ML x Smiling Critters Au - in Search of the missing Ladybug!
A few more stuff and ideas about the Doctor in this AU, since he's gonna be the big bad for the first arc of the AU (there are only two arcs of this. It's most likely not gonna have a good ending lol)
Idk why I'm having fun making these. It feels illegal
Info under the cut. Warning for gore and body horror though. I talk a bit about Yarnaby here.
Making it my duty to pass the burden of "getting big Ls from two teenagers" to Dr. Sawyer because of his og self's sins lol
ML x Smiling Critters Au - in Search of the missing Ladybug!
Dogday and Catnap full design reveal YAYYYYY 🥳🥳🥳🥳
And it wouldn't be a real ML au without the obligatory "tail"-pull lol
the coloring of the image is so bad, ik, pls ignore :'((
Extra doodles:
how'd they call on their signature power ^^
putting my short breakdown of their designs under the cut bc I am a BIIIG ass yapper and I DID take the time to think it through:
Tried to put some sense into their designs ngl, both in fashion at the time and how practical it would be to their fighting styles.
Dogday, being the leader and "boring" one of the squad, obviously follows the basic superhero design - skintight suit. Though I added pads because I think he'd be cautious like that. I had to add them too since using just his normal palette made the entire outfit feel like it's lacking, which I wanna avoid. The hat is based on a trooper/hunter hat with ear muffs, since I've seen old images of hunters that bring dogs with them wearing those kind of hats. There's a specific image I based it on, but I can't find it anymore. As for his tail, it's a belt. because baseball players wear belts (he is one in this au)! and um. a slight reference with the canon... I guess...
Catnap's a bit more complex. His fit is more a mix of the Y2K street outfit and drawstring pajamas. Drawing Catnap's braid-tail was TORTURE, I tell you. But it was needed. The idea was that the two separate strings from the pants are braided together to make up his tail. And yes, it extends really far. I'll be honest, I'm not yet satisfied with his patterns atm. I tried to make it look "stitchy" but ended up leaning on a more the patterns you often see from cargo pants. I also tried the typical pajama pattern when designing but it wasn't working for me. I'll leave it for now because I was stumped w/ rendering him for months
Decided to make Damien yet another victim to my Crossover Mall AU but in the alt timeline of the AU where the MLB in it is the canon MLB (my main timeline is now fanon MLB bc I don't really watch the show anymore)
meet-cute??
THEY'D FREAKING HATE EACH OTHER LMAOOO
ML x Smiling Critters Au - in Search of the missing Ladybug!
Yeah that's gonna be the Au title ig *awkward coughing*
Have a crappy sketch I drew for sh*ts and giggles
Dennis about to meet past holders
He does not take it well lol
More thoughts of this under the cut
I imagine that Barkk's chances of getting a morally good/bad user is more neutral compared to the popular ones like Ladybug or Butterfly's. In the Au, at least, she had experienced 50/50. (This is part of my personal hc that alternate timelines affect who become holders of a miraculous. It's kind of like a "time traveller drops a coin" thing. Ex. the holders who used the Ladybug miraculous will be different from the holders that are present when Marinette is Ladybug)
The holders that appear when the kagatama is activated are holders that were personally memorable to Barkk and have long passed. There's a chance she had more, but her memories with them had fallen back into her subconsciousness hence why they might not be visible to the current holder (honestly just my explanation to deal with one-day holders present in the show)
I feel Barkk would have mixed feelings with her holders. On one hand, she'd feel some kind of attachment with them. On the other hand... she keeps her distance. Granted, she may have different thoughts with each of her holder (some less liked than others). But she was there in their highest high and lowest low. That time spent together can't be erased. So regardless if she liked her holder or not, she cares for them. Wants best for them. But having to witness each of her holder's brutal ends, it messes with her emotionally and existentially. The holder before Dennis especially affected her so much, it pushed her to become more serious, strict, and even ready to bluntly scold Dennis whenever he was being a bit brash with trust or his decision.
Extra note on this, Barkk will deny on having a favorite, when she does. She absolutely does. (It's the holder before Dennis)
Any knowledge or power learned/earned of a user is automatically transferred to its Kwami. However, while innate and passed down, the predecessor/receiver will have to work for it to unlock it.
Kwamis ultimately have a say as to how far they can receive those earned knowledge/power, which many be unlocked through the gift of kwatagama. (This might be why Hawkmoth’s skills are stale or stuck with the basics. Just my theory and logic for this AU, idk.)
Barkk would probably give Dennis a kwatagama after a very tough akuma battle, a fight that left Dennis upset. Barkk comforted him as usual, but this time Dennis was so down about it. The kwatagama was a sign of thanks to him for his resilience and choice as a hero.
Oh and btw - the person Dennis was talking to is based on another fictional dog character I've grown attached to. There's also another fictional dog character I used who in this AU, is Barkk's holder literally before being found by Dennis. If you know who either of them are then (> u >) we vibin!
There's also some based on real life figures but we ain't talkin about them lol
what about the other smiling critters in your MLB x SC AU?
What do they look like? What do their miraculous look like? What're their names?
I want answers.
:0!!!!
wowie. Thank you for being interested in my silly au afsdkjfbds
I haven't draw the miraculous forms of others... not that I didn't thought of any. I drew tons of sketches for the potential designs for each character but the ones I'm only satisfied on are the miraculous designs of Dogday, Catnap, Baba Chops, and Simon Smoke.
