#fair warning

David Lee Roth

Spirit Mountain Casino, Oregon

new dating sim characters added!! crowe and sol from the kid at the back

They're just tags plastered onto him. They're résumé bullet points instead of things that shape how he thinks, moves, fights, or solves problems.

He's intelligent. He's a star student. He's well educated. He speaks multiple languages. He's an accomplished fencer. He's athletic. He has good reflexes, quick footwork, combat experience, musical talent, and the kind of personality that makes him naturally compassionate and selfless.

Okay. So use them.

But the frustrating part is not that Adrien isn't written as talented enough; it's that the narrative refuses to let his established talents become characterization.

The whole "Adrien is different as Chat Noir because he's freer, so he doesn't want to take things too seriously or try too hard hehehe" excuse has never worked for me because Origins already establishes that the second Adrien gets the Miraculous, he takes being Chat Noir seriously. He jokes around, sure, because humor is part of how he expresses himself, but he immediately wants to practice during his rare free time. He wants to understand his powers. He wants to improve. He wants to learn how to be useful.

And after everything he's experienced as Chat Noir, he should understand his abilities even better and take the responsibility even more seriously in S6.

So where did all of that go?

And as someone who's actually done fencing, I genuinely don't think the writers understand how much reflex, spatial awareness, timing, pattern recognition, and strategic thinking fencing requires. If Adrien is supposed to be a great sabreur, then his fencing should influence the way he fights as Chat Noir, his instincts shouldn't disappear when he transforms.

A good fencer isn't just running forward and swinging a weapon around. You're constantly reading your opponent, anticipating attacks, manipulating distance, trying not to be predictable, recognizing patterns, setting traps, using feints, reacting to tiny movements, and making decisions in fractions of a second.

And especially if Adrien is genuinely good at sabre (which he is, of course, because Adrien still has to be the perfect prize pet boyfriend for Asstruc's Fav Child), why would his fighting style be so reckless and thoughtless as Chat?

His footwork should be one of Chat Noir's strengths. His ability to read opponents should be one of his strengths. His reflexes should be one of his strengths. His strategic thinking should be one of his strengths. Literally, I know MLB presents Ladybug as the strategic one, and I am 100% okay with her being strategist and Chat being more of a tank but STILL, considering the treats you gave him, he should be insanely strategic.

That's the entire point of giving fictional characters specific skills.

Especially in a superhero team.

You give characters different talents so they approach problems differently. One character is the strategist. Another is the powerhouse. Someone else is the inventor. Someone is incredibly agile. Someone is good at reconnaissance. Someone has exceptional combat instincts. Then teamwork actually means something because everyone brings something unique to the table.

Instead, MLB keeps giving Adrien skills and then refusing to let those skills matter. (Because MLB is obsessed with making sure Marinette is better than everyone else in practically every scene, often without giving us any actual explanation for it. And sometimes the writers even have to give other characters PIS and make them inexplicably dumber or less competent just so Marinette can look better, which is such a massive writing sin. And the funniest part is that this somehow still makes their Golden Girl Hero look stupid. What do you mean this girl has 99 heroes at her disposal, is more competent than all of them combined, and can apparently do everything better than everyone else, yet she still can't catch one villain running around a tiny neighborhood in Paris? lmao)

His linguistic skills? Barely used.

His education and general knowledge? Never used.

His fencing? Barely reflected in his superhero combat.

His strategic thinking? Almost nonexistent.

His reflexes and footwork? Rarely treated as anything particularly special.

His musical talent? Mostly just another fact about him.

And then the fans go, "Oh my god, I can't believe this guy is Adrien!"

Well... yes, because they deliberately wrote Adrien and Chat Noir like completely different people. That's not the same thing as giving him layers.

Adrien and Chat Noir should feel different because Adrien is discovering a freer side of himself as Chat, where he can express himself better and doesn't comstantly have to live up to an image and is allowed to make mistakes and even look silly at times. But their core traits should still carry across. His kindness, gentleness, intelligence, reflexes, compassion, discipline, curiosity, strategic thinking and desire to protect people should all be recognizable in the way Chat operates.

Instead, Chat is frequently treated like comic relief, and the more heroes the show introduces, the more he gets pushed down the list until he's barely allowed to be useful at all. (Which makes you wonder: is Ladybug actually an idiot? She doesn't value Chat Noir enough to even care about keeping him around, and he's apparently the most useless and incompetent member of the team now… yet she still lets him keep one of the two most powerful and useful Miraculouses ever? So she's either dumb as hell or Chat is actually competent, but if he's competent enough to deserve that Miraculous, then why does the narrative keep going out of its way to make him look useless?)

And that's what makes it so frustrating because Adrien actually has solid in-universe reasons to be an excellent hero.

He doesn't need Main Character Plot Armor to explain why he's competent, and magically good at everything.

We already have the foundation.

Compare that with Marinette, who can seemingly pick up a new skill and immediately become amazing at it because the plot says she needs to be. There isn't necessarily a personal history, distinctive methodology, or characterization behind the skill. She's just good.

Adrien could have been the complete opposite.

His abilities could have felt earned, interconnected, and reflective of who he is. His fencing could influence his combat. His education could make him useful in investigations. His languages could help the team communicate. His reflexes and athleticism could make him exceptional in combat and rescue situations. His musical training could give him another form of discipline and creativity.

And then you could have genuinely interesting teamwork because the characters would actually be bringing different things to the table.

But instead we get:

My Favorite Child Main Character Is Perfect At Everything, And Everyone Else Is Here, I Guess.

As someone who studies literature, it genuinely makes my head hurt because this is such a basic characterization principle. How can you be this bad at writing and still make a living out of it? This is almost an offensive level of fraudulence lol

Traits should affect behavior. Skills should affect problem-solving. Personality should affect how a character uses those skills.

Otherwise they're not characterization.

Kaos

Narinder and Esriaal have the chance to make their case to the council, explaining the One Who Waits' true methods. At the same time, the two of them navigate around one another, now that Esriaal is once more out of the Pastures. (11k)