#ml fandom there will always be people who have never said a bad thing about their precious bby in it and take everything seriously

[lllluka]

enstars fandom makes my shitposting look like child's play I'm so mad they're collectively just better at it than I am

#it's terrifying to see people love characters in the same way i do (rancid bullying) but at the same time it also deeply threatens my ego #ml fandom there will always be people who have never said a bad thing about their precious bby in it and take everything seriously #but rinne amagi stans are ALL like 'hope he rots. here's a video and i've cut him out of it' #anyway my point is that we should bully luka more

[felixfathom]

I asked this to other blogs, but do you think the Season 4 finale made salt fics that depict Adrien in a negative light, while Felix is depicted in a positive one (at least when the fic uses Félix Graham de Vanily, when the fic uses PV Felix it's a bit more understandable) age poorly?

(And I like I said to the other blogs I asked this question to, I always found a bit questionable when salt fics did that, since Felix's actions in his debut episode were quite awful, like how he tried to forcibly get a kiss on Ladybug on his debut episode, and one of the main complaints people have about Chat Noir is about how forceful he can be with Ladybug, so I never undertstood why those fics gave Felix a pass)

EVERYBODY LOOK THE ANON THAT ASKS PEOPLE ABOUT FELIX HAS COME TO ME I AM NOW A CERTIFIED FELIX FAN WOO 🥳

OKAY so jokes aside . i'm of the opinion that salt fics are inherently biased & they present overexaggerated, mean-spirited versions of the characters that only exists in their head. so, in any given circumstance, salt fics "age poorly" by default because they don't follow faithful intepretations in what's either a self indulgent power fantasy or bad torture porn of 14 y/o characters. it's not worth the time!

BUT !! i think the reason these salt fics make felix sympathetic but bash adrien is because of how canon tackles their negative actions: you don't NEED to point out felix did terrible things because the show makes it very clear for you to understand that he sucks - but in adrien's case (or at least the salters' general consensus seems to be that) he doesn't get any repercussions for when he fucks up and it's frustrating to watch - which makes felix more likeable because he's just following his purpose when he AIDS CRIMINAL ACTIVITY or KICKS A PUPPY or whatever heinous act you can think of on the spot . it's easier ig !!

in my opinion (as someone who's preferable towards felix and is v defensive of him AND is neutral on adrien most of the time) i hate the concept of propping felix up by making adrien look like a monster (#epic reference ema!) as the felix episode pulled the EXACT same shit and not only is it hypocritical, but it makes it harder for people who like felix 2 not be alienated by the whole ml fandom bc they don't think he's an irredeemable spawn of satan -_- i believe felix is fully capable of redemption and i'd love to see him fight by ladybug's side for real one day, but never in this salt fics because i do NOT claim them.

#ml fandom salt #long post #adrien agreste #felix graham de vanily #moreover !! neither cousins are evil incarnate and even if felix is obvi the more morally dubious one they both deserve better treatment #by the fandom. i've said this b4 but to me they're two sides of the same coin and i feel like if you like one but hate the other #then you prob missed the point of their characters - but again it's just my opinion and it's a bad one at that sjfhsjf #offtopic but . i wanted to clear it up #sorry for not answering right away !!

[iwasbored777]

I really wish Chloe stans hadn't poisoned the well on Miraculous. I've come across a few people now that don't even watch the show, and won't watch it, because of "what's been done to Chloe" and it's such garbage. I used to be interested in a redemption story for Chloe, but I really don't care what they do with her character now.

I think this has a lot to do with people being brainwashed by YouTube.

As a ML fan myself who watched this show since the first episode that aired more than six years ago I didn't even consider Chloé's redemption. I don't think I even had any opinion on that when she had those good moments - I was only going with the flow. And with all the love drama that's been going on at the time I didn't really care about her character as much as I see other people did. Now I have to be honest to say that I was a little surprised when she turned her back on the team but I honestly didn't know what to expect from her anyway and I knew some people who loved her character will be disappointed but I didn't expect them to harass Thomas on social media and make hate videos and blame Marinette for what Chloé did. I was really surprised by that backlash. This taught me that real people don't actually what to change, they just need excuses for what they do.

And of course, since apparently Marinette is the one to blame for Audrey being a terrible mother, she is also the one to blame for Gabriel being a terrible father so the fandom keeps demonising her for things that are completely out of her control and it all started with those YouTube videos about how it's her fault that Chloé wasn't a good person - because I would definitely forgive my class bully for stabbing me in the back 🙄🙄🙄.

YouTube hate is very powerful. I don't know any other part of the Internet that influences people that affectively. There was a young girl in my country who was making music and this youtuber hated her and made hate videos about her and her own fans turned against her and they cyber bullied her so much that she committed suicide.

I have two friends on Wattpad - one of them watched Miraculous for few years, and the other one started recently thanks to me talking about it all the time, and both of them had no idea about the backlash and they said how they were always on Marinette's side, never on Chloé's. And the reasons? Both of them said the same thing - "it's because Marinette has empathy, Chloé never did", I heard the same from a little girl who's a ML fan too. All three of them were not in touch with the fandom and they don't know each other - they have separated opinions. Now the fouth person I met is also a ML fan, who watched YouTube, and who thinks that Gabriel, Lila and Chloé are better than Marinette because "those bad people have valid motives and Marinette should help them" - now look how many bad points are in just one sentence. And she had no idea about my opinions when we met, and I didn't know about hers until we started talking about it, and even before our conversation she was aggressive and made fun of my poetry on Wattpad. She harassed me on social media and I wrote a defensive chapter on Wattpad about Marinette, and she was attacking me in the comments until I had to block her. She was a horrible person.

People are so easily brainwashed by YouTube, it's insane! It's because YouTube is addictive and so are movie analyses, as someone who has a whole Wattpad book about those I can confirm how many readers I have, and people, instead of having their own opinion that sticks and only listening to someone else's to hear what others have to say, they change it because of one analysis they watch/read.

I happen to be disappointed with any show or movie sometimes, but I just stop watching it instead of making hate content or harassing the writers. As a writer, I would never want something like that to happen to me.

And they only made me hate her character even more, not just because of bullies in real life, but because of people who defend bullies in real life and blame the victim. Just now I was harassed by one of her stans. They really can't make me love her character if the only thing they have to say in her defence is that she is abuse victim - cuz I know characters who are her victims - or that I'm "retarded" for not liking her.

But who cares about her now? I'm looking forward to Mar1nette Day here on Tumblr! 😁

#Miraculous ladybug #Ml fandom salt #Ml youtube #marinette dupain cheng #chloé bourgeois #Ml ask #ask and answer #Marinette sugar #Chloé salt #Chloe salt #Cyrus the great isn't that great

[miraculouscontent]

Didn’t Need Burrow (May 23rd-25th)

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Astruc admitted Sabine was based on an ex and Marinette is what he imagined their daughter to be like. He later admits Audrey was based on an ex and Chloe is what he imagined their daughter would be like. Despite moving on, he still bitter and created two teen girls as "payback" against his exes.

The whole “virtual daughter” thing still squicks me out.

Also, I don’t actually take “Didn’t Need Burrows” referring specifically to the staff/fandom since that’s outside of the show, but I also definitely think about them all the time and like sticking them in here.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Building off of the "Adrien knows about Marinette's crush on him and tells Plagg about it" Burrow, Plagg will point out to Adrien that this is a bad idea and what he is doing is wrong and that Adrien is leading Marinette on so as to stroke his own ego. He will not be listened to, and the show portray him as in the wrong, despite him being right, because anybody who stands up for Marinette's agency deserves to be shut down. In the meantime, Adrien will be allowed to continue

Bonus if Plagg will be considered “wrong” because Adrien not leading Marinette on would lead to him being sAd because Marinette isn’t fawning over him anymore (as if he doesn’t have a million fans).

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be presented not only as "Chloe if she was good person", but also as "Marinette if she wasn't constantly making mistakes"

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be basically  Marinette if "Marinette's Mistake of the Week" formula never existed.

Sounds about right.

Amazing what can happen when the show doesn’t have a gun to your head telling you to make mistakes in every episode.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: The show delves into a shitty harem as the writers forget that Adrien is not the main character. Who knows, maybe Zoe will join the harem.

The only reason I feel like Zoe wouldn’t be a part of Adrien’s harem is so she can ship the love square.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: There will be Animaestro-type episode where Marinette "makes alliance" with (read: is manipulated by) Chloe or Lila against Zoe. In the end she is only one punished, while her "partner in crime"  (or rather person who manipulated her) walks away completely scot-free.

To the surprise of no one. Can’t have the antagonists be punished, because that would make sense.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: (narrative-wise) Agreste's family drama and Bourgeois's sisters drama will overshadow whatever Marinette character arc will be in season 4.

I’m taking this a step further and saying that Marinette in generall will keep having her plots/”arcs” overshadowed by everyone else.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Marinette will be akumatized. She will be easily defeated due to "bond" between Chat Noir and Temporary Ladybug Zoe. This will be presented like Ladybug's constant refuse to "bond" with Chat Noir was reason why their fights with Akumatized Villains are so hard. (bonus: This episode will be followed by a group of fans that would state that Zoe should replace Marinette as Ladybug Miraculous Holder and not Chloe as Bee Miraculous Holder.)

Uggggh, I’m always waiting for the “love square magical bond” garbage.

Also, the bonus reminds me of the fact that I don’t understand people who hate on both Marinette and Luka but continue to ship the love square. Like, wouldn’t they want to ship Adrien with someone “””worthy””” of him??

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: If Marinette akumatization has Miracle Queen-type set-up, Chat Noir will quickly defeat her and whatever all other Miraculous Holders alone (or optionally supported by Temporary Ladybug Zoe). This will be presented by narrattive as proof of why Chat Noir is Brawn in Ladybug-Chat Noir duo. (Bonus: After that episode Adrien stans will make mass of "I hope this will shut up everyone who think that Chat Noir is useless/weaker than Ladybug/etc." type posts)

At this point, I’ve just grown numb to Chat suddenly being able to do things that don’t make sense for him.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Temporary Ladybug Zoe

Okay but is she keeping the black highlights or do they turn red. These are important questions.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Kagami will be changed (ret-conned) into  Adrienette (or other Love Square's part) shipper after "Lies"

Something similar is already on the card so that’s fun. :’3

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe, not Marinette, will be wearing that dress from the Season 4 Concept Art.

*eye twitch*

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Rena Rogue will be appearing even when she isn't needed to defeat Akuma of the Week. This will be probably used to justify Chat Noir's increasing resent up towards Ladybug and (probably) consequent reversal of Love Square.

anything: *happens*

Chat Noir: bad Ladybug

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Ending: Marinette will willingly sacrifice herself to wake up from coma/ressurect Emilie. Both Adrien and Gabriel will be happy that Emilie is back. Adrien will have his happy relationship/ending with Zoe whom personality is (or was ret-conned into) "Marinette in anything but name". (Bonus points: if everyone behave like Marinette never existed after Emilie revival)

I’m sad.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: If Akuma of the Week isn't Reflekta/Mr Pigeon/Gigantitan/etc,.Pig Miraculous"s "Gift" power will basically fail and only make current Akumatized Villain angrier and more determined to achieve his goal, basically restarting whole fight against Akuma.