For their civilian selves, however, I got to sketching. Here's the whole Smiling/Nightmare Critter cast:
Dennis Dantes -> Dogday
Theodore Grambell -> Catnap
Isabella "Izzy" Bobbette -> Bearhug
Casey MacGravy ->Kickin'Chicken
Cynthia Oh -> CrafyCorn
Patrice Bakerson -> Picky Piggy
Emman "Bubba" Bhattacharya -> Bubbaphant
Helena Hoppy -> Hopscotch
Elizabeth Everett -> Baba Chops
Edgar Nietze -> Covert -> Poe
(Poe has TWO IDENTITIES GASP?!?!!)
Jolyne Arbitur -> Rabie Baby
Solomon Brauffman -> Simon Smoke
Ashton Wittacker -> Allistor Gator
Kevin Lucksterbough -> IckyLicky
Tomas boucher -> Touille
Maggie Makoto -> Makko
--------
You've noticed that I kept most of the og critter names AS their miraculous identities lol
[MORE LORE CONTEXT + EXPLANATIONS UNDER THE CUT]
I'm dropping the ones based on my docs lol, some details can change overtime.
Forgive the cringe :'))) I'm trying my best to make it sense both as a Miraculous story and a Poppy Playtime story
-- EXTRA INFO --
You notice some of them have very specific surnames. You can kinda guess what ethinicities I have hc for some of them. I did a lot of searching for it, so hopefully it ain't offensive. But please!! inform me if it is, and i'll change it
If you notice, Edgar has TWO identites. Because plot twist: they're also working for the same guy Catnap is devoted to!! GASP!! They received their miraculous along side Theodore, and at first worked behind the scenes. They only decided to ditch and change their identity when their friends started getting their miraculouses AND were actively using it
As for Edgar's reasons to use and follow, it's mostly for personal reasons. But once their friends are involved, they started to use it as a way to stand with them (they prioritize their friends)
most of the nightmare critters are a bit older than the smiling critters
Contemplating whether to make some of the Smiling Critters attend different schools (like that of other magical girl shows) or should they ALL attend the same school... I don't know yet, tbh. But for now? making them attend the same school
Similarly, I'm contemplating whether to make the nightmare critters attend in the same school the smiling critters go to or not. For now I'm making them attend a rival school. They'll all meet during a big field trip or city festival
The nightmare critters are mean-spirited teens, but they're more likely to keep to themselves if left unbothered. They're only cruel because it's their defense mechanism of being mistreated and bullied by more popular/well-known students
[I have more but this'll become more about information between each character and man, I already typed too much here already. Let me know if. you want that. I will make a post about it. or pm you.]
---LORE FLOW [timeline on when they received and used miraculouses + other lore context] ---
Subtle akumatizations have been occurring but they're not public knowledge yet
Theodore and Edgar first receive their miraculouses. Both decide to test out their powers and do the "mystery" person's bidding in secret
Weeks later, Dennis receives his miraculous in his locker. A few minutes later the first public akumatization (Huggy Wuggy) occurred. When Dennis first turned Dogday, that's when Theodore started to publicly show himself and intervene as Catnap
Dogday and Catnap are the only ones to be actively use the miraculous in public. Edgar still works in secret, but Theodore knows this. This occured for months
In between, a special trio (they function similarly to Master Fu in this au) introduce themselves to Dennis. He starts learning stuff about the miraculous, and how they have a few and are searching for the others, especially the Ladybug's. Dennis wanted to tell Catnap about them but they prohibited him, so Catnap is still clueless about their existence (remember - Theo and Dennis still don't know each others' identities!)
In Halloween, Jolyne finds a miraculous, which was actually found by her mom. She steals it to gift it to Elizabeth. Elizabeth eventually discovers its use and at first, used it to keep everyone at bay, but then later used it to try to beat Dogday to shut him up (she fails) (she gets away with the miraculous though)
A day later, Elizabeth is approached by Harley Sawyer (via akuma maybe), who gives her promises w/ being free from her "suffering" and honing her powers... typical manipulation stuff. Elizabeth first resists but eventually after a few weeks gives in
Plot reveal that Sawyer actually have some of the other miraculouses, he just didn't see any point on risking in using them until he witnessed the halloween incident
One by one, the others got their miraculous, and soon the Nightmare Critters were now becoming an active threat (well, not too active. They join in when they feel like it. They're teenagers after all)
Edgar was eventually offerred a miraculous, which they refused - giving off the impression that they found the superpowered ability to be lame and overrated. Deep down, it's giving Edgar a dilemma
Not prepared to fight multiple users for long, Dennis went to the special trio for help. That's when they started to trust Dennis to choose miraculouses to help them fight
Naturally, Dennis chooses his friends bc he knew them best, but they do return it to him after each fight. Some get to keep it for a few days when the fights get worse
When Dogday starts doing this, Catnap became suspicious of him. Catnap is then surprised that Dogday refuses to tell him about where he got the miraculouses (Dogday never kept things other than his identity to himself). Likewise, Dogday started wondering why Catnap is getting more interested on the miraculouses he's giving away temporarily for aid. A rift of trust is starting.
In one of the fights, one of the nightmare critters eventually gets defeated. Dogday and Catnap were about to confiscate the miraculous when Covert intervenes and stops them, giving the defeated critter time to escape. Catnap had to pretend he didn't know who they were
Catnap and Edgar eventually meet up in secret, where they usually meet w/ their "mystery" guy. Edgar ends their dedication to the "mystery" person, unfazed of the threats.
[[I haven't connected some other important events after this one tbh so I'm stopping it here for now]]
