Nothing Too Interesting

I’m in tons of different fandoms. I work on a million things and finish none of them. My gender is as fluid as water so use whatever pronouns you like.

[liblib620]

I wish I were man enough to be a little more whimsy in my life.

[liblib620]

I hate it when I come across a name that fits perfectly with a character thematically, culturally, and fitting within the pre-existing naming conventions for these characters, but I just can’t go with it because it will take readers out of the story. Like it will shatter the illusion just because this was the name I went with even though it’s perfect in pretty much every other way.

[liblib620]

There needs to be like a Bechdel Test for twin characters.

[liblib620]

Season 6 Adrienette playlist just dropped.

[liblib620]

I commented on YouTube that I didn’t like Mr. Bug’s design because Cat Noir without his ears looks really weird and uncanny and I need him to have some sort of hat or head accessory. Someone then replied to that comment saying that I must like Aspik’s design then because he has something covering his head and-

No. That’s a completely different opinion. Just because I think Mr. Bug looks weird without a head accessory does not mean I like the costume with the worst head accessory. (Aspik’s design is ass btw)

Like I feel like someone just said I hate waffles.

[liblib620]

I think I hate this show as much as I love this show.

[liblib620]

The reverse love square would’ve been a perfect opportunity to show how Adrien and Marinette love the real person and not just the mask they present. Instead, it lasted for three episodes and did basically nothing for their characters.

[foggygloom]

Chlobrina (or Colebrina in my new au) and Adrien

[liblib620]

This is why Susato is homophobic in that one image

[liblib620]

Tell me if I’m behind, but I have a theory.

Lila has been akumatized into Chameleon for the whole season.

It always irked me how every time we see her outside her Chrysalis form, she’s writing in her journal. Now why would she do that? We’ve seen her write in the journal before. In the London special when she akumatized herself. She needed to write in that journal so she’d remember everything when deakumatized.

She even says during Illustrhater that she’s a chameleon. Like when she was akumatized into Chameleon.

That’s who’s in the guest room at the Dupain house.

Lila, akumatized into Chameleon, went to Shanghai, met Marinette’s uncle, and turned into him with Chameleon.

We know from the season 3 opener that using that power sends those people to sleep. So what must’ve happened is that Lila, disguised at Marinette’s uncle, turns into someone else while in Paris, thus waking up Marinette’s uncle. Then he calls Sabine and we get the “then who’s in the guest room” scene.

[commanderdead]

It's insane how the show tries to potray Émilie as a good mother

[liblib620]

Emelie is kind of like Rose Quartz from Steven Universe, but at least with Rose, we knew her a little better than we know Emelie because the show actually finished.

Emilie is a character who haunts the narrative and her story is only told by those who remember her, those being Gabriel, Adrien, Nathalie, and Amelie. Outside of flashbacks, which are mostly from the perspectives of one of those characters, we have never seen Emelie. We cannot speak for her character. We cannot say with any certainty that she was a good mother or a bad mother because we, as the audience, have never met her. We only have witness testimony.

This is why she’s like Rose Quartz. Both are only spoken of fondly by those who remember her, but are implied to have been worse people than we are told because of what they left behind.

Emelie still kept Adrien secluded and didn’t let him go to school. We already knew that she was not a perfect human being. The show is not telling us she’s this flawless woman. It’s the characters who do.

[liblib620]

Adrien is so good at hiding his identity that even I forget he’s Chat Noir.

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

S5 finale: wrapping up the "running out of time" theme

So I have been mentioning frequently that there is a theme of "running out of time" in season 5, but I wasn't able to make out the meaning of it, until now.

We can say that there are three situations where the theme explicitely manifests:

Gabriel: After receiving a cataclysm wound in Destruction, we often hear Gabriel repeat that he is running out of time. The entire Intuition episode is based on that premise.

Ladynoir: This is the most obvious manifestation of this theme. In Jubilation, Ladybug and Chat Noir live a dream just to be constantly reminded that their perfect life together will end when they wake up to reality. I call it Ladynoir, but actually it is Maribug's love and romantic relationship with Chat in general.

Adrinette: This is the most subtle one, but it is there. Notice how Marinette needs to ease into a relationship with Adrien, and Adrien is doing his best to cut her slack, so much so that he says in Derision, and I quote: "We've got time." Soon after, Adrien is sent to London.

If you think I have forgotten other strings of running out of time, feel free to let me know!

Now let's look at these three strings individually:

Gabriel running out of time

This one is the simplest one as it starts very early on in the season, with the episode Destruction where he gets the cataclym wound, and ends in Recreation with his "sacrifice." Also worthy noting the names of the episodes. What starts as Gabriel running out of time in Destruction is concluded in Recreation with him making his wish, accomplishing his wish, and dying. We can consider this thread concluded.

2. Ladynoir running out of time

Of course, the first episode that comes to mind is Jubilation. In Jubilation we (and the blorbos) learn that they actually desire to be together, romantically. And indeed they get to live a perfect little life in their dream, ignoring the increasingly bigger alarm clocks that are trying to wake them up. Except that at the end Ladybug realises that they must wake up (duty calls!), and she abandons Chat Noir in the dream universe, broken.

From here on, nearly every episode is a warning for Marinette against being romantically together with Chat Noir:

Determination: Marinette accepts that she has feelings for Chat Noir, her reaction to that is crying

Passion: Ladybug's crush on Chat Noir leads to her being distracted and making many critical mistakes in their fight

Reunion: is a cautionary tale about Ladybug and Cat Miraculous holders falling in love

Illusion: (I haven't watched this in a while but I think nothing relevant happens here)

Elation: Marinette is nearly akumatised because of her love to and rejection by Chat Noir

The overarching message from Jubilation to Elation is that: if Maribug ends up with Chat Noir, it'll be a disaster.