PIGELLA NO

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will never react to Zoe becoming more popular than her

I imagine Zoe isn’t the same age as Chloe since they’re not twins, so Zoe at least won’t be in Bustier’s class.

Now, if they make her a Lila slave, then we’ll see.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow to know that Marinette is going to hate Zoe for being related to Chloe and this will be limited to her or she'll be the only one scolded for it (likely by Adrien), because you can't hate someone for who they're related to (which actually is a good lesson but ml will probably f it up somehow).

I feel like the writers just look at a character and go, “okay, how can we engineer them in a way for Marinette to mess up around them?

Anonymous asked:

Didn't need Burrow - Chat will find out Rena Rouge knows her identity and becomes angry bc "You and me against the world, m'lady." This will cause one episode of Adrienette becoming closer and Ladynoir drifting apart before Chat magically forgives her like it was no big deal after she makes a huge gesture to get him back.

You’d think they’d have worn out the reset button by now...

Anonymous asked:

Didn't need burrow: one of two things will happen, either Adrien will try to help Luka get back together with Marinette (basically the same plot as Mr. pigeon 72) or the relationship will not be brought up ever again and Mari and Luka don't really directly interact with each other anymore

“Bonus” if Adrien is “taught a lesson” that he shouldn’t meddle, and it’s only because he chose to meddle in Lukanette. “Double bonus” if his attempts actually get Lukanette back together but this is presented as a bad thing (for some reason)..

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be(e)come pernament Bee Miraculous Holder.

This won’t be added because I think we already got official confirmation on this?

Oh, or do you mean “permanent” as in her keeping the miraculous eventually?

edit: yes, that’s what they meant (also, A+ pun)

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Every Miraculous Holder introduced in Season 4 will be will lose right to their Miraculous, except Zoe/Vesperia.

lol me just imagining them struggling over either making models or trying to not use those miraculouses anymore.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Luka will be forced to say Adrien and Marinette are perfect for each other in "Optigami".

Wow, show, why don’t you just prove more that you’re purposefully pointing out that you’re giving Marinette a grand total of One “Obvious” Option.

Anonymous asked:

Unsure if this one has been sent yet but | Didn't Need Burrow: Alya is going to continue Marinette to pursue Adrien even after Marinette broke down and said she doesn't have time for love right now.

We have some similar ones I think.

“Marinette’s feelings towards moving on are invalidated/ignored by one of her “friends” to push for the Love Square“

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Sandboy 2.0: Ladybug's nightmare will be about Chat Noir abandoning/hating her

I was dumb enough to raise an eyebrow at this like, “Would they really reuse akum--oh wait.”

Anonymous asked:

I'm gonna try and go for a good Didn't Need Burrow: WHen Sole Crusher gets Marinette we'll either get a lovely King Kong moment between them, or Chat Noir will come in and save her (and it'll possibly be a moment of reverse love square).

If they have Marinette doing the cliche “crushing because they got saved” I’m gonna throw hands.

Anonymous asked:

Don't need to burrow:

Marinette will never have a heart to heart with Luka revealing she's Ladybug or even explain the reason for their breakup.

Just gonna slap a big asterisk on this because it’s like:

*despite Luka being an obvious choice and they could’ve worked out the issue but the show is afraid of the side ship they’ve created working out better than the love square itself

Anonymous asked:

Don't need to Burrow: For Optigami, the episode will barely or never acknowledge Luka's and Marinette's relationship/breakup. It will be ignored and we won't have any cute Lukanette moments. As long as Adrien is in the picture, Luka will be always sidelined.

Honestly that last one is basically one of the commandments of this show.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will now only appear in cameos (probably without even any voice lines).

show writers, shoving Lila under a rug: Leela Ransai?? Never heard of him.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Since Lukanette is over, Luka can be ret-conned from show. Everyone will behave like he never existed at all (and Lukanette never hapenned).

We at least know that Luka now appears in a later episode, but this could easily be worded as “Luka can be retconned away from being Marinette’s love interest and everyone will act like he and Marinette aren’t that close or never made soft eyes at each other.”

Except I wouldn’t count on Lukanette being retconned because that would stop the show from being allowed to make Marinette feel bad and guilty and possibly cause another akuma over it, plus possibly Luka “rejecting” his feelings for her and thus making her feel worse that he sees her in a lesser light.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: There will be an episode that will break "Mr Pigeon" episode record of  "Don't Need a Burrow" and close calls.

Not gonna lie, I would be legitimately impressed if that happened. I’m just wondering what predictions would be mashed together to make it as such.

Anonymous asked:

Didn’t Need Burrow to know that Zoey (I heard somewhere that that’s how her name is going to be in America, it might be wrong), is going to get involved in the love square somehow.

Bonus:

Or she will replace Kagami’s role as Marinette’s friendly rival, and when her heart gets broken Marinette will be the one to blame, for no reason, like always. Or she will have an interest in Marinette, since it seems they are going to be close friends, only for Marinette to put her in the friend zone, and she gets akumatized. People will blame Marinette for giving false hopes to the girl, even though, she never acted different than how a friend would act.

All girls exist to comment/have an opinion on the love square, obviously, and they’re antagonists/villains if they have a negative opinion on it.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Writers will use Alya bashing concept of Alya proposing Lila as potential new Miraculous Holder. Marinette will obviously refuse, but due to fact that Lila is suddenly ret-conned into being good person this is Marinette's Mistake of the Week. She will repair it by making Lila pernament Miraulous Holder

Waiting for the one episode long Lila redemption...

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Sabrina will be redeemed. She will change from Chloe's servant... to Zoe's servant.

and it’s fine of course because Zoe and Sabrina are best friends and Sabrina is doing this all happily and willingly.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Alya will be changed into basically Marinette's Guardianship mentor

Somehow, this is one of the ones I hate the most because it seems accurate so far.

#((''Sole Crusher'' airing in a bit so needed to get this out now.)) #((''Mr. Pigeon 72'' is such trash for most of it so I wanna salt but after seeing the trailer for ''Optigami'' BOYYYY)) #((better to wait it out.)) #((Four episodes in a week and my brain is mush.)) #Didn't Need Burrow #((I'll put these on the spreadsheet later. I'm tired.))

[bamberry]

This is not miraculous ladybug related,

(it sorta is 😀)

it’s mentioned but this is just more of heyyyyyyyy nice to meet youuuuu.

Because I’ve now realized I never really introduced myself on this blog. I kinda just appeared out of nowhere tbh.

But my blog is becoming such a big place now so I think it’s the least I can do. Some of y’all might care some of y’all might not- I’m not really going to press you on the matter.

Soooooo, my blog is Bamberry. I don’t know how or why I have this name. I seriously have no idea what I was thinking but hey, here we are. Will I ever change the name? If I ever think of a better one, maybe.

On my blog you can call me Ber/Bam, whatever you prefer tbh. Or you can call me by my real name if want. My name real is Amelie. (Or nickname which is Mel) No I’m not French but I was pleasantly surprised to finally see a character from a show that shared the same name as muah.

Alas, I still can never find my name on those keychains in gas stations 😔

My pronouns are she/her. Though I’m not particularly strict on it.

’m not shy? Sorta? I mean if you say hi I’ll say hi back and I do my best to keep conversations going. I guess I get a bit nervous and flustered. But please! I genuinely love talking to you guys. also I’m kinda hoping to make some new friends on here to talk about ml with too. Kinda have been avoiding it because I just overthink a lot lol.

I hope I don’t come off as like someone who’s aggressive on my blog- truth be told I don’t even know what vibe I give out. Do I even give a vibe out? Or does this blog feel like a robot is managing it?

So, In case you weren’t sure,(which hopefully isn’t the case but nonetheless) this is a miraculous ladybug blog. I’ve been in the fandom since the dawn of time but I never really had an entire blog dedicated to the show until recently.

This blog had started off as user friendly but at one point I said fuck it. Obviously I do restrain myself from time to time but sometimes I can’t help it.

I do blog other ships besides the love square. Either because I find it cute, the art is good, I’m supporting the artist, or because I feel like it. I don’t hate, I don’t discriminate (UNLESS YOURE SHIPPING THINGS LIKE HAWKMOTH AND MARINETTE THEN IN THAT CASE I WILL PHYSICALLY HURT YOU)

Besides that everybody’s safe here.

The more people you ship, the more you can indulge yourself in the many fics and fine works of art.

At least that’s how I see it.

Anyways.

I post spoilers. Always, All the time. This blog is not the place if you’re trying to avoid spoilers. I will post spoilers as the episode airs. I will post spoilers before the episodes airs, and I will post spoilers AFTER the episode airs. I will sometimes tag ml spoilers if I remember to in posts but other than that and the big warning in my bio, it’s all I’ll really do.

I think a good chunk of you knows that I usually post things like art, rants, theories, headcanons, literally anything and everything I think of,

Speaking of you guys, I do actually recognize my active followers and 👉👈 well I appreciate you very much. Whether you’re new follower or an older one. I love you all equally. I’d shoutout but I’m afraid I’d forget one of you and feel bad about it for the next four years. But you know who you are!

I am looking forward more interaction with y’all. Especially with the way the show be hitting us with the pain. We’re all gonna need therapy by the end of it.

:,)

That being said! If there is anything you’d like to know please don’t hesitate to ask. My dms are always opens and of course so are my asks.

