Miraculous Ladybug Spoilers - Blog Posts

This is a cool Luka Analysis. It’s really eloquent.  It brings up some of the stuff I noticed & thought but couldn’t put into words. It also mentions a bunch of stuff I didn’t pick up but see was there, so that’s cool. Deep dives into characters are so fun to read. 

A Detailed Lukanalysis

Before getting into this post, let me just say that I have a pretty moderate stance toward canon Luka. Yes, I think he could play a more important role in the show as more than just Marinette’s alternative love-interest. I’m not defending the way Luka is used in the show.

I watched all the episodes with Luka in them and took detailed notes on what happens and what we can imply, mostly as ‘research’ for when I write Luka in my fics. In light of Luka salt I’ve seen lately, though, I decided to share my findings to make the case that Luka does have a well-rounded, consistent personality, and has had plenty of on-screen opportunities to display his character.

Even if no one reads this whole post, my purpose is accomplished from the sheer amount of evidence I found when scouring the episodes for indicators of his personality.

Analysis starts below the cut.

Keep reading

That moment, when something comes out first in Ukrainian and I can actually know it before the rest or the world

AHAJAHAHAHAHHANAJAHA. I fell bad for posting this, but I've been waiting my whole goddamn life for this.

SHIT, OH SHIT, OH SHIT. I WAS SO FUCKING RIGHT. PACK YO BAGS EVERYBODY WE GOIN' HOME.

K, I'm two minutes into love eater episode and I already have a bad feeling about it

This is hilarious

my friends bullied me into making this. and then they bullied me into posting it. im sorry

Funniest thing is if you gave Sabrina a space potion she probably could move the star to make it arrive at Jupiter again

u go up to a girl who u bullied/helped to bully for years and think she’s rejecting you as a friend when really you just weren’t the person she wanted to see at that exact moment but in general she thinks ur alright and u ask her is there anything i can do to change ur mind about hating me forever and ever…? and she asks you ‘can you realign the stars?’ and you think wow. what a sick metaphor for asking me if i could turn back time and not have played a hand in her childhood trauma. i will say no and leave in tears. but no. marinette’s ACTUALLY asking if sabrina knows how to reschedule a star’s arrival at Jupiter because of its astrological significance and how that could positively affect her romantic relationship with adrien I Love This Show

Huh.

Huh.

I can't decide whether or not Optygami lived up to my hopes.

On the one hand, we definitely saw the negative consequences of the Miracle Queen reveal. Optygami was the closest Ladybug has come to being found out, and it was a tense and frustrating episode. There were definitely at least moderately disastrous consequences.

But on the other hand, none of those disastrous consequences were permanent. Ladybug and Chat Noir were not outed, no one lost a miraculous, no one was hurt or injured. Causing lasting harm to plot or character is difficult with a show as episodic as ML, but we have seen lasting damage done in one specific area: relationships. Friendships, and romantic ships, have been injured in this show before--when you get down to it, those are our stakes. And no relationships were damaged irreparably in Optygami.

So the writers probably upped the sense of stakes with this episode. But they also gave Alya her miraculous, permanently. I'm overjoyed at this in terms of Alya and Mari's friendship, as well as both of their character arcs, but it seems like a . . . questionable decision narratively.

I don't know. We'll see. In conclusion, my thoughts on Optygami are as ambiguous as the episode was. It definitely showed some negative consequences of reveals, but showed a lot more positives and took the Alyanette reveal arc even further into risky territory.

Hopes for Optygami

Miraculous Ladybug set up a good stakes system in the first three seasons with this simple rule: identities must not be revealed. If they are, there will be dire consequences. Hence, while we don't really believe that our main characters are ever at risk of dying, we can accept that they might someday lose their masks, and that that would be bad. It's a risk that adds real weight to the action and plot. It also justifies the endless identity dance between Marinette and Adrien. But then Miracle Queen happened, and all the heroes except for our main two were outed. We saw no consequences in that episode. We saw no consequences in the NY special, and we've seen no consequences in season four yet, either. This makes the entire narrative feel far less convincing and lowers the tension immensely. Not to mention that it almost completely invalidates how Adrien and Marinette continue to hide their identities from each other. (It doesn't invalidate their secrets completely because we're not going to forget Chat Blanc any time soon, but it still lowers the stakes considerably.) Not only are almost all the superheroes out, but Alya still sometimes runs around as Rena Rouge, despite her identity being publicized. And she knows Ladybug's identity, which we've been told is dangerous, but we haven't seen anything that convinces us it's dangerous. The thing is, we have seen negative consequences of identity reveals. Chloe being akumatized is one instance, and another is Chat Blanc. But the show has done nothing with the biggest large-scale identity reveal so far (the one at the end of season three), which makes the "we must keep our identites a secret" spiel very hard to swallow, and makes the entire plot feel almost risk-free. I hope that Optygami shows us the negative consequences of this large-scale identity reveal, and returns strength to the narrative by doing so. TL;DR: With a few rare exceptions, we haven't seen much to back up the story's constant claim that identity reveals are dangerous. I hope that Optygami will finally show us some of the disastrous consequences of identity reveals, thus adding more weight and stakes to the narrative and justifying Marinette and Adrien's continued secrecy.

