Question: Were Max and Kim sexist in the original show, because I don't remember. Or did you intentionally create them that way to create some minor conflict. Anyways, I love your art. It is so cool and neat, and pleasant to look at. And I also agree that regardless of Marinette's reasons, if she won the tournament, that means she deserves go, because she is the best. I really wanted Adrienette to go and compete.
Kim wasn’t, at least not overtly, though he was in camp “she’s going to make a fool of herself” with Marinette when she jumped into the tournament and was blown away by her annihilating Max, which is why I felt comfortable putting him in ‘not mean spirited but has some unchecked biases that this will teach him to rethink’. (Plus he was a bit “oh you poor dumb noob not knowing what APM means” despite the fact I’ve never heard any Let’s Play youtubers or any of my gamer friends ever use it, so that felt patronizing to me)
In fairness to Kim, Alya was similarly unsupportive, so she also has some biases to reconsider.
MAX however-
I will die pissed off that he only ever targeted Marinette in his rampage and that even by the end of the episode was heavily sulking about her 100% fair and square victory. If he included Adrien in his pouting, then I’d be willing to believe he’s just that upset about not being able to compete. But in all his rants it’s not about the tournament, it’s about being in the tournament because he’s “The Best” which means he SHOULD be angry at BOTH the people who beat his high score! It just reads as he was fine with Adrien beating him (despite that also proving he’s not The Best) but not when Marinette beats him.
Given that girls already have a tough enough time being respected in gaming circles and that no one else, not even her best friend, thought she even had a shot for no disclosed reason, the left over explanation is “Oh she’s a girl so she doesn’t know how to play.” Max came out of this episode looking like a sexist douche bag to me.