#bamberry blog #about me #heyyyyooo #miraculous ladybug #bamberry asks #bamberry rant #bamberry #bamberry vibes

[vldkeith]

this may get long and u really dont need to post it if u dont wanna keep going with this. do you know that game that someone says something to another person, and then that person says to another, and it goes on like this and when it reaches the last person the message is completely different? Fandom DiscourseTM is always like that. especially in a case like this, it started on tumblr and went to twitter, so almost everyone had no context of what led to it. and people already have their formed

opinions about evil klancers who hate on creators for no reason, so they will on purpose ignore whatever might have started the discourse this time and jump to conclusions. i saw a lot of people who clearly had no idea what this was all about, and one or two even changed their opinions after hearing the context. so op of that post, like many people, probably had no idea how this all started and already jumped to conclusions.

fandom experience is a lot based on what you make it. its totally possible to not see criticism if... you dont follow blogs that are saying critics... people always fail to see this. "omg no one talks about this thing" no babe just because you never saw it, doesnt mean this discussion was never happening. especially because minorities are treated terrible in fandom spaces, when they say their concers and critics its treated as hate to content creators and "omg let people do what they want!!!!"

so the critics happens, but people ignore it and treat it as discourse and hate, making people who dare say something feel more and more unsafe to say anything. and then people turn around to say that no one was talking about it? cmon. also people seem to have this idea that the voltron fandom is/was so Toxic and all that as if every fandom isnt like this lol vld just happened to be >really big< but its always like that, vld is a bit different case but not that special.

its a lot easier to stop at "so you are saying that drawing buff men is bad" to actually use brain cells to analysis. some artists draw the boys buff and its nor weird or sexualized, its just a matter of preference and people are allowed to dislike. but oh how dare you say you dont like something in your fucking personal blog huh? maybe its because ive been on fandoms for a long time, and most of it was in fujoshi spaces, so i dont get why people dont get the point of this discussion.

sexualization of men happens a lot and its a huge problem for mlm. having women sexualize and project and reinforce steriotypes isnt revolutionary. its a problem. like i said, it reinforces a lot of bad things about mlm. drawing buff men isnt homophobic but when you are putting the buff men in the dominating role and the other men is very femine and small and fragile.. and u are a woman... theres no other way to see this as harmful. yes men and relationships like that exist in real life but

its one thing for a mlm to write/draw about their own experiences and its another thing for a woman, most times straight, to do it. they do it based on steriotypes and its really gross. people dont seem to get that this hole goes much depper than what ml does, thats just the tip of the iceberg. its a lot worse than what she does. but people refuse to go beyond the "are u saying people cant do what they want" so its impossible to have an actual discussion about this.

i get ur frustation with this ren, and like i said u dont need to post this if u dont wanna. i have a lot of thoughts about this but idk if i expressed myself well lol anyway king ily

(bolding done by me) this is very eloquently said. i 100% agree with you, we’re all caught in a game of telephone that nobody is sure of the context of. and everything you said abt this not beginning/ending with ml--yeah. like. that’s just it. this is a whole bigger problem, as oliver addressed above, and i wish people would recognize it or at least acknowledge when they don’t have the full story. i rly dont have much to add to this tho, oliver said it all perfectly. thank you.

#klance #eletricblue #asks🌟

[angelofthequeers]

What brought you into salting for ML, and what led you away from it? You’ve written some things that were very salty in the past, and more recently written that you were ashamed of those things, and now work to combat salt and write positive things. What brought about the change? And I’m sorry if I sound accusatory, I’m genuinely curious.

No, you don’t sound accusatory at all! I’ve been trying to avoid talking about it because I’d have to name specific people but honestly? I don’t even care anymore. I’m done not calling people out just because I was afraid of them sending their groupies after me. (I wish I could put this under a read more but my laptop charger is fried and idk how to do it on mobile 😭).

So when I was new to the fandom, I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what opinion I should have about things. All I knew was tha I was coming from Supernatural, where I’d started to criticise a LOT of things about it, which was my mindset coming into ML. And the biggest and most popular bloggers were the Big Four, as I took to calling them: zoe-oneesama, lenoreofraven, gale-of-the-nomads and nobodyfamousposts. There were others, like miraculouscontent and jacquesthepigeon, and these were the dominant voices in the fandom from where I was. And if they’re the dominant voices and they’re being what I see as critical, of course I’m going to assume that they’re in the right. Not to mention that I’ve always had a problem with idolising people I see as cooler than me, so that definitely didn’t help. Plus they seemed to be Enlightened, claiming x and y were racist and problematic, and I was so desperate to be unproblematic that I didn’t stop and realise that they were the ones being problematic in the first place and just projecting the blame onto others to deflect from themselves. The racism in Zoe’s Scarlet Lady comic in particular is particularly disgusting and I’ve vented about it in private more than once, but it’s okay because it’s improving the show.

(Never mind that you can be critical of something and still enjoy it. Critical doesn’t equal salty as fuck. That’s something I’ve finally learned and I’m happy loving and gushing over the show while still pointing out where it needs to improve)

I eventually ended up joining a salty Discord and that’s what actually ended up pushing me away from salt, because it was so...bad. Everyone was egging each other on and encouraging each other to be salty and toxic about the show and I was starting to resent the show, and why should I waste my energy on something I hate? Salt legitimately very nearly killed my love for not only this show but children’s media in general, which was also why I left SPN because I was done with the constant gritty darkness. I wanted to love Adrien, I wanted to love Alya, I wanted to love the show, but I was being bombarded with Perfect Princess Saltinette and Perfect Boyfriend Loocah and Kickass Queen Chloé/Kagami (whichever one the author liked) and it just...all got internalised and reinforced. I felt like I wasn’t allowed to love Adrien and Alya and the show or I’d be doing something wrong, because clearly these fans knew better than I did.

And then we come to Défenseure. At the time of writing it, I legitimately didn’t mean for it to be overly salty. I intended for it to be like ‘Little Devil’, where the characters were fucking up but they stopped and learned lessons, albeit through the salter lens of what those lessons should be. Adrien was never going to lose his ring. He was just going to get a stern talking-to and end up apologising to Ladybug (despite that itself being exaggerated bc of how salters see him). But the Discord kept going and going and egging me on and providing “support” when I got negative feedback, and I let them push me to the point of full salt. And that’s when I stepped back and realised that I hated it. I hated being here, I hated interacting with the fandom, I hated writing. So I bowed out and never looked back.

But it’s not that simple. I was invited to another Discord by someone who, I will give a smidge of credit, did help pull me out of that dark place. But I didn’t realise that GalahadWilder was predatory and just outright yuck and literally manipulating me, especially with how he used his own autism to connect with me and empathise in a way that non-autistics couldn’t. Again, I couldn’t read people and I didn’t realise that I was being played until I ended up embroiled in another fandom drama. The less said about that, the better, but anyone who’s been around for any length of time knows what Drama I’m talking about.

And somehow, that ended up being even more toxic than the salt. We were actively attacking the showrunners (doxxing and then deleting to save face aka “do damage control over an impulsive mistake”), jabbing at other fans who I won’t name, constantly screenshotting one specific person (who legitimately is disgusting and hated by most of the fandom) and laughing at how pathetic they were, even going to one side of the drama and sending anons to try and pin the blame on the other side. And granted, I didn’t actively participate in most of this, but I still sat there and watched and laughed and believed the manipulations. It wasn’t until I got sick of this drama and someone informed me of the true nature of it (because I definitely wouldn’t have gotten involved and supported who I did if I’d been told the whole truth) that I left, but even then I still had people from both sides of the internal drama in that Discord messaging me and trying desperately to get me to believe them, and it was just. Too much.

Fandom’s supposed to be fun. Fandom’s supposed to be an escape. And yet I was ending up in more drama than a reality TV show because people were playing me like a puppet and I was sick of it.

But I’m in a healthier place now in the fandom. I’ve found the balance between roasting and being outright cruel; between criticising the show and spewing salt over it. And while I do hate what I’ve written and the drama I got messed up in, I’m grateful in a way. Without my salty writing, I wouldn’t have found that I hate doing it. Without that drama, I wouldn’t have found the true natures of certain people and I wouldn’t have made the friends I have now, like ladybuginettes, emsylcatac, amimons, bugabisous and yeet-noir. We jokingly call me a babie egg because I’ve been reborn as sugar and sweetness 😌 Especially since joining APS, which has let me actually love Adrien and even other characters like Alya and shower them in the positivity that I wanted to in the first place.

So, uh...yeah. That’s how I went from being a salty bitch to wanting to be more positive and sugary. And at least now I’m disillusioned enough that I just. Don’t idolise anyone anymore 🤷🏽‍♀️

#ask #aotq answers #miraculous ladybug #ml fandom salt #yeah I named names here #i’m just #done with everything

[queenharumiura]

B, E, L, P, H, A, G, O, R

Taken from meme: [x] ||Accepting|| ((I see what you did there and it’s beautiful. A++ ))

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

In regards to KHR, it’s hard to find any ship that I didn’t consider, because there was a time when I went crazy thinking of all sorts of ships (boy/boy, boy/girl, girl/girl. Don't test me). Still, there is an answer because this ship started it all. Hibari x Haru lol. At the time they were my favorite female and male character in KHR. My friend joked and said, “If you love them both so much, just ship them together.” History was made that day. Coincidentally I’ve cosplayed both. I will never show them off because they aren’t good lol. That started my descent down: This is fun, let’s ship almost anything I can find. Ships didn't necessarily have to be romantic either. I love exploring friendships and also just sibling dynamics as well. Haru adopting people? Yes please. 

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

I feel like I’m a troll in general, so I have added something cracky to any fandom that I’m in. Two things I can think of atop my head are ‘you reblogged a dare meme and you dare think I won’t ask Mukuro/Hibari/Alaude/Daemon to wear cat ears? HA!!!! YOU THOUGHT!!’. Another would be that I like puns, so if I see my chance to pun in a meme, I will. I always ask first before I send, however. It usually results in silliness, as you could imagine and Haru running away in fear.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

I guess I’m neutral about Dr.Shamal so he should count? Mn...despite the way he is with women and the way he refuses to treat male patients, he’s a smart guy and talented at what he does. He was also utilized well in putting Gokudera’s character into perspective more. Additionally, he is a good example of, ‘Haru will punch you out if you cross the boundaries,’ and I appreciate him for that. His sacrifice wasn’t in vain. Never forget how he is the reason why Mukuro was able to use Sakura blossoms against Hibari in the first place. This man--- the damage he has caused.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

I’m assuming this is asking for me to create an AU for Haru as she’s placed in a different fandom. If that’s correct, I am going to casually pretend that I don’t know the difference between a fandom and a genre by going: “I’ve been reading way too many isekai recently and I think it would be funny to consider Haru getting sent to an otome or something and her being a super sassy and head strong FL. Watch her instantly try to change her identity or run away from bad male leads with all her might. I would live for this, thank you. Haru is also smart and adapts well, so she’d be able to adapt to whatever world setting she’s put in and she doesn’t hate studying, so she’d be able to pick up on the intricacies of her new world. Mainly, I just want a FL who will actually smack the life out of a ML if he’s being a POS. I NEED THIS. It’s emotional healing.

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

I really like sourcing things in novels or manga/manhwa/manhua a lot. Animated sources are good too, but it’s much quicker for me to go through something that’s written, so I tend to prefer those now days. Anything that’s easier for me to binge is A+.

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

I’m answering strictly based off this blog in it’s current state, else you’ll be here forever. If I talk about ships in KHR in general, you’ll actually be here forever. No @ tags bc I’m feeling shy today. I personally love the dynamic between Gokudera and Haru (platonic or romantic). I’ve historically liked BelHaru, and it looks like it may become a thing in RPC as well. Haru is warily staring from a comfortable distance atm. Haru has a friendly relationship with a Byakuran at the moment. They’re baking a cake! She is generally very friendly with any Tsuna I encounter.

Ravein/Pino… yeah, I self-thread sometimes. Haru has a sibling kinda dynamic with Ravein which is really just a friendship dynamic. It’s the same with Pino. Mizumachi and Haru are both energetic, hyper buddies. Hibari—I aim for just a casual lowkey friendship kinda dynamic. Shame in self-threading? Never heard of her.

