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blueberry-bubbles130 · 8 months

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The disappointment of the characterisation of the Bourgeois family in Miraculous Ladybug.

This essay/post will be talking about my feelings regarding the characterisation of Bourgeois family, as I'm doing a rewrite fanfiction of Miraculous and the Bourgeois family plays an extremely important part in my rewrite.

Trigger Warnings include:

TW: Child abuse

Child neglect

Verbal abuse

Emotional abuse

Domestic Violence

If I have forgotten to add any trigger warnings in the post please comment and I'll add them as soon as I can.

Getting this out of the way with now because I don't want to focus on her in this post, and because she won't be in my rewrite at all, I don't like Zoe. In the canon of the show all she serves as is a replacement for Chloe and a wielder of the Bee Miraculous. Unfortunately in the canon show, she is tied to the miraculous and Chloe in such a way that she cannot be talked about with bringing Chloe salt/bashing into the discussion, and has no true character of her own out of just being nice. There are others in the show who already could've filled the role much better. Zoe is far better written in fanon and fanfiction. But I don't want to be beating a long dead horse so there are other posts you can read to see Zoe's poor implementation in the show, and absolutely great fanfictions you can read that gives her a developed character if you like her. With that being said lets get onto the main essay.

Who are the Bourgeois family?

In the show the Bourgeois family are an upper class family that are said to hold a lot of influence. The family consists of Andre Bourgeois; the patriarch of the family who owns a hotel, and is also the mayor of Paris. Audrey Bourgeois; the matriarch of the family and a famous fashion critic. And Chloe Bourgeois; the child of the family and the temporary bee miraculous holder. The Bourgeois family can be considered a large secondary example of Miraculous's wasted potential, and it's inability to truly give a satisfying conclusion to any concept they've tried to execute during it's run. And some will say this is just the end of an arc and season 6 will continue and deliver. But it won't, especially considering Miraculous' record with delivering on expected plotlines it isn't promising in the slightest and I do not hold hope for season 6. Despite this, I'm rather interested in the Bourgeois family, and they are my favourite part of Miraculous making it even more disappointing to see the outcome of the plotline involving them.

Audrey Bourgeois-

I'm doing Audrey Bourgeois first because despite having a lot to say about all the family members, I have the least to say about Audrey.

Audrey is characterised as a harsh fashion critic who has nothing kind to say about anyone around her. Her kind words are only reserved for someone who can truly impress her, examples being Marinette and Gabriel. Marinette being shown to the audience and Gabriel being told to the audience. She is responsible for launching Gabriel into fame as a fashion designer. Audrey isn't even remotely nice to her own family. She abandons them mostly and seems to return only when work arises in Paris. And even then she belittles both her husband and Chloe constantly.

Something I find interesting in fanfiction for Miraculous Ladybug is that before we got any glimpse of who Audrey is. Everyone assumed she'd died and they either called her Simone or Julia, Julie or Juliette. And this gave depth to both Chloe, and Andre. This will be discussed again later.

Audrey's character has at least stayed consistent throughout Miraculous' ever-increasing run, which is a miracle considering Miraculous issues with characterisation, among other issues. However at the same time it's quite odd considering unlike Andre who got more developed regarding his past and what he wants, Audrey remains quite flat character-wise with only glimpses of there possibly something else to her. I think that Audrey despite staying consistent and explaining a lot about Chloe and Andre, she's still wasted potential. In one of the episodes characters such as Gabriel, Natalie and and I think maybe Tomoe are shown watching important story information on a tv. This would seemingly hint that Audrey had something to do with Gabriel. Which is believable considering Audrey's personality and previous appearances with Gabriel. However as of season 5 this has not been expanded upon in anyway whatsoever and like I keep saying I doubt it will be in season 6 or future seasons if they get anymore. This makes me believe that Audrey should've been expanded upon as a villain, she could've stolen a miraculous and possibly became a main villain. She's close to Gabriel, she's got the perfect personality for it; the only thing she needed to be a good villain was a decent motivation and I easily could've believed her becoming a villain if she'd been given decent motivation. She's already controlling and demanding, so Zoe could've never been introduced and you could've had it so she wants ultimate control over Andre and Chloe while placing herself as some sort of evil Queen. And that's all I really have to say about Audrey. Hell! I've already seen a few posts where people state that Audrey should've taken over as mayor after Andre, which makes a hell of a lot more sense then Chloe doing it. It's not exactly the same because she's the stepmother, but something I think Audrey should've been a bit like but far more toned down for the child audience is like Julia Cotton from Hellraiser. She's just so perfect as a example of someone willing to go to extremes in order to achieve their desires. Hell it's already there in her akuma, Style Queen! Just make her an evil queen, it wouldn't have been that hard and then we wouldn't have to deal with that mess we got with them attempting to make Gabriel sympathetic but then being shown him horribly abusing his son with glee at every opportunity he gets. You could keep Gabriel and Natalie sympathetic and make Audrey even more despicable than she is.

Also Audrey is clearly abusive, and in 2023 we should not need to have debates over whether she is because some people say she's just cruel. No she's abusive, it's clearly abuse.

