first post abt mlb
DISCLAMER!!! THIS IS SALT, AND I HAVE NOT WATCHED S6 YET. I'M AWARE OF SOME EVENTS IN MISTER AGRESTE.
this is a long one and i alr know you all will kill me. i don't like Adrien. i think he has MAJOR missed potential and no i'm not just talking about the S5 ending.
to me he's never really had a personality other than the "nice crush" stereotype. i wish he was a little less perfect. i wish he would break into his CN personality sometimes, and that after major life events/high stress levels it would leave a bigger mark on him, and stuff like his mothers death and him brushing it off (at least as far as we've seen) or him QUITE LITERALLY trying to off himself in reflecta 2, and yet we don't get to dwell on it at all.
if i could change one thing, i would make him visibly falter on occasion. if someone yelled at him or showed anger he would flinch because of how it may remind him of his dad. him being visibly tired from the utter stress, fidget with his jacket/buttons, among other things. or whenever he's mad at someone he would just disassociate but later do something to express it (see brackets in TLDR). or that he accidently shows his CN personality during conversation when he isn't focused eg: when he's not paying enough attention to mask as adrien and says something he would NEVER. and so many other little things.
just think about how much is in his godamn schedule. imagine having a father who expects nothing but perfection every day. no matter if you had a bad sleep, if you're in a bad mood, or if someone at school was rude. that one wrong move could ruin your reputation due to having such fame that people literally chase after him (see how britney spears was treated). that to some people he is treated like a zoo animal, dehumanised and made to think that he is never good enough, to the point of not even being able to interact with his father. the fact that he can barely ever socialise with people his age due to them being so obsessed with him. or that that he can almost never have time to even build a relation ship with his pre-existing friends anyways because of said tight schedule. that would be most teens worst nightmare.
as i said before, i want to see him break. for his fake personality to break. i want to see him being asked a simple question such as "are you okay?" and for him to simply cry. i want said errors to become more and more prevalent/common each season and to spike after bad events. little by little i want to see his room get progressively messier because he doesn't have enough time to clean or when he does he isn't motivated enough. i want to see him just not care anymore. i want to see him not being able to get out of bed in the morning due to fear of what-ifs. i want him to come back after an argument acting like he doesn't care when he does and only showing his frustration when (again) nobody is around. i want more quiet moments of terror. of realisation. where he's alone, something as simple as doing laundry or washing his hands to see the "idol" in the mirror. the thing that he resents, and the one thing his father wants him to be. i'd still like the nice guy persona, but i'd like his character a lot more if it shows that said nice guy isn't him. that he has more depth than that. just those kind of little moments of show not tell would be wonderful.
i think a great opportunity (or a place to start) to show this behaviour is when the lie is revealed (though i'd prefer he'd find it out himself for extra salt in the wound). for him to just think for a second, then say something with the same tone as "..okay.. i ge- i get it, he made you do that too. but why? i understand, but also to lie about something to that degree is.. no. you didn't have time to think on it, you just had to. i don't forgive you yet, i just need to process for a bit." then fully CRASH OUT once he does think about it. about what happened. about what the lie entails. not a hissy fit, but ykwim. (prob.)
TL;DR: i want more errors in his body language and personality to show the audience that he is not in fact perfect, and how past situation have effected him. imo he's more of a mary sue than marinette and that's a problem. as someone with a strict (but loving) mum i do some of the stuff listed above (disassociate when mad, say stuff i don't mean while not paying attention, fidget a lot, and i'm a people pleaser so i only "react" when alone. flashback to the time i screamed at a mirror for an HOUR about how pissed i was, but once she got back i was like "hello mother i am sorry please forgive me")
