’t know how the trailer was going to turn out, but if Ladybug being “afraid of cats” and “powerless without Chat Noir” (both untrue) are things that are large factors in the movie, Adrien would have every reason to transform into Chat Noir and “subtly” show up to say “hello” and ask for details on the movie so he can comment. It wouldn’t be an issue at all if Adrien made it clear at some point that he didn’t actually like the movie himself or had problems with some of the choices, but that’s not what happens.

It makes one wonder how Adrien really sees Ladybug and their partnership, especially when he doesn’t take Ladybug’s side and agrees with Animaestro immediately about slamming the trailer before the movie’s out, possibly implying that he likes the movie.

[Trip Her to Shreds]

It feels like just yesterday when I’d salted about Tom and Sabine in “Weredad,” but here we go again.

Alright, so… Marinette’s parents. It’s revealed in this episode that they’re strangely aware of her clumsiness and are nervous around her for basically the whole episode.

I get that to an extent, but I do not approve of how they handle it in the episode. I mean, just for starters, there’s the fact that Marinette isn’t clumsy on her own, or it’s at least very rarely clumsy on her own. It’s when she’s panicking or feeling very emotional that causes her to slip up. When she’s determined and paying attention, she does pretty well.

There’s no reason for them to be worried about her. The worst that’s happened is in “Origins” where it was shown how unlucky Marinette could be, but that’s not something that’s on Marinette; that’s the universe being against her, which she should never be judged for.

Even though Marinette implies that she’s going to the event for Adrien, Tom and Sabine have never seen her being clumsy around him; at best, she stammers. Later on, they worry when Marinette has him in her sights, but they were concerned even before that, so this isn’t completely about Adrien.

This is the big problem with Tom and Sabine being more hands-off than they appear on the outside. If Marinette being “clumsy” is such a big issue, then what have they done to fix it? If she’s been clumsy for so long, did it just not matter to them until she actually wanted to help with something? If they were ever worried about her being hurt by her own clumsiness, they would’ve tried handling this a long time ago, so this is only out of concern that Marinette will drop the macaroons.

And there were legitimate reasons for them to be concerned that weren’t related to Marinette herself! Rather than Marinette being clumsy, they could be concerned about the number of people. They’re sending their 14-year-old daughter out into a crowd they don’t know where a lot of people could bump into her due to simply not seeing her (she’s a fairly small girl, after all). It didn’t have to be that Marinette is “clumsy,” but rather that she’s a petite girl who could easily be knocked around and drop her macaroons thanks to people who aren’t paying attention.

This is also one of the few episodes where Marinette is clumsy on her own without the emotion behind it. She trips over nothing when she’s just trying to carry a(n admittedly large) tray of macaroons.

And, just like “Weredad,” her parents only go halfway to supporting her. Marinette is clearly affected by her parents looking doubtful of her abilities, but instead of putting full faith in her, they constantly act like Marinette is going to trip and accidentally throw a tray of macaroons in someone’s face.

Heck, they almost send her out with an empty tray. When Tom is teaching her how to hold a tray (a clear sign of him being overbearing and nervous since Marinette isn’t five years old; she knows how to hold a tray), Marinette points out that there aren’t any macaroons on the tray. Instead of being neutral or assuring her that they just wanted her to get an idea of how the tray feels in her hands, they act suspiciously nervous and evasive. That’s a blatant sign that they were hoping she hadn’t noticed, or they would’ve answered normally.

Also, for parents who seem so worried about their daughter, they sure set her up to fail. All Marinette did was point out that there weren’t any macaroons, so in response, they give her many. Marinette is given a nine-layer tower of macaroons, which could’ve made sense if Marinette had insisted on that many so she could prove herself, but that’s not what she did. Her parents just give her tons of macaroons, which Marinette is clearly unnerved by, but they don’t notice.

They even consider Marinette dropping 95% of the macaroons as “so far so good” after Marinette had talked to Jagged and returned to them for more macaroons. How little faith do they have in their daughter, really? It’s as if they were expecting her to drop each and every one of them, so anything less than that is treated as perfection.

And the narrative puts Tom and Sabine in the right. It has Marinette trip over herself, constantly needing to regain her balance, and purposefully gave her way too many macaroons. This is as close to Ladybug’s curse in “Reverser” that Marinette has ever been. The plot can’t have Tom and Sabine fawn over Marinette trying to “spread her wings” right after they were forcing a grin and assuring Marinette that they’d give her macaroons when she’s “ready” (what does that even mean?).