Chloe Bourgeois-

Chloe is definitely my favourite character out of the Bourgeois family and Miraculous as a whole, and while her characterisation post season 3 does sadden and disappoint me, it doesn't anger me like what the writers did with Andre.

Chloe starts the series as nothing more than an obnoxious bully who torments her classmates. When we get to season 2 we get to see Chloe receive more depth as a character and see how her parents helped her in becoming the person she is today. Then season 3 happened and we see Miracle Queen. Now I don't think Miracle Queen is completely horrid, It makes sense that Chloe may begin to regress or backslide into her unhealthy habits. And I've even seen people still redeem her with miracle queen being in their stories. What pisses me off about Miracle Queen, especially when people online talk about it, is that they just seem to forget about Gabriel akumatising Audrey and Andre to use as blackmail against Chloe. Like yes at the end of the day, Chloe still makes the decision to become Miracle Queen and do what she did. But you cannot deny that a fully grown man who should know better, put the two people she presumably cared about the most at this point in danger in order to blackmail her. He cornered her on the balcony and essentially railroaded her into making that decision. Like what was she going to do if she said no, she can't fight Hawkmoth without a miraculous and even if she'd tried he might've legitimately hurt her or her parents to win. Here again we see fanfics just knock the show out of the water, with many people deciding to make Chloe trick Hawkmoth into giving her the miraculous and then she just runs away to get help. Also Marinette shouldn't have gotten involved in Chloe's family drama, like why did she think it was a good idea to do what she did in Queen wasp. Just why?

Something else regarding Chloe's character arc that just genuinely confuses me is that during season 2 it's obvious in episodes like Zombizou, Style Queen, Queen Wasp and Malediktator is that they're written by other writers who have differing opinions on Chloe to Thomas Astruc. And now I think Thomas was busy on a different project while this was was being written, which is fine. But what confuses me is that surely Thomas could've looked over the episode script and maybe said to change it. Instead of just letting a character he clearly does not like get development he also didn't like and then arguing with Chloe fans and Miraculous fans who may not like Chloe but understand her character arc was butchered as well as others, on twitter over it.

As well as this is season 5, I think it's revealed season 1-5 of Miraculous takes place over 1 school year. In France the average school year is about 10 months long lasting from September to late June early July. This means each season could technically take place over about 2 months. This gives Chloe 2-4 months at most to redeem herself. Which is just too much to expect of her to try and completely redeem herself and undo a lifetime of unhealthy behaviours in that short of a timespan. No wonder Miracle Queen happened, she hasn't had the proper support to try and unlearn those behaviours or redeem herself. And it makes Andre giving her over to her mother even more saddening/rage enducing, because Zoe has been around for the same time Chloe was given to try and unlearn her healthy behaviours. So Andre has abandoned his daughter who's he risen for her entire 13-14 year life for some child he's known for about 3 months at best.

Then season 4 and 5 begin the endless parade of Chloe Salt/Bashing in order to prop up Zoe. As well as the butchering of other characters, to continue hammering in that point, such as Andre, but we'll get to him later. Now I'm not saying I'm completely against the idea of evil Chloe, there are some brilliant fanfics out there with Chloe just either hamming it up as an evil villain or treated as a tragic villain, who's fall from grace is a pure tradegy. And I love it both because it treats Chloe with the seriousness she deserves, the majority of fanfics treat the abuse she's suffered with seriousness and not as some joke like the serious does. You want a absolutely brilliant Chloe Bourgeois fanfic read "Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee" on ao3 it's just so good and I can't recommend it enough.

Also on the topic of redemptions Sabrina, Felix, Natalie and especially Gabriel shouldn't gotten redemptions. Gabriel, Sabrina and Felix don't show any remorse for their actions, in fact they all show glee in their actions apart from Natalie. But even then none of them truly face any punishments for their actions and sure Gabriel doesn't get to enjoy Emilie being back alive, but he still gets away with his numerous crimes.

As a final note on Chloe's development, it's been said by some people before it's quite harmful that Chloe doesn't get treated with the seriousness that she deserves and is one of the only villains not given a redemption as well as not being what is considered a "perfect" or "idealised" victim of abuse like Adrien is. And as someone who has lashed out at others due to issues with authoritive figures in the past (not to the extent Chloe has thought, especially with the bullying and wealth, I'm also not French) I do relate to Chloe in a small way. And this makes it harder for me personally, and it really is just harmful because it might give kids who have lashed out like her due to similar or the same issues the same idea that they don't deserve love or a guardian who can actually care for them in the way they need, as children.

I'm not saying give Chloe a redemption, she just should've been treat with the seriousness she needed.

Gettting back on track lets talk about the final member of the Bourgeois family.

Andre Bourgeois-

Oh Andre, where do I begin with him, in canon.

For seasons 1 to 3 he's mainly Chloe's nervous father and enabler. Then we get a bit of depth in season 4 and 5 about him wanting to be a director but not getting to due to Audrey and politics. Then in season 5 he lets Audrey take Chloe.