The best way to describe her relationship with Zelman in a ‘Black Blood Brothers’ au is ‘hey I just moved into the territory you lord. Hello!’ I think this would go down a friendship route and I’m so for it. Kajika from ‘Hanasakeru Seishonen’ has a friendship with Haru and they just get along swimmingly well. I think the mun for Rentaro ‘Black Bullet’ returned, so I think he can count. Haru has a friendship with him and they’re cooking buddies! They joined a cooking association together!

Haru also has friendships with Emi (KHR oc), and Luca (KHR oc), both of which are in the Varia!au setting that I have for Haru. Emi in particular, Haru has decided to adopt her as a little sis and will pummel anyone who bullies her. Luca--- sometimes in conjunction with Ravein (my OC) drive Haru insane. It’s a trio of dumb, dumbest, and ‘hey I’m the dumbest!’.

The ‘ships’ that I have with Haru are usually always friendship and ‘hey I’m arbitrarily adopting you’ and I love it.

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

Eh--- in RPC, my very first one... I believe, was GokuHaru. I currently have a GokuHaru (A different blog) in an AU for a TYL setting. I think I got very close to HibaHaru before, which is, a guilty pleasure ship of mine. Haru is treading into BelHaru territory right now in RPC and that is also, a guilty pleasure ship of mine. In the distant past there was also a TsuHaru (I know, I know, shocking) which was a reincarnated lovers Yakuza AU. That was a fun one. Also in the distant past, there was an AU for a MukuHaru as well. Le kek. I am a multi-ship blog and all ships have existed in different worlds/universes, therefore they all quality as an OTP in their own specific verse. I cheated, yes.

Pro-tip: I may warily stare from afar if shipping is a topic, but the moment you suggest an AU SHIP? I’m down. To further explain, these AU ships have always taken place in a very different timeline/world than what we know in KHR. So therefore I can feel all the freedom to do as I please and figure out characterizations based off what I need.  

PS. in regard to KHR in general, my first OTP was GokuHaru and GokuYama. Le kek.

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

I took my library of songs and randomized. I got: ‘Get Off My Back’ by Bryan Adams and Eliot Kennedy. So, by the vibe of the music, the first things that come to mind are either GokuHaru or BelHaru, I’m not going to lie. Now… who is saying these words, I’ll leave it to the imagination. I really like this song, but I really like the cover by Jonathan Young.

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Oh—that’s hard. Friendship dynamics are so fun! I really like Ryohei and Hibari’s dynamic together which could be depicted as friendship. The friendship between a lot of the guardians is just //chef kiss. However, the TRUE SHOW STOPPER in my heart is the friendship between the girls. I really love how all the girls build each other up and always support each other. I love it so much. Especially when the girls are there for Chrome, I CRY. When they support Yuni, I CRY. When I think about how big sis Bianchi looks after the girls and teaches them things- I CRY. I just cry. I love all the friendships in KHR, but the ones the girls share with each other wins in my book. I don’t take criticisms.

#Belacedia #Meme answered #answered ask #thanks for the ask! #Neo speaks #((Phew-- this took me a while but I did it)) #((Got pretty long but I mean what else did we expect?))

[letterboxd]

Ghibli Goes Digital.

We celebrate the explosion in Studio Ghibli activity on Letterboxd with Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham from the Ghibliotheque podcast.

LISTEN NOW: David Jenkins (Little White Lies), Tasha Robinson (Polygon) and Adam Kempenaar (Filmspotting) nominate their most magical Studio Ghibli moments in this new episode of The Letterboxd Show.

For all the ways that the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically altered the film industry, one coincidence that’s worked out extremely well for Studio Ghibli fans old and new is the roll-out of 21 of the famed studio’s films on streaming services.

It started in February for Netflix subscribers outside Japan and North America. Then in late May, HBO Max launched in the US with the Ghibli films as part of its offering. Finally, Canada got its turn with twenty titles available on Netflix right now, and The Wind Rises coming on August 1. For film lovers sheltering in place, the timing is as soothing as a nap on a Totoro’s belly; as wondrous as a Takahata sunset.

株式会社スタジオジブリ (Studio Ghibli) was founded in 1985 by directors Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, and producer Toshio Suzuki, upon the success of Miyazaki-san’s 1984 feature, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Huge acclaim, an Academy Award, and growing fandom followed, but the studio has long shied away from making its catalog available for digital consumption, preferring the films to occupy a larger canvas.

And then, all of a sudden, Suzuki-san announced the digital streaming plan—starting with the whole catalog being made available to own (via download) last December. “We’ve listened to our fans,” Suzuki-san said at the time. “In this day and age, there are various great ways a film can reach audiences.” This turn of events has been a very big deal—both for long-time fans and Ghibli newbies—and we’ve run the numbers to prove it:

The above chart shows the daily number of entries logged on Letterboxd for each of the Ghibli films, and clearly depicts the February, March, April and late May spikes as groups of titles were released to the two aforementioned streaming platforms (and mini spikes coinciding with weekend watches).

The Ghibli films included in the streaming deals stretch over four decades of the studio’s output, and include big-hitters like the Oscar-winning Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle and the whole-family favorite My Neighbor Totoro. All of those films appear in the Official Letterboxd Top 250; Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service also made it onto a list of Letterboxd members’ top twenty favorite comfort films in a recent survey.

To get a sense of what this all means, we went to Letterboxd members Jake Cunningham and Michael Leader, hosts of Ghibliotheque, a podcast dedicated to the studio’s filmography, about the Netflix deal (“none of us could quite believe it when it happened”) and the clues Ghibli films offer us for how to have adventures inside our own homes.

Earlier in the pandemic, when we were all figuring out how to stay home, you hosted a joyous My Neighbor Totoro watch-along. What is it about the fuzzy, mythical creatures that feels so helpful right now? Michael Leader: In some ways, the world’s mum is in hospital right now. We’re all working from home. There’s the bit halfway through the film where the dad is trying to get on with his work in the study, and [his daughter] Mei is coming up and putting little flowers on his desk. That’s what everyone is doing right now, is trying to get on with their work whilst their kids are milling about, full of imagination and adventures.

With Totoro, I go back to a guest we had on the show, Helen McCarthy, who wrote the book about Miyazaki. And she described Totoro as something like “kindness and acceptance made furry”, and that’s really what it is. The idea of this creature being there for you, coming out of the surroundings that you live in, allowing you to not only come into a new space that you’re maybe scared of going into, but also dealing with tricky situations that you’re in.

You’re both deeply embedded in the London film scene, but the dynamic of your Ghibliotheque podcast is that Michael is the long-time Ghibliophile, while Jake is the novice. How did that come about? Jake Cunningham: Michael and I actually work together, and it came up that I hadn’t seen any of the films and then it happened to come up that Michael was one of the UK experts of these films and was having a go at me for never having watched any. This was the perfect opportunity to work on something with each other, and my ignorance has finally paid off, because all I need to do is watch the film and then I get this amazing history lesson.

Jake Cunningham with his ‘Only Yesterday’ poster, and with Michael Leader at the Ghibli Museum.

ML: It was really fun for me, because by that point—this is nearly two years ago now—I’d been writing about Ghibli on and off for almost a decade. There aren’t really many outlets to write about anime, Ghibli and animation in particular, in the monthly film magazines. Jake is the novice we can take through the library and invite people to join us on that journey. We have listeners who are so engaged, sending us comments every week. They had no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes.

That’s something that was personally for me quite important about the show. We want to show that this is one of the few studios that has ten five-star films. They had this amazing streak from the late 80s through the 2000s, just innovating on every film at the highest level, with multiple voices working in their own different worlds. We’ve really managed to show this whole world and invite people into it.

What did you make of the Netlix flex, and the subsequent explosion in Letterboxd activity around Ghibli films? JC: The graph is amazing! I was expecting a boost but not so big. They must be very happy with how well the deal has done for them. I think it’s a good place for Ghibli for sure. I want so many other people to be in the position that I was in two years ago. It is a whole world of pleasure to delve into for audiences.

I did think it was so funny that they spent fifteen years going “We’re never going to be streaming, this is never going to happen, stop asking us”, and then out of nowhere the announcement that they’re going to be online in two weeks! I think none of us could quite believe it when it happened, but what it’s meant is people are going back to the start of the podcast and listening along, because they can finally watch the films that they hadn’t seen before.

And it’s so exciting that people might watch Totoro, or Spirited Away, or Howl’s Moving Castle, these bigger tentpole releases, and that’s going to change their algorithm and they’re going to get presented with Isao Takahata’s My Neighbors the Yamadas or Tomomi Mochizuki’s Ocean Waves. The under-appreciated Ghiblis are suddenly going to get dragged out again.

ML: I’m really excited about it. It’s an interesting thing: it shines a light on what I think is more of a fandom problem, where something becomes rarified or scarce or special to a certain subculture, and that becomes part of its appeal. Sort of ‘Oh, Miyazaki doesn’t believe in streaming, he will never sell out’, and going on about how Netflix somehow cheapens it—but really they are completely accessible films that should be available in a mass market.

Also, and this is something we wanted to tease out in the podcast, they are business savvy. They’re not crazy geniuses who live in wooden shacks in the middle of nowhere. They’re a real company that needs to keep the lights on. There are so many ways to speculate on what this deal means. I think on the one hand they were happy because in the Japanese market they sell enough merchandise, they have a real home entertainment churn going, that they never really needed to do an international release.

There’s a really good book just out by Steve Alpert, who was their first international division lead. He was hired in the 90s to sort out their penetration into western Europe and America. Before the 90s, there were a couple of home entertainment releases and small theatrical runs, but they suddenly saw the business benefits in going global. In some ways I’m very happy for it because it’s a business deal that makes these films more available. They’ll always be special because they’re great films.

JC: The films streaming is extremely exciting, but something that’s gone under the radar a bit is that all of the music is now on Spotify. There are some of Ghibli’s shorts that you can only watch in the museum in Japan, but the scores for those films are now on Spotify, and everything is there. After having the melodies of some of these stuck in my head for months and months, you can finally actually go and deal with the earworm once and for all.

Is it possible for you to sum up for us the thematic essence of Ghibli films, and make a case for why Letterboxd members should introduce their children to the catalog? For me, in the context of the pandemic, it’s the corn on the window-sill in My Neighbor Totoro: the idea of presence despite distance; connection through gesture; the significance of nature. JC: It’s a lot to do with leaving things in an ambiguous space. Having kids watch things where there’s not a binary answer to everything. The studio moved away from the earlier films where a villain is a villain. In Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, it’s less clear what a ‘bad person’ is and what a ‘good person’ is. I think it’s important that kids are gonna see that. Even with something like Kiki’s Delivery Service, on the surface it’s one of their simpler films. Kiki goes on an amazing journey and she meets amazing people, and at the end, she learns about who she is and what she can do. I think in a Western kids’ film that would be the end note. But there’s that note at the end of the film where she says that she still feels sad, and she still feels homesick, but that’s okay and that’s part of being alive.

ML: I think Miyazaki’s real magic touch across his films is that he’s able to really look at the world through children’s eyes. I’m not the first person to say that. It tends to be one of the first things that people say about him. The magical things about My Neighbor Totoro are when they’re just walking through the house, cleaning the house, cooking together. And for Kiki, when she gets her own [apartment], sweeps up and cooks herself pancakes. It is just as much about the magic of the everyday, about the world that you can see around you, within the four walls of the home.