To take it a step further, “Rogercop” is actually a good parallel here. In that one, Tom had Marinette stand with a tray of croissants, seeming to fully and completely trust her in handing them out. Then, Marinette slips, sending the croissants everywhere.

Tom never helped her afterward, by the way, only interfering once Chloe accuses Marinette of being a thief. With my earlier point about how Marinette’s supposed clumsiness was only a problem when she had to do something for them, it seems like Tom and Sabine believe that physical pain is something that Marinette isn’t affected by.

Anyway, we can presume that “Rogercop” takes place before “Animaestro,” but that does not put Tom in a good light with how this would lead into it.

When Marinette was passing croissants around, Tom must’ve been watching her, since he’d already stepped away from the front of the class. With the way Marinette slipped backwards, it implies that something came out from underneath her. Presumably, Tom told Sabine about this incident and that’s what causes their nervousness in “Animaestro.”

But that’s the thing. Tom either presumed she slipped on nothing (which is a really pessimistic way to view his own daughter), or he believed that something was in her way in the middle of the stairs. If it’s the latter, it’s not Marinette’s fault. Marinette couldn’t be expected to look where she was going while carrying a massive tray of croissants; she could only walk safely and in the logical middle of her path to prevent any accidents.

So yes, their worry could very well come from somewhere, but that was a one-time thing and also not Marinette’s fault. Even if taking “Troublemaker” into consideration, that was when Marinette was on live TV and simultaneously having a case of bad luck. She had every reason to be nervous.

There’s just no support here. When Marinette insists that she’s ready while looking very confident, Tom and Sabine sigh in defeat, clearly reluctant to give her a tray of macaroons yet doing it anyway.

I’m starting to think any self-esteem issues that Marinette had pre-“Origins” wasn’t only because of Chloe.

[Who-ka Couffaine]

So… I’m not denying that there couldn’t be more episodes down the line that have Luka in them, but we’re a bit of a ways into the season and Luka has yet to show up. I’m pointing it out here because this would’ve been an opportunity for Luka and Marinette to interact. Marinette doesn’t have many people to talk to at the event and this would’ve been an amazing opportunity to get Tom, Sabine, and Chloe to meet and react to Luka for the first time.

Does Chloe hate Luka because he’s friends with Marinette? Do Tom and Sabine see the potential he has as Marinette’s love interest?

Luka plays an important role in the show because he’s the only one who’s been an actually good support system at making Marinette feel better. Everyone else has relatively poor records.

Is he absent due to Jagged Stone, because Luka is a fan of Jagged Stone and their meeting is in a later episode? It’s possible, but it would’ve been just as easy for Jagged to not be there since his role in the episode is to be part of the scheme (which wouldn’t be happening had Luka been there).

My point is, Kagami has shown up twice this season just so Marinette can panic and be miserable, but Luka isn’t there because the writers thought that the Marinette and Chloe team-up was more important.

Speaking of which…

[The Scheme Team]

Marinette and Chloe teaming up is not inherently a bad idea; I just think its execution is bad. When one thinks of team-ups between two rivals/enemies, they usually think about them declaring a truce to fight a common evil.

Kagami is not evil. If they were fighting against someone like Lila, that would be a different story, but they’re not.

This also means that the most prominent and influential females right now (because Alya has largely faded into the background) are ALL competing to get to Adrien.

Marinette, Chloe, Lila, and Kagami.

It’s not just lazy. It’s boring. It starts feeling less like these characters can have lives outside of Adrien and more like not even two of them can like each other while still liking Adrien.

And, to some degree (and being as generous/neutral as possible), I do understand the possible reasoning of both Marinette and Kagami in this episode.

Chloe is just Chloe, so she doesn’t need an explanation. “Stormy Weather 2” and “Catalyst” already confirmed that she’s still nasty regardless of if it’s post-“Malediktator” or not, so we’ll presume that it is since Adrien is wearing his outfit (minus Marinette’s hat; I feel like that’s a metaphor for something) from “Queen’s Battle.”

Kagami doesn’t know Marinette beyond the small things she’s seen and the fact that Adrien has talked about her. Kagami knows that Adrien is a pushover, so she’ll likely disregard what Adrien has said if what she’s seen disproves it. From “Frozer,” Kagami would see Marinette as someone who’s torn between Luka and Adrien. Since it’s implied that Kagami thinks that Adrien loves Marientte, perhaps she also thinks that Marinette’s hesitation is what’s keeping them from being together, hence her bluntness when talking to Marinette in the same episode. She might not like Marinette, but may see it as a challenge in romance.