A deleted part of the script was revealed in which originally he gave Chloe to Audrey which in itself is horrific because he knows how Audrey is. Not only has she subjected Chloe to verbal abuse but him as well. This would be changed in the series to him just letting Audrey take Chloe, which is just as worse. These are just as bad because either way he's trying to absolve himself of any responsibility of what happened with Chloe which he is equally responsible for as he is Chloe's main enabler. And you know I actually had some hope for him in canon that he'd realise it was time to as someone else brilliantly put it "ditch the bitch" and forge a better relationship with Chloe, but that never happened. I guess that's what I get for having hope for Miraculous's canon.

It legitimately pisses me off so fucking much than in canon he gets to wash his hands clean of the whole problem with Chloe.

Now fanon Andre is so much better than his Canon counterpart and thinking about it now, Fanon Andre has always been better than his canon counterpart.

Bringing back up the whole thing about fanfics that pre-date Audrey is that it gives not only Chloe but Andre more depth. These fanfics typically paint the picture that Andre is a man that closed off not only by politics but the death of his wife and because he's not in tune with his own emotions, he can't help Chloe so instead of ignoring her grief like her father, Chloe is lashing out instead.

Even fanon versions of Andre that are more far more closed off, corrupt, and evil are much more enjoyable to read about than canon Andre, and have more depth. Something about Canon Andre just makes him even more loathsome and detestable then his many often better fanon versions. And when he does get redeemed in fanon it's just so good, because the people writing him, understand what makes his character have actual depth to him and make him realise his faults in a satisfying way that gives him a good redemption.

Maybe it was just me projecting the fanon versions of Andre onto the Canon version that made my disappointment and anger so much worse. But either way his overall canon characterisation is disappointing.

Again if you want to a fanfic that has Andre be a good antagonist, read "Chloe and the Bee" by @anxresi it isn't complete but what is there is just brilliant. And If you'd prefer to read a fanfiction where Andre is trying his best to be a good parent to Chloe read "Float like a Butterfly....Sting like a Bee" by Bookmonkey on ao3. They're both such amazing fanfics.

Conclusion-

Overall the characterisation of the Bourgeois family within the canon of the actual show is just a neatly packaged example of Miraculous' many issues such as bad writing, poor pacing, inconsistent characterisation and either attempting to poorly redeem abusers who should know better or just letting them get away without any consequences whatsoever.

I'd like to say thank you for listening to my long feral rambles about the Bourgeois family.

#miraculous ladybug #chloe bourgeois #audrey bourgeois #andre bourgeois #zoe lee #ml salt #miraculous salt #ml critical #ml analysis #mlb chloe #andré bourgeois #marinette salt #ml fandom salt #this just has a little fandom salt though not a lot

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a-chlolix-blog · 10 months

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Queen's Bride AU Prompt: Queen's Bride, while holding Chloé, is bashing André and Audrey for being terrible parents. Ladybug and Chat Noir saw this and they're be like "Alix's right!"

Queen’s Bride made sure to hold Chloé as gently and lovingly as possible while bushing her parents.

"YOU TWO SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES! I CAN'T EVEN SAY I THINK ONE OF YOU IS WORSE THAN THE OTHER!!"

Both Bourgeois parents stayed absolutely quiet.

"Audrey, the ONLY reason you decided to stay in Paris was because you thought Chloé was a bitch just like you! So, if she turned out to be as sweet as she was when younger, would you have abandoned her?!"

Queen's Bride to quickly turns to André with a look of pure hatred on her face.

"And YOU, Mr. I'm-gonna-spoil-my-daughter-rotten-and-completely-disown-her-when-putting-up-with-her-makes-me-look-bad! The MOST responsible thing you've done was stop being Mayor, cause how the fuck are you gonna take care of the people of Paris? Like your daughter?!"

Ladybug and Chat Noir were shocked by what they were hearing.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That Queen's Bride is absolutely right? Then yes."

#Ask CC #AUs #Queen’s Bride AU #Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir #Chloe x Alix #Chlolix #Aloé #André Bourgeois #Audrey Bourgeois #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrien Agreste #Other Characters

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familyagrestefanblog · 1 year

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Senti-Hot take: In my opinion, if one of the members of the Bourgeois family is a Sentihuman too, I'd say it's André and not one of the girls

#ml spoilers #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #André Bourgeois

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junethehellenicpagan · 1 year

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André is so supportive of his lesbian step daughter I love it

#miraculous s5 #miraculous ladybug #mlb #zoe lee #André bourgeois

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hospitableasacactus · 11 months

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The end of Collusion

... But. I was amazed at how many things made sense. Like André. How he didn't want to be mayor and how he regrets everything. It was so real. I felt him.

And that there is more to it with Chloé's actions. For the people of Paris it looks like she did all this on her own, but really it was Lila behind her. We can't blame Chloé for her awful actions because she was only a mindless puppet. Yes, she is a horrible person but this time she was taking orders. And this is something I see around myself, that people blame puppets for what their master ordered them to do.

This show got deep.

