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immaturityofthomasastruc · 6 months

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IOTA Reviews: Revelation and Confrontation

Well, here we are. The final seven episodes of the season. For the most part, Season 5's episodes have been boring at worst and passable at best, with only about four episodes I'd consider to be outright bad. That pretty much disappears starting here. It's like the writers held back for most of the season, and just as the final arc was about to begin, right when most of the audience was led into a false sense of security, they were like:

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Let's get into the twentieth and twenty-first episodes of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Revelation and Confrontation

So, for an episode titled “Revelation”, you'd assume it would focus on Marinette and Adrien finally learning the other's secret after all these years, right? Nope, it's a Lila episode, as in Lila is the character we follow. How does it open? By revealing that Lila has different moms she's conning into believing she's their daughter.

I believe Linkara best captures my reaction to this.

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YEP. Right out of the gate, we get arguably one of the dumbest plot twists in TV history. For an episode that's supposed to help us learn more about Lila's life, it's only raising more questions than it's answering, and it feels like it was there just for the sake of shocking the audience.

First off, why is she doing this? What does she possibly have to gain living with three random women who, as far as I can tell, have no political, social, or financial power whatsoever? Her entire motivation is lying to make herself look good so she can kiss up to famous people and ride the coattails of their success. Who the hell are these three people and why did Lila chose to pretend to be their daughter? In fact, are any of them even her biological mother?

Second, how did she even pull this off? I can somewhat buy her tricking her peers into believing her lies, but three grown women all believe this person is their daughter? Did she fake a DNA test or something? Did she frame some other kids for murder? Is one of them the kid in Omelas? Did the other moms adopt Lila? They must have, because I'm pretty sure any of them would know they were pregnant, but how did she fake being an orphan? How has she not been caught? The scene establishing this shows her ending a call with one of her mothers right as another one enters her room. You're telling me nobody has ever walked in on Lila talking with one of her mothers?

Third, just how long has she been doing this for? Has she been doing this her entire life? Did she frame her real mother for tax fraud at the age of five so she could explore the world? When the hell did she start doing this, and how did she even get the resources to do it? Does she have more than three moms?

Finally, what the hell does any of this tell us about Lila? We already know she's a liar and a villain, but what does learning she lies about who her mother is accomplish for the narrative. Outside of a single line to Sabine later on that heavily implies she wants to make her her next mother, this scene is entirely pointless. Sure, it shows how effective of a liar she is, but that's what the episode is already setting out to show us! We already know she's manipulative, so what's the point of any of this?!

Jesus Christ, we're only on the first scene, and I'm already pissed off. You see what I mean about these last seven episodes?

After lying some more, Lila learns an update to the Alliance rings has Kagami replace her as the female avatar. When she goes to ask Gabriel why he's cutting off ties with her, we learn just why Gabriel is such a tactical genius.

Gabriel: You were only the face of my brand in exchange for a mission: to monitor my son's relationships and keep him away from bad company. You failed. My son got close to this Marinette Dupain-Cheng who's been nothing but a terrible influence on him. But you did give me one excellent idea: to create a new media-friendly pairing for my son, which is why Kagami Tsurugi will be the new female face of the Gabriel brand. Perfection itself! All that remains to do is perpetuate this facade until it becomes truth in everyone's eyes. And until jealousy eats away at Marinette Dupain-Cheng...

Lila: But... What's to become of me?

Gabriel: You just remain what you are. Nothing.

Because it's not like Lila is easily your most competent ally (at least, by comparison), and is the only one who doesn't hate your guts, right? Seriously, Lila's biggest motivation other than fame is to ruin Marinette's life, and for the most part, as bad as the writing has been, she has been mostly effective in damaging her reputation (Chameleon, Ladybug, Adoration). For God's sake, if it wasn't for her, you would have been exposed as Monarch earlier this season in “Illusion”! Say what you will about Lila as a character and how stupid everyone acts when she's on-screen, but at least she's good at her job.

Lila walks off fuming, and Gabriel considers akumatizing her, but doesn't want to risk it because of how much she hates him... even though multiple Akumas over the course of the show were people who hated Gabriel or wanted revenge on him (The Bubbler, Simon Says, Style Queen, Heart Hunter, Passion, Action). It also doesn't stop him from akumatizing Lila later on in the episode, because her hatred is now directed at Marinette. And as we all know, it's physically impossible to hate more than one person at a time.

After a quick scene showing Marinette and Adrien's relationship is now public knowledge, we cut to class, where Ms. Bustier is handing back tests.

Also, despite being in the second trimester of her pregnancy (which hasn't been mentioned since the New York Special, over two years before this episode premiered), Ms. Bustier is wearing no maternity clothes to speak of, just her usual outfit with a noticeable baby bump.

I'm obviously not an expert, but I don't think that's good for the baby. If anyone reading this has experience with being pregnant, feel free to correct me.

Ms. Bustier points out that Sabrina put her name on both hers and Chloe's. Ms. Bustier naturally wants to know what the hell is going on.

Ms. Bustier: How long has this been going on?

Chloe: Oh, since we learned to write-- I mean, since Sabrina did.

Yep, after almost five seasons, the writers are now officially resorting to making dumb blonde jokes, the only kind of humor rivaled by fart jokes and racist jokes in terms of being overused and unfunny.

Ms. Bustier lets Sabrina off with a warning and decides to help Chloe make up for the lost work and salvage her academic career. For some reason, even though this is a reasonable response to discovering one of your students has been cheating for years, Marintte has a problem with this.

Marinette: Everybody knows that Chloe been cheating, taking advantage of Sabrina and not making any efforts compared to the others... for years! And the only consequence is that she's going to get help?! Of course, we need to support students who have problems, but not when they're the problem!

If you had a problem with Chloe mistreating Sabrina, THEN WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL MS. BUSTIER YOURSELF? Even Lila points out that Marinette should have pointed this out to the teachers as class representative (I'm not sure if that's a thing in French schools, but let's assume it is for this episode's sake), but Marinette herself says she chose not to.

Marinette: Why would I have? She doesn't have difficulties! Only privileges! And if you need proof to see how the teachers will let her get away with anything!

What was it Alya said in “Origins”? Something about evil triumphing if good people do nothing? Eh, I'll think about it later.

Also, who's to say this isn't a punishment? Chloe is still going to have to make up her work, she'll need more attention from the faculty as a result, summer school is most likely on the table now, and who's to say her dad won't have problems with this? Yeah, we know he's a spineless coward, but let's assume he'll actually act like a parent for once, for the sake of argument.

Despite outright saying that she neglected her duties as class representative, Marinette is shocked Lila takes the chance to suggest she replace her for the job. Later at lunch, like what's happened in every other Lila episode, Marinette tries to tell Alya that Lila is a liar, Alya doesn't believe her for a second, and nothing changes. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that this time, Adrien and Nino are there too! That makes it different!

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Seriously, why are we still doing this? It's almost the end of Season 5, and even though Alya is one of Marinette's trusted confidants, the show still needs to have this drama with her not believing her. It honestly feels like a lot of the Lila episodes this season were originally written before Season 4 aired, but something changed, so they just threw them here when it makes no sense for Alya to still doubt Marinette after all this time. It's also why they randomly threw this line in to remind us that Alya knows.

Alya: You know, even Ladybug accepts help from Scarabella every once in a while.

Yeah, mind telling me what happened the last time Alya transformed into Scarabella?

OH RIGHT.

It's during this little conversation where we get the first hint of the episode's moral, and believe me, I'll get to that. Alya tries to reason with Marinette that maybe it's possible for Lila to help Chloe change for the better, which Marinette vehemently refuses to believe. We're clearly supposed to see Alya as being too naive and is oblivious to Lila's true nature, but neither of them know just how bad she really is. We, the audience, know that Lila has worked with Gabriel and Monarch willingly in the past (Heroes' Day, Chameleon, Miraculer, Illusion, Adoration) and that she's living under several fake identities. Yeah, we know Lila hates Marinette and tried to get her expelled in “Ladybug”, but nobody else knows just how bad she is. It doesn't help that Marinette's reasons for Lila only amount to “She's a liar!”, and not “She tried to get me expelled!”, intentionally making her come across as petty so it's easier for Alya to doubt her.

Another thing that makes the whole “Alya thinks Lila can help Chloe change” deal is that we already know Marinette has done nothing to really stop her behavior as class representative or as Ladybug, so it's hard to really act like Marinette contributes a lot to the job, especially when, once again, she willingly admitted to not even trying to reach out to the other teachers about Chloe's grades or how she's using Sabrina to get by in class. Even though Alya doesn't know about Lila's true nature, she's not wrong when it comes to believing someone else could bring something new to the position of class representative.

And this only gets worse, as we see Lila's latest plan to win over the class.

Lila: My dear classmates, I am convinced that even the worst person can change if you reach out to them. And to prove it to you, Chloe, will you be my deputy?

(The whole class gasps in shock)

Chloe: (sighs and walks to the front, putting on a fake smile)

Nino: Wow, is Chloe actually going to be a mere deputy?

Alya: That is so not Chloe!

