#mlb meta

My biggest problem with Miraculous Ladybug is the Love Square. It is the heart and soul of this show and the one thing it absolutely cannot get wrong.

The writers apparently wanted the dynamic between Marinette and Adrien to be gender swapped Knight and Princess (Dame and Prince if you will), but the problem is... that's not their dynamic?

Ladynoir is the LS ship with the biggest screen time and it does not have that dynamic. Because Chat Noir is the one protecting Ladybug with his body. Chat Noir is the one willing to sacrifice himself for Ladybug. Chat Noir is the one that reassures Ladybug, Chat Noir is the one that sticks with Ladybug through thick and thin, no matter how she treats him. As a result, Chat Noir is the one that feels like Ladybug's protector and knight instead of the other way around.

Adrienette also doesn't fit the bill and the fact that show pretends that it does is frankly laughable. Pray tell, how on earth is a 14 year old baker girl supposed to defend Adrien from his powerful, rich father?

Marichat obviously doesn't work either.

Ladrien however, does provide us with genderbent Knight x Princess dynamic. And it's also the one side of love square were feelings are mutual. Despite this, Ladrien is the least explored LS ship in the show. We don't even get a Ladrien kiss even though all 3 other sides of LS do kiss.

Which is weird. If this show is supposed to be reverse fairytale, why not go with Ladrien? Also, if Gabriel is going to flip the lid over any LS ship it should be Ladrien. The show making Gabriel Adrienette anti and Adrigami stan is really stupid, hilarious and out of left field when he clearly liked Marinette in earlier seasons and had no idea Adrien and Kagami even dated.

And as someone who likes fairytales and Love Square (at least what it could've been, not the travesty we ended up in the show with) I actually like the idea of Marinette being Adrien's knight in shining armour. It actually balances out Adrien constantly sacrificing himself as Chat Noir.

And it could've worked in the show. In the final battle. Without taking away Adrien's agency. Have Adrien show up as Chat Noir in the final battle to help Ladybug (the fact that he doesn't is frankly character assassination. You're telling me that Chat Noir, who has always been by Ladybug's side abandons his partner, his lady, when they're about to face against their number one enemy?! This makes no sense unless you're writing a negative character arc/regression for Adrien.) and have him take a blow meant for her from Hawk Moth, which incapacitates him. Then have Ladybug take his ring, transform into Bug Noire and finish the job by defeating Gabriel. (And No, Gabriel doesn't get to make a wish because that would be him winning. And no, he isn't redeemed either because the show has made it clear that he can't be redeemed at this point)

This actually solves all of show's problems. It makes Bug Noire mean something other than Marinette's cool power up. Now Bug Noire is a symbol of Marinette and Adrien's love, it's Ladybug protecting her partner from their shared enemy by combining both of their powers. It makes Marinette the hero in Adrien's story. It answers the question of: Why is Marinette the main character in Agreste arc? Answer: She's here to rescue Adrien from his abuser. This actually has Marinette and Adrien's love save the day. "The power of love always so strong" indeed.

But the canon instead has Adrien locked in a padded cell and any and all agency taken away while Marinette gets defeated by Gabriel due to her lowering her guard and trusting him when she shouldn't. Finale has Gabriel defeat Marinette and Adrien in the most humiliating way possible, at their lowest. I legitimately can't come up with a more depressing way to write Marinette and Adrien's character arcs. How does making Adrien a spineless doormat and Marinette borderline villain help anything? Season 5 finale can only work as a tragedy, because it has Ladybug and Chat Noir utterly fail as heroes, but the show pretends that nothing's wrong.

And then the show has Marinette/Ladybug straight up betraying both alter egos of Adrichat: Adrien by lying to him, by painting his abuser as a hero, by making him live with his abuser's accomplice without his full knowledge, by not telling him that he's not human but a sentimonster; Chat Noir by also lying to him about their common enemy, the man he killed, even though season 4 finale was supposed to teach her to trust and rely on her partner.

Marinette didn't rescue Adrien. She sided with his abusers. Can you imagine a fairytale knight siding with a wicked witch about the princess?

Writers could've written LS as a healthy ship where Maribug and Adrichat support and uplift each other, instead they accidentally wrote a story about a broken 14 year boy, used, abused and discarded, constantly having his autonomy, agency, freedom taken away, constantly deceived by people who are supposed to love and care for him, only to have his partner, his girlfriend, the love of his life, his other half act like his abusive father and enact said abusive father's will over him instead of freeing him, but she's all he's got, so he clings to her.

Only satisfying way to resolve this conflict is to have Adrichat confront Maribug But I seriously doubt that show would do a good job of it. Plus the fact that we even need to root for Adrien to go against Marinette instead of rooting for them to stay together means that the show already messed up. Marinette and Adrien's relationship is the foundation of MLB, if that's broken, then nothing else matters.