JC: Now that you say that, I’m thinking about Ponyo, a key scene where the storm is hitting, and Sosuke and Ponyo and Sosuke’s mum just hunker down in their house and they have a generator going and they make instant ramen noodles, and the mum slips in little bits of ham. They also have some honey tea. Even though he’s a fantasy filmmaker, and he makes grand statements about geopolitical situations, these are the sequences now which will play most poignantly to people.

ML: Ghibli offers escapism, right now.

We got a glimpse of the next Ghibli film, Gorō Miyazaki’s fully-CG Aya and the Witch (see picture below), via the online version of the recent Annecy International Animated Film Festival. What are your thoughts? JC: Regarding the new images, I’m not as petrified as some fans have been. On the podcast I’ve mounted my defence for Gorō’s Tales From Earthsea, which is very much the black sheep of the family, and I don’t think I’d be doing him justice after that if I didn’t stand in his corner on this one as well. Until we see the style in motion, I think it’s unfair to judge, but it certainly is… different.

Jake, are you now a true Ghibliophile, or are you still just following along with what Michael’s got you into? JC: I would say I am now. I could definitely bore people in conversations with production stories! A lot of people will, I’m sure, have seen a lot of the films, but doing the podcast is the only thing that would have made me watch all of them.

Michael, how proud are you of this achievement? ML: Turning Jake into a new Ghibiliofile is really something. When we went to Japan in November last year—we managed to find change down the back of the sofa, and take the team out and visit the museum, visit Studio Ponoc, who are the spin-off studio founded by veterans from Ghibli—the thing that made me most proud was seeing how excited the rest of the team were. I think just out of shot of Jake’s webcam is a poster of Only Yesterday that he bought in Japan. It’s the only thing he wanted to find, was an original 1991 poster of that. There’s a picture of Jake just absolutely beaming with this poster.

Related content

Our Letterboxd Show Ghibli Magic Moments episode, with Tasha Robinson, David Jenkins and Adam Kempenaar.

Little White Lies editor David Jenkins’ Letterboxd review of My Neighbor Totoro.

The Official Letterboxd Top 250

Letterboxd members’ favorite comfort films.

#studio ghibli #ghibli #Isao takahata #Hayao miyazaki #my neighbour totoro #spirited away #Kiki's delivery service #howl's moving castle #anime #Japanese animation #Toshio suzuki #Jake cunningham #Michael leader #ghibliotheque #ghibliofile #letterboxd #netflix #hbo max

[curtisandlewis]

ML Relationship through the Perspective of a Fanfiction Writer

Listen to the Spotify playlist I made as an auditory companion

For their anniversary I would like to discuss from my perspective as a writer of fanfiction the many layers of ML’s relationship

Onions have layers as well as cake! I learned that from Jerry’s friend Eddie Murphy.

We all know how much the boys love cake…

Layer One Partnership

I wouldn’t be writing fanfiction about two guys who worked at a gas station. Their act is the reason we know about them and celebrate them today. What all of America saw was two men equally skilled at their art (though many were too stupid to realize), both in awe and each other’s biggest fan. What was not presented to the public was the communication it took to pull off their act. It took negotiation to set up a gag and trust as well as the sense to know when not to push when doing a stunt. Their natural rhythm made adlibs come off better than scripted material. They were so attuned to one another they could do the impossible.

Layer Two Friendship

Dean and Jerry most likely met in 1942 that’s four years of friendship before they ever were on stage together. They hung out, had more fun than anyone, and were emotionally supportive of the other. A subset of this aspect is when they act like boys. Wrestling each other to the ground, play fighting, playing football in the hall in nothing but your boxer shorts, and innocent kisses are all the actions of boys not yet taught the rules of manhood. In my writing I sometimes explore the idea of them having a romantic friendship. More than friends, less than lovers. Their relationship isn’t physical and neither has a sexual attraction but are deeply attracted to each other emotionally. This love can be (and Jerry often has!) compared to romantic love. They are affectionate sometimes in the form of kisses but that’s only to communicate their strong emotions for the other.

Layer Three Family

Some people are uncomfortable with them having a romantic friendship. What part of it was a LOVE STORY do you not understand? Often these people will say they loved each other like BROTHERS. In the past I have compared them to brothers but I meant only in the sense that they have a family-like bond. Brothers are protective in this “no one beats the shit out of my brother but me” kind of way. No real life brother relationship I know of is anything like Dean and Jerry. I do, however, get strong father/son vibes from them. Dean is protective, caring, gives Jerry discipline when he needs it, and loves him without condition. It’s important to note these are all things Jerry’s biological father didn’t provide.

Layer Four Marriage

Now we’re getting deep. When I talk about their marriage I don’t mean romantic love or a sexual relationship. I’m speaking strictly of their domesticity. Their act made it so they had to live on the road, sharing hotel rooms and a bed in the early days. As Jerry once said, LIVING AND LOVING TOGETHER. It’s canon that Dean moved in with Jerry more than once. They know what the other is like in a domestic situation. Jerry knows that Dean cuts corners when doing house work and can be a slob. Dean thinks Jerry should relax and not be so fussy. They learned to accept the other’s irritating quirks and create a harmonious environment where they can enjoy each other’s company. Dean and Jerry have to work together to (Jerry would love this analogy!) nurture their baby (their act). This requires...you guessed it! COMMUNICATION. When they communicate and I mean TALK, exchange words and make hard decisions, nothing can break them. In real life their little spats were like the arguments that married people have. In my fiction when they can no longer communicate what they want or need that’s the beginning of the end.

Layer Five Dom/sub

I’m not talking about in a sexual relationship or even within them practicing an alternative lifestyle. When Dean is dominant over Jerry it makes him feel owned. For Jerry to be owned is the highest form of love. He willingly submits to Dean’s loving authority and to serve him brings him great joy. The roles often switch back and forth depending on what the other needs. When Jerry is dominant over Dean it gives him a chance to breathe. For most of Dean’s life he had to appear dominant and in control because that’s what is expected of a man. Jerry is seen as the wife, the female half and naturally the more submissive. But when Jerry takes over the dominant role Dean can just be. He doesn’t have to worry about appearances. Sometimes a man just likes to be led.

Layer Six Romantic

This is when I write Dean and Jerry as lovers. Call them boyfriends, husbands, whatever you want. They are romantically attracted and deeply in love. If you would like a description look up any quote from Jerry about their relationship.

Layer Seven Supernatural

I’m not planning on doing any crossovers with the TV show if that’s what you were thinking. I’m speaking of all the things related to their connection that cannot be explained. They were mythological. In real life they spoke of a connection so deep they knew when the other was sick, in pain, or even angry at them before they were in the same room. I create stories that hint at this connection. They were fated to be together. No matter how stupid they act or how badly they fuck everything up a force beyond their control will always bring them back together.

Layer Eight Sexual

I have left this to be the final layer because it is the most deepest and intimate aspect of their relationship. When I write them having sex all of their aspects work together. Their professional partnership, especially the part where they must know the other’s limits, prepares them for a sexual relationship. As boys they can wrestle and play and as men these games can become something more meaningful than harmless fun. If you replace father with caretaker then that aspect also plays a key part. Making love is what married couples traditionally do. Dominance, submission, the switching between the two awakens their deepest desires and fulfills their deepest need. In Dean’s case it’s a need he didn’t know he had. When I write them practicing an alternative lifestyle I include pain and that sex doesn’t have to be gentle to be deeply romantic. Sex and physical touch on it’s own is how Dean can express his love for Jerry. Words fail him but his hands never do. I write that they can feel the love as if it was something tangible and passed to the other. As for the supernatural aspect, imagine how satisfying sex could be with your soul mate who knew when you would take your next breath and who knew your body as well as you did. This is why whenever I write Dean and Jerry having sex or experiencing sexual intimacy it is always more than that. It does not matter what they do or the lies they tell they are experiencing a deeply emotional act that can sometimes border on the spiritual.

I remember hearing the writer of a TV show talking about writing sex scenes. He used sex scenes as an opportunity to show who the characters were. That always stuck with me and as a writer I prefer examining their relationship and personalities through sex scenes. I mainly write them in a sexual relationship for this reason and also because it’s fun.

Below the cut is my personal experience with writing their sexual relationship, particularly penetrative sex. None of this will be included on the version posted to AO3

It is very important for me to know if and when my characters engage in certain acts, especially penetrative sex.

I am very protective of my Jerry character. Once upon a time, I wanted Dean to be his first everything. I think we all like the idea of Jerry being in control of his experiences with men and for those experiences to be really special. But when I would attempt to write Jerry as shy and innocent it felt like I was writing an original character that had the same name. Jerry’s experiences whether good or bad make him who he is. I can’t logically write that Jerry never acted on his attraction towards men in sixteen years because his soul mate was out there waiting for him. Also, Dean’s possessiveness would take over when he found out Jerry was untouched. He would think of him as “pure” and that never sat right with me.

Jerry kissed boys and men, was held by some and maybe even developed romantic feelings for one of them and Mr. Martin is just going to have to accept that.

Another thing Mr. Martin has to deal with is that Jerry very much enjoys penetrative sex and wants that in his sexual relationships. I write Dean as his first experience with homosexual intercourse because I want that experience to be special for him. If the idea weren’t so laughable I would have Dean sprinkle rose petals on their bed. Jerry isn’t losing his “virginity” he’s had sex before. Intercourse isn’t any different from any other sexual act. Any way men choose to have sex or get off with each other is valid, intimate, and as romantic as they feel.

However, intercourse is a riskier act than the others. The first time for any gender can be tricky and a lot can go wrong. I want Jerry to be with someone gentle and caring enough that he can receive the maximum amount of pleasure. I want this person to be someone he’s in love with and only gives him positive emotions during. Most importantly I want him never to regret this happened and when he thinks of it throughout the decades he feels good.

Quite recently, I’ve decided on a specific time when they do this. Drum roll please... Dean and Jerry share this special experience in 1947 when Jerry is twenty-one.

Why such a specific time? Because in 1948 Jerry goes to Hollywood and reunites with his oh so special friend Tony. When I first joined this fandom I thought Jerry met Tony in 1948 and in my fanfiction writer mind because of their strong sexual chemistry they instantly started a sexual relationship. They did EVERYTHING. Jerry didn’t have to worry about the rules that men were supposed to follow or if he was acting too feminine in bed or not feminine enough. There was no hesitation or holding back with Tony. He bottomed, he topped, dominant, submissive he explored every side of himself. To be with Tony he has to be a fully blossomed flower of a man and when the fifties hit he knows exactly what he wants sexually and completely accepts the desires he has for whichever gender he has a relationship with.

It’s beautiful isn’t it? Tony and Jerry definitely have their problems but when it comes to their sexual relationship I always write it as positive and satisfying for the both of them. When I started writing fanfiction for them it’s what I loved the most.

