#ask punchie

She also gets blamed for things that aren't her fault. Like Reverser I blame Nathaniel and his extreme expectations, and Refleckdoll, it was Alya who was making things worse for Juleka while Marinette was trying to help. Gamer's another as she did play fair and square, and won fair and square.

But yeah, ML has an issue with priorities. With the mindset that ONLY Marinette can be at fault, which has her at fault for things that actually aren't her fault or are minor things when there are bigger faults with others; and that, for Marinette's actual faults and issues, they don't focus on the actual problems.

For one thing, Marinette is a perfectionist, in her work and responsibilities, and in how she helps people. This leads to her being meddling and controlling. With good intentions but she can take it far. She even has this idea that only she can be the solution, though more in an Atlas complex way than being egotistical.

Which I'll give the show this, by how it's set up, Adrien and Marinette kinda feed this bad aspect of their dynamic into each other. Adrien goofs around as a hero or doesn't take situations seriously with his flirting at bad times, so Marinette feels like she has to step up more as leader and responsible one, and Adrien doesn't get a chance to take things more seriously or be the leader as Marinette doesn't expect him to, which leads to his frustration of not being as valued as a partner like he wants and he acts out, and Marinette sees she can't rely on him as much and it just cycles.

I know the show sorta tries to address this with the insistence that Marinette can trust Alya and doesn't need to shoulder everything, which is great, if they didn't take it back right away validating Marinette in being right in not trusting Alya.

Which man, that's one of Marinette's actual big issues, and you address it, and then take two steps back and reverse and vindicate the flawful mindset.

Another big issue is her over involving herself in this she doesn't or shouldn't get involved with, meddling included. She could do to ease back, let others solve their own problems. Like, Darkblade comes to mind (though there may be a better example). I do think it was a good episode, but you got Marinette admitting she's already busy, and doesn't want to be class rep, but steps up as no one else is. This is just an added responsibility she doesn't need but does so because she's involving herself in others problems.

This also leads into the other issue: Marinette's tendency to overpile onto her plate. They even focused on this in Gamer 2.0 but instead of doing a lesson of learning to ease up, take a break, and have fun (which Adrien could've been great for, heck, could've had them bond over a busy lifestyle); but nope, she passes Max off to her parents and continue being busy.

And of course, there's the big issue of her crush.

Like, they're 13-14 yos dealing with first crushes, they're going to be cringe and crazy as they don't know how to handle this, but they just take it way too far. And the extremes it's taken isn't even funny but concerning.

Marinette having his schedule.

The hoard of pictures.

Jealousy that spirals to extremes.

And having rose colored view of Adrien, to thinking he can never do wrong and feeling like she needs to protect and assist him, even at the risk of herself (Collector).

Part of the worst part about this is that this exists for the writers' amusement, taking it to unlikable extremes and not portrayed as really bad flaws that need to be addressed or have lessons about; which leads me to question what's the exaggeration and what can be more accurate/reasonable for the cringey, dramatic crush. Some of which could've been fine issues to fault her for and for her to get called out and learn from, but we don't get that, all we get is unpleasantness.

Oh! You could also cover Marinette's lack of prioritizing herself, and may not knowing how to take a break and have fun. Cause I don't know if this girl knows how to relax. And she definitely doesn't behave like a kid, but much older. Could even delve into the friendship problems she has not really connecting with her friends as well because she doesn't know how to be a kid, how to mess around and goof off.

Sorry for the wait, wanted to get home before I answered. And to answer, it's going well!

I've taken the time to sit and ponder it, rolling it around and starting to actually shape it up into something to work with.

While designs and names do need to be finalized, I over all got my 3 starting Bugettes, doing the classic RYB trio before getting into the full rainbow.

And I got their set up personal growth arcs down.

And I got 3 types of villains for each one to work off personally, for as the starting leads, I feel they should get the big major plot priorities.

And while my art skills aren't where I would like them to be yet, they are getting there that I'm up to start drawing it out soon. I am hoping this year I can finally start Bugettes (with Animula I'm holding off as this should have the shorter story).

I will admit, there are some things I am still figuring out, so it won't be coming out super soon.