Rose: Does this mean it's already working?

Mylene: Can Lila actually get her to change?

Marinette: (slams her fists on her table) This is so crazy! It's all lies!

Lila: Poor Marinette... couldn't succeed because she was too busy with her love life, as well as being reminded of her disdain for Chloe. But you know me. You know all about my humanitarian work. I'm used to going into conflict zones. I can do this. There are two weeks left. What do you have to lose? Help me, help Chloe change. Vote for me!

OH, YOU NO GOOD MOTHERFU---

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Sorry, sorry. Had a little... episode there. Where were we?

Okay, first off, wow. Are you trying to seriously piss off your fanbase? The whole argument of being able to appeal to the humanity in the worst person is one of the biggest arguments people in favor of Chloe redemption make, so you know damn well this scene was targeted towards them. What was the original draft for this? A still image of Thomas Astruc flipping off the audience?

Second, once again, Lila isn't wrong. As far as we know, Marinette did nothing to really help or stop Chloe over the school year other than foiling the occasional scheme. While we know it's a lie, can you really blame the rest of the class for believing Lila will actually make things better for them by finding a way to stop Chloe from bullying them? It doesn't help that the case Marinette makes for her class representative campaign is that she's giving up on helping Chloe, saying she sucks, and that she's going to help the rest of the class instead. Because we all know showing blatant bias against one of your classmates is a surefire way to win the favor of your peers, right?

As for the speech itself? Well...

Marinette: My dear friends, of course, you should always do everything in your power to help people. And we all hoped that Chloe would become a better person. Ladybug reached out to her. Ms. Bustier reached out to her. So did Adrien and so did I. You all reached out to her. This proves how big your hearts are. And yet, Chloe remained the same. Why? Because as far as she's concerned, having a big heart is a weakness to be exploited. Chloe already believes she's better than all of us. So... don't be fooled. I, for one, am done wasting my energy in vain. As class representative, I'd much rather help all of you because you deserve it a thousand times more.

So here's the main moral of the episode, kids: If you ever decide to be the bigger person and show kindness to someone who is mean to you, it's going to bite you in the ass sooner or later, so never try helping other people change. I just... what the fuck, Astruc?

Yeah, the show tries to point out that being kind to others is still important, but the context of the episode itself doesn't show any examples. You could have used Kim as an example of someone who has changed his ways, but “Derision” retconned him into not being a bully, and Felix isn't even in this episode, so he can't be used as an example. The episode never really provides an argument showing the difference between people who can change their ways and people who choose not to, which is why the lesson doesn't work. How exactly is a child watching this supposed to tell when they're being taken advantage of for their kindness? For a show with an opening that has the lyrics, “The power of love always so strong”, this episode really isn't doing a lot to encourage its audience to show compassion to others.

And we're not done yet. Lila makes up a sob story relating to getting fired, and tearfully says there's no hope for Chloe. Once again, the writers think by having a villain say stuff certain fans believe in, it's meant to automatically invalidate the argument. What are you going to have Lila say next? “Felix should face consequences for his actions”? “Gabriel is far worse than Chloe will ever be”? “Somehow, Chloe is worse than either of her terrible parents”? I'm all ears here.

The entire story was a gambit by Lila so she'd have a cover story, as she plans to attract an Akuma with her sheer hatred for Marinette. Like I said earlier, Monarch assumes that since Lila hates Marinette at the moment, it's impossible for her to harbor any negative feelings towards his civilian identity, choosing to akumatize her into Hoaxer.

Ignoring the fact that the name sounds like it belongs to an antidepressant, Hoaxer is an okay recolor of Volpina. There's not much else to say visually. Her powers involve brainwashing anyone who hears her lies through the Alliance rings... even though she was already able to manipulate others through lying, so this seems like a redundant power to give her. Sure, she can also teleport through the Alliance rings, but that's just something Lady Wifi could already do. Monarch also gives her the Fox Miraculous' Mirage to use so she can create fake footage to back up her lies... even though she already has the power to make everyone believe her lies. Yeah, this upgrade is kind of pointless, isn't it?

Hoaxer's first lie is to say that Marinette is really Monarch. With the exception of Adrien, Ivan, and Mylene (who don't wear Alliance rings), the entire class is brainwashed into hunting Marinette, believing they'll save Paris if they stop her. After Adrien points out how it wouldn't make sense for Marinette to be Monarch if she wants Lila to expose her secrets, he ducks out to transform into Cat Noir, soon meeting up with Ladybug.

Ladybug and Cat Noir steal an Alliance ring from Officer Roger to learn how this power works, only to learn the brainwashing is only effective as long as the victim is wearing an Alliance ring. Hoaxer senses that one of her victims lost their ring, so she turns the rest of Paris against the two heroes by saying that they're from the planet Saturn and fart bubbles that destroy the ozone layer. Believe me, I wish I was able to come up with a line that stupid.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, and gets a sewing machine. She goes back to her house, only to be ambushed by Alya. Ladybug takes off the ring and detransforms, lending the Ladybug Miraculous to Alya so she can transform into Scarabella as part of her plan. Because even though Alya has already been exposed three times in the past two seasons, the animators paid for the Scarabella model, and goddamn it, they're going to get their money's worth out of it. While Cat Noir fends off some brainwashed civilians, Hoaxer uses her powers on Nathalie to get her to send all of Gabriel's private secrets to her. How Monarch doesn't sense this is anyone's guess. Marinette pretends to appeal to Lila's conscience as part of a plan involving her, Scarabella, and Cat Noir, but Lila then rejects the Akuma with ease.

The Akuma somehow de-evilizes itself, Scarabella makes her only contribution to the fight by using Miraculous Scarabella to fix the damage, Monarch still doesn't know Lila now has intel on his civilian identity when he should have a telepathic link with her, and instead blames Marinette for all of his problems.

Back at school, Adrien apologizes to Marinette for not telling her to act against Lila, something that should be huge. It's just that both of them make it about how bad he feels, not about Marinette.

Adrien: I'm sorry, Marinette. I was wrong. I shouldn't have told you to act against Lila. If you give the slightest opportunity to people like her, they'll grasp at it and cause disasters in no time. And now, you're the one who looks like a bad person.

Marinette: You thought you were doing the right thing. Just like with Chloe. That's another reason why I love you, Adrien. You always want to see the good in other people. But sometimes, the good we think we see in some people is just a reflection of our own, and we end up being fooled by our own kindness. But we'll find a way to expose Lila eventually.

Nevermind the fact that Lila's lies haven't done anything to negatively affect Adrien at school, only Marinette, so his little pity doesn't feel earned. There's a difference between feeling bad about something and making it all about you. Also, once again, the episode's moral still comes across less like “mean people can take advantage of your kindness” and more like “never trust anyone, as your attempts to show kindness can backfire horribly on you”.

Lila is elected class representative, and Alya still believes her over Marinette. How does Marinette respond?

Marinette: I decided to let her have her way so I can finally prove to you all who she really is.

Spoiler alert, next episode, someone other than Marinette does the heavy lifting to expose Lila, and I doubt it was ever part of Marinette's plan.

The episode ends with Lila learning all of Gabriel's secrets, which would have been a much better opportunity for her to learn he's Monarch instead of learning about it off-screen as far back as “Emotion”.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... MARINETTE

Once again, Gabriel was very close to earning the Biggest Idiot Award for the third time for ditching Lila for no reason and later giving her the tools needed to learn his deepest and darkest secrets, but Marinette edged him out here. Not only did Marinette outright admit to neglecting her responsibilities as class representative, blamed Ms. Bustier for not doing anything about Chloe when she hasn't done anything to stop her either, and made a very poor argument for her reelection campaign by saying that being nice is bad. But hey, maybe her genius plan next episode will make up for it.

“Confrontation” starts off with Adrien struggling to fill out an orientation form for what kind of school he wants to go to next year and what he'll study. I'm not really an expert in French schools, but I'll assume this is how things are done there. Either way, Adrien isn't willing to fill out the form because as we saw in “Pretension”, Gabriel is planning on sending him to a private school in London next year. Why Adrien wasn't excused from this assignment is beyond me.

Adrien: If Marinette finds out that my father's decided to send me to a private school in London next year, it will break her heart and mine, too.

Again, it's really funny how a huge portion of his screentime in Season 4 involved being angry at Ladybug for keeping secrets from him, yet now, Adrien sees nothing wrong with keeping secrets from Marinette, even when it's inevitable that she'll find out. Then again, Plagg's response isn't any better.

Plagg: I know how I would feel if I had to be separated from you, Adrien, and there is nothing funny about that at all.

Then why did you force Adrien to give up his Miraculous in “The Kwamis' Choice”?! I'm pretty sure that was all your idea, as was what happened afterwards with Monarch almost winning.

As Marinette worries about the career stuff, but through some flashbacks showing just how selfish and one-dimensional Chloe and Lila are, she's not exactly confident they have her best interests in mind. Also, remember how Marinette said she supposedly let Lila win at the end of the last episode in order to make progress on finding a way to stop her?

Marinette: I feel like I'm betraying our friends by entrusting their forms to such awful girls.