So Marinette decides to close up her heart to anyone, and after a brief depression, Adrien finally convinces her to be with him and they become an official couple. From this point onwards, the key ship becomes Adrinette.

Does that mean that Ladynoir has run out of time? Not necessarily. They just decided to love each other in a different way. I should remind here that even though we tend to polarise the sides of the square as fandom, the creators have repeatedly told that the love square is one, there is one love.

The Ladynoir relationship has a direct connection to the Adrinette dynamics because after all, they're the same two people.

3. Adrinette running out of time

Now that Adrinette is finally together, they should have all the time in the world, right? Right? It's what Adrien says, after all.

But I couldn't shake this sense of urgency throughout this season. Every time they said that they had time, it made me feel like they actually don't and they don't know it. And it was exactly what they wanted to make us feel: with Adrien's move to London, it turns out they didn't have time. Worse is that, Adrien actually knew that he'd need to move to London but he couldn't tell it to Marinette, he kept it a secret all the way till he was shipped off to London.

And there is a parallel between Jubilation and Revolution here: in both episodes, their dream is shattered, they share one last dramatic kiss, and they are torn apart from one and other (@asukiess had a big brain time and pointed this out back when Revolution aired).

But now, in Recreation, Gabriel is gone. Everything is fixed? Everyone will be happy, right?

Well... No.

As I pointed out in a previous post, the world that Gabriel creates is a bit too bright, too perfect. The show is notorious for associating the sun with fake happiness at this point, while the "real" moments are rainy and/or dark. And let's see the colour palette in the end:

Another detail that makes me put on my tinfoil hat:

They're not very visible on the static image, but there are white butterflies flying over the flower arch. Those could be symbolising the end, as a reference to how Ladybug releases the purified akuma at the end of each episode. But it might also have a second meaning, a reference to how this world was in fact created upon the ideals of Gabriel.

And that can't be good for anyone. I explain more the consequences and aftermath of this episode in the post I mention above, but basically this world is Gabriel's ideal, and it is far from being a good place for neither Marinette, nor Adrien.

One main reason why: Gabriel has left Marinette with the truth about the Monarch, and she agreed to keep it a secret from Adrien. But we know that it will eventually come out. Either she tells it to Chat Noir, or maybe Lila plots something, but it won't remain a secret forever. And when it does... it will have tremendous impact on not only Adrinette, but also Ladynoir.

This world is a fantasy world where Marinette and Adrien have ended up together, just like in: Chat Blanc, Ephemeral, Oblivio, Jubilation. And at one point the alarm clock will ring, the hammer will drop, and both Ladynoir and Adrinette will run out of time. Except that this time, we may not be able to revert back to the status quo.

Gabriel has left them with a tickling time bomb.

[cinammonspice]

The miraculous ladybug crew is either going to ghost us for months or dump a number of episodes and trailers and synopsis on a random Wednesday morning, it’s INSANE.

[liblib620]

It’s a toxic lover 😔

[magicalboyasher]

I do find it a bit odd how, out of all the Miraculous characters they could've chosen to make canonically autistic, they chose Max and no one else when Kagami was RIGHT THERE.

[liblib620]

[sugarcubeandcamembert]

there’s something so compelling about the way Félix and Adrien contrast each other in Strikeback.

Félix pretending to be Adrien with the dog miraculous, effectively fooling Ladybug herself while the real Adrien stands to the side with the CAT MIRACULOUS.

it’s such good irony and really shows the juxtaposition between how Adrien presents himself as Chat Noir vs as Adrien Agreste, because yeah it does seem like Adrien Agreste would be the polite and friendly temporary holder of the dog miraculous.

Ladybug/Mari completely misunderstands him, and so does Félix, even as the one deceiving Ladybug.

And it’s so heartbreaking as the audience to watch Adrien watch this scene as it unfolds, to realize in real time that maybe Nino was right. Maybe Chat Noir is annoying, and maybe the more tame version of him is the more digestible, palatable version of himself.

The identity he created for himself, free from the influence of public expectations and his father, isn’t always polite and friendly. He gets angry and jealous, he’s annoying (affectionate) and silly, reckless and outlandish. Even his character designs shows the difference, particularly his hair—meticulously styled as a civilian, messy and wild as a superhero.

In this moment you get a sense of how utterly alone he is. No one sees him for who he is, who all of him is, and he’s trapped in this dichotomy of himself that no one can break past.

And a lot of times it seems like his friends fall for the version of him that’s easy to love rather than the version of him that’s more authentic.

That’s how I interpret the lack of silliness from Chat Noir in later episodes/seasons compared to previous seasons. He’s dialing it back to try to make himself easier to love.

[liblib620]

Now I wish he knew Strikeback that Ladybug was recruiting “Adrien”

[liblib620]

Prediction for season 3: Vaggi’s main storyline is going to be her continuously trying to propose to Charlie, but it always gets interrupted each time it happens either due to someone else interrupting a moment between her and Charlie, Charlie getting distracted, or Vaggi messing up. It will be a frequent bit throughout the season.

At the end of the season, Vaggi will finally get the chance to propose, but Charlie will beat her to it by Charlie being the one to propose to Vaggi.

[liblib620]

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