In terms of her being “spiteful” towards Chloe and Marinette, I also understand it. Kagami saw both of them glaring at her and was likely trying to show that she won’t back down off of Adrien regardless of what they think. She’s giving them a message that, if they want Adrien, they’ll have to try harder.

In addition, Kagami glaring at Marinette in “Backwarder” and this episode makes sense from a standpoint of how Kagami may view “hesitation.” Marinette might be trying, but she still can’t say her feelings out loud. She keeps giving Adrien things instead of being upfront (a letter in “Backwarder” and a macaroon here), which Kagami could view as a waste of time.

As for Marinette… well, if this takes place after “Frozer,” then yes, it seems extremely odd for Marinette to suddenly seem to dislike Kagami, but from what the narrative has shown, I can understand her as well.

Marinette may have called Kagami the “Ice Queen,” but unless episodes are just that out-of-order, she must only know from word-of-mouth, as the Kagami in “Riposte” is pleasant toward Adrien. Thus, she was willing to let Kagami and Adrien have their moment of romance at the ice rink.

With Kagami’s directness in “Frozer,” however, Marinette may feel that Kagami is aggressive; perhaps too aggressive for Adrien. She wanted closure with her crush on Adrien, hence why she changed her mind, and “Backwarder” also intensified her panic over the matter. She seems to understand that Adrien and Kagami are not a couple yet, but that things will be too awkward if she doesn’t confess before they do.

Even if this takes place before “Frozer,” Marinette would still be left unsure about Kagami since they haven’t interacted and “Backwarder” could just make her paranoid since Kagami clearly has connections that she doesn’t.

And now we come to here, where Marinette makes a comment about Adrien “not knowing what [Kagami] is up to.”

This, I believe, is the fault of the narrative’s feelings toward Chloe and what has happened over the past season. Before Marinette actually starts glaring at Kagami, she’s concerned. It’s only after Chloe has told her story that Marinette changes her tune from concern to annoyance.

The story Chloe tells is very vague, but there are two things Marinette can infer from it.

The first is that Kagami, again, is very blunt and unlike Adrien. She doesn’t threaten Chloe exactly, but her words are strict and aggressive. This could give Marinette reason for concern about Adrien dating Kagami. She doesn’t know if Adrien knows how forward Kagami can be and Marinette has been scolded by the show at times for not being 100% nice, meaning that Kagami’s way of thinking goes against what Marinette has been taught.

The second is that Kagami may have taken Chloe’s seat. Now, Chloe is in no way trustworthy, but this is a very difficult situation from Marinette’s perspective. Adrien could’ve beckoned Kagami over or Kagami could’ve sat down herself, knowing how Chloe is, and we have no evidence that the seat was actually Kagami’s. Chloe could also just be embellishing the story to make herself look good.

The problem is that Marinette has not been treated well by the show in the episodes centering around Chloe’s “redemption.”

“Antibug” scolded her for not listening to Chloe, “Zombizou” told her to be nice to Chloe, and “Malediktator” scolded her for being happy that Chloe wasn’t around, even encouraging her to give Chloe a chance and excuse all bad future actions as “baby steps.”

I believe Marinette would trust Chloe’s word because things did not go well for her when she went against Chloe. She got scolded, people were akumatized, etc.

In addition, Kagami clearly snuggled up to Adrien with the ulterior motive of spiting both Marinette and Chloe. Regardless of how much Kagami enjoys the close contact, Adrien would think that Kagami is doing it out of affection and nothing else. Marinette could view that as something she’s against, much like how Lila has ulterior motives when showing affection towards Adrien.

In that respect, yes, I fully understand why Marinette could be turned against Kagami and lured by Chloe into doing something about it.

…That said, I do not approve of this subplot. Again, the execution is terrible and it takes a lot of thinking and justification to go from Marinette’s behavior in “Frozer” (regardless of chronological order, it aired first and would be remembered) to Marinette’s behavior here. It’s a big leap and just an awful idea when thinking about the natural progression that a series should aim for.

It didn’t have to be this way, because Chloe and Lila are already aggressive enough in their attempts. They’re already not against sabotage and this could’ve even been a Chloe and Lila team-up against Marinette and Kagami if their relationship had been defined in a previous episode.