The amazing @aerequets already did something like this, but I had more than half of this drawn when that went up, so I'll just . . . post this anyway. Go read hers, though, it's hilarious!

Cliffhangers are great, but I hope we get some post-reveal discussions in the next (chronological) episode. If we don't, well, I guess I'll just have to write some myself!

Bonus Panel:

Marinette: Well, you know, considering I just had a breakdown about how dating isn't an option because I'm a superhero--

Alya: Got it. Ladynoir.

Marinette: NO

Now that SentiAdrien is canon, does this mean he is allergic to himself?

We all know Catwalker is Adrian. But can we talk about the costume change for a minute. He has a pony tail now. And I am loving these gold accents in his suit.

Chloé's Transformation give me hype up every time! It's exciting!

Queen’s Bee Transformation Sequence

So, let's talk about another installment of Miraculous World: Paris.

Now......you must be wondering,'Wait,what? Why Paris? The show is based in Paris, so why do they want to make an installment of Miraculous World, this time, it's in the town that the show is based on and not in another country just like New York and Shanghai?'

Well, my friend, this is different than your usual Miraculous Ladybug.

This is set in an alternate universe in Paris where the villains are goodies and the heroes are the baddies.

And you know what? I'm really looking forward to it. I'm hooked on this and......I love it.

Maybe it will be released at the end of 2023 or 2024, considering that it is still in progress.

But yeah,it was crazy....and I'm here for it.

So, what do you think about this teaser? Lemme know in the comments.

Who have ever thought that the power vacuum in Paris mayoral offices are filled by a spoiled teenager, accompanied by a mastermind teenager and a villain who whine wherever he was beaten by teenagers?

The point of Ladybug being immune to Sublimation’s power isn’t that she is the best person she can be period; it’s that she is the best person she can be right now, with the cards she’s been dealt. And these cards are, admittedly, pretty terrible.

She’s still flawed as a girlfriend, as a superheroine, as a guardian, as a human being! She still makes mistakes and still needs to face consequences! That was the entire point of the Miraculous Cure fixing the damage she caused. Like any teenager, any person really, she still has room to learn and grow!

But, crucially, the people who love her (in this case, Chat Noir, but we also see it from Alya and Sublime) are willing to meet her where she is: their affection and support are not conditional on the progress she hasn’t yet gotten a chance to make. And Marinette loves them as they are in turn — I think we’ll all agree Chat Noir’s mental health definitely isn’t optimal, yet he was able to break free from the spell too, simply because she believed he could!

I think there’s a lesson to be learnt here. The power of love always so strong, and all that.

This is absolutely 100% valid and it does help me see how they write Sublime differently, that maybe they are trying to imply that any actual flaws are purposefully hidden by her to make sure she appears better (again, her having fear or struggles is not an actual flaw). If they're truly going for this angle, like I said I would love to see her do more with her, so it would be great if she eventually reveals to Marinette (or anyone, but probably Marinette) some true character flaw, rather than just that she struggles with her disability (again, not a flaw, it's a very real, human characteristic that no one should be ashamed of).

Thank you for sharing your experience. It absolutely did not come off as rude, so don't worry! I myself am just sick of disabled people being treated as sources of inspiration (and only worth anything IF they're "inspirational"), and I felt they were doing that with Sublime, but perhaps they are actually subverting that and I took it too literally. Thank you for pointing that out! I will definitely see her from a different angle next time.

And yeah I pointed out in another post I LOVED that she joked about her disability! I also deal with my disability with humor!

Thoughts on Sublimation - Sublime

Okay, first of all, girl needs a real ass name not just "Sublime" please tell me that's a nickname.

But also omg so pretty with her hair like this okay.

But real thoughts now. I don't like how Mary Sue she is. Don't get me wrong, I do really like her so far, but she's just... TOO likeable. She has no character flaws. To me, it's coming off like the writers thought "disabled" and "traumatized" counted as character flaws which is frankly insulting.

I'm hoping I'm wrong here and they're gonna reveal more about her that will add some more interest and flaws, but, seriously, her being disabled is NOT a flaw, and there's no need to make her perfect to "make up" for her disability. It gives me disability inspiration obsession vibes, which is icky. Disabled people do NOT have to "overcome" their disability and be AMAZING people just to be worth your attention.

Again, I hope I'm wrong, the show has dealt with disability better before, but I truly just hope they add some spice beyond *trauma*, which is also not a character flaw.

I AM excited to see what they do with her!

Thoughts on Sublimation - Misc

A few random, short thoughts I had.

Random guitar strings don't work on harp AND NEITHER DOES HAIR

The fact Adrien KNEW Marinette just wanted to be friends with Sublime is so precious!!