#there are other things as well but i can't remember them right now #anyway this show got me thinking #ml collusion #ml collusion spoilers #ml s5 spoilers #ml spoilers #miraculous #andré bourgeois #chloé bourgeois #lila #or whatever her name is

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hungarrrrrr · 1 year

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Does anyone know of a fanfic about Zoé being Chloé’s baby sister (6-10)?

Chloe is going through her redemption arc but in order to really “finish” it she needs to confront her past and how she was raised.

~~*•*~~

Chloé hears her father arguing about something (Zoé) but Chloé can’t figure out what. Suddenly, the yelling stops and André’s voice is lower while he frantically begs Audrey to come back to Paris. He sighs with relief when Audrey agrees, of course not without a snarky remark that André ignores or half-heartedly agrees with. They end the call with André mumbling something like he just doesn’t know how Chloé will take it and Audrey says something unintelligible and hangs up.

Chloé figures that her mother must be coming home as a surprise for her birthday or something, so Chloé excitedly prepares gifts and stories to tell Audrey about her life. She prepares everything with scrutiny. Making everything perfect for her mother’s arrival, desperate to earn her approval.

The morning her mother arrives Chloé is a mess, trying on outfit after outfit, hairstyle after hairstyle until she finds a combo that she thinks her mother will like. Both André and Chloé are nervously waiting for Audrey’s private jet to arrive. Chloé picks at her outfit, constantly checking and rechecking her hair and makeup, questioning her appearance and doubting her fashion sense. André nervously fiddles with his hair, fingers, and tie, worried about how Chloé will react and what Audrey will think of him.

When the jet lands they both stand stiff, paralyzed as if in the face of a terrifying beast. As the jet door opens and the stairs go down André and Chloé sport their best smiles. Chloé’s one of excitement and uncertainty and André’s is nervous and awkward. Chloé rushes up to the jet beaming while the help carries away the suitcases when she suddenly notices the luggage of a child. Audrey descends the stairs and Chloé’s smile fades when she sees this little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes step out from behind Audrey.

~~*•*~~

The fic doesn’t have to begin like that, ofc, that’s just the gist of how I imagine it starting.

Maybe in the beginning Chloé will avoid Zoé, thinking that her mother left her and her father to make another family and that Audrey loves Zoé more than her. This idea is proven wrong though when Chloé really starts paying attention to how Zoé is treated.

In this, Zoé will be a mirror to Chloé and how she used to act. Even the way Audrey treats Zoé will mirror how she treated Chloé as a child. Chloé finds that Zoé was also neglected and abandoned by her mother, often treated with distain and indifference. This makes Chloé realize how trash her parent(s) are and motivates her to not only become a better person for herself and her sister but also to avoid becoming her parent(s).

I see it ending 3 ways (tho there could be more bc people r more creative than me)

1. Chloé basically raises Zoé by herself giving Zoé the love she never got and the parents stay shitty. (saddest ending imo)

2. André gets redeemed and they ditch the bitch (Audrey). Would need to explore André’s cowardice and submissive behavior, how he throws money at Chloé in exchange for actually being present in her life, as well as Audrey and André’s past (from his perspective tho).

3. Both André and Audrey get redeemed and they all live happily ever after. Would explore their past together, André’s behaviors and Audrey’s selfish, neglectful, bossy, nature as well as why tf she cheated on André to create Zoé.

If someone gets inspired to write a fic based on this or knows one already made pls lemme know bc idk how to write.

#chloé bourgeois #zoé lee #andré bourgeois #audrey bourgeois #mlb fanfic #Chloé redemption arc #writing prompt #omg I love Chloé sm #queen bee #ml vesperia #miraculous ladybug

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judicious-loveless-brat · 2 years

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Miraculous Ladybug Characters in Real Life - Part 9

The Césaire Family

The Bourgeois Family

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb #ml #marlena césaire #otis césaire #nora césaire #alya césaire #ella and etta césaire #audrey bourgeois #andré bourgeois #chloé bourgeois #zoé lee #artbreeder

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miraculous-floconfettis · 11 months

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ANAXIMANDRE #MLBS5Spoilers

Avant toute chose, ce post contient des spoilers de la saison 5 de Miraculous. Passez si vous ne voulez rien savoir !

Bonjour bonjour !

Jusqu'à présent, je tweetais beaucoup sur la série Miraculous, et puis je me suis dit, autant poster mes réflexions par ici également.

On va parler d'Anaximandre, a.k.a. André Bourgeois !

Le saviez-vous ? Anaximandre était un philosophe et savant grec du VIe siècle avant JC (Pour situer, Pythagore était un de ses élèves) (oui, celui du théorème).

Contrairement aux recherches de ses contemporains, Anaximandre est remonté à l'origine des choses et a cherché les causes des phénomènes naturels non pas dans les caprices des dieux comme les grecs en avait l'habitude, mais dans la nature (φύσις, "phusis" qui a donné « physique » en français) elle-même. Cette manière d'aborder les choses a donné naissance à la pensée scientifique.