#ML74 #Fangirl Writing #jerrylevitch #fuzzysebastainstan #anarchistemma #nerigby96

[jams-sims]

I wish, I never found out about the salt community because it only proves my fears more. That ML story and fandom lack a strong structure to tackle the, "the two main pairing gets significant others but its not the right pair" trope.

One side says; Adrien a pieces of shit nice guy, misogynist, who can't take no for an answer. Is an asshole.

Other side; Marinette a obsessive stalker, can do no wrong, can't take no for an answer. Is a Bitch.

And the conclusion I've come to from passively watching the series from the sideline all these years is that- they are both annoying fucking brats. Who did the same thing, they both did the same shit to each other. Its just the fandom decided they needed to pick sides.

No let me correct that, writers/creative directors/Thomas who ever. Made the divide and never fixed it. So everyone feels the need to pick a side to help the lackluster writing. (That sound harsh but I don't feel like explaining.)

The show activity rakes Marinette over the coals for every little thing she does. Did she lie about something that honestly didn't matter? Did she do this uncool thing. Time to flip the fuck out ya'll. With some poor choices from someone who should have never said anything. Said they didn't like their main character. Forcing the fandom to react harshly to fixs it. To balance out the dislike of a very strong voice in the fandom.

The show emotional fucks over Adrien at every turn. He barely feels like a main character half the time. The worst part is unlike Marinette who because she is the main character. She has to learn a lession and learn from her mistake because this is a show for growing girls and boys. Adrien doesn't get that, they rake him over the coal with the literal plot. The always the looming distrust, no one telling him anything, the constants threat of his fucking father. Literal Chat Blanc. They refuse to let him grow.

The show can't balance the two of them. They feel like either one should be more wrong than the other. When its they are both wrong and that why they are stuck together.

Ugh, Chat can't take a hint.

Ugh Marinette can't take a hint.

Wow its almost like they mirror each other it just you see more of one than the other. And the fact the story stuck them together as partners and keeps having to tell you they are partner. Means they aren't really partners. When they created a power imbalance introducing the guardians.

Side note: its simple they shine a light on marinette's imperfections in the show. They don't with Adrien because of bad writing. People don't like that so they pick the closes character to her who is Adrien to complain and say look see he's bad too! Because no one gonna pick on the side characters because who cares about them. An they flushed Choles whole character into the toilet so Oops.

Now this is just me talking but I feel like. A lot of this comes from the fact Chat Noir and Lady Bug are not written as good partners in the first place. Lets be honest flirting never translate well to an american audience without some heavy handed. No they actually have conversations and its not this back and forth.

I have never once felt like they were partners. I've read more fanfictions thats gotten this dynamic correct than the show. I don't feel like they ever had a genuine conversation. Which would counter act all the flirting. They don't even act like friends. Its always felt hallow or superficial. The show does a horrible job putting Chat and Lady on the same footing. Which is causing all this mess in the first place.

I don't trust it with this new development they are going for. Its going to add (lol) salt to the wound for everyone. I can see it now, Luka and Kagami salt. This time with pink salt because the show either made Marinette and asshole or Luka. Its just the same thing with Adrien he's either and asshole or Kagami is.

I feel the show needs to finally give Adrien some a mentor anything. Someone who can have an honest conversation with him and go. "Listen imma train you to be strong but we gotta talk about the Ladybug thing. And therapy- and a new home because holy fuck your father."

And someone who isn't ridding Ladybug ass needs to tell her. " Look we need to talk about your savior complex, the thing with Adrien, and how the world doesn't just rest on your shoulders."

I honestly think they both need to be apart and develop apart. I think fu needs to mentor Marinette better and Adrien needs someone else to mentor him it can not be Fu. He shows to much favoritism to ladybug and thats just the writing fault.

They need to be apart to fixs the current story. But not with boyfriend and girl friends. Cause i can feel the cringe coming this new season.

LET ADRIEN AND MARINETTE BE APART 20K20.

#marinette dupain cheng #miraculous ladybug #ml salt #adrien agreste #adrien salt #marinette salt #miraculous ladybug salt #ranting #i mean it to fixs the story i belive they can't be together as hero or partners #Marinette not gonna learn to trust over night and everyone thinkg chat gonna wipe out the world #i mean fair because he can and will but that not help the whole growing to be a hero #so adrien needs to be mentor by someone who is in the same situation as him

[goggles-mcgee]

My Salt

So I've noticed a lot of discourse in the salt tags, which I don't know what I expected, this fandom likes to make waves out of mere splashes. Which genuinely makes me sad, this is like the discourse of the ships and people dissing multishippers and sending hate, myself included has gotten hate, I don't pay them much attention, I usually just delete the asks and what not, that's just me though, others fight that hate. That's not neccessary a bad thing but other fans go for the mile when given an inch. They feed off the reactions they get.

I just want people to know that yes I am salty towards characters, and that salt will be written in some of my stories but I will always tag as ml salt so if you don't want to read that you can block that tag. I never really understood why people read something knowing it's going to piss them off. Like with Lukanette fans and Adrienette fans, which one side reads the other pairing knowing it's not the pairing they want and getting mad about it. It's the simple, don't like? Don't read rule. And I think that rule should also apply to salt fics.

There are many people who are expressing their hate of salt fans, which is why I debated writing it myself, I'm not someone who deals with hate well, it genuinely gets to me, but it is something I enjoy and I don't want to have to be afraid to express my likes or feelings for certain things. There are people I follow who don't like salt and that's all they've said! They didn't say how they hate the salt fandom or how they think the salt fandom is this or that, they simply stated it wasn't something they liked. I respect that, but I've seen people go off on them because of that simple statement. I don't think this is purely a salt fandom v. Anti-salt part of fandom, I think this is people starting arguements just for the sake of having an arguement.

My salt: I have a lot of salt towards the show but it is mainly because of the narrative and how characters are being written along with that narrative, that's where my main salt comes from. But I do have salt about characters and you know sometimes writing a salt fic is therapeutic. Because most fics tend to write out characters as having done nothing wrong or could never do anything wrong, the salt fics acknowledge the wrongs and the faults, and yes they exaggerate them, but it's just people working out their frustrations. And yet people are getting mad at them? People are allowed to get mad, to get sad, when characters they like get treated like trash or the writing of the character changes to something so put of character. But to bash them for writing out their frustrations and making what you find wrong with it into a much bigger issue is just flabbergasting.

Like most of the ml fanfic writing community likes to point out in fics: People are allowed their emotions, these fights are the akumas, but some people are purposefully going after them. Everyone needs to take a step back and realize that behind the screen is an actual human being you are arguing with, you are both hurting one another. I'm not saying don't speak your mind but think before you type, the amount of posts in the salt tag that are attacking salt fans is...it's sad, like it's making feel like a bad person for wanting to read it, but it's not going to stop me from reading or writing it, but it does frighten me.

Again, I will be writing salt and if that's something you don't like and you follow me, I will be tagging it as salt but if there is any other tag you want me to use so you can block please don't hesitate to tell me so I can use that tag, I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable on my blog because I'm writing something that upsets them that can be avoided by a tag.

#miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous ladybug #ml salt #ml salt fic #miraculous ladybug salt

[sunfoxfic]

About the adrien with a dress and how people say it is the writers trying to be cool feminists and make adrien weak, like, see adrien on that dress actually made me feel more represented than any other girl character ever made me feel.

I look up to characters that cry, that are considered "weak" in people words and they are my goals actually! Adrien was more of my favorite character because at the same time he is "weak" he is also "strong" as chat (I believe both sides are almost the same whem it comes to feelings and all in general but you get what I mean) he don't needs mari but he also needs her, the same goes for her: she needs him but also don't need! They make me much more seem than just a strong character that punch the villan, although I need to say the femininity in ml isn't always made in a good way, they do bring something that others shows didn't bring to me.

This show has much more problems that should be discussed by the fandom but they prefer just talk about how they hate that adrien is white and rich unless of discussing the serious problems of the show.

Sorry this got a little personal! But yeah I never liked the way people talked about this types of things.

Don't worry about this being personal! It's very nice to hear this :D

And yes, you're right. When emotional vulnerability is seen both as feminine and as inherently bad, that's when the story borders in sexism. But they don't do this -- they show male characters being emotionally raw and honest and channeling that into healthy coping mechanisms when they have the means available (Adrien often doesn't have the means and still he somehow manages to do it).

And then, and only then, do they put Adrien in a very explicitly feminine thing -- a dress.

I think your saying that you feel more represented by a feminine male character than any female character kinda touches on something that wasn't necessarily related to anything I said in the post you're referring to, but very much so matters -- people don't want characters who share their identity nearly as much as they want characters they can identify with. Sometimes, often, you identify with characters who share parts of your identity, but not always. The goal is diversity. (I've said it before and I'll say it again: Good representation is diverse representation.)

And you're right! Part of the power of Adrien's character is that he reclaims what he doesn't have as a civilian when he's Chat Noir. We the viewers can see that and understand that. Marinette and Nathaniel and Marc can't. They see Adrien as separate from Chat Noir -- I mean, Ephemeral isn't necessarily relevant here but it's not irrelevant either -- so they can't say, "Okay, we're going to help him do what he already does." They see him as needing something he's never had, which isn't entirely untrue either -- he needs freedom from Gabriel, but they plan they were proposing wouldn't have gotten him that, not for long enough anyway, and they don't see the full truth behind it.

I'm just. Yeah, I have strong feelings about that scene, and the fact is that there is genuine criticisms to be found, but I just find it so counter productive to say that any mistake of the characters is just the writers projecting. Sometimes characters do bad things because the plot necessitates it, Janice. It's not all about Thomas Astruc being a douchewipe.

#asks answered #anonymous #swearing #ml spoilers #gabriel agreste spoilers #ep gabriel agreste

[miraculouscontent]

Anonymous said:

Im starting to think a lot of people in the fandom just purposely skip certain episodes or they let other people from social media (like Instagram) tell them what which episodes are “good” because how are people still thinking that LadyBug never told ChatNoir how she felt?

Fandom also probably plays a big factor in that. People can get a lot of ideas from fandom (I have a very good friend who sometimes struggles between what’s canon and what’s fanon).

asexual-individual said:

Something that frustrates me about ML is that Adrien is always the one vouching for Chloe and is actually in the position to make her change (as seen in Despair Bear), yet the responsibility is always on Marinette, who is a victim of Chloe by the way, while Adrien stands on the side shaking his head. And this is an attitude held by both the show itself and the Chloe lovers of the fandom, "LB didn't try hard enough to reach out to Chloe. Etc."

Adrien literally had all the power and did nothing with it.

Anonymous said:

In your opinion, is Adrien a Mary Sue? It seems like the universe of the show revolves around him and he's never punished for his actions. I've heard the same argument about Marinette but it seems like she's punished for everything, even things that aren't her fault.

I can’t answer that question because, as I’ve said multiple times, a lot of words have lost meaning to me due to seeing them overused for everything.

I will say that, yes, the universe revolves around him and his actions are rarely acknowledged.