MLB writers have accidentally written LS as a messed up dark romance. Marinette is a stalker, Adrien can't take no for an answer, they're both incredibly possessive, Maribug acts as a control freak over both of Adrichat's identities, she expects him to cater to her every need, to be perfect for her, to validate her whenever necessary. She is his owner, Adrien is hers, Chat Noir is also hers. Meanwhile Adrichat acts as a perfect boyfriend/partner, fawning over her, who knows not to question her. The show has already shown that Chat Noir will mold himself into anything Ladybug wants. Chat Noir also has some... questionable qualities... mainly his murderous and self-harming tendencies. The show has also told us that Adrien can't find out the truth or else he'll get akumatized and blow up the entire world, including Marinette. And this is not even mentioning all the uncomfortable Gabriel x Emilie parallels.

Now that Gabriel is gone, and Adrien’s amok is safe, Chat Blanc won’t happen...

This is a fairly common thread through most episodes. At the start, Marinette has a problem, often involving Adrien, and she goes completely insane over it, trying to find solutions that are just buck wild. And usually, an Akuma appears, Marinette focuses all her mind on that for a while, and then realises that she went too far and calms down, because now her brain has been sufficiently stimulated and she burned off her excess energy.

Yes, defeating Akumas is stressful for her, no doubt, but I think it's even more clear that not doing that is causing far more stress behaviours to appear in her. She is an excellent guardian and strategizer, great at analysing situations and coming up with plans, and if you don't give her a proper outlet for that, she will come up with her own, often with humorously disastrous results.

So the (admittedly few) posts saying that Marinette shouldn't be Ladybug, or deserves to retire, are getting it all backwards in my opinion. If you retire her, you'll have to give her something else to do. Otherwise, the next time they're in the supermarket, she will build a weird contraption out of a shopping cart, canned beans and a quizz magazine to parkour to the top shelf, instead of asking Adrien for help.

a) Alya aspires towards journalism

b) Blogging Is A Questionable Form Of Journalism, particularly as it stands in opposition to what we call "editorial media" around here, particularly in its proximity to social media and that smörgåsbord for doing the opposite of the journalistic ideal

c) As of "Gang of Secrets", The Ladyblog went from unofficial fan channel to secret PR agency. This might have been the case already from "Sapotis", but we never see Ladybug instruct Alya in what goes on the blog until she reveals her identity. In "Oblivio" it certainly doesn't seem like Alya pays any regard to Ladybug's opinions on what she publishes, but when the same photo resurfaces in "Glaciator 2", she carries out Marinette's cencorship with only a token protest

d) There are some transparency issues here

e) verily, there were conflicts of interest before, but the main weight of them were not on Alya. She didn't know that Ladybug never was a neutral third party, and her occasional stint as Rena Rouge hardly brought her any closer to Ladybug, at least not by the action deemed important enough to put it on screen

f) but at this point? Alya is deceiving her audience into believing that she is an independent reporter when in reality she is a personal friend of Ladybug and her only confidant in superhero business, is a hero herself, lets Ladybug dictate the content of The Ladyblog while she herself is regularly strategising with Ladybug

g) and I haven't even touched onto the fact that Alya's place in Ladybug's life means that any critical reporting she might've done about Ladybug is suddenly a lot harder to do because Alya knows exactly whoes feelings she'd be hurting

h) Alya's journalistic integrity is nil

She & Gabriel found the grimoire their youth and translated it, but that was all. Gabriel had big dreams of a fashion empire, while Emilie was trying to make it as an actress and model. They never get any of their dreams off the ground. Including the dream of a son to follow in their footsteps.

Decades later than canon takes place, Emilie finally tracks down the Guardian, who never had the chance to defeat Feast and so is very old and very alone. Emilie gets the Ladybug & Black Cat, summons Gimmi, makes the Wish for her husband to always achieve his major goals.

There has to be a balance, but her goals are too closely aligned to his, so "Emilie always fails at her major goals" simply does not work as a price. Her life does, though. She's willing to pay it.

The world resets to when the Agrestes found the grimoire, two lost Miraculous now conveniently in the snow beside it, one of them broken. Magical means of possessing and impersonating people are useful for building any kind of empire you want.

Emilie lives long enough for Gabriel to achieve the goals she's necessary for, and then the accumulated damage from using the Peacock gets her. They have their son, they have their fashion empire, Gabriel's major goals are achieved and it's time to pay the price.

But.

But he doesn't remember the old world, only she does. She gets sicker and sicker and his newest most major goal is to save her life.

But the Wish can't let that happen. You don't get to take back what you paid.

Everything is stuck in a stalemate for five seasons. The Ladybug & Black Cat are in Paris, but in the hands of two energetic teens instead of a lonely old man. Making akuma is easy, but they never win. Gabriel loses the grimoire, yet he gets it back despite the Guardian having every reason to keep it.

Mayura can follow Ladybug to the Guardian, but Ladybug & Chat Noir defeat Miracle Queen, but Hawk Moth still has Fu to threaten, but Fu can relinquish guardianship to Ladybug, while Mayura stole the translation of the grimoire from him, and on and on and on.

Felix is in the exact right place to steal the yo-yo, which opens to someone other than Ladybug, and lets someone who isn't a guardian pull Miraculous from the Miracle Box, and stays summoned when Ladybug detransforms despite none of the weapons/tools ever working that way before. And Felix handed it over to Gabriel for a ridiculously small exchange.