As we'll later learn, while she does come up with a plan to expose Lila, it was after this scene that it happened, so this doesn't really make it look like Marinette has any ideas to stop Lila after she won at the end of the last episode. After the rest of the class fills out their forms, Lila destroys them all so Sabrina can forge their handwriting. Of course, not before we get another “funny” scene where Chloe struggles to understand their own plan.

Lila: After you destroy the forms, you'll fill out new ones using your talent for forging student's handwriting. I'll tell you what to write.

Chloe: Not so fast! You're using too many words to explain your plan!

GET IT? DO YOU GET IT?! SHE'S RICH AND BLONDE, SO THAT MEANS SHE'S STUPID! WHY AREN'T YOU LAUGHING AT THIS COMEDY GOLD?!

Meanwhile, Nino calls for another meeting of the totally useful and not at all irrelevant Resistance, citing an issue. Because they're all planning to go to different schools next year, they're not sure how they can help Ladybug and Cat Noir... other than, oh, I don't know, meeting outside of school? It doesn't matter, because everyone unanimously volunteers to go to the same high school next year. Well, everyone except Nathaniel, but that's not important.

After Marinette gets a call from someone, Mylene suggests that the class go on strike against being forced to decide their careers so early in life. This would have made a lot more sense if you chose to do this before submitting your forms, but hey, whatever floats your boat. Adrien finally figures out what he wants to do, so he hands his form over to Lila. What did he write down?

Lila: (reading the letter) “I've been thinking a lot, and still not know what I would like to do later in life. The only thing I know for sure is that I love Marinette Dupain-Cheng. But I guess that doesn't really help you. I'm sorry. Adrien Agreste.”

Minimum wage at Wendy's it is. Good choice, Adrien.

Yeah, I think now's as good a time as any to talk about how flat Adrien's character has been this season. Even though Adrien has gotten more character focus thanks to not being hampered by loads of other side characters and temp heroes, he hasn't really had a lot of strong moments overall. Scenes that should feel like a big deal, like him accidentally Cataclysming Monarch or realizing he has feelings for Marinette are usually downplayed or brushed off so we can see how those events affect other characters. We don't get any scenes with Adrien feeling guild for possibly condemning a man to death because more focus is given to Gabriel dealing with his impending demise. We don't get any scenes that show how Adrien has come to see Marinette in a romantic light because more focus is given to Marinette struggling to deal with his sudden confession. And here's this scene. Rather than showing Adrien developing an interest in something he wants to do for a career, a huge sign of his growing independence, what do we get? Adrien saying he loves Marinette and admitting he has no goddamn idea what he wants to do with his life. Such a defining moment for one of the two main characters in the show. I'm just saying, if the last season made a big deal about Adrien wanting to be treated more importantly, why is he still getting shafted by the narrative?

And for the umpteenth time this season, because Chloe is the one saying that Adrien's form is “pathetic”, we're supposed to not agree with her, even though this is supposed to be a serious form that your teachers will see. Just what is this show's obsession with using strawmen to try and invalidate criticism? I've seen more nuanced takes from political cartoons.

Lila and Chloe present the forged forms to the teachers, assigning all kinds of inaccurate assignments for careers that the students don't want. Lila manages to get one student in particular held back, Marin—Juleka. Yeah, Juleka, Lila's most hated enemy is being forced to repeat a year. Why didn't Lila try to keep Marinette held back?

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To be fair, Lila's plan is to slander Marinette specifically, but screwing over the entire class feels like a bit of a reach. I don't even know if part of Lila's plan was to attract an Akuma or not. Speaking of, Monarch senses Juleka's negative emotions and sends a Megakuma her way. Because it's a day that ends with a “Y”, the Magical Charm does nothing, so for the sixth time in the series (not counting her brief appearance in “Ladybug”), Juleka is akumatized into Reflekta. I swear, at this point you could make a drinking game for every time an old character model is reused this season.

Reflekta's design is pretty alright. I like the idea of the shy and quiet Juleka getting a brightly colored form that's impossible to ignore, and her power to make everyone else look like her fits her character. Unlike other returning Akumas this season, Reflekta gets a noticeable upgrade to her powers, as now she can essentially create a hive mind with all of her victims on top of getting the Tiger Miraculous' Clout to do some extra damage. Wow, it's almost like the Miraculous powers should actually serve as upgrades to established powers instead of being the only thing that gives the Akuma their powers.

Reflekta goes to town assimilating more victims, Marinette does nothing to get the still pregnant Ms. Bustier to safety so she can dart off and transform into Ladybug. By the time Ladybug and Cat Noir meet up, the city is crawling with Reflektas.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, getting a plastic tape dispenser. Using Cat Noir's staff and the tape, the two put up a fake brick wall poster in an alleyway. The two heroes split up and draw a Reflekta's attention respectively, pretending to be helpless once they reach a “dead end” at the fake brick wall. When the two Reflektas try to use Clout, Ladybug and Cat Noir duck out of the way, letting the two attacks collide.

Ladybug de-evilizes the Megakuma, uses Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, and gives Juleka yet another useless Magical Charm.

And while you'd think this is where the episode ends, unfortunately, we're only halfway done. Id anything, this entire fight was pointless, and it's going to lead to a lot of problems with the pacing later on.

Back at school, Lila takes the opportunity to pin the blame on Marinette, though when Marinette points out how good Sabrina is at forging handwriting, Sabrina admits to helping them out. While the blame is still on Marinette, Chloe and Lila follow Sabrina when she runs out of the classroom. In the bathroom, Sabrina is still upset about what she had to do, and when Chloe and Lila confront her and try to keep her in line, only for Sabrina to reveal it was a trap for Chloe and Lila to confess their plan in front of the rest of the class, and one that had been set up a few days ago by Sabrina and Marinette.

So after an episode that went out of its way to show how apologetically irredeemable Chloe and Lila are, Sabrina is the one to ultimately turn a new leaf and is the key player in stopping Chloe and Lila's tyranny. Let's go into all the reasons as to why this failed to be a triumphant moment.

First off, why is Sabrina the key player who helps finally expose Lila? Why not Adrien, or Alya, or anyone else in Marinette's class? Rather than work together with her friends to show she wasn't lying, Marinette only works with Sabrina, and they act like they're the close friends working together. What, you thought Adrien or maybe Alya would help Marinette expose Lila like the end of the last episode hinted at? HA! Of course not.

Second, Sabrina's redemption is forced as hell. I'm not saying Sabrina turning a new leaf is entirely impossible, but the show just expects us to forget all the times she's gone along with Chloe's bullying antics (Origins, Mr. Pigeon, Lady Wifi, Dark Cupid, Horrificator, Darkblade, Reflekta, Zombizou, Stormy Weather 2, Lies, Sole Crusher, Gabriel Agreste, Derision, Adoration), and even in this episode, she still helped forge the new forms for Chloe and Lila. Remember how “Derision” said Chloe's actions couldn't be excused by how poorly she was treated by her mother? Funny how Sabrina's actions can be excused by how poorly she was treated by Chloe. The redemption honestly could have worked if it was Marinette who reached out to Sabrina and saw the good in her, teaching the lesson that while some people refuse to change, that doesn't mean other people can't change either. But instead, Sabrina's just a good guy because the plot said so, a deus ex Sabrina if you will.

Third, this was Marinette's plan to stop Lila? Like I said, while the previous episode made it seem like Marinette had an idea on how to expose Lila, this episode showed that Marinette had absolutely no plans prior Sabrina's call, and she handed over the sheets to Chloe and Lila earlier. What was Marinette even going to do if Sabrina didn't call? This only makes Sabrina's redemption feel even more forced, because that was what led to Chloe and Lila being exposed.

And finally, we don't even get a lot of resolution with Marinette's classmates believing Lila over her once she's exposed.

Yes, there was a deleted scene where Alya and the others apologize to Marinette instead of just Ms. Bustier which was supposedly cut for time constraints, but why would you leave that out when Marinette's friends believing Lila over her has always been a sore spot among viewers? If only there was another scene that could have been cut out of the episode that added nothing to the plot over an important character moment showing how guilty Marinette's friends feel.

Chloe and Lila are expelled by Mr. Damocles, but then he gets a call from Andre ordering him to keep them in and do nothing to change the forged forms. Normally, this would be something to make Andre out to be a bad guy, but like Sabrina, because he's being belittled and ordered around by someone else (in this case, Audrey), we're meant to sympathize with him. Trust me, it gets even worse next episode.

Mr. Damocles is upset enough to attract another Megakuma from Monarch. You would think Marinette would transform into Ladybug and save him,but the episode does something different. Somehow, because of the other students telling him to believe in himself, all of their Magical Charms resonate with Mr. Damocles' Magical Charm. And then, his Magical Charm transforms into a shield which de-evilizes the Akuma as soon as it touches it?

I'm sorry, WHAT!?

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Yeah... that just happened. I'm happy the Magical Charm actually did something for once, but I don't get why this was the climax of the episode. Why did this episode spend more time focusing on Juleka, Sabrina, and Mr. Damocles instead of Marinette's final battle of wits with Lila? Forget it, it's almost over anyway.