Marinette is overly punished and can’t catch a break. Adrien catches tons of breaks.

Opposites attract, I guess. :|

Anonymous said:

You ever see a series that seems fine on the surface but the more you think about the worse it gets. Yeah that’s miraculous except it was bad from the surface

Hard to build on already terrible foundation.

#category: salt #category: fandom #relationship: adrien agreste & chloe bourgeois #character: adrien agreste #other: ask and answer

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Save a cat, get cheese buns

I have only ever written one (1) ML fic before, not counting an AU I did for a klance week, and I think it is very obvious here, but I really wanted to try @marichatmay. MariChat is my top fav of the love square and after watching part 2 of s3, I just wanted to write fanfic for this fandom. It’s also very obvious puns are not part of my every day vocab. I struggled to fit a few in there, so don’t expect more than maybe one in the rest of the month’s fics. I hope you like this anyway. I was inspired by Kiki’s Delivery Sevice. I know for this au, Chat is usually an actual chaton, but I decided to switch it up a little. Also side note, Tom and Sabine aren’t Mari’s parents in this fic. She grew up with her grandfather Fu and met the couple when they offered her a place to stay in exchange for helping out at the bakery. So, please enjoy. Witch AU

“Plagg? Plagg?” how did this happen? She arrived in this small Parisian town only about 2 weeks ago with her broom, Plagg and a fully packed bag in hand. She had gone out on her own as was tradition in her family of witches. She met Sabine and Tom who offered a place in their home in exchange for help out in front and doing deliveries – though seeing how clumsy her landings were, she could tell they were starting to reconsider that one, even though she never destroyed any orders. If Plagg wasn’t stealing cheese related pastries, he was laying all over the fabrics for Marinette’s lucky clothing. he’d been sleeping in the sun up in Marinette’s attic room and when she came back after doing a delivery he wouldn’t move for, he was gone. She hadn’t been too worried, he wondered around, getting into trouble. He lived up to his name of plague and bad luck, despite his owner being able to give good luck to her clothing items. But it became the evening and he wasn’t back. Nor was he back the next morning or that afternoon. She knew Plagg, he wouldn’t disappear like that, not when he complained about always wanting food and Tom and Sabine spoiled him with it. His disappearance didn’t make any sense.

So here she was, putting off orders she’d received for her blooming business to look for the only piece of home she had in a brand new place.

“Plagg!”

“Marinette!” the dark haired witch turned to see Luka and Rose riding up next to her. Luka had been one of the first people she met when she arrived. His calm demeanour and the way he seemed to read her – and everyone one else – helped her feel a bit more at ease. Rose was a walking sunbeam who stood out when you placed her next to her more dark loving girlfriend, but they were one of the sweetest couples Marinette had met. Ok so maybe Sabine and Tom beat them, just a little.

“Are you ok? You seem stressed. Is it creator’s block?” Luka asked.

“I wish. Plagg is missing. He went out yesterday and he hasn’t come back yet. It isn’t like him. He might go missing for a while, but then he always comes back begging for food. Have you seen him?”

“Well, it’s a little hard to miss a sarcastic talking cat.” Rose pointed out. “But I’m sure he’s fine. You said he belonged to your grandfather?”

Plagg did originally belong to her grandfather, the only other person of magic in her life. He created healing potions and balms and stood out even more as a warlock by having a turtle as his main familiar. Plagg might of belonged to her grandfather, but he’d always been hers.

“Yeah, but disappearing like this isn’t like him. I’ve already checked the cheese shop he’s always trying to sneak in to. He doesn’t like any other cheese pastries except for Tom’s, so I can’t even begin to think where he could of gone.”

Luka had a thoughtful look on his face before turning to look at Rose. “What about the guy Alya mentioned?”

Rose brighten and started to slap Luka on the back, who didn’t even flinch.

“Of course! Alya’s been looking into this guy who’s been going around taking care of all the town’s cats. Everyone calls him Chat Noir because he’s always in this black cat eared beanie and a whisker face mask.”

Chat Noir?

“He’s got to be about your age but no one has ever reported their child missing so my guess he isn’t even from here. The colony apparently lives at the old music hall, if you’ve ever seen it.” Luka threw out.

“I have! I’m going to get my broom and check. Thanks guys!” Marinette yelled as she ran back towards the bakery.

Hopefully she would get lucky and Plagg would be there. And maybe she could met this Chat Noir guy.

                                                    _________

It was strange to be on her broom without nails digging into her purple dress or a black ball of fur curled up precariously on the front of her broomstick. She just hoped Luka’s suggestion was right. She landed in front of the old music hall. Before it was shut down, she could see that it would have been the place to be, but now wear and tear had lessened it’s splendour The front doors were still attached and the bottom glass of the doors had been replaced the a flap big enough for cats to get through. She took her luck with the door and opened to the sound of cats scattering. The carpeted floors were torn up, no doubt from the many cats using it as a scratching post. There was a mild smell, but from what she could see, there weren’t any accidents anywhere. Marinette wondered if this Chat Noir guy got litter boxes for all the cats in the building. She could see a few glowing eyes in easily reaching hidey holes, but none with the unnatural green of Plagg’s eyes.

“Plagg? Plagg, are you here?”

“Can I help you?” a voice asked.

Spinning around, her heart in her throat, she stared at the guy standing not far behind her. He had to of picked up sneaking skills from the cats because she didn’t even hear him. Like Rose said, his messy blond hair was mostly hidden by a cat eared beanie and half of his face was hidden with a black face mask with white cat whiskers printed on it.

“You scared me.” Marinette said, breathing so her heart would restart.

“My apologies Purr-incess. Didn’t mean to make your fur stand on edge. Just the last person who came here was the reporter girl and she promised to come through the back entrance next time she wanted an interview. Cats are usually up front here and I hate to scare them every two seconds by coming through the door.” his green eyes took in Marinette in the purple dress and broomstick in hand. “I hope you’re not here to look for a familiar. Most of these felines aren’t great around people yet.”

“Um, no. I already have one. His name is Plagg and he’s obsessed with cheese. he’s been missing since yesterday and I haven’t been able to find him since. Have you at all seen him? His eyes are like a green glow stick, they’re really green.”

Chat Noir’s eyes lit up. “So you’re the Marinette he was talking about. Right this way princess.” he said, gesturing down the hall like some kind of prince.

She was cautious, but he did know her name, so she followed him. He opened one door and put a finger up to his hidden lips before taking her hand and leading her up the stairs. She had to guess that he was taking her to the theatre's booth.

“Ow! Stop biting me!”

“Plagg!”

she didn’t bothering waiting for Chat Noir as she ran to the top of the stairs where she saw Plagg in the middle of a little kitten playroom, getting attacked by 3 kittens, all using him as a chew toy.

“Marinette help me!” Plagg begged. Other than looking very uncomfortable, he seemed to be ok.

“Alright kittens, leave the poor guy alone. Chew any more and you’ll turn him into a Rex.” Chat Noir called, slipping out of his shoes before stepping over the barrier and pulling the kittens off of Plagg, before picking him up and handing him to Marinette.

Plagg’s claws dug into her shoulder as he clung to her. “Never let me leave the room ever again.”

“What happened anyway? I came back from the delivery and you were gone.”

“I found him running from Minnie. she’s kinda the resident leader.” Chat Noir said.

“I did not run!” Plagg defended.

“Oh, of course not. You were trembling with excitement when she drove you into a corner like she would do any street dog. Looks like your kitty likes it ruff.”

Marinette couldn’t tell if he meant that pun but she was starting to get an idea that he liked them. He wore black and was called Chat Noir.

“I don’t like him.” Plagg grumbled.

“Hey, I feed you my cheese buns last night because you wouldn’t eat the cat food I offered. That was my dinner.”

“Well I saved you the trouble of really bad cheese buns. Clearly you haven’t had a Dupain Patisserie cheese bun.”

Chat Noir’s eyes glowed in amusement. “They’re a little far from my territory, but I have had their macaroons. they’re meow-vellous.” he looked proud of that one. “He’s ok, by the way. Checked him over for as long as he let me hold him and brought him up here because the kittens don’t care much who comes up here. He makes a pretty great foster dad.”

“My first and last time!” Plagg yelled, Marinette moving her head away from his screeches.

“Well, thank you for looking after him. I’m glad to know he was in good hands.” Marinette thanked.

“No problem. I don’t know what your skill set is, but maybe you could find a way of keeping him out of trouble? Something tells me this isn’t his first time.”

Marinette looked at Plagg, who was still sulking and twitchy from being around the kittens. He was pretty good at getting into trouble. Maybe she would have to pick him up next time he wanted to be too lazy.

“I’ll do my best. I should get back. Thanks again.”

“Not a problem princess. don’t hesitate to come again.” he offered, bowing like a prince.

On their way back to the bakery, Plagg complained about the things he’d been through but she could tell it was just him complaining about everything. From what she gathered, Chat looked after all the cats himself, changing litter, filling food and water bowls, catching any sick cats to get them checked out. that’s why Chat hadn’t seen Plagg when he came wondering into the music hall when his curiosity got the better of him. He’d been bringing back the kittens from their check up when he heard the ruckus and saved him.

“He must be doing something pretty well to have the money to pay for all that. I know what a simple check up costs for you.” Marinette pointed out.

“Don’t ask me. He can’t even get decent cheese bread. They were hard.”

“Hard? Like they were stale?”

“Tom’s given me stale bread as a toy. They weren’t fresh, that’s for sure.”

money spent on the cats but old bread for dinner? Could he be spending all his money on the cats? She wanted to show him how much she appreciated him looking after Plagg. Maybe a simple cheese bun could be the key? She looked down at Plagg, who was still going on his ‘woe is me’ spin. Of course, she was going to have to steal a few before she feed her poor attacked familiar.

                                                     ____________

“Why are we here?” Plagg whined.

Marinette rolled her eyes. Plagg was obviously back to his usual self. She did noticed that he did stick closer to her on the broomstick, so he clearly wasn’t taking any chances.

“I just want to thank him for looking after you. he’s obviously got his hands full with all the other cats and he gave you his dinner.” Marinette pointed out.

Plagg pouted. He didn’t like admitting he was wrong, but she knew that he had a heart of gold.

She floated down to the back of the music hall, like Chat Noir had asked her to. A few cats watched her land, growling when they saw Plagg, who growled right back.

“Down guys. No need to growl. I’m sure if you asked nicely, purr-incess here would be happy to give you a ride.”

Chat Noir came from the back entrance, hefting a large bag litter in his hands.

“I didn’t expect you back so soon. You missed me, I’m sure. I’m paw-sitivly purr-fect to be around.”

“Ease up on the puns or I’m feeding these to Plagg.” Marinette warned, holding up the basket that was in her hand.

“A gift for me? Why princess? We barely even know each other. If you’re asking me to run away with you, just know I’ve got about 40 children to bring with me.”

Marinette got the feeling puns and flirting was this guy’s way of talking. She hoped if she dug a little deeper, she’d find something a bit different.