Omg the cute little frog Sublime's dad drew on her prosthetic~

I can so relate to just yelling at yourself to fight bad mental health

Who else voices the Butterfly villain? I hear Lila (or whatever she goes by now) but who else is there? Is that significant or is she just playing with voices?

Bob Roth is TRASH

Kinda don't like that Ladybug and Chat Noir are proven the "best versions of themselves" when they clearly still have a lot of growth to do. Plus, Ladybug minutes later realizes SHE'S THE VILLAIN so like clearly that being "her best self" shit was literally a lie.

Sublime is so understanding omg Marinette needs a friend like her

I LOVE WHEN A DISABLED PERSON MAKES JOKES ABOUT IT (I too manage my disability with humor lol)

"I know what it's like to live with a disability." BITCH WHAT YOU LITERALLY HAVE SEEN SHIT IS SHE BLIND OR NOT???

Also fucking hell Kagami get your MOM IN LINE WTF YOU SAID YOU WOULD DO SOMETHING NOW SHE'S OUT HERE SCHEMING WHEN SHE SHOULD BE IN JAIL FUCK

Okay that is all, k thx bai~

Thoughts on Sublimation - New Rules?

So the end of the episode shows Marinette realizing as Ladybug that SHE was the real "villain" this time and returned to the racetrack to fix things.

And somehow she... fixed Sublime's prosthetics? Even though all previous "rules" for the ladybugs were that they could only fix AKUMATIZED villain's damage (EDIT: rather, damage done DURING the akumatization, and her prosthetics were damaged BEFORE). This was always a really big point and was emphasized at various parts.

So is this just a weird plot point they decided to throw out to make things work out better, or is this a growth in Marinette's powers? Thoughts?

Thoughts on Sublimation - Lesson

I really like how, despite Sublimation being treated as like a "nice" Akumatized "villain," there is a good lesson to be learned about the way Sublime's mother acts.

When Sublime's dad gets hit by Sublimation, he says, "I know you're strong, and you don't need mine or any's help! You can do this, sweetie!" This rivals his previous encouragement of it being okay to give up and that he will always love her even if she did, but it's CLEAR that these are the words she needs and prefers, considering her attachment to her dad.

The show is displaying exactly how blind encouragement and "You're so strong!" is NOT helpful. Sublime's mother pushes her past fear, and it only causes her to have breakdowns where she has to basically fight herself and yell at her fear.

I know I said in my previous post that Sublime being so flawless almost feels like they're doing the whole disability inspiration obsession BS, but the lesson here almost completely rivals that idea. "No, just because you're disabled doesn't mean you have to be strong and overcome all your fear and struggles! You CAN give up if it's too much for you!" This absolutely applies to everyone that you do not always need to be strong, but it can be especially comforting to the disabled who often feel as though they need to be as strong as possible to be worth anything.

Thoughts on Sublimation - Sublime

Okay, first of all, girl needs a real ass name not just "Sublime" please tell me that's a nickname.

But also omg so pretty with her hair like this okay.

But real thoughts now. I don't like how Mary Sue she is. Don't get me wrong, I do really like her so far, but she's just... TOO likeable. She has no character flaws. To me, it's coming off like the writers thought "disabled" and "traumatized" counted as character flaws which is frankly insulting.

I'm hoping I'm wrong here and they're gonna reveal more about her that will add some more interest and flaws, but, seriously, her being disabled is NOT a flaw, and there's no need to make her perfect to "make up" for her disability. It gives me disability inspiration obsession vibes, which is icky. Disabled people do NOT have to "overcome" their disability and be AMAZING people just to be worth your attention.

Again, I hope I'm wrong, the show has dealt with disability better before, but I truly just hope they add some spice beyond *trauma*, which is also not a character flaw.

I AM excited to see what they do with her!

Glaciator Ice Creams

I found it so interesting in S2EP9 of Miraculous Ladybug, the ice creams Andre chose for Adrian and Marinette. 

Marinette’s ice cream had a red cherry (for his lips), mint ice cream (for his eyes), and some unnamed base (which I’m guessing is supposed to represent his hair - so maybe homemade vanilla? Or pineapple or banana or lemon... Though I’d like to think it’s honey :3 ).

Adrian’s ice cream had strawberry with chips of dark chocolate ice cream (for her costume), blackberry ice cream (for her hair) and blueberry ice cream (for her eyes), and topped with a red cherry that apparently has no significance.

What I found so interesting it that Andre chose combinations that represented the version our two lovebirds are infatuated with.

Marinette is in love with the non superhero version - Adrian. So her ice cream represents the object of her affection that she perceives (AKA, not Chat Noir, so there’s no black).

With Adrian, he’s in love with Ladybug - the superhero. His ice cream flavors are meant to reflect Ladybug’s appearance, not Marinette’s (otherwise I think that bottom layer would be pink instead of red).

Though ultimately, which side is the true version of each protagonist? And are they each falling in love with the person at their core, or just the facade? Just some things I wonder about :3