I’m doing it. I’m making my “How I would have organized the ML Plot” post.
First of all, I would have them defeat Hawkmoth at the end of season 3.
Season 1, they’re baby heroes who are just trying their best. Basically the way it went in canon, but with consistent character development and having both Marinette AND Adrien learn from their mistakes, not just Marinette. Also they (or just Marinette idk yet) learn about Master Fu earlier and maybe find the book in Gabriel’s safe earlier, leading to the discussion from The Collector to happen at the end of Season 1 and then deciding that they need to be more proactive, whether Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth or not. They also don’t immediately discount him (or later when Queen Bee gets akumatized, they make a comment saying that maybe it could still be Gabriel).
Season 2, proper training and learning about power ups. They get smarter. They start prepping this shit in advance. They figure out the recipes for the potions way in advance. They actually have patrols. We see less akuma fights and more of them training and learning about their powers and how the other Miraculouses work and interact with each other. When there are akuma attacks, they’re significant (aka no babies being akumatized because they wanted a lollipop) and take a lot more effort to be defeated. They have to trust each other and really rely on their connection and friendship and relationship (ie the power of love) to save the day. The heroes that are chosen are chosen for a reason (maybe it’s still family ties, but I prefer it being because they’ve demonstrated a skill that compliments their miraculous, like Alya learning to see through lies and the illusions people coughcough Lila coughcough create to find the truth, and Nino puts himself in harms way to shield and protect people on a regular basis, and then have Ladybug choose to give Chloe the miraculous in the hopes that it actually helps her, rather than Chloe throwing a tantrum and stealing it, and then having it actually help Chloe. She also keeps it a secret like she’s supposed to.) and they get to start exploring their powers better too. The season finale would be Hawkmoth akumatizing one of the miraculous holders, not because Chloe got pissed off that she got caught doing a bad thing to look like a hero, but because something serious actually happened (maybe someone Lila pretended to be them and reveal their identity, maybe someone got seriously hurt in an attack or something civilian and they were scared and frustrated that they hadn’t prevented it, but whatever it is, it’s important), meaning the heroes have to fight their teammate who knows the way they fight from sparring and patrol and training and they have to find a way to mix up their fighting styles to get the upper hand.
Season 3, the focus shifts back to a balance between akumas and training on the hero side of things, meanwhile we see the class grow and people get more comfortable around each other. (Obviously this would happen in Season 2 as well, but I actually didn’t have too many complaints with the character development in Season 2 until the end of it when people started developing amnesia and reverting back to how they were in Season 1, or even worse, some shittier version of themselves that didn’t exist before, but Season 2 is much more about their development as heroes with glimpses at how that bleeds through into them as civilians, just enough to develop the relationships and plot.) There’s a mix of episodes where the hero stuff is training and patrols and using their powers on patrol to try and find Hawkmoth, and the tougher akumas. Alya, Nino, and Chloe get their Miraculouses full time. Other heroes are brought in as needed but they also double up when something new is needed during battle (new heroes are brought in after the fact to train and be ready for the next time). Zombizou is here (I didn’t care for the episodes presentation but the akuma was successful and I liked them having to face their greatest strength being weaponized). Frightningale and the other really hard to defeat akumas are here. Mayura is brought in earlier, and Hawkmoth doesn’t actually know who she is. He thinks he does...until he finds out that Nathalie has never seen the peacock miraculous before (also let’s be real...Nathalie’s akuma was NOT in Hawkmoth’s cane, it was in her tablet, and he doesn’t carry the akumas in his cane unless he’s holding one to be reused like in Stoneheart. They stay in his lair and get sent out without ever touching his cane. The akumas created after Hawkmoth was akumatized/charged by Catalyst would have been purified when the one in Hawkmoth’s cane was cleansed, but not Nathalie’s). Catalyst happens here and they have as many heroes as were able to avoid akumatization, but it’s at least a three-part episode where even Ladybug or Chat get akumatized before the fight is over, or both, and it’s the hardest fight of their lives. Hawkmoth doesn’t actually appear until LB or CN are under his control and THEN he thinks he won. Then he faces Paris. The remaining heroes regroup and try to stay positive, remembering their training and all the things Master Fu/LB and CN taught them. They manage to deakumatize their fellow heroes long enough for LB to purify their butterflies and turn the tides. After this, they defeat Hawkmoth for good.
The very last scene of Season 3 is Ladybug and Chat Noir standing on a roof together, their Miraculouses beeping faster and faster, but neither of them move. Two flashes of light later, and it’s Adrien and Marinette on the roof, staring at each other in a mix of the container scene from Dark Owl and the umbrella scene. The screen cuts to black and the season ends.
Season 4 picks up with them staring at each other, trying to process who their partner has been this whole time. It’s too much and they retransform and run away, both needing time and space to deal with everything. It’s easier for them to come to terms with things because there was consistent growth and they’ve seen the good and bad aspects of each other in the last three seasons, but it still takes them a few days to face the other. Ultimately, Marinette is the one to face Adrien with baked goods and a tight hug, because he’s still her kitty and dammit, he needs her right now. They still don’t know where they stand but they know they’re stronger together and that’s all that matters. Gabriel gets put on trial as a terrorist, and right as he’s locked up and they think everything is going to be okay, the original bad guy returns. And I mean the original, like the whole reason for the Miraculouses to exist in the first place. That evil descends on Paris and suddenly these kids are thrown into the worst fight of their life. With each episode, things grow darker and darker, and the heroes are calling in backup more and more and fighting more often and are barely making it out of some fights. This new (old) evil is deadly, and it’s out for blood. Master Fu dies in the season finale, leaving the phonograph of Miraculouses and the mantel of guardian to Marinette who has learned everything he could teach her, and still feels like she doesn’t know anything as to what she should do.
Season 5 calls back to season 2, where they’re hiding out coming up with a plan. Paris is a war zone, things have shut down, and people are scared. They have to use everything they’ve got to defeat this evil, and they have a nuclear option: if things go to hell, everyone gives LB their miraculous. Everyone, except for Adrien. He gives her the ring, but puts on his father’s miraculous to recreate Catalyst, but this time it’s for the good guys. They spend the season coming up with ideas for Champions in a sketchbook for Adrien to create if things go that far south, and they give it everything they’ve got. Maybe it doesn’t work, and LB is the last one standing, but she has the ultimate power. She uses it like Alex in the first Wizards of Waverly Place Movie where they go to the island: she goes back to where all the trouble began so she can try to fix it.
Any traveling episodes (like the China special) either take place in Season 3, 4 before the ultimate evil when things are quiet and they feel like they can leave Paris, or mid/after Season 5, and it’s Marinette, and whoever the ultimate power decided should get their miraculous back so they can help her (or the main five if it’s mid-season), trying to find a way to find a way to stop the evil. They go everywhere the Miraculous went, desperately searching for an answer and training and getting stronger as they go. Maybe there’s no single answer or power that can automatically fix everything, but they’ve unlocked every power their Miraculouses have and finally go home and save the day.
They keep their Miraculouses until it’s time to pass them on to the next generation, and Marinette proudly distributes them to the new heroes and the series ends with the core team training them (most of them are their kids who grew up with stories of heroes and monsters and little gods in their pockets).
Lol this got long 😂 I have a lot of opinions okay?