“Something to say thanks for looking after this one. I’m sure he was a handful.” she said, waiting till he dropped the bag of litter and dusted off his hands to hand him the basket. It had cheese buns as well as a few other filling pastries. “They’ll last you a while.”

“Dupain Patisserie? My, my, you spoil me. I didn’t mind looking after him. I’m just glad you two found each other again. I’ve got to ask though. Purple dress and black cat means your a witch right? What brought you to our small town?”

Marinette shrugged. “Most witches go out on their own at my age. There was something about this place that just drew me to it.”

“Well, hopefully our meeting didn’t make you look at things in a bad light.”

“I’ll survive I’m sure. Besides, my skill set is making lucky items. I think I’ve got a bit of protection.”

Chat Noir got close, leaning down a bit so he could look her in the eyes. “I think we lucked out with you princess.”

She couldn’t help but to laugh. She didn’t know Chat Noir that well yet, but something told her she’d be surprised with what she discovered.

#marichatmay2020 #witch au #familiar plagg #non miraculous chat

[gabrielsagresticles]

Animaestro Sucked, But Here’s What It Tells Us About ML

I know the fandom is having seriously mixed feelings about season 3, and between episodes like Animaestro and Chris Master, I can see why. They feel random, pointless, and completely disconnected from the rest of the show, with regressive, out-of-character behaviour from the cast, particularly Marinette. While season 1 did an amazing job of introducing us to the characters and showing us how their worlds widen, with Adrien learning to be part of a team, and Marinette learning how to lead, season 2 showed us how the bonds between characters, even outside the lovesquare, deepened. Season 3 hasn’t made such a clear mark yet, starting off with an episode that counters the growth of season 2, and most recently giving us a Marinette & Chloe team up, only to have it be very mean-spirited and revert back to square one... yeah, I was tasting that ML salt too, and in the midst of complaining about it, landed on a point I hadn’t considered before: perhaps Miraculous Ladybug isn’t about what I thought it was about. I’ve heard before that choices I don’t like and growth I find distasteful isn’t the same as bad writing, but never did I take it to heart as much as I did in that moment. So what is ML about? What is the growth that these characters are building to?

First of all, let me disabuse you of the notion that it’s about superheroes or about defeating Hawkmoth. It’s not, and I doubt you’d still be here if you thought it was. How much has the cast discovered about Hawkmoth since the beginning of the show? Say it with me, kids: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. We have a brief moment where Marinette zones in on Gabriel, someone even the littlest of kids has known is Hawkmoth since episode 1, and then it’s rapidly dismissed and the status quo is reverted. If you’re here for the superhero plot, this looks very bad, so I assume if you stuck around this long, you know the show isn’t about that. Especially since we, the audience, have it confirmed for us in that same episode that yes, Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth, while the two titular characters are stuck trying to figure it out. Meanwhile, we have learned next to nothing about the miraculous or kwamis, despite the fact that Tikki and Plagg are literally kwamis and Master Fu has become a more regular cast member. This is not a show about discovering secret powers or defeating an external evil. If it was, we’d have gotten more information, more mysteries, more substance to chew on.

 But you knew that. That’s probably why vast majority of us in the fandom treat this show like a romance. We want to know what will happen with the lovesquare, we rejoice in seeing the infrequent indulgences into Marichat or Ladrien, we all weep for joy when DJ Wifi get screentime, and we delight in imagining how Marinette and Adrien will discover each other’s identities and fall in love. We love (or love to hate) Kagami and Luka. Besides, romance stories have been criticized for ages about their seeming lack of plot, or how the plot only serves to act as a backdrop for two characters falling in love. In a story that is ostensibly about superheroes, and yet gives us none of that superhero plot and lots of tender moments between the different sides of the lovesquare... it sure seems to be falling into that pattern, right?

 And that’s where I went wrong. I thought that if defeating Hawkmoth wasn’t the main plot of this show, that Marinette and Adrien falling in love was. But how can it be, when they’ve been in love since episode 1? If at any moment, their identities were revealed, they wouldn’t hesitate to become a couple. There is no actual will-they-won’t-they tension between the sides of the lovesquare. The only problem is that they don’t know who the other really is. And that is the problem at the heart of Miraculous Ladybug: Marinette and Adrien don’t know who they are. Not who the other is, who they are. The real focus of this show is Marinette’s growth as a person, her journey to accepting and trusting herself.

 So let’s take a look back at Animaestro: Marinette offers to distribute macarons at the premiere of Ladybug & Chat Noir: The Movie because Adrien will be there and she wants to give him a special macaron, but discovers he’s there with Kagami and even Chloe can’t get close to them. Chloe and Marinette decide to team up to humiliate Kagami to get her out of the way, and this is where the episode goes off the rails and upsets most fans. It’s a gross display of pitting girls against each other to win a man’s love, it’s contrary to how Marinette has acted in the rest of the show, and it betrays Chloe’s character development, or at least what we want from her arc.

 I tried to look at this decision in as many different ways as I could. On the surface, it betrays the message of the show, and that’s highlighted by what Chloe says to Marinette to make her join her side: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.” She reminds Marinette that she once said that to her, way back in Origins, when Chloe tried to make her sit in gum – the prank they attempt on Kagami deliberately mirrors this, forcing us to compare the two scenes. In Origins, Marinette becomes aware of the gum because Adrien is trying to take it off her seat. Even when it fails, Chloe and Sabrina laugh, and Marinette grouchily snaps at all three of them. In Animaestro, Kagami never becomes aware of the prank and avoids it by chance, but Marinette sports a guilty, surprised look at the last second. She doesn’t do anything, and later even sighs about the plan failing, but I like to hope that in that moment she didn’t feel like the good guy.

 We have to remember here that, although Chloe attributes the quote to Marinette, this isn’t an idea that came from her; she hears it first from Alya, who read it in a comic book about super heroes. Marinette becoming Ladybug initially has a lot to do with Alya: she’s so inspired by her strength and moral righteousness, she tries to hand the miraculous off to her, and only rises to the occasion when Alya is in danger. In fact, for most of the first two seasons, Marinette’s growth is lead by Alya. Who pushes her to be bolder with Adrien? To show up in places she knows he’ll be? Who pushes her to stand up to Chloe? I think Anansi made a good point in having Adrien and Marinette look longingly at the relationship Alya and Nino have: rather than look up to her own parent’s strong, cute relationship, Marinette longs to have what Alya has and to be more like Alya. But Marinette is not and never will be Alya, and the more she pines after what Alya has, the more lost she will feel, and it’s Kagami that actually points this out to her.

 “The only reason you can’t stay on your feet is your hesitation. I never hesitate.” So why are these words important, and why does Marinette hesitate? In the episode, it’s laid out quite simply: Marinette hesitates because she doesn’t know who to pick: Luka or Adrien. Except… there’s really no reason she would pick Luka, right? We know the girl is obsessed with Adrien and she barely knows Luka, so what is tempting about him at all? A lot of other fans have gone into deeper analyses of this than I will, but essentially, he’s tempting because he’s ready to return her feelings and Adrien isn’t. He might never be, and that’s a really painful thing to accept, even at 14. But who is it that insists that they’re soulmates? That there is absolutely more than friendship between them? Alya and the girls. If not for Alya, Marinette might have accepted her own words, that “maybe [they’re] just meant to be friends.” She might have gone on a date with Luka without glancing over and Adrien, and she might have had a good time. But she hesitates because Alya has always been right, she always knows what to do, she has an amazing relationship and she’s good at everything Marinette feels she isn’t (being brave, taking care of kids, romance, etc.). So she hesitates.

 And in her hesitation, she fixates on Kagami. Kagami is also good at so many things Marinette fails at: she’s coordinated, clever, and strong, but she’s not nice. She isn’t evil, she doesn’t lie, and if she hurts anyone, it’s not intentional, but she’s entirely focused on what she wants and how to get it, which certainly does hurt some feelings along the way. She sets her sights on a goal and works toward it until she gets it: failure is not an option, and you’d better move if you’re in her way. Kagami doesn’t behave like Alya and Marinette’s stereotypical idea of a hero/good person, and Marinette definitely casts her as a villain in her mind, even calling her an “ice queen,” yet Kagami reinforces the idea that “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing,” albeit in a more morally grey way. Kagami will never sit back and no nothing, she will always fight for the resolution she believes in, she’s just not really concerned with grand ideas of good and evil. She will never be a villain in the way that Lila, who lies to get what she wants, or Chloe, who hurts people to intimidate them into giving her what she wants, are and have been since their introductions. Nor do I think she resembles Hawkmoth, who thinks his wants come before others’ needs and expects the world to hand him a win. Likewise, I don’t think she will ever be as interested in abstract interpretations of truth and justice the way Alya is.

Kagami works hard, is honest, and growls before she bites. She rides a middle line between Marinette’s understanding of good and evil, yet still succeeds and is liked by Adrien, which baffles Marinette. It baffles her enough to make her lose sight of what good and evil are, because she’s never had a good innate sense of that to begin with. Marinette isn’t a morally righteous person, Alya is, but she’s a selfless person who will give herself up to help others, and that’s why she gets to be Ladybug. That is why Fu picked her, and that is what she must learn to love about herself. She never hesitated to save a life or to help an old man off the ground.

 To bring that back around to Animaestro, as much as I hate this continuing theme of pitting girls against each other to win Mr. Perfect (especially since Adrien plays into the oblivious man trope too well), I can see why and how it fits Marinette’s character to be led astray by Chloe. She doesn’t have a real sense of good and evil, or even justice, without Alya by her side. Marinette is lead by her desire to help and heal people, and in that moment, she thinks that Chloe and Adrien both need that help. No where in her plan would she have ever gotten to sit with Adrien, to supplant Kagami, or to “win” him over anyone else. She wanted to make him happy by giving him her special macaron and by getting the supposedly “evil” Kagami out of the picture, so she couldn’t hurt Adrien (or Chloe, who is obviously terrified of her). Bringing up that quote is exactly what Chloe needed to do to manipulate Marinette.

 When you think of the show as being not about becoming a hero or falling in love, but about growing into who you are as a person and learning to love yourself, the choices the writers have made for season 3 become a lot more understandable. Marinette is on a long path of self-discovery and self-acceptance, they’re not rushing her growth, and I think that’s okay. I think it’s great that her understanding of morality is becoming more complex and more personal, even if it manifested in ways I don’t like. ML going in directions I wouldn’t have taken it isn’t a bad thing, it’s not even something that will make me stop watching, it’s just a different thing, and one I’ll take pleasure in analyzing for as long as I can.

 Except Chris Master, that episode just sucked.

 (I was going to go on about Adrien, and how in both episodes, he tries to help a girl out by removing gum from a seat/shoe, but in Origins he gets snapped at, while in Animaestro he gets praised, and how that plays into his need for outside affirmations, but this is already extremely long.)

 Happy theorizing, everyone! 😊

#miraculous ladybug #animaestro #ml season 3 #ml salt #animaestro spoilers #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #kagami tsurugi #long #theory #analysis #miraculous ladybug season 3