Mr. Damocles sends in the correct forms for the students before he resigns as principal, and we then cut to Ms. Bustier realizing that Chloe is pure evil and needs to face consequences for her actions. What does Chloe say that causes her to come to this revelation?

Ms. Bustier: Where's Lila?

Chloe: How should I know? I'm not the betrayer's mother.

Yep. A somewhat rude answer to a question Chloe doesn't even know the answer to is the last straw for Ms. Bustier. Maybe it's the hormones? Ms. Bustier decides to give extra attention to Chloe going forward, and somehow, that's different from Ms. Bustier wanting to help Chloe make up her schoolwork at the beginning of the last episode. But what happened to Lila, you may ask?

Oh my God, she's cosplaying as T'pol from Star Trek: Enterprise! The fiend!

Yep, Lila abandoned her old school and moved onto one of her other lives, now calling herself Cerise. Okay, a few questions.

First, was she wearing makeup as Lila or something? I'm not sure if it's the lighting in this one scene, but I swear, her skin looks lighter than Cerise here.

Second, how is Lila going to blend in under her new identity when for a while, she was the face of the Gabriel brand? What, is she going to claim that “Lila” is her twin sister or something?

Third, if Lila's trying to blend in as Cerise, why did she throw her old wig in the trash, in broad daylight?

Fourth, why wasn't this scene the one used to establish Lila has multiple lives? It actually feels plot-relevant, unlike the revelation of her having three different mothers last episode.

Finally, we're really going to brush over Lila facing any setback to her vague goals? She got expelled, and we don't even get to see her face consequences for her actions after all these years? What a load...

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS...MARINETTE

Yep, Marinette got the award twice in the same two-parter, and this is her third one at that. Adrien was sort of close to winning it with his stupid application form and not doing anything to stop Lila himself, and even though Marinette's plan to expose Lila worked, I still had to give it to her. She willingly gave her and her friends application forms to Chloe and Lila without any plans in case they tried something bad, had absolutely no plan to stop Lila in general until Sabrina came alone, and didn't think to simply de-evilize a Megakuma targeting her principal when Lila was able to sneak out with no problem.

Anyway, these episodes SUCK. I know it might not seem as noticeable compared to my reviews last season, as I've been trying to not get too angry, but I still couldn't stand these episodes.

As always, Lila's lies are incredibly stupid and don't work under the suspension of disbelief, especially with what we learn about her here. What I don't get is that we still don't know why Lila does what she does. I still don't know why she is so obsessed with getting the better of Marinette and Gabriel outside of being petty, and given what happens by the end of the season, it makes her unclear motivation even less excusable. In a pair of episodes meant to give more focus to Lila as she tries to ruin Marinette's reputation right before the school year ends, we really needed more depth for her character.

Marinette wasn't any better. What should have been a standout moment for her this season, she spent most of these two episodes complaining about Chloe and Lila when she did nothing to really stop them, and only made progress when Sabrina had a change of heart out of nowhere. Hell, even then, Chloe and Lila barely faced any setbacks for their actions. Marinette honestly felt very underutilized in what should have been an important set of episodes for the season.

Adrien didn't fare any better. He barely got to do anything and unlike Marinette, he wasn't even involved with the final plan, despite the ending of “Revelation” hinting that he and Marinette were going to work together to stop Lila. And then there's the form he filled out where he pretty much confirmed that he has no goals in life and that the writers just have no idea what the hell they want to do with him now that he's Marinette's boyfriend.

But let's talk about what I think really killed these two episodes, specifically “Confrontation”: The unnecessary focus on side characters. I can understand why Ms. Bustier needed more focus in these episodes, considering it was focused on the school environment, but I can't give that kind of lenience to “Confrontation”. That episode decided rather than focusing on Marinette finally outsmarting Lila, we needed more focus on Sabrina, Juleka, and Mr. Damocles. Why did we need to give Sabrina a change of heart over Marinette's friends working together to help her expose Lila? Why did we need Juleka to be targeted by Lila and subsequently akumatized by Monarch in a gambit to slander Marinette when all Lila had to do was have it look like Marinette tampered with Chloe's form? Why did we need an extended sequence of Mr. Damocles fending off an Akuma with the help of his class when he had no real presence in this arc, and if anything, took Chloe and Lila's side more often than not (Ladybug, Derision)? I don't get why the writers chose the tail end of the season to actually develop some of its side characters at the expense of major players like Marinette, Adrien, and Lila.

Look, these episodes were just awful, okay? And somehow, things manage to get worse as we get closer and closer to the end of the season.

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quindread · 10 months

Text

DISCREPANCIES

Yet another Daminette post.

An actual fic this time. IDK if this will remain a one-shot or nah.

It’s not everyday you discover that the person you are undeniably attracted to is a retired hero. Damian did not know whether to feel horrified or relieved.

This was Jason’s fault like always. He just had to go and befriend Marinette as his alter-ego. And somehow that ended up with her outing her past so she could purge the pit madness out of him because she was kind and generous like that.

But who was he kidding, Damian was happy for his older brother. This was Jason’s chance at normal life. Besides, demoting him back to Peter sounded like an appropriate retribution anyways.

Now, Spoiler, Orphan, and Red Hood were on Marinette’s balcony as was agreed upon. Since Marinette was familiar enough with Damian and his mask could only cover so much, Robin was relegated to chair duty since it was too risky to have him in the meeting. So he wormed his way into a task he would normally leave to the other members of his team to be able to observe - babysit - his siblings in fear that they would scare Marinette off.

Through the Bat-computer, Red Hood could be seen knocking four times against Marinette’s glass door when the clock struck ten. Not a second later and it slid open.

Damian did not expect to see a topless blond. And so did everyone else it seems from the sound of gasps coming from inside the cave and the monitors. He could not even imagine any guy close to Marinette without the risk of popping a vein. But there he was, gaping at the view of an unknown guy his age standing in her apartment.

“Oh, hey. It’s the batfam!” The man grinned like it was completely normal to have three vigilantes on what was supposed to be a lone woman’s balcony. “Come in! Mari’s waiting in the living room.”

Mari?

An invisible weight dropped against Damian’s stomach. This guy was apparently on nickname basis with Marinette.

The footage shook slightly as his siblings step foot into Marinette’s home. He ignores the pit in his stomach in favor of taking in every detail he could. Cream walls, random trinkets, vintage decorations, and a painting he recognized as a gift her gave her, framed and hanged beside a vase of irises. The weight in his chest seem to dissipate at the sight.

Then the footage pans to the topless guy again as he opens a door. He could hear Timothy whistle in appreciation and Damian would have shivered in disgust if the monitor did not currently have the vision that is Marinette Dupain-Cheng plastered on it.

She stands and smiles and Damian could only stare. He was glad the monitors were generations better than the ones his father originally used. He could see how her eyes crinkle into half moons as she greets his siblings.

“Sit wherever you like.” Her voice sounded just as refreshing coming from speakers.

His siblings all settle around on their chosen seats. From Spoiler’s view, the topless blond is seen leaning against adjacent wall. Where the fuck is his shirt?

“Uh, is he supposed to be here?” Spoiler points at the guy and Damian takes note of this, she did always support him in his paltry romance endeavors.

“Oh! This is Adrien Graham de Vanily—“ Ah, yes the next name to be added in Damian’s ledger. “—but you may know him as the first Chat Noir.”

Oh.

That changed everything. Marinette told Hood about her relationship and role in the Court. She mentioned that she was closest to the cats and the dragon - they had a good camaraderie. They were teammates. Friends. Just friends.

But why in the world was he without a shirt? Does he not have any decency, lounging there like he was some sort of nudist? Is this some datum of friendship Damian was not aware of?

“And why is he…?” Yes, Stephanie asking the right questions.

Marinette eyes her friend and sighs. “Ah, we were—“

“We were in the middle of a very heated debate,” Graham says with a smirk and Damian swear he could see crimson. He squeezes his armrest hard.

Footsteps sound from his back. “Dames, it’s probably nothing—“

“Fuck off, Drake.”

“Okay! Woah. Last names. Geez, you really like her.” Before Damian could respond, a smack echoes through the cave.

On the monitor, Marinette is shown standing by Graham as she slaps him on the arm repeatedly. It sounded like music to Damian’s ears.

“Stop.“

Smack.

“Saying.“

Smack.

“Stuff“

Smack.

“Like“

Smack.

“That.“

Smack.

“People will get the wrong idea!” Marinette admonishes but her efforts are futile as Graham laughs louder at every contact of her hand against his skin. She faces Damian’s siblings with a slight flush on her face.

“We really were debating,” she says.

“About what exactly.” Red Hood drawls in amusement. “And did he really need to be shirtless for it?”

“It was to prove a point!” Graham exclaims.

“And the point being; you lose!” Marinette slaps him again.

“You’re biased! I’m literally a model!”

“Ex-model!”

“B—I—A—S—E—D.”

“Am not!”

Graham sticks a finger into each of his ears. “Your biased opinions are painful. I gonna get tinnitus,” he snickers and that seems to stop Marinette from hitting him again. Shame, it was beginning to get entertaining.