Chat Noir doesn't fight at Ladybug's side in the final battle, yet also sends her his Miraculous, so Gabriel finally gets to make his Wish...

Once his major goal has changed.

Once the world has warped enough to make someone else he cares about use the broken Peacock despite knowing the risks. Despite it barely making a difference when fighting the heroes. Made Nathalie needlessly sicken from the same magic to kill Emilie, so that when Gabriel finally get his hands on the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, his final major goal is to save Nathalie's life.

The universe doesn't even need to rewind time for this one.

Like of the different fan produced MLB content, everyone has such wildly different opinions. Like I will be watching one video and the person I’m watching absolutely DESPISES Felix and then the next video I watch the person absolutely loves him with every fiber of their being.

Everyone is so divided and I genuinely love it. No one in the fandom can be hated more than anyone else for their opinions. Anyone you think you agree with on one thing can have in your mind the most absolutely dog shit opinion on another. There’s not really a right, no wrong, just everyone being themselves and loving what they love.

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhh... let’s put Season 1 in context:

Master Fu was trying to keep a low profile from the Moth Holder who could be anyone and had to give the Ladybug Holder some sort of assistance. The Cat Miraculous's Destruction makes for a good offensive weapon by default for any kind of villain that's created while the others are very specific in their power set.

Hence, why Marinette often has to select a specific Miraculous from Master Fu when a specific power will help her plan out. Again, trying to keep a low profile on the seventeen magical jewels that could damn the human race in the wrongest of hands.

In a July 2023 interview for the Guardian, creator of the Bechdel test, Alison Bechdel, bemoaned the toothless response from big media properties to demands for more complex female leads:

Is it dismaying that so many films continue to fail the test?

What’s really dismaying now is the way so many movies cynically try to take shortcuts and feature strong female characters – but they just have a veneer of strength and they’re still not fully developed characters.

I won't argue that Marinette/Ladybug isn't developed, but rather, that in Astruc's pursuit of a Strong Female Lead, we have a character whose strength, agency, wit, grief and elation, is most often at the expense of the cast around her.

We see this most clearly in her relationship with Adrien/Chat Noir. Here is a boy who is controlled, neglected, (arguably) abused, lied to, used, and weaponised by his sole guardian; his father. This has resulted in a sheltered and naive character who canonically has a desperately conditional understanding of love and loyalty. Most if not all of the displays of love Gabriel shows Adrien rest not on Adrien the person, but on Adrien the asset. His life is not his own, and as is revealed in very literal terms in Season 5, nor is his body.

The Gabriel and Adrien dynamic echoes through the Marinette and Adrien relationship. We are shown, explicitly in canon, that Marinette doesn't really know Adrien. He's a heartthrob and she understandably has a crush on him. But while in later seasons she casts aspersions at his army of adoring fans who go to any length to be close to him, she herself is clearly no better. Evidence says she's much worse actually. She takes astounding liberties with his day to day life, she lies to get closer to him, she polices his relationships with specifically other female characters, she delights in his sadness as seen in Glaciator 2:

Marinette: Oh, Adrien! Fancy seeing you here! And you look so sad, that's good!

Marinette as hero even abuses her position as Ladybug to break into his room, rifle around his things and even sniff his pillow. The show seems to make some attempt to explain away her behaviour in Derision by telling us that, in fact, Marinette does all this because she is the wounded party. Even if we accept for the moment that Derision wasn't a lazy retro-justification in service of Marinette's poor behaviour, her trauma does not trump Adrien's right to privacy.

Except, in-show, anything Marinette wants or needs trumps anything anyone else wants or needs, including Adrien–her ostensible partner. Adrien feels left out? Actually, this is more stress for Ladybug. Adrien dates Kagami? Actually this is competition for Marinette. Adrien is locked in a near-sensory deprivation chamber by his super villain father and feels forced to relinquish his miraculous? Actually this is bad news for Marinette.

If she's a hero, then she's one that comes with a price–one far beyond what I'm willing to accept as audience. I want a flawed hero. I don't want perfection. But equally, I don't want to be force fed the notion that this girl's dominant flaw is being a clutz. We get a few brief glimpses into the cost of her controlling behaviours but generally we suffer almost the entire cast telling us she is the Most Wonderful and Supreme Being That Has Ever Existed, all this while she consistently excels within the narrative through the diminishment of others. Need we remember her acing the gamer competition having never displayed a previous interest? How she surpasses even Joan of Arc in all matters miraculous?

Marinette the knight and Adrien the supposed Princess in the Tower: on paper the concept is a little tired but interesting, worth exploring. The role reversal that Astruc aimed for fell short though, and what we have instead is a role amplification. As I write, I struggle to think of a piece of media where the romantic interest has been quite so violated, lied to, limited and enfeebled.

Why did Bechdel's quote ring so true with how Marinette/Ladybug is drawn? That I feel cheated. That the potential for greatness was there, but instead we have a character who from a slightly different angle looks like a hero from wow-heroes-are-jerks juggernaut, The Boys.