The designs I share here may not be the final designs of the Bugettes, I want to do more practice with outfits and try out some other ideas (I may see if I can get a hold of Zoe and see if she can help me there as she's better with fashion than I am, otherwise I'll be looking at her art and other redesigns for ideas and references). How they look I'm also still working on, as well as names (Blue Bugette doesn't even have a hero name yet).

The beginning I'm also still trying to figure out. I also don't have a timeline placed yet, nor do I have a supporting cast down yet (which some should be future Bugettes). And I got a handful of ideas for potential love interests

But there's only one pair I know I would aim to pair together, any others are kinda up in the air.

But it's starting to come together!

Something is taking shape here.

This reminds me that I need to hop back onto that fic soon, I've been so focused on original ideas.

Anyway, rainyfey has actually captured how I've been envision Motharun very well, especially in his shifted form.

But for that battle mode, as a quick sketch, something like this is what I envisioned. Just more monstrous, feathery Yokarun.

Animula is a Miraculous Ladybug inspired project that I have been working on and pondering about for a while. When I was into ML, I was making so many changes to it in terms of lore and set up, it was just best to just focus on doing my own thing. And with it, do what I wanted to see from ML but they didn't deliver.

Like, I wanted the kwamis to be actual characters.

By set up, they easily could've been the most interesting part of the show. These little animal themed spirits/fairies/gods were, supposedly, heavily involved in human history and worked off multiple heroes, and there's implications that they sway over history and were involved with some iconic people and their involvement also could've influenced how people saw certain animals.

This sets them up to be wise and complex, having different views based on what they went through, or choices they or the humans they were with made.

And if you worked off the animal archetypes, symbolism, and themes of what they are, that's a whole other flavor that could've been done. Could've added to their views, their behavior, even how they work off each other, and how they could've worked off the humans, how they could've helped a human grow or clash with them.

To name an example, Pollen is a huge missed opportunity in this.

Bees have the symbolism and themes of being hard working, of being community driven, to communicate well, to be a team player, and to be nurturing, industrious, tenacious, and open minded.

And she is paired with Chloe who is a lazy spoiled bully who thinks herself above everyone and gets kicks out of tormenting her community.

That is set up to be a very interesting dynamic to see play out, as everything a bee represents is the opposite of what Chloe is. She could've had an arc of being a wasp that becomes a bee. Or it could've been that her and Pollen clashed so much, it was a wasp vs bee dynamic.

But they didn't do that. Pollen became a yes man that's eager to serve and roll with whatever whim Chloe wanted, no challenging her on how she was. It just played into the idea that queen bees "run" the hive when in actuality its the worker bees (and they will terminate unfit queen bees, shame we didn't get that).

And it was really frustrating. It got worse when kwamis were all together, and took on a hive mind that they all behaved the same, or would act like they were mentally children.

As one of the biggest frustrations, that's what led me to delve into this, it's even why the project is called "animula" as that's the term I'm using for these little animal gods/fairies/spirits. I actually picked the term as it translates to little soul.

And has a slight pun with animal.

Other things I wanted, I wanted there to be growth and lessons for multiple characters, as ML had an idea that only the lead could be wrong (whether she was in the wrong or not) and only she could learn lessons. And I wanted characters to be actual characters and to see progress, as there was so much stagnation and keeping to the status quo.

I wanted more friendship and to see it matter, as ML regarded romance to be more important than friendship.

That would probably be Miraculous Ladybug. I have written a lot of fics for it, and I am happy to say I completed most of them. I know I got a few I need to finish still but it didn't inspire me to write nor was it fun anymore. I got really frustrated and fed up with the show, which for some fans infamously so.

The completionist in me wants to come back and finish those uncompleted works, but not there yet.

The alternative possibility is that I did do a few DanDaDan fics around the start of the anime and people were eager about the latest fics coming out as content for it was on the rise. But I stepped away to focus on original ideas so I doubt I have that much of a presence in DDD.

I hope you've been enjoying it!

And yes, the animation has changed and quality increased. Typically most shows have their animation improve as they go on. It comes as animators improve or they bring in more experienced or experimental animators, and they get their style figured out, and it also comes as the show gains more money so they can spend more on animation.