She glares at him for a second which just seemed to amuse Graham even further.

“You know what,” Marinette starts. “You can call me biased and I won’t give a fuck.” Damian definitely did not get hooked at the way she cursed.

Marinette pokes Graham’s chest before taking a huge breathe.

“Because for me, Damian Wayne is way hotter than you.”

Tim gasps beside him. “Holy shit.”

Holy shit, indeed.

Damian sat there, fully aware that he was probably as red as the accents on his suit. His head was ringing with embarrassment and he swears that he might get thermal shock if he tries to breathe in the drafty air from the cave.

And Marinette was not even finished. She pokes at Graham with ferocity - her every word clear with conviction.

“You may have abs but Damian was literally carved by the Gods.”

Damian disagrees but preens at the compliment anyways.

“I will die happily after he lets me take a body shot off of him.”

She can’t! Damian would be the one doing the dying the moment her tongue touches his abdomen. And he has been through it before, what’s one more if this is the particular cause of death?

“So, you do wanna bone him!” Graham exclaims smartly.

“Kwami! Yes, I do! Can this discussion wait another time?!” Marinette shoves him this time. Damian can hear his heartbeat drumming in his ears.

“But why don’t you?!”

Good question.

“Because we’re friends! And I’m fine with that!.”

Graham raises any eyebrow at her. “Are you?” He asks and she falters, stepping back with her arms crossed.

“Y-Yes!”

“You’re a shit liar.”

Marinette tries to slap his arm again but her catches his wrist. “You are more than just your duties, Marinette.”

The way Graham’s playful demeanor melts of his face suddenly reminds Damian that this man was a hero, a child soldier, who lived with his emotions under duress for years. His voice was solemn, grave with grief.

“You’ve given up more than anyone for the sake of the Order.”

“Adrien—“

“Why can’t you take a pause and live—“

“It’s not that!”

“Mari—“

“Damian isn’t interested in me—”

“You don’t know that!”

“—He’s gay!”

What the actual fuck?

“He and Jon dated. How am I supposed to compare to his best friend? And that’s even if he would so much as look at me which he never will because he is not interested on the opposite sex!

No. Nonononono. This was nightmare, somebody wake him up. Damian and Jon kissed twice and that was the end of it - you could find more spark in a coin battery. And he looked at Marinette plenty. He just makes sure she could not see him doing so like the sneaky assassin that he was.

Timothy had dropped to the ground a while ago and was cackling so hard that Damian fears he might pop open like a kernel and loose his spleen. Again.

From the monitor, his siblings were laughing up a storm as well as Marinette and Graham stood there in confusion.

“Wuahahahahahaha—He’s not—hahahaha—The Wayne kid is—Oh my god, I’m so glad I volunteered to be here.” The feed from Spoiler was pointed at the ceiling. Damian could imagine her clenching her stomach as throws her head back in laughter.

“He’s bisexual.” Orphan says, amused. The only reliable footage came from her albeit a little shaky.

Marinette blinks at her. “And you know that how?”

“We talk. Rescue him and his family all the time.” Hood and Spoiler could be heard agreeing.

Graham pushes Marinette down on her spot on the couch. “And now that we’ve established that, you are going to make a move on him,” he says.

“I will not.”

“You will—“

“He doesn’t see me like that!”

“—after you heal M. Hood.”

That snaps the mood in place and the conversation is stirred away from the topic of Damian.

Said subject was unfocused during the rest of the meeting, his thoughts replaying every single interaction he and Marinette had. In the end, he came to an obvious conclusion:

Marinette will be getting that body shot.

AN: There you have it folks! Another one from my archive. I just edited the dialogues. And speaking of archives, should I post this on AO3?

Inspired by the recording contact lenses in Battinson. Here we have an indirect Daminette confession witnessed by Cass, Steph, Tim, and Jason.

You may have noticed that Damian first-names his siblings in this one. I always though that it would be a good measure of his growth as a person. And I headcanon Damian going from last names to middle names to first names as his tolerance (read love) for his siblings grows. He goes through middle names because his male siblings absolutely detests it (except Duke). Imagine pubescent Dami addressing Jason as “Peter”.

Adrien taking his mums maiden name after handing Gabriel’s ass to him? This is non-negotiable. But I really had no idea if I should write Damian referring to him as Graham or Vanily. I like graham crackers so there you go.

Damian and Jon as a ship will always have a place in my heart. Like I can see them trying for more but deciding against it. I think Jon has a partner in the comics. And with his new age, he and Damian now have this space between them I hate with a passion. (I saw a fan-art of Damian crying about how his Jon was taken from and I bawled like a baby. Please do link that art in the comments. I enjoy pain.)

And finally, should I make this a multi-chapter fic? Or is it satisfactory as one-shot?

#mlb x dc #batkids #damian wayne #marinette dupain cheng #daminette #adrien agreste #maribat

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saturnrin · 6 months

Text

When Gabriel Agreste died, it wasn't pretty.

It was the desperate final attempt of a mad man. Lunging at Chat Noir, whose hand oozed with pure destruction, in hopes of retrieving the butterfly miraculous once more.

Chat Noir had tried to pull away, but he was already distraught. Knowing your father was a terrorist doesn't prepare you for seeing it yourself.

Knowing didn't prepare Adrien for the utter betrayal and shock that completely wrecked his very being to the core when he saw it for himself.

Before Adrien knew what had happened, Hawkmoth, his father - magicless, powerless, pathetic - was writhing on the floor. His eyes clouded and mouth carved into a silent scream as he tore at his chest.

When Gabriel Agreste died, it was agonizing.

He decayed slowly, feeling as every particle of his being disintegrated away to be left as nothing but a pile of dust.

Chat Noir cried out, tried to stop it - to slow it - to do something. It didn't work.

Ladybug tried to fix it, fumbling to create one more lucky charm after Hawkmoth destroyed the previous one. She tried to bring him back. It didn't work.

When Gabriel Agreste died, it was traumatizing.

The two heroes (children. They were children. Sixteen years old with the weight of the world on their shoulders, only able to lean on each other to bear it.) were left clinging to one another; trembling and sobbing and absolutely broken.

It was over. It was finally over.

But they'd never get back what they had lost. Their childhoods were in the past. Their innocence went with the first death they'd witnessed when they were thirteen. Their hands would never be clean of Gabriel Agrestes blood.

When Gabriel Agreste died, Paris' Heroes retired.

They had shown up long enough to tell Paris that they were safe, Hawkmoth was no more. As such, Ladybug and Chat Noir were as well.

Paris had always been protective of their heroes. The support Ladybug and Chat Noir received in favor of their retirement as heroes was unsurprising.

When Gabriel Agreste died, Adrien got everything.

As the sole beneficiary, Adrien Agreste received the company, the stocks, the homes, and the fortune.

The company was the first to go, gifted from Adrien to Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Chloe Bourgeois, who had already been running MDC together.

The homes went next, all being turned into shelters for abused, orphaned, and homeless children.

The fortune went next, almost all of it being donated to help Paris recover from Hawkmoths Reign.

When Gabriel Agreste died, the world got a little brighter.

People in Paris moved on, aided by free therapy and the ever-increasing healthy enviroments, funded by one Adrien Agreste.

Gabriel the Brand went through a complete upheaval. Gaining completely new standards, new policies, new benefits, new aesthetics, and a new name: Miraculous Designs & Co.

The first line was inspired entirely by Paris' superhero team, and Marinette couldn't have been prouder. (She did feel rather vain, making clothes based on her alter-ego.)

When Gabriel Agreste died, the world kept spinning.

The Sun rose, and it set. Flowers continued to bloom and wilt. Snow fell, and snow melted. Rain came and went.

When Gabriel Agreste died, Paris' heroes thought they would never recover.

They were wrong.

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xhanisai · 11 months

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Demon Chat Noir and Sorceress Marinette 👀

In this AU, Marinette makes a contract with the demon of Destruction, Chat Noir. This story is set in a fictional world a thousand years ago. Marinette was an orphan, barely five years old and was dying so she made a prayer to the demon and was met with a shadow with the kindest, soothing voice she's ever heard.

Much to Chat Noir's surprise, she only summoned him because she wanted a companion so she didn't die alone. So, he gave her an alternative and finally revealed his true form to her (a golden-haired boy around her age with the most beautiful eyes she's ever seen, wearing a black mask and adorned with feline ears and a tail). He will prolong her life, rid her of all her illnesses and misfortunes and in return, she becomes his.

Marinette shows no fear, in fact, she's very, very happy with this proposal and takes it as her becoming his bride.

Here's a snippet:

Suddenly, his form began to morph and change, her eyes widening before the exceptional and beautiful sight that took place before her, something that even the most holiest and devout religious figures could ever dream of observing. And before she knew it, the demon was now a blond, beautiful boy.

He looked about a year or two older than her, his top half of his face adorned with a sleek and mysterious black mask and strange kitten like ears perched on his head, his emerald greens like the most beautiful stained glass she's ever seen. He was beautiful...so, so beautiful. Is he really a demon?