The writers chose to only show Marinette and Kagami the more negative aspects of one another, which further strengthens this mentality that all four girls crushing on Adrien have to fight for him.

It’s much less of a hassle to call it “out of character” (which it is with all the hedging I had to do to make sense of it) and move on.

[Criticize Me, Captain!]

Episodes that directly address criticisms toward the show they’re in are rarely a good idea. They’re often salt-loaded episodes that try to silence criticism despite still having to be an actual story and not able to take the time out to go into detail. It’s already odd to see one of the people behind the show turned into an actual character, but putting it in an episode that’s self-aware of its audience’s complaints makes things far too obvious.

The actual criticisms being addressed are thankfully very few, but this episode feels specifically made just to do this, and everything else is revolving around that.

Marinette’s Sunday macaroons and Chloe’s distaste of Kagami were only introduced in this episode to mess with the soon-to-be-akumatized person. This isn’t even the first time the show has done this in this season, because Marinette made multiple gifts for Adrien’s future birthdays in “Chris Master” just so Chris could question her on them and force her to come up with a lie. They don’t do it to further Marinette’s character; they do it to move the one-time plot forward.

And Chloe’s distaste of Kagami could certainly come into play in a future episode, but there’s no reason why it couldn’t have been established in that theoretical episode instead. That’s different from something set up for an episode-specific situation and also looks suspicious when added to Marinette’s set-up.

The same goes for the fact that Chloe learns about Marinette’s crush on Adrien. It’s the “Gigantitan” method where it’s something we could’ve already inferred and was likely slipped in just to claim the episode as non-filler.

Heck, this isn’t even the first episode to focus on criticism in some way. “Stormy Weather 2” tried to prove how much characters had “developed” while simultaneously showing how little has actually changed. Chloe was the biggest example of this, just as she’s the biggest example here, still hating Marinette and being a horrible person despite this being post-“Malediktator.”

It’s just not wise to make an episode addressing criticism when the episode itself is very easy to criticize.

[Ani-outro]

There are certain things I can accept for the sake of comedy. I mean, again, I laughed at stuff that Chloe and Gabriel did in this episode. However, that doesn’t mean everything can be explained away as a simple joke or “just for comedy so you’re not supposed to think about it.”

I can’t get over Tom and Sabine treating Marinette like they don’t trust her with a simple task, especially when the episode exaggerates both Marinette’s clumsiness and when she’s clumsy just to prove them right and not make them look like unsupportive parents (they still do).

I can’t get over Chloe being angry at Marinette after “Maledikatator.”

I can’t get over the fact that 75% of what the episode does is just a set up to play up sympathy for the villain-of-the-day, nor can I get over a blatant line about judging a trailer before the actual media comes out.

There’s also one more thing I want to say, and it relates back to Marinette. It’s less about this episode and more about the escalation of Marinette’s attempts to plan ahead with Adrien.

Everything Marinette has done in almost the entire show has been for nothing. Multiples attempts by her have ended in failure because of things outside her control, and Adrien’s mixed signals continued giving her hope that he might feel something for her. More than anything, she wants closure on their relationship. She wants to confess because she wants him to know how she feels.

Marinette is someone who works for what she wants. She has a stronger determination than most people her age and she strives for perfection.

The more the universe snaps back at her, the more desperate Marinette becomes. The more it pushes her, the more she feels she has to do in order to get Adrien’s attention.

When one birthday present didn’t work, she planned multiple presents, likely hoping that he’ll see at least one of them as hers.

When he was shown to like macaroons in the same episode that he danced romantically with her, she started making one that was his favorite flavor, probably on the chance that it would be a reminder of that experience and show that she thought of him.

When her words wouldn’t convey her emotions multiple times, she tried writing her feelings instead.

The show keeps raising the stakes with Marinette’s attempts to get to Adrien’s heart and the only reason I can muster is that Marinette is beyond desperate. She’s fighting back against a narrative that refuses to let her have her moment. Regardless of how healthy it is, Marinette is dedicated to what she wants and is being driven insane by a goal that tries to stop her at every opportunity.

No amounts of compliments from Jagged Stone are going to make her feel better about that.

#category: salt #episode: Animaestro #category: long post #word count: over 4000 #other: ask and answer #((No heavy ''they could've done this'' since there's another post about that coming later in the day.))

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