Mais qu'est-ce que la pensée scientifique ? On peut la définir comme un instrument destiné à effectuer des prédictions observables plutôt qu'à fournir des explications ou des représentations de la réalité. La pensée scientifique, c'est la pensée de l'observation, du doute, de la déconstruction. C'est construire sur le savoir acquis, mais remettre toute vérité en question.

Grâce à ses recherches, Anaximandre serait à l'origine de nombreuses découvertes : il a, par exemple, révolutionné la conception du monde céleste de l'époque en plaçant la Terre au centre de l'univers.

Sa théorie réfute au passage l'hypothèse de son maître Thalès (oui, celui de l'autre théorème) qui affirmait que le monde était fait d'eau et que la Terre flottait dessus (à l'époque, on ne savait pas que le Soleil était en réalité au centre et que les planètes gravitaient autour de lui).

Anaximandre aurait également dessiné les premières cartes de géographie et la première carte du ciel en utilisant des hypothèses explicatives et non mythologiques.

Il pensait aussi que les phénomènes naturels comme les orages n'étaient en rien dus à la colère des dieux mais bien davantage à une cause liée aux éléments qui s’entrechoquent.

Il aurait aussi introduit en Grèce le γνώμων ("gnômôn"), a.k.a. le tout premier cadran solaire (un bâton planté dans le sol lui a permis de suivre la course du soleil grâce à son ombre projetée par terre).

La philosophie d'Anaximandre se base sur un principe fondamental, l'ἀρχή (arkhè, du verbe ἄρχω, "árkhô" qui signifie « commencer », on retrouve cette racine dans le mot « archaïque » en français), et ce principe est l'ἄπειρον ("apeiron"), c'est à dire, l'illimité, ou l'infini.

En gros, pour Anaximandre, tout ce qui "devient" a un commencement et une fin, c'est à dire, des limites spatio-temporelles. Donc quelque chose qui a un commencement et une fin ne peut être la cause éternelle de tous les êtres. Seul ce qui est illimité et indéterminé peut être une cause universelle, indestructible et permanente.

Anaximandre supposait à l'époque qu'une infinité de mondes existait, et qu’ils apparaissaient et disparaissaient au cours d'un temps donné, que certains naissaient quand périssaient d’autres dans un mouvement éternel. Car sans mouvement, il ne peut y avoir ni génération ni destruction. Tout est en changement perpétuel.

L’homme aussi est le fruit d’une transformation, d'une évolution. Anaximandre pensait que l’homme s’était un jour dissocié de l’infini originel pour entrer dans le monde fini, ce qui justifiait le fait qu’il doive naître et mourir.

Anaximandre considérait que l’aspiration de l’homme à une existence individuelle constituait une grave faute primitive et que cette situation était la preuve d’un égoïsme coupable de sa part.

Pour Anaximandre, seul l’infini a le droit d’être éternel, en raison de sa perfection. (Tiens donc, la perfection, n'est-ce pas une notion récurrente dans Miraculous ? 😏)

(On notera au passage une évidente similitude avec le concept de péché originel que l'on retrouve dans la religion chrétienne).

L'apeiron, c'est donc la source éternelle et indestructible, la cause complète de la génération et de la destruction de tout. Selon Anaximandre, c'est ainsi que l'univers s'est créé : de la séparation des contraires qui vont s'affronter. Le chaud se sépare du froid, le léger du dense, la lumière de l'obscurité, etc. Le chaud favorise la vie, le froid, la mort. Et entre les deux se développe le vivant. On en revient à l'équilibre universel : le bien qui s'oppose le mal. Équilibre qui est un des principes sur lequel est basée la série.

(en écrivant ce paragraphe, j'ai tout de suite pensé à l'épisode Queen Banana où Super Création se bat contre Super Destruction dans le film de leur classe (épisode dans lequel on découvre qu'André a écrit et réalisé un film dans sa jeunesse, coïncidence ? Je ne pense pas)).

Ce que je me demande maintenant, c'est pourquoi avoir choisi ce prénom dans la série ? 🤔

On sait tous que rien n'arrive par hasard dans Miraculous, du coup, je me demande ce que cela signifie pour la suite de la série. Est-ce que André serait en fait la clé de l'équilibre entre le bien et le mal ?

(oui, je suis partie très loin, mais ça faisait longtemps que je n'avais pas fait de théories 🙈)

Bug out!