But yeah, one of the best examples of show animation changing and improving as it goes on is comparing the two Agni Kais we see in AtLA.

Season One

Season Three

So for the actual ask, since I've properly watched the main series I've had a few thoughts and ideas. The first one is do you think that the moon has some kind of connection to dog demons? Since not does Inuyasha lose his powers on the night of the new moon, but Sesshōmaru and his mom have Crescent moon marks on their foreheads.

Congratulations! It's a big series to get through, but it's a good time. If you are up for it, I also recommend the manga as I know the anime skipped over some things or added filler.

And for the ask itself, definitely.

Canines in general have always been long tied to the moon.

Wolves happen to often howl when the moon is out. It's thought werewolves come to be through the moon's phases and presence. And then you got a lot of iconic scary hounds that come out at night when the moon is out, like the Cu Sith or Black Shuck/barghest.

And I think a big aspect to this is they are one of the many animals tied to the supernatural, and the moon itself has always been tied to the supernatural. And a major part of that is that the night is kinda scary, we cannot see well, and there are predators that come out at night, and the moon is always out during the night. It makes the imagination go wild and you got people all over the world wanting to discourage others from going out at night for their own safety. I know both western and eastern cultures have themes in their mythology that warn to not go out at night, for that is when spirits and fae are active and bad things may happen to you.

For an actual Japanese canine that's about at night, there's the okuri-inu, the escorting wolf or dog.

If you're walking home at night, the beast follows to make sure you get home safe, but if you trip or stumble, it'll see your weakness/fear and attack. I also remember it's said that it appreciates you putting food out for it as thanks for seeing you home safe.

Another that comes to mind is potentially the inspiration for Sesshamaru and his parents, but I could also be wrong on that. But the Chinese Heavenly Dog comes to mind for them: Tiangou.

Tiangou is the explanation for an eclipse happening, a celestial hound that comes up to devour the sun and moon.

So, yeah, they are definitely tied to the moon. It's one of the most iconic motifs for canines so it's not surprising when it comes up.

That's hard as I genuinely really like them both.

Momo has a lot of spunk and fire to her, and she can be really funny with her dramatic antics. And while she can be short tempered and difficult, she has a lot of heart and empathy for others. Part of the reason their bond is so strong is because she saw a stranger being picked on, stepped up to protect him, and she's continued to secure his safety and having his back.

As much as she gives him a hard time and butts heads with him, Okarun's safety is always on her mind. Like, you got her taking punches from this huge alien, and she makes sure to get him to safety before she sets this thing on fire.

Okarun in turn is a genuine sweetheart and awkward fella that makes him endearing and so funny. Like, one of my favorite jokes so far is him realizing she is cute, and he's not able to handle it so he won't face her, and she is not letting him escape and so sparks off a chase all because he can't handle she's cute yet.

And between the two, I am more intrigued to see his backstory, working off that we got nothing of his family or parents yet. We just know he didn't have friends growing up until Momo, and was bullied a lot.

And you know, it kinda speaks to me quite a bit that he tolerates a lot of the bullying, but someone does a slight at Momo and it pisses him off.

And the factor that he will fight back and squabble with Momo but he won't do so with his bullies. It really adds to that he has a level of comfort with her that he'll push back.

And I'm curious on the personality change when he transforms.

Turbo Granny herself isn't really a bummed out character. She rivals Momo in temper and sass. So why does her power change him to be bummed out? At least he's not held back by the low self-esteem and slight anxiety that I see, but he trades it out to be gloomy.

Is it more on him and his own emotional/mental state? Or is this just an effect using a yokai's power can have on a human? Is it a mix of personalities and this is the apparent medium? I haven't seen anything of an actual answer to this yet, just more of speculation.

...I guess if I had to pick between them, I probably like Momo a little more, but I also give it that between the two, she's a more defined and solid as a character. We have more on what her stances of things are, she has a more defined background. Okarun we're still waiting for answers for. So at this time, Momo just has more of a lead, but only slightly. Because these two are great, I love their dynamic and how they are as characters.

I actually don't think I've shipped a lead pair so quickly in my life. Especially one I know will be endgame.