"I have a different idea," He started, his voice ethereal and soothing. The girl was almost hypnotised by it that she almost failed to register the loving way he placed her head on his lap as he remained kneeled on the floor. One of his clawed fingers combed through her matted and tangled tendrils as if it was made of silk.

Piercing emerald greens met fading sky blues.

"I will get rid of your illnesses and bear your misfortunes and make sure you live a long life," He leaned down closer, their foreheads touching. "In return, you become mine," His eyes flared as if they were flames, a delicious fire flickering with her body. "Your body, your heart and your soul. They become mine for eternity. I get to stay by your side forever, I'll age humanly too to avoid suspicions of the humans around...and I will look after you and protect you in a manner I like,"

He expected a sign of hesitation. He expected fear in her eyes.

He didn't expect her cold, trembling fingers grazing his jaw and a beautiful, beautiful smile on her face.

"Are you asking me to be your bride?" Her voice was filled with joy and happiness, making his heart flutter and sing. "This deal seems more beneficial to something like me...are you sure you want me?"

"You doubt me?" He nose brushed hers, his voice no louder than a whisper and he couldn't help but relish the bloom of red that appeared on her cheeks. "Be mine, give me your name,"

"Marinette...my name is...Marinette Dupain-Cheng..." Her heart tickled even further within her pained chest, the awe in his emerald greens only making the failing organ pound harder in delight.

"Do you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, take the Weilder of Destruction, Chat Noir, as your partner? For eternity?"

"I do,"

"Then, without further ado, I'll seal the contract. May our fates stay entwined for generations to come," Without that said, the demon removed his mask, giving her the full view of his ethereal beauty...

And he kissed her.

Thank you so much for your ask, Amy! Feel free to ask more questions about this AU or anything else from the WIP list! <33333

Ask WIP game

#my asks #my writing #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug and chat noir #marichat #demon chat noir and sorceress marinette au

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cornholio4 · 1 year

Text

No Second Chance

Author’s Note: On @cocoaducks on Tumblr I sent an idea prompt for a similar plotline and it got written as I Need an Ally (to Guard the Night Time) so you can check that out. This is me tackling the plot idea. Also if you heard about the Rise of the Spinx game upcoming and how you can walk around Paris as Marinette or Adrien and have friendship moments with the class; if there is by some miracle a romance option between Marinette and Luka then I would be getting the game by second hand.

Luka Couffaine never had any sort of positive opinion on Chloe Bourgeois for as long as he was ever aware of her existence; the spoilt selfish daughter of Paris' Mayor who was a relentless bully of his sister Juleka who was mostly too quiet and too shy to speak up to defend herself. Just about no one in their class liked her as she could use her father's position and a too forgiving teacher to get away with her antics.

After Hawk Moth appeared creating supervillains; he was chosen to wield the Cat Miraculous and become the hero Black Feline working with his partner Ladybug. More often than not the Akumas were caused by Chloe's brattiness; he would never forgive Chloe for making it so that he had to fight his own sister when was turned into Reflekta. He kept it hidden but did had some vindictive pleasure in fighting her when was turned into Antibug.

Then Luka met Juleka's friend who was helping her to break out of her shell and the only one who suffered through Chloe's bullying more and longer than Juleka; Marinette Dupain-Cheng who he could clearly see was a funny amazing girl. It didn't take long for him to fall for her and the more time he spent with her the more he fell for her.

Chloe would never get any favors from him for her treatment of his 2 favourite girls. Only Bob Roth came close in his hate list; he was only able to stop himself from being Akumatized by reminding himself that he can't let Hawk Moth have any chance at his Miraculous and anyway he and Kitty Section managed to come up with a scheme to trick him into confessing on live feed.

Then at the fashion show with Marinette's contest winning hate design; Chloe's mother became Style Queen over a seat (it was really something that it was really easy for him to believe that the person who gave birth to Chloe could be so petty to give enough negative emotion to become Akumatized over something like that) and afterwards he had to deal with the idea that Marinette could be leaving Paris for a chance to pursue her designing dreams.

However during that fight Ladybug ended up losing the Bee Miraculous she was going to give to a new hero and who should find it but Chloe herself?

Angry over her mother's treatment she actually TRANSFORMED ON LIVE NEWS TV! As the new 'superhero' Queen Bee she then proceeded to intentionally almost crash a train so she could play hero and fail miserably in her attempts to save the day. She made no attempts to hide it afterwards as she tried to draw up congratulations to her; no hint of regret or remorse to what she had done or what could have happened.

All that was bad enough but the fact that Marinette's own parents were on that train... Knowing that the girl he was in love with was so close to being orphaned...

He didn't think that he could hate her more than he already did...

He took pleasure in seeing Ladybug call her out and the words from Chloe's mother... Okay he could tell that Audrey Bourgeois was a cruel selfish toxic parent and trying to please her always failed for Chloe so he could give a little sympathy but it was far outweighted by Chloe's own actions and attitude.

She became Queen Wasp and afterwards she held the Bee Miraculous and had the gall to plead:

"Give me a second chance, please!"

He then proceed to furiously grab and twist her arms' not caring how strong his grip and grabbed the Bee Miraculous from pushing as she tried to take it back.

"Black Feline..." Ladybug asked eyes widening as she never saw her chill partner act like this.

"Sorry Ladybug... It's just that my patience with Chloe's bull has come to an end." Luka told Ladybug as Nadja Chamack came over with the live TV crew to capture what is going on as he faced Chloe on the ground looking cold. "What makes you think that you deserve a second chance after that stunt you pulled? All those people who could have died on that train if we weren't able to stop it! You showed no regret or remorse to it all and you think that we are supposed for you asking to be given another chance looking sad like that? As far as I am concerned you never should have been given a first chance at all!" Luka snapped at her causing her to stand up looking furious as she dried away her tears.

"Who do you think you are you mangy cat? Do you not know who I am?" Chloe retorted and Luka laughed humorlessly.

"I think I am one half of the hero team who have to keep the citizens of Paris safe and you are a spoiled brat who thought that creating her own emergencies to fail at saving is what superheroes do. Do you not understand the consequences of your own actions... Oh I am sorry; I forgot that thanks to your rich Mayor father the concept of your own actions having consequences is a completely alien idea to you!" Luka shouted back at her as she was open mouthed. "I know that you are a selfish bully who takes huge pleasure in picking on your own classmates; most of the time when Akumas came from your class it's your fault! Letting you keep the Bee Miraculous would give Paris a 2nd supervillain!" Luka continued on and Chloe got angry.

"You watch what you say! My daddy can and will ruin you! I will make sure that he sends the police against you both and treat you as Hawk Moth's helpers if you don't give me back my Miraculous! I will ruin you both!" Chloe shouted as she lunged forward but Ladybug easily took her down shaking her head.

"To think that I was starting to feel sorry for you at the moment... I hope you will be held accountable for the train incident; if any who was on the train or had loved ones there want to press charges then I would be happy to make any sort of statements necessary." Ladybug said getting the thought to put the idea through the live TV news. Ladybug and Black Feline then made their exit as Chloe fumed.

The people on the train did end up pressing charges inspired by what they saw on TV and were quite vocal to the news and social media; refusing to let the Mayor sweep it under the rug. Audrey went back to New York leaving her family high and dry and there was now an investigation about Chloe's conduct in school so until then she was under suspension.

"You ever think that you will regret staying here and not going to New York girl?" Alya Cesaire after school asked her best friend Marinette after a day where the class and school pretty much spent their free time celebrating about Chloe's predicament; only Ms Bustier and Adrien Agreste didn't seem to happy and were feeling sorry for Chloe.

"There is always chances and New York would be great if I didn't have to study under Chloe's mom... Can you imagine her deciding to try and mould me into the daughter she wished Chloe was?" Marinette asked and there was a shriek from Juleka who was nearby.

"I have seen late night horror movies on TV and yet that was the scariest thing that I ever heard!" Juleka shuddered causing the others to laugh.

"Just a surprise that it was Black Feline who was calling her out on live news! He always seemed to be so chill; I would have thought that if any of the heroes would do so then it would be Ladybug." Nino admitted and there were murmurs of agreement; the Chloe dissenters had become more fans of Black Feline than they already were.

"You think that he was too harsh..." Marinette ended up asking remembering what Adrien had said earlier; he always seemed nice enough even if he did seem to be an apologist for Chloe at times.

"Girl; you really got to stop listening to Adrien when it comes to Chloe..." Alya sighed as she did a lot to keep Marinette away from Adrien when Chloe was involved.

"Plus after how she treated my two favourite girls; I would say that he was too kind." Luka said coming from behind to greet Marinette and his sister having come to meet them after school. Marinette and Juleka smiled at him and Alya grinned when she saw the look that Marinette gave Luka; from how the two lovebirds to be acted and how Luka spoke about Marinette you would be shocked to find that they weren't together (not yet anyway). "How are your parents?" Luka asked Marinette and she nodded.

"They are doing good; for now time not working on the bakery is spent talking with the lawyer." Marinette replied as not only was this about the case for the train fiasco but the Dupain-Chengs were pushing how Chloe had always treated their only daughter.