#mlb season 5 spoilers #MLBS5Spoilers #mlb s5 spoilers #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #miraculous spoilers #ml season five #Ladybug #Chat Noir #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrien Agreste #Anaximandre #spoilers #André Bourgeois #miraculous floconfettis

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herwold · 2 years

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Chloé Bourgeois - moodboard

#chloé bourgeois #miraculum #moodboard #miraculous ladybug #chloé bourgeois moodboard #aesthetic #miraculum moodboard #andré bourgeois #audrey bourgeois #zoé lee #queen bee #female character #pollen

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mlwritersguild · 1 year

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Vote 1 Chloé Bourgeois, by @halcyyonn

Based on a prompt submitted by @gaussiansphere: A house of cards style political thriller about Chloe running to succeed her father as Mayor of Paris

AO3; Political AU, Political Drama, André is Corrupt

Summary:

Chloe Bourgeois had been aware of her father's corruption for years, and she was determined to stop him. Her own political campaign was picking up steam and everything was perfectly planned. Or it was, until someone else discovered what Andre had been using his power and influence for. Chloe could make it work for her

---

The story broke early in the morning, dragging Chloe out of bed far too soon after the late night she had. Even though her team had assured her the situation was under control and no one would find out, someone had clearly been wrong. If she was anyone but Chloe Bourgeois, someone making a mistake about a secret might not be that big of a deal, but she was Chloe Bourgeois. She had been keeping the details of her father’s corrupt political career under wraps until she could use it to win the election in a few months and take his place as mayor of Paris. Was it underhanded? Of course, it was politics. Was it also a necessary evil? Yes, absolutely.

Chloe’s entire plan revolved around getting herself into the mayor’s office. If she only removed her father from his position, someone else would take his place, while Andre still pulled the strings. He, and everyone that took orders from him, had to go.

When Chloe arrived at her office, her entire media team was already assembled. All of them looked as tired as she felt, as if they had all rushed here as soon as they got the news.

“How much has been released?” Chloe set her laptop and notes on the table while everyone took their seats. “How did it get out?”

“It seems that one of the interns sent some of the files to the wrong person, and the media got their hands on it. So far, it’s been reported by most major political bloggers, including the Ladyblog. They only got some basic information that confirms the mayor is corrupt, but they don’t know how far it goes.”

Chloe nodded. “It won’t take long for people to start asking questions. What are our options?”

Another person from across the table spun their laptop around. “There are a couple of angles we can take. If you want to continue with the anti-corruption platform we were going to use, we have a press release written denouncing the current mayor and promising an investigation into his actions. If we go with this one, we’ll have to move quickly before anyone else can dig up more information.”

“How long will it take for people to work out that we know more?”

“Not long. A day or two, if we’re lucky. Andre and his government covered their tracks fairly well, but we still managed to stumble upon it. Someone looking in the right places would find it without trouble.” The private investigator she had hired months ago projected some images onto the screen at the front of the room. Different pictures of Andre began popping up, including a few that Chloe had never seen before. The mayor had clearly been having a good time recently. “We’re only a few hours away from the early morning news reports, and blogs can be updated anytime.”

“So, we need to get my statement out there as quickly as possible.” Chloe tapped her fingers on the table, her nails making clicking noises against the wood as she thought her options over. “Go with the anti-corruption angle. We need to get a press conference organised to make sure it gets onto the news.”

“What about your father?” There was silence around the room as Chloe’s team waited for her to react to Andre being referred to as her father.

“If Andre is still following the same schedule he did when I was a teenager, he won’t hear any news until mid-morning. He’s the last thing we have to worry about right now.” Chloe stood up again, adjourning the meeting. She looked over at her media liaison. “Get as many journalists together as you can in the next few hours for the press conference. This may not be the ideal situation for this information to be released, but we need to take this chance while we have it. Inaction will harm our reputation. Thank you all for being here.”

Chloe picked up her laptop and strode out of the room. As she waited for the elevator, she called her hair and makeup team. While she preferred to make public appearances on more than a few hours of sleep, this could be a turning point in their campaign. Andre’s actions were catching up with him, and the promise of an investigation could sway the majority to their side. If they continued to slowly release the information they knew over the coming months, it was unlikely that Andre’s reputation would survive until the election. The more the public found out, the more his chances of re-election dropped. With the right timing, Chloe was basically guaranteed the mayor’s office. She could almost walk right in.

---

A few hours later, Chloe sat in her office, watching as news articles about her press conference slowly rolled in. As predicted, her father hadn’t done anything about the news. She doubted her had even heard about it yet. It was still barely seven in the morning. He wouldn’t learn about anything for hours.

There was still much to be done. She had another meeting with her team scheduled for the morning to plan the slow release of information about the rest of her father’s corruption. Financial documents would be leaked, secret emails would arrive in journalists’ inboxes, phone call recordings would be posted online, and more press conferences would be held to assure the public that Chloe Bourgeois would get to the bottom of this. Sure, Andre would end up in jail, but what else would he expect after all the tax evasion, bribery, and embezzlement? There were no other options left. He had brought this upon himself.

Chloe sighed. She wished her life had turned out differently, but by the time she was born, the wheels were already in motion. When she found out about all of her father’s crimes at the end of high school, it was far too late to turn back the clock.

An alert dinged on Chloe’s computer. Alya Cesaire had arrived for their meeting. It had been set up so Chloe could double down on her promise to crack down on corruption. Speaking to the blog that had successfully pivoted from reporting on the latest superhero news to additional political reporting, as well as one of the largest blogs in the city, would ensure that as many people are possible saw her promises to fight corruption inside the government. Her entire image was built around being dedicated to doing right by the people of Paris, no matter what, even if it involved locking her own family behind bars in the process.

---

While Chloe knew that her father wasn’t happy with her running for mayor against him, he hadn’t said anything about it. She didn’t really care. If anything, she was used to it. Andre had never been the most interested parent, happily thinking that following every demand Chloe had meant he was being a good father. Somewhere in the last few years, that willingness to do whatever she asked at the drop of a hat had disappeared.

That meant it was quite a surprise when he stormed into her office at noon that day. His assistant followed behind him, ever dutiful, even as Andre raged. “I tolerated your little campaign for far longer than I should have! I thought it was only a passing fancy, but this,” he gestured to the tablet his assistant was holding and the news articles it displayed, “this has gone far enough!”

“Hello, Andre. I’m glad you found your way here. I wasn’t sure you even knew where my office was.” She wasn’t going to sink to his level. They were both adults, and allowing a conversation to devolve into a shouting match because Andre couldn’t see what was under his nose was a waste of her time. “How can I help you?”

“Stop playing around. I know your campaign is just some teenage rebellion, and I am willing to forgive you.”

“I know you’ve missed a lot of important moments in my life recently, but I’m in my mid-twenties. My rebellious teen years ended years ago. All of the decisions I’ve been making are ones that are the best for me and the best for Paris.”

Andre’s face reddened more and more with each word. Chloe didn’t let it bother her, continuing with her speech. “I know what you’ve been up to. I have all the records of the money you’ve been stealing from the city, all the bribes you’ve been paying to keep people quiet, and all the secret phone calls you’ve been having. If anyone is going to be ending their campaign, it’s going to be you.”

“You don’t know who you’re up against.”

“I do, actually.” Chloe stood up from her desk. “I grew up with you. I know everything you’ve been up to since you were first elected. You don’t know who you’re up against. I think you should leave before you embarrass yourself further.”

“How dare you?” Andre was shouting now, his voice echoing out into the hallway and attracting the attention of the people outside. “You would never last a day in this job! You don’t understand what it takes to be the mayor of Paris!”

“It’s time for you to leave; otherwise, I’ll call security and have you escorted from the building. How much more damage can your reputation take? I don’t mind finding out. What about you?”

“You are not the daughter I raised. I did everything for you, gave you everything that you wanted, yet this is how you repay me? I should have known you would turn out like your mother. An ungrateful brat.”

Chloe left the door ajar and walked back to her desk, pressing the call button on the intercom. The security team answered immediately. “Please send security to my office to remove the mayor from the premises.”

“They’re on their way, Miss Bourgeois.”

“Thank you.”

Chloe and Andre stood in silence as they waited for security. Andre seemed to think he could intimidate her into following his orders, but it wasn’t going to work. Maybe if she was a decade younger, or her father didn’t look like he had aged decades in just a few years, but that wasn’t the case. He wasn’t going to intimidate her.

Two security guards walked into the office. “Mayor Bourgeois, if you could come with us, please.”

“This isn’t the end.”

“No, the end will be when I win the election. Goodbye, Andre.”

Andre and his assistant were escorted out by the guards, Andre still fuming. Chloe could hear cameras clicking outside and could only imagine the work that was going to pile up after this incident. The whole thing only solidified Chloe’s belief that Andre was no longer fit to run Paris and needed to be removed from power at the next election. She pressed the call button on her intercom again. When her assistant answered, Chloe asked, “Please schedule another meeting this afternoon. We need to start releasing more evidence. Thanks.”

Andre was going down. And she was going to be the one to make sure his political career came to an end.

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blueberry-bubbles130 · 8 months

Text

Here's the redesign for Andre Bourgeois!

God it was such a fucking pain to do, but I got it done after a few days.

Design Choices-

So for Andre's regular redesign, I kept his grey hair. I imagine because he's the mayor of Paris, the owner of a famous hotel celebrities stay at and with his wife being famous as well, the stress made him go prematurely grey. Because of the extra stress he's under due to occupation and the sudden appearance of akumas I also gave him eyebags. Like there is no way this man is mayor, a hotel owner, trying to reassure the people of paris about the akumas and not losing immense amounts of sleep over this, with stress. I changed his tie to a bow tie to differentiate him from Gabriel because I know they're going to end up looking similar in my style. And because I've changed his character a bit, i feel the bowtie suits him better. I also gave him dark red reading glasses, and darker blue eyes. His suit is just a regular one with some black dress shoes. He's also on the shorter and stockier side compared to Audrey and Gabriel who are taller and thinner.

I also redesigned Malediktator. Now I'm not fond of the canon design for Malediktator at all, the colours are all too bright in my opinion. And after looking on Tv Tropes the hat he wears is supposed to be like the one Napoleon Bonaparte wore, however because of the shape and colour choices it doesn't quite look like that. And I just don't like it at all.

So for my version of Malediktator, I tried to go into a more historical direction. I gave him a tricorn hat, and long coat as well as breeches, and buckled shoes. I gave him a cane. Now you may be wondering where the akuma is if I never gave him the sash, but it's in the cravat, which regularly is his bow tie. His skin I kept blue but it more of a desaturated grey-blue colour so it's less eye strain. His sclera's are a cold grey-blue and his irises are red with light red/white cats eye pupils.