"I am glad; I won't be held responsible for what I would have done if you lost your parents because of that spoiled brat." Luka said with an uncharacterist look on his face as he took Marinette's hands and in that moment everyone around would believe he would commit murder to avenge Marinette's parents.

"Well you can tell them yourself; there is a free session later to spend time with them so you can come if you want." Marinette told Luka as they said goodbye to everyone else and left together.

"Should you let your mum know that Luka has gone to see the future in-laws?" Alya asked Juleka who gave a nod.

#Ml salt #ml salt fic #Queen wasp salt #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #lukanette #luka couffaine #luka x marinette #marinette x luka #black cat luka #Chloe salt

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maribatserver · 10 months

Text

Round Two Right: Timdrien vs Cassette

Both of these ships have a history of slaughtering their opposition, but how will they stack up against each other? We're counting on you to find out! If you're having trouble deciding, our shipping blurbs are available below.

Timdrien

Tim Drake, aka Red Robin, grew up being dragged to galas to impress his parents' friends with how polite he was. Given that Jack and Janet Drake are alarmingly similar people to Gabriel Agreste (minus the supervillainy), and given how perfect Adrien’s public mask is, we'd be willing to bet that Adrien Agreste, aka Chat Noir, grew up much the same way. That plus their shared pastime of sneaking out for vigilante works leaves an absolute certainty that these two would find a kindred spirit in each other.

Cassette

Cassandra Cain, aka Batgirl, Black Bat, or Orphan, is generally pretty quiet, but she never hesitates to stand up for what she believes in. Social interactions are hard for someone who didn’t actually learn to speak until her late teens, especially when you can read all of someone’s feelings in their body language. A useful skill, when talking to someone who has the unfortunate characteristic of growing too flustered to speak whenever they try to talk to someone they’re crushing on, as Marinette Dupain-Cheng so often does. These two ladies have a balance between them, and they fit pretty well together because of it.

#maribat #mlb x dc #maribat server #ttt2023 #maribat event #shipping bracket #maribat discord server #dc x mlb

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superhero-smackdown · 10 months

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rr update!!: i have a bracket put together for the ones returning, we'll do that before going back into newcomers

also got some polls queded, I'm gonna try to get them ready to go live tomorrow, but it should be Monday by the latest

a couple contestants don't have a buddy to help them because they weren't submitted with one but that just means they'll be fine later haha

thanks everyone for being patient, and here's what the returning matchups look like!!

(I'll update the image with eliminations)

Bracket matchups in text under the cut

Match 1: Olive Silverlock and Maps Mizoguchi (Detective Club) with Collin Wilkes (Abuse) vs. Virgil Hawkins (Static)

Match 2: Jessica Jones with Luke Cage vs. Jason Todd (Red Hood) and Tim Drake (Red Robin)

Match 3: Donald Duck (The Duck Avenger) and Uno vs. Undine Wells and Kokoro Aichi (Alchemical Water and Heartful Punch) with Zoe

Match 4: Mia Dearden (Speedy) with Connor Hawke (Green Arrow) vs. Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom) with Sam Manson

Match 5: The Power Rangers vs. Damian Wayne (Robin) with Jon Kent (Superboy)

Match 6: Adrien Agreste (Chat Noir) and Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Ladybug) vs. Kate Bishop (Hawkeye) vs. America Chavez (Ms. America)

Match 7: Cassandra Cain (Black Bat/Orphan) and Stephanie Brown (Spoiler) vs. Goku with Gohan

Match 8: Alya Cesaire (Rena Rouge) and Kagami Tsurugi (Ryuuko) vs. Billy Kaplan (Wiccan), Tommy Shepherd (Speed), and Viv Vision

#superhero smackdown #redemption round

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fabseg-reader · 1 year

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I've drawn Marinette and Adrien's Opposite counterparts.

Opposite Marinette (a.k.a. M.D.C.):

-Description:

Opposite Marinette Dupain-Cheng a.k.a. M.D.C. is an orphaned teenage girl who comes at Fathom Academy of Paris where she has school fees funded by his legal tutor: Colt Fathom. She works as intern at the Hôtel de Paris. She's an ambiguous character. She's a Miraculous holder too (she doesn't own the Ladybug earrings unlike her Canon counterpart). She has the same appearance as Canon Marinette but she has a scar on the face because of a fire that burned her home and that cost her parents' life.

-Personality:

Before Marinette's parents deaths, she had the same persona than her Canon counterpart. Since the tragic event until now, even if she's respected by classmates, she's emotionless coldhearted, introverted, intimidating: A fearsome "Ice queen".

-Backstory:

In the Opposite Universe, Marinette has lost her parents in the bakery fire when she was 10-11. As the one survivor, She is taken in by the Fathom Family (and this against the agreement of his grandparents). Instead to be registred at collège Françoise Dupont, she is registred at the Fathom Academy of Paris as one of class representatives. She is the best student by excellence. Some people (like Adrien, Kagami, Fei, Luka, Cerise, Wayhem and Félix) work for helping her to retrieve happiness, faith and joy of the life.

Likes: -CLASSIFIED-*

Dislikes: people who resent pity for her, powerless status, lies, conspiracy, spying on her back, Rouge Chance, Alley Cat, negligency towards people, insecurity, fire (it's a trauma for her), rivalry.

Love interest: -CLASSIFIED-*

Opposite Adrien:

-Description:

Opposite Adrien Agreste (renamed Adrien Graham de Vanily) is a teenage boy who is Gabriel's and Émilie's son, later adopted by Colt and Amélie (meanwhile, it's Amélie who has his custody) and Félix's cousin (officially adoptive brother). He comes to Fathom Academy like Marinette/M.D.C. but (unlike to M.D.C. who is the model student) he is a dunce, a public troublemaker and a prankster that annoys too many people. He has a very bad reputation towards Parisians because of his behavior. Same appearance like his Canon counterpart expect for clothes (he sometimes changes his hairstyle too).

-Personality:

Before the loss of his parents in a plane crash, he had the same persona than his Canon counterpart. Devastated by the "accident", he's saddened. Adopted by his maternal aunt Amélie, sent at Fathom Academy by Colt but ignored by the latter, he's angered and frustated about his new life. In the present, he acts like a bad boy/delinquent just for fun. In reality, he is desperated. His actual persona reminds Félix and parts of both Chloé and Zoé from the Canon.

-Backstory:

In the Opposite Universe, Adrien has been devastated by his parents' death caused by an explosion inside the private jet. Adrien and her tutor Nathalie weren't on the plane. After the crash, Fathom family adopted the orphan with Amélie as responsible parent. However, Colt is too busy by working on commercial affairs he hasn't nearly time for his son/heir and his new "son". For attract the attention on him, he commits mischieves (prank, provocation, vandalism, outrage, theft and offence). In consequences, he is rejected, blamed and hated by almost all Parisians (both adults and children) but he acts to don't care what other people think of him (similar chilhood to Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto). Only people who are worried about him are his aunt Amélie, Félix, Kagami, Luka, Wayhem and Marinette/M.D.C. his crush.

Likes: Marinette, Rouge Chance, Félix, Kagami, Amélie and making pranks.

Dislikes: lesson givers, moralists, people who talk bad words about his deceased parents, Colt Fathom, Cerise, Alley Cat (unknowning Cerise and Alley Cat are the same person).

Love interest: Marinette/M.D.C.

*Top secret: If it's classified ? So, it's CLASSIFIED !

I'm joking. ^^

I leak present you Opposite Marinette/M.D.C.'s potential love interests (below):

Adrien

Luka

Lila Cerise

Fei Wu

Chloé

Full sketch here:

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #opposite au #miraculous inversed personas #wip update #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #my art #and it's april fools day today

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ao3feed-ladynoir · 2 months

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#AO3 Link #FanFiction #AO3 Ladynoir #🐱#❤️#🐞#Ladynoir #♥#R:G #A:Orphan Account #Fluff

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abyssal-ali · 1 year

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Marinette "Valkyrie" Wayne

Masterlist Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Valkyrie's suit ao3 link (completed)

Pairing: Marijon, but the first bit's just family-oriented.

Rating: G

WC: 1.7k

A/N: I wrote this a couple years ago and decided to edit a bit for MariJon Week 2023/SuperMari May 2023. Fills prompts from day 1, 2, 4, and 7 for Marijon Week.

Marinette and Jon are 17-ish here and Damian is (I believe) a year older than Jon, making him 18.

The other Bats are in their early to mid-twenties and live at the Manor for plot convenience.

Also, when I wrote this a couple years ago I did not know a ton about Kon, so he's not part of this fic. I do love him, though; he wasn't excluded out of hate.

Summary: Marinette is adopted by Bruce Wayne after her parents died in a car crash. She figures out her new family are the Bats, but she also has a secret.

Meanwhile, Bruce is looking for Ladybug, who retired and disappeared into thin air.

Disclaimer: I do not know anything about the American/French fostering/adoption systems; we'll just pretend everything works out fast because it's Bruce Wayne. If there's anything in here that's confusing, drop a comment!

Please ignore any and all plot holes such as why a random American billionaire was ahead of her grandparents, Chinese side of the family, or even Jagged and Penny o adopt her. 🙂

Beta'd by the wonderful @sarcasticbambi. Enjoy!

1007 Mountain Drive was in a tizzy.

Why?

Well, Bruce “Serial Adopter” Wayne was bringing home yet another black-haired, blue-eyed child with a traumatic past.

Fostering with intent to adopt: Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Age: 16.75 years. Orphan; Tom Dupain & Sabine Cheng died in a car crash 15 months ago.

Marinette had been to a couple foster homes, but her foster parents claimed she kept sneaking out at odd times and acted very coldly to everyone, only warming up to animals. Marinette’s peers told stories upon stories of Marinette’s cruel actions toward them, specifically one Lila Rossi.

Her social worker, Genevieve Lemieux, dug a little and found some proof of Lila’s lies, but Marinette wouldn’t talk and wouldn’t explain her absences. Finally, Genevieve decided that the girl needed a new perspective, and called her college best friend’s brother– a policeman, if she remembered correctly.

“Oh, Genevieve Lemieux! Yes, I know someone who would love to foster her, I’m sure. Does she have blue eyes and/or black hair, by any chance?”

“As a matter of fact, she has both. Why?”

“I just wondered. I’ll talk to Bruce right away and get back to you.”

“Merci beaucoup, James.” (A/N: Jim Gordon)

“No problem, ‘Eve. Talk to you soon.”

“Au revoir.”

He called back a little later, saying the family would love to have Marinette come. Several of the other children were adopted, so they knew the process well. Bruce was currently in Paris doing business, actually. He could bring Marinette back with him if the paperwork went through quickly and smoothly.

Thus, Marinette landed in Gotham in the Waynes’ private jet. It was gray, drizzly, and gloomy, the antithesis of Paris.

She smiled inwardly.

Perfect.

~~~~~

Bruce Wayne eyed the dark-haired girl beside him. She appeared quiet and withdrawn when Genevieve Lemieux introduced them, didn’t startle or appear impressed or scheming at his name, though Mme. Lemieux was a little awed.

She appeared indifferent to the luxurious accommodations on the flight back to the States, plopping in her seat, fastening the safety belt, putting her earbuds in, and drifting off.

[She stopped the music whenever Bruce spoke so she could eavesdrop better. She also eyed him through her lashes, appraising his body language.]

All of her things fit in one large suitcase and a duffle bag. Her polished black nails were filed short and her hair was in a pixie cut with a crimson streak running through it. She was shorter, appeared fit and maybe even muscular, and walked with a distinctive tread. Faded lines were around her eyes and mouth, suggesting that she used to laugh and smile regularly. She didn’t seem cold like Mme. Lemieux had warned, though she did display some of every foster child’s apprehension on new people and situations.

Now she was dozing, almost curled into him, though the seats didn’t really allow that. He figured she wouldn’t like waking up like that, so he moved to the opposite seat and pulled out some documents that needed reviewing and signing.

When they landed, she headed straight for the Rolls, though several other cars were nearby.

Bruce frowned. How did she know which car to approach?

Alfred politely introduced himself as he loaded her baggage, then drove to Wayne Manor.

Inside, five people were waiting to meet the new arrival: Cass, Steph, Dick, Tim, and Damian.

Jason was who-knows-where and Babs was at her own house.Marinette nodded briefly at each introduction, then Alfred showed her to her room.

Everything was white, except for where bare wood showed through.

~~~~~

Marinette carefully and neatly unpacked her things, then pulled out her phone and took pictures so she could compare if anything was disturbed. She also set several quick safeguards in place (e.g. a strand of hair across the door) and portalled to outside her room. S

he walked noiselessly downstairs to Bruce’s study, where she found everyone gathered.

Well, Mr. Wayne had passed test #1. Onto #2.

“Will you tell her about the family business?” Dick asked. Mari paused just outside the door.

“Not yet, we don’t know her well enough. Her school friends say she is a bully, a liar, and a troublemaker. Previous foster families say she is cold and a sneak. Her social worker thinks there is some reason for the other’s statements, but she isn’t sure. For now, we act normally and say nothing suspicious. Please try and actually keep this a secret,” Bruce pleaded.

He suddenly sounded like an exhausted parent tired of corralling a pack of wild toddlers.

“She has a tread like this,” Bruce crossed the room in a demonstration, “so no giveaways if you hear her.”

Marinette tiptoed back down the hall, then walked to the study in her faked stride and knocked.

“Come in,” someone called.

Cass smiled at her, Damian glared [stared normally], Tim and Dick assessed her, and Steph continued texting someone.

“We have a few house rules I’d like to go over,” Bruce stated, and she nodded.

“No weapons, specifically at the dinner table; no alcohol, drugs, or smoking allowed if you’re underage; respect each other’s boundaries; if you’re going out, tell someone the general area and expected return time in case of a Rogue attack or kidnapping; tell Alfred ahead of time if someone is staying the night or for a meal; and take care of yourself.”

This last item seemed to be directed at Tim, who shrugged and slurped from a mug of coffee.

“Monday nights are alternating game nights or movie nights with the family. Sunday evening is family dinner.”

“Got it.”

“Do you have any allergies or sensitivities to anything?”

“No. I have a friend in New York. Do you think I could see her sometime?”

“Of course. In the fall, Gotham Academy–”

“I already graduated,” Marinette cut in. “I skipped Grade 3 and did 11 & 12 in one year.”

“Oh. Okay, then. Do you have an idea of what secondary school you’d like to attend?”

“I’m working on a course online. I’m good, thanks.”

Everyone stared at her. “Uh, Mme. Lemieux said you like animals. Damian has several you can meet later.”

“Thank you. Is there anything else?”

“No. Thank you for your time, Marinette. Dinner will be at six-fifteen. Cass can give you a tour of the manor later if you’d like.”

Marinette nodded at Cass. “Okay.”

After dinner, Cass gave Marinette a tour of the main rooms in the manor. They both preferred body language and signs to communicate over words.

She also met Titus, Alfred the Cat, Jerry the Turkey, and Batcow. They all liked her, and she was thrilled to meet all of them. She told Cass she used to want a hamster, but now she was thinking about a dog.

Cass told Marinette that she could personalize her room how she wanted, and Steph would love to take her shopping. Marinette said she’d think about that too.

Steph ended up spending the whole day at the mall with Marinette and Bruce’s credit cards.

Marinette thanked her and Bruce, then retreated to her room with her arms full of bags.

No one had seen the inside of her room since she arrived except Alfred once when he called her for breakfast. He said it was clean and orderly, and Bruce was satisfied with that.

When a social worker came to check up on Marinette, the family saw the setup for the first time in the month that she’d been there.

The walls stayed white, but everything else was different. The queen bed had a red and black poofy duvet, the sheets were white, and the throw pillows were black & grey and red & white. The curtains were black, the rug grey and white, the fluffy chair was white, and the pillow navy. The desk was white, the chair was red, the row of jars was red glass.

A gold Eiffel Tower lamp matched the strings of lights crisscrossing the ceiling. Two picture frames were on the nightstands. The black bookcase opposite the bed was full of various book genres.

The worker approved it and everyone left.

Marinette kept a close eye on the worker and the Waynes.

After the worker left, she turned to her foster family. “I know you’re hiding something, and I’ve almost figured out what it is. Would you like to simply tell me?”

Bruce crossed his arms and raised a brow.

“Suppose I call your bluff. What have you almost figured out, with what evidence?”

“Well, when I heard I was going to be fostered with intent for adoption, I hacked the orphanage’s database and found your name. When I looked you up, I discovered you adopt a black-haired, blue-eyed child every few years. I hacked into your family’s file, but to my surprise, it was very hard to access. It wasn't easy to crack like other files -- only people with something to hide would make their files so difficult to get at. But when I got in, there was really nothing to see. So I watched the video clips and noticed some trimming and cropping of some places in the Manor. In real life, there doesn’t appear to be anything there, either. A clock, a piano… nothing unusual.

“When I came to your office the first day, I overheard your warning to not let me know about the ‘family business’. And why is the first rule 'no weapons'?! So I hacked into your financial records, but apparently, everything is aboveboard there, too. You do spend a lot of money on the Justice League, though. Mr. Queen doesn’t spend nearly that much. I do have a question about that, though: why does Green Lantern #2 break so much stuff?”

The Wayne children burst into laughter at the question (Bruce blamed a lot of stuff on Hal Jordan.).

“He’s a clumsy, egotistical member with no sense of professionalism or appropriateness,” grumbled Bruce.

“A-ha! You're Batman! Only Batman dislikes GL#2 that much!”

“...”

“Oh come on, just admit it.” She strolled to the piano. “What's the tune Dick’s always humming?”

She played the first couple of bars.

“No-” everyone gasped.

Too late, the secret passage opened.

"Hah!” Marinette crowed. “I said I’d find out.”

Babs adopted the new hacker into the fold; Marinette became known as Delphi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Mari learned hacking from Max.)