Personality/Story Changes-

I changed Andre's age because in the canon show apparently he's 70, which I'm not dealing with, so instead he's younger but him and Audrey are on the older side of all the adults. At beginning of my rewrite he's 45 years old and by the end he is 47 years old.

In my rewrite, him and Audrey have known each other and dated each other for a longer time than they knew Gabriel, Emilie and Natalie. They met at a theatre Audrey worked as a costume designer at, and Andre had gotten a temporary jobs as a screenwriter at. He left after a while to study becoming a lawyer but was still dating Audrey, while she started her own fashion brand. Eventually they got married, had Chloe and he became mayor, then Audrey went to New York for a few years to set up an American branch of her fashion brand.

For personality, I made it so he's not corrupt and is less willing to assist Chloe in her antics because Chloe is also toned down. I also made him a lot more paranoid, it makes more sense for me due to his jobs, dealing with akumas and Chloe causing akumas in my opinion. I also made him more nervous in general. He deeply cares about Audrey and Chloe, but due to workload he hasn't got the time to be around Chloe, which is partly why she's lashing out for her parents attention which she doesn't get because they're both heavily overworked.

For his relationship with Audrey, they love each other and they're pretty much an opposites attract relationship, because I changed Audrey a lot in my rewrite, mainly she's not abusive. He's nervous and paranoid and Audrey is the strong commanding one. She helped him find confidence, whereas he helped her from rushing into things and messing up.

In my rewrite for the majority of season 1 and 2, Andre is nervous and paranoid especially with the akumas. He worries alot about the safety of his daughter at school because of the akumas and is worried about his wife returning. He knows that if she returns while the akumas are about, due to her stubborn personality she'll become an akuma or an akuma will target her. This changes when at the end of season 1 Darkblade almost executes him by guillotine. Then Audrey returns.

Season 2 mostly stays the same until about 3/4 of the way through Audrey gets akumatised into Style Queen and then the next chapter he's get akumatised into Malediktator. Now the reason for his akumatization changes from Audrey and Chloe wanting to leave to him having meltdown due to stress and not being able to truly protect his family from the akumas and Dague Noir. He becomes Malediktator and takes over quite a bit of Paris with him taking Audrey to city hall to protect her. Chloe as Queen Bee shows up on her own and reveals her identity to Andre to distract to deakumatise him by destroying the cravat.

Then for the season 2 finale Miracle Queen occurs due to an argument between Ladybug and Chloe over Chloe wanting to be a hero. But Ladybug won't let it happen due to her revealing her identity and Ladybug simply not wanting to deal with Chloe.

Season 3 begins with Andre and Audrey realising simply how bad their neglect of Chloe affected her and promise to be better parents to her. This goes mostly well with them trying to teach Chloe how to ride a bike. Chloe doesn't tell them about the bullying she's now facing at school simply because she doesn't want to bother them or stress them out because she's enjoying this new family bonding time with them. However shortly after this Andre and Audrey go missing after going away for a weekend for their wedding anniversary. The police found their car crashed on the side of the road by a tree with blood inside of it, but they aren't in the car or anywhere near it for that matter. Unbeknownst to Audrey and Andre, Gabriel is Dague Noir and has taken them captive in order to blackmail Chloe into working with him. For the rest of season 3 he holds them in a private cabin he purchased privately, so no one can find where they are. Gabriel does have a tv in the cabin so they can at least see the news. However they have injuries from the crash, with Audrey having a few broken ribs and Andre having a broken foot. They don't find out Chloe is Abeille Gardienne until the end of season 3 when Mayura and Dague Noir come back to the cabin solely to give them Chloe's blood-soaked hoodie from her impalement, and Dauge Noir ranting to them about how much he despises Chloe

For season 4 nothing really happens, with Audrey and Andre, apart from them worrying about what the hell is happening with Chloe, and figuring out Gabriel is Dague Noir due to Andre telling Gabriel where he was going for his anniversary because Andre still thought they were friends. Until at the end of season 4 Chloe, Adrien and Sabrina take down Dague Noir and Mayura. Chloe reunites with her parents at the cabin, but immediately after seeing them she passes out because of exhaustion and her lingering injuries revealing the facial damage to her parents. At some point during their kidnapping Audrey and Andre also see Chloe as Abeille Gardienne have a breakdown on live tv, because of the stress Chloe's facing having to work with Dauge Noir.

Roger Raincomprix arrives to the cabin with Butler Jean and Miss Bustier only to find Andre trying to strangle Gabriel for what has happened. At the end of the story, after Gabriel and Natalie's trial, Andre and Audrey try to move on with their lives while being better parents to Chloe. As well Adrien gets adopted by them.

Next redesign will be Audrey, then Gabriel's.

#andre bourgeois #andré bourgeois #miraculous ladybug #miraculous rewrite #ml rewrite #mlb rewrite #miraculous redesign #ml redesign #mlb redesign #miraculous fanart #ml fanart #mlb fanart #Such